Uncle Tupelo

You threw out the past
When you threw out what was mine
Throughout the years
It was hard to make it last
Anodyne
No sign of reconciliation
It's a quarter past the end
Full moon from on high
Across the board we lose again
Anodyne
Anodyne
Tossed it out for me to find
Without a word you're out the door
Without a reason anymore
Two fingers on the trigger
Can break the heart of any day
Foolish to believe
It would turn out okay
Anodyne
Anodyne
Tossed it out for me to find
Without a word you're out the door
Without a reason anymore
Anodyne

You threw out the past
When you threw out what was mine
Throughout the years
It was hard to make it last
Anodyne
No sign of reconciliation
It's a quarter past the end
Full moon from on high
Across the board we lose again
Anodyne
Anodyne
Tossed it out for me to find
Without a word you're out the door
Without a reason anymore
Two fingers on the trigger
Can break the heart of any day
Foolish to believe
It would turn out okay
Anodyne
Anodyne
Tossed it out for me to find
Without a word you're out the door
Without a reason anymore
Anodyne

do you fear this man's invention
that they call atomic power
are we all in great confusion
do we know the time or hour
when a terrible explosion
may rain down upon our land
leaving horrible destruction
blotting out the works of man
are you, are you ready
for that great atomic power
will you rise and meet your savior in the air
will you shout or will you cry
when the fire rains from on high
are you ready for that great atomic power
there is one way to escape
and be prepared to meet the lord
when the mushroom of destruction fallsthere is a shielding sword
he will surely stand beside you
and you'll never taste of death
for your soul will fly to safety
and eternal peace and rest
are you, are you ready
for that great atomic power
will you rise and meet your savior in the air
will you shout or will you cry
when the fire rains from on high
are you ready for that great atomic power

You'd never leave on your own
Where you're from and where you're going
I know these things like I know you hate me now
Catch yourself in mid-air thinking
Your dreams can never be bought
I couldn't help you then and I guess I can't help you now
When jousting is for pleasure
Pleasure is way out of hand
The time is right for getting out while we still can
Chickamauga's where I've been
Solitude is where I'm bound
I don't ever wanna taste these tears again
I don't ever wanna taste these tears again
Appalachian, so patient
The lessons we've traveled
As soon as we're out we're kicking our way back in
Fighting fire with unlit matches
From our respective trenches
No authority can clean up this mess we're in
A miracle might point the way
To solutions we're after
And avert our chronic impending disaster
Chickamauga's where I've been
Solitude is where I'm bound
I don't ever wanna taste these tears again

doesn't matter what you've said
or what you've done
when you've lost your head
you're looking for a new one
your heaven looks just like my hellbeautiful as far as I can tell
your heaven looks just like my hell
just as I drown
then you say it's real
so I hold myself down
'cause I like the way it feels
your heaven looks just like my hellbeautiful as far as I can tell
your heaven looks just like my hell
how could I have ever needed
such a cold heart to count on
and how could I have ever wanted
such a cold shoulder to cry on

disengaged, we're forsaken nowcommunication does suffer
the moral stare of Big Brother
not a chance, no compromise
battling the barrier of belief
not to try anymore
don't want to murder the only memory or hide
try to accept that it's all worthwhilewhen you've been disengaged
severed from any world that's mine
you can hang the blame on the wall
it'll be a frame around us alldeluged by stickers and billboards
the conversation turns to war
never thought it would come down to thisit seems every person for themself
don't want to murder the only memory or hide
try to accept that it's all worthwhilewhen you've been disengaged
severed and forsaken
when you've been disengaged
severed from any world that's mine
more and more makes a hunger for less
you get hurt when you touchthe bright lights burningwhen you're high
you can fall down easy
too many years spent trigger-happy
at times I feel betrayed
I feel that I've been wronged
suspended in all disbelief
until it seems it just can't go on

take my picture off the wall
it don't matter to me at all
said I was headed for a fall
but you wanted me to crawl
give back my TV
it don't mean that much to me
while you're giving back my things
give me back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
and let my love flow like a river
straight into your heart, dear
well, you say I was the one
to blame for the wrong that's been done
well, you got a friend named cocaine
and to me he is to blame
he has drained life from your face
he has taken my place
while you're alone in San Antone
give me back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
and let my love flow like a river
straight into your heart, dear

take my picture off the wall
it don't matter to me at all
said I was headed for a fall
but you wanted me to crawl
give back my TV
it don't mean that much to me
while you're giving back my things
give me back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
and let my love flow like a river
straight into your heart, dear
well, you say I was the one
to blame for the wrong that's been done
well, you got a friend named cocaine
and to me he is to blame
he has drained life from your face
he has taken my place
while you're alone in San Antone
give me back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
give back the key to my heart
and let my love flow like a river
straight into your heart, dear

