new mule
Her cold came with the heartland rain, and everybody's talking about the way it's been.Taking sides and taking swings, no time for listening.
We loaded up in the black of night don't see your face, but I feel you cry. A new mule for a new kind of crime, I'm gonna to get you to the other side.
Is this what you fought for, through alleys and back doors, when believing is still a choice.
Love Hurts on the am dial, can't see your face but I feel your smile. Hold your breath for another mile, we're coming up on the county line.
Sun breaks like a runaway train, don't feel your body can't know your pain. But I'll fight this fight if it's all the same, and stand with you in the Heartland rain.
What remains
Same thing as yesterday
The near and the faraway
I can't tell you well be okay
Pick up the peices and find
a higher ground
These maps don't work no more
Keys won't unlock the door
And I can't hardly feel the floor
Lay back down and sleep
The day away
The riverbank bends with the current will
Never thinking if the sea
But your home is the ocean blue
Where you carry bits of me
From choice words to wild fires
Waiting for clear skies
You can't say say we didn't try
Hints that you got out and signs
Of what remained
new love
what's more exciting than new love?
and i know we just met, but where does it really start and stop anyway?
the moonlight walker knows.
and so does the morning stargazer.
i'm no weather man,
but that's my shadow,
next to yours,
as real as rain.
you say this train ain't bound for nowhere, but
i'd rather ride these rails
hitch my car and
watch you fade away
rattle my bones, burn my feet
rust on rust till my ears bleed
howlin glory across a midnight plane
well hard rain fell on us it's true
but there's only so many shades of blue
you just did what you had to do
right?
i can't believe in the books on love
fire below or sky above
but i believe in the hunger in my heart
blood flows on the treeline
red gold across the skyline
puerto rico
it's been cold here, and dark
and on a morning like any other
the wind turned and the sun came up new
no guessing how long the shadows will cast
but i'll take your warm breezes
and i'll take your soft light
until the moon pulls back my tide
disappearing act
you wear your heart on your sleeve
i only trust what I see
and you're lining all the pieces up so perfectly
i've got a heart like a dog
been beat one too many times
sleeping in the doorway with one eye wide
but the sirens are singing for me this year
come into the light before you disappear
X2
you said
it was easy
i know you want to believe it
you said
stop your bleeding
that it don't hold a candle to the scars that's got you leaving
i can laugh at myself
just not around you
the bruises that you left me, they're still too new
But the sirens are singing for me this year
Come into the light before you disappear
X2
you wear your heart on your sleeve
i only trust what I see
and you're lining up the pieces, so perfectly
take your time
You can breathe free
When you're with me
Settled down
Take your time
Crack the windows
Pull the screens
Storm will take
That heat away
When you ran your best
Passed the rest
I kept the clipping
From the Star
The sun won't set
On us just yet
We've got some
Shadows left to chase
You can breathe free
When you're with me
Settled down
Take your time
hold your breath
well the red trucks came and the white ones too
and the sirens they sang out a criers tune
don't touch that dial 'cause it's all bad news
and the flat-beds are lining up, two-by-two
but i don't know what to do
well the black vans they roll 'cross a hallowed moon
hold your breath hard i'll be coming home soon
but i don't know what to do
but we'll carry along in our family of song
from the rooftops
and we'll hold the notes high in the cold night sky
and we'll lift you, we will lift you
river was dry
fifteen years and a bottle of wine
he took me to the river, but the river was dry
i could not tell you what we're drinking for
but i do not drink no more, no more
cut loose from the pack back in seventy-two
headed up the river, bark at the moon
fixed up a shack with a ghost named jack
but i could not take him back
and i kinda care
and i kinda don't
wanna take you with me but you know that i won't
and i kind of feel
but i mostly fake it
hold me that close and you know you're gonna break it
and i kinda care
and i kinda don't
wanna take you with me but you know that i won't
sometime i fly
but i mostly float
gonna have to go back home
banks are breakin, there's undertow
used to want to follow you wherever you'd go
i'm weak at the thought of where your takin me now
gotto get to shore somehow
and i kinda care
and i kinda don't
wanna take you with me but you know that i won't
and i kind of feel
but i mostly fake it
hold me that close and you know you're gonna break it
and i kinda care
and i kinda don't
wanna take you with me but you know that i won't
sometime i swim
but i mostly float
gonna have to go back home
fifteen years and a bottle of wine
he took me to the river, but the river was dry
i could not tell you what we're drinking for
but i do not drink no more, no more
act alone
borrowed smiles
salutations
keep away
keep away
empty rooms
finished basements
keep away
keep away
re-replay
conversations
keep away
keep away
act alone
deviations
keep away
keep away
if you go
i will be there
i will be there
i will be there
if you stay
i will be there
i will be there
i will be there
took his name
lost his head
keep away
keep away
venerations
for the dead
keep away
keep away
if you go
i will be there
