Father John Misty Complete Lyrics Archive

B i o g r a p h y
(by Mark Deming)

Father John Misty is a stage name adopted by American singer and songwriter Joshua Michael Tillman, whose music paints languid, sadly beautiful portraits of love and life on the margins with the moody depth of Nick Drake and the country-influenced textures of Will Oldham. Tillman adds a touch of dark humor to his Father John Misty persona, especially in his observations of his characters, though it tends to flow with the contemplative, world-weary tone of his songs rather than disturbing it. He also favors rich, expansive arrangements that complement the sweep of his melodies and the expressive reach of his voice. The second FJM album, 2015's I Love You, Honeybear, was a landmark effort with its carefully crafted sound and arch lyrics, 2017's Pure Comedy favored a cooler, more elegant approach, and 2022's Chloë and the Next 20th Century and 2024's Mahashmashana set Misty's sardonic and existentialist lyricism against cinematic orchestral arrangements and '70s-styled AM radio singer/songwriter instrumentals.

Joshua Michael Tillman first made a name for himself playing drums in a pair of indie rock bands, Saxon Shore and Stately, while attending college in New York City. In his spare time, however, he began writing material of his own, citing the music of Nick Drake and Pete Seeger, and the writings of Flannery O'Connor, as key influences. Some of Tillman's demos found their way to Damien Jurado, who invited Tillman to join his band for a tour. Tillman played solo sets during several dates on the tour and began distributing CD-R copies of an early collection of tunes called I Will Return (attributed to J. Tillman). During the tour, he also struck up a friendship with Eric Fisher, who produced another CD-R album, Long May You Run, again attributed to J. Tillman. Both Tillman and Jurado later signed on for a U.S. tour with Richard Buckner, where Tillman once again found a ready audience for home-burned copies of his disc.

In 2006, the independent Fargo Records label released Tillman's first properly distributed solo album, Minor Works, and Keep Records reissued I Will Return/Long May You Run as a two-disc set the same year. In 2007, Yer Bird Records released Tillman's fourth, more elaborately arranged album, Cancer and Delirium. Although his solo work continued to garner critical acclaim, he briefly shifted focus in 2008 by joining Fleet Foxes. The group toured heavily in support of its debut album; meanwhile, Tillman continued working on his own material, releasing Year in the Kingdom in 2009. In 2011, he left Fleet Foxes to concentrate on his many solo projects, adopting the pseudonym Father John Misty for 2012's Fear Fun, a 12-track collection of new material that infused the harmony-laden hymns of his former band with a patina of Gram Parsons- and Harry Nilsson-informed, Laurel Canyon-inspired neo-psychedelia. In 2015 Tillman issued a second studio album under the moniker, the caustically funny and surprisingly sweet I Love You, Honeybear. The album received widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike, and was particularly lauded for its bold use of strong melodies, ironic and ornately romantic lyrics, and stellar arrangements.

In May 2016, it became apparent that Tillman had also begun working on further material after he uploaded a new song to SoundCloud titled "Real Love Baby." He made headlines that summer when he cut his performance short at the XPoneNtial Festival in New Jersey after replacing his planned set list with a tirade about the empty values of entertainment and the rise of stupidity in popular culture and its effect on society. He then performed a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" before abruptly leaving the stage. Later that year, he uploaded another new song to SoundCloud, "Holy Hell," and in late January 2017, announced his third album, Pure Comedy. Lyrically, the record touched on themes such as politics, social media, the environment, technology, and celebrity culture. Ahead of the album's release, Tillman promoted the effort with the title track and "Ballad of a Dying Man," along with an 1,800-word essay released to his online fan club about the symbolism involved in the record. Pure Comedy was released in early April 2017. The prolific artist returned in early 2018 with the singles "Mr. Tillman," "Just Dumb Enough to Try," and "Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All" ahead of the release of a new studio LP. Written during a six-week period when Tillman was living in a hotel, the resulting God's Favorite Customer was released later that June.

Tillman toured Europe in 2019, and an appearance with the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie was given release as a digital album, 2020's Off-Key in Hamburg. The same year also saw the release of a 7" for the Sub Pop Singles club and a four-song EP, Anthem +3, featuring impassioned performances of songs by Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf), and Link Wray. Tillman spent much of August through December 2020 in the studio, working on the next Father John Misty project. Released in April 2022, Chloë and the Next 20th Century was co-produced by Tillman and Jonathan Wilson, with orchestral arrangements by Drew Erickson. In addition to the cinematic arrangements, the album also dabbled in bossa nova, Nilsson-esque singer/songwriter fare, and moments of jazzy ambience underscoring Father John Misty's sharp storytelling. A deluxe edition of the set included bonus 7" vinyl singles featuring interpretations of songs from the album by Lana Del Rey and Jack Cruz. Live at Electric Lady, a concert EP that included a cover of Stevie Wonder's "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)," appeared later that year.

In 2023, Tillman was featured on Lana Del Ray's "Let the Light In" and contributed a version of "Musical Ladders" to the Adam Green tribute album Moping in Style. In July 2024, a best-of package entitled Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl was released, containing songs from across FJM's discography, as well as one previously unreleased tune, "I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All." The track also appeared on 2024's Mahashmashana, Tillman's sixth full-length effort under the Father John Misty moniker. Produced by Tillman, Drew Erickson, and Jonathan Wilson, the LP, which takes its name from a Sanskrit term meaning "great cremation ground," is rooted in themes of existentialism, mental health, and the passage of time.

Funtimes In Babylon

Fun times in Babylon
That's what I'm counting on

Before the dam goes up at the foot of the sea
Before the new wing of the prison ribbon ceremony
Before the Star of the Morning comes looking for me

I would like to abuse my lungs
Smoke everything in sight with every girl I've ever loved
Ride around the wreckage on a horse knee-deep in blood
Look out, Hollywood, here I come

Fun times in Babylon
Mama, they've just begun

Before they put me to work in a government camp
Before they do my face up like a corpse and say, "Get up and dance"
Before the beast comes looking for last year's rent

I would like to abuse my lungs
Smoke everything in sight with every girl I've ever loved
Ride around my wreckage on a horse knee-deep in blood
Look out, Hollywood, here I come
Look out, Hollywood, here I come
Look out, Hollywood, here I come

Nancy From Now On

Oh pour me another drink
And punch me in the face
You can call me Nancy
Every man wears a symbol
And I know I have mine
I've got my right hand stamped
In the concentration camp
Where my organs scream, "Slow down, man"

How was I to know
Milk and honey flowed
Just a couple states below

Oh hook me up to the tank
And roll me to the door
I'm going where my body leads me
I can fend for myself
With what looks I have left
I'll put away a few
And pretty soon I'll be breaking things like Howard Hughes

How was I to know
Milk and honey flowed
Just a couple states below

Give me how it was
Place under the sun
Before the devil made me run
Run, boy
Run, boy

Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings

Jesus Christ, girl
What are people going to think
When I show up to one of several funerals
I've attended for grandpa this week
With you, with me
But someone's gotta help me dig
Someone's gotta help me dig

Jesus Christ, girl
It hasn't been long, so it seems
Since I was picking out an island and a tomb for you
At the Hollywood Cemetery
You kiss on me
But we should let this dead guy sleep
We should let this dead guy sleep

Jesus Christ, girl
I laid up for hours in a daze
Retracing the expanse of your American back
With adderall and weed in my veins
You came, I think
'Cause the marble made my cheeks look pink
But I'm unsure of so many things

Someone's gotta help me dig
Someone's gotta help me dig
Someone's gotta help me dig

I'm Writing A Novel

I ran down the road
Pants down to my knees
Screaming, "Please, come help me
That Canadian shaman gave a little too much to me"
And I'm writing a novel
Because it's never been done before

First house that I saw
I wrote house up on the door
And told the people who lived there
They had to get out 'cause my reality is realer than yours
And there's no time in the present
And there's a black dog on the bed

I went to the backyard
To burn my only clothes
And the dog ran out and said
"You can't turn nothing into nothingness with me no more"
Well, I'm no doctor
But that monkey might be right

And if he is
I'll be walking him my whole life

I rode to Malibu
On a dune buggy with Neil
He said, "You're gonna have to drown me down on the beach
If you ever want to write the real"
And I said, "I'm sorry
"Young man, what was your name again"

Now everywhere I go
In West Hollywood
Is filled with people pretending they don't see the actress
And the actress wishing that they could
We could do ayahuasca
Baby, if I wasn't holding all these drinks

Something 'bout the way
Violet whips her hair
That makes me empty my pockets on court on the corner
Burning twenties as if I was the mayor
Well, I don't need any new friends, mama
But I could really use something to do

So if you're up for it sometime
I swear you wouldn't have to be my muse

Heidegger and Sartre
Drinking poppy tea
I could've sworn last night I passed out in my van
And now these guys are pouring one for me
I never leave the canyon
'Cause I'm surrounded on all sides
By people writing novels
And living on amusement rides

O I Long to Feel Your Arms Around Me

Everyone's riding on the rolling tide
Their hearts are heavy and the sea is wide

I'll never make it to the other side
Friends of mine

Oh I long to feel your arms around me
Oh I long to feel your arms around me
Oh my love
Oh my love

Misty's Nightmares 1 & 2

No crickets, no creatures are a-stirring
On the last night of the Chinese Year

I need a warm hand
Over the water
Ever since I lost mine
In the fireworks disaster

And I lay up wide awake

Gonna take my life
Gonna take my life back one day

Now I'm watching you changing in the mirror
And I'm unable to move
When all my girlfriends appear in the doorway
I don't know how they got here
I don't know what to say about this

And they all go that way

Gonna take my life
Gonna take my life back one day

Only Son Of The Ladiesman

When I heard the ladies' man was dead
I saw the rolling stone stop moving
Saw my ancient hero on the Sunset Strip
He left behind a legacy of ruin

Now painted ladies want to hold my gun
Wonder if the whole time I'd been acting
When I sang "Moon River" in that silent film
Had I really made a sound when they called action

I swear that man was womankind's first husband
They all died in a line to save him
I'm a steady hand, I'm a Dodgers fan
I'm a leading brand, I'm one-night stand
I'm a ladies' man

