Like an Angel

Face like an angel
with tears in her eyes
the memory of someone she knew

crept up behind her
caught her by surprise
so I just said the one thing I knew:

Still waters run deep
and deeper still
the thing called loneliness
a broken heart

can never be healed
nor even killed
The first is madness
and the second part

makes you cry like an angel
an angel who is lost to God
When you cry like an angel
nothing changes
nothing changes

There’s nothing to keep
and keeping still
won’t fill that emptiness
it’ll stop your heart

And just when you think
you’ve had your fill
the well of sorrow overflows
(sorrow overflows)

and you cry like an angel
an angel who is lost to God
When you cry like an angel
nothing changes
nothing changes

All the time and emotion
you invested’s just a drop in the ocean
’cause you did it all for you
and he did it all for him
and the sweetest songs
they got it wrong
when they said you could fall in love again

so you cry like an angel…
like an angel…

Something’s got to give

If we treat this romance like a venture
I’ll admit that it’s deep in the red
But a statement of debts and debentures
leaves one thing important unsaid:

Tell me why must it be
we should part company
if we don’t profit right from the start?

It seems clear to me
there’s no love industry
manufacturing a maintenance-free heart

And when push comes to shove
this old broken down love
is more than the sum of its parts

You cry, oh you cry
till you leak like a sieve
Don’t be surprised
Something’s always got to give.

What do I do

You’re not the one who brought me here.
You never built my hopes or fears.
You never touched me—not inside.
You never fed my foolish pride.
And now that we’re done
how do I do
justice to you?

What do I do?
What do I tell you?
You’re not the one who brought me here.
All of these nights we spent together
all these years
and years

they were for you.
They were forgotten
just as fast as they arrived.
Now I can’t say if we have lived or
survived—
just survived.

What do I do?
What do I tell you?
Why should I lie?
How do I keep my love alive?
What are my hopes?
What are these dreams?
Why did I stay here all this time?

Cambodge

A blind man turned to face me
and the Buddha in the back of a truck
I don’t know why he chose to grace me
with a look
but it stuck

And the Buddha said,
‘Don’t follow me’
And the blind man said,
‘Then set me free’

There’s a buffalo in the basement
and a paddy at the bar getting drunk.
He said, ‘If they don’t find a replacement
with my luck
I’ll be sunk.’

And the barman said,
‘I’m seeing red
‘Cause I’ve just been told
my tiger’s dead.
And my freehold over the ocean’s
gone to seed.’

There are angels under the arches
and every one of them wants to fuck.
And the legless man as he lurches
in the dark
tries his luck.

And the angel says,
‘You can marry me.’
And the legless man
says, ‘Set me free.’

You say remember when
back in old Phnom Penh
but that was now
and this is then
and your freedom’s floating skyward
on the breeze.

Talking about it herself

Attitudes and affiliations
are a constant cause
of callous consternation
in this tough-taking town
in this alienation
she’s pretending she’s down
on the situation
she don’t

don’t know but she’s talking about it herself
don’t know but what she’s talking about is herself

She claims she’s the cause of its condemnation
but her ladylike whisper was its inspiration
she’s the guiding light of a generation
but it’s whispered she’s the plight
of half the world’s population
she don’t

don’t know but she’s talking about it herself
don’t know but what she’s talking about is herself