Paul Kelly

Oh it’s been so long

Since water kissed this ground

Everywhere is aching

For grace to come falling down

Now I feel a change

There’s something on the wind

Can you feel it too?

It’s just about to begin

Oooh, smells like rain

I do believe

We’re heading for a change

Seems it’s been forever

Since the mercury was low

Don’t you feel the pressure

It’s just about to blow

Dark electric sky

Thunder from the west

Oh my man’s got a hard head

He plays it close to his chest

Oooh, smells like rain

I do believe

There’s gonna be a change

Smells like rain

Belting rain

Smells like rain

Smashing rain

Wash us all again

Wash it all away

We’re waiting on the rain

I want to give you

My love and affection

I’ve been saving it so long

I can show you

The right direction

Listen to my song

Oh, how long

Must I wait to show you

What you want!

I can see that

You don’t like attention

That’s how I noticed you

Am I making it clear

My intention

Am I getting through?

Oh, how long

Must I wait to show you

What you want!

Oh, don’t deny me, boy

You don’t know what it is you need

You don’t show it but I know it’s

What you want!

I’ll give you, I promise I’ll give you

Love and understanding

And tenderness so sweet and true

Oh, it’s what you want!

Won’t somebody help me please

I’m afflicted with a strange disease

No doctor can help me, neither can the nurse

‘Cause the cure I crave is just making me worse

And I keep on coming back for more

Every morning I wake up

With a promise to keep

Then that old sun begins to cree

pIn my mind a whisper turns to a roar

And here I am again, baby now, knocking at your door

I keep on coming back for more

I keep on coming back for more

All my friends keep shaking their heads

You don’t care for me, you never did

I’m so tangled up inside your spell

And the gates of your heaven now, baby, lead straight to hell

But I keep on coming back for more

I keep on coming back for more

I know, I know, I know what I should not and what I should

But baby, baby, baby sometimes it just feels so good

Like a sick dog licking at his spew

I’m always turning back to you

First my mind’s a preacher, then it’s turning tricks

Like a drunk to a bottle, baby, like a junkie to a fix

I keep on coming back for more

I keep on coming back for more

In the morning we trash the bed

You bring me coffee black and boiling

Then we start up again and the coffee goes cold I wake up drinking from your lips

Kisses warm and tender

And I’d give up the world just to see you smile

One thing I will never understand

(It’s become my problem)

And it’s something that’s right out of my hands

(My hands are clean)

What makes such a sweet guy turn so mean?

I went to town with a moody man

A handsome Dr. Jekyll

He was right by my side turning into Mr. Hyde

I ran for cover but I ran too slow

I was stitched by strangers

And they shook their heads that somebody could do the things you did

One thing I will never understand

(It’s become my problem)

And it’s something that’s right out of my hands

(My hands are clean)

What makes such a sweet guy turn so mean?

I must be mad, I must be crazy

Everyone tells me so

All of my life I’ve seen it coming,

Now I’m facing the wall, waiting for the blow

In the morning you kiss my head

You say it was somebody else, you weren’t feeling yourself

Now you’re down on your knees

Begging me “Baby, baby, forgive me please”

I wake up aching from your touch

Every muscle tender

Then I look in your eyes, the way you smile

And I’m hypnotized

One thing I will never understand

(It’s become my problem)

And it’s something that’s right out of my hands

(My hands are clean)

What makes such a sweet guy turn so mean?

