1. |
Still Life With Prudence
01:58
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Still Life With Prudence
I found a light beneath the sea
A sea made up of Midwest fields and Indiana trees
A light brighter than I had seen
She grew faint as time went on
And one day I had turned around and found my light was gone
And darkness was all I could see
Friend here’s a tale I’m going to weave
A story with no hero, villain, plot line or an end
Just a light now in someone else’s sea
Shining brighter than here with me
Listen closely
Maybe you’ll learn from what I sing
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2. |
Cult Preaching Grounds
04:09
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Cult Preaching Grounds
I am leaving a voicemail
On your cell phone
I am saying, “Fuck you, I wish that I had never met you”
I am barely conscious
Somewhere in London
I’m about to regret every drunken word in the sober morning
And when you leave me
I’ll write emotional songs
About how I’m the one with the broken heart
And you’re the killer who left with someone
But I am not the hero everybody came to see
They are standing up in anger throwing drinks up at the screen
They are filing out one by one from the theater in my head
Housing my movie
So here it goes
My last piece of advice
If you’re ever feeling down and out
Just know I’ve felt sad enough for us both
So you be happy
And I’ll be me
And everything will work itself out eventually
I am driving
On that stretch of road
The one you said looks antique
You know that road where we used to go
And I am thinking
Of accents
Of Leonard Cohen of Scotland of green grass
Of being inches from your face and your electrical gaze
And being forced to have to be passive
And you are somewhere
In the middle
Of being happy and being settled
And I think it’s such a shame that you have to feel that way
It’s more exciting to be fragile
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3. |
Empty Hands, Pt. I
02:18
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Empty Hands Part I
We both know how this is going to end
You with the world and me with empty hands
You promised this time it’s not my fault
You’re just going through some shit is all
But I remember sitting on my front porch
In the middle of the night staring up at the sky
Wanting absolutely nothing more
Then wanting to feel all right again
I heard the government was trying
To keep you locked up in my head
Said the paranoid schizophrenic
Who was heartbroken and said
I’m staring at pictures of your and your boyfriend
Torturing myself almost every night
I need to accept that this pipe dream is over
And I’m not the one that you want in your life
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4. |
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Empty Hands Part II (A Song About The Weather)
Have you seen my hands?
They’re stained with ink from writing your name again
And again and again
When I woke I thought
I’ll write a song about the weather
But it was you that came out of my pen
The doctors told me
“C’mon man your health is far below our standards”
I replied
Have you seen the way she left me?
Broken and taken for granted
How can you blame me for living reckless
They said
“You can’t get clean in a day
Dirty empty hands take time to fade away
It doesn’t help that you’re feeding the pain”
Have you seen my hands?
They’re stained with ink from crossing your name out
Again and again
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5. |
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John's Got A Wounded Pride
Well I said on the phone
This will be the last time I speak to you
See I’m trying to get better
And the image of you in his arms
Takes my neurons by force and severs
The fact that once you made me happy
I wrote you love songs
When you were in love with somebody else
And I dreamt about you
When you were sleeping next to somebody else
This is my last testament
I cant feel like this no more
This is the last time I feel you name on my lips
And I said in my head
To the fictional characterization of you
This will be the last time
I have a hypothetical conversation with you
See I’m trying to heal
And this will be the last step in my treatment
That takes my status
From hopeless to badly damaged
I said on the phone
This will be the last time I speak to you
I’m trying to get better
And Annie I need you to be
A ghost to me now
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6. |
Beautiful And New
01:59
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Beautiful and New
She will lie next to me
(Are you okay?)
And I will lie through my teeth
(You look so sad)
And tell her all the things she wants to hear
Like “Darling I like the way
That you look when you sleep
If only you could just stay here”
But when the morning comes
And I get up before dawn
And leave her dreaming in my bed
I’ll stare across the room
One hand on the door
A final thought drifts into my head
She is beautiful and new
But she ain’t you
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7. |
Five Letters
02:11
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Five Letters
My sister’s in New York
Half a world away
I’m in my room wondering what she would say
“Oh borther, we ain’t kids no more
Everything once simple has now changed.
I got them suit and tie blues
You got them girl no more blues
But mama raised us killers
I even once heard you say”
Mitch is gettin’ high again
Boston’s off to Spain
Devin’s got a chip on his shoulder from past pains
Collin’s in the next room hearing every word I say
Jacob’s in the next state
Abby’s even further away
Meg will have a new tattoo before this song comes out
Leni’s trying to put her volumes back up on the shelf
I spent a lot of time writing songs with her name
And in return I got a feeble rationalized pain
To all my friends I should have been
Writing for all along
I’ll keep these words clear of five letters
That left me like you never would
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8. |
Skinny Legs And All
02:54
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Skinny Legs and All
Darling don’t you know that I’ve been drowning in this lake all summer
And the shoes I wore
Were made of iron
So when I jumped in it didn’t help
Now the weather’s getting colder
And I’m feeling kind of older
But my actions don’t reflect that self
And my friends all say
“Hey Brian why do you choose to live in that destructive way?”
and I ask the same
My mama never told me
That a heart could be so broken
Or a night so dark that you can’t see
But she raised me tough
A true father’s son
A fucking killer of this misery
Darling you know that I’ve been drowning in this lake all summer
And despite my shoes
That were made of iron
I’m going to float up so you can see
That the weather’s getting colder
But I ain’t feeling any older
I’ll make the same mistakes as when I was seventeen
Cause this life is short
And it’s meant to be lived
Slightly left of where I know you’ll be
Slightly left of where you’re afraid to leave
Slightly left of where I fear you’ll forever be
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9. |
Boots Of Spanish Leather
03:49
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10. |
Trembling Breaths
05:03
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Trembling Breaths
Stolen glances and misty eyes
The touch of soft skin and your fevered high
The cops busted in to our backseat
And said “Is this a meeting of lovers we see?”
I replied, “Officer can’t you tell?
We’re fully clothed and broken as hell.”
When they left it was you and me
Alone again to kill off our planned memories
I held your head you touched my hand
I felt our future’s fade with each of your trembling breaths
She said “Brian you’re made of the best stuff, I love you, don’t do this to me”
She said “Brian you’re made of the best stuff, I love you, don’t do this to me”
She said “Brian you’re made of the best stuff, I love you, don’t do this to me”
She said “Brian you’re made of the best stuff, but I know why you have to leave”
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11. |
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A Girl Dressed As A Ghost
Hey man, your sweatshirt smells like cigarettes
Hey man, we both know what that means
That this world it let you down
And you coped like you knew how
Filled your body with all those poisonous coping things
Hey man, your friends they miss they way you were
Hey man, the same it goes for me
What was once a joyful kid
Full of reckless dreams and sin
Now an empty shell of who he used to be
But hey man, I promise it gets better
And hey man, this feeling won’t last forever
This is me speaking to you
Your future self to your current you
From a place so much warmer than where you’ve been
You got the best people you know
It’s been a while since you told them so
But they will help you pick up all the pieces
Scattered by a girl dressed as a ghost
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