1.Something Dark
Lyricist：Shannon Mcardle
Something dark is racing in my head
I want to haunt you when you go to bed
I want to touch that part of you that's fucking around
And demonstrate clearly the gravity of sound
When I tell you how I feel
Something dark is racing in my head
She's the daughter of a socialite
Her daddy taught her how to do it right
She holds a cigar in her right hand
You used to hate smoke
But now you understand
How it feels to fight an urge
Something dark is racing in my head
I saw you drinking in that bar you hate
It turned you on to see she takes it straight
I didn't know you liked a girl in a hat
You told me once if I went out like that
That you wouldn't split the bill
Something dark is racing in my head
She's the one now, you better show her the floor
With her rambling nonsense
You won't sleep anymore
Something dark is racing in my head
I smelled her smoke on you and I saw red
I saw a note from her explaining her needs
I'd write something back but we know she can't read
And she doesn't feel a thing
2.Aspect Of An Old Maid
Lyricist：Timothy Bracy
Chastised and abraded
So windswept and faded
She wore the aspect of an old maid
Well, you're still taking lovers
You take some further than others
I still can not believe
How I saw behind your blinded, blotted eyes
But I could not get beneath your covers
I've seen the old cabaret
With the fetish's tailor
I've seen the morbid cachet
Of significant failure
And I know this means so much more to me
Than it does to you
But meet me back in room 417
We've still got work to do
Hey baby, I know you had that baby before
You were really ready to
Because I've seen you hold it so timid and unsteady
And I've seen the fear when it looks at you
And I've seen so much of your body
And though you were just under thirty
I swore, I saw on your face, the aspect of an old maid
(Old maid)
And to call on your tyrant director
That his cruel will be dispersed
â~Til all my deeds to the inspector
I am ready for the worst
All that hubcap stealing, marijuana dealing
High sex crimes and electric cars
Hey, painting in the cross chairs
Lets you rearrange the deck chairs
Though you swoon and you sway
You still don't belong here
And it's not as if I ever, really told you that I cared
But you know that even if I did
You still would not be spared
And you're still taking long drives
Even the end designing needs of why
Oh, it's so hard to know just how to dress
For the last days of our lives
I've seen the whole three act play
I've seen the poster and the trailer
I never thought I'd have to pay
This much attention to one girl just to nail her
Down as to what it was
She wore the aspect of an old maid
3.Triple Bill Of Shame
Lyricist：Peter Hoffman, Tim Bracy
It was a triple bill of shame degradation and scorn
They pinned it all on you before you were born
Until you're sleeping on coals just to keep you warm
Tonight they broke your hands
They destroyed your honor from the first cold glance
Where they preen and saunter
They said if you won't take her someone's gonna want her
I suppose they threw a ticker tape
Parade to commemorate the call
Now the confetti falls like cannon balls
All southern drawls and seasick waves
As you pass by in the motorcade
Near the paralegals and paired off gents
All those parasites and sycophants
They're all paranormal, they appear discreet
But they'll squawk and claw like parakeets
And you were once of interest
To the nightly news and the daily press
But now that you've outlived your uselessness
Do you know what doesn't happen next
They'll all call you by your number
They won't call you by your name on the triple bill of shame
It was a triple bill of pain, immolation and fear
They watched you month by month
They crept up year by year until you're chained to the door
Stop just to keep you here tonight
In your single mind from your double bed
No one falls behind, no one gets ahead
She said, 'How do I love the little bastard？
I could count the ways on one hand backwards'
But you still like to know where he's coming from
Though the whole of his parts is less than the sum
And you'll paint him with tar and chew him like gum
4.Since I Came
Lyricist：Shannon Mc Ardle
I'll never get out the stench
Lose the feathers
They cling and frey
Attack the black on my skirt
I'll never know I'm alone
When I'm sleeping
You come and go
Like the ghost of filth and dirt
And now I'm alone
Now I am wondering
Is this the way it's done here
Are you ever gonna stop doing me
The 12th of May, a day of rain
He didn't come home
My husband dead
Without a service, without grace
Said the machine went down so hard
He didn't feel a thing
What were those knife wounds
What were those bruises on his face
Invisible guilt
Invisible shack back in the trees
If they ever even find me
I haven't had a name since I came
My stomach swells, the putrid smells
