Room To Roam

The Waterboys Room To Roam Lyrics
1.A Life Of Sundays

Hold me!
Before i go under.
Hear me!
Before i drown.
Sharpen!
Your sense of wonder.
Listen!
To what i've found.

Here we are again,
Two old lovers,
Two old friends,
Just when you need them.

A devil was standing on my shoes
Somehow i know how to defeat him
Since i tumbled into you.

You taught me love and pain,
And the unsung king or ireland
Says the same thing,
Wherever you find it.

(the whole world wide over)

The same thing from the same old cause.
The same thing - i cannot define it.
It is the same thing and it always was.

It struck me sad and strange,
All that ever stays the same
Is change...

...and i dreamed i wandered
Wayward as a restless wave.
Spanning from here to yonder
Most spectacularly saved.

Dream and life entwined,
The old day cracks and crumbles
And it's

Fine!
To be in your company.
Funny!
To be in your day.
A miracle!
Just to be with you.
Glad!
To be going your way.

Were these unfolding plans
Designed and drawn by mortal hands?
Never in a life of sundays
Would i have seen me here.


2.A Man Is In Love

A man is in love, how do i know?
He came and walked with me, and he told me so
In a song he sang, and then i knew
A man is in love with you

A man is in love, how did i hear?
I heard him talk too much whenever you're near
He whispered your name when his eyes were closed
A man is in love and he knows

A man is in love, how did i guess?
I figuered it out while he was watching you dress
He'd give you his all, if you'd but agree
A man is in love and he's me


3.Bigger Picture

I'm starting to see a bigger picture
I'm beginning to colour it in
I'm starting to see a bigger picture
I'm beginning to colour it in

My soul the sky, my heart a sun
My mind a world - my only one
My thoughts the people, the world around
My dreams the kings - or the clowns

I'm starting to see a bigger picture
I'm beginning to colour it in
I'm starting to see a bigger picture
I'm beginning to colour it in

The continents and the seven oceans
Bound the range of my emotions
My time is long but not forever
My moods are the changing wind and weather

I'm starting to see a bigger picture
I'm beginning to colour it in
I'm starting to see a bigger picture
I'm beginning to colour it in

Colour it in !
Colour it in !


4.Calliope House


5.Further Up, Further In

I dreamed the wind came to my house
These are the words fell from his mouth
'the king you seek you'll find him true
But only if he rides the road with you'

I stepped aboard a ship that flew
It took me to wherever it wanted to
Far above the land, far above the sea
The dreamer and the doer agreed to agree

I was sent to the war, stripped of my power
Gagged and imprisoned in a tall dark tower
I must have cried for an age or more
'till i saw through tears and i found the door

High on a cliff, in gorgeous clothes
A madman danced on the balls of his toes
Forgetting myself i fell at the feet
Of the greatest fool i ever did meet

The stars were bright and magic afoot
On the summer wind rose the sound of a flute
I saw the musician - my heart knew him well
What happens next, no rhyme can tell

We came to the end of the world one day
A dolphin swan in a sheltered bay
I paid to the king what it was i owed,
Put my face to the wind and my foot on the road

I find i've wandered far from home
But home is in me wherever i roam
I thought i was an hour or a year behind
But the hours and the years are only time


6.How Long Will I Love You?

How long will i love you?
As long as stars are above you
And longer if i can

How long will i need you?
As long as the seasons need to
Follow their plan

How long will i be with you
As long as the seasons need to
Wash upon the sand

How long will i want you?
As long as you want me to
And longer by far

How long will i hold you?
As long as your father told you
As long as you are

How long will i give to you
As long as i live to you
However long you say

How long will i love you?
As long as the stars are above you
And longer, if i can


7.In Search Of A Rose

Where will i wander and wonder
Nobody knows
But wherever i'm a-going i'll go
In search of a rose

Whatever the will of the weather
And whether it shines or snows
Wherever i'm a-going i'll go
In search of a rose

I don't know where it's found
I don't mind
As long as the world spins around
I'll take my time

I'll savour the softness of summer
I'll wrap up when winter blows
And wherever i'm going i'll go
In search of a rose


8.Islandman

Of my body england is the spine
The backbone and the trunk
My shoulders span the mighty tyne
London sprawls across my rump
Cornwall my crooked ancient leg
Wales two hands held apart
Scotland is my dreaming head
Ireland is my heart