i will be there
i will be there
if you stay
i will be there
i will be there
i will be there
to the fall
well, there's not much left here anyway
broken lawn chair bottle of tanqueray
and the promise you wrote on my wall
'to the fall, to the fall'
i keep my hopes up, keep my eyes fixed straight
when my bets have all been placed
i keep my back against the ropes, dear
so I cannot not see your face
and I know you are a no-show
‘cause you ain't the fighting kind
still I will throw down like you’re here and not
just a picture in my mind
everybody is a memory
a story to be told
and every dream is but a remedy
a warm hand in the cold
so I will keep you in that sunset
that you said could break a heart
‘cause every sunset is a memory
a star lost to the dark
down again
ah the sun went
down again
as you walked
out that door
i guess i always
never had expectations
but somehow
believed in you
in the echo
of the hallway
i heard you laughing
like when we were kids
and i thought of
maybe drinking
in the darkness
couldn't find the will
so i dug in
for a long one
as i pictured
the places you might go
and the night would
not stop coming
so i leaned in
to where i shouldn't go
ah the sun went
down again
as you walked
out that door
so i dug in
for a long one
as i pictured
the places you might go
and the night would
not stop coming
so i leaned in
to where i shouldn't go
that day
when you asked me to walk
and told me that story
you were twelve years old
in a basement down the road
and i asked you to talk
about whether you worry
you said you'd be okay either way
my face caught fire
my chest got lonely
and i broke every bone
in my hands that day
i, i've never been good
i, i've never been as good as I was that day
i've seen you run and i've seen you crawl
your shadow in the sunset on the line
and brother did you feel me when i broke your fall
G-*the phantom pains are with me all the time
they walked that city trying to find the one
a place to call their own to raise the young
and they moved three times before they left that town
and two more times before it all was done
they say there's truth in blood and home in a name
and we all know that stories outlive facts
so if you are a bleedin' i'm your tourniquet
you're lost i'll be your shortcut back
mess of blue
nothing matters if never did
and i can't take you with me kid
i'll be gone with the morning sun
our house of cards has blown away
only the jokers and the queens remain
counting up the diamonds and the hearts
i'll be down in the mesa blue
kicking it with a girl like you
she won't even know my name
you're somewhere in a far off land
holding all the kings in the palm of your hand
sinking like a stone into the sand
i can't be the one
i swear that i don't have a gun x2
snakes and ladders and you're rolling double
i'm in the backseat betting on trouble
and the kids are at the inconvenience store
you're climbing up and i'm sliding down
you're holding the prize and i'm hitting the ground
and 'ace of spades' is the only card around
wildfire
i'll come back for you
all you've got is wait
and when i'm back from it
we'll celebrate
but i', cut from it
twist the tournaquet
and i'll lost in it
my great escape
everybody knows the story that you told
how the light woke up to chase the night into the cold
december descending like a blade to the grain
you chop it down but it doesn't feel the pain
i'll come back for you
all you've got is wait
and when i'm back from it
we'll celebrate
everybody knows the story that you told
how the light woke up to chase the night into the cold
december ascending like a spark from the flame
and wildfire burns faster than the rain
blue light
my blue light, shines in the morning
shines at night, shines when it's storming
my blue light, left without warning
into the black December sky
thunder won't, ever catch the fire
the lightning bolt, his heart's desire
always the chase, never the prize
into the black December sky
if you come, come as you are
if you come, come as you are
into the black December sky
a friend came around, bringing gifts of gold
words so true, like a brothers hold
but his own news, cast me cold
into the black December sky
his own news, cast me cold
into the black December sky
loft light
where the river turns, and the light bends low
your eyes full of smoke, my head’s full of gold
when i met you there you were just a kid
you were not impressed with the things that i did
oh whitehorse you couldn’t hold her back
so she left that town quick as a heart attack
where the skyline breaks, and the light bends slow
when i met you there, i had no place to go
my land-locked love couldn’t reach your shore
but i’ll find you again, just like i found you before
oh skytrain you wouldn’t let her down
so she faded away and i fled that town
your skinny knees, and your wounded eyes
when i told you that i liked you, and you asked me why
i said i love you, that you were the one
you said you better not be fucking with me, iverson
so pull down the curtains, and we’ll be vampires
seventeen below, and my blood is on fire x4
blood and bone
when you were alone
on the inside making music with your heart
in a voice that can't be heard
and so you're pounding out the words
singing songs of blood and bone
when you first laid eyes on me
the clove hitch gave and my heart broke in three
for all the things that would not be
as we sailed our separate seas
sharing stars and gravity
now that time has played its song
looking back the words they were all wrong
but the choruses were strong
and our voices echo on
under the bridge where we were young
..........
