Loveblind lyrics - The Church

Have I told you 'bout the case of the man who had no face?
(I'm sure I have)
His wife suspected something, that's why she brought me in
We arranged to meet one night at a bar called Aphrodite's
(On Second Street)
But when I looked into her eyes I very quickly realized
The danger
The price was right, a deal was struck
I don't think that she gave it a thought

It was plain to see
That the lady was loveblind
It was clear to see
It was clear that she was loveblind

Out into the foggy night, into the city's blurry light
(I drove alone)
I wondered then what kind of place would make a man lose face
I pieced together clue by clue just what a faceless man would do
(It wasn't hard)
Who would he love, where would he go, places faceless men would know
(On Second Street)
I was close, I was near, but that woman just wouldn't hear

Next morning came as mornings do, I had a shave it was close too
(A close shave)
In the mirror in my space, there was a man without a face
I rang my client and I banged on her door
I told her it was me that we was looking for

My Little Problem lyrics - The Church

You must have heard about my little problem
Ah come on, you must have heard about it
It's no ordinary problem
Look in my eyes, there can be no doubt about it
And of course it gets worse at night
It gets late, things start to change
Clock is stopped, thermometer is bulging
Hot late night bound to make us estranged
Soft dead moon all over your shoulders
Cold shadow in the glare of the glow
Factory billboards on outskirts of city
Shine down new attractions to the traffic below

Remember this day
Remember this room
Remember this singer singing
I'll remember you
A sudden flash
A sudden light
Abandoning the afternoon as it sinks into the night

Fluorescent bedroom flicker starts to teach me to wonder
I hear a mandolin in the springs
Out the wardrobe floats the hint of a rumor
Dressed in your beloved's finest things
Can you hear the voices that are constantly talking
Am I only one to succumb to their roar
Well I know the form it is taking
It's not making sense anymore
The way you say you just wanna help me
The way your clinging is slinging me under
The strength I need already denied me
Your big ideas and your little wonder

Some people don't come over because of the problem
I heard the top guy won't answer his phone
I wonder if he has the same kind of problem
A little difficulty of his own
So take this plastic and rent me some wheels
Or maybe I'll try to fly
No reservations, I'll see how it feels
When I'm over your house up in the sky
And when the sun is squeezing through the blinds
You will be far away
Deep afternoons seeing the moon would have shined
Deep in your dream I hear you say
Have you heard about my little problem
I just know that it isn't a secret
It's just a very ordinary problem
The secret doesn't matter if you keep it or leak it

The Maven lyrics - The Church

Here comes the Maven, he's coming around
He's such a connoisseur, he's such an autograph hound, yeah
He's got 60 yes-men and they tend to agree
There's a long black book without any eyes
He's got my number but he's got your size, yeah
And if you measure up then a sure trick'll be wise

Just turn the light off when you go (he hates the dark)
Just tell the jury all you know (was just a lark)
We'll send a sign to you over the sea

There goes the Maven, sowing his seed
One for the rock, one for the hand that feeds, yeah
He reaps the harvest with his sleight of hand
Just say the magic word and he's at your side
Beware his tender touch, his plans are chilly and wide, yeah
Sleeps through the winter in a white quiet land

Here is the Maven, draining the cup
He takes your arm and then he eats you up, yeah
There is a surfeit of everything you crave
Here is the Maven, signing the check
He bought us dinner so what the fucking heck, yeah
There is a surplus of everything you save

Angelica lyrics - The Church

Stretching out to catch
Stretching out to catch
Stretching out to catch the slender message

Angelica I want you

Crashing down
Crashing down
Crashing down in a shower of sparks
Crashing down
Crashing down
Crashing down in a shower of sparks

The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman is gonna be nice
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman isn't gonna be nice
To you tonight
To you tonight
To you tonight unless you pay me
Pay me good
Pay me well
Pay me with a trip to hell

She reaches for him in a jealous moment

I've got a verbal caress
I've got it, I've got it here in my mouth
And it's here for you
And I'll share it
My tongue is wet
My tongue is wet
This verbal caress is gonna get wet

Angelica I want you

Little Johnny Ginseng jumped on the jelly roll
I saw him looking down the alley at it
He can blast, falling on the bowling alley
Lookout Jimmy your father's inside...

Angelica, stop making up those lies

Lullaby lyrics - The Church

We come to pay homage to the golden one
We share and bear the message of your newborn son
We follow paths of falling stars
In and out of mangers, other bars

Opportunity knocked you up I guess
Gave you your little baby's success
You've got potential, you have the gift
You have the chance to heal a million rifts

We've been sent to sing a lullaby for you
We've been sent to sing a lullaby

We've brought oils, gold and wine and bread
A dreaming pillow for his divine head
Astrologers all we plot the charts
And wise men we can look into people's hearts

A doom is on the child that I can see
He don't belong in this time with you and me
His life will not be very long
Before you know it he will be gone
We've been sent to sing a lullaby for you

Two Places At Once lyrics - The Church

Arrive in a hive city
somewhere in the east
floating down a crowded street
as though I am or I will be released
Elly's stopped yawning, clear blue morning
In mourning no more
Come and see the wild things that are
Just beyond the door

But there's an old man here
He claims that he knew you in another life
I'm not sure what he's sayin', Elly,
Could it be he still thinks you're his wife?

I've been waiting, seems like eternity
I've been waiting, waiting for you
I'm still waiting if you remember me
I'll be waiting, waiting for you

Trinkets sing on a desert wind behind here
Where ghosts have laid their final claim to rest
But who they left and what they thought they'd stayed for
Has crumbled in their last dusty caress

They were so blind
They were so blind

Hiding in a hotel room, somewhere in the west
I heard they brought a priest in to sanctify the place
But it remains unblessed
Things move around - my guitar sometimes plays itself
They say it's static electricity but
Yesterday it took twenty dollars off the shelf

There's a young man here, says he married you
In another time
The children cry and ask where their mother is
Gonna have to let them down
Yeah, I've been hurt
Yeah, I've been around

Limpet shells are fading in the valley
Where once the sea had strength enough to reach
But out of the twisted metal of discarded fortune's curse
No one here can quite translate the verses that they wanted to preach
They were blind

Business Woman lyrics - The Church

Imagine her, all of her wealth
And in the arms of somebody else
I imagine her in bed
With her communication skills
Cabinet full of creams and pills
Paying the bills, being well-read
You'll never understand
The wonderful mind of that woman
Powerful beauty in her eyes

Look at that business woman
She's got a head on her shoulders
Look at that business woman
She's not that much older than you

And she reveals inner soul
Stock market flutters, index rose
When she reveals her secret life
All of the gifts come dear and swift
Promise her anything only if
You're going to have to leave your wife
She'll never understand
The wonderful mind of that woman
Beautiful power in her eyes

And when she comes the stars explode
Exquisite results in input mode
Just when she comes she's suddenly gone
Maybe you'll find her, maybe you won't
Maybe she loves you, baby she don't
Maybe you'll find that you are alone
You'll never comprehend
All of the means, all of the ends
Business woman in her eyes

Authority lyrics - The Church

She says it's OK
The rent just went on entertainment
But who's gonna say
It's just not my day
She's got enough stuff to get real tough
Well, she's the girl who plays
The holiday is over, the honeymoon is over
The garden's overgrown
The trust is rusted, the link's been busted
The seeds are sown
The sounds of my breath, what do you expect
Echo in the hall
The ghost of the picture still haunts the master
Bedroom mirrored wall

I suppose you'd say she made a fool of me
Oh, but she has authority

It used to be fine
Days full of music, nights full of music
Music all the time
Invisible light
I try my best but I transgressed
It used to be fine
The chances are used up, the finances used up
The energy is low
Letters are returned, lovers are spurned
Delivered quite a blow
The signs of disaster, I wouldn't put it past her
The dagger's in the dark
The stale perfume in her old room
Heart of a shark

I suppose you'd say she made a slave of me
Oh, but she has authority

I guess that that's all
The curtain comes down and the circus leaves town
The leaves begin to fall
I guess that that's it
The world keeps spinning, people keep sinning
And all the rest is just bullshit
The shadow's getting longer, the widow's gettin' younger
The cup doth overflow
The luxury of pity, babe this wasn't pretty
On with the show
Life is a tangle, a one night triangle
Some tangle of life limbs
You sleep like a baby precious as a ruby
Goodbye everything

I suppose you'd say she made a fool of me
Oh, but she had authority

Fly Home lyrics - The Church

Listen
Collect your thoughts, don't hide
If you can't face yourself, collide
The blue sheen of sky dazzles your eyes
And leaves you slumped against the night

They captured you, chopped off your hand
Left for dead
And buried your body in sun-soaked sand
Fly home

Is there patience where you think
Only empty arms to take you in
Pale luminescent glare
Surrounds you 'til you can't see it's there

Uncoiled flag below the wind
A torn head
You can't come out 'cause you're so far in
Fly home

Ancient in the image cast
Reminds you the future's like the past
Time split into equal spheres
Haunting you, using up your fear

Something hateful in your head
Then kick it out
You're scullin' hard but your wings are dead
Fly home

