1. |
Can't Keep Johnny Down
02:20
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Outnumbered a million to one
All of the dicks in this dick town
Can't keep Johnny down
Men piled up in a towering mound
None of them once has found a way
To keep Johnny down
Spending days by myself
Remembering slights
I'm not a monument to justice
Plus which, I don't forget a face
And they can't (down, down, down)
Can't keep Johnny down (down, down, down)
They haven't yet built the man (down, down, down)
That'll keep old Johnny down (down, down, down)
Some dude
Hitting golf balls on the moon
Bathroom in his pants
And he thinks he's better than me
I'm pointing a finger at my own face
They can't know what's in here
And they can't keep Johnny down
Beneath my dignity
To flip off the guy
When he pulls up alongside
To say my gas cap is unscrewed
And they can't (down, down, down)
Can't keep Johnny down (down, down, down)
They haven't yet built the man (down, down, down)
That'll keep old Johnny down (down, down, down)
And they don't (down, down, down)
Don't know what I've seen (down, down, down)
They can't know what's in here (down, down, down)
And they can't keep Johnny down (down, down, down)
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2. |
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Do you mind, excuse me
I saw you over there
Can I just tell you
Although there are millions of
Cephalophores that wander through this world
You've got something extra going on
I think you probably know
You probably get that a lot
I'll bet that people say that a lot to you, girl
The way you swing your head while strolling fancy free
Or melting down some army guys to make green tea
Though there are millions of
Cephalophores that wander through this world
You've got something extra going on
I think you probably know
You probably already know
You act like I am stating the obvious
It's the way you swing your head while strolling fancy free
Or melting down some army guys to make green tea
As the headless horseman said to his associate
The bodiless baboonsman cradled in his arms
Although millions of cephalophores are marching past my door
They're invisible to me except for one cephalophore
You probably get that a lot
I'll bet that people say that a lot while you
Are sarcastically lip-syncing along
To words they felt were spoken spontaneously
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3. |
Old Pine Box
01:51
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They tried the handcuffs but they won't lock
Electrical courses but they won't shock
You pulled the fire alarm
You tried punching a cop
You're just too tired to stop
You old pine box
You old pine box
With your head full of rocks
Sharp like a cracked flowerpot
You old paper hat
On your skull full of bats
There's no percentage in that
They called relations but they declined
They called the fan club but they'd resigned
Left your car in a field
And some questions behind
Your mom thinks you're out of your mind
Over the falls and into the drink
The barrel breaks and we slowly sink
They tried the handcuffs but they won't lock
Electrical courses but they won't shock
You pulled the fire alarm
You tried punching a cop
You're just too tired to stop
Old pine box
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4. |
Canajoharie
03:38
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In the overgrowth of the underbrush
Shone a fossil tooth which I must have dropped
Very long ago
Which reminded me how we wound up where we are now
Right through those trees, I'm not insane
That's where we came into this place
And if you squint, if you squint your brain
I'll get my paints and I'll try to paint
Canajoharie
Canajoharie
Where a front flipper first evolved on the day
When a daring mudskipper dragged itself away
Out of Canajoharie
Canajoharie
Call me sentimental but I want to go back
And commemorate the place with a historical plaque
It's as if a fin, reaching from the swamp
Grabbed me by my arm, tried to pull me in
But my arm was strong
And the fin was an inaccurately reconstructed fake
It was right through those trees, I'm not insane
That's where the fin tried to drag me in
Don't look at me, look at where I'm pointing
Close your eyes, see what I see
Canajoharie
Canajoharie
I get the creeping feeling all my old friends are gone
And that this baby tooth no longer fits in my skull
If you can draw it in the air
Or write it down, then you weren't there
What's gone is mute
Someone changed the truth
They smoked the proof
And there's nothing left of
Canajoharie
Canajoharie
Where a front flipper first evolved on the day
When a daring mudskipper dragged itself away
Where a rocket ship experiment went awry
When the prototype exploded on the launching site
Back in Canajoharie
Canajoharie
Call me sentimental but I want to go back
And commemorate the place with a historical plaque
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5. |
Cloisonné
02:38
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One, two, three, four
Mind your business
Mind your business
Mind your never-shut, Quonset hut business
My craft is exploding
It's like I'm making cloisonné
Choking on my dust
With my three blind cats
You have a friend in law enforcement
Don't go calling law enforcement
Business
Mind your business
Got too busy explaining
Now it's just raining pain
Pain in the form of a rain drop
Yes, a rain drop made of pain
Tell 'em the story, rain drop
"I don't want to tell 'em, mister!"
