Artist: Ben Folds Album: Rockin' The Suburbs {2001}

And so, Annie waits, Annie waits, Annie waits
For a call from a friend
The same, it's the same
Why's it always the same
Annie waits for the last time

The clock never stops, never stops, never waits
She's growing old, it's getting late
And so he forgot, he forgot - maybe not
Maybe he's been seriously hurt
Would that be worse

Headlights crest the hill
Shadows pass her by and out of sight
Annie sees in dreams
Friday bingo, pigeons in the park

Annie waits for the last time
Just the same as the last time
Annie says, "You see, this is why I'd rather be alone."

And so, Annie waits, Annie waits, Annie waits
For a call from a friend
The same, it's the same
Why's it always the same
Annie waits as the last

Headlights crest the hill
Who will be the one for evermore
Annie I could be
If we're both still lonely when we're old

Annie waits for the last time
Just the same as the last time
Annie waits for the last time
Just the same as the last time

Annie waits
But not for me

Sara spelled without an H was getting bored
On a Peavey amp in 1984
While Zak without a C tried out some new guitars
Playing Sara with no H's favorite song

La da da la da da la da da
La da da la da da la da da
Zak and Sara

Often Sara would have spells where she lost time
She saw the future, she heard voices from inside
The kind of voices she would soon learn to deny
Because at home they got her smacked

La da da la da da la da da
La da da la da da la da da
Zak and Sara
Zak and Sara

Zak called his dad about layaway plans
And Sara told the friendly salesman that,
"You'll all die in your cars."
And, "Why's it gotta be dark?"
And, "You're all working in a submarine.  Asshole."

She saw the lights, she saw a pale English face
Some strange machines repeating beats and thumping bass
Visions of pills that put you in a loving trance
That make it possible for all white boys to dance
And when Zak finished Sara's song, Sara clapped

La da da la da da la da da
La da da la da da la da da
Zak and Sara
Zak and Sara

Good morning, son - I am a bird
Wearing a brown polyester shirt
You want a coke, maybe some fries
The roast beef combo's only nine ninety five
It's okay, you don't have to pay
I've got all the change

Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
So weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it
And you're so much like me - I'm sorry

Good morning, son
In twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down and have a few beers
And I can tell you 'bout today
And how I picked you up and everything changed
It was pain, sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things

Everybody knows
It sucks to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it
You'll try and try and one day you'll fly away from me

Good morning, son
Good morning, son
Good morning, son
Good morning, son
Good morning, son - I am a bird

It was pain, sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things

Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
So weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it
Oh, we're still fighting it, we're still fighting it

And you're so much like me - I'm sorry

I thought I'd write, I thought I'd let you know
That the year since you've been gone I've finally let you go
And I hope you find some time to drop a note
But if you won't, then you won't
And I will consider you gone

I know that you went straight to someone else
While I worked through all this shit here by myself
And I think that you should spend some time alone
But if you won't, then you won't
And I will, then i will consider you gone

Gone, gone, gone, gone
Gone, gone, gone, gone

I wake up in the night
All alone and it's alright
The chemicals are wearing off
Since you've gone, gone

The days go on, the lights go off and on
And nothing really matters when you're gone
If you think that you feel nothing at all
If you don't, if you don't
Then you don't, no, you won't
If you won't, then you won't
And I will, then I will
Yeah, I will consider you gone
Gone, gone, gone, gone

Fred sits alone at his desk in the dark
There's an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall
He's cleared all his things and he's put them in boxes
Things that remind him life has been good
Twenty-five years he's worked at the paper
A man's here to take him downstairs
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, it's time

There was no party, there were no songs
Cos today's just a day like the day that he started
No one is left here that knows his first name
And life barrels on like a runaway train
Where the passengers change, they don't change anything
You get off, someone else can get on
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, it's time

Streetlight, it shines through the shades
Casting lines on the floor, and lines on his face
He reflects on the day

Fred gets his paints out and goes to the basement
Projecting some slides onto a plain white
Canvas and traces it, fills in the spaces
He turns off the slides and it doesn't look right
Yeah, and all of these bastards have taken his place
He's forgotten but not yet gone

And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, it's time

Pangs of silence from the room upstairs
How's the view there
Do you read what they're saying about you
That you're no fun since the war was won
In fact, you have become all of the things you've always run from

The ascent of Stan - textbook hippie man
Get rest while you can

So where'd the years go, all the time we had
Being poor was not such a drag in hindsight
And you wondered why your father was so resigned
Now you don't wonder any more

The ascent of Stan - textbook hippie man
Textbook hippie man, get rest while you can

Stan - once you wanted revolution
Stan - now you're the institution
Stan - how's it feel to be the man
It hurts to be the man
It's no fun to be the man

And now watch it all go down

The ascent of Stan - textbook hippie man,
Stan - textbook hippie man, get rest while you can

Stan - once you wanted revolution
Stan - now you're the institution
Stan - how's it feel to be the man
It hurts to be the man
It's no fun to be the man

The lights are off again, she took me by surprise
She's so sensitive, this shit just happens sometimes
She's my everything, she's my best friend and more
We don't do anything we didn't do the day
Before you go you oughta know 
That I didn't mean to hurt you, I just wanted you to know

Black tears are falling down her face and I am wrong
Black tears are falling and she won't say what I've done
She's sitting here beside me, then she is gone
Black tears are falling, falling

