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1989 - "Presto" Lyrics


GhostGirl
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Show Don't Tell (5:01)

Chain Lightning (4:33)

The Pass (4:51)

War Paint (5:24)

Scars (4:07)

Presto (5:45)

Superconductor (4:47)

Anagram (for Mongo) (4:00)

Red Tide (4:29)

Hand Over Fist (4:11)

Available Light (5:03)

 

 

Show Don't Tell

 

how many times do you hear it?

it goes on all day long

everyone knows everything

and no one's ever wrong

until later

 

who can you believe?

it's hard to play it safe

but apart from a few good friends

we don't take anything on faith

until later

 

Show Don't Tell

 

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

You've figured out the score

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

I've heard it all before

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

I don't care what you say

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

 

you can twist perceptions

reality won't budge

you can raise objections

I will be the judge

and the jury

 

I'll give it due reflection

watching from the fence

give the jury direction

based on the evidence

I, the jury

 

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Hey - order in the court

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Let's try to keep it short

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Enough of your demands

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Witness take the stand

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

 

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Hey - order in the court

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Let's try to keep it short

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

I don't care what you say

SHOW ME DON'T TELL ME

Let's see exhibit A

 

 

 

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Chain Lightning

 

energy is contagious

enthusiasm spreads

tides respond to lunar gravitation

everything turns in synchronous relation

 

laughter is infectious

excitement goes to my head

winds are stirred by planets in rotation

sparks ignite and spread new information

 

respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate

 

sun dogs fire on the horizon

meteor rain stars across the night

this moment may be brief

but it can be so bright

 

hope is epidemic

optimism spreads

bitterness breeds irritation

ignorance breeds imitation

 

sun dogs fire on the horizon

meteor rain stars across the night

this moment may be brief

but it can be so bright

reflected in another source of light

when the moment dies

the spark still flies

reflected in another pair of eyes

 

dreams are sometimes catching

desire goes to my head

love responds to your invitation

love responds to imagination

 

respond, vibrate, feed back, resonate

 

 

 

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The Pass

 

proud swagger out of the schoolyard

waiting for the world's applause

rebel without a conscience

martyr without a cause

 

static on your frequency

electrical storm in your veins

raging at unreachable glory

straining at invisible chains

 

and now you're trembling on a rocky ledge

staring down into a heartless sea

can't face life on a razor's edge

nothing's what you thought it would be

 

All of us get lost in the darkness

Dreamers learn to steer by the stars

All of us do time in the gutter

Dreamers turn to look at the cars

turn around and turn around and turn around

Turn around and walk the razor's edge

Don't turn your back

And slam the door on me

 

it's not as if this barricade

blocks the only road

it's not as if you're all alone

in wanting to explode

 

someone set a bad example

made surrender seem all right

the act of a noble warrior

who lost the will to fight

 

and now you're trembling on a rocky ledge

staring down into a heartless sea

done with life on a razor's edge

nothing's what you thought it would be

 

no hero in your tragedy

no daring in your escape

no salutes for your surrender

nothing noble in your fate

Christ, what have you done?

 

 

 

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War Paint

 

girl before the mirror

appraises her disguise

child become a mother

tries to fix her eyes

no more of his excuses

it has to be today

she can keep her fantasy

if she can get away

 

paint her name on a one-way street

painted cheeks with angry heat

wounded pride on painted eyes

paint the night with battlecries

 

all puffed up with vanity

we see what we want to see

to the beautiful and the wise

the mirror always lies

 

boy before the mirror

checks his camoflauge

polishes his armor

and the charger in the garage

no more lame excuses

it has to be tonight

he can take the princess

if he can take the fight

 

pound the drums with martial beat

pound the streets with marching feet

wounded pride, distorted eyes

paint the night with battlecries

 

all puffed up with vanity

we see what we want to see

to the powerful and the wise

the mirror always lies

 

boys and girls together

mistake conceit for pride

- ambition for illusion

- dreams for self-delusion

girls and boys together

see what it is we lack

boys and girls together

let's paint the mirror black

paint it black

 

 

 

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Scars

 

I've stood upon my mountaintop

and shouted at the sky

walked above the pavement

with my sense amplified

- I get this feeling

 

all my nerves are naked wires

tender to the touch

sometimes super-sensitive

but who can care too much?

- I get this feeling

 

scars of pleasure

scars of pain

atmospheric changes

make them sensitive again

 

each emotional injury

leaves behind its mark

sometimes they come tumbling out

like shadows in the dark

- I get this feeling

 

when I think about all I have seen

and all I'll never see

when I think about the people

who have opened up to me

- I get this feeling

 

snow falls deep around my house

and holds the winter light

I've heard the lions hunting

in the Serengeti night

- I get this feeling

 

forests turned to factories

and river, sea, and sky

hungry child in the desert

and the flies that cloud her eyes

- I get this feeling

 

Pleasure leaves a fingerprint

As surely as mortal pain

In memories they resonate

And echo back again

 

 

 

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Presto

 

if I could wave my magic wand...

