White Lies : Ritual

Indie Rock / United-Kingdom
(2011 - Fiction Records)
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Lyrics

1.IS LOVE

She stares into the mirror, youth fading with the sun
The hollows in her face like wishing wells
Scarlet as a paper-cut, and jewelled as the Orion
She'd never worn that jewellery as a girl
She says 'the only thing I've ever found
That's greater than it always sounds
Is love
He stares into the river, heart falling to the drift
An argument of cars moving full steam behind
Blood-shoot as a baby, and sulking like a valley
Fishing in reflections, killing time
He says 'the only thing I've ever found
That's greater than it always sounds
Is love
It's the bath that's getting cold
While you're frozen to your bed
The milk that's going rancid on the table
The panic in the evening
The photos in the dustbin
The pointless items we forgot to label
It's the perfume on her wrists
That stinks of easy Birthdays
The spare keys like asbestos on the side
It's the cross around his neck
For luck and not for honor
Like diamond over knuckle
On a newly married bride
She says 'the only thing I've ever found
That's greater than it always sounds
Is love
He says 'the only thing I've ever found
That's greater than it always sounds
Is love
And I know the only thing I've ever found
That's greater than it always sounds
Is love



2. STRANGERS

I pressed my ear to your chest and heard something personal
A whisper that knew my name
Is this how your heart treats all strangers
With love and affection
Then I feel cold and empty
I've got a sense of urgency
I've gotta make this happen
No stone unturned
I've got a sense of urgency
I've gotta make something happen
No stone unturned
I held your hand while you were sleeping
The whole night you gripped to mine
A grip that begged me to stay
Is this how your limbs treat all strangers
With love and affection
Then I feel weak and empty
I've got a sense of urgency
I've gotta make this happen
No stone unturned
I've got a sense of urgency
I've gotta make something happen
No stone unturned
Strangers don't hide
The morning hunts you down
But there's nothing stranger than to love someone
I heard the water beat on your skin a shower of discipline
As heavy as iron
And I imagined the hand that gripped mine
Now gripping the gaps in the tile
Just holding on tight
I've got a sense of urgency
I've gotta make this happen No stone unturned
I've got a sense of urgency
I've gotta make something happen
No stone unturned
Strangers don't hide
The morning hunts you down
But there's nothing stranger than to love someone



3. BIGGER THAN US

You took the tunnel route home
you've never taken that way with me before
Did you feel the need for change
Apologies on your fingernails
love flickered in the city of lights
Like good singers on radio waves
I don't need your tears
I don't want your love
I just gotta get home
And I feel like I'm breaking up
and I wanted to stay
Headlights on the hillside
don't take me this way
I don't want you to hold me
I don't want you to pray
This is bigger than us
You went where the horses cry
you've never taken that way with me before
Did you feel the need for change
Guilt smeared across your lips
I was tired and cold from the window
You're cold, nothing has changed
I don't need your tears
I don't want your love
I just gotta get home
And I feel like I'm breaking up
and I wanted to stay
Headlights on the hillside
don't take me this way
I don't want you to hold me
I don't want you to pray
This is bigger than us



4. PEACE & QUIET

After the red ants, the black-out
Come peace and quiet
Those little foot-prints
Fleshed out calm in my mind
I lay like a compass
Digits accusing the sunrise
Rain-drops abseil the window
And flinch through the hurt cries
I feel this great pressure coming down on me.
And the ticle of my bliss
Pulling at your sympathy
I feel this great pressure coming down on me,
When my nerve is on the high wire
My bliss, pulling at your sympathy
After the hunt and the sweat now
Come peace and quiet
Your head on my heart
Anchored the storm in my eyes
I lay like a carcass
Your lips never letting the blood dry
And so I pray for tomorrow
And wait listening out for a reply
I feel this great pressure coming down on me
And the ticle of my bliss
Pulling at your sympathy
I feel this great pressure coming down on me
When my nerve is on the high wire
My bliss, pulling at your sympathy
I feel this great pressure coming down on me
And the ticle of my bliss
Pulling at your sympathy
I feel this great pressure coming down on me
When my nerve is on the high wire
My bliss, pulling at your sympathy



5. STREETLIGHTS

Hold tight for heartbreak
Buckle up for loneliness
Right time to get away
Where I'm going I couldn't care
I'm bored and I'm afraid
I'm falling like rain for you
So tired and picking skin
Just 'cause it's something to do
Bored girls and sad boys
Dull roads to anywhere
Bad sex and ethanol
High scores on solitaire
I'm numb and getting off
Getting real numb with you
Big plans that never come
Holding out for something new
Can anybody hear me?
Is anybody out there?
Not a soul in a streetlight
This might be love
Hold tight for heartbreak
Buckle up for loneliness
Right time to get away
Where I'm going I couldn't care
Dead dreams and dirty clothes
Calls that are long overdue
Cheap highs and souvenirs
So many knots that I'll never undo
Can anybody hear me?
Is anybody out there?
Not a soul in a streetlight
This might be love



