music_song

a test train rolls through at three in the morning
there are no passengers or stops
my interest level rises and then it drops

my life laid out in dictionary format
I've got a lot of entries under the M's
and they say that Z is not the end

let's all plug in to the telepathic disco
hard up for hand me downs no more
and the Koinos Kosmos gets us through the door

but the rag in the bottle doesn't understand
that the well has a bottom in the other land
brace yourself for some foreign affairs

you could chalk it up but you haven't got a blackboard
you could shrug it off but your shoulder's broke
you could laugh it off but it isn't a joke

and the funeral reminded me to call you
and leave the coordinates for the Bayou
I'm a sleeper agent just waking up

I should have worn a disguise
you should've looked more surprised
you've got me cornered
in color coordinated lake shore drives
ramparts and car parts in an enemy hive
it's intelligence that doesn't come from the mind
but I've got yours on mine

good morning comrade this is good coffee
let's take a walk and peruse the reports
this will look a lot worse than it'll hurt

a blizzard
a mallard
a stillborn Chinese baby speaking backwards
my peephole
in the cabin
keep an eye on loggers preparing for battle
and textbooks glow like they know where we're going
but it's just a guess they planted in the pages
and flags unfurl like they know why we're sewing
a certain kind of stars into the fabric

can't keep topping my count's bestsellers
pieced together in damp dark cellars
flipped out fury
it's a wigged out wish
so creep creep crawl your way into the heartland
when the clocks explode
we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

there is no context for this progress
a village epidemic reaches congress
an idea or a light bulb
smashed on concrete outside of the nightclub
a cat with a windchime skeleton
but it's not like he's in charge of city planning
greet the deep sea diver as he dives within
he hides secrets behind all of the paneling

we will find him before
the party resumes
treating cape houses like Egyptian tombs
tricked out tremors in my nervous system
don't sink sink sink sink sink into the pavement
when the clocks explode
we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

wave backwards to Massachusetts
we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

trouble comes, the mail arrives
I pick apart a broken watch
I'm on call with astronauts
here's an acrobatic lot
Telemundo is for free
but not something that you could see
everybody falls asleep when oxygen dies

hundred horses, hundred wines
that's a secret, that's a lie
here's a planetoid connection
that they caught and tried to hide
paranoid's a boring game
jealousy is just the same
hit me with the hammer when the light turns green

plaintiff's here, jury's gone
down at the Dairy Mart
absolutely no exception
specially for you
made inventions, broke conventions
raised a glass to new pretensions
meta-meta-meta-and the novel is dead

no more talk of mathmagicians
numbers can't be ever tricked
I propose a superstition
always mumbling, never sick
a way to increase your sales
never question, never fail
I was born in Vermont
she was born in Vermont
and we'll all die in Vermont hallelujah the hills

I prepared a tin hour glass
simple instructions
for a man with lion's breath
my feelings are pre-determined tonight

a man so often the best man
he fired a gun
that shot wedding rings on the fingers
of his best friends
of his family
of his enemies

the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
all lit up tonight

are you afraid
of the unguided mind,
of free association?
nonsequitors built this nation
please understand
or better yet please take my hand
and look at the shape I'm in
I've been drinking the gin
we found in Evan's mom's basement
my excuses
are so useless
and then the choir sings

the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
all lit up tonight

and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on waiting for you
and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on speaking through you
and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on waiting for you
and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on, keep on

The house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
all lit up tonight

hallow down the hall
have you written?
I was gone
wake up my souvenirs
add three and two I spotted you
but who could stand to follow through?

raise the flag
raise the flag
raise the flag
of your sibling's favorite daydream

stupefied again
in the autumn of our father's den
I came to with a canker
drinking from the faucet
trying to save some water and a friend
I knew he'd operate

raise the flag
raise the flag
raise the flag
of your sibling's favorite daydream

I'll shine the light
though it's not flattering
on your wishes as they are
telephone mom, she should be next to me
notify dad, it's common decency

then wash the dishes while your secrets leave home
call the news tell 'em to leave us alone
we all fit on this embarrassing throne
but anyway
listen for the sound of subtle atrophy
while he's tethered to a broken phonograph

back in school again
you didn't think I'd abandon you my friend
here comes a silver bullet
to skim the leaves of poplar leaves
and blessed be the minor keys
I'm so in love with you

raise the flag
raise the flag
raise the flag
of your sibling's favorite daydream

here's the crux of the cameraman
buried deep in his master plan
here's a format becoming defunct
a bunch of tapes on a ship that sunk
electric outlet in a public place
so new rappers get to show their face
if you're human and you're feeling displaced
we've got news for you it's the kind
that makes you shake in your boots
and crumble down to the floor

Tommy Beta with his life on pause
his college thesis stored in his parents garage
are you into the olive branch? (are you, Tommy?)
or shooting arrows in an American trance
list your prescriptions on your resume
and polish bullets saved for our prey
add sinking feelings and we'll call it a day
I wear a mask to sleep and it's old and it's made
of clay and I have no idea why I do that

if you're guilty of some heinous crime
I'll write your defense down in metered rhyme
we'll make believe we got it right this time
I've got news for you and me and him and her and us
and everything's crumbling and rotting away
but I'm content to sit here and watch it all happen
with you

we're stealing bodies
so the doctors can study
and improve their technique
they operate next week
on the girl who's embarrassed
that she melted the chalice
with a thought thrown through the air
but she's only half of a pair

cuz Effie's on the other side
she's laughing and sculpting and washing the filth
off of the devil's hide

we're replacing their bones
with pipes, sticks, and stones
so the grievers don't notice
that their loved ones helped us grow this
translucent creature being housed
by the doubting preacher
reciting the scripture
while the creature paints this picture

of Effie on the other side
she's laughing and sculpting and washing the filth
off of the devil's hide

the trap can't trap you
if you take it to pieces
stop thinking you're somebody else
stop crying and go get some help
stop trying to solve it your self
and you know what else?

her misfortunes fell upon her
call and response
good morning alchemy
start strumming my super strings
it's a wilderness of mirrors and kings
bespectacled devil with wings

it's hard to imagine
anything more terrifying
than dying in someone else's dream
waking up in a coffin of trees
and your soul getting hauled off by bees
and if you think that's too much to believe

a munitions expert
while disarming a bomb
realizes he left the stove on at home
he imagines his house up in smoke
while he renders explosives a joke

I'm a planet, I'm the moon
I'm barely in this room
won't somebody please shake me awake?
put me in the front yard with a rake
it's the simplest of tasks I can take
if I don't want to break
and I don't want to break

the playwright has stage fright
the doctor is sick
the electrician struck down by lightning
burning candles from more than two ends
is that me? I guess it depends
hell, go ask my friends

I'm a planet, I'm the moon
I'm barely in this room
won't somebody please shake me awake

I was born
a teenage synesthete
feeling colors, hearing tastes
and catching my breath
I saw a hawk out by the high school
fly into your brain
I wrote it down
but I won't tell no one
from that I'll refrain

and everything will probably be alright
collective psychosis begone
and everything will probably be okay
collective psychosis begone

I break things by walking by
I accidentally hypnotize
every single motherfucker
locked inside the Newton branch
worst bank robber known to man
rob the bank, that was my plan
didn't even check to see
where the cameras were at
but I always get away
as if I planned it that way
there must be something radiating from me
and my actions make the money move
though my sounds can't really soothe
it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing

My grandma was a silent star
no words emerged from her famous jaw
at pre-code party
she brought a pile of printed cards
she's rather hold them up then speak
she feared her voice would crack her teeth
and everybody knows
just what cracking teeth symbolize
but she loved the silver screen
and her face in magazines
when she lost her fame
she ran off with a financial analyst
but her movements made the movies move
though her voice couldn't really soothe
it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing

odd behavior of poltergeists
insurance salesman killed by knife
everything is game
now that intertitles have bit the dust
the studio system's come and gone
the golden age has turned to bronze
if I could call cut
I'd leave those poor bankers alone
because the logic found in words
quickly becomes absurd
as soon as a light bulb shines
through a celluloid strip
and to equate the two is wrong
but I do it all night long
it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing
(and then they started singing!)

