CLOSER TO THE STARS
Caterpillar crawling up the big phone pole
Is there somebody that you want to talk to?
You know that pretty soon you'll be able to fly
How is this going to affect you?
Do you think it might wreck you?
Your friends might reject you
Say you took it too far
You said you want to be want to be want to be want to
be
Hooked on glossy pictures and drugs i've never seen
We'll treat you with advice from a fashion magazine
One day she just walked into that magazine
I wonder if she'll ever come back
And they all said she would crack
They said her mind was one track,
Said she took it too far
You said you want to be want to be want to be want to
be
Closer to the stars
Every time you move your lips
Let me give you a few tips
Yesterday you were too young
Tomorrow you will be too old
To regret all the things you've done
Who're you trying to hustle?
Somebody you wanna show your muscle?
Second hand excuses never went too far
What's this scene you're making?
Your ideas have been taken
We'll seek when you awaken alone in someone's car
You just stood there shaking, stood there shaking
They said you were faking
You said you want to be want to be want to be want to
be
Closer to the stars
Closer to the stars
SOMEBODY TO SHOVE
Grandfather watches the grandfather clock
And the phone hasn't rang for so long
And the time flies by like a vulture in the sky
Suddenly he breaks into song
I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone
I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone
Hello, speak up, is there somebody there?
These hang-ups are getting me down
In a world frozen over with over-exposure
Let's talk it over, let's go out and paint the town
I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone
Cause I want somebody to shove
I need somebody to shove
I want somebody to shove me
You're a dream for insomniacs, prize in the Cracker Jacks
All the difference in the world is just a call away
And I'm waiting by the phone
Waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not alone
Yes I'm waiting by the phone
I'm waiting for you to call me up and tell me I'm not
alone
Cause I want somebody to shove
I need somebody to shove
I want somebody to shove me
Yes I want somebody to shove
I need somebody to shove
I want somebody to shove me
CLOSE
Almost gave up yesterday
Almost made it to the top
Short of dying just the other day
Fell sure of picking up a mop
If it's the thought that counts you can always count on
me
I think about it all the time
It's going to hit me like a bolt of white lighting
Here it comes my piece of mind
Cos' i'm close
So close
So close
I'm close
So close
So close
Just fallen short of proving it
Just a hair from the truth
A little shy of improving it
But here I come, i'm coming through
Pretty soon i'll gonna shed this skin i'm wearing
I've been keeping it inside
No one cares just how you got there
No one cares how hard you tried
But your close
So close
So close
Your close
So close
So close
I've known you forever
We complete each others thoughts
Ain't like we never got in trouble
It's just we never gotten caught
And if you got a secret
It's in me you can confide
If we ever get split up
I'll always be on your side
Cos' we're close
So close
So close
We're close
So close
So close
STRING OF PEARLS
She swings the string of pearls on the corner
The street lights reflect the light in the water
The string it snaps and the pearls go sailing
And they splash and bounce
and roll 'cross the wet street
As she bends to chase the pearls
a car swings 'round the corner
She darts from the eyes of the panic-struck driver
Who's racing to the delivery room
'Cause in the back seat his wife
is busting out of her womb
And the sack breaks and out come the Siamese Twins
Who grow up to become the first President
With two heads
Are better than one
He puts his heads in his hands,
says I got to put my heads together
I can become the best President ever
And not just President
Fend for yourself
Signs his name, takes the blame
For all of the names with no shame
In their beliefs
They adjourn and they leave
And in walks a man with a broom and a knife
And blood on his hands
And he sweeps everything under the rug
And goes home to his kids and gives them a hug
But his wife was not there
She had just left a letter
That said "you'd be much better off without me"
Now his wife took the train
to her ex-lover's funeral
Who died in the bathroom,
hit his head on a urinal
When they got together,
the knowledge was carnal
And the widow was at the funeral,
and they had quite a catfight
And they fell into the hole
where the casket was resting
And the preacher just left
in the middle of the service
'Cause death was one thing,
but women made him nervous
And he ran to his car
and he drove 'round the corner
Then something in the street
caught the light in his eye
He pulled over, reached down,
and picked up a pearl from the gutter
And he didn't know what to think
And he brought it home and washed it in the sink
And he gave the pearl to Sister Mary Teresa
Who could not accept it so she gave it to Lisa,
A young prostitute who was missing a pearl
On the necklace that broke late last night
TIED TO THE TRACKS
What are you doing here
in my nightmare
Stepping back into the stupidness
gets me nowhere
Look at you now
You look like an angel in hell
Look at you now
Drown in your wishing well
Look at you now
All those strories and there's no one to tell
Look at you now
Do you think you can find a place
for your dreams in my nightmares
And you're tied to the tracks
but the train broke down
Wake me up and let me go
from somebody I used to know
From somewhere in my nightmare.
