The Thieving Magpie

(derek disck/steve rothery/ pete trewavas/ micheal pointer/mark kelly)

So here i am once more
In the playground of the broken hearts
One more experience, one more entry in a diary, self-penned
Yet another emotional suicide
Overdosed on sentiment and pride
Too late to say i love you
Too late to restage the play
Abandoning the relics in my playground of yesterday

I'm losing on the swings
I'm losing on the roundabouts
I'm losing on the swings
I'm losing on the roundabouts
Too much, too soon, too far to go, too late to play
The game is over, the game is over

So here i am once more
In the playground of the broken hearts
I'm losing on the swings
I'm losing on the roundabouts
The game is over

Yet another emotional suicide
Overdosed on sentiment and pride
I'm losing on the swings
I'm losing on the roundabouts, roundabouts, the game is over

Too late to say i love you
Too late to restage the play
The game is over

I act the role in classic style
Of a martyr carved with twisted smile
To bleed the lyric for this song
To write the rites to right my wrongs
An epitaph to a broken dream
To exercise this silent scream
A scream that's born from sorrow

I never did write that lovesong
The words just never seemed to flow
Now sad in reflection did i gaze through perfection
And examine the shadows on the other side of morning
And examine the shadows on the other side of morning
Promised wedding now a wake
Promised wedding now a wake, awake

The fool escaped from paradise
Will look over his shoulder and cry
Sit and chew on daffodils and struggle to answer "why?"
As you grow up and leave the playground
Where you kissed your prince and found your frog
Remember the jester that showed you tears, the script for tears

So i'll hold our peace forever when you wear your bridal gown
In the silence of my shame the mute that sang the sirens' song
Has gone solo in the game
I've gone solo in the game, but the game is over

Can you still say you love me
Can you still say you love me
Can you still say that you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me
Do you love me, the jester's tear

Can you still say you love me
Can you still say you love me
Can you still say that you love me?

The jester's tear, the jester's tear
Do you love me

(fish / marillion)

We are jigsaw pieces aligned on the perimeter edge
Interlocked through a missing piece
We are renaissance children becalmed beneath the bridge of sighs
Forever throwing firebrands at the stonework
We are siamese children related by the heart
Bleeding from the surgery of initial confrontation
Holding the word scalpels on trembling lips

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet
This is the ricochet

Drowning tequila sunsets, stowaways on midnight ships
Refugees of romance plead asylum from the real
Scrambling distress signals on random frequencies
Forever repatriated on guilt laden morning planes
We are pilots of passion sweating the flight on course
To another summit conference, another breakfast time divorce
Screaming out a ceasefire, snowblind in an avalanche zone

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet
This is the ricochet

Are we trigger happy?
Russian roulette in the waiting room
Empty chambers embracing the end
Puzzled visions haunt the ripples of a trevi moon
Dream coins for the fountain or to cover your eyes
We reached ignition point from the sparks of pleasantries
We sensed the smoke advancing from horizons
You must have known that i was planning an escape

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today, starts today
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet
This is the ricochet

I'll be seeing you again, on the ricochet
Will you show me the pieces next time, on the ricochet
I'll be seeing you again, on the ricochet
There's a problem, there's a ricochet

(fish, steve rothery, mark kelly, pete trewavas, ian mosley)

I was flicking through the channels on the tv
On a sunday in milwaukee in the rain
Trying to piece together conversations
Trying to find out where to lay the blame

But when it comes right down to it there's no use trying to pretend
For when it gets right down to it there's no one here that's left to blame
Blame it on me, you can blame it on me
We're just sugar mice in the rain

I heard sinatra calling me through the floorboards
Where you pay a quarter for a partnership in rhyme
To the jukebox crying in the corner
While the waitress is counting out the time

For when it comes right down to it there's no use trying to pretend
For when it gets right down to it there's no one really left to blame
Blame it on me, you can blame it on me
We're just sugar mice in the rain

'cause i know what i feel, know what i want i know what i am
Daddy took a raincheck
Cos i know what i want, know what i feel i know what i need
Daddy took a raincheck, your daddy took a raincheck
Ain't no one in here that's left to blame but me
Blame it on me, blame it on me

Well the toughest thing that i ever did was talk to the kids on the phone
When i heard them asking questions i knew that that you were all alone
Can't you understand that the government left me out of work
I just couldn't stand the looks on their faces saying, "what a jerk"

So if you want my address it's number one at the end of the bar
Where i sit with the broken angels clutching at straws and nursing our scars
Blame it on me, blame it on me
Sugar mice in the rain
Your daddy took a raincheck, your daddy took a raincheck

(fish / marillion)

Vodka intimate, an affair with isolation in a blackheath cell
Extinguishing the fires in a private hell
Provoking the heartache to renew the licence
Of a bleeding heart poet in a fragile capsule
Propping up the crust of the glitter conscience
Wrapped in the christening shawl of a hangover
Baptised in the tears from the real
Tears from the real

