1.Because This Is How We Speak
i would say that we saw this coming
if i thought it would change a thing
but at some point, we all stop running
some finish the race while some save their strength
and a day is coming soon when the banner of youth
will be dropped somewhere between
writing songs in our parents basement
and basing our lives on what they mean
so if this is the last time
leave it all under these lights
we've played out our lives on these stages
just to be buried with pages of songs left unsung
this is the last time
give us something to take home
a last line to sing
cause these half empty glasses
with stress cracks and fractures
can only grow so weak
before they break and spill out a dead language
that we've forgotten how to speak
and this is the last time
we'll all hang for the same crime
we buried the axe in the walls of these old village halls
just to claim that we were there
and this is the last time
(better to sink than to yield
better to lay down the shield
better to claim what we can
than be surprised when it ends
better to guess where we're going
the glass house before the throwing
better to know when to run
then face what we all become)
so raise, raise your glass to the ones
who gave their youth
so we could sing along
and this is the last time
you'll hear me apologize
i'll be that rope that you tied
'round your wrist to remind you
what idle hands have done.
and this is the last time.
2.New Home Life
To we, the nearly departed
When we leave this world behind
Will we look back on the mess we left
Of what was then our lives
Or will we carry on with songs whose words
Absolve us of ourselves
With golden wings and silver tongues
To bring us somewhere else
That we like better
And maybe this time I'll know better
And maybe this time I'll know better
When we are nearly departed
Will our steps then be retraced
In a vain attempt to reconcile
Our plans with what took place
There's still an angel and an astronaut
Waiting for their chance
To go and take their vows and live
The life that they had planned
And live it better
And maybe next time I'll know better
And maybe next time I'll know better
And maybe next time I'll know better
Cause it's already now and never
And I am still believing
That the homes we build have meaning
And the seeds we plant, they mean nothing
If we don't wait til morning
And I am still believing
In a love that's never failing
And we will see this dawn coming
If we just wait til morning
Won't you wait with me
I watch for you in clouds and fire
I listen for your song in leaves and feather
My rest will be unrest as you will me towards your side
We are stars, you and I
There are shapes in the clouds that we both see
You and me, and that's the way it should be
3.Our Holy Ghosts
there's no room for mistakes in here, my love
what with the promise of poisoned fruit that this place has
offered up
and we've taken our spills with a heavy handed grace
at the hands of each other, we'll be kissing one another
while covering our mistakes
we'll be in love with love, it's not enough this time
you were the one that i always thought i'd keep
but whether in body or in my head, my assumptions sing me to
sleep
is there a separate room for those
of us who dance with our holy ghosts？
can we destroy our past with a light and a match
seal the door and hope it stays closed？
to be in love with love is not enough this time
you did what you had to do to prove to me that we just don't
exist
and i never took the time to apologize for what i chose to miss
my dear, if there's one bloom here in the roses in our frozen
garden then
all the stars that fell from our hands will land and thaw the
earth to bloom again.
you did what you had to do to prove to me that we were sinking
ships
on the black jade of solemn seas where good men go to finally
make their peace
my dear if there's one bloom here in the roses in our frozen
garden then
all the stars that fell from our hands will fall to earth and we
will bloom again.
