A Parliament of Owls
Motives of Men
I Don't Mean
Melismatic
The King
Prodigal Song
Rosebuds (for the Queen)
The Sandman
Yet & Still
She danced in petrol at the pyro party
She was bound to wind up burned
But since she left you haven't spoken hardly
There's an art to this, I've heard
She came back slanted from the powder room with Kentucky on her mind
And now I'm trying not to talk to soon, but there isn't much more time
It makes me wonder aloud,
"Can you blame me if I just want to give it a try?"
There's a room full of accomplices inside
Come and find me in the morning light
Stay beside me in the morning light
Can you find me in the morning light?
I'm held captive and palsied by a touch
Face turned skyward -- the scene is much too much
(I can breathe. I'm alive. I can breathe. I'm alive)
It's not a mantra. It's the keen I cry for my dear, departed youth.
I'm just a monster with a friendly eye. Am I near the harder truth?
It makes you wonder aloud,
"Can you blame me if I just want to give it a try?"
With a roomful of accomplices inside
Come and find me in the daylight. We're the only ones who survived.
You don't know what you're doing here do you
Well, darling, all the film's run out of cameras one and two
Have three zoom in when you drop the bomb
While five pulls out for the reaction shot
And shoot at what you want on six and four
Just leave me on the cutting room floor
Floored by the chance of a bad review
You'll rewrite my part if I don't suit you
It's too bad I'm the one who wrote the score
When your deeds came out in the light of day
You just said that you could use them for the cutaways
If you buy your fame in frames of 24
Then leave me on the cutting room floor
And when it started we were tongue-tied, taken, rather fond of being carried alight.
And when we part, it's such an odd sensation. It's a love like being buried alive.
Say, say morning, yeah I know the day is forming, but we haven't quite yet finished our night
Say, say gloaming, now before you get to roaming, won't you stay a spell here stemming the tide?
The end of time
And when we landed we were shell-shocked, shaken. There's a glassy look of doubt in your eyes.
No more abandon, just a plea for patience, while I slowly burn away my disguise.
Say, say worry, never waited, never hurried. Did I hope to have my gray matter mined?
Say, say glory, I'm a cautionary story. If he stares at me the sun'll go blind.
The end of time
When it comes for me, desire,
I'm a wooden man and you throw me onto the pyre.
Will you watch me burn? Are you tired?
I'm all alone
Are you certain? Are you whole? Are you warm? Are you safe?
Are you hedging your bets with the time that you borrow today?
Tomorrow. It's a fiction, a vapor, a shade
It's the hitch in your step when you're walking alone by a grave.
All your life
All your life you've been wondering
Who it is you're supposed to be
What is you're supposed to see
All your life
All your life you've been waiting
I've got news for you, Simone
The future isn't home
Are you folding? Are you bolting or toning it down?
After all that it cost are you finally running aground?
You said you had it coming
You never gave up until now, with all the people gathered round
All my life
All my life I've been wondering
Who it is I'm supposed to be
What is I'm supposed to see
All my life
All my life I've been waiting
I've got news for you, Simone
The future isn't home
Now I've done what you asked me
Will you stay?
Now I've done as you asked me
Can I stay here?
You know I never want to see
Never want to see you alone again
Because I never want to be
Never want to see me alone
I was born with my eyes wide open
And I won't start hoping on a star right now.
You try to tempt me with your store-bought passion,
But your forethought flashes in the dark.
Somehow we hurt each other for the selfsame reasons,
There's a sad, strange treason in the heart.
And you say you will, but you know you'll never move from where you are.
I was young and un-emptied.
Unafraid.
I was young and you bent me
To your way here.
I get the feeling that you're not feeling that you've got me alone again.
And if you're feeling that I'm not feeling it, I'm not coming home.
I was born with my eyes wide open
And I won't start hoping on a star right now.
You try to tempt me with your store-bought passion,
But your forethought flashes in the dark.
Somehow, we hurt each other for the selfsame reasons,
There's a sad, strange treason in the heart.
And you say you will, but you know you'll never move from where you are.
She's a downhearted dancer
But she taught me a lesson
Beause if we are the answer,
Then you've asked the wrong question
She started off the harmless stranger
She sought me for my song
And blind and deaf to all the danger
I watched her sing along
She slid in elegant and slender
A needle in my arm
And though my resignation's tendered
I'm feckless in her charms
Somebody sound the alarm
Did I hold you back? Did I let you down?
