The soul cages

Billy was born within sight of the shipyard

First son of a riveter's son

And Billy was raised as the ship grew a shadow

Her great hull would blot out the light of the sun



And six days a week he would watch his poor father

A working man live like a slave

He'd drink every night and he'd dream of a future,

Of money he never would save

And Billy would cry when he thought of the future



Soon came a day when the bottle was broken

They launched a great ship out to sea

He felt he'd been left on a desolate shore

To a future he desperately wanted to flee

What else was there for a riveter's son

A new ship to be built, new work to be done



One day he dreamed of the ship in the world

It would carry his father and he

To a place they would never be found

To a place far away from this town.



Trapped in the cage of the skeleton ship

All the workmen suspended like flies

Caught in the flare of acetylene light

A working man works till the industry dies

And Billy would cry when he thought of the future



Then what they call an industrial accident

Crushed those it couldn't forgive

They brought Billy's father back home in an ambulance

A brass watch, a cheque, maybe three weeks to live,

And what else was there for a riveter's son

A new ship to be built, new work to be done



That night, he dreamed of the ship in the world

It would carry his father and he

To a place they could never be found

To a place far away from this town,

A Newcastle ship without coals

They would sail to the island of souls.

I looked out across

The river today,

I saw a city in the fog and an old church tower

Where the seagulls play.

I saw the sad shire horses walking home

In the sodium light

I saw two priests on the ferry

October geese on a cold winter's night



And all this time, the river flowed

Endlessly to the sea.



Two priests came round our house tonight

One young, one old, to offer prayers for the dying

To serve the final rite,

One to learn, one to teach,

Which way the cold wind blows

Fussing and flapping in priestly black

Like a murder of crows



And all this time, the river flowed

Endlessly to the sea

If I had my way I'd take a boat from the river

And I'd bury the old man,

I'd bury him at sea



Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the earth

Better to be poor than a fat man in the eye of a needle

And as these words were spoken I swear I hear

The old man laughing,

'What good is a used up world, and how could it be

worth having'



And all this time the river flowed

Endlessly like a silent tear

And all this time the river flowed

Father, if Jesus exists,

Then how come he never lived here.



The teacher told us, the Romans built this place

They built a wall and a temple, an edge of the empire

Garrison town,

They lived and they died, they prayed to their gods

But the stone gods did not make a sound

And their empire crumbled, 'til all that was left

Were the stones the workmen found



And all this time the river flowed

In the falling light of a northern sun

If I had my way I'd take a boat from the river

Men go crazy in congregations

But they only get better

One by one

One by one…

A stone's throw from Jerusalem

I walked a lonely mile in the moonlight

And through a million stars were shining

My heart was lost on a distant planet

That whirls around the April moon

Whirling in an arc of sadness

I'm lost without you

I'm lost without you

Though all my kingdoms turn to sand

And fall into the sea

I'm mad about you

I'm mad about you



And from the dark secluded valleys

I heard the ancient songs of sadness

But every step I thought of you

Every footstep only you

And every star a grain of sand

The leavings of a dried up ocean

Tell me, how much longer? How much longer?



They say a city in the desert lies

The vanity of an ancient king

But the city lies in broken pieces

Where the wind howls and the vultures sing

These are the works of man

This is the sum of our ambition

It would make a prison of my life

If you became another's wife

With every prison blown to dust

My enemies walk free

I'm mad about you

I'm mad about you



And I have never in my life

Felt more alone than I do now

Although I claim dominions over all I see

It means nothing to me

There are no vitories

In all our histories, without love



A stone's throw from Jerusalem

I walked a lonely mile in the moonlight

And through a million stars were shining

My heart was lost on a distant planet

That whirls around the April moon

Whirling in an arc of sadness

I'm lost without you I'm lost without you

And though you hold the keys to ruin

Of everything I see

With every prison blown to dust,

My enemies walk free

Though all my kingdoms turn to sand

And fall into the sea

I'm mad about you

I'm mad about you

It was midnight, midnight at noon

Everyone talked in rhyme

Everyone saw the big clock ticking

Nobody knew, nobody knew the time



Elegant debutantes smiled

Everyone fought for dimes

Newspapers screamed for blood

It was the best of times



Every place around the world it seemed the same

Can't hear the rhythm for the drums

Everybody wants to look the other way

When something wicked this way comes



Sometimes they tie a thief to the tree

Sometimes I stare

Sometimes it's me



Everyone told the truth

All that we heard were lies

A pope claimed that he'd been wrong in the past

This was a big surprise



Everyone fell in love

A cardinal's wife was jailed

The government saved a dying planet

When popular icons failed



Every place around the world it seemed the same

Can't hear the rhythm for the drums

Everybody wants to look the other way

When something wicked this way comes



Sometimes they tie a thief to the tree

Sometimes I stare

Sometimes it's me

Sometimes I stare

Sometimes it's me

Under the dog star sail

Over the reefs of moonshine

Under the skies of fall

North, north west, the stones of Faroe



Under the Arctic fire

Over the seas of silence

Hauling on frozen ropes

For all my days remaining

But would north be true?



