shaun belcher songwriting

complete lyrics 1996-2002

 

SONGS 2002

 

 

BLOODSTREAMS

1. A SCARECROW'S GRAVE
2. SALT LICK
3. YELLOW CLOUDS
4. GHOST OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
5. SO EASY TO BE FREE (BLOODSTREAMS)
6. BLACK PINES
7. NAPLES AQUARIUM
8. CLOWN'S CAR
9. CALVALCADE CAFÉ
10. BARCELONA SUN
11. WHITE CAR, PITCH BLACK TYRES
12. AIR GROWS THIN

 

 

A SCARECROW'S GRAVE

Lay me down in a scarecrow's grave
Dig out a cross in a shallow way
In the middle of a barren field
On the brow of a hill where plovers wheel

Lay me down in a scarecrow's grave
With a pair of boots made out of crates
Push me down with the sticks and stones
And nail me down through my broken bones

'Cos if I ever rise from that scarecrow's grave
With a heart of straw that's burning away
I'll never cease to roam these dark hills
Looking for a girl with golden shoes

Yes bury me down in a scarecrow's grave
Hold me down so I never rise again
See that there are no crosses on that hill
So all those good folk can fear no ill

Just bury me down in a scarecrow's grave
With my heart of straw and my pauper's name
And I will never trouble you again my dear
I'll be the green corn again in another year.

 

SALT LICK

Pour salt on my open wounds
Pour it down in sacks from the sky
Build up a mountain beneath the clouds
And I will drift away from here
And I will drift away from here

salt lick salt lick

Read me a story where clowns die
Tell me you'll walk me home tonight
Watch the corn swaying in the storm
The purple storm raging in my head
Drift away with me salt lick
Drift away with me salt lick

I could be a star in your blood red sky
I could be an angel by a barn on fire
I could watch the clocks melt like chocolate
Oh I could be anything when the time flies

Drift away with me salt lick
Drift away with me salt lick

Now the cows are coming home and fading away
And the straw in my hands is blowing away
The whole story ended before it ever begun
You and I love burning in the setting sun

We could have been anything salt lick

 

YELLOW CLOUDS

I'm all stripped down like a greasy engine
Parts lying all over the floor
There's my heart, broke open and leaking
Since you walked right out of this door

Now you know who your real friends are
Yellow clouds over the city's heart

I never knew life could be so hard
Never knew love could tear you apart
Now I'm staring our the window at the pouring rain
Wondering what tragedy's playing on the city stage

And the yellow clouds are falling like curtains
Down upon this city's broken heart
Now you know who your real friends are
Yellow clouds over the city's heart

Breathe in, breathe out, count the seconds, count the hours
Watch the night walk in through the empty towers
If I never love another I'll love you tonight
Hold me tight against this night

And the yellow clouds falling like curtains
Down upon this city's broken heart
Now you know who your real friends are
Yellow clouds over the city's heart

 

 

GHOST OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Like waking from a bad dream
I'm carrying with me the ghost of what might have been

She carries a sack full of money
In hands wrapped in beautiful silk gloves
She whispers in my ear, time to leave
And I wake up in another city

Waking up from a bad dream
Waking up with the ghost of what might have been

She knows my heart is shot full of holes
Because she was the one that pulled the trigger
She calls me over and points out to sea
Says there it goes your ship of hopes sank so easily

Talking to myself on the midnight streets
Being followed by the ghost of what might have been
When's she ever going to leave
The ghost of what might have been

The city is beautiful this red night
The whole world spinning toward the sun
I believe I'll wake up on the other side
Of these restless streets when she's done

Ghost of what might have been

 

 

SO EASY TO BE FREE (BLOODSTREAMS)

A storm lying on the hills like a shroud
And you and I are hitting a wall
Somewhere out where the fences petered out
I realised that things were falling apart

Yeah everything's too easy darling
Yeah everything's too easy darling
Too easy to be free - bloodstreams

A house is just a set of walls
Blow then down and your heart grows cold
Something out here makes me start to cry
Maybe it is the silence, the distant cars
That are just shining in the storm
That are shining as they pass these walls

Yeah everything's too easy darling
Too easy to be free - bloodstreams

Will we ever learn, each so set in stone
We preach and we stumble but we never understand
That those silver planes ain't coming back
That there's so much barbed wire wrapped around out hearts

But it's so easy to be free
Bloodstreams

 

 

 

BLACK PINES

Black pines on the skyline
A tragedy on a hilltop in May
A car on fire on a distant hill
A body on a stretcher being carried away

See how they shiver in the wind
Black Pines, Black Pines

She was just a girl from Cardiff
Running away from an abusive father
Had spent her whole life on the run from men
Ended up dying on a back seat in setting sun

Black pines. black pines
See how they shiver in the wind

They bagged her and tagged her
Couldn't trace her straight away
But a year later by the Cardiff Docks
The father felt his blood grow cold and drip away

As they showed him a photo
Of some trees shivering in the wind

Black pines.