Who can blame the broken-hearted?
So pitiful and brave
Every one of us a martyr
Or so we all would claim
Well, number me among rabble (meu amado)
I've squandered every turn
And though my ventricles are mangled
For her, my blood still burns
Will I ever learn?
Did I hold you back? Did I let you down?
Now I need you
Was it everything you wanted?
Did I hold you back? Did I let you down?
Now I need you gone
Standing at the door to something most will never find
Nothing could explain the way it blows my mind
Didn’t want to come but now you’re wishing you were here
As earthly limitations disappear
And it’s almost more than I can take
But I pray that this fever doesn’t break
Where’s the quiet boy who used to wonder through the night?
Deep within him shone the most resilient light
Every day he fought, he sought to set the fire free
Now it burns for all the world to see
And it’s almost more than he can take
But he prays that this fever doesn’t break
Leaving broken shackles in his wake
Letting go was a beautiful mistake
Sitting captivated by the music all around
Scared and you can't shake it, you won’t make a sound
Here’s the end of searching high and low for something real
Open up the door, I swear you'll feel
Like it’s almost more than you can take
But you pray that this fever doesn’t break
Leaving broken shackles in your wake
Letting go was a beautiful mistake
I know where you're going
Cause I know where you've been
You don't believe it's showing
The weight of all your sins
She's not so heavily billed
Back in Beverly Hills,
So when they went for the kill
Bang-bang!
She ducked it, dodged it, Blahnik's running
She took her vicodin pills
And a flight to Brazil
So she can hideout until it's done
It's not her time!
They got her on a tape
They put it on the 5, 6, 7, 8 o'clock news
They've got her in a bad way
It's high time for a primetime hanging, so they're setting her noose
Is she the slave or the master
The captive or captor?
Who knows what they're after
She lost her luster long before
The fall from the front page
Is deadly at her age
But infamy slows the plunge
It's not her time!
Tell me there's no treason, there's no crime
Hopeless, throw this burning mass aside
Show me where's the reason, where's the line?
The only difference between ashes and diamonds is time.
It's not her time!
back to topLike the water when it's just about to circle the drain
When you say hello, but then you can't remember the name
Or the picture where your finger nearly covers the frame
Still I didn't get it
It's the time she say she'd better start heading home
It's the ringing when you can't quite get to the phone
Or the moment when you know you should've left it alone
Still I didn't get it
If I only knew now
What I thought I knew then
Would I keep you around?
Would I have to pretend?
There's a clock on the wall
And it's counting the times
That I've gotten it wrong
And you've gotten it right
Like the trainer for the elephant that's filling the room
Or the feeling when your tongue is on the tip of a tune
Or the stranger that you met, but just a moment too soon
Still I didn't get it
It's the way that you fidget with your hair
Got me feeling like I've gotta come up for air
It's the reason I with that you weren't there
Still I didn't get it
"It's the dawn of a new age," he bellowed to the mob
As he leaned over the parapet of his balcony above
The throbbing street erupted,
broke its brick and mortar bounds
All the renegades had been enraged
And they tore the city down
Oh, what a glorious day
When the tired, poor, and hungry carry sway!
And as I looked up at the balcony
The strangest feelings overpowered me
And like the others I was swept along
By all the music of his silver song
Forged in the furnace of a tyranny
We are the falling sword of Damocles
The hopeful light of an impending dawn
We carry on
We took the palace and the armory
And we made beggars of the bourgeoisie
We put the torches to the capitol
Turns out we didn't need it after all
Backlit and shrouded by the smoke and flames
I saw the outline of his noble frame
The voice that held us high when all was wrong
Said, "Carry On!"
Well, the revolution ended
And the dawn soon turned to dusk
And the promises rang hollow
As the sword began to rust
When a man is crowned he's crowded by
The devious and vain
And the man we'd stood behind
Had lost his virtue in the trade
How can we keep from the fight
When the ones who right the wrongs have forgotten what's right?
