Unreleased Songs

Vic Chesnutt Unreleased Songs Lyrics
1.Bourgeois And Biblical

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Bourgeois and biblical
Hanging on nails
Mad metallic icons
The old cyclone still compels
Your hoity haiku lip curls
The onion papers drain
Constantinople
Misty recollections
Cold outdoor acoustics
Piney panorama


2.When I Ran Off And Left Her

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

When I ran off and left her
She wasn't holding a baby
She was holding a bottle
And a big grudge against me

I tried to learn from the psychiatrist
How to stay calm and minimize risk
But I should've kept all those appointments
I'm gonna need em I'm coming disjointed

When I ran off and left her
I didn't look backwards
Till I was halfway to Chattanooga
On the Atlanta connector
That's when I started flashing
On the little things that she did
All her little sayings and I started to wig
I should've kept all those appointments
I'm gonna need em I'm coming disjointed


3.Gluefoot

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Cross my heart and cross my eyes
Stick a needle in my thigh
Drop kick my unscrewed lid
And fiddle fiddle fiddle fiddle fiddle with what's inside

A rusty mass of machinations
Still I'm vying for the right vaccination

I make a masterful selection like Louis Pasteur
Certain I've found at least a temporary cure
If there's one thing I've learned in this chemical world
It's very very very very very little is pure

My gluefoot sticks, I wrestle with it
I try to skedaddle but my gluefoot is fixed

If they'd give me a shovel in this communication age
Maybe I'd have kept my mouth shut and done something today
I want to blame democracy and it's inherent lies
I want to blame my heritage for my leisurely demise

Everybody wants to wear the cleats
Everybody wants to be Dominique
I want to be someone separate from me
I want to have a sustained feeling

My gluefoot sticks, I wrestle with it
I try to skidaddle but my gluefoot is fixed


4.Drunk

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

She said it
She should know
She'd by, told by
She knows

She'd been through it
Quantity
What can I say
She should know

I am what I am
She'd been through
Like a gopher
Down to the patch

Get that panic pack
She'd been to Rome, yes
When they do it, do as they do

Oh, Lord, mercy
I think it's quantity

I am what I am
She'd been through
Like a gopher
Down to the patch

I am what I believe
Bad on the head
Like a mad man
Belligerent


5.Naughty Fatalist

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Rave and rant in yer old Foster Grants
I can see my billowy reflection
You're a giant
You're a giant

A little late night caching
A tender moving soul shake
With all light diffused
You'll wake up butch and bruised
Butch and bruised

Straight lines
As the stork flies
Ooh straight lines
As the stork flies
As the stork flies

Naughty, naughty fatalist
Naughty, naughty
Naughty, naughty fatalist
Naughty fatalist, naughty fatalist

An elderly woman on a fashionable couch
Cane on the carpet tapping as she expounds
Tapping, tap tapping

A little late night caching
A tender moving soul shake
With all light diffused
You'll wake up butch and bruised
Butch and bruised
Butch and bruised


6.2nd Floor

Lyricist:Vic Chestnutt

If you want to see two circling swans
On the surface of the sewer pond
Don't crane your neck where you are
You've got to climb to the second floor

And I wouldn't've even mentioned it
If you didn't seem so tuned into it

You've got to climb the second floor
Short chore great reward

I'm in the east but I'm looking west
When I'm facing north
The big huge valley's to my left
Horizon holds three great slag heaps
Piercing the sky like the Pyramids at Giza

I wouldn't make so much of it
If I didn't know you truly loved it

You've got to climb the second floor
Short chore great reward


7.Fa-La-La

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Fa-la-la is running around
All over the grounds of the hospital
I was watching for her
Like some people watch birds
From the window of my hospital room

I was trapped and tired
She was as free as I'd ever found
The embodiment of life force
In a hospital gown
Yeah, I could feel my body healing

I would crank up the head
Of my hospital bed
All the way up
When they would wake me at dawn
Then I'd gaze out at the lawn
Waiting on my sad soul medicine

I was trapped and tired
She was as free as I'd ever found
The embodiment of life force
In a hospital gown
Yeah, I could feel my body healing

And a nurse would come and see me
Everyday
And my folks are on their way
To see me home
But I don't want to go
No I don't want to go

Fa-la-la is running around
All over the grounds of the hospital
As they are loading me up
Into the cab of my daddy's truck
For our long ride home

Only a fool wouldn't be happy
To leave this cold institution
For a warm and loving home
But I feel like I'm drying up
Deep down in my bones
Yes, I don't want to go
No I don't want to go


8.Little Man

Lyricist:Mark Joseph Mulcahy, Raymond David Neal

Little, little, little, little
When the heroes callin'
When the heroes callin'
When the heroes callin', callin'

Little man
Little man

I miss you when the rain is fallin'
I miss you when the heroes callin'
I hear you when I'm kneelin', weepin'
All the walls are speakin', speakin'

Little man
Little man

I wear your clothes but they don't fit me
I'm tryin' to be what I should be
A spoken word of being lied to
A broken word and what you end up tied to

Little man
Little man

Stay where you are
Stay where you are
Stay where you are
Stay where you are

Little man
Little man
Little man, you can do no wrong
Little man


9.Dying Young

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Holes in his sweater, fluid in his lungs
The experts say there's things
He should've done better
But instead he is just dying young

And tired of disbelieving, sick of struggling
The experts busy
Their gloved hands are relieving
The symptoms of dying young

Yeah, he wished he was a lawyer
Maybe like Perry Mason
He would sue them â~til they are scrawny
Instead of lying there dying young

Sometimes when he's angry
He has a sharp tongue
The experts, they just fill him full of ice cream
They know that he is dying young

Yeah, he wishes he was an actor
Maybe like Rock Hudson
Instead of just another layman
Lying there dying young

Yes, he dreamed about an angel
And he thought about a gun
The experts, they file in by the roomful
Watching him dying young
Yeah, the experts, they file in by the roomful
Watching him dying young


10.Confusion

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Well, when I woke up this morning
The sky was so bright
It'd been a raining for days
Now it seemed like everything was a gonna be alright

