Instead of sad songs Give me one long Rama lama doodle all the day I could spend my whole life playing In a regionally famous band I could spend my whole life saying I’m a reasonably blameless man I could spend my whole life swaying In the breezes of an aimless plan I could end my life by my own hand and it would be okay If my swan song Could be one long Rama lama doodle all the day One long silver thread that goes From a spool stuck down my throat To the sky to crochet clouds I could spend my whole breath sputtering At sentences that don’t come out I could spend my whole breath chattering At shit I don’t know shit about I could spend my whole breath muttering The shit I’m too controlled to shout The shit I’m scared I’ll say someday out loud It can be okay If my swan song Could be one long Rama lama doodle all day I could make a choir of angels sing Earn your halos, angels, earn your wings I’m in Heaven with the sound of strings With all my soul I thank you for these things Make it all okay Make our swan song To be one long Rama lama doodle all the day I could spend my whole life trying To be better than I’ve ever been I could spend my whole life sighing Over settlements and dividends I could spend my whole life lying And pretending it would ever end I’d be wondering whether and if and when It would be okay For my swan song To be one long Rama lama doodle all the day

It’s just one more fact to swallow And it’s such a bitter pill We are born tough acts to follow And I guess I never will Say I’m in it for endorphins Say that’s all I’ll ever be If I’m good enough for you I’m more than good enough for me So here we go I’ve been this way before and I’ve been past your door and Kept on walking In a circle again And I don’t kiss and tell except In utter solemnity With someone who can accept What should be condemned in me And when I get all verklempt My cleverest hopes expire I cannot afford contempt For anything that’s desire I attempt from love’s sickness To fly in vain Since I am myself my own fever Since I am myself my own fever And pain Knowing you is something special I was wholly unprepared Now my thoughts are all unrestful And my soul is sick and scared But I’m better off than I was When I thought I was content Though my mind is vain and childish Empty and without intent Yet it holds The thought that love the way you said you loved could make the whole world Matter And everything real I thought I could put in song This feeling of shame and awe Apparently I was wrong Cos I don’t know its name at all So here I am I the flesh Unguarded and all unkempt With just the desire left To tell the entire world I attempt from love’s sickness To fly in vain Since I am myself my own fever Since I am myself my own fever And pain

I’ve got gut rot My shit is shot I’m put through my paces I’ve won high praises In high places And no one can take those words back So if I’m faceless And faith baseless The case is I’ve wasted the knack All I can say Is to say the unsayable thing I’ve writing this song So when my voice is gone I’ll have something I’m able to sing Feted and vaunted Threw the gauntlet and taunted the rest Oh well—if you’ve got it, flaunt it You’re an empress undressed. Shades drawn and haunted, All I wanted to do was my best And I did what I wanted to do, Now I’m destitute, Restitute me with some rest. I spent my rent My best times went Long day at the races I’ve kissed fair faces And their taste is Always on the tip of my tongue But the fear stays in This weird stasis The phrases unsaid and unsung All I can sing Is to sing a sustainable way I’m writing this song So when my voice is gone I’ll be able to speak when I say: These are the angles, You can’t argue with it Nor ransom it, bargain with it Accept the changes, And just adjust. Pain in the ankles, You can’t argue with it, Nor ransom it, bargain with it Like sandy sinkholes In a desert of dust. Turn up the vocals, I can’t hear myself worry out loud. I am writing this song ‘cos when my voice is gone I’ll have only the fury, No sound.

New York girl New York night Heart that's ready for love in a body that's ready for fight-or-flight Brooklyn kid Let me in It's like an ocean in this New York rain and I've forgotten how to swim The city births its brood The city wises up its kids The city pours its noise into our bum right ears so how come it feels as quiet as this On a New York night To be a New York girl On a planet that is just New York on an ocean around the world Femme vitale What you do to me And what's become of you You're a living thing Well, you know that love has power But you also know that love helps those Who help themselves, so you keep a knife in your underclothes And I will watch you from The safety of your sheets And as you take the last thread off, the knife vlatters to your feet Femme vitale, I guess you make me sing But what's become of me Am I a living thing I'd say the water of life Was in the tears you cried Dead at the moment that I realized that there was nothing that I wanted to hide Just like the water that the rabbi walked on Thick as the Gowanus Canal I could be floating on a dead, dead sea and still be living for my femme vitale Femme vitale What you do to me The granite underneath Becomes a living thing Femme vitale What you do to me The water underneath It's under everything It's under you and me my femme vitale

