BROKEN WING

The man in the raincoat

Waiting for the same boat

The woman with the suitcase

Looking at his shadow face

The man in the raincoat

Lifting his hat, he said

'My name is Jones

I am an angel'

He had a broken wing

To the North, through the ice

The man with the mirror eyes said

'Where are you going'

'To Turku' the woman said

'From Turku to Tampere

Who are you?'

'Let's say I'm just a man

You don't meet every day'

The fountain of Geneva

The station of Helsinki

The Foufounes in Montreal

You always were beside me

The man in the raincoat

We're travelling the same road

From town to town

But now my angel is falling down

J.O.S. DAYS

The war monument is still standing

Between two football fields

With the names of the men

Killed on the battlefields

They were center forwards

Keepers and backs

They thought they would win

It's a family tradition

To play in a football team

I have nephews, dumb but tall

Who, still foetus, kicked the ball

I've got flat feet and

My knees are weak

They all thought it was time

To start my J.O.S. days

The last war in this country

The fighting lasted four days

Between the names on this list

I see one name again

He had my age and my first name

He thought he would win

Like in his J.O.S days

They had too many boys

Who wanted to be in a team

So in one day in one match

You had to prove your ability

I was knocked out

A real disgrace

A break with the family tradition

Of the J.O.S. days

I can live without a finger

I can live without a toe

But the head is necessary

ADIEU SWEET BAHNOF

I have been waiting for hours

In this train

And I'm riding through Brussels

In the rain

Back to Paris, more or less confused

By the shadows of 

Tractors on the land

By the changes in my life I pretend

There's a new life waiting there for me

I asked myself

What sort of books I'd read

In a train if I ever felt the need

I bought 'My life with Picasso'

I think of so many things I'd like to do

I will go to the Centre Pompidou

There's a still life part of my life too

Adieu, adieu sweet bahnhof

My train of thoughts is leaving, tonight

Now like an arrow we're aimed at

Gare du Nord

Between backs of the houses

Streets like fjords

And the night falls over Paris

So I've come back to

The Hotel d'Angleterre

I lay down on a double bed and stare

At the ceiling, what a feeling

(To be back)

BIKE IN HEAD

Wake me up sunray

On this bright sunny summer day

Leave my bed, bike in head

Clear blue sky, bird and kite

On this day time is on my side

Someone said 'Bike in head'

On a shadow lane between big trees

Bike chain spins and frame freezes

I have seen the villages in green

Meadows cut by ditches in between

Lines I've read, bike in head

Can't you hear

Can't you hear what they say

Artis bought an elephant today

Is this the real world?

Am I alive?

NESCIO

Nescio, questo paradiso

Nescio, nella bocca del luppo

Nescio, Lo straniero è morto

Nescio, questo paradiso

I jumped off a bridge

And went swimming for hours

And nobody, nobody's looking

I came to a hotel

With double rooms and showers

And nobody, nobody's knocking

The phone rings on a nightstand

Somebody whispers 'Hello'

I don't know

Too many words after so many miles

Nescio, questo paradiso

Nescio, questo quadro è bello

THE DREAM

I was walking down

A sunny street in town

In a dream

She was standing

In the shadow of a tree

In a dream

In my dream

She invited me

Inside her house to see

The walls were black

Black and white

Just like a woodcut

Printed down in a dream

In my dream

And the wheel is turning

And the wheel is burning

And the wheel sang

Oh Oh Oh Oh

On the table was a box of mica

Where I could see through

She said 'Ruby', I said 'Red'

