1.In The Flicker
The air is filled with dust and smoke
The cities burned down long ago
Washed in fear we salvage hopes
We walk the same abandoned road
I dance to the here and the now
I dance to the bullets against the ground
We live in the flicker tonight
We chase the waves of dawn 'til we die
The vultures circle overhead
They heard every word I said
We search for ghosts that roam our past
Revel in dreams that never last
I dance to the here and the now
I dance to the bullets against the ground
We live in the flicker tonight
We chase the waves of dawn 'til we die
I wear a bulls-eye on my back
A scrap of metal in my chest
I live or die with every step
The gloom is brooding in the west
How many lives have I got left？
Just leave my corpse to ride the desert wind
Just lay me dead never return again
I dance to the here and the now
I dance to the bullets against the ground
We live in the flicker tonight
We chase the waves of dawn 'til we die
We chase the waves of dawn 'til we die
2.Araby
North Richmond Street is blind
It's too hard to keep saying goodbye
Early morning snow is falling
shorter days of winter coming
Araby
The darkness is all you see
Take care of me
The same blood is all I bleed
The same blood is all I bleed
I could see the smallest things
Lights flicker in the houses
on the west side of the street
If I could find the perfect words to sing
maybe you would understand
the truth that I have seen
Late afternoon, the snow's still falling
colder days of winter coming
Araby
The darkness will set you free
Take care of me
One life is all I need
One life is all I need
North Richmond Street will bloom
Greener days of spring are coming soon
3.Whales And Sharks
I belong to the sea
To the algae far beneath
Swimming with the whales and the sharks
in the never-ending breeze
Under a map of unknown stars
are the deepest, darkest hearts
Like the wreckage far off shore
I'm dead asleep on the ocean floor
My time will come
The waves will crash
The mast will fall
The sea will rise
The storms will pass
The sharks will sail on
The sharks will sail on
I belong to the sea
To the valleys in the deep
To the plant-life and the fish
and the shining coral reef
To the last and shipwrecked souls
telling legends of treasure and gold
To a mutiny that begins
in the darkest hearts of men
in the darkest hearts of men
My time will come
The waves will crash
The mast will fall
The sea will rise
The storms will pass
The sharks will sail on
The sharks will sail on
4.As The Crow Flies
You've got stars over head
I've got a wind-chill
well below negative ten
I've got snow and I've got ice
I've got sun, I've got rain
I've got you all the same
I've got rain
I've got sun when it shines
I've got strings
and calloused fingers
a scratchy throat
a melody that lingers
I've got paper, I've got ink
I've got a bunch of notes I scribbled down
I think I can make a song somehow
And when I'm gray and blue
I've got pictures of you
And when I'm blue and gray
I've got clouds to chase away
You've got green ocean eyes
I've got dreams as the crow flies
I've got cold
I've got clean midwestern sunlight
I found peace in my heart
you burn like a fire in the dark
I've got heat, I've got embers
I've got sparks
The past is dead
but lives on through memory
A cloudy head
that is my history
And some of my friends
they love their misery
As the river bends
embrace uncertainty
I've got paper, I've got ink
I've got a bunch of notes I scribbled down
I think I can make a song somehow
And when I'm gray and blue
I've got pictures of you
And when I'm blue and gray
I've got clouds to chase away
You've got green ocean eyes
I've got dreams as the crow flies
I've got cold
I've got clean midwestern sunlight
I found peace in my heart
you burn like a fire in the dark
I've got heat, I've got embers
I've got sparks
You've got stars over head
I've got a wind-chill
well below negative ten
I've got snow and I've got ice
I've got sun, I've got rain
I've got you all the same
I've got rain
I've got sun when it shines
I've got rain
I've got sun when it shines
You've got green ocean eyes
I've got dreams as the crow flies
5.Baseball's Sad Lexicon
These are the saddest of possible words：
'Tinker to Evers to Chance.'
Trio of bear cubs and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our golden gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double-
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble：
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
These are the saddest of possible words：
'Tinker to Evers to Chance.'
Ruthlessly pricking our golden gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double-
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble：
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
Tinker to Evers to Chance.
