Holding court on a black box stage, dangling from the strings
I twirl and face the music and the prompter in the wings
I am both willing puppet, puppet master also
With lofty expectations set to pull me to and fro

I live only to serve, bring smiles to friendly faces
Dancing on a sixpence, singing from a tree
With birds of a feather chirping high and low together
Make everybody happy, starting with me

Please feel no sorrow or remorse, I dance willing only to
A tune crafted by me, both captain and crew
In a black box cage, rattling at soft bars
Bendy steel to part, I slip through to the stars

Through the duskfall peeping, me, unlikely lad
To paint a smile behind the mask, the pay is not too bad

I, the willing puppet, puppet master also
Lofty expectations set to pull me to and fro
To and fro, fro and two, to and fro

I count my life in seconds passed
In meeting minutes, hours surpass( )
Days of quiet watching felt upper class
Flow through the years, wondering aloud

Needle matches spark my fires
Dissenting voices from steeple spires
Ring out across the woody hills
As brief as mad March daffodils

Asking "Why am I here "
Answering "Why am I anywhere "
Orbiting construct of Jung and Freud
Psycho dreaming asteroid

Faced with big questions, toss and turn
Unfit to frolic, unconcerned

Asking "Why am I here "
Answering "Why am I anywhere "
Orbiting construct of Jung and Freud
Psycho dreaming asteroid

Ruminant pleasures, write them down
Harsh adjective, improper noun
We consider each every day
I'll change my viewpoint, shift and sway

No pedant pickle, soup, or stew
Sit on the fence, enjoy the view

Needle matches spark my fires
Dissenting voices from steeple spires
Ring out across the woody hills
As brief as mad March daffodils

Dead gone, detached from your reality
Pray, thinker, be kindly anyway
In wee hours you peer midst the gathering gloom
My ghostly whisper, "Cogito, ergo sum"

We two hard men of arms as brothers roam the Commons
Encounter pushy spin doctors, one, two, and three
Whispering dark prophesies, with their cackling and their moaning
I am seduced by wicked promises of the Walpole house to me

Here rule I from high on Dunsinane Hill
But first, I have to banish, blame the deed on servile others
They must be cast out into exile and gone without delay
God save me, king of cabinet, now I look over my shoulder
To see my brother warrior, damned spot to wash away
Such treachery unbecoming tears my heart strings still strumming
But my options grow diminished, no choice but to betray

See the wooded lower chamber, a cloak of green disguise
I nurse bleak imaginings amidst that Quercus wall
Mere matter of delusion, no Speaker's firm intrusion
Let guilty solace soon surpass the tears that fall

I shall reign resolved, proud, never vanquished until
Great Birnam Wood comes to high Dunsinane Hill
To high Dunsinane Hill

[Verse 1]
In the Tipu house live all kinds of people
Old ladies up the back stairs
Young wives drained away the useless husband's drink
Through the long, cold evening
Maybe I could be one with some practice and a prayer

[Chorus]
Oh, God's children play in the toxic city garden
Stealing from their brethren a saucy view of war
Of domestic incidents, a guilty copulation
The day of books and roses shown firmly to the door

[Verse 2]
In the Tipu house, you feel for your neighbor
Trade rice and greasy vegetables
Shoulders on which to cry
You don't feel so good about them
Quite all of the time
And someone has to fix the plumbing
Or at least give it a try

[Chorus]
Oh, God's children play in the toxic city garden
Stealing from their brethren a saucy view of war
Of domestic incidents, a guilty copulation
The day of books and roses shown firmly to the door

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
In the Tipu house, there's a quiet and distant babble
Marital possibilities for all a kind in the air
Secrets for better dowries, for joining better families
Whispered promises in the hubbub of the market square

[Chorus]
Oh, God's children play in the toxic city garden
Stealing from their brethren a saucy view of war
Of domestic incidents, a guilty copulation
The day of books and roses shown firmly to the door

[Outro]
In the Tipu house, there are forever changes
Young gladiators nourished by the football terrace beat
Aspired to fly in the moneylenders' temples of Madrid
Dream hungry dreams in smooth Brioni, turning up the heat

Glimpse me, squeeze me, see if I'm real
Tangible fauna, slippery eel
Chart me and dart me, faint dot on the screen
On the urban savannah of Paddington Green

I am the wild beast, tiny part of the herd
Flock, shoal and theatre of the absurd
Compare us to lemmings, death wish contemplation
Or in mindlessly happy sweet murmuration

Wheeling and whirling, in social display
Free flight celebration of synchronous play
Irresponsible echoes best heard and not seen
Over urban savannah of Paddington Green

I have a faint folk memory of trees, lush meadows
Right here on this spot where dust gathers and blows
Threatening species, we turned in on ourselves
Like others before us, now left on the shelves

Wheeling and whirling, in social display
Free flight celebration of synchronous play
Irresponsible echoes best heard and not seen
Over urban savannah of Paddington Green