Tell 'em the story, rain drop
"I don't want to tell 'em!"
Keep your voice down
Keep your voice down
Keep your window-shaking, godforsaken voice down
I'm sick of this beeswax
I'm sick of these second-story Sleestaks
Breathing on my dice
Giving me back rubs
When I'm deep in concentration
You start getting all conversatin'
Sleestak
What's a Sleestak?
That's your heart attack
Towel rack
Fallback
You got no doctors
All your doctors have gone home
What's a Sleestak?
What's a Sleestak?
You have a friend in law enforcement
Don't go calling law enforcement
Cloisonné
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6. |
Let Your Hair Hang Down
02:30
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Let your hair hang down
It is now the time
To untie your hair
Let your hair hang down
Why do we resemble concrete?
Did we order all these rain clouds?
Who overturned the party cart?
Who said to stomp the fire out?
Let the wrong be wrong
Would it be so bad?
When your hair's so long
Let your hair hang down
Do we have to drag the drag around, is that the plan?
Can't we leave the barking dogs and join the caravan?
Let your hair hang down
It is now the time
To untie your hair
Let your hair hang down
Without a written guarantee of perfect sailing
Can you crawl from under the porch without a helmet?
Before we can get all the facts
We may be going to have to act
Let the wrong be wrong
Would it be so bad?
When your hair's so long
When you look so sad
Let your hair hang down
It is now the time
To untie your hair
Let your hair hang down
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7. |
Celebration
03:48
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First, the DJ must power up the amplifiers.
To play a record, select an album and put it on the turntable.
The racer must attach five dollars to their car and drive to the DJ booth.
Signal the DJ by ringing the bell.
I see that Banksy left a Post-it note for Anonymous, for Anonymous
It seems the after-party has been moved to your house, to your house
It's a special night of anticipation
The moonbeams strong on the old band shell
Celebration
You're a little bit better and ready for some
Celebration
Some time to get louder and not by yourself
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
I see that someone left their cheat sheet by this microphone, by this microphone
I think the rock 'n roll girls in this world want apologies, want apologies
I read this stuff, but I don't believe it
I'd change it 'round, but I don't know how
Celebration
You're a little bit better and ready for some
Celebration
Some time to get louder and not by yourself
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Perpetrators of invisible crimes
Our only magistrate sits in our minds
The audience cheers as some people attack
The secret smile of security guards
You hear the cataclysmic discharge of the optimist, of the optimist
And the unlikely crowd assembled here's like Hieronymus Bosch, Hieronymus
It's hard to see from this elevation
But looking up, you can set it off
Celebration
You're a little bit better and ready for some
Celebration
Some time to get louder and not by yourself
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
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8. |
In Fact
02:19
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I'm a mess
Even at my best
I'm dismantling my chances
Even as I win
A bunch
I got tripwires to finesse
I'm a mess
Now I ain't right
If there's a test tonight
I will ask for an extension
As I slide my desk
A bit
Toward the conman dressed in white
I ain't right
In fact it's messier still
That mess is a hook that drags me along
And now that mess has an entourage
All dressed in dungarees
What went wrong?
I confess
And like a chess piece, yes
I have rolled under your piano
That you don't play
A lot
But I'm sorry, I digress
I'm a mess
So let me out
Don't want to be your mouse
I want to find a softer spot
For my crash landing
Not much to talk about
Let me out
In fact it's messier still
That mess on the loose and leading the mob
They march with pitchforks and torches now
They have your old ID disavow
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9. |
When Will You Die
02:31
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I'm so tired
Of your lies
And the evil things
You're doing behind my back
Are there crimes
That you have never committed?
I doubt it, sometimes I wonder
When will you die?
You're insane
You are bad
You wreck everything you touch
And you're a sociopath
But there's one thing
That everyone's wondering
When will you die?
Schoolchildren stay at home (yeah)
And all the banks will close (yeah)
Each year we'll mark the date (yeah)
On which we celebrate (yeaah)
I know how
I know why
I can picture every part
Of your comeuppance, except
For the one remaining
Piece of the puzzle
Which is when you'll die
This is Dan
And that's Dan
And that's Marty on the drums
To complete the band
And I'm John
And he is also John
And all of us are wondering
When you're gonna die
Still you live
You go on
But you're running out the clock
And if we knew how long
I'd be counting down the days
Until the lovely one
On which you're gone
On that promised morning
We will wake and greet the dawn
Knowing that your wicked life is over
And that we will carry on
We'll exhale
We'll high five
We will know at last
How great it is to be alive
We'll be lining up
And buying tickets
And then we'll be jumping
Up and down on your grave
You're insane
You are bad
You wreck everything you touch
And you're a sociopath
And the only way to mitigate
Would be to know the date
You're scheduled to vacate
When are you going to die?
