Richard Thompson Album

How many boys, one night stands,
How many lips, how many hands, have held you
Like I'm holding you tonight
Too many nights, staying up late,
Too much powder and too much paint
No you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Did they run their fingers up and down your shabby dress
Did they find some tender moment there in your caress

The boys all say "You look so fine"
They don't come back for a second time
Oh you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Poor little sailor boy, never set eyes on a woman before
Did he tell you that he'd love you, darling, for evermore?

Pretty little shoes, cheap perfume,
Creaking bed in a hotel room
Oh you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Did they run their fingers up and down your shabby dress
Did they find some tender moment there in your caress

The boys all say "You look so fine",
They don't come back for a second time
Oh you can't hide from the turning of the tide

Oh play me a blues song and fade down the light
I'm sad as a proud man can be sad tonight
Just let me dream on, oh just let me sway
While the sweet violins and the saxophones play
And Miss, you don't know me, but can't we pretend
That we care for each other till the band reach the end

One step for aching and two steps for breaking
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love
One step for sighing and two steps for crying
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

Now they say love's for gamblers, oh the pendulum swings
I bet hard on love and I lost everything
So don't send me home now, put a shot in my arm
And we'll drink out old memories and we'll drink in the dawn
And Mr. Bandleader, won't you play one more time
For I've good folding money in this pocket of mine

One step for aching, two steps for breaking
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love
One step for sighing and two steps for crying
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

Oh Miss, you don't know me, but can't we pretend
That we care for each other till the band reach the end

Oh, one step for aching, two steps for breaking
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love
One step for sighing, two steps for crying
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love
Waltzing's for dreamers and losers in love

Said Red Molly to James that's a fine motorbike
A girl could feel special on any such like
Said James to Red Molly, my hat's off to you
It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952
And I've seen you at the corners and cafes it seems
Red hair and black leather, my favourite colour scheme
And he pulled her on behind
And down to Boxhill they did ride

Said James to Red Molly, here's a ring for your right hand
But I'll tell you in earnest I'm a dangerous man
I've fought with the law since I was seventeen
I robbed many a man to get my Vincent machine
Now I'm 21 years, I might make 22
And I don't mind dying, but for the love of you
And if fate should break my stride
Then I'll give you my Vincent to ride

Come down, come down, Red Molly, called Sergeant McRae
For they've taken young James Adie for armed robbery


Shotgun blast hit his chest, left nothing inside
Oh, come down, Red Molly to his dying bedside
When she came to the hospital, there wasn't much left
He was running out of road, he was running out of breath
But he smiled to see her cry
And said I'll give you my Vincent to ride

Says James, in my opinion, there's nothing in this world
Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeveses won't do
They don't have a soul like a Vincent 52
He reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys
He said I've got no further use for these
I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome
Swooping down from heaven to carry me home
And he gave her one last kiss and died
And he gave her his Vincent to ride

She said "Darling I'm in love with your mind.
The way you care for me, it's so kind.
Love to see you again, I wish I had more time".

She was laughing as she brushed my cheek
"Why don't you call me, angel, maybe next week
Promise now, cross your heart and hope to die".

But I misunderstood, but I misunderstood, but I misunderstood
I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying good bye
But I misunderstood, but I misunderstood, but I misunderstood
I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying good bye

Things I tried to put shine in her eyes
Wire wheels and shimmering things
Wild nights when the whole world seemed to fly

She said "The thing that's so unique
When we're together we don't have to speak.
We'll always be such good friends, you and I"

Oh but I misunderstood, but I misunderstood, but I misunderstood
I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying good bye
But I misunderstood, but I misunderstood, but I misunderstood
I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying good
I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying good
I thought she was saying good luck, she was saying goodbye

Oh, she was saying goodbye, oh, she was saying goodbye
Oh, she was saying, saying, saying, saying

I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight
I feel so good I'm going to take someone apart tonight
They put me in jail for my deviant ways
Two years seven months and sixteen days
Now I'm back on the street in a purple haze

And I feel so good, and I feel so good
Well I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight

I feel so good I'm going to make somebody's day tonight
I feel so good I'm going to make somebody pay tonight
I'm old enough to sin but I'm too young to vote
Society's been dragging on the tail of my coat
Now I've got a suitcase full of fifty pound notes
And a half-naked woman with her tongue down my throat

And I feel so good, and I feel so good
Oh I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight

They made me pay for the things I've done
Now it's my turn to have all the fun
Well I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight

