1. |
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A pitch-black patch of asphalt
where the snowfall didn’t land
reminds me of one side of you
that I could not understand
For every muscle that relaxes
there’s another that contracts
Oh, I wish I’d had
a how-to guide to loving you
The chipped paint on the wall
of a boarded-up storefront
looks just like a mural
of an Italian restaurant
For every person on the sidewalk
there’s a single drop of rain
flowing through
the viaduct of loving you
There was so much I feared about you
that I wish I’d had a how-to
I wish I’d had a how-to guide to loving you
You don’t win a race by being honest
or a trophy for being mature
but you can understand the limits of suffering
by shopping at the dollar store
I dream in country music
and speak in semaphore
but I did not have
a how-to guide to loving you
There was so much I feared about you
that it felt like I was tied to
tied to the railroad tracks of loving you
I got my B.A. in being amazing
and a master’s degree in love
I got a PhD in being courageous
and a fellowship in all the above
but none of these credentials could help me
with the studies I’d wanted to pursue
and I’m not on the other side of loving you
Reading and re-reading
Anna Karenina
Endlessly re-reading
Anna Karenina
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2. |
Ballad Of An Incel
04:11
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True insight is always disappointing
Meaning lies in conflict
Seek no resolution
I woke up on the wrong side
of the new world order
These rotten institutions
I would sooner sin than suffer
the consequences of misrule
A killer asks a hangman for mercy
The hangman tips the stool
I live in an ancient part of town
where the people are a thousand years old
They speak in Babylonian riddles
and their teeth look like headstones
Brooms fly with no witches on them
Clean air is imported and sold
I’ve never once been moved by a painting
I’m downwardly mobile
Why did Pharaoh hang the baker?
I was born and raised in a rental manger
Love me
I’m ugly
A murder victim makes a recovery
I would sooner sin than suffer
for the sins of my father
After the last supper
table sales shot up
In a conference room named heaven above Vatican City
The word of god is decided by a committee
Debate me
Berate me
Find it in your heart to date me
Discourse
Remorse
A marriage that ends in divorce
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3. |
Drinking A Beer Outside
04:58
|
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When I let my mind wander
I wonder where it goes
It leaves in tattered tennis shoes
and returns in wedding clothes
I’m on the roof
on top of the house
of anguish and yearning
It’s been a while since I’ve been out
I smell a cigarette
wafting from a lower balcony
If I could I would
ask the smoker if they’d like some company
I’m drinking a beer outside
When I let my mind wander
I worry that I'm going to lose it
It’s taking a year to finish this beer
Maybe it’s time that I’m abusing
How is this my life?
I didn’t choose it
Sound is only a metaphor
for music
I’m drinking a beer outside
I wish I were a caveman
so I could be the guy
to invent cave painting
for the first time
and they would call me
Caveman Breath
I would provide the model
for the artist obsessed with death
and everyone I meet
would become a better person
and I will consider
communing with a higher power
when I’m done
drinking a beer outside
I’ll consider believing
in a higher power
I’ll consider believing
when the can is empty
I’ll consider believing
when the can is empty
I’ll consider believing
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4. |
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I'm so tired of contemplation
I spend days completely inert
with an empty feeling
and the coffee doesn't work
Church bells toll through a digital speaker
every time a battery dies
I hear them ringing through the window
and my hips begin to rise
Why don't we dance
for the first time
in a lavendar and burgundy room
and dream
if only for a night or two?
Let's skip town for the doomed republic
escape the home security system
Let's pick a fight
on a warm summer night
We can trace a shape through the prairie states
that looks just like the lines at Nazca
Listen carefully
to what I'm about to ask ya
We have our lives
for a short time
and the happy moments are so few
Why don't you dream with me
if only for a night or two?
Is it raining, or am I dreaming?
Is it raining, or am I dreaming?
Is it raining, or am I dreaming?
Let's get a house in the middle of nowhere
and furnish it with bottles of wine
that we drink at the clip of
the cruel passage of time
Off of the highway in Central New Jersey
a wise guy grew into a wise man
but his works and books of wisdom
never had a single fan
Why don't we dance
for the first time
in a neon yellow biker bar
and dream
to the sound of an electric guitar?
Why don't we dance
for a short time
in this crowded metropolitan tomb
and dream
if only for a night or two?
Is it raining, or am I dreaming?
Is it raining, or am I dreaming?
Is it raining, or am I dreaming?
My neck is sore
from my head
hanging so low
Is it raining
or am I dreaming
or both?
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5. |
A Spring Day In December
04:47
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Society is in emergency
Existence is a drag
All is in collapse
I saw graffiti that said
the world would end
in 2022
I think it might be true
Oh, what a fine day
Spring is months away
A spring day in December
A blizzard in the fall
A rising tide of violence
in every shopping mall
Washington was a bedwetter
I heard that Hamilton was very small
When the string that holds
the world together snaps
we'll be undone
Thy kingdom come
I don't think that life's a joke
necessarily
It doesn't make me laugh
When I fall asleep
my dreams repeat
commercials that I've seen
Such a tragedy
Oh, what a fine day
Disaster awaits
A spring day in December
A blizzard in the fall
A prophecy foretold to me
in a public restroom stall
Jefferson was a pillpopper
Ben Franklin was completely bald
When the string that holds
the world together snaps
we'll be undone
Thy kingdom come
Oh, what a fine day
Disaster awaits
Oh, what a fine day
Disaster awaits
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6. |
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Mister Policeman
what do you do
but serve the wealthy
as I protect myself from you?
