Tindersticks

Do you remember my sister? how many mistakes did she make with those never blinking eyes? i couldn't work it out. i swear she could read your mind, your life, the depths of your soul at one glan
Aybe she was stripping herself away, saying

Here i am, this is me
I am yours and everything about me, everything you see...
If only you look hard enough
I never could.
Our life was a pillow-fight. we'd stand there on the quilt, our hands clenched ready. her with her milky teeth, so late for her age, and a stanley knife in her hand. she sliced the tyres on my b
Nd i couldn't forgive her.

She went blind at the age of five. we'd stand at the bedroom window and she'd get me to tell her what i saw. i'd describe the houses opposite, the little patch of grass next to the path, the gat
H its rotten hinges forever wedged open that dad was always going to fix. she'd stand there quiet for a moment. i thought she was trying to develop the images in her own head. then she'd say:


I can see little twinkly stars,
Like christmas tree lights in faraway windows.
Rings of brightly coloured rocks
Floating around orange and mustard planets.
I can see huge tiger striped fishes
Chasing tiny blue and yellow dashes,
All tails and fins and bubbles.
I'd look at the grey house opposite, and close the curtains.
She burned down the house when she was ten. i was away camping with the scouts. the fireman said she'd been smoking in bed - the old story, i thought. the cat and our mum died in the flames, so
Ook us to stay with our aunt in the country. he went back to london to find us a new house. we never saw him again.

On her thirteenth birthday she fell down the well in our aunt's garden and broke her head. she'd been drinking heavily. on her recovery her sight returned, a fluke of nature everyone said. that'
N she said she'd never blink again. i would tell her when she started at me, with her eyes wide and watery, that they reminded me of the well she fell into. she liked this, it made her laugh.

She moved in with a gym teacher when she was fifteen, all muscles he was. he lost his job when it all came out, and couldn't get another one. not in that kind of small town. everybody knew every
Lse's business. my sister would hold her head high, though. she said she was in love. they were together for five years until one day he lost his temper. he hit over the back of the neck with hi
Lworker. she lost the use of the right side of her body. he got three years and was out in fifteen months. we saw him a while later, he was coaching a non-league football team in a cornwall seas
Own. i don't think he recognized her. my sister had put on a lot of weight from being in a chair all the time. she'd get me to stick pins and stub out cigarettes in her right hand. she'd laugh l
Ad because it didn't hurt. her left hand was pretty good though. we'd have arm wrestling matches, i'd have to use both arms and she'd still beat me.

We buried her when she was 32. me and my aunt, the vicar, and the man who dug the hole. she said she didn't want to be cremated and wanted a cheap coffin so the worms could get to her quickly. s
Id she liked the idea of it, though i thought it was because of what happened to the cat, and our mum.

I had shoes full of holes
When you first took me in
The path that you led
Was straight to your bed
There's no cots to sleep in
And you showed me
Who i was running from
As if i had not known all along
Oh my old feet
They know this hard street
Stay like old friends
You're flat on the ground
There's no further down
There's no cots to sleep in
So come in
Leave them outside the door
Tear off the paper
Tear off the carpet
Off the floor
Chorus:

And i know you're hurting
And i can't be there for you
And i know you're hurting
And i can't be there no more
I had shoes full of holes
When you first took me in
I had callouses, not sores
And i'd like to keep them
So go turn those sheets
Get back on the street
There's nothing more i can bring to you
They are scared of the door
Afraid of the floor
Well, i'll go and walk right through
And i'll show you
Who i've been running from
It's the feeling of waking
And it's gone
(chorus)

I had shoes full of holes
When you first took me in
I had callouses, not sores
And i'd like to keep them
Oh now your feet
They know this hard street
They're like old friends
You're flat on the ground
There's no further down
There's no cots to sleep in
So come in
Leave them outside the door
Tear off the paper
Tear off the carpet
Off the floor

(chorus)

I had shoes full of holes
When you first took me in
I had callouses, not sores
And i'd like to keep them
So go turn those sheets
Get back on the street
There's nothing more i can bring to you
They are scared of the door
Afraid of the floor
Well, i'll go and walk right through
And i'll show you
Who i've been running from
It's the feeling of waking
And it's gone

Talk to me darling
Before you throw it away
Look into these eyes now
Look into these eyes
If it's too far to fall
If it still makes you cry
You can't kill this love,
No you can't kill this love
You feel the rush in your arm
You see shadows form
You move forward slowly
To find nothing at all
In a hall of mirrors
You get sick of yourself
Think you can just leave the blade there
Sit and wait...

Chorus:

I know it's scary darling
It comes back from the dead
Climbs on out of the ground
Back into our bed
(repeat chorus)
So talk to me darling
Before you throw it away
Look into these eyes now
Look into these eyes
If it's too far to fall
If it still makes you cry
You can't kill this love,
No you can't kill this love

(chorus)

Erreurs
Je sais que je les porterai toute ma vie
Mes erreurs
Comme de celle
Tu sais laquelle
Quand on a coupé mes cordes
Je me suis envolée ailleurs
On a coupé mes cordes
Et je ne redescendais pas
Mistakes i've made
I know i'll live with them all my life
Mistakes i've made
Like the one
You know the one
And i had my strings cut
I went flying around
And i had my strings cut
I wasn't coming down

These days i'm only happy when i cannot move
These days i'm only happy when i'm tied down
Next to you
Not with my strings cut
When i'm flying around
Not with my strings cut
When i'm not coming down

Mistakes i've made
I know i'll live with them all my life
Mistakes i've made
Like the one
You know the one
And i had my strings cut
I went flying around
And i had my strings cut
I wasn't coming down

A black television screen
Snow white and black
Deep and open
Splashing against the windows
Looking out onto a three-terrace town
There's a garden, grey-green
And cherry blossoms

Get in in the morning (all seasons here, saved for a rainy day)
Climb in beside you (a part of a hole)
Watch the clock for half an hour (an orange and its peel)
It's cold on the outside
There's steam on the windows (a star in a night sky)
And i put myself there all the time (a gentle beauty)
You let me forget again

And i snore on and on
You let me forget again
Forget how it feels to be wrong

If i could show her completely (funny how everything makes you feel low when you're already low)
But it comes so drunkardly now (lying on the bed, the lightbulb banging down)
Fall over on my words (get up, pull the sheet from the window, to see the rain still coming down)
That peace when the door slams (downstairs there's hot coffee, sit down to a cigarette)
Soon shattered [ ? ] (down to the filter, another and down to my last)
I came so well-oiled (another and my last penny)
You let me forget again (4 a.m. 6 feet down. already up with the larks)
And i came stumbling through
You let me forget again (4 a.m. 6 feet down. already up with the larks)
Forget what i always knew

There's no more affairs
No more fooling around
There's no more affairs
Are you going to find out?
If i tremble in your arms
If i sigh through your hair
This last affair
There's no more fooling around
There's no more affairs
Are you going to find out?
If my hand's by my side
If i avoid your stare
This last affair

There's no more affairs
No more fooling around
There's no more affairs
No more fooling around
There's no more affairs
Are you going to find out?

If i tremble in your arms
If i sigh through your hair
This last affair
This place in my mind
Where i know what's going on
But it grows, shifts in time
Leaves me hanging on
And though we were only having fun
It seems such a crime now
Go and play, play in the road
You're gonna get run down, run down

There's no more affairs
No more fooling around
There's no more affairs
Are you going to find out?

It's an impulsive thing
But we caught the other
Climbed into bed with all our previous lovers
It gets crowded in there
There's no more affairs