6. HOLY GHOST

You were writhing on the floor like a moth in molasses
Who ever taught you to move your body like that?
Goose pimples just vanished like some out of date acid
Who ever taught you to scream like that?
Maybe someday I could move like you
Well I'm not looking for a holy ghost
Maybe someday I can scream like you
Well I'm not looking for a holy ghost
You were crying on the shoulders of the men in the shadows
Whoever taught you to sell your sex like that?
I'm thinking two halos in a stain-glass window
Jesus' strangers are as strange as that
Maybe someday I could move like you
I'm not looking for a holy ghost
Maybe someday I can scream like you
I'm not looking for a holy ghost
Jesus' strangers are as strange as that?



7. TURN THE BELLS

The market-place has nothing to sell
Left alone its awnings shiver
Wind whistles through the wood
Fish teeth snapping in a river
Peaks puncture the sky
Like a child's icy toes
Dipped in a stream
That a few of us know
And the cloud just a ripple
A shock from the impact
Shadows on the streets
Look like veils at morning
Ice blots in the stone cracks
Where tears must have fallen
Oil by the bucket feeds flares to the heavens
Offerings of incense, small bills and lemons
Drumbeats in the caves
And heartbeats in the huts
Protectors unveiled for the first time in months
You find some best friends
We'll hold each other
And I'll turn the bells
I'll turn the bells
The storm clouds pass and everything's for sale
The chattering of rapids
And bartering of sunset
Beads crunch like bones
Through fingers and knuckles
Poor hands pick cheap quartz
In the quarries and cliff-edge
A group old sandalwood trees
With clotted blood colored bark
Candle-lit teeth
Half-moon smiles in the dark
The biker gangs smoking
On the edge of the lake
The smoke like white horses
A white-eyed mistake
There's spirits in the water
Like photos in a box
They're torn by the current
And crushed by the rocks
You find some best friends
We'll hold each other
And I'll turn the bells
I'll turn the bells



8. THE POWER & THE GLORY

What if I were to disobey
And give you back the power
Woudl I be punished like a child
And left on my own
Would you think me ungrateful
And send me away
If I couldn't make you happy
As empty handed leaving as I was when I came
Tip-toeing through the rubble
And running through the flames
What if I was to disobey
and give you back the power
Would you be the one to turn your back
And cast the first stone
Would you think me a coward
Though I'd be the hero
And come home a hero
I gave you back your power
I gave you back your glory
Well really, I hadn't noticed
Until I had the power to give it all back
Until I felt the glory when the buildings collapsed
As empty handed leaving as I was when I came
Tip-toeing through the rubble
And running through the flames
I gave you back your power
I gave you back your glory
Well really, I hadn't noticed
Until I had the power to give it all back
Until I felt the glory when the buildings collapsed
I gave you back your power
I gave you back your glory



9. BAD LOVE

I was waiting in the back-seat of the car
When I knew I'd given up
Down one of the back-streets by the park
So sick of the taste of blood
I'm gonna write your girl a letter
It'll make everything better
Screaming down the phone-line to your mum
She said 'Honey ain't home right now
I bought a tuxedo and I bought a gun
And wore them all around this town
Nobody dares to lift a finger
They can see my heart is down and injured
If I'm guilty of anything
It's loving you too much
Honey, sometimes love
Means getting a little rough
This is not bad love
This is not bad love
I've been going to church but I don't believe
I'll ever be clear this pain
Walk like a ghost through the streets
Soaked from the pouring rain
And I won't ask your God for mercy
My spirit is low, my soul is dirty
If I'm guilty of anything
It's loving you too much
Honey, sometimes love
Means getting a little rough
This is not bad love
This is not bad love



10. COME DOWN

I felt loved last night for the first time in a long time
It feels like coming home to stay
Like falling in the sea when it's too hot in the sun
But made things so much worse today
I know you said you'll miss me
But I know that you won't
Because time is like a wave
That washes all the pain away
When you come down
I know I said I'll see you
When it gets to New Year
But now that all the rain's stopped falling
All I think is getting out of here
I felt loved last night for the first time in a long time
It feels like I never went away
Like drifting back to sleep
When I'm aching and I'm tired
But made me feel so much worse today
I know you said you'll miss me
But I know that you won't
Because time is like a wave
That washes all the pain away
When you come down
I know I said I'll see you
When it gets to New Year
But now that all the rain's stopped falling
All I think is getting out of here
I know I'd be welcome but tell me how far
Ceremonial knocks
Sounds the gaps in my heartbeat
And I'll never be good enough for you or for me
I've buried my pride
I've buried my key
I know you said you'll miss me
But I know that you won't
Because time is like a wave
That washes all the pain away
When you come down
I know I said I'll see you
When it gets to New Year
But now that all the rain's stopped falling
All I think is getting out of here

lyrics added by Olivier84 - Modify this lyrics