I was getting ready to be a threat
I was getting set for my
Accidental suicide
The kind where no one dies
No one looks too surprised
Then you realize
That you're riding on a para-success
Of a heavy-handed metaphor
And a feeling like you've been here before
Because you've been here before
And you've been here before
Then a word washed ashore
A word washed ashore
Then a word washed ashore
Sovay, sovay,sovay
All along the day
I was getting ready to consider my next plan of attack
I think I'm gonna sack
The whole board of trustees
All those Don Quixotes un their B-17s
And I swear this time
Yeah this time
They'll blow us back to the 70's
And this time
They're playin Ride of the Valkyries
With no semblance of grace or ease
And they're acting on vagaries
With their violent proclivities
And they're playing ride
Ride of the Valkyries
Sovay,sovay,sovay
Studies have shown that we like sheep are prone
To sure fatal doses of malcontent through osmosis
But don't be sympathetic, just pass the anesthetic
'Cuz sheep are benign and on the young we will dine
Burn her pale blue shroud, and tread on her bones
The din of the boys club crowd, reveals we've always been clones
Oh this being true you know there's more than just two
In the cards are four aces so turn and shoot at twelve paces
Studies have shown that we like sheep are prone
To sure fatal doses of malcontent through osmosis
But don't be sympathetic, just pass the antithetic
'Cuz sheep are benign and on the young we will dine
Burn her pale blue shroud, and tread on her bones
The din of the boys club crowd, reveals we've always been clones
Oh this being true you know there's more than just two
If you come to find me affable
Build a replica for me
Would the idea to you be laughable
Of a pale facsimile?
So will you come to burn an effigy?
It should keep the flies away
And when you long to burn this effigy
It should be of the hours that slip away, slip away
It could be you, it could be me
Working the door, drinking for free
Carrying on with your conspiracies
Filling the room with a sense of unease
Fake conversations on a nonexistent telephone
Like the words of a man who's spent a little too much time alone
When one has spent too much time alone
So will you come to burn my effigy?
It should keep the flies away
If you long to burn an effigy
It should be of a man whose has lost his way, slips away
It could be you, it could be me
Working the door, drinking for free
Carrying on with your conspiracies
Filling the room with a sense of unease
Fake conversations on a nonexistent telephone
Like the words of a man who's spent a little too much time alone
When one has spent too much time alone
Wishing for contentment, hoping for relentment
venting my resentment on the happy few
Awaiting resolution, and dreams of retribution
finding restitution's just another thing to do
You've got to keep yourself busy, visit Aunt Lizzy
just see how she's been
But when you're making a late run
two judgmental matrons retort, see what I mean?
A seeming reprobation, perhaps it's my vocation
Why? Why'd you do that?
You shouldn't have done that
If I told you once, I told you three times
You'll get your punishment when you
Show me your crimes
It's not a spell or a curse you put on me
Or the way you smile so tenderly
But how I wish it was your temper you were throwing
Damn you for being so easygoing
I thought that time would tell
My sins would provoke you to raise some hell
Not a chance
Whatever happened to fiery romance
Oh how I wish it was those dishes you were throwing
Damn you for being so easygoing
No, don't give me that line
Don't try to tell me inaction is not a crime
Can't you see what kind of seeds you're sowing?
Quiet
Quiet down she said
Speaking to the back of his head
On the edge of her bed
I can see your blood flow
Your cells grow
Hold still a while
Don't spill the wine
I can see it all from here
I can see
I can see
Weather systems of the world
And every time you turn the soil
Another cloud begins to boil
Some things you say
Are not for sale
I would hold that we're
All free agents
Of a substance or scale
Hold still a while
Don't spill the wine
I can see it all from here
I can see
I can see
Elder Green is dead and gone
Lost his way going to town
Don't know who he is or what he's done
But it sure sounds sweet rolling off the tongue
Yeah it sure sounds sweet rolling off the tongue
If I was in an old hotel
That happened to be on fire
Maybe I'd jump or
Maybe I'd reconsider
Then I'd climb a little higher
Like an oily rag
In a dusty corner
Like a box of matches near an open flame
I'd jump 18 stories from a burning fire
Sooner than I'd face this world of shame
Yeah I'd skip this town and
Jump a westbound train
Take these fingerlings from my fingers
Spoken with your breath
With white-washed eyes
And flies that linger
Seems rather forlorn and bereft
I said where you goin' with that sack on your shoulder Willie
As if I couldn't have guessed
He says I'm gonna get the hell
Out of Slag Valley and take a little stroll way out west
If I was in an old hotel
That happened to be on fire
Maybe I'd jump or
Maybe I'd reconsider
Then I'd climb a little higher
Like an oily rag
In a dusty corner
Like a box of matches near an open flame
I'd get so far away
From that old matchbox hotel
Man I'd skip this town and
Jump a westbound train
Anything to get away from this shame
Take these fingerlings from my fingers
Spoken with your breath
With white-washed eyes
And flies that linger
Seems rather forlorn and bereft
I said where you goin' with that sack on your shoulder Willie
As if I couldn't have guessed
He says I'm gonna get the hell
Everybody's talking
Nobody's listening
Everybody's sweating
Nobody's glistening
Nobody knows what he's thinking
Doesn't really step out even when he's drinking
Seems kind of creepy seems like the kind that stalks
Nobody knows when he's sinking
Always looks pensive whether or not he's thinking
To him it seems to him it screams
Everyone's just waiting to talk
Everyone's waiting to talk, Lord
It's all so terribly awkward on the verandas in the front halls
In the bus station's bathroom stalls
Yes it seems everyone's just waiting to talk
What must he be thinking?
Can we even guess?
He's not really linking
Himself with the rest
Does he know our big secret?
Has one of us confessed?
'Bout the wires circuits and motors
Buried in our chest
It's all just a pointless equation
This parabolic conversation
Like two distinct lines
Never the twain shall meet
Never? No never
Nobody knows what he's thinking
Doesn't really step out even when he's drinking
To him it seems to certain extremes
Wait, don't go too early
you're tired but everyone's tired
but no one is tired enough
only wait a little and listen
music of hair, music of pain
music of looms weaving all our loves again
be there to hear it, it's your only chance
hair will become interesting
pain will become interesting
second hand gloves will become lovely again
wait, wait for now
distrust everything if you have to
but trust the hours
There was a time when I enjoyed vidalia
there was no other fruit I dared my lips to touch
my grandad he prescribed vidalia
"for whatever ails ya" - heart disease, the grippe and such
But to yourself this medicine you'll properly expose
the benefits of health, wealth, and respect
Eat it like an apple of a deep-colored rose
sweet victory will be yours to delect
But how my palate grows tired
so sweet, so sweet, so sweet
no thanks I'll take defeat
I remember a dark and smoky den
Cheeks of roast beef bloody rare
Oh, whiskey-edged faces of barrel-chested men
And I'm feelin' small, weak and scared
I remember that nook, the way I shook
pain hurts innocence be damned
red with shame and red with pain
we all sit down to eat our leg of lamb
our leg of lamb...
I've been driving all night
Bathing in flourescent light
Of a western Tennessee gas station
With a pack of two-way action
I'm subsisting on a fraction
And I close my eyes and pretend
I'm on vacation
But the light bleeds through
And it's all green-blue
There goes my imagination
My return fills me with dread
Will my house plants be all dead
My significant be with another
I say ok where was I
But I can't repress a sigh
And I think I'm gonna
Yeah I think I'm gonna call my mother
Let the subject wander
To issues of blonde hair
Or something or other
Like a bad haircut
Or a glass of cold water
Some of the things
You wouldn't ordinarily thought a
Will all be lost if you let it in
Maybe I'll never ever feel it again
I've been driving all night
Bathing in fluorescent light
Of a western Tennessee gas station
With a pack of two-way action
I'm subsisting on a fraction
Of what used to be a sugar-free
Half-melted bag of Tastations
That hard candy sensation
It's sweeping the nation
And it
Puts my mind in traction
I'm subsisting on a fraction
And I close my eyes and pretend
I'm on vacation
But while it melts in my mouth
I'm still driving south
In a TV Nation
Like a bad haircut
Or a glass of cold water
Shouldn't I say what I really shouldn't oughta
You spend half a day in
Some of these places
Like a flash of white light
That's in front of our faces
A state of peristalsis or a parastatic stasis
two young sisters are walking alone
by the pale muddy waters
two young sisters are walking alone
by the pale muddy waters of Onion town
when one of them pushed the younger in
into the cold rain waters
pushed her sister and watched her drown
in the cold muddy froth on the river
and she floated up and she floated down
to pale she was as the water
floated down till she washed down shore
on the pale muddy banks of Onion town
with wolves by night and the sun by day
nothing was left but bones and hair
bones and hair which are both more fair
than the pale muddy banks of the river
Luke, his son was deaf in rain
carried her home, her tiny frame
father father I hear her cry
"how can that be?" he said, "bones don't cry" he said
besides you're deaf
but he thought there must be something to these bones
so he made a fiddle out of her breast bone
made some pegs out of her finger bone
made a bow out of her leg bone
and from her yellow hair he strum
the strings that would have her story sung
and sometime later...
