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

Beautiful Country (Rough Mix)

Track #00 - Soundcloud // By: David Sylvian featuring Joan Wasser, Parker Kindred, and Fred Cash

(one, two, three, four)

Her mind slept well
At high altitudes
All the way through Boulder
With the stupas pointing skywards
Like true believers
In crystal blue

The last of empire
December late
Such a sweet decay
And we drive all night
‘Cause empires live long this way
Yeah we drive all night
And sleep by day

It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country
It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country

Joy grows from her fingers
Her native hands
Long roots burrow down
Into her stomach spilling the air out of her lungs
It’s the sharp end of the joyful life
You fell upon

The petals white
Veins are blue
She’s filled with wonder
At the life within her
And the sight of you
At her own translucent heart
And the sight of you

It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country
It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country

She’s been playing her games
I was Billy the Kid
Changing the voice I’d been calling out with
We’re losing our weight
Growing up thin
She stole the face of the lord so I won’t recognise him
But it’s all good, yes it’s okay
We wouldn’t have it any other way
Made our bed gonna lie in it
Watch the suns go down on the horizon

Way up in the pink hills
They’d drained the pool
The sand flies buzzing
And the desert sun split us in two

It was an inland sea
Bombay Beach
We were near narcoleptic
And the fireworks died with their heads down in the sand

This is your land
And soon your land
Will by my land too

It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country
It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country

She’s been playing her games
To keep herself in
I’m changing the voice I’ve been calling out with
We’re losing our weight
Growing up thin
She stole the face of the lord now I won’t recognise him
But it’s alright, yes it’s okay
We wouldn’t have it any other way
Made our bed gonna lie in it
Watch the suns go down on the horizon

We’re setting up camp
Far from it all
Where the dirt roads rise
Behind the strip mall
Remove ourselves
We got nothing to give
Between the earth and stars
We’ll find a place to live

Dustbowl diving
We ride the curves
She’s railroad happy
And the longest trains
Hammer through
With their headlights blazing
For you

It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country
It’s a beautiful country
What a beautiful country

Ba da dum dum dum ba da da da

This track briefly appeared on Soundcloud with an explanation from David Sylvian.

Do You Know Me Now?

Track #1 - Do You Know Me Now? // By: David Sylvian

And if you think you knew me then
You don’t know me now

As the ground rose up to meet me
I kissed your mouth
You wore your boredom like enamel
But I tuned you out
And if that brought us to our knees
We laughed all the way down

I prized my daddy’s ring from my hand
And I made her a bride
We grew a flower in the desert
We grew terrified
We were one, not one and the same
Something was lost somehow

And if you think you knew me then
You don’t know me now

The planets high above you
Spun in houses of their own
You were dropped and hit the ground running
But they failed to lead you home

And if you think you knew me then
Do you know me now?

I drew a child inside a wound
Justify myself
I stole the face of joy
A perfume of worth
I atomised the boy within
Before he cut himself
You found the blood upon my clothes
And then washed it out

And if you think you knew me then
You don’t know me now

There were children, in the classroom
Who wrecked it, without a name
There were hornets in the heads of cattle
That vibrated to the sun

You cried wolf
I tracked one down
And let it in

There were lambs
Sure there was blood
There were psalms to sing
You could just see the bone jut out
Penetrate the skin
Did it dispel beyond all doubt
The mess we’re in?

You raised your head
I stared you down
You still don’t know how

And if you think you knew me then
You don’t know me now

I was happy
Satiated
I was satisfied

still sorting this one out, it will be fluctuating for a bit.

never quite happy with; “Who wrecked it, without a name”

Nothing is Happening Everywhere

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: LAND (feat. David Sylvian)

I’d woken in a garden
Where metal crawls the shoulders
Of dividing walls

I’d woken in a garden
Where metal divides
All mighty and small

So I’ll never know you

Oh dunces are frightening
When fists are flying
They’re terrifying

So I’ll never know you

I’ll dig, but I’ll never find you

Nothing is happening everywhere

So I’ll never know you

I’ve run across cities
In which you’ve permission to cower
Relinquish your hold
On the vestiges of power

I’ll dig, but I will not find you
I’ll dig

No desire for elegance
To say nothing of meaning
What a pitiful, pitiful, feeling

Your efforts are futile
When did we become so very
Brutal

I’ll dig

I’d woken in a garden

Nothing is happening everywhere

So I’ll never know you

the full song is streaming on soundcloud

Where’s Your Gravity?

