Under Cover Names Songtext
von Peter Hammill

No thanks for the memory, no thanks at all
No 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 you can wipe the slate, so you seal your fate
With a cover name

We can no more change the past than shed our skins
But you keep on thinking that you might go someplace
Where not a soul knows what has gone before
With such headfuls of self-accusation
That you don′t even know your own name anymore

No thanks for the memory
No thanks...

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 under cover names
You can change your identity
Oh, but mentally you'll be just the same

So we'll keep on skirting ′round the edge of darkness
With fresh identities and best-laid plans
And we keep on working to out-reach 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

We can no more change the past than live again
We can no more shed our skins than know our real name
Nobody knows their real name
Nobody knows their real name
We hide under cover names
I give no thanks to the memory