Drowning in the liquid seize on the piccadilly line, rat race
Scuttling through the damp electric labyrinth
Caress ophelias hand with breathstroke ambition
An albatross in the marrytime tradition
Sheathed within the walkman wear the halo of distortion
Aural contraceptive aborting pregnant conversation
She turned the harpoon and it pierced my heart
She hung herself around my neck

From the time-life-guardians in their conscience bubbles
Safe and dry in my sea of troubles
Nine to five with suitable ties
Cast adrift as their sideshow, peepshow, stereo hero
Becalm bestill, bewitch
Drowning in the real

The thief of baghdad hides in islingtown now
Praying deportation for his sacred cow
A legacy of romance from a twilight world
The dowry of a relative mystery girl
A vietnamese flower, a dockland union
A mistress of release from a magazine's thighs
Magdalenes contracts more than favours
The feeding hands of western promise hold her by the throat

A son of a swastika of '45 parading a peroxide standard
Graffiti disciples conjure testaments of hatred
Aerosol wands whisper where the searchlights trim the barbed wire hedges
This is brixton chess
A knight for embankment folds his newspaper castle
A creature of habit, begs the boatman's coin
He'll fade with old soldiers in the grease stained roll call
And linger with the heartburn of good friday's last supper

Son watches father scan obituary columns in search of absent school friends
While his generation digests high fibre ignorance
Cowering behind curtains and the taped up painted windows
Decriminalised genocide, provided door to door belsens
Pandora's box of holocausts gracefully cruising satellite infested heavens
Waiting, wai-wai-waiting, the season of the button
The penultimate migration
Radioactive perfumes
For the fashionably
For the terminally insane, insane
D-d-do you realise?
D-d-do you realise?
D-d-do you realise, this world is totally fugazi

Where are the prophets
Where are the visionaries
Where are the poets
To breach the dawn of the sentimental mercenary

(fish / marillion)

And it was morning
And i found myself mourning, for a childhood that i thought had disappeared
I looked out the window
And i saw a magpie in the rainbow, the rain had gone i'm not alone
I turned to the mirror, i saw you, the child, that once loved
The child before they broke his heart
Our heart, the heart that i believed was lost

Hey you, surprised?
More than surprised, to find the answers to the questions, were always in your own eyes
Do you realize that you give it on back to her?
But that would only be retraced in all the problems that you ever knew
So untrue
For she's got to carry on with her life, and you've got to carry on with yours

So i see it's me, i can do anything
And i'm still the child
'cos the only thing misplaced was direction
And i found direction
There is no childhood's end
There is no childhood's end
Cos' you are my childhood friend
Cos' you are my childhood friend
Oh lead me on

Hey you, you've survived
Now you've arrived, to be reborn in the shadow of the magpie
Now you realize, that you've got to get out of here
You've found the leading light of destiny, burning in the ashes of your memory
You want to change the world
You'd resigned yourself to die a broken rebel
But that was looking backward
Now you've found the light

You, the child that once loved
The child before they broke his heart
Our heart, the heart that i believed was lost
So it's me i see, i can do anything
I'm still the child
'cos the only thing misplaced was direction, and i found direction
There is no childhood's end
There is no childhood's end
There is no childhood's end
I am your childhood friend
Oh, lead me on

(fish / marillion)

When i hit the streets back in '81
Found a heart in the gutter and a poet's crown
I felt barbed wire kisses and icicle tears
Where have i been for all these years?

I saw political intrigue, political lies
Gonna wipe those smiles of self-satisfaction from their eyes

I will wear your white feather i will carry your white flag
I will swear i have no nation but i'm proud to own my heart
I will wear your white feather i will carry your white flag
I will swear i have no nation but i'm proud to own my heart
My heart, this is my heart

We don't need no uniforms, we have no disguise
Divided we stand, together we'll rise

We will wear your white feather
All the children
We will carry your white flag
We will swear we have no nations
Beirut children
But we're proud to own our hearts
Jeruzalem children
We will wear your white feather
Tokio children
We will carry your white flag
Moscow children
We will swear we have no nations
Washington children
But we're proud to own our hearts
Munich children
These are our hearts
Chicago children
These are our hearts
Cairo children
You can't take away our hearts ...
You can't steal our hearts away

I can't walk away i can't walk away
No more, no more, no more, no more...

(derek dick, mark kelly, steve rothery, peter trewavas, ian mosley)

Have you ever met a lady, screaming angst potential?
Have you ever dreamed of romance, no matter how experimental?
Have you ever felt an alien drifting back into your hometown?
Did you think you were buying safety when you bought that piece of ground?