But still those November winds keep a blowing
And I'm forgetting just where to begin
And then I'm lost in confusion again
Yes, I'm lost in confusion again

Well, the broom straw is a dying
Various shades of brown
And over the hill I can see the skyline
Of the most famous Georgia college town

Still those November winds keep a blowing
And I'm forgetting just where to begin
Then I'm lost in confusion again
Yes, I'm lost in confusion again

Just when I think I've tied up all my little ravels
I come across a new row of tatters
It seems I'm getting sick of a taking care of
Life and other matters

Well, there's a few hundred blackbirds
That's a covering my yard
They're a falling from the trees like pecans
Except they ain't hitting the ground quite as hard

Still those November winds keep on a blowing
And I'm forgetting just where to begin
And I'm lost in confusion again
Yes, I'm lost in confusion again


11.Thailand

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

It's a battle of the culinary arts
In that boiling land
You met your mate over across that river
And some good old heroin

In Thailand
Thailand
Thailand
Thailand

Into our lovely story, who do we insert
But the mighty, mighty Steve Willoughby
He went searching for some big Buddha in a raincoat
But met a wife half the size of he

In Thailand
Thailand
Thailand
Thailand


12.Replenished

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Sitting in the breakfast nook
Flipping through a saucy book
Browsing for a bit of titillation
(That's what you do, that's what you do)

Morning is warming
On your mouth
Last days of direct sunlight
For this part of the house

Move into the great room
Get the clean corn broom
Sweeping up a sad old pillar of salt
(That's what you do, that's what you do)

You're feeling glummer
As summer dies off
Something was released
With autumn's first cough

Matter seems immaculate
Until it's consumed or distressed
See her with her kitchen soap
Cleaning up the breakfast she knows

It's never finished
'Till the other's replenished
It's never finished
'Till the other's replenished

Propped up on the mantel piece
Throphies stuffed in a life that flies
A couple of seconds can be a long time
If'n it's froze, if'n it's froze

Matter seems immaculate
Until it's consumed or distressed
See her with her kitchen soap
Cleaning up the breakfast she knows

It's never finished
'Till the other's replenished
It's never finished
'Till the other's replenished


13.Duty Free

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

No chocolate in the duty free shop
Two drops of scotch gonna end up on his crotch, tonight
All alone, sitting on the throne
Some native tongue on the TV blaring like an old peavey

He don't aim to be rude
He's fighting with his inner prude
Some pommes frites and you know it's gonna drip
On to his lap, yes see the man slapping it off

Travellin' will do him in
Trudging through the waves of people
Till his heart is cluttered and feeble
If you take him out of this loop
He may be very easily duped
Still he beats the stampede for the duty free

He's using up all that old currency
He's using up all that old currency
Using up all that old currency


14.Maiden

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Dogs are barking, birds are chirping
The only thing better if I was squirting
But there's no one here to love on me today

For the maiden's on holiday
For the maiden's on holiday

I'm a sorry, sorry knight in a horrible castle
Hoping to avoid certain societal hassles
And I know what they say, but I ain't made of clay

For the maiden's on holiday
Yeah, the maiden's on holiday

I ain't nothing but chivalrous
Ain't never been nothing nasty between us
She knows where she stands on the heart of a broken man

She's gonna be bad no matter what
So I might as well go on ahead and act like a butt
Any ol' way, yeah, I'm still gonna pay

For the maiden's on holiday
Yeah, the maiden's on holiday


15.Gravity of the Situation

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt, Rob Veal

Well, we blew past the army motorcade
Abnormal load haulage
And the gravity of the situation
Came on us like a bit of new knowledge

The bubbliest bubble bath
Broke down on the bank
The gravity of the situation
Is why our old thought bubbles sank

Humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation
A humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation

Humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation
Humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation
The gravity of the situation

Well, a fat, hungry English crow
Picking at a carcass
The gravity of the situation
Is hard to focus and harness

Well, we met Bill Lowery
At the Queen's Hall
The gravity of the situation
Became apparent to us all

Humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation
A humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation

Humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation
Humble and gracious
The gravity of the situation
The gravity of the situation


16.Sad Peter Pan

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

It's the plan of most
To discover that magnificent ghost
But when did I get perverted
And my innocent eyes diverted

From a view so grand
Imbued with distractions

I'm greedy like Senior Babbitt
I'm just chasing that electric rabbit
I'm a reluctant rebel
I just want to be Aaron Neville

With a crown on my head
And my Denim shirt, all dark with sweat

I'm just pushing the paint around
On advice from your lying mouth
You touched me and then you ran
And left a some sad Peter Pan

All alone and awkward
But a transformation, I swear it will occur


17.Strange Language

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Up on the bluff, where I wish I was
Twisting up the pages of history
My cold feet dangling, my bony arms gesturing
To summon up a little chunk of that history

In the corridor the shadows are long
And it messes with my equilibrium
And there's strains of a strange language

Up on the bluff, where the hardwoods jut
Out toward the gusts of history
My crusty mind cracks, my restless heart tracks
The fractal lines of history

In the corridor the shadows are long
And it messes with my equilibrium
And there's strains of a strange language

In the corridor the shadows are long
And it messes with my equilibrium
And there's strains of a strange language


18.Onion Soup

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Thin and unshaved, drunk and mysterious
Oh, I must say lifestyle is curious

With a little touch of the sniffles
And filthy socks
Gnawed, crumbled fingernails
Never doing tomahawk chops

A flaky head dandruff is distinguish
Ed lacquer is red vain is the varnish

What is at the root of this
She'll say, whatcha got
What participle do you possess
She'll say, which I have not

One blustery day we rode out
To the Meadowlands
We saw and were amazed
Then hauled it back into town again

Mississippi is a mess sometimes
And not only when it rains
How come you went back to that malaria island
'Cause our friendship is strained

Those were the days
When you were so cosmopolitan
These are the days
My letters they're so maudlin

