LYRICS T2

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The Marriage March (performed in "Night Magic")

(Everyone) The whole work holds its breath again
The marriage ring it shines
The billionth trillionth walk begins
As another world sighs

Sights and best of wishes and
A silence you can hear
The vow that breaks the world are spoke
And the whole world sheds a tear

(Beggar) Out of the joy of your marriage feast
O brother be good to me
The way is long and the shrine is far
Where my weary feet would be
And feasting is always somewhat sad
To those outside the door
Still love is only a dream
And life itself is hardly more

(Everyone) The human company draws close
And lends an ear
The vows that break the world are spoke
As the whole world sheds a tear

The vows that break the world
And the whole world sheds a tear

The Night Comes On

I went down to the place
Where I knew she lay waiting
Under the marble and the snow
I said, Mother I'm frightened
The thunder and the lightning
I'll never come through this alone
She said, I'll be with you
My shawl wrapped around you
My hand on your head when you go
And the night came on
It was very calm
I wanted the night to go on and on
But she said, Go back to the World
We were fighting in Egypt
When they signed this agreement
That nobody else had to die
There was this terrible sound
And my father went down
With a terrible wound in his side
He said, Try to go on
Take my books, take my gun
Remember, my son, how they lied
And the night comes on
It's very calm
I'd like to pretend that my father was wrong
But you don't want to lie, not to the young

We were locked in this kitchen
I took to religion
And I wondered how long she would stay
I needed so much
To have nothing to touch
I've always been greedy that way
But my son and my daughter
Climbed out of the water
Crying, Papa, you promised to play
And they lead me away
To the great surprise
It's Papa, don't peek, Papa, cover your eyes
And they hide, they hide in the World

Now I look for her always
I'm lost in this calling
I'm tied to the threads of some prayer
Saying, When will she summon me
When will she come to me
What must I do to prepare
When she bends to my longing
Like a willow, like a fountain
She stands in the luminous air
And the night comes on
And it's very calm
I lie in her arms and says, When I'm gone
I'll be yours, yours for a song

Now the crickets are singing
The vesper bells ringing
The cat's curled asleep in his chair
I'll go down to Bill's Bar
I can make it that far
And I'll see if my friends are still there
Yes, and here's to the few
Who forgive what you do
And the fewer who don't even care
And the night comes on
It's very calm
I want to cross over, I want to go home
But she says, Go back, go back to the World

The Promise ( performed in "Night Magic")

(Judy) Once I was happy to
Roam through the gold and blue
Now something haunts me
I know it's real
Someone returns
The desire I feel

(Angels) We could have passed him by

(Judy) Should have passed him by
So many others cry

(Angels) One more human cry

(Judy) So many others
Reaching for
A thread through the night
Or one lover more

He has a dream

(Angels) It's his dream

(Judy) I dream it too

(Angels) It's not your dream

(Judy) He dreams of the promise
We swore we would come through

(Angels) The promise is not yours alone to honor

(Judy) But we said we'd...

(Angels) This is not our part

(Judy) Open his heart

(Angels) Now it is open

(Judy) No, now it must start

(Michael) You promised me whatever was in my heart

(Angels) We promised him whatever was in his heart

(Michael) You swore that I could speak from the heart
(Angels) Yes, we said he'd speak from his heart

(Michael) Now I have chosen
And you must obey

(Judy) I will obey

(Michael) It's my heart that commands
And it must have its way
I want you
I need you
I can't live without you
Anymore

(Judy) Your heart commands me
And I will obey you
I need you
I can't live without you
Anymore

(Judy & Angels) We promised him whatever was
in his heart

(Michael) You promised me whatever was
in my heart

(Judy & Angels) We said that he could speak
from the heart

(Michael) You swore that I could speak
from the heart

(Judy) And now he has chosen
And now I must choose
Tho' garlands of planets
And starlight I lose

