I wore a dinner jacket To the demolition site Had a carnation in my pocket That had somehow stayed alive You were standing by the fencing With your fingers through the wire Said, “My bedroom’s on the second floor.” I said, “Which one was mine?” I could make a little joke of it You could make yourself go still There were men removing windows From the house upon the hill When the bedroom hit the pavement You were looking at your shoes I was halfway through a sentence About the better things we’d do Cavalier Cavalier I can make a bad idea Sound like something we deserve Say the word Say the word I can get us out of here You can tell me where it hurts When we get there When we get there I got a job above a betting shop, collecting rent on Fridays From a woman keeping pigeons in the room her husband died in And a boxer with a shattered hand who paid me out in silver Said he used to have a photograph of every man he’d beaten I would stay and have a drink with him and lose an hour pretending There was something very noble in a body past its mending Then I’d take the stairs two at a time and call you from the landing Say, “I’ve nearly got enough for us.” You’d ask me what was happening There was money in the lining There were holes in both my shoes There were people I could call on Who had better things to lose I could get a room on credit I could get a car by noon I could always find a reason We should leave before the truth Cavalier Cavalier I can make a bad idea Sound like something we deserve Say the word Say the word I can get us out of here You can tell me where it hurts When we get there When we get there You were working at the pictures Sweeping popcorn from the aisles I would wait until the credits Then come down and make you smile We would sit among the paper cups And watch the curtain close You would tell me how the film had ended I would say I’d always known You said you wanted somewhere ordinary Somewhere you could sleep With a window you could open And a bath that didn’t leak I said, “Give me till the summer.” You said, “Which one do you mean?” There was nothing in your voice To give me somewhere else to be So I drove us through the night because I’d heard about an opening At a hotel by the water where the owner owed me something And you slept against the passenger door, waking at the junctions While I practised how I’d ask him without making it a question But the hotel had been boarded up, the owner wasn’t answering And the sea was full of scaffolding for something they were planning You were barefoot in the gravel with your coat around your nightdress And I said, “We’ll find another place.” You said, “I know you’ll find it.” “You can find a way through anything. You always get us through. Then I have to live there Till it’s bad enough for you.” Cavalier Cavalier I can make a bad idea Sound like something we deserve Say the word Say the word I can get us out of here You said, “Let me finish first.” Let me finish Let me finish
