1. |
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2. |
It's a Mistake
03:15
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Almost reaching the starting line
I can't deny the trip hasn't been that serious
There've been moments when delirious
Where I thought I was back home.
But luckily the sun is coated,
There's a relative chill to the air
And as long as we can make it there,
I can maintain this calm composure.
Chorus:
Don't stop to think what could possibly happen
If the wheels touched the shoulder and if someone was passing
And they came around the corner and you couldn't find the brake
Don't think fatalistic, baby, it's a mistake
You better bring along your
Trusty little Cracker Jack decoder ring.
You're obviously not used to this way of thinking
And you can't understand English in another land that speaks it
Your starting line was back a bit (back a bit!)
And mine's several hours away from here
It's relative I suppose I chose not to have it near
The one you chose.
Don't worry, though!
Because all finish lines tend to be mutual.
(chorus)
And it's a mistake that I seem to love to keep making....
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3. |
Buildings & Puddles
02:41
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Baby, there's a rose on your cheek,
Baby go ahead and speak
If you were the building I look at now
You would not so much obscure the clouds
As make them less important,
Make them less important,
And if I could tell fortunes:
I would lie and say that your future lies with me
I would lie and say that I could make you happy
I would say this and take you by the hand,
Lead you out of this university
We'd take off our shoes and socks
And walk upon the melting snow
With our bare feet.
Baby you've a sea in each eye
Baby go ahead and cry
If you were the puddle that's at my feet
You would not so much obscure the street
As make it less important
Make it less important
And if I could tell fortunes
I would say that you will end up making your mama happy
I would say that you will end up making your papa happy
I would say this, and leave,
Tail between my legs and disappear
For yet another year
Stare at buildings and
Rust in puddles of my tears.
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4. |
Conscience
06:19
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Somewhere in the middle of your forehead
Is a little pain in the neck called the coward maker
And somewhere in the middle of your chest
No, maybe it's slightly to the left
Is a thing that you're so afraid of
And somewhere in the back of your mind
Is another place and another time
You wanna make up for
It's all closing in,
But you've got time
To rise above
It all———
(repeat)
Middle section:
Oh no, it's happened again,
I've fallen again
In love with you
Oh no, it's happened again,
I've fallen again
In love with you
Oh no, I'm back on my ass
I have shown almost no class
In regard to you
(repeat verse loudly)
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5. |
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This girl I know lives just outside of town
An' this girl I know she turned my life around
She stole away and took with her my soul
Ain't it strange, I thought that belonged to rock n' roll.
But rock n' roll is all I have on which to depend
And at some times it's just about your only friend
You catch me smiling in spite of trying times
That's cause I know rock n' roll ain't ever gonna die
Guitar!
And I'm a blazin' down a brand new trail
Leavin' town with a stormin' screamin' wail
Direction and destination unknown
I'm headed off where the wind's a-blowin'
And I'm not stoppin', gonna ride off right into the west
And I don't know when I'll bve back again
Gonna catch up with the wind, claim back my soul
Until then my only friend gonna be my rock n' roll
This girl I know lives just outside of town
("know----")
An' this girl I know she turned my life around
("yes----")
She stole away and took with her my soul
Ain't it strange, I thought that belonged to rock n' roll.
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6. |
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In a frantic fit of ecstasy, you say
"This town is too asleep for me,"
But you haven't got any notion of where to go
She lives about a dozen miles from here,
Where the winds enslave you and the nights are clear
And there's a little less smog covering the snow.
(half of chorus pattern, instrumentally)
You dim your lights but passing cars do not
On the radio is a song you forgot you knew
You used to sing it when you were just a kid
"Nah, nah, nah, na-na, na-nah..."
But those days are gone for everyone
Laughing hard is for the untamed ones
Who are hide-and-seekers still missing since they ran and hid
Come on, Betty, be nice
Don't you run out of gas
Gotta make just one more pass
I'm gonna wanna do this forever
As we dance on this swan lake road
Try to think of how her voice sounds
How she'd hold my hand
But it's so long ago now that
It seems like never
A pleasant winter's night all by yourself
Unless you count Betty, whose fuel guage fell
From full to empty as you mader her pace on all those gravel roads
It's four in the morning, damned if you can sleep
You're wired on all of these memories
And you haven't got any notion of where to go.
Come on, Betty, be nice
Don't you run out of gas
'cause if I try to think of
How to laugh
I think I can remember
And as we pirouette on this swan lake road
Try to think of how—her voice sounds
How she'd hold my hand
But it's so long ago now that
It seems like never
What have you got against having fun?
Are you dying of post-21?
Perhaps you could keep from growing old
If you could find a soul-mate's hand to hold, and
Laughing is easy for the untamed ones, but,
You don't remember where you come from
And you haven't got any notion of where to go.
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7. |
Scale of One to Ten
03:36
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I would love to be living again
I would love to be able to love
I would rate you as my friend on a scale of one to ten
As low as that sounds,
It's what we did in elementary school
You're low to the ground
And everything is up, even for a fool
And those were the times
When you could spend the whole day with just one thought
And friendship was blind
And betrayals often and soon were forgotten
And I'm speaking from limited experience
And the patterns I see are the ones I make
A past with no future makes the present tense
I hurt myself hurdling your fence
As false as that sounds
These little games with words are one of my few joys
Leap buildings in bounds
But only in my mind, cause I'm still a boy
Or am I senile?
Did I forget how many times I've dropped the ball?
Is that de nile?