It wasn't long before rebellion spread
The people calling for the tyrant's head
And every time he tried to put them down
The counterrevolution gained more ground
I soon thought back on how this came to be
A failed attempt at social alchemy
And though his light had now grown far too dim
I found myself compelled to follow him
And from then on it was a fast decline
We found a church and locked ourselves inside
We heard the soldiers pounding at the door
Knocked from its hinges with a soundless roar
And as the bayonets were closing in
A single voice rung out above the din
He spoke his words like other men sing songs
"Carry On!"
Go
Let the stones rain down
Let the dirge ring out
Against the day
Home
It's a distant place
In my father's face
It's turned away
I'm still, I'll hold your ground
Sleep
With your tranquil mind
While I lose my grip on mine
This guilty night
Weak
My friends
In the state that I'm in
They'll scatter in the scathing morning light
But, I'm still, I'll hold your ground
Awake, arise
Wipe the sleep out of your eyes
You know there's no one out there running to my side
You will
You might
You don't have the right
You've done it now, I'll have no part of you
I'm still, I'll hold your ground
I'm still, I'll hold your ground
I'm still, I'll hold you down
I'm still, I'll hold your ground
Awake, arise
Wipe the sleep out of your eyes
You know there's no one out there running to my side
Hey
I'm picking up steam
Watch how you walk
Watch how you talk
What you do around me
Hey
I'm taking the lead
You knew what it was
The view from above
Was blocked out by the trees
Hey
You're not in the clear
It's no kind of sign
You're still out of line
When you come around here
You can never
You can never quite know just how much it means
We're fallow and smug
And swept under rug
To a rainy day keep
And a parliament of owls looks on
Asking, "who? who? who is holding the leash?"
And a parliament of owls looks on
Asking, "who? who? who is holding the keys?"
There's a lady
In the lobby
In a daydream
There's a boy that doesn't speak
And I'm staring
Like a sailor
At the shoreline
She pretends she doesn't see
And the lady
Drinks her coffee
Why would I think
He could climb a face so steep?
And our ships pass in the night
As we lose another life we'll never lead
It's all wrong
You know you could have me right now
But I can't hear your questions for this awful, pounding sound
So can I tell you when I know, tell you when I know, tell you when know?
Oh, there's nothing good in me
And our ships pass in the night
As we lose another life we'll never lead
And the ships pass out of sight
As we lose another life we'll never lead
Come take me down
To the motives of men unwound
You know you owe it to me
I don't mean to sound unkind
But you never really loved me
You placed them all above me
I was crushed beneath the weight
And I don't mean to sound so cold
But I think you just got lucky
That somehow I convinced myself
To stay the way I stayed
Oh, but the plans that we had laid
Oh, why do we play these stupid games
Oh, there's a price that must be paid
Turn it back, turn it back
Can we start it once again?
I don't mean to sound so mean
But, then again, I might be lying
Cause you could make me fly
Or dash me down with just a word
And I won't ever understand
How we knew so well what mattered
But still our sails where tattered
By the petty little birds
Well, there's a pump inside my chest
But I don't think it will feel it
The un-entitled jealousy
That love leaves in its place
Cause if I see you with a man
Well, you'll never catch me mourning
But, I'll offer him a warning
To watch your wily ways
Still, part of me wants to hold you
Still, there's so much we could save
But now I know that I can't do it anymore
I've got to get away
Oh, but the plans that we had laid
Oh, why do we play these stupid games
Oh, there's a price that must be paid
Turn it back, turn it back
Can we start it once again?
If there's a lesson to be learned
Then I don't think I will see it
I'm bound by my Y-chromosomes
To relive my mistakes
Cause when I find myself a girl
She'll seem good as you and then some
And I'll soon forget the wisdom
I gained in younger days
Oh, there's a price that must be paid
Oh, for the plans that we had laid
Oh, such an awful, crying shame
Turn it back, turn it back
Can we start it once again?
Turn it back, turn it back
Can we make it never end?
Worry
I worry all the time
I sit and wonder why I do these things
I don't know
How can I resist
When I know you'll just insist
When I know your justice is a lie
You can run
But if I were you I would head for the high ground
I worry
I worry about the cracks
The hooks, the bumps, the snags
That grip and grab and try to pull us
Underneath, under me it grows
Until it's something I don't know
You can run
But if I were you I would head for the high ground
It was the slightest line I've ever seen
Just reaching out to color me
And how could all this beauty be for me?
