Under Cover Names Peter Hammill

[Verse 1]
No thanks for the memory, no thanks at all
No way way to rewrite the past, we'll be true at last
To the names we're called
No thanks for the memory, no one else to blame
No way to wipe the slate, so we see your fate
With our cover names
We can no more change the past than shed our skins

[Bridge]
But we keep on thinking that we might go someplace
Where not a soul knows what has gone before
With such headfuls of self-accusation
That we don't even know our own names anymore
No thanks for the memory
No thanks

[Verse 2]
Call them by a different name and turn about –
We can no more change our spots than wash them out
No thanks for the memory, locked in the frame
No way we can change the pattern of things that happened
Under cover names

[Bridge]
Sp we keep on skirting round the true confession
With fresh identities and best-laid plans;
And we keep on working to outreach the shadow
But the shadow will outrun the man
With such headfuls of self-accusation
That no pseudonyms can hide our shame
Lost in a jungle of our own creation
Lost in a labyrinth of cover names...