Album: Bill Fay
I’m planting myself in the garden
Believe me
Between the potatoes and parsley
Believe me
And I’ll wait for the rain to anoint me
And the frost to awaken my soul
I’m looking for lasting relations
With a greenfly, spider or maggot
Believe Me
They’re telling me something I don’t know
Telling me
They’re telling me something I think so
Telling me
But I’ll wait ‘til I know there’s a moment
To get up from my chair by the sea
And I’ll be able to say that I’ve been there
Telling me something I don’t know
Telling me
“The Sun Is Bored” .: top
“Tally ho, let’s go”, said the leader of the chase
“Ole ole”, said the fantastic toreador
And the sun goes down
Never to rise again
It was getting bored
With the same old faces
“Have you heard this one?” said the minister for laughs
“Obscene”, said the minister for good taste
And the moon is praying
It wants to get away
To some other place
Any place
And the sun goes down
Never to rise again
“We Want You To Stay” .: top
These are the games that we want you to play
We are your friends and we want you to stay
I said O.K. I will try
But as time passed by all the games grew so hard
Each day a hundred more friends did arrive
And I took to watching the clouds
Friend, we want you to stay
Want you to stay, want you to stay
Friend, we want you to stay
Want you to stay, want you to stay
The days they grew heavy with time on their back
Then I saw a man with a travelling pack
Out of the house I did go
I asked him the name of the town that he sought
And he said the next one and the ones after that
Slowly I went back inside
Friend, we want you to stay
Want you to stay, want you to stay
“Narrow Way” .: top
You watch the candle burning
You stand inside the flame
You thought you were a light bulb
You’ve never known your age
Or the number of the page
And though you’ve seldom travelled
You’ve rode upon the world
You’ve sat inside the saddle
You’ve watched the skies unfurl
You’ve rode upon the world
We’ve seen you raging naked
Across mountain and plain
You’ve played with painted ladies
You’ve trod the narrow way
Trod the narrow way
There’s nothing here to mention
As silently the rust
Digests the foundations
And gathers with the dust
And gathers with the dust
The times you think of speaking
There is nobody near
The times you think of listening
There is nothing to hear
There is nothing to hear
You watch the candle burning
You stand inside the flame
You thought you were a light bulb
You’ve never known your age
Or the number of the page
“We Have Laid Here” .: top
We have laid here
We have laid here
We have laid here before
We have laid here
We have laid here
We have laid here before
Whistle sinking, blow the bugles
Blues came back in night fight
Chickens laughing in black dustbins
Lilies bleeding in the street
We have laid here
We have laid here
We have laid here before
Captured armies, news impending
Wheels longing now to stop
We have laid here
We have laid here
We have laid here before
We have laid here
We have laid here
We have laid here before
“Sing Us One Of Your Songs, May” .: top
Sing us one of your songs, May
The ones you know so well
Sing us one of your songs, May
You know we love you well
Dry the tears from your eyes, May
What’s it gonna be?
For you know he’s gone to heaven, May
Though he was only 23
They say he was a brave one, May
And we all here agree
There never was a finer one, May
That died for his country
Sing us one of your songs, May
The ones you know so well
Sing us one of your songs, May
You know we love you well
Dry the tears from your eyes, May
What’s it gonna be?
For you know he’s gone to heaven, May
Though he was only 23
They say he was a brave one, May
And we all here agree
There never was a finer one, May
That died for his country
Sing us one of your songs, May
“Gentle Willie” .: top
Willie was a sailor
He sailed on the sea
And Willie said a sailor’s life
Is the life for me
But they sent him into battle
For to lay down his life
And Willie said a sailor’s life is not for me
So Willie joined the air force
He learnt how to fly
And Willie said how happy
He was flying in the sky
But they sent him into battle
For to lay down his life
And Willie said the air force is no life for me
Now Willie got to thinking
People were plotting for his life
So he bought himself a watchtower
And locked himself inside
But the tower looked o’er a battlefield
Where men laid down their lives
And Willie had to laugh but then he cried
“Methane River” .: top
Methane River will not let me pass
I cannot cross it, it blocks my path
I cannot make it
I cannot make it
I’ve swum rivers of flowing water
But this is methane, I know it’s poison
I cannot make it
I cannot make it
I cannot make it
A man he told me it’s not the methane
It’s your knowledge that blocks your way
You can make it
You can make it
You can make it
“The Room” .: top
A room and all you can see are the walls so white
Not the colour of the floor all around you
And so you’ve gone to Paris and there you teach your heiress
To walk upon the waters forever
A room and all you can see is the floor so black
Not the colour of the ceiling above you
And so you’ve gone to Tangiers and there you taste the needle
That keeps you in your prison forever
A room and all you can see is everything shining
And so in time it will be forever
Forever, forever
“Goodnight Stan” .: top
Goodnight Stan, mind how go, going home tonight
If you can take a watering can to protect yourself
Soon they say they are taking us away to another place
Up to the stars, was the name Mars? Or was it Jupiter?
Goodnight Stan, mind how you go, going home tonight
If you can take a watering can to protect yourself
Goodnight Stan, mind how you go, going home tonight
“Cannons Plain” .: top
Yonder is the way
Yonder the day
Clouds o’er Cannons Plain
Dawn rain
Are you going home?
You’ve set off down that road
Yonder is the way
And the day, and the day
Along where trees have fell
And no one is to tell
The legend of Cannons Plain
From whence ye came
Are you going home?
You’ve set off down that road
Yonder is the way
And the day, and the day
Are you going home?
You’ve set off down that road
Yonder is the way
Cannons Plain
“Be Not So Fearful” .: top
Be not so nervous, be not so frail
Someone watches you, you will not fail
Be not so nervous, be not so frail
Be not so nervous, be not so frail
Be not so sorry for what you’ve done
You must forget them now, it’s done
And when you wake up you will find you can run
Be not so sorry for what you’ve done
Be not so fearful, be not so pale
Someone watches you, you will not leave the rails
Be not so fearful, be not so pale
Be not so fearful, be not so pale
Be not so sorry for what you’ve done
You must forget them now, it’s done
And when you wake up you will find you can run
Be not so sorry for what you’ve done
“Down To The Bridge” .: top
Oh let us go finally
Oh let us go now
Down to the bridge
This evening
And there we’ll be quiet
And listen awhile
Ah down by the bridge
This evening
The river runs silently
The river runs deep
As does the time
Between us
[ All lyrics belong to Bill Fay. ]