2:45: I'm not one to say I can't complain because I never know when the opportunity might arise again. And I've been losing reception on my car stereo, so I don't even know what state I'm in. And I appreciate the changing of the guards as it were, but I'm still keeping an eye on the calendar. I'm not one to do no cleaning none. But I'll bring in the mail and get the dishes done. So I thank you for your patience, because I have seen you going gray since I came along. And I appreciate the changing of the guards, as it were. But I'm still keeping an eye on the calendar. I'm out cold at 2:00, wide awake at 2:45, I raise my head and then I wish that I was dead and then I lie awake til dawn, read when nothing's on, damn the midnight oil, curse the morning, greet the world. Two of my eyes are torn out. Both of my brains are synchronized. And I appreciate the changing of the guards, as it were. But I'm still keeping an eye on the calendar. I'm out cold at 2:00, wide awake at 2:45, I raise my head and then I wish that I was dead and then I lie awake til dawn, read when nothing's on, damn the midnight oil, curse the morning, greet the world.
AUTOPILOT: I'm onto you. You're onto me. I'm onto you. You're onto me. Is this affecting you? Are you sleeping at night? I heard from a friend they'd seen you again with nothing in sight. I'm in my head. Forgive me. The things you said still get to me. And everything I smile at, I'm on autopilot. I flew from the town, I wrote it all down. It's out there now. We both escaped. It changes shape. I'm onto you. You're onto me. I'm onto you. You're onto me.
B-12: I took out your vitamin and left it next to the infusing tea thing next to the sink, and when you're wanting a drink, wring out my black cloud. It isn't what you think. I found it out on a drive before you were alive. It doesn't even rain, but baby just the same, hold your cup under it, and I won't ask what you get, as long as it's enough to make your throat abide and send the vitamin on a ride past every organ inside, and eventually, your whole bloodstream will be the mighty Mississippi despite the fact that none of this will happen tonight. Go to bed, I'll see you in the morning.
BETADINE: Whatever it was, it got out of hand. Whatever I said helped me to stand. Just a mosquito. Get my placebo. Betadine. Betadine. Clown college keeps me incapacitated as I sit here and sting. And though I'm entertained by this evenflo oscillating, I can still hear them smirking in the wing. Just a mosquito. Get my placebo. Betadine. Betadine. Opened on the beach, bathing in the bleach. I wrung it out and gave my own disease a burial at sea. Out the window, see the big star stare in distaste. Ponder blindly how the position of a tray table decides your own fate. Just a mosquito. Be my placebo. Betadine. Betadine.
BIKE: Can I borrow your bike? I'll chain it up. Keep it safe and the like. Don't you even trust me? I'll chain it up. I'll chain it up. Say, is that your new bike? Is she seaworthy? And if so, I'd like to take a ride. Won't you give me the key? I'll chain it up. I'll chain it up. Keep it out the sun, get the helium out the tires and galvanize them post haste. Bring it back in one piece and I'll be on a new page, let alone cloud nine. Can I borrow my bike? Can I borrow my bike? What's becoming of me? I'll chain it up. I'll chain it up.
CANADIA: Came out from Canadia. Blue green fade in Stadia. Case of cabin in my hand. Pain's out of the front yard. Grain's out in the bell jar. Tuesday's out and I'm on frayed. Keep on taking every lead I follow. The arena's drowning out the backdrop of my room. Drown all your days in alcohol and watch it all come slithering back out of the drain. Breathe all your thoughts away and leave a note behind touching on the action you don't take. And on the way down, scratch the walls and see your way back out, all the way to Eden. Keep on taking every lead I follow. The arena's drowning out the backdrop of my room.
FLOYD: I live in a room. It's painted and a weathervane determines how I'll be. Won't you come and help me finish a puzzle of a horse who's eating grapes. I live in a house corroded by the termite moles. I hear them in the walls. They can eat an entire case of anything if you give them the time. If I run out of my groceries by chance, can I open up your cereal? I live in a world converted from an olden barn that predates you and me. I call it home. You'll call it Shangri-La, my dear. I love you, can't you see?
HAT: Taste this, I think it's gone bad. I don't trust my senses. I've never had someone there before to tell me. So down the drain it goes. I just can't open my eyes. Sleep has sewn them shut. I'm not surprised. She wakes me up by 3:00, and saves a seat for me on the bike she rides. Where is my oversized hat? I'll never see it again. It blew right off my head driving down the road in your big beige car. If I can't find a pen, can I call you up and dictate to you on the phone? You write with such dexterity. You clarify disparity. Considering posterity. The queen of all stenography. And I'll bang out another two or three of these a day if this rain keeps up all year. And maybe someday when I find my hat again, I'll name it after you.
