Brave

(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth & john helmer)

Well i hear that you were looking out to hunt me down
And i guess you're used to having everything you want
But you know that love can be hard as sticks and stones
I tell you nothing else can be as hard as love can

Well i hear you got my number and you want my name
I'm a stream of noughts and crosses in your ram
But you know that love can be as hard as algebra
Baby nothing else has ever been as hard as love

Hard as love

Well i hear that you were lookin' out to take me home
And i hear that you can handle it and you're not scared
Have you heard about the pictures on my bedroom wall
Baby nothing else has ever been as hard as love

Hard as love

Well it makes you hungry and it makes you high
It makes you suffer and it makes you cry
But it's all worthwhile

It makes you humble and it makes you crawl
It makes you tremble and it makes you fall
But it's all worthwhile

It makes you desperate and it makes you dream
It makes you dangerous and it makes you scream
But it's all worthwhile just lie back and smile ...

(they will continue to love you even though the rest of the world hates you ...)

It makes you hungry and it makes you high
It makes you suffer and it makes you cry
It makes you panic and it makes you vain
It makes you primitive ... sick inside
It makes you angry and it makes you blind
It makes you guilty and it makes you lie
Tied up and beaten
Spat out and eaten
Suicidal

Nothing's ever been as hard

Well i hear that were lookin' out to change my faith
You can bash me with your book of words
Hammer me down!
But you know that love can be as hard as six inch nails
Baby nothing else has ever been as hard as love

Hard as love
Hard as love

(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth & john helmer)

I think i have become one of the hollow men
As i shine on the outside more these days
I can feel the outside feeding on my inside
'leaves a growing darkness in it's place

I think i have become one of the hollow men
I think i have become one of the lonely
Now that everybody talks to me
I feel i have become one of the empty

Hollow men can stop you with the twinkling of an eye
Hollow men can take you without even reaching out
Hollow men have got you long before you realise
The poison paralyses

I think i have become one of a pair of men
It's a feeling i've been having for some time
I look down upon myself and watch my movements
A blind eye sees the fragile vandalised

Watch this cold world dishing up these endless hollow men
Find us anywhere you look
Come and meet our friends
Stand us in our silly clothes
Put our batteries in
Line us up like fairground ducks
Watch us grin and grin
See the lies behind our eyes ...
See the will to win
We'll buy you and we'll sell you
But perhaps we'll save your skin ...

Sit quietly and listen to the breeze ...
The hollow and the lonely listen too
Sniff the air for something we can use

We're thin hard and we rattle when we're shaken

Heading for the great escape
Heading for the rave
Heading for the permanent holiday
Heading for the winter trip
Heading for the slide
Heading for the dignified walk away

Heading for the open road
Goodbye to all that
Heading for the automatic overload

Standing in the open boat
Standing in the swing
Waiting for the ringing and the bright light

Waiting to be recognised
Quiet applause will do
They shower you with flowers when they bury you

You're holding on, you're holding on ...

I. the last of you

Just when i thought i'd seen the last of you
You come here scratchin' at my door
Your pain and anger's in the howling dark
Of every corridor i walk

So tell me more about the love that you rejected
Tell me more about the trust you disrespected
I still don't know, why did you hurt the very one
Why did you hurt the very one
That you should have protected?

Heading for the great escape
Heading for the rave
Heading for the permanent holiday

Heading for the high cloud-nine
Heaven number seven
Heading for the long goodbye

Uncurl the fingers that hold
Summon the strength to let go
Out of the tired world
Out of the upset
Into the sunset

(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth & john helmer)

It all began with the bright light
The bright light and the noise
The chaos of the senses and the scream of desire

Touching and being touched
A million loose ends to tie up
Ticking of the clock and the cradle rock

The colours stand still
And then they move around
Comin' in and out of focus upside down

Empty winter trees
How space feels love of the soft ... flowers and the sky

One fine day
The chaos subsides
Bleeds into awareness
And a lifetime of surprise

The beauty of your mother's eyes
The pain when you fall
You drink it in and marvel at it all
But you never really figure it out

You get used to it

The babble of the family
And the dumb tv
Roar of the traffic and the thunder of jets

Chemicals in the water
Drugs in the food
The heat of the kitchen and the beat of the system

The attitude of authority
The laws and the rules
Hit me square in the face, first morning at school

The heroes and the zeroes
The first love of my life
When to kiss and to kick and to keep your head down when they're choosing the sides
I was never any good at it
I was terrified most of the time
I never got over it
I got used to it

Alone in the city at seventeen
With the hollow, the lonely
The drowning and the drowned
I was made to feel worthless
The wretched and the mean
Beat me up like a weapon
I can't run away from or find a way round
Holdin' on, holdin' on

The greed and the missiles
Exploding somewhere every day
Hideous dark secrets under the sea and in holes in the ground

The cold war's gone
Those bastards'll find us another one
They're here to protect you, don't you know?
So get used to it get used to it!

The clash of religions
The loaded prayers
Information
The face of starvation and the state of the nation

The sense that it's useless
And the fear to try
Not believing the leaders, the media that feeds us
Living with the big lie

You get used to it

(instrumental)

(instrumental)

(orchestral)

(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth & john helmer)

See those people there?
They look after me
This is a photograph of who i might be
Man in a uniform ... bride on his arm
Mum always was a fool for money and charm

He's been talkin' in his sleep again
Sayin' he's sorry, callin' my name
Sayin' how he's ashamed ...

Alone again in the lap of luxury

Since it happened i had nothin' to say
It used to bother them but now it's ok
Mother cleans his dreadful house every day
Scrubbing all the stains that won't go away

They sent me away to the school in the park
They said it would be good for me
I still hear the other kids cry in the dark

Alone again in the lap of luxury
Is there no escape

I don't remember the last time i cried
I don't remember much except lies
See the little girl spirallin' down
This is a photograph of who she is now

"one day this will all be yours" he said
Tidy your room and straight to bed
Tidy up those thoughts in your head

Alone again in the lap of luxury

I could be anywhere right now
If i only had the nerve to leave this house
Maybe somewhere by the sea ...
Take me somewhere, anywhere please!

We could make a pillow of sand and sleep
We could roll
We could make
We could see
We could scream
Far
Father
Farthest
Oh daddy ...
You do not do anymore ...
For god's sake don't pretend to be concerned ...
Turn into nightmares in the end
Throw a party for all my friends
Alone again in the lap of luxury

(i) now wash your hands

You give up hope
You settle down
With your favourite soap ...

Now wash your hands