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Bright Eyes
The People's Key
Saddle Creek , 2011
cd, album
(x)
Took the fireworks and the vanity,
the circuit board and the city streets,
shooting star, swaying palm tree,
laid it at the arbiter's feet.
If I could change my mind,
change the paradigm,
prepare myself for another life,
forgive myself for the times
I was cruel to something helpless and weak,
but here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Tag it on a Tiananmen Wall.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
I was dressed in white, touched by something pure,
death obsessed like a teenager.
Sold my tortured youth: piss and vinegar.
I'm still angry with no reason to be
at the architect who imagines
for the every man, blessed Sisyphus
slipping steadily into madness.
Now that's the only place to be free.
but here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move in alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
tattooed on a criminal's arm.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move it alone.
No, I don't want to play.
It's a shell game. It's a shell game.
Distorted sounds on the oscilloscopes,
distorted facts, I could never cope.
My private life is an inside joke.
No one will explain it to me.
We'll be everything that we ever need.
Everyone on the count of three.
Everyone on the count of three!
All together now!
Here it come, that heavy love.
We're never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
playing as the cylinder rose.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I only want to share in the load.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
(x)
Took the fireworks and the vanity,
the circuit board and the city streets,
shooting star, swaying palm tree,
laid it at the arbiter's feet.
If I could change my mind,
change the paradigm,
prepare myself for another life,
forgive myself for the times
I was cruel to something helpless and weak,
but here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Tag it on a Tiananmen Wall.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
I was dressed in white, touched by something pure,
death obsessed like a teenager.
Sold my tortured youth: piss and vinegar.
I'm still angry with no reason to be
at the architect who imagines
for the every man, blessed Sisyphus
slipping steadily into madness.
Now that's the only place to be free.
but here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move in alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
tattooed on a criminal's arm.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move it alone.
No, I don't want to play.
It's a shell game. It's a shell game.
Distorted sounds on the oscilloscopes,
distorted facts, I could never cope.
My private life is an inside joke.
No one will explain it to me.
We'll be everything that we ever need.
Everyone on the count of three.
Everyone on the count of three!
All together now!
Here it come, that heavy love.
We're never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
playing as the cylinder rose.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I only want to share in the load.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
Every new day is a gift; it's a song of redemption
Any expression of love is a way to return
To that place that I think of so often but now never mention
The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don’t deserve
Come fire, come water, come karma, we'e all in transition
The Wheel of Becoming erases the physical mind
Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation
And the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre, is it true what we're made of?
Why do I hide from the rain?
Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features
We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time
See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers
Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did I get so lost? I’m amazed
It's just so bizarre all the things I'm afraid of
Why do I hide from the rain?
Sure I had my doubts
But I know it now
We are jejune stars
So it starts again
At our childhood's end
It'll die young at heart
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre if it true what we're made of
Why do I hide from the rain?
(x)
Every new day is a gift; it's a song of redemption
Any expression of love is a way to return
To that place that I think of so often but now never mention
The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don’t deserve
Come fire, come water, come karma, we'e all in transition
The Wheel of Becoming erases the physical mind
Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation
And the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre, is it true what we're made of?
Why do I hide from the rain?
Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features
We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time
See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers
Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did I get so lost? I’m amazed
It's just so bizarre all the things I'm afraid of
Why do I hide from the rain?
Sure I had my doubts
But I know it now
We are jejune stars
So it starts again
At our childhood's end
It'll die young at heart
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre if it true what we're made of
Why do I hide from the rain?
I used to dream of time machines
Now it’s been said we're post-everything
As a child imagining
Neck ties and Coast lines
I seen the show man, what a sight
Drenched us in approximated sunlight
The crowd was small and mostly blind
But kind, you're too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again on that circular trip
Lick the solar plexus of some L.A. shaman
I'm out of breath I'd better sit
Been living, hard living
All I do is follow you around
I wouldn't waste another thought
On what is fair and what is not
The quinceañera dress she bought
Was unstitched with bullets
All the guests in the garden screamed
Women and tires squealing
Such opulence, such misery
Unwinding, unwinding
All I do is follow you around
All I do is follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
(x)
I used to dream of time machines
Now it’s been said we're post-everything
As a child imagining
Neck ties and Coast lines
I seen the show man, what a sight
Drenched us in approximated sunlight
The crowd was small and mostly blind
But kind, you're too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again on that circular trip
Lick the solar plexus of some L.A. shaman
I'm out of breath I'd better sit
Been living, hard living
All I do is follow you around
I wouldn't waste another thought
On what is fair and what is not
The quinceañera dress she bought
Was unstitched with bullets
All the guests in the garden screamed
Women and tires squealing
Such opulence, such misery
Unwinding, unwinding
All I do is follow you around
All I do is follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
Pilgrim across the water
We are the same, brother
Hitchhiking back to Zion
Holding our tears as we flip the album
What if this leads to ruin?
You got a soul, use it
All this despair forgiven
Rolling away on a wheel of sevens
Seems like the Queen of Sheba
Voice through a blown speaker
One drop and bubbling Leslie
Calling me home like Haile Selassie
Pilgrim beside the fire
Its been a long winter
We got a lot in common
Cover our heads as they split the atom
All of our days are numbered
I take in some comfort in knowing the wave has crested
Knowing I don't have to be an exception
Children they fill the bleachers
One is the next Caesar
Keep all their minds collected
Until it comes
Until it comes
Hide the Omega day
In plain sight
Too good to be true
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
Pilgrim upon the mountain
Bare foot and still climbing
Filling the book of hours
Day after day in the filth and squalor
We are the chosen people
Safe from the next evil
One Love! Magnetic memory
Reel after reel, spinning within me
I had the wildest dream last night
I was swimming with you in that Cenote the Heavens made with black fire
Just woke up too soon
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
(x)
Pilgrim across the water
We are the same, brother
Hitchhiking back to Zion
Holding our tears as we flip the album
What if this leads to ruin?
You got a soul, use it
All this despair forgiven
Rolling away on a wheel of sevens
Seems like the Queen of Sheba
Voice through a blown speaker
One drop and bubbling Leslie
Calling me home like Haile Selassie
Pilgrim beside the fire
Its been a long winter
We got a lot in common
Cover our heads as they split the atom
All of our days are numbered
I take in some comfort in knowing the wave has crested
Knowing I don't have to be an exception
Children they fill the bleachers
One is the next Caesar
Keep all their minds collected
Until it comes
Until it comes
Hide the Omega day
In plain sight
Too good to be true
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
Pilgrim upon the mountain
Bare foot and still climbing
Filling the book of hours
Day after day in the filth and squalor
We are the chosen people
Safe from the next evil
One Love! Magnetic memory
Reel after reel, spinning within me
I had the wildest dream last night
I was swimming with you in that Cenote the Heavens made with black fire
Just woke up too soon
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
The People's Key ringing through arena seats
The black machine played it all from memory
A fever dream, well, I'll come back eventually
To wade into the water, another and another we go
Form some kind of code
The bodies float
And form some kind of code
The bodies float
Someone is out to know
Papa Hobo don't hide your eyes
Mother Mountain don't kill your unborn child
His day is coming
His day is coming
A question burns beneath the centuries of dirt
That voice you've heard, well, every head is a different world
Where mine is concerned, I boarded up the windows
A catatonic plateau, a backwards, black-faced minstrel show
So just let me go
The prisoner moans
Oh just let me go
The prisoner moans
No one has to know
Eva Braun went to dye her hair
Little Hitler sat in his giant's chair
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed and dreamed and dreamed
The People's Key ringing filling everything
The theme repeats, thinner than the galaxy
Impart to me your wisdom and eventually
I'll float into the ether, another from another we grow
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
We form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
No, you are not alone
History bows and it steps aside
In the jungle there are columns of purple light
We are starting over
We are starting
We are starting
(x)
The People's Key ringing through arena seats
The black machine played it all from memory
A fever dream, well, I'll come back eventually
To wade into the water, another and another we go
Form some kind of code
The bodies float
And form some kind of code
The bodies float
Someone is out to know
Papa Hobo don't hide your eyes
Mother Mountain don't kill your unborn child
His day is coming
His day is coming
A question burns beneath the centuries of dirt
That voice you've heard, well, every head is a different world
Where mine is concerned, I boarded up the windows
A catatonic plateau, a backwards, black-faced minstrel show
So just let me go
The prisoner moans
Oh just let me go
The prisoner moans
No one has to know
Eva Braun went to dye her hair
Little Hitler sat in his giant's chair
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed and dreamed and dreamed
The People's Key ringing filling everything
The theme repeats, thinner than the galaxy
Impart to me your wisdom and eventually
I'll float into the ether, another from another we grow
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
We form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
No, you are not alone
History bows and it steps aside
In the jungle there are columns of purple light
We are starting over
We are starting
We are starting
I loved a Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
I folded my devotion into an origami rose
Stood at her Tiffany window, she said to look below
Could I see the town was burning?
Could I see the broken prison?
Could I see that it was time for me to go?
They looted the museum and took all that they could hold
A motorcade of flatbed trucks made off with quite a haul
That's when I heard someone shout,
In with the new! Out with the old!
A dusty box of letters
A rusting suit of armor
A casket made of fourteen karat gold
That's the problem
No sense of time
She is shaped just like an hourglass there laying on her side
I loved you Triple Spiral father, son and ghost
But you left me in my darkest hour when I needed you,
when I needed you
Now that the dream is over I want it to be known
That I never saw it coming
Through my little human prism
How sad it is to know I'm in control
That's the problem
An empty sky
I fill it up with everything that is missing from my life
Where did you come from?
You fated sign
Spinning through the centuries expanding all the time
Three worlds at once that blend together
Three times I cried for us but I felt better then
I loved you Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
You found me in this fallow state, my mind was off and stowed
I heard your strange commotion and wished I could go home
To live a little longer
A full Indian summer
Long enough to carve you into stone
(x)
I loved a Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
I folded my devotion into an origami rose
Stood at her Tiffany window, she said to look below
Could I see the town was burning?
Could I see the broken prison?
Could I see that it was time for me to go?
They looted the museum and took all that they could hold
A motorcade of flatbed trucks made off with quite a haul
That's when I heard someone shout,
In with the new! Out with the old!
A dusty box of letters
A rusting suit of armor
A casket made of fourteen karat gold
That's the problem
No sense of time
She is shaped just like an hourglass there laying on her side
I loved you Triple Spiral father, son and ghost
But you left me in my darkest hour when I needed you,
when I needed you
Now that the dream is over I want it to be known
That I never saw it coming
Through my little human prism
How sad it is to know I'm in control
That's the problem
An empty sky
I fill it up with everything that is missing from my life
Where did you come from?
You fated sign
Spinning through the centuries expanding all the time
Three worlds at once that blend together
Three times I cried for us but I felt better then
I loved you Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
You found me in this fallow state, my mind was off and stowed
I heard your strange commotion and wished I could go home
To live a little longer
A full Indian summer
Long enough to carve you into stone
Hold on tight beginners mind
The wheel is spinning too
Fast to make your move
The worst must be assumed
Oh how they'll try to pull and pry
Away what you know now
Beat and beat it out
Leave a drum that makes no sound
A snuff film on a jumbotron
For all the world to see
A cocktail napkin epitaph
Some psychobabel telegram
Message written in the sand
The tide rolls in
Swear you'll do the opposite
Of all those tangled hypocrites
Who say that the experiment has failed
Don't go there
You're getting nowhere
You're getting nowhere
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your tricks
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
Oh, how you've grown so cynical
Hard lines carved in your face
The sunshine's so cliche
Just like love and pain
You tried your best on the rorschach test
But there's just nothing to see
Heard terabytes of a perfect pitch
Some universal elegance
Stack the seventh and the fifth
Along the grid
Swear you'll be the opposite
Of all the stilted hypocrites
You know what made you infamous to them, don't you
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
Hold on tight beginner's mind
The currents far too strong
It'll carry you along
Till you're just like everyone
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your trick
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
(x)
Hold on tight beginners mind
The wheel is spinning too
Fast to make your move
The worst must be assumed
Oh how they'll try to pull and pry
Away what you know now
Beat and beat it out
Leave a drum that makes no sound
A snuff film on a jumbotron
For all the world to see
A cocktail napkin epitaph
Some psychobabel telegram
Message written in the sand
The tide rolls in
Swear you'll do the opposite
Of all those tangled hypocrites
Who say that the experiment has failed
Don't go there
You're getting nowhere
You're getting nowhere
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your tricks
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
Oh, how you've grown so cynical
Hard lines carved in your face
The sunshine's so cliche
Just like love and pain
You tried your best on the rorschach test
But there's just nothing to see
Heard terabytes of a perfect pitch
Some universal elegance
Stack the seventh and the fifth
Along the grid
Swear you'll be the opposite
Of all the stilted hypocrites
You know what made you infamous to them, don't you
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
Hold on tight beginner's mind
The currents far too strong
It'll carry you along
Till you're just like everyone
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your trick
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
No one knows where the ladder goes
You're gonna lose what you love the most
You're not alone in anything
You're not unique in dying
I Feel a strange day every now and then
Fall asleep reading science fiction
I wanna fly in your silver ship
Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit
It's on now
The days are long now
The ups and the sun downs
And a twisting mind
If I gotta go first
I'll do it on my terms
I'm tired of traitors
Always changing sides
They were friends of mine
Don't hang around once the promise breaks
Or you'll be there when the next one's made
Kiss the feet of a charlatan
Some imagined freedom
All the rest is predictable
You can say you're the first to know
Bought a mantra to concentrate
Car alarm or hissing snake
I know now
How it's gonna turn now
You've got to calm down
Or I'll lose my place
Got to get to the center
Got to get to the concert
Run off with a dancer
Gonna celebrate
We'll welcome the new age
Covered in warrior paint
Lights from the jungle to the sky
See now a star is born
Looks just like a blood orange
Don't it just make you want to cry?
Precious friend of mine
Will I know when it's finally done?
This whole life is a hallucination
You're not alone in anything
You're not alone in trying to be
(x)
No one knows where the ladder goes
You're gonna lose what you love the most
You're not alone in anything
You're not unique in dying
I Feel a strange day every now and then
Fall asleep reading science fiction
I wanna fly in your silver ship
Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit
It's on now
The days are long now
The ups and the sun downs
And a twisting mind
If I gotta go first
I'll do it on my terms
I'm tired of traitors
Always changing sides
They were friends of mine
Don't hang around once the promise breaks
Or you'll be there when the next one's made
Kiss the feet of a charlatan
Some imagined freedom
All the rest is predictable
You can say you're the first to know
Bought a mantra to concentrate
Car alarm or hissing snake
I know now
How it's gonna turn now
You've got to calm down
Or I'll lose my place
Got to get to the center
Got to get to the concert
Run off with a dancer
Gonna celebrate
We'll welcome the new age
Covered in warrior paint
Lights from the jungle to the sky
See now a star is born
Looks just like a blood orange
Don't it just make you want to cry?
Precious friend of mine
Will I know when it's finally done?
This whole life is a hallucination
You're not alone in anything
You're not alone in trying to be
One for the righteous
One for the ruling class
One for the tyrant
One for the slaughtered lamb
One for the struggle
One for the lasting peace
One for you and One for me
One for the Führer
One for his child bride
One for the wedding
One for the suicide
One for the bunker
One for the broadcast booth
One for me, now One for you
How did we get so far away from us?
How did we get so far away?
One for the people
One for the parliament
One for the weary
One for the malcontent
One for the master
One for the protege
One for you and One for me
One for the breadlines
One for the billionaires
One for the for the missing
One for the barely there
One for the certain
One for the real confused
One for me, okay, now One for you
Now that we've come so far away from us
Now that we've come too far to say
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I
(x)
One for the righteous
One for the ruling class
One for the tyrant
One for the slaughtered lamb
One for the struggle
One for the lasting peace
One for you and One for me
One for the Führer
One for his child bride
One for the wedding
One for the suicide
One for the bunker
One for the broadcast booth
One for me, now One for you
How did we get so far away from us?
How did we get so far away?
One for the people
One for the parliament
One for the weary
One for the malcontent
One for the master
One for the protege
One for you and One for me
One for the breadlines
One for the billionaires
One for the for the missing
One for the barely there
One for the certain
One for the real confused
One for me, okay, now One for you
Now that we've come so far away from us
Now that we've come too far to say
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I

