Memories come flooding back
The bitter pain of disappointment
Of once of having love but now I only feel loss

I'M LIVING ON A KNIFEDGE
AT THE END OF THE LINE
I'M TAKING ALL THE HARD SELL
I'M LOOKING FOR A LIFE LINE

Hey now now
Oh oh oh

When you ain't got no-one in this world
It makes you feel useless
It gives you nothing to live for nothing to die oh no no
For I'm burning up burning up burning up
I'm such a long way from home
I've got it all to give and no-one
To give it to

That's why I'm looking for you
For someone to whom I can prove
That I'm not through no no no no
I'm alive and I need love too

I'M LIVING ON A KNIFEDGE
AT THE END OF THE LINE
I'M TAKING ALL THE HARD SELL
I'M LOOKING FOR A LIFE LINE
ON A KNIFEDGE
I'M LOOKING FOR YOU NOW.
I*M LOOKING FOR YOU

Now now now

And the doors of love seem closed
No matter how hard I try to kick 'em down
It seems to all add up in my mind
Just going round and around and around
I'm fired up fired up fired up
'Cause there's nothing I can do to change it
I've just gotta sit back and wait for my chance to come

That's why I'm looking for you
For someone to whom I can prove
That I'm not through no no no no
I'm alive and that's the truth

I'M LIVING ON A KNIFEDGE
AT THE END OF THE LINE
I'M TAKING ALL THE HARD SELL
I'M LOOKING FOR A LIFE LINE
ON A KNIFEDGE
I'M LOOKING FOR YOU NOW

Memories come flooding back
The bitter pain of disappointment
Of once of having love but now
I only feel loss
There's a pointlessness about it all
I've gotta force that to the back of my mind
Ah the important thing now
Is just I've gotta survive

I'M LIVING ON A KNIGEDGE
I*M ON THE EDGE OF THE LINE
I'M TAKING ALL THE HARD SELL
I'M LOOKING FOR A LIFE LINE I'M LIVING ON A KNIFE EDGE
I'M LIVING AT THE END OF A LINE
I'M TAKING TAKING ALL THE HARD SELL
JUST LOOKING FOR THE LIFE LINE
I'M LIVING ON A KNIFE EDGE
I'M LOOKING FOR YOU NOW

GIVE ME LOVE
GIVE ME HOPE
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

Who will light the fire
That I need to survive
Who will be the life blood
Coursing through my veins

Like a river flowing
That will never change
I need someone
I can depend on

'Cause I'm a man of emotions
Who can't hide the tears
I'm a man of feeling
Who can't hide the pain

I'm alone on the outskirts of town
Where no one knows my name
I'm at the point in my life
Where I need affection

WON'T YOU
GIVE ME LOVE (Give me love)
GIVE ME HOPE (Give me hope)
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

GIVE ME LOVE (Give me love)
GIVE ME HOPE (Give me hope)
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

I NEED IT NOW
I NEED IT NOW

Someone write me a letter
I need to know that I'm still alive
Someone give me a telephone call
I need to hear a human sound
Someone open up a door
And let me out of this place
I've been caged up for oh so long
I don't know if I'm living or dying

SOMEONE BETTER
GIVE ME LOVE (Give me love)
GIVE ME HOPE (Give me hope)
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

GIVE ME LOVE (Give me love)
GIVE ME HOPE (Give me hope)
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

I walk alone across the outskirts of town
I can't control what I'm going through now
Will you light the fire that I need to survive
Will you donate the life blood
coursing through my veins
Will you open up the door & let me out of this place

I've been caged up for oh so long
I don't know if I'm living or dying

WON'T YOU
GIVE ME LOVE (Give me love)
GIVE ME HOPE (Give me hope)
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

GIVE ME LOVE (Give me love)
GIVE ME HOPE (Give me hope)
GIVE ME STRENGTH
GIVE ME SOMEONE
SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR

I'm a lonely man walking lonely streets
I'm soaked to the skin with the pain of my unease
From such a strained existence

The tension in this world keeps me from sleep
I'm hungry and cold
There's a weight hanging over my shoulders
A rain black cloud of doubt

Have I got enough love
Have I got enough hope?
Enough strength to face the world each day?
I know there's an answer somewhere in this night
I see her each time I look in your eyes

I'm walking in a wild place
I am banging on the gates
On the other side of the tracks babe
Hoping that someone's gonna hear me pray

