that daily reality composed of two words:
the others
and in every one of them there is an I clipped from a we
and I adrift…
I speak of the buildings of stone and marble
of cement
glass and steel
of the people in the lobbies and doorways
of the elevators that rise and fall like the mercury
in thermometers…
of the coming and going of cars
mirrors our anxieties
business
passions (why? toward what? for what?)
of the hospitals that are always full
and where we always die alone
I speak of the half-light of certain churches and the
flickering candles at the alters
the timid voices with which the desolate talk to saints
and virgins in a passionate
failing language…
-Octavio Pas from I SPEAK OF THE CITY
* Note - Sorry there is no correct way to put this on the site
the lights go down, outside (before our cars collide)
so we silhouette ourselves (in 40 shades of fire)
do you know where this is leading? I’ll meet you there
on the other side of the crash.
on the other side of the glass.
all our friends are falling out, can’t look us in the eye
or bear to hear that broken sound, happens when were all alone
inside, in the middle of the night I hear your voice
I feel ashamed every time you say, “car crash came and car crash went,
so I went along with it..”
because the girl you love’s not coming back,
it’ll never be the same - don’t look away.
I need to know if this is real. don’t look away
the hospital ward sleeps
through the surgery
hiding needles in the drawer
(for emergencies)
while outside they wait
in the pouring rain
on the other side of the glass
don’t look away. I need to know if this is real.
don’t look away. I need to know - when will this end?
don’t look away….
over and out (of control)
the I.V. drips the days drag on
adjust the light switch in the hall
maybe the x-ray screen keeps it from getting dark
but the bulb burns out when it gets to hot
keep crashing this car (over and over)
keep crashing this car (over and over)
keep crashing this car (over and over)
keep crashing this car (until it spins)
out of control
so hold me close or I might disappear this time
out of control
we fight currents in the water
when we can’t let go of the shore.
we’ve lost control
02. Counting 5-4-3-2-1
5-4-3-2-1 lets start a fire.
burn this town from inside out
until no one’s left alive
and you cant feel the rhythm of your steps
when you hit the street the city seems so far away from here
when you’re counting every step
5-4-3-2 WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
THE TRAIN IS CATCHING UP
KEEP ON RUNNING - DON’T LOOK BACK
‘CAUSE IT’S 10-9-8-7 EVERYBODY’S COMING TO BURN THIS CITY
BURN THIS CITY DOWN TONIGHT
AND LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND
all his life he lived in the same house same white fence surrounding him,
he swore he would get out but he can’t
because his foot got caught between the rails
and all his friends are up ahead
they can’t hear him yelling (yelling for some help)
and it’s much to late to
call the doctor now
this town is full of sympathies we’re drowning in it all
5-4-3-2 WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
THE TRAIN IS CATCHING UP
KEEP ON RUNNING - DON’T LOOK BACK
‘CAUSE IT’S 10-9-8-7 EVERYBODY’S COMING TO BURN THIS CITY
BURN THIS CITY DOWN TONIGHT
AND LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND
is that the sound of the gate coming down?
no flashing lights, no warning?
when we press our ears to the ground we feel the shake
but its under the skin,
so we wilt like violets and
can’t get up to put the petals in their place
5-4-3-2 what are you waiting for?
what have you done?
you followed footsteps in the dark
and found your faith
left out behind your father’s car.
you said, “there’s no one watching over me or over you,
it’s always out of reach…”
I’m sinking still right into
oh my god where are we now?
fractured lives dissolving
like sugar in the sacrament
if it was just one night
then we would be released
tie these lies between our teeth
keep tearing open bodies
‘let it bleed’
tonight
where have you gone?
off with the friends you could’nt keep
your mother’s arms
fill up with all the empty needs
so the saints line up to bring her in
comfort her and it’s always comforting
when they start to sing,
the same old
‘holy, holy, lift up your dress
fell your body dissolving
like sugar in the sacrament’
“if it was just one night
then you could be redeemed
tie these sins between your teeth,
make hollow promises we’ll never keep
tonight.”
this is all we’ve ever known of God,
fight with me let me touch you now.
04. At This Velocity
(k) we were safe
now we’re paralyzed
suspended in flight
at this speed it makes no difference
where I start or where you end
or if you sit in an emergency aisle.
we could be dead
complete the equation
our names are X and N
we have no value
in these calculations
we’re place on a plane
pointed straight down
traveling at 500 feet per second
5000 feet from the ground - how long will it take us to hit?
how fast will we start the disintegration?
no time left - just keep moving
we could be safe here, forever,
floating in the clean blue air
somewhere between the sun that gives us light
and the ground that puts it out
(flight attendant):
we’ll kneel in the aisle
press our hands together
close our eyes
and speak these words so softly into the black box it goes
“mother, father, can you hear this?
