STRAWBERRY WOOD


Hawelka


Red Ohama Beach is bleeding

BlackThe sky is almost burning

Too many soldiers are dead

Churchill said: ‘Peace’

Lo lo lo lo


GreenThe Maple Leaf is always

GreenThe grass is almost red

Too many people are dead

Hitler said: ‘Krieg’

Lo lo lo lo


In the footsteps of my father

I went all the way to Algeria

France and Holland


Why His life is such a mystery

WhenParis was his destiny


My mother says:

‘Rue des Abbesses’

Sing

Lo lo lo lo 


Black coffee at Hawelka

Man smoking on the sofa

Then the waiter came

He knows my name


You

I’m talking to you

I lost his track in Vienna

At Hawelka

With a clock that always said

Twelve thirty


Death

He’s walking on a red beach



The Hours


When the hours

When the hours of the day

Grow long like shadows


Every hour

Every hour is a day

Every day is like a year


I didn’t see the darkness in your eyes

I didn’t know the road was ending

Cul de sac


The blossom

When the blossom in spring is falling

Like snow

The rain

When the rain in autumn is falling

Like diamonds


When you’re a child

Summer never ends

Frozen time of the winter


Things are old when we are young

Things are young when we are old


Then the rain falls back into the sky

Like a fountain

Then the snow falls back into the sky

Like powder


Then the years

Then the years will be days

Days will be hours

Then it’s


Gone 



Distance


I’m turning the pages

Of the book that I’ve read

I was sleeping for ages

Now I know I am dead


The trees in the summer

The rivers with ice

I cannot remember

My lost paradise


Far far away

No one can say

Where we’ll be tomorrow

Far far away


A man in the distance

The darkness outside

I walk through my head

I walk to the light

Far far away

No one can say

Where we’ll be tomorrow

Far far away


Everything I love 

Becomes a memory


Far far away

Nothing today

Not a thing tomorrow

Far far away


Far far away

I’ve got nothing to say

When blue turns to grey

Far far away



Departure


Goodbye mother

Goodbye father

I think I’ll have to go


Goodbye sister

Goodbye brother

I have to close the door

Behind me


Every day

Every night

I think of you

Not every day

Not every night

I think of you

Sometimes I do


Goodbye mother


Goodbye father


I think I’ll have to leave

Departure 


Goodbye sister

Goodbye brother

I have to close the door 

For ever


Strawberry wood

Norwegian fields

Are everywhere

Rainy night house

A little green

Dance me to

A river

Blue 


Goodbye mother

Goodbye father

Love is a secret place


Winter and spring

Summer and fall

The circle game

I look outside

View from the house




Nick in the House of John


Invitation of a singer

To visit his beautiful house

I am walking on the driveway

I am as quiet as a mouse


In the east-wing

In the west-wing

There is plasma

On every wall


When I look at the size of his pool

Even Lake Ontario is looking small


There’s a fish-thing

In the living

There are freeze-pops

In the fridge


In the middle of his garden

There’s a pond with a 

Japanese bridge


In the east-wing

In the west-wing

There’s a picture of every song

I am lost in his parlours

I feel like Nick in the house of John


He’s walking with his shadow

His shadow is walking too fast


He is smelling like my Grandma

Eau de Cologne and Eau de Vie

He is walking in his black suit

With eighty six he is still

Looking good to me


In the east-wing

In the west-wing

There’s a picture of every song

I am lost in his parlours

I feel like Nick in the house of John


I am looking at his red tail

‘My Soul is for sale’


In the east-wing

In the west-wing

There’s a picture of every song

I am lost in his parlours

I feel like Nick in the house of John



La Petite Robe Noire


Ma Belle

Ma Belle

Avec 

La Petite Robe Noire

La Petite Robe Noire

Je dis

O la la


Ma Belle

Ma Belle

Elle est avec moi ce soir

Elle est avec moi ce soir

Je dis 

Pourquoi pas


Ma Belle

Ma Belle

Avec le grand pantalon

Avec le grand pantalon

Quarante coups de fouet

L’homme avec la barbe dit:


