Staying Together For The Children

Like an evangelist in the Coliseum,

Who has to choose between love and freedom,

Or like a hunter in the city of the violent wind,

I recognise the end but I’ve never known where to begin.

Our love was once like an undiscovered country,

Now we’re staying together,

Staying together,

Staying together for the children.

I thought about that sacred verse,

Jesus emptying Judas’s purse,

Now when night falls In this infected house,

A smiling rival instead of a spouse.

Our love was once like an undiscovered country,

Now we’re staying together,

Staying together,

Staying together for the children.

With your tattoo like a bruise and your eyes like bloodstains,

You fell to your knees in The Church of Saint John Coltrane, 

The patron saint of raising hell,

And of the ruthless universe in every blood cell.

Our love was once like an undiscovered country,

Now we’re staying together,

Staying together,

Now we’re staying together for the children.

My Shipwrecked Mind

I am a prisoner in the room of lost footsteps,

Brandishing a knife against a wave,

Helpless in the face of losing everything,

A destitute king.

Waves on the horizon always coming to shore,

Hissing their approval as they retreat once more,

Across the pebbled beaches of my shipwrecked mind,

Of my shipwrecked mind.

Cast adrift, I am unhinged,

I can’t trust my feelings anymore,

Torn asunder, fingers on the tumbler,

Of my shipwrecked mind.

Waves on the horizon always coming to shore,

Hissing their approval as they retreat once more,

Across the pebbled beaches of my shipwrecked mind,

Of my shipwrecked mind.

The Heart Of Saint Laurence O’Toole

God only knows I was only joking,

No promises made so none can be broken,

The haunted look on the calvary cross,

The difference between absence and loss,

Now I stand accused, in shame and ridicule,

Of stealing the heart of Saint Laurence O’Toole.

The cruelest city I ever was in,

That hates the sinner but loves the sin,

Rejecting gold for a heart-shaped box,

Feasted in Dublin, starved in Glendalough,

Now I stand accused, in shame and ridicule,

Of stealing the heart of Saint Laurence O’Toole.

God only knows I was only joking,

No promises made so none can be broken.

Somewhere Between Oblivion and Bliss

It was the hour of the wolf, I could tell by the cannon fire,

Stealing victory from the jaws of desire,

Just before sunrise when there’s no-one else around,

The sky takes its first breath and the night begins to drown.

I’m staring into the abyss,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss,

I never wanted this,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss,

I’m standing on the precipice,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss,

I never wanted this,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss.

I can’t remember the last time that I took a breath,

You drink till you’re blind and you trample your problems to death,

A medallion of Saint Bernadette hangs around your neck,

Every siren song needs a shipwreck.

I’m staring into the abyss,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss,

I never wanted this,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss,

I’m standing on the precipice,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss,

I never wanted this,

Somewhere between oblivion and bliss.

Every siren song needs a shipwreck.

Nothing At The End

The horizon is expanding,   

The phantom race is run,

The light was only waiting,

For darkness to descend.

The blood becomes a traitor,

The heart becomes a stranger

The thing you laid your life down for,       

Becomes impossible to defend.

Love forgives everything at the beginning,

And forgives nothing at the end.

With your moneychanger’s hands,

And your alabaster jar,

And your coal bunker heart,

Once broken, impossible to mend.

You’re truthful but not honest,

You’re cut but you’re not wounded,

You’re vicious but not bitter,

You respect me too much to pretend.

Love forgives everything at the beginning,

And forgives nothing at the end.

Love forgives everything at the beginning,

And forgives nothing at the end.

A Red Balloon

I live in an empty room,

In an infinite hotel in the city of solitude,

At the bottom of your heart,

I turn to you to show you my gratitude.

But you send me, send me to coventry,

I never thought that love was such an atrocity,

Love was such an atrocity,

Love was such an atrocity.

A red ballon in a dark universe,

That’s what you are to me,

I thought you could set me free,

I never thought that we would need a referee,

Never thought that love could make me a refugee.

But you send me, send me to coventry,

I never thought that love was such an atrocity,

Love was such an atrocity,

Love was such an atrocity.

Hilton and Michael

We have loved as lovers always must,

To pass into the sphere of sorrow,

To tell the diamond from the dust,

The candle from the shadow.

Michael, one last kiss,

From one gorgeous wreck to another,

While the band plays a soldier’s song,

And I thank God we found each other,

Michael.

In a country that believes so much,

But knows so very little,

The hand so delicate to touch,

And the heart so very brittle. 

Michael, one last kiss,

From one gorgeous wreck to another,

While the band plays a soldier’s song,

I just thank God we found each other,

Michael.

Novena

I am the upturned stone,

I am the wounded gull,

I am the gardener, the prostitute,

I am the palace and the grave.

I am the knife in the hand of Cain,

I am the sacred and profane

And I will never love again,

After Bastille Day.

I’m such a long way from anywhere,

It’s been such a long time coming,

I see my happiness in your eyes,

My happiness in your eyes,

My happiness in your eyes.

I am the mist on the horizon,

I am the two small ravens,

I am a holy day of obligation,

I am the past that you can’t outrun.

I am the Church of the Four Beauties,

Every country you invade,

I am the heatwave burning the bouquet,

I am the blood on the parade.

I’m such a long way from anywhere,

It’s been such a long time coming,

I see my happiness in your eyes,

My happiness in your eyes,

My happiness in your eyes.

I met you at the Fountain of the Three Graces,

We scattered the ashes in the Phoenix Park.

I’m such a long way from anywhere,

It’s been such a long time coming,

I see my happiness in your eyes,

My happiness in your eyes,

My happiness in your eyes.