All the things that I believe
And all the ambiguity
There's nothing I could truly leave behind
Trying to find a place where I belong
back to topIt's skin and bone and plasticine tonight
It's getting cold, be sure wrap up tight
The bedhead cronies brought their clout to bear
But still the kids are dancing everywhere
They're all v-neck t-shirts and skinny jeans
Art rock wishes and indie dreams
But I've just got some songs I'd like to sing
What if I made it melodic?
What if I made you believe it?
What if I burn till the smoke chokes out the doubts that dot the sky?
What if it's just what you wanted?
And I knew just what to say
And every note I should play
Well, I on my way.
I'm always scared I'm thinking way too loud
I crave the love of strangers in the crowd
So I'm giving up my youth to find the spot
Where fear and beauty pierce the modern heart
I'm twice-shy, shining with borrowed gleam
I'm half the man I ever seem
And I've just got some songs you'd love to sing
What if I made it melodic?
What if I made you believe it?
What if I burned till the smoke chokes out the doubts that dot the sky?
What if I'm just too neurotic?
I never know what to say
What if it all doesn't pay?
Am I on my own way?
I'm too busy dreaming to sleep
back to topShe comes down in ribbons and lace and she gives him a face that could melt the ice caps
And maybe it’s he who is golden, it’s she who is holding the cards in this game
A king in cape and cardboard crown
The boy they love to push around
They’ve tried to run me aground
But I won’t go down
They’ll never take my crown
Don’t spend a second in doubt
I won’t slow down
You’ll never take my crown
And back when they still could imagine and she was his princess and he’d slay her dragons
They’d run through the clearing and sleep in the grass and the pines that stood over the house where his mother was
Born to a father who taught her to listen to music was tragic and music was epic
It filled up the space in her mind if she let it inside of the shop where they met she was pouring his coffee
That’s when he began to see fantasies both of them run through the cornfield and sleep in the pines that stood over
The house where his father was born to a mother too distant, too selfish,
Her mother nursed brandy instead of her daughter kept falling in love, but no man ever caught her,
She ran away soon as she could to go live with her father had no time to spend with her teaching her
How do you treasure what you cannot measure with scales or with rulers or logical meters
You take it away and you see what’s left standing an empire of sand or a kingdom to hold in your hands
That are bruised and your knuckles are swollen from punching the walls that are wide as the ocean
Between every heartbeat the door to eternity throws itself open to bottomless cavities
Unequaled heights of the heavenly kind but you walk by the door for the 10 millionth time’s
Made him older and broken shoulders of granite the rock that he was had been taken for granted
He lives in the park with the shadows and specters a bench for a throne and a cane for a scepter
He’s cold and he’s dying, but finally he is the king
I heard a story about a man whose soul just up and quit one day
So I began to worry without a change of course that I end up that way
I had always wondered how we let ourselves get trampled underfoot
But now I've heard the thunder of a stifled heart just crawling up my throat
Is this a morning commute or a funeral march?
Because my mind shifts to neutral the minute I park and I'm off
And am I earning a living or living to earn?
And if I have to think twice I've got bridges to burn cause I'm off
Just hit the brakes
Why? Why die by inches? Why be trapped beneath the weight of their concerns
And why? Why build defenses, when you've got no plans to show them what you're worth?
Now I could go to pieces. I could tie me down, so I'd resist the urge.
But I just released it. 'Cause everything that rises must converge.
Now you can silence yourself when you know that you're right
But if the words want to come then there's no use in fighting them off
Because I'd much rather go with a salvo of lights
Than a posse of embers all smoldering white.
If I'm off, then I'm off and just hit the brakes.
I'm not shouting touting misbehavior.
In fact, I'll see that Caesar gets his due
But sometimes something tells you not to waver
And if you do...
I heard a story about a man whose soul just up and quit one day.
back to topI got a touch of neurosis
She got the criminal stare
They got the predator poses
We got the buyer beware
And it won't be long before they take you in
But I'll bide my time until it breaks the skin
Ooh la la la la la
Bet you could catch it on cable
Why don't you run up the flag?
I know you're fit and you're able
Who's got their hooks in your back?
It's a cold, cold comfort from a far-gone friend
When I hear you say you gonna go again
Ooh la la la la la
It's been coming for years,
It's been coming in fits and starts and white chalk outlines
Trying to fight and find its way through
Tongue-worn TV soap box sound bites
But if you tear it apart
You'll find in place of a heart there's a card that reads simply:
Ego Is.
