While You Were Sleeping - Elvis Perkins

While you were sleeping
Your babies grew,
The stars shined,
And the shadows moved.
Time flew,
The phone rang,,
There was a silence
When the kitchen sang.
Songs competed
Like kids from space,
We stared for hours
At our makers’ face.
They gave us picks
Said “go mine the sun,
Go gold,
And come cack when you’re done”.

Uh oh
Uh oh

While you were sleeping
You tossed, you turned
You rolled your eyes
As the world burned.
The heavens fell,
The earth quaked.
I thought you must be,
But you weren’t awake.
No,you were dreaming
You ignored the sun,
You grew a power garden
For your little ones.
And you found brides for them
On christmas eve,
You hung young Cain
From the Adam tree,

And danced.
Uh oh

While you were sleeping
I tossed and I turned too,
I closed my eyes,
But the future burned through
The planet turned
A hair grey
As I relived
The day.

While you were sleeping
The money died,
Machines were harmless,
And the earth sighed
The wind.
You swept sound,
Gravity brought
My love around.
The ocean’s roe
Sang of decay,
The witches flew
And the mermaids stayed
Full of dreams.
You overslept.
In keeping with the quiet
Through the walls I krept.
I walked on tip-toes,
Sent darkness swirling
Over all the kitchen
In the early morning.

Uh oh
Uh oh

I’ll never catch up to you
Who sleep so sound.
My yawns are useless,
My heart beats too loud
To go to sleep,
My mind’s too proud
To bow out.

While you were sleeping
The time changed,
All your things
Were re-arranged.
Your vampire mirrors,
Face to face,
Saw forever out in to space
And found you dreaming
In black and white
While it rained in all
The colors of the night.

Uh oh
Uh oh

I watched the TV’s memories,
Champion ships
Vanish to sea.
Can it be
My honey between
You and me?

So I waited for
The riddled sky
To be solved again
By the sunrise.
I made a death-
Soup for life,
For my father’s
Ill widowed wife.

Did you have that strangest dream
Before you woke?
‘Cause in your gown you had
the butterfly stroke.
Did it escape you
Like some half-told joke
When you reached for
Your plume of smoke?

And it’ll haunt you
My honey bee,
Anyone who’s anyone
Has that same dream.
Were you falling,
Were you flying,
Were you calling out
Or were you dying?

But thank god you’re up now,
Let’s stay this way,
Else there’ll be no mornings
And no more days.
‘Cause when we’re dreaming
The babies grow,
The stars shine
And the shadows flow.
Time flies,
The phone rings,
There is a silence
When everbody tries to sing.

Uh oh,
Uh oh
Uh oh
Uh oh
Uh oh…..