4.The Constant
you were the constant in me
the branch to my falling leaf
as i recall the ways that i was once held by this tree
and it stays with me
where i lay, windblown as such
a far cry from the place where i know we touched
peace be still, my son find peace
(i built all these bridges from rotted beams
to narrow the span between reprieves)
and it takes all i have just to sit and breathe
but i'll trade up my lungs for your company
and i'll take what i can from what's offered me
you asked me to meet you in the middle, my love
but waves can't reclaim the sea,
they're just spat back to the beach, and left to leave their
footprints as foam
inches from what they once called home
peace be still, my son find peace
(i built all these bridges from rotted beams
to narrow the span between reprieves)
your melody was like a science to me
and i once was the fire in your poetry
but it seems that you left that, along with me
your melody was like a science to me
a thin skin stretched over a frail machine
and between you and me, we can barely breath
5.Roots
somewhere out there is your safer bet
in a world without disappointment or regret
but i know we can't tell our hearts what not to do
they just keep on working, even if we don't ask them to
the clockwork ticks to keep the frame alive
it tells us who to love, who to leave and when to lie
there's a dollar to be made here
a payment to be exchanged here
a service that goes unnamed here
as we're still stealing from our saviour
we are so much more than we touch
we are arms without fingers
we are natural selection
and we're reaching for each other
as we pass in opposite directions
we are so much more than we touch
are we saving ourselves？
or just waiting on someone else
to make an excuse in our name？
we're twice fit to be suns of hell
and we've trained up our sons so well
to live our misfortune and fame
it's such a shame, we're all the same
we are so much more than the sum of all our wants
we're the sum of all our love, but we only love what we haven't
caught
we dance like politicians as we kiss like common thieves
sneaking around our parent's attic, looking for the keys
there's no substance in our voices, save for what we're drinking
and there's nothing in our hands, save for contempt for what
we're thinking
you'll either believe it or lie to yourself
and if you believe it you'll probably go ask someone else
we're all prisoners of a war that we helped create
dying to complain about lying in wait
to believe in a reason to lie to ourselves
either believe it or lie to yourself
6.Escape To The Mountain, Lest Thou Be Consumed
Somewhere out there is your safer bet
In a world without disappointment or regret
I know you can't tell your heart what not to do
It just keeps on working, even if you don't ask it to
The clockwork ticks to keep the frame alive
It tells us who to love, who to leave, and when to lie
There's a dollar to be made here
A payment to be exchanged here
A service that goes unnamed here
We're still stealing from our savior
We are so much more than we touch
We are arms without fingers
We are natural selection
And we're reaching for each other
As we pass in opposite directions
We are so much more than we touch
Are we saving ourselves
Or just waiting on someone else
To make an excuse in our name
We're twice fit to be suns of hell
And we scream at our gods so well
About our misfortune and fame
It's such a shame, we're all the same
We are so much more than the sum of all our wants
We're the sum of all our love, but we only love what we haven't
caught
We dance like politicians as we kiss like common thieves
Sneaking around our parent's attic, looking for the keys
There's no substance in our voices, save for what we're drinking
And nothing in our hands, save for contempt for what we're
thinking
We are so much more than we touch
Are we saving ourselves
Or just waiting on someone else
To make an excuse in our name
We're twice fit to be suns of hell
And we trained up our sons so well
To live in misfortune and fame
It's such a shame, we're all the same
You'll either believe it or lie to yourself
And if you believe it you'll probably go ask someone else
We're all prisoners of a war that we helped create
Dying to complain about lying in wait
To believe in a reason to lie to ourselves
Either believe it or lie to yourself
7.The First One To The Scene Of An Accident Always Gets Blood On Their
Hands
Breathe now, while you have a choice
I watched your color fade
You're a siren without a voice
Don't leave me here
To carry the banner
Like the string to the hammer
You were the key pressed too many times
Now my hand's on a still chest
Praying for short breaths
Awaiting a miracle
Leave now, all that you're buried in
Shed your leaves, catch the crow
A soft swallow to sing again
You raise the colors of the king to slay the ghost
But it's the romance of holding your breath til you get what you
want
That keeps you home
Don't leave me here
To find juniper casings
At your feet while your tasting
The sour of sweet from the life you took
You were the still before morning
A storm without warning
A page from a better book
What are you waiting for
Leave now, live out your safer bet
And tell me that you don't have regret
What are you waiting for
You were a song sung in passing
A shadow left casting
Now your pages are burning
From your diagram lasting
I drew the sick from your shoulder
To watch you recover
Start living for something
Or you'll die here for nothing
What are you waiting for
8.Unwriting Our Songs
I have placed everything dear on this table
To prove to everyone hear that it's stable
But mostly I'd like to prove to myself
That I can build something without my father's help
9.Mutiny
You're the light from outside
That creeps through the cracks where the door doesn't meet the
frame
And shines in our eyes
Reminding us of the sleep that we've yet to take
The floorboards creek under the weight of hesitation
As we shift our weight from your self-righteous indignation
And it's so sweet of you to embellish the truth
But you'll never have more to come home to
Than the lies in light of those who pity you
Take a good look around
From your sickbed your well-wishers must seem so sincere
But these hospital grounds
