Slobberbone

EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT WAS RIGHT WAS WRONG TODAY


MELTDOWN 


 Ten minutes to meltdown, I'm having a drink
 And I don't think you care, no I don't even think
 About you or the hands that you say you don't love
 As you hold them so tight while the sky up above
 Opens up and rains down with an unholy bore
 There's holes in the ceiling, there's holes in the floor
 There's holes in these walls all so covered with grime
 Hey Baby, it's the end of the world, have a good time

 Tectonically speaking integrity's lost
 Still I don't feel foundation was ever at cost
 Just some old bricks and mortar, some holes to be filled
 This plywood and prefab can all be rebuilt
 It's just toothpicks and twine, some matchsticks and paste
 But it's all too late now, oh my god what a waste

 And I feel the ground shaking, I hear a strange sound
 Hey Baby, it's the end of the world, I will see you around

 Affection is earthbound, our crushes of stone
 But these all fall away, still you're never alone
 When your one mode of function's steadfast deconstuction
 Of attachments once forged with a fiery rambunction
 And I can't help but think way before the big sink
 That the streets of Atlantis already held a stink

 And I can't help but know way deep down in my soul
 That the best has already come and now it's time to go
 So sign all your yearbooks, give a last glance
 We've all missed the prom, still you're used to this dance
 Soon a figureless shadow will drown out the sun
 Hey Baby, it's the end of the world, I hope you have fun
 I hope you have fun


 PLACEMAT BLUES

 Get up from the table and just walk away
 There's nothing for me anyway
 No reason that I should stay
 Where's the place at the table for folks like me?
 There's not one that I can see
 Not one I can see

 Used to be nothing sweeter than the signals it could send
 The musical hand it could lend
 Could be a lonely man's best friend
 Where's the place at the table for folks like them?
 Do you not want what they can spend?
 Where's your place for them?

 Now don't tell me that you don't see these things all
 sideways
 I wish that you might one day see things my way

 I know what you say, you say you serve the youth
 You serve them Bizkits and Korn with a spoon
 But I think you just serve you
 Where's the place at the table for folks like us
 When there's no one that we can trust?
 Where's the place for us?

 Now don't tell me that you don't see these things all
 sideways
 I hope that you might one day see these things my way

 That's my rant, I bet it don't make a dent
 I waste all these little laments
 And wait for accidents
 So go on buy it all, buy it all and sell it off
 The towers, the meters, the speakers, the knobs
 Send it back to God

 Just don't tell me that you don't see these things all sideways
 And don't tell me that I might one day see things your way
 We should kick your ass from here to Friday
 Then maybe you might one day see these things my way



 TRUST JESUS

 A traveling salesman, the road was his life as he
 Carved a path through all the struggle and the strife of this
 Great big nation falling to it's knees
 Oh Lord please give us the strength
 The World Book was his trade but paint was his tool
 A Chrysler his engine but the Good Book his fuel
 Concrete his canvas, his message was simple
 And at the start of every day he would pray:

 Lord, I'm only just one man
 Lord, I've only got two hands
 Lord, I'll do the best I can

 San Diego to Boston and all points between
 From Brownsville, Texas up to Canada in the spring
 From the Great Smoky Mountains to the Bitteroot Range
 It's all the same
 Some'd say he's a messenger and some would say a sage
 Some would say a vandal but I guess it's hard to guage
 Travel any highway in this land and you can probably catch
 his track
 But you won't ever catch him in the act

 Lord, I'm only just one man
 Lord, I've only got two hands
 Lord, I'll do the best I can

 Now one day this world is gonna curl up and burst
 It's gonna choke on it's own tongue and die of it's own thirst
 Until that day comes our roads will always be long
 But he's left signposts to guide us along
 On overpass columns from Mexico to Maine
 The color may vary but the message doesn't change
 He knows he's not judged by his works, he does it just the
 same
 And at the start of every day he would pray:

 Lord, I'm only just one man
 Lord, I've only got two hands
 Lord, I'll do the best I can
 Lord, help me help them to understand



 GIMME BACK MY DOG

 Gimme back my dog

 It was mine before I met you
 It was mine before I'd let you come closer and hold it and  know it
 The way you once knew me
 It was mine before you knew me 
 It was mine before you'd chose me and use me and lose me,  refuse me
 The way you're now refusing to

 Gimme back my dog

 It was mine before I'd see you
 It was mine before I'd believe you
 When you said "I need you" it seems that you were just  throwing me a bone
 And it was mine before you found me
 It was mine before you'd hound me and bound me, ground  me then pound me
 Like a stray with no way home
 Like a dirty stray dog with no way home

 So come on girl, you gotta give me some credit
 It was mine before you'd go get it and pet it and let it run
 When you threw the damn thing it's ball
 And it was mine before you liked me
 It was mine before you'd try me, lie to me and try to deny  me
 That you ever loved me at all, yeah so

 Gimme back my dog


 THAT IS ALL

 All this talk of fire, of gumption and direction
 Leave you reaching for some kind of resurrection as to
 Who you thought you were and who you thought you'd be
 They'll say it's the trying not the being, the journey not arrival
 But all I'm seeing's discouraging reprisals
 Of every mistake I've made and all the things I'll never be

 And every version of me I tried so hard not to miss
 Gets stabbed and shot with the thought of someone else's  kiss
 There's just no easy way to say
 That everything you thought was right was wrong today
 That is all, go away

 So go on and sing another about the drinking and fights,
 Cracks in the sidewalk, the darkness of night
 Can you still believe it'll all put you closer to the light?
 'Cause yeah direction's just an arrow, not a place to reside
 Though "home is where you find it" and "time is on your  side"
 But none of that crap means squat alone on a Sunday night

 And every version of me I tried so hard to retain
 Gets swallowed and sweat out and pissed on down the  drain
 There's just no easy way to say
 That everything you thought was right was wrong today
 Move along, 'cause you can't stay



 OSEPHINE

 They say he's trouble waiting to happen
 Like he's a bottle filled with gasoline
 I say he's waiting, but not for trouble
 I say he's waiting for Josephine

 And he cruised on the weekends just to be seen
 And they all made fun of him yelling "Where's Josephine?"

 And he climbed the tower and he painted "I Love You"
 In the brightest color I've ever seen
 And it got him in trouble and he landed in the drunk tank
 And his only call was for Josephine

 And he cruised on the weekends just to be seen
 And they all made fun of him yelling "Where's Josephine?"

 One night he got high and decided to call her
 He tried to talk to the beauty queen
 She said hello, and his heart it just melted
 And his only words were "Goodbye, Josephine"

 And he cruised on the weekends just to be seen
 And they all made fun of him shouting "Where's Josephine?"



 LAZY GUY

 I'm a lazy guy
 I'm amazed at the way some people try and try and try
 To erect and then perfect some kind of proof that they're
 alive before they die
 Well not me, 'cause I'm a lazy guy

 And I'm amazed at the way some people holler, fuss and run  'round
 Like sime chicken with their head cut off or a bullet from a  gun
 They should all sit back, relax and maybe try and have some  fum
 I'd help them try, but I'm a lazy guy
 And I must defer a life of labor to someone who needs it  more
 I'd much prefer to be their neighbor, just the guy who lives  next door
 Sit out on the porch with my crap guitar and my mason jar 
 of tea, and you know why
 'Cause I'm a lazy guy

 I'm a lazy guy
 I'm amazed at the way some people try and try and try
 To erect and then perfect some kind of proof that they're
 alive before they die
 Well not me, 'cause I'm a lazy guy

 And I'm amazed at the way you count my failings like some  clerk
 Like you're the saint in this relationhip and me I'm just some  jerk
 'Cause it's love we got between us, and relationships take
 work so why don't you try?
 'Cause I'm a lazy guy

 I'm a lazy guy
 I'm amazed at the way some people try and try and try
 To erect and then perfect some kind of proof that they're
 alive before they die
 Well not me, 'cause I'm a lazy guy

 Yeah I'm amazed at the way the days just slip on by so fast
 Like ten thousand go-carts racing down the mountain of the  past
 If I had a bead on what I need to make the moment last I  just might try
 I just might try

 Yeah I'm amazed at the way the days just keep on slipping  by
 And I got plans and dreams and hopeful schemes, enough to  make you cry
 I'm just waiting for that single perfect point in time to give 'em all a try
 And I'm a lazy guy

 I'm a lazy guy



 BRIGHT EYES DARKENED

 You say that love is everything
 Then you turn around and sing about all your painful  moments
 How in the end they didn't care for the memories you shared
 Your despair and inner torment
 Yeah well wait a minute, friend, stop before you begin
 We've heard this one before
 So you're on a downward slide, but you've seen the other  side
 You can't ask for more
 The end of summer's in the air
 Do you remember when you cared about friends and change  of season
 And a guitar was in your hands, and you played in twenty  bands
 And you never needed no reason
 Yeah well stop a minute there, why should anyone else  care?
 They've all got holes to plug
 She's a shovel in your hands, she's a pail of sand
 Someone you once dug

 You say you gave it all you could and did everything you  should
 And you still wound up defeated
 And all the efforts inbetween don't amount to anything
 Just old mistakes repeated
 And it's probably pretty true but what else you got to do?
 We've all got time to kill
 She's the T.V. ad that lied, the drug you hadn't tried
 She was a perfect little pill

 I've seen your bright eyes darken
 Eyes that always shone
 So bright I had to close my own

 You say you can't live in the past
 But you're driving there so fast
 Headlights aimed for drinking
 You'll say "I knew it all along", as the bars they pass along
 With the ground below you sinking
 Yeah so stop for three or four, they won't card you at the  door
 They've seen you there before
 It's not your favorite place to drink, but a place to stop and  think
 Maybe you can't ask for more
 Sputtering and spent and wondering where it all went:
 Your dreams and things you wanted
 You built a space for them inside where the walls are made  with pride
 Empty, cold and haunted
 Yeah but who am I to judge or negotiate your grudge
 I should keep my damn mouth closed
 You should call them with the news, tell them they're the one  who's screwed
 You just might be right, who knows?

 LUMBERLUNG

 A breath of whiskey on my cotton shirt
 Turn on the fan, take off your skirt
 Lay here beside me on these sheets so stained
 For a little while, but it ain't the same

 And she brings me water and it always tastes so good
 She brings me flowers from the woods
 Stays here in this house with me when I know she'd rather leave
 Stays with me as I sleep
 And she helps me nurse my lumberlung
 But it's no longer fun
 For her

 Once I dreamed we'd took a roadtrip, just me and her
 Through the southern and midwest states
 Turned north just south of Arkansas and we headed up
 Towards the vast Great Lakes
 And I thought I'd sleep through Texas, but I woke up in Illinois
 And the car in the lane next to me was driven by a little boy
 And he flashed a smile at me then he drove straight off the road
 Smacked an overpass, I watched his car explode
 And when she wakes me from my delirium
 I know I'm no longer fun
 For her

 And she brings me water and it always tastes so good
 She brings me flowers from the woods
 Stays here in this house with me when I know she'd rather leave
 Stays with me constantly
 And she helps me nurse my lumberlung
 But it's no longer fun
 For her

 SOME NEW TOWN

 Got in your car, you never turned around
 And I hope you're happy in your new town
 And I hope you live where nothing goes wrong
 And the bars stay open all night long

 Hope you live where everyone's happy, and I
 Hope you live where nothing gets crappy, and I
 Hope the sidewalks and the streets are clean, and I
 Hope you've got good weather and everything, this is

 Just a phone call from the place you once lived
 Where we're still waiting for the sleet and rain to give
 It's just a line from you're old town 
 Where we're still drinking to the times when you were around

 Days were we gave you good times and more
 Enough for you to break down and call this town yours, you gave us
 Remedies for everything shitty
 Back when girls were pretty, yeah this is

 Just a letter from this house you once blessed
 Where I'm still waiting for the forwarding address
 Just a note from the past we once shared
 Where I'm still waiting on a present from the future to get me there

 I know your new town is so far away
 That I could maybe come and visit but could never stay
 It's just me calling from a town so far
 And I'm still waiting on directions to wherever you are

 Times were I wouldn't hold your arm
 For fear of letting go of the other one
 Fears I had to kiss you
 With my eyes closed I might miss you if you
 Looked at me in some way I hadn't seen, if you
 Took my words in some way I didn't mean
 If your smile showed signs of some inner frown
 Of thoughts of packing up and moving on to some new town



 PINBALL SONG

 Six weeks on the road now, I'm feeling kind of spent
 There's a few things I need and ones a friend
 A few good games of pinball and a double whiskey sour
 I'll rinse it with a beer and repeat again

 You know I couldn't find you in the place you used to be 
 I'm a sucker for the old times, that's me
 But I asked around the bar and they said you were gone for a couple of days
 On a vacation in the drunk tank so they'd say

 I saw that girl you used to know at the other end of the bar
 I never thought she'd ever get that far
 She said you two were through, it seemed you were driving for different things
 I said I understood, I've wrecked that car
 So now there's thirteen empty bottles, a glass or two or four
 The lights came on we headed for the door
 But the night was adolescent and she said she wanted more
 And that's what she kept the apple blossom for
 So up the stairs to her apartment with the Christmas lights that blink
 It's the second week of May but that'd be okay
 Except that under those blinking lights we opened a big old can of stink
 And you smell it soon enough in one more day

 Saturday, the twelfth of May, the policeman turns the valve
 And the first drunk of the weekend dribbles out
 Collect all your effects and take a cab straight to the bar
 You're wondering what the whisperings all about
 Well I'll tell you:

 It's about the easy sheen of alcohol, of better-not-do's done
 Of blinking lights and the curse of roomates' tongues
 An entire bar's worth holding theirs, but it only takes just one
 And then it's pass that can around, it's your turn, son
 Because this pinball gane I'm playing, you know it's not the same
 Times used to be you and me could always match