Ultravox

A Friend I Call Desire


You live for love, I long for it
You give for love, I take from it
This friend of mine, desire
This lovers crime, desire
Emotion driving all the time
A burning need for things not mine
Desire

You need your love
I walk from it
You fight for love
I run from it
My enemy desire
Caressing me, desire
The torch I carried burnt my hand
I can't control what I can't stand
Desire

You give for love, I lie for it
You give for love, I shy from it
And the pain, and the lust, and the want
And the hurt, and the lies
And the fears, and the urge, and the feel
And the touch, and it's all
A friend I call desire

You give for love, I lie for it
You give for love, I shy from it
And the pain, and the lies
And the touch, and it's all
A friend I call desire

Accent on Youth

What is this phase that I am going through
Oh these precious years
Please take my hand and let me breathe again
Young depressive tears

We stumble blindly chasing something new and something sinful

You take my time you live my life for me
What have I done to rate this penalty
You suck me dry
My body cries

We stumble blindly chasing instant thrills and lasting memories

Accent on youth
Attention Oh
Ascends on you
Oh Oh

I scream with frustration and lost control
Open for the blows
My hands fall limp and hang down by my side
Take my soul and go

We stumble blindly chasing dancing lights and others' wishes

(Chorus)

Just let me close my eyes and slip away
Dream a dream alone
You give me just enough rope for the task
Let this man alone

We stumble blindly chasing silhouettes and vacant faces
So well rehearsed our moves once so graceful turn against us
We stalk dark passages, we're looking for that sweet surrender

(Chorus)

All Stood Still

The lights went out (The last fuse blew).
The clocks all stopped (It can't be true).
The program's wrong (What can we do?).
The printout's blocked (It relied on you).

The turbine cracked up.
The buildings froze up.
The system choked up.
What can we do?

Please remember to mention me,
In tapes you leave behind.

Chorus :

We stood still.
We all stood still.
Still stood still.
We're standing still.

The screen shut down (There's no reply).
The lifts all fall (A siren cries).
And the radar fades (A pilot sighs).
As the countdowns stall (The readout lies).

The turbines cracked up.
The buildings froze up.
The system choked up.
What can we do?

Please remember to mention me,
In tapes you leave behind.

(Chorus)

The black box failed (The codes got crossed).
And the jails decayed (The keys got lost).
Everyone kissed (We breathe exhaust).
In the new arcade (Of the holocaust).

The turbine cracked up.
The buildings froze up.
The system choked up.
What can we do?

Plese remember to mention me,
In tapes you might leave behind.

(Chorus - Repeat 2 times).

Artificial Life

All the boys are wearing their utility drag
The girls slip identikits from their utility bags
Some refugees from suburbia are laughing
Examining each other's gags
Vibrate on sulphate when it gets late
And their velocity begins to sag

Chorus:

And it goes on all night, all night
And it goes on and on, the artificial life

Mary Mary got so confused
About the fusion game, what a game
Blunked on booze, she talks like a newsreel
She'll take up any kind of bleak exchange
She turned to perfection once
But realised she'd only turned to pain
She ran through divine light, chemicals, Warhol, scientology, her own sex
Before she turned away

(Chorus)

I've learned to be a stranger
I've learned to be a stranger
I've learned to be a stranger
I've learned to be a stranger
Stranger still

I should have left here years ago
But my imagination won't tell me how
This whirlpool's got such seductive furniture
It's so pleasant getting drowned
So we drink and sink and talk and stalk
With interchangeable enemies and friends
Trying on each other's skins
While we're dying to be born again.

(Chorus)

Blue Light


I thought I'd take the slide
I thought I'd be alright
But when the details swam
Oh no, the door got jammed
Someone took the hand
And we were out slow dancing

In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light
Blue light, blue light

There was a crowd below
Swanning in the glow
All the paste it shimmered
In the swimmer's glimmer
It was a sticky summer
And I was diving under...

The Blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light
Blue light, blue light

Well nothing drove out behind me
I was so glad
Even the walls were turning round

Well, someone said
There was something wrong
But I couldn't quite
Put my finger on it

What the...
Well I thought I heard...
And I tried to...
Then we were just diving

In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light, uh-huh
In the blue light, blue light
Blue light, blue light

Building

One last smile
As we turn away in wrong directions
Feeling the kick
From a multitude of cooled reflections

Me building on my life alone...

One last look
As we turn our backs on deeper feelings
This new release
And think ahead to all who see

Me building on my life alone...

Cut and Run

See the man on the 'phone,
With a gun in his hand,
Sipping courage from a crystal cup.
He's a man in the wrong,
With a gun at his head,
Pushes on and now it's time to cut and run.

Time, passing so slowly.
Still, as he sits and he watches the sand slip through his hands.
He demands something more,
Something strong,
Something savage and pure.
One more twist of the knife and it's time to cut and run.

(Chorus)

He smiles, as he draws on his last cigarette,
And he tries to forget all that forces every move.
He commands something new,
Something strong,
Something spiteful and true.
One more twist of the knife and it's time to cut and run.

Cries on his tape so they might understand.
Signs his farewell with a squeeze of his hand.

(Chorus - Repeat 4 times and fade)

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes

Dancing with tears in my eyes
Weeping for the memory of a life gone by
Dancing with tears in my eyes
Living out a memory of a love that died

It's five and I'm driving home again
It's hard to believe that it's my last time
The man on the wireless cries again
It's over, it's over

(Chorus)

It's late and I'm with my love alone
We drink to forget the coming storm
We love to the sound of our favourite song
Over and over

(Chorus)

It's time and we're in each others arms
It's time but I don't think we really care

(Chorus)

Dangerous Rhythm

Dangerous rhythm
Dangerous rhythm
Dangerous rhythm in the air

Stranger to stranger
We're both dressed for danger
Something is generating here

Oh, take off your halo
For the all-night inferno
Something is happening in the air

It's not like anything I've ever known before
And I don't care

(Chorus)

Surging and merging
Urgent and urging
Soft as a footstep on the stair

The red light is on now
My gravity's gone and how
I can feel something in the air

It's not like anything I've ever known before
And I don't care

(Repeat chorus twice and fade)

Dislocation

Running down an empty street
Perhaps it was a railway station
Smell of eau de cologne
The sound of a celebration

Chorus:

Oh-oh-oh dislocation
Oh-oh-oh dislocation

Just a swimmer growing dimmer in the glimmer of a summer
Waving gladly, swimming madly, never never going under

(Chorus)

The sun was going down one quiet evening
Someone came into the room while I was half-asleep
We spoke for a while, I couldn't see his face
Later on when he was gone, I realised I didn't catch his name

(Repeat chorus 3 times and fade)

Just a swimmer growing dimmer in the glimmer of a summer
Waving gladly, swimming madly, never never going under

Distant Smile


Sometimes I find I drift away
Behind a distant smile

Light years ago I think someone spoke
Quizzical glances behind cigarette smoke
She drew the curtains at the end of the day
And then we laughed because the room sailed away

Fancy glitter in the summer arcades
Then autumn leaves fall by a winter lane
Piano echoes and the perfume still lingers
But you fell through my fingers like sand

With a distant smile
A distant smile
A distant smile
Somehow I always seem to be
Adrift in other times with a distant smile

(???) the sound of the streets
The city's glittering like diamonds in heat
Our secret destination, touch down in the haze
As the cameraman pans away

Hey look, it's a long lost horizon
Private oceans you can surface a sunrise in
Hearts well ? dodging logic
But nevertheless still permanently surprised

Behind a distant smile
A distant smile
A distant smile
Somehow I always seem to be
Adrift in other times behind a distant smile

You will see (?)