to all my scientist colleagues I bid you farewell
it's been a long career
of splitting open atoms with government funds
I'll never forget transplanting retinas
and federal agendas that we scorned
dear like minded friends
never forget what you've learned

they've taken my microscope
and my radiation lab pass
I've packed up my pictures
of my dear wife my siblings
and my scientist dad
I'm planning to open a newspaper stand
with a shoe shine chair just for a laugh
while I'm selling the present
my mind will drift back to the past

to all my scientist colleagues I bid you farewell
some of us are religious
but most of us think we're just bones, flesh, and cells
I'll guess we'll find out
when our hearts stop ticking
and our brains stop working so well
can't say I'm looking forward
to being the first one to tell
to my scientist colleagues
I bid you farewell

to all my
to all my
to all my

it's the memory you let go
not the stimuli of the ghost
injecting opera, in the corridor
of the queen's latest estate

and so you slip on past the bazaar
troubles d.o.a. thus far
“I'm not so criminal
in a cathedral”
you remark as the blimps fade away

“is this an epilogue?” doc asks
while the nurses 5 float past
“we'd like to regulate
but not aggravate
and bring this dance to a close”

and while you sit and think about that
something invisible falls flat
and we'll not know today
what it had to say
but I'm sure it'll be back

a bell for the brave Armenian waitress
outsourced to the heavies in the Texas sway
something drifts across the soul of September soil
I used to strip there but now I solemnly swear

I'm the one to disintegrate into your dreamscape
pushed into patchwork
with a mask with eyes cut to keyholes
believe me I'm trying

I remember the day machine wept into lakes
and poets made a plea on live TV
a semicolon inked on the governor's wrist
we all claimed we shared but it's worse than we feared

I'm the one to camp out under the flagpole
coiled up and dumb
trashing the haunted mansion
pushed into patchwork
to disintegrate into your dreamscape
with a mask with eyes cut to keyholes
believe she's lying

when you come again
tryst in the treetop
8 excuses for the mother hen
I tripped in the hall
it was a miracle stall
bought us time and we
filtered out the feelings again

we schemed at the built in bar
townie authority screaming we shouldn't go far
I copied the key
the way I mimic disease
leaving the locksmith hungry,
debating on his hands and his knees

bankrupt birdhouse the crow got the word out
we've seen this all before
and I am slouching a grown man crouching
thirty armed men at the door

the truth and the tooth came out
one in the paper and the other inside of his mouth
he left with a limp and a cut on his lip
hid the morning paper and never told his wife or his kids

now we're on our own
cutting coupons 10 dollars off
a crown and a thrown
discount royalty
high horse novelties
we'll pay full price cuz it's better
than being alone

let it wave
oh let it wave
let it wave
oh let it wave

built by science “the dysphemic alliance”
we're pumping iron down by the pier
and we're trimming the fuses on these daily abuses
there's nobody sober left to steer
we went down with intentions to climb
the eighty foot memorial pine
hey who blew the roof off?
c'mon get your boots on
we're cataloging Candy's demise

the concierge signals it seems we have a single
are you decent with a map and a flask?
I found my room and then hallucinated you
it's so useless if you have to ask
where I got this punch in the mouth
he tells the joke about the pole in the south
we were perfect and passed out when she
finally got her shout out
we're cataloging candy's demise

asleep at the spiel we tried so hard to feel
until amnesia caught us unawares
we were pulling from a pill box
when we ran into the Statie
and he brought us all in on a whim
fingerprinted but not afraid
we told the guys we were back from the grave
every moment in my life
is crawling back tonight
cataloging candy's demise

sawed off sneakers
my lifeblood in a beaker
it's so groovy when you use ESP
but frankly Rudy your brother's out of juvie
so you gotta go buy him some weed
we were absolutely upside down
when candy's sister rolled back into town
c'mon with the sportscoat
polish up the row boat
we're cataloging candy's demise
hey who blew the roof off?
c'mon get your boots on
we're cataloging candy's demise
we were perfect and passed out when she
finally got her shout out
we're cataloging candy's demise

outside nature beats the tar out of nature
an intelligent disease inside a healthy plant
I heard you were one of those homewrecking truckers, well ain't ya?
“18 wheels of terror”: the driver's union chant
turn it up on the vamp

when night falls
who picks it up?
who picks it up?
who picks it up?

stitched on the inside of his jacket is a note for the doctor:
“send my remains to a stranger picked out of a hat”
he's adept at piano but he never claimed to have rocked her
then the band took a break and went to get high in the back
but it's enough if we ask

when night falls
who picks it up?
who picks it up?
who picks it up?

a hand comes down and turns the airplane around
an alarm clock sounds and shakes the unconscious down
and then the playground hounds sniff out every drug in town
on a Friday night
in the middle of the month
in the preacher's house
at the mayor's house
in the policeman's car
in the teacher's bag
in the doctor's lab
it's enough if we ask

when night falls
who picks it up?
who picks it up?
who picks it up?

get you out of range
of my monster eyes
best thing I ever did for you
was get you out of range
of my monster eyes

before my eyes destroy you
you better run

the phone line is broken
the tapes are all erased
someone's at the door you know his wares have all been laced
you better hope you die before me

if you take it as a compliment
you're out of your tree
the horses all are ready
and they know as well as me
that you better hope you die before me

everybody knows you climb a ladder so well
impressive demonstrations of your speech and your spells
but you better hope you die before me

dress me up in wires
I'll plug into the feed
of blasted out basement shows
bursting at the seams
and you better hope you die before me

the house is infested
with pests of every kind
but at least they had the courtesy
to stay of my mind
you're broken, alone, down, and undreamed

so you can bang on every windchime
or light a torch for me
or magnify your tiny soul
with a microscope from me
but you better hope you die before me

the king rounded up all the insurgents
listened closely to their gibberish
for some sign of an omen or portent
all night — all week

soon he had collected all of their wisdom
into a book he titled so
A Guide To The World’s Most Fantastic Monsters
and I read it searching for some new feeling but
the monster that you run from doesn’t exist

collect your cobwebs
saw off your antlers
between blizzards we are free
the front lawn’s hosting the strangest vine growth
that will in time entangle all we see

devastating news-hype hand delivered
via secret hymns
the might come back club’s
rites of recall are etched out on the bones of these limbs

open your kimono you hassle magnet
let me see what all the kids are killing for
consulting the Fates from far northern states
with escape routes scrawled on their back doors

fanatics follow the freedom of fandom
hitting straw men with plastic swords
rip up the floor boards
find what you’ve come for
you’re a guest they’ll begrudgingly endure

I was in the kitchen with the grieving uncle
and a drinking game that only he played
so in tender spirits he went up on the rooftop
to chant for the flying chariot brigade

To our amazement
out came the horses
who’s commanding? hell if I know
the might come back club’s rules of order
tell us in this case we must row
so start rowing

here we are where we thought we began
lost and high and burnt out with no back up plan
and it’s such a disgrace to leave all these kids weeping in the van

so we’re traversing North Dakota
using only cartoon commerce maps to navigate
but there’s always an unlabeled tape
lying in an unmarked box
in an ill-kept archive
and can you guess who that tape is keeping alive?

the first thing to know is that you can never go back there
the second thing to know is that I’m the one who sent you the dream
in the basement of your house oh sunny Jean
where you writhed and you coughed up and you screamed

call the cops
put the gurus in charge
cuz here comes an instructing hand
to place upon your lack of plans
and lead you to the tapes in the garage
can you guess which false prophet is still at large?

you fell in love with the woman sent here to kill you
and now you’ll kill the people that sent her to you
she’s the sweetest assassin in the states
has a tattoo of the motto of The Fates

you were brought here by design and now you’ll live until you die
you were brought here by design and now you’ll live until you die
you were brought here by design but don’t take that as a sign
you were brought here by design and now you’ll live until you die

you’ll spend the next year always looking over your shoulder
and combing through the paper for some elusive clue
you press rewind, and then you press play, then you pause
it’s time to hear what you thought you lost

if he’s the singer then I’m okay
let’s walk him out in awkward rain
and shed the vials and catch the corpse
it comes again through stain glass doors

can it spread out? To the street?
blank passports in the Pennsylvania heat
well I’m the one who made you that way
here it comes again unchained and unchanged

but then serious American composers
drift into the room
the world had not heard of them
said they arrived too soon

now we’re making a mess of the mountain
and trashing our rooms
they call us heirs to the emptiness
still we whistle their tune

