Sophia

Sophia, Sophia, say you'll be mine
Don’t leave me hanging out to dry
I wait at the factory gates seven days a week
Sophia, Sophia, so fine

Ooooh Ooooh

You know outside every strong man
There's a weak one trying to get in
Every single good deed's
Just a stone's throw from sin

You sank me with one shot
Just below the waterline
Sophia, Sophia, so fine

Ooooh Ooooh

I painted you with street signs
To find a way to your heart
But you got another lover
And it's tearing me apart

I thrive on complications
I'm a good old-fashioned masochist
I never got the message
So many signs I missed

I was in no condition to say
"Let's wait and see"
There's nothing in life so tragic
As a missed opportunity

So despite the miles
We've gone tonight
Intercity 125
Sophia, Sophia, so fine

Well I don't know how we got here
Dumb luck or a twist of fate
But you're walking down the hillside
And you're opening the gate

Sophia, Sophia, seven days a week
Have I told you lately
Yeah I'm almost complete ?
Sophia, Sophia, it cuts me up both ways
Try to see it from every point of view

Everything worth fighting for
Comes at such a cost
Sophia, Sophia, I'll never
Forget all the good things I lost

Sophia, Sophia, seven acre smile
Tiffany blue looking at you and your child
Late summer sunshine
Splashed across the floor

Now I know it's all in the details
Now I know what this is for
Three generations walk together
Once more

Lyrics by:
Squire

Available on:
Time Changes Everything (6.03)

Details:

   

 

 

Top (left to right): A trilogy of works from 2004. 'SU4' (oil on canvas, 69" x 51"); 'SU5' (oil on canvas, 69" x 51"); 'SU6c' ( oil on canvas, 69" x 51"). The initials 'SU' stand for Squire's girlfriend, Sophie Upton, who sat for the portraits.
Second row (left): 'Sophia' (household gloss on glass, 2003)
Second row (right): 'Run1' (oil and acrylic on canvas, 53" x 213", 2004), from the Manchester exhibition, May 2004, captures Sophie in motion. This was one of two large-scale canvases with action from 2004. The other was 'The Bull' (oil on acrylic on canvas, 53" x 213"), showing a matador losing his contest with a bull.
Third row (left): Sophie featured on drums in the Room In Brooklyn video.
Third row (right): 'Self portrait' (digitally altered photograph, 2004). In a reversal of roles from the 'SU' series, Sophie took a photo of John Squire while he was watching Saturday Night Fever, and the guitarist made subsequent digital alterations.

Whilst one cannot fault the sentiment of Sophia (it was penned towards Squire's girlfriend, Sophie Upton), this is quite a poor finish to an otherwise solid album. Squire's voice really grates on this one.

'Just A Stone's Throw From Sin', 'To Find A Way To Your Heart' and 'Try To See It From Every Point Of View', photographs by John Squire which feature in the debut LP collage.

A link can be made between the respective final tracks of Second Coming and Time Changes Everything, with each having a Gnostic theme. The Gnostics identify the Holy Spirit with Sophia and the Myth of Sophia forms the central motif of the Gnostic books. The Gnostic aspect to the song would explain why it is entitled 'Sophia' and not 'Sophie' (the name of Squire's girlfriend).

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