Only son of the ladies' man
Only son of the ladies' man

Couldn't see his used up body at the funeral
By virtue of the flailing of his conquests
They tied down his casket with a garter belt
Each troubled heart was beating in a sequined dress

Someone must console these lonesome daughters
No written word or ballad will appease them
The cowboy and the cop shot down the ladies' man
The humid nights in L.A. are now silence
I swear that man was womankind's first husband

Only son of the ladies' man
Only son of the ladies' man
Only son of the ladies' man

This Is Sally Hatchet

Born the daughter of a comedian
Middle of the eighties
Someone turn that awful
Mouth-breathing down
Or else

Sally Hatchet lives in a hole in the ground
The longer it keeps raining
The more she has to struggle
To maintain a wonderful time
Oh yeah

Go on and laugh it up without me
I've got smoke in my lungs
And a past life in the trunk

Pretty rattled by the way that she
Empties a few clips out
Do I have a choice now
Point that thing away from me
Lady

Well, You Can Do It Without Me

If you see a flaming sword in your dreams at night
And feel inspired to assign me up to the front line
Well, give the order, you'll storm the border without me

If they tell you you're a genius, but you need some proof
Ask anybody on the payroll to go out with you
If they avoid ya, then they'll award ya, definitely

Nobody that's around you seems to get it right
How hard is it to follow just a few guidelines
And smile
While you do it

If you want a page written 'bout you in the book
But you need a food tester 'cause you cursed the cook
I'll take some wine, but you can dine without me

Without me
Who would let you play God and make believe that all the blasphemy
Is coming only from me

If you're bound for the throne, but the king won't die
I can occupy the queen, but that's for her and I
I can do her and you'll be ruler without me

Yeah, you can do it
But you can do it without me

Now I'm Learning To Love The War

Try not to think so much about
The truly staggering amount
Of oil that it takes to make a record
All the shipping, the vinyl, the cellophane lining
The high gloss, the tape and the gear

Try not to become too consumed
With what's a criminal volume
Of oil that it takes to paint a portrait
The acrylic, the varnish, aluminum tubes filled with latex
The solvents and dye

Let's just call this what it is
The gentler side of mankind's death wish
When it's my time to go
Gonna leave behind things that won't decompose

Try not to dwell so much upon
How it won't be so very long
From now that they laugh at us for selling
A bunch of fifteen-year-olds made from dinosaur bones
Singing "oh yeah" again and again
Right up to the end

Let's just call this what it is
The gentler side of mankind's death wish
When it's my time to go
Gonna leave behind things that won't decompose

I'll just call this what it is
My vanity gone wild with my crisis
One day this all will repeat
Now sure hope they make something useful out of me

Tee Pees 1-12

Well, you took me to the movies
You took me to the dance
You took me to your warehouse
Tied up in the back of your van
You said, "Whip it out"
And I started to shout
"I'm in love with a woman again"

Well, you took me to your office
We went to meet your folks
We went out to the garden shed
Where you took off all my clothes
And I was terrified by the look in your eyes
But there's a lot 'bout love that I don't know

Well, you took me to the ceremony
To sweat out all my fear
Came across a cosmic serpent
With hands woven into his hair
If he's my spirit guide, I'm gonna stay inside
I'm never sleeping in a teepee again

No, no
No, no, no, no, no

Well, you asked me where I came from
In the middle of round ten
I thanked you for the compliment
Before you clarified what you meant
You said, "What the hell are you doing here
There's a prowler in my apartment"

Trout Fishing in America made me go and buy a pole
But by the time I got around to reading the book
I was a celebrated deep-sea pro
Was drinking greyhounds way below the ground
On my very own TV show

Well, we went to get some work done
So our faces finally matched
The doctor took one look at me
And took a skin graft out of my ass

If this is what it takes to take you on a date
I'm gonna put my member behind glass
If I make it out alive of Hollywood and Vine
I'll build a cabin up in the Northwest

No, no
No, no, no, no, no

Everyman Needs A Companion

Every man needs a companion
Someone to turn his thoughts to
I know I do
Every man needs a companion
Someone to console him
Like I need you

John the Baptist
Took Jesus Christ
Down to the river
On a Friday night

They talked about Mary
Like a couple of boys
With nothing to lose
Too scared to try

Every man needs a companion
Someone to turn his thoughts to
I know I do
Every man needs a companion
Someone to console him
Like I need you

Joseph Campbell
And The Rolling Stones
Couldn't give me a myth
So I had to write my own

I got hung up on religion
Though I know it's a waste
I never liked the name Joshua
I got tired of J.

Every man needs a companion
Someone to console him
Like I need you

I LOVE YOU, HONEYBEAR

I Love You, Honeybear

Oh honeybear, honeybear, honeybear
Mascara, blood, ash and cum
On the Rorschach sheets where we make love
Honeybear, honeybear, honeybear
Fuck the world, damn straight malaise
It may be just us who feel this way

But don't ever doubt this, my steadfast conviction
My love, you're the one I wanna watch the ship go down with
The future can't be real, I barely know how long a moment is
Unless we're naked getting high on the mattress
While the global market crashes
As death fills the streets, we're garden-variety oblivious
You grab my hand and say in I-told-you-so voice
"It's just how we expected"

Everything is doomed
And nothing will be spared
But I love you, honeybear
Honeybear, honeybear, honeybear

You're bent over the altar and the neighbors are complaining
That the misanthropes next door are probably conceiving a Damien
Don't they see the darkness rising, good luck, fingering oblivion
We're getting out now while we can
You're welcome, boys, have the last of the smokes and chicken
Just one Cadillac will do to get us out to where we're going
I've brought my mother's depression
You've got your father's scorn and a wayward aunt's schizophrenia

But everything is fine
Don't give into despair
'Cause I love you, honeybear
Honeybear, honeybear, honeybear

Chateau Lobby #4 (In C For Two Virgins)

Emma eats bread and butter
Like a queen would have ostrich and cobra wine
We'll have satanic Christmas Eve
And play piano in the château lobby

I've never done this
Baby, be gentle
It's my first time
I've got you inside
People are boring
But you're something else completely
Damn, let's take our chances

I wanna take you in the kitchen
Lift up your wedding dress someone was probably murdered in
So bourgeoisie to keep waiting
Dating for twenty years just feels pretty civilian

And I've never thought that
Ever thought that once in my whole life
You are my first time
People are boring
But you're something else I can't explain
Here, take my last name

First time, you let me stay the night despite your own rules
You took off early to go cheat your way through film school
You left a note in your perfect script
"Stay as long as you want," and I haven't left your bed since

I haven't hated
All the same things as somebody else
Since I remember
What's going on for
What are you doing with your whole life
How about forever

True Affection

When can we talk with a face
Instead of using all these strange devices
Seems like you and I
Need to have a crazy conversation

Wouldn't be that hard
Get along so well
Sentence by sentence
It's a trial run
Let me show you how
Figure I can give you true affection

True affection
True affection
True affection
True affection

When can we talk with a face
Instead of using all these strange devices
(True affection)
Seems like you and I
Need to have a crazy conversation
(True affection)
When can we talk with a face
Figure I can give you true affection
(True affection)
Seems like you and I
Need to have a crazy conversation
(True affection)
When can we talk with a face
Figure I can give you true affection

The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.

Oh I just love the kind of woman who can walk over a man
And I mean like a god damn marching band
She says, like, literally music is the air she breathes
And the malaprops make me want to fucking scream
I wonder if she even knows what that word means
Well, it's literally not that

Of the few main things I hate about her
One's her petty, vogue ideas
Someone's been told too many times they're beyond their years
By every half-wit of distinction she keeps around
And now every insufferable convo
Features her patiently explaining the cosmos
Of which she's in the middle

Oh my God, I swear this never happens
Lately, I can't stop the wheels from spinning
I feel so unconvincing
When I fumble with your buttons

She blames her excess on my influence
But gladly hoovers all my drugs
I found her naked with her best friend in the tub
We sang "Silent Night" in three parts which was fun
Till she said that she sounds just like Sarah Vaughan
I hate that soulful affectation white girls put on
Why don't you move to the Delta
I obliged later on when you begged me to choke ya

When You're Smiling And Astride Me

There's no need to fear me
Darling, I love you as you are
When you're alone

I'll never try to change you
As if I could and if I were to
What's the part that I'd miss most

When you're smiling and astride me
I can hardly believe I've found you
And I'm terrified by that

I've got nothing to hide from you
Kissing my brother in my dreams
Or finding God knows in my jeans

You see me as I am, it's true
The aimless, fake drifter
And the horny, man-child Mamma's boy to boot

That's how you live free
To truly see and be seen

Nothing Good Ever Happens At The Goddamn Thirsty Crow

Living it up
You can have it all
Pull more women than any two men or train can haul
But, my baby, she does something
Way more impressive than the Georgia crawl
She blackens pages like a Russian romantic
Gets down more often than a blowup doll

Why the long face, blondie
I'm already taken
Sorry
I may act like a lunatic
But if you think I'm fucking crazy, you're mistaken
Keep moving

On the road again
For months at a time
Doesn't take half that long
For men about town to forget what's mine
Now my genius can't drink in silence
She's gotta listen to your tired-ass lines
I know it's hard to believe the good-hearted woman
Could have a body that'd make your daddy cry

Why the long face, jerkoff
Your chance has been taken
Good one
You may think like an animal
But if you try that cat-and-mouse shit, you'll get bitten
Keep moving oh

Strange Encounter

Only ever be the girl who just almost died in my house
Half naked, looking through your telephone
Run you a bath and try hard not to freak out

So free and too easy
Giving it away, giving it away
It's not cheap, but here I am
Giving it away, giving it away, giving it away

Don't be my, don't be my
Don't be my last strange encounter
The moment you came to, I swore I would change
Though neither one of us would leave unscathed
At least we'll both go on living

Wanna find somebody
But not like this
Yeah, I'm a decent person
A little aimless

So free and too easy
Giving it away, giving it away
It's not cheap, but here I am
Giving it away, giving it away, giving it away

Don't be my, don't be my
Don't be my last strange encounter
The moment you came to, I swore I would change
Though neither one of us would leave unscathed
At least we'll both go on living

The Ideal Husband

Julian, he's gonna take my files
Every woman that I've slept with
Every friendship I've neglected
Didn't call when grandma died
I spend my money getting drunk and high
I've done things unprotected
Proceeded to drive home wasted
Bought things to win over siblings
I've said awful things, such awful things