Try to face up to the blinding sun
Racing for the final word to come
Facing up, it's hard to stay devout
I can see the sand and it's running out
And it's running out
We quote each other only when we're wrong
We tear out the threads and move along
We can't seem to find common ground
I can see the sand and it's running out
It was only circumstances
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game
The current drags to the bottom
A hemorrhage that moves us around
It pulls and beckons in a strong direction
High water forever bringing us down
I can see the sand and it's running out
It's running out
It was only circumstances
But it's the difference
It gets in the way
No race is run in this direction
You can't break even
You can't even quit the game

John Hardy, he was a desperate little man
Carried two guns every day
Shot a man down by the West Virginia line
They saw John Hardy get away
They saw John Hardy get away
They cornered John Hardy on the Tombstone bridge
He thought that he was free
'Til the deputy sheriff came and grabbed him by the arm
Said

when you find you can't somehow
make it like all the rest
you won't need to scrounge aroundfor someone else
torn between the unknown
and the place that you call home
and the life you want but have never known
there was a time
you could put it out of your

when you find you can't somehow
make it like all the rest
you won't need to scrounge aroundfor someone else
torn between the unknown
and the place that you call home
and the life you want but have never known
there was a time
you could put it out of your mind
leave it all behind
there was a time
that time is gone
what has a life of fifty years
in this town done for you
except to earn your nameand place on a barstool
you spent your whole life in this county
you've never been out of state
you say you're gonna make it outbefore it's too late
there was a time
you could put it out of your mind
leave it all behind
there was a time
that time is gone
there was a time when nothing seemedto make much sensethat's turned more intense
and all the crutches you've kept around
now are nowhere to be found
remember when you didn't have
to look ahead or behind you
there was always something right there to do
but now it's life in some kind of traplooking for a way out
well, you keep moving onthat's what it's all about
there was a time
you could put it out of your mind
leave it all behind
there was a time
that time is gone

It's a long way to heaven
It's a short way to hell
Painkillers won't help
When the weight's not yourself
They're poisoning the air
For personal wealth
It's a long way to heaven
It's a short way to hell
I don't know what I'm breathing for
'Cause the air ar

I can only sing it loud
always try to sing it clear
what the hell are we all doing here
making too much of nothing
or creating one unholy mess
an unfair study in survival, I guess
but it always comes down to
what to do when it's all around you
and this t

are you surprised it's me
hope I didn't wake anybody
honey, please wait up for me
I miss you more than I need sleep
guess I'll let you go
even though I don't want to
honey, please wait up for me
I need you and I can't keep up this speed

There's a guitar leaning on a Marshall stack
Used to sound like the sun on the horizon
Now I think we've been had
There's a young girl screaming all the way in the back
Poor kid, she never saw it coming
Now she knows she's been had
Watching the label spin

come, all you coalminers
wherever you may be
and listen to the story
that I relate to thee
my name is nothing extra
but the truth to you I tell
I am a coalminer
and I'm sure I wish you well

I was born in old Kentucky
in a coal camp, born and bred
I know about old beans
bulldog gravy and cornbread
I know how the miners work and slave
in the coalmines every day
for a dollar in the company store
for that is all they pay

mining is the most dangerous work
in our land today
plenty of dirty, slaving work
for very little pay
coalminers, won't you wake up
and open your eyes and see
what this dirty capitalist system
has done to you and me

dear miners, they will slave you
until you can't work no more
and what will you get for your laborbut a dollar in the company store
a tumbledown shack to live in
snow and rain pouring through the topand you have to pay the company rentand your payments will never stop

they take our very lifeblood
they take our children's lives
take fathers away from children
take husbands away from wivescoalminers, won't you organize
wherever you may be
and make this a land of freedom
for workers, like you and me

I am a coalminer
and I'm sure I wish you well
let's sink this capitalist system
to the darkest pits of hell

do you remember, remember D. Boon
part of what he was is a part of me nowand if you think back, where would he be
where would I be if time had allowed

this isn't written for any one manit's about me
this isn't written for anyone alivejust the songs that he sang

