Kate Tempest

People's Faces

It’s coming to pass, my countries coming apart
The whole thing’s becoming such a bumbling farce
Was that a pivotal historical moment we just went stumbling past?
Well, here we are, dancing in the rumbling dark
So come a little closer, give me something to grasp
Give me your beautiful, crumbling heart
Another disaster, catharsis
Another half-discarded mirage
Another mask slips

I face off with the physical
My head’s ringing from the love of the stars
There is too much pretense here
Too much depends on the fragile wages
And extortionate rents here
We’re working every dread day that is given us
Feeling like the person people meet really isn’t us
Like we’re gonna buckle underneath the trouble
Like any minute now, the struggle’s going to finish us
And then we smile at all our friends

It’s hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up
Our backs against the wall, I can feel you aching
None of this was written in stone
There is nothing we’re forbidden to know
And I can feel things changing
Even when I’m weak and I’m breaking
I’ll stand weeping at the train station
‘Cause I can see your faces
There is so much peace to be found in people’s faces

I saw it roaring
I felt it clawing at my clothes like a grieving friend
It said there are no new beginnings
Until everybody sees that the old ways need to end
But it’s hard to accept that we’re all one and the same flesh
Given the rampant divisions between oppressor and oppressed
But we are, though
More empathy, less greed, more respect
All I’ve got to say has already been said
I mean, you heard it from yourself
When you were lying in your bed and couldn’t sleep
Thinking, couldn’t we be doing this differently?
I’m listening to every little whisper in the distance singing hymns
And I can, I can feel things changing

But it’s so hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up
Our backs against the wall, I can feel your heart racing
None of this was written in stone
The currents fast, but the river moves slow
And I can feel things changing
Even when I’m weak and I’m breakin'
I stand weeping at the train station
‘Cause I can see your faces
There is so much peace to be found in people’s faces

It’s not enough
To imagine we’ll be happy when we’ve got enough stuff
All this stuff is blocking us
I’m neat with no chaser
I’m all spirit, but I’m sinking
'Cause the days are not days but strange symptoms
And this age is our age
But our age is rage sinking to beige
And yes, our children are brave
But their mission is vague
Now I don’t have the answers
But there are still things to say

I stare out at my city on another difficult day
And I scream inwardly, when will this change?
I’m beginning to fade
But my sanity’s saved ‘cause I can see your faces
My sanity’s saved ‘cause I can see your faces

It’s hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up
Our backs against the wall, I can feel your heart racing
None of this was written in stone
The current’s fast but the river moves slow
And I can feel things changing
Even when I’m weak and I’m breaking
I stand weeping at the train station
‘Cause I can see your faces
I love people’s faces