Scott Walker

Momma, do you see what I see On your knees and pray for me Mathilde's come back to me Charley, don't want another beer Tonight I'm gonna drink my tears Mathilde's come back to me Go ask the maid if she heard what I said Tell her to change the sheets on the bed Mathilde's come back to me Fellas, don't leave me tonight Tonight I'm going back to fight Wretched Mathilde's in sight My heart, my heart, stop beating so Just make as if you didn't know That Mathilde's come back to me My heart, I don't want you to say She's lovelier than when she went away Mathilde, whols come back to me My heart, stop being overjoyed Remember you were once destroyed By Mathilde, who's come back to me Fellas, please don't go away Tell me that I mustn't stay Mathilde's coming back today My hands, you'll start to shake again When you remember all the pain Mathilde's come back to me You'll want to beat her black and blue But don't do it, I beg of you Mathilde's come back to me My hands, remember all the years Remember when you caught my tears Mathilde's come back to me My hands, you'll want to touch her now But please try and be strong somehow Mathilde's here, she's coming now, now Momma, can you hear me yell Your baby boy's gone back to hell Mathilde's come back to me Charley, champagne right away I know you've been saving it for the holiday But Mathilde's come back to me Go ask the maid if she heard what I said Tell her to put the best sheets on the bed Mathilde's come back to me My friends, don't count on me no more I've gone and crashed through heaven's door My sweet Mathilde's here Once more, once more

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings
From the wide open sea
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sleeps
While the riverbank weeps
With the old willow tree
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In a drunken down fight
And in the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who's born
On a muggy hot morn
By the dawn's early light

In the port of Amsterdam
Where the sailors all meet
There's a sailor who eats
Only fishheads and tails
He will show you his teeth
That have rotted too soon
That can swallow the moon
That can haul up the sails
And he yells to the cook
With his arms open wide
Bring me more fish
Put it down by my side
Then he wants so to belch
But he's too full to try
So he gets up and laughs
And he zips up his fly

In the port of Amsterdam
You can see sailors dance
Paunches bursting their pants
Grinding women to paunch
They've forgotten the tune
That their whiskey voice croaks
Splitting the night with the
Roar of their jokes
And they turn and they dance
And they laugh and they lust
Till the rancid sound of
The accordion bursts
Then out to the night
With their pride in their pants
With the slut that they tow
Underneath the street lamps

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who drinks
And he drinks and he drinks
And he drinks once again
He drinks to the health
Of the whores of Amsterdam
Who have promised their love
To a thousand other men
They've bargained their bodies
And their virtue long gone
For a few dirty coins
And when he can't go on
He plants his nose in the sky
And he wipes it up above
And he pisses like I cry
For an unfaithful love

In the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam

And if one day I should become
A singer with a Spanish bum
Who sings for women of great virtue
I'd sing to them with a guitar
I borrowed from a coffee bar
Well, what you don't know doesn't hurt you
My name would be Antonio
And all my bridges I would burn
And when I gave them some they'd know
I'd expect something in return
I'd have to get drunk every night
And talk about virility
With some old grandmother
That might be decked out like a christmas tree
And no pink elephant I'd see
Though I'd be drunk as I could be
Still I would sing my song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"
If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way
And if I joined the social whirl
Became procurer of young girls
Then I could have my own bordellos
My record would be number one
And I'd sell records by the ton
All sung by many other fellows
My name would then be handsome Jack
And I'd sell boats of opium
Whisky that came from Twickenham
Authentic queens
And phony virgins
I'd have a bank on every finger
A finger in every country
And every country ruled by me
I'd still know where I'd want to be
Locked up inside my opium den
Surrounded by some china men
I'd sing the song that I sang then
About the time they called me "Jacky"
If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way
Now, tell me, wouldn't it be nice
That if one day in paradise
I'd sing for all the ladies up there
And they would sing along with me
And we be so happy there to be
Cos' down below is really nowhere
My name would then be "Jupiter"
Then I would know where I was going
Become all knowing
My beard so very long and flowing
If I became deaf, dumb and blind
(was: If I could play deaf, dumb and blind)
Because I pitied all mankind
And broke my heart to make things right
I know that every single night
When my angelic work was through
The angels and the Devil too
Could sing my childhood song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"
If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

My death is like
a swinging door
a patient girl who knows the score
whistle for her
and the passing time

My death waits like
a bible truth
at the funeral of my youth
weep loud for that
and the passing time

My death waits like
a witch at night
and surely as our love is bright
let's laugh for us
and the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

My death waits like
a beggar blind
who sees the world with an unlit mind
throw him a dime
for the passing time

My death waits
to allow my friends
a few good times before it ends
let's drink to that
and the passing time

My death waits in
your arms, your thighs
your cool fingers will close my eyes
let's not talk about
the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

