RAY WILSON > The Next Best Thing


    

Ray Wilson > The Next Best Thing























06/2004
Inside Out SPV 085-60782 CD / IOMCD 171 / IOMACD 2083 CD


01 These Are The Changes
02 Inside
03 How High
04 The Fool In Me
05 Adolescent Breakdown
06 Sometimes
07 Alone
08 Magic Train
09 The Actor
10 Ever The Reason
11 Pumpkinhead
12 The Next Best Thing



Ray Wilson : vocals, guitars, bass guitars, mouth organ, slide guitar
Amanda Lyon : backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Irvin Duguid : piano (tracks 5, 6, 10), strings (tracks 3, 5, 9, 11), Hammond organ (tracks 8, 11), Moog (track 11), harpsichord (track 9)
Scott Spence : lead guitar (tracks 3, 4,8)
Ashley Macmillan : drums (tracks 3, 4, 10)
Colin Steele : trumpet (tracks 4, 12)
Brian McAlpine : piano, organ and accordion (track 12)

All songs written by Ray Wilson, except track 2 written by Peter Lawlor and tracks 3 ans 10 writtten by Ray Wilson & Scott Spence
Produced by Ray Wilson
Engineered by Uncle Jack
Programming by Uncle Jack
Recorded at Jaggy Thorn Studio (Edinburgh)
Mastered by Mark Finlay


These Are The Changes

"24 month ago and yesterday in the memory of America
The centre of New York city became a battlefield
And a graveyard and the symbol of an unfinished war"

These are the changes the day brings us
These are the changes the day brings
These are the changes the day brings us
These are the changes

"Like it or not we live in times of danger and uncertainty
That is way he lived
That is what he leaves us
My brother need not be idolised
Or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life
Be remembered simply as a good and decent man
Who saw wrong and tried to right it
Saw suffering and tried to heal it
Saw war and tried to stop it"

"We must recognise that ending the war
Is only the first step towards building the peace
All parties must now see to it that this is a peace that lasts"

These are the changes the day brings us
These are the changes the day brings
These are the changes the day brings us
These are the changes

"I have asked for this radio and television time tonight
For the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded
An agreement to end the war
And bring peace with honour in Vietnam"

Know me, see me, try to understand me
why, you ask

These are the changes the day brings us
These are the changes the day brings
These are the changes the day brings us
These are the changes

"I know that over the years many of you have seen
the pictures and news clips of the wall that divides
Berlin, but believe me, no American who sees first
hand, the concrete and mortar, the guard posts, the
machine gun towers, the dog rans and the barbed
wire can ever again take for granted his or her
freedom or the precious gift that is America."



Inside

Swing low in a dark glass hour, you turn and cower
See it turn to dust
Move on a stone dark night we take to flight
Snow fall turns to rust
Seam in a fusing mine like a nursing rhyme
Fat man starts to fall
Year in a hostile place
I hear your face Start to call

And if you think that I’ve been losing my way
That’s because I’m slightly blinded
And if you think that I don’t make too much sense
That’s because I’m broken minded

Don’t keep it, inside
If you believe it - Don’t keep it all inside

Strong words in a Ganges sky, I have to lie
Shadows move in pairs
Ring out from a bruised post card in the shooting yard
Looking through the tears
Out of the black slate time we move in line
But never reach an end
Fall in a long stray town as the ice comes down
Rivers start to bend

And if you think that I’ve been losing my way
That’s because I’m slightly blinded
And if you think that I don’t make too much sense
That’s because I’m broken minded

Don’t keep it, inside
If you believe it - Don’t keep it all inside

(Keep it all Inside)
Don’t keep it, inside
If you believe it - Don’t keep it all inside
Don’t keep it all inside
If you believe it - Don’t keep it all inside


How High

I can’t believe it, Inner feelings ever changing
This time it’s me slowly going insane
You can’t expect me to believe, not this time
Cause I’m going crazy, I’m going out of my mind

How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go

I had a dream, heavens gate came to me.
And I fell in to it, this never ending sleep
I had to try hard not to feel inside me
And it wasn’t easy to leave it all behind

How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go

You can’t expect me to believe
Cause I don’t believe it

How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go
How High
How High can you go


The Fool In Me

She was a loner type
Found it was easier that way
With no one to break the peace she gained
From learning to walk away

And he was without good reason
For changing her life the way he did
He took her for everything
Stripped her of dignity

It’s a lonely life
Never that easy these days
The money to pay the bills
It just don’t come easily
And he was a man that didn’t care anyway
He’d just play the clown and sit around all day

With an atmosphere
You could have cut it with a knife

It’s the fool in me
It wouldn’t be hard to see it
Others can hide themselves away
I have to live with it
Nobody wants left on a fence
Or spiritually die in ignorance
It’s all just a chance you take
Reality’s final break

With an atmosphere
You could have cut it with a knife


Adolescent Breakdown

See the sign in my eyes. Mind escaping from me
On the crest of my wave too dark to see
And the soreness that I feel beneath the surface
Fear the worst is still to come

Threatening words come my way in some strange disguises
Flesh torn gestures in my face
Don’t take my place away
I could try to forgive
Even though I don’t know what should be forgiven

Do I go crazy, before you take notice
Until you can see it in me?