Ooh la la la la la
It's a cold, cold comfort from a far-gone friend
But I'll bide my time until it breaks the skin
And you don't know nothing, if you don't know this
Cause it all goes down because the Ego Is
And it all comes down because the Ego Is
Mama please
You've got to let me out of bed
I don't need no medicine
I'm well again
Doctor please
I'm on my knees
You haven't heard a thing I've said
You know you've probed and prodded every inch
And every hole that's in my head
He said he's come to cure what ails me
I've tried to tell him nothing's wrong
But all my words come out in mumbles
I think my mind is gone
But they don't want to force me
No, they're not going to force me now
Take two of these and one of these and one of these
And then you ring me in the morning
But I don't trust this man
I think I'll go and find a remedy myself
So I grabbed my hat, I grabbed my coat, I grabbed my keys
And then I headed for the drugstore
And told the girl behind the counter
All about the troubles with my health
And she just looked at me so sweetly
She tried to tell me what was wrong
But every word was like a love song
She was a pharmacist's assistant
She was a vision all in white
And we were talking there till evening put the sun down for the night
But patience is rewarded
So I don't want to force it now
I'm too young to die
Ah, well, baby wait
You've got to give me some relief now
If you've got nothing for me
This thing just might finally do me in
Now, what'd you say?
You said you know of an elixir
My head is getting cloudy now
So spell it out the how, the where, the when
Ah, get it straight
Now where was I supposed to meet her
She says that she can end the pain
But how do kids in Asia factor in?
By the lake,
Before the moon illuminates it
And there I waited
Dread abated when I saw your figure closing in
But dear the pain has gotten deeper
And now my body's giving in
So say you've come here to make me well with herbalistic blends
You try to tell me not worry
You try to tell me nothing's wrong
But every word is like a love song
All my fear and all my love is
Resting on you, tiny druggist
Mix the draught and place it in my hand
I close my eyes and swallow deeply
Suddenly the world gets sleepy
No expression, calmly there you stand
Reeling from the heavy dose
I keel into a landlocked ocean
Helpless now like Hamlet's would-be bride
I wish I had some revelation
Lovely dying declaration
But I'm not one to force it
So I'm not going to force it now
The morning isn't mourning now the night is dead
And I wonder where you've been
But I won't ask
You're on and you're alluring but you smell of sweat
So I had to lock you in
If there's a chance so small
Now I'm choking on the seconds
And they make me sick
And I see the things you've done there in your eyes
You did not have to let it slip away
So tell me why'd you let it go?
Why'd let you let it go so far?
Why'd you take it?
Remind me why'd you take it so?
Me, I am the prodigal son
I am the loneliest one
That you’re likely to meet but
How can I ever get out
With you weighing on me?
You, you’re the prettiest girl
You’re the diamonds and curls
That will never be mine to waste,
Dangle them in my face
Just to show me I’m yours, so I say
Hey, you’re breaking me down although
I’ll try not to frown or show it
You know I know that you know it
So try not to seem so kind
While you tear me apart inside
Can’t hide it like before
My amor
See, now I’m not having fun
Constantly on the run
Always fearing I’ll be replaced
By a prettier face
And a silkier voice
Hurt, just for one minute, hurt
Make me feel like I’m worth
Maybe even a second glance
But I don’t have chance
Did you give me a choice? No, no, no!
Hey, you’re breaking me down although
I’ll try not to frown or show it
You know I know that you know it
So try not to seem so kind
While you tear me apart inside
Can’t hide it like before
My amor
Hey, you’re breaking me down although
I’ll try not to frown or show it
You know I know that you know it
So try not to seem so kind
While you tear me apart inside
Can’t hide it like before
My amor
Don’t you know you need me
Don’t you “yes, indeed” me
Won’t you come and see me anyway?
You led me down into the valley
To show me where your garden grows
You led me out into the Andes
To mountains capped with chocolate snow
And if I stay another day
Does anybody have to know
And when my welcome starts to fray
Would you beg me not to go?
Because I'm bursting
Through the ceiling
Is this right?
