1. |
second wind
02:57
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SECOND WIND
Cut-throat scene--
a cut-throat show,
Burn this place to cinders,
but where else could we go?
Nightmares circling
the bottom of a glass,
I know I'll end up drinking them--
Either way, I'm cashed.
Locked my keys in the car,
What are we gonna do?
It's cold and things ain't working out,
Your hands are turning blue.
Keep it bar-rag-low and
three-credits-jukebox high,
This is living-yeah,
but maybe it's no life.
And it's garbage time
in garbage town,
They're sweeping up the place
but we're still hanging around,
Right now I'm laughing
but tomorrow I'm in deep--
I'll be waking to a sunlight hell
on just three hours' sleep.
Locked my keys in the car,
I guess we're both screwed
'cause no one in their right mind's
gonna pick up me or you.
Keep it bar-rag-low and
three-credits-jukebox high,
This is living-yeah,
but maybe it's no life.
But I'm not crying in your beer,
and I'm not wondering why you're here,
You can tear me down and start all over again,
or you can pick me up so that I catch my second wind.
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2. |
pull the pin
03:24
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PULL THE PIN
Three unanswered messages,
and I don't know where my head is
and the clock says it's a quarter past ten,
I walk in and there you are,
Last stool at the bar,
with a whiskey sour in your right hand,
Staring bullets into a pop-collared sea
that smells of jager and cheap-ass cologne...
Yeah - you're an old-heart stealer,
I'm a no-hope dealer,
I've been numbed-out since forever,
I can take the pain,
When I see you spreading sunshine,
Girl I know it's gonna rain,
Pull the pin and run like hell and I'll get by.
There's a siren that sounds
over remains of this town,
and there's really nothing left here to do,
I hope you find the things you lost,
I hope you gather no moss,
I wish that I could give back something to you,
You say you've got secrets I won't keep,
but none of that matters now.
Spill it if you need to,
You don't have to, I can see through...
I hear you laughing but you don't know,
You think life speeds by but Christ it's slow,
You have no idea, but I guess we're off and running,
This town is bleeding poison but we've got to get some fun in,
and it's 1,2,3,4...pull the pin and hit the floor.
It's half-past two, and it's deja vu,
and someone points a camera again,
We're a trainwreck laughing,
sound of one hand clapping,
Pull the pin and run like hell and we'll be fine.
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3. |
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SEE YOU IN HELL (Goodbye 1107)
Too early for Beer:30 and I know how this will end.
Shithoused in the boathouse and fighting off the spins.
Our final destination is almost within reach,
Matt McClain don't need four wheels to get to Myrtle Beach.
Kyle came back from Pep Boys with a $2 part.
I hate to tell you Anna but that car ain't gonna start.
Chase is ripping up phone books - there's a freakshow in the yard.
Jake you've got me crying man, your life's been really hard.
Goodbye 1107 - I'm bidding your bones fare thee well.
If I don't see you tomorrow, I'll see you in Hell.
Swifty just fell down again and Ben got bored and left.
Nick is Eddie Money now because he's P.A.F.
Stephanie looks miserable - she wants to be alone.
Randy Burke, we need a joke. Pick up the phone.
The cops told your landlord about the charges that went down.
Now it's time to move it to the other side of town.
But what's a fucking address? Just a number on a door.
143 North Wilson - live to fight another war!
Goodbye 1107 - I'm bidding your bones fare thee well.
If I don't see you tomorrow, I'll see you in Hell.
I've got sand in my shoes - can't you tell?
My liver is swollen - I'm swell.
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4. |
trouble tonight
04:43
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TROUBLE TONIGHT
Birds fly around the chimneys,
they're too dumb to leave this town,
Are they waiting for the weekend to start?
You've got two passes for a movie I've just seen,
but I guess I'll sit with you in the dark…
Or maybe we can walk around South End tonight
and get lost amongst hipsters and squares,
like two aliens surveying the wrong world
while our spaceship sits in disrepair.