Bright Eyes
Singularity
Saddle Creek , 2011
7" vinyl, single
Auf 2000 Stück limitiertes farbiges Vinyl, das mit dem I Want it All Komplett-Paket für The People's Key kam.
(x)
There's someone looking out for you
At least that's what I would assume
Always sleeping in a different bed
Never had a lot of refuse
Never saw a reason to
It's just the way of things
When jumping on a trampoline
You should expect some ups and downs
Nothing can surprise you now
Everything's the way it seems
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
It's coming for you
You're trapped inside a pocket watch
You're living in a little box
Keep looking for a looking glass
To take you there and bring you back
That plan's always falling through
Time can fly, but it can't be saved
Always gets away
You've just grown so tired from the chase
Each moment defines you
It always reminds you
You're never the same
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
In the real world, it just keeps coming true
In the real world, they've been waiting for you
They've been waiting for you
(x)
There's someone looking out for you
At least that's what I would assume
Always sleeping in a different bed
Never had a lot of refuse
Never saw a reason to
It's just the way of things
When jumping on a trampoline
You should expect some ups and downs
Nothing can surprise you now
Everything's the way it seems
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
It's coming for you
You're trapped inside a pocket watch
You're living in a little box
Keep looking for a looking glass
To take you there and bring you back
That plan's always falling through
Time can fly, but it can't be saved
Always gets away
You've just grown so tired from the chase
Each moment defines you
It always reminds you
You're never the same
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
In the real world, it just keeps coming true
In the real world, they've been waiting for you
They've been waiting for you
Bright Eyes
One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels
Saddle Creek , 2010
cd, album
Split Album mit Neva Dinova.
1,3,5,7,9: Neva Dinova
2010 erschein die Platte nochmals auf Saddle Creek mit 4 Bonus Songs.
Spring Cleaning geschrieben von Bright Eyes und gespielt von Neva Dinova
There's a lot of things I could have done
Little tokens of my love
That I was always saving up to spend
It's the thought that counts, I guess
Even ones that don't make sense
Even when it's easy to forget
To much time for the self-employed
I heard you scream in your mother's voice
So afraid you'd become her in the end
You want a life that you cannot live
But that is what keeps you competitive
Throw another shower for a friend
Tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
For the sake now of the argument
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
Not yet a mother but a good complex
You like the boys when they're scared of sex
What a shame that they grow up to be men
Well, maybe father does know best
And that's the reason why he left
All your pride to the last ditch you defend
It took a while to accept our fate
And all the chance it eliminates
Once we did there was nothing to pretend
Always say there's a time and place
So maybe ours will consolidate
If they do I will greet you as a friend
You can show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, show me where it is
Now you found it all by accident
C'mon, show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
(x)
There's a lot of things I could have done
Little tokens of my love
That I was always saving up to spend
It's the thought that counts, I guess
Even ones that don't make sense
Even when it's easy to forget
To much time for the self-employed
I heard you scream in your mother's voice
So afraid you'd become her in the end
You want a life that you cannot live
But that is what keeps you competitive
Throw another shower for a friend
Tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
For the sake now of the argument
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
Not yet a mother but a good complex
You like the boys when they're scared of sex
What a shame that they grow up to be men
Well, maybe father does know best
And that's the reason why he left
All your pride to the last ditch you defend
It took a while to accept our fate
And all the chance it eliminates
Once we did there was nothing to pretend
Always say there's a time and place
So maybe ours will consolidate
If they do I will greet you as a friend
You can show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, show me where it is
Now you found it all by accident
C'mon, show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
walking with you through the courtyard
where everything's marble and smooth
you said the idea of perfection
was just fundamentally cruel
and talked about joining the circus
and trading your face for a mask
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
we made quite a pair in the morning
we both tend to traffic in dreams
seeing it now from the outside
you kept all your dark ones for me
and said that you plan to go rambling
as you sat on that big windowsill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
you long to go hide in the bramble
or fall off the face of the earth
you wish you could live with the beggars
on the steps of some crumbling church
you say that you'd like to go hungry
but the truth is you just had your fill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
on sundays, you stroll through the market
and feel like you've traveled through time
buying back all your possessions
that were stolen in some former life
returned to me, tied in a corset
to say "don't you know who i am?"
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
been trying to make an invention
something the world's never seen
to sweep away all of the trouble
and leave the place shiny and clean
patent your brave new creation
and hold it right there in your hand
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
i waited for you at the landing
the water was crystal and calm
all these ideas of forever
are just fundamentally wrong
you say that your love makes you honest
then you're caught with your hand in the till
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
(x)
walking with you through the courtyard
where everything's marble and smooth
you said the idea of perfection
was just fundamentally cruel
and talked about joining the circus
and trading your face for a mask
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
we made quite a pair in the morning
we both tend to traffic in dreams
seeing it now from the outside
you kept all your dark ones for me
and said that you plan to go rambling
as you sat on that big windowsill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
you long to go hide in the bramble
or fall off the face of the earth
you wish you could live with the beggars
on the steps of some crumbling church
you say that you'd like to go hungry
but the truth is you just had your fill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
on sundays, you stroll through the market
and feel like you've traveled through time
buying back all your possessions
that were stolen in some former life
returned to me, tied in a corset
to say "don't you know who i am?"
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
been trying to make an invention
something the world's never seen
to sweep away all of the trouble
and leave the place shiny and clean
patent your brave new creation
and hold it right there in your hand
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
i waited for you at the landing
the water was crystal and calm
all these ideas of forever
are just fundamentally wrong
you say that your love makes you honest
then you're caught with your hand in the till
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
(x)
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
You said they laid out lots of coke
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
(x)
You said they laid out lots of coke
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
(x)
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
Bright Eyes
Four Winds
Saddle Creek , 2007
cd, ep
(x)
My friend you were the model
A priceless work of art
Boys would fashion their emotions
To the pattern of your heart
And I heard you wrote that record
For a girl you loved but died
I'm here sewing mine together
Just hoping you're alive
And I know you'll never come back now
To the world where people are
Because you never understood
What they loved you for
Now ghosts, they have their secrets
And they'll tell them to a few
So you could never pay attention
When they're whispering to you
There were many talents you possessed
That I wished myself to have
But the way your eyes would gloss over
Well, I never envied that
And I doubt you'll ever come back now
From wherever it is you are
Because you never understood
What we loved you for
I'm sure the TV sets will tell us
When someone reinvents the wheel
Until then I'll have a million conversations
About shit that isn't real
But I've tried to breathe in meaning
Dig deep to every gasp of air
Because I know you did the same thing
For as long as you could bear
I guess everything just circles around
To where it was before
So I hope I see you soon
In some other form
(x)
My friend you were the model
A priceless work of art
Boys would fashion their emotions
To the pattern of your heart
And I heard you wrote that record
For a girl you loved but died
I'm here sewing mine together
Just hoping you're alive
And I know you'll never come back now
To the world where people are
Because you never understood
What they loved you for
Now ghosts, they have their secrets
And they'll tell them to a few
So you could never pay attention
When they're whispering to you
There were many talents you possessed
That I wished myself to have
But the way your eyes would gloss over
Well, I never envied that
And I doubt you'll ever come back now
From wherever it is you are
Because you never understood
What we loved you for
I'm sure the TV sets will tell us
When someone reinvents the wheel
Until then I'll have a million conversations
About shit that isn't real
But I've tried to breathe in meaning
Dig deep to every gasp of air
Because I know you did the same thing
For as long as you could bear
I guess everything just circles around
To where it was before
So I hope I see you soon
In some other form
Come on in, my weary friend
The welcome here is endless
These fears of yours, like painted whores
They will not stay the night
If all your life you've done what's right
Dont say you felt obliged
Come on along, is your timid tongue
Too shy to tell your story?
This pain in you so far removed
From anything youve known
So I wont condone another moan
When everything is fine
So when in drought, learn to dance
And pray the dead would return
Dream smoke without fire
Just come see me again when it burns
Somewhere along the way
Well, I was led astray
By a wolf in no one's clothing
It was a brilliant disguise
And I forgot that life existed
I thought it was just some kind of game
That's what brings me to your doorstep
Though I dont know why I came today
Standing still in the dust
Giving up on the rain
As with smoke without fire
I've already laid in the flames
I've already laid in the flames
Brother, be afraid of the flames
(x)
Come on in, my weary friend
The welcome here is endless
These fears of yours, like painted whores
They will not stay the night
If all your life you've done what's right
Dont say you felt obliged
Come on along, is your timid tongue
Too shy to tell your story?
This pain in you so far removed
From anything youve known
So I wont condone another moan
When everything is fine
So when in drought, learn to dance
And pray the dead would return
Dream smoke without fire
Just come see me again when it burns
Somewhere along the way
Well, I was led astray
By a wolf in no one's clothing
It was a brilliant disguise
And I forgot that life existed
I thought it was just some kind of game
That's what brings me to your doorstep
Though I dont know why I came today
Standing still in the dust
Giving up on the rain
As with smoke without fire
I've already laid in the flames
I've already laid in the flames
Brother, be afraid of the flames
There's a skinny dog
In a dirty parking lot
And he doesn't bite
But he begs
And he knows what's true
So if you are, he'll follow you
If you're headed home
All the way
So we let him finish
Every dinner plate
And we watched his tail say thanks, thanks, thanks
And we tried to name him
But he ran away
Once he knew his freedom was at stake
This same old shit
So it's how you deal with it
It's the glove that fits
That you wear
So when the wind blows strong
I put a few more layers on
And I tell myself
I don't care
I might make a phone call
To a better man
To ask the questions that I have, have, have
Like how do I get started
And where's it going to end?
Why should I treat a traitor like a friend?
(x)
There's a skinny dog
In a dirty parking lot
And he doesn't bite
But he begs
And he knows what's true
So if you are, he'll follow you
If you're headed home
All the way
So we let him finish
Every dinner plate
And we watched his tail say thanks, thanks, thanks
And we tried to name him
But he ran away
Once he knew his freedom was at stake
This same old shit
So it's how you deal with it
It's the glove that fits
That you wear
So when the wind blows strong
I put a few more layers on
And I tell myself
I don't care
I might make a phone call
To a better man
To ask the questions that I have, have, have
Like how do I get started
And where's it going to end?
Why should I treat a traitor like a friend?
I listened to a lecture of nonsense until dawn
By a plagiary poet with dark glasses on
He said, "How did you ever dream up that song
The one where the baby dies?"
I said, "I'll tell you the secret, which one's your good ear?
Yeah, people are made up of water and fear
If there weren't women present we wouldn't be here
So let's make like we're friends"
And the pot turned to powder and soured the mood
And the people I'd come with were gone from the room
So I asked like a child, "May I be excused?"
And disobeyed them all
Into that late-night latrine, rain soaking through my shoes
I tried walking backwards to get less confused
Working off the theory I could never prove
That it was life itself to blame
And time ruined the world
Like a failed revolution
A tumor we could not remove
An old friend, a constant, the blues
Now my days are distractions, sit wringing my hands
Solitaire, crosswords and films on demand
When you turn from a cartoon back into a man
You start to smell that human smell
So I sleep with the fan on to drown out the street
And the noise rising up from the bar underneath
But for that inconvenience all my drinks are free
So I guess it's just as well
Why do I envy the ending right from the start
Just get it together to take it apart
Watching the horse as it follows the cart
I sweep up my broken spell
And I felt something changing the world
Like a new constitution
A thief I would have to pursue
At all times, at all costs, the truth
(x)
I listened to a lecture of nonsense until dawn
By a plagiary poet with dark glasses on
He said, "How did you ever dream up that song
The one where the baby dies?"
I said, "I'll tell you the secret, which one's your good ear?
Yeah, people are made up of water and fear
If there weren't women present we wouldn't be here
So let's make like we're friends"
And the pot turned to powder and soured the mood
And the people I'd come with were gone from the room
So I asked like a child, "May I be excused?"
And disobeyed them all
Into that late-night latrine, rain soaking through my shoes
I tried walking backwards to get less confused
Working off the theory I could never prove
That it was life itself to blame
And time ruined the world
Like a failed revolution
A tumor we could not remove
An old friend, a constant, the blues
Now my days are distractions, sit wringing my hands
Solitaire, crosswords and films on demand
When you turn from a cartoon back into a man
You start to smell that human smell
So I sleep with the fan on to drown out the street
And the noise rising up from the bar underneath
But for that inconvenience all my drinks are free
So I guess it's just as well
Why do I envy the ending right from the start
Just get it together to take it apart
Watching the horse as it follows the cart
I sweep up my broken spell
And I felt something changing the world
Like a new constitution
A thief I would have to pursue
At all times, at all costs, the truth
It's not the road we used to know
They tore some buildings down
The traffic's like a pack of dogs
There's fewer trees, windows, fleas
There's concrete on the lawn
There's people here but you are gone
And I find still swimming through time
Afraid some days I've reached the shore
"Make yourself free"
Man said back to me
Now my heart is like an open door
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
It's not my weight that makes me faint
Or the sugar in my blood
But the way these strangers stand so close
They say my name like a guessing game
"Is that really you?"
No, I dont think it ever was
In the spring
When the world's turning green
I only think about the fall
The frets on the board
My progression of chords
Oh, how I want this to resolve
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
Now the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
Anymore
(x)
It's not the road we used to know
They tore some buildings down
The traffic's like a pack of dogs
There's fewer trees, windows, fleas
There's concrete on the lawn
There's people here but you are gone
And I find still swimming through time
Afraid some days I've reached the shore
"Make yourself free"
Man said back to me
Now my heart is like an open door
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
It's not my weight that makes me faint
Or the sugar in my blood
But the way these strangers stand so close
They say my name like a guessing game
"Is that really you?"
No, I dont think it ever was
In the spring
When the world's turning green
I only think about the fall
The frets on the board
My progression of chords
Oh, how I want this to resolve
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
Now the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
Anymore
Bright Eyes
Cassadaga
Saddle Creek , 2007
cd, album
(x)
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
His body's decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen the sun
Cast off the schools of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the son of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
With four winds, levelling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't compete with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
(x)
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
His body's decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen the sun
Cast off the schools of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the son of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
With four winds, levelling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't compete with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
When panic grips your body and your heart is a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
All this automatic writing I have tried to understand
From a psychedelic angel who was tugging on my hand
It's an infinite coincidence but it doesn't form a plan
So I'm headed for New England or the Paris of the South
Gonna find myself somewhere to level out
Are your brothels full, Oh Babylon, with merry Middlemen?
Never peer out of their periscopes from those deep opium dens
All this death must need a counterweight always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out
I tried to pass for nothing
But my dreams gave me away
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
People snuffed out in the brutal rain
I could live to any age
If the Brakeman turns my way
It is an old world it's hard to remember
Like a dime store mystery
I'm a repeat first time offender
Who has rewritten history
Mixed up tea leaves
Phantom Pain
Fuzzy logic in the crazy rain
Getting better every day
If the Brakeman turns my way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the blinding rain
He'll be smiling as he seals my fate
When the Brakeman turns my way
(x)
When panic grips your body and your heart is a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
All this automatic writing I have tried to understand
From a psychedelic angel who was tugging on my hand
It's an infinite coincidence but it doesn't form a plan
So I'm headed for New England or the Paris of the South
Gonna find myself somewhere to level out
Are your brothels full, Oh Babylon, with merry Middlemen?
Never peer out of their periscopes from those deep opium dens
All this death must need a counterweight always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out
I tried to pass for nothing
But my dreams gave me away
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
People snuffed out in the brutal rain
I could live to any age
If the Brakeman turns my way
It is an old world it's hard to remember
Like a dime store mystery
I'm a repeat first time offender
Who has rewritten history
Mixed up tea leaves
Phantom Pain
Fuzzy logic in the crazy rain
Getting better every day
If the Brakeman turns my way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the blinding rain
He'll be smiling as he seals my fate
When the Brakeman turns my way
The Wife forgave the Mistress for she only entertained
The pain was gone the instant she cleared her throat to speak her name
Said, "Both of us must suffer from the same unending ache"
The world was not of interest though her days were never dull
Her bed beneath a crucifix on guests performing miracles
With the Son of God just hanging like a common criminal
When I do wrong I am with God, she thought
When I feel lost I am not at all
So give me Black Light (Give Give me)
So give me Hot Knives (Deep Clean sleep)
On a dance floor no one tells time (There is no time)
Oh, I've made love, yeah, I've been fucked, so what?
I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up
She went to see a Mystic who made medicine from rain
And gave up her existence to feel everything, dream others' dreams
Bid farewell to her family with one ecstatic wave (Please take care I love you all)
Out the window as the car rolled away
She just vanished into a thick mist of change
So let us rejoice (Let's Rejoice!)
In all this Pink Noise (Out Pink Noise!)
An oscillation that we can pin point (We're right here!)
(x)
The Wife forgave the Mistress for she only entertained
The pain was gone the instant she cleared her throat to speak her name
Said, "Both of us must suffer from the same unending ache"
The world was not of interest though her days were never dull
Her bed beneath a crucifix on guests performing miracles
With the Son of God just hanging like a common criminal
When I do wrong I am with God, she thought
When I feel lost I am not at all
So give me Black Light (Give Give me)
So give me Hot Knives (Deep Clean sleep)
On a dance floor no one tells time (There is no time)
Oh, I've made love, yeah, I've been fucked, so what?
I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up
She went to see a Mystic who made medicine from rain
And gave up her existence to feel everything, dream others' dreams
Bid farewell to her family with one ecstatic wave (Please take care I love you all)
Out the window as the car rolled away
She just vanished into a thick mist of change
So let us rejoice (Let's Rejoice!)
In all this Pink Noise (Out Pink Noise!)
An oscillation that we can pin point (We're right here!)
I heard you're scheming new pyramids
Another big idea to get you rich
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
You said you had your foot in the door
You buy and you sell, you buy some more
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is too short
Death doesn't ask
It don't owe you that
Some things you lose
You don't get back
So just know what you have
And make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is Too $hort
To be a fool
I don't owe you that
Do what you feel
Whatever is cool
But I just have to ask
First you want to ride off into the Sun
Then you want to shoot straight to the Moon
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
When you are young the world is a Ferris Wheer
I know we will grow old it is lovely, still
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Will you make a plan to love me?
(x)
I heard you're scheming new pyramids
Another big idea to get you rich
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
You said you had your foot in the door
You buy and you sell, you buy some more
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is too short
Death doesn't ask
It don't owe you that
Some things you lose
You don't get back
So just know what you have
And make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is Too $hort
To be a fool
I don't owe you that
Do what you feel
Whatever is cool
But I just have to ask
First you want to ride off into the Sun
Then you want to shoot straight to the Moon
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
When you are young the world is a Ferris Wheer
I know we will grow old it is lovely, still
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Will you make a plan to love me?
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
Now a red carpet bagger makes a Blackberry call
To the plastic piranhas in the city of salt
Wasted wheat paste campaign post no bills on the wall
You mean nothing to no one but that's nobody's fault
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
I had a lengthy discussion about The Power of Myth
With a post-modern author who didn't exist
In this fictitious world all reality twists
I was a hopeless romantic now I'm just turning tricks
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded confetti beneath a microphone stand
Saw the Conflict of Interest slipping cash in the hand
Of the Soul Singer in the session band
His room is on fire since he painted it red
There are a stranger's silk sequins at the foot of the bed
He has been to weddings and funerals but he still never wept
Now sorrow is pleasure when you want it instead
Just like the Soul Singer in the session band
Wailed like an infant atop a white baby grand
We'll need every sand bag and every man
To save the Soul Singer in the session band
Headlights or Taillights it's a flip of a coin
I have been coming and going since the day I was born
And I followed the breadcrumbs but I never got home
I grew old in an instant now I am all on my own
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to nothing beneath the microphone stand
Saw the wave of the future through the crack of the dam
Drowned the Soul Singer in the session band
Bless the Soul singer in the session band
(x)
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
Now a red carpet bagger makes a Blackberry call
To the plastic piranhas in the city of salt
Wasted wheat paste campaign post no bills on the wall
You mean nothing to no one but that's nobody's fault
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
I had a lengthy discussion about The Power of Myth
With a post-modern author who didn't exist
In this fictitious world all reality twists
I was a hopeless romantic now I'm just turning tricks
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded confetti beneath a microphone stand
Saw the Conflict of Interest slipping cash in the hand
Of the Soul Singer in the session band
His room is on fire since he painted it red
There are a stranger's silk sequins at the foot of the bed
He has been to weddings and funerals but he still never wept
Now sorrow is pleasure when you want it instead
Just like the Soul Singer in the session band
Wailed like an infant atop a white baby grand
We'll need every sand bag and every man
To save the Soul Singer in the session band
Headlights or Taillights it's a flip of a coin
I have been coming and going since the day I was born
And I followed the breadcrumbs but I never got home
I grew old in an instant now I am all on my own
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to nothing beneath the microphone stand
Saw the wave of the future through the crack of the dam
Drowned the Soul Singer in the session band
Bless the Soul singer in the session band
She was a real royal lady, true patron of the arts
She said the best country singers die in the back of classic cars
So if I ever got too hungry for a suitcase or guitar
To think of them all alone in the dark
So I laid some nights beside her in a bed made for a queen
She said I kissed her different, that all the men her age were mean
Gave me anything I wanted, Oh the generosity
I took all that I could, it was free
Now the sky is a torn up denim and the clouds are just splattered paint
It's a room I'm renovating; it's a name I got to change
If I get out of California I'm going back to my home state
To tell them all that I made a mistake
And I keep looking for that blindfold faith
Lighting candles to a cynical saint
Who wants the last laugh at the fly trapped in the windowsill tape
You can go right out of your mind trying to escape
From the panicked paradox of day to day
If you can't understand something then it's best to be afraid
The whole world it loves you if you are a chic chameleon
Intersecting circles she could hang with anyone
But when conducting business she would lie about where she's from
Saying, "Life is how it is not how it was"
I learned to listen felt like I was back at school
She'd talk forever about the phases of the moon
Saying, "Everything is a cycle, you've got to let it come to you
And when it does, you will know what to do"
Without even knowing I guess I took her advice
Painted her front door it seemed a suitable goodbye
It's not that often but I think of her sometimes
Just something quaint, a couple ships in the night
And they keep moving at a glacial pace
Turning circles in a memory maze
I made a new cast of the death mask that is gonna cover my face
I had to change the combination to the safe
Hide it all behind a wall let people wait
And never trust a heart that is so bent it can't break
(x)
She was a real royal lady, true patron of the arts
She said the best country singers die in the back of classic cars
So if I ever got too hungry for a suitcase or guitar
To think of them all alone in the dark
So I laid some nights beside her in a bed made for a queen
She said I kissed her different, that all the men her age were mean
Gave me anything I wanted, Oh the generosity
I took all that I could, it was free
Now the sky is a torn up denim and the clouds are just splattered paint
It's a room I'm renovating; it's a name I got to change
If I get out of California I'm going back to my home state
To tell them all that I made a mistake
And I keep looking for that blindfold faith
Lighting candles to a cynical saint
Who wants the last laugh at the fly trapped in the windowsill tape
You can go right out of your mind trying to escape
From the panicked paradox of day to day
If you can't understand something then it's best to be afraid
The whole world it loves you if you are a chic chameleon
Intersecting circles she could hang with anyone
But when conducting business she would lie about where she's from
Saying, "Life is how it is not how it was"
I learned to listen felt like I was back at school
She'd talk forever about the phases of the moon
Saying, "Everything is a cycle, you've got to let it come to you
And when it does, you will know what to do"
Without even knowing I guess I took her advice
Painted her front door it seemed a suitable goodbye
It's not that often but I think of her sometimes
Just something quaint, a couple ships in the night
And they keep moving at a glacial pace
Turning circles in a memory maze
I made a new cast of the death mask that is gonna cover my face
I had to change the combination to the safe
Hide it all behind a wall let people wait
And never trust a heart that is so bent it can't break
I traveled though the atmosphere as a wall of feedback climbed
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You will never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright just like I keep my exits wide
'Cause I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
The dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are fine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real reply
It is the only true reply
(x)
I traveled though the atmosphere as a wall of feedback climbed
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You will never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright just like I keep my exits wide
'Cause I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
The dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are fine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real reply
It is the only true reply
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and all of this sorrow
See the new pyramids down in old Manhattan
From the roof of a friend's I watched an empire ending
Heard it loud and long the river's Om
Time marching on to a madman's drum
Don't forget what you've learned all you give is returned
And if life seems absurd what you need is some laughter
And a season to sleep and a place to get clean
Maybe Los Angeles, somewhere no one is expecting
On a detox loft through a Glendale Park over sidewalk chalk
Someone wrote in red, "start over"
So I muffled my scream on an Oxnard beach
Full of fever dreams that scare you sober
Into saltless dinners
Take the fruit from the tree, break the skin with your teeth
Is it bitter or sweet? All depends on your timing
Like a meeting of chance with the train station glance
Many lifetimes had past in a instant reminded
Of a millstone house in a seaside town
When your heart gave out in a mission bed
So your wife gave birth to a funeral dirge
You woke up purged as a wailing infant
In Krug Thep, Thailand
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and our joy and our sorrow
(x)
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and all of this sorrow
See the new pyramids down in old Manhattan
From the roof of a friend's I watched an empire ending
Heard it loud and long the river's Om
Time marching on to a madman's drum
Don't forget what you've learned all you give is returned
And if life seems absurd what you need is some laughter
And a season to sleep and a place to get clean
Maybe Los Angeles, somewhere no one is expecting
On a detox loft through a Glendale Park over sidewalk chalk
Someone wrote in red, "start over"
So I muffled my scream on an Oxnard beach
Full of fever dreams that scare you sober
Into saltless dinners
Take the fruit from the tree, break the skin with your teeth
Is it bitter or sweet? All depends on your timing
Like a meeting of chance with the train station glance
Many lifetimes had past in a instant reminded
Of a millstone house in a seaside town
When your heart gave out in a mission bed
So your wife gave birth to a funeral dirge
You woke up purged as a wailing infant
In Krug Thep, Thailand
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and our joy and our sorrow
Death may come, invisible
Or in a holy wall of fire
In the breath between the markers
On some black I-80 mile
From the madness of the governments
To the vengeance of the sea
Everything is eclipsed
By the shape of destiny
So love me now
Hell is coming
Could you do it now?
Hell is here
Little soldier, little insect
You know war, it has no heart
It will kill you in the sunshine
Or just as happily in the dark
Well, kindness is a card game
Or a bent-up cigarette
In the trenches, in the hard rain
With the bullet and the bit
He says help me out
Hell is coming
Just kiss my mouth
Hell is here
Do you see the sterile soil
Poisoned sky
Yellow water
The final scraps of life
Bringing new tears
Wake, baby, wake
Leave that blanket around you
There's no where we're safe
I'm leaving this place
But there's nothing
I'm planning to take
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
(x)
Death may come, invisible
Or in a holy wall of fire
In the breath between the markers
On some black I-80 mile
From the madness of the governments
To the vengeance of the sea
Everything is eclipsed
By the shape of destiny
So love me now
Hell is coming
Could you do it now?
Hell is here
Little soldier, little insect
You know war, it has no heart
It will kill you in the sunshine
Or just as happily in the dark
Well, kindness is a card game
Or a bent-up cigarette
In the trenches, in the hard rain
With the bullet and the bit
He says help me out
Hell is coming
Just kiss my mouth
Hell is here
Do you see the sterile soil
Poisoned sky
Yellow water
The final scraps of life
Bringing new tears
Wake, baby, wake
Leave that blanket around you
There's no where we're safe
I'm leaving this place
But there's nothing
I'm planning to take
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
Shrill as a choir of children
Urgent like the first day of May
False and inflatable feeling
Tugs at my senses, big as the Macy's Parade
One brick on top of another
Such is the measure of man
Planets are inset like diamonds
On a gravity halo, eternity's wedding band
I slept with that dealer all summer
The ecstasy is still in my spine
Coat Check I couldn't remember
Walked into the winter, came out on the other side
In the South the sun is shining
Back in the East the lights went out
Stuck on a ladder to heaven
On trial way back in The Hague
Lullaby sounds from the engine
In my Styrofoam coffin, asleep on the interstate
Black globes, old symbols of freedom
A murderer still on the lam
Cities encircled in iron
On a great silver beltway, democracy's shackled hands
Seance that brought us together
Objects we move with our minds
Coat Check and I lost the number
Short sleeves in the winter, fell back through the other side
Out in the West the cars are crashing
Up in the North the ice gave out
Saada Tekmel B'Lhouria...
Houria...
(x)
Shrill as a choir of children
Urgent like the first day of May
False and inflatable feeling
Tugs at my senses, big as the Macy's Parade
One brick on top of another
Such is the measure of man
Planets are inset like diamonds
On a gravity halo, eternity's wedding band
I slept with that dealer all summer
The ecstasy is still in my spine
Coat Check I couldn't remember
Walked into the winter, came out on the other side
In the South the sun is shining
Back in the East the lights went out
Stuck on a ladder to heaven
On trial way back in The Hague
Lullaby sounds from the engine
In my Styrofoam coffin, asleep on the interstate
Black globes, old symbols of freedom
A murderer still on the lam
Cities encircled in iron
On a great silver beltway, democracy's shackled hands
Seance that brought us together
Objects we move with our minds
Coat Check and I lost the number
Short sleeves in the winter, fell back through the other side
Out in the West the cars are crashing
Up in the North the ice gave out
Saada Tekmel B'Lhouria...
Houria...
Leave the bright blue door on the whitewashed wall
Leave the death ledger under city hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today
Leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain
Leave the whimpering dog in his cold kennel
Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal
Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today
Just leave the sad guitar in its hardshell case
Leave the worried look on your lover's face
Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
A train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
Leave the epic poem on its yellowed page
Leave the grey macaw in its covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Sound stage in California, televisions in Times Square
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now that is why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed
Leave the garden tools in that rusted shed
Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today
Leave the restless ghost in his old hotel
Leave the homeless man in that cardboard cell
Let the painted horse on the carousel remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
In truth the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience
No witnesses, no witnesses
Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool
Leave the autumn leaves in their swimming pool
Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today
Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in his Rubik's cube
Let the true genius in the padded room remain
Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow
Leave the slot machines on the riverboat
Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today
Leave the hot bright trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitol
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
They locked the Devil in the basement, threw God up into the air
Everything it must belong somewhere
And you know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
You know it's true, why don't you leave me here?
(x)
Leave the bright blue door on the whitewashed wall
Leave the death ledger under city hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today
Leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain
Leave the whimpering dog in his cold kennel
Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal
Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today
Just leave the sad guitar in its hardshell case
Leave the worried look on your lover's face
Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
A train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
Leave the epic poem on its yellowed page
Leave the grey macaw in its covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Sound stage in California, televisions in Times Square
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now that is why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed
Leave the garden tools in that rusted shed
Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today
Leave the restless ghost in his old hotel
Leave the homeless man in that cardboard cell
Let the painted horse on the carousel remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
In truth the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience
No witnesses, no witnesses
Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool
Leave the autumn leaves in their swimming pool
Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today
Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in his Rubik's cube
Let the true genius in the padded room remain
Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow
Leave the slot machines on the riverboat
Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today
Leave the hot bright trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitol
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
They locked the Devil in the basement, threw God up into the air
Everything it must belong somewhere
And you know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
You know it's true, why don't you leave me here?
I keep floating down the river but the ocean never comes
Since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one
Now everything is imaginary, especially what you love
You left another message said it's done,
It's done
When I hear beautiful music it's always from another time
Old friends I never visit, I remember what they're like
Standing on a doorstep full of nervous butterflies
Waiting to be asked to come inside
Just come inside
But I keep going out
I can't sleep next to a stranger when I'm coming down
It's 8 a.m. my heart is beating too loud
Too loud
Don't be so amazing or I'll miss you too much
I felt something that I had never touched
Everything gets smaller now the further that I go
Towards the mouth and the reunion of the Known and the Unknown
Consider yourself lucky if you think of it as home
You can move mountains with your misery if you don't
If you don't
It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in two
Under the leaves of that old Lime Tree I stood examining the fruit
Some were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth
There will never be a time more opportune
So I just won't be late
The window closes, shock rolls over in a tidal wave
And all the color drains out of the frame
So pleased with a daydream that now living is no good
I took off my shoes and walked into the woods
I felt lost and found with every step I took
(x)
I keep floating down the river but the ocean never comes
Since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one
Now everything is imaginary, especially what you love
You left another message said it's done,
It's done
When I hear beautiful music it's always from another time
Old friends I never visit, I remember what they're like
Standing on a doorstep full of nervous butterflies
Waiting to be asked to come inside
Just come inside
But I keep going out
I can't sleep next to a stranger when I'm coming down
It's 8 a.m. my heart is beating too loud
Too loud
Don't be so amazing or I'll miss you too much
I felt something that I had never touched
Everything gets smaller now the further that I go
Towards the mouth and the reunion of the Known and the Unknown
Consider yourself lucky if you think of it as home
You can move mountains with your misery if you don't
If you don't
It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in two
Under the leaves of that old Lime Tree I stood examining the fruit
Some were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth
There will never be a time more opportune
So I just won't be late
The window closes, shock rolls over in a tidal wave
And all the color drains out of the frame
So pleased with a daydream that now living is no good
I took off my shoes and walked into the woods
I felt lost and found with every step I took
Bright Eyes
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, album
(x)
It was Don Delillo, whiskey, neat
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a tv stand, just a turntable to watch
When the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
You were a stroke of luck
We were a goldmine and they gutted us
And from the sidelines
You see me run
Until I'm out of breath
Living the good life
I left for dead
The sorrowful midwest
Well I did my best
To keep my head
It was grass-stained jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let's have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divvy up
And from the sidelines
I see you run
Until you're out of breath
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurry to our death
Well I lagged behind
So you got ahead
(x)
It was Don Delillo, whiskey, neat
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a tv stand, just a turntable to watch
When the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
You were a stroke of luck
We were a goldmine and they gutted us
And from the sidelines
You see me run
Until I'm out of breath
Living the good life
I left for dead
The sorrowful midwest
Well I did my best
To keep my head
It was grass-stained jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let's have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divvy up
And from the sidelines
I see you run
Until you're out of breath
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurry to our death
Well I lagged behind
So you got ahead
You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
That is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it's time to go
You can choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clench your fist
You might fork your tongue
As you curse or praise
All the things you've done
And the faders move
And the music dies
As we pass over
On the arc of time
So you'll nurse your love
Like a wounded dove
In the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed
By frenetic thoughts
They separate and then collide
And they twist like sheets
Till you fall asleep
And they finally unwind
It's a black balloon
It's a dream you'll soon
Deny
I hear if you make friends
With Jesus Christ
You'll get right up
From that chalk outline
And then you'll get dolled up
And you'll dress in white
All to take your place
In his chorus line
And then in you'll come
With those marching drums
In a saintly compromise
No more whiskey slurs
No more blonde hair girls
For your whole eternal life
And you'll do the dance
That was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
Singing "I told you son
The day would come
You would die, you die, you die, you die..."
To the deepest part
Of the human heart
The fear of death expands
Till we crack the code
We've always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board
We'll soon be born
Again, again, again, again
(x)
You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
That is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it's time to go
You can choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clench your fist
You might fork your tongue
As you curse or praise
All the things you've done
And the faders move
And the music dies
As we pass over
On the arc of time
So you'll nurse your love
Like a wounded dove
In the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed
By frenetic thoughts
They separate and then collide
And they twist like sheets
Till you fall asleep
And they finally unwind
It's a black balloon
It's a dream you'll soon
Deny
I hear if you make friends
With Jesus Christ
You'll get right up
From that chalk outline
And then you'll get dolled up
And you'll dress in white
All to take your place
In his chorus line
And then in you'll come
With those marching drums
In a saintly compromise
No more whiskey slurs
No more blonde hair girls
For your whole eternal life
And you'll do the dance
That was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
Singing "I told you son
The day would come
You would die, you die, you die, you die..."
To the deepest part
Of the human heart
The fear of death expands
Till we crack the code
We've always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board
We'll soon be born
Again, again, again, again
I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
Covered yourself up in snow
Baby tell me where to go for days and days
Did they make you stay up all night
Did they paint your face that pasty white
You're thirsty but your appetite is chased away
The sun turns us to stone
It's a cloudy day but we still kept hold
Open up that cellar door
Till we seen then we're invisible
No one ever takes the garbage out
And maybe kid gets dared to touch the house
He runs back to announce there's no one home
Cause we paint the foil with the flame
Smear the soda, taste butane
For every fear that can't be named to calm you down
Your heart starts skipping steps
So you're farther gone
And you might expect
If your thoughts should turn to death
Gotta stomp them out like a cigarette
(x)
I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
Covered yourself up in snow
Baby tell me where to go for days and days
Did they make you stay up all night
Did they paint your face that pasty white
You're thirsty but your appetite is chased away
The sun turns us to stone
It's a cloudy day but we still kept hold
Open up that cellar door
Till we seen then we're invisible
No one ever takes the garbage out
And maybe kid gets dared to touch the house
He runs back to announce there's no one home
Cause we paint the foil with the flame
Smear the soda, taste butane
For every fear that can't be named to calm you down
Your heart starts skipping steps
So you're farther gone
And you might expect
If your thoughts should turn to death
Gotta stomp them out like a cigarette
First with your hands and then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
(x)
First with your hands and then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
I'm staring out into that vacuum again
From the back porch of my mind
The only thing thats alive, I'm all there is
And I start attacking my vodka
Stab the ice with my straw
My eyes have turned red as stoplights
You seem ready to walk
You know I'll call you eventually
When I wanna talk, until then you're invisible
Cause there's this switch that gets hit
And it all stops making sense
And in the middle of drinks
Maybe the fifth or the sixth
I'm completely alone at a table of friends
I feel nothing for them
I feel nothing, nothing
Well I need a break from the city again
I think I'll ship myself back west
I've got a friend there
She says "Hey anytime"
Unless that offer's expired
I have been less than frequent
She's under no obligation
To indulge every whim
And I'm so ungrateful, I take
She gives and forgives and I keep forgetting it
And each morning she wakes
With a dream to describe
Something lovely that bloomed
In her beautiful mind
I say, "i'll trade you one
For two nightmares of mine
I have some where i die
I have some where we all die"
I'm thinking of quitting drinking again
I know I've said that a couple of times
And I'm always changing my mind
Well I guess I am
But there's this burn in my stomach
And there's this pain in my side
And when I kneel at the toilet
And the morning's clean light
Pours in through the window
Sometimes I pray I don't die
I'm a goddamn hypocrite
But then night rolls around and it all starts making sense
There is no right way or wrong way, you just have to live
And so I do what I do, and at least I exist
What could mean more than this?
What would mean more, mean more?
(x)
I'm staring out into that vacuum again
From the back porch of my mind
The only thing thats alive, I'm all there is
And I start attacking my vodka
Stab the ice with my straw
My eyes have turned red as stoplights
You seem ready to walk
You know I'll call you eventually
When I wanna talk, until then you're invisible
Cause there's this switch that gets hit
And it all stops making sense
And in the middle of drinks
Maybe the fifth or the sixth
I'm completely alone at a table of friends
I feel nothing for them
I feel nothing, nothing
Well I need a break from the city again
I think I'll ship myself back west
I've got a friend there
She says "Hey anytime"
Unless that offer's expired
I have been less than frequent
She's under no obligation
To indulge every whim
And I'm so ungrateful, I take
She gives and forgives and I keep forgetting it
And each morning she wakes
With a dream to describe
Something lovely that bloomed
In her beautiful mind
I say, "i'll trade you one
For two nightmares of mine
I have some where i die
I have some where we all die"
I'm thinking of quitting drinking again
I know I've said that a couple of times
And I'm always changing my mind
Well I guess I am
But there's this burn in my stomach
And there's this pain in my side
And when I kneel at the toilet
And the morning's clean light
Pours in through the window
Sometimes I pray I don't die
I'm a goddamn hypocrite
But then night rolls around and it all starts making sense
There is no right way or wrong way, you just have to live
And so I do what I do, and at least I exist
What could mean more than this?
What would mean more, mean more?
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You weren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
So what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Give everything up to fate
When there's choices I can make
When there's choices I can make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
I'm so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna stay
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept it's fate, that's faith
There's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down, forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
(x)
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You weren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
So what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Give everything up to fate
When there's choices I can make
When there's choices I can make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
I'm so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna stay
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept it's fate, that's faith
There's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down, forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
A house of cards
The supple heart
Is not a place to dwell
Now you have your cake
Don't hesitate
Come on just do it
Come on just do it
Put it in your mouth
There is only now
Tomorrow has to wait
But know there's no backing out
This is gonna be reality
You can never dream it down
I have no way of telling
The two apart
Well I made amends
In the general sense
But the devil's in the details
And I know the cause
And I want to stop
But I can't do it
I just can't do it
There was love I meant
There were accidents
So tell me which is which
Cause I just can't work it out
But for memory and clarity
We had better write it down
I have no way of knowing
The truth with time dissolves
I put the past into the ground
I saw the future as a cloud
If there's still time to turn around
I'm going to
Its just one day I fell asleep
And now all day and night I dream
I am the first one I deceive
If I can make myself believe
The rest is easy
(x)
A house of cards
The supple heart
Is not a place to dwell
Now you have your cake
Don't hesitate
Come on just do it
Come on just do it
Put it in your mouth
There is only now
Tomorrow has to wait
But know there's no backing out
This is gonna be reality
You can never dream it down
I have no way of telling
The two apart
Well I made amends
In the general sense
But the devil's in the details
And I know the cause
And I want to stop
But I can't do it
I just can't do it
There was love I meant
There were accidents
So tell me which is which
Cause I just can't work it out
But for memory and clarity
We had better write it down
I have no way of knowing
The truth with time dissolves
I put the past into the ground
I saw the future as a cloud
If there's still time to turn around
I'm going to
Its just one day I fell asleep
And now all day and night I dream
I am the first one I deceive
If I can make myself believe
The rest is easy
I wanna be the surgeon that cuts you open
And fixes all of life's mistakes
I wanna be the house that you were raised in
The only place that you feel safe
I wanna be your shower in the morning
That wakes you up and makes you clean
I know I'm just the weather against your window
As you sleep through a winter's dream
Something's churning the earth
Something's stirring the sky
Every color at once in a column of light
Bacteria breeds on a microscope slide
The worm in my heart is the apple of your eye
Don't adore what is impossible
We have built this ship in a wine bottle
If we knew how it worked we would have to grow old
Something's eating at you
Wakes you up in the night
If you're digging the past
Who knows what you'll find
Read the newspaper print off the microfiche slide
And you're holding your breath
For the rest of your life
Don't you love what is intangible
I have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew who I was
You would never grow old
(x)
I wanna be the surgeon that cuts you open
And fixes all of life's mistakes
I wanna be the house that you were raised in
The only place that you feel safe
I wanna be your shower in the morning
That wakes you up and makes you clean
I know I'm just the weather against your window
As you sleep through a winter's dream
Something's churning the earth
Something's stirring the sky
Every color at once in a column of light
Bacteria breeds on a microscope slide
The worm in my heart is the apple of your eye
Don't adore what is impossible
We have built this ship in a wine bottle
If we knew how it worked we would have to grow old
Something's eating at you
Wakes you up in the night
If you're digging the past
Who knows what you'll find
Read the newspaper print off the microfiche slide
And you're holding your breath
For the rest of your life
Don't you love what is intangible
I have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew who I was
You would never grow old
John A Hobson was a good man
He used to loan me books and mic stands
He even got me a subscription to the Socialist Review
Listening to records in his basement
Old folk songs about the government
"It's love of money, not the market," he said
"These fuckers push on you
And freedom yells, it dont cry
Whatever sells will decide
But there is no hell when you die
So dont look so worried"
He got a night life
Lost his day job
Pushing paper, swinging pendulums
Anything to serve a function or to occupy some time
You have got to earn this living somehow
You are good as dead without a bank account
But it is funny how alive he felt, down in that unemployment line
With all the trash at his feet
The pools of piss in the street
All of that filthy empathy for the way we're feeling
The billboards shade
The flags they wave
The anthem was playing loud
The baseball game was letting out
Then all at once he saw the dust
And heard every tiny sound
Got in his truck and turned around
Drove out through the crowd and the cops
Drove out past that center mall
Out past that sickening sprawl
Out past that fenced in gold
And maybe he lost control fucking with the radio
But I bet the stars seemed so close at the end
(x)
John A Hobson was a good man
He used to loan me books and mic stands
He even got me a subscription to the Socialist Review
Listening to records in his basement
Old folk songs about the government
"It's love of money, not the market," he said
"These fuckers push on you
And freedom yells, it dont cry
Whatever sells will decide
But there is no hell when you die
So dont look so worried"
He got a night life
Lost his day job
Pushing paper, swinging pendulums
Anything to serve a function or to occupy some time
You have got to earn this living somehow
You are good as dead without a bank account
But it is funny how alive he felt, down in that unemployment line
With all the trash at his feet
The pools of piss in the street
All of that filthy empathy for the way we're feeling
The billboards shade
The flags they wave
The anthem was playing loud
The baseball game was letting out
Then all at once he saw the dust
And heard every tiny sound
Got in his truck and turned around
Drove out through the crowd and the cops
Drove out past that center mall
Out past that sickening sprawl
Out past that fenced in gold
And maybe he lost control fucking with the radio
But I bet the stars seemed so close at the end
I wish I had a parachute cause I'm falling bad for you
And I can see the ground approaching now
But I'm not sure what to do
I feel like a pinata won't you take a swing at me
If you could just crack the shell open
I think inside you'd find something sweet
I hear you like a hunter now, your footsteps in the leaves
And I would gladly leave my hiding place
Yes I'm hoping to be seen
So let your arrow fly and sing
I'm well within your aim
Lay your traps for a thousand miles
Please don't let me escape
Winter came to Omaha and left us looking like a bride
A million perfect snowflakes
And no two are alike
And so it's hard for me imagining the flaws in this design
I know debris, it covers everything
But still I am in love with this life
(x)
I wish I had a parachute cause I'm falling bad for you
And I can see the ground approaching now
But I'm not sure what to do
I feel like a pinata won't you take a swing at me
If you could just crack the shell open
I think inside you'd find something sweet
I hear you like a hunter now, your footsteps in the leaves
And I would gladly leave my hiding place
Yes I'm hoping to be seen
So let your arrow fly and sing
I'm well within your aim
Lay your traps for a thousand miles
Please don't let me escape
Winter came to Omaha and left us looking like a bride
A million perfect snowflakes
And no two are alike
And so it's hard for me imagining the flaws in this design
I know debris, it covers everything
But still I am in love with this life
Did it all get real, I guess it's real enough
They got refrigerators full of blood
Another century spent pointing guns
At anything that moves
Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot
My twitching muscles tense my flippant thoughts
I never really dreamed of heaven much
Until we put him in the ground
But it's all I'm doing now
Listening for patterns in the sound
Of an endless static sea
But once the satellite's deceased
It blows like garbage through the streets
Of the night sky to infinity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky
Honey don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Don't be a criminal in this police state
You better shop and eat and procreate
You got vacation days then you might escape
To a condo on the coast
I set my watch to the atomic clock
I watch the crowd count down till the bomb gets dropped
I always figured there'd be time enough
I never let it get me down
But I can't help it now
Looking for faces in the clouds
I got some friends I barely see
But we're all planning to meet
We'll lay in bags as dead as leaves
All together for eternity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is no one as lucky
Honey, don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
(x)
Did it all get real, I guess it's real enough
They got refrigerators full of blood
Another century spent pointing guns
At anything that moves
Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot
My twitching muscles tense my flippant thoughts
I never really dreamed of heaven much
Until we put him in the ground
But it's all I'm doing now
Listening for patterns in the sound
Of an endless static sea
But once the satellite's deceased
It blows like garbage through the streets
Of the night sky to infinity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky
Honey don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Don't be a criminal in this police state
You better shop and eat and procreate
You got vacation days then you might escape
To a condo on the coast
I set my watch to the atomic clock
I watch the crowd count down till the bomb gets dropped
I always figured there'd be time enough
I never let it get me down
But I can't help it now
Looking for faces in the clouds
I got some friends I barely see
But we're all planning to meet
We'll lay in bags as dead as leaves
All together for eternity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is no one as lucky
Honey, don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Bright Eyes
I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, album
(x)
If you hate the taste of wine
Why do you drink it till you're blind?
And if you swear that there's no truth and who cares
How come you say it like you're right?
Why are you scared to dream of God
When it's salvation that you want?
You see stars that clear have been dead for years
But the idea just lives on
In our wheels that roll around
As we move over the ground
And all day it seems we've been in between
The past and future town
We are nowhere and it's now
We are nowhere and it's now
And like a ten minute dream in the passenger seat
While the world was flying by
You haven't been gone very long
But it feels like a lifetime
I've been sleeping so strange at night
Side effects they don't advertise
I've been sleeping so strange
With a head full of pesticide
I've got no plans and too much time
I feel too restless to unwind
I'm always lost in thought as I walk a block
To my favorite neon sign
Where the waitress looks concerned
But she never says a word
Just turns the juke box on and we hum along
And I smile back at her
And my friend comes after work
When the features start to blur
She says these bars are filled with things that kill
By now you probably should have learned
Did you forget that yellow bird?
How could you forget your yellow bird?
She took a small silver wreath and pinned it onto me
She said this one will bring you love
And I don't know if it's true
But I keep it for good luck
(x)
If you hate the taste of wine
Why do you drink it till you're blind?
And if you swear that there's no truth and who cares
How come you say it like you're right?
Why are you scared to dream of God
When it's salvation that you want?
You see stars that clear have been dead for years
But the idea just lives on
In our wheels that roll around
As we move over the ground
And all day it seems we've been in between
The past and future town
We are nowhere and it's now
We are nowhere and it's now
And like a ten minute dream in the passenger seat
While the world was flying by
You haven't been gone very long
But it feels like a lifetime
I've been sleeping so strange at night
Side effects they don't advertise
I've been sleeping so strange
With a head full of pesticide
I've got no plans and too much time
I feel too restless to unwind
I'm always lost in thought as I walk a block
To my favorite neon sign
Where the waitress looks concerned
But she never says a word
Just turns the juke box on and we hum along
And I smile back at her
And my friend comes after work
When the features start to blur
She says these bars are filled with things that kill
By now you probably should have learned
Did you forget that yellow bird?
How could you forget your yellow bird?
She took a small silver wreath and pinned it onto me
She said this one will bring you love
And I don't know if it's true
But I keep it for good luck
Grey light new day leaks through the window
Some old song comes on the alarm clock radio
We walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard that everything would be
And there were barricades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Till they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
Ana all the way home held your camera like a bible
Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room
You drop the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
And just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hillside
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
(x)
Grey light new day leaks through the window
Some old song comes on the alarm clock radio
We walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard that everything would be
And there were barricades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Till they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
Ana all the way home held your camera like a bible
Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room
You drop the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
And just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hillside
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
I know that it is freezing but I think we have to walk
I keep waving at the taxis they keep turning their lights off
But Julie knows a party at some actor's west side loft
Supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they'll be gone
When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend
I get a coffee and the paper
Have my own conversations with the sidewalk and the pigeons and my window reflection
The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit
And I know you have a heavy heart
I can feel it when we kiss
So many men stronger than me have throw their backs out trying to lift it
But me I'm not a gamble you can count on me to split
The love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist
You're looking skinny like a model with your eyes all painted black
You just keep going to the bathroom always say you'll be right back
Well, it takes one to know one, kid, I think you got it bad
What's so easy in the evening by the morning's such a drag
I got a flask inside my pocket we can share it on the train
And if you promise to stay conscious I will try and do the same
Well we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain
But what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane
And I'm not sure what the trouble was that started all of this
The reasons all have run away but the feeling never did
It's not something I would recommend but it is one way to live
Cause what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is
It was so simple in the moonlight now it's so complicated
It was so simple in the moonlight
(x)
I know that it is freezing but I think we have to walk
I keep waving at the taxis they keep turning their lights off
But Julie knows a party at some actor's west side loft
Supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they'll be gone
When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend
I get a coffee and the paper
Have my own conversations with the sidewalk and the pigeons and my window reflection
The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit
And I know you have a heavy heart
I can feel it when we kiss
So many men stronger than me have throw their backs out trying to lift it
But me I'm not a gamble you can count on me to split
The love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist
You're looking skinny like a model with your eyes all painted black
You just keep going to the bathroom always say you'll be right back
Well, it takes one to know one, kid, I think you got it bad
What's so easy in the evening by the morning's such a drag
I got a flask inside my pocket we can share it on the train
And if you promise to stay conscious I will try and do the same
Well we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain
But what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane
And I'm not sure what the trouble was that started all of this
The reasons all have run away but the feeling never did
It's not something I would recommend but it is one way to live
Cause what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is
It was so simple in the moonlight now it's so complicated
It was so simple in the moonlight
You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling to your death
And the sun, well, it could not save you
From falling down to the streets all wet
Body of water, toxic and timeless
Atlantic Ocean, New York skyline
I always get lost when I leave the village
So I couldn't come meet you in Brooklyn last night
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace to the people I meet
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled, so don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
And don't act strange, don't be a stranger
It happened to me, now it's happening to you
But if you take that train underwater
Then we could talk it through
Well, if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather that howls in my brain
Because it seems that it's always changing
The winds' indecision, the sorrowful rain
I was a postcard, I was a record
I was a camera until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
We will sing glory from a high rise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free
So don't stay mad, just let some time pass
And in the morning you awake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean, if I get sidetracked
It's only 'cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all night avenue
(x)
You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling to your death
And the sun, well, it could not save you
From falling down to the streets all wet
Body of water, toxic and timeless
Atlantic Ocean, New York skyline
I always get lost when I leave the village
So I couldn't come meet you in Brooklyn last night
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace to the people I meet
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled, so don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
And don't act strange, don't be a stranger
It happened to me, now it's happening to you
But if you take that train underwater
Then we could talk it through
Well, if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather that howls in my brain
Because it seems that it's always changing
The winds' indecision, the sorrowful rain
I was a postcard, I was a record
I was a camera until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
We will sing glory from a high rise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free
So don't stay mad, just let some time pass
And in the morning you awake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean, if I get sidetracked
It's only 'cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all night avenue
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
(x)
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
Well I'm changing all my strings
I'm gonna write another travelin' song
About all the billion highways
And the cities at the break of dawn
I guess the best that I can do now
Is to pretend that I've done nothing wrong
And to dream about a train
That's gonna take me back where I belong
Well now the ocean speaks and spits
And I can hear it from the interstate
And I'm screamin' at my brother on a cellphone
He is far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future
Ever will feel like today
Until we're parking in an alley
Just hoping that our shit is safe
So I go back and forth forever All my thoughts they come in pairs Oh I will, I won't, I doubt, I don't, I'm not surprised but I never feel quite prepared Now I'm hunched over a typewriter
I guess you call that paintin' in a cave
And there's a word I can't remember
and a feeling I cannot escape
And now my ashtray's overflowing
I'm still staring at a clean white page
Oh and morning's at my window
She is sending me to bed again
Well I dream the dark on the horizon
I dream the desert where the dead lay down
I dream the prostituted child touching an old man in a fast food crown
I dreamt this ship was sinkin' there were people screaming all around
And I awoke to my alarm clock it was a pop song it was playin' loud
So I will find my fears and face them
Or I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream or kneel and plead
I will fight like hell to hide that I've given up
(x)
Well I'm changing all my strings
I'm gonna write another travelin' song
About all the billion highways
And the cities at the break of dawn
I guess the best that I can do now
Is to pretend that I've done nothing wrong
And to dream about a train
That's gonna take me back where I belong
Well now the ocean speaks and spits
And I can hear it from the interstate
And I'm screamin' at my brother on a cellphone
He is far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future
Ever will feel like today
Until we're parking in an alley
Just hoping that our shit is safe
So I go back and forth forever All my thoughts they come in pairs Oh I will, I won't, I doubt, I don't, I'm not surprised but I never feel quite prepared Now I'm hunched over a typewriter
I guess you call that paintin' in a cave
And there's a word I can't remember
and a feeling I cannot escape
And now my ashtray's overflowing
I'm still staring at a clean white page
Oh and morning's at my window
She is sending me to bed again
Well I dream the dark on the horizon
I dream the desert where the dead lay down
I dream the prostituted child touching an old man in a fast food crown
I dreamt this ship was sinkin' there were people screaming all around
And I awoke to my alarm clock it was a pop song it was playin' loud
So I will find my fears and face them
Or I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream or kneel and plead
I will fight like hell to hide that I've given up
If you walk away I'll walk away
Just tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing someday
So you walk that way, I'll walk this way
The future hangs over our heads
And it moves with each current event
Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain
Just stay in when it's looking this way
And the moon's laying low in the sky
Forcing everything metal to shine
And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
They argue walk this way, now walk this way
Laura's asleep in my bed
As I'm leaving she wakes up and says
I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don't go away, come here
There's kids playing guns in the street
One's pointing his tree branch at me
So I put my hands up, said Enough is Enough
If you walk away, I'll walk away
Then he shot me dead
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
It will pass away, like a slow parade
It's leaving, but I don't know how soon
And the world's got me dizzy again
You'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin
But it only feels worse when I stay in one place
So I'm always pacing around or walking away
I'm drinking the ink from my pen
And I'm balancing history books up on my head
And it all boils down to one quotable phrase:
If you love something, give it away
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for a possible heart
And you may be offended, and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
We made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background from a televised war
And in that deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
If we walk away, they'll walk away
But greed is a bottomless pit
And all freedom's a joke, we're just taking a piss
And the whole world must watch the sad comic display
If you're still free, start running away
Cos we're coming for you
I've grown tired of holding this pose
I feel more like a stranger each time I come home
So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame
Saying "Let me walk away, please"
You'll be free, child, once you have died
From the shackles of language in measurable time
And then we can trade places, play musical graves
Tell them walk away, walk away, walk away
So I'm up at dawn
Putting on my shoes
I just want to make a clean escape
I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
Yeah, I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
(x)
If you walk away I'll walk away
Just tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing someday
So you walk that way, I'll walk this way
The future hangs over our heads
And it moves with each current event
Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain
Just stay in when it's looking this way
And the moon's laying low in the sky
Forcing everything metal to shine
And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
They argue walk this way, now walk this way
Laura's asleep in my bed
As I'm leaving she wakes up and says
I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don't go away, come here
There's kids playing guns in the street
One's pointing his tree branch at me
So I put my hands up, said Enough is Enough
If you walk away, I'll walk away
Then he shot me dead
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
It will pass away, like a slow parade
It's leaving, but I don't know how soon
And the world's got me dizzy again
You'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin
But it only feels worse when I stay in one place
So I'm always pacing around or walking away
I'm drinking the ink from my pen
And I'm balancing history books up on my head
And it all boils down to one quotable phrase:
If you love something, give it away
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for a possible heart
And you may be offended, and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
We made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background from a televised war
And in that deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
If we walk away, they'll walk away
But greed is a bottomless pit
And all freedom's a joke, we're just taking a piss
And the whole world must watch the sad comic display
If you're still free, start running away
Cos we're coming for you
I've grown tired of holding this pose
I feel more like a stranger each time I come home
So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame
Saying "Let me walk away, please"
You'll be free, child, once you have died
From the shackles of language in measurable time
And then we can trade places, play musical graves
Tell them walk away, walk away, walk away
So I'm up at dawn
Putting on my shoes
I just want to make a clean escape
I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
Yeah, I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
Poison oak, some boyhood bravery
When the telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still talking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die
In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?
Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away, when you slammed the door
When you stole the car and drove towards Mexico
And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm
I was young enough, I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words will turn back into steam
But me, I'm a single cell on a serpent's tongue
There's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away but I'm still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet from your brother's tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
The end of paralysis, I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench
And when I press the keys it all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness makes me happier
(x)
Poison oak, some boyhood bravery
When the telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still talking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die
In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?
Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away, when you slammed the door
When you stole the car and drove towards Mexico
And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm
I was young enough, I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words will turn back into steam
But me, I'm a single cell on a serpent's tongue
There's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away but I'm still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet from your brother's tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
The end of paralysis, I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench
And when I press the keys it all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness makes me happier
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, its morning
I have my drugs, I have my woman
They keep away my loneliness
My parents, they have their religion
But sleep in separate houses
I read the body count out of the paper
And now it's written all over my face
No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes that's just the most comfortable place
So I'm drinking, breathing, writing, singing
Every day I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I've got
And so I hope I dont sound too ungrateful
For what history gave modern man
A telephone to talk to strangers
Machine guns and a camera lens
So when you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing
It's best to join the side that's gonna win
No one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make 'em God damn certain how it's gonna end
Oh yeah we will, oh yeah we will
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I had some one else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning
(x)
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, its morning
I have my drugs, I have my woman
They keep away my loneliness
My parents, they have their religion
But sleep in separate houses
I read the body count out of the paper
And now it's written all over my face
No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes that's just the most comfortable place
So I'm drinking, breathing, writing, singing
Every day I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I've got
And so I hope I dont sound too ungrateful
For what history gave modern man
A telephone to talk to strangers
Machine guns and a camera lens
So when you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing
It's best to join the side that's gonna win
No one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make 'em God damn certain how it's gonna end
Oh yeah we will, oh yeah we will
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I had some one else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning
Bright Eyes
First Day of My Life
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, single
(x)
When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womens' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs, the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends
When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess God just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God
When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?
I doubt it
I doubt it
(x)
When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womens' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs, the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends
When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess God just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God
When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?
I doubt it
I doubt it
I am a blueblood I will admit that
I dance in blue shoes and wear a blue hat
Live in a blue house on a blue street, in a blue town by a blue creek
I write my blue songs with my blue pen
I sing the blue notes to my blue friends
Now I don't know that much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
I had a blue dream about a blue star
In it I drove there in my blue car
And when I got there I met a blue dog with a blue tongue
We had real fun
We bounced a blue ball
It broke a blue glass
We banged on blue drums and called it bluegrass
I guess the thing I'm trying to tell you is that it is best, kid
If you're true blue
Once I had gangrene I had it real bad
And so the Doc came with his black bag
I said "You know doc, I don't feel well
"If you had a blue bag, I think I'd get well"
So he came right back with a blue sack
He said, "Will this do?" I said, "Why not? Yeah"
That is how I am here today to tell you that it is best, man
To be true blue
Out on the blue sea I sailed a blue ship
I had a first mate that always had blue lips
His name was Bluebeard
He had a weird twitch
We flew a blue flag up on a big stick
And we ate bluegill and we ate blue chips
Oh, I felt real blue eating that blue fish
Because there ain't much that I won't do
Unless it keeps me from being true blue
Once in a blue moon there is a blue sky
I wear my blue jeans and fly my blue kite
It hangs like a bluebird until the wind dies
And then the tears pour out of my blue eyes
If it is your birthday we'll bake you a blue cake
And then we'll eat it off my blue plates
Because kid, I don't know much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
(x)
I am a blueblood I will admit that
I dance in blue shoes and wear a blue hat
Live in a blue house on a blue street, in a blue town by a blue creek
I write my blue songs with my blue pen
I sing the blue notes to my blue friends
Now I don't know that much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
I had a blue dream about a blue star
In it I drove there in my blue car
And when I got there I met a blue dog with a blue tongue
We had real fun
We bounced a blue ball
It broke a blue glass
We banged on blue drums and called it bluegrass
I guess the thing I'm trying to tell you is that it is best, kid
If you're true blue
Once I had gangrene I had it real bad
And so the Doc came with his black bag
I said "You know doc, I don't feel well
"If you had a blue bag, I think I'd get well"
So he came right back with a blue sack
He said, "Will this do?" I said, "Why not? Yeah"
That is how I am here today to tell you that it is best, man
To be true blue
Out on the blue sea I sailed a blue ship
I had a first mate that always had blue lips
His name was Bluebeard
He had a weird twitch
We flew a blue flag up on a big stick
And we ate bluegill and we ate blue chips
Oh, I felt real blue eating that blue fish
Because there ain't much that I won't do
Unless it keeps me from being true blue
Once in a blue moon there is a blue sky
I wear my blue jeans and fly my blue kite
It hangs like a bluebird until the wind dies
And then the tears pour out of my blue eyes
If it is your birthday we'll bake you a blue cake
And then we'll eat it off my blue plates
Because kid, I don't know much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
Bright Eyes
Motion Sickness
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, album
Mushaboom: Feist
The Biggest Lie: Elliott Smith

