1.The Rifle's Spiral
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Dead land's collided.
You pour your life down the rifle's spiral
And show us you've earned it.
Cleric's fog will recede right before your eyes.
So long to this wretched form.
Down gray eyes on the subway.
Long before you were born
You were always to be a dagger floating
Straight to their heart.
Listen, now, we won't tell anyone.
But you're gonna tell the world.
So life ain't then any fun.
May this rail unfurl.
As you rise; rise from your burning fiat,
Go, go get my suitcase, would you？
You've thoroughly blown their mind.
And now I must have passage on the lines
To the veins from your heart.
You're not invisible, now.
You just don't exist.
Your mother must be so proud.
You sublimate yourself, drowning us of rich.
Primitive mirror on the wall,
to fortify your grim resolve.
And made the glitz of a shopping mall
another grain of indigent salt to the sea.
Go back to this wretched form
All them gray eyes on the subway
So long before you were born
you were always to be a dagger floating
straight to their heart.
2.Simple Song
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Well, this is just a simple song,
To say what you done.
I told you 'bout all those fears,
And away they did run.
You sure must be strong,
And you feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun.
When I was just nine-years-old,
I swear that I dreamt,
Your face on a football field,
And a kiss that I kept,
Under my vest.
Apart from everything,
With the heart in my chest.
I know that things can really get rough,
When you go it alone,
Don't go thinking you gotta be tough,
To bleed like a stone.
Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical,
As this little hole.
My life in an upturned boat,
Marooned on a cliff.
You brought me a great big flood,
And you gave me a lift.
Girl, what a gift.
Will you tell me with your tongue,
And your breath was in my lungs,
And we float up through the rift.
I know that things can really get rough,
When you go it alone.
Don't go thinking you gotta be tough,
To bleed like a stone.
Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical,
As this little hole.
Well, this would be a simple song,
To say what you done.
I told you 'bout all those fears,
And away they did run.
You sure must be strong,
When you feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun.
Remember walking a mile to your house,
Aglow in the dark？
I made a fumbling play for your heart,
And the act struck a spark.
You wore a charm on the chain that I stole,
Especial for you.
Love's such a delicate thing that we do,
With nothing to prove,
Which I never knew.
3.It's Only Life
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Died in the womb you've been cornered by a natural desire
You wanna hop along the with the giddy throng through life
But how you did learn to steer when you're grinding all you
gears
You've been talking for hours you say time will wash every tower
to the sea
And now you got this worry in your heart
Well I guess it's only life it's only natural
We all spend a little while going down the rabbit hole
The things they taught you lining up to haunt you
They got your back against the wall
I called on you on the telephone won't you pick up the receiver
I've been down the very road you're walking now
It doesn't have to be so dark and lonesome
Takes a while till we can figure this thing out and turn it back
around
You use to be such a lion before you got into all this crying on
my lap
Back when you thought I'd never get this far
But did you really think I'd shut an opened door
The futures calling and I'm answer
The wheels in motion but I never drink your potion
And I know it breaks your heart
Open up your parachute something's got to stop the free fall
I've been down of every road that youre walking now
It doesn't have to be so dark and lonesome
Takes a while till we can figure this thing out and turn it back
around
4.Bait And Switch
Writer(s)：James Mercer
I finally had all my ducks in a row,
peace and quiet, the means of subtraction.
And how she got in, I'm not sure that I know.
Two weeks on and my spine was in traction, my eyes in a basket.
Well, god in my heart is so out of phase,
and that kind of girl she nobody's daughter.
I'm just not used to these powerful waves
She shallows the breath and I'm taking on water.
What am I to do now？
I call on a beautiful wish with a moral compass
I better swim.
Hide from my psychic derailer,
drive this car to the sea,
spend the night as high as a cannon in a towering hemloch.
But it's no use you can always be found
A creature of habit has no real protection
I'll tell her i leave if she don't settle down
She sees it's a lie on closer inspection
Like everyone else does.
The running, a terrible chomp,
all this smoke in my eyes
I'm just a simple man
cursed with an honest heart
Why'd she go and tear it all apart？
The running, a terrible chomp,
all this smoke in my eyes
I'm just a simple man
cursed with an honest heart.
