LYRICS.

LYRICS.

SIENNA (2020)

 

You can’t sleep at night, sometimes the cat's fight out on Abbey Street

Sometimes the windows rattle as wind blows through the alleyways

We’d been sat awake for a while till you began to fall asleep

And I watched the skyline outside as it fell into mornings reach

The talk and laughter had ceased, like a last day before war

And what came after was a kind of peace that I’d never felt before

It was a moment immortalized, a portrait in time

Destined to reside within the corners of my mind

Oftentimes in my life when the waters all ran dry

It was but for the thought of you I would have laid down to die

I would of made for the door and chosen to surrender

If you weren’t all that I could remember

                                                                                   

Sienna

 

It was the same year that your navy dress started fraying loose at the seams

Becoming just as worn as your favorite blue jeans

The dawn came in impatiently racing to devour

And we just lay so lazy as we both staved off the hour

The walls were so defenseless against the streaks of the sun

As it poured in unrepentant; seeking anyone

Then you started to waken, like a child from a dream

I touched your arm softly as you rose and tried to leave

And I said settle down my lady you’ve been working too hard

Why don’t we just lay here straight from morning through dark

Instead let’s make plans for whatever, Paris or Vienna

We said we’d have it all don't you remember?

 

                                                                                                  Sienna

 



Copyright @ Scott James 2020 All Rights Reserved

I SAW IT COMING (LIVE AT GREENHILL COFFEE HOUSE, FOREST OF DEAN, 2019)

 

Remember the cold winters on the beach

There was no one else around just you and me

The wind was howling so loud on the sea

Yet we walked without a sound as dogs ran free

 

I suppose that you’re right where you want to be

Free from hapless strain and misery

If we only had more light to mend our keep

I know you would’ve spent more time with me

 

  The wolves were running through night and day

  Blood was burning, hot on the trail

  I saw it coming like helpless prey

  I saw it coming from a mile away

 

I hear you’re faring far and wide

You always said you would but never really tried

They say that you’ve got India and Borneo in sight

And that you’ll be in Singapore tonight

 

I remember it all so clearly

The second I lost all so dear to me

Your famous eyes were drawn and so weary

How’d we get it all so wrong so quickly?

 

  Darkness was falling it was too late

  A hardness was forming all across your face

  I saw it coming when the sky went grey

  I saw it coming from a mile away

 

Do you ever think of me when you’re alone?

When your friends take their leave and have all gone

When the sunset breaks the scene in a blaze of gold

Yet the evening weighs as heavy as a stone

 

The pain is second only to change

Everything I’ve ever known seems strange

The winds have blown; this town’s no longer the same

But I don’t blame you at all for being brave

 

  I just couldn’t stand it, I couldn’t stay

  I couldn’t watch as your smile would fade

  I saw it coming when your eyes would stray

  I saw it coming from a mile away

 



Copyright @ Scott James 2020 All Rights Reserved

CHURCH OF ST. HILAIRE. (BACKSTAGE AT THE 02 ACADEMY, OXFORD 2019)

 

When the town is sleeping, the hour unforgiving

And I can’t rid my thoughts of regret

Then it seems somehow that I have no control wishing

I could re-live them all again

And if there is then, one in particular story

That always seems to leave me shouldering distress

It’s that I had chosen the veil of glory

Over all that you tried to give

And so I was hoping sometime, that maybe I could see you

If it wasn’t too much to ask

At a place where we shared many a night

By the church of St. Hilaire

 

I’ll show how the old tower still stands in vogue

Undamaged since its repair

And when you see it then it means that I’m somewhere close by

Then you should hear the bells

So head where the steeples they shoot up just like spears

Straight through the thick bleak midnight air

Piercing the sky where the dark it is deepest

To bring the weariest of stars to bear

Just be sure to be there won’t you

On the east side of the square

And I promise that I’ll be there to greet you

By the church of St. Hilaire

 

I’ll take you on down to the old marketplace

Where the people there are known to stop and stare

But you know, they don’t mean a thing of it though

It's been a while haven’t seen you there

There’s a lake out there where we could walk alone

A place where nowhere else compares

Where we can forget all the perils of the world

For here you’ll see, we need not care

And I’ll take a hold of your unsteady hand

When it gets steep along the stairs

And I could show you that place where the monks would go

To say their evening prayers

 

Afterward we can travel much further on  

To see the shore wash upon Mont Saint Michel

Where we shall do nothing but yield like dogs

And marvel at its grand spell

With its ramparts they swear cannot fall

Even after a Hundred Year’s War

And its walls that are set to beat a breach

For yet a hundred years more

There are stories there that can really leave you speechless

Your lungs left reaching for the air

And we can begin regardless of reason

By the church of St. Hilaire

 

Do you ever remember the Mortain region?

Where one day the long roads lead?

And how we watched the cancons cascades form

From the waterfall of the west

Do you remember then, how we walked atop?

Along to the chapel of St. Vital

And heard about how the hermit had lived

And how he was called upon to help

Anyway I’m sure that we’ll have much more to tell

Where the doors are all scorched in red

And we can recall all of the time we spent

By the church of St. Hilaire




Copyright @ Scott James 2019 All Rights Reserved

BLUE AIN'T NOTHING BUT A COLOUR. (LIVE AT THE O2 ACADEMY2, LONDON 20th SEPT 2018)

 

They put a gun in my hand

And told me to fire

But I don’t understand

I have no desire

 

They’ve taken my freedom

Forsaken me so

They’re chasing my reason

Like traces of gold

 

They keep me imprisoned

Treat me just like a dog

And they never seem to listen

They just sit back and watch

 

I built empires, the first ever

Faced entire herds of weapons

With no purpose, no power

I furthered their prowess

Been worthless, been capitol

Built churches, built castles

Put my hands unto their mills

Until I dropped and disappeared

And I know that you all saw me

Through cornered eyes ignored me

I begged for bread you scorned me

Then went to bed on a full meal

I fulfilled, I made good

And still my name ain’t came up

Lest they make the mistake of

Excavating what my fate was

They tell me when the day comes

Be ready to embrace it

But I’ve lived my whole life

So you know it won’t change shit

The station it plays Ray Charles

Singing bout’ hard times

Another day done gone away

And who knows better than I

 

Their words are untrue

Try to taint my heart

Their guards instate curfews

Cause’ it ain’t safe after dark

 

They’ve slain so many brothers

In their games of war

And just like a betrayed lover

I can’t take anymore

 

They say things like more or less

Tell me everything’s fine

But there’s one thing you always forget

That it’s my neck on the line

 

Revolted, upholstered

The dearest of notions

They fear it - I know it

As clear as a poet

Been beaten and broken

Tear-gassed and choking

They did that when I’d protest

Their whips cracked when they closed in

But I rose hard, changed foot

Rosa Parks I stayed put

Leaders were slain but

Ideas they can’t touch

They can shoot me put me in chains but

They’d soon see that chains rust

Revolutions I’ve been there 

Cuba, Tiananmen Square

Their movements I’ve outlasted

But truth is everlasting

Been heated and chanted

Then smashed bloody like a blacksmith

Been abandoned, been wiped out

The annals of history - lights out

And every time that I try to fight back

They kill me just like that

 

So I paid them a visit

To give them the truth

I said I’m indignant

And ever so blue

 

Said why you work me so hard?

My feet get so bruised

My children they starve

By the hand of your ruse

 

And they laughed at the news

As I continue to suffer

And they tell me that blue

Ain’t nothing but a colour

 

 

Copyright @ Scott James 2018 All Rights Reserved