(Words and music: (c) Robin Hill except where stated)
"a fear you won’t be here tomorrow - or a dread that you might"
"The Lamppost And The Dog" is collection number 23. It's a further collection of loosely related songs about love and relationships. However it's fair to say that it features a little more "love gone wrong" than the recent collection "Autumn".
As always, the collection isn't meant to be autobiographical, although most people will probably relate to the eponymous lamppost at some time in their lives!
PAGE HISTORY:
Page / Scores and Tabs / Notes: all added April 2020. Two low quality audio samples added September 2023, remainder added June 2024
All words (and music) are copyrighted. Any adaptation or duplication without consent is a breach of copyright.
Download all lyrics (printable PDF)
GONE FISHING
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Gone
fishing,
I’m not here today,
So wishing
That you'll go away,
And leave me here wishing
That I had gone fishing
Alone.
Stop talking,
There’s no-one to hear,
I’ve gone walking,
I’m no longer here,
So let’s stop the talking
Of how I’ve gone walking
On my own.
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You should have listened to me,
And I should have listened to you,
But I was the fool who just knew it all,
And you were the fool who just knew.
I should have listened to me,
And you should have listened to you,
But you were the fool who stayed through it all,
And I was the fool you stayed through.
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Gone fishing,
I’m just not at home,
And wishing
You’d leave me alone,
To wish I was fishing,
Or maybe just wishing
On my own.
(Contents)
THE LAMPPOST AND THE DOG
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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So,
there it goes again, my dignity,
Billowed on the air for all to see,
A tell-tale plume of steam
That rises in the fog:
I was the lamppost,
You were the dog.
So, there it goes once more, my sense of pride,
Dumped upon the ground, then putrefied,
A hint of something foul
That wafts upon the air:
I was the woods,
You were the bear.
So, there it goes for good, my self-esteem,
Lost upon the butt end of a dream,
The droppings of our lives,
The distance they were flung:
You were the beetle,
I was the dung.
(Contents)
GONE, ALL GONE
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Gone,
all gone.
No more emeralds in the mine,
No glint of lustred brilliance
To sparkle in the sunshine,
Just a row of disused pylons
That rust against the skyline,
And a darkness at a pithead
Where fortune glows no more.
Gone, all gone.
No more nuggets in the stream,
No hint of spangled richness
To ripple in the soft gleam,
Just a dried out bed of gravel
And silt where once was daydream,
And cracks within the hollows
Where water flows no more.
Gone, all gone.
No more passion left for you,
No flowing Summer meadows
That sweethearts long to run through,
Just a lifeless black horizon
Where graceful swallows once flew,
And a stillness in the treetops
Where the warm wind blows no more.
(Contents)
LUCKY GUY
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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My
friends tell me I’m a lucky guy,
A born winner through and through,
But luck ran out the day I first met you.
Your friends tell you you’re a lucky girl,
Success a sure-fire guarantee,
But failure started the day you met with me.
Your mother’s house, a cup of tea,
Familiar sheets to rest upon,
While taking stock of all that’s gone,
And all that churns inside
Some mates, some snacks, an hour’s TV,
Then maybe later hit the town,
A jar or three, ‘til sorrows drown
The errors and the pride.
People tell me I’m a lucky guy,
Blessed in everything I do,
But all that’s blessed was cursed when I met you
(Contents)
SELLOTAPE
(Words and Music: Robin Hill)
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Better
we were beating as one heart,
Than out of sync, each separate, apart:
And even if now we continue to feel
The love we’re insistent will last,
I can’t help but notice, it’s started to peel,
The sellotape holding us fast.
Better we were joined to share the strain,
Than each alone, facing the rain:
And even if now we continue to say
We’ll hold through the stormiest weather,
I can’t help but spot that it’s started to fray,
The stitching that binds us together.
Better we were us, than me and you –
Together, there is nothing we can’t do:
And even if now we continue to stick
To the lies we so proudly embrace,
I just can’t but notice, we’ve started to pick
At the plasters which hold them in place.
(Contents)
THE FEAR AND THE DREAD
(Words and Music: Robin Hill)
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It’s
late still,
As, listening to soft quiet breathing elsewhere in the bed,
I wait still,
Then turn from the ceiling to stare at the wall now instead,
Where darkness plays tricks on the eyes that remain open wide,
In shadows that cast from the trees in the moonlight outside:
And all that remains is disquiet, brought on by the night:
A sense of foreboding, a feeling that something’s not right,
And a fear you won’t be here tomorrow - or a dread that you
might.
I lie still,
Grappling with strange contradictions that linger on air,
And try still
To resolve them to softer solutions that used to be there,
Where warmth played no tricks on the arms that remained open
wide:
And kindness no shadows on walls from the moonlight outside:
Yet all that remains are these nagging misgivings I’ve got:
Of things that you’ll always remember of things I forgot,
And a fear that one day you’ll leave me - or a dread you
might not.
(Contents)
THE WAY WE ONCE WERE
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Searching
out that secret inclination,
Eyes that sparkle soft in hazel brown,
Mouth that curls in silent affirmation,
The way we once were.
Breath that hangs in quiet anticipation,
Arms that reach and stretch to peel the gown,
That momentary pause of expectation,
The way we once were.
A sense of moving on,
A sense that we’ve grown old,
A sense of being no more
The way we once were.
A sense that something’s gone,
A sense that we’ve grown cold,
A sense of grieving for
The way we once were.
Promises that heighten all the senses,
Needs that meet with needs and snuggle down,
Desires that breeze and sail through all defences,
The way we once were.
(Contents)
MAYBE YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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You’ve
been talking to the plants again,
Whispering in their ear:
You thought I wouldn’t hear,
But I heard you loud and clear;
You’ve been meeting with the dog again,
Long walks in the wood,
Much longer than you should,
Too long to be good;
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Maybe my suspicions are off beam,
But notwithstanding any proof
That things aren’t as they seem,
Conclusions stand inexorable,
The logic has no flaw:
And maybe you don’t love me anymore.
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You’ve been flirting with the car again,
You thought I wouldn’t see,
As you fondled with the key -
But I saw conclusively,
You love it more than me.
(Contents)
INSIDE YOU
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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No
hanging in shame,
No stumbling in pride;
No-one to blame,
And no-one to chide,
Just a sense all the same
That something has died
Inside you
No wish to forget,
No wailing despair,
No deep held regret,
No burden to bear,
Just a pang that lives yet
Of emptiness there
Inside you
No question or not
To rise and break free,
No searching for what
You wanted to be,
Just a dull aching spot
That gnaws endlessly
Inside you
No sacred lines crossed,
No taking of toll,
No innocence lost,
No selling of soul,
Just the sheer daunting cost
Of a vast empty hole
Inside you.
(Contents)
EVENING FALLS
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Evening
falls,
She’s never more alone than when
The gloomy evening falls,
Evening calls
To cast deceptive shadows on
Those same four lonely walls:
She pauses awhile,
And catches his smile
Across the darkened room,
Then reaches through air,
To touch at his hair,
Stroking it through the gloom,
To feel him, like before,
As evening falls once more.
Together, they are strong,
But spirits depart
To tear them apart,
And how their hearts will long.
Morning light,
He’s never missed her more than in
The dazzled morning light,
The morning bright
Brings soft and spurious mirages,
Remainders of the night:
He stirs in his bed,
While lifting his head
To watch her yawn and rise,
Then reaches through space,
Caressing her face,
To tease sleep from her eyes,
And love her, like before,
As morning falls once more.
(Contents)
WHO I THOUGHT YOU WERE
(Words and Music: Robin Hill)
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Will
I miss you when you’re gone?
Or will I just move on?
Of all the things that went before,
It isn’t you I hanker for,
But only who I thought you were -
And all I’ll ever miss is her.
Will your memory linger yet?
Or will I just forget?
The you it seems I most recall
Was never really you at all,
But someone else I thought you’d be -
And she’s my one true memory.
Will I love you by and by?
Or is this just goodbye?
The love I thought I carried through
Was never really love for you,
But love for who I hoped you’d be -
And she’s the only girl for me.
(Contents)
SO MANY DIFFERENT COLOURS
(Music: Robin Hill)
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(No
lyric)
(Contents)
THE WAY THINGS ARE, TONIGHT
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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So
come, let’s lay these demons,
The you and I’s that lurk unseen,
Let’s snuff their tireless darkness
And light the spaces in between
It’s not some futile yearning
Or a wish to find the light;
It’s just the way things are, tonight.
And come, let’s slay this harshness,
And talk in tones of moments past
When kindness had its reasons,
And love and laughter held us fast:
It’s not some precious sorrow,
Or a need to put things right;
It’s just the way things are, tonight.
So come, let’s seek the courage
That held us spellbound once before,
When lovers had a future,
And learn that future just once more;
It’s not some pointless longing
To put this troubled past to flight;
It’s just the way things are, tonight.
(Contents)
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER NIGHT
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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It’s
okay,
It’s over now,
We lived another day,
We survived somehow:
We’ve chased away the phantoms
That prowled this place,
Banished them to the ether,
Or the depths of outer space;
And in this quiet minute
Where the air hangs still,
The instinct poised within it,
Holds a subtle sense of thrill;
A need to feel
It’s okay,
To celebrate the passing
Of another day.
It’s alright,
We’re home and clear,
We made it through the night,
And now the morning’s here;
We’ve seen away the monsters
That filled our dreams,
Vanquished behind the curtains
Through which the daylight streams;
And in the stirring hour,
Though the space between,
There’s quiet surge of power
From an impulse yet unseen;
A need to say
It’s alright,
A need to mark the passing
Of another night.
(Contents)
LET'S WALTZ
(Words and music: Robin Hill)
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Let’s waltz this time away,
Gliding across the floor,
A tripping touch
That says so much
And whispers of so much more.
Let’s waltz this hour away,
Holding each other near,
A clinch that feeds
The where it leads
And captures the outcome clear.
Let’s waltz the night away,
With rhythm that belies
A step so light,
And shouts “all night”
From brilliant excited eyes.
Let’s waltz our lives away,
Gliding across the floor,
A night ascends
To where it ends,
Waltzing for ever more.
(Contents)