Steve Hackett Album

Take these pearls from an oyster shell
From the depths of the ocean bed
From the bottom of the sea like a wishing well

Take these stones fashioned into jewels
Like the essence of a half remembered song
From the crust of the earth to the limits of the sky

Take these stones fashioned into jewels
Like the essence of a half remembered song
From the crust of the earth to the limits of the sky

Dark as night, dark as the grave
Dark wherein my friend is laid
Sleepwalkers fill the boulevards
Pretty girls and backward boys
All the voices can be heard, an opera of the absurd

Dark as night, dark as the grave
Dark wherein my friend is laid
We welcome you, we welcome you
The world of chaos far away
As the crowd of mourners said
"Tragedy is nothing new"

Dark as night

Dark as night, dark as the grave
Dark wherein my friend is laid

I'd like to paint your beauty all over the world
I'd like to paint your sadness

I'd like to paint your picture all over the world

Standing under the lamplight
In one of the nicer parts of hell
Behold this dreamer with rich red ruby lips
Some pay for the privilege
And some just pay to talk
Because there are many sides to the night

When Father Thames lies sleeping
His ever watchful sons
Divide up the spoils of the day's takings
A woman's work is never ever done
She's a child a slave a teacher and a fool
And then she vanishes from sight
Did no one ever tell you
There are many sides to the night

Standing under the lamplight
Selling perfume sweetcorn and lace
She looks beautiful from a distance
But it's too dark to see her face
I do it for my child alone
And who would say it's just not right
Verily I say unto you
There are many sides to the night

Like an arrow in the night
Like an arrow by the day

Come away from your bed at night
Leave all those empty halls behind
Have no fear of death, have no fear of life
The taste of victory ahead, the spirit never dies
Like an arrow in the night
Like an arrow by the day

A mission bell by the ghostly station
Tolling in the wind
The veins in your hand
Stretch like broken trees of winter
The last call the last port of entry
Like an arrow in the night
Like an arrow by the day

[No lyrics]

I see the valleys, I see the streams
I see the mountains and what's in between
I hear thunder fall from the sky
I see a world lost in your eyes

In my dreams I see you smile
I feel the sun, I want to stay for a while
I hear music just makes me cry
I see a world lost in your eyes

A one horse town, A dirt road
Way in the desert where the cactus grow
I hear you calling me mile after mile
I see a world lost in your eyes

With Lana Turner on the screen beside me
The frame is hardly filled by Orson Wells
We switch into a Fred and Ginger number
That they're dancing oh so well

Blowing the blues all night
I'm sure I heard someone say
Stars never fade and everyone's dying to play
In Little America

We got a Chinese Elvis painted by Norman Rockwell
His part tonight will be played by Richard Pryor
The Mason Dixon line divides the free from all the rest so you can sell
Oklahoma to Cinderella from Long Island
And everyone's dying to play
In Little America

Lower your standards raise your prices on cable TV
Pretty woman seen at the death of a salesman
All covered with cream

And everyone's dying to play
In Little America

Standard bearers march to the tick of the clock
It's a war against time when you're fronting the flock
Determined resolute defiant and strong
Noble and Savage know they belong

In the heart of the city

The battlefield of love a ruffled feathered bed
From fluid moist lips the benediction's said
You love them and leave them with yesterday's guilt
Everything's on schedule in the empire that you built

In the heart of the city

You close a deal Thursday at 7.45
The train home is empty you're the only man alive
You throw away your clothes in a house of clouds
The window is sealed the furniture in shrouds

In the heart of the city

As New Orleans slips far away
When the gas lights dim and the street cars fade
When the beast within takes on a new shape
The blood runs cold make no mistake

You're just a vampyre with a healthy appetite
And you stay awake half the night

A band strikes up and they're starting to play
When the sirens wail but they're way too late
The crowds don't see they're drunk anyway
The inquest said it was coming her way

You're just a vampyre with a healthy appetite
And you stay awake half the night

Well you ran to ground as you always do
And then they finally caught up with you
Well they sent you down and Old Smokey was waiting
But pressure groups being what they are these days
You were released after five years at a funny farm
In upstate bankrupt New York
To walk the streets once more

[No lyrics]