Storm Damage
The Half-Life
Laurie A’Court : Saxes
Ian Burrage : Drums
Nigel Digby : Bass
Alistair Murphy : Vocals, Keyboards, Guitars and Bass
Michael Rooney : Vocals
Jeremy Salmon : Guitars, Bass and Percussion
with
Diana Hare : Vocals
Jim Halsall : Harmonica
Laurence Elley : Bass
Recorded by Alistair Murphy
Produced by Alistair Murphy, Jeremy Salmon and Ian Burrage
WAIT
In the evening light, the shadows all conspire
To fill us full of fright, they try to fill us full of fear
Baby don’t you cry, don’t you fear and fret
Don’t you say goodbye, it’s not as if they’ve found us yet
Let me tell you what I’m going do
There’s someone waiting at my door
Someone banging on the gate
Shadow’s falling on the wall
They’re just going to have to learn to wait
Let me tell you what I’m going do
There’s someone waiting at my door
They’re just going to have to wait for evermore
On the midnight tide, the faces floating out
And the morning light, surely offers little doubt
I have lived this life, I have loved this love
I have rode this ride, but yet I’ve still not had enough
Let me tell you what I’m going do
There’s someone waiting at my door
Someone banging on the gate
Shadow’s falling on the wall
They’re just going to have to learn to wait
Let me tell you what I’m going do
There’s someone waiting at my door
They’re just going to have to wait for evermore
LATE
Think of all you’ve said, think of all you’ve done
Think of all the jobs you’ve started
And all the errands that you’ve run
Think of friends you have, an enemy or two
Think of candles that you’ve burnt
And all the nights you’ve burnt them through
I can remember one or two
I can remember one or two
What about you?
Think of rivers swam and sailed the ocean blue
And all the reasons and excuses for not getting
Where you were going to
I’ve told a few excuses too
I’ve told a few excuses too
And it’s twice that I’ve been down
Though the blackened water’s cold
I don’t believe I’d really drown
It’s not as late as we’ve been told
It’s not as late as we’ve been told
Think of bridges burnt, the false starts you have made
The alleys that have left you blind
And all the years you’ve been delayed
I’ve taken a few wrong turnings too
I’ve taken a few wrong turnings too
And it’s the third street I’ve been down
Though the cobbles shone like cold
I waited at that end of town
Where I knew you used to go
It’s not as late as we’ve been told
BABBLECADE
Nightly, they’re carried nightly
A thousand voices, speaking lightly
Amongst the trees a silent army
Their faces drawn, their eyes are barmy
Falling, their words are falling
One by one they lose their calling
And what was sense is simply babble
The cauldron stirred of toil and trouble
And as they stare down at the ground
The forest rings with the babblecade of sound
Speaking, the world is speaking
The hopes and fears, a gate that’s creaking
About the house we’re crashing blindly
Where nothing’s meant, or spoken kindly
And though we struggle for a voice
Our words are drowned beneath a caterwaul of choice
LIGHT UP THE CITY
I’ll hold it in trust, I’ll hold it forever
Hold out your hand, I’ll hold it whatever the cost
Hold it in store, though you offer no quarter
When you hang down your head
And you’re holed beneath the waterline
We’ll pass overhead like a satellite
We’ll be back from the dead and set the world alight
They’ll light up the city, for mile upon mile
In the night sitting pretty and twinkle awhile
We can’t always take it, to have and to hold
Hold it a moment, it’s not always the truth we are told
Hold it in mind, when you step through the doorway
I can’t see the sign but I know that this way, is our way
I’ll hold it in trust, I’ll hold it forever
Hold out your hand, I’ll hold it whatever the cost
STORM DAMAGE
The shutter’s banging on the window
Plaster’s lying scattered on the floor
Strangers huddled in the cellar
Light floods through the cracks in the wall
Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping
The house is shifting on its haunches
I hear its knuckles as it moves
It lifts its head above the skyline
But turns its face towards the wall
Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping
And if you hold your head next to mine
I will tell you more or less
Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping
And if you hold your head next to mine
I will tell you more or less
Make it less!
And you feel the life within you
And it’s more than just the sinew
Of the life that you’ve been holding in the dark
And should I care that the bastards wreak their havoc everywhere
And should I say that it really doesn’t have to be this way
But no-one’s listening
And as I crawl though a pile of rubble that was once a wall
And looking round at the smoke
That clouds the sky and stains the ground
And in the silence I hear the sound of someone’s wireless
And all around the spawn of violence
And on the ground the lives of thousands
And what we’ve found is not our business
But where’s the path that lead us to this?
