1. |
Ami
03:50
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Ami, I just couldn't sleep
awoken, briskly, from a dream
I was face down in a stream
not breathing, just afloat
no matter what the current’s speed
simply, I refused to leave
how the townsfolk made a scene
oh, the letters they wrote
Ami, I know I’m selfish at best
cruel at my worst, when under duress
I hope you still believe
there is a place for people like me
enough about me, how about you?
remember back when we were two
children with a bird’s eye view
of the world, from the sandbox
You take my rook, I’ll take your king
spin and fall down dizzily
stare at clouds and make up the shape
of things in the sunlight
Ami I know, it’s harder to tell
the velocity of your wish in a well
But I’ll throw every penny
if you’d shake the sense into people like
me, and I know
I’m often sold at the medicine show
but I still hate
the morning after taste of a bitter pill-ow
planets shift and stars align
you force yourself: the daily grind
for every wrinkle left in time
all our paperback hopes
until the day we meet again
my dear and cherished childhood friend
I leave you where the sidewalk ends
at the edge of the globe
Ami, I know there’s nothing pristine
razors in apples on each Halloween
but I hope it isn’t ennui
haunting like ghosts of people like me
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2. |
On the record
04:22
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twisting knees and brushing thighs
a flash and a wink I am rendered by
doesn't it feel nice to be alive sometimes
morning refuses to reign
looking out on a barren plain
it doesn't feel so nice to be alive sometimes
so go, go on the record and show
you're such a good detective
you always could tell that I was just a shell
and you knew where to unload me
go, it's not conjecture, I know
when the inspector leaves the scene of the crime
there is nothing behind
but a few bullet holes
I can hear inside the walls
shallow lives in flooded stalls
it doesn't feel so nice to be alive sometimes
magazines and fishing wire
all that's left of a crude empire
doesn't it feel nice to be alive sometimes
so go, go on the record and show
you're such a good detective
you always could tell that I was just a shell
and you knew where to unload me
go, it's not conjecture, I know
when the inspector leaves the scene of the crime
there is nothing behind
but a few bullet holes
when the artist decides to quit
the only frame up is getting used to it
so go, go on the record and show
you're such a good collector
you always could tell that I was just a shell
and you knew where to expose me
go, it's not conjecture, I know
when the inspector leaves the scene of the crime
there is nothing behind
but a human totem pole
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3. |
G sharp is easy
03:42
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say what you want
I'm not much for old haunts
sympathy looks ghoulish on you
it's getting late
pointing fingers at fate
never puts me in the mood
nobody ever tells me
when I'm going too hard or when it's never enough
wait until the gears shift, wait until the teeth click
somebody throw a sucker punch
true love is easy
but I can clearly surmise
it's just a theory
the glazed-over look in your eyes
keeps reappearing
you swore, you crossed your heart
true love is easy
but everything else is hard
it's 10 to 1
we might be having fun
if fun is a desperate escape
some other bar
then I'm driving your car
I'm pretty sure there's videotape
nobody ever told me
there wasn't anything to look forward to
wait until the last straw, wait until the cracked jaw
swings on the hinge of a missing tooth
true love is easy
but I can clearly surmise
it's just a theory
the glazed-over look in your eyes
keeps reappearing
you swore, you crossed your heart
true love is easy
but everything else is hard
you said it was a fucking walk in the park
seems more like a shot in the dark
true love is easy
but I can clearly surmise
it's just a theory
the glazed-over look in your eyes
keeps reappearing
you swore, you crossed your heart
true love is easy
but everything else is hard
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4. |
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I can recognize the symptoms
I'm giving all my powers away
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5. |
Minneapolis
03:11
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married, with kids, in Minneapolis
you lust over details of everything you missed
your best friend is calling you from Los Angeles
you’re married, with kids, in Minneapolis.
there’s room for improvement, you need to buy a fridge
the in laws are moving in, the heat is on the fritz
read your past in polaroids, like ancient hieroglyphs
mummify your memories in Minneapolis
Killer Joe and that time, time, time
you OD’ed in the line, line line
at the waiting room
in the ICU
the tour bus, the toothbrush, have fallen off the grid
when life hands you leather, you’ve no choice but to submit
still run the risk, the cracking of the whip
married, with kids, in Minneapolis
Killer Joe and that time, time, time
you OD’ed in the line, line line
at the waiting room
in the ICU
saw you at Schubas, guerillas in the missed
I paid for my ticket, though I was on the list
exonerated from your crimes by missing witnesses
just married, with kids, in Minneapolis
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6. |
Dead receiver
03:02
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Abridged version from the day it was written.