Track #15 - A Victim Of Stars, 1982-2012 // By: David Sylvian

Baby’s
Putting on her makeup
Her mouth is
Swollen as a rose
Countdown
She wraps her legs around him
Weightless
She’s taking off her clothes

Candy
Colours in her pocket
Bright children
Hiding in their rooms
Soft talks
Spread about her pillows
Self-annihilation
Couldn’t come too soon

Where’s your gravity?
Where’s your mind?
Share your thoughts with me
Waste my time

Slowdown
Nothing’s gonna save you
Ice cream
Dripping from your spoon
Oh, but come now
You’re always telling stories
Barefoot
Walking on the moon

Wake up
And someone’s bound to tell you
Your pretty
Face has gone to hell
So find them
Something you can trade with
Handmake
Something you can sell

Where’s your gravity?
Where’s your mind?
Share your thoughts with me
Waste my time

30 second sample @ davidsylvian.net

Many Names

Track #00 - Many Names // By: Thomas Feiner

Allies
And friends
You sure travelled
By many roads

Bastards
And foes
You sure travelled
By many names

Brand me love
Scar me life
The sun goes down
For everyone
The sun sets on everyone

Blessings turned beasts
Left me careless
And unaware

Curses turned gifts
I was struck down
But I could rise

Scar me life
The sun goes down
For everyone
The sun sets on everyone

And I climb
And I fly
Coming round
Under the sun, may
The sun sets on everyone

buy it at http://thomasfeiner.bandcamp.com/

The Last Days of December

Track #12 - Died in the Wool // By: Words: David Sylvian

What shall we tell them?
A honeymoon as brief
As a walk in the park

What shall we tell them?
When they ask?
And they’ll ask…

Could you not see another way out?

Was the place without sun?
Was it furnished in black?
With the ache of the gas-oven
There at your back

The death angel paces
In boredom and waits
It shrieks from dark corners
Undermining your faith

What shall we tell them
When they ask?
And they will ask…

Could you not see another way out?
Where were the cape and the coastline?
The wonderkid’s sunshine?

Your sanity shattered
And climbing the walls
Wet towels at the floorline
Stuffed under the doors

And the powder-black wings
Left you blind
The last days of December
Are the loneliest kind

In the mess that you made
There was no pause for thought
Cause the lies that I told
Were the lies that you bought

There was no place to find you
Nor you to be found
In the margins of books you were reading
There are stages to grieving
That won’t let you down

Where was the coastline?
The wonderkid’s sunshine?

Under northern skies
Anonymous and free
Your nightfisherman pushes a boat
Out to sea

You’ll surely meet yours
Though his faith is unsound
There are stages to grieving
That won’t let you down

Anomaly At Taw Head (A Haunting)

Track #10 - Died in the Wool // By: Words: David Sylvian

Not such a brutal man
But we couldn’t save him from himself
Gunslinger, rifle sights to the eye

Anomaly At Taw Head

Track #06 - Died in the Wool // By: Words: David Sylvian

Not such a brutal man
But we couldn’t save him from himself
Gunslinger, rifle sights to the eye

Cold blooded, only a mother could love him
Time to concede defeat
Make for the other side

A Certain Slant of Light

Track #05 - Died in the Wool // By: Words: Emily Dickinson

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.

None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair,-
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘tis like the distance
On the look of death.

