Chris Mortimer | Roll Over Now

Roll Over Now

Don’t Give Me The Love.

How can you see her if your eyes have been closed for a while?

How do you know that she loves you when she never seems to call you?

But the world is her island but sometimes you feel it’s her sea

It’s her space and you are there, but sometimes you failed to see.

How should you feel when you haven’t felt warm in a while?

Your heart’s been kept by like your linen on the warmest of nights

I know the best thing was finding someone that I loved

Too much to take for her, but I’d already gone.

CH: Don’t give me the love, ‘cause I’ve found somebody else

Don’t give me the love, you’re not my type of girl

Consider it past, there’s a new one in my life

She’s the sort of girl I want, she’s the type of girl I need.

And how could you tell her when she wouldn’t listen to you?

How could you make her see it was time for her to leave?

It’s alright to talk about when she’ll do it and how

Making her leave is sometimes the hardest way out.

CH: Don’t give me the love, ‘cause I’ve found somebody else

Don’t give me the love, you’re not my type of girl

Consider it past, there’s a new one in my life

She’s the sort of girl I want, she’s the type of girl I need.

Instrumental solo.

CH: Don’t give me the love, ‘cause I’ve found somebody else

Don’t give me the love, you’re not my type of girl

Consider it past, there’s a new one in my life

She’s the sort of girl I want, she’s the type of girl I need.

The Rain Is Falling Down

There's no place for you in this world, if you can't keep your frame of mind

‘cause you're disturbed by the changing tones

Of the storm that's living outside, living outside your window.

You can only take so much worry, ‘cause you're used to skies of blue,

Still the weather man says: "tomorrow will be fine",

But he can't promise this will be true.

CH: And the rain is falling down, everytime I look outside

And the trees receive the drinks they need and you and know and you know

And the car seems so much cleaner, though I don't care.

As the daylight leaves the skies, darkness yet again presides, so today I stay inside.

And far out at sea there's a rising swell, playing wild with the ships upon it

But beneath the surface is tranquility, in the kingdom that I hardly see,

Though it's best that it's hardly seen.

And the anger of the sky is in your eyes, as suddenly the storm becomes twice the size

Still the weather man keep on saying that he does, that tomorrow will be fine.

CH.

Solo

CH.

Roll Over Now

Roll over now, turn off the light

Tell me everything is going to be alright tonight

Move closer so that we can be warm,

You can be my shelter from the big big big big storm.

The best thing is just to be with you darling

With no one around, no one but you.

Not much to it just to see your face,

Between you and me there's little space - there's not much space.

And all good loving comes at once again and again,

When we're in town, together any time we can.

CH.

And I can't be alone for very long these days no more

I can't explain my funny sides

Because my mind's gone slightly frayed.

You've torn the biggest fragment in my heart you know

But I know you still love me and I will never let you go.

And you can be the shelter from the storm you're like my home

From the girls that played my heart, the ones' that I thought really cared.

M8: And you'll be my loving baby

And you'll be my loving baby,

You're my shelter from the big big storm

That made us two, but now we're one once more.

For Whom I Rock

For whom I rock, I'll never know

Who sits and sips wine, who cares if he or she

can't stand the blues in D, that I play,

And they'll never, never, never say: "He's doing just great",

Can't find their humility,

their snide remarks when I look their way.

I play the blues and rock, all the time,

If I was in Hollywood, I'd play all I ever need

To be where I want to be

In the smallest club in town, where beer's free when the sun goes down,

I could still smile in confidence, they'd still be me in the tunes I play.

SOLO.

All I ever need is love, can't find it here

There's no one left for me, in this dive that I've grown up in.

There's a different crowd here, from my younger days

And blues piano players aren't assured of gigs like these anymore

And no one knows just how long it took, and most of them, don't even look.

A Single Man

"A Single Man" lyrics and music C. Mortimer © Oct 1989.

A single man walks down the street and he sees you

He can't help but notice you in what you wear

That skirt clings to your thighs and you know that it's his eyes

That will follow your every footstep,

And end up on your doorstep and eleven tonight.

Your eyes meet his eyes with temptation and with forced smiles,

You know he loves your face and your body's contoured lines

He sits next to you at the station and with no hesitation

His charm your poisonous tear, that throws you back like his stare

Through you're really on fire.

CH. A single man so fine and clean, so much yours after where he's been

A single man knocks at your door, a single man once but no no no no no no more.

So much an evil angel that know's that he's got you

Hoping you will join with him in the things that he'd do

Hoping you will satisfy his mystic sexual drive,

That comes in your direction, escaping your direction being on his high.

M8: Building his bridge between you

Never wishing to demean you

Your teenage dreams have come true,

And turn your unsettled skies into blue.

All those things that he'll have to be

Are all you'll ever want to see

Fine and clean, though where he's been,

You'll never, never know.

