This Strange Engine

(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth)

There was a boy who came into this world at the hands of a holy woman in a holy place
He wore a red coat and walked a bulldog-saw them reflected in the mirror of the lakes
Lived in the shadow of the mountains with the smells of disinfectant, dusty old leather and the polished wood of his bed
No more than a baby feeding swans on the river holding the hands of his mother, and the wax paperbag of yesterdays bread

And his father on the other side of the world
On the ships railings and some far away tide
With the silent dry tear of home thoughts from abroad in his far away eyes
In his far away eyes

The smell of the wax on the wooden floor
Mixture of polish and soap
No children to fear or to play with
Rows of empty hooks for the coats
An upright piano and the boys in the choir
Still remind him of just before he was born
Remind him of just before he was breathing
Strange misty visions of god

Turn the cities into families
Into villages of souls
Hovering in the air while they're sleeping
With their houses invisible
Running as fast as i could run
Send to me the ghosts of christmas
Whispering: "you're the only one"

And ever since i was a boy
I never felt that i belonged
Like everything they did to me
Was an experiment to see
How i would cope with the illusion
In which direction would i jump
Would i do it all the same
As the actors in the game
Or would i spit it back at them
And not get caught up in their rules
And live according to my own
And not be used, and not be used
To find the fundamental truths
It was going to take some time
Thirty five summers down the line
The wisdom of each passing year
Seems to serve only to confuse
Seems to serve only to confuse

Daddy came out the navy and took us away to his dirty gray home town
And he worked down on a coal mine for national service so that he could be around
There was a magical purple in the chrome of the exhaust of his triumph motor bike
And a warmth of oil and metal and the thrill of the hard corner holding tight
From the horizon
Came home from the navy to the mine
From the horizon
To buried alive
Took his dream underground
Buried his treasure in his far away eyes

And one day as the boy lay sleeping in the sunshine of a half remembered afternoon
A cloud of bees with no particular aim, and no brain
Found the boy, decided that his time had come
Came down out of the sky
Stung him in the face
Again and again
Blue pain
Screaming like baptism
Intraveinous, jesus
Like being chosen
Something with no brain
Blue pain from something with no brain
I can't explain
It's happening again

Oh mummy, daddy, will you sit a while with me
Oh mummy, daddy, will you jog my memory
Tell me tall tales of montego bay, table mountain, flying fish, banana spiders, pots of paint
And the sun on the equator
Setting like an ember thrown to deep water
From crimson to black
But coming back
Tomorrow on the horizon

The blue pain
Fades to a point where it doesn't fade
It stayed
Blue
Stirred his red coat heart to this strange engine
This love

This love
This inconvenient, blind, blood-diamond
This puzzle
This love
This blind
Blood-diamond
This puzzle
I don't understand
That knows no faith
And tries and fails
And tries again
Stares at the sea
The night's dark deep
For one last time
And bleeds
And bleeds
And dies for you
And lies
And is to blame
And is ashamed
And is not the same
This truth
This truth
This truth
This truth
And lies
And is to blame
And is ashamed
And is true

(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth)

Staring down from this high window
At the faces in the line
Cold from hours of waiting
How many people can you love?

When you're black and blue with bruises
From collisions on the road
The friction grind of traveling
This is the never ending show

All over the world in eighty days
Head in a blur of information
What kind of a man could live this way
I do what i can
I do ok

But right now
All i want to do is
Get real
If that's allright with you

Woke up last night under the mountains
Driving from zurich to milan
I lay there listening to the echos
Thinking of iceland and japan

So many smiles
So many faces
And my home so far away
I lose some of me in all these places
And i can't help the way i'm changed

All over the world in eighty days
Memories turn like magazine pages
What kind of a man could live this way
I do what i can
But i can't escape it

Right now
All i want to do
Is get real
If that's allright with you

Right now
All i want to do
Somehow
Be myself with you

All over the world in eighty days
Alcohol haze of information
What kind of a man could live this way
As long as i have
And stay the same

Right now
All i want to do is
Get real
If that's allright with you

Right now
All i want to do
Get real
If that's allright with you
For just one night with you
Get real somehow

(music: marillion lyrics: john helmer)

I'm the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part i take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech i make
Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Speak to a leader with the voice of command
And when i talk to god i know he'll understand
I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
I'll speak to the wise with the voice of insanity

I'm the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part i take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech i make

Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Give me an attitude and watch me make it lie
Pass me a microphone
I need to testify

Well i speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience

I'm the man of a thousand ages
You see my face in the stones of the parthenon
You hear my song in the babble of babylon
I'm the man of a thousand riches
Be my guest at the feast of satyricon
You spend the money that my logo's printed on

Well i'll speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience

I stole a fire but it burned up much too soon
I took a leap and i landed on the moon
Look at my life and it looks like cnn
You see something once y'know it's gonna come around again

Well i'll speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to a woman with the fatal charm of a snake
Forgive like a giver and account for all i take

Yes, i speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak like a leader with the voice of power and command
And when i talk to god i know he'll understand

Cause i'm the man of a thousand faces
Yes i'm the man of a thousand faces

I stole a fire but it burned up too much too soon
I took a leap and i landed on the moon..

Voice of command
Voice of a snake
Voice of humanity
Voice of insanity

Voice of command
Voice of a snake
Voice of humanity
Voice of insanity

Voice of command
Voice of obedience
Thousand faces
Thousand races

Cry me a river
Face in the stars
Stones in the parthenon
Babble of babylon

Voice of command
Voice of a snake
Voice of humanity
Voice of insanity

Thousand faces
Thousand races
Cry me a river
Steal a fire

Face in the stars
Stones in the parthenon
Babble of babylon
Landed on the moon

* italic lyrics are from the extended version