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1. Anyone’s High Street

Tuesday morning, half past ten 
The deadbeat boys come marching in
One by one, ducks all in a row
Hours to kill, nowhere to go
They get their drinks, each day’s the same
No-one speaks the other’s name
We’ve all seen this pitiful sight
The beer’s like water, but the price is right

   CHORUS
   It’s anyone’s high street; it’s anyone’s town
   The great and the good they blow their trumpets
   Still the walls fall down
   It’s anyone’s high street, it’s anyone’s town

Then each one finds a lonely chair
To rest their legs and soothe their cares
They swill their drinks around the glass
There's no rush gotta make em last
The TV tells them things will change
Point the finger, they're to blame
Plug your ears and kill the sound
We're not levelling up, we're grinding down

   CHORUS

It's enough to make your mother cry
But at least they're warm, at least they're dry
There's plenty more out on the street 
Hustling for a bite to eat
You've been had, you've been framed
Cover your face and hide your shame
Cardboard boxes in the rain

   CHORUS 

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2. A Time of Big Seas

It was a time of big seas and darkening skies
Cold grey mornings and bags under our eyes
The moon was full and blousey the tides they were huge
But we believe in gravity convinced that we'd pull through

It was a time of big seas and frost upon the hedgerows
Bruises and silence tear stains on the table
We often spoke of Ireland, you suggested France
But I couldn't get the lingo too scared to take that chance

The problem with me was that I never learned to sail
I never learned to trust your instincts frightened they might fail
What I thought had kept me floating it was dragging me down
As you went crashing through the torrents 
I looked on from solid ground

It was a time of big seas and occasional healing
The bruises I could cope with, but your words they left me reeling
Then there came the point we could no longer share the blame
Neither could admit what we both wanted was the same

It was a time of big seas and darkening skies
Cold grey mornings and bags under our eyes 

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3. Home

As she climbed the stairs to bed
She said your home is in your head
It's not where you were born 
It's in the clothes that you have on
Maybe it's a point of view, a feeling washing over you
A sorrow hanging off your bones
A longing for a place you can call home

Home is not a stone set in the ground
It's not a name placed on a town
It's not a number on a door 
Somewhere you have been before
It might well be something new
A place you're always headed to
A candle burning in the dark, a bench to lie on in a park
What is home?

If home is where your heart is 
What if your heart’s been broken
A thousand tiny pieces cast adrift upon an ocean
What if your life has been a never-ending trek
You don't where you're headed for
You just know you're not there yet
What is home?

Have you ever had that feeling 
Of being buried underground 
You feel like you are screaming 
Yet no-one hears a sound
Your feet drag in molasses, you try but you can't run
You need a friend to turn to, there isn't anyone
What is home?

Have you ever walked a thousand miles 
With everything you own strapped to your back?
Your future lies in limbo no way forward no way back
They’ll tell you you're not wanted here
Your pleas they fall on deafened ears
You feel you've lived a hundred years
The product of a million tears
What is home?

So I turn off the television and I make my way upstairs 
I climb into a warm bed beside her lying there
She mutters and she mumbles 
As she tumbles in her dreams
And I get the inclination, that this is what it means
What it means, this is home.

I am home.

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4. Every Day Brings Something New
 

Old habits take some breaking
How come it’s two cups of coffee that I’m making?
Every day brings something new
Reminds me how much I’m missing you

I go to the shops, find myself crying
When I get to the checkout with your favourite wine
Every day brings something new
Reminds me how much I’m missing you

Oh sweet heartache, won’t you give me some rest
I’m out here on the limit, way way past my best
I turn on the TV, all I get is bad news
Won’t someone shine a light, shine a light on these blues?

I go out walking down by the river
I see folks talking and laughing together
Every day brings something new
Reminds me how much I’m missing you

Repeat first verse.