(Angels) Now you must choose
Starlight, starlight
You're gonna lose him

(Judy & Michael) I want you, I need you
I can't live without you

(Everyone) I want you, I need you
I can't live without you
Anymore

The Third Invention (performed in "Night Magic")

(Angels) Blindly he worked
At his third invention
Taking the chances
Of one who is lost

Feeling his way
To a cleaner expression
Of whatever it was
He stumbled across

All for the sake
Of a possible woman
He goaded himself
With a technical hope

For the sake of his longing
We came to the window
He put on his cloths
And he walked through the smoke

All for the sake
Of an interested woman
Riding to him
On a flicker of hope

Some tourist of beauty
In full disappointment
Ready to fall
In love with a ghost

And here was his ghost
With his third invention
The usual claim
To the highest reward

And now it was ready
His third invention
Ready to fall
In love with the world

And he falls back
And she comes forward
The eye of his labour
Measures them both

And she lies in the arms
Of his third invention
And back in his room
He commences the fourth

This is the work
Of the highest pretension
An automatic
Ode to the world

O deep in comfort
O full employment
He's lost to the fourth
He's lost to the third.

The Walls (performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael) It's late, it's very late
How did it get so late?

(Judy) What was it we were thinking of?

(Michael & Judy) We didn't want this,
did we?

(Judy) There must be some mistake

(Michael) What was it I forgot to tell you?

(Judy) What was it I forgot?

There was a promise here
A child who knew me
A bitter bedtime story

(Michael & Judy) Another house of some forgotten family
It's very late
There must be some mistake
And now this place
for none

(Michael) There was a woman here
A woman who knew me
A table set before me

(Michael & Judy) It is the walls
it is the victory of the walls
It is the room
it is the distance of the room

(Michael) Without her...

(Judy) Without you.

The Window

Why do you stand by the window
Abandoned to beauty and pride
The thorn of the night in your bosom
The spear of the age in your side
Lost in the rages of fragrance
Lost in the rags of remorse
Lost in the waves of a sickness
That loosens the high silver nerves

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love
Oh tangle of matter and ghost
Oh darling of angels, demons and saints
And the whole broken-hearted host
Gentle this soul

And come forth from the cloud of unknowing
And kiss the cheek of the moon
The New Jerusalem glowing
Why tarry all night in the ruin
And leave no word of discomfort
And leave no observer to mourn
But climb on your tears and be silent
Like a rose on its ladder of thorns

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love...

Then lay your rose on the fire
The fire give up to the sun
The sun give over to splendour
In the arms of the high holy one
For the holy one dreams of a letter
Dreams of a letter's death
Oh bless thee continuous stutter
Of the word being made into flesh

Oh chosen love, Oh frozen love...

Gentle this soul

There is a War

There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the ones who say there is a war
and the ones who say there isn't.
Why don't you come on back to the war, that's right, get in it,
why don't you come on back to the war, it's just beginning.

Well I live here with a woman and a child,
the situation makes me kind of nervous.
Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says "I guess you call this love";
I call it service.

Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be a tourist,
why don't you come on back to the war, before it hurts us,
why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get nervous.

You cannot stand what I've become,
you much prefer the gentleman I was before.
I was so easy to defeat, I was so easy to control,
I didn't even know there was a war.

Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be embarrassed,
why don't you come on back to the war, you can still get married.

There is a war between the rich and poor,
a war between the man and the woman.
There is a war between the left and right,
a war between the black and white,
a war between the odd and the even.

Why don't you come on back to the war, pick up your tiny burden,
why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get even,
why don't you come on back to the war, can't you hear me speaking?

The Throne of Desire ( performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael) Their bodies Triumphant
Their power unfurled
I know I am nothing
And women the world!

A slave to their favours
Their no and their yes
I'm crushed in the crease
Of a cotton dress

And I'm dead except
In their company
And I'm only at rest
When they motion to me

And night after night
I turn to myself
And I raise them
Out of my panic
And they come to me
Willing at last
Inflamed and fast
Mutual and graphic.

