Alle snakker sant (They alll speak the truth), 2011

1. letter
are you ok now? are you in a beautiful place, safe from danger?
i’m all grown up now, but am still writing letters to someone who doesn’t answer
i would have asked you what you thought about when you were young
whether you fought against the same things that i do now
so many things you don’t know, unanswered letters

and these streets are covered with all of your old footsteps
i follow them as well as i can
but i don’t remember where you walked
and i don’t have time for heartbreak, you have to take it away from me
because I have two hearts beating in me now
there is so much i would like to tell you
so many things you don’t know, unanswered letters

2. they all speak the truth
where should you go
when every road leads to a wall
and in the wall is a dent
from old encounters with your head?
who should you listen to
when they all speak the truth, saying «listen»
and you’ve heard it a thousand times before
and you wonder:
where should you go?
you need to find a new road now

the trains are running
and other people manage very well
to catch the right train at the right time
you always wake up in the wrong town
how long can you keep hoping
when you think you’ll finally make it
but your feet only want to take you one way
and you wonder:
where should you go?
you need to find a new road now

when you can’t find the strength to fight any more
you close your eyes and see black
there are no marks on your map

who should you defeat
who should you conquer in a duel
when you’re only fighting yourself
again and again?
how many times should you walk
the same road time after time
because it’s the only one you know?
and you ask in your clearest voice:
where should you go?

3. take me with you
go until you don’t remember where you came from
search until you don’t remember what you want
you have to do what you have to do
but take me with you, take me with you
and tell me, tell me,
that everything will be all right

and i look at you as i did the very first time
and i know that it might be the last
you look ahead, you do what you have to do
but take me with you, take me with you
and tell me, tell me,
that everything will be all right

4 short eternity
suddenly the days are speeding by
the light comes and disappears
and i haven’t managed to do
anything – i’ve just tried not to do anything wrong
and everyone is hurrying, with their important lives
they think they’ll get somewhere soon

and out there everyone is playing games
losing their grip on their pieces
with rules that nobody knows
and promises that something great will happen if you just keep going
it’s a short eternity
it goes so quickly when you know
that you’re one of them

come home, my beloved, come home
lay your head in my lap
that’s how we’ll wait until the noise has stopped
and the storm has finished raging
and everyone has stopped fighting
here there’s nobody who can find us

suddenly the days are speeding by
which city are you in now?
and all the time you are the one
i am waiting for so i can remember how things can be good
and if i forgot how well
my hand fits into yours
i remember it now

5. head, heart or stomach
and you said: keep going just keep going don’t stop to think
of course it stings a bit
when you dance all night
and wash your vitamins down with poison
but keep your eyes on the road and put blinders on
you know you have to keep going now
wake up to a new day
a dark, but white day
make a choice

don’t wait even a second
don’t sleep even an hour
don’t have doubts, just do it
and i said: head heart or stomach
head heart or stomach
which is telling the truth, which is telling the truth?
head heart or stomach

but you said: keep going, just keep going, just do what you have to do
don’t get distracted, there’s so much at stake
you think all too much and you listen all too closely
you have forgotten what you should listen to
yesterday you were certain, you had made a plan
a plan about a job a city and a man
at night everything is easy, but this white morning is the
darkest you have seen

don’t wait even a second
don’t sleep even an hour
don’t have doubts, just do it
and i said: head heart or stomach
head heart or stomach
which is telling the truth, which is telling the truth?
head heart or stomach

you just want to sleep, your feet are so tired after
too many long nights
but it’s you against the world and the world is never in doubt, just
close your eyes

don’t wait even a second
don’t sleep even an hour
don’t have doubts, just do it
and i said: head heart or stomach
head heart or stomach
which is telling the truth, which is telling the truth?
head heart or stomach
head heart or stomach
head heart or stomach
head heart or stomach
which is telling the truth, which is telling the truth?
head heart or stomach

6. turn back, don’t turn back
he wants to take you with him far away
he knows where you’re going, you don’t
don’t turn back, not this time
turn back, don’t turn back, not this time
you are so close

you are the one who always runs away from
the only thing you really want
don’t leave, not this time
leave, don’t leave, not this time
you are so close, you are so close
aah…

he wants to take you with him far away
he knows where you’re going, you don’t
don’t turn back, not this time
turn back, don’t turn back, not this time
you are so close
aah…

7. simple things
oh, how to make roses grow through a long winter when you live so far north
how to feed birds that don’t dare to come near
how to believe in love when you know what it’s like
oh, such simple things

oh, and how to forget words that wouldn’t have hurt so much
if you hadn’t known they were true
and how to forget someone who only sometimes remembers you?
oh, such simple things

oh, how to make roses grow from earth that is so cold
i’ve heard it can be done
oh, such simple things that others know how to do

8. the title deed
i’m not searching any more, for i have found gold
and i can’t lose it no matter what happens
i’m not waiting any more for sun, for a good day
to wake up, to see
that endless happiness is not fireworks
it’s as quiet as snow, quiet as snow
like february light and tulips
that slowly wait in all their beauty to die

i’m not searching any more, for your smile is tattooed
in my heart and i can never become blind again
i’m not waiting any more, i have sold the title deed
to the family sorrow, and i will never ever go there again
endless happiness is not fireworks
it’s as quiet as snow, quiet as snow
like february light and tulips
that slowly wait in all their beauty to die

9. i know
i know, i know, i know, i know that it happens like this
i know, i know, i know, i know that i shouldn’t think about it any more
but i want to hear someone say that this too
shall pass

and i have seen it all before, i know how it will end
it will end as it does when there is fear of the unknown
but i want to hear someone say that this too
shall pass

i know, i know, i know, i know that one day
if we still remember, it will only be vaguely
but i want to hear someone say that this too
shall pass

10. still waters
i had to get here before i realized that it was wrong to leave land
i should have let him sail alone, trapped on a windless sea
for what makes a grown man lose his reason
is not storm, but still waters

it is not you who tames the waves, but they who own you
but you must turn around if you are sinking, find another way
for what makes a grown man lose his reason
is not storm, but still waters

take your stories and tell them to someone
who believes what you are saying
and take your shoes that you let others dance in
and walk the long way home if there is still time
for what makes a grown man lose his reason
is not storm, but still waters

for i can cover things up and i
can patch things up and i
can pick up the pieces of everything that is broken
but nobody can save a grown man
who wants to disappear in still waters