one old woman was walking alone
by the pale muddy waters
she heard the strings of the sweet fiddle cry
"Cruel sister, why have you drowned me?"
upon her rock the deaf boy played
oh the bows of Onion
and into the water the cruel sister ran
I said no, don't worry
no, please don't worry
no, don't worry
see what the Lord has done
just keep your lamp all trimmed and burning
keep your lamp trimmed and burning
keep your lamp all trimmed and burning
see what the Lord has done
I said no, don't worry
no no don't worry
no, don't worry
she what the Lord has done
just keep your lamp ...ed and and burning
keep your lamp all trimmed and burning
keep your lamp ...ed and burning
Too long you waited too long to come home
Now your daddy don't want you no more
Too long you don't belong here anymore
So quit your knock-knocking at my door
You left me sweet mamma for no good reason at all
And now there's another mule kicking in the same old stall
Too long you waited too long to come home
Late New Years Eve paper hat on your head
It was hard to believe that you'd ever be dead
And that dream that you're falling you've had since you're five
Is a bird on your shoulder that whispers goodbye
What is moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Evil Knievel shot up from dead grass
And I loved him better each time that he crashed
And Liza Minnelli spent a month in her bed
She was certain that Skylab would fall on her head
What is moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What's been built up will collapse
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Last night I dreamed that I dug my own grave
And I climbed down inside there to patiently wait
And down in the ground while I breathed the cold air
The blackbirds came down there to nest in my hair
What's moving will be still
What has gathered will disperse
What has been built up will collapse
All of your dreams
All of your dreams are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
Are fulfilled
The smoke it blows
across the lawn
down in the town
at break of down.
The smoke it blows,
gets in our hair,
but all the people don't seem to care.
And now she's gone.
Oh lord, she's gone.
She's in our hair.
She's in our lawn.
And now she's gone.
Oh lord, she's gone.
She'll be in our lawn before too long.
This is not a song about a train, thank god,
so goes this little refrain that we've got,
nor is it a song about a cigarette,
or that lady in a red dress with the castanets.
No, no, no
This is just a song about a book I read
about a guy who goes to see his ex-lover who's now dead
and what goes through his mind
(if anything at all)
as her ashes blow across a cemetery wall.
And smoke it blows,
blows across the suburbs.
And smoke it blows.
Who knows where she'll turn up next?
And smoke it blows.
This could become a real problem.
And smoke it blows.
So someone call the EPA.
Yeah, now she's gone.
Oh lord, she's gone.
She's in our hair.
She's in our lawn.
Yeah, yeah, now I'm gone.
Oh lord, I'm gone,
I knew this one girl
Drowned in her own curls
Candy colored swirls
That never seemed to end
I could not comprehend
Half what she said to me
So casually
All our tender ears would bend
Tales of ritual self-torture
She's making you abort your carefully laid plans
To make a final stand, rest the world to hand
This is a story, some kind of a story
this is a story about a boy and girl,
a girl and a boy, a boy.
( ), only flighting.
that some boy in the dark ( ) joan of arc
inverted crystal mountain kind of a story.
this is a story.
man, about the (sheriffs in cyprus? something else.) translations of sanskrit.
just as my handwritten story.
this is a story where the singers begin to appear
in the spaces between all the dashes and braces
in the mothbitten story - of getting left behind.
this is a story, some kind of a story.
with the pages distressed since you held to your chest,
they were mangled and dog eared, while the rest were just (mangy in) glory.
this is a story about the memory of water
translating the sound of the traffic.
remember the traffic?
it's making you carsick all along southfield freeway.
and translating mistakes and the trees and the stake
and the trees for the woods and the sound of the trash
for the sound of the blowing leaves along the southfield freeway.
my name isn't blackbird, ( ) two tone.
feathers are warm in molasses,
twisting the words from the silence to gases.
now i don't have worry (of making it)
it's so unclear.
am i dead or am i dying
or am i simply tired of crying?
my name is a blackbird, ( ) two tone.
feathers are warm in molasses,
twisting the words from the silence to gases.
now i don't have worry (of making it)
it's so unclear.
am i dead or am i dying
or am i simply tired of crying?
Don't sell me anything
Your one time offer so uncalled for, you call it piece of mind
'Cause I can see your house from here
Now leaves have fallen, dear
I can see you're just a little privateer
As your confession draws more near
Time and again I find I'm listless or rather fistless
In time, oh that's what I find
So carry me to Mecca with what you may divine
Take me with you, take me with you
Don't leave me behind
Oh, 'cause I, I don't want your life insurance
Home, motto, health, flood and fire insurance
Oh, just make, please make this basic inference
And speak of me in the present tense
Oh, 'cause I, I can see your ships from here
Now the weather so bright and clear
I can see you're just a little profiteer
As your confession draws more near
As your confession draws more near
As your confession draws more near
You remind me of you
The way you shot right through and how
You broke my window glass,
Fast, it happened so fast
I have to confess that I
That I was impressed that I
That I was impressed that I
Despite all the mess and the broken glass
I was impressed
Here's where I disappeared
Where I fell off the pier
And to be rescued I did wait
I watched waterbugs skate
As they draw figure eights as they draw
From the bottom of the lake as they draw
I watched waterbugs skate as they draw
From the bottom of the lake I watched waterbugs skate
Memories, like mohair sweaters,
Stretched and pilled faux distressed letters
Moose's horns and figure eights
White plastic bags in search of mates
What suffocates the land
In the memory of a garbage can
Memory of a garbage can
But you, you can't be found when the bell rings
You weren't there that day for the naming of things
The naming of things
The naming of things
Where the homeroom bell rings
The homeroom bell
Hey, just look at the mess you made today
Didn't really think it would get this bad
Hey, feel like you're living in a Russian play
Where it seems like you made everybody mad
You remind me of you
When you shot through
And broke my window glass
It happened so fast
I have to confess
I was impressed, I was impressed
Despite all the mess and the broken glass
When I wake up/ in the morning/ I pour the coffee/ read the paper/ then I slowly/ and so softly/ do the dishes/ feed the fishes/ sing me Happy Birthday/ sing it like it's going to be your last day/ like it's halleujah/ don't just let it pass on through ya/ it's a giant among cliches/ and that's why I want you to sing it anyway/ sing me Happy Birthday/ cause hell what's it all about/ anyway/ sing me Happy Birthday/ Happy Birthday/ like it's gonna be your last day/ here on earth
The giant of Illinois
died from a blister on his toe
after walking all day through the first winter snow
throwing bits of stale bread
to the last speckled doves
he never even felt his shoes filled with blood
delirious with pain, his bedroom walls began to glow
and he felt himself soaring up through falling snow
and the sky was a woman's arms
a boy with a club foot
had sat next to him in school
once upon a summer's day
they went wandering through the woods
they spotted a sleeping swan
on the banks of a muddy stream
and they stormed it with rocks
till it collapsed in the reeds
they lay out on the grass
full of chocolate and lemonade
but underneath it all the giant was afraid
Don't tell me anything...anyhow
your contribution, proposed solution fails for now
cause I can see your house from here
now the leaves have fallen, dear
you're such a little privateer
as your confession draws mor enear
Don't sell me anything...of any kind
your one time offer is so uncalled for
you call it piece of mind
but I don't want your life insurance
home auto health fire insurance
just make this basic inference
employs a little common sense
Time and again I find I'm listless or rather fistless
in time that's what I find
Carry me to Mecca with what you may devine
take me with you, take me with you, don't leave me behind
Don't tell me anything...anyhow
your trite donation, commercialization
won't hold water now
'cause I can see your ship from here
now the weather's bright and clear
you're such a little privateer
Tenuous at best was all he had to say
When pressed about the rest of it, the world that is
From proto-Sanskrit Minoans to Porto-centric Lisboans
Greek Cypriots and and harbor sorts who hang around in ports a lot
Here's where things start getting weird
While chinless men will scratch their beards
And to their minds a sharpened axe
Is brushed upon the Uralic syntaxes
Love of hate acts as an axis
Love of hate acts as an axis
First it wanes and then it waxes
So procreate and pay your taxes
Tenuousness, less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven
Thank the heavens for their elasticity
And as for those who live and die for astronomy
When coprophagia was writ
Know when to stand or when to sit
Can't stand to stand, can't stand to sit
And who would want to know this?
Click, click, click
Who wants to look upon this?
Who wants to look upon this pray tell?
Who wants to look upon this?
Who wants to look upon this pray tell, pray tell?
