never told a soul
JOHN ILLSLEY
Born: June 24, 1949
Genre: Rock
Member of: Dire Straits
basic information
| release date | ? [Cass.]. 1984 June, 22 [CD, LP] |
| country of manufacture | Spain [Cass.], Germany [CD, LP] |
| label | Vertigo |
| catalog no. | 822 239-4 [Cass.], 822 239-2 [CD], 822 239 - 1Q [LP] |
| format | Cass., CD, LP |
| note of registration | P1984 Phonogram Ltd. ©1984 Phonogram Ltd. |
| recording | Studios East Sussex by Phill Brown [1983 Oct] |
| mixing | Air Studios London by Phill Brown asstisted by Jeremy Allon |
| mastering | n/a |
| production | John Illsley, Phill Brown |
| credits | n/a |
musicians
| Mark Knopfler | electric guitars [2,7], lead acoustic guitar [3], lead guitar [5], gut strung guitar [7] |
| Kevin Jarvis | piano, hammond organ [2,5], c.m.i. fairlight [3,5,7] |
| Terry Williams 5) | drums |
| Martin Drover | trumpet [2], flugelhorn [5] |
| Chris White 5) | tenor sax [2], alto sax [2] |
| Jodie Linscott | percussion |
| John Illsley 5) | vocals, bass, acoustic guitar [3,5] |
| Bobby Valentino | violin [7] |
tracks [CD]
| 2 | night café, the [4:58] |
| 3 | never told a soul [5:41] |
| 5 | northern land [8:50] |
| 7 | let the river flow [6:14] |
lyrics
2. the night cafι
the night café
(John Illsley)
Two souls caress
As hard as steel yet soft as snow
Its so unreal I know
The body feels each savage blow.
Painter’s chair
The painter’s gone but his spirits strong
His legacy on fire
Leaves “just about everything” a mystery.
The Night Café holds you like a madam’s stare
Aching lights on aching heads
Some have made a home of this place instead
The Night Café.
Night or day
His arrows point so hard to choose
What colour black or white
So close to the edge in the Café of Night.
Shed no tears
The Night Café won’t let you go
Won’t let you show your fear
But it you show your heart somebody might care.
The Night Café asks for no entrance fee
Shabby clothes on heroes past
This bottle on the table might be your last
In The Night Café.
Yellow dawn
Shows its face but no one turns
No one says goodbye
All they have left is a license to die.
The Night Café asks for no entrance fee
Shabby clothes on heroes past
This bottle on the table won't be my last
In The Night Café.
3. never told a soul
never told a soul
(John Illsley)
Never Told a Soul you were leavin’
Never Told a Soul you ere mine
Feels like the first time
Not the last time
Never Told a Soul.
Everyday I hear a different story
Everytime I call you’re putting hope in my heart
Oh can’t this time be sure
Not like the time before
We drifted apart.
Everyday am I doin’ here why did I stay
It didn’t make sense for us day after day
Don’t turn around and say I wasted your time
It was mostly your idea not mine.
Seemed so right to keep a secret
I didn’t like your friends you didn’t like mine
Late night rendezvous
Somehow you’ve got to prove
You’ve got a friend.
What am I doing here this place is not my home
I should be out there with a life of my own
I thought everything was working out fine
So I Never Told a Soul you were mine.
Never Told a Soul you were leavin’
Didn’t realise I was out in the cold
Someone else calls your name
Nothing now can make me change
My mind again.
What am I doing here why did I stay
Nothing made sense for us day after day
You turned around and said “You wasted my time”
I Never Told a Soul you were mine.
5. northern land
northern land
(John Illsley)
Many years living hell
Has left its scars
Armies march to settle the score
A bell tolls behind closed doors.
Headlines full of priests and martyrs
And shady financial deals
Religion holds its banner high
Hungry man prepares to die for his freedom.
They’ll come a day when you’ll be free Northern Land
The band will play your folk songs Northern Land
Caught in this crossfire is it any wonder
We don’t understand.
Across the water the devil’s daughter
Her scheming hands
With calls for Traitors and Acts of Treason
Peacemakers pay lip service to reason.
Divided we stand divided we fall
Divided we fail
How can we hang on to the same old lie
When so many men are willing to die for their freedom.
You’re the ones we talk about you’re the ones we fear Northern Land
Not a place to walk about no nature trail Northern Land
Caught in your crossfire is it any wonder
We don’t understand.
Sticks and stones have broken bones
On these battered streets
Military games-manning barricades
Are what young boys are made of.
With your father in a prison cell
And a brother lost
Hard for a child to understand
Why so many men are willing to die for their freedom.
They’ll come a day when you’ll be free Northern Land
The band will play your folk songs Northern Land
Caught in this crossfire is it any wonder
We don’t understand.
You’re the ones we talk about you’re the ones we fear Northern Land
Not a place to walk about no nature trail Northern Land
Caught in your crossfire is it any wonder
We don’t understand.
7. let the river flow
let the river flow
(John Illsley)
A full moon tide sweeps in
To wash the send to white
A fairytale keeps a child wide eyed at night
A golden band could bring such happiness
A dream of you and me
Or a haven from times of loneliness.
Won’t you take my hand at the picture show
I love to sit with you and Let the River Flow
Let the River Flow.
I hear a church bell ring
There’s people searchin’ for the Holy Ghost
But now our daily bread
Gets delivered like the morning post
Rock of Ages pass
They pass like ships that dance by in the night
This dream keeps haunting me
Only to get shattered by the first morning light.
Won’t you take my hand at the picture show
I love to sit with you and Let the River Flow
Let the River Flow.
Well it makes no sense to me
So close yet so far apart
A sailor lost at sea
With a promise from his lover’s heart
Can’t stop this circle of fear
I’m like a priest whose confessing alone
At the end of the street a dark man appears
And cuts me right through to the bone.
Won’t you take my hand at the picture show
I love to sit with you and Let the River Flow
Let the River Flow.
notes
³ source: database by Wolf-Dieter Mattick
John Illsley covered 2013 at The Half Moon for the live album live in London "walk on life, once upon a time in the west, private investigations, sultans of swing, Romeo and Juliet, brothers in arms, money for nothing" by MK.
also available
| cover | year | country of manufacture | format | label | catalog no. | note of registration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2010 | EU | CD³ | Creek Records | CREEKCD 4 | (P) & (C) 2010 Creek Touring & Records LLP |
- cassettes
- singles
- promos
- sampler
- radioshows
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
|
|
|
1
Nunea le Dije a Nadie
Argentinian edition:
label: Vertigo catalog no.: 67376 / 822 239-4 note of registration: ℗ 1987 Polygram Discos S.A.
2
look at:
basic information
3
? edition:
label: Vertigo catalog no.: VERLC 15 note of registration: ?
– Modified track on
never told a soul [single version]
never told a soul
with track: never told a soul (nunca le dije a nadie)
LP
| hot action vol. 2 | |||
|
|||
| 1984? |
CD
| hits on CD vol. 2³ | feelings (vol.) 9 : die schönsten Pop-Balladen der 70er & 80er Jahre | lady in red vol. 3 | |||
|
|
|
|||
| 1984 | 1987 | 1991? |
with track: never told a soul (4:02)
revised
11.07.2018
additional albums with John I.: glass, streets of heaven