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Capo 3rd fret

Standard (EADGBE)

The picture is far too big to look at kid. Your eyes won't open wide enough

and you are constantly surrounded by that swirling stream of what is and what was.

 Well, we've all made our predictions but the truth still isn't out.

 So if you want to see the future, go stare into a cloud.

And keep trying to find your way out of that maze of memories.

It all sort of looks familiar, but then you get up close and it's different. clearly.

 Each time you turn a corner, you are right back to where you were

 and your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear.

 Is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?

An avalanche of opinions like the one that feel that I am now underneath

 It was my voice that moved the first rock and I would do it all again.

 So, I mean, it's cool if you keep quiet, but I like singing.

 So I'll be holding my note and stomping and strumming and feeling so very

 lucky.

 There is nothing I know except that this lifetime is just one moment

 and wishing will just leave me empty.

So you can try and live in darkness but you will never shake the light. It will greet

you every morning

and make you more aware with its absence at night,

 when you are wrapped up in your blanket baby, that comfortable cocoon.

 But I have seen the day of your awakening boy and it's coming soon.

 So go ahead and loose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind

but it isn't what you are thinking it's the course of history, your position in line.

 You are just a piece of the puzzle so I think you had better find your place.

 And don't go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate.

Because there has been a great deal of discussion, yes, about the properties of man.

Animal or angel? You were carved from bone, but your heart it's just sand.

 And the wind is going to scatter it and cover everything with love.

 So if it makes you happy, keep kneeling Mama, but I am standing up.

 Because this veil, it has been lifted yes. My eyes are wet with clarity.

I have been a witness of such wonders. Oh, I have searched for them all across this country

 but I think I'll be returning now to the town where I was born.

 And I understand you must keep moving friend, but I am heading home.

 I'm gonna follow the road and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my

 body.

 I'll send you all this message in code, under ground, over mountains,

 through forests, deserts and cities.

 All across the electric wire, it's a baited line. The hook is in deep boys,

 there is no more time. So you can struggle in the water and be too stubborn to die,

  -cut off

or you could just let go and be lifted to the sky.

Method Acting:

 There's no beginning to the story, a bookshelf sinks into the sand

 And a language learned and forgot, in turn, is studied once again

 It's a shocking bit of footage viewed from a shitty TV screen

 You can squint out into snowy static to make out the meaning

 And keep on stretching the antenna hoping that it will come clear

 We need some reception, a higher message, just tell us what to fear

 'Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings

 It's alive with such possibilities

All I know is I feel better when I sing

 Burdens are lifted from me

 That's my voice rising

 So, Michael, please keep the tape rolling, boys keep strumming those guitars

 We need a record of our failures, yes, we must document our love

 I've sat too long in my silence, I've grown too old in my pain

 To shed this skin, be born again, it starts with an ending

 So thank you, friends, for the time we shared

My loveAn  stays with you like sunlight and air

And though IAn  truly wish I could keep hanging around here

 My joy is covering me

 Soon, I will disappear

It's not a movie

No private screening

This method acting

 Well, I call that living

 It's like a fountain

A door has opened

We have a problem

 With no solution

 But to love and to be loved

 So I've made peace with the falling leaves

 I see their same fate in my own body

 But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream

 And returned to that which

 Gave birth to me

Gave birth to me

Gave birth to me

Gave birth to me

And the story goes

And the story goes

And it goes on and on and on and on

It's going on and on and on and on

Make War:

 Our love is dead but without limits

 like the surface of the moon

 and the land between you and the mountains

 It is not these hiding places that have kept us innocent

 but the way you taught me to just let it all go by

 Please return, return

 to the person that you were

 And I will do the same

 'cause it's too hard to belong

 to somenone who is gone

 my compass spins

 the wilderness remains

False Advertising:

 On a string I was held. The way that I move, can you tell?

 My actions are orchestrated from above. So I swing and I sway.

 Wave my hand. Kick my leg. And it is always right with the music.

"Until all that swinging starts to make you sick"

 For a song I was bought. Now I lie when I talk with a careful eye on the cue card.

 Onto a stage, I was pushed with my sorrow well rehearsed.

 So give me all your pity and your money. Now.

"We used to think that sound was something pure"

 If I could act like this was my real life and not some cage where I've been

 placed, then, I could tell you the truth like I used to and not be afraid of

  sounding fake.Now all that anyone is listening for are the mistakes.

