Starsdie
The moon shook and curled up like gentle fire
The ocean glazed and melted wire
Voices buzzed in spiral eyes
Stars dived in blinding skies

Tree cracked and mountain cried
Bridges broke, window sighed
Cells grew up and rivers burst
Sound obscured and sense reversed

Idle mind and severed soul
Silent nerves and begging bowl
Shallow haze to blast a way
Hyper sleep to end the day

Colourflow In Mind
I cross the city backwards
There's a lot of soul to find
A million ways to loose control
I've got colourflow in mind

I find a safer haven
And get myself a line
Feel the urge to climb the walls
I've got colourflow in mind

Turn on, tune in, shut down
It's a way to pass the time
Check out of my braincell again
I've got colourflow in mind

Wake As A Gun
Man wakes up as animal
Hallucinates a fire
Man wakes up as as ghost
Bloodless but inspired

Man wakes up as music
And liberates the calm
Man wakes up as a child
And builds a bridge of charm

And the silence you keep
And I just wanna sleep
Still waiting

Man wakes up as a gun
And doesn't get the joke

Smiling not Smiling
Out of the city the heaven's reflect
A stinging vista of flaming insects
Darkness engulfing islands of light
Scarring the sky and staining the night

Under this mess and idiot prayer
A ticking bomb of bone and thin air
A candle wasting and waxing to nil
Waiting to trigger and blow the big chill

Now I'm inclined only to sleep
Ask me a question the meaning runs deep
Moments are drowning in mantras of rain
Smiling unsmiling there's no need to explain

Even Less 2
Fuck you and your book too
You can have it back
When I'm gone these songs
Will be my tracts

And I had a stupid dream that I could change things
But I'm a martyr to even less

I hate the ground that I have walked upon
Nothing I've done has ever mattered long

In Formaldehyde
Dust in the kitchen
Coffeepot microdots
Now we are coasting
Talking less, breathing stress

Somewhere inside I have died
So I will lie in formaldehyde
People walk through my insides

When I get out of here
I get a plastic vase
And you get to keep the car

Or do you want me to stay ?
The things that I have to say
You've heard it all anyway

Send me to sleep
You always could, fatherhood

Tie up loose ends
Make it stop, forget me not

And would you really mind
If I told you a millionth time
The story of my decline ?

You never seem to take
The time to contemplate
Before you annihilate

Disappear
We made the world believe we didn't care
We gate crashed parties and just stood and stared
We moved to London and stayed in all year
In your shadow I disappear

You made a choice for us to live it up
I've got a voice inside me saying give it up
Let's get out of here, let's find a new career
You be famous, I'll disappear

Disappear - I erase myself again

I need security, you favour chance
I ponder everything, you advance
You bring the world to me and I just sneer
Standing next to you I disappear

Disappear - I erase myself again

Lightbulb Sun
Written by Steven Wilson

The sun is a light bulb, a candle's a treat
The curtains stay closed now, on my little retreat
And I'll only take medicine if it's followed by sweets
A sickly pink liquid that puts me to sleep

My head beats a better way, tomorrow a better day

And I can watch TV, while I'm wrapped up in bed
And mother makes sure that I'm watered and fed
My best friend from school will come over and stare
At me in my bubble of germified air

When I'm asleep the smoke fills me
I feel the heat, my illness leaves me

The sun is a light bulb, a candle's a treat
The curtains stay closed now, on my little retreat
But after a while, the noise from the street
Is making me wish I was back on my feet

How is Your Life Today?
Written by Steven Wilson

The letters pile up in the hallway
Junk mail and bills from the catalogues
And the neighbours have guessed 'cos I've cancelled the milk
And they don't hear your voice through the walls anymore

How is your life today?

I was kissed on the cheek by a cold mouth
While the taxi was waiting like a getaway car
Each second seems like a lifetime
And the cat it's been staring at me all this time

How is your life today?

