American Music Club

i'll sit inside, emptying a bar
plugging up my brain
killing off my hopes
i'm an idiot king
shoot 'em down one by one
you and me both, we live in a life we don't belong
and the clothes we wear, they always tear
those second-hand clothes, they always tear
those second-hand hopes, they always tear

away down my street
way down my street
i walk, i walk
the sun's a prize for my weak eyes
i put my blindfold on
how do i get out of here?

move along Joe, move along Jack
the burning road welcomes you back
i'm high enough now to turn out the sun
i'm king enough now to close my eyes
and watch the ruins grow like my alibis
like we're already dead, like we're empty as hell
we're jewels on a chain, yeah we're jewels on a chain

away down my street
way down my street
i walk, i walk
The sun's a prize for my weak eyes
i put my blindfold on
how do I get out of here?

because there is no peace
there is no peace

hey, hey God give me a hand
i'm in garbage land
hey man
how do I get out of here?
hey, hey how do I get out of here?
come on man, how do I get out of here?

Now that we've perfected the art of love
Now all the lights shine on me and misery
My good friend misery

You can be cured by a single touch
You can get up and walk away
Anything that you say

The drive of the road again
'Cause I'll be your only friend
Right before we touch the ground
The night asleep, loving sound
Sweet loving sound

Why don't you be good for something
And draw down the shade
On a sign that sat up all night shivering
On a sign that sat up all night afraid

Well now chains on the oasis that
Leads a man to drink
Drunk on the kind of applause
That gets louder the lower you sink

Gratitude walks on Sixth Street

Pull it from the air
And they throw it in the blue
And you're spinning under their wheels
Trapped in your room

You're jumpy, you don't want to see
You don't want to see them have their fun
Slap her face if she should laugh
Push him down if he should try and run

Gratitude walks on Sixth Street

Take a number for your big woman
They sold the rules of dream land
in cotton, wool, and cement


Well it's never what you want
It's just the kind of thing that always happens here
Yeah you watch the good old days pass you by
Leaving your cupboards bare

Gratitude walks on Sixth Street

The love cry of the traveling man goes
No one knows who I am
But I'm as priceless as a brass ring
That's losing the heat from your hand

A quiet man sits quietly learning his lesson
The slwo smooth wheel of disintegration
You don't want them to talk to you
No you don't want to take part
You say, "Just get me back to the leper colony
'Cause that's where you left my heart."

I feel time pass by like a joy no medicine can preserve Somewhere along the line I lost my nerve

Maybe I'm almost there

Give me the keys to your theme park
Bury me under your layer of snow
And watch me ride all the rides
Around and around I go

I don't know if I've reached the bottom yet
And I don't know if the ice has finally begun to set
I feel time pass like a joy I tried so hard to relearn
But somewhere along the line
I passed the point of no return

Maybe I'm almost there

The love cry of the traveling man goes
No one knows who I am
But I'm as priceless as a brass ring
That lost the heat from your hand

Back seat over the wing
And I'm the happiest hot potato on the plane
Yeah I'm looking I'm looking it's beautiful
I think I wanna go and live out there right now

Oh stewardess can you fix me some Mercury

The city below me shines
I guess I'm part of Detroit's shining dream
The ones that forget that I was ever here
The one that's going to forget that I had ever been

Oh stewardess can you fix me
I'll follow the rules if you tell me
With one of those endless smiles
I love all your little bottles of Mercury

My throttle's open wide
And I'm wasting my life and I'm wasting time
And I'd give all of Hitler's broad oceans
Ready to swallow Detroit a million times over

The city below me shines
I guess I'm part of Detroit's shining dream
The ones that forget that I was ever here
The one that's going to forget that I had ever been

Oh stewardess can you fix me

I'll follow the rules if you tell me
With one of those endless smiles
I love all your little bottles of Mercury

My throttle's open wide
And I'm wasting my life and I'm wasting time
And I'd give all of Hitler's broad oceans
Ready to swallow Detroit a million times over

Lazarus wasn't grateful for his second wind
For another chance
watch his chances fade like the dawn and leave
I can barely tell you just how pale I get
Without you

I've been a mess since you've been gone

What were the first words that crowd heard him speak
I bet he was cursing at the sky
I bet he wasn't turning no other cheek
And was there still hope and desire left in his heart
For the last word in love

I've been a mess since you've been gone

Your beauty is just a slap in the face
That's gonna bring me back to life
Back to another sky that's blue
It's gonna turn me into another great American zombie

So hungry for you

I've been a mess since you've been gone

My revenge against the world
is to believe everything you say
Balance as you are on a pile of empty bottles
And even when the world has taken
all your defenses away
There's no way that you can be true

I'll believe you

Don't you get sick of party favors
That start with a whimper and end with a whisper
And even when every single one of your gestures is a lie
To me, you always ring true

I'll believe you

The first time the cops came
they were like brand new friends
The second time they came they were a little concerned
They said, “We know all about you
You're like moths to a flame."
Yeah we speak too much and none of it's ever true

What happens to the rat that stops running the maze
The doctors think it's dumb when it's just disappointed
I meant it when I said that I would never see you again But no matter how dumb I get
there's one thing I'll always do

I'll believe you

You saw my face fall into a well-worn groove
A child starts playing a role
and ends up type-cast in every movie
I took cold comfort in your touch
and now I'm laughing high and dry
Yeah I felt everything I'm gonna feel
Cried all the real tears I'm gonna cry

I don't care what you dreams you have
I don't care about your second sight
Now that you've cut yourself off
You're not even sure things are clear and bright

Well did you let it take hold of your soul
Was it like moonrise over your desert shore
Tell me is it more evil to lose your heart
Or to go on as before

What could come around
What could make a difference to me now
What could come around
Nothing could bring me down

I get warm to any touch
So why does yours get so cold
At first you didn't mean very much
Now you rule my life

Watch your house of cards take a deep breath
Watch it breathe word for word
Fifty-two secrets the justice would never protect
Fifty-two secrets justice never heard

What could come around
What could make a difference to me now
What could come around
Nothing could bring me down

How thirsty is your soil
Indifferent hearts never keep anything long
I spend my time looking around
For something to bring me down

There's so little love left in my heart for anyone
I'm like an ant on your map
You can see me going down the drain

Will you keep me around

I've got nothing to hold on to
The sound the air makes as I fall
Is like a laugh that was torn
From way nothing was before
From when things just seemed the same
How did I get so far down

Will you keep me around

If you don't want me, why don't you say
Why don't you tell me
I've been cut off for so long from anyone
My face is like a broken map and I can't go anywhere

Will you keep me around

Shuffling through people like cards
I can't find anyone to take my losing hand
Winning streak left me high and dry
A winning streak that slowly drains from the land

I'm hanging by a thread
Forget me, I pray to the day
Tired of being stuck on a pin
Forget me, don't see me this way
Jumping out of my skin

Hanging by a thread
Shuffling through people like cards
Let them blow around like sand
Maybe it'll uncover some beauty in their eyes
Maybe it'll give me a place to breathe
Maybe give me some room to stand

I'm hanging by a thread

When you left you took all memory of me with
Leaving me with no hope of every being loved
And now like the air I'm blowing and blowing
With no hope of ever being seen

Did you hear the one about Mr. Ed
Well he said,
"I'm this way because of the things I've seen
But I would rather count on your love instead
Daily eating my weight in hay."