I wrote you an eloquent postcard once
About this most exquisite onion soup
But of course I never mailed though
'Cause it was your turn in the loop, loop

Those were the days
When you were so cosmopolitan
These are the days
My letters they're increasingly maudlin


19.Doubting Woman

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

I was supposed to tell you about the point of departure
But with the aim of a drunken archer, I will probably stray
You can see in her bold eyebrow, you can see in that fancy cup
That even her freakish nipples are a Kimbo

No doubt she is, a doubting woman
No doubt she is, a doubting woman

There's a little matter of the bathing beauty
To a such a little cutie but she's shy
She has a special sponge that is optional
To hide her painterly nipples from our eye

No doubt they are, the doubting women
No doubt they are, the doubting women

I was supposed to tell you about the case of a cult
It's called the cult of inspiration and it is rewarding
You can be filled with the tingle of Euphoria
Of total animation and of wonder

No doubt we love, the doubting woman
No doubt we love, the doubting woman

The doubting woman
Doubting woman
Oh, the doubting woman
The doubting woman


20.Wrong Piano

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Oberheim, Yamaha
Steinway and the lot
Well, I must have played the wrong piano
'Cause it left me with, I don't know what

So don't talk to me about mistakes
Yes, we all simply have got to take precautions
Well, I must have played the wrong piano
'Cause now I just feel nauseous

Some sexual turned into some biblical
And then became a game of just trivial pursuit
Now, I used to gnaw on every word
But now I don't know what's the use

Ruppert Murdock and Larry Flint
Bob Guccione and the U.S. mint
I took out the wrong subscription
And I don't know what I'm gonna end up spending


21.Free of Hope

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Bricks are dirty, lakes are dead
The family dog is mad
Baby brother's science beakers are all broken
Now the yard peacocks are all sad

Board games are boring
May they rot on the shelf
Big brother's at Columbia University
Quote unquote, he's tanning beaver pelts

Subtle as a billboard, oh, so refined
Smoking through my chimney
Burning up this life of mind

Free of hope, free of the past
Thank you God of nothing
I'm free at last

Free of hope, free of the past
Thank you God of nothing
I'm free at last
I'm free at last
I'm free, free at last

A chip on the shoulder usually means
There's wood up above
But no man at this shiny oblong table
Is very, very fibrous

Picnic demographics
I'm scorched and corn fed
Leaning on the banister
I knew it's just another 20, 20 years of sweat

Making up his milk dud mind
Gnawing on a Charleston Chewooh
Look inside his hothouse eyes
See his budding youth

Free of hope, free of the past
Thank you God of nothing
I'm free at last

Free of hope, free of the past
Thank you God of nothing
I'm free at last
I'm free at last
I'm free, free at last


22.Betty Lonely

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Betty lonely, lives in a duplex of stucco
On the north bank of a brackish river
Her ears omit the noise from a nearby airstrip
Her mind floats beyond the snapper boats

Betty lonely, her green eyes are roughly staring
At a point through the sliding glass door
Her heart lives over the drawbridge
Her brain is wet like a throw net

Betty lonely, she will always think in Spanish
Though I know her Spanish black hair, it will start to fade
She sunk her past out in the surrounding salt flats
Her maidenhood was lost beneath the Spanish moss

Betty lonely, just talks to her grand baby
'Cause everybody else she blots them out
But her words stick like a flounder gig
Her dry laugh is like a gaff


23.Thumbtack

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Take a light bulb from the closet
And replace the one above the faucet
Scrape the whisker from my face
Nick my lip in pointless haste

Take a magical marker black
Darken a spot on the map
Of a county on the coast
Where I was born out of a ghost

Underneath the ceiling fan
Contemplate a master plan
Breathe a sigh of recognition
For a childhood superstition

Push a thumbtack in the wall
Pierce the picture, I did draw
It's a graphic portrait from my youth
And it hurts my heart this forced review


24.Old Hotel

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I can see my old hotel
Down amongst the smells
I'm up above that ancient city river
It's filtered by my lousy liver
It's filtered by my wilted lily liver

I can see my old hotel
It ain't even a hotel
5 a.m. there came some sleet or hail
It was signal taps on the brave window
Solemn taps on the wavy window

I can see my old hotel
Hear those old touristy bells
Soon I'll be down the hill shopping
Giddy like a tipsy Mary Poppins
Giddy like a tipsy Mary Poppins

I can see my old hotel
It ain't even a hotel
I'm scheduled to ride the rails
If I wished to stay on this tower
Things would derange given just another hour

Things would derange given just another hour
Things would derange given just another hour
Things would derange given just another hour
Things would derange given just another hour
Things would derange given just another hour
Things would derange given just another hour


25.Parade

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Where did you go after the parade?
I wandered, searching for about an hour
Then I parked it on a bench
Shifting and sulking

Those pesky little mosquitoes
They nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly drained me
Then a man dripping with vitalis
Said I looked like Joe Namath

He asked me did I used to be famous?
And I said, 'Neighbor, I'm famously late'
I said, 'Neighbor, I'm famously late'

Where did you go after the parade?
You never even appeared, never even appeared to enjoy it
Well I came out of it with a slight experience
Drinking, howling, howling at the natives

You're a great at disappearing
You left me with an ear ache
I spit into the swan lake
Saying, 'What a hideous review'
Saying, 'Oh, what a hideous review'

Weather, barometric pressure push me to the ground
My stomach is growling, I always heard this was such a festive
town
But everybody over ten years old is frowning
Everybody over ten years old is frowning

Where did you go after the parade?
I didn't expect you to be bolting away
I remember that time you took me to see Harold and Maude
'Cause I didn't know the meaning of the word catharsis

We are busy weaklings, poking around for reasons
We are happy little heathens
It's just time we both admit it
It's time we both admit it


26.Band Camp

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Well, the first time I ever laid eyes on you
Was my first year at marching band camp
You never played the part as it was written
You would always vamp

You was always cracking me up
Messing with the band director
Mocking the tuba parts
In your upper register

If I knew then what I know now

You shouldn't've even been talking to me
Just a lowly freshman
And you the undisputed queen of the senior class
Without question

