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David Sylvian
Nine Horses
David Sylvian Brilliant Trees

Brilliant Trees (1984)

  1. Pulling Punches
  2. The Ink in the Well
  3. Nostalgia
  4. Red Guitar
  5. Weathered Wall
  6. Backwaters
  7. Brilliant Trees

Brilliant Trees

  1. Pulling Punches

    If heaven watches over me
    Sowing seeds back in the soil
    With eyes that see, hands that feel
    Why am I the last to know?

    Sheltered lives spent partially breathing
    Are gathered together under new religion

    Pulling punches, sleeping on our feet
    Pulling punches, I need someone to comfort me
    Raised in summer day of splendour
    Who would've dreamed of love never ending?

    A better world lies in front of me
    A sketch of life in the books I read
    Then as I walk where heaven leads
    Why I am the last to know?

    Simple lives spent partially breathing
    Are gathered together under new religion

    Pulling punches, sleeping on our feet
    Pulling punches, I needed someone to comfort me
    Raised in summer day of splendour
    Who would've dreamed of love never ending?

    Nature feeds this nausea
    Deep inside the heart of me

  2. The Ink in the Well

    The lights of the ashes smoulder through hills and vales
    Nostalgia burns in the hearts of the strongest
    Picasso is painting the ships in the harbour
    The wind and sails
    These are years with a genius for living

    The rope is cut, the rabbit is loose
    (Fire at will in this open season)
    The blood of the poet, the ink in the well
    (It's all written down in this age of reason)

    The animals run through harvested fields of fire
    The bitterness shown on the face of the homeless
    Picasso is painting the flames from the houses
    The sudden rain
    These are years with a genius for living

    The rope has been cut, the rabbit is loose
    (Fire at will in this open season)
    The blood of the poet, the ink in the well
    (It's all written down in this age of reason)

    Fire at will

  3. Nostalgia

    Voices heard in fields of green
    Their joy their calm and luxury
    Are lost within the wanderings of my mind

    I'm cutting branches from the trees
    Shaped by years of memories
    To exorcise their ghosts from inside of me

    The sound of waves in a pool of water
    I'm drowning in my nostalgia

  4. Red Guitar

    I recognise no method of living that I know
    I see only the basic materials I may use

    If you ask me, I may tell you
    It's been this way for years

    I play my red guitar
    It's the devil in the flesh
    It's the iron in my soul

    I understand you're facing problems inside you
    A certain difficulty of being that I know too

    You may ask me why do I fail
    Just when I'm needed

    I play my red guitar
    It's the devil in the flesh
    It's the iron in my soul

    If you ask me, I may tell you
    It's been this way for years

  5. Weathered Wall

    You were someone to believe in
    A place for hope in a changing world
    Feeling every moment
    Every one of the years spent in your arms

    After a lifetime of living
    These soiled hands show no life at all
    Working at all hours
    Never facing the fears here in my heart

    Grieving for the loss of heaven
    Weeping for the loss of heaven
    By the wailing wall

    You were someone to believe in
    Giving life where there was a will to learn
    But it's the nature of living
    To count only the years left in your heart

    Grieving for the loss of heaven
    Weeping for the loss of heaven
    By the wailing wall

  6. Backwaters

    Once again I'm hiding in backwaters
    Running this way and that
    Trying so very hard to please
    (Beware of hidden snares)

    Rushing to bite the hand that feeds me
    Running this way and that
    (There are always other possibilities)

    This way and that

  7. Brilliant Trees

    When you come to me
    I'll question myself again
    Is this grip on life still my own?
    When every step I take
    Leads me so far away
    Every thought should bring me closer home

    And there you stand
    Making my life possible
    Raise my hands up to heaven
    But only you could know

    My whole world stands in front of me
    By the look in your eyes
    By the look in your eyes
    My whole life stretches in front of me
    Reaching up like a flower
    Leading my life back to the soil

    Every plan I've made's
    Lost in the scheme of things
    Within each lesson lies the price to learn
    A reason to believe
    Divorces itself from me
    Every hope I hold lies in my arms

    And there you stand
    Making my life possible
    Raise my hands up to heaven
    But only you could know

    My whole world stands in front of me
    By the look in your eyes
    By the look in your eyes
    My whole life stretches in front of me
    Reaching up like a flower
    Leading my life back to the soil...