THIS TOWN As defeat licks the jaws of victory, The rotten teeth of injury and insult gnaw at me The local stigmatic handsome gentleman Detonates, incinerates the town he's living in This town is burning down Oh, wake your little ones This town is burning down So save your sleeping sons Only a clown would join this here circus sideshow Don't you know funhouse mirrors ain't friends? And soon you'll be on your hands and knees Dusting off the bones of fallen gods Who willed to fill such ends This town is burning down Oh, wake your little ones This town is burning down So save your sleeping sons MIDTOWN WAITING Midtown waiting and the cadence is slow Oh no, she's all but ready to go It's ending after all. Together we split the color in two Oh well, we've all but wrecked the view It happened after all. So tumble out of the bed we made Curtains for the sunshine When our debts ain't nearly paid Crimson sentiments well on their way today Came and took her away It happened after all. Spent my time entertaining the dregs Oh well, I knew it all along It's ending after all. So tumble out of the bed we made Curtains for the sunshine When our debts ain't nearly paid It's curtains for the sunshine When our debts ain't nearly paid TANGLE TOWN Vodka dreams are the truth Dead men don't lie but in a box The melodies of infirmaries Sing of lives and drinks on the rocks So tip-toe on over to us, Our sleepy little home Roll on up, you can fill your cup With our poison for the road In Tangle Town, we don't get high It's such a long way down No gun, no fun A sunny day is a warfare's alibi Come twist our turns, my friend With ice pick precision We'll run you off the road again At the mercy of the evening Drunk on champagne and lies We hope you see you can never leave Our winding home in the skies In Tangle Town, we don't get high It's such a long way down No gun, no fun A sunny day is a warfare's alibi Come twist our turns, my friend With ice pick precision We'll run you off the road again DOWN AND OUT About a darkest hour ago, I cut the only cord I knew When a darkest hour is lasting a lifetime, There ain't much else to do A trustfall with no principle Is more like a deadfall From an Everest of hurt that makes much worse The writing on the wall Stick your head in the clouds now Tell me what you see I called off, fought off, but drowned in misery For heaven's new angel couldn't stay with me An old woman dusted me off, lent a hand to me Said, "As open as your heart is, So too must your eyes be. For a heart is a blind man squinting to see His way on through the dark, Blindly falling so easy, getting up rather hard." So stick your head in the clouds now Tell me what you see I called off, fought off, but drowned in misery For heaven's new angel couldn't stay with me Been down and out so I'm out and downing With the broken-hearted poets at the bar. They'll cry you a river but can't build you a dam 'Cause they all know what they are. They'll tell you, "Go for broke until you're broken, Ferry away your soul with gin, Spend your night in mourning with us And tomorrow we'll do it again Stick your head in the clouds now Can you see me? I called off, fought off, but drowned in misery For heaven's new angel couldn't stay with me HENNESSY The Infernal Racket Embassy is the place I want to be Here in this factory all is dead, Oh well, it's all well above my head In January it's ok for this felon here to stay It's of no consequence at all Well, consequence is well above my head All these things will blow away Hennessy will save my day, Such conundrums abound, Photographs that I've found. The reverend dismisses the irreverent missionary's sins, The figurehead so crooked Oh well, it's all well above my head Sings so much for a bird who hates her voice, Then she cries there's been no choice for her In her whole damn life Oh darling, you're well above my head All these things will blow away Hennessy will save my day, Such conundrums abound, Photographs that we've found. All these things will blow away Hennessy will save my day, Such conundrums abound, Photographs that you've found. A MOUSE IN GOD'S COUNTRY (And now, ladies and gentlemen, introducing... The world's tiniest sound!) The welcome wagon isn't lost, It's only lost its wheels Matricidal hooligans have made them disappear A mouse in God's country Seeks insight from a broken clock It's always wrong but twice a day But still he takes such stock The governor's ball has been saved By the sympathetic eyes Of the optometrist's semi-precious Stone cut from the lies Lubricants, synthetically, are ridden with disease While the blissfully ignorant mansion gets on its knees Demigods with credit cards Feed books into the fire Inebriation swallows heads, But still it's worth the while Evolution's opposable thumbs cause silly thoughts And common sensible ignorance keeps mouths away from troughs A mouse in God's country rolls on, Though his welcome wagon's gone. An armless mother's only son Stirs the pot that boils on. We're all happily wed, Till we're dead. OUR WAY HOME She has been unkind, But you know that I don't mind 'Cause tonight we'll be on our way home So I think for a while, That I could sure use that smile And tonight we'll be on our way home And the mountain's taller than we could ever be, But you know I'm coming for you, So dear, you better be coming for me Well, I spoke from the heart, When I said this end's a start And tonight we'll be on our way home And the stars are further apart than we should ever be, But you know I'm coming for you, So dear, you