Lyrics
Verse 1
The post box on the corner - no, the post office The one with the counter, the woman, the queue The cat in the window - no, the cat is brown Not grey, the light made it grey, the light was wrong The planes in the street - I said sycamores The planes have the mottled bark, the sycamores don't The leaf is a hand and the hand is no one's And no one is everyone I know
Chorus
Not that - this The wrong word stays and the right word follows Not that - this The correction doesn't erase the first attempt Not that - this Both versions are in the sentence Both versions are in the sentence
Verse 2
The shop that was a shop is a flat now The door was green - no, blue I can see the green under the blue The paint doesn't cover, the paint adds The kitchen tap drips and the border closed And I can't tell you which one matters more The pie is in the oven, the policy's on the table They sit on the same table and the table is the list
Chorus
Not that - this The wrong word stays and the right word follows Not that - this The correction doesn't erase the first attempt Not that - this Both versions are in the sentence Both versions are in the sentence
Verse 3
The flood doesn't rise - no, it accumulates Accumulation is not a river, not a tide It's a mind putting things in a row And getting the row slightly wrong And fixing the row And the fixing is not neat And the wrong thing stays And the right thing is next to it And both of them stay
Chorus
Not that - this The wrong word stays and the right word follows Not that - this The correction doesn't erase the first attempt Not that - this Both versions are in the sentence Both versions are in the sentence
Bridge
The mountain lion walks down the street It doesn't belong here and it knows it It walks through the catalogue And the catalogue doesn't break The catalogue absorbs it The pie, the policy, the cat, the planes The tap, the border, the door, the lion All at the same level, all in the same row And the row doesn't stop
Outro
The post box - no, the post office The green door - no, the blue The grey cat - no, the brown The sycamore - no, the plane The list keeps coming The flood doesn't end The correction is the flood The flood is the correction And both of them stay