You're always talking out of earshot
like there's something you don't want me to know.
You're always rattling your car-keys,
like there's somewhere else you wanna go.
And I don't know-am I wasting all your time?
I don't know--you got yours and I'll get mine?
Is that the way of things?
What will tomorrow bring?
Yeah we may be in trouble tonight.
How many credits am I good for now
or would you like to be the first to cash in?
Too much poison circling this room
and I don't know where or how to begin.
No falling stars on Dave Lyle Boulevard,
No pot of gold at the end of Main Street,
Handle of whiskey and the truth starts seeping out,
but that's the kind of truth we really don't need.
We always talk about tomorrow
while tonight is busy forming its bruise.
Jump in the car and cast the die, let's go-
Shake that stubborn Rock from your shoe.
And I don't know…
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5. |
don't ask me
03:01
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DON'T ASK ME
Slice me open and count my rings,
God - I don't know why I'm here.
Your friends are young and quirky,
but I'm just old and weird,
And a bonfire crackles softly
while the drunks outside all sing,
And you punch me in the shoulder
but it barely even stings...
Don't ask me, baby - I wouldn't know.
Well - you chain smoke and you rattle off
the people you still miss,
A guy you left in Greenville,
and your sister and her kids,
And there's a story of the bracelet
you spin around your arm,
And your tattoo's just an outline
but it lends a certain charm.
But don't ask me baby- I wouldn't know.
And do you learn from your mistakes
or do you make them all again?
It's hard to clean that
Carolina dirt out of your skin,
Smile and stretch the muscles
you've not used in so damn long,
I'm your newest favorite punchline,
Will you miss me when I'm gone???
You say you're gas tank's empty
and you're rent's a week past due,
and you say that I'm a loser
because I hang around with you,
But you don't seem too worried, no...
Your wits have served you well,
And your mama - she loved Jesus,
But your daddy - he raised Hell.
But don't ask me baby - I wouldn't know.
Will the jokes we told tonight
stay to cheer us for a while,
or will they end up with the embers
dying in that darkened pile?
I hope you find some peace of mind,
I hope you relish every mile
of every road you have to travel,
and may you do it all in style.
But don't ask me baby, I wouldn't know.
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6. |
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Either stoke that fire or drench it,
It's long past the hour of our making sense,
Waiting for gray light to leak over the horizon
and rupture through our last defense.
I can smile with the best of them
but there's nothing real behind it,
Hang around a while,
I may need some time to find it.
Tell me something I don't know,
Make up a story -something with a happy ending.
Heroic chorus of a pie-eyed fool in love with you,
Wrap me in the yarn you're spinning.
Make me forget half a dozen voices
I'll probably never hear again,
Maybe they're singing now.
I don't know where they went.
Standing on my last good nerve,
and midnight's too far gone.
Fighting sleep for the hell of it
Dirty jokes and punk rock songs...
Last rites for two red eyes;
Hello, good morning,
I guess I best be moving on.
Something borrowed,
Something blue,
and something broken,
but I always find the way back home.
I can laugh with the best of them,
but you've got to catch me in the mood,
Go ahead and stoke the fire,
Daylight's breaking through.
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7. |
greenlight blues
02:38
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GREENLIGHT BLUES
You're looking like the ghost of punk rock past
but you say you feel ok,
But you just blew off the soundcheck
and Mapquest made mistakes,
It'll all be over in a couple of weeks
You'll be trading in the van,
Washing dishes for your in-laws-
in the hole down thirty grand.
If it's the last time...
stop leaning on me.
You've got the green light,
Go.
There's a five-dollar door for a funeral,
Better get yourself in gear,
Blow graffiti off the concrete walls
and drive the trust-fund kids out of here,
They're all yelling out stuff from your glory days
as if you had a choice,
and there's a bourbon-drenched graveyard stench
and I think you've blown your voice.