Yet at the band hangout Ruth's restaurant
We sat together in a corner booth
We got our burgers for free
Because you was kin to Ruth

If I knew then what I know now

You always had a little something
Hidden in your instrument case
We would be practically making out
On the bus home from the way games

Once you soaked a tampon in some serious vodka
Wore it to school
Second period science lab
You fell right off your stool

If I knew then what I know now

I didn't go to your graduation
I just couldn't find the strength
And I had to throw my yearbook in the dumpster
Because it was haunting me

The very next time I ever laid eyes on you
It was practically Christmas
You already looked like a whole different person
Just like much older sister

If I knew then what I know now

I still never, never, never would've
Seen that coming


27.Super Tuesday

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Super Tuesday, on the ball
Super Tuesday
I am out on a stroll

Super Tuesday, I'm in control
Oh, super Tuesday
I'm out on a stroll
Oh I am out on a stroll

Super Tuesday, I'm in the door
Super Tuesday
I am good for a bore
I'd do anything for a bore


28.Kick My Ass

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I'm so sorry
You had to kick my ass
You said I ruined your life
I didn't mean to do that

I had to untangle
Where we was entwined
It was strangling me
Were you breathing so fine?

The jam I was in
When things weren't working out
Led me to the brunt
Of your swinging bout

I'm so sorry
I regret everything
But what can I do
To have you take back that swing?

I'm so sorry
A scuffle ensued
But things are much better now
I guess thanks to you

The jam I was in
When things weren't working out
Led me to the brunt
Of your swinging bout

I'm so sorry
You had to pull my hair
I had to take care of business
A lot of business giving there


29.Sleeping Man

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

You're a freak of nature
You are a siamese
You are in a pickle jar
For all the world to see

Watching the sleeping man
Watching the sleeping man
Watching the sleeping man
Watching the sleeping man

You are a guarded secret
In a government home
But now they come to see you
By the busload


30.Prick

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I was shaking with laughter
Scared the bratty children
Did I destroy the ambiance
I'm sure for that hoity toity patron

It wasn't pretty when I looked into the face
Oops, into the eyes, ruptured icy chaos
What's the, what's the, who's the prick

We was hidden in the potted plants
I know and we was no obnoxious
But I could see, there in the sun room
The growing storm of disapproval

It wasn't pretty when I looked into the face
Oops, into the eyes, ruptured icy chaos
What's the, what's the, who's the prick

I ain't supposed to laugh
Can't let your kids see that
I ain't supposed to wonder
What's the, who's the prick
What's the, who's the prick
What's the, who's the prick
What's the, what's the, who's the prick


31.Arthur Murray

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

She's so musical
Look at her dance in a flurry
Who gets to lead
Do know it's not Arthur Murray

Emasculate me with your biology
Bend me, break me, I'm worthless
One wicked brand from your torturous hand
You laugh when I tell you, you're gorgeous

She has an answer for everything
She's so smart in the raw
And well educated
That's a double fisted draw

Cotton breathes between her cheeks
Spin me, weave me, I'm willing
One finger prick, I know I'll take sick
She'll chalk up a killing

She's so fashionable
She's a Nazi when she's shopping
Wholly democratic
You should see who she's been bopping

Emasculate me with your biology
Break me, bend me, I'm worthless
One wicked brand from your torturous hand
You laugh when I tell you, you're gorgeous


32.Panic Pure

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

My earliest memory is of holding up a sparkler
High up to the darkest sky
Some 4th of July spectacular and I shook it with an urgency
I'll never ever be able to repeat

At times I might could be accused of being
Painfully nostalgic
But as of late I'm looking forward to the future
Though I've never been much of a planner

Throwing caution into the fan
Catch as catch as those catchers can

And so all you observers in your scrutiny
I don't count my scars like tree rings
My jigsaw disposition, it's a piecemeal properties
Are either smoked or honey cured by the panic pure
Yes yes yes yes, about the panic pure

And so all you observers in your scrutiny
I don't count my scars like tree rings
My jigsaw disposition, it's a piecemeal properties
Are either smoked or honey cured by the panic pure
Yes yes yes yes, by the panic pure


33.Sponge

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Pleasure is melting like chocolate
My blue ribbon gumption is gone
All my gravy must have soaked into something
And the world

The filthy steps, the cold concrete
The phony earth below my feet
The ancient odor of the street
Yes, the world, world, world, it is a sponge

Yes, the world, world, world, it is a sponge

And when the crisis passes
When the coast is clear
I'll be buffed down to a liquid
And the world, world, world, it is a sponge

Yes, the world, world, world, world, it is a sponge
Yes, the world, world, world, world, world, it is a sponge

Throughout this entire ugly outing
I've been mumbling the convex of what I should be shouting
But I'll soon be silent, you'll soon hear nothing
'Cause the world, world, it is a sponge

The world, world, world, world, it is a sponge
World, world, world, world, it is a sponge


34.Stupid Preoccupations

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

I am sick of you
Expecting me to do
All those puny ingratiations
You know I am a terrible patient

I am barely alive
Ever since my daddy died
And I've been searching for my own little babies
To misbehave and betray me

I tie one onto all the others
And say a soggy toast to all my drunken brothers

They've got organizations of a people
Like me with stupid preoccupations
Stupid preoccupations
Stupid preoccupations

We know y'all are all innocent
I'm just bitching at your expense
And the price for cockiness is worth swiping
Yes, it's primal griping

Yes, I am nearly reformed
So don't say that you weren't warned
'Cause when I break into that smile that is aching
It may be too ugly to look on

Hallelujah for the ghosties
And all those scary monsters under the boiling seas

They've got organizations of a people
Like me with stupid preoccupation
Stupid preoccupations
Stupid preoccupations


35.I'm Through

Lyricist:James Victor Chesnutt

Forget everything I ever told you
I'm sure I lied way more than twice
But understand I am not Emily post
You know I'm nowhere near that precise

And I struggle with these etiquettes
Like you wouldn't believe, I'm puzzled by the policies
'Cause after everything else you draw out of me
You still expect cute curtsies

But I'm through, through, through
Carrying you on my shoulders
And I'm through, through, through
Hiding

And I'm through, through, through
Living my life for you
Yes, I hope for both our sakes
I'm through, through, through

I hope you are happy with your hold on me
It sure stuck me awful strong
And don't you dare call this disloyalty
There's no way you could be more wrong

I'm just dragging my devotion in a last ditch retreat
Seeking some safety
I'm tired of bleeding for no good reason
Is that so hard to see?

