1. |
Wonderwall Part II
03:43
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One day we can look around
At the legacy we’ve got
The creative wake we leave behind
Will mostly fade to naught
All the art in that book you read
Doesn’t mean what they say it means
And the music that once shaped your world
Will be torn to smithereens
We wasted all the chances that we had to be okay
The losses cut collectively, we all call it a day
There’s only so many chords
And only so many ways to play them
And everyone’s getting bored
Of the lyrics and how we relay them
I’m so sorry now that I have to be
The bearer of bad news all the time
Backtrack to the very start
The discoveries in your room
Of a billion neurons filled with love
It’ll all be over soon
Suppose no one listens in
Does it mean the project failed
If it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference
Had the creator bailed?
An underwhelming map of words
Is darker than you’d think
The looming urge to wipe the board
Can drive a man to drink
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2. |
Do As I Do
03:20
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Whatever you say, whatever you do
Do as I do, uh huh
Hey, I’m living the dream
Got a silver lining pulled up on my screen
If you don’t look me dead in the eye
Then the light in your eyes will surely die
And I’m proud of being bored, oh yeah
I will not be ignored
All y’all will end up floored, oh yeah
As I reclaim my just reward
It’s time to fly, I’m counting on you landing swiftly
Through the mires, I let go of my inhibitions
I can drive so far that no one knows we’re missing
We’ll retire and live off of the grid
Hey now, get to the point
‘Cause I’m on both sides of the same damn coin
And the whole place is crumbling in
But I’m happier than I’ve ever been
Together we’ll crash but we’ll walk away
From the wreckage and come out better for it
The lighter we get, the heavier our love sits
On the planets we’re terraforming
So just this once, do as I do
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3. |
Off The Rails
04:06
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Gotta keep on moving, that’s all that I’m saying
Gotta keep on moving as long as I ain’t caving
And I can’t stop it now
Breaking my silence in the middle of the night
The excess seems too much for me to fight
Gotta hold on just a little tighter
Wait until they’re watching and smile a little wider
One of those days, no more like one of those lives
Sliding around until the moment arrives
Stepping out, I’m stepping out
And I won’t be back until a little beyond now
These tracks I make stay in my wake for all to see
One day I’ll veer right off the rails and then I’m free
And when I go, don’t bother chasing after me
I’ll be on my own rail
Kill the lights, they’re making noise again
I’m back for a while and I don’t know where I’ve been
Maybe the bar where the kids say “Word up”
Mainlining drugs that I’ve never even heard of
Danger, danger, don’t be a stranger
There’s nothing safer than a holiday in the manger
Stepping out, I’m stepping out
And I won’t be back until I get through it somehow
Crestfallen, I’m an artic chill
Spreading through the waves, rising over the hills
I’ve got a plan, I’ve got a map
I’ve got my love tucked into my lap
And we’re ready to travel and we don’t know where
But surely things are going to be so much better there
I’m stepping out, I’m stepping out
And I won’t be back at all so just pull the shades down
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4. |
Hammer Shot
03:10
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He slips into his little cubicle world
A seven-by-seven reproduction of hell
His supervisor asks him how is he doing
And he’s feeling like shit but he says that he’s well
This will repeat five times this week
And that will repeat five times in a row
But something will give and the next time they speak
He will plow through the lobby in his Chevy Tahoe
Declaring war
You’ve got yourself a war
She sees a chiropractor every off-month
The stress on her back is becoming too much
She gets the nerve to ask him out on a date
But she’s short on finances so she hopes he’ll go Dutch
He says he can’t, but it’s not her, it’s him
He’s been trotting around another patient of his
She stares back at him shooting flames from her eyes
And she growls and she hollers, “Oh, I see how it is
And now it’s war”
Each time I look back at the life that I’ve led
I’ve passed myself off as being civil at best
But every now and then we all end up crossed
When it feels like a hammer bearing down on our chest
We go to war
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5. |
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The morning shatters in the fog
The parking lines and the barking dogs
An arm is grasping at the phone
Deciding to be left alone
But everybody and their mother wants you
To put the smile back on their face
So they can fight a losing race
It’s still too soon to play the role
The button detonates control
But everybody and their mother wants you
To pull them back to earth
A nail protruding from a tire
Another wicked little fire
And one by one you let them fray
Until the smoke all fades away
But everybody and their mother wants you
Everybody and their mother wants you
To pull them back to earth
The evening lingers, cold and wet
But still the sun won’t seem to set
A gentle breeze against the gate
Coveted slumber must await
But everybody and their mother wants you
The TV set, all static shrieks
You haven’t gotten rest in weeks
Your timecard punched, the dread sets in
You’re never going to sleep again
‘Cause everybody and their mother wants you
To pull them back to earth again
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6. |
Origami Crane
03:08
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I spoke, but then I guess I misspoke
You laughed and called me childish
I fought to put myself in reverse
But couldn’t undo the mileage
I pay attention to the details
But usually the wrong ones
You pulled the wind from each of my sails
In light of that I’ve run dry on strong ones
We come undone like an origami crane unfolded
And I was wrong but I was only doing
What I thought was right
You asked me what the fuss was about
So tired of being lied to
The words that tumbled into my phone
You felt they had defied you
As though I’d trampled over the line
You started playing defense
And slouched alone, betrayed and benign
Malfunctioned to the point I couldn’t be friends
I spent so long ashamed of myself
Then it dawned on me later
Behind the vague façade of a crane
We had a ball of crumpled-up paper
We bend and turn like the origami crane you molded
We get along until a misstep climbs abruptly into light
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7. |
Yuppie In Paradise
03:31
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There once stood a barrage of brownstone colonies
Through the alley, ‘round the corner
The cement blocks piling up in vivid colors
Drowning swiftly is the former
Can I get just a little something?