The Dead Man's Dream lyrics - The Church

Once I had a name, forgotten now
I breathed the air in a century of wonder
I can hear it now in the darkness of the earth
Gorgeous machines, the sound they made like thunder
Great gardens drip honey-jewels and bright birds
The pageants pass down avenues of splendor
Ah, long afternoons by enchanted lakes
Upon elephants, so well I do remember

Lords and priests and talking beasts
Golden calves and telepaths
Crystal skulls and screaming gulls
Women glowed tattooed with woad
Colored mists and amethysts
Men were strong and days were long
Dragons glide on mountainside
Mandrake root and angel fruit
Sighing winds on silver skin
Creation transubstantiation
Unicorns, electric storms
Tunes and runes, we laughed till noon
Sweet release, eternal peace

"Priest = Aura" (1992)

Aura lyrics - The Church

We all came back from the war
I wish somebody would tell me the score
We raked old Poseidon over the coals
Shook his shells, shaked his shoals

Where can a soldier fix himself a drink
Forget the noise, forget the stink
And the opium is running pretty low
'Cause when the pain comes back, I don't want to know

Across yonder ocean the natives are fierce
Their ears are filled their teeth are pierced
But it's not their spears that spill your breath
They kill their enemies by loving them to death

We were on some battlefield
I felt something soft go through my shield
I felt something warm enter my guts
I was bleeding bad but there were no cuts

They captured three of us, took us back to their village
After a long long time I could decipher their language
They worshipped Baal, they worshipped the sun
They worshipped the son of the evil one

They were more than voracious, they sucked our ambition
They let me go on one condition
That was when I came back to my native shore
I tell you they don't want to play with us anymore

But a part of me will never be free
And the part that's free will never be me
But a thing of love and beauty is in my head
A message from our enemies, and here's what they said

They said that love = hate
And death = fate
An enemy always = an adorer
But priest = aura

Yeah, and life = time
And time = space
And space = sublime
And human = race

Oh and woman = man
And pot = pan
The fauna ought to equal the flora
But priest = aura

And beginning = the end
The end always = the start
But straight = bent
The mind sometimes = the heart

And you = me
The land = the sea
Richer = poorer
And priest = aura

Ripple lyrics - The Church

Tiny baby, so naive
I can't believe what you believe
You were once so happy here

It may not be Eden or summer in Greece
You may not even find the Golden Fleece
In the drag of this atmosphere

Now I don't want to bring up a delicate matter
No I'd much rather bribe or flatter you
'Cause flattery gets me everywhere

But you punctured my tires, you crossed all my wires
I brand your acolytes as a pack of liars
And the fire's singing everywhere

Buckle like a wreck on the cold green sea
Like you were a ripple in my memory

I leant you some collateral to buy new clothes
It went out the window and up your nose
And that's the end of the honeymoon

Yeah we walked down the aisle for another mile
I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles
And you can have all the money soon

You're so deluxe, you're so divine
You're so fifty light years ahead of your time
You're a riddle, you're a ripple

You're the human sacrifice to the goddess of ice
Your hairdo is full of diamonds and lice
And you're hardly off the nipple

Another little glitch in continuity
Like you were a ripple in my memory

Paradox lyrics - The Church

You are a paradox to me, a senseless maze
I run around, I'm looking for you all of my days

The more that you want it, the more that you need it
(You are a paradox)
The less that it does
Run out it's rough, too much is enough
(You are a paradox)
And that's what it was

I cannot bear to share you, we can't be alone
You make me drift up and float, and fall like a stone

The more that I see you, the more that I miss you
(You are a paradox)
The less that I care
I know I should try to kiss you goodbye, but...
(You are a paradox)
You're never there

I've got a nickname for you, I call you weakness
I get a little strength out too, or is it meekness

The more that you want it, the more that you need it
(You are a paradox)
The less that it does
Run out it's rough, too much is enough
(You are a paradox)
And that's what it was

You are a paradox to me, a contradiction
You're a predicament for me, and a prediction

Lustre lyrics - The Church

Well we had just begun
When the night came down
Sweating rain on everyone
Anyone who was hanging around
You say there's something strange going on
I cannot see a thing
And pretty soon then we'll be drenched to the bone
And my soul is freezing

And we really should decide
Who's taking who for this

Ride the bandwagon into the ditch
Smile for the many you shocked
Bless my soul and drop a stitch
Strike while the irony is hot

And I don't have much time
There's so much left to take
It'd hard to know what's genuine
And what's a genuine fake
I think there's something weird going on
Something unforeseen
The best impression of a succubus
That I have ever seen

Before we get too fried
Let's get on with the

Ride the ghost train now into the dark
Ride it right into the ground
Up through the suburbs, graveyards and parks
Going around and around

If I never see you again
That will be way too soon
And if I ever get over this
I will be over the moon
I hope that something new comes along
Something more my style
I hope that someone else comes along
And makes it worth my while

And it's lust and sloth and pride
That makes me want to

Ride the roller coaster for all that it's worth
Live it all up to the hilt
If you can't take it with you
Away from this earth
Might as well take it full tilt

Ride the old horse through gold rush town
If that's the kind of company you keep
You're getting very tired and you need to lie down
I'll see you in your sleep

Paradox lyrics - The Church

You are a paradox to me, a senseless maze
I run around, I'm looking for you all of my days

The more that you want it, the more that you need it
(You are a paradox)
The less that it does
Run out it's rough, too much is enough
(You are a paradox)
And that's what it was

I cannot bear to share you, we can't be alone
You make me drift up and float, and fall like a stone

The more that I see you, the more that I miss you
(You are a paradox)
The less that I care
I know I should try to kiss you goodbye, but...
(You are a paradox)
You're never there

I've got a nickname for you, I call you weakness
I get a little strength out too, or is it meekness

The more that you want it, the more that you need it
(You are a paradox)
The less that it does
Run out it's rough, too much is enough
(You are a paradox)
And that's what it was

You are a paradox to me, a contradiction
You're a predicament for me, and a prediction

Swan Lake lyrics - The Church

Oh my ugly ducklings, nobody loves you
Daddy said he'll buy you some ballet shoes
But he spent all he had on hash
And avoiding another crash
Now who will look after you

One night your shoulders will ache
But next day when you wake
You'll sprout wild wings, and fly
Just like in Swan Lake

Oh you helpless birdlings, nobody wants you
How will you ever survive out of the nest
And the wolf will put his nose in
And the water is so frozen
You'll have to swim like all the rest

Feel lyrics - The Church

For all time
Looking for something to remind me
Something out the corner of my eye
Why can't I feel it
Why should I try

Bump into a stranger
But that stranger is strangely familiar
How could I let it slip by
Why can't I feel it
Can you tell me why

When I nearly had the connection sussed
It slips right off my tongue
And timing is off, things get jumbled up
In a fever when you are young
But I know who's in there behind those eyes

So say goodbye
There can never be an ending
We are endless like the sky
Why can't I feel it
Is it just a lie

Why can't I feel it
For all time

Mistress lyrics -The Church

You're shivering again
After all that we've been through
Is that all you can do
I didn't wanna come here
Now I don't wanna go
Is there some trick involved in this
As if you would tell me so

Everything is going wrong
All my songs are coming true
And another thing, that halo you wear on your head
I haven't seen one of those for years
Where have you been
In bed or dead

You're vanishing again
After everything we've said
It's all too much for your poor little head
I've never ever been here
I'll never ever leave
Is there some string attached to this
Well I can well believe

Kings lyrics - The Church

See history fade, it's crystal clear
Aurora what you doing here
Buttering the mouths of thieves
Shutter speed your bleeding leaves

In gardens in the orient
Likelihood is good and spent
Herod nods beneath the palms
Holds poor baby in his arms

Tunis and Sardinia
The oceans growing hungrier
Beneath these walls we'll sleep tonight
Beneath this sky we'll glide so bright

And kings will come, years will pass
Stars burn cold beneath the glass
And days will glow in distant times
In distorted haze the zebras graze

In deserts where the dust storm blows
And lush black swamps where mandrake grows
We're marching laughing to the drum
Waiting for those kings to come

An infant with the voice of a crone
In Nebuchanezzar's parking zone
Calls out my lord your end is nigh
I didn't mean to make you cry

The circus sun in Nero eyes
The lions and the Christians rise
Software sings and hardware hears
We're destined babe to live these years

Dome lyrics - The church

I saw this film about some people who lived in a dome
In a beautiful field next to a river of foam
I fell asleep before it was over
I must have dreamt of the end

They'd be young forever as long as they stayed in the dome
But barbarians came and set fire to their home
Exposed the dome dwellers to the outside
They must have known it was the end

All of their wealth couldn't save them
All died inside the flames
Destined to make that same old mistake
God that's such a shame

The barbarians picked through the ashes of the dome
Then went on their way, yeah, continued to roam
But a curse was laid upon them
They must have known it was the end

All of their strength couldn't save them
All died inside the flood
Destined to make that same old mistake
The way of all flesh and blood

I saw this film about some people who lived in a dome

Witch Hunt lyrics - The Church

People 'round here say you're a witch
They're intrigued in seeing you roast
They really intend to burn you my friend
I think that's the bit they like most

Wake up baby, the mob are on their way
Howling, growling, they want your blood
They're out to get it today

