By Way Of Introduction

The American Scene By Way Of Introduction歌詞
1.By Way Of Introduction

I've been running around restless.
I've been wringing my hands
just trying to find someone,
someone who understands this love wasn't born of
Our time is spent.
It's everywhere I've been;
My beginning and my end.


2.Did You Hear About Your Friends In California

Well, did your first love leave you thinking,
the summer air would never taste the same?
And after months that you spend sinking,
you swear you'll never feel that way again.

But, aren't you just so tired, tired of sleeping alone?
The whole world's on fire, fire and you can feel it in your
bones.

But, trust me,
it gets hard enough to just breathe without you here.

I traded best friends in for distance and a sense of something
real.
But, I could never change the way you make me feel.
I'd rather bury myself alive than watch you,
bury yourself in someone else's wasted time,
'cause we were never wastin' time.

I've become so disconnected.
I'm not exactly sure who's to blame.
But, I've been thinkin' it's got something
to do with the fact that everyone I know feels the same.

Yeah, everybody's only makin' up for lost time, makin' up for
lost time.
While I'm stuck at the part where I can't figure just what to do
with mine.

But, trust me,
there's still no place that I'd rather be than right here.

I traded best friends in for distance and a sense of something
real.
But, I could never change the way you make me feel.
I'd rather bury myself alive than watch you,
bury yourself in someone else's wasted time,
'cause we were never wastin' time.

And I've been takin' this slow
making sure everyone knows
exactly what you're missing, just exactly what I'm missing.
If I'm a melancholy work of art, you're what's tearing away and
down my heart.
One day I'll cut this whole world loose and I'll feel free
again.

I traded best friends in for distance and a sense of something
real.
But, I could never change the way you make me feel.
I'd rather bury myself alive than watch you,
bury yourself in someone else's wasted time,
'cause we were never wastin' time.


3.Last Chopper Out Of Saigon

Tell me what it was you think you missed the most,
Was it the city lights reflecting off the coast?
Or my self-destructive style?
You could hear me sing for miles and miles and miles,
About the hand that I was dealt being so unfair
Oh my god, just to think I'd be caught at square one once again,
And I know how that sounds
But I swear to God that I'll be coming back around again...

I think I'm almost fine for the first time in a long time.
I'm finding out why none of this made sense when I was on my
back.
I started picking up the slack that I let float away over the
past 365 days.

We were spending late nights on the phone,
After months without a single call back home.
And for a second I thought you were making me okay
But, then I took a step back and remembered all the wasted days.
Maybe everyone's right, maybe I spent too much time
Collapsing in on myself.
I think I'm done collapsing in on myself.

I think I'm almost fine for the first time in a long time.
I'm finding out why none of this made sense when I was on my
back.
I started picking up the slack that I let float away over the
past 365 days.

I'll take a step out of my mind;
Draw open the blinds; let the world back in once again,
'Cause I spent a summer making promises I never planned to keep.
I spent the spring before in bed wanting nothing more than to
stay asleep.
She said, 'Just settle down a little, settle down kid...
Just settle down a little, settle down...'
Alright, I'll settle down a little, I'll turn my shit around...
Yeah, I'll settle down a little, and turn my shit around!

I think I'm almost fine for the first time in a long time.
I'm finding out why none of this made sense when I was on my
back.
I started picking up the slack that I let float away over the
past 365 days.


4.Home

I've been crossing out the days 'til
all of you can hear me sing
and I remember that summer when
we all caught our second wind.

Well, maybe I'm not the man that I thought I've become,
but that's just the way things are where I'm from.
When time turns our dreams to more everyday things
We can never lose our pride in what we've done.

Still, I've never been one for settlin'.
I've been making a list of the things I won't miss
about this lonestar town and everyone who never saw
what we were always singing for.

Everyone, everyone in this town
(Everyone)
is standing up to sing heavy heart songs.
(in this town)
Running out of patience with our own self-pity
(sang it out)
But it's good to know that somebody still feels like me.
(let it out.)

I just get so caught up in these
everyday eyes and those sleepless night stares
I start being surprised when my friend's disappearing.
I'm left here wondering where I was
while they packed up all the things that I love.

And I've gotten used to not missing you.
Over time, I understate
all those things that make me separate
while I lay awake and think about
everything that I can never be again.

Everyone, everyone in this town
(Everyone)
is standing up to sing heavy heart songs.
(in this town)
Running out of patience with our own self-pity
(sang it out)
But it's good to know that somebody still feels like me.
(let it out.)

These months that I spend closer to the sun have been
screaming at me, 'Kid, you can't just run away from
everything that you're always so, so afraid
to let everyone hear you say
like 'These days, it seems like all I have left are
outgoing calls to the people who, if they only knew better,
wouldn't care about any of this at all.''

Everyone, everyone in this town
(Everyone)
is standing up to sing heavy heart songs.
(in this town)
Running out of patience with our own self-pity
(sang it out)
But it's good to know that somebody still feels like me.
(let it out.)


5.Marty McFly, Nostrodamus, And I

I spent four long years counting down seconds 'til 'there' would
be 'here.'
And I've been staring down my fears of being left behind, being
told that I
Might be better off alone. Do you think we'll be better off
alone?

Think that this might be easier by the second time around.
By the second time, I'm bound to feel a certain sense of
familiarity;
Wouldn't you think? Wouldn't you think?

Stop holding your breath,
my friends all say,
You need to figure out a way
to let yourself down easy for once in your life.

Well, I remember being good at looking to the future
But, I'm always burying my heart in places apart
From where I lay my head.

