1. |
A Sign
05:01
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You like just one type of rose
I pluck ‘em from a thornbush in the country
I buy ‘em at a country store
We laid in the field off your warped little road
I felt like a fish on your line
You used to stroll home at nine, and I’d unplug the whole house
Like we suddenly could pretend “Hey, we’re alone now”
With the weathervane pulled hard to the right
Come on baby, why don’t you do it?
We can make it all alright, we can stare right through it
It’s not a lover, it’s not a postcard, it’s not a sign
Trust me, there’s not much to know
Might’ve looked fun in the photos, but I hardly saw the show
Lately I freeze like there’s nowhere to go
Maybe a better man would just try
And I play it straight ‘cause I’m on their dime
And then it wells up in me
That maybe I’d been too quick to post the listing
That the weathervane had pulled hard to the right
They say I played it with too much heart
Empty conviction, bow over the bridge, not looking the part
And they say “You aren’t willing to do what it takes for the art”
And I say “What? You mean dress up and frown?”
So if this bar’s closing down, I better cash my chips out
Might as well pretend I’m missed or I lost those old doubts
That I finally found a way to rig the fight
And I didn’t know I had it
‘Til it got ugly with time
It’s not a lover, it’s not a postcard, it’s not a sign
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2. |
Hard Times in the City
03:29
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The system is breaking down
Wanted to sell those final shares
But the devil's got 'em now
I called when I was halfway out of town
And I did the calculations, no one wins this one
I thought that this old house would fix itself
But it just sank a foot in the ground
And the bills went the other way
Hard times in the city, babe
It's harder than you think
Trying to parlay every deal
Be every missing link
Peter to pay Paul - that old routine
I had no reservations, just a nuisance to the world
I thought this noble work would save this town
But it just sends a chill through me now
Us frauds have hell to pay
Hard times in the city, babe
Too long, too long, too long
Baby I’m loaded - afraid as sin
Too long, too long, too long
To have this debate again
I mean it like a heart attack, baby
I thought that this old house would wear us out
But somehow we’re sticking around
Lost in this dark parade
Hard times in the city, babe
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3. |
Diamonds
05:04
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Who is this guy anyway?
The one who looks like Beetle Bailey
Munching on that crudité
Is this the guy that’s supposed to save me?
Been pogo sticking round the Valley
For half my life it almost seems
Five years coming up with verbs
To yell at lunches
A year to fire off my team
Oh, you might as well stick me up at a stoplight
Turn me over, pat me down
If you think that you’re so tough
If you think you haven’t had enough
If you think that you’re my diamond in the rough
For me it’s chump change
Don’t feel ashamed that this went south so quick
You anted up to lose the pot
You ever known pipe dreams to stick?
It hurts me too man, I got a family
What will those monsters think of me?
Twisting on the hose for you, then some other poor recruits
Living out some swindler’s dream
But you might as well stick me up at a spotlight
Turn me over, pat me down
If you think that you’re so tough
If you think you haven’t had enough
If you think that you’re my diamond in the rough
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4. |
I Move in Shadows
04:10
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Broker me a deal
Cut me off a piece
I’ll move in shadows for you
If you let me
You could bury me a saint
Bury me a thief
But I’ll move a mountain for your love
If you’d let me
Everybody tries sometimes
But fools, friends and lovers they can’t read the lines
The blind following each other
To a drum beating out of time across the street
It could be something if you want it to be
Sometimes it burns right through you
But I move in shadows for your love
Like the truth didn’t hurt enough
Then I gotta try and fool you
I move in shadows for our love
Hold me a little closer
I topple in the breeze
But I’d move those clouds across the sun
If you’d let me see
Send in every form they sent
Swallow every fee
But I’d take a morning for the paper
If you’d let me be
Everybody tries sometimes
But we found some comfort in these leaner times
We loved them like a brother
To a drum beating out of time across the street
It could be something if you want it to be
Send me on some path, honey I need it, you know
And some hard-earned cash or the reason that you had to go
You never noticed me but I told you before
It’s clear like a drum or a knock at your door
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5. |
Home on High
04:14
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I can almost tell I could be happy
I could be riding that banana boat out of town
Trying some new shtick on these hucksters
Like that’s devotion