And suddenly they drill my heart
With cavities of absence
And they cover their thighs
with cellophane
And they cover their breasts
with a shadow
And they nail my good right hand
to a wall in the attic

O take me away
From the thorns and the fire
And let me recline
On the Throne of Desire

From the Throne of Desire
I make this solemn decree
Every woman I want
Will want, will want, will want
Will more than want me!

To My Assassin (performed in "Night Magic")

(Michael) We were chosen, we were chosen
Miles and miles apart
I to love your kingdom
You to love my heart

(Angels) We were chosen
We do what must
What must be done

(Michael) The love is intermittent
The discipline continues
I work on your spirit
You work on my sinews.

(Angels) We work on his sinews
And the discipline continues

We have fun 'cause
We do what must
What must be done

(Michael) I watch myself from where you are
Please do not be mistaken
The spider web you see me through
Is the view I've always taken

Begin the ceremony now
That we have been preparing
I'm tired of this marble floor
That we have both been sharing.

(Angels) Now we will be sharing
What he has been preparing!

(Girls) He's the only one
He's the only one
He's the riddle of the music
He's the music of my life

(Boys) Now it begins
Now it begins
He's the riddle of the music
He's the music of the sacrifice

(Valkyries) Messenger
Messenger
Our will
Will be done

(Angels) We work on his sinews
And the discipline continues

(Everyone) Begin the ceremony
Begin the sacrifice ...

Tonight Will Be Fine

Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past.
We swore to each other that our love would surely last.
You kept right on loving, I went on a fast,
now I am too thin and your love is too vast.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your pretty little smile
that tonight, tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Well, I choose the rooms that I live in with care,
the windows are small and the walls are almost bare,
they've only got one bed and they've only got one prayer;
and I listen all night for your step on the stair.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your pretty little smile
that tonight, tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Sometimes I see her undressing for me,
she's the soft naked lady that love meant her to be
and she's moving her body so brave and so free.
If I have got to remember that's a fine memory.

And I know from your eyes
and I know from your pretty little smile
that tonight, tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

I've looked into the mirrors in numberless places,
they all smile back at me with their troublesome faces.
And the cards that they dealt me, there weren't any aces,
and the horses never listen to me at the races.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your pretty little smile
that tonight, tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

There's still one or two of us walking the street,
no arrows of direction painted under our feet,
no angels to warn us away from the heat,
and no honey to keep us where it is sweet.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your pretty little smile
that tonight, tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

And I know from your eyes
and I know from your pretty little smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Tower of Song

Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the Tower of Song
I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
A hundred floors above me
In the Tower of Song

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond
They tied me to this table right here
In the Tower of Song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all
I'm standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they don't let a woman kill you
Not in the Tower of Song

Now you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there's a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the Tower of Song

I see you standing on the other side
I don't know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
We'll never have to lose it again

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the Tower of Song

Yeah my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day
Oh in the Tower of Song

The Traitor

Now the Swan it floated on the English river
Ah the Rose of High Romance it opened wide
A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer
and the judges watched us from the other side
I told my mother "Mother I must leave you
preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
it was half my fault and half the atmosphere"

But the Rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
and the Swan I tempted with a sense of shame
She said at last I was her finest lover
and if she withered I would be to blame

The judges said you missed it by a fraction
rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action
Oh see the men of action falling back

But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity had stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralysed my will

I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
that they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to Barcelona
I'm listed with the enemies of love

And long ago she said "I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when I'm sleeping
Run some wire through that Rose and wind the Swan"

So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there -- I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
and people call me traitor to my face

True Love Leaves No Traces

As the mist leaves no scar
On the dark green hill
So my body leaves no scar
On you and never will
Through windows in the dark
The children come, the children go
Like arrows with no targets
Like shackles made of snow

True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun

As a falling leaf may rest
A moment on the air
So your head upon my breast
So my hand upon your hair

And many nights endure
Without a moon or star
So we will endure
When one is gone and far

True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun

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