And I'm through, through, through
Carrying you on my shoulders
And I'm through, through, through
Hiding

And I'm through, through, through
Living my life for you
Yes, I hope for both our sakes
I'm through, through, through


36.Blanket Over the Head

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

We will remain ignorant
Incapable of knowing
Insoluble is the problem

Curiosity, sleeping
Killed the caterpillar
Curiosity, empty
Is a blanket over the head


37.It Is What It Is

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I am a monster
Like Quasimodo
Or Caliban the natural man
Giving wild ripostes to my reflection

One ugly morning
In a rage
Father threw an apple
Into my carapace

And like the invisible man
Directing traffic
I'd be ineffective
No matter how enthusiastic

Amid the masses' frenzy
Participation
In this massive
Separation

Appearance is everything
Nothing is how it seems
And civilized society
Is calm civility

I'm the phantom of the opera
Singing beauty and at ease
Or Henry Darger's
Autobiography

And that is curt clues to my essence
Planned obsolescence
Appearance is everything
Nothing is how it seems
In a market economy
It's called marketing

And not exactly clawing my way to glory
Nor whimpering in the wind
But once positively
I'm teetering on the brink
Of an all out breakthrough

But sometimes clear headed
Sometimes a doofus
Sometimes very cordial
And sometimes aloof

I am syrupy optimistic one moment
Then gravely pessimistic the next
Irritable as a hornet sometimes
Then agreeable as it gets

I'm not a pagan
I don't worship anything
Not gods that don't exist
Nor the sun which is oblivious

I love my ancestors but not ritually
I don't blame them or praise them
For anything that they passed along to me
I don't need stone altars to help me hedge my bet
Against the looming blackness

It is what it is


38.Flirted With You All My Life

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I am a man, I am self aware
And everywhere I go
You're always right there with me

I flirted with you all my life
Even kissed you once or twice
And to this day, I swear it was nice
But clearly I was not ready

When you touched a friend of mine
I thought I would lose my mind
But I found out with time that really
I was not ready

Oh death, oh death, oh death
Really I'm not ready

Oh death, you hector me
And decimate those dear to me
You tease me with your sweet relief
You're cruel and you are constant

When my mom was cancer sick
She fought but then succumb to it
But you made her beg for it
Lord Jesus please, I'm ready

Oh death, oh death, oh death
Really I'm not ready
Oh death, oh death, oh death
Now, clearly I'm not ready


39.Little Vacation

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Like a little vacation
Like a little old song that I wanted to hear
Like a big libation
Like a flattering sentence whispered in my ear

That's how I feel
Every time I feel like I want to feel so
Why don't we have a little symposium
And hash out something real

Like a scenic vista
Like a long awaited chemical buzz
Like a far off twister
Like an unexpected pleasant run-in with the fuzz

That's what I want
Every time I try what I'm trying for
So why don't we have a little council meeting
Where everybody takes the floor

Robert's rules of order will be observed
I'll be the parliamentarian
With an unswerving dedication


40.See You Around

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I'm sorry for my lack of communication
But as I'm staring out this fifth floor window
It seems like the least amount of communication the better
Oh, well, what am I supposed to say?

There's a bloody effigy on my wall
And the complimentary carnation is falling apart
And I ain't got time for the niceties
Or rather I was never, never fond of the niceties

I will see you around
I will see you around
See you around
See you around

Well, I must admit I'm flattered by your consecration
It's a mind numbing, spine chilling
But nevertheless heartwarming gesture
But as you make your advances so clumsily

I'll save us both the both the hassle and leave
And hang out all night in the familiar fluorescent light
Of dunking donuts 'cause I ain't got time for the niceties
Or rather I was never, never fond of the niceties

I will see you around
See you around
See you around
See you around

Well, how are you with issues
Lately you've been a half assed activist
You've been seen sashaying around the picket line
Wearing scarcely any sign

Oh, but always vocal in love and strife
And the politics of your all important life
Well, I'm sorry but your routine is coming off a bit ragged
And I ain't got time for the niceties
Or rather I was never, never fond of the niceties

I will see you around
I'll see you around
See you around
I'll see you around


41.Tarragon

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Suckin' on a toothpick soaked with cinnamon
The boys in the back room played on

Anonymous Adonis, he's the one you want
The boys in the back room played on

Not beholding to the afterwards
Saw him at the market buying tarragon
The boys in the back room played on

Clinch for a moment then you wander home
The boys in the back room played on


42.New Town

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

New town reeks of lumber
New town beat the crowds
New town, kittens discover
That the birds scrape the ground

And even the loneliest old ladies get social calls
Where they dine and talk about their savior
And the grassroots effort to incorporate
Elects a smiling mayor

New town Americana
New town rookie police
New town industries are wanted for the local employees
And a little bitty baby draws a nice clean breath

From over his beaming momma's shoulder
He's staring at the worldly wonders
That stretch just as far as he can see
But he'll stop staring when he's older


43.Ladle

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

You file me with the libertines
I fold in line
My monthly dole of magazines
Beaming bistro shine

In my ladle is your plum
And my daily staple of your cutesy crumbs
Of your cutesy falling crumbs

I saw you at the snazzy din, din
You made me sad that I watched
I must say you truly packed 'em in
Nearly dearly debauched

In my ladle is your plum
And my daily staple of your cutesy crumbs
Of your cutesy falling crumbs

In my ladle is your plum
And my daily staple of your cutesy crumbs
Of your cutesy falling crumbs


44.Myrtle

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

A funny pilgrim on a crazy crusade
A saucy chaucer, a sorry chapter mislaid
Whittled with an exacto knife

