1. |
Better Walk Right
04:00
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Holding my love like my arms are strong
You know it’s hard to love someone who’s gone
Well the nights are restless and the days are long
I’ll be holding my love by the break of dawn
It's been a long time coming, now it’s been long since
You told me you’d always find me innocent
If all it took was a bribe for you to be convinced
I’d steal every last dollar in the US mint
Well these arms weren’t made to stay folded at my chest
They ought to be wrapped around you instead
I’ve got a big brass bed, sugar – but it shines just like gold
You’d never guess how much love these arms can hold
Can we shake out all the old stories we got rattling around in our heads
Saying that
You gotta be fruitful, better multiply
Don’t tell no white girl no little white lie
Gotta be truthful if you wanna belong
Better believe that my love is strong
Gotta be righteous, gotta be cool
Better not let nobody make you no fool
You better be peaceful, you better not fight
You better not squabble, man, you better walk right
Oh no no – it wasn’t me, baby,
It was only the changing tide
It’s not my fault,
I blame that infant archer in all his clever disguises
I’m under his charms – and all that I’ll ever be
Is here in your arms, baby now if you’ll only let me
Holding my love like my arms are strong
You know it’s hard to love someone who’s gone
Well, the nights are restless and the days are long
I’ll be holding my love by the break of dawn
It was a long time coming, now it’s been long since
You told me you’d always find me innocent
If all it took was a bribe for you to be convinced
I’d steal every last dollar in the US mint
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2. |
Find the Beauty
03:45
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I met a woman in orange
She was gorgeous
She was a sight, man
Like a fallen sprite with a suntan
Even if she says that it's too late
Even if I gotta wait and wait and wait
Even if it's buried in the sand
You find the beauty anywhere you can
Gotta find us a basement
Somewhere new we can practice
The neighbors always yell at us
When we sing out songs in Spanish
Even if you feel immature
Even if you've heard the joke before
Even if you're laughing at a broken man
You find the laughter anywhere you can
I ditched all my classes
Passed the day on a mattress
Laid out like a coffin
Just rereading Auden
Even if you've gotta take it slow
Even if there are some words you don't know
Even though it might not always scan
You find the meaning in anything you can
I wrote this song on a bike ride
Nicked the tune from a B-side
You should have seen the smile on my face
As the words fell into their places
Even if the piano's out of tune
Even if you're just howling at the moon
Even if you can't sing worth a damn
You find the melody anywhere you can
You find the music anywhere you can
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3. |
Silk & Diamonds
04:42
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We used to take the Greyhound out to the middle of nowhere just to wander around
All we needed money for was cigarettes and beer
And I know you loved me truly then cause there was never any need to make plans
Just find a spot where we could disappear
It was denim and leather
The kinda love that's light as a feather
Blowing where the winds led us to
Well precious little felt like more when I'd share it with you
I got a job in town, started wearing a suit
Every dollar I earned I'd save it all for you
I just wanted enough we'd never have to worry none
I told you I'd dress you in pearl
I bought you hyacinths, called you my hyacinth girl
Our two hearts still beat in unison
It was polyester and wool
The more I got, the more I felt that pull
To buy a house big enough for two
To get something worth sharing with you
Well ain't it a pity I'm up here living in new york city
I walk downtown and talk to myself like you were still here
You couldn't leave the life you had back there in the sticks
And if I had an ounce of courage left inside of me I'd quit this job get back to you and we could both disappear
But instead
It's silk and diamonds
It's champagne and a bowl of violets
This is the life of luxury it's true
But it ain't worth much if I can't share it with you
It ain't worth nothing if I can't share it with you
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4. |
Penelope's Song
04:39
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Hey baby baby tell me where in the world you gone
I been waiting for you
I been strung out like linen but the string I’m hanging on
Is fraying through
You're out there doing god-knows-what
Following your gut
Well I wish I could too
Well I guess you gone out to find something you lost
Fill up some hole
Now I’m waking up late in this crow’s nest
Just to watch the waves roll
& I know your ship ain’t gonna return
Packed up bow to stern
With all the years you stole
From me, but I still...
Hear your voice in echoes
Make out your shape in the shadows
And your ship in a cloud
You spent so long jumping life’s hurdles
When you come back full-circle
How could you just settle right back down now?
Hey baby baby tell me how’s your war
Been working out?
Your head’ll be well-wreathed with laurels
By now, no doubt
How can you hold your head so high
With all that manly pride
Weighing you down?
& I know that you were born to roam
But sugar what does that mean for me?
All these men here tearing up your home
At least they keep me company
Well I just think of you out there
Seeking comfort everywhere
And finding it so easily
And I still…
Hear your voice in echoes
Make out your shape in the shadows
And your ship in a cloud
You spent so long jumping life’s hurdles
When you come back full-circle
How could you just settle right back down?
Hey baby baby tell me what am I to do
It’s getting so damn bad
Yes and how much longer must I wait here for you
Like a widow going mad
Well it’s just so hard to take
Wondering if I made a mistake
Giving you all that I had
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5. |
3000 Miles
04:07
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Lonely as the sun sinking down in the west
Bags under my eyes cause I can’t get no rest
Between lying in bed and when I slip into sleep
Your memories pass by like you’re reading them to me
You look pretty as the sun rising in the east
In the city of dreams, wake up grinding your teeth
Between opening your eyes and your first yawning breath
You’re stretching your limbs and cracking your neck
& as we lay our heads back on our pillows
Can’t sleep for the silence and the shadows
Poltergeist or an unholy ghost
The same fears from opposite coasts
With you in the east and me in the west
I'll watch you rise and you can watch me set
Well I'm as hungry as a prisoner breaking rocks all day
Your skin was softer than the bed on where we lay
In between the smell and the taste on my tongue
It's your lips on my lips and your scent in my lungs
True as the North Star to a fugitive in the night
It's your pale skin reflecting that pale moonlight
Between the evening fog and the morning mist
You’re waking up at midnight just to give me a kiss
& as we lay our heads back on our pillows
Can’t sleep for the silence and the shadows
Poltergeist or an unholy ghost
The same fears from opposite coasts
With you in the east and me in the west
I'll watch you rise and you can watch me set
Well dark was the night and cold was the ground
It’s the quiet dawn & it’s your sleeping sounds
Between the day we met and when we knew for sure
I’ve forgotten everything that came before
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6. |
21 Years
03:32
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21 years and not a moment of clarity
For 21 years I’ve let the current carry me
21 years doing slapstick and parody
My only real sin was insincerity
I’ve known some good love and lonesome hard hours
I stayed with Amelia and I picked her flowers
How often we been mistaken for lovers
My only real sin was being a coward
& you know this life’s a tautology
It is what it is, if you can let it be
All these tiny epiphanies
Might mean nothing tomorrow but they mean something now to me
Here come my baby all dressed in scarlet
At a crowded party kissing in a coat closet
She made love like she's whispering a secret
My only real sin was that I couldn’t keep it
& I know love is just an ideology
But if you got a better one, would you spell it out for me?
All those moments of intimacy
Might mean less to you now, but they mean so much more to me
21 years of eating crow
For 21 years gone where the river flowed
In 21 years all I’ve come to know is
My only real sin was letting you go
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