Lyrics for "Back Tracks
by Roger Marshall
Where it all began The Amnesiac
Edge of the rim Vacuum
The Mystic Break in the clouds
Mudflats
As long as
Just a Man Sinking feeling
Maintain
When I think about the moments of tenderness
I don’t know how we ended up like this
And when I look at your photo on my mantle shelf
I'm the millionaire who blew all his wealth
And I don’t know why I said what I said
And I don’t know why I did what I did
Or why I squandered your love
It’s late and I know you’re sleeping in your iron bed
Who knows where the long road
might have led?
And I can picture your body all curled up and still
And I ache for you now through this midnight film
I don’t know how it came to this
And I know it is just some foolishness
And I squandered your love
I am tired and I am sorry and
I've got no excuse
I should have done more but what’s the use
And I should have looked to see what lies ahead
But I just drifted along instead
And I don’t know why I said what I said
And I don’t know why I did what I did
And why I squandered your love
Once went out east to
Took a plane out west to
Dipped my toes in the waves of the
I like the way they play calypso, like what grows on the trees
Hanging round the planet
Eighteen thousand and a few hundred days
‘taint nothing in the void of the milky way
Ain’t nothing in the scheme of a dinosaur
The very last human being that I saw
Was hanging round the planet
Sat out in the sunshine soaking it’s rays
Feeling like a lizard like a dog that's had it’s days
Watching people saying
hello and good-bye
Looking at
the clouds
floating up in the sky
As they were hanging round the planet
I was reading my Eagle about the shape of things to come
Dan Dare was way ahead in two
thousand and one
Soon I’ll get to see him ‘cos the day itself is looming
Don’t fly me to the moon, I’m just an earthling human
Hanging round the planet
It’s like in a hall of mirrors, everything’s looking weird
Don't know where the time went, it just upped and disappeared
One day it was there all on my side
Next day it had gone, I’ve been taken for a ride
Hanging around the planet
Drunk a lot of moonshine, walked out in the rain
Seen a lot of people who I’ve never seen again
They might be living charmed lives, living in ruts
Millions of people ain’t doing nothing but
Hanging round the planet
I’ve been working all day
from nine to five
Can't wait to get paid, to save my life
Don't even know if I’m wrong or right
But I'm gonna see you tonight
I’ve been wasting my time, driving in a truck
Never had much pay, never had
a whole lot of
luck
Can’t even tell if it’s black or white
But I'm gonna see you tonight
I just can’t wait
These towns that I pass, they never looked so bleak
Hours turn into days, days turn into weeks
My eyes on the road transfixed by the lights
But I'm gonna see you tonight
There was something I wanted to say,
but living sort of just got in the way
There was something that was playing on my mind
but somehow we never could make the time
to say or express, what I needed to confess.
But you can't make everything stop
you can't turn back the clock
I don't want to turn out the light
when I'm falling through the night
There was something I was having trouble with
something that was hard to forgive.
There was a feeling of being right out of touch
as if you had never said such and such.
All that was revealed when your lips were unsealed
But I can't seem to get a grip,
losing my touch it’s all starting to slip
I don’t want to turn out the light
when I'm falling through the night.
There was something I wanted you to know,
but somehow the days just seemed to go.
Something that was important at the time,
but it must have been just a figment of my mind.
It didn't matter anyway, what could I say?
Now you can't retrace your steps,
go back to where we once slept
I don't want to turn out the light
when I'm falling through the night.
She said she was just a country
girl, came from the west and south
where the river rolls by the
Cotswolds way down to the river mouth
where the stone walls were all
ancient and the sun rakes across the sky
in the fragrance of a shady lane I
was kissing her good-bye
Her father was a squadron leader,
her mother an eccentric soul
they lived like the old
aristocrats in a manor house so old
she could play Scarlatti and
Vivaldi but I could only do C, F and G
and when I hear that ancient music
she comes flooding back to me
I saw her working in earthworks
where she was digging up the Roman bones
the invaders came two thousand
years ago, left their marks upon the stones
in stillness of the moonlight we
stumbled from a wayside inn
in the shadows of the stone men
could feel the warmth of your skin
When the pavements were uncovered
and the mosaics revealed themselves
and their beauty and their
geometry became a part of ourselves
drinking beer in celebration in
the gardens of the sun
and in that very moment I knew I’d
only just begun
back to where it all began
driving driving driving myself
back to where it all began
driving driving driving myself
I never even sensed the danger
and time must have changed
her
if I was standing here beside you,
you’d be a stranger now
I remember it now, it’s all coming
back
I'd been living the life of an
amnesiac
they asked me lots of questions:
do you have a name?
do you have a number? what is your
age ?
Do you have money, are you living
in debt
are you living alone, are you
being kept?
I remember it now, it’s all
falling in place
I remember the time they took me
away
Maybe that time disappeared
somehow, but I remember it now .......
as if though a haze.
