Kae Tempest
End Times
[Verse 1]
I can smell the thunder coming
I can smell this rain
Look, you’re the only one I ever knew
Whose eyes could hold the flame
Without burning like the others’ burnt
She told me Hell’s to blame
And I told her Hell’s a choice we make
And Blake would tell the same
If all deities reside within
How come I feel that presence above?
The love that unplugs the heart
And starts the floods again within me
Drowning out the badness that I harbour
When my goodness battens down the hatches
And holds on to a partner
She’s saying ‘Storm’s coming’
Of course it is
It always is on nights like this
Cause the tower blocks are murmuring
And I can sense a turning wind
And I glimpse this man who isn’t there
And I know that glitch for all it’s worth
Because I pass out full of madness
And I wake up drenched in thirst
Like, give me whisky, give me beers to glug
Just let me lose this fear
And I’ll love anyone who’s near
Enough to looking slightly like you
All I’m trying to say
Is today’s like all them other days
And all I’m trying to do
Is mark it down and make it true
To make it count for something
Cause I know nothing is eternal
And nothing means a thing
And nobody believes nothing
That’s why we live in all this sin
And we mistake it for normality
For something to attain
My dissent sets me apart
But today I smell that rain
Come to wash away these masks
The marks imbedded on our weary hearts
And this is merely metaphor
But metaphor is flexing jaw
And getting ready for the fight
It’s come to fight with the surface world
But we have lost our purpose
Hurled into a furnace
Where the burn is near celestial
Detestable outside, and yes, my chest is full
Of cider, gin and lightning
And my eyes will dim
But the rhymes will sing in times to come
Since I begun
My head’s been filled with end
Cause these people wear too many faces
But I swear the truth will strike again
[Chorus]
We wake up in the end-times
Curled up in the wreckage
Thinking life will happen
Whether you dismiss it or expect it
So look into my eyes
You’ll see your own eyes reflected
I’m crying oceans into paragraphs
While behind out backs our shadows laugh

We wake up in the end-times
Curled up in the wreckage
Saying life’s going to happen
Whether you dismiss it or expect it
So let me look into your eyes
And see my own eyes reflected
I’m crying oceans into paragraphs
Cause behind out backs our shadows laugh

[Verse 2]
When I’m telling rhymes I shut my eyes
Cause it helps me see stuff
These words, they’re like the leaves
In the bottom of the gypsy’s teacup
If you look at them right
You might see the future in them
See, I always knew that we were here for more
Than wash the dishes, do the cooking
See, I’m here to speak for everyone
That never got a look in
You know, all the ones who ain’t good-looking
The ones who hate the crooked
Wicked nature of the system
For everyone who knows, fuck it
Just cause we can’t see the bars
Don’t mean we aren't imprisoned
I believe every soul was born blessed with true wisdom
And that life is about getting back
To what was given before life
How come we are all in these disguises hidden?
How come we sleep through life
And live in dreams?
Is it cause we can’t tell the difference?
Now, all my life
People looked at me with real suspicion
But I’ve got to be what I’ve got to be
I’m the victim of my own condition
And the meaning is the same
No matter which language speaks it
The new paradigm begins
As soon as you’re ready to perceive it
And that’s the real talk
These are whirlpool words you can drown in
But I’m so desperate for beauty
I’ll turn scaffolding to mountains
I’ll turn traffic into breakers
While this illusion overtakes us
I’m saying we need to learn to bite the hand
That bullies and berates us

[Chorus]
We wake up in these end-times
We’re going to be curled up in the wreckage
Thinking, yeah, life’s going to happen
Whether we dismiss it or expect it
So let me look into your eyes
And see my own eyes reflected
I’m crying oceans into paragraphs
Cause behind out backs our shadows laugh