| The Ties That Bind You
Lyric by Clive James, music by Pete Atkin
That girl at the far side of the bar
Waves the smoke of cigarettes away
And in a flash you know exactly where you are
At the bus-stop in the mist of early morning
By the empty timber sheds beside the bay
And all those little kids are deaf and dumb
Who line the gravelled footway after school
But the splash of every stone in the canal
Rebuilds for you the echoing aquarium
Where sting-rays carried pennies round the pool
And echoes coming back like this remind you
How much lies behind youH
Dust-encrusted discs that slide from clouds of years
And then they blind you
The ties that bind you
And those ski-gloves fresh from drying by the fire
Seem suddenly to hold a warmth that reaches
From the back seat of a car, hot with the sun
On the highway running north beside the beaches
One summer on the far side of the world
And echoes coming back like this remind you
How much lies behind you
Dust-encrusted discs that slide from clouds of years
And then they blind you
The ties that bind you
And that market-going grandmother who sighs
And turns her collar up against the rain
Would be scandalised to know she recreates
As mountain-river clear as when it happened
The first girl who ever woke before your eyes
And echoes coming back like this remind you
How much lies behind you
Water over dams returning near as tears
When lost things find you
The ties that bind you
The ties that bind you
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