Release Date: September 16, 2003
Label: Island Records
1. For The Workforce, Drowning
Falling from the top floor your lungs
fill like parachutes
windows go rushing by.
people inside,
dressed for the funeral in black and white.
These ties strangle our necks, hanging in the closet,
found in the cubicle;
without a name, just numbers, on the resume stored in the mainframe, marked for delete.
please take these hands
throw them in the river,
wash away the things they never held
please take these hands,
throw me in the river,
dont let me drown before the workday ends.
9 to 5! 9 to 5!
and we're up to our necks,
drowning in the seconds,
ingesting the morning commute
lost in a dead subway sleep
we will not lie awake in our parents beds,
tossing and turning.
tomorrow we'll get up
drive to work,
single file
with everyday
it's like the last.
waiting for the life to start, is it always just always ahead of the curve?
please take these hands
throw them in the river,
wash away the things they never held
please take these hands,
throw me in the river,
dont let me drown before the workday ends.
just keep making copies
of copies
of copies
when will it end?
it'll never end,
'til it gets so bad
that the ink fills in our fingerprints
and the silouhette of your own face becomes the black cloud of war
and even in our dreams we're so afraid the way we'll offset who we are
all those breaths that you took have now been canceled in your lungs.
last night my teeth fell out like i want
my teeth fell out like ivory typewriter keys
and all the monuments and skyscrapers burned down and filled the sea.
and save!
save our ship
the anchor is part of the desk
we can't cut free,
the water is flooding the decks
the memo said through colors
computers spark like flares
i can see them.
they don't touch me,
touch me.
please someone,
teach me how to swim.
please, don't let me drown,
please, don't let me drown.
2. Between Rupture And Rapture
in the veins of the ultraviolet light,
the phosphor is starting a fire
shooting up in the iodine;
its turning on
rupture the wall around my heart
i feel so lost,
i've been shaking. you can't save me
(forget what the doctor said)
every bird in mid-flight is calling out your name
before it hits the window and it sings the rapture
without a second opinion
the chemicals saturate
to counteract the code
through the double-helix we are twisting
(too scared to let this go)
someone call the head nurse
she's coming to the capitol
to wrap us up and throw us in the dirt, with a dream thats turning off
rupture the wall around my heart
i feel so lost,
i've been shaking. you can't save me
(forget what the doctor said)
every bird in mid-flight is calling out your name
before it hits the window and it sings the rapture
we're coming to the capitol [x2]
the distance between us will rupture
coming to the capitol
in our hearts the disease wont touch us
coming to the capitol
love, now its too late
(love) to turn this off
alone is all we are
even when we we feel this close
it's just a lie we believe
these are the words that escape from our lungs,
rupture the wall ive built around my heart
i've been shaking
you can't save me
im turning off
we can't find a way
out of this moment
were lost in a dark hallway
3. Division St.
Lights out on Division Street
and all the hate that rises
through the cracks in the pavement,
as the temperature falls.
(This is where is hits the ground)
Lights out on Division Street
I'm repeating
Goodbye to the memories,
(the fever that will not break)
the night is pouring down,
it's not enough to put this out,
i'll burn up before i wake up.
(on Division Street)
This is serious,
This is serious,
If this is serious
I'll hide my heart in dark parades.
Lights out on Division Street
I held you tight like an empty bottle...
But the glass broke
(and the poison spilled out of your mouth)
Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?
The house turned black and sat in silence
(while a mockingbird sang)
lalalalalala, listen to yourself
go on and on, as if you spoke to someone else.
Lights out on Division Street
I'm repeating
Goodbye to the memories,
(the fever that will not break)
the night is pouring down,
its not enough to put this out,
i'll burn up before i wake up.
(on Division Street)
This is serious,
This is serious,
If this is serious
I'll hide my heart in dark parades.
To dance between the scirror's blades
without getting cut.
I drew an X on your city's name
LIGHTS OUT. BLACK OUT. BLOW OUT THE CANDLE AGAIN.
spin the room around
FALL DOWN. PASS OUT. GET UP. I CAN'T KEEP REPEATING.
Between the footsteps I hear crickets in the trees
a silent army marching with me through a swarm of bees
a needle dragged across a record slowing down
along Division St. the lights were dying out
endless rows of houses stretched on for miles and miles and miles...
TURN THE WINDOWS BLACK
Lights out on Division Street
repeating (repeat it)
Lights out on Division Street
repeating, (turn the windows black)
lights out. lights out. lights out.
turn the windows black
la la la la la la
listen to yourself.
4. Signals Over the Air
this is what you see when you look in my direction:
incandescent corsets draw eyes tight like wires.
this is how it feels,
calling out but no one even hears
the signals that we send over the air
over the air
over the air
over the air.
when you say my name,
i want to split it from your lips
and hide like whispers in the rain.
when you say my name,
i want to stop it in your lungs
and collect all of your blood to put in the radio.
is this how it feels
when you dont even fit into your own skin?
and its getting tighter,
every day i'm getting smaller
if i keep holding my breath i'm going to disappear.
when you say my name,
i want to split it from your lips
and hide like whispers in the rain.
when you say my name,
i want to stop it in your lungs
and collect all of your blood to put in the radio.
there's no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
there's no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
if i keep holding my breath, all of this will fade away.
if you keep driving we'll be lying in the wreck.
changing the shape,
folding like an envelope to keep each other in.
shattered glass, broken looks, and mascara gets
washed away by windshield wiper blades.
when you say my name,
i want to split it from your lips
and hide like whispers in the rain.
when you say my name,
i want to stop it in your lungs
and collect all of your blood to put in the radio.
there's no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
there's no where to hide.
they stole the love from our lives to put the sex on the radio.
that's where we hide
the love, the lies, the lust, the sex on the radio.