It must have been something, my
mind had erased
how you hypnotised me, filled me
with hope
sometimes chastised me, showed me
the ropes
When I was branded, when I was
cocooned
When I was stranded, when I was
marooned
I remember it now, it’s all
falling in place
I remember the times I'd fallen
from grace
I see it all, as if from the prow,
I remember it now .......
it’s all falling in place
as if a time had stood still and
the years gone to waste
I remember you saying, this will
be History
write it down in your diary, when
you first touched me.
There's no lie detectors, no
remembrance drugs
no hidden cameras, no electronic
bugs.
I remember it now, it’s all
falling in place
I remember the look that you had
on your face
I said it all, but it meant
nothing anyhow, I remember it now ........
but there's still something not
right
there’s a piece of the puzzle that
I can't visualise
maybe it’s
a feeling, maybe it’s a wish
deep down I know there's something
amiss.
Help me to remember, shine a light
in my eyes.
I am not fooling, this is no
disguise.
I remember it now, it’s all
falling in place
I remember the time I was falling
through space
I see it all,
like a lovers vow, I remember it now.
It’s
along way from here to there
too
much to cross
It’s
a long way from then and now
see
the gathering moss
When
I called you
your
voice sounded distant and dim
from
the edge of the edge of the rim
an
island off the shore
a
lone cry from lonely gull
what
did people have to come here for?
I
picked up a stone it’s the one that
you
used to skim
from
the edge of the edge of the rim
It’s
a long road, it twists and turns
winds
back on itself
There’s
a long shore and a deep sea,
the
deep pacific shelf.
I
know the chances of seeing you are slim
from
the edge of the edge of the rim
It’s
a long way to talk to you
a
fading voice on a wire
a
long way to the desert road
across
the rings of fire
when
I saw a photo
your
face looked worn and grim
from
the edge of the edge of the rim
I would love to have you love me
but all you do is push and shove
me
I would love to have you want me
but all you do is try and taunt me
Friday night, November twenty
third,
I said “hello life” I said “hey
there world”
stepped into the music in the
dancing room
but there
was no
sound in that vacuum,
I would love to have you hold me
but all you do is hot and cold me
I would love to have you phone me
but I waited getting lonely
scotch on the rocks and looked at
the clock
I ought visit someone
but I can’t eat inside this vacuum
I’d love to be inside your vision
but I was beaten by derision
I would have loved to be your
lover
but all I did was seem to suffer
I oughta disappear into the late
night mire
somewhere
I
can be a nom
de plume
lose myself in a vacuum
I would love to have you need me
but you barely even feed me
I’d be your man of just this
moment
but you only just postpone it
whether
I
should even spare a thought
for you
look at the moon through a
telescopic zoom
out in space is a just a vacuum
The flags were flying in the used
car yard.
The salesman sat there smoking his
cigar
The woman on the asphalt looking
at the wreck
He asked her how she felt she said
"ah, yeah what the heck"
She said she had a mission and a
journey to complete
"it isn't chance but fate that we
should meet"
They jumped into the Mazda and her
foot hit the floor
before they knew it they had
arrived in Rotorua
She said "I am a psychic, why must
you deny it,
I
am a mystic, why must you resist it?"
They checked into a motel, swam in
the sulphur pool
He thought she was crazy, she
thought he's a fool
She was transcendental, he was
like a rock
she was ornamental, he was in a
state of shock
She said "I have a feeling of loss
and deja vu
you're not be ideal but I guess
you'll have to do"
They went to where the mountain
used to be
she said she had arrived and they
must part company
She said "look at the moon and
look at the sky
There lies the meaning of life
while you are a-wheeling and
dealing in cars
I'll be as one with the heavens
and stars."
For one fleeting moment he almost
knew what she meant
but he pulled himself together as
he started to fragment
he said I must be going it’s time
for me to quit
she said "wait on now I think I’m
gonna have a fit"
She started talking in tongues and
he just stood and gaped
She started to glow and then she
changed a different shape
She turned into everybody that she
had ever been.
He'd seen a lot of movies but this
they'd never screen.
He grabbed her by the sleeve and
he said "hey what is this?"
she said "let me go it's only
metamorphosis"
he watched her disappear and
vanish in the dark
he fled to the bosom of his used
car yard.
When there's a break in the clouds
you can do anything
When there's a break in the clouds
you can spread your wings
When desperation looms
when you're alone in your room
and you wish you’d never left the
womb
Look up
For a break in the clouds
When there's a break in the clouds
step into the sun
When there's a break in the clouds
smile at everyone
It comes as a blessed relief
a time to turn a new leaf
a time to shake off all grief
Look up
For a break in the clouds
When there's a break in the clouds
get out your summer clothes
When there's a break in the clouds
drive down those dusty roads
When you're trapped in a mall
when you're locked inside four
walls
when the wild sea calls
Look up
For a break in the clouds
As the sun set on the mud flats
and the mosquitoes began to bite
The daylight folded up and the sun
said it’s goodnight
I tried to picture you there
before me, but I couldn't get a fix on you
Just the embers on the horizon and
the sea of gold and blue
And I’d lost the shape of your
face
Forgotten the way you'd embrace
And later in the blackness
underneath a mass of stars
Thinking about what's happening up
on Jupiter and Mars
I tried to hold your face before
me but you I could not see
Just a great big empty void
stretching to infinity.