Is this it?
i could die if I miss you again
I say the lady's made of music
The way she makes us want to sing
And I know someday I'm going to lose it
I'm a bird without a wing
but while I have her thinking
I am more than I could ever be
I'm going to have her
Thinking, "I don't know if everyone can see"
That I'm bursting
Through the ceiling
Is this right?
Is this it?
I could die if I miss
Because I'm bursting with a feeling
This is right.
This is it.
I could die if I miss you
This place is teeming with purple and green
And a shining light
I'm neither here nor there nor in between
I'm in the garden picking
Rosebuds for the queen
The sandman said to rest your head
Good children, close your eyes
From fading light of setting sun
To morning when you rise.
But I can't sleep, I've got no dreams,
No place where I can hide.
There’s silence from the sandman
The day you left he…
Forget what the sandman said
The sandman’s dead
and you’re the one that keeps me up at night
and maybe I would sleep sometimes
If I weren’t so scared to turn off all the lights
There was a time when I would meet you in my dreams
I never had to say goodbye because when I woke up you were there
Now you’re gone and I can’t stand to dream because I’d have to say goodbye again
There was a time, when this mind of mine
Saw slumber visions in the night
I’d meet you there and never say goodbye
Because I woke right by your side
But these days, I hardly close my eyes
Cause you’re there waiting in my head
And if I sleep I’ll dream your overwhelming sight
And waking takes you back again
To lose you once was quite enough
I’ve spared myself the pain
Of leaving you there every night
Inside my pouring brain
I tied his hands and stole his sand
And pushed him under my bed
He hasn’t made a sound in quite sometime
I think the Sandman’s dead.
What's a life?
And how long?
Eighty years or a song to the ancient drum
Of your patience running out.
So we sway to the beat
Making monuments to our own deceit.
But it's just our human nature coming out.
You turn to me and say, "You gotta dance with me before we die!
You gotta dance with me before we die!
I won't say you're the one, but you may just become it tonight."
So I'm shy and reserved,
but I won't go wasting another word
on some dime store scholar
with straight point collar turned down.
He's a suit. What's he know?
All his friends say I'm cold war cold,
but it's just my human nature coming out.
You turn to me and say, "You gotta dance with me before we die!
You gotta dance with me before we die!
I won't say you're the one, but you may just become it tonight."
Am I the bat that's in your belltower tonight
Or more or less more of the same?
She gives no quarter, but the belle loves the game.
So she turn to me and say, "You gotta dance with me!"
Well the captain took the field and yelled "Sideline! Sideline!"
You never seemed the type to like seaside crashes
It gets political when cameras come out
So I'll be exposing my film in a truck stop bathroom
Sing with me now like the Israelites cried out, "Ay ah-ah-ah"
Sing with me now if the devil don't own your soul
And let the hard times roll
When I'm ready for the road I yell, "Skyline! Skyline!"
You crave the glory of a revolution
And when he talk he look me dead in the eye
So when I want to hear the truth I wear dark sunglasses
Shout with me now like the Israelites cried out, "Ay ah-ah-ah"
Shout with me now if the devil don't own your soul
And let the hard times roll
I could use some consolation, brother
Cause the chaos gets me down
I get tired of always having me around
I want to hear you say, "Skyline! Skyline!"
Why get hung up on these rusty fences?
I get irrational when music comes on
So I'll be out writing my rhymes in a vacuum chamber
Sing with me now like the Israelites cried out, "Ay ah-ah-ah"
Shout with me now. Knockin' Jericho walls down, "Ay ah-ah-ah"
Shout with me now like the Israelites cried out, "Ay ah-ah-ah"
Sing with me now if the devil don't own your soul
Help me sing it like a language I don't know
Free from the rise and the fall of the words and the even flow
Well, they swore me it was there enough
But I could not have the time
I already say you these things
Do they feel you right?
Let it go, let it drift, let it die, let it fade.
There's something in the finding that we all reserve the sovereign right to fade.
So we can double up or triple up or give it up and live it up on a whole new plane.
I'd like to beg the question, "Who is it who really stands to gain from these silly cardboard cutouts we're working everyday to maintain?"
Can you stop these voices in my head?
Halo, halo! Your shadow's blinding bright.
Is growing up just realizing everyone I love might someday die?
