i love leonard cohen

What’s in that box? What’s hiding in here?
Pictures from Bedford, taken half a blue moon ago.
My we were young then, all mix-tapes and alcopops,
Bum bags, shell suits and meatloaf cds.

Did I really dress like that and dance to that tune?
Then stumble home drunk by the light of the moon.
Guess times they change and the change times they guess,
And nonsense can still be a welcome relief.

My Weezer cd’s well they hardly get played,
My obsession with Ani Difranco has faded,
You might ask is anything sacred these days,
And I’d probably tell you that I love Leonard Cohen.

A snail carries with him some slime and a shell,
I have ten boxes plus cartons as well
As these books, bags and a case
My grandfather used in the war.

Did I really write those words
And did she write back?
Stray hands in Row G all through that James Bond film.
Nonsense it still has a welcoming ring,
And heroes they never don’t come easy.

Chorus

la gare d’austerlitz

my words fall flat and clumsy,
my pen scratches the page.

school-boy rhymes collide with stunted haikus,
scattered amongst extinct to-do lists,
and piled up under a burden of exile, expectation and exhaustion.

on four hours sleep, in le gare d’austerlitz,
i let down my guard and fall in love.

the lady with red trousers and a violin sits down next to me
unaware that we are married and expecting a son called claude.
we exchange smiles and i put hers in my pocket as she gets on the train.

at the toilet i urinate next to a boy with a machine gun.
somewhere between platforms 18 and 10, after passing
a hairy man scraping chewing gum from the concourse,
i fall in love with paris too for good measure and remember
that i need to buy some nail-clippers when i get to orleans.

’till dawn

picking my way
back through the rain
grey skies today
but its fine

here in my mind
play like a child
leaves underfoot
autumn could

turn out to be
musically mine
spring in my step
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

my road has been
better believe
better pretend
consigned to

some place before
memory me
wind in my hair
thoughts of your

smile in my dreams
patch up the past
love and cheap booze
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

dance in the street
break out the flag
singing aloud
foreign eye

textures and words
things that we heard
my pen it feels
momentum

sat on a train
palette of greens
strangers with shoes
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

and I sat there
watching her sleep
how do you dream?
when will you

wake? I must say
one of a kind
parallel lines
meet at the

vanishing point
not what I mean
I meant to say…
I stayed up

‘till dawn again
drinking with friends
moments you
feel so alive

thoughts about tomorrow

I woke this morning in stillness and in silence
To the sound of birds singing in the trees.
I lie in this bed, rest a tired and weary soul,
And a heart that is longing for some peace.

I call on my emotions to end this futile war,
Which has been raging in my mind for far too long.
So I’ll sit & write, I’ll sing & play, I’ll laugh and eat and drink,
And leave all thoughts about tomorrow until then.

I sit here naked as I play on my guitar
There is no one round for miles and miles to see.
Greet a horizon which is free from brick and mortar,
And I know this is a better place to be.

You tell me that you’ll write and I’m excited by the thought of
Receiving anything that you might send.
But I’m not penning you into the future quite just yet,
And I’ll leave thoughts about tomorrow until then

I have found catharsis in the eye of a storm
And I felt love although it may have been a dream.
I stumbled over more than a dozen wicked words
In an effort to find out what it means.

The wind is blowing symphonies to the drainpipes outside
They keep asking me “How, where, and when?”
I have just decided to play the counterfeit
And leave thoughts about tomorrow until then

The sun is riding high in a deep blue summer sky,
Watching me from high above the clouds.
I can hear him now, as he sings with me aloud,
I know this is not where our road ends.

Somewhere up north, maybe two hundred miles away,
You’re waking up next to another man.
There’s no second-guessing these matters of the heart,
So I’ll leave thoughts about tomorrow until then.

looking for distraction

Looking for distraction, close your eyes and count to three.
There’s a gun, a rope, & a candle stick, so please choose carefully.
I’ve got Dylan on my stereo, I’ve got women on my mind.
I’ve got a fire burning in my heart and a pulse racing fast behind.

It’s the break of dawn on Christmas morn
But the clock reads half past three,
But the clock broke down years before and spectates silently.
I’ve got lawyers trying to chase me
For some money they say I owe,
But I’m broke and sure I’m in the clear
So I’ll tell them where they should go…

I say hey there, you there, look there… how’s it going to be?
I’d love to know what’s on your mind,
Maybe one day we’ll find the time,
And then put the world to rights, oh how much fun it would be,

Looking for distraction, turn your head and smile at me.
I’m in danger of being happy now so please speak carefully.
I know now for the first time there’s no distance left to run –
Sit back, enjoy the ride, and I’m sure that the rest will just come.

I say hey there, you there, look there… how’s it going to be?
I’d love to know what’s on your mind,
Maybe one day we’ll find the time,
And then put the world to rights, oh how much fun it would be;
Running round late at night, naked in the candlelight

But that was just a daydream, you’re so stubbornly fully clothed,
And I change address every two months now
So perhaps it’s time to go
But I think that this year will be different, I can feel it in the air.

You know it’s a miracle that I made it here at all,
They placed bets I’d die young at school –
I guess I proved them wrong.
You might see me in the street one day, and never really know
But some things they are best left unsaid,
And melt with the winter snow.

paper army

They’re building a pyramid in London Bridge
With a hotel, offices, and residential quarters
I saw the plans the other day, as I was walking by.

I bought a sandwich in a box
from a posh shop somewhere near the station concourse
you wouldn’t get that in King’s Cross
It came with a plastic knife and fork wrapped in bags to keep them clean.
I mean how much packaging do you really need?

Then I stumble down the street fighting back the paper army
and I have no desire to buy a cheap flight, designer clothes, or a mobile phone

I don’t take the tube no more
I like to be able to see where I am going
I prefer to ride up to of the big red buses
and maybe catch a glimpse of the horizon from time to time

They’re building a pyramid in London Bridge
It should be visable from where I live in Dalston.
I saw the plans the other day, as I was walking by.