shriekback

Lyrics

UNTIL THE MESS
they say the times will reveal you
- like a rat in a sack -
The group mind was not clearly defined
but the good guys are gone and they’re not coming back
they said: ‘say not the struggle naught availeth’ - then they left
but I beg to demur
you’re laying low with the unbelievers
- i see yer i see yer i see yer i see yer

all the blinding signs
all the prophesies are loud and clear
we’re all standing at the water line
Until the Mess gets here

they say the Devil will rinse ya
and we’re all waiting to see
I got the Fear and it’s flowing through me
(the chance I’m a hero I guess is non-zero)
it’s elemental and it’s unforgiving and it’s living rental-free in the head
tomorrow belongs to the primary drivers
those who will survive us: the duckers and divers

All the tests came through
and now we wait until the mists appear
and I will stay here in the dark with you
Until the Mess gets here

All the Maulers and Bawlers
all the Gorgons and the Bone Marauders
they fulminate and then they wait
until the Mess gets here.

(all along the line.. all along the long line…)

did you notice the wind change?
did you see when it turned ?
gotta give it to the slack deceiver
the cure or the fever? it’s either or neither
it’s no wonder - as we listen to the thunder - if the roof we’re under will fall
It’s win-win till the ghost rides in:
the feast of corruption; that ravenous suction

All the lights go down
I wouldn’t wait until they re-appear
incredibly we lived to see
the way the Mess got here

all that stand to fall
who saw the writing on the weeping wall
the ones who stand no chance at all
the day the Mess gets here..

Say not the struggle nought availeth,
     The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
     And as things have been they remain…..

…..And not by eastern windows only,
     When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
     But westward, look, the land is bright.

Poem by Arthur Hugh Clough (friend of Matthew Arnold - of Dover Beach)