And now
Now it's out
And now
Now it's out

Julian, he's gonna take my files
Telling people jokes to shut them up
Resenting people that I love
Sleep in till two then doing shit
Just stay in bed and later lie about it
Obsessing over graying hair
Knowing just what people wanna hear
Binging on unearned attention
I've said awful things, such awful things

And now
Now it's out
And now
Now it's out

I came by at seven in the morning
Seven in the morning, seven in the morning
I came by at seven in the morning
I said, "Baby, I'm finally succumbing"
Said something dumb like, "I'm tired of running
Tired of running, tired of running"
Let's put a baby in the oven
Wouldn't I make the ideal husband

Bored In The USA

How many people rise and say
My brain's so awfully glad to be here for yet another mindless day
Now, I've got all morning to obsessively accrue
A small nation of meaningful objects and they've gotta represent me too
By this afternoon, I'll live in debt
And by tomorrow, be replaced by children"

How many people rise and think
Oh good, the stranger's body's still here
Our arrangement hasn't changed
Now I've got a lifetime to consider all the ways
I grow more disappointing to you as my beauty warps and fades
I suspect you feel the same
When I was young, I dreamt of a passionate obligation to a roommate

Is this the part where I get all I ever wanted
Who said that
Can I get my money back

Just a little bored in the USA
Oh just a little bored in the USA
Save me, white Jesus
Bored in the USA

They gave me a useless education
A subprime loan
On a craftsman home
Keep my prescriptions filled
And now I can't get off
But I can kind of deal
Oh with being bored in the USA
Oh just a little bored in the USA
Save me, president Jesus
I'm bored in the USA
How did it happen
Bored in the USA

Holy Shit

Ancient holy wars
Dead religions, holocausts
New regimes, old ideas
That's now myth, that's now real
Original sin, genetic fate
Revolutions, spinning plates
It's important to stay informed
The commentary to comment on

Oh and no one ever really knows you and life is brief
So I've heard, but what's that gotta do with this black hole in me

Age-old gender roles
Infotainment, capital
Golden boughs and mercury
Bohemian nightmare, dust-bowl chic
This documentary's lost on me
Satirical news, free energy
Mobile lifestyle, loveless sex
Independence, happiness

Oh and no one ever knows the real you and life is brief
So I've heard, but what's that gotta do with this atom bomb in me

Colosseum families
The golden era of TV
Eunuch sluts, consumer slaves
A rose by any other name
Carbon footprint, incest dreams
Fuck the mother in the green
Planet cancer, sweet revenge
Isolation, online friends

Oh and love is just an institution based on human frailty
What's your paradise gotta do with Adam and Eve
Maybe love is just an economy based on resource scarcity
What I fail to see is what that's gotta do with you and me

I Went To The Store One Day

We met in a parking lot
I was buying coffee and cigarettes
Firewood and bad wine long since gone
But I'm still drunk and hot
Wide awake and breathing hard

And now in just one year's time
I've become jealous, rail-thin
Prone to paranoia when I'm stoned
This isn't true love, someone oughta put me in a home
Say, do you wanna get married
And put an end to our endless progressive tendency to scorn
Provincial concepts like your dowry and your daddy's farm

For love to find us of all people
I never thought it'd be so simple

Let's buy a plantation house and let the yard grow wild
Until we don't need the signs that say "keep out"
I've got some money left and it's cheaper in the South

I need someone I can trust
To protect me from our seven daughters
When my body says "enough"
Don't let me die in a hospital
I'll save the big one for the last time
We make love

Insert here
A sentiment re: our golden years
All 'cause I went to the store one day
"Seen you around, what's your name"

Pure Comedy

At six
For some reason when I go to the app

The comedy of man starts like this
Our brains are way too big for our mothers' hips
And so nature, she devised this alternative
We emerge half-formed and hope whoever greets us on the other end
Is kind enough to fill us in

And babies, that's pretty much how it's been ever since
Now the miracle of birth leaves a few issues to address
Like, say, that half of us are periodically iron deficient
So somebody's gotta go kill something while I look after the kids
I'd do it myself, but what, are you gonna to get this thing its milk
He says as soon as he gets back from the hunt, we can switch
It's hard not to fall in love with something so helpless
Ladies, I hope we don't end up regretting this

Comedy
Now that's what I call pure comedy
Just wait until the part where they start to believe
They're at the center of everything
And some all-powerful being
Endowed this horror show with meaning

Oh their religions are the best
They worship themselves yet they're totally obsessed
With risen zombies, celestial virgins, magic tricks
These unbelievable outfits and they get terribly upset
When you question their sacred texts
Written by woman-hating epileptics

Their languages just serve to confuse them
Their confusion somehow makes them more sure
They build fortunes poisoning their offspring
And hand out prizes when someone patents a cure
Where did they find these goons they elected to rule them
What makes these clowns they idolize so remarkable
These mammals are hell-bent on fashioning new gods
So they can go on being godless animals

Oh comedy
Their illusions they have no choice but to believe
Their horizons that just forever recede
And how's this for irony
Their idea of being free
Is a prison of beliefs
That they never ever have to leave

Oh comedy
Oh it's like something that a madman would conceive
The only thing that seems to make them feel alive
Is the struggle to survive
But the only thing that they request
Is something to numb the pain with
Until there's nothing human left

Just random matter
Suspended in the dark
I hate to say it
But each other's all we've got

Total Entertainment Forever

Bedding Taylor Swift
Every night inside the Oculus Rift
After mister and the missus
Finish dinner and the dishes

And now the future's definition is so much higher than it was last year
It's like the images have all become real
And someone's living my life for me out in the mirror

No, can you believe how far we've come
In the new age, freedom to have what you want
In the new age, we'll all be entertained
Rich or poor, the channels are all the same
You're a star now, baby
So dry your tears
You're just like them
Wake on up from the nightmare

Come on

No gods to rule us
No drugs to soothe us
No myths to prove stuff
No love to confuse us
Not bad for a race of demented monkeys
From a cave to a city to a permanent party
Come on

When the historians find us
We'll be in our homes
Plugged into our hubs
Skin and bones
A frozen smile on every face
As the stories replay
This must have been a wonderful place

Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution

It got too hot and so we overthrew the system
'Cause there's no place for human existence like right here
On this bright blue marble orbited by trash
Man, there's no beating that
It was no big thing to give up the way of life we had

My social life is now quite a bit less hectic
The nightlife and the protests are pretty scarce
Now I mostly spend the long days walking through the city
Empty as a tomb
Sometimes I miss the top of the food chain
But what a perfect afternoon

Industry and commerce toppled to their knees
The gears of progress halted
The underclass set free
The super-ego shatters with our ideologies
The obscene injunction to enjoy life
Disappears as in a dream
And as we return to our native state
To our primal scene
The temperature, it started dropping
The ice floes began to freeze

From time to time, we all get a bit restless
With no one advertising to us constantly
But the tribe at the former airport
Some nights has meat and dancing
If you don't mind gathering and hunting
We're all still pretty good at eating on the run
Things it would have been helpful to know before the revolution

Though I'll admit some degree of resentment
For the sudden lack of convenience around here
But there are some visionaries among us
Developing some products
To aid us in our struggle to survive
On this godless rock that refuses to die

Ballad Of The Dying Man

Naturally the dying man wonders to himself
Has commentary been more lucid than anybody else
And had he successfully beaten back the rising tide
Of idiots, dilettantes and fools
On his watch while he was alive
Lord, just a little more time

Oh in (in) no time at all
This'll be the distant past
(Be the distant past)

So says the dying man once I'm in the box
Just think of all the overrated hacks running amok
All of the pretentious, ignorant voices that will go unchecked
The homophobes, hipsters and one percent
The false feminists he'd managed to detect
Oh who will critique them once he's left

Oh in (in) no time at all
This'll be the distant past
(Be the distant past)

What he'd give for one more day to rate and analyze
The world made in his image as of yet to realize
What a mess to leave behind

Eventually the dying man takes his final breath
But first checks his news feed to see what he's 'bout to miss
And it occurs to him a little late in the game
We leave as clueless as we came
For the rented heavens to the shadows in the cave
We'll all be wrong someday

Birdie

Take off, little winged creature
It's nothing but teens in ravines
And antics on concrete down here

Are you really as free
As all the great songs would have me believe
Let me tell you why some day
Birdie, you're gonna envy me

Some dream of a world
Written in lines of code
I hope they engineer out politics, romance and edifice
Two outta three ain't bad

Some envision a state
Governed by laws of business
Merger and acquisition instead of violence on nations
Where do I sign up

Take off, little winged creature
It's nothing but fallen debris
Strollers and babies down here
And you may be up in the sky
But our paradigms are just as deep and just as wide
What with all our best attempts at transcendence
Something's bound to take

Soon we'll live in a global culture devoid
Of gender or race
There's just one tiny line
You're either born behind
You're free to peek inside

Life as just narrative
Metadata in aggregate
Where the enigma of humanity's
Wrapped up finally
That, as they say, is that

Oh that day can't come soon enough
It'll be so glorious
When they finally find out what's bugging us

Leaving LA

I was living on the hill
By the water tower and hiking trails
And when the big one hit, I'd have a seat
To watch masters abandon their dogs and dogs run free

Oh baby, it's time to leave
Take the van and the hearse down to New Orleans
Leave under the gaze of the billboard queens
Five-foot chicks with parted lips selling sweatshop jeans

These L.A. phonies and their bullshit bands
That sound like dollar signs and Amy Grant
So reads the pull quote from my last cover piece
Entitled "The Oldest Man In Folk Rock Speaks"
You can hear it all over the airwaves
The manufactured gasp of the final days
Someone should tell them 'bout the time that they don't have
To praise the glorious future and the hopeless past

A few things the songwriter needs
Arrows of love, a mask of tragedy
But if you want ecstasy or birth control
Just run the tap until the water's cold

Anything else, you can get online
A creation myth or a forty-five
You're going to need one or the other to survive
Where only the armed or the funny make it out alive

Mara taunts me 'neath the tree
She's like, "Oh great, that's just what we all need
Another white guy in two-thousand-seventeen
Who takes himself so goddamn seriously"
She's not far off, the strange thing is
That's pretty much what I thought when I started this
It took me my whole life to learn to play the G
But the role of Oedipus was a total breeze

