@ALBUM: Giant Normal Dwarf (1990) The Nits are: Henk Hofstede Robert Jan Stips Rob Kloet Note : These are the lyrics as they appear on the CD booklet. The full artwork and layout can not be reproduced in this form. If any additions or corrections are to be made, please drop a line : Jochen Stein (www.nitsfans.org) @SONG: Radio Shoes Me and my friend and his girlfriend are swimming in Telephone Lake where willows are ringing. Out of the water a periscope snake says 'Go to the place where the wireless valves break'. Me and my friend and his girlfriend are driving through silence and sounds. My sister is waving. She found a map full of stations and beams where rivers were drawn like electron streams. My friend and his girl hear the Doppler Effect. They both disappear in the Infinite Shoeblack. Me and my sister drive home with the blues Now we can look for the Radio Shoes, how we can look for the Radio Shoes (Little red roses fall from heaven) Me and my friend and his girlfriend are skating on Telephone Lake. My sister is waiting at home near the wireless but there is no sound. The periscope snake mus have been drowned. We melt through the ice and never come back, we all disappear in the Infinite Shoeblack. Through falling snow we alk home with the blues. Now we can look for the Radio Shoes, how we can look for the Radio Shoes @SONG: Ice Princess When you are a small trombone you think about the world outside your home. And the burning of the trumpet sounds like white smoke and elephants fire. My ice princess dances on the ground when she walks. Ooh my ice princes once was made of wood and water. M m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m m When you're on the riverside where the air is cool and the moon is bright, carving trees with a pocket-knife. When we're dead, they're still alive. I'm sitting in a car driving downtown, I'm watching the lights go up and down. Turning left to the old brown school, wipe out the blackboard-drawing, fool. Why is my heart so cold. You say I'll never be the same. I will wait 20 years, 20 years, 20 years. When you are a small trombone all the world is inside your home. And the ice princess dances on the ground when she walks. Why is my heart so cold. @SONG: Boy in a Tree When she drops in town a little handkerchief He picks it up for her Although he's not a prince of charm Now she stands upon his shoulders And looks across the garden And sees the oak behind the farm I'm up here in the waving tree I feel my mother looks at me She is living near to the bone There were times when she was beautiful She was dancing with my uncles Her hair was darker then this house Although it's true that she was proud of him Standing on his shoulders She saw the lights of other towns On Friday night she took the train Sunday she is back again Bringing home stories near the bone Boy in a tree he is looking round and round and round The mirror shows another day She is 40 years or older Her hair will fade from black to grey She drives and drives through the night A parrot on her shoulder Until the darkness goes away She is standing near the waving tree Looking up she talks to me All I hear is the wind in the leaves Boy in a tree he is looking round and round and round @SONG: There from Here I've forgotten all the presents And the papers fly in streets From nowhere to the 7-11 doors Through the turnstile of the supermarket I'm lifted by a trunk in tin-foil That's butting me back on my feet Nothing can be like this wind - It blows so sweet The elephant FRITZ burns his feet And then I wake up to find out All the things that please me are forgotten How do I get there from here Nothing like this burning wind It takes your soul - it flies away And I hope you'll never fing out It' about time That me and the elephant are leaving But how do we get there from here How do I get there from here @SONG: Sugar River On a sugar river Where the water is sweet Where the pebble is A mountain And the crab nibbles Your feet Jelly-fish big jelly-fish She's a man-of-war Jelly-fish big jelly-fish He's a woman far Away On a sugar river We are sitting in a boat Made of hollow trees That float Till the sugar is salt Wehn I touch her knee She smiles at mee And pulls up The eyebrow My elbows will stay white This summer As lond as I'm a tadpole And the green mouth sings 'SUGAR & WATER' Hibernation in the floating green weeds. S is a bend in the river U is a turn going back (home) G is a snake in the water A is a bridge where we R @SONG: Around the Fish Dive on a Sunday In a lake Around the fish We are swimming @SONG: Fountain man I went back to the Netherlands, I saw the Fountain Man. In his hands ice was water, water a cloud. This is how the sea is kept out. Why some bodies sink and why others float (said the Fountain Man). He not only changed his shape, he did not remain within any volume. While standing before my eyes he was a cloud water ice. Why some bodies sink, why others float. He's the man who thought he was a fountain. Fountain Man F F F F F Fountain Man When we walked through Fountain Land I saw the Birdhouse once again. The Mouth Orange said: 'Ah, brun me now, I want to be your Desert Lamp.' Why some bodies sink, why others float. He's the man who thought he was a fountain. Fountain Man Fountain Man F F F F F Fountain Man @SONG: Apple Orchard L. a trick-a-sunlight Falls down like the rain Enters through the cornea Leaves inverted image in my brain Overhanging clouds Fly into my room Percolate to alcohol And fall down with a boom And I will laugh L.a trick-a-sunlight You'll never know my name You can see this bicycle Turning in the rain And