And I hate to see a good thing just go to waste
Honey it's a little weak for my taste

Well I've been praying a lot lately
It's because I no longer have a TV
Just a flourescent hangover to light the way
Between the things you say and the things I see

I just called you up to see If you wanted to go out
and drink a little wine
And waste some time on a rollercoaster ride
But you say it's too dangerous to lead an empty life

And I hate to see all your sweet words just go to waste
But honey they're a little weak for my taste

Well I'm an expert in all things that nature abhors
Your look of disgust when I touched your skin
And I try to figure what the world needs me for
So I replay the scene again and again

And I can see you try and put me in my place
Honey that's a little weak for my taste

Capp Street is an underwater cave
That's filled with crutches and canes
And faces that were washed away
Away from innocence and pain

They don't care who lost the one
They just wanna get the whole thing over and done

They keep me up all night
They sing songs to the moon
Wishing they could close their eyes
But they're waiting for Jacques Cousteau

The girls outside they're not waiting for the sun
They just wanna get the whole thing over and done

Seems like bowl history down
To a forty-five minute wait
A big boredom filled with stars
All burning with hate

Yeah we had a good time, we had some fun
And now we wanna get the whole thing over and done

I lay all my songs at Johnny Mathis' feet
I said, "Johnny tell me
Can you tell me how to live?
All my hopes are unraveling and I just lost my lease
On my house without love, doors, or windows
Without peace."

And with a wave of his jewel-encrusted hand
Across the glittering Las Vegas scene he said,
"You gotta learn how to disappear in the silk and amphetamine."

Johnny looked at my songs and he said,
"Well at first guess, never in my life
Have I ever seen such a mess.
Why do you say everything as if you were a thief?
Like what you've stolen has no value
Like what you preach is far from belief?"

And with a wave of his red white and blue hand
Across the glittering Hollywood scene he said,
"You gotta learn how to disappear in the silk and amphetamine."

Johnny looked at my old collection of punk rock posters
Anonymous scenes of disaffection choas and torture
And he said, "You were on the right track
But you're a lamb jumping for the knife."
He said, "A real showman knows how
to disappear in the spotlight."

When I spend too much time alone, I get afraid
Afraid that you're gonna leave me breathing
Afraid of what they'd throw in the way
In the way of something simple like leaving

"Forgive me if you can," said the sad cashier
"For the dollars and cents our love has become.
I didn't sell you anything my dear
You were a scarecrow looking for a bonfire to sleep on."

"Believe me if you can," said the pile of bones
"I think that this is all there is left to see.
Just waiting for my perscription to come
‘Cause every sec in hell dissolves more of me."

And all of heaven's ten thousand whores
Are on a partyline to his big toe
Singing Ooooo I just can't do it anymore
So don't bother asking now you know

Don't bother me with little things
Pennies, nickels, quarters, and dimes
They've all taken me as far as I'm gonna go
So don't bother asking now you know
Believe me if you can

If you ask the man in the tollbooth
Well I'm sure he'd tell you
That on the highways there's a million ways
If you want to disappear
Should you take a left or a right,
Well I'm sure I don't care
All I want out of life is to hide somewhere
Will you find me?
Each Halloween your faces get more frightening
The closer I look the more I can see
Your limits begin to show
The astronaut won first prize,
It was was a ton of moon dust
All I see in his eyes are years of hate and mistrust
Will you find me?
"come out come out wherever you are,"
Said the fisherman to the sea
"oh I miss you, I miss you love. where can you be?
If I have to wait anymore then I won't believe
In the love that I've known
Or in the life that I have known."
Will you find me?

Lost again, lost again
I closed my eyes and kept on going
Now I'm gone and nothing's gonna endure
Unless I love you even more

Found again, am I found again
By your hands, my home is in your hands
But that's a touch I don't deserve anymore
Unless I love you even more

A stubborn heart can stay broken forever
But someday the tightrope's gonna break
Will I fall into a cool cool river
Or will I fall into a frozen lake

Saved again, am I saved again
By your eyes, the tears in your eyes
Your tears are the only thing that makes me sure
I've got to love you even more

And your tears are the only thing that'll endure
Unless I love you even more

C'mon beautiful we'll go sit on the front lawn
We'll watch the fireflies as the sun goes down
They don't live too long, just a flash and then they're gone
We'll laugh at them and watch the sun go down

You're so pretty baby
You're the prettiest thing I know
You're so pretty baby
Where did you go

Tell my why you don't sleep anymore
Tell me what you sit up all night waiting for

Are you waiting for loneliness to paralyze
Are you waiting for Sister Midnight to unleash the tide

You're so pretty baby
You're the prettiest thing I know
You're so pretty baby
Where did you go

Finish the prayer that started as a kiss
The overwhelming dream of happiness
I'll give you all of my good luck
For the overwhelming dream that's killing us

You're so pretty baby
You're the prettiest thing I know
You're so pretty baby
Where did you go

C'mon we'll go sit on the front lawn
I'll hold you in my arms and we're gone
Here and gone, firefly

She's all dressed up and waiting for a bus
in the hot sunshine
She just wants to kill some time
But it looks like time's gonna kill her first
So she goes to the cocktail lounge to lounge and says
"I'm gonna have a real good time."
As she sinks into the capitalist chair
I don't think that she really cares

If somewhere there's people living

She finally gets on the bus
and sinks next to a very nice lady
Who just got out of the hospital
She had a major operation
The doctor left a knife in her throat
And now it picks up radio waves
You can turn the dial 'til it comes up in your hand
Maybe you'll pick up a populated land

Somewhere there's people living

C'mon let's go out and really drunk tonight
You can be Miss Bottomless pit of 1983
And I can be Mr. Out Like a Light
C'mon we got a lot to lose
So maybe we can lose it all tonight
And then when they shoot us down
We won't be around

We'll be somewhere where there's people living

Laughingstock proves that the world is made of rock
That some grow happily on, but that's hard for some
You and your friend and
all the rest of God's sweet children
Never weak, always strong
That's hard for some

You ask me why

You're just a couple of strangers in a bar
Giving me the chance to explain myself away
Some entertainment to give away
In your eyes I see the rest of life just passes by
And that's hard for some

You ask me why
That's your alibi
Isn't everything clear
No clouds in the sky

The laughingstock proves that the world is made of rock
That's hard for some

Well you don't want me to touch you
You just want me to shut up
You don't want me to think what I'm thinking
Or the devil in my throat to come up
And you get so nervous that everything's a joke

If I have to be this lonely
I may as well be alone

So I go back to my room
To my room by the freeway
I fall onto my bed like snow
Like the cold I never woke you
And the killing followed me home
Hey what's song you whistling

If I have to be this lonely
I may as well be alone

When you wake up in the morning
You won't remember that anyone was here
And that life is so rewarding
And I guess that you're the grand prize my dear

When you wake up in the morning
You won't remember that anyone was here
If I have to be this lonely
I may as well be alone

I sat up all morning
And I waited for you
With my blue and grey shirt on
Yeah, I thought that's my lucky one

And I'll sit and face the road now
I don't have a heavy load now
I got nothing to keep my hanging around here from now on,
From now on

Where's the compassion
To make your tired heart sing?
Because I'm tired of being a spokesman
For every tired thing

There's nothing in the world outside
Just some things that I can see from the side
I'm just a shy boy sitting in a house
When everyone is gone from now on,
From now on

I sat up all morning
And I waited for you
With my blue and grey shirt on,
Yeah that's my favorite one

I sat up all morning
So why didn't you come?
Because now I just sing my songs for people that are gone
From now on,
From now on,
From now on,
From now on.

