Monday, June 25, 2007

white noise elevator

baby, I'm a white noise elevator
I'll take you up and down
I don't believe in going sideways
don't believe in making sound
go on and touch me, see what happens
I'm the girl your mama told you
yeah, I'm the girl your mama told you

baby, I'm a white noise elevator -
I see you don’t believe me.
why don't you try a different button
as I'm going up and down?
I'd take you in but my periphery
isn't really what it seems
I'm the girl your mama told you
I'm the girl your mama told you

open up your mouth, boy
I'll swallow all your yellin'
If I hear it, I'm not telling
you'll feel better once you got it
all out in the open, baby
we're all a little crazy something maybe

white noise elevator
if she hears you, you won't know
she'll still just come and go
she'll still sing all night and take you
to whatever story you were thinking of

white noise elevator

trophy

I walk this room
in a thought built for two
but I've won
and I'm one
this isn't my tomb
it's my trophy

I followed you for nothing
now I'll adore you for the road
I cross my oceans carefully

and I will rise to meet the emptiness
like I crawled to meet your step
dying flowers in an empty pool
saying "commune, commune,
come on, commune with what is still alive in you."

it's hard to say goodnight
to your favorite lullaby
but you weep
and then you sleep
it isn't just darkness
in the space by your side

so don't pretend that you love him
if you only love his smile
and don't pretend that he loves you
if he only loves your sacrifice

I'm walking forward now
through this unravelled town
the roadsigns are butterflies
just look around you now
just look around you now
just look around you now

top 40 love story

the radio stations won't leave me alone
so I sit in silence the whole ride home
wings folded up, smashed into my pocket
I bite my tongue

and it's ok to say you're sorry
if that helps you walk away
and I'll forgive and never keep you
I think understanding comes in waves
sometimes I'm ok

but empathy and anger drive a fist into my stomach with every word
yeah, I'll let you take what you need
and I won't cry until you leave
try to keep breathing through the tears
and not let it break me that you chose fear
you chose fear

cause it's another top forty love story
a fast-paced disaster movie
I'm just a folk singer loving on my feet
my songs are mostly sad
by the time I find a chorus
there's nothing to repeat

I'm just another top forty love story
a fast paced disaster movie
and I'm still learning to love on my feet
and trust what I believe

I'm gonna learn how to walk again
I'm gonna learn how to talk again
I'm gonna learn how to sing myself to sleep again

hey, love - I think it's alright
hey, love - I think it's alright
I think it's alright
I think it's alright

cause I still believe in this
you, or someone else
I still believe in this
I still believe in this
and I think it's alright

taxi song

road-trippin' in the afternoon
I'd take the route above the clouds
but then I'd get there too soon
you can take the backseat if there's room
last hitchhiker left his silver spoon
on that seat, so let's go eat -
and make some use of it.

cause now I'm back in the city
and your bags are packed to go
I'm living easy in the sun
took my scissors to your G.I. Joes
turn up the volume -
they're screwing ALICE on the radio

well, every hit somebody's going down
slide clean and empty handed through the boys downtown
stick to smashing the lightbulbs in my hands
on your chest for now

hey, taxi man - where you wanna go?
I got some consolation blue jeans
and some cash to blow
so where you wanna go?

now I'm smiling at another boy
a pretty little balanced joy
another me, another you, another world, another way
to learn to walk with my eyes open in the sun
another way to learn to love everything I've done so far
I've got a love two cities wide
two to drain the water from my eyes
one to wipe them dry
three rip-tides in a perfect life

hey, taxi man - where you wanna go?
I'll sing you through the wasteland on your dashboard
I'll tell you all I know
so where you wanna go?

hey, taxi man - where am I gonna go?
I got a lot of pretty songs about assholes
and not much else to show
so where'm I gonna go?
where am I gonna go?

swerve

watch me cry when blooming
watch me take this room in
feathers lift and land again
he doesn't say a word

all I feel is wood and wind
I could be high above the ocean
or on this porch in a salted town
my eyes are warm and wide

