‘The Absence Of You’, the 5th and final single ahead of the release of Tim’s long awaited studio album Apart Together is out now.
Tim: “In this weird year, we’re more aware than ever that the absence of a loved one can, in a way, be as impactful as their presence. This is a song about that, I suppose. It’s also a frickin banger.”
Lyrics below.
Listen/download Absence Of You: Tim-Minchin.lnk.to/TheAbsenceOfYouWE
Pre-order Apart Together here: Tim-Minchin.lnk.to/ApartTogetherAlbumWE
– out November 20th
Credits can be found in the YouTube description.
**THE ABSENCE OF YOU** (Lyrics)
I take a walk on the Seine
Cross Pont Neuf on my way to St Germain
Love-hearts on padlocks on wire in the mist
Where young lovers kiss
And swear to be true
Echoes of ten thousand sighs of love
And yet I
Feel only the absence of you
Out of a window on the thirtieth floor
Central Park shines with the coming of dawn
Through eyes rendered weary by jetlag and wine
I turn round to find
There’s a girl in my room
For a moment we kiss
But her vodka-soaked lips
Taste only of the absence of you
I don’t know
What all of this means
If you are not here with me
And I am lost
When we are apart
There’s a hole in my heart
That light passes through
And the pattern it creates
Is the shape of
The absence of you
Spring has been found hanging round Soho Square
So I take my coffee and newspaper there
To bask in the not-warm-enough April sun
With the workers who come
To eat Pret with no shoes
But the grass to the side
Of the patch where I’m lying
Is flat with the absence of you
I don’t know
What all this is for
If you are not near to me
And I can’t sleep
Sleep is no fun when the unruly sun
Will reveal the truth
A space in my bed as cold as the dead
Exactly the size and the shape of
The absence of you
And all of this beauty
Runs over and through me
And pools round my shoes
And the puddle it forms
Conforms to the shape of
The absence of you
5 Comments
august colschen on 29th of May 2021
tim you have brought me a song to remind me of the girl i loved and lost way to soon thank you this song brings all the memories back thank you
Simon Woodhouse on 25th of December 2020
Tim I’ve had Covid for the last 9 days, feeling sorry for myself. Then I heard your radio 4 interview this evening. Since then I’ve been singing this with full gusto. I had to buy the album. Thank you for putting these thoughts in such a sensitive way.
Denise Dix on 22nd of November 2020
Just watched the Apart together show….You could look at a shelf gathering dust and create a meaningful song about it…… I am in awe of your talent as a musician, lyricist and human being…..
Long may you continue
Love,
Denise
Belgium
Quentin Rousseau on 2nd of November 2020
Lovely song Tim, can’t wait for the album to come out. Do you happen to have a chord sheet somewhere in your vicinity that can’t wait to be photographed and posted here ?
Cheers from France.
Jeran Brown on 2nd of November 2020
I’ve loved this song since I heard Tim perform it in San Diego on a Leaving LA date a few years back. I really hoped it’d see a release some day soon. It’s not often a lyric grabs me in a live setting, what with all of the other stimuli, but these really did.