To me it looks like honey dew

Like your skin too

A TOUCH OF HENRY MOORE

Sometimes

I hear the hammer on steel

Sometimes

I hear the grindstone turn

And I am looking

Sometimes

I see the cool wet stone

Sometimes

I see the tin white skin

And I am looking

Looking

Hesitating

So afraid to touch

And there is more to it

Than meets the eye knew it

A reclining figure

Made of brass and steel

It's a perfect mixture

How I think and feel

And there is more to it

I know

A touch of Henry Moore

And Barbara Hepworth

Monday on a slow train

Outside the falling rain

And I am looking

MASK

Cover up the pretty faces

Cover up the eyes and the lips

And the things we like

Under a mask

Oh what a feeling it is

To be alone

Under a mask

Cover up the angry faces

Cover up the hate and the cries

And the things we fear

Under a mask

I wanna know

Is this really your face

I wanna know

Are they really your tears

I wanna know

I wanna know

If I'm looking at a replica

Cover up the ugly faces

Cover up the hate and the cries

And the things we fear

Under a mask

I want to be alone

I want to stay here on my own

In the middle of nowhere

I hide my body and soul there

And now it's your turn to strip bare

Cover up slowly

Cover up

Oh what a feeling it is

To be alive

Under a mask

Cover up slowly

Under a mask

IN THE DUTCH MOUNTAINS

I was born in the valley of bricks

Where the river runs high

Above the rooftops

I was waiting for the cars

Coming home late at night

From the Dutch mountains

I was standing in the valley of rock

Up to my belly in an early fog

I was looking for the road

To a green painted house

In the Dutch mountains

In the Dutch mountains

Mountains

I met a woman in the valley of stone

She was painting roses

On the walls of her home

And the moon is a coin

With the head of the queen

Of the Dutch mountains

I lost a button of my shirt today

It fell on the ground and

It was rolling away

Like a trail leading me back

To the Dutch mountains

I met a miller on the back of a cow

He was looking for the wind

But he didn't know how

I said follow the cloud

That looks like a sheep

In the Dutch mountains

In the Dutch mountains

Mountains

Buildings

BAUHAUS CHAIR

Suddenly you came to see me

After all those years

You said 'Hello'

Time has been a friend

In the town without a home I went

I'm so alone again

I miss the Bauhaus chair

Can you turn back

All the pages with the photographs

Can you see that all the faces

All the houses in the town will fade

The friends that you have made

I take the Bauhaus chair

SOAP BUBBLE BOX

I saw a box in New York

Inside the MOMA

Clay pipe and cork

It's a soap bubble

I saw a map of the moon

Cut out of camels

Tin spoon

It's a soap bubble

He is walking very slow

Through Manhattan

In the snow

Joseph Cornell

I saw an egg painted blue

Rhinestones in 4 rows of 2

It's a soap bubble

BOX

RADIO SHOES

Me and my friend and his girlfriend

Are swimming in Telephone Lake

Where willows are ringing

Out of the water a periscope snake says

'Go to the place where

The wireless valves break'

Me and my friend and his girlfriend

Are driving through silence and sound

My sister is waving

She found a map

Full of stations and beams

Where the rivers were drawn

Like electron streams

My friend and his girl hear

The Doppler Effect

They both disappear in

The Infinite Shoeblack

Me and my sister drive home

With the blues

Now we can look for the Radio Shoes

How we can look for the Radio Shoes

Little red roses fall from heaven

Me and my friend and his girlfriend

Are skating on Telephone Lake

My sister is waiting at home

Near the wireless

But there is no sound

The periscope snake

Must have been drowned

We melt through the ice

And never come back

We all disappear in

The Infinite Shoeblack

Through falling snow we walk home

with the blues

SKETCHES OF SPAIN

The streets of Barcelona

Are filled with blood and rain

The war is rolling over Spain

Men and women running

With sticks of dynamite

Storming stone buildings

In the middle of the night

They never never stop

Never stop

In the window near the last 'O'

Of the sign 'Hotel Colon'

Machine guns sweep

The square for fun

The rich draw the steel curtains

The poor just lock the door

They don't want this war no more

It never never stops

Never stops

In the hills round Zaragoza

We're waiting to attack

A knot of dirty men

That shiver round their flag

The boredom and the lack of sleep

The tin cans in the mud

Red is the colour of our blood

We never never  stop

Never stop

I have seen the trenches

And the blankets on dirt

I have seen the tears

Upon a farewell letter

I have seen the faces

That no bullet can hurt

I have seen the spirit

That no bomb can shatter

Knives can cut

Fist can beat

RED TAPE

She was always thinking

That the others were the losers

And that they could never kill her too

This is the official world

Now welcome to the papers

And the forms are waiting here for you

It didn't work at all

She couldn't stand or fall

Queuing up for counters

She was standing there for hours

And then someone told her

'It is closed'

Bureaucrat, tie and hat

Disappearing like a ghost

Late at night, the kids in bed

She's looking at the TV screen

One more night, she's talking to

The window of the washing machine

THE TRAIN

Once on a cold grey morning

I was walking home alone

The traffic light in the falling rain

The unanswered phone

I was so sad and lonely

On a lonesome avenue

So sad and lonely

What could I do

Once I opened a drawer

In a room of a strange hotel

I saw a photograph of you

You looked so sad and lonely

On a lonesome avenue

So sad and lonely

What could I do

Once in a railway station

In the city where I live

The windows were like mirrors

In this train

'Hey, what you're doing

With your life'