I heart the great lakes
I shot the son
I wore the blindfold
I fled at dawn
and caught the visions
while they’re inert
it dignifies your bold cohorts

does it commute? the sentence steep?
22 years on the Massachusetts street
well neither pill nor poison control
can prop up a lifetime dig us out this hole

but then serious American composers
drift into the room
the world had not heard of them
said they arrived too soon

now we’re making a mess of the mountain
and trashing our rooms
they call us heirs to the emptiness
still we whistle their tune
so you’re living like a classical code word
spoken as one heard
it uttered from the podium
and brought down to herd
and what you should have known in the beginning
you won’t know till the end
that the way to the exodus
is back from where we came

keys to the house
a map of your room
there’s nothing left to kill
there’s nothing more than bring my body home

deliberate sons brace for the storm
redact the sinful word
reduce the thought and bring your body home

Allied Lions!
Allied Lions!
Allied Lions!
everything’s a dream, except for this moment we’re in now

let’s examine our pov’s
that might keep us from doa
to pulse out sos
it’s not enough to count on tba

turn a tanker on ten
treat the girlfriend’s friends as friends
reduce this patriot
I can’t seem to keep my focus clean

Allied Lions!
Allied Lions!
Allied Lions!
everything’s a dream, except for this moment we’re in now

keys to the house
a map of your room
there’s nothing left to kill
there’s nothing more than bring my body home

Allied Lions!
Allied Lions!
Allied Lions!
everything’s a dream, except for this moment we’re in now

you’ve got to know where you come from
you’ve got to know where you’re going

it’s true, the signal implodes
it goes where she goes
the cogs all march along in perfect single file
from beyond the grave where dead men relay
synchronistic poems that call for civil unrest

and here are the plans that you tied into knots
and here are the props that were everything but
so dancing with statues you sweetened the plot
and this I bring to you
and this I bring through you

for days we replayed the play
on stage after stage
but never could decide on an intended meaning
the town was corrupt, demanded of us
a semi private showing for the master’s daughter

and here is the scene where I kill every god
and bury them nameless in cemetery plots
deliver the news to the public at large
and this I bring to you
and this I bring through you

we walked up to wind chime mountain
to bury our old postcards
she said: “I need to tell you
about the 322 people you meet in purgatory
and how I got sick of all these guardian angels
with more problems than me.”

years before we lived in the hotel we both worked within
where she attempted to write the great Canadian review
of the great American novel
a request from the 1st edition’s introduction:
the playwright wishes that you harangue the actors
with pyramid scheme pitches during the encore.
also a real gun will be randomly fired into the audience
during intermission.
please enjoy.

the curtain came down and the crowd rushed the stage
we fled towards the airport through gunsmoke and haze
our passports revoked, the embassy razed
and this they brought to me, and this they brought through me

I can see you in my telescope
that punctures time like a needle through paper
you’re washing dishes during the civil war
as your husband’s stabbing your dad
they never met so it’s not even realized
how heavy truly the moment
and in the present in a shopping line
my sugar refuses to scan

oh, the time has come
to crash right through the gates of ivory towers
we must find a way
to topple all the thrones

you were right this light it comes from the night
and takes the shame out of being so latent
everything that’s been scheduled for you
you call random and sleep through the days
so you invest in every angle and hinge
hoping there’s something to swing from or hide in
but now there’s nothing but a precipice
and an old song to sing through the night

oh, the time has come
to crash right through the gates of ivory towers
we must find a way
to topple all the thrones

oh the time has come!
oh the time has come!

can we quake these tectonic plates?
would it shake the street that you live on?
portraits tumble to the hardwood floor
leaving dents and impressions of me

I fall asleep on an empty highway
as my truck crashes into the woodlands
my feet are caught but I reach the flare gun
shoot it off but it’s the 4th of July

the subpoenas always came in unmarked cruisers
the fonts were bold and told us what to do
the schematics we stole were impossible to decipher
so let’s go downtown and see this whole thing through

I would feel much better if this day had narration
as we’re living out some archetype clean and blue
there are moments here that don’t come from this station
there are lifetimes here repeated ‘til they’re true

casually break my fingers so I can’t work the key
the master painters all look ashamed
they don’t know the thrill of a jukebox fade
church bells ringing out commercials for Jesus
the future ex-girlfriends all promise to leave us

I dreamt of this well
bringing you back to live in burnt out motels
it’s my junk mail dream to turn this car around
and drive back down to where my body was found
they say I was focused on slowing down time
hands inside the clock when I was hit from behind

there’s a possibility
this predictability
will eventually grow wild and bend
then I’ll know
I never meant to meet you
but that’s what the sequence puts you through

curse this mind control
making me leak these ideas so very slow
I’m an excerpt of an abridged serial
you never had a job so menial
to keep track of track of distractions that impede my path
and pinpoint their origin and slice them in half

but there’s a possibility
this predictability
will eventually grow wild and bend
for better or worse
I never called the cab a hearse
I answered questions with a pause
and tried to break what you defend
but ended up drifting far from shore
washed up in some foreign land
and tried to find a way back home
but when I did you shrugged and said
here’s where the echo sequence ends

oh we crashed in the ash
and then the cash of the titans blew out to sea
but you, you broke out the map
lead us out of the country
through the haunted hallway

I strayed during the ticker tape parade
you were gathering blank tape
for the never ceasing project of the documentarian

my dear, I could drift into backyards
during nights of no moonlight
and never reappear
you know that something
would grab a hold of me slowly
make love to me only
and pull me deep underground

forever is incomprehensible
but still attainable
with a little luck, a lawyer, and a fine tuned radio

the stop light changes but nothing else does
it kept me waiting just because
so delete all your dead friends from you cell phone
it keeps you inside that certain zone: home
Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha

I feel it / I feel it / I feel it / I feel it
a devil / a devil / a devil / a devil
or an angel / an angel / an angel / an angel
nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer

the phone line is broken
the tapes are all erased
someone’s at the door
you know his wares have all been laced
you better hope you die before me

if you take it as a compliment
you’re out of your tree
the horses are all ready
and they know as well as me
that you better hope you die before me

everybody knows you climb a ladder so well
impressive demonstrations of your speech and spells
but you better hope you die before me

so dress me up in wires
I’ll plug into the feed
of blasted out basement shows
bursting at the seams
and you better hope you die before me

the house is infested with
with pests of every kind
but at least they have the courtesy
to stay out of my mind
you’re broken, alone, down, and undreamed

you can bang on every wind chime
or light a torch for me
or magnify your tiny soul
with a microscope from me
and you better hope you die before me

I miss so many people
it carries back
there is no re-arrival
no loophole trap

explain it backwards for me
and I’ll be your sweetheart
without deceit
no more wars
I’m a big fan
it’s a sinking house
we’ve just begun

the fog was lifting out of her mouth
when I awoke
a fire escape
or a water arrival
we’re just bicycle spokes

churning away the time
shooting it off to deep space
well goodbye time
we loved you well
you’re still alive
in the videotape
and the child’s poem
we’ve just begun

take off your jacket
and black tie
collapse into a dream
where the house lifts up
to the tree tops
and the clouds begin

then I make a parachute
out of the bedding
and make my stance
by falling down
without deceit
no more wars
it’s a sinking house
well goodbye time
we loved you well
we’ve just begun
we’ve just begun

jammed by these satellite signals
our path now encumbered by clouds
our secret plans spoken out loud
the devil’s in the details but
no one really knew that till now

you’ve got Everett wearing x-ray glasses
trying to get off in the sand
while Casey makes a map of the land
we get beat up and punched out
beat up and punched out
beat up and punched out
yeah, we almost get gone

all I need are 8 cups of coffee
some beer and my cigarettes
we’ll steer the ship towards the rocky inlets
behold the cargo in the water — an ocean full of country duets

“kill me, Captain Courage, I love you
but my paper pilots are caught in a trap”
and nothing’s gonna bring them back
so the obits in the paper detail everything
that slips through the cracks

treat me like the probation officer you never had
i’ll get you work in a book-binding warehouse
but if you fall across the wayside I really can’t
be called to repeat what I once screamed

all these pilots becoming part of my life
as my old self goes under the knife
the doctor says, “don’t worry, cuz
I know this procedure like I know the back of my wife.”
And that’s pretty damn well

jammed by these satellite signals
our path now encumbered by clouds
our secret plans spoken out loud
the devil’s in the details but
no one really knew that till now

