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SONGS: OHIA/MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. lyrics
WHAT COMES AFTER THE BLUES (return to top)
Dark Don't Hide It
Something held me down it made me make a promise
That I wouldn't tell if the truth forgets about us
Saying it now comes easily
After finding out how you've been using me
At least the dark don't hide it (x4)
You only said you wanted friends
For long enough to get rid of them
You found the kind you knew would only kill you
So you surrounded yourself with them
At least the dark don't hide it (x4)
Now the world was empty on the day when they made it
But heaven needed someplace to throw all the shit
Human hearts and pain should never be separate
They wouldn't tear themselves apart both trying to fit
At least the dark don't hide it (x4)
Now death is gonna hold us up in the mirror
And say we're so much alike we must be brothers
See I had a job to do but people like you
Been doing it for me to one another
At least I don't hide it (x4)
Night Shift Lullabye (Lay Down)
Lay down, lay down
No more running round
Sleep away the morning hours
Lay down, lay down
Sparrow sing, ears ring
My baby doesn't hear a thing
Work that long old night away
Lay down sleep another day
Lay down, lay down
No more running round
Sleep away the morning hours
Lay down, lay down
Every muscle, vein and bone
Answers to that endless drone
I can hear my old machine
Still running even in my dreams
Lay down, lay down
No more running round
Sleep away the morning hours
Lay down, lay down
Leave The City
Broke my heart to leave the city
I mean it broke what wasn't broken in there already
Thought of all my great reasons for leaving
Now I can't think of any
It's true it was a hard time that I've come through
It's made me thankful for the blues
Half my life spent on a highway
Half my life I didn't choose
And I have seen the North Star
Shining in the freight yard
And I knew it was a hard time that it'd come through
It's made him thankful for the blues
It broke my heart to know you waited
I had so many things to do
It's true as far as a lot of stuff
You could have had a little better luck
You just called and just hung it up
One of us has had enough
It's true as far as a lot of stuff
You could have had a little better luck
You just called and just hung it up
Baby both of us have had enough
Hard To Love A Man
It was hard to love a man like you
Goodbye was half the words you knew
While you was waiting for me not to call
I sent my love (x2)
In a life built out of only goodbye
Is there even room for you to try
While you was waiting for me not to call
I sent my love (x2)
It was hard to love a man like you
Goodbye is just what you do
In a life built out of only goodbye
is there even room for you (x2)
While you was waiting for me not to call
I sent my love (x2)
Give Something Else Away Everyday
Born to give it away (x2)
I'll take to my grave
No heart at all
I find a new kind every day (x2)
I will find in my grave
No new pain
It was easy making my self the same
It was easy making my self less
But to get better
That's the hardest thing
Born to give it away (x2)
I will take to my grave
No heart at all
It's only the moon that breaks it
Not your heart
It's only the moon that breaks it
Not your heart
Let the night in baby
Not the dark
North Star Blues
Where were the rest of my songs tonight
I only remember the North Star blues
That simple old tune on the stage each night
Marking the time that I lost you
No one should forgive me
I knew what I stood to lose
Am I better off now
just forgetting how
I came to earn the North Star blues
How can I be the only one
Whose life can't live up to the lie
How can I be the only one
Whose heart refuses to try
No one should forgive me
I knew what I stood to lose
Am I better off now
just forgetting how
I came to have the North Star blues
How can I be the only one
Whose life can't live up to the lie
How can I be the only one
Whose heart refused to try
Hammer Down
Hammer down
Heaven bound
I saw the light
On the old grey town
Hammer down
Heaven bound
Sometimes I forget how I've always been sick
And I don't have the will to keep fighting it
Hammer down
Heaven bound
Hammer down
Heaven bound
When it's been my ghost on the empty road
I think the stars are just the neon lights
Shining through the dance floor (x2)
Of heaven on a Saturday night
I saw the light (x2)
Hammer down
Heaven bound
Hammer down
Heaven bound
I Can Not Have Seen The Light
Again you're swinging low
And you hit me below the belt
Alright since it's a fair fight
I'd say it's the best that I have felt
In a long long time (x2)
Every now and then it happens again
I can't remember what comes first
Is it the hurt
Or knowing that it hurts
Is it the hurt
Or knowing that it hurts
Ever since I turned my life around
It still happens time to time
Don't know what pain was yours
Or what pain was mine
What pain was yours
And what pain was mine
Will I have to be alright all of the time
No one has to be alright all of the time
Do I have to be alright all of the time (x2)
I thought I saw the light
I saw the light
PYRAMID ELECTRIC CO. (return to top)
Pyramid Electric Co.
When the great pyramids
Dragged themselves out to this spot
A sickness sank into the little one's heart
Mama said son
That's just the cold
That's just the emptiness
It's being alone
In the dark
You'll get used to it (x2)
You'll have friends who won't come home
You'll see their bones
Not separate yet from death
But you'll get used to it
You'll get used to it (x2)
We all get used to it
See the bloody arrow above us
See the blood that underlines it
Dark repetition
Red Comet Dust
The endless blue
Shadow inside you
Gathered in you
Disappeared in you
Into the solid earth
Into the solid earth
I want to be true
Like the solid earth
I want to be true
A red comet's dust
Falls in the field
Re-marking the trail
Now you follow that trail
I want to be true (x2)
Like the solid earth
The constant old witness
To accept what i see in it
What i think i see (x3)
Looking out at me
From the primal dust (x2)
Division St. Girl
Painted Up division street girl
She's a pretty denim queen
Bird of paradise eyes
Bird of paradise dying eyes
But i could sight read those slangy lips
I could sight right those hips
And anyway out loud she says
Hey sucker
Are you lonely
Well that's alright
You don't have to say anything
I can always tell when
You lost something big
Something real big
Well we all did
A jukebox in an empty room
Conjures up the blues
They got my song on it
Want to dance
Cause it's just you and me and the gravity
You and me down on division street
And it's like we've landed on the enemy's side
And the other guys all quit
And they left us with nothing when they split
Except the cold and the quiet
And the blues to sing about it
Honey, Watch Your Ass
The smoke tastes like gray lead
It's killing her head
She finally let him have it
Here practice yelling at yourself instead
She nearly burned the town again
With the look that she gave him
She covers her heart with her hands and says
A little useless praying never hurts anything
It's like nothing's got a pulse (x2)
In this whole damn place
Right down to the clocks
Nothing's got a pulse
Remember darling how quiet it got
Leave her alone, let her go home (x2)
So she don't have to see you
How pathetic you can be
So she won't hate herself to death
Know what i mean
She's covering he heart with her hands and says
A little useless praying never hurts anything
That must be her up there
Perfume and cigarette smoke in her wild hair
She smells a little like a train
Hauling lilacs through the rain
I can't tell that she's crying
I'll pretend again
But she sees them total destruction
As she goes running to them
I'm finally showing her the switch
How i learned to hold it
In my teeth
How she's got to keep
One razor sharp bloody piece
Of her old broken heart
How she's got to use that edge to carve
Across her new heart
Something deep enough to hurt
So it always reminds her
Deep enough to last
Darlin' honey, watch your ass
Song Of The Road
The halos lights
Look good with the ringing
Fog bells
Orion dead in the arc
But you can't tell
Lead gray eclipse above
Hiss of the snakes
Rolling beside us
We are thrown into the shade (x2)
I think we'll be okay
The echo of the muffled drums
Don't be overwhelmed by that (x2)
If you think this is hard work (x2)
You've never seen work
Feel for your charm
Take out your good luck
We're getting close to the edge
Do what you know
Do a good job
You're getting closer to the end
What do you know (x2)
I know the song of the road
The song of the road (x2)
Spectral Alphabet
Emptiness and blue
Beside the city moon
Empty black cat eyes
Cat's cradle eyes
Keep an eye on you
Heavy spanish moss
A hanging veil across the graceland get
The ancestors of the world
Think it looks great
Their names inscribed by death