Bright Eyes
One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels
Crank! Records , 2004
ep,
Split Album mit Neva Dinova.
Gabs auf weißem, braunem und lachsfarbenem Vinyl, sowie auch auf CD.
1,3,5: Neva Dinova
2010 erschein die Platte nochmals auf Saddle Creek mit 4 Bonus Songs.
Spring Cleaning geschrieben von Bright Eyes und gespielt von Neva Dinova
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
(x)
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
(x)
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
(x)
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning

Bright Eyes
Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
Saddle Creek , 2004
cd, single
Burn Rubber: geschrieben von Simon Joyner
Cremation: Instrumental
(x)
Well if you turn the porch light off and let the marble light withdraw
You can smoke a cigarette on the wooden steps
The mosquitoes are not vampires, the moon is not your mother
Although she is preparing for a total eclipse
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
The clouds dream disorder, they make faces, they make mud
On some ancient order which is no longer enforced
The sugar bowl is full of ants
Your sister is a dumpy mess
And you're cutting off your head to spite your shoulders
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Just get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
(x)
Well if you turn the porch light off and let the marble light withdraw
You can smoke a cigarette on the wooden steps
The mosquitoes are not vampires, the moon is not your mother
Although she is preparing for a total eclipse
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
The clouds dream disorder, they make faces, they make mud
On some ancient order which is no longer enforced
The sugar bowl is full of ants
Your sister is a dumpy mess
And you're cutting off your head to spite your shoulders
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Just get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm

Bright Eyes
Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Saddle Creek , 2002
cd, album
(x)
There's no beginning to the story
A bookshelf sinks into the sand
And a language learned and forgot in turn
Is studied once again
It's a shocking bit of footage
Viewed from a shitty tv screen
You can squint at it
Just snow and static
To make out the meaning
And keep on stretching the antenna
Hoping that it will come clear
We need some reception
A higher message
Just tell us what to fear
'Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings
To light with such possibilities
All I know is I feel better when I sing
Burdens are lifted from me
That's my voice rising
So Michael please keep the tape rolling
Boys keep strumming those guitars
We need a record of our failures
Yes we must document our love
I have sat too long in my silence
I have grown too old in my pain
To shed this skin
Be born again
Oh it starts with an ending
So thank you friends for the time we shared
My love stays with you like sunlight and air
No I truly wish I could keep hanging around here
My joy is covering me
Soon I will disappear
It's not a movie
No private screening
This method acting
Well I call it living
It's like a fountain
A door has opened
We have a problem
With no solution but to love
And to be loved
So I've made peace with the fallen leaves
I see their same fate in my own body
But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream
And return to that which gave birth to me
Gave birth to me gave birth to me gave birth to me
And the story goes and the story goes
And it goes on and on and on and on
It's going on and on and on and on
(x)
There's no beginning to the story
A bookshelf sinks into the sand
And a language learned and forgot in turn
Is studied once again
It's a shocking bit of footage
Viewed from a shitty tv screen
You can squint at it
Just snow and static
To make out the meaning
And keep on stretching the antenna
Hoping that it will come clear
We need some reception
A higher message
Just tell us what to fear
'Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings
To light with such possibilities
All I know is I feel better when I sing
Burdens are lifted from me
That's my voice rising
So Michael please keep the tape rolling
Boys keep strumming those guitars
We need a record of our failures
Yes we must document our love
I have sat too long in my silence
I have grown too old in my pain
To shed this skin
Be born again
Oh it starts with an ending
So thank you friends for the time we shared
My love stays with you like sunlight and air
No I truly wish I could keep hanging around here
My joy is covering me
Soon I will disappear
It's not a movie
No private screening
This method acting
Well I call it living
It's like a fountain
A door has opened
We have a problem
With no solution but to love
And to be loved
So I've made peace with the fallen leaves
I see their same fate in my own body
But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream
And return to that which gave birth to me
Gave birth to me gave birth to me gave birth to me
And the story goes and the story goes
And it goes on and on and on and on
It's going on and on and on and on
On a string
On a string
on a string
I was held
The way I moved, can't you tell
My actions are orchestrated from above
And so I swing and I'll sway
Wave my hand, kick my leg
And it's always right with the music
(katie and tiffany: till all that swaying starts to make you sad)
For a song, I was bought
Now I lie, when I talk
With a careful eye on the cue card
Onto a stage, I was pushed
With my sorrow well rehearsed
So give me all your pity and your money now
All of it
(katie and tiffany: we used to think that sound was something pure)
But if I could act like this was my real life
And not some cage where I was placed
Well then I could tell you
The truth like I used to
And not be afraid of sounding fake
Not while all you were listening for was the mistakes
(katie: sorry!)
It's alright
One, two, three!
One, two, three!
In a house by myself
I hear the ice start to melt
And I watched the rooftops weep for the sunlight
And I know what must change
Fuck my face, fuck my name
They are brief and false advertisements
For a soul, I don't have
Something true I have lacked
I spent my whole life trying to make up for it
But I found, in a song
And I'll repeat
It will lift me up out of darkness
And now my door
It stands open, I'm inviting all of you in
We're gonna laugh, we're gonna drink
Until the morning comes
That's what we're gonna do!
Come on!
Come on!
(x)
On a string
On a string
on a string
I was held
The way I moved, can't you tell
My actions are orchestrated from above
And so I swing and I'll sway
Wave my hand, kick my leg
And it's always right with the music
(katie and tiffany: till all that swaying starts to make you sad)
For a song, I was bought
Now I lie, when I talk
With a careful eye on the cue card
Onto a stage, I was pushed
With my sorrow well rehearsed
So give me all your pity and your money now
All of it
(katie and tiffany: we used to think that sound was something pure)
But if I could act like this was my real life
And not some cage where I was placed
Well then I could tell you
The truth like I used to
And not be afraid of sounding fake
Not while all you were listening for was the mistakes
(katie: sorry!)
It's alright
One, two, three!
One, two, three!
In a house by myself
I hear the ice start to melt
And I watched the rooftops weep for the sunlight
And I know what must change
Fuck my face, fuck my name
They are brief and false advertisements
For a soul, I don't have
Something true I have lacked
I spent my whole life trying to make up for it
But I found, in a song
And I'll repeat
It will lift me up out of darkness
And now my door
It stands open, I'm inviting all of you in
We're gonna laugh, we're gonna drink
Until the morning comes
That's what we're gonna do!
Come on!
Come on!
Well, you say that I treat you like a book on a shelf
I don't take you out that often
'Cause I know that I completed you
And that's why you are here
That's the reason you stay here
How awful that must feel
You said you'd be my dream
I could have you every night
And if by morning I'd forgotten you
Well, no big deal, that'd be all right
'Cause you're the re-occuring kind
You are the re-occuring kind
You never really leave my mind
Are you the love of my lifetime
'Cause there's been times I've had my doubts
We were just kids when I first kissed you
In the attic of my parents' house
And I wish we were there now
I took so long to figure out
What this book has been about
Now I write when I'm away
Letters that you'll never read
You said 'Go explore those other women
The geography of their bodies
But there's just one map you'll need
You're a boomerang you'll see
You will return to me
Yeah you will you will you will'
Well, if you don't think this book's all lies
If you don't think my plans would all be ruined
I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
And I just won't have a future anymore
(x)
Well, you say that I treat you like a book on a shelf
I don't take you out that often
'Cause I know that I completed you
And that's why you are here
That's the reason you stay here
How awful that must feel
You said you'd be my dream
I could have you every night
And if by morning I'd forgotten you
Well, no big deal, that'd be all right
'Cause you're the re-occuring kind
You are the re-occuring kind
You never really leave my mind
Are you the love of my lifetime
'Cause there's been times I've had my doubts
We were just kids when I first kissed you
In the attic of my parents' house
And I wish we were there now
I took so long to figure out
What this book has been about
Now I write when I'm away
Letters that you'll never read
You said 'Go explore those other women
The geography of their bodies
But there's just one map you'll need
You're a boomerang you'll see
You will return to me
Yeah you will you will you will'
Well, if you don't think this book's all lies
If you don't think my plans would all be ruined
I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
And I just won't have a future anymore
I picked you out
Of a crowd to talk to you
Said I liked your shoes
You said thanks can I follow you?
So it's up the stairs
And out of view
No prying eyes
I poured some wine
I asked your name you asked the time
Well it's two o'clock
Yeah the club is closed we're up the block
Your hands on me
Pressing hard against your jeans
Your tongue in my mouth
Trying to keep the words from coming out
You didn't care to know
Who else may have been here before
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a girl who's to sad to give a fuck
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
I thought he said he'd meet us here but I'm not sure
I got the money if you got the time
He said it feels good I said I'll give it a try
Then my mind went dark
We both forgot where your car was parked
Let's just take the train
I'll meet up with the band in the morning
Bad actors with bad habits
Some sad singers
They just play tragic
Now the phone's ringing
And the band's leaving
Let's just keep touching
Let's just keep keep singing
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk
Where's the kid with the chemicals
I got a hunger and I can't seem to get full
I need some meaning I can memorize
The kind I have always seems to slip my mind
But you but you
You write such pretty words
But life's no story book
Love is an excuse to get hurt
And to hurt
Do you like to hurt?
'Cause I do I do I do
This didn't hurt me
Didn't hurt me
Oh this hurt me
(x)
I picked you out
Of a crowd to talk to you
Said I liked your shoes
You said thanks can I follow you?
So it's up the stairs
And out of view
No prying eyes
I poured some wine
I asked your name you asked the time
Well it's two o'clock
Yeah the club is closed we're up the block
Your hands on me
Pressing hard against your jeans
Your tongue in my mouth
Trying to keep the words from coming out
You didn't care to know
Who else may have been here before
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a girl who's to sad to give a fuck
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
I thought he said he'd meet us here but I'm not sure
I got the money if you got the time
He said it feels good I said I'll give it a try
Then my mind went dark
We both forgot where your car was parked
Let's just take the train
I'll meet up with the band in the morning
Bad actors with bad habits
Some sad singers
They just play tragic
Now the phone's ringing
And the band's leaving
Let's just keep touching
Let's just keep keep singing
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk
Where's the kid with the chemicals
I got a hunger and I can't seem to get full
I need some meaning I can memorize
The kind I have always seems to slip my mind
But you but you
You write such pretty words
But life's no story book
Love is an excuse to get hurt
And to hurt
Do you like to hurt?
'Cause I do I do I do
This didn't hurt me
Didn't hurt me
Oh this hurt me
The rain it started tappin'
On the window near my bed
There was a loophole in my dreamin'
So I got out of it
And to my surprise my eyes were wide and already open
Just my nightstand and my dresser
Where those nightmares had just been
So I dressed myself and left then
Out into the gray streets
But everything seemed different
And completely new to me
The sky the trees, houses, buildings, even my own body
And each person I encountered
I couldn't wait to meet
And I came upon a doctor
Who appeared in quite poor health
I said there's nothing I can do for you that you can't do for yourself
He said oh yes you can, just hold my hand, so I sat with him awhile
Then I asked him how he felt
He said I think I'm cured
No, in fact, I'm sure of it
Thank you, stranger
For your therapeutic smile
So that's how I learned the lesson
That everyone's alone
And your eyes must do some raining
If you're ever gonna grow
And when crying don't help
You can't compose yourself
It's best to compose a poem
An honest verse of longing
Or a simple song of hope
That's why I'm singing baby don't worry
'Cause now I got your back
And every time you feel like crying
I'm gonna try and make you laugh
And if I can't
If it just hurts too bad
Then we'll wait for it to pass
And I will keep you company for those days so long and black
And we'll keep working on the problem
We know we'll never solve
Our love's un-even remainders
Our lives are fractions of a whole
But if the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall
Then I think we'd see the beauty then
We'd stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges
Like a story told
By the fault-lines in the soil
(x)
The rain it started tappin'
On the window near my bed
There was a loophole in my dreamin'
So I got out of it
And to my surprise my eyes were wide and already open
Just my nightstand and my dresser
Where those nightmares had just been
So I dressed myself and left then
Out into the gray streets
But everything seemed different
And completely new to me
The sky the trees, houses, buildings, even my own body
And each person I encountered
I couldn't wait to meet
And I came upon a doctor
Who appeared in quite poor health
I said there's nothing I can do for you that you can't do for yourself
He said oh yes you can, just hold my hand, so I sat with him awhile
Then I asked him how he felt
He said I think I'm cured
No, in fact, I'm sure of it
Thank you, stranger
For your therapeutic smile
So that's how I learned the lesson
That everyone's alone
And your eyes must do some raining
If you're ever gonna grow
And when crying don't help
You can't compose yourself
It's best to compose a poem
An honest verse of longing
Or a simple song of hope
That's why I'm singing baby don't worry
'Cause now I got your back
And every time you feel like crying
I'm gonna try and make you laugh
And if I can't
If it just hurts too bad
Then we'll wait for it to pass
And I will keep you company for those days so long and black
And we'll keep working on the problem
We know we'll never solve
Our love's un-even remainders
Our lives are fractions of a whole
But if the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall
Then I think we'd see the beauty then
We'd stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges
Like a story told
By the fault-lines in the soil
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he come for us or did he come at all?
And if I washed his feet with my dirty hair would he make me cleanagain?
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna all go black, it's gonna all go back
To the way it was before
I knew a lovely girl with such pretty pride
Every man wanted her, yeah, and so did I, yeah, and so did I
But she up and died in a fit of vanity
Now men with purple hearts carry silver guns and they'llkill a man for what his father's done
But what my father did, no, it don't mean shit, I'm not him
But still it's hard to ignore all the news reports
That say we must defend ourselves and fight on foreign soil against the infidels with the oil wells
God saves gas prices
You think I need some discipline well, I've had my share
I've been sent to my room and I've sat in a chair
I held my tongue, I didn't plug my ears, no, I had a good talking to
And I don't know why, but I still try to smile when they talk at me like I'm just a child
But I'm not a child, even though I am much younger than that[them?]
Well, I've read some books and I've grown quite brave
If I could just speak up I think that I would say that there is no truth
No, there is only you and what you make the truth
So, I'll sing some songs and I'll pass a hat
And I'll leave your town and I'll never look back
No, I won't look back 'cause the road is clear and laid out ahead of me
When I get home I'll meet my friends at our favorite bar
We'll get some lighter heads for our heavy hearts
Yeah, we'll share a drink, we will share our fears
And they will know how I love them
Yeah, they will know how I love, they will know how I love them
I'm nothing without their love
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna just go black, it's gonna just go back to the way it's supposed to be
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he die for us or did he die at all?
If I sold my soul, for a bag of gold to you which one of us would be the foolish one?
Which one of us would be the fool? Which one of us would bethe foolish one?
Could you please start explaining? I think I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I wanna understand
(x)
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he come for us or did he come at all?
And if I washed his feet with my dirty hair would he make me cleanagain?
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna all go black, it's gonna all go back
To the way it was before
I knew a lovely girl with such pretty pride
Every man wanted her, yeah, and so did I, yeah, and so did I
But she up and died in a fit of vanity
Now men with purple hearts carry silver guns and they'llkill a man for what his father's done
But what my father did, no, it don't mean shit, I'm not him
But still it's hard to ignore all the news reports
That say we must defend ourselves and fight on foreign soil against the infidels with the oil wells
God saves gas prices
You think I need some discipline well, I've had my share
I've been sent to my room and I've sat in a chair
I held my tongue, I didn't plug my ears, no, I had a good talking to
And I don't know why, but I still try to smile when they talk at me like I'm just a child
But I'm not a child, even though I am much younger than that[them?]
Well, I've read some books and I've grown quite brave
If I could just speak up I think that I would say that there is no truth
No, there is only you and what you make the truth
So, I'll sing some songs and I'll pass a hat
And I'll leave your town and I'll never look back
No, I won't look back 'cause the road is clear and laid out ahead of me
When I get home I'll meet my friends at our favorite bar
We'll get some lighter heads for our heavy hearts
Yeah, we'll share a drink, we will share our fears
And they will know how I love them
Yeah, they will know how I love, they will know how I love them
I'm nothing without their love
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna just go black, it's gonna just go back to the way it's supposed to be
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he die for us or did he die at all?
If I sold my soul, for a bag of gold to you which one of us would be the foolish one?
Which one of us would be the fool? Which one of us would bethe foolish one?
Could you please start explaining? I think I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I wanna understand
Well the future's got me worried
Such awful thoughts
My head's a carousel of pictures
The spinning never stops
I just want someone to walk in front
And not follow the leader
Like when I fell under the weight of a schoolboy crush
Started carrying her books and doing lots of drugs
I almost forgot who I was
But I came to my senses
Now I'm trying to be assertive
I'm making plans
Gonna rise to the occasion yeah
Meet all their demands
But all I do is just lay in bed
And hide under the covers
Yeah I know I should be brave
But i'm just too afraid of all this change
And it's too hard to focus through all this doubt
I keep making these to-do lists but nothing gets crossed out
Working on the record seems pointless now
When the world ends who's gonna hear it?
But I'm trying to take some comfort in written words
Yeah, Tim, I heard your album and it's better than good
When we get off tour I think we should
Hang and black out together
'Cause I been feeling sentimental for days gone by
All the summers singing, drinking, my friend
Wasting our time
Remember all the songs and the way we smiled
In those basements made of music
But now I've got to crawl to get anywhere at all
I'm not as strong as I thought
So when I'm lost in a crowd
I hope that you'll pick me out
How I long to be found
The grass grew high, I laid down
Now I'm waiting for a hand
To lift me up, help me stand
I've been laying so low
Don't wanna lay here no more
Don't wanna lay here no more
Everything that happens is supposed to be
And it's all predetermined can't change your destiny
Guess I'll just keep moving
Someday maybe I'll get to where I'm going
(x)
Well the future's got me worried
Such awful thoughts
My head's a carousel of pictures
The spinning never stops
I just want someone to walk in front
And not follow the leader
Like when I fell under the weight of a schoolboy crush
Started carrying her books and doing lots of drugs
I almost forgot who I was
But I came to my senses
Now I'm trying to be assertive
I'm making plans
Gonna rise to the occasion yeah
Meet all their demands
But all I do is just lay in bed
And hide under the covers
Yeah I know I should be brave
But i'm just too afraid of all this change
And it's too hard to focus through all this doubt
I keep making these to-do lists but nothing gets crossed out
Working on the record seems pointless now
When the world ends who's gonna hear it?
But I'm trying to take some comfort in written words
Yeah, Tim, I heard your album and it's better than good
When we get off tour I think we should
Hang and black out together
'Cause I been feeling sentimental for days gone by
All the summers singing, drinking, my friend
Wasting our time
Remember all the songs and the way we smiled
In those basements made of music
But now I've got to crawl to get anywhere at all
I'm not as strong as I thought
So when I'm lost in a crowd
I hope that you'll pick me out
How I long to be found
The grass grew high, I laid down
Now I'm waiting for a hand
To lift me up, help me stand
I've been laying so low
Don't wanna lay here no more
Don't wanna lay here no more
Everything that happens is supposed to be
And it's all predetermined can't change your destiny
Guess I'll just keep moving
Someday maybe I'll get to where I'm going
Our love is dead but without limit
Like the surface of the moon
Or the land between here and the mountains
It is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent
But the way you taught me to just let it all go back
So we learn to be as faithless
Stand behind bulletproof glass
Exchanging our affections through a drawer
It was always horribly convenient and happening too fast
You should count your change before you're even out the door
Well, yes you should, but please return, return
To the person that you were, and I will do the same
'Cause it's too hard to belong to someone who is gone
My compass spins, but wilderness remains
Once too often I've retreated into the depths of my despair
I built a barricade to block you on the road
But standing there with all of my possessions piled higher than a house
I felt closer to you than you ever would have known
So let's let all these tiny acts of charity become ground on which tobuild
A monument to commemorate our time
And though you say you've found another who will surely speed you on your way
Don't let the forest grow over that path you came there by
But you will, so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
But now I tell myself I've mended under these patches of blue sky
There's still a few holes that let in a little rain
And so it's crying on my shingles
My floorboards moan under my feet
The refrigerator's whining so I've got reason to complain
But I'm not gonna bless you with such compliments
Some degrading song of praise
Like the kind that converted you to me so long ago
Because the truth is that gossip's as good as gospel in this town
You can save face but you won't ever save your soul
And that's a fact so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him in your likeness
And he'll become, become, oh, the prisoner I was
And know all that has spoiled in your heart
Yeah, he'll know it all
He'll know all that has spoiled in your heart
so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
(x)
Our love is dead but without limit
Like the surface of the moon
Or the land between here and the mountains
It is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent
But the way you taught me to just let it all go back
So we learn to be as faithless
Stand behind bulletproof glass
Exchanging our affections through a drawer
It was always horribly convenient and happening too fast
You should count your change before you're even out the door
Well, yes you should, but please return, return
To the person that you were, and I will do the same
'Cause it's too hard to belong to someone who is gone
My compass spins, but wilderness remains
Once too often I've retreated into the depths of my despair
I built a barricade to block you on the road
But standing there with all of my possessions piled higher than a house
I felt closer to you than you ever would have known
So let's let all these tiny acts of charity become ground on which tobuild
A monument to commemorate our time
And though you say you've found another who will surely speed you on your way
Don't let the forest grow over that path you came there by
But you will, so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
But now I tell myself I've mended under these patches of blue sky
There's still a few holes that let in a little rain
And so it's crying on my shingles
My floorboards moan under my feet
The refrigerator's whining so I've got reason to complain
But I'm not gonna bless you with such compliments
Some degrading song of praise
Like the kind that converted you to me so long ago
Because the truth is that gossip's as good as gospel in this town
You can save face but you won't ever save your soul
And that's a fact so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him in your likeness
And he'll become, become, oh, the prisoner I was
And know all that has spoiled in your heart
Yeah, he'll know it all
He'll know all that has spoiled in your heart
so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
I have a friend, he's mostly made of pain
He wakes up, drives to work and straight back home again
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper
I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover
And I tried to tell him that he had a sense
Of color and composition so magnificent
And he said thank you, please, but your flattery
It is truly not becoming me
Your eyes are poor, you're blind, you see
No beauty ever could have come from me
I'm a waste
Of breath, of space, of time
I knew a woman she was dignified and true
Her love for her man was one of her many virtues
Until one day she found out that he had lied
And decided the rest of her life from that point on would be a lie
She was grateful for everything that had happened
And she was anxious for all that would come next
But then she wept, what did you expect
In that big old house with the cars she kept
Such is life, she often said
With one day leading to the next
You get a little closer to your death
Which was fine with her, she never got upset
And with all the days she may have left
She would never clean another mess
Or fold his shirts, or look her best
She was free
To waste away alone
Last night my brother, he got drunk and drove
And this cop, he pulled him off to the side of the road
And he said officer, officer, you've got the wrong man
No, no, I'm a student of medicine, a son of a banker, you don't understand
The cop said No one got hurt, you should be thankful
And your carelessness, it is something awful
And no I can't just let you go
And though your father's name is known
Your decisions now are yours alone
You're nothing but a stepping stone on a path
To debt, to loss, to shame
The last few months I've been living with this couple
Yeah, you know the kind who buy everything in doubles
Yeah, they fit together like a puzzle
I love their love and I am thankful
That someone actually receives the prize that was promised
By all those fairy tales that drugged us
And still to me I'm sick, lonely
No laurel tree, just green envy
Will my number come up eventually
Like love's some kind of lottery
Where you scratch and see what's underneath
It's sorry
Just one cherry
I'll play again, get lucky
So now I hang out down by the train's depot
No, I don't ride, I just sit and watch the people there
They remind me of wind-up cars in motion
They way they spin and turn and jockey for positions
And I wanna scream out that it all is nonsense
Their life's one track and can't they see it's pointless?
But just then my knees give under me
My head feels weak and suddenly
It's clear to see, it's not them, but me
Who's lost my self-identity
And I hide behind these books I read
While scribbling my poetry
Like art could save a wretch like me
With some ideal ideology
That no one could hope to achieve
And I'm never real, it's just a sketch of me
And everything I've made is trite and cheap and a waste
Of paint
Of tape
Of time
So I park my car down by the cathedral
Where the floodlights point up at the steeples
Choir practice is filling up with people
I hear the sound escaping as an echo
Sloping off the ceiling at an angle
When the voices blend they sound like angels
I hope there's some room still in the middle
But when lift my voice up now to reach them
The range is too high way up in heaven
So I hold my tongue, forget the song
Tie my shoes, start walking off
And try to just keep moving on
With my broken heart and my absent god
And I have no faith but it's all I want
To be loved
And believe
In my soul, in my soul
(x)
I have a friend, he's mostly made of pain
He wakes up, drives to work and straight back home again
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper
I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover
And I tried to tell him that he had a sense
Of color and composition so magnificent
And he said thank you, please, but your flattery
It is truly not becoming me
Your eyes are poor, you're blind, you see
No beauty ever could have come from me
I'm a waste
Of breath, of space, of time
I knew a woman she was dignified and true
Her love for her man was one of her many virtues
Until one day she found out that he had lied
And decided the rest of her life from that point on would be a lie
She was grateful for everything that had happened
And she was anxious for all that would come next
But then she wept, what did you expect
In that big old house with the cars she kept
Such is life, she often said
With one day leading to the next
You get a little closer to your death
Which was fine with her, she never got upset
And with all the days she may have left
She would never clean another mess
Or fold his shirts, or look her best
She was free
To waste away alone
Last night my brother, he got drunk and drove
And this cop, he pulled him off to the side of the road
And he said officer, officer, you've got the wrong man
No, no, I'm a student of medicine, a son of a banker, you don't understand
The cop said No one got hurt, you should be thankful
And your carelessness, it is something awful
And no I can't just let you go
And though your father's name is known
Your decisions now are yours alone
You're nothing but a stepping stone on a path
To debt, to loss, to shame
The last few months I've been living with this couple
Yeah, you know the kind who buy everything in doubles
Yeah, they fit together like a puzzle
I love their love and I am thankful
That someone actually receives the prize that was promised
By all those fairy tales that drugged us
And still to me I'm sick, lonely
No laurel tree, just green envy
Will my number come up eventually
Like love's some kind of lottery
Where you scratch and see what's underneath
It's sorry
Just one cherry
I'll play again, get lucky
So now I hang out down by the train's depot
No, I don't ride, I just sit and watch the people there
They remind me of wind-up cars in motion
They way they spin and turn and jockey for positions
And I wanna scream out that it all is nonsense
Their life's one track and can't they see it's pointless?
But just then my knees give under me
My head feels weak and suddenly
It's clear to see, it's not them, but me
Who's lost my self-identity
And I hide behind these books I read
While scribbling my poetry
Like art could save a wretch like me
With some ideal ideology
That no one could hope to achieve
And I'm never real, it's just a sketch of me
And everything I've made is trite and cheap and a waste
Of paint
Of tape
Of time
So I park my car down by the cathedral
Where the floodlights point up at the steeples
Choir practice is filling up with people
I hear the sound escaping as an echo
Sloping off the ceiling at an angle
When the voices blend they sound like angels
I hope there's some room still in the middle
But when lift my voice up now to reach them
The range is too high way up in heaven
So I hold my tongue, forget the song
Tie my shoes, start walking off
And try to just keep moving on
With my broken heart and my absent god
And I have no faith but it's all I want
To be loved
And believe
In my soul, in my soul
There is a man holding a megaphone, so he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm, so I called 911
So that is one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that is all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun and those little painted marbles spinning senseless through an endless, black sky
(and so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece when I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner my enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh my patient prisoner you have waited for this and finally... you are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come, don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map and my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap to avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sign of graveyard gray and a garden green and then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again about how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
(x)
There is a man holding a megaphone, so he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm, so I called 911
So that is one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that is all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun and those little painted marbles spinning senseless through an endless, black sky
(and so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece when I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner my enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh my patient prisoner you have waited for this and finally... you are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come, don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map and my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap to avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sign of graveyard gray and a garden green and then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again about how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
Laura, are you still living there
On your estate of sorrows
You used to leave it occasionally
But now you don't even bother
To ride that commuter train, west to Chicago
To stroll through the greenery in the park past the statues
How their eyes seemed to follow you like a hated addiction
Their beauty carved out of absolutes that you could never claim
Or even envision
Laura, you were the saddest song
In the shape of a woman
Yeah, I thought you were beautiful
But I wept with your movements
But I hope that you're laughing now from that place on the carpet
Where we shared a sleeping bag in your sister's apartment
Oh, how she would worry so
You know, I was just a stranger
But she asked me to care for you, yes she did
And I went and betrayed her
But do you know we're in high demand, Laura, us people who suffer
Because we don't take to arguing
And we're quick to surrender
Well, I think I would call tonight if I still had your number
Your thoughts have always lain close to mine
Yeah, we were both skipping supper
But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living
'Cause it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura
Who have done the most singing
Everybody
Lalalala...
(x)
Laura, are you still living there
On your estate of sorrows
You used to leave it occasionally
But now you don't even bother
To ride that commuter train, west to Chicago
To stroll through the greenery in the park past the statues
How their eyes seemed to follow you like a hated addiction
Their beauty carved out of absolutes that you could never claim
Or even envision
Laura, you were the saddest song
In the shape of a woman
Yeah, I thought you were beautiful
But I wept with your movements
But I hope that you're laughing now from that place on the carpet
Where we shared a sleeping bag in your sister's apartment
Oh, how she would worry so
You know, I was just a stranger
But she asked me to care for you, yes she did
And I went and betrayed her
But do you know we're in high demand, Laura, us people who suffer
Because we don't take to arguing
And we're quick to surrender
Well, I think I would call tonight if I still had your number
Your thoughts have always lain close to mine
Yeah, we were both skipping supper
But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living
'Cause it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura
Who have done the most singing
Everybody
Lalalala...
Well the animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness
A baby cries hard in an apartment complex
As I pass in a car
Buried under the influence
The city's driving me out of my mind
I've seen a child getting caught in that sad trap of gravity
He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree
And lands in the grass, and weeps for his dignity
Next time he will not aim so high
Yeah next time neither will I
Now my mother takes loans out
Sends her kids off to colleges
Her family's reduced to names on a shopping list
Well a coroner kneels beneath a great wooden crucifix
He goes, 'there are worse things than being alone'
And so I've learned to retreat at the first sign of danger
I mean why wait around, if it's just to surrender
And ambition, I've found, can lead only to failure
I do not read the reviews
No, I am not singing for you
Well I stood dropping a coin into the pit of a well
And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help
With all these wishes I make, I should buy something real
At least a telephone, call home
Well my teachers they build this retaining wall of memory
All those bold, simple choices I answer so fluently
And got my grades back, and forgot just as easily
But at least I got an A
So I don't have them to blame
So I should stop pointing fingers
Reserve my judgement of all those public action figures
They count their presidents
So loud behind the bullhorn
So proud they can't admit
They may have made a mistake
Well-poisoning excuse from a speechwriter's pen
He knows he don't have to say it so it don't bother him
Honesty, accuracy, they're just popular opinion
The approval rating's high
Yeah so someone's gonna die
ABC, NBC, CBS bullshit
They give us fact or fiction and we can't even split
And each stupid act of war is tonight's entertainment
We're still pawns in their game
As they take eye for an eye, until no one can see
And we will stumble blindly forth, repeating history
Why can't we all be as useful on that flat-screen marquee
Blood red and white skin knowing the blues
Oh yeah the blues I got the blues
That's me
Well I awoke in relief
All my sheets and tubes were entangled
Weak from whiskey and pills in a Chicago hospital
And my father was there, in a chair by the window
Staring so far away
And I tried talking, just whispered, "so sorry, so selfish."
He stopped me and said, 'Child, I love you regardless
'And there is nothing you could do that would ever change this
'I'm not angry, it happens, but you just can't do it again'
So now I try to keep up
I've been exchanging my currency
One million objects pass through my periphery
And I'm rubbing my eyes, cause they're starting to bother me
I've been staring too long at the screen
But where was it when I first heard that sweet sound of humility
It came to my ears in the goddamn loveliest melody
How grateful I was then to be part of the mystery
To love and to be loved
Let's just hope that is enough
(x)
Well the animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness
A baby cries hard in an apartment complex
As I pass in a car
Buried under the influence
The city's driving me out of my mind
I've seen a child getting caught in that sad trap of gravity
He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree
And lands in the grass, and weeps for his dignity
Next time he will not aim so high
Yeah next time neither will I
Now my mother takes loans out
Sends her kids off to colleges
Her family's reduced to names on a shopping list
Well a coroner kneels beneath a great wooden crucifix
He goes, 'there are worse things than being alone'
And so I've learned to retreat at the first sign of danger
I mean why wait around, if it's just to surrender
And ambition, I've found, can lead only to failure
I do not read the reviews
No, I am not singing for you
Well I stood dropping a coin into the pit of a well
And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help
With all these wishes I make, I should buy something real
At least a telephone, call home
Well my teachers they build this retaining wall of memory
All those bold, simple choices I answer so fluently
And got my grades back, and forgot just as easily
But at least I got an A
So I don't have them to blame
So I should stop pointing fingers
Reserve my judgement of all those public action figures
They count their presidents
So loud behind the bullhorn
So proud they can't admit
They may have made a mistake
Well-poisoning excuse from a speechwriter's pen
He knows he don't have to say it so it don't bother him
Honesty, accuracy, they're just popular opinion
The approval rating's high
Yeah so someone's gonna die
ABC, NBC, CBS bullshit
They give us fact or fiction and we can't even split
And each stupid act of war is tonight's entertainment
We're still pawns in their game
As they take eye for an eye, until no one can see
And we will stumble blindly forth, repeating history
Why can't we all be as useful on that flat-screen marquee
Blood red and white skin knowing the blues
Oh yeah the blues I got the blues
That's me
Well I awoke in relief
All my sheets and tubes were entangled
Weak from whiskey and pills in a Chicago hospital
And my father was there, in a chair by the window
Staring so far away
And I tried talking, just whispered, "so sorry, so selfish."
He stopped me and said, 'Child, I love you regardless
'And there is nothing you could do that would ever change this
'I'm not angry, it happens, but you just can't do it again'
So now I try to keep up
I've been exchanging my currency
One million objects pass through my periphery
And I'm rubbing my eyes, cause they're starting to bother me
I've been staring too long at the screen
But where was it when I first heard that sweet sound of humility
It came to my ears in the goddamn loveliest melody
How grateful I was then to be part of the mystery
To love and to be loved
Let's just hope that is enough
Bright Eyes
There Is No Beginning to the Story
Saddle Creek Records , 2002
cd,
last two tracks vinyl onöy
(x)
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
(x)
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
(x)
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
(x)
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
(x)
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
(x)
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
Bright Eyes
There Is No Beginning to the Story
Saddle Creek Records , 2002
cd,
last two tracks vinyl only
(x)
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
(x)
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
(x)
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
(x)
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
(x)
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
(x)
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say

