Poison oak, some boyhood bravery
When a 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 I ever loved you more
Than when you turned away
When you slammed the door
When you stole a car
Drove toward 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 Im 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
Alright
Alright
The heat comes in distant shifts to fill up my room
It spills out of these ancient vents to meet the new cold
And I lay in my twisted sheets and stare out at the snow
Thinking of the next few months, my cold and lifeless eyes
No I've never felt so separate
And then there's you that's so obvious
So say "It's hopeless and I know this
That's why I can't dream"
No desire or circumstance
Keep this from me
Keep this from me
Keep this, keep this
One by one to department stores, we walk through the aisles
In a forest of designer clothes you touch me and smile
And all for a moment I could want nothing
Your bright eyes burn through my exploding heart
So we stand as the shoppers pass us
And for once I can feel a touch complete
And I need to just be near you fill these empty eyes
You start turning as resistance pulls
You from my cold and boring life
Let's make this easy and let time pass, as devotion dies
The list goes on and on
I have waited and I will be waiting for the pain to cure the fear
You follow the footsteps
Echoes leading down the hall
To a room, there's music playing
Tiny bells with moving parts
Here the shadows make things ugly
An effect quite undesirable
And the bold and yellow daylight
Grows like ivy across the walls
And it bounces off of the painted porcelain
A tiny dancing doll
Her body spins as she pirouettes again
The world suddenly seems small
On an off white, subtle morning
You stretch your legs in the front seat
And the road has made a vacuum
Where our voices used to be
An' you lay your head onto my shoulder
Pour like water over me
So if I just exist for the next ten minutes
Of this drive, that will be fine
And all these trees that line this curb
Would be rejoicing and alive
Soon all the joy that pours from everything
Makes fountains of your eyes
'Cause you finally understand the movement
i dreamt of a fever,
one that would cure me of this cold, winter set heart.
with heat to melt these frozen tears
and burned with reasons as to carry on.
into these twisted months
ill plunge without a light to follow
but i swear that i would follow anything
if it would just get me out of here.
and so you get six months to adapt
and you get two more to leave town
and in the event that you do adapt
we still might not want you around.
but I fell for the promise
of a life with a purpose
but I know thats impossible now
and so I drink to stay warm
and to kill selectred memories
cause I just cant think anymore about that
or about her tonight.
and I give myself three days to feel better
or else I swear am driving off a fucking cliff
because if I cant learn to make myself feel better
how can I expect anyone else to give a shiiiit
and I scream for the sunlight
or a car to take me anywhere
just get me past this dead and eternal snow
cause i swear that im dying
slowly but its happening
and if the perfect spring is waiting somewhere
just take me there
just take me there
just take me there
and lie to me and say
and lie to me and say
it's going to be alright
its going to be alright
yeah you worry too much kid,
Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem
Oh little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie!
Above our deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Now in thy dark streets shining
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
Oh in thy dark streets shining
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
Oh little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie!
Above our deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight
So have yourself a merry little Christmas night
Here as in olden days
Happy golden days of yours
Faithful who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Here as in olden days
Happy golden days of yours
Faithful who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
I'll have a blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing though if you're not here with me
I'll have a blue Christmas that's certain
When all those blue memories start hurting
You'll be doin' all right with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue blue Christmas
Yeah, you'll be doin' all right with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue blue Christmas
But I'll have a blue blue Christmas
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head
The stars in the sky look down where he lay
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay
The cattle are lowing the baby awakes
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes
I love the Lord Jesus look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is night
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 is driving me out of my
mind.
I have seen a child is caught in the 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.
A mother takes loans out, sends her kids off to colleges.
Her family is reduced to names on a shopping list.
Meanwhile, a coroner kneels beneath a great, wooden crucifix.
He know that there are worse things than being alone.
I have learned to retreat at the first sign of danger.
I mean, why wait around, if it's just to surrender? Ambition, I have found, can only
lead to failure.
I do not read the reviews. No, I am not singing for you.
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 by something great, at least a telephone call home.
My teachers, they built the retaining wall memory, all those multiple choices I
answered so quickly.
And I got my grades back and forgot just as easily, but as least I got an A.
So I don't have them to blame. I should stop pointing fingers;
reserve my judgment of all those public action figures, the cowboy president.
So loud behind the bullhorn so proud they can't admit when they have made a
mistake.
While poison ink spews from a speechwriter's pen, he knows that he doesn't have to
say it,
so it don't bother him. "Honesty" "Accuracy" are really just "Popular Opinion."
And the approval rating is high, so someone is going to die. ABC, NBC, CBS:
Bullshit.
They give us fact or fiction? I guess an even split. And each new act of war is
tonight's entertainment.
We are still the pawns in their game. As they take an eye for an eye until no one
can see,
we must stumble blindly forward, repeating history. Well, I guess that we all fit
into your slogan
on the fast food marquee: Red blooded, White skinned oh and the Blues.
I got the Blues! I got the Blues! That's me! That's me!
Well, I awoke in relief. My sheets and tubes were all tangled weak from whiskey and
pills,
in a Chicago hospital. My father was there, in a chair, by the window, staring so
far away.
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. You just can't do it again."
So now I try to keep up, I have been exchanging my currency.
While a million objects pass through my periphery. So now I am rubbing my eyes
because
they are starting to bother me. I have been staring too long at the screen.
