Thea Gilmore Album

Well, I am going down to nowhere
It is not too far from here
And the rain'll be running rings
Around this tin-pot cavalier
And there are skeletons and wastrels
As far as the eye can see
So if you want me baby
Then nowhere's where I'll be

Yeah, I am going down to nowhere
Oh its child's play
We are turning up our collars
We are hijacking the day
And you can tell me about your journeys
You can tell me all your dreams
But nothing comes close
To the nowhere that I've seen

And all you people heading somewhere
Well, you don't know what you're missing
‘Cause there's nothing like the freedom
Of a place where no one listens

So I am going down to nowhere
It is steeped in history
This is high-rise living for a
Joke like me
We are such pretty little failures
On streets paved with fools gold
And no-one will think twice about
The nothing that they've sold

And all you people who're heading somewhere
Well you don't know what you're missing
‘Cause there's nothing like the freedom
Of a place where no one listens

So I am going down to nowhere
With the drop-outs and the bums
I'm a soldier of the vacuum
When the darkness comes
I'm a vaudeville comedian
In a theatre of bones
And it's a laugh a minute
When nowhere is your home

God you must have some balls
To open your mouth at all
There's nothing happening
Around this scene you're in
And when did you get so safe?
Must be the last resort
To crash before you're caught
All you pretty mid-town boys
Pumping designer noise
And when did you get so safe?

Oh, those veiled love songs that you play
Have you really got nothing better to say?
And when did you get so safe?
Tell me when did you get so safe?

This is the reckoning
This is the mess we're in
Your half smoked cigarette's
As risqué as you can get
And when did you get so safe?
Yeah, you're all outlaws then
Mavericks in Mercedes Benz
A smile before you go
It's revolution in a fashion show
And when did you get so safe?

Oh, those veiled love songs that you play
Have you really got nothing better to say?
And when did you get so safe?
Tell me when did you get so safe?
Tell me when did you get so safe?

Pressed up against this shop front
Drawing faces there in crayon
It's a long way from the pockets full of rain
And you have walked the streets for hours
With your loose change and your flowers
And now I'll learn your body like a nursery rhyme in Braille
It's a simple explanation
For the paths that you have taken
You have stumbled from the cradle to a prayer
But in this darkened room
We have got heart enough to burn
We can dance away the hours we can leave our questions there

And we'll tear it all down
We'll tear it all down

So welcome to our winning streak
No broken bones or old deceits
Its you and me versus this little town
We're the rag dolls in the gutter
We're the curses that they'll mutter
And you will still be trying on my heart just like a crown

And we'll tear it all down
We'll tear it all down

I know your tactics all the practice this bravery took
And the flags are flying you're trying out a different look

Now there's a candle in the window
I've got a lousy history of tomorrows
So I'll spill the beans in every little sound
You are the creaking of the door,
You are the chorus of applause
You are wishbones and the axis that these songs will spin around

And we'll tear it all down
We'll tear it all down

I know your tactics all the practice this bravery took
And the flags are flying, you're trying out a different look

And we'll tear it all down
We'll tear it all down
We'll tear it all down
We'll tear it all down

Gabardine roses, tortured vines
The sun has been hiding all this time
I thought that I'd see you again somehow
But the dirt is your lover now

And outside the all-night in an orchestra of rain
You fell in love with a hurricane
You were torn like a road map and lost in the crowd
And the dirt is your lover now

Fingernails, thorn trees, my fickle heart too
So many things in this sad little world grow back
Except for you

And the streets of my home town still look the same
But behind shaking fingers they're whispering your name
And it's funny the tears that time will allow
‘Cause the dirt is your lover now

Fingernails, thorn trees, my fickle heart too
So many things in this sad little world grow back
Except for you

There are fists on the front page, blood in the sky
There's no shoulder strong enough when the clouds start to cry
Did you propose to the bedrock on your way underground?
‘Cause the dirt is your lover now
Yeah, the dirt is your lover now

I dreamed I saw St Augustine, live as you or me
Tearing through these quarters in the utmost misery
With a blanket underneath his arm and a coat of solid gold
Searching for the very souls who already have been sold

"Arise, arise." He spoke so loud in a voice pulled down with strain
"Come out, ye gifted kings and queens and hear my sad complaint
No mortal is among you know who you can call your own
So go on your way accordingly and call your Lord alone"

