Sometimes I Wish We Were an

Bill Callahan Sometimes I Wish We Were an Lyrics
1.Jim Cain

I started out in search of ordinary things
How much of a tree bends in the wind
I started telling the story without knowing the end

I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again
Something to be seen was passing over and over me
Well it seemed like the routine case at first
With the death of the shadow came a lightness of verse
But the darkest of nights, in truth, still dazzles
And I wore myself until I'm frazzled

I ended up in search of ordinary things
Like how can a wave possibly be?
I started running, and the concrete turned to sand
I started running, and things didn't pan out as planned

In case things go poorly and I not return
Remember the good things I've done
In case things go poorly and I not return
Remember the good things I've done
Done me in


2.Eid Ma Clack Shaw

Working through death's pain

Last night I swear I felt your touch
Gentle and warm
The hair stood on my arms
How, how, how?

Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory
Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory

I flipped my forelock, I twitched my withers, I reared and
bucked
I could not put my rider aground
All these fine memories are fuckin' me down

I dreamed it was a dream that you were gone
I woke up feeling so ripped by reality
Love is the king of the beasts
And when it gets hungry it must kill to eat
Love is the king of the beasts
A lion walking down city streets

I fell back asleep some time later on
And I dreamed the perfect song
It held all the answers, like hands laid on

I woke halfway and scribbled it down
And in the morning what I wrote I read
It was hard to read at first but here's what it said

Eid ma clack shaw
Zupoven del ba
Mertepy ven seinur
Cofally ragdah

Eid ma clack shaw
Zupoven del ba
Mertepy ven seinur
Cofally ragdah

Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory
Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory

Eid ma clack shaw
Zupoven del ba
Mertepy ven seinur
Cofally ragdah

Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory
Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way
To shake a memory


3.Wind and the Dove

Somewhere between the wind and the dove
Lies all I sought in you
And when the wind just dies, when the wind just dies
And the dove won't rise
From your window sill

Well I cannot tell you
Which way it would be
If it was this way too
For the wind and the dove
For the wind and the dove

And I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone

Somewhere between the wind and the dove
Lies all I lost in you
And when the wind just dies, when the wind just dies
And the dove won't rise
From your window sill

Well I cannot tell you
Which way it would be
If it was not this way too
For the wind and the dove
For the wind and the dove

And I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone
I am a child of linger on
I peer through the window gone


4.Rococo Zephyr

She lay beside me like a branch from a tender willow tree
I was as still, as still as a river could be
When a rococo zephyr swept over her and me

She watched the water ripple ripple ripple ripple light
Light watched the water ripple ripple ripple ripple she
I did some kind of dance, jaunty as a bee
I tried to look my best, a finch in wild mint vest
A fiercer force had wrenched her from where she used to be
I caught and caressed the length of her,
a tender willow branch floating on me

Well maybe this was all, was all meant to be
Maybe this is all, is all that meant to be
A rococo zephyr crept up and stepped over her and me

Well I used to be sort of blind
Now I can sort of see


5.Too Many Birds

Too many birds in one tree
Too many birds in one tree
And the sky is full of black and screaming leaves
The sky is full of black and screaming

And one more bird
Then one more bird
And one last bird
And another

One last black bird without a place to land
One last black bird without a place to be
Turns around in hopes to find the place it last knew rest
Oh black bird, over black rain burn
This is not where you last knew rest
You fly all night to sleep on stone
The heartless rest that in the morn, we'll be gone
You fly all night to sleep on stone
to return to the tree with too many birds
Too many birds
Too many birds

If...
If you...
If you could...
If you could only...
If you could only stop...
If you could only stop your...
If you could only stop your heart...
If you could only stop your heart beat...
If you could only stop your heart beat for...
If you could only stop your heart beat for one heart...
If you could only stop your heart beat for one heart beat.


6.My Friend

I looked all around
It was not written down
And so I'll tell you now
I will always love you
My friend

Now I'm not saying we're cut from the same tree
But like two pieces of the gallows
The pillar and the beam
Like two pieces of the gallows
We share a common dream--
To destroy what will harm other men
My friend

I looked all around
It was not written down
So I'll tell you now
I will always love you
My friend


7.All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast

The leafless tree looked like a brain
The birds within were all the thoughts and desires within me
Hoppin' around from branch to branch,
or snug in their nests listenin' in

An eagle came over the horizon
and shook the branches with its sight
The softer thoughts: starlings, finches, and wrens
The softer thoughts, they all took flight

The eagle looked clear through the brain tree,
emptying thoughts saved for me
Maybe I'll make this one my home,
consolidate the nests of the tiny
Raise a family of might like me

Then something struck him, wings of bone
Sweet desires and soft thoughts were all gone
The eagle shrieked, 'I'm alone'

Well it was time to flee the tree
The eagle snuck up on the wind one talon at a time
Being sky king of the sky, what did he have to fear
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast
All thoughts are prey to some beast

Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me
Sweet desire and soft thoughts, return to me


8.Invocation of Ratiocination


9.FaithVoid

It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away

Damnin' the children
Makin' the ill just a little more sick

It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
I put God away

This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in the light
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in the light

It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
I put God away

For a void without a question is just perverse
A void without a question is just perverse
Like tear gas misters at my grave

It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
I put God away

For a void without a question is just perverse
This is the end of faith, no more must I strive
To find my peace, to find my peace in the light

It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
It's time to put God away
I put God away