I Should Not Dare

Track #03 - Died in the Wool // By: Words: Emily Dickinson

I should not dare to leave my friend,
Because — because if he should die
While I was gone, and I — too late —
Should reach the heart that wanted me;

If I should disappoint the eyes
That hunted, hunted so, to see,
And could not bear to shut until
They “noticed” me — they noticed me;

If I should stab the patient faith
So sure I ‘d come — so sure I ‘d come,
It listening, listening, went to sleep
Telling my tardy name, —

My heart would wish it broke before,
Since breaking then, since breaking then,
Were useless as next morning’s sun,
Where midnight frosts had lain!

Died in the Wool

Track #02 - Died in the Wool // By: Words: David Sylvian

Is this how they’ll find her?
Pale blue frock coat
Snagged full of needles
Belly full of sunshine

And what will they do without him?
Now she’s gone
What will they do without him?

The sheep on the hill
The herd in the darkness
Startled by thunder
Gathered for safety

They dressed her in wool coats
And what will they do without him?
Now she’s gone
What will they do..?

The hair that was blonde
Is matted and brown
The heft of her body impresses the ground
Softened by rainfall, soaked right through

The lightening sky in the darkening blue
And what will they do, now she’s gone?

Give her your shoes boy
Lend her some threads
A fine line of linen stripped from your bed

What’s with the face, child?

The smaller the bird the closer it stood
Coming still closer from the edge of the woods
In the down of the den six hearts lie beating

The ground softens up
And welcomes her in
You’ve been gone so long honey
Where have you been?

You’re destined for better
Surely nothing so cruel
What was unwritten
Died in the wool

The hair that was blonde
Is matted and brown
The weight of her body impresses the ground
Softened by rainfall, soaked right through

The lightening sky in the darkening blue
And what will they do, now she’s gone?

Is this how they’ll find her?
Last ounce of courage
Face full of sunshine

Five Lines

Track #06 - Sleepwalkers // By: David Sylvian & Dai Fujikura

Five lines
Five lines
With which he marked time
Five lines flared from the ovens
He pulled the ribbons from their hair
With melodies beaten from the sheets of his mother
Songs for the end of time

Five lines
Return the birds to their singing
The sun fell, should we leave it to the foxes?
The sun fell from the sky
Leave it to its wits and its devices
The sun fell from the sky in the form of a stag
Buried deep in the forest

And that’s where he felled it
A blow to the head
That left it unconscious
Nothing further was said

We’ll set a place for him
We’ll set a place then

For he had tried
Blood, bone, feathers to the sky
Even in flight
Nothing could have spared him
Five lines
Five lines flared from the oven
Five lines with which he marked out time

Leave him for the foxes
Leave him for the foxes

sample download available here

The Department of Dead Letters

Track #08 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

[instrumental song, Sylvian on electronics]

Manafon

Track #09 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

There’s a man down in the valley
Who doesn’t speak in his own tongue
He bears a grudge against the English
The tune to which his songs are sung

There’s a man down in the valley
Who is moving back in time
It’s a physical ascension
You can watch him as he climbs

The farmer’s wives are at their windows
They’ve seen him wind his way for hours
They tell the kids to lower their voices
And pretend that they are out

There’s a man down in the valley
Trying to stop time in its tracks
His boots lie heavy on the grasses
But it keeps on pushing back

And his wife, she was a painter
But now she stains the altar black
He’s out bird watching on the islands
And she wishes he’d come back

There’s a man down in the valley
And he dreams of moving west
Of battles raged against the furies
That might see him at his best

There’s a man down in the valley
Don’t know his right foot from his left
Don’t know his right foot from his left

Emily Dickinson

Track #07 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

She was no longer a user
Don’t think she realized we knew that
Not one to make a fuss
Why this and not something else
Wasn’t it obvious?

She made such a hash of it
You can’t help but notice
And a absence of tenderness
And who wants to live like that?

And friends turn their backs on her
She no longer a user
And she wanted to stay home
With a box full of postcards
And no place to send them
Live like Emily Dickinson
Without so much as a kiss
Or the comfort of strangers
Withdrawing into herself

But why this…
And not something else?