And I feel so good, I feel so good
Well I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight
Oh Oh Oh
I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight
Hm break somebody's heart
Break somebody's heart
Hm break somebody's heart
Oh break somebody's heart

If I cross your path again
Who knows where, who knows when
On some morning without number, on some highway without end
Don't grasp my hand and say
"Fate has brought you here today"
Oh, fate is only fooling with us, friend

Keep your distance, oh, keep your distance
When I feel you close to me, what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, keep your distance
Ah with us it must be all or none at all

It's a desperate game we play
Throw our souls, our lives, away
Wounds that can't be mended and debts that can't be paid
Oh, I played and I got stung
Now I'm biting back my tongue
I'm sweeping out the footprints where I strayed

Keep your distance, keep your distance
When I feel you close to me what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, oh, keep your distance
With us it must be all or none at all

Keep your distance, oh keep your distance
When I feel you close to me what can I do but fall
Keep your distance, oh, keep your distance
With us it must be all or none at all
With us it must be all or none at all
With us it must be all or none at all

Let me rock you in my arms
I'll hold you safe and small
A refugee from the Seraphim
In your rich girl rags and all
Did your dreams die young
Were they too hard won
Did you reach too high and fall
And there is no rest
For the ones God blessed
And he blessed you best of all
Your eyes seem from a different face
They've seen that much that soon
Your cheek too cold, too pale to shine
Like an old and waning moon
And there is no peace
No true release
No secret place to crawl
And there is no rest
For the ones God blessed
And he blessed you best of all
If tears unshed could heal your heart
If words unsaid could sway
Then watch you melt into the night
with Adieu, and rue the day
Did your dreams die young
Were they too hard won
Did you reach too high and fall
And there is no rest
For the ones God blessed
And he blessed you best of all
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In my nightmare everything's wrong
I'm waiting for love, but you come along
You smile, you wave, you great me, Ciao!
but you seem too happy to see me somehow
Then the sky falls in on my head
Your nails grow long, your eyes turn red
You say, forever dear and a day
You promise you're never going to go away
And my feet won't move when I run the other way
CHORUS
I can't wake up to save my life
I can't wake up to save my life
In my nightmare you forgive me
The cruellest gift you could ever give me
You say that you understand me now
But your eyes say, brother, I'll get you somehow
Then the lightning streaks across the room
You smell like something fresh from the tomb
You squeeze too hard, you iinsist on kissing
When it seems like half your face is missing
And your hair's turned into reptiles hissing
CHORUS
Things I done make my dreams go bad
Like Borstal boys coming home to Dad
What ye reap so shall ye sow
Now shake me, wake me, go man go
CHORUS
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I was nineteen when I came to town, they called it the Summer of Love
They were burning babies, burning flags. The hawks against the doves
I took a job in the steamie down on Cauldrum Street
And I fell in love with a laundry girl who was working next to me

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

Brown hair zig-zag around her face and a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes
She said "Young man, oh can't you see I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind"

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine that I might crush her where she lay
She was a lost child, she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

We busked around the market towns and picked fruit down in Kent
And we could tinker lamps and pots and knives wherever we went
And I said that we might settle down, get a few acres dug
Fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug
She said "Oh man, you foolish man, it surely sounds like hell.
You might be lord of half the world, you'll not own me as well"

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
She said "As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay.
And you wouldn't want me any other way"

We was camping down the Gower one time, the work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost and I thought maybe we should
We was drinking more in those days and tempers reached a pitch
And like a fool I let her run with the rambling itch

Oh the last I heard she's sleeping rough back on the Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket and a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even married once, a man named Romany Brown
But even a gypsy caravan was too much settling down
And they say her flower is faded now, hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just the price you pay for the chains you refuse

Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee's wing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste all of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Well I wouldn't want her any other way

If that was our goodbye kiss
Seems a habit too good to miss
Once more for the memory
Hit the heights too well that time
To leave it there would be a crime
Seems more like beginning to me

At least we tried, took the biggest bite
Least we did it right
With all our soulds and all our might

Blue murder on the dance floor
French kisses in the rain
Blood wedding in the water
Till I see you again
Dutch courage is the game
And the ghost of you walks, the ghost of you walks
The ghost of you walks

The ghost of you walks right through my head
Sleepwalks at the foot of my bed
Sends old shivers over my skin
Love like that, won't let go
It's got some kind of a mind of its own
I can't break out and I can't break in

At least we lived, took it all at a rush
At least we loved too much
Felt too much, cared too much

Blue murder on the dance floor
French kisses in the rain
Blood wedding in the water
Till I see you again
Dutch courage is the game
And the ghost of you walks, the ghost of you walks
The ghost of you walks

After the death of a thousand kisses
Comes the catacomb of tongues
Who can spit the meanest venom
From the poison of their lungs

Cruelest dance is the razor dance
Circle in and circle around
He said, she said, she said, he said
Thrill to put the other one down
The razor dance, the razor dance

This time, gone too far
This time, can't heal the scar
I want to break out of this spin
But gravity's pulling me in
The razor dance, the razor dance

What flies straighter than an arrow
What cuts deeper than a lance
Your wit may shine on the withering line
Cruelest dance is the razor dance
The razor dance, the razor dance

Blood boils, tears burn
Some people never learn
If time could crawl back in its shell
And mischievous tongues could untell
But that's not the meaning of Hell

Take your partners for the razor dance
Take your partners for the razor dance
Take your partners for the razor dance
The razor dance
The razor dance, the razor dance

Here I am in your room going through your stuff
Said you'd be gone five minutes, that's time enough
Here in your drawer there's lacy things
Old credit cards and beads and bangles and rings
Well I think I've found what I'm looking for
Hidden away at the back of the drawer
Here's the life that you led before

Old photographs of the life you led
Arm in arm with Mr X Y and Z
Old boyfriends big and small
Got to see how I measure up to them all
There is a place we all must start, love
Who were you holding in that fond embrace
I've found a door into your heart, love
And do you still feel the warmth of cold kisses

Here I am behind enemy lines
Looking for secrets, looking for signs
Old boyfriends big and small
Got to see how I measure up to them all
This one's handsome, not too bright
This one's clever with his hands alright
Tougher than me if it came to a fight
And this one's a poet, a bit of a wet
Bit of a gypsy, a bit of a threat
I wonder if she's got over him yet

Old passions frozen in the second
Who were you holding in that fond embrace
Hearts have a past that must be reckoned
And do you still feel the warmth of cold kisses

Time to put the past away
That's your footstep in the street I'd say
Tie the ribbon back around it
Everything just the way I found it
And I can hear you turn the key
And my head's buried when you see me
In a Margaret Miller mystery
And do you still feel the warmth of cold kisses
Do you still feel the warmth of cold kisses

Bathsheba smiles
She smiles and veins turn to ice
She smiles and heads bow down
She works the room
Air-kisses every victim twice
She spreads her joy around

Do you close your eyes to see miracles
Do you raise your face to kiss angels
Do you float on air to hear oracles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
No doubt can cross her mind
Cross her mind

Bathsheba knows
She knows you better than yourself
Confess it on your knees
She shares her love
And sharing love is sharing wealth
Dig in your pockets please

Do you close your eyes to see miracles
Do you raise your face to kiss angels
Do you float on air to hear oracles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
No doubt can cross her mind

No pain no gain's a strain
But she never seems to hurt
Catwalk pilgrims sing this song
Hello heaven, goodbye dirt
And no hair shirt

Do you close your eyes to see miracles
Do you raise your face to kiss angels
Do you float on air to hear oracles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
No doubt can cross her mind

Do you close your eyes
Do you raise your face
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
Bathsheba smiles, smiles
Bathsheba smiles

Well, there's a house
In an alley,
In the squats and low rise
In a town with no future,
But that's where my future lies

It's a secret, but no secret
It's a rule, but no rule,
Where you find the darkest avenue,
You'll find the brightest jewel.

Now, my name, it is Mulvaney
And I'm known quite famously,
People speak my name in whispers,
What higher praise can there be?

But I'd trade my fine mohair,
For tie-dyes and faded jeans,
If she wanted me some other way,
She's my cooksferry queen.

She gave me one pill to get bigger,
She gave me one pill to get small,
I saw snakes dancin' all around my feet
And dead men comin' through the wall.

Well, I'm the prince of this parish,
I've been ruthless and I've been mean
but she blew my mind, and she opened my eyes, she's my cooksferry queen.

Well, she's got every way perfection,
All her looks beyond compare
She's got dresses that seem to float in the wind,
Pre-Raphaelite curls in her hair.

She could get the lame to walk, yeah
She could get the blind to see,
She could make wine out of Thames river water,
She could make a believer out of me.

Yes I'd trade it all tomorrow,
All the wicked things I've been
She's my bright jewel of the alley,
She's my cooksferry queen.