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5. Hitch Up the Wrecking Ball

There's gossip in the chambers, there are rumours in the halls
Speculation on the TV no one's answering the calls
They've plundered all the assets stripped everything of worth
Now they're turning on each other 
Spitting hate and slinging dirt

This old house of cards is tumbling 
To the sound of slamming doors
Some are throwing in the towel 
Some have walked across the floor
Me I'm hoping for some sunshine, I'm tired of all this rain
What I'd give to grip the hands of time and turn them back again

   CHORUS
   Swing the hammer, fetch the bulldozers
   Before they steal it all
   Gather round, clear the ground
   Hitch up the wrecking ball

They're spouting in the tabloids, getting ready for the fray
And I don't believe a word, they ain't got nothing new to say
I'm looking for some fresh ideas, 
Someone to give me hope
Why are all those people laughing?
I don't get the joke

   CHORUS

I'm not asking for a handout, all I'm wanting is a chance
If I can't hear the music how am I supposed to dance?
Let's count to ten and start again 
This planet needs a break
Let's build something new and beautiful
For everybody's sake

Now I'm certain we can do this, it's all been done before
Let's put an end to famine, we don't need another war
Wrap your arms around a stranger and open up your heart
We could start a raging fire and you might be the spark

   CHORUS x 2

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6. A Fine One 

He squeezes her hand just a little too tightly
She shivers each time that he smiles
When he cracks a joke she does not take it lightly 
There's menace in there, don't look in his eyes
He sees himself as a fine example
What else could anyone need?
Never far from a kiss, or from clenching a fist
He's a fine one, a fine one indeed 
A fine one a fine one indeed   

Not much more than a child, herself when she met him
Showered with gifts, he was handsome and strong
She had stars in her eyes, she misread his disguise 
Her young heart so easily won 
What she saw as escape was no more than a chain
She was tethered before she could see 
What she mistook for love was a brute in kid gloves
He's a fine one, a fine one indeed 
A fine one a fine one indeed   

His kids love him dearly, they long for affection 
Craving approval, they bask in his praise 
But always they're wary, they know not to trust him
It's a wafer thin line, between laughter and rage 

There are times when he's drinking he'll wail and he'll weep 
He'll curse all the demons that won't let him sleep
He swears that he'll change, if they'd just let him be
He's a fool to himself, but he's not fooling me 

Too soon for her time, her looks they are fading 
The wine and the worry it all takes its toll
And there's many a man grieves to see her heart breaking
There's many a man would have given his all

But for better or worse, a vow or a curse
She needs to, she has to believe 
He's a fine one, a fine one indeed.

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7. Let Love Do the Rest

You know those mornings, when it's hard to leave your bed
You want to dive beneath the duvet 
Pull the sheets over your head
When you daren't put on the radio 
In case you hear the news
Days made just for getting through

Place one foot out in front of the other
Then in time you will discover that you don’t need nothing else
You just do it for yourself, nothings ever lasts
Days like these will pass

   CHORUS
   Pull back the curtains, wash the sleep out of your eyes
   You can look but you might never ever find a reason why
   So catch your breath
   And let love do the rest

You might be thinking that this day is yours alone
But there's someone back at home
That needs help you can't refuse
And you know full well 
There have been times you've needed them
And those days might come again be it a lover or a friend
You have to up and go
These things we all know

   CHORUS x 2

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8. Where E’er the Winds Might Blow

I was running like a mad thing 
Spinning plates high up on canes
Trying to keep them all in motion but I didn't like the game
It was taking everything I had
It sapped the marrow from my bones
Fearful of the prospect of time spent on my own

I did all I could to please them
Their wish was my command
I gave everything that I could give and failed to understand
This life is not a one way street, it needs the ebb and flow
So I set my course for drifting 
Where e’er the winds might blow

You can spend all of your energy just trying to hold on
You can tell yourself that you're to blame
For everything that's wrong
But often it's the stronger soul who chooses to let go
To take the pain and start again
Where e’er the winds might blow

You might find yourself in freefall 
As if your life's been blown apart
But maybe this is not the end, what if this is the start?
And every day you find a way to continue brick by brick
Does this ring true? Could this be you?
Could you imagine it?