Don't you remember the years we got nowhere
Look at you now
You look like an angel in hell
Look at you now
Drown in your wishing well
Look at you now
All those stories and there's no one to tell
Look at you now
Do you think you can find a place
for your dreams in my nightmares?
And you're playing with a different joker,
but there's always one more sucker
And you're tied to the tracks
but the train broke down
Trapped at the top of the merry-go-round
But it won't let you down.
Look at you now
You look like an angel in hell
Look at you now
Drown in your wishing well
Look at you now
All those strories and there's no one to tell
Look at you now
Do you think you can find a place for my dreams?
RUNAWAY
TRAIN
Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blowtorch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning
So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
I promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep
It seems no one can help me now,
I'm in too deep, there's no way out
This time I have really led myself astray
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded
I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else's known
Here I am just a-drownin' in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train
And everything seems cut and dried,
Day and night, earth and sky,
Somehow I just don't believe it
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughing at the rain
A little out of touch, a little insane
It's just easier than dealing with the pain
Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there
Runaway train, never coming back
Runaway train, tearing up the track
Runaway train, burning in my veins
I run away but it always seems the same
SOMETIME
TO RETURN
I ran away I walked a fine line wasting time only to find
You were callin' I think finally to remind me I am fine
What you are is what you see and you see me and we can
be
Something you can call real we are, we are, we are
Doing the best we can, working without a plan
I'm beginning to understand, its getting out of hand
I have seen these closing doors,
I've woke up on this floor before
Picked it apart for hours and hours and hours
Of turning, tossing and looking and listening
To you and all the fucked up things you do
But you're doing the best you can, with every grain of
sand
Its trickling through your hand, sayin' catch me if you
can
If someday comes early, comes whipping comes whirling
To take you for all you have learned
The tables are turning, the bridges are burning
My destination sometime to return
Throw away your calender and saddle up your salamander
Get up and get down ride in to town and look around
Get up and do something,
no time to choose it, do it, do it, do it, do it
Doing the best I can, with or without a plan,
I'm taking what I can get, I haven't seen nothing yet.
If one day you wake up and find what you make up,
Come and get me, come and take me there.
Into your illusion, I'll make my intrusion - anytime,
anyplace, anywhere.
The hour glass is draining fast, it knows no future holds
no past, and all this to will come to pass - never,
forever, whenever.
