1. |
Only One Way
02:53
|
|||
Only One Way
When you’re looking at life on the brim
And trying to figure out if you remember how to swim
You only find out if you jump right in
That there’s only one way, only one way
When the writing on the road says slow
And the people in the back seat ask which way to go
The truth is they already know
That there’s only one way, only one way
CHORUS
We have to break all the rules they make
And take all the risks they say we won’t take
We have to make all the trouble we can
Only one way
Only one way
And when every single sound you hear makes no sense
And your arse is sore with sitting on the fence
And the scale of the problem is larger than immense
There’s only one way
And when a genocidal maniac talks about grief
And you kinda get the feeling that there’s nothing underneath
But you can’t believe a man would lie through such nice teeth
Only one way
CHORUS X 2
And when you’re thinking that there’s nothing you can do
But eat what they feed you like a monkey in the zoo
Just remember that they want you to believe that’s true
And there’s only one way, only one way
CHORUS X 3
|
||||
2. |
Faultlines
03:16
|
|||
Faultlines
Have you ever held something
until your hands were aching?
And then let it go and watched it fall
and listened to it breaking?
I have held back time and tide
when all the world was plenty
But now my hands are open wide,
open wide and empty
For every breath that leaves me now
another comes to fill me.
And for every death that grieves me now,
the next one will surely kill me.
For those borders crumble every day,
the fault-lines are showing.
And all I thought was here to stay
slowly is going
History abandons us
and we’re holding on, holding on
to nothing but dirt and dust.
We’re holding on, holding on
While those borders crumble every day,
the fault-lines are showing.
And all I thought was here to stay
slowly is going.
Have you ever held something
until your hands were aching?
Then let it go and watched it fall
and listened to it breaking?
|
||||
3. |
Four Strong Walls
03:47
|
|||
Four Strong Walls
You put me back together again
just when I thought I was broken forever
So broken that nothing on this earth could mend me
You out me back together again
You out me back together again
Just like a puzzle with no pieces missing
I see myself as you see me my friend
You put me back together again
CHORUS
When everything else in this world
Flickers and falters and falls
And the thunder is under our feet
You feel like four strong walls
You put me back together again
Just like the trick with the saw and the lady
Everything draws to itself in the end
You put me back together again
CHORUS X 2
|
||||
4. |
||||
The Sun's Comin' Over The Hill
Six rain ridden summers and he still had an eye for me
He kissed me each evening and told me he’d die for me
And then he ran off the road, full of whisky and irony
He always meant what he said
So I took to whisky so I could recall
The taste of his mouth on my mouth, that’s all
I tried the same trick with a truck but it stalled
The engine was better off dead
CHORUS
Oh the nights are long
But life is longer still
Oh the nights are long
But the sun’s coming over the hill
The taste never left me and I don’t think it will
And it caused me to supplement whisky with pills
But there was something inside that I couldn’t kill
Believe me, I really did try
And there’s some say you get what you deserve but they’re wrong
Sometimes you get what you’re given and then it’s all gone
And you are lucky if you are sufficiently strong
To daily decide not to die
CHORUS
I can’t say there’s many things I wouldn’t change
There are better days gone than those that remain
But I can find joy in the sound of the rain
You have to find joy where you can
CHORUS X 2
|
||||
5. |
Resolution Road
03:38
|
|||
Resolution Road
Resolution road
Who’s your friend and who’s your foe?
How do you tell the one from the other?
Who’s on the inside, who’s undercover?
Who looks like you do?
Resolution road
Round and round and round we go
Who makes the circle and who’s in the middle?
Who talks in reasons and who talks in riddles?
Who looks like you do?
CHORUS
Don’t speak without thinking
Don’t sleep with a stranger when you’re drinking
And don’t jump in a ship when it’s sinking
Resolution road
Learn to speak your heart in code
Try to embody the laws of encryption
And try to defy all the laws of description
Who looks like you do?
Resolution road
Buy a ticket for the show
Who talks in riddles, who talks in reasons?
What kind of endings do you believe in?
Who looks like you do?
CHORUS X 2
Resolution road
Who’s your friend and who’s your foe?
How do you tell the one from the other?
Who’s on the inside, who’s undercover?
Who’ll be your Lazarus? Who’ll be your lover?
Who looks like you do?
Who looks like you do?
Who looks like you do?
|
||||
6. |
Waterlily
04:35
|
|||
WaterLily
Caught between the air and the windless deep (exit bass)
You float like a lily flower.
And you look just like you fell to earth to sleep
And you’re waiting for your waking hour.
CHORUS
And I swear to God I saw an angel hand attend you
But that was just the dancing of the light.
No mortal or immortal did deliver or defend you.
All hands have forsaken you tonight.
Are you dreaming of a lover who will carry you away
And keep you from the crying of the crowd?
No cradle in the rushes, you are broken like the day,
With darkness all around you like a shroud.
CHORUS
When they finally surrounded you, did any of them face you?
Did you curse the silent stars above?
