Let us gather for this funeral For the ties that bind the heart and head While lightning strikes, but once, it's true When this connection's worn through Love can break us just as often as it wishes to... It's a genie in a dusty jar It's a Lizzie Borden sushi bar It's a wish well made on a distant star It's a ride through Dallas in an open car It's as classic as the reddest rose It's Hannibal crossing the Pocono's It's honesty winning by a nose It's a forest fire of Pinocchios It's love It's love This time it's really love It's a Vincent Starry Night Van Gogh It's a black velvet Elvis in a dime store window It's a Marc Chagall magic blue It's a pack of hounds shooting pool It's love It's love This time it's really love (x2) Here we are Doing it again Making a noose out of our loose ends For our hearts to swing like Ellington Our heads've gotta roll like Anne Boleyn It's Eros slipping off his clothes It's Nixon in garters and fishnet hose It's Dorothy Gale's ruby red pair It's a no-frills flight on Icarus Air That look cemented on your face Like a dead man frozen on a subway grate Love's tracked you down like Monsieur Poirot And you're breaking up Like a '23 Picasso Here we are Doing it again Making a noose out of our loose ends For our hearts to swing like Ellington Our heads've gotta roll like Anne Boleyn As giddy as a blushing bride Kissinger on a fun house ride As dignified as the golden rule Rasputin turned loose in an all-girls' school It's saffron on a golden plate It's Oprah chokin' down a porterhouse steak It's the Bluenose raising her majestic sail James Dean and Grace Kelly heading for the guard rail It's a playground bully brought to his knees It's Rosa Parks keeping her seat It's the water that made Helen Keller see It's a hole where the Berlin Wall used to be Here we are Doing it again Making a noose out of our loose ends For our hearts to swing like Ellington Our heads've gotta roll like Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn Let us gather for this funeral...

When he rose from the grave A year after he lay He took the coins from his eyes And left them shining in the leaves He punched out his blue hat And he straightened out his sleeves And he patted down his weightless hair And slipped into the cinder breeze singing... "Paddington, my love. I don't belong in the ground Does your hair still need a ribbon?" Dusk had tangled up the sky In a thousand feather clouds The last hands of the sun Had cut a silhouette of the town And it was just as he remembered Even the place he had fallen to his knees Had kept one of Paddington's tears: A shining bead of heartbreak That he slipped into his pocket Life rushed into his mind And lit a fire of resurrection That shot comets through the sky And bumped the dark in all directions He leapt up over the buildings And cherished each unsuspecting soul And windows buzzed like paper When he roared back through the town He left his hat spinning in the belfry "Paddington, my love. I don't belong in the ground Does your hair still need a ribbon?" The wire gate still hung open Like the barn's old coat of paint And the sidewalk to the step Was shortbread the frost had broken And shifting behind the window Impatient as his soul Was the love that he had hoped to find Glistening in Paddington's eyes He pulled the tear out of his pocket And he said "Paddington, my love, Does your hair still need a ribbon?" Days seemed to fall from her shoulder As she hurried for the door And he rushed back from the window To meet her astonished eyes She shouted "Welcome home!" And then rushed right through his spirit To the stranger who stood waving A long red silken ribbon He said, "But Paddington, my love, I don't belong in the ground..." When he returned to the grave he left the coins in the leaves for Paddington He lay down in his coffin And he made himself at home He tipped his hat down over his eyes And tucked his hands behind his head And grief pressed him into the ground like a seed Still restless in its sleep... "But Paddington, my love, I don't belong in the ground But Paddington, my love. I don't belong, I don't belong, I don't belong here in the ground... And if you ever do loose that ribbon..."