dA dA dA

I think of the year when she was 16

She charmed the boys out of the trees

I saw the moon when I was 15

Fell like a fire into the sea

dA dA dA dA dA dA dA dA

He smiled at me when he was 50

He turned his head and said goodbye

And when he died when he was 65

He left a hole in the sky

I think of the year when she was 18

She charmed the words out of my mouth

GIANT NORMAL DWARF

What a beautiful dress

You're wearing tonight

What a beautiful shoes

You have on your feet

Do you remember

It's a long time ago

When the summer was green

The winter was snow

Cherry-eye, window panes

Wonder why it always rains

Loot at me I'm getting smaller 

Vice versa you're growing taller

You're an oak tree I'm a flower

You are a giant

I am a normal dwarf

Through the coal mines

Of my brain I went

From the chambers of my heart

I sent you a tanker

Filled with sweet perfume

- to my one-eyed cyclop -

I will never stick a pole in your eye

Like the hero of my favourite book

It's been on a shelf

But it's much too high

Don't you see you're growing taller

Vice versa I'm getting smaller

I'm a pebble, you're a mountain

You are a giant

I am a normal dwarf

When I dance with you

I can hold your knees

I will polish your shoes

Stay with me all winter long

And we melt like snow

In the last line of this song

CARS & CARS

In the mirrors of this house

I've seen your face

A thousand times or more

In the corners of your room

I've seen your face

A thousand times or more

In the darkness of the town

I've seen the wheels a turning

I'll be gone

In the darkness of your room

You've heard the wheels a turning

I'll be gone

In

Cars & Cars

Cars & Cars

Are going faster

In the mirrors of this house

I've seen your face

A thousand times or more

In the darkness of your room

You've heard the wheels a turning

I'll be gone

HOME BEFORE DARK

Another car is stopping for gas

Be careful with that burning match

The radio is playing Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole sings

Another stranger turns the wheel

I stay behind in silence and I feel

The oil on overall and hands

Is all that's left, all left for me

Better late than never

Here come the sunny days

You keep your eyes wide open

And all I say is

Yes yes yes yes yes, me too

I'm ready for a kick in the back

I'm ready for another hopeless wreck

I'm ready for a night so long and black

So long and black

Better late than never

Here come the sunny days

I keep my eyes wide open

Here come the best years of my life

And all I say is

Yes yes yes yes yes, me too

Another night of counting cars

The magazines and candy bars

And everybody's driving home

They're home, home before dark

ROAD NOT TAKEN

She was climbing up a mountain

So high I could not see her anymore

She was standing in a cloud

So thick I could not hear her anymore

My Angel Queen, you're seventeen

You're living in a dream

This is the road not taken

It's the highway I have crossed

But if I am not mistaken

I am lost

I was climbing up a mountain

So high she could not see me anymore

I was standing in a cloud

So thick she could not hear me anymore

So I came to this house

Standing in the mud and the dirt

She was talking to a man

The words I could not hear

But they did hurt

Avec Une Aile Cassée

     (Hofstede, Kloet, Stips / Hofstede / French Tr. Kent)

L'homme avec un manteau

Prenait le m\^eme bateau

La femme avec la valise

Observait sa mine grise

L'homme avec un manteau

Quitta son chapeau et dit

'Je m'appelle Jones

Et je suis un ange'

Hohoooohoohooo

Avec une aile cassée

Dans le Nord dans le blizzard

L'homme `a l'etrange regard

Demanda 'Ou allez-vous ?'

La femme dit 'A Turku'

'De Turku a Tampere

Qui êtes-vous donc allez'

'Le genre de personne

Qui ne ressemble à personne'

Autour du Lac de Genève

A la gare d'Helsinki

Aux Foufounes à Montreal

De partout tu m'as suivi

Toi, l'homme avec un manteau

Mêmes routes, mêmes bateaux

De ville en ville

Mais mon ange, tu es tombé de

Haut hoooohoohooo

Et ton aile est cassée

Adieu Sweet Bahnhof

      (Hofstede / French Tr. Kent)

J'ai passé des heures

Et des heures dans ce train

Et j'ai traversé Bruxelles en chemin

Bientôt Paris o je reviens

Mais les ombres des tracteurs

A travers prés

Et ma vie qui changé

M'ont un peu troublé

Je fais comm'si tout pouvait arriver

Je m'demandais quel genre

De livres j'aim'rais lire

Dans un train si j'en éprouvais l'désir

J'ai pris "Ma vie avec Picasso"

Quand je pense á toutes ces choses

Que j'aim'tant

Au Centre Pompidou passer du temps

Une nature morte

Entre deux mouv'ments

Adieu, adieu, sweet bahnhof

Le train d'mes pensées s’égare

Ce soir

Telle une flèche me voici Gar' du Nord

Entre des rues au maisons

Comm' des fjords

Et la nuit descend sur Paris

A l'Hotel d'Angleterr' je suis revenu

Dans un lit pour deux, le regard perdu

Vers le plafond

Quell'sensation, me revoila !

Adieu, adieu, sweet bahnhof

Le train d'mes pensées s'égare

Ce soir