| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
| 4:03 | 
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in a coffee shop in a city
which is every coffee shop in every city on a day which is every day i pick up a magazine which is every magazine and read a story then forgot it right away they say goldfish got no memory i guess their lives are much like mine the little plastic castle is a surprise every time it's hard to say if they are happy when they don't seem much to mind from the shape of your shaved head i recognized your silhoutte as you stepped in out of the sun and sat down your sleepy smile eclipsed everyone else in the room as they paused to snear at the girls from out of town i said, "Baby, look at you this morning you are so way the fucking cutest be careful getting cofee i think these people want to shoot us i think there's some kind of competition here to see who can be the rudest people talk about my image like i come in two dimensions like lipstick is a sign of my decling mind like what i happen to be wearing the day that someone takes my picture is my new statement for all womankind i wish they could see us now in leather bras and rubber shorts like some ridiculous team uniform for some ridculous new sport quick someone call the girl police and file a report in a coffe shop in a city which is every coffee shop in every city on a day which is every day |
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| 2. |
| 4:00 |
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they were digging a new foudation in Manhattan
and they discovered a slave cemetary there may their souls rest easy now that lynching is frowned upon and we've moved on to the electric chair and i wonder who's gonna be president, tweedle dum or tweedle dummer? and who's gonna have the big blockbuster box office this summer? howabout we put up a wall between houses and the highway and you can go your way , and i can go my may except all the radios agree with all the tvs and all the magazines agree with all the radios and i keep hearing that same damn song everywhere i go maybe i should put a bucket over my head and a marshmallow in each ear and stumble around for another dumb- dumb waiting for another hit song to appear people used to make records as in a record of an event the event of people playing music in a room now everything is cross-marketing its about sunglasses and shoes or guns and drugs you choose we got it rehashed we got it half-assed we're digging up all the graves and we're spitting on the past and you can choose between the colors of the lipstick on the whores cause we know the difference between the font of 20% more and the font of teriakiyi you tell me how does it...make you feel? you tell me what's ...real? and they say that alcoholics are always alcoholics even when they're as dry as my lips for years even when they're stranded on a small desert island with no place within 2,000 miles to buy beer and i wonder is he different? is he different? has he changed? what's he about?... or is he just a liar with nothing to lie about? Am i headed for the same brick wall is there anything i can do about anything at all? except go back to that corner in Manhattan and dig deeper, dig deeper this time down beneath the impossible pain of our history beneath unknown bones beneath the bedrock of the mystery beneath the sewage systems and the path drain beneath the cobblestones and the water mains beneath the traffic of friendships and street deals beneath the screeching of kamikaze cab wheels beneath everything i can think of to think about beneath it all, beneath all get out beneath the good and the kind and the stupid and the cruel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel there's a fire just waiting for fuel |
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| 3. |
| 3:33 |
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i heard the sound of your bike,
as your wheels hit the gravel, then your engine in the driveway cutting off and i pushed through the screen door and i stood out on the porch thinking figh, fight, fight at all costs, but instead i let you in, just like i've always done and i sat you down and offered you a beer and across the kitchen table i fired several rounds, but you were still sitting here when the smoke cleared. and you came crawling back to say that you wanna make good in the end and oh, oh, let me count the ways that i abhore you, and you were never a good lay and you were never a good friend but, oh, oh, what else can i say... i adore you all i need is my leather, one t-shirt and two socks, i'll keep my hands warm in your pockets and we can use the engine block, and we'll ride out to california with my arms around your chest, and i'll pretend that this is real 'cuz this is what i like best, and you've been juggling two women like a stupid circus clown telling us both we are the one and maybe you can keep me from ever being happy, but you're not gonna stop me from having fun. so let's go before i change my mind i'll leave the luggage of all your lives behind 'cuz i am bigger than everything that came before and you were never very kind, and you let me way down every time but oh, oh, oh what can i say... i adore you i heard the sound of your bike, as your wheels hit the gravel, then your engine in the driveway cutting off |
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| 4. |
| 4:06 |
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you can't hide
behind social graces so don't try to be all touchy feely cuz you lie in my face of all places but i've got no problem with that really what bugs me is that you believe what you're saying what bothers me is that you don't know how you feel what scares me is that while you're telling me stories you actually believe that they are real and i've got no illusions about you and guess what? i never did and when i said when i said i'll take it i meant, i meant as is just give up and admit you're an asshole you would be in some good company i think you'd find that you friends would forgive you or maybe i am just speaking for me cuz when i look around i think this, this is good enough and i try to laugh at whatever life brings cuz when i look down i just miss all the good stuff when i look up i just trip over things and i've got no illusions about you... you can't hide behind social graces cuz i don't buy it like everyone else and you can lie in my face of all places just don't lie to yourself cuz i've got no illusions about you and guess what? i never did and when i say when i say i'll take it i mean, i mean as is... ...as is... |
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| 5. |
| 4:57 |
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you were fresh off the boat from virginia
