Love Letter to a Younger Self

And one day you will be very happy
And all of today will be over
And you will fall in love
And you will not die before you are ready
And you will be a father and a mother
And you will shed your skin and grow
Your life has only just begun
And those powerhouse kisses will never be undone
And you will see through the blur of rain the path from town to city
And you will free yourself in tears from the broken life you lead
For the greatest journey has only just begun

This is a love letter to a younger self
And you will feel things that will never be undone

And you will flirt with fame until you achieve peace
No more chasing thumbs that don’t exist
And strive to be a sentient thing turn up one lonely light at least
You won't believe how good this can be
You’ll jump from bridges into lakes and scream
Drink in what’s most beautiful in this mouth watering life
And only then you will know the goddam world is mad
But that’s all you really need to know for now
Deny the ghastly beasts and you will overcome

This is a love letter to a younger self
And you will feel the things that will never be undone

Then one night walking home missing someone un-yet born
You will feel a love and you won’t know why
Some things we still do not have the privileges to know
You will always dream that you’re awake
Let your painting never be untitled now
And peace will come and hold you down
For the thing you were looking for you found
And nobody cares about your shoes
And we are wonderful
The more you’ll be the more you’ll know
And I haven’t even got to music yet
But it will come

This is a love letter to a younger self
And you will feel the things that will never be undone

And you’ll have a thing with code and make love with life
And know the fake and empty feeling deep inside
You are young and it will pass
And you shall dance with tzars with slaughterhouse hearts
And you shall witness the last great polar bear
And kneel to the smell of death on Earth
The carnival of life is just a smile away
And you know sometimes life has to be let go
And from a taxman bayou someone kind will call you home
And you will sense in dreams and feel mankind
Life’s greatest gift is already with you
Your revolution has begun

This is a love letter to a younger self
And you will feel things that will never be undone

Ten Ton Dreams

Worse than we hoped
Is what they wrote
Where the fuck is Heaven
Dare you to tell em
I gotta go

Tragedy heaves
No one really believes
If you find my soul
Sure it bleeds
I gotta go

And I’ve been cursed
Big bag of words
Not what I mean
Eavesdropping dream
I gotta go

Life’s a cover
Just buried my mother
Good people cry
Epidemic of the lie
I gotta go

Romantic being
Heal the living
Just running up a hill
Just doin’ my thing
I gotta go

I don’t belong here
There's a smell of tears
Not another wall
Gonna make em hate em all
I gotta go

How long's it been
Mortal beings
Ten ton dreams
I gotta go

Our Borrowed Youth Has Been Kind

We lit igloos in candlelight
Stand back and cried
Neath a full-blooded moon
You wore your Devil's eyes
Let honesty be brave
Nature must never behave
And you live it
Without compromise

And these paintings of you
They all look like love
We sip from the well
Artist and muse
And you darken your eyes
Rub your heart against mine
You wearing wool
Over jailhouse tattoos

We waltzed on the deck
Your tongue still wet
We sailed at night
From London to Montenegro
Life’s not about time
Bulletproof love is hard to find
There’s never a good time to let go
And shore cafes and Russian spies
Girls lay their hands between their thighs
She takes the mic
And screams her goodbye low

The world turned for this
Over millions of years
We paint our rooms naked
Light fires and hide
Banished and bruised
This life's well used
Pull upon the oars
Our borrowed youth has been kind

Michelangelo & Me

And we talked about Man Ray and Copernicus
The physics paper was due Monday you’d smash it outta the park
My phone had died and we left the party dead
But the air was so good, youth is unwritten
Walked by the canal, smoked a pack of Camels
You said the dark has a thing with the light

At the circus people didn’t look like a Diane Arbus anymore
The illusionist granted me a wish before we left
You said my pupils dilate when Peacocks scream
And through the garden laughter bled way beyond the balcony’s light
My diary provocative with the terms of incoming love
You’re not alone
Michelangelo and me just walking home