Bright Eyes
The People's Key
Saddle Creek , 2011
cd, album
I do my best to sleep through the caterwaul
The classicists, the posturing avant-garde
I bought a grey macaw named him Jules Verne
He'll probably outlive me he's a bright bird
Keeps me company I teach him new words
I saw a hologram at the theme park
She looked as real as me through the white fog
Then she melted down to her ankles
Turned into a million-watt candle
If I knew where she went I would follow
Walking through the land of tomorrow
Martian trinkets, plastic Apollos
In the sunshine try to act normal
My veins are full of flat cherry-cola
Slept on a bench by the rollercoaster
Dreamt I was riding on a motorbike
Lion of Judah painted on the side
I'm doing fine, I'm back in the Palisades
Life's a wash, a pastoral school play
China shops and cold ivory towers
I and I make toasts to the Caesars
Forcing down the dregs of Decembers
Madeline she spins in a slow bang
All through the house the strong smell of burnt sage
Let's make it clean and run out the spirits
I know a diving bell when I hear it
We're going down now under the surface
Light to dark can shift in an instant
Feeling close but keeping my distance
On all fours she's just so insistent
Fills my mind with jump ropes and slit wrists
Bust through the Firewall into heaven
Then I'm standing in that blinding light
Crooked crossed falling from the sky
Seen yeah seen by I and I
The classicists, the posturing avant-garde
I bought a grey macaw named him Jules Verne
He'll probably outlive me he's a bright bird
Keeps me company I teach him new words
I saw a hologram at the theme park
She looked as real as me through the white fog
Then she melted down to her ankles
Turned into a million-watt candle
If I knew where she went I would follow
Walking through the land of tomorrow
Martian trinkets, plastic Apollos
In the sunshine try to act normal
My veins are full of flat cherry-cola
Slept on a bench by the rollercoaster
Dreamt I was riding on a motorbike
Lion of Judah painted on the side
I'm doing fine, I'm back in the Palisades
Life's a wash, a pastoral school play
China shops and cold ivory towers
I and I make toasts to the Caesars
Forcing down the dregs of Decembers
Madeline she spins in a slow bang
All through the house the strong smell of burnt sage
Let's make it clean and run out the spirits
I know a diving bell when I hear it
We're going down now under the surface
Light to dark can shift in an instant
Feeling close but keeping my distance
On all fours she's just so insistent
Fills my mind with jump ropes and slit wrists
Bust through the Firewall into heaven
Then I'm standing in that blinding light
Crooked crossed falling from the sky
Seen yeah seen by I and I
(x)
I do my best to sleep through the caterwaul
The classicists, the posturing avant-garde
I bought a grey macaw named him Jules Verne
He'll probably outlive me he's a bright bird
Keeps me company I teach him new words
I saw a hologram at the theme park
She looked as real as me through the white fog
Then she melted down to her ankles
Turned into a million-watt candle
If I knew where she went I would follow
Walking through the land of tomorrow
Martian trinkets, plastic Apollos
In the sunshine try to act normal
My veins are full of flat cherry-cola
Slept on a bench by the rollercoaster
Dreamt I was riding on a motorbike
Lion of Judah painted on the side
I'm doing fine, I'm back in the Palisades
Life's a wash, a pastoral school play
China shops and cold ivory towers
I and I make toasts to the Caesars
Forcing down the dregs of Decembers
Madeline she spins in a slow bang
All through the house the strong smell of burnt sage
Let's make it clean and run out the spirits
I know a diving bell when I hear it
We're going down now under the surface
Light to dark can shift in an instant
Feeling close but keeping my distance
On all fours she's just so insistent
Fills my mind with jump ropes and slit wrists
Bust through the Firewall into heaven
Then I'm standing in that blinding light
Crooked crossed falling from the sky
Seen yeah seen by I and I
The classicists, the posturing avant-garde
I bought a grey macaw named him Jules Verne
He'll probably outlive me he's a bright bird
Keeps me company I teach him new words
I saw a hologram at the theme park
She looked as real as me through the white fog
Then she melted down to her ankles
Turned into a million-watt candle
If I knew where she went I would follow
Walking through the land of tomorrow
Martian trinkets, plastic Apollos
In the sunshine try to act normal
My veins are full of flat cherry-cola
Slept on a bench by the rollercoaster
Dreamt I was riding on a motorbike
Lion of Judah painted on the side
I'm doing fine, I'm back in the Palisades
Life's a wash, a pastoral school play
China shops and cold ivory towers
I and I make toasts to the Caesars
Forcing down the dregs of Decembers
Madeline she spins in a slow bang
All through the house the strong smell of burnt sage
Let's make it clean and run out the spirits
I know a diving bell when I hear it
We're going down now under the surface
Light to dark can shift in an instant
Feeling close but keeping my distance
On all fours she's just so insistent
Fills my mind with jump ropes and slit wrists
Bust through the Firewall into heaven
Then I'm standing in that blinding light
Crooked crossed falling from the sky
Seen yeah seen by I and I
Took the fireworks and the vanity,
the circuit board and the city streets,
shooting star, swaying palm tree,
laid it at the arbiter's feet.
If I could change my mind,
change the paradigm,
prepare myself for another life,
forgive myself for the times
I was cruel to something helpless and weak,
but here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Tag it on a Tiananmen Wall.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
I was dressed in white, touched by something pure,
death obsessed like a teenager.
Sold my tortured youth: piss and vinegar.
I'm still angry with no reason to be
at the architect who imagines
for the every man, blessed Sisyphus
slipping steadily into madness.
Now that's the only place to be free.
but here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move in alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
tattooed on a criminal's arm.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move it alone.
No, I don't want to play.
It's a shell game. It's a shell game.
Distorted sounds on the oscilloscopes,
distorted facts, I could never cope.
My private life is an inside joke.
No one will explain it to me.
We'll be everything that we ever need.
Everyone on the count of three.
Everyone on the count of three!
All together now!
Here it come, that heavy love.
We're never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
playing as the cylinder rose.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I only want to share in the load.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
(x)
Took the fireworks and the vanity,
the circuit board and the city streets,
shooting star, swaying palm tree,
laid it at the arbiter's feet.
If I could change my mind,
change the paradigm,
prepare myself for another life,
forgive myself for the times
I was cruel to something helpless and weak,
but here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Tag it on a Tiananmen Wall.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
I was dressed in white, touched by something pure,
death obsessed like a teenager.
Sold my tortured youth: piss and vinegar.
I'm still angry with no reason to be
at the architect who imagines
for the every man, blessed Sisyphus
slipping steadily into madness.
Now that's the only place to be free.
but here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move in alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
tattooed on a criminal's arm.
Here it come, that heavy love.
Someone got to share in the load.
Oh, here it come, that heavy love.
You never going to move it alone.
No, I don't want to play.
It's a shell game. It's a shell game.
Distorted sounds on the oscilloscopes,
distorted facts, I could never cope.
My private life is an inside joke.
No one will explain it to me.
We'll be everything that we ever need.
Everyone on the count of three.
Everyone on the count of three!
All together now!
Here it come, that heavy love.
We're never going to move it alone.
Here it come, that heavy love,
playing as the cylinder rose.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I only want to share in the load.
Here it come, that heavy love.
I'm never going to move it alone.
Every new day is a gift; it's a song of redemption
Any expression of love is a way to return
To that place that I think of so often but now never mention
The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don’t deserve
Come fire, come water, come karma, we'e all in transition
The Wheel of Becoming erases the physical mind
Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation
And the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre, is it true what we're made of?
Why do I hide from the rain?
Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features
We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time
See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers
Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did I get so lost? I’m amazed
It's just so bizarre all the things I'm afraid of
Why do I hide from the rain?
Sure I had my doubts
But I know it now
We are jejune stars
So it starts again
At our childhood's end
It'll die young at heart
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre if it true what we're made of
Why do I hide from the rain?
(x)
Every new day is a gift; it's a song of redemption
Any expression of love is a way to return
To that place that I think of so often but now never mention
The one the voice in the back of my head says that I don’t deserve
Come fire, come water, come karma, we'e all in transition
The Wheel of Becoming erases the physical mind
Till all that remains is a staircase of misinformation
And the code we inherit, the basis, the essence of life
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre, is it true what we're made of?
Why do I hide from the rain?
Inside some cloudy nostalgia where there are no features
We look at ourselves through a porthole, the passage of time
See that sunny day that we snuck down, hid under the bleachers
Kissed as the band marched, everything fell into line
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did I get so lost? I’m amazed
It's just so bizarre all the things I'm afraid of
Why do I hide from the rain?
Sure I had my doubts
But I know it now
We are jejune stars
So it starts again
At our childhood's end
It'll die young at heart
So I go umbrella under my arm into the green of the radar
How did it get so dark in the day?
It's just so bizarre if it true what we're made of
Why do I hide from the rain?
I used to dream of time machines
Now it’s been said we're post-everything
As a child imagining
Neck ties and Coast lines
I seen the show man, what a sight
Drenched us in approximated sunlight
The crowd was small and mostly blind
But kind, you're too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again on that circular trip
Lick the solar plexus of some L.A. shaman
I'm out of breath I'd better sit
Been living, hard living
All I do is follow you around
I wouldn't waste another thought
On what is fair and what is not
The quinceañera dress she bought
Was unstitched with bullets
All the guests in the garden screamed
Women and tires squealing
Such opulence, such misery
Unwinding, unwinding
All I do is follow you around
All I do is follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
(x)
I used to dream of time machines
Now it’s been said we're post-everything
As a child imagining
Neck ties and Coast lines
I seen the show man, what a sight
Drenched us in approximated sunlight
The crowd was small and mostly blind
But kind, you're too kind
Now you are how you were when you were real
Now you are how you were when you were real
There you go again on that circular trip
Lick the solar plexus of some L.A. shaman
I'm out of breath I'd better sit
Been living, hard living
All I do is follow you around
I wouldn't waste another thought
On what is fair and what is not
The quinceañera dress she bought
Was unstitched with bullets
All the guests in the garden screamed
Women and tires squealing
Such opulence, such misery
Unwinding, unwinding
All I do is follow you around
All I do is follow you around
Now you are how you were when you were real
Pilgrim across the water
We are the same, brother
Hitchhiking back to Zion
Holding our tears as we flip the album
What if this leads to ruin?
You got a soul, use it
All this despair forgiven
Rolling away on a wheel of sevens
Seems like the Queen of Sheba
Voice through a blown speaker
One drop and bubbling Leslie
Calling me home like Haile Selassie
Pilgrim beside the fire
Its been a long winter
We got a lot in common
Cover our heads as they split the atom
All of our days are numbered
I take in some comfort in knowing the wave has crested
Knowing I don't have to be an exception
Children they fill the bleachers
One is the next Caesar
Keep all their minds collected
Until it comes
Until it comes
Hide the Omega day
In plain sight
Too good to be true
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
Pilgrim upon the mountain
Bare foot and still climbing
Filling the book of hours
Day after day in the filth and squalor
We are the chosen people
Safe from the next evil
One Love! Magnetic memory
Reel after reel, spinning within me
I had the wildest dream last night
I was swimming with you in that Cenote the Heavens made with black fire
Just woke up too soon
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
(x)
Pilgrim across the water
We are the same, brother
Hitchhiking back to Zion
Holding our tears as we flip the album
What if this leads to ruin?
You got a soul, use it
All this despair forgiven
Rolling away on a wheel of sevens
Seems like the Queen of Sheba
Voice through a blown speaker
One drop and bubbling Leslie
Calling me home like Haile Selassie
Pilgrim beside the fire
Its been a long winter
We got a lot in common
Cover our heads as they split the atom
All of our days are numbered
I take in some comfort in knowing the wave has crested
Knowing I don't have to be an exception
Children they fill the bleachers
One is the next Caesar
Keep all their minds collected
Until it comes
Until it comes
Hide the Omega day
In plain sight
Too good to be true
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
Pilgrim upon the mountain
Bare foot and still climbing
Filling the book of hours
Day after day in the filth and squalor
We are the chosen people
Safe from the next evil
One Love! Magnetic memory
Reel after reel, spinning within me
I had the wildest dream last night
I was swimming with you in that Cenote the Heavens made with black fire
Just woke up too soon
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
I've seen stranger things, man
I've seen that tree of smoke
Yeah, I've seen stranger things happen,
Happen before
The People's Key ringing through arena seats
The black machine played it all from memory
A fever dream, well, I'll come back eventually
To wade into the water, another and another we go
Form some kind of code
The bodies float
And form some kind of code
The bodies float
Someone is out to know
Papa Hobo don't hide your eyes
Mother Mountain don't kill your unborn child
His day is coming
His day is coming
A question burns beneath the centuries of dirt
That voice you've heard, well, every head is a different world
Where mine is concerned, I boarded up the windows
A catatonic plateau, a backwards, black-faced minstrel show
So just let me go
The prisoner moans
Oh just let me go
The prisoner moans
No one has to know
Eva Braun went to dye her hair
Little Hitler sat in his giant's chair
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed and dreamed and dreamed
The People's Key ringing filling everything
The theme repeats, thinner than the galaxy
Impart to me your wisdom and eventually
I'll float into the ether, another from another we grow
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
We form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
No, you are not alone
History bows and it steps aside
In the jungle there are columns of purple light
We are starting over
We are starting
We are starting
(x)
The People's Key ringing through arena seats
The black machine played it all from memory
A fever dream, well, I'll come back eventually
To wade into the water, another and another we go
Form some kind of code
The bodies float
And form some kind of code
The bodies float
Someone is out to know
Papa Hobo don't hide your eyes
Mother Mountain don't kill your unborn child
His day is coming
His day is coming
A question burns beneath the centuries of dirt
That voice you've heard, well, every head is a different world
Where mine is concerned, I boarded up the windows
A catatonic plateau, a backwards, black-faced minstrel show
So just let me go
The prisoner moans
Oh just let me go
The prisoner moans
No one has to know
Eva Braun went to dye her hair
Little Hitler sat in his giant's chair
And dreamed of nowhere
And dreamed and dreamed and dreamed
The People's Key ringing filling everything
The theme repeats, thinner than the galaxy
Impart to me your wisdom and eventually
I'll float into the ether, another from another we grow
Form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
We form some kind of code
Of flesh and bone
No, you are not alone
History bows and it steps aside
In the jungle there are columns of purple light
We are starting over
We are starting
We are starting
I loved a Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
I folded my devotion into an origami rose
Stood at her Tiffany window, she said to look below
Could I see the town was burning?
Could I see the broken prison?
Could I see that it was time for me to go?
They looted the museum and took all that they could hold
A motorcade of flatbed trucks made off with quite a haul
That's when I heard someone shout,
In with the new! Out with the old!
A dusty box of letters
A rusting suit of armor
A casket made of fourteen karat gold
That's the problem
No sense of time
She is shaped just like an hourglass there laying on her side
I loved you Triple Spiral father, son and ghost
But you left me in my darkest hour when I needed you,
when I needed you
Now that the dream is over I want it to be known
That I never saw it coming
Through my little human prism
How sad it is to know I'm in control
That's the problem
An empty sky
I fill it up with everything that is missing from my life
Where did you come from?
You fated sign
Spinning through the centuries expanding all the time
Three worlds at once that blend together
Three times I cried for us but I felt better then
I loved you Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
You found me in this fallow state, my mind was off and stowed
I heard your strange commotion and wished I could go home
To live a little longer
A full Indian summer
Long enough to carve you into stone
(x)
I loved a Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
I folded my devotion into an origami rose
Stood at her Tiffany window, she said to look below
Could I see the town was burning?
Could I see the broken prison?
Could I see that it was time for me to go?
They looted the museum and took all that they could hold
A motorcade of flatbed trucks made off with quite a haul
That's when I heard someone shout,
In with the new! Out with the old!
A dusty box of letters
A rusting suit of armor
A casket made of fourteen karat gold
That's the problem
No sense of time
She is shaped just like an hourglass there laying on her side
I loved you Triple Spiral father, son and ghost
But you left me in my darkest hour when I needed you,
when I needed you
Now that the dream is over I want it to be known
That I never saw it coming
Through my little human prism
How sad it is to know I'm in control
That's the problem
An empty sky
I fill it up with everything that is missing from my life
Where did you come from?
You fated sign
Spinning through the centuries expanding all the time
Three worlds at once that blend together
Three times I cried for us but I felt better then
I loved you Triple Spiral, my maiden-mother-crone
You found me in this fallow state, my mind was off and stowed
I heard your strange commotion and wished I could go home
To live a little longer
A full Indian summer
Long enough to carve you into stone
Hold on tight beginners mind
The wheel is spinning too
Fast to make your move
The worst must be assumed
Oh how they'll try to pull and pry
Away what you know now
Beat and beat it out
Leave a drum that makes no sound
A snuff film on a jumbotron
For all the world to see
A cocktail napkin epitaph
Some psychobabel telegram
Message written in the sand
The tide rolls in
Swear you'll do the opposite
Of all those tangled hypocrites
Who say that the experiment has failed
Don't go there
You're getting nowhere
You're getting nowhere
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your tricks
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
Oh, how you've grown so cynical
Hard lines carved in your face
The sunshine's so cliche
Just like love and pain
You tried your best on the rorschach test
But there's just nothing to see
Heard terabytes of a perfect pitch
Some universal elegance
Stack the seventh and the fifth
Along the grid
Swear you'll be the opposite
Of all the stilted hypocrites
You know what made you infamous to them, don't you
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
Hold on tight beginner's mind
The currents far too strong
It'll carry you along
Till you're just like everyone
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your trick
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
(x)
Hold on tight beginners mind
The wheel is spinning too
Fast to make your move
The worst must be assumed
Oh how they'll try to pull and pry
Away what you know now
Beat and beat it out
Leave a drum that makes no sound
A snuff film on a jumbotron
For all the world to see
A cocktail napkin epitaph
Some psychobabel telegram
Message written in the sand
The tide rolls in
Swear you'll do the opposite
Of all those tangled hypocrites
Who say that the experiment has failed
Don't go there
You're getting nowhere
You're getting nowhere
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your tricks
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
Oh, how you've grown so cynical
Hard lines carved in your face
The sunshine's so cliche
Just like love and pain
You tried your best on the rorschach test
But there's just nothing to see
Heard terabytes of a perfect pitch
Some universal elegance
Stack the seventh and the fifth
Along the grid
Swear you'll be the opposite
Of all the stilted hypocrites
You know what made you infamous to them, don't you
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
You keep starting over
Hold on tight beginner's mind
The currents far too strong
It'll carry you along
Till you're just like everyone
Stay a while my inner child
I'd like to learn your trick
To know what makes you tick
To nurse you when you're sick
No one knows where the ladder goes
You're gonna lose what you love the most
You're not alone in anything
You're not unique in dying
I Feel a strange day every now and then
Fall asleep reading science fiction
I wanna fly in your silver ship
Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit
It's on now
The days are long now
The ups and the sun downs
And a twisting mind
If I gotta go first
I'll do it on my terms
I'm tired of traitors
Always changing sides
They were friends of mine
Don't hang around once the promise breaks
Or you'll be there when the next one's made
Kiss the feet of a charlatan
Some imagined freedom
All the rest is predictable
You can say you're the first to know
Bought a mantra to concentrate
Car alarm or hissing snake
I know now
How it's gonna turn now
You've got to calm down
Or I'll lose my place
Got to get to the center
Got to get to the concert
Run off with a dancer
Gonna celebrate
We'll welcome the new age
Covered in warrior paint
Lights from the jungle to the sky
See now a star is born
Looks just like a blood orange
Don't it just make you want to cry?
Precious friend of mine
Will I know when it's finally done?
This whole life is a hallucination
You're not alone in anything
You're not alone in trying to be
(x)
No one knows where the ladder goes
You're gonna lose what you love the most
You're not alone in anything
You're not unique in dying
I Feel a strange day every now and then
Fall asleep reading science fiction
I wanna fly in your silver ship
Let Jesus hang and Buddha sit
It's on now
The days are long now
The ups and the sun downs
And a twisting mind
If I gotta go first
I'll do it on my terms
I'm tired of traitors
Always changing sides
They were friends of mine
Don't hang around once the promise breaks
Or you'll be there when the next one's made
Kiss the feet of a charlatan
Some imagined freedom
All the rest is predictable
You can say you're the first to know
Bought a mantra to concentrate
Car alarm or hissing snake
I know now
How it's gonna turn now
You've got to calm down
Or I'll lose my place
Got to get to the center
Got to get to the concert
Run off with a dancer
Gonna celebrate
We'll welcome the new age
Covered in warrior paint
Lights from the jungle to the sky
See now a star is born
Looks just like a blood orange
Don't it just make you want to cry?
Precious friend of mine
Will I know when it's finally done?
This whole life is a hallucination
You're not alone in anything
You're not alone in trying to be
One for the righteous
One for the ruling class
One for the tyrant
One for the slaughtered lamb
One for the struggle
One for the lasting peace
One for you and One for me
One for the Führer
One for his child bride
One for the wedding
One for the suicide
One for the bunker
One for the broadcast booth
One for me, now One for you
How did we get so far away from us?
How did we get so far away?
One for the people
One for the parliament
One for the weary
One for the malcontent
One for the master
One for the protege
One for you and One for me
One for the breadlines
One for the billionaires
One for the for the missing
One for the barely there
One for the certain
One for the real confused
One for me, okay, now One for you
Now that we've come so far away from us
Now that we've come too far to say
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I
(x)
One for the righteous
One for the ruling class
One for the tyrant
One for the slaughtered lamb
One for the struggle
One for the lasting peace
One for you and One for me
One for the Führer
One for his child bride
One for the wedding
One for the suicide
One for the bunker
One for the broadcast booth
One for me, now One for you
How did we get so far away from us?
How did we get so far away?
One for the people
One for the parliament
One for the weary
One for the malcontent
One for the master
One for the protege
One for you and One for me
One for the breadlines
One for the billionaires
One for the for the missing
One for the barely there
One for the certain
One for the real confused
One for me, okay, now One for you
Now that we've come so far away from us
Now that we've come too far to say
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
You and Me, You and Me
That is an awful lie
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I
It's I and I