One of these days I'm gonna show everyone I know that I've got
(one of these days..)
A purpose outside of my down and out state of mind.
I won't waste myself this time, I won't let you leave me behind,
(I won't let you leave me behind)
I'm a wreck, but on my life, you can bet one day that you'll see
my name in lights.

Stop holding your breath,
my friends all say,
You need to figure out a way
to let yourself down easy for once in your life.

Well, I remember being good at looking to the future
But, I'm always burying my heart in places apart
From where I lay my head.


6.Killed Off In The Second Act

I watched the sun set from my seat on the Richmond train
I felt my heart lift and fall back down, before my head dipped
beneath the waves
And I felt it again then, like so many times before... I've been
at this too long...
Our future's fading away

I spend days on end thinking about people who've got better
things to do
And my nights with my head spinning making my old friends brand
new
21 is making it damn hard to believe that this could ever be
enough for anyone

Well you should know this isn't how I thought I'd spend my habit
forming years
I'm so sick of playing the victim, but don't tell me that this
is easy
I know exactly what I'm up against

I want to be a vessel, a spark.
I want to take you to where I am, and then take us both apart.
Is it too much to say I need it? oh it's too soon to say I'm
moving on
I know I'm risking sounding dramatic, but there's something I
want and you have it

Well you should know this isn't how I thought I'd spend my habit
forming years
I'm so sick of playing the victim, but don't tell me that this
is easy
I know exactly what I'm up against

An ease of breath and lightness of the eyelids
Aren't symptoms I've been experiencing so often
It goes to show that the struggles in adapting to this life
For my head to teach my heart to want things it can have...

Well you should know this isn't how I thought I'd spend my habit
forming years
I'm so sick of playing the victim, but don't tell me that this
is easy
I know exactly what I'm up against


7.Another World Beater

Oh, I dig my heels into the sand and watch the waves bury me
as they roll back into the sea.
Honestly, my thoughts are crooked as the coastline.
I can't keep things straight in my head and I can't forget,
I can't forget I've got these shackles on my feet and
the city breathes it down my neck, but..

I'm just trying to keep my head
between the Pacific and the pale, grey sky.
But, I wake up in a nightmare and I'm no good at hiding all the
time.
I'm just trying to keep the water out my lungs and stop this
trend
where I'm rolling over and falling back asleep again.

So, you head for the high grounds;
Deciding this lunatic's words and the saboteur's mind.
(Well, I've got a map of the plan and I know where to find you.)
And I'm eager like a child to act out these plans that I've
devised.
(During 23 years that I spent without cover from sunshine.)

I'm just trying to keep my head
between the Pacific and the pale, grey sky.
But, I wake up in a nightmare and I'm no good at hiding all the
time.
I'm just trying to keep the water out my lungs and stop this
trend
where I'm rolling over and falling back asleep again.

Does it crush you to know you're just like everyone else,
When you're crying in your soup and making suicide threats?

I'm just trying to keep my head
between the Pacific and the pale, grey sky.
But, I wake up in a nightmare and I'm no good at hiding all the
time.
I'm just trying to keep the water out my lungs and stop this
trend
where I'm rolling over and falling back asleep again.


8.This Is Rebirth

I fell in love with a feeling of connection when I was young
We had hearts on fire, and voices like pyres in the dark
And I found out... I'll never feel at home while I've got this
aching in my bones

My eyes are dying for something new to see,
My body's getting tired of being me

You'll never be in love like you were
The first time you heard the first lines of your favorite song
And I've never been in love like I was
On those late nights and long drives that we spent growing up
On the run...

I'm just a kid who spends too much time
Dreaming of a different kind of life
On the road, as years go by it's all I really know
Because nothings how I want it, but I don't know what I want
I know sometimes I seem defeated, but I swear to god I'm not

Well maybe I can't make you understand the way I feel
But we'll give this another shot, this is all Ive got

You'll never be in love like you were
The first time you heard the first lines of your favorite song
And I've never been in love like I was
On those late nights and long drives that we spent growing up
On the run...

There's music in my chest and its moving up my neck
It's clawing its way through my throat
Oh and when it hits my mouth i'm scared
That things that come out will
Shake the whole world, till I am left here alone

You'll never be in love like you were
The first time you heard the first lines of your favorite song
And I've never been in love like I was
On those late nights and long drives that we spent growing up
On the run...


9.A Million Minutes In The Making

You are whole.
I am the sum of all the things
that I don't know and everything between;
A love that I lost, the faith that it costs me,
And all of my plans tangled up in strangers' hands.

Well, I sang about a heart. I thought how better intentions
got up and got out while I prayed for a change.

If I ran away from my pride, could you look me in the eyes and
say,
'Stay by my side, 'cause I'm better than I was before.
These seasons left me wanting more. This time I promise that
I'll get it right?'

You are heat.
I am the water crashing at your feet,
while we battle for control of,
what my mother taught me was, a soul,
but no one showed me how to hold out of arms reach.

Now, I'm choking on uncertainty while we sing about this
feeling.
Keep anxiously repeating each line after line while you wait for
my calls.

If I ran away from my pride, could you look me in the eyes and
say,
'Stay by my side, 'cause I'm better than I was before.
These seasons left me wanting more. This time I promise that
I'll get it right?'

You are the fire in my voice when I sing.
You are the empty space at the center of everything.
You are the person that I swore that I could be. Oh, woah.
If I could just lift this heaviness from inside of me.

If I ran away from my pride, could you look me in the eyes and
say,
'Stay by my side, 'cause I'm better than I was before.
These seasons left me wanting more. This time I promise that
I'll get it right?'