(Egyptian waters sound like they'd break a fall)
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8. |
Fickle Ones Like You
04:08
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Sorrow sings among the prima donna gusts and breezes
And he transcends the seasons
He's incapable of seeing
But he catches your eye,
Seems a much deeper guy than your friend Laughter,
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9. |
Heater Down
02:31
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With heater down and hearts flying like flags
We turn left off Maryland
And stop in at a local café
Where the nights are gay
And passed away
By soulless, dispassionate slobs in nicer clothes
And they're wandering off in all directions
Before our eyes, auto-hypnotized
And they're telling themselves
And everyone else they're not frightened
(which we know they are...)
Others too!
More than a few half-poets and musician folk
Trading jokes, adorning spokes with baseball cards
Fumbling for the sugar jar, being not afraid, not aware
Or else not caring
Because for the moment they live for the moment.
And if ever there was a need for a fight it is now
A fight to breathe life into the souls of our past
And if our struggle should meet up against those who resist
We shall meet them with fists held up high...
There it is,
I've spoken—too much, too soon
And it seems I've cleared another room
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10. |
Strange Thing
04:18
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You know it's a strange, strange thing that has got into me now
(Yes it's a strange thing)
Gonna visit Derry Kent, oh lord don't be crappin' on me now
(yes it's a strange thing)
My love is strong, my lady, don't you let a fret upon your brow
(yes it's a good thing)
Well, it's a good thing we saw it with Tom Waits in our step that night somehow...
Humour is a stranger to regret
And we my lady are not beaten yet
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11. |
Prairie Doll
03:43
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Prairie doll of mine
(whom no one should call theirs)
You shrug off all our cares
and we're trapped in your freedom.
For it's your pretty eyes they'll see
Not the running away
They say that they'll remember you,
But they'll do it their own way
The girl they'll think of then
Will be a Barbie Doll,
And everyone will have one like it
And that will be a joke
They won't remember your feelings, no
They'll remember beautiful breasts
They'll remember shuddering breaths
They'll remember the way you sang as they
Held and stroked your pretty little head.
Prairie doll of mine
(whom no one should call theirs)
I take mine with me anywhere,
I'm trapped in its freedom.
It's always hard when you meet up with friends
You haven't seen for ages
You're angry at their constancy
Or you're angry at their changes
The girl that ran away is still alive and well
But she don't conform to that Barbie Doll figure.
They don't remember your ups and downs
They'll remember your ins and outs
They'll remember your pretty mouth
They'll remember the way you sang as they
Held you to your pretty little bed
Prairie doll of mine
(whom no one should call theirs)
I remember, if you care, what passes for freedom....
Freedom,
Freedom...
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone.
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12. |
Stand Up
03:57
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Stand up next to me
Lean your weight on me
Put your faith in me when there's no light
'cause in darkness I am here
When lightning strikes appear
And thunder makes you fear the night
I mean more than the weather,
I mean storms, but not in nature
I call it many things, it takes many forms
But there's no love in nomenclature
Ahhhhh-----
You don't know what's within me
When I sleep and I feel you breathe
In my head are melodies, lullabies
And in darkness I cannot steer
But in your headlights I appear
And in loss I will be near
And in panic white
I mean more than the radio
I mean more than a drive at night
I mean love as an open road
And two cars that threaten to collide
And the breaks beneath my feet
Touch the floor and sing with heat
And we paint black on the street and gently unite
So stand up next to me
And lean your weight on me
And baby, always be at my side.
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13. |
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14. |
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15. |
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Young and foolish
Strong and innocent
White teeth, no cavities
Light, what's gravity?
Sweet and caring
Brave and daring
No addictions
Writing fiction
Drawing pictures
Dreamers, drifters
Running, jumping
Bike spokes thumping
Friends forever
Friends forever.
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16. |
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This messy bedroom is the soundtrack to my head
The barks on the shins
From tripping over things
Are echoes of the bruises I carry in my head
In every interaction on this street I'm painting red
The ashes stir in the wind of our activity
There's clogs in the drains,
But if we scrape the remains
Off the piled-up dishes we can start anew
One sink-full at a time is better than two.
And I need a new score
Something ordered and sound
Something beautiful
Which to rules is bound
And Bach is not boring at all
And if we just put in the time
All these fumbling études are progress to the sublime
The bills are piling up beneath the flyers and pamphlets
Where they are free, unchallenged, to scream
But if we take their cause and to pay them we strive
Three bills at once is so much better than five....
And I need a new score
Something ordered and sound
Something beautiful
Which to rules is bound
And Bach is not boring at all
And if we just put in the time
All these fumbling études are progress to the sublime
And I say this more than you
And so I indict myself
I scribble down the words
And throw them on the shelf
This messy bedroom is driving my parents insane
They say "pick up your toys
Like good girls and boys..."
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17. |
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Don't look-oh
Don't look-oh
Don't look over your shoulder baby
Behind you's
A cat who's
Come back to dig around your garden but
If the cat
If the cat
If the catching your eyes occurs then
He'll follow
Follow
Follow you home....
Why did you walk in the middle of the street to
Call your sister on a cellphone that you found last night?
And welcome,
Tobacco
To back over here where grass is greener, fuller
You mako
You mako
You make older men and women shiver, quiver
We used to have fun living in the city,
She says she won't come back 'cause his heart feels dirty
But it's too bad that his look makes her so sad
She's in the country now trying to earn a dollar
And I'm stuck
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18. |
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19. |
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Patrick Keenan Whitehorse, Yukon
Patrick Keenan is "a pianoman of a different sort," weaving complex, yet memorable melodies into the balance of light and dark that's in his lyrics as much as on his keyboard. After a life-changing period off from performance, the Winnipeg ex-pat's back with a vengeance—scoring films, writing a hundred songs in the past few years, and developing his recording studio in Whitehorse in the Yukon. ... more
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