(right now I am just another sail unfolding)

and you say "from here you look like Jesus
you look like Barbie on her wedding day
you look like Gandhi as he walked away
you look like Einstein with your hair undone
another pretty little happy kinda clumsy one."
and I wonder what it's like to be you

cause then it's "I don't know why you need this
you're a thousand miles from anything
and you choke me when I try to sing
I think you're crying cause you came undone
and not because I blocked the sun."
and I wonder what it takes to come through

watch me angled upward
watch me miss the coming curve
the biggest thing I never learned
was how to swerve

watch me right another wrong
watch me write another song
I fold his shirt into my palm
and I pull in

(I know he is just another sail unfolding)

and I don't know why I see this
it's a thousand miles from anything
and it chokes me when I try to sing
I think I'm crying cause we came undone
and not for love of anyone
and I wonder what it takes to come through

shopping by myself

I've been thinking 'bout the prices
of the items on the shelf
been shopping by myself again

and I've been dwelling on the faces
of the people on the news
baby got some metal in her birthday suit

now I'm forgetting to be grateful
for a basement full of bones
that fills to keep the closets empty in our homes

I've been sleeping on a needle
wake up facing east
spend the morning counting sheep
counting sheep

we're running out of ways to say we're sorry now
we're running up the bill in everybody's town
the cowboy counts to ten
and then
he hits the ground
another sunset on another native range
and morning’s belly-up again

so I've been thinking 'bout the prices
of the items on the shelf
been shopping by myself again

and I've been dwelling on the faces
of the people on the news
baby got some metal in her birthday suit

no lover here (canyons)

I can feel your weight
in the way the mattress folds
you know, I'm not holding you
I'm just holding on
I won't know your name
when I pull you near
you should let go
you'll find no lover here

so I let you in
don't mean I care if you stay
you can eat the crumbs
or feel free to fade away
I will chew the rind of love
I will swallow all the seeds
but you should go
there's nothing left of me

what happens if you leave before he gets to you?
what happens if you stay?
what happens is you always lose
he'll tell you "falling's over now -
this is as deep as it gets"
you tell him that you know it goes
a million miles past this

so I let you in
don't mean I care if you stay
you can feed yourself
I can find some other way
and if I am watchful and if I am brave
I'll know when to disappear
but you should go
you'll find no lover here

the desert's bathed in blue tonight
the canyons, they spill light across the plain
I pick a flower, a survivor from the flame of day
I crush it in my hand and walk away

lighthouse #6

waist deep and smiling, you are glowing as you drag your body through the tide
as your hands keep time against the breakers
as you sing your heart out to the humming night
I pretend that I can't hear you
but my eyes don't leave that light

some kind of warning for those of us who wander water
but can't stop staring at the land
and when I watch you sleeping now,
I think I understand -

you are not a shore
you are a lighthouse
but I keep reaching for the brightest thing
even as the rocks are surfacing

cause for once I'm undivided
when I look at you I open
when you touch me I am light
I am all here
in your room

but when I slip my keys in this ignition
underneath your window
there is a kind of static in my way
and when I slip my tongue into your goodbye
I think this whole ship could take to flame

cause every time I love there is an ocean in my world
sometimes the waves are real,
sometimes it's another kind of pull
I want to stretch some land across these seas
but I don't want you on your knees
and that means swimming til I cannot see this city
that means your eyes start out as memory
even as they beam right up and open me
open me, love
it is an ocean in this world
that will make us feel
as we break against the earth
and if I take your hand tonight will you still shine?
will you still shine?

Lieden

we are two teardrops between the sheets
this is as far as I can see
I am the rain your brother told you fell on Leiden
you are the thing that I decided

there is a man making a movie in my closet
I called you up because I wanted you to watch it
but neither one of us believes the ending
so we hit rewind before beginning

you would never believe, if I told you now
all the rooms that I have lied in
I wanted morning after melody
a blooming sort of sadder canopy
if you chew those leaves long enough,
will they turn right back into sun?
you were writing bibles while I
I was sleeping in the mud
some come on, teach me how to love you
with my faith all bound and gagged
I bring you fallen apples
dipped in paper bags
I steal the dying leaves out of your yard
We never seem to get that far away
from the things we gave away
when I got on that plane

Now I am dodging boats and bicycles downtown
I will follow your pictures til they drown
down 88 beautiful canals
88 beautiful canals

late for October

billowing clouds
shadows and undertoe
gardens and graveyards
float just out of sight

bury me now
or I'm scared that I'll never bloom
your life is an empty room
I'm gonna be leaving soon

why do we believe
that love can be anything
unless we love everything?
what will we gain
if I tie my hand to yours
close my eyes slowly or
pretend we're the same?

