356 Don’t need to read your lips can hear you just fine Don’t need to watch this shit can see you all the time You smile and say you’ll make it go away But you’re twitching, stalling for time We’re bleeding...what you gonna do? We’re bleeding... We won’t forgive you for the evil that you’ve done You’re still standing – doesn’t mean you’ve won. No quick fix; no more of your tricks – You’ve betrayed us, we’ve had enough We’re bleeding...what you gonna do? We’re bleeding... My fists itching... you’ve driven me too far... sick of choking on the stench, of the filth... all the shit that you pour out... We’re bleeding...what you gonna do? We’re bleeding...

Little birds without a nest peck at your conscience on the street Orphans with no place to rest: cardboard signs damp at their feet Lives that pass you by unseen. Stories slipped away and lost between... Though your words are kind, your heart is hard, your faith is blind, Speech is free but talk is cheap when truth is hard to find. Show me that you care Hear you say a rising tide will lift every boat the same But to the millions treading water it’s just more cause to dread the rain The banks are steep, it’s hard to climb when you’re kept down all the time Though your words are kind, your heart is hard, your faith is blind, Speech is free but talk is cheap when truth is hard to find. Show me that you care

Through liquid gold summer, cape streaming behind The child runs through adventure, where dreams never die Through the turn of the seasons, In the cold light of day Those things we call reason wear heroes away We all dream of flight but life is Kryptonite Hindsight is an X-Ray eye: life is Kryptonite Did time lend perspective to mellow your rage Or has the scope, the reach of your dreams merely narrowed with age? Your cloak is in tatters as you’re nursing your scars Where the fallen kings gather at the end of the bar We all dream of flight but life is Kryptonite Hindsight is an X-Ray eye: life is Kryptonite

Picture book... every panel, some borrowed image - some shadow that he casts. Dreams of darkness; scenes remembered – All one...all one... Please... please don’t...please don’t hurt me... don’t hurt me any more. Stretched out... soaks up the violence. Torn and twisted, bloody...So young... she’s so young. Licks her lips: sets him aflame against himself... oh, take the blame, please... ...please don’t...please don’t hurt me... don’t hurt me any more... Another frame – a bitter picture: See her standing light on her feet/light on the blade... ...and he will come from the shadows, come to claim her...it’s so dark: edges blur... ...in the shadows... so deep... so dark With her eyes shut... So tightly...Still sees the picture: Silent scene...silent scream Please... please don’t .... please don’t take me.... don’t take me any more...

There’s a look that’s in your eyes... it’s one I’ve come to recognise You can’t hide a smile and I know your heart has skipped a beat And the signs are plain to see, you’ve got to know it’s killing me I only see your face light up when it’s lit up by your screen It’s a bitter pill to swallow, a truth that’s hard to take Road is hard to follow, it’s a habit I can’t break There’s nothing that can fill this hole No holy words in empty scrolls No bridges built without their trolls Why don’t you rise? (rise) Sun could be shining on a brighter day Won’t you rise (rise) ‘Cos we can make this world a better place Red carpet wannabees ....They’re the prophets of our modern age Captivated by the show, (and I can tell) you never spot them switch the bait No redress and no debate just angry words and howls of hate While the party sells your rights off - until there’s nothing left to celebrate You can close your eyes to a truth that you don’t want to see And I’d take you to the bridge but you’d burn it out from under me Eyes are locked to your device The verses twisted up in lies The words all blurring wrong and right Why don’t you rise? (rise) Sun could be shining on a brighter day Won’t you rise (rise) ‘Cos we can make this world a better place Why don’t you rise?

You storm and you bluster but shelter from reason, hide from our questions; seek only gain You shrink from the truth but your growing obsession, your ruthless ambition Can bring only pain You’re preaching in riddles, demanding devotion, your holiness empty; your terms leaking trust Your rhetoric bold as your promises simple, principles broken And crumbled to dust If we wake from this dream we will see That our wounds are all healed and the things that we feel Are OK A demagogue weighed down with Judas’ silver, mad dogs, Gog and Magog poised at your right A mad god believing your own dark deception too many accepting Too tired for the fight If we wake from this dream we will see That our wounds are all healed and the things that we feel Are OK

You fell to pieces in his bed – you were crying over something that he couldn’t believe in All your words fell, stumbling, tangled from your mouth As you were lying Like smoke, drifting, inconsequential... How we laughed at all the promises you made We played spin the bottle -he played to lose You played for pride Don’t say goodbye you made a promise Wrestling strangers as the candle gutters Sing the silence to your faceless lovers You left him empty: golem-hollow Ringing silences and endless sorrow Don’t say goodbye.

