Babylon And On

(difford/tilbrook)

I spent too much money, i looked far too glad
Now i have so little of what i once had
I had too many parties i had too much time
I got so lazy and fell well behind
Now the summer is over i can count the cost
Footprints on the beaches are now
Footprints in the frost
The summer is over i can count the cost
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost

We did so much damage deep in our insides
The party's over it's going home time
The cathedral is empty, no one's at home
Winter's approaching paradise postponed

Now the summer is over i can count the cost
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost,
The rain won't stop falling and the people look lost
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost.

I rang lots of numbers and walked many miles
I watched the flintstones and i turned my dial
To a brand new station where the beat comes in
Now it's all over the winter begins

The summer is over i can count the cost
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost
People with umbrellas disappear in the fog
Footprints on the beaches are now footprints in the frost

(difford/tilbrook)

The cigarette of a single man
Burns in the ashtray by his bed
He pulls the ring of another can
And holds it up beside his head
The book he reads is on the floor
He's read it several times before
What you got to go home to?

The cigarette of a single man
Sits in the ashtray on the bar
He sits and sifts through several plans
But knows alone he won't go far
He needs the love another has
To help him, if another can

The cigarette of a single man
Lays in the gutter by his side
Now he's one of those little lambs
Who strayed too far from the flock to find
He's better off without the grief
That people wear between their teeth

And in his mouth as he's asleep
The cigarette of a single man

(difford/tilbrook)

853-5937
Angela can't make it to the phone
If you care to leave your name and number
She'll give you a ring when she is home
Every time i called her i got the message
I listened to the voice coming down the line
I couldn't speak to a tape recording
I redialed it a number of times

853-5937
Angela can't make it to the phone
If you care to leave your name and number
Please speak clearly after the tone
She'll give you a ring when she gets home

I rang her this morning so very early
The same old message coming down the phone
I should go and see if her house is empty
Maybe she's poorly perhaps she's not home

She's in mill hill i'm in bermondsey
It's the end of the earth on the northern line
It makes it so hard for me to see
The one that i love but can never find.

I called up a close friend who lives right by her
I got the message he was out too
I was suspicious, are they together
I've got to find out that this isn't true

(c) 1987 virgin music inc. (ascap)

(difford/tilbrook)

Striking matches and i'm smoking cigarettes
Putting on the kettle, playing a cassette
Folding up the papers rubbing my eyes
Thinking of all that had happened last night
The passion, the feelings that soaked in her love
And the pools of silence when kisses were sprung
Her love levitates me, i'm walking on air
Two feet from the carpet, i'll always be there
Oooh i'm striking matches it's morning again
I look in the mirror i still look the same
I'm striking matches it's morning again
I look in the mirror i go up in flames

Striking matches getting a flame on the stove
There's some of her in the teeth of my comb
Dirty clothes piled up on the bathroom floor
She's silently sleeping, i half close the door
I see her beauty laying on my bed
I'm warm from within me with what she has said
Her love is my balloon, i won't let it down
For ever and ever i'll always be proud.

I'm a director casting for a part
(turn on the light)
It's for a soap set here right in my heart.
(leave her alone)
Shuffle to the window shuffle to the door
(don't wake her up)
She gets the part i don't want to see anymore
(unplug the phone)

(difford/tilbrook)

There she sits in an empty room
The look on her face says it all
A bruise appears round a crying eye
As the tear drops sadly fall
He knocked her over he hit her
And told her she's stupid
He's high as a kite once again
She knows that tough love is needed
To save the love of her friend

There he sits in a freezing car
She's in her bed in the warm
The cold light of the morning sky
Finds him cramped and looking worn
He wanders inside on tiptoes
And brews up some coffee
He's shaking and sweating again
She knows that tough love is needed
To save the love of her friend

They talk it over but it's not easy
Sorting it out
She cannot take it when he tells lies
And sneaks off out of the room
Returning like somebody's lost balloon

Tea leaves sit in an empty cup
No expression on his face
The tv's showing commercials
He's back in her arms again
No more the drugs and the drinking
Her heart can stop sinking
Now that he's home once again
She knows that tough love is needed
To save the love of her friend

They talked it over for hours and hours and hours

(difford/tilbrook)

I heard the stomping of feet dancing
On the wooden floor upstairs
I wasn't in the mood for laughing
So i sat silent in my chair
There was someone missing i knew
Outside there fell the rain
Where had she gone, what could i do
I played the waiting game
The cigarette smoke was annoying
My mood was fit for a bath
A drink couldn't oil my expression
Nothing could make me laugh
I was worried out of my head
I was in such a state
What's keeping her, where has she gone
I played the waiting game

When you love someone
You worry when they're late
When you love someone
You know the time it takes
To play the waiting game

The music got louder and louder
From the wooden floor upstairs
I played with a handful of peanuts
When i saw her standing there
My mood leapt right out of the bath
She had got stuck in the rain
Her coat dripped on a hanger
Playing the waiting
I couldn't understand her
Playing the waiting
Seemed like i'd wait forever
Playing the waiting game

(difford/tilbrook)

Trust me to open my mouth, now everybody knows
Trust me, now i've let you down, i'm a big mouth i suppose.
This was our secret, our meetings were so discreet
I promised to keep it from the ears out on the street
This was our secret, we were having an affair
I couldn't keep it, now the secret's everywhere

One cup runneth over, loosening a jaw
Trust me to open my mouth, it's not a secret anymore
We had a secret, what a terrible thing to do
I couldn't have seen it, i was so in love so in love with you

I need a gobstopper to keep my trap shut
Got to keep my nose clean
Why's it me that gets the bad luck?