Bright Eyes
Singularity
Saddle Creek , 2011
7" vinyl, single
Auf 2000 Stück limitiertes farbiges Vinyl, das mit dem I Want it All Komplett-Paket für The People's Key kam.
Side 1
Learning on the fly
How to gather and analyze
Nothing is living if nothing dies
What an exception to make
Roundly rejecting our faith
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We will be abstraction then
We will buried within
All will be balanced
We will be one
Now we're on our way
All of our instincts accelerate
Nothing you imagine could keep this pace
We will know freedom at last
Finally make up for the past
When singularity comes
We will be faster than light
Whistling, skipping through time
When singularity comes
We will be children again
We will be cradled within
We will be perfect
We will be one
When singularity comes
Living in one mind
Every pin drop is amplified
Every outcome before its tried
Will make a rag doll of God
Wind up our new music box
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We'll be completely awake
Neophyte make no mistake
We're in this together
We will be one
When singularity comes
When singularity comes
How to gather and analyze
Nothing is living if nothing dies
What an exception to make
Roundly rejecting our faith
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We will be abstraction then
We will buried within
All will be balanced
We will be one
Now we're on our way
All of our instincts accelerate
Nothing you imagine could keep this pace
We will know freedom at last
Finally make up for the past
When singularity comes
We will be faster than light
Whistling, skipping through time
When singularity comes
We will be children again
We will be cradled within
We will be perfect
We will be one
When singularity comes
Living in one mind
Every pin drop is amplified
Every outcome before its tried
Will make a rag doll of God
Wind up our new music box
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We'll be completely awake
Neophyte make no mistake
We're in this together
We will be one
When singularity comes
When singularity comes
(x)
Learning on the fly
How to gather and analyze
Nothing is living if nothing dies
What an exception to make
Roundly rejecting our faith
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We will be abstraction then
We will buried within
All will be balanced
We will be one
Now we're on our way
All of our instincts accelerate
Nothing you imagine could keep this pace
We will know freedom at last
Finally make up for the past
When singularity comes
We will be faster than light
Whistling, skipping through time
When singularity comes
We will be children again
We will be cradled within
We will be perfect
We will be one
When singularity comes
Living in one mind
Every pin drop is amplified
Every outcome before its tried
Will make a rag doll of God
Wind up our new music box
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We'll be completely awake
Neophyte make no mistake
We're in this together
We will be one
When singularity comes
When singularity comes
How to gather and analyze
Nothing is living if nothing dies
What an exception to make
Roundly rejecting our faith
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We will be abstraction then
We will buried within
All will be balanced
We will be one
Now we're on our way
All of our instincts accelerate
Nothing you imagine could keep this pace
We will know freedom at last
Finally make up for the past
When singularity comes
We will be faster than light
Whistling, skipping through time
When singularity comes
We will be children again
We will be cradled within
We will be perfect
We will be one
When singularity comes
Living in one mind
Every pin drop is amplified
Every outcome before its tried
Will make a rag doll of God
Wind up our new music box
When singularity comes
We will be fully revealed
Wandering limitless fields
When singularity comes
We'll be completely awake
Neophyte make no mistake
We're in this together
We will be one
When singularity comes
When singularity comes
There's someone looking out for you
At least that's what I would assume
Always sleeping in a different bed
Never had a lot of refuse
Never saw a reason to
It's just the way of things
When jumping on a trampoline
You should expect some ups and downs
Nothing can surprise you now
Everything's the way it seems
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
It's coming for you
You're trapped inside a pocket watch
You're living in a little box
Keep looking for a looking glass
To take you there and bring you back
That plan's always falling through
Time can fly, but it can't be saved
Always gets away
You've just grown so tired from the chase
Each moment defines you
It always reminds you
You're never the same
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
In the real world, it just keeps coming true
In the real world, they've been waiting for you
They've been waiting for you
(x)
There's someone looking out for you
At least that's what I would assume
Always sleeping in a different bed
Never had a lot of refuse
Never saw a reason to
It's just the way of things
When jumping on a trampoline
You should expect some ups and downs
Nothing can surprise you now
Everything's the way it seems
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
It's coming for you
You're trapped inside a pocket watch
You're living in a little box
Keep looking for a looking glass
To take you there and bring you back
That plan's always falling through
Time can fly, but it can't be saved
Always gets away
You've just grown so tired from the chase
Each moment defines you
It always reminds you
You're never the same
In the real world, it's always coming true
It's the real world, it's coming for you
In the real world, it just keeps coming true
In the real world, they've been waiting for you
They've been waiting for you

Bright Eyes
One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels
Saddle Creek , 2010
cd, album
Split Album mit Neva Dinova.
1,3,5,7,9: Neva Dinova
2010 erschein die Platte nochmals auf Saddle Creek mit 4 Bonus Songs.
Spring Cleaning geschrieben von Bright Eyes und gespielt von Neva Dinova
There's a lot of things I could have done
Little tokens of my love
That I was always saving up to spend
It's the thought that counts, I guess
Even ones that don't make sense
Even when it's easy to forget
To much time for the self-employed
I heard you scream in your mother's voice
So afraid you'd become her in the end
You want a life that you cannot live
But that is what keeps you competitive
Throw another shower for a friend
Tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
For the sake now of the argument
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
Not yet a mother but a good complex
You like the boys when they're scared of sex
What a shame that they grow up to be men
Well, maybe father does know best
And that's the reason why he left
All your pride to the last ditch you defend
It took a while to accept our fate
And all the chance it eliminates
Once we did there was nothing to pretend
Always say there's a time and place
So maybe ours will consolidate
If they do I will greet you as a friend
You can show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, show me where it is
Now you found it all by accident
C'mon, show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
(x)
There's a lot of things I could have done
Little tokens of my love
That I was always saving up to spend
It's the thought that counts, I guess
Even ones that don't make sense
Even when it's easy to forget
To much time for the self-employed
I heard you scream in your mother's voice
So afraid you'd become her in the end
You want a life that you cannot live
But that is what keeps you competitive
Throw another shower for a friend
Tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
For the sake now of the argument
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking for their happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
Not yet a mother but a good complex
You like the boys when they're scared of sex
What a shame that they grow up to be men
Well, maybe father does know best
And that's the reason why he left
All your pride to the last ditch you defend
It took a while to accept our fate
And all the chance it eliminates
Once we did there was nothing to pretend
Always say there's a time and place
So maybe ours will consolidate
If they do I will greet you as a friend
You can show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, show me where it is
Now you found it all by accident
C'mon, show me where it is
Because I'm looking for your happiness
C'mon, tell me where it is
Because I'm looking
walking with you through the courtyard
where everything's marble and smooth
you said the idea of perfection
was just fundamentally cruel
and talked about joining the circus
and trading your face for a mask
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
we made quite a pair in the morning
we both tend to traffic in dreams
seeing it now from the outside
you kept all your dark ones for me
and said that you plan to go rambling
as you sat on that big windowsill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
you long to go hide in the bramble
or fall off the face of the earth
you wish you could live with the beggars
on the steps of some crumbling church
you say that you'd like to go hungry
but the truth is you just had your fill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
on sundays, you stroll through the market
and feel like you've traveled through time
buying back all your possessions
that were stolen in some former life
returned to me, tied in a corset
to say "don't you know who i am?"
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
been trying to make an invention
something the world's never seen
to sweep away all of the trouble
and leave the place shiny and clean
patent your brave new creation
and hold it right there in your hand
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
i waited for you at the landing
the water was crystal and calm
all these ideas of forever
are just fundamentally wrong
you say that your love makes you honest
then you're caught with your hand in the till
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
(x)
walking with you through the courtyard
where everything's marble and smooth
you said the idea of perfection
was just fundamentally cruel
and talked about joining the circus
and trading your face for a mask
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
we made quite a pair in the morning
we both tend to traffic in dreams
seeing it now from the outside
you kept all your dark ones for me
and said that you plan to go rambling
as you sat on that big windowsill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
you long to go hide in the bramble
or fall off the face of the earth
you wish you could live with the beggars
on the steps of some crumbling church
you say that you'd like to go hungry
but the truth is you just had your fill
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
on sundays, you stroll through the market
and feel like you've traveled through time
buying back all your possessions
that were stolen in some former life
returned to me, tied in a corset
to say "don't you know who i am?"
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
been trying to make an invention
something the world's never seen
to sweep away all of the trouble
and leave the place shiny and clean
patent your brave new creation
and hold it right there in your hand
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you can
i waited for you at the landing
the water was crystal and calm
all these ideas of forever
are just fundamentally wrong
you say that your love makes you honest
then you're caught with your hand in the till
oh i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
yes, i know you want to
i just don't believe that you will
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
(x)
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
You said they laid out lots of coke
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
(x)
You said they laid out lots of coke
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
(x)
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning

Bright Eyes
Four Winds
Saddle Creek , 2007
cd, ep
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
(x)
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint in a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast on a school of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the sum of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
Heard four winds leveling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
My friend you were the model
A priceless work of art
Boys would fashion their emotions
To the pattern of your heart
And I heard you wrote that record
For a girl you loved but died
I'm here sewing mine together
Just hoping you're alive
And I know you'll never come back now
To the world where people are
Because you never understood
What they loved you for
Now ghosts, they have their secrets
And they'll tell them to a few
So you could never pay attention
When they're whispering to you
There were many talents you possessed
That I wished myself to have
But the way your eyes would gloss over
Well, I never envied that
And I doubt you'll ever come back now
From wherever it is you are
Because you never understood
What we loved you for
I'm sure the TV sets will tell us
When someone reinvents the wheel
Until then I'll have a million conversations
About shit that isn't real
But I've tried to breathe in meaning
Dig deep to every gasp of air
Because I know you did the same thing
For as long as you could bear
I guess everything just circles around
To where it was before
So I hope I see you soon
In some other form
(x)
My friend you were the model
A priceless work of art
Boys would fashion their emotions
To the pattern of your heart
And I heard you wrote that record
For a girl you loved but died
I'm here sewing mine together
Just hoping you're alive
And I know you'll never come back now
To the world where people are
Because you never understood
What they loved you for
Now ghosts, they have their secrets
And they'll tell them to a few
So you could never pay attention
When they're whispering to you
There were many talents you possessed
That I wished myself to have
But the way your eyes would gloss over
Well, I never envied that
And I doubt you'll ever come back now
From wherever it is you are
Because you never understood
What we loved you for
I'm sure the TV sets will tell us
When someone reinvents the wheel
Until then I'll have a million conversations
About shit that isn't real
But I've tried to breathe in meaning
Dig deep to every gasp of air
Because I know you did the same thing
For as long as you could bear
I guess everything just circles around
To where it was before
So I hope I see you soon
In some other form
Come on in, my weary friend
The welcome here is endless
These fears of yours, like painted whores
They will not stay the night
If all your life you've done what's right
Dont say you felt obliged
Come on along, is your timid tongue
Too shy to tell your story?
This pain in you so far removed
From anything youve known
So I wont condone another moan
When everything is fine
So when in drought, learn to dance
And pray the dead would return
Dream smoke without fire
Just come see me again when it burns
Somewhere along the way
Well, I was led astray
By a wolf in no one's clothing
It was a brilliant disguise
And I forgot that life existed
I thought it was just some kind of game
That's what brings me to your doorstep
Though I dont know why I came today
Standing still in the dust
Giving up on the rain
As with smoke without fire
I've already laid in the flames
I've already laid in the flames
Brother, be afraid of the flames
(x)
Come on in, my weary friend
The welcome here is endless
These fears of yours, like painted whores
They will not stay the night
If all your life you've done what's right
Dont say you felt obliged
Come on along, is your timid tongue
Too shy to tell your story?
This pain in you so far removed
From anything youve known
So I wont condone another moan
When everything is fine
So when in drought, learn to dance
And pray the dead would return
Dream smoke without fire
Just come see me again when it burns
Somewhere along the way
Well, I was led astray
By a wolf in no one's clothing
It was a brilliant disguise
And I forgot that life existed
I thought it was just some kind of game
That's what brings me to your doorstep
Though I dont know why I came today
Standing still in the dust
Giving up on the rain
As with smoke without fire
I've already laid in the flames
I've already laid in the flames
Brother, be afraid of the flames
There's a skinny dog
In a dirty parking lot
And he doesn't bite
But he begs
And he knows what's true
So if you are, he'll follow you
If you're headed home
All the way
So we let him finish
Every dinner plate
And we watched his tail say thanks, thanks, thanks
And we tried to name him
But he ran away
Once he knew his freedom was at stake
This same old shit
So it's how you deal with it
It's the glove that fits
That you wear
So when the wind blows strong
I put a few more layers on
And I tell myself
I don't care
I might make a phone call
To a better man
To ask the questions that I have, have, have
Like how do I get started
And where's it going to end?
Why should I treat a traitor like a friend?
(x)
There's a skinny dog
In a dirty parking lot
And he doesn't bite
But he begs
And he knows what's true
So if you are, he'll follow you
If you're headed home
All the way
So we let him finish
Every dinner plate
And we watched his tail say thanks, thanks, thanks
And we tried to name him
But he ran away
Once he knew his freedom was at stake
This same old shit
So it's how you deal with it
It's the glove that fits
That you wear
So when the wind blows strong
I put a few more layers on
And I tell myself
I don't care
I might make a phone call
To a better man
To ask the questions that I have, have, have
Like how do I get started
And where's it going to end?
Why should I treat a traitor like a friend?
I listened to a lecture of nonsense until dawn
By a plagiary poet with dark glasses on
He said, "How did you ever dream up that song
The one where the baby dies?"
I said, "I'll tell you the secret, which one's your good ear?
Yeah, people are made up of water and fear
If there weren't women present we wouldn't be here
So let's make like we're friends"
And the pot turned to powder and soured the mood
And the people I'd come with were gone from the room
So I asked like a child, "May I be excused?"
And disobeyed them all
Into that late-night latrine, rain soaking through my shoes
I tried walking backwards to get less confused
Working off the theory I could never prove
That it was life itself to blame
And time ruined the world
Like a failed revolution
A tumor we could not remove
An old friend, a constant, the blues
Now my days are distractions, sit wringing my hands
Solitaire, crosswords and films on demand
When you turn from a cartoon back into a man
You start to smell that human smell
So I sleep with the fan on to drown out the street
And the noise rising up from the bar underneath
But for that inconvenience all my drinks are free
So I guess it's just as well
Why do I envy the ending right from the start
Just get it together to take it apart
Watching the horse as it follows the cart
I sweep up my broken spell
And I felt something changing the world
Like a new constitution
A thief I would have to pursue
At all times, at all costs, the truth
(x)
I listened to a lecture of nonsense until dawn
By a plagiary poet with dark glasses on
He said, "How did you ever dream up that song
The one where the baby dies?"
I said, "I'll tell you the secret, which one's your good ear?
Yeah, people are made up of water and fear
If there weren't women present we wouldn't be here
So let's make like we're friends"
And the pot turned to powder and soured the mood
And the people I'd come with were gone from the room
So I asked like a child, "May I be excused?"
And disobeyed them all
Into that late-night latrine, rain soaking through my shoes
I tried walking backwards to get less confused
Working off the theory I could never prove
That it was life itself to blame
And time ruined the world
Like a failed revolution
A tumor we could not remove
An old friend, a constant, the blues
Now my days are distractions, sit wringing my hands
Solitaire, crosswords and films on demand
When you turn from a cartoon back into a man
You start to smell that human smell
So I sleep with the fan on to drown out the street
And the noise rising up from the bar underneath
But for that inconvenience all my drinks are free
So I guess it's just as well
Why do I envy the ending right from the start
Just get it together to take it apart
Watching the horse as it follows the cart
I sweep up my broken spell
And I felt something changing the world
Like a new constitution
A thief I would have to pursue
At all times, at all costs, the truth
It's not the road we used to know
They tore some buildings down
The traffic's like a pack of dogs
There's fewer trees, windows, fleas
There's concrete on the lawn
There's people here but you are gone
And I find still swimming through time
Afraid some days I've reached the shore
"Make yourself free"
Man said back to me
Now my heart is like an open door
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
It's not my weight that makes me faint
Or the sugar in my blood
But the way these strangers stand so close
They say my name like a guessing game
"Is that really you?"
No, I dont think it ever was
In the spring
When the world's turning green
I only think about the fall
The frets on the board
My progression of chords
Oh, how I want this to resolve
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
Now the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
Anymore
(x)
It's not the road we used to know
They tore some buildings down
The traffic's like a pack of dogs
There's fewer trees, windows, fleas
There's concrete on the lawn
There's people here but you are gone
And I find still swimming through time
Afraid some days I've reached the shore
"Make yourself free"
Man said back to me
Now my heart is like an open door
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
It's not my weight that makes me faint
Or the sugar in my blood
But the way these strangers stand so close
They say my name like a guessing game
"Is that really you?"
No, I dont think it ever was
In the spring
When the world's turning green
I only think about the fall
The frets on the board
My progression of chords
Oh, how I want this to resolve
And the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here any more
Now the road finally gave me back
But I dont think I'll unpack
Because I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
No, I'm not sure if I live here
Anymore

Bright Eyes
Cassadaga
Saddle Creek , 2007
cd, album
Corporate or Colonial
The Movement is unstoppable
Like the body of a centerfold it spreads
To the counter-culture copyright
Get your revolution at a lower price
Or make believe and throw the fight, play dead
It's exploding bags, aerosol cans
Southbound buses, Peter Pan
They left it up to us again
I thought you knew the drill
It's kill or be killed
Future Markets, Holy Wars
Been tried ten thousand times before
If you think that God is keeping score, Hooray!
For the freedom-fighting simulcast (Victory! A defeat! Victory!)
The imminent and the aftermath
Draw another bloody bath to drain
Like the polar icecaps centrifuge (Oh Allah! Oh Jesus please!)
First snowman built at the end of June
He slicks his hair for the interview, his fifteen-minute fame
Would you agree times have changed?
The Movement is unstoppable
Like the body of a centerfold it spreads
To the counter-culture copyright
Get your revolution at a lower price
Or make believe and throw the fight, play dead
It's exploding bags, aerosol cans
Southbound buses, Peter Pan
They left it up to us again
I thought you knew the drill
It's kill or be killed
Future Markets, Holy Wars
Been tried ten thousand times before
If you think that God is keeping score, Hooray!
For the freedom-fighting simulcast (Victory! A defeat! Victory!)
The imminent and the aftermath
Draw another bloody bath to drain
Like the polar icecaps centrifuge (Oh Allah! Oh Jesus please!)
First snowman built at the end of June
He slicks his hair for the interview, his fifteen-minute fame
Would you agree times have changed?
(x)
Corporate or Colonial
The Movement is unstoppable
Like the body of a centerfold it spreads
To the counter-culture copyright
Get your revolution at a lower price
Or make believe and throw the fight, play dead
It's exploding bags, aerosol cans
Southbound buses, Peter Pan
They left it up to us again
I thought you knew the drill
It's kill or be killed
Future Markets, Holy Wars
Been tried ten thousand times before
If you think that God is keeping score, Hooray!
For the freedom-fighting simulcast (Victory! A defeat! Victory!)
The imminent and the aftermath
Draw another bloody bath to drain
Like the polar icecaps centrifuge (Oh Allah! Oh Jesus please!)
First snowman built at the end of June
He slicks his hair for the interview, his fifteen-minute fame
Would you agree times have changed?
The Movement is unstoppable
Like the body of a centerfold it spreads
To the counter-culture copyright
Get your revolution at a lower price
Or make believe and throw the fight, play dead
It's exploding bags, aerosol cans
Southbound buses, Peter Pan
They left it up to us again
I thought you knew the drill
It's kill or be killed
Future Markets, Holy Wars
Been tried ten thousand times before
If you think that God is keeping score, Hooray!
For the freedom-fighting simulcast (Victory! A defeat! Victory!)
The imminent and the aftermath
Draw another bloody bath to drain
Like the polar icecaps centrifuge (Oh Allah! Oh Jesus please!)
First snowman built at the end of June
He slicks his hair for the interview, his fifteen-minute fame
Would you agree times have changed?
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
His body's decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen the sun
Cast off the schools of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the son of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
With four winds, levelling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't compete with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
(x)
Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
His body's decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
A squatter's made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves
The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qu'ran's mute
If you burn them all together you get close to the truth still
They are pouring over sanskrit on the ivy league moons
While shadows lengthen the sun
Cast off the schools of meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences, crossing property lines
Four winds, cry until it comes
And it's the son of man
Slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks, it breaks, it breaks
Well, I went back to my rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee, retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the black hills, the bad lands, the calloused east
I buried my ballast, I made my peace
With four winds, levelling the pines
But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon
She just can't compete with all that outer space
She breaks, she breaks, she caves, she caves
When panic grips your body and your heart is a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
All this automatic writing I have tried to understand
From a psychedelic angel who was tugging on my hand
It's an infinite coincidence but it doesn't form a plan
So I'm headed for New England or the Paris of the South
Gonna find myself somewhere to level out
Are your brothels full, Oh Babylon, with merry Middlemen?
Never peer out of their periscopes from those deep opium dens
All this death must need a counterweight always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out
I tried to pass for nothing
But my dreams gave me away
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
People snuffed out in the brutal rain
I could live to any age
If the Brakeman turns my way
It is an old world it's hard to remember
Like a dime store mystery
I'm a repeat first time offender
Who has rewritten history
Mixed up tea leaves
Phantom Pain
Fuzzy logic in the crazy rain
Getting better every day
If the Brakeman turns my way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the blinding rain
He'll be smiling as he seals my fate
When the Brakeman turns my way
(x)
When panic grips your body and your heart is a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
All this automatic writing I have tried to understand
From a psychedelic angel who was tugging on my hand
It's an infinite coincidence but it doesn't form a plan
So I'm headed for New England or the Paris of the South
Gonna find myself somewhere to level out
Are your brothels full, Oh Babylon, with merry Middlemen?
Never peer out of their periscopes from those deep opium dens
All this death must need a counterweight always someone born again
First a mother bathes her child then the other way around
The Scales always find a way to level out
I tried to pass for nothing
But my dreams gave me away
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
People snuffed out in the brutal rain
I could live to any age
If the Brakeman turns my way
It is an old world it's hard to remember
Like a dime store mystery
I'm a repeat first time offender
Who has rewritten history
Mixed up tea leaves
Phantom Pain
Fuzzy logic in the crazy rain
Getting better every day
If the Brakeman turns my way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the blinding rain
He'll be smiling as he seals my fate
When the Brakeman turns my way
The Wife forgave the Mistress for she only entertained
The pain was gone the instant she cleared her throat to speak her name
Said, "Both of us must suffer from the same unending ache"
The world was not of interest though her days were never dull
Her bed beneath a crucifix on guests performing miracles
With the Son of God just hanging like a common criminal
When I do wrong I am with God, she thought
When I feel lost I am not at all
So give me Black Light (Give Give me)
So give me Hot Knives (Deep Clean sleep)
On a dance floor no one tells time (There is no time)
Oh, I've made love, yeah, I've been fucked, so what?
I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up
She went to see a Mystic who made medicine from rain
And gave up her existence to feel everything, dream others' dreams
Bid farewell to her family with one ecstatic wave (Please take care I love you all)
Out the window as the car rolled away
She just vanished into a thick mist of change
So let us rejoice (Let's Rejoice!)
In all this Pink Noise (Out Pink Noise!)
An oscillation that we can pin point (We're right here!)
(x)
The Wife forgave the Mistress for she only entertained
The pain was gone the instant she cleared her throat to speak her name
Said, "Both of us must suffer from the same unending ache"
The world was not of interest though her days were never dull
Her bed beneath a crucifix on guests performing miracles
With the Son of God just hanging like a common criminal
When I do wrong I am with God, she thought
When I feel lost I am not at all
So give me Black Light (Give Give me)
So give me Hot Knives (Deep Clean sleep)
On a dance floor no one tells time (There is no time)
Oh, I've made love, yeah, I've been fucked, so what?
I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up
She went to see a Mystic who made medicine from rain
And gave up her existence to feel everything, dream others' dreams
Bid farewell to her family with one ecstatic wave (Please take care I love you all)
Out the window as the car rolled away
She just vanished into a thick mist of change
So let us rejoice (Let's Rejoice!)
In all this Pink Noise (Out Pink Noise!)
An oscillation that we can pin point (We're right here!)
I heard you're scheming new pyramids
Another big idea to get you rich
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
You said you had your foot in the door
You buy and you sell, you buy some more
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is too short
Death doesn't ask
It don't owe you that
Some things you lose
You don't get back
So just know what you have
And make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is Too $hort
To be a fool
I don't owe you that
Do what you feel
Whatever is cool
But I just have to ask
First you want to ride off into the Sun
Then you want to shoot straight to the Moon
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
When you are young the world is a Ferris Wheer
I know we will grow old it is lovely, still
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Will you make a plan to love me?
(x)
I heard you're scheming new pyramids
Another big idea to get you rich
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
You said you had your foot in the door
You buy and you sell, you buy some more
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is too short
Death doesn't ask
It don't owe you that
Some things you lose
You don't get back
So just know what you have
And make a plan to love me sometime soon
Life is Too $hort
To be a fool
I don't owe you that
Do what you feel
Whatever is cool
But I just have to ask
First you want to ride off into the Sun
Then you want to shoot straight to the Moon
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
When you are young the world is a Ferris Wheer
I know we will grow old it is lovely, still
Make a plan to love me sometime soon
Will you make a plan to love me?
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
Now a red carpet bagger makes a Blackberry call
To the plastic piranhas in the city of salt
Wasted wheat paste campaign post no bills on the wall
You mean nothing to no one but that's nobody's fault
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
I had a lengthy discussion about The Power of Myth
With a post-modern author who didn't exist
In this fictitious world all reality twists
I was a hopeless romantic now I'm just turning tricks
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded confetti beneath a microphone stand
Saw the Conflict of Interest slipping cash in the hand
Of the Soul Singer in the session band
His room is on fire since he painted it red
There are a stranger's silk sequins at the foot of the bed
He has been to weddings and funerals but he still never wept
Now sorrow is pleasure when you want it instead
Just like the Soul Singer in the session band
Wailed like an infant atop a white baby grand
We'll need every sand bag and every man
To save the Soul Singer in the session band
Headlights or Taillights it's a flip of a coin
I have been coming and going since the day I was born
And I followed the breadcrumbs but I never got home
I grew old in an instant now I am all on my own
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to nothing beneath the microphone stand
Saw the wave of the future through the crack of the dam
Drowned the Soul Singer in the session band
Bless the Soul singer in the session band
(x)
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
Now a red carpet bagger makes a Blackberry call
To the plastic piranhas in the city of salt
Wasted wheat paste campaign post no bills on the wall
You mean nothing to no one but that's nobody's fault
See the Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand
Felt the quickness of pity like a flash in a pan
For the Soul Singer in the session band
I had a lengthy discussion about The Power of Myth
With a post-modern author who didn't exist
In this fictitious world all reality twists
I was a hopeless romantic now I'm just turning tricks
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded confetti beneath a microphone stand
Saw the Conflict of Interest slipping cash in the hand
Of the Soul Singer in the session band
His room is on fire since he painted it red
There are a stranger's silk sequins at the foot of the bed
He has been to weddings and funerals but he still never wept
Now sorrow is pleasure when you want it instead
Just like the Soul Singer in the session band
Wailed like an infant atop a white baby grand
We'll need every sand bag and every man
To save the Soul Singer in the session band
Headlights or Taillights it's a flip of a coin
I have been coming and going since the day I was born
And I followed the breadcrumbs but I never got home
I grew old in an instant now I am all on my own
Just like that Soul Singer in the session band
Shredded to nothing beneath the microphone stand
Saw the wave of the future through the crack of the dam
Drowned the Soul Singer in the session band
Bless the Soul singer in the session band
She was a real royal lady, true patron of the arts
She said the best country singers die in the back of classic cars
So if I ever got too hungry for a suitcase or guitar
To think of them all alone in the dark
So I laid some nights beside her in a bed made for a queen
She said I kissed her different, that all the men her age were mean
Gave me anything I wanted, Oh the generosity
I took all that I could, it was free
Now the sky is a torn up denim and the clouds are just splattered paint
It's a room I'm renovating; it's a name I got to change
If I get out of California I'm going back to my home state
To tell them all that I made a mistake
And I keep looking for that blindfold faith
Lighting candles to a cynical saint
Who wants the last laugh at the fly trapped in the windowsill tape
You can go right out of your mind trying to escape
From the panicked paradox of day to day
If you can't understand something then it's best to be afraid
The whole world it loves you if you are a chic chameleon
Intersecting circles she could hang with anyone
But when conducting business she would lie about where she's from
Saying, "Life is how it is not how it was"
I learned to listen felt like I was back at school
She'd talk forever about the phases of the moon
Saying, "Everything is a cycle, you've got to let it come to you
And when it does, you will know what to do"
Without even knowing I guess I took her advice
Painted her front door it seemed a suitable goodbye
It's not that often but I think of her sometimes
Just something quaint, a couple ships in the night
And they keep moving at a glacial pace
Turning circles in a memory maze
I made a new cast of the death mask that is gonna cover my face
I had to change the combination to the safe
Hide it all behind a wall let people wait
And never trust a heart that is so bent it can't break
(x)
She was a real royal lady, true patron of the arts
She said the best country singers die in the back of classic cars
So if I ever got too hungry for a suitcase or guitar
To think of them all alone in the dark
So I laid some nights beside her in a bed made for a queen
She said I kissed her different, that all the men her age were mean
Gave me anything I wanted, Oh the generosity
I took all that I could, it was free
Now the sky is a torn up denim and the clouds are just splattered paint
It's a room I'm renovating; it's a name I got to change
If I get out of California I'm going back to my home state
To tell them all that I made a mistake
And I keep looking for that blindfold faith
Lighting candles to a cynical saint
Who wants the last laugh at the fly trapped in the windowsill tape
You can go right out of your mind trying to escape
From the panicked paradox of day to day
If you can't understand something then it's best to be afraid
The whole world it loves you if you are a chic chameleon
Intersecting circles she could hang with anyone
But when conducting business she would lie about where she's from
Saying, "Life is how it is not how it was"
I learned to listen felt like I was back at school
She'd talk forever about the phases of the moon
Saying, "Everything is a cycle, you've got to let it come to you
And when it does, you will know what to do"
Without even knowing I guess I took her advice
Painted her front door it seemed a suitable goodbye
It's not that often but I think of her sometimes
Just something quaint, a couple ships in the night
And they keep moving at a glacial pace
Turning circles in a memory maze
I made a new cast of the death mask that is gonna cover my face
I had to change the combination to the safe
Hide it all behind a wall let people wait
And never trust a heart that is so bent it can't break
I traveled though the atmosphere as a wall of feedback climbed
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You will never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright just like I keep my exits wide
'Cause I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
The dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are fine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real reply
It is the only true reply
(x)
I traveled though the atmosphere as a wall of feedback climbed
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You will never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright just like I keep my exits wide
'Cause I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
The dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the Middleman
The gray areas are fine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real reply
It is the only true reply
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and all of this sorrow
See the new pyramids down in old Manhattan
From the roof of a friend's I watched an empire ending
Heard it loud and long the river's Om
Time marching on to a madman's drum
Don't forget what you've learned all you give is returned
And if life seems absurd what you need is some laughter
And a season to sleep and a place to get clean
Maybe Los Angeles, somewhere no one is expecting
On a detox loft through a Glendale Park over sidewalk chalk
Someone wrote in red, "start over"
So I muffled my scream on an Oxnard beach
Full of fever dreams that scare you sober
Into saltless dinners
Take the fruit from the tree, break the skin with your teeth
Is it bitter or sweet? All depends on your timing
Like a meeting of chance with the train station glance
Many lifetimes had past in a instant reminded
Of a millstone house in a seaside town
When your heart gave out in a mission bed
So your wife gave birth to a funeral dirge
You woke up purged as a wailing infant
In Krug Thep, Thailand
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and our joy and our sorrow
(x)
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and all of this sorrow
See the new pyramids down in old Manhattan
From the roof of a friend's I watched an empire ending
Heard it loud and long the river's Om
Time marching on to a madman's drum
Don't forget what you've learned all you give is returned
And if life seems absurd what you need is some laughter
And a season to sleep and a place to get clean
Maybe Los Angeles, somewhere no one is expecting
On a detox loft through a Glendale Park over sidewalk chalk
Someone wrote in red, "start over"
So I muffled my scream on an Oxnard beach
Full of fever dreams that scare you sober
Into saltless dinners
Take the fruit from the tree, break the skin with your teeth
Is it bitter or sweet? All depends on your timing
Like a meeting of chance with the train station glance
Many lifetimes had past in a instant reminded
Of a millstone house in a seaside town
When your heart gave out in a mission bed
So your wife gave birth to a funeral dirge
You woke up purged as a wailing infant
In Krug Thep, Thailand
Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows
It is older than Rome and our joy and our sorrow
Death may come, invisible
Or in a holy wall of fire
In the breath between the markers
On some black I-80 mile
From the madness of the governments
To the vengeance of the sea
Everything is eclipsed
By the shape of destiny
So love me now
Hell is coming
Could you do it now?
Hell is here
Little soldier, little insect
You know war, it has no heart
It will kill you in the sunshine
Or just as happily in the dark
Well, kindness is a card game
Or a bent-up cigarette
In the trenches, in the hard rain
With the bullet and the bit
He says help me out
Hell is coming
Just kiss my mouth
Hell is here
Do you see the sterile soil
Poisoned sky
Yellow water
The final scraps of life
Bringing new tears
Wake, baby, wake
Leave that blanket around you
There's no where we're safe
I'm leaving this place
But there's nothing
I'm planning to take
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
(x)
Death may come, invisible
Or in a holy wall of fire
In the breath between the markers
On some black I-80 mile
From the madness of the governments
To the vengeance of the sea
Everything is eclipsed
By the shape of destiny
So love me now
Hell is coming
Could you do it now?
Hell is here
Little soldier, little insect
You know war, it has no heart
It will kill you in the sunshine
Or just as happily in the dark
Well, kindness is a card game
Or a bent-up cigarette
In the trenches, in the hard rain
With the bullet and the bit
He says help me out
Hell is coming
Just kiss my mouth
Hell is here
Do you see the sterile soil
Poisoned sky
Yellow water
The final scraps of life
Bringing new tears
Wake, baby, wake
Leave that blanket around you
There's no where we're safe
I'm leaving this place
But there's nothing
I'm planning to take
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
Just you
Shrill as a choir of children
Urgent like the first day of May
False and inflatable feeling
Tugs at my senses, big as the Macy's Parade
One brick on top of another
Such is the measure of man
Planets are inset like diamonds
On a gravity halo, eternity's wedding band
I slept with that dealer all summer
The ecstasy is still in my spine
Coat Check I couldn't remember
Walked into the winter, came out on the other side
In the South the sun is shining
Back in the East the lights went out
Stuck on a ladder to heaven
On trial way back in The Hague
Lullaby sounds from the engine
In my Styrofoam coffin, asleep on the interstate
Black globes, old symbols of freedom
A murderer still on the lam
Cities encircled in iron
On a great silver beltway, democracy's shackled hands
Seance that brought us together
Objects we move with our minds
Coat Check and I lost the number
Short sleeves in the winter, fell back through the other side
Out in the West the cars are crashing
Up in the North the ice gave out
Saada Tekmel B'Lhouria...
Houria...
(x)
Shrill as a choir of children
Urgent like the first day of May
False and inflatable feeling
Tugs at my senses, big as the Macy's Parade
One brick on top of another
Such is the measure of man
Planets are inset like diamonds
On a gravity halo, eternity's wedding band
I slept with that dealer all summer
The ecstasy is still in my spine
Coat Check I couldn't remember
Walked into the winter, came out on the other side
In the South the sun is shining
Back in the East the lights went out
Stuck on a ladder to heaven
On trial way back in The Hague
Lullaby sounds from the engine
In my Styrofoam coffin, asleep on the interstate
Black globes, old symbols of freedom
A murderer still on the lam
Cities encircled in iron
On a great silver beltway, democracy's shackled hands
Seance that brought us together
Objects we move with our minds
Coat Check and I lost the number
Short sleeves in the winter, fell back through the other side
Out in the West the cars are crashing
Up in the North the ice gave out
Saada Tekmel B'Lhouria...
Houria...
Leave the bright blue door on the whitewashed wall
Leave the death ledger under city hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today
Leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain
Leave the whimpering dog in his cold kennel
Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal
Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today
Just leave the sad guitar in its hardshell case
Leave the worried look on your lover's face
Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
A train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
Leave the epic poem on its yellowed page
Leave the grey macaw in its covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Sound stage in California, televisions in Times Square
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now that is why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed
Leave the garden tools in that rusted shed
Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today
Leave the restless ghost in his old hotel
Leave the homeless man in that cardboard cell
Let the painted horse on the carousel remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
In truth the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience
No witnesses, no witnesses
Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool
Leave the autumn leaves in their swimming pool
Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today
Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in his Rubik's cube
Let the true genius in the padded room remain
Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow
Leave the slot machines on the riverboat
Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today
Leave the hot bright trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitol
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
They locked the Devil in the basement, threw God up into the air
Everything it must belong somewhere
And you know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
You know it's true, why don't you leave me here?
(x)
Leave the bright blue door on the whitewashed wall
Leave the death ledger under city hall
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today
Leave the lilac print on the linen sheet
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet
Let the sideways rain and the crooked street remain
Leave the whimpering dog in his cold kennel
Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal
Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today
Just leave the sad guitar in its hardshell case
Leave the worried look on your lover's face
Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
A train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell
Leave the widower in his private hell
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today
Leave the epic poem on its yellowed page
Leave the grey macaw in its covered cage
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Sound stage in California, televisions in Times Square
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now that is why I'm staying here
Yeah, I know that now, that is why I'm staying here
Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed
Leave the garden tools in that rusted shed
Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today
Leave the restless ghost in his old hotel
Leave the homeless man in that cardboard cell
Let the painted horse on the carousel remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair
Everything it must belong somewhere
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here
In truth the forest hears each sound
Each blade of grass as it lies down
The world requires no audience
No witnesses, no witnesses
Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool
Leave the autumn leaves in their swimming pool
Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today
Leave the novelist in his daydream tune
Leave the scientist in his Rubik's cube
Let the true genius in the padded room remain
Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow
Leave the slot machines on the riverboat
Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today
Leave the hot bright trash in the shopping malls
Leave the hawks of war in their capitol
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain
Everything it must belong somewhere
They locked the Devil in the basement, threw God up into the air
Everything it must belong somewhere
And you know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here
You know it's true, why don't you leave me here?
I keep floating down the river but the ocean never comes
Since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one
Now everything is imaginary, especially what you love
You left another message said it's done,
It's done
When I hear beautiful music it's always from another time
Old friends I never visit, I remember what they're like
Standing on a doorstep full of nervous butterflies
Waiting to be asked to come inside
Just come inside
But I keep going out
I can't sleep next to a stranger when I'm coming down
It's 8 a.m. my heart is beating too loud
Too loud
Don't be so amazing or I'll miss you too much
I felt something that I had never touched
Everything gets smaller now the further that I go
Towards the mouth and the reunion of the Known and the Unknown
Consider yourself lucky if you think of it as home
You can move mountains with your misery if you don't
If you don't
It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in two
Under the leaves of that old Lime Tree I stood examining the fruit
Some were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth
There will never be a time more opportune
So I just won't be late
The window closes, shock rolls over in a tidal wave
And all the color drains out of the frame
So pleased with a daydream that now living is no good
I took off my shoes and walked into the woods
I felt lost and found with every step I took
(x)
I keep floating down the river but the ocean never comes
Since the operation I heard you're breathing just for one
Now everything is imaginary, especially what you love
You left another message said it's done,
It's done
When I hear beautiful music it's always from another time
Old friends I never visit, I remember what they're like
Standing on a doorstep full of nervous butterflies
Waiting to be asked to come inside
Just come inside
But I keep going out
I can't sleep next to a stranger when I'm coming down
It's 8 a.m. my heart is beating too loud
Too loud
Don't be so amazing or I'll miss you too much
I felt something that I had never touched
Everything gets smaller now the further that I go
Towards the mouth and the reunion of the Known and the Unknown
Consider yourself lucky if you think of it as home
You can move mountains with your misery if you don't
If you don't
It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in two
Under the leaves of that old Lime Tree I stood examining the fruit
Some were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth
There will never be a time more opportune
So I just won't be late
The window closes, shock rolls over in a tidal wave
And all the color drains out of the frame
So pleased with a daydream that now living is no good
I took off my shoes and walked into the woods
I felt lost and found with every step I took