HOLOGRAM: I stood to see the band on 11th & wherever Reddy Ice was. My ticket was in hand, in Times New Roman and hologram. But tattooed in my head was anything that anyone keeping with the times had done. The shape was in the fray, the crowd was on the interstate. The people hit their stride and it hit home that I'd remembered none of what I said. But tattooed in my head was anything that anyone keeping with the times had done.
I NEED A RIDE: 8:17, I'm at a light. I'm in between work and reside. Head gasket blown, shot heard worldwide. Pick up the phone, I need a ride. If you believe this is the deed to get you in God's graces, I can oblige and do what you need to paint peace of mind. I can be Rowe, I can be Wade. I need a ride, don't make me late. Lean on me and I can drive just to make it home alive. 8:23. I'm underneath conspicuous signs grinding my teeth. 8:25, passenger side arrives. We're going east, I'd better drive. Capacitor died, but I'm making time. Besides I got a hand on top of the dial and one in the breeze. Do you realize Twine Time is on? We're making time, leave it alone. Lean on me and I can drive just to make it home alive.
I'LL MAKE A SCENE: Much obliged if you'd leave my side. I'll abide. I'd respond in kind if you'd leave my mind unrefined. If you feel maligned, need I not remind I'm ten years behind. You're on your own now. Complaining in crowds. Not ashamed, not proud. Don't keep me around. I'll make a scene.
INK: On a hill in the bend of a town is a man who can build you a genuine track. For a mile you can be on a train with your hands inking up from the New York Times and in a blink you can take anything back, save your own sleeve. Feel it out, breathe it out, scream it out, heal it up. In a blink you can take anything back, save your own sleeve. Real life is what's around you. Real love is what has found you.
KEEP: You can't see, let me help you out. Step into my hands and stretch out. Now you see the Manhattan Bridge. I'll carry you over the ridge. But now it's getting cold and we'll be waiting in line. We'll be waiting in line. So keep it around you. 1967 it would make itself quite well understood. Turning up its collar enough. Keeping Bonnie and Clyde in love. But now it's getting cold and we'll be waiting in line. We'll be waiting in line. So keep it around you.
LAUNDROMAT: I'm calling you out. Hands up and over your head. It's over. Say goodbye to benefit of the doubt. You're a big boy now. Get your money back from the laundromat. I know how it is to listen to myself, so I can't let on I'm listening to you. I'm calling you out. Hands up and over your head. It's over. Say goodbye to benefit of the doubt. You're a big boy now. Get your money back from the laundromat. You changed your clothes, but the tag is still out. You look through the sheets out on the line. And everything you own bleeds out on mine. You did it again. Are you surprised? I'm calling you out. Hands up and over your head. It's over. Say goodbye to benefit of the doubt. You're a big boy now. Get your money back from the laundromat.
NAZARETH: My shampoo bottle's upside down again, and I know the gravity is saving me from shelling out this week. Can you spare a change of skin the holes in mine are calling rain with open arms and now I'm soaked down to my soul. Leave me in my dumbfounded earthbound afterglow and wake me when the other shoe comes own. The coffee's on. I'll put an ice cube in or warm it up or drink it down or spill it out or let it sit all day. I'll go outside and blink in time with the bank sign, and never know how hot it is, but sweat and faint and die. Leave me in my dumbfounded earthbound afterglow, and wake me when the other show comes down. I'm learning me a lesson from a lemming I once knew, and on my way, I'm staring back at you.
NEW YEAR: I’ve been told that if you’re in midair as the year's changing, the next one begins whenever you’re ready or stay there in between. How can this be you might ask me. Believe me I asked too. As we assume fiction’s at play somehow but ain’t that always true. You are what you believe and what are you reading these days? We’ll never see something we truly understand anyway. Where were we, back to in-between. They say keep your eyes closed, as everyone knows, when time and gravity are gone all is exposed. And every love and regret and all that hasn’t happened yet can all be seen so clear without the aid of smoke and mirrors. When you go circling the sun with both feet on the ground, look through the town at every face and nod at all who’ve been around. You are what you believe and what are you reading these days? We’ll never see something we truly understand anyway.
ONE TON TREE: Welcome, my friends, and let me keep you safe, sound. You'll never be taken for a ride in spite of being that way. You're in the place I like to call my reddish intestinal wall. Please excuse the mess and leave your top coat and hat. There's plenty to do, son. Just planted a new one ton tree on my tongue. They say the temperature is up. Ever since I have taken up boiling my strings a little less carefully. What little time you have in here, make use of what I haven't, dear. Take comfort in my skin, walking tall in the world. There's plenty to do, son. Just planted a new one ton tree on my tongue. What you leave behind is no trouble, as long as I can leech it out or use it as I please. There's plenty to do, son. Just planted a new one ton tree on my tongue.
