Storm Damage

Half Life - Storm Damage (2000) buy now

Laurie A’Court : Saxes

Ian Burrage : Drums

Nigel Digby : Bass

Alistair Murphy : Vocals, Keyboards, Guitars and Bass

Michael Rooney : Vocals

Jeremy Salmon : Guitars, Bass and Percussion

with

Diana Hare : Vocals

Jim Halsall : Harmonica

Laurence Elly : Bass

Recorded by Alistair Murphy

Produced by Alistair Murphy, Jeremy Salmon and Ian Burrage

WAIT

In the evening light, the shadows all conspire

To fill us full of fright, they try to fill us full of fear

Baby don’t you cry, don’t you fear and fret

Don’t you say goodbye, it’s not as if they’ve found us yet

Let me tell you what I’m going do

There’s someone waiting at my door,

Someone banging on the gate

Shadow’s falling on the wall

They’re just going to have to learn to wait

Let me tell you what I’m going do

There’s someone waiting at my door,

They’re just going to have to wait for evermore.

On the midnight tide, the faces floating out,

And the morning light, surely offers little doubt

I have lived this life, I have loved this love,

I have rode this ride, but yet I’ve still not had enough

Let me tell you what I’m going do

There’s someone waiting at my door,

Someone banging on the gate

Shadow’s falling on the wall

They’re just going to have to learn to wait

Let me tell you what I’m going do

There’s someone waiting at my door,

They’re just going to have to wait for evermore.

LATE

Think of all you’ve said, think of all you’ve done

Think of all the jobs you’ve started,

And all the errands that you’ve run

Think of friends you have, an enemy or two

Think of candles that you’ve burnt

and all the nights you’ve burnt them through

I can remember one or two

What about you?

Think of rivers swam and sailed the ocean blue

And all the reasons and excuses for not getting

Where you were going to

I’ve told a few excuses too

And it’s twice that I’ve been down

Though the blackened water’s cold

I don’t believe I’d really drown

It’s not as late as we’ve been told

Think of bridges burnt, the false starts you have made

The alleys that have left you blind

And all the years you’ve been delayed

I’ve taken a few wrong turnings too

And it’s the third street I’ve been down

Though the cobbles shone like cold

I waited at that end of town

Where I knew you used to go

It’s not as late as we’ve been told

BABBLECADE

Nightly, they’re carried nightly

A thousand voices, speaking lightly

Amongst the trees a silent army

Their faces drawn, their eyes are barmy

Falling, their words are falling

One by one they lose their calling

And what was sense is simply babble

The cauldron stirred of toil and trouble

And as they stare down at the ground

The forest rings with the babblecade of sound

Speaking, the world is speaking

The hopes and fears, a gate that’s creaking

About the house we’re crashing blindly

Where nothing’s meant, or spoken kindly

And though we struggle for a voice

Our words are drowned beneath a caterwaul of choice

LIGHT UP THE CITY

I’ll hold it in trust, I’ll hold it forever

Hold out your hand, I’ll hold it whatever the cost

Hold it in store, though you offer no quarter

When you hang down your head

And you’re holed beneath the waterline

We’ll pass overhead like a satellite

We’ll be back from the dead and set the world alight

They’ll light up the city, for mile upon mile

In the night sitting pretty and twinkle awhile

We can’t always take it, to have and to hold

Hold it a moment, it’s not always the truth we are told

Hold it in mind, when you step through the doorway

I can’t see the sign but I know that this way, is our way

I’ll hold it in trust, I’ll hold it forever

Hold out your hand, I’ll hold it whatever the cost

STORM DAMAGE

The shutter’s banging on the window

Plaster’s lying scattered on the floor

Strangers huddled in the cellar

Light floods through the cracks in the wall

Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping

The house is shifting on its haunches

I hear its knuckles as it moves

It lifts its head above the skyline

But turns its face towards the wall

Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping

And if you hold your head next to mine

I will tell you more or less

Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping

And if you hold your head next to mine

I will tell you more or less

Make it less!

And you feel the life within you

And it’s more than just the sinew

Of the life that you’ve been holding in the dark

And should I care that the bastards wreak their havoc everywhere

And should I say that it really doesn’t have to be this way

But no-one’s listening

And as I crawl though a pile of rubble that was once a wall

And looking round at the smoke

That clouds the sky and stains the ground

And in the silence I hear the sound of someone’s wireless

And all around the spawn of violence

And on the ground the lives of thousands

And what we’ve found is not our business

But where’s the path that lead us to this?

