Shawn Colvin

Polaroids
S. Colvin

Please no more therapy
Mother take care of me
Piece me together with a
Needle and thread
Wrap me in eiderdown
Lace from your wedding gown
Fold me and lay me down
On your bed
Or liken me to a shoe
Blackened and spit-shined through
Kicking back home to you
Smiling back home
Singing back home to you
Laughing back home to you
Dragging back home to you

I was so wary then
The ugly American
Thinner than oxygen
Tough as a whore
I said you can lie to me
I own what's inside of me
And nothing surprises me anymore
But forests in Germany
Kids in the Tuileries
Broken-down fortresses
In old Italy
And claiming his victory
Shrouded in mystery
He went running away with me

Back in our home New York
Walking these streets forlorn
We all in our uniforms
Black and black
Doing that slouch and jive
The artist must survive
We've got all we need we cried
And we don't look back
Thinking we had it made
Poised for the hit parade
Knee deep in accolades
The conceptual pair
But ever the malcontent
He left without incident
Vanished into thin air

Now I am always amazed
Words can fill up a page
Pages fill up the days
Between him and me
But the vows that we never keep
From bedrooms to business-speak
Make me remember how cheap
Words can be
And the letters I wrote you of
Were those of the desperate stuff
Like begging for love in a suicide threat
But I am too young to die
Too old for a lullaby
Too tired for life on the ledge

But I had a dream last night
Of lovers who walked the plank
Out on the edge of time
Amidst ridicule
They laughed as they rocked and reeled
Over the mining fields
Coming to rest on this ship of fools
But he just took polaroids
Of her smile in the light
Of the dawn of the menacing sky
And before they went overboard
She turned and held up a card
And it said Valentine

When you know that you know
Who you love
You can't deny it

*Go back or give up
or pretend that you don't buy it
When it's clear this time you've found the one
You never let him go
Cause you know, and you know that you know

When you feel, when your skin ,
In your bones and the hollow of your heart,
There's no way you can wait til tommorrow
When there isn't any doubt about it,
Once you've come this close,
Cause you know, and you know that you know

You can feel love's around you
Like the sky 'round the moon
This is how love has found you
Now you know what to do

When you know that you know
Who you need
You can't deny it

*repeat

And it's time you come in from the cold
And you know that you know

Here we go again
Another round of blues
Several miles ago
I set down my angel shoes
On a lost highway
For a better view
Now in my mind's eye
All roads lead to you

Chorus:
So wherever you go
You better take care of me
This time
If you're gonna go
Remember me and all
This time

We had our bitter cheer
And sweet sorrow
We lost a lot today
We get it back tomorrow
I hear the sound of wheels
I know the rainbow's end
I see lights in a fat city
I feel love again

Chorus

All this time
I been makin' deals
Shades if black and white
On a Hollywood reel
All this time
I been missing
Something so real
All this time
I been a face in the crowd
Now I'm living in color
And laughing out loud
All these names
For just foolin' around
It's a new breakthrough
It's an old break down

We smoked a lot of hope
We did our cryin' , too
We're finally waking up
To what real love can do
Down a lost highway
Under the twilight moon
A chorus in your eyes
Another round of blues

Chorus

We had all
This time
We had all
This time

C'mon pack your bags
Clear the floor.
Let's step out through the open door.
Leave a note that says goodbye.

Build a new house
Down by the sea.
Get to the place we were meant to be.
You'll know it when you smile.

Up at the window.
Search in the sky.
Looking for the rainbow,
And don't ask my.
I wanna see the rainbow come.

Hey!
We'll be leaving on all sides, ohohh!
Whe the rainbow comes.

Mr. Postman look and see
If there's a message in your bag for me.
Could be a bomb or it could bve a letter.
It don't matter it can only get better.
Mr. Postman look and see
If there's a message in your bag for me.
You know it's been such a long long time
Since I could laugh at this world of mine.

Slippin' slidin' around in your head.
It's be-bop-a-lula then baby you're dead.
So c'mon make a bright new day.
I need a prayer here.
Need a blessing.
Case an eye back as you run.
Turn around boy!
See the rainbow come.