Look me in the eye
Tell me when you'll die
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10. |
Protagonist
02:48
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She stole my daydreams
She stole my air guitar
[EXTERIOR. MAN on lawn, alone at dawn.]
Packed the typewriter
And drove off in her car
[A BATTERED AUTOMOBILE drives past STATE LINE SIGN.]
And now I know that I'll rue the day
I let her get away
I need a haircut
I've got myself to blame
[A GLOVED HAND spins a COMBINATION DIAL, quickly
opening a large WALL SAFE.]
He wasn't so fine
To my beginner's mind
[MOTEL. The OTHER MAN: severe, refined.]
But with that big talk
I should have seen the signs
[WOMAN enters and they embrace. He packs DUCT TAPE, ROPE.]
And right on her he was fixing his aim
He pushed me out of frame
I need new head shots
I've got myself to blame
[She spins her ring to hide the DIAMOND in her hand
and drops a GUN into a SMALL BEADED PURSE.]
Know the diff between a script and a spec
It's a test, just the stage directions left
And no camera angles to use, mm-hmm
A novice script may seem strange in this format
But like any other business
It's a standard that the writer gets used to, aw-huh
My scenes are cut out
I'm just on speaker phone
For exposition
I'm out here on my own
And as the night falls on this sleepy town
The iris closes down
I missed my close-up
I've got myself to blame
I've got myself to blame
I've got myself to blame
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11. |
Judy Is Your Viet Nam
01:25
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You met Judy in the 90s
She threw parties for magazines
For a while she had a roommate
But that roommate was never seen
Who knew she could be so reckless? (boughs of holly)
Who knew you could be so wrong? (multiplying)
Dancing in her kitchen for so long (Christmas time is here)
Ten years on and something's shifted
Same apartment, roommate's gone
Putting down that torch you lifted
Back to portraits poorly drawn
Judy lies but you believe her
She's the storm before the calm
Judy is the Great Deceiver
Judy is your Viet Nam
Judy is your Viet Nam
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12. |
Never Knew Love
02:53
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I never knew love could be like this
I never knew love could be like this
I go around thinking I'm a genius
But I never knew love could be like this
Cartography
Is not my métier
And the mountainsides of daydreams
Too steep for me today
Lovers lost before us
And most did not return
The few so hale and hearty
Now broken down and burned
I never knew love could be like this
Was anyone else but me surprised?
How anything happens is mysterious
And I never knew love could be like this
Biography
Is all they understand
No semaphore or secrets
Or just good old pretend
And now they all are sleeping
But this keeps us awake
These words, they need safekeeping
A promise not to break
I never knew love could be like this
I never knew love could be like this
I go around thinking I'm a genius
But I never knew love
Has there ever been love?
Oh, I never knew love could be like this
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13. |
The Lady and the Tiger
02:55
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The lady said to the tiger
As they stood behind some doors
"I'm sick of this job
I don't know what we're waiting here fors
I'm turning off life support
I'm putting an end to this joke"
The tiger thought about this
And then the tiger spoke
"Starving the beast, at the very least
Will just increase its hunger
Go right ahead and starve me dead
It will only make me stronger"
The lady said
"I'm bustin' out of this prison
I got laser vision
And I'm burning a hole in the wall"
The tiger said, "Wait
You'll start a fire
Destroy the entire
Lady and the tiger hall
"Felines and dames in flames
Will hardly serve your aims
Do you surmise it's wise
To have laser beams emitting from your eyes?"
"Point taken, cat, I can well see that
Our lives are worth protecting
But I submit it's time we quit
This hoping and expecting
"Felines and dames in flames
Will hardly serve my aims
But in my dreams, it seems
That my eyes are always shooting laser beams"
The hall remains
It still contains
A pair of doors, a choice
Behind one door, a muffled roar
Behind the other, a voice
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14. |
Spoiler Alert
02:39
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This truck is driving out of my mind
But this truck has a mind of its own
Which is a lucky thing ‘cause my leg is so short that
I can't reach the brake
This truck is driving out of my mind
But this truck has a mind of its own
Which is a lucky thing ‘cause my leg is so short that
I can't reach the brake
Something is nagging at me
But never mind, it's gone
This truck can practically find its own way without my help
Maybe I should lie back and cover my eyes I think I'll do that
Yeah Now I'm totally resting, I’m reclining while I'm driving
Why have I not tried this until now?
