A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers

Lyrics

[I. Eyewitness (0:00 - 2:21)] [Verse 1] Still waiting for my saviour, storms tear me limb from limb My fingers feel like seaweed, I'm so far out I'm too far in I am a lonely man, my solitude is true My eyes have borne stark witness And now my nights are numbered too [Chorus] I've seen the smiles on dead hands The stars shine, but they're not for me [Verse 2] I prophesy disaster and then I count the cost I shine but, shining, dying, I know that I am almost lost On the table lies blank paper but my tower is built on stone I only have blunt scissors, I only have the bluntest hone [Chorus] I've been the witness, and the seal of death Lingers in the molten wax that is my head [Segue] When you see the skeletons of sailing-ship spars sinking low You'll begin to wonder if the points of all the ancient myths Are solemnly directed straight at you [II. Pictures/Lighthouse (2:21 - 5:32)] [Instrumental] *Eddies/rocks/ships/collision/remorse* [III. Eyewitness (5:32 - 6:28)] [Verse 3] No time now for contrition, the time for that's long past The walls are thin as tissue and if I talk I'll crack the glass [Chorus] So I only think on how it might have been Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream [Segue] I'm much too tired to speak And as the waves crash on the beach Stones of the tower, I start to freak And find that I am overcome [IV. S.H.M (6:28 - 8:26)] [Verse 4] "Unreal, unreal!", ghost helmsmen scream And fall in through the sky Not breaking through my seagull shrieks No breaks until I die The spectres scratch on window slits Hollowed faces and the mindless grins Are only intent on destroying what they've lost [Verse 5] I claw the wall till steepness ends in the vertical fall My pail has sailed into the sea: no joking hopes at dawn White bone shine in the iron-jaw mask Lost mastheads pierce the freezing dark And parallel my isolated tower No paraffin for the flame No harbour left to gain [V. The Presence of the Night (8:26 - 12:15)] [Intro] "Alone, alone", the ghosts all call Pinpoint me in the light The only life I feel at all Is the presence of the night [Instrumental Break 9:23 - 10:33] [Bridge] Would you cry if I died? Would you cry if I died? Would you catch the final words of mine? Would you catch my words? I know that there's no time I know that there's no rhyme (false signs find me) [Verse 6] I don't want to wait, I just want to go Why can't I let me live and be free? But I die very slowly alone [Verse 7] I know no more ways, I am so afraid Myself won't let me just be myself And so I am completely alone [VI. Kosmos Tours (12:15 - 13:34)] [Instrumental Break 12:15 - 13:18] [Verse 8] The maelstrom of my memory Is a vampire and it feeds on me Now, staggering madly, over the brink I fall [VII. (Custard's) Last Stand (13:34 - 16:22)] [Verse 9] Lighthouses might house the key But can I reach the door? I want to walk on the sea So that I may better find a shore But how can I ever keep my feet dry? I scan the horizon I must keep my eyes on all parts of me [Verse 10] Looking back on the years It seems that I have lost my way Like a dog in the night, I have run to a manger Now I am the stranger I stay in Ah, well [Verse 11] All of the grief I have seen Leaves me chasing solitary peace But I hold experience in my head I'm too close to the light I don't think I see right for I blind me [VIII. The Clot Thickens (16:22 - 19:13)] [Verse 12] Where is the God that guides my hand? How can the hands of others reach me? When will I find what I grope for? Who, who, who is going to teach me? I am me, me are we, we can't see any way out of here now Crashing sea, atrophied history, chance has lost my Guinevere [Instrumental Break 16:54 - 17:36] [Bridge] I don't want to be one wave in the water But sea will drag me deep One more haggard drowned man! I can see the lemmings coming but I know I'm just a man Do I join or do I founder? Which can is the best I may? (That's it, master) [IX. Land's End (Sineline) (19:13 - 21:14)] [Verse 13] Oceans drifting sideways, I am pulled into the spell I feel you around me, I know you well Stars slice horizons where the lines stand much too stark I feel I am drowning, hands stretch in the dark [Verse 14] Camps of panoply and majesty, what is Freedom of Choice? Where do I stand in the pageantry, whose is my voice? It doesn't feel so very bad now, I think the end is the start Begin to feel very glad now all things are a part All things are apart, all things are a part [X. We Go Now (21:14 - 23:12)] [Outro] Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh Ohhh, ohhh Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh Ohhh, ohhh Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh Ohhh, ohhh Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh Ohhh, ohhh Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh Ohhh...