9.Natural Bridge Blues


10.Room To Roam


11.Something That Is Gone

Something that is gone
Something that is gone
Something that i had just yesterday
But where i must have laid it
I really couldn't say
Something that was right
But now is wrong
Something that is gone

Something that i lost
Something that i lost
Something that i cradled in my hand
Something rather special
That pertained to all my plans
I'm left here wondering what on earth it was
Something that i lost

Something that i missed
Something that i missed
I've looked all around my room
But it's not here
How can a thing of permanence
So swiftly disappear ?
Something is the cause of all of this
Something that i missed


12.Song From The End Of The World

Here is the smell of seafood pie
A broken tower on the open sky
A chain of islands rolling west
In sight of the house where we are guests

A rambling old river twists through the fields
Ancient names imprinted on shields
Gifts arrive for a baby girl
Born a queen at the end of the world

Furious music from an open door
The sound of feet beating on a stone floor
Always the wind, always the form
Of an elder god, hooved and horned

The head of the mountain lost in a cloud
A country woman, soft and proud
Into the bay the horses swirl
For we come to the sea at the end of the world


13.Spring Comes To Spiddal

The lights are on in standun's
And the spell has been broken
The roadside teahouse door
Is wide open
A sign on the wall
Says 'american also spoken'
As spring comes to spiddal

The village girls go walking
By without their coats
The irish gaelic college
Is alive again with folk
Farmers gather talking
Freed from winter's yoke
As spring comes to spiddal

A tourist with a telescope
And a funny looking german bloke
And a billy goat
All invoke
The summer soon to bloom

On a soft and fresh atlantic air
A mist of pollen floats
On galway bay i spy
A gaily painted fishing boat
There's a rustle around the boreens
And a song on every throat
As spring comes
To spiddal


14.The Raggle Taggle Gypsy

(traditional)

There were three old gypsies came to our hall door
They came brave and boldly-o
And one sang high and the other sang low
And the other sang a raggle taggle gypsy-o

It was upstairs downstairs the lady went
Put on her suit of leather-o
And there was a cry from around the door
She's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o

It was late that night when the lord came in
Enquiring for his lady-o
And the servant girl she said to the lord
'she's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o'

'then saddle for me my milk white steed
- my big horse is not speedy-o
And i will ride till i seek my bride
She's away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o'

Now he rode east and he rode west
He rode north and south also
Until he came to a wide open plain
It was there that he spied his lady-o

'how could you leave your goose feather bed
Your blankeys strewn so comely-o?
And how could you leave your newly wedded lord
All for a raggle taggle gypsy-o?'

'what care i for my goose feather bed
Wi' blankets strewn so comely-o?
Tonight i lie in a wide open field
In the arms of a raggle taggle gypsy-o'

'how could you leave your house and your land?
How could you leave your money-o?
How could you leave your only wedded lord
All for a raggle taggle gypsy-o?'

'what care i for my house and my land?
What care i for my money-o?
I'd rather have a kiss from the yellow gypsy's lips
I'm away wi' the raggle taggle gypsy-o!'


15.The Star And The Sea

What is between the star and the sea ?
A bird as bright as a bird can be
What is between the bird and me ?
Only a star, only the sea
Only a star, only the sea


16.The Trip To Broadford

(instrumental)


17.The Whole Of The Moon

I pictured a rainbow
You held in your hands
I had flashes
But you saw then plan
I wondered out in the world for years
While you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!

You were there at the turnstiles
With the wind at your heels
You stretched for the stars
And you know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon!

I was grounded
While you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truths
You cut through lies
I saw the rain-dirty valley
You saw brigadoon
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon!

I spoke about wings
You just flew
I wondered, i guessed, and i tried
You just knew
I sighed
But you swooned
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!

With a torch in your pocket
And the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder
And you know how it feels
To reach too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!

Unicorns and cannonballs,
Palaces and piers,
Trumpets, towers, and tenemets,
Wide oceans full of tears,
Flag, rags, ferry boats,
Scimitars and scarves,
Every precious dream and vision
Underneath the stars

You climbed on the ladder
With the wind in your sails
You came like a comet
Blazing your trail
Too high
Too far
Too soon
You saw the whole of the moon!