AFTER THE SALE, WE ALL SLEEP

The Memories Are Coming Back
The cheap seats are for settlers
Demonic in their headsets
The rise and fall of ashtrays
A cannonball to ministries
We greet you in synopsis
Point blank distribution
Receptions commemorating
Your heart is palpitating

Chrous:
Squeeze like the pliers
Queen like the fires
It’s almost open, We’re almost home

The last of consequences
Take to the cheapskates
Finding old ways out
But never getting in
The last of all your glory days
Stranded in your purple haze

Chrous:
The cheaps skate all around
And no ones found
to the mercy love and the mercy laws
I remember when it was almost
So negated, overrated
We’re almost home when you
overcome the overstated
Forever something I once lost… to me

The memories are coming back

Cue the Sad Songs
You catch a bad one
You must get over yourself
Nail in a jawbone
The only feeling I’ve felt
Paint me a picture
Of the places you’ve been
Recycled storyboards
That I’ve never seen

Cue the sad songs in all the wrong scenes

Chorus:
I’m calling out your name but it’s too much to ask for
Cross me off your list and I’m screaming on your front porch
Demons begone but their coming for your first born
So kill me a lamb and paint it on your front door

You cue a bad mouth
To slur all your words
Redundant fragments
My ears never heard
Paint me a portrait of your sordid face
A priceless wonder
That’s gone off to waste

Camera Adds Character
The Christmas lights they swing
Reminding us of things
That Jesus never brings
Cheap whiskey fills the home
Bloody lips touch telephones
I can’t make it on my own

Chorus:
And this feelings coming back
As opposites detract
I’ll blow this city off the map

I scribble endless songs
About how we don’t get along
Then you’ll miss me when I’m gone
When walking out the door’s
Become an endless chore
I’m tired of sleeping on the floor

Looks Like Movie Rain
And don’t be humble to the meek
And don’t you ever cross that street
With your own two goddamn feet
To the place where lovers meet
And don’t ever kiss the lips
On a face that launches ships
She’s the one who shoots from the hip
We’ll I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed your trip

Chorus:
Exiting from the place wind it dances across her face
With a voice soaked full of pain she said it looks like movie rain
Running like water paint the sensations becoming faint
And she gives me a hand to hold
Says routines becoming old

The defendant’s hung and tried
And they left him out to dry
You’ll find him waiting outside
That’s where lovers go to die
And don’t ever try to create
Cause your brain will just negate
And you’ll always wind up late
Well I hope you’ve enjoyed the wait

Betsy Turns to Rust
This house is casting shadows of doubt
Thank God we’re finally moving out
Sin can only last so long
But I will stick like glue when I’m dead and gone

Chorus:
Speeding through tollbooths is eating out savings
So hit the gas and don’t look back
Cause yesterday’s dreams are fading
Oh well

The calendar says the past is gone
Wasted months and radio songs
Well the dials broke and the static fades
But I swear to Christ I’ll have my say

Betsy turns to rust, She turns to rust

Two Steps Backwards
It’s a shame I have to pray for time to disintegrate at this age
I tell myself that greater sins have been committed to paper
But it’s better to pray for something than to not pray at all

Chorus:
All the while, that voice keeps screaming
No matter what you do they will bite you

I don’t listen to music anymore I just listen to opinions
And they’re telling me to nurture these talents that I posses
But when the stars get in your eyes it’s far too blinding
To see things clearly

And that voice keeps screaming
No matter what you do they will bite you

Ten Four Speed
We’re all piling into cars made of shrapnel
We drive right into a house made of nails
We waste wishes by the alter in the chapel
We’ll be lucky if we make it out on bail

Chorus:
Hook the bait and flip the switch
Just can’t figure which is witch
Blind magicians turning tricks
Broken promises we can’t fix

We’re flying kites in the sky near the lighting
We get struck by the burdens at hand
Throwing coins into a bottomless fountain
It seems recently our problems are mounting

Haircuts For the Hell of It
The night is dripping dew upon my lawn as someone falls asleep at the wheel
And the moon keeps burning on long after the life of the living is gone
So place your face right into the flames, breathe in smoke till it’s all the same
Skipping stones across your eyes till you fall in line
You’re my best surprise

Chrous:
Memories don’t hold the truth
They’re underneath the sea
They will crawl right out of the woodwork wait and see
I will hold you in my hand just like a precious figurine
And I’ll be back again by dawn
Wait up and see

Just you wait and hear you mother’s calling out your name
Your dad has found the kerosene and now she’s fanning out the flames
It’s spreading to the porch,it’s time to torch for all to see
And as it burns there brilliantly it works on up the family tree
First your new born son goes down in smoke then the next of kin
The only means to the end is just to begin again

