Searching For A Place To Land Lyrics

This page includes original lyrics written by Tinplate Tiger, and videos of unplugged versions of new songs recorded in 2020.

The rights of Tinplate Tiger to be identified as author of this content have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this page may be reprinted or reporduced or used in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means whatsoever, without permission in writing from the author.

Contents

One Mistake
Fishing For Angels
Searching For A Place To Land
When She Sings
Waves Keep Rolling
The Coast Path
Our Battered Hearts
I Died Nine Years Ago
Where The Sea Meets The Sky
Tell Him Tomorrow
Dancing Down A Frozen River
Drinking In The Last Chance Saloon

 

One mistake

I never meant to cause you any pain
I always promise I'll mend my ways
We both know I'm never going to change
I only ever make one mistake, but I make it again and again

I've been thinking about moving on
How your life might blossom if I were gone
For some reason we always carry on
Waiting for each new season to gloss over what went wrong

There's a world of good people out there
Living life without a care
So why don't you take that step into the blue?
What the hell you got to fear?
What keeps keeping you here?

You could go and paint in Paris
Tend a lemon grove in Spain
Plant yourself in a sheltered spot
Down some quiet lane
Novelty wears thin, I guess
While doubts always remain
I was your one mistake
Sometimes it seems a shame

The sweet briar by the doorway
Gets tangled up by vines
The broken clock keeps ticking
Though the hours never chime
The cracked slate keeps on dripping
But the fire smoke still climbs
'Cuase you mop away the mess
That I make of our lives

There's a world of good people out there
Living life on a wing and a prayer
So why don't you take that step into the blue?
What the hell you got to fear?
What keeps keeping you here?

Is love all just one big mistake
When passion and place collide?
When the music stops whoever happens
To stumble by your side?
Sense dulled by longing
To mask the pain
So we make that one mistake
Again and again and again

 

Fishing for angels

I feel an angel's warm breath on my back
A devil grabs her wings and pulls her back
Leaves me at the crossroads with a sneer
As he knows the way to go is never clear

The crowd drags around me like a sea
Never know who or where I'm meant to be
And I drown each time you walk into the room
Spin my distant orbit, I'm your moon

I feel you in my eyes
As your sun moves across my skies
I can only look out from one side
If I stare too long, I fear I will go blind

Now I'm lost in your atmosphere
Floating in the swirling air
I promise I will never fly too near
Just stay and spill shy looks from over here

Just fishing for angels at low tide
I cast my net into your sky
But heaven's always out of reach
And the waves crash on an empty beach

 

Searching for a place to land

Searching for a place to land
A sheltered cove with a strip of sand
Where waves ain't crashing on the rocks
Against the nights leaden smear
I rise and fall, my boat won't steer
The sea's dark bed will be my dock

I'm drifting still
Slave to the ocean's swell
Just trying to find
Some peace of mind

The distant town stands still
Like giant graves up on the hill
Lights like stars high above the shore
I'm running low on biscuits and beer
High on waves of hope and fear
Though I can't tell the difference any more

I'm drifting still
Slave to the ocean's swell
Just trying to find
Some peace of mind

Now the ocean's seeping in
I can sense sharks circling
I'm going down fast
My life flows through my mind so slow
Time to linger on a girl I used to know
Hope her smile stays with me 'til the last

I'm drifting still
Slave to the ocean's swell
Just hoping to find
Some peace of mind

When she sings

I like I when they say storms are on their way and they never come
And I bask in the warmth of an unexpected sun
How still the room turns when she sings
Though she knows not the joy her soft voice brings
The big men sup muddy ale and flail
Big fish in their dried up pond
And they rant and they rail to try and force
Their small world to respond
But nobody listens like they listen when she sings
Pain and beauty bubbles up from a spring
Somewhere deep inside
The whole world stops to listen when she sings

How did you get trapped in this forsaken seaside town?
Between the stale candy floss, the idle laughing clown
Stood on the pebble shelf, you scan the sea for sharks
While each wave carves away another small piece of your heart
We still brave the dark nights to hear
Your old songs at The Dove
You're one of us, but you don't belong
An angel crash-landed from above
And everyone stops to listen when you sing
Pain and beauty bubbles up from a spring
Somewhere deep inside
The whole world stops to listen when you sing

 

Waves keep rolling

That winter she snapped and shattered
Ice slipped from a leaf
In clumsy boots we shuffled through
The scattered pieces of her grief
In the paper she was smiling
But dared not reveal her teeth
Her dark eyes could not hide
The currents that ran beneath

I sit in your favourite spot on the pier
Watch waves collapse and reappear
I see your face loom in the sea
And in the air we are all
Drowning year by year
I lock the box but still feel the hard edges of the key

They say the ice it is melting
'Cause the sun's shining too bright in the sky
Down by the harbour the houses shiver at each wave break
I guess they know one day the bricks will fly

I watch the waves keep on rolling
I scratch your name upon the sand
The tide keeps rising higher and higher
Snatches the branch from my hand

One winter the sea was frozen
The beach was covered by snow
We lay on our backs and made angels
They melted away, we spent the day in damp clothes

Now the waves are crashing towers
And the boats are breaking loose
The world's one big hour glass
The sand is disappearing fast
The mist clutches at my neck like a noose

And I have no excuse

 

The coast path

I stand up on the coast path, gaze down at the sea
Feeling my heart battered by the waves inside of me
There's a glow on the horizon, the embers of a fire
Drowning in the ocean like the fading of desire

When the evening comes I lie and gaze up a the moon
How ever long I lie for the morning comes too soon

Boats come and go in the harbour, laughter rises from the sands
But the place for the broken hearted is up here where I stand
So I'm going to keep on walking this old path from coast to coast
Wading though wilting flowers, a wild, lost, lovestruck ghost