but I'm dragging my feet in the summer wind
cause I really just didn't want August to end
and I'm late for October again

the dampness of spring
or the space left by falling leaves
the difference is everything
the choices are mine
what will we gain
if I bind my life to yours,
close my eyes slowly
and believe we're the same?
what will we gain?

the seasons change
a single flame
is burning through
another year

I'm late for October again

last train from waterloo

you're on the last train from waterloo
I'm in a yellow yellow yellow room
there is some anger in my color now
there is a red red ball

careful what you say to me
I am a busy busy busy bee
there is some honey in my pocket now
there is a red brick wall

take me, make me your own
break me, but bullet-proof your home
I will not stand and watch this

I'm on the last train from waterloo
you're in a yellow yellow yellow room
there is some anger in your color now
there is a red red ball

January City

I've been walking barefoot through this January city every afternoon
getting reacquainted with birds and boats and closing doors to empty rooms
every day a step to freedom, every day a sinking stone
and when the first rock hits the bottom of the pool I'll let you know
I dream sometimes that I can move things with my mind
all I have to do is lift my feet a little and I remember how to fly
but this city sinks my silent steps into its streets
and you drain the color from the faces of the people that I meet

I guess you're right
I'm lucky in my way
I had my say
you got your parties and your dancing girls
I've got today
I've got today
I've got today

it was nothing but the gentle pull of fingers too tired to swing by on their own
but you slipped your hand back in your pocket and now I wish you'd just left me alone
don't really want to hear your voice tonight, I know just what you'll say
something like you can't explain, something like you hope I'll be ok
well, rebirth isn't easy - it's a blood-soaked moaning mess
it's a snowy winter morning in a rain-drenched summer dress
and your apologies are empty cause you don't know what you've done
I've never lost like this before - I've always been the one to run

I guess you knew
I'd be happy in my way
I'll have my say
you got your freedom
and I weighed my chains
and threw them away
threw them away
I threw them away

I want to wake up now
I want to wake up now
I want to wake up now
I want to wake up now

I've been walking barefoor through this January city every afternoon
getting reacquainted with birds and boats and closing doors to empty rooms

I am not at war

On a plane from Rome to Amsterdam
In a brown café, outside Geneva, with my arms around my brother
he doesn't really speak my language
with his honey skin and raven hair
but I want inside of something and I think that he can take me there

In a bar just north of London
some kid who doesn't like my accent
who doesn't ask my name
hears me ordering and says he's seen my kind before

but I am not at war, I am not at war

things are breaking down in Baghdad
things are breaking down in Tel Aviv
everybody's telling stories and the silence here is deafening
we pretend that we're just killing time
we pretend those aren't our children dead in Palestine
we pretend they aren't killing them on our dime

so we build a wall around the poor
we think no one will notice we don't build a door
don't tell me that ten-year-old is evil cause he's throwing stones
at the tanks rolling over his home

cause I am not at war, I am not at war
no, I am not at war, I am not at war

where I grew up there's a voice that never sleeps
insisting we believe that there will never be enough
and those that got left behind, it's not our fault,
they just couldn't keep up

they've made it all the same to buy or steal
they take your hands and tie them to a kind of wheel
that spins just because it cannot stop
but there are people here who are trying to get off

cause the part that they won't let you see
is that it would all fall down around their feet
in any kind of real democracy
if it were up to everyone and everyone's family

cause I am not at war, and you are not at war - we are not at war
I am not at war, and you are not at war - we are not at war

hug

hey, how am I supposed to concentrate?
with your hands lying there naked?
and your eyes dancing fully clothed around my room?