Even worse the past few days
My soul is leaving me
My heart is hiding in his grave
My fears turn to something worse
Jam the hole with your jagged key
Would you please push me down
Or would you spare the boy in me？
Could I have found my way out？
Could my two girls grow up to be free？
If you ever touch a hair on their heads
If you ever look at them the way you do me
I'll wash away my faith and stayed in red
5.My Tattered Heart And Torn Parts
Lyricist：Shannon Mcardle
The season's gonna change before we know it
And you say that your feelings might change too
And I don't want to hear o that nonsense ringing in my ears
And I'm not gonna cry because of you
I like it when you tell me what you're thinking
I love the way you kiss when you've been drinking
I love the way we wrestle on the floor to stand up bruised
But I hate the way I wake up feeling used
And my broken tongue and sad lips
Have nothing left to say
My tattered heart and torn parts
Are only in your way
I'd rather not feel pain than be your lover
I'd rather be your lover than your friend
I'd rather wrap these arms around
Your cold heart than have nothing
I'd rather be dead blind than see the end
And my broken tongue and sad lips
Have nothing left to say
My tattered heart and torn parts
Will make you go away
6.The Queen Of England
So, you thought you were in love
Just 'cause I bought you pancakes
Call it an honest mistake
But for God's sake don't call it love
So, you thought you were turned on
Just 'cause I got you wasted
And you over-appraised it
When you told your friend you were in love
And you recognize, of course
That all this is just a sham
And I'm not an artist
That's no one's idea of a man
You were a little engine that might
Might all these little things right
But if I don't see you tonight
Say hi to the Queen of England
So you thought we should've stayed friends
But I didn't think so
But you wouldn't take no for an answer
You kept on asking why
So I said I wanted you
But I didn't mean it
I just liked to see if
I could say those things
And look you in the eye
And you recognize, of course
That all this is just a sham
He's not an artist
And I'm no one's idea of a man
You were a little engine that could
Make all these awful things good
But you never said you would
Help out the Queen of England
You recognize, of course
That all this is just for laughs
'Cause I've been his lover
And he don't really talk like that
You were the little engine that cracked
That isn't blood on the tracks
Should you want your innocence back
Go ask the Queen of England
Should you want your innocence back
Go ask the Queen of England
7.It'll Be The Same Without You
Think carefully before you say a word
Please make sure what's in your heart, you can afford
So if you lay your coat across the barbed wire fence
Don't expect anyone to rush to your defense
So I hear you want to go out on your own
And there's nothing that can stop you, rest assured
Someone will quickly fill your shoes
And it'll be the same without you
The book on you is that you lack the chin
And at best your legs are fragile and thin
But you display the heart of a champion
But too often it's to your detriment
So I hear you want to go out on your own
Well, there's no one here to stop you, rest assured
Someone will quickly take your place
And it'll be the same without you
All your life you have been told you were the one
And that sooner or later your time will come
So you've been watching as the year fly slowly by
Waiting for your moment to arrive
So I hear you want to go out on your own
And there's nothing that can stop you, rest assured
Someone will quickly fill your shoes
And it'll be the same without you
8.Morbid Craving
Couldn't buy a break, wasn't gonna try
Never went away and you never quite arrived
And I followed just to see you running
Things are going to call to you
Things of little consequence
That which once seemed small to you
Now is so immense and I don't know
How you could have seen it coming
Rolled up in a carpet bag
You should have looked like hell, dear
You know it always bothers me
To see you doing so well
And to see you look so stunning
Came uptight and went home raving
Strung out with a morbid craving
Hung up from the walls that are caving down
Ain't nothing in here worth saving
Sell it all for a morbid craving
I just don't need the things you gave me now
The machinery and the tenements
Careening through the elements
I can feel the fabric of your dress
I can see you leaning up against the marble walls
And the half lit hall with someone
Did you draw a debtor's pension？
An impression in the paint
I don't recall the things you mentioned
They all seem very faint
The all seem so difficult so difficult to summon
You would have thought you was the first girl
Ever learned a song by heart
But baby, if you won't rehearse it
Someone will have to do your part
