Hello.
Here’s another song from my weekly studio sessions during spring last year. I don’t remember too much about the composition of this one (I was very sleep deprived at the time - still am, in fact), but some of the imagery of the lyrics recalls a perilous drive I once made late at night through the icy streets of my old neighborhood in South London.
The ice on the roads was so slippery that several people had decided to abandon their cars bumper-to-bumper on the hill. Somehow, I managed to glide mine down the hill to relative safety. Anyway, I left the string squeaks in this version I am sharing with you, as they help to emphasise the glacial imagery of the lyrics - that’s my excuse, anyway.
Lyrics:
Nighttime.
The streets are sheets of ice.
Driving slow.
Racing mind.
Freewheel
downhill in first gear.
I lost my way
going nowhere.
Could drive north.
Or I could stay south.
Or spin endlessly
around this roundabout
A crossroads.
What’s the right direction?
Stalled as ever
in indecision.
Because there’s no trap as deadly
as the trap you set for yourself
And there’s no time like the present
unless you’re going through hell
And if you’re going, well, get going
keep going
but don’t get gone.
There’s no sign reading exit.
No slip road.
No way back.
No destination.
Orange glow.
The tunnel swallows us.
Endless grey.
Ears rush.
Static snow.
Stay inside the lines.
Watch out for hazards
and heavy eyes,
or Cat’s Eyes
blinking from the ice.
Caught in a blizzard
of blanket panic.
Coz there’s no trap as deadly
as the trap you set for yourself
And there’s no time like the present
unless you’re going through hell
And if you’re going, get going
keep going
but don’t get gone
Coz there’s no sign reading exit,
no slip road.
no destination.
And there’s no trap as deadly
as the trap you set for yourself.
And there’s no time like the present
unless you’re freezing in hell.
And if you’re going, get going.
keep going.
Find a way out.
A destination.
—-
Thanks for listening,
James
