WILLIAM STEFFEY lyrics

Romance of the Spaceways

2006

love song for kyrie snow

2005

ROADSTAR

2001

Silver Nitrate

1997

letters never sent

1995

Unreleased

1987-2001

choose album lyrics by clicking on the cover


Romance of the Spaceways (2006)

01. Moongirl
02. Taste
03. Sanctuary
04. Only One I Ever Wanted
05. Counting Backwards
06. Molly Molly
07. Simple Song
08. First Time Caller
09. Nobody Goes To Hell
10. Darjeeling
11. Gush
12. You Put Me Under

01. Moongirl

you think you're cool but it's just another distraction
you're not immune to the rules of attraction
was it true we embraced in 69
did the planet believe a lie?
I think you're drawn to someone with more mass than I

moongirl- it's been a lonely century
lull me with the motion of your tide
moongirl- is it you mean so much to me?
help me find tranquility inside

they say that only 3 have ever seen the likes of your dark side
but that doesn't mean that I can't have a crack at my time
your legendary right hook and two kisses in a cab
I'll bet you a jackson that's the most I'll ever have

moongirl- it's been a lonely century
lull me with the motion of your tide
moongirl- is it you mean so much to me?
help me find tranquility in time

and on those harvest nights
when you seem so close that I might kiss you
it's a thumbnail illusion
and on those harvest nights
when you seem so close I start to miss you
and I wake up in confusion

moongirl- it's been a lonely century
lull me with the motion of your tide
moongirl- is it you mean so much to me?
help me find tranquility inside

02. Taste
(lyrics by A. Weiss and W. Steffey)

get a squirtgun
galaxie 500 and a car
off the fastest road take the faster road onto the fast road
encore

taste your lips
it's sweat on our cigarette
your dreams will never be the same again
taste your lips
i do say it's heaven sent
oh oh oh

frolic with bambi
the scenic route is just around the bend
off the fastest road take the faster road onto the fast road
amen

taste your lips
it's sweat on our cigarette
your dreams will never be the same again
taste your lips
i do swear it's heaven sent

and you know it's just the little things
that keep me warm at night
when the world spins just right
if you can weather the anticipation
it's a message for across the nations
everything is just as supposed to be

taste your lips
it's sweat on our cigarette
your dreams will never be the same again
taste your lips
i do swear it's heaven sent

03. Sanctuary

innocence is fleeting now
above the sky and over london
dealing out secret goodbyes
the cell goes dead- i know it's over

but with time
it comes clear
there is sanctuary
and i cannot hide
what's inside
bring me sanctuary

the vega system beckons now
without past without future
hard blue jeans, dilated eyes
the cell snaps on- i pull you closer

and with time
it comes clear
all is sanctuary
and i cannot hide
what's inside
all is sanctuary

and i would have never known
if it had all been blown
and i never would have seen
the tears in your eyes

and with time
it comes clear
all is sanctuary
and i cannot hide
what's inside
all is sanctuary

04. Only One I Ever Wanted

memories that make me jump the groove
every time i think of you
electric shocks that make my body move
there's no explanation

it all comes flooding back through time
the golden era when called you mine
monorail rides with my hand beneath your theigh
with no destination

the only one i ever wanted
the only one i ever wanted
the only one i ever wanted

i flew a cessna to cancun
with treasured hopes of finding you
but the tailwind died out much too soon
leaving me stranded

today i finally realized
the accident that locked you into lie
but every story has a million sides
and this is only mine

the only one i ever wanted
the only one i ever wanted
the only one i ever wanted
you're the only one

and oh the horror when you find
that after all this time
you've been fighting for the wrong side

the only one i ever wanted
the only one i ever wanted
the only one i ever wanted
you're the only one

05. Counting Backwards

the boy with no hands
the boy with no mouth
staring at the 7 sisters
declination: figure it out

its all that i can do
connecting dots of blue
after the fireside
when i'm in bed with you

here i am
drinking tea on the moon
counting backwards
dreaming of you
girl you know that you're driving me crazy
but that glow is nothing short of amazing

the girl with 2 hearts
sultry xanex eyes
sailing through the pleiades
right ascension 3:45

here i am
drinking tea on the moon
counting backwards
dreaming of you
girl you know that you're driving me crazy
but that glow is nothing short of amazing

and it's so informative
what your lips have got to give
but you've got to jettison... something

it's so informative
what your lips have got to give
but you've got to jettison... someone

here i am
drinking tea on the moon
counting backwards
dreaming of you
girl you know that you're driving me crazy
but that glow is nothing short of amazing

here i am
drinking tea on the moon
counting backwards
dreaming of you
girl you know that you're driving me crazy
but that glow is nothing short of amazing

06. Molly Molly

molly molly make love to me
beside the rinds in the sangria machine
we'll do the two-stroke til the sky is red and green

molly molly make love to me
beneath the stars in the sangria machine
we'll rock and roll until the galaxy is free

my grandpa worked just east of the buzy bee
at Damen, North, and Milwaukee
sorting souls with his bare hands using red cherries
oranges of orange, lemons yellow, and limes of green
matching up souls with destinies

molly molly make love to me
beneath the stars in the sangria machine
we'll rock and roll until the galaxy is free

oh babe you're the queen of the damned
and I'm your man- and fortuitously not
just cause the factors of ten
never left us a slot
but in a world of strings you know
the squares can get out of hand
so we're ditching 12 for love in lunar land

molly molly make love to me
beneath the stars in the sangria machine
we'll rock and roll until the galaxy is free

oh babe you're the queen of the damned
and I'm your man
slingshot like a police cop on 21st and Grand
my grandpa was felled by a dentist drill in 1973
but not a day before
the solemn grounds in his coffee cup decreed

molly molly make love to me
beside the rinds in the sangria machine
we'll do the two-stroke til the sky is red and green

molly molly make love to me
beneath the stars in the sangria machine
we'll rock and roll until the galaxy is free

