EARLY STRAWBS - LYRICS
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The Weary Song
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
The soldier smiling softly sings a song of sad farewell
As the train pulls out to take him far from home
His children waving gaily without knowing he has gone
Now you know what I feel.
And the thoughts that always greet you
Every morning when you rise
They never ever change they're just the same
When you're weary to extreme
And you never laugh or cry
You're just a sheet of glass behind a frame.
The best days of your life are when you don't know right from wrong
When the fantasies around you seem so real
And reality is really as fantastic as your dreams
Now you know how I feel.
So the train pulls out forever, just a whistle and it's gone
And the station disappears before your eyes
In time the rails will rust and you'll forget that you've been there
Now I know how you feel.
Dragonfly
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
The dragonfly appeared
The North wind brought it by
As summer slipped away
And autumn was approaching
It flew through silver trees
That stood beside the lake
I looked into its eyes
To find that it was smiling.
The dragonfly was mine
As slender as a wand
It cast a spell as it clung
To leaves that soon were falling
Its camouflage grew faint
As my mind grew darker still
I scarcely dared to breathe
It was frail and I might harm it.
Its touch was as soft as the thistledown
That is borne on the evening breeze
Its kiss was as warm as the summer rain
That whispers and sighs through the trees
And now the warmth of the pale winter sun
Has melted the heart of the snow
I lie awake throughout the night
And wait for the North wind to blow.
I Turned My Face Into The Wind
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
I wandered far onto the lonely moors
Sparse coarse tufts of grass reached out to trip me
And above my head the leaden clouds hung low
As I turned my face into the rain.
I huddled close against a tumbling wall
Wrapped in a cloak to shield me from the bitter cold
The solitude weighed heavy on my mind
As I turned my face into the rain.
The mist rolled down across the countryside
I thought I heard the coastal sirens sound
As I turned my face into the rain.
I tried to peer into the deepening gloom
To glimpse a lighted window in the distance
But just too far to penetrate the rain
As I turned my face into the rain.
And yet somehow I sensed her presence near
And tufts of sheep's wool hanging from a gorse bush
Were as though her hands were beckoning me home
As I turned my face into the rain.
Josephine For Better Or For Worse
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
The years have left their mark
And time must be to blame
To me you're still the same
Josephine, for better or for worse.
I thought that I would stay
Always young and free
But now you're part of me
Josephine, for better or for worse.
For richer, for poorer
To honour and obey
For better or for worse
You're still the same today ... Josephine.
Sometimes our way of life
Has gone against the grain
Yet somehow you remain
Josephine, for better or for worse.
Another Day
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
An orange balloon on the distant horizon
The air had a nip for the sun was still rising
A delicate fusion of ambery tone
Brought warmth to the shore where I walked all alone
Another day begins.
A crab scuttled awkwardly, shyly away
Perhaps the strangest of all nature's rebels
Night shed its cloak with the sounds of the day
The gentle lap of the tide on the pebbles
Another day begins, another day.
The gulls on the breeze, soaring over my head
Like marionettes with invisible thread
The day unfurled like the flags on a mast
Spelling a message of sunshine at last
Another day begins, another day.
I walked along for miles
The clear blue sky was free
And the smiles shone like pearls on the sea
Another day begins, another day.
Far too soon it was time to be leaving
A gull flew ahead of me bobbing and weaving
It caught my eye with a quizzical stare
Was it my love, was it she who was there?
Another day begins.
I climbed the steep path to the high cliff top's heather
The sea was as clear as a fresh mountain stream
The gull as it circled away dropped a feather
A souvenir of a beautiful day dream
Another day begins, another day.
The Man Who Called Himself Jesus
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
He came into the shop and looked me straight between the eyes
And said "You know I'm Jesus", and I must have looked surprised
Because he said "Please don't be hasty, no-one understands
But I've got a way to prove it" and he lifted up his hands.
He was the man who called himself Jesus.
