1. |
I'm On Your Side
03:59
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You hit the brakes and pulled aside,
said, “I’m on your side,
I’m on your side.”
I nearly broke right then and cried,
so sure you had lied.
“I’m on your side,
“I’m on your side,
my friend,” you told me again
as the traffic pushed on by us.
It killed me then that I could remain
on your side.
I’m on your side.
The years moved on and so did I—
swallowed my pride,
shoved it aside.
The call came in one autumn night.
I gave you a ride,
said “I’m on your side.”
“I’m on your side,”
I said and rolled out the bed
as you slept into the daylight.
I could run away or learn how to stay
on your side.
I’m on your side.
I watched you slip then,
a trail of bottles cracked and dripping down
into the plaster
of the walls you taught me how to build.
And I remembered
a lonely talk beside a crowded road.
Right then I knew I couldn’t hide
cause I am on your side.
One morning when the roads had froze,
I heard on the phone
“I can’t be alone.”
I tracked you down, looked in your eyes,
said “I’m on your side,
I’m on your side,
“I’m on your side.
My friend, you’ve blown it again,
but we all blow through it sometimes,
and come what may, I’ll always remain
on your side.”
I’m on your side.
I’m on your side,
I’m on your side.
I’m on your side,
I’m on your side.
That’s what I hear you tell me again
every time the road is broken.
I pull aside and thank god I’m alive
on your side.
I’m on your side.
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2. |
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At the crack of dawn, we started on the road,
left the GPS at home,
all my music, and your phone.
You said, “Hey, that’s okay—
hell, we planned the trip that way,”
as you got off four signs late.
(Another three days at this rate.)
You couldn’t find the on-ramp,
I did not know what to do—
you without a prayer, my friend,
and me without a clue.
I took the wheel and yelled till I was hoarse,
then pushed ahead with force
some fifty miles off-course.
So we turned back toward our fate:
bedlam on the interstate,
on the right path, more or less.
(Pretty sure this must be west.)
The sun dropped to the clouds
with no hotels anywhere,
you without a clue, my friend,
and me without a prayer.
The next day, back on route
till the front right tire blew out.
“Not only don’t we have a prayer,”
I said, “we also have no spare.”
You were pissed as hell at me
and I’d had enough of you—
you without a prayer, my friend,
and me without a clue.
Eventually, we got back on some kind of pace,
and I said, “Might as well be trapped with Chevy Chase.”
You glanced outside the windowpane
and then started to laugh.
I didn’t see the joke at first,
but the trees still flew on past,
and that’s when I figured out that we’re still getting there—
just nowhere fast.
It was late on the second day
when the maelstrom turned our way—
the sign said sixty miles to go.
I said, “Hey, look”; you said, “I know.”
It was eight or nine to ten
and I was half a mile to dead
when we pulled into the lot
and the car came to a stop.
You clicked the engine off
and said, “We did it, me and you—
you without a prayer, my friend,
you without a prayer, my friend,
you without a prayer, my friend,
and me without a clue.”
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3. |
Otherguy
03:42
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There’s someone I’m expected to be:
the hero on the TV screen,
the suit, the stare, the gleam, the smile,
the textbook man in textbook style.
You know the type: a man in tights
who looks and acts and feels just like
the image we’re raised to glorify.
He will be your Superman
and I’ll be Otherguy.
It’s all about the cape, it would seem—
a panel in a comic book scene,
each line repeated from TV,
each action choreography.
Words from his lips come from the script
and fall to you so eloquent
perfection would be hard to deny.
He will be your Superman
and I’ll be Otherguy.
I can’t work the crowd
or leap a decent bound;
this cannot be denied.
I could dress that way,
a red and blue cliché,
a panel-bordered lie.
I’ve got no X-ray stare;
can’t fly through the air.
I just stand by your side.
There’s superheroes, fakers, and me,
the dork who runs on sincerity.
There is no model I’m based upon
and when I’m sold, I’m forever gone.
I’ll never be the guy you see
extolled in our society
but I’m the one with head held up high.
I shouldn’t have to compromise
to be the hero in your eyes.
To hell with cut-out Supermen.
Call me Otherguy.
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4. |
Foamhenge
04:40
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I remember when you said to me
there’s a place out there called Foamhenge—
a full-scale model Stonehenge made of foam
hiding out in north Virginia,
and we really ought to go there.
Just you, me, and two hundred miles of road.
But somewhere we took a detour;
you saw potholes in the path
as our I-81 turned to rubble.
So I gave you your space,
knew it wouldn’t be long.
I guess everything I knew was wrong,
and we’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never make that passage.
We’ll never photograph it.
We’ll never drive on past it.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge,
or track down some old poet.
We’ll never conquer Renn Fest
or make it through Birdemic.
We’ll never see the pillars of Foamhenge.
Some would say that it’s a way to go
just for ninety-three foam tablets,
but I’ve seen things turn magic through your lens.
And adventure doesn’t need a rhyme
when it’s poetry in motion,
and it’s not the foam that makes it radiant.
But then nothing lasts forever
and some things never begin,
and no construct of foam stays eternal.