I will fall I lay down Do I hear my name The apple is falling down Lay ma down The apple orchard Do I hear my name The apple is falling down L.a trick-a-sunlight Came into my room Tiptoed through the silent night and fell down with a boom And I was laughing Apple orchard Lay me down When it's late At night Lay me down And cry @SONG: Long Forgotten Story It's the year 2040 I survived the holy war Through the big world I am walking Since the downfall of the car I am almost 87 I am almost in my grave And I don't believe in heaven any more I come back to the hotel Where 50 years ago A woman waited for her lover But he did not show up 'This is not a church', she said 'But I feel like praying in this hall It's the first time in my life He did not call' It's a long forgotten story It's a long forgotten day When we sailed the 'Hope and Glory' Till the town was far away It's a long forgotten story It's a long forgotten day From the room the view Is still the same It's the Lykabettos hill Where we played in 1989 When the time was standing still I was almost 38 When I bought a dark red vase Do I hear somebody knocking On the glass @SONG: Giant Normal Dwarf What a beautiful dress You're wearing tonight What a beautiful shoes You have on your feet Do you remember it's A long time ago When the summer was green The winter was snow Cherry-eye Window panes Wonder why it always rains Loot at me I'm getting smaller Vice versa you're growing taller You're an oak tree I'm a flower You are a GIANT I am a normal d w a r f Through the coal mines Of my brain I went From the chambers of my heart I sent you a tanker Filled with sweet perfume - to my one-eyed cyclop - I will never stick a pole in your eye Like the hero of my favourite book It's been on a shelf But it's much too high You are a GIANT I am a normal d w a r f Don't you see yo're going taller Vice versa I'm getting smaller I'm a pebble you're a mountain You are a GIANT I am a normal d w a r f When I dance with you I can hold your knees I will polish your shoes Stay with me All winter long And we melt like snow In the last line of this song @SONG: Moon Moon My father was a chimney weeper 'Don't look down', he said The 4 winds that blow in this street Still whisper his name Men are long and black you see They are sad and smoke Like the chimneys in the factory And they always broke Moon Moon Moon Moon The elevator boy said: 'Listen, Sometimes when I'm stuck Between the floors of this house I can hear them sing' Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Sometimes she cries When there's a wedding in town She's like a willow in the wind She weeps It's 2 years It's so long ago Now you're back home in the New found land And the path to the house is cool Pick up the suitcase of dreams Now your wits are wool Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon Moon @SONG: The Night Owl We walk where the road is curling up Like smoke above our heads Here we stand with our backs Against the wall of the house Where the man once wrote Suzanne With my friend from Finland I went down From Athens in the night In a boat 2 pilgrims on a bench To the island where the donkey Is never shot It breaks my heart The night-owl sings It breaks my heart Oohooo my heart In the room the bird is on a wire When we look outside It's gone It flies through the trees With pomegranates And it falls down Like the moon Into the sea It breaks my heart The night-owl sings It breaks my heart Oohooo my heart (where we go) @SONG: House of the Sleeping Beauties When the rain falls on the asphalt pavement It floats in gutters of the street Down the drainpipes underneath this house We are as quiet as a mouse After the broken arm things went slow Since that day I took a little took a little took a little time I went down into a bottomless hole Took a shovel and dug a little dug a little dug a little mine We are the creatures of the underworld Beneath the surface of houses and streets clay and concrete Shoulder to shoulder we hide in this hole Light a candle we need a little need a little need a little time House of the sleeping beauties When the thunder shakes the gutta-percha The rain falls through the heaven hole In the drainpipes underneath this house We are as quiet as a mouse Through the kerbstones and concrete We take a breath we need a little need a little need a little air Between cables and copper-wire The submarine goes upp a little up a little up a little higher House of the sleeping beauties I got out through an open doow If there's time I need a little need a little need a little more @SONG: The Infinite Shoeblack This is the place where they built the machine They wipe out the drawings and lock up the dream the hope This is the town where they wait for the wars They lock up the houses and burn all the cars the smoke Here on this map we are close to the place The end of our journey 4 hours and days the drive This is the place where we stop with the car My sister she whispers 'I know where we are' the lake This is the house. We've been here before The laboratory. The long corridor the snake There is a key under a stone Look through the windows Nobody's home Turn the key In a bel-glass on a table The shoes are covered with dust They whisper with their strings 'Shine us for mirror we mist' Till we all fall through THE INFINITE SHOEBLACK This is the place where they built the machine They wipe out the drawings and lock up the dream the hope This is the house. We've been here before The laboratory. The long corridor the rope Me and my sister drive home with the blues We lifted the bell-glass and polished the shoes Till they're black