Four Chords That Made a Million
Written by Steven Wilson

Six of one and half a dozen
Black guitars and plastic blues
Hide behind a wall of nothing
Nothing said and nothing new

4 chords that made a million

You belong there on the cover
You are the emperor in new clothes
A man who thinks he owns the future
Will sell your vacuum with his prose

4 chords that made a million

And then a moron with a cheque book
Will take you out to lunch who knows?
He will tell you you're a saviour
And the he'll drop you like a stone

4 chords that made a million

And I hae tried and I have died
Trying to get through
But in the end I can't defend you

4 chords that made a million

Shemovedon
Written by Steven Wilson

You move in waves
You never retrace
Your newest craze
Straight out of the Face by the bead unread

I'm left behind
Like all the others
Some fall for you
It doesn't make much difference if they do

She changes every time you look
By summer it was all gone - now she's moved on
She called you every other day
So savour it it's all gone - now she's moved on

So for a while
Everything seemed new
Did we connect?
Or was it all just biding time for you?

Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled
Written by Steven Wilson

a) Winding Shot (Summer 1981)

If you fall asleep with me
You can dream and drowse
The minutes turn to hours

We could climb a tree or two
And watch the sun go down
Upon our sleepy town

After all the time I spent with you
Summer went away
And we just weren't the same

It's just you and me alone
Not grown ups but not kids
You kissed me on the lips

b) Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled

The Rest Will FLow
Written by Steven Wilson

I was pretending to be floating strong
But I was sinking into still water

Eyes closed, all of the rest will flow

The out of darkness I found I could still feel
Something good, out of the woods

Eyes closed, all of the rest will flow

One simple thing that I never could see
But now I know, all of the rest will flow

Stay with me my angel I found you
Now I don't feel low, all of the rest will flow

Eyes closed, all of the rest will flow

Hatesong
Written by Steven Wilsonand Colin Edwin

This is a hate song just meant for you
I thought that I'd write it down while I still could
I hope when you hear this you'll want to sue

Oh it's a lonely life in my empty bed
And it's a quite life that leaks from my head
These are the last rites
And the line is dead

Yes, Im hearing voices too
And I'm more cut up than you

Where We Would Be
Written by Steven Wilson

Tied - tied to a time
When we knew that the sun would shine
And you were all smiles
And we could just talk for a while

Of where we would be when the future comes
And how you would paint while I wrote my songs

If I could find you
And tell you about my life
Or maybe just write
And remind you of when we would dream...

Of where we would be when the future comes
And how you would paint while I wrote my songs

Strange how you never become
The person you see when you're young

Russia On Ice
Written by Porcupine Tree

You think I deserve this
You said I was stupid
All my thoughts are like coal
But Russia on ice is burning a hole

Can't stop myself drinking
Can't stop being me
If I call will you come and will you save me?

I see the whole thing come down
I blow it to the ground
Well what the hell did you say?
You said you hate me this way
It's just a matter of time

A drop in the ocean
A significant motion
Nothing melts in this cold
But Russia on ice is burning a hole

Feel So Low
Written by Steven Wilson Porcupine Tree

So see how long I can last
You can pretend that I don't exist for you
And I can laugh about it now
But I hated every minute
I was waiting for your email
And each day that you forgot to call
Just made me feel so low
So low

Christmas 1998
I tried to call
I just couldn't wait
And your message was out of date
So I left my voice on your machine
But you did not respond
OK OK OK you've won
You make me feel so low
So low

Always Never Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

I feel no pain
Cos I'm an island
I will remain
In the deafness of your silence

I love you sometimes
Always Never
He said you're here
Here with me now

I feel no gain
When you're around me
I'll try again
In the darkness you astound me

It's growing cold
I'm growing old
Is this the only way to see the fire?
It's raining...

And the Swallows Dance Above the Sun
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

I'm sitting in the concrete
I'm listening for a heartbeat
I'm sitting in the painting
I promised I'd be waiting
I'm sitting in the window
I'm listening to the wind blow
I'm sitting in an hour glass
I'm waiting for the march past

I'm sitting in the doorway
I'm wishing for a new day
I'm choking in the landscape
I'm cutting through the red tape
I'm sitting in the concrete
I'm listening for a heartbeat

And the joke has crossed the line
And the final word is mine
And the mist has touched the wood
And the words are understood
And the sand has drifted high
And the blind man gave a cry
And the swallows dance above the sun
And the swallows dance above the sun
Yeah

