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| 1. |
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I was slung-lo and
So gung-ho For anything to get me to start I had my rock I had my roll But I couldn't find my spark A flip of the hi-fi A glimpse of the good life And the clouds began to fade I'm turning this B-side Around to a delight Blue skies are here to stay She was so down, look at her now She's never been so high Everyone knows, give it some time The clouds'll clear the sky Light the radio ‘Til it explodes I'm dancin' ‘til I drop One small step First right then left I'm never gonna stop She was so down, look at her now She's dancin' ‘til she drops Everyone knows, give it some time You'll find what you have lost It is my style to take a while To put the feeling down to page I get around to making sound When the fancy meets the phrase She was so down, look at her now She's never been so high Everyone knows, give it some time The clouds'll clear the sky I'm gonna burst Right out of this world And I won't do it alone A kick to the heart A lift for the charts One listen and we'll be gone And then who cares? We're debonair And we're dancin' our way back home She was so down, look at her now She's never been so high Everyone knows, give it some time The clouds'll clear the sky |
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| 2. |
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I begin with Culver City
Where the handsome faggots make pretty, pretty Empty lots, secrets well kept Nothing standing but the frame of a set Some things are built to withstand regret It was cinematic How we loved Longshot! Jumpcut! Close-up! She wore off like a prom dress Heels a kickin', short hair a mess Painted nails for turning tricks Throw something hard, something stick Throw nothing, no, nothing slips Tip and tuck down the 99 The pedal pushed down the entire time You’re running scared 'til your ceiling falls Banging her head, wrists rubbed raw Addicted to something we never saw It was cinematic How we loved Longshot! Jumpcut! Close-up! Closeup Yeah Off the freeway Dreamland burns The ultimate take in the land of returns With a glycerine smile and a tear for tragedy Something grand Judy left for me Nothing more than box office history It was cinematic How we loved Longshot! Jumpcut! Close-up! Closeup Closeup Yes, Closeup I begin where Garland died Looked like a child all her life I begin where Garland died Looked like a child all her life So will I |
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I want a little taste of you
When I can Just a little taste will do But I know you understand I am not looking for love Nor making a plan Taste of you When I can I want a kiss in the morning That's all I need Just a kiss in the morning Don't want no guarantees I am not looking for love You don't see me on my knees A taste of you All I need I am a clever lady Just like a satin doll A little wanton maybe But I keep my wanting small I am not looking for love I am not trying to fall A taste of you But that's all I want a taste of you But that's all Just a taste of you But that's all |
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Once in the spring of my twenty-fourth year
I had nothing to say With a dangling promise, a terrible past I threw all the words away We were born to hum You were the last in my twenty-fourth year To make a demand of my voice I tickled your ear and I laughed in your face I gave you my choice We were born to hum We were born to hum Hum Hum So as a gradual running, a kind of relief Settles on my face Once in a while I complain to myself Nothing gets done Nothing's in place I, I would rather hum I, I would rather hum Hum Hum Hum |
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| 5. |
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They are just civilians
We are barely civil to them Only at times Gonna take a million Bodies piled and killed to Show them we can fight They are just civilians We are barely civil to them Only at times And we are your citizens Burrowing beneath your skin And crawling up your spine They are just civilians Fighting for their place in The company of men Shhh! we're holding still Waiting for the thrill Of surprising you again You watch yourself And you guard yourself You are not yourself You are not yet safe Watch yourself And you guard yourself You are not yourself You are not yet safe Boys I can fight Please let me fight Boys I can fight Please let me fight The treaties of civilians We will fire at will and From behind the lines You who once were children You stand and stare where buildings Became crimes |
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Envelopes of glassine
Spoiled the surprise Took that tender moment I see what's inside I was Vegas, you were Rome Close your eyes and think of me I held nine pictures Lined left to right Where edge met edge I see what's inside What faith would not carry Impatience denied I was Vegas, you were Rome Wasn't built in a day This gambol cannot last This courtship will slide Envelopes of glassine Spoiled the surprise I'll walk from Vegas, you sail from Rome Let us have met |
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So, if you want to be a lady
Well then, have a look at me Folks line up for days Just to have a look-see Take it from me What you see is a lady indeed If you want to be a lady Well then, have a look at me Paint your lips a touch too wide Hide secrets in your mouth Stand on corners for too long Just to have a look-see Hang your purse on your left Your lover’s photo turn it right If you want to meet a lady Well then, offer her a ride All these men are looking Looking at me Giving me the once over With a big old look-see Carry the world by its knees Keep the porch-light burning bright You sell yourself for nothing less than One grandstanding night If take it from me What you'll be is a lady indeed If you want to be a lady Well then, have a look at me |
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I'm just something else he tried
