BROOKLYN
What do you keep by your bedside?
That stack of unread books could cause a landslide
You’ve got a garden of water glasses,
Scraps of paper filled with chances
You never took

What’s in your medicine cabinet?
If it’s making you happier I think that you should have it.
But when you close it and see the mirror
Are you still further away than you appear
To Anyone?

Well come closer
And listen
Over all the noise in Brooklyn
I hear every word you say

Cuz we’re saying the same thing
Lie down on the ground, you’re gonna wake up aching
With everything blown everywhere
All that dust in the air
Is shimmering

When you come closer
And listen
Over all the noise in Brooklyn
Can’t you hear me saying
I’ve been saying: Stay
Stay

That’s what I keep by my bedside
That’s what I keep by my bedside
That unread book gonna cause a landslide

AS YOU ARE
I don’t know who’s tougher
You or your father
He’s been at this for a while
And he comes by it honestly
You just keep letting honesty pass you by

And I don’t know who’s darker
You or your mother
I know you get it from both sides
So it’s no wonder that the arms of your lovers
Have been the cradle where you hide

So come out
Come as you are
Or keep on waiting for your life to start

It’s those days in high school
That put you here on this bar stool
You’ve been telling that story for a while
But you can put one foot in front of the other
They taught you that much as a child

So come out
Come as you are
It might not even be that hard
Come out come out come out
Wherever you are
I expect nothing less from a star

WOOHOO!

I found an old picture of you and your sister
And she is having a baby girl
And you could teach her everything or nothing at all
So give her a chance to show the world

And just come out
Come as you are
Or keep on waiting for your life to start
Come out come out come out
Wherever you are
I expect nothing less from a star

WOOHOO!

THE RIGHT TIME
I watched the last brown leaf
It held on for so long
And then it finally let go
And I watched it tumbling and dancing
All the way down
Til it lay crumpled at my feet

I guess it was the right time
The right time
It was the right time to fall

You surprised me at the bar
Thought you could hide under that hat
But I saw you right away
In the dark corner at the back
And then you took me right outside
You kissed me on the crowded street
And no one even noticed as I lay crumpled at your feet

Because it was the right time
The right time
It was the right time

To fall for you like I fell for you

I heard something in the woods today
It sounded like distant thunder
But I know better
Because my heart is a lonely hunter
I’ve been looking for something wild to keep
You made a lousy souvenir
So I will let you go
It was enough just being there

When it was the right time
The right time
It was the right time to fall

GAS STATION ROSES
Gas Station Roses
Last minute plea
Wrapped up in plastic
Like a leftover meal
That’s what I got for
All my time
Gas station roses
And a dusty valentine

I’m an old suitcase
In the corner
Covered up in stickers
Of all the places that I’ve been
Looking for someone
To come unlock me
Someone to come around
And spin my little wheels

CHORUS

I’m as worn out
As my Neil Young records
I’m as bored as Saturday
Down at detention hall
So write me something
There on that blackboard
Would make the face blush
On a paper doll

CHORUS

Love’s a sculpture
Cast out of plaster
And I went and I dropped her in the middle of the floor
Now Time’s an asshole
That forgot your birthday
Went and brought you flowers
From down at the corner store

CHORUS

INDIANA
South Bend, IN:
Great place to disappear
You can ponder that at the Ponderosa there
Or park it down an empty street
I guess the coast is clear
Yeah, I could disappear here
Would you come looking for me
Or would you wait a couple years?

Over at Notre Dame there’s that painting of Jesus
Shining in the sun with all those broken tile pieces
I think I see myself in that crack where His face is
And for a moment I feel peace
But I know that I can’t keep it
It takes a couple years and then something releases

And now I’m on your side
You don’t need to hide anymore
Cuz I understand ya, Indiana

All the factories shut down along the River Joseph
Well, it ain’t your fault, St. Joe
And everybody knows it
One door opens and another door closes
If you throw in your garbage,
The river will still flow west
It might take a couple years, Joe
But I’ll bring you back some roses

Cuz now I’m on your side
You don’t need to hide anymore
Cuz I understand ya

Indiana, I forgive ya
Can you forgive me too?
I was only passing through ya

And you’re like so many other towns,
You’ve got a heart of gold and a thorny crown