And I'd rather be a child, if growing up's just realizing everyone I love must someday
I found a lyric in a language oh so argentine
If I could take it down it'd make the sound of seven summers
I dreamt I sung it for you swooning from the mezzanine
But then I woke in this apartment clutching to the covers
I'm cold and lonely and I'm shaking like a tambourine
So if you feel a little faded I can race the sun to
Be there tomorrow
I'll steal, beg, or borrow, it's time that I saw you again
Meet me in Brooklyn. Leave your suitcase and your plans.
And shake like you shook when you first fell into my hands.
I'm wasting arrows chasing sparrows so elusive I
Rolled out a ticker-tape parade to fight the failing feeling
I'll bite the bone and suck the marrow and the juices out
Cause when the wagon hit the weeds I wished I wasn't sleeping
So I've got margins half as narrow for the choosing now
This kind of thing just has a way to make a man believe in
Something so simple, I can't fill a thimble with everything I understand.
So it began
Meet me in Brooklyn. Leave your suitcase and your plans.
And shake like you shook when you first felt these foreign hands.
And if you miss your flight, you can always try the train
Until you get that right, cause it always comes again
Again, I met the day alive
And covered all my mortal shame
Beneath a code of quiet lies
And hid it somewhere in my name
Could I be some shining knight
And stand above this tender age
And exorcise this blinding spite
And kill the quislings in my brain?
Boy, if you're out for blood,
Put down the sword. You've had enough.
Again, I met the day alone
And puzzled by the awkward pace
Conducted by this beating stone
The molten blood that fills my veins
Am I destined to atone
For every heart I've thrown away?
To reap the bitter seeds I've sown?
She shook her head as if to say
Boy, if you you're out for love
Climb off your horse. Get in the mud.
I have whispered low and lonely through the tangled mangrove trees
I've brought the towering elm down to her knees
And in the stillness of the sunrise I'll come shaking off the leaves
I've brought the towering elm down to her knees
Calm me down or call me down
Hear, before you, a quarter-century of sound
I have soared in exultation, taking tone on by degrees
I've plumbed the depths of all your darkest deeds
I have been the cool companion there to set your mind at ease
And I've plagued you like some tropical disease
Calm me down or call me down
Hear, before you, a quarter-century of sound
I am pregnant with the promise of every word you'll ever speak
But I'm hollow like the driftwood by the creek
I'll be buzzing by your bedside till the final breath you breathe
Then I'll lie with you inside that stony keep
So calm me down or call me down
Hear, before you, a quarter-century of sound
Oh, calm me down or call me down
Right here before you, a quarter-century of sound
Fearsome specter lift your shadow. I no longer need your urging to speak the words they cloak like daggers. Pierce my skin and push the meaning through.
Yet and still I did not lie to you. Yet and still I did not.
Thick regrets like biting brambles choke the trails that brought me here to you. All the good I've left in shambles, every shard of love could run me through.
Yet and still I did not lie to you. Yet and still I did not.
If you knew where I was going, you'd wish that I was gone.
If I knew where I was going, I'd ask you to come along.
Come the feast or come the famine.
(I'd say I've seen enough of famine)
Come the empty promises of youth.
(So much you never live to do)
Come the life you once imagined.
(I never thought mine was a bad one)
I could dream of nothing less for you.
(I only want the same for you)
But yet and still I did not lie to you. Yet and still I did not .
I am all a plate glass window.
Looking through me every day.
In the night, I'm all reflection.
You were, I was, you see, you saw, you say.
In my mirrored light you're taller.
The summer sun has warped my pane.
If I brought you true perspective,
You'd close the blinds and leave me cold again.
I await the dread disaster,
Some uncommon tragedy.
Don't you tell me it can't happen,
Cause once it does, the odds don't mean a thing
Though the hands are hardly holy,
Pilgrims come to kiss the ring.
But the taste of gold eludes them
And such a shame they came from all that way.
What am I here for? I never felt like I knew.
What is this unkind perversion?
Why the sudden change of pace?
Could it be that we're all destined
To cloy, to claw, to cool, to walk away?
You'll awake to crystal mornings,
Splintered shadows on your face.
All my cracks and complications
Will speed me on the saddest fall from grace.
What am I here for? I never felt like I knew.
You were never once a liar
But you choose the truth you tell
Was it all some grand illusion?
Does fire ever burn inside that shell?
Offer me no empty solace.
Keep your memories to yourself.
Treat me with that cool precision
You made me come to know so very well.