In a spectral alphabet
Their names look foreign
And they are forgotten by the world again
Emptiness and blue
Beside the city moon
The empty streets
Hardly remember you
The rest of us do
A promise inscribed by death
In a sprectral alphabet
The words look foreign
And they are forgotten by the world again
What it says could that have kept us out of fiery hands (x3)
Long Desert Train
Yu used to love a lot of things
You used to love talking
This you never told me about
If it's what your eyes were saying
I already figured it out
I could just tell it was bad
I couldn't tell how bad
You never took off your shades
And you stayed like that for days
I guess your pain never weakened
Your cool blood started burning
Scorching most of us in the flames
But there are things you can't change
There are things you can't change
You called that the curse of a human's life
That you couldn't change
Said you'd never be old enough
Or young enough
Tall enough
Or thin enough
Or smart enough
Or brave enough
Rich enough
Pretty enough
Strong enough
Good enough
Well you were to us
You wanted silence by itself
Just the word
You wanted peace by itself
Just to learn
There were things you couldn't change
You got the dull pounding rain
You got the last car in the long desert train
You almost made it
You almost made it again
MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. (return to top)
The Farewell Transmission
The whole place is dark
Every light on this side of the town
Suddenly it all went down
Now we'll all be brothers of the fossil fire of the sun
Now we will all be sisters of the fossil blood of the moon
Someone must have set us up
Now they'll be working in the cold grey rock, in the hot mill steam... in the concrete
In the sirens and the silences now all the great set up hearts - all at once start to beat
After tonight if you don't want us to be a secret out of the past
I will resurrect it, I'll have a good go at it
I'll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashes
I can feel his ghost breathing down my back
I will try and know whatever I try, I will be gone but not forever
The real truth about it is no one gets it right
The real truth about it is we're all supposed to try
There ain't no end to the sands I've been trying to cross
The real truth about it is my kind of life's no better off
If I've got the maps or if I'm lost
The real truth about it is there ain't no end to the desert I'll cross
I've really known that all along
Mama here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Long dark blues
Will o the wisp
The big star is falling
Through the static and distance
A farewell transmission
Listen
I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost
While you was gone you must have done a lot of favors
You've got a whole lot of things I don't think
That you could ever have paid for
While you've been busy crying
About my past mistakes
I've been busy trying to make a change
I made a change
I've been riding with the ghost
I've been doing whatever he told me
I've been looking door to door to see
if there was someone who'd hold me
I never met a single one who didn't see through me
None of them could love me if they thought they might lose me
Unless I made a change
See I ain't getting better. I am only getting behind
I am standing on a crossroad trying to make up my mind
I'm trying to remember how it got so late
Why every night pain comes from a different place
Now something's got to change
I put my foot to the floor
To make up for the miles I've been losing
See I'm running out of things
I didn't even know I was using
And while you've been busy
Learning how to complain
I've been busy learning
How to make a change
I made it (almost) (again)
Just Be Simple
You never hear me talk about one day getting out
Why put a new address on the same old loneliness
Everybody knows where that is
We built that house of his
And when he's not home
Someone else you know always is
If Heaven's really coming back
I hope it has a heart attack
When they see how dangerous it is for guys like that
The night has always known when it's time to get going
When it's really been so long that it starts showing
It's always had that ghost who always almost
Tells me the Secret
How there's really no difference in who he was once
And who he's become
Everything you hated me for... Honey there was so much more
I just didn't get busted.
But I'm not looking for an easy way out
This whole life it's been about
Try and try and try
And try and try and try
To be simple again
Almost Was Good Enough (Once)
It's been hard doing anything
winter stuck around so long
I kept trying anyhow and I'm still trying now
just to keep working just to keep working
I remember when it didn't use to be so hard
this used to be impossible
A new season has to begin
I can feel it leaning in whispering "Nothing's lonely now"
Nothing anymore in pain
A tall shadow dressed how secrets always dress
when they want everyone to know that they 're around
leaning in whispering "my friend over there
don't know what he's talking about"
Did you really believe
that everyone makes it out?
Almost no one makes it out
I'm going to use that street to hide
from that human doubt
to hide from what was shining
and has finally burned us out
But if no one makes it out
How come you're talking to one right now
for once almost was good enough
The Old Black Hen
Old Black Hen is that you again
singing the Bad Luck Lullaby
Come right on in , it's midnight again
Time for the Bad Luck Lullaby
You know the one it's the same one you sung
when you wrote down the Revelations
Now sing it over the cradle of the child who's born next
Leave all the truth in so they know what comes next
leave in the true love that they'll never find
Show how we're looking for it all of our lives
When I saw the Banner hanging over my door
I already knew who the party was for
All of my pain found a partner in that room
and the devil's tail swayed with the tune
Make that Black Record
Roll the tapes all night long
Make that Black Record
And we'll all sing along
Look down the long street
and see who's that crying
Tell them that every day I lived
I was trying to sing the Blues
the way I find them
Peoria Lunchbox Blues
Gwendolyn I wonder what you'd've called them
I think a name you might choose is Nobody's Blues
You see when you are just a kid
They think you won't remember what they did
they think you won't remember...But you did
Then you learned how to say "Everything you love
Tries to get away
Everything you love finally does
"Its finally looking good up there our skyline
See how if fits right in there with heaven
The constellations and Comiskey's lights
Two old friends in the night
Who always knew they would if they could
Meet one last time in the old neighborhood
Hey wait a minute things ain't looking that good
Its getting quiet and the light's getting dim
This ain't like no place I've ever been
What kind of trouble am I in?
Oh Gwen, here they come again
It's nobody's Blues
Here they come again
John Henry Split My Heart
I stood on the 66 Hwy
Wysteria, Magnolia beside the green line track
Said "Don't Come Back"
I found myself standing on the mountain
Beneath my full moon heart
John Henry split this heart split this full moon heart
Swing the heaviest hammer you got
Hit this one out of the park
He says boy what you going to do
With your heart in two
If its good enough
But only if its good enough
Half I'm going to use
To pay this band
Half I'm saving because I'm going to owe them
Hold On Magnolia
Hold on Magnolia to that great highway moon
No one has to be that strong
But if you're stubborn like me
I know what you're trying to be
Hold on Magnolia, I hear that station bell ring
You might be holding the last light I see
Before the dark finally gets a hold of me
Hold on Magnolia, I know what a true friend you've been
In my life I have had my doubts
But tonight I think I've worked it out with all of them
Hold on Magnolia to the thunder and the rain
To the lightning that has just signed my name to the bottom line
Hold on Magnolia, I hear that lonesome whistle whine
Hold on Magnolia
I think its almost time
The Big Game Is Every Night (Japanese CD Bonus Track)
It'll get so quiet when this record ends
You can hear the first hour of the world
You can hear the willow branches touch the wave
Write our names beside our Darlings' heart
Write our names besides no one's heart
Rise moon on the shores of the seas
Shine on the distance between me and the last thing I see
Let it be me helping
Let it be me honestly
Let it be me working
On being a better me
Rise moon on the shores of the seas
Shine on the distance between me and the last thing I see
Now light the field for the big game tonight
Mark twain to Thomas Jefferson strike
Luke the Drifter to Zimmerman line drive
(to keep the team alive)
Unitas to Berry... scarry
Everything against you sweetness...
