1. |
Planets
03:58
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And we sat there and talked
For a little while
About our friends, about each other,
About our different faces
Another party
Another lonely mile
Another stop along the road
Between the constellations
She told me that
Her mind had changed
And she told me that she wished
That she had told you first
And she could talk to me any other day
But at these parties
That’s the time when
She misses you worst
She said
“I’m like a Planet
Around another sun
But it’s good to know I’m not the only one.”
And we talked on the phone yesterday
And you told me where you were
And where you are
And how you’d been
And I don’t think there’s any way
That I could miss the chance to call
Tonight again
Cause you pull Planets
Around your sun
But it’s good to know
I’m not the only one
Who takes it slow
Who lets someone in
Then lets them go
But then I guess it's good
It's good to know
And we sat there and talked
For a little while
And you told me that you wondered
How I’d stayed so strong
Well is it strength?
Or is it just denial?
Or it is it only research for another song?
Cause I’m like a Planet
Around another sun
But it’s good to know
I’m not the only one
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2. |
Daisy May
03:10
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Have you seen the broken soul
The girl with the token role
Of always letting bad men break her heart?
She’s waiting there on Hawley Street
For the next man she’s doomed to meet
And in this sadistic way she plays her part
But Daisy May
I hope someday
This lesson you will learn:
Don’t give your love away for nothing in return
The silence just won’t let her cry
But in the corner of her eye
Is just the faintest echo of a tear
The quiet’s broken by the roar
Of waves she left upon the shore
The ocean weeps for you, Daisy, my dear
Oh Lady May
I hope someday
This lesson you will find
‘Who you’re with’ is not how you’re defined
Daisy, darling, dear
You must let go of all that fear
It’s fencing in your hopes and dreams
Daisy, darling, dear
Please believe the things you hear
Some things are exactly what they seem to be
She’s sitting washed-up by the sea
She’s silently ignoring me
She’s standing with a seashell to her ear
The shadows of her last goodbyes
Are ringing in her ears and eyes
And echoes are just shadows that we hear
But Daisy May
I hope someday
These words will ease your mind
What’s up ahead deserves what came behind
But Daisy May
I hope someday
This lesson you will learn:
Don’t give your love away for nothing in return
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3. |
Wasted Hours
03:39
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I finally got up the nerve
To talk some sense to you
I called you up
To find out you’re not home
Because I’m done with doing things
That you compel me to
And I’m done
With Wasted Hours on the phone
It’s hard to find the promises worth keeping
Decisions get so hard for me to make
Because I think I like you best
When you are sleeping
But I think I sleep the best
When you’re awake
And if you say you don’t need me
Don’t you worry baby, I don’t mind
But if you want, you wanna leave me
Don’t you leave me baby on the line
Don’t you leave me
On the line
There’s a tree in my backyard
That we’d hang on to
And talk
And shoot the breeze
And waste the day
Now I’m not sentimental; I just want to
Let you know how I got
To thinking about you this way
And if you say you don’t need me
Don’t you worry baby, I don’t mind
But if you want, you wanna leave me
Don’t you leave me baby on the line
Don’t you leave me
On your way
To someone you think loves you
Better than me
Cause I promise you
There ain’t no such thing
Cause it’s good to get some space,
To get some distance
It’s good to leave your worries on the shelf
But if you want the path of least resistance
You’re gonna have to walk it by yourself
And if you say you don’t need me
Don’t you worry baby, I don’t mind
But if you want, you wanna leave me
Don’t you leave me baby on the line
Don’t you leave me
On the line
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4. |
The Sideman
04:03
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She hands me a lined sheet of paper and says
That she thinks that I’ve heard this before
And the verses start quiet
And the chorus rings true
And I know that she means it for sure
And the music flows down from our shoulders
And out through our fingers
In four-quarter time
And when I close my eyes
I can almost believe that it’s mine
And Saturday nights on the microphone
They make me miss you, wherever you are
Cause up there I’m The Sideman
When you make me feel like the star
So I called up a friend from the old days and said
“How you been? Are you busy tonight?”
And we sat by the pool and we traded old stories
And lapsed into silence, but that felt alright
And I know that the old days ain’t so long ago
But there’s a gap like the I-95
Is two thousand miles too far
For two friends to survive?
And it’s driving me crazy, this missing you
Any distance to you is too far
Cause in my mind I’m The Sideman
When you make me feel like the star
And tomorrow I know I’ll feel better
Cause I know that’s just how these things are
But tonight I’m The Sideman
When you make me feel like the star
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5. |
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I had to chop down the tree
We used to climb when we were kids
The one where you always hid
When we played hide and seek
And I always knew you’d be
In that weeping Willow Tree
I always found you first inside the boughs
And you would feign surprise
That I had somehow realized
That you were hiding there
And you’d swear to me that you had seen
A bear beneath the trampoline
You’d cross your heart and hope to die
And I would pray to God that it was not a lie
Cause I didn’t want to lose you
And you’d tell me you’d had a dream
About strangest things you’d ever seen
You’d wish to God that you could fly
So maybe you could touch the sky
Cause you thought that might amuse you
I got rid of the old bike too
The one we learned to ride
Back when we were five
You went first as was always true
And I faithfully followed you
As with everything you’d do
You sped on down the hill
Till you reached the end
The ledge led through the tomato patch
And when I knew I couldn’t catch you
You laughed and tumbled down
And you’d swear to me that I was wrong
That you knew it would not be long
Before we grew up, became adults
And learned exciting new insults
Forbidden by our mothers
But I know that you never dreamed that
Before then, we’d be seventeen
With different friends and different lives
And a friendship we could not revive,
We just could not recover
So for every skinned knee and broken bone,
Every shoelace and every ice cream cone
For every bear beneath the trampoline
And paper planes from magazines
For snowmen built and snowballs thrown
For learning how to work the phone
For birthday cakes, for pillow forts,
For stupid insults, worse retorts
For every game of tag and hide and seek
For that kiss you gave me on the cheek
For all the hours watching bad TV
For Every Second In That Willow Tree
For every single memory
And dream we made come true
The boy I was says thank you
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6. |
Insomniac
04:48
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I keep having this dream
And I know I go
But I gotta see my old home
I gotta go home
I keep checking the time
And I know I know
That I gotta see my old home
I gotta go home
Cause the walls are blue like the morning sky
And there’s a notch on my banister
Fifty feet high
And there’s a hundred million things
I need to know
But the road’s too icy and the highway’s too far
And a blonde-haired man stole the key to the car
And I wake up long before I ever go
So get some sleep she said
But I get to bed
And I stare at the ceiling
And through my worried mind
I look behind
And I get the feeling
I’m wasting my time
You know it’s no good to act tough
Insomniac never gets enough
Well I went to the doctor and she said
“You know, I’m not sure what you wanna hear
But you know there’s always pills, son
No shame in pills”
There’s a trial size vial on the nightstand
And I’ve almost tried some three times now
And if I can’t sleep tonight I think I will
Cause I could wake up tomorrow
With the world at the door
Get rid of uncertainties and know them for sure
And find chaos in the order of
The things I used to know
Or I could fall to a fever of a hundred and three
And see how things ain’t the way they should be
And become the token robot
From a science fiction show
And cars on the interstate a mile away
They hum and then they’re gone
And the smoke alarm blinks on
and off
and on
and off
and on
If I keep having this dream
I’ll have to let go
I might never see my old home
I might never go home
But if I wake up tomorrow then at least I’m alive
Cause you only wake up from sleeping
I think I’m starting to find that there’s a limit
To how crazy I can go
And if I ever let go of that childhood home
When I get there I’ll know this place is my own
And not the latent shadow of a place
I didn’t really ever know
So get some sleep she said
But I get to bed
And I stare at the ceiling
And through my worried mind
I look behind
And I get the feeling
It’s all in good time
You know it’s no good to act tough
Insomniac never gets enough
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7. |
Love Thy Neighbor
02:59
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I’ve been thinking about every song that I know
—There’ve been songs about money,
‘Bout places to go—
But my favorite songs, they’re love song
Because everyone knows how that goes.
So I’ll sing you a song ‘bout a girl that I knew
But I warn you: this story, it’s pretty much true
And as you can see
If it could happen to me
It could probably happen to you
And maybe someday I’ll forget her
—But it sure is hard
When I can see her front porch
From my backyard—
And we love and we lose
And we try to move on
And we try to forget
All the things that went wrong
But I can’t forget that girl next door
Well it’s hard to believe it was two years ago
That I told her I love her and she said “I know”
When I kissed her I missed
How she whispered my name
I tried calling for weeks; no reply ever came
And I thought we were perfect
I’m sure you’d agree
She was glib, she was smart
She was awkward like me
But we were doomed from the start
—We were better apart—
And it tore out my heart at the seams
And maybe someday I’ll forget her
—But it sure is hard
When I can see her front porch
From my backyard—
And it looks like my heart’s been recovering fine
But it won’t be the same as before she was mine
Cause I can’t forget that girl next door
Well it’s been a few years since that hapless affair
And I’ve learned not to lean on a love that’s not there
Maybe someday she’ll think that she made a mistake
But at least I know my heart’s not easy to break
And maybe someday I’ll forget her
—But it sure is hard
When I can see her front porch
From my backyard—
And I’ve been thinking about every song that I know
—There’ve been songs of regret,
About say-it-ain’t-so—
But I still like the sound of a love song
Because everyone knows how that goes.
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8. |
Almost September
03:30
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We sat and watched the water
And she said she’d take it no more
Because why be the ship captain’s daughter
Who does as she ought to and waits by the shore?
And when I look back on the way that it was
I think of that moment and smile because
I can still smell the ocean
I still see her smile as she sailed away
We went to Coney Island
And she read a book on the merry-go-round
And she rose to the tangerine sky
And she called out like Icarus all the way down
And when I look back on the way that it was
I think of that moment and smile because
If it weren’t for the sunshine
Her wings might have carried us both away
[We sipped her cinnamon tea
And I told her a joke that I can’t quite recall
And she laughed at the joker, or maybe at me
—Or perhaps at the snow that was starting to fall?—
And when I look back on the way that it was
I think of that moment and smile because
Though I’d rather have coffee
At her house it wasn’t for me to say]
Well darlin’, it’s Almost September
And we might be saying goodbye before long
But if you forgive me, I hope you remember
That just cause I’m going
Doesn’t mean I’ll be gone
And when I look back on the way that we are
The way that we are right here
Lying together on somebody’s car
And watching the sun disappear
I’ll think of us laughing
And smile at you back through the years
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