You had to go and cure the mayor's itch
Then you took care of his clerk
You fixed up John Green and the old bishop's spleen
Put everyone out of work

Wake up baby, oh baby open your eyes
Look around you, this may be your last sunrise

The Disillusionist lyrics - The Church

In autumn he comes to this town
When the people's guard is down
On a day like today
Overcast and gray
Bells were all ringing
The birds stopped their singing
The wind caught in the trees
Screaming to be free

He alights from the platform
In his usual uniform
His skin looks like he slept in it
Or had something rotten kept in it
And snakes stir in the thistles
Back of cats neck bristles
'Round vicious lips the fur is stained
The disillusionist is back again

They say that he's famous from the waist down
But the top half of his body is a corpse
His gold won't buy him sleep
His poverty runs so deep
In winter he cracks, in summer he warps

Hang around the backstage door
But he knows what you're waiting for
You rub yourself against his fame
Already ready to bear the blame
He asks you "Did you like my show?"
As if he really wants to know
Then doesn't wait for your reply
He just pulls you back inside

You've started feeling dizzy
It isn't you or is he
Persuade you mentally
Undresses you incidentally
Down the swaying corridor
People you feel sorry for
But when he puts the gaze on you
You're amazed at what you'll let him do

He can turn wine into water
Mother against daughter
Juggles busy deadlines
Gets himself off headlines
Surrounded by his minions
Who never have opinions
Performing little tricks for you
Puts it in a fix for you

Smashes your watch with a hammer
Caresses you with camera
And says the magic words
That nobody's ever heard
Now the slur is fading
Reality all-pervading
It only makes you want him more
It only makes you fawn him more

And he does the Indian rope trick
The one that makes you seasick
And he keeps on filling up your cup
But you keep on filling up
And some of it's done with mirrors
And some of it's done with scissors
And some of it's done with cables
And his hands under the table

It doesn't matter you want to believe
It doesn't matter if you have to leave
You won't escape his orbit
And the things that you must forfeit
And the audience seems familiar
Some of them in particular
Bet you they are his plants
When he plays the game of chance

He reads the minds of jilted girls
And the story really unfurls
Cast a fortune for the man in the suit
Who's suffering is very acute
There's a rabbit in his hat
But I thought I smelled a rat

Old Flame lyrics - The Church

Naomi will not be consoled by your blues
She calls down the crows then she pulls on her shoes
Out into the empty street she walks
Past the little piles of smoldering leaves

Beware
An old flame is still burning there
Don't stare
Shadows in the smoke whispering everywhere
Everywhere
Anywhere is nowhere when you don't care
So beware
An old flame is still burning there

Chaos lyrics - The Church

I wasn't expecting this
Now everything is destroyed
Underneath us are the nothings
Underneath them is a void
Beyond that void is a place
Where figments from bad dreams are banished
Childhood nightmares all come seeking
And adult logic nearly vanished

Chaos (chaos)
[L](sensing you're high, fall in the flame, faster and down)
[R](dance in desire, fall in the flames, faster and down)
Chaos (chaos)
[L](dance in desire, fall in the flames, faster and down)
[R](sensing you're high, out of the flames, buckle it down)

None of this is what I wanted
I truly asked for what I got
Bang the gavel, it's lawlessness
I can't unravel the knot

Chaos (chaos)
[L](dance in the sea, following flames, buckle it down)
[R](sensing you're high, out of the flame, faster and down)
Chaos (chaos)
[L](sensing that high, falling away)
[R](dance in desire, falling away)

Half this wretched town is starving
While the other half are bloated
Everybody hates the bastards in power
But their pill is sugar coated

Chaos (chaos)
[L](sensing that high, fall in the flame, fasten it down)
[R](dance in desire, fall in the breeze, flatten it down)
Chaos (chaos)
[L](dance in the sea, following flames, faster and down)
[R](sensing that high, out of the flame, flatten it down)

I didn't need any of this
I feel anxiety in my neck
The consequences now apparent
Feeding back unchecked
Incessant blue in spiral coils
Fingers underneath the skin
Adrenaline is not my mistress
But she always knows just where I've been

Chaos (chaos)
[L](dance in desire, fall in the flames, faster and down)
[R](sensing that high, out of the flame, flatten it down)
Chaos (chaos)
[L](sensing that high, falling away)
[R](dance in the sea, floating away)

"A Quick Smoke At Spot's" (1991)

Texas Moon lyrics - The Church

One more day I may forget my reason
Some would say we bathed like a harpoon
Followed politely south it feels like treason
Live out my days beneath the Texas moon
Started out a cardshark in Palm City
Playing for another tablespoon
Lost my fancy vest and both my kidneys
Two red jacks and one red Texas moon

I met a bunch of fools in Oklahoma
Their leader was a loathsome old baboon
Had those rascals hooked on homemade soma
Hooked on that yeah and the Texas moon
He knew a house that opened up in Dallas
I'll stick within a darkened sweetened room
She said "I pray you can't accept that fallacy"
"But lie down here and feel the Texas moon"

Crying is no substitute for laughter
I would have felt but now I'm feeling used
I'm hell bent for the here and ever after
Cold white fire like the Texas moon
And I expect to find life there unpleasant
My exit will be most inopportune
I'm leaving while I can see this crescent
The crescent of the ghostly Texas moon

It can't be any hotter than this jail
It can't be any colder than this mood
It can't be any deader than a doornail
Or half as live as the Texas moon
Mother send no flowers for my passing
Surely life is just one long lampoon
Brother end your vigilance and your fasting
I'm going down beneath the Texas moon

Perfect Child lyrics - The Church

In a garden, in a kitchen
On an earth beyond adventure
On an island in the sea
As a message from the future
As a man who held the answers
As another man comes crashing as me

Inside eyes
I see the blackness of a dead space
A man could float forever and never find this place
Lie down my perfect child
This is but a dream

From a time when sorrow was set free
From a land of doubt and misery
From a suburb listed locally
When the sun was blotted out the sky
When the wind will refuse to die
There was only you and I

Inside eyes
I see the blackness of dead space
A man could float forever and never find this place
Lie down my perfect child
This is just a dream

Much Too Much lyrics - The Church

There's a fire in the eastern perimeter
There's an alligator in the stew
And everybody who's going to heaven
Would they kindly stand in this queue

Because there's far too many
And there's much too much
When the news sinks in holding on to our skin
I only want to give you a touch

At the break of day I was breaking
At the fall of night well I fell
Like a fool I wept as the starbeams crept
Illuminating this hell

Don't ask me if I'm ready
I'm standing with my ticket in hand
When the boss comes back and he looks at this crack
He sure ain't gonna understand

Take It Back lyrics - The Church

She said thanks for the present
Thanks for the future, too
But it'll take something better than this cliched love letter
To make me come back to you

You better take it back (take it to the metal)
Take it back (take it to the bone)
Take it back (take it anywhere I want)
Take it back (take it all back home)

When I first arrived in this brand new life
With my halo and clean slate
But then I dabbled and I meddled till I couldn't backpedal
And I hate my fate

I want to take it back (take it to the metal)
Take it back (take it to the bone)
Take it back (take it anywhere I want)
Take it back (take it all back home)

She said thanks for the memory
She said thanks for the booze
She said thanks for everything that made me sing
These elemental breakdown blues

Why don't you take it back (take it to the metal)
Take it back (take it to the bone)
Take it back (take it anywhere I want)
Take it back (take it all back home)

(Take it back, take it back)

Desert lyrics - The Church

I, I am the stranger this time around
You, you are the changeless sounds of sand
I could be here forever riding this death
You, you are the distance, my clown

I fall down in the sun
I become everyone who ever walked this way
Where the desolate places meet the oasis
Empty spaces of today

I, I am the journey into the haze
You, you are the hill of yesterdays

I, I am the pulse of the heat
You, you are the name of every man that I meet

We Both Know Why You're Here lyrics - The Church

There is no reason to struggle
Nothing on earth you should fear
You say you received it but I just don't believe it
We both know why you're here

You never make an appointment
You never make anything clear
You say you're for real like that's a hell of a deal
But we both know why you're here

You need it and you read it and you feed it and you don't believe
It's just a joke
You follow it you swallow it and then you like to wallow in it
Like civilized folk

Who like their rewards nice and easy
But you thought we were the four musketeers
You say you've got the stuff but there's never enough
And we both know why you're here

You say some rich man really loves you
Oh, did you really think he's sincere?
He wants all you got, that isn't a lot
And we both know why you're here

You walk it and you talk it but you never balked in it
Like nothing's wrong
You rush it and you crush it I'd hate to ever see you suss it
But my curiosity is strong

Frozen And Distant lyrics - The Church

We are seething
All those pretty pretty months were so deceiving
We are glowing
All those lucky lucky stars we've been blowing
The hammer falls and it's going, going, gone
And all the pulse in this reflection

We are freezing
And you thought that all that cold war stuff was teasing
The weather's strange so we stay in bed
Prophet of doom went straight to your head

Frozen and distant, release the cold (ice cannot see)
Here in an instant, could be next week (eyes cannot see)
Frozen and distant relic

We say one day
This ice will all melt down but we'll be washed away
Funny how it seems important here and now
Try to leave your mark upon this world somehow

