LEAVES & FEATHERS – LYRICS & CHORDS

A ONE WAY TICKET TO LOUISE

 

Intro:    D  /  Bm    D  /  Bm  /  D

 

Bm                       A                         G         D

Oh the shutter doors are closing down on Market Street

Bm                 A                         G        A

And there’s nothing in this town to keep me on my feet

D            G                         A                      Bm

There’s a night bus leaving from the corner house at ten

D                    G                A                      Bm

By morning I’ll be lying in my darling’s arms again

D                       A                       D               G

Can’t wait to hear the driver mumble ‘destination please?’

Bm         A           D

And say ‘a one way ticket to Louise’

 

There are women on the corner with their hair pulled tight

In white stiletto heels and legs for staying up all night

The boys lean on their pool cues and they wonder with their eyes

If they’re man enough to deal with what is stirring in those thighs

In the overheated bus I wrap my coat around my knees

On a one way ticket to Louise

 

A

Roll engines roll

D       G           D

Roar engines roar

A              Bm

Go safely go

D          G          A            Bm

To the girl that I’d stop travelling for

 

There are people going somewhere and there’s people coming back

Some stare at their reflection some just stare into the black

I watch the moon go racing through a field of winter stars

The red and white light ribbons of a carnival of cars

It’s a highway full of dreamers and I’m counting down the trees

On a one way ticket to Louise

 

 

 

I SAW A WOMAN LYING IN A FIELD

 

I saw a woman lying in a field

Moving in a most unusual way

I saw a woman lying in a field

She was dreaming – she was dreaming

 

She spread her arms and legs upon the grass

She closed her eyes and rolled her head around

She spread her arms and legs upon the grass

She was laughing – she was laughing

 

I watched her from a distance through the trees

Half concerned half wondering what she’d do

Just then I saw halfway from her to me

Another man was watching too

 

She curled up in a ball upon her side

Something in her stillness made me sad

I wanted to be sure she was alright

She was crying – she was crying

 

Everybody needs to be alone

Everybody needs to touch the ground

I looked to see the other man was gone

She walked away without a sound

 

I passed the man a little further on

He walked the backroads like a haunted soul

Dead leaves and feathers on his dirty coat

He was dreaming – he was dreaming

 

Later that day inside a bank in town

The woman fixed me with a vacant stare

I saw the dirt beneath her fingernails

Dead leaves and feathers in her hair

 

 

 

 

ALL I REALLY WANT

You are one of a kind

Kinder than the ones you love

You are always on my mind

More than any ones I love

You are home I am here

Miles too far away from you

Be my love be my dear

All I really want is you

 

A trick of love a trick of night

Suddenly beside of me

There you are bathed in light

Light only the blind can see

By the black of your hair

Like night-waves round your brown eyes where

I am drawn from the blue

All I really want is you

 

We are old we are young

Divided by the sun

By the sea by the blue

All I really want is you

 

Moving slow deep and still

Feel me on your fingertips

By your love by your will

By the words on your sweet lips

We are bound by the tide

From your far shore to hold me true

To your heart by your side

All I really want is you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MY JERUSALEM

 

Em                                         D     G

They come in coats of green and gold

D                                          C

Disguised as wise and holy men

Em                                         D   G

Through snowy storm and bitter cold

D                                     C

They drag their souls to Bethlehem

 

They bring their gifts of good intent

Dirty money in their hands

With broken promises they went

To the broken promised land

 

C                         Em         D            G

Here come the liars – go get your men

D           Em           D      C   D    Em

Go light the fires – Jerusalem

 

They come in pretty suits of blue

Their sweet smiles hide their poison tongues

They talk of dreams and pastures new

But power’s dark breath corrupts their lungs

 

They sold the farm to buy the land

They sold the land to buy the gun

From sea to sea with torch in hand

They stripped the fields of Albion

C

‘They took my living from me’

