FRANK TURNER Positive Songs For Negative People LYRICS
album: "Positive Songs For Negative People" (2015)
The Angel Islington
By the waters of the Thames
I resolve to start again
To wash my feet and cleanse my sins
To lose my cobwebs on the wind
To fix the parts of me I broke
To speak out loud the things I know
I haven't been myself
Wandering Rosebery Avenue
I could only think of you
Facing Samuel Johnson down
Solved to wear down London Town
A glance to take my breath away
And drag me south from Holloway
You and no one else
And the king of a kingdom of mistakes
I've broken all the things that I could break
Fuck the fishing, I will abdicate
And meet you on the corner of the upper street and the city road
And you, of course, the Angel Islington
Ah, come on, a boy could hope
By the waters of the Thames
I resolve to start again
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Get Better
I got me a shovel
And I'm digging a ditch
And I'm going to fight for this four square feet of land like a mean old son of a bitch
I got me a future
I'm not stuck on the past
I got no new tricks, yeah I'm up on bricks but me, I'm a machine and I was built to last
I'm trying to get better because I haven't been my best
She took a plain black marker, started writing on my chest
She drew a line across the middle of my broken heart,
And said: "Come on now, let's fix this mess"
We could get better
Because we're not dead yet
They threw me a whirlwind
And I spat back the sea
I took a battering but I've got thicker skin and the best people I know looking out for me
So I'm taking the high road
My engines running high and fine
May I always see the road rising up to meet me and my enemies defeated in the mirror behind
I'm trying to get better because I haven't been my best
She took a plain black marker, started writing on my chest
She drew a line across the middle of my broken heart,
And said: "Come on now, let's fix this mess"
We could get better
Because we're not dead yet
It's just a knot in the small of your back
You could work it out with your fingers
It's just a tune that got stuck in your head
You could work it out with your fingers
It's just some numbers tangled up in your sums
You could work it out with your fingers
It's just a simple braille mission from the person you miss, a reminder you could always be
A little bit better than this
So try and get better and don't ever accept less
Take a plain black marker and write this on your chest
Draw a line underneath all of this unhappiness
Come on now, let's fix this mess
We could get better
Because we're not dead yet
We could get better
Because we're not dead yet
Writer(s): Francis Edward Turner
Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Pgm Ltd.
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The Next Storm
We had a difficult winter
We had rough few months
When the storms came in off the coast
It felt like they broke everything on us at once
It's easy enough to talk about Blitz spirit
When you're not holding the roof up and knee deep in it
And the pictures and the papers got ruined by the rain
And we wondered if they'd ever get dry again
But I don't want spend the whole of my life indoors
Laying low, waiting on the next storm
But I don't want spend the whole of my life inside
I wanna step out, and face the sunshine
We lost faith in the omens
We lost faith in the gods
We just ended up clutching at the empty rituals
Like gamblers clutching long odds
I don't care what the weatherman is saying
Because the last time that I saw him he was on his needs knees, he was praying
And the preachers and the scientists got soaked just the same
And we wondered if we'd ever get dry again
But I don't want spend the whole of my life indoors
Laying low, waiting on the next storm
But I don't want spend the whole of my life inside
I wanna step out, and face the sunshine
So open the shutters, raise up the mast
Rejoice, rebuild, the storm has passed
Cast off the crutches, cut off the cast
Rejoice, rebuild, the storm has passed [x2]
I'm not gonna live the whole of my life indoors
I'm gonna step out, and face the next storm
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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The Opening Act Of Spring
Oh the birds are ringing in
The opening act of spring
And I have fallen down and I'm so much worse than I have ever been
Oh the season's acting strange
And I know that something has to change
But there is no path I can choose that will not bring somebody pain
Oh, please forgive me for the things that I must do
Oh, though I have hurt so many people it was never my intention to hurt you
Oh the clouds have gathered thick
And in my stomach I feel sick
And I have all this drive and no idea what I should do with it
But they say there is a calm
After the passing of the storm
So I can dream of going back outside when the rain and thunder's done