07. Simple Song

can you ever sing a simple song she intimated to me
give me for once simple circumstances and maybe we'll see

but it's not the world that's falling
you're falling away
it's not the world

for some blokes words fall like rain
but for me it's not the same

through box-kite windows you can spy
the boy with the microscope eyes
and he's trying to dream of a soft world

and sleep becomes the only way
to forget about the function
and sleep becomes the only way
to focus on the wave

for some blokes words fall like rain
until the falling tune sounds like the best
and then the violence starts again

from the edge I pull back
I turn and hear bulldozers
but I'm still looking at you
my American woman
and these patriot kisses
long and deep like lies
but I'm still looking at you...
am I American?

08. First Time Caller

we could only get so far
through the glacial snows
our windshield wipers fell apart
quite some time ago

we kept fixing what kept breaking
but soon fell far behind
out of phase with beauty
cancellation blind

back in the day
you were the patron saint of AM radio
the tundra's only source for real rock and roll
but then you decided to go
go.

we could only get so far
and it's nobody's fault but my own
tried to jackhammer to open a soft shell
and as soon as the double standards started to flow
the phone got thrown
and as soon as the midnight sun rose
saw me cracked and you alone

back in the day
you were the smoothest jock on KSNO
the tundra's only source for real rock and roll
you left me because you needed to grow.

now I'm the scaredest of the scared
and I'm the coldest of the cold
straining through the static
on this cheap old radio
now you found another man
whose charm it made your belly grow
a whole new world of sizes
still the story goes

and now in the wee hours
if you listen across the snow
you can hear the distant crying
of a baby eskimo
a baby eskimo

09. Nobody Goes To Hell

you were scoundrel number one
and i hated you
nailed down in early life
you live you learn to sacrifice

but in flames you already lived
finding innocents
to do your dirty work for you
you had chances but no choices

nobody goes to hell
nobody goes to hell

you were scoundrel number one
but i loved you still
because the day you cried
i saw the little boy inside

well the shell tough as hell to protect you
it crushed you in the end
i'm trying to cull some lesson
i'm trying to find the friend

nobody goes to hell
(if it were anybody it'd be you)
nobody goes to hell

remember the girl that you dragged down
when you almost drowned?
well she's probably not pissed anymore
cause she's not here anymore

nobody goes to hell
(if it were anybody it'd be you)
nobody goes to hell

10. Darjeeling

it was absolutely treacherous
missing you by days
we were playing cat and mouse
in the most cosmic of ways

i almost got busted
for the drugs inside the sound
but your necklace with the shapes
was all they ever found

darjeeling- it's not too tough to see
we've been spiralling towards each other
since the dawn of history
darjeeling

through all this space
through all this time
alive
through all these lives

after the inquisition
i was sure that you skipped town
but your apple in the starwood lounge
let me know you were around

gabriel was blowing hard
and the horsemen galloped loud
so we dusted off the locusts
and took off for the clouds

darjeeling- it's not too tough to see
we've been spiralling towards each other
since the dawn of history
darjeeling

if you want to play a different game
well, then that's the one we'll choose- you'll see
cause you've got the craft
and I got the keys

darjeeling- it's not too tough to see
we've been spiralling towards each other
since the dawn of history
darjeeling

darjeeling- it's not too tough to see
we've been spiralling towards each other
since the dawn of history
darjeeling

11. Gush

im dreaming deep again
of beethoven's sweetest wren
when i'm underwing the traffic melts outside

i'm trying to free myself
put this obsession on the shelf
i'm a little concerned about my mental health...

if i gushed and told you everything
would you stand up run like hell and hide from me?
it's just these fears that i've got- realistic or not
they paralyze the heart of me, i know
go slow, i know, i know

wonderous normandie doll
i'm fixing tea to make you call
but that old black magic
doesn't work at all

stare at you for an hour and a half
just have to swear to make you laugh
but you're disappearing and not coming back anymore

if i gushed and told you everything
would you stand up run like hell and hide from me?
it's just these fears that i've got- realistic or not
they paralyze the heart of me, i know
it's a sad song but that's how it goes

yellow fog is lifting
and we're mellow waltzing
to the trash on the radio
and i'm fevered willing
i can feel you twisting
cascading through my code

if i gushed and told you everything
would you stand up run like hell and hide from me?
it's just these fears that i've got- realistic or not
they paralyze the heart of me
i know.... go slow... i know i know

12. You Put Me Under

you put me under
diamonds in an arc above your eye
my soaking brow and the shortness of my breath betray me
revealing to the world I'm hypnotised

you put me under the gun
maybe it's the sacred heart upon your chest
or my empty hands- the narcosis from this some of nothing
slipping me through to the other side

meet me on Mandlebrot street
where white stars caress the blue of morning time
meet me at destiny's feet
the marble gods will watch us longingly

you put me under
your silloutete behind a silver jet
you're taking off
and the wash of this new crush wake me
deliver me to futuretime...
and deliver me to futuretime...


love song for kyrie snow (2005)

01. so fucking hard
02. love song for kyrie snow
03. stronger than love
04. brutal
05. remix for kyrie snow