I want to thank you for all the sweetness
but I’m not coming home
we’re never coming home.”
we walk alone until the end of night
it’s suicide but we will overcome
another life is swinging in the breeze
these southern trees have the strangest fruits
if you follow the path that’s straight and narrow
go hand in hand
because our roads are paved with broken arrows
but we will overcome
our fathers plant arms in foreign soil
our brothers die but no one knows
where it ends (between the crosshairs)
all lies weave a thousand deaths around us
we will overcome if no one sleeps tonight
we’ve been waiting to receive the promised land
we can wait no more
we must stand and make the promised land
06. Arc-Lamps, Signal Flares, A Shower of White (the light)
Instrumental
there was a sound that split all the heavens apart
on the northern wind out in a southern spark
oh, I will be with you running from the rain
when it reaches the end of the line
I see myself reflected in broken glass
as the gates come crashing down
there is blood on the tracks, tonight
and rust inside our veins…
will it ache every time I hear the storm running behind me?
there were some younger kids
who followed the tracks that day
it was a passing afternoon
that came and took them away
so we forgot our names
lying in the grass
underneath the billboard dreams
oh I will be with you
running from the rain
when it reaches the end of the line
I see myself reflected in broken glass
as the gates come crashing down
there is blood on the tracks, tonight
and rust inside our veins…
will it ache every time I hear the storm running behind me?
(see the storm in the distant hills
see the rooftops glitter in the sun
hear the summer counting down
running out, running from the rain
operator, operator, did you lose your way
when you got that call your brother made?
you’re sick of running and you know
it’s true your coming back
running from the rain)
08. Telegraph Avenue Kiss
she’s the song that you tried to sing
and the note that you couldn’t hit
so you locked her up in a music box
and turned the key on all of us
she spins silver strings in the dark
with metal teeth that ring in her heart
when the cover drops
the world just fades
away, away, away from her
waiting, waiting, waiting for her to say it
K-I-S-S I’m in distress
I need someone to spell it out
you know our loves unconditional
a book of matches and a cigarette
a love note that you never sent
you can fold it up but you won’t forget
you can strike a match but it still might not light
now I’m the one that’s stuck inside the silver cage
the bird that can’t fly away clips its wings if it sings
of the way, the way, the way that it hurt
waiting, waiting, waiting for her to say it
K-I-S-S I’m in distress
I need someone to spell it out
you know our loves not unconditional
low f-i-d-e-l-i-t-y do all love songs turn out this way?
can’t you hear me when I say
you’re in my heart
in my hands
round my neck
we move like a carousel
streak lights and mirrors fill our eyes
it’s time to let go
but we can’t stop spinning
around, around, around………..
sitting alone in the dark of a stadium
he whispers his secrets into a cheap guitar
with the flick of his wrist he turn words into melodies
chords into church bells that fills up the alleys where
lever entwine in the heat of the night
and by dawn are apart in the shivering silence
we will pretend that
it’s all just made up
the songs that he writes are too personal he can’t play the for anyone
when he’s all alone the lovesong writer sings
“oooh-ooooh can anyone hear me now?”
but no one hears him now
so he stumbles through syllables
cut from their sentences
lost letters call to him
deep in the alphabet
“please give us a meaning”
(and the lovesong writer replies):
“pose for me now
you’re the broken heart
you’re the cry in the back of the throat
and on the other side
you’re the queen of spades
you’re the sound that she makes on her way..”
(there’s always a way out)
the lovesong writer sits
all alone when he hears the sound
of the knock at the door…
(and as he stands to answer it
the light flicker the door opens on..)
fifty red roses falling apart
in the hands of someone
that you scripted and left behind
all of the others
scorned by their lovers showed up at your door
staring you down they said
“sing for me,
sing for me,
sing for me now”
“sing for me,
sing for me,
sing for me now”
there’s no way out
10. Into The Blinding Light
we stare into the blinding light
to see what’s between us
it’s red and it’s white
like lies
like lipstick on last look good byes
the substance assimilating to watch the bodies
burst into a string
of lights when there’s nothing left the party crashes
and the rings come out
from all the jacket pockets
into the blinding light
the fire is dying out
and there’s nothing left to burn
except for ourselves
the cinema speaks
as you take off your cloths and burst
in assimilation
just let your body burst
into a streak of light
when there’s nothing left
the wedding crashes
and the rings fall off
roll out of the bedroom window into the blinding light
please someone help me
take away my loneliness please someone fill me
take away my emptiness
please someone touch me
take away my longing and please someone
please someone
please someone show me the light….
and the rings fall off
like a silver snowfall
into the blinding light
just make your body burst
into a single line
when there’s nothing left
the heart rate crashes and the rings fall
out as we turn each other
into the blinding light
white night coming down
silent armies all around
deep sleep covering
enemies in clean white sheets
(the sky went off white
it snowed for fourteen years
the sunlight splintered into all our darkest fears)
the leaves will fall and so will you
when you do bury me under them too
seconds pass, we’ll make it through
eventually we all go home
it won’t be long
it won’t be long
we walk along tied between horizons
you close your eyes like it’s nothing at all
throughout the rise and fall
everything, everything changes
I will be here when you die
it won’t be long
until we find our way home
did you hear the trumpets play the day your father died?
did violins swell circles under your eyes?
did you play the part straight like a march?
or get lost in the beat, thinking and feeling…
did the drums in the street make the people dance
or fall to their knees as the sound
knocked the leaves from the trees?
when they fell from the branch they looked beautiful
as they hung in the air
spinning around
did you float in the air?
spinning around?
there must be somewhere that cigarettes burn through the night
and the leaves don’t abandon their trees to the fight
where the sky’s always clear and the summer never ends…
won’t you take me there?
the leaves will fall, and so will you
when you do bury me under them too
seconds pass, we’ll make it through
eventually we are all going home