California's a raw deal, Would you deny, would you deny, would you deny it? They're selling everything they can steal, Do you wanna buy, do you wanna buy, do you wanna buy it? They're kicking out everyone the boot can reach, And they're charging us to cling to the ankles They're building castles on a shrinking beach And they're telling themselves that it's stable And in this land of earthquakes and no weather I have been planning the rest of all of our lives together We can't keep keeping on Giving what little we get to some development Don I'm not inclined to keep kissing the ring And our cat keeps pissing on things, Means they know that home's just a place where there's me When you can see all the cages is it strange to want to feel free? Philly, PA is all right with me Do you wanna go, do you wanna go, do you wanna go there? Where we can pay for our privacy, Do you wanna go, do you wanna go, do you wanna go there? We can sequester some space to share Do you wanna share, do you wanna share, do you wanna share it The time's closing in, I think the place is there They're bringing down the stick, Here's the carrot And the folks here, well the ones we engage with They act like they're on stage and there's no one that I want to age with They're strangers in arms Presentations are cool and their presence lukewarm And I might not seem so hot and so frigid Where summer days swelter and winters freeze city streets rigid Is where I want to be When you can see all the cages It’s strange to think you could ever feel free We've got more of a choice than the rest, And I know it's depressing to lose it But right now's our chance to choose for the best, And I've learned when you get a chance then you use it The work is the same wherever you go All that changes are the ways in which you do it The fight goes on without end and so You gotta hold on To whatever gets you through it And I know that it's needless to say The way commands lose their meaning when you’ve learned how to hear and obey But it's like finding a rhyme To see structures and forces and to hope at the same time And I've laughed more in a month than a year You go hunting to learn something and you carry it here Is it revealing a path to you and me Or just concealing the difference between feeling and really being free?

California smells like rainbows New York only smells like rain Put it behind a window And every city smells the same Guatemala smells like cooking And Istanbul like a worker’s sweat, So tell me without looking Where it is this song is set. And do you always have the answer And do you have a nose that knows And are you like a dancer Moving with your eyelids closed? It makes me call out “Jeepers Creepers, Where’d you get that point of view? Are you a true believer, Or do you only believe what’s true?” Think of how your parents raised you, Think of where you went astray, Think of all the things You know not to do And you do them all anyway Think of how you won’t believe them Even if they give you proof Think of what you told The voices of reason Again and again and again Ain’t it the truth? You do a fine job warping and weaving Fingers on the winding strings I do my best believing, You could tell me anything But it would be more fair, more sporting To pause and let the matter wait When Froggie goes a-courting, He knows to get his patter straight Just think of what I have to offer, Software for a tired brain Cameras to collect The moments of comfort And conversation for the pain Breakfast in a house of pancakes Kisses at a kissing booth Think of all the things I sold you Again and again and again and again Ain’t it the truth? As I recall your mouth was open And you were singing high and blue And you were in the moment And for a moment I was too Got it recorded on my iPhone And saved it as an mp3 And now whenever I want I can make you sing for me. Fairy in a little beaker Angel in a time machine Funny how the speaker Knows how to sing Like the singers we have been And now we’re living in the future Fountains of eternal youth Think of what the time has told you Again and again and again and again Ain’t it the truth?

Listening to a joint that I've never heard by a hometown girl who used to be your wife; Mining the vinyl for a final word, I'm sitting here feeling like I missed your life, Scott Miller Records full of junk by a record junkie With more verses than refrains and more brains than sense Stand as a record of your stabbing pains and your stabs at explaining what you thunk they meant, Scott Miller a song about songs about Scott Miller Scott Miller what I knew all along about Scott Miller I oughtta had said it before Well it's right to be mindful of the dead you're queering And it's only a theory But it’s there if you're game; It's only just a little-less-lonely feeling That the only real Sheila Was behind the name, Scott Miller a song about songs about Scott Miller Scott Miller what I knew all along about Scott Miller I oughtta had said it before And if I was a girl With dreams about you I would dream that you were dreaming The same dream too And if I could have dreams As big as I please I would dream you exactly The girl of your dreams If I could hold you now we'd be desperately squeezing any old reason we could find to be proud; You could face the nation, your lace would be chantilly, welcome to the family, time to be loud Scott Miller a song about songs about Scott Miller Scott Miller what I knew all along about Scott Miller I oughtta had said it before Children by the millions Children by the millions sing Children by the millions Children by the millions sing The same lonely thing As Scott Miller

This is a practice We'll let it protect us Like the flower in the desert Or the water in the cactus Our deep, oldest twitches Flow into a ritual Sharing our riches with you With All of you who we choose to bring to This sunlit canyon This sunlit canyon We share the things that we Choose to cling to With wild abandon We've made a place like a long embrace Where we hold you captive And hold the moment captive And you can come and you can go But you can't erase The tapestry you're wrapped with Because it's made of Skin & sky. skin & Sky, what's behind those curtains and what only gets in the way Him & i, him & I Know one thing for certain but it Changes every day Your mind gets shifty on you Just when you begin to Understand it, understand it It's a place you leave and you Come into Empty-handed And it's a place for you to stay when there's nowhere to go Would you rather? Wouldn't you rather It's a place to gather at the mouth of a sanguine flow And to clot with lather Skin & sky, skin & Sky First you choose your canvas, then you Dip your brush in the oil Him and i, him and I Stark beneath the surface like a Little bulb in the soil Water stinks when you give it time to think From all the life within it The little critters in it Well I can drain the pond, and let the water on its way Flow on Just let me think a minute He lets me live in the alternative He deceives me and undeceives me Whatever peace that he can find is the peace he gives Which is what we want, believe me Skin & sky, skin & Sky What's behind those curtains And what only gets in the way Him & I, him & i Know one thing for certain but it Changes every day And this is a practice We act as a filter Receiving and sieving You through Skin & Sky, Skin & Sky, Just imagine never running Out of something to say Him & I, him & i Know one thing forever and it Changes every day

