Marillion - This Strange Engine Lyrics
(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth)There was a boy who came into this world at the hands of a holy woman in a holy placeHe wore a red coat and walked a bulldog-saw them reflected in the mirror of the lakesLived in the shadow of the mountains with the smells of disinfectant, dusty old leather and the polished wood of his bedNo more than a baby feeding swans on the river holding the hands of his mother, and the wax paperbag of yesterdays breadAnd his father on the other side of the worldOn the ships railings and some far away tideWith the silent dry tear of home thoughts from abroad in his far away eyesIn his far away eyesThe smell of the wax on the wooden floorMixture of polish and soapNo children to fear or to play withRows of empty hooks for the coatsAn upright piano and the boys in the choirStill remind him of just before he was bornRemind him of just before he was breathingStrange misty visions of godTurn the cities into familiesInto villages of soulsHovering in the air while theyre sleepingWith their houses invisibleRunning as fast as I could runSend to me the ghosts of christmasWhispering: youre the only oneAnd ever since I was a boyI never felt that I belongedLike everything they did to meWas an experiment to seeHow I would cope with the illusionIn which direction would I jumpWould I do it all the sameAs the actors in the gameOr would I spit it back at themAnd not get caught up in their rulesAnd live according to my ownAnd not be used, and not be usedTo find the fundamental truthsIt was going to take some timeThirty five summers down the lineThe wisdom of each passing yearSeems to serve only to confuseSeems to serve only to confuseDaddy came out the navy and took us away to his dirty gray home townAnd he worked down on a coal mine for national service so that he could be aroundThere was a magical purple in the chrome of the exhaust of his triumph motor bikeAnd a warmth of oil and metal and the thrill of the hard corner holding tightFrom the horizonCame home from the navy to the mineFrom the horizonTo buried aliveTook his dream undergroundBuried his treasure in his far away eyesAnd one day as the boy lay sleeping in the sunshine of a half remembered afternoonA cloud of bees with no particular aim, and no brainFound the boy, decided that his time had comeCame down out of the skyStung him in the faceAgain and againBlue painScreaming like baptismIntraveinous, jesusLike being chosenSomething with no brainBlue pain from something with no brainI cant explainIts happening againOh mummy, daddy, will you sit a while with meOh mummy, daddy, will you jog my memoryTell me tall tales of montego bay, table mountain, flying fish, banana spiders, pots of paintAnd the sun on the equatorSetting like an ember thrown to deep waterFrom crimson to blackBut coming backTomorrow on the horizonThe blue painFades to a point where it doesnt fadeIt stayedBlueStirred his red coat heart to this strange engineThis loveThis loveThis inconvenient, blind, blood-diamondThis puzzleThis loveThis blindBlood-diamondThis puzzleI dont understandThat knows no faithAnd tries and failsAnd tries againStares at the seaThe nights dark deepFor one last timeAnd bleedsAnd bleedsAnd dies for youAnd liesAnd is to blameAnd is ashamedAnd is not the sameThis truthThis truthThis truthThis truthAnd liesAnd is to blameAnd is ashamedAnd is true