My death waits
among the falling leaves
in magicians, mysterious sleeves
rabbits, dogs
and the passing times

My death waits
among the flowers
where the blackish shadow cowers
let's pick lilacs
for the passing time

My death waits in
a double bed
sails of oblivion at my head
pull up the sheets
against the passing time

But whatever is behind the door
there is nothing much to do
angel or devil I don't care
for in front of that door
there is you

Naked as sin, an army towel
Covering my belly
Some of us blush, somehow
Knees turning to jelly
Next, next
I was still just a kid
There were a hundred like me
I followed a naked body
A naked body follwed me
next, next
I was still just a kid
When my innocence was lost
In a mobile army whorehouse
Gift from the army, free of cost
Next, next
Me, I really would have liked
A little touch of tenderness
Maybe a word, a smile
An hour of happiness
But, next, next
Oh, it wasn't so tragic
The high heavens did not fall
But how much of that time
I hated being there at all
Next, next Now I always will recall
The brothel truck, the flying flags
The queer lieutenant who slapped
Our asses as if we were fags
Next, ne xt
I swear on the wet head
Of my first case of gonorrhea
It is his ugly voice
That I forever hear
Next, next
That voice that stinks of whiskey
Of corpses and of mud
It is the voice of nations
It is the thick voice of blood
Next, next
And since the each woman
I have taken to bed
Seems to laugh in my arms
To whisper through my head
Next, next
All the naked and the dead
Should hold each other's hands
As they watch me scream at night
In a dream no one understands
Next, next
And when I am not screaming
In a voice grown dry and hollow
I stand on endless naked lines
Of the following and the followed
Next, next
One day I'll cut my legs off
Or burn myself alive
Anything, I'll do anything
To get out of line to survive
Never to be next
Never to be next.

The girls
Are as fast as a game
Are as bright as a flame
And you're always to blame

The girls
Are as pink as the light
And as dark as the night
And they're always right

The girls
Are as cold as the sphinx
Always dreaming of minks
They drive you to drink

The girls
Are as soft as a sigh
That whispers good-bye
And leaves you to cry

But the dogs
Well, they're only dogs
Just wagging their tails
As they watch it end

Oh, the dogs
Well, they're only dogs
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend

The girls
Can make you feel cold
Can make you feel old
An antique to be sold

The girls
They play with your heart
They tear you apart
You're never too smart

The girls
They throw you from towers
They'll whip you with flowers
It depends on the hours

The girls
Will treat you like trash
Or let you be brash
It depends on your cash

But the dogs
Don't depend on a thing
They just lick your face
When they see it end

Oh, the dogs
Don't depend on a thing
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend
___

The girls
You know that they are vain
They will poison your brain
They will drive you insane

The girls
Will laugh at your jokes
How they love the coat on (???)
But it is all a hoax

The girls
Are still making dates
they still making you wait
and they say you are late

The girls
Are yours for a throw (?)
At least you think so
Ah but you will never know

The dogs
Well you know the dogs
They lift up a leg
As they see it end

The dogs
Well you know the dogs
And maybe that's why
They're man's best friend
___

The girls
They're not what they seem
They all have a scheme
They call it a dream

The girls
Are as hot as they please
And you're down on your knees
With the greatest of ease

The girls
Say you're on the right track
Then they take it all back
Tie it up in a sack

The girls
They will give it of course
But they give with such force
That it gives you remorse

But the dogs
They give nothing at all
They just lift a leg
As they watch it end

Oh, the dogs
They give nothing at all
And that's the reason why
They're man's best friend

And yet it's because of the girls
When they've knocked us about
And our tears want to shout
That we kick the dogs out

If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the night was long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail the sun
We'll ride on the rain
And talk to the trees
And worship the wind

Then if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To fill up my hand

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning, turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll glide on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
As I know you must
There'll be nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face
And I'd have been the shadow
Of your shadow
If it might have kept me
By your side

Oh I can see them now
Clutching a hankerchief
And blowing me a kiss
Discreetly asking how
How came he died so young
Or was he very old
Is the body still warm
Or is it already cold
All doors are open wide
They grope around inside
At my desk my drawers my trunk
There's nothing left to hide
Some love letters are there
And an old photograph
They've laid my poor soul bare
And now all they do is laugh

Oh I can see them all
So formal and so stiff
Like a seargant at arms
At a policeman's ball
And everybody's pushing
To be the first in line
Their hearts upon their sleeves
Like a ten cent valentine
The old women are there
Too old to give a damn
They've brought along the kids
Who don't know who I am
They're thinking about the price of my funeral bouquet
What they're thinking isn't nice
For now they'll have to pay

Oh I see all of you
All of my phoney friends
Who can't wait for it ends
Who can't wait till it's through
Oh I see all of you
You've been laughing all these years
Now all that you have left
Are a few crocodile tears
Ah you don't even know
That you're entering your hell
As you leave my cemetary
You think you're doing well
With that one who's at your side
You're as proud as you can be
Ah she's going to make you cry
But not the way you cried for me

Oh I can see me now
So cold and so alone
As the flowers slowly die
In my field of little bones
Oh I can see me now
I can see me at the end
Of this voyage that I/m on
Without a love without a friend
Now all this that I see
Is not what I deserve
They really have a nerve
To say these things to me
No girls just bread and water
And your money you must save
For there'll be nothing left for us
When you're dead and in your grave

Sons of the thief, sons of the saint
Who is the child with no complaint
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own
The same sweet smiles, the same sad tears
The cries at night, the nightmare fears
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own...