Chorus:
Memories don’t hold the truth
They’re underneath the sea
They will crawl right out of the woodwork wait and see
I will hold you in my hand just like a precious figurine
And I’ll be back again by dawn
Wait up and see
Don’t fall to your knees just except the powers that be
Cause if God were here today amused is what he’d be
If you sink or swim it’s up to you in this pile of shit
But they’re giving out haircuts for the hell of it

Off the Fingertips
Up on the hill there sits a man
Who ponders the world yet he can’t understand
Why life itself seems to break in his hands
And blows off just like the sand
All the days are just fading away
And when the general speaks he’s got nothing to say
And when he opens his eyes his thoughts die away
And then the children come out to play

Chorus:
He can’t undo what he wanted to
He can’t unthink the words he’s forced to speak
He cannot write about all he sees in his life
He cannot die when he was never alive

All the days are just fading away
And when the general speaks he’s got nothing to say
And when he opens his eyes his thoughts die away
And then the children come out to play
Treason of self is an admissible charge
When eaten alive by Mother Nature at large
With the gun in her hand and the smile to match
She’ll shoot the shit right into your heart

Emancipation Constellation
Wish you were with me wish you were near
Why don’t you tell me your biggest fear
Wish you were with me wish you were here
Brace yourself for failure my dear

Here we are now, dropping dimes now
Making phone calls, eating up our time now
Screwin’ ‘round, all over town
Disconnected, digesting all the clocks now
Life is short so don’t abort
Just reconnect the signals and fuck all the ramparts
Singing ballads through full collapses
Turn it up and fuck all the slow parts

What’s the reason for the season?
My skin is frigid and it’s colder outside
Buildings fall through it all
We stand waiting for our conscience to be called
Thanking God though casual nods
Blasphemies the sincerest form of flattery
Eating cheap, needing more sleep
I can’t climb cause the steps are too steep

Apartheid Is For Lovers
We’re digging in ditches
Searching for the answers
Casting out wishes
Just starving for affection
I’m scrubbing off the dishes and
I’m going fishing for clues of you
That hide in the ruff like diamonds out of the (blue)
Tired of sleep, I’m staying up to polish off my shotgun
Pieces of you are scattered on the front lawn like fresh cut grass
Memories of you, just like the grass except that you don’t grow back
No more

Retirement Party Plan
I set my sights on how it’s been
No secret, out future’s looking grim
It’s no joke you’re a parasite and that
You’re consuming me from within

Chorus:
We look through telescopes
Into the face of the jet stream
This winter’s killing me
So bottom’s up to January
(Fuck you to February dreams)

We raise a glass for a useless toast
We swear out hearts they love the most
But it all sounds forced and contrite
The by dawn we know that nothing’s right

It’s been a burden to get this off my chest
But in the vestibule is where our souls will rest

Lobotomies and Memories
Mix your signals with some vodka and throw it my way
I’ll gulp it down just for the burn. You’re on my insides
The walls are spinning into your eyes. You’re sucking me dry
The sweetest oblivion’s yet to come. That’s where we’ll be when we die

Chorus:
I want to tell you secrets
But my mouth is stapled up with fear
For when the flames come creeping in like snakes
I know we’ll be the only ones here
And when the walls come caving in you’ll find
All of the words to describe the night God took it all away
And how we made it out alive

Just off the coast they’re tangled in satellites
The reception’s going down
The call is lost beneath the waves
Another useless attempt
To reach you with my mouth
A breath so soft and stale
That I can hardly breathe for fear
Of relapsing in the dark

I am leaving here today
I am reaching you today
Even if it is my very last steps
The fireworks will burn all night
They’ll act as my fading light
I am seeing you today

Tangled Up In Blue
I’m calling it quits I’m calling in sick
Because I’m sick of everyone wanting me to give a shit
How ‘bout we hold our heads under water
And see how long our love will last for
Our hearts are off beat asleep in the street
I’m off the wagon and I’m sinking in deep
Let’s make a run right for the horizon
We’ll burn up before we jump into the sun

Chorus:
So when you get the crossroads merge into the wreck
While my trivial pursuits have piled up to my neck
How can we stop this unbeatable flu
When everyone we know is tangled up in blue
And all I want to do is give it back to you

Past the Ribcage
My bones they rattle like the bars of cage
And my bones, they break and crash on the shore like waves
They are useless and caught in decay
And that’s why they’re resting alone in a grave

Chorus:
My silhouette doesn’t match my face
And I’ve seen you girl, a fresh familiar place
Supernova night, just like a heart attack
Convulsive, redundant, we raise a glass

Forever stuck in a cheap promenade
We follow them at distance, makeshift motorcade
And we play the rules of the game
But we crumble and loose like a broken arcade

Bible Alley
I’m off the A list now so take a seat right next to me bride
The ego’s dead it went to my head so I shot it out with a Colt .45

