a lack of color

and when i see you
i really see you upside down
but my brain knows better
it picks you up and turns you around
turns you around, turns you around

if you feel discouraged
when there's a lack of color here
please don't worry lover
it's really bursting at the seams
from absorbing everything
the spectrum's a to z

this is fact not fiction
for the first time in years
all the girls in every girlie magazine
can't make me feel any less alone
i'm reaching for the phone

to call at 7:03 and on your machine
i slur a plea for you to come home
but i know it's too late
and i should have given you a reason to stay
given you a reason to stay

this is fact not fiction
for the first time in years

the sound of settling

i've got a hunger
twisting my stomach into knots
that my tongue was tied off

my brain's repeating
if you've got an impulse let it out
but they never make it past my mouth

baa bah, this is the sound of settling

our youth is fleeting
old age is just around the bend
and i can't wait to go grey

and i'll sit and wonder
of every love that could've been
if i'd only thought of something charming to say

baa bah, this is the sound of settling

i've got a hunger twisting my stomach into knots

a movie script ending

whenever i come back
the air on railroad is making the same sounds
and the shop fronts on holly
are dirty words
and we peered through the windows
new bottoms on barstools
the people remain the same
with prices inflating - inflating

as if saved from the gallows
there's a bellow of buzzers and people stop working
and they're all so excited - excited

passing through uncounscious states
when i awoke i was on the high-way
with your hands on my shoulders
a meaningless movement: a movie script ending
and the patrons are leaving - leaving

passing through uncounscious states
when i awoke i was on the high-way
and now we all know the words were true
in the sappiest songs - yes, yes
and i'll put them to bed, but they won't sleep
just shuffling the sheets, to toss and turn
you can't begin to get it back

passing through uncouscious states
when i awoke i was on
the onset of a later stage:
the headlights are beacons on the high-way

technicolor girls

technicolor girls are always on the phone
talking about their homes
and the conversations continue endlessly

technicolor boys, transistor radios
blasting their treble tones
and the arguments are disputed after school
in the parking lot as the teachers bend the rules

patiently you waited for a courting boy's embrace
then everyone would know
but the letter jacket wasn't yours to own
and it proves to be on temporary loan

and as they all grow older the truth will be understood
cuz we never turn out the way we thought we would

title & registration

the glove compartment isn't accurately named
and everybody knows it.
so i'm proposing a swift orderly change

cause behind its door there's nothing to keep my fingers warm
and all i find are souvenirs from better times
before the gleam of your taillights fading east
to find yourself a better life

i was searching for some legal document
as the rain beat down on the hood
when i stumbled upon pictures i tried to forget
and that's how this idea was drilled into my head

cause it's too important
to stay the way it's been

there's no blame for how our love did slowly fade
and now that it's gone it's like it wasn't there at all
and here i rest where disappointment and regret collide
lying awake at night

there's no blame for how our love did slowly fade
and now that it's gone it's like it wasn't there at all
and here i rest where disappointment and regret collide
lying awake at night (up all night)
when i'm lying awake at night

blacking out the friction

i don't mind the weather
i've got scarves and caps and sweaters
i've got longjohns under slacks for blustery days
i think thats its brainless to assume that making changes
to your window's view will give a new perspective
the hardest part is yet to come

i don't mind restrictions or if you're blacking out the friction
it's just an escape it's overrated anyways
the hardest part is yet to come
when you will cross the country a-lone

expo '86

sometimes i think this cycle never ends
we slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again
and it seems by the time that i have figured what it's worth
the squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse

but if i move my place in line i'll lose
and i have waited, the anticipation's got me glued

i am waiting for something to go wrong
i am waiting for familiar resolve

sometimes it seems that i don't have the skills to recollect
the twists and turns of plot that turned us from lovers to friends
i'm thinking i should take that volume back up off the shelf
and crack it's weary spine and read to help remind myself

but if i move my place in line i'll lose
and I have waited, the anticipation's got me glued

i am waiting for something to wrong
i am waiting for familiar resolve
i am waiting for another repeat
another diet fed by crippling defeat
and i am waiting for that sense of relief
i am waiting for you to flee the scene
as if you held in your hand the smoking gun
and on the floor lay the one you said you loved

and it's strange
they are basically the same
so i don't ask names anymore

sometimes i think this cycle never ends
we slide from top to bottom and we turn and climb again
and it seems by the time that i have figured what it's worth
the squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse

the squeaking of our skin against the steel has gotten worse

photobooth

i remember when the days were long
and the nights when the living room was on the lawn
constant quarreling the childish fits
and our clothes in a pile on the ottoman
all the slander and double speak were only foolish attempts
to show you did not mean
anything but the blatant proof was your lips touching mine in the photobooth

and as the summers ending the cool air rush your hard heart away
you were so condescending
and this is all that's left
scraping paper to document
i've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on

cup your mouth to compress the sound
skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town
and everything that i said was true
as the flashes blinded us in the photobooth
well i lost track and then those words were said
you took the wheel and you steered us into my bed
and soon we woke and i walked you home
and it was pretty clear that it was hardly love

and as the summers ending
the cool air will rush your hard heart away
you were so condescending
and this is all that's left, scraping paper to document
i've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on

and as the summers ending
the cool air will rush your hard heart away
you were so condescending
as the alcohol drained the days
and as the summers ending
the cool air will rush your hard heart away
you were so condescending
and this is all that's left
the empty bottles spent cigarettes
so pack a change of clothes
cause its time to move on

i was a kaleidoscope

i put on my overcoat and walked into the winter
my teeth chattered rhythms
and they were grouped in twos and threes
like a morse code message was sent from me to me
and cars on slippery slopes were stuck:
people pushing through their mittens
as i was beginning
to feel like soaking through my shoes
getting colder with every step i took to your apartment, dear

i was a kaleidoscope:
the snow on my lenses distorting the image of what was only one of you
and i didn't know which one to address as your lips moved
this is when i foret to breathe and all the things i scripted
they sound so unfounded
and it's the look that you're giving me
that tells me exactly what you are thinking:
"this ain't working anymore."
they got their mothers worked into a panic
sledding down hills into oncoming traffic
and parents layered clothes until the children couldn't move then
and left them outside until their noises were blue
and i got left there, too.

i put on my overcoat and walked into the winter
my teeth chattered rhythms
and they were grouped in twos and threes
like a morse code message was sent from me to me

405

i took the 405 and drilled a stake down into your center
and stated that it's never ever been better than this
i hung my favorite shirt on the floorboard, wrinkled up from
pulling pushing and tasting, tasting...

you keep twisting the truth
that keeps me thrown askew

misguided by the 405 cause it lead me to an alcoholic summer
i missed the exit to your parents' house hours ago
red wine and the cigarettes:
hide your bad habits underneath the patio

you keep twisting the truth
that keeps me thrown askew

coney island

sitting on a carousel ride
without any music or lights
everything was closed at coney island
and i could not help from smiling
i can hear the Atlantic echo back
rollercoaster screams from summers past
and everything was closed at Coney Island
and i could not help from smiling
brooklyn will fill the beach eventually
and everyone will go except me

all is full of love

you'll be given love
you'll be taken care of
you'll be given love
you have to trust it
maybe not from the sources
you have poured yours
maybe not
from the direction
you are
staring at
twist your head around
it's all around you
all is full of love
all around you
all is full of love
you just ain't receiving
all is full of love
your phone is off the hook
all is full of love
your doors are all shut
all is full of love

in any language
all is full of love...

champagne from a paper cup

i think i'm drunk enough to drive you home now
i'll keep my mouth kept shut from under lock and key
that's rusted firm, no lie
cause all these conversations wind on and on...

drinking champagne from a paper cup
is never quite the same
and every sip's moving through my eyes
and up into my brain
at half past two
about time to leave
cause the dj's playing rhythm and blues
a sad-sorry state
stutter step to those slammin' grooves
as i'm waiting around for you...

soul meets body

i want to live where soul meets body
and let the sun wrap its arms around me
and bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
and feel, feel what it's like to be new
'cause in my head there's a greyhound station
where i send my thoughts to far-off destinations
so they may have a chance of finding a place where
they're far more suited than here

(ba da ba da)

i cannot guess what we'll discover
when we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
but i know our filthy hands can wash one another's
and not one speck will remain

and i do believe it's true that there are roads left in both of our shoes, but if the silence takes you then i hope it takes me too
so brown eyes i hold you near, 'cause you're the only song i want to hear
a melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

where soul meets body

and i do believe it's true that there are roads left in both of our shoes, but if the silence takes you then i hope it takes me too
so brown eyes i hold you near, 'cause you're the only song i want to hear
a melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

we looked like giants

god bless the daylight, the sugary smell of springtime
remembering when you were mine
in a still suburban town

when every thursday i'd brave those mountain passes
and you'd skip your early classes
and we'd learn how our bodies worked

god damn the black night with all it's foul temptations
i've become what i always hated
when i was with you then

we looked like giants in the back of my grey subcompact
fumbling to make contact
as the others slept inside

and together there
in a shroud of frost, the mountain air
began to pass from every pane of weathered glass
and i held you closer than anyone would ever get

do you remember the jamc?
and reading aloud from magazines
i don't know about you but i swear on my name they could smell it on me
i've never been too good with secrets
no…

and together there
in a shroud of frost and mountain air
began to pass through every pane of weathered glass
and i held you closer…

passenger seat

i roll the window down
and then begin to breathe in
the darkest country road
and the strong scent of evergreen
from the passenger seat as you are driving me home

then looking upwards
i strain my eyes and try
to tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites
from the passenger seat as you are driving me home