Lyrics Copyright 2020 Joe Chester

Spy Wednesday (The Body Electric)

Spy Wednesday

And we're living like assassins,

There must be a loving father,

Cause I know that my Redeemer lives.

Dark matter,

Is a river running underground,

You don't forget, you never forgive,

You don't get better, you just get used to it.

The body screams,

The body electric.

White spirit,

Turpentine kisses,

An elastic heart and a heroin face,

With the patience of a saint.

You never trust anyone,

Cause there's no trust among the outlaws,

If it comes to love or it comes to murder,

The innocent often confess.

Juliette Walking In The Rain

Juliette, you were all in black,

In Meeting House Square's ink-reflecting pool,

Like discovering a secret city,

The lover on the bridge with rosary eyes.

Standing on love's high wire,

Me and my new French wife sheltered from the rain,

Exiles in a cruel world,

Blood still on fire, blood still on fire.

Juliette walking in the rain,

Juliette walking in the rain.

That’s Why Love Is Hell

She wore widow's weeds,

She taught me how to be free,

Skimming the waves of sleep,

She showed me how to fall deep,

There were lines on her face,

Reminders of the way she used to laugh,

Laughter like the ringing of a communion bell,

That’s why love is hell.

Between the sin and the confession,

Between the desire and the obsession,

Between the belief and the doubt,

Between the thirst and the drought,

Love is the debris,

In the space between you and me,

Between the drug and the blood cell,

That's why love is hell.

I'm not here anymore,

I just disappeared like a prisoner of war,

I've been gone so long and you couldn't even tell.

That's why love is hell.

Like A Rose Tattoo

Never be wise in your own estimation,

Holy Thursday and you’re acting out the Stations,

Of the Cross,

Escaping your date with the national razor,

And living out your days,

A convict of the road.

Scandal sticks to you,

Like a rose,

Like a rose,

Like a rose,

Like a rose,

Like a rose tattoo.

Knowing that you will not be discovered,

In a magazine fort built for drunkards,

And for birds,

Drinking like there is no tomorrow,

Only sorrow,

Left for you here.

Scandal sticks to you,

Like a rose,

Like a rose,

Like a rose,

Like a rose,

Like a rose tattoo.

Dark Mornings

Lying in my bed,

With my fingers in my ears,

I feel like I’m a thousand miles from home,

And a million tears,

Just a poet of loneliness,

All washed up,

On the eroding coastline,

Of your love.

There are dark mornings, 

I’ve just got to get up,

It’s like I’m a long way from home sometimes,

It’s nothing serious, 

I’m just looking out the window,

Waiting for you to wake up,

I’m just looking out the window,

Waiting for you to wake up.

The one who said that life,

Was a cold war,

Who told you there was nothing worth loving,

Or living for,

But hope is the last thing,

The last thing to go,

You know I told you, I told you,

I told you so.

There are dark mornings, 

I’ve just got to get up,

It’s like I’m a long way from home sometimes,

It’s nothing serious, 

I’m just looking out the window,

Waiting for you to wake up,

I’m just looking out the window,

Waiting for you to wake up.

Valley Of Tears

Drawn by the music of the sea,

I'm looking out at eternity,

I'm trying to pinpoint the moment as well as I can,

When addition stopped and subtraction began,

When the dark has lifted and the fog clears,

I'm leaving the island from the Valley Of Tears. 

Not enough wood to hang me,

Not enough earth to bury me,

My home has become a battleground,

I’ve come too far to turn around,

I don’t think I’ll take any souvenirs,

I’m leaving the island from the Valley Of Tears.

Let me live in the threads of her coat,

With her long fingers around my throat,

Our blood in the water of Gregory's Sound,

The sons and daughters of sacred ground,

There was dancing on the rocks or down by the pier,

I'm leaving the island from the Valley Of Tears.

The Easter Vigil

Walk among the ruins of the Eternal City,

On the feast of Corpus Christi,

Walk across the water, the deep black sea,

That lies between her and me,

Between the rise and the decline,

Between the water and the wine.

Put her picture up beside the Sacred Heart,

Adore the very bones of her until they fall apart.

Dark stars, black witches, 

Pass the candle at the Easter Vigil,

Celebrate daily Mass,

For a congregation of the wild and vicious,

For the talk of the town,

For the gossip to die down.

Put her picture up beside the Sacred Heart,

Adore the very bones of her until they fall apart.

Not A Christian Anymore

Hard winter, raining glass,

Counting the hours but time refuses to pass.

In splinters, like a crucifix,

Or what’s left when lovers become heretics.

That night in the sleeping house of God,

I was a phantom walking in the corridor,

I was a Christian then,

I’m not a Christian anymore.

Swastika Laundry, Lily of the Nile,

Saint Saviour’s, I dragged you down the aisle,

But the sweeter the kiss, the harder you betray,

The more you deny me what you’ve already thrown away.

That night in the sleeping house of God,

I was a phantom walking in the corridor,

I was a Christian then,

I’m not a Christian anymore.

Let me sleep without dreaming, let me rise without a sound,

Let me live my days a thorn without a crown.

Let the judge see reason, let the judgement fit the crime,

If we must be punished, let the punishment be mine.

Let the trumpet choke, let the church bell bleed,

Let the metronome tick at a different speed.

That night in the sleeping house of God,

I was a phantom walking in the corridor,

I was a Christian then,

I’m not a Christian anymore.

Lyrics Copyright 2017 Joe Chester

Images by Julie Bienvenu. Do not reproduce without permission.