 

 

NAPLES AQUARIUM

Pretty blue fish in a sea of green
Starfish and seaweed, an octopus or three
And the floor was damp
As the children laughed and sang

We stared at our reflections
And we disappeared into the sand
Our hearts were spinning around
just like pretty fish and were never gonna stop

In the Naples Aquarium we were in love
I loved you and you loved me in the Naples Aquarium

Now if the world really was that simple
Dictators never were evil
And Vesuvius was always gonna be silent
And the dead of Pompeii threw off their ash
Then what a wonderful world it would be
We'd still be spinning around in that dream
Just like pretty fish in a sea of green

In the Naples Aquarium we were in love
Our hearts sparkling like pretty fish
In the Naples Aquarium
In the Naples Aquarium
I left my heart in the sand

At the Naples Aquarium
Maybe you'll see it there
Shining like a star
That I'll never forget
Because we were in love once upon a time.

 

CLOWN'S CAR

Driving through the night
Rain on the windscreen
Black clouds hanging over the city
Ships in the harbour tugging at their chains

There's a forest out in California
I saw it on the news
They were still damping down the flames
When I crashed into you

And everything fell apart
Just like a clown's car
And we sat there hand in hand
Looking up at the stars
From our Clown's Car

No more engine, no more wheels
Hey hey into the world we tumble
No more falling apart
In our Clown's Car

When you're alone at night
And the full moon starts to shine
Look out across these hills
See the stars raining down on the fields
As your world and mine collide
In a thousand sparks tonight

Well I may be far away
But my heart still starts to race
Don't fall apart any more
Come for a ride
In my Clown's Car

CAVALCADE CAFÉ

Strip lights flickering, formica walls
She lit another cigarette, stared out the door
He was late arriving, didn't walk that fast anymore
Since they'd both hit that kerb a month before

Now the rain was lashing down
All across town today
Down at Cavalcade Café

Her arms were scabbed and bleeding and sore
From that crash and all these gravel scars
He as still in plaster, winced as he sat
In the plastic seat beside her and started to chat

Now the rain was lashing down
All across town
No way to get away from
Cavalcade Café

The radio was on talking about some president being shot
She was hardly listening and really didn't care a lot
He said she ought to as he pretended he knew
More about everything than she knew he knew

 

BARCELONA SUN

Hot as hell fountains dry and dusty too
Feeling the sun burning through my shoes
Gonna catch a fire if I don't get a drink
It's middle of the day and even mad-dogs sleep

You led this Englishman into the sun
Span around three times and were gone
In the Barcelona Sun
In the Barcelona Sun

Hanging by a thread a thousand feet high
The wind from the sea stinging our eyes
I didn't know then we were about to fall
Would have to jump ship and head for the shore

Now the leaves are falling
The clouds are coming in
England's getting darker
The days are closing in
I hardly ever think of you
Except on days like this
When the sun is shining
And the wind starts to lift
I feel a shiver on my skin
And sand between my teeth

And I see you spin
In the Barcelona Sun
In the Barcelona Sun

 

WHITE CAR PITCH BLACK TYRES

Hoping to God I'm on the right road
Been twenty miles since I've seen a light
There's forty reasons for heading back home
But in this morning light who knows what's right

Drivin' a white car with pitch black tyres

Passing fields and lakes, snow covered barns
The chrome on the bonnet flashing in the dawn
If there's a guiding star then God show me one now
Before this car slides off this mountain road

Drivin' a white car with pitch black tyres

Been down this dirty highway a hundred times before
Always got halfway before staggering to a crawl
Now I can see the sea a shining a hundred miles away
Shining like a headlight through the mist and rain

Come on baby and follow me
In my white car with pitch black tyres

 

AIR GROWS THIN

Well the days grow dark,the leaves fall
The mist from the river covers the walls
The ivy is dying on the fence
Seems like every thing has gone to sleep
Seems like every thing has gone to sleep

And the air grows thin

You said you'd come back some day
But you never did that was just your way
Now your voice has grown dim, your face fades
Don't know what it was we had anyway

And the air, the air grows thin
The higher you aim
The air grows thin

Well I tried to hold on to a comet's tail
Burnt my fingers and stumbled back to earth
Just like those firework rockets that burnt and fell
Their cardboard shells unravelling in the rain

The air grows thin
The higher you go, the higher you fall
The air grows thin

© SHAUN BELCHER 2002