Fish:Plague of Ghosts

“Plague of Ghosts”
Artist:	Fish
Albums:	Raingods with Zippos (1999) Sashimi: Live in Poznan, Poland 1999 (2001) Bouillabaisse (2005)

Old Haunts

I found a home in the darkness
Found a home in the darkness
Home in the darkness

Empty stomach empty head
A body fills a vacant bed
And the thunder rolls by
And the rains come
And the day's gone
And I wonder where I am (wonder where I am)

Found a place in the darkness
Found a home in the darkness
In the darkness
Home
In the darkness

A crowded room of passers by
And in the shadows strangers cry
And the ghosts try to hide
When the rains come
When the storms form
When I wonder who I am (wonder who I am)
In the darkness
Home

Digging Deep

Digging deep in the darkness, digging it deep down deep down deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep, down deep, down, deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep, down, down, down, down, digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it down, deep down, deep, down deep digging it

We watched an insect stray to the edge of its world
A lily pad stretched over a green mirror
In which the ghost carp swirl like clouds before a storm
This is the season of the rain
This is incoming

And when it came there was no cover, no place to hide
Vision blurred, hard to breathe, trying hard to hold onto something that's real
There's nothing left, nowhere to go, no open road, washed away by swollen streams
Carried off downriver with all my broken dreams

Digging deep in the darkness, digging it deep, down deep down deep, deep, digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep down, down, down, down digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep, digging it, digging it, digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep down, deep down, deep down, digging it

A tethered goat bleats from the corner of the graveyard
Where the lizards hang motionless as the angels of stone above them
Their broken wings throw long shadows into the grass where the scorpions hide
The tigers are running out of jungle

The problem is, I don't really want to go back
I can't really see any more
Just a hand

Are you happy now?
Don't know who you are
Or who I am
Or who you are

Digging deep in the darkness, digging it deep, down deep, down deep, deep digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep, down, down, down, down, digging it
Deep in the darkness, digging it deep, deep down, deep, deep, deep, digging it
Deep in the darkness, down, down, down, down, down, down digging it

In the end I was tired of being asked if I could say that I was happy now
As if you need me to convince you that everything's OK
Would you take me back?

Are you happy now?
Am I sure, are you sure
Are you happy now?
Are you happy now?

Tell me are you happy now?
Tell me are you happy now?
Yeah yeah, are you happy now?
Have a heart, are you happy now?
Happy now?
...

Chocolate Frogs

The bloated corpses of unsolved murders and old revolutions
Pirouette and dance amongst the swirls and eddies in their final procession down the muddy river to the delta
Where they're thrown up by the surf onto sterile beaches
Or are trapped in the roots of mangrove cathedrals of the islands that gather in the bay

These are the first arrivals on this new horizon
That will be coveted by strangers who will deposit themselves on these shores to build towers to the heavens
The storm will come
And the rains will fall
And remove their dreams and hopes once again to the waters that surround them
And while they pray
The frogs will chant in the darkness

A heid full of chocolate frogs
A body full of rush
A pocketful of shrapnel
And a skinful of bush
An eyeful of the future
And a bellyful of the past
How beautiful the present
When you know it cannae last

A tumblerful of voddie
Two fingers in a glass
A handful of promises
A heart full of remorse
Mindful of your manners
When you're brought down to your knees
A heid full with chocolate frogs
Is all you gave to me
It's all you gave to me

A spoonful of miracles
A nostril full of dust
A lungful of Virginia
The needs we have we must
A pill to put your heart right
A nose out for a deal
A heid full of chocolate frogs
What can you give to me?
What did you give to me?

What did you give to me?
What did you give to me?

What did you give to me?
What did you give to me?
What did you give to me?
What did you give to me?
What did you give to me?
What did you give to me?

Waving at Stars

You cracked up too soon
Before the punchline hit home
At the end of the joke
Did you notice that no-one was
Laughing with you
You were out on your own

Waving at trains
Waving at cars
Waving from bars
Waving from aeroplanes
Might as well be waving at stars

You called out her name
As the darkness hit home
Raised up your Zippo
And opened the skies
Till the crowd melts away
At the end of the day
You ran out of light

Praying for rain
Praying for signs
Praying for time
Praying for endless night
Might as well be wishing on stars

Raingods Dancing

Empty churches, empty pews
In the subway nothing moves
And the static on the radio is drowning out the sound
Of Raingods dancing

Empty playgrounds, empty bars
I can't remember how it was before the flood
When all I had to do was simply recognise
The love that's trapped inside

