Great Talk Let the pattern drop out I’m stuck between decisions that I’m not married to the world is full of corners I’ve never noticed this one before Plain talk to great talk great talk, the only talk feel spent completely the only way to feel You’ve crossed a bridge to get here don’t ask me how I know I’m a pretty skirt, you’re the tallest stud in the room what difference does it make who told on who? so, you’re strange, so, you’re in your head completely go ahead and ask me how you show I’m trying to tell you I’m in love with your darkness don’t ask how this can go Little lady down by the train tracks are you going to make a move or make tracks? race hard, you’re hardly making headway little lady, angry little lady Sad scene hardened scene sad seed rotting seed My choice a man's choice to wait and make to make no choice Three years have gone by, I can’t believe I can’t believe how tender we got the world is full of movies I’m sure I’ll see this one again, I’m sure Plain talk to great talk great talk, the only talk

Gray Susan Smoothing out my mood soothing, soothing, talk me down you’re hard to hate I think Susan, Susan, night on the town until you’re quickly back in the house and the years are replaced you’re hard to stroll with but we’re walking, walking, through the rooms Oh, it was a game changer day oh, but you’ve strayed my mind away your darting eyes are on target All the houses were haunted, haunted after I’d been inside all the alleys would be screaming, screaming if you’d stay outside oh, lunging on my back at the crack of dawn you gray creature, please forgive my anger and my throwing arm Oh, the walls talk in a language you can’t understand Susan, you’ve been too good to me, you make it feel like I’m getting away with something there’s something clearly hidden in your eyes Don’t throw me across the room, you’re going to kill the moment don’t leave me in the filth, you’re going to kill the moment don’t restrict me to your rooms, you’re going to kill the moment don’t restrict me in your thoughts, you’ll kill the moment

Gallows Secret tragedy save me from the gallows the poor girl sees the dreams I’ve been having in my eyes the big lust was the criminal element Deception from the start What a calamity your life in broken records I live too far from the ocean to share a thing with you all those promises I made you Wash up on the shore Hang up head east until you’re seaside find me wade out until we're knee high Can’t we meet this way again? all you ever really wanted was a friend an old-fashioned rivalry Am I the only one stirred up? am I the only one still stirred up? I'm tossing fuse as I burn I love the fuse, love the fire, love the term and I am satisfied by you Strictly in scenario Some jokers get off easy You and I wading the seas with dead legs

Mama Said Found myself in the middle I’ve worked my way out of plenty of things like this before I tried to put myself into pockets I tried to make myself of use the dream that you were needed to hold that final corner of the house together is the dream of me as a family man as a great family man Out of the kitchen out of the living room and out of the house out of the neighborhood out of the city and out onto the road We grew up at a similar pace but I've backtracked once or twice you should give it a try it’s like my mama used to say I never had the luxury of a community, of a clear, honest culture I’ve tried tripping myself by own bootstraps I always end up landing at your doorstep Out on the highway out of the county and out of the state out of the country out of the hemisphere out of this world The rails are cold and lead ride it out, my mama said

Carnivorous Plants I fell asleep in your apartment I didn’t think that I could do it the more I sleep the more I dream I dream of you turning away I hear scratching at my door the whole work day just want to let only one in I can tell you’d be good-looking at that age I can feel your wrinkles pressed into my face Life is strange thank God I’m so confused thank God quit channeling a stranger I feel like I’m home it’s not the end of the world but it wouldn’t matter if it was Carnivorous plants

Easily Read Out my window on the road white smoke rising from the trees brought me back to the good old days every day we’re working on another good old day It’s like I told you the words I sold you wither fast they don’t last Is nothing sacred? Or is it everything? You see that collection of fog across the way? Inside is an entire city, and a friend I used to know seems like she was living out her embarrassing days and really, we were privileged to see it in person Close this chapter close the whole book of me, I’m easily read I’m easily reddened

Shameless Aimless, aimless walking I find myself more and more caught up in it shameless, shameless talking I find myself more and more mixed up in it My imagination entertains disaster find the homes that I’ve lived in crumbling one after the other I see my seven deadly sins, they’re all Ending in death in the same week in the same week oh, me of little faith oh, me, oh my, my, my little faith You haunt me every night your name appears in bright lights and on the news and on road signs and in the middle of bigger words All your preferences surround me all your favorite songs stuck in my head I hear your footsteps they’re mimicking mine I feel your fingerprints all over the place You’ve resurrected my paranoia you’d like it if I took your advice now, wouldn’t you? You’d like it if I figured it all out and Packed up and left in the same week in the same week Say it again, now say it again

