1. |
An Awful Lot
02:43
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Well, I don’t believe in any sort of luck
I spin the wheels just for fun
It doesn’t matter if I’ve won
And whenever the gears start getting stuck
Your hive mind clears them up
Yes, you’re the sunshine in my cup
And if I had a dollar for every time I felt out of place
I’d take all of my earnings
And launch them into outer space
And I want you to know that I love you an awful lot
Sometimes I catch myself leaning against the wall
And staring at my hands
So much for the best laid plans
But I’d jolt and sprint to your defense
If it ever came to that
So far ahead from where I’m at
And if one day the mountains all crash down
Upon a distant shore
The gaps among the atmosphere
Would only make me crave you more
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2. |
Audit
02:22
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Climbing up the trail for all the wrong reasons
Waiting for the night to come
Taking all the cash out of the till
Sneaking to buy her a chrysanthemum
And it might seem suspicious if you keep on circling
And it might not mean a thing
But at the end of the day
It’s gonna take a while to audit
Holy mackerel, she says
You admonish and beg her not to make a sound
It’s not like there’s enough to cause a distraction
For all the looky-loos around
And you might have to break it
When the chips meet with the floor
And the prying eyes will sting more
But at the end of the day
It’s gonna take a while to audit
Would you have the gall to keep it a secret?
Would she not oblige to it?
What, you realize, is her motivation
To wrap it up and keep it hid?
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3. |
Have Half A Heart
03:04
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I was a narcissist
Worlds of regression flowing through my headspace
You spun Veruca Salt
Mumbled the lyrics as you clutched your suitcase
It was a dirty trap
It was a line from your airport novel
Joyful, I took the bait, falling into line to grovel
You could have half a heart
Half a heart’s half better than me
You were a centerpiece
A precious marvel for the thoughtless chatter
I read your script in awe
Acting like my motive mattered
The menagerie was opened up
And heaven looked just like you
I held out hope and you snipped the rope
I was a nervous wreck
Aching in the weeds, ripped my chest asunder
I pulled apart the bones
Just in time to get pulled under
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4. |
Mazes
02:51
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I’ve been dreaming up a storm
But it wasn’t warm, gotta take its final form
I confess, I’m such a mess
But I guess I’m blessed when you peel off your dress
‘Cause nothing’ll get you higher
Than a kick square in the ribs
I’ve been curled up in a haze
Been around for days just blazing mazes
I reject when you direct
I’m a derelict, even though you’re correct
‘Cause everyone’s got a knapsack
Filled with mysteries to crack
I pulled mine out to look at it
Then I quickly put it back
You think that I’m crazy as if my days run wasted
I’m not so mistaken, I’m drawing mazes
This guy here is in the clear
He’d at least be near if he conquered his fear
She knows how the water goes
From the garden hose to her wilted rose
The trips they could be taking
From the comfort of their beds
You look at me like a crook
You could throw the book like the one that I took
Downstairs, down where no one cares
Or they’re unawares of unmanned repairs
But ordering replacements
Can take days or even weeks
There’s nothing more demeaning
Than the idiot who speaks
Nothing gets you higher
Than a kick square in the ribs
Even when the kick itself’s assembled out of fibs
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5. |
Loose Cannon
03:08
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Gawk, open maw in amazement
Blistering alive in the slack, damp heat
Your words drop hard on the pavement
Cuts begin to form as they sting my feet
Open to interpretation
Closed to any chance that you’ll reassess
Now I could use a vacation
What I wouldn’t give to shrug off this mess
But you’re a loose cannon
Yeah, you’re a loose cannon
And I’ve got to get you off the streets
Gesturing in all directions
Limbs splayed open wide like a worn out dog
Submerged in fruitless obsessions
I could use a dagger to pierce the fog
Somebody somewhere above you
Stuck a megaphone to your crooked mouth
You plead your case ‘til they love you
But even you don’t know what you’re on about
I don’t know how to continue
Ringing up the tin can at Parliament
You’ll catch a stray bullet in you
The night before the day of retirement
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6. |
This Explains Everything
02:28
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Chow time, time to fill your head
With the knowledge if you don’t fill up on bread
All the edges brunt and bevel
Level with you to get on their level
But all the stripped down baritones you clench
Won’t be enough to get you off the bench
Learn to yearn, burn like a flame
Dedicated to the one thing you can’t name
This explains everything
Everything this explains
This explains everything
Swallow the pride you tagged and bagged
Your mind leapt forward but your body lagged
Cry a river of paper boats
Untag the frag, save the copper coats
Almost nothing, still not quite
Candles light themselves but they won’t burn bright
Truck backing up won’t let you sleep
Fall a mile behind, still hear it beep
Kill me softly
Kill me at medium volume
Kill me loud
Look alive and slay the demon
Obscuring the dream that you believe in
Roller coaster in your stomach drops
But amuses you with its afterthoughts
Clap trap the flap man snaps
It’s a sack of crap, so take a nap
By the time you’re back, the molasses fat cats
Will stomp that flat when it meets the mat
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7. |
Carolina Heat
03:32
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You spent so long seeing what you believe
Now you only see what is real
A friendship preserved in a jar full of hope
Turned into a tattered ideal
And I can’t agree to disagree
And I need to look out once for me
I carved all of the years in chalk upon the street
But you are not the same
You drift among the fog in Carolina heat
Now you are not the same
Think of the children your children will bear
Eventually they’ll do the math
What will you say to explain it away
Behaving the way that you have?
