Lyrics

Artwork by Elizabeth Thomson,
Tonight In the Mystic Garden (detail) 2007

1. Hailstones

I got a hole in my house where the rain comes in
As if you didn’t know, as if you didn’t know how
It’s nothing you’ve said but where to begin?
There’s something shifting, lifting in the wind

You said let’s get practical
When we’re unravelling
But I can’t hear myself think

Hearing hailstones
Broken battering
Every milestone
ever mattered to me
Hearing hailstones
Frozen shattering
Hearing hailstones
Under lightbulb’s shine

You can pick it apart but it’s never a win
Guilty is magic and tastes like snow
It doesn’t feel real but sooner it will
Nowhere to shelter colder than skin

You said let’s get practical
When we’re unravelling
But I can’t hear myself think

2. Garden

Hey hey hey won’t you kiss me awake
Something I said that you couldn’t take
Something I said that I couldn’t take back
and it’s waking up trouble uncoupling us

Ooo you’re lying silent fury
Near and so far
Let your guard down
but my tongue’s too sharp and so uncharming

But oh my darling
In your arms it’s like a garden
and oh my darling
A garden where we’re leaves fall
Short of love
(short of love, short of love)

Hey hey you across the great divide
All the way over on the other side
All the way doubled in the deep blue light
Between never’s-in-the-wrong and all-the-ways-right

Ooo you foundered down in splendour
Buried so dark
And I’m thrown too hard
With no way out and no surrender

3. The Water's Edge

Driving down that inward bound
road that wiggles up the bay into town
on the edge of the island
No-one spoke a single word
or broke the silence of the undisturbed
on the edge of the island
There was the blue, the blue, the blue, the blue of the sea
Not a whisper on the surface
There was you, you, you and only me
Not a whisper on the surface

Take me down to the water’s edge
It gives me what I need
Take me down to the water’s edge
Where I can breathe

Nothing less I should have guessed
your hand so soft on the back of my neck
at the edge of the island
And I realise the turning tide
pulls us through to the other side
of the edge of the island
There was the blue, the blue, the blue, the blue of the sea
Not a whisper on the surface
There was you, you, you and only me
Not a whisper on the surface

And I don’t know
how to hold
this ebb and flow
Falling through my fingers
Falling through my fingers

4. Gold

Your gold would make a dirty river shine
Flicker on the river stones beneath the water line
If it lends a little light to this unforgiving time
Your gold would make it shine

Your gold would make a dirty river shine
Store it in a stolen shaft down some West Coast mine
If it brings your brother back to life it’s worth the overtime
Your gold would make it shine

Hold its fire
While scattered waters change their course
And the river’s loud and using too much force
Hold its fire
When the water’s lapping at your roof
And the river rises and rises and rises

Your gold would make a dirty river shine
It’ll make me wait forever by the riverside
Where I’ll win you with a whisper or a sinew or a sigh
Your gold would make it shine

5. Before It Changes Everything

Meet me in the moment
I’ll pick you up side down
Before your flight leaves tonight
And we’re stuck in lost and found
Throw every minute in your suitcase
On this last sweet afternoon
Turn your phone on silent
We’ll raise this ragged roof

Before it’s way too late
and you’ve been and gone
Before I lose my nerve
We don’t have long
Before it never was
We’re out of time
Before I let go
The end of the line
Before it changes everything
Before it changes everything

Let no one state the obvious
Bare as butter on a plate
Let no one fuck it up, talk too much
Say it’s a stupid mistake
Let no one blow their cover
Or make a clueless excuse
Let the candelabra burn
Let the lions loose

All in all when time’s so short
When your face falls or the moment’s caught
All in all when your face falls
Gone in the blink of a blindest eye
If I hear an interview
of your latest release
If I see you in a terminal
or cross the street

6. Push Back

I woke when I was dreaming
And told the birds that flew
I wasn’t sure that I was right
But something’s wrong with you
We’ve been on high rotate
We’ve been on high rotate
And I’m panicking in traffic
Thinking there’s no escape

Push back the tide’s a-coming in
Push back the tide’s a-coming in
Push back the tide’s a-coming in
Push back the tide’s a-coming in
Push back the tide’s a-coming in
Push back the tide’s a-coming in

I think I lost your signal
Or you sent nothing through
I all hear is disconnect
On a wavelength overdue
We’ve been on high rotate
We’ve been on high rotate
And flying off the carousel
Only complicates