I've been toldthat it's a waste of time
well, so what
will it be worth mine

and if Managua's bullets don't flyyoung men still would die for glory
or for their countries
it's just me and Jay
playing our guitars along with it all

this isn't written for any one manit's about me
this isn't written for anyone alivejust the songs that he sang

and I'm not old
so I've got nothing but time to wastewill it be worth mine

these lines don't work on me
they won't on you
didn't knew the cards were on the table

just can't stand to see things turn out wrongno way to make things right
never promise anything anymore

so god damn hard to make it work
no easy way out of this one
always someone or something
to get lost in the shuffle
at least this road leads straight out of here

adversity is stable
and life in front of you
discarded, recycled and new

just can't stand to see things turn out wrongno way to make things right
never promise anything anymore

so god damn hard to make it work
no easy way out of this one
always someone or something
to get lost in the shuffle
at least this road leads straight out of here

just can't stand to see things turn out wrongno way to make things right
never promise anything anymore

someone or something to get lost in the shuffleat least this road leads straight out of here

too late to go back
sorry needs to be said
but there's really nothing now to do

if you find yourself standing
at the end of your line
looking for a piece of something
maybe a piece of mind
fed up, lost, and run down
nowhere to hold on
tired of, take your place at the end son
we'll get to you one by one

no light ever shines
dead end tears that dry
maybe a waste of words and time
never a waste of life
every hour will be spent
filling a quota, just getting alonghandcuffs hurt worse
when you've done nothing wrong

no thanks to the treadmill
no thanks to the grindstone
there's plenty of dissent from
these rungs below
the clockwork of destruction
hanging low over our heads
always a smokestack cloud
or a slow-walking death

no light ever shines
dead-end tears that dry
maybe a waste of words and time
never a waste of life

no thanks to the treadmill
no thanks to the grindstone
there's plenty of dissent from
these rungs below
the clockwork of destruction
hanging low over our heads
always a smokestack cloud
or a slow-walking death

no light ever shines
dead-end tears that dry
maybe a waste of words and time
never a waste of life
maybe a waste of words and time
never a waste of life

I wish, I wish my baby was bornsitting on his papa's knee
and you, poor girl, were dead and gonegreen grass growing over thee

I'm not no saint, nor I never shall be
'til the sweet apple grows
from the sour apple tree
I still hope the day will come
when you and I will walk as one

I wish, I wish my baby was bornsitting on his papa's knee
and you, poor girl, were dead and gonegreen grass growing over thee

I'm not no saint, nor I never shall be
'til the sweet apple grows
from the sour apple tree
I still hope the day will come
when you and I will walk as one

a great crowd has now gathered
all around the jail today
to see me executed
and hear what I do say

now I must hang this morning
for the murder of Lilli Schull
whom I so cruelly murdered
and her body shamefully burned

the fire where I burned her
is again now within my sight
her lovely face recovering
and the fire that burned so bright

the cries of poor Lilli
again I can almost hear
as she begged me not to kill her
her life alone to spare

now I bow down to Jesus
in penitential grief
and I beg him now to save me
like he did the dying thief

God bless my aged parents
who mourn for me alone
and my wife and baby
who will be left alone

it was then that I heard a whisper
in a most gentle tone
my grave is one sufficient
to save the vilest one

a great crowd has now gathered
all around the jail today
to see me executed
and hear what I do say

now I must hang this morning
for the murder of Lilli Schull
whom I so cruelly murdered
and her body shamefully burned

the fire where I burned her
is again now within my sight
her lovely face recovering
and the fire that burned so bright

the cries of poor Lilli
again I can almost hear
as she begged me not to kill her
her life alone to spare

now I bow down to Jesus
in penitential grief
and I beg him now to save me
like he did the dying thief

God bless my aged parents
who mourn for me alone
and my wife and baby
who will be left alone

it was then that I heard a whisper
in a most gentle tone
my grave is one sufficient
to save the vilest one

I don't know what you've been through
You might think that I don't care
But I do
And I've tried to understand
I've tried to understand your abuse
But you've got no excuse
And there's no use in lovin'
Anyone who hates themself
You keep coming back
So I hold you for a little while
But I always go when I can't take your sad smile
'Cause I can't stand it when you get so intense
And it's all a part of our bad inheritance
And there's no sense in lovin'
Anyone
Won't you come back for a while
You could see exactly what you've always meant to me
But you don't wanna know
You don't wanna know
And you don't know what I've been through
And if I think that you don't care
You probably do
And there's no sense in lovin'
Anyone who hates themself

been traveling around some
crossing people's paths
some they stand right in your way
others like to watch you pass
been trying to memorize
all the different lies
that people must tell themselves each nightto justify their lives