6.All Prologue
There are no second acts they say
in our America today
And every day I watch the tides
the dock light glowing through the night
The land is dark and quiet
I don't turn the pages
Somewhere I lost that fire
The story never changes
What does our closest future hold？
Day at a time I suppose
And all these books just fill the walls
no friends to clutter up these halls
The house is dead and lonely
I don't turn the pages
You were the one and only
The story never changes
There are no second acts they say
in our America today
What does our closest future hold？
Day at a time I suppose
7.Mouth Of A Tiger
I'm worth five bucks or less
The future is down my neck
My restless soul takes stride
for across this great divide
But I won't heed its cry
won't follow its lifeline
It's time to sink or swim
sail on or anchor in
I'm funny like an aimless fool
I'm as lucky as a funeral
I've got cliches to write
I get high as a kite
My dreams force me to wake
find meaning to this duty
Find a way into the night
Grant me with a reason why
I'm sick with the TV on
it drones in the lonely dawn
I'm funny like a nameless fool
I'm not looking at a glass half full
I'm tired of the same old pace
I hate this same old day
How easily I fill this space
handed down from the same old place
I fail with the old streetlights
I bark with the dogs at night
When the moon is full and bright
it smiles in the alley's eyes
Pin me up with the stars tonight
I've been looking for a place to shine
One day it'll be my time
I'm not waiting for the bells to chime
I'll brake like a traffic jam
I'll sing like a slaughtered lamb
Upside down like an hourglass
I've been waiting for the sands to pass
But the storms keep rolling in
sharp teeth on a howling wind
I'm like a penny in a fountain
thrown from a warm and distant palm unknown
I'm funny like an aimless fool
I'm as lucky as a funeral
Now the world seems so clear
as it disappears
in the blink of a frozen eye
in the course of an hour gone by
One day my star will rise
a new path will open wide
like the mouth of a tiger
I will swallow all my pride
I'm funny like a nameless fool
I'm not looking at a glass half full
I'm tired of the same old pace
How easily I fill this space
8.Second Hand
I spent my time fishing through pockets of old winter coats
looking for a weathered New York City subway token charm
But instead I found a shattered silver pocket watch
a present given to me to mark my twenty first year
But the time had never stopped
The months rolled on
Nine years passed without a sound
the ticking heart bead dead and gone
I wasted days thinking about how I wasted so much time
I sat alone in my room while the weeks went by
Someone save me from this tomb in Graceland
I was hiding in an attic the past two years cuz I'm a fugitive
Call the detectives in
I'm ready to confess
all the terrible things I did
It's time for my sinking heart to rest
It's time for my sinking heart to rest
It's time for my sinking heart to rest
It's time for my sinking heart to rest
9.Jewel Of The Midwest
Dream softly tonight
Breathe easy the cold air of this life
I'm not sure how I arrived
at the choices I made but I made them
I walk along the grass; it's cold and dead
All the cars roar past, they own this world
The headlights move fast, they're in such a hurry
They light up their paths in a blinding fury
And I don't need hope when I just keep on hurling
I don't need no love I got plenty of hurting
She don't hear my cries echo up through dark skies
We all stand in line for the final surprise
I've been digging the same old graves
From the strike against midnight 'til the first break of day
I've been digging the same old graves
I've been digging the same old graves
Sleep in peace for one night
Carry the fire always on the inside
Back home nothing has changed
Maybe the weather, not the beat of the days
And when I'm there at last I'll lay in bed
Half way across the map, a whole new world
My thoughts will race fast they're in such a hurry
They light up their paths in a blinding fury
And I don't need hope when I just keep on hurling
I don't need no love I got plenty of hurting
She don't hear my cries echo up through dark skies
We all stand in line for the final surprise
I've been digging the same old graves
From the strike against midnight 'til the first break of day
I've been digging the same old graves
I've been digging the same old graves
I've been buried before in the city that I love
Beneath the sidewalks that I walked and the trains that I rode
All the buildings I lived in and the streets that I drove
Like a ship I was wrecked in our lake's freezing depth
In the place I was born - the jewel of the Midwest
Like a ship I was wrecked in the jewel of the Midwest
Like a ship I was wrecked in the jewel of the Midwest
10.What Beadie Said
Who do you think would even show up at the funeral day？
Staring six feet down, that's my hallowed ground
Just a bed of dirt and bones, that's where I'll lay
Words carved like a poem into some cheap headstone
And who's so lucky
but to have a few dear souls tried and true？
And could you even hear the brassy sounds
of the last bells crying out？
I'm just a dark horse, with a pale heart
on a cold night, for a long walk
Just a dead flame, fuck this old game
lay me down now, I've got a new name
Would anyone show up with a few last words to say？
And toast my final hour, at least piss on my grave？
Maybe there's a sad song that a lonely trumpet could play
The tune could flutter on into an evening sun
And who's so lucky
but to have a few dear souls tried and true？
There won't be a chorus from a crowd
just the crickets chirping loud...
I'm just a dark horse, with a pale heart
on a cold night, for a long walk
Just a dead flame, fuck this old game
lay me down now, I've got a new name
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