Sweet surrender on the quaysideYou remember we used to run and hide
In the shadow of cargoes I take you one time
And we're counting all the numbers down to the waterline
Near misses on the dogleap stairwaysFrench kisses in the darkened doorways
A foghorn blowing out wild and coldA policeman shines a light upon my shoulder
Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night
Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights
No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn
Your hands are cold but your lips are warm
She can see him on the jetty where they used to go
She can feel him in the places where the sailors go
When she's walking by the river and the railway line
She can still hear him whisperLet's go down to the waterline
High and dry in the long hot dayLost and lonley every day
Got the flats all around me sky up aboveI need a little water of love
I've been too long lonley and my heart feels pain
Crying out for some soothing rainI believe I have taken enough
I need a little water of loveWater of love deep in the ground
No water here to be foundSome day baby when the river runs free
It'll carry that water of love to meThere's a bird up in a tree sitting up high
Waiting for me to dieIf I don't get some water soon
I'll be dead and gone in the afternoonOnce I had a woman I could call my own
Once I had a woman now my woman is gone
Once there was a river now there's a stone
You know it's evil then you're living alone
You say I'm the greatest bound for gloryWell the word is out and I learned
I got the latest side of the storyYou're pulling out before you get burned
Well your hands are squeezing me down to the boneI never saw you breaking no law
Stands to reason I've got to leave you aloneWhat you taking me for
You're setting me up to put me downYou're making me out to be your clown
You're just setting me up to put me downYou better give it up
Quit your messing aroundYou think I care about your reaction
You think I don't understandAll you wanted was a piece of the action
Now you talk about another man
Your six blade knife can do anything for youAnything you want it to
One blade for breaking my heartOne blade for tearing me apart
Your six blade knife - do anything for you
You can take away my mind like you take away the top of a tin
When you come up from behind and lay it down cold on my skin
Took a stone from my soul when I was lameJust so you could make me tame
You take away my mind like you take away the top of a tin
I'd like to be free of it now - I don't want it no more
I'd like to be free of it now - you know I don't want it no more
Everybody got a knife it can be just what they want it to be
A needle a wife or something that you just can't seeYou know it keeps you strong
Yes and it'll do me wrongYour six blade knife - do anything for you
Southbound again I don't know if I'm going or leaving homeBoy got to be moving
Seems like the boy is bound to roam
Southbound again got no money I've got no place to go
That woman's with her lover boyNever want to see her face no more
Every single time I roll across the rolling River TyneI get the same old feeling
Every time I'm moving down the lineSoutbound again last night I felt like crying
Right now I'm sick of livingBut I'm going to keep on trying
You get a shiver in the darkIt's raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring
You step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Too much competition too many placesBut not too many horns can make that sound
Way on downsouth way on downsouth London town
You check out Guitar George he knows all the chords
Mind he's strictly rhythm he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
And an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a daytime job he's doing alright
He can play honky tonk just like anythingSaving it up for Friday night
With the Sultans with the Sultans of Swing
And a crowd of young boys they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
The don't give a damm about any trumpet playing band
It ain't whet they call rock and rollAnd the Sultans played Creole
And then the man he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
'Thank you goodnight now it's time to go home'
and he makes it fast whith one more thing'We are the Sultans of Swing'
Harry made a bareback rider proud and free upon a horse
And a fine coalminer for the NCB that wasA fallen angel and Jesus on the cross
A skating ballerina you should have seen her do the skater's walz
Some people have got to paint and drawHarry had to work in clay and stone
Like the waves coming to the shoreIt was in his blood and in his bones
Ignored by all the trendy boys in London and in Leeds
He might as well have been making toys or strings of beads
He could not be in the gallery
And then you get an artist says he doesn't want to paint at all
He takes an empty canvas and sticks it on the wall
The birds of feather all the phonies and all of the fakes
While the dealers they get togetherAnd they decide who gets the breaks
And who's going to be in the galleryNo lies he wouldn't compromise
No junk no bits of stringAnd all the lies we subsidise
That just don't mean a thingI've got to say he passed away in obscurity
And now all the vultures are comming down from the tree
So he's going to be in the gallery
Stepping out to Angellucci's for my coffe beans
Checking out the movies and the magazines
Waitress she watches me crossing from the Borocco Bar
I'm getting a pickup for my steel guitarI saw you walking out Shaftesbury Avenue
Excuse me talking I wanna marry youThis is seventh heaven street to me
Don't be so proudYou're just another angel in the crowd
And I'm walking in the wild west endWalking with your wild best friend
And my conductress on the number nineteenShe was a honey
Pink toenails and hands all dirty with moneyGreasy hair easy smile
Made me feel nineteen for a whileAnd I went down to Chinatown
In the backroom it's a man's worldAll the money go down
Duck inside the doorway gotta duck to eatRight now feels alright now
You and me we can't beatAnd a gogo dancing girl yes I saw her
The deejay he say here's Mandy for yaI feel alright to see her
But she's paid to do that stuffShe's dancing high I move on by
The close ups can get roughWhen you're walking in the wild west end
Red sun go down way over dirty townStarlings are sweeping around crazy shoals
A girl is there high heeling across the square
Wind blows around in her hair and the flags upon the poles
Waiting in the crowd to cross at the light
She looks around to find a face she can like
Church bell clinging on trying to get a crowd to Evensong
Nobody cares to depend upon the chime it plays
They're all in the station praying for trainsCongregation late again
It's getting darker all the time these flagpole days
Drunk old soldier he gives her a frightHe's a crazy lion howling for a fight
Strap hanging gunshot soundDoors slamming on the overground
Starlings are tough but the lions are made of stone
Her evening paper is horror tornBut there's hope later for Capricorns
Her lucky stars give her just enough to get her home
The she's reading about a swing to the right
But she's thinking about a stranger in the night
I'm thinking about the lions tonightWhat happend to the lion
04:02
