Letras: Live On Two Legs

CORDUROY

The waiting drove me mad.
You're finally here and I'm a mess.
I take your entrance back.
Can't let you roam inside my head.

I don't want to take what you can give.
I would rather starve than eat your bread.
I would rather run but I can't walk.
Guess I'll lie alone just like before.

I'll take the varmints path.
Oh, and I must refuse your test.
Push me and I will resist.
This behavior's not unique.

I don't want to hear from those who know.
They can buy but can't put on my clothes.
I don't want to limp for them to walk.
Never would have known of me before.
I don't want to be held in their debt.
I'll pay it off in blood let I be wed.
I'm already cut up and half dead.
We'll end up alone like we began.

Everything has chains. Absolutely nothing's changed.
Take my hand, not my picture, spilled my teacher.

I don't want to take what you can give.
I would rather starve than eat your breast.
All the things that others want for me.
Can't buy what I want because it's free. (x2)
Can't be what they want because I...

It's susposed to be just fun.
Yea, but to be tried or be a judge.
I figure I'll be damned. All alone like I began.

 GIVEN TO FLY

Could have tuned in, tuned in, but he tuned out.
A bad time nothing could save him.
Alone in a corridor, waiting, locked out.
He got up out of there ran for hundreds of miles.
Made it to the ocean had a smoke in a tree.
The wind rose up set him down on his knee.

A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw.
Deliver him wings, "Hey, look at me now!"
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor.
Oh, now now, oh... He's flying whole. High. Wide. Oh...

Floated back down cause he wanted to share this key to the locks, on the chains, he saw everywhere.
But first he was stripped, and then he was stabbed, by faceless men.
Well fuckers, he still stands.
And he still gets his love he just gives it away.
The love he receives is the love that is saved.
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky.
A human being that was given to fly.
He's flying whole. High. Why? Oh-he's flying. Oh, he's whole. Oh...

---

HAIL HAIL

Ah, is there room for both of us? Ah, both of us apart?
Are we bound out of obligation? Is that all we've got?
I kiss the earth and then I get to thinking, I don't want to think I want to feel.
Oh how do I feel? And fucking how do I...

Like you're the only one and I'll never be enough. Yeah.
Hail, hail, the lucky ones. I refer to those in love. Yeah.

I swore I'd love you til the day I die. Oh and beyond.
Oh are we going to the same place? If so can I come?
It's egg rolling thick and heavy. All the past we carry.
Oh, I could be new. You underestimate me.

If you're the only one will I never be enough. Yeah.
Hail, hail, the lucky ones. I refer to those in love. Yeah.

I sometimes realize that I could only be as good as you'll let me.
Oh, are you woman enough to be my man? Bandaged hand in hand.

I find it on the run in a race that can't be won. Yeah.
Hail, hail, the lucky ones. I refer to those in love. Yeah.
If you're my only one. I want to be your one.
I want to be the one. Enough, you win. Enough, you won. Yea-ooh.

Well, we're making up for lost time here. Uh, thanks for waiting.

 

---

DAUGHTER

Alone, listless. Breakfast table in an otherwise empty room.
Young girl, violence. Center of her own attention, no, no.
Mother reads aloud, child tries to understand it.
Tries to make her proud. Yeah.
The shades go down into her head.
Painted room. Can't deny there's something wrong.

Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me...

She holds the hand that holds her down.
She will rise above. Ooh... Woh.

Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me daughter. Not fit to be.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me...
The shades go down. (x4)
Woh...

I see a girl of the night with a baby in her hand.
Under an old street light. Oh, next to a garbage can.
Now she's put her kid away. She's going to get a hit.
She hates her life and what she's done with it.
That's one more kid that will never go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.
That's one more kid that will never go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool. Oh...

He won the lotery when he was born. Yeah.
A big hand slaped the white male american.
Do no wrong. So clean cut. Dirty his hands it comes right off.
Police man. (x2)

Ooohhh...

All right...

 

---

ELDERLY WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTER IN A SMALL TOWN

This one's called... longest title in the Pearl Jam catalog. "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town." 1, 2, 3, 4, 2, 3,

I seem to recognize your face.
Haunting familiar, yet I can't seem to place it.
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name.
Lifetimes are catching up with me.
All these changes taking place.
I wish I'd seen the place but no one's ever taken me.

Hearts and thoughts they fade. Fade away. (x2)

I swear I recognize your breath.
Memories, like fingerprints, are slowly raising.
Me you wouldn't recall for I'm not my former.
It's odd when your stuck upon the shelf.
I changed by not changing at all.
Small town predicts my fate.
Perhaps that's what no one wants to see.
I just want to scream hello.
Oh my god its been too long. Never dreamed you'd return.
But now here you are and here I am.
Oh, hearts and thoughts they fade away.

Hearts and thoughts they fade. Fade away. (x2)
Hearts and thoughts they fade away.
Hearts and thoughts they fade.
Fade away... (x3)

Pretty good singing there.

