Vigil

I don't trust the government, i don't trust alternatives.
It's not that i'm paranoid, it's just thats the way it is.
Every day i hear a little scream inside.
Every day i find it's gettin louder.
I just want to reach out and touch someone,
'cause i find i need a friend in this dark hour.

We the people are gettin' tired of your lies.
We the people now believe that it's time.
We're demanding our rights to the answers.
We'll elect a president to a state of mind.

I trust in conspiracies, in the power of the military.
In this wilderness of mirrors here, not even my speech is free.
Every day i hear a little scream inside.
Everyday i find it's gettin' louder.
I just want to reach out and touch someone.
'cause i find i need a friend in this dark hour.

We the people want it straight for a change.
'cause we the people are gettin of your games.
If you insult us with cheap propaganda,
We'll elect a president to a state of mind.

Every day i hear a little scream inside.
Every day i find it's gettin louder.
I just want to reach out and touch someone,
'cause i find i need a friend in this dark hour.

When we the people have our backs to the wall,
Do we the people then assume control?
When it's too late to stop our own execution,
When we're faced with the final solution,
You can't elect a dream revolution
When you've a bullet in the back of your mind.

It's just a state of mind.

Me and my old lady we got a dream coming true
Me and my old lady just bought some room with a view
We kept our options open it was the only way we could deal
Living life on our own terms we took a house on the hill

But if it all comes tumbling down, a dream get broken
But souls stay sound, we can hold our heads high
And look back with no shame
With a conscience as clear as our ideals and aims
Cos where do you go at the end of the day
When your world comes tumbling down
Can you climb to your feet, wipe the tears from your eye
'cause its only the foot of a hill.

Some people take a mortgage down on memory lane
Hide their heads in the sand and hope their troubles go away
Detach themselves from living a life that they can never afford
Lock their hearts and their spirits behind heavy golden doors

But if it all comes tumbling down, a dream gets broken
But do your souls stay sound, can you hold your heads up
And look back with no shame?
With a conscience as clear as your ideals and aims
Where will you go at the end of the day
When your world comes tumbling down
Can you climb to your feet, wipe the tears from your eye?
Can you climb your way back up the hill?

I've got a reputation of being a man with a gift of words
A romantic poetic type or so they say
But i find it hard to express the way i feel about you
Without getting involved with the old cliches.

In the old cliches, it's the old cliches.

This song's begun so many times but never
In a way that you wont consider to be an old cliche.
I want to say that i need you, i miss you when you're away.
And how it seemed like fate - o here we go - the same old cliches.

It's the same old cliches.

It's not that i'm embarrassed or shy, well, you know me too well
But i want to make this song special in a way that you can tell.
That it's solely for you and nobody else
For my best friend, my lover, when i need help - cliche - cliche?
Everything i want to say to you is wrapped up in an old cliche
I'd waited so long to find you, i'd been through the heartbreak and pain,
But of course you already know that cos you've been throught the same.
That's why i'm trying to say with my deepest sincerity
That's why i'm finding it comes down to the basic simplicities
The best way is with an old cliche
It's simply the best way is with an old cliche
Always the best way is with an old cliche
I'll leave it to the best way, it's an old cliche
I love you.

I heard a battle raging on the other side of the wall
I buried my head in a pillow and tried to ignore it all.
Every night when i hear you i dream of breaking down your door
An avenging knight in shining armour, to rescue you from it all.

From this family business, family business
How long does it stay, family business.
It's nobody's business, this family business,
But tell me how long it remains family business.

When i see you at the supermarket, sunglasses in the shade
Averting your eyes from those staring questions, how were those bruises made?
The children clutch tight to your legs, they've got so much they want to say
But daddy's sitting home, drunk again so they bite their lips and pray
Cos daddy don't like people poking in his private affairs
And if anyone asks from the social, well, you tripped and fell down the stairs.

It's family business, keep it in the family business.
Can you tell me how long it remains family business?
It's nobody's business, this family business.
But tell me how long it should stay family business.

She's waiting at the bus stop at the bottom of the hill
She know's she'll never catch it, she knows she never will.
The kids are all she lives for, she's got nothing left to lose,
Nowhere to escape to, but she knows she's got to move.
Cos when daddy tucks the kids in, it's taking longer every night.

It's family business, keep it in the family business.
Can you tell me how long it reamins family business?
It's nobody's business, this family business.
But tell me how long it should stay family business.

So i become an accessory and i don't have an alibi
To the victim on my doorstep the only way i can justify.

It's family business, family business.
How long do we keep it family business?

Do you still keep paper flowers in the bottom drawer with your belgian lace
Taking them out every year to watch the colors fade away?
Do you still believe in fairy tales, in battlements of shining castles
Safe from the dragons that lie beneath the hill?
Are you still a russian princess rescued by a gypsy dancer
To anyone who'll listen is that a story you tell?
You live a life of fantasy, your diary romantic fiction.

Can't you see it's hard for me, can you see what i am trying to say?
It's a gentleman's excuse me so i'll take on step to the side.
Can you get it in your head i'm tired of dancing?
For every one step forward we're taking two steps back.
Can you get it in your head i'm tired of dancing?

I know you still like old fashioned waltzes
Your reflection in the mirror that you flirt with as you glide across the floor
But if i told you the music's over would you want to hear
That your dance card is empty that there's no-one really there?
Do you still believe in santa claus, that there's a millionaire
Looking at your front door with a key to a life that you'd never understand?
All i have to offer is the love that i have, it's freely given
You'll see its value when you see what i've tried to say.

It's a gentleman's excuse me so i'll take on step to the side.
Can you get it in your head i'm tired of dancing?
For every one step forward i'm taking two steps back.
Can you get it in your head that from this one step forward
There's no turning back?
Can you get it in your head i'm tired of dancing?
We're finished dancing.

You sit and think that everything is coming up roses
But you can't see the weeds that entangle your feet.
You can't see the wood for the trees cos the forest is burning
And you say it's the smoke in your eyes that's making you cry.

They sold you a view from the hill.
They told you that the view from the hill would be
Further than you'd ever seen before.
They sold you a view from the hill.
They sold you a view from the hill.

You were a dancer and a chancer, a poet and a fool
To the royalty of mayhem you were breaking all the rules.
Your decadence outstanding, your hopes flying high.
One eye looking over your shoulder, one on the hill.
You used to say you were scared of heights - you said you got dizzy.
You said you didn't like your feet being to high off the ground,
But they said that up there you'd find the air would be clearer
Promised you more space to move and more room to breath.

They sold you a view from the hill.
They told you that the view from the hill would be
Further than you'd ever seen before.

You were holding out forever - thought they'd never turn your mind.
Your ideals they were higher than you ever could have climbed.
We thought that they couldn't buy you - the price would be too high
That the riches there on offer they just wouldn't turn your eyes.
But your conscience it was locked up in the prisons of your schemes
Your judgement it was blinded by your visions and your dreams
Praying and hoping that the view from the hill
Is wider than you've ever seen before.
For the view from the hill we held our heads so high (smell the roses)
All the loved ones that you lied to are strangers left behind.
All the ones that really mattered well you stood on as you climbed.
You were holding out forever for your fathers and your peers
Holding out for everyone that ever walked in here.
The edge was inside and you rode it all the way.
You were playing the games that you learned yesterday
Hanging around like a fool with a name
You are holding your place for the view, the view from the hill.

They sold you the view from the hill.
Look it all for a view from the hill
And you find the views no further than you've seen before.

They sold you the view from the hill.
And you stood and took it all from the view from the hill.
It's simply coming up roses.