TINDERBOX
1986
- Candyman
- Cannons
- The Quaterdrawing of the Dog
- Lullaby
- Umbrella
- Cities In Dust (extended version)
Sickly sweet, his poison seeks
For the young ones who don't understand
The danger in his hands
With a jaundiced wink see his cunning slink
Oh trust in me my pretty one
Come walk with me my helpless one
Candyman
Syrup lies upon your tongue
Gelatin saliva spills
A flash of a guillotine a smile
Candyman -- oh candyman
No pity for him, their misery screams
Unspeakable things
A cool missile, yes it's in his smile
With open arms to welcome you
Beware the masked pretender
He always lies, this candyman
Those lips conspire in treachery
To strike in cloak and dagger, see!
Candyman -- oh candyman
And all the children, he warns "Don't tell,"
Those threats are sold
With their guilt and shame they think they're to blame
For Candyman -- oh candyman
Hearing you -- in my sleep
Feeling you -- your cadence seeps
Whispering in flashback -- the spectres of your memories
Fall in glistening showers -- such a tender descent
Intones this haunting lament
The sweetest chill
Fearing you -- but calling your name
Icy breath -- encases my skin
Fingers like a fountain of needles
Shiver along my spine
And rain down so divine
The sweetest chill
A drowning so sublime -- spins in a heavenly climb
Calling you -- tears thaw my sleep
Wanting you -- this hoary web is weaved
From this strange confusion
Grows a perverse communication
It enthralls me and coils me around
The sweetest chill
Enchantment ebbs and whirls -- the sweetest chill
Enchantment ebbs and whirls -- oh the thrill
The sweetest chill
This unrest beats out my breath
Disconnected thoughts jangle in a mess
This unrest crucifies my chest
Without anaesthetic it cuts
Through tumorous flesh
This unrest beats out my breath...
This unrest beats in my chest
Discordant limbs watch unimpressed
At the aimless walk the mindless talk
The pictures leap out and dance for me
They laugh at me
As your bitterness closes in
You're feeling very old again
Ah just to sleep, without these thoughts
But the angels shout, resurrecting doubts
Ah we meet again, my trusty friend
Demanding new favours for old time's sake
Inside this captive frame
Come and claim your liberty
Metal and flesh will fuse today
These visions jump out and blast my days
Clean away...
Water was running; children were running
You were running out of time
Under the mountain, a golden fountain
Were you praying at the Lares shrine?
But oh your city lies in dust, my friend
We found you hiding -- we found you lying
Choking on the dirt and sand
Your former glories and all the stories
Dragged and washed with eager hands
But oh your city lies in dust, my friend
Hot and burning -- in your nostrils
Pouring down your gaping mouth
Your molten bodies -- blanket of cinders
Caught in the throes...
And O, your city lies in dust
Troubled weather's on its way
Tempests threaten us today
There's no respite, from long dark nights
Just the fantasy of spring
From the hailstones of summer
To a scorching winter land
A frozen death sleep, then this heat
Beats down on this buckled land
Flames lick closer to the core
From city limits fireball
And in a headless chicken run
Race red and screaming fire engines
Then the cannons came
O, 'Neath the brooding sky
Beneath its baleful eye
The cannon shot, the cannon crack
Disturbing night dreams
People fled in droves
To the lakes and to the shores
Left behind a near ghost town
Save the life of the cannons resounding
Still there was no rain
Once more in the line of fire
Hovers the preying sky
The cannons aim jabs at the eye
Heralding the rain...
Your parties fall around you
Another night beckons to you
Your parties fall around you
Another night beckons to you
Shadows loom as you resist the gloom
Faded hues issue forth and bloom
A bed of leaves for a lover
Awake with a kiss and rise asunder
And when the party's over
You retreat in a realm of slumber
In your mind, crystal lights rebound
Wheels spin round and you hear the sound
Of Autumn's call at party's fall
Through rose-tinted glass you still remember
The gladness, not sadness, only laughter
In your mind, vicious lights rebound
Wheels spin round and you hear the sound
Of Autumn's call at party's fall
The smile in the mirror grows weaker
The laughter you heard is growing fainter
Your parties fall around you
The night forgets to rouse you
Your party's fall astounds you
An aura of sadness abounds you
Glad rags sigh
Maybe you're alone inside, don't hide
Hurting all the time, hurting deep inside, don't cry
My happiness depends on knowing this friend is never alone
On your own
A party on our own
We'll have a party on our own inside
No sighs
The day drags by like a wounded animal
The approaching disease, 92 degrees
The blood in our veins and the brains in our head
The approaching unease, 92 degrees
Long ago in the headlines, they noticed it too
But too late for the loved ones and nearly for you...
Shaky lines -- on the horizon
Snaky thoughts -- invade each person
Watch the red line -- creeping upwards
Watch the sanity line weaken
The volcanic depths of Hades' ocean
Bubble under, these crazed eruptions
It wriggles and writhes and bites within,
Just below the sweating skin
I wondered when this would happen again
Now I watch the red line, reach that number again
The blood in our veins and the brains in our head...
Drink the water with jagged glass
Eat the cactus with bleeding mouth
Not 91 or 93, but 92 Fahrenheit degrees
Shaky lines -- on the horizon
Snaky thoughts -- invade each person
Not 91 or 93, but 92 Fahrenheit degrees
Come take this hand at twilight's door
I'll meet you there, we'll share the moonlit floor
Through the driving rain, colours run in veins
Ozone fills the air, two figures disappear
Come let's take flight, let's quit this scene tonight
Whilst they sleep on endless, in their wrecked designs
Sleep on endless in your wrecked designs
Moths touched by flame repeat their fatal game
Forever and eternally, the cliffs around the crashing sea
Unsolved and endless, wait for me
Undulating far below, where lucid waters flow
Their faces seem to know...
Where the land falls to an end
This hidden tale begins
Take a walk with me, down by the sea
Take a walk with me
Down by the sea
This is what she saw:
The unsuspecting horse was held fast to the ground
whilst some soldiers slit open its belly
The guilty gypsy was shoved inside the horse's belly
With only his head protruding from the dying beast
Another soldier then sewed up the wound with the culprit inside
Condemned to die, along with the putrefied animal,
screaming...
The young Countess looked on, barely restraining a giggle...
The lunacy will leave the day
Luminous in flight
As the moon spits out
In jagged beams
another night
Wrap around this brilliant veil
Tranquil and unbroken
As you spiral down
A world of clay
and taut convulsion
The dream swan spins
And cartwheel turns
Down deep within your violet slide
The sun begins to rise
Shaking down its morning swords
to thaw your frozen eyes
The dream swan spins
And so conceals
a heart that aches and yearns
O hush awhile
Sleepless child
I'll be watching over you...
Away from the dying rain, far away
From the pain washed drains
Under the darkening skies
Now under protecting lines
Beneath these unloved crimes
Relief is a gentle sigh
Dissolve these eyes so I may cry