Still I dreamt of garnering all rave reviews
Just believably a little north of God's own truth
"He's a national treasure now and here's the proof
In the form of his major label debut"
A little less human with each release
Closing the gap between the mask and me
I swear I'll never do this, but is it okay
Don't want to be that guy, but it's my birthday
If everything ends with a photo, then I'm on my way

I watched my old gods all collapse
Were way more violent than my cartoon past
It's like my father said before he croaked
"Son, you're killing me and that's all folks"
So why is it I'm so distraught
That what I'm selling is getting bought
At some point you just can't control
What people use your fake name for

So I never learned to play the lead guitar
I always more preferred the speaking parts
Besides, there's always someone willing to
Fill up the spaces that I couldn't use
Nonetheless, I've been practicing my whole life
Washing dishes, playing drums and getting by
Until I figured, if I'm here then I just might
Conceal my lack of skill here in the spotlights
Maya, the mother of illusions, a beard and I

Two thousand years or so since Ovid taught
Night-blooming, teenage rosebuds, dirty talk
And I'm merely a minor fascination to
Manic virginal lust and college dudes
I'm beginning to begin to see the end
Of how it all goes down between me and them
Some ten-verse chorus-less diatribe
Plays as they all jump ship, "I used to like this guy
This new shit really kinda makes me wanna die"

My first memory of music's from
The time at JCPenney's with my mom
The watermelon candy I was choking on
Barbara screaming, "Someone help my son"
I relive it most times the radio's on
That "tell me lies, sweet little white lies" song
That's when I first saw the comedy won't stop for
Even little boys dying in department stores

So we leave town in total silence
New Year's Day, it's six o'clock AM
I've never seen Sunset this abandoned
Reminds me predictably of the world's end

It'll be good to get more space
God knows what all these suckers paid
I can stop drinking and you can write your script
But what we both think now is

A Bigger Paper Bag

Dance like a butterfly and drink like a fish
If you're bent on taking demons down with only your fist
And I've never known anyone who could lose himself in a bigger paper bag

The weaker the signal, the sweeter the noise
Hunching over an instrument that you now employ
Like the starvation army needs a marching piano in the band

Are you feeling used
I do

Oh I was pissing on the flame
Like a child with cash or a king on cocaine
I've got the world by the balls
Am I supposed to behave

What a fraud (fraud)
What a con (con)
You're the only
One I love

It's easy to assume that you've built some rapport
With a someone who only likes you for what you like yourself for
Okay, you be my mirror
But remember there are only a few angles I tend to prefer
I'm only here to serve

Oh I was pissing on the flame
Like a child with cash or a king on cocaine
I've got the world by the balls
Am I supposed to behave

Oh I was dancing 'round the flame
Like a high-wire act with a "who, me" face
I was living on nothing but water and cake

What a fraud (fraud)
What a con (con)
You're the only
One I love
One I love
One I love

When The God Of Love Returns There'll Be Hell To Pay

When the god of love returns
There'll be hell to pay
Though the world may be out of excuses
I know just what I would say

Let the seven trumpets sound
As a locust sky grows dark
But, first, let's take you on a quick tour
Of your creation's handiwork

Barely got through the prisons and stores
And the pale horse looks a little sick
Says, "Jesus, you didn't leave a whole lot for me
If this isn't hell already, then tell me, what the hell is"

And we say it's just human, human nature
This place is savage and unjust
We crawled out of the darkness
And endured your impatience
We're more than willing to adjust
And now you've got the gall to judge us

The spider spins his web
The tiger stalks his prey
And we steal fire from the heavens
To try to keep the night at bay

Every monster has a code
One that steadies the shaking hand
And he's determined to accrue more capital
By whatever means he can

Oh it's just human, human nature
We've got these appetites to serve
You must not know the first thing about human beings
We're the Earth's most soulful predator
Try something less ambitious the next time you get bored
Oh my Lord

We just want light in the dark
Some warmth in the cold
And to make something out of nothing
Sounds like someone else I know

Smoochie

When my personal demons are screaming
And when my door of madness is half-open

You stand alongside
And say something to the effect
That everything'll be alright soon
Smoochie

Chaos
Attends to creation
And when the shadows inside me
Vie for attention

You stand alongside
And say something perfect like "concealment feeds the fear"
And hand me a sea peach
And say, "Come, come over here
Smoochie"

Two Wildly Different Perspectives

One side says
"Y'all go to hell"
The other says
"If I believed in God, I'd send you there"
But either way we make some space
In the hell that we create
On both sides

One side says
"Kill 'em all"
The other says
"Line those killers up against the wall"
But either way some blood is shed
Thanks to our cooperation
On both sides
On both sides

One side says
"Man, take what's yours"
The other says
"Live on no more than you can afford"
But either way we just possess
Everyone ends up with less
On both sides
On both sides

The Memo

I'm gonna steal some bedsheets from an amputee
I'm gonna mount 'em on a canvas in the middle of the gallery
I'm gonna tell everybody it was painted by a chimpanzee
But just between you and me, here at the cultural low watermark
If it's fraud or art, they'll pay you to believe

I'm gonna take five young dudes from white families
I'm gonna mount 'em on a billboard in the middle of the country
I'm gonna tell everybody they sing like angels with whiter teeth
But just between you and me, they're just like the ones before
With their standards lower, another concert-goer will pay you to believe

Oh caffeine in the morning, alcohol at night
Cameras to record you and mirrors to recognize
And as the world is getting smaller, small things take up all your time
Narcissus would have had a field day, if he could have got online

And friends, it's not self-love that kills you
It's when those who hate you are allowed
To sell you that you're a glorious shit
The entire world revolves around

And that you're the eater, no, not the eaten
But that your hunger will only cease
If you come binge on a radiant blandness
At the disposable feast

(You're enjoying the chill winter playlist)
Just quickly how would you rate yourself
(I need Indie Brunch)
In terms of sex appeal and cultural significance
(Irony, irony)
Do you usually listen to music like this
(Just one more mile, you can do it again)
Can we recommend some similar artists
(This is totally the song of my summer)
Are you feeling depressed
(This guy just gets me)
But your feedback's important to us
(Music is my life)

Gonna buy myself a sports team and put 'em in a pit
I'm gonna wage the old crusade against consciousness
All I need's a couple winners to get every loser to fight in it
Keep the golden calf, just need the bullshit
And they won't just sell themselves into slavery
They'll get on their knees and pay you to believe

So I'm Growing Old On Magic Mountain

That was the last New Year I'll ever see
I wanna stay on that magic mountain
With lost souls and beautiful women
I drank some of farmer's potion
And we were moving in slow motion

The slower, the better
The slower, the better
'Cause there's no one old on magic mountain
There's no one old
Old on magic mountain

And that was the very last barn I'm burning
So for now everyone is dancing
As if it's any time but the present
So for now every young thing in my path
I'll hold their face so long inside my hands

The longer, the better
The longer, the better
'Cause there's no one old on magic mountain
There's no one old
Old on magic mountain

The wine has all been emptied
The smoke has cleared
As people file back to the valley
On the last night of life's party
These days, the years thin till I can't remember
Just what it feels like to be young forever

So the longer, I stay here
The longer, there's no future
So I'm growing old on magic mountain
I'm growing old
Old on magic mountain

In Twenty Years Or So

What's there to lose
For a ghost in a cheap rental suit
Clinging to a rock that is hurtling through space

What's to regret
For a speck on a speck on a speck
Made more ridiculous the more serious he gets
Oh it's easy to forget

Oh I read somewhere
That in twenty years
More or less
This human experiment will reach its
Violent end

But I look at you
As our second drinks arrive
The piano player's playing "This Must Be The Place"
And it's a miracle to be alive
One more time

There's nothing to fear
There's nothing to fear
There's nothing to fear

GOD'S FAVORITE CUSTOMER

Hangout At The Gallows

Sun is rising
Black is turning blue
Look out, buddy, Noah's calling
Jesus, man, what did you do

Psychic terrorists
In the upper room
Left foot, right foot, that's the ticket
You'll be back on top real soon

Whose bright idea was it to sharpen the knives
Just twenty minutes 'fore the boat capsize
If you want an answer, it's anybody's guess
I'm treading water as I bleed to death

What's your politics
What's your religion
What's your intake
Your reason for living

Your compositions
At start of every song
Find you waking in the morning
Always there to greet the dawn

Trouble sleeping
My alarm goes off
So you wanna hang out at the gallows
Those guys get an early start

Whose bright idea was it to sharpen the knives
Just twenty minutes 'fore the boat capsize
If you want an answer, it's anybody's guess
I'm treading water as I bleed to death

What's your politics
What's your religion
What's your intake
Your reason for living

What's your politics
What's your religion
What's your intake
Your reason for living

Mr. Tillman

Mr. Tillman, good to see you again
There's a few outstanding charges just before we check you in
Let's see here, you left your passport in the mini fridge
And the message with the desk says here the picture isn't his
And oh just a reminder about our policy
Don't leave your mattress in the rain if you sleep on the balcony
Okay, did you and your guests have a pleasant stay
What a beautiful tattoo that young man had on his face
And oh will you need a driver out to Philly
Jason Isbell's here as well and he seemed a little worried about you

I'm feeling good, damn, I'm feeling so fine
I'm living on a cloud above an island in my mind
Oh baby, don't be alarmed, this is just my vibe
No need to walk around, no, it's not too bad a climb

Mr. Tillman, for the seventh time
We have no knowledge of a film that is being shot outside
Those aren't extras in a movie, they're our clientele
No, they aren't running lines and they aren't exactly thrilled
Would you like a regalo on the patio
Is there someone we can call
Perhaps you shouldn't drink alone

I'm feeling good, damn, I'm feeling so fine
I'm living on a cloud above an island in my mind
Oh baby, don't be alarmed, this is just my vibe
No need to walk around, no, it's not too bad a climb

Just Dumb Enough To Try

I know a few ten-cent words
I can break out to keep up with her
But you can take what I know about love
And drown it in the sink

I know my way 'round a tune
Won't be a single dry eye in the room
But you can take what I know about you
And maybe fill a small balloon