7. Winter's Eye
Oh how the lightning stayed lit up on your face
And we can’t afford the rumble of thunder at our place
Well the rain will peel the sky like the lid of a tin can
You ask how I can be so certain
When there’s nothing left to tie it down to
Well you lie below the water flow like the lid of a tin can

In winter’s eye we’ll wait it out
The storm will blow undone
In winter’s eye we’ll wait it out
The storm will blow undone

And overhead what we said ripped away like stricken birds
Flown out of our reach nowhere to be seen
Streamed like water on the wing of a plane
I don’t recall how long we held
But my grandad told of the strength his people drew against
To start again in the face of the flood and every broken fence
To start again in the face of the sun

In winter’s eye we’ll wait it out
The storm will blow the storm will blow
In winter’s eye we’ll wait it out
The storm will blow undone
The storm will blow undone
The storm will blow undone

Chime
(from Woodenhead Reimagined compilation)

You make me feel uncomfortable
You put me out of step
Turn to touch and I flinch too much
Flounder out of my depth
Can't control my feelings
Hear the tremor in my voice
but oh, how I am drawn to you
I haven't a choice

We chime
like bells, like rhymes
We chime
when I'm with you
We chime

Help me to flee the jackals
yapping at my heels
Free me from this magic
I know it's real
There's no bridge over the river
There's no door to another room
but oh, how I am drawn to you
into the light of the moon

Video by Mark Tierney feat Laura G Chirinos

CAR KEYS

come back to bed
I didn’t mean a thing I said
couldn’t put my finger on it
how long must the night
fall on its knees in silence?
didn’t I hold you close?
in my mind, uppermost.
anyway, you can’t find the car keys
so you gotta stay

why would I do more damage
than’s been done to you?
why would I savage our love
when you want me to?

rest in my house
curl your body round my arms and legs
don’t know why I travel the knife edge
something about this restlessness
eases my unsteadiness
gonna bring it in from the window ledge

why would I do more damage
than's been done to you?
why would I savage our love
when you want me to?

gonna find me a remedy
for the wee small hours
baby come back to bed

then the stars start singing

READ REVIEW

Photography by Emma Robinson

Hold your Horses

Hey the bubble’s burst
All I hear is the sound of loose change lonesome in your purse
No you go first
I’ve nothing up my sleeve and the hem’s frayed on your skirt
I know you’re lost and I’m so close behind
but there’s no one left to hold the horses

Say everything you know
comes underneath the rooftop
through the front door of our home
Wait, please don’t go
back to the brink of magical thinking up in a puff of smoke
I know you’re lost and I’m so close behind
but there’s no one left to hold the horses

We’ll fill up the station wagon
and run ourselves out of town
drive right up State Highway One
till the engine breaks its heart
We’ll wind down the windows
Find ourselves some air to breathe
Turn ourselves back into you and me
Turn ourselves into people we used to be
Baby what are you holding your horses for?

Stay by my side
while I misdirect my self respect
and wave our dreams goodbye
Take the corner of my shirt and dry your eyes
get back on that pony
and hang on for the ride
I know you’re lost and I’m so close behind
but there’s no one left to hold the horses

We’ll fill up the station wagon
and run ourselves out of town
drive right up state highway one till the engine breaks its heart
We’ll wind down the windows
Find ourselves some air to breathe
Turn ourselves back into you and me
Turn ourselves into people we used to be
Baby what are you holding your horses for?

Hung the Moon

Dark night bar’s alight
Someone’s playing upright piano
talk small talk
till the conversation lulls
Can’t tear my eyes off the doorway
waiting for you
to come and complicate the night even more
till the morning comes

You make feel like I hung the moon
Like I swung the stars from the rafters
Happy ever after
You make feel like I hung the moon
and all the oxygen has left the room
when I hung the moon

When you walk that walk towards me,
I give thanks to whatever god’s in heaven
when I’m in your orbit,
my constellation shines.
But I hear my heartbeat betray me
when I whisper
all the compliments I want to pay you
till the morning comes

You make feel like I hung the moon
Like I swung the stars from the rafters
Happy ever after
You make feel like I hung the moon
when all the oxygen has left the room
I can't breathe
when all the oxygen has left the room
when I hung the moon

Caroline

Caroline turns her face to mine
and says I’m still upset
You’re sure you didn’t mean a thing
but I’m not there yet.

