Blue Is The Colour

(heaton/rotheray)
Like the contents of your handbag
You don't know why it's there
People ask you where you're heading
You just answer "anywhere"

We don't mean to be this vague
It just happens that we are
No-one asked us to elaborate
We just shrug our shoulders and be

And like the stories that just happened
No-one thought of, no-one planned
We could have ruled, we could have conquered
Then we could have been a man

We could be ex-husband
We could be ex-wife
But no-one looks at the menu in a greasy spoon life

Alone, alone
Half an hour is seven hours
One day is several months
Alone, alone
A month is a calendar
A year can be a decade spent
Alone

He knows "hello" in eighteen languages
"i love you" in only one
By the time he's got his phrase-book
The chance is usually gone

And we feel ourselves quite prepared
But quite prepared for what
We always took the lead
Before we actually knew the plot

And you can tell where we've been shopping
By the bags beneath our eyes
Make-up shoulders burden
But the smile never lies

We could be ex-husband
We could be ex-wife
But no-one looks at the menu in a greasy spoon life

Alone, alone
Half an hour is seven hours
One day is several months
Alone, alone
A month is a calendar
A year can be a decade spent
Alone

So empty at the airport
You don't set off the doors
We used to feel like chorus girls
And now we feel like whores

Hearts built like reservoirs
Words built like dams
Thoughts built like juggernauts
Our actions built like prams

And when the wind blows into our face
We should be warmer and not colder
Well, what price the charges
On this cargo that we shoulder

We could be ex-husband
We could be ex-wife
But no-one looks at the menu in a greasy spoon life

Alone, alone
Half an hour is seven hours
One day is several months
Alone, alone
A month is a calendar
A year can be a decade spent
Alone

And we only smoke when bored
So we do two packs a day
And we've lost the difference
Between bored and lonely anyway

(heaton/rotheray)
Think of you with pipe and slippers
Think of her in bed
Laying there just watching telly
Then think of me instead

I'll never grow so old and flabby
That could never be
Don't marry her, fuck me

And your love light shines like cardboard
But your work shoes are glistening
She's a phd in "i told you so"
You've a knighthood in "i'm not listening"

She'll grab your sweaty bollocks
Then slowly raise her knee
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the sunday sun shines down on san francisco bay
And you realise you can't make it anyway
You have to wash the car
Take the kiddies to the park
Don't marry her, fuck me

Those lovely sunday mornings
With breakfast brought in bed
Those blackbirds look like knitting needles
Trying to peck your head

Those birds will peck your soul out
And throw away the key
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the kitchen's always tidy
And the bathroom's always clean
She's a diploma in "just hiding things"
You've a first in "low esteem"

When your socks smell of angels
But your life smells of brie
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the sunday sun shines down on san francisco bay
And you realise you can't make it anyway
You have to wash the car
Take the kiddies to the park
Don't marry her, fuck me

And the sunday sun shines down on san francisco bay
And you realise you can't make it anyway
You have to wash the car
Take the kiddies to the park
Don't marry her, fuck me

(heaton/rotheray)
Well sitting in a bar alone
Where no-one knows your name
Is like laying in a graveyard
Wide awake
You're scared that if you cough or yawn
You might wake up the dead
So pretend to read a paper
Or just drink instead

I'm a stand-up comedian
But i'd sit down if i could
The world just seems
To want folk like me to stand
And the punch-lines seem to disappear
Like clouds across the sky
And the laughter could be real
Or could be canned

Rum by the kettle drum
Whiskey by the jar
At liar's bar

Well living with a lying man
Could never really hurt
But living with a drunk
Well no-one deserves
And you're looking for your husband
You're not sure he's still alive
Don't bother with the cemetery
He'll be down at liar's dive

I'm a travelling businessman
I just stopped in for one drink
You'll find
That i'm not like the other men
Their noses are red
Whilst mine is only pink
And they didn't choose their drink
Their drink chose them