I dreamed I saw St Augustine live with fiery breath
I dreamed I was amongst the ones who called him unto death
Oh, I awoke in anger so I wasn't terrified
I put my fingers against the glass and bowed my head and cried
I put my fingers against the glass and bowed my head and cried

Spare me the psycho babble, the mental rub-down
For the third time today I put his record on
I caught this ailment on the rebound
I'm looking for another one
Just listen to the DJ and follow the instruction
Yeah, you're all so passive you drive me to destruction
‘Cause you're melting yourselves down into the cogs of mass production
And you're lip reading, you're lip reading

You've gotta see the designer souls in action
Flagging each disaster so you know where they've been
And I may be a sucker but I don't see the attraction
‘Cause your name is mud round here if you don't come clean
Now the bed-sits and graffiti squats are up for rent
And the rebels here today are just tomorrows accidents
And you've been walking white lines, but you're so hell bent
‘Cause you're lip reading, you're lip reading

You're not listening, it's more than you can manage
Trusting the soul transmission, trusting the body language

In the distance someone plays a music hall classic
And the small time pushers predicting snow again
Someone tells the songwriter to quit the theatrics
I expect revolution before I count to 10
So stand in line behind the Miss World failures
Behind the leading voices and behind the drunken sailors
Put our hands together, pray for these drowning men to save us
But they're lip reading, they're lip reading

Just pick up your bible of practical achievement
Step one is how to catch him and step two is how to keep him
Those halfwits have to check their pulse and make sure they are breathing
‘Cause they're lip reading, they're lip reading
Lip reading, they're lip reading

It is spitting like an open fire in a dark alleyway
It is sitting on the shoulder of every yesterday
It is shining a light in your eyes
It is checking every one of your new alibis

It is rising like the evening tide around an old shipwreck
It is tightening that pretty little noose around your neck
Oh and any second now it will choose
Yeah any second now all hell will break loose

So keep it safe, keep it safe, keep it safe
Keep it safe, keep it safe, keep it safe
All of the thousands of you come down with the heart string blues

It is preaching all the virtues of love and providence
It would sell your soul for a sad song but it won't pay your rent
It is raising those old rebel flags
It is picking though your long buried ashes and rags

So keep it safe, keep it safe, keep it safe
Keep it safe, keep it safe, keep it safe
All of the thousands of you come down with the heart string blues

It is singing its songs for the injured and dispossessed
It is pointing that twelve gauge of truth straight at your chest
Though it's been broken more times than you know
It's blue and it's bleeding, it's got a mind of its own

So keep it safe keep it safe keep it safe
Keep it safe, keep it safe, keep it safe
All of the thousands of you come down with the heart string blues
All of the thousands of you come down with the heart string blues

I've got mud on my shoes
I've got a hole in my head
I've got mud on my shoes
I've got a hole in my head
It is high fashion
It is highly suspect

We're one groove short of a record
Oh, we're forty four
Yeah, we're one groove short of a record
Oh, we're forty four
We've got more substance
Than a chemist store

Oh, I don't really care what you think about me
I've got better things to do than disagree

I spilled wine over your blue-prints
I lost your grand designs
I spilled wine over your blue-prints
I lost your grand designs
I'm gonna head straight down to nowhere
You know it's gonna save some time

I've got mud on my shoes
I've got a hole in my head
I've got mud on my shoes
I've got a hole in my head
It is high fashion
It is highly suspect
It is high fashion
It is highly suspect

She grew up fast as a cabaret show
Take her to the frozen earth, God
With a head full of coppers like a beggars bowl
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky

She lived in the spaces where the lightning fries
Take her to the frozen earth, God
Yeah she lived in the spaces with the dark in her eyes
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky

They dragged her out to the lakeside stones
Take her to the frozen earth, God
And they tore her skin until the light was gone
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky

She went out to the lake when the air was red
Take her to the frozen earth, God
And she broke like kindling on the watery bed
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky

She grew up fast as a cabaret show
Take her to the frozen earth, God
With a head full of coppers like a beggars bowl
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky
Take her from the water to sky, God
Take her from the water to sky

Meet me by the tail lights
Meet me here by moonlight
Meet me by the river bed
And we'll dance

Meet me where the sky bleeds
Meet me by the needle priest
Meet me by the window
And we'll dance