Fear in the Western World

Your picture of yourself is a media myth
Underneath this floor we're on the edge of a cliff
Someone told me Jesus was the Devil's lover
While we masturbated on a magazine cover

Chorus:

Dead in the streets
Who's that girl?
Ireland screams
Africa burns
Suburbia stumbles
The tides are turned
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western
The Western world

Mama's still on valium, Daddy puts the news on
TV orphans laugh at the confusion
The audience finds itself on the stage
Fifty million people in a state of decay

(Chorus)

The party goes on behind elevator doors
While the elevator plummets from the 69th floor
All the cars lost in the scrapyards of paradise
The newspaper photographs have all come alive

(Chorus)

I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western world
I can feel the fear in the Western
The Western world

Heart of the Country

I was young and not deceived then
I believed in the heart of the country
How the words sound, how the truth lies
I was moved by the heart of the country

Oh, oh, then I saw through
The charade, the facade,
Now I've had it all

When they ask you who deprives you
You reply your heart of the country
I am older, I am wiser
I despise the heart of the country

Oh, oh, then I felt it
All the tears and the grief
I believed it all

Taking bad times, by the handful
Do what you can for the heart of the country
They dish the dirt out too hard to swallow
Just to follow the heart of the country

Oh, oh, heed the words
And learn the lines
I'll be fine when I have it all

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Somehow we drifted off too far
Communicate like distant stars
Splintered voices down the 'phone
The sunlit dust, the smell of roses drifts, oh no
Someone waits behind the door
Hiroshima mon amour

Riding inter-city trains
Dressed in European grey
Riding out to echo beach
A million memories in the trees and sands, oh no
How can I ever let them go?
Hiroshima mon amour

Meet beneath the autumn lake
Where only echoes penetrate
Walk through polaroids of the past
Features fused like shattered glass, the sun's so low
Turns our silhouettes to gold
Hiroshima mon amour

Hymn

Give us this day all that you showed me.
The power and the glory 'til thy kingdom come.

Chorus:

Give us this day all that you showed me,
The power and the glory 'til thy kingdom come.
Give me all the story book told me,
The faith and the glory 'til thy kingdom comes.

And they said that in our time,
All that's good will fall from grace.
Even saints would turn their face,
In our time.

And they told us that in our days,
Different words said in different ways,
Have other meaning from he who says,
In our time.

(Chorus)

And they said that in our time,
We would reap from their legacy,
We would learn from what they had seen,
In our time.

And they told us that in our days,
We would know what was high on high,
We would follow and not defy,
In our time.

(Chorus)

Faithless in faith.
We must behold the things we see.

(Chorus - Repeat 4 times and fade)

I Am Alive

I, I'm moving through time
Being human by design
Life
Unfulfilled but divine
Never ending
How could I be so blind?
What is this world
Doing to me?
Notwithstanding the lies
All the tears I have cried
I've opened my eyes

Chorus:

I am alive
I am who I want to be
Walls are falling
I am alive
And this is my destiny
The king is calling
I am alive

Far from the maddening crowd
Playing mind games
Way out loud
Pictures of heroes
Lined up one by one
Embracing the future
I have begin

(Chorus)

Passing strangers
Artificial life
Slowly falling
Look out for me
I am alive

(Chorus)

I Can't Stay Long

I can feel the turning of the tides
Pulling away the night
Like a sheet from over me

In summer time
I dissolve to a beach
And everywhere seems to be
Just a flicker on a silent screen

Because I
I can't stay long
Let the sky roll on
Just a flicker and the crowd moves on

In winter
Overcoats close in
And the snow tastes of tin
On the steps of any station

I'd like to glide in the long green light
Of a July afternoon
Sliding down a vague conversation

Because I
I can't stay long
When the moment comes
Just a glance and the glance is gone

Watch closely
As a man with a hat
And a girl with a map
Synchronise with the track
And they go away

I need to drift through all the walls
And let the scenery dissolve
Into some other life

Because I
I can't stay long
Let the sky roll on
Just a glance and the glance is gone

I
I can't stay long
When the right time comes
I'll dissolve

I Never Wanted to Begin

Shadows cut our cloth that's stolen,
Promises were broke,
We wound our watch to stretch the time,
In case that no-one got the joke.

I never wanted to begin,
Name that sin
Name that sin.

Dim and distant kisses chill,
Before I catch my death,
Etch every name upon the door,
And note the ones who never rest.

We never knew who we were then,
Name that sin,
Name that sin.

Shattered captives climbing gates,
To hold new lamps in vain,
For my King's rowing over lakes,
Connecting rooms in black sedan.