I gave it all, I took it back
And in the end there's nothing left except a shell
Surrounding emptiness and loneliness
A core of pain
I see my pathway shining

Raingods with Zippos
A tinman hides a broken heart
Raingods with Zippos
He knows the flame has gone
That soon he'll fall apart
I'll fall apart

So I lay me down to lie
And the rain my lullaby I drift away to dreamless sleep
Leave behind a life that died
A victim of a plague of ghosts (of ghosts)

I was wrapped up in my guilt
Buried deep within my memories
A shelter of self-pity
That I know the rain will wash away
I sense the storm arriving

Raingods with Zippos (Zippos Zippos Zippos Zippos ...)
A tin man rusts away
And slowly falls apart
Raingods with Zippos (Zippos Zippos Zippos Zippos ...)
And all he leaves behind
A bleeding broken heart

Wake-Up Call (Make it Happen)

And in the end
I found beginnings
Not a vision
A wake up call
Raised from the dead by a beating heart
And at last I can see it all

And my eyes were opened
To the darkness
In my hand a burning flame
A spark of life
To touch the fuse
And blow these clouds away

I can make it happen
If I want to
Make it happen
If I try
Forgive, forget forever never
Means as much as it does today
Make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen

When I wake up
Will you be there?
It can never be the same
If we can take our lives slowly step by step
We will be dancing in the rain

We can make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
Forgive, forget, forever means today

We can make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
Forgive, forget, forever means today
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen

The darkest rainclouds are potential backdrops for the brightest rainbows.
It all depends on coincidence and conditions.

Live Version (Live in Poznan, 1999)

This next song is a long song
And this long song
Is all about what it's like
Hanging over the edge of a cliff.

And this is called A Plague Of Ghosts.

Old Haunts

I found a home in the darkness (darkness darkness ...)
Found a home in the darkness
Found a home in the darkness (darkness darkness ...)

Empty stomach empty head
A body fills a vacant bed
And the thunder rolls by
When the rains come
And the storm's come
When I wonder where I am

I found a place in the darkness
Found a place in the darkness
In the darkness
In the darkness

A crowded room of passers by
And in the shadows strangers cry
And the ghosts try to hide
When the rains come
When the storms form
When I wonder who I am
In the darkness
In the darkness
Home

Digging Deep

Digging deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it

We watched an insect stray to the edge of its world
A lily pad stretched over a green mirror
Where the ghost carp swirl like clouds before a storm
This is the season of the rain
This is incoming

When it came
There was no cover, no place to hide
Vision blurred, hard to breathe
Trying hard to hold onto something that's real
There's nothing left, nowhere to go, no open road
Washed away by swollen streams
Carried off downriver
With all my broken dreams

Digging deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Digging it
Digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep down digging it

A tethered goat bleats from the corner of a graveyard
Where the lizards hang motionless as the angels of stone above them
Their broken wings cast long shadows into the grass where the scorpions hide
The tigers are running out of jungle

(Words in Polish)

There comes a point
Where you're staring over a precipice
And it's absolute blind darkness
And it was when I reached that point
I decided to take
One step back

Digging

Are you happy now?
(Don't know who you are)
Don't know who I am
(Or who you are)

Digging deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep deep digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down down down down digging it
Deep in the darkness
Digging it deep
Down deep down deep deep digging it
Deep in the darkness
Down down down down down down digging it

In the end I was tired of being asked if I was happy now
As if you need me to convince you that everything's okay
So would you take me back?
Would you take me back?
You keep asking
You keep asking
(You keep asking)
Tell me are you happy now?
(Tell me are you happy now?)
Tell me are you happy now?
(Asking are you happy now?)
Asking asking
(Asking asking)
Are you happy now?
(Are you happy now?)
Are you happy now?
(Are you happy now?)
Tell me are you happy now?
Tell me are you happy now?
Are you happy now happy now
Happy now happy now
Happy now
(I just want to know)
Happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy now
(I just want to know)
(I just want to know)
(Tell me are you happy now?)
(Happy now)
(Tell me are you happy now?)
(Are you happy now?)
(I want to know)
(I just want to know)
(Are you happy now?)
(Happy now)
(I just want to know)
(Are you happy now?)
(You, are you happy now?)
(I want to know)

Chocolate Frogs

The bloated corpses of unsolved murders and old revolutions
Pirouette and dance amongst the swirls and eddies
In their final procession down the muddy river to the delta
Where they're thrown up by the surf onto sterile beaches
Or are trapped in the roots of mangrove cathedrals of the islands that gather in the bay