"do they collide?"
i ask and you smile
with my feet on the dash
the world doesn't matter

when you feel embarrassed then i'll be your pride
when you need directions then i'll be the guide
for all time

the new year

so this is the new year
and i don't feel any different
the clanking of crystal
explosions off in the distance (in the distance)

so this is the new year
and I have no resolutions
for self assigned penance
for problems with easy solutions

so everybody put your best suit or dress on
let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
as thirty dialogues bleed into one

i wish the world was flat like the old days
then i could travel just by folding a map
no more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
there'd be no distance that can hold us back

there'd be no distance that could hold us back

so this is the new year

company calls

i'll take the best of your bad moods
and dress them up to make a better you
'cause all the company calls amount to one paycheck

i'd squeeze a heart through my fingertip
but i type too slow to make expressions stick
and it's like tv with a microchip

set your sights destroy this partyline
'cause it's so tired
set your sights! destroy this mock-shrine
'cause it's so tired

let's cut our losses at both ends
and aim your car away from all our friends
leaving the dishes stacked in the sink

set your sights destroy this partyline
'cause it's so tired
set your sights! destroy this mock-shrine
'cause it's so tired

i'd keep my distance 'cause the complications cloud it all
and mail a postcard sending greetings from the eastern bloc
synapse to synapse: possibilities will thin or fade
your wedding figurines: i'd melt so i could drink them in
and drink them in, and drink them in...

i'll take the best of your bad moods
and dress them up to make a better you
'cause all the company calls amount to one paycheck

set your sights destroy this partyline
'cause it's so tired
set your sights! destroy this mock-shrine
'cause it's so tired

death of an interior decorator

you were the mother of three girls so sweet
who stormed through your turnstile
and climbed to the street
but after conception your body lay cold
and withered through autumn and you found yourself old

can you tell me why you have been so(sad)

he took a lover on a faraway beach
while you arranged flowers and chose color schemes

can you tell me why you have been so sad?
can you tell me why you have been so sad?

the girls were all there
they traded their vows
the youngest one glared with furrowed brows
they tenderly kissed then cut the cake
the bride then tripped and broke the vase
the one you thought would spend the years
so perfectly placed below the mirror
arriving late you clean the debris
and walked into the angry sea

it felt just like falling in love again
and it felt just like falling in love again

can you tell me why you have been so sad?
can you tell me why you have been so…

tiny vessels

this is the moment that you know
that you told her that you loved her but you don't
you touch her skin and then you think
that she is beautiful but she don't mean a thing to me
yeah, she is beautiful but she don't mean a thing to me

i spent two weeks in silverlake
the california sun cascading down my face
there was a girl with light brown streaks
and she was beautiful but she didn't mean a thing to me
yeah, she was beautiful but she didn't mean a thing to me

i wanted to believe in all the words that i was speaking
as we moved together in the dark
and all the friends that i was telling
all the playful misspellings
and every bite i gave you left a mark

tiny vessels oozed into your neck
and formed the bruises
that you said you didn't want to fade
but they did, and so did i that day

all i see are dark grey clouds
in the distance moving closer with every hour
so when you ask "is something wrong?"
i think "you're damn right there is but we can't talk about it now
no, we can't talk about it now."

so one last touch and then you'll go
and we'll pretend that it meant something so much more
but it was vile, and it was cheap
and you are beautiful but you don't mean a thing to me
yeah you are beautiful but you don't mean a thing to me

lightness

there's a tear in the fabric of your favorite dress
and i'm sneaking glances
looking for the patterns in static
they start to make sense the longer i'm at it

ivory lines lead
oo wha-ho, oo wha-ho

your heart is a river that flows from your chest
through every organ
your brain is the dam
and i am the fish who can't reach the cord

ivory lines lead
oo wha-ho, oo wha-ho

oh, instincts are misleading
you shouldn't think what you're feeling
they don't tell you what you know you should want

ivory lines lead
oo wha-ho, oo wha-ho

oh, instincts are misleading
you shouldn't think what you're feeling
they don't tell you what you know you should want