Tenuousness, less seven comes to three
Them, you, us plus eleven comes just shy of infinity
And as for those who live and die from numerology
Tenuous at best was all he had to say when pressed about the rest of it,
the world that is
from proto-Sanskrit Minoans to porto-centric Lisboans
Greek Cypriots and and Hobis-hots
Who hang around in ports a lot
Here's where things start getting weird
While chinless men will scratch their beards
Tool their minds to sharpened axes
Brush up on the Uralic syntaxes
Love of hate acts as an axis
Love of hate acts as an axis
First it wanes and then it waxes
(So procreate and pay your taxes)
Ten you us ness less seven comes to three
Them you us plus eleven
Thank the heavens for their elasticity
And that's for those who live and die for astronomy
When Coprophagia was writ
Know when to stand know when to sit
Can't stand to stand can't stand to sit and who would want to know this
Click click click
Who wants to look upon this pray tell
Tenuousness less seven comes to three
Them you us plus eleven
Comes just shy of infinity
Tables and Chairs by Andrew Bird
If we can call them friends we can call them on red telephones
And they won't pretend that they're too busy or they're not alone
If we can call them friends we can call
Holler at 'em down these hallowed halls
But we can't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all
Don't
Don't you worry
About the atmosphere
Or any sudden pressure change
'cause I know
That it's starting
To get warm in here
And things are
Starting to get strange
And did you
Did you see how
All our friends were there
Drinkin' roses from the can
How I wish I
I had talked to them
And wished they
Fit into my plan
And we were tired of being mild
Oh so tired of being mild
We were so tired
I know we're gonna meet someday in the crumbled financial institutions of this land
There will be tables and chairs
Pony rides and dancing bears
There'll even be a band
'cause listen after the fall there'll be no more countries
No currencies at all
We're gonna live on our wits
Throw away survival kits
Trade butterfly knives for adderal
And that's not all
Woah!
There will be snacks, there will
When I was a little boy I threw away my action toys
I became obsessed with operation
with Hearts and minds and certain glands
You learn to keep a steady hand
And thus began a morbid fascination with...
sweetbreads, I could taste what you were thinking
sweetbreads, that's the taste of neurons thinking
Do you wonder where the self resides
Is it in your head or between your sides
And who's going to decide its true location?
cause it's a question for the centuries
from communion to mad cow disease
but is it worthy of a song - all life's location?
oh and the sweetest sweetbread of them all within the kingdom of afar
call them thoughts and metaphor-inations
they call them
sweetbreads, I could taste what you were thinking
sweetbreads, that's the taste of neurons thinking
does the thought of bowels red and black
the thought of tongues that taste you back fill you with a nauseous elation
where a simple trip to the grocery store could fill you with an abject horror
can you taste the misery of those crustaceans?
oh and the sweetest sweetbread of them all
within the kingdom of afar should've caused some silent machinations
they call them
sweetbreads, I could taste what you were thinking
sweetbreads, that's the taste of neurons thinking
aw, I could taste what you were thinking
The finches and sparrows build nests in my chimney
What remains of the small flightless birds that you failed to protect
But the yoke isn?t easy, in fact it?s a drag
Acid blown to cornfields and mountains of rice
All over the suburbs, across the great lawns
And they're crop dusting gardens all over this town
But nobody cares when it gets in their hair
It gets in their lungs as it floats through the air
It gets in the food that they buy and prepare
But nobody cares when it gets in their hair
Across the great chasms and the schisms
And the sudden aneurysms
Where the black ink will drip across the [incomprehensible] of your eyes
And your teeth are worth more than you can spare-oh
Don?t tell me that it just isn?t fair
Don?t speak about the cycles of life
?Cause your thoughts are so soft
I could cut 'em with a spork or a bride's knife
And the wine made our minds too loose
A reckless choice of words
And you tell me that I?m too abstruse
I just thought I was a kind of bird
I swear I just stood there not saying a word
Though bells will ring church steeples catchin' fire
And if you promise spring then I know you are a liar
'Cause in the spring tender grasses won't burn easily
Though thrushes sing still my lover won't return to me
Wild parsnips, they still scald my lungs
While thistles will burn my feet
And if you join our chorus you will never fear anymore
So here comes the chorus, we will meet on a fatal shore
Souverian, souverian, the elder
Souverian, souverian the free
Souverian, souverian we felt her
So very young, so very young were we
Birds will sing still my lover won't return to me
You promise spring still my lover won't return to me
Wild parsnips scald my lungs and thistles are burning my feet
So here it comes the chorus, you'll never fear anymore
If you join our chorus we will meet on a fatal shore
Under the elders the older get younger
The younger get over, over their elders
And under the elders pretend that you're older now
Under the elders the older get younger
The younger get over, over the elders
Under the elders bending your branches down
We who are so very young still my lover won't return to me
The thrushes sing still my lover won't return to me
Wild parsnips they still scald my lungs while thistles still burn my feet
Sometimes when I am worth it
And my mind doesn't have my best interests in mind
Doesn't have my best interests in mind
To times like these that my feet, they speak and sing
'Cos they do so better than can my hand
'Cos when I play any regular sort of tune
Like a [Incomprehensible] or a waltz or a jig or aria
Or settings on bibe or polka
My feet will have nothing to do it's a proper time
No, my feet will have nothing to do it's a proper time
Times when I am worth it
And my mind doesn't have my best interests in mind
Doesn't have my best interests in mind
To times like these that my feet, they speak and sing
'Cos they do so better than can my hand
Let them speak their heady opinions though
And you'll hear oil and butter, oil and butter
Some of these days, you'll miss your honey
Some of these days I'll be going away
Some of these days you'll miss your honey
You know you're going to miss me sweet darling
I'm going away
Some of these days you'll be sorry
Some of these days I'll be going away
Some of these days you'll miss your honey
You know your going to miss me sweet darling
I'm going away
You will never know what your friend will do
if they're going away
She will miss him oh little honey
She will miss him for I'm going away
Some of these days, oh little honey you know
you're going to miss me sweet darling
I'm going away
You will never know what your friend will do
if they're going away
She will miss him oh little honey
She will miss him for I'm going away
Some of these days oh little honey you know
you're going to miss me sweet darling
My skin is
White as parchment
Drier than a downtown office building
Where the air is tight
There's time spent
Resting on her bones
Waiting for the telephone to ring
Ba-ring ba-ring ba-ring . . .
Bo-ring bo-ring bo-ring . . .
My skin is
Cold as her toes on the bathroom floor
Run back to bed and slam the door
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh how it shakes the ground
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh what a lovely...
Skin is my
It's the only thing
That doesn't really fly in my land
And love, oh love
Is my love is
It's the only thing that
Butterfly in Thailand
Let it be printed on every t-shirt in this land
On the finest of cottons and the hippest of brands
In bolder letters than the capital I
It's the only thing, it's the only thing
It's the only lonely, whoa
My skin is
White as parchment
Drier than a downtown office building
Where the air is tight
There's time spent
Waiting for that
Macrame bird of prey
To come down and sing
La-ling la-ling la-ling...
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh how it shakes the ground
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh how it shakes the ground
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh how it shakes the ground
Oh what a lovely sound
Oh how it shakes the ground
Oh what a lovely sound
Some people wake up on Monday mornings
Barring maelstroms and red flare warnings
With no explosions and no surprises
Perform a series of exercises
Hold your fire
Take your place around an open fire
Before your neurons declare a crisis
Before your trace Serotonin rises
Before you're reading your coffee grounds
And before a pundit can make a sound
And before you're reading your list of vices
Perform the simplest exercises
So here we are at the end
The war is over
There's nothing left to defend
No cliffs of Dover
So let us put down our pens
And this concludes the test
Our minds are scattered about
From hell to breakfast
Hold your fire
Take your place around an open fire
You were right
There was never reason to worry
Money made your eyesight all blurry
Making lists of pacifists
Recalcitrant poses
Can't you see how dangerous
The one you chose is?
Which brings us back to
Might makes right
So we learn from Wars of the Roses
Pain was only fear
Kneading your toes
Making haste to spite your face
To cut off your noses
Convince yourself and others that these
Fish smell like roses
Can't you see how dangerous?
When you're too content to make a fuss
Can't you see how dangerous?
Squint your eyes and see
Elephants, sycophants, elephants
Squint your ears and hear red-faced rants
Pleated pants
Sycophants
That's what you are
Can't you see how dangerous?
