The Carpet Crawlers (Live in Manchester, 2021)

There is loose wool under my naked feet

The wool is soft and warm, gives off some kind of heat

The salamander scurries into flame to be destroyed

Imaginary creatures are trapped in birth on the celluloid

The fleas cling to the golden fleece

Hoping they'll find peace

Each thought and gesture are caught in the celluloid

There's no hiding in my memory

There's no room to avoid

The crows cover the floor in the red ochre corridor

For my second sight of people, they're more lifeblood than before

They're moving in time to a heavy wooden door

Where the needle's eye is winking, closing on the poor

The carpet crawlers heed their callers

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

There's only one direction in the faces that I see

And it's upward to the ceiling where the chamber's said to be

Like the forest fight for sunlight, it takes root in every tree

They are pulled up by the magnet believing they're free

The carpet crawlers heed their callers

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

Mild mannered supermen are held in kryptonite

And the wise and foolish virgins giggle

With their bodies glowing bright

Through the door a haggis feast is lit by candlelight

It's the bottom of a staircase that spirals out of sight

The carpet crawlers heed their callers

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

The porcelain mannequins with shattered skin fear the scythe

And the eagle pack lift up their pictures that carry all their lives

The liquid has congealed which has seeped up through the cracks

And the tickler takes his tickle back, back, back, back

The carpet crawlers heed their callers

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"

"We've got to get in to get out"