Drift away touch upon the deepest emotion
As I watch you’ll become, someone else’s problem
Given time I’ll make waves in another ocean
I’m the chosen one.

Do I go crazy, before you take notice
Until you can see it in me, why can’t you see it in me?

I adore you. I deplore you
All your actions I can see through
I can’t pretend I know what’s going on

Do I go crazy, before you take notice
Until you can see it in me, why can’t you see it in me?


Sometimes

See me out, out the door, across the way
And let me walk for miles and miles and miles
Calm me down when I get scared
And hold my life in your hand

The living space inside my head is there for you
Like a long lost friend
Innocence and pride
Makes me vulnerable sometimes
Love ain’t enough

Sometimes love just ain’t enough
Sometimes love ain’t enough
You give it time
Somehow time’s all you have

It’s the meaning of life
And no amount of time will change a thing
Why oh why
In Gods name do you lie?
All the time

Sometimes love just ain’t enough
Sometimes love ain’t enough
You give it time
Somehow time’s all you have


Alone

Autumn leaves are falling down again.
Last year seems like yesterday
What to do now that those days have gone
I have to start again.

Inspiration ain’t so hard to find
Words already on the page
I just have to write it down
In my own way
Say something worth saying

Time comes and goes
A life unnoticed
Cry out loud

Don’t let me wake from this dream
I won’t be a friend in need
No one escapes from this feeling
No no

I tell myself hold on
Everything is right, not wrong
Love is what I ask for tonight

Hold onto me
I can’t breath
Why am I alone

Blame them but don’t blame me
I know all the liars disagree
You can’t just escape from believing
No no


Magic Train

Life’s a magic train hell and back again
Rollercoaster for emotion
You think you’ve seen it all
You think you know it but you don’t know

Life’s a magic train that we’re all travelling in
Each new day another station
She said she wanted me but it might take a little time
Make take a little time

Am I supposed to wait around for you?
I’m not opposed to waiting around
I just need to know cause it’s nice to be needed
It’s getting me down, doing it now

I hold on to love
It’s a better place for everyone to be
I alone can’t save the world
I’ll only save this little part for me
I lie here in my bed
Wishing it would all just blow away

Am I supposed to play the clown for you?
I’m not that use to fooling around
You say you need me now
Well I’d like to believe it
It’s getting me down and doing it now
Getting me down and doing it now
You’re going ruin my life


The Actor

I smile at the misplaced faces
Trying to convince myself
All the answers lye with me

I look at my broken picture
Find it so hard to believe
As now the past comes back to haunt me

It’s alright I’m alright, I just need to believe
I’m not afraid anymore, I will feel my way back
Lay your hands on me

Wish I hadn’t been so vain
Been and gone and thrown away
Regrets I keep, The blame I give to me

It’s alright I’m alright, I just need to believe
I’m not afraid anymore, I will feel my way back
Lay your hands on me

Here’s the point I raise blame
And discipline the fool inside my head
Where nothings fair and no one there
To honour all mistakes I’ve made
And looking through my own debris
I see nothing but me and more of me
It’s so distressing all the blessing
Never seems to fall on me.

The pictures framed to form an edge
The truth it lies within the heart
It’s funny how we live this life and
Never seem to live enough
I won’t be true cause I can’t seem to
It’s only just a state of mind that
Time and time and time and time again

It changes, I swallow what I want to say
I’m broken up I cannot breath
I cannot be I need I need to
All in all and every time I follow you
I see it out; see it out of blind eyes

It’s alright I’m alright, I just need to believe
I’m not afraid anymore, I will feel my way back
Lay your hands on me


Ever The Reason

Upon my life
Love of an honest day
The memory of you will slowly fade
Within I hold
Hold it all alone
The fire in my soul begins to burn

Better to be alone
Better be alone
It has to be said
Better to be alone
Better be alone

(I believe in me)
No sense in holding on
No eyes to see clear
Pretend to gain control
Of my life

Better to be alone
Better be alone
It has to be said
Better to be alone
Better be alone
It has to be said

(I believe in me)
No sense in holding on
No eyes to see clear
Pretend to gain control
Of my life


Pumpkinhead

So what’s it all about, does anybody know?
It’s hard to figure out, to be patient
The time is nearly now

The walls are closing in
And time is running out
I’m getting out

These changes wash over me in my head

The fear is taking over
And left me so alone
It leaves me feeling angry with myself

These changes wash over me in my head
These changes wash over me in my head in my head

What’s it all about what’s it all about, does anybody know?
How can I explain to you?
When how do I, I don’t know I won’t go
What’s it all about where’s the feeling gone
I can’t explain it, it’s in my mind
Burning like a fire that won’t go out it won’t go out.

These changes wash over me in my head

So what’s it all about, does anybody care?
Can you feel the fear?
Washing over everybody, everybody’s head

These changes wash over me in my head
These changes wash over me in my head in my head
In my head in my head
In my head


The Next Best Thing

(Instrumental)