We will dance to the music of this motorway
We will dance to the drums of the street cabaret
I don't care if all of our steps come out wrong
‘Cause you see we've been here all along

Meet me where the silk tears
Meet me in your double dares, double dares
Meet me as the bell tolls
And we'll dance

Meet me by the ruined tower
Meet me in your final hour
Meet me as the sun goes down
And we'll dance
And we'll dance

We will dance to the music of this motorway
We will dance to the drums of the street cabaret
I don't care if all of our steps come out wrong
‘Cause you see we've been here all along

And we'll dance
And we'll dance
And we'll dance

The times are tough now, just getting tougher
The old world is rough and it's getting rougher
Cover me, come on baby, cover me
Well, I'm looking for a love, come on in and cover me

Promise me baby you won't let them find us
Hold me in your arms, let's let our love blind us
Cover me, shut the door and cover me
Well, I'm looking for a love who will come on in and cover me

Outside's the rain, the driving snow
I can hear the wild winds blowing
Turn out the light, bolt the door
I'm not going out there no more

Whole world is out there just trying to score
I've seen enough, don't want to see any more,
Cover me, come on and cover me
Oh, I'm looking for a lover, come on in and cover me

Outside's the rain, the driving snow
I can hear the wild winds blowing
Turn out the light, bolt the door
'Cause I'm not going out there no more

Whole world is out there just trying to score
I've seen enough, don't want to see any more,
Cover me, come on baby, cover me
Oh, I'm looking for a lover, come on in and cover me
Oh, I'm looking for a lover, come on in and cover me

If it's true that a rich man leads a sad life
N' that's what they say from day to day
Then what do all the poor do with their lives
On Judgement Day? With nothing to say

I've been beat up, I've been thrown out
But I'm not down, I'm not down
I've been shown up but I've grown up
I'm not down, I'm not down

So you rock around and think that you're the toughest
In the world, the whole wide world
But you're streets away from where it gets the roughest
You ain't been there, oh

Well, I've been beat up, I've been thrown out
But I'm not down, I'm not down
I've been shown up but I've grown up
I'm not down, I'm not down

I've lived that kind of day
When none of your sorrows will go away
It goes down and down and hit the floor
Down and down and down some more
Depression

But I know there'll be some way
When I can swing everything back my way
Like skyscrapers rising up
Floor by floor, I'm not giving up
Givin' up

'Cause I've been beat up, been thrown out
But I'm not down, no I'm not down
I've been shown up but I've grown up
And I'm not down, no I'm not down

I've been beat up, I've been thrown out
But I'm not down, I'm not down
I've been shown up but I've grown up
And I'm not down, I'm not down
I'm not down

I can't get past without stepping on your shoes
No, it doesn't hurt me, but it'll hurt you
Don't know how you know just where you're going now
Spend my voice and now my fear is showing

High, miles away from the
High, miles away from the hydrogen
High, miles away from the
High, miles away from the hydrogen

Day, like crystal mornings in my eyes and in my head
I know so well that you won't stop until you're dead
I feel your fiery eyes are burning through my shell
I know there's something more to you than I feel

High, miles away from the
High, miles away from the hydrogen
High, miles away from the
High, miles away from the hydrogen

I can feel you breathing when you are in my head
It's kind of comforting the way that you said
“I can hear the heartbreaks when you cry
And I can feel the people hurting when you sigh”

High, miles away from the
High, miles away from the hydrogren
High, miles away from the
High, miles away from the hydrogren
Hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen

Beelzebub, I can see you again
Like I could back when I was with him
When too many suns were in orbit around you

Beelzebub, you know I was only dreaming
So why am I frowning now, then?
Maybe his suns disconnected one by one

Oh, she's searchin' round the line again
Oh, she should have taken the fate again
Oh, you know that you're just what he's been waiting for

Beelzebub, it's time to ring the bell again
Fought with the road to the south wind
And I brought a light in his dark room
And it's more than his cold hand can feel
So someone invent a water-tight seal
So he won't see the tears
So he won't see the tears
So he won't see the tears

Sometimes it felt that I was swimming against the flow
If I could swim at all
And often I needed something to lean upon
But it never seemed to be there
And maybe it'll be a great year
Yeah, maybe it'll be a great year