There she stands in the spotlight

Now the music begins

Her left leg won’t stop trembling

But there’s nowhere to run

The soldier sobbing at the station

Is taken down to the hall

He limps in late in the darkness

And takes his seat in the stalls

Righteous woman starts softly like a dove at dawn

Righteous woman, building up pressure like a slow moving storm

Righteous woman, giving birth to the dark unborn

Righteous woman, righteous woman

In a blanket in a box on the hospital doorstep

Lies a baby new born

The nurse gently picks up the bundle

But the mother is gone

In the darkness his head falls

As the chorus arrives

He wakes up late in the third act

To those radiant eyes

Righteous woman, laying down the law, getting on a glow

Righteous woman, surrendering to the full, ecstatic flow

Now she looks out and sees the brass buttons glinting in the tenth row

Righteous woman, righteous woman

Righteous woman hears the knock on her dressing room door

She takes the note and reads it then lets it drop to the floor

Now she drifts on down slowly to the backstage door

Righteous woman, righteous woman

If you find a love that’s strong and true

You don’t want to lose it

With tender kindness surrounding you

Don’t refuse it

You might think to look around

You don’t want to be tied down

There’s just one thing you should know

Don’t let a good thing go

Once I held all riches in my hands

But I held them cheap

I wandered through a milk and honey land

But I wandered asleep

I woke up on stony ground

All I knew in pieces around

Now there’s just one thing that I know

Don’t let a good thing go

Soon you’ll be standing out in the pouring rain

With no-one else to blame

You’ll understand then there’s no way home again

And no place to hide your shame

You might think to look around

You don’t want to be tied down

You’ll wake up on stony ground

All you know in pieces around

There’s just one thing you should know

Don’t let a good thing go

Soon you’ll be standing out in the pouring rain

Soon you’ll be standing out in the pouring rain

You’ll understand then there’s no way home again

We’ve been traveling for a while now

On a turning, twisting road

I know I haven’t always

Carried my fair share of the load

You’ve kept me strong and steady, baby

When I’ve begun to slide

Every time I’ve I lost my way

You’ve been my beacon and my guide

Thank you for loving me

Thank you for lighting up the dark

Thank you for loving me completely

And showing me my heart

I know I’m melancholy, baby

And I change from day to day

Sometimes I get so excited

And much too carried away

Sometimes I feel so mean and ugly

I want to hurt what’s close to me

The cruel things I’ve said and done

You never took them personally

Thank you for loving me

For teaching me like nobody else

Thank you for loving me so tenderly

And showing me yourself

To everything a season

I thank my lucky stars each day

To be loved for no good reason

And our love is here to stay!

Thank you for loving me

For touching me like nobody else

Thank you for loving me unconditionally

And showing me my better self

I don’t know what I’d do

If we were parted

I don’t know what I’d do

If you were gone

When I look ahead

To a life without you

I wonder if I could carry on

You’re such a part of me

It makes me frightened

What if you were suddenly

To disappear?

Like an amputee

Feeling for his missing limb

That’s just how I’d be

Without you near

I don’t know what I’d do

I don’t know what I’d do

You’re such a part of me

I don’t know what I’d do

The little things you do

No-one else does

The secret things you say

When we’re alone

Your laughter on the air

Floating down the hallway

When some book or some affair

Tickles your funny bone

I don’t know what I’d do

I don’t know what I’d do

You’re such a part of me

I don’t know what I’d do

You left me crying

Down on the jetty

You left me standing

All on my own

Your boat got smaller

Then smaller and smaller

I kept my eyes on you

‘Til you were gone

“Don’t sail away, don’t sail away!”

Within my heart I cried

But my words were locked away inside

And I could not turn the tide

“Don’t sail away, don’t sail away!”

I stood there all tongue tied

My words all locked away inside

And I could not hold the tide

Down on the jetty

I kept on standing

Watching the moon rise

Over the bay

That moon got smaller

Then smaller and smaller

I turned my face then

And walked away

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained a long, long time

We liked it well at first

But it turned bad and then it got worse

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained a long, long time

We hauled and hammered wood

Racing hard against the flood

The water rose above the trees

Now our boat is shipshape tight

It’s gonna see us through alright

Though the world has now become a mighty sea

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Forty days and forty nights I believe it’s rained

They came in two by two

All our cargo and our crew

They came in two by two all day and night

Every kind and every worth

Of all that moves upon the earth

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained a long long time

The captain’s on my case

O, he’s keeping on my case

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained a long, long time

We’re high above the hills

Above the drownded with no gills

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained a long, long time

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Forty days and forty nights I believe it’s rained

Now there’s blue sky up above

We’re all waiting on the dove

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained a long long time

Now the captain’s rolling drunk

Singing naked on his bunk

Are we ever gonna see dry land again

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Oh Lord, hasn’t it rained

Forty days and forty nights I believe it’s rained