Driving down the motorway
Caroline decides
to turn the music up so loud
there’s nowhere to hide

She says I let you get to me
I let you put me down
You took me by surprise
on undefended ground

Why are you wounding me?
Feather soft with words
Wounding me?
What makes you want to hurt?
When did I become your enemy?
When did I become your enemy?

Caroline tries to dry her eyes
and grips the wheel so tight
She says you’ve gone too far this time
and I ‘m too done to fight

Pulling up outside our house
Caroline shakes her head
I know you don’t take prisoners
but why scorch the earth instead

She says I let you get to me
I let you put me down
But some things you can’t take back
and bury underground

Why are you wounding me?
Feather soft with words
Wounding me?
What makes you want to hurt?
When did I become your enemy?
When did I become your enemy?

Babe I can’t do this anymore
When did I become your enemy?
When did I become your enemy?

Cafe Reader version

Back for More

I’ve been driving around in circles
in circles all over the town
down the sides of the side streets
underneath the street lights
back to the cul-de-sac
where you live now

I pull up and wind up my window
Climb up the seventeen steps to your door

You’re the book I couldn’t put down
The look that spun my head round
The no I couldn’t take for an answer
The flame I couldn’t mothball
The train I couldn’t stop for
The name that stole my sleep in the night

I had to go back go back
go back for more

I forget what I have to remember
in places all over the town
losing the thread
of my thoughts by the bed
leaving my sentences
hang in midair

Pull up and wind up my window
Climb up the seventeen steps to your door

You’re the book I couldn’t put down
The look that spun my head round
The no I couldn’t take for an answer
The flame I couldn’t mothball
The train I couldn’t stop for
The name that stole my sleep in the night

I had to go back go back
go back for more

Days when I feel like I’m losing my mind
Caught in the current, reeling online
Nights when I’m dreaming of days full of you
Blinded to everyone else in the room

I had to go back go back
go back for more

The Awakening River c) Katherine Mansfield

The gulls are mad-in-love with the river
And the river unveils her face and smiles.
In her sleep-brooding eyes they mirror their shining wings
She lies on silver pillows: the sun leans over her.
He warms and warms her, he kisses and kisses her.
There are sparks in her hair and she stirs in laughter.
Be careful, my beautiful waking one! you will catch on fire.
Wheeling and flying with the foam of the sea on their breasts
The ineffable mists of the sea clinging to their wild wings
Crying the rapture of the boundless ocean.
The gulls are mad-in-love with the river.
Wake! we are the dream thoughts flying from your heart.
Wake! we are the songs of desire flowing from your bosom.
O, I think the sun will lend her his great wings
And the river will fly away to the sea with the mad-in-love
birds.

Then the Stars Start Singing

Wake me in the morning
Wake me in the moonlit night
when I least expect it
when no one else has any right

Amplify my heartbeat
louder than a bedside light
softer than a door
closed against the uninvited.

Then the stars start singing
Songs we’ve always sung
Then the stars start singing
Songs of love and loss and longing

Watch me like a movie
Watch me like a word undone
in the inner circle
in the sense of just begun

Fold my hands against you
softer than a setting sun
louder than a blood rush
till I am overcome

Then the stars start singing
Songs we’ve always sung
Then the stars start singing
Songs of love and loss and longing

Take my disenchantment
Drop it on the floor
with the crumpled blankets
and the paper thin walls

Then the stars start singing
Songs we’ve always sung
Then the stars start singing
Songs of love and loss and longing

Stowaway

While all the passengers stand in a line
I check the lock on the door
and I slip past security, one at a time
The bag handlers chose to ignore me
I got no ticket but I wanna go
Everywhere you wanna fly
I climb in the cargo hold
on for dear life
when the engines kick in
and we soar through the sky

Stowaway
Let me hide in the back of your heart
I'll stowaway
When you’re over the ocean
Whole wide worlds apart

All of the travel guides gave good advice
on the prettiest places to see
and the welcoming cabin crew smile so polite
when I secretly boarded for free
All of your journeying flung far and wide
Everywhere you wanna fly
I wanna go with you one step at a time
the smoothest of landings, the turbulent climbs

Stowaway
Let me hide in the back of your heart
I'll stowaway
When you’re over the ocean
Whole wide worlds apart

