Better Don't Do
Not Dead, Not Dying
Connect In Gray
Satellites
Brotherhood Way
Emory Down
Miracle Song
New Math
Springfield Avenue
Big Beautiful Dipper
Better Don't Do
You better don't do
I'm sure I won't tell
You better don't do
I'm sure time will tell
You can go for broke, selling smoke
Mirrors that reflect nothing
You can hold your breath, get really wet
Drown and out set for the count
You better don't do
You better don't do
You mustn't not say that
Everyone will shout
You haven't prefigured
For elementary clout
You can say "Oh no! There he goes
Again, he's selling Sundays"
Any other day, would make you pray
For solemn, peaceful blood plays
So you sit and stare
And wonder 'bout the distant past
Can't remember when
The pieces fit so neatly
And the pages were born on glass
You better don't do that!
Nevermind, don't sell
I'm not gonna follow
On your trip to hell.
You can run and turn from things that burn
Winters steamy Sundays
Change your life with fire and ice
The old man screams the end is near
Not Dead, Not Dying
I'm so tired of the vicious cutting down.
Stuck inside this hole, while the dirt is pouring 'round.
Reaching up for air, suffocating, so I'm told.
I'm turning in my grave before my body's even cold.
Not dead, not dying
But not for trying
There's no denying
And I'm tired of lying (lying to myself)
Way too many paces
Not enough new shades
Completely out of patience
Can't get in my way
Not dead, Not dying
I'm high, I'm flying
They say they're trying
And I know they're lying (lying!)
Just before you sleep
Take a deep breath of air
And stop to think of the peace
That you have, that you have
And right before you dream
Take a good long look at life
And right before you scream
Face the truths the world denied you
Not Dead, Not dying
Over time, I'm implying
Lost in flight I'm crying
In your arms, I'm dying
Not Dead Not Dying
And you're so inviting
And I'm through with fighting
I'm not dead, not dying
Connect In Gray
Scoop me up inside your well
Hung dream, an actively, passive mill.
Lord you make me turn myself into
A silent, muted, scream, to hell.
Tied to your backstep drive
Public affection flies
Feel free to spoon-feed me
Your clichés, I just may believe
Stop stabbing my dreams
I'm not as strange as you seem
Just to blow me away
Into six shades of gray
Let it fade, I said, I'd say
I'd fade away, like I was meant to fade
But not today.
I'm a random act of sexual tension
You can tell by my description
Just squeeze out my heat and meet me
On top of your submissive aggression
Stop mining my dreams
I'm not as dumb as you seem
Just to throw me away
Into six shades of gray
Let it fade, I said
I'd fade the way I was meant to fade
But not today.
Call me on the phone...
Chill me to the bone...
Or, you could just leave me a message...
Satellites
Just because the sky is filled with ice
Doesn't mean the sky will fall
Reflections of a golden eye
To a future you recall
It was just like any other night
Cheap graffiti written on my wall
And one and one stopped adding up
To anything at all
So you walk out and start out
Running to fall
Over and tumbling
Like a red rubber ball
And you're bounding off of satellites
Rebounding from a fall
Sing about what moves you
Don't let anything stop you at all
Just because they tell you how
Doesn't mean the curtain calls
If winter sins and soon we're in
And time is forestalled
It was just like any old day
The blinds your mind
The room starts spinning
And you bounce off the walls
Brotherhood Way
Facing our fears down on Brotherhood Way
Realizing then we were too far away
And I've seen the winter cast its pall on summers day
Alone in the dark hear the sound of the barking of dogs far away
Far Away
The night lost the war to the crack in the dawn
Believing our voices our lies marching on
And the pain in their faces mirror reflection in the glass
Turning away and you're facing the window that peers to the past
Did you hear what our brothers did down on Brotherhood Way?
Playing with fire, erasing the smiles
A stone's throw away
Counting the colors, each other, the color of skin
And the tears of our mothers and stories of brothers
And brotherhood, brotherhood way
The universe lies in a torn piece of cloth
Who holds more beauty?
