Up With The Larks lyrics

up with the larks
our love was made in november / in a wind chill of minus five / tied ourselves up in knots and ribbons / trying to stay alive / and we were the toast of the lost and lonely / keepers of dread and doom / till somebody spiked our tears with joy / stood back to watch us swoon / ordinary days of dreary weather / seemed like some amazing thing / suddenly the haze was lifting and we could sing / up with the larks on a cold spring morning / feeling so real and true / up with the larks heading out to the summer / baby, I begin and end with you / love and the storm still walk together / over the rocks and the snow / always a breath away from a world below / up with the larks on a cold spring morning / feeling so real and true / up with the larks heading out to the summer / baby, I begin and end with you / up with the larks, up with the larks / shattered and blue in splinters and sparks / watching the toy men walking around on feet of clay / we know there’s a better way / now that we’re up with the larks

the bluebells
the bluebells are snowing on the forest / while you shuck and jive / and the city’s fingers close around you / they’re ringing out across the meadow / over hills and through the glades / into streets and towns / the bluebells / you worry, all year long you worry / and trouble is always close at hand / but soon there comes a point / when nothing can conquer the bluebells / I love you / there’s no one above
you / and if this world can stay alive long enough / we’ll see the bluebells

send me a letter
send me a letter, send me something real / I’ve been walking through the snow, and my feet can’t feel / I just wanna know your love is winging its way / through the letterbox red with the junk and a daily bill / maybe you can find the will to tell me something I wanna know / send me a letter, give a stamp a lick / all the rainy grit grime is starting to stick / and I feel my heart slipping away / don’t want compliments, baby, just a simple hello, how’s you? / even something funny / you can say anything if you wanna / you can say anything if you just wanna send me a letter / it’s a cold rainy road that I’m walking down every day / you could make it sunny / you can say anything if you wanna / you can say anything if you wanna / just a word / tell me what’s on your mind / we go walking round the world / breathing at the same time / one reply would frankly send me spinning / high on a wonder ride to heaven / I would throw it all away for one goodbye / just a word / hey postmistress, is there something there? / would you stop for a moment and pretend to care? / this world, it’s so cold, so hard / I just wanna feel like I’m alive / in the moment, in the air / you could shake me off that wire / you could make me feel much better / if you’d only send me a letter / you can say anything if you wanna / you can say anything if you just wanna send me a letter

the umbrellas of shibuya
saturday early, it’s 8:43 / a train pulls away from this human sea / florists and choclatiers lining our way / oh please buy my wares for valentine’s day / japanese skies / full of the cut and the jib punctuation / filling my cup / I was asleep but I’m waking up / up from the bridge we see over a town / the umbrellas of shibuya spinning around / the banker, the lawyer, the young tokyo crew / safe under a sky of polythene blue / duglas, just think! / if we could bottle each drop of this feathered rain / package it up / and sell it on to the farmers of england / to grow neon roses on salisbury plain / I was lost, I’d reached the limit / couldn’t find one happy day / if trouble came, brother, I’d be in it / I couldn’t see a colour for grey / then love lit me up / I was strong, I was gone, I belonged / what am I to do, where am I to go if I ever lose it? / puddles of paint / bleeding out over the hills of shibuya / filling my cup / I was asleep but I’m waking up

womack and womack
first you’re one of the chosen few / then they pull the rug from you / don’t be surprised, it’s nothing new / learn to take it on the chin / work the angle and the spin / give it out but don’t give in / go out to work feeling life’s a curse / you come home feeling worse / just when you think life’s leading you high / it ups and leaves you dry / trust your emotional crew / the womacks and the isleys too / saccharine soul won’t get you through the long night / left the school and joined a band / like other lads across the land / gladly kissed the corporate hand / I was the boy who had it all / then one fine day I took the fall / to my surprise I didn’t mind at all / ‘cause every note was ringing blue / till I met you / in a world of grey eyed men and fools / you helped me break the rules / trust my emotional crew / the womacks and the isleys too / saccharine soul won’t get you through the long night / because life comes, trips you up, baby, and leaves you dry

london’s in love
I walk the busy streets of london / on a beautiful cold november day / and I feel the buildings, and I hear the traffic / and the zum of the telephone wires / so many people, so many stories / too much for a worried boy from the north / I’m applying for the role of most disenchanted soul on piccadilly / london’s in love, showering down gifts on me / london’s in love and I’m drowning in its sea / I wanna go home but I wanna stay away / I wanna go home but I wanna stay away / it’s the changing of the guards today / nobody seems to really see you / all the eyeless children from the world / gathered at bus stops and the dirty bookshops / in the stars of soho / I keep thinking maybe if I call you / and just talk shit to make you smile / we could magic up a way to make the darkness fade away for just a little while / london’s in love, showering down gifts on me / london’s in love and I’m drowning in its sea / I wanna go home but I wanna stay away / I wanna go home but I wanna stay away / it’s the changing of the guards, the changing of the guards / and I’m breathing in the blue black air of london / so I walk the busy streets of london / out of talk time, out of luck / will I ever live to see you walk these streets with me? / can’t say I’m hopeful

eco schools
grew up in the city / never knew the land was so fine / till they told me, take your shoes off, boy / get a life in the country / get a life in the fields / get a life, take your shoes off / save us all, send your children to eco schools / eco schools / where we could learn to love the animals / and we could learn to smell the chlorophyll / and we could learn to save you all / everybody laughing / jumping on their way to the fields / swatting fruit flies in the carbon breeze / we’re gonna be blessed with another chance / we’re gonna be blessed with another chance to save / all the time we’ve wasted / all the nights we lay down in pain / all those summers in the pouring rain / let’s be bright and let’s sparkle / it’s been such crashing grey / we’ve arrived, so sing hallelujah / happiness, does someone know the way?

