We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Anything at All

from Skin: Deep by Penelope Swales

/

lyrics

Anything at all
© Penelope Swales

If I could change my sore heart’s form
I’d have you hold it in the crook of your arm
Like a puppy, or a jacket
Or a good book, or a bottle of wine
Held snug against your ribs
Like a football, or an old LP
Or a birthday gift, or an armful of laundry

I long to be held to your chest
Like a warm paper bundle of fish and chips
Like a pizza box
Like a fresh-baked loaf
Of sourdough bread
Anything at all
Anything at all
Anything at all

If I could put my sore heart into the body of a dog
I could send it to put its head on your knee
Butt your hand, drool on your jeans,
Drop punctured tennis balls at your feet
If my heart was a dog I could send it outside
To howl at the moon, tip over your rubbish bin
Chase your car, crawl into your bedclothes
Steal me a slipper and bring it home

I long to sleep in your arms
Like a cat, like a child
Like a seed you might hold in your palm
Dreamless, suspended
Waiting for the soil, waiting for the sun

If secretly, I could send my heart to you
Hidden in towels still warm from the dryer
A soft angora jumper, a plump pleasing mango
Anything you might wanna touch, hold or consume
Anything at all
Anything at all
Anything at all

Anything innocent, anything permitted
Anything allowed, anything unrestricted
Instead this contraband heart beats wet and messy
Beneath these forbidden breasts
Instead these illegal fingers tap a tattoo
While this taboo tongue tastes
An uncensored song of you

And because you have a conscience
I pretend I have a conscience
Because you have scruples, I try to have some too
But my integrity’s a sham
If you were to reach for me, I would melt in your hands

I long to be held to your chest
Like a warm paper bundle of fish and chips
Like a pizza box
Like a two-inch master tape
Full of freshly realised dreams

There’s nothing to be done
Nothing to be done
Nothing to be done

I try to call this canine heart to heel
But it pays me no mind
Keeps sniffing and scratching
At the closed door of circumstance
Howling like a mutt that’s been
Left behind
Left behind
Left behind
Aroo…


Nothing to be done
Nothing to be done
Nothing to be done

But when you think of these
Mundanities
Think of me
Think of me
Think of me
Think of me

credits

from Skin: Deep, released July 1, 2007
Vocals, guitar, stomp box - Penelope Swales

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Penelope Swales Boolarra, Australia

Penelope Swales has been articulating the human condition with passion and humour for 30+ years. She sings about politics, love, friendship, the unbreakable bond between us and dogs and the impact of the Internet on society. She won the 2019 Alistair Hulett Songs for Social Justice Award with “Cambridge Analytica”. “The Ides of March in Christchurch" was short-listed for the same award in 2020. ... more

contact / help

Contact Penelope Swales

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Penelope Swales, you may also like: