“It’s time to come out of the shadows,” said Colin on the release of his first album recorded under his own name. Released in 1999 on his own label, the album was named after the punchline to the joke “What do you call a scouser in a suit?”.
Despite the financial restrictions being indie is a joy and this LP is as close as I’ve come thus far to realising my maximum potential as a writer and performer. I just decided to record the album I wanted to make, even if nobody else was interested.
CV
Q Magazine’s review said: “a set suffused with his trademark reflective melancholy… a crooner reminiscent of a 60s Scott Walker”. Record Collector said: “A return to ‘Wonderful life’s form…The first single, ‘Sleeper’, has been hailed as perfect pop and bodes well for the future.”
Sleeper was co-written by and features backing vocals by Boo Hewerdine.
The sun’s in your eyes The cloud’s in your head Always alone with the bugs in your bed You’d better wake up soon You’d better wake up soon
Sleeper, you could be more than you are
’cause nothing is wrong Everything’s fine, around for ever on A circle line ’till the monkeys are authors; There’s not enough time You’d better wake up soon
I remember hearing you say: count on me A shadow sat down at my side I could not see You could talk the moon out of the sky And the birds out of the trees And still just be the one who leaves
It’s been sixteen million, fourteen thousand seven hundred seconds Since I realised you’d only ever care for number one
I can still remember how you’d justify Every single sentence to start with ‘I’ And look here comes the moon out of the sky Here comes the birds out of the trees But I’m the one who’s saying leave
It’s been sixteen million, fourteen thousand seven hundred seconds Since I realised you’d only ever care for number one
Here we are and who’d have thought anyone could make us two madly in love But I’ve had the rush for you for years and years To deny what my daddy said I should I knew I didn’t want to ’cause I can’t get enough of you You lift me up, you put me down
As pretty as Yves Klein Blue
So here I’ll stay until I achieve all the things I said I would gladly retrieve; The blood, sweat and tears I lost through years and years Number one stop, look at the brave boys fall I knew I didn’t want to ’cause I can’t get enough of you
I can’t get enough of you You light me up, you put me down
As pretty as Yves Klein Blue As pretty as Yves Klein Blue
Tell me have you seen her Did she look the same as before? The last time that I saw her I swore That I didn’t know that she was who she was But if I tried I could still see that look In her eyes; the one that went missing The way she was before
And tell me how d’you find her Did she look like she was having fun? Smiling at a stranger is when she’s dangerous; Never ashamed of what she has done But if I try I can still see that look in Her eyes; the one that went missing The way she was before
The clothes that she wore I loved the way she walked The jokes she liked to tell I loved the way she smiled And it was fun while it lasted It didn’t last long but I’m not bitter I just miss her the way she was before
Lately we’ve been acting like strangers We never show our feelings Or say the things we mean It’s hard to admit But maybe it’s time to quit pretending Cause we both know
It’s better letting go There’s no point hanging on To what used to be Why can’t we see It’s better letting go
It’s crazy to sit here in silence Counting off the seconds The beating of our hearts When there’s no more to give There’s no easy way to live together We both know
It’s better letting go It’s time to walk away And start again This makes no sense It’s better letting go
No matter how we fake it This love has faded The feeling has gone It’s time to move on It’s no good looking back It hurts but we both know it baby
It’s better letting go There’s no point hanging on To what used to be Why can’t we see It’s better letting go
It’s better letting go It’s time to walk away And start again This makes no sense It’s better letting go
Look outside your window – the darkest sky you ever saw And here am I, and there you are, and that’s all
When you need someone, really need someone When you need someone The night has no pity
You dream of Waterloo As the lightning forks in two
I see your eyes and they’re still the same The body blows absorbed in arcs of bitter pain
Storm cloud Katharine Storm cloud Katharine
It’s all mapped out in relief like a skin of plaque on teeth And so tense in here you can taste it; a power vacuum of sex
If you need someone Not just anyone If you need someone – don’t search in the city
Written longhand shaped in braille You can smell it so you want it, your holy grail
And I see your eyes And they show no fear Though rocketman still loses through the never changing years
I see your eyes And they’re still the same The body blows absorbed in arcs of bitter pain
Storm cloud Katharine Storm cloud Katharine
She says I’d rather walk away from you than hurt you with a word Or a smile or a gesture that you may have misheard And took as meaning something other than what I could do What I don’t have if I don’t have you!
