Emma-Lee Moss

Absentee

One goodbye by for everyone

Old pair of shoes the last place they were left

Out by the door where they always were kept

Brown laces

We stand in line to hear the news

We’ve not been together since Christmas last year

Room full of children all sad in the ear

Small faces

Church music playing, playing

Our parents sleep and sleep

They don’t remember the ones they have left

We find the magazines under your bed

Strange pictures

I play out in the street

And trip on the sidewalk all covered in blood

Tears not allowed, I pick myself up

No stitches

Absentee Kyrie Eleison

Your memory like disease holds on

The fellow has grown out again

And all, all the fields are yellow

But your CD’s, car keys, diaries

My family kept these secretly

Your memory like disease holds on

Absentee

Kyrie Eleison Eleison

Kyrie Eleison

_

24

You are watching a programme for exactly an hour

All of these hours they will add up to a day

And you will sit there til they’re done, now there are 24 to play

And there are rims around your eyeballs by the seventh or the eighth,

But if you go to sleep tonight you will be older when you wake,

And you say one man is a parachute and another is the knife cuts the brakes

First we were born then we ran slowly out of luck

And you are still not Charles Bukowski and I am not Diane Cluck

And I would suck the life from you if there was any left to suck

And I would love you if you told me there was something there to love

And I’d marry you for money I would marry you for money

I would marry you for money if it stuck

I would marry you for money but I don’t suppose you’ll ever have enough

The man on the screen he has done more in a minute

Than you have achieved in your whole entire life

And when you realize I am the best thing you have in it

We’ll be closing up your eyelids on the bed on which you die

And I’ll be sorry if it happens to you, sorry happens to you

Sorry if it happens to you but

I guess if one man is the cancer than another is the blade that makes the cut

24 for every year that I have slipped

Day by day into the neck of the abyss

I am 24 today I don’t believe I’ll sit

Through another year of this you are just sewing up my lips

And I am sorry that you happened to me, sorry that you happened to me

Sorry that you happened to me but

They say one man is the accident, another is the hand that stops the blood

I am looking for the other one, I’m looking for a hand to stop the blood

_

We Almost Had a Baby

You didn’t stop, when I told you to stop

And there was a month when I wasn’t sure

If the next time I called you out on the road

I’d have something to say other hey pay me the money that you owe

And I would have liked it

To have something above you

To have something to own, and know I could choose to let it grow

And I would have called you, and I've had said, 

"Hey, you know I’m in control, and I’ll let you know if you have to come and pick a name."

Oh I am a woman, well you know I’m a woman

But before I met you, I was only a kid

You said there were moments, you were frightened to break me,

But you wanted to take me, and so you did

And I will think of you now that we are apart

I hold my hand across my gut and plan to feed it with a heart

I’m not the girl who you remember from the start

I was only a baby, now I am what you made me

And once you left me in the spring and twice you left in fall

And once I tried to make a life to keep myself in yours

Do you think of me when you are playing the one and three in four?

Is country music, what your life is for?

We almost had a baby

_

Easter Parade

Is all that we’ve become just nothing but hats and bags?

We’re waiting for taxi cabs, so you light cigarettes and I’m taking drags

In the air a sea of words that didn’t come soon enough

In my mind a railway station and a ticket stub

And it is Easter in the town I can hear as they strike up the band,

Listening to some old man say 'He came back to life with a hole in his hand'

And now the Sunday School is gathered in dresses all pink and in blue

They’re heralding angels for you

But not for me

They’re singing

Gloria in excelsis Deo, Deo

Gloria in excelsis, but there’s no, there’s no hope

And I am grateful for the things that you’ve tried to show to me dear

But there’s no Arcadia, no Albion, there’s no Jerusalem here

And underneath your pastures green there’s earth and there’s ash and there’s bone

And there are things that disappear into it and then they are gone

And there are lights that hit the sky and then it is midnight again

And there is my mother my father and you and we are all impermanent

And on the green they tell their tales of how even the dead can come back,

But I don’t believe in that

So you can keep on singing

Gloria in excelsis Deo, Deo

Gloria in excelsis, but there’s no, there’s no hope

There’s no such thing, there’s no such thing,

There’s no such thing, there’s no such thing

There’s no such thing, there’s no such thing,

There’s no such thing, there’s no such thing as ghosts.

_

Dylan

I pray for rain because i'm trying

To find god and make him cry because

I'm dying in a fire beneath my covers

And somewhere out across the way

You ask for salt across a plate

And you can't find a word to say to your own brother

And you could call me over now

And we could fix this with our mouths

But you don't buy the farm if you can't afford the cow

And you said Dylan is a sentiment that you don't want to share

And you said you looked back in anger and it rose to meet your stare

And you say I am not the one who puts the bullet to your gun and makes it flare

And you say Dylan is a sentiment, and you don’t want to share

You say you’re looking for the truth

Like you got rifles in your books

But above your parents' roof, I saw no star tonight

Only the black from whence you came, and where they’ll send you back again

And no blue plaque could keep your name from falling out of sight.

