Track 5 of the album Platform Nine · 2012
The Pier Keeps Its Lights On for No One
“A seaside town after the season, written in the flat grey light of a November walk. The strings sound like the tide going out.”
neoclassical · neoclassical · elegiac · 3:55
Lyrics
The deckchairs are stacked by the ticket hut door The arcade is dark and the gulls own the shore A single bulb swings on the end of the pier Nobody is coming, and still it burns clear The café has shutters of faded sea-blue A sign in the window says "Back in the spring" I walk down the front with my collar turned up And the tide takes its time with the shingle and sand Every town needs a season to rest Every light needs a reason to stay So the pier keeps its lights on for no one For the summer that went, for the one still to come Keep a candle of gold on the grey winter water And the sea will remember the way home The sea will remember the way home The carousel horses are sleeping in sheets The lighthouse is counting the ships by their sound An old man is mending his nets on the wall He nods as I pass, and he does not look round Every town needs a season to rest Every light needs a reason to stay So the pier keeps its lights on for no one For the summer that went, for the one still to come Keep a candle of gold on the grey winter water And the sea will remember the way home The sea will remember the way home Wind in the railings, a slow minor song Salt on the windows where laughter belonged But under the quiet the town is awake Holding its breath for the first warmer day So the pier keeps its lights on for no one For the summer that went, for the one still to come Keep a candle of gold on the grey winter water And the sea will remember the way home Yes, the sea will remember the way home The bulb on the pier, gently swinging The bulb on the pier, burning on