Bad liquor, bad liquor
Who took the good out of the bottle
Salt water, salt water

The moon, that moon
It's the saddest bugger of them all
Bad liquor, bad liquor
At the bottom of Niagara Falls

Bad liquor, bad liquor
It's pulling my strings tonight
Salt water, salt water
There's nothing that I do right
And all you people, you people
You're the luckiest people of all
Bad liquor, bad liquor
At the bottom of Niagara Falls

Bad liquor, bad liquor
It's pulling my strings tonight
Salt water, salt water
There's nothing that I do right

I thought there was more life than finishing a dream
I thought gravity helped you to dance
but it just makes you sink
I stand in the way of people who stopped caring
Numb hands and feet and ears long past hearing

They sing now you're defeated baby
Fall on your face in the divine way
Don't worry about anything, no
It's just the world having its little way

Justice ain't going to be yours tonight
You got a pure bright soul but Heaven don't need it
Sit on your hands and talk to the friend you never had
Angels laugh with joy and they make you scream
At the strong open crowd, want the great fight
Push up against you and then sustain the right

Now you're defeated baby
World revolves around you
Now you're defeated baby
I really showed you

Now you're defeated baby
Now that you're too big to hold
Now you're defeated baby
You're worth more to me than gold

Here you are again
Another stupid party again
A celebration for nothing

Your eyes are following
The kings and the queens of the zoo
Immune in their black clothing
They let the world down

And they let you go
Please don't go home now
Home is a place to rob
Home is alone in the mob
Home is an unheard sob
Jenny don't go home now
Please don't you go home now

Here you are again
Another stupid party again
Everyone here thinks that when they die
You will be there to let them in
Jenny don't go
Please don't go home now

Time for me to go away
I'll get a new name, I'll get a new face
Time for me to go away
No I don't belong in this place

But I'm not gonna ask you why
You think the parade has passed you by
Or if everything good is gone into the western sky

I hate to see you look that way
All the beauty has left your face
That's such an easy thing to give away
That's impossible to replace

So I'll take you in my two weekends
And I'll throw you so high
Watch you fall forever in the western sky
And when you land you'll turn into some kind of prize
Into somebody's sweet prize

I won't see you no more
Who am I to rate that high
The world's a shadow of what went before
The world gives off none of its own light

So please be happy baby
And please don't cry
Even though the parade has passed us by
Well you can still see it shining in the western sky
So why won't you stop crying
You can still see it shining

Try and try, leave a trace
And all we ever leave is a sour taste
You're half asleep when I crash through
I'm like a drop of water on the dry sand
I'm a scar across your face
I'm an itch that's driving you mad

Highway five

Takes so much to make us feel like we're alive
A weary traveler at a smooth seventy-five
Make pretend the landscape ain't so dry
Do anything to maintain a lie
To the left, a beautiful California landscape
Dead ends in the sky
And to the right, beautiful mountains rise
High and dry
Another futile expression of bitterness
Another overwhelming sensation of uselessness

Make pretend that the landscape ain't so dry
Do anything to maintain a lie
Make pretend that the lover ain't so barren
Though in Los Angeles things like that don't matter

Highway five

Some of them are kind and it's phony
Some of them are kind and it's okay
Generous but where's the charity
To lose or give away

Some of them smile and it's phony
Some of them smile and it's not
Some of them never tell you
Just how much they've got

Falling
Hey, I don't see the bottom
Are you gonna be my last harbor

She'll soon find a way to make you feel fine
She's laughing and she's clapping her hands
As she walks across your cup of wine

She'll make it real easy for you
All you have to do is remember her name
She's almost your passport to the world
She's almost your ticket out again

Falling
Hey, I don't see the bottom
Are you gonna be my last harbor

Some of them smile and it's phony
Some of them smile and it's okay
Some of them never tell you
Just how much love they'll give away

Lost again, lost again
I closed my eyes and kept on going
Now I'm gone and nothing's gonna endure
Unless I love you even more

Found again, am I found again
By your hands, my home is in your hands
But that's a touch I don't deserve anymore
Unless I love you even more

A stubborn heart can stay broken forever
But someday the tightrope's gonna break
Will I fall into a cool cool river
Or will I fall into a frozen lake

Saved again, am I saved again
By your eyes, the tears in your eyes
Your tears are the only thing that makes me sure
I've got to love you even more

And your tears are the only thing that'll endure
Unless I love you even more

The eyes of the world see what they want to see
People always boil things down to nothing
They'll see your love as worthless and wrong
They eyes of the world leave you with nothing

It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should take it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should unwrap it
It's your birthday baby
Here's some luck you should grab it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a smile you should unwrap it

There's still a few drinks between you and closing time
If you break her heart you'll break your own
Are you afraid that all her roads led right you
Are you afraid that all your roads led right to her

It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should take it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should unwrap it
It's your birthday baby
Here's some luck you should grab it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a smile you should unwrap it

No matter how long you stay with her
You know she loves you
You could make her pain count for something
Even though she hasn't been a girl for very long
Her heart is beautiful, beautiful and strong

It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should take it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should unwrap it
It's your birthday baby
Here's some luck you should grab it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a smile you should unwrap it

I tried to run away but i was frozen in place
My body was mad of sawdust and my heart just split
My old friend rigor mortis started to breathe in my face
The air started to drain out of my spirit

Help me, can you help me?

A century of my tears wouldn't even fill a thimble
The war of the class clown is never won
But nothing makes me laugh anymore
And nothing makes me craw
And nothing makes me feel like i belong

Help me, can you help me?

I can't believe all the stupid things i'm saying now
Either i've shaken the world off my back
Or else i've gone senile
I thought your love was just a great big lie
Now love you is the only thing that's gonna get me by

Help me, can you help me?

All i have to offer you is archaeology and christmas
And we'll turn our backs on what the world has in store
And twist the light so that it shines down on us
And wait together for the touch of something more

Help me, can you help me?

An agony waiting for someone to tell you to shut up
But don't stop even if there's no moon to hold you
Or any other lifeless rock
I can tell you put all your hopes into the shoes you buy
Your loneliness has feet that walk it's got wings that fly
And it does sing a song
Love doesn't belong to anyone

They don't see the coffin only the nails their lights
Too bright for your home movies
They'll set you adrift disappointed and starving
But never as hungry as the sharks
Your desperate suit made out of puppet strings
doesn't last very long
Desperate in the quiet
you're sinking below mouthing the words to some
Old sixties song, a quiet song
Love doesn't belong to anyone

When you're finally silenced and led into alleys
And led into dark corners where no one can hear
Where what you say doesn't lead anywhere
but darker corners of your fear
There must be more to it
than the pilgrim's hateful dream of love and peace
I know I've had that vision too
An old key on a rusty chain of keys
A key that turns you your whole life long
Love doesn't belong to anyone

I don't need anyone's love
I couldn't afford it anyway
With my penny's worth of hope
It's not funny but it's a joke
And I got a good one for the collection agency
It's a wish
That I could wish the world away

Don't watch TV it's all lies
I watch TV day and night
I believe everything I see
And I can't turn it off
The only thing that held me together in the good old day
Was a wish
That I could wish the world away