 In a house, by myself, I hear the ice start to melt and watch rooftops weep

 for the sunlight.

 And I know what must change. Fuck my face. Fuck my name.

 They are brief and false advertisements for a soul I don't have.

 Something true I have lacked and spent my whole life trying to make up for.

 But I found in a song and in the people I love. They will lift me up out of

 darkness.

 Now my door stands open. I am inviting everyone in.

 We will laugh we're gonna drink until the morning comes. That is what we are going to do.

come on come on

You Will You Will? You? Will?:

 You say that I treat you like a book on a shelf. I don't take you out that

 often because I know that I completed you and that is why you are here.

 That is the reason why you stay here. How awful you must feel.

 You said you would be my dream. I could have you every night and if, by

 morning, I had forgotten you, well, no big deal, it would be all right

 because you are the reoccurring kind. You are the reoccurring kind. You

 never leave my mind. are you the love of my lifetime? Because there have

  been times I have had my doubts.

 We were just kids when I first kissed you in the attic of my parents house,

 and I wish we were there now. It took so long to figure out what this book

 has been about.

 Now I write when I'm away letters that you never read. You said go to

explore those other women,

 the geography of their bodies but there is just one map you'll need. You are

  boomerang.

 You see. You will return to me.

You will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will

You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.

 'Cause if you don't, then this book's all lies

 If you don't, then my plans would all be ruined

 If you don't, I'll start drinking like the way I drank before

 Well then I just wont have a future anymore

Lover I Dont Have to Love:

 I picked you out

 Of a crowd to talk to you

 Said I liked your shoes

You said thanks can I follow you?

 So it's up the stairs

 And out of view No prying eyes

 I poured some wine

 I asked your name you asked the time

 Now it's two o'clock,

 the club is closed we're up the block

 Your hands on me

 Pressing hard against your jeans

 Your tongue in my mouth

Trying to keep the words from coming out

You didn't care to know

 Who else may have been you before

 I want a lover I don't have to love

 I want a girl who's to sad to give a fuck

 Where's the kid with the chemicals?

 I thought he said to meet me here but I'm not sure

 I got the money if you got the time

 You said it feels good I said I'll give it a try

Then my mind went dark

We both forgot where your car was parked

Let's just take the train

I'll meet up with the band in the morning

Bad actors with bad habits

 Some sad singers

 They just play tragic

 And the phone's ringing

 And the van's leaving

 Let's just keep touching

 Let's just keep keep singing

 I want a lover I don't have to love

 I want a boy who's so drunk he doesn't talk

 Where's the kid with the chemicals

 I got a hunger and I can't seem to get full

  >

I need some meaning I can memorize

 The kind I have always seems to slip my mind

But you but you

 You write such pretty words

 But life's no story book

 Love is an excuse to get hurt

 And to hurt

 "Do you like to hurt?"

"I do! I do!"

"Then hurt me."

Bowl of Oranges:

The rain it started tappin'

On the window near my bed

 There was a loophole in my dreamin'

 So I got out of it

And to my surprise my eyes were wide and already open

 Just my nightstand and my dresser

 Where those nightmares had just been

 So I dressed myself and left then

 Out into the gray streets

 But everything seemed different

 And completely new to me

The sky the trees, houses, buildings, even my own body

 And each person I encountered

 I couldn't wait to meet

 And I came upon a doctor

 Who appeared in quite poor health

 I said there's nothing I can do for you that you can't do for yourself

 He said oh yes you can, just hold my hand, so I sat with him awhile

 Then I asked him how he felt

 He said I think I'm cured

 No, in fact, I'm sure of it

 Thank you, stranger

 For your therapeutic smile

 So that's how I learned the lesson

 That everyone's alone

 And your eyes must do some raining

 If you're ever gonna grow

 And when crying don't help

You can't compose yourself

 It's best to compose a poem

 An honest verse of longing

 Or a simple song of hope

 That's why I'm singing baby don't worry

 'Cause now I got your back

 And every time you feel like crying

 I'm gonna try and make you laugh

 And if I can't

If it just hurts too bad

 Then we'll wait for it to pass

 And I will keep you company for those days so long and black

 And we'll keep working on the problem

 We know we'll never solve

 Our love's un-even remainders

 Our lives are fractions of a whole

 But if the world could remain within a frame

 Like a painting on a wall

 Then I think we'd see the beauty then

 We'd stand staring in awe

 At our still lives posed

 Like a bowl of oranges

 Like a story told

 By the fault-lines in the soil

Don't Know When But Days Gonna Come

Verse 1

Verse 2

Orchestra Part 2

The future has got me worried, such awful thoughts.