F

Cry the broken bells of Rhymney

G                               D

And cast poverty upon me ‘til I die

C

Though you all see the scandal

F

Will you take to court the vandal

Em                                       D               C G D Em

Or just cast your dying candle over my Jerusalem

 

No more the dark satanic mills

The devil now sleeps in your home

The web of her infection kills

And steals the flesh from off your bones

 

And still the hapless soldier’s sigh

The hopeless tears of widowed wives

While every politicians lie

Pours insult on their sacrifice

 

 

I AM THE HOUSE

 

I am the rattle of the glass the glimpse of travellers as they pass

When you are tired I am the last stop on the line

The ghost of other people’s lives a cold comfort to the wives

Who gaze out on incoming tides looking for a sign

 

I am the symbols on the door discarded clothes upon the floor

Children returning from the war inside themselves

The kind conspiracy of mirrors a safe harbour for your fears

I am the witness to the tears ou cried for yourself

 

Look the world right in the eye know the wicked from the wise

Let the wind blow north and south

Rest inside my open arms – I am the house

 

I am the pictures on the wall echo-voices in the hall

The place you took the solemn call you knew would come

I am the memory of friends folks you’ll never see again

I am the light that doesn’t end with the sun

 

I am the scent of milk and coal the world’s last station of the soul

A place to share a glass and bowl a place to sing

I am the dwelling of the poor with frail spirits ‘round the door

The place to start your journey or communion bring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I NEED YOU

 

I used to be someone to you

Someone you loved and looked up to

When you let go was me who pulled you through

You talked about your dreams with me

Your hopes and fears you let me see

Now I’d give anything to be with you

To hold you in my arms again

To be your lover not your friend

 

I need you

 

With one foot always off the ground

I knew I couldn’t tie you down

I didn’t want to do that anyway

And yet some force connected us

like tide or moon affected us

It pulled us close then pushed us both away

I always thought I’d see you again

But now your heart won’t let me in

 

I need you

 

Our love was never meant to last

We seized the time and used it fast

We came as close as anyone can be

Against the odds we took a chance

We moved together in the dance

I held you tight and you held on to me

And at the end I said I’d be strong

But now it seems that I was wrong

 

I need you

 

 

 

 

 

IF YOU WANNA BE MINE

If you wanna be mine

You’ve got to know how to hurt me

If you wanna be mine

Then be prepared to desert me

If you want to take my heart

You’ve got to take your time

You’ve got to break my heart

If you wanna be mine

 

If you wanna be mine

You’ll have to give yourself to me

Then change your mind

Say you’ve come to see through me

If you want the best of me

Make me stand in line

Then take the rest of me

If you wanna be mine

 

Promise me all your love

A little at a time

Save the best for last my love

Then leave it somewhere hard to find

 

If you wanna be mine

Tell me how much you love me

And when you see me shine

Take your special light off me

When you know I’d die for you

A heartbeat at a time

That’s when you make your move

If you wanna be mine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEARY JANE

 

Her hands are tired from holding

Her mind from understanding

Her arms are strong from working

Her shoulders bent from bearing

 

Her heart so close to breaking

Is healing now but aching

Her strong foundation’s shaken

Since her true love was taken

 

Jane Jane Jane Jane – Weary Jane

 

Her eyes as bright as morning

Undimmed from sleep and weeping

The sailors’ bell she’s ringing

Her lover’s voice is calling

 

If dreams come true

Jane will love you

When hearts were free

Sweet Jane loved me

 

The blossoms rise to meet her

The poet’s arches greet her

Upon the hill we’re walking

She holds me safe from falling

 

We met where roads divided

Our futures’ undecided

Our dreams stretched out before us

And miles of hope between us

 

 

 

 

 

 

MY NAME IS LONDON TOWN

 

I’ve been struck by the wind coming in from the east

That strips the grey river and stretches your skin

I’ve been choked by the engine and choked by the beast

Breathing fire and pollution and pleasure and sin

 