These are the first arrivals on this new horizon
That will be coveted by strangers who will deposit themselves on these shores to build towers to the heavens
The storm will come
The rains will fall
And remove their dreams and hopes once again to the waters that surround them
And while they pray
The frogs will chant in the darkness

A heid full of chocolate frogs
A body full of rush
A pocketful of shrapnel
And a skinful of bush
An eyeful of the future
And a bellyful of the past
How beautiful the present
When you know it cannae last

A tumblerful of voddie
Two fingers in a glass
A handful of promises
And a heart full of remorse
Mindful of your manners
When you're brought down to your knees
For a heid full with chocolate frogs
Is all you gave to me
That's all you gave to me

A spoonful of miracles
A nostril full of dust
A lungful of Virginia
The needs we have we must
A pill to put your heart right
A nose out for a deal
For a heid full with chocolate frogs
What can you give to me?
What can you give to me?

Waving at Stars

You cracked up too soon
Before the punchline hit home
At the end of the joke
Did you notice that no-one was
Laughing with you
You were out on your own

Waving at trains
Waving at cars
Waving from bars
Waving from aeroplanes
Might as well be waving at stars

You called out her name
As the darkness hit home
Raised up your Zippo
And opened the sky
Till the crowd melts away
At the end of the day
You ran out of light

Praying for rain
Praying for signs
Praying for time
Praying for endless night
Might as well be wishing on stars

Raingods Dancing

Empty churches, empty pews
In the subway nothing moves
And the static on the radio is drowning out the sound
Of raingods dancing

Empty playgrounds, empty bars
I can't remember how it was before the flood
When all I had to do was simply recognise
The love that's trapped inside

I gave it all, I took it back
And in the end there's nothing left except a shell
Surrounding emptiness and loneliness
A core of pain
I see my pathway shining

Raingods with Zippos (Zippos)
A tinman hides a broken heart
Raingods with Zippos (Zippos)
He knows the flame has gone
That soon he'll fall apart
And so I fall apart

So I lay me down to lie
And the rain my lullaby I drift away to dreamless sleep
Leave behind a life that died
A victim of a plague of ghosts

I was wrapped up in the guilt
Buried deep within my memories
A shelter of self-pity
That I know the rain will wash away
I sense the storm arriving

Raingods with Zippos
A tin man rusts away
And slowly falls apart
Raingods with Zippos (Zippos Zippos Zippos Zippos ...)
And all he leaves behind
A bleeding broken heart (heart heart ...)

We all fall apart (apart apart apart ...)

Wake-Up Call (Make it Happen)

And in the end
I found beginnings
Not a vision
A wake up call
Raised from the dead by a beating heart
And at last I can see it all

And my eyes were opened
To the darkness
In my hand a burning flame
A spark of life to touch the fuse
And blow these clouds away

I can make it happen
If I want to
Make it happen
If I try
Forgive, forget forever never
Means as much as it does today
Make it happen (happen)
We can make it happen
We can make it happen

When I wake up (wake up)
Will you be there?
It can never be the same
If we can take our lives slowly step by step
We will be dancing in the rain

We can make it happen (happen)
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
Forgive, forget, forever means today

C'mon
Make it happen (happen)
Balcony
Make it happen (happen)

Make it happen (happen)
Make it happen (happen)
Yeah
Make it happen (happen)

Forgive, forget, forever means today

On the guitars
Santa Fe, USA
Poznan Poland
This is John Wesley

Forgive, forget, forever means today
Make it happen (happen)

On the keyboards
From Ipswich in England
Poznan
Mister Tony Turrell

Make it happen (happen)
Make it happen (happen)
Make it happen (happen)

On the bass guitar
From Edinburgh in Scotland
Poznan
Steve Francis

Make it happen (happen)
We can make it happen (happen)
We can make it happen (happen)

From Edinburgh
In Scotland
On the drums
Poznan
You know him
Dave Sticky Stewart

Make it happen (happen)
Make it happen (happen)
Make it happen (happen)
We can make it happen (happen)

From Ghana and London
On vocals
Poznan
Miss Elizabeth Antwi

(Make it)
Forgive, forget, forever means today
Yo
Make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
They call me the Fish
We can make it happen
Thank you
We can make it happen
(... Fish Fish Fish Fish Fish Fish Fish Fish Fish)
(We can make it happen)
(We can make it happen)
(We can make it happen)
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
We can make it happen
Forgive, forget, forever means today
Yeah
Make it happen
(Make it happen)
We could make it happen
Forgive, forget, forever means today
He-e-e-ey
Make it happen
Make it happen
Forgive, forget, forever means today