Del Amitri Album

Well the bus is pulling out
And I guess I'd better go
Before I make a grave mistake and let my feelings show
And twenty miles away
She waits alone for me
But when I try to picture her you're the one I see

And in another situation I could put up a fight
But you will be my downfall tonight

So the night is coming down
Drowning us in blue
And it all points towards the things we know we shouldn't do
And as I look at you
And I fall under your spell
Well, I know I should be thinking of her lying there herself

And when faced with temptation you know a man should stand and fight
But you will be my downfall tonight

Be my downfall
Be my great regret
Be the one girl
That I'll never forget
Be my undoing
Be my slow road to ruin tonight

Well the bus is pulling out
And I'm grounded here with you
And I want to say the sweet things babe I've always wanted to
So tell me now the tail-lights have gone out of sight
Baby won't you be my downfall once again tonight

I still don't believe it, how much we lied
Last night you made it with him now I'm supposed to be dignified
Just like a man

Well I spend my night-times drinking and you spend your days in bed
And I guess it's up to us to choose the methods by which we forget

And just like a man he holds you gently
And just like a man he strokes your hair
And just like a man I still pretend that I'm
Immune to the whole affair

But I wanna die, I wanna cry, I wanna tell you that I was wrong
Yeah I wanna die, I wanna cry but it's too late
So I soldier on just like a man

I don't believe it, you were easy to leave but now
I do my best to relieve it in the only way that I know how
Just like a man

And I don't wanna possess you, and I don't wanna take his place
But I don't wanna see my last few pleasures written all over his face

And just like a man he holds you gently
And just like a man he strokes your hair
And just like a man I still pretend that I'm
Immune to the whole affair

But I wanna die, I wanna cry, I wanna tell you I was wrong
Yeah I wanna die, I wanna cry but it's too late
So I soldier on just like a man

And I have something to tell you but it doesn't matter now
I'll stick to small talk and leave the little bits of flattery to him
I could call you but why would I bother to
You might not be in or he might misunderstand
Just like a man

Look at the fool you have been
They drained the pool while you drowned in the dream
They bought your beauty and your soul
Then softly sold you back what they stole

So look into the mirror do you recognise someone
Is it who you always hoped you would become
When you were young

The disappointment of success
Hangs from your shoulders like a hand-me-down dress
And down nostalgia's rocky road
You watch your former lovers growing old

So look into the mirror do you recognise someone
Is it who you always hoped you would become
When you were young

Sometimes your lack of sympathy gets hard to explain
So on your mask of make-up you just paint
A little parody of pain

So I look into the mirror and I recognise someone
It is who you always hoped you would become
When you were young

Snow in a soulless city covers up the cracks in the road
As a wastrel buys her cigarettes and wipes her pretty nose
Like a part-time Elvis imitator these streets I knew so well
Have been pasted beyond recognition with a temporary smell

Now the midnight train eases out leaving everyone marooned
And without her it might as well be the surface of the moon

From the well-swept streets of Jackson Heights to the dockside drudgery
Everything's now a replica of what it used to be
And since they tarted up the trenches and painted the bridges blue
It seems less like a home to me than just a place they bury you

Now we're lit up like a cathedral in our frozen concrete ruin
And without her it might as well be the surface of the moon

So I need her and I love her that is true
But I'm stuck here like some shipwreck still holding on to you
So when they beat out the tramps and patch up the slums
Everything will be fine
There'll be a new facade for us to hide behind

So on the ancient trails of our coupling in the places we used to meet
I am amazed by the lack of memories that I thought would flood through me
And the riverside where we first kissed has now been reduced
To a phoney old world market where only shoppers get seduced

Now your arms embrace me strangely in your unfamiliar room
And for all I care it might as well be the surface of the moon
Yeh for all I care it might as well be the surface of the moon

Daylight comes with such surprising speed
Yesterday you talked of love; now you want to leave
Don't expect me to stand in your way
I am powerless to alter any action you might take

But I won't take the blame
I was not the one who played the joker in this game
I was not the one who feels nothing anymore
So if you walk out that door
I won't take the blame

As I look at the girl I once adored
You tell me that I hold you back, you tell me that you're bored
So like a pair of clowns we stand around and fight
Why don't you get it over with and walk out on my life?

But I won't take the blame
I was not the one who played the joker in this game
I was not the one who feels nothing anymore
So if you walk out that door
I won't take the blame

And the steps of this stone church are peppered with confetti hearts
Like a million little love affairs waiting to fall apart

And I won't take the blame
I was not the one who played the joker in this game
I was not the one who feels nothing anymore
So if you walk out that door
I won't take the blame
I won't take the blame
I won't take the blame
I won't take the blame

You'll get hooked, you'll get drugged
She'll be your essence she'll be your blood
And you'll want her so much but you'll never get enough
And that's the first rule of love

She'll smell so sweetly in the morning
She'll make you feel so good inside
And you'll want her so much you'll give everything else up
And that's the first rule of love

You'll grow comfortable together
You'll start to fit like hand and glove
And then you'll start to hate the men she used to dream of
And that's the first rule of love

You'll miss her madly, when you're apart
Love is like gravity holding down your heart

You'll grow envious and bitter
She'll be enquiring and concerned
And you'll feel so close to her but never close enough
To get past the first rule of love
And with the awkwardness of strangers
You will finally give up
No exceptions to the first rule of love