Superman is in his late forties. He is living in a run down motel in old Vegas. Having been pardoned by death, he has turned into a recluse. He finds it difficult to fight the urge to save people in distress; he is coping with addiction. He has taken to unplugging his phone. One night, while driving around aimlessly, he managed to tweak his car radio so that he could receive transmissions from the police dispatch. He has since disassembled and reassembled the radio five times.
So we arrive at the scene of the song. Superman finds himself stuck in traffic while a schoolbus full of children teeters over the edge of a broken bridge that passes over a ravine. He receives information (over the police dispatch) that an aging Hollywood starlet is standing on the roof of the Four Queens casino threatening to jump.
Lyrics:
there’s a fly on the wall
a phone jack and a dead receiver
you can try and please them all
you can never fool a true believer
you know there’ll be damage
even if you pick up the phone
there’s no firm advantage
in leaving well enough alone
there’s a bus stuck on the bridge
traffic’s backed up and it’s neverending
you can try and save the kids
there was never any harm in pretending
that there won’t be damage
even if you see it a mile away
there’s no firm advantage
in taking the detour, they say
dispatch calls from the ground
10/4 and we’ve got a jumper
you can try and talk her down
but she’s never getting any younger
you know there’ll be damage
even if they bring out the trampoline
there’s no firm advantage
in meeting the police at the scene
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7. |
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Jessica was a weather vane
she swung both ways
you know what they say, when it rains, it pours
sometimes there wasn’t a drop for days
Jessica was a weather vane
with a hurricane on the move
there were 2 Jessicas
but I decided on you
It’s all fun and games
when you don’t name names
it gets Grimm, your pseudonym
gives you away
on your wedding day
Jessica was a pendulum
she swung both ways
you know what they say, in every family heirloom,
there's a tell tale closet case
Jessica was a pendulum
in an ever shrinking room
there were 2 Jessicas
but I decided on you
pillow fights and truth or dare
wrestled down to our underwear
it gets Grimm, your pseudonym
gives you away
by catching the bouquet
So....
there were 2 Jessicas
when we collided
though I'd deny it
I've realized that
[I think I broke your your heart, but in spite of that]
if you haven't gotten sick of me yet
I've decided on you
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8. |
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Adrian and Napoleon’s army
2nd string; never thought they could harm me
did they cease and desist? did they put up a fight?
did it curb your appetite?
or quench your thirst for life?
Adrian, the sky goes on for miles
no one really really made me smile
like Adrian, the troops are lined up for battle
you gotta get back in the saddle
Adrian and the wrath of Poseidon
try to reel 'em in in, but the fish aren’t biting
did you think it was cute? did you think it was coy?
was it just another marketing ploy?
you had your radar on search and destroy
Adrian, sky goes on for miles
no one really made me smile like
Adrian, ship is homeward bound
I never thought we’d touch the ground
Adrian, the troops are lined up for battle
you gotta get back in the saddle
Adrian, I’d follow the sound
I never thought we’d touch the ground
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9. |
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10. |
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memory erased,
you hadn’t slept for days
'til you penned the edit
no mention of me
your name on the marquee
all your well earned credit
you look all beaten and bloody
but it’s all part of the show
bet you have your understudy
hidden somewhere down below
it’s a trap door to the second floor
of a whole new you
and I could write it all on the bathroom stall
but what good would it do?
cellar door ajar
we wandered all to far
into your collection
your version is down pat
you point your finger at
every vintage selection
who cares who took the first sip?
we were drunk by the time we left
save for a surefire hangover cure
there was no kind of sober to get
it’s a quick chug or a gateway drug
to a whole new me
and I could write it all on the bathroom stall
but what point would there be?
sick of running late, you circumnavigate
all your past transgressions
blame it on the current
certain that you weren’t
off with your directions
we were inebriated
we peered over the ledge
to a gaping cliff below us
all it takes is a single misstep
it’s a sealed fate
or a leap of faith
to a whole new us
and I could add it all on the bathroom stall
but it wouldn’t amount to much
so glad we didn’t keep in touch.
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11. |
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This is a terrible song for so many reasons. I guess I keep it up to remind myself of how much of an asshole I've been, generally; this song is immune to revision.
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