magic

from the back of your big brown eyes
i knew you'd be gone as soon as you could
and i hoped you would
we could see that you weren't yourself
and the lines on your face did tell
it's just as well
you'd never be yourself again

saw you last night
dance by the light of the moon
stars in your eyes
free from the life that you knew

you're the magic that holds the sky up from the ground
you're the breath the blows these cool winds 'round
trading places with an angel now

saw you last night
dance by the light of the moon
stars in your eyes
free from the life that you knew
saw you last night
stars in the sky
smiled in my room

evaporated

what i've kept with me
and what i've thrown away
don't know where the hell i've ended up
on this glary, random day
were the things i really cared about
just left along the way
for being to pent up and proud

woke up way too late
feeling hung over and old
and the sun was shining bright
and i walked barefoot
down the road
started thinking about
my old man
it seems that all men
wanna get into a car and go
anywhere

here i stand - sad and free
i can't cry and i can't see
what i've done
god
what have i done

don't you know i'm numb, man
no i can't feel a thing at all
cause it's all smiles and business
these days
and i'm indifferent to the loss
i've faith that there's a soul somewhere
who's leading me around
i wonder if she knows
which way is down

i poured my heart out
it evaporated. . .see?

blind man on a canyon's edge
of a panoramic scene
or maybe i'm a kite
that's flying high and random
dangling a string
or slumped over in a vacant room
head on a stranger's knee
i'm sure back home
they think i've lost my mind

smoke

leaf by leaf and page by page
throw this book away
all the sadness all the rage
throw this book away
rip out the binding and tear the
glue
all of the grief we never even
knew
we had it all along
now it's smoke
the things we've written in it
never really happened
all the things we've written in it
never really happened
all the people come and
gone
never really lived
all the people come have gone
no one to forgive
smoke

we will not write a new one
there will not be a new one
another one another one

here's and evening dark with
shame
throw it on the fire
here's the time i took the
blame
throw it on the fire
here's the time we didn't speak
it seemed for years and years and
here's a secret
no one will ever know the
reasons for the tears
they are smoke

where do all the secrets live
they travel in the air
you can smell them when
they burn
they travel
those who say the past is
not dead
can stop and smell the smoke
you keep saying the past is
not dead
well stop and smell the smoke
you keep on saying the past is
not even past and
you keep on saying
we are, smoke

kate

she plays wipeout on the drums
the squirrels and the birds come
gather round and sing the guitar
oh i...have you got nothing to say
when all words fail she
speaks
her mix tape's a masterpiece
walks through the garden
so the roses can see
oh i...have you got nothing
to say
and you can see daisies
in her footsteps
dandelions, butterflies
i wanna be Kate

everyday she wears the same
thing
i think she smokes pot
she's everything i want
she's everything i'm not
oh i...
have you got nothing to say
she never gets wet
she smiles and it's a rainbow
and she speaks and she
breathes
i wanna be kate

down by rosemary and cameron
she hands out the
bhagavad gita
i see her around every couple
days
i wanna see her so that
i can say...hey kate

brick

6 am day after christmas
i throw some clothes on in
the dark
the smell of cold
car seat is freezing
the world is sleeping and
i am numb
up the stairs to her apartment
she is balled up on the couch
her mom and dad went down
to charlotte
they're not home to find us
out
and we drive
now that i have found someone
i'm feeling more alone
than i ever have before

she's a brick and i'm drowning
slowly
off the coast and i'm headed
nowhere
she's a brick and i'm drowning
slowly

they call her name at 7:30
i pace around the parking lot
then i walk down to buy her
flowers
and sell some gifts that i got
can't you see
it's not me you're dying for
now she's feeling more alone
than she ever has before

as weeks went by
it showed that she was not fine
they told me son it's time
to tell the truth
and she broke down and i broke
down
cuz i was tired of lying
driving back to her apartment
for the moment we're alone
she's alone
and i'm alone
now i know it

lullabye

goodnight, goodnight sweet baby
the world has more for you
than it seems
goodnight, goodnight
let the moonlight take the lid off your dreams

we took a small flight
in the middle of the night
from one tiny place to another
and my parents they remained
at the shack with lorraine
and my aunt and my grandpa and brother
we walked past the tarmac
and boarded the craft
the rain had me chilled to the bones
just the three of us took flight that night
uncle richard, me and james earl jones

and the pilot he gave me a blanket
and the tall dark man sang to me in deep
rich tones...