Jennifer

I know you got a lot on your plate
I won’t waste one syllable this time
but I don’t understand where I stand with you
my heart’s double parked on a dotted yellow line
We used to feel like we were falling through a hurricane
belt-buckled, white-knuckled landing into Wellington
Now we’re stuck stock still stranded on the runway
can’t flag a cab for love

Jennifer the meter’s running
Will you make your mind up
Jennifer the meter’s running
I can’t wait forever

I know you got that look in your eye
always thinking up a comeback, stalling for time
but I can’t hold on if you don’t let me know
always checking in the rear view what’s coming up the road
We used to love like we were running hell for leather
high speed nosebleed overdrive forever
Now we’re stuck in the traffic you won’t say a word
can’t flag a cab for love

Jennifer the meter’s running
Will you make your mind up
Jennifer the meter’s running
I can’t wait forever

January

January didn’t even show her face
The summer was a no go, low over the ranges
River’s on the rise
The upshot from the district nurse
your father’s health was getting worse
took you by surprise

In between the casseroles and random family friends
know there’s no one else I’d want beside me in the end

As long as you’ll have me, as long as you’ll have me
in the shadows and the doubts
and the need to work it outs
As long as you’ll have me, as long as songs are written down
and love is still offline
I’ll have your heart as long as you have mine

The winter tried to stay in touch
but August didn’t offer much
more than bitter winds and brief hellos
The hospice kept the light alive
long enough to say goodbyes
good enough to go

In between the eulogy and sympathetic cards
on this lonely planet I’ll hold you in the deepest dark

As long as you’ll have me, as long as you’ll have me
In the shadows and the doubts
and the need to work it outs
As long as you’ll have me, as long as songs are written down
and love is still offline
I’ll have your heart as long as you have mine

Headwinds

Hey what have we here?
Little white slip of a thing tripping over the truth
bit your lip but its crystal clear
nothing I can say is working for you

Never could wait for Christmas Day
I search your face for a giveaway
wanna tear the paper off and look inside the parcel
Hang so heavy on the tree
like one word could ricochet
tangled up not saying much
tinsel got you tongue tied

Oh don’t you know
it’s over when the headwinds blow

So that happened then
got it all off your chest I can feel your relief
grit my teeth but it's hard to hear
nothing you can say is working for me

Your words were a beggar's gift
why wait till the twenty-fifth
December's such a busy month to have a conversation
so where does that leave us now
true confessions wear me out
stranded in the middle of a love torn up like paper

Oh don’t you know
it’s over when the head winds blow

Where Have You Gone

The house is so clean
Its a photo in a magazine
you could eat your dinner off our floor
and the way you’re standing
leaning by the door handle
you’ve never done that before

I can count the words you’ve said this morning
on the fingers of my left hand
we always talked so easily
and now its pulling teeth
I can’t stand it

Baby you’re so far away
Where have you gone my love
Out of reach and out of touch
Where have you gone my love

You’d do your makeup in the car
and brush mascara on so fast
I loved to wait for a green light
Now you take the bus
you say its quicker no discussion
that don’t feel right

Baby you’re so far away
Where have you gone my love
Out of reach and out of touch
Where have you gone my love
Baby you’re so far away
Where have you gone my love
Out of arms length out of harm’s way
Where have you gone my love

We’'ve been underneath the same roof,
living in the same skin for so long
I’d do anything, I'd give anything to be that close to you again
can't you trust that I won’t duck and cover
I’m so over any other world
that nothing you can do or say
will backfire and break me away from you

Where have you gone my love
Out of reach and out of touch
Where have you gone my love
Baby you’re so far away
Where have you gone my love
Out of arms length out of harm’s way
Where have you gone my love

Photography by Niamh O'Brien
Video by Emma Robinson

The Light is Unreliable 

Could've been my imagination
could've been something in my eye
but I’m sure I saw you wince
not be utterly convinced
cause the light is unreliable tonight

Maybe it was just the way I said it
or the timing wasn’t right
but I love you wondrous deep
and I’m watching when you sleep
cause the light is unreliable tonight

We could watch the wine and drink a movie
we could tell the kids to be polite
when it’s hard to just let go
you already know
that the light is unreliable tonight

When I feel your heart is shaking
and you’ve lost all your delight
when there’s nothing you can do
I will wait with you
‘cause the light is unreliable tonight