Snow White in Appalachia

Track #06 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

Half-life
She moves in a half-life
Imperfect

From a place on the stairs
Or sat in the backseat
Sometimes you’re only a passenger
In the time of your life
And there’s snow on the mattress
Blown in from the doorway
It would take pack-mules and provisions
To get out alive

There were concerts and car-crashes
There were kids she attended
And repeat indiscretions
For which she’d once made amends
Then there’s ice on the windshield
And the wipers are wasted
And the metal is flying
Between her and her friends

She’d abandoned them there
In the hills of Appalachia
She threw off the sandbags
To lighten the load
As soon as the sun rose
The keys were in the ignition
Following the tiretracks
Of the truck sanding the road

There had to be drugs
Running through the girl’s body
There had to be drugs
And they too had a name
And the adrenalin rush
Had left her exhausted
When under the blue sky
Nothing need be explained

And there is no maker
Just an exhaustible indifference
And there’s comfort in that
So you feel unafraid

And the radio falls silent
But for short bursts of static
And she sleeps in her house
That once too had a name

125 Spheres

Track #05 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

And when it appeared
It was a flaming book of matches
A hundred and twenty-five spheres
On a parquet floor

The Greatest Living Englishman

Track #04 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

Here we are then, here we are
Notes from a suicide
And he will never ever be
The Greatest Living Englishman

It’s such a melancholy blue
Or a grey of no significance
Plastic coated surfaces
A space to place his suitcase
As it’s passed [bussed?] from A to B

But it’s such a melancholy blue
The curtains round the bed are drawn
Broadcast voices from the ward
The humming of machines hurt
But there are distances between

Yes there are distances between

His aspirations visited him nightly
And amounted to so little
Too much self in his writing
Now he will never, ever be
The Greatest Living Englishman

The engine shifts into second gear
They’re all aboard, accounted for
It’s a journey he must make alone
The black sheep boy is leaving home

It’s been rehearsed a thousand times or more
He’s well prepared of that he’s sure
But still it’s such a melancholy blue
As he erased a page of history
Much as he’d intended to

He wouldn’t speak or show you he was happy
Though you’d meet him with your eyes
There was a wall that always stood between you
He’d shut himself outside

And the love that he engendered
Would never be enough
For him to feel alive
Warm and tender
He’d shut himself outside

Not a fake or a sham
But dug in deep and fighting
The world could not embrace a man
With so much self in his writing

And he was never gonna be
The Greatest Living Englishman
He had ideas above his station
Minor virtues go unmentioned

Little England you fit like a straightjacket
Hemmed by the genius of others
He said
“To conquer the world is not to the trace
Remove even the shadow of the memory of your face”

A grey of no significance

Random Acts of Senseless Violence

Track #03 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

Under yellow light
Comes the face of tomorrow
Lights the fuse
Gives meaning to
All that was previously hollow

To a soundtrack of sirens
And mute aspiration
The express train to Heathrow
First of the morning
Is leaving the station

Our reckless sun rises
On the tip of the iceberg
Hidden in plain sight
Still alive and full of surprises
A generation gone soft
Over new acquisitions, that can’t take the edge off

I’ve put away my childish things
Abandoned my silence too
For the future will contain
Random acts of senseless violence

The target’s hit will be non-specific
We’ll roll the numbers play with chance
All suitable locations unplanned in advance

Someone’s back kitchen, stacked like a factory
With improvised devices, there’s bound to injuries
With improvised devices…

No phone-ins, no courtesy, no kindness
And the future will contain
Random acts of senseless violence

And it’s not just the boredom
It’s something endemic
It’s the fear of disorder
Stretched to its limits

And the safety of numbers is just a contrivance
For the future will contain
Random acts of senseless violence

Democracy is very…
Democracy is very, very…

The Rabbit Skinner

Track #02 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

Who’ll do for him
Child of the fifties
With no common sense
No easy resting place

Only lichen on beaches
Oil on gun barrel
And the hard taste of pennies

A gardener’s folly
Stands as proud as you please
The lungs won’t fill, the heart won’t start
Landlocked child of the seas

