album

Richard & Linda Thompson's
Shoot Out the Lights

// lyrics [story]
1. Don't Renege on Our Love [Ju/JC]
2. Walking on a Wire [JC/Ch]
3. Man in Need [Jo/La]
4. Just the Motion [Jo/JC]
5. Shoot Out the Lights [Ju/Jo, Ju/Ch]
6. Back Street Slide [Jo/Ch]
7. Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?* [JC/La]
8. Wall of Death [Ju/La, Ch/La]

All songs written by Richard Thompson, except *, written by Richard & Linda Thompson.

 

1. Don't Renege On Our Love

Remember when we were hand in hand
Remember, we sealed it with a golden band
Now your eyes don't meet mine
You've got a pulse like fever
Do I take you for a lover
Or just a deceiver?
Simple is simple, Plain is plain
If you leave me now, You won't come back again
When the game is up
Don't renege on our love, No,
Don't renege on our love, No
Don't renege on our love
Don't renege on our love

Give me just an ounce of sympathy
Give me my chains of liberty
There's a rope that binds us
And I don't want to break it
If love is a healing
Why should we forsake it
Hunger is hunger, Need is need
Am I just another mouth to feed
When the game is up
Don't renege on our love

When my heart breaks
It breaks like the weather
If you leave me now
It'll thunder forever
Oh don't give it up
Don't renege on our love.

 

2. Walking on A Wire
 
I hand you my ball and chain
You just hand me that Same old refrain
I'm walking on a wire
I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling---

I wish I could please you tonight
But my medicine just won't come right
I'm walking on a wire
I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling---

Too many steps to take
Too many spells to break
Too many nights awake and no one else
This grindstone's wearing me
Your claws are tearing me
Don't use me endlessly
It's too long, Too long to myself

Where's the justice, and where's the sense
When all the pain's on my side of the fence
I'm walking on a wire
I'm walking on a wire
And I'm falling---


3. Man In Need

I packed my rags went down the hill
Left my dependents A-lying still
Just as the dawn was rising up
I was making good speed
I left a letter lying on the bed
From a man in need it read
It's so hard to find
It's so hard to find
Who's going to cure
The heart of a man in need?

All of my friends don't comprehend me
Their kind of style it just offends me
I want to take them
I want to shake them
'Til they pay me some heed
You've got to ride in one direction
Until you find the right connection

It's so hard to find
It's so hard to find
Who's going to cure
The heart of a man in need?

Who's going to give you Real happiness?
Who's going to give you contentedness?
Who's going to lead you?
Who's going to feed you?
And cut you free?
Well I've sailed every ship in the sea
But I traveled this world in misery

It's so hard to find
It's so hard to find
Who's going to cure
The heart of a man in need?

Who's going to shoe your feet?
Who's going to pay your rent?
Who's going to stand by you?
Who's going to cure the heart of a man in need?
Of A Man in Need?

 

4. Just The Motion

When you're rocked on the ocean
Rocked up and down don't worry
When you're spinning and turning
Round and round don't worry
You're just feeling seasick
You're just feeling weak
Your mind is confused
And you can't seem to speak
It's just the motion
It's just the motion

When the landlord is knocking
And your job is losing don't worry
When the baby needs rocking
And your friends are confusing don't worry
You're just feeling seasick
You're just feeling weak
Your mind is confised
And you can't seem to speak
It's just the motion

Blown by a hundred winds
Knocked down a hundred times
Rescued and carried along
Beaten and half-dead and gone
And it's only the pain that's keeping you sane
And gives you the mind to travel on

Oh the motion won't leave you
Won't let you remain Don't worry
It's a restless wind
And a sleepless rain, Don't worry
Under the ocean
At the bottom of the sea
You can't hear the storm
It's as peaceful as can be
It's just the motion

 

5. Shoot out the Lights

In the Dark who can see his face?
In the Dark, who can reach him?
He hides like a child
He hides like a child
Keeps his finger on the trigger
He can't stand the day
Shoot out the lights
Shoot out the lights
 
Keep the blind down on the window
Keep the pain on the inside
Just watching the dark
Just watching the dark
And he might laugh but you won't see him
As he thunders through the night
Shoot out the Lights
Shoot out the Lights
 
In the darkness the shadows move
In the darkness the game is real
Real as a gun
Real as a gun
As he watches the streets of the city
And he moves through the night
Shoot out the lights
Shoot out the lights
Shoot out the lights

 

6. Back Street Slide

Those backstreet women
Watch what you say
You turn your back
and they slide away
They run next door
And give it all away

Doing the Slide --
The Backstreet slide
the Backstreet slide
they're gonna get you
dead or alive
stab you in the back
with a kitchen knife
Doing the Backstreet slide
do it all day
the Backstreet slide

gatemouth woman
leaning on a fence
she's got no teeth
she's got no sense
you don't need much
intelligence
doing the slide

slide over here
slide over here
spreading that scandal
everywhere
stab you in the back
and they just don't care
doing the Slide

now slander is
a loving tongue
they speak your name
to everyone
never is a curse
left unsung
doing the slide


7. Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?

She was there one minute,
And then she was gone the next
Lying in a pool of herself
with a twisted neck
Oh she fell from the roof to the ground
There was glass lying all around
She was broken in a hundred pieces when her body was found

She used to live life
She used to live life with a vengeance
And the chosen would dance
The chosen would dance in attendance
She crossed a lot of people
Some she called friends
She thought she'd live forever
But forever always ends

Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?

She used to have style
She used to have stlye and she used it
And they say it turned bad
When the truth cam round she refused it
They found some fingerprints
Right around her throat
They didn't find no killer and
They didn't find no note

Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?


8.
Wall of Death

let me ride on
the wall of death
one more time let
me ride on the
wall of death one
more time you can
waste your time on
the other rides but
this is the nearest
to being alive O
let me take my
chances on the wall
of death you
can go with the
crazy people in the
crooked house you can
fly away on the
rocket or spin in
the mouse the tunnel
of love might amuse
you and noah's ark
might confuse you but
let me take my
chances on the wall
of death on
the wall of death
all the world is
far from me on
the wall of death
it's the nearest to
being free you're
going nowhere when you
ride on the carousel
and maybe you're strong
but what's the good
of ringing a bell
the switchback will make
you crazy beware of
the bearded lady O
let me take my
chances on the wall
of death.





album