American Music Club San Francisco
Fearless
Lost again, lost again
I closed my eyes and kept on going
Now I"m gone and nothing's gonna endure
Unless I love you even more
Found again, am I found again
By your hands, my home is in your hands
But that's a touch I don't deserve anymore
Unless I love you even more
A stubborn heart can stay broken forever
But someday the tightrope's gonna break
Will I fall into a cool cool river
Or will I fall into a frozen lake
Saved again, amd I saved again
By your eyes, the tears in your eyes
Your tears are the only thing that makes me sure
I've got to love you even more
And your tears are the only thing that'll endure
Unless I love you even more
It's Your Birthday
The eyes of the world see what they want to see
People always boil things down to nothing
They'll see your love as worthless and wrong
They eyes of the world leave you with nothing
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should take it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should unwrap it
It's your birthday baby
Here's some luck you should grab it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a smile you should unwrap it
There's still a few drinks between you and closing time
If you break her heart you'll break your own
Are you afraid that all her roads led right you
Are you afraid that all your roads led right to her
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should take it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should unwrap it
It's your birthday baby
Here's some luck you should grab it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a smile you should unwrap it
No matter how long you stay with her
You know she loves you
You could make her pain count for something
Even though she hasn't been a girl for very long
Her heart is beautiful, beautiful and strong
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should take it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a gift you should unwrap it
It's your birthday baby
Here's some luck you should grab it
It's your birthday baby
Here's a smile you should unwrap it
Can You Help Me?
I tried to run away but I was frozen in place
My body was mad of sawdust and my heart just split
My old friend rigor mortis started to breathe in my face
The air started to drain out of my spirit
Help me, can you help me?
A century of my tears wouldn't even fill a thimble
The war of the class clown is never won
But nothing makes me laugh anymore
And nothing makes me craw
And nothing makes me feel like I belong
Help me, can you help me?
I can't believe all the stupid things I'm saying now
Either I've shaken the world off my back or else I've gone senile
i thought your love was just a great big lie
Now love you is the only thing that's gonna get me by
Help me, can you help me?
All I have to offer you is archaeology and Christmas
And we'll turn our backs on what the world has in store
And twist the light so that it shines down on us
And wait together for the touch of something more
Help me, can you help me?
Love Doesn't Belong
An agony waiting for someone to tell you to shut up
But don't stop even if there's no moon to hold you
Or any other lifeless rock
I can tell you put all your hopes into the shoes you buy
Your loneliness has feet that walk it's got wings that fly
And it does sing a song
Love doesn't belong to anyone
They don't see the coffin only the nails their lights
Too bright for your home movies
They'll set you adrift disappointed and starving
But never as hungry as the sharks
Your desperate suit made out of puppet strings doesn't las very long
Desperate in hte quiet your sinking below mouthing the words to some
Old sixties song, a quiet song
Love doesn't belong to anyone
When you're finally silenced and led into alleys
And led into dark corners where no one can hear
Where what you say doesn't lead anywhere but darker corners of your fear
Tehre must be more to it than the pilgrim's hateful dream of love and peace
I know I've had that vision too an old key on a rusty chain of keys
A key that turns you your whole life long
Love doesn't belong to anyone
Wish the World Away
I don't need anyone's love
I couldn't afford it anyway
With my penny's worth of hope
It's not funny but it's a joke
And I got a good one for the collection agency
It's a wish
That I could wish the world away
Don't watch TV it's all lies
I watch TV day and night
I believe everything I see
And I can't turn it off
The only thing that held me together in the good old day
Was a wish
That I could wish the world away
Where's the message in the bottles
Where's the miracle in the pills
Where's the nurse with that needle
Where's all of my free will
Count down backwards from ten and everything's okay
You can wisht he world away
How Many Six Packs Does it Take to Screw in a Light
I never had a lot to bring to the party
But a self-importance far beyond vanity
And a manic depression that just wouldn't go away
Like Peckinpaw with a bouquet of poison ivy
How many six packs does it take to screw in a light
It's good to be alive baby, sometimes it's alright
Nothing like a little vacation once in awhile
At the Cable Car Hotel San Francisco style
For three nights and three days Jesus hung on boom box while it played
Every single song ever sung by Billie Holiday
How many six packs does it take to screw in a light
It's good to be alive baby, sometimes it's alright
Afterwards I'm on California Street looking at the sky
The sun is going down pouring salt into my eyes
Like he said: When the light goes out so does fear
And you only see beauty as it begins to disappear
How many six packs does it take to screw in a light
It's good to be alive baby, sometimes it's alright
Cape Canaveral
I should trade my heart in for a watch
'Cause all I do is watch the numbers slip away
My lips silently repeat the countdown
'Cause it's too hard to say
I always knew that you would leave
Do you know where the hell we are
All the birds are too quiet in the trees
Frightened by the sweet things we say to each other
Frightened by the things we make them see
I always knew that you would leave
Like hunger that you always have to feed
Like when Don Rickles' spotlight goes blue
The countdown tells me I'm better off alone
And so empty without you
I always knew that you would leave
Hello Amsterdam
Hello Amsterdam my name is Fernando
Hello Amsterdam I bet you've seen my kind before
Another sad tourist with his eyes rolling in his head
Another sad tourist who never had a drink before
Hello Amsterdam you didn't like my Waterloo
Hello Amsterdam I wish I had something to offer you
Tail between my leg I crawl back to the canal
All alone with my eyes rolling like the moon
Superstar
There once was a white elephant that excaped from the zoo
Got to the big city and didn't know what to do
Had a sticker on his shirt that said Hello my name is unclean
I swear they would have liked us if we'd played Dancing Queen
Hello Amsterdam don't I look cool in my white shirt
Hello Amsterdam don't I look hip in my red tie
We came from America so you could share in the pride
Guilt, greed, and genocide
Superstar
The Revolving Door
The revolving door
I'm stuck in it, my love
Your cold cold heart that never opens
And never tires
What chance do I have?