We are boiling
This temporary earth that is recoiling
The weather's changed and it's scratch ahead
Give us today and that daily bread

Frozen and distant, really sublime (ice cannot see)
Here in an instant, could be next time (eyes cannot see)
Frozen and distant relic

Forgotten Reign lyrics - The Church

I walk through the forgotten reign
An ancient central nation
Taken under the hand
Blessed like French Champagne

Then she moved to know him
To form a perfect creation
Exile waits on God's delights
And I accused of tasting

All the secrets of the past come floating from their caves
Calling like a siren through the waves

The great great river flowed away
Across the sands we lived again
Leaderless, began our fight
Evolution in decay
Priests with hair and eyes so clear
Appealed upon to return
Struck up his flying caravan
Said fifteen years I've been here

Bloodless soldier meet a lot of phone rings and (2:52)
It's gonna take a long time

Floats in the air
Attuned for wings
Prophets schooled
Language lost along the line

Anna Miranda lyrics - The Church

Anna Miranda I've been waiting here
On my verandah, southern hemisphere
All of the slow storms which blow the dust across the sky
Anna Miranda I've been waiting here
Wish I knew what you were looking for

Anna Miranda distance alters all our words
Time meanders, discord and music of the birds
All of the dark storms which drive the rain across my face
Anna Miranda I've been waiting here
Wish I knew what you were looking for

Anna Miranda well it's serious
The salamanders are delirious
All of the black storms which shake the fruit down from the trees
Anna Miranda yeah it's serious
Wish I knew what you were looking for

Anna Miranda I've been waiting here
On my verandah, almost seven years
All of the wild storms which cause the flowering buds to burst
Anna Miranda I've been waiting here
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Then I might have known what you would find

(Thank you and goodnight from The Church!)

Hunter lyrics - The Church

A silver lamp-lit sign
Flashes in the rain
Inside the taxi
That takes me to my plane
And the party's over
With a head that throbs
It's none of my business you see
I'm just doing my job

I'm gonna track you down
[L](Lived by the sword, dies by the sword)
[R](He obeys the law, where the stuff is sold)
I'm gonna catch your scent
[L](Bind our hands on the wall, everything else looks sore)
[R](What we do it for, and the casts are sore)
I'm gonna spring your trap
[L](And the casts have soul, what can you use them for)
[R](Then you ran to the hall, bind their hands to the wall)
I'm gonna track you down
[L](Locusts steal the sword, the air occurs the sword)
[R](Die by the sword, lived by the sword)

And let's see, you were last seen leaving Tony's Bar
With a dark suspicious man
And some intoxicated woman
'Cause your wife doesn't understand
A carnation in your buttonhole
Greed inside your veins
Smooth threats and promises
Hotel rooms and chains

Closing in like snow and rust
Leave you high and dry
First you're gonna simmer
Then you're gonna fry

Dream lyrics - The Church

Washed into a sentimental group
Loneliness ??? (0:06)
Battle-clad Byzantium command
And these dark cards look nothing like my hand

Lightning strikes a second time
Songbird knows just when to die
Emperor cries immortal from the grime
Sun is in the hole in the sky

Emptiness builds up with perfumed pride
There's an enemy cruising on the plain tonight
Harmony is lost and then it's wet
Don't know how I'm so far off from my bed

Memories of serpents in the drain
Melting like ice cream in the rain
As my self grows closer to the grave

Ride Into The Sunset lyrics - The Church

Out in the open high in the sun
Blue fields of sky where the West is one
I fell into town and I covered up my wings
Yet to get a taste for everything

You're gonna ride into the sunset
I guess you can count me in
Don't feed the fire in here
Don't tell a soul
This uniform and war
Well it's all been done before
I'm nervous playing someone else's role

Take a look around you these walls ain't real
There's nothing behind these facades
Get our gifts exchanged, why do you think that's strange
Why do you make it so hard

Out in the open high in the sun
Blue fields of sky where the West is one
I fell into town, I covered up my wings
And now I've got a taste for everything

You Got Off Light lyrics - The Church

It seems you think I promised you the moon
You must be seeing stars
The callous future with a nervousness soon
But that's all in the past

You got off light
Lying there in your own world tonight
Turn off the charm, it's too damn bright
Hey you got off light

The rude rumors you started were partially true
You should be very proud
How will it be when they catch up with you
You're standing face to face with the jeering crowd

You got off light
Lying there in your own world tonight
In the dark with your second sight
You got off light

You didn't make , that's a big mistake
I should have checked on your credit
I pressed your hand in a clammy handshake
And I knew that I'd regret it

You got off light
Lying there in your own world tonight
But you're just too civilized to fight
You got off light

You got off light
Lying there in your own world tonight
Turn off the charm, it's too damn bright
You got off light

Nose Dive lyrics - The Church

Remembering eye brushes no obstacle
You feel nothing, nothing touches you
Nothing, nothing coming through
Disrupt this transmission
Blood money transfusion
Nor is that conclusion really true
You sell up your stocks and buy out your bonds
You're down to your socks and you're waving your wand
But it sure ain't magic I guess you ain't a real blonde

I wanted this to be
Something really fine
Starlight into mystery
Clock provides the time

Your canopy snaps and your engine is gone
Your altitude drops and you've lost all your guns
Your flying days are surely nearly done
Your goose is cooked and there's too many chiefs
Spoiling the rot that the Indians eat
Can I have some more, just leave off that meat
You fall from a dream into your bed and scream
You fall from a scream into your bed and dream

Wreckage from another crash
Litter under camouflage
Wreckage from another crash
Reckon it involved you

The Feast lyrics - The Church

There were many guests at the table
Misfortune, jealousy, and sloth
Acting fine, drink the wine
Spill it on the tablecloth

What a surprise for you to come home to
Look through the eyes that you've grown used to

It's impossible (yes I know)
It's too tempting too (I admit)
It's unforgivable
But I have nothing to lose

Then when the feast was over
The guests withdrew to the fire
Talking proud, laughing out loud
To pretend, deceive and admire

(Three blind mice, three blind mice)

Rats danced on the Persian rug
The cats fell down drunk in the chair
They reverted again to women and men
If only you had been there

Afterlife lyrics - The Church

[Instrumental]

"Gold Afternoon Fix" (1990)

Pharoah lyrics - The Church

Hi to all the people that are selling me
Here's one straight from the factory
They've sewn my eyes up in their sockets
I dip my hand into their pockets

Is there anybody there
I could swear I'm not alone
Show your faces if you dare
Slaving platinum to bone

One big man with a good connection
Takes the whole damn ship in the wrong direction
I don't mind him misinterpreting me
I hate it when he gets us lost out to sea

Late at night when I'm lying in bed
I've got to say a prayer for my daily bread
And early in the morning when I'm still asleep
You sit upon your throne making grown men weep
With boredom

Metropolis lyrics - The Church

There'll never be another quite like you
I'm so involved with everything you do
Don't say nothing good will ever come of this
Don't say the damage is worse than it is

Back in Metropolis, circuses and elephants
Where the oranges grew
And back in Metropolis nothing can ever topple us
When I'm standing with you

You stare down at some crowd from your trapeze
And when you fell they fell down on their knees
And when you broke they scrambled for a piece
And when you spoke I felt their anger freeze

Back in Metropolis, circuses and elephants
Where the oranges grew
And back in Metropolis nothing can ever topple us
When I'm standing with you
And back in Metropolis talk about a holocaust
And then visit the zoo
And back in Metropolis the weather is ridiculous
What's it all leading to

And it's only a day away
We could leave tonight
You could sleep along the way
Dream in black and white

Terra Nova Cain lyrics - The Church

Turn down the gravity, this is all too heavy
I'll show you how the ancients once traveled
They used to call this a Chevy
Just before the continents sank, you could still go outside
I was sitting on a hot off ramp
She pulled up and asked me if I needed a ride

Terra Nova Cain, I need you again
Deep space jam on an alien terrain
Terra Nova Cain, I need you again
Some for the little boys who live down the lane

I should have known there was something amiss
She had unearthly eyes
She had a way of sifting through your mind
Like she'd done it to a million guys
She said, "Will you help with our research?"
I said, "Take me to your leader."
She put her foot down on the oscillation pedal
She was a transdimensional speeder

Terra Nova Cain, I need you again
Protect me from the meteor rain
Terra Nova Cain, I need you again
Put your exploratory probe right into my brain

They brought me back after thousands of years
I hadn't aged at all
We used to float around her weightless bedroom
That drove me right up the wall

Terra Nova Cain, I need you again
You dropped me off and you've left me quite drained
Terra Nova Cain, I need you again
Help me break these telekinetic chains

City lyrics - The Church

There, smoke turns into serpents in the air
Beware, there's no sanctu'ry anywhere
On this very spot, a great city once stood
It oozed with evil but it felt so good
Well I don't know
Where did it go?

And here, there's lots of method in the madness dear
And we're considering remaining here
On this very house a giant was born
With two angry eyes and one sharp black horn
Well I don't know
How could he grow?

The fountains gush wine
The chimneys spurt flowers
Where me and my friends pass the fleeting hours
Well yes and no
Where did they go?