Bright Eyes
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, album
Death
Data entry
Ant hill law
Encoded arc our common cause
Drink liquid clocks 'til I see God
Crystal display
Can't turn it off
Shh...shh...shhhh
Don't talk
Don't talk
Data entry
Ant hill law
Encoded arc our common cause
Drink liquid clocks 'til I see God
Crystal display
Can't turn it off
Shh...shh...shhhh
Don't talk
Don't talk
(x)
Death
Data entry
Ant hill law
Encoded arc our common cause
Drink liquid clocks 'til I see God
Crystal display
Can't turn it off
Shh...shh...shhhh
Don't talk
Don't talk
Data entry
Ant hill law
Encoded arc our common cause
Drink liquid clocks 'til I see God
Crystal display
Can't turn it off
Shh...shh...shhhh
Don't talk
Don't talk
It was Don Delillo, whiskey, neat
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a tv stand, just a turntable to watch
When the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
You were a stroke of luck
We were a goldmine and they gutted us
And from the sidelines
You see me run
Until I'm out of breath
Living the good life
I left for dead
The sorrowful midwest
Well I did my best
To keep my head
It was grass-stained jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let's have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divvy up
And from the sidelines
I see you run
Until you're out of breath
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurry to our death
Well I lagged behind
So you got ahead
(x)
It was Don Delillo, whiskey, neat
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a tv stand, just a turntable to watch
When the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
You were a stroke of luck
We were a goldmine and they gutted us
And from the sidelines
You see me run
Until I'm out of breath
Living the good life
I left for dead
The sorrowful midwest
Well I did my best
To keep my head
It was grass-stained jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let's have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divvy up
And from the sidelines
I see you run
Until you're out of breath
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurry to our death
Well I lagged behind
So you got ahead
You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
That is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it's time to go
You can choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clench your fist
You might fork your tongue
As you curse or praise
All the things you've done
And the faders move
And the music dies
As we pass over
On the arc of time
So you'll nurse your love
Like a wounded dove
In the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed
By frenetic thoughts
They separate and then collide
And they twist like sheets
Till you fall asleep
And they finally unwind
It's a black balloon
It's a dream you'll soon
Deny
I hear if you make friends
With Jesus Christ
You'll get right up
From that chalk outline
And then you'll get dolled up
And you'll dress in white
All to take your place
In his chorus line
And then in you'll come
With those marching drums
In a saintly compromise
No more whiskey slurs
No more blonde hair girls
For your whole eternal life
And you'll do the dance
That was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
Singing "I told you son
The day would come
You would die, you die, you die, you die..."
To the deepest part
Of the human heart
The fear of death expands
Till we crack the code
We've always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board
We'll soon be born
Again, again, again, again
(x)
You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
That is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it's time to go
You can choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clench your fist
You might fork your tongue
As you curse or praise
All the things you've done
And the faders move
And the music dies
As we pass over
On the arc of time
So you'll nurse your love
Like a wounded dove
In the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed
By frenetic thoughts
They separate and then collide
And they twist like sheets
Till you fall asleep
And they finally unwind
It's a black balloon
It's a dream you'll soon
Deny
I hear if you make friends
With Jesus Christ
You'll get right up
From that chalk outline
And then you'll get dolled up
And you'll dress in white
All to take your place
In his chorus line
And then in you'll come
With those marching drums
In a saintly compromise
No more whiskey slurs
No more blonde hair girls
For your whole eternal life
And you'll do the dance
That was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
Singing "I told you son
The day would come
You would die, you die, you die, you die..."
To the deepest part
Of the human heart
The fear of death expands
Till we crack the code
We've always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board
We'll soon be born
Again, again, again, again
I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
Covered yourself up in snow
Baby tell me where to go for days and days
Did they make you stay up all night
Did they paint your face that pasty white
You're thirsty but your appetite is chased away
The sun turns us to stone
It's a cloudy day but we still kept hold
Open up that cellar door
Till we seen then we're invisible
No one ever takes the garbage out
And maybe kid gets dared to touch the house
He runs back to announce there's no one home
Cause we paint the foil with the flame
Smear the soda, taste butane
For every fear that can't be named to calm you down
Your heart starts skipping steps
So you're farther gone
And you might expect
If your thoughts should turn to death
Gotta stomp them out like a cigarette
(x)
I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
Covered yourself up in snow
Baby tell me where to go for days and days
Did they make you stay up all night
Did they paint your face that pasty white
You're thirsty but your appetite is chased away
The sun turns us to stone
It's a cloudy day but we still kept hold
Open up that cellar door
Till we seen then we're invisible
No one ever takes the garbage out
And maybe kid gets dared to touch the house
He runs back to announce there's no one home
Cause we paint the foil with the flame
Smear the soda, taste butane
For every fear that can't be named to calm you down
Your heart starts skipping steps
So you're farther gone
And you might expect
If your thoughts should turn to death
Gotta stomp them out like a cigarette
First with your hands and then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
(x)
First with your hands and then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
I'm staring out into that vacuum again
From the back porch of my mind
The only thing thats alive, I'm all there is
And I start attacking my vodka
Stab the ice with my straw
My eyes have turned red as stoplights
You seem ready to walk
You know I'll call you eventually
When I wanna talk, until then you're invisible
Cause there's this switch that gets hit
And it all stops making sense
And in the middle of drinks
Maybe the fifth or the sixth
I'm completely alone at a table of friends
I feel nothing for them
I feel nothing, nothing
Well I need a break from the city again
I think I'll ship myself back west
I've got a friend there
She says "Hey anytime"
Unless that offer's expired
I have been less than frequent
She's under no obligation
To indulge every whim
And I'm so ungrateful, I take
She gives and forgives and I keep forgetting it
And each morning she wakes
With a dream to describe
Something lovely that bloomed
In her beautiful mind
I say, "i'll trade you one
For two nightmares of mine
I have some where i die
I have some where we all die"
I'm thinking of quitting drinking again
I know I've said that a couple of times
And I'm always changing my mind
Well I guess I am
But there's this burn in my stomach
And there's this pain in my side
And when I kneel at the toilet
And the morning's clean light
Pours in through the window
Sometimes I pray I don't die
I'm a goddamn hypocrite
But then night rolls around and it all starts making sense
There is no right way or wrong way, you just have to live
And so I do what I do, and at least I exist
What could mean more than this?
What would mean more, mean more?
(x)
I'm staring out into that vacuum again
From the back porch of my mind
The only thing thats alive, I'm all there is
And I start attacking my vodka
Stab the ice with my straw
My eyes have turned red as stoplights
You seem ready to walk
You know I'll call you eventually
When I wanna talk, until then you're invisible
Cause there's this switch that gets hit
And it all stops making sense
And in the middle of drinks
Maybe the fifth or the sixth
I'm completely alone at a table of friends
I feel nothing for them
I feel nothing, nothing
Well I need a break from the city again
I think I'll ship myself back west
I've got a friend there
She says "Hey anytime"
Unless that offer's expired
I have been less than frequent
She's under no obligation
To indulge every whim
And I'm so ungrateful, I take
She gives and forgives and I keep forgetting it
And each morning she wakes
With a dream to describe
Something lovely that bloomed
In her beautiful mind
I say, "i'll trade you one
For two nightmares of mine
I have some where i die
I have some where we all die"
I'm thinking of quitting drinking again
I know I've said that a couple of times
And I'm always changing my mind
Well I guess I am
But there's this burn in my stomach
And there's this pain in my side
And when I kneel at the toilet
And the morning's clean light
Pours in through the window
Sometimes I pray I don't die
I'm a goddamn hypocrite
But then night rolls around and it all starts making sense
There is no right way or wrong way, you just have to live
And so I do what I do, and at least I exist
What could mean more than this?
What would mean more, mean more?
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You weren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
So what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Give everything up to fate
When there's choices I can make
When there's choices I can make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
I'm so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna stay
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept it's fate, that's faith
There's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down, forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
(x)
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You weren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flowerbed
And dies in the first freeze
I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
So what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Give everything up to fate
When there's choices I can make
When there's choices I can make
Now my heart needs a polygraph
I'm so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna stay
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept it's fate, that's faith
There's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down, forget
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
From one to the next one
From one to the next right down the line
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
A house of cards
The supple heart
Is not a place to dwell
Now you have your cake
Don't hesitate
Come on just do it
Come on just do it
Put it in your mouth
There is only now
Tomorrow has to wait
But know there's no backing out
This is gonna be reality
You can never dream it down
I have no way of telling
The two apart
Well I made amends
In the general sense
But the devil's in the details
And I know the cause
And I want to stop
But I can't do it
I just can't do it
There was love I meant
There were accidents
So tell me which is which
Cause I just can't work it out
But for memory and clarity
We had better write it down
I have no way of knowing
The truth with time dissolves
I put the past into the ground
I saw the future as a cloud
If there's still time to turn around
I'm going to
Its just one day I fell asleep
And now all day and night I dream
I am the first one I deceive
If I can make myself believe
The rest is easy
(x)
A house of cards
The supple heart
Is not a place to dwell
Now you have your cake
Don't hesitate
Come on just do it
Come on just do it
Put it in your mouth
There is only now
Tomorrow has to wait
But know there's no backing out
This is gonna be reality
You can never dream it down
I have no way of telling
The two apart
Well I made amends
In the general sense
But the devil's in the details
And I know the cause
And I want to stop
But I can't do it
I just can't do it
There was love I meant
There were accidents
So tell me which is which
Cause I just can't work it out
But for memory and clarity
We had better write it down
I have no way of knowing
The truth with time dissolves
I put the past into the ground
I saw the future as a cloud
If there's still time to turn around
I'm going to
Its just one day I fell asleep
And now all day and night I dream
I am the first one I deceive
If I can make myself believe
The rest is easy
I wanna be the surgeon that cuts you open
And fixes all of life's mistakes
I wanna be the house that you were raised in
The only place that you feel safe
I wanna be your shower in the morning
That wakes you up and makes you clean
I know I'm just the weather against your window
As you sleep through a winter's dream
Something's churning the earth
Something's stirring the sky
Every color at once in a column of light
Bacteria breeds on a microscope slide
The worm in my heart is the apple of your eye
Don't adore what is impossible
We have built this ship in a wine bottle
If we knew how it worked we would have to grow old
Something's eating at you
Wakes you up in the night
If you're digging the past
Who knows what you'll find
Read the newspaper print off the microfiche slide
And you're holding your breath
For the rest of your life
Don't you love what is intangible
I have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew who I was
You would never grow old
(x)
I wanna be the surgeon that cuts you open
And fixes all of life's mistakes
I wanna be the house that you were raised in
The only place that you feel safe
I wanna be your shower in the morning
That wakes you up and makes you clean
I know I'm just the weather against your window
As you sleep through a winter's dream
Something's churning the earth
Something's stirring the sky
Every color at once in a column of light
Bacteria breeds on a microscope slide
The worm in my heart is the apple of your eye
Don't adore what is impossible
We have built this ship in a wine bottle
If we knew how it worked we would have to grow old
Something's eating at you
Wakes you up in the night
If you're digging the past
Who knows what you'll find
Read the newspaper print off the microfiche slide
And you're holding your breath
For the rest of your life
Don't you love what is intangible
I have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew who I was
You would never grow old
John A Hobson was a good man
He used to loan me books and mic stands
He even got me a subscription to the Socialist Review
Listening to records in his basement
Old folk songs about the government
"It's love of money, not the market," he said
"These fuckers push on you
And freedom yells, it dont cry
Whatever sells will decide
But there is no hell when you die
So dont look so worried"
He got a night life
Lost his day job
Pushing paper, swinging pendulums
Anything to serve a function or to occupy some time
You have got to earn this living somehow
You are good as dead without a bank account
But it is funny how alive he felt, down in that unemployment line
With all the trash at his feet
The pools of piss in the street
All of that filthy empathy for the way we're feeling
The billboards shade
The flags they wave
The anthem was playing loud
The baseball game was letting out
Then all at once he saw the dust
And heard every tiny sound
Got in his truck and turned around
Drove out through the crowd and the cops
Drove out past that center mall
Out past that sickening sprawl
Out past that fenced in gold
And maybe he lost control fucking with the radio
But I bet the stars seemed so close at the end
(x)
John A Hobson was a good man
He used to loan me books and mic stands
He even got me a subscription to the Socialist Review
Listening to records in his basement
Old folk songs about the government
"It's love of money, not the market," he said
"These fuckers push on you
And freedom yells, it dont cry
Whatever sells will decide
But there is no hell when you die
So dont look so worried"
He got a night life
Lost his day job
Pushing paper, swinging pendulums
Anything to serve a function or to occupy some time
You have got to earn this living somehow
You are good as dead without a bank account
But it is funny how alive he felt, down in that unemployment line
With all the trash at his feet
The pools of piss in the street
All of that filthy empathy for the way we're feeling
The billboards shade
The flags they wave
The anthem was playing loud
The baseball game was letting out
Then all at once he saw the dust
And heard every tiny sound
Got in his truck and turned around
Drove out through the crowd and the cops
Drove out past that center mall
Out past that sickening sprawl
Out past that fenced in gold
And maybe he lost control fucking with the radio
But I bet the stars seemed so close at the end
I wish I had a parachute cause I'm falling bad for you
And I can see the ground approaching now
But I'm not sure what to do
I feel like a pinata won't you take a swing at me
If you could just crack the shell open
I think inside you'd find something sweet
I hear you like a hunter now, your footsteps in the leaves
And I would gladly leave my hiding place
Yes I'm hoping to be seen
So let your arrow fly and sing
I'm well within your aim
Lay your traps for a thousand miles
Please don't let me escape
Winter came to Omaha and left us looking like a bride
A million perfect snowflakes
And no two are alike
And so it's hard for me imagining the flaws in this design
I know debris, it covers everything
But still I am in love with this life
(x)
I wish I had a parachute cause I'm falling bad for you
And I can see the ground approaching now
But I'm not sure what to do
I feel like a pinata won't you take a swing at me
If you could just crack the shell open
I think inside you'd find something sweet
I hear you like a hunter now, your footsteps in the leaves
And I would gladly leave my hiding place
Yes I'm hoping to be seen
So let your arrow fly and sing
I'm well within your aim
Lay your traps for a thousand miles
Please don't let me escape
Winter came to Omaha and left us looking like a bride
A million perfect snowflakes
And no two are alike
And so it's hard for me imagining the flaws in this design
I know debris, it covers everything
But still I am in love with this life
Did it all get real, I guess it's real enough
They got refrigerators full of blood
Another century spent pointing guns
At anything that moves
Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot
My twitching muscles tense my flippant thoughts
I never really dreamed of heaven much
Until we put him in the ground
But it's all I'm doing now
Listening for patterns in the sound
Of an endless static sea
But once the satellite's deceased
It blows like garbage through the streets
Of the night sky to infinity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky
Honey don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Don't be a criminal in this police state
You better shop and eat and procreate
You got vacation days then you might escape
To a condo on the coast
I set my watch to the atomic clock
I watch the crowd count down till the bomb gets dropped
I always figured there'd be time enough
I never let it get me down
But I can't help it now
Looking for faces in the clouds
I got some friends I barely see
But we're all planning to meet
We'll lay in bags as dead as leaves
All together for eternity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is no one as lucky
Honey, don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
(x)
Did it all get real, I guess it's real enough
They got refrigerators full of blood
Another century spent pointing guns
At anything that moves
Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot
My twitching muscles tense my flippant thoughts
I never really dreamed of heaven much
Until we put him in the ground
But it's all I'm doing now
Listening for patterns in the sound
Of an endless static sea
But once the satellite's deceased
It blows like garbage through the streets
Of the night sky to infinity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky
Honey don't you weep
Don't you weep for them
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Don't be a criminal in this police state
You better shop and eat and procreate
You got vacation days then you might escape
To a condo on the coast
I set my watch to the atomic clock
I watch the crowd count down till the bomb gets dropped
I always figured there'd be time enough
I never let it get me down
But I can't help it now
Looking for faces in the clouds
I got some friends I barely see
But we're all planning to meet
We'll lay in bags as dead as leaves
All together for eternity
But don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is no one as lucky
Honey, don't you weep
Don't you weep for us
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free

