Track Insight / Lyrics
I walk the pier where gulls don't cry
The ferry's gone, the water's high
A Royal Standard sits in weed
Its ribbon dry, its carriage freed
Salt crust covers every key
No letter left for you or me
The space bar sticks with barnacle glue
The shift key's bent, the platen's through
Typewriter tide rolls in at dawn
Ink and iron, all the words are gone
Typewriter tide, it pulls and drags
No telegrams, no wire flags
I kept the lamp at Blackrock Head
Thirty years I watched the dead
Now I collect what tide brings in
A machine that cannot swim
Typewriter tide rolls in at dawn
Ink and iron, all the words are gone
Typewriter tide, it pulls and drags
No telegrams, no wire flags
Morning fog lifts off the sound
No passengers to be found
Just brass and wood and QWERTY bones
Singing songs in minor tones
I carry it up the lantern stair
Salt air rusts the nickel there
Oil the joints with whale oil tin
Type a letter to the wind
The keys strike soft on wrapping paper
No news of wreck, no vapor
Just "sea" and "light" and "come home soon"
Typed in grey on morning's spoon
Typewriter tide rolls in at dawn
Ink and iron, all the words are gone
Typewriter tide, it pulls and drags
No telegrams, no wire flags
Typewriter tide rolls in at dawn
Ink and iron, all the words are gone
Typewriter tide, it pulls and drags
No telegrams, no wire flags
Typewriter tide... rolls on
Salt wind types on rusted keys
Dawn breaks slow on empty quays