Elevator to my dad's apartment New York City--home is where the heart is You stepped in behind me and you shut the door New York City etiquette is rigid Be like winter--featureless and frigid Among strangers make sure you can be ignored Lest a stray glance Become a strange dance You said where you going, I like you I looked down and then I saw the knife you Held in your left hand What was in your right was worse And I thought, well, the other shoe is dropping I've been lucky, now my luck is stopping So damn lucky, never having to rehearse This strange dance And I do not know the steps Strange dance And I do not know the steps And I did not feel, was addled with the struggle So surreal, a battle in a bubble I could not dodge your lips, I had to watch your knife Because we both knew the game would have to stop soon Me and you both running out of options Just one second, Every moment of my life In a strange trance Thinking what can I do next In this strange dance Where I do not know the steps Strange trance With a whole world to protect From this strange dance Where I do not know the steps But I could have told you I'm a lot to manage I'm hard to hold, and so easy to damage You can't control me Shit! you can't control yourself And I said you don't wanna hurt nobody And you said I'm not trying to hurt nobody And we both tumbled out into the cold stairwell And you ran like hell Into the night From the strange dance Where you did not know the steps From the strange dance Police detective asked if I would know you In a lineup, could I point and show you I said no, cos I really don't recall your face Just the strange dance Where I do not know the steps Strange dance And there's a great chance That you did not know the stakes You just saw something that you thought you'd take You just saw something that you thought you'd take On a strange dance

Valedictorian, valedictorian Why is it so hard to say goodbye Would you go back in time in a DeLorean Just to be born again before you die She said: I’m a historian, I am the Morrigan Quarrying bones at the battle scenes I’ve got the whole Babel library torrented I take an unwarranted interest in things I said: Valedictorian, kindhearted coronet I’m keeping current and making me new, But yours be the box and the things that I store in it I take an unwarranted interest in you I take an unwarranted interest in you I take an unwarranted interest in you

All of your life, what you have left Trapped in a moment that won't open to the next Caught in a blink, stuck between breaths Nowhere to go and no idea what to expect And I know you've been here and you've been out And now you're back here and it's like you were never free And I know I can't believe it for you But I believe it and I'm with you, and I'll stay Here until the moment falls away See and the sun is sinking, Why don't you come to bed I know what you're thinking and it's poison in your head See and the fog is lifting Drifting beyond the bay You'll see it all green in clover The world that you thought was over It's just a momentary spasm of the mind Hand on your heart and it's thumping Ring in the year at the chapel of the chimes I guess it had to be something All of your life you have assumed If you want space you'll have to carve it from the world Like you would pluck a leaf from the branch Hold it alive for a time but you know that it can't last And you're turning me over in your fingers Thinking that while the feeling lingers, it's all right But I'm not going anywhere tonight See and the sun is sinking Why don't you come to bed I know what you're thinking and it's poison in your head See and the bells are ringing Bringing the day to end You follow the years behind me And you will know where to find me I'm in the orchard growing apples of my eye Folding up my apple dumpling Ring in the year at the chapel of the chimes I guess it had to be something And time is all the things that happen all the time Always arrived, always coming Ring in the year at the chapel of the chimes I guess it had to be something When you wake up there's so much to do I've asked the morning to wait up for you Honey wake up there's so much to do The day is forming and it's just for you

You're at home in a world Made for us and not you Is it any surprise that you think That the bed is for hunting And the fan-cord for punching And your camuflage color is pink And oh I love the way You remake the world through play And I am not afraid To remake the world through play You were made to be sharp You were bred to be soft You were raised to know when to be which You're a knife in the dark You're a cushion of warmth Any second could trigger the switch But I am not afraid So you don't have to be afraid I am not afraid So you don't have to be afraid Sometimes even these natural laws Give you a loophole, retractable claws We can learn not to cause Each other pain Our hearts and our claws Both need to be maintained Thumbs are good for holding on with Even better for letting go Claws are for shredding the sofa Letting us know what does and does not feel right Hands are good for using tools with Even better for petting you This is your nail-clipping song It's a thrill to belong to you You're a flower with hooks You're the burdock in June With the pink burrs that cling to our clothes And I know how this looks But you know what I'm doing Just picking flowers from your beautiful toes And I am not afraid So you don't have to be afraid No, I am not afraid So you don't have to be afraid Seems that something is giving you pause When I ask you to give me your paws Well sometimes my hair stands up on end too Which is why I need a friend like you Thumbs are Good for holding on with Even better for letting go Claws are for shredding the sofa Letting us know what does and does not feel right Hands are good for using tools with Even better for petting you This is your nail-clipping song It's a thrill to belong to you