- Better Known Vacancy
- The Turn and the River
- Married to the Sea
- Rusalka's Umbrella
- Alionushka
- So Says I
- The Fall
- Ladies and Gentlemen
- Bad Seed
- Dear Paul
- Puddle Jump
- Snow Mazes
- Merry Go Around
- Looted Fires
The sun is weary as it makes its way down
The sound of gravel crunches under my feet
as I walked up to that house where the water rushed in
Clenching sand in my fist, the tide was reaching for me
Sometimes I wish I could float back to you
where it was safe and sound 'cause it's a jungle out here
It's funny how they'll always drive me...
The space is empty, more than it already was
We're disassembled, let's pick up and dust off
I woke up in that house when the water rushed in
Clenching sand in my fist, the tide was reaching for me
Sometimes I wish I could float back to you
where it was safe and sound 'cause it's a jungle out here
It's funny how they'll always drive me
to that better known vacancy
THE TURN AND THE RIVER
Well I know that we're lost
Despite my better word, we're lost
But don't follow back that bread-crumb trail
'cause I find a better world on my own
I feel the sting, and I hear the thunder
I reached for your hand,
and you tried to pull me under
I was caught in your lines,
but I break through the surface
Show me the turn and the river
You can't pull my plug out now
I've got your hand held behind your back
Yeah you'll be there
when the dust of the bridge falls out
I think you want it too much
I think I want it too much
MARRIED TO THE SEA
I can't be alone tonight
the slow water laps against the snow and ice
there's something calling me
there's something human in that voice
How could this be the wrong thing
on the dark hill that overlooks the playing field?
We're looking at the sky
and now we're married to the sea
Don't turn now, I can't sit too still
I've got to get back with the payload
Summer came in with them swimming charms
It can wait, it can wait, it can wait
It's somebody else's turn
to stumble out into the night
If somebody's gotta get burned
I'm going to turn out the light
Don't turn now, I can't sit too still
I've got to get back with the payload
Summer came in with them swimming charms
I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait
So be it, he's the one man
whose sails are tall enough
to catch my breeze
There's nothing wrong with that
except we're married to the sea
RUSALKA’S UMBRELLA
It's too late now to call a truce
you buried me in the blue
It's too late now to love you
I'm already over you
You're very tall but you can't see over this
Underneath Rusalka's Umbrella
It's somebody's wicked idea of a funny joke
can't take it seriously
Rusalka's umbrella in the morning
she can't be serious
In whatever we do
Rising up from the deep
wax and wane, we're released
Follow it in, that gripping sound
capturing you down in the blue
It's too late now to call a truce
I'm already in the blue
ALIONUSHKA
I have every right to treat you the way that I do
You're so held up in your head, I can't stand it
I know I did nothing wrong.
And he said, "I need a way out."
And he said…yes he said.
All this disappointment,
all my disappointment looks ugly as sin
So I put on some lipstick, my hood up and I
zip up my sweatshirt right up to the top
I said, "Now I need a way out."
Out I went
Alionushka is disappointed
SO SAYS I
I can't shy away from this
though I really wish I could
I think it'd do us all some good
I have every intention of going where I go
left, left, right, left
Sometimes I miss it
There, I said it
But I'm not a broken heart, I just wanted to be alone
I'm not a sinking ship, I'm just testing the water
I'm not a lost soul, I'm just wandering around
So says I
We shed a snake skin
This life is dripping in, I'm going to trace it to the source
That life is fading out
The cost of evolution is the once familiar
I don't really miss it
There, I said it
I'm not a passenger, I'm just along for the ride
I'm not a phantom limb, it's just sometimes I get the itch
I'm not a lost soul, I'm just wandering around
So says I
This is how we turn into ourselves
Carry on, carry on
I'm not a broken heart, I just wanted to be alone
I'm not a sinking ship, I’m just testing the water
I'm not a lost soul, I'm just wandering around
So says I
THE FALL
Oh how irony can taint
a perfect painting of justice
In a shabby room where the judges hide
there is no innocence, but confession
She fell into the Seine
her voice still haunting you among the Dutchmen
Tonight there will be fog
on the Zuider Zee
and in your head
Oh how irony can taint
a perfect painting of justice
Pureness is ephemeral
muddied with our best kept secrets
You hear the foghorn sound
You can't stand to be below all the laughter
Tonight there will be fog
on the Zuider Zee
and in your head
I know just how he fell
Now I know just how he fell into it
Alone above Lake Superior
like a stolen judge in hiding
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
Oh Yeager, Yeager and your warehouses downtown
Here lies discretion buried in a bar napkin
They'll invite you in, you've got a sin tax on your head
'cause you bring the hot water
gonna take it down and down
But let's be ladies and gentlemen
not conquestors in hot water
Who was that calling with my voice?