I'm sitting on the ceiling
I had to know the feeling
I'm sitting in the shelter
I'm going down helter skelter
I'm sitting in the concrete
I'm listening for a heartbeat

Every time I turn around
There's another face watching me
Every time I turn around
There's another voice calling me
Every time I turn around
There's another fool reading me
Every time I turn around
There's another silence drowning me

Baby Dream in Cellophane
Written by Steven Wilson

I am - in my pram
Look you - I'm so new I am - sleeping there
Underneath the stairs

If you - wanted to
You'd find - inside my mind
Things so surreal
My lips are sealed

In the rain in cellphane
Pale dogs and demigods
They won't bring me down
The clocks go round, they never stop

I've been - in limousines
I've nseen - inside your dreams
It's raining there
Try not to stare

Dark Matter
Written by Steven Wilson

Inside the vehicle the cold is extreme
Smoke in my throat kicks me out of my dream
I try to relax but its warmer outside
I fail to connect, it's a tragic divide

This has become a full time career
To die young would take only 21 years
Gun down a school or blow up a car
The media circus will make you a star

Dark matter flowing out on to a tape
Is only as loud as the silence it breaks
Most things decay in a matter of days
The product is sold the memory fades

Crushed like a rose
In the river flow
I am I know

Dislocated Day
Written by Steven Wilson

A dislocated day
Peers in to the ether
Counts the stars inside the sky
And flies in to the never

Looped around my eyelids
A thousand shining flecks
Pale against the canvas
Which hangs around my neck

Dislocated day
I will find a way
To make you say
The name of your forgiver

Stood beside an inlet
A starfish leads a dance
It dreams it is a human
And falls into a trance

A hole inside my body
Is wired up to a charge
Chemical imbalance
Tells me who you are

Insects hide the silence
November brings deep rain
Between the flow to freezing
And yesterday's sustain

Don't Hate Me
Written by Steven Wilson

A light snow is falling on London
All sign of the living has gone
The train pulls into the stations
And no-one gets off and no-one gets on

Don't hate me
I'm not special like you
I'm so alone
Don't fight me
I know you'll never care
Can I call you on the telephone, now and then?

One light burns in a window
It guides all the shadows below
Inside the ghost of a parting
And no-one is left, just the cigarette smoke

Even Less
Written by Steven Wilson

A body is washed up on a Norfolk beach
He was a friend that I could not reach
He thought I was cold but I understand
But for the grace of god goes another man

And I may just waste away from doing nothing
But I'm a martyr to even less

A choirboy is buried on the moors
Where we used to go dreaming when we were bored
So some kids are best left to fend for themselves
And others were born to stack shelves

And I may just waste away from doing nothing
But I'm a martyr to even less

Every Home is Wired
Written by Steven Wilson

Modem load and failsafe
Electric teenage dust
Hit the solvent keypad
Start the neural rust

Power on the highway
Data in my head
Surfing on the network
Part of me is dead

Every Home is Wired

Swimming in the circuit
Somebody has expired
This world will be the future

Every home is wired

Fadeaway
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

I sat in the room with a view
The girl in the photograph knew
Can't you see?
Why is she laughing at me?

I stumbled through the dark unaware
The face in the hall isn't there
Tomorrow has gone
Where do the voices come from?

Watching the leaves as they blew
Lost in the room with a view
Climb the walls
You did not know me at all

I fell through a hole in the floor
The audience cried out for more
Fadeaway
It's just another day

Hit heaven far too high.

Footprints
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

I saw her footprints on the sea
I knew her eyes were watching me
So I ventured further in my mind
In the hope that I would find:

"Tangerine Trees and Marmalade Skies and
Plasticine Porters with Looking Glass Ties"

My mind had formed a mental prison
I cried aloud no-one would listen
Then floating through the heavy mist
My vision took a sudden twist

Empty people stood in grey
Children laughing far away
An empty courtyard wept alone
Rain lashed down on darkened stone

A crystal glove points to the door
A threshold I had crossed before
On turning back all I could see
Were her footprints on the sea.