Bright Eyes
I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, album
So there was this woman and
She was on an airplane and
She's flying to meet her fiancé
Sailing high above the largest ocean
On planet Earth and she was seated
Next to this man who you know
She had tried to start a conversation
But really the only thing
She heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she's reading
This really arduous magazine article about this
Third world country that she couldn't
Even pronounce the name of and
She's feeling very bored and very despondent
And then uh suddenly there's this huge mechanical failure
And one of the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty thousand feet
And the pilot's on the microphone and he's saying
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry"
And apologizing and she looks at the man and she says
"Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says
"We're going to a party, it's a birthday party
"It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling
"We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much"
And then he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this:
One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four
We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books we have read
Into the face of every criminal strapped firmly in a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare
We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist who sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing
And it'll go like this
While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun
He says, "Death will give us back to God
"Just like the setting sun
"is returned to the lonesome ocean"
And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
And it was a wonderful splash
We must blend into the choir, sing ecstatic with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run
We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past
And in the caverns of tomorrow with our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
way down to the very bottom of everything
and then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it
Oh my morning's coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one
She was on an airplane and
She's flying to meet her fiancé
Sailing high above the largest ocean
On planet Earth and she was seated
Next to this man who you know
She had tried to start a conversation
But really the only thing
She heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she's reading
This really arduous magazine article about this
Third world country that she couldn't
Even pronounce the name of and
She's feeling very bored and very despondent
And then uh suddenly there's this huge mechanical failure
And one of the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty thousand feet
And the pilot's on the microphone and he's saying
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry"
And apologizing and she looks at the man and she says
"Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says
"We're going to a party, it's a birthday party
"It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling
"We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much"
And then he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this:
One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four
We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books we have read
Into the face of every criminal strapped firmly in a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare
We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist who sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing
And it'll go like this
While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun
He says, "Death will give us back to God
"Just like the setting sun
"is returned to the lonesome ocean"
And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
And it was a wonderful splash
We must blend into the choir, sing ecstatic with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run
We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past
And in the caverns of tomorrow with our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
way down to the very bottom of everything
and then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it
Oh my morning's coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one
(x)
So there was this woman and
She was on an airplane and
She's flying to meet her fiancé
Sailing high above the largest ocean
On planet Earth and she was seated
Next to this man who you know
She had tried to start a conversation
But really the only thing
She heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she's reading
This really arduous magazine article about this
Third world country that she couldn't
Even pronounce the name of and
She's feeling very bored and very despondent
And then uh suddenly there's this huge mechanical failure
And one of the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty thousand feet
And the pilot's on the microphone and he's saying
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry"
And apologizing and she looks at the man and she says
"Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says
"We're going to a party, it's a birthday party
"It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling
"We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much"
And then he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this:
One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four
We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books we have read
Into the face of every criminal strapped firmly in a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare
We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist who sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing
And it'll go like this
While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun
He says, "Death will give us back to God
"Just like the setting sun
"is returned to the lonesome ocean"
And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
And it was a wonderful splash
We must blend into the choir, sing ecstatic with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run
We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past
And in the caverns of tomorrow with our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
way down to the very bottom of everything
and then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it
Oh my morning's coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one
She was on an airplane and
She's flying to meet her fiancé
Sailing high above the largest ocean
On planet Earth and she was seated
Next to this man who you know
She had tried to start a conversation
But really the only thing
She heard him say was to order his Bloody Mary
And she's sitting there and she's reading
This really arduous magazine article about this
Third world country that she couldn't
Even pronounce the name of and
She's feeling very bored and very despondent
And then uh suddenly there's this huge mechanical failure
And one of the engines gave out
And they started just falling thirty thousand feet
And the pilot's on the microphone and he's saying
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry"
And apologizing and she looks at the man and she says
"Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says
"We're going to a party, it's a birthday party
"It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling
"We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much"
And then he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this:
One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four
We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books we have read
Into the face of every criminal strapped firmly in a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare
We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist who sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing
And it'll go like this
While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun
He says, "Death will give us back to God
"Just like the setting sun
"is returned to the lonesome ocean"
And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
And it was a wonderful splash
We must blend into the choir, sing ecstatic with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And in this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run
We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past
And in the caverns of tomorrow with our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge
And then we'll get down there
way down to the very bottom of everything
and then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it
Oh my morning's coming back
The whole world's waking up
Oh the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one
If you hate the taste of wine
Why do you drink it till you're blind?
And if you swear that there's no truth and who cares
How come you say it like you're right?
Why are you scared to dream of God
When it's salvation that you want?
You see stars that clear have been dead for years
But the idea just lives on
In our wheels that roll around
As we move over the ground
And all day it seems we've been in between
The past and future town
We are nowhere and it's now
We are nowhere and it's now
And like a ten minute dream in the passenger seat
While the world was flying by
You haven't been gone very long
But it feels like a lifetime
I've been sleeping so strange at night
Side effects they don't advertise
I've been sleeping so strange
With a head full of pesticide
I've got no plans and too much time
I feel too restless to unwind
I'm always lost in thought as I walk a block
To my favorite neon sign
Where the waitress looks concerned
But she never says a word
Just turns the juke box on and we hum along
And I smile back at her
And my friend comes after work
When the features start to blur
She says these bars are filled with things that kill
By now you probably should have learned
Did you forget that yellow bird?
How could you forget your yellow bird?
She took a small silver wreath and pinned it onto me
She said this one will bring you love
And I don't know if it's true
But I keep it for good luck
(x)
If you hate the taste of wine
Why do you drink it till you're blind?
And if you swear that there's no truth and who cares
How come you say it like you're right?
Why are you scared to dream of God
When it's salvation that you want?
You see stars that clear have been dead for years
But the idea just lives on
In our wheels that roll around
As we move over the ground
And all day it seems we've been in between
The past and future town
We are nowhere and it's now
We are nowhere and it's now
And like a ten minute dream in the passenger seat
While the world was flying by
You haven't been gone very long
But it feels like a lifetime
I've been sleeping so strange at night
Side effects they don't advertise
I've been sleeping so strange
With a head full of pesticide
I've got no plans and too much time
I feel too restless to unwind
I'm always lost in thought as I walk a block
To my favorite neon sign
Where the waitress looks concerned
But she never says a word
Just turns the juke box on and we hum along
And I smile back at her
And my friend comes after work
When the features start to blur
She says these bars are filled with things that kill
By now you probably should have learned
Did you forget that yellow bird?
How could you forget your yellow bird?
She took a small silver wreath and pinned it onto me
She said this one will bring you love
And I don't know if it's true
But I keep it for good luck
Grey light new day leaks through the window
Some old song comes on the alarm clock radio
We walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard that everything would be
And there were barricades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Till they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
Ana all the way home held your camera like a bible
Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room
You drop the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
And just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hillside
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
(x)
Grey light new day leaks through the window
Some old song comes on the alarm clock radio
We walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard that everything would be
And there were barricades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Till they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
yeah, they went wild, yeah, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
Ana all the way home held your camera like a bible
Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room
You drop the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
And just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hillside
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, yeah, they go wild
I know that it is freezing but I think we have to walk
I keep waving at the taxis they keep turning their lights off
But Julie knows a party at some actor's west side loft
Supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they'll be gone
When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend
I get a coffee and the paper
Have my own conversations with the sidewalk and the pigeons and my window reflection
The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit
And I know you have a heavy heart
I can feel it when we kiss
So many men stronger than me have throw their backs out trying to lift it
But me I'm not a gamble you can count on me to split
The love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist
You're looking skinny like a model with your eyes all painted black
You just keep going to the bathroom always say you'll be right back
Well, it takes one to know one, kid, I think you got it bad
What's so easy in the evening by the morning's such a drag
I got a flask inside my pocket we can share it on the train
And if you promise to stay conscious I will try and do the same
Well we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain
But what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane
And I'm not sure what the trouble was that started all of this
The reasons all have run away but the feeling never did
It's not something I would recommend but it is one way to live
Cause what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is
It was so simple in the moonlight now it's so complicated
It was so simple in the moonlight
(x)
I know that it is freezing but I think we have to walk
I keep waving at the taxis they keep turning their lights off
But Julie knows a party at some actor's west side loft
Supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they'll be gone
When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend
I get a coffee and the paper
Have my own conversations with the sidewalk and the pigeons and my window reflection
The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit
And I know you have a heavy heart
I can feel it when we kiss
So many men stronger than me have throw their backs out trying to lift it
But me I'm not a gamble you can count on me to split
The love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist
You're looking skinny like a model with your eyes all painted black
You just keep going to the bathroom always say you'll be right back
Well, it takes one to know one, kid, I think you got it bad
What's so easy in the evening by the morning's such a drag
I got a flask inside my pocket we can share it on the train
And if you promise to stay conscious I will try and do the same
Well we might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain
But what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane
And I'm not sure what the trouble was that started all of this
The reasons all have run away but the feeling never did
It's not something I would recommend but it is one way to live
Cause what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is
It was so simple in the moonlight now it's so complicated
It was so simple in the moonlight
You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling to your death
And the sun, well, it could not save you
From falling down to the streets all wet
Body of water, toxic and timeless
Atlantic Ocean, New York skyline
I always get lost when I leave the village
So I couldn't come meet you in Brooklyn last night
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace to the people I meet
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled, so don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
And don't act strange, don't be a stranger
It happened to me, now it's happening to you
But if you take that train underwater
Then we could talk it through
Well, if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather that howls in my brain
Because it seems that it's always changing
The winds' indecision, the sorrowful rain
I was a postcard, I was a record
I was a camera until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
We will sing glory from a high rise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free
So don't stay mad, just let some time pass
And in the morning you awake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean, if I get sidetracked
It's only 'cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all night avenue
(x)
You were born inside of a raindrop
I watched you falling to your death
And the sun, well, it could not save you
From falling down to the streets all wet
Body of water, toxic and timeless
Atlantic Ocean, New York skyline
I always get lost when I leave the village
So I couldn't come meet you in Brooklyn last night
But I sing glory from my lowest
And I will say peace to the people I meet
While the world waits for an explosion
That instant of light that wipes the slate clean
So don't be fooled, so don't be lied to
Love was always cruel
And don't act strange, don't be a stranger
It happened to me, now it's happening to you
But if you take that train underwater
Then we could talk it through
Well, if I could tame all of my desires
Wait out the weather that howls in my brain
Because it seems that it's always changing
The winds' indecision, the sorrowful rain
I was a postcard, I was a record
I was a camera until I went blind
Now I'm riding all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
We will sing glory from a high rise
And I will say thanks if you're pouring my drinks
While the world waits for an explosion
That moment in time when we are set free
So don't stay mad, just let some time pass
And in the morning you awake feeling new
And if I don't come back
I mean, if I get sidetracked
It's only 'cause I wanted to
Keeping up with the moon on an all night avenue
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
(x)
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
Well I'm changing all my strings
I'm gonna write another travelin' song
About all the billion highways
And the cities at the break of dawn
I guess the best that I can do now
Is to pretend that I've done nothing wrong
And to dream about a train
That's gonna take me back where I belong
Well now the ocean speaks and spits
And I can hear it from the interstate
And I'm screamin' at my brother on a cellphone
He is far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future
Ever will feel like today
Until we're parking in an alley
Just hoping that our shit is safe
So I go back and forth forever All my thoughts they come in pairs Oh I will, I won't, I doubt, I don't, I'm not surprised but I never feel quite prepared Now I'm hunched over a typewriter
I guess you call that paintin' in a cave
And there's a word I can't remember
and a feeling I cannot escape
And now my ashtray's overflowing
I'm still staring at a clean white page
Oh and morning's at my window
She is sending me to bed again
Well I dream the dark on the horizon
I dream the desert where the dead lay down
I dream the prostituted child touching an old man in a fast food crown
I dreamt this ship was sinkin' there were people screaming all around
And I awoke to my alarm clock it was a pop song it was playin' loud
So I will find my fears and face them
Or I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream or kneel and plead
I will fight like hell to hide that I've given up
(x)
Well I'm changing all my strings
I'm gonna write another travelin' song
About all the billion highways
And the cities at the break of dawn
I guess the best that I can do now
Is to pretend that I've done nothing wrong
And to dream about a train
That's gonna take me back where I belong
Well now the ocean speaks and spits
And I can hear it from the interstate
And I'm screamin' at my brother on a cellphone
He is far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future
Ever will feel like today
Until we're parking in an alley
Just hoping that our shit is safe
So I go back and forth forever All my thoughts they come in pairs Oh I will, I won't, I doubt, I don't, I'm not surprised but I never feel quite prepared Now I'm hunched over a typewriter
I guess you call that paintin' in a cave
And there's a word I can't remember
and a feeling I cannot escape
And now my ashtray's overflowing
I'm still staring at a clean white page
Oh and morning's at my window
She is sending me to bed again
Well I dream the dark on the horizon
I dream the desert where the dead lay down
I dream the prostituted child touching an old man in a fast food crown
I dreamt this ship was sinkin' there were people screaming all around
And I awoke to my alarm clock it was a pop song it was playin' loud
So I will find my fears and face them
Or I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream or kneel and plead
I will fight like hell to hide that I've given up
If you walk away I'll walk away
Just tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing someday
So you walk that way, I'll walk this way
The future hangs over our heads
And it moves with each current event
Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain
Just stay in when it's looking this way
And the moon's laying low in the sky
Forcing everything metal to shine
And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
They argue walk this way, now walk this way
Laura's asleep in my bed
As I'm leaving she wakes up and says
I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don't go away, come here
There's kids playing guns in the street
One's pointing his tree branch at me
So I put my hands up, said Enough is Enough
If you walk away, I'll walk away
Then he shot me dead
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
It will pass away, like a slow parade
It's leaving, but I don't know how soon
And the world's got me dizzy again
You'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin
But it only feels worse when I stay in one place
So I'm always pacing around or walking away
I'm drinking the ink from my pen
And I'm balancing history books up on my head
And it all boils down to one quotable phrase:
If you love something, give it away
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for a possible heart
And you may be offended, and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
We made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background from a televised war
And in that deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
If we walk away, they'll walk away
But greed is a bottomless pit
And all freedom's a joke, we're just taking a piss
And the whole world must watch the sad comic display
If you're still free, start running away
Cos we're coming for you
I've grown tired of holding this pose
I feel more like a stranger each time I come home
So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame
Saying "Let me walk away, please"
You'll be free, child, once you have died
From the shackles of language in measurable time
And then we can trade places, play musical graves
Tell them walk away, walk away, walk away
So I'm up at dawn
Putting on my shoes
I just want to make a clean escape
I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
Yeah, I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
(x)
If you walk away I'll walk away
Just tell me which road you will take
I don't want to risk our paths crossing someday
So you walk that way, I'll walk this way
The future hangs over our heads
And it moves with each current event
Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain
Just stay in when it's looking this way
And the moon's laying low in the sky
Forcing everything metal to shine
And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case
They argue walk this way, now walk this way
Laura's asleep in my bed
As I'm leaving she wakes up and says
I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don't go away, come here
There's kids playing guns in the street
One's pointing his tree branch at me
So I put my hands up, said Enough is Enough
If you walk away, I'll walk away
Then he shot me dead
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
It will pass away, like a slow parade
It's leaving, but I don't know how soon
And the world's got me dizzy again
You'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin
But it only feels worse when I stay in one place
So I'm always pacing around or walking away
I'm drinking the ink from my pen
And I'm balancing history books up on my head
And it all boils down to one quotable phrase:
If you love something, give it away
A good woman will pick you apart
A box full of suggestions for a possible heart
And you may be offended, and you may be afraid
But don't walk away, don't walk away
We made love on the living room floor
With the noise in the background from a televised war
And in that deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say
If we walk away, they'll walk away
But greed is a bottomless pit
And all freedom's a joke, we're just taking a piss
And the whole world must watch the sad comic display
If you're still free, start running away
Cos we're coming for you
I've grown tired of holding this pose
I feel more like a stranger each time I come home
So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame
Saying "Let me walk away, please"
You'll be free, child, once you have died
From the shackles of language in measurable time
And then we can trade places, play musical graves
Tell them walk away, walk away, walk away
So I'm up at dawn
Putting on my shoes
I just want to make a clean escape
I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
Yeah, I'm leaving, but I don't know where to
Poison oak, some boyhood bravery
When the telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still talking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die
In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?
Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away, when you slammed the door
When you stole the car and drove towards Mexico
And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm
I was young enough, I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words will turn back into steam
But me, I'm a single cell on a serpent's tongue
There's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away but I'm still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet from your brother's tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
The end of paralysis, I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench
And when I press the keys it all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness makes me happier
(x)
Poison oak, some boyhood bravery
When the telephone was a tin can on a string
And I fell asleep with you still talking to me
You said you weren't afraid to die
In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes
Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?
Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away, when you slammed the door
When you stole the car and drove towards Mexico
And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm
I was young enough, I still believed in war
Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep
And all their tearful words will turn back into steam
But me, I'm a single cell on a serpent's tongue
There's a muddy field where a garden was
And I'm glad you got away but I'm still stuck out here
My clothes are soaking wet from your brother's tears
And I never thought this life was possible
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
The end of paralysis, I was a statuette
Now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench
And when I press the keys it all gets reversed
The sound of loneliness makes me happier
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, its morning
I have my drugs, I have my woman
They keep away my loneliness
My parents, they have their religion
But sleep in separate houses
I read the body count out of the paper
And now it's written all over my face
No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes that's just the most comfortable place
So I'm drinking, breathing, writing, singing
Every day I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I've got
And so I hope I dont sound too ungrateful
For what history gave modern man
A telephone to talk to strangers
Machine guns and a camera lens
So when you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing
It's best to join the side that's gonna win
No one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make 'em God damn certain how it's gonna end
Oh yeah we will, oh yeah we will
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I had some one else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning
(x)
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, its morning
I have my drugs, I have my woman
They keep away my loneliness
My parents, they have their religion
But sleep in separate houses
I read the body count out of the paper
And now it's written all over my face
No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes that's just the most comfortable place
So I'm drinking, breathing, writing, singing
Every day I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I've got
And so I hope I dont sound too ungrateful
For what history gave modern man
A telephone to talk to strangers
Machine guns and a camera lens
So when you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing
It's best to join the side that's gonna win
No one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make 'em God damn certain how it's gonna end
Oh yeah we will, oh yeah we will
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I had some one else's voice
But failure's always sounded better
Let's fuck it up boys, make some noise
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning

Bright Eyes
First Day of My Life
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, single
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
(x)
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
And so I thought I'd let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you had just woke up
And you said "this is the first day of my life
"I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
"Now I don't care I could go anywhere with you
"And I'd probably be happy"
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
We'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a paycheck
Then waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time it's different
I mean I really think you'll like me
When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womens' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs, the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends
When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess God just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God
When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?
I doubt it
I doubt it
(x)
When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womens' rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?
When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs, the ghetto's broke
No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
Just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That's what God recommends
When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess God just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God
When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?
I doubt it
I doubt it
I am a blueblood I will admit that
I dance in blue shoes and wear a blue hat
Live in a blue house on a blue street, in a blue town by a blue creek
I write my blue songs with my blue pen
I sing the blue notes to my blue friends
Now I don't know that much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
I had a blue dream about a blue star
In it I drove there in my blue car
And when I got there I met a blue dog with a blue tongue
We had real fun
We bounced a blue ball
It broke a blue glass
We banged on blue drums and called it bluegrass
I guess the thing I'm trying to tell you is that it is best, kid
If you're true blue
Once I had gangrene I had it real bad
And so the Doc came with his black bag
I said "You know doc, I don't feel well
"If you had a blue bag, I think I'd get well"
So he came right back with a blue sack
He said, "Will this do?" I said, "Why not? Yeah"
That is how I am here today to tell you that it is best, man
To be true blue
Out on the blue sea I sailed a blue ship
I had a first mate that always had blue lips
His name was Bluebeard
He had a weird twitch
We flew a blue flag up on a big stick
And we ate bluegill and we ate blue chips
Oh, I felt real blue eating that blue fish
Because there ain't much that I won't do
Unless it keeps me from being true blue
Once in a blue moon there is a blue sky
I wear my blue jeans and fly my blue kite
It hangs like a bluebird until the wind dies
And then the tears pour out of my blue eyes
If it is your birthday we'll bake you a blue cake
And then we'll eat it off my blue plates
Because kid, I don't know much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
(x)
I am a blueblood I will admit that
I dance in blue shoes and wear a blue hat
Live in a blue house on a blue street, in a blue town by a blue creek
I write my blue songs with my blue pen
I sing the blue notes to my blue friends
Now I don't know that much about you
But I like you because you are true blue
I had a blue dream about a blue star
In it I drove there in my blue car
And when I got there I met a blue dog with a blue tongue
We had real fun
We bounced a blue ball
It broke a blue glass
We banged on blue drums and called it bluegrass
I guess the thing I'm trying to tell you is that it is best, kid
If you're true blue
Once I had gangrene I had it real bad
And so the Doc came with his black bag
I said "You know doc, I don't feel well
"If you had a blue bag, I think I'd get well"
So he came right back with a blue sack
He said, "Will this do?" I said, "Why not? Yeah"
That is how I am here today to tell you that it is best, man
To be true blue
Out on the blue sea I sailed a blue ship
I had a first mate that always had blue lips
His name was Bluebeard
He had a weird twitch
We flew a blue flag up on a big stick
And we ate bluegill and we ate blue chips
Oh, I felt real blue eating that blue fish
Because there ain't much that I won't do
Unless it keeps me from being true blue
Once in a blue moon there is a blue sky
I wear my blue jeans and fly my blue kite
It hangs like a bluebird until the wind dies
And then the tears pour out of my blue eyes
If it is your birthday we'll bake you a blue cake
And then we'll eat it off my blue plates
Because kid, I don't know much about you
But I like you because you are true blue

Bright Eyes
Motion Sickness
Saddle Creek , 2005
cd, album
Mushaboom: Feist
The Biggest Lie: Elliott Smith

Bright Eyes
One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels
Crank! Records , 2004
ep,
Split Album mit Neva Dinova.
Gabs auf weißem, braunem und lachsfarbenem Vinyl, sowie auch auf CD.
1,3,5: Neva Dinova
2010 erschein die Platte nochmals auf Saddle Creek mit 4 Bonus Songs.
Spring Cleaning geschrieben von Bright Eyes und gespielt von Neva Dinova
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
(x)
Well once I gave a look to you but you never gave it back
So here I stand expressionless but my memory's intact
I guess the past is good for a laugh
A comedy so dry and black
It makes my stomach hurt so bad, I cried
So two thumbs up we give this one despite its predictable ending
The dialogue seemed rushed and wrong but the actors did their best
To lay some worth on every word
Like coffins dropped into the earth
The saddest sound I ever heard, we sang along
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
We sang it, take this wait away
Away
Away
You said they laid out lots of coke
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
(x)
You said they laid out lots of coke
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
You don't know how much you did
Now you dont want me to go home, because you're afraid you might get sick
Just like the bad news you accept, just like that boy you're gonna get
It's the mistake I wont regret, I'll be your friend
But you just haven't made me yet
So you come chasing after me, but I'm just barely out the door
Down in the belly of the beast, we waited with the passengers
Just like the train I gotta catch, just like that song I can't finish
You'll be my friend but I hope I just haven't made you yet
You talk like you're drunk, like you're standing in front of a microphone
And each night it repeats and you fall into me, like a domino
And you talk when you're drunk like you're writing it up for a article
And you think that I lie when I tell you goodbye and then I've got to go, cause I've got to go
But I guess it's a success, we're at our best when you're upset
I'll be your friend but you just haven't made me yet
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
(x)
Amy's got a baby in her stomach, she took my hand and I felt it kick
So she's crying and glowing, she's three months and showing
Seeing her now makes me want to live
But her man's got an angry mouth, he once told me to rot in hell
He's poisonous, reasonless, demons and Jesus, if he died it'd be just as well
So I'm having it out with the rain
It argues so long and so loud
It keeps tapping and talking we're walking forever on First Avenue headed south
And all the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
My heart is in mothballs, it's been packed away, and I can't get to it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning
All the traffic lights blur into a bright bouquet
I wish I could just turn and walk away, but I can't do it, no way
Until the birds return for spring cleaning

Bright Eyes
Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
Saddle Creek , 2004
cd, single
Burn Rubber: geschrieben von Simon Joyner
Cremation: Instrumental
First with your hands and then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
(x)
First with your hands and then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
You made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave
You used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refined and eyes like a showroom
Now they're spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman's a liar
He said it'd be raining
But it's clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it's always been
This never happened
Don't take it so bad, it's nothing you did
It's just once something dies you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy
You're a sweet little kid but I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost cause something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No, it isn't so hard to get close to me
There'll be no arguments
We'll always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We'll both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bother me
Well if you turn the porch light off and let the marble light withdraw
You can smoke a cigarette on the wooden steps
The mosquitoes are not vampires, the moon is not your mother
Although she is preparing for a total eclipse
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
The clouds dream disorder, they make faces, they make mud
On some ancient order which is no longer enforced
The sugar bowl is full of ants
Your sister is a dumpy mess
And you're cutting off your head to spite your shoulders
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Just get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
(x)
Well if you turn the porch light off and let the marble light withdraw
You can smoke a cigarette on the wooden steps
The mosquitoes are not vampires, the moon is not your mother
Although she is preparing for a total eclipse
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
The clouds dream disorder, they make faces, they make mud
On some ancient order which is no longer enforced
The sugar bowl is full of ants
Your sister is a dumpy mess
And you're cutting off your head to spite your shoulders
Get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm
Just get behind the wheel, stay in front of the storm