She said all the best freaks are here
She said all the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me
So i said all the best freaks are here
All the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me

Have you ever woke up, sweating in the middle of the night?
You search the darkness and you're scrambling for the light
Have you ever walked down the street, heard bootsteps following you?
Don't worry my son, you've got the spook squad looking after you

He said all the best freaks are here
He said all the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me
So i said all the best freaks are here
All the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me, stop staring at me

Airport terminal, patiently waiting on the last call
You feel the eyes burn the back of your head
Sign the autograph, get out of the picture, gonna have the last laugh
Feel the whispers as you head for the plane
Stop staring at me

Love and linen sheets seem so very far away
You save your pennies and you buy another day
But after all it's only hide and seek, just another game
There's so much fun to be had when you're living with a name

All the best freaks are here, all the best freaks are here
Please stop staring at me, all the best freaks are here
All the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me
Oh, stop staring at me, oh, stop staring at me

They said all the best freaks are here
All the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me
All the best freaks are here
All the best freaks are here, please stop staring at me

(derek disck/steve rothery/ pete trewavas/ micheal pointer/mark kelly/diz minnett/brian jellyman)

He knows, you know, he knows, you know
Problems, problems, problems, problems

Light switch, yellow fever, crawling up your bathroom wall
Singing psychedelic praises to the depths of a china bowl
You've got venom in your stomach, you've got poison in your head
You should have listened to the priest at the confession
When he offered you the sacred bread

He knows, you know, he knows, you know, he knows, you know
But he's got problems

Fast feed, crystal fever, swarming through a fractured mind
Chilling needles freeze emotion, the blind shall lead the blind
You've got venom in you stomach, you've got poison in your head
When your conscience whispered, the vein lines stiffened
You were walking with the dead

He knows, you know, he knows, you know, he knows, you know
He's got experience
He's got experience, he knows, you know
But he's got problems
Problems, problems, problems, problems, problems, problems.

He knows...
Slash wrist, scarlet fever, crawled under your bathroom door
Pumping arteries ooze the problem, through the gap that the razor tore
You've got venom in your stomach, you've got poison in your head
You should have listened to your analyst questions when yo lay on his leather bed

He knows, you know, he knows, you know, he knows, you know
But he's got problems

Blank eyes, purple fever, streaming through the frosted pane
You learned your lesson far to late from the links in a chemist chain
You've got venom in your stomach, you've got poison in your head
You should have stayed at home and talked with father
Listen to the lies he fed

He knows, you know, he knows, you know, he knows, you know
But he's got problems
He knows, you know, he knows, you know, he knows, you know
He's got experience
He's got experience, he knows, you know
He knows, you know, you know, you know
You know, you know, you know, you know

Problems, problems, problems, problems, problems, problems
Don't give me your problems

(fish / marillion)

A) vocal under a bloodlight

Last night you said i was cold, untouchable
A lonely piece of action from another town
I just want to be free, i'm happy to be lonely
Can't you stay away?
Just leave me alone with my thoughts
Just a runaway, just a runaway, i'm saving myself

B) passing strangers

Strung out below a necklace of carnival lights
Cold moan, held on the crest of the night
I'm too tired to fight

So now we're passing strangers, at single tables
Still trying to get over, still trying to write love songs for passing strangers
All those passing strangers

And the twinkling lies, all those twinkling lies
Sparkle with the wet ink on the paper

C) mylo

Oh i remember toronto when mylo went down
And we sat and we cried on the phone
I never felt so alone
He was the first of our own
Some of us go down in a blaze of obscurity
Some of us go down in a haze of publicity
The price of infamy, the edge of insanity

Another holiday inn, another temporary home
And an interviewer threatened me with a microphone
'talk to me, won't you tell me your stories.'

So i talked about conscience and i talked about pain
And he looked out the window and it started to rain
I thought maybe i've already gone crazy
So i reached for a bottle and he reached for the door
And i picked up the sleeping pills crushed on the floor
Inviting me to a casual obscenity

D) perimeter walk

It would be incredible if we could retrace all the times that we lived here
All the collisions
Wasted, i've never been so wasted
I've never been this far out before

Perimeter walk
There's a presence here
I feel could have been ancient, i could have been mystical

There's a presence
A childhood, my childhood
My childhood, childhood
A misplaced childhood
My childhood, a misplaced childhood
Give it back to me, give it back to me
A childhood, that childhood, that childhood, that childhood, that childhood
Oh please give it back to me

E) threshold

I saw a war widow in a launderette
Washing the memories from her husband's clothes
She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat
A lump in her throat with cemetery eyes

I see convoys curbcrawling west german autobahns
Trying to pick up a war
They're going to even the score
Oh... i can't take any more
I see black flags on factories
Soup ladies poised on the lips of the poor
I see children with vacant stares, destined for rape in the alleyways
Does anybody care, i can't take any more!
Should we say goodbye?
Hey

I see priests, politicians?
The heroes in black plastic body-bags under nations' flags
I see children pleading with outstretched hands, drenched in napalm, this is no vietnam

I can't take any more, should we say goodbye
How can we justify?
They call us civilised!

(fish / marillion)

A love song with no validity
Pretend you never meant that much to me
Numb, a valium child, bored by meaningless collisions
A lonely stretch of headlight, diamonds trapped in black ice
A mirror cracked among the white lines

I just wanted you to be the first one
I just wanted you to be the first one
Ashes are burning, burning
Ashes are burning, burning

A lifestyle with no simplicities
But i'm not asking for your sympathy
Talk, we never could talk, distanced by all that was between us
A lord of the backstage, a creature of language
I'm so far out and i'm too far in

I just wanted you to be the first one
I just wanted you to be the first one
Bridges are burning, burning
Bridges are burning, burning
Now, now, now, now