It Will Rain for a Million Years
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

I locked myself inside the capsule
And watched the planet slowly turning blue
The lights before me flashed and sparkled
Holding keys to lives I've wandred through
Circuits buzzing, visions passing
Mysterious and cold upon the screen
Glowing, flowing with the currents
Yet never knowing where I've really been

The floating seeds of timeless travel
Come to rest in planes that don't exist
Visiting worlds of crystal beauty
Offering dreams so very hard to resist
I've seen the past, I've seen the future
Beyond dimension and into empty space
Finding questions, never answers
living time behind another face

Jupiter Island
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

Jupiter Island is full of pleasures
Glowing gardens holding hidden treasures
Luminous flowers of yellows and greens
Glittering petals that have to be seen
Here's your chance don't let it pass you by
Take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is surrounded by oceans
Majestic ballerinas with graceful motions
Magenta forests on a crimson sea
The electric clouds ar as vivid as can be
Scarlet moons in a domino sky
Take my hand and we'll fly

Come on let's fly to Jupiter Island
Just take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is full of mountains
Ruby rivers and sapphire fountains
Chessboard lawns bible black and white
The pink and blue trees are incredibly bright
An orange sunset painted on the sky
Take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is full of people
But you can't see them unless you want to
Lying in the hay on a hot sunny day
Everyone's happy so no-one's gay
Laughter from the children dances way on high
Take my hand and we'll fly

Jupiter Island is full of meadows
Fertile pastures for growing rainbows
Illuminated portraits from strange orchestrations
Lost in a collage of its own creations
Never a chance to wave goodbye
Take my hand and we'll fly

Linton Samuel Dawson
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

Linton Samuel Dawson
Lives in inner space
He hangs around with a circus troupe
Outside the human race

Linton Samuel Dawson
Has just reached 25
Artists travel from outside time
Just to see his rainbow jive

He's bored, He's bored.

Linton Samuel Dawson
Yields his knowledge in a phial
A vivid play on an emerald day
I s experienced in his smile

Linton Samuel Dawson
Visits many open minds
He aids escape to tranquility
From the boredom of mankind

Boredom. From the boredom.
From the boredom of mankind.

The Moon Touches Your Shoulder
Written by Steven Wilson

Springtime is over
Don't head for home
Creep up the ladder
And steal over stone

No time to forget this
World's in your eyes
Sway in the cloud blur
And light up the sky

Cast off the colour
And tune in to black
The moon touches your shoulder
And brings the day back

Nine Cats
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

The butterfly sailed on the breeze
Past a field of barbed wire trees
Where golden dragons chased around
Pampered poppies on the ground
Two silver trout sat way on high
And watched a royal samurai
Plant two black orchids in a box
And strap it to a laughing fox
A minstrel bought a crooked spoon
He gave it to a blue baboon
Who filled it full of virgin snow
And watched it in the afterglow

Fat toad stood in his ballet shoes
Teaching sixteen kangaroos
How to skip across a lake
They found it hard to stay awake
A pharaoh played a merry tune
And watched nine cats dance on the moon
I didn't know what all this meant
I didn't know why I'd been sent.

Nostalgia Factory
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

A Caterpillar crawled to me one day and said
"Oh what the hell goes on inside your swollen head?
I don't believe that you can see as much as I
Now close your eyes and tell me what do you say?"

"I watched nine cats dance on the moon
A flamingo stalked into my room
It bowed its head to me and knelt
To reveal the cards it had dealt
An ace, three jacks, two queens, four kings
Then turned them into burning rings
The flames jumped out and chased four mice
Caught by their tails they turned to ice

A cloud appeared outside my door
And through the window saw four more
And on the back of each cloud sat
Two rainbow smiles in wizard's hats
They threw five clocks down on my bed
The chimes danced out on golden threads
And turned to footprints on my wall
Sequined tears began to fall"

The caterpillar gasped at me and said
"My god if that's what's going on inside your head
You can see so much more than I
I think it's time to turn into a butterfly."

