Sting - 57th & 9th Album Lyrics

White page, an empty field of snow
My room is twenty-five below
This cold man chasing ghosts
A road lies underneath a buried boat
Dogs search the under forest
We scour the empty streets
The fact remains until we find you
Our lives are incomplete

Do I hear laughters through a veil of snow and ice?
Where could you be on such a lonely winter's night?

I can't stop thinking about you
I can't stop wanting you this way
I can't face dreaming without you
That's why I'm searching night and day
This heart's a lonely hunter
These hands are frozen fists
I can't stop thinking about you
I don't care if you exist

Do I hear laughter from behind this veil of midnight?
What are you hiding in the frozen heart of winter?
Somewhere a church bell tolls
I know you're close, your scent still warm
And then your trail turns cold, cold, cold

I can't stop thinking about you
I can't stop wanting you this way
I can't face living without you
That's why I'm searching night and day
This heart's a lonely hunter
These hands are frozen fists
I can't stop thinking about you
I don't care if you exist

Do I hear laughter in the silence of the snow?
I know you're hiding in this frozen heart of winter
A midnight church bell tolls
I know you're close, your scent still warm
Then the trail turns cold, cold, cold

I can't stop thinking about you
I can't stop wanting you this way
I can't face living without you
That's why I'm searching night and day
This heart's a lonely hunter
These hands are frozen fists
I can't stop thinking about you
I don't care if you exist

I can't stop thinking about you
I can't stop wanting you this way
I can't face living without you
I can't stop wanting you

Another obituary in the paper today
One more for the list of those who've already fallen
Another one of our comrades is taken down
Like so many others of our calling

We tweet our anecdotes, our commentary
Or we sing his songs in some sad tribute
While the tabloids are holding a story of kiss and tell
That he's no longer able to deny or refute

50,000 voices rising every time he'd sing
And every word he ever wrote reflecting back to him

How well I remember the stadiums we played
And the lights sweeping across a sea of 50,000 souls we'd face
A serious drug that you could never kick
Or one that you couldn't imagine you'd ever replace

We flew like kites on the wings of amphetamine
Secured only to a bass line and a snare drum beat
But really what did any of it mean?
When there's a higher philosophy in reflection and defeat

50,000 voices rising every time he'd sing
And every word he ever wrote reflecting back to him
Still believing that old lie, the one that your own face betrays
Rock stars don't ever die, they only fade away

Reflecting now on my own past
Inside this prison I've made of myself
I'm feeling a little better today
Although the bathroom mirror is telling me something else

These lines of stress, one bloodshot eye
The unhealthy pallor of a troubled ghost
Where did I put my spectacle case?
I'm half blind and as deaf as any post

50,000 hands are raised to a man that's just like you and me
We create the gods we can and gift them immortality
Still believing that old lie, the one that your own face betrays
Rock stars don't ever die, they only fade away

Strange, when you leave me, rain comes down, down, down.
When you withdraw from me, towers come tumbling down, down, down.

Here comes the sound that I've been waiting for,
The sound that tells me when you're walking out my door.

Rob me blind, defenseless, my heart sinks down, down, down.
I can't wave, I'm drowning and sinking fast, down, down, down, down.

Here comes the sound I've been expecting all these years,
Here comes the sound of everything I've ever feared,
Here comes the sound, the floors below me disappear,
Here comes the sound, I force my fingers in my ears.

I'm drinking from this bitter cup,
The only place that's left is up,
I could not fall no further than this, down, down, down, down.

Here comes the sound of someone crying in the rain,
Here comes the sound of someone pouring out their pain.

All lines of communication, down, down, down, down.
My forces in retreat and running from this battleground.

Here comes the sound I've never heard before,
The sound that tells me when you're walking out my door.
Here comes the sound of someone calling out for aid,
Here comes the sound of someone falling.

Optimists say
The future's just a place we've never been
Histories say
We're doomed to make the same mistakes again

Between the two I can't decide
Really I must choose a side
I guess I'll wake up smarter
One fine day

Apologists say
The weather's just a cycle we can't change
Scientists say
We've pushed those cycles way beyond

Dear leaders, please do something quick
Time is up, the planet's sick
But hey, we'll all be grateful
One fine day?