A catalogue of interests in a catalogue of lives I hid myself from him; I wouldn't say it was a lie But hiding worked its way into the way we lived our lives It was clear that he was troubled; he had trouble with his pride But i could never tell if the fault was his or mine So I drew myself away, I wouldn't say I left behind A man who would never know the man he was inside In a moment he was gone, I could see that he had died By the quickening of blood and the fluttering of eyes So I held him to my breast like all the better wives Who furnish men with love and never leave their side I'm just something else he tried The salt that's left behind after tears have dried And I suppose that I'll go on, after all it was my life And all that I supposed I held has come to be untied |
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| 9. |
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Cosmopolitans and ladies
Looking for pills in draperies Separate bedrooms and attached baths While the precious don't quite understand And quietly slip off to beauty Painless, don't you wish you were weightless Famous, from this moment you're fated Panic makes quite a morning cocktail of insecurity A fallen pancake breakfast for two And the ladies choice of partners varies From evening to evening The loneliness is expected if not predicted Small time and you're dreaming of the big lights Screen life, you went looking for a good time Painless, don't you wish you were weightless Famous, from this moment you're fated A life on the boards spilled over to the coast And maybe down to the beach It's a new medium pleasure to Re-take and re-shoot Only to pull focus before distribution Small time and you're dreaming of the big lights Screen life, you went looking for a good time Painless, don't you wish you were weightless Famous, from this moment you're fated Advice, agents and taped late night whiskey Tiny cups for a tiny lady Opera heels are swiftly growing indecent And a lady in descent Falling forward towards the cosmopolitans and ladies Looking for pills in draperies Small time and you're dreaming of the big lights Screen life, you went looking for a good time Painless, don't you wish you were weightless Famous, from this moment you're fated |
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Oh boy, I'm lucky; I'll say I'm lucky
This is my lucky day I'm all in clover, I'm glad all over I want to shout "hooray" I found a horseshoe, couldn't go wrong And then of course, you happened along Oh boy, I'm lucky, I'll say I'm lucky This is my lucky day I found a horseshoe, couldn't go wrong And then of course, you happened along Oh boy, I'm lucky, I'll say I'm lucky This is my lucky Oh, wow, I'm lucky This is my lucky day |
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Midnight confessions
Of deputy Prussians Coloured my time in the Rhine Where a misplaced directive From a dirty connector I got out just in time Fleet of foot messengers Tapped me in Bucharest And paid for a train to Berlin Where a night club at midnight Was cleared out too quickly I made my face in the wings The palace ain't nothing Compared to this majesty Here I am dancin' For the president of Germany I opened up with a Rag and a one-step and Finished the bit with a freeze Then a touch of the shuffle and I closed with a soft-shoe I hit 'em with my best routine The palace ain't nothing Compared to this majesty Here I am dancin' for The president of Germany The orpheum never saw A bigger hit in two a day The national can't beat this state Oooooh, oooooh Don't fade out You're my only hope and it's running out The spotlight it shone on heavy artillery The silence was worse than the shot I'm just a dancer, an innocent fiction More like a dream than not Applause cascading from one set of fingertips You believe what you believe You believe what you believe You believe what you believe You believe what you believe Midnight confessions Of deputy Prussians I got out just in time |
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| 12. |
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James!
Look out for the boy next door Come knock-knock-knocking The ceiling to the floor James, I've told you life could be deluxe Every which way looks like trouble but You've got to let him go James! C'mon hold your horses The first kid under your nose ain't a sure thing James, I told you life was made of luck But a deal's better made the second time it's cut You've got to let him go You've got to let him go But he's one wall away, these walls so thin One wall away, these walls so thin One wall away, these walls so thin One wall away, these walls so thin One wall away, these walls so thin One wall away James! They call it the waiting game Boy, you will wait in vain The first one you see might make you change But a straight boy, James Always shoot the same You've got to let him go You've got to let him go Love at first sight, it may be But first love on sight James is crazy |
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| 14. |
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Oh Vera, I can't complain but
When, when will you write? This city is strange And strangely bright Sooner or later I'll change Oh Vera, my cough is silent And Sunset is setting up fine There's work for me here And here is my work While we wait for my lungs to dry Oh Vera, tonight I'm lost What makes me live for this craft? I'm going nowhere My music's a bust Even our neighbours just laugh Oh Vera, we must see a film I think that it might change my life Something with Garland Who's down on her luck The kind of picture I like Oh Vera, I'm full of it now Who knew that notes could be fun? I'm counting to twelve And then back to one I feel I'm a writer again Oh Vera, I'm truly content I'm waiting alone for a friend A helluva poet A Hollywood type Who turns up the words on their end Oh Vera, I'm reading the news I can do nothing but cry The opera was summer An apple just fell It's funny how well poets lie |
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