This is a song about a social suicide, with a swinging but slightly apocalyptic feel to it.

I hadn’t written anything in 10 years or more, but once I had the basic structure of this song (chorus: when this or that happens, you’re past it – verse: you shouldn’t have done this and that…) the words just kept flowing. In the end I had lyrics for 5 or 6 verses and so I had to cut it down to size.

There was one line that didn’t make it but that I found too clever to scrap, so I turned it into a little afterthought with strange sound effects. That was fun. It’s great what effects and computers can do. I wish I could be one of them.

When the Sun Has Fallen – Lyrics

When the sun falls down
When the sky caves in
When what is has been
You’re past trouble and the world’s past mending

When the sea drops out
When the iceberg boils
When your lifeboat recoils
You’re past saving and the world is ending

You shouldn’t have skipped the final lesson
Shouldn’t have heaped all your confessions
Onto the girl with the piercing scream
She’s just what she seems

You shouldn’t have sipped the shallow water
Shouldn’t have drugged the Doctor’s daughters
Shouldn’t have taken to extremes
Being nobody’s dream

When the sun contracts
When the fire dries up
When rotation has stopped
You’re past fixes, support is ending

When your new ground shifts
When your faith burns out
When the mute masses shout
You’re past prayer and your knees are past bending

You shouldn’t have hidden in the steeple
Shouldn’t have mingled with people
Shouldn’t have talked as if redeemed
Oh you shouldn’t have screamed

You shouldn’t have made the crucial copy
The way you did, being sloppy
You shouldn’t have planned, you shouldn’t have schemed
You shouldn’t have dreamed

When the top is blown
When reason has ceased
When gods can’t be appeased
You’re past guesses and past comprehending

When sound stands still
When gravity rejects you
When your angels won’t protect you
It’s no surprise you’ve had enough
There’s no ties and there’s no love
No point in trying to put it off
‘Cause when the sea has fallen
There’s no hope below and none above

You shouldn’t have hidden your agenda
Shouldn’t have played The Great Pretender
They must have felt it, that’s not you
It didn’t ring true