1. |
A Door Closes
03:56
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Am I a defeated veteran of a long forgotten war?
Or a tumbleweed, caught-up in the summer corn?
I don’t know
Thought I knew, but now I don’t
My heart knows I’m right, but my head knows I’m wrong
When it starts feeling like I’ve been blowing balloons for too long
I don’t know
I thought I knew, but now I don’t
A door closes, would you hold this
It’s just this hand of mine
It’s been stolen, and broken, and weathered with the time
It’s been held before, but it ain’t anymore
And I have another hanging idle on the other side
I went undefeated and lost the last game of the year
What can I leave behind so you remember I was here
I don’t know
I thought I knew, but now I don’t
A door closes, would you hold this
It’s just this hand of mine
It’s been stolen, and broken, and weathered with the time
It’s been held before, but it ain’t anymore
And I have another hanging idle on the other side
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2. |
Haunter
04:41
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Couldn’t close my eyes last night 'cause I knew
I was waking up today to the news
Your tells are so cruel
So if it’s come to this, just do what you came to do
Like leaving the theatre on a sunny day
Sent back to the shelter ‘cause I couldn’t sit
Watch the look on their face change
Like a diner waitress working for tips
Is this sorrow or relief?
Knowing tomorrow is a whole other thing
Awoke the next day with sun coming through the screen
I knew all bad things must only live in my dreams
The world was mine and I could have anything
It was an infinite second of possibility, oh boy
Your tug was gone from the sheet
Then I remembered that I don’t remember my dreams
Like leaving the theatre on a sunny day
Sent back to the shelter ‘cause I couldn’t sit
Watch the look on their face change
Like a diner waitress working for tips
Is this sorrow or relief?
Knowing tomorrow is a whole other thing
Some time on, I’m getting things figured out
I’m learning to keep the dead in the ground
But I must live in a haunted house
Because the ghost you can’t see you can’t get out, out, out
Like leaving the theatre on a sunny day
Sent back to the shelter ‘cause I couldn’t sit
Watch the look on their face change
Like a diner waitress working for tips
Is this sorrow or relief?
Knowing tomorrow is a whole other thing
Is this sorrow, or relief?
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3. |
Irregular Plurals
03:45
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Thought you meant what you said, but I guess that you didn’t
Now I’m somewhere where the water tastes different
Buying things I owned, just one week ago
Putting furniture together, shipped all the way from Sweden
I took all the tools, let me know if you need ‘em
I’ll wait for time, hoping that it shows
How’s it feel for you
It feels really real to me
I got them ol’ dark night blues
Dark night everything
My nephew asked how you were doing
So he learned about death, and long term assuming
He can count to ten now, if he starts at five
I still don’t like going to the grocery
My fridge is too big, and so is my pantry
Uniform design, all empty inside
I got a bill today for your house in my name
And it’s good to know that some things haven’t changed
Remind me again, what’s yours and what’s mine
How’s it feel for you
It feels really real to me
I got them ol’ dark night blues
Dark night everything
Do you mind if I still talk with your parents
They’re kinda mine too, so that seems to be the fairest
Irregular plurals, blurred party lines
How’s it feel for you
It feels really real to me
I got them ol’ dark night blues
Dark night everything
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4. |
Pretend
03:59
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All of your friends are all pockmarked and frayed at the end
You’re boxing me in, typecast as the asshole again
You play pretend, but you could never pretend
Now I don’t know what you do
But I liked it when you used to let me do
The things you do to girlies that you only knew
Don’t recall telling you what to think
Can’t say for sure if you were listening
To things that you replaced with dreams
You made pretend-pretend a thing
I heard what you said, a little more truth I mighta not been mislead
I mean, it seems common sense, to let his calls go unanswered instead
You play pretend, but you could never pretend
Now I don’t know what you do
But I liked it when you used to let me do
The things you do to girlies that you only knew
Don’t recall telling you what to think
Can’t say for sure if you were listening
To things that you replaced with dreams
You made pretend-pretend a thing
Your life’s been blessed, finessed for leisure and rest
I could pay with my neck, but your stigmata had to write the check
You play pretend, but you could never pretend
Now I don’t know what you do
But I liked it when you used to let me do
The things you do to girlies that you only knew
Don’t recall telling you what to think
Can’t say for sure if you were listening
To things that you replaced with dreams
You made pretend-pretend a thing
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5. |
Pink Lemonade
03:32
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On a flight back from Florida in an aisle window seat
Back to St. Louis City straight from the Delray Beach
I’m thinking bout ya honey, and it’s such a luxury
I was flatlined, ya came and gave this ol’ heart a beat
Do you understand? Are you part of another?