Piano Lessons
Written by Steven Wilson

I remember piano lessons
The hours in freezing rooms
Cruel ears and tiny hands
Destroying timeless tunes

She said there's too much out there
Too much already said
You'd better give up hoping
You're better off in bed

You don't need much to speak of
No class, no wit, no soul
Forget you own agenda
Get ready to be sold

I feel now like Christine Keeler
Sleepwaking in the rain
I didn't mean to lose direction
I didn't want that kind of fame

(Take your hands off my land)

Credit me with some intelligence
(if not just credit me)
I come in value packs of ten
(in five varieties)

And even though I got it all now
My only stupid dream
I see you and me together
And how it should have been

I remember piano lessons
Now everything seems clear
You waiting under streetlights
For dreams to disappear

Pure Narcotic
Written by Steven Wilson

You keep me waiting
You keep me alone in a room full of friends
You keep me hating
You keep me listening to the Bends

No amound of pointless days
Can make this go away

You have me on my knees
You have me listless and deranged
You have me in your pocket
You have me distant and estranged

No narcotics in my brain
Can make this go away

I'm sorry that, I'm sorry that I'm not like you
I worry that I don't act the way you'd like me to

You find me wanting
You find me bloodless but inspired
You find me out
You find me hallucinating fire

No narcotics in my brain
Can make this go away

Have we ever been here before?
Running headlong at the floor
Leave me dreaming on a railway track
Wrap me up and send me back

Radioactive Toy
Written by Steven Wilson

Run through forests on a hot Summer day
Trying to break down walls of numbing pain

Give me the freedom to destroy
Give me radioactive toy

Taste the water from a stream of running death
Eat the apple and cough a dying breath

Feel the sun burning through your black skin
Pour me into a hole, inform my next of kin

Run through graveyards on a dusty Winter day
Spit the dirt out and try to say...

Sever
Written by Steven Wilson

Telepath Carbon trapped under stone
Brother mother pale body is thrown
Only way I know to have fun
Fill up my blood, my veins, my lungs

ESP city - rainy and blue
Burn down this town, I give it to you
Aero shallow, photograph blind
Stage fright, black light, coma divine

No sense of time
Sever tomorrow
Exitless mind - ESP Sever tomorrow

School out invective, losing my voice
Film shredding on in multiple choice
America calls, I must go
Oprah saviour, I feel that low

The Sky Moves Sideways Phase I
Written by Steven Wilson

We lost the skyline
We stepped right off the map
Drifted in to blank space
And let the clocks relapse

We laughed the rain down
Slow burn on the lawn
Ghosts across the lawn
Swallowed up the storm

Sometimes I feel like a fist
Sometimes I am the colour of air
Sometimes it's only afterwards
I find that I'm not there

In the dream dusk
We walked beside the lake
We watched the sky move sideways
And heard the evening break

Slave Called Shiver
Written by Steven Wilson

I need you more than you can know
And if I hurt myself it's just for show
I found a better way to curb the pain
You put a trigger here inside my brain

Mother I need her
I'm falling apart
Mother I need her
And it's only the start

I may be nothing now but I will rise
I'll have more followers than jesus christ

Through all the smashing and crashing cars
I love the ground you walk with all my heart

Sleep of No Dreaming
Written by Steven Wilson

At the age of sixteen
I grew out of hope
I regarded the cosmos
Through a circle of rope
So I thre out my plans
Ran on to the wheel
And emptied my head
Of all childish ideals
The sleep of no feeling
I married the first girl
Who wasn't a man
And smiled as the spiders
Ran all over my hands
Made a good living
By dying it's true
As the world in my TV
Leaked onto my shoes

Small Fish
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

The first thing that I saw as, the fisherman smiled at me
Were empty people dressed in grey, floating out to sea
The rain lashed down in darkness
A lizard blinked an eye
And time stopped in the silence
The small fish gave a cry

The next thing that I saw as, things were fading fast
Were dreams of children's laughter, smouldering to dust
The rain lashed down in darkness
A lizard blinked an eye
And time stopped in the silence
The small fish gave a cry

The last thing that I saw as, my life passed by
Were fields of empty people, laying down to die
The rain lashed down in darkness
A lizard blinked an eye
And time stopped in the silence
To watch the burning sky.