And he alone, is a man without qualities

Combed his body for disorders
But the disease lived on in far-off quarters

As a God everything was filled to excess
As a man he settled for less
Here lies the rabbit skinner
God love the rabbit skinner

A life without purchase, no story to tell
And three little bitches fight where he fell
Foxes, foxes, give her a sign
Enter the little girl, and show her what’s mine

Play hard and fast with the rules if you please
Here lies a man, without qualities

Small Metal Gods

Track #01 - Manafon // By: David Sylvian, et al

[background chatter in unknown language]

It’s the farthest place I’ve ever been
It’s a new frontier for me
And you balance things
Like you wouldn’t believe
When you should just let things be

Yes, you juggle things
‘Cause you can’t lose sight
Of the wretched storyline
It’s the narrative that must go on
Until the end of time

And you’re guilty of some self-neglect
And the mind unravels for days
I’ve told you once
yes, a thousand times
I’m better off this way

I’m better off… this way

Where’s my queen of hearts
My royal flush
I have cleaned and scrubbed her decks
My suicide, my better days
There’s nothing I regret

I’ve placed the Gods
In a Ziploc bag
I’ve put them in a drawer
They’ve refused my prayers for the umpteenth time
So I’m evening up the score

Small metal gods
from a casting line
From a factory in Mumbai
Some manual labourer’s bread and butter
And a single-minded life

Small metal gods
Cheap souvenirs
You’ve abandoned me for sure
I’m dumping you, my childish things
I’m evening up the score

Jacqueline (acoustic version)

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: David Sylvian

The big man came and took the sun away
And replaced it with one of his own
There was no room for sharing
Just nurse and care for him
Fill his shoes with concrete and stone

Oh Jacqueline, Jacqueline
Things are getting harder
There’s only now ‘til the end
And nothing in-between

Keep his children from his door
Protect the one that you waited for
You can’t breathe when his eyes aren’t on you

Though you may feel the bite of his tongue
The back of his hands, you’re not the only one
And it’s his and he alone will do

Oh Jacqueline, Jacqueline
Things are getting harder
There’s only now ‘til the end
And nothing in-between

[oohs]

And when you wake, you wake to the same day
The one where your Mediterranean sky turned gray
And you withdrew into the shadow of you

And while asleep, you’d lose his name
And the footsteps of one defiantly sound the same
So you bolted the bathroom door and flew

Oh Jacqueline, Jacqueline
Things can’t get much harder
Only now it’s the end

Thermal

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: David Sylvian & Arve Henriksen

Morning, you lay sleeping
Your small body clinging tightly to mine
With frightening dependency
Life defining, Impossible to betray

And with that….
The mattress rose
Set adrift on the burgeoning emotional tide
Colliding with the once stationary objects
Of an uninhabited life

What had been concealed
Was exhaled from god knows where
Colour-drained, unsalvageable
Shape shifting
And, with function relinquished
Resigned from service

Two blue sleeping bags
Nudged against one another
Bearing the once warm imprint of our bodies

The sun-baked stone garden
Retracted its promise
It was cold in that place of perpetual summer

If you were afraid you didn’t show it
You who were born bearing the face
Of irrepressible grief

So as not to disappoint you
I lay motionless
Rapt by the rise and stall of your breathing
Your fingertips and thighs
Quietly affirming my place at your side

Before and Afterlife (Cartography)

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: David Sylvian & Arve Henriksen

We started in the suburbs of smaller cities
and as we followed the nomadic call
Our nobler instincts led us further from
Society’s center, westward, to a cabin hoisted
Aloft on faulty foundations far above the Napa Valley
Where the rain soaked earth shifted beneath us and trees caught
Like kindling smoke clouds ripening
In a vintner’s sun

But part of us refused to follow
Material distractions beckoned, rallied
Snagged we’d return to the cities on day trips and long weekends
Self-aversion, anonymity found only in
The midst of bricks and mortar the
Hustle of strangers
We were worldly people after all
But the haze of the rural, the agents of pollination
Clung to us, sparked like hayseed halos in the western sunlight
No one let on they’d noticed
But we saw, we knew