Oh there's a dawn chorus breaking out all over the town

Will you say you want me,
Will I say I want you?
Will you say you love me
When I'm stripped and forced to stand up naked
And will I still love you

The goal that I want can't exist without fire
And you fire the thoughts that realise all my dreams
These are a grown man's tears

I lost all faith, I lost all hope
I started drinking, life became a joke
Something would keep me going.
I didn't know what it was
But I saw it each time I looked in your eyes

I'm walking in a wild place
I am banging on the gates
On the other side of the tracks babe
Hoping that someone's gonna hear me pray

Oh there's a dawn chorus breaking out all over the town

Oh my god
Why do I feel the doubt

You give me something I can't live without
Yet from somewhere there comes an emptiness
A feeling that I can't suppress

Is this the start of the beginning or the point of no return?

There's an answer there
When I look in your eyes

I'm walking in a wild place
I am banging on the gates
On the other side of the tracks babe
Where all my doubts are now laid away away away away
I'm walking in a wild place
I am banging on the gates
On the other side of the tracks babe
Where someone answered my prayers

Oh there's a dawn chorus breaking out all over the town

(That's too sad)

Well I find myself in reverie
'Bout what we might have had
And what might have been
We had something going once
That was such a long, long time ago
It was way back in '76
Our friendship formed of pure innocence
We first met in Mathew Street
Where we heard something that would set us free
A sign stands over a door, it says
"Four lads who shook the world"
In the depths of those heady nights
We would dream of those bright lights
Oh my friend, Oh my friend, Oh my friend

And my friend John, he went away
He made some mistakes
Spent time in Walton jail
And now when I see him we still talk
But there's no light shining in his eyes
And Susie, she was seventeen
And more beauty in this world
I swear you'll never see
I was gonna be king
And she was gonna be queen
But now all she does is hide behind the tears
If there was more sense in this world
And work wasn't so hard to find
You would not be going your way
I would not be going mine
Oh my friend, Oh my friend, Oh my friend

Somewhere tonight out on the street
Somewhere beneath this city's heat
In the eyes of strangers who pass me by
Life is cruel and so unkind
Oh, Oh the SPIRIT OF '76

And Pete has seen his dreams come true
But that don't make him no hero
He's just one of the lucky few
If a man can't change the world these days
I still believe a man can change his own destiny
But the price is high that has got to be paid
For everyone who survives there are many who fail
I've seen my friends caught out in that crossfire

All their dreams and hopes smashed on the funeral pyre
I will never give in until the day I die
Get myself some independence
Carve out a future with my two bare hands
Oh my friend, Oh my friend, Oh my friend

Somewhere tonight out on the street
Somewhere beneath this city's heat
In the eyes of strangers who pass me by
Life is cruel and so unkind
Oh, Oh the SPIRIT OF '76


Mersey lights shine in the distance
Same as they did for us then
Mersey lights shine bright in the distance
Where are you now my friend?

You see some nights when I can't sleep
I still think of you

And all the promises,all our dreams we shared
I know those lights still call to you
I can hear them now
I can hear them now

(Still shining for us)
(Let em shine)

(Can you hear them)
(Can you hear them)

(Lights are still shining)

Somewhere tonight out on the street
Somewhere beneath this city's heat
In the eyes of strangers who pass me by
Life is cruel and so unkind
Oh- Oh
Where's it gone
The SPIRIT OF '76

Hey now!

The iron gates clang in a steel mill town
A man breaks down to that unemployment sound
He takes a last walk down that old coast road
In the dying death throes of all that he knows
The sight of those men walking through the gates
Was like a lame pit pony at the end of its days

(Fire, Fire, Fire)

In a Deeside town eight thousand went down
In a February day in the driving rain
No winners just losers and cuts and bruises
As the picket lines fell, the industry died
There's still one question after all this time
Is a working man bom to live and then die?

Fire Fire Fire.

To build the ships to set the sails
To cross the sea of fools
To be dealt the cards
To play our hand
To win or else to lose
In this cruel world that kicks a man when he's down

(Down to the ground)

(Hey now)

And Lady Luck smiles on the few in this world
And I hope and I pray that she smiles on you
I ain't gonna preach, no I ain't gonna teach
I 'm just gonna sing about the things that I need

A little bit of love, a little bit of hope
A little bit of strength, some fuel for the fire

(Fire Fire Fire)

To build the ships to set the sails
To cross the sea of fools
To be dealt the cards
To play our hand
To win or else to lose
In this cruel world that kicks a man when he's down.