But hey, we had glorious times of sweet ignorance
Reveling in shady, shared points of indifference
Adjacent cracked flyover, silent, serene
By the urban savannah of Paddington Green

By the urban savannah of Paddington Green
Of Paddington Green, of Paddington Green
Of Paddington Green

Cobbled road, cobbled way, dark as pitch, grey mist swirling
Something lightly treading, this way comes
Could be the bobby on his beat, torch probe a-curling
Along the dead-end alley between the slums

Crash! The Stygian hand, against my brow
Unholy tempter, with confrontation face
I proffer cross of comfort, defiant exorcism
No starting gun to join this hoary devil's race

Symbol of faith, symbol of sacrifice
Icon of glory, graven in gold
Alpha, Omega, and all things between
Strength to the bearer, good grace to behold

Glimpse of peace and grasp of last hope divine
In the gathering dusk, when nightlights dim
Give firm resolve in times of desperation
As spectral visitants in life's dark corridor swim

Symbol of faith, symbol of sacrifice
Icon of glory, graven in gold
Alpha, Omega, and all things between
Strength to the bearer, good grace to behold

Cobbled roadway, dark as pitch, grey mist swirling
Something lightly treading, this way comes
Could be the bobby on his beat, torch probe a-curling
Along the dead-end alley between the slums

Crash! The Stygian hand, against my brow
Unholy tempter, with confrontation face
I proffer cross of comfort, defiant exorcism
No starting gun to join this hoary devil's race

Am I the hawk? Am I the dove
The vulture swooping down from above
Am I the drone, circling high
Whirring tuneless, pie-eyed in the sky

Angry gods of retribution
Driving hate without solution
City, home to all who came and ever will

Long lost tribes, invaders of old
Staking their claim to spiritual gold
Layers of antiquity buried below
Each with a sad tale to better not know

There is no time for meditation
Pause for thought or hesitation
Set in stone, firm pledges to fulfil
Angry gods of retribution
Driving hate without solution
City, home to all who came and ever will

Rocks upon rocks
Ashes on ashes
Bagels and lox
Warak dawali
Divisible loaves
Two fish from the Galilee
As friends sit and dine
Take water and wine

I walk the cobbled alleys nervously
Soldier girls, soldier boys stare at me
Down the line, out of time, switch alliance in my mind

I walk the cobbled alleys nervously
Soldier girls and soldier boys stare at me
Down the line, out of time, switch alliance in my mind

Am I the hawk? Am I the dove
The vulture swooping down from above
Am I the drone, circling high
Whirring tuneless, pie-eyed in the sky

There is no time for meditation
Pause for thought or hesitation
Set in stone, firm pledges to fulfil
Angry gods of retribution
Driving hate without solution
City, home to all who came and ever will
But I never will

I'm not over Jerusalem
Jerusalem

I drink from the same well as you
I drink from the same well as you

Throng of disparate priestly spirits
Wind-blown, drift on the blood-red sands
They cast a spell of early warning
No welcome shake of their blood-red hands

They drink from the same well as you
They drink from the same well as you

A nod, a wink from the neon bar
In a sad backstreet of sweet ladyboys
Defy the leer of phobic drunken
Macho men chanting football noise

They drink from the same well as you
Yes, and they drink from the same well as you

Draw the bucket, roll the dice
Call the coin, call it twice
Tell me which way you choose
Do I care? Yours to lose

I drink from the same well as you
Yes, and I drink from the same well as you

Culture bending, message sending
Shouts of river to the sea
Displaying wilful ignorance
As to shifting tides of history

They drink from the same well as you
Yes, and they drink from the same well as you

We lovers lost in doomed matrimony
Cast adrift on an angry sea
Of angry words, vicious, vindictive
Low-hanging fruit on Eve's poisoned tree

I drink from the same well as you
You drink from the same well as me
Yes, I drink from the same well as you
Yes, and you drink from the same well as me

Chew it over, chew the cud
Join hand in hand before the flood
Tell me which way you choose
Do I care? Yours to lose

When interim sleep takes me
I want you close beside
No tears, no sad goodbye
I am calm and still as a fallen autumn leaf

When that interim sleep takes me
I will pass first into a room next door
Not far away, nor lost to finer senses
Not gone forever, nor to be forgotten

And when your turn comes at last
To close those waking eyes
Pass willing to the room next door
Seeking no blameless redemption
Walk to that open window, open to the stars

Look out down the winding river valley
Where lights sparkle, marking stations
Stations where trains start and stop
On the separate journeys of our many lives

High above the nearest empty station
Flies a solitary bird, faint in the higher distance
Circling, soaring in the infinite blue
Reach up to that bird to find me waiting
On firm, welcoming, feathered wings

Together we will circle in that infinite blue
Glide down past stately barges to the next twinkling station
Buy tickets, stow useless excess baggage
To board the onward train, another journey