THE ICICLE WORKS – Hollow Horse

From The Small Price of a Bicycle (1985)

The Icicle Works (also known as Icicle Works in the United States) are an English alternative rock band and were named after the 1960 short story “The Day the Icicle Works Closed” by science fiction author Frederik Pohl. They had a top 20 UK hit with “Love Is a Wonderful Colour” (1983). In the US and Canada, they had only one top 40 hit, the 1984 single “Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)”.

Led by singer-songwriter Ian McNabb, the band released five albums from 1984 to 1990 before breaking up in 1991. McNabb later convened a revised line-up of the band in 2006 to play live shows; this revised Icicle Works line-up still plays sporadic live dates.

Be careful what you dream of it may come up and surprise you I can’t confess my life’s a mess I’ve come to idolise you You liken it to walking on hot coals I’ll keep my boots on Wisen up and fly straight There’s a shape on the horizon

In a hollow horse I’ll steal my way inside your guarded heart So selfishly the needs I harbour when we are apart My past strung out behind me, contradiction and disaster I’m in search of charity, a union I could master

We’ll be as we are When all the fools who doubt us fade away Fortune deep and wide Intimidated, restless in the wait

Things I chose to value I no longer have a use for I ridicule myself for all the things those symbols stood for When vanity has played a part in every leader’s downfall Wait to storm the gates, what’s left undone to hang around for

We’ll be as we are When all the fools who doubt us fade away Fortune deep and wide Intimidated, restless in the wait