You bring the first down again
See it's ones like this you can always trust
Not to disappoint us
Moon shine that white lightning light
Down on the Possums' stage tonight
Maybe on the Man in Black
You could hold a little something back
Let his eyes adjust to the light
Rise Moon Rise above me
Show an American if really I am the snake they're all saying
If they look up here do they see just my black tail swaying?
If I'm all fangs and all lies and all poison
If I'm really what they're saying
I don't want to disappoint them.
DIDN'T IT RAIN (return to top)
Didn't It Rain
no matter how dark the storm gets overhead
they say someone's watching from the calm at the edge
what about us when we're down here in it
we gotta watch our own backs
but if you do see that golden light
that it shines in its fiery eye
go on and catch it while you can
go on and catch it if you can
let it course through you
and let it burn through you
if it's the light of truth (x2)
if they think you got it they're going to beat it out of you
with work and debt whatever all else there is
you got to watch your own back
try to see the light of goodness burning down the track
through the blinding rain through the swaying wires
if i see you struggle i will not turn my back
i've seen a good man and a bad man down the same path
i've seen the light of truth keeping out of it and told them to watch their own backs
if i see you struggle and givin all that you got
i see you work all night burning your light to the last of its dim watts
i'm gonna help you how i can, if you see me struggle all night
and give me a hand cause i'm in need i'll call you friend indeed
but i'm going to watch my own back
didn't it rain
Steve Albini's Blues
on the bridge out of Hammond
see them brake lights burning feel my motor turnin
on the bridge out of Hammond
see the big city moon
see how it close comes (x2)
watch my wiper blades pound it like a drum
on the bridge out of Hammond (x2)
think about what's darkening my life (x2)
see the light of the afterworld shining on the ruins
it's the light of nowhere else burning to the west
see its sulphery shine (x2)
from the bridge out of Hammond (x2)
see the big city moon (x3)
between the radio towers
between the big diesel rigs
in the Midwest's witching hour
i watch the whole town eclipse
from the bridge out of Hammond (x4)
Ring The Bell
help does not just walk up to you i could have told you that
i'm not an idiot
i could have told you that
in every serpent's eye watch you go where you go
every serpents double tongue takes a turn with your soul
if you let them ring your bell (x2)
they're ringing the bell (x2)
why wouldn't i be trying to figure it out
everyone tells you that
everyone tells you not to quit
i can't even see it to fight it
if it looks like i'm not trying i don't care what it looks like
cause i stood at the alter and everything turned white
all I heard was the sound... of the world coming down around me (x2)
why wouldn't i be trying
why wouldn't i try (x2)
cause those double tongues are singing hear the wail of the choir through the fog
the sound of that choir through the fog
they're always close they're always so close always close always so close
if there's a way out it will be step by step through the black (x2)
why wouldn't i be trying to figure it out it don't mean i'm not trying if i don't make it back
i know serpents will cross universes to circle around our necks
i know hounds will cross universes to circle around our feet
i know they're close
step by step one's beside me to kill me or to guide me
why wouldn't i be trying to figure which one out (x2)
Cross The Road, Molina
wolf headed conjurour in the cross roads
green eyes and alien chant brought the lightning down
set my pulse to the short waves pulse
set my pulse to the great lakes pulse
to wreath the moon in a head dress of neon flames
must take concentration from that heavy old bird
blue chicago moon swings like a blade above the midwest's heart
swings like a blade (x2)
swing that blade above us(x2)
show us how close it can get
show us close you can get
show us how fast we can lose it how bad we're out numbered
set my pulse an electric pulse
set my pulse to the blues
them black sad eyes (x2)
if i never see them again tell them goodbye
and i set my pulse to an electric pulse
i set my pulse to the blues
i send my pulse to the vixen's hearts
i concentrate like that heavy old bird
Blue Factory Flame
when i die put my bones in an empty street to remind me of how it used to be
don't write my name on a stone bring a Coleman lantern and a radio
Cleveland game and two fishing poles and watch with me from the shore
ghostly steel and iron ore ships coming home
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness(x4)
clearly iron age beasts you can tell by the rust and the chains
and by the oil that they bleed the crew and crows fly the skulls and bones
they fly the colors of their homes i fly the cross of the blue factory flame
stitched with heavy sulpher thread/threat
they ain't proud colors but they're true colors of my home
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness (x4)
every mile for ten thousand miles and every year for a thousand years
every night for a thousand more i hear them calling
they never say to come home (x2)
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness(x4)
Two Blue Lights
two blue lights
one's the blue light of the late night bus
one's the blue light of the moon over us
one's got the diesel fuel on her breath
one's got the damp taste of the earth on it
two blue lights
there's a dead archer in the tower you can't hear it but you can tell
when the bells ring twelve times in hell the bells ring twelve times in this town as well
two blue lights (x2)
Blue Chicago Moon
out of the ruins
blood grown heavy from his past
his wings stripped by thunder
but those storms keep coming back
singing birds in sickness
sing the same blues songs
when they fell out of the emptiness
they must have brought along
space's loneliness (x2)
gotten so good at hiding it
even he does not admit it
that glittering flash in his eyes
makes it look like he might be alright
if the blues are you hunter
then you will come face to face
with that darkness and desolation
and the endless depression
but you are not helpless
and you are not helpless
try to beat it (x2)
and live through space's loneliness (x2)
you are not helpless (x2)
I'll help you to try to beat it
GHOST TROPIC (return to top)
Lightning Risked It AllL
still no guides
it's not a generous world
it is a separate world
the bad luck taste of the dark
the broad luck of blood on the water
I can see it will be red, the choice if it is a choice
it's too hard to tell (x3)
lightning standing drained and like us deeply risked it all
and like us, deeply risked it all (x3)
The Body Burned Away
death as it shook you
you gave it a fool's look
you said I am an empty page to you
give me your hand give me you blood
don't misunderstand
I once had all the words
I forgot all the words
held the binding lightning (x2)
began to burn away
we began to burn away
held the binding the lightning( x2)
began to burn away(x2)
the body burns away (x6)
No Limits On The Words
put no limits on the words
simply to live, that is my plan (x2)
in a city that breaks us
I will say nothing (x4)
I can tell that the shadow likes you still
like the memory, my heart keeps remembering
that simply to live that was my plan (x2)
and I will say nothing (x4)
Ghost Tropic (1)
instrumental
The Ocean's Nerves
this place is trouble waiting
the light hangs so weakly on to the quiet
drag myself in a long line
in a long line (x2)
in a lonely line
and i jealously want the ocean's deep nerve
i am a red flame hanging low to be close to it
hanging low to be close to you
NOT Just A Ghost's Heart
after all this work she's still built to sail
the curve of the whole coast her curve's the whole coast
how she could read the map showing only the sea
only empty houses (empty houses)
are we still able, at night to watch
with human heart's at all (x2)
how she could read the map showing only the bells (x2)
she's still able, at night to watch
with a human heart (x2)
not just a ghost's heart (x4)
Ghost Tropic (2)
instrumental
Incantation
the sound of our feet against the road
it spreads through the night (x2)
and the city's ending
speak to me if we're near the bottom
work it out with me (x2)
caution, like the moon, hangs on the tracks
blood and the lightning hangs on the tracks and
it spreads through the night (x2)
to where the city's ending
an absent star
worked it out with me (x2)
spreads through the night (x2)
PROTECTION SPELLS - TOUR CD (return to top)
Trouble Will Find You
trouble will find you
it's hard work to avoid you
it is the hardest work I know (x2)
whatever we are now, seem hardly aware
of what we're used to being
of what we planned on being
and I'd trade it all (x2)
for you to come home (x2)
The Moon Undoes It All
in the dusk
bloody mane and tail
in the dawn
cold that aches in his belly
the sun that scarred his back
it was doubtful it would end (x2)
I came here out of common sense
the future enough behind me
and I stay here out of another sense
with the future enough in front of me
this one walks alone (x3)
the silver wind makes a desperate effort to say
the moon undoes it all (x2)
this belongs to no one (x3)
but you (x2)
Darkness that Strong
darkness that oblique, darkness that strong
the moon in it's cradle is casual is distinct
from the stars (x2)
they are his father upon the land
and I made an estimate of the secret laid plan
and I make an estimate of the secret that they bare
when they are down here
darkness that oblique, darkness that strong (x2)
and that is my report( x2)