if you want it
come and get it
it's right here
I won't let it disappear
otherside
i am the moon shine
i shine down on you
i bleed through your curtains
i paint your body blue
i live in the creases
of clouds rolling through
and travel the dark sky
to lay down with you
i carry your dreams, girl
and hide them with mine
so no one can see them
in the sun's burning light
you are my sunshine
chaser of night
i sleep in the hollow
of the other side x2
right for this
with all that you’ve been through
and what’s left to come
nothing can stop you, when you run
so you take what you think
will get you back on your feet
and it tears you down to the bone
still nothing can heal you, when you are alone
that’s when the dark star will lead you home x2
with every forgiveness
and all apologies
nothing can slow it, when it bleeds
so you slip underneath it
where the water is deepest
and it holds you, cold as a stone
still nothing can reach you, when you are alone
that’s when the dark star will lead you home x4
when her love broke down and you were on your best,
everybody said that you were right for this x4
dark star
when the sun breaks in
your little hideaway
and asks you where you have been
and tells you she is so tired
of all the dark living
of all that could have been
and tells you...
this is not the way to show me you love me
she says she's going south
you tell her why she can't go
as if she don't know
of the cycles of the pull
of how things just are
when you are born a star
and she says...
this is not the way to tell me you love me
so she rises again
as you come and you go
as the shadows collide
into the night's backside
until her coldness floods in
where warm should have been
and she says...
this is not the way to tell you i love you
this is not the way to tell you i love you
song for marc
you’ve got the charm
i’ve got the heart
you’ve got the sunshine, friend
and i’ve got the dark
so let’s meet at the station
and find a milk-run train
stop in every town
and unload some pain
barely got out of macadam
that’s where we lost good time
in the kitchen with her cousins
and board games on her mind
euchre lately
what a horrible dream
fire for a heart
and the karosene
sometimes we win
and sometimes we lose
takin’ is easy
when we don’t have to choose
you got me pinned down
you got me bare boned
clearly and wearily
you got me all alone
this girl’s got me lazy
like i’m old and i’m drunk
you might i’m crazy
to watch her sail when i’m sunk
but i’m the back of the skytrain
with my headphones on
i see her dancing but
not to my song
you’ve got the charm
i’ve got the heart
you’ve got the sunshine, friend
and i’ve got the dark
yucatan
i can feel you feel
i can feel the pain of your pain for me
of what you paid to set me free
and watch me bleed
but i saw you fall
i saw the guilt that was on your face
the lame horse in the race
never gets the bets
we could go south and start again
heard you had some family in yucatan
could maybe make one of our own
save it for a quiet ocean home
all of the times
all the small choices that we made
acting brave and unafraid
and pretending like we know
it all adds up now
the math of you at the door
me stretched out on the floor
just don’t seems to make sense
we sell our things and find a bike
see the dessert at night
stop getting so damn stoned
save it for a quiet ocean home
we could go south and start again
heard you had some family in yucatan
could maybe make one of our own
save it for a quiet ocean home
tame
my doctor says
it’s gonna be bad
gonna be worse
than you’ve ever had
she knows best
cause she’s a friend
says she’ll stand by me
to the end
i take her advice
take her pills
swallow her medicine
‘till i feel ill
i scramble to my feet when i hear the door
i wrestle with the thoughts that i had on the floor
i break into a song so i’m not alone
i turn it all off when i’m so stoned
there’s a siren in my head that i have to heed
there’s a strobe light in my face and i cannot breath
there’s a picture in my mind that i just can’t frame
and a beast in my heart that i can’t tame
wake up
i hate the way that you leave
i hate the reasons that you give
and i can’t stay when you’re not here
and i can’t leave when you’re out there
wake up, wake up, wake up
there’s a siren sounding
and alarm bells pounding (x2)
you’ve got murder in your heart
you can’t help but kill
the gifts you bring to me
yea, they leave me quite ill
and i know that you would
stop it if you could (x2)
i hate the way that you leave
i hate the reasons that you give
methamatics
i wanna feel
like my work is over
drivin’the van
so the dancers can work
i couldn’t care
if you saw my face
when i passed you when
was on cruise control
i wanna cook it
in my mother’s kitchen
and recall
the sting of the spoon
so don’t forget me
when i plunge into the ocean
the cold
that you’ll never know
so don’t forget me
when i plunge into the ocean
the cold
that you’ll never know
and i will drive
down your night lit highway
and you will pray
for the coming of the day x4
home; betrayal
when you hands leave town
when you mouth turns her back
when your eye won’t walk a straight line
every shadow’s a whisper