There's a Gentle Storm On It's Way Tonight

There's a gentle storm on its' way tonight

Its' a fresh as the color of a mermaid's eyes

Perched upon a cliff I see an Ibex rise

In poise and pride, it's stance up high

And the mountains are blue like the cool Pacific

And the snow is the cap upon, their very existence.

And territory disputes become fierce and wild

Madagascan skies meet with every horizon

And many kinds of gibbons call to claim their ground

Communicating sounds, of thought, pride and nous

But Mother Nature rules us all the Queen of Life

Survival of the fittest ones, they fight to stay alive.

CH: I'm alive and what's my destiny?

I am high a kind of ecstasy, on my own

Like a liner in the ocean, yeah

Hoping for no other kind of laws of being to be despised

You can't run you can't fall there's no place at all

‘cause here's a different frontier ruled by different laws

And everything you learn could go forever more

But you are strong, though you may fall

‘cause certain parts of land are ruled by nature's hand

No matter what your strengths are, you know you're just a man

CH.

I'm alive and what's my destiny?

I am high on a kind of ecstasy

And the mountains are blue like the cool Pacific

And the snow is their cap upon their very existence.

Soft Star

"Soft Star" lyrics and music C. Mortimer © 27/1/91

And if I live longer than you

Is there anything you’d like me to do?

You can tell me your name if you’re not ashamed I’m only doing what I think I should do.

And if you live longer than me, just remember that there was no war, We were only doing what we could, hoping this would last no more.

And when you go home in a while, could you give this letter to my wife?

I’m sure she knows that the way it’s been, has been a strain on the both of our lives.

And if you live longer than me just remember that there was no war, I’ve taken to counting the fires, today you know I counted four.

Am I just a soft star, burning in my darkest dreams?

Confined and told to fight, for what we cannot see.

Am I just a soft star, not like everyone else, Fighting for what could be hell, Am I just a soft star, in the field tonight?

And again tonight we lie, praying for a little more time I’m sure the others feel the way I feel, and they can’t sleep ‘cause there’s a chance they could die And if you live longer than me just remember that there was no war Its only people giving their lives, and some don’t even know what for

Am I just a soft star, burning in my darkest dreams?

Confined and told to fight, for what we cannot see.

Am I just a soft star, not like everyone else, Fighting for what could be hell, Am I just a soft star, in the field tonight?

And just remember that the day we met, we were young, afraid and told what to do And there was no way that I could ever see us, parting ‘til the day I die.

And now I lie awake, hoping that this war we’re fighting will soon be over.

-Instrumental interlude-

Am I just a soft star, burning in my darkest dreams?

Confined and told to fight, for what we cannot see.

Am I just a soft star, not like everyone else, Fighting for what could be hell, Am I just a soft star, in the field tonight?

New York City

CH: New York City, New York City I spend me time in New York City

New York City, New York City.

Well if you've no time and start thinking, there's somewhere you'd rather be

Of if you can't see the faces of the city, it's got a split personality

And if you're closed mind won't open

You'd be the prey of circumstances

For there are people out here that will never see

Any other place like this.

CH.

Well if you start reading about it, well you can throw that book of yours away

‘cause a picture can paint a thousand words, and a thousand words are never enough.

And if a bitter wind bits you hard, and it stings and hurts you for a while

You can be sure that it's thesign of hard life, ‘cause life isn't life without pain.

CH.

If you can't take it then leave it here, and don't go home with your words of wisdom,

And if you can't live for a fortnight here, I can't see you living in any world

And things have been so good for you cant' see, and need to be some place you'd rather not be,

And some people here cannot choose, where they live breathe and sleep each week.

CH.

Ballad Of Larry Armstrong (Johnny Spain)

You're the sad sad negro confined to the chair

The courtroom filled the people all stare

At you in chains

Holding your face to the ground

Your stepmother's pride lost and that of your own

Jailed for life and kept by your own

Not a pretty sight Lord, poor Johnny Spain.

He killed an old man who he thought was his father

He would have chained him to make sure he'd starve

Instead he sits and tried to forget his lost son

Was it Anne your mother - she still loves you, does she care anymore, does she think of you?

South of border, they still live.

CH: Black man, let him die in shame, the pride of white man above him again

Tormented young children, the negro, the pawn of the game.

You were carried by horseback wherever you went

Stepmother spoiled you time weren't well spent

California only gave you a broken new life

Forgotten back home but now kind of love

Nobody knew when the boy had enough

A victim of others, a product of sin

M8: you're only human and sensitive like any of us,

Not strange or special in any one way

Mentally neglected raised by no-one

Unable to express his thoughts without a gun

The price you pay is life for what you've done.

CH: what kind of love will cause our thoughts of our kids

Are we to blame for what they ultimately did?

Can you forget them after a while,

Should they love you and give you a smile?

Should they love you, and give you a smile?

Should they write to you, and think you're worthwhile?

You could have been his best,

It doesn't matter, it seems he couldn't care less

How could he care less? And think of his son,

Would Larry Armstrong know what he'd done?

Would this white negro a victim of pride

Know the right and the wrong sides of his life?