Goodbye, there's no reason, there's no alibi
I'll try to write you a letter from the cyclone's eye
On this very day, a hundred years before
They opened up the future like it was a door
Well I don't know
Where did it go?

The towers stretch up, the spires spiral odd
Behind the vicar's gate, the sign, "Beware of God"
Well I don't know
Where did he go?

Monday Morning lyrics - The Church

Beyond the city, and evening dust
Dreams and thunder rattle the rust

You had an idea that you won't have again
She's forgotten your name and hopes you'll do the same
The start of the ash, and the end of the flame
Burning you, turning you

There was a lifetime spent in the sun
Hundreds of chances, blew every one
Dice rolled, double six, double six, double six
Owner of trouble, flesh, blood, and bricks

You had an idea that you won't have again
She's forgotten your name and hopes you'll do the same
The start of the ash, and the end of the flame
Turning you, burning you

Oh Monday morning, the cracks become quite clear
Oh Monday morning, take me back, leave me here

Beyond the city, and evening dust
Dreams and thunder rattle the rust

You had an idea that you won't have again
She's forgotten your name and hopes you'll do the same
The start of the ash, and the end of the flame
Burning you, turning you around

Russian Autumn Heart lyrics - The Church

Combustion, suggestions, roaring engines
Jewels and lathes that build a world
A Titanic, and Howard Hughes, an aimless king
Always spoilin' the best things you done
So red squares and wavy leaves
Delicate glass kisses, delicate lips
Russian autumn heart
Russian autumn heart

Testing, digressing, falling to the earth
Red-hot spaceships with soil so rich
A trillion pennies for a handful of dust
A sight only witnessed by a mountain of ice
So red squares and wavy leaves
Sibling link meets Manchurian mink
Russian autumn heart
Russian autumn heart

Combustion, suggestions, roaring engines
Jewels and lathes that rule the world
A Titanic, and Howard Hughes, an aimless king
Always spoilin' the best things you done
So red squares and wavy leaves
Delicate glass kisses, delicate lips
Russian autumn heart
Russian autumn heart

Essence lyrics - The Church

The universe is female
Eluding the science of men
You sway and you swagger and your neat/mean little dagger
You're gonna blow it again

Prove her existence in everything
The soul of her rivers and stones
Her acquiescence in everything
Her essence, her presence, her bones

Lust and law take the masculine
Ambition and war take the boys
I pin the tail on the alpha male
A little man making big noise

It's not the engine or chassis
It's not the weapon or length
Your war dance I guess got this place in this mess
But there's something that's stronger than strength

A metaphor is a goddess
A king that's fit for a queen
The opposite side of that armored old hide
I hope you know what I mean
Oh yeah

You're Still Beautiful lyrics - The Church

It was only seven years ago
Your mirror finally broke
Your little bunch of followers turned you into a fool
The butt of all their vicious jokes, screaming

You're still beautiful baby
Nobody can take that away
You're still beautiful baby
Even when you fall down that way

You turned up backstage at the palace
We thought you was wearing a mask
I felt so fucking embarrassed
When you looked at your reflection and asked, you asked

Are you still beautiful baby?
Nobody can take that away
You're still beautiful baby
Baby don't believe what you see

Well, once upon a time I would've killed for you
I'm sorry that you got in this mess
But you're the walking picture of Dorian Gray
At least it's artistic I guess, I guess

Disappointment lyrics - The Church

Far below the surface, where the women sway
Green shadows greet another day
Drowned for the moment, on an empty ocean bed
And I cannot lift my head

Late for an appointment, clothes everywhere
I cannot find my mem'ry anywhere
Ah, disappointment just doesn't care
Off in the distance just waiting there

Take back her keys, what shall we do today?
Maybe a little lunch down at the ghost cafe
Sand in my sandals, my blood feels like red wine
They say, "Hey, everything will work out fine."

Transient lyrics - The Church

Here for now, here for now
An island coincidence away
Boarding a train always leaving today
Approaching a station starts to slow
Ushered out, no will against the flow

Dark as the night comes to share
With stars in her hair
And grand majestic flair
Framed, a world passes by
With the sound of a young girl's sigh
Man carrying a brow
Smoke rises from the crowd

Here for now, here for now
Tug in the sound as if to say
There's left a part of now in yesterday
The hurry for fear to miss the show
Not as strong as the wind's eternal blow

Wondering if the leaves will fall in May
Only know if I decide to stay

Laughing lyrics - The Church

Five o'clock, fade away the shadows
Leaving by the window or the door
And they're laughing
Laughing at you anyway
Yeah they're laughing
Laughing at you every day

Eight o'clock, underneath the lamplight
Slow poison from a tiny little wound
And they're laughing
Laughing at you anyway
Yeah they're laughing
Laughing at you every day

I understood before I knew
I realized I'd spend my life coming back to you
Laughing at you
Laughing at you

Twelve o'clock, in the building of the mirrors
Recoil from my elongated twin
And he's laughing
He's laughing at you anyway
Yeah he's laughing
He's laughing at you every day

Fading Away lyrics - The Church

Don't come to pieces in my hand
White stars reflecting dust and sand
That perfume makes me think of grief
Shake the faith, shake the belief

Who's there to say that we're living this moment
Feels like I'm in a play
The sets and the props of this, your apartment
Seem to be fading away, fading away

So I wander through these rooms
I feel the orbit of the moons
And I dream what I've become
And all's forgotten by the sun

Grind lyrics - The Church

The whine in your hand is worth two at the bar
And everybody knows what you've been drinking
Disgraceful sky flecked with a nightmare of stars
And everybody knows how you've been syncing

Long distance century buzzes and fades
I wonder why you've not resigned
Previews, processions and parades
You've got to grind, grind it out
You've got to grind, grind it out

Line up the arrows, push off the top
This can cause sustain forever
And once it's started up, it cannot be stopped
At least it's holding us together

Long distance century buzzes and fades
An automatic charge on your mind
The glittering minutes, jangled decades
We've got to grind, grind it out
We've got to grind, grind it out

Vortex appears, unleashed by the crash
A moment marred by hesitation
Bedazzled surgeon chases the gash
And we don't need that operation

Long distance century buzzes and fades
Elysian Fields not far behind
Find me a witness amongst these shades
They've got to grind, grind it out
They've got to grind, grind it out

Long distance century buzzes and fades
I hope the deaf can lead the blind
Lift me up into those whirling blades
I've got to grind, grind it out
You got to grind, grind it out
We've got to grind, grind it out
We've got to grind, grind it out

"Starfish" (1988)

Destination lyrics - The Church

Our instruments have no way of measuring this feeling
Can never cut below the floor or penetrate the ceiling
In the space between our houses some bones have been discovered
But our procession lurches on as if we have recovered

Draconian winter unforetold
One solar day, suddenly you're old
Your little envelope just makes me feel cold
Makes destination start to unfold

Our documents are useless, or forged beyond believing
Page forty-seven is unsigned, I need it by this evening
In the space between our cities, a storm is slowly forming
Something eating up our days, I feed it every morning
Destination, destination

It's not a religion, it's just a technique
It's just a way of making you speak
(When) distance and speed have left us too weak
And destination looks kind of bleak

Our elements are burned out, our beasts have been mistreated
I tell you it's the only way we'll get this road completed
In the space between our bodies the air has grown small fingers
Just one caress, you're powerless, like all those clapped-out swingers
Destination, destination

Under The Milky Way lyrics - The Church

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
Sound of their breath fades with the light
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight

Lower the curtain down in Memphis
Lower the curtain down all right
I got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight

Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find

And it's something quite peculiar
Something that's shimmering and white
It leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight

Under the Milky Way tonight

Blood Money lyrics - The Church

Blind with dollars
Mined in salt
And you pay for everything in cold, hard cash
Better read through the fine print, you sift through the ash

In the hand, blood money
In the sand, blood money

She's worth the ransom
He says, "Do you accept my card
Or can I pay for it now in cold, hard cash?"
I'm priceless, you're worthless, but it's not a bad match
And I know you understand it's blood money
There's such a big demand for blood money
A hundred and fifty grand, blood money
It's flowing under the land like blood money

He's worth the ransom
She says, "Why can't you get hot?"
Because you pay for this now in cold, hard cash
You make the front page, I'm gonna bring back the lash
Then I know you'll understand it's blood money
There's such a big demand for blood money
A hundred and fifty grand, blood money
It's flowing under the land like blood money

Lost lyrics - The Church

Sometimes I'm wond'ring under prehistoric skies
I feel it's all beginning right before my eyes
I must go back, re-examine my love
And here she comes with the penetrated stare
I don't know when, but I wish I knew where
Quick calculation, there's not nearly enough

Because we're lost, because we're lost
Cold desert stars, feel them sparkle and frost
They are so lost

Follow her down to worship some god
Who never speaks to me, I wonder if that's odd
Then he says you're never listening
The pursuit of adulation is your butter and your bread
It's an exquisite corpse and its lips are red
And its teeth are glistening

But you are lost, but you are lost
Now hang up 'cause the lines are all crossed
You are so lost

If you're alone and you're feeling blue,
Everyone in Persia probably feels like that too
I just hope they don't believe like you do
And here she comes with her unforgiving web
Almost forever I've been drinking these dregs
It must be time to change our brew, cruel, view

Before we're lost, before we're lost
Look at the map, add up the cost
Before we're lost

North, South, East And West lyrics - The Church

A war's being waged and the world's just a stage (in this city)
The real estate's prime, the number plates rhyme (liquidity)
Wear a gun and be proud, but bare breasts aren't allowed (in this city)
Dream up a scam and then rake in the clams (liquidity)

(It's neither here nor there) It's neither here nor there
North and south and east and west
(It has to be somewhere) It oughta be somewhere
North and south and east and west

I take my payment, I catch my flight
And don't wait up for me tonight
(And you might find me there) and you might find me there
North and south and east and west

Have a quick throw or host your own show (in this city)
To a wolf from a lamb for just half a gram (liquidity)
The face of today just a scalpel away
Restore your lost soul for two dollars plus toll (liquidity)

Backs are patted when calves are fatted (in this city)
The emperor's clothes are the best for the proles (liquidity)
The guys with the brains are all bitter and vain (stupidity)
The guys with the luck got the bimbos and bucks (liquidity)

North, south, east, west

Spark lyrics - The Church

I'm saturated
Wet with your tears
You spill so easily
In reflection I'll see you again
Approach me, soak me
Faith, faith, breathe!