Where's the message in the bottles
Where's the miracle in the pills
Where's the nurse with that needle
Where's all of my free will
Count down backwards from ten and everything's okay
You can wish the world away

I never had a lot to bring to the party
But a self-importance far beyond vanity
And a manic depression that just wouldn't go away
Like peckinpaw with a bouquet of poison ivy

How many six packs does it take to screw in a light
It's good to be alive baby, sometimes it's alright

Nothing like a little vacation once in awhile
At the cable car hotel san francisco style
For three nights and three days
Jesus hung on a boom box while it played


Every single song ever sung by billie holiday

How many six packs does it take to screw in a light
It's good to be alive baby, sometimes it's alright

Afterwards I'm on california street looking at the sky
The sun is going down pouring salt into my eyes
Like he said: when the light goes out so does fear
And you only see beauty as it begins to disappear

How many six packs does it take to screw in a light
It's good to be alive baby, sometimes it's alright

I should trade my heart in for a watch
'Cause all I do is watch the numbers slip away
My lips silently repeat the countdown
'Cause it's too hard to say

I always knew that you would leave

Do you know where the hell we are
All the birds are too quiet in the trees
Frightened by the sweet things we say to each other
Frightened by the things we make them see

I always knew that you would leave

Like hunger that you always have to feed
Like when Don Rickles' spotlight goes blue
The countdown tells me I'm better off alone
And so empty without you

I always knew that you would leave

Hello Amsterdam my name is Fernando
Hello Amsterdam I bet you've seen my kind before
Another sad tourist with his eyes rolling in his head
Another sad tourist who never had a drink before

Hello Amsterdam you didn't like my Waterloo
Hello Amsterdam I wish I had something to offer you
Tail between my leg I crawl back to the canal
All alone with my eyes rolling like the moon

Superstar

There once was a white elephant
that escaped from the zoo
Got to the big city and didn't know what to do
Had a sticker on his shirt that said,
'Hello my name is unclean'
I swear they would have liked us
if we'd played Dancing Queen

Hello Amsterdam don't I look cool in my white shirt
Hello Amsterdam don't I look hip in my red tie
We came from America so you could share in the pride
Guilt, greed, and genocide

Superstar

The revolving door
I'm stuck in it, my love
Your cold cold heart that never opens
And never tires

What chance do I have?

Your meteor shower, my love
Did you want to wish on some lucky star
Or did you just want to watch them fall
And burn out

What chance do I have?

Your disappearing act my love
That's an old stand by
And I just want your touch
To never tire

What chance do I have?

I gave up my cynicism I gave up my hard shell
I gave up everything that would cause you the least pain
I'm immodest as a child old before it's time
Why should I hide something I've no chance to see
My night was sleepless so all through my day
I took the next shade of weariness down to LA

I'm off like a shotgun out of your reach
My self-importance my mind-numbing haze
No I don't want to know about my life
No I don't want to know what I'm thinking or feeling
Ignorance is bliss but babe we won't stay that way
We'll escape heaven somehow down in LA

I can make your future easier to predict
Hot as a devil and cold as an addict

People usually just make me tired
The plague of always deserving something better
God save me from the rewards I deserve
The one for giving up hope the on for the love that I serve
If I opened my heart then you'd be washed away
Down the bone-dry rivers that drain LA
My nights are all sleepless so all through my day
I like to take shades of weariness all through LA

The wind pulls me around
and everything it touches turns weak
An antique or an eyelash stuck to your cheek
The paper thin skin of a crowd chasing you
Down a long and dead-end trail
With a guilt no alibi can curtail

The world is held together by the wind
That blows through Gena Rowlands' hair

Land ahoy I fill my weak lungs with this joy
Dizzy on the deck I hope I last until we land
With an envelope burning a hole in my hand
Bearing the names of the winners who walked away
From the games that the slaves love to play
To replace the air and the sea
Leaving you no way to fly to me

The world is held together by the wind
That blows through Gena Rowlands' hair

Through the window
the warm summer air does a two-step
I wish there was some way I could keep it
And clear away the Mission Street in my head that
Keeps this watery weariness in our bed and
Sets up more windmills that I'll waste my time missing
When it should just be your lips that I'm kissing

Don't tell me that you don't hear
The clock ticking on the shelf by our bed it's near
There's a light turning green just like fear
There's a light that turns green
and leaves us without a prayer

The world is held together by the wind
That blows through Gena Rowlands' hair

I broke my promise
That I wouldn't write another song about you
I guess I lied, after twelve years I still love you
On the phone you sound happy but a heart can cry
And you don't see the tears

I'm glad you went back

The california sun always shines but
San francisco is a cold place
To have a run of bad luck
People like to shine their little flashlights in your face

I'm glad you went back

The blue blue sky is made of butcher knives
And everyone you meet is wearing some stupid disguise
In columbus there's not spotlight to dazzle your eyes
I hope you find someone who loves you
'cause only love can save you

I broke my promise 'cause I've missed you for so long
I can feel you in my life when you're happy
No matter where you are

I'm glad you went back

The thorn in my side is gone
It was too sharp for the laws of the world
Like my need for you
It doesn't register on the scale of the world
When they talk about the strength they usually mean
The way blood sticks to the hand
When they talk about strength I know
They don't mean a touch that only love understands

I'll never leave you
Love never lies
I swear you could see me
If you could open your eyes

There's a beast in the trees
Dogging my heart,
step by step
I begged it to leave me with something
'Cause my fear was like a wind
Tearing the song from my breath

I'll never leave you
Love never lies
I swear you could see me
If you could open your eyes

It was a long hot summer day
We're in the living room watching the light drain away
Too tired to read what your cards foretold
inside of a yawn
When she said,
"The first time you show me your true heart I'll be gone."

The numb ringing after the bell was rung
Playing red light green light, such timeless fun
There was no way to kickstart any conversation
It was like the beginning of 2001
when she said, "I'll be gone."

The air isn't moving and
the women have nothing on their lips
But the kind of breath that you keep for the hospital bed
Pregnant with the timeless drop and the wind
How the air leaches the gold out of everything elusive and stolen
I'll be gone

Lost again, lost again
I closed my eyes and kept on going
Now I'm gone and nothing's gonna endure
Unless I love you even more

Found again, am I found again
By your hands, my home is in your hands
But that's a touch I don't deserve anymore
Unless I love you even more

A stubborn heart can stay broken forever
But someday the tightrope's gonna break
Will I fall into a cool cool river
Or will I fall into a frozen lake

Saved again, am I saved again
By your eyes, the tears in your eyes
Your tears are the only thing that makes me sure
I've got to love you even more

And your tears are the only thing that'll endure
Unless I love you even more

All the leaves are brown (All the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (And the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (On a winter's day)
I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm)
If I was in L.A. (If I was in L.A.)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

Stopped into a church
I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees (Got down on my knees)
And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)
You know the preacher liked the cold (Preacher liked the cold)
He knows I'm gonna stay (Knows I'm gonna stay)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

All the leaves are brown (All the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (And the sky is gray)
I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)
On a winter's day (On a winter's day)
If I didn't tell her (If I didn't tell her)
I could leave today (I could leave today)
California dreamin' (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day (California dreamin')
On such a winter's day

Big nights are black and blue
They get cold and they get wet
And they're calling out for you
Like no one you ever met