ivory lines lead
oo wha-ho

debate exposes doubt

the working days were propping the bar quietly erasing the week
and i was in a corner booth thinking (pretending to read)
about the impossibility of one to love unconditionally
and the words that we drive into the ground:
their repitition starts to thin their meaning
then everything got frighteningly still as they entered and intersected the floor
and i tried to choke my stare the perfection that others would kill for
but all of the parts are the same on every face -- few variables change
the differences pale when compared to the similarities they share
finally there is clarity and there is purpose after all
but every night ends the same as i'm collapsing once more by your side
finally there is clarity: this tiny life is making sense
and every drop numbs the both of us, but i alone am staggering

why you'd want to live here

i'm in los angeles today: it smells like an airport runway
jet fuel stenches in the cabin and lights flickering at random
i'm in los angeles today:
grabage cans comprise the medians of freeways always creeping
even when the population's sleeping
and i can't see why you'd want to live here

i'm in los angeles today:
asked a gas station employee if he ever had trouble breathing
and he said, "it varies from season to season, kid."
it's where our best are on display:
motion picture actors' houses maps are never ever current
so save your film and fifteen dollars
and i can't see why you'd want to live here
billboards reach past the tallest buildings
"we are not perfect
but we sure try" as uv rays "degradate" our youth with time
the vessel keeps pump us through this entropic place
in the belly of the beast that is californ-i-a
i drank from the faucet and i kept my repceipt
for when they weigh me on the way out (here nothing is for free)
the greyhounds keep coming dumping locusts into the street
until the gutters overflow and los angeles thinks
"i might explode someday soon."

it's a lovely summer's day
and i can almost see a skyline through a thickening shroud of egos
is this the city of angels or demons?
here the names are what remain: stars encapsulate the gold lame
and they need constant cleaning for when the tourists begin salivating
and i can't see why you'd want to live here
billboards reach past the tallest buildings
you can't swim in a town this shallow
because you will most assuredly drown tomorrow

we laugh indoors

when we laugh indoors the blissful tones bounce off the walls
and fall to the ground
peel the hardwood backs
and let them loose from decades trapped and listen so still

this city is my home construction noise all day long
and gutter punks bumming change
so i breed thicker skin and let my lustrous coat fill in
and i'll never admit i loved you guenivere
i loved you guenivere i loved you

and i've always fall fast with too much trust in the promising that
"no ones ever been here, so you can quell those wet fears"
and i want purity, i must have it here right now
but dont you get me started now -- oh dont you get my started now
dont you get me.. dont you get me...

december's chill comes late
the days get darker and we wait for the direness to pass
there's piles on the floor of artifacts from dresser drawers
that i'll help you pack
i loved you guenivere, i loved you guenivere -- i loved you

fake frowns

bent at the knee, a last resort
backfired and made things worse
once on the bus, it was quite possible
you'd be the jailhouse queen
jury and judge were screaming to hang
you spat the sweat from brow
he shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
it had to end right now....

i can't drive straight counting your fake frowns

focusing in; details a must
trying to make each one count
all on your fingers stopping at ten
magistrate's keyed in how
the jury and judge were screaming to hang
you spat the sweat from brow
he shrugged his shoulders; nothing would work
it had to end right now....

we can't keep your interest now
increasing pixels and sound

stable song

time for the final bow
rows of deserted houses
all our stable mates highway bound

give us our measly sum
getting the air inside my lungs is heavenly
starting out, with nothing but crippling doubt

we'll rest easy justified

suffered a swift defeat
i’ll endure countless repeats
the gift of memory is an awful curse
with age it just gets much worse
but i won't mind
i won't mind
i won't mind
i won't mind

what sarah said

and it came to me then that every plan
is a tiny prayer to father time
as i stared at my shoes in the icu
that reeked of piss and 409
and i rationed my breaths as i said to myself
that i’ve already taken too much today
as each descending peak on the lcd
took you a little farther away from me
away from me

amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines
in a place where we only say goodbye
it stung like a violent wind that our memories depend
on a faulty camera in our minds
and i knew that you were a truth i would rather lose
than to have never lain beside at all
and i looked around at all the eyes on the ground
as the tv entertained itself

‘cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room
just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
and then the nurse comes ‘round and everyone lift their heads
but i’m thinking of what sarah said
that love is watching someone die

so who’s gonna watch you die?