i had a year in new york city under my belt we met in a dream we were both 19 i remember where we were standing i remember how it felt 2 little girls growing out of their training bras this little girl breaks furniture, this little girl breaks laws 2 girls together just a little less alone this little girl cries wee wee all the way home you were always half crazy, now look at you baby make about as much sense as a nursery rhyme love is a piano dropped out a four story window and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time i don't like your girlfriend, yeah i don't like her never seen one of your lovers do you so much harm i loved you first and you know i would prefer if she didn't empty her syringes into your arm here comes little naked me padding up to the bathroom door to find little naked you slumped on the bathroom floor so i guess i'll just stand here with my back against the wall while you distilled your whole life down to a 911 call [chorus] so now you bring me your bruises so i can oh and ah at the display maybe i'm supposed to make one of my famous jokes that makes everything ok maybe i'm supposed to be the handsome prince who rides up and unties your hands or maybe i'm supposed to be the furrow-browed friend who thinks she understands here comes little naked me......[etc] |
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| 6. |
| 3:38 |
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cold and drizzly night in chicago's deep dish
fluorescent light of the bathroom shows my hands as they are see an eyelash on my cheek pick it off and make a wish and walk back out into the bar wind at the windows neon lights the patterned pane the waitress wields the weight of her tray around her palm the doorman cups his hand and lights his cigarette again and the rain marches on this is only a possibility in a world of possibilities there are obviously there are many possibilities ranging from small to large before long there will be short before short there was nothing when there was nothing tehere was always the possibility of something becoming what it is don't even bother trying to say something clever clever is as clever does no matter what it says i'm looking for a sign says you're for real this time but i don't trust what's in your head i walk up to the bar and point to the top shelf and then i throw my head back and laugh at myself i raise a toast to all our saviors each so badly behaved it's too bad that tehir world is the one that they saved there's a spider spinning cobwebs from your elbow to the table while my eyes ride the crowd in a secret rodeo i smile with my mouth lift my watch up to the light say oh, look, i have to go now you got to dance with me, now is when it's gotta be cuz i can't wait for the dance floor to fill in if you want to dance with me, i'll show you how it's gonna be cuz i can't wait for the bad to begin |
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| 7. |
| 2:51 |
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you've always got those dark sunglasses
covering up your face but if you promise to take them off i promise i won't squander your gaze i will be picturesque i will be nice i won't do anything you can't tell your wife i will think before i act i will think twice just let me see your eyes each time we spoke you put in a token ran? the tilt-a-whirl when i was giggling and dizzy flirting like a 12 year old girl the carnival of you and me was coming to town watch how we spin and stop and then fall down now we just say hello and head for firmer ground you are the one-way glass that watches me standing in line at the bank i always looked into your glasses like a cat looks into a fish tank but all i could ever see was the specter of me reflected i'm on a monument of friendship that we never had erected i wanted to take up lots of room i wanted to loom you always got those dark sunglasses between us when we talk after the party is over if you wanna take a walk we could just look around not to nothing wrong just try to be at least as brave as our songs i will bring my heart i will bring my face you just name the time and place |
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| 8. |
| 4:25 |
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i'm a pixie
i'm a paperdoll i'm a cartoon i'm a chipper cheerful free for all and i light up a room i'm the color me happy girl miss live and let live and when they're out for blood i always give the man behind the counter looks like he's got a half a dozen places he'd rather be and furthermore it looks like he's preparedd to take it all out on me buddy, i don't really care what your problem is just don't make it mine come on kids, let's all hold hands and pretend we're having a good time maybe you don't like your job maybe you didn't get enough sleep well, nobody likes their job nobody got enough sleep maybe you just had the worst day of your life but, you know, there's no escape and there's no excuse so just suck up and be nice all the privileged white kids on tv playing at death brandishing their cold cuts with their whostly makup and their heroin breath and all the little fishes are flapping wildly on their hooks while all the top critics find great meaning in the telephone book the little emperor he has no clothes so he can't come out to play and besides which life is suffering and he likes it that way and the little guy is not so friendly but you know life has been cruel so wipe that smile off your face baby and try to be cool maybe you don't like your job maybe you didn't get enough sleep well, nobody likes their job nobody got enough sleep maybe you just had the worst day of your life but, you know, there's no escape and there's no excuse so just suck up and be nice yeah, i would like to perfect the art of being studiously aloof like life is just a boring chore and i am living proof i could join forces with an army of ornery hipsters but then i guess i'd be out of a job so i guess that's out of the picture cuz i'm a pixie i'm a paperdoll i'm a cartoon i'm a chipper cheerful free for all and i light up a room i'm the color me happy girl miss live and let live and when they're out for blood i always give |
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| 9. |
| 6:30 |
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sleep walking through the all-nite drug store
