The last three songs on Ten Objects delve down into areas even I’m not sure about.
Don’t Ask Me
This is an old song that’s long waited its turn to get on an album. Conceived on a lonely weekend visit to Luxembourg, it catches a couple who’ve experimented with an open relationship descending into bitterness and retribution.
Don’t Ask Me (CD quality) Download
Don’t Ask Me (mp3) Download
I’d always imagined it as a piano ballad, and was delighted when James Bryce took over from my stumbling chords and played it fluently. Sarah Whiteside backs him up on cello.
Don’t Ask Me
Don’t ask [C]me
Don’t ask [E7]me
If you should [F]stay here tonight
When there’s [Fm]somewhere you’d rather [C]be
Don’t ask me
Don’t pass it to [E7]me
I’ve got [F]temptations of my own
I won’t [E7]be your chaperone
[Am]You’ve been walking this [E7]city
From [Am]bar to feckless [E7]bar
[F]The yellow [Fm]streetlights
And the [C]crawling cars
[Am]Is it some kind of [E7]penance
[Am]That you do for [G7]me?
Well [C]there’s your [G]halo
In a [C]second of [Bb]amber [F]light
If [Fm]that’s what you want, don’t ask [C]me
[Abm]You always were a diplomat
Even [Am]on the other side
[Gm]You had all the denials and the [Dm]charm
[Abm]But now the border’s open, and you’ve [Am]nothing to defend
[Gm]You want to surrender in somebody’s[C] arms [Ab] [Bb] [C]
Don’t ask me
Don’t ask me
If you’ve got your eye on some little possibility
Don’t ask me
You’re the one who’s free
I’ve got years to walk these rooms
In this decorated tomb
You gave me your diary
In a moment of truth
As if I’d want to see
The view from you
You don’t need me to give you
A pat on your swollen head
You just throw in a password
To set your conscience free
Well if that’s what you want, don’t ask me
Well if that’s what you want …
Other Things
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Other Things (CD quality) Download
Other Things
With other [D]things, you follow what’s been done before
With other things, there’s patterns you can [G]learn
With other things, you [A]fall back on [G]experience [A]
[G]Sure to [A]recognise a bell that [D]rings, with other [A]things
With other [D]things, your friends and family rally round
With other [D]things, someone will know the [G]scoreBut now it’s all unknown
[D]Now you’re on your own
[A]Like you’ve never been [Bm]before
With other things, you wear a mask that serves you well
With other things, you’re who you want to be
With other things, you might play the superstar
The helpless girl, the priest, the queen, the warrior king, or other things
With other things, a smiling face will get you through
With other things, a borrowed line will do
But what you see today
You can’t explain away
This has got to come from you
So here it [D]is before your [A]eyes
Here it [D]is are you [A]surprised?
Here it [G]is how will you [Bm]move?
Time stands [Cmaj7]still until you [D]move [A]
With other things, help is never far away
With other things, you can run for home
With other things, who you are and what you’ve done
Might count for a lot in the reckoning, with other things
With other things, you can take your mind away
To other things, the TV or a book
But now the picture’s wide, you can’t even see the sides
And it’s forcing you to look
So here it is are you prepared?
Here it is are you scared?
Here it is it had to be
You came so far you had to see
Here it is it’s come to you
Here it is what will you do
Here it is how will you move?
Time stands still until you move
What you see today
You can’t explain away
This has got to come from you
Gordon (Down on the Tracks)
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Gordon (Down on the Tracks)
As the [C]last train [G]pulls from the [C]station
[F]Into the ink black [C]night
The [F]lights on [G]inside like a [C]warm living [Am]room
[C]Carried away
As the last quiver runs through the rails
Like snakes in the light of the moon
Gordon unrolls his sleeping bag
Down on the tracks
And the foxes that prowl through the station
And the owls that snatch rats from the rails
Never disturb him or enter his dreams
Down on the tracks
To [F]sleep in the presence of [C]danger
To [E7]rest in the deadliest [Am]place
To [D7]know that you wake up
With [C]no time to loseGives a moment of grace
As the light paints pink in the morning
He senses the rails come alive
He takes his time to the platform
As the first train arrives
To sleep in the presence of danger
To rest in the deadliest place
To know that you wake up
With no time to lose
Gives a moment of grace
This was recorded in front of a small audience of friends shortly after the song was written.
Oh wait – there’s more!
The first release of the album had a limited edition CD with three more songs, so here they are (mp3 only), the Plus Three in Ten Plus Three:
Live and Learn – a light-hearted pity party that was shortlisted for the album but didn’t seem to fit.
Coming Through – a song of retreat and renewal that’s been on the recording wait-list for many years
Bishonen – a live version of an extraordinary, chilling song by Momus, the greatest barely-known singer-songwriter in the world.