Plum right through my load bearing wall
I'm horrified now that I could do such a thing
But I thought I saw the singer

I've heard those chimes so many other times
But if I gave in, it had to of been
I whupped it out, and destroyed my selfish cocoon
Since I gave in, it had to of been
Since I gave in, I hope it had to been

I'm not an optimist, I'm not a realist
I might be a subrealist but I can't substantiate
It was bigger than me and I felt like a sick child
Dragged by a donkey, through the myrtle


45.Hot Seat

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Ventolin and Vivarin and primatene
Secret tequila shots and a patch of morphine
In the morning and in the throes
What a great day to come out of a coma

I've been in the hot seat sweating it out
Oh, sweating it out
Sweating it out, sweating it out

I touch the telephone it falls away
I think they call it empathy but not this way
I put my lips on the sound hole
My tongue is finally warming but my brain is charcoal

I've been in the hot seat sweating it out
Oh, sweating it out
Sweating it out, sweating it out

Not much later, fall out of favor
Pretty soon I know I'll do
Precisely what I wanted not to do

Maybe I slipped up and learned a lesson
To work my proclivity towards second guessing
I was too naive and enthusiastic to keep my trap shut
And my monkey in a mother fuckin' basket

I've been in the hot seat sweating it out
Oh, sweating it out
Sweating it out, sweating it out


46.Degenerate

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I am a rough ball of twine
I have a duty to do
I been tied to the table
But now I am frazzled and aloof

Degenerate, disintegrate the tight knots
Degenerate, rot away the nooses
Degenerate, out come those tangles
Oh, degenerate, oh degenerate

Acorn squash and a hearty rows of okra
Stand of sweet corn by the trickling creek
Winter dead that was buried 'neath the pole beans
Behold a sink hole in the spring

Degenerate, washed by weather cycles
Degenerate, bleach the deadly night shades
Degenerate, prepare to take the profit
Oh, degenerate, oh degenerate

Degenerate, disintegrate the tight knots
Degenerate, bleach the deadly night shades
Degenerate, out come those tangles


47.Giant Sands

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Do a little rope trick
Move around the mildew
When you stopped to make a phone call
In the glitter of a landmark

She said something about a blood clot
And a bad wild peach
That nappy little news flash
Takes the cut right out of your crease

Get it on demand
Like Tupperware
Shipped with sarcasm
All is fair

Jog through giant sands
Till you're cleared
Then to leave the land
Unawares

At least it's not a leg break
You laugh out loud and lonesome
In your cabin cruiser
On your cross county trek

Your brain feels like a fiddle
A brittle fragile vessel
Pull off onto the shoulder
By the waterworks

Get it on demand
Like Tupperware
Shipped with sarcasm
All is fair

Jog through giant sands
Till you're cleared
Then to leave the land
Unawares


48.Swelters

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

After the splice
When the temperature's nice
After the patch
When every thing's a match
After the patch

After the edit
When it's had time to set
When it's smooth
Then it's time to move
When it is smooth

Go consult your elders
Look into the thatch
Any day that swelters
There's still some shelter
Beneath the hatch

Go consult your elders
Look into the thatch
Any day that swelters
There's still some shelter
Beneath the hatch

After the cool
When it's wound on the spool
When it's spent
You're rarely glad it went
When it is spent


49.Threads

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Your personal pariah is in a wool cap
The mirror flakes away take a long nap

Watching the threads disintegrate
Like the Krishna beads in a lock box safe
Watching the threads disintegrate
Like the Krishna beads in a lock box safe

Watching the threads disintegrate
Crumbling like the lawn art you made
Oh, lawn art you made
Oh, lawn art you made
Oh, lawn art you made
I was crumbling like the lawn art that you made

Hard brown bread cut with a circular saw
Shallow rattling breath with a wee cough

Watching the threads disintegrate
Foisted into the middle ages
Watching the threads disintegrate
Foisted into the middle ages

Watching the threads disintegrate
Remain in the ruckus and you will get scraped
Oh, you will get scraped
Oh, you will get scraped
Oh, you will get scraped
If you remain in the ruckus and you will get scraped


50.Supernatural

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Built a king on compliments
Charisma, and advertisements
Still they see him shine ephemeral
It ain't supernatural
No it ain't, supernatural
Supernatural, may be

Out of body experience
I flew around the hospital room once
On Intravenous Demerol
It wasn't supernatural
No no no it wasn't supernatural
Supernatural, may be

Certain smell, a certain view
Sparken off a case of the deja vu
Is it inexplicable?
It ain't supernatural
It ain't, supernatural
Supernatural, maybe


51.Bernadette

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

I was shivering, I'll admit it
I had nothing better to do
Except to wheeze my lazy wheeze
Bernadette, where are you?
Bernadette, where are you?

She gets much acclamation
For such a self proclaimed Faustian
Bernadette doesn't like doubters
She wants to fight in the Coliseum

What can you tell me of Therese and Isabelle?
Was it just fate that brought them together?
Or did they will their unusual union?

In cahoots of love or all of the above?
In cahoots of love or all of the above?


52.Withering

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

What are you doing withering away?
Yes, I've heard, you've lost the will to play
Whatever happened to those fluid movements?
You were so proud of in the intimate moments

What about the girl you left at the altar?
Now, now, now she is planning your funeral
Didn't you learn anything at the protest rally
When you and yours were flooding the capital?

What about your days of glory
When your life was anything but boring?
Now you're making these morbid phone calls
And the friends, they gather to cuss and console

What were you doing in that awful decade
After the news broke and those murderous policies were made?
What were you doing running around
When I was here for you, well away from that crowd?