'Cause it's here, it's where the air is clear
Where far off things could be quite near
No repairs are needed
Just a spark!

I'm interested
You've always been a subject
That I could learn
Splendid hills, unconquerable mountains
Climb, don't ever turn back
Seed, seed, grow!

Antenna lyrics - The Church

Why do you always wrongly assume
That you're so well aware of what's happening there
Right here in this room?

You're just an antenna, you're just a wire
There's a thousand tongues wagging in your ears tonight
And you turn around and you call me a liar
Lightly babe, oh the fine lights cannot find you
She stay out my way, it's the pulse I am aligned to
And everything you say, you'll need that breath one day

Well, you're just an antenna, you're just a code
You translate like a book, the fuses all cook
You eat humble pie and it tastes of the road
Lightly babe, oh the fine lights cannot find you
She say, "that's the way, that's the fate I am resigned to"
And everything you say, you'll need that breath one day

You're just an antenna, you're just a gauge
You disturb my slumber, round up the numbers
And put them inside your velvety cage
Lightly babe, oh the fine lights cannot find you
She say, "make my day, and the sunlight will not blind you"
Lightly babe, oh the fine lights cannot find you
I may never pray to the fortune that's behind you

Reptile lyrics - The Church

Too dangerous to keep
Too feeble to let go
And you want to bite the hand
Shoulda stopped this long ago

Go now, you've been set free
Another month or so you'll be gorging on me
With your lovely smile
I see you slither away with your skin and your tail
Your flickering tongue and your rattling scales
Like a real reptile

Had you coiled around my arm
How could you ever know
How I loved your diamond eyes
But that was long ago

Go now, you've been set free
Another month or so you'll be poisoning me
With your lovely smile
I see you slither away with your skin and your tail
Your flickering tongue and your rattling scales
Like a real reptile

And I should have believed Eve
She said we had to blow
She was the apple of my eye
It wasn't long ago

A New Season lyrics - The Church

Shaded crystal water, bathed in by God's daughter
Sighing, whispers near, a new season passes here

Sensory gifts to all who come
Soak up the stars and setting sun

It's strange and wilder
Ageless bechilder
Saved by fire
Touched and finer

Gray stands the tower in the distance
Days pass like warm sun on the face
A new season
Shared is the cure to conquer loneliness

Peaceful, blissful union is the priestess
Doubt flows the river into darkness

Hotel Womb lyrics - The Church

Volcano pierce the air, ashes block out the sun
Down in the lair, well I met her there
With a price for everyone
I paid eighty dollars for this wedding ring
I couldn't take it off if I tried
And the cactus sure tastes strangely sweet
As it goes down inside

I'll dream I'm safe in my hotel womb
Soft and soul made, it's a wonderful room

A sudden voltage in the night, with a rainforest girl
As we float downstream to the Amazon River
Where the black waters swirl
I say, why are you people wearing those masks?
I say, can we be reconciled?
She says the mother of the storm has to roam the sky
Searching for her child

I'll dream I'm safe in my hotel womb
Soft and soul made, it's a wonderful room
I wish I'm back in my hotel womb
Slip through the crack, to that wonderful room

Morning comes at last, and she's lying by my side
She's got the face of the widow that keeps following me
And the body of my bride
I say, why are those buildings swaying like trees?
I say, can we stop for a while?
She says, can't you hear the city that's hidden in there?
It's just another mile

"Heyday" (1985)

Myrrh lyrics - The Church

Emerald haunt in overdrive
Nightmare descent into Jericho city
Camel dust heralds our arrival
New Christ beneath the drumkit moon
Oh Lord we are threatened again
In the slipstream pull of the federal men
Plummeted in some seamless night
Down here to earth it's hopeless then

Apache gunman in the boiling crowd
Who never got to meet you last time
We're interrupted by the telephone
You didn't think they were invented then
Oh Lord we need miracles
We need more wine and gold
We need slaves and roads and personal favors
We need microphones and manifolds

How can you be so invisible
Give me the nerves to see
Privilege on privilege
An unwanted discovery

So now we're cruising down this shuddering highway
With a dead sun shining on my back
And we talk about the way people treat us back there
Their hollow laughter, the pain in their eyes
Oh my Lord I trust your intentions
But money strangles our love
Struggling like a fool with my junk and my jewels
You would have thought I'd had enough

Tristesse lyrics - The Church

Here in this desert, beneath the sun and stars
Still troubled by the rumbling of a million distant cars
Please be good to me tonight, let me find my way
The air has some command in it I cannot disobey
A gunfight in Dodge City, a murder in Bombay
All these deeds and worldly needs I must shrug off today
All my life spent searching for prowess
Left me lying here with you, Tristesse

I was working in an orchard that grew the strangest fruit
It wasn't Mother Nature that made those trees take root
Your children cannot hear you, they only want your loot
You hold on to their essence like a parachute
They never believed you were in distress
Now you've gone and left them with Tristesse

Oh, waters inflamed
Ah, fires burning out
Ah, ice melting down
Ah, fires burnt out

A hotel suite in a rich man's town, a hut in Botany Bay
A prisoner by my own device, a mountain in my way
I'm gonna have to alter my address
I can't stay much longer with Tristesse
And they call this carnival progress
Invited by our queen tonight, Tristesse

Already Yesterday lyrics - The Church

It's already yesterday
We're off the calendar
I heard the sirens play
Just like an orchestra
Mechanical bird of prey
Sing for your emperor
Last broken flash of love
Still in the camera

We don't feel those locks and chains
We won't listen to the lizard part of our brains
Giving the orders
Another morning we'll be gone
I start the car for Ten Mile Beach
Or maybe Avalon
Across the water

It's already yesterday
And nobody's answering
Disconnected, drift away
Nobody's questioning
Head of silver, feet of clay
Who is surrendering
They fall in our heyday
I am remembering

We can't feel those aches and pains
We won't listen to the voices in the city rain
Giving the orders
Another morning I'll be gone
I start the car for Violet Town
And then to Babylon
Over the border

Columbus lyrics - The Church

The king had something changed within him
I should have told him no
Oh Columbus, I never should have let you go
Now aching wires, midnight fires
Things I could not know
Oh Columbus, I never should have let you go

You don't suppose there'd be room in here somewhere for me
I think I just need someone's words to reassure me
I don't blame any of you
And I don't blame myself

Waiting for my small reward
It's going to come somehow
Oh Columbus, I wish that you could see us now
We don't possess a single empty tear or furrowed brow
Oh Columbus, I wish that you could see us now

You don't suppose there'd be room in here somewhere for me
I think I just need someone's words to reassure me
I can't change any of you
I can't change myself

The man had something strange about him
He should have let me know
Oh Columbus, I wish I'd never let you go

Columbus

As You Will lyrics - The Church

Wake up late, day is still dawning
Get out on the road
Meet up with a man, his face well worn in
He's carrying a load
On the way to paradise

Summer rain falls, head for some shelter
Close to a wall
See the lady dressed in chance, you try to help her
She heeds your call
On the way to paradise

Find a hidden door that leads to a garden
And venture through
Sunshines bright, a witness to pardon
The world that you knew
On the way to paradise

Ornamental, or warm and gentle
On the way to paradise
As you will some day

All is well, the distant horizon, it's there in wait
Get so close, you're so much wiser, but wake up late
On the way to paradise

Ornamental, or warm and gentle
Can you tell heaven from hell
As you will some day

Tantalized lyrics - The Church

God I've been asleep so long, I've been away
Back from software limbo the natives call today
I let their promises bind me
The seductive logic blind me
I embraced a machine, I went through the routine
And I hid from the people who were trying to find me

Till the day comes when you realize
Otherwise you never care
Pandora's box reveals a new surprise
Can't wait to see your eyes
Now you've been tantalized

A hundred and one voluptuous days I broke the law
The labyrinth was closing so we panicked up a door
I let their wanton flesh obsess me
I felt their dreams and drugs assess me
I was hired and fired yet never inspired
Flattering, chattering words to impress me