Look upon the field of snow and find the desert sea
Under the ice the springs will flow to release
Fecundates like a natural disaster, disaster
From the first drop of water to the rage of Niagara
Collapse upon the forest floor and down upon your knees
Anthurium Lacrimae decays underneath the canopies
Like a natural disaster, a disaster
It's the one that's been happening over and over and over again
No peace in the valleys, malarial alleys where the kittens have pleurisy
Donning our goggles, Valerian ogles to see microscopically
A colony of dermestids, undressed and digested
A gray spotted owl and a wolf with a lung disease
Collapse upon the forest floor and down upon your knees
Anthurium Lacrimae decays underneath the canopies
Like a natural disaster
hold on just a second
don't tell me this one you know
i know this one i know this song
i know this one i love this song
hold on just a second
don't tell me this one you know
i know this one i know this song
i know this one i love this song
i know this one
i see a sea anemone
the enemy
see a sea anemone
and that'll be the end of me.
while the vicious fish was caught unawares in the tenderest of tendrils
underneath her tender gills
while the vicious fish was caught unawares in the tenderest of tendrils
underneath her tender gills
i see a sea anemone
the enemy
see a sea anemone
and that'll be the end of me.
i will become this animal
perfectly adapted to the music halls
i will become this animal
anomalous appendages
a non-animal
i see a sea anemone
the enemy
see a sea anemone
and that'll be the end of me.
while the vicious fish was caught unawares in the tenderest of tendrils
underneath her tender gills
the seemingly innocuous plecostomus
though posthumous
they talk to us
they talk too much
underneath the stalactites
the troglobites lost their sight
they never really had it right
they've never really seen the light
i will become this animal
perfectly adapted to a music hall
i will become this animal
anomalous appendages
Section 8 city, section 8 city
Have you lied to us?
And something gets in it,
Well something gets in it
It's not alright with us.
Section 8 city,
Have you lied to us?
Something gets in it,
something gets in it
It's not alright with us.
And you're not so sure you want to go through with this
Not so sure.
Oh, with this - live thing
It's a trifling, it's a trifling sight
Section 8 city, have you lied to us?
Something gets in it, well something gets in it
It's alright with us
Section 8 city, section 8 city,
Have you lied to us?
And something gets in it
Something gets in it
It's not alright with us
Section 8 city
Section 8 city lover
Section 8 city lover
Oh you're not so sure you want to go through with this
Not so sure, with this - live thing
It's a trifling
Five day forecast bring
black tar rains and hellfire
While handpicked handler's
kid gloves tear at the inseam
Their Halliburton attache cases are useless
While Scotch-Guard
Macintoshes shall be carbonized
Now they're offering
views of exiting empires
Such breathtaking views
of Scythian Empires
Scythian empire
Horsemen of the Russian steppe
Scythian empire
Archers of an afterthought
Routed by Sarmatians
Thwarted by the Thracians
Scythian empire
Kings of Macedonia
I'm goin' on home now guess I'm satisfied
Please tell me 'cause I don't know
While I'm splayed out on the floor
What it's like what it's like to be satisfied
I'm all alone now guess I'm satisfied
Last night, last night, lordy
Why'd I cry?
Little bit old now guess I'm satisfied
Please tell me 'cause I don't know
While I'm splayed out on the floor
Give her a red lipstick and a bright pair of shoes
A new bob haircut and a shot of good booze
her down-sweet daddy, I’m blowing your horn
oh if you come too late
no no, your mama' will be gone
come along young man, everything's sitting right here
my husband's gone away till next Saturday night
her down-sweet daddy, I’m blowing your horn
oh if you come too late
no no, your mama' will be gone
I’m round-a-go, red shoes on my feet
got my mind set right for ten years at sea
her down-sweet daddy, I’m blowing your horn
if you come too late
no no, your mama' will be gone
yeah cause the red rooster says "cock-a-doodle do do"
the wishing woman says "and a doodle do"
her down-sweet daddy, I’m blowing your horn
if you come too late
no no, your mama' will be gone
one more time
red rooster says "cock-a-doodle do do"
the wishing woman says "and a doodle do"
her down-sweet daddy, I’m blowing your horn
if you come too late
no no, your mama' will be gone
if you come too late
This isn't your song
This isn't your music
How can they be wrong
When by committee they choose it all?
They choose it all
Chin chin
Chin chin
You're gonna grow old
You're gonna grow cold
Bearing signs on the avenue
For your own personal Waterloo
You're bearing signs on the avenue
For your own personal Waterloo now
We'll fight we'll fight
We'll fight for your music halls
And dying cities
They'll fight they'll fight
They'll fight for your neural walls
And plasticities
And precious territory
This isn't our song
This isn't even a musical
I think life is too long
To be a whale in a cubicle
Nails under your cuticle
Chin chin
You're gonna grow old
You're gonna grow so cold
Before this song can deliver you
You're bearing signs on the avenue
You're bearing signs
For your own personal Waterloo now
We'll fight we'll fight
We'll fight for your music halls
And dying cities
They'll fight they'll fight
They'll fight for your neural walls
And plasticities
I bear no grudge, even though my heart may break.
Eternally lost love! I bear no grudge.
Though you're shining in your diamond splendour,
No ray of light falls on the darkness of your heart.
I've noted well for a long time. I bear no grudge.
Ich grolle nicht, und wenn das Herz auch bricht.
Ewig verlornes Lieb! Ich grolle nicht.
Though you're shining in your diamond splendour,
No ray of light falls on the darkness of your heart.
I've noted well for a long time. I bear no grudge.
I saw you in a dream,
I saw the darkness in your heart,
I saw the snake that feeds upon your heart,
I saw, my love, how utterly wretched you are.
I bear no grudge, I bear no grudge.
I'm over you, so come on come on ... come on back to me, ok?
I got home this morning with the sun right in my eyes
And there was no warning as it took me by surprise as it
Hit me like an Act of God, causing my alarm
That I had now become a cephalopod
I still had legs and arms
Still had legs and arms
Today was supposed to be the day
Molecules decide to change their form
Laws of physics lose their sway
Youthful indiscretion now is suddenly the norm
With the good kids sprouting horns, yeah yeah
And today was supposed to be
Not just another day
Today was supposed to be
Not just another day
It was supposed to be, today was supposed to be
And today
Those who can't quite function in society at large
They've got to wake up on this morning to find that they're in charge
But those the world's set up for, who are really doing quite well
They're going to wake up in institutions
In prison or in hell
Prison or in hell
Today was supposed to be the day
Molecules decide to change their form
Laws of physics lose their sway
Youthful indiscretion now is suddenly the norm
With the good kids sprouting horns, yeah yeah
And today was supposed to be
Not just another day
Today was supposed to be
Not just another day
Today was supposed to be
Not just another day
Toady was supposed to be
Not just another day
It was supposed to be, today was supposed to be
And today
But if you think there's something else
Well you're right, there is
There's something else
But if you think I'm gonna tell you, think again
Why should I even think of telling you what there is
Yeah, 'cause silence is knowledge
And knowledge is power
I'm under explicit orders to dare not speak it's name
Listen up, I just work here
Oh I dare not speak it's name
I can't keep talking about it
Oh, sister, when I come to lie in your arms
Please do not treat me like a stranger.
Our Father would not like the way that you act
And you must realize the danger.
Oh, sister, am I not a brother to you
And one deserving of affection?
And is our purpose not the same on this earth,
To love and follow his direction?
We grew up together
From the cradle to the grave
We died and were reborn
And then mysteriously saved.
Oh, sister, when I come to knock on your door,
Don't turn away, you'll create sorrow.
Time is an ocean but it ends at the shore
In the salsify mains of what was thought but unsaid
All the calcified arithmetists were doing the math
It would take a calculated blow to the head
To light the eyes of all the harmless sociopaths
Oh, arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths
Oh, arm and arm with all the harmless sociopaths
Calcium mines are buried deep in your chest
Oh, calcium mines you buried deep in your chest
Ooh, you're deep in a mine
Ooh, calcium mine, oh
Let's get out of here, past the atmosphere
Squint your eyes and no one dies or goes to jail
Past the silver bridge, oh the silver bridge
Wearing nothing but a onesie and a veil
Ooh, deep in a mine
Ooh, calcium mine
Arm and arm, we are the harmless sociopaths
Arm and arm with all the harmless sociopaths
In the calcium mines buried deep in your chest
Oh, the calcium mines buried deep in your chest
Ooh, deep in a mine, oh no
Calcium mines, oh no
So let's get out of here, past the atmosphere
Squint your eyes and no one dies or goes to jail
Past the silver bridge, oh the silver bridge
Wearing nothing but a onesie and a veil
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no
I'm just an old youth with a cane made of root
And a dog with a nasal disease
I sit when it's breezing, my dog's always sneezing
I swear it's the voice of Louise
Why do you do when you don't have a clue
And the only thing doing is nothing at all
'Cept wait for night fall when the will of the wind
Has its way in the grass on a summer's day
And the rope ends that hung above layers of dung
Had little on all sides but air
In the buzzing dry wheat that wisp my bare feet
I step on my doggy's despair
Why do you do when you don't have a clue
And the only thing doing is nothing at all
'Cept wait for night fall when the will of the wind
Has its way in the grass on a summer's day
I'm just an old youth with a cane made of root
I run the numbers through the floor
Here's how it goes
I crack the codes I crack the codes
That end the war
The Hour
I pushed a note under your door
Here's how it goes
Things come to blows
But we don't want this anymore
No, we don't want this anymore
I crack the codes you end the war
I hear the clockwork in your core
Time strips the gears till you
Forget what they were for
I push the numbers through your pores
I crack the codes I crack the codes
To end the war
How's my living
You can call
Encrypted numbers
On bathroom stalls
There's something burning
It casts a pall
It's melting numbers right
Just think of the lives you could swap with your own
While you're selling your coats, you're sewing your own
You know it's not the easy way
Sometimes we've got to pay to play
With finger paints and macramé
It's time we asked the sea and say
Could you bring a different nomenclature?