Hey!
You'll be leaving on all sides
When the rainbow comes.
See the world from all sides
When the rainbow comes.

Oh, my soul
Sometimes we don't know what to do
We work so hard
Being tough on our own
But now it's me and you
Let's give it up
Sad bones
'Cause we all fall on hard times
But you don't have to stand up all alone
Just put your hand in mine

Climb on
A back that's strong
Hey hey
You can git' what you want
Climb on
A back that's strong

If you could save me
A place in heaven
With a clean well-lighted room
I'll muscle up to Armageddon
And I'll wave to you darlin'
Be home soon
And if you could show me
The story of love
I would write it
Again and again
And then you could be
The woman you need
If you just let me be
The man that I am

Oh, I don't know
Sometimes we try too hard to see
But we got one down now
One more to go
That's when you say
To me

Off ion the distance
A cool wind is blowing
I'm not who I was
And I'm not where I'm going
I'm so tired of knowing
That there's no way of knowing
You left me stranded
Between two worlds
You turned me into a mixed up girl
You left me stranded between two worlds
Two worlds
Is it nicer where you are?
Do you ever think of me?
Is it easier now
That you don't have to love me?
Like a fool I allowed you
To coddle and drug me
And the you left me stranded
Between two worlds
You turned me into a mixed up girl
You left me stranded between two worlds
Two worlds
A weak shadow of death
Across a bowl of bitter milk
I borrowed symbols
On my funeral silk
Reflections of you
In each fall's drooling rain
And still you stay with me
Like a knife in my brain
You left me stranded
Between two worlds
You turned me into a mixed up girl
You left me stranded between two worlds
Two worlds
Two worlds

Today I took a walk up the street
And picked a flower and climbed the hill
Above the lake

And secret thoughts were said aloud
We watched the faces in the clouds
Until the clouds had blown away

And were we ever somewhere else
You know, it's hard to say

And I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that

I can't believe a month ago
I was alone, I didn't know you
I hadn't seen or heard you're name
And even now, I'm so amazed
It's like a dream, It's like a rainbow,
it's like the rain

And somethings are the way they are
And words just can't explain

Cause I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before

And it feels like now,
And it feels always,
And it feels like coming home

I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You've given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before

Oh, I, I never saw blue like that

I've been thinking
About you and me
Maybe I was just
Seeing what I wanted to see

You can call me crazy
But you know this time I swore
That I wouldn't run
But I can't do that anymore

I can't find a way to stay
And I can't see my way to go
But I can't give up without a fight.

I can pack myself up in a matter of minutes,
Leave you all far behind
All of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find
If they ever were mine

You've been trying
And I know it's been hard
And I'm afraid of
All this blood in my heart

If there's one thing certain
It's there ain't nothing for sure
And I want to run
But I can't do that anymore

I can't meet you half way
And I can't have it my way
And I can't give up without a fight

I can pack myself up in a matter of minutes,
Leave you all far behind
And all of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find
All of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find
Like they ever were mine

I could count the good times we had
On one hand
All the rest was
A sort of means to the end

Well not it's done
And I can never
Go back to where I was before
And I wanna run...

I can get myself clean in a matter of minutes
And get it wrong every time
All of my whole world and all the things in it are hard to, hard to find
Everything change in a matter of minutes
And nothing was saved in time
All of my old world and all the things in it are hard to find
But they never
never
never
were mine

You have the right to get down on your kness
you have the right to make yourself believe
you don't know my name
but I don't care
you can do it
cuz you have the right

To shake the loneliness and shine the light
take all your tears save 'em for a rainy night
go and wish on every star that's fallen
shake your head and wonder when it's all to good to be true
like a whole new you

So don't lose the way
You can do no wrong
And don't spend your days just trying to be strong
when you don't know your name
you know it's okay, you can do it
cuz you have the right

To shake the loneliness and shine the light
take all your tears save 'em for a rainy night
go and wish on every star that's fallen
shake your head and wonder when it's all to good to be true
like a whole new you
it's too good to be true
like a whole new you