Jason Jason we’ve almost come full circle back home but we’ve still got a lot of money left we’ve been saving all year oh, how far do you think we can get out and still make it back to here? This trip has taught me to appreciate the small rewards and I’ve learned things about myself that I’m easily pleased with the little things with just two chords That diner in West Virginia the look of the hills the doo wop they played out of Richmond and it gave me the chills Well you know who those trees remind me of don’t you, friend? And the more that they are piling up the more I don’t think I’m ever going to see her again but I’m going to see a lot of trees I’ve been known to get myself into good things Jason, you’ve watched me turn away oh, time and time again the branches stretch into my past I live in my dreams and I need to wake up I live in my dreams and I’m in need of your wisdom to wake me up Jason, we’ve lived like two care-free rats this past month I’m stunned we never fell ill I am shocked that we were never pulled over well, it’s not like our youth when you would ask me for the truth and I would lie I’ve been trying to write a song for a dear friend of mine but I am scared I’ll cry He’s that kind, to me he’s that kind

Slow Explosion Campfire, campfire oh, I'm in love with my annual desire and to choose a wife to force me up and down these stairs and see the stars of my exhaustion sparkling I can't see a thing don't even know what I'm looking at Oh, be my bride this little boy said oh, be my bride this little boy said, or I'll be dead wash your face in the mud wash your face in the mud made from my ashes this sneering muddy face could mix into a crowded place and come out shining like the rising autumn sun a slow explosion in the trees I can't see a thing don't even know what I'm looking at I tried to be transparent with you I can't see a thing

Newspaper Man I knew that when I left the house I would find something I knew that when we both crossed paths I would know it that giddy, stupid, childish nausea has never left me without drama And I walked away from your three doors so full of air the kind of air that you need to survive my only goal in life has always been warmness and it’s always at arm’s length Yeah I’m your newspaper man yeah I’m your newspaper boy yeah I’m your newspaper What if it was all still ahead of me? What if it was all still waiting there, in the head of me? I could sit for hours with no break in between listening to your words bounce off the walls onto me such a buttery inflection words that I want to devour and digest Then something welled up and I wrote you a letter and the words flowed onto the page like a post-flood river I analyzed the future, then I criticized the past I never even mentioned one star Dancing around, I let that girl dance me around clowning around, I let that clown take me to town And I brought up these walls like your bones bring up your skin and I secured these walls like your secrets kept within and it’s more of a home than my home that doesn’t move and it’s more of a home than my home that I will own with a window that I will throw a bottle through with the cat and the dog who can’t tell the difference between the two with the neighbors who build fences just to have something to lean onto with the wife and the kids and the walls and the rugs looking so damn blue with the wife and the kids and the walls and the rugs looking so goddamn blue

Larger Rat Ran into a friend out the doors of the station and we started to have a chat The roar of an engine cut through our conversation the rat has aged into nothing but A larger rat I’ve seen the rat grow up I used to fix the hinges on his mother’s door his father worked in town I watched that fur slowly fall out What’s a poor mother to do? When your little rat wants nothing to do with you he needs a A larger town Went on talking with my friend talked of couples that had ended recently he could see my thoughts were hacking through the past and I could see his concentration was similarly split

To Join a Cult Take me out of context take me out of town if you take me you’ll see I lay my money down The hardest thing about happiness is giving some away Take a left here and cut through the meat of the city even in the shadows you still look pretty You know I’m a low-flying man She says she wants to be a woman she says she wants to be a real woman I said just wake up in the morning I said wake up and be a real woman be my real woman and I’ll be your real man No, no, I can’t commit to nothing no, no, at this point I can’t commit to loving I got a hunger deep inside me it’s nature telling me to get a job But I’ll stare at you from across a table I’ll stare at you when I’m drunk and able our reward is beer on Earth Everyone wants to join a cult but there’s never any follow through there's never going to be any follow through

Your Dog’s a Good Man Oh, your dog’s a good man until he gets bored I’ll stay if I can a light wind is pushing his coat and his ears I was grilling you for details but not anymore Oh, my head is abuzz I perpetually juggle the heart and the grudge a giant waterfall of information took me an hour to notice the weather And oh, you’re a sight for dead eyes a hero of the story, trenchantly a hero in the true sense of the word oh, to sense the use of a useless word Through the open door, arms flailing this is another big moment for me straight out of the gate, mouth shooting off this is another interview with me saw myself staggering to get to you from the balcony I took a chance coming over here you can’t help but take a chance Oh, my friend, I've been here too long a strong wind is pushing the past from behind between us, a history, a glorious dance between us, your dog’s fur, a glorious dance I’m losing the sense of my size am I the tip of my fingers or the lens of my eyes? I’m struggling to keep my essentials informed as if my inner circle really needed the nonsense And oh, where to begin? It’s been static forever where to begin? Go on and deprive me of information when I can’t help myself I just make a projection