Maybe I'll forget those manicured pretty girls
All pointing their delicate little fingers
And maybe I'll forget the way I was so alone
‘Cause it never seemed to be there
And maybe it'll be a great year
Yeah, maybe it'll be a great year

And maybe I won't feel the way I felt with you
And maybe I won't try you the way I tried with you
And maybe I won't be you, the way I wanted to be you
And maybe you won't cry the way I cried to you
And maybe it'll be a great year
Yeah, maybe it'll be a great year
You never know, maybe it'll be a great year
And maybe it'll be a great year

She's a sugar plum in a blue dress
She's worth a million gold pieces
And I see visions in her hair
Of a nuclear sky

And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm

You can see her pleasure is in your pain
She won't give warning, she'll just send dark rain
She will creep back home, she will cry again
With her head in her hands

Yeah I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm

Communication's ground, all voices are racing through her head
The call to arms, she says “I'll face it if my hell is overhead”
I'll carry on believing we can take care

You're nice and warm, that saw me through
She told her friends she could fly, too
But when her feet never left the ground
She lives alone down on the red farm

And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm

And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm
And I, I'm running away from that red farm

Looks like you caught me with my hair down
See the lights are on but there is no one home
Waiting through darkness for a second time
If it's the same our dreams are right again
I wish that I could to talk to you
And you could ease it out or maybe not

And I say you never, ever get away
Close your eyes into light the sun machine is
The only prize for having far too many
Brittle dreams

You've not been looking quite so hard lately
Your hair is gone, you wait for the rain to ease
My head is numb so maybe I can't see
But in my sleep reveals my deepest fears
I wish that I could talk to you
And you could ease it out or maybe not

And I say you never, ever get away
Close your eyes into light the sun machine is
The only prize for having far too many


Brittle dreams

And I say you never, ever get away
Close your eyes into light the sun machine is
The only prize for having far too many
Brittle dreams

Your twinkle-toes have lost their sparkle
The stink of love's lost its attraction
And you know, and you know, and you know, and you know
The girls are sworn

And I say you never, ever get away
Close your eyes into light the sun machine is
The only prize for having far too many
Brittle dreams

And I say you never, ever get away
Close your eyes into light the sun machine is
The only prize for having far too many
Brittle dreams

Friday's humming summer
And the whiskey sun is running
out the night sky
I am here watching your form
Slowly pacing in the dawn
as all the stars die
Yeah you're like a hit, you are tailored just to fit
the changing season
Baby, what is this? We are two star crossed bits
of an equation

Is it that you're shining?
Is it your endgame talk?
You're like a suntan in November
Or December in New York

I will tune in to the radio
To hear some guy on some show
sing like chocolate
No its not my job to be sentimental
Yeah, I swear it was accidental
it just turned out like that

Is it that you're shining?
Is it your endgame talk?
You're like a suntan in November
Or December in New York
December in New York

I know I should be spitting bitter
Just for interest it's more fitting
for a girl like me
But I am standing here
Amid politics and tears
and I'm shouting loudly
And the dustcart is slugging
Its way around the corner
in the morning
And if you listen close
You'll hear the fairylights and smoke
of the East Coast calling

Is it that you're shining?
Is it your endgame talk?
You're like a suntan in November
Or December in New York
December in New York
December in New York

Silence in the courtyard, silence in the street
The powers that be, out by the river, are shuffling their feet
But the night is full of car alarms and sideways glances
In this land of milk and money you don't get your second chances

Cars are burning on the slip roads, the bars are full of sailors
Spent a long time trying to fathom which were trips and which were trailers
England has been bleeding into every police station
Into every schoolyard, every war and every state occaision

We're the gun cotton
They'll blast us all in line
This time

Children in the boxes paint the underpass red
The graffiti on the park bench, the faded A to Z
They'll make you fat with dreams and sequence on the silver screen
‘Til you're full of hope and tragedy and crash-site steam

We're the gun cotton
They'll blast us all in line
This time
Said, we're the gun cotton
They'll blast us all in line
This time

England has been bleeding, she can't leave it at that
She's waiting round the corner with a switchblade in her hand
So let's dance for our lives, boys, in this Vaudeville show
Take your time and take a bow; this place is gonna blow

We're the gun cotton
They'll blast us all in line
This time
Said, we're the gun cotton
They'll blast us all in line
This time
In line, this time
In line, this time