They’ve taken what we’ve worked for

Taken everything we’ve cared for

And all the life they’ve left behind is dead

But even now when we stand upon the threshold looking out

The mountains ring with the sound of many creatures on the wing

And in the distance

The cloud descends, the dark swarm seeks to bring about an end

Of someone’s dream, they break the branch and strip the leaf of green

And in the windblown

And in the dark grown and in the fear known

And in the daylight, and through the long night

Beneath the starlight and through the last rites

And on the skyline and in the sunshine

And by the roadside and on the streetsign

And for the seconds and for the minutes

And by the hour and through the seasons

And for the future and for the present

The years behind us, the days before us

And far above us, and all around us

And way beneath us, and deep within us

And for our fathers, and for our mothers

And for our sisters and for our brothers

And for our children and for our lovers

We’re holding on now, we’ll hold together

The shutter’s still banging on the window

Plaster’s still lying scattered on the floor

Our friends are coming up from the cellar

Light’s flooding through the cracks in the wall

Never heard the warning, must have been sleeping

And if you hold your head next to mine

I will tell you more or less

Make it more!

TURN HIM DOWN

I saw him walking in the street

I think you saw him there as well

In the way he moved his feet

It wasn’t very hard to tell

That the world was made for him

I heard him speaking once to you

It must have been so hard to take

There was nothing you could

No concession left to make

But when he wants you where are you?

When he needs you where are you?

Let me tell you now

The die’s been cast a thousand years

The letters carved in stone

The die was cast a thousand years ago

But if you chose to walk away

If you thought you’d had enough

What would he say if that was that

Would he try to call your bluff

But there are no cards left play

Hold him, shake him, scold him, break him

Take his money and let him down

Cage him, kick him, cut him, prick him

Break his will and turn him down

Can you remember what he said

Do you even know his name?

He’s no longer in your head

You no longer feel the same

I’ve seen him once I think since then

TREADING WATER

Winter’s coming but summer’s coming too

Darkness falling but morning’s breaking through

And we’re along with you, the water’s rising all around

And for this one time we’ll hold you till the tide begins to turn

Treading water, but climbing mountains too

Sometimes flying, treasure hunting too

It’s waiting in the deep for you, it’s waiting high above your head

But for this short time we’ll stay with you

And see the breakers through

We’re swimming on our own, and when the waves are high we’re lost

And when we’re looking down, we wonder how we’ll get across

Times for doubting, there’ll be times for hubris too

A crowd that’s shouting, a world of silence too

A moment when you fear the worst,

A day your nightmares come to stay

And you’ll think of us, and what we said before we went away

And in that time you’ll find a time to care

For someone holding on to you

Hold your breath and dive beneath the waves

And see the light come through

You’re swimming on your own,

And when the waves are high you’re lost

When you’re looking down,

You’ll wonder how you’ll get across

NICE AND EASY

You wouldn't know

If the waters were really rising.

Wouldn't know if this nation went to war.

You never know what in the world

Is really happening.

Even when it happens on your door.

We're on the way to romance.

That's safe to say.

But let's make all of the stops

Along the way, along the way.

You wouldn't notice

If we all packed up tommorow.

You'd walk the empty streets alone.

Rush home to watch an old fim on the TV.

Happy in the only world you'd ever known.

We're on the way to romance.

That's safe to say.

But let's make all of the stops

Along the way, along the way.

The problem now of course is,

If you can hold your horses.

To rush would be a crime.

Couldn’t Wait Anymore

He knows there must have been reasons

That’s plain enough to see.

The shadows are dark at the window

He hears the wind in the trees

Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know, he says.

There’s a whole world out there

And it couldn’t care less.

He knows he’s waited, just cannot wait anymore.

He walks from the door, couldn’t wait anymore.

She stands by the train in the station

And she wonders aloud

Would we cause so much pain and consternation

If we weren’t so very proud?

Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know, she says.

There’s a whole world out there

And it couldn’t care less.

I knows I’ve waited, I just cannot wait anymore.

She walks from the door, couldn’t wait anymore.

FADING

Let’s pause for a while, there’s something about this I don’t like

There’s something here and it bothers me

It’s the light off the river, or the noise in the branches above

Or the touch of your hand in the evening silence

Across this landscape armies have marched and have fought

Beneath this sky there is moment

And many inches deep, the blood, soil and the circumstance

I’ll find us a way back to summertime

Well I would if I could, if I knew where we were

If the voice in my head spoke a language I knew

Take me alone now, take me down to the water’s side

Wait while I leap from the bank

And as I’m carried along, not knowing where I am bound

I’ll watch the world as it passes me by

Well I would if I could, if I knew what to say

If the light in my head wasn’t darkness today

I’ve fallen from sleep now, awake on a distant shore

Awash in the waves of a lifetime past

I’m looking up at the mountains, looking up at a distant town

The smoke seems to hang like a welcome

And I’ll follow it there, though the words in my head

Seem to fade in the light, once they’re thought and they’re said

Fading

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