Keep Only One Of Us Free
the space you gave to me
you marked out dividing lines
keep only one of us free (x2)
the frame that held me (x2)
has rotted away (x2)
now we are paired again
back with friction (x3)
and black angel falls in with one of us again
and light is barely breathing its breath between us
between black angel black angel black
we have lost what we had marked
out for ambition (x2)
now only one of us are free
only one of us are free (x2)
The World At The End Of The World
it runs the length of the world (x2)
and it gets heavy like woman's secret (x2)
and full of sorrow like a sudden thing
the ancestors of shadow the ancestors of smoke
the memory at night
the strength to face the world at the edge of the world (x2)
Fire On The Shore
shut you eyes across the uneven road
the sun shuts his eyes (x2)
he is asking everywhere for you (x2)
but I keep a wide eye open to the flame (x2)
tonight there is a fire (x2)
tonight there is a fire on the Spanish shore (x2)
the fire is not my home it has come to be my home
and if the fire is not my home it has come to mean my home
Mighty Like Love, Mighty Like Sorrow
a stray star yielding on her back
as much as she can
it is so hard (x2)
a stray star yielding on her back
do not leave me (x2)
it is dull hot hours
it is hurting like the winter
stars do spangle the sky here
and the moon is burning between us (x2)
and it is so hard (x2)
the weight of the distance comes down between us
mighty like love and mighty like sorrow
The One Red Star
blue news in the heart
you are the one red sister star
you are the flash across the water
one red sister star
black has marked the distance
black has marked out all the miles
across the world from you (x2)
and I'm afraid right down the middle
I am afraid right down the middle
it is black it is yellow
and it is black, Pittsburgh yellow
your soul the one red star (x2)
I am the one red star sister star (x2)
Whenever I Have Done A Thing In Flames
in any house in the world there is background of flames
in any house in the world there is background of storms
and any house in the world a winter spent alone
wherever I have done a thing for love it has ruined me
rebuild the day out of flames
rebuild the day out of the silence of that day
I'm going to choose, I will have to choose
whenever I have done a thing in flames (x2)
it has saved me
THE LIONESS (return to top)
The Black Crow
through sparrow black wind
a dead crow calls out to his wing
we were lightning across the whole world
we were lightning(x3)
and the guise to black cats we made a cross when our shadows met
and the guise to black cats we made a pact when our shadows passed
through sparrow black wind
a dead crow calls out to its wings
I'm getting weaker I'm getting thin
I hate how obvious I have been
I'm getting weaker(x4)
and I look down and see the whole world
and it's fading(repeat)
Tigress
it's difficult not to worry about what happens next
certain looks sort out confused looks
and certain looks sport confused looks
and I watched us talking in the mirror
and you put on that look
that says this little star wishes she weren't single
it is the eye that catches me a man protesting his worth
it is the year that catches you putting the shake on your words
you are alert as a tigress at a common table with her fate
you can almost taste it
we'll be gone be morning or be together by then(x2)
and I believe every woman has made up her mind to win
Nervous Bride
the women are dressed up and they are up to no good
you're dressed up for liberation
you flash that fire flag you fly above
the bright hot sails of your eyes
they say vaguely goodbye(x2)
there is a long delay in our words
then there are no words
and I lay down tonight as nervous as a bride
she's not nervous but she tries(x2)
and it's vaguely goodbye(x3)
Being In Love
being in love means you are completely broken
then put back together the one piece that was yours
is beating in your lovers breast
she says the same thing about hers(x2)
however I have gotten here I have plans to be with you
and for the first time it is working(x3)
and I am proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
yeah, we are proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
what's left after that's all gone I hope to never learn
but if you stick with me you can help me
I'm sure we'll find new things to burn
cause we are proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
yeah, we are proof that the heart is a risky fuel to burn
Lioness
it is for me the eventual truth
of that look of the lioness to her man across the Nile
it is that look of the lioness to her man across the Nile
wanna feel my heart break if it must break in your jaws
want you to lick my blood off your paws
you can't get her fast enough(x6)
I will swim to you(x4)
whether you save you me
whether you savage me
want my last look to be the moon in your eyes
want my heart to break if it must break in your jaws
want you to lick my blood off your paws
it is for me the eventual truth
it is that look of the lioness to her man across the Nile(x2)
and you can't get here fast enough(x6)
I will swim to you(repeat)
Coxcomb Red
and I wanted that heat so bad
I could taste the fire on your breath
and I wanted in your storm so bad
I could taste the lightning on your breath
I watched you hold the son in your arms while he bled to death
he grew so pale next to you
the world is so pale next to you
your hair is coxcomb red your eyes are viper black(x2)
you said every road is a good road
between the next road and your last road
every love is your best love and every love is your last love
and every kiss is a goodbye(x2)
I watched you hold the son in your arms while he bled to death
he grew so pale next to you
the world is so pale next to you
your hair is coxcomb red your eyes are viper black(x3)
Back On Top
there ain't nothing beyond hope(x2)
i've been thrashed by the hope of your body
i've been thrashed by the hope of your eyes
you looked me square in the eyes
you said don't take but one thing to be your truth(x2)
when I'm back on the top again(x2)
that is the truth
that is your truth
there ain't nothing beyond truth
i've been thrashed by the truth of your body
i've been thrashed by the truth of your eyes
you looked me square in the eyes
you said don't take but one thing to be your truth(x2)
when I'm back on the top again(x2)
that is the truth(x3)
Baby Take A Look
baby take a look(x3)
look at your man
do I look like a man who doesn't understand
you are the one true thing
in a world full of untrue things
if you're down on your luck(x3)
I will hold till better times(x2)
so baby take that look(x3)
look at your man
do I look like a man who doesn't understand
you are the one
Just A Spark
Will that look be your only reply
you lower your head in reply
here it is white and full like a pale ghost across the sky
and here it is crescent like a dagger from your heart into mine
here it is just a spark to shine(x2)
THE GHOST (TOUR CD) (return to top)
The Dark Wrong Turn
The moon and the owls reprise the ghost
and I'm even more afraid by its recent move
complete world beside him now
he lays a blue hand across a serious, pale sky(x2)
and I now belong here(x2)
before they think of every endeavor
be it bright or be it subtle light
night and its insides sprawl across
the blue heart risin'
adding only black
to the face of a serious pale sky(x2)
Ruby Eyes In The Fog
I have the courage to say I am confused(x2)
why you would build all of that up to tolerate
whatever will transpire in that place
and I have the courage to say it is
like separation, a disease you should back away
how it lived so long(x2)
and I vow well enough to serve them well
though they produce invisible consequence
you can believe the regular way of words
their smallness and their trembling
they are small they are treacherous
when they are smallest they are treacherous
and I look straight through it like a line
and I have the courage to repeat it
but I respect it just enough not to repeat it(x3)
At Certain Hours It All Breaks Down
sooner or later a bright day comes
and it digs into the cellar of the darkest hearts
that it is more rare than it is true
at certain hours it all breaks down
you have less substance and less solid ground
you no longer suspiscious and you follow around
at certain hours it all breaks down
if you find me again open before you
and if you find me again with my head at the foot of the wall
I am sticking to what I personally saw
there were twelve of them(x2)
and they were circling around the image of me
and I was clad only in my faults
and I was in that hour all alone with twelve of them
and I was colorless the night was colorless but it had something
I wish I could find it again
the was made out of
so I left the city in the most subtle way(x2)
The Wild Wind
by the way you are behaving
I should be shaking my head
someone else will have to explain it(x2)
took at wind the dust was honest
took it in when the stars surround us
conversation is sloping off
and you know he must make a mistake
at this time they were slippery
and they were surrounded by them
and all they wore was their behavior
their bad behavior(bad behavior)
you are looking humiliated
you say that I'm as naked as I am
as naked as a woman
naked as a man
and you must bring us half an hour
of good luck when you can
you must bring the appeal of laughter if you can
you're surrounded by a halo that is sloping off(sloping off)
you get that curious look clamped to your mouth
wipe it away with the back of your hand
you're back that way hating again
the falling light(x3)
The Lost Messenger
a little frightened of going near
a little distracted I hear
wouldn't you rather come back with me?
