Special Thanks to Robyn in Chicago for typing up these lyrics and saving me hours of correcting my bad typing!
City Limits
When we come, we come the hard way
When we go, we go straight away
Because we are tired, tired of waiting
And we’re sick, sick of debating Misjudged your limits, took things too
far
Now you’re laying in the bathroom stall
Or passed out on the stool at the bar
But it'll take ten times that number
To last us, last us all summer
we can’t take any shorts now
Or let others show us the way how
Misjudged my limits pushed things too far
Now I’m driving way to fast
And crashing up my only car
Look out boy keep up your chin now
You don’t want to look like a victim
Come on girl its probably your best bet
To never let em, never let em see you sweat
Last chance to cash in on good times
Empty pockets lead to small crimes
But we just keep pushing onwards
We might get stuck, stuck for words
We’ve misjudged our limits
Took things too far
Now it stares us straight in the face
and someone’s calling us rock stars
Souled
Earthquake? Why must I shiver and shake?
And bring my good self down
You see a smile, I see a frown
Sit right down and pour yourself a drink
The stories not as insane as you might think
Not seven castaways but only one
You think the story’s over, well it’s just begun
I’m not giving you any song and dance
Do you think I got all this stuff by chance?
Just hear me out, what I have to say
And I’ll send you packing on your way
You might ask me why I look so unhealthy
Look so pale, I tell you
Hellhounds are chasing me
There’s a bad wind blowing up on my tail
Sit back down, you can lay all your troubles
And fears to rest
Because I can’t be sure of what you’ve heard
I don’t know what rumors you’ve been told
I sold my soul, used it to pay
For the paradise of one trouble-free day
As you can see, it’s not as crazy as it seems
Before you render your final objection
Look in the mirror, I cast no reflection
Shocks
Long distance last goodbye, never stop to reason why
I looked at all disheveled, but you didn’t care
I was working to save up my own train fare
Things got rough and the heat was on
The daily grind was making me feel, feel like a pawn
Just needed to get out and breathe some fresh air
Where I ended up I couldn’t even care
Looked at me, familiar face
But your old self was gone without a trace
I’m packing your picture in an old suitcase
If you get the change please ring me up today
Because I’m leaving and my train is on its way
How could I end what I didn’t mean to start
No rhymes about the obvious, no cheesy line about a heart
Like a little rascal who crashed his go-cart
Wont go another mile to play a stupid part
But I’ll sit by and receive messages on the telephone
Crazy letters from crazy people feeling more than alone
Don’t need to apologize for being nothing but myself
I didn’t build that pedestal, didn’t hang that stupid shelf
Looked at me with that old crooked smile
But the you that I knew I haven’t seen in a while
I’m putting your number in my vertical file
Sometimes it seems we never get repaid
But I’m leaving and my train is on its way
Looked in the mirror, saw my own open eyes
In the expression I realized my old self’s demise
I’m headed in search of bright days, and blue skies
In case you weren’t listening, got one thing left to say:
I’m still looking out at the same old face
But my old self is gone without a trace
I’m leaving and I’m taking off today
Midnight Sails
Depart the shore, the wind strikes sail
To stretch it out across the sky
Lean steady on the drunken rail
No small steps we do or die
The hero’s tale the loser’s gripe
A swollen fist, a blackened eye
Retold with twists and turns of tongue
More bloody as the bottles dry
Disembarked, the trail’s lost
So choked and overgrown with weeds
Cloudy skies, half-lidded eyes
Fulfilling wants, destroying needs
Rekindled hate, the long-lost lie
Reminded by a fearful glee
Security, the blanket’s warm
But shivers the cold bones decree
Left before and left behind
Relics of a smaller time
Glass it meets the blacktop streets
And parts in shards of changing minds
Juliette
Juliette of the supermarket, homecoming queen
Everybody’s prom date, everybody’s good luck
The face every man will place over that of his first
Juliette, wont stop she’ll run you over
How much can you take, what will you get? oh juliette
Juliette of the spring’s clear sky
The scent on your skin
Everybody’s sleepless night
The ‘cross the room distraction, eye contact is made
Juliette, she wont stop she’ll run you over
The feeling in your mind tho you’ve just met, oh juliette
Juliette of the bad trip, the subtlety of screams
Juliette of the ice pick, she takes a piece away
You shudder, shrivel, drowning gasping just to say
Juliette, she wont stop she’ll run you over
The queen of no remorse and no regret
She lives in the faces of everyone around you
She lives in the thoughts of the falsities you’ve found true
She lives in the cracks between our minds
Impossible to touch or taste, the feeling that you’ll never get again
Pablo Cant Take It
Pablo can’t take it, he’s on the run
Pablo is just fed up, his best friends a loaded gun
Holes in his shoes, merit badges, paid his dues
Every evening he’s on the news
Doesn’t have time to sing the blues
He keeps his dope up in his hat
So he’ll remember where it’s at
His knees and elbows wearing thin
My, my what a mess he’s in
Rides an old bike or an old skateboard
Look at the brand new car he scored
His is only a life a crime
When it’s compared to yours and mine
His father’s name is circumstance
His mother is the daily dance
His sister’s hooked, his brothers dead
Watch him sigh and scratch his head
Jefferson Assembly
As you step off the plane, no alohas in greeting
No throngs of taxis, no subway seating
Burnt-out fields, visions south of heaven
A tourist’s view of old detroit, left over from 67
Our car broke down, we walked ourselves home
You had forgotten the cellular phone
Took a wrong turn, you know there’s no telling me
Left the car stranded by Jefferson Assembly
Transmission slips and you’re down again
You realize that you’ve lost control
Life’s little pleasures mixed with life’s little pains
Like running out of gas whistling September in the Rain
Just crossed the border, your friend picked us up
Drove us to your house, man what good luck
Yell and scream but you won’t change your mind
Suburbs stretch north imagining crime
Who has the answers, who’ll learn next time?