Oh Yeager, Yeager climbing up those fated rungs
On the fire escape, escaping from their wanting hands
They'll invite me in, I've got a sin tax on my head
and I'll bring the hot water, gonna take it down and down
BAD SEED
Routier pauvre et chantant
"Are you ready to go?
Just keep yourself strong," I said
To the grotto and stone
the gardens and the thorns of a monastery
And the minute she arrived,
they knew they'd have to bury a bad seed
But she's here, and she tries
But she's here, don't go. Let go.
Don't let go, she could be anywhere
Like a clouded sky, she's almost everywhere
You can't the holy out of the water
And she knew right then she could be anywhere
and here.
Routier pauvre et chantant
And there she concedes
in the gardens and the thorns of a monastery
dirt in her finger nails, dig a little hole for a bad seed
And the minute it was buried,
she knew she'd lost a friend and a sister
She was ready to go
from the grotto and the stone of the monetary
All the life she could taste
from the gardens and the thorns of a bad seed
DEAR PAUL
Dear Paul, I am writing
wondering how you have been
Dear Paul, I've been reading
I fear I'm reading too much into this
Give me something more
Give me something strong
Give me something I can believe in
Give me something more
Give me something strong
I know something's wrong with this picture
Dear Paul, I have thrown out
everything that I believed in
I can't decide if I'm a nihilist or a fatalist today
Dear Paul, I know I've been
a little out of touch, a little out of reach
But now I’ll sit beside you
Take my hand, let's see what happens
And he says, "Give me something more.
Give me something strong.
Give me something I can believe in."
And I said, "I can't give you more.
This is all I've got. This is everything that I believe in."
PUDDLE JUMP
Rubber boots, overcoat, umbrella
she's happy in her sundress
They're telling fairy tales. Fancy that,
they think she's a rainmaker
A flash flood warning moves into the area, she doesn't hide
Tornado touches down in tornado alley, but she doesn't hide
She knows that time can soak up all the rain
so she helps herself to more puddles
Don't be mad at her, she still loves
She's got a heart that's bigger than the sun
She just can't stand still
She just has to spill
SNOW MAZES OF NORWAY
Six points on a snowflake, eight arrows on a compass
My brother with a host family playing drums for the Norwegians
He went walking to explore Trysil, but he got lost in a winter maze
Six points on a snow flake, eight arrows on a compass
Six ways from Sunday falling down
Eight feet of heaven on the ground
Keep him warm, keep him warm
'Cause in the snow mazes of Norway,
he is underground
He brought back some souvenirs
a metal bowl with a Viking ship
a wooden carving and compass
and six points on a snowflake
Six points on a snowflake
Eight memories in a photograph
My brother's going to miss that snow
Now he surfs in San Diego
MERRY GO AROUND
How did you pull the wool over their eyes?
It's some trick you pulled, but I am unfooled
Then the sheriff called
and the bible thumped
It's some badge you wear
like you're exalted
It's alright now 'cause I am all that he became
Standing down, staring at infinity
Ride and ride, we'll ride those horses round and round
Dodge and burn
on the merry go around
Underneath your skin, a dark hazard waits
Is this bridge on fire? Were you too late?
This history repeats itself
It's some horse you mount
like you're wiser
LOOTED FIRES
Is it real, this Desertion, USS?
Is it real, this desertion? S.O.S.
Is it all they said it'd be
standing guard over looted fires?
We'll talk of omens and curses
and peg-leg gashes
pouring over the ground
with the snow and ashes
Got a two-pound devil
a lonely old vessel
It's all we've got at the end of a plank
standing guard over looted fires
