Is This Desire?

Release: 1998

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Angelene
Angelene

My first name, Angelene.
The prettiest mess you’ve ever seen.
Love for money is my sin –
any man calls, I’ll let him in.

Rose is my colour and white.
A pretty mouth and green my eyes.
I see men come and go
but there’ll be one who will collect my soul and come to me.

Two-thousand miles away he walks upon the coast.
Two-thousand miles away – it lays open like a road.

Dear God, life ain’t kind –
people getting born and dying,
but I’ve heard there’s joy untold
laying open on that road in front of me.

My first name, Angeline.
The Sky Lit Up
The Sky Lit Up

I’m walking in the city tonight –
I’m walking in the city at dark –
remembering – remembering light
& thinking of nothing but the shooting stars.
This world tonight is mine.
A world to be remembered in.
I think of a faded photograph –
my hair longer than it’s ever been,

and the sky lit up.

I saw the trees crossing the moon –
I saw the stars in the heaven above
shining on my own beautiful prayer –
shining on my own beautiful love
and I’m dancing with him,
in this city and in this town –
I don’t care what he’s thinking of –
just take the car, just take my hand,

and the sky lit up.
The Wind
The Wind

Catherine liked high places –
high up on the hills –
a place for making noises,
noises like the whales.
Here she built a chapel
with her image on the wall –
and a place where she could rest
and a place where she could wash –
and listen to the wind blow.

She dreamt of children’s voices
and torture on the wheel.
She was patron-saint of nothing
just a woman of the hills,
but she once was a lady
of pleasure, and high-born –
a lady of the city –
but now she sits and moans –
and listens to the wind blow.

I see her in her chapel
high up on the hill.
She must be so lonely –
O mother, can’t we give
a husband to our Catherine?
A handsome one, a dear?
A rich one for the lady –
someone to listen with?
My Beautiful Leah
My Beautiful Leah

Did you see her walking?
Did she come around here sir?
Black hair, brown eyes –
my beautiful Leah.
She was always so needy –
said, I have no-one.
Even as I held her
she went out looking for someone.

She only had nightmares
and her sadness never lifted,
and slowly over the years
her lovely face twisted.
Did she come around here sir?
I swear you would remember –
black hair, brown eyes,
late September,

October,
November,
December…

it never leaves my mind –
the last words she said,
If I don’t find it this time
then I’m better off dead.
A Perfect Day Elise
A Perfect Day Elise

He got lucky one time
hitting with the girl in room 509.
She turned her back on him, facing the frame
and said, Listen Joe, don’t you come here again.

White sun scattered all over the sea –
he could think of nothing but her name, ‘Elise’.
God is the sweat running down his back.
The water soaked her blonde hair black.

It’s a perfect day Elise.

He got burned by the sun –
his face so pale and his hands so worn –
let himself in room 509,
said a prayer, pulled the trigger and cried

It’s a perfect day Elise.
Catherine
Catherine

Catherine de Barra, you’ve murdered my thinking.
I gave you my heart, you left the thing stinking.
I’d break from your spell if it weren’t for my drinking.
The wind bites more bitter with each light of morning.

I envy the road, the ground you tread under.
I envy the wind, your hair riding over.
I envy the pillow your head rests and slumbers.
I envy to murderous envy your lover.

Till the light shines on me
I damn to hell every second you breathe.

I envy the road, the ground you tread under.
I envy the wind, your hair riding over.
I envy the pillow your head rests and slumbers.
I envy to murderous envy your lover.

Till the light shines on me
I damn to hell every second you breathe.

Oh my Catherine –
your eyes smiling
and your mouth singing –
with time I’d have won you.
With wile I’d have won you.
Electric Light
Electric Light

The beauty of her under electric light.
The beauty of her under electric light
tears my heart out every time.

Dawn’s there waiting right outside.
Dawn’s there waiting right outside –
she tears my heart out every time.

Sirens rising across the sky.
Sirens rising across the sky –
tears my heart out every time.
The Garden
The Garden

And he was walking in the garden
and he was walking in the night
and he was singing a sad love song
and he was praying for his life
and the stars came out around him
he was thinking of his sins
and he’s looking at his songbird
and he’s looking at his wings.

There inside the garden
came another with his lips
said, Won’t you come and be my lover?
Let me give you a little kiss,
and he came knelt down before him
and fell upon his knees
said, I will give you gold and mountains
if you stay awhile with me,

and there was trouble taking place.

There inside the garden
they kissed and the sun rose
and he walked a little further
and he found he was alone
and the wind it gathered round him
he was thinking of his sins
he was looking at his songbird
and he was looking at his wings

and there was trouble taking place.
Joy
Joy

Joy was her name.
A life un-wed.
Thirty years old.
Never danced a step.

She would have left these red hills far behind if not for her condition.
I would have left these red hills long ago if not for my condition.

Pitiful Joy.
She looked away
into a hollow sky
came face to face

with her own innocence surrounding her until it never was a question –
innocence so suffocating, now she cannot move, no question.

No hope for Joy.
No hope or faith.
She wanted to go blind,
wanted hope to stay.

I’ve been believing in nothing since I was born, it never was a question.
The River
The River

And they came to the river
and they came from the road
and he wanted the sun
just to call his own
and they walked on the dirt
and they walked from the road
till they came to the river
till they came up close.

Throw your pain in the river
to be washed away slow.

And we walked without words
and we walked with our lives
two silent birds
circled by,

like our pain in the river
to be washed away slow.

And we followed the river
and we followed the road
and we walked through this land
and we called it a home
but he wanted the sun
and I wanted it all
and the white light scattered
and the sun set low,

like our pain in the river
to be washed away slow.
No Girl So Sweet
No Girl So Sweet

In came the girl with the sad eyes
and asked him over again,
Was I too weak? Was I a child?
Can’t we leave here and start again?

I don’t mind if you take me down.
I don’t mind if you break it all.
How much more can you take from me?
How much more can you take from me?

I’d like to take you inside my head.
I’d like to take you inside of me.

You came from heaven, is all he said.
You came from heaven and came here to me, and I love you…

He drove fast through the night
and looked at his angel where she lay
resting her head, and he closed her eyes.
Outside the heat and the summer faded.

Deep in the sky, a storm he’d seen.
Deep in the sky, a storm he’d seen.

There ain’t nothing, no girl so sweet.
They took her from heaven and gave her to me.
Is this Desire?
Is this Desire?

Joseph walked on and on.
The sunset went down and down.
Coldness cooled their desire
and Dawn said, Let’s build a fire.

The sun dressed the trees in green
and Joe said, I feel like a king,
and Dawn’s neck and her feet were bare –
sweetness in her golden hair.

She said, I’m not scared.
He turned to her and smiled –
secrets in his eyes
and the sweetness of desire.

Hour by hour, may we two stand
when we’re dead, between these lands.
The sun set behind his eyes
and Joe said, Is this desire?

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