1. |
Smoke
05:14
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You made me feel like a catch-phrase unspoken, waiting for design
You made me feel like a forgotten table for two with a “reserved” sign
I’ve been engaged in a game of “Mr. Cellophane” waiting for you to make up your mind
You made me feel like a plate of leftovers stuck in the back of the drawer
You made me feel like a napkin phone number stuck to the barroom floor
And I’ve been quietly contemplating why I’ve been waiting to walk out that door
It’s a slow burn, watching the flame flicker out
There’s a hiss as I tip the water to douse the dying ember still trying to remember that once we were on fire
It doesn’t know, nobody told it you’re gone - that you’re smoke on the rise.
You made me feel like slice of truck tire brushed to the side of the road.
The kind you swerve so you won’t run it over, knowing your own might explode.
But I am not full of spikes and metal. You run, you bet you’ll be sorry when you get home.
It’s a slow burn, watching the flame flicker out
There’s a hiss as I tip the water to douse the dying ember still trying to remember that once we were on fire
It doesn’t know, nobody told it you’re gone - that you’re smoke on the rise.
Hush little darling, don’t be shy. Mama’s gonna sing you a lullabye.
I got two strong hands and no good plans.
It’s a slow burn, watching the flame flicker out
There’s a hiss as I tip the water to douse the dying ember still trying to remember that once we were on fire
It doesn’t know, nobody told it you’re gone - that you’re smoke on the rise.
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2. |
Telephone Call
04:25
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hey mom, got a problem on the other line. Yeah, mom, I'm doing fine.
Someone's waiting. I'm hesitating. Call you back when everything's all right
"Everything's okay. Everything's fine," you said when we woke up.
Clay chips on the table. Wet glass on the floor. Everything's okay.
I got a problem with last night.
I got a problem with last night.
I got a problem with your suicide attempts and the way they break my skin.
It's sinking in.
Do you remember, mom, that June through September when I tasted gravel. I tasted gravel. And Jamie had to sneak out in the night from the man with the double tall, double wide trailer and such bad intentions? Hey, I got a call on the other line...
Now you got tears
Now you're so sorry
You broke your own heart, babe.
But it's my teeth on the table
It's my hands on the floor
Everything's okay.
I got a problem with last night.
I got a problem with last night.
I got a problem with your suicide attempts and the way they break my skin.
It's sinking in.
Gotta move on, move on, before you try to prove one more point with your joints up in the air
and my hair against the wall. Gotta take this call 'cause tomorrow I'm gone to any other hell but this one.
Hey, mom, hey. Got on a plane. Headed out to L.A. Be back home in December. Tell the kids I miss them. Hope you're having a good day.
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3. |
Simplest
03:57
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Simple as syrup
Simple as syrup
Crystallizing and breaking
to pieces in my hands
Add a little heat and see what happens
if you add a little heat to the sweet, it will crystallize
and break apart in my hands
Take a number and jot it down
jot it out
you’re gonna find out
I’m a little bit more than a smile
Didn’t you hear, I thought that you heard,
there ain’t nobody still calls me Johanna
I left Johanna back in Cincinnati
with a worn out copy of “Blonde on Blonde”
Take me back to California where the girls are pretty and the boys are pretty
And the sun is pretty, but you don’t need a soul, so I fit in
And get me back to New York city where the streets are pretty cause the streets are gritty
And the sun in the sky sets the buildings on fire and I can’t win.
But I’ve always got hope once I get to the Coasts
cause I can always jump into the ocean
and go down …
I don’t know how to do this any other way
So you got the number. You had your luck, you called it up
Well now you’re fucked, cause it’ll break apart in my hands
Take me back to California where the girls are pretty and the boys are pretty
And the sun is pretty, but you don’t need a soul so I fit in
And get me back to New York city where the streets are pretty cause the streets are shitty
And the sun in the sky sets the buildings on fire and I can’t win.
But I always got hope once I get to the Coasts
I always got hope once I get to the coasts
yeah I always got hope once I get to the coasts
Cause I can drown.
Oh I always got hope once I get to the Coasts,
cause I can always jump into the ocean
and go down …
Simple as… the simplest. The simplest.
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4. |
Visby Stone (Melt Me)
04:17
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I’m a cold, cold sliding glass door
I’m a February 2nd saying, “6 weeks more”
I’m a rainfall falling down your window pane
I’m a patch of black ice and a red wine stain
But you. You’re a radiator hot enough
to make me slide the window up
at negative nineteen
Melt me
Melt me down
Break me open til the snowdrops come climbing out the ground
Melt me
Be my spring
Be my summer
Make me feel something. Make me feel something.
And you. You’re a thousand shattered colors from a chandelier
You’re the sun through the clouds when the sky starts to clear
But I. I’m like mercury,
the metal that’ll never be
settled in one solid piece again
Melt me.
Melt me down
Break me open til the snowdrops come climbing out the ground
Melt me
Be my spring
Be my summer
Make me feel something. I wanna feel.
And oh, I know, it’s gonna hurt.
You’re just a child with a magnifying glass and it burns.
And oh, I don’t know. Will I turn
from a cold block of coal to a fire?
Will I learn?
Will I ever learn?
Melt me.
Melt me down
Break me open til the snowdrops come climbing out the ground
Melt me
Be my spring
Be my summer
Make me feel something. You make me feel something.
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5. |
Ruby Slippers
05:40
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Well I woke from a dream last night
where the hills were in color
and you were made of straw
You just needed one thing
to make you feel better
just needed a brain that would not throw a clot
Well I woke from a dream last night
where the trees were in color
and you were made of tin
You just needed one thing
to make you feel all right
just needed a heart that would not cave in
So I’m ready now, I’m ready now to click my heels three times
Oh are you better? Are you better? Are you all right?
So I’m ready now I’m ready now to click my heels three times
Oh are you better? Are you better? Can we go home?
To before the storm
Well I woke from the dream last night
and the colors faded with the morning
and the world was black and white.
You bore me in August. You thought I’d be strong.
You thought I’d be strong. Well, you thought wrong.
Turns out that I’m just a coward and a liar.
So I’m ready now, I’m ready now to click my heels three times
Oh are you better? Are you better? Are you all right?
So I’m ready now, I’m ready now to click my heels three times
Oh are you better? Are you better? Can we go home?
To before the storm.
Behind curtains
in every hall
are old fools
with blinking machines
who say they know
what you need,
but I know
what you need was lost long ago
in the storm
in the wind
in between
in the dream
So I’m ready now
I'm
I'm ready now
I'm ready now, I am
I'm ready now I'm ready,
can we go?
So I’m ready now, I’m ready now to click my heels and go
Oh are you better? Are you better? Can we go? Can we go?
To before the storm. To before the storm. To before.
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