I watched my parents as they stood in a crowded Euston station
Up fresh from the country, suitcases at their sides
Waiting on my arrival, illuminated
In an otherwise sea of grey
Not of this world

We were tempted back repeatedly
Until the lure of the cosmopolitan (at what point)
Lay beyond reach
We moved east, into the forests and the mountains (moving)
Where life’s desires tore us apart (we moved hard into the building)
How cruel to find oneself alone at that altitude
At what point did the fear of numbers set in
And the recognition of internal isolation place us outside of belonging?
But then wasn’t that always the case, weren’t we simply
Allowed to forget?
On Temple Mountain I threw down a rope that others might follow
No one came

Get the Hell Out

Track #02 - Money for All EP // By: Nine Horses

Get the hell out
Honey, it’s your birthday
Find a motel and book yourself a long stay
Find a safe house
Far from this location
Take some good advice
Get ye to the station
When he finds out
You know you’ve got it coming
If you survive this
Girl you’re really something

Get the hell out

Caroline, you’re breaking my heart
But I remain unchanged
And yours, yours was the saddest face
I would never… you know…
Caroline, Caroline
I would never
Get the hell out
Get the hell out
Get the hell out
Get the hell out

Money For All

Track #01 - Money for All EP // By: Nine Horses

Wanna step on through?
Can I check that bag?
Is there something inside here
That could help you relax?

Did you find something
You were looking for?
Freedom has it’s price now
Wanna buy some more?

I’ll take that coat
Remove them shoes
Should a guy like me
Be afraid of a man like you?

All change, all change
Wipe your nation’s shame from you
It’s not where you’re born
It’s the things that you do

Money for all
Money for all
Revolution, socialism, read it in the rag
There’s a gun at your head, put the money in the bag
Money for all

Have you tried this game
When you’re feeling tired
Keeps you entertained ‘til your card expires
So you missed the broadcast, (or) do you feel the same?
Only someone said the city’s gone down in flames
In our name

All change, all change
Let gasoline fumes fill the air
Let’s show that mother how much ya care
All change, all change
Wipe your nation’s shame from you
It’s not where you’re born
It’s the things that you do

Money for all
Money for all
Hey there soldier, who’s your concubine?
With a trigger-happy finger and a nicotine flame
She’s a diamond mine [darlin’ of mine]

All change, all change
Let revolution fill the air
Let’s show that monkey how much ya care

Money for all
There’s a mean looking elephant pounding at your door
It’s dining at your table
Sleeping on your floor
Money for all
Money for all
Revolution, socialism, read it in the rag
There’s a gun at your head, put the money in the bag

Put the money in the bag
Put the money in the bag
Put the money in the bag
Put the money in the bag

Angels

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: PUNKT feat. David Sylvian

High in the architecture something’s moving
Unrecognizable spirit, dislocated
It’s the wrong climate, no humidity
Humming humidity
Its phase belongs to another time, another place
Projections on falling masonry, ghosts of a once pagan place
Standing empty, I stand empty
Dead echo, dead echoes don’t come back
It stopped, cut-out: ‘fuck you’
Nothing ever happens, unbelieving, no one’s receiving
A vessel filled, held, and spilled: nothing
A trace from another time, another place
It’s simple, you don’t exist, can’t possess me
You lose on a technicality
High in the architecture something’s moving
Nothing

Exit/Delete

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: David Sylvian & Takagi Masakatsu

Feels like an ending
She’s winding her way towards a conclusion
That never comes
Caroline feels uncomfortably numb

She’s in deep
Surrendering to the promise of sleep
Almost done
Caroline plays an audience of one

And it isn’t polite
She won’t even try
A problem to no one
A problem to none

How can it be as quiet as this
This close to the edge?
Caroline says she’s nobody’s friend

How can you breathe
Embarrassed to be this far left of alone?
Caroline knows there’s nobody home

It’s ending
Winding it’s way to a conclusion
Nearly done
Caroline knows there’s nothing to come

When in doubt
She wanted it get it all down in writing
Didn’t count
Better if someone else works it out

The files are deleted
No resisting at all
Already defeated

Transit

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: Sylvian & Fennesz

I have listened repeatedly
I have listened very well
No one interrupts the harmful
When they’re speaking

To wonder why of Europe
Say your goodbyes to Europe
Swallow the lie of Europe
Our shared history dies with Europe

(follow me, won’t you, follow me?)