Now the colors have bled to gray
To ones that don't exist in nature
A nomenclature is washing away, washing away
A nomenclature is washing away, washing away
But did it carry you away, carry you all the way?
Did it carry you away, carry you all the way?
Nomenclature's washing away, oh it's washing us all away
Nomenclature's washing away, oh it's washing us all away
You used to be like toffee,
Between the kitten's teeth
You used to build arid shelters out of sticks and leaves and
Spend the whole day underneath.
You used to be like copper
Pliable but strong,
You used to smile and nod, say "you're right," be polite,
When you know that everybody's wrong.
So you dare the plane to crash,
Redeem the miles for cash when it starts to dive
And we'll dance like cancer survivors
Like we're grateful simply to be alive.
Dare the plane to crash,
Redeem the miles for cash
And we'll dance like cancer survivors
Like your prognosis was that you should've died.
No, there's nothing wrong; there's nothing wrong when it starts to dive
And we'll dance like cancer survivors
Like we're grateful simply to be alive
No, there's nothing wrong; there's nothing wrong when it starts to dive
Those that will judge / will say you're aloof / but you know the truth is a seed / you know what you need / is a conflagration / cause when I see your blood / and the bits of your broken tooth / it gives me the proof that I need / it's the proof that you bleed / and it's a revelation / it's a revelation / I thought you were a life-sized paper doll / propped up in the hardware store / propped up on the front lawn watching the parade / of the legionnaires with 2/4s / marching off to wars / I didn't know what you were made of / color of your blood what you're afraid of / are you made of calcium or are you carbon based / cause if you're made of calcium I'll have to take a taste / calcium is deadly, but tender to the tooth / but it's one sure-fire way to know if you're mx-missile proof / or if you're just aloof / and you were in the ground in late November / though the leaves and earth were damp / did you think they would remember / how you almost made state champ / and when you're running for the game against Alfonsus / and you fell up on the ground and chipped your tooth / that might really have surprised us / to learn that maybe you weren't really mx-missiles proof
Some people was an angry thin skinned man,
couldn't get along with his one man band
Quarter stick rocket and nails in his pocket,
and a crying shame, some people is his name
Poor Old Pierrot Somepeople,
what an unfortunate name
Some people have the low down notion
that he is the one to blame
He used to take the train from old Montparnasse to Madrid,
hustles up a little under fifty quid
Underneath the shell is an angry fire,
but who's the first to jump on the pyre?
Poor Old Pierrot Somepeople,
what an unfortunate name
Some people have the low down notion
he is the one to blame.
Some people like to bake a honey coiled ham,
some people like to roast a leg of lamb
Some people have a complicated coat to mend,
Get out your measuring cups and we'll play a new game
Come to the front of the class and we'll measure your brain
We'll give you a complex and we'll give it a name
Get out your measuring cups and we'll play a new game
Can't have the cream when the crop and the cream are the same
Liquid or gas no more than the glass will contain
When you talk about the hand of glory
A tale that's rather grim and gory
Is it just another children's story that's been de-clawed?
When the tales of brothers Grimm and Gorey have been outlawed
I think they're gonna make you start over
You don't want to start over
Put your backpack on your shoulder
Be the good little soldier
Take your places now
'Cause we're all predisposed
Measuring cups, play a new game
Front of the class, measure your brain
Give you a complex and we'll give it a name
When you talk about the hand of glory
A tale that's rather grim and gory
Is it just another children's story that's been de-clawed?
When the tales of brothers Grimm and Gorey have been outlawed
Put your backpack on your shoulder
Be the good little soldier
It's no different when your older
You're predisposed
That's all for questions now
Come what may, lay your eggs where it's warm
We come here to swarm
Come by sea, swarm like smoke in the dawn
We were the young, we were the swarm
Radiolarians, midges and moths cut from a cloth
We were the young, we were the swarm
Flailing fetal fleas, feeding from the arms of the master
Burrow into me and this is sure to misspell disaster
Oh, and the young in the larva stage orchestrating plays
Investments of translucent alabaster
So they took me to the hospital, they put my body through a scan
What they saw there would impress them all for inside me grows a man
Who speaks with perfect diction as he orders my eviction
As he acts with more conviction than I, I, I
Oh, burrow into me, this is sure to misspell disaster
Oh, burrow into me, you're feeding from the arms of the master
We were the young, we were the swarm
We were the young radiolarians
We were the young, we were the swarm
We were the young radiolarians
We were the young, we were the swarm
We were the young radiolarians
Come what may, come what may
Come
Well you sure didn't look like you were having any fun / with that heavy-metal gaze they'll have to measure in tons / and when you look up at the sky / all you see are zeros / all you see are zeros and ones / you took my hand and lead me down to watch a kewpie doll parade / we let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade / it's not that I just didn't care I must admit I was afraid / and I'm awfully glad my finger's resting gently on the masterfade / the masterfade / I coulda played along / the masterfade / I coulda played Mah Jongg / but it just takes too long / and I just can't remember / which way the east wind blows does it matter? / If we're all matter/ what's it matter does it matter / if we're all matter when we're done? / when the sky is full of zeros and ones / I saw you standing all alone in the electrostatic rain / I thought at last I'd found a situation you can't explain / with GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees / your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees / if the green grass is 6 the soybeans are 7 / the junebugs are 8 the weeds and thistles are 11 / and if the 1s just hold thier place the 0s a smiley face / when they come floating down from the heavens / you took my hand and lead me down to watch a papillon parade / we let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade / you squeezed my hand and told me softly that I shouldn't be afraid / 'cause all the while your finger's resting gently on the masterfade / the masterfade / I coulda played along / the masterfade / I coulda played Mah Jongg / but it just takes too long / and who the hell can remember / which way the east wind blows / when your lying on the ground / staring up at an inverted compass / I mean Christ who Knows?
If you loosen liable lips
You keep sinking all my ships
Oh then you're the one who sank my Lusitania
But somehow it don't register as pain, at all
Till it finds our crooked vain
It should help
Oh let's not remember the Maine
Oh-oh-oh ooo
You laid mines along your shore
Oh no ooo
Through my hull they ripped and tore
Oh ooo
We don't study this war no more
So we let our backbone slip
Till the arc spits from my fingertips
And we'll become a hazard in the rain
Boy we'll get charged out in the lane
And there's a 60-cycle hum
Go ahead, say something dumb boy, there's no shame
There's no shame
Go ahead, say something dumb boy, there's no shame
Oh-oh-oh ooo
You lay your mines along your shore
No ooo
Through my heart you've ripped and torn
Oh ooo
Being alone it can be quite romantic
Like Jacques Cousteau underneath the Atlantic
A fantastic voyage to parts unknown
Going to depths were the sun's never shown
And I fascinate myself when I'm all alone
So I go a little overboard but hang onto the hull
While I'm airbrushing fantasy art on a life that's really kinda dull
Oh, I'm in a lull
Oh, I'm in a lull
I'm all for moderation but sometimes it seems
Moderation itself can be a kind of extreme
So I join the congregation, I join the softball team
I went in for my conformation where incense looks like steam
I start conjugating proverbs where there once were nouns
This whole damn rhyme scheme's starting to get me down
Oh, I'm in a lull
Oh, I'm in a lull
Oh, I'm in a lull
Being alone it can be quite romantic
Like Jacques Cousteau underneath the Atlantic
A fantastic voyage to parts unknown
Going to depths were the sun's never shown
And I fascinate myself, sure I do, when I'm alone
I'm rambling on rather self-consciously
While I'm stirring these condiments into my tea
And I think I'm so lame, I bet I'll think this song is about me
Don't I, don't I, don't I?
I'm, I'm in a lull
Oh, I'm in a lull
Oh, I'm in a lull
If memory serves us, then who owns the master
How do we know who's projecting this reel
And is it like gruel or like quick drying plaster
Tell me how long til the pain starts to kill
Is it like pirannahs on the problem
Are we not sure we don't know
You know history repeats itself
And time's a crooked bow
Come on, tell us something we don't know
Now whos the best boy and the casting director
And he edited, splicing your face from the scene
It's all in the hands of a lazy projector
That forgetting, embellishing, lying machine
That forgetting, embellishing, lying machine
They say all good things must come to an end
Every day the night must fall
How it all came to this
I simply can't recall
Too many cooks in the kitchen
How the mighty must fall
And I can't see the sense in us breaking up at all
Oh I can't see the sense in us breaking up at all
Oh I can't see the sense in us breaking up at all
Breaking up at all
And it's all in the hands of a lazy projector
I saw you last night
My, my how indiscreet
Your self-destruction is so complete
And I know, yeah I know
That she’s going down slow
It was this morning that you phoned
You sound strung out, babe, but so high toned
And I know, yeah I know
That she’s going down slow
You’re the article babe
The genuine thing
And when that guy comes by
With his diamond ring
It doesn’t feel right
And you tell him so
So you buy your tickets home
And you’re going down slow
Wait a minute
What’s this?