No one dreams in the hours around me
The more I lose the more you find me
I lose track with every kiss
We shouldn't be isolated like this

Yeah, you're my friend
And when we're lost I'll still hold your hand
Revealed in white when the shadows fail
In any shadow that you can name
I'll be the shadow of your name

Hold the prize close to your heart
Prizes made for those who failed
Hold the prize away from you
So maybe you can hold me as well

When time peels off your statued skin
I'll still be fooled by what remains
Yeah whatever's left of you will be my dream

Yeah, you're my friend
And when we're drunk
I'll still hold your hand
Revealed in white when the shadows fail
In any shadow that you can name
I'll be the shadow of your name
In any shadow that you name
I'll be the shadow of the name
I'll be the shadow of your name

The hospital wouldn't admit you
So we go home again
Right back to the same old room
Right back to the same old thing

But you know you're just another girl
Come from some carry-out in hell
You're just another story how they fucked up the life
Of a sweet girl

We'll sit and look at the street
Watch the El Dorados roll by
You can't look your murderers
You can't look them in the eye

But you know they can always spot you
From a mile away
They give you anything you want
They'll do anything you say

And outside this bar there's no one alive
Outside this bar how does anyone survive
Together you and me
you know we've gotta destroy this world
C'mon darling we've gotta destroy this world

And I remember when
Your girlfriend would put you on display
You'd be the life of the party
Til they come and drag you away

But in the end we'll watch the pattern
As it begins to tear
We'll see the chaos that's underneath
All the clothes that the angels wear

And outside this bar there's no one alive
Outside this bar how does anyone survive
Together you and me
you know we'll never destroy this world
C'mon baby I wish we could destroy this world
Outside this bar

Together you and me turn this quiet night into silence
Together we'll turn this love into violence

I hold your dress, your dress is blue
I'm a coin that fell into the sea
Now stumbling around, I'm lost from view
Do you know what became of me

He can see with his eyes closed
He'll leave you something to remember him by
Valentine said no way out
No way out and no goodbye

Now you're finally at my mercy
Now you're at my beck and call
You were born with just one kiss
That's all it took

He comes to this bar, he gets desperate
He's been shot and killed by love
Sits at the bar thinks about all those angels in heaven
And offer him to the overpass above

I hold your dress, your dress is blue
I am a coin that fell into the sea
Stumbling around but now I'm lost from view
On the losing side of eternity

Now you're finally at my mercy
Now you're at my beck and call
You were born with just one kiss
That's all it took

Gary tell me why the leaves on the trees
Are falling this early as the spring
Why the leaves on the trees that are falling on us
Are like the words to the song
I've lived my whole life to sing

If you swim too much you'll drown

If we sit here and drink enough beer
We'll be two inflatable dolls in a hooker's bad dream
When the storm reaches us we'll be two blind drunks
Who've absorbed through the skin
a whole lifetime of kerosene

If you drink too much you will dream
And the shame of my life is watching you

Gary, I think we've worn out our welcome
They're waiting for us to leave
Gary, they've got a new kind of person
A newer, stronger, cleaner breed

And I think I just came in my pants
Oh baby do you want to dance

Everything collapses here, slow motion
And the roots of the dance and the stain in my pants
Are beyond any small man's conception

If you drink too much you will drown
And the shame of my life is watching you drown

I remember how I let you down
Everything you say reminds me of the pain
How you lost your dignity
Passing in and out of a dream

Is there some secret I'm supposed to know
Is there some secret I'd always miss
'Cause there's no dignity when you have to live
Within the boundaries of a kiss

And the nightwatchman
Yeah he's asleep
Nightwatchman
Oh come on tell me what's wrong
Nightwatchman
Is the night too long

Is the same lie you gave me before
I don't care anything you say is just fine
I'll just sit and watch the traffic passing by outside
The will in the world it's the prevailing tide

You're supposed to watch the night as it passes by
You're never supposed to need anyone
'Cause once I knew the secret to happiness
I knew it was oh but now it's gone

And the nightwatchman
Yeah he's asleep
Nightwatchman
I can't wake him up
Watchman
C'mon tell me what's wrong
Nightwatchman
Is the night too long

Storm picks up valuable things
Places mirrors at my feet
A wardrobe filled with blood
And nasty lies to repeat

Well let me give you something
'Cause everything's for free
Yeah let me give you something
Before you take it from me

With a magic finger
I'll smooth the lines on your face
And no bad feelings linger
But your disgust and my disgrace

You wanna get excited
So I'll push you too far
You wanna get excited
That's just too bad

Here they come
They've got shotguns and transparent skin
And they will stand around like rain
And they all want in
So come on in, you're welcome in

Storm picks up valuable things
Places mirrors at my feet
A wardrobe filled with blood
And nasty lies to repeat

You wanna get excited
So I'll push you too far
You wanna get excited
That's just too bad

Here they come
They've got shotguns and transparent skin
And they will stand around like rain
And they all want in
So come on in, you're welcome in

Here they come
Tell me how you know my name

You got me good, you did the right thing
And nothing matters everything's understood
You did the right thing
Are you gonna be my judge and jury at night
'Cause I'm busy baby with the electric light

I'm not afraid of it why are you, why are you
C'mon tell me the truth
I was just a little bit lonely and that's not a crime
I was crying for the very last time I
was caught blind staring into your electric light

But I'm never going back again
I'm never going to go back again

At a drink booth for a straight pack in the room
You could see me down here again
That is not a very pretty sight
I can see pretty face but you're raped every night
It's all plain as day in the electric light

But I'm never going back again
No, I'm never going to go back again

Where are all your brothers and sisters?
'Cause I hope they're not all like you
Where are all your brothers and sisters?
'Cause I get so lonely when there's just you

Why do you hate me so bad?
'Cause I was the best friend you ever had
Tell me why you gave up so easily
Yeah I guess that you just lost your head

The same water falls in lightning and snow
The same scene of failure every night
The same echoes reach me from far away
Echoes of the end and the feign in my old day

Caught a small scene on my mom's TV
She watched it when she was lonely at night
Oh God I hate you
Telling me what's gonna happen the rest of my life

The same water falls in lightning and snow
The same scene of failure every night
It's read all off of your face
It's in everything you say
Echoes in the end
And the fade of night and day

Get so lonely

Now that we've perfected the art of love
Now all the lights shine on me and misery
My good friend misery

You can be cured by a single touch
You can get up and walk away
Anything that you say

The drive of the road again
'Cause I'll be your only friend
Right before we touch the ground
The night asleep, loving sound
Sweet loving sound

Now that we've perfected the art of love
Now all the lights shine on me and misery
My good friend misery

You can be cured by a single touch
You can get up and walk away
Anything that you say

The drive of the road again
'Cause I'll be your only friend
Right before we touch the ground
The night asleep, loving sound
Sweet loving sound

This year, oh what's the look this year
Is it the look of things to come
Has it all been said, has it all been done
The sun upon the sea
Did you dress that way for me

This year everyone just stood around
And watched my family tree burn down
Watched it crumble on the ground
Making no protesting sound
As if justice was finally found

And anything beautiful
That you can contrive
Has no desire to survive

This year the mirror the wall
It cracked right through the middle
And spring turned into fall
Love the most beautiful killer of them all

i'll sit inside, emptying a bar
plugging up my brain
killing off my hopes
i'm an idiot king
shoot 'em down one by one
you and me both, we live in a life we don't belong
and the clothes we wear, they always tear
those second-hand clothes, they always tear
those second-hand hopes, they always tear

away down my street
way down my street
i walk, i walk
the sun's a prize for my weak eyes
i put my blindfold on
how do i get out of here?

move along Joe, move along Jack
the burning road welcomes you back
i'm high enough now to turn out the sun
i'm king enough now to close my eyes
and watch the ruins grow like my alibis
like we're already dead, like we're empty as hell
we're jewels on a chain, yeah we're jewels on a chain

away down my street
way down my street
i walk, i walk
The sun's a prize for my weak eyes
i put my blindfold on
how do I get out of here?

because there is no peace
there is no peace

hey, hey God give me a hand
i'm in garbage land
hey man
how do I get out of here?
hey, hey how do I get out of here?
come on man, how do I get out of here?