Are long with your stay, either die or take the cure
Your ship-to-shore is good for little as you've shown us
You'd stay alone at sea just to claim that no one noticed
But it's so sweet of you to embellish the truth
For us, the chosen few
But you'll never have more to come home to
Than your lies in light of those who pity you
So sweet of you to embellish the truth
For us, the chosen few
But you'll never have more to come home to
Than your lies in light of those who pity you
Everyone is a home unto themselves
But you'll never be home until you become a home to someone else
And it's so sweet of you to embellish the truth
But you'll never have more to come home to
Than the lies in light of those who pity you
And it's so sweet of you to embellish the truth
But you'll never have more to come home to
Than the lies in spite of those
Everyone is a home unto themselves
But you'll never be home until you become a home to someone else
10.It's Raining At Indian Wells
Do you remember when you were twenty-two
Did you know more than everyone else back then too
Or is this something recent that came with age
My face is your face and my hands are your hands
But my blood's something different you can't understand
If you cut to the nerve, I doubt you'd find a trace
We can never go home
We can never go home, can we
We are bricks and we are bones collected in memory
And we're a waking dream
And we have been known to creep like ivy
Through the cracks in the building where we once used to sleep
There are horizons I'll never see
But as much as i want to leave, I'd rather be
Show me the door and tell me to be still
I'm still waiting to awaken to older and wiser
But the things that I've started since my youth has expired
Leads me to believe that wiser never comes
I'd take a father who's a drinker with a ten-penny temper
Over someone who believes that his words haven't mattered
I know you'd build back this house if it were the right thing to
do
We can never go home
We can never go home, can we
We are bricks and we are bones collected in memory
And we're a waking dream
And we have been known to sleep
In the beds of the building where we once were a family
From here, we shine through the dark
We were electric works of art
Displayed in a building now condemned
Ten years too long to figure out
There's not too much left in this house to skirt around
In the cold of this midwestern winter, we owned up
And I'll drive away with what I can
But as much as my heart is here, I'll understand
Mistakes can make a family
But a home is built on love
Were we home
11.What You Call Thought Control, I Call Thought Control
Age is only age until it forgets
Youth and life were a currency well spent
In keeping time by stars, the hours never could repent
And I found myself left asking where they went
Like erosion on the limestone, we all played the parts we played
And I'm still generously standing in the rain
There's violence at the Vatican, our kings are crowned by
thieves
And I'll tell you Thomas, things aren't what they seem
Maybe we have made mistakes that we don't even know
But your eyes grow wide with dollar signs
And you work with what you're sold
We awoke without our youth
To the beautiful uncompromising truth
That we never knew what you wanted us to
Retracing steps, are these the prints we've left
A meager crooked path that still circles rest
And it takes all I have just to sit and breathe
But it brings up the differences in you and me
It takes all I have just to sit and breathe
But I'd trade up my lungs for a second shot at twenty-three
To be in love with love is not enough this time
Holding open hallway doors, I left too much to chance
Now i'm sitting empty handed, scaring up a past
There's violins at the Vatican, our kings were crowned by
thieves
So I'll ask you Thomas, what do you believe
12.An Instrument
i don't remember ever being someone else
but here i am, on this stage singing like i mean it
watching you stare back at me
like you've seen a ghost, which is pretty close
you can see through what i believed in
i was an instrument, i was a messenger
but what you are doesn't matter until you've sold it
and i've nothing left for you to buy
i let you watch us whither
in the name of something bigger
i guess that i was given
something greater than my hands could hold
i know that i could fake this and you'd eat it up
but it's not in me to cheat your parents out of their money
see, i'm no more a tortured artist than a self-serving,
temperamental addict to the sound of my own praise
and i could write for days and days without finding a word that
would bear repeating
but still, i can't put this pen down, like it's going to somehow
make you proud or make me more of a man than i am now,
or allow us the words to respond for the years that this song
has taken
and i've nothing left for us to say
so this is where i brought us
to float without a purpose
the fire i lit consumed us
the boat, the crew, the tourists
we all paid to be
something greater than my hands could hold
13.Apologies
Thank you for letting me
Hold you every night,
But I must be leaving,
To find us a better life,
With two cars, a big yard,
And everything you deserve.
And all that I've said in songs,
You'd rather hear in words.
I'm sorry for running
From what I have to do.
You're patient like the shore,
As I wash over you.
And the winds will subside,
As will the tide,
And we'll reclaim the pieces of
The life we've loved.
And you want stars,
And I am forever.
Looking up...
So come on, come on baby.
Jump in, jump in with me.
We'll swim,
Or maybe we'll go down.
But at least we'll be together in the end.
So come on, come on baby.
Jump in, jump in with me.
We'll swim,
Or maybe we'll go down.
But you know we'll be together in the end.
In the end...
14.Rum And Cigarettes
I've got a good head on me now
I've got a good head on me now
It's in the spaces where you and I exist
And this sweater that I'm wearing
Was in a good need of repairing
But it was only ever mine to try and fix
And it was wrong of me to expect you to know
Exactly what it was I needed sewn
So don't rush home
Don't rush home
There's a clarity that comes with being alone
And it's good to remember what it is I miss
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