Rum by the kettle drum
Whiskey by the jar
At liar's bar

And the grave-digger's smiling
At his reflection in his spade
He's visiting the seediest
The shallowest of graves
The vocal chords of elephants
And the characters of mice
They're singing "whisky, whisky"
So good they named it twice

Well don't pass buildings with lights on
If i said that i did i'd have lied
'cause what looks like a chinese restaurant
May have chinese new year inside
And son all my life i've been searching
The bars i've been in i forget
The lights outside ever brighter
But a light on the inside not yet

Rum by the kettle drum
Whiskey by the jar
At liar's bar

And he's a world-wide traveller
He's not like me or you
But he comes in mighty regular
For one who's passing through
That one came in his work clothes
He's missed his last bus home
He's missed a hell of a lot of buses
For a man who wants to roam

If i look rough i am rough
If i look sad i am
If i look broke i am broke
Just a broke down piece of man

I've turned over enough leaves
To fill an autumn
And if i had one final wish
I'd be your slave for a decade
If you could take me away from this
If you took me away from this
I'd be different you'd see
'cause i didn't choose the drink
A drink just chose me

Rum by the kettle drum
Whiskey by the jar
At liar's bar

Well i'm smoking like a chimney
And i'm drinking like a fish
At liar's bar

(heaton/rotheray)
They could be fat or could be thin
They could be black, they could be white
Tell me who's knocking at the knocking shop door tonight

Not much a girl can do but open or close
Those things are above doors
Not much legs can do but open or close
Those things are above us whores

So imagine a mirror
Bigger than the room it was placed in
Imagine my wish for a future that cannot hold my wish
Imagine the want to hold a rod that cannot hold the fish
Imagine a rod that cannot hold the fish

They could be lonely or could be bust
They could be tack, they could be real
They do have feelings, but just right now i feel

A feminine receptacle, that's just what i am
Those things are above us whores
Just the best target practice, for a misguided man
Those things are above us whores

So imagine a mirror
Bigger than the room it was placed in
Imagine my wish for a future that cannot hold my wish
Imagine the want to hold a rod that cannot hold the fish
Imagine a rod that cannot hold the fish

(heaton/rotheray)
Build your dream castle out of sand
It's bound to get washed up anyway
Dream your dreams out of last week
They're bound to have come up yesterday

If you want to give them flowers
Make them paper ones you send
Live your life a jigsaw
It goes back in the box, in the end
Build your dream heart from plasticine
'cause you're putty in their hands
Mould your ambition in concrete
'cause you'll only land in quicksand

Carve your dough from play-dough
'cause they'll roll you into a ball
Make your friends from lego
'cause lego makes a wall

'cause when you build big houses
The paintings get stolen
The devil says he's silver
When you know that he is golden
When papier m

(heaton/rotheray)
Eyes to take you dancing
Mouth to leave your wife
Legs to run away with
And you wonder why?

Heart that makes you bypass
Every other girl
Smile that keeps you grinning
At the madness of this world

But like the blackbird on the wire
I will not take the prey on you
You wouldn't want me to
For i am too soft for such a thing
And like the blackbird on the wire
I just watch you by
The tears i knew i'd cry
Fall unnoticed down below

Front to make you happy
Back to make you weep
Lips to keep you kissing
Whilst everyone's asleep

Tears to break a backbone
Laughs to win a war
And people come and ask me
What i love you for

But like the blackbird on the wire
I will not take the prey on you
You wouldn't want me to
For i am too soft for such a thing
And like the blackbird on the wire
I just watch you by
The tears i knew i'd cry
Fall unnoticed down below

And with a tongue built from quicksilver
And a character of steel
They actually come and ask me
How i feel

But like the blackbird on the wire
I will not take the prey on you
You wouldn't want me to
For i am too soft for such a thing
And like the blackbird on the wire
I just watch you by
The tears i knew i'd cry
Fall unnoticed down below