"Watching You Without Me" lyrics

[IEDSRI@aol.com]

 Robb writes:

 >Yes, but these aren't the words that are baffling us. 
 > It's the 'bridge,' which sounds something like 
 > "(something) want Sunday morning...that me
 > and that's all he knows" repeated several times, 
 > then "receive...receive."  Anyone know what these 
 > are? (No they're not in LYRICS)

You're right that the official printed lyrics are 
incomplete, but the "complete" text of the song can 
be found in "The Garden" (via ftp).  Here is the most 
recent version, which IED recommends be read along 
with the music:

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 "Watching You Without Me"    Music and lyrics by Kate Bush
  

("What's that?") 

   ("It's four, *five*, *six*, seven...")

     (You can't hear me.
      You can't hear me.
      You can't hear what I'm saying.
      You can't hear what I'm saying to you.)

 You watch the clock 
 Move the slow hand.
 I should have been home 
 Hours ago,
 But I'm not here.
 But I'm not here.

     (You can't hear me.
      You can't hear me.
      You can't feel me
      Here in the room with you now.
      You can't hear what I'm saying.
      You don't hear what I'm saying, do you?)

 Can't let you know
 What's been happening.
 There's a ghost in our home,
 Just watching you without me.
 I'm not here.

      ("You don't hear me.") [backwards]
 
 But I'm not here.
     (You can't hear me.)
 But I'm not here.
     (You don't hear what I'm saying.)

_ _ _ ... ...  _ _ _ ... ...  _ _ _ ... ... [Morse: "...SOS..."]
   
  
"Don't ignore, don't ignore me,
 Let me in,
 And don't be long." 

"Don't ignore, don't ignore me,
 Let me in, 
 And don't be long."

"Don't ignore, don't ignore me,
 Let me in, 
 And don't be long."
 
           "We see you here. [backwards**]
           "We see you here.
           "We see you here.
           "We see you here.
           "We see you here.
           "We see you here.
           "We see you here.
           "We see you here.

      (You don't hear me come in.)

 "Help me, baby!  Help me, baby!  Talk to me!  
  Listen to me, listen to me!  Talk to me!  Help--"***

      ("You can't hear me.") [backwards]

 "Listen, baby!  Listen to me, baby!  Help me, 
  help me, baby! Talk to me! Talk to me!  
  Please, baby, talk to me!"

     ("You can't hear me." [backwards]
       You won't hear me leaving.)

_______________________________________________

* --"Don't ignore, don't ignore me...": This verse, 
   the erstwhile "mystery message", immediately follows 
   the Morse code "S.O.S." signal.  The message was long 
   the subject of a Kate Bush Club competition. It sounds 
   more like "Zwoh-nikh-noh, zwoh-nikh-noh nee, 
   et-nee nong-widz-aw nee noy" than the actual words
   Kate Bush is singing. This is because the phrase 
   was originally spoken, then recorded and played
   backwards; Kate listened to the sound of the reversed
   phonetics and learned to sing them with an inverse
   of the melody she intended for that section; and 
   this in turn was recorded and fed into the final
   recording in backwards form, creating the correct
   forward words with the original, intended melody,
   but sounding "backwards" and very odd.

   It should be noted that there *are* several actual
   backwards lines on this recording (see **).

** -- "We see you here." This is sung and heard backwards.
   There may be more going on here than just this line, 
   however; several supplemental readings have been 
   posited over the years.  

*** --"Listen to me, baby...", etc.: The words in 
   this passage, and in one which follows later in 
   the song, are fractured by some
   sound-treatment process known only to Kate. 
   Similar to passages from "Waking the Witch", 
   these lines seem to contain *different* words when
   played backwards. Respectively, these are: 
   "I was here before, you talked to me, you said 
   that you didn't think it was too late to help
   me..."; and "Talk to me, listen to me, talk 
   to me, talk to me, baby..."  These latter words 
   apparently were recorded within the momentary gaps 
   which break up the forward-directional recording.]

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-- Andrew Marvick (IED)
   S        R         I