I saw miles ahead,
but I guess all paths divide
when you’re focused on the road behind,
and we’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never make that passage.
We’ll never photograph it.
We’ll never drive on past it.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge,
or track down some old poet.
We’ll never conquer Renn Fest
or make it through Birdemic.
We’ll never make our way to Foamhenge.
We’d ponder all the mysteries of foam
and why the Great Foam Druids made it so.
They say in Foamhenge, anything can happen.
They say in Foamhenge, all your dreams come true.
They say past Foamhenge, the road goes on forever
together,
but we’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never make that passage.
We’ll never photograph it.
We’ll never drive on past it.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge,
or track down some old poet.
We’ll never conquer Renn Fest
or make it through Birdemic.
We’ll never fly to Bosnia
or celebrate your book launch.
We’ll never be together.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge.
We’ll never go to Foamhenge.
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5. |
Nothing Ever Changed
05:33
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Never saw a match that wouldn’t burn,
and fire—it warms the coldest heart
and melts their misanthropic hold
on weapons spread like sticks
or tinder in a box.
I loved the flame,
but nothing ever changed.
Saw a road to freedom lined in blood.
It ran like water down the drain
and flowed from out their severed veins.
I bled against their flag
and bled them out for mine.
It was deranged
and nothing ever changed.
In the end, nothing changed,
and the noble corpses laid their bodies down
on the stage
for some curtain call or misbegotten bow.
Time will fade
but the audience still rumbles out my name
in vain,
and nothing ever changed.
In the end, nothing changed,
and the noble corpses laid their bodies down
on the stage
for some curtain call or misbegotten bow.
Time will fade
but the audience still rumbles out my name
in vain,
and nothing ever changed.
Nothing ever changed
save time, as steady as a heart
whose blood lives on amidst the dead.
The clock reveals the truth—
tomorrow is today.
I dug their graves
and nothing ever changed.
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6. |
Moving On
04:37
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I see the sadness in your eyes;
believe me, it’s nothing next to mine,
infused in each tile and every room,
but I fear I’ve lingered here too long,
and that means it’s time for moving on—
the death of the old, the birth of the new.
You held out your hand when I fell down,
clutched at the wrist and turned me around
and gave me the only home I know,
but all that I have is given me
three meals, four walls, and free TV.
I need to break free, and that’s why I must
go into the sunset line
toward the place that’s truly mine,
and if I don’t search, I’ll never find.
I’ve been the burden on your back,
the friendliest foe, the subtlest attack,
the parasite guest who came to stay.
I’ve been delivered out of need,
my back has gone numb, legs atrophied.
My feet beg to bleed as they walk
away from all those useless things
like shelter from all suffering.
I will not be the bird who clips his wings.
Oh, I feel so cold right now,
like I’m throwing it all away,
but where you settle down is where you stay.
I see the sadness in your eyes.
It makes me wish that I was blind.
It makes me wish you’d let me die.
I’ve let myself languish here too long
and that makes it time for moving on.
Anything else is suicide.
I will feel my roots let go,
and there’s no greater hell I know
than every day to age and not to grow.
I’ve let you bear my weight too long
and you’ll be relieved the day I’m gone.
That means it’s time for moving on.
That means it’s time for moving on.
That means it’s time for moving on.
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7. |
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Stocks falling, banks calling,
canceling loans.
Store hackers, phone taps—
we’re never alone.
Blood-spillers, spree-killers
counting their score
with mad bombers, Jeff Dahlmers
right out your door.
That’s why I’m sitting one mile underground with you
waiting for the world to end.
Flesh-eating diseases
spread everywhere,
with bird flu, the plague too,
infecting the air.
Pandemics, sick medics,
bugs in your bed.
Ebola all over—
we’re already dead.
That’s why I’m waiting in these catacombs with you
while the fires of hell descend.
I’m sitting one mile underground with you
waiting for the world to end.
The food will last us a thousand years,
the water filtered and pure.
We’ll close our eyes and sing lullabies
as the planet goes to war.
We’re waiting out the
earth-quaking ground-shaking
Richter 10-ohs.
On high seas, tsunamis
drowning cities below.
Winds swirling, trees burning,
mountains erupt,
each day DOA
once the nukes blow us up.
That’s why I’m sitting one mile underground with you
waiting for the world to end.
Kids screaming, loud eating
each time I dine.
Slow walkers, fast talkers
cutting in line.
Unkindness defined us;
this can’t be denied,
but they’ll all go to hell
when the zombie hordes rise.
That’s why I’m waiting in these catacombs with you
while the fires of hell descend.
I’m sitting one mile underground with you
waiting for the world to end.
We won’t be part of the bloodshed now.
The bombings won’t make a sound.
We’ll plug our ears and remember the years
when a good man could be found.
We’re waiting for the end.
That’s why I’m waiting in these catacombs with you
while the fires of hell descend.
I’m sitting one mile underground with you
waiting for the world to end.
That’s why I’m telling you the world we knew is doomed.
Is that so hard to comprehend?
I’m sitting one mile underground with you
waiting for the world to end.
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