But where was it when I first heard the sound of brutality? It came to my ears in
the goddamn
loveliest melody. How grateful I was them to be part of the mystery,
to love and be loved. Let's just hope that is enough.
Nebraska ist als einer der langweiligsten Flecken in den USA bekannt. Endlose, im
Wind wogende Kornfelder, unterbrochen nur von vereinzelten Farmen und Baumgruppen
prägen das Bild, das in den Köpfen vorherrscht. Doch seit Anfang der 90er Jahre gibt
es in Omaha, Nebraska das Indie-Label Saddle-Creek, welches zahlreiche Bands der
lokalen Szene weit über Nebraska hinaus bekannt macht. Eine dieser jungen,
erfolgreichen Gruppen nennt sich Bright Eyes. Genauer gesagt ist es
Multiinstrumentalist Conor Oberst, der als Songwriter unter dem Namen Bright Eyes
seine Melodien und Texte zum Besten gibt. Für die Aufnahmen und Auftritte sucht
Oberst immer wieder neue Formationen aus seinen Musikerfreunden in Nebraska
zusammen, so dass die Besetzung der Band lediglich in Person Conor Obersts konstant
ist. Dieser ist gerade einmal 20 Jahre alt und kann schon auf ein halbes Dutzend
veröffentlichter Tonträger blicken. Als Zehnjähriger machte der kleine Conor seine
ersten Aufnahmen mit dem heimischen Kassettenrecorder. Mit seiner Band Commander
Venus brachte Oberst dann das erste Album auf einem unbekanntem Label heraus, bevor
er mit 17 Jahren das Projekt Bright Eyes startete. Innerhalb dreier Jahre schuf die
Gruppe drei Alben, eine EP und ein paar Singles. In den USA schon längst ein
Begriff, schaffte die Band mit ihrem drittem Album "Fevers and Mirrors"
(2000) auch den Sprung über den großen Teich. Kurz nach Erscheinen ihrer Scheibe auf
dem europäischen Markt folgten einige Auftritte auf dem alten Kontinent, welche ihre
Musik auch in unseren Breiten bekannt machte.In den Konzerten und auf den Alben der
Bright Eyes bekommt der Zuhörer gefühlvolle und melodische, meist akustisch
gespielte Nummern dargeboten. Conor Oberst zelebriert dabei einen zutiefst
melancholischen Stil und singt mit zittriger Stimme von Herzschmerz, Unglück und
Selbsthass. Nach dem dritten Album wird Conor Oberst nun schon von Vielen als
begnadeter Songwriter gefeiert. Um diesen Anspruch gerecht zu werden wird das
"Wunderkind" allerdings noch ein paar gute Songs schreiben
müssen.2000 Fevers and Mirrors1998 Letting off the Happiness1998 A
Collection Of Songs Written and Recorded
The kitchen is cold
But the coffee is warm
And the suns coming up
The day has just begun
And your already bored
Bored of cheering me up
Bored of calming me down
Bored of drying my eyes
But there once was 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
I'm still fumbling for
'Cuz I'm lost in the black
I don't know where I am
Arms strecthed out in front
I'm calling your name
Just as loud as I can
I know theres words that we will never speak
And the questions can't be answered easily
But I wanted to be easy so
Nod your head if the plans have change
Shake it love they 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
Lke 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 breif love affair
With a girl I compared to you and she failed
You said you dont want me to beg
Then you said get down on your knees
'Cuz you knew that I would
If I 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 stayed the same
Smile at me and I will stay
Start to cry and I'll go away
Just please don't keep me waiting
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 your eyes and I'll go away
Just please dont leave me guessing
Just please dont keep me waiting
You say that I treat you like a book on a shelf. I don't take you out that often
because I know that I completed you and that is why you are here. That is the reason
you stay here. How awful that must feel.
You said you would be my dream. I could have you every night, and if, by morning, I
had forgotten you, well, no big deal, it would be all right because you are the
reoccuring kind. You are the reoccuring kind. You never really leave my mind.
Are you the love of my lifetime? Because there have been times I have 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. It took so long to figure out what this book has been
about.
Now I write when I'm away letters that you never read. You said to go explore those
other women, the geography of their bodies but there is just one map you'll need.
You are a boomerang. You'll see. You will return to me.
You will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You?
Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.
Because if you don't, then this book is all lies. If you don't, then my plans would
all be ruined. If you don't, I'll start drinking like the way I drank before. And I
just won't have a future anymore.