And you can wage this war of one, But I am still the only one

Who will remember you, when you are gone

And you said Dylan is a sentiment that you don't want to share

And you said you looked back in anger and it rose to meet your stare

And you say I am not the one who puts the bullet to your gun and makes it flare

And you say Dylan’s is a sentiment to you, and you don’t want to share

All the things you talk but never say to me

And all the things you talk about well I could say to you

And carrying round Italian books from the 13th century

Is not that hard to do

And you say Dylan is a sentiment that no one else will ever understand

And I say Dylan is a sentiment to you, but you are only just a man

_

First Love

I remember how we met

But your name I forget

Like the door that I have kept

Unopened

I remember it was wet

And the swelter and the sweat

And the shelter of the bed

We were cloaked in

You were stroking me like a pet

But you didn’t own me yet

And the tape in the cassette dec

Was choking

Spat out, a single Hallelujah

But I’ve seen the way the earth

Throws its aces with a curve

You were waiting for the words to come to ya

To say that you prefer

To be lonely, to be cursed,

And to do the very worst you can do, yeah

I remember you like a verse

That I didn’t want to learn

I just looked into your eyes

And I knew ya

Now the thought of you is burned

On my body from the first

Time you did rewind that line from Hallelujah

The original Leonard cohen version

I wish that I’d never met you the day

You said I have a room I have music to play

I have a room let me show you the way

I wish that I’d never come

But now that I have I would do it again

And I would forget like I’d piss on a grave

Oh I would forget like I’d piss on the grave

How the word on the tip of my tongue was

Hallelujah, hallelujah

And the sky was so much bluer!

Hallelujah, hallelujah

And the world was so much newer!

You said, “I have a room, top of the stairs,

I have a room with a view.

I know we all have a cross that we bear,

I’d like to show it to you.”

And I met you in the light

And you left me in the light

And we only had a night between the two

You were waiting for the worst

You were waiting on a curse

But the only thing I heard was Hallelu-

Hallelujah, hallelujah

And the sky was so much bluer!

Hallelujah, hallelujah

And the world was so much newer!

You said, “I have a room, top of the stairs, 

I have a room with a view.

I know we all that we have a cross that we bear,

And I’d like to give it to you.”

And I won’t forget how the sky was set

You said, "I have a place to go back to.

Lalala I will have you yet I will carry you there if I have to."

And I won’t forget 

No I won’t , no I

Won’t forget 

No I won’t

No I won’t forget

No I won’t no I

Won’t forget no

Whoa

First Love

_

War

The dream that I have is always the same

A foot falls like an echo

Of a step I didn’t take

And I see you coming like you were never gone, tell me why did I wake

Here in the world I was hiding from they are expecting it to rain

They say the winter clears the drains, 

That Time Heals All Things

They said that the thought of you would fade

But I feel nothing change

And the dream that I have breaks just like the day

We walk along the shore we take a picture of the waves

And then I throw it to the floor I say why did I wake?

Out in the world there is nothing more than your absence

Now the sky is turning grey

Now the birds have left the bay

Now time is shrinking

And they said that the thought of you would fade

But I feel nothing change,

Hey do you remember me the way

That I remember you?

In all the movement of the waves

They replaced the train

And all the people went away

I feel nothing

They say the winter clears the drains

Well I dream nightly of sunshine

_

On the Museum Island

At the museum island

At the end of the day

We had traveled for miles

We had come to escape

All the space on the page 

That the newspapers gave

Up to pictures and pictures of us 

As we followed the coffin

Of your famous father

Adjusting our skirts

As we turned at the altar

And within every word

That they’d written was spelt out – 

You’d taken your last ever bus

So skimming the surface

Of all your new money

We skimmed the surface

Of the air as we flew

We were out of the rain, 

We were thinking that maybe

Berlin was the place to renew

You know what they say about terrible hate,

It will breed something good when it’s through,

At the end of the day, by the Potsdamer Place,

And the Brandenburg Gate, it was you.

You have hardened completely

At the end of this story

You have learned to look clear

Through the flash of a bulb

When you hear your own name

From the back of a crowd

You will straighten your gaze 

And you won’t turn around

But there was a time

At the end of the day,

We were both stood in line

At the museum display,

And you outshone the light

Under which we were 

You could outshine the sky

With the look that you gave

So don’t be afraid

To look back and wave

Now that waving is all that you do,

At the end of the day

By the potsdamer place

I am waving back at you.

So don’t be afraid

To look back and wave,

Now that waving is all that you do

At the end of the day

By the Potsdamer Place,

I am waving back at you.