You think you're the judge and jury
and executioner
I read the paper
every morning
The one I subscribe to
comes with a warning that goes
"If you want the truth, buddy,
you've come to the wrong place
A great big storm's a-coming
It cannot be stopped
Mister Senator
don't you see
the gaping chasm
opening up beneath your feet
and the Taj Mahals of weapons
on every mountainside?
Madame Speaker
have you any clue
the balance of power
tilts from the many toward the few?
The order is collapsing
from every point of view
A tidal wave's approaching
and it cannot be stopped
Seeds are planted
and the farmer plows
You hear an engine
Somebody steered into the crowd
I do it for the thrill
and a thrill is what I get
A great big storm's a-coming
It cannot be stopped
Listen to the music
It's everything right now
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7. |
Move In With Me, Please
04:02
|
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I've thought a lot about if I could tolerate
another year of living with a roommate
Honey, there's something I would like to ask of you
Seeing as how our leases expire
around the same time, let me inquire
will you move in with me?
Move in with me, please
Move in with me, please
to somewhere we can sleep
seven days a week
We can renew your lease in September
or find a new apartment together
Just move in with me, please
All homes contain debris from lovers past
and the ghosts of families dissolved
We can dream of eternity
by filling in what's left of
any space between us
Move in with me, please
Move in with me, please
I would like to be
a part of your routine
We'll find a kitchen with a dishwasher
adopt a cat and name her Natasha
Move in with me, please
Move in with me, please
Move in with me, please
Get a set of keys
and make us two copies
We'll find a place with in-unit laundry
adopt a dog and name him Prince Andrei
Move in with me, please
We can dream of eternity
by filling in what's left of
any space between us
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8. |
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Ever since we've been together
I've been thinking less and feeling better
There's nothing I would change about our life
except one thing, and don't get me wrong
it's just we only ever eat with the TV on
Let's eat at the table tonight
Let's eat at the table tonight
I'll cook us something really out of sight
Lit up by the gleaming candlelight
let's eat at the table tonight
All relationships are different
and that's just the way that it is
The legislator measures romance
in checks and balances
Let's eat at the table, darlin'
I picked zucchini squash fresh from the garden
and all the while, I wore a natural smile
as I tended to the compost pile
Let's eat at the table tonight
A collector measures his fortune
in tiny furniture
and hides the key into his heart
in his dollhouse miniatures
and one day I'll be able
to sign a contract with a record label
so let's eat at the table
tonight, tonight, tonight
Let's eat at the table tonight
I wrote down all the words I thought to write
I sung them out and I made them rhyme
and strummed the chords in three-fourth's time
Let's eat at the table tonight
I say let's disable
our miserable subscription to cable
and let's eat at the table
tonight, tonight, tonight
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9. |
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Don't interrupt me, I'm dreaming
There is nothing that can keep
the thief who's behind
the stage in my mind
from stealing the show in my sleep
The councilman's nightmares are haunted
by the playground's budgetary strain
He screams as he's chased
by the teens who defaced
a bench with a plaque of his name
Don't you dare pinch me, I'm dreaming
I'm somewhere off the coast of Japan
Life is a slog, and it isn't very long
so let me still dream while I can
Don't interrupt me, I'm dreaming
and I don't have the words to describe it
They just get in the way
of what I'm trying to say
when I'm trying to take you inside it
At a honky tonk just west of heaven
where the spirit of Hank Williams sings
I'm smoking cigars with dead country stars
and it's raining guitar strings
Don't you dare pinch me, I'm dreaming
and I'm steering a catamaran
Life is a slog, and it isn't very long
so let me still dream while I can
When I awake from my dreaming
to a world I can hardly endure
it's as if in my sleep
I was draped with a sheet
and stored with the old furniture
In the room where they keep a madwoman
in an unused wing of the estate
where the ceilings are tall
and books line the walls
there's a piano that's never been played
So why not pick up the piano
or read through the books on the shelves?
Well, life is a slog, and it isn't very long
so let's not kid ourselves
Don't you dare pinch me, I'm dreaming
and this one's a ten out of ten
Life is a slog, and it won't be very long
until I am dreaming again
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10. |
Blue Hydrangeas
03:55
|
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Everything is blue and it's as blue as blue could be
from the carpet to the ceiling and everything between
I am in a corner where a blue dresser was
staring out the window at the blue hydrangeas
Everything is blue on every day of every week
from the bottom of the ocean to the highest mountain peak
in the Colorado Rockies and in Appalachia
Everything's the color of the blue hydrangeas
Everything is blue, it's in the Times, it's in the Post
from the southern tip of Florida up the Mid-Atlantic coast
along the northern border, down toward Los Angeles
Everything is overgrown with blue hydrangeas
Everything is blue, the blue bells ring at heaven's gates
An overcast of blue across the whole United States
and I am in a corner where a blue dresser was
staring out the window at the blue hydrangeas
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