5. Marches and Manuevers
this is a war we live and the sides are drawn. we're all wrapped up in fatigues and they wear us out. this is a storm at sea. if we fly a white flag, under a black and blue sky, will the red sun rise? (the taste of your kerosine lips burn me up) the glare from your enemy sights make me go blind/ blinds divide the sunlight into thin strips, the size of a blade, in this trench we dig for ourselves. fourscore and fade. glare with the enemy heat of the bodies in the bed. there's no retreat. This is a war we live in. now we're up in arms, with our heads pressed against the wall (and it's wearing thin). these are the screams we swallow, if we fly a white flag under a black and blue sky... this is our war. administer the pill before the cell divides (keep marching--keep fighting) and we'll both go down like toy soldiers. threats and picket lines are forming around our beds and the landmines in our chests will all go off in time. if we trip each other into this, do you think we'll find a way out? we've synthesized a compound to treat this conscience, it's: one part loss, one part no sleep, one part the gun shot we heard, one part the screams mistaken for laughter, one part everything after, one part love, one part stepping out of the driving rain, one part parting ways, in the cold apartment. don't look back, just keep running down the stairs. do you hear the footsteps? can you hear voices in the traffic, communiques in the attic? they say, after time, all this will heal, we will rebuild and these broken arms will mend themselves in our embrace.
6. Asleep in the Chapel
three chalk outlines sleep in the dirty street and in our beds, under the sheets, they're the halo of guilt hanging around your neck, next to the rosary you count, falling asleep and we're praying to treat the symptoms of letting go of all our hope. since we can't compete with martyred saints, we'll douse ourselves in gasoline and hang our bodies from the lampposts so that our shadows turn into bright lights 'white light, white heat' we'll make as we're blacking out in the center lane, we swerve to the beat, spill all the ink No revisions Do you hear the church bells ringing? wake up!! wake up in an outline and try to speak with the shattered voice of the lives we lead... have we slept too long between the bullet holes in a stained-glass window state? when we repent, we fall on the page (read, in the margins) we are the symptoms of letting go of all our hope. someday we'll be complete like modern saints, baptize our kids in gasoline and hang our doubts up in cathedrals so that they turn to faith in the colored sunlight. 'red rain, red rain' we'll make as we're blacking out in the center lane... do you hear the church bells ringing? they ring for you. we woke up this morning to a street filled with a thousand burning crosses and what we thought was the sunrise, just passing headlights still the choir girls sing, 'oh lord, can you save us? oh lord, sing hallelujah' they are the symptoms of letting go of all our hope... we're falling asleep with open eyes falling asleep inside the chapel falling asleep in chalk outlines falling asleep as the headlights pass us by...
7. This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb
do you hear the jet plane yawning miles across the sky? do you hear the garbage truck back down the boulevard, setting off the car alarms as it passes by? do you hear the static of one thousand detuned radios? shut the window, love. keep the world outside. I don't want to think about anyone but the footsteps are getting louder, drowning out the sound of the rain, as it knocks on the windowsill. I'm not answering the phone -- let it ring. lately I've been feeling like a falling bomb. the ground is getting closer and the sky is falling down. this song has been brough to you by a falling bomb.
8. Steps Ascending
steps ascend to a loaded gun. the scent of matches hangs in the air (a lit one flickers out in a hearbeat). we don't want to see this: a flash of light that's letting go of an empty bullet case, by the time it hits the ground, he's out of reach. let go. the wolves are closing in. there's no room left to make amends. do you remember when we'd fly that kite so high? all the time we've wasted, spent fighting, will burn in the fire of our regrets all the time we've wasted, spent fighting, it's blood and it's running down the stairs. freeze the frame between the gun shot and the hole it makes. a spinning bullet waits in the middle. there's no way to stop it, it will surely hit the mark. you can try to understand but I'm giving up. the synapse fires, it's right in time. I'm giving up. this should always stay out of reach I ran down the stairs and into the garden, put both my hands into the soil. in the spring, you will bloom, like her heart, through the blouse, in the back of the ambulance, as it turned and turned in the streets (just one more turn won't you come back to me) as it turned on its red lights, you were turning into red roses but I'm not giving up.
9. War All the Time
Standing on the edge of the palisades cliffs
In the shadow of the skyline very far away
A lightning rod that couldn�t pull the storm from me
I was 5 years old my best friends older brother died
He fell from these cliffs
The river washed him away the current pulled him downstream
In our eyes, floating in the headlights, so we parked these cars
Parent�s garage
Listen to the lullaby
Of Carbon Monoxide
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
The sun doesn�t rise
We replaced it with an h-bomb explosion
A painted jail cell of blood in the sky like Three Mile Island
Nightmares on TV they used to sing us to sleep
They burn on and on like an oil field
Or a memory of what it felt like
To burn on and on and not just fade away
All those nights in the basement the kids are still screaming
On and on and on and on
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
And we�re blowing in the wind
We don�t know where to land
So we kiss like little kids
We used to be very tall buildings
We�ve been falling for so long
Now your eyes follow the sign on the edge of town
They offer a welcome when you are leaving
War all of the time
In the shadow of the New York skyline
We grew up too fast falling apart
Like the ashes of American flags
The pieces fall it�s like a last day parade
And the fires in our streets start to rage,
so wave, to the people that long to wave back,
from the fabric of a flag that sang "love all of the time"
War all the time War all the time
All of the time
War all the time
War all the time
All of the time
All of the time
War all of the time
War all of the time
War all of the time
War all of the time