And we’re all caught up in the locomotion
Too many times I set my heart to stun
And it’s the reason that you’re calling me now
I’d thought that you’d change the whole world
Like you’re the one who’s chosen
Now we’re lined up doing the locomotion
Cross the T’s and dot the I’s, baby
I’ve never known this kind of love
I know, I know - I know we’re gonna rock it
And talk their foolish talk tonight
But they were wrong from the start
And we got a home on high
Got a home on high
Take that kind of lover and be fine
It was harder than some wild winds that blow
Didn’t rustle those dead leaves at all
You spend years faking while you’re losing
You sat up front in the big truck but you never even got the thing moving
All these costs that the state piles on
The chutes you pulled and never shut
There’s not much as easy as heartbreak
It’s like sinking in the ocean
But you clap, slide back in the locomotion
Cross the T’s and dot the I’s, make me crazy
But nothing’s ever good enough
I know, I know - I know we’re gonna rock it
And talk their foolish talk tonight
But if we were wrong from the start, baby
Then they got a home on high
They got a home on high
They’ll take another lover or be fine
I know, I know, I know
I’ve got a home on high
They got a home on high
Take that kind of lover or be fine
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6. |
Too Many
03:29
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Go to sleep, it’s still around eight
The balloons are clinging to the floor
My body’s just some dead weight
And you’ve got time to waste on me, that’s for sure
We clean the trash off of our doorstep
Still you smell it everywhere
And there’s no time to waste on it, leave it there
And it’s fine, I’ll keep life out of our hair
And they can try to help me
And you can try not to leave
But there are too many
Waves in the ocean
Fish in the sea
Seems like everybody’s a runner now
And there are races every day
I’ve been trying to play the background
But it feels fine to make a scene for a change
I left our burden on the doorstep
But there are dogs loose on the grounds
Pretty soon they’ll chase us back into town
At the bar they’ll laugh and buy us a round
But it’ll take more than just a scare to shake us
Back to where we feel free
And there’s too many
Waves in the ocean
Fish in the sea
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7. |
Parade
02:43
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That place lost its lustre, baby that’s a fact
We sat like birds on a wire
If there’s any chance we’re ever coming back
It’ll be with hearts full of fire
I cut some costs, pulled the streamers down
Said “no more visitors, please”
This place is a dump, at least I noticed now
And I’ve got places to be
So go on, march the street in time
Like it’s some sort of beginning
Are you in it to win it?
Twirl your baton, jog and stretch in place
The day is finally here
Stood up through the skylight, hair all in my face
I gave up all of your fear
I loved you baby, let the record show
I did my best to be me
You wanted someone happy on his own
I needed less to believe
Things can be hard to believe
So go on, march the street in time
We’ll lock step ‘fore we’re finished
Are you in it to win it?
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8. |
Monkey Bone
05:51
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Look at me, I’m laughing
Squinting in the morning light
Stuck in someone’s else story
A phantom from a lonely night
Connor was tending bar and
My heart was running tape
But somewhere behind my mind
I’d made my getaway
They said it’d be a whiteout
That we wouldn’t see the ground for days
They sent all of the kids home
Locked ‘em in their rooms to play
But it was just a false flag
A phony piece of bait
A cheap thrill to fall asleep to
When I get in late
You wanna keep me guessing?
It ain’t that hard to tell
It feels fine not to know
When you’ll come back here and want me
Well, it took time but
It feels fine not to get it
If feels fine not to know
When you’ll come back here and want me
Or say you won’t
In the pale moonlight
It’s as far as I can throw you
Still it feels like trust this time
Once you reach the summit
It’s easy to forget the climb
Remember how we got here?
Well, that’s an old debate
If you want me to buy that story
Set a better rate
Well, you can probably tell me
These aren’t affairs of state
But it feels fine not to know
When you’ll come back here and want me
Well, it took time
But it feels fine not to get it
If feels fine not to know
When you’ll come back here and want me
Or say you won’t
In the pale moonlight
Our fathers play the jesters
Our mothers scrape their violins
We’re signing every paper
Strangers to the state we’re in
Saw us in a picture
From some weekend getaway
That day it came so easy
It could never stay
It seemed a strange vessel
A Ponzi scheme for two
It feels fine not to know
When you’ll come back here and want me
Well, it took time
But it feels fine not to get it
If feels fine not to know
When you’ll come back here and want me
Or say you won’t
In the pale moonlight
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