I saw your name
on a blacklist in the city
assembled outright by committee
they play to win, they play to win
I've come around

out of my mind
out of context, on a substance
in the bathroom of your apartment
I've got a note from a doctor
that this is allowed

and all of these unbelievable villains
come my way
they hold up photos
they say they know you
you and I

and that ticking sound hear
let's pay it no mind
let's pay it no mind 

gentlemen
he said forever
so we can talk about it, talk about it
talk about it 'till it's all akimbo

and if it's true that we've all forgotten something
you can take a potent memory pill
and we can reconstruct the past with a sail and a mast
and we'll float on into the sunset

our phones our wide open
introductory saints
you are the secretary of my security
and I'm the czar of whatever it takes
and darlin' one of us, one of us
one of us is one of them

watch your weapons
there are those who do covet
and the last thing we need is an obituary feed
that scrolls with names that we all know

and if it's true that we've all forgotten something
you can take a potent memory pill
and you'll remember why you're hear and you'll cry in your beer
'cause the next week is gonna be rough

our phones our wide open
introductory saints
you are the secretary of my security
and I'm the czar of whatever it takes
and darlin' one of us, one of us
one of us is one of them

Knock, knock here I am a civilian outpost
I’ve been dreaming for two
We look out for quicksand
Cuz we bottle and rebrand
and return nightly home to you
C’mon Ghost-o, is this your card?
I’ve been rehearsing this trick for weeks
Summoned and sunburned, enormously ticked off
I’d fade away if this wasn’t sweet

Last night I figured out how this will work
And it’s not some slight of hand
It’s a different way not to die
You could trust me and try it for awhile

Country Before Kings! And kings after:
1) This most pleasant evening
2) Your horoscope’s meaning
I finally figured it out

For Christ’s sake knock it off
The cameras are rolling
Let’s explore the least we could be Two tandem sleepers
Like twin engine heaters
Hold a light & carry this through
There is no song, there is no guide
To lend a clue where we ought to be
Exalted and poised to type out a paean
This isn’t for the king it’s for me

Country Before Kings! And kings after:
1) This most pleasant evening
2) Your horoscope’s meaning
I finally figured it out

For the kids, at the time
These decisions all seemed right
When the militant party lines
Said, “you’re coming with us and we’ll show you how to shine a light”
So some went ahead with a certain look in their eyes

Was it me or was it you
That convinced us that we knew
Which parts we made up on the spot
Now the translator has some interesting words for the press
I’ll explain it again though I think that you all know the rest

And some of them we lost when the city turned its lights out
But all of them were still screaming “yeah! yeah! yeah!”
Hey Man, you’re alive

Big time issues in air tight jars
There’s a furnace fuel that can outpace cars
We all made the cut so let’s break some laws
Can you turn me up in the speakers?

We’re amateurs but we speak like pros
If you leave by dusk can you leave me a note?
We both know the score but keep hitting the ropes
Can you deal with unconditional clauses?

No more light sources from the to and the fro
We’re coming out loud & clean
Making the most of the moves, oh

A-M-A-T-E-U-R-S

Later on we killed some time
Kicking down some doors on the company’s dime
The mystery’s here to be thrashed and mined
Can we almost hit the edge of the pulse point?

Make like millions & speak with care
There’s a suit laid out for a formal affair
They can’t spot a novice if he acts like an heir
And an heir only acts as he pleases

No more short cuts through the halls of the king
We’re coming out loud & clean
Making the most of the moves, oh

A-M-A-T-E-U-R-S

Amateurs! Amateurs! We wish you well, we wish you well

“We’re Amateurs”

A-M-A-T-E-U-R-S

The girls are here
The rules have changed
To the streets, up the hill, over plains
Come on team
So I can feel
Lost, harassed, and new

There’s nothing
They’ve shown us
We’d kill to have
There’s nothing like this at all

Come on team
So I can feel
Lost, harassed, and new

To the trustees of a verified nation
Where have you been, what have we done?
To the old friends who scavenge for an anecdote
Rummage no more, we’ve got one for you
And here’s to the predictions of amateurs
Their net cast so wide, their Hail Mary moves
And what creeps in the dark resides in all of us
Keep transcripts and notes and meet me out back

Ooooooooh
Caress me now
And I’ll come back again

The girls are here
The rules have changed
To the streets, up the hill, over plains

Come on team
So I can feel
Lost, harassed, and new

Whatever it is in the way
Tear it down - make the time
Come on out for the week
Bring the wife - no regrets

It would be wrong for me to sing the blues
All of my bad dies proportionately kind
So if I must lose, lemme lose, spectacularly
Wrap up my wounds and just turn out the lights

It would be fine to hum some overture
A classical song to get us in on the plot
I’ve been to these towns, where the sounds
Of the disaffected youth
Will get you to drop down and count out your days
So count out your days

Nice Tries On Some Borderline
Title TBA Just Get Me In A Room

I told you before about my run-in with hymns
Collectively stoned in the Sunday dawn
But I came to see
Even thee
Would welcome an enemy
If it arrived in the form of a song
So arrive in a song

Nice Tries On Some Borderline
Title TBA Just Get Me In A Room

You see I thought I had it figured out but I guess that I was wrong
Title TBA Just Get Me In A Room
Title TBA Just Get Me In A Room
Title TBA Just Get Me In A

Watch as this falls apart
Ballet in reverse
Revival of sins and critics who
You thought had moved on
To pastures of green
Or somewhere just as baroque

Nightingale Lightning!
Nightingale Lightning!
Hello! Hello! Hello!

This is somewhat unique
For a man of my class
And stance and stature
To stand and smoke down to the bone
My cigarette
And blow the smoke into the

FILMS
THE POPULAR SONGS
THE HEADLINE PARADES
THE STARS OF THE STAGE & TV
SO THAT
WHEN THEY REMEMBER
THEY WILL REMEMBER
IN A HAZE

Hello! Nightingale Lightning!
Nightingale Lightning!
Hello! Hello!

You scribbled down these words for me:
“take your place in the garden”
I took it up with bourbon to decipher in the top of a tree
With boredom comes no more burden
But a price is paid regardless
Nostalgia held hostage in the wings, you know it’s just for the show
If you ever
Care to collapse
If you ever come to
You should know
You should know
What I did in LA
Where I lived in Dallas
Why I left New York
& What occurred in Boise
So if you ever care to collapse
And if you ever come to

So keep it all under your hat
Or other appropriate expressions
Cuz winter’s like a boxing match
Televised but turned down low
I’ve got my finger on your position
Your voice, your keys, and direction
Cuz any old psychic can tell you everything is a sign
So If you ever
Care to collapse
If you ever come to
You should know
You should know
What I did in LA
Where I lived in Dallas
Why I left New York
& What occurred in Boise
I feel like something ghostly
If you were here so would you
So would you

I was born in the middle of a screaming match
Cleaned up sent to live with monks
Raised up by Arabian wolves
Grew up in the eye of a storm
A gentleman crossed with a fiend
Oh and I do say
Oh and I do say

Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire
I believe we’ve been everywhere
We sing so sweetly in the annals of the world
These siren songs for misanthrope ears

I grew old in the shadow of a prison wall
Commemorated then thrown away
Memorialized but wanted alive
Canonized yet despised by all
A cautionary tale for the kids
Oh and I do say
Oh and I do say

Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire
I believe we’ve been everywhere
We sing so sweetly in the annals of the world
These siren songs for misanthrope ears

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ME IS TRUE
BUT WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU IS TOO
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT ME IS TRUE
BUT WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT YOU IS TOO

Hungry Ghost Extraordinaire
I believe we’ve been everywhere
We sing so sweetly in the annals of the world
These siren songs for misanthrope ears
This violent hymn through halcyon tears

And what they say about me is true
But what they say about you is too

There’s no use pretending
This life is unending or cruel
The litany is endless
But the feelings behind it have cooled
And I could care less
About a silhouette down by the shore
We play Dead People’s Music
And we mistake the mirror for more

When the storyline’s fractured
And the details of the dream are too much (too much)
I kick out the stage lights
I flick every switch that should remain on
Now I couldn’t hear
The sirens through the city’s rain veneer
We play Dead People’s Music
And we mistake the mirror for more

Some Noble Human Motive
You Stick Together Or You Hang Alone
This Is An Adventure
& It Can Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Stop
& It Can Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Stop

So there’s no use pretending
This life is unending or cruel
The litany is endless
But the feelings behind it have cooled
I couldn’t see
The forest through the dark, twisted trees
We play Dead People’s Music
And we mistake the mirror for more
We play Dead People’s Music
And we mistake the mirror for more
We play Dead People’s Music
And we mistake the mirror for more

Well I paced for some duration
And the sum of the steps left us scarred
With a trap door heart and an X-Ray head, we depart
Now there’s no such thing as sleeping
And there’s no such thing as the past
The dares from the crowd
Were spoken out loud
And that’s that
What is this world?
What is this world?
Now let’s walk through the next few moments
With the caution and care of a fawn
Like paper mache if you’re poetic that way
But you’re not

What is this world?
What is this world?
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
People Breathe Into Other People And Bring Them Back To Life
What is this world?