The novelty is over
but the music's twice as loud,
You've got stickers on your guitar case
that are older than this crowd,
Another trainwreck night after night,
How many pills and rerun thrills
and dumps like this to set things right?
Well you're nodding off on the handrail
and you're wishing you were dead,
and you walk out next to the chainlink fence
and you count your cigarettes,
And the dogs are barking and your ears are ringing
and the streetlights show the ground,
and broken bottle breadcrumbs
lead the way to your hometown.
This place is empty,
Stop fucking with me.
You've got the greenlight.
GO.
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8. |
from the ground
02:19
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FROM THE GROUND
Closing night, I’m not gonna make it,
Wretching backstage with my fingers crossed,
Kill the bottle, it used to be a prop,
I was cruising for oblivion but I got lost.
Reach into my pockets
but there's nothing there to find,
Patience is a virtue,
I've been patient all this time,
I won't say I'm sorry anymore.
I could give myself 50,000 lashes,
I could try on a new disguise,
You thought I had a map,
It's just a scrap of paper
with pushpins, X's, and little white lies...
Darkness comes and strangers run
and no one's left around,
The stars that burned a billion years
mean nothing from the ground,
I won't say I'm sorry anymore.
Grow a spine, open up the blinds,
you could let the sun shine in...
But you're already gone,
I guess I'll see you when I see you...
if I see you again.
I know you'll be fine.
You've got all the time in the world.
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9. |
blindness
03:44
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BLINDNESS
Behind your eyes,
I don't know,
Looked inside your bags
and just found someone else's clothes,
It's alright now, you can stay?
I found a pulse and clamped it
but blood came anyway.
Stumble in the dark too long,
the first new light in front of you
is much too strong...
Can you see anything?
They toss that word around,
Nobody knows what it means
but they'll all swear it's what they found,
And I said it to you.
Maybe I don't get it either
but I mean it, yeah I do.
When your heart
steals your throat
and it's midnight,
Do you choke on it and lose?
Can you say anything?
Another year just like the last,
More garbage in the rearview,
Arms reach from the past
and they'll take everything.
Find myself tomorrow,
but I'll blow it all tonight
A hundred thousand mysteries
but I've lost my sight.
I can't see anything.
I don't want anything.
What are we gonna do now?
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10. |
just a hand
03:28
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JUST A HAND
Ashes on the sidewalk,
but they didn't fall from you.
You held your head up all the way
and did what you had to.
A nurse shot me the evil eye
as you signed through all the forms,
probably thinking I was Papa there
and not a friend who came along.
But busing tables in a steak joint
wasn't going to feed two mouths,
and things got worse when that sonofabitch
took off and he went South,
I hear he's hiding in his parents' attic
outside Jacksonville,
Maybe he'll crawl back, head-in-hands,
but I doubt he ever will.
We don't have to talk about it,
All the coulda-beens,
shoulda-beens,
scattered all around.
Don't ask me what I think about it,
I'm just a hand to hold-
not a foot
to keep you down.
The past three years have dulled your smile-
but somehow it shines through,
You're made of better stuff than me,
I tip my hat to you,
We can drive out to the lake right now-
the sun still hasn't set,
You can lean upon my shoulder,
I don't mind if it gets wet.
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11. |
shut it down
02:06
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SHUT IT DOWN
Mother, you tried to hold me close and save me,
said the Good Lord made me naked for a reason,
Father went on a bender when the cord was snipped
and slurred my name through every drunken season.
There's a seed in my head,
Better move or I'm dead,
Did I fail you?
I spit some blood in the sink,
Part of you, I think,
I want to tell you.
Shut it down before it comes out wrong.
Sister, she tried to show me my reflection,
She held up her little mirror and it cracked,
Brother - I guess he's always going to spite me,
lost his favorite knife in my back.
Mother, I swept some cobwebs from the closet,
Let's go ahead and divvy up the blame.
Mother, it took me damn near half an afternoon
to find the card and sign my name.
Shut it down before it comes out wrong.
