The Rhythm Of The Heat
Looking out the
window
I see the red dust clear
High up on the red
rock
Stands the shadow with the spear
The land here is
strong
Strong beneath my feet
it feeds on the blood
it feeds
on the heat
The rhythm is below me
The rhythm of
the heat
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has
control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my
soul
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the
heat
The rhythm of the heat
The rhythm of the
heat
Drawn across the plainland
To the place that is
higher
Drawn into the circle
That dances round the fire
We
spit into out hands
And breathe across the palms
Raising them
up high
Help open to the sun
Self-conscious,
uncertain
I'm showered with the dust
The spirit enters into
me
And I submit to trust
Smash the radio
No
outside voices here
Smash the watch
Cannot tear the
day to shreds
Smash the camera
Cannot steal away the
spirits
The rhythm is around me
The rhythm has
control
The rhythm is inside me
The rhythm has my
soul
San Jacinto
Thick cloud - steam
rising - hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me - buffalo
robe - sage in bundle - run on skin
Outside - cold air - stand,
wait for rising sun
Red paint - eagle feathers - coyote calling -
it has begun
Something moving in - I taste it in my mouth and in
my heart
It feels like dying - slow - letting go of
life
Medicine man lead me up though town - Indian ground -
so far down
Cut up land - each house - a pool - kids wearing
water
wings - drink in cool
Follow dry river bed - watch Scout
and Guides make
pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco - Sit 'n'
Bull steakhouse - white
men dream
A rattle in the old man's
sack say - look at mountain top -
keep climbing up
Way above us
the desert snow - white wind blow
I hold the line - the line
of strength that pulls me through
the fear
San Jacinto - I
hold the line
San Jacinto - the poison bite and darkness take my
sight -
I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen
cheek - think I'm losing
it - getting weaker
I hold the line -
I hold the line
San Jacinto - yellow eagle flies down from the sun
-
from the sun
We will walk - on the land
We will breathe - of the air
We will drink - from the stream
We will live - hold the line
I Have The Touch
The time I like is the rush hour, cos I
like the rush
The pushing of the people - I like it all so
much
Such a mass of motion - do not know where it goes
I move
with the movement and ... I have the touch
I'm waiting for
ignition, I'm looking for a spark
Any chance collision and I light
up in the dark
There you stand before me, all that fur and all
that hair
Oh, do I dare ... I have the touch
Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing I understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Any social occasion,
it's hello, how do you do
All those introductions, I never miss my
cue
So before a question, so before a doubt
My hand moves out
and ... I have the touch
Wanting contact
I'm wanting contact
I'm wanting contact with you
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Give me the thing I understand
Shake those hands, shake those hands
Pull
my chin, stroke my hair, scratch my nose, hug my knees
Try drink,
food, cigarette, tension will not ease
I tap my fingers, fold my
arms, breathe in deep, cross my legs
Shrug my shoulders, stretch
my back - but nothing seems
to please
I need
contact
I need contact
Nothing seems to please
I need contact
The Family And The Fishing
Net
Suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams
Her honey belly pulls the seams
Curves are stiff upon the
hinge
Pale zeros tinge the tiger skin
Moist as
grass, ripe and heavy as the night
The sponge is full, well
out of sight
All around the conversations
Icing on
the warm flesh cake
Light creeps through her secret
tunnels
Sucked into the open spaces
Burning out in
sudden flashes
Draining blood from well-fed faces
Desires form in subtle whispers
Flex the muscles in
denial
Up and down its pristine cage
So the music, so
the trial
Vows of sacrifice, headless chickens
Dance in circles, they the blessed
Man and wife, undressed by
all
Their grafted trunks in heat possessed
Even
as the soft skins tingle
They mingle with the homeless
mother
Who loves the day but lives another
That once
was hers
The worried father, long lost lover
Brushes ashes with his broom
Rehearses jokes to fly and
hover
Bursting over the bride and groom
And the talk goes on
Memories crash on tireless waves
The lifeguards whom the winter saves
Memories crash on tireless waves
The lifeguards whom the winter saves
Silence falls the
guillotine
All the doors are shut
Nervous hands grip
tight the knife
In the darkness, till the cake is cut
Passed around, in little pieces
The body and the flesh
The family and the fishing-net
And another in the mesh
The body and the flesh
Shock The Monkey
Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey
to life
Cover me when I run
Cover me through the
fire
Something knocked me out' the trees
Now I'm on my
knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't
you know when you're going to shock the monkey
Fox the
fox
Rat on the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about
that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any
more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey,
monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey
Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it
but I guess I'm learning
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt,
monkey
Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I
breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey
blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't
you know you're going to shock the monkey
Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking
Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to
life
Lay Your Hands On Me
Sat in
the corner of the Garden Grill, with plastic flowers
on the window
sil
No more miracles, loaves and fishes, been so busy with
the
washing of the dishes
Reaction level's much too high - I
can do without the stimuli
I'm living way beyond my ways and
means, living in the
zone of the inbetweens
I can see the
flashes on the frozen ocean, static charge of
the cold
emotion
Watched on by the distant eyes - watched on by the
silent
hidden spies
But still the warmth flows through me
And I sense you know me well
No luck, no golden chances
No mitigating circumstances now
It's
only common sense
There are no accidents around here
I am willing - lay your hands on me
I am ready - lay your hands on me
I believe - lay your hands on me, over me
Working in gardens, thornless roses, fat men play with
their
garden hoses
Poolside laughter has a cynical bite,
sausage speared by the
cocktail satellite
I walk away from
light and sound, down stairways
leading underground
But still the warmth flows through me
And I sense you know me
well
It's only common sense
There are no accidents
around here
I am willing - lay your hands on me
I am ready - lay your hands on me
I believe - lay your hands on me, over me
over me
Lay your hands on me
Lay your hands on me
Lay your hands on me, over me
Wallflower
6 x 6 - from wall to
wall
Shutters on the windows, no light at all
Damp on the floor
you got damp in the bed
They're trying to get you crazy - get you
out of your head
They feed you scraps and they feed you lies
To
lower your defences, no compromise
Nothing you can do, they day
can be long
You mind is working overtime, you body's not too
strong
Hold on, hold on
They put you in a box so you can't
get heard
Let your spirit stay unbroken, may you not be
deterred
Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with
flesh and bone
They take you out - the light burns your
eyes
To the talking room - it's no surprise
Loaded questions
from clean white coats
Their eyes are all as hidden as their
Hipppocratic Oath
They tell you - how to behave, behave as their
guest
You want to resist them, you do your best
They take you
to your limits, they take you beyond
For all that they are doing
there's no way to respond
Hold on, hold on
They put you in
a box so you can't get heard
Let your spirit stay unbroken, may
you not be deterred
Hold on, you have gambled with your own life
And you face the night alone
While the builders of the cages
Sleep with bullets, bars and stone
They do not see your road to freedom
That you build with
flesh and bone
Though you may disappear, you're
not forgotten here
And I will say to you, I will do what I can
do
You may disappear, you're not forgotten here
And I will
say to you, I will do what I can do
And I will do what I can
do
And I will do what I can do
Kiss Of Life
See me a big woman, big woman look how you dance
See me a big woman, big woman caught in a trance
Dancing on the tabletop, covered up with the Easter
feast
You're dancing for the fishermen, from the very large, right
to the least
Dancing for the slow release, first the boy
and then the beast
Then the beast
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
Burning, burning with the kiss of
life
See me a big woman, big woman so full of life
See me a big woman, big woman going to be my wife
Watching
for the different eyes - they change your face -
they come
inside
Watch the spirits laugh and cry, watch them find a place
to hide
Watch the spirits talk in tongues, watch them take you
for
a ride
Down at the ocean lies a body in the
sand
Big woman sits beside, head in hand
With heat from her
skin and fire from her breath
She blows hard, she blows deep in
the mouth of death
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
Burning, burning with the kiss of life
Tracks 1, 2, 4, 6: © Peter Gabriel Ltd.; tracks 3, 5, 7, 8: © Cliofine Ltd.
+ 24/01/01