You made light of the books you wear so eloquently
You flattered me and I would take a leading role in your dreams
The sun bowed to the moon and we were formed
As a child I’d been happy
Dare we deserve so much
I would allow you to lead me to the ferryman
You held my hand like a carpenter

There is so much love
Don’t compromise to make it fit
Music was missing but not for long
Said you’d asked your father if he would kill the man that killed you
Your father said only if it would bring you back to life
Love is never what you get left with
You’re not alone
Michelangelo and me just walking home

Makers of Love

And the whole world is rollin'
Jazz don’t care
Oh the makers of love
To those that can’t feel it
It don’t mean it aint there

Black tobacco in the morning
Just fixin up the boat
Seas are dreamy ‘neath a certain meridian
Put on Eric Dolphy
It’s good enough to quote

And the whole world's been watching
Nobody laughed
They hold babies and cried
And for a moment our connection you could feel it
Be in the company of children a while

Just got back from Barcelona
Been playin’ to the Barcelona girl
Over there they say the leaders don’t deserve us
Pull down the factory build a mountain
Oh this pretty blue world

Double bass in the corner
Gear oil for my gears
Two pianos preachin’ to the strangers
Woman didn’t leave
Smile made of tears

Pretty Mandarin lady
What you innocent of
The boys’ll stay on it until they save ya
Hand over the world
To the makers of love

Just Is

The universe can be neither finite or endless
We have yet the substance or power to know
But we will
Paint her belly in ribbons
Infants in our bed
Flowers and poetry now
And from a torn worldscape a mother will make a home
The alchemy of laundered love
Rambunctious acts of human touch
And the echoing harmonics of a call to prayer
Your ancient brain is golden
Trust it, it aint broken
You can feel love in the dark you can sense it there
There’s no evidence of the soul the heart is just an organ
Our stupidities are not our sorrows
Sorrows are forged in love

Just is
Just is

But we are not here forever
We’re here for moonbeams and architecture
And for that which will make you weep because you can
Associate man with love
Engineer the power of us
And I know you’ve been where the light is dark too long
She threw down her veil and blushed
With Raven wings and vulgar eyes of love
What do I have to be part of to qualify for heaven
And I have lived and they have died
Been seduced and I have idolised
But beauty has no value beneath the dark
Life’s a gift that only you can open
Let it lift you when your dancing shoes are broken
And the planet emptied for us to have our moment

Just is
Just is

Little Boat

And a slim torso is the only thing truly attractive about a man
The little boat's radio was out of range of the land
And the pirates would be out there circling the bounty on board
The little boat's candle danced I wretched and vomited some more
The seas were plotting for a storm oh come its tantalising roar
Mother nature laid her hand upon me always too late come the lord

But what was coming I could feel and I was bathed in moon glow
Oh Mother Nature hold me
This is not time to let go
And if the storm didn’t get us now we were being hunted at sea
My anchor my captain my love not even you can rescue me
With baby love in my blood in amniotic peace before war
The radio coughed and it cried
Little boat calling to shore

Then they boarded our boat
Pirate eyes upon me
Ship-wrecked now and scared
Just a cargo of three
Pirate took off his shirt and came and stood where I stand
Tattoo full on his chest was the Vitruvian man
I closed my eyes as in prayer
Mother Nature wrap me in your wings
And they dragged us back home
From some pirates are born kings

Mathematics and Love

Think running water
And oh it's been dark

Been to Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso
Feel em they bring on the world

We’re wise and wounded
But we carry each other
They burn juniper to light up the road

If you need saving - oh it’s the save ya

We belong to each other how dare you
There's a mark on tomorrow
Where once we gave the world mathematics and love

We’ll bring the music
Abracadabra

Its a place full of children
Nothing else is important
Like folds in nostalgia

They’re a side order of love

Witching away our future
Stop with the crying
We belong to each other

Screaming into camera man that’s enough

Stop hating each other
It cancels us out
You bet ya
Where once we gave the world mathematics and love