Why'd she go and tear it all apart？
5.September
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Into this strange elastic world
Pontus kindly gave up a pearl
Of his eternal stone and mud
Ain't she lovely bone and blood
Born of the seaaaaaaa
A thousand miles away from me
A court of angels, a ward of the sun
A future forming, a curse undone
Under our softly burning lamp she
Takes her time
Telling stories of our possible lives
And love is the ink in the well when her body writes
I've been selfish and full of pride
She knows deep down there's a little child
But I've got a good side to me as well
And it's that she loves in spite of everything else
A song in the tree has distracted her mind
Some other curious form of life
Has made its presence to her known
And she coos so gently, soft and low
Her shining face in a million reflections
On tiny raindrops that fall in a veil
Over our city like notes from above
It overwhelms me, just ain't that tough
Its not that the darkness can't touch our lives
I know it will in time, but she's no ordinary valentine
And know when the sun goes down she sheds a darling light
I've been selfish and full of pride
She knows deep down there's a little child
But I've got a good side to me as well
And it's that she loves in spite of everything else
6.No Way Down
Writer(s)：James Mercer
He's the son of a government man
And a pillar of salt
I was born with blood on my hands
And have all the signs of a bleeding heart
Living high on a giant hog
On a mountain so steep
Keep your head in a hollow log
As the ruling fog are about to creep
What have we done？
How'd we get so far from the sun？
Lost, lost in an oscillating phase
Where a tiny few catch all of the rays
Out beyond the western squalls
In an Indian land
They work for nothing at all
They don't know the mall or the layaway plan
Dig yourself a beautiful grave
Everything you could want
Maybe those invisible slaves
Are too far away for a ghost to haunt
What do we charge？
Letting go of a claim so large
Oh, all of our working days are done
But a tiny few are having all of the fun
Get used to the dust in your lungs
Is there no way down
From this peak to solid ground
Without having our gold teeth
Pulled from our mouth
Make me a drink strong enough
To wash away this dishwater world they said was lemonade
Walk with me after the show
Maybe we can find a way through the minefield in the snow
What are they charged？
Letting go of a claim so large
Oh, all of our working days are done
But a tiny few are having all of the fun
Apologies to the sick and the young
Get used to the dust in your lungs
7.For A Fool
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Young and bright
but now just a dim light
off in the distance,
a fallen stone
following the path
of least resistance.
If I still fight,
it's just that I'm
afraid I'll slide under that spell again.
Taken for a fool
Yes, I was,
because I was fool.
Tell me what you'd do.
Lost my way
in spades.
I need a school.
So many times
caught up in my head at night
with a leash and label.
If I can learn
anything from this
then I'd be like
the fox in the fable, oh right.
If I still fight,
it's just that I'm
afraid I'll slide under that spell again.
The way we used to carry on,
you're stuck in my head like a terrible song.
Taken for a fool
Yes, I was,
and I was fool.
Following their rules,
guess I wasn't very honest too.
Taken for a fool
(Taken for a fool)
Yes, I was,
because I was fool.
Taken for a fool
8.Fall Of '82
Writer(s)：James Mercer
I do relate to you in so many ways
But I didn't go through what you must have in those early days
You had to be strong at such a very young age
A new life from lemonade
So won't you listen to me now
There's something I never told you
And I'm about to try
See you were my lifeline when the world was exploding
You moved back in with us in the fall of '82
I fell into dark times and you were there to help me through
You told me that a downturn would eventually improve
And you were right, so I'm thanking you
So won't you listen to me now
There's something I never told you
And I'm about to try
See you were my lifeline when the world was exploding
Footholds eroding
Had you never been my friend
I wouldn't be quite what you
I wouldn't be the man I am
Sister you've known me
Lost in a strange world
What has it shown me
What has it gone through
Sister you've known me
Been lost in a strange world
But has it shown me
What has it gone through
October chill in that old dusty town
Halloween came, I was still feeling down
Mama, lost my sweet tooth, what's the point in going 'round？
Your boy is losing count
Maybe try the lost and found
9.40 Mark Strasse
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Is it all so very simple
And horribly complex
You're suffering
And there's nothing coming next
Your mom smokes in the kitchen
Her voice a cutting drown
They're creeping out, you pass the bar
Your father's second home
That leaves you on your own
Nights I'd often watch you
Float across the ground
Out the gate to the motorway
What secrets have you found？
You had to know I wanted
Something from you then
Too young to know just what it was
Something more than a friend
Is that you at the end
Well, you play in the street at night
You blow like a broken kite
My girl, you're giving up the fight
Are you gonna let these Americans
Put another dent in your life？
My mother says your dirty
They're gonna find you dead
But have you got that final chapter
Written in your head
Cause every single story
Is a story about love
Both the overflowing cup
And the painful lack thereof
You got the heart of a dove
But you play in the street at night
You blow just like a broken kite
My girl, you're giving up the fight
You'll have to lose all them childish notions
If you're gonna let these American boys
Put another dent in your life
You play in the street at night
You blow just like a broken kite
My girl, you're giving up the fight
You'll have to lose all them childish notions
Are you gonna let these Americans
Put another dent in your life？
10.Port Of Morrow
Writer(s)：James Mercer
Through the rain
and all the clatter,
under the Freemont bridge,
I saw a pigeon fly,
fly in fear
from a raptor
come to take its life.
Does it closed
and for the captured,
I funnel the fear through my ancient eyes.
See in flight
where I know all the bitter mechanics of life.
Under my hat,
it breathes,
the lines are all imagined.
A fact of life
I know
to hide from my little girls.
I know my place amongst
the bugs and all the animals.
And it's from these ordinary people
you were longing to be free.
In my hotel,
and on the TV,
a pitcher on the stage
like a buzzard cries
out a warning,
a phony sorrow.
He's trying to get a rise.
Sign of life
of an almot.
Let him look at your hands,
get the angles right.
Ace of spades,
Port of Morrow,
life is death
is life.
I saw a photograph
of Cologne in '27,
and then a postcard after the bombs in '45.
Must have been a world of evil clowns
that let it happen.
But now I recognize,
dear,
in these eyes,
that you were there
and so was I.
Under my hat, I know
the lines are allimagined.
A fact of life,
I must impress my little girls.
I know my place amongst
the creatures
in the pageant.
And there are flowers
in the garbage,
and a skull
under your curls.
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