All that glittered had me mesmerized
Otherwise I would have dared
Guess the nature of our enterprise
Can't stop to sympathize
Now you've been tantalized

I turned up in some harsh doomed city on another plane
I couldn't believe the room I got or the guests I entertained
I felt the dirty streets surround me
I let the buzzing swarm confound me
I gave money to ghosts, I insulted my hosts
I could never get off the stuff that spellbound me

Disenchanted lyrics - The Church

Well look at you,
Hands full of money you always wanted to have
Saying sweet life is a downright drag
Down to the very last seed in the bag
As if it's never gonna end
And the scene is through
Summer slipped under in this neighborhood
I'd like to hold onto you if I could
But now I'm gonna have to let you go for good
My disenchanted friend

They say that character you play is rising fast
So you get drunk, make a half second jump
And experience it as the past
But this is it, the closer you get
The deeper you go, the tighter the net looks to me

Do you enjoy the view
They say it makes you dizzy your first time up there
Till you get used to breathing rarefied air
Auditioning for the part of Mr. Despair
Well I know him personally
And this hotel's a zoo
You gotta be some creature to get a room in here
You can live like a king on a throne of tears
It's a mighty long way from the innocent years
And it waits inevitably

And I'm asking you
If you think that success is its own reward
Now then go and see what your persistence has scored
The voice is a'calling and it can't be ignored
You might be underground but you're overinsured
You used to be unknown now you're mapped and explored
You like to be untouched now you're handled and pawed
And it's never gonna end

Night Of Light lyrics - The Church

Dishwater cafe in a torn paper street
A rundown future let me down
Now everything's complete
Uncurling human tragedy
Apparently a parody
Send my love upstairs to me
She used to be a symphony

I let her go into the night
Night of light, satellite
Quite a sight to see

Dream importer's underling who answers to the boss
Can't afford a breakage
I'll pay for any loss
Uncurling human tragedy
There's definitely a remedy
Let her come and look for me
She used to be the enemy

Seaside town in winter
I'm trying to write my book
She's broken down, it's raining
I said I'd have a look
Uncurling human tragedy
Appropriately a mystery
She tells my story back to me
She said I'll live this chapter till eternity

Youth Worshipper lyrics - The Church

Youth worshipper, goddess of ruin
Youth worshipper, like you know what you're doing
I'll bet the sun and rain never touch your face again
Race against the time

Youth worshipper, hope you know what you're worth now
Youth worshipper, like you're paying the earth now
You want the child back, want an aphrodisiac
To fill the crack with time

Hooves and horns and teeth and bones
Gonna stitch you up where you've come unsewn

Youth worshipper, wrapped in blue fox and ermine
Youth worshipper, got no pity for vermin
Your engines and machines
Drink your fuels and steal your scenes
They come between in time

Roman lyrics - The Church

Oh what a feeling baby, knowledge and brutality
Whose soul you stealing baby, lost your immortality
Another empty conquest, Venus set me free

Oh what a ritual father, father why you leaving me
They've found another martyr, rather it was him than me
They took away his language, then his memory
He said I'm never, never coming back again

Oh what a battle master, what a noble enemy
We have to kill them bastards, then compose an elegy
I thought I saw the leader fallen on his knees
He said I'm never, never coming back again

Oh what an ending baby, promise you'll remember me
I'm not pretending baby, your sweet and wicked treachery
Water all my orchids, save my dynasty
I said I'm never, never coming back again

The View lyrics - The Church

Someone fell across me
Regretting their honesty
Shook away the cautious care
Look right though me like I wasn't there

River came to meet me
Relationships can be like water
Deep but shallow, the popular bed
Springs to mind my undetected closure

You'll only scratch the surface
If you bounce around like an adult ball
Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's nice up there
Be a lighthouse, don't block out your view

Whispers in a cream cake
Sweet and quiet again tonight
Could the sun arrest it
Sometimes heavy living should be crushed

Now I search for hours
Rubble kills my finger's looks
I'll only stop when it hurts a lot
My heart is slender
My wooden tambourine is drenched in blues

Resign your answer
If you're the post, then prove you're tall
Oh yeah, oh yeah, we slid around
Polish your window, don't block out your view

Take this daring leap
Wake, you've been asleep
Go attack your life
The paint is peeling, scrape to save what's yours

Don't block out your view
Don't block out your view

Trance Ending lyrics - The Church

Strange girl sing
Think all my life to me
Wild things you bring
Bring drums and bells to me

We dance and sway
Sway like the drunken priest
We dream all day
Day of the wedding feast

Dark hooded eyes
Eyes of a stallion
We roll the dice
One in a million

Bring drums and bells to me

"Remote Luxury" (1984)

"Seance" (1983)

Constant In Opal lyrics - The Church

Me and the puzzled travellers
We searched the ground for wealth
And scoured the dreaming valleys
On days where shadows melt
Digging for the blue and the green
Constant in opal or ultramarine
If you could only find yourself that way

And dust was my companion
And thirst caked all our words
Unearthing nearly nothing
We swarmed like carrion birds
Some for fortune, some for greed
Some for want, some for need
If you could only find yourself that way

In hearts suspicion flowers
In hands numb with jealousy
Sleepwalking lightning showers
Transform effortlessly
Thinking of all that I left behind
Down in the shaft when my mind was blind
But you couldn't even find yourself that way

Violet Town lyrics - The Church

Newspaper fades against the ground
Phantom bus pass through violet town
On its way through the yellow fields
Past the greying fences

When I'm here I have this feeling
I don't want to know
Inviolate town

Sad trees throw shade that falls around
The empty streets of violet town
Gardeners the houses stand
And eyes in windows, strange...

Big truth progress never to be found
I walk the corners straight to violet town
And I tell you sometimes when we're old
Of the useless boy and his dream

No Explanation lyrics - The Church

You pull the sheets around your throat
Talking like a harpy again
I've got this heartache in my coat
Since I don't remember when
It's guaranteed to live and to bleed
And you feed it with your bitterest lies
Hope you can see what that's done to me
But I don't care to look into your eyes
There's no explanation
There's no complication

Dreamtongued man from the golden land
Standing with the keys to your door
I had to laugh as I shook his hand
Didn't know he'd been here before
I know him well but I never can tell
If he sees right through my futile disguise
Hope you can see what that's done to me
But I don't care to look into your eyes
There's no explanation
There's no complication

Walking alone down the path to your home
On a silent and sensual day
It almost could be my very own
Before I went and lost my way
Directions aren't clear when you're standing here
And you cheer me with your faithless surprise
Hope you can see what that's done to me
But I don't care to look into your eyes
There's no explanation
There's no complication

10,000 Miles lyrics - The Church

Dark, small, so fragile
A treasure to your heart
Grace your fingers across the lacquer
Think of someone miles away
Piano sounds that bow in the distance
Bring me back to my room again
Ten thousand miles away

My memory is leaking
She lost a ruby ring
They're trying to focus, times in the past
The music has stopped and can't carry on
All of a sudden I start to remember
Summer, Germany, then it's gone
Ten thousand miles away

The dancers are sleepy
The keys are put away
The jewel on my jacket talking, talking
Telling stories everyone's heard
My box of ghosts bids me goodnight
Clockwork spirits have the last word
Ten thousand miles away

Maybe These Boys... lyrics - The Church

Framed up baby, know her place
Slippery salmon all over her face
Browsing down through the mirrored hall
See Arizona standing ten foot tall
Her father's smart, plays his part
Twirls his star and watch them start
Oh no no don't wander off the set
We haven't reached the borders yet

Then in town he rides in grim
All the mercenaries are following him
Ripped and raw, he lays his glove on the door
Walks in and tells the man on the floor
Maybe these boys want to do some talking
Well alright

Your room's a mess, it's ugliness
But I go on living in it till you say yes
The curtains are new, but the windows are old
All the stories passing through already been told
We live in a style where trust is a drag
To hold up your end means the middle will sag

Some blackhearted actors interfered in your scene
And you can't stand success or the place where it's been
The faders been placed, judgment passed down
Staying up all night till pure sleep drags you down
Ripped and raw, her voice at the door
Walks in, expecting him, finds something more
Says maybe these boys want to do some talking

Maybe these boys want to do some talking
Maybe these toys want to do some walking

Into My Hands lyric - The Church

I take love into my hands
Journey back to winterland
Cut my losses, grow my hair
See some man to take me there

As it gets so uncertain
When the girl gets too near
It's never as good as I hoped
Or as bad as I feared

Some seek sleek and slithering charms
Out of reach their grasping arms
Our skin like milk, our breath of words
Like happy, awful and absurd

You know it's always out here in my head
When stupid bloody things get said
Then drifting on a summer pond
I notice that my love has gone

A Month Of Sundays lyrics - The Church

Badman's woman with that look in her eye
You stop to wonder as she passes by
Something inside you is never the same
Something outside you is always to blame
Follow her home where she lives with some friends
They have some good things to add to the blend
The games expanded, invaded the place
You're the only one who's forgotten his face

You're saying no no no I must be on my way
But it really has been a pleasant night
And you go so slow hope they'll ask you to stay
And indifference gives you a fright

