LYRICS.
SIENNA (2020)
You can’t sleep at night, sometimes the cat's fight out on Abbey Street
Sometimes the windows rattle as wind blows through the alleyways
We’d been sat awake for a while till you began to fall asleep
And I watched the skyline outside as it fell into mornings reach
The talk and laughter had ceased, like a last day before war
And what came after was a kind of peace that I’d never felt before
It was a moment immortalized, a portrait in time
Destined to reside within the corners of my mind
Oftentimes in my life when the waters all ran dry
It was but for the thought of you I would have laid down to die
I would of made for the door and chosen to surrender
If you weren’t all that I could remember
Sienna
It was the same year that your navy dress started fraying loose at the seams
Becoming just as worn as your favorite blue jeans
The dawn came in impatiently racing to devour
And we just lay so lazy as we both staved off the hour
The walls were so defenseless against the streaks of the sun
As it poured in unrepentant; seeking anyone
Then you started to waken, like a child from a dream
I touched your arm softly as you rose and tried to leave
And I said settle down my lady you’ve been working too hard
Why don’t we just lay here straight from morning through dark
Instead let’s make plans for whatever, Paris or Vienna
We said we’d have it all don't you remember?
Sienna
Copyright @ Scott James 2020 All Rights Reserved
I SAW IT COMING (LIVE AT GREENHILL COFFEE HOUSE, FOREST OF DEAN, 2019)
Remember the cold winters on the beach
There was no one else around just you and me
The wind was howling so loud on the sea
Yet we walked without a sound as dogs ran free
I suppose that you’re right where you want to be
Free from hapless strain and misery
If we only had more light to mend our keep
I know you would’ve spent more time with me
The wolves were running through night and day
Blood was burning, hot on the trail
I saw it coming like helpless prey
I saw it coming from a mile away
I hear you’re faring far and wide
You always said you would but never really tried
They say that you’ve got India and Borneo in sight
And that you’ll be in Singapore tonight
I remember it all so clearly
The second I lost all so dear to me
Your famous eyes were drawn and so weary
How’d we get it all so wrong so quickly?
Darkness was falling it was too late
A hardness was forming all across your face
I saw it coming when the sky went grey
I saw it coming from a mile away
Do you ever think of me when you’re alone?
When your friends take their leave and have all gone
When the sunset breaks the scene in a blaze of gold
Yet the evening weighs as heavy as a stone
The pain is second only to change
Everything I’ve ever known seems strange
The winds have blown; this town’s no longer the same
But I don’t blame you at all for being brave
I just couldn’t stand it, I couldn’t stay
I couldn’t watch as your smile would fade
I saw it coming when your eyes would stray
I saw it coming from a mile away
Copyright @ Scott James 2020 All Rights Reserved
CHURCH OF ST. HILAIRE. (BACKSTAGE AT THE 02 ACADEMY, OXFORD 2019)
When the town is sleeping, the hour unforgiving
And I can’t rid my thoughts of regret
Then it seems somehow that I have no control wishing
I could re-live them all again
And if there is then, one in particular story
That always seems to leave me shouldering distress
It’s that I had chosen the veil of glory
Over all that you tried to give
And so I was hoping sometime, that maybe I could see you
If it wasn’t too much to ask
At a place where we shared many a night
By the church of St. Hilaire
I’ll show how the old tower still stands in vogue
Undamaged since its repair
And when you see it then it means that I’m somewhere close by
Then you should hear the bells
So head where the steeples they shoot up just like spears
Straight through the thick bleak midnight air
Piercing the sky where the dark it is deepest
To bring the weariest of stars to bear
Just be sure to be there won’t you
On the east side of the square
And I promise that I’ll be there to greet you
By the church of St. Hilaire
I’ll take you on down to the old marketplace
Where the people there are known to stop and stare
But you know, they don’t mean a thing of it though
It's been a while haven’t seen you there
There’s a lake out there where we could walk alone
A place where nowhere else compares
Where we can forget all the perils of the world
For here you’ll see, we need not care
And I’ll take a hold of your unsteady hand
When it gets steep along the stairs
And I could show you that place where the monks would go
To say their evening prayers
Afterward we can travel much further on
To see the shore wash upon Mont Saint Michel
Where we shall do nothing but yield like dogs
And marvel at its grand spell
With its ramparts they swear cannot fall
Even after a Hundred Year’s War
And its walls that are set to beat a breach
For yet a hundred years more
There are stories there that can really leave you speechless
Your lungs left reaching for the air
And we can begin regardless of reason
By the church of St. Hilaire
Do you ever remember the Mortain region?
Where one day the long roads lead?
And how we watched the cancons cascades form
From the waterfall of the west
Do you remember then, how we walked atop?
Along to the chapel of St. Vital
And heard about how the hermit had lived
And how he was called upon to help
Anyway I’m sure that we’ll have much more to tell
Where the doors are all scorched in red
And we can recall all of the time we spent
By the church of St. Hilaire
Copyright @ Scott James 2019 All Rights Reserved
BLUE AIN'T NOTHING BUT A COLOUR. (LIVE AT THE O2 ACADEMY2, LONDON 20th SEPT 2018)
They put a gun in my hand
And told me to fire
But I don’t understand
I have no desire
They’ve taken my freedom
Forsaken me so
They’re chasing my reason
Like traces of gold
They keep me imprisoned
Treat me just like a dog
And they never seem to listen
They just sit back and watch
I built empires, the first ever
Faced entire herds of weapons
With no purpose, no power
I furthered their prowess
Been worthless, been capitol
Built churches, built castles
Put my hands unto their mills
Until I dropped and disappeared
And I know that you all saw me
Through cornered eyes ignored me
I begged for bread you scorned me
Then went to bed on a full meal
I fulfilled, I made good
And still my name ain’t came up
Lest they make the mistake of
Excavating what my fate was
They tell me when the day comes
Be ready to embrace it
But I’ve lived my whole life
So you know it won’t change shit
The station it plays Ray Charles
Singing bout’ hard times
Another day done gone away
And who knows better than I
Their words are untrue
Try to taint my heart
Their guards instate curfews
Cause’ it ain’t safe after dark
They’ve slain so many brothers
In their games of war
And just like a betrayed lover
I can’t take anymore
They say things like more or less
Tell me everything’s fine
But there’s one thing you always forget
That it’s my neck on the line
Revolted, upholstered
The dearest of notions
They fear it - I know it
As clear as a poet
Been beaten and broken
Tear-gassed and choking
They did that when I’d protest
Their whips cracked when they closed in
But I rose hard, changed foot
Rosa Parks I stayed put
Leaders were slain but
Ideas they can’t touch
They can shoot me put me in chains but
They’d soon see that chains rust
Revolutions I’ve been there
Cuba, Tiananmen Square
Their movements I’ve outlasted
But truth is everlasting
Been heated and chanted
Then smashed bloody like a blacksmith
Been abandoned, been wiped out
The annals of history - lights out
And every time that I try to fight back
They kill me just like that
So I paid them a visit
To give them the truth
I said I’m indignant
And ever so blue
Said why you work me so hard?
My feet get so bruised
My children they starve
By the hand of your ruse
And they laughed at the news
As I continue to suffer
And they tell me that blue
Ain’t nothing but a colour
Copyright @ Scott James 2018 All Rights Reserved