When you need someone don’t search in the city
You hauled the devils back down onto multitrack
And I see your eyes, they’re still the same The bodyblows absorbed in arcs of bitter pain Storm cloud Katharine Storm cloud Katharine I call her
It’s when you wonder where you’re from It’s in her eyes and then it’s gone You search to find there is none; No way to light the pathway As you blindly stumble on
Wasn’t I the one who swore to never try? To swim the river deep, to scale the mountain high? Until I’d learned to pray To St. Cecilia
Breathes like a sigh and then it’s gone Flickers like the light that shone Down from the humid sky So you and I swam I’ll take you there, our places shared And then I’ll learn to pray to St. Cecilia I’ll never find a way to understand If I do what you do
Wasn’t I the one who swore never to try? To swim the river deep, to scale the mountain high? Until I’d learned to pray To St. Cecilia
You play to win No looking backwards Just throw the switch and step back Looking like you’re innocent Do I have to let you know That the game begins with you When I know that somewhere, there is a blue sky for us?
On the outside form the outside looking in You know where it ends but not how to begin It’s like you’re in a dream Do I have to let you know That the game began with you ’cause I know that somewhere, there is a blue sky for us?
We’re coming through We fill the airwaves Just throw the switch and step back Grinning like you’re in a dream Do I have to let you know that the game Begins with you And I know That somewhere There is a blue sky For us?
It seems I float from room to room Each door unopened The smell of sweet perfume Inhale and take a sip and then another Can I surrender?
I will, I will just surrender
I don’t dress anymore But bathe at dawn And in the twilight Days pass across me with the touch Of raw silk Can I surrender?
I will, I will just surrender
And when the full moon comes I’ll watch the foxes play Among their shadows And then turn to face the grinning women Spilling from the darkened corners of the room
The fire splutters and fades to embers Of snapping orange
Sleeper written by Colin Vearncombe/Boo Hewerdine; published by Hornall Brothers (Music) Ltd./Chrysalis Music Number One written by Colin Vearncombe/Alison Clarke/Charlie Dore; published by Hornall Brothers (Music) Ltd. & Hillwark Music/Warner Chappell Music Ltd. Yves Klein Blue written by Colin Vearncombe; published by Rondor Music (London) Ltd. The Way She Was Before written by Colin Vearncombe; published by Hornall Brothers (Music) Ltd. Ghosts written by Colin Vearncombe/Gary Clarke/Reg Meuross; published by Hornall Brothers (Music) Ltd./Chrysalis Music Ltd./Bug Music Ltd. Better Letting Go written by Colin Vearncombe/John O’Kane; published by Hornall Brothers (Music) Ltd./Warner Chappell Music Ltd. Storm Cloud Katherine written by Colin Vearncombe; published by Rondor Music (London) Ltd. St. Cecilia written by Colin Vearncombe; published by Hornall Brothers (Music) Ltd. Blue Sky and Surrender written by Colin Vearncombe; published by Rondor Music (London) Ltd.
Colin Vearncombe: vocals/guitars/piano/glockenspiel/percussion Martin Green: keyboards Clare Kenny: basss Jim Kimberley: drums
Strings: Sally Herbert, Claire Orsler, Jocelyn Pook, Anne Stephenson, Gini Ball Brass: Steve Sidwell and Nigel Barr Strings and brass arranged by CV & MG
Plus: Calum MacColl: guitar and bass on Blue Sky, additional guitars on The Way She Was Before Paul Stacy: additional guitars on Sleeper & St. Cecilia Jeremy Stacy: drums on Sleeper, additional keyboards on Storm Cloud Katherine & St. Cecilia Steve Barney: drums on Blue Sky Martin Ditcham, Carlos Edwards: Percussion on Number One Boo Hewerdine: additional vocals on Sleeper Charlie Dore: additional vocals on Number One Lady Black: additional vocals on Sleeper & Better Letting Go Steve Barney appears courtesy of Vertigo Mercury Records Ltd.
My thanks to Martin without whom who knows? Black is dead, long live The Accused, Colin Vearncombe