Our love is dead but without limit
Like the surface of the moon
Or the land between here and the mountains
Well, it is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent
But the way you taught me to just let it all go by
And so we've learned to be as faithless
Stand behind bulletproof glass
Exchangin' our affections through a drawer
And it was always horribly convenient and happening too fast
You should count your change before you're even out the door
Yes, you should
But please return, return to the person that you were
And I have to do the same
'Cause it's too hard to belong to someone who is gone
My compass spins, the 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 standin' there with all of my possessions
Piled higher than a house
I felt closer to you than you ever would have known
So let these tiny acts of charity
Be common ground on which to build
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
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 whinin' so I got reason to complain
But I'm not going to bless you with such compliments
Some degrading psalm 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 will never save your soul
And that's a fact
So hurry up and run to the one that you love
And tie him up in your likeness
And he'll become, become the prisoner I was
And know all that has spoiled in your heart
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
Yeah, he'll claim 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
The picture is far too big to look at kid
Your eyes won't open wide enough
And you are constantly surrounded
By the swirling stream of what is and what was
Well, we all made our predictions
But the truth still isn't out
But if you wanna see the future
Go stare into a cloud
And keep trying to find your way out
Of that maze of memories
It all sort of looks familiar
Until you get up close and then it's different clearly
But each time you turn a corner
You are, you are right back where you were
And your only hope is that forgetting
Might make a door appear
Well, 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 am now underneath
It was my voice that moved the first rock
And I would do it all over again
So, I mean it's cool if you keep quiet
But I like singing, yeah
So I'll be holding my note and stomping
And strumming and feeling so very lucky
There is nothing I know except this lifetime
Is one moment and wishing will just leave me empty
So you can try and live in darkness
But you will never shake the light
It will greet you every morning
And it'll make you more aware with its absence at night
When you are wrapped up in your blankets, baby
That comfortable cocoon
But I have 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 are thinking, no
It's the course of history, your position in line
You are just a piece of the puzzle
So I think you better find your place
And don't go blamin' your knowledge
On some fruit you ate
'Cause there's been a great deal of discussion
Yes, about the properties of man
Animal or angel? You were carved from bone
But your heart it's just sand
And the wind is going to scatter it
And cover everything with love
So if it makes you happy then
Keep kneeling, Mama, but I am standing up
Because this veil, it has been lifted, yes
My eyes are wet with clarity
I have been a witness to such wonders
Oh, 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 movin' friend
But I am headed home
Yeah, I'm gonna follow the road
And let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my body
And I'll send you all this message in code
Underground, over mountains, through forests and deserts and cities
Ah, ah, ah, all across electric wires, and baited line, ya
The hook's in deep boys, there is no more time
So you can struggle in the water, be too stubborn to die
I have a friend, he is made mostly of pain
And he wakes up, drives to work, and then straight back home again
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper
Well, I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover
And I tried to tell him he had a sense
Of color and composition so magnificent
And he said, "Thank you, please but your flattery
Is truly not becoming me, your eyes are poor
You are blind, you see, no beauty could have come from me
I am a waste of breath, of space, of time"
I knew a woman, she was dignified and true
And her love for her man was one of her many virtues
Until one day, she found out that he had lied
And she decided the rest of her life from that point on would be a lie
But she was grateful for everything that had happens
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
And "Such is life," she often said
With one day leading her 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 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 are nothing but a stepping stone
On a path to debt, to loss, to shame"
The last few months I have been living with this couple
Yeah, you know, the kind who buy everything in doubles
Oh, they fit together, like a puzzle
And 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 they still do me, I'm sick, lonely
No laurel tree, just green envy
Will my number come up eventually?
Like love is some kind of lottery
Where you scratch and see what's underneath
It's 'sorry, just one cherry', 'play again', 'get lucky'
So I have been hanging out down by the trains depot
No, I don't ride, I just sit and watch the people there
And they remind me of wind up cars in motion
The way they spin and turn and jockey for positions
And I want to scream out that it all is nonsense
All your live's one track, can't they see it's pointless?
But then, my knees give under me
My head feels weak and suddenly it is clear to see
It is not them but me, who has lost my self-identity
As 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 am never real, it is just a sketch in me
And everything I made is trite and cheap and a waste
Of paint, of tape, of time
So now I park my car down by the cathedral
Where the floodlights point up at the steeples
Choir practice was filling up with people
Could hear the sound escaping as an echo
Sloping off the ceiling at an angle
And when the voices blend they sound like angels
I hope there's some room still in the middle
But when I lift my voice up now to reach them
The range is too high, way up in Heaven
And so I hold my tongue, forget the song
Tie my shoe, 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 is all I want
To be loved and believe in my soul
Is it true what I heard about the Son of God
Did he come to save, did he come at all
And if I dried his feet
With my dirty hair
Would he make me clean again
They say they don't know when but a day is gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It will just go black
It will just go back
To the way it was before
I knew a lovely girl with such pretty pride
And every man wanted her and so did I
And so did I
But she up and died
In a fit of vanity
Now men with purple hearts carry silver guns
And they will kill a man for what his father has done
But what my father did
You know it don't mean shit
I'm not him
So you think I need some discipline well I've had my share
I have been sent to my room, I've been sat in a chair
And I held my tongue
I didn't plug my ears
No I got a good talking to
Now I don't know why but I still try to smile
When they talk at me like I'm just a child
Well I'm not a child
No I am
Much younger than that
And now I have read some books and I have grown quite brave
If I could just speak up I think I would say
That there is no truth
There is only you
And what you make the truth
So I will just sing my songs and I'll pass a hat
Then I'll leave your town and I'll never look back
No I don't look back
Because the road is clear
Layed out ahead of me
I'll get home and meet my friends at our favorite bar
We'll get some lighter heads for our heavy hearts
And we will share a drink
Yeah we'll share our fears
And they will know how I love them
They will know how I love
They will know how I love them
I am nothing without their love
I don't know when but a day is gonna come
When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun
It will all go black
It will all go back
To the way it is supposed to be
Is it true what they say about the Son of God
Did he die for us, did he die at all
And if I sold my soul
For a bag of gold
To you which one of us would be the foolish one
Which one if us would be the fool
Which one if us would be the fool
Which one if us would be the fool
Could you please start explaining
You know I need some understanding
I could do with some exaplaining
You know I want to understand
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 is nothing that I can do for you, you can do for yourself"
He said "Oh yes you can, just hold my hand, I think that would help"