They’ve taken what we’ve worked for
Taken everything we’ve cared for
And all the life they’ve left behind is dead
But even now when we stand upon the threshold looking out
The mountains ring with the sound of many creatures on the wing
And in the distance
The cloud descends, the dark swarm seeks to bring about an end
Of someone’s dream, they break the branch and strip the leaf of green
And in the windblown
And in the dark grown and in the fear known
And in the daylight, and through the long night
Beneath the starlight and through the last rites
And on the skyline and in the sunshine
And by the roadside and on the streetsign
And for the seconds and for the minutes
And by the hour and through the seasons
And for the future and for the present
The years behind us, the days before us
And far above us, and all around us
And way beneath us, and deep within us
And for our fathers, and for our mothers
And for our sisters and for our brothers
And for our children and for our lovers
We’re holding on now, we’ll hold together
The shutter’s still banging on the window
Plaster’s still lying scattered on the floor
Our friends are coming up from the cellar
Light’s flooding through the cracks in the wall
Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping
And if you hold your head next to mine
I will tell you more or less
Make it more!
TURN HIM DOWN
I saw him walking in the street
I think you saw him there as well
In the way he moved his feet
It wasn’t very hard to tell
That the world was made for him
I heard him speaking once to you
It must have been so hard to take
There was nothing you could
No concession left to make
But when he wants you where are you?
When he needs you where are you?
Let me tell you now
The die’s been cast a thousand years
The letters carved in stone
The die was cast a thousand years ago
But if you chose to walk away
If you thought you’d had enough
What would he say if that was that
Would he try to call your bluff
But there are no cards left play
But there are no cards left play
Hold him, shake him, scold him, break him
Take his money and let him down
Cage him, kick him, cut him, prick him
Break his will and turn him down
Can you remember what he said
Do you even know his name?
He’s no longer in your head
You no longer feel the same
I’ve seen him once I think since then
I’ve seen him once I think since then
TREADING WATER
Winter’s coming but summer’s coming too
Darkness falling but morning’s breaking through
And we’re along with you, the water’s rising all around
And for this one time we’ll hold you till the tide begins to turn
Treading water, but climbing mountains too
Sometimes flying, treasure hunting too
It’s waiting in the deep for you, it’s waiting high above your head
But for this short time we’ll stay with you
And see the breakers through
We’re swimming on our own, and when the waves are high we’re lost
And when we’re looking down, we wonder how we’ll get across
Times for doubting, there’ll be times for hubris too
A crowd that’s shouting, a world of silence too
A moment when you fear the worst
A day your nightmares come to stay
And you’ll think of us, and what we said before we went away
And in that time you’ll find a time to care
For someone holding on to you
Hold your breath and dive beneath the waves
And see the light come through
You’re swimming on your own
And when the waves are high you’re lost
When you’re looking down
You’ll wonder how you’ll get across
NICE AND EASY
You wouldn't know
If the waters were really rising
Wouldn't know if this nation went to war
You never know what in the world
Is really happening
Even when it happens on your door.
We're on the way to romance
That's safe to say
But let's make all of the stops
Along the way, along the way
You wouldn't notice
If we all packed up tommorow
You'd walk the empty streets alone
Rush home to watch an old fim on the TV
Happy in the only world you'd ever known.
We're on the way to romance
That's safe to say
But let's make all of the stops
Along the way, along the way
The problem now of course is
If you can hold your horses
To rush would be a crime.
Couldn’t Wait Anymore
He knows there must have been reasons
That’s plain enough to see
The shadows are dark at the window
He hears the wind in the trees
Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know, he says
There’s a whole world out there
And it couldn’t care less
He knows he’s waited, just cannot wait anymore.
He walks from the door, couldn’t wait anymore.
She stands by the train in the station
And she wonders aloud
Would we cause so much pain and consternation
If we weren’t so very proud?
Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know, she says
There’s a whole world out there
And it couldn’t care less
I know I’ve waited, I just cannot wait anymore
She walks from the door, couldn’t wait anymore.
FADING
Let’s pause for a while, there’s something about this I don’t like
There’s something here and it bothers me
It’s the light off the river, or the noise in the branches above
Or the touch of your hand in the evening silence
Across this landscape armies have marched and have fought
Beneath this sky there is moment
And many inches deep, the blood, soil and the circumstance
I’ll find us a way back to summertime
Well I would if I could, if I knew where we were
If the voice in my head spoke a language I knew
Take me alone now, take me down to the water’s side
Wait while I leap from the bank
And as I’m carried along, not knowing where I am bound
I’ll watch the world as it passes me by
Well I would if I could, if I knew what to say
If the light in my head wasn’t darkness today
I’ve fallen from sleep now, awake on a distant shore
Awash in the waves of a lifetime past
I’m looking up at the mountains, looking up at a distant town
The smoke seems to hang like a welcome
And I’ll follow it there, though the words in my head
Seem to fade in the light, once they’re thought and they’re said
Fading
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