La Rossa lyrics

Song information

Artist: Van Der Graaf Generator
Album: Still Life

Lyrics

(Hammill)

Lacking sleep and food and vision
Here I am again, encamped upon your floor
Craving sanctuary and nourishment
Encouragement and sanctity and more
The streets seemed very crowded
I put on my bravest guise-
I know you know that I am acting
I can see it in your eyes
In the harsh light of freedom I know
That I cannot deny that I have wasted time
Have frittered it away in idle boasts
Of my freedom and fidelity
When simpler words would have profited me
Most..
...It isn't enough in the end, when I'm looking
For hope
Though the organ-monkey screams
As the pipes begin to spit
Still he'll go through the dance routines
Just as long as he thinks they'll fit
Just as long as he knows that it's dance, smile-
Or quit

Like the monkey I dance to a strange tune
When all of these years I've longed to lie with you
I've bogged myself down in the web of talk
Quack philosophy and sophistry-
At physiciality I've always baulked
Like the man in the chair who believes it's
Beyond him to walk
I've been hiding behind words
Fearing a deeper flame exists
Faintly aware of the passage
Of opportunities I have missed
But the nearness and the smell of you
La rossa from head to toe..
I don't know what I'm telling you
But I think you ought to know
Soon the dam wall will break, soon the water
Will flow
Though the organ-monkey groans
As the organ-grinder plays
He's hoping, at the most
For an end to his dancing days;
Still he hops up and down on his perch
In the usual jerky way
Though it might mean an end to all friendship
There's something I'm working up to say

Think of me what you will;
I know that you think you feel my pain-
No matter if that's just the surface
If we made love now would that change all
That ahs gone before?
Of course it would, there's no way it could ever
Be the same..
One more line crossed
One more mystery explained
Now I need more than just words, though
The options are plain that lead from all
Momentary action
If we make love now it will change all
That is yet to be..
Never could we agree in the same way again
One more world lost
One more heaven gained

La rossa, you know me, you read me as though
I am glass;
Though I know it there's no no way in which I can
Pass-
Though it means that you'll finish my story
At last I'd trade all the clever talk
The joking, the smoking and the quips
All the midnight conversations, all the friendship
All the words and all the trips
For the warmth of your body
The more vivid touch of your lips
All bridges burning behind me
All safety beyond reach
The monkey feels his chains out blindly
Only to find himself released

Take me, take me now and hold me deep
Inside your ocean body
Wash me as some flotsam to the shore
There leave me lying evermore!
Drown me, drown me now and hold me down
Before your naked hunger
Burn me at the altar of the night-
Give me life!

[from http://lyrics.doheth.co.uk]

"Still Life" album track list