Have you revived feeling after failing other plans?
Pink lemonade, your sugar is melting my teeth
Black licorice, got me tongue-tied down to the knees
Spell me your name, does it start with a “K” or a “C”
This milk carton kid was found out in the ocean breeze
Do you understand? Are you part of another?
Have you revived feeling after failing other plans?
Hello operator, may I have a connection please
To an introverted, exuberant personality
If your throwing clay pigeon, you don’t shoot the first thing that you see
You don’t ride the escalator just for the scenery
Do you understand? Are you part of another?
Have you revived feeling after failing other plans?
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6. |
Spare Change
02:48
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Come what may, c’est la vie
If you can learn to die, you can live for free
You can carry around Little Jesus from your neck
But you’re gonna need someone to give what you can get
Close the door, and lock it tight
You and your stuff on a Saturday night
You got a new friend, lives on the radio
What’s good for you is always gone before you know
With no appointment, you can’t be late
You can learn to talk, but what’s there to say
In your head, you can travel long and far
It’s no ones job to wonder where you are
Watch yourself, don’t slip on the stairs
On the floor alone in your house of chairs
There was a time that you stood out in a crowd
But crowds have people, and people always let you down
You can leave it all to the public trust
We’re all just future vacuum dust
So who really cares, what’s the difference any way
There’s no such thing as someone else’s spare change
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7. |
Standing at the Ready
04:22
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Only just a mother’s son, strung out on a line
Fumbling in the dark, reading analog time
Try finding clues, wearing tennis shoes, while waking in the sand
Standing at the ready, who counts in the band?
It’s zero sum, running from this wheel that we’re trapped in
All the Delta singers said that this would happen
Shutters shut for storms, blowing from some far and distant land
Standing at the ready, who counts in the band?
I’m over invincibility, now I do big kid stuff
I been around long enough to see new things rust
Pressed for time, in a line, I’m pulling at a tattered shirt strand
Standing at the ready, who counts in the band?
Drugs cured all my problems, then they all came back
Christ, I just need a cigarette, but they’re only selling packs
On the street today, I heard him say, “Only my God can”
Standing at the ready, who counts in the band?
I don’t mind being fooled a little every now and then
But did any of the Andrews Sisters marry military men?
Stuck at start when all your thoughts are formed with half the plan
Standing at the ready, who counts in the band?
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8. |
Ain’t It Romantic?
02:32
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Why am I ashamed
Of living in the past?
Ain’t it romantic
The way a memory last?
Those were the days
And they ain’t coming back
Took ‘em for granted
Checked ‘em off like a task
Of all of my mistakes
Lord, there’s many I’ve had
Childish antics
Wanting what I can’t have
Waiting to be saved
When dark thoughts pass
Where I don’t feel frantic
Elementary and daft
Ever feel the same?
Or do you deal in fact?
Ain’t it romantic
The way a memory last?
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9. |
Temporary Eternity
04:20
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I don’t miss you
But I think about you
Your panoramic sunsets
Your Midwest cool
Your tollbooth pride
Your Don’ts and your Do’s
I don’t miss you
But I think about you
You’re 400 miles of side of the road
You’re full stop, with nowhere to go
But I click my heels and I start to believe
You and me were destined for a temporary eternity
I don’t miss you
But I think about you
Your burning pastures
Your sunflower jewel
Your Free State feeling
Your Ad Astra tattoos
I don’t miss you
But I think about you
You’re 400 miles of side of the road
You’re full stop, with nowhere to go
But I click my heels and I start to believe
You and me were destined for a temporary eternity
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10. |
Present, Right Now
04:10
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Do you think that it’s possible
To forget everything you know
Starting with the present, right now?
Don’t you think that it’s probable
Smarter men than I
Could figure it out in time?
I swear, gravity works harder every day
Looking out at your world, through a window in your face
It just seems so insurmountable
I thought puzzles were all the same
There’s only so many shapes
I swear, gravity works harder every day
Looking out at your world, through a window in your face
Don’t flip the record, this is the end
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Nicholas St. James St. Louis, Missouri
"If Bob Dylan and Tom Waits were the same person, they'd write songs like Nicholas St. James."
-Ed Danger, American Roots Magazine
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