Now that we've perfected the art of love
Now all the lights shine on me and misery
My good friend misery

You can be cured by a single touch
You can get up and walk away
Anything that you say

The drive of the road again
'Cause I'll be your only friend
Right before we touch the ground
The night asleep, loving sound
Sweet loving sound

try to remember the sights and sounds of a forgotten land
like a tourist in the burial ground goes digging in the sand
until some spark makes the forest burn
some sacred heart makes the chaos turn
reflected with your name in lights
when you're dead, you'll glow at night.

i'm the announcer on your favorite show
why do you try to catch my eye
'cause I'll just give you a real rich reward
i'll say good, goodbye
every summer we fall in love,
lay on the grass and watch the stars fall.
every summer we fall in love,
we get kinda warm and that's just about all.

your dad pushed you on a silver swing
with Judy Garland and her crew
upstairs where there's no air to breathe
see how much damage I can do
you make your puppet speak and move
you make it dance and make it groove
and make it sing those sweet songs for me
make it have some sympathy

i'm a good man,
i'm a bad man.
i'm a good man,
i'm a bad man.

i'll sit inside, emptying a bar
plugging up my brain
killing off my hopes
i'm an idiot king
shoot 'em down one by one
you and me both, we live in a life we don't belong
and the clothes we wear, they always tear
those second-hand clothes, they always tear
those second-hand hopes, they always tear

away down my street
way down my street
i walk, i walk
the sun's a prize for my weak eyes
i put my blindfold on
how do i get out of here?

move along Joe, move along Jack
the burning road welcomes you back
i'm high enough now to turn out the sun
i'm king enough now to close my eyes
and watch the ruins grow like my alibis
like we're already dead, like we're empty as hell
we're jewels on a chain, yeah we're jewels on a chain

away down my street
way down my street
i walk, i walk
The sun's a prize for my weak eyes
i put my blindfold on
how do I get out of here?

because there is no peace
there is no peace

hey, hey God give me a hand
i'm in garbage land
hey man
how do I get out of here?
hey, hey how do I get out of here?
come on man, how do I get out of here?

I know what you tell yourself,
You tell yourself
Look in the mirror,
Look in the mirror what does it show?
I hear you counting
I know you're adding up the score
I know, oh yes I know
What you tell yourself,
You tell yourself

Ever since Eden we're built
For pleasing everyone knows
And ever since Adam cracked his ribs
And let us go
I know, oh yes I know
What you tell yourself,
You tell yourself

Who taught you how to lie so well
And to believe in each and every word you say
Who told you that nothing about you is alright
It's just no use, it's just no good
You'll never be O.K.

Well I know, I know that wrong's been done to you
"It's such a tough world," that's what you say
Well I know, I know it's easier said than done
But that's enough girl,
Give it away give it, give it all away

Tell yourself that you're not pretty,
Look at you, you're beautiful
Tell yourself that no one sees Plain Jane Invisible to me, just tell yourself
Tell yourself you'll never be like
The anorexic beauties in the magazines
Just a bargain basement Barbie doll,
No belle du jour, no femme fatale
Just tell yourself
Tell yourself there's nothing worse
Than the pain inside and the way it hurts
But tell yourself it's nothing new
Cause everybody feels it too,
They feel it too
And there's just no getting 'round the fact
That you're thirteen right now

Well I always walk tall
I got a board in my back
Like I'm about to fly
Or I'm about to attack
So ain't it a pity,
Oh yeah ain't it a shame
My name is not in your book
I got a heavenly name
I got a heavenly name

And my friends do well
Under my watching eye
I keep away the killers
A better man than I
And now the grass is greener
And the tables are turned
And when the judge is calling
They use a heavenly term
They use a heavenly term

I always get the best seat
I always get the best view
I get everything I want
And I even got you
'Cause I'm the luckiest man
I'm the latest star
And everyone loves me and my heavenly smile
They love my heavenly smile
They love my heavenly smile

With an ounce of gold and an ounce of sage
I'll give you beautiful dreams
I'll give you beautiful dreams
I'll put it right up front
I'll make you understand
You see yourself, lover, through my eyes
Across the desert sand

Your touch is such a tender thing
That I'm afraid to deal back too much
Because there's reasons live in these blue skies
You're such an easy touch
You're such an easy touch

I'll give you the future
I'll give you the past
I'll give you diamonds
In the lonely mess where we got our name
Violence is such a good friend
Yeah, it's such a good friend
Your arms are feathers someone caught
And they're as lovely and pure as the rain
Rain is made of more than water
As injury is made of more than pain

I'll give you the future
I'll give you the past
I'll give you diamonds

I'll give you...
I'll give you...
For your beautiful face
For your beautiful face
I'll give you...
If you think it will do any good
I'll give you...

Hold on to your love
Though it's only words
And they won't stay
Hold on to your love
Though it's just a railing on a balcony
Hold back my tears
There must be no rain on a sunny day

Please sing for me
Keep out the clouds that sit on my shoulder
Hold on to your love
a€?Cause you've got nothing else today
Maybe we can think of something else
A finer pleasure
Something else
A better pleasure
Something else
A finer pleasure
Something else
A better pleasure
Something else

I'll say goodbye to love
No one ever cared if I should live or die
Time and time again the chance for love
has passed me by
And all I know of love
is how to live without it
I just can't seem to find it.

So I've made my mind up I must live
my life alone
And though it's not the easy way
I guess I've always known
I'd say goodbye to love.

There are no tomorrows for this heart of mine
Surely time will lose these bitter memories
And I'll find that there is someone to believe in
And to live for something I could live for.

All the years of useless search
Have finally reached an end
Loneliness and empty days will be my
only friend
From this day love is forgotten
I'll go on as best I can.

What lies in the future
is a mystery to us all
No one can predict the wheel of fortune
as it falls
There may come a time when I will see that
I've been wrong
But for now this is my song.

And it's goodbye to love
I'll say goodbye to love

ladies and gentlemen it's time
for all the good that's in you to shine
for all the lights to lose their shade
for all the hate that's in you to fade

ladies and gentlemen it's time
for the maracas and the tambourines
to play them until they break or until day break
don't hide anymore its time to be seen

ladies and gentlemen it's time
for you to flash like a dancer who aims to please
time to unbutton every button of your embarrassment
time to be warm in the dark don't let the dancer freeze

ladies and gentlemen it's time
the bartender is looking you right in the eye
says I’m going to replace all that weak blood with my wine
if you can’t live with the truth go ahead try and live
with a lie

Nothing ever seems to make you happy
Are you miserable babe
or are you just plain mean?

