Dire straits album — Dire Straits

Water of Love

High and dry in the long hot day Lost and lonely in every way Got the flats all around me sky up above I need a little water of love

I've been too long lonely and my heart feels pain Crying out for some soothing rain I believe I have taken enough I need a little water of love

Water of love deep in the ground No water here to be found Some day baby when the river runs free It'll carry that water of love to me

There's a bird up in a tree sitting up high Waiting for me to die If I don't get some water soon I'll be dead and gone in the afternoon

Once I had a woman I could call my own Once I had a woman now my woman is gone Once there was a river now there's a stone You know it's evil when you're living alone

Setting Me Up

You say I'm the greatest bound for glory Well the word is out and I learned I got the latest side of the story You're pulling out before you get burned

Well your hands are squeezing me down to the bone I never saw you breaking no law Stands to reason I've got to leave you alone What you take me for

You're setting me up to put me down You're making me out to be your clown You're just setting me up to put me down You better give it up Quit your messing around

You think I care about your reaction You think I don't understand All you wanted was a piece of the action Now you talk about another man

Six Blade Knife

Your six blade knife can do anything for you Anything you want it to One blade for breaking my heart One blade for tearing me apart Your six blade knife-do anything for you

You can take away my mind like you take away the top of a tin When you come up from behind and lay it down cold on my skin Took a stone from my soul when I was lame Just so you could make me tame You take away my mind like you take away the top of a tin

I'd like to be free of it now - I don't want it no more I'd like to be free of it now - you know I don't want it no more

Everybody got a knife it can be just what they want it to be A needle a wife or something that you just can't see

You know it keeps you strong Yes and it'll do me wrong Your six blade knife - do anything for you

Southbound Again

Southbound again I don't know if I'm going or leaving home Boy got to be moving Seems like the boy is bound to roam

Southbound again got no money I've got no place to go That woman's with her lover boy Never want to see her face no more

Every single time I roll across the rolling River Tyne I get the same old feeling Every time I'm moving down the line

Southbound again last night I felt like crying Right now I'm sick of living But I'm going to keep on trying

In the Gallery

Harry made a bareback rider proud and free upon a horse And a fine coalminer for the NCB that was A fallen angel and Jesus on the cross A skating ballerina you should have seen her do the skater's waltz

Some people have got to paint and draw Harry had to work iin clay and stone Like the waves coming to the shore It was in his blood and in his bones Ignored by all the trendy boys in London and in Leeds He might as well have been making toys or strings of beads He could not be in the gallery

And then you get an artist says he doesn't want to paint at all He takes an empty canvas and sticks it on the wall The birds of a feather all the phonies and all of the fakes While the dealers they get together And they decide who gets the breaks And who's going to be in the gallery

No lies he wouldn't compromise No junk no bits of string And all the lies we subsidise That just don't mean a thing I've got to say he passed away in obscurity And now all the vultures are coming down from the tree So he's going to be in the gallery

Wild West End

Stepping out to Angellucci's for my coffee beans Checking out the movies and the magazines Waitress she watches me crossing from the Barocco Bar I'm getting a pickup for my steel guitar I saw you walking out Shaftesbury Avenue Excuse me for talking I wanna marry you This is the seventh heaven street to me Don't be so proud You're just another angel in the crowd And I'm walking in he wild west end Walking with your wild best friend

And my conductress on the number nineteen She was a honey Pink toenails and hands all dirty with money Greasy hair easy smile Made me feel nineteen for a while Amd wI went down to Chinatown In the backroom it's a man's world All the money go down Duck inside the doorway gotta duck to eat Right now feels alright now You and me we can't beat

And a gogo dancing girl yes I saw her The deejay he say here's Mandy for ya I feel alright to see her But she's paid to do that stuff She's dancing high I move on by The close ups can get rough When you're walking in the wild west end

Lions

Red sun go down way over dirty town Starling are sweeping around crazy shoals A girl is there high heeling across the square Wind blows around in her hair and the flags upon the poles Waiting in the crowd to cross at the light She looks around to find a face she can like.

Church bell clinging on trying to get a crowd for Evensong Nobody cares to depend upon the chime it plays They're all in the station praying for trains Cogregations late again It's getting darker all the time these flagpole days Drunk old soldier he gives her a fright He's crazy lion howling for a fight.

Strap hanging gunshot sound Doors slamming on the overground Starlings are tough but the lions are made of stone Her evening paper is horror torn But there's hope later for Capricorns Her lucky stars give her just enough to get home Then she's reading about a swing to the right But she's thinking about a stranger in the night I'm thinking about the lions tonight What happened to the lions.