STEVE HACKETT:   Highly Strung

Camino Royale

Walking along the Camino Royale
The Mississippi sighs
Soft in the night when the wind starts to rise
And I'm lifted high around the corner
So I spin
Fast as a ride at the fair
Like a snake that flies through the air
When I cry enough i'm fired from a gun
And thrown through the doors

Only the fool learns to get through

Ahead I see candles floating in pails
Each placed upon a chair
Into a tent where they turn round the bend
Through a kitchen leading to a staircase
Now I stop
Seems that I've been led astray
There are no new answers today
This road is blocked
Only the fool learns to get through

Cell 151

My lucky number is on a prison door
And it's found on everything I wear

And I've got to get away
From 151
Cell 151

Sharing with me is a man who shot his wife
And I'm afraid to fall asleep at night

And it makes me sad
Thinking about the past feeling bad
I know I've been blind
All I need is a space to unwind

But I can't stay
In 151
Cell 151

Hear me when I cry
I can't see the sky
Too much time
I left the world behind

Walking Through Walls
(Written on daily jog past Holland Park, London)

Time improves you or dilutes you
But there is no standing still
If you don't scream nobody hears you
If you won't fight then no-one will

When I'm walking
Walking through walls
Walking through walls

You can breathe under water
You will find it hard at first
Getting used to ritual slaughter
Feeling like your head might burst

Bare your teeth and bang your drum
Get up on your legs and start to run
No no no you can't sit down
No-one's friend and no-one's clown

You can't argue with a mad man
Age of reason's sinking fast
As your arms become steel girders
Crashing through a sheet of glass

Give It Away

A broken heart's not easy to mend
Why must you break it again
When you lose your prize possession
Look around you're no exception

Give it away

Your mind is all made up
When you lose your first love
You'll never feel that way
No-one can take her place

When you lose your self-expression
It's just time to change direction

Give it away

When you start you're lovers and friends
But when you part you're strangers again
Now the time just passes slowly
Time to live for yourself only

You watch the years go by
And she's no longer there
Then one day you will find
That you no longer care

When you lose your prize possession
Look around you're no exception

When you lose your self-expression
It's just time to change direction
There's no need for more protection

Weightless
(From a personal hang-gliding experience. In fact, just
another song about hang-gliding over Rio De Janeiro)


Far in the distance and way up high
Circling slowly beneath the sky
Lone in the air and the world is turning
Looking the eagle straight in the eye

What goes up must come down
And you circle all around
On your own
You're seeing things in a dream
You learn to swing
Over trees
In the clouds
It's a breeze
Blowing around

Leaving the ground and you're feeling weightless
To the sea sparkling in the sun
There's a beach and it's time for landing
But it seems that you've just begun

India Rubber Man

India rubber man
How far can you bend
Way across the sea far and wide
Bending the rules now and then

India rubber man
How long can you extend
The more I stretch the more you ask
Illusion has no end

India rubber man
How high can you ascend
Up and up and then disappear
I'll show you with my magic rope

India rubber man
How far will you go
I really have no plans
I work in a medicine show.

All titles © Stephen Hackett Music Ltd.

+19/07/04