For a minute I was speechless, then I looked into his face
With sufficient lines of sadness for the total human race
And I said "You must be joking" but he slowly shook his head
And said "That's what they all say, I might as well be dead".
He asked me if I knew a place where he could start to preach
I said "Well try a church or maybe Brighton beach"
And I was trying to be serious but he didn't seem impressed
He said "You think I'm crazy, you're just like all the rest".
I was really quite embarrassed, he was looking so sincere
So I said "I close the shop soon, won't you come and have a beer"
Then he asked me if I meant it and he smiled a funny smile
And he said he'd rather like that and he hung arounds a while.
On the way he stopped to pat little children's heads
And he taught them one line prayers to say as they went off to their beds
But mostly they were frightened and they looked at him wide eyed
And when he said his name was Jesus, one girl even cried.
In the pub I asked him if he'd tried to see the Pope
And he said although he'd thought about it there was really not a hope
Then he said he thought he'd better go, he had some work to do
He said he'd come and see me in about a week or two.
Well after he had gone I thought of what he'd said
And all his funny actions they kept running through my head
And when I felt my mind was drowning in a sea of mud
It seemed his pint of beer had turned into a pint of blood.
That Which Once Was Mine
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
If in some capricious moment
I should give you cause to fear
Then you have but to remember
That my being here is mere fortune
For the rules have laid down
To guide the thoughts of those who stray.
If in some deserted hour
We should murmur last goodbyes
With the snowflakes falling softly
As the tears well in your eyes
Then we kiss but once and walk away
Never turning round
And the snow falls on our footsteps
Leaving nothing to be found.
And my life is yet determined
By the span of what it holds
And the span grows ever shorter
As my lifetime folds away.
All The Little Ladies
(Cousins/Hooper)
Old School Songs
looking through their windows
Peering through lace curtains
All the little ladies
With grey haired hat-pinned heads
Watching people they know who don't understand
That they're living their lonely lives second hand
Even second hand's better than none.
Spreading all the gossip
Baking cakes for tea time
All the little ladies
With lonely single beds
Watching children they know as they jump and play
Trying giving them sweets but they run away
Even naughty boy's better than none.
Sunday lunch is coming
In a van of kindness
All the little ladies
With no friends but the dead
Watching doctor they know as he takes their pulse
Trying giving a smile for there's nothing else
Even this sad life's better than none.
Pieces Of 79 And 15
(Cousins/Hooper)
Old School Songs
Pieces of 79 and 15
Drifting along a jumbly scene
Pieces of 79 and 15
Drifting along a jumbly scene.
79
Out of work people
Sitting on top of a barberous pole
Strippers who like it and fancy a bit
And parties and songs in the night.
15
More people but mostly the same
Girls down with love, tell me what can you do
Seeing your friends down a hole in the ground
With the ceilings and walls falling down.
Tell Me What You See In Me
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
My ship sails in
On a cloud of broken promises
It's just not true
Not a single word she says
Time will tell
Whether I can change my ways
It might take years
It might even take always.
Tell me what you see in me
And I'll tell you what I see in you.
Your picture melts
Before my tired eyes
And all it leaves
Is just a trace of paradise
You'll change again
That's what I've been told
But don't take long
Or I might get too old.
Take it easy
But take it slow
For who knows which way next
That wind will blow
Time goes by
Just as quickly as I want it to
And I'll make out
Like I never knew.
Oh How She Changed
(Cousins/Hooper)
Not available
She leaned forward in the lamplight
In her eyes an amber glow
She was promising the earth
And yet somehow saying no
We talked of pleasant summer days
Kew Gardens, Hampton Court
The jewellers where we bought
The ring that held us close together.
Oh how she changed with every passing day.
In the swirling misty morning
As the day began to break
In the heavy dew her footsteps
I am floundering in her wake.
Oh how she changed with every passing day.
The shutters of indifference
Have close to bar the view
A person I once knew.
Oh how she changed with every passing day.
