Specters move like pilot flames Their widows toast at St. Angel Better times collide with now The tears were warm, I feel them still Their heat to vapor and disperse And cloud our eyes with weary glaze
You raise your glass and may exclaim "I'll put my hands on the truth by God" But it's faster, love, than you and me Faster than the speed of gravity That's how it catches you from falling And how it always slips away
Specters move like pilot flames Their widows toast at St. Angel Better times collide with now And better times And better times are coming still
He led you to this hiding place His lightening threats spun silver tongues The red bells beckon you to ride A handprint on the driver's side It looks a lot like engine oil and tastes like being poor and small And Popsicles in the summer
Deep red bells, deep as I've been done Deep red bells, deep as I've been done
It always has to come this Red bells ring this tragic gun Lost sight of the overpass The daylight won't remember her When speckled fronds raise round your bones Who took the time to fold your clothes Who shook the Valley of the Shadow
Deep red bells, deep as I've been done Deep red bells, deep as I've been done
Where does this mean world cast its cold eye Who's left to suffer long about you Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag Past empty lots and early graves Those like you who lost their way Murdered on the interstate While the red bells rang like thunder
Deep red bells, deep as I've been done Deep red bells, deep as I've been done Deep red bells, deep as I've been done
All night, all I hear, all I hear's your heart How come, how come
I twisted you over and under to take you The coals went so wild as they swallowed the rest I twisted you under and under to break you I just couldn't breathe with your throne on my chest
All night, all I hear, all I hear's your heart How come, how come
So far under the bed Into the beams you've gone I've gone, you've gone
I'm wrapped in the depths of these deeds that have made me I can't bring a sound from my head though I try I can't seem to find my way up from the basement A demon holds my place on earth 'till I die
All night, all I hear, all I hear's your heart How come, how come
So far under the bed Into the beams you've gone I've gone, you've gone
Want to get it all behind me You know everything reminds me I can't be myself without you Want to crawl down deep inside The springs inside the mattress Where l cry my dirty secrets 'Cause I just can't shake this feeling That I'm nothing in your eyes
And if I knew heartbreak was coming I would've set out running Past the city houses And the ditches on the highway Read between the seasons Under the bridges in valleys Til the winds out on the prairie Whip the tears from my eyes
Want to get it all behind me You know everything reminds me I can't be myself without you Want to crawl down deep inside the springs inside the mattress where I cry my dirty secrets 'Cause I just can't shake this feeling That I'm nothing in your eyes
And if I knew heartbreak was coming I would've set out running Across the muddy river And the smokestacks on the bank Swallow that horizon Hunger beyond hunger Til the cloudy blue Pacific Took the air in my lungs
And if I knew heartbreak was coming I would've set out running 'Cause I just can't shake this feeling That I'm nothing in your eyes.
Here I am in traffic's slow flow Where the needle touched down Carbon planes draw a cage round the air force base Where the needle touched down My foot on the brake it's ok to fly low Over poor Spanaway
An eagle swooped down from a semi-trailer Took the name of your town from a sharp-toothed freighter The needle's the same that recorded and played When you left me at the greyhound the year I moved away And if I knew then what's so obvious now You'd still be here baby My baby, baby
So that's why I never come back here That's why they spit out my name Your ex's have clawed up the bible Trying to keep me away With the sledge of tectonic fever The needle has landed again Let it play
And the needle touched down The needle is landing And the needle touched down The needle is landing
An eagle swooped down from a semi-trailer Took the name of your town From a sharp-toothed freighter And if I knew then what's so obvious now You'd still be here
I can say that I've lived here in honor and danger But I'm just an animal and cannot explain a life Down this chain of days I wished to stay among my people Relation now means nothing, having chosen so defined
And if death should smell my breathing As it pass beneath my window Let it lead me trembling, trembling I own every bell that tolls me
Maybe sparrow you should wait The hawks alight till morning You'll never pass beyond the gate If you don't hear my warning
Notes are hung so effortless With the rise and fall of sparrow's breast It's a drowning dive and back to the chorus
La di da di da di da La di da di da di da
Oh my sparrow it's too late Your body limp beneath my feet Your dusty eyes cold as clay You didn't hear my warning
Maybe sparrow it's too late Moonlight glanced off metal wings In a thunderstorm above the clouds The engine hums a sparrow's phrase For those who cannot hear the words For those who will not hear the words For those who will not hear the words
You're gone, the trees are so quiet When your hand was in my pocket How they swayed from side to side Now the meddling sky and my snowy eye Sees a different night
The night I fell into the lion's jaws To my regret and your delight
Those teeth themselves could not divine Nor their pressure estimate The haze I wish to never break And to never contemplate
Momentum for the sake of momentum Momentum for the sake of momentum Of momentum
So suddenly the madness came With its whiskered, wolven, ether pangs He locked the door And shut the blinds He laid down on the floor and he slept like iron While the dirty knife worked deep Into his spine The blood runs crazy The blood runs crazy
Cascading letters pool on the stairs The grass is high, the cats are wild You can't even touch the tip of their tails And the blood runs crazy with giant strides
He sang nursery rhymes to paralyze The wolves that eddy out the corner of his eyes But they squared him frozen where he stood In the glow of the furniture piled high for firewood
And the blood runs crazy with giant strides And the woodsman failed to breech those fangs in time So they dragged him through the underbrush Wearing three winter coats and a dirty knife
Old John the baptist, old John divine Leather harness round his line His meat was locust and honey Wild honey lord, wild honey
John saw that number Way in the middle of the air Cryin' holy, holy to the Lord
Old John the baptist, old John divine Frogs and snakes are gonna get John this time God told the angel "go see about John" So he flew from the pit with the moon round his waist Gathered wind in his fists so the stars round his wrists Cryin' holy, holy to the lord
Read the revelations, you'll find him there Third chapter, fourth verse where he said unto me "There's a beast that rose out of the sea" Ten crowns, ten crowns On his horns write "blasphemy" John couldn't read it (John couldn't read it) Get on repeat it John couldn't read it Holy, holy to the Lord
There was a man, a pharisee Who came by night to meet him Said "I know thy teacher came from God cause no man can do such miracles Without the lord to entreat him" God told the angel "go see about John" So he flew from the pit with the moon round his waist Gathered wind in his fists and the stars round his wrists Cryin' holy, holy to the Lord Holy, holy to the Lord Holy, holy to the Lord...