Remember long ago, together laughing, loving
Oh, so long ago, when we were buying something
Life was simple then, but she's not happy now, and I
Don't feel anything, her lips are moving
I am mesmerised by tiny lies
I'm watching as the shapes are drawing slowly from her eyes

Black tears are falling down her face and I am wrong
Black tears are falling and she won't say what I've done
She's sitting here beside me, then she is gone
Black tears are falling, falling
Black tears are falling, falling

Losing Lisa, losing Lisa, losing Lisa
And there's nothing I can do

Black tears are falling, falling
Black tears are falling, falling
Black tears are falling, falling
Black tears are falling, falling

Her window was hung like a painting
She worried it might come to life
She stared for hours
So obsessed was I and self-absorbed
That I didn't see that she was crying

There was always someone carrying
There was always someone carrying
Always someone's carrying Cathy

There were times when I'd find myself saying to friends,
"You don't understand, she's different when it's just me and her."
And I closed the door and I tried to hang on
And she sank into the dark
I was over my head

There was always someone carrying
There was always someone carrying
Always someone's carrying Cathy

We gave you everything
You could have been anything
We gave you everything
You could have done anything

But to imagine a fall
With no one at all to catch you
There'd always been someone

Then one night she climbed into the picture frame
Out in the frozen air and out of sight

Woke up sad from this dream I've been having the last couple nights or so
With her father and brothers we're all at the funeral
Carrying a box through the rain
Then somebody says, "Yeah, it's always been this way."

Always someone's carrying
There was always someone carrying
Always someone's carrying Cathy

You took a trip and climbed a tree
At Robert Sledge's party
And there you stayed till morning came
And you were not the same after that

You gave your life to Jesus Christ
And after all your friends went home
You came down, you looked around
And you were not the same after that

You were not the same after that
You were not the same after that 

You see them drop like flies from the bright sunny skies
They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes
You've got one good trick and you're hanging on, you're hanging on to it

You took the word and made it heard
And eased the people's pain and for that
You were idolised, immortalised
And you were not the same after that

Walking tall, you'd bought it all
And you were not the same after that
Till someone died on the waterslide
And you were not the same after that

You see them drop like flies from the bright sunny skies
They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes
You've got one good trick and you're hanging on, you're hanging on to it

You were not the same

You see them drop like flies from the bright sunny skies
They come knocking at your door with this look in their eyes
You've got one good trick and you're hanging on, you're hanging on
You're hanging on
You're hanging on
You're hanging on

Let me tell y'all what it's like
Being male, middle-class and white
It's a bitch, if you don't believe
Listen up to my new CD, sham on

I got shit runnin' throught my brain
So intense that I can't explain
All alone in my white-boy pain
Shake your booty while the band complains

I'm rockin' the suburbs
Just like Michael Jackson did
I'm rockin' the suburbs
Except that he was talented
I'm rockin' the suburbs
I take the checks and face the facts
That some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks

I'm pissed off but I'm too polite
When people break in the McDonald's line
Mom and Dad you made me so uptight
Gonna cuss on the mic tonight
I don't know how much I can take
Girl, give me something I can break

I'm rockin' the suburbs
Just like Quiet Riot did
I'm rockin' the suburbs
Except that they were talented
I'm rockin' the suburbs
I take the checks and face the facts
That some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks

In a haze these days
I pull up to the stop light
I can feel that something's not right
I can feel that someone's blasting me with hate and bass
Sending dirty vibes my way
Cos my great, great, great, great Grandad
Made someones' great, great, great, great, Grandaddy slaves
It wasn't my idea, it wasn't my idea
Never was my idea
I just drove to the store for some Preparation-H

Y'all don't know what it's like
Being male, middle-class and white
Y'all don't know what it's like
Being male, middle-class and white
Y'all don't know what it's like
Being male, middle-class and white
Y'all don't know what it's like
Being male, middle class and white

It gets me real pissed off, it makes me wanna say
It gets me real pissed off and it makes me wanna say
It gets me real pissed off and it makes me wanna say
Fuck

Just like Jon Bon Jovi did
I'm rockin' the suburbs
Except that he was talented
I'm rockin' the suburbs
I take the checks and face the facts
That some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks these days
Yeah, yeah, I'm rockin' the suburbs
Yeah, yeah, I'm rockin' the suburbs, yeah, yeah

You'd better look out, because I'm gonna say fuck
You'd better look out, because I'm gonna say fuck
You'd better look out, because I'm gonna say fuck
You'd better look out, because I'm gonna say fuck

Lucretia walks into a room
Because she does it's not the same room
The one she wanted to be in
She says, "Everywhere I go, damn, there I am."
And I just want to walk away
Won't you let me walk away sometimes
Won't you let me walk away

Every one of you is fired

I'm just an ordinary guy
And all I want is to be loved - is that so wrong
Don't think that I don't know what you're saying about me
I hear it all through these thin walls
And I just want to walk away
Won't you let me walk away this time
And I just want to walk away

Every one of you is fired
Every one of you is oh, oh, oh, oh
Every one of you is fired, yeah

I just want to walk away
Won't you let me walk away this time
Cos I just want to walk away

Every one of you is fired
Every one of you is oh, oh, oh, oh
Every one of you is fired
Every one of you is oh, oh, oh, oh, fired

Motherfucker

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face
Now I see it everyday

And I know that I am, I am
I am the luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know

And in a wide sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize

And I know that I am, I am
I am the luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife - she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong

That I know that I am, I am
I am the luckiest