Often it's the stronger soul who chooses to let go
To take the pain and start again
Where e’er the winds might blow

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9. A Whole Lotta Nerve

It takes a whole lotta nerve to smile sometimes
When you don't want the cracks to show
It takes a meanness to laugh at the mirror
And not reveal what lies below
So we go pushing and a shoving
Shoving and pushing
Grinding our bones to dust
We'd better find an escape before it's too late
And life takes both of us

   CHORUS
   It takes a whole lotta nerve, yeah a lotta nerve
   Just to be happy
   You gotta walk a lot a miles, yeah a lotta miles
   Just to raise a smile
   It takes a whole lotta nerve, yeah a lotta nerve
   Just to be happy
   When you can't please everyone else
   Just do it for yourself every time

When you know there's a path there somewhere
But you can't climb over the wall
You're feeling like a tightrope walker
Terrified of taking a fall
Spread your arms out wide and trust in your stride
And keep staring straight ahead
When you're aiming for the sun
But your race is run
Then you settle for the moon instead

   CHORUS

There's much more to you than you'll ever know
I've never seen a well so deep
You give so much there's no wonder sometimes
That you're down and dragging your feet
Whatever it takes you got it
Always ready for the fight
It's great to be alive with you by my side
You're a beacon in the darkest night

   CHORUS

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10. I Was Born in Black & White

I was born in black and white
Lazy days and lonely nights
Bath on a Sunday in front of the fire
Second-hand bike on solid tyres

And I was born on a council estate
Rows of houses and loads of mates
We played football at twenty aside
Kick the can and piggy-back rides

We’d walk to school beneath a nuclear threat
Bay of pigs and fighter jets
The reds, the cold war and JFK
It don't feel like much has changed

I was born in a house of pain, so much anger so much shame
There’s voices raised and curtains drawn
You don't get to choose where you are born

And I was born without any ties, wide open fields, wide open skies
Room to wander and room to roam, no-one to care when I got home

I've grown up lucky in love, feet on the ground, blue sky above
I love my kids I love my wife
I do believe it’s turned out alright.

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11. Halfway Round the World
 

I was never told all of the story, always been looking for clues
Everything that I found out, you didn't know I knew
I'm certain you'd have been horrified, 
You covered your scars with shame
But mother dear, oh mother dear, nobody was to blame

I put two and two together, came up with what was it for
I've always had a yearning to go peeking behind locked doors
Oh how times they have moved on, you wouldn't believe the change
But I have a cousin or maybe half a dozen 
And I think l need to explain 

   CHORUS
   I did the test and all of the rest is history so they say
   We joined the dots, found out what was lost 
   And soon I'll be on my way
   For blood runs thicker than water 
   And there's someone I need to meet
   Half way around the world there's another girl 
   And they say that she looks like me

I'll never know all of the answers so I fill in the gaps myself 
I've always been a romancer, I like a good story to tell
I'd like to think that they fell in love, both lonely and far from home
A familiar voice to help fill the void
It was better that being alone
    
   CHORUS

one of this will change the way that we feel 
About the man who brought you up 
He treated you like you were his own, showered you with love
For crying out loud you did him proud you were the apple of his eye
You never questioned who was your father and I'm not going to try
                
   CHORUS

I was never told all of the story, 
Always been looking for clues.

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12. The Ballad of Little Mary
 

Eighteen hours in the Western sea
Sleep little Mary, don’t you cry
The crew of the old Wild Swan and me
Mary dry your eyes
Torpedo took the rudder, but a trawler took us down
Sleep little Mary, don’t you cry
Thirty-one good sailing men were drowned
I’m your Daddy now

   CHORUS
   Oh Mary, don’t you cry
   No matter what the people say I’ll always do the best I can
   Mary let the gossip fly
   I’ll be your old man

People in the village say your mother is a whore
But your Seanair is a hero and I know he saved you both for sure
Never had a mother I could call my own
Saw a woman and a baby and I had to make them both a home

   CHORUS

Six more kids of my own to feed
But you’re the one who will always need me
Round the corner there’s a man with his wife and son
I’ve got seven but he’ll only ever have one

   CHORUS x 2

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