I find you in the morning
After dreams of distant signs
You pour yourself over me
Like the sun through the blinds

You lift me up
And get me out
Keep me walking
But never shout

Hold the secret close
I hear you say

You know the way
It throws about
It takes you in
And spits you out

It spits you out
When you desire
To conquer it
To feel you're higher

To follow it
You must be clean
With mistakes
That you do mean

Move the heart
Switch the pace
Look for what seems out of place

On and on it goes
Calling like a distant wind
Through the zero hour we'll walk
We'll cut the thick and break the thin
No sound to break no moment clear
When all the doubts are crystal clear
Crashing hard into the secret wind

You know the way
It twists and turns
Changing color
Spinning yarns

You know the way
It leaves you dry
It cuts you up
And takes you high

You know the way
It's painted gold
Is it honey
Is it gold

You know the way
It throws about
It takes you in
And spits you out

Oh, cuts you up
Oh, cuts you up
Oh, cuts you up
Oh, la la la la la la la la

You know the way
It throws about
It takes you in
And spits you out

It spits you out
When you desire
To conquer it
To feel you're higher

To follow it
You must be clean
With mistakes
That you do mean

Move the heart
Switch the pace
Look for what
Seems out of place

Oh, cuts you up
Oh, cuts you up

It's o.k.
It goes this way
The line is thin
It twists away

Cuts you up
And spits you out
Keeps you walking
But never shout

Oh
Oh


Lyrics submitted by Soniccaffeine

Cuts You Up Lyrics as written by Paul Statham Peter John Murphy

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Cuts You Up song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    This thread is full of wise and gorgeously insightful comments. I can't possibly add anything here that hasn't already been said, except for maybe the following: The incomparable, extraordinarily gifted and magnificent actress Tilda Swinton (my favorite films of hers include "Only Lovers Left Alive" and "The Eternal Daughter") once said that she's "from the same planet as David Bowie." Swinton felt a kinship with Bowie beginning when she was still a young girl and said he felt to her from that young age as if he was her cousin.

    So I was just listening to Peter Murphy for the first time in years. Somewhere along the way I forgot how much he meant to me. That I've missed so many years without hearing his spectacular, once-in-an-eon voice, which really, in the end, so much like Bowie's voice, is sublime beyond all mortal description, saddens me greatly.

    Anyway, I was thinking that wherever planet this is, or solar system, or Universe, or perhaps simply space beyond linear time, from which David Bowie and Tilda Swinton must certainly hail, I feel certain that Peter Murphy shares their place of origin as well. I'm sure that throughout history there have been a precious few others who have also come to be with us upon this Earth from there, and for this all-too-fleeting time that we are given to be here.

    So Swinton, Bowie and Murphy clearly were not and are not from this world. And that I have been so fortunate to have shared this Earth with them at their same time (although Bowie once said, "The truth, of course, is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time") is nothing short of Grace and a miracle.

    I know Peter Murphy is old now. His voice may not be quite as strong as it once was. But for me, Tilda Swinton, he and David Bowie, who took up residence within my soul between 10, 37 and 42 years ago, will surely remain alive, where they shall all continue to live in me, until I am no longer on this Earth. So thank you, Peter Murphy, for being so very transcendent and glorious and brilliant a force. Your immaculate voice has truly meant the world, and beyond this world, to me.

    [Edit: I missed an "and" that I would have preferred to be in my first sentence. So I chose to add it.]
    HillaryHon February 23, 2023   Link

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