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

Tropical night, malaria moon
Dying stars of the silver screen
Oh she danced that famous gypsy dance
With a hole in her tambourine

I was young enough and dumb enough
I swallowed down my Mickey Finn
She'd hijacked a few hearts, all right
I went into a tail spin

Oh, don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't stir it up again

I put my arm around her waist
Says she "Young man, you're getting warm"
The room was going somewhere without me
And she laughed as she read my palm

Oh, don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't stir it up again

Oh stillborn love, passionate dreams, pitiful greed
And the silver tongues of the tinker girls
Who throw the book of life at you
But they don't know how to read

She was a third generation Transylvanian
I was the seventh son of a seventh son
I begged the band "Don't play that tune.
Please don't beguine the begun"

When I awoke, she'd cut and run
She stole my blueprints and my change
Just a horseshoe and a note on the bed
And all it read was "Strange"

Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me, don't sing me
Don't sing me no more gypsy love songs
Don't stir it up again

Here we stand in sheets of rain
Parting ways, loved in vain
Never knew you'd be the reckless kind

I reached out to catch your fall
Said you needed a place to crawl
Never knew you'd be the reckless kind

The reckless kind
The reckless kind
You're his, not mine

Say you run with a breakneck crowd
Live your love scenes right out loud
Break hearts all around you're the reckless kind

Said you were well satisfied
Proud to see me by your side
Pride's a worthless thing to the reckless kind

The reckless kind
The reckless kind

Love lies shattered on the ground
Jagged pieces all around
Say you'll come back, but I know you're the restless kind

The reckless kind
The reckless kind

You're his, not mine
His, not mine
The reckless kind
The reckless kind

Jerusalem on the Jukebox, they talk in tongues on Coronation Street
Heaven help the Pharisee whose halo has slipped down to his feet
A thousand satellite comedians have died for your sins
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

At poolside picnics they chant for Ferraris and furs
Their muscle-tone sharpens but their hold on reality blurs
You can have your cake and eat it, and never have to puke up a thing
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

In the bathroom mirror they try that Joan of Arc look again
Two parts Ingrid Bergman to one part Shirley MacLaine
The wounds of time kill you but the surgeon's knife only stings
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

In video-suburbia the blue light flickers and flames
Ecstasy and holy blackmail are the favorite games
And God has the sharpest suit and the cleanest chin
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

The bride checks her hair and her make-up,and here comes the groom
What one-eyed monster comes slouching into your front room
Rudolph Valentino or the curse of the two-legged things
Jerusalem on the jukebox, little angels, beat your wings

It was cruel of you to stand at my door and take my hand
Like a drowning man I clung to my defenses
And ten years is a time but your looks, love, it's a crime
And I lost my tongue in the tangle of my senses
And I never was to know that I'd come to miss you so
But time winds down and I turned my back long ago

But I still dream, oh darling I still dream
Oh I still dream, oh Lord knows I still dream

On the killing floor I stand with a stun gun in my hand
Like a cowboy shooting badmen on the range
And nothing satisfies and the soul inside me dies
As I duck each punch and never risk the change
And now you look at me with that same old used-to-be
Oh but time winds down and I turned my back long ago

But I still dream, oh darling I still dream

Ah but now you look at me with that same old used-to-be
But time winds down and I turned my back long ago

But I still dream, oh darling, darling I still dream
I still dream, oh Lord knows, Lord knows I still dream
Oh I still dream, oh darling, darling, darling I still dream

That gorilla you're dancing with
May not have too long to live
He's putting his hands in the wrong places
Time to rearrange his face
He's gonna dance with me instead
And I'm gonna tap dance on his head

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

He's got the looks, he's got the lolly
Driving me clean off my trolley
Doing the jitterbug, doing the jive
Doing the shimmy, snakes alive
That's not a dance, that's S-E-X
Ban that couple, certificate X

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

Oh I'm a patient man but it's out of hand
If there's one thing that I can't stand

Get your mittens off my gal
Or you'll end up as mincemeat, pal
I've got friends, mean sons
They've got knives, chains, guns
Gas grenades, knuckle-dusters
Lazy Susans, blockbusters

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

I'm sitting here calm as I can
While you polish the floor with another man
I'm not mad, I'm a cuddly toy
Just keep me away from laughing boy
You say he's a relative, some hope
If he's your uncle, I'm the Pope!

Don't tempt me, don't tempt me, don't tempt me
I'm half way out of my seat

G.I. Joe put your gun away
The sun is setting on another day
Why don't you leave me alone
Yankee Go Home

They're burning effigies out in the street
Man the lifeboats, sound the retreat
Pentagon's on the Phone
Yankee Go Home

You can't just kiss and run away
There ain't enough money on a sergeant's pay
When the dance hall girl you banged's in the family way

You turned my sister into a whore
With a pair of silk stockings from the P.X. store
Why don't you leave use alone
Yankee Go Home

My girlfriend won't talk to me
Since she met with a sailor from the land of the free
I'm tired of being alone
Yankee Go Home

I've lost count of the chewing gum that I've had
And vodka-cola make my teeth go bad
We'll handle this on our own
Yankee Go Home

Dow Jones going into a stall
Spray paint saying it on every wall
The climb was fine, now it's time to decline and fall

Overpaid, oversexed and over here
get smart, gringo, disappear
The Hun's at the gates of Rome
Yankee Go Home

I started to cry, they put gin in my cup
I started to crawl, and they swaddled me up
I got up and run, they said "Easy, son,
Play up, play the game"

They told me to think and forget what I'd heard
They told me to lie and they questioned my word
They told me to fail, better sink than sail,
Just play the game

Oh, towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land
Oh, a curse on your house and your children and the fruit of your hand

They said "You can't win. You can't win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can't win. You can't win.
Turn the cheek. Take it on the chin.
Don't you dare do this. Don't you dare do that"
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some
I don't know who you think you are, who you think you are

Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons?
Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues
Ah better to leave than stay here and grieve
And play the game

Don't waken the dead as you sleepwalk around
If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound
Just stand there and rust, die if you must
But play the game

Oh, if we can't have it, why should a wretch like you?
Oh, it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too.

They said "You can't win. You can't win.
You sweat blood. You give in.
You can't win. You can't win.
Turn the cheek. Take it on the chin.
Don't you dare do this. Don't you dare do that"
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Oh, the nerve of some people, the nerve of some people,
The nerve of some people
I don't know who you think you are
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people

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

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
The dogs of money all at his heel
Magicians cry "Oh truth! Oh real!"
We're all working for the Pharaoh

A thousand eyes, a thousand ears
He feeds us all, he feeds our fears
Don't stir in your sleep tonight, my dears
We're all working for the Pharaoh

It's Egypt land, Egypt land
We're all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don't you understand
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Hidden from the eye of chance
The men of shadow dance a dance
We're all struck into a trance
We're all working for the Pharaoh

The idols rise into the sky
Pyramids soar, Sphinxes lie
Head of dog, Osiris eye
We're all working for the Pharaoh

And it's Egypt land, Egypt land
We're all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don't you understand
We're all working for the Pharaoh

I dig a ditch, I shape a stone
Another battlement for his throne
Another day on earth is flown
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Call it England, you call it Spain
Egypt rules with a whip and chain
Moses free my people again
We're all working for the Pharaoh

And it's Egypt land, Egypt land
We're all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don't you understand
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
Around his feet the princes kneel
Far beneath we shoulder the wheel
We're all working for the Pharaoh