Maybe just a little slice
Otherwise I won’t belong to anyone
I want the life of a yuppie in paradise
So I’ll view all the new as a step in the right direction
As a child, the pharmacy diffusing lollipops
Through the cross streets on the corner
Standing in its place is a chain coffee hole
Burial ground of the former
And I was wondering
If I could peer inside the past for a minute
To see the world again as if I didn’t know
What I didn’t know
Headed west ‘til the horizon and I shake our hands
Going somewhere, getting warmer
My feet can’t carry fast enough from the promised land
Take me back down to the former
Could I get just a little better at taking my own advice?
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8. |
Sidekicks
04:09
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I’ve never been too spry or agile
Nobody bothered to sing my name
It seemed so strained to take a leap
I’d rather catch up on my sleep
Oh, you’re beautiful to me
Oh, so beautiful
And then a flash of radiant wonder
My psyche driven to collapse on cue
The moment that our lips first met
A million rockets screaming “yes”
We try not to stare at the world out there
Let’s just waste the day, nothing gold can stay
Memories entwine as our hearts align
When you’re here with me
There’s nowhere else that I’d rather be
We walk along as each other’s sidekicks
Mutual heroes all the same
Beside the fire we’ve met our fate
The cold and hardened earth can wait
Oh, too beautiful
Oh, you’re so beautiful
I won’t live alone, day by day I’m shown
Heaven’s offered view was a glimpse of you
Maybe this is fraught, not what I was taught
But I never would question when the going is good
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9. |
Momentary Lapse
03:49
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This is a letter that I’m piecing bit by bit together
From previous discarded notes
I thought I could rewrite better
It’s not a question of election, no suggestion
It’s the impetus I must discuss
But my foggy mind always gets the best of us, honey
I know there’s a message but it’s not coming clear
I try to decipher but my exhausted brain
Won’t fill in all the gaps
I wish I could hold you and drown out the fear
By chalking the whole thing down
To another momentary lapse
I’m getting worried
But I’m not sure why I’m in a hurry
I’ve been stuck after hours
Long since the world has gone beyond blurry
If you were here you’d point and laugh, my dear
At the disjointed gaffs I steer, we’d wax poetic
My pathetic empty rhetoric
Oh, I would love to turn you on
Oh, thy will be done and I will be gone
Oh, I want to coexist
Oh, but I swear I didn’t sign up for this
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10. |
He's Your Daughter
03:25
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You’ve been hit over the head
Your face went violent red when you heard what he said
And time is really all it takes
To reconcile mistakes and heal the wounds they make
And you’re floating around this contraption you’ve built
Just seething and mired in each pang of your guilt
Why can’t you just deal with it?
He’s your daughter and he’s still all yours
Don’t peer with your half empty view
The love you once harbored for him
He’s still defending just for you
And now, a crossroad you have met
Will you forgive and forget or live with one regret?
You know he didn’t want to choose
To leave this mental bruise, a parent he can’t lose
But you’re letting the physical swallow you whole
You’ve sentenced yourself, at least give him parole
You know that he’s feeling it
He’s your daughter and he won’t go back
Don’t toss this bond in the fire
‘Cause no one gets away without
Once being told to go higher
Your baseball wars you had indoors
And the racecar bed on which he slept
And the kitchen sink he never dared to clean
They’re all still there, my friend
And just because you’ve lost your trust
That’s only your angle
And you alone can put a stop to it, put a stop to it
If you’d only accept him and turn the hurt loose
Then maybe your insides would stop the abuse
Your conscience is withering
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11. |
Running Out The Clock
02:51
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I’d like to raise my glass and offer up a toast
For all the people who are living stagnant
So many bust their ass for half a chance to boast
Like they exist inside a beauty pageant
By the time you’re twenty
This is what you should have done
I don’t want to admit, I’m not a millionaire
The way I’m going, I won’t ever be one
But I could never fit with those who truly care
To end their voyage when it hasn’t begun
By the time you’re thirty
By the time you’re forty
This is what you should have done
We gather today to form the dream in question
They all look away
‘Cause everyone’s running out the clock
Somewhere there plays a song, it hovers over all
And if we’re lucky we might even hear it
We try to sing along, follow the bouncing ball
But even then we can’t retain the lyrics
By the time you’re fifty
By the time you’re sixty
By the time you’re ninety
By the time you’re dead
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12. |
The Last Dance
04:29
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When nothing else will come tomorrow
And everyone you love has gone their separate ways
If it leaves you feeling hollow
We’ll have to wring the drops of joy out of our days
So won’t you dance with me one more time?
Hold me close and let the background
Fade to nothing, nothing
I don’t know when there’ll be a chance
For us to dance like this again
So dance with me one more time
When the nest is finally empty
The ambiguity the future holds in store
At least tonight we’ll still have plenty
With you between my arms as my heart melds to yours
So won’t you dance with me one more time?
The band, it drives along
Outside the world means nothing, nothing
I don’t know when there’ll be a chance
For us to dance like this again
So dance with me one more time
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