So I sat with him a while then I asked him how he felt
He said, "I think I'm cured, in fact I'm sure"
Thank you stranger, "For your therapeutic smile"
So that's how I learned the lesson that everyone is alone
And your eyes must do some rainin' if you are ever gonna grow
When cryin' don't help you can't compose yourself
It's best to compose a poem, an honest verse of longing
Or simple song of hope
That's why I'm singin', baby don't worry, 'cause now I got your back
And every time you feel like cryin', I'm gonna try and make you laugh
And if I can't, if it just hurts too bad, then we will wait for it to pass
And I will keep you company through those days so long and black
And we'll keep working on the problem we know we'll never solve
Of Love's uneven 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 would see the beauty then, we would stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed like a bowl of oranges
There is a man holding a megaphone
He must have been the voice of God
The bystanders claimed they saw Angels
Flying up and down the block
They must have been attached to wires
I'd seen one laying in the lawn
With a broken arm, so I called 911
Well, 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 all were 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 time is right
When the planets will align, there will be no planets to align
Just the carcass of the sun
And little painted marbles spinning senseless
Through an endless black sky
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
But, 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 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
This day is gonna come, don't know when but it will come
And 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 out 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 to worry no more
No, we won't have to until again
About how this song or story ends
Grey like new day leaks through the window
And some old song comes on the alarm clock radio
You walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard where everything would be
And there was barracades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Until they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild, they went wild
They went wild, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
All the way home I 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 dropped the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild, they go wild
Just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hill side
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild, they go wild
They go wild, they go wild…
Well I'm changing all my strings
I'm gonna write another travellin' song
About all the billion highways and the cities at the break of dawn
Well I guess the best that I can do now is pretend that I've done nothing wrong
And 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 screaming at my brother on a cell phone and he's far away
And I'm saying nothing in the past or future ever will feel like today
Until I park it in an alley
Just hoping that our shit is safe
So I go back and forth forever
All my thoughts they come in pairs
Well I will, I won't I doubt them
I'm not surprised but I never feel quite prepared
Now I'm hunched over a type writer
I guess you call that painting 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
And 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 crowd
Oh yeah, I dreamt a ship was sinking
There was people screaming all around
And I woke to my alarm clock
It was a pop song and it was playing 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 bleed
I'll fight like hell to hide that I've given up
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city's cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning
And 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
And no one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
But sometimes that's just the most comfortable place
So I'm singing, drinking, breathing, writing
Everyday I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I got
So I hope I don't sound too ungrateful
What history gave modern men
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
You know it's best to join the side that's gonna win
And no one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make 'em God damn certain how it's gonna end
Well I could have been a famous singer
If I had someone else's voice
But failures 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's cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning
So there is 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 conversations
And only really the only thing she did 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 up
And they started just falling in 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"
Apologizing and, and she looks at the man and she says, 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 kinda goes like this:
1-2, 1-2-3-4
We must talk in every telephone
Get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books that we have read
And to 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 that 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
It was a wonderful splash
We must blend into the choir sing a static with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And to 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 just 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
Oh 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
You follow the footsteps… Echoes leading down a Hall to Room.
There is musik playing – tiny bells with moving parts.
Here the shadows make things ugly, an effect quite undersurable.
The Bold and yellow Daylight grows like ivy across the wall
and bounces off of the painted porzelain, tiny dancing Doll. Her Body spins.
As she pirouettes again. The world suddenly seems small.
On an off white, subtle morning you strech your legs in the front seat.
The Road has made a vacuum where our voices used to be.
And you lay your head onto my shoulder.
Pour like water over me.
So if I just exist for the next ten minutes of this drive that would be fine.
And all the Trees that line this Curb would be rejoicing and alive,
soon all the joy that pours from everything makes fountains of your eyes
because you finally understand the movement of a hand waving you good-bye.
Tomorrow when I wake up I'm finding my brother
And I'm making him take me back down to the water
That lake where we sailed
And we laughed with our father
I will not desert him I will not desert him No matter how I may wish for a coffin so
clean
Or these trees to undress all their leaves onto me
I put my face in the dirt
And then finally I'll see the sky that has been avoiding me
I started this letter,
'm gonna send it to Ruba
It will be blessed by her eyes on the Gulf Coast of Florida
With her feet in the sand and one hand on her swimsuit
She will recite the prayer of my pen
Saying time take us forward
Relief from this longing
They can land that plane on my heart
I don't care
Just give me November the warmth of a whisper
In the freezing darkness of my room
No matter what I would do in an attempt
To replace all these pills that I take trying to balance my brain
I've seen the curious girl with that look on her face
So surprised she stares out from her display case
It was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there
The children were nestled, all snug in their beds
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer
With a little old driver, so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too
And then, in a twinkling I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof
As I drew in my hand and was turning around
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound
He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack
His eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly
He was chubby and plump a right jolly old elf
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work
And filled all the stockings then turned with a jerk
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose
He sprang to his sleigh to his team gave a whistle
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle
But I heard him exclaim ere he drove out of sight
"Happy Christmas to all and to all a good-night"
At the center of the world
There is a statue of a girl
She is standing near a well
With a bucket bare and dry
I went and looked her in the eyes
And she turned me into sand
This clumsy form that I despise
It scattered easy in her hand
And came to rest upon a beach
With a million others there
We sat and waited for the sea
To stretch out so that we could disappear
Into the endlessness of blue
Into the horror of the truth
Yes, we are far less than we knew
Yeah, we are far less than we knew!