Shake the loneliness and shine the light
take all your tears save 'em for a rainy night
go and wish on every star that's fallen
shake your head and wonder
shake your head and wonder baby
go and wish on every star that's fallen
shake your head and wonder when it's all to good to be true
like a whole new you
it's to good to be true
like a whole new you

Four blocks up and two streets down,
I went back to my old hometown
Like a kid I ran and hid on cue
That’s when times were really sad
Winter there was really bad
And we all just froze but for a chosen few
Did you ever see someone you knew
Holding fast and staying strong and true
And they were nothing like you?
Truth to tell and time to burn
I hit the wall at every turn
The ceiling cracked in half and I just flew
Poetry is what I heard
I was hanging onto every word
I was a lover for the world to woo
I have seen the top of Mt. Ventoux
I have seen a miracle or two
And they’re N O T H I N G L I K E Y O U
You’ve been waiting for awhile
I can tell
Off my head and on the fence
Maybe there’s no accidents
Anyway I’d say I have come to
So fool me once that might be fun
Fool me twice well that’s been done
You can fool me everyday I won’t say boo
I believe I have pulled a major coup
I believe I have boarded up the zoo
I believe I have dropped the other shoe
And there’s N O T H I N G L I K E Y O U

Sweetness and light, you were right
Summers are getting harder
Days echo by, blood red sky
Chop wood and carry water
We only do what we can and there's a natural plan, you know
I know that you understand cause you're just that kind of man, you know
Oh we try and try
We cry, baby cry
Everybody knows we get nowhere
Again and again forever till the end
Anywhere you go I will go there
Bones in the road getting older
If only it made me smarter
Eyes on the prize, don't think twice
Just chop wood and carry water
Am I still looking for clues
And I just feel so confused, you know
And I am so scared I can't move but there's just one thing to do, you know
Oh we try and try
We cry, baby cry
Everybody knows we get nowhere
Again and again forever till the end
Anywhere you go I will go there

All and all I guess that there's so many things that we don't say and
It's what makes us sad I think sometimes
That makes us close but I don't mind, I don't mind
In the alleys and the bonefields of Arkansa past the piles of tires and the
smell of hot tar you threw your papers
In the rain under your hat you had a world, ummmm????.a world
There ain't no father
There ain't no mother
There ain't no sister
Ain't got no brother
Running to no one
Running for cover
In the valleys and the twilight of Illinois under the
New moon I write in my book and I walk the streets
Where no one lives not even you but, you don't mind
Ahhh????.. You don't mind
And all and all I guess that there's so many things that
We don't say ???? today you think that I don't even like
You but don't you know YOU ARE MY WORLD, mmmm????MY WORLD
There ain't no father
There ain't no mother
I don't see my sister
Ain't got no brothers
Running to no one
Left to each other????

There ain't no father
There ain't no mother
I don't see my sister
Ain't got no brothers
Running to Jesus
Running to lovers
Running to strangers
Running for cover
Running to no one
Left to each other

Another plane went down today in the
Atlantic nine miles off shore
And every single black car that goes by just might be yours
I haven't moved from this spot I sit her watching TV in bed
I wanna see if the crash was sabotage
I wanna know if everyone is dead
I remember when I was fifteen me and Liz would ride around
We liked to smoke in the car in the winter with all the windows rolled down
I had a dream a plane exploded over my lake one afternoon
I still remember the feeling when I woke up
I can't describe the magnitude
SO MANY OTHER DREAMS
The one I had today
You and the Italian woman naked
Your fingers between her legs
She lay like a body in the water
She barely made a sound
She fell as quiet, as quiet, as a leaf falling
To the ground
Meanwhile back on earth I told you to fuck off and go away
I've gotta call my friend who moved from New York to LA
Five days before Christmas last year his girlfriend died in a plane crash
He says the way that it happen is your heart
Is so heavy it rips away upon impact
And then you just bleed inside
You don't even feel a thing
They found her on a hill in Columbia
Intact among the debris
So many other dreams
The ones where I'm on death row
The ones where I don't know why
The ones where my parents drove
I wish I was with you now
Down at the Sixth Street bar
Laughing at the singer
Smoking in the car