 My head is a carousèl of pictures.

 The spinning never stops.

I just want someone to walk in front and I'll follow the

leader

Continue until chorus

 I know I should be brave but I'm just too afraid

 Of all this change

 So when i'm lost in a crowd, i hope that you'll pick me out.

Oh, How I long to be found.

 The grass grew high. I lay down.

Now, I wait for a hand to lift me up, help me stand.

I have been laying so low. don't want to lay here no more

Waste of Paint"

I have a friend, he is made mostly of paint.

He wakes up, drives to work, and then straight back home again.

 He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper.

I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover.

 And I tried to tell him he had a sense of color and composition so magnificent.

 And he said "Thank you, please but your flattery is truly not becoming me.

 Your eyes are poor. You are blind. You see, no beauty could have come from

 me.

 I am a waste of breath, of space, of time."

etc....

From A Balance Beam:

 There is a man holding a megaphone, so he must have been the voice of God.

 The bystanders claimed they saw angels flying up and down the block.

 Well, they must have been attached to wires. I saw one laying in

 the lawn with a broken arm,

 so I called 911. So that is one less founded opinion. One more cause for a dispute.

 So the street filled, like a basin, up with cameras and their crews

 and they washed away the rumors leaving just the concrete truth. It was a spectacle.

 No, I mean a miracle. So then I fell like that girl from a balance beam.

 A gymnasium of eyes were all holding on to me. I lifted one foot to cross the other

 and I felt myself slipping. It was a small mistake. Sometimes that is all it takes.

Now I'm staring at my wrist, hoping that the timing is right. When the

 planes will align.

 There will be no planets to align. Just the carcass of the sun

 and those little painted marbles spinning endless through an endless black sky.

 It was in a foreign hotel's bathtub I baptized myself in change.

 And one by one I drowned all of the people I had been.

 I emerged to find the parallels were fewer. I was cleansed. I looked in the mirror

 and someone new was there. Still, I was as helpless as a chess piece

 when I was lifted up by someone's hand and delivered from the corner my

 enemies had got me in.

 But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell

 that is myself.

 So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock

 and the guard will say to me, "Oh my patient prisoner you have waited for

 this day

 and finally you are free! You are free! You are freezing."

Now I'm staring at the sun, waiting for it to explode. Because a day is

 gonna come,

 don't know when but it will come and then we will finally know the way out of here.

And I will throw away this wrinkled map and my chart of stars and compass, cracked.

And I'll climb out that tree all wet with sap to avoid the hungry beasts below.

I'll cut out my love's tongue and sing of a graveyard gray and a garden green and

then we won't have to worry no more. No we won't ever worry again abouthow this song

or story ends about how this song and story will end.

Laura Laurent:

Laura are you still livin' there on your estate of sorrows?

You used to leave it occasionally but now you don't even bother

to ride the commuter train west to Chicago

to stroll through the greenery in the park past the statues

how her eyes seemed to follow you, like a hated addiction

their beauty carved out of absolutes you could never claim

 or even envision

Laura you were the saddest song in the shape of a woman

yeah I thought you were beautiful but I wept with your movements

but I hope that you're laughing now from that place on the carpet

where we shared a sleeping bag in your sister's apartment

oh how she would worry so, you know I was just a stranger

 but she asked me to care for you, yes she did

and I went and betrayed her

But do you know we're in high demand, Laura, us, people who suffer?

because we don't take to arguing and we're quick to surrender.

Well I think I would call tonight if I still had your number

your thoughts have always laid close to mine, and we're both skipping supper.

But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with living

'Cause it's the ones with the sorest throats, Laura,

who have done the most singing

LAlalalalalalLalalALalAlala

Lets Not Shit Ourselves (To love and too be loved)

 The animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness. A baby cried hard in an

 apartment complex,

 as I pass a car buried under the influence. The city is driving me out of my

  mind.

 I have seen a child is caught in the sad trap of gravity.

 He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree and lands in the grass and

  weeps for his dignity.

 Next time he will not aim so high. Yeah, next time, neither will I.