And I can already see her coming
Slept all day spent all night praying
Just to fill a morbid craving
Rolled him up a hill and then straight down
Ain't nothing in here worth saving
Burn it all for a morbid craving
I just don't need the things you gave me now
Collecting common knowledge
Like the dirt beneath my fingers
Though I did not go to college
There is one lesson that lingers
How a boy betrayed your confidence
In the theaters and the monuments
And I can hardly blame him, dear
The way you talk such nonsense
You wanna play the lost apostle
In a hotel room in Knoxville
But you don't know what you're doing
So you don't hold me responsible
You would have thought you was the first girl
Ever loved a married man, oh dear
I don't know how much he hurt you
But I will hurt you more than him
If that's why you keep coming
Came all night and went home raving
Burnt out on a morbid craving
Hung up while the walls are caving down
Ain't nothing in here worth saving
Fick it all for a morbid craving
I can't give back the things you gave me now
9.In Your Hands
You couldn't take the legal limit
And I didn't know how drunk I was
If I fall first then you say you win it
But it's a bit hasty to say you've won
I remember that train ride that wouldn't end
And the conductor who soon became your friend
We took in all the scenery and then you blew me off
And I cursed you with my hand
I've no idea where you are going
But a good idea of where you've been
If you make it by winter before it's snowing
My compliments to your conductor friend
I read all about her in the lesser papers
And I can't say that I'm impressed
She'll act like a shabby doll if you make her
And god only knows what you taught her to do
With her hands
I'm sure she looks good in the transit light
But things are gonna seem a bit too bright
When I'm gone, she pushed you off at a stop in Jackson
And suddenly you're feeling torn
You cried like a baby when you pulled out the photos
You call it art but it's just porn
You're proud of your journey of love and loss
And all the stories you could tell you think
There's a market for your subtle pictures
But no one will look
At that captured hell in your hands
10.A Damn Good Disguise
You long for a bar with a quiet room
But no one's gonna treat you like a kid
That way you've got trouble enough
Since you fucked the landlord
You're breaking like eggshells
From under the car door
The grains of regret still blooming in her face
Now nothing is settled so that makes you nervous
'Cause you won't be so lucky
When they figure it out
And your hand moves so slightly
She'd scarcely notice what you call audacious
Dear, I barely count
And I won't be there when you change your mind
But if your heart should change
I guess I might be found
Whether covered up with lies
Under paint that never dries
It'll take a damn good disguise
To live this one down
Now you run very slowly but not without purpose
You step in a verse, you walk always in rain
And me, some small token of your in-affection that lingers
Unwelcome and then drifts away
We deferred to your parents who gladly consented
Though you were pretending and I really meant it
You turn a blind eye to a blank wall
And that's our life
Hey you're killing me with protocol
She acts just like she's seen it all
But I don't think she's seen
This a big shot at the mini mall
You learned it all before you could crawl
It don't make you a genius now
The obsessives tribunal has brought you to trial
For an in gratitude that surprises even yourself
And the things you were given that you claim to find
While you cling to like cancer impeaching your health
And I do not wish this misery upon you or anyone else
That it might desire though
It is my fear, darling, that it will choose you
And it is my fear, darling, that you will requite it
11.Settle Down, Zelda
In for a dime, out for a dollar
Back in for a dime again
I want to resign any pretense of valor
And find some way to give in
Well, she reels and she lurches
Through the burrow of churches
Where a man dare stand in her way
After all of the urges some virtue emerges
But finally you still gotta pay
Your mother is a widow
And your brother's at war
Your father drank himself
To death in 1994, oh so awful
You pulled him from the rubble
And you drew him up a bath
You went through all this trouble
Just to watch him break himself in half
He wanted to die where he was born
He'd already dug a hole in the ground
Before he left ya, he held ya, said
'Hey settle up Zelda
And then Zelda, settle down'
Well honey, I know that rings
And material things
Ain't exactly what ya had in mind
But you trembled and dissembled
Then you start to resemble
All those people that you left behind
Life isn't permanent, nobody cares
Tell me the time and place
And honey, I'll be there
Let your bitter heart shine
I don't wanna refine
You throw a blanket over a bird cage