But I'm just dumb enough to try
To keep you in my life
For a little while longer
And I'm insane enough to think
I'm gonna get out with my skin
And start my life again

I'm no stranger to the female form
I've been here a few times before
But you could have me anytime
Everything's cool, I'm great, it's fine

But I'm just dumb enough to try
To keep you in my life
For a little while longer
And I'm insane enough to think
I'm gonna get out with my skin
And start my life again

Date Night

Nothing surprises me much
And my hobbies include laughing in the dark
Do you want to go to the farm
Do you want to go to the park
I'll get you ice cream
If you give me your card
Nothing impresses me much
I've got a great attitude and a map to the stars
I've got your number from that sign in the lawn
I also want to vanquish evil, but my mojo is gone

I want you

Come on, I bet you know most of my friends
They're some real exclusive dudes from just around the bend
They're playing demos, oh they're wearing Dries
I can escort you down the runway, I just joined the police
Just right now, so you wanna be a grifter like me
Are you hearing impaired with your own URL
I'm the second coming, oh I'm the last to know
I didn't get invited, but I know where to go

Please Don't Die

One more wasted morning
When I could be holding you
To my side, somebody stop this joyless joy ride
I'm feeling older than my thirty-five years

One more cryptic message
Thinking that I might end it
Oh god, you must have woken up
To me saying that it's all too much
I'll take it easy with the morbid stuff

And, honey, I'm worried 'bout you
You're too much to lose
You're all that I have
And, honey, I'm worried 'bout you
Put yourself in my shoes
You're all that I have
So, please, don't die
Wherever you are tonight

All these pointless benders
With reptilian strangers
Oh my god, you're so naive
You'll leave this world in a drunken heap
Who'll make the arrangements, baby, them or me

And, honey, I'm worried 'bout you
You're too much to lose
You're all that I have
And, honey, I'm worried 'bout you
Put yourself in my shoes
You're all that I have
You're all that I have
You're all that I have
So, please, don't die
Wherever you are tonight

The Palace

It's only been three weeks
And a bag of speed from Jamie the PhD
She comes by the front desk
To leave my transcript with her edits

'Cause I don't wanna leave the palace
At least that's what my true love calls it

Last night I wrote a poem
Man, I must have been in the poem zone
I'm in over my head
I'm in over my head

Maybe I'll get a pet
Learn how to take care of somebody else
Maybe I'll name him Jeff
But I think it might defeat the purpose
Living on housekeeping and room service

But I don't wanna leave the palace
Let's pay someone to move in here and fix this

Last night I texted your iPhone
And said I think I'm ready to come home
I'm in over my head
I'm in over my head
I'm way in over my head

Disappointing Diamonds Are The Rarest Of Them All

Like a pervert on a crowded bus
A glare of love bears down on us
Like a carcass left out in the heat
This love is bursting out of me

Disappointing diamonds are the rarest of them all
And a love that lasts forever really can't be that special
Sure we know our roles and how it's supposed to go
Does everybody have to be the greatest story ever told

Like an oil tanker tipped at sea
This love's contaminated me
Like a constant twitching in my eye
This love of ours will never die

Disappointing diamonds are the rarest of them all
And a love that lasts forever really can't be that special
Sure we know our roles and how it's supposed to go
Does everybody have to be the greatest story ever told

God's Favorite Customer

(Feat. Weyes Blood)

Another night on the straits
All bug-eyed and babbling
Out on the corner of 7th and A
I'm in the business of living
Yeah, that's something I'd say
All I need is a new friend
I'm only five blocks away

Speak to me
Won't you speak, sweet angel
Don't you remember me
I was God's favorite customer

Beware the man who has everything
Everything that he wants
You can spot him from a mile away
In his gold chain and only one pair of socks
I'm out here testing the maxim
That all good things have to stop
The bar closes at five
But the big man is just opening shop

Speak to me (oh speak to me)
Won't you speak, sweet angel
Don't you remember me
( Don't you remember me)
I was God's favorite customer
But now I'm in trouble

Speak to me (oh speak to me)
Won't you speak, sweet angel
I need some company
(I need some company)
I swear, just one more night longer

The Songwriter

What would it sound like if you were the songwriter
And you made your living off of me
Would you detail your near-constant consternation
With the way my very presence makes your muses up and flee

Goodbye, little songbird, I can leave
Goodbye, my love, is there anything else you need

What would it sound like if you were the songwriter
And you did your living around me
Would you undress me repeatedly in public
To show how very noble and naked you can be

Goodbye, little songbird, now you're free
Don't forget I'm the only fan of yours
Who has the sense to ever leave you be
How could you do this to me

What would it sound like if you were the songwriter
And loving me was your unsung masterpiece

We're Only People (And There's Not Much Anyone Can Do About That)

People
We're only people
There's not much anyone can do, really do about that
But it hasn't stopped us yet

People
We know so little about ourselves
But just enough to wanna be nearly anybody else
How does that add up

Friends, all my friends
I hope you're somewhere smiling
Just know I think about you
More kindly than you and I have ever been
And I'll see you the next time around the bend

People
What's the deal
You've been hurt
And I've been hurt
But what do we do now

People
We're only people
There ain't a thing one person
Can ever change about that

Friends, all my friends
I hope you're somewhere smiling
Just know I think about you
More kindly than you and I have ever been
And I'll see you the next time around the bend

I think the end of it all may look a lot like the beginning
We're passed around from hand to hand
Screaming for no particular reason
The company gets pretty thin
So we start to shed all our distinctions
So why not me
Why not you
Why not now

CHLOË AND THE NEXT 20TH CENTURY

Chloë

Chloë is a borough socialist
She insists there's not much more to it
Than drinks with a certain element
Of downtown art criticism

I benefit more than I should admit
From her unscrupulous therapist
How Benzedrine's supposed to address
Your shoplifting is anybody's guess

Chloë
Chloë
Please, don't ever change

That story that continues to persist
How you could have dropped the cigarette
On the trip, your boyfriend's canoe flipped
Doesn't loose your grip on me a bit

She and I, we were insеparable
Till ma called my East Coast uncle to
Ascеrtain the welfare of her son
Howard said "Mary, you'd better come"

Chloë
Her name is Chloë
And he's talking awful strange
But the more they abhor you
The more I adore you

I would, but I can't
My heart don't stand a chance
Of even a glance
Her soul is a pitch black expanse

Summer ended on the balcony
She put on "Flight Of The Valkyries"
At her thirty-first birthday party
Took a leap into the Autumn leaves

Goodbye Mr. Blue

This may be the last time
The last time I put on my shoes
Go down to the corner
And buy the damn cat the expensive food

That Turkish Angora' 'bout the only thing left of me and you
Early this morning, it started making sounds that say
"Don't the last time come too soon"
"One down, eight to go, but it's no less true
Don't the last time come too soon"

This may be the last time
Last time I get out of bed
Put coffee on and try
In your words, "To show some initiative"

We used to lay around here laughing
At what these freaks out there were trying to prove
But what's wasting time if not throwing it away on work
When the last time comes so soon
Mr. Blue died in my arms, nothing they could do
Don't the last time come too soon

Love's always gonna leave ya
No matter what they say
You only know what it is once it's gone away

This may be the last time
The last time I lay here with you
Do you swear it's not the cat
You don't have to answer that
I'll just make do

But maybe if he'd gone sooner
Could've brought us back together last June
When the last time was our last time
If only then I knew
The last time was our last time
Would've told you that the last time comes too soon

When the last time was our last time
Should've told you that the last time comes too soon

Kiss Me (I Loved You)

I swore I wouldn't do this
The wine's gone to my head
The ferryman's been stranded
Stay with me tonight instead

The end will not befall us
The sky will not descend
Life can be more sweet than bitter
If you'll only let me in

Kiss me
Kiss me
Like long ago
Kiss me
I still know

Our dream
Ended like dreams do
But kiss me
I loved you

I heard everything about you
And maybe half of it was true
Love's much less a mystery
Than who you give it to

Kiss mе
Kiss me
Like long ago
Kiss me
I'm still yours
Baby

Our dream
Ended like dreams do
But kiss me
Don't you miss me
Kiss me
I loved you

(Everything But) Her Love

Her parade on the ceiling was looking like rain
When he came by to borrow some blue skies
"I'm sleeping," she said
"After a long night's dreaming
Hard pressed for a reason to get out of bed"

Here he is begging for less than enough
I'll give you everything but her love
Everything but her love, her love
Everything but her love

I can offer you sheets by the mile
If the Carlyle is out of rooms
I'm good for it, why don't you ask
But I can't bring her back

Now why would I do that

When I ask what he wants, his only response
Is a single word less than I need
He watches TV, she reads the I-Ching
I keep my face nearly straight
He tries to leave

She must be a dream 'cause you never wake up
I'll give you everything but her love
Everything but her love, her love
Everything but her love, her love
Everything but her love, her love
Everything but her love

Buddy's Rendezvous

Everybody's girl
What's the point in being everybody's girl
Maybe you think that way there's no chance getting hurt
Living for no one costs me way more than it's worth

So you're gonna be a singer
Well, I'll be, goddamn
You're as pretty as a postcard
No thanks to the old man
It's the same coat I had on
The night that I went in
I can stay an hour at Canter's
The streets cool off by then
When can I see you again

Whatever happened to the girl I knew
In the wasteland
Come up short and end up on the news

Whatever happened to the girl I knew
In the wasteland
Come up short and end up on the news

Everything you want
What's the fun in getting everything you want
I wouldn't know, but look, baby, you should try
Forget that lefty shit your mom drilled in your mind

Give the world a new savior
Sell his pictures to the press
Buy a place out in the country
Leave this world for someone else
My destruction is an hour late
I'm at Buddy's Rendezvous
Telling the losers and old timers
How good I did with you
They almost believe me, too

Whatever happened to the girl I knew
In the wasteland
Come up short and end up on the news

Whatever happened to the girl I knew
In the wasteland
Come up short and end up on the news

Whatever happened to the girl I knew
In the wasteland
Come up short and end up on the news

Q4

Simone writes little, much consequence
Lest the theater's how you pay the rent
A new work of some semi-memoir sits
Inside the weekend book editors desk
And while they have not mentioned it
She must watch roses get thrown at less
Oh the indignity