The night is filled with only three thoughts
And they took two out back and were shot
Now we’re left with one
Singular thing
To wrestle into this world
I’m gonna change my game
Until the game changes me
And in a book of Child ballads I finally saw what you claimed to see
Infiltrate me some simple way
The night is filled with only one thought

Are you averse to a transformation?
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Hold me steady while I drink this deluge
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Someone, somewhere said something prophetic but no one thought to kick it through me

There used to be a way to get free
Without the use of A, B, or C
But the boilerplate cooled
And broke into shards
The museum put it on display
I’m gonna catch some thought
And distill it through you
When the last day of the season comes crawling you’ll know just what to do
Infiltrate me some simple way
The night is filled with only one thought

Are you averse to a transformation?
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Kiss me slowly with a curse word come-on
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Someone, somewhere said something prophetic but no one thought to kick it through me

Like a living, breathing tattoo
With the papers for the passing
Some encyclopedic come-on
Comes crashing through a white light
And stays to infiltrate me some simple way!

Are you averse to a transformation?
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Hold me steady while I drink this deluge
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Kiss me slowly with a curse word come on
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Someone, somewhere said something prophetic but no one thought to kick it through me

Amidst the canteens and vitamins
Amongst the lit up liturgical themes
There were breaks in the code, yes, I heard:
Spoken cues inside mechanical birds

Clocked in at 7:09
I took the stenograph out for a spin
You were searching for The Party Within
I was typing out the language of men
And with that we begin

Hello, My Destroyer, Can I Destroy You?

Meanwhile, in somebody’s dream
I was stabbed in the back constantly
I grew to take it as a compliment
Cuz I can take it if y’all have to vent
There were starlit nights in the grove
Where we sucked out the gin from our sleeves
They we took aim at the thoughts in the eaves
Now this next part is hard to believe
But it’s true, I reprise

Hello, My Destroyer, Can I Destroy You?
Can I Destroy You?
Can I Destroy You?
And then right on cue
You could destroy me too

Hellhound in the foyer
Fooled again by mannequins
We escape again
From the straight jacket
It’s alarming, man
But it’s nothing you can’t stand
You’re a full grown human man

Hello, My Destroyer, Can I Destroy You?
Can I Destroy You?
Can I Destroy You?
And then right on cue
You could destroy me too

I am the token fiend you read about in the bible
The kind that would come and ruin a miraculous scene
You had the distinct privilege of being my rival
And we took the thrill of a fight and it turned it into a creed

So call all your horses off
Sing out the names of the brave
And rise up from whence you came
And come back to reload rifles in the rain

They say that you could force a field into your vision
And unfurl a banner that reads “you are coming with me”
Don’t think too long, too hard, or ask for permission
But don’t buy the myth that nothing’s gonna get in the way

So call all your horses off
Sing out the names of the brave
And rise up from whence you came
And come back to reload rifles in the rain

Pour me a drink
Let me explain the wall paper
It’s not impossible to translate this dream
You’ve kept it afloat
Tell me about some love affair
It’s maybe the case that it won’t bother me now

We once had our best interests
Stripped and tied to some American sound

Just press record
We’ll cover mistakes with harmonies
It’s not impossible to sing what you mean
But it might be the last thing that we need

I caught some heat in the reviews
When I betrayed American sounds
I’m calling from the club’s phone
In a bad part of some American town
I met the man who played you every song
That some American found
We once had our best interests
Stripped and tied to some American sound

I’ll need about 3 minutes to explain just how I feel for you now

Here we go
Sno-Cone baby, I love you in the morning
Sweetest lows
KO, Uncle, I’ll meet you in the driveway

Watch this space
unseen terrors crashing into our lives
Boxes check
But no more spark than any average romance

Go ahead and hook me to the polygraph
We got a lot of people hoping for the best

I remember this!
Don’t mention the odds
Meet me in the car

I am the setting sun
You are the rising moon

My twin teleprompters humming in the night
Trying to send a signal I should lose this fight
But I never took a fall and you’re probably right
This bout will yield nothing but losers

I saw you breaking down in a magazine
And I never told a soul what it meant to me
Now I’m on a mission fueled by LSD
Trying to break these patterns

But I assure you
With a capital A
We’re just players in a fake play
Honey, don’t it all seem so phony?

Ladies & gentlemen, may I introduce
Some dark side of me that’s gotten loose
He’s making the rounds, yeah it’s probably true
They say he looks exactly like me

While you’re back home making real life moves
I’m in a motel outside a Baton Rouge
Reading these pages to some local girl
“Honey, won’t you read my manifesto?”

But I assure you
With a capital A
We’re just players in a fake play
Honey, don’t it all seem so phony?

I been running a marathon
It’s me vs. the hangers-on
We keep singing the same song
In the wrong key
I’m not here to deliberate
I’m not here to associate
I’m only trying to escape my fate
Though it’s not polite
It could happen tonight

But I assure you
With a capital A
We’re just players in a fake play
Honey, don’t it all seem so phony?

I’m gonna build a world that won’t fall apart
Does anybody wanna come with me?

Well I used to be a ghost
But I’m no longer a ghost
There’s a way I was told
Now I know it was true
Now I want what I had
So I’ll take it from you
On my game and off the clock
What kind of mess turns you on?
Well, I used to be a ghost

You know I can’t recall my name (trap door looming in the morning sky)
I guess I threw it all away (split like heaven in the royal night)
I got lost (hit the lights) in the woods (far away)
Sat in capital thrones
I got shot (here’s a torch) by the dunes (c’mon man)
Walked the streets like a drone
In my prime but nodding off
What kind of wreck do you recall?
You know I can’t recall my name

I’m coming back not without injuries
I’ll make my repairs up on your roof
You lost hope when you read my obituary
I’m here to tell you the papers were faked
They threw some mannequin in a lake
If you moved on well you made a mistake

I used to be a ghost
But I’m no longer a ghost

In the haunted mansion
Where Jefferson Airplane
Use to write their hit songs
I fell in love

The future holds me hostage
The past is slightly less violent
I have issues with the present
Still, I come at it with love

It’s neverending
This rule bending
Beat Up, Blissed Out
Bruises On The Brain
They’re sending in a team
To try and write a new refrain

In a clapboard palace
Famished for something
But aiming to mingle
I build a makeshift throne

It’s like I told you
I’m coming for you
With spat out verses
Another bloody nose
The car might not make it
But I can still get us home

Portrait of the artist
As a young trash can
With a naïve game plan
Comes to me now

nevermind religion we've got other fields to plow
the jury's in the bleachers, and the magician's back in town
watch out kindly citizens they say the moon will fall
it'll smash this town to smithereens and then who you gonna call?

Here comes that old occult feeling
we're raising the dead, we're raising the dead

call to order secret cults, their intent still unknown
to those who reside within its ranks and to those who walk alone
I know that you know I know what other only feel
let's lock in some locket and bury it at sea

Here comes that old occult feeling
we're raising the dead, we're raising the dead

may I interrupt this dance?
are you shattered for the storm?
Have you braced for boys gone wild
can you convince me we're alive?
well, that's a lot of pressure to pin down on the world
Here's an introductory class on thinning the herd

We are what we say we are
we are what we say we are

Just read my rights
in the cadence we agreed on
crush every pill
wrap me in love
dig all the holes
try not to deceive your mind

it's hard to start again
in the shadow of malediction
rename the moons
tune up the bike
bust through the door
don't forget what's at stake

try this instead
i'll be here forever in weekly increments

what's behind the words
you've selected for me this evening
sing no regret
light up the board
open your heart
don’t forget not to die

Let's punch up the storylines
we'll show up covered in brine
yes, we come from the ocean you see that, we said so
we're all dressed up for someone to come home

try this instead
i'll be here forever in weekly increments

Hey alright, we're cherry picking days till we die
we're building shapes unknown to the eye
we're breathing life into the meteor skies
and I can't even sing

hey alright, can you believe we escaped alive?
Here honey, get into this disguise
they're gonna try and tell us doors have closed
but I say fuck that noise

i'm doing ok I guess
I'll walk with a limp but I'll try to hide it
i'll show up to your party with bandages on
covering every part of my head but my eyes
you'll see me
don't worry
you'll see me
don't worry

Hey alright, I figured out how to sleep through the night
I told you no more revenge but I might
We’ll reinstate some classic spells from the zone
Now let’s destroy this poem

Cuz there's a lotta people saying
that I got no skin in the game
but they're wrong

Knock me in the head, make it good, lay me out, save my life
Trust me, it’s for real, shoot a flare, leave a message in the night
This life ain’t nothing but liquor in a room with firearms
Honey, it’s shame, clear your head, I turned off all the alarms

Do you have romantic courage?
Do you have romantic courage?

I’m responsible for edits that removed this line right here
It used to be a truth but it’s something no one wants to hear

If I had romantic courage
If I had a powerful way
(then you could)
Haunt Your Own House
& Make Your Own Movie
If you had romantic courage
If you had a powerful way

Do you have romantic courage?
Do you have a powerful way?
Do you have romantic courage?

You’ve been selected to participate
In a survey about this call
You can press 3 to get on with it
Or smash the phone into the wall
Cuz when times get rough
We can always choose the good ol’ fight or flight
& this informal polling call is just another way to pass the night
We used to live like a Two-Part Tribe
Now we’re struggling to pass by
We used to shout names at the dawn
If you recall this please press one
If you recall this please press one

& if you’re all alone when the shit goes down
You can always press the star key to see if I’m around
But I probably won’t be around
Because the world tends to swallow us whole
& I’d rather risk oblivion
Then wait around to play some phony role
I’m losing track of who hates who
I’m an exception to the rule
I think somebody’s coming around who’s gonna tell us the truth

Is everybody wasting your time?
I stand corrected

If you feel like your mother please drop to your knees
we've been waiting for something to stun us for weeks
don't fuck with love
and then here's part II
don't fall apart

i've been watching home movies trying to stamp out the doubt
I play loops of you sleeping til I figure it out
it's a strict concentration that's required of me
to pinpoint the moment when the dream starts to dream

we came to paint the myths of lead guitarists
but the memory attacks us from all sides
watch as the nurse doles out the antibiotics
and the sun drips down mountain sides

Have you ever done something evil?

Meet my wife
we’re as thick as thieves
we’ve been up for days
now we’re on our knees

Watch your back
we’re not alone
we’re coming to
in a domestic zone
in a domestic zone

Let’s slow down
this violent pace
put the tv on
watch a famous face

Watch your back
we’re not alone
we’re coming to
in a domestic zone
in a domestic zone

Tap the phone
break the locks
curse this house
stop the clocks

Watch your back
we’re not alone
we’re coming to
in a domestic zone
in a domestic zone

First impressions first
I command it
The feel of a star map
Flat in your hand
Cuz nobody knows what
you are feeling
cuz nobody’s psychic
unless that’s a lie

My most insistent dream
Who can name it?
easy to be wanted
But hard to feel loved
Here comes some jokers
looking for answers
on questions of freedom
I’ll just decline

The rest is up to us
Laying flatly
On some gentle incline
Near some parade
It’s a national anthem
But I can’t place the country
on questions of freedom
I’ll just decline

Pick up an old phone and hear the future coming back for you
We’ll turn to golden tape recorded versions of the truth

Everything is on it’s way

Last impressions last
You command it
The feel of a blueprint
Scrolled in your hand
We can’t remember
The way that we got here
Something was uttered
And counties were crossed
Pick up an old phone and hear the future coming back for you
We’ll turn to golden tape recorded versions of the truth

I could pass a polygraph
oh oh oh - -
there's something we forget when we're born
there's something we forget when we're born

Guess which state i'm calling from
it's never what you guess to me
there's free love in the corridor
and no, it's not for charity
i'm putting up with false alarms
because I'm an enthusiast
someone let me my family know when i'm finally through with this

when you think it's gonna stop it just starts again
we're cycling through the possible nows

I could build a monument
oh oh oh
but there's something we forget when we're born

my lawyer calls, the house explodes
some rivers flow eternally
there's dancing girls out in the wings
placed there as a courtesy
take exit 10 off of highway 1 & tell me where you land
i'd mention more specifics but i'm not your biggest fan

you're gorgeous, like a painting, like some outsider art
your eyes askew, your yellow teeth, your arms too far apart
but you take me as I am so I'll never stop appearing
in visions three, in dreams alike, come here my heir apparent

you can stare down the lanes into makeshift frames
I can feel the night just waking up

We could try some ritual
oh oh oh
but there's something we forget when we're born
there's something we forget when we're born

Someone clapped the slate and we all came to sudden life
It's not like anything has really changed
you're a puzzle all in pieces
but there's much more to my thesis
it's my  turn to invent the story as we proceed

would you believe we've got a problem with continuity?
lawyer #2 wears a modern watch
all the extras start complaining
and the lion tamer's waiting
to place the beast high atop the cathedral stairs

i'm the director of this film
but that's useless when it comes to you

6 8 24 we're losing light
someone load the film in the canister
break our hearts bring us back to the valley & plains

I promise to keep this embarassing
I think I'm doing a pretty good job
without filters I proceed through the mob
telling everyone my every single thought
no reservation, hesitation in sight
it's a decent way to drift through the night

take this take land
the words I use in demand
break through the gate and show them why they are wrong
look at these strange days – the brand new sins are fixing to stay
take this take land
let's pray it's not too bland

Divine times on the dotted lines
Phenomenonolgy!

I came to on the floor
There’s others there with you too
Put yourself in a trance
Your automatic writing’s the best
Dim the lights, enter ghost
Somebody give it guitars
And do not what you're told
just tell us what you're going to do!

Divine times on the dotted lines
Phenomenonolgy!

Say goodbye to home
we're out here all alone
we're starting over
it's year zero
where the night go on and on

I dreamt of a new kind of town
our mayor in her wedding gown
we call out the M's in the dictionary
but they're not gonna save us now

What do the people want?
The people don't know what they want

Activate this space
with the remaining human race
we stake our claim in a cemetery that's surrounded by your face

Agree to disagree
on the Q's you hurl at me
as top men search for sanctuary
we're bitching about peace

What do the people want?
The people don't know what they want
They're waving backwards to Massachusetts
trying to win the “World's Best Haunt” ©

What do the people want?
The people don't know what they want
They're telling jokes in the ossuary
but the laughs are weak and gaunt

What do the people want?
The people don't know what they want
What do the people want?
The people don't know what they want
What do the people want?
The people don't know what they want
The people don't know what they want
The people don't know what they want
The people don't know what they want
The people don't know what they want
The people don't know what they want
The people don't know what they want

real good
major
plotlines
coasting
building
danger
rescue
homelife
every single thing that I could think of
we have the perimeter surrounded

woody
guthrie
once had
a weird dream
he fronted
a punk band
called Exed Out
they were amazing
every single thing that I could think of
we have the perimeter surrounded

Twister!
Ouija!
Fault lines
freebies!
Stag films
my maps
bookmarks
& adoration
every single thing that I could think of
we have the perimeter surrounded

you see, we were part of the light brigade
dumping wattage on hate parades
getting dusked in the deep
the crew was me and marty and carol two
we didn't do what they told us to
which was part of the deal
but now, when I think back on those days
I can't believe we behaved that way
you know we could've been killed
love, l-o-v-e-y-o-u
could maybe do what it used to do
you wanna give it a chance?

real good
major
plotlines
coasting
building
danger
rescue
homelife
every single thing that I could think of
we have the perimeter surrounded

i'm halting the mass production
of lonely feelings on my factory floor
i've divvied the sweetest memories
into separate piles by atlantic shores
I drank my way to the top
and then I smoked myself through the door
trying to reach you again
i'm the mountain that wanted more

too wasted to hear the sirens
the far out whinings of some fucked up kid
i'm a beacon for true conspiracy
up front heresy, i'm ok
but I could only be me
but my ways left less to adore
I did the best that I could
i'm the mountain that wanted more

at first I thought I was ocean
at first I thought I was trees
at first I thought I was engine
but something happened to me
I didn't end up a mansion
i'm not some oak heavy door
I couldn't live with a human
i'm the mountain that wanted more

She never blinks when we're alone
she speaks her private thoughts directly into microphones
the girl with electronics inside
the girl with electronics inside
and I can't seem to look away
but I'd be more adept at passing through a gamma ray
it's something I just wasn't trained foreshadowing
her feelings may be binary
but she's spontaneous
in fact, much more than you or me
the girl with electronics inside
the girl with electronics inside
I feel a spark when we touch
but when we're in the rain
it all becomes a little much

there's an on again off again thing going on, but it's fine
the girl with electronics inside
the girl with electronics inside

I was once blessed with a good idea
and I wrapped it up with caution tape
gave it to my mother on a snowy night
cuz I knew she'd know a way to escape
hot petition in the AM
drunken devils in the PM
an epic funeral in the foyer
a pressing patron in the attic

Singer: “spin them atoms”
Band “and if we don't have 'em?”
Singer: “well i got some right here”

the inheritance is yours but you'll need to spend the night
in your uncle's haunted mansion
not a bad deal for some dumb ass kid
with his finger on the trigger of a ray gun
doubled down and drowning
fog-machine-cloak-room
my employer on acid
got some “Slavic vandalism”

Singer: “spin them atoms”
Band “spin them atoms”
Singer: “straight into my heart”

I swear to god i was there
i was in the room
the footage proves that it's true
the time marked down in God's edit log
of the moment he turned me into you

Singer: “spin them atoms”
Band “spin them atoms”
Singer: “straight into my heart”

Don't believe them when they say it's true
it's not remotely a matter of fact
thrashing sweetly down the interstate
there's no way we'll ever be back
pacing potions by the DMV
I looked up and saw you smile

There were times when i called your name
and it echoed like a flip in a mirror
taking mushrooms on Easter Eve
you boiled ginger wearing black Ray-Bans
we made a list of all our enemies
deciding three things were always true:

1) I'm in the phone book
2) I'm on the planet
3) I'm dying slowly

Angel's starlit on the basement stairs
glowing rays beaming out of her eyes
watch her doubled over twice a day
grasping straws til the moment she tries
to spit some verses at the devil dear
ya gotta let him know who's in charge

I'm in the phone book
I'm on the planet
I'm dying slowly

Watch me die!

What's the point of all this noise?
Who can say where it moves you and I?
Cross the country in separate rigs
shouting songs to the kids in the aisle
a ritual in a Motel 6
to make us one, at least for a night

I'm in the phone book
I'm on the planet
I'm dying slowly

Let me lay my hands on top of glowing spheres of endless energy
Let me lay my hands on top of glowing spheres of endless energy
Let me lay my hands on top of glowing spheres of endless energy
Let me lay my hands on top of glowing spheres of endless energy
let me lay my hands on top of glowing spheres of endless light!

I'm in the phone book
I'm on the planet
I'm dying slowly

I should have scattered my private life
like a magazine in the trees

got tangled in telemarketing
dialed homesteads, look at these

it's a wow, i'm on fire, it's amazing so bring it to me

I couldn't suspend my disbelief
or invest in foreshadowing

unreliable narrators in my bed
how will they describe how I sleep?

“through the night / he lays bare
in the morning he's not even here”

it is what it is but it's not what we thought
I passed through the mirror to see
I passed through the mirror to see
I converted atoms to bees
I pulled on the forces in threes
But I left out that part of the dream

it's a wow, i'm on fire, it's amazing so bring it to me

I made a banquet
of holy ghosties
it was a longshot
I wound it tightly
they call me warlord
on the fucking TV
just like a hassle magnet

I live in bee hive
I tunnel sand box
I breathe the bombers
there's no exception
if you could see me
you'd come to understanding
that i'm a hassle magnet
that i'm a hassle magnet
that i'm a hassle magnet
that i'm a hassle magnet

i walk the tight rope
i hold the lantern
i cracked the code word
i drop pianos
attracting bad news
into existence
like a hassle magnet
can you feel it?
do you hate it?
have you dropped out? do you love me?
cuz i'm a feeling
you find in early AM
cuz i'm a warlock
in janitor's clothing
and you're the trouble
i been trying to pull towards me
just like a hassle magnet

What is this, a funeral?
I drove out to Ed's in the rain with my crew
and the backlash
of the back peddle
got me stabbed right in the back
it was all I could do to keep cool

you were my qualifying event
you pushed the pins into the wall sized map

psychic
rabbit
psychic
rabbit
was my code word for you in the files
now you know
there's a code word for you in the files

it's certainly been awhile
the parts of me you reviled
have all been removed
but I didn't do it for you

new phone who dis?

With an hour like a flower inside a periscope
i roll the dice on certainty
there's angels in the source code if you know where to look for them
but I ain't gonna hang around

the dangers are double, they told me
but I couldn't hear a single world
the dangers are double, they told me

a kaleidoscope of open fields taped to a phone book
you can't invest in vanity
there's angels in the driveway collecting their bottle caps
I slept too late to set em free

and the dangers were double, like they told you
and the dangers were double in the deep
and the dangers were doubled in the roof top open bar
I was up late with girls
I was up late with girls

and the legacy was better
and heritage was the best
from the truth surrounded me like the rings inside a tree
at least the early visions were kind
at least the early visions were kind

I'm under the lights
I'm over the sea
I'm into the death-defying, killing kindness, best version of me
and the dangers were double, like they told you
and the dangers were double in the deep

I floated to the rafters
my partial list of disappearing bastards
falling from my person, just like confetti

I tried to throw your party
like a prehistoric king would treat a body
it's not what you think

And i'm coming at you with realistic birthday music
i'm coming at you with my hands above my head

now you're inside forever after
a glass beehive you look through on a ladder
a dialogue bubble hangs above your head

i've seen this in a movie
but never without a soundtrack of folk music
to coax and guide me toward your bed

And i'm coming at you with realistic birthday music
i'm coming at you with my hands above my head
And i'm coming at you with realistic birthday music
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
so break a leg
don't stare
be brave
grow old
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before
you've heard this song before

it started with contraband
wandering
the poet blinked twice
she can see
the deepest impossible sea
and we’re walking together
singing the songs of
some SOB stuck in a dream
with a dancer
and a praying monster
don’t you know
there’s a killer on the road?

Slam cut to present day
America
there’s weirdness in the woods
i’m alone
and I can’t stop looking at my phone
now we’re cheering on assassins
adjusting our glasses
pretending that a verse would set us free
or a bad joke
or a single helix
it’s all the same to a ghost with a guitar

folk music is insane
folk music is insane

we’re back in a different time
who knows where
i’ve been here before
hear those chimes
of the brand names washed out with the tide
and you’re better than ever
your mood like the weather
is overcast with a chance of regret
prepared piano
and tape loops
and the rarest of b-sides have absolutely ruined my life

folk music is insane
folk music is insane
folk music is insane
folk music is insane

it’s something to behold
but it’s out of reach
and you can’t explain
you’ll never get close
folk music is insane

I know it’s not nostalgia
won’t you meet me in the parlor
we can’t escape forever
and there’s something in the water
folk music is insane

Hello I am the person singing this song
And if you think that might be you well you might not be wrong
Trying out new points of view
Just like we used to do
Hello I am the person singing the song

Good luck if there is such a thing as good luck
And if doesn’t hurt to say it, then say it until you’re struck
By all the fortunes gold and soul
And pass it forward as you grow old
Good luck if there is such a thing as good luck

Don’t quit, it only makes your enemies glad
They’d celebrate your decision, then feast on what you had
The rolling hills of lifer-arcs reflect the light from distant stars
Don’t quit, it only makes your enemies glad

Hello I am the person singing this song
And if you need some more specifics
You might be taking this wrong
The push and pull of love and hate
Has stripped away my name today
Hello I am the person singing this song

Every time you say my name
Every time you say my name
Every time you say my name
It sounds sinister

Trisha went to Washington and lit up like a Christmas Tree
Adrian got busted but he‘s always been a friend to me
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
Sarah saw a shooting star but kindly gave her wish away
we‘re running hot with fate

Alice wasn‘t kidding when she said she saw a UFO
Elliot was ripping up his letters out in the snow
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
Nathan‘s finally floating and it happened in the USA
we‘re running hot with fate

Dori’s finally being who she always knew he was inside
It’s hard here without Jay but his memory stays by her side
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
if you think you’re at you’re limit just remember what some folks survive
we‘re running hot with fate

Jamie’s back in rehab & this time he says it ain’t no joke
Zadie said she’d leave him if he ever goes back to dope
well i‘m fine, but i‘m not ok
Met a fortune teller who told me it would turn out this way
we‘re running hot with fate

I’m running hot with it
And you’re avoiding it
We’re both arguing which one attracted it

Can u carve a new world
From some old clay?
I keep waking up surprised I get another day

Is this free will
Or is it destiny?
It doesn’t matter who the fuck’s in charge of me

we‘re running hot with fate
[hot fate! Hot fate!]