_

MIA

The day that we took out a car in the rain

Is the day you forgot how to brake and see

How quickly the picture will change

Filled with fingers and voices and teeth

I still remember holding my hand against your face just before it was sprayed 

Across the radio as it played

And you and me

Are still but the scenery moves

Well why would it stop just cause suddenly

There’s one where there used to be two

Now everything’s quiet but yo

Looks like the speaker lived through the blow 

Still playing some compilation you made

Feels like a lifetime sitting alone 

So I start humming along to the tape

I always liked this singer I remember

How you were the one who told me that her name

Was either Mia, or M.I.A.

And I am thinking how many hours till I’m home

How long do I stay in this place? Who’s going to wash all the blood from my clothes?

Who’s going to cancel my date? Who’s gonna cancel my date?

I always liked this singer I remember

How you were the one who told me that her name

Was either Mia, or M.I.A.

And the day that we took out a car in the wet

I thought to myself that the sky was blue as I’d ever seen it but yet

Still tinted with red

_

Easter Parade pt. 2

It's harder for me now to say what you want to hear

Until I just have an hour to kill

When the night disappears and the sky is filled

It's almost May, the seasons change

I've heard on the shipping news

There has been a hurricane

Somewhere too far away to be worrying you

It will be Easter when you wake

I will wait for the sound of the strike

Well I wouldn't leave, would I,

'Til I saw you again in the light?

And if the winds have turned today

It's because it's inevitable

Everyone knows the wind has to blow

_

Bad Things Coming, We are Safe

Edward come and sit with me

I fell asleep and now I am afraid

The sun came up so quick and I

Have always been suspicious of the day

The dream I had that you were in 

Turned bad and then it finished

And I am glad to be awake

And glad

To be with you

Cause I feel safe when we’re together

Read to me again

About the King who took

his daughter to the feast

Tell me how she lifted up her veils

And she laid them at his feet

Execution in her eyes

She pointed to her prize, and said,

“I want him to be mine.”

And everyone,

Knew the man was going to lose

his head tonight.

I heard a sound,

Across the lawns,

Was like a hoof being taken from a horse

I understand

What you describe

That there are things we don’t decide –

They are decided for us.

Still I would trust

That we are safe when we’re together

Edward, come and tell me,

Are there restaurants on Jericho today?

Look out of the window on St Giles –

Do the palaces remain?

I have woken from a sleep

I am sure the world is different

That it’s changed

Edward come and tell me

Are there restaurants on Jericho today?

I heard a sound

Across the lawns

Was like a wave sweeping houses

from the shore

I understand

what you explain

That there are things that you believe

And you think you will see me again

Still it remains

That if I could

I’d string a cord

Right from my stomach

Into yours

I’d stand beside you

The day you face the tide

I think I could make it turn around

Know I could make it go dry

Cause you and I –

We are safe when we’re together

We are safe when we’re together

We are safe when we’re together

We are safe when we’re together

We are

_

Everything Reminds Me of You

Everything reminds me of you

Somewhere out roaming tonight

You fought the bottle and I came out behind

Now everything reminds me of you tonight

Oh but the fire will carry less higher in time

And the drinks have been drunk

And the ships have been sunk

And the barmaids are going to bed

But my memories

Are alive as the sea

Coming over the shoreline like a breath

Everything reminds me of you

Somewhere out roaming tonight

You fought the bottle and I came out behind

You were gone with the breeze 

Like the heart that was squeezing too tight

Oh but the fire will carry less higher in time

And the ships have been sunk

And the drinks have been drunk

And the barmaids are going to bed

But my memories

Are alive as the sea

Coming over the shoreline like a breath

_

City Song

The city called me and so I came

It isn’t mine to question what it said

I sleep until the point when I’m awake

I walk until there’s nothing left to tread

And everyone is looking for an answer

And everyone is waiting for a break

I came and I was bored of it soon after

But I had

Nowhere to go and so I stayed

I dreamed a lifetime of this place 

It seemed an awful thing to waste

The morning fills my mouth up with decay

I like it, it reminds me how you taste

Sometimes I feel you rise behind me like the wind

But I try to look away

And what will you look like when you’re old

What will I do if I don’t know you

I guess that I decided not to ask the day I took the road

Down to the city as it called 

Sun making silhouettes of whores

I don’t remember you all

The city called me and I came

It isn’t mine to question why

Sometimes the clouds will rise ahead I hear your name

It’s like a choir in the sky

And what will you look like when you’re old

What will I do if I don’t know you

I guess that I decided not to know the day I took the road

Down to the city as it called 

Sun making silhouettes of whores

I don’t remember you at all

They pulled a human from my waist

It had your mouth it had your face

I would have kept it if I’d stayed