Black Mountain Pt. 3

Lippold wanted to "create a memorial
Something large enough to walk through
Like architecture, linear, in pure experience
Otherwise non-functional"

Like a novel
Like the story of your life
Like Dahlberg's garden
Full of bucolic delights

So what did it mean
When Dahlberg changed his mind
Sweet creeks and leaves
Changed to serpentine trees + vines

Like a novel
"A writer should dig out
The things that they would not
Admit to themself"

That's what Olson said
A disillusioned student put it more simply
"There's not enough character here
And too much personality"

High Maintenance

I stroked your ego with a lubricant
Until you stand erect
Instead of your limp guilt trips
You should have come with a warantee
Cause talk is cheap
And I think I'd like to trade you in

Homesick Hopes

No one wants to hear his story
Another boring kid in town again
Who stares at photographs
Of far away friends
Frustrated, he can't think clear
His aspirations seem sincere but how
Can he make them all work out

Homesick hopes and inside jokes
They're all taking him away
He can't find a reason why
A reason to stay

It's been too long a lull and
All the self pity is getting dull today
He can't find another way
Sitting down with his final mistake
Thinking of another fake smile tonight
He's waiting for someone to save his life

He got a letter today
Steve moved to Knoxville
Another reason to stay

I Am An Elephant

Wow, look at you
You're pathetic
It's amusing
It's depressing
It's amazing

Tell everyone
You're what you're not
And they believe you
They proceed to
Emulate you

Now you've got a whole
Circle jerk of fakes
Crowding up my space
I'm taking shit behind your back
I'd say it to your face
But I'm not sure which one
Hey!

There's one thing that hasn't changed
You're still a joke to me
It's so easy to see right through you

Do you remember
That I knew you
When you were just
Yourself?

Well I wonder, were you ever?
Anyway, I liked you better
When you did not
Change with the weather

Doesn't it feel good to know
I'll always remember you?
Do you wish I'd go away?
Do you think I could?
Change your past, change your style,
Change your identity
But you're a fool and a fake
I don't forget easily

There's one thing that hasn't changed
You're still a joke to me
It's so easy to see right through you

I Am The Stranger

I'm glad you taught your kids my name
They scream it as they run away

They say it's getting worse out there
Let me welcome you to the climate of fear
I am the stranger

Your paranoia created me
A picture perfect scary freak
A violent drugged out two-bit thief
Just like they show them on T.V.

You lock your car door when I walk by
You won't even look me in the eye

I walk alone down the street at night
Triggering every sensor-security light
I am the stranger

You lock me out of your world
But you won't leave me alone
Concerned neighbors call the cops on me
For going into my own home

Look at you, you're scared of life
Just waiting to be killed, saying
"If I don't call the cops on you my neighbor will"

But your neighbor
Is the stranger

I Used To

I used to want you
Now I want to make you nervous
Now I want to make you hate
Now I want to make you crazy
So that we could still relate
And we could get drunk all night
And in the morning ride your
Motorcycle through the dirt road
Countryside
Like we used to

I used to need you
Now I need to fuck up your life
Cause you pain and strife
Stab you in the heart
With a rusty knife
Then maybe you'd still be a
Skitzed out freak and maybe
You'd still like me
And at least you'd still be interesting

I used to

I Walk Alone

I walk a crooked twisting path
That seems to be leading nowhere
I lead a loner's life
Not what i meant to do

I do what seemed to be
the right thing at one time
But now that time has passed
And I'm the last one
Walking down this path

I walk along the same old streets
Where we used to meet by chance
But now there's not one familiar face
There's not one knowing glance

There's just my memory
A problem that I seem to have
Is not being able to appreciate
or understand
The present until it's past
And so it goes
Away
 

I Wanna

I want to work make ideas real
Sometimes far-fetched but I still fell
That we could try and maybe they
Would just work out

But you say no don't even try
I ask but you don't know why
You just frown and shoot me down
Yeah you're so smart

Everyone's so cynical
Can't feel a thing so logical
Can't make a point, they intellectualise
Everything
I believe in naivety
Don't think it's dumb
Believe in dreams and silly schemes
Still human
I wish I was, and not numb
But I feel myself getting numb...

I gotta dream and you can't say
That it's not right and it's okay
To just give up

But you say no don't even try
I ask but you don't know why
You just frown and shoot me down
Yeah you're so smart

People say so condescending
"Your idealism is amusing"
But I say being alive is choosing
To not give up

In Control

You screw him over before he can screw you
Tell him you don't need him before he says he needs you
You lead him on, stringing him along
Then put the blame on him when he asks "what went wrong?"

