(Words and music: (c) Robin Hill except where stated)
"Grumblings and rumblings of what will be....."
A small selection of lyrics - some old, most new - for songs that haven't yet been organised into collections. More to follow .....
NB The lyrics appear below in no specific order. Sheet music and tabs will be included once the songs are added to collections - or earlier, on request, for anyone interested
RECENT PAGE HISTORY:
April 2026 - added lyrics for 9 new songs
February 2026 - added lyrics for 4 new songs, removed any new lyrics now allocated to collections
October 2025 / November 2025 - added lyrics for 4 new songs, removed any new lyrics now allocated to collections
All words (and music) are copyrighted. Any adaptation or duplication without consent is a breach of copyright. Thank you for respecting this.
WHAT'S LEFT OF OUR DREAMS
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
We paused to take stock of what’s left of our dreams,
In the dust and the rubble now strewn on the ground,
Or the moan of the wind, and the grey swirling sound
Of sneers at the sum of our schemes.
We paused to pick over the plans we once held,
Their shapeless ambitions now weathered away,
Remains left to ruin in lifeless decay,
Like oak trees now scattered and felled.
Failure tosses back its head,
And strikes a mocking pose,
Reminding us the price we had to pay
For all the things we might have said,
Or might have done, and those
We should have done, or in a different way.
We paused to search through what’s still left of our lives,
Through the blank desolation of all that has gone,
For that vague stirring spirit that dares to live on,
In the faint breath of hope that survives.
(Contents)
MEMORY MAN
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
The memories now always in retreat,
Of smiles that glow with pleasure when they greet,
Or warmer needs he simply couldn’t meet;
The memories he can’t help but suppress,
Her cheekbones calling out for soft caress,
Or feelings that he couldn’t quite express;
The memories he’s always holding back,
The tracing of her fingers down his back,
Or responses that he simply couldn’t hack;
The unfulfilled desires that build a mountain,
And failures that will stem a river’s flow,
Bring questions of ‘Is this the way things are now?’,
Or where it is the kinder memories go;
The memories forever left behind,
Her body warm to his, their arms entwined,
Or tender words he simply couldn’t find.
(Contents)
SOMETHING TELLS ME
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Something tells me
The light will fade to grey,
Lost within a gathering sky,
As blue horizons slowly drift way,
And Summer learns to say goodbye;
Something tells me
The clouds are on their way,
Darkening as they roll by,
As yellow sunshine withers to decay,
And Summer turns to fade and die;
We were having such a good time,
We simply failed to see
That this was just a good time, nothing more;
And in our troubled ever afters,
The sorry likes of you and me
Must learn to live without what went before;
Something tells me
The rain is here to stay,
As, sodden where the puddles lie,
Two weary souls prepare to face the day,
And Summer yearns for times gone by.
(Contents)
TWELVE OVER THE EIGHT
(Instrumental
- music: Robin Hill)
(no lyric)
(Contents)
SUBSTANCE AND SAND
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
All that you saw
Was all that was there,
And the world was all substance and sand,
Where everything else
Was just shapes in the air,
Invoked by some waft of your hand:
And lost behind that space,
The rainbows that you chase.
All that you knew
Was all that was real,
In a world that was substance and sand,
Where everything else
Was a cunning reveal
Of a world you just don’t understand:
And banished from that place,
The truths you couldn’t face.
All that you said
Was all you could say
In a world of self-parody, where
All that was substance
Or sand slipped away,
And truths just dissolved in the air:
And gone, without a trace,
The you that fell from grace.
(Contents)
HOW IT WAS BEFORE
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Once they were lovers, and still they make love;
But her eyes are now fixed on the ceiling above,
And his on the half open door -
It wasn’t like this before.
And when they lie back in the halves of the bed,
Each dwells on the things that were barely half said,
Which the other tries hard to ignore -
It wasn't like this before.
And sometimes, perhaps, in the dead of the night
There are shots that ring out, brief flashes of light,
Like the outbreak of some civil war -
That's not how it was before.
Yet there's nothing more pointless than wondering why,
More futile than wishing to somehow deny
The changes that neither foresaw,
When it wasn't like that before.
They still remain lovers, they’ll laugh and they’ll
smile,
They’ll even make love again once in a while,
But they’ll always accept what is sure -
That it wasn't like this before.
Accepting just one thing for sure,
That it wasn't like this before.
(Contents)
WHEN THE MICE COME OUT TO PLAY
(Instrumental
- music: Robin Hill)
(no lyric)
(Contents)
ALL THE OLD I LOVE YOUS
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
I hear it in your voice,
You’re holding back from crying,
Fighting off the tears
The way you do;
There’s little in my power,
But that won’t stop me trying
To reach across the distance
Out to you;
Yet when all’s said and done,
There’s nothing new to say,
Just all the old I love yous
A different way.
In moments such as these,
The gaps that lie between us,
Seem always just as daunting
Or as wide,
Yet as I gaze across
That bridge from here to Venus,
My arms still long to reach
The other side;
For in your hour of need,
What is there left to say,
Just all the old I love yous
The same old way.
(Contents)
FIRES
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Light a beacon on the hillside,
With flames that penetrate the night,
So I can fuel the expectation
Of dark that yields to shining light,
And spark the fires of how I yearn for you.
Place a candle in the window,
A lamp of welcome, shining clear,
So I can fix my destination,
Called by refuge drawing near,
Enthralled by fires that light each turn to you.
Lay the logs and light the fire,
Stoke the coals, ignite the roar,
So I can glow in contemplation,
Invite the arms that reach once more,
Ignite the fires that roar and burn for you.
(Contents)
GODS AND STARS
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
In books of gods and stars,
We savoured every gain,
Whilst brushing off the scars
Incurred through deeds of pain,
Our glinting scimitars
Held high again.
In rugged tales of war
And acts of derring do,
We kept heroic store
In sagas old and new,
A treasured hall of lore
Of foes we slew.
In sagas that we built
On blade and steely knife,
The dead gave up no guilt,
The living gave no life,
In books of blood that spilt
In name of strife.
(Contents)
THE SPIRIT THAT WAS YOU Part 1
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Beyond the shapeless fall of night,
Where shining passion, once so bright,
Descends to nothing, slips from sight;
Or at the first full blush of day,
From hopes that used to tease and play,
The spirit that was you drifts clean away.
What became of the sparkle in your eyes,
That vibrancy we used to recognise
Before you took this lustreless disguise?
What became of the radiance in your face,
That vividness that lit up every space,
Before this sadness covered every trace?
Within the swirling mists of sleep,
Where dreams encircle, shadows creep,
The spirit that was you still slumbers deep.
(Contents)
THE SPIRIT THAT WAS YOU Part 2
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
From where the morning light once shone,
Those dark-eyed demons have all gone,
And the spirit that was you
Still sparkles on.
(Contents)
ANYMORE
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Remember all that anguish
That one day you would leave and slam the door?
Well, I don’t have that anguish anymore;
Remember all the torment
That one day I would lose what I lived for?
Well, I don’t have that torment anymore;
A history full of things that never happened,
A catalogue of stuff that never should,
A past so full of things that might have mattered,
A future full of things that no more could.
Remember all the worry
Of can’t go ons, goodbyes for evermore?
Well, I don’t have to worry anymore.
(Contents)
LES ERREURS DE L'AMOUR
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
My love is wired and yellow,
And two by four by three:
While yours is taut and stripey,
And means such world to me.
My kiss is bright and dimpled,
Triangular by name,
Your own is round and handled,
Yet well felt all the same.
This may not come out perfect,
Some errors here and there,
Categories and meanings
Left dingled in the air;
But love is what a feeling,
Translation doesn’t care,
And when it’s you, my ankle is to share.
My dictionary is towselled,
Its entries arched askew,
Their definitions muzzled,
Yet picked out kind for you.
This song is pied and porous,
The lyrics flanged above,
Their inner tube left footed,
Yet wrote out right with love.
(Contents)
SIXTY YEARS
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Sixty years a soldier,
Of bravery inspired,
Sixty years a hero,
Respected and admired;
Sixty years a trooper,
No medals for his pains,
Just sixty years of bearing
The losses and the gains;
Sixty years a fighter,
Battles scars displayed,
From sixty years and counting
Of sacrifices made;
Sixty years a veteran,
His body lashed and sore,
Now sixty years, and wondering
Just what it all was for;
Sixty years a martyr,
Who answered every shout,
For sixty years, but thinking
He’ll sit the next one out.
(Contents)
REFLECTIONS
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Stop, and take a drink,
A moment’s rest beside the pool,
To kill your thirst, or wipe your brow of sweat;
And there, distorted by the flow,
Just tell me what you see below,
Still indistinct, a swirl of grey,
The detail blurred by stones and clay,
Yet still a form you might just recognise:
A form that nags of terrors
From somewhere long ago,
Terrors you could never quite let go:
And through the clouded ripples
On shapeless clay and stone,
The reflection in the water is -
Is your own.
Pause, take time to think,
There through the glass, this no-one’s fool,
Unfazed by what he hasn’t figured yet,
And peering through the mask you’ve donned,
Just tell me what you see beyond:
A puzzled mix of staring face
And clear cut features, out of place
When masked behind such tenuous disguise:
A face that tells of errors,
From somewhere in the past,
That never quite got laid to rest at last:
And for all the proud denial,
Or wishing it untrue,
The reflection in the mirror is -
Is of who?
(Contents)
CUPBOARD
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
I thought I'd go upstairs
And hide inside a cupboard,
But I was scared you might not even try to find me there.
I thought I'd run away
And maybe join the circus,
But I was scared you wouldn’t try to trace me anywhere.
I thought I'd pack my bags
And finally get to leave you,
But I was scared that, all in all, you simply wouldn't care.
(Contents)
SO VERY LONG AGO
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
I thought I'd go upstairs
And hide inside a cupboard,
But I was scared you might not even try to find me there.
I thought I'd run away
And maybe join the circus,
But I was scared you wouldn’t try to trace me anywhere.
I thought I'd pack my bags
And finally get to leave you,
But I was scared that, all in all, you simply wouldn't care.
(Contents)
BY ANY OTHER NAME
(Instrumental
- music: Robin Hill)
(no lyric)
(Contents)
THE DARKEST SHADOWS
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
I don't understand.
I have no enemies, the last ones perished long ago,
There's no-one left who'd even dare to make a show,
All fine:
So where do they keep coming from,
These dark and shadowed people,
With devious design,
Who seem to want to take from me what's justly mine?
I can't comprehend,
I own these people, mine to toss and throw at will,
There's no-one left, no unbought souls to work on still,
They’re mine:
So why do they keep haunting me,
These dark and shadowed faces,
Who seem to want so much
To reach out for the things that only I may touch?
(Contents)
SEIZE THE DAY
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Be glad for what you went through,
It makes you who you are;
Better, stronger, wiser now by far;
And rise above the trauma
Of waging endlessly
That tug of war with who you used to be:
Seize the day, oh, seize the day,
Don't let these moments slip away,
Brush your nagging doubts aside,
Find your courage, claim your pride;
Seize the day and you will find,
Rest, contentment, peace of mind:
Oh, my friend, just seize the day.
Seize the day, oh seize the day,
Stay strong and steadfast all the way,
Ease your trembling fears aside,
Find yourself, find what's inside,
Seize the day, and you will see
The many things you long to be:
Oh, my friend, just seize the day..
(Contents)
HOLLOW LAUGHTER
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Hollow laughter, shallow tears,
Deepest needs and deepest fears,
Shape our wisdom down the years;
Seering wrongs and painful rights,
Darkest sunsets, darkest nights,
Turn giddy lows to giddy heights;
So many times, so many ways,
Cunning plans, and cunning plays,
That bring the light to sunless days;
So many setbacks, chances spurned,
Bridges crossed, then bridges burned,
That lead the way to lessons learned;
An iron hand, in velvet glove,
Pain that shapes the deepest love,
To what we stand and rise above.