The preachers still preach and the poets still rhyme
Who are the masters and who are the pawns?
Will the landmarks remain when we’re dead and gone?
Slow me down!
Wringing all the fun we can from weekends wet with bleeding hands
Aching back and breaking legs, we’ve drained our bottles to the dregs
Now we all shout happily, singing drunken melodies
Waiting for the dawn to take us back to our retreats
The coffee knocks me all around
The working day has got me down
But beer and whiskey drown
And cigarettes just slow me down
So young and arrogant and proud, didn’t believe in any god
Till I stepped outside one day and saw the devil and shook him by the claw
He was standing out on fourth and main
with others wasting time and brains
I would’ve liked to stay and chat but my hometown streets they called me
back
BRIDGE!
Construction never ends
You get by just keep on moving
Dragged back and forth all over town
I met a man who came up last, he saw the future and the past
In the flames of the incinerator blast to which he fed the city streets
He turned to me "Detroit or Bust, the future’s filled with ash and
dust unless we do all that we must, and options not retreat".
Drug Prowling Wolf
You ran away, but all-night drug prowling wolf is here to stay
Can you think of any clever things to say
Are you afraid its just too little too late?
Please go away, knocking on my all-night door in the middle of the day
Achy-limbed and bleary eyed and on my way
Sidewalk stretches out gray slate after slate
I’ll bring you back another time
Another petty crime and another weak-ass rhyme
I’ll bring you back, with a word of false encouragement
A work of cheap philosophy, a puff of all-night smoke to breathe
A broken record still keeping time to a one man band Who’s really a mime
and work seems like the oldest crime but its hard to hold onto an aging mind
and we could go out get something to eat but my insurance payment I just didn’t
meet and sometimes we all feel like little pawns
but its just green lawn after green lawn after green lawn
I’ll bring you back another time
Got brand new watch but I still cant hear it chime
Dance music becomes drunken hum
Slide from pain right into numb
All to the beat of a programmed drum
oh my, my, my
purple tint of an ever-shifting sky
stop a bit to drain the bottle dry
I didn’t mean to pry, didn’t mean to make you cry
My eyes they run
Another smoke and I’m sure dawn will come
Made it through another one
American Capitol Pop Song
What can I say, its another beautiful blue skied day
But there’s static coming over the airwaves
TV’s on, garage band is ruining my favorite song
The kids next door will be playing till dawn
Brand new amps and blue-dyed hair
But that won’t get them anywhere
No manager or press release
Or payoffs to the thought police
Fuzzy head, traffic stretches out miles ahead
So I turn the knob to the left
I heard this same song once before
Play it again in an hour or more
It won’t stop till I’m at my front door
Wasted, lonely, bitter, pissed
Feeling that your points been missed
Take it all and still move on
Or save the world with another song
You turn away, from the wildest thoughts that go your way
The all american capitol pop song - hey, hey, hey
We’re wasted, its last call
No one to catch us when we fall
Screaming, we’ll bawl
But the house music’s way too loud
One by One
Alarm clock rings, the day’s begun
(we shall defeat them one by one)
Get up for, there’s work to be done
Break your back under the Monday sun
Till the whistle blows and the day is gone
Put down your shovel and pick up your gun
There’s a battle to be fought and a war to be won
Politicians and bankers in their big old cars
Will drop with the liars and the big rock stars
Bags under eyes cuz they cant get no sleep
We’re out all night yelling all thru the city streets
If they catch me and hang me and bury me down
I’ll haunt them with my cries from the cold, cold ground
Born on a Monday…….
Two-Tone Beat
Woke up late, a fuzzy head
Walkman batteries are dead
Library seems much to far away
But this time I’ll have to pass
Cuz I’ll be too late for class
It’s another day at Michigan State
Cuz its that boring time of year,
Don’t shed another tear
Just blame it on another round of beers
You and I will be, whistling all down the street
We heard it on the Two-Toned Beat