They never wanted to get in,
Name that sin,
Name that sin.

Evidence is stripped and torn,
And hidden in the mines,
The negatives have all been fogged and blurred,
And just a thousand times,

We never wanted to fall in,
Name that sin,
Name that sin.

Name that sin,
Name that sin,
Name that sin,
Name that sin,
Name that sin.

I Remember (Death in the Afternoon)

We turned the dial, we heard the news and laughed, we don't know why
We drank the wine and spoke of times we knew of days gone by
We flicked through photographs we had, somehow they made us sad
Remembering the times we used to have, it made us cry

Oh I remember death in the afternoon

A silence fell about the room with harsh and heavy calm
The lovers and the friends all felt the same, it kept us warm
We raised our glass and drank to times we had, but'd see no more
The pictures of the past would haunt us still, and there remains

Oh I remember death in the afternoon

(Repeat chorus 2 times)

I Want to Be a Machine

I found the bones of all your ghosts
Locked in the wishing well
While birdsong gourmets dragged empty nets
I slumbered in my shell

In mitternacht, die mensch-maschine
Kissed me on my eyes
I rose and left the fire-ladies
Glowing lonely in the night
With all the pornographers
Burning torches beneath the sea

Chorus:

I want to be a machine
I want to be a machine
I want to be a machine
I want to be a machine

I stole a cathode face from newscasts
And a crumbling fugue of songs
From the reservoir of video souls
In the lakes beneath my tongue
In flesh of ash and silent movies
I walked at boulevards again
A nebula of unfinished creatures
From the lifetimes of my friends
I hope your innocence has depraved me

(Chorus)

Broadcast me, scrambled clean
Or free me from this flesh
Let the armchair cannibals take their fill
In every cell across wilderness
We'll trip such a strangled tango
We'll waltz a wonderland affair
Let's run to meet the tide tomorrow
Leave all emotion dying there
In the star cold beyond all of your dreams

(Chorus)

Ah!

Just for a Moment

Talking in the window as the light fades
I heard my voice break just for a moment
Talking by the window as the light fades
I felt the floor change into an ocean
We'll never leave here, never
Let's stay in here forever
And when the streets are quiet
We'll walk out in the silence

Listening to the movement that the night makes
I let the room fade just for a moment
Sitting in the shadows that the leaves make
I felt the floor change into an ocean
We'll never leave here, never
Let's stay in here forever
And when the streets are quiet
We'll walk out in the silence

Listening to the music the machines make
I let my heart break just for a moment
Listening to the music the machines make
I felt the floor change into an ocean
We'll never leave here never
Let's stay in here for ever
And when the streets are quiet
We'll walk out in the silence

Lament

And just as my eyes start seeing
After all the pain
The twist in my life starts healing
Just to twist again
In stillness, in sorrow
Returns that softly sighing lament

And just as the smile's returning
After all the pain
The fire inside stops burning
Just to burn again
In moments of madness
Returns that softly sighing lament

Life at Rainbow's End

Streets I knew were raining, changing
Addresses were rearranging
The cold boy from the suburbs he left there
He'd read the book of no return
And me, I burnt your picture
For the ashes of the lords
For you had played your games too well
As the martyr and the boss

Chorus:

I suppose I chose a good introduction
From a formerly trusted friend
A good introduction to life at rainbow's end
Life at rainbow's end
Life at rainbow's end

Here I am a millionaire
Sown into these dreams
I burnt all the maps that lead here
So no-one can ever follow me

Only lonely parties start
At the dark side of this world
The gangster with the broken (?) arm
Plays deaf cards for the girls
I saw the final vicar make confession to a dancer
He stood upon the bridge at dawn
And the dancer kissed my cancer

(Chorus)

Love's Great Adventure

Standing on my own
It didn't mean that much to me
I thought I had it all
I didn't see the mystery
I stood the test of time
I took the step to find
Love's great adventure
(oh oh oh oh)
I spoke a million words
They didn't mean that much to me
They rang around my head
Like empty tuneless harmonies
Love's great adventure mine...