53.Until the Led

Lyricist:Vic Chesnutt

Knowing what I know now
I should've had a cow
I didn't realize
You were to be despised

I must have been
One of history's stupidest men
Everything was perfect in my head
Until the led started hitting me

With benefit of hindsight
I can see your ass wasn't right
Maybe I'm mighty dull
But you're pathological

I never guessed
You meant no, when you said yes
Everything was perfect in my head
Until the led started hitting me

It didn't take long at all
Until the Zen started to fall
All of the people you faked
Suddenly saw their mistake

You never thought
That I could survive the shock
Everything was perfect in my head
Until the led started hitting me


54.Dodge

There's so many ghosts out there on these streets
I always hate to ponder who's under those sheets
Every little thing is temporary
If I stay here any longer, I'll end up very, very scary

It's just a general freak that is boiling in me
And I'm terrified what it's gonna dislodge
I done shit everywhere that there is to eat
Guess it's time for me to get the fuck out of Dodge

I bent over backwards to misbehave
It's a holy wonder I just didn't flip on over into an early
grave
I showed my behind so frequently
My dear old mother she can't even recognize me


55.Look At Me

Yeah, look at me in my thirties
Plowing forth, unsteady and unsturdy
But I'm still alive, I'm still alive, I win a prize
I'm still alive

Yeah, look at me, pushing forty
Suiting up for another sortie
And I'm still alive
I'm still alive, I win a prize
I'm still alive

It may not be pretty my life up to here
But something bold and beautiful occurred
I'm not interred

You look at me as a tragic figure
One frivolous moment, I beg to differ
Because I'm still alive, I'm still alive
I win a prize, I'm still alive
I'm still alive, I'm still alive
I win a prize, I'm still alive

It may not be pretty, my life up to here
But something bold and beautiful occurred
I'm not interred


56.Soft Picasso

It was a modern love affair
Completely cool and casual
They hardly knew each other was there

Both of them had their own getting off to do
They had to dream about their own self
When they were through

But the modern girl was elated
With what the revolution gave her
Since she was liberated

She could have anything that striked her fancy
And she fancied quite a bit if it felt good she did it
And she did it every chance she could get

With her main modern man and otherwise
And her taste wasn't limited to just modern guys
Since another modern girl showed her
That modern girls know how to hold her

And after she had her eyes opened
All her old close friends started getting closer
And new friends weren't that far away
But the modern man wasn't so lucky being shook
From his usual role as the heart breaker

He was completely battered and bewildered
When he actually started in feeling something for her
And he discovered a new emotion
When they stopped ending up together as frequently

And when he finally confronted her with the question
Had she been bedding down with others
In the periphery without him
And she replied 'Hell yes, ain't it funny'
So view the modern man looking like a soft Picasso

He's there with his head in his hand
Repeating to himself an epigram
Live by the scam, die by the scam


57.Soggy Tongues

Narrowed eyes and soggy tongues
Beautiful rumors are flying about the ugly ones
The girl, she is by the pool
Yellow journalists' jewel

And all those wagging fingers
Are silly, little stingers
Rabbits are cooking breakfast, the fog is fragrant
The girl she is waking up against the famous vagrant

The cool council is tallying fines to be levied
The girl she is tightly grinning
The vagrant thinks it's all too heavy

Presents are presented
And bribes reluctantly taken
Summer's sweetie, iced a cohort
While the rest of the town's baking

Traffic is light and appetites are hearty
And tongues are soggy
Accusations are tossed like darts at the good
Little girl who is groggy


58.Bakersfield

Souvenirs on a dusty shelf
Get out the Tarn-X and I polish them myself
Posters are falling but who needs them at my age
I've learned to smile when all I feel is rage

So I think I will go to Bakersfield with Gabriel and Paul
And I'll hide behind the garbage cans
While the holy platitudes fall so blow the gates
I am coming through with my albatrosses and all

And it's strategy not protocol that brings me here


59.Isadora Duncan

Once I dreamed I was dancing with Isadora Duncan
In a silver café, it was a café that was not at all near here
She was planning to diversify and she sang I should do the same
So I whistled to her how I loved her the best

But she sang 'I can't believe you own this attitude'
But with some ballet moves, I removed her shoes
And I painted my lips to hers
And still she sang 'I can't believe you own this attitude'
She sang, 'I can't believe you own this, this attitude'

She needed her beauty sleep
Though I didn't want it to sound like that
Her mind was occupied
Her hard coffee was cold by then as snow

And she sang, 'My smile is more than pearly white
And my dreams are more than you'
She sang, 'My yellow eyes are more than mirrors
And my scarf is more, more, more than blue'

And she sang, 'I can't believe you own this attitude'
Yes I sang, 'I can't believe you own this, this attitude'

She closed her New Directions paper book
And screamed, 'There is no shelter in the arts'
She'd been crying all day
But now her eyes they were brighter than the moon

And she sang, 'My smile is more than pearly white
And my dreams are more than you'
She sang, 'My yellow eyes are more than mirrors
And my scarf is more, more, more, more than blue'

And she sang, 'I can't believe you own this attitude'
'I can't believe it, I can't believe you own this attitude'
'I can't believe it, I can't believe you own this, this
attitude'


60.Independence Day

Future stepped into by field
And turned it into an empire
Forefathers where are you now?
Your dust is settling on my furniture

I stepped out of a cloud and the ditch is close
I mean the ditch is closing in
Hemingway did your fat little self justice
So here's to you you articulate dead fisherman

What if I said I love you and need your guidance
To help me through the obstacles?
Would you say I am too wordy
And then would you laugh?

What if I said I'm under the glass
Untouchable as the document itself?
Would you say okay?
And that you never even considered me?

Independence day
I never knew it would be so symbolic


61.Bug

Michelle loves Willie, our little Sarah
Daughters of the American Revolution
Stryper loves Jesus and I love a girl
Against my better judgment 'cause I feel like a squirrel

My roommates got married and I booted up
And a friend of ours told me that I was disgusting
Valhalla is pinned to the edge of South Carolina
We interstate traveled just to free a man from China

Hotel full of Pakistanis and a front porch
Filled with greasy, greasy grannies
When the bug hits, that's the time to scratch it
When the bug hits, that's the time to scratch it


62.Where Were You

Where were you two years ago
When I was locked out there at the barn
When some certain Athens sacred monster
Was doing me in with charm?