you never used to get worried and now I'm worried
it's never ending put it all away
that shit is never ending put it all away
when you aren't around you can never say you were trying to quit.
you were trying to quit
that shit is never ending
you're already surrounded
that shit is never ending and you're already surrounded
and I ask and I am worried
you asked so i said I was frightened
One Harrowing Night
will that look be your only reply
you lower your head in reply
you mimic with your eye the moon
here it is white and full like a pale ghost across the sky
and here it is crescent like a dagger from your heart into mine
here it is just a spark to shine(x2)
You Are Not Alone On the Road
there is a silent role call that greets us in this bed
tonight it's waiting
still it's waiting for one of us
what about the one with the sharp edged mouth and eyes
the one that looked into me with the irresponsible look
the one that now is saying
I must depend on something
she whispered her future lover's name
Why Are We Stopping In The Storm
a resolute moment returns
and that's how close I got to you
it's as red as the target heart
even the sky's been influenced by you
and it ends all that doubt
it's true for any or all of us
there's never a good night to be
everything I've ever loved is here tonight
or the wish that it was here tonight (is here tonight)
everything that you need for truth is here tonight
or at least the wish for it is here tonight
and I am taken my chance here tonight
on that target heart
it is red as the target's heart
even the sky was influenced by you
see how the self can be made and remade(x2)
but the truth can either be made but can't be remade
love can't be made or remade
The Far End Of the Bridge
there's a night that's a good night
for letting your friends down
there's never a good night for being cheap
there ain't never a good night for ripping people off
but there ain't no law against it
there has never been a good night for letting you friends down
there has never been a good night for being cheap
there has never been a good night for ripping people off
but there ain't no law against it
obviously you don't see no law against it
obviously you haven't seen nothing wrong with it
A Widow Sang The Stars Down
I know about how bleak it all can seem
when you look at good or bad
you say this is what I had
and I know it is ambitious but it's still the truth
I have something that's lasting in a man
my heart has survived an order through the ruins
the shadow and it's promise vibrates across the room
you said it's savage but it's my duty
to build something precious than to kill something precious
then the shadow and then the promise clearly lost its nerve
don't leave me now(x2)
just say you're practicing for how you would say goodbye(x2)
don't leave me now(x3)
AXXESS AND ACE (return to top)
Hot Black Silk
there will be trouble with me
there will be trouble more than these
and i warned you
ten times of these things
there ain't nothin' short of wisdom(x2)
in your hot black silk
and there won't be more
than one of me
is the only thing i can ever promise you
and i make enough lovin'
for three of me
there ain't nothin short of wisdom(x2)
in your hot black silk
Capt. Badass
departure and worry
still shakes me
resistance failed(x2)
and friendship failed(x2)
as lovers we did not fail(x2)
brown eyes your pulse is getting hotter
brown eyes your pulse is getting quicker
quote Captain Badass,
" I am setting you heart on fire
so when you leave me
i will burn on in your soul".
you won't have to think twice
if it's love you will know
we get no second chance in this life(x2)
so a hot pulse is alright
so a quick pulse is alright
so a hot kiss is alright
so a long kiss is alright
so a long night is alright
and all night is alright
there ain't no contest
against the final day
we'll rise above us either way
we're either greeted
by life or its reverse
then each day greeted
by fortune or its reverse
will you stand up for your one chance
will you stand up for love
we get no second chance in this life(x2)
you won't have to think twice if its love
you will know
Love and Work
there are gaps between the light
and the dark roads we are on
no gaps between what's right
and the need that we have
somewhere under 6am
there is the room and
the events in this room
there is the dark
and these events in the dark
there is love and work and lovers work(x3)
love and work
and it took all of my strength
to ignore the need to stay
and it took all of my strength
to leave you either way
and we are constellations
in our own way
and there are these
three degrees of merit to us
there is love and work and lovers work(x3)
love and work
Come Back to Your Man
Coaxingly closing to dangerous eyes
they hang their lighted
she feels the effort of h-a-n-d's
she feels the effort of e-y-e's
she feels the effort of l-i-e's
fumble across her
there are demands on spirit and flesh
and i've made the effort to survive them
now come back to your man(x4)
Love Leaves Its Abuser
you must have heard
that voice loud and plain
through all the thunder i surrounded you in
and i once had cause
and i once had strength
but i have been selfish
to say the least
i owned up to this
though leaving is a curious way
for you to love me
so my life and my whole waiting guilt
i enclose late with my dues to you
love leaves its abuser(x4)
Champion
she with all her reasons
hardly spoke two words
let what's left of this relation
find its way to swiftest decay
let us rest in the decisions of this hour
champion(x2)
there are no claims on you
Red Head
the broken times
self-confidence must be
it's obviously
selfish to preserve
and selfish to pursue
i guess it's the proper way
to go on to loving
begin with nothing(x3)
and so here's the state
that love's left me in
in the estate of the redhead
and what does she mean
she don't need the proof
of my failures
or all the nights when
i earned my failure
and i suppose
i've not been rejected
and i suppose
we've not been a failure
and i suppose that we're proof of it
How To Be Perfect Men
suppose my life has its plan
i choose to have women write my plan
and i have my reasons
they'll write that list
of all that i should be
and perfect men would never be
jealous or desperate
my ghost and i in our grave will lie
and we'll read that plan
on how to be perfect man
if anyone succeeds you
this will be her song to know that
i will get it wrong(x2)
be mine
'till you're reminded of something better
be mine
until it comes along
be mine
'till you're reminded of something better
until it comes along
Goodnight Lover
you mistrusted what will bleed
what will not die will not leave
the heart was first in that line
though it was under those conditions
we were free(x3)
under those conditions
of pain that would not leave
you were all i ever trusted
you're self made(x3)
you made it on hard work and risk
hard work(x3)
how will i live on without you
without your customs
of working and thinking action through
these days are obvious to you, budgetive
how selflish for time to conclude
what would be the day
for leaving to work it's charm on you
and i can tell by that look
you were thinking the same thing to
if this can't last just what can last(x2)
then it's lights out after this kiss(X2)
then time can't torment us(x2)
this will have to serve(x2)
goodnight lover(x2)
wherever you are(x3)
OUR GOLDEN RATIO EP (return to top)
So You Can See To Go (There Will Be Distance)
(spoken word intro by darcie schoenman)
wonder what that could mean
there will be distance
distance meet anxiety
anxiety meet the cold(x2)
The thing is still you will be gone and
i'll have to leave the lights on
so you can see to go
The Arrogant Truth (It’s Your Win Again)
Pilot and a friend to the lord comes aboard
'til silence comes again
and what i'd dare say
if such a journey should pass through me
it might not suit me to obey anything
'til silence comes again