Till The Sun Comes Shining Through
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
My love is as the rose
As wild and free as I should wish to be
Close guarded by the thorns
That shield her from the hands that seek to touch.
The hourglass sand that runs so free
Is rock that failed to halt the waves of time
My haven is the harbour bar
Sheltering from the storm
'Til the sun comes shining through, again.
My love a primrose fair
A gentle hedgerow flower in the spring
If gathered in the dawn
Come evening she will surely fade and die.
My love is as a pearl
A heart of stone that I can never own
More precious that my life
Thus meaning more than I can ever give.
Young Again
(Hooper)
Old School Songs
Wandering the streets
Searching for a thought
I chanced across an unexpected park
Streams of boys and girls
Laughing as they ran
Were there to see the puppet man
Perform his mighty tricks
And you and I are young again.
Running through the grass
Hold your hand in mine
And lose yourself in simple skyman dreams
Sing out with rest
When he says the word
The magic word to make his tricks
Succeed before your eyes
And you and I are young again.
Silver smiles and peals
Bursting from within
I know what innocence can really mean
Never let it grow
Stay a child within
And you will find a peace of mind
That's rare these softless days
And you and I are young again
And you and I are young again
And you and I are young again.
The Vision Of The Lady Of The Lake
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
The boatman rose to the sound of his heartbeat
Loud in the silent approach of the dawn
He glanced through the window at mist on the lake
Which hung like a shroud in the still of the morn
The silver cobwebs spun with the dew
Hung from the bushes in filigree splendour
And water lilies asleep on the lake
Were reflected so delicate, tranquil and tender.
The boat man sighed as he strode through the woods
To the place where his boat lay moored to a stake
The hollow sound as his footsteps echoed
Until the sound was lost on the lake
He cast off, poling the boat from the shore
Peering a head through damp clinging haze
He thought that he saw strange swirling shapes
A trick on the eyes that the mist often plays.
So intent was the boatman on crossing the lake
That he failed to notice the current that flowed
Leading his boat from familiar parts
He was firmly, yet somehow unknowingly, towed
All at once the mist seemed to lift
Sufficient to show the boatman a pool
That he'd never seen in the whole of his life
Unnaturally deep, black and silent, and cool.
The boatman's shirt clung to his back
He was sweating both from exertion and fear
He had the sensation that someone was watching
He felt the presence of somebody near
An invisible force prevented him moving
The strength of his arms was utterly sapped
The twisted bushes converged round the lake
Like a fish in a net he was trapped.
Suddenly out of the water before him
The wraith-like form of a maiden appeared
Clad in shimmering radiant robes
The maiden materialised as she neared
The hair which finely crowned her head
Was a halo of golden reflecting the sun
All of the beautiful women of time
Were formed all at once into one.
She handed the boatman the sword she was holding
Which flashed irridescent before his eyes
Excalibur surely was hardly a match
For a sword that simple description defies
The boatman stood transfixed by her gaze
Which reached to the depths of his very soul
To he who could conquer the evils of life
She offered herself as a whole.
The maiden vanished before his gaze
Leaving him clutching the sword in his fist
The hairs on the nape of his neck seemed to stiffen
A creature approached him from out of the mist
It was powerful, huge and yet stupid indeed
For it held right back and failed to attack
The boatman struck at its small stupid eyes
And it crashed to the ground and lay on its back.
Without a warning the sky seemed to blacken
As though the sun were in total eclipse
The boatman crouched low as a vast eagle swooped
And a horrified cry escaped from his lips
It strutted before him with pride in its bearing
Admiring its talons both vicious and cruel
Taking advantage the boatman struck fast
And the eagle slid to the depths of the pool.
The terrified boatman tried moving his boat
But his pole had grown roots in the watery deep
The bank grew alive with the coils of a snake
And all you could hear was its slither and creep
It cast an envious stare at the boatman
Slid into the water and swam to the boat
He stood hypnotised by its green jealous eyes
As it came from the water and coiled round his throat.