We’re loosing altitude Hand over fist
His keeping busy, yeah he's bleeding stones,
With his machinations and his palindromes
It was anything but hear the voice
Anything but hear the voice
It was anything but hear the voice
That says that we’re all basically alone
Poor Professor Pynchon had only good intentions
When he put his Bunsen burners all away
And turned into a playground a petri dish of single cells
That would swing their fists at anything that looks like easy prey
On this nature show that rages every day it was bound,
A part his intuition
To say we were all basically alone
And despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis
Why do some show no mercy
While others are painfully shy?
And tell me doctor can quantify
‘Cause he just wants to know the reason, the reason why
Why do they congregate in groups of four
Scatter like a billion spores
And let the wind just carry them away?
How can kids be so mean
Our famous doctor tried to gleam
As he went home at the end of the day
In this Nature show that rages every day
It was bound apart his intuition, Say
We were all basically all alone
Despite what all his studies had shown
What was mistaken for closeness was just a case for mitosis
She fatal doses, malcontent to osmosis
Why do some show no mercy
While others are painfully shy?
Well tell me doctor can you quantify
we're keeping busy yeah we're bleeding stones
with our machinations and our palindromes
"Reuben, Reuben, I’ve been thinking,”
said his wifey dear;
“Now that all is peaceful and calm,
soon our boys will be back on the farm.”
Mister Reuben started winking,
and slowly rubbed his chin;
he pulled his chair up close to Mother,
asked her with a grin:
How ya gonna keep 'em down, oh no?
How ya gonna keep 'em down, oh no, oh no
How ya gonna keep 'em away from Broadway?
Jazzin' around,
and painting the town?
How ya gonna keep 'em
away from harm?
That’s the mystery;
They’ll never want to see a rake or a plow,
and who the deuce can parley-vous a cow?
And how ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm
after they’ve seen Paris?
“Reuben, Reuben, you’re mistaken,”
said his wifey dear;
“Once a farmer, always a jay, and
farmers always stick to the hay.”
“Mother Reuben, I’m not fakin',
though you may think it strange.
But wine and women play the mischief,
with a boy who’s loose with change!”
Oh, how ya gonna keep ’em down,
oh no, oh no
oh, how ya gonna keep 'em down?
How ya gonna keep 'em away from Broadway?
Jazzin' around,
and painting the town?
How ya gonna keep ’em away from harm?
that’s the mystery
Imagine Reuben when he meets his pa;
he'll pinch his cheek and holler "Ooh la la!"
How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm
I saw you last night
My, my, how indiscreet
Your self-destruction is so complete
And I know
Yeah I know
That she's goin' down slow
It was this morning that you phoned
You sound strung out, babe, but so high toned
And I know
Yeah I know
That she's goin' down slow
You're the article babe
The genuine thing
And when that guy comes by
With his diamond ring
It doesn't feel right
And you tell him so
So you buy your ticket home
And you're going down slow
Wait a minute
What's this?
We're losing altitude
Hand over fist
Bored holes through our tongues
To sing a song about it
Held our breath for too long
'til we're half sick about it
Tell us what we did wrong
And you can blame us for it
Turn a clamp on our thumbs
We'll sew a doll about it
And tell us all about it
How 'bout some credit now
Where credit is due
For the damage that we've done
Wrought upon ourselves and others
With a slow and vicious gun
And although pratfalls can be fun
Encores can be fatal
And then I hear you say
Thank god it's fatal
Not shy
Not shy of fatal
Thank god
Wait just a second now
It's not all that bad
Are we not having fun?
You're making mountains of handkerchiefs
Where the mascara always runs
So be careful when you're done
You're bound to get post-natal
What did I just hear you say?
Thank god it's fatal
We don't want to hear the sound of a door
And we don't want to read the signs that you bore
You know the kind of sign you hang on a door
Saying we'll be back what a crack
I was walking
With my feet
A disposition
Fell over me
The armory wall was bleeding
The restless child was reading
I was swimming
Could hardly stand
The swimming hour was at hand
The fishes they were feeding
The lambs they were bleating
I walk slowly
When I walk away from you
I'm feeling bad
I'm looking bad
I feel and look so bad
Some might say
Yours truly is soaking his head
There's apprehension
And inhibition
All contributions
To my attrition
And it happened long ago
These things these things
Now don't you mind
People grinnin'
In your face
Now don't you mind
People grinnin'
In your face
Just bear this in mind
A true friend is hard to find
So don't you mind
People grinnin' in your face
You know your mother's going to talk about you
Your sisters and your brothers too
No matter how you try to live
You know they talk about you still
So bear this in mind
A true friend is hard to find
So don't you mind
My pitiful sorrows have seen more tomorrows than yours
My rain really pours
At least more than yours
At least more than yours
In the depths of my sadness there's a beautiful madness you see
It's right here on my sleeve
You must not believe
I can see you just don't believe
So I really have to say it's all just so romantic
Cause I've seen the others try and they just seem pedantic
Cause when it comes to misery
When it comes to misery
When it comes to misery
No one competes with me
My sweeping emotions have spanned the great oceans
From this fifty foot wave I just can't be saved
O don't even try
I can't be saved
My pitiful sorrows have seen more tomorrows than yours
My rain really pours
At least more than yours
At least more than yours
So I really have to say it's all just so romantic
Cause I've seen the others try and they just seem pedantic
Cause when it comes to misery
When it comes to misery
When it comes to misery
you've got me sitting on your mantle
like a little glass figurine
why must you be so mean?
Don't you know I've got better things to do?
I'm like a mail order product
from a housekeeping magazine.
How utterly embarrassing,
well lady I'm not going to dance that dance.
Let the giraffes do it, let the sad clown cry.
Your porcelain kisses are not going to turn me shy.
No, I'm not your little boy, your rosy-cheeked joy,
though the thought of you makes me sanguine
I'll do anything you want but I won't be your glass figurine
Let the giraffes do it, let the sad clown cry.
Your porcelain kisses are not going to turn me shy.
No, I'm not your little boy, your rosy-cheeked joy,
though the thought of you makes me sanguine.
I'll do anything you want but I won't be your glass figurine
I'm like a mail-order product from a housekeeping magazine
Did you give it away?
Did you give it away for free?
Don't you give it away
Let's try to keep it in the family
I know you know desolation
Coming home with your pockets full of sand
I know it's no vacation, ohohoh
Now you found your tiny patch of land
In the nation under your command
Did you give it away? (Yeah I gave it away)
Did you give it away for free?
What would you have us pay?
I didn't know that your love was a commodity
What about appreciation? ohohoh
That depends on your depth and density
What about inflation? ohohoh
Charts and graphs don't mean a thing to me
In your nation
With it's worthless currency
(Wanna give it away, give it away for free)
(Won't you give it away, give it away to me)
(Won't you give it away, give it away for free)
(Won't you give it away, give it away to me)
Would you hide in the hay?
Would you hide in the hay with me?
If you hide in the hay
Where it's dark and you can scarcely breathe or see
A short asphyxiation
Where the foxes and field mice make their dance
Just by association
I swore I'd never take anyone there again
To this nation
A nation under your command
To this nation
A nation under your command
To this nation
Comes and goes
Like in fits and dizzy spells
Like the weather
And it blows
Like it knows what's going wrong
Like it's clever
Has a name but the name goes unspoken
Weather wanes
Were all twisted and broken
So soldier on, soldier on
Flailing to the whir of a snack machine
And muted screams of an old regime
And then oh
Something getis in it
The nightshade gets in it
We were all fast asleep
Were all so fast asleep
But you woke us
You woke us from the strangest dream that
an aubergine could ever know
Would ever know
Lava flows over crooks and craggy
cliffs to the ocean
And explodes in a steam heat fevered
cyclical motion
Has a name
But the name goes unspoken
It's in vain
Cause the language is broken
So cast your own, cast your own
Then it was dusk in Illinois a small boy
After an afternoon of carting dung hung
On a rail fence, a sapped thing
So weary to crying
Dark was growing tall
He began to hear the pond frogs all calling on his ear
They were calling on his ear
They were calling on his ear with what seemed their joy
Soon the sound was pleasant for a boy
Listening in the smoky dusk and nightfall of Illinois
And from the fields two small boys came
Bearing cornstalk violins
So they rubbed the cornstalk bows with resins
And the three just sat there scraping of the joy
Of their joy, they?re scraping of the joy
It was now fine music, the frogs and the boys did
In the towering Illinois twilight
Make and into dark in spite a shoulder?s ache
A boy?s hunched body loved out of a stalk
The first song of his happiness and the song woke his heart
Into the darkness and sadness of joy
Dark was growing tall
He began to hear the pond frogs all calling on his ear
They were calling on his ear
Two stars are missing me
Jet waves are driving me
Things in nicer motions
We are hauling to space
G force is twisting the faith with superstition
A fatal premonition
You know you've got to envision
The fiery crash
Oh, close your eyes and you wake up
Face stuck to a vinyl settee
Oh, a lot is starting to break off
Just as you were starting to say
Someday I'll propose I don't know
These childs in magazines
Blue doves in the sea on and devote every monitor screen
You were caught in the cross fire
Where every human face is reaching for your knees or ears
Delivering position, a fatal premonition
Save our lives, you've got to envision
To save all our lives, you've got to envision
And to save all our lives, you've got to envision
The fiery crash, it's just a formality
Or must I explain, just a nod to mortality
Before you get on and before you get on a plane
Oh, close your eyes and you wake up
Face stuck to a vinyl settee
Oh, a lot is starting to break off
Feetlips, why do you do that way?
You know you'll have to pay
for your making us nauseous
Feetlips, you know today's the day
you turn the other way
and you eat your galoshes
you thought Somepeople was a tragic name
he was the easiest one to blame
his weather systems tempered and tame
till you catch wind of...
Feetlips...you're so brash
waltzing around talking your trash
no, you haven't been drinking
you just talk without thinking
it's what got you this far
but it's not worth one dollar
no it's not a boy
quiet...quiet...quiet...quiet...quiet...quiet...quiet...
Feetlips, why do you do that way
you know you'll have to pay...
It rained it poured
It rained so hard
Rained so hard all day
'Till all the boys in our school
Came out to talk and play
They tossed the ball
Again so high
Then again so low
Till it fell into a flower garden
Where no one's allowed to go
When a tipsy Gypsy lady
Dressed in yellow and green
Says come here come here
My pretty little boy
And get your ball again
No I won't come in
I shan't come in
Without my playmates all
I'm gonna get my father and tell him all about it
And then the tears shall fall
First she offered an apple sweet
Then a tangerine
Then she offered a diamond
That seemed to do the trick that enticed him in
She took him by the lily-white hand
And led him through the hall
She took him to an upper room
Where no one could hear him call
No not a soul
Bury the bible at my feet
The testament at my head
If my dear father should call for me
Tell him that I am dead
Bury the bible at my head
The testament at my feet
If my dear mother should call for me
My dewy-eyed disney bride what has tried / swapping your blood with formaldehyde? / Monsters? / Whiskey-plied voices cried fratricide! / Jesus don't you know that you coulda died shoulda died / with the monsters what talk / monsters what walk the earth / she's got red lipstick / and a bright pair of shoes / she's got knee high socks / what to cover a bruise / she's got an old death kit / she's been meaning to use / she's got blood in her eyes in her eyes for you / she's got blood in her eyes for you / certain fads, stripes and plaids singles ads / run you hot and cold like a rheostat I mean a thermostat / so you bite on a towel / hope it won't hurt too bad / she says I like long walks and sci-fi movies / you're six foot tall and east coast bred / some lonely night we can get together / and I'm gonna tie your wrists with leather / and drill a tiny hole into your head
Go ahead and congratulate yourself
Give yourself a hand,
A hand is yours
In the harden hours, and so
And here it heals itself, it's too much
And you're getting too close
You're getting too close
You're getting to close to your soul
You've done the impossible now
Took yourself apart
Made yourself invulnerable
No one can break your heart
So you break it yourself
Bringing your own, break it yourself
Bringing your own, break it yourself
Bringing your own, but break it yourself
Bringing your own, but break it yourself
Bringing your own,
Go ahead and re-eyeoneye yourself
Give yourself a hand,
A hand is yours
And you go ahead and bring it all
Go ahead and stretch it all
Go ahead and read inside
Dare to protest it makes this
Boy and girl, two eyes
Too rigid, all the sadness
A hundred stories high
And you re-eyeoneyeze
And it's eyeoneyeze-eyeoneyeze-eyeoneyeze
All this time it took to realize
That you could use some help
Bringing your heart, breaking the shell
Bringing your heart, breaking the shell
Bringing your heart, but break it yourself
Bringing your heart, but break it yourself
Give yourself a hand, a hand is yours
Go ahead and wear it out
And you go ahead and stretch it out
And you go ahead and wear it inside out
And it's eyeoneye-oneye-oneye
She's got a ham in her handbag, a pig in her purse
She's got two-ply no-fly baby buggers
She's got a burlap sack, she's on a voter parade
She's gonna get some carob cigars and some lemonade
No need to put your ear to the ground
Dora Munch is coming to town
She puts eggs in her orange juice, coffee in her tea
Puts olives in her jelly, says that's the way it's gonna be
Ashes and mashes and dust and mustard
Creamed spinach sandwich and she cuts the crusts off
Don't let it show that you wanted some
Dora Munch is coming to town
She's got a ham in her handbag, a pig in her purse
She's got two-ply no-fly baby buggers
She's got a burlap sack, she's on a voter parade
She's gonna get some carob cigars and some lemonade
No need to put your ear to the ground
Dora Munch is coming to town
She puts eggs in her orange juice, coffee in her tea
Puts olives in her jelly, says that's the way it's gonna be
Ashes and mashes and dust and mustard
Creamed spinach sandwich and she cuts the crusts off
Don't let it show that you wanted some
Dora Munch is coming to town, yes sir
Dora Munch is coming to town, you heard me the first time
whenever paul thinks of rain,
swallows fall in a wave and tap
on his window with their beaks
whenever paul thinks of snow,
soft winds blow round his head
and his phone rings just once
late at night-like a bird calling out,
"wake up, paul.
don't be scared.
don't believe you're all alone."
"wake up, paul,"
whisper clouds rolling by
and the seeds falling softly
On the way to Greenland I shall find
All the disparate fragments of my mind
I shall return a different man
And darling do
All that I can
On the way to Greenland I shall find
No mundane distractions of any kind
If beneath the ice fields there's a room
It's there I'll find my peace a lovely tomb
Friends, Greenland is a place where souls go to dry out
It is a vast and terrifying place of ice fields and tundra
Bereft of fire and in the horror of its imposing irrelevance
There is a peace
The peace of pain
The peace of nothing
Well friends, I'm going there
Fear is lying dying in the sands
When I was just a little boy
I threw away all of my action toys
I became obsessed with operation, oh
Hearts and minds and certain glands
You got to learn to keep a steady hand
And thus began my morbid fascination
Tore all the spines out from all of these self-help books
Made myself a gun that not only shoots
But looks real
Yeah it shoots through steel with rays of dark matter
Rays of dark matter
Just the thought of all this red and black
Thought of tongues that tasted bad
Fill you with the nausea-ausea-ausea-alation
Do you wonder where the self resides
Is it in the head or between your sides
And who would be the one who will decide
It's two locations
The noose is loosed around our necks made of DNA
And everyday it's growing tighter, no matter what you do or say
But you can shoot right through with rays of dark matter
Right before they kick out, they kick out the ladder
Rays of dark matter
When I was just a little boy
I threw away all of my action toys
I became obsessed with operation
Hearts and minds and certain glands
You got to learn to keep a steady hand
You were a shameless child
Bandied by stiff cross currents
Anything but "my", "yes", and "no"
Just simply weren't invented yet
Oh yes, oh no
Then one day you'd had it
Exiled your close advisors
Ousted your dog, your rabbits
You're through with pacifiers
You're through with pacifiers now
You're through with pacifiers
Here we go mistaking clouds for mountains, oh
Here's the thing that brings the sparrows to the fountains, oh
Here's the thing that makes you run for the highlands, oh
Here we go mistaking clouds for mountains
Autonomy
Then one day you'd had it
Exiled your close advisors
Ousted your dog, your rabbits
You're through with pacifiers
You're through with pacifiers now
You're through with pacifiers now
You're through with pacifiers
Here we go mistaking clouds for mountains, oh
Here's the thing that brings the sparrows to the fountains, oh
Here's the thing that makes you run for the highlands
Here we go mistaking clouds for mountains
C'mon baby move over I'm sitting here tonight,
C'mon baby move over do the thing that's right
I can puff up my feathers, look real mean,
be the old man that this here's scene.
I'm a struttin'-preenin'-bantam rooster looking for a fight,
Hold on there partner, my hat just ain't on right
Just a minute there govn'r while I set it right
It's a half turn left a half turn right,
this old thing used to be bright white
I'm a struttin'-preenin'-bantam rooster looking for a fight.
I went on down to sports bar town to put mother hen in a fright
Took the 450 Addison to see pulaski at night
it's one for the money, two for the jack,
three for the joe you've got to pay back
I'm a struttin'-preenin'-bantam rooster looking for a fight.
