Momus - Paolo lyrics

Paolo why do your lovers caress in
The bows of round-bellied boats?
Who is Sara
The girl with the stained-glass face?
What is he thinking
The man in the spectacles under
The blood red cliffs?
Where was he when Juventus won their aways?

In America how did your blue-collar brother
Balance his lunch on a skyscraper girder?
How did he feel when Angela spat in his face?

Is the washing still flapping
All night behind buildings
Where car factory workers are dreaming
Of fig trees and marble?

Paolo where is the teacher's fiancee while
He floats in Genoa docks?
What's the first word that comes into your
Head when I say 'lemon ice-cream'?
Who shared red wine and a kilo of salad
There in the back of your Fiat 500?
What does 'cantautore' really mean?

Is the washing still flapping
All night behind buildings
Where car factory workers are dreaming
Of fountains and tortoiseshell?

Paolo Conte
Tell me did Gramsci drink aniseed
Here in Cafe Garibaldi?
If trains had hands would they
Run them through their hair?
And all these officials in white painted
Offices playing with executive toys
How should they punish their wives
Who are having affairs?

Is the washing still flapping
All night behind buildings
Where car factory workers are dreaming
Of foxgloves and incubae?

Paolo how shall we pass all the hours
That stretch between lunchtime and autumn?
Why does the smell of expresso remind you
Of prowling for girls at the forum?
Are the labels on Turkish cigars secret
Messages from the Byzantine Empire?
Which are the saunas most favoured by
Singers in the soft rock idiom?

Is the washing still flapping
All night behind buildings
Where car factory workers are dreaming
Of beehives and newspapers?

Paolo along Via Giulia once I saw
Breasts in a chink between shutters
While the burglar alarms were screaming
Insanely like Toscanini prima donnas
And the windows blew shut and I saw my
Reflection had the eyes of an unborn daughter
And the lightning was forking lazily over
The dome of St Peter's

Is the washing still flapping
All night behind buildings
Where car factory workers are dreaming of
Pine cones and mortar fire?

Is the washing still flapping
All night behind buildings
Where car factory workers are dreaming of
Pine cones and tortoise shell?

Gang awa hame ye scallywag
Gang awa hame yerseil
Gang awa hame Deacon Brodie
Dancin wi the Diel

The night was your day the bulb was your sun
Your love was so deep you turned two to one