Belle & Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant

BELLE & SEBASTIAN

FOLD YOUR HANDS CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT (2000)

  1. I Fought In A War
  2. The Model
  3. Beyond The Sunrise
  4. Waiting For The Moon To Rise
  5. Don't Leave The Light On Baby
  6. The Wrong Girl
  7. The Chalet Lines
  8. Nice Day For A Sulk
  9. Women's Realm
10. Family Tree
11. There's Too Much Love

Belle And Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child You Walk Like A Peasant

BELLE & SEBASTIAN

FOLD YOUR HANDS CHILD, YOU WALK LIKE A PEASANT

1. I FOUGHT IN A WAR

I fought in a war and I left my friends behind me
To go looking for the enemy and it wasn't very long
Before I would stand with another boy in front of me
And a corpse that just fell into me
With the bullets flying round

And I reminded myself of the words you said
When we were getting on
And I bet you're making shells back home
For a steady boy to wear
Round his neck, well it won't hurt to think of you
As if you're waiting for
This letter to arrive because I'll be here quite a while

I fought in a war and I left my friends behind me
To go looking for the enemy and it wasn't very long
Before I found out that the sickness there ahead of me
Went beyond the bedsit infamy of the decade gone before

And I reminded myself of the words you said
When we were getting on
And I bet you're making shells back home
For a steady man to wear
Round his neck, well it won't hurt to think of you
As if you're waiting for
This letter to arrive because I'll be here quite a while

I fought in a war and I didn't know where it would end
It stretched before me infinitely, I couldn't really think
Of the day beyond now, keep your head down pal
There's trouble plenty in this hour, this day
I can see hope I can see light

And I reminded myself of the looks you gave
When we were getting on
And I bet you're making shells back home
For a steady man to wear
Round his neck, well it won't hurt to think of you
As if you're waiting for
This letter to arrive because I'll be here quite a while.

2. THE MODEL

I will confess to you
Because you made me think about the times
You turn the picture on to me and I'll turn over
The vision was a masterpiece of comic timing
But you wouldn't laugh at all
And I wonder what the boy was thinking
The picture was an old collage of something classical
The model with a tragic air
Because without a doubt he'd given up the fight
The ghost of somebody at his side

I will confess to you
Because I didn't think about the message
As I walked down the alleyway it was a Sunday
And all my friends deserted me because you painted me
As the fraud I really was
And if you think you see with just your eyes you're mad
'Cause Lisa learned a lot from putting on a blindfold
When she knew she had been bad
She met another blind kid at a fancy dress
It was the best sex she ever had

I'll send a dress to you
Because it's needing badly taken in
But I was so embarrassed when I missed your party
It was me that paid for it eventually
Because you know how much I wanted
To meet your friend the star of stage and local press
The dream of all the bowlie boys that hang around here
And I'm no different from the rest
I'm not too proud to say that I'm okay with
The girl next door who's famous for showing her breasts

You're not impressed by me
But it's a funny way for you to tell me
A whisper in a choir stall
The man was talking about you simultaneously
Frankly, I let my heavy eyelids flutter
Because I have been sleeping badly lately
I know you were historical from all the books I've read
But I thought you could be bluffing
And with this chance I've missed I feel remiss
It's days and months before I see you again.

3. BEYOND THE SUNRISE

Joseph was travelling with a heavy load
His dreams were broken and deep sorrow flowed, from his brow

Closer to sundown he prepared to rest
Set down the burden lay upon his chest
Then she came

Sir, come to me and I will keep you warm
Taste hope in my skin and faith with the dawn
You will rise

Beyond the sunrise that is where we live
Feeding our counsel and true comfort give
Travelling men

Joseph was sure the liquor had caused this dream
His eyes were sure that heaven was not her scene
She was no saint
Sir, come to me and I will keep you warm
Taste hope in my skin and faith with the dawn, you will rise.

4. WAITING FOR THE MOON TO RISE

All the way back home
I'm telling you I caught the sun
Creeping up behind my shoulder
And another day's begun
I was following a trail
I'd never been along before
Chasing darkened skies above me
Looking like the spring
Like the winter
And the morning

If there's a place I want to go
Then I'll be there with you
'Cause in my dreams the things
I'm wishing for
Keep coming true
Now a new day comes
Clears the darkness out of sight
And the shadows that were sleeping
Come and dance beneath the light
And I'm trying hard to hide
Keeping the sun out of my eyes
Close them tight
And now I'm waiting for the moon to rise

Don't try to say to me
That this was never meant to be
'Cause the days are long where I come from
The next few days I'm free
There's a train I want to catch
But it won't leave here for a while
Till darkness fills the eastern sky
And streetlights stretch for miles
Through the spring
And the winter and the morning.

5. DON'T LEAVE THE LIGHT ON BABY

It's been a bloody stupid day
My baby called me up to say
Don't call me love, don't call me
It's not all she said

I truly love her but I know
I'm bad for her, I'm bad and so
At least she may forgive me for my honesty

My friend came back from being abroad
He was rich and I was overawed
His ship came in
I'm standing on the harbour wall

Another friend, the one I love
Turns to me "Have you seen enough?"
"Let's hang about
There's nothing like a sunset"

It's been a bloody stupid day
Don't leave the light on baby
My baby called me up to say
Don't leave the light on baby
I'll see you sometime maybe
Don't leave the light on baby
It finally dawned on me tonight
Best to go down without a fight
I know you will forgive me for my honesty

Don't leave the light on baby
Don't leave the light on baby
I'll see you sometime maybe
Don't leave the light on baby.