When the evening comes I lie and gaze up a the moon
How ever long I lie for the morning comes too soon

I stand up on the coast path, gaze down at the sea
Night follows day and my shadows follow me
I wade in shallow memories, and drift on lonesome dreams
Wishing for warm currents to take me places we used to be

When the evening comes I lie and gaze up a the moon
How ever long I dream for the morning comes too soon

 

Our battered hearts

My love is like my clothes, shabby, frayed at the seams
These days I find it hard to tell my memories from my dreams
Too many nights I spend alone playing this old guitar
But I've time to spare if you'd care to share what remains of your heart

There's a gaping hole in my heart and the soles of both my shoes
Got not much left to give you, but I've nothing more to lose
If I won a million pounds, you're the only one I'd choose
So pull you chair close over here and join in with my blues

Lend me your battered heart, I'll lend you mine
'Cause it feels like we're running out of time
And if we break each others hearts, I can't pretend I'd care
So you might as well make use of mine while it's beating so near,
Pour a little wine to ease our troubled minds and spend a little time...

Feel free to turn me down
I'll creep away without a sound
I'm far too old to mind, if you're not
lonely enough to comply just to be kind

Lend me your battered heart, I'll lend you mine
'Cause it feels like we're running out of time
And if we break each others hearts, I can't pretend I'd care
So you might as well make use of mine while it's beating so near,
Pour a little wine to ease our troubled minds and spend a little time...

 

I died nine years ago

I died 9 years ago
I pass through life like a ghost
So how did you touch me?

For so long now nothing has seemed real
Then you came along and you made me feel
How did you do that to me?

I don't know why I told you all those foolish things, I hardly know you
And I cannot imagine what good I though it might bring, to you or me
I guess I just needed somebody

I told you I could not be hurt any more
So why do I lie here in pain waiting for you to fly through that door
Oh what have you done to me?

You're so far away it's just impossible
But if you were here today I'd give you it all
So drop by some time and take what's left of me

I don't know why I told you all those foolish things, I hardly know you
And I cannot imagine what good I though it might bring, to you or me
I guess I just needed somebody

 

Where the sea meets the sky

When the next storm blows the sand away
They'll find the wreck of our hearts down in the bay
Among the rust and gold, the smugglers' bones
Ragged-winged birds trying to fly home
We built our nest on shifting sands
Where the waves meet the shore
Now the broken parts of our foolish hearts
Lie drowned in moonlit pools

Where the sea meets the sky
Lies the wreck of my love and I
And the waves stole all we gave
By the sea, by the sea, my love and me

Through half-open curtains we watch the rain
With half-closed eyes kiss away the pain
Stroll in the warmth between the showers
Brief bliss that blessed the haunted hours
Like strangers on two trains we ride
Love left stranded between the tides
Wash away the traces of all we felt
Furtive sweetness like spun sugar melts

Where the sea meets the sky
Lies the wreck of my love and I
And the waves stole all we gave
By the sea, by the sea, my love and me

 

Tell him tomorrow

My head was fizzing with moonlight and coke
When in the darkness she softly spoke
“Tell him tomorrow,” she whispered in her sleep
Now I'm awake wondering, did she mean him or me?

Tell him tomorrow you've made up you mind
Tell him tomorrow your heart is mine
Tell him tomorrow your choice is made
Tell him tomorrow then come home and stay

I wouldn't blame you for leaving, it would serve me right
Each time we try to talk things through it always turns into a fight
But we wouldn't curse and yell, if we didn't truly care
So if you're looking for passion, hell, you'll find it right here

Tell him tomorrow you've made up you mind
Tell him tomorrow your heart is mine
Tell him tomorrow your choice is made
Tell him tomorrow then come home and stay

 

Dancing down a frozen river

First met you one cold night in the old town
You slipped, I caught you as you fell
Your sweet warmth rushed through me
As you clung on, I'm clinging on still

I found a stay thread from your jumper
Bright as the winter roses in the snow down by the park
Wrapped it round my key ring months ago
Funny how them synthetic colours last

When you're dancing down a frozen river
Shadows ripple beneath
You get close then you slip away
And the ice it cracks beneath our feet

There's a strange light in the house tonight
I can' sleep 'cause you're out really late
I think I hear your key turn in the lock
But it's just that cruel wind rattling at the gate

Each time I reach my arm around you
You shiver away and I crumble apart
Guess you found some new spark to light you fire
To melt the ice in your heart

We're dancing down a frozen river
Shadows ripple underneath
You get close then you slip away
And the ice it cracks beneath our feet

Drinking in the last chance saloon

The sun slides down a faded sky
You've gone too far from shore to hear you name be called
Storm clouds are gathering

Out there is no place to hide
The preacher's voice thunders, "Waves will drag you under
As they wash away your sin...

For the devil dances in bloodshot eyes
Like lightning forks in curdled skies
When you're drinking in the last chance saloon
He gazes deep into your soul
Sees where you buried your stolen gold
In the shadow of that smouldering moon"

Ice burns like fire
I don't know where love begins, all that other stuff ends
My heart is a broken puzzle
Love fuels cruel desire
And the one you though you loved turns out to be
Just another hustle

You lay in my arms and dreamed when I couldn't sleep
You made my promises you knew you couldn't keep
When I wanted to go, you begged me to stay
When I finally needed you, you looked the other way
Ain't it funny how it always ends that way?

What have you been doing today?
Did you finally write those letters to try and make things better
Tell them all you were sorry?

Or did you just keep walking away?
Forever and a day, 'cause you know that come what may
They'll always be hell to pay some day

For the devil dances in bloodshot eyes
Like lightning forks in clotted skies
When you're drinking in the last chance saloon
He gazes deep into your soul
Sees where you buried your stolen gold
In the shadow of that smouldering moon