Yes I'd trade it all tomorrow,
All the wicked things I've been
She's my bright jewel of the alley,
She's my cooksferry queen.

Only a misdirected dart
At an unprotected heart
I'm sure it happens every day
Just a passing interlude
A fresh face to change the mood
I'll find my feet again you say

What rock I had you rolled
What rock I had you rolled away

But I live as best I can
Meet the uninhabited man
Please read the sign and walk away
What an old dry shell I am
The uninhabited man
I'll find my feet again you say

No doubt they'll pull me down
No doubt they'll pull me down someday

Who's been sleeping in my bed
Who's been sleeping in my bed

Who's been sitting in my chair
Who's been licking in my bowl
Who's been sleeping in my bed

A romantic ruin am I
Funny how I catch the eye
The vacuum slowly sucks you in
I'm left no skill, no art
To meet you heart to heart
You'll find no me beneath the skin
And if there's no me then there's no
And if there's no me then there's no sin

Who's been sleeping in my bed
Who's been sleeping in my bed

And who's been sitting in my chair
Who's been licking in my bowl
Who's been sleeping in my bed

Oh the last bus has gone
Or maybe I'm wrong
It just doesn't exist
And the words that flew
Between me and you
I must be crossed off your list
So I'm walking the long miles home
I don't mind losing you
In fact I feel better each step of the way
In the dark I rehearse all the right things to say
I'll be home, I'll be sober by break of day
Walking the long miles home

Not a soul is around
As I put more ground
Between me and you
And the whole town's asleep
Or maybe they're deep in the old "voulez vous"
So I'm walking the long miles home
And I don't mind losing you
Got the moon there for company each step of the way
And the rhythm in my shoes keep the blues all away
When you ride Shanks's Pony you don't have to pay
Walking the long miles home

Oh the party was grand
But I hadn't quite planned on staying so long
And while you accused me
The hours confused me and my friends had all gone
So I'm walking the long miles home
And I don't mind losing you
Ah there's nobody out but the cop on the beat
He's snoring so loud I don't hear my feet
I just laugh to myself and move off down the street
Walking the long miles home
I'm walking the long miles home
Oh walking the long miles home

You and I
Tempted by the promise of a different life
Time has fled
There's a constant battle running through my head
I don't know what to do
'Cause I still believe
After all the foolish things you've put me through
I could always make a start on something new
And I'll always be a man who's open to
Persuasion

Blind romance
There'll be no half measures given half a chance
But we never learn
Trusting in the fire while the cruel flame burns
And we need to rebuild
What was never there
What got left behind
After all the foolish things that we've been through
I could always make a start on something new
And I'll always be a man who's open to
Persuasion

And it's written in the my heart
So that everybody can see it

And it's written in my soul
After all, I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it

I don't know what to do
'Cause I still believe
After all the foolish things you put me through
I could always make a start with something new
And I'll always be a man who's open to
Persuasion
Persuasion
Persuasion
Persuasion
I still believe it
I still believe it
Persuasion
I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it
Persuasion
Persuasion

My sweetheart she bounced right out of my arms
She was gone before I remembered to cling
Did I reach out too slowly to catch her
Or was she by nature a slippery thing

Into the arms of Mr Rebound
Into the arms of Clean Up Joe
Into the arms of Mr Rebound
Mr Rebound, as if I didn't know

He'll give her laughs and he'll give her dreams
I gave her the kids and the pots and pans
He'll do for the dash and he'll do for the sprint
But he won't do for a marathon man

I know for a fact that she ain't coming back
To tell you the truth, I'm a little bit glad
She may be blind with the things on her mind
But how can she stand to touch something that bad

I don't want to be your friend anymore
You've got fifty friends knocking at your door
Life is short so please understand
I'm fully qualified to be your man

You know zoology is up my street
And your anatomy is far from discreet
I'm good and ready for my entrance exam
I'm fully qualified to be your man

I've been studying your every need
I've got statistics that'll make you plead
I'll put my thesis right in your hand
I'm fully qualified to be your man

Maroon room, perfumes of Araby
Sineads in braids in shades of Carnaby

Now there's diplomas you can get in the mail
And there's diplomas you can get in jail
But I'm a genius at being your fan
I'm fully qualified to be your man

Crystal balls and shawls and lava lamps
I'm a counter culture vulture
Don't put the damps on me

Now you're my favorite subject or two
I've been really boning up on you
Let me know when it's safe to land
I'm fully qualified to be your man