The Full Gamut by The Tangent Lyrics
[1. The D599 – Dusk]
Lying on our backs
On the cooling tarmac of a country road, we watched the stars
We watched them fall
And you made 36, I got as far as 49, before we laughed aloud
Raced back to the house again
With no idea at all...
... of our own position in infinity
Beware of the promises of songs
When you know the road ahead can be so long
As we watched the stars that night
We had no more idea of our plight
Than an earthworm beneath the tripod
Of the surveyor's theodolite
[2. Gothenburg]
I'm standing on a stage in Sweden in the rain
But only see the sunlight from your face
It illuminates the faces that smile back from the crowd
We create the time, but you create the place
And the curtains are closing on this act of the play
Tomorrow it seems will be a different kind of day
Stay with me a while! — let me live this moment once or twice
Freeze Frame! — Magnify! — Do I see trouble in your eyes?
Have I just borne witness to the scars that you bear
From my own pursuit of dreams that perhaps we don't share?
"Talk to me a while", I'd plead, knowing all was said and done
And that words alone can't change things, Not when the fighting's already begun
We had a Utopian postcode and a Nirvanan phone
But no-one was calling and we were left alone
Lying on our backs
On the cooling tarmac of a country road, we watched the stars
We watched them fall
Lying to ourselves
In the quiet slumber of a foreign town
We let it slide
With no idea at all....
.... of our own position in infinity
Oh beware of the promises of songs
When the road ahead can be so long
For constructed poetic verse
No matter how well-rehearsed
Can't fill in all the cavities
In the mouth that formed the curse
[3. Last Tango]
[Instrumental]
[4. Studio Tan]
There's a kind of comfort in the whirring of a fan
The dimmed studio lights and turning counters
The soundproofing a barrier to the hostile world outside
It can carry on without us
But out there it's changing by the instant
And I'm in here on my own
I kid myself that you are in here with me
And you're speaking through me now
That everything I do in here's for "US" not just for me
But I never could quite explain how
The room is empty,, or, the room is full
Inspiration comes and goes.... but
In the end we became each others tea-break
Togetherness was just supposed
And inside I just never could see that
But out here it just seems so clear
[5. Not A Drill - A storm in the mountains of Cantal]
We've had so much of trading insults
Oaths and vows are useless, like before
Petty thoughts and skeletons in closets
Are lying all across our wooden floor
And nothing we believe is sacred in our massive quest to hurt
Everything we're good at is in question
Everything we've achieved is in the mire
And all we have is bile and sick, the ending just can't come too quick
All that we've created has to die
We rip ourselves apart and fall asleep exhausted by the strain
This is not a rehearsal
This is not a drill
Madness rides tonight, banners flying
And it's for real
They get stronger, while we get weaker... and no-one cares
[6. Southend On Sea]
I'm standing on a stage in England, blinded by the lights
Hard to even know you're there
But inside I know the switches have been thrown in your mind
Just a question of when and where
And all of these years I took for granted
Come on back now and whisper in my ears...
"I never thought twice.....
As blind as three mice"
But I never thought I'd be alone
[7. The A1 North of Paris]
It's time to bring the curtain down
Time to say our final words
I can feel it in my bones
I can feel it in my water
Traffic jams and French landscape flash by
Lost in a blur of deja vu
Still, I can't keep my fingers off
The self destruction buttons
And suddenly... it's happening!
I'm sliding into the void I built with you
My lifetime ahead is slipping away
My fingers are clawing but nothing seems any use
What we set in gear has meshed at last
Question marks hover over our past
Like barrage balloons that wait over some
Defended... terrified city
But through it all, I Love You still
Yet only find spiteful, hurtful things to say
We take the vow, we make the dive
And head for the exit without even knowing the way
[8. Four Last Days]
And the water turns to wine
And the wine turns into pills
And the pills turn into games
But the games are just cheap thrills
Beware of the promises of songs
When you know the road ahead can be so long
And all my anger cannot move
Or even seek to disprove
The need I have inside me
For the love I lost, which can never be removed
[9. The D599 and the A61 (Dusk)]
Lying on our backs
A Thousand miles apart
At whatever moment
With synchronised hearts
We'll watch the stars
We'll watch them fall
And from whatever country it's still the same milky way
And I only can dream that maybe some day
We'll meet again
Lying on our backs
On the cooling tarmac of a country road, we watched the stars
We watched them fall
And you made 36, I got as far as 49, before we laughed aloud
Raced back to the house again
With no idea at all...