As its coils tightened slowly his breath came in gasps
As he choked so he lifted the sword in despair
As the snake was still gloating he severed its head
And in death the snake's coils thrashed wild in the air
The boatman wiped the sweat from his brow
His heart was pounding as never before
His eyes like a lizard's tongue darted around
Not daring to rest for a minute or more.
An involuntary shiver went up his spine
As he heard the sound of eerie howls
A wolf appeared on the banks of the pool
Saliva dripped from its loathsome jowls
Hatred smouldered deep in his eyes
Which glowed like coals from Hades fire
It seemed to grow as it crouched and snarled
And watched as the boatman began to tire.
It was almost as though the wolf had learned
For it did not attack as the others had done
But bided its time until the moment was right
And sprang as the boatman stared into the sun
But the boatman too had learned to hold back
And holding his sword as though a knife
He plunged it deep into the wolf's heart
Then fell to his knees and prayed for his life.
As he felt a hand on his shoulder he whirled
To find the maiden by his side
She smiled and the world seemed to open before him
He tried to speak but his tongue was tied
You must plunge the sword deep into my heart
Lest I should crumble into dust
She offered the boatman the meaning of life
And love, if he could but conquer lust.
She bared her breasts before his eyes
The boatman still was stricken dumb
He flung the sword back into the water
Back to the depths from which it had come
The water around him began to boil
The maiden began to wither away
His boat was swamped as the creatures arose
And evil lived for another day.
Close Your Eyes
(Cousins/Hooper)
Old School Songs
Close your eyes, and go to sleep
The night will soon be gone
There'll be nothing here when the light goes out
That wasn't here when the light was on.
Or Am I Dreaming
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
The fragile gentle butterfly with multi-coloured wings
Settles on the toadstools in the midst of fairy rings
Midsummer sounds of tinkle bells as sweet Titania sings.
Or am I dreaming
Or am I dreaming ?
And I will have a castle with a drawbridge and a moat
And light my open fires with a brand new five pound note
And go off on a winter cruise in a bright red sailing boat.
Pick the golden casket
And you'll get what you deserve
Yards of pure white chiffon
Falling in a graceful curve
Crystal clear cut chandeliers
Orchids in a bowl
Mulled wine by the fire
And the finest ermine stole.
The water melon moon makes gentle progress in the sky
Upside down it's floating as the satellites go by
And you can hold a conversation if you're not too high.
The magic mountain music man
Is really rather shy
Or am I dreaming ?
Where Is This Dream Of Your Youth
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
Wake up one day, you're left alone
From now on you're on your own
The sands of time are running low
You'll have nothing left to show
The months slip by and change to years
Soon the twilight gloom appears
And then one day before you know
You'll have nothing left to show.
Where is this dream of your youth.
The pictures on the walls are shaking
They can hear the storm a-breaking
Storms may come and storms go
You'll have nothing left to show
They can hear the earth a-quaking
Buildings come and buildings go
You'll have nothing left to show.
Tomorrow brings another dawn
It might be better from now on
Before too long that day will go
You'll have nothing left to show
You'll have nothing left to show
You'll have nothing left to show
You'll have nothing left to show.
Where is this dream of your youth ?
Poor Jimmy Wilson
(Cousins)
Not available
Jimmy Wilson had a glass eye, I could see it
And he stuttered sometimes
And he needed a girl friend night times
Didn't know how to go about it
Poor Jimmy Wilson, poor Jimmy Wilson.
All the boys used to tease him, I know I did it
And he was my friend
At school we were always close together
Hardly a day I didn't see him
Poor Jimmy Wilson, poor Jimmy Wilson.
He used to go out for walks on his own
With no-one to talk to at all
He'd walk in the park till the evening grew dark
Just feeling quite incredibly small.