MISERY
They say misery loves company
We could start a company and make misery
Frustrated, Incorporated
Well I know just what you need
I might just have the thing
I know what you'd pay to see
Put me out of my misery
I'd do it for you, would you do it for me
We will always be busy making misery
We could build a factory and make misery
We'll create the cure; we made the disease
Frustrated, Incorporated
Frustrated, Incorporated
Well I know just what you need
I might just have the thing
I know what you'd pay to feel
Put me out of my misery
All you suicide kings and you drama queens
Forever after happily, making misery
Did you satisfy your greed, get what you need
Was it only envy, so empty
Frustrated, Incorporated
Frustrated, Incorporated
Frustrated, Incorporated
(put me out of my misery)
Frustrated, Incorporated
(I'd do it for you, would you do it for me)
Frustrated, Incorporated
(forever after happily)
Frustrated, Incorporated
(making misery)
WE 3
I was tapping my foot on a Friday night
To my favorite band I was pushed aside
I said "hey don't push me no one pushes me"
When I was face to face with the woman I admired
And she gave me this look I could not believe
And the cold stare remained; I wanted to leave
See, I do believe anger is offset by sorrow
But you destroy today you might regret tomorrow
When you're young and defensive it comes off offensive
And it's hard to repay the tolerance that you borrowed
The lasting relationship sinks right off the pier
Who wears the pants; it's faded but clear
She's your girlfriend, seems she ain't too fond of me
I guess if that's the way it was meant to be
There we were, just we three
You, your girlfriend, and me
I've known you forever, you two just met
So easily amused; how fast we forget
In my jealously, my self-righteous greed
She's a bit like a book I'm too far sighted to read
And I wish you the best, I sometimes feel the need
To say remember me
She's your girlfriend, as far as we can see
Does she look at you the way she looks at me
And here we are, just we three
You, your girlfriend, and me
She's your girlfriend, it's getting harder to see
Better just take her home, better just let her be
When she walks out that door, you'll come looking for
me
WITHOUT A TRACE
I fell in love with a hooker,
she laughed in my face
So seriously I took her,
I was a disgrace
I was out of line,
I was out of place
Out of time to save face
See the open mouth of my suitcase
Sayin' leave this place
Leave without a trace, leave without a trace
Leave without a trace
I tried to get a good job
With honest pay
I might as well join the mob
The benefits are okay
Standing in the sun with a popsicle
Everything is possible
With a lot of luck and a pretty face
And some time to waste
Leave without a trace, leave without a trace
Leave without a trace
I tried to dance at a funeral, New Orleans style
I joined the Grave Dancer's Union, I had to file
Trying to do the right thing, play it straight
The right thing changes from state to state
Don't forget to take your mace
If you're out walking late
I liked to see your face
You left without a trace
Leave without a trace
I WILL STILL BE LAUGHING
Doorways open up and close
More ways to a punch line
There all laughing at your clothes
Standing in the lunch line
You're the talk of the town
First you're up and you're down
It's a cycle i've found
It always comes around
But, I will still be laughing
Yes, I will still be laughing
Air raids in the afternoon
The children are playing
Switchblades cutting red balloons
No one hears you praying
And it comes back to you
All the things that you do
Will come looking for you
Will come looking for you
But, I will still be laughing
Yes, I will still be laughing
Doorways lead to other rooms
Always leave you lying
They stand in a strangers tomb
Didn't know you were dying
And you rise and you fall
And you wait for the call
Your watching the walls
Your watching the walls
But, I will still be laughing
Yea, I will still be laughing
I will still be laughing
Yes, I will still be laughing
BLACK GOLD
Two boys on a playground
Tryin' to push each other down
See the crowd gather 'round
Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd
Black gold in a white plight
Won't you fill up the tank, let's go for a ride
I don't care 'bout no wheelchair
I've got so much left to do with my life
Moving backwards through time
Never learn, never mind
That side's yours, this side's mine
Brother you ain't my kind
You're a black soldier, white fight
Won't you fill up the tank, let's go for a ride
Sure like to feel some pride
But this place just makes me feel sad inside
Mother, do you know where your kids are tonight?