Chorus:
I don’t know why
But I fucking cry every time
You steal my breathe now I’m a mess
Still I tell you that I’m fine

Wipe that smile off your face
Replace stucco in its place
Watch your beauty flake away
Like dead leaves on an autumn day

Generated by Leftovers
I will take it to a grave
Dig a hole with hands and throw in lies to
Fertilize what’s inside
Your eyes they bloom with ashes dark and gray as skies
That bring bad moons on the rise

Chorus:
No matter where you go or what you do I’ll never follow you
It won’t be alright baby blue
No matter where you rest or who’s the best I’ll never pray on knees
Cause this ain’t no hypocrisy

I will plant a form of life
Where your old smile chapped with strife
Use to thrive in denial
I will waste on last breathe and feed it to your chest
To put away this old mess

Beauty Parlor Tricks
Your rising voice crashes down on me
Slurring fractured consonance like a broken spelling bee
Your tongue it moves like a pile driver
In and out of my ears worse than a backseat driver

Chorus:
Played the games
They’re all the same
You wear such a cheap disguise
But when we sleep
Beneath the sheets
We’re bundled up in lies

Your sweaty fists wrapped tight around my wrists
Uncharted manifests, you’ve got your laundry list
Your eyes are shot like the target on my chest
Through inaudible words, I’ll tell you who’s the best…

Tony’s Christian Bible
Boarded up like a house
And my church just kicked me out
Gotta find a way to keep my goddamn’s to myself
Another mistake stocked up on the shelf
And its expiration’s up
Gotta find a way to rot in peace without you now

Preach and read your psalms
Cause carbs will kill you
Mow and tend you lawn
Cause summer’s fading
I’d pay to understand

Chorus:
So cut and paste my smile
To the cover of your bible
Cause I think that I am liable to crash
Just cut and paste my smile
One that lives on through denial
I guess I finally earned my trial this time

The radio’s dragging on
Broadcasting useless songs
Into the night where they die and fade away
Among the static ringing in my ears
You try to siphon out the tears
Don’t sympathize with things you cannot see

Never Going Back to North Hampton
Fresh out of gas and a clutch just can’t seem to work my car
All alone on the road, where’s my climate control?
Out of luck and my cash, where is my sanity?
Give me back my world, this state’s eating me alive
On no sleep and coffee just can’t seem to look at trees
In full bloom, I’m dying, just can’t seem to give a fuck

I’m finally going home
And no I’m never going back there
Yes, I’m finally going home

Black Market Boy Scouts
This is how you spend your days
In solitude, your face to the backdoor
I’d hate to be in your shoes
Skin wrapped tightly to the bone
They crack and fall to the dirt floor
So damned easily amused

Chorus:
Whistling songs while you moving along
Just another chain gang on your own
Setting flames to rent to move back home
All the songs are printed but all sound wrong

I’ve never seen a place like this before
Don’t think I’ll come ‘round anymore
Yes that’s my face in the rearview
Jaws clenched tightly to the teeth
They grind out soothing melodies
I never heard anything so sweet

Apartment
We sit inside all day just waiting for someone to say goodbye
We worked out fingers to the bone for no good goddamn reason at all

All I want from you is silence
And all I get are uphill battles
Don’t you see me hanging onto
Memories that can and never will be

We looked out our TV screens for signs of life on the other side
Well they’re gone

Our slates our clean like the dinner plates we never used
I’ll do the dishes if you discard my wishes at the door
I’ll meet you again on the outside
We’ll smile and nod our heads to the ground
And while you’re out there blooming
I’ll sit and waste away in this apartment

Fighting Interior Decorators
If you’re stuck in gravity just give up
And if you fall flat on your face don’t get up, get up
And if you swallow all your pride just throw up
And if you sing sweet melodies just shut up, shut up

If you’re trapped with pessimists just move up
And if that pessimist is me yell grow up
And if you swallow antifreeze don’t throw up
Just wash it down with gasoline to shut up, shut up

Glow in the Dark
Every night when I go to sleep
It’s nothing but repeating dreams
Skeletons hanging in my closet
And lips sealed up like a broken locket

Here she comes now, No she never comes

Chorus:
Cause she breeds electric sparks
And she is glow in the dark
And she’s got transparent eyes
And she wears the perfect disguise

Pick and choose and cut and paste
Against your will you must choose your fate
One day a real rain will wash away the shit
So just throw out your guilt and dive into it

And she’s got transparent eyes
And she wears the perfect disguise
Cause she breeds electric sparks
And she is glow in the dark

I Guess You’ll Sever
Just sit right here and I’ll be right back
Don’t move a muscle you’re descend for a heart attack
Constricted blood flow, which way (does) the wind blow?
You’re giving me answers to questions that I’ve never known

Chorus:
Speaking in riddles I don’t want to talk now
We were speaking in tongues last night
Turn your head, turn your head faster
Our destiny is destined for disaster
Cause you are the knife behind my back

Just come on in and don’t bow your head
Cause sooner that later all good things come to an end
As dead skin flakes through useless handshakes
Isn’t it okay to ask God for Christ’s sake?