But oh, please forgive me for the things that I must do
But oh, though I have hurt so many people it was never my intention to hurt you
I know the old folks say
They can tell which way the river's flowing
Tell which way the wind is blowing
Watching careful for the
Signs among the little things
The barking dogs, the birds on wing
I am deaf and blind
And I can't say if I can change
Patterns that have caused you pain
Well, I was raised in suburbs
Sheltered from the sun and rain
Far away from subtle season's change
Oh baby I will read
About the buzzing of the bees
About the grass and snakes and spawning lakes and the different types of trees
And I will find a way
That leads from cruel April into May
And someday soon it will be June and you'll decide to stay
And oh, please forgive me for the things that I have done
On, I will carry your umbrella in the summer
And I'll shade you from the sun
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Glorious You
Can see you hurting beneath your new red dress
Beneath your sharp new shoes and your new tattoos you are directionless
And I know you've been working as hard as you can
To pre-empt the question, the expectation and I understand
So come on now if we all pull together
We can lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Just for a moment or two
From the moment the phone alarm cuts the morning in two
To the moment you close your bedroom door and all that's left is you
There are a thousand auditions you didn't quite get through
So many masks to wear, so much weight to bear but you were only ever you
You were glorious you, you were glorious
So come on now if we all pull together
We can lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Just for a moment or two
Come on now if we all pull together
We can lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Just for a moment or two
Be glorious you, glorious you, glorious you
With your mixed-up metaphors, your messed-up makeup
Glorious you
With your tongue-tied tragedy, your too-small t-shirt
Glorious you
So don't you worry all things must end
There are sunlit uplands around the river bend
Come on now if we all pull together
We can lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Just for a moment or two
Come on now if we all pull together
We can lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Lift up the weight of the world from your shoulders
Just for a moment or two and be glorious you
Glorious you, glorious you
You were glorious you
You were glorious you
You were glorious you
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
***************************************
Mittens
Wandering lonely through the snow streets of New York
I stumbled on a thrift store that sold postcards by the yard
I bought a mile and shipped them home so I could read
Ten thousand ten-word tragedies, the lives these strangers lead
To remind myself the things I need
Cause I once wrote you love songs
You never fell in love
We used to fit like mittens, but never like gloves
You left me feeling like
We'd never really been in love
Huddled home down in my place, in Holloway
I wondered if you even heard those songs I used to play
I wrote them as a gift for you and in return
You gave a pair of hand knit mittens to keep my fingers warm
So I could play more ignored love songs
I once wrote you love songs
You never fell in love
We used to fit like mittens, but never like gloves
And I once wrote you postcards
You never wrote back
You promised me you would and I'm still waiting for them
You left me feeling like
We'd never really been in love
Don't wanna fit like mittens
I wanna fit like gloves
Wanna fit like gloves
I once wrote you love songs
You never fell in love
We used to fit like mittens but never like gloves
Never like gloves
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Out Of Breath
One, two, three, four
Oh, somewhere down the road, there's a ditch where there's a hole
Which marks the spot where you will lie when you are cold
And you can run, you can hide, you can bitch and you can whine
But you will never save your life
When you meet death
Be out of breath
And say you're pleased to see him 'cos you're tired
Now you can go down with the wreck or you can scurry from the deck
But there's no way to save your skinny little neck
And you can pray to who you please, and you can fall down on your knees
But your feet will still get wet
When you meet death
Be out of breath
And say you're pleased to see him 'cos you're tired
Of wondering how much time you've got left
Of worrying that you're no good at chess
It's your funeral anyway
Choose your game
Then let's play
When you meet death
Be out of breath
And say you're pleased to see him
In fact you're waiting for this meeting
And quite frankly his timekeeping leaves a lot to be desired
So tell that [?] bastard that he's fired
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Demons
Yeah!
