[Track Info] [The Lyrics] [Explanation]
01. Album version (06:46)
02. Live (Sheffield - "City Hall", March 6th 1984) (06:24)
Notes: The live version follows the studio version.
Lyrics by Derek William Dick (Fish)
Performed Live for the first Time: October 27th 1983
Published by Marillion Music, Charisma Music Publishing Co. Ltd., Chappell Music Ltd.
We are jigsaw pieces aligned on the perimeter edge,
Interlocked through a missing piece,
We are renaissance children becalmed beneath the
Bridge of Sighs,
Forever throwing firebrands at the stonework,
We are Siamese children related by the heart,
Bleeding from the surgery of initial confrontation,
Holding the word scalpels on trembling lips
Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye,
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why,
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today,
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces
on the ricochet, this is the ricochet.
Drowning tequila sunsets, stowaways on midnight ships,
Refugees of romance plead asylum from the real,
Scrambling distress signals on random frequencies,
Forever repatriated on guilt laden morning planes,
We are pilots of passion sweating the flight on course,
To another summit conference, another breakfast time divorce,
Screaming out a ceasefire, snowblind in an avalanche zone.
Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why,
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today,
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces
on the ricochet, this is the ricochet.
Are we trigger happy?
Russian roulette in the waiting room,
Empty chambers embracing the end,
Puzzled visions haunt the ripples of a trevi moon,
Dream coins for the fountain or to cover your eyes,
We reached ignition point from the sparks of pleasantries,
We sensed the smoke advancing from horizons,
You must have known that I was concealing an escape
Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why,
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today, starts today,
And the problem always seems to be we're picking up the pieces
on the ricochet, this is the ricochet.
I'll be seeing you again, on the ricochet
Will you show me the pieces next time, on the ricochet
I'll be seeing you again, on the ricochet
There's a problem, there's a ricochet.
Copyright © 1997 Fraser Marshall, Matthew Anderson & Bert ter
Steege.
Massimo Murgia said: Fish said about this particular song : " when you watch kids doing jigsaws, they'll always take the eye of the koala bear or whatever and sit on it, just for the dominating factor of putting the last bit in. You get to the point where you lie about the last piece, you deny that you've got it. The other person is aware that you're lying and they hold back four or five pieces so that you can't put in the last piece. Eventually you tear up the jigsaw and say " We'll do it another day". That can grow into relationships - where no matter how important that piece is to the other person or the relationship. In general, the song is about the relationship that splits up and forever comes together again. It gets worse because each time it comes back together, more pieces of the jigsaw have got lost, and you can't get them back "
‘Bridge of Sighs'
Brewer's: Over the bridge, which connects the Doge's palace with the
state prisons of Venice, prisoners were conveyed from the judgement hall to the place of
execution. The passageway which used to connect the Tombs prison in New York with the
criminal court was so dubbed for similar reasons. The bridge over the Cam at St John's
College, Cambridge, which resembles the Venetian original is know by the same name.
Waterloo Bridge, London was also called the Bridge of Sighs when suicides were frequent
there.
'Trevi Moon...Cover your eyes'
Throwing a coin over the left shoulder into the Trevi fountain is supposed to ensure that
you return one day. Coins were placed over they eyes of the dead. This is related to the
idea of paying Charon the boatman to punt you across the river Styx to Elysium.
Sources:
Last Modified: 27 Jul 2000