chasing hope
Stepped outside myself
to get the lie of the land,
found the lies are so familiar
turned the front of my hand.
Hepburn’s in the swimming pool
and Nero sniffs the air –
I’m both of them while tulips bloom,
just rocking the chair.
A last resort I wrote, I thought
you’re my very last drop of hope.
I’d sure lost the map
to the well and back,
like I lost my old identity
the certainty of righteous fury.
Don’t know if my letters
ever made things any better,
so please, don’t talk about the war.
‘Cos it’s like chasing hope around the room,
just a little out of reach yeah this bird’s always in flight.
I’m chasing hope around the room,
just a little out of reach, just a little out of reach.
Used to feed on emergencies
to make it seem real,
a ‘something to believe in’
imperfect ideal.
I tried to grow my patience
and I tried to grow a change,
swapped the kudos for a quiet life,
I’m still out of range.
Say what today is there new to do?
See I can’t bear anything old.
Is this grass at my feet
down a cul-de-sac street?
Why should I leave my comfy fence,
just ‘cos they made a bigger mess?
You know I’m doin’ all I can
to put my own house in order,
so please don’t talk about the war.
‘Cos it’s like chasing hope around the room,
just a little out of reach yeah this bird’s always in flight.
I’m chasing hope around the room,
just a little out of reach, just a little out of reach.
The papers count the marchers,
and the marchers count themselves;
the analysts count the analysts’ inches
counting the dead.
A new response to war
could be none at all,
or I could love more, drink less,
smoke less and burn the toast less;
love more, drink less,
or dig to no-one’s victory in far off deserts.
I’m chasing hope around the room,
just a little out of reach, yeah this bird’s always in flight.
I’m chasing hope around the room.
Two million unlit matches and we all need a light.
Jane had the radio
‘til three a.m.,
but I don’t buy the paper
just to read it again.
The face that would sell it
says our leaders are right;
I wonder which of my enemies
most deserves a fight?
The rats haven’t left this stinking ship,
they’re just locking all the doors, saying
“take ‘em down with the poofs and the whores…”
– it’s no comfort to me rightwing Christians
ending up in purgatory.
Don’t know if these rages
made those sorrows any smaller,
so please, don’t talk about the – please, don’t talk about the war.
Words and music by Eirlys Rhiannon
Performed on Sleep by:
Vocals, Guitar, additional vocals – Eirlys Rhiannon
Piano and Backing Vocals – Rowan Armes
Drums – Jason Cook
Click here to hear radio interview which includes a live acoustic version of Chasing Hope.
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