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This Street, That Man, This Life Lyrics
This street holds its secrets like a cobra holds its kill
This street minds its business like a jailer minds his jail
That house there is haunted
That door's a portal to hell
This street holds its secrets very well
That man wears his skin like a dancer wears her veils
That man stalks his victims like a cancer stalks a cell
That man's soul has left him his heart's as deadly as a rusty nail
That man sheds his skin like a veil
Lord, you play a hard game, you know we follow every rule
Then you take the one thing we thought we'd never lose
All I ask is if she's with you please keep her warm and safe
And if it's in your power please purge the memory of this place
This life holds its secrets like a sea shell holds the sea,
Soft and distant calling like a fading memory
This life has its victories but its defeats tear so viciously
This life holds its secrets like the sea
This street minds its business like a jailer minds his jail
That house there is haunted
That door's a portal to hell
This street holds its secrets very well
That man stalks his victims like a cancer stalks a cell
That man's soul has left him his heart's as deadly as a rusty nail
That man sheds his skin like a veil
Then you take the one thing we thought we'd never lose
All I ask is if she's with you please keep her warm and safe
And if it's in your power please purge the memory of this place
Soft and distant calling like a fading memory
This life has its victories but its defeats tear so viciously
This life holds its secrets like the sea
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I agree, I believe this is a song about one of the well publicized crimes of child abduction and murder in California. One of the saddest songs ever.
This song is about losing a child to something/one evil in town. ~ "Lord, you play a hard game, you know we follow every rule. Then you take the one thing we thought we'd never lose. All I ask is if she's with you please keep her warm and safe and if it's in your power please purge the memory of this place".
Sly
This song is always attached, in my mind, to the killings by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, in St Catherine's and the hinterland of Toronto -- and specifically to the death of Kristen French, a murder that left an indelible impression on me as a boy growing up in Toronto at the time.
It talks about the secrets behind the doors of the houses, and inside one of those secret houses lurks an evil man who secretly does evil things. From the bridge we can infer that the singer is a parent, and what the evil man has done is to kidnap and kill her daughter. The final verse throbs with loss and regret, "soft and distant, calling/ like a fading memory". One of the saddest songs I know.
I don't know to what this song refers and maybe it is a comment on a mythical figure of evil (Satan etc). Or it could be about a daughter/sister/wife having been moved to a place of safety away from an abusive father/husband. In either case it has a powerful sombre and menacing tone.
Michael Timmins lyrics are brilliant, and this is one of his darkest songs.The whole Black-eyed Man album seems to deal with loss and crime in some way or another.