Selected Lyrics

The vast majority of Sylvian lyrics can be found at davidsylvian.net and slowfire. I'll generally only transcribe newly released songs that aren't up elsewhere (or ones that contain interesting background samples or vocals) and live versions of unreleased songs.

Selected Lyric

Wasn’t I Joe? - Live 2003-11-13

Track #NA - Misc Live Songs // By: David Sylvian & Steve Jansen

I was strong myself when I started, in on you…
Wasn’t I Joe? Normal strength?

Don’t stay away too long love
I sense that somethings wrong
Don’t stay away too long love
Don’t stay away too long

And the minutes last a lifetime
They’ve mastered ways of moving slow
She took the children and the chequebook
Should I have really let her go?

Don’t stay away too long love
Don’t stay away too long

I was strong myself when
I started, wasn’t I Joe?

There’s a moving recitation
Played out inside my head
With an eloquence I don’t possess
Of course it’s better left unsaid 1

Where’s the examples that we needed
A man and wife who walk the line
Give me something to aspire to
Not in a lifetime, not in our lives

I was strong myself when I started, wasn’t I Joe?

Don’t stay away too long love
I know that somethings wrong
There’s a sadness I can’t live with 2
Don’t stay away too long

Today’s the day before I met her
And these things pass unrecognized
These are the shoes, that was the workplace
And this the car in which we cried

So many hours of conversation
I doubt there’s anything left unsaid
No hope of reconciliation
Slowly pacing ‘round my bed

And the walls echo disturbance
They’re screaming from the inside too
She with left with everything we lived for
The everything of me and you

I was strong myself when I started, in on you…
Wasn’t I Joe? Normal strength?

I was strong myself when I started, wasn’t I Joe?
Wasn’t I Joe?

Black lines run throughout the notebooks
A life in letters scribbled out
There’s no room left now for reflection
We’re not leaving room for doubt

I’ve got you pictured in my mind love
You’re off the bus and running free
I’ll keep the memories and the pretense 3
Ghosts of who we used to be

And I’ll be nothing like my father
We’ll wash the sheets as if by hand
And you’ll be nothing like my mother
We’re abandoning the plan

Aren’t we Joe? 4
Wasn’t I Joe?
Wasn’t I Joe?

I was strong myself when I started, in on you…
Wasn’t I Joe? Normal strength?

And sometimes life is frightening
And everything comes on strong
So we’re holding on for dear life
‘Til something better comes along

‘Til something better comes along
‘Til something better comes along

[1] 24/25SEP2003, "I think it’s better left unsaid"
[2] 25SEP2003 RFH, "There’s a silence I can’t live with"
[3] 25SEP2003 RFH, "I’ll live with memories and the pretense"
[4] This line is usually not included in the song.

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