You were so polite! Extra-ordinaire! To see little me from way up there I won't break your precious heart No, I'm a new man - just like the old one said Reborn in riches that time had misspent And I won't break your precious heart But the back door's shut where I used to come in The welcome mat's turned over and you've turned in There's a deaf ear that's turning in this dull porch light Don't let it dawn on this dim-wit that you're not in tonight Are you down on your luck and your pink chiffon? Who kicked out that pedestal? I worked hard to put you on I won't break your precious heart When the sick get rich and the patience's thin You can get so hungry you don't care where he's been But I'm not like him - I won't break your precious heart No, I won't break your precious heart The stars will stop and wonder, drop their wishes at our feet We'll stuff them in our pockets and run across the street I'll give mine to your mother, she'll say I'm yours to keep Do whatever your heart tells you to do darling Just don't leave him here with me You've been stuffed and shown under a thousand bright lights All those jealous girls are screaming with delight but If second can be first-best in your tired eyes tonight I won't break your precious heart No, I won't break your precious heart

Juliet, the stillness isn't in the stars tonight Juliet, it isn't in the place you died just right It's in the space the angels left when they carried you away So perfectly your lover swore you had gone A rose, is a rose, is a rose But, death is not a rose Juliet, he's all sunken in the middle where his life's come out Juliet, there's a poison in the room he left for doubt Your holy palms were hurried, you built a rescue without a flaw You pulled the ladder up and left no place for hope to crawl Back in your lover's eyes, and when he died He died for you A rose, is a rose, is a rose But, death is not a rose Juliet, your stars crossed when you kissed, but now they're passing Juliet, love will come around again, this time don't let it catch you napping You can bury your love forever or you can walk out of the tomb If Christ could do it, Juliet, so could you A rose, is a rose, is a rose But, death is not a rose Death is not a rose Death is not a rose Juliet

Always on the wrong side of a bloodbath or a mudslide Or on an ocean liner when the ocean’s at an ebb tide You’re the one, you’re the one Always in crossfire of some maniac for hire Or in the eighth floor window when the seventh floor’s on fire You’re the one, you’re the one You’re the one that makes this life worth livin’ You make this constant slaughter almost worth forgivin’ And because of you I wouldn’t miss a single minute of it You’re the one And even when I’m weary, Just to know that you are near me Is enough to keep me pumpin’ when the world outside is dreary You’re the one, you’re the one You ask me where the light is, I haven’t got the slightest All I know is where you are is where the dark is brightest You’re the one, you’re the one You’re the one that makes this life worth livin’ You make this constant slaughter almost worth forgivin’ And because of you I wouldn’t miss a single minute of it You’re the one People come and offer their solutions They’re all so certain But I see nothin’ here much worth salutin’ Or preservin’ Except the thin blade of your smile as we walk the moonlit mile Behind the backdrops of the world where the casualties are piled You’re the one, you’re the one Always on the wrong side of a bloodbath or a mudslide Or on an ocean liner when the ocean’s at an ebb tide You’re the one, you’re the one You’re the one

Understand me Can you let your guard down? I am standing here full of fears With no way out And you just look right through me Understand me For all that I am Not just a girl Heading down the road to nowhere I have a heart and a soul, just like you I am alive I am confused I search for answers In this world filled with confusion And yet, I find myself Back where I began Understand me For all that I am Not just a girl Heading down the road to nowhere I have a heart and a soul, just like you Look in my eyes, what do you see? Do you see yourself, confused and lost like me? Do you see a ghost Who once possessed an identity? The reason for my sorrow is not that I'm in pain I'm looking 'round to find myself again The tears I shed fall to the ground But you, my friend, don't hear me Understand me For all that I am Not just a girl Heading down the road to nowhere I have a heart and a soul, just like you I have a heart and a soul, just like you