Walking outside you come to a door
You go inside and you wonder what for
At least it's good to be out of the wind
You turn around and the clocks all begin
Just like the winter your memory thaws
Just like the ocean your memory pours
So many pieces to match or to find
So many doubts to have in one mind

It's hard to see how the tables have turned
It's hard to see how the people have learned
It's hard to watch the past drizzling past
It's hard to watch them picking the cast
And it stacks up badly that it never makes sense
You sense that sensation is who's paying the rent
And she beckons to you with her fingers and lies
She says: can't you slice the price of your paradise

Volumes lyrics - The Church

Borrowed grapes from stores of gold
Put plastic back where metal's sold
Men in quarries connect their bomb
One two three a new Saigon
Check the bottle is it full?
Have you found which pin to pull?
Boys in shirts get dirty hands
Smoke kills seagulls on the sands

They have pages, they take ages
To read and to learn they're heavy to carry
And easy to burn
Volumes have secrets, take them on holiday
Book them a room, save them a moment
Swallow their swoon

Pretty things all in a row
Flowers who can't seem to grow
Finding the pearls then finding the blood
Then finding the water is wood
The something I wanted has just flown by
It looked at me sideways and told me to try
I hope it's a message from someone obscure
I hope it's the man next door

Shadow Cabinet lyrics - The Church

Now chased by the shapes of your vowels
Look at the things she allows
Junction fever must have closed down the rail
The gluttonous wind keeps on nibbling the sail
Queuing in the ruins in the wake of the gale
It's harmony I say

Here the difference between close and near
The way oaths and oafs interfere
Bliss comes first as a jangling flood
Pillow from the old country arrives with a thud
That night she drinks ceremony and mud
It's happening I say

Must be thirsty, drink, drink, sink, forget
Must be empty inside the shadow cabinet

She offered her chaos to me
Proffered herself languidly
The eldritch bitch must have muddled her spells
Tinges of Persia, I hope that it sells
Chemical nuptials and ringing the bells
It's heavenly I say

Then one winter morning you walk through the trees
But they cut them all down for the factories
Made this pretty cabinet and gave you the keys
It's hardly used I think

Fly lyrics - The Church

Baby smiled like a tiny child
She talks her head off, and the land lies wild
Tossed and turned on a teardrop sea
And all those dark clowns who are following me

And they fly
She pointed up into the sky
And you can't touch them if you try
And they fly

Baby left as she lost her breath
Hastens off to some unknown death
Trapped inside her painted eyes
Takes herself into a new sunrise

One Day lyrics - The Church

Tell me, is everything unplanned?
Is all so unexpected that I just can't understand
We run so hard and always end up in the same place
"Glad that went so smoothly" - well that never is the case

One day - doubtless, cloudless, bright
We'll shake away the shadows of eternal night
It's just the storm before the calm
Like the life held in your palm - it's clay, one day

And you stand there, with ashes blowing past
Dipping into gilt-edged love that will be made at last
And the gold you spend and the hastening end
That you throw into the sea
Coming back a hundredfold, there's no guarantee

We'll walk and be like giants, we'll all be honest men
I go back to my blindness so that I may see again
A woman standing on a hill is gazing out to sea
Dreaming of a new age waiting there for me
I call her from a distance and she smiles into the sun
And men and gods begin their dance, for their time has begun
And holy wars extended and battlefields of pain
Are washed away, forgotten in the perfect rain
Princes, kings and humble things are well-worn and content
Messengers come everywhere, envoys have been sent
Na na na na, na na na na na
A palm tree nodded at me last night he said
"Hey you look so pale"

Electric lyrics - The Church

Alone, at the end of the day
As I stand before the relics of what used to be you and me
You turn with the tears in your eyes
Not understanding that you are free, free of me
Like songs, our warmth fades away
Turns into coldness, like the words that we say, today

And as the city glows, electric people nobody knows
Electric dreams, nobody shows
When you touch my skin, the feeling is electric

I hoped that our destiny sloped
Ever upwards, now it curves away, and falls
Like rain, and the windows of children
I see the future, just sliding away, and false

It's No Reason lyrics - The Church

Crocodile skin water, city shadows wait
Put your head into your hands, the ending is so great
Take a ride to sundown, buy a ticket home
Take all the things I've bought you, leave all the rest alone

Marble skins turn human, people fade to gray
Put your head into my hands we'll make them go away
As you're crying softly, you won't ever be disturbed
Red on pink, the sun will sink, have you even heard?

And the colors take me down
It's no reason to be sad
And you leave without a sound
It's no reason to be glad

Salty tears are wasted, children lie awake
Put your head into your hands, don't let your spirit break
Black smoke from the chimneys, white smoke from the hills
Everything is moving, but we're standing still

Celebrations fading, boats upon the waves
Put your head into my hands, trying to be brave
The carnival has packed up, the storm has left us peace
Poppies sleep undamaged, we drive into the east

Travel By Thought lyrics - The Church

I know it was the wind that kept your door closed
The echo of another time, an age of beauty
She lived in the future, she lived in the past
She gave it all to me, she gave it all to me
Travel by thought

Don't think I've forgotten the thoughts of your room
It told unlikely tales, an age of beauty
Some nights I walk through the heat to your street
I lose my bearings, but then I can see clearly
Travel by thought

Where do you want to go? (Anywhere that you want)
Imagine the feeling before that last jump
Come back to mother earth, an age of beauty
Oh you just can't define, the sad things in your mind
Just give them all to me
Just give them to me
Just give them all to me
Travel by thought

Where do you want me?
Where do you want it?
What do you want to bring?
Where?
Where do you want it?
Who do you want?
Who do you want?
Where do you want it?
Where do you want it?
How you want it?
What do you want?
What do you want?
Who do you want?
Who do you want?
Who you want?
Who you want?
Why do you want to go anywhere that ignorant?
Travel by thought

Who do you want?
Where do you want to go?
Don't think I've forgotten
The stranger's arms
That scares the bird that carries home dinner
The eggshell arms of the eggshell earth
Don't think I've forgotten

As birds in the air do what they please
Don't think I'll keep that promise
I can feel the breeze coming on us

Don't think I've forgotten
Travel by thought
Travel by thought

Intercontinental intelligence

Disappear? lyrics - The Church

Like a womb, the night was all around
Someone, somewhere must have talked some sense
I could feel it moving underground
So many things I still don't understand
The dream I was having took on an ugly face
I don't know if I was walking through heaven
It could have been any place
Skipping 'cross the water, wading through the sand
Awake to find you gone, emptiness is where you lay
Well I just had to smile for all the things you'll never hear me say
Oh, I know, I could never get that near
What do you expect me to do, disappear?

You and me, we're as free as we can be
Can't you see, like the trees so obviously...

The message disturbs me so I throw it to the wind
And after all those hellos, goodbyes, etc., etc.
We can't start this thing again
It's like the fog you walk towards, but never seem to reach
Every morning now I hear that same old song
And though the singer is long dead, his voice goes on and on
Ugliness you have to learn, beauty you can't teach
Awake to find you gone, a note pinned to my sleeve
Well It wasn't just the things you took
It was the things you had to leave
Now it seems you were never here
What do you expect me to do, disappear?

Electric Lash lyrics - The Church

The electric lash of trees in the studio
Fills my head with light
Only the voice of the girl on the radio
Falling from a height
And I turn to leave as if in a cameo
It doesn't feel quite right
Only one thing you ever really know
If it's day or night

Our eyes meet and I love her
I suspect she already knows
How those eyes see me so very very clearly
Even when they're closed

The electric lash of trees in the studio
A bite then a caress
Only the voice of the girl on the radio
Drifting from the west
And I turn to leave as if in a cameo
A moon, a knot, a guess
Only one thing you ever really know
You might curse before you bless

Now I Wonder Why lyrics - The Church

In a moment of triumph, I find defeat uncontrolled
In the second of honor, a despair sharp and old
She gives me a taste, please show me some etiquette
I wasn't looking for you and I don't want to find you yet

At an uncurtained window, in a street full of rooms
Watching the gardens, and pursuing the blooms
This world is so white, they never see me anymore
But I trusted you then, and I'm trusting you still
It's just that I'm not quite sure

Now I wonder why, I thought I could ever lose
But the gain is hardly what I'd choose
Now I wonder why

It was somebody, a woman, it was a delicate crime
And I've been waiting for ages, yes I've been here all the time
There was this greed in my blood, she let me take the easy way
She helps me hide the vagabond, that was myself yesterday

And after the acting, I found that I couldn't sleep
And during my drifting, I found that I was too deep
By the virtue of faith I knew that I could be lost
Beyond this dark place
Unprepared to pay the cost

Dropping Names lyrics - The Church

I want to break to be beautiful
Seven long nights to think
A handful of words, a sleeveful of birds
Casually left on the sink
Crimson beads, cut out your needs
Leave you feeling more in the pink
Seven long nights at a pre-announced site
A head on my shoulders and I feel all right

Alter the courses, stand near my flames
Questionable sources, only dropping names
Dropping names

I taught her how to be hard or soft
She never really needed to learn
A trip into town, defenses are down
I never, ever need to return
She holds me by the stars, says look at these scars
Feel my longing burn
Seven long days but I can't change my ways
Look over my shoulder and I say hey hey