Keeps the kids off the streets
Gives 'em something to do, something to eat
This spot was a playground
This flat land used to be a town
Black gold in a white plight
Won't you fill up the tank, let's go for a ride
Sure like to feel some pride
But this place just makes me feel sad inside
Black gold in a white plight
Won't you fill up the tank, let's go for a ride
I don't care 'bout no wheelchair
I've got so much left to do with my life
SUMMER OF DRUGS
(Victoria Williams)
My sister got bit by a copperhead snake
In the woods behind the house
Nobody was home so I grabbed her foot
And I sucked that poison out
My sister got better in a month or two
When the swelling it went down
But I'd started off my teenage years
with a poison in my mouth
And we were too young to be hippies
Missed out on the love
Turned to a teen in the late 70's
In the summer of the drugs
Mama and daddy could never understand,
their life was never dull
Their idea of a rollicking time was a kitchen tap appall
Acid grass downs and speed,
junk those days were made of
How could they suspect those kids
where the monsters meet their makers
Mommies and daddies were too shy
to talk about those birds and bees
Integrated schools had stopped
the facts of life were these
Girls and boys went away and came back,
empty after the weekend
The talk on the phone consisted of
hushed voices speaking
Boys and girls in every town
Sand man spread his sand around
Now we are just waking up
From a summer of drugs
CANDY FROM A STRANGER
When a young boy, wants to die
Thinking he might try, taking his own life
And from up and from behind
With a gun in his side
He says "Give me all your money
Your money or your mind"
Candy from a stranger, candy from a stranger
Candy from a stranger, candy from a stranger
When an old man says, he wants to live
Telling the doctor, he's got more life to give
Got to save, got to pay, all you got
Give me all your money, money or your mind
Candy from a stranger, candy from a stranger
Candy from a stranger, candy from a stranger
Give me all your money, money or your mind
Candy from a stranger
STRANGER
I said "Hey brown girl
I seen tears through the window of the junk shop downtown"
Selling trinkets from your far off homeland,
did the Promise land let you down?
I said "hey young boy
I notice that you ain't afraid to walk next to me"
"Old man, you look like you're dying,
is that all you want is a quarter from me?"
Sometimes I feel like a stranger, I feel like a stranger
I'm just another face in a faceless crowd,
I'm just another king in a headless crown
I'm so alone. Y'know I live here in this city,
but this place it just ain't nobody's home
Now how many times do I got to tell you?
There's no such thing as a man made world
Now how many times do I got to tell you?
There's no such thing as a man-tamed girl
Sometimes I feel like stranger, I feel like a stranger
I want to buy some flowers for my mother, if I only had
a chance
You see, I got a happy family, but that's oh so far away
You see, I've got it all here inside me,
but I just can't seem to get it out
But I know with a little imagination
we can work this whole goddamn thing out
Oh don't make me feel so strange, I feel like a stranger
CAN'T EVEN TELL
I may never get what I want
But I'm happy just to die trying
And I hope I ain't done nobody wrong
But I miss you smiling
And I'm looking for a cure cause I'm bored to tears
And I'm stuck in here, stuck out here, stuck in here
We lived through another day
It's a good excuse to celebrate
Take a number knock on wood
We'll find a reason to feel good
I know, you know, I wanna know how I feel
I can't even tell, I can't even tell, I can't even tell
No one knows nothing about me
I'm guessing I'll just keep 'em guessing
No one sees what I see
This is my blessing
And I'm looking for a way to get out of here
Get me out of here, out of here, out of here
We lived through another day
It's a good excuse to celebrate
Take a number knock on wood
Find a reason to feel good
I know, you know, you wanna know how I feel
I can't even tell, I can't even tell, I can't even tell
I'm out of here, out of here, out of here
I know, you know, I want to know how I feel
I can't tell, I know, you know, I'll tell you if it's
real
It sounded like a bell, I can't even tell
I can't even tell
LONELY FOR YOU
Barefoot and pregnant she trys not to bend
The ear of a doctors not much of a friend
The doctors on location missing his kids
And wondering where she went to live
Spend time alone and look after your life
Remember your loved ones your boyfriends your wifes
And, if you are lonely, and shes lonely too,
Then she will stay lonely for you ,
she will stay lonely for you
Come what may , come some day
And she will stay lonely for you
Patiently waiting for taxi's to come
To take you away from all you have become
The driver tells stories like he's your best friend
And you hope the ride never ends
To all of the ones who have got no one else
Keep their own time and look after themselves
Someday you'll meet someone lonely as you
And he will stay lonely for you ,
yes he will stay lonely for you
Come what may , come some day
And I .... I will stay lonely for you
Yes, I will stay lonely for you