Go and tell your mother, go and tell your friends
You've been fooled again
He appeared like magic and he left you on a late night train
Yeh, some things never change

Cos baby the ones that you love lead you nowhere
Yeh baby the ones that you love lead you nowhere

If you could just be patient, pretty soon you would forget his name
And face this world again
If you could just stop looking for someone special
You might save yourself some pain

Cos baby the ones that you love lead you nowhere
Yeh baby the ones that you love lead you nowhere

Every little lie makes you look so dumb
They tell you nobody has ever come as close as you've come
So baby tonight you've got the right to feel so numb

Cos baby the ones that you love lead you nowhere
Yeh baby the ones that you love lead you nowhere

So you're in love with someone else
Someone who burns within your soul
And it looks like I am the last to know
I hear you've never felt so alive
So much desire beyond control
And as usual I am the last to know

The last to know how you're feeling
The last to know where you are
The last to know if you're happy now
Or if he's treating you like I treated you
Or if he's cruel
I'll be the last to know

We spent summers up beyond the bay
And you said these are such perfect days
That if the bomb drops baby
I wanna be the last to know
But now you're living up behind the hill
And though we share the same city and feel the same sun
When your winter comes
I'll be the last to know

Always the last to know how you're feeling
The last to know where you are
The last to know if you're happy now
Or if he's pleaded with you
Like I pleaded with you if you go
Don't let me be the last to know
Don't let me be the last to know

Creation's gone crazy
The TV's gone mad
Now you're the only sane thing that I've had

Always the last to know how you're feeling
The last to know where you are
The last to know if you're happy now
Or if he's cheated on you
Like I cheated on you, oh
You were the last to know
You were the last to know
Don't let me be the last to know

Oh, Oh, Oh.

Don't let me be the last to know

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No.

Roll down the window, let me hear the rain
Let me hear her whispering, honey everything is OK

Cos I've had enough bad news
To last a lifetime
I've had enough bad news
To last a lifetime

Well I drove all night under a seasick sky
And I made it my mid-afternoon
And I hope she's home so she can hold me tight and tell me
Everything is alright

Cos I've had enough bad news
To last a lifetime
I've had enough bad news
To last a lifetime

And I was struck by how much I remembered
And how everything sill looked the same
When a neighbour I met in her hallway said
"Looks like loverboy's too late again"

So take your troublesome baggage
And put it on the next train home
Cos you can guess somewhere else in the world right now
Someone else feels just as alone

Cos I've had enough bad news
I've had enough bad news
I've had enough bad news
To last a lifetime
To last a lifetime
To last a lifetime
To last a lifetime

You'd better get some sleep for a change
Before tomorrow brings you down
By three o'clock they'll both be sitting on that plane
Hopelessly honeymoon bound
And I hope no one asks you to kiss this bride
Or tie tin cans to the car
And if friends and relations mingle outside
You can linger at the bar

So bring on the rainclouds and block out the moon
Let the action begin

You'll feel like some soap opera star
Predictably hitting the booze
With your standard issue broken heart
You step into your Saturday shoes
And you might feel better if you slapped her face
Or slipped some pills in his wine
But instead some voice in your head keeps saying
You'll look back and laugh sometime

So bring on the rainclouds and block out the moon
Let the action begin

Cos it's as sure as sunrise and as sure as time
The bride will be changing and you will be crying
And it will be raining as soon as the tide comes in

So put on your lipstick and check that you hat's straight too
Cos if they can go through with it you can do it too

So bring on the rainclouds and block out the moon
Let the action begin

Cos it's as sure as sunrise and as sure as time
The bride will be changing and you will be crying
And it will be raining as soon as the tide comes in
And it will be raining as soon as the tide comes in

Don't tell her that you want her
Don't ask her to be yours
Don't tell her she is everything

Or she might see the fool behind the frown
And then the heart behind the fool

Don't tell her that you need her
Don't tell her that you care
Don't ask her to hold you

Or she might see the fool behind the frown
And then the heart behind the fool

Behind the cool, there's a dreading that
Someday she'll betray you
Someday she will dispose of
All her photographs of you

So don't tell her when you're lonely
Don't tell her when you're blue
Don't tell her she means everything to you

So don't tell her that you need her
Don't tell her that you care
Don't ask her to hold you

Or she might see the fool behind the frown
And then the heart behind the fool

With the sweet drip of every raindrop
Time brings you closer to me
And with each new sign at every train-stop
Another hour without you is consigned to history

And with each tick of my alarm clock
I get crazy for the days to get to you
When I can hold you and kiss you have you
Instead of staring at some photo like a fool

But as day turns to night there's this hopelessness to fight
When I think that I might not make it through

But honey, sometimes I just have to say your name
To hear it hanging in the air, to know it sounds the same
And sometimes when I'm blue, I know just what to do
To keep the blues at bay you know I only have to say your name

So this morning I picked up a paper
In the useless descent of the rain
While partners in heartbreak the whole world over
Lie and cheat just the same
And the headlines proclaim everything has changed
Love can't save you now
As each little motion of my wristwatch
Holds up my faith somehow

But as day turns to night there's this hopelessness to fight
When I think that I might not make it through

But honey, sometimes I just have to say your name
To hear it hanging in the air, to know it sounds the same
And sometimes when I'm blue, I know just what to do
To keep the blues at bay you know I only have to say your name

When I've used up all my patience
When your letters have been read twenty times through
I can drink all the wine in this place of mine
But it ain't no replacement
It ain't no replacement for you