If life gives you demons, make a deal
Meet them at the crossroad, cross your fingers, and sign a seal
Hey philosophers, make way
Pascal never had too much stomach for gambling anyway
At this truth we have arrived:
God damn, it's great to be alive
If life gives you demons, make demands
Take them to the mountain tops, show them the valley, then take a chance
Hey physicians, heal thyself
I'll make my own way down to Hell without your help
At this truth we have arrived:
God damn, it's great to be alive
Doesn't it just break your heart to know
That none of this will last
You're not delivering a perfect body to the grave
Time is not there to be saved
Life is a holiday
A moment stolen from [?]
Before the demons drag you back
You won't get everything you wanted
Dry mouth, taste of blood
The iron on the tongue brings up something ancient, something before the flood
Dust down, stand tall
Life gave me demons, but I made friends with the devil, so I'm invincible
At this truth we have arrived:
God damn, it's great to be alive
You're not delivering a perfect body to the grave
Time is not there to be saved
Life is a holiday
A moment stolen from [?]
Before the demons drag you back
You won't get everything you wanted
But you will never be defeated
You won't get everything you wanted
But you will never be defeated
You won't get everything you wanted
But you will never be defeated
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Josephine
I heard the name Josephine
It came to me in dream
And I don't usually set too much store by the things these things might mean
It was spoken with seriousness
More of a whisper than a scream
So now, I'm waiting on some Josephine
To show herself to me
I could have been anyone
I imagined I could be
I just needed somebody
To show me how to be
I could have been Napoleon
Could have been Beethoven
Could have been anyone, but uncomfortable me
So come now Josephine, show yourself to me
So come on now Josephine, give me what I need
I don't like to be needy but needs must
I can't stand being the person that I've been
I'm an impending car crash
I'm the first one on the scene
I'm a defeated commander
I'm a tone-deaf composer
I'm a strange name whispered in a dream
I could have been anyone
I imagined I could be
I just needed somebody
To show me how to be
I could have been Napoleon
Could have been Beethoven
Could have been anyone, but uncomfortable me
So come now Josephine, show yourself to me
So come on now Josephine
Let's pretend it's Halloween
You come as a car crash
I'll go as James Dean
I'm Napoloeon on Elba
And you're a hundred days in 1815
I wrote all of these letters to my immortal beloved
And you're the only one who's ever gonna know what they mean
Come on now Josephine
Wake me from my sleep
Could have been anyone
I ended up being me
I could have been wide awake
Could have been what you need
I wish that I was anyone except for just me
So come on now Josephine
Show yourself to me
Come on now Josephine
Show yourself to me
Come on now Josephine
Show yourself to me
Come on now Josephine
Show yourself to me
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Love Forty Down
I'm love forty down
As the match slips away from me, I need the crowd to pray for me
To turn this one around
I've worked far too hard to be this far from victory
I'm battered and I'm bruised
And I can't afford to lose
I'm love forty down
As the day slips away from me, I have to say that honestly
I still haven't found
The person who can take the strain of deuce and fine it's back again
So, I'll do this on my own
There's no one waiting when I'm done
In the time it takes for the serve to rise and fall
We'll find out if I am man or mouse, if I am set to stand or fall
I'm love forty down
And I can well recall the day my father reached the ancient age
That's now baring down
Through the barrel of my fourth decade and honestly I am afraid
I'm long in the tooth
But I'm ready for the truth
In the time it takes for the serve to rise and fall
We'll find out if I am man or mouse, if I am set to stand or fall
In the time it takes for the umpire to flip his coin
We'll find out if I can take the strain if I can make it through break point
I'm love forty down
I'm gonna turn this one around
I'm love forty down
I'm gonna turn this one around
Break point (I'm love forty down)
Break point (I'm love forty down)
I'm gonna turn this one around
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Silent Key
On the 28th of January 1986
Christa McAuliffe gazed in horror as the O-rings failed
And she died, and she died, and she died
For the next agonising two minutes and forty five seconds
She called out the truth on a broken radio
"I'm alive, I'm alive, I'm alive!"