6. THE WRONG GIRL

I went looking for my darling, I went looking for a sign
And I found her in the morning, somewhere in the back of my mind

I'm not what I could be, I need a true love
I went looking and I found one

The wrong girl
The wrong kind
The wrong hand to be holding
The wrong eyes to go searching behind
The wrong dream to have on my mind
I went looking for my darling, I went looking for a sign
And I found her in the morning, somewhere in the back of my mind

I'm not what I could be, I need a true love
I went looking and I found one

The wrong girl
The wrong kind
The wrong hand to be holding
The wrong eyes to go searching behind
The wrong dream to have on my mind

I'm not what I could be, I need a true love
I went looking and I found one

The wrong girl
The wrong kind
The wrong hand to be holding
The wrong eyes to go searching behind
The wrong dream to have on my mind.

7. THE CHALET LINES

He raped me in the chalet lines
The girl I shared with was away for the night
I couldn't get up for my shift today
I'll have to leave the camp now anyway
I'll go to London there's a mate of mine I know
She'll give me a place
Full of woe and further to go

He raped me in the chalet lines
I had just said no for the final time
Although it's last month it's like yesterday
I missed my time, I don't think I could stand
To take the test, I'm feeling sick
Fuck this, I've felt like this for a week
I'd put a knife right into his eyes
My friend can't see
She asks me why I don't
Tell the law
Oh what's the fucking point at all

He raped me in the chalet lines
It was a party, it was going fine
With the boys from the amusement park
A few were idiots, they were a really good laugh
They had the shows on till way after dark
I hope she'll give me a place
Full of woe and further to go
She caught the bus
"Oh I'll go anywhere"
She caught the bus
Her face was just a smear on the pane.

8. NICE DAY FOR A SULK

Nice day for a sulk
The girl smells of milk
Her horsey teeth explode around us
And we run for cover she found us
In the cheapo bar with a bag of chips

Nice day for a mood
The forecast is good
The kids are melting in the doorway
Keep the gang together
There's no way you will ever be misunderstood by me

Nice day for a jam
The Fall, Manfred Mann
Dance party, summer lasts forever
When the band's together and Bobby
Drank too much and fell in the Clyde.

9. WOMEN'S REALM

I don't care whether you hear this
I don't care if I'm alone here singing songs to myself
There's nobody else around, around
Meet you up at the Indian part of the town
The town's shut down, the people left with their bags
Their kids so there's not a sound a sound

But I must get from there to here
There's a small voice crying on the other side of the river from here
It's too late to phone her now
What went wrong, your grades were good
It would take a left wing Robin Hood to pay for school
Your dad's a boozer and you keep him alive

Just a minute close your eyes
If we settle for this compromise I'll stay with you
The river looks so good tonight
I don't know what's with your friend
She met a boy and at the summer's end
She said she'd had enough of playing games

I don't care cause I'm by myself
All the dancers left but I can't dance
So I will stay and clean the mess they left behind
But I dream as I set to scrub all the floors, the walls
I'm thinking of a song or two, a boy a girl a rendezvous

Are you coming or are you not?
There is nothing that would sort you out
There's nothing I could say or do
You're going to crash, I'll set the bails in front of you
Are you coming or are you not?
There is nothing that would sort you out
An interesting way of life
Deny yourself the benefits of being alive

You slept better in a sleeping train in a shed in a station
With a torch and a Woman's Realm to keep you warm
To keep you company
You slept better in a sleeping train in a shed in a station
With a torch and a Woman's Realm to keep you company tonight.

10. FAMILY TREE

I've been feeling down
I've been looking round the town
For somebody just like me
But the only ones I see
Are the dummies in the window
They spend their money on clothes
It saddens me to think
That the only ones I see are mannequins
Looking stupid, being used and being thin
And I don't know why I hang around with them
The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused
The way they act, I'd rather be fat than be confused
Than be me in a cage
With a bottle of rage
And a family like the Mafia

I've been feeling blue
And I don't know what to do
And I never get a thrill
And they threw me out of school
'Cause I swore at all the teachers
Because they never teach us
A thing I want to know
We do Chemistry, Biology and Maths
I want Poetry and Music and some laughs
And I don't think it's an awful lot to ask

So won't you please get up off your knees, and let me go
So won't you please get up off your knees, and let me go
'Cause I'm here in a cage
With a bottle of rage
And a family like the Mafia

If my family tree goes back to the Romans
Then I will change my name to Jones
If my family tree goes back to Napoleon
Then I will change my name to Smith
If my family tree goes back to the Romans
Then I will change my name to Jones
If you're looking at me to be an accountant
Then you will look but you will never see
If you're looking at me to start having babies
Then you can wish because I'm not here to fool around
You can wish because I'm not here to fool around
You can wish because I'm not here to fool around
You can wish because I'm not here to fool around
You can wish because I'm not here to fool around.

11. THERE'S TOO MUCH LOVE

I could hang about and burn my fingers
I've been hanging out here waiting for something to start
You think I'm faultless to a 't'
My manner set impeccably
But underneath I am the same as you

I could dance all night like I'm a soul boy
But I know I'd rather drag myself across the dance floor
I feel like dancing on my own
Where no one knows me, and where I
Can cause offence just by the way I look

And when I come to blows
When I am numbering my foes
Just hope that you are on my side my dear

But it's best to finish as it started
With my face head down just staring at the brown formica
It's safer not to look around
I can't hide my feelings from you now
There's too much love to go around these days

You say I've got another face
That's not a fault of mine these days
I'm brutal honest and afraid of you

It's safer not to look around
There's no hiding my feelings from you now
There's too much love to go around these days

You say I've got another face
That's not a fault of mine these days
I'm honest, brutal and afraid of you.

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