I’m the cry of the gulls from St Katherine’s Dock

I’m the cry of the Smithfield fishmonger at dawn

I’m the sharp suited broker who steals like a fox

To the stock exchange floor to sell coffee and corn

 

My name is London Town

I’m your vision going up I’m your nightmare coming down

I’m the Westminster fool I’m the Pentonville clown

My name is London Town

 

I’m the bundle of rags in the Oxford Street doorway

Matted and ratted and shivering with cold

I’m the homecoming sunset that lights up the westwa

I’m the Union flag I’m the red green and gold

 

I’m the dome of St Pauls I’m the Regents Park mosque

I’m the Temple the Arsenal and White Hart Lane

I’m the bomb in Victoria the fire at Kings Cross

I’m the nine o’clock dole queue and the ten o’clock train

 

I’m the immigrant town the city of night

Of carousel dreams of beauty and pain

My streets paved with gpld from the bold highway meters

Dick Whittington’s ghost in a no turning lane

 

My name is London Town

I’m your vision going up I’m your nightmare coming down

I’m the Whitechapel murderer making his rounds

My name is London Town

 

 

 

 

 

EMILY’S PAGES

Emily’s pages spread on a winter’s afternoon

Emily sewing sees her love going from her room

And through the glass his coat of black

She knows he’s never coming back

Afraid of the fire she hides her desire in poetry

Bound in white linen these are the words of Emily

 

Emily’s pages letters of longing none can see

But nobody’s asking Emily passing Calvary

And dressed in white behind the door

Where love nor Master come no more

Pressing her flowers filling the hours with poetry

Love unrequited these are the words of Emily

 

Emily’s pages lines on the dying lines on grief

Wings in the weather hope is the feather on the leaf

And stitch and sew and stitch and sew

On cloths of night her bright dreams go

To meet with her lovers under the covers oversea

In her slow Eden these are the words of Emily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ONE COLD APRIL MORNING

 

One cold april morning she watches him leaving

She waves at the window then walks to the kitchen

She makes herself coffee the tv man’s talking

His face is the same but his words have no meaning today

 

Where are the children who filled up her morning

Who set the house ringing with laughter and singing

And where are the faces she wiped with the flannel

She misses their twinkling their rosy cheeks shining today

 

Monday she dressed them in shirts she had pressed

Then she fed them and brushed them

And drove them to school

She dried up their tears as she stifled her own

And she told them to hurry and smoothed all their worries away

 

Tuesday’s a slow day it rains in the morning

She watches some tv has lunch with her mother

They talk about times before death and divorces

Divided the family and took all her loved ones away

Wednesday’s a slow day and Thursday’s no better

On Friday her lover returns for the weekend

Avoiding the issues of plans and commitment

A part of her hates him a part of her wants him to stay

 

Sunday they go for a drive in the country

They stop by a church and she silently prays

For someone to want her for someone to need her

Someone to love her and take all this longing away

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COME BACK TO ME AND LET ME LOVE YOU

One set of keys are missing from behind the door

Your coat and shoes I never missed so much before

Traces of mud upon the rug where you walked in

My body aches for you to come this way again

 

The change you emptied from your pocket by the bed

I find myself counting and recall the words you said

“I won’t be needing this when all I need is you”

The coins are cold now and I wish it wasn’t true

 

One cup of tea one breakfast bowl the day is still the day is cold

There is your watch there is your comb there is your pencil by the phone

There is the scent upon your scarf there is the echo of your laugh

There is the paper that you bought but never read there’s the report

On the tv…….’Motorway closed’

 

Come back to me and let me love you

Come back to me and let me love you

 

And on the first night that you never came back home

I stand by the window and I watch the cars alone

And think back to when you’d hold me close and watch them too

And whisper “ I love cars but not when they take me away from you”

Reg Meuross Singer Songwriter Storyteller