Did I hear you falter? Or stumble on the phone? Led to the altar – you never shifted from your throne. No expectations, but my emotions were resigned. You think that’s funny? Your absolution made me cry. You left me branded and stumbling like a fool The mark of Cain on my intentions when I broke your golden rule Your silence icy and your heart as hard as stone Your tears stinging: cut me to the bone But stare into the darkness and dare to conquer your demons And there, turn back to the start, follow your heart And you’ll learn you’re still part of the world To be blameless but I let weakness drag me down You know I’m learning: I don’t expect you to be proud. Weighed by the chains, the ways that I was wrong No scripture comfort in the verses of this song But stare into the darkness and dare to conquer your demons And there, turn back to the start, follow your heart And you’ll learn you’re still part of the world Count the days and mark them on my soul Learn the taste of tears, the sounds infatuations toll No regrets but my ambitions unredeemed Don’t take pity: your absolution sets me free But stare into the darkness and dare to conquer your demons And there, turn back to the start, follow your heart You’ve travelled so far just to stare Into the darkness and dare to conquer your demons And bear the pain of your scars, accept who you are You can still be a star Just shine

Seeking out some grand conspiracy of the information age Illuminiati, Masons, lizard people: targets for your rage Confounded by profundity, mocked by the empty page Gold of your false economy is just a gilded cage Well I don’t like what they feed me - want me to believe: Selling off our freedom, wring us while we bleed Pretty things on television screens watch them bump and grind If it’s not your flesh and blood you’ve no pause to rewind Labour in banality - the fumbling of the blind Captive of your fallacies, resigning of the times Well I don’t like what they feed me - want me to believe: Selling off our freedom,wring us while we bleed Papers’ vapid Austentation all porn and prejudice The golden age you represent remiss and reminisce – sense, declining reputations, you failed to learn your history Now facing stern examination how did it come to this? Well I don’t like what they feed me - want me to believe: Selling off our freedom, wring us while we bleed

A wanton night, one wasted day, you chased the sandman off again, Where you gonna hide the lines this time, lover? Found you at the bottle's end waiting for the light to bend around your eyes; or for oblivion The charm of strangers never palls, you never learned from any fall; laughed or cried or cared at all; or paid. Just showered off some one-time lay then lay around another day; sat and smoked in some cafe - the tab is coming. Hey, lady, bat those eyes, we’ve both been here a thousand times. I’ve seen your moves and heard your lines – find yourself another ride You ain’t coming home with me I've heard it all before and seen your hack-kneed tits and ass routine - overheard and too obscene - for me honey. Nobody cares if you can show the body you had years ago; your face was buried in the snow - but not chilling. You think that cynical is wise; mistake the value for the price, misquote, plagiarise for me - I'll listen. It's what you are, not who you do, who you've nailed or who you've screwed- the ghosts will all come back to you - sometime Hey, lady, bat those eyes, we’ve both been here a thousand times. I’ve seen your moves and heard your lines – find yourself another ride You ain’t coming home with me You played it out too fast and wide now, lover, where you gonna hide when all that bitter, wasted time - comes calling? Take those cigarettes and wine, the make-up and the practised lines, there's nothing else to hide behind - except memory Hey, lady, bat those eyes, we’ve both been here a thousand times. I’ve seen your moves and heard your lines – find yourself another ride You ain’t coming home with me

Daughter, look down from your window. Weep for the men of clay As they stumble through their empty silence to the end of another perfect day Through the begging of the fallen angels, prayers echo to the empty sky The Word is false, their scrolls are empty Hypnotised by whispered lies So let them dance their steps and roll their stones Daddy’s going to buy the stars for you to play And I swear, one day we’ll walk on water We are just one step away See them stagger to their ruined temples. Hear them praying to their rotten gods On their knees: abased, forlorn, forgotten: the children of some lesser creation So let them dance their steps and roll their stones Daddy’s going to buy the stars for you to play And I swear, one day we’ll walk on water We are just one step away