Well, I feel alive like I never have
Because if I go, then someone will be sad
Because as someone said, well, I'd rather die
But if you can stay, then darlin' so can I
And you know I will
Yeah, you know I will

Chorus

('Cause) I'm bound to you, and all that it means
I'm bound to you, there's no in-between
It's like (the) earth below and the sky of blue
Are bound to me and you

2nd Verse

And now every night, when the sun goes down
I remember times, like when I hit this town
All the dreams that just won't come true
I say, (if) you can do it, baby, (then) I can, too
And you know I will
Yeah, you know I will

(Chorus Out)

It's all yours it's anything that you say
My company fell in we were dropped like like sticks
in the wind
I relinquish this misson sir in the intrest of my men
I do not expect to see my children again
You have your
reinforcements and I take that as a sign
I'm walking back to Austin or at least die trying
MIA or KIA
It's up to you it's not for me to say
While I may have mislead you sir I did not do it with intent
But now I 've seen your tactics and your fire in the hole
The entire operation is a mis-appropriation of my soul
Roger Wilco it's okay
Roger Wilco it's okayRoger Wilco it's okay

Roger Wilco

Find a nail to hang your hat on
Go and get yourself a chair
If there's little hope to fathom
Mr. Levon left it there
Don't imagine you can lose him
Just take the ribbons from your hair
Give your resistance to the darkness
Mr Levon left it there
Mr Levon left it there
There will be light, empty and flat
California under glass
Hold me tight and don't let go
You can believe your intuition
Yes you have finaly met your match
If everything you are is missing
Mr. Levon took it back
It could be halfway to Heaven
It ould be there down the Hall
It doesn't matter if you are begging
Mr Levon took it all
Mr Levon took it all
There will be light, empty and flat
California under glass
Hold me tight and don't let go
There must be a place you can run to
Or maybe someone you you could call
Just to tell them what it's come to
Mr Levon took it all
Mr Levon took it all
Mr Levon took it all

One small year
It's been an eternity
It's taken all of me to get here
The hands of time
They pushed my down the street
They swept me of my feet to this place
And I don't know my face
Now all through the night I can pretend
The morning will make me whole again
Then everyday I can begin
To wait for the night again
One more tune
That will never be done
It's just another one for the moon
For the days in the ruin
Just today I woke up feeling fine
Like the world was mine
I was clean
And it was a dream
Where out of the blue came you and me
The Wizard of Oz has set us free
You let me float ou to your feet
Just like you believed in me
It's like you believed
One small year
I wonder where I've gone
It shouldn't seem so long or so weird
And I was always here
It's just one small year

I'm gonna let you down
I know that now
Make you cry, I know I will
Why should you believe
I would never leave
Or that I love you still

For all the by and by
Hard as we try
The bough breaks and the cradle falls
For everything I do
That will tear at you
Let me say I'm sorry now

So you can sing your song
You can get it wrong
You can kiss the rock of ages
And in your wildest dreams
You might see between
The liars and the sages

You can walk awhile
Down the mystery mile
you and beat the drums of freedom
And in love and war
Through the rush and the roar
You just call'em like you see'em

Sunny came home to her favorite room
Sunny sat down in the kitchen
She opened a book and a box of tools
Sunny came home with a mission
She says days
go by I'm hypnotized
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly
out of my mind
Into the fire

Sunny came home with a list of names
She didn't believe in transcendence
It's time for a few
small repairs she said
Sunny came home with a vengeance
She says days
go by I don't know why
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly
out of my mind
Into the fire
Get the kids and bring a sweater
Dry is good and wind is better
Count the years you always knew it
Strike a match go on and do it
Days go by I'm hypnotized
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly
out of my mind
Into the fire
Light the sky and hold on tight
The world is burning down
She's out there on her own
and she's alright
Sunny came home

Sunny came home

Go jump in the lake, go ride up the hill
Get out of this house
It's a house of your making, it's a house of ill will
Get out of this house