Elvis Presley

Cliff Richard

Johnny Halliday


Je suis

Je suis

La Petite Robe Noire

La Petite Robe Noire

Elle dit

Oh lala



Now


Now don’t think twice

It’s all right as they say

Your intention is clear

Now no one will stand in your way


You got your soul

As a trustful companion

It’ll never leave you here

Out in the in the rain


You’ve been in, you’ve been out

She was a constant factor of doubt


Now you’re breaking the spell 

Sharpening plans I can tell


Such a useful confirmation

When you confessed

You were lost in the dark

Each doorin the dark

The same doorin the dark

Each housein the dark

The same housein the dark

Each streetin the dark

The same streetin the dark

Each day in the dark

The same dayin the dark


Again

 Now you choose 

For the heat of the fire

And not for soaking away in the rain

So don’t turn back now

Now you started all over again


Now jump into the fire and your

Phoenix will rise from the flame


The second half of your new life story

Feels only half a second away


A new roomnow see the light 

A new roofnow in the light

A new townnow see the light

A new waynow in the light

New friends andnow see the light

New facesnow in the light

You start yournow see the light

Own systemnow in the light


Now


Index of First Lines


He was talking

Like the index

Like the index

Of first lines

In orange sunsets

Ear smokes cigars

Fume fume

Anti-fly

One picture

Tells a thousand words


Lady of the Harbour

Frozen angel

In Jerusalem

Of the North

Smoked meat sandwich 

Ben’s de Luxe

Wall of pictures

Tells a thousand words

All aboard

The Red Eye Express

Whiff of perfume

Eye, a hat, a shoe

Bring back

Vague memories 

Of names

I had forgotten

Lay your sleeping head

My love

Every picture

Tells a thousand words



Tannenbaum


Through a burning desert

In an ice-cold train

Tannenbaum is looking

At the endless plain


With a black suit and a keppel

He’s looking like a heron

From the heart of Montréal

A man without a skeleton

I am an old Christmas tree

With pain in kidney and liver

Soon the train goes on without me

Along this endless river


O Tannenbaum


Your branches green delight us

They’re green when

Summer days are bright

They’re green when

Winter snow is white

Your branches green delight us


O Tannenbaum


Why he is thinking

Why he is dreaming

With his eyes wide open

Like an old vampire

Burned by the light of the day

With the snowflakes on my hat

I couldn’t find the stick

Above the ghosts and the dead

In the holy ground


Jisp


It’s a blue day

Without a cloud

Miles away

Seagulls shout


Nothing moves


Through the holes in my eyes

A once in a lifetime experience 

Sometimes happens twice


Nothing moves


I almost had forgotten 

How it feels


Maybe you’re right

Maybe I’m wrong

Good times are here

Bad times are gone

Maybe you’re wrong

Maybe I’m right

Bad times are gone


Beetles in the grass

Birds in the sky

Stones in the water

Spiders in my eye


It’s a green day

Without a sound

Red leaves

Falling down

No one moves


Through the holes in my head

A once in a lifetime experience

Sometimes you forget

Sometimes 

I almost had forgotten 

How it feels


Maybe I’m right

Maybe you’re wrong

Bad times are here

Good times are gone

Maybe I’m wrong

Maybe you’re right

Good times are gone


Beetles in the grass

Birds in the sky

Stones in the water

Spiders in my eye


Eels in the bucket

Monkeys in the tree

T-rex in the pocket

Turtles in the sea


It’s a grey day

Snowflakes



Bad Dream


Once I had a bad dream

I was in a big room

With a famous artist

And his little dog

He thought he was a singer

At least that’s what he told me

His voice was everywhere

On the radio and tv

I could not hear him

Maybe I didn’t want to

Can you wake me up


Once I had a bad dream

I was on the tv

With a smiling host

He was talking to me

In fact he talked the most

I was drinking red wine

He was eating peanuts

He was very proud

Of the size of his penis

But he didn’t show us


Can you wake me up


Once I had a bad dream

I was very small

Talking to a lady

Who was very tall

And she didn’t hear me

In fact she didn’t see me

So I walked away

On a winter’s day

Buried by a snowflake

Life is just a mistake

Till you wake me up


Can you wake me up

Once I had a bad dream

I was very famous

Sitting in a car

I was even driving



Return


This house

Always

Returns

Things we lost


Not today

Sometimes

A button

Most of the time

A memory

Not today

What we lost and what we found

Lines we crossed without a sound

What is real and what is not

What we lost and what we got


A real life

A real house

A real love

A real child


I can wait

It’s not too late

To turn


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