better be coming for me Don't care what they said, We won't be left here for dead 'Cause tonight we'll be on our way home. LIVING AVENUE He dreams in such ways, Eating yesterdays and discarded time, biting his tongue A living avenue pitches and writhes, So lit up tonight The nutrition of a wing sings a silent sting, It's alright to be high Disembowling the sun, everybody run The song's already begun Everybody sing it again, Everybody walking on the road, Everybody smiling brightly Sing that song How smart are they now? Starving Rockefellers drown in their own respect. When good friend electric's gone, Lonely ants are drawn to the sound of the song Everybody sing it again, Everybody walking on the road, Everybody smiling brightly Sing that song MAYBE YOU WERE RIGHT The writer sits and writes his wrongs Of stately ballets and maelstroms Sentencing the sentence on his tongue Lonely but not alone, Converging is the crowded room The head that spins sings the world of songs Goodbye to all Be safe and be well Take what's there and take good care What's for me to tell? Couldn't pull the weight Didn't have the strength Couldn't find the thrill Didn't have the will The sarcastic piece of machinery laughs last Types today the world away in weighty paragraphs The soldier's mind works overtime, Won't settle down on down the line Bombs abound his world is burning fast. Goodbye to all Be safe and be well Take what's there and take good care What's for me to tell? Couldn't pull the weight Didn't have the strength Couldn't find the thrill Didn't have the will THE VIRAL THOUGHT For the viral thought all the lines are crossed, Countdown, two for price of one Appetite, though full, so insatiable Christ--little military son Keep your murdering Oh, your murdering Wish you godspeed and all the best Keep on murdering Oh, your murdering Widows made in ways so surely blessed Here's to funeral weep and to dreamless sleep Angels on their way sing their songs and pray That what the blackness said is your only bed Isn't there to stay Infidels will shake and in two will break, The tongue-tied masses come in vain. When peace is nothing more than absence of war, Blow it all to pieces once again Keep your murdering Oh, your murdering Wish you godspeed and all the best Keep on murdering Oh, your murdering Widows made in ways so surely blessed Here's to funeral weep and to dreamless sleep Angels on their way sing their songs and pray That what the blackness said is your only bed Isn't there to stay Down, down, down we go Where the cross is always bare Force-fed a new lullaby From the Book of Black Lung Prayer Here's to funeral weep and to dreamless sleep Angels on their way sing their songs and pray That what the blackness said is your only bed Isn't there to stay DANCE THE MEPHISTO WALTZ Late, we dance the mephisto waltz More or less it's not our fault Such romance and elegance, And mirrors off the wall Brilliant co-dependence day, More or less the same old way Smart enough to know what silence means, She offers not a word to say Validation from an invalid Works till you're crippled on the stares she hid Forge on with the forgery Down the slippery slope we slid Never tires of telling her story until the end So beautiful it's pitiful, The tidal waves are in her head Never tires of telling her story until the end So beautiful it's pitiful, The tidal waves are in her head DAEDALUM The heavens part in a brain stem, Glassy eyes hypnotized, The sky sings them its lullabies The sky sings its lullabies Hope you reached your combat weight In for such surprise When the earth sings no more lullabies When the earth sings no more lullabies Spinning open rides the doll Smiling gently in hell's wheel The light inside so nullified As her open sores won't heal Tongue-tied with the taste of rotgut Licking her, the forked tongue Begging to devour snake oil, The serpents laugh and sell her some Got your high friends in low places Victims of the skies Oh, they know there'll be no more lullabies Oh, they know there'll be no more lullabies Oh, they know there'll be no more lullabies Oh, they know there'll be no more lullabies LIZARD'S TEARS The victim cries a lizard's tears All but spoiled the fun Of a love that could have lasted years Yet a man only falls dead but once. Tin can eyes replace a window-pane into a heart And this chameleon in victim skin Should have been seen from the start Ugly is the thinking man, As is the prodigal son Of this here procession of fools Riding on into the sun Riding on into the sun CRYSTAL STAR It's coming back, not a ghost of a chance So drink it away, a fool's romance Over the line take one more glance And f**k it away, you know you can't Oh darling, dear, you know who you are So make a wish on a falling star And step in the light, oh come right here Where we can see it's all so crystal clear Oh, daddy's girl can't figure out Such empty head, so full her mouth All her nights she begs to please And not to pray on bended knees Oh darling, dear, you know who you are So make a wish on your falling star And step in the light, oh come right here Where we can see she's all so crystal clear Oh, he's coming back, not a ghost of a chance So drink it away, a fool's romance Over the line take one more glance And go f**k it away, you know you can't Oh darling, dear, you know who you are So make a wish on a falling star And step in the light, oh come right here Where we can see you all so crystal clear It's all so crystal clear It's all so crystal clear It's all so crystal clear It's all so crystal clear