But you're so busy running
That you run out of money
And your face is showing your age
And baby, it don't mean shit
To me that you got a history
God knows that we've both been around
Here's to the last boy that held ya
Hey now settle up Zelda
And then Zelda, settle down
Now the summer turns fall
And we live in this squalor
And our time is nearly upon us
You're in for a dime
Then you're in for a dollar
But that ain't all that its gonna cost
So maybe I just might be
The last person you see
Or maybe it'll be the other way around
Oh, I wish I could tell ya
Just to settle up Zelda
But you ain't gonna settle down
12.Catch A Collapsing Star
Our margins and revisions
Where we both first made our living
In an alcove, filled with sawdust
There, a new light fell upon us
Hail the lepers, call the outcasts
Did we just not know to ask？
I could see you blazing through the frost
In amazing grace and a hacking cough
Took dictation, wrote it shorthand
No one's sorrier than I am
I was young, that's no excuse
For the harm and the abuse
So what was it that you wanted
What would you've done if you had got it？
It was always ever gonna go so far
'Til someone thought to push you from the car
Accept no imitation, baby, catch a collapsing star
But it's your limitations that make you what you are
Our margins and revisions
Where we both first learned forgiveness
By the moonlight in the forest
Where our lives spread out before us
So you wrote me in a letter
You can stay gone but don't stay bitter
It was always ever gonna end the same
'Til someone thought to push you 'neath the train
Took vacation in New Orleans and I held you on the shore there
Splurged your words, confused your thoughts
Spoke in riddles no one got
So what was it that we wanted and God forbid if we had got it
It was always gonna have to go too far
'Til someone turned the light out at the bar
Accept no imitation, baby, catch a collapsing star
Oh, it's our limitations, it's our limitations
Oh, it's our limitations
That make us what we are
13.What Ever Happened To You？
You are like a child
With your folded arm denials
And a convalescent look
And your pleading hands out front
You are like a con
Locked away for doing no wrong
Oh, the system is your foe
But your alibi's see through
You are like the moon
In the fading afternoon
Like a distant memory
You don't mean a thing to me
What ever happened to you, baby？
You once were the light that helped to show me
When I was right and when I was wrong
And now all you are is a line in a song to me
You are like the wind
Howling through deserted glens
Your power is intense
But your audience has left
You are like the stars
So near and yet so far
Like an ancient mystery
You're unsolvable to me
What ever happened to you, baby？
You once were the guide that helped to save me
From when I was right and when I was wrong
And now all you are is a line in a song to me
You are like a dream
Reoccurring to me
When I wake, I can't recall
What you were saying at all
14.We're All In This Alone
Lately you don't mean that much to me
'Cause I figured out what's meant to be
As I stumbled home alone occasionally
I question my integrity
'Cause I turn a phrase so easily
Into what you want to hear like someday
We will be one entity
Governed by simplicity
As the borders fade away
And everybody thinks that we're in this together
And everything wishes we'll always be together
But we're all in this alone
And the world is all alone
Security blankets lying at our feet
It's the only place that we agree
The only place that we call home
Carefully considered virtuosity
Oh, the chorus chimes so pleasantly
As you disappear from view
15.31 Candles
You left me in the bar
For the skirt with the acoustic guitar
She's got such promise
And boy, you'd like to see what she can do
Your dinner is fast
You're gonna be a mentor
Gonna make make make a mother shape
Or reinvent her, uh, huh
She follows all your work
Got a fucking kitty on her shirt
You told your god you worn out soul
Only one step from losing control
You know 31 candles
Don't a woman make
You didn't never give me nothin'
Always, take, take, take, uh, huh
Thought your package was for me
Christ I should have known better
You couldn't even face me
You wrote me in a letter uh, huh
Come on over honey
Grab your pants and get your shit
She's drawing blueprints, laying marble
Build a shrine around your dick
Blow up the balloons
Take out the ribbons in her hair
She'll be a woman soon
God forbid self possessed and self aware
Stroke her supple skin
You know she may not fare as well as me
I'm thinking 5 more years to go uh, huh
No, you never met my mother
You're so much for the better
But you'd say, 'Fuck me'
If you saw her in a sweater, uh, huh
31 candles
Do not a woman make
You lick the salt off all your wounds
And lick the icing off my cake
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