But we knew what we could taste
Girls found honey to drench our hands
The men cut marble to mark our graves
Said we'll need something to remind us
Of all the sweetness that has passed through us
(fresh sangria and lemon tea)
The priests dressed children for a choir
(white robed small voices praise him)
But found no joy in what was sung
The funeral had begun
In the middle of the day
When you drive home to your place
From that job that makes you sleep
Back to the thoughts that keep you awake
Long after night has come to claim
Any life that still remains
In the corner of the frame
That you put around her face
Two pills just weren't enough
The alarm clock's going off
But you're not waking up
This isn't happening happening happening happening
It is!
Does he kiss your eyelids in the morning
When you start to raise your head?
And does he sing to you, incessantly
From the space between your bed and wall?
Does he walk around all day at school
With his feet inside your shoes?
Looking down every few steps
To pretend he walks with you?
Oh, does he know that place below your neck
That's your favorite to be touched?
And does he cry through broken sentences like,
"I love you far too much"?
Does he lay awake listening to your breath?
Worried you smoke too many cigarettes?
Is he coughing now?
On a bathroom floor?
For every speck of tile
There's a thousand more
You won't ever see
But most hold inside yourself
Eternally
Well, I drug your ghost across the country
And we plotted out my death
In every city, memories would whisper
Here is where you rest
I was determined in Chicago
But I dug my teeth into my knees
And I settled for a telephone
Sang into your machine
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
And I kissed a girl with a broken jaw
That her father gave to her
She had eyes bright enough to burn me
They reminded me of yours
And in a story told, she was a little girl
In a red-rouge, sun-bruised field
And there were rows of ripe tomatoes
Where a secret was concealed
And it rose like thunder
Clapped under our hands
And it stretched for centuries
To a diary entry's end
Where I wrote
You make me happy
Oh, when skies are gray
You make me happy
Oh, when skies are gray and gray and gray
Well the clock's heart it hangs
Inside its open chest
With its hands stretched towards
The calendar hanging itself
But I will not weep
For those dying days
For all the ones who've left
There's a few that stayed
And they found me here
And pulled me from the grass
Where I was laid
Did you expect it all to stop at the wave of your hand
Like the sun's just gonna drop if it's night you demand?
Well in the dark we're just air
So the house might dissolve once we're gone
Who's gonna care if we were ever here at all?
Well summer's gonna come,it's gonna cloud our eyes again
No need to focus when there's nothing that's worth seeing
So we trade liquor for blood in an attempt to tip the scales
I think you lost what you loved in that mess of details
Now you can't even recall any names
Faces or lines it's more the feeling of it all
Well winter's gonna end I'm gonna clean these veins again
So close to dying that I finally can start living
"Hi we're back This is Radio [beep]
And we're here with Conor Oberst of the band Bright Eyes
How are you doing Conor?"
"Fine, thanks...just a little wet"
"Oh, it's still coming down out there?"
"Yeah, I sort of had to run from the car"
"Well we are glad you made it
Now your new album Fevers and Mirrors tell us a little bit about the title
I notice there is a good deal of repeated imagery in the lyrics
Fevers mirrors... scales clocks...
Could you discuss some of this?"
"Sure let's see... The fever is..."
"First let me say that this is a brilliant record man
We're all really into it here at the station
We get lots of calls
It's really good stuff"
"Thanks,thanks a lot"
"So talk a little bit about some of the symbolism"
"The fever?"
"Sure"
"Well the fever is basically whatever ails you or oppresses you
It could be anything
In my case it's my neurosis my depression...
But I don't want it to be limited to that
It's certainly different for different people
It's whatever keeps you up at night"
"I see!"
"And the mirror is as you might have guessed
Self examination or reflection in whatever form
It could be vanity or self loathing
I know I'm guilty of both"
"That's interesting. How about the scale?"
"The scale is essentially our attempt to solve our problems quantitatively
Through logic or rationalization
In my opinion it's often fruitless
But always... well not always
The clocks and calendars it's just... time
Our little measurements
It's always chasing after us"
"It is it is... How about this Arienette?
How does she fit into all of this?"
"I'd prefer not talk about it in case she's listening"
"Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize she was a real person"
"She's not I made her up"
"Oh, so she's not real?"
"Just as real as you or I"
"I don't think I understand"
"Neither do I but after I grow up I will
I mean a lot of things are really unclear for me right now"
"That's interesting
Now you mentioned your depression"
"No, I didn't"
"You're from Nebraska, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Now let me know if I'm getting too personal
But there seems to be a pretty dark past back there somewhere
What was it like for you growing up?"
"Dark? Not really Actually I had a great childhood
My parents were wonderful.
I went to a Catholic school
They had one so it... was all easy
Basically I had everything I wanted anytime"
"Really? So some of the references like babies in bathtubs are not biographical?"
