Killing A Camera?
got caught kicking the canvas down
i had plans but they never seemed to work out
wide-eyed and on the lookout
got caught tearing the whole thing down
i was halfway done
but then you know this painted scene
could never leave me
oh please believe me

caught killing a camera
now it seems calming and clear to hire
a cast of kittens, the cats we've been kissing
for the cameras we're lowering here
got caught tearing the whole thing down
i was halway done
but then we sang it for memphis
the new slang in frame and canvas
just for the cameras

when we are awake we sing "never... ever"
this is where you must make up your mind
should beauty be design this time?
this time you decide cause we go with whatever
we take our time

got a cough
my throat kills from singing
my ears are ringing
the stage is slowly sinking
and we're all thinking the same thing
let's not settle for satisfaction
we are women and men of action
let's stop clapping let's start doing
a dream for the teens and in-betweens
and twenties yet unseen.

Never Will Come For Us
as slow as rapid city
we must be gathering speed
here for something
trained for these tracks
but afraid of the frieght
and it doesn't get played on the radio

travel
wires and worries unravel
faced with unlacing the drinks
trade taps for tanks
a new ram in the ranks
our friends say way to go and where to go

never if you're out there
come along and save us from ourselves
oh how we missed it everything's twisted around

when the clouds come clear
open your eyes and we'll be here
never will come for us
everything's sung
never will comfort us
everything's wrong
never will come for us
never will come come
why won't you come?

never if you're out there
come to here and toast our merry year.

First Day Back
so frustrated that something so complicated
could hang over my head
on my first day back
and already I'm treading
on unsteady ground
so strike me down or check me out
so elated that this soul
so understated
could be making eyes at me
but first I'll be another
innocent victim looking for some sense
of sympathy in the middle of
a state the sorry story of a star
goes "here's my heart" it's a start
and if anything we haven't seen
everything in the middle of a stage
there's a girl and a guitar but there's your car
have we forgotten who we are?
we haven't seen anything
so I'm told that Chicago's cold
can't be cool as California
for the first time ever I feel
severed yet smooth removed
if you approve then
check it out to what
do I owe this attention?
I'm only half of the reflection
and the conversation goes...oh nevermind
to what do I owe this tension?
if deceptions fine
then this is divine define devine
my first day back and already
I've settled on my weak front.

Collect From Clark Kent
honey please don't ignore me
please accept this call
i'm on the corner of cough and cold
and i'm a lovestruck lost soul

please save me
from the superpowers that i don't believe in
save me please
i'm lost and alone
i can't come home
i'm stuck in a phone booth

honey understand me
i'm not sure to fly
in fact i'm super stupid tonight
and all the loose ends remain untied

please save me
from the superpowers that i don't believe in
save me please
i'm lost and alone
i can't come home
i'm stuck in a phone booth again

but once in your arms
we'll rise above the ground
you and me and the beautiful aerial view
of sunrise city
i'm never coming down
in your arms
we'll rise above the clouds
me and you in the sweetest sheets of blue
i'm never coming down

but come and pick me up first please.

Milwaukee Sky Rocket
this is what you made it
you can't separate it
you can't segregate yourself
from everyone else

open
cover your eyes
come on cover your eyes
the light will slow and rise
and i never will lie
so come on cover your eyes
covers over mine

this is how you take it
past whatever you set for yourself
you're killing yourself
and everyone else

open
color your eyes
come on color your eyes
why the disguise
and i never will hide
so come on color your eyes
i'll color over mine

said you could see right through
you and where you will be

impress yourself.

A Dozen Roses
a dozen roses in the car
and i don't know where you are
maybe i don't know what i'm doing
you're moving like a movie
you still move me
among the other ones
and twos and threes and twenty-threes
got to keep my conscience clean
but that hurricane what's-her-name
mentality was not for me
and never could be
cause it surely brings bitter things
and misery

and i say
heaven hits me hard
in with the new
heaven hits me hardly
in with the news
whatever gets me started
in with the noose
have you ever had a heaven here
and was it clear?

cause i just wrote a letter
a confession down the ladder
that things could be so much better
and through follow the leader
i met her and then another end
and usually a grudge
but i loved so much
the way we touched and psuedo-kissed
oh i already miss you singing like this
over the phone
every now and every then i tend to pretend
i'm not alone

static made old radio
now i know
static made old radio

heaven hits me hard
in with the new
heaven hits me hardly
in with the news
whatever gets me started
in with the noose
have you ever had a heaven here
and was it clearly better?

Urbana's Too Dark
above the mirrory street
a lightning bug fires up the park
when it's dark

eleven and i fall in
to drink to dream among the shadows
number one wasn't that fun
under two i never knew

but we will not be submissive
we're on a mission
we'll finish that cup of who-knows-what
bike along the broken blossoms
pedal behind the deadwood hills
something about here and you
gives me chills

at night the cars come curving
in confrontation
when you can't see anything
you feel everything

we're so akin to skin
when boys want in
boys will be boys
boys will be poison boys

i'll be the camera if you'll be the star
you be the camera when i am the star
you burn the buildings
i'll burn the cars
turn on turn on turn on turn on
if they could only see the greed
that circles around the silence
if they could find us they'd see
if they were only listening

so when those boys want in
let's give em some of their own medicine

i'll be the sky if you'll be the star
if they could only see us now
you burn the cities
i'll burn the towns
turn on turn on turn on turn on
if they could only see the green
circles aorund your brown eyes
if they could sympathize see green
if they could only watch you sing.

Consolation Prizefighter
your head's in the way of my mind
and by the way i'm fine
but i'm a liar
and i'm trying
so give me a brand name and
i'll wrap my arms around the caller's collar
ring ring

tears in the towel throw it in
who'll chose the prizefighter?

windows down the idiots yell
at me, meek on the street
clueless as usual and unbelievably easily bruisable
but i'm trying
so give me a capgun and
i'll press my lips on the necks of the next ones
ring ring
it's everything

won too few in one too many.

Ariel
assuming everything
ariel dances in my room
i clutch a red balloon
and hope i don't get taken to
vacant rooms and tunes

assuming everything
ariel dances in my room
at night her eyes are blue
but will i ever want to see them
bleed them dry to cry
i would die

cause i can't help it if your soul is
shallow in the tides

assuming everything
ariel strikes a pretty pose
i'm taking off my clothes
and everybody knows what up
with my baby snows

assuming everything
ariel shakes her silly hair
i'll come before you there
and welcome to a summer slumber
under sheets that tear
and eyes that tear

cause i can't help it if the songs
get hard for you to hear

am i among the heirs of this ariel?

cause i can't help it if my heart gets
hard for you to hold
once... twice... sold.

Breathe In
i want you to see me out
you know you're bringing yourself down
and i drink too much and
you sing too much
and i think you know it

i want to see you out
you've got no inspiration
to do anything at all

hey when i go out
do i look like you do
hey when i go on
do i look like you do
marigold mary goes
"you gotta come out so we can see you"

we think we bring you down
you're not alone in that
you're not the first
and i think you know it
i want you to see you were right
about inspiration and everything else
but you said it wrong

hey look in the mirror
it's not what you say
it's how you say it.

I Keep A Diary
ten ten ninety seven
rock springs wyoming hotel
as far as i can tell
i just don't miss you anymore
yawn and the tears tear
streams down the sink
you know what i think?
i can never yawn again

come on so long move on

one two and three
i can see exactly
just where you ruined me
nineteen i said i hated you
but kissed you on twenty-two
and music together
i meant it for a moment
twenty-two and through and through

come on so long move on

i'll keep you here
right next to me
and i promise to wait
if you say you're still coming.