 

---

UNTITLED

Got a car. I got some gas.
Oh, let's get out of here. Get out of here fast.
Ah, everyone's confused so I stay in my room.
If I go, I don't want to go alone.
I hope you got this message. Oh, your not home.
I could be there in ten minutes, or so.
Oh, I got my things.
We'll make it up as we go along.
Oh, with you I could never be alone.
Never be alone.

 

---

MFC  

Sliding out of reverse into drive.
This wheel will be turning right, then straight.
Off in the sunset she'll ride.
She can remember a time, denied.
Stood by the side of the road.
Now she's out on. Out on her own and line high.

There's no leaving here.
Ask I'm an ear.
She's disappeared, now. Oh...

They said that timing was everything.
Made him want to be everywhere.
There's a lot to be said for nowhere.

There's no leaving here.
Ask I'm an ear.
He's disappeared now.

There's no leaving here.
Ask I'm an ear.
Fuck it. We'll disappear, now. Oh.

 

---

GO

Oh, please don't go out on me. Don't go on me now.
Never acted up before. Don't go on me now.
I swear I never took it for granted, just thought of it now.
Suppose I abused you. Just passing it on.
Go, fuck...

Once fastened, servile, now your getting sharp.
Moving oh so swiftly with such disarm.
I pulled the covers over him shoulda' pulled the alarm.
Turned to my nemesis. A fool no fucking god.
Go... fuck... jump... time.

Please,
Don't go on me. (x4)
Ooh

Time... fuck... burn. True aggression. Fuck... burn... jump.
Please, please, please.
Don't go on me. (x4)
Don't you want me? Don't go on me.
Don't go on me. Woh, oh.

 

---

RED MOSQUITO

Watched out the window with a red mosquito.
I was not allowed to leave the room.
I saw the sun go down and now it's coming up.
Somewhere in the time between I was bitten.
Must have been the devil.
He was just paying me a little visit.
Reminding me of his presence.
And letting me know he's a waiting. Ohh, yeah.

Red man's your neighbor. Call it behavior.
While you're climbing up slippery hills.
Two steps ahead of him. Punctures in your neck.
Hovering just above your bed. (x2)
I was bitten. Must have been the devil.
He was just paying me a little visit.
Reminding me of his presence.
And letting me know he's a waiting.
Always waiting. Ohh, yeah.

If I had known then what I know now. (x4)

 

---

EVEN FLOW

Freezing. Rests his head on a pillow made of concrete, again.
Oh, feeling maybe he'll see a little better set a days. Ooh yeah.
Oh, hand out. Faces that he sees time again ain't that familiar. Ooh.
Oh, dark grin. He can't help when his happy looks insane. Aah.

Even flow. Thoughts arrive like butterflies. Yeah.
Oh, he don't know so he chases them away-yea. Ohh.
Oh, someday, yea, he'll begin his life again.
Life again. Life again.

Kneeling. Looking through the paper though he doesn't know to read.
Oh, praying now to something that has never showed him anything. Never will.
Oh, feeling. Understands the weather of the winters on its way. Yeah.
Oh, ceilings. Few and far between all the legal halls of shame. Yeah.

Even flow. Thoughts arrive like butterflies. Yeah.
Oh, he don't know so he chases them away yea.
Oh, someday, yea, he'll begin his life again. Yeah.
Oh, whispering hands gently lead him away.
Lead him away. Him away. Yeah.
Woo... ah-yeah. Let me introduce you to Michael.

Even flow. Thoughts arrive like butterflies. Yeah.
Oh, he don't know so he chases them away-yea. Ohh.
Someday, yeah, he'll begin his life again. Yeah, ah.
Whispering hands gently lead him away.
Lead him away. Him away. Yeah.
Woo. Uh huh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Gonna fuck it up again. Wooo.

Uh, this is uh, a nice little ditty.

 

---

OFF HE GOES

Know a man. His face seen pulled and tense.
Like he's riding on a motorbike in the strongest winds.
So I approach with tact.
Suggest that he should relax, but he's always moving much too fast.

Said he'll see me on the flipside of this trip he's taking for a ride.
He's been taking too much on.
There he goes with his perfectly unkept clothes.
And there he goes.

He's yet to come back but I've seen his picture.
It doesn't look the same up on the rack.
Oh, we go way back.

I wonder about his insides.
It's like his thoughts are too big for his size.
He's been taken, where I don't know.
There he goes with his perfectly unkept hope.
And there he goes.

Oh, and now I rub my eyes for he has returned.
It seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned.
For he still smiles. And he's still strong.
Nothing's changed but the surrounding bullshit. That has grown.
Oh, and now he's home and we're laughing like we always did my same old, same old friend.
Until a quarter to ten. I saw the strain creep in.
He seems distracted and I know just what is going to happen next.
Before his first step he is off again.
Here we go.

 

---

NOTHINGMAN

Once divided there's nothing left to subtract.
Some words when spoken can't be taken back.
Walks on his own with thoughts he can't help thinking.
Future's above, but in the past he's slow and sinking.
Caught a bolt of lightning. Cursed the day he let it go.