(Down to the ground)

A little bit of love, a little bit of hope
A little bit of strength, some fuel for the fire

(Fire Fire Fire)

To build the ships to set the sails
To cross the sea of fools
To be dealt the cards
To play our hand
To win or else to lose
In this cruel world that kicks a man when he's down.

And all around the world the lights are going down

(One, two, three, four)

My father said "Son, now my life's work is done
There's a future for you, there's a job to be done
Stop fighting the system 'cause the system won't break
Get your hair cut boy and learn from my mistakes"
Now I said to my father "Father give me a break
There's a million more chances that I'm bom to take
I don't want to die like I saw you die
In a dead end job in a dead end way"

How many years must I waste in these black times
How many years must I waste

Today I can't find nothing nowhere
Tomorrow I might find something somewhere
Give me a future now
I need it so badly now
Oh For tomorrow

"These are times of recession" father said unto me
"Don't you leave now my son, you'll break our family"
I said, "I've got ideas that I cannot deny
If I stay I'll be killed by the dreams on my mind."

How many years must I waste in these black times
How many years must I waste

Today I can't find nothing nowhere
Tomorrow I might find something somewhere
Give me a future now
I need it so badly now
Oh for tomorrow

I see the signs of black times everywhere I run
I can't can't escape them
No matter how hard I try
I see these signs of black time everywhere I run
I can't stand another day
I gotta move away
I gotta move away

Today I can't find nothing nowhere
Tomorrow I might find something somewhere
Give me a future now
I need it so badly now
Oh for tomorrow
Oh for tomorrow

All I want is someone to believe in
But who to believe is hard to define
When some say the future is unwritten
Some say the simple things in life are the best
When all is dark and dusty down the tracks
And all paths from exile have roadblocks on all points
Saying "No, No way out of here, go back from where you came from"
And some say when you're down you fight the hardest
Some tighten the belt others let go
Someone once said, if you don't ask you don't receive
Someone showed me that written down in the back of a book

And as I reach out and see my life unfold
I tell you this because I truly believe in it
Ask and you'll receive my friend
Seek and you shall find
Oh won't you help me now.

Only the thunder knows
What drives a man in his darkest throes
Fortune and poverty
They're oh so close, oh so close
ONLY THE THUNDER

And some say everything must have a reason
Some say everything will one day soon come to pass
Some say that's life, that's the way the cards fall
Someone once said the answer's blowin' in the wind
And the word I seek to answer all my questions

Is written down on everything I see
It's in the words written on the subway walls
It's filling the concert halls.

Only the thunder knows
What drives a man in his darkest throes
Fortune and poverty
They're oh so close, oh so close
ONLY THE THUNDER

I know you’re out there in this world my friend
I know I’ll find you, I know I’ll find you
I’ll be searching all night through the thunder and rain
One day I’ll find you, one day I’ll find you

Oh won't you help me now

Only the thunder knows
What drives a man in his darkest throes
Fortune and poverty
They’re oh so close, oh so close
ONLY THE THUNDER
ONLY THE THUNDER

I've swept the floors of all my kings
I've opened doors and let the tourists in
Days of wine and roses
Prime ministers, red robes
These days are gone

I've stood on guard as my Queens were born

I've cut the grass on many English lawns

Of strawberries and ice cream
Of cricket and cold beer

These days
London Tower's burning. Parliament's ablaze
Buckingham Palace has gone
Somewhere in the distance my darling she's a crying
I should be by her side

This is the day the ravens left the tower
This is the day the ravens fly away

Fly away, fly away.
Fly away, fly away.
Fly away

I've stood on the Changing of the Guards
To the Bloody Tower watching the Crown Jewels
A penny for the guy sir?
Will you vote left or right?
These days

London Bridge is falling.
St. Pauls Cathedral bums
The tower blocks are gone
Somewhere in the distance my darlings she's a crying
I should be by her side.

This is the day the ravens left the tower

This is the day the ravens fly away

Fly away, fly away (fly away)
Fly away, fly away (fly away)
Fly away, fly away (fly away)
Fly away, fly away

And if I live to see the dawning of the day
I hope I'm in your arms as we get swept away

Oh darling I will be home soon
Darling I will be home soon

(Ring a ring a roses, a pocket full of posies
Atishoo, Atishoo, we all fall down)

Absolute Reality