I'm letting go I'm letting go
Here comes
The last page
All I need is an ending
Nearing The end of the last page
And the end of the whole book
Yeah What to do with these loose ends?
I should change the beginning
But I shouldn't be typing
While I'm driving
While I'm making a phone call
While I'm searching through the glove box
While I'm writing it all down
While it's happening
They're gonna be so impressed
When they get a load of me
It's like I've got two extra pairs of hands
Two to write, two to steer, one to scratch my head and one to cover my eyes
Which would help me to think up an end
Yeah Some kind of punctuational mark
Some kind of, some kind of…
Some kind of trouble up ahead
What the hell? What the hell?
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15. |
Dog Walker
02:32
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Showdown at The Battery
Showdown at The Battery now
Showdown at The Battery, showdown
Put down that snowball now
Got no inclination to play around
Must be hard for you draculas
When nobody's scared of you
I take the long way home
Stay realistic and stay awake
My mind is a wrecking ball
And someday my mind's gonna wreck all y'all
(All y'all)
Showdown at The Battery
Showdown at The Battery now
Showdown at The Battery, showdown
Can you choose your weapon please?
Don't you know, I come prepared
I am a dog walker
But someday I'll be a dog
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16. |
2082
01:55
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Draw the curtain, look, you're only sleeping
Or is this only what the other you is dreaming?
Either way
Hard to take
Ashen features unmistakably your own
Familiar posture, recast in skin and bone
Person from today, here is you
In 2082
Remove your helmet, first equalize the pressure
No, but first, take readings to be sure
The atmosphere is safe
Yes, it's safe
As the ancient one cranes his neck to look
You see his hand's been replaced with a hook
But it's clear you're very much alive
It's 2105
No, it's 2240
No, it's 3415
How can you still be living?
What does this mean?
You must honor and respect the older fellow
Even as you suffocate him with his pillow
Though you're strong
He was wise
There is much you can learn from the sage
And though you'll leave and travel back to your own age
You will meet again, you two
In 2082
What was the look he gave intended to convey?
Was there something else he was trying to say?
It will all be revealed to you
In 2082
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17. |
Three Might Be Duende
02:24
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The Monochrome Martinet
His texture is starch
The song is a march
And from the beginning
His Duende was winning
But though he's a worthy emcee
He'll never be part of the three
Orpheum act
Faustian pact
Three Might Be Duende, in fact
Necropolis Blownapart
A ghostly sight
Emerges bright
Hot from the embers
The first team member
Is hatching a dastardly plan
Like a bird with a dastardly egg
Trapped in his time
Lost in his rhymes
One Might Be Duende defined!
Apocryphal Espadrille
The shaper of dreams
Returns to the scene
No diorama
Could match his drama
A smile that would frighten the blind
The incubus freezes the mind
Fooled by his charm
Right off the farm
Sound Might Be Duende's alarm
Dystopio Smashedtobits
The keeper of dust
The builder of rust
When you discover
Sleep's older brother
The trio is finally complete
The trio has just one conceit
Forged by their past
First in their class
Three Might Be Duende (Three Might Be Duende)
Three Might Be Duende (Three Might Be Duende)
Three Might Be Duende at last
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18. |
You Don't Like Me
02:56
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I know what you're thinking
I can read your mind
In your thoughts it's obvious
You don't like me
From across a crowded room you can feel me staring
And you know that I can see how it is
There's so much pleasure to be had from mystery and secret plans
But you don't like me
'Cause I can read your mind
I can see the future
Like it's in the past
You will never be my friend
You don't like me
I know what you're thinking
I can read your mind
In your thoughts it's obvious
You don't like me
You like cigarettes, swimming laps, potato chips, Battleship, cats, and Court TV
You like shadow puppets, Woody Harrelson, reading in the bath, Nirvana, and baseball caps
You can hear me talking
Right up till I stop
When I do, I'm gone to you
But you are always there
I can hear the friendly words of advice that I'd be offered
If I had a friend to offer me advice
I'd be told to let it go and that I care too much
But this is not about me
And you don't want to know
I can see the future
Like it's in the past
You will never be my friend
You don't like me
You like Bollywood, snow machines, daguerreotypes, beauty contests, and cruise control
You like booster rockets, cutting with a fork, Terminator 2, the morning, and William Tell
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