POSITIVELY RED RIVER: Meet me on the east side. My uniform is good and dry. We'll listen 'til we're cast aside. The only thing you need to know in exchange of buffalo is competition's quid pro quo. You've got a lot of nerve. You've got a lot of nerve. You've got a lot of nerve. Let me hear you read aloud of pens and swords disallowed, or pens and swords dreamed aloud. You've got a lot of nerve. You've got a lot of nerve. You've got a lot of nerve. Be what you will. We wish you well.
ROANOKE: My old main eloped. He fell in love with a window girl. She was one of those people posed like mannequin. When everybody knows you can make a face and drop your clothes, but never make them laugh. I asked my dad, what fun is that. He said, "She's only human for me." My own antelope wandered out from Roanoke, a west Virginia town with tone deaf birds and the water's brown. So he came in search of food and donned his old west attitude, and tried to hold me up. I took him in and served him up some galactic gazpacho. I loan cantaloupes to needy friends and strangers when they ask me for a dime 'cause melon goes so well with wine. So please enjoy a slice. And take your time, enjoy it twice. And stop on by again and sit a spell with you new friends.
SECONDHAND: Calling all lonely souls in hiding. All those who’ve seen it all and slide away. I’m at a loss and could use confiding. Can I know the handshake? I’m speaking in silence and seeking out wallflowers picked and hung to dry, promising not to make you think aloud or look you in the eye. We’ll send it all out to sea and watch the tired bones getting picked clean and ironically eye the clock as if a thing we say can stop a second hand from ticking, a second hand from taking. I’m weeding out every other thought in here. It’s seeping out either way and I’m out here. Shedding the cone of shame and I’m making my own medicine, reading the teas, and chasing lifelines down, tracing where I’ve been.
SECTION C: I came into Matawan paralyzed. Sold my soul to everyone on Main unnamed. Insomnia seeps and I'm swallowing sand. I know my own eyelids like the back of my hand. Breathing leaves in. Section C, 5-8-3, 9-0-8. 7-2-5-2-2-6-0-7-4-7-9-0-8. Green lake, clean slate, United Waste, slide, hand, hyde. Insomnia seeps and I'm swallowing sand. I know my own eyelids like the back of my hand. Breathing leaves in. Section C, 5-8-3, 9-0-8.
SHELF: You've been up on a shelf, fending for yourself, defending yourself. I know. They've been keeping you down, but as you see now, you were keeping them out. You know. You've got leaning to do. If you only knew, we're all around you. You know. Spill it out, you don't show no pain but I know you've got room to grow. You know. Take me along. Keep an arm around me. I'm up in my tree. I'll leave you a key. You know. Things seem out of left field, but keep your eyes peeled. None of this is real. I know. Take me along. You've got leaning to do. If only you knew, we're all around you. You know. You've got leaning to do. If you only knew. We're all around you.
SONG FOR THE DOWN: I'm calling it a day, I can't invest another minute. Oh, and try as I may, nothing ever would come of it. And I won't let it go, I know I never should have said it. And they won't let it go, I know they probably won't forget it. I'm walking in an eggshell and watching every step I take. I'm leaning heavy on the teachings of the patriarchs and saints. The people say it's working, they can see it in my eyes. I'm disagreeing, twitching, cringing, getting back in bed. Indeed, aye. Indeed, aye. And every morning I can get the paper brilliantly. And every afternoon I stir the pills into my tea. They make it so the people in my head can let me be. But they're only ones who know what's happening to me. Indeed, aye. Indeed, aye. So take a look around and tell me this is really here. And everything that's happened wasn't really happening, dear. I'll follow you around, affirming daily without fear. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Indeed, aye. Indeed, aye.
STAY IN BED: Counting up the panels in the drop ceiling. Rorschach water stains of my feelings. The hourglass is beckoning. Opportunity fades as I’m reckoning. Lame wheel stalling out my shopping cart. Shoelace snagging on the salad bar. The windshield’s view is obscured by the metermaid’s attitude despite mine. And I’ll leave these delusions in my head and stay in bed. Mid-freefall on my way to you a piano dropped out of my parachute. My tongue’s rusted and fried. The mattress has matching wrong sides. And I’ll leave these delusions in my head and stay in bed.
VALENTIN: With no electricity, we can still teach by the light of the sky. Dictate to me what you see, in spite of the obvious. The glass in the skylight is gone, and it's getting colder. Where did it come from? There was a war here. Valentin. Where did you just go? It's getting dark again. Pay no attention to me, but take out your camera. This hasn't happened since I can remember. Where did it come from? There was a war here. Valentin. The room was a diamond. We skated around some. The judges in Berlin critiquing her i-spin. I took her hand then, she stuck the landing. We took a night flight, escaped through the skylight. Valentin.