It’s a song about that time in the early morning

Winter with the vague sun and coming out of sleep

Eyes shut but you can see the room starting to materialise

The gap between sleeping and waking

What we really are and what we think we are

It’s not quite dawn and a wintery sun

Lies in wait to make the shape of the room

I close my eyes and feel the warm

Of your sleeping arms and the state of calm

 On a need to know basis
In the first flush of a love affair

When you have become attuned yet it’s still so new

She’s sleeping there as you become aware

And you sense who she is before stepping into your own mental shoes

I count the rate of the beat of your heart

Lying in wait to be courageous awake

It comes back to me we’re never apart

The we don’t keep no secrets at all

On a need to know basis

You’re all I need on a need to know basis baby

You don’t want to leave this place

Don’t want to shift the fragile balance

To face work and choices and your own full but less than perfect self

The city is out there waking up itself and calling out to both of you

I feel the wake of the traffic start

To make its way into the wings of the day

I try to stay with the angels

And find a way to make the aliens wait

On a need to know basis

You’re all I need on a need to know basis baby

Try not to blink or think

Just sink into the one you’re with

On a need to know basis

You’re all I need on a need to know basis baby

You’re all I need

You’re all I need

The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary

To read any of the first 151in the series click here