House On Fire

midnight coming back around

the summer heat that wears me out

is drifting through a firmament of cranes

and the friends I’ve left behind

are speechless in my sunlit mind

as through the door to summer

through the door to summer

they pass away

if there’s a stillness in your eyes

the unreal city’s closing all its summer doors on you tonight yeah

won’t you step into the light

the arcades that have blossomed just

to fade into the shadows of the night

through all the trains still moving in my mind

the gas fire flares into the light

and I am in this house on fire

but I was only watching clouds go by

and we were old before our time

and we knew as we heard the fields just

singing in the quiet yeah

that one day the band would strike

a tune that carried us along

through city gardens, leaving in the heat

and all the deals and trials on Ganton Street

the gas fire flares into the light

and I am in this house on fire

but I was only watching clouds go by

I picked her up at half past four

the church hall in a haze

unreal as I could ever really be

and everyone was leaving and the moment passed away

and ended up inside my heart a dream

midnight coming back around

the summer heat that wears me out

is rising to my eyes behind the flames

I have come to disbelieve

exactly what I hear and see

as through the door to summer

through the door to summer

I pass away

The Clientele