So long ago: long, long, ago...

But sons of tycoons or sons of the farms
All of the children ran from your arms
Through fields of gold, through fields of ruin
All of the children vanished too soon
In tow'ring waves, in walls of flesh
Among dying birds trembling with death
Sons of tycoons or sons of the farms
All of the children ran from your arms...

So long ago: long, long, ago...

But sons of your sons or sons passing by
Children we lost in lullabies
Sons of true love or sons of regret
All of the sons you cannot forget
Some built the roads, some wrote the poems
Some went to war, some never came home
Sons of your sons or sons passing by
Children we lost in lullabies...

So long ago: long, long, ago

But, sons of the theif, sons of the saint
Who is the child with no complaint
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own
The same sweet smiles, the same sad tears
The cries at night, the nightmare fears
Sons of the great or sons unknown
All were children like your own...

If you go away
On this summer day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the night was long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail the sun
We'll ride on the rain
And talk to the trees
And worship the wind

Then if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To fill up my hand

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning, turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll glide on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
As I know you must
There'll be nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face
And I'd have been the shadow
Of your shadow
If it might have kept me
By your side

If time were not a moving thing
And I could make it stay
This hour of love we share
Would always be
There'd be no coming day
To shine a morning light
And make us realize our night is over

When you walk away from me
There is no place to put my hand
Except to shade my eyes against the sun
That rises over the land
I watch you walk away
Somehow I have to let you go
Cause it's over

If you knew just how I really feel
You might return and yet
There are so many times
That people have to love and then forget
Oh there might have been a way somehow
I have to force myself to say
It's over

So I turn my back,
Turn my collar to the wind
Move along in silence
Trying not to think at all
I set my feet before me
Walk the silent street before me
Now it's over

If time were not a moving thing
And I could make you stay
This hour of love we share
Would always be
There'd be no coming day
To shine a morning light
And make us realize our night is over

It's over

Joanna I cant forget the one they call joanna We own the summer hand in hand joanna
And now she"s always just a tear awayGoodbye you-you long lost summerLeaving me behind youRepeating things for loversThat may find youI still hang on to every word that dayYou passed my way
Joanna you made the man a child again so sweetlyHe breathed your smileLooked in your eyes completely

And on his heart theres still a trace of you
I loved you but nothing in this world could make you mineYet still in time joanna
----joanna you may remember me and change your mind----musical break
I loved you but nothing in this world could make you mineBut still in time joanna
Joanna you may remember me and change your mind

The Angels of Ashes
Will give back your passions
Again and again

Their light shafts
Will reach through the darkness
And touch you my friend

They'll fly in a mind dance
And blind you with wings
Wrapped in flame

If you're down to an echo
They just might remember
Your name

In the unbroken darkness
Where emptiness empties
Alone

There's no starting or stopping
Where there is no right or
No wrong

Well that's all right for some
Who can hang the absurd
On their wall

If your blind hands can't grope
Through these measureless waters
You'll fall

You've been following patterns
And fleeting sensations
Too long

And the fullness that fills up
The pulse of durations
Is gone

Let the great constellation
Of flickering ashes
Be heard

Let them burn with a fire
All it takes to confess
Is a word, just a word

I can recommend angels
I've watched as they've made a man strong
Oh so strong

If your humbleness shows
Then I'm sure that they'll take you
Along

You can tell them who sent you
It might help to get you
Above

You can say that he laughed
And he walked like St. Francis
With love

Mama, do you see what I see
On your knees and pray for me
Mathilde's come back to me
Charley, don't want another beer
Tonight I'm gonna drink my tears
Mathilde's come back to me
Go ask the maid if she heard what I said
Tell her to change the sheets on the bed
Mathilde's come back to me
Fellas, don't leave me tonight
Tonight I'm going back to fight
Wretched Mathilde's in sight

My heart, my heart, stop beating so
Just make as if you didn't know
That Mathilde's come back to me
My heart, I don't want you to say
She's lovelier than when she went away
Mathilde, who's come back to me
My heart, stop beating overjoyed
Remember you were once destroyed
By Mathilde, who's come back to me
Fellas, please don't go away
Tell me that I mustn't stay
Mathilde's coming back today