"Well, I did have a brother who died in a bathtub... drowned
Actually I had five brothers who died that way
No I'm serious
My mother drowned one every year for five consecutive years
They were all named Padraic
So they all got one song
It's kind of like walking out a door to discover it's a window"
"But a lot of your music is certainly very personal"
"Of course I put a lot of myself into what I do
But it's like being an author
You have to free yourself to use symbolism
And allegory to reach your goal
And a part of that is compassion and empathy
For other people and their situations
Some of what I sing about comes from other people's experiences as well as my own
It shouldn't matter the message is intended to be universal"
"I see what you mean"
"Can you make that sound stop please?"
"Yes. And your goal?"
"I don't know... Er create feelings I guess
A song it never ends up the way you planned it"
"It's funny you would say that do you think that...?"
"Do you ever hear things that aren't really there?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Never mind. How long have you worked at this station?"
"Just a few minutes
Now you mentioned empathy for others
Would you say that is what motivates you to make the music that you make?"
"No not really It's more a need for sympathy
I want people to feel sorry for me
I like to feel the burn of the audiences eyes on me when I'm whispering all my
darkest secrets into the microphone
When I was a kid I used to carry this safety pin around with me
Everywhere I went in my pocket and when people weren't paying enough attention to
me
I'd dig it into my arm until I started to cry
Everyone would stop what they were doing and ask me what was the matter
I guess I kind of liked that"
"Really? You're telling me you're doing all this for attention?"
"No I hate it when people look at me
I get nauseous
In fact I could care less what people think about me
Do you feel that way?"
"No, I'm feeling sick"
"I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours all over everyone I love"
"So, you're going to play something for us now
Is this a new song?"
"Yeah, but I haven't written it yet
It's one I've been meaning to write... called A Song to Pass the Time"
"Oh, that's a nice title"
"No, it's not
You should write your own scripts"
"Yeah, I know..."
"So long everything" he shouted
Then he ran next door to Margot's house
"I'm moving" he said
"Where" asked Margot
"Two weeks away" said Mitchell
"Where is that" asked Margot
"It's everywhere
I will be after I walk for two weeks" said Mitchell
"I have lived in the same place for a long time
It is time for me to go some place else"
"No" said Margot "you have only lived next door for fifteen years"
"Sixteen" said Mitchell
"Fifteen six what's the difference" said Margot
"I want you to stay next door forever"
"I can't" said Mitchell
"I do not want to go wake up in the same old bedroom and eat breakfast in the same
old kitchen
Every room in my house is the some old room
Because I have been there too long"
You turn on a spindle you're so much looser now
But you're not explaining how you've gained such new repose
I touch the clasp of your locket with its picture held
Some secret you wouldn't tell but let it choke your neck
So we imagine a darkness where all shapes divide
Solids changing into light with a burst of heat so bright
Well fine don't you do what I want you to
Don't degrade yourself the way that I do
'Cause you don't depend upon all the shit
That I use to make my moods improve
"And you look at me and think 'same old face
Same old tail, same old scale same old walk
Same old talk," said Margot
"No" said Mitchell "I like your face tail scale walk and talk"
"I like you"
"I like you too" said Mitchell
He walked to the door "I must pack" he said
Near a sea of pianos there were waves of chords that crashed against the shore in
one huge and useless roar
And there were girls bringing water
Like a dream they came to cool the fever of my brain and soothe my burning throat
And they made me a necklace
Hanging beads of sweat on a string of my regrets and placed it round my neck
They were singing don't you do what you've wanted to
Don't destroy yourself like those cowards do
Maybe the sun keeps coming up
Because it's gotten used to you and your constant need for proof
There's a middle-aged woman she is dragging her feet
She carries baskets of clothes to a laundromat
While the Mexican children kick rocks into the street
And they laugh in a language I don't understand
But I love them why do I love them?
Now the neighborhood's dimming
I smoke on the porch watch the people as they pass enclosed inside their cars
On their faces just anger or disappointment
I start wishing there was something I could offer them a consolation what could I
offer them?
And they are sad in their suburbs
Robots water the lawn
And everything they have touched gets dusted spotless
And so they start to believe they've not touched anything at all
And the cars in the driveway only multiply
They are lost in their houses
I've heard them sing in the shower
Making speeches to their sister on the telephone
Saying you come home woman you come here
Don't stay so far away from me
This weather has me wanting love more tangible
Something I can hold because it's getting cold
I say let's hold up our fists to the flame in the sky
To block out the light that's reaching for our eyes
'Cause it would blind us yeah it will blind us
Now I have locked my actions in the grooves of routine
So I may never be free of this apathy
But I wait for a letter that's coming to me
She sends me pictures of the ocean in an envelope
So there still is hope yes I can be healed
There is someone looking for what I've concealed
In my secret drawer and my pockets deep
You will find the reasons that I can't sleep
And you will still want me
Will you still want me?
Will you still want me...
Well I said come for the week
You can sleep in my bed
And pass through my life like a dream through my head
It will it will be easy I'll make it easy
But all I have for the moment is a song to pass the time
A melody to keep me from worrying
Some simple progression to keep my fingers busy
And words that are sure to come back to me
And they'll be laughing, yeah they'll be laughing... my mediocrity
My mediocrity...
