Lyrics/
Chivalry's Dead
You made up your mind
To find a different line.
So stop wasting your time.
And take what you can from this place
and make your escape
Your allegiance is pledged
To the bets that you hedged
And the life that you wish that you'd led
If you could bring it all back my dear,
Why don't you bring it all back?
I know I know I know I know I know
The cry of a starving hound
They only come around when the blood's hanging thick in the air.
I nearly died when you said
You think that chivalry's dead
And the blood is all over my hands.
Heaven knows I'm not a merciful man.
The architecture moans with every puritan stone in its frame
And every stolid brick repeats the refrain.
I know I know I know I know I know
The cry of a starving hound
They only come around when the blood's hanging thick in the air.
I know I know I know I know I know
The cry of a starving hound
They only come around when the blood's hanging thick in the air.
Telephone
Weep, weep, widows weep
For all your lovers lost in their mausoleum deep.
Rheumatic fingers trace their names
In fog of breath on frosted window panes.
But there's no nostalgia here.
There's only dust and bones,
And shouting from the telephones.
And a body's mutiny.
It's simple when you're not around.
I drag my feet through the days like a convalescent.
Pale as a baptismal gown.
Suffocate on the smoke of this factory town.
You don't even know if you want me.
I don't need an answer, so don't answer
You don't even know if you want me.
So just hold your breath 'til I'm out of the picture.
Peeling church bells sound a dirge
While our poor provincial hearts keep pumping water through our arms
And the secrets that we keep, the secrets that we keep
Weave a funeral wreath.
But there's no nostalgia here.
There's only dust and bones,
And shouting from the telephones.
And a body's mutiny.
It's simple when you're not around.
I drag my feet through the days like a convalescent.
Pale as a baptismal gown.
Suffocate on the smoke of this factory town.
You don't even know if you want me.
I don't need an answer, so don't answer
You don't even know if you want me.
So just hold your breath 'til I'm out of the picture.
Rabbit in a Snare
You have caught me.
I am tangled in your snare.
Like a rabbit in a catch
I lay helpless on my back.
And I will wait there
I will wait there
I will wait there
For you.
I have baited all my traps.
My resolve has collapsed.
But I know
I will wait there,
I will wait there,
Until you go.
We'll be so happy in our house downtown
We'll ride our bikes to school in the morning
While cars crash outside of our windows.
On an airplane
Kissing like in films
Our hands knit together
As we look out on the wing.
And we're both ill from chasing.
Our time apart is wasted.
In your absence
It feels like my heart will rust.
I will wait there
I will wait there
For you.
We'll be so happy in our house downtown
We'll ride our bikes to school in the morning
While cars crash outside of our windows.
I'll Love You Until My Veins Explode
We've got hearts like broken glass
Making angels out of ash
While we stare up at the sun
And suck the clouds into our lungs.
And i'll think of times like these
As I wander down the street
In a nameless part of town
Past houses emptied of your sound.
And I know you'll write to me
About all the things you'll see
In the cities of the old christian empire.
In the absence of advice
Don't think you haven't got me right.
You've got me right.
You've got wooden bones you Trojan horse.
I let your soldiers in my fort.
When you burned my cities down
You left your salt all in my ground.
Like St. Sebastian on a tree
I've got your arrows stuck in me.
It hurts too much to pull them out
So I'll cut holes into my coat.
It's like the books I didn't read.
Made up the ends through summary.
It's like a film seen through a crack
Too small to see the players act.
1000 paper cranes for you.
You cut my paper heart in two.
And though you left me in the cold
I'll love you until my veins explode.
Milkrun
A choir of helicopters
Hovering like insects on a corpse
Float like cinders as they go.
I arrived here at 18
With the fat of a golden age
And all the ignorance of youth.
You know it's a shame
That alone all that grows
Are fields of stone
And creeping weeds that parch the soil.
From the hospital bed
I'll write you letters with a false name.
I see the parachutes
They billow in the fallow fields
And swell like blisters in the air.
I am right here
I am waiting
I'm Hadrian as he built the wall.
I only wanted you to know.
You know it's a shame
That alone all that grows
Are fields of stone
And creeping weeds that parch the soil.
From the hospital bed
I'll write you letters with a false name.
Middle Class Guilt
All this middle class guilt
Like all things will pass.
The children of conquistadors
Will settle down at last.
And you move like a ghost
Never touching anything.
But there's violence in your movement.
There's murder in your step.
Underneath a blanket of clouds.
I need you in my sight.
Give me a blindfold and a cigarette.
There isn't a thing on earth that I regret.
So off with his head.
Every creature can be cruel
And there's no exception here.
I've seen a thousand distant cities burn
And never left my home.
And you move like a ghost
Never touching anything.
But there's violence in your movement.
There's murder in your step.
Underneath a blanket of clouds.
I need you in my sight.
Give me a blindfold and a cigarette.
There isn't a thing on earth that I regret.
So off with his head.
100 Years War
It's the death of another year
And we're feigning happy new years
On the morning of the first
Drunkenly humming, "auld lang syne."
I clambered up your steps.
Sweat gathered on my neck.
Loosening my tie
As you let me inside.
I'd suffer slings and arrows
If you'd give me your time.
And if you want to hurt me
Go ahead and try.
We've the same problems as before.
It's like the hundred years war.
And though I sometimes moan
When I am with you I am home.
I'd suffer slings and arrows
If you'd give me your time.
And if you want to hurt me
Go ahead and try.
Applecore Manticore
Was all of this for nothing?
All our blackened memories
Of languishing in bedrooms
Cradled in smoke of factories.
Like a crow tethered to a stone
Bones brittle enough to float
Feathers full of parasites
Huddled in mobile homes.
Up against the wall kid.
Up against the wall.
We've seen our halcyon days withered away.
We've seen our halcyon days wasted away.
No need to get so down.
Was it really so long ago
That we bristled with teeth and claws?
Under grey stars pissing light on us
We ran through neighbours yards.
In a nation of pessimists
We'd be nobility.
And if there was a crown to wear
We'd be the king and queen.
Up against the wall kid.
Up against the wall.
We've seen our halcyon days withered away
We've seen our halcyon days wasted away
No need to get so down