Today the North West Passage just got found
Three penguins and a bear got drowned
The ice they lived on disappeared
Seems things are worse than some had feared

It's progress of a kind
Who knows what else we're going to find?
So do you trust your head or heart
When things all seem to fall apart?
I guess we'll wake up smarter
One fine day, one fine day

Today it's raining dogs and cats
Rabbits jumping out of hats
And now what's got us all agog
Tomorrow it's a plague of frogs
We must do something quick or die
When snakes can talk and pigs will fly
And we'll all be so much wiser
One fine day

There are two young lovers, they're pledged to each other's hands
They meet by the river, to talk of their marriage plans
"I'm confessing," he said, "I've signed for a soldier
I'm leaving tomorrow for some foreign land"

She watches the pretty young soldiers
As they march themselves off to the war
She wonders if she'll ever see him again
Somehow she doubts it, but she has to be sure

So she rode into town on the very next day
And dressed herself up all in man's array
With a sword and a musket she took the King's shilling
And to fight in some foreign war
She said, "Yes!," she'd be willing

All you pretty young soldiers
In those uniforms that you've never worn
The Captain will come to inspect you all now
"Let me down and you'll all wish you'd never been born"

The Captain astride of his horse's grey flanks
Pulls the pretty young soldier from out of the ranks
His gaze it is fixed and she's starting to shake
He said, "follow me soldier and listen to the offer that I'm willing to make"

"Come you pretty young soldier
Come and be my right hand
You're having this strange effect on my soul
That I don't quite understand"

"Captain, oh Captain, I've a confession to make
I love someone else and my heart it will break"
And as she released her brown hair from a band
It tumbled all down her shoulders and into his hands

"Oh you pretty young soldier
Come and take my right hand
You're having this strange effect on my soul
And now I think, I understand"

Lay down, and rest your head
Stretch your body across my bed
Just close your eyes, I'll take you there
That open highway's waiting where
You'll know me just like I know you
Where every gospel word is true
I'll drive this car, I'll be your guide
Just fasten your seat belt, let's go for a ride

I'll take you someplace that you've never been before
A place you might have only dreamt about what's more

Just one road in and just one road out
I know this country inside out
I speak in tongues, in tongues of fire
With sixteen wheels for my desire

300 horse in my V8
Close to one hundred MPH
And all the meters up in the red
Now don't you worry your pretty little petrol head

I'll take you someplace that you've never been before
A place you might have only dreamt about what's more
Like Moses driving to his promised land
Left turn at the burning bush, a stick shift in my hand

Bring me my bow of burning gold
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spear, o clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I fought my way from hell to this
And drove my truck through a hail of fists
But I ain't never killed no innocent man
Kept the engine running so I just ran
But I've been wounded, I been shot
And this is all the thanks I got
A busted arm and a busted lip
Let's climb aboard the mothership

I'll take you someplace that you've never been before
A place you might have only dreamt about what's more
Like Moses driving to his promised land
Left turn at the burning bush, a stick shift, two stone tablets
God's commandments in my hands

300 horse in my V8
Close to one hundred MPH
And all the meters up in the red
Now don't you worry your pretty little petrol head
Pretty little petrol head

Many have gone before us now,
Many have tried and failed somehow,
Many a soul on the Queen's highway,
Where many a tail light glowed,
With the promise of a better life,
Heading South on the Great North Road,
South on the Great North Road.

Only the dark we left behind,
Will chase us as the road unwinds,
But out of sight is out of mind,
With many a debt still owed,
And the promise of a different life...
Heading South on the Great North Road,
South on the Great North Road.

Many a dog went wandering,
To sup on fortune's dregs,
And many a dog came straggling home,
His tail between his sorry legs.

Many a caged bird spread his wings,
Many a vain bird crowed,
And many a songbird lost her way,
Heading South on the Great North Road,
South on the Great North Road.

Many a band of brothers rode,
In many a painted wagon,
Many an unsecured load,
Whenever a climbing truck was slowed,
There was many a traveler's curse bestowed,
Heading South on the Great North Road,
South on the Great North Road.