It was just the thing for their Q4
"Deeply funny" was the rave refrain
It was just the thing for their Q4
It'll be on stands before the holidays

Hеr sister was not much long for this world
She danced as if a dancеr danced, as if
As if she had a body to sustain
As if an audience to entertain
This ironic distance kept her sane
While her vessel sailed away
It was all very literary
And the truth was

It was just the thing for their Q4
What's "deeply funny" mean anyhow
It was just the thing for their Q4
These are the stories that we need right now

How could she compete
(I'm sure she wouldn't mind)
With a memory such as she
(But who else than I)
Leigh died so many months ago
(Could write the story of her life)
"By now, this tragedy's my own"

It was just the thing for their Q4
"Deeply funny" was the rave refrain
It was just the thing for their Q4
It'll be on stands before the holidays

It was just the thing for their Q4
The film adaptation was a total mess
It was just the thing for their Q4
Till she was outed for her privilege

It was just a thing for their Q4
Can't see her brother now unsupervised
It was just the thing for their Q4
Her family switched care right when she inquired

Olvidado (Otro Momento)

I have something to tell you
I can't use my hands to sign
And even if I could manage it, dear
I'm not sure I'd catch your reply

Olvídalo
Otro momento
Olvídalo
El destino decide

You're listening so intently
As on and on I go
My flight's leaving at seven AM
La noche casi se ha ido

Olvídalo
Otro momento
Olvídalo
El destino decide

All I want to say is
Words have failed me many times before
But never so completely as with you

Funny Girl

Funny girl
You look so unassuming
Right up until the room you're captivating
Starts to fill with gut-busting laughter
And you're transformed into a five-foot Cleopatra

Funny girl
Your schedule's pretty crazy
Doing interviews for the new live action Cathy
Could you pencil in an industry outsider
Yeah, you're young, but baby, you're not getting younger
Funny girl

For once your timing wasn't great
I must have missed you by a day
But baby, things have turned out pretty good this way
I don't think either of us yearns to share the stage

Funny girl
You seem pretty indifferent, but you knocked me out
When you charmed the pants off Letterman
Oh I wish you'd flash that manic smile in my direction
And let me lead you to your seat like we were old friends
Funny girl

Only A Fool

I was a fool to begin with
Long before this dance began
Oh there's no mistaking
What you're saying with that moony glance
Only a fool would understand

I was a fool when I met you
And oh I bet you knew it, too
How else could we stay standing
All those nights dream-landing
Only a fool would understand

The wisdom of the ages
From Gita to Abraham
Was written by smitten, lonely sages
Too wise to ever take a chance

Life could be cruel now and then
But I couldn't fathom way back when
How I'd long to have you
Break my heart time and again
Only a fool would understand
Only a fool would undеrstand

We Could Be Strangers

She says, "The odds are against him
She won't break his heart"
He says, "You'll lose the one sooner or later
Just being who you are"

This conversation's at an impasse
Maybe the future will look brighter undressed

We could be strangers for one night longer
Save the trysts and tumors for tomorrow
'Cause no one's really better off
No one's really better off alone

She says, "No point speeding back to your place
I've got no other plans"
As they lay there bleeding on the freeway
He takes her by the hand

I never wanted to disappoint you
At least I'll never even get the chance to

We could be strangers for one night longer
Save the trysts and tumors, the nights at home
We could be strangers for one night longer
Leave the crazy highs and the crazy lows
We could be strangers for one night longer
(We could be strangers)
Who any of us are, well, nobody knows
(Who any of us are)
'Cause no one's really better off
No one's really better off alone

The Next 20th Century

The nazis that we hired
For our wedding band
Played your anthem like I wasn't there
For the father-daughter dance

From the boondocks of Egypt
To the nosebleeds at Calvary
Recite your history of oppression, babe
While you are under me

There's no doubting the devotion
My ancestors had for yours
Now we've got all the love to pay for
Like a thousand different wars

A square foot of empire
Around the peep show slot
I see an avatar of mercy
With the same damn jeembles that I've got

The boss wants to be anonymous
The talent wants to be seen
We weren't paying for your body, lord
We were paying you to leave

Now who will watch the chorus line
Stretching from Reno to Rome
Listen, Cherry, I know you love me
But say you love me 'fore you go

Val Kilmer had a wall length
Mirror just over there
Well, I'm sure he's someone else now
But he was Batman when he lived here

Maybe he's Yankee Zulu
Just waiting for the flood
And maybe Mac the Conqueror
With the severed head of love

I've seen him wearing aviators
And a black baseball hat
Stalking airports 'cross the bardo
Quiet as a wildcat

The wheel is turning
From night into day
Everything's in transition
Everything must change

But none of us here
Will ever see the promised land
None of us here will be there for
Childhood's end

I see ya, you student debtors
In the watchtower overhead
Searching for headlights in the driveway
Crying, "Dad, look what they did"

Just look, even their romance
Made us masters and slaves
And now things keep getting worse
While staying so eerily the same

Come build your burial grounds
On our burial grounds
But you won't kill death that way
I don't know 'bout you
But I'll take the love songs
And give you the future in exchange
I don't know 'bout you
But I'll take the love songs
If this century's here to stay
I don't know 'bout you
But I'll take the love songs
And the great distance that they came

MAHASHMASHANA

Mahashmashana

His body is the Gelson's
Her soul, the fallen star
At midnight twice a week
She comes, she leaves
And no one's hassled her so far

The courters have arrived
In nail polish, in tailored slacks
Reformed past, all recognition
Resplendent in donor class panache

Is a scheme to enrich assholes
What the godhead had in mind
When he hid here such revelations
As only singers could describe

Mahashmashana
All is silent
And in thе next universal dawn
Won't have to do thе corpse dance
Do the corpse dance
Do the corpse dance with these on

The one about the country's boyfriend
That he never ever would live down
Must not have made it to the angels
Who passed the holy Roman noses 'round

His pale bullets found your bloodline
In a midnight blue cayenne
She is patient, the act of creation
May one day produce a happy man

Shaken like a pawl fly
Obscene as a lick
Love's the birthright of young people
And she ain't leaving without his

Mahashmashana
All is silent now
And in the next universal dawn
Won't have to do the corpse dance
Do the corpse dance
Do the corpse dance with these on

He spoke into a hot mic
He sang like a bird
He hadn't had a single drink yet
There's no mistaking what you heard

A perfect lie can live forever
The truth don't fare as well
It isn't perched on lips mid-laughter
It ain't the kind of thing you tell

Like there's no baby in the king cake
Like there's no figure on the cross
They have gone the way of all flesh
And what was found is lost

Yes, it is
Yes, it is
Yes, it is
Yes, it is
Yes, it is
Yes, it is
Yes, it is
Yes, it is

She Cleans Up

I had a vision that Mary of Magdalene
Saw the future that awaits us just before Good Friday eve
Figured the wages of salvation were a little too steep
Said no one's fucking with my baby, Lord, and got armed to the teeth

Cleaning up
Cleaning up
Clean up
She cleans up

What is the one about the female alien
Scarlett drives the Scottish countryside inside of a white van
Oh I dreamt about it last night and it did my whole day in
Under the something, man, I'm never gonna touch that shit again

Cleaning up
Clеaning up
She cleans up
Cleaning up

I know just how this thing еnds
Hallelujah, woman, they got me confused with him
Oh no, I get just how this thing ends
Hallelujah, baby, I know who butters my bread

"When was the accident"
Well, I presume you mean
The condition of the silk kimono that didn't come cheap
Now did you sit down at the crime scene
Just don't look between your knees
Man, it's certainly a look, did she at least get the movie

Cleaning up
Cleaning up
She cleans up
Cleaning up

Use your discretion, so I don't have to use mine
I spent a hundred bucks on gas, baby, let's just have a good time
How do you atone for your son, now the rabbit's got the gun
She ain't joining you for dinner, been on the menu too long

Cleaning up
Cleaning up
She cleans up
Cleaning up

I know just how this thing ends
Hallelujah, guess we gave the karmic wheel a spin
Oh yeah, I know just how this thing ends
The aggrieved becomes aggressor and we do it all again

Take it from a demon who can say I've never said
Take it from a demon that the devil don't protect his friends
Take it from a demon, he'll never work in this town again
Take it from a demon, he'll make sure an angel goes down next

I know just how this thing ends
The misogynist's daughter made him rethink what he said
I know just how this thing ends
She has trouble reconciling pops with the things that she read

I know just how this thing ends
Hundred billion babies born every millennium
Oh no, I know just how this thing ends
Man, I hope nobody messes with the wrong rejected men

I know just how this thing ends
Sure your politics are perfect with the gun against your head
I know just how this thing ends
It's a good thing God gave us someone on whom we can depend to
Clean up

Josh Tillman And The Accidental Dose

She put on Astral Weeks
Said, "I love Jazz" and winked at me
This is the last place I ought to be
But I can't drive and I sure can't sleep

Around this time, I publicly
Was treating acid with anxiety
I was unwell and suddenly
Her clown portraits spoke to me

You're in no shape
You're in no shape
All the king's horses
All the king's men
You may never be whole again

A publicist and a celibate
Started talking politics
By a small degree, she got him to admit
They're tacit fascists without knowing it

And oh this went on and on
Performance art, an elaborate con
Baby, who wears pеarls at four AM
This Pynchon yuppie found meaning's end

In no shape
In no shape
All the king's horses
All the king's men
You may never be whole again
You may never be whole again
You may never be whole again

I saw something I shouldn't see
The awful truth, bare reality
That I'd forfeit my existence
If someone let me just play with them

Dawn long broke by the time
I realized that I lost my mind
I ate an ice cream, dazed in the street
But it never tasted quite as sweet
Again

Mental Health

In the panopticon
They never turn the cameras on
The guards and the narcs went home
They do a fine enough job on their own

Your true self
Oh they'd love if you could find it
Makes you much less hard work to predict
One of these labels bound to fit

Oh identity
Your milk-white shadow
Just tries something that you wouldn't do
And it's always one step ahead of you

Mental health
Mental health
No one knows you like yourself
You two should speak
In the presеnce of a licensee

This hallucination
The cathеdral in the prison
Where the dreams of a citizen
Can only tell you what is wrong with them

Forgetting
The engine of civilization
Coffee and a cigarette
Found no better means of revolt yet