 

I am made from the dust of the stars

and the oceans flow in my veins

here I hide in the heart of the city

like a stranger coming out of the rain

 

the evening plane rises up from the runway

over constellations of light

I look down into a million houses

and wonder what you're doing tonight

 

if I could wave my magic wand

I'd make everything all right

 

I'm not one to believe in magic

But I sometimes have a second-sight

I'm not one with a sense of proportion

When my heart still changes overnight

 

I had a dream of a winter garden

a midnight rendezvous

silver, blue, and frozen silence

what a fool I was for you

 

I had a dream of the open water

I was swimming away out to sea

so deep I could never touch bottom

what a fool I used to be

 

if I could wave my magic wand

I'd set everybody free

 

I'm not one to believe in magic

Though my memory has a second-sight

I'm not one to go pointing my finger

When I radiate more heat than light

 

don't ask me

I'm just improvising

my illusion of careless flight

can't you see

my temperature's rising

I radiate more heat than light

 

don't ask me

I'm just sympathizing

my illusions a harmless flight

can't you see

my temperature's rising

I radiate more heat than light

 

 

 

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Superconductor

 

packaged like a rebel or a hero

target mass appeal

to make an audience feel

he really means it

 

package the illusion of persona

careful to conceal

the fact that she's only too real

she's got to screen it

 

hit you in a soft place

a melody so sweet

a strong and simple beat

that you can dance to

 

Watch his every move

SUPERCONDUCTOR

Orchestrate illusions

SUPERCONDUCTOR

Watch his every move

SUPERCONDUCTOR

Hoping you'll believe

Designing to deceive

That's entertainment

 

he can put a target on the market

bask in your applause

reality withdraws

now he believes it

 

the role becomes the actor

she's addicted to applause

the stage a world because

she never leaves it

 

hit you in a soft place

with sentimental ease

they know the fantasies

that you romance to

 

Watch her every move

SUPERCONDUCTOR

She can manipulate reactions

SUPERCONDUCTOR

Watch her every move

SUPERCONDUCTOR

Pin the donkeys on her tail

Fantasy for sale

That's entertainment...

 

 

 

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Anagram (For Mongo)

 

there's a snake coming out of the darkness

parade from paradise

end the need for eden

chase the dreams of merchandise

 

there is tic and toc in atomic

leaders make a deal

the cosmic is largely comic

a con they couldn't conceal

 

There is no safe seat at the feast

Take your best stab at the beast

The night is turning thin

The saint is turning to sin

 

raise the art to resistance

danger dare to be grand

pride reduced to humble pie

diamonds down to sand

 

take heart from earth and weather

the brightness of new birth

take heart from the harvest

shave the harvest from the earth

 

Reasoning is partly insane

Image just an eyeless game

The night is turning thin

The saint is turning to sin

 

miracles will have their claimers

more will bow to Rome

he and she are in the house

but there's only me at home

 

Rose is a rose of splendor

posed to respond in the end

lonely things like nights,

I find, end finer with a friend

 

I hear in the rate of her heart

A tear in the heat of the art

 

The night turns thin

The saint turns to sin

 

 

 

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Red Tide

 

nature has some new plague

to run in our streets

history some new wrinkle

we are doomed to repeat

fugitives at the bedroom door

lovers pause to find an open store

rain is burning on the forest floor

and the red tide kisses the shore

 

THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM

THIS IS NOT A TEST

 

stay out of the sun

it only burns my skin

sky full of poison

and the atmosphere's too thin

bless the sun, the rain no more

river running like an open sore

black wind falling to the ocean floor

and the red tide washes ashore

 

THIS IS NOT A FALSE ALARM

THIS IS NOT A TEST

Nowhere we can fly away

Nowhere we can rest

The party is disrupted by

An uninvited guest

 

deadline approaches

for the weary land

it used to be something

but we let it run down in our hands

too late for debate, too bad to ignore

quiet rebellion leads to open war

bring a sea-change to the factory floor

as the red tide covers the shore

 

Now's the time to turn the tide

Now's the time to fight

Let us not go gently

To the endless winter night

Now's the time to make the time

While hope is still in sight

Let us not go gently

To the endless winter night

 

 

 

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Hand Over Fist

 

hand over fist

paper around the stone

scissors cut the paper

cut the paper to the bone

hand over fist

paper around the stone

scissors cut the paper

and the rock must stand alone

 

I could disappear into the crowd

but not if I keep my head in the clouds

I could walk away so proud

it's easy enough if you don't laugh too loud

 

I thought I was okay alone

wait for the postman and the telephone

lost in a world of my own

I thought I could run alone

thought I could run through the night alone

 

Hand over hand

Doesn't seem so much

Hand over hand

Is the strength of the common touch

 

you talk as we walk along

you never imagined I could be so wrong

humming your favorite song

you know I've hated that song for so long

 

how can we ever agree?

like the rest of the world

we grow farther apart

I swear you don't listen to me

holding my hand to my heart

holding my fist to my racing heart

 

Take a walk outside myself

In some exotic land

Greet a passing stranger

Feel the strength in his hand

Feel the world expand

 

I feel my spirit resist

But I open up my fist

Lay hand over hand over

Hand over fist

 

 

 

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Available Light

 

the restless wind

has seen all things

in every kind of light

rising with the full moon

to go howling through the night

 

the sleepless wind

has heard all things

between the sea and sky

in the canyons of the city

you can hear the buildings cry

 

oh the wind can carry

all the voices of the sea

oh the wind can carry

all the echoes home to me

 

Run with wind and weather

To the music of the sea

All four winds together

Can't bring the world to me

Chase the wind around the world

I want to look at life - In the available light

 

play of light

a photograph

the way I used to be

some half-forgotten stranger

doesn't mean that much to me

 

trick of light

moving picture

moments caught in flight

make the shadows darker

or the colors shine too bright

 

oh the light can carry

all the visions of the sea

oh the light can carry

all the images to me

 

Run to light from shadow

Sun gives me no rest

Promise offered in the east

Broken in the west

Chase the sun around the world

I want to look at life - In the available light

 

All four winds together

Can't bring the world to me

Shadows hide the play of light

So much I want to see

Chase the light around the world

I want to look at life - In the available light

 

I'll go with the wind

I'll stand in the light

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