9. True To Life
Released: 1st May 1982
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(Ferry)
So it gets to seven and I think of nothing
But living in darkness
And the diamond lady well she’s not telling
I don’t even know her name
It’s amazing times have changed
In days of old
Imagination’d leave you standing
Out in the cold
Dancing city now you’re talking
But where’s your soul?
You’ve a thousand faces
I’ll never know
True to life True to life
There are complications and compensations
If you know the game
Agitated in Xenon nightly
I’ll take you home again
Travel way downtown in search of nothing
But the sky at night
And the diamond lady well she’s not talking
Hey, that’s alright
True to life True to life
True to life
So I turn the pages and tell the story
From town to town
People tell me be determined
Poor country boy
Too much luck and too much trouble
Much time alone
But arm in arm with my seaside diamond
I’ll soon be home
History
In the career-long tradition of Roxy Music, ‘Avalon’ refines a host of musical and thematic inspirations into its own unique and instantly iconic style. From the beguiling charisma of Andy Mackay’s exquisitely deft avant-cocktail sax, through the folds and swerves of lustrous sound summoned up by Phil Manzanera’s mesmeric lead guitar, it is a record which possesses a tensed but luxuriant atmosphere: simultaneously filmic, urban, classically lyrical and touched with Eastern influence.
According to ancient legend, Avalon was the magical ‘Island of the Blessed’ – now claimed to be Glastonbury Tor – on which King Arthur’s sword Excaliber was forged, and from which the King recovered from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. In keeping with this mythology, and as directed by Bryan Ferry, the art-work for ‘Avalon’ was inspired by both the fashion for Arthurian romance and the Pre-Raphaelite painting of the Victorian period. As all the Roxy Music records had depicted iconic images of women on their covers, heavily stylised to propose scenarios of erotic glamour, the visual imagery of ‘Avalon’ looked to the folk lore and mysticism of Celtic legend for its aesthetic sense of repose and resolution.
The artwork for the album sleeve itself, in a bravura swerve from the heightened sensuality of earlier Roxy Music cover images, depicted in the words of Bryan Ferry, “a Celtic warrior queen, gazing towards Avalon. She is carrying on her wrist a Merlin – the bird of prey favoured by lady falconers.” The cover photograph was taken off the west coast of Ireland by Neil Kirk, with the costume and styling supervised by long standing Roxy collaborator, the fashion designer Antony Price. A single release from the album, ‘More Than This’, featured on its picture sleeve a detail from Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s plangently wistful painting of 1872, ‘Veronica Veronese’ – thus maintaining the high Victorian romanticism of ‘Avalon’s overall art-work.
Musically, both ‘Avalon’ the album and its classic title track are as headily modern, brooding, and thrillingly cool as any work ever recorded by Roxy Music. The music possesses flawless, high gloss poise – luminescent and rich with shadow; while the imagery of Ferry’s lyrics holds the perfect balance – his distinctive signature – between the warm elegance of the classic love song and a yearning sense of alienation and regret. At once supremely elegant yet ultra-modern, opulent but pared to its utmost intensity, ‘Avalon’ is a record which enfolds the listener in its own enchanted world. It is a restlessly beautiful record – about the longing for rest.
–Michael Bracewell, 2010.
Lyrics
1. More Than This
(Ferry)
I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they’re blowing?
As free as the wind
Hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this –
You know there’s nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing –
More than this
There’s nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we’re going?
No care in the world
Maybe I’m learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this
You know there’s nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
No, there’s nothing
More than this, nothing
More than this
More than this, nothing
2. The Space Between
(Ferry)
No way no why
No care no cry
No way no sigh
So there so fine
The way I see it
This relationship ain´t right
The space between us
Listen here listen
Better close it up tonight
No way no why
No care no cry
The space between us
Close it up tonight
No way no sigh
So fare so fine
The way I see it
This relationship ain´t right
The space between us
Listen here listen, listen here listen, here listen, listen here listen
We better close it up tonight
No way no why
(The space)
No care no cry
(The space)
No way no sigh
(The space)
So fare so fine
(The space)
No way no why
(The space)
No way no why
3. Avalon
(Ferry)
Now the party’s over
I’m so tired
Then I see you coming
Out of nowhere
Much communication
In a motion
Without conversation
Or a notion
Avalon
When the samba takes you
Out of nowhere
And the background’s fading
Out of focus
Yes the picture’s changing
Every moment
And your destination
You don’t know it
Avalon
(dancing, dancing)
(dancing, dancing)
When you bossanova
There’s no holding
Would you have me dancing
Out of nowhere?
Avalon, Avalon, Avalon, Avalon, Avalon, Avalon,
Avalon, Avalon, Avalon, Avalon, Avalon, Avalon
5. While My Heart Is Still Beating
(Ferry/Mackay)
All of those people
Everywhere
Ever so needing
Where’s it all leading?
Tell me where
Nothing insincere
I’d better have pity
I’d better go easy
I never will lay down
While my heart is still beating
Where’s it all leading?
Walk on air
Am I still dreaming
Where’s it all leading?
Words to spare
Lost in their meaning
I’d better be strong now
I’d better stop dreaming
My heart has flown away now
Will it never stop bleeding?
6. The Main Thing
(Ferry)
Look at my hand
There’s a soul on fire
You can lead me even higher
It’s the main thing
The main thing
It’s the main thing
Everybody knows
When a good thing’s gone
You can really turn me on
It’s the main thing
The main thing
It’s the main thing
You run through here
With your words of sand
I can nearly understand
It’s the main thing
It’s the main thing
The main thing
The main thing
7. Take A Chance With Me
Take A Chance With Me
(Ferry/Manzanera)
As they say, two can play
But keep that song away from me
In my time, too much love
Has made me sad for so long
I was lost, can’t you see?
Through the long lonely night
Heaven knows I believe
Won’t you take a chance with me?
Sometimes I get so blue
People say I’m just a fool
All the world, even you
Should learn to love the way I do
I was blind, can’t you see
Through the long lonely night
Heaven knows, I believe
Won’t you take a chance with me?
8. To Turn You On
(Ferry)
I could show you in a word
If I wanted to
A window on a world
With a lovely view
From close up inside a single room
With an open book aside
Like you read in school
It’s so easy, believe me
When you need fun
I’d do anything to turn you on
Anything to turn you on
Is it raining in New York
Down Fifth Avenue
And off Broadway after dark
Love the lights don’t you?
I could walk you through the park
If you’re feeling blue
Or whatever
Spring Summer whenever
Winter through Fall
I’d do anything to turn you on
Anything to turn you on
I would leave you as you were
If I wanted to
Then I wonder is it fair?
Now you’re on your own
Who cares about you
Except me, God help me
When things go wrong
I’d do anything to turn you
Must phone me, you know me
When things go wrong, I’d do anything to turn you on
9. True To Life
(Ferry)
So it gets to seven and I think of nothing
But living in darkness
And the diamond lady well she’s not telling
I don’t even know her name
It’s amazing times have changed
In days of old
Imagination’d leave you standing
Out in the cold
Dancing city now you’re talking
But where’s your soul?
You’ve a thousand faces
I’ll never know
True to life True to life
There are complications and compensations
If you know the game
Agitated in Xenon nightly
I’ll take you home again
Travel way downtown in search of nothing
But the sky at night
And the diamond lady well she’s not talking
Hey, that’s alright
True to life True to life
True to life
So I turn the pages and tell the story
From town to town
People tell me be determined
Poor country boy
Too much luck and too much trouble
Much time alone
But arm in arm with my seaside diamond
I’ll soon be home