Go listen to Buddha, go listen to Joe
Get out of this house
If anyone asks, you tell them you don't know
Get out of this house

I spent eleven long years in a hot house zone
I spent twentynine more trying to get home
Well I never got home, but I did what I did
And I got myself this house and you can't come in

I'm the queen of my castle, I'm the king of my room
Get out of this house
I got more than I need, more than I ever could use
Get out of this house

I spent seventeen years trying to save my soul
I spent twentythree more down in the hole
Now my soul is alright but I might get found out
I got myself this house now and I can't get out

If I see you again it will be in my head at the end of a cloud
If you see me again it will be in your head telling you to get
out

You act like a baby, you talk like a fool
Get out of this house
Go back to your mama, go back to high school
Get out of this house

Go jump in the lake, go jump out the door
Get out of this house
I've had all I can stand and I can't stand no more
Get out of this house
Get out of this house

Jimmy is married and he lives down south
His wife lives somewhere colder
He sees another woman in a badlands town
And she cries upon his shoulder


Jimmy thinks that he's a helpless man
He thinks about love in a vacuum
And he won't remember that talk you had
When you were walking into the bedroom


He'll say I don't know why we met
The simple truth is always the best
C'est la vie - what's done is done
And there's somebody for everyone


Jimmy has debts and Jimmy has ties
That he can't get out from under
If you look far enough into his eyes
It'll rock you just like thunder


Jimmy broke locks and Jimmy broke bolts
Just to get himself out from under
When you feel like you're lying in a prison cell
It'll kind of make you wonder


He'll say it's destiny we met
The simple truth is always the best
Don't you see what's done is done
And there's somebody for everyone


I used to get drunk to get my spark
And it used to work just fine
It made me wretched but it gave me heart
I miss Jimmy like I miss my wine


Jimmy as if you didn't know by now
Let me tell you a thing or two
Everybody might have someone
But everyone falls in love with you...


He'll say you get just what you get
The simple truth is always the best
Don't you see what's done is done?
And there's somebody for everyone


S.C. - vocal
John Leventhal - guitars, keyboards, percussion, horn
arrangement
Lyle Lovett - harmony
Michael Rhodes - bass
Shawn Pelton - drums
Larry Farrell - trombone
Bob Carlisle - french horn
Tony Kadlek - flugel horn
Rick DePofi - bass clarinet, Mel


1996 AGF Music Ltd./Scred Songs, admin. by WB Music Corp.
(ASCAP)/Lev-A-Tunes (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission

Hold me down to anything
Anything that you see
I should walk away right now
I'll be there, so never mind
I'll be the one to fall
Waiting for you to look up at me
Oh I love you the most
Always giving up the ghost
In your own private conversation
You're a sweet mystery
There is nothing in between
You and the Mona Lisa

Nothing in particular
And everything in between
This is what you mean to me
Only you and only me
Climbing in the right direction
On the way to everything
We were walking up high
And no one thought to try
But I was the one to blame
And it was just a mirage
So I hid in the garage
'Til somebody called your name

Oh I love you the most
Always giving up the ghost
In your own private conversation
You're a sweet mystery
And there's nothing in between
You and the Mona Lisa

Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa...
Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa..
Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa..
Nothing in particular
Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa..
Just you and the Mona Lisa..
Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa..
Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa..
Nothing in particular
Just you and the Mona Lisa..

Baby let me set you down
You look so troubled and I think I know
Just when you think you've come around
There you go


Now I know the business of the heart
And it'll get you anyway it can
You need someone to walk with in the dark, well
I'm your man


I go to the trouble like a magnet
That's where I'll be
Trouble is just a place to sing
It's what you need


I swear you look like you're in jail
And all at once you're halfway out the door
One foot dancing, one foot nailed
To the floor


Chasing those circles in the ground
The same old shit is still the same old lie
Just when you think you've got it down
Watch it fly


I go to the trouble like a light
Or like a dare
Trouble is just a friend to me, I know
It'll always be there


It's really hard to make your peace
So give me some credit for the hell I've paid
This world's a blessing and a beast
Everyday