Mental health
Mental health
Maybe we're all far too well
Mental health
Mental health
A less pathetic cry for help
Mental health
Mental health
There's no higher
Virtue held in this crazy world
It's more than a little bit absurd

Oh insanity
Babe, it's indispensable
For the true endeavour of your soul
To find the edge and baby, go, go, go

Oh magic child
Run, baby, run
Baby, run, baby, run
The one regret that's really pretty tough
Is knowing I didn't go nearly far enough

Oh magic child
This dream, we're born inside
Feels awful real sometimes
But it's all in your mind

Screamland

The optimist
Swears, "Hope dies last"
And shoots the lamplight clean
From the brakeman's hand
It's always the darkest
Right before the end

And you could say
That no one here really believes
In the future, in perfection
That things aren't what they seem
Like a sucker with a scratcher
Like a fuck-up with a dream

Stabbing at the ashtray like it might give up the truth
Like it might finally confess who else you're nearly faithful to

Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland

Picked me up and drove
By the light of the moon
Four hours to the desert
From the drawing room

This year's wine tasted suspicious
But just enough like love
God must be with the outcasts
'Cause when I call, you come

And at this late hour
Won't have to beg mercy for defeat
Just drop your hands
The way love taught you
Ash white and voodoo
Deathless as a weed

Since I lied to keep you, I'm starting to feel
Like how long can you love someone for the weakness they conceal

Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland

Love must find a way
Love must find a way
After every desperate measure
Just a miracle will take
Love must find a way
Love must find a way
After every desperate measure
Just a miracle will take

Roll the stone away
I want to go
Where everyone is perfect
Beneath their robes

Honey, take me down
To the water's edge
Mama said that we
Could get my hip brace wet

Maybe we are living in a state of grace returned
Maybe faith like this has at least one practitioner
Rings up to the knuckles, sutures in the bath
Here lie the born losers, God won't take them back

Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland
Keep dreamin
Screamland
Screamland
Screamland
Screamland
Screamland

Being You

I'm nodding yes
I'm making my face go like I
Am listening, that's nice

You've seen all those films
Even the late ones like
Desire, Rancho, Last Rites

I grab the bill
My hand says, "I insist"
Funds are moving
I am doing this

Just a spitting image
Of someone that I knew
Just a perfect parody
I can barely do

And I wonder what it's like
I wonder what it's like
To be you
Can you tell me how it feels
Can you tell me how it feels
Being you

After the jump
I'm not even sure who's left
Maybe the stunt guy was my truе self

Under the skin
Wе're not much on the eyes
A real mess where soul must reside

In my memory
Is a show I call the past
I watch and decide just what I would do next

Just a spitting image
Of someone I forget
Such a perfect panoply
A lucky contestant

Come on
Down

And I wonder what it's like
I wonder what it's like
To be you
Can you tell me how it feels
I wanna know how it feels
Being you

Being you
Being you
Being you

I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All

Our naked bodies go on trial
Just for laughing at the joke
Just for saying of the bargain
What any salesgirl already knows
Most of us old men die in the firing line
Just waiting for our number to be called
I guess time just makes fools of us all

Now the king regales his stepsons
When he's loaded as a gun
Says, "A real man is like a country
You need a map to find your one"
Now why do you suppose you must approach the throne
With its back up against the wall
I guess time just makes fools of us all

The greatish minds of my generation
Gladly conscripted in war
Of defending any Goliath
That would deign darken the door
Now with your genius for picking battles
It's no wonder every helmet is too small
I guess time just makes fools of us all
I guess time just makes fools of us all

My drink is watered down
The champion's on his knees
He lost the rematch
He lost the comeback
He lost for charity
But that's the job
It's what gets the asses in the hall
They came for a beating
And he came to brawl

Go and serve your client notice
That of all the young gods I have known
Yours is easily the least famous
To turn down the cover of the Rolling Stone
Lily-white faces so familiar
And yet impossible to recall
I guess time just makes fools of us all

After a millennia of good times
God said, "Hey now, let's have a dream"
Where we raise the stakes a little
Come on, let's make things interesting
Parachute into the Anthropocene
An amnesiac, a himbo ken doll
I guess time does makes fools of us all

I killed a rattlesnake this morning
It was coiled up behind the truck
Put it in reverse and hit it clean
Something he said went in and stuck
"Hey, I can sell you a million records
I mean your image could use an overhaul
Don't you know time just makes fools of us all"

The headlights headed southbound
The loser's exodus
That's where you'll find me in Las Vegas
Doing my greatest hits
Me and Dixie
We had ourselves a ball
I followed my dreams
And my dreams said to crawl

The groom is a liar
And the bride is a shill
The priest says, "If these two don't make it
Who among us ever will"
Don't ask the love you dare for a prediction
Wherein the lovers of tomorrow are involved
I guess time just makes fools of us all
Oh I guess time just makes fools of us all
Oh I guess time just makes fools of us all

Summer's Gone

What becomes of the longing
Once your love's been spent
And the world becomes a stranger
But maybe not all that strange yet

What do you tell the madman
Who wants to see you dead
When against your will comes wisdom
And fourty more years left ahead

Wish it all away
The heat of the day
Until summer's gone
Until summer's gone

I drive around the city
The place I knew is gone
There's no fun left to fear, but
To Georgie it's still Babylon

The girls look good in riches
Finer still in rags
And the old shirts stretch across me
A lecherous old windbag

Wish for skies of grey
In the heat of the day
Until summer's gone
Until summer's gone
Until summer's gone
Until summer's gone

But you eat a peach
Or you skin your knee
And time can't touch me

Anthem

(Anthem +3 EP)

The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
"Don't dwell on what has passed away
Or what is yet to be"

Ah the wars
They will be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
Bought and sold
And bought again
The dove is never free

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack
A crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see

And I can't run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud (ah fuck)
But they've summoned
They've summoned up a thundercloud
And they're gonna hear from me

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack
A crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in

You can add up the parts
But you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack
A crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack
A crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in
That's how the light gets in

Everything Is Free

(Gillian Welch cover / Spotify Singles)

Everything is free now
That's what they say
Everything I ever done
Gotta give it away
Someone hit the big score
They figured it out
That we're gonna do it anyway
Even if it doesn't pay

I can get a tip jar
Gas up the car
And try to make a little change
Down at the bar
Or I can get a straight job
I've done it before
I never minded working hard
It's who I'm working for

'Cause everything is free now
That's what they say
Everything I ever done
Gotta give it away
Someone hit the big score
They figured it out
That I'm gonna do it anyway
Even if it doesn't pay

Every day I wake up
Humming a song
But I don't need to run around
I just stay home
And sing a little love song
My love to myself
If there's something that you wanna hear
You can sing it yourself

'Cause everything is free now
That's what I said
No one's gotta listen to
These words in my head
Someone hit the big score
They figured it out
That we're gonna do it anyway
Even if it doesn't pay

Fallin' Rain

(Link Wray cover / Anthem +3 EP)

I hear a sound
It's going through my brain
And I hear talk of people
I feel the falling rain

I see a man crying
'Cause the whole world has let him down
Kids are laughing at funny faces
Of a clown

My mind is like a spring in a clock
It won't unwind
I can't see, can't think, can't feel
I'm out of time

Well, I'm up, then I'm down
Now tell me, where is it going to end
And you say stop at the beginning of the end
Bye, friend

I hear thunder
And I can feel the wind
And I can see angry faces in the eyes of men

And don't forget kid's stake
Where kids lay bleeding on the ground
And there's no place on this planet
Where peace can be found

So there'll be stabbings and shootings
And young men dying all around
And it keeps going through my brain
And I can still hear the sound

I hear talking of people
The whole world has gone insane
And all there is left is the falling rain
And all there is left is the falling rain
And all there is left is the falling rain

Holy Hell

Hell, holy hell, holy hell
Damn, the future ain't looking so bright
Never asked for a paradise
But seventy years would be nice
With my brothers and sisters and I
And the impossible dream of mankind
But I've always been the irrational type

Hell, what the hell, what the hell
This thing's got us all in its grip
The economy just don't explain this
This unfathomable, nameless rift
Who knows if it even exists
It's just some highly effective rhetoric
Used by perverts who get off on it

But all my friends
Yeah, I'm talking to you
The world won't end unless we want it to
There's no one in control
And it's our life to choose

I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)

(Live at Electric Lady EP)

Shattered dreams, worthless years
Here am I encased inside a hollow shell
Life began, then was done
Now I stare into a cold and empty well

The many sounds that meet our ears
The sights our eyes behold
Will open up our merging hearts
And feed our empty souls

I believe when I fall in love with you
It will be forever
I believe when I fall in love this time
It will bе forever

Without despair, wе will share
And the joys of caring will not be replaced
What has been must never end
And with the strength we have will not be erased

When the truths of love are planted firm
They won't be hard to find
And the words of love I speak to you
Will echo in your mind

I believe when I fall in love with you
It will be forever
I believe when I fall in love this time
It will be forever

I believe when I fall in love with you
It will be forever
I believe when I fall in love this time
It will be forever

I believe when I fall in love with you
It will be forever
I believe when I fall in love this time
It will be forever

I Would Love You

(Feat. M. Houcke)

I would love a man
If my genes were just a little different
I would love a man
And not think twice at all
When I loved that man
Like any woman loves her lover
I would love a man
Now if I could just love you

I would wed a girl
If I was just a little less married
I would wed a girl
If I could ever be anywhere on time
I would wed a girl
There'd be a mistress at the altar
I would wed a girl
Now if I could just wed you

If everything I've sung till now is false
Please, let this one be true
If everything I've sung till now is false
You can tell 'em, "This one's true"

I would wed a horse
If I was just a little more lonely
I would love that horse
If I'd been exiled from mankind
And I would love that horse
I would take comfort in its presence
I would love a horse
Now do you still love me

Main Man

(T. Rex cover / AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex LP)

Are you my main man
Are you now, are you now
Are you my main man
Are you now, are you now
Are you now

Are you a God man
Are you now, are you now
Are you a frog man
Are you now, are you now
Are you now

Oh and heaven is hot, babe
Ever so, ever so
And heaven is hot, babe
Watch it glow, watch it glow
Watch it glow

