On the Flip of a Coin

Lyrics

[Verse 1] From the point he gazed from, the choice was made But walk the cave, or the shore? The oily cave seemed to breathe on him from gravestone jaws His little hand grasped in anguish as he weighed up his coin Somewhere, a blue-eyed girl in the world is just waiting for a boy Footprints trailed as if trod by slaves up to the grey cave floor But not one graze from anything ever escaping this fort So with coin on hand, his joy came back When ordered to take the shore "Why on earth", as he wandered the warmth "Am I obeying this coin?" [Chorus] Turn your life on the flip of this coin Turn upside a choice you'd normally avoid And promise me you'll follow what it says Whatever it says [Verse 2] Again, walk within the trusted beach, or swim the swell of the sea? And again, the scarier alternative looked like certain death to he He'd never learnt the skill of swimming It never occurred to be very easy And again, he winced as he flipped his coin And it twirled to his feet "How is this sane?" he blamed the coin, now aiming for the waves As he hesitated at the swirl of water that now raged and rained Blue-eyed girls were waiting and he was drowning in the spray Blue-eyed girls he should be acquainted with But for shouting and flailing [Chorus] Turn your life on the flip of this coin Turn upside a choice you'd normally avoid And promise me you'll follow what it says Whatever it says [Verse 3] He finally slugs it back to land, feeling chewed-up and foolish Empties his pockets on the sand, spewing a pool each Staggers back to his dad, who's too cool to be So he says, "Why did you have me follow this stupid rule, please?" "To be honest, little fellow, I'll tell you, I was just as afraid as you But you said you wanted to get with people and places ever new And I got a bit scared about the fate of my baby son's future So I invented a reason to see whether you could ever make do As soon as you appeared behind that rock, looking angry at me I soon realised what a hell of a man you've ended up being I knew you'd worked out how to swim, which I hadn't had in me And I stand as a companion of you, proudest a man has ever been" [Chorus] Turn your life on the flip of this coin Turn upside a choice you'd normally avoid And promise me you'll follow what it says Whatever it says