A Smart Kid
Written by Steven Wilson

Stranded here on planet earth
It's not much but it could be worse
Everything's free here, there's no crowds

Winter lasted five long years
No sun will come again I fear
chemical harvest was sown

And I will wait for you
Until the sky is blue
And I will wait for you
What else can I do?

A spaceship from another star
They ask me where all the people are
What can I tell them?

I tell them I'm the only one
There was a war but I must have won
Please take me with you.

Stars Die
Written by Steven Wilson

The moon shook and curled up like gentle fire
The ocean glazed and melted wire
Voices buzzed in spiral eyes
Stars dived in blinding skies

Stars die. Blinding skies

Tree cracked and mountain cried
Bridges broke and windows sighed
Cells grew up and rivers burst
Sound obscured and sense reversed

Idle mind and severed soul
Silent nerves and begging bowls
Shallow haze to blast a way
Hyper sleep to end the day

Stop Swimming
Written by Steven Wilson

This song leaks out onto the pavement
It could be a joke, it could be a statement
The more that I fake it and pretend I don't care
The more you can read in to what isn't there

Maybe it's time to stop swimming
Maybe it's time to find out where I'm at
What I should do and where I should be
But no-one will give me a map

I'll leave now this can't continue
But I forget which door I came through
And I know what the lift can be painfully slow
So I'm happy to leave by the window

Stranger by the Minute
Written by Steven Wilson

Ghosts in the park
Appear just after dark
Killers, children ...
But no-one has a harp
They look like tourists
It makes me want to laugh

Under floorboards
It's hard to fly a kite
Underwater
My cigarette won't light
Standing in the shade
I'mg getting frostbite

Stranger as I seem
I'm getting stranger by the minute
Look in my dreams
They're getting stranger by the minute

When I'm drowning
You drag me up to you
Rings in the water
My only residue
But you're just fiction
And I'm a twisted body

Synesthesia
Written by Steven Wilson

I'm sending you a letter
Because I don't think there's much time
Time to lear the cobwebs
Time to bear the crime

It's only a number
It's only a death
Another soldier died in action
The telegram regrets

I'm lying on a stretcher
They're lyring to my face
There's no-one left to help me
I'm just a waste of space

It's a matter of moments
I'll be dead before you've read
There's blood on the table
And my back is full of lead

This Is No Rehearsal
Written by Steven Wilson

How many children did I bring into this world?
How many did I lose in the shopping arcade?

This is no rehearsal - play it back
and throw things at the screen
This is no rehearsal - somebody
interpret this for me

And still I remember how I dressed him this morning
And then he was gone - stolen, my only one

This Long Silence
Written by Steven Wilson and Alan Duffy

A systematic killer
Returning from Madrid
Murdered Mozart in his garden
Mussolini ran and hid
He was chosen by his elders
Sitting on the shelf
They passed his heart to Satan
Who showered them with wealth

A Purple Haze crawled on the lawn
Where lonely angels played
And Shakespeare wrote of Vietnam
While a president decayed
Hollow laughter from below
Cracked the sky in two
As Manson dance inside the flames
And the yellow changed to blue

Swinging from a length of rope
Ruth Ellis blew a kiss
Merlin spoke to Norma Jean
And granted her a wish
Mark Chapman stared at fantasy
Bare wires burned his brain
As Sergeant Pepper led the band
Playing through the rain

The third eye on the surface
Opens up my mind
Twin visions in production
This long silence you will find

Waiting Phase I
Written by Steven Wilson

Waiting... to be born again

Wanting... the saddest kind of pain
Waiting for the day when I will crawl away

Nothing is what I feel
Waiting... for the drugs to make it real
Waiting... for the day when I will crawl away

Waiting... to be disciplined
Aching... for your nails across my skin
Waiting... for the day when I will crawl away

Up the Downstair
Written by Steven Wilson

Sleep
Until the colours dissolve
Leave the dream to rain-soak forever
In blessed moments
Viewed from trains of half-truths

Monuments burn into moments
Up into other worlds
Other ascensions
Without deep sorrow to endure

Black Sunday of sleep
Open for small angel escapes
Moved by buildings to tears
They week in the rain
Am I at home?
Am I in heaven?
Gentle Architecture