Is there no joy in you?
Well come on, don't keep me waiting
Your broken heart might bring you heaven - to heaven
but it will not bring you another morning,
another morning with Kathleen

Someone does you wrong you give away your whole life to prove it
You wear your pain with pride, you refuse to remove it
You become the evil that plays with you like a doll
Big rules only make our lives small

Was your voice never heard?
Well come on, you know we're all listening
Justice will only bring you a prison - a prison
And it will not bring you another morning,
another morning with Kathleen

Now you're the big expert with the truth
Now you're all apple pie and you're bulletproof
There must have been a short 5 minutes somewhere in your youth
But when you laughed like water breaking over the broken land
When you laughed like the wind burning the sun blind on your face
When you laughed like water breaking over the broken dam
When you laughed like the starting gun at the start of a race
I wanna smash the violins at the symphony
I wanna see you smile with a real simple melody
It's when you wake up and you're glad that you're breathing
It's when you wake up and you're glad that you're living
Well, that's another morning
another morning with Kathleen.

love is only
a light in the sky
the shadow of a star
flying by
were so small compared to our hearts
were so small compared to - a lullaby
i didn't mean to makes you cry
i'm sorry that that I made you cry

did i make you throw away
all the lives you had
and the songs all the moons
all the lovers in your bed

were so small compared to our hearts
were so small compared to - a lullaby
i didn't mean to make you cry
I'm sorry i made you cry

did i take what
you couldn't really give
and it drained your soul
through your eyes
I'm sorry
i didn’t mean to make you cry
I'm sorry I made you cry

i cross the street to avoid her
no i cant live with her eyes
would it stain my hands to touch her
would her smile take me
the way gravity takes the skies
some of us were born to run
some were born to smile on you
everyone's got a job to do

i see her every day
she’s got a silver lining that i cant break
she's like something i threw away
a voice in a dream that says
oh love come awake
some want to show you where the light is
some want to stare at the view
everyone's got a job to do

god is on my side
he’s a prisoner that stares
that stares out of my eyes
and the prisoner don't care
some only live inside walls
some want to paint the horizon blue
everyone's got a job to do

you think that weakness is only
a way to give your heart to the enemy
but if the blow that knocks you out is the one you don't see
then why are you fighting

Listen

before you lose the ocean from your tears
before they carve your fists out of stone
before they finally force you to your knees
only love can set you free


you were no civilian you fought every war
but now you don't want to fear your heart anymore
you always did what was right and it was no good
now you stay awake in the dark and think your no good

Listen:
takes a baby years to know
what's making it cry
but what it wants aint no mystery
only love can set you free

and I've been so lucky

i’m just a normal man that's true
and i got nothing to brag about or maybe i do
that once i was loved by someone like you
that once i loved someone like you

Listen:
i was happy to live with a lie
cause then i’d have nothing to deny
except a face ruined by vanity
only love can set you free

swept under the bridge and out into the ocean

Mantovani the Mind Reader wears a blind fold 'cause
He thinks no one'll see the truth in his eyes
How he used to float like the breeze over postcard seas
Now it's a lifeboat that leaks his alibis

Knows what's in your wallet
Knows what turns your keys
Knows what heats up your lover
Knows what makes them freeze
Knows the fine reasoning of those who offer grief
And never touch forever and take pride in relief

They say you can be anyone that you want to
Under the sun anyone you want to
Well I'm sure it's true, I'm sure it's true
You can be anyone that you want to

He gets drunk from the thoughts
Of the sinners he entertains
And ends up feeling nothing just seeing others' pain
And the blind fold is off, his justice has become
A whiskey heart all daggers
And a frozen tongue

They say you can be anyone that you want to
Under the sun anyone you want to
Well I'm sure it's true, I'm sure it's true
You can be anyone you want to

What kills your soul
Is the pain you make
The fights you throw
The love you fake

And at the end of the show
He has a marvelous goodbye
A shot glass melody
For a tympani sky

They say you can be anyone that you want to
Under the sun anyone you want to
Well I'm sure it's true, I'm sure it's true
You can be anyone you want to

Well I'm sure it's true, I'm sure it's true
You can be anyone you want to

It's easy to leave
It's hard to stay behind and rest
With all the stupid things I believe
and watch my life drift like dust
I hope I make it to a warm heart
I hope that's where I belong
I hope I don't end up out of breath
Wherever the washed up are hung

I'm afraid of my own shadow because it's what I've become
Why do I waste my time with people who'll never love anyone?
My only sin, my only sin: I started hating my own skin
Home
Home
Home
I hope I make it home

I got lost and the road dragged on and on
I couldn't remember what I was chasing
No, or what I had become
I always thought my life looked much better at a distance
Now I'm just another set of eyes lost in the blur
and the only thing left in this world that bothers to hate me
is my pride
No one sees me, they don't need to to know I slipped away with the tide

Home
Home
Home
I hope I make it home
I got lost, I started hating my own skin

one day i left my room
in the evening
it was freezing
the sidewalk shining
but it was ok
i wasn't lonely
i wasn't no one
i was just hoping
for a bookstore
like the one i prayed for
and the music they play there
would be dinosaur jr
and the people who worked there
would be super skinny
and super unfriendly
and that would make me happy

what really kills me
is I'm only lonely
when i talk to you
yeah i should have told you
i just cant handle
your endless sorrow
all i wanted from you
was some tomorrow
but its ok
I'll find a bookstore
and buy Saul Bellow
& one about old ruins
for my mother
you never met her
she liked manhattans
they taste like mouthwash
she understood how
to be alone
all alone
all alone

maybe the worst is over
maybe the worst is over
maybe the worst is over
maybe the worst is over

i left my room
one evening
the sun had just gone down
but the sky still shining
and not even the stars
up in heaven
could throw their ashes
on the blue still burning
over this ugly city

and that makes me happy
and that makes me happy
and that makes me happy
and that makes me happy

my life is a sham,
i pretend that I'm me.
my life is a sham,
i pretend that I'm free.
wake up, wake up, it's time for me to go
america loves the minstrel show
i don't wanna hurt you, but if I do I'll pay,
i don't wanna hurt you, but if I do I'll pay.
i live in the dark where nothing can ever grow
america loves the minstrel show
it's the thief who's the first to accuse others they steal
it's the fake who claims to always know who is real
and millions all want to bathe in his glow
america loves the minstrel show
america loves the minstrel show
they love me babe, there's a line around the block.
they love me babe, compared to that, what have you got?
wouldn't it be a crime to just let it go?
america loves the minstrel show
they'll never forget me and the funny faces I make,
they'll never forget me and the funny faces I make,
I make them forget that they'll reap what they sow.
america loves the minstrel show
america loves the minstrel show
america loves the minstrel show

here's the story of the incredible shrinking man
of fatal disappointment met with a frozen margarita grin
blinking in time to the hour hand
funny red nose, Rudolph jokes, memory failing

if you buy lottery tickets you’ll win one day
a pile of dead scratchers with the gold and silver all
scratched away

see him face the manageress he feels her bright disdain
watches as she yawns all the way through his final scene
she makes it clear my dear in no way does she wish him ill
says there's no justice there's just this bill

10 years at the Columbia Hotel
for that there should be a fabulous prize
a lifetime room for a life that slipped away
to hide his asphalt and tarmac eyes

if you buy lottery tickets you’ll win one day
a pile of dead scratchers with the gold and silver all
scratched away
and i’m sure my horseshoe wreath will surely bloom

if I wait in the hotel bar all afternoon
just wait in the hotel bar every afternoon

Ed McMahon and the models will emerge from the gloom
with big thanks for the life you lead and the joy you made
give up a wad of paper and all my favorite balloons
I’ll make a kick ass speech how you never let the bastards kill your soul
how those who pound sun to dawn you pound of the walls of doom
and fight the vacuum in a world without supermen
how a star must never cast a shadow across the room
I’m a king i know i wrote it on my tomb..