Your meteor shower, my love
Did you want to wish on some lucky star
Or did you just want to watch them fall
And burn out
What chance do I have?
Your disappearing act my love
That's an old stand by
And I just want your touc
To never tire
What chance do I have?
In the Shadow of the Valley
I gave up my cynicism I gave up my hard shell
I gave up everything that would cause you the least pain
I'm immodest as a child old before it's time
Why should I hide something I've no chance to see
My night was sleepless so all through my day
I took the next shade of weariness down to LA
I'm off like a shotgun out of your reach
My self-importance my mind-numbing haze
No I don't want to know about my life
No I don't want to know what I'm thinking or feeling
Ignorance is bliss but babe we won't stay that way
We'll escape heaven somehow down in LA
I can make your future easier to predict
Hot as a devil and cold as an addict
People usually just make me tired
The plague of always deserving something better
God save me from teh rewards I deserve
The one for giving up hope the onfor the love that I serve
If I opened my heart then you'd be washed away
Down the bone-dry rivers that drain LA
My nights are all sleepless so all through my day
I like to take shades of weariness all through LA
What Holds the World Together
The wind pulls me around and everything it touches turns weak
An antique or an eyelash stuck to your cheek
The paper thin skin of a crowd chasing you
Down a long and dead-end trail
With a guilt no alibi can curtail
The world is held together by the wind
That blows through Gena Rowland's hair
Land ahoy I fill my weak lungs with this joy
Dizzy on the the deck I hope I last until we land
With an envelope burning a hole in my hand
Bearing the names of the winners who walked away
From the games that the slaves love to play
To replace the air and the sea
Leaving you no way to fly to me
The world is held together by the wind
That blows through Gena Rowland's hair
Through the window the warm summer air does a two-step
I wish there was some way I could keep it
And clear away the Mission Street in my head that
Keeps this watery weariness in our bed and
Sets up more windmills that I'll waste my time missing
When it should just be your lips that I'm kissing
Don't tell me that you don't hear
The clock ticking on the shelf by our bed it's near
There's a light turning green just like fear
There's a light that turns green and leaves us without a prayer
The world is held together by the wind
That blows through Gena Rowland's hair
I Broke My Promise
I broke my promise that I wouldn't write another song about you
I guess I lied, after twelve years I still love you
On the phone you sound happy but a heart can cry
And you don't see the tears
I'm glad you went back
The California sun always shines but
San Francisco is a cold place
To have a run of bad luck
People like to shine their little flashlights in your face
I'm glad you went back
The blue blue sky is made of butcher knives
And everyone you meet is wearing some stupid disguise
In Columbus there's not spotlight to dazzle your eyes
I hope you find someone who loves you
'Cause only love can save you
I broke my promise 'cause I've missed you for so long
I can feel you in my life when you're happy
No matter where you are
I'm glad you went back
The Thorn in My Side is Gone
The thorn in my side is gone
It was too sharp for the laws of the world
Like my need for you
It doesn't register on the scale of the world
When they talk about the strength they usually mean
The way blood sticks to the hand
When they talk about strength I know
They don't mean a touch that only love understands
I'll never leave you
Love never lies
I swear you could see me
If you could open your eyes
There's a beast in the trees
Dogging my heart step by step
I begged it to leave me with something
'Cause my fear was like a wind
Tearing the song from my breath
I'll never leave you
Love never lies
I swear you could see me
If you could open your eyes
I'll Be Gone
It was a long hot summer day
We're in the living room watching the light drain away
Too tired to read what your cards foretold inside of a yawn
When she said, "The first time you show me your true heart I'll be gone."
The numb ringing after the bell was rung
Playing red light green light, such timeless fun
There was no way to kickstart any conversation
It was like the beginning of 2001 when she said, "I'll be gone."
The air isn't moving and the women have nothing on their ips
But the kind of breath that you keep for the hospital bed
Pregnant with the timeless drop and the wind
How the air leeches the gold out of everything elusive and stolen
I'll be gone