Kevin Molloy

I’ve noticed I use a lot of reported speech in my lyrics. And I start a lot of sentences with ‘and’, which I’ve always been told is terribly bad form. But I enjoy starting with a conjunction. As you are currently experiencing. I’m also a linguistic pedant – I’m working on reconciling my bad habits with my pedantry. In the meantime, this is one of my constant favourite songs… I think I achieved a simplicity here that I rarely find when I’m writing lyrics, but constantly aim for…

I’m standing up on a mountainside,
And there are hundreds of people coming up from behind,
And there are hundreds of people who have gone ahead,
And they keep dropping these rocks on my head, and

I keep on dodging them, I keep on stepping aside,
And I keep thinking: ‘If that rock had a hit me, I could have died,
Standing here on this hill,
And I’m still not sure where I’m running to.’

And there’s too far left to run
And there’s not enough time to walk
And it hurts my knees to jog
So I’m going to sit down and talk

So I’ve been thinking to myself, ‘What is it we have here?
When the sun comes up will it be more clear?
And will all of our sweat and our toil,
Finally shuffle us off the mortal coil?

‘And when we finally get to the top,
Will there be anything left but one steep, swift drop?
Jack and Jill down the hill we’ll fall,
And it’s all been for nothing at all.’

And there’s too far left to run
And there’s not enough time to walk
And it hurts my knees to jog
So I’m going to sit down and…

Talk about this, let’s talk this through,
There’s enough room here on this ledge for me and you
And maybe we can build ourselves a roof
So the rocks won’t come tumbling through.

And there’s too far left to run
And there’s not enough time to walk
And it hurts my knees to jog
So I’m going to sit down and talk.