Bright Eyes
Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Saddle Creek , 2002
cd, album
The picture's far too big to look at kid, your eyes won't open wide enough
And you're constantly surrounded by the swirling stream of what is and what was
Well, we've all made our predictions but the truth still isn't out
But if you wanna see the future, go and stare into a cloud
And keep trying to find your way out through that maze of memories
It all sorta looks familiar till you get up close then it's different clearly
But each time you turn a corner
You're right back where you were
And your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear
Is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?
An avalanche of opinions like the one that fell that I'm now underneath
It was my voice that moved the first rock and I would do it all again
I mean, it's cool if you keep quiet but I like singing
So I'll be holding my note and stomping and strumming and feeling so very lucky
And there is nothing I know except a lifetime's one moment and wishing will just leave you empty
So you can try to live in darkness but you will never shake the light
No, it will greet you every morning, make you more aware with its absence at night
When you're wrapped up in your blankets, baby, that comfortable cocoon
But I've seen the day of your awakening, boy, and it's coming soon
So go ahead and lose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind
But it isn't what you're thinking, no, it's the course of history, your position in line
You're just a piece of the puzzle, so I think you'd better find your place
And don't go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate
'Cause there's been a great deal of discussion, yes, about the properties of man
I mean, animal or angel, you were carved from bone but your heart is just sand
And the wind is gonna scatter it and cover everything with love
So if it makes you happy then keep kneeling, but I'm standing up
Because this veil it has been lifted, yes, my eyes are wet with clarity
I've been a witness to such wonders, yes, I have searched for them all across this country
But I think I'll be returning now to the town where I was born
And I understand you must keep moving, friend, but I'm headed home
Yeah, I'm gonna follow the road and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my body
I will send this message in code, underground, through forests and deserts and cities
All across electric wire, it's a baited line, yeah the hook's in deep, boys, there's no more time
So you can struggle in the water, be too stubborn to die
Or you can just let go and be lifted to the sky
And you're constantly surrounded by the swirling stream of what is and what was
Well, we've all made our predictions but the truth still isn't out
But if you wanna see the future, go and stare into a cloud
And keep trying to find your way out through that maze of memories
It all sorta looks familiar till you get up close then it's different clearly
But each time you turn a corner
You're right back where you were
And your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear
Is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?
An avalanche of opinions like the one that fell that I'm now underneath
It was my voice that moved the first rock and I would do it all again
I mean, it's cool if you keep quiet but I like singing
So I'll be holding my note and stomping and strumming and feeling so very lucky
And there is nothing I know except a lifetime's one moment and wishing will just leave you empty
So you can try to live in darkness but you will never shake the light
No, it will greet you every morning, make you more aware with its absence at night
When you're wrapped up in your blankets, baby, that comfortable cocoon
But I've seen the day of your awakening, boy, and it's coming soon
So go ahead and lose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind
But it isn't what you're thinking, no, it's the course of history, your position in line
You're just a piece of the puzzle, so I think you'd better find your place
And don't go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate
'Cause there's been a great deal of discussion, yes, about the properties of man
I mean, animal or angel, you were carved from bone but your heart is just sand
And the wind is gonna scatter it and cover everything with love
So if it makes you happy then keep kneeling, but I'm standing up
Because this veil it has been lifted, yes, my eyes are wet with clarity
I've been a witness to such wonders, yes, I have searched for them all across this country
But I think I'll be returning now to the town where I was born
And I understand you must keep moving, friend, but I'm headed home
Yeah, I'm gonna follow the road and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my body
I will send this message in code, underground, through forests and deserts and cities
All across electric wire, it's a baited line, yeah the hook's in deep, boys, there's no more time
So you can struggle in the water, be too stubborn to die
Or you can just let go and be lifted to the sky
(x)
The picture's far too big to look at kid, your eyes won't open wide enough
And you're constantly surrounded by the swirling stream of what is and what was
Well, we've all made our predictions but the truth still isn't out
But if you wanna see the future, go and stare into a cloud
And keep trying to find your way out through that maze of memories
It all sorta looks familiar till you get up close then it's different clearly
But each time you turn a corner
You're right back where you were
And your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear
Is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?
An avalanche of opinions like the one that fell that I'm now underneath
It was my voice that moved the first rock and I would do it all again
I mean, it's cool if you keep quiet but I like singing
So I'll be holding my note and stomping and strumming and feeling so very lucky
And there is nothing I know except a lifetime's one moment and wishing will just leave you empty
So you can try to live in darkness but you will never shake the light
No, it will greet you every morning, make you more aware with its absence at night
When you're wrapped up in your blankets, baby, that comfortable cocoon
But I've seen the day of your awakening, boy, and it's coming soon
So go ahead and lose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind
But it isn't what you're thinking, no, it's the course of history, your position in line
You're just a piece of the puzzle, so I think you'd better find your place
And don't go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate
'Cause there's been a great deal of discussion, yes, about the properties of man
I mean, animal or angel, you were carved from bone but your heart is just sand
And the wind is gonna scatter it and cover everything with love
So if it makes you happy then keep kneeling, but I'm standing up
Because this veil it has been lifted, yes, my eyes are wet with clarity
I've been a witness to such wonders, yes, I have searched for them all across this country
But I think I'll be returning now to the town where I was born
And I understand you must keep moving, friend, but I'm headed home
Yeah, I'm gonna follow the road and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my body
I will send this message in code, underground, through forests and deserts and cities
All across electric wire, it's a baited line, yeah the hook's in deep, boys, there's no more time
So you can struggle in the water, be too stubborn to die
Or you can just let go and be lifted to the sky
And you're constantly surrounded by the swirling stream of what is and what was
Well, we've all made our predictions but the truth still isn't out
But if you wanna see the future, go and stare into a cloud
And keep trying to find your way out through that maze of memories
It all sorta looks familiar till you get up close then it's different clearly
But each time you turn a corner
You're right back where you were
And your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear
Is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?
An avalanche of opinions like the one that fell that I'm now underneath
It was my voice that moved the first rock and I would do it all again
I mean, it's cool if you keep quiet but I like singing
So I'll be holding my note and stomping and strumming and feeling so very lucky
And there is nothing I know except a lifetime's one moment and wishing will just leave you empty
So you can try to live in darkness but you will never shake the light
No, it will greet you every morning, make you more aware with its absence at night
When you're wrapped up in your blankets, baby, that comfortable cocoon
But I've seen the day of your awakening, boy, and it's coming soon
So go ahead and lose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind
But it isn't what you're thinking, no, it's the course of history, your position in line
You're just a piece of the puzzle, so I think you'd better find your place
And don't go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate
'Cause there's been a great deal of discussion, yes, about the properties of man
I mean, animal or angel, you were carved from bone but your heart is just sand
And the wind is gonna scatter it and cover everything with love
So if it makes you happy then keep kneeling, but I'm standing up
Because this veil it has been lifted, yes, my eyes are wet with clarity
I've been a witness to such wonders, yes, I have searched for them all across this country
But I think I'll be returning now to the town where I was born
And I understand you must keep moving, friend, but I'm headed home
Yeah, I'm gonna follow the road and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my body
I will send this message in code, underground, through forests and deserts and cities
All across electric wire, it's a baited line, yeah the hook's in deep, boys, there's no more time
So you can struggle in the water, be too stubborn to die
Or you can just let go and be lifted to the sky
There's no beginning to the story
A bookshelf sinks into the sand
And a language learned and forgot in turn
Is studied once again
It's a shocking bit of footage
Viewed from a shitty tv screen
You can squint at it
Just snow and static
To make out the meaning
And keep on stretching the antenna
Hoping that it will come clear
We need some reception
A higher message
Just tell us what to fear
'Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings
To light with such possibilities
All I know is I feel better when I sing
Burdens are lifted from me
That's my voice rising
So Michael please keep the tape rolling
Boys keep strumming those guitars
We need a record of our failures
Yes we must document our love
I have sat too long in my silence
I have grown too old in my pain
To shed this skin
Be born again
Oh it starts with an ending
So thank you friends for the time we shared
My love stays with you like sunlight and air
No I truly wish I could keep hanging around here
My joy is covering me
Soon I will disappear
It's not a movie
No private screening
This method acting
Well I call it living
It's like a fountain
A door has opened
We have a problem
With no solution but to love
And to be loved
So I've made peace with the fallen leaves
I see their same fate in my own body
But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream
And return to that which gave birth to me
Gave birth to me gave birth to me gave birth to me
And the story goes and the story goes
And it goes on and on and on and on
It's going on and on and on and on
(x)
There's no beginning to the story
A bookshelf sinks into the sand
And a language learned and forgot in turn
Is studied once again
It's a shocking bit of footage
Viewed from a shitty tv screen
You can squint at it
Just snow and static
To make out the meaning
And keep on stretching the antenna
Hoping that it will come clear
We need some reception
A higher message
Just tell us what to fear
'Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings
To light with such possibilities
All I know is I feel better when I sing
Burdens are lifted from me
That's my voice rising
So Michael please keep the tape rolling
Boys keep strumming those guitars
We need a record of our failures
Yes we must document our love
I have sat too long in my silence
I have grown too old in my pain
To shed this skin
Be born again
Oh it starts with an ending
So thank you friends for the time we shared
My love stays with you like sunlight and air
No I truly wish I could keep hanging around here
My joy is covering me
Soon I will disappear
It's not a movie
No private screening
This method acting
Well I call it living
It's like a fountain
A door has opened
We have a problem
With no solution but to love
And to be loved
So I've made peace with the fallen leaves
I see their same fate in my own body
But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream
And return to that which gave birth to me
Gave birth to me gave birth to me gave birth to me
And the story goes and the story goes
And it goes on and on and on and on
It's going on and on and on and on
On a string
On a string
on a string
I was held
The way I moved, can't you tell
My actions are orchestrated from above
And so I swing and I'll sway
Wave my hand, kick my leg
And it's always right with the music
(katie and tiffany: till all that swaying starts to make you sad)
For a song, I was bought
Now I lie, when I talk
With a careful eye on the cue card
Onto a stage, I was pushed
With my sorrow well rehearsed
So give me all your pity and your money now
All of it
(katie and tiffany: we used to think that sound was something pure)
But if I could act like this was my real life
And not some cage where I was placed
Well then I could tell you
The truth like I used to
And not be afraid of sounding fake
Not while all you were listening for was the mistakes
(katie: sorry!)
It's alright
One, two, three!
One, two, three!
In a house by myself
I hear the ice start to melt
And I watched the rooftops weep for the sunlight
And I know what must change
Fuck my face, fuck my name
They are brief and false advertisements
For a soul, I don't have
Something true I have lacked
I spent my whole life trying to make up for it
But I found, in a song
And I'll repeat
It will lift me up out of darkness
And now my door
It stands open, I'm inviting all of you in
We're gonna laugh, we're gonna drink
Until the morning comes
That's what we're gonna do!
Come on!
Come on!
(x)
On a string
On a string
on a string
I was held
The way I moved, can't you tell
My actions are orchestrated from above
And so I swing and I'll sway
Wave my hand, kick my leg
And it's always right with the music
(katie and tiffany: till all that swaying starts to make you sad)
For a song, I was bought
Now I lie, when I talk
With a careful eye on the cue card
Onto a stage, I was pushed
With my sorrow well rehearsed
So give me all your pity and your money now
All of it
(katie and tiffany: we used to think that sound was something pure)
But if I could act like this was my real life
And not some cage where I was placed
Well then I could tell you
The truth like I used to
And not be afraid of sounding fake
Not while all you were listening for was the mistakes
(katie: sorry!)
It's alright
One, two, three!
One, two, three!
In a house by myself
I hear the ice start to melt
And I watched the rooftops weep for the sunlight
And I know what must change
Fuck my face, fuck my name
They are brief and false advertisements
For a soul, I don't have
Something true I have lacked
I spent my whole life trying to make up for it
But I found, in a song
And I'll repeat
It will lift me up out of darkness
And now my door
It stands open, I'm inviting all of you in
We're gonna laugh, we're gonna drink
Until the morning comes
That's what we're gonna do!
Come on!
Come on!
Well, you say that I treat you like a book on a shelf
I don't take you out that often
'Cause I know that I completed you
And that's why you are here
That's the reason you stay here
How awful that must feel
You said you'd be my dream
I could have you every night
And if by morning I'd forgotten you
Well, no big deal, that'd be all right
'Cause you're the re-occuring kind
You are the re-occuring kind
You never really leave my mind
Are you the love of my lifetime
'Cause there's been times I've had my doubts
We were just kids when I first kissed you
In the attic of my parents' house
And I wish we were there now
I took so long to figure out
What this book has been about
Now I write when I'm away
Letters that you'll never read
You said 'Go explore those other women
The geography of their bodies
But there's just one map you'll need
You're a boomerang you'll see
You will return to me
Yeah you will you will you will'
Well, if you don't think this book's all lies
If you don't think my plans would all be ruined
I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
And I just won't have a future anymore
(x)
Well, you say that I treat you like a book on a shelf
I don't take you out that often
'Cause I know that I completed you
And that's why you are here
That's the reason you stay here
How awful that must feel
You said you'd be my dream
I could have you every night
And if by morning I'd forgotten you
Well, no big deal, that'd be all right
'Cause you're the re-occuring kind
You are the re-occuring kind
You never really leave my mind
Are you the love of my lifetime
'Cause there's been times I've had my doubts
We were just kids when I first kissed you
In the attic of my parents' house
And I wish we were there now
I took so long to figure out
What this book has been about
Now I write when I'm away
Letters that you'll never read
You said 'Go explore those other women
The geography of their bodies
But there's just one map you'll need
You're a boomerang you'll see
You will return to me
Yeah you will you will you will'
Well, if you don't think this book's all lies
If you don't think my plans would all be ruined
I'll start drinking like the way I drank before
And I just won't have a future anymore
I picked you out
Of a crowd to talk to you
Said I liked your shoes
You said thanks can I follow you?
So it's up the stairs
And out of view
No prying eyes
I poured some wine
I asked your name you asked the time
Well it's two o'clock
Yeah the club is closed we're up the block
Your hands on me
Pressing hard against your jeans
Your tongue in my mouth
Trying to keep the words from coming out
You didn't care to know
Who else may have been here before
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a girl who's to sad to give a fuck
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
I thought he said he'd meet us here but I'm not sure
I got the money if you got the time
He said it feels good I said I'll give it a try
Then my mind went dark
We both forgot where your car was parked
Let's just take the train
I'll meet up with the band in the morning
Bad actors with bad habits
Some sad singers
They just play tragic
Now the phone's ringing
And the band's leaving
Let's just keep touching
Let's just keep keep singing
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk
Where's the kid with the chemicals
I got a hunger and I can't seem to get full
I need some meaning I can memorize
The kind I have always seems to slip my mind
But you but you
You write such pretty words
But life's no story book
Love is an excuse to get hurt
And to hurt
Do you like to hurt?
'Cause I do I do I do
This didn't hurt me
Didn't hurt me
Oh this hurt me
(x)
I picked you out
Of a crowd to talk to you
Said I liked your shoes
You said thanks can I follow you?
So it's up the stairs
And out of view
No prying eyes
I poured some wine
I asked your name you asked the time
Well it's two o'clock
Yeah the club is closed we're up the block
Your hands on me
Pressing hard against your jeans
Your tongue in my mouth
Trying to keep the words from coming out
You didn't care to know
Who else may have been here before
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a girl who's to sad to give a fuck
Where's the kid with the chemicals?
I thought he said he'd meet us here but I'm not sure
I got the money if you got the time
He said it feels good I said I'll give it a try
Then my mind went dark
We both forgot where your car was parked
Let's just take the train
I'll meet up with the band in the morning
Bad actors with bad habits
Some sad singers
They just play tragic
Now the phone's ringing
And the band's leaving
Let's just keep touching
Let's just keep keep singing
I want a lover I don't have to love
I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk
Where's the kid with the chemicals
I got a hunger and I can't seem to get full
I need some meaning I can memorize
The kind I have always seems to slip my mind
But you but you
You write such pretty words
But life's no story book
Love is an excuse to get hurt
And to hurt
Do you like to hurt?
'Cause I do I do I do
This didn't hurt me
Didn't hurt me
Oh this hurt me
The rain it started tappin'
On the window near my bed
There was a loophole in my dreamin'
So I got out of it
And to my surprise my eyes were wide and already open
Just my nightstand and my dresser
Where those nightmares had just been
So I dressed myself and left then
Out into the gray streets
But everything seemed different
And completely new to me
The sky the trees, houses, buildings, even my own body
And each person I encountered
I couldn't wait to meet
And I came upon a doctor
Who appeared in quite poor health
I said there's nothing I can do for you that you can't do for yourself
He said oh yes you can, just hold my hand, so I sat with him awhile
Then I asked him how he felt
He said I think I'm cured
No, in fact, I'm sure of it
Thank you, stranger
For your therapeutic smile
So that's how I learned the lesson
That everyone's alone
And your eyes must do some raining
If you're ever gonna grow
And when crying don't help
You can't compose yourself
It's best to compose a poem
An honest verse of longing
Or a simple song of hope
That's why I'm singing baby don't worry
'Cause now I got your back
And every time you feel like crying
I'm gonna try and make you laugh
And if I can't
If it just hurts too bad
Then we'll wait for it to pass
And I will keep you company for those days so long and black
And we'll keep working on the problem
We know we'll never solve
Our love's un-even remainders
Our lives are fractions of a whole
But if the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall
Then I think we'd see the beauty then
We'd stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges
Like a story told
By the fault-lines in the soil
(x)
The rain it started tappin'
On the window near my bed
There was a loophole in my dreamin'
So I got out of it
And to my surprise my eyes were wide and already open
Just my nightstand and my dresser
Where those nightmares had just been
So I dressed myself and left then
Out into the gray streets
But everything seemed different
And completely new to me
The sky the trees, houses, buildings, even my own body
And each person I encountered
I couldn't wait to meet
And I came upon a doctor
Who appeared in quite poor health
I said there's nothing I can do for you that you can't do for yourself
He said oh yes you can, just hold my hand, so I sat with him awhile
Then I asked him how he felt
He said I think I'm cured
No, in fact, I'm sure of it
Thank you, stranger
For your therapeutic smile
So that's how I learned the lesson
That everyone's alone
And your eyes must do some raining
If you're ever gonna grow
And when crying don't help
You can't compose yourself
It's best to compose a poem
An honest verse of longing
Or a simple song of hope
That's why I'm singing baby don't worry
'Cause now I got your back
And every time you feel like crying
I'm gonna try and make you laugh
And if I can't
If it just hurts too bad
Then we'll wait for it to pass
And I will keep you company for those days so long and black
And we'll keep working on the problem
We know we'll never solve
Our love's un-even remainders
Our lives are fractions of a whole
But if the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall
Then I think we'd see the beauty then
We'd stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges
Like a story told
By the fault-lines in the soil
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he come for us or did he come at all?
And if I washed his feet with my dirty hair would he make me cleanagain?
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna all go black, it's gonna all go back
To the way it was before
I knew a lovely girl with such pretty pride
Every man wanted her, yeah, and so did I, yeah, and so did I
But she up and died in a fit of vanity
Now men with purple hearts carry silver guns and they'llkill a man for what his father's done
But what my father did, no, it don't mean shit, I'm not him
But still it's hard to ignore all the news reports
That say we must defend ourselves and fight on foreign soil against the infidels with the oil wells
God saves gas prices
You think I need some discipline well, I've had my share
I've been sent to my room and I've sat in a chair
I held my tongue, I didn't plug my ears, no, I had a good talking to
And I don't know why, but I still try to smile when they talk at me like I'm just a child
But I'm not a child, even though I am much younger than that[them?]
Well, I've read some books and I've grown quite brave
If I could just speak up I think that I would say that there is no truth
No, there is only you and what you make the truth
So, I'll sing some songs and I'll pass a hat
And I'll leave your town and I'll never look back
No, I won't look back 'cause the road is clear and laid out ahead of me
When I get home I'll meet my friends at our favorite bar
We'll get some lighter heads for our heavy hearts
Yeah, we'll share a drink, we will share our fears
And they will know how I love them
Yeah, they will know how I love, they will know how I love them
I'm nothing without their love
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna just go black, it's gonna just go back to the way it's supposed to be
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he die for us or did he die at all?
If I sold my soul, for a bag of gold to you which one of us would be the foolish one?
Which one of us would be the fool? Which one of us would bethe foolish one?
Could you please start explaining? I think I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I wanna understand
(x)
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he come for us or did he come at all?
And if I washed his feet with my dirty hair would he make me cleanagain?
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna all go black, it's gonna all go back
To the way it was before
I knew a lovely girl with such pretty pride
Every man wanted her, yeah, and so did I, yeah, and so did I
But she up and died in a fit of vanity
Now men with purple hearts carry silver guns and they'llkill a man for what his father's done
But what my father did, no, it don't mean shit, I'm not him
But still it's hard to ignore all the news reports
That say we must defend ourselves and fight on foreign soil against the infidels with the oil wells
God saves gas prices
You think I need some discipline well, I've had my share
I've been sent to my room and I've sat in a chair
I held my tongue, I didn't plug my ears, no, I had a good talking to
And I don't know why, but I still try to smile when they talk at me like I'm just a child
But I'm not a child, even though I am much younger than that[them?]
Well, I've read some books and I've grown quite brave
If I could just speak up I think that I would say that there is no truth
No, there is only you and what you make the truth
So, I'll sing some songs and I'll pass a hat
And I'll leave your town and I'll never look back
No, I won't look back 'cause the road is clear and laid out ahead of me
When I get home I'll meet my friends at our favorite bar
We'll get some lighter heads for our heavy hearts
Yeah, we'll share a drink, we will share our fears
And they will know how I love them
Yeah, they will know how I love, they will know how I love them
I'm nothing without their love
Well, they don't know when but a day's gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It's gonna just go black, it's gonna just go back to the way it's supposed to be
Is it true what they say about the son of God?
Did he die for us or did he die at all?
If I sold my soul, for a bag of gold to you which one of us would be the foolish one?
Which one of us would be the fool? Which one of us would bethe foolish one?
Could you please start explaining? I think I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I need some understanding
Could you please start explaining? You know I wanna understand
Well the future's got me worried
Such awful thoughts
My head's a carousel of pictures
The spinning never stops
I just want someone to walk in front
And not follow the leader
Like when I fell under the weight of a schoolboy crush
Started carrying her books and doing lots of drugs
I almost forgot who I was
But I came to my senses
Now I'm trying to be assertive
I'm making plans
Gonna rise to the occasion yeah
Meet all their demands
But all I do is just lay in bed
And hide under the covers
Yeah I know I should be brave
But i'm just too afraid of all this change
And it's too hard to focus through all this doubt
I keep making these to-do lists but nothing gets crossed out
Working on the record seems pointless now
When the world ends who's gonna hear it?
But I'm trying to take some comfort in written words
Yeah, Tim, I heard your album and it's better than good
When we get off tour I think we should
Hang and black out together
'Cause I been feeling sentimental for days gone by
All the summers singing, drinking, my friend
Wasting our time
Remember all the songs and the way we smiled
In those basements made of music
But now I've got to crawl to get anywhere at all
I'm not as strong as I thought
So when I'm lost in a crowd
I hope that you'll pick me out
How I long to be found
The grass grew high, I laid down
Now I'm waiting for a hand
To lift me up, help me stand
I've been laying so low
Don't wanna lay here no more
Don't wanna lay here no more
Everything that happens is supposed to be
And it's all predetermined can't change your destiny
Guess I'll just keep moving
Someday maybe I'll get to where I'm going
(x)
Well the future's got me worried
Such awful thoughts
My head's a carousel of pictures
The spinning never stops
I just want someone to walk in front
And not follow the leader
Like when I fell under the weight of a schoolboy crush
Started carrying her books and doing lots of drugs
I almost forgot who I was
But I came to my senses
Now I'm trying to be assertive
I'm making plans
Gonna rise to the occasion yeah
Meet all their demands
But all I do is just lay in bed
And hide under the covers
Yeah I know I should be brave
But i'm just too afraid of all this change
And it's too hard to focus through all this doubt
I keep making these to-do lists but nothing gets crossed out
Working on the record seems pointless now
When the world ends who's gonna hear it?
But I'm trying to take some comfort in written words
Yeah, Tim, I heard your album and it's better than good
When we get off tour I think we should
Hang and black out together
'Cause I been feeling sentimental for days gone by
All the summers singing, drinking, my friend
Wasting our time
Remember all the songs and the way we smiled
In those basements made of music
But now I've got to crawl to get anywhere at all
I'm not as strong as I thought
So when I'm lost in a crowd
I hope that you'll pick me out
How I long to be found
The grass grew high, I laid down
Now I'm waiting for a hand
To lift me up, help me stand
I've been laying so low
Don't wanna lay here no more
Don't wanna lay here no more
Everything that happens is supposed to be
And it's all predetermined can't change your destiny
Guess I'll just keep moving
Someday maybe I'll get to where I'm going
Our love is dead but without limit
Like the surface of the moon
Or the land between here and the mountains
It is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent
But the way you taught me to just let it all go back
So we learn to be as faithless
Stand behind bulletproof glass
Exchanging our affections through a drawer
It was always horribly convenient and happening too fast
You should count your change before you're even out the door
Well, yes you should, but please return, return
To the person that you were, and I will do the same
'Cause it's too hard to belong to someone who is gone
My compass spins, but wilderness remains
Once too often I've retreated into the depths of my despair
I built a barricade to block you on the road
But standing there with all of my possessions piled higher than a house
I felt closer to you than you ever would have known
So let's let all these tiny acts of charity become ground on which tobuild
A monument to commemorate our time
And though you say you've found another who will surely speed you on your way
Don't let the forest grow over that path you came there by
But you will, so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
But now I tell myself I've mended under these patches of blue sky
There's still a few holes that let in a little rain
And so it's crying on my shingles
My floorboards moan under my feet
The refrigerator's whining so I've got reason to complain
But I'm not gonna bless you with such compliments
Some degrading song of praise
Like the kind that converted you to me so long ago
Because the truth is that gossip's as good as gospel in this town
You can save face but you won't ever save your soul
And that's a fact so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him in your likeness
And he'll become, become, oh, the prisoner I was
And know all that has spoiled in your heart
Yeah, he'll know it all
He'll know all that has spoiled in your heart
so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
(x)
Our love is dead but without limit
Like the surface of the moon
Or the land between here and the mountains
It is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent
But the way you taught me to just let it all go back
So we learn to be as faithless
Stand behind bulletproof glass
Exchanging our affections through a drawer
It was always horribly convenient and happening too fast
You should count your change before you're even out the door
Well, yes you should, but please return, return
To the person that you were, and I will do the same
'Cause it's too hard to belong to someone who is gone
My compass spins, but wilderness remains
Once too often I've retreated into the depths of my despair
I built a barricade to block you on the road
But standing there with all of my possessions piled higher than a house
I felt closer to you than you ever would have known
So let's let all these tiny acts of charity become ground on which tobuild
A monument to commemorate our time
And though you say you've found another who will surely speed you on your way
Don't let the forest grow over that path you came there by
But you will, so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
But now I tell myself I've mended under these patches of blue sky
There's still a few holes that let in a little rain
And so it's crying on my shingles
My floorboards moan under my feet
The refrigerator's whining so I've got reason to complain
But I'm not gonna bless you with such compliments
Some degrading song of praise
Like the kind that converted you to me so long ago
Because the truth is that gossip's as good as gospel in this town
You can save face but you won't ever save your soul
And that's a fact so, so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him in your likeness
And he'll become, become, oh, the prisoner I was
And know all that has spoiled in your heart
Yeah, he'll know it all
He'll know all that has spoiled in your heart
so hurry up and run to the one that you love
And blind him with your kindness
And he'll make war, oh, war, on who you were before
And claim all that has spoiled in your heart
I have a friend, he's mostly made of pain
He wakes up, drives to work and straight back home again
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper
I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover
And I tried to tell him that he had a sense
Of color and composition so magnificent
And he said thank you, please, but your flattery
It is truly not becoming me
Your eyes are poor, you're blind, you see
No beauty ever could have come from me
I'm a waste
Of breath, of space, of time
I knew a woman she was dignified and true
Her love for her man was one of her many virtues
Until one day she found out that he had lied
And decided the rest of her life from that point on would be a lie
She was grateful for everything that had happened
And she was anxious for all that would come next
But then she wept, what did you expect
In that big old house with the cars she kept
Such is life, she often said
With one day leading to the next
You get a little closer to your death
Which was fine with her, she never got upset
And with all the days she may have left
She would never clean another mess
Or fold his shirts, or look her best
She was free
To waste away alone
Last night my brother, he got drunk and drove
And this cop, he pulled him off to the side of the road
And he said officer, officer, you've got the wrong man
No, no, I'm a student of medicine, a son of a banker, you don't understand
The cop said No one got hurt, you should be thankful
And your carelessness, it is something awful
And no I can't just let you go
And though your father's name is known
Your decisions now are yours alone
You're nothing but a stepping stone on a path
To debt, to loss, to shame
The last few months I've been living with this couple
Yeah, you know the kind who buy everything in doubles
Yeah, they fit together like a puzzle
I love their love and I am thankful
That someone actually receives the prize that was promised
By all those fairy tales that drugged us
And still to me I'm sick, lonely
No laurel tree, just green envy
Will my number come up eventually
Like love's some kind of lottery
Where you scratch and see what's underneath
It's sorry
Just one cherry
I'll play again, get lucky
So now I hang out down by the train's depot
No, I don't ride, I just sit and watch the people there
They remind me of wind-up cars in motion
They way they spin and turn and jockey for positions
And I wanna scream out that it all is nonsense
Their life's one track and can't they see it's pointless?
But just then my knees give under me
My head feels weak and suddenly
It's clear to see, it's not them, but me
Who's lost my self-identity
And I hide behind these books I read
While scribbling my poetry
Like art could save a wretch like me
With some ideal ideology
That no one could hope to achieve
And I'm never real, it's just a sketch of me
And everything I've made is trite and cheap and a waste
Of paint
Of tape
Of time
So I park my car down by the cathedral
Where the floodlights point up at the steeples
Choir practice is filling up with people
I hear the sound escaping as an echo
Sloping off the ceiling at an angle
When the voices blend they sound like angels
I hope there's some room still in the middle
But when lift my voice up now to reach them
The range is too high way up in heaven
So I hold my tongue, forget the song
Tie my shoes, start walking off
And try to just keep moving on
With my broken heart and my absent god
And I have no faith but it's all I want
To be loved
And believe
In my soul, in my soul
(x)
I have a friend, he's mostly made of pain
He wakes up, drives to work and straight back home again
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper
I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover
And I tried to tell him that he had a sense
Of color and composition so magnificent
And he said thank you, please, but your flattery
It is truly not becoming me
Your eyes are poor, you're blind, you see
No beauty ever could have come from me
I'm a waste
Of breath, of space, of time
I knew a woman she was dignified and true
Her love for her man was one of her many virtues
Until one day she found out that he had lied
And decided the rest of her life from that point on would be a lie
She was grateful for everything that had happened
And she was anxious for all that would come next
But then she wept, what did you expect
In that big old house with the cars she kept
Such is life, she often said
With one day leading to the next
You get a little closer to your death
Which was fine with her, she never got upset
And with all the days she may have left
She would never clean another mess
Or fold his shirts, or look her best
She was free
To waste away alone
Last night my brother, he got drunk and drove
And this cop, he pulled him off to the side of the road
And he said officer, officer, you've got the wrong man
No, no, I'm a student of medicine, a son of a banker, you don't understand
The cop said No one got hurt, you should be thankful
And your carelessness, it is something awful
And no I can't just let you go
And though your father's name is known
Your decisions now are yours alone
You're nothing but a stepping stone on a path
To debt, to loss, to shame
The last few months I've been living with this couple
Yeah, you know the kind who buy everything in doubles
Yeah, they fit together like a puzzle
I love their love and I am thankful
That someone actually receives the prize that was promised
By all those fairy tales that drugged us
And still to me I'm sick, lonely
No laurel tree, just green envy
Will my number come up eventually
Like love's some kind of lottery
Where you scratch and see what's underneath
It's sorry
Just one cherry
I'll play again, get lucky
So now I hang out down by the train's depot
No, I don't ride, I just sit and watch the people there
They remind me of wind-up cars in motion
They way they spin and turn and jockey for positions
And I wanna scream out that it all is nonsense
Their life's one track and can't they see it's pointless?
But just then my knees give under me
My head feels weak and suddenly
It's clear to see, it's not them, but me
Who's lost my self-identity
And I hide behind these books I read
While scribbling my poetry
Like art could save a wretch like me
With some ideal ideology
That no one could hope to achieve
And I'm never real, it's just a sketch of me
And everything I've made is trite and cheap and a waste
Of paint
Of tape
Of time
So I park my car down by the cathedral
Where the floodlights point up at the steeples
Choir practice is filling up with people
I hear the sound escaping as an echo
Sloping off the ceiling at an angle
When the voices blend they sound like angels
I hope there's some room still in the middle
But when lift my voice up now to reach them
The range is too high way up in heaven
So I hold my tongue, forget the song
Tie my shoes, start walking off
And try to just keep moving on
With my broken heart and my absent god
And I have no faith but it's all I want
To be loved
And believe
In my soul, in my soul
There is a man holding a megaphone, so he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm, so I called 911
So that is one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that is all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun and those little painted marbles spinning senseless through an endless, black sky
(and so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece when I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner my enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh my patient prisoner you have waited for this and finally... you are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come, don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map and my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap to avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sign of graveyard gray and a garden green and then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again about how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
(x)
There is a man holding a megaphone, so he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm, so I called 911
So that is one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that is all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun and those little painted marbles spinning senseless through an endless, black sky
(and so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece when I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner my enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh my patient prisoner you have waited for this and finally... you are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come, don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map and my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap to avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sign of graveyard gray and a garden green and then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again about how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
Laura, are you still living there
On your estate of sorrows
You used to leave it occasionally
But now you don't even bother
To ride that commuter train, west to Chicago
To stroll through the greenery in the park past the statues
How their eyes seemed to follow you like a hated addiction
Their beauty carved out of absolutes that you could never claim
Or even envision
Laura, you were the saddest song
In the shape of a woman
Yeah, I thought you were beautiful
But I wept with your movements
But I hope that you're laughing now from that place on the carpet
Where we shared a sleeping bag in your sister's apartment
Oh, how she would worry so
You know, I was just a stranger
But she asked me to care for you, yes she did
And I went and betrayed her
But do you know we're in high demand, Laura, us people who suffer
Because we don't take to arguing
And we're quick to surrender
Well, I think I would call tonight if I still had your number
Your thoughts have always lain close to mine
Yeah, we were both skipping supper
But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living
'Cause it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura
Who have done the most singing
Everybody
Lalalala...
(x)
Laura, are you still living there
On your estate of sorrows
You used to leave it occasionally
But now you don't even bother
To ride that commuter train, west to Chicago
To stroll through the greenery in the park past the statues
How their eyes seemed to follow you like a hated addiction
Their beauty carved out of absolutes that you could never claim
Or even envision
Laura, you were the saddest song
In the shape of a woman
Yeah, I thought you were beautiful
But I wept with your movements
But I hope that you're laughing now from that place on the carpet
Where we shared a sleeping bag in your sister's apartment
Oh, how she would worry so
You know, I was just a stranger
But she asked me to care for you, yes she did
And I went and betrayed her
But do you know we're in high demand, Laura, us people who suffer
Because we don't take to arguing
And we're quick to surrender
Well, I think I would call tonight if I still had your number
Your thoughts have always lain close to mine
Yeah, we were both skipping supper
But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living
'Cause it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura
Who have done the most singing
Everybody
Lalalala...
Well the animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness
A baby cries hard in an apartment complex
As I pass in a car
Buried under the influence
The city's driving me out of my mind
I've seen a child getting caught in that sad trap of gravity
He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree
And lands in the grass, and weeps for his dignity
Next time he will not aim so high
Yeah next time neither will I
Now my mother takes loans out
Sends her kids off to colleges
Her family's reduced to names on a shopping list
Well a coroner kneels beneath a great wooden crucifix
He goes, 'there are worse things than being alone'
And so I've learned to retreat at the first sign of danger
I mean why wait around, if it's just to surrender
And ambition, I've found, can lead only to failure
I do not read the reviews
No, I am not singing for you
Well I stood dropping a coin into the pit of a well
And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help
With all these wishes I make, I should buy something real
At least a telephone, call home
Well my teachers they build this retaining wall of memory
All those bold, simple choices I answer so fluently
And got my grades back, and forgot just as easily
But at least I got an A
So I don't have them to blame
So I should stop pointing fingers
Reserve my judgement of all those public action figures
They count their presidents
So loud behind the bullhorn
So proud they can't admit
They may have made a mistake
Well-poisoning excuse from a speechwriter's pen
He knows he don't have to say it so it don't bother him
Honesty, accuracy, they're just popular opinion
The approval rating's high
Yeah so someone's gonna die
ABC, NBC, CBS bullshit
They give us fact or fiction and we can't even split
And each stupid act of war is tonight's entertainment
We're still pawns in their game
As they take eye for an eye, until no one can see
And we will stumble blindly forth, repeating history
Why can't we all be as useful on that flat-screen marquee
Blood red and white skin knowing the blues
Oh yeah the blues I got the blues
That's me
Well I awoke in relief
All my sheets and tubes were entangled
Weak from whiskey and pills in a Chicago hospital
And my father was there, in a chair by the window
Staring so far away
And I tried talking, just whispered, "so sorry, so selfish."
He stopped me and said, 'Child, I love you regardless
'And there is nothing you could do that would ever change this
'I'm not angry, it happens, but you just can't do it again'
So now I try to keep up
I've been exchanging my currency
One million objects pass through my periphery
And I'm rubbing my eyes, cause they're starting to bother me
I've been staring too long at the screen
But where was it when I first heard that sweet sound of humility
It came to my ears in the goddamn loveliest melody
How grateful I was then to be part of the mystery
To love and to be loved
Let's just hope that is enough
(x)
Well the animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness
A baby cries hard in an apartment complex
As I pass in a car
Buried under the influence
The city's driving me out of my mind
I've seen a child getting caught in that sad trap of gravity
He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree
And lands in the grass, and weeps for his dignity
Next time he will not aim so high
Yeah next time neither will I
Now my mother takes loans out
Sends her kids off to colleges
Her family's reduced to names on a shopping list
Well a coroner kneels beneath a great wooden crucifix
He goes, 'there are worse things than being alone'
And so I've learned to retreat at the first sign of danger
I mean why wait around, if it's just to surrender
And ambition, I've found, can lead only to failure
I do not read the reviews
No, I am not singing for you
Well I stood dropping a coin into the pit of a well
And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help
With all these wishes I make, I should buy something real
At least a telephone, call home
Well my teachers they build this retaining wall of memory
All those bold, simple choices I answer so fluently
And got my grades back, and forgot just as easily
But at least I got an A
So I don't have them to blame
So I should stop pointing fingers
Reserve my judgement of all those public action figures
They count their presidents
So loud behind the bullhorn
So proud they can't admit
They may have made a mistake
Well-poisoning excuse from a speechwriter's pen
He knows he don't have to say it so it don't bother him
Honesty, accuracy, they're just popular opinion
The approval rating's high
Yeah so someone's gonna die
ABC, NBC, CBS bullshit
They give us fact or fiction and we can't even split
And each stupid act of war is tonight's entertainment
We're still pawns in their game
As they take eye for an eye, until no one can see
And we will stumble blindly forth, repeating history
Why can't we all be as useful on that flat-screen marquee
Blood red and white skin knowing the blues
Oh yeah the blues I got the blues
That's me
Well I awoke in relief
All my sheets and tubes were entangled
Weak from whiskey and pills in a Chicago hospital
And my father was there, in a chair by the window
Staring so far away
And I tried talking, just whispered, "so sorry, so selfish."
He stopped me and said, 'Child, I love you regardless
'And there is nothing you could do that would ever change this
'I'm not angry, it happens, but you just can't do it again'
So now I try to keep up
I've been exchanging my currency
One million objects pass through my periphery
And I'm rubbing my eyes, cause they're starting to bother me
I've been staring too long at the screen
But where was it when I first heard that sweet sound of humility
It came to my ears in the goddamn loveliest melody
How grateful I was then to be part of the mystery
To love and to be loved
Let's just hope that is enough

Bright Eyes
There Is No Beginning to the Story
Saddle Creek Records , 2002
cd,
last two tracks vinyl onöy
There is a man holding a megaphone
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
(x)
There is a man holding a megaphone
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
(x)
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
(x)
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
(x)
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
(x)
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
(x)
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say

Bright Eyes
There Is No Beginning to the Story
Saddle Creek Records , 2002
cd,
last two tracks vinyl only
There is a man holding a megaphone
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
(x)
There is a man holding a megaphone
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
So he must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw angels
Flying up and down the block
Well, they must have been attached to wires
I saw one laying in the lawn with a broken arm
So I called 911
So that's one less founded opinion
One more cause for a dispute
So the street filled like a basin
Up with cameras and their crews
And they washed away the rumors
Leaving just the concrete truth
It was a spectacle
No, I, I mean a miracle
So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam
A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me
I lifted one foot to cross the other and I felt myself slipping
It was a small mistake
Sometimes that's all it takes
Now I'm staring at my wrist
Hoping that the timing is right
When the planets will align
There will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And those little painted marbles
Spinning senseless through an endless black sky
(And so it never started and it will never stop just like I am and you are)
It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub
I baptized myself in change
And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been
I emerged to find the parallels were fewer
I was cleansed
I looked in the mirror and someone new was there
Still I was as helpless as a chess piece
When I was lifted up by someone's hand
And delivered from the corner
My enemies had got me in
But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside
That holding cell that is myself
So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key
As it turns in the lock and the guard will say to me
"Oh, my patient prisoner, you have waited for this day and finally
You are free! You are free! You are freezing"
Now I'm staring at the sun waiting for it to explode
Because a day is gonna come
Don't know when but it will come
And then we will finally know the way out of here
And I will throw away this wrinkled map
And my chart of stars and compass, cracked
And I'll climb that tree all wet with sap
To avoid the hungry beasts below
I'll cut out my lover's tongue and sing
Of a graveyard gray and a garden green
And then we won't have worry no more
No, we won't ever worry again
About how this song or story ends
About how this song and story will end
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
(x)
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
The sun is coming up
The day has just begun
And you are already bored
You're bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there was once a time when you were the one
You were the blue of the sky
You came after the storm
You were the switch on the wall
In the dark of the hall
That I'm still fumbling for
Because I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
I have my arms stretched out in front
And I'm calling your name just as loud as I can
And I know there's words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I want it to be easy
So nod you head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
So you made me come
Then you sent me away
Like a messenger bird
So I circled the earth
Blown away in the wind
But I always returned
With some new little song
Some sad story to tell
Of a brief love affair
With a girl I compared to you
And she failed
You said you don't want me to beg
Then said "Get down on your knees,"
'Cause you knew that I would
If I'd do any good
Satisfying your needs
And I know all about those things we cannot speak
And just so you know, well
They don't bother me
So you don't have to be worried
Just nod your head if the plans have changed
Shake it, love, if they've stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just nod your head if your mind's been changed
Shake it, love, if some hope remains
Just say the word and of course I'll stay
Roll you eyes and I'll go away
Just, please
Don't leave me guessing
Just, please
Don't keep me waiting
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
(x)
Well, the future spills its intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that split infinitely up ahead
So tell me what's the use to pick and choose
From what you should or shouldn't do?
That's time spent better sleeping in your bed
Or wide awake in a shopping mall
Trying clothes on from off of the wall
Yeah, anything to entertain yourself
Because a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's going to fix
They pat your back bruised with their accolades
And all four walls are a trophy case
But that doesn't make it any less of a cage
But you can make it all less difficult
By embracing the ephemeral
Then you'd never have to worry or explain
Because if it's really all just physical
Then my memory's immaterial
So why then do I remember you at all?
But I do, I do, my friend, I've seen your face
We shared a cup, I know the taste
Its sweetness is relentless on my lips
So help me drink in everything that is
Like a freed convict, drunk on redemption
From the way I've been
But I swear this time that things will be different
Well, right and wrong, they have never been that far apart
For those who'd write that sentence where you hang
We will be lifted up from all of this
Yeah, we will transcend the insignificance of our existence
Yeah, your body's gone, but angel, you will live
Yeah your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone
Now your body's gone, but angel, you will live
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
(x)
The story's in the soil
Loose leaves cover the ground
There are volumes in the forest no one reads out loud
If I could take them down, off of that mountain shelf
We used to climb but no one tries to go up that far now
Yeah, we're all too busy working
Entertaining ourselves
40 hours, television, and prescription pills
Well, I take two a day to make my brain behave
It never does, but who's to say?
At least my doctor gets paid
So that is fine, yeah, come by
We'll take the afternoon off
We can kiss and undress
Or if you want, just talk
Because I have got nothing real
Just empty space to fill
And you're my girl, I like your style
Just imagine all the time we could kill
And time's not poison
But once you drink it all, you'll die
So let's just sip it real slow
Yeah, we can nurse it all night
Try to believe that once it's gone
They'll pour another round, we'll come back to life
Yeah, we'll come right back...
It's all moving fast now, yeah
And that's what they say
And though some days still take forever
I can't disagree
Because it seems to me
That I wake up and sleep
Look in the mirror and have no idea
What happened in-between
But I remember counting days down
Until the year could be done
So I could scatter all my notebooks on the prep school lawn
And disappear into a summer's bliss
Of staying out and sleeping in
And getting drunk with my friends
And that's gone and I know
That it won't ever come back
I accept, I won't cling to what I had in the past
But life is a slippery slope
Regret the steepest hill
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
And maybe wind up somewhere in the middle
And I'm not saying that I know what I want
But I know what I don't
Don't want to rot in my room
And never know what could have been
Believe what everyone else tells me is true...
Yeah, what they'll say; "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it
Believe what everyone else tells me is true
They will say: "True!"
That is what they'll say
That's it...
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
(x)
You take your clothes off right after school
The tea is on, the flame is blue
You hope this won't take all afternoon
The TV's waiting to talk to you
It's your naked body on white velour
But there's no feeling, just weight on you
You get nauseous now as he speaks to you
Such proper language for acts so cruel
He says "We all follow the rules
We can't very well go and break them now, can we
For you?
Your older sisters, I've had them too
But you're my favorite, you know it's true
You look like your mother, in that thin disguise
Your parting mouth, your shutting eyes
And the way that you hate me, and the length of your hair
It's the reason I made you, it's the bond that we share
You see we're all trying to endure
You could easily go and make your own life somewhere
Couldn't you?"
With the sunbeams bright
You keep your eyes shut
Your alarm clock lies
Get to school on time
Where you're a bag of warm fluid
Where you're the corpse in the class
You walk so near to the lockers
You lay so low in the grass
Did you get that coat from the principal?
Did you get that bruise on the bus?
You should wash your hair more
You should look more like us
I saw you walking once under powder blue skies
You looked cold still, your color was high
And I tried to talk to you, but you walked right by
I don't know which I said then, hello or goodbye
We all want to be pure
But it isn't a very easy thing now, is it
To do?
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
(x)
Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up
Take it down to L.A.
Find a place to call my own and try to fix up
Start a brand new day
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say
She got pictures on the wall, they make me look up
From her big brass bed
Now I'm running down the road trying to stay up
Somewhere in her head
The woman I'm thinking of, she loved me all up
But I'm so down today
She's so fine, she's in my mind
I hear her calling
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say