And Bolan likes to rock, yeah
Yeah, he does, yes, he does
And Bolan likes to rock now
Yes, he does, yes, he does
Yes, he does

Is there a sane man anywhere
Anywhere, anywhere
I got giraffes all up in my hair
And I don't care, I don't care
I don't care

And as a child I laughed a lot
Yes, I did, yes, I did
Now I seem to cry a lot
Oh tell me true, why don't you

Oh and are you my main man
Are you now, are you now
And are you my main man
Are you now, are you now
Are you now

Are you my main man
Are you now, are you now
And are you my main man
Are you now, are you now

I've Never Been A Woman

(I Loved You, Honeybee EP)

Never been a woman
But I know the pain
The pain of labor
And the warpath of age

Been with so many
Yet none have seen through
Despite their intuition
The extent of the ruse

Oh yeah, I've never been a woman

Why must I befriend each
Every girl
I meet in the lively lit bars
This dying dark world

I'm doped up on laughter
They always oblige
This emptiness in me
With wet, glassy eyes

Oh, yeah, I've never been a woman
But they've given me my life

True love bears nothing
In common with this
This constant amusement
Some ceaseless caress

Yet I accept nothing
No price could be paid
The occasional miracle
With Marissa or Jane

Oh now I've never been a woman

My time here is so brief
I cannot pretend
That I can sustain you
Like this till the end

Don't lie to the ladies
It does not take words
All it takes is an inkling
That you, they can cure

Oh now I've never been a woman
That much is sure

Wandering hunger
Old and corrupt
Lays waiting each moment
While you tend
While you selflessly touch

Satisfy and sate her
The only one in the room I can see
Who's really being pleasured
Is me, is me, is me

Oh now I've never been a woman
But I have known pain

Musical Ladders

(Adam Green cover / Moping In Style: A Tribute To Adam Green LP)

Musical ladders
Leaning on mountains
Bathed in white laughter
Under the sun

Somebody's birthday
Came stumbling towards us
Wrapped in green gladness
Under the sun

We're gonna make it
Through this war tonight
Someone hold this child
Up to the light

Prostitute fingers
Fumbling with matches
Tucked in red couches
Under green moons

Mexican waitress
Got caught in the crossfire
Of militant families
Bursting with Jews

We're gonna break it
To your folks tonight
Kind of hope your pops
Don't hear me right
Oh yeah

Nothing Hurts Worse

(The Demos EP)

Every time I tune up this thing
I'm reminded of what it feels like to break a string
And my hand reacts like a wounded woman
And nothing hurts worse

Baby, be patient with me
Please, don't get angry
If I can't stay
Oh I'd love to see you in the daylight
Before we book the chapel
Before I make you my wife

Every time I climb the riser to drum
I'm reminded of what a song writing failure I've become
And my pride reacts like a wounded woman
And nothing hurts worse

Guys, be patient with me
Please, don't get angry
When I act that way
Oh I'd break some bottles and celebrate
The dreamer still in me
Was in a total ingrain

Every time I tune up this thing
I'm reminded of what it feels like to break a string
And my hand reacts like a wounded woman
And nothing hurts worse

One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong

(Leonard Cohen cover / Anthem +3 EP)

One, two, three, two

I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me
Then the room just filled up with mosquitoes
When they heard that my body was free
Then I took the dust of a long sleepless night
And I put it in your little shoe
Then I confess that I tortured the dress
That you wore for the world to look through

I showed my heart to the doctor
He said I'd just have to quit
Then he wrote himself a prescription
Then your name was written in it
Then he locked himself in a library shelf
With the details of our honeymoon
Now I hear from the nurse
That he's doing much worse
And his practice has all in a ruin

Oh I heard of a saint who had loved you
So I studied all night in his school
Where he taught that the duty of lovers
Is to tarnish the Golden Rule
Just when I was sure that his teachings were pure
He drowned himself in the pool
His body is gone, back here on the lawn
His spirit continues to drool

Oh an Eskimo showed me that movie
He'd recently taken of you
Now the poor man could barely stop shivering
His lips and his fingers were blue
I suppose that he froze when the wind took your clothes
And I guess he just never got warm
But you stand there so nice in your blizzard of ice
Oh please let me back into your storm
Please

Real Love Baby

Our hearts are free
So tell me what's wrong with the feeling
I'm a flower, you're my bee
It's much older than you and me

I'm in love, I'm alive
I belong to the stars and sky
Let's forget who we are for one night
We're not animals, baby
It's the people who lie (to themselves

I want real love, baby
Ooh don't leave me waiting
I've got real love maybe
Wait until you taste me
I want real love, baby
There's a world inside me
Got the key, just use it
Just if for a minute and gone

Our hearts are free
So tell me what's wrong with the feeling
I'm a flower, you're the bee
It's much older than you and me

I'm in love, I'm alive
I belong to the stars and sky
Let's forget who we are for one night
We're not animals, baby
It's the people who lie (to themselves)

I want real love, baby
Ooh don't leave me waiting
I've got real love maybe
Wait until you taste me
I want real love, baby
There's a world inside me
Got the key, just use it
Just if for a minute and gone

I want real love, baby
Ooh don't leave me waiting
I've got real love maybe
Wait until you taste me
I want real love, baby
There's a world inside me
Got the key, just use it
Just if for a minute and gone

Our hearts are free
(I want real love, baby)
(Ooh don't leave me waiting)
So tell me what's wrong with the feeling
(I've got real love maybe)
(Wait until you taste me)
I'm a flower, you're my bee
(I want real love, baby)
(There's a world inside me)
It's much older than you and me
(Got the key, just use it)
(Just if for a minute and gone)
I'm in love, I'm alive
(I want real love, baby)
(There's a world inside me)
I belong to the stars and sky
(I've got real love maybe)
(Wait until you taste me)
Let's forget who we are for one night
(I want real love, baby)
(There's a world inside me)
We're not animals, baby
(Got the key, just use it)
(Just if for a minute and gone)

The Lady With The Braid

(Dory Previn Cover /Live)

Would you care to stay till sunrise
It's completely your decision
It's just that going home is such a ride
Such a ride
Going home is such a ride
Going home is such a ride
Isn't going home a low and lonely ride

Would you hang your denim jacket
Near the poster by Picasso
Do you sleep on the left side or the right
Or the right
Would you mind if I leave on the light
Would you mind if it isn't too bright

Now I need the window open
So if you happen to get cold
There's this coverlet my cousin hand crocheted
Hand crocheted
Qould you mind if the edges are frayed
Would you mind to unfasten my braid

Can I make you in the morning
As cup of instant coffee
I will sweeten it with honey
And with cream

When you sleep
Do you have dreams
You can read the early paper
And I can watch you while you shave
Oh God the mirror's cracked
When you leave
Will you come back

You don't have to answer that at all
The bathroom door is just across the hall
You'll find an extra towel on the rack
By the paisley patterned papered wall

There's a comb on the shelf
I papered that wall myself
That wall myself

Would you care to stay till sunrise
It's completely your decision
It's just the night cuts through me like a knife
Like a knife
Would you mind to stay awhile and save my life
Would you mind to stay awhile and save my life

I don't know what made me say that
I've got this funny sense of humor
You know I could not be downhearted if I tried
I's just that going home is such a ride
Going home is such a ride
Going home is such a ride
Isn't going home a low and lonely ride

This Is America

(Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio / Adult Swim)

It's less hard than it should be
To find a dead guy dressed up as Batman
His penis out, with a magazine
And a Go-Gurt hanging out of his mouth, but you know

We say, "Hey now, this is America"
We got some time to kill and we need a thrill
So we die doing the dumbest of shit, here we go

We got people hanging out at abandoned malls
Trying to get the dead people to talk to 'em
With a little rigged up bluetooth thing
With a feather kicking out of the back and you know

They got Go-Gurts 'cause this is America
We got some time to kill and we need a thrill
So we die doing the dumbest of shit, here we go

We got a guy going sixty on a six-foot unicycle
Gunning down a road that is made of gravel
And he's barreling towards a hanging bag
That is full of flaming Go-Gurts and now he is dead

I said, "Hey now, this is America"

To R.

I found you once
And I'll find you again
Your cells are ringing bells
Singing God is dead, God is dead, God is dying

The poison's in the dose, true
And I've had just enough of my fill of my failure to possess you
And for the second time today
I repeat something only you'd say

Now is it true you're going out of your head
Risking perfection with somebody else
Oh no more ridiculous than life itself

"Buddy, what's wrong"
Like the angel of death
Stopped by to ask about the extra room you rent
It's not like you

Tell him to leave
But did you really have to ask him in
And sing him to sleep and are you really so surprised
At just what a lost man's love looks like

Now is it true you're going out of your head
Risking perfection with somebody else
Oh no more ridiculous than life itself
Life itself

To S.

Flying on past
In your voodoo mask
High on your own supply
And the way that you hold
My hand to the bone
Honestly ain't half bad
No

What about
Life on the ground
Makes you feel so strange
Without the blues
You're tethered to
I'm sure you'd float away
I had a dream and you were in it
Is all you had to say

Guess what
I love you
But someone's gotta clean up the mess
There's parties to end
In the kingdom of men
Someone's gonna need a new dress
No

What about
Life on the ground
Makes you feel so strange
Without the blues
You're tethered to
I'm sure you'd float away
I had a dream and you were in it
Is all you had to say
Is all you have to say

Trouble

(Cat Stevens cover / Anthem +3 EP)

Trouble
Oh trouble, set me free
I have seen your face
And it's too much, too much for me

Trouble
Oh trouble, can't you see
You're eating my heart away
And there's nothing much left of me

I have drank your wine
You have made your world mine
So, won't you be fair
So, won't you be fair

I don't want more of you
So, won't you be kind to me
Just let me go where
I'll have to go there

Trouble
Oh trouble, move away
I have seen your face
And it's too much for me today

Trouble
Oh trouble, can't you see
You have made me a wreck
Now won't you leave me in my misery

I have seen your eyes
I can see death's disguise
Hanging on me
Hanging on me

I'm beat, I'm torn
Shattered and tossed and worn
Too shocking to see
Too shocking to see

Trouble
Oh trouble, move from me
I have paid my debt
Now won't you leave me in my misery

Trouble
Oh trouble, please, be kind
I don't want no fight
And I haven't got a lot of time