Don't set foot over the railway track
The heathens and the spin doctors are waiting round the back
The skies are always sullen and rain races to the tarmac
So don't set foot over the railway track

Don't set foot over the railway track
The grass isn't green, it's yellow and the pavement is all cracked
The graveyard's in a coma, the church has got the blues
And Jesus has a nose-ring and Mary has tattoos

And girls paint their skins like corpses and have hair of scouring wire
And the men all look like demons, see them dancing round their fires
Every door has leprosy, every house has got the clap
So, don't set foot over the railway track

Don't set foot over the railway track
Hope you've not been speaking to the wrong kind of people, Jack
They'll screw you soon as look at you if you let them gain a foot
This line's God almighty's way of saying that you'll stay just where you're put

‘Cause they're all paid up party members with a red streak like a river
They're all standing there on their side shouting “promise and deliver”
They are papering their walls with pages of Kerouac
So, don't set foot over the railway track
No, don't set foot over the railway track

I've got these watches, one for each time zone
"How does it feel," Remy says, "to be on your own?"
Sharing this floor with a dog and a ringing telephone

Well I'm bigger than you at nearly six feet tall
I must always be out when the company calls
But see this rusty spade gonna dig a grave inside us all

See, it's cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, it's
Cold, cold, cold, cold, it's
Cold, cold, cold, cold, it's
Cold for a lavender cowgirl

We're all the dissidents in this asylum
I've got numbers, but no one to dial 'em
Here's me squeaking and doing my crocodile run

And I'm a postcard of everything that I've seen
Just a shadow of hot air and steam
But I wouldn't touch me, got no idea where I've been

And it's cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, it's
Cold, cold, cold, cold, it's
Cold, cold, cold, cold, it's
Cold for a lavender cowgirl

I want imagination
You say we all sound the same
Well that's put us in our place
But you're still caught in the rain
With a lavender cowgirl

We're in and out on... it's in a costume night
I'm sick and tired of being polite
I can't keep time but I keep looking for a fight

That's why I've got these watches, one for each time zone
"How does it feel," he says, "to be on your own?"
Sharing this floor with a dog and a ringing telephone
A dog and a ringing telephone
A dog and a ringing telephone

So here we are then you and me
Some little joke of chemistry
With all our sun bleached history
Fading as the light gets strong and
We are brave and we are fakes of
Tortured art and higher stakes
And winter's knocking at the gates
But the clocks are wrong

I am the steel, I am the dare
The angry kid with mud in her hair
Setting off those warning flares
Till the sky got light
And you are the seasons, you are the free fall
Here's the smell of tarmac, here's the clarion call
Here's the reasoning behind it all
Right here tonight

'Cause I've struggled for directions
A blank page as far as I can see
But I'm open to suggestions
So you tell me
You tell me
You tell me

The corner cafe got closed down
A funeral pyre for the wise and the clowns
A little drunk this time around
But the feeling's there
They're drawing out their pocket knives
Till just the singular survives
For all the currency it buys
They don't much care

'Cause I've struggled for directions
A blank page as far as I can see
But I'm open to suggestions
So you tell me
You tell me
You tell me

Now colours blazing through the sky
With autumn fury in our eyes
We'll gather every battle cry
And lay them at their door
'Cause for all the reasons that they spent
To turn poetry to self defence
I guess that what I really meant
Was that's what it's for

But you tell me
You tell me
You tell me

(one, two, three; two, two, three)

There you go again
Said, it's too complicated to explain
So sit me in my high chair
And pat me on the head
But I'll be making lists
Pounding the table with my fists
Trying to apply every law I ever read
See there's just no telling
The parts that we've been selling
This is just like you
To fake some cute stage for me
While you've been trying to make believe
In the little monster you conceived
I'm havin' a hard time believing
In anything much at all
You and your straight lines
You and your straight lines
Always

Well, we all walk through those doors
High hopes between the subclause
We throw ourselves gladly into your little fishbowl
It would take some persuasion
About the strength of the equation
Before it finally chalked up on just one more brick wall
You and your straight lines
You and your straight lines
Always

So here I am now
Just another sacred cow
Believe me your “what if's” will turn to “if only's” before long
So tell me about ownership, boy
Tell me about using lies as executive toys and
Tell me, to who does this song belong
You and your straight lines
You and your straight lines
Gonna sing along
Gonna sing along
I'm gonna sing along
Yeah
Oh, always