'Up in the Air' words, music: Bob Mould.

All other songs - words music by Heidi Berry 1991.  © Universal Music Publishing Group.

​

 

WASHINGTON SQUARE

 

Fly by night, across dark water
Over the clouds, through space and time
Come and look for me
 

By the arch and the wading pool
By the old men at the tables in the winter time
That's where I'll be
 

And I'm always here
In Washington Square Park

 

It's like two trains running in two tunnels
Suddenly all is light
And your train comes into view
 

Face so close, see your breath on the glass
I'll follow your eyes
As you veer away into the dark
 

And I'll still be here
In Washington Square Park

 

No, no, do not grieve for a story never told
You see, that I'm still the child
It's you who's growing old
You're growing old

 

And I'm always here
In Washington Square Park

 

 

UP IN THE AIR

 

Pass away the hours, hear the footsteps of the past
Walking up the stairs of time, knowing that I'm trapped
Cold winds of indifference persuade a movement south
Thinking that it's better there
The warmer climes that we seek out

Poor bird flies up in the air, never getting anywhere
And how much misery can one soul take?
Trying to fly away might have been your fist mistake
Oh poor bird

Oh poor bird

Picking petals off a flower
Loves me, loves me not
Is love another way to count the things you haven't got?
We wish the best to all our friends, young and old alike
When the dust has settled in the sky
Well, you can have anything you like

Poor bird flies up in the air, never getting anywhere
And how much misery can one soul take?
Trying to fly away might have been your fist mistake
Oh poor bird

Oh poor bird

Poor bird flies up in the air, never getting anywhere
And how much misery can one soul take?
Trying to fly away might have been your fist mistake
Oh poor bird

Oh poor bird

Oh poor bird

 

 

GLORIA

 

It's taken all my strength away this time
For today, all the offers I would make I'll withdraw
As I stand, and I'll watch
As they burrow their way into the ground
When my words have become just a bark or a bay
A meaningless sound 

 

(They could sing) Gloria
Oh that I am
Gloria
I am

 

And onto every face a little rain will fall
To trickle through and bathe their empty eyes
Are they not yet aware, would they care if they knew
That they have the power
No they don't move an inch, no they don't raise a hand
To seize their hour

 

(They could sing) Gloria
Oh that I am
Gloria
I am

 

 

GREAT BIG SILVER KEY

 

Baby's got some new friends, yeah
They're the kind you can wind up
With a great big silver key
Prized possessions are tin-drum monkeys
And a collection of Stepford wives
Wind them up and he can hear them say: 

 

What is that light shining
From behind his head
Is the ‘The Chosen One’
Or is he just standing in front of the sun

 

All his life he's been guru-chasing
Mountain climbing, deep soul diving
Stamp collecting, sea monkey raising
But he's never found his way through
To what I find so easy to do

 

What is that light shining
From behind his head
Is the ‘The Chosen One’
Or is he just standing in front of the sun

 

Baby's got some new friends, yeah
They're the kind you can wind up
With a great big silver key

 

WAKE

 

The time is slipping and running away
All the hours in procession
Lining up day by day
What you thought you could never hold in your hand
You find now as simple as a grain of sand 

 

You have got to wake up, now
You have got to shake the dust from your eyes
And narrow down the space between
Your desires and your deeds

 

The time is rolling and stretching along
And the past is singing and calling your name
Tomorrow's overtaken by yesterday 
And what's left is exceeded by what's already been

 

You have got to wake up, now
You have got to find your own voice
And narrow down the space between
What you have and what you need

 

Stand in the light
And feel the wind on your face
Stretch out your arms
And you will rise up into the air

 

You have got to wake up, now
You have got to find realise
That no matter what is said
You have the right to be

 

 

CRADLE

 

(Oh) Lift me in your arms
Cradle me like a child
I feel your heart
Sense your smile in the dark

 

​

HAND OVER HEAD

 

When she flew into town
Her feet never met the ground
But I saw her face 
Like a bright, proud flower
 

But something around the eyes
Shadows, that put the lie to her laughing voice
And those brave, brave words 

 

Some of us live too hard
Some of die to young
And some are destroyed by what they might have done

 

I knew a man long ago
A hermit who held no hope
In his withered heart 
Or his sad eyes
 

He lived a life of counterfeit 
Pretending his life was sweet
Let others take chances 
He was too afraid to make

 

Some of us live too hard
Some of die to young
And some are destroyed by what they might have done

 

So she flew out again
Waved to the crowd and then
Hand over head
She was gone

 

Some of us live too hard
Some of die to young
And some are destroyed by what they might have done

 

 

SILVER BUTTONS

 

You were a little bleary the first time we first met

So the night's proceedings you would not recall

But I would never forget

A little clumsy, but with tenderness

Undoing all the silver buttons on my dress

And both untouched by sleep

Me, with eyes wide open

You, in oblivion

Never really making git to the same place at the same time

But I never would've believed that it would end this way

​

If you can't hold on tight, then let go

And that's all that I know

Maybe today the rain will fall

And the patterns there will show you

Whether to stay or to go

​

I held you while you cried for the loves you'd lost

And when I'd had enough and was on my way

You called me back again

You never really wanted me, you just wanted the company

Well, here's an other name to add to your mythology

​

If you can't hold on tight, then let go

And that's all that I know

Maybe today the rain will fall

And the patterns there will show you

Whether to stay or to go

​

LONELY HEART

 

Take it fast or take it slow
In the end you'll be the last to know
And in between the raindrops run
And never know they fall on everyone 

 

So go, and leave the past behind
And hope for all that you may find
But, oh
You're always the last to know 

 

Hiding from your lonely heart
Hiding from your lonely, lonely heart
Your lonely heart

 

Days will come and years go by
Still you wait in darkness all alone
Is it fear or something missed
Holds you in time, closed tighter than a fist

 

And all the sadness you have known
A bleak existence on your own
 

But, oh
You're always the last to know

Hiding from your lonely heart
Hiding from your lonely, lonely heart
Your lonely heart

 

 

BRIGHT AS DAY

 

Red light in the sky at night
There's a mist around the moon
City towers rise behind the houses, black and white
Smell of autumn blowing in 
From wherever it is the seasons go 

 

Seen an old friend today
It's left me with an opened feeling
It's good to talk of lighter things
Of brighter times about to come

 

Something's lifted off of me
Shrugged it's shoulders, went away
And now the moon shines bright as day

 

I feel as if the dawn will arrive
In a chariot of golden fire and lighting
I'm waiting quiet as 
As the dark goes slowly rolling to the day

 

Something's lifted off of me
Shrugged it's shoulders, went away
And now the moon shines bright as day

 

 

LILY

 

Ah, lily
Lily in the shadow
Hiding from the moon
Lily under glass
You're rising
Rising as the sun sets
Going to your window
Lay your face against the glass 

And sway from side to side in silence
And slowly turning round with nothing but the sound
Of your bare feet on the wooden floor

 

And lily
All your time you're wasting
Will you ever know
When your time is done
Now leaning
Hands flat to the wall
And slowly trace the boundary 
Of an empty room

No word, no warning on the day
You left the stage, quit the play
You closed your eyes and faded away

 

And lily
Come into the moonlight
Here, no one will harm you
You're not very strong
You're dying
And you don't even know it
You're drowning on thin air
You're already gone