A future’s hinting at itself
Do you fear what I fear?
All those names of ancestry
Too gentle for the stones they bear

Someone somewhere wants to see you
Someone’s traveling towards us all

To wonder why of Europe
To live, love, and cry in Europe
Say your goodbyes to Europe
Our history dies with Europe

(follow me, won’t you, follow me?)

The lights are dimming
The lounge is dark
The best cigarette is saved for last
We drink alone
We drink alone

For The Love of Life (from MONSTER)

Track #NA - Commissions and Collaborations // By: David Sylvian & Haishima Kuniaki

And slowly, you come to realize
It’s all as it should be
You can only do so much…
If you’re game enough
You could place your trust in me

For the love of life
There’s a trade-off
We could lose it all
But we’ll go down fighting

And what of the children?
Surely they can’t be blamed
For our mistakes?

And slowly I’ve come to realize
It’s all as it should be…
That hiding space
A lonely place

How can the right thing be so wrong?
I’ve found mistakes
Where they don’t belong

For the love of life
We’ll defeat this
They may tear us down
But we’ll go down fighting

Won’t we?

The ending theme for an anime adaptation of one of my most favourite mangas.

Deadman’s Cut

Track #04 - 4 Remixes from Slope // By: Steve Jansen & David Sylvian

Oh honey take me out I’m a deadman
Oh baby bake me something sweet
Oh honey take me out I’m a deadman
Oh baby give me bread to eat

There are places in the damp Northwest where
The bodies lie down head to feet
There were losses in the California sunshine
Tell you stories that you can’t repeat

In the winter when the valley’s flooded
Those were times where the rooms were cheap
The summer dirt lines the corner’s of your pockets
I’m still buried there ten feet deep

Papa don’t place this curse on me
Heaven knows I can’t use it
Papa don’t place this stone on me
Mama there’s no future in it

We travel on the back roads lightly
Through Castle City and through the hills beyond
Me and Joan on the Sacramento
Me and Joan this is where we’re from

Oh honey take me out I’m a deadman
Oh baby bake me something sweet
Oh honey take me out I’m a deadman
Oh baby give me bread to eat

Papa don’t place this curse on me
Heaven knows I can’t use it
Papa don’t place this curse on me
Mama there’s no future in it

Oh honey take me out I’m a deadman
Oh baby bake me something sweet
Oh honey take me out I’m a deadman
Oh baby give me bread to eat

Oh honey where’s the colours of the springtime?
The pale green of an organdy dress
Her shadow grows in the California sunshine
But nothing else in the south south-west

Same lyrics as the album version but only Sylvian is on vocals.

Pieces Cancelled

Track #02 - 4 Remixes from Slope // By: Steve Jansen & Anja Garbarek

I’m just a single unit, no stereo
No different though the mix has changed

I have cancelled all the pieces
That were meant to make me whole

Now there’s no room to turn around

He wanted hands that could do the job with some finesse
Thickly covered in frost
I juggle the wolves and keep out of sight
I don’t want to spoil their dreams (spoil their dreams)
And I won’t call their names when I leave
Leave

I used to be, so beautifully printed
A rich enough text on every page

But I cancelled all the pieces
That were meant to make me-
But I cancelled all the pieces

Same lyrics as the album version, though the vocals are treated differently.

Deadman’s Ballad

Track #01 - 4 Remixes from Slope // By: Steve Jansen, David Sylvian, & Joan Wasser