All colours bleed to red

Asleep on the ocean's bed

Drifting in empty seas

For all my days remaining



But would north be true?

Why should I?

Why should I cry for you?

Dark angels follow me

Over a godless sea

Mountains of endless falling,

For all my days remaining,



What would be true?



Sometimes I see your face,

The stars seem to lose their place

Why must I think of you?

Why must I?

Why should I?

Why should I cry for you?

Why would you want me to?

And what would it mean to say,

That, "I loved you in my fashion"?



What would be true?

Why should I?

Why should I cry for you?

I saw it again this evening

Black sail in a pale yellow sky

And just as before in a moment,

It was gone where the grey gulls fly.



If it happens again I shall worry

That only a strange ship could fly

And my sanity scans the horizon

In the light of the darkening sky.



That night as I walked in my slumber

I waded into the sea strand

And I swam with the moon and her lover

Until I lost sight of the land



I swam till the night became morning

Black sail in a reddening sky

Found myself on the deck of a rolling ship

So far where no grey gulls fly



All around me was silence

As if mocking my frail human hopes

And a question mark hung in the canvas

For the wind that had died in the ropes



I may have slept for an hour

I may have slept for a day

For I woke in a bed of white linen

And the sky was the colour of clay.



At first just a rustle of canvas

And the gentlest breath on my face

But a galloping line of white horses

Said that soon we were in for a race



The gentle sigh turned to a howling

And the grey sky she angered to black

And my anxious eyes searched the horizon

With the gathering sea at my back



Did I see the shade of a sailor

On the bridge through the wheelhouse pane

Held fast to the wheel of the rocking ship

As I squinted my eyes in the rain



For the ship had turned into the wind

Against the storm to brace

And underneath the sailor's hat

I saw my father's face



If a prayer today is spoken

Please offer it for me

When the bridge to heaven is broken

And you're lost on the wild wild sea

Lost on the wild wild sea…

The boy child is locked in the fisherman's yard

There's a bloodless moon where the oceans die

A shoal of nightstars hang fire in the nets

And the chaos of cages where the crayfish lie



Where is the fisherman, where is the goat?

Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?

Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies

Where is the child with his father's eyes?



These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages



He's the king of the ninth world

The twisted son of the fog bells toll

In each and every lobster cage

A tortured human soul



These are the souls of the broken factories

The subject slaves of the broken crown

The dead accounting of old guilty promises

These are the souls of the broken town



These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages



'I have a wager' the brave child spoke

The fisherman laughed, though disturbed at the joke.

'You will drink what I drink but you must equal me

And if the drink leaves me standing,

A soul shall go free'



'I have here a cask of most magical wine

A vintage that blessed every ship in the line

It's wrung from the blood of the sailors who died

Young white body adrift in the tide'



'And what's in it for me my pretty young thing?

Why should I whistle, when the caged bird sings?

If you lose a wager with the king of the sea

You'll spend the rest of forever in the cage with me'



These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages



A body lies open in the fisherman's yard

Like the side of a ship where the iceberg rips

One less soul in the soul cages

One last curse on the fisherman's lips



These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages

These are the soul cages



Swim to the light

Swim to the light



He dreamed of the ship on the sea

It would carry his father and he

To a place they could never be found

To a place far away from this town

A Newcastle ship without coals

They would sail to the island of souls

So high above the world tonight

The angels watch us sleeping

And underneath a bridge of stars

We dream in safety's keeping

But perhaps the dream

Is dreaming us

Soaring with the seagulls

Astride the backs of eagles



When the angels fall

Shadows on the wall

In the thunder's call

Something haunts us all

When the angels fall

When the angels fall



Take your father's cross

Gently from the wall

A shadow still remaining

See the churches fall

In mighty arcs of sound

And all that they're containing

Yet all the ragged souls

Of all the ragged men

Looking for their lost homes

Shuffle to the ruins

From the levelled plain

To search among the tombstones



When the angels fall

Shadows on the wall 

In the thunder's call

Something haunts us all



When the angels fall

When the angels fall

When the angels fall



These are my feet

These are my hands

These are my children

And this is my demand

Bring down the angels

Cast them from my sight

I never want to see

A million suns at midnight



Your hands are empty

The streets are empty

You can't control us

You can't control us anymore



When the angels fall

When the angels fall

When the angels fall

When the angels fall

When the angels fall

When the angels fall