The Captain’s Lament
The captain screams as he goes down with the ship
All hands on deck
I’m sorry to say we’re all gonna die
Fate is wrapped around our necks
When crucifixions come

Chorus:
And we crown you the king of all we know
And we’ll sing to you with a chorus of corpses
And we present you with everything we could show
And we’ll (you’ll) expect this, all recent divorces

The captain cries as he bites throw his lip
It shouldn’t end like this
The water is icy. Rain falls from the sky
And they pray they’ll all be missed
Their lives slip though their fists

The captain yells as he goes down with the ship
Inevitably submerged
“I’m happy to say you’re all my good friends”
Unfathomably deterred
And they’re going do unheard

The captain begs for his sordid life
Formal prayers never sent
“I knew someday we’d come to an end
Let’s begin again!”

Let’s begin again
Let’s begin again

STEPS FOR SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS

Born In a Barn
A tremendous feeling is sinking deep now
Down to my knees where it cripples my legs from inside
The house I see the flames blooming
Fueled by the laughter that comes out of my mouth

Chorus:
I see you dropping fuel all over the house
It’s coming down
I can see the disease spreading like gossip
Throughout a small town

A tremendous feeling is sinking deep now
Down to my knees where it cripples my legs from outside
I see the sun hang low from a noose I fashioned
From all of my past mistakes

Indifferent Dairy Lodging
All of the times I look in your eyes
I can see the pain, I see the days
Drifting away into future years
In which we’ll both embrace, then fade away
If I had a shovel and an open hole
I’d lay us out back into place
And wipe away the present resentment
Trapped in your face, it’s turned to waste

Chorus:
But time keeps ticking on
As the world just shits out song after song
And the chains keep rattling on
In a cheap parade because the past is gone

All of the time I look in through your blinds
I see skeletons in their slow decay
Drifting away into future fears
In which they’re mourning you, for they’ve been away
If I had an excuse and an open hole
I would lay it out to take up space
And start over new with the present excitement trapped in your bones
We’re not alone
We’re not alone

Alarm Pill
Today we took a turn for the worst it seems
As the world spins tilted like a puppet on a string
The ocean spills over onto the places I’m living
Send a postcard back and tell the chairman I’m leaving

And every time the hands strike six
That sinking feeling sets itself in
And every time you swallow that shit
I wish you’d purge your heart so we could get down to it

And the radio’s dead
And the lights are shot
My eyes are glass
It goes on and on (and so on and so forth in a redundant, nasally pattern)

Swing State
We jump over the guardrail
The pavement waves hello
Face first in a pile of concepts
We pick and choose the ones we know

And we speak in puns like knives
So they cannot hide
And we cut the chords
So the vocals can’t bleed no more

Chorus:
All the lights are hanging low like eyebrows
when the show won’t start and the cars won’t go
Running out of breath like all the rest
When the best bloomers die out and the rest won’t grow
Cheap jokes cut into wrist when you do the twist
On a date you’ve ditched
Talk of war on your conscience, maybe we’re beyond this
Who has this all been for?

We sing puddles of sorrow
that drip out our mouths
Splashing in the fountain of youth
We cut and paste the ones they choose

The Lady From Shanghai
(sound clips from the Orson Welles movie of same name)
Through benign eyes she shifts gears rapidly
Like a safety pin jammed in a lock
Twisted counterclockwise and snapped off
In a jam

All the Auteurs Are Wishing They Were Dead
Lounge singer you are lost
Dead in a heap of debris, that’s where you were tossed
Film student you’re alone
Shot full of white noise and tangled in your telephones

Whiskey and radios just don’t mix
When you’re comatose in bed turning cheap tricks
Chopped up the film to fit your style
So the fans and the critics will smile in denial

Chorus:
Now the fame has gone to their heads
Now all the auteurs are wishing they were dead
Burn the trash instead
Cause all the auteurs are wishing they were dead
The radio blasts the cash crop out
So that artists and talent are stricken with self-doubt
The film’s been cut to no end
Now all the auteurs are wishing they were dead

Zero Pilot
Thrown into a brick wall just to see if it sticks
Like an orphan on a mission tired of picked up tricks
Build a fortress around me, tired of working with bricks
With moral so broken it can’t be fixed

Situation’s too farfetched to retrieve it
And the paint runs so fast that you can’t believe it
Nothing’s real until you see it
Except misunderstanding because I believe it