(Contents)
IN THE RIPPLES OF THE DAY
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
In the ripples of the day,
Where all your shadows laugh and play,
And all your darkness creeps away;
Or the heartbeat of the night,
Where all your follies take to flight,
And all your failings slip from sight;
What remains of your regret,
The flaws you simply can’t forget,
Or self-reproach, still lingers yet;
While somewhere in your mind,
Their shapes and shadows recombined,
Remorse and hope stand intertwined;
In the cauldron of the dawn,
Where all your fondest wishes spawn,
Your guilt is shed, forgiveness born.
(Contents)
THE CAT WHO STOLE THE CREAM
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Don’t talk of what you never knew,
Or what you never heard:
Your aspirations saw you through,
Ambition kept you undeterred:
The cat who had the dream,
Became the cat who hatched the scheme.
Don’t speak of things you never meant,
Or couldn’t understand:
This escapade no accident,
Its every detail finely planned:
The cat who hatched the scheme,
The very cat who stole the cream.
(Contents)
GOODNIGHT SWEET GAZZA
(Instrumental
- music: Robin Hill)
(no lyric)
(Contents)
EYES TURNED SKYWARD
(Music:
Robin Hill, Words: Robin Hill / John H Secondari *)
When aspirations falter,
And pick away self-esteem,
Just keep your eyes turned skyward
And hold on to the dream;
When expectations crumble,
And dissonant meanings jar,
Just keep your eyes turned skyward,
And stay with who you are;
“For once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth
with your eyes turned skyward.
For there you have been
and there you will always long
to return.” *
When failings leave you troubled,
And dizziness fogs your brain,
Just keep your eyes turned skyward,
And skyward you’ll remain.
(* The words
used in the bridge of this song have sometimes been attributed to
Leonardo da Vinci, but are more often these days believed to be
the work of dramatist John H Secondari, written for a 1965 TV
documentary.)
(Contents)
FIRE, AIM, READY
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Random pins in random maps,
(Fire, aim, ready),
Likely maybes, strong perhaps,
(Fire, take aim, get ready),
Wings and prayers, and fingers crossed,
(Fire, aim, ready),
Glories gained, or, who knows, lost,
(Fire, take aim, get ready),
Blinds and bluffs, and all-in calls,
(Fire, aim, ready),
How it tumbles, how it falls,
(Fire, take aim, get ready),
Greatness stained in all you do,
(Fire, aim, ready),
And never cause to think it through,
(Fire, take aim, get ready),
(Fire, take aim, get ready).
(Contents)
THE LURK OF THE LAKE
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Go down to where the rivers meet the seas,
Where quieter sounds are carried on the breeze,
And from a lifetime of grief
Comes a sense of relief
Where a tortured mind can truly be at ease;
The lurk of the lake,
The howl of the hill,
The strum of the stream
All beckon you still;
The cry of remorse,
The reel of regret,
The soothe of redemption:
You’re not beaten yet;
Head up to where the hilltops reach the skies,
Where calmer mood descends behind the eyes,
And from a lifetime of guilt
Comes a courage rebuilt,
Where demons can finally exorcise..
(Contents)
THE VOICES FROM THE DARK
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Lost behind the gloom that marks the closing of the day,
Listening to a clock that helps an evening tick away,
Each of us still mindful of the things we mustn’t say;
And though we’re well aware
Of things that lie below,
The voices from the dark say ‘maybe no’.
Peering through the darkness at the selves we used to know,
Wondering what became of all the love they used to show,
Yet each of us respectful the theres we shouldn’t go;
And though we stay aware
Of things that used to be,
The voices from the dark say ‘let it be’.
Picking silhouettes that once beguiled us in the past,
Adding forms and shapes as if to make the memory fast;
Yet each of us still wary of the shadows that they cast,
And though we’re still aware
Of things that lurk below,
The voices from the dark say ‘let them go’.
(Contents)
THE CALM BEHIND THIS SILENCE
(Words
and music: Robin Hill)
Let’s pause this moment now, we have no need to speak,
Nothing here that penetrates this space;
Just soothing thoughts, like faintly lit reflections
Of promises that flit across your face:
At times I might have yearned for everything,
A single path where every hope might lead:
The calm behind this silence hints at everything …
At times we might have longed for everything,
A silent merge of every thought and deed,
The calm behind this silence offers everything …
Everything we need.
(Contents)