Indiana

South Bend, IN
A great place to disappear

SORRY SIDE OF TOWN
You wouldn’t hurt a fly
You are gentle and you are kind
You are a better person than I am

You said it could have been someone you know
Or someone you’re still trying to be from long ago
And I say I’m just trying to be me now

And I like it when you come around
But you should probably go now
You don’t belong here
On the sorry side of town

You’re smarter than me and I like it that way
You’re the kind that gets picked for the team right away
And I’d wanna be on your side any day
You are tall and mysterious
You like high heeled shoes and fancy dresses
And you think I am prettier than I am

I like it when you come around
But you should probably go now
You don’t belong here
On the sorry side of town

You sleep with the windows open
In a city of regret, you’re still hoping

So I like it when you come around
Let’s go back to your place now
Cuz I don’t wanna stay here on the sorry side of town no more
No, I don’t wanna stay here on the sad, sorry side of town
Anymore

HOWARD HUGHS
You’ve been cleaning to distraction
You’re even lining up your shoes
As if there’s nothing better happening
Than to become your own Howard Hughes

You’re still skipping whole chapters
You think you already know what’s going on
Saying lightning doesn’t stick around after her show anymore
How many times she gotta hear that song?

About the thunder
And the rain
Everyone goes running
You think I’m like them
But you can crash
And you can bang
And when everyone goes running,
I’m telling you I’m staying

You’re not afraid of a little water, are you now?
Or how it painting my shirt like a skin
If I line up my shoes right here next to yours
Will you invite me in?

Before the thunder
And the rain
And everyone goes running
You think I’m like them
But you can crash
And you can bang
And when everyone goes running
I’m telling you I’m staying

I still clean up ok I guess
But I’ve got dirt now
Under my nails
From planting my own garden
Out there in the sun
I’ve been out there in the rain, and hail and thunder

When everyone goes running
I’m telling you I’m staying

COME UNDONE
Everything is new
There’s a tiny sliver of a moon
It’s painting everything silvery blue

It’s just light enough
I can see you there moving above me
If you were any brighter, you would be the sun
And I would come undone

There’s not much I haven’t told you
I got no new moves I’m gonna show you
I know how to unfold you
And lay you down
And from the beginning
Now through this unraveling
I saw who you were and I see who you’ve become
With me it’s ok to come undone

But still it came to this:
We became ventriloquists
Throwing our voices around the room
And after a while, we were just two creepy, wooden smiles
Watching it all, we were struck dumb
And that’s when it all came undone

So tonight here in this little room
Everything feels brand new
There’s even a tiny sliver of a moon

And I’m watching you sleep
I forget if there’s anything else I ever needed
If you know what it is, could you leave me some?
For the next time we come undone.

ALWAYS
One more spin around the sun
The difference of a year
And I’ve been living like I’m on the run
But I keep ending up back here

Keeping it in between the ditches
Having the most fun I can
I’m on the search for the world’s best sandwich
I never said I had lofty plans

My plan was you
Your plan was me
So with all those people listening we said

Always
Always
All those ways you do
We said always
Always
Is that something you undo?

All those times we drove out west
Into the tyranny of the setting sun
I said, “So close your eyes and rest
Even soldiers get to sleep some.”

That’s how you needed me to see you:
Full of bravery
Nothing has more fragility
Than saying

Always
Always
All those was you do
Always
Always
Is that something you undo?

So we go spinning around this star
On some things we rely
Like when things get hard
You’ll throw your hands up in the sky
And then there is no you
There is no me
There’s only stars witnessing

Always
Always
All those ways we do
Always

LITTLE BIRD
Oh, little bird
On a wire
Don’t your feet get sore like that?
Don’t you get tired
Of singing
Out here
All day long?

I’ve been out here since morning
I don’t know what to do
With all this longing
I’m gonna let the sun kiss me all day long

From the daybreak
To the night fall,
I’ve been out here
Waiting for you
That’s what I do

Children down the street are selling lemonade
Maybe we haven’t made
All the mistakes we thought we made
Because children still play all day long

And people pass me by on the street
Some are really moving
Some barely shuffling their feet
But there’s people going someplace all day long

And I know I should go inside
But you said “let’s give this one more try”
So I’ve been out here
Waiting to fly

Like that little bird
On a wire
Don’t your feet get sore like that?
Don’t you get tired
Of singing
Out here
All day long?
Why don’t you move a long?