And I cannot fall upon my sword
And I will no longer be ignored
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8. |
Dance Party
02:08
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Fitted with a crown at the monument
Hoping that we wouldn’t slip
You curled up in my lap like a worn out cat
Fear secured within your grip
Let’s have a dance party
Washington and 4th, hear the shots ring out
Bullets pierce the indigo sky
Silence like a cape over everything
Solitary muffled cry
Motherfuckin’ dance party
If it’s a waking nightmare we’re in
And forging ahead has left us for dead
I don’t care anymore, I don’t care anymore
I don’t care, I don’t care
And that’s why I said
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9. |
I Before E
02:56
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I pull the weight, I adore it
The heirloom lost to a callous heist
I’m getting ready to forfeit
Heinous from the spirit of the poltergeist
A geisha, leisurely foreign
Feigning in her veins but she’s seizing it
Her neighbor could be a sovereign
Reigning with a force that’s counterfeit
And I before E is failing
I s’pose I’m weird in my leisure
Under your surveillance, brutal feint
Falling from heights that are either
Obeisant or bound for the middle eight
Yes, I have no need to inveigle
Fighting off the zeitgeist, a codeine high
Dizzy and beige like a dreidel
Sitting on my keister until I die
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10. |
You Are A Maniac
02:44
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You are a maniac
I’d like to think that you could understand
I loathe the tactics that you tend to unfurl
And I mean literally all of them
You are a maniac
The very thought of you can sour my day
You dropped a seed into my head
That I try to disregard so hard
But it won’t go away
And just in case I haven’t simplified it plainly
One hundred and ten percent
Beyond a shadow of a doubt
You are a maniac
Yes, you are a maniac
And I gave up on you like you were a ghost
But you remained oblivious
And you clung onto me tight
Just like a parasite to its host
You are a maniac
I long for fortitude to not complain
But if I’m overly egregious
Then you know where I picked it up
It’s your brand of refrain
I’m hoping that you’ve managed
To piece it together now
But if you’ve somehow faltered I will say it
Once again, you are a maniac
You are a maniac
I must confess I could go on and on
And if it ever happens that you should
Happen upon this song
I happen to be happy that you’re gone
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11. |
Something Unavoidable
03:09
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I saw a god today
I don’t know if it’s the one I was taught about
Called to it
But it floated off and it left me drowning in doubt
Was it something I said?
Was it something that I failed to clarify?
Oh no, was I in over my head
Was it something unavoidable?
I found the cure for hate
Bottled it up and sent it to marketing
Got returned
They’d already moved on to the next big thing
Another nod, another nullified arraigning
In the rainfall, the rainfall
I looked you up today
You seemed wise with a cold, blank exterior
You deserve
Someone unlike me, so inferior
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12. |
Quit Giving Up
01:53
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You wake up in the morning
Shield the mirror from your face
And reconcile the path
That let you wind up in this place
And so you stop
And weigh the pros and cons of turning tail
But you can never win
If you don’t get a chance to fail
Sometimes you’ll want to quit
But when push comes to shove
You’ll always be a hero to the people that you love
Success is when you just quit giving up
The market on the corner seems so damn far away
You acquiesce to check it out and then call it a day
And so you go
And all the while you might just deign to fall
There’s victory in every step
There’s triumph in the small
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