goodnight, goodnight sweet baby
the world has more for you
than it seems
goodnight, goodnight
let the moonlight take the lid off your dreams

army

well i thought about the army
dad said, son you're fuckin' high
and i thought, yeah there's a first for everything
so i took my old man's advice
three sad semesters
it was only 15 grand spent in bed
i thought about the army
i dropped out and joined a band instead

grew a moustache and a mullet
got a job at chick-fil-a
citing artistic differences
the band broke up in may
and in june reformed without me
and they'd got a different name
i nuked another grandma's apple pie
and hung my head in shame, oh....

been thinkin' a lot today

oh, i think i'll write a screenplay
oh, i think i'll take it to l.a.
oh, i think i'll get it done yesterday

ah, shit

in this time of introspection
on the eve of my election
i say to my reflection
god please spare me more rejection
cause my peers they criticize me
and my ex-wives all despise me
try to put it all behind me
but my redneck past is nipping at my heels

i've been thinking a lot today
i thought about the army...

best imitation of myself

i feel like a quote out of context
withholding the rest
so i can be for you what you want to see
i got the gestures and sounds
got the timing down
it's uncanny, yeah
you'd think it was me
do you think i should take a class
to lose my southern accent?
did i make me up
or make the face 'til it stuck?
i do the best imitation of myself

the "problem with you" speech
you gave me was fine
i liked the theories about
my little stage
and i swore i was listening
but i started drifting
around the part about me
acting my age
and now if it's all the same
i've people to entertain
i juggle one handed
do some magic tricks and
the best imitation of myself

maybe i'm thinking
myself in a hole
wondering who i am
when i ought to know
straighten up now
time to go
fool somebody else

last night i was
east with them
and west within
trying to be for you
what you want to see
but i can't help it
with you the good and bad
comes through
don't want you hanging out
with no one but me
now if it's all the same
it comes from the same place
and if my mind's somewhere else
you won't be able to tell
i do the best imitation of myself
yes it's uncanny to see
you'd really think it was me
the best imitation of myself
do the best imitation of myself

air

saw a silhouette across a fluorescent
floating overhead, undoing his helmet
through the murky beams and blue-green sea life
i saw him spinnin' towards the moonlight

i pull him in, he wasn't breathin'
his eyes were wide and i saw two of me there
there's an ugly buzz that hovers just above the quiet
found a way to make it silent

i'm comin' up for air
air

they hold my hand and ask me to pull through
a voice i know says "dear, he probably can't hear you..."

comin' up for air

barrytown

i'm not one to look behind i know that times must change
but over there in barrytown they do things very strange
and though you're not my enemy
i like things like they used to be
and though you'd like some company
i'm standing by myself
go play with someone else
i can see by what you carry that you come from barrytown

don't believe i'm taken in by stories i have heard
i just read the daily news and swear by every word
and don't think that i'm out of line
for speaking out for what is mine
i'd like to see you do just fine
but look at what you wear
and the way you cut your hair

i can see by what you carry that you come from barrytown

in the beginning we recall that the word was hurled
barrytown people got to be from another world

leave me or i'll be just like the others you will meet
they won't act as kindly if they see you on the street
and don't you scream or make a shout
it's nothing you can do about
it was there where you came out
it's a special lack of grace
i can see it in your face

i can see by what you carry that you come from barrytown

eddie walker

won't you smile you look so shocked
put the nametag on your smock
we've come to see you
eddie walker

we may pack a little tight
the girl up front says
it's alright
and look there's more of us
still getting off the bus
we wish you�d come back home with us

eddie walker
this is your life

this one's you when you were small
you're learning how to walk
they'd pick you up
and you keep falling down
there you are with aunt louise
you're bouncing on her knees
remember all those trees behind the garden?
their gone, they all got cut down
when she died

eddie walker, this is your life
you never had a son or a wife
you sure had a hell of a time
eddie walker, this is your life

this one's you and mary jo
well she couldn't come
she says hello
no, eddie walker
she doesn't hate your guts
it's just the whole thing's
shook her up
how they picked you up
and you kept falling down
eddie walker, this is your life

eddie walker, this is your life
you never had a coat or a tie
you never had a reason to cry
woah no no no no oh no

this whole stack and all of these
are just a mist or overseas
we're gonna leave you
eddie walker