Songbook / words & recordings
To The Grave
Hovercraft song file · /lyrics/to-the-grave/
01 / The words
Wildman / Marsden / Downing / Downing · Lyrics: Wildman
From the 1996 sessions · Reconstructed 2026 · Doomed To Live, Side B
Once out on a highway To get back home Well you never understood That it did no good Looking back on the 'hood You're a rolling stone Now you see it different What a way to go And you walk like me And you talk like me With a quick "see you later" And away you go Baby blue Baby blue The sun is going down Over you Once you had a reason A girl with chestnut hair But you saw it all comin' And you never quit runnin' And you give yourself time To get out of there Don't talk to me about treason Cos I'm aware That we're all on the brink With your head on the blink And I can't stop to think Or I'd still be there There's a life you chose to lead From the cradle to the grave Better take a look and see Better get yourself saved Get yourself free Baby blue Baby blue The sun is going down Over you There's a life you chose to lead From the cradle to the grave Better take a look and see Better get yourself saved Get yourself free Baby blue Baby blue The sun is going down The sun is going down The sun is going down Over you
03 / The dossier
About this song.
- Written by
- Piers "Charlie Pepper" Wildman
- Work
- Original
The album opener: mournful, accusatory and affectionate all at once. Roads, departure and mortality establish Hovercraft’s recurring escape vocabulary immediately.
The surviving 1996 original is an extended form of the song, with two additional verses and a final chorus. The 2026 reconstruction condenses that longer structure; some musical DNA can also be traced to a pre-Hovercraft retro-space pop band jam.
04 / The artwork
Visualising the song.
04 / The archive
The evidence.
Handwritten tape details dated 29 May 1996: part of the surviving source-recording trail.