So come on baby let me show you how
The less you know the more I comprehend
You don't have to drag me down
I descend


I go to the trouble and I like it
That's where I'll be
Trouble is just like love, if it's half the way
It's all I can see
And it's just what you need


S.C. - acoustic guitar, vocal
John Leventhal - guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion
Shawn Pelton - drums, percussion


1996 AGF Music Ltd./Scred Songs, admin. by WB Music Corp.
(ASCAP)/Lev-A-Tunes (ASCAP)/Songs of Polygram Int'l, Inc.
(BMI)/Door Number One Music (BMI)
All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

I lost the thread, I lost the map
It's not a feeling, it's a fact
I had it once, I was on track
Why won't it stay? I want it back

I see you there in that magazine
You're looking smart, you sound supreme
You got such lip, you know the street
You been around, you took some heat
You mighta killed, you might be cruel
You might be stupid but we love you
You're in the paper, you're in the air
You're in my head, you're everywhere
I want it back

You're so extreme, you're feast or famine
You got one mission, just like a salmon
You said in life, mistakes are many
How come you never admit to any?
Are you for real or are you bluffing?
You really get me, famous for nothing
And every morning you got a name
In a world where people all look the same
I want it back

I can't give love, I don't know how
I write in code so you won't know
I was on drugs, I took a nap
I didn't mean it, I want it back

I dreamed again of paradise
I floated steady, it felt so nice
to sell your soul, just think of that
I'm halfway there, I want it back
I want it back

All the happy couples on their way to New Orleans
Reminding me of when we got along
They're only renting time and space to fill up with their dreams
And dreams are what they'll have when they have gone
How could it be that I was born without a clue to carry on
And still it is the same now I am older
Armed with just a will and then this love for singing songs
And minding less and less if I am colder
But I have this funny ache and it's burning in my chest
And it spreads just like a fire inside my body
Is it something God left out in my spirit or my flesh
Would I be saved if I were brave and had a baby
It was never clear what would come but that's the risk and
that's the test
And you were the only one so far to follow
And no one talks about when one might stop and need to rest
Or how long you sit alone before you stop looking back
It's like you're waiting for Godot
And then you pick your sorry ass up off the street and
Go...

And what the hell is this? Who made this bloody mess?
And someone always answers like a martyr
Is it something you should know, did you never do your best
Would you be saved if you were brave and just tried harder
So now I ride the ought one thirtyfive to New Orleans
I float a mile above life's toil and trouble
A thousand lonely lifetimes I still wait and then go on
A clown to entertain the happy couples

Down at the train they go to Independence everyday
But anywhere else now seems like a million miles away
And I must have been high to believe that I would ever leave
Now I'm just a flat fine line like the Wichita skyline


I rode on the airstream across the great lonesome afternoon
I wished hard enough to hurt, drove fast enough to catch the
moon
But I must have been dreaming again 'cause there's nothing
around the bend
Except for that flat fine line, the Wichita skyline


As far as Salina I can get that good station from LaRue
I'm searching the dial while I'm scanning the sky for a patch
of blue
And I watch the black clouds roll in chasing me back again
Back to the flat fine line, the Wichita skyline


S.C. - acoustic guitar, vocal
John Leventhal - guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion, string
arrangement
Shawn Pelton - drums
Sandra Park - violin
Carol Webb - violin
Robert Rinehart - viola
Eugene Moye - cello


1996 AGF Music Ltd./Scred Songs, admin. by WB Music Corp.
(ASCAP)/Lev-A-Tunes (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Good love
bad love
good love
yeah
My time
your time
my time
yeah


84,000 different delusions
Take a ride in the car
84,000 different delusions


Good times
bad times
good times
yeah
Our world
their world
our world
yeah


84,000 different delusions
Meet me down at the bar
84,000 different delusions


Go look at the lake, please
Go look at the sky
Go look at a baby
We're all gonna die


84,000 different delusions
We don't know who we are
84,000 different delusions
We don't get very far
84,000 different delusions
Everyone is a star
84,000 different delusions...


