1. SHADOWPLAY

Hunched foetal in the corner of my soul
My fingernails are bleeding from climbing up the wall
This time you really hurt me right down to the core
And I'm desperately trying to find a reason to forgive you for it all

I saw your life as a shadowplay
In a trance I was held by the shadowplay
In the spell of the shadowplay
From Celtic illumination
I see the Celtic illumination
The Celtic

I never realized just how far we'd gone
I turned around and all that I saw was distance
Through an anger that burned everytime
That someone mentioned your name
I should have noticed, should have read the signs
We could have talked it out if there was a problem
It wasn't obvious then
But then it isn't really obvious now

I saw your life as a shadowplay
In a trance I was held by the shadowplay
In the spell of the shadowplay
From Celtic illumination
I see the Celtic illumination
The Celtic

I could have changed I could have settled down
I could have been whatever you wanted me to be
If you gave me the chance
But it seems that it's too late for that now
I thought I knew you thought we had it made
I'd thought it out, thought I had the answers
After all is said and done
The only thing I really know is your name

I sit and wait for the shadowplay
Let me in into the world of the shadowplay
I'll follow you to the shadowplay
Through Celtic illumination
Give me the Celtic illumination
Illumination

If I'd only had the patience, if I'd only had the time
If I'd only known the moment when you'd chosen to decide
If I'd only ever listened, if you'd only ever asked
If I'd known it was important, if I'd known it wouldn't last

Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay

Maybe if I'd noticed, maybe if I'd tried
Maybe if I'd worked at it, it never would have died
Maybe I was selfish, maybe I was blind
Maybe I was in the wrong and you were in the right

Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay

Could I have been a better man, was I really all to blame?
Was it me that was the problem, was it me that dealt the pain?
Did you never mean to hurt me, did you only try to show
That you really, truly loved me, that together we're alone?

Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay
Run to the magic of, the magic of the shadowplay

I see my life as a shadowplay
All around is the magic of shadowplay
In the world of the shadowplay is where I belong
Where all that I feared is how it is and will be
All that was hidden
Now you will see
All I could dream
You'll find now is real
All I could touch
Now you can feel
And the light that I follow
Is where the madness will end
Illumination, illumination
Shine on, shine on, shine on.


2. CREDO

I watch the TV every night
I stay awake by satellite
I hope and pray the nightmares
Stay away today

An oily shroud on a coral reef
A black cloud's hanging over me
When I hit on the remote
The programmes stay the same
Credo, Credo, Credo, Credo

An assegai slick with sweat and blood
A shotgun barks at a rabid dog
A shallow grave hugs a highway
Beneath a bleaching sun

Credo, Credo, Credo, Credo
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin' to me

When cancer sucks a young girl's breast
When a company chains a young man's soul
When the coal dust stole
My grandad's breath away one day

Credo, Credo, Credo, Credo
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin' to me

A tattered tramp tacks a windy wynd
To close a crowded circle round a brazier's light
A man becomes a mountain in the falling snow
A mother screams and a baby cries
The memory gone before the blood has dried
A needle pricks the conscience
To help it fade away

Credo, Credo, Credo, Credo
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin' to me

The more you scream, the less you hear
Or that's how it used to be
But I just can't tell the difference
Anymore these days
The open lips of an alter boy
A planet spins in a silent void
The options are ever fewer
On the ground these days

Credo, Credo, Credo, Credo
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin'
It don't mean nothin', it don't mean nothin' to me


3. JUST GOOD FRIEND (CLOSE)

There's something I want to ask you
Before it's too late
It's been on my mind since the first time we met
It scares me now more, now there's more at stake
It seems we're so close yet so far away

Could you turn me down gently
Would I be out of order
If I declared my true feelings
Or do I act out the part
Of the father confessor of the shoulder to cry on
We're always so close yet so far away

What would you do if I got down on my knees to you?
Would you hold it against me?
Would you stand in line?
What would you do if I opened my heart to you?
Would I just be another who's wasting his time?
Darling are we just good friends?

Do I really need to ask you
I'm sure that you know by now
Do we just play a game where we try to pretend
That all that's between us is all that's between us
And all we can rely on is being just good friends

What would you do if I got down on my knees to you?
Would you hold it against me?
Would you stand in line?
What would you do if I opened my heart to you?
Would I just be another who's wasting his time?
Darling are we just good friends?

So are we left to chance meetings?
Is that all we can depend on?
Resigned to raise glasses in anonymous cafes
Reciting our failures as if we needed that proof or regret
Over what might have and what should have been
Darling, are we just good friends?

What would you do if I got down on my knees to you?
Would you hold it against me?
Would you stand me in line?
What would you do if I opened up my heart to you?
Would I just be another who's wasting his time?
Are we just good friends,
Tell me, darling are we just good friends?


4. FAVOURITE STRANGER

Some times I feel I lost something
In gaining everything
But I can't put my finger on what it was
It's just one of those nagging feelings
Like sitting with your back to an open door
Waiting on a favourite stranger

I find it hard to talk about, its not easy
As you might expect
Just sitting here waiting, trying to accept
That there's something missing
That there's something not quite there
And that's why you're sitting there
Listening to me as I try to explain that
You're my favourite stranger
But don't read between the lines
I could say that I love you at this moment
In passing time
But I could honestly tell you
I don't know why I'm here
Sharing all my problems with you
When you've already got your own share
From favourite strangers

Maybe it's just I need an audience to
Pretend it's all an act
But all I gain is your confidence
And a number in a filofax
On the terms that it's a first name
That'll run one day in spilt champagne
And I'll recollect and just accept
That you were one of my favourite strangers

You're my favourite stranger
But don't read between the lines
I could say that I love you at this moment
In passing time
But I could honestly tell you
I don't know why I'm here
Sharing all my problems with you
When you've already got your own share
From favourite strangers

Sometimes I know I lost everything
In gaining something
But I can't put my finger on what it was
Its just one of those nagging feelings
Like sitting with your back to an open door
Expecting favourite strangers


5. LUCKY

He met the world as a Dalkeith boy
Raised from a shaft at Monktonhall
In a well-oiled cage
That locked away his dreams
An '85 veteran face from the gallery
A ghost from the civil war in the family
He stood his ground on the picket line
'Til all that he was left with
Were his father's cough
And his mother's eyes
That would hold a tear
For the very first time
When the government they took his job away.
Now fist in hand he'll stand in line
Declare his name and mark his time
To some the only proof that they're alive.

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

He made his first down payment
On a sharp Italian suit
He sewed razor blades into the lapels.
See him sweating on the dance floor
Coal dust oozing out of every pore
A hard man with a hard life
And that's a story that he'll tell you
Down at Easter Road till his throat is raw
On a Saturday, he knows the score
Till the whistle blows and
The tempers with their colours fade away.

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky

On the helipads at Aberdeen
Bound for platforms drilling oil-rich seas
Where the trawlers are getting fewer every year
By the furnaces at Ravenscraig
By the padlocks holding John Brown's gates
In the desert, in the fields of South Armagh
Where the poppies grow
Behind the Hampden roar
Behind the drums in Genoa
On the deck that rides a South Atlantic swell
Born to fight out of the tightest corner
You can bet on him with the odds against you
They'll not put him down
No matter how they try

He could have been you
He could have been me
He could have been anybody
But he was born lucky


6. DEAR FRIEND

Dear friend, it's been a long, long while
I've been meaning to write you
But it was never my style
But what is these days now I'm a family man

Do you blow sincere kisses to mistresses
Secrets in afternoons
Do you wear your disguises, feign the surprises
At the questions she asks when she dares to accuse?
Does your past lie under a dustsheet
In the corner of a musty garage?
That's where I keep mine, now I'm a family man

Are your horses still running when the bookies shop close?
Is the band still together, did you ever get on the road?
We chased the same women, we drank the same beer
We came as a pair when we ran around here
How are you these days, now you're a family man?

Buy a drink for the boy in my place
At the end of the bar
Give my regards to Nina, slam a tequila
I'll write you at Christmas or I'll send you a card
And if you pass by you're welcome to drop in
And see me 'cause it's unlikely
I'll be round your way, 'cos I'm happy to be
Where I am, living life as a family man

Do you still have your leathers
Or did you give them away?
Do you still dream of Joni and sidewalk cafes?
Is your Norton still running, is the old man still alive?
Do you still get to Dalkeith, is your rent still as high?
But I suppose you've a mortgage, now you're a family man

Dear friend, it's been a long, long while
I've been meaning to write you,
But it was never my style.
But what is these days, now I'm a family man


7. TONGUES

If you really knew how I felt
You wouldn't need to be here asking
Those questions
Those irritating questions, moving in metaphors
Speaking in tongues

Your gunboat diplomacy
You accuse me of heresy, of being irreverent
My opinions irrelevant, when I smile at your similes
When you're speaking in tongues

As we move to a stalemate
You say a contract's a contract
And this is unnegotiable
I question your morality, you question my reality
You're speaking in tongues

We are speaking in tongues
We are speaking in tongues
Am I deaf because I cannot comprehend?
We're speaking in tongues
We're speaking in tongues
We're speaking in tongues
Though I try I just cannot understand

Your entrenched opinions
On the border of arrogance
Dug in against the compromise
A position indefensible, your actions illogical
You're speaking in tongues

You swear contradictions
Your tedious monologues, wielding authority
Demanding subservience, demanding I make your sense
Demanding speaking in tongues

We are speaking in tongues
We are speaking in tongues
Am I deaf because I cannot comprehend?
We're speaking in tongues
We're speaking in tongues
We're speaking in tongues
Though I try I just cannot understand


8. INTERNAL EXILE

I saw a blue umbrella in Princes Street Gardens
Heading out west for the Lothian Road
An Evening News stuffed deep in his pocket
Wrapped up in his problems to keep away the cold
Grierson's spirit haunts the dockyards
Where the only men working are on
Documentary crews
Shooting film as the lines get longer
As the seams run out, as the oil runs dry

Hey there laddie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?

Starlings wheeling round Georgian spires
And the fires of Grangemouth burn the skies
A lion sleeps in a tenement close
In a country that's tired and deaf to his roar

Hey there laddie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?

They bury a wasteland deep in the wilderness
Poison the soil and reap the harvest
Of blind indifference, greed and apathy
Sowed way back in our history
The fish are few the harbours empty
The keels now rot on our oil-slicked shores
The sheep are gone, the farms deserted
We're out of sight and we're out of mind

Hey there laddie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?

Like our fathers before us
We've eyes for America
Dream of a new life on foreign shores
But wherever we go, we'll always know
That the land we stand on is never our own

Hey there laddie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?
Hey there lassie, Internal Exile
When will you realise we've got to let go?


BONUSTRACKS


9. POET'S MOON

You sit there biding your time, out of your head and into your mind
Penning thoughts that are dreams in action
A glass raised to an absent muse a boy stands in his father's shoes
And a drunk man smiles at a thistle under a Poet's moon

Under a Poet's moon there's a life sign burning
A Poet's moon like a vision shining and
The lovers lie in the long grass, stolen flowers make their bed

Under a Poet's moon there are dreams in action, prayers met
And questions answered as the world birls in the darkness
I'm still staring at the skies under a Poet's moon

A night black as hoodie's eye, the sparks fly from a tinker's fire
As the stories burn among us under a Poet's moon
A seed falls onto stony ground without a hope and without a sound
From the weeds will grow the flowers under a Poet's moon

Under a Poet's moon, there's a salmon settling
In a guddler's hand that is patient waiting
With a lover's touch, a charmed life
His fingers play the reeds

Under a Poet's moon there's a whistle blowing out in no-man's land
Where a flare is falling in a deadly night
The dreamers stand like flowers in a storm

You sit there biding your time out of your head and into your mind
Penning thoughts that are dreams in action
A cross made in a polling booth, another flies in a field of blue and a drunk man smiles
At a thistle under a Poet's moon

Under a Poet's moon there are angels crying, dead men born
And devils laughing and the dance goes on regardless till
You're carried from the floor
Under a Poet's moon there are dreams in action
Prayers met and questions answered as the world birls in the darkness
I'm still staring at the skies, under a Poet's moon


10. SOMETHING IN THE AIR

Call out the instigators because there's something in the air
We got to get together sooner or later because the revolution's here
And you know it's right and you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
We're together now
Knock up the streets and houses because there's something in the air
We got to get together sooner or later 'cos the revolution's here
And you know it's right and you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
Hand out the arms and ammo
We're gonna blast our way through here
We've got to get together sooner or later becaue the revolution's here
And you know it's right and you know that it's right
We have got to get it together
We have got to get it together now
We have got to get it together now
Now, we're together now, the revolution's here
It's here, the revolution's here now


11. CARNIVAL MAN

It's a quarter past midnight and she ain't no Cinderella
But she's swallowed all your best lines
And she's staying in the hotel
And you've got her number from the bar tab
That she's running,
The circus comes to town.
Temptation Oh such a temptation,
Temptation Oh such a temptation.

The cage door is open and your living on the high wire
Clowning in the spotlight
You've got no one to bring you down
The cab's impatient, this ladies waiting
The ringmaster calls you down
Temptation Oh such a temptation
Temptation Oh such a temptation,

The carnival man.
So glad to know you, the carnival man
You're shaking hands with the carnival man
So pleased to meet you, the carnival man
Call me Mr. Temptation.

Like a bullet in a chamber that you're thinking is empty
You press it to your temple with a finger on the trigger
An act of bravado, an act of defiance
It's all eyes upon you now.
Temptation Oh such a temptation
Temptation Oh such a temptation

The carnival man.
So glad to know you, the carnival man
You're shaking hands with the carnival man
So pleased to meet you, the carnival man
Call me Mr. Temptation.
Is there anything you want?
Anything you desire?
Just tell me anything you need.
They call me Mr Temptation.

You're the life and the soul of every party
Now you're walking wounded, just another casualty
You've got my sympathy, you've got my calling card
This call's collect, I'm the carnival man, Mr Temptation,
Carnival man.
This is the day that the circus leaves town.
Goodbye carnival man,
This is the day that the circus leaves town.
Goodbye,
This is the day that the circus leaves town.