01. so fucking hard

in your maddest of dashes
you left some things on board
an antique sewing machine
the plates from your long gone Ford
it’s a sad inventory
one i’m want to ignore
my least favourite of reminders
i don’t have you anymore

i could make like i don’t care
or i could play it cool
but it’s so fucking hard letting go of you

in my saddest of crashes
i woke up on the floor
in the moonroom of our apartment
sheets for doors
it’s a triple dark story
one i’m want to ignore
the trevails of an ex-kokomite
who doesn’t want you anymore

i could make like i don’t care
or i could play it cool
but it’s so fucking hard letting go of you

put an ear to Ponchartrain
and close your eyes
he just might reveal to you the big easy surprise
dive deep for heaven’s sake
my favourite mother’s daughter
hold your breath and you will spy
a diamond ring under the water

02. love song for kyrie snow

you were an elephant in your last life
you never cared if you made it home
you are illustrious and obnoxious
you earned a strand of the virgin
but she’s cautious

and i want you home
and i love you kyrie snow

was that you in New York?
was it you with me in Crescent City?
i can’t remember
my imagination gets the best of me

you change eleven times to go bowling
but only twice when you’re all alone
waiting for summer storms to absolve us
you earned the love of the saviour
but he’s nauseous

and i love you kyrie snow
and i don’t care who knows

was that you in LA?
was it you with me in Sin City?
i can’t remember
my imagination gets the best of me

03. stronger than love

hey baby... where have you gone?
i think of you when i’m driving
through rains like these
hey baby... you ran for the door
when you found that your father’s blue hat
wouldn’t fit me anymore

i think you know what i’m thinking of
did you have to prove your secrets
were stronger than your love for me?

hey maybe... think we could settle the score?
but you’d have to learn how to say i’m sorry
just a little bit more
hey baby... this is what they call open arms
but you’ll have to make this phone light up yeah
just a little bit

i think you know what i’m thinking of
did you have to prove your secrets
were stronger than your love for me?

i think you know what i’m dreaming of
but did you have to prove your secrets
were stronger than your love
i think i know what you’re dreaming of
did you have to prove your secrets
were stronger than your love for me?

04. brutal

it’s brutal without you
i think of all the things we used to do
red wine and cigarettes
on the back porch in the rain
it’s brutal without you

wasn’t it a clue to love
when i touched your heel at Joy Blue?
now i don’t mind a bed three times my size
sometimes but most of the time i do

it’s brutal without you
i think of all the places you took me to
from the top of an empire
to the depths of Alcatraz
it’s brutal without you

wasn’t it a clue to love
when you shoved me in the lake? it’s true
i don’t mind a will six times my size sometimes

were we all’s a losing hand
on the ghost train to Frankfort?
nine of your rings i lost in blue
were we all’s a winning hand?
with all this light upon my heels
i’m still coming for you
i’m still coming for you

05. remix for kyrie snow

you were an elephant in your last life
you never cared if you made it home
you are illustrious and obnoxious
you earned a strand of the virgin
but she’s cautious

and i want you home
and i love you kyrie snow

you change eleven times to go bowling
but only twice when you’re all alone
waiting for summer storms to absolve us
you earned the love of the saviour
but he’s nauseous

and i love you kyrie snow
and i don’t care who knows

(remix by Felix Miklik)

 


ROADSTAR (2001)

01 Ashland
02 Roadstar
03 Grow Crazy
04 Healing No. Four
05 Traci Seems
06 City Of Heroes
07 Diabetic
08 World's Tallest Building
09 Tread
10 Snowangels
11 Roadstar [endsong]

01. Ashland

city litter swirls making the skin of the invisible man
catching the glow off the ionosphere
still fighting the cold war
what else is a well-trained soldier to do
buried in the deep suburban towns?
come 30 he's finally learning to read on the surface
instead of sweeping for mines

if i hit the lights just right ashland will be green all night
come circuit splendor
love comes hidden in friction

she found him dead in the brush in a puddle of wax
broken rib, swimmer's ear, and a hell of a tan
she came on him with gifts in tow of
ice, isopropyl, and aloe
cradles him after the fall
with a grace she believes she's got only in dream
stitches his wings by degrees
wipes the porridge away from her mouth with her sleeve
leans with purpose
gives him her lips divine

if you hit the lights just right ashland will be green all night
and all the past is somehow suddenly justified
if somehow it's funneled up to this
ashland will be green all night
love comes hidden in friction

02. Roadstar

all this energy
opened up by you
satiate me deep

my robots go wild
metal arms once flailing
now have nothing to do
nothing to do but everything

03. Grow Crazy

love- so sick and sweet
go cry your eyes out
love- just like a cool chain on a hot day
go cry your eyes out

all your nightmares are totally real
but it's still no fucking big deal
your gruesome death is just a formality
i met a green 19 typified what it means
to come on just a little too strong
she was great at sex but she never gave me subtext

light- turning tricks with heat
matter turns the blinds down on a japanese town
and life- faith and dissolve
yeah, get a map of the green and new land
from a manhattan newsstand

all your nightmares are totally real
but it's still no fucking big deal
this fiery crash just preceeds reality

grow crazy little flower
the sweetest one of all
rolling under moonlight isle
i'll catch you if you fall

all your nightmares are totally real
but it's still no fucking big deal
i met a green 19 typified what it means
to come on just a little too strong
she was great at sex but she never gave me subtext

04. Healing No. Four

things happen little chameleon
hold you harmless and idemnify
it's a big surprise:
odd wounds from even burns gradually heal over
is it death has to die before death can take over?

penned down by a history whose spine i can't define
attempting to bend a circle from a line
under the forest talk- seduce the curve
twice maching the solstice line
we belong to a different place

throwing pictures out of moving windows
can't take the place of murder
like a new hairstyle can't beat
the all-american suicide
and i've tried them all
you know it's a godddamn lie
but still i love to say i've tried them all
i don't know why

but where was i in the crooks of those pivotal times?

when young women ran from rapists with one shoe
in the middle of the night down south kedzie avenue?
when people needed a ride- where was i?
i may remain one of the larger crooks of those pivotal times
still i may remain

penned down by a history whose spine i can't define
attempting to bend a circle from a line
under the forest talk- seducing curves
thrice maching the solstice line
we belong to a different place

and i'm pouring over
all the things you never said
and all the things you're never saying still
we belong to a better place
under the forest talk- seduce the curve
once maching the solstice line
we all get to the same place

05. Traci Seems

can't smoke any more cigarettes
so I'm playing the synergistic effect
of stolen pills like little jets
and the promise of the motorcycle roar
across a foreign shore

traci seems like nothing's changed
you've kept your act together
like a kitten in a microwave
the dark sons shine on you in verse
is it your destiny to run country to country heart jumping sun to sun
loving the barrel of a gun?

you've let neon take over
where your light once was
cause the media machine-gunned
all your confidence

having sex with space cadets
just to get your reflection wet
begging validation through
those one-fifth the worth of you

traci seems like nothing's changed
you've kept your act together
like a kitten in a microwave
the dark sons shine on you in verse
is it your destiny to run country to country
heart jumping sun to sun
guessing the meaning of a swan?

06. City Of Heroes

so you’ve mastered the metaphor game
and now nothing on earth is the same
it’s only time but it’s critical– it’s only time

like the movies you swim in your dreams
grin devoid of your critical fiends
when you wake up your role’s been cast out
the old flick’s back: the one that’s built to lose
but it’s only time

when intelligence and lust turn to wisdom and love
you’re on the escalator through the ether up above

when the white limos come out to play
and the license plates spell out the way
you’ll know it’s time– it’s inevitable
you scare me girl like my worn-out seaside melody memory
you can’t dodge the past like you can’t dodge gravity
but you can learn to trick its spin– it’s only time

and if you believe it’s all too good to be true...

schizophrenia heights is a commuter town
this life we used to chalk around til I felt your flower unfold
and I remember the silence, your arm clutching mine
the cress of soft belong up the escalator ride
through the ether to the dome
my synchronia...

but until that time
all static aside
when you hate the world do you still love me?

07. Diabetic

white papers strewn down hazel avenue
across manicured lawns
yellow school bus waves its red arm
here we have everything– everything but the spark

the fire dissolves into mediocre pot
under sodium light in the brunswick parking lot

everyone loves chelsea
she always hits the vein
mommy’s real active on the deerfield PTA
her parents let the silent supper decide
that everything is just fine

a silver spoon with maple residue
destiny lies sometimes
grandparents fought for freedom just for fun
cause the liberty she’s dying for
is to get fucked up at 21, yeah
a silver spoon– maple residue
destiny lies in tracks no lexus car could ever hide

the choir resolves and then jumps in the lake
because candyland’s caught the bug that it couldn’t shake

everyone loves chelsea
she always hits the vein
mommy’s real active on the northbrook PTA

her parents let the silent supper decide
that everything is just fine

08. World's Tallest Building
(instrumental)

09. Tread

it was just like yesterday I remember when we
tooled down to the wharf to take that helicopter ride
as I fingered hearts into the spirals of your hand we watched
the last of the sealife forms crawl their way onto the sand

the bucketholders arrive!
from certain solitude comes balance fair
deep crankin’ seal cut jive– on me
that’s what you came here for
big easy surprise: postponed

it was the springtime of my purity
when every night was the end of the world
underneath that infant moon
the crush of the upper-worlds altitude christmas
coin by coin I cashed in the kingdom for my consciousness

the bucketholders arrive!
and killed the chess guru from planet 9
conquering at the same time all three plastic atmospheres
right before our eyes– with love

I’ll take you all the way I’ll take you all the way
I’ll take you all the way I’ll take you all the way

the bucketholders arrive!
with seashells in the speakers and skatefish on the grill
by the time august arrives
we’ll be safe at home

10. Snowangels

don't mind the roadkill
with the spiral t.v. eyes
don't worry baby
they've been dead for a long time
still i'd lock the doors

see back in the day
when holidays revolved round
cartoon characters
with a capitalist flair
that's what kids became
tonight the clicking handles
sound just like the rain

scraps of standard oil
make a kind of new design
just slip in cassettes
when the AP reads all wrong
light a smoke and drive

listening to jazz
with the windshield wipers on
and it dawns on me

we're just snowangels, baby
angels in the glow
it's nuclear wintertime
and we're snowangels

city limit signs
become a part of the sky
blur define serene
the gumball swirl behind us
celebrates our speed
but getting rolled, kid
really ain't my kind of scene
red and blue lights in rearview
look like cool ice cream

doc that hancock signed
is a testament of time
don't let light get lost
when the elements are gone
blinded by the right

this mosaic of chaos
this magnificent parade
they say that's all the low bands
are good for nowadays
something in the carrier
sent them tumbling through the snow
searching through the white for gold

every mother knows
that the key to life thus goes:
elasticity

and we're snowangels, baby
angels in the glow
it's nuclear wintertime
and we're snowangels

11. Roadstar [endsong]

all this energy
opened up by you
satiate me deep

my robots go wild
metal arms once flailing
now have nothing to do
nothing to do but everything

all this energy
opened up by you
i love you completely


Silver Nitrate (1997)

01. Here I Am
02. Gavel
03. Breathing Underwater
04. Little Knives
05. Song For Black Elk
06. Nostalgia
07. Breakdown at Creation
08. Waterside

 

01. Here I Am

can i have your attention before
the span is totally closed? ...it's so close
are you gonna do something about this?
just like the rest of your friends
that have the millennium bends
it's harder to dream awake
harder than to sleep the day away

here i am- for all to enjoy
here i am- my name is spaceboy
here i am- society's toy
here i am

if everybody knew everything
half the world would kill themselves
and the other half would just make love
just go up on the street on any shadowless afternoon
and look real hard
you can make out the tear

here i am- for girls and boys
here i am- my name is spaceboy

and i've been around
i was there the night the city ripped in two
and i've been around
i watched them burn up the cash in twenty-two
i woke up next to a forest full of words
i took one look and laughed all day

you are not your mind.
you are not your mind.
you are not your mind.

02. Gavel

i used to think i was immortal
until it threw me down
scraped knees and locked up for the rational sound

for 25 long years it kept me going round
i'd bring it up- and bring it back down
i used to think i was immortal
but now i know for sure

and if you say you gotta go- well
you know i'd never blame ya
but when faced with honest love you just run

gavel is your guillotine

you know i hate it when you swing that thing around
it scares the hell out of me
inverse- and fear driven- judgementality

it's the theme for a dying star
what you think you are
it's the theme for a dying star
what you really are

and when you said you had to go- well
you know i never blamed ya
bad things come in groups of one

gavel is your guillotine

03. Breathing Underwater

sarah is silent down on the southside
with a bold shock of redshift hair
watching the streetboys down on the corner
vomit white light into the air

off in the countryside
the christians wait to be alive
sarah takes the UFOs into her eyes

venus is barking up on the northside
glaring with her metric eyes
weighing everyone she sees
against some antique morality
with unconditional love

all the bitspeed in the world
ain't gonna change the image of man
(not like a sound kiss can)
all the bandwidth in the world
ain't gonna improve the image of man
(not like a sound kiss...)

off in the countryside
the christians still wait to be alive
but sarah slips right through the door into the sky

breathing underwater is an art like any other
breathing underwater is an art like any other
breathing underwater is an art like any other

04. Little Knives

i cry about the day one of us dies
searching for butterflies
in a dorm room with pornshop floors
i cry about the day one of us dies
at the hands of time
guessing sense out of the scars left in our sides

but still you laugh and still you lie
the raindrops fall like little knives

clouds roll over our town
and the water peels paint from the playground
palaces turn to rusted monkeybars
all kings are little boys
and invisible men live to smash their little toys
and the fortresses grow thick and tall

sometimes they catch us dreaming round
this dirty desert town
crazy's just another word they have
to keep us same
to keep us down

but still you laugh and still you lie
the raindrops fall like little knives

the holy land is where you stand.

05. Song For Black Elk
(instrumental)

06. Nostalgia

I came because I had to know
now i'm flipping switches in the dashboard glow
see my blue face in the glass curve around
i float above the silent vine- pause for -
the way her waist bent just like time
then rocket past the point of exploitation
and east over the dateline

nostalgia ain't what it used to be
still you wore it well...
you can't wear it next to me

a kid so safe, naïve, and cool
democracy's some word from school
i'm up here lonely as i'm strong
passing time on your dime

spinning dishes and smashing plates
are much more fun to watch from space
but no impressive bloodline is gonna
shake you loose, not this time
your cool idol grip just makes you blind
all the time

nostalgia
still you wear it well....

like something old, something new
something borrowed, something blue
shift something old to something new
something lifeless, tired, and true.

nostalgia ain't what it used to be
and love ain't what it ever was
and love ain't what it ever was...

07. Breakdown at Creation

there are about a million ways to talk about the rain
and when you're feeling wet i know
that you want to do it again now
of a million golden tongues licking from the sun
all of them will burn you baby- all of them
except for one

all equations breakdown at creation

je sais que la route est solitaire
je me suis laissé rattraper par les années
je said qu'il y a deux sortes de mort
et qu'une n'est pas mauvaise
lorsque les miroirs disparaissent

all equations breakdown at creation

it's been 6 months since i crept out past your angel face
through a fort of lithium and old lotto
they never thought their old miss
could ever shake like that
but that was then
and now is then

all equations breakdown at creation

08. Waterside

the old car in the driveway just jumped backwards twice
like the pull before any good renaissance
now love and hate are kissing in the backseat
as it flies on down the road

raised in the shadows of sluts and rebels
jenny diver kept her pearls away
from the drunkest cassanova
and the bold crash city girls

an ill mind... the body of a dancer
leather the color of childhood
and a few other shades we never fully understand

and by the waterside she put my hands inside
and it was something gold      that day
by the waterside
i might just have found something
real

like a butterfly suture on a timeline
the way we raped fate
water rushing through the pipeline
here are the big sky days

and by the waterside she showed me how to die
and it was something gold      and i say:
you know it wasn't half bad
i'm telling you now
you know it wasn't half bad


LETTERS NEVER SENT (1995)

01. Deep Dark Secret
02. Capulet Grin
03. This April Evening
04. Just Another Girl
05. God Knows
06. Hey! Pretty Auburn

01. Deep Dark Secret

you know i haven't seen you for awhile
but in your absence how you still inspire
i'm going to tell you something
and i beg you don't respond- no-
i don't want to talk now.

see there are some things in this world
we pretend never happened
there are some things in this life we tend to
bend the truth about

i know your deep dark secret
yes that really really bad thing
you thought that you could hide
i know your deep dark secret

in my crooked way i care, i can't lie
but i ask you not for water nor for sky
i don't want to explain
let's drop the subject now
i don't want to talk now

see there are some things in this world
we pretend never happened
there are some things in this life we tend to
bend the truth about

how do i know?
well i look and it shows
what cues you choose to take defense
where no defense is needed
how do i know?
it shows right through your clothes
but it's ok
i won't tell a soul

yes there are some things in this world
and there are some things in this life

i know your deep dark secret
yes that really really bad thing
you thought that you were hiding well
i know your deep dark secret
i don't mind.

02. Capulet Grin

so you want to know what real love is
so you want to understand
i'd love to show you girl what real love is
but i don't know that i can

i ain't cut out to wear no romeo clothing
darlin that just not in the plan
so won't you get rid of that capulet grin now
don't tug so heavy on my hand

i can't be your superman

so you want to know what real love is
to put some blood back in your heart
i'd love to show you girl what real love is
but i don't know where to start

my story's nothin like a verona love song
no such sweet verses in my head
so won't you get rid of that capulet grin now
and look at what you've got instead

i can't be your superman

03. This April Evening

took it years to grow
took us time to petal out
fragrance full and something
watch you slip around
i'd die for the eyecandy of ya

sometimes i want to live forever
sometimes i wonder if maybe i'm dead
i'd give my kingdom for the flavour of the right kiss
i'd give my heart to save the treasured lips that sing this

and in the morning
we watch these flowers fall
i don't want to ever be set free
this april evening
i'll pull you behind the trees
and show you what you mean to me

gap 'tween me and who i want to be keeps trenching out
crossing seconds
hole between you and me i want to flee keeps creeping
filled by either tears or blood or you

sometimes i want to live forever
sometimes i wonder if maybe i'm dead
i'd give my kingdom for the flavour of the right kiss
i'd give my heart to save the treasured lips that sing this

waitress pours the coffee
i dance out in the clouds
looking hoping waiting wanting
watch you slip around
i'd die for the eyecandy of ya
i'd die i'd die i'd die

my life is a triangle of love and sex and death
so spin it round
stuck between the fear of 6 and the love of 7
spin it round

and in the morning we'd watch these flowers fall
i don't want to ever be set free
this april evening i'll pull you behind the trees
and show you what you mean to me

and in the morning when we'd watch these flowers fall
i'd lose my head to some degree
this april evening i'll pull you behind the trees
and show you what you mean to me

04. Just Another Girl

last night in a cold dream
you were just another girl to me

i've tasted electra's red lips
in the solid blue light of the day
in a shopping mall
eyes like angels
and a phrase or two i never would say

i never could say what she was thinking
i never could. i never could.

last night in a cold dream
you were just another girl to me

your back can't bend from the weight of the world
when you wear your halo on the inside
behold the brilliant flash
when 3 worlds collide

my servant indentured is easily censored
when the faceless clouds crowd up the sky
so you expand your collection
aid the resurrection
of the love, the guilt, and the lie

last night in a cold dream
every night in a cold dream
you were just another girl to me
you are just another girl to me

i think she's finding someone else in me
i think she's finding someone else

05. God Knows

twenty years ago today
the sky set forth an angel's face
for the past twenty-four hours
i've been sketching you

on this day
hypocrisy comes screaming out
it grabs my neck
it slaps me across my face
i love you.

if i could throw our love up as a star
where not even i could mess it around
you know i would
if i could shape this stubborn heart of mine
to match your face
god knows i would

we see the holy in each other
we see the grace the beauty but not the real
but this world where we have to live is
so when the paris sun is smiling down on you
will you see my face in the clouds?
my god i'll miss you
my god i miss you now

if i could throw our love up as a star
where not even i could mess it around
you know i would
if i could shape this stubborn heart of mine
to match your face
god knows i would

06. Hey! Pretty Auburn

hey! pretty auburn
look- open ears
this one goes out to one who loves but never hears

if you don't need no one
then why do you keep me?
and why do we war when all the while
we just agree?

and so our love song becomes
"where is out love song?"
and so this train it ambles on

there's someone in you i've never known
and this is the one i'm drawn to hold
if i could just find her…

this metal lock box- your coat of arms
this code of silence:
your affection tripped alarm

and so our love song becomes
"where is out love song?"
and so this train it ambles on

this track gets ever old
this track gets ever old
this track goes
this track goes


Unreleased (1987-1997)

01. 14 Leaves
02. 18 Wheels
03. 1000 Tears
04. 7000 Satellites
05. Always
06. Angel Gives
07. Ankh Earrings
08. Call Our Own
09. Charlie
10. Choice
11. Diva Hits The Bullseye
12. Dream Out Loud
13. Film Noir
14. FM Is deaf
15. Goodbye Cassiopeia
16. Hotel Maslow
17. January's Last Day
18. Kiss To History
19. Little Ariadne
20. Margaret
21. Meadow Fiction
22. Naïveté Beats Sorrow
23. Now Her Name Is Roxy
24. One Man's Treasure
25. Only One
26. Point of Dreaming
27. Ride
28. Seashell Song
29. Shakespeare's Moon
30. Sigmund and Pandora
31. The Smallest Thing
32. Snakeshedskin
33. Soft Simple Ritual
34. Sparkle
35. Timetable Stitch
36. Thin Blue Line
37. Universe Like You
38. Vine

01. 14 Leaves

why the fuck do you do what you do to yourself?
what you feel on the inside makes you
grab what you do from the outside: sunshine or suicide

you are the decorator of your dungeon
and it's your right to chain your heart up
as it is to set your demons free

you blame your house, you blame your job
make your mother culprit
you blame the sky, you blame the rain
cursing puddles, won't you

14 leaves falling
their brilliant colors all for you
but all you do is think of rakes and messes
14 leaves falling
and you don't owe them anything except for you

(don't be afraid to live your life right girl)

amidst the conversation she drags her fingers across her wrists
life is a fashionable joke in this town
just ask them- just look around
you've got the curse to complain about infinite things
curses turn to blessings the moment you start to live life the real way

you blame your house, you blame your job
make your sister culprit
you blame the world for your attitude

14 leaves falling
their brilliant colors all for you
but all you do is think of rakes and messes
14 leaves falling
and you don't owe them anything except for you

02. 18 Wheels

the best place to do it is in a phonebooth by I80s side under shooting stars
singing songs into a trunk until it chirps back
until it send back silence
when the wind takes to the trees i know the world is mine

i count 5 rhymes in the circling weather over rome
think it's a clue to the tones i've got to blow to bring you home
18 wheels roll by to the strains of aussie time
and there's no box that i can build to bring it back

sleep means nothing to me anymore:
like somebody else's ideas mean nothing
the passing of days
you and me were just looking for keys under a raging sea

you are the most vivid dream

i count five rhymes in the machine at the airport on the nile
think it's a clue to the stops i've got to pull to make you smile again
18 wheels roll by
through the wires it's finnish time
and there's no box that i can build

the soft quick london ring
i thought would pipe you back to me
through a couple of funky loops drummed up at random
just kicked back
with moonlight flash
waiting patiently for us to sing in tandom

03. 1000 Tears

visions of her sidewinder perch
on the chair and up against the police car
throw light on my darkened face
flashes on a shadowed wall
like the lightning

a picture's worth a thousand tears of want
oh the striking do know

although i'm just two feet away i might as well be paging through that magazine
with the way i'm pushed by 8x10 headlong into backlit gloss
rolling down the stairs like the thunder

i drop my keys and raise my glass to you
oh the striking do know

if i had a thousand lives to live outside of shy antiquity and frigid faceless apathy
i still wouldn't have a clue

tell me what i need to do to get close to you

04. 7000 Satellites

on the wings of a jailbreak
with your red lips by my side in this blue blue city
on a blue blue night
crazied out of all the lies that were the promises
and tied by all the promises that lied

7000 satellites

i am, i am a believer that the holy soul is damned
we'll stand still in the plateshift 97
we'll be dry in the cry of the suicide spree

7000 satellites

05. Always

where do you go when the sun's gone away
and where do you hide from the rain?
what kind of games do you play with your mind
that drive you so damn insane?

you'll always have me

don't say that you can't hold
you can't touch me cause you can in a million ways
just remember the time we spent
sandra, don't throw it away

your face never leaves my mind for a moment
it's there every single day
i can see your eyes watching me
although they are four and one-half hundred miles away

you'll always have me

where do you go when the sun goes away
and where do you hide from the rain?
what kind of games do you play with your mind
that drive you so damn insane?

you'll always have me

06. Angel Gives

night fell so softly
to serve this twisted man's waking hour
tossed alone in the crowd's raging surge
two million trampled left lackadaisical birthing scars
across the withering flesh of our nation's chest

what my angel gives

night slipped away to the pull of the progression horns
rattle back instead in my head
what can i do? this is my world, too
my friend don't go away
stay, stay, stay

what my angel gives

night fell again so softly on its cue
i beg to pull the blue sky away from the black

[excerpt from he and she #13:]

they sat in the cool night's desert under a curving blanket of stars. that evening they were the only two people in the world. they were alive, alone, apart from culture's pull. fate's generosity snapped them out of politics' shackles and they were free to interact with each other, each other's other and nobody else. this world was built for them. They exchanged words rarely, as they had long been rendered unnecessary- like choosing soda over water. This seemed to be when he loved her- when they were alone. not alone in the house of his father which reeked of his subordination. Not alone in the house of her mother that was never her home, but in the desert miles and miles and miles away from any faint influence. They were alone. And they were loving.

07. Ankh Earrings

she stood about 5 foot 3 in these ankh earrings
her eyes impressed a thousand lives into mine
somehow i seem to know you somehow i seem to care

something's buried deep behind these lines
but wit's sharp knife's too dull to dig
something's set out right before our eyes but we're all so blind
somehow you seem to know me
so won't you go where the bold fear to tread- and show me?

do you sing the eternal song?
such lust is found in counterpoint's wet pull
do you sing the eternal song?
and when your world crumbles, where do you run to? where do you run to?

through the rain of a thousand nightmares shine these ankh earrings
such a promise cannot be denied... falsified
and when the sky caves in and angels fall to obscene depths where passion stalls
i recline in the soft curves of the flowing arches
down the end then swallow hard come back again- in the end and then begin again

don't look too hard- don't follow me
these jewels bear your initials they weren't meant for me
don't think too hard- just cover me
and live your life in colors i can't begin to see

do you sing the eternal song?
such lust is found in counterpoint's wet pull
do you sing the eternal song?
and when your world crumbles, where do you run to? where do you run to?

it's been 17 long years
since we danced in innocence's garden
dancing without fear
over time you know these senses harden
and fade away...

08. Call Our Own

no these bricks they were not meant for us
these otherwise kind 2x4s might have built a fire
we could not escape together
fate saw us smother in the ashes
sister delphi through the rain

no these sheets they were not meant for us
these otherwise blind blankets might have tossed us cross
the lines true friends must tow-
trust tow together

no, i can't see
kiss him once for me
duck around the corner of a brownstone we were too afraid to call our own
but it's okay it's alright now

don't you know we did the right thing
when right thing's hard these monsters run
back to the dock where they know they belong
fate saw us panning through the ashes
sister Delphi through the waves
please tell me we did the right thing
the ropes i thought might save me
could have fashioned past the lifeboat's timely call
to call home forever
sister Delphi through the waves

no i can't see
kiss him once for me
duck around the corner of the brownstone we were too afraid to call our own
but it's okay it's alright now

looking back on floorboards
waxed through dancesteps
tear-purpled photographs
i sit back and rewrite every love song as if i were the only one
but to me
you know i am

no these bricks they were not meant for us

09. Charlie

you were the heroic man
forced to fashion map to end
the undying search for evidence
the world could hold your soul

passion's quest: self-validation
handing forthright your salvation:
self-preservation

with Ireland under wing you knew,
that spilt-second proved that every crazy thought you ever had was true
and you were too

as you rise the trees turn to bushes and barns to little children's toys
these are your words charlie— this was your liberation

you took off amidst the cries of fool
then paris caught you in a pool of flashbulbs
cooledge shipped you back home
and soon you would find
that it could never be your home again
what sorry lesson did your soul learn
when after something you did for you
the people went and claimed you?
for the move to free yourself you became the prize possession
as you laid shackled- they took away your little boy

but this was long ago
now you're in the sky where you've always felt the best
you are in your favorite place forever

as you rose the trees turned to bushes
your selfish fans to silly buzzing flies
you are the sky now charlie
you are the sky now charlie
this is your liberation.

10. Choice

it's your choice to come around
it's your choice

from the scraps of some fantasy
death comes to me in a three second scene
four arms around me
they like to tell me lies they like to send me selfish
not one to save me
well should i be surprised why am i so surprised

it's your choice to come around
it's your choice to come around

in exchange for my life eternal
you've given me your black heart
the one without eyes
the one i'll break apart

don't you remember what i told you
when i told you that i loved you? believe me...

behind the guise of the suburban sky is a kind thing
then i turn on my radio and hear the voice that's screaming so
i try to find my way back home but something, something,
won't let me go.

it's your choice to come around
it's your choice

11. Diva Hits The Bullseye

she's a public vegetarian
with a Camus book and a nudie pen
on a greyhound that is fun to watch but clearly labeled nowhere

you are my 15 year patchoulie headache
quoting crooked Kerouac

diva hits the bullseye

her mouth waters for the swirl of disco
and the hum of dimestore philosophy
in beret and scarf she heads on home

in her head she ponders love, war, sex
goddamn she's killing me
in the time it takes to light a clove

you are my 15 year patchoulie headache
quoting crooked Kerouac

12. Dream Out Loud

girl i love you
but i won't let myself get near you
i remember when i tried it last i ruined everything
girl i love you but
we cannot take this train too fast
i've seen the silver rails turn razor rip right through this heart of mine

i'd go to sleep 1000 times
just to have one dream where i'm flying
i'd plunder through 1000 lives
just to find the courage to
dream out loud

i'm not the type to lie complacent in the framework
complacent with the millions worshipping the webstrong spinners
suspended in the sun

where is this magic well from which to draw such power?
the will to stitch by stitch together bridge
and climb into the clouds

i'd go to sleep 1000 times
just to have one dream where i'm flying
i'd plunder through 1000 lives
just to find the courage to
dream out loud

13. Film Noir

the color of the walden rain
always hit me as strange- just until recently
when i painted that picture i couldn't accept the shades

now i try to make a happily-ever-after film
but got nobody to do the part but you- you're gone
film noir

i've mailed you a chicago ticket
meet me at walden again, please
i'm sorry but it's so much worse when you won't
you won't speak to me

14. FM Is deaf

i'd like to break my radio in half (FM is deaf)

do you remember when
it was safe to cruise the dial?
when there was something for everyone
no need to worry bout that new-age muzak
or getting fingers stuck in top 40 bubble-gum

it's all changed
you don't believe me flip it on and see
there's pop spaghetti on that slippery dance floor
and politicians on your MTV

i'd like to break my radio in half (FM is deaf)

no need for talent here
all you need is a nice set of knockers and a neat little nose
if you can dance we can make you a millionaire
but you'll have to wear all these magnetic clothes

it's all changed
you don't believe me flip it on and see
there's no more steely dan
not much of rock 'round the clock
lest you consider the new dorks on the block

i'd like to break my radio in half (FM is deaf)

it's all changed
you don't believe me flip it on and see
it's casey kasem and all this other jive
this multi-million metal 1,4, 5.

i'd like to break my radio in half (FM is deaf)

15. Goodbye Cassiopeia

stories spread across the skies
they told you it's a lion
they told you it's a bow and arrow
oh but don't you believe them

pictures spread across the sky
they told you it's a bear
they told you those were pots and pans
(what else do you believe?)
cause i believe you and i
i see you and i say-

hey! goodbye cassiopeia

they told you it's a lion
they told you it's a bow and arrow...

galileo's heavens
just a man like you and i
lost his daily bread for a dream
celestial etch-a-sketch away

pictures spread across the sky
they told you it's a bear
they told you those were pots and pans
but i see you and i
i see you and i say-

hey! goodbye cassiopeia

16. Hotel Maslow

i used to see her on the elevator sometimes
going up and down on her spring days (no she never stayed)
and this crazy life- this car and this broken room
all the lies i never listened to
yes, they fall from every mouth: from everyone but you

i'm finally flying now

don't speak- language sometimes lies
feel! don't think anymore
our thoughts are shaped in language
and language sometimes lies

speak only what you mean
you're finally flying now

is it such a secret?
listen: the past is trying to eat the future
now is it such a secret?
you never understand our tongues anyway

and now it's summer in crash city
and the age of two-tenths rule
she's knee deep in water in a basement
punching buttons on a dead elevator

i'm finally flying now.

17. January's Last Day

i asked her what to do with all this love
she said, 'shove it into a mold shaped like a dinosaur'
it only made me love her more

just like everything else on january's last day
just as strange and beautiful as six days' prior holiday
very strange!

don't you want to smash the TV and look out your own eyes
don't you want to love at all and love et. al

i asked her what to do with all this lust
she said to paint a civilization's face shaped like Rome
( and then she said to take her home)
and well she should have
well she should have

don't you want to smash the TV and look out your own eyes
don't you want to love at all and love et. al

smash the TV and look out your own eyes...

18. Kiss To History