It came as some surprise to realise that as she lost everything
The world was revealing a transmission so real that she understood everything
You're still alive, you're still alive
Four thousand nautical miles as the crow flies away
A home made HAM radio
In the loft of a Hampshire family home
Came alive, came alive, came alive
And so the poor old amateur operator thus became the only person to hear
Christa's last desperate communique
"We''re alive, we're alive, we're alive"
It came as some surprise to realise what he didn't catch everything
The world was revealing a transmission so real that he understood everything
You're still alive
And Christa said
"The darkness up above
Led me on like unrequited love
While all the things I need
Were down here in the deep blue sea
The darkness up above
Led me on like unrequited love
While all the things I need
Were down here in the deep blue sea
The darkness up above
Led me on like unrequited love
While all the things I need
Were down here in the deep blue sea
All those years, all they are
The truth on my radio
So now I keep a global silence for my silent key
My silent key
My silent key
My silent key
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Song For Josh
So this song's for Josh
Why didn't you call?
My phone's always on
Why didn't you call?
Before you got gone
And I can't say for certain what I would have said
But now I am helplessly silent instead
There's a hole in my heart and in my head
Why didn't you call?
Why didn't you say something, on the last time we met?
Why didn't you say something? There's always hope left
And I can't say for certain what I would have done
But I can't do anything now that you're gone
And it kills me to think that for a second you felt alone
Now you can measure the mark of a man on the day that he died
In the mixture of memory and wreckage that he leaves behind
And I know you were carrying too much weight on the evening when you slipped away
But I loved you like a brother, man, and I never really had a chance to say
So at half past nine each evening, I'll think of my friend
And at half past nine, I'll remember you were better than your end
Cause I too have stood up on that ledge, but I know you'd have pulled me back down from the edge
And I let you down in your darkness, I wasn't there
So I'll remember you making a hole through the kids in the crowd
And I remember you lifting me up, each time I fell down
And I'll glance at the barrier when I'm watching the band
And I'll expect to see you there stood on the foot stand
But I guess I will see someone else
That's when I'll whisper to myself
Brother I miss you like hell...
Thanks very much
That's for Josh Burdette
Let's hear it for Josh, come on!
Writer(s): Frank Turner
Copyright: BMG Rights Management (Uk) Ltd.
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Old Flames
(duet with Billy the Kid)
[Frank Turner:]
I went down to London Town to stay for the weekend
I'd been to long out on the road, I needed to catch up with my friends
But I didn't expect to see you there and I didn't expect to care
And I said, oh honey if I had known,
How the weekend would go,
Just how low I could go,
I would've stayed away
[Billy the Kid:]
I went back to town
Pack my things to say goodbye
But I got talked in to going for a drink and one drink became a night
If I'd know that you were 'round, I wouldn't have gone down
And I said, oh honey if I had seen,
Where this weekend would lead,
And seen the wreckage I'd leave,
I would've stayed away
[Frank Turner:]
And I always knew it was a bad idea
And I always knew I should just stay clear
I slipped up on a couple of months and a couple of beers
I'd like to fall in love again
But we're no good at being friends
It's just sex with the ex and the morning regrets
But do you remember
Back when we were young and unformed
It was all so much easier to give of yourself to fall in love, yeah
But as we get older and set in our ways
We hide in our hearts
But on nights like these
It can seem so much simpler
To simply forget why we ever grew apart
[Billy the Kid:]
I don't really know what you were thinking
Do you even think at all?
[?] the way that we fall into bed
I don't really know what I was drinking
I don't usually drink at all
I woke up with the hotel bill and an ache in my head
[Frank Turner & Billy the Kid:]
I'd like to fall in love again
We're no good at being friends
It's just sex with the ex and the morning regrets
And oh, honey,
It won't be the same
Oh, honey, we'll never change
We're drawn back into the flame
And we both, [?]