Jonny 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 don't cry
Whatever selves will decide
But there's no hell when you die
So don't look so worried
He got a night life, lost his day job
Pushing papers, swinging pendulums
Anything to serve a function
Or to occupy some time
You gotta earn this living somehow
You're good as dead without a bank account
But it's funny how that life has felt down
In that unemployment line
With all that trash at his feet
The pools of piss in the street
All of that filthy empathy
For the way we're feeling
Don't worry
Don't worry
The billboards shade
The flags they wave
The anthem's playing loud
The baseball game was letting out
And all at once
You saw the dust and hurt
And turned the sound
Got in his truck and turned around
Drove out through the crowd and the cops
Drove out past that center mall
Drove 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 seem so close
At the end
At the end
At the end
You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
It is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it's time to go
You could choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clinch 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 nurse your love
Like a wounded dove
In the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed
By phrenetic thoughts
That seperate 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 will 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 haired girls
For your whole eternal life
And you'll do the dance
That was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
Saying, I told you son
The day would come
You would die you'd die you'd die you'd die
You would die you'd die you'd die you'd die
You would die you'd die you'd die you'd die
You would die you'd die you'd die
To the deepest part
Of the human heart
The fear of death expands
Till we crack the code
We have always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board
We will soon be born
Again, again, again, again
And again again again again
And again again again again
And again again again
A house of cards, 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 unmeant
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 tongues of
I put the past into the ground
I saw the future as a cloud
If theres still time to turn around
I'm going to
Its just one day I fell asleep
And all day all night I dreamed
I am the first one I deceive
If I can make myself believe
There is nothing for which I am responsible
Just this baggage that I keep carrying on
As if I had someone
Okay, maybe there is a woman somewhere
Who's still thinking of me or a girl
With coal black hair who's haunted in her dreams
But what they've seen, well, it wasn't me
It was just some lie that they slept beside
I kept this from them but I can't keep this from you
So will you look for me in that strange, bright place?
Where the statues bloom in the park
They don't need no rain
Because how I ever got to you, I have no idea
It's like some secret door, well, it just appeared
So, no matter what I do from now on with my time
You will always stay here in my mind
I am certain of this and I am not certain of anything
So I want to get myself attached to something bolted down
So that these winds of circumstance
Won't keep blowing me around
To when I land to when I leave
There is enough time to sleep and sing
I traveled through 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
'Cause you 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
I'm waiting for the train
Subway that only goes one way
Stupid thing that will come, pull us apart
Make everybody late
Well, you spent everything you had
Wanted everything to stop that bad
Now I'm a crushed credit card registered to Smith
Not the name that you call me with
You turned white like a saint
I'm tired of dancin' on this pot of gold flake paint
Oh, we're so very precious, you and I
And everything that you do makes me want to die
Oh, I just told the biggest lie
Oh, I just told the biggest lie
Why do you lay in the grass?
Don't you want to be found?
Don't you want that?
Isn't the Sun even going to try to find
A hole in the clouds?
Isn't it even going to try?
Why won't it try that?
Why do you lay so low in the grass?
Don't you want to be found?
Don't you want to be found?
In the morning
When you throw up water
And your skin turns a pale pale yellow
Well everyday you lose more color
Do you think that someone paints your mirror?
Do you think that someone paints your mirror?
And you think that things sound different
At the time when you speak
There are visions much clearer
Than these blurs that you see
And like Neely O'Hara you swallow your sleep
And you wake up in the morning to find you are not
You are not, you are not who you used to be
You don't recognize behavior
Or the spelling of your name
And the shape that is in the mirror
Well you'd swear it is not the same
And like Neely O'Hara you swallow your sleep
And you really can't remember
But you know you are not think you are not
No you are not who you used to be
You used to be
You used to be
Helping the kids out of their coats
But wait the babies haven't been born
Unpacking the bags and setting up
And planting lilacs and buttercups
But in the meantime I've got it hard
Second floor living without a yard
It may be years until the day
My dreams will match up with my pay
Old dirt road
Knee deep snow
Watching the fire as we grow old
I got a man to stick it out
And make a home from a rented house
And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done
How many acres how much light
Tucked in the woods and out of sight
Talk to the neighbors and tip my cap
On a little road barely on the map
Old dirt road
Knee deep snow
Watching the fire as we grow old
Old dirt road
Rambling rose
I love thee, triple spiral
My maiden mother groaned
I am folded my devotion
Into an origami rose
So let her tip the 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
Took all that they could hold
A motorcade of flatbed trucks
Made off with quite a haul
That's when I heard someone shout
"Here with the new, out with the old"
A dusty box of letters
A rusty suit of armor
A casket made of 14 karat gold
That's the problem
No sense of time
She changes like an hour glass
Just 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
And now the dream is over
I want it to be known
I never saw it coming
From 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's missing from my life
Oh where'd you come from
You fated sign
Spinning through the centuries
Expanding all the time
Three worlds at one that blend together
Three times I cried for us
But I felt better then
I loved you triple spiral
My maiden mother crooned
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 folded [knee?] in the summer
Two three four
Let's go place some money on the order of the horses
Break the ribbon of that famous finish line
And we'll gather up our stash babe
Find a little ranch baby and buy a lonely little pony to ride
Well I know I was lucky when the needle came and stuck me
This porcupine came and poked my cactus hide
So let me finish what I start babe open up your heart babe
