1. |
New Year's Plea
01:36
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Got a dead tooth
A mound of debt too
Got addicted to
Playing keep away with my beliefs in May
Maybe in June
Got a bum leg (I know)
Gotta bum cigs (I know)
Kinda bummed I missed
All those cornerstones lined up like quarter notes
Though I can hold my own down at the river's edge
Was it that important I show
I'm a living legend? No.
Got a bad ear
Since I been back here
Drowning out my tears
Only drunken ones, know where I'm coming from?
Then gimme a year
Got some thick skin
And I think I could fix this
If you showed me how you know right now
That you've never been happier
You can throw me out but show me how
You know you've never been happier
How've you never been happier?
Have I ever been happier?
Have I never been happy or
Have I ever been happy? Oh.
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2. |
Don't Mean Nothing
03:01
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Lost and alone
In the place I call home
I been trying so hard for you
You could call this an ode
To a girl I've never known
I been trying so hard for you
But it don't mean nothing now
So she wants to go to parties, does she?
Then I refuse to change
When something's wrong in the background of my brain
Kicked like a stone
From the day I was born
I been trying so hard for you
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3. |
Paper Bag Blues
04:08
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Walking into the station
Paper bag in hand
Bought a small black coffee
From the newsstand man
Shut myself in a corner stall
Hold it level till I’ve poured it all on in
Check the cap, throw the latch
And nod back with a grin
Trying to keep my eye
On the weaving text
Like a butterfly
On a TV set
Like a dancer’s gaze
In a pirouette, I can
Watch a single blade on the ceiling fan
From my double bed
But then it moves backwards
And I’m losing track of
What used to matter and now
If the board reads right
I’m headed toward the light
At a hundred miles an hour
Stepping out onto the platform
Steam hits me in the face
Getting pushed along like cattle
Hey pal, this isn’t a race
Up the stairs into the sunshine
Might as well have been shot to outer space
Said she’s gonna meet me halfway
I can’t wait
Every time I’m in the city
I want to stay for good
Shack up with a pretty girl
Like any honest man would
Then there’s this demon that I can’t evade
It takes my money and it drags me screaming back
To my white wall jail cell
And my paper bag
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4. |
Braincheck
02:26
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No more
Drinking to get drunk
Thinking I'm unloved
While sinking to the rug
Lip-syncing themes from sitcom reruns
No more
Staying up all night
Bathed in milky light
Caught speeding toward the finish line
I've seen this one a million times
It isn't what I want
It isn't what I want
No more
Fast-food after work
Plate on my chest, grease on my shirt
I cashed my check for what it's worth
I asked to get what I deserve
And no more
Sneaking to the woods
Like Christmas morning in the hood
I wrote my songs with murky longing
Then I understood somehow
This isn't what I want
This isn't what I want
It isn't what it isn't
What I want is what I want
So tell me
How I'm supposed to give it up
Without giving up
How am I supposed to give it up
Without giving up
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5. |
Silver Rings
03:51
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From the summit comes a vision of great size
To rule the fool, the shrewd, the little babe alike
The story told unfolds in modern time
I've gleaned the pleasure in not questioning
The sweet, unfettered wait for better things
Saving your silver rings
What hope brings
Some expunge the brunt of horror from their lives
Others go alone exploring their inside
I've dreamed the reverie of the infidel
Sleek and steady as a carousel
Drunk at the wishing well
There's something here that he don't care to know
It ain't your bad news to break, kid
If you've got the blues, you fake it
That's your role
Wrote long ago, so long ago
I took you in
I never wanted it to end
Guess I was hoping if I was open
You might lead me by the hand
To where the sun was going down
And see it's only swinging 'round, but then
I've peeled the layers of my public self
Revealed my maker for this show-and-tell
Oh, if you knew me well
You'd know there's something here that you don't care to know
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6. |
NY Reservations
03:30
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Right at home
Lounging on the couch again
The Twilight Zone on
In the background
Man, talk about a perfect backdrop
To this crackpot plan
Nonetheless, you bet I'm glad
You made it back, my friend
It's been a while, but don't it feel like only yesterday
We were hiding under bed sheets
Coordinating heartbeats till the
Mourning came and chased you far away from me
I cut these eyeholes out
Yeah, yeah, so I can see
As I trace your hip with a sober gaze
Like doing figure 8's on a frozen lake
I'm going insane trying to commit you to a holy place
When I know it's in vain
Let it snow and erase you
Out of sight, out of mind
It appears we're out of time
Would it be too out of line
If I pleaded while I cried
'Stay awhile,' it ain't a crime, besides
Hey, we play our cards right
Maybe you can dodge another
Restless nightmare of the chapter book
Where the lines you read on second glance were backwards
Should you skip ahead to find what happens on the last page
Could you begin again or am I imagining you mentioned that
The groundsman at the mansion had your father's eyes
And that the vengeful sisters whistled from the mirror's side
After the girl you trusted conjured them and ran to hide
Were you prepared to face it then
Or are you scared you may have been
Replaced
And not by any other idol
But by the vacuum that remains
In the arid space
Where once a mother's love resided
I was always good with faces
But I'm pretty bad with
What's in a name
If your memory ain't ignited
By the gibberish the ancients picked
To chisel on their gravestones
With a pithy phrase as if one ever could define you
I think it's safe to say
'We'll meet again'
Looks great engraved on fading monuments
But let's not pretend it carries any weight
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Beautiful Ground Hartford, Connecticut
songs by James DM
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