The flame or the moth?
And the waves of the ocean lick the questions from your mind
A thousand years later they study the habits of death by design
Did you hear what our brothers did down on Brotherhood Way?
Playing with fire, erasing the smiles
A stone's throw away
Counting the colors, each other, the color of skin
And the tears of our mothers and stories of brothers
And brotherhood, brotherhood way
Emory Down
Emory Down, Emory Down
I thought you were a good friend.
Emory Down, Emory Down
Never before, and I contend
We would meet at half past ten
To walk around, the heart of town
But you walked away because I'm not of noble blood
Emory Down, Emory Down
Would you like to be in his stead?
Emory Down, Emory Down
No thanks; I'd rather be dead.
Pleased to make your acquaintance
Kindly Sir, I beg your patience
Bow your head in condescension
Raise your nose in high pretension
Emory Down, Emory Down
Holder of the chosen seed
Emory Down, Emory Down
Last in line to hold the deed
I'd deplete you
I'd defeat you
Damn you Emory Down!
I adore you
I deplore you
Damn you Emory Down!
I'd concede to
I decree:
Damn you Emory Down!
Emory Down, Emory Down
Miracle Song
So you want to be a rockstar?
Well, I gotta laugh.
All the fame and the fortune is a massive gaff.
Stuff the polls with opinions.
Feed the media gas.
All the tired contortions.
And that push star crap.
It may take a while, for the cream to rise.
It may take some time, for your spotlight.
So just keep on writing songs
In the early morning light.
Stay up all night.
Stay up all day.
Make a miracle song.
Make a miracle song.
You say you've bent over backwards?
Well I got news for you.
Better get a new position.
And get used to it!
Borrow money from your mama.
Borrow money from your fans.
Tell the world you're a genius.
With a visionary stance.
It may take a while, for the cream to rise.
It may take some time, for your spotlight.
So just keep on writing songs
In the early morning light.
Stay up all night.
Stay up all day.
Make a miracle song.
Make a miracle song.
New Math
If one and one makes three
Then where does that leave me?
I always thought one and one made two.
Tried to re-divide.
Solution's on the other side.
The grass is always greener.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh.
What's a precedent?
I thought it had all been done before.
Am I really breaking rules?
Ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Hey! It's the eighties,
Drinking in someone else's backyard
Kick him once and maybe
Listen here baby.
Dancing in someone else's yard.
Everything merges.
Everything merges.
Suffocation tools.
And all I really wanted was you.
Springfield Avenue
Walk in the air
And down a broken step
Remember the things
We always forget
Its right down the hall
and under a pillow.
The confusion prince
of all you never learned
No matter how it seems, it's all now and then,
Running fast in place.
You can walk on the walls. Walk on the ceiling;
Walk on the water. I don't care
Just be yourself and never hesitate
And you'll be fine
You'll be fine
You will find
The answer is you.
I remember back in Jersey
On Boyden Avenue
Playing ball after school
And trying to be cool
And I fell. And I bled.
And I got beaten up
By the jerks on the loose
Who're still stuck in their rut
Once you were a friend of mine.
Now you are a distant rhyme.
A footnote. An asterisk.
A blip on the screen.
Once you cross the avenue.
You find out that the things you do.
Matter to no one but yourself
Now I walk down the road
On this foggy coast
Holding your hand
I leave my ghosts behind
Some things don't change
For better or for worse
But life keeps getting better
And I like it like that
Big Beautiful Dipper
Big beautiful dipper hanging out my door
Can you imagine, anything as wonderful
and a mile tall
Huge and conducted, like a worn out snake
Pitted with the evidence of motion and social grace
I know...I know,I know,I know,I know it all
I know nothing
And that's the biggest crime of all.
I know...I know,I know,I know,I know it all
I know nothing
Can't connect the stars at all.
Big beautiful dipper on a burning sky
With guns and bones of butterflies
Flying in the black of night
Useless in the morning light
School of abductions,
Sucking out the heart and soul
And wonderful
Nestled in my backyard