don't call it nothing
this might be all we'll ever have

held myself for ransom
wandered so blind
I found the roads less traveled
to take you off my mind
and I told myself I know
everything I do
I'm just looking for something
to lead me away from you

don't call it nothing
this might be all you'll ever have

I know it's not enough
to make it sound like more
so I swear if there's a God
to make him sleep on the floor

been traveling around some
crossing people's paths
some they stand right in your way
others like to watch you pass

don't call it nothing
this might be all we'll ever have
I'll ever haveever have

lost sight of ground
never been so down
nothing here to stand on

it's a war-weary road
another faceless tombstone
nothing here to stand on

I turn to face the wind
may never get out
forever caught in a spin
no better place to begin

can't find the phone, can't hear to listencan't take along what we're missing
just as well to write this postcard from helland the bar clock says three a.m.
fallout shelter sign above the door
in other words, don't come here anymore

too many miles between
I heard a dead man scream
nothing here to stand on

each and every step
reeling out more or less
nothing here to stand on

I turn to face the wind
may never get out
forever caught in a spin
no better place to begin

I turn to face the wind
may never get out
forever caught in a spin
no better place to begin

tried to stay, tried to run
there's never been enough reason
to believe in anyone
this trickle-down theoryhas left all these pockets emptyand the bar clock says three a.m.
fallout shelter sign above the door
in other words, don't come here anymore

Satan, your kingdom must come down
Satan, your kingdom must come down
I heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

gonna pray until they tear your kingdom downgonna pray until they tear your kingdom downI heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

gonna shout until they tear your kingdom downgonna shout until they tear your kingdom downI heard the voice of Jesus say
Satan, your kingdom must come down

Sidetracked down the middle
Never saw it coming, what a surprise
It's been a wonder
Electricity tells a story
It's a sound getting near as fear is watching you
It's watching you close
You can fight it, both arms swinging
Or try to wash it away
Or pay up to the echoes of 'okay'
No more, no more will I see you
No more will I see you
No more will I see you
You've schemed more than you have
You've borrowed more than you know
Better to steal the crumbs
It makes it easier to go
Paralyzed by conscience
Looking for an opening
Apathy as your vocal cords cut out
Never thought once to ask how's the temperature
Too busy with the finer points
Of each struggle we're after
No more, no more will I see you
No more will I see you
No more will I see you
So long since I've seen you
Haven't we both been living the high life
It flows to the bottom
No more, no more will I see you
No more will I see you
No more will I see you

I've been searching and you've been gone
Out looking for the shortest path to the one that you're on
And I've already seen all I wanna see
Come on, let's take the long cut
I think that's what we need
When we were younger, we were strong
We felt a lot better than the things that we'd done
Now if it's to be, if you still believe
Come on let's take the long cut
I think that's what we need
If you wanna take the long cut
We'll get there eventually
I've been searching and you've been gone
Out looking for the shortest path to the one you're on
Now if it's to be, if you still believe
Come on let's take the long cut
I think that's what we need
We've been in a deep rut
And it's been killing me
If you wanna take the long cut
We'll get there eventually

my Lord told his disciples
after I'm risen and gone
you'll meet with troubles and trialsbear your rebukes and scorns

my warfare will soon be ended
my race is almost run
my warfare will soon be ended
and I'm coming home

you can rebuke me all you want to
I'm travelling home to God
I'm well acquainted with the crossesand all my ways are hard

they say my lord is the devil
they call his saints the same
I don't expect much more down herethan grief and scorn and shame

God bless them holiness people
the Presbyterians too
those good old shouting Methodists
those praying Baptists too

tnd when you get to heaven
I wanna see you there
tnd when I say amen
I want you to say so too

my warfare will soon be ended
my race is almost run
my warfare will soon be ended
and I'm coming home
I'm coming home

my Lord told his disciples
after I'm risen and gone
you'll meet with troubles and trialsbear your rebukes and scorns

my warfare will soon be ended
my race is almost run
my warfare will soon be ended
and I'm coming home

you can rebuke me all you want to
I'm travelling home to God
I'm well acquainted with the crossesand all my ways are hard

they say my lord is the devil
they call his saints the same
I don't expect much more down herethan grief and scorn and shame

God bless them holiness people
the Presbyterians too
those good old shouting Methodists
those praying Baptists too

tnd when you get to heaven
I wanna see you there
tnd when I say amen
I want you to say so too

my warfare will soon be ended
my race is almost run
my warfare will soon be ended
and I'm coming home
I'm coming home