and no one’s talking back
say goodbye x3
when your train’s run its rails
when your name’s black as ink
when you lovers line up at your door
every painting’s been painted
every dealer is weak
say goodbye x3
when the dust leaves a trail
from the east to the west
to the mountain to find your way home
and everyone who is sleeping
is cold to the bone
say goodbye x3x3
family
brother, oh brother
why did you leave me here
heart black, chest full of blue
walkin’and a wandering
down the darkest road
a night freight once blew
and family of family
what has become of you
why do you run to your end
my darlin’ my baby boy
don’t do the things i do
walk a line of reticence
reticence
sweetness my only love
well meet me in the night
bleed the darkness with your light
and darkness my only love
meet me in the night
bleed the blackness from the light (x4)
domestic excuse
i got mine the hard way
broken bones and words
takes me back to dark days, honey
bleedin’ nights with her
i tried to show you gently
i tried with all a my might
to lay it down beside you, honey
to lay it down tonight
and i may never see you again
i may never see you again
i may never see you again
i may never see you again
your promise rang like sirens
shadows never lie
and darkness is my best friend, honey
she’s always on my side
always on my side
black moon
oh black moon
where’s your better half
the one who makes you smile
he who makes you laugh
the sky’s gotten cold
the stars they never age
oh black moon
why are you this way
when you were a fire
you burned for me the most
and in your dying days
you raised me like a ghost
now no light comes to me
in my city of night
and no love comes to me
in my city of night
oh black moon
where’s your better half
the one who makes you smile
he who makes you laugh
it can happen to you
was it the joke
that you caught me stealin’
or is it the smoke
that you hear me blowin’
was it that morning
that i told you that i’d lost it
my way home
was it that that cost it?
cause your eyes never lie
and you tell me that we’re fine
but your words come pouring down
“you're not your man anymore,
your shadow don’t darken my door
not longer your little whore
no, not my man anymore, no”
was it the babies
and how we thought it would be
life in the country
livin’low livin’ free
and ain’t it the quiet
that you cried for at night
now blistering silence
as i pull you in tight
and your hands know this land
and they show me who i am
but your words come pouring down
“you're not your man anymore,
your shadow don’t darken my door
not longer your little whore
no, not my man anymore, no”
and now with the choke
and the sounds of the breathing
of our hope being burned to the ground
i’m not your man anymore
my shadow don’t darken your door
no longer my little whore
no, not your man anymore, no
no, not your man anymore, no
south dakota
meet me in the morning of a golden winter's plain
hands full of forgiveness and eyes gone blind with pain
and i'll sing...
go unlock the cellar go and dig through sacred stacks
through the fire of lovers' letters use the clues to sketch a map
and i'll sing...
south dakota canyon where i'll lay my body down
lying to the night sky was the only truth i found
and i'll sing...
in the churches of your choosing where the doorways all are black
you whisper in your secrets and a chorus echoes back
and sings...
i want to be there when it sops
lay my heart inside a box
tide will sing me out to sea.
fuel in the sunset
you come, home to me
in the middle of the night
quiet as a mouse
like i could be sleeping
your clothes don’t make a sound
your shadow it don’t seem right to me
the something i don’t recognize
darkness breaks this city
i stumble down the hall
regretting the notes that i do not write you
pretending you don’t see me at all
my shadow it don’t seem right to you
there’s something you don’t recognize
the weekend is coming, so darling be true
hold on to me and i’ll hold onto you
fuel in the sunsets and fire in the night
burn out the shadows and fill it with light (repeat)
sublimate
i know you’re strong
i know i’m weak
it’s obvious
it’s not a choice
you’ll carry on
i’ll fall apart
and all our friends
gracefully fade away
but you can’t stay away my sublimate
no you can’t stay away my sublimate
that razor’s smell
that burning hum
the twitching fuse of a time bomb
i know you’re right
i know i’m not
and every time i hide
i get caught
but you can’t stay away my sublimate
no you can’t stay away my sublimate
last night we burned your barn
once you were free
and you swayed while i swooned
in the stillness of the night
against my black moon
when the stars were on fire
when you clawed at the sky
electrified
crimson cross my eyes
but he came with his plan
yea he came with his blade
gonna make it by hand
he’s gonna make you made
now i stand where you stand
half a field from your grave
and the phantom pains
are as bad as they said they be
oh love, can’t you see.
i’d burn it for you, now won’t you burn it for me
untitled
when the fire's backed up to your door
and the waters have all pulled away
and the only sounds are of lungs
and the wind's final refrain
i will never be here again x3