I saw a land of milk and honey in your mind
Our flesh and blood has found me in your arms again
See the whisper of the wind has found your hair again
And though my heart said give me refuge in you dignity my dear
All I could do was put a seashell to your ear
Our flesh and blood has found me in your arms again
I see the whisper of the wind has found your hair again
And though my heart said give me refuge in your dignity my dear
Well, I left my baby for a dream as lovely
For a love that's only in books I read
And then I hit the cities, spent all my money
I just left my whole life in a taxi cab
'Cause it's just a memory, I can't love completely
When you're really with me, I'm indifferent
But I try to get my head clear
It's too full of ideas that I haven't thought of yet
And time, clocks keep waving their hands
Doing all that they can to get our attention
But the days fly away, down a clean interstate
And I'm staring drunk at a map
So I let my hair down for the second time
Now for the final time, now I had my fun
But there's no returning from the places we've been
Just repeat our slogan, never again
So you split, said you had to get out
Headed back to the south, where everything is gentler
And I stayed for a couple weeks more
All the weather reports said it would be snow for sure
But the storm moved away to a neighboring state
Well, the future spills it's intangibles
An unknown set of variables
A path that spliten 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
'Cause a costume can be quite 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 gonna 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
'Cause 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 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, 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
Touch, lying on the floor, wishing this could last
Knowing that it can't, and soon you will leave
And I'll be on the floor, watching the TV
Trying hard to find a reason to move
I'm frozen in one place, staring at the screen
Listening to the rain falling on the street
Some days go on too long
So no, no one can hang out tonight
Here, where the carpet is cool and soft
Underneath the clock, I feel my weary heart is put to rest
You gather around your friends, the connection that you feel
When the night has not yet died, you are new
With a promise of a love, and you'll probably never find
And touch that you can really feel
The brokenness inside, [Incomprehensible]
And nothing is real
And there is nothing more I want than just one night
That's free of doubt and sadness
You were born inside of a raindrop
And I watched you falling to your death
And the sun, well, she could not save you
She'd fallen down to, now the streets are 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 get 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
Yeah, I was a postcard, I was a record
I was a camera until I went blind
And now I'm riding, all over this island
Looking for something to open my eyes
Well I still 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
I'm keeping up with the moon on an all night avenue
[Incomprehensible]
Make me cry
Death data entry, ant hill law
Encoded arc, our common cause
Drink liquid clocks till I see God
Crystal display, can't turn it off
I wish I had a parachute
'Cause I'm fallin' mad for you
I can see the ground approachin' now
But I'm not sure what to do
I feel like the pinata
Once you take a swing at me
If you could just crack the shell open
I think inside you would find something sweet
And I hear you're like a hunter now
Your footsteps in the leaves
And I would gladly leave my hidin' place
I'm hopin' 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
It left us looking like a bride
A million perfect snowflakes now
And no two are alike
So it's hard for me imagining
The flaws in this design
I know debris, it covers everything
The city has sex with itself I suppose
As the concrete collides well, the scenery grows
And the lonely once bandaged lay fully exposed
They undressed their wounds for each other
And there is a boy in a basement with a four track machine
He's been strumming and screaming all night down there
The tape hiss will cover the words that he sings
They say it's better to bury your sadness
In a graveyard or garden that waits for the spring
To awake from its sleep and burst into green
Well, I cried
And you would think I would better for it
But the sadness just sleeps and it stays in my spine
For the rest of my life
And I've learned
And you'd think I'd be somethin' more now
But it just goes to show it is not what you know
It's what you were thinking of half the time
This feeling's familiar
I've been here before
In a kitchen this quiet, I waited for
A sign of just something that might reassure me of anything close
To meaning or motion with reasons to move
I need something I want to be close to
And I scream but I still don't know why I do it
Because the sound never stays it just swells and decays
So what is the point?
Why try to fight what is now so certain?
Now that it's June, we'll sleep out in the garden
And if it rains we'll just sink in to the mud
Where it is quiet and much cooler than the house is
And there's no clocks or phones to wake us up
Because I have learned that nothing is as pressing
As the one who is pressing, would like you to believe
And I'm content to walk a little slower
Because there's nowhere that I really need to be
And I find that life is easier when it's just a blur
With no details to confuse
Who or what or where I was
So when the ending comes the full regret will seem obscure
But these are days we dream about when the sunlight paints us gold
And this apartment could not be prettier as we dance up there alone
And this TV is old the color is fucked
Do you see the difference in the shades?
But the green is still close to green my love
And I believe we are the same
And we'll stay like this, all gold and green
The light collects and projects your heart on a movie screen
And if you close your eyes we will always be
The way we were that night you crawled inside of me
You slept in my blood the way you sleep now
The quietest hush has consumed this house
And when the doctors have gone and you sweat through the bed
With the pictures and pills they piled around your head
But just rest now
And in a moment you will know everything, was it all a dream?
It's too vague now to recount
An outline of the one you loved in a life that was that not longer will be
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city's cemetery's humming
I'm wide awake, it's morning
And 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
Everyday I'm on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can't keep up with what I got
So I hope I don't sound too ungrateful
What history gave modern men
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
And no one's sure how all of this got started
But we're gonna make 'em goddamn 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 someone else's voice
But failures 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's cemetery's humming