and if that's prudent it's your win, again
and let us hope
this lessens its whole appearance like truth
the arrogant truth
Champion (there are no claims on you)
she with all her reasons
hardly spoke two words
let what's left of this relation
find its way to swiftest decay
let us rest in the decisions of this hour
champion(x2)
there are no claims on you
Journey On (when your love has gone)
though the morning will bring your leaving
i'll shed not one tear while you're here
and though weeping will bring small comfort
let your sorrows by and
journey on(x2)
when your love has gone journey on
though this sunshine ship she is sinking
the sailor's near despair
journey on(x2
when your love has gone journey on
IMPALA (return to top)
Gambling Song(an ace unable to change)
tonight i am gambling with my sentiment
tonight i am gambling with my repentance
deny i am losing in a crowded room
to a gambler in a crown of thorns
tonight i am down to my soul(x4)
tonight i am gambling with my sentiment
tongiht i am gambling with my salvation
deny i am losing in a crowded room
to a gambler in a crown of thorns
tonight i am damned to my soul(x4)
Bath(a humble cause again)
so here's your bath tub, christmas lights
add the water: seven pints
face down in silver, white christmas light
wednesday i found you,
your hair was white as a kite string
so here's your story, as you would have said it
leave out the sad parts
as bright eyes fill with novacaine
and chandeliers with fire flies
you won't know(x2)
i'm not sure
45 Degrees(easts heart divided)
sleeping war time 45 degrees
she tells me it's 45 indeed
can i play with your mane
sleeping wartime 45 degrees
sleeping wartime 45 indeed
she tells me it's 45 degrees
can i play with your mane
sleeping wartime 45 degrees
Spaniel(the rules of absence)
and the spaniel's down among
the old blue tick
read about how the sherriff's down among
the old blue tick
and i can't say who you are
with your new running boards
and the spaniel's down among
the old black ear
read about how the Spainard's down among
the old black hair
and i can't say who you are
with your new running boards
and i can't say who you are,
goodnight city boys
TRANS AM(this time anything finite at all)
Have you been adventuring
From your native grieving
I elect its conquered
She elects its conquered
These paths to exit
These paths rise often
They are a lie
They are against you
We all should have ruin
Ruin so swift
When it's eager its treason
with no conscience
When it's love (2x)
All Friends Leave You (just what can last)
all friends will leave you(x3)
leavin' will bring ya down and
leavin' will tear ya down and
leavin' will wear you down and
leavin' will bring you down
all your friends have left you(x3)
leavin' will bring ya down and
leavin' will wear ya down and
leavin' will bring ya down(x3)
leavin' will tear you down and
leavin' will bring you down
Revellie(frontier hounds or hearts newly arrived)
revellie
at dawn were sharpshooters sleeping
brings our truce this moment to an ending
the frontier hounds become partner
to the loss we've arranged
they'll be no rust on the gates of heaven
a low light shines on me
two spies, i lie between
she's the red one, yeah(x2)
revellie
at dawn were sharpshooters sleeping
brings our truce this moment to an ending
the frontier hounds become partners
of the loss we've arranged
there will be no rust on the gates of heaven
low light you will have light bulb eyes
and nerves of string
and paper tombs to lie between(x5)
Angel Anthem(program:the mask)
where the blue of the night
meets the gold light of day
i know someone(x2) waits for me
faithless sinners dry your tears(x2)
and your lamentations
when the angels of the lord smile upon you
they'll be bringing your salvation
where the blue of the night
meets the gold light of day
i know someone(x2) waits who waits for me.
Travel(till morning reputations)
the hangman's water is often sweeter
on these western roads
know the heat of their travelers
that go down(go down)
and backs know the saddles
and boots know the heels
my eyes know the blinder is black(x2)
mouth knows the bit and the brassy taste of it
it's more than my companion should allow(x2)
right now(x2)
there's nothing my equal, right now(x3)
The Eagle(structuring: necessity)
deny the eagle the right to be weary
though she bears your nation a breast
thrush cries, thrush here
the cardnial mistrusts me
divides the grey sky with fire roads to ride
hey, with fire roads to ride(x2)
come the son again to my singing
they never thought of
the power they'd be bringing
helpmates e'er they
the boy and the son
hey, the boy and the son
thrush cries, thrush here
oh the cardinal mistrusts me
divide the grey sky with fire roads to ride(x2)
Anchors(one of those uncertain hands)
we're close, the lamps are burning blood
on the chance that we'll survive
to need such a desperate light
my bones shall rise up muskettes
my feet are at the threshold
and disaster warms our soil(x2)
so left with sleighting hands
the boats they've pawned for stranding
we will drown them like their anchors(x2)
my bones shall rise up anchors
my feet are at the threshold
and disaster warms our sails
Sept. 17 (separartions:reminder)
oh to find you this autumn
autumn strays into evening
now is Sept. 17
and i should have know(x2)
you'll pardon me if i don't beleive
what a fine day to believe(x2)
what if i don't believe
never thought they could find me and
i never thought they would find me here
unlucky days unlucky strays
did i say unlucky
i just meant unhappy
i should have know and
i should have know
if you'll pardon me if i don't beleive
what a fine day to believe(x2)
what if i don't believe
Ours The Armada
two ships ride close, too close
and she's going to her last long home
to see her now plainly and
i should know her among the thousand and one
none have thee better
although knowing half the battles
and the path of the lantern
oh, the bells ringing their full breath alarm
my own one waiting
till winter denies me my sails(x2)
HECLA & GRIPER EP (return to top)
Rock n Roll(pass)
if i decide to smile and fake it
the lord would ne'er forgive that sin
i am his servant singing soldier and
i'm trying to serve him rightly
i take the words the angels tell me
and i'm singing it from my conscience
i'm more afraid of the god in me
than the god you pray to nightly
Impulse(declarer)
you in your youth all impulse
have no friends who are reliable
as long as i'm stayin'
I never will belong
when no depths are reliable
prepare your lines, leave off casting
as long as i'm staying, i never will belong
Reggae(New Albion or All pass)
At night, you can taste the
sulpher and the red rail light
hear the rails plotting their future paths
on a prior night
come early my future
without delay, i hear whistles saying
We're New Albion bound(x3)
Some nights, you can't taste the
sulpher or the red rail light
hear no rails plotting
their future paths on a the prior night
come early my future
without delay, i hear whistles saying
we're New Albion bound(x3)
Citadel(reply and claim)
close to the citadel, she raises her latern
close to the citadel, she raise her laquered hooves
the long road division, for lack of another route
and these then were all too good advantage lost
and i grow suspect as soon as your friendliness rises
cause one man alone stands a chance
but not a second chance
close to the citadel will hasten to affirm
for this congress we have ridden doubly against
and we'll grow suspect as soon as their friendliness rises
and i alone stand a chance but not a second chance
Our Flesh In Dust (defenders)
it's unlikely sorrow
will soon pass us by
cause our flesh in dust
will soon be laid
I'm still no one's darling
at least they're saying
got nobody waiting
though i'm pale and i'm young
i'm your leader
the grave of a singer
is it right to sing
of days long since past them
they're pale, they're were young
and your leader
Darling...
hello darling, it's nice to see you
it's been a long time
how's your new love are you happy
hope you're doing alright
just to know this means so much to me
what's that darling, how am i doing
guess i'm doing alright except i can't sleep
and i cry all night till dawn
what i'm trying to say is that i love you and
i miss you and i'm sorry that i done you wrong
look up darling let me kiss you just for old times sake
let me hold you in my arms one more time
good luck darling may god bless you
and may each step you take
bring you closer to the things you seek to find
goodbye darling gotta go now
gotta try and find a way
to lose these memories of a love so warm and true
and if you should ever find it in your heart love
to forgive me
come back darling, i'll be waiting for you
Rich Kids (Rich $$$$ or east last heart)
Laboring, i first chose you for my all-star team
and you have been advised
where power and rich kids find ways to unite
it is virtue who's sitting the bench
by not talking, i shouldn't have to say it
i said get out, i mean get out this minute
i don't trust you more than
the weight of your shadow
rich kid i'm talking to you
Wing+Prayer(advice to aces)
some sick halo
down the ocean
this light means nothing now(x2)
under my wings
go all of my worries
winter is over(x2)
some sick nosedive
down the ocean
where will you go when it's off(x2)
under my wings
go all of my worries
winter is over(x2)
S/T (BLACK ALBUM) (return to top)
Vanquisher (cabwaylingo)
they come in sorry for the second vanquisher
to have so much to pretend
themselves not so against
though overtaken
this we'll survive, surviving those
against the smell of rope through pulley sing
there are fewer greater losses known
they have their affect they have their ransom
this will survive
you're all i think, this thing set troublin'
it will not end without brevity
against the smell of hope through measuring
there are fewer greater former ghosts
we have our affect we have our ranson
this we'll survive
930 (white sulfur)
never forget it was triumph we once proposed
instead, you would trade our mission for mission words
our several months alliance divergent invitations
then policies they were very low you see
we'll look of course to it
the ones you know you are building
so then, i'd like to see a little low illumination
so i may go around 9:00 or 9:30
who knows what (x2)
so then, i have to be going
okay
Citadel (tenskwatawa)
close to the citadel, she raises her latern
close to the citadel, she raises her laquered hooves
the long road division, for lack of another route
and these then were all too good advantage lost
and i grow suspect as soon as your friendliness rises
cause one man alone stands a chance
but not a second chance
close to the citadel will hasten to affirm
for this congress we have ridden doubly against
and we'll grow suspect
as soon as their friendliness rises
and i alone stand a chance but not a second chance
Republic (our republic)
you should know,
trouble comes from a passionate word and
you should know,
passion comes from a passing word
dark blue they, our banners flayed
and burning to the base
submit to draw closer
the glance you'd once given me
an attempt of the old position
they impose their pushing in steep heroics
these fine others
i owe my lifted, tho' wounded head
and every side of you to a man
there have been signals
these are now joined by a future
and only say which decayed
not live opposite the failed republic
time will meet and pass you by
you should know
trouble comes from a passionate word
you should know
passion comes from a troublesome word
you should know
trouble sounds like a comforting word
you should know
passion comes from a passing word
Oriole (crab orchard)
captain the horseman and hound south travelin slowly
my loyality to crossroads and thresholds
comes with my rising hope to leave this hunt unfollowed
My blood's courage courses to rendezvous
with freedom(x4)
i swore nothing in my passing(in my passing)
to die like surrender would teach me a lesson
"Judas", they too would cry
oh oriole in the mile before dawn
do not return a treasonous song unguarded
Texas (big sewell Mt.)
wrap no cotton shrouds
you're champion around
right now the world suffers for you
(sufferin' for you)
set myself down on the frozen ground at dawn
pointed myself with my back to the sun
and thus were his eyes,
his hands spoke misfortune
and these are his words
that brought me through my sickness
if i were my hands(x2)
i'd choke out these words(x2)
my dying breath
set yourself down on the dewy ground at dawn
and there point yourself with your back to the sun
(G+T) Constant (gauley bridge)
I seen you sent the second part
with the faith thrown back
sent me to join the sudden evenings passing
if i have been too constant
then you were this thing also
she shut up the room,
same blue voice to sound it
how exactly Jonesy, do you declare we're bound
spend the lives that rise between us
we were once so constant
if you have been to constant
then i was this thing also
perhaps i will join that posture
you have braced around your smile
Sailor (dogwood gap)
how goes it soldier,
i'm too young to muster
though i know brown bonnet
who sweats like a soldier
when her boots come riding
on those nights that seem like the devil is riding
my halo for sabers over his shoulder
and he brings to me the rope and saw
one put to hang in, put one to save in
and how goes it sailor, i'm unwell for sailing
though i know the captain's bride
cause she comes to me and
she's handsome and wild as a hawk
and how goes it sister i do hate be botherin'
though i know you hate the fiends
they come to you and they're bearin' friendship
no lies could more have been
you come to me and
you're handsome, you're wild as a hawk
For You (greenbrier-LP only)
an abuse of mercy is the action of
a survivor only
the stars that glow from port to Portland
are not the same to abort their sting
when judgement comes to walk the earth
he will come with heaviest tidings
when he knocks on the door is for you(x3)
unless a friend were in deed to labor
his life alongside his greatest hazard
they'red always be room for you
Sin And Death (blue jay)
it seems that the older inhabitors never got out of you
the phantom broods were wronged in body
and in a state they will make their soon escape
by building a new inheiritence
it's likely more not to be
than sin and death and vipers to fill our beds
and as for liberty she will work or she will suffer
i am dense with the light of women
and i insist i'm not confused
i will not be going
Fortunate Man (Conscript or Little Beaver)
Conscript fathers, when they were by to see
not inspired by our lack of honesty
only then could i lament their services as fortunate men
who's a fortunate man, there's a fortunate man
i play my part to abuse you as well as i can
as well as on the first occasion, as well as in the end
only then could i regret my service as a fortunate man
who's a fortunate man
there are no fortunate men
One (cotton hill)
there are ones more worthy than i can be counted on
they are ones provoked to confound distinction
good and wrong
my saying too much on the side
if our two friends condem one virtue one verity
we err in our duty to utter truths
when we have one(x2)
Runs For It (blue stone)
Alone or in company, the city makes me nervous
you know i'd rather be
with little Sorrel or your house
or a little bit further
where i'd be standing with my reassurer
such an engine speaks such gear words
a sight for a civillians prayer
an American on the Dorsett shore
runs for it(x3)
to risk the pathetic again tonight
such poverty compells us to perfect our pride
run for it(x3)
Hayfoot (U.M.W. Pension)
i've left what's left of me on the shores of the Eerie
on the shores of the Eerie
and i've crawled ne'er so
home sickwardly home
so home sickwardly home
it goes Hayfoot with strawfoot
ya throw down(throw down)
and this they'll say serves me rightly(x2)
so i'd give o'er plainly, this journians luckless cause
if I weren't so lucky
it goes hayfoot with strawfoot ya throw down(throw down)
and this they'll say serves me rightly(x2)
SINGLES AND COMPILATION TRACKS (return to top)
Boys
spoken word intro: "Joe and I are going to teach you
about the bitterness that is, boys"
we have no rattlesnakes here(x2)
we have no devil in here
cause we have boys(x2)
who share the same poison(x3)
we have no devils here
we have no devil in here
we have no rattlesnakes here
cause we have boys(x2)
who drink the same poison
who share the same poison(x2)
To The Neighbors of Our Age
How does the right or either hand
in a prayer that my debts will all fail me
to the now departing team
with their fugitive customs
like grieving for us
and to the neighbors of our age
we'll let grieving be lost
to what is appropriate for us(x4)
Freedom Pt. 2
see your teeth are robed in crimson
from your biting back this pain
and if I had the strength for smiling
you'd see that my pain looks the same
and I must walk these roads to freedom
cause I can hear them call my name
in due time I shall return
my first word will be your name
then I will have the strength for smiling
you will see that crimson stain
turn your passion into patience
there is bound to be great pain
and I must walk these roads to freedom
cause I can hear them call my name
if you can shoulder patience burden
in due time I'll wear your name
Trans Am
Have you been adventuring
From your native grieving
I elect its conquered
She elects its conquered
These paths to exit
These paths rise often
They are a lie
They are against you
We all should have ruin
Ruin so swift
When it's eager its treason
with no conscience
When it's love (2x)
Soul
I tell all your friends that
you're bound for glory
and how long did you know
that you'd make it there before me
and what is it like
is it worth this misfortune
what is it like on the other side
these 20 years I've loved one thing only
I love what I know about passion
I love what I know about mercy
I love what I know about patience
I love what I know about soul
and I know you(x3)
I tell all my friends
that I'm bound for heaven
and if I ain't so
you can't blame me for living
I know what it's like
and it's worth this misfortune
I know what it's like on the other side
these 20 years I've loved one thing only
I love what I know about passion
I love what I know about mercy
I love what I know about patience
I love what I know about soul
and I know you(x3)
Still Around
to make you stay I'll never try
and when you go I will not cry
but for awhile I might be found
somewhere near, still around
and may you find a love that's true
someone to love and cherish you
and may you love as I love you
and if you ever feel alone
with no true love to call you own
and if you need a place to hide
these arms of mine are open wide
and if a cold love brings you pain
my love is warm as summer rain always
remember I'll be found, still around
Waltham
and the most honest one with
razor wit tongues
cut the bellies of their debtors
and I'm one
and the last line of all stands thus
in my black letter
despair, there are hopes
in darkness there are suns
collapse, there is service in love(x2)
Nay, 'tis not death
the lord knows mercy he don't know fire
and fire receive thy soul(x2)
the devil knows mercy, the devil knows fire
and fire receive thy soul(x2)
I see the sun alone every morning
I see the soul of you
the rest is instinctive
guess now who holds thee
is it death(x5)
nay, its not death
and this...tonight do not retire
the lost trade their bibles
for whiskey's sweet fire
and fire receive thy soul(x2)
the lost tonight do not retire
I'm faithful I'm faithful in fire
and fire receive thy soul
is it death(x2)
nay, its not death(x2)
Napoleon
is there any room for death even to try
the movement, were it granted,
is only going to go
you are not, as day follows day
to be forgot
you I have not, forgot
at least, we are touched upon
our last days at this place
this time you will not talk of risk
only of certain consequence
oh, you and Napoleon all of that ambition
you are not, as day follows day
to be forgot
you I have not, forgot
How To Be Perfect Men
suppose my life has its plan
I choose to have women write my plan
and I have my reasons
they'll write that list of all that I should be
and perfect men would never be
jealous or desperate
my ghost and I in our grave will lie
and we'll read that plan
on how to be perfect man
if anyone succeeds you
this will be her song to know that
I will get it wrong(x2)
be mine
'til you're reminded of something better
be mine
until it comes along
be mine
'til you're reminded of something better
until it comes along
For You (Greenbrier-black album LP only)
an abuse of mercy is the action of
a survivor only
the stars that glow from port to Portland
are not the same to abort their sting
when judgment comes to walk the earth
he will come with heaviest tidings
when he knocks on the door is for you(x3)
unless a friend were in deed to labor
his life alongside his greatest hazard
they'red always be room for you
7th Street Wonderland
the sky was full with a gray winter light
and each freezing degree made its target that night
and the pulse of the snow was the pulse of twighlight
the pulse of the snow was the pulse of diamonds
and you wear it in your hair like a constellation
and we both swear by the size of that moon that
the sky will sink tonight(x4)
Darling You Are....
darling you are one of the bad women
darling you are one of.....
Journey On
though the morning will bring your leaving
I'll shed ne'er one tear while you're here
and though weeping will bring small comfort
let your sorrows by and
journey on(x2)
when your love has gone journey on
though this sunshine ship she is sinking
her sailor's near despair
they journey on(x2)
when your love has gone journey on
Calling Bird
a calling bird
calls our name out loud
a calling bird
knows our fate
his voice is thick and slow
and he's singing in the rain
a calling bird
spells our name out loud
d.e.a.d.
Untitled #1 (Eye Of the Beholder CD)
you don't have to know, a lot
you don't have to know, I know
news of the world arrive (arrive)
you don't have to know, arrive
news of the world arrive (x2)
arrive
Fade Street
when the struggles of the day are emptied out
the black equator of tar will trace them out
the laurel of moss will trace the route
the steady line of empty cars to trace the route
the steady echo, the unending pulse
the map of shadows with no corrections
fighting the army of the moon and her reflections
Untitled #2 (Comes With A Smile CD)
covered in the ash gray shade of the overhead track
ace of spades black in those chestnut browns
most of the way to over dose
looming dark, damp earth and deaths laid
wolf headed guests, let them in, all of them
they can all come right in at least their honest,
at least with me they have been
and i think how much you look like my sister
christ, it doesn't take much, you look exactly like her
and you sense a gate of fire, we are all passing through
some of us wait 'til the end and some of us pass right through
Howler
the light in the dust, the light in the desert
the shadow on us, shadow on the compass
dog's ghost red eyes the dog's ghost blue eyes
howler (x4)
electric eyes in hell run on power made in cleveland
the slow bells write time out in blood
the slow bells write our shadows out in blood
and the slow bells write my echo down in blood
howler (x3)
the breath in my skull horizon in my blood (x2)
howler (x5)
Untitled #3 (Travels In Constants CD)
compass bright scarecrow balance blackness
ember moon girl easy lips
????? attacker stare balance ending
light of the caravan and thunder across the vast plain above the wings loom like sickles above them there wings loom like sickles
their hearts and their black hearts
the sand and the sand that darkens the blood
their wings loom above like sickles
a son of the earth has not put out the night
it's breath won't catch up, the wilderness in front (x2)
the sand is thick in the blood
the moon and the black moon beside the moon
the owl and the black owl beside the owl
the moons above like a sickle (x2)
as the hardest day quiet ends
chalk on the wet wood around the shadow
of alphabets around the globe
all of these corrections and all of these failings
all of these corrections permanent says:
tell me to remember (x2)
your pulse beats on forever in the wreckage of this man
briar is coiled around his star (x2)
and you write the word for this and you write for this with your eyes closed (x2)
No Moon On The Water (Chunklet 7")
no moon on the water
the way i'm acting it's no wonder
the blues come
i can't outrun 'em
i ain't foolin' me
i ain't foolin' no one
i have to work hard to suffer alone
i have to work harder to be so alone
don't like half of who i've been
but i've kept my promises to all of them
tie my wings behind my back
cut out my eyes and fill 'em with lead
cut off my head and put the black mules there
trade my heart for a fire
fill my bones with the grey wolf
face me to the shore
give me one reason to live
give me one single reason to live
don't have to be good (x3)
In The Human World (Chunklet 7")
mountain of the dead
are you listening
you're gonna lose so much
if the lightning's going by
you've already lost so much
if the moon has gone by
all the good things
are asleep in the human world
it's made more room
for the dark to walk around
my heart is sick and i didn't make it out
speak to all my friends whose names i don't remember now
you're gonna lose a lot
you'll get used to it somehow
Down The Wrong Road Both Ways
If I could follow my whole life's track
I'd still be here at the crossroads, dear
My broken heart has never left
Half the time it took half my life
To have half a right to say
Nothing ever comes back home
That takes the blue star highway
Nothing ever makes it home
That takes the blue star highway
If today you're left with nothing
Be thankful you're not left with less
Some of us only lose the dark
To get lost in darkness
Red crescent moon you can lay the lantern down
I'm back where you join hands
With the blue highway now
If I could have my heart come back
And be forgiven for them old days
We'd be headed where we always been
Down the wrong road both ways
We'd be headed where we always been
Down the wrong road both ways