Those cruel arms abandoned you for water to embrace you,
Won’t you lay your head my waterlily love
CHORUS
Caught between the air and the windless deep
You float like a lily flower
And you look just like you fell to earth to sleep
And you’re waiting for your waking hour
And you’re waiting for your waking hour
|
||||
7. |
||||
What Are You Waiting For?
You’ve been waiting for the wind to change direction
Waiting for the sun to shine
You’ve been waiting for a new connection
But you’re walking on the same old line
You’ve been waiting so long
how can you wait a single minute more?
You’ve been waiting so long
you just don’t know what you are waiting for
You’ve been wishing for a gentle hand to guide you
For a heavenly sign
You’ve been wishing for a spark to burn inside you
For a little bit more time
You’ve been wishing so hard
how can you now wish for any more?
You’ve been wishing so hard
you just don’t know what you are wishing for
CHORUS
Some say the good things come to all those who wait
Then again they might not come at all
You’ve been looking to what’s just around the corner
Living for another day
You’ve been looking to the distant skyline
Looking like you lost your way
You’ve been looking so hard for something
Your eyes are getting sore
You’ve been looking so hard
You just don’t know what you are looking for
CHORUS X 2
|
||||
8. |
Skater Of The Surface
03:27
|
|||
Skater Of The Surface
Skater of the surface
Where the ice is thin
Without plan or point or purpose
You just spin and spin and spin and spin
Skater of the surface
You never, never cross the line
And if it’s true that ignorance is bliss
Then you must be laughing all the time
You see what’s before your eyes
And there’s no lies and no disguise
A riptide’s gonna pull you under
Skater of the surface
You have nothing, nothing to say
Without plan or point or purpose
You’re just spinning your life away
CHORUS
|
||||
9. |
||||
Harder To Walk These Days Than Run
I used to think I could live by the law
And believe everything that my own two eyes saw
But now all the certainties have come undone
And it’s harder to walk these days than run
I was always impressed with how lassie could tell
The good guys from bad guys just by their smell
But now they’re all odourless everyone
And it’s harder to walk these days than run
I read all the books, I thought words could repair
And I dreamed of a language that everyone shared
But all reason retreats in the face of a gun
And it’s harder to walk these days than run
And how can I consider what’s wrong and what’s right?
When everything moves even faster than light?
I’m not even sure I can trust in the sun
It’s so much harder to walk these days than run
You told me everything in its own time
And you waited for yours and I waited for mine
And right from the start I knew you were the one
Who’d make it easier to walk these days
Easier to walk these days
Easier to walk these days
Than run
Easier to walk these days than run
Easier to walk these days than run
Than run
Than run
Oh it’s easier to walk these days than run
|
||||
10. |
The Light On The Shore
04:24
|
|||
The Light On The Shore
Old as I am, older than
The threads of understanding, which we weave between us
Old as you are, older by far
Than the contours of the love that we leave behind us
Bold as I am, bolder than
The pioneers who swept their way across the desert
Bold as you are, bolder by far
The lovers who have swum the tide to be together
Are we old enough and bold enough to say goodbye?
Old enough and bold enough that we do not need to cry?
Well I’m not so old and not so bold I don’t need you more
Now the light is slowly beckoning you to the shore
Cold is the ground for which you’re bound
It’s a place where we can never more be together
Cold is the air that takes you there
On a passage that will end with your end forever
But it’s not so cold I do not feel the warmth of your skin
Not so cold I do not know the fires that burn within you
Though they are fading now I wish that they would burn once more
And keep you from the light that’s slowly beckoning you to the shore
If I could sail the seas of time then I would keep you from harm
But I am no sailor and I cannot warn you
Though there’s nothing in my life I ever wanted more
Than to keep you from the light that’s slowly beckoning you
Than to shield you from the light that’s slowly beckoning you to the shore
|
||||
11. |
Azalea Flower
05:19
|
|||
Azalea Flower
There’s a whisper at the window
And I don’t know what it is
Maybe it’s the sound of the wind in the azaleas
Matt’s away on business
And he calls me on the phone
But it’s hard to get to sleep at night when I’m alone
I pull the sheets around me
And I hear that sound again
Maybe it’s the sound of the wind in the azaleas
And when I was young I used to leave a note upon my bed
And it said “Dear Mister Robber Man
Don’t shoot me and my sister dead”
I double locked the door downstairs
I do the same each night
And I turned out the light
I turned out the light
I’m sure I turned out the light
All the lights are on at number 5
They’ve been on for days and days
It’s the middle of the afternoon in August
Billy Marshall checks the porch
Sees the mail has not been read
And someone’s cut off all the azalea heads
Matt’s on television
and he’s looking quite distressed
He says he cannot understand
The kind of man who would’ve done this
He says he didn’t call on Tuesday
‘Cause he was working long hours
And now she’s lying
Now she’s lying
Now she’s lying like the azalea flowers
|
Karine Polwart UK
One of the finest singer-songwriters in Britain" The Guardian
Streaming and Download help
If you like Karine Polwart, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp