It's been four long years of bullshit and I don't wanna take no more
Of this never-ending travesty this open-ended war
Don't pull 'em out let's keep 'em in
Surely that's the way to win
Don't you know that freedom isn't free when we're burning billions
There must be some explanation
For taking me down here
All this hype and speculation
Is ringing in my ears
Don't you see this global war is concentrated in one place?
Seems to me the main objective is Operation Saving Face
If we cast aside the curtain on your rhetoric repeat
Are these the open arms of victory or the closing jaws of defeat?
There must be some explanation
For taking me down here
All this hype and speculation
Is ringing in my ears
There must be some explanation
For taking me down here
All this media saturation
Is ringing in my ears
This is another B-side to LRH. It's the first song I ever wrote. I had strep throat when I sang this, and it's way too long, dark and oblique. It's notable that I used a slide on this one, though. That was fun. { Tags : regrets, sadness }
This song is about the sense that, no matter how far you've strayed from who you are and what you believe, the way back is firmly in your hands { Tags : recovery, forgiveness }
One foot in front of the other
One breath follows another
They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
And I know it's true
But the long road home begins and ends with you
We all fall down now and then
We all struggle to get back up again
They say life is full of second chances, baby
And I know it's true
But if you can't forgive yourself, baby
Who's gonna forgive you?
We're all given room to roam
Take my hand and I'll help you find your way home
They say the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
And I know it's true
But the long road home begins and ends with you
This is about the Rust Belt town in Northeast Ohio where my dad's family is from. It's based on the family stories my grandmother and dad told me as a kid. It's about family, memories, and what happened when the steel mills closed. It's a fable, sort of. { Tags : Alliance }
This is a song about a relationship on the rocks. "Anyway" is the downside to the upside in "These Times," so I put them next to each other on the record. { Tags : relationship, love, loss, drinking, sleep }
We’ve arrived at this place in spacetime
And we’re not sure we belong
Don’t know how we got here from point A and I say
I don’t care who threw the first stone
Just know that I want us to push past this disaster
We find frustration in the ordinary
Every day anyway
I can’t sleep at all and you’re sleeping too much anyway
You don’t drink at all and I’m drinking too much anyway
Anyway, anyway
The space between us in our bed has grown such
It’s like an ocean swimming between us
No matter if we see things differently
You know you’re the best thing that’s happened to me and I
Don’t want to lose you I don’t wanna leave
Just wanna find consolation in the ordinary
Every day anyway
I can’t sleep at all and you’re sleeping too much anyway
You don’t drink at all and I’m drinking too much anyway
I think it’s time for us to come home anyway
I know you I need you I’ll hold you I love you anyway
Anyway, anyway
I wrote this on a business trip in Seattle. I stayed in a hotel room right on Puget Sound and could see the amazing view but it was totally silent where I was. It's about both the loneliness of being on the road and the redemption of coming home. { Tags : Travel, Seattle, loneliness }
Another west coast hotel room
See the city but I can't see you
See the sound but I can't hear a thing
So much time spent in so close
Myopia distorts our focus
Dystopia it seems so hopeless
I know this now I know
I know this now I know
It's these times that make me think of you
It's these times that I come back home
It's you that sets me free
I know this now I know
I know this now I know
Set the watch three hours behind
Synchronize you in my mind
When I'm gone it's you I find
So much time spent in so close
Myopia distorts our focus
Sometimes distance brings us closer
I know this now I know
I know this now I know
This song is the coda for the overall theme of the album: sometimes the road home is filled with tragedy, obstacles and frustration, but if we stay true to who we are and what we believe we'll find redemption in the end. { Tags : redemption }
I'm so happy to see you smile again
To hear your laughter on the wind
To feel your skin against my skin
You've come home again
I see that the mystery in which we believe
is nothing more than what we can't see
I believe if we close our eyes and live our lives
We will find our way to this truth
All this time I thought we were growing apart
Maybe we'd gone too far
But we were just expanding
Like ripples on the pond
I see that the mystery in which we believe
is nothing more than what we can't see
I believe if we close our eyes and live our lives
We will find our way to this truth
In 2007 an elderly great uncle of mine and his wife died within five days of one another. While it was sad to lose them, I found a sort of bittersweet poignancy in the fact that neither of them would have to carry on alone without the other. To quote the officiant at my wedding, marriage "delivers us from our aloneness." I think that's true, and that's what I tried to convey in this song. This is my favorite song that I've written. { Tags : death, aloneness }
I hope we live together til the age of ninety-five
No regrets or debts left over from a life well lived
If you should pass before me over to the other side
Don’t want to wait around alone watching the years go by
If you should die tomorrow
I hope I die five days later
No use hangin around watching the clock run out
Don’t want no casseroles don’t want no cards and flowers
Don’t want to wait around to see how the rest turns out
Don’t want no easy chair in the TV’s ephemeral glow
I’ve lived myself to the fullest and now I know
Ashes turn to ashes and dust turns to dust
And the leaves all fall from the trees in autumn’s fading sun
And I don’t mind the coming of winter’s cold embrace
Don’t want to overstay life’s welcome in this lonely place
If you should die tomorrow I hope I die five days later
No use hangin around to see how the rest turns out
Hangin around waiting to see you again
Just hanging around watching the clock run out
Don't need a heaven
Don't need a hell
If you need to believe that's just as well
Don't need promises of salvation
Or threats so ominous of damnation
All I need is you and me in the here and now
You don't have to go through it alone
We don't have to deal with it all on our own
You don't have to go through it alone
We don't have to deal with it all on our own
Don't need a church to tell me why
Don't need a big daddy in the sky
Don't need a book to read my compass
And I sure as hell don't need you praying for my soul
'Cause it's fine, it's just fine, thank you
You don't have to go through it alone
We don't have to deal with it all on our own
You don't have to go through it alone
We don't have to deal with it all on our own
On a sunny fall day I was freezing the frame
You were standing in the sunlight smiling at me
You said something funny I can’t remember now
It was something I’d said to you years ago
Trying to hang on to moments like these
Is like trying to stop the river from returning to the sea
Just be here, just be here
Be present in this moment and alive in this time
Just be here, just be here
These seconds tick by but the days fly away
Ohhhhh, ohhhh
We were walking these sidewalks at a quarter past three
I was holding your hand you were holding onto me
I told you I loved you you said you agreed
I said how ‘bout forever and you said “we’ll see”
We turned and kept walking but I wanted to say
These seconds slip by but our lives fly away
Just be here, just be here
Be present in this moment and alive in this time
Just be here, just be here
These seconds tick by but the days fly away
Is there anything left after we explode
Is there anything left in the middle of the road
Should we close our minds and scream?
Do we take a dim memory off the shelf
Or harbor deep doubts about ourselves
Should we close our eyes and dream?
We are waiting for the other shoe to drop
We are waiting for the page to turn
We are waiting for the forest tree to fall
We are waiting for the page to turn
I'm a churning hurricane on a burning sea
We got gasoline eyes and fallout feet
This American twenty-first century
Do we take a sound bite right out of this
Slice of American apple pie
Does the TV lull us gently off to sleep?
Sleep
Dream
Believe
We are waiting for the other shoe to drop
We are waiting for the page to turn
We are waiting for the forest tree to fall
We are waiting for the page to turn