Unrehearsed - Peter Hammill
Time for the unrehearsed entrance
Show a leg you can break
Down the cocktail
While it's laughing at you for heaven's sake
I can't be your protector
From these deliberate mistakes
Between the can't and the maybe
A lifetime's hovering in the wings
Grasp the nettle bite the bullet
Push your own buttons and pull your own strings
Name your poison
While you've got the power 100 proof
I can't be your protector
From self neglect or abuse
This is not a rehearsal
And fear is not an excuse
And if you won't step out on the boards
You'll find your place already on the shelf
You can only find the sum of your parts yourself
Unprepared and unready
Is that an excuse or a point of view
You can block out the words in anagrammatical sword play
But it's your own life you'll be running through
Time to drink a cocktail
Of your own invention for pity's sake
I can't be your protector
I won't be there when you wake
To honour all the hidden intentions
In your deliberate mistakes
In your deliberate mistakes
Behind your deliberate mistakes
Deliberation could be mistaken for coldness of the heart
Procrastination won't get you
Anywhere except aloof and apart
What's the golden opportunity
You're hanging on here for
Isn't it just this
Go start
Unrehearsed and unready
That's what we are
That's what we've all been cast into
It's not four square the beat's unsteady
But this is this
And making something of it's up to you
An unexpected exit's always waiting
Although you think it's something you'll bluff your way through
Spit that wooden spoon out of your mouth
And eat up the moment's long overdue
Take your medicine
And face whatever the future brings
I can't be your protector
Can't keep you under my wing
This is not a rehearsal
This is the real thing
This is the real thing
This is for real