Nothingman... (x2)
Isn't it something, nothingman?

She once believed in every story he had to tell.
One day she stiffened. Oh yeah. Took the other side.
Empty stares from each corner of a shared prison cell.
One just escapes. One's left inside. Oh well.
And he who forgets will be destined to remember. Oh, oh, woh...

Nothingman... (x2)
Yeah, isn't it something, nothingman?

Oh, she don't want him.
Oh, she won't feed him after he's flown away. Yeah.
Oh, into the sun. Yea, into the sun.
Burn, burn, oh burn...
Nothingman... (x2)
Oh, isn't it something, nothingman?
Oh, nothingman. Nothingman...
Oh, coulda' been something, nothingman.
Oh, ohh... ohh...

 

---

DO THE EVOLUTION

That's an old song this is a new song. It's evolution baby. See ya all later.

Woo... Woo.
I'm ahead. I'm a man.
Oh, I'm the first mammal to wear pants. Yeah.
I am at peace with my lust.
I can kill cause in god I trust. Yeah.
It's evolution baby.

I'm a piece. I'm the man.
Oh, buying stocks on the day of the crash. Yeah.
On the loose I'm a truck.
All the rolling hills I'll flatten 'em out. Yeah.
It's heard behavior. Uh huh.
It's evolution baby.

Admire me. Admire my home.
Admire my son he's my clone.
Uh yeah yeah.
This land is mine. This land is free.
I do what I want yet irresponsibly.
It's evolution baby. Yeah.

I'm a thief. I'm a liar.
There's my church I sing in the choir.
Hall-le-lu-jah. (x2)

Admire me. Admire my home.
Admire my son he's my clone.
Yeah yeah. An appetite for nightly feast.
Those ignorant Indians got nothing on me.
Nothing. Why? Because it's evolution baby. Yeah.

I am ahead. I am advanced.
I am the first man to wet my pants. Yeah.
I crawled the earth but now I'm higher.
2010 watch it go to fire.
It's evolution baby. Yeah.
A wohh hoo.
It's evolution baby. Woo.
Do the evolution.
Come on. (x3)

 

---

BETTER MAN

Waiting, watching the clock. It's four o'clock.
It's got to stop. Tell him. Take no more.
She practices her speech as he opens the door, she rolls over.
Pretends to sleep as he looks her over.

She lies and says she's in love with him. Can't find a better man.
She dreams in color, she dreams in red. Can't find a better man.
Can't find a better man. (x2)
Ohh...

Talking to herself, "There's no one else who needs to know," she tells herself. Oh...
Memories back when she was sure and strong and waiting for the world to come along.
Swears she knew him now she swears he's gone.

She lies and says she's in love with him. Can't find a better man.
She dreams in color, she dreams in red. Can't find a better man.
She lies and says she still loves him. Can't find a better man.
She dreams in color, she dreams in red. Can't find a better man.
Can't find a better man. (x2)

She loved him, yeah. She don't want to leave this way.
She feeds him, yeah. That's why she'll be back again.
Can't find a better man. (Can't find a better man) (x3)
Can't find a better man.
Ohh... ohh...
Uh huh... (x6)

Thanks

 

---

BLACK

Yeah... Oh yeah.
Sheets of empty canvas. Untouched sheets of clay. Yeah.
Laid spread out before me as her body once did. Yeah.
All five horizons revolved around her soul. As the earth to the sun.
Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn.
Ooh, and all I taught her was everything. That's all.
Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore. Yeah.

And now my bitter hands shade beneath the clouds of what was everything.
All the pictures have all been washed in black. Tattooed everything.

I take a walk outside. I'm surrounded by some kids at play.
Oh, I can feel their laughter. Oh, so why do I sear?
Ooh, and twisted thoughts that spin around my head. Yeah.
I'm spinning. Oh, I'm spinning.
How quick the sun can drop away.

And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass of what was everything.
All the pictures have all been washed in black. Tattooed everything.
All the love gone bad turned my world to black.
Tattooed all I see. All that I am. All I'll be. Yeah.

Uh huh... Uh huh... Ooh.
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life.
I hope you'll be a star in somebody else's sky but why, why, why can't it be, can't it be mine?
Oh... ohh yea oh
Do do do do do do do (x20 total)

 

---

FUCKING UP

All right this is Neil Young's song. Let's hear it for Neil.

Lonely drifter on the hill. Why do I?
One must have a heart of steel. Why do I?
It's not how you look but how you feel. Why do I?
You must have a heart of steel. Why do I?
Why do I keep fucking up?

I can see you on the hill. Why do I?
All comatose but walking still. Why do I?
Flowing curves beneath your flowing gown. Why do I?
Oh, only I can bring myself down. Why do I?
Why do I keep fucking up?

Bowman's pick and dogs that bite. Why do I?
Oh, dogs that howl through the night. Why do I?
Oh, broken leashes all over the floor. Why do I?
Keys left hanging in a swinging door. Why do I?
Why do I keep fucking up?

Good night for music. See ya tomorrow.