Lying side by side
It didn't mean that much to me
I started to enjoy
The poetry and symphonies
I took it in my stride
I hailed the Day i tried
Love's great adventure
(oh oh oh oh)
A fool who couldn't see
It didn't mean that much to me
I couldn't understand
That's how the game is meant to be
Love's great adventure mine...

Standing on my own
It didn't mean that much to me
I thought I had it all
I didn't see the mystery
I stood the test of time
I took the step to find
Love's great adventure mine.

Man of Two Worlds

Taking shelter by the standing stones
Miles from all that moves
Breathing solitude, seeking confidence
A gift to me
Feeling spirits never far removed
Passing over me and I greet them with open arms

Hand fighting hand
As you turn to a man of two worlds
Taobh ri taobh tha sinn mar aon de dha shaobhail
Do lambh nam lambh gabhal aithne air leim a ghablh

Reading passages of ancient rhyme
Cut so deep so old
Telling tales of travellers and mystery
Hearing spirits never far removed
Call out aloud
When the time comes they'll talk to me

Hand fighting hand
As you turn to a man of two worlds
Taobh ri taobh tha sinn mar aon de dha shaobhail
Do lambh nam lambh gabhal aithne air leim a ghablh
Hand fighting hand
As you turn to a man of two worlds

Feel a presence moving into me
Painting pictures with fast words
Seeing places that I've never seen
Like a door thrown open on a life I've lived before

Taobh ri taobh tha sinn mar aon de dha shaobhail
Do lambh nam lambh gabhal aithne air leim a ghablh
Mar e shealbhaichis mi an tiodhlac seo ahonisa
S mo lambh n'ad lambh smuainich air na tireauu ceinne
S mi deaunabh gardochas da raire

Maximum Acceleration

I thought you knew me by now
Let the lights go on roaring
Someone's hand on my shoulder
Then whip past the turning point
There's time for the taking

Chorus:

Maximum acceleration
Maximum acceleration
Maximum acceleration

A face that goes slowly
A signal close by me
The landscapes are changing
And some of us flipped a coin
And shimmered away

(Chorus)

You really were aching
It's turning to twilight
Moving over and under
Then a couple of figures
Shook their heads of the high lines

(Chorus)

Mine for Life

A life as a stranger,
Hands through a wire,
Forbidden desires,
Are mine for life.

Looking from a spiral staircase,
At a man with a suitcase,
As he shades his eyes.

Watching from a stained glass shelter,
He bides his time and thinks,
There must be more to life than this.

(Chorus)

The poet reads his words out loud,
To a make-believe crowd,
In the quiet of his room.

Careful where the tears are falling,
He closed the book and cried,
There must be more to love than this.

See the boy on the walkway
Where the young have their own say,
And it screams from the wall.

He's writing for the hundredth time there,
I hate it all but,
There must be more to hate than this.

(Chorus - Repeat 4 times and fade)

Mr X

I found the perfect picture, of a perfect stranger.
It looked as if, it were taken in the forties sometime,
Judging by the style.

He could be a killer or a blind man with a cane,
Perhaps he died in a car crash, years ago.
Right now, it's impossible to tell.

I almost thought I saw him, standing, whistling on a bridge.
I asked him the time, but when he turned around,
I saw it wasn't him at all.

I'm still searching.
I'm still searching.

I saw him in an airport, while he was sitting on a wing.
And I waved to him, but I don't think he noticed me.
I've got a funny feeling I know who he is.

Mr. X (Repeat 14 times and fade)

My Sex

My sex
Waits for me
Like a mongrel waits
Downwind on a tight rope leash

My sex
Is a fragile acrobat
Sometimes I'm a novocaine shot
Sometimes I'm an automat

My sex
Is often solo
Sometimes it short circuits then
Sometimes it's a golden glow

My sex
Is invested in
Suburban photographs
Skyscraper shadows on a carcrash overpass

My sex
Is savage, tender
It wears no future faces
Owns just random gender

My sex
Has a wanting wardrobe
I still explore
Of all the bodies I knew and those I want to know

My sex
Is a spark of electro flesh
Leased from the tick of time
And geared for synchromesh

My sex
Is an image lost in faded films
A neon outline
On a high-rise overspill

My sex

(Repeat and fade)