Driving home I see those flooded fields How can people not know what beauty this is I've taken it for granted my whole life Since the day I was born
Clouds hang on these curves like me And I kneel to the wheel Of the fox confessor on splendid heels And he shames me from my seat And on my guilty feet I follow him in retreat
What purpose in these deeds Oh fox confessor please Who married me to these orphaned blues "It's not for you to know, but for you to weep and wonder When the death of your civilization precedes you."
Will I ever see you again Will there be no one above me to put my faith in I flooded my sleeves as I drove home again
Now that we've met We can only laugh at these regrets Common as a winter cold They're telephone poles They follow each other One, after another, after another But now my heart is green as weeds Grown to outlive their season
And nothing comforts me the same As my brave friend who says, "I don't care if forever never comes 'Cause I'm holding out for that teenage feeling I'm holding out for that teenage feeling"
All the loves we had All we ever knew Did they fill me with so many secrets That keep me from loving you 'Cause it's hard, hard
Chimney falls and lovers blaze Thought that I was young Now I've freezing hands and bloodless veins As numb as I've become
I'm so tired I wish I was the moon tonight
Last night I dreamt I had forgotten my name 'Cause I had sold my soul but awoke just the same I'm so lonely I wish I was the moon tonight
God blessed me, I'm a free man With no place free to go I'm paralyzed and collared-tight No pills for what I fear
This is crazy I wish I was the moon tonight
Chimney falls and lovers blaze Thought that I was young Now I've freezing hands & bloodless veins As numb as I've become
I'm so tired, I wish I was the moon tonight
How will you know if you found me at least 'Cause I'll be the one, be the one, be the one With my heart in my lap I'm so tired, I'm so tired I wish I was the moon tonight
The most tender place in my heart is for strangers I know it's unkind but my own blood is much too dangerous Hangin' round the ceiling half the time Hangin' round the ceiling half the time
Compared to some I've been around But I really tried so hard That echo chorus lied to me with its "Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
In the end I was the mean girl Or somebody's in-between girl Now it's the devil I love And that's as funny as real love
I leave the party at three a.m. Alone, thank God With a valium from the bride It's the devil I love And that's as funny as real love And that's as real as true love
That echo chorus lied to me with its "Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
That echo chorus lied to me with its "Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on"
My true love drowned in a dirty old pan Of oil that did run from the block Of a falcon sedan 1969 The paper said '75 There were no survivors None found alive
Trees break the sidewalk And the sidewalk skins my knees There's glass in my thermos And blood on my jeans Nickels and dimes of the fourth of July Roll off in a crooked line To the chain-link lots where the red tails dive Oh how I forgot what it's like
<i>[Chorus:]</i> Hey when she sings, when she sings when she sings like she runs Moves like she runs Hey when she moves, when she moves when she moves like she runs Moves like she runs Hey there there's such deadly wolves 'round town tonight Round the town tonight Hey there there's such deadly wolves 'round town tonight Round the town tonight
Hey pretty baby get high with me, We can go to my sisters if we say we'll watch the baby" The look on your face yanks my neck on the chain And I would do anything To see you again
So I've fallen behind:
<i>[Chorus]</i>
Go on, go on scream and cry You're miles from where anyone will find you This is nothing new, no television crew They don't even put on the sirens My nightgown sweeps the pavement Please don't let him die
Everything's so easy for Pauline Everything's so easy for Pauline Ancient strings set feet a light to speed to her such mild grace No monument of tacky gold They smoothed her hair with cinnamon waves And they placed an ingot in her breast to burn cool and collected Fate holds her firm in its cradle and then rolls her for a tender pause to savor Everything's so easy for Pauline
Girl with the parking lot eyes Margaret is the fragments of a name Her bravery is mistaken for the thrashing in the lake Of the make-believe monster whose picture was faked Margaret is the fragments of a name Her love pours like a fountain Her love steams like rage Her jaw aches from wanting and she's sick from chlorine But she'll never be as clean As the cool side of satin, Pauline
Two girls ride the blue line Two girls walk down the same street One left her sweater sittin' on the train The other lost three fingers at the cannery Everything's so easy for Pauline