(I don’t believe in it / but I’m running hot with it)

hot fate

You’d think I’d be a doctor by now
With all this self medicating
You’d think I was an x-ray machine
With everything that I been radiating

But I wasn’t born to blow it
But I wasn’t born to blow it

You’d think I was a master magician
The way that I keep disappearing
You’d think I was a bellboy
For all this baggage that I’m bringing

But I wasn’t born to blow it
I’m my own great destroyer

You’d think I was a prisoner
With all these bars that I walked into
You’d think I was the king james bible
With all this bullshit I been slinging

I wasn’t born to blow it
Don’t have a steady employer
I’m not a doctor or lawyer
I’m my own great destroyer

Honey, You’d think I was an astronaut
How I been acting so spacey
You’d think that I was a diplomat
With all the conflict I aint been facing
But I can picture a time and place
Where I can defeat this defeating side of me
And bury him out in the plains where the wind blows so wicked and wild

Can’t seem to get it together
Feel like I’m becomin’ untethered
And I’m not trying to annoy ya
but here’s comes the spoiler
I’m just my own great destroyer

Transparent chart of the heavens
I see your beauty so bare
Transparent chart of the heavens
How you do you get those sunspots, black hole, comets
Out of your hair?

Indexed map of new England
I trace your borders with care
Indexed map of new England
How do you push those lighthouse beacon ray beams
Out through the air?

Anthology of American folk songs
I’m overwhelmed by your weight
Anthology of American folk songs
How do you keep those banjo murder love tales
From becoming your fate?

Nostalgic dream of an old love
Bringing comfort then waves of regret
Nostalgic dream of an old love
How do you come to access feelings once felt
Without getting caught in its net?

Venn diagram of two people
The overlap expanding now
Venn diagram of two people
Can you be sure that I’m me, you’re you
And not the other way around?

Once you’re born that’s where it starts
Once you’re born that’s where it starts

Cuz even inside forever, can’t you feel time running out?
You know we’ve been here forever, so let’s go home

Cuz there’s a weird reassessment coming down on top of us

By the light of a pinball machine
In the suburban houses that I dream
In hospitals and hospices
In the darkest god damn hearts you’ve ever met

I am exported
To another dimension

People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
Their souls break free of their bodies
We etch their full name on a stone

Ahhhhh
Ohhhhhh

They shoulda sent a poet if they don’t wanna blow it
Well honey this time they did

Ahhhhh
Ohhhhhh

In my car on route 128
In the offices were I negotiate my fate
In the pages of these books I’ll never read
In the corners of a song nobody needs

I am exported
To another dimension
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it
People keep dying and no one can stop it

Are you there god? it’s me.
Are you there god? it’s me, you.

I just now started to take my own advice
I know you sent the message over twice
this is the way the old gods entice

it still floors me
it still floors me

Sometimes I did drugs I found on the floor
kept the search on point evermore
pounding out words on a door

it still floors me
it still floors me

when you solve the mystery you become one yourself
as you sink into everyone else
you ask, “is this how it feels to be you?”

it still floors me
it still floors me

confused by classics / mistaken for miracles
I was trying to read myself my rights
I was trying to embrace endless nights

it still floors me
it still floors me
it still floors me
it still floors me

time travel is real
but there’s a price you pay
I came back to check out
the places you stayed

there’s something in the water that’s driving us out of minds
this only counts if I stay alive
I know that Karen’s on our side

it still floors me
it still floors me

you’re only harmless when you’re asleep
and darling you’re never asleep
and darling you’re never asleep
and darling you’re never asleep

it still floors me
break light / all night / try to go out of your mind
it still floors me
somebody nobody knew: that’s me
it still floors me

I’m gonna spend the rest of my life telling this story ain’t I?
Where’s my stability asked the man actively driving himself into a ditch
Am I crazy or is the world really organized this way?
Sometimes it’s hard to know precisely who you really are

Play your own music for the end of episode montage you run out in your head
Show what you’re doing / show what she’s doing / show what we’re doing
They are both deep in thought wondering “what if”
So roll the end credits, don’t forget to thank the dolly grip

Change your name / Cut off your hair / but stick to the plan
I know there’s no guarantees, even Bob Dylan lost his dream girl
This is our story / this is how we go here
You can put your hands on the brick and inhale slowly and ask yourself
Who am I?
Who am I?
Who am I?

Nostalgia flooded the room like milk poured over religious figurines
I didn’t share this simile with my therapist worried she’d get worried and write something down
But then again who’s to say anyone can say something + alter the timeline
I’m just sick of pretending
That I don’t believe what I believe

We know the dangers of one person using another person as a muse
But surely there can’t be nothing wrong if it goes both ways
Like lightning bolts bouncing between two consciousnesses trapped in jars
I called it “Dual Muses” and walked down to the corner store

Rock n Roll improved my chemistry
And prog rock got me out of bed
And punk rock made me hate the government
Then heavy metal became my friend
And R n B let me dance with you
And Zydeco seemed like a strange dream
And hip hop made me trust the universe
And psych rock pushed me past the point
But the one thing they all taught me is…

I’m you
Don’t freak out
I’m you

Ok pop quiz
What I’m trying to ask you is
“how am i like a summer storm?”

You say what’s that mean?
And I squirm and shift my shoes
I say, “I got a soul and I’m gonna use it”

I point to my foot
And say “here’s where my body ends.
Is that a useful thing to say?”

And when you reply no
I can’t think of another place to go
So I say it again but point to my hand

We’re avoiding truth
Like two detectives who refuse to search & sleuth
Afraid what we’ll find behind locked doors

The side effects were worse
Losing you had me running towards the hearse
Askin’ could you drop me off just down the street?

I was first in line
For the Solipsistic Sad Guy Seminar
But inside it just turned out to be another bar

I ordered whiskey neat
Fifty thousand times in the summer heat
And figured this is how I’ll defeat my victories

We couldn’t say goodbye
So we practiced every weekend til we died
And even then it didn’t seem quite right

I couldn’t play them blues
or any genre that could fix ol’ me & you
so I was about to start a song that never ends

But inside the bridge I found a note I left to myself
Saying, “don’t forget to love yourself
And don’t forget to come back from hell
And don’t forget to end the song.”

I went through hell
But now I’m back from hell
Hi, hello how are you?
Hi, hello how are you?
Hi, hello how are you?
Hi, hello how are you?

This all happens outside the space continuum
You’re alive in Phoenix wondering what we did to ‘em
You hear what happened to me?
I was pronounced lost at sea
But in truth I’m just hiding out won’t u come look for me?

I was a sleeper agent before you woke me up
Playing classic tapes for some gurus we rounded up
But when I got in the room
I wasn’t sure what to do
The domestic zones I was used to
Didn’t prep me for you

Can you make a memory?
Without choppin’ down the memory tree?

And it’s a transaction, sure
But don’t it sometimes feel like it’s something more?

I found a timeshare in the unified field
I lived there with you until forever got peeled
The neighborhood filled with ghosts
Was more spooky than most
With The undead department of dreams and our immaculate hosts

I’m finally a poet but you know that don’t matter now
Here comes a siren to review them wedding vows
I may appear rapt with fear
But Don’t you dare disappear
When the going gets tougher than nails you know I’ll always be there