S.C. - acoustic guitar, vocals
John Leventhal - guitars, percussion, vocals, keyboards
Michael Rhodes - bass
Shawn Pelton - drums
Rick DePofi - recorder, piccolo


1996 AGF Music Ltd./Scred Songs, admin. by WB Music Corp.
(ASCAP)/Lev-A-Tunes (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Wait for me by the banshee tree
Let me be your wailing companion
Pass 'em on by don't look 'em in the eye
Suicide Alley is callin'
You thought you were dreaming
You could wake up dead
And you'll never know what's real
All this damage is runnin' loose in your head
And it really matters to me

Oh no baby don't go
Walkin' down Suicide Alley

Downtown baby it's a million to one
You might as well name your poison
And stand in line by the exit sign
Suicide Alley is waiting

You're a loose cannonball on a sinking ship
From the belly of the beast, shot from the hip
But you don't have to be going down the dark hall
You're not tied to the chair, you're not nailed to the wall

Oh, no, baby don't go
Walkin' down Suicide Alley

Sitting naked by the window in the middle of the night
I can see you wearing your halo
If only in the daybreak of the dirty street light
I know baby wasn't born to follow

You know I wasn't born I was spat out at a wall
And nobody even knew my name
The sun hatched me out, cradle and all
On the corner of First and Insane

For the souls of the departed and the renegades of love
You and me we gotta be all we dreamed of
In the ruins of mischief through the ravages of time
You got a place in this world of mine

Oh, no, baby don't go
Walkin' down Suicide Alley

This is your new thing now
Naked as a rose
Everything exposed
But not quite
This is your new thing now
Cards out on the table
A genius with no label
But not quite, not quite


God, I swear it's good to be back home
Waiting for the newest Rolling Stone
All the other girls are still at war
The best and worst of 1994
Sometimes I see the half and not the whole
Sometimes I see the face and not the soul
Sometimes I think this place has no part
For anyone who ever had a heart


This is your new thing now
And it looks so good in print
Just a poet and her pimps
But not quite
This is your new thing now
A prom dress and a sneer
The woman of the year
But not quite, not quite


Gee, it's good to see a dream come true
People smile and bless all over you
Mixing up those latest junkie-isms
With all the pretty terms of religion
And don't you love the leader of the band
Equal parts Butthead and Peter Pan
All the other kids are sad again
A legend's not a legend 'til it ends


This is your new thing now
And it makes the whole world spin
It's as least as old as sin
But not quite
This is your new thing now
And now you're turning grinning
But maybe no one's listening
And you might lose it all my darling, yes you might


This is your new thing now
And it feels so good to doubt you
I could almost live without you
But not quite


S.C. - acoustic guitar, vocal
John Leventhal - keyboards, electric guitar, bass


1996 AGF Music Ltd./Scred Songs, admin. by WB Music Corp.
(ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

Well I don't tell jokes
And I don't take notes
You been sayin there ain't much hope
You got nothin on me
I got friends uptown
And they don't talk down
They been keepin me safe and sound
We got somethin to be
So in case you hadn't noticed
I'm alright
Not like I was before
Things used to be so hopeless
But not tonight
Tonight I'm walkin out that door
I'm not gonna cry
I'm wavin goodbye
And I know this time
You got nothin on me

Well it ain't that tough
Just more of the usual stuff
One heartache is more than enough
There ain't nothin to see
I got friends uptown
And they still come 'round
They been keepin me safe and sound
We got somethin to be
So don't you try to save me
With your advice
Or turn me into somebody else
Cuz I'm not crazy and you're not nice
Baby keep it to yourself
I'm not gonna cry
And I'm wavin goodbye
And I know this time
You got nothin on me

I'm not gonna cry
And I'm wavin goodbye
And I know this time
You got nothin on me
I'm not gonna cry
And I'm wavin goodbye
And I know this time
You got nothin on me

Listen to the wind blow
Watch the sun rise

Run in the shadows
Damn your love
Damn your lies

And if
You don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain

Listen to the wind blow
Down comes the night

Run in the shadows
Damn your love
Damn your lies

Break the silence
Damn the dark
Damn the light

And if
You don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain