Stay What You Are


01. At Your Funeral
This song will become the anthem of your underground.
You're two floors down getting high in the back room.
If I flooded out your house, do you think you'd make it out,
or would you burn up before the water filled your lungs?
And at your funeral I will sing the requiem.
I'd offer you my hand but it would hurt too much to watch you die.
And you can bet when we mourn the death of you that night
that they'll lay me on the dinner table and I will be the pig
with the apple in my mouth, the food that celebrates your end.
And at your funeral I will sing the requiem.
I'd offer you my hand, it would hurt too much to watch you die.

 

02. See You
My gut is burning.  Won't you find me some water?
Hey, just forget it can you bring me gasoline
and collect a couple forks, hold them three feet apart
and wait for lightning to strike to burn me up?
Cause I don't think that I've got the stomach to
stomach calling you today.
My head is swirling.  It's been carried off in the sky
and where it lands is where is lands.
So I guess that I will get another head and then get on with my life
and leave you somewhere beneath the waves of time.
And I'll wear glass shoes and plastic wrap.
No, I'll just wear my insides.
You want to know who I really am?
Yeah so do I, yeah so do I.
Cause I don't think that I've got the stomach to
stomach calling you today.
Right now I am turning off the lights
cause I don't think that I've got the stomach to
stomach calling you today.

 

03. Cars and Calories
Her life was magazines and faithful TV screens selling an empty dream
of cars and calories and everything in between the sun and Saturn's ring,
but the price tag can't be seen and it took bites out of her insides till she was just a hollow shell.
She grew up in east LA watching celebrities living out all of her dreams.
The plastic canopy of US royalty drew her gaze towards the sky and away from her own mind.
And it took bites out of her insides till she was just a hollow shell.
And at home her mother cried cause daddy had something on the side and they didn't look up when she sighed.
And when August came around, the bathing suits were on the ground replaced by a cotton cloak.
To see her own reflection was like squinting in the sun.
And when all tomorrow brings is a set if broken wings it takes bites out of your insides till you are just a hollow shell.

 

04. Certain Tragedy
And now I finally see that the further we go we're only treading ground that we already know.
I could write you a song, send you a note, or empty out your trash and buy a bucket full of diamonds but
even the most beautiful of all roses must someday crumble to dust and fade away.
It's a certain tragedy.
So it's on into the lonely nights and all the rest of it.
The empty space between me and the sunken walls and feeling someone's hand around my neck
choking away the life that i have left.
And I can finally see that the further I go I'm only treading ground that I don't wanna know.
I'll probably hang upside-down from wooden rafters in my home and look at old photos of you.
So it's on into the lonely nights and all the rest of it.
The empty space between me and the sunken walls and feeling someone's hand around my neck
choking away the life that i have left.
I miss the warmth of the summer when we were on our own, but now it's winter and my bones are cold.
And now I finally see that the further we go we're only treading ground that we already know.
I could write you a song, send you a note, or empty out your trash and buy a bucket full of diamonds but
even the most beautiful of all roses must someday crumble to dust and fade away.
It's a certain tragedy.

 

05. Jukebox Breakdown
If you've got a quarter you can stick in my neck
and I'll sing whatever song you want for whatever mood you're in.
Isn't that what you expect?  I can sing you to sleep.
I've got a mouth full of blood.
Well I'll carry this casket if it's what I have to do.
So bring on the dark sky and let it cover me entirely.
Isn't that what you expect?  I can sing you to sleep.
And all you want from me is a broken heart.
And I'll run down to the river and grab five buckets of water.
Wait right where you are and I will serve you at your table.
I hope you like my restaurant and the lighting is right.
The jukebox is in the corner.  My mouth is the speaker.
It plays your favorite songs and you know where the coin slot is.
Isn't that what you expect?  I can sing you to sleep.
And all you want from me is a broken heart.

 

06. Freakish
As I'm talking my words slip to the floor
and they crawl through your legs and slide under the back door
rendering me freakish and dazed.
Well here I am.  I don't know how to say this.
The only thing I know is awkward silence.
Your eyelids close when you're around me to shut me out.
So I'll go walking through the streets until my heels bleed
and I'll sing out my song in case the birds wish to sing along.
And I'll dig a tunnel to the center of the universe.
Well here I am.  I don't know how to say this.
The only thing I know is awkward silence.
Your eyelids close when you're around me to shut me out.
I'll make my way across the frozen sea, beyond the blank horizon,
when I can forget "you and me" and get a decent night's sleep.
Well here I am.  I don't know how to say this.
The only thing I know is awkward silence.
Your eyelids close when you're around me to shut me out.
Don't shut me out.

 

07. As Your Ghost Takes Flight
The last time that I saw you, August of '99,
I should've had my hammer and a few rusty spikes
to nail you on a wall and use bottles to catch your blood
and display you for the neighbors so they know your time had come.
And I'd drink your blood and feel it dripping down my throat
as it heads for my heart.
And as your body sags and the stench rises in vain,
the people on the street are collecting in dismay.
Before your eyes your head lifts towards the sky
and that's the last thing they'll remember of you.
And I'd drink your blood and feel it dripping down my throat
as it heads for my heart.
You've become a ghost.
You're floating somewhere in between
the waking world and a landscape of dreams.
Well it's nothing but dying.
You've got a grenade stuck in your teeth and you're pulling at the pin.
You're an illusion, just a shadow flickering underneath the sun.
And I'd drink your blood and feel it dripping down my throat
as it heads for my heart.



08. Nightingale
And I will flail under these lights that seep down from the bitter sky tonight
and I will kick and beat my wrists together and feel an ocean breathing waves, feel them licking at my face.
Ceilings don't exist and there are no floors beneath me.
If I were king of this night, would you become my queen?
And I hope, your majesty that you like your position.
I'll do everything I can to keep you by my side
and I'll stare off through the darkness to find us a kingdom.
Just kiss me before I go.
I'll have to walk a thousand miles just to find the ground deserving of your feet.
You could throw me down and walk on me and I'd just look on through my love and through the haze.
And I hope, your majesty that you like your position.
I'll do everything I can to keep you by my side
and I'll stare off through the darkness to find us a kingdom.
Just kiss me before I go.
The nightingales are singing now.
They're calling out our marriage to our subjects on their knees.
Their jewelery is thrown into the air.
They sigh at their release as their shackles hit the ground.
The trumpets call out now.
We're home at last.
And I hope, your majesty that you like your position.
I'll do everything I can to keep you by my side
and I'll stare off through the darkness to find us a kingdom.
Just kiss me before I go.
 


09. All I'm Losing Is Me
The moon hangs like the blade of an axe tonight,
and it's poised to drop sometime soon enough on this dump truck where I lie mixed up with the morning's trash.
There's a piece of glass sticking in my back and tar covering my mouth.
But it's okay cause I'm still breathing and my hands are free of the heap.
And I think that I see that big blade falling.
And I think that I see that big blade coming.
And the pressure is getting to me and the waste in which I sit is just lurking beside me.
And I can't tell if it's me or the meat that's rotting.
I'm gonna have to give up sometime soon.
But it's okay cause I'm still breathing and my hands are free of the heap.
And I think that I see that big blade falling.
And I think that I see that big blade coming.
You can watch me disappear.
You can watch me.
All I'm losing is me.
And I think that I see that big blade falling.
And I think that I see that big blade coming to slice open a great canyon through the earth so you can watch me disappear.

 

10. This Is Not An Exit
Tonight will be the night that we begin to ease the plugs out of the dam.
And we still stand knee deep in the flow, the undertow will grab our heels and won't let go.
Abd while we hold, our legs quivering, the water rises now to our teeth when we just let go
and sail belly up to the clouds, the rocks scraping our backs.
To breathe in the air will be the only thing that we have
and all the wasted nights and empty moments in our lives are flushed away as we sway with the rhythm of the waves bobbing us up.
Crests fall to troughs as we feel our gills open up
and sail belly up to the clouds, the rocks scraping our backs.
To breathe in the air will be the only thing that we have.
And if the hook set in the bottom of our lungs, we'll rip it out and lick the blood off with our tongues.

Despair could ravage you if yo turn your head around to look down the path that's lead you here, cause what can you change?
You're a vessel now floating down the waterways.
You can take your rudder and aim your ship, just don't bother with the things left in your wake.
Just sail belly up to the clouds, the rocks scraping your back.
To breathe in the air will be the only thing that you have
and your love will be warm nights with pockets of moonlight
spotlighting you as you drift, the actor in this play.
You walk across the stage, take a bow, hear the applause,
and as the curtain falls, just know you did it all
the best that you knew how and you can hear them cheering now.
So let a smile out and show your teeth cause you know you lived it well.



11. Firefly
I said I'd walk you home after our third round of pouring whiskey down the barrel of our guts
and I grabbed hold of your hand.  We're up and we're out and we're yelling through the streets
and I'm out of my fucking mind
and I know you're next to me but I must confess what's in my head.
Keep pumping now, legs to beat the ground, and our hearts to beat the band.
The sky's on fire again.  Run down this alleyway.
Lightning bolts again and we become fireflies just flashing at the air.
Rattle garbage cans.  Prepare to be ravaged by our lust burning mad, the fire that we've become.
And I know you're under me but I must confess what's in my head:
To me you are the light from a light bulb that breaks sometimes
and the tender warmth inside is released into my life
and it smothers me in flames that lick and scorch my face.
As the smoke reaches the sky know I'm burning tonight.
Know I'm burning tonight.
Know I'm burning tonight.
Know I'm burning tonight.
Know I'll burn for you tonight.