And I’d lost the shape of your
face
Forgotten the way you'd embrace
I’m sleeping on the cold ground in
this canvas hideaway
Listening to the rooster bringing
in another day
And in the moments between waking
and breaking from a dream
I tried to picture you there
before me but you could not be seen
And I’d lost the shape of your
face
Forgotten the way you'd embrace
I was waking through a vision that
was all mixed up and blurred
In the early hours of morning
before a spoken word
And I tried to see you there
before me, your face, your eyes your hair
But my mind was like the mud flats
as featureless and bare
And I’d lost the shape of your
face
Forgotten the way you'd embrace
As long as there’s air to breathe,
I’ll be your oxygen
As long as there’s repartee, I’ll
be your friend
As long as you're playful, I’ll be
joyful
As long as I know
As long as there’s mystery, I’ll
be your great Unknown
As long as there’s energy, you can
light up my home
As long as you’re happy, I’ll
smile for you
As long as I know
As long as you signal me your
intent
As long as you tell me when your
love’s all spent
When there ain't nothin' much left
but a burnt out shell
When the magic has gone and broken
the spell.
As long as there’s night and day,
you’ll be my moon and sun
As long as there games to play,
you’ll be my fun
As long as your with me, I’ll be
for you
As long as I know
As long as good luck holds out,
you’ll be my talisman
As long as we just muck about,
I’ll be your span man
As long as hereafter, I’ll stand
before you
As long as I know
There is a kind of creature, walks
around on two legs.
The other animals think it’s the
dregs.
Muscles in on their patch of
ground
taking away everything to be
found.
It’s a creature called Man, it’s a
human being
not been very long on the
Evolution scene
It’s a Man
(One's called him the other's
called her.)
They prowl around an urban space
making a mess all over the place.
It’s a creature called Man, it’s a
hominoid.
Most of them are really quite
paranoid
It’s a Man
So many creatures living on the
brink.
Some of them have even become
extinct.
Mostly they don't know which way
to turn,
watching as their forests burn.
It’s a creature called Man, it’s a
naked ape.
Does a very good line in pillage
and rape.
It’s a
some of them even behave worse
than rats.
Some live with their heads in the
clouds
most of them are just another one
in a crowd
It’s a creature call Man, it’s me
and you
living in a human zoo.
It’s a man.
Moonlight dripped in the harbour
waves were lapping at the boats
stars too many to number
I'm only just afloat
I came too close for comfort
too far away to be seen
with a sinking feeling flooding
over me
Light house lamplight keeps on
turning
I guess the keepers must have fled
and the oceans don't ever stop
swirling
there's a shipwreck in my head
point me in the right direction
scratch a map at my feet
with a sinking feeling flooding
over me
Long finger of the headland
pointing out to somewhere north
came a long way from the mad lands
beauty is here (for what it is
worth)
Looking down at the ocean
so blue and so deep
with a sinking feeling flooding
over me
there ain't nobody whom my
patience wouldn't sap
ain’t nobody with whom I do agree
everybody's gone crazy but me
with a sinking feeling flooding
over me
Dazzled by sun, had to escape it
curl up some place in the shade
sometimes I think I can’t make it
sometimes I think I’ve got it made
it never ceases to amaze me
it's still as much a mystery
with a sinking feeling flooding
over me
I was talking to someone about as
lonely as me
way off of his axis, eaten up by
deceit
he said: "living is easy, you know
it's really not hard
all you've gotta do is maintain a
façade
maintain”
“You’ve gotta maintain the
impression of being impressed
even when you're naked make out
you're dressed
life is just about feigning, about
playing charades
even two bit parts you've gotta
maintain the facade
maintain”
“There ain’t no such thing as
being a fraud
say fascinating, even when you’re
dead bored
imagine yourself the general put
yourself in charge
you gotta
cry sometime but
maintain the facade
maintain”
“You can’t believe any message
that’s sent
how'd ya know I’m not fooling,
that it’s not just pretence
you don't have to trust what it
says on my card
all you've gotta do is maintain a
facade
maintain"
Squandered love
Hanging ‘round the planet
See you tonight
Falling
through the night
Where it all began
The Amnesiac
Edge of
the rim
Vacuum
The Mystic
Break in the clouds
Mudflats
As long as
Just a
Man
Sinking
feeling
Maintain