He was sitting in the park one Sunday evening
Around about five
When along came a lady, a total stranger
Wanted young Jimmy to go with her
Poor Jimmy Wilson, poor Jimmy Wilson.
Well she was so persuasive and seemed quite friendly
So he went along
And the lady who was lonely gave him tea
And she was his friend for ever after
Poor Jimmy Wilson, poor Jimmy Wilson.
Where Am I/I'll Show You Where To Sleep
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
Where Am I ?
I sit here in peaceful meditation by a river
Watch my thoughts go floating down the stream of consciousness
Never ever changing the direction of my dreaming
To realise myself
Nothing more or nothing less
And as the hours slip away
On this pleasant April day
I sit and watch the flowers grow
Where am I
Where am I ?
I'll Show You Where To Sleep
Just paint a picture of the world
In gentle pastel shades
Indistinct and somehow blurred
Like childhood escapades
The painting box is rather dear
But the paints themselves are cheap
Leave your pack at the side of the road
I'll show you where to sleep.
Dead brown weeds in a ditch at the side
Of a field of burning corn
The road opens out before you
Like the womb where you were born
There's no need to pretend again
To try and earn your keep
Leave your pack at the side of the road
I'll show you where to sleep.
And crowds will gather in the sun
As stone madonnas weep
And the shepherd is a good man
As he tends his flock of sheep.
In case you find your tortoise shell
Is getting rather tight
You can wrap yourself in your magic cloak
And disappear from sight
And I will stand guard over you
As through the door you creep
Leave your pack at the side of the road
I'll show you where to sleep.
The Battle
(Cousins)
Old School Songs
In the early dawn the Bishops' men
Shivered in the damp
But the shiver came not from the cold
And spread throughout the camp
The trembling horses sensed the fear
Of silent thoughtful men
Who prayed that wives and families
Might see them once again.
The bishops sent a dawn patrol
To investigate the weight
Of forces at the King's command
Ensconced behind the gate
The ground mist hid the patrol's approach
As they drew close enough to show
The sentries on the battlements
And an archer drew his bow.
From the topmost tower a sentry fell
As an arrow pierced his skull
And his headlong flight into the moat
Seemed that of a gull
The patrol reported little
There was nothing much to see
But the strong and silent castle
A symbol of the free.
The King's men took communion
As the first rays of the sun
Lit up the castle's gloomy walls
The fatal day begun
From the castle green the rooks took flight
To the high trees in the east
To their carrion minds the battlefield
Set a table for a feast.
A tide of black, the Bishops' men,
Equality their right
Swarmed like ants across the hill
Their aim at last in sight
The King's men dressed in purest white
Were driven back by force
And the fighting grew more violent
As the battle took its course.
The Bishops gave the order
No mercy to be shown
The sacrifice will reap rewards
When the King is overthrown
The sight of children lying dead
Made hardened soldiers weep
The outer walls began to fall
They moved towards the keep.
The rooks surveyed the battlefield
Their hungry beady eyes
Revelled in the sight of death
Showing no surprise
The pressure mounted steadily
As the Bishops neared the gate
And the desperate King called to his knights
"It's your lives or the State"
When the anxious King began to fail
As many thought he might
The Queen ran screaming round the walls
And urged the men to fight
The Bishops' men were tiring
As the afternoon drew late
And the King's men lowered the drawbridge
And poured out through the gate.
They fought their way across the bridge
The men like falling leaves
Or ears of corn that fall in swathes
The vicious sickle cleaves
The tide receded up the hill
The waste of reclaimed land
Once decaying swamp became
A shore of pure white sand.
A blinded priest was seen to bless
Both dying and the dead
As he stumbled around the battlefield
His cassock running red
If uniform were black or white
His eyes could never see
And death made no distinction
Whatever man he be.
As darkness fell both camps withdrew
Their soldiers slain like cattle
Leaving the rooks to feast alone
The victors of the battle
At evensong both camps reviewed
Their sad depleted ranks
As survivors of the battle
Gave God their grateful thanks.