My hands, you'll start to shake again
When you remember all the pain
Mathilde's come back to me
You'll want to beat her black and blue
But don't do it, I beg of you
Mathilde's come back to me
My hands, remember all the years
Remember when you caught my tears
Mathilde's come back to me
My hands, you'll want to touch her now
But please try and be strong somehow
Mathilde's here, she's coming now, now

Mama, can you hear me yell
Your baby boy's gone back to hell
Mathilde's come back to me
Charley, champagne right away
I know you've been saving it for the holiday
But Mathilde's come back to me
Go ask the maid if she heard what I said
Tell her to put the best sheets on the bed
Mathilde's come back to me
My friends, don't count on me no more
I've gone and crashed through heaven's door
My sweet Mathilde's here
Once more, once more

You're like a winter night
Your thoughts are frozen
You kiss your lovers
In the snow

Too many icy tears
Glisten for someone

You watch the leaves
As they shiver your loneliness
Your eyes are lanterns
Growing dim

I hum inside
Like the meadows in summer

But I'll never light them up
Again

And if one day I should become
A singer with a Spanish bum
Who sings for women of great virtue
I'd sing to them with a guitar
I borrowed from a coffee bar
Well, what you don't know doesn't hurt you
My name would be Antonio
And all my bridges I would burn
And when I gave them some they'd know
I'd expect something in return
I'd have to get drunk every night
And talk about virility
With some old grandmother
That might be decked out like a christmas tree
And though pink elephants I'd see
Though I'd be drunk as I could be
Still I would sing my song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

And if I joined the social whirl
Became procurer of young girls
Then i would have my own bordellos
My record would be number one
And I'd sell records by the ton
All sung by many other fellows
My name would then be handsome Jack
And I'd sell boats of opium
Whisky that came from Twickenham
Authentic queers
And phony virgins
If I had banks on every finger
A finger in every country
And every country ruled by me
I'd still know where I'd want to be
Locked up inside my opium den
Surrounded by some china men
I'd sing the song that I sang then
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

Now, tell me, wouldn't it be nice
That if one day in paradise
I'd sing for all the ladies up there
And they would sing along with me
And we be so happy there to be
Cos' down below is really nowhere
My name would then be Junipher
Then I would know where I was going
And then I would become all knowing
My beard so very long and flowing
If I became deaf, dumb and blind
(was: If I could play deaf, dumb and blind)
Because I pitied all mankind
And broke my heart to make things right
I know that every single night
When my angelic work was through
The angels and the Devil too
Would sing my childhood song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way

I've watched her from the river banks
I knew her when she danced with dreams
White doves were there to dress her hair
And so was Madelaine

At night the people's faces danced
Like pearls colliding on the breast
Of fat Marie whose thunder laugh
Was just a thread from crying

Her sailors stained her cobblestones
With wine and piss and death desire
And sometimes blood for Madelaine
Whose laughter was the night

Her girls would lift their dresses high
and breathe the stars and kiss the sky
She'd smother them with whispers then
Embrace them with her sighs

Before the bottle dulled my eyes
And made me so I couldn't stand
I'd overact and play the clown
When Madelaine would cry

And now I watch from riverbanks
I watch it weave it's memories
White doves turned gray and flew away
And so did Madelaine

It's raining today
and I'm just about to forget the train window girl
That wonderful day we met
She smiles through the smoke from my cigarette
It's raining today
But once there was summer and you
And dark little rooms
And sleep in late afternoons
Those moments descend on my windowpane
I've hung around too long
Listenin' to the old landlady's hard-luck stories
You out of me, me out of you
We go like lovers
To replace the empty space
Repeat our dreams to someone new
It's raining today
And I watch the cellophane streets
No hang-ups for me
'Cause hang-ups need company
The street corner girl's a cold trembling leaf
It's raining today
It's raining today

Mist falls and his voice cracks from the morning
Flowers and my body feels like lead
Someone should have stopped the birds from singing today
Hammers from striking nails into clay

Her face penetrates the blue gray morning
Her eyes pregnant pools produce a tear
Someone should have shouted you had gone in her ear
That summer was stolen away

Such a small love
Such a little tear
You would laugh so loud
If you could see us here

With my one suit
Badly pressed and worn
Like a child left
In the world alone

He speaks I don't hear a word he's saying
Hang on to the pine trees and the snow
Reach out grab the memories that are left for your hand
They'll help you get by for a while

Such a small love
Such a little tear
Is this all that's left
On your cheek so pale

His shallow half lit eyes
His rotted teeth grown on
Our drunken madman nights
Ending up in jail

Midnight mornings
Drenched in day-glo red
Words colliding
Things we left unsaid

Perfumed pillows
Girls that clung so near
Such a small love
Such a little tear