Many a transport greasy spoon,
Many a wasted afternoon,
Where many a maiden gave her heart,
And many a gift bestowed,
But a gift is a yoke to a traveling man,
Heading South on the Great North Road,
South on the Great North Road.

If we get back home, we'll tell our tales
To all of those who'll listen,
The might have beens, the chances lost,
The monies that went missing...

All the memories we'll unload,
The wild oats that we'll claim we'd sowed,
The stages where we proudly strode,
As if our cups had over flowed,
With the promise of a different life...
Heading South on the Great North Road,
South on the Great North Road.

Please sit down, just talk to me,
We'll see if we can talk this through,
I've tried so hard to understand it,
Just tell me something that's close to the truth...
I'd rather you were cruel than kind,
Is all that I'm demanding,
I've given up on peace of mind,
For the open wound of understanding.

You can't be here and someplace else,
If your mind is in that other place,
You're trying to convince yourself,
But you're lying in my face,
I've listened 'til my head would spin,
I don't want half of anything.

The sand sits in the hourglass,
Time slips through our fingers fast,
Your counterfeits deceived me,
If you can't love me this way,
Then you must leave me.

Tell me how it came to this,
Just don't think to spare me this,
Perhaps the truth can set us free,
From the half truths ensnaring you and me,
This black hole of intensity,
Collapses on its density,
And sucks me to a darker place,
That hides behind a broken face.

Keep up appearances they say,
And all those reasons you might stay,
Ring hollow in my mind today,
I've listened 'til my head would spin,
I don't want half of anything,
I don't want half of anything.
The fields are sown with seeds of doubt,
The wine is warm, you spit it out,
This drinking won't relieve me,
If you can't love me this way,
Then you must leave me.

The patterns in the distant stars,
Our fates upon a loom,
The changes in the temperature,
When you walked into a room,
The smell of your perfume,
The taste of your skin,
All those bitter reminders,
Of the failed state I'm in.

How do I breathe now, how do I inhale?
I'm a diver on the seabed, my oxygen's failed.
How do I wake up, how do I sleep?
How do I laugh now, I can't even weep?
Where do I run to, where do I hide?
An insect preserved in formaldehyde,
Yesterday's paper its pages curled,
How can I live in this broken world?

Keep up appearances they say,
But all those reasons you might stay,
Ring hollow in my mind today,
I've listened 'til my head would spin,
I don't want half of anything,
I don't want half of anything.

The sand it falls in the hour glass,
And time slips through our fingers fast,
And nothing that you say relieves me,
If you can't love me this way,
Then you must leave me.

Sleeping child, on my shoulder,
Those around us, curse the sea.
Anxious mother turning fearful,
Who can blame her, blaming me?

Inshallah, Inshallah,
If it be your will, it shall come to pass.
Inshallah, Inshallah,
If it be your will...

As the wind blows, growing colder,
Against the sad boats, as we flee,
Anxious eyes, search in darkness,
With the rising of the sea.

Inshallah, Inshallah,
If it be your will, it shall come to pass.
Inshallah, Inshallah,
If it be your will...

Sea of worries, sea of fears,
In our country, only tears.
In our future there's no past,
If it be your will, it shall come to pass.

Inshallah, Inshallah,
If it be your will, it shall come to pass.
Inshallah, Inshallah,
If it be your will...

If I should close my eyes, that my soul can see
And there's a place at the table that you saved for me
So many thousand miles over land and sea
I hope to dare, that you hear my prayer
And somehow I'll be there

It's but a concrete floor where my head will lay
And though the walls of this prison are as cold as clay
But there's a shaft of light where I count my days
So don't despair of the empty chair
And somehow I'll be there

Some days I'm strong, some days I'm weak
And days I'm so broken I can barely speak
There's a place in my head where my thoughts still roam
Where somehow I've come home

And when the Winter comes and the trees lie bare
And you just stare out the window in the darkness there
Well I was always late for every meal you'll swear
But keep my place and the empty chair
And somehow I'll be there
And somehow I'll be there