You deal with your fears by acting like you're better
Don't give yourself a chance to care, well you'll never
Find out what you want cuz you're trying so hard to be
In control....

Your air of confidence seems so appealing
While it's just a front, a front concealing
Your insecurities, your inability
To deal with anyone

Well you're a magnet to the weaker
You got a flock of true believers
But they don't know the secret of their leader....

You make yourself look smart making someone else look dumb
Turning words around, manipulate the conversation
You don't have much else to say
Just snide comments, that's your way of saying you're
In control....

Your air of confidence seems so appealing
While it's just a front, a front concealing
Your insecurities, your inability
To deal with anyone

Why can't you just admit
You're fucked up too and deal with it?
You're making other people feel like shit!!!

Junkpile

I kicked the shelf at the junkpile, one big crash
Sluggo's collection of broken glass
I said, everytime I take my shoes off
Someone's gotta come along and try them on
You know what I mean
It could've been such a wonderful year
I wonder what went wrong

Help me back to last year, now what was something else
Give me something to escape from besides myself
Beside me, inside me
Growl or scowl, I don't care
I could sublet my future I'm in not in the picture
I'm not there
It could've been such a wonderful picture
I wonder what went wrong

Someone stole my anger
Someone stole my girl and left me with a cold shoulder
Sluggo said, how can someone steal from you
Something that you never owned?
I said, yeah, It's a damn good trick
I wonder how they hell they do it
What do we own but ourselves really
And we spend all our time trying to give that away
It could've been such a wonderful year
But now It's just another day

Kathleen

I was sitting with a bloody head
Outside of X
At the Berkeley Square
In my proud boy dumbness
Half drunk, half sexed,
Half conscious
Lenny had said, "Shouldn't you check it?"
I said, checking is for wimps

So I flew into the hedge
Up and above
Looking at the blue skies below
Flying like a dove
I was head over heels
When I hit the manhole cover
Kathleen walked up, said, "You alright?"
No, I'm in pain, duh

Well, sleeveless shirts
And catholic school skirts
"Small girls, big cars," Al says
For me it's the other way around
She said, "Just show me where it hurts"
I said, you can pick me up and take me home
Or just join me on the ground

And we could have some kids
If we're lucky they'll be gay
And we could be proud parents
In the pride parade
I swear I almost cry
Every year when they go by
If I'd only been a girl instead of
A guy,
Kathleen.

Keeping Warm In The Nighttime

Keeping warm in the nighttime
Burning hopes and dreams and
Even impossible schemes seem
Possible anything's possible every
Thing seems so clear when your
Blood is pumping mind is scheming
Eyes wind open but you're still
Dreaming prancing prowling
Searching for yourself The
Darkness is so comforting so
Beautifully intoxicating daytime's
Stress and pettiness doesn't
Matter now well the night's like
A church for non believer's it's
A search for hidden treasures
Quench your thirst with simpler
Pleasures. Growl!

Keeping warm in the nighttime
Burning hopes and dreams and
Even impossible schemes seem
Possible anything's possible every
Thing seems so clear but now
Through the darkness light starts
Seeping dawn is coming looming
Seething and you can't stop
The sun from rising hide in
The shadows but the sun's still
Shining down and you can see
All the ugliness breeding despair
And your dreams are all bleeding
Breathing hot dry air and the
Silence is screaming and it's all
Just bringing you down well you're
Thinking you'd better run home to
Sleep as the streets fill with
Creeps and the keys that they
Keep locking you out locking you
Into their world, a world that
You don't want to see!

Landlords

Cold floors, landlords
Knocking knocking should we let him in
Should we lock the door + throw away the key
What should we hide first? Should we
Throw away the door, throw away the sink
Throw away every last comforting thing
Throw away the beds so no one can tell
This is how we, this is how well

Cut the power off, give me cold cramped rooms
Disconnected phones + leaky roofs
Give it to me in large unpaid bills
This is how we, this is how we will
Spend the rest of our days
Forever and always, this is
This is how we live

This is how we learn from our mistakes
Repeat them over + again
Put them all together, that's what we do
With a little curtain separating each room
Argue, bicker, and fight
Everyone plots their escape
But in the end there's nowhere else to go
This is all we have this is all we know

Noise spilling out from the traffic on the boulevard
Broken glass and hix in the towyard
Out back say, this is a declaration of war
We've heard that before

This is how we respond to a crisis
First we steal each other's stuff
Then we hide in all four corners of the house
Trying to pass the blame

We form another angry band
Brandon took all the pots and pans
And locked them in his room
Now what are we gonna do?

Letter From An Old Friend

Oh, what a tiny boy
A little tiny boy
A big lifestyle change for me
He keeps us very busy

Oh, what a child he is
He says the smartest things
Of all the people i have met
He is the most interesting

Letter from an old friend

I got a high-paying job
Pays for the private schools
With the child's future in mind
We decided to move

We got a lovely place
A pretty place to be
Two bedrooms, small but safe
Overlooking the lake

Letter from an old friend

Life During Wartime

Yeah we say making changes
Starts by making changes
In the little things you do
"Revolution begins at home"
But for most of us it ends there too
We're doing something
We're making changes
Like changing the kind of crap we buy
We say it makes a difference
But most of the time
That's just another lie

It used to be "us" and "them"
And you + me
And now we can't reach
Our full potential
Without a common enemy
A real war to fight against
Instead of our petty disagreements
But how can I rationalize
My life during wartime lie

A call to action and a reaction
Taking our lives in our own hands
Instead of sitting around talking
About the same old stupid bands
But war is going on right now
And I'm not doing anything about it
Without a crowd I'm not so loud
I can't do anything by myself
But that's just another lie

Losers Of The Year

Well I'm thinking about
All the losers who showed
Up to make this scene
Where did they go when things
Didn't work out, when they
Burned out on the streets?
And I'm wondering where I
Could find the people who
Left me behind to wander
These streets so all alone

Cuz these old streets I'm
Still wandering down and I'm
Wondering about all the
Wonderful people who used
To hang around and if they
Got and if they got what
I've still never found

Yesterday I saw this one
Old girl but it just wasn't
Quite the same
And she said it's been years
Yeah it's been years
Since anybody's called me
By that name

But these old streets I'm
Still wandering down and I'm
Wondering about all the
Wonderful people who used
To hang around and if they
Got and if they got what
I've still never found

Mahogany

Do you know where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Do you get what you're hoping for
When you look behind you there's no open doors
What are you hoping for
Do you know?

Once we were standing still in time
Chasing the fantasies and fear in our minds
Do you know how I loved you but my spirit was free
Laughing at the questions that you once asked of me

Do you know where you're going to
Do you like the things that life is showing you
Where are you going to
Do you know?

Now looking back at all we've had
We let so many dreams just slip through our hands
Why must we wait so long before we see
How sad the answers to those questions can be

MPLS Song

Lyrics by Aaron
Music by Pinhead Gunpowder
Recorded on June 19th 1991 by Kevin Army at Dancing Dog
Appears on Trundle and Spring and Jump Salty
Click here for guitar tab

Iggy Pop is playing downtown
And I'm outside in the rain
Listening and lurking around
It's another dreary night
And I'm waiting for the 6C bus
To come and get me
Broke and cold and lonely
10:00 p.m., I'm only starting to
Wake up

Creeps are trying to talk to me
But I wait soaking silently
And shiny lights are shining
Down on me

Broke and lonely, cold and
hungry and though it may sound
Funny, I'm doing alright
It's another dreary night
Sometimes it's what you love
Most that suffocates you
Sometimes it's good to give friends
A chance to miss you
Well home is far away now
But I remember how
Sometimes it was
Cold and lonely too.....

My Boot In Your Face Is What Keeps Me Alive

What happened to our dumb plans?
Did we lose them once again?
Did we change? Did we win?
I don't think so

Was it ever a good idea?
Was it really necessary?
What do we have to show
For all the stress and worries?

I remember all the late late nights
All the lists and trying to write
Down something to make some sense of it
That we could save

Do you feel like you left
The stove on once again?
Were we trying to lose or trying to win?
I don't know.

New Blood

Don't look back on your lost
Days of burning down the ground
From where you stand
Don't count out on your back
The ashes of your last
Destroyed heirloom

When you can't choose
Your own worst enemy
And the years prove
The chosen one is you

Don't look back on your lost
Years of tragedy you'd
Just assume forget

And through these scars
I pump new blood
My life support systems are gone
Alas... still standing
And I'm on my own
New blood - old skin


 

Porch Song

I don't want to write
I just want to drink all night
On the porch with Paddy
Another day starts anew
Waste half of that one too
On the porch with Paddy
Sleep right through
Then sit at my desk
Yeah right!
Drink all night again

Reach For the Bottle

I'd love to stay and have another beer
And we could waste another year
Saying how the last one was better
Do you remember the time?

Now the only time I see you smile and sigh
The only time I see that sparkle in your eye
Is when you talk about getting another bag of dope

I hate to see you when you
Reach for the bottle
Reach for the needle
Reach for the little white pills
To kill the pain

Think you're so wild with the bottle in your hand
Slurring your speech, barely able to stand
But you look just like a younger version of
Your stupid drunk old man

When you reach for the bottle
Reach for the needle
Reach for the little white pills
It kills your spirit
It kills your imagination
It makes me sick it makes me sad
It makes me wonder what happened to you
It makes me reach for the bottle too

Second Street

There's a girl who lives on second street
And she cries on every time we meet
she's the only girl I want her to be

On the sidewalks goin' out tonight
And the streetlights make her look just right
She's the only girl I want her to be

And on the darkest nights
She occupies my time
I can't wait for the day
To make her, make her mine

In your window the light's on again
And I to you're not sleepin'
Did you save a place in your bed for me?

And I'll tell you that it's okay
So many things I wanna hear you say

Song Of My Returning

The weary world is waiting
For ambition to be played
Now young and not afraid
I've got to challenge
Every challenge that I know

For I am just a sailor
On a ship across the land
Let me hold your hand
To bid farewell
So I can knuckle to my knees

But I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And I'll tell you all I know
As I sing the changing songs
Of my returning

My drifting days prepare me
To do battle with the night
A phantom of the fight
I've got to conquer
All the courage of my fears

The answer lies in limbo
And the harvest will be hard
But sacred are the stars
That leave their mark upon
The fast dissolving years

Yes I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And I'll tell you all I know
As I sing the growing songs
Of my returning

Time must have her victory
It's that I've always known
But I've won or lost alone
And when a voice calls out,
"There's someone you should meet"

With every strength remaining
I will suffer one more scene
I'll gather all my dreams
And with my final breath
I'll lay them at your feet

Yes I'll be back again
No matter where I go
For it's only love
That frees the fire for burning
And I'll take you in my arms
And I'll tell you all I know
As I sing the final song
Of my returning

Swan Song

Maybe I'm defensive cuz it's my favourite
Song but you cheapen the passion every
Time you sing along and laugh you take
The photograph and recreate it piece
By piece you stand the same way and
Wear the same clothes but you don't see
The desperation and frustration underneath
The pose the real belief

Cuz you're a second rate imitation a
Watered down simulation of the real
Thing and that alone wouldn't bug me
But it's you thinking that everything is
And has always been that same way

Well it almost sounds like anger almost
Looks like passion almost seems like
Real life worth living you congratulate
Yourself for seeming so convincing
Then go home alone and find that
Something's still missing

If this is what you wanted all along I
Guess we don't see eye to eye cuz I'm looking
Around trying to figure out what went
Wrong so much potential should've added
Up even if we'd given up I'd understand
But we tried so hard and got nothing but
A rented hall with your shitty band

Who are we kidding we killed our own
Dreams before anyone else ever got the
Chance and now we don't even dance so
Let's just go home

Well it almost sounds like anger almost
Looks like passion almost seems like
Real life worth living we congratulate
Ourselves for seeming so convincing
Then go home alone and find that
Something's still missing

Train Station

Pacing, thinking, pacing, thinking
Waiting, waiting
Waiting by the phone that never rings
Waiting for the letter
That the postman never brings
Telling me that you're sorry, that you miss me
That I was right, that I was wrong
That we could work it out and get along
But I'm waiting for the words that never come

Sitting smoking in the doorway in dinkytown
Waiting patiently for you to come around
Thinking if I look hard enough
Into each passing face
Maybe they'll turn into you
Or someone to take your place
But the people and days pass

And I'm still sitting, thinking
Drinking on the platform at the station
Drowning my sorrows
Waiting for the train to come
Having so much fun, wish you were here
Cuz its been years since the trains have run
And I'm still waiting, waiting, wating
Waiting, for the words that never come

Walkin' Catastrophe

Hey, she's a walking catastrophe
She keeps on whining and now
It's all rubbing off on me

Hey, she's looking for sympathy
So keep on crying
You're not getting any from me

Everything's gone wrong again
Everything is all fucked up
Everything
Everything
It's all rubbing off on me