The Midwest Quiet

The Midwest Quiet The Midwest Quiet Lyrics
1.A Place to Visit In Our Heads

Let's buy a house in a small town
and find some laws that we can break
We'll get a job at McDonalds
Have the floors all mopped by 8

Let's burn our clothes in a trash can
and light fireworks at the mall
We'll write our names in a bathroom stall
and stay home until someone calls

We'll start a steel drum band
and a lemonade stand
in our garage

Let's drive our car in a swimming pool
and hang our jewelry from the trees
Let's throw our couch off a rooftop
and camp out in the cemetery

Let's ride our bikes in a snowstorm
and see the world on an ATV
We'll hitch a ride on a railway car
and be gone before we leave

When our hats are feeling hollow
We'll take a big swallow of the stars


2.Afterlife


3.Ceiling Fan

Hanging on by one hand to a ceiling fan
The room spun around below me
When I pulled back the sheets, I saw your face again
and your eyes told me a story

Climbing down a drain pipe in the dead of night
the sky was barely breathing
On a dugout roof I thought I'd find some proof
that I hear songs above the laughter

Words that sting and settle down somehow
Gifts you'd bring that don't mean anything at all
Did you notice that the light had changed?
And fingerprints on the windowpane?

Driving around town til your car breaks down
Swimming in the leaves of a willow tree
Standing in my old jeans on a trampoline
Shouting out your dreams from a porch swing


4.Exit Wounds

Spent the summer touring bible colleges
and playing football with future marines
Who would strangle their mothers with telephone wires
And make their fists fly at the first sign of green

Spent November trailing Scientologists
and ringing doorbells with small town police
Who would bury their brothers in hollowed-out tree trunks
And then grind their bones into shiny jewelry

When I came home, my table was set
When I saw you, I tried to forget
How long this life goes on for some like you

Spent my winter hearing radio silence
and reading letters from lonely naval plebes
Who would ship off to battle Kuwaiti fires
and send their stories to hometown dioceses

When I came home, my table was set
When I saw you, I tried to forget
How long this life goes on for some like you


5.When Daylight Quits