When our mouths are filled with univited tongues of others
And thew strays are pining for their unrequited mothers
Milk that sours is promptly spat
Light will fill our eyes like cats
And they shall enter from the back
With spears and scepters and squirming sacks
Scribs and tangles between their ears
Faceless scrumbled charcoal smears
Through the coppice and the chaparral
The thickets thick with mold
The bracken and the brier
Catchweed into the fold
When our mouths are filled with uninvited tongues of others
And the strays are pining for their unrequited mothers
Milk that sour is promptly spat
The light will fill our eyes like cats
I'm a breather mail receiver
And I don't know where I stand
Not since someone informed me
That my house was built on sand
And it's not the earth beneath me
It's just the concept of the land
And I'm standing on the corner
When the buildings they all fell
If you blink once you're a goner
Everything just goes pell-mell
It's a real hard sell
My conceptual hell
Not even good for kindling
When the buildings they all fell
I'm a breather mail receiver
Bottom feader just getting by
And you know it's all just par for the course
But you blame it on some non-existent force
Oh yeah, of course
You know you can't ride the concept of the horse
But still I try
In a cartoon desert landscape
With a pair of ACME jetskates
Focused on my destination
I seem to have forgot my station
Now it's time to face the nation
And I'm riding to meet you
On a brown gray speckled mare
But there's something that unnerves me
Like I'm riding on thin air
These few doubts disserve me
Thinking no one really cares
And I'm jumping over fences
On this obstacle course
But it seems I'm getting nowhere
On the concept of the horse
It's a real hard sell
My conceptual hell
Not even good for kindling
When the buildings they all fell
I'm a breather
Bottom feader
How many liters
Must I imbibe
And you know it's all just par for the course
But you blame it on some non-existent force
Oh yeah, of course
You know you can't ride the concept of the horse
Well, piece by piece and nail by nail
it'll all come down some day before the fires of hell
You let me in your house
You let me in your house
You let me in your house with a hammer
Set to tile or set to stone
Tit for tat and bone for bone
I'm goin' to set fire to your glamour
Well now rock that candy shop
Rock that candy shop
Rock that candy shop set it on fire
Run away and watch it burn
I've got to set fire to your glamour
Bah da dee
Rock that candy shop
Rock that candy shop
Rock that candy shop set it on fire
Run away watch it burn
Smell the ashes in the air
Of this silly game we're sure to tire
Well, you let me in your house
You let me in your house
You let me in your house with a hammer
Set to tile or set to stone
Tit for tat and bone for bone
I'm goin' to set fire to your glamour
Yes to your glamour
Yes little mama, to your glamour
To your'
Let it rock
Listen to me now let it rock, let it rock now
Step right on up, take a good good look
at the latest pie that fate could cook
this is no phenom, so supermarket guru
just a revelation from me to you
So don't believe a thing that you might hear
at least from the last 30 - 40 years
cause it wasn't long ago just before the reign of Nero
we had no concept of zero
So beware, children beware, the devil may care
six little soldiers with stripes on their shoulders
never with a thought to dare
So take aim, children take aim
the drill sergeant sang
with ample perspiration ordered
stop your respiration
and end the flow of oxygen to the brain
So wake up sleepyheads, listen what I have to say
as you near your independence day
just keep in mind, in time your find so few
so few have your best interests in mind
so don't believe a thing you might hear
at least from the last 3 - 4,000 years
'cause is wasn't long ago just before the reign of Nero
we had no concept of zero
so beware, children beware
the devil may care...
There's one guy I'd like to thank / he signs the checks and leaves them blank / he's the one / he says you don't have to walk a plank / the game is rigged, go fig your / slide show tanked / and your flagship sank / so we're taking all our myths to the bank / so just don't forget who to thank / we're taking our myths to the / drinking a fifth to the / we're taking all our myths to the bank / if you could just do him this favor / although it might involve child labor / join his entourage / give him a foot massage / from Star Search to the Philharmonic / he'll get you there with Hooked on Phonics / he's the one to know / doesn't matter if you blow – no no / in fact it's just the thing / he thinks we're needing / it's a lukewarm liquid diet / they're force feeding / when the words we use have lost their bite / now they hit you like an imaginary pillow fight / but it's all right / cause you're inside / and you're in tight / deals in commodities of the abstract sort / buys them in bulk but sells them short / talent, genius, love even signs of affection / he floods the market there's no price protection / and when his master plan is unfurled / there stands a handsome bid on the weather systems of the world
I dreamed you were a cosmonaut
Of the space between our chairs
And I was a cartographer
Of the tangles in your hair
I sighed a song that silence brings
It's the one that everybody knows
Oh everybody knows
The song that silence sings
And this was how it goes
These looms that weave apocryphal
They're hanging from a strand
These dark and empty rooms were full
Of incandescent hands
An akward pause
A fatal flaw
Time it's a crooked bow
Oh time's a crooked bow
In time you need to learn to love
The ebb just like the flow
Grab hold of your bootstraps
And pull like hell,
'til gravity feels sorry for you,
And lets you go
As if you lack the proper chemicals to know
The way it felt the last time you let yourself
Fall this low
Time
Oh time
It's a crooked bow
Time's a crooked bow
Fifty-five and three-eighths years later
At the bottom of this gigantic crater
An armchair calls to you
Yeah this armchair calls to you
And it says that
Some day
We'll get back at them all
With epoxy and a pair of pliers
As ancient sea slugs begin to crawl
Through the ragweed and barbed wire
You didn't write you didn't call
It didn't cross your mind at all
And through the waves
The waves of a.m. squall
You couldn't feel a thing at all
Your fifty-five and three-eighths tall
Fifty-five and three-eighths tall
See a sea anemone, the enemy see a sea anemone
And that'll be the end of me
While the vicious fish was caught unawares
In the tenderest of tendrils
See a sea anemone, the enemy see a sea anemone
And that'll be the end of me, that'll be the end of me
While the vicious fish was caught unawares
In the tenderest of tendrils
Underneath her tender gills I will become this animal
Perfectly adapted to the music halls
Oh and I will become this animal
Anomalous appendages, anonanimal, anonanimal
Anonanimal, anonanimal
Anonanimal, anonanimal
Hold on just a second
Don't tell me this one you know
I know this one, I know this song
I know this one, I love this song
Hold on just a second
Don't tell me this one you know
I know this one, I know this song
I know this one, I love this song
I know this one
Underneath the stalactites
The troglodytes lost their sight, oh
The seemingly innocuous plecostomus though posthumous
They talk to us, they talk too much
See a sea anemone, the enemy see a sea anemone
That'll be the end of me, that'll be the end of me
Vicious fish was caught unawares
In the tenderest tendrils
Underneath her tender gills and I will become this animal
Perfectly adapted to a music hall
I will become this animal
Now if you think i'm wasting your time again
I'm wasting your time
When you pick me up in duty free
That's when i thought i'd be the cross in your t
Or must see tv
But if you think i'm wasting your time again
No, you're wasting mine
When you're playing for a prime-time dream
The c n b scene
Now i'm just another split in your seam the i in your team
Ooo please don't get too excited
Oooo maybe you're not invited to my action adventure
My action adventure dream
So when you think you're on the fast track
You find it's just a cul-de-sac back
In that adult lifestyle community
Where all your little boys, your action toys are duty free
Ooo please don't get too excited
Oooo maybe you're not invited to my action adventure
My action adventure dream
So i wonder what you got your persona for
Cause there's a 2-for-one down at the corner-store
And i wonder could ya pep it up a bit
You know throw a fit
You go ahead and dance
I'll just sit
But if you think i'm wasting your time again
No, you're wasting mine
When you're playing for a prime-time dream
The c n b scene
Now i'm just another split in your seam the i in your team
So i'm looking at the back of my hand again
I'm looking at the back of my hand again
Over prescribed / under the mister / we had survived to / turn on the history channel / and ask our esteemed panel / why are we alive / and here's how they replied / you're what happens when two substances collide / and by all accounts you really should've died / stretched out on the tarmac / six miles south of North Platte / he can't stand to look back / at sixteen tons of HAZMAT / and it's what goes / undelivered undelivered / and it's a nervous tic motion of the head to the left / it's a nervous tic motion of the head to the left / exorcise your cells till you're bereft / 'cause it's a nervous tic motion of the head to the left / splayed out on a bathmat / six miles north of South Platte / and he just wants his life back / what's in that paper knapsack / it's what goes undelivered / over imbibed / under the mister / barely alive we / cover the blisters in flannel / though the words we speak / are banal / not one of them's a lie / not one of them's a lie / you're what happens when two substances collide / and by all accounts you really should've / died
Standing on the corner
Plastic cup in her hand
Standing on the corner
Saving for some gin
You don't need to ask where she's been or what's up
She'll gladly tell you all about the life she had
Before she had the cup
Standing by the window
Glass of milk in his hand
What could I have done what could I have said
Broken glass spilled milk lying on the floor looking dead
Window pain
Cutting through the rain looks so easy
Frame by frame
Looking for a name to claim on a breezy afternoon
And the ends coming soon
So many people hold a cup
So many die drinking milk in front of a window
I once knew a woman who got in the way
Of the intentions of a windy day
Don't hold a cup in any season
Don't make me choose between rhyme or reason
Don't drink that milk in front of that window