with you on my mind
let me sit you down, darlin’, I’ve something to say / I’d like to get it said before I go grey / I’ll try to keep it simple, I’ve no axe to grind / just a lifetime in a day with you on my mind / a day was a week was a month was a year / I didn’t have a pension or a reg’lar career / I was slow as molasses and sleep-walkin’ time / till I woke up and found I had you on my mind / I had you on my mind… / couldn’t hold a conversation or shoot the breeze / I could bore the blossoms out of the trees / found I was driftin’ when people called by / I couldn’t concentrate or be bothered to try / couldn’t get excited, and I couldn’t unwind / I was deep in a daze with you on my mind / the days started hurting the more I was gone / I had to do something to move it along / so I told you my problem, that I liked you just fine / and I’m acting like a chump with you on my mind / you said you couldn’t conscience me taking the blame / that coincidentally you felt much the same / and so we set off on a hard scary wind / a lifetime in a day with you on my mind / I’ve got you on my mind… / no love-struck goon, no matter how he tries / could ever pull a reason out of the skies / and now it’s getting better, there’s hope in the bank / you’re dancing round the kitchen to ella and frank / so I’m gonna quit smokin’ and drinkin’ wine / and thank my sweet jesus that you’re on my mind

fighting fire with flowers
when I was a young sappy boy / looking for a way to make a mark / somebody at school heard me sing / called me a poof and wheeled away / stood my ground, followed on, through the quadrant and the halls / caught him up, pushed him down, kicked him squarely in the balls / well, I felt great for a day / a little bit less so in a week / by the time my greatest fight was famed / I was sick and sore ashamed / felt the sting in my fists and the sting of salty tears / the hero for a day who milked his hollow cheers / fight fire with flowers / greet your killer with a kiss / when they call you down just say / there’s no better day than this / wage the love of the world against the darkest powers / victory is easy when you’re fighting fire with flowers / so I spent my youth seeking out / the pacifist old guard / the commies and the pinks / at the cafe boulevard / painted dad’s old guitar with the mark of CND / yet the world’s many wars kept on raging to spite me / now they’re carving up the land / and signing on the line / and they’ll do it all again / like they did in ‘39 / ‘58, ‘92 and all points in between / driving nails in their hands for any two-bit queen / fight fire with flowers / greet your killer with a kiss / when they call you down just say / there’s no better day than this / wage the love of the world against the darkest powers / victory is easy when you’re fighting fire with flowers

blue riders on the range
we toed the line / when everyone else was making hay, we hid away / we paid our dues over and over again / we said / look out, the dark’s behind you / lucifer could lock your soul away / we could be headed for the fall / gin, beer and wine / sleeping until late afternoon to shut it all / out of your mind, and maybe the devil won’t call / but look out, the world’s a wonder / throw the curtains back, and you
might find / gonna be the morning of our lives / blue riders on the range, don’t let them go by / get on a feeling, get on a feeling / don’t wait for the night to see stars in the sky / get on a feeling free / and you’ll see a new morning for you and me / cape cod in june / sittin’ in a jammed motorway, on any day / a new york spring there in a muddy old lane / blue riders on the range, don’t let them go by / get on a feeling, get on a feeling / don’t wait for the night to see stars in the sky / get on a feeling free / and you’ll see a new morning for you and me / cape cod adventures, baby, we can see where it all is going

ring the bells for a day
venice will be standing when you and I are dust / when you and I are ashes, the bridge of sighs won’t sigh for us / they’ll be chasing tourists through the arches, and boats will break the bay / summer swoons and slips away, summer swoons and slips away / ring the bells for a day that’s born / cast the night away, cast the night away / ring the bells for a day that’s born / ring ‘em out and out and on until that old sun dies / it’s not right… / we lie awake in darkness, and sleepwalk through the day / yet the starlings gather, salmon leap and break the spey / jumping always, always jumping upstream / and we sleepwalk through the day / summer swoons and slips away, summer swoons and slips away / ring the bells for a day that’s born / cast the night away, cast the night away / ring the bells for a day that’s born / ring ‘em out and out and on until that old sun dies / it’s not right to spend the day wishing every breath away / didn’t mum and dad invest you with a care? / son, you’ll never keep a friend and your nightmare days won’t end / if you keep talking through them, walking through them / wallowing in righteous despair / wherever you lie down, wherever you wake up, the world follows

i just see the rainbow
why do I have to learn, why do I have to grow? / couldn’t I stay the same, knowing what I know / knowing what I know about you, I’ve purple prose to spare / the angel in our firmament, he’s already there / and perfect to the letter / it won’t get any better / people on the streets, milling around the town / let them scurry on, lay your troubles down / lay your troubles down, they’re over, the monkey’s in the tree / the lion’s in his prison, staring out at me / wondering where it all went wrong / why did it take so long / you can have rain / you can ignore the sunshine / you can wear garlands of devils in your hair / and call me cock-eyed if you will / but I don’t see that dark hill / I just see the rainbow

Words & Music by David Scott (Marina Music, 2007).

Lyrics reproduced with the kind permission of David Scott.