Here we are
Think it over

We can do better
Just look what we did
We’re infinite monkeys right

You better believe it

Life is a long time
To do something you hate
Hold on to the kissing

Allow it

Burn down your honour
Think hard and humble
Hands up
We’re not perfect

But we gave the world mathematics and love

Ice Fishing

You fed me where I was at my hungriest
On every example that you write
As the sun makes a black sky blue
The signature flirtation of moon darks the light
In an ice cabin you came to finish your book

The boys are coming home from ice fishing
The girls will warm em up
There’s a light on in here
There’s some whiskey in a cup
And we’re alive today
Let that be enough

They wouldn’t allow him to call his daughter
The ancient Arabic word for rain
From the parquet floors of the institute
The little darlings will make good in their beds again
They empty the shelter line soup upon the street

Stand up tall to the fighting man
Look him in the eye
Youths in love with the world again
Make love where the ministries used to lie
And you can ride with me
It's how it feels to be alive

Let it be enough
Let it be enough

Somewhere beyond the factory gates
Where they gave their lives away
Girls and boys are reading books
Being young is not enough today
And the pencil cranes they fill the sky

For the ice fisherman are coming home
To immeasurable acts of love
Light her curves read her lines
Everything else can be given up
But we’re alive today
Let that be enough

Let that be enough
Let that be enough

The Half Light

And I still see you in the half light looking out to sea
You said down at the war rooms they’re making bad memories
And the high-wire talked down the woman who should never be there
At the patisserie she kissed her lover and a man threw a bouquet in the air

They hang their flags from the windows to look like they won
Come on people come on

Voluptuous beauty like sculpture and the rain felt like stone
You feel the exact moment of conception in the half light alone
As the World's circus and straight lines tumble into view
The ballet dancer can hold herself in the air longer than you

They hang their flags from their windows to look like they won
Come on people come on

And the steeple has fallen and the ancient bell tolled
As the critic kissed the artist and the writer kissed the world

They hang their flags from their windows just to look like they won
Come on people come on

Capital of the Moon

You gave us trees we wanted vines
You gave us life we want more time
Prayers are silent when we go
Undeclared us God let the future know
Capital of the moon light our way home

From the theatre of earth we were forged in love
Filled the sky with smoke the soil with blood
Nowhere left to run our centuries are few
Close your eyes no more life needs you
Capital of the moon light our way home

Chocolate Box

Ten Dakota days
In a motel forgot its name
What you give and what you get are not the same

The widows are weeping poems
Someone tickled across that old box of bones
Give me a drink before I die and I’ll explain

You throw down your heart like a glove
Someone is sure to pick it up
Tell me untitled love
Are we dancing in our blood again

And I know this chocolate box is not for free
But you rented a light on in a hotel not for me
And our photograph has run outta words
And so have we

So I smoke a cigarette
Breathe in the ghost long ago laid to rest
Tell me girl
Did you slip from your ring and your pretty dress

And I sleep now hard and torn
Where once wisdom smelled like the newly born
Let me uncork it now
In the punch drunk capital of the world

Chorus

We All Owe Death a Life

We all owe death a life
Beneath the shadows where the blossoms fall
Those hungry old souls are just waiting to carry you home
Mama lay me back in the night
And some of these diamonds are no good
Down here some of these angels are misunderstood
And I’m holdin’ on the best that I can for a pardon of light
We all owe death a life

And to those hungry ghosts
Who take the most
It’s wrong to hand death more than one life

And I’ve heard it can be a beautiful thing
When you’ve squeezed all the life outta this flame that you’ve been
And you reach your furthest path from where you were born
Life where have you gone
But you have felt the magic of being in love
And the holy moments stoking bodies that blush
Return to the Earth now
From where no one can hide
We all owe death a life

And to those hungry ghosts
Who take the most
For now love this thing we call life