I have heard that there are words that can describe complex emotion I have read, been told it's true, but never heard them spoken You were so close to life, now you tremble nearly broken Like a swan caught in the ice with her wings wide open I have heard there is a faith that's made of steel no doubt can conquer That can creep up from behind Snap up the blinds of your darkest hour You may see that faith in me, but behind my courage is treason Like the sprinter who will not run To remain unbeaten I'm trying to tell you what it is I know Pull the fire of what is out from the smoke While the world's invitation is still in your hands You may want to zip it ip while you still have the chance Your mother's eyes are terrified Will you stay alive long enough to know her? Like a fox with the hounds behind, we're petrified Of what the next hour will bring A reprieve? Or a patch of razor heather? Will you live or die? The question's mine but it's yours to answer We're trying to tell you what it is we know Pull the fire of what is out from the smoke While the world's invitation is still in your hands We'll be here if you do decide to dance Please take us to the place where we aren't brave enough to follow Where a touch can be enough to fill the hopes that seem so hollow Where we are finally a match for all your romantic notions Where the room's not cold and your lungs, day old, Are not so poisoned We'll try to tell you what it is we know Pull the fire of what is out from the smoke While the world's invitation is still in your hands We'll be here if you do decide to dance

If I can only wave Is that enough of a goodbye When my heart is in my shoes And my mouth is dry If I can only wave Will it touch your life Like you’ve touched mine If it’s all that I can do Will that be enough for you? Life’s so short You can almost see the end from the very first day You rehearse all you have to do and rehearse all that you have to say And the future is so beautiful You don’t see the past bearing down in the mirror And objects in the mirror Are closer than they appear… If I can’t save your life Can I save your memory? If that’s good enough for you It’s good enough for me And if I can only wave When you need to hear goodbye Then hear it in my hands And see it in my eyes Life’s so short You can almost see the end from the very first day You gauge your time You gauge your love You gauge your holidays I loved you so I didn’t see it bearing down in the mirror And objects in the mirror Are closer than they appear… And if you can only wave From where you are tonight You know I’ll understand I know exactly what that’s like…

Late one evening at the Louvre gallery A security guard blinked his eyes to see The Mona Lisa rubbing her tired jaw "What's the matter? Haven't you seen a masterpiece before?" His flashlight came apart as it hit the floor Batteries rolling down the corridor The Venus de Milo muttered with a pout "I can;t pick them up, but I can point them out..." Then he heard the Mona Lisa whisper close behind his ear "There's a question I have meant to ask ever since you started here... Is life so dull, Pierre, that you'd spend yours watching me A Renaissance girl who'd trade it all to stroll the Champs-Elysées?" "Since 15-3 I've watched them reaching for what isn't real I'm only something 'cause I'm something someone may steal." Pierre tipped his cap and said, "You look real enough to me." "Is 'real enough' enough, Pierre, what have we both been missing?" So with the Mona Lisa tucked into his dungarees And a frantic Ms. de Milo shouting, "Hey you two, wait for me!" They climbed up to a ceiling duct from a vending machine Through a trap door on the roof where Mona could see the Champs-Elysée And the two sat in silence of the colours that were turning Framed by a trail of swallows playing tag around the chimneys There was a red kite with a blue bow tail in a park that needed freeing And it was like a painting, only living, only changing And with mischief in her voice that matched her famous smile she spoke, "I haven't had such fun, Pierre, since Leonardo and I, well, you know..." "Which reminds me Pierre, don't you tire of saying, 'Please Don't Touch', 'Stay Back' and 'Don't Push' and 'Not So Rough'? There's a velvet rope between you and your own life." "I don't know what to say." A voice said, "Just say, 'She's right!'" A panting Ms. de Milo had crawled through the roof's trap door "I'd give my right arm for a left!" Pierre began to roar "Well, you try climbing with your hips and see if you ain't sore Hey is that a sunrise? That's my first since '34..." And the three could smell baguette from the cafés along the Seine And hear the hunchback dreaming from the belfry of Notre Dame As Pierre weighed his guard's pension against the life he had remaining He watched a gardener in the park send the red kite soaring "Pierre," said Mona, "I saw courage in your eyes tonight And a passion your plastic badge can't hide. A flashlight is for those who have no fire of their own. Trade your handcuffs for a brush and show us we're not wrong..." If you go to Paris and stroll the Champs-Elysées You'll find Pierre with paint and brush and red-felt beret And if you ask him for the Louvre his mysterious smile may say, "Are you sure you want to stay inside on such a glorious day?"