1. |
Best Century
03:45
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This is the greatest state of all
This is the best century I’ve ever seen, my friends,
In a million years
I’ll hide your headaches if you buy the drinks
meet down by the Ocean
‘Cause now you’ve got your names
out there
what are we
gonna do when they tell you:
You know I love you so
Hold out, the avenues will come
Hold out, the avenues will stretch out like our summer vacations
1992, oh God, we gotta run
To hide in chains, from every future
son who claims
“It’s coming down, man,
There’s nothing to go back to now
Just know I love you so”
This is the greatest state of all,
this is the best century I’ve ever seen, my friends
in a million years
I’ll buy your headaches if you hide the drinks
Let’s meet down by the Ocean
‘cause now you’ve got your names duly shared
what are we gonna do when I tell you
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2. |
Jonathan
02:55
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Light her up, now, that’s your girl; she’s got her eyes on you. But, Jonathan, you’re not a boy, I know you’ve wanted to give your father some peace, give your father some peace. I’ve seen his hands tremble when he’s talking to me. My eyes sing like honey bees. Your eyes sting like honey.
Just like honey.
I love it when you’re angry with me; it means I mean something to you. I love it when you’re angry with me; it means that you still care. My eyes sting like honey bees, you’re eyes, sting like honey. My eyes sting like honey bees; your eyes sting like you’re not a boy.
You're not a boy.
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3. |
Come In Out
04:31
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Come in,
out the shadow of this lock
this house holds only promise
that’s enough
they say they’ll end this
war with guns
bought with your labor
and shipped to their suns
this war’s not private
it’s not final
this war’s not waged in every street
and if you think you should
be forgiven
seek forgiveness
from your kids
and I
I won’t be waiting
to shoot down
shoot down the dream
that Wilfred Owen
was an Arab
who cut his lines like trenches deep
and how he roamed
your towns at night and
smashed in skulls on curbs
every street
and I
I would be forgiving
I’d wait
to shoot down the dream
the dream
the dream
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4. |
Different Way to Fall
03:56
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For nights of broken glass and light,
I might as well
have gone outside
and walked the avenues and streets
hoping there’d be someone I should meet
Cause if it breaks down, like a
summer rain
how’d you know that
I’d be back again
and is that what you want?
is that what you want?
cause that is not a plan at all
that’s just a different way to fall
so drag me inside and tie me down
and know that I would still want you around
and if we’ll never leave this town
know I’m happy just to
be bound
to everything I know and
everything you’d want
no this night it will not
see the end of us
‘less that’s what you want
is that what you want?
‘cause that is not a plan at all
It’s just a different way to fall.
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5. |
Lily Josephine
03:02
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Lily Josephine, the queen of Spring
and always hand in hand
with her bonnie king
and how his how his father watched as
you would make his porch your own
Lily Josephine the sky in flames
he let you run a marathon
your shirt a chain as it wrapped
itself ‘round your legs and
you collapsed in morning dew
and home is cold-eyed stares
and “where you been?”
and vow to never tell
but keep running
Lily Josephine our Summer’s come
let’s push back all our memories
‘nto evenin suns and let’s not
publish diaries or
work on eulogies just yet
and home is now just three stones
and four names
where rows
of old men sigh and leave
and I watch you cry on a westbound train
home
don’t know if you know just what I know
that the undertaker’s so slow
it might just take a while to get home
it might just take a while to die.
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6. |
We Built a Fire
03:56
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Where the train tracks
softly bend to find
those bright city lights
moving slowly
we built a fire
on a summer night
till the police came
and left us smiling
in the trench where all of us were stars
we dared to dream like we'd never done before
‘cause nothing could go wrong
Evelyn, it’s not enough
to tell yourself you’re giving up
You’d do it all again
you said you’d do it all again
well so would I
so would I
Refuse to speak the longing if it hurts
I dare you to move your lips although you know it will burn
like fire on a night that won’t return
that was the plan
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7. |
Song for My Sister
02:50
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You know how in summer
bats circle the house
how it’s impossible to sleep
on the landing in that heat?
so I walked to the lake and
wandered around
finally turned the
key in the lock
and lay awake until the dawn
as I waited for our brothers to come home
and I thought of our father
his second wife
who on three separate occasions
married the love of her life
but I know that she loved him
on the day that he died
and I can say in earnest
I’ve never seen no-one cry
like she did when he was gone
and I waited for our brothers to come home
I stepped on the flowers
know you would have left
had you seen the face
of the man you detest, well
inside the casket
lay nobody dead
but somebody wishing
that you would come back
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8. |
Carnation Lake
04:29
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For the youngest father,
scrambling across the ice
looking for his sons
It comes as no surprise
that to be a man
means to apologize
and I was making lists of things you love
when I realized that you were giving up
So I made a promise
Lake in Carnation
frozen over and dark
you spoke slowly
still tripping on your words
left silence, deadest truth
and then muttered in love
the thought that every man will hold in vain
"it’s never quite too late to change."
Evelyn,
I made mistakes,
now let’s get on with it
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9. |
Endless Fields
04:13
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It was cold in the yard
there was wind through the trees
and I left you alone
leaving what I believed
they all said you would go somewhere
but that’s not what you see now
when all this is over you’ll still
have me around
So I drowned all my luck
saw day after day
Like a sun slowly setting
I would let nothing change
but the sun it also rises
and you let the dream sink back in
and I was still young; I’d just learned how to
knock back a drink
the train riding away
is the sound of a moon
the train riding away
is the sound
of heartache
I was heart in a cage
I was walking the streets
turned left by our old school
where the trees never leaf
but grow
and it felt like you died
now a saint I could not believe
I turned into the alleys
and on
to the endless fields
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10. |
Oceans
05:08
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In their own way
They lived a low life
in their own way
they took a chance
being content without contention
nameless graves
your ashtrays empty yet
never a word against me
I miss the faces of those I’ve never had the courage to go see
In your own way
you made a bold move
sleeping at my place
dreaming of your mother’s room
spending money on trains and
Paris never taught you anything
but a language that you tried
so hard to love
until I told you to give up
In our own way
we lived the sweet life
watching the paint
letting our feet dry
after walks in the rain No-
vember afternoons
you said “there’s thousands of alleys
that’ll never see our frozen breath rise
or the oceans
that separate us”
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11. |
Waves
01:12
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I wish I
could tell you
that I still
believe,
The words that
I spoke on
the beach,
But tides change
and as soon,
as we turn
our backs
the wind blew
the meaning
away
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