We could've been chatting heart to heart
On that front porch with a view
Where were you, girl
When I needed you?

Where were you two weeks ago
A week again after your promise?
I was in your place of employment
Crying in my humus

Somebody in there said, 'Boy, you're looking bad'
And I said, 'You know, that is nothing new'
Where were you, girl
When I needed you?

Were you in that second story
Well, lighted place
Up against it's occupant artist
In his personal space?

I know that has been known to happen
But I though all of that was through
Where were you, girl
When I needed you?

Where were you last Monday
When I was overwrought ?
I was watching the bright bug lamp flicker
And you were doing up the dim, dim 20 watt

I was alone with Pepe Lopez
I just couldn't do the schmooze
Where were you, girl
When I needed you?

Where are you this Sunday morning?
I'm in shaky health
I am in the back yard leaking on the spot
Where you proclaimed yourself

You are hungry wanting breakfast
And my heart is in a stew
Where were you, girl
When I needed you?


63.We Hovered With Short Wings

About your reef
Over the hillock crest
A breath like aviation
Glowing, showing bones
Glowing, showing bones

With much bellowing and rowing
A cello directioning will let you out
Deaf and loud, let you out

A hungry, hungry awful hunter
A breath, his came asunder
The old dog makes padded cake
As the aged come for me
As the aged come for me


64.Danny Carlisle

He wanted a tree fort more than anything
Yes he wanted to build and defend one on his own
But the neighbor boys BB siege was overwhelming
So he won't be building his dream tree fort anymore

He received a five-speed Schwinn for Christmas
So he built a ramp out of plywood and a stump
And at nights he dreamed Evel Knievel
And a canyon to jump in his backyard

Danny Carlisle don't give a shit about the contras
Danny Carlisle is barely grown
And he's used up most of his options but still he would rather
Dream than fuck

Once he used a pocket knife to kill a garter snake
Yes he chopped that evil serpent into fours
And when he raised his eyes to heaven as a soldier
He wiped the blood of bad snake on his shirt

Danny Carlisle don't give a shit about the contras
Danny Carlisle is barely grown
And he's used up most of his options but still he would rather
Dream than fuck


65.Florida

Florida, Florida
The redneck Riviera
Florida, Florida
There's no more pathetic place in America

A man must make unpopular decisions
Surely from time to time
And a man can only stand what a man can stand
It's a wobbly, volatile line

Florida, Florida
The water table is fucked
Florida, Florida
There's no more perfect place to give it all up

A man must take his life in his own hands
Hit those nails on the head
And I respect a man who goes to where he wants to be
Even if he wants to be dead

Florida, Florida
It's a tropical paradise
Florida, Florida
There's no more perfect place to retire from life


66.Chain

Chain, chain
Every gesture, every frame
Chain, chain

Chain, chain
Empty hours, out of phase
Chain

Anecdotal evidence synergize with common sense
Collective carnal consciousness
Strains the bulging silt fences
Visionary's blind ambition, unintended consequences

Chain, chain
Every shadow, every face
Chain

Chain, chain
Every dollar ain't the same


67.Concord Country Jubilee

I stumbled so innocently
Over all the obscene boundaries
Still I might've procured the act
Of Concord Country Jubilee

And the perfect order fill in the street
It is there I scraped it clean
I was stumbling in
It was gonna be hard to heal

Crowd browsed in
Callous toward the injury
Still I rode the kidney tray
At the Concord Country Jubilee

And the evidence is aimed on me
I screamed
And the girl, she kissed his tongue
He touched her stuffed meat
Her stuffed meat, her stuffed meat


68.Philip Guston

The hand, the hand
The hand, the hand
The hand, the hand
Thoughts of another finger
Typing down into a cellar

The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line

The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line

A fame, a fame, a fame for nothing
Pile, pile of cherries
And oh, I shouldn't think
Like gravity

Bad habits
Bad habits
Bad habits
Bad habits


69.Coward

The courage of the coward
Is greater than all others
A scaredy-cat'll scratch 'im
If you back 'im in a corner

But I ,I ,I, I am a coward
I, I, I am a coward

Courage born of despair and impotence
Submissive dogs can
Lash out in fear and be
Very, very dangerous

But I ,I ,I, I am a coward
I, I, I am a coward


70.Granny

Granny, oh Granny, what ya doin' by the kitchen sink?
She said, 'I'm just makin' up some milk an' cheese'
She said, 'I'm just makin' up some milk an' cheese'
She said, 'I'm just makin' up some milk an' cheese'

Granny, oh Granny, what ya doin' with your false teeth?
She said, 'I'm just pickin' out the blackberry seeds'
She said, 'I'm just pickin' out the blackberry seeds'
She said, 'I'm just pickin' out the blackberry seeds'

Granny, oh Granny
Where did your husband, my granddaddy go?
Where did your husband, my granddaddy go?
She said, 'He went off to heaven just before you were born'
She said, 'He went off to heaven just before you were born'
She said, 'He went off to heaven just before you were born'

She said
'You are the light of my light, of my life and the beat of my
heart'
She said
'You are the light of my light, of my life and the beat of my
heart'

She said
'You are the light of my light, of my life and the beat of my
heart'
She said
'You are the light of my light, of my life and the beat of my
heart'


71.Chinaberry Tree

Me with a machete
Going at the chinaberry tree
All the key players are watching me
Through their simian groove thing

Sweat slinging
Blood slickening
Life ever-loosening grill

Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
The biggest chinaberry tree
That I've ever seen

Sawdust in the air
And on the ground everywhere
Throwing myself at the cut
With a force heretofore unknown to me

Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree

Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Neatest chinaberry tree
That has ever been


72.When The Bottom Fell Out

When the bottom fell out, there wasn't any doubt
I just suddenly found myself free falling
And from such a height, the wind, it had a bite
And it took all my might to fight the fight

The fell in spread-eagled
Must've found an airfoil or some kinda wing
And I gained some equilibrium
Caught myself gliding

When the bottom fell out, observers heard me shout
So long, it's been good to know you
But when I finally smash into that vertin grass
I will say it's been pretty great going