Once you rode a tide, it was always flowing out towards the sky
It was like a dancer who followed your steps
It was like a lover who could take you to the dawn
It was like a history you could throw away
yeah...

Now the sea is throwing back all the voices who don't want to drown
Every wave is like a soldier who will fade back into the fear
where the soldiers are made
trapped with your first class papers on a lonely dock
where the future is a luxury to mock

You can laugh, you can cry, you can even bitterly grieve
But you can't deny that it's time to leave

your indecision is poison, worse than broken bones or the coffin
your either standing still or your running out
You're like a safety door that's stuck and won't open
for a fire or a summer day
All you do is tire
But you don't have to try - everyone wants to be deceived
But you can't deny that it's time to leave
I swear you want to say goodbye even more than you want to breathe
But you can't deny that it's time to leave

The enemy always lies
Hides like a match in a lump of coal
He won't use his eyes
He hates you for your soul
He hates you for soul..

You take the high road
I'll take the low
Don't ask me for direction
All I've got is for show

You're beautiful
And I hope the devil
Never tries to free you
Never ever needs you

You wanna show me heaven
You assume that's what I have lost
You go home sing hymns with your wife
I'll stay here and carry your cross

You're beautiful
And I hope the devil
Never tries to free you
Never ever needs you

What possesses you
Is what you deny
I don't wanna save your soul
I just don't wanna see it die
I don't wanna see it die

Here they roll down
Like a miracle that's over
Here they slow down
Like a miracle that's over

Tell them for me as you see them speeding by
That their lights don't light the way
Tell them for me if you can catch their eye
That I'd never stand in their way

Here they roll down
Like a miracle that's over
Here they slow down
Like a miracle that's over

You can't find as you're speeding by
Anywhere you want to stop
You can't find as you're speeding by
Anyone to raise you up

Here they roll down
Like a miracle that's over
Hey you slow down
Like the miracle was over

If your broken face can find a lover
Give away your chance to fly
Give away your will power

Hey look at me I'm free

You can hear them fall out
You can see them toss it up
You can be caught in their lights as they flash by
You can go with them without knowing why

Always in a hurry, impatient to get away
Always think that things look a lot better
When they're seen from far away

But if you take me by the hand
I'll love you like the sea
I'll wash over every border
Drown every boundary
Why won't you let me in
'Cause I'd like to see
Who's been dreaming the dream of you

Can't you feel the pull of this season's weather
Drawing the world into its shell
Draws and draws like poison
And no one sweet enough to resist the smell

And I see all the secrets that you keep
Use them to build your high wall
Use them to drown in your sleep
Why can't I just come in
'Cause I'd like to see
I'd like to be the smallest part of the dream that's you

I know that I don't feel the seasons
And I know that I'm not really welcome
But I never got my invitation to join
The dreamers of the dream

Always in a hurry, impatient to get away
Always think that things look a lot better
When they're seen from far away

You wonder what you want from me
Never mind
You wonder why I say the things I do
Never mind
You wonder would I waste my time
Looking for and never find
You wonder what I see in you
Never mind

Guess I could learn to stay
With those whose lives are gold
Play their game for the end
For the cold

You say "Admit to all these words"
Never mind
That I've got no conscious for this world
Never mind
You say that there's no love
That I could ever find
Okay well I just waste my time

Guess I could learn to stay
Who those who barely live
Their poor eyes only take
They never give

To all your arguments and threats
Never mind
Your hidden motives and regrets
Never mind
It doesn't matter to me
What you keep or what you leave behind
If you're a coward and you're blind
Never mind

Guess I could learn to stay
With those who understand
Play the game to win
With a losing hand

Child keeps its toys hidden away
Till it wants to break them
Take your share and go away
Make sure you get the last word
Sit back out of harm's reach
Watch the little cup of poison
Chasing its own tail around and around
Until it's exhausted at its wits end

United Kingdom

I try my best I wait for you to nail me
Now I try and never do
Anything they tell me
'Cause waiting about an inch
Under human nature
Tragedies and comedies
And a touching sense of failure

United Kingdom

When you held me in your arms
At the limits of your patience
I knew I'd always lose
Every scene of violence
When you held me in your arms
Why didn't you want me
When you held me in your arms
Why didn't you touch me

Well I used to know how
To slip through your blind spot
And now I just watch myself
Set the alarms off
I'm happier now in my shame
And don't look to you for anything

United Kingdom

Now your sleep is over
You can't remember
Why you spent the whole night proving
What you'll be losing

The dream is gone
Do you want another one

Time to join the chorus line
Sing into the safe design
You don't want more than this
You don't want more than this

Time to take the easy way out
Alone not a hope or a doubt
Finish the dream that brought you so much bliss
Sails filled with wind and the joy deep within
Finish with the light that holds the . . .
You don't need it anymore

Once was a woman with a silver voice
Said she was accustomed to my face
But I could tell she'd never love anyone
And wanted to run away because I could tell
That she really understands

There was so much that I had to offer
But now I'm all alone at four am
And all I got is the midnight shivers
So I turn the dial and think
Maybe I'll find myself a friend
Who say they understand
Why I waste all my time so far away
From the heaven of your hands

And anyone can give you an answer
'Cause nothing in this life seems real
But I'm nothing without the touch I just don't feel

Mother don't you hear your baby crying
Why don't you reach down and pick it up
Mother all your baby's toys are broken
And I know heaven's not for me
That's something I understand I don't know how to live
Without the heaven of your hands

There's a heaven in your hands

When no one cares for you
You're made of straw
No appointments to keep
No human law

When no one cares for you
You're made of straw
You're living on borrowed time
You can't do nothing right
You can't commit a crime

When no one cares for you
Well honey you're made of straw

Your love Kathleen is for someone
That I swear I could have been

When no one cares for you
You're made of straw
You can't do nothing right
You can't uphold a law

When no one cares for you

Well I got into Waikiki
And I spend my time up in the hotel room
No sunburn for me
No friends no family

Yes I see the view
Well I think I seen it somewhere before
Curled up on the sand
Curled up on the floor

And the hula maiden says
I'll give you everything for free
You're as hungry as the tide
That's drowning me

Well I took my big free ride
I went out to the big barbecue
And I got smashed on the beach
I was thinking about you

This is my big aloha
Brought to you from the volcano state
Where they serve up your soul
For $3.99 a plate

And the hula maiden says
I'll give you everything for free
Oh sugar you're as hungry as the tide
That's washing over me

And the hula maiden said
Oh darling I see it in your eyes
Well did you do it over here beautiful
Did you come here to die
Well she said did you come here to buy

Well this my big aloha
Coming to you from the volcano state
Where they lose track of your soul
And never bring you your spaghetti plate