Bryan Ferry

(Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson)

For it’s a long, long time
from May to December
And the days grow short
when you reach September
And the Autumn weather
Turns the leaves to flame
And I haven’t got time
For the waiting game
And the days dwindle down
to a precious few
September November
And these few precious days
I’d spend with you
These golden days
I’d spend with you
When you meet with the young man early in Spring
They court you in song and rhyme
They woo you with words and a clover ring
But if you examine the goods they bring
They have little to offer but the songs they sing
And a plentiful waste of time of day
A plentiful waste of time

(Cole Porter)

It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy flings
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things
It was just one of those nights
Just one of those fabulous flights
A trip to the moon on gossamer wings
Just one of those things
If we’d thought a bit, of the end of it
When we started painting the town
We’d have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down
So goodbye, dear, and amen
Here’s hoping we meet now and then
It was great fun
But it was just one of those things

(Ferry/Eno)

I thought – you’d be my streetcar named desire
My way – my taste of wine
I thought – you’d be that flame within the fire
One dream that just won’t die

All night – looking for new love
Impossible true love – nothing at all
Looking for new gods – looking for new blood
Looking for you oh oh

I thought – I’d find you walking in the rain
Just like a wayward child
I thought – I’d find you calling out my name
So foolish is my pride

All night – looking for new love
Impossible true love – nothing at all
Looking for new ways – looking for strange blood
Looking for you oh oh

I thought – I’d be your streetcar named desire
Your man – the one you seek
I thought – I’d take you deep within myself
Subtitles when we speak

Hold on – the flower says reach out
The thunder says no shout is greater than mine
Listen and hold on – untill the day fades out
Smothered in gold

(Cole Porter)

You do something to me
Something that simply mystifies me
Tell me, why should it be,
You have the power to hypnotise me
Let me live ‘neath your spell
Do do that voodoo that you do so well
For you do something to me
That nobody else could do

(Marvell/Strachey/Link)

Oh will you never let me be?
Oh will you never set me free?
The ties that bound us are still around us
There’s no escape that I can see
And still those little things remain
That bring me happiness or pain

A cigarette that bears a lipstick’s traces
An airline ticket to romantic places
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

A tinkling piano in the next apartment
Those stumbling words that told you
What my heart meant
A fairground’s painted swings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

You came, you saw, you conquered me
When you did that to me
I somehow knew that this had to be

The winds of march that make my heart a dancer
A telephone that rings, but who’s to answer?
Oh, how the ghost of you clings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

Gardenia perfume ling’ring on a pillow
Wild strawb’ries only seven francs a kilo
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

The park at evening when the bell has sounded
The ile-de-France with all the girls around it
The beauty that is spring
These foolish things
Remind me of you

I know that this was bound to me
These things have haunted me
For you’ve entirely enchanted me

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations
Silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations
Oh, how the ghost of you clings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

First daffodills and long excited cables
And candle light on little corner tables
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

The smile of Garbo and the scent of roses
The waiters whistling as the last bar closes
The song that Crosby sings
These foolish things
Remind me of you

How strange, how sweet to find you still
These things are dear to me
That seem to bring you so near to me

The scent of smould’ring leaves, the wail of steamers
Two lovers on the street who walk like dreamers
Oh, how the ghost of you clings
These foolish things
Remind me of you, just you

Olympia is Bryan Ferry’s 13th solo album, released on October 25th 2010 by Virgin Records. Several years in the making, Olympia contains the first original Bryan Ferry compositions to be released in nearly a decade, also featuring writing collaborations with Scissor Sisters, Groove Armada and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.

(Berns/Ragavoy)

I thought I could find
A kind of girl
Who’d think that I was the only
Guy in the world
No more half -hearted kisses
Oh that’s bad enough
Oh no more teardrops
No one way love

Don’t look for someone
Who likes to love fast
You know that kind of lovin’
Will never last
If she’s fast and furious
Oh that can be tough
Oh no more teardrops
No one way love

Well there are girls
Who like to cheat and flirt
Those kind of girls
Are the worst of all
Oh how they lie
And oh how they hurt

Take it from me
I know what I say
I’ll find me a girl
Who knows how to play
That game of heartbreak
Oh that’s mighty rough
Oh no more teardrops
No one way love
One way love

One way love
One way love
One way love
One way love
One way love

(Kahn and Donaldson)

This suspense is killing me
I can’t stand uncertainly
Tell me now I’ve got to know
Whether you want me to stay or to go
Love me or leave me
Or let me be lonely
You won’t believe me, I love you only
I’d rather be lonely
Then happy with someone else
You might find the night time
The right time for kissin’
But night time is my time
For just reminiscin’
Regrettin’ instead of
Forgettin’ with somebody else
There’ll be no one
Unless that someone is you
I intend to be independently blue
I want your love
But I don’t want to borrow
To have it today to give back tomorrow
For my love is your love
There’s no love for nobody else

(Wonder/Hunter)

I remember just before we met
That every night and day
I had to live with a life of a lonely one

I remember meeting you
Discovering love could be so cool
When it’s shared by two instead of the lonely one
When you said you love me
We could not be parted
And I built my world around you
I’m so thankful that I found you

Because loving you has made my life sweeter than ever
I ain’t never felt like this before
Loving you has made my life so much sweeter than ever

Each night I said we’d never part
For the love within my heart grows stronger
From day, day to day

As best I can, and how I try
To reassure you and satisfy
Cause I’d be lost if you went away

Cause I really need you
And I need for you to need me too
I have built my world around you (built my world around you)
I’ am truly glad I found you

Because loving you has made my life sweeter than ever
Loving you has made my life so much sweeter than ever
I’ve never felt like this before
Loving you has made my life so much sweeter than ever

(Dylan)

“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief,
“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plough men dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.”

“No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke,
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.”

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, and barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.