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12. |
silver queen
02:18
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SILVER QUEEN
Walk along this branch with me,
We've got an hour of daylight yet,
We'll watch the sun set through the trees
and watch the greens fade into reds.
I helped them dam upriver
back in the summer of '49,
Now pontoons with funny names cruise by,
Hell-they could charge me with some sort of crime.
But I don't give damn,
I know who I am,
and I've known it since before you came along,
Don't beat yourself too hard--
Your friends can have that job,
And if you're right,
don't flinch-
they'll think you're wrong.
I plant Silver Queen after the last hard freeze,
I carry honey from the hive,
Your aunt-she lights straight into me
and says the garden keeps me alive.
Maybe it's true about the reap-and-sew,
What comes around has gone around,
Back then, I'd sell my soul for half a cigarette,
but now I tend to and hold my ground…
Blind or drunk, I can follow these paths,
but darkness is coming soon,
Watch your step boy- because copperheads wait
and tonight there ain't no moon.
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13. |
antifreeze
02:19
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ANTIFREEZE
Tonight my friends are drinking
and I'm in on the first round,
I didn't mean to do that shot,
but somehow it went down.
I'd like to make excuses
but there's nothing I can say,
I didn't mean to do it
but I did it anyway.
I wish that I could melt through frost
that coats your memories,
but I can't crawl inside your head
to pour my antifreeze,
Instead I'm gonna dry your eyes
and then I'll dig my grave...
I didn't mean to do it
but I did it anyway.
You've shown kindness
but it's been awhile,
What can I give you
in exchange for a smile?
You seem different,
but I've not changed,
Close your window
and I'll sleep in the rain.
I've been dreaming of a big white house
and a beat-up rocking chair,
I'll sip on ice-cold sun tea
and mind my own affairs--
instead of dodging bullets
shot down from your gaze,
I didn't mean to do it
but I did it anyway.
Somewhere someone's injured
by a comment made in jest,
and somewhere birds with broken wings
get kicked out of the nest,
but tonight my friends are drinking
and I'll likely kill their fun,
I didn't mean to do that shot,
but somehow it got done.
I didn't mean to screw my head,
but somehow it got done.
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14. |
the radio crapped out
03:13
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15. |
kill a day
03:24
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KILL A DAY
First cup of coffee in hangover hell,
and last night's nostalgia train finally derailed.
Morning is frozen and there's nowhere to be,
So pull up a chair and sit closer to me.
And that year I promised I'd leave town with you,
But I spun my wheels deeper, and plans just fell through,
You were shell-shocked and landlocked, had to move on…
I tried to explain but the words came out wrong,
Deck of cards strewn on the living room floor,
I stare towards the clock as you move towards the door.
Now it's down, down and where will this end?
Sand through our fingers, scattered by wind,
The courage we saved for this moment's been spent
I lost you, I found you, I'll lose you again.
Where did you come from and where do you go
in between frames of this B-picture show?
When you're over the wall, do you look back and see
your heroes and villains, the losers and me?
I'm late for work and you're late for your flight,
Kill a day with someone you once knew, it's alright.
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16. |
creases
02:35
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CREASES
No star is lost,
but I'm in danger, burning myself out,
Numbers stored into this phone
but I can't call someone this time,
It's too late…
This room is filled with faces,
All are talking, no one's listening,
They all have plans to make and sell themselves
fifty times over,
I don't care…
No ripples here,
just dust on dust,
I barely move,
I've got rust on rust,
Zero to zero on a dime,
I'm doing nothing all the time,
Another day gone by…
Some crumpled bills exchange hands,
Does it make your life worth living,
How much more will this world take
of the shit you've been giving?
Not much more…
Low-res photographs
reveal the story's exposition,
I know the money talks,
but goddamn-
We don't have to listen always?
It's too late.
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17. |
pull the pin (doosh mix)
03:25
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Gregory Ellis Rock Hill, South Carolina
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