... of our own position in infinity
Beware of the promises of songs
When you know the road ahead can be so long
As we watched the stars that night
We had no more idea of our plight
Than an earthworm beneath the tripod
Of the surveyor's theodolite
[2. Gothenburg]
I'm standing on a stage in Sweden in the rain
But only see the sunlight from your face
It illuminates the faces that smile back from the crowd
We create the time, but you create the place
And the curtains are closing on this act of the play
Tomorrow it seems will be a different kind of day
Stay with me a while! — let me live this moment once or twice
Freeze Frame! — Magnify! — Do I see trouble in your eyes?
Have I just borne witness to the scars that you bear
From my own pursuit of dreams that perhaps we don't share?
"Talk to me a while", I'd plead, knowing all was said and done
And that words alone can't change things, Not when the fighting's already begun
We had a Utopian postcode and a Nirvanan phone
But no-one was calling and we were left alone
Lying on our backs
On the cooling tarmac of a country road, we watched the stars
We watched them fall
Lying to ourselves
In the quiet slumber of a foreign town
We let it slide
With no idea at all....
.... of our own position in infinity
Oh beware of the promises of songs
When the road ahead can be so long
For constructed poetic verse
No matter how well-rehearsed
Can't fill in all the cavities
In the mouth that formed the curse
[3. Last Tango]
[Instrumental]
[4. Studio Tan]
There's a kind of comfort in the whirring of a fan
The dimmed studio lights and turning counters
The soundproofing a barrier to the hostile world outside
It can carry on without us
But out there it's changing by the instant
And I'm in here on my own
I kid myself that you are in here with me
And you're speaking through me now
That everything I do in here's for "US" not just for me
But I never could quite explain how
The room is empty,, or, the room is full
Inspiration comes and goes.... but
In the end we became each others tea-break
Togetherness was just supposed
And inside I just never could see that
But out here it just seems so clear
[5. Not A Drill - A storm in the mountains of Cantal]
We've had so much of trading insults
Oaths and vows are useless, like before
Petty thoughts and skeletons in closets
Are lying all across our wooden floor
And nothing we believe is sacred in our massive quest to hurt
Everything we're good at is in question
Everything we've achieved is in the mire
And all we have is bile and sick, the ending just can't come too quick
All that we've created has to die
We rip ourselves apart and fall asleep exhausted by the strain
This is not a rehearsal
This is not a drill
Madness rides tonight, banners flying
And it's for real
They get stronger, while we get weaker... and no-one cares
[6. Southend On Sea]
I'm standing on a stage in England, blinded by the lights
Hard to even know you're there
But inside I know the switches have been thrown in your mind
Just a question of when and where
And all of these years I took for granted
Come on back now and whisper in my ears...
"I never thought twice.....
As blind as three mice"
But I never thought I'd be alone
[7. The A1 North of Paris]
It's time to bring the curtain down
Time to say our final words
I can feel it in my bones
I can feel it in my water
Traffic jams and French landscape flash by
Lost in a blur of deja vu
Still, I can't keep my fingers off
The self destruction buttons
And suddenly... it's happening!
I'm sliding into the void I built with you
My lifetime ahead is slipping away
My fingers are clawing but nothing seems any use
What we set in gear has meshed at last
Question marks hover over our past
Like barrage balloons that wait over some
Defended... terrified city
But through it all, I Love You still
Yet only find spiteful, hurtful things to say
We take the vow, we make the dive
And head for the exit without even knowing the way
[8. Four Last Days]
And the water turns to wine
And the wine turns into pills
And the pills turn into games
But the games are just cheap thrills
Beware of the promises of songs
When you know the road ahead can be so long
And all my anger cannot move
Or even seek to disprove
The need I have inside me
For the love I lost, which can never be removed
[9. The D599 and the A61 (Dusk)]
Lying on our backs
A Thousand miles apart
At whatever moment
With synchronised hearts
We'll watch the stars
We'll watch them fall
And from whatever country it's still the same milky way
And I only can dream that maybe some day
We'll meet again