baptized in fluorescent light i found religion in the greeting card aisle now i know hallmark was right and every pop song on the radio is suddenly speaking to me art may imitate life but life imitates t.v. 'cuz you've been gone exactly two weeks two weeks and three days and let's just say that things look different now different in so many ways i used to be a superhero no one could touch me not even myself you are like a phone booth that i somehow stumbled into and now look at me i am just like everybody else if i was dressed in my best defenses would you agree to meet me for coffee if i did my tricks with smoke and mirrors would you still know which one was me if i was naked and screaming on your front lawn would you turn on the light and come down screaming, there's the asshole who did this to me stripped me of my power stripped me down i used to be a superhero no one could touch me not even myself you are like a phone booth that i somehow stumbled into and now look at me i am just like everybody else yeah you've been gone exactly two weeks two weeks and three days and now i'm a different person different in so many ways tell me what did you like about me and don't say my strength and daring 'cuz now i think i'm at your mercy and it's my first time for this kind of thing i used to be a superhero i would swoop down and save me from myself but you are like a phone booth that i somehow stumbled into and now look at me i am just like everybody else |
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| 10. |
| 5:20 |
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sitting in my glasshouse
while your ghost is sleeping down the hall watching the little birds fly kamikaze missions into the walls think i'm gonna stay in today sit on my couch and watch them fall [drums] life just keeps getting harder keeps getting harder to hide darker it is around me easier it is to see inside and outside the glass the whole world is magnified and its barely an inch from here to the other side [chorus] guess that push has come to this so i guess this must be shove but before you throw those stones at me tell me what's your house made of and before you'll know what i'm doing wrong you're going to have to get in line for the purposes of this song lets just say i'm doing fine sure, i'm doing fine trapped in my glasshouse crowd has been gathering since dawn make a pot of coffee while catastrophe awaits me out on the lawn think i'm going to stay in today pretend like i don't know what's going on seems that push has come to this so i guess this must be shove but before you throw those stones at me tell me what's your house made of and before you'll know what i'm doing wrong you're going to have to get in line so for the purposes of this song lets just say i'm doing fine sure, i'm doing fine sitting in my glass house sitting in my glass house |
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| 11. |
| 3:45 |
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we drove the car to the top of the parking ramp
on the 4th of july we sat out on the hood with a couple of warm beers and watched the fireworks explode in the sky and there was an exodus of birds from the trees but they didnt know, we were only pretending and the people all looked up, and were pleased and the birds flew around like the whole world was ending and i don't think war is noble and i don't like to think that love is like war and i gotta big hot cherry bomb, and i want to slip it through the mail slot of your front door don't leave me here i've got your back now you'd better have mine cause you say the coast is clear but you say that all the time so many sheep i quit counting sleepless and embarrassed about the way that i feel trying to make mole hills out of mountains building base camp at the bottom of a really big deal and did i tell you how i stopped eating? when you stopped calling me and i was cramped up shitting rivers for weeks and pretending that i was finally free don't leave me here now that your back you'd better stay this time cause you say the coast is clear but you say that all the time we drove the car to the top of the parking ramp, on the 4th of july and i planted my dusty boots on the bumper and sat out on the hood, and looked up at the sky |
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| 12. |
| 14:15 |
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you crawled into my bed that night
like some sort of giant insect and i found myself spellbound at the sight of you there cocooned in my room, beautiful and grotesque and all the rest of that bug stuff bluffing your way into my mouth behind my teeth, reaching for my scars that night we got kicked out of two bars and laughed our way home that night you leaned over and threw up into your hair and i thought i would offer you my pulse if i thought it would be useful i would give you my breath except the problem with death is that you have some hundred years and then they can build building on your only bones 100 years and then your grave is not your own we lie in out beds, and our graves unable to save ourselves from the quaint tragedies we invent and then undo from the stupid circumstances we slalomed through and i realized that night that the hall light which seemed so bright when you turned it on is nothing compared to the dawn which is nothing, compared to the light which seeps from me while you're sleeping cocooned in my room beautiful and grotesque resting that night we got kicked out of two bars and laughed our way home and i held you there thinking i would offer you my pulse i would give you my breath i would offer you my pulse |
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| 13. |
| 4:45 |
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the heat is so great
it plays tricks with the eye it turns the road to water and then from water to sky and there's a crack in the concrete floor and it starts at the sink there's a bathroom in a gas station and i've locked myself in it to think and back in the city the sun bakes the trash on the curb the men are pissing in doorways and the rats run in herds i've got a dream of your face that scares me awake i put too much on my table and now i got too much a stake and i might let you off easy yeah i might lead you on i might wait for you to look for me and then i might be gone where i come from and where i'm going and i'm lost in between i might go up to that phone booth and leave a veiled invitation on you machine and you'll stop me, won't you if you've heard this one before the one where i surprise you by showing up at your front door saying 'let's not ask what's next, or how, or why' i am leaving in the morning so let's not be shy the door opens, the room winces the housekeeper comes in without a warning and i squint at the muscular motel lady says 'hey good morning' and she jumps, her keys jingle and she leaves as quick as she came in and i roll over and taste the pillow with my grin well, the sheets are twisted and tangled and the heat is so great and i swear i can feel the mattress sinking underneath your weight oh sleep is like a fever and I'm glad when it ends and the road flows like a river and pulls me around every bend and you'll stop me, won't you... the heat is so great it plays tricks with the eye it turns road to water and water to sky and there's a crack in the concrete floor and it starts at the sink there's a bathroom in a gas station and i've locked myself in it to think and you'll stop me, won't you... |
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