crooked teeth

it was one hundred degrees, as we sat beneath a willow tree
whose tears didn't care, they just hung in the air, and refused to fall, to fall

and i knew i'd made horrible call
and now the state line felt like the berlin wall
and there was no doubt about which side i was on

cause i built you a home in my heart
with rotten wood, it decayed from the start

cause you can't find nothing at all
if there was nothing there all along
no you can't find nothing at all
if there was nothing there all along

i braved treacherous streets
and kids strung out on homemade speed
and we shared a bed in which i could not sleep
at all, woo, hoo, woo, hoooooo

cause at night the sun in retreat
made the skyline look like crooked teeth
in the mouth of a man who was devouring, us both

you're so cute when you're slurring your speech
but they're closing the bar and they want us to leave

and you can't find nothing at all
if there was nothing there all along
no you can't find nothing at all
if there was nothing there all along

i'm a war, of head versus heart
and it's always this way
my head is weak, my heart always speaks
before i know what it will say

and you can't find nothing at all
if there was nothing there all along
there were churches,theme parks and malls,but there was nothing there all along

someday you will be loved

i once knew a girl
in the years of my youth
with eyes like the summer
all beauty and truth
in the morning i fled
left a note and it read
someday you will be loved.

i cannot pretend that i felt any regret
cause each broken heart will eventually mend
as the blood runs red down the needle and thread
someday you will be loved

you'll be loved you'll be loved
like you never have known
the memories of me
will seem more like bad dreams
just a series of blurs
like i never occurred
someday you will be loved

you may feel alone when you're falling asleep
and everytime tears roll down your cheeks
but i know your heart belongs to someone you've yet to meet
someday you will be loved

you'll be loved you'll be loved
like you never have known
the memories of me
will seem more like bad dreams
just a series of blurs
like i never occurred
someday you will be loved

you'll be loved you'll be loved
like you never have known
the memories of me
will seem more like bad dreams
just a series of blurs
like i never occurred
someday you will be loved

your heart is an empty room

burn it down till the embers smoke on the ground
and start anew when your heart is an empty room
with walls of the deepest blue

home's face: how it ages when you're away
spring blooms and you find the love that's true
but you don't know what now to do
cause the chase is all you know
and she stopped running months ago

and all you see is where else you could be
when you're at home out on the street
are so many possibilities to not be alone

the flames and smoke climbed out of every window
and disappeared with everything that you held dear
but you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need
cause you knew you were finally free

cause all you see is where else you could be
when you're at home out on the street
are so many possibilities to not be alone

and all you see is where else you could be
when you're at home there on the street
are so many possibilities to not be alone

i will follow you into the dark

love of mine some day you will die
but i'll be close behind
i'll follow you into the dark

no blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
just our hands clasped so tight
waiting for the hint of a spark
if heaven and hell decide
that they both are satisfied
illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

if there's no one beside you
when your soul embarks
then i'll follow you into the dark

in catholic school as vicious as roman rule
i got my knuckles brusied by a lady in black
and i held my tongue as she told me
"son fear is the heart of love"
so i never went back

if heaven and hell decide
that they both are satisfied
illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

if there's no one beside you
when your soul embarks
then i'll follow you into the dark

you and me have seen everything to see
from bangkok to calgary
and the soles of your shoes are all worn down
the time for sleep is now
it's nothing to cry about
cause we'll hold each other soon
in the blackest of rooms

if heaven and hell decide
that they both are satisfied
illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs

if there's no one beside you
when your soul embarks
then i'll follow you into the dark

different names for the same thing

alone on a train aimless in wonder
an outdated map crumbled in my pocket
but i didn't care where i was going
'cause they're all different names for the same place

the coast disappeared when the sea drowned the sun
and i knew no words to share it with anyone
the boundaries of language i quietly cursed
and all the different names for the same thing

there are different names for the same things
there are different names for the same things...

summer skin

squeaky swings and tall grass
the longest shadows ever cast
the water's warm and children swim
and we frolicked about in our summer skin

i don't recall a single care
just greenery and humid air
then labor day came and went
and we shed what was left of our summer skin

on the night you left i came over
and we peel the freckles from our shoulders
our brand new coats so flushed in pink
and i knew your heart i couldn't win
cause the seasons change was a conduit
and we left our love in our summer skin

marching bands for manhattan

if i could open my arms
and span the length of the isle of manhattan
i'd bring it to where you are
making a lake of the east river and hudson
if i could open my mouth
wide enough for a marching band to march out
they would make your name sing
and bend through alley's and bounce off all the buildings

i wish we could open our eyes
to see in all directions at the same time
oh, what a beautiful view
if you were never aware of what was around you
and it is true what you said
that i live like a hermit in my own head
when the sun shines again
i'll pull the curtains and blinds to let the light in

sorrow drips into your heart
through a pinhole
just like a faucet that leaks
and there is comfort in the sound
but while you debate
half empty or half full
it slowly rises your love is gonna drown

your love is gonna drown
your love is gonna