they say I let you in too early
they don't know
I never really let you in at all
cause I like you better with your mouth shut
and I think you're nicer when you're alone

but I'd hold you
if you needed more time
and I'd tell you
if you were touching the line
I'd stop you
if you were falling in love
yeah, I'd stop you
and I'd give you a hug

hey, I really wasn't kidding
you can't stay
you can't even accompany me home
cause my bed
is no place for hiding
and my love
is no place to roam

but I'd hold you
if you needed more time
and I'd tell you
if you were touching the line
I'd stop you
if you were falling in love
yeah, I'd stop you
and I'd give you a hug
I'd give you a hug

honeybee

honeybee, follow me down
honeybee, follow me down

you're a yellow morning massacre
shirtless in the sudden glare
I lean into the shadow
placing all my weight into the air

and I don't like this city
it's ugly and it's mean
I miss the way my skin smells
after rolling round in green

honeybee, follow me down
honeybee, follow me down

cause the creepy guy just keeps on getting creepier
come on baby, keep your crazy to yourself
well, I don't know these flowers, I don't know who brings them spring
but it's a little closer when you look at me

you got a rose-petal haircut
you got a tea-kettle smile
you got some truth in your pocket -
baby, it's been a while

you know I figured out how to be happy
if you wanted I might tell
but you just turn around and stare at me
trying to wrap my brain around your urban sexuality
getting tangled up in my tv screen and a little yellow summer song

oh, honeybee, I'm missing you now
honeybee, I'm missing you now

cause there's a river in every person
you got your toes in mine
so let's just dangle through the afternoon
and fake like we can fly

come on, honeybee - I'm missing you now
honeybee, follow me down
follow me, follow me down…

grass rollin' blues, part 5

do you know where to find the honeysuckle in this city? on this urban plain? would you tell your friends? as the season ends? as the summer begins?
I guess I was hoping for a drop by drop solution (I was hoping for a velvet revolution) I was hoping for an open stage and a little faith and a field of sand to write my name a thousand times before the tide could override my flowerchildhood rhythm (my flowerchildhood rhythm, my flowerchildhood rhythm)

do you know what is mine when you trip across your pretty? when you forget to name the reason that you’re standing here? (as the season ends, as the rain begins) guess I was hoping for a way to leave the light on (I was hoping for a cleaner field to fight on) I was hoping for a broken cage, something to say, or another way to write the song you won’t forgive, to keep my body and my will to live out of the hands of liars, thieves and fuck-ups (liars, thieves and fuck-ups, liars, thieves and fuck-ups)

cause I know why you’re calling me
and you know why I’m stalling
we don’t need to keep at it
I don’t need to sleep on it
I just need to go

did you spend your childhood scared of alligators, sharks and little girls? does it help to watch me running zigzag patterns through your world?
I know you were hoping for a place to lay your head down (I was hoping I’d be brave enough to stick around) but the last thing that I need is a mouth to feed when I can’t even keep my prairie open to the rain, you’d love to pour across my plains until my cup was spilling over (until my cup was spilling over, until my cup was spilling over)

cause I know what you’d do for me
but you know this is honestly
the only way I know to keep at it
is to sleep without it
is to go

do you know where to find the honeysuckle in this city?
would you tell your friends?

flowergirl

I have been humming folk songs for strangers passing by
I have been hunting flowers for my herbivore lover
I have been sleeping sidewalks with a butcher on the side
I don't have time to memorize another boy's eyes
I don't have time to memorize another boy's eyes

I called the birds by every word
that you have spoken in my bed
they touch down, without a sound
unharmed, disarmed
this is how I see you
this is how I see you still
this is how I see

that what you love isn’t always what you keep
and when I say "you’re beautiful," that isn't what I mean
these, the things I've known
have not always been the things I've shown
I play the flower girl today
in another girl’s parade
and I'm throwing petals anyway
(into another wave of)

what you love isn't always what you keep
when I say "you’re beautiful" it isn’t what I mean
these, the things I’ve known
have not always been the things I've shown
I play the flower girl today
in another girl’s parade
and I'm throwing petals anyway
I'm throwing petals

and I have been humming folk songs for strangers passing by
I have been hunting flowers for my herbivore lover
I have been sleeping sidewalks with a butcher on the side
I don't have time to memorize another boy's eyes
I don't have time to memorize another boy's eyes

you called today - I said the rain
here is soft against my skin
you touch down, without a sound
unharmed, disarmed
this is how I see you
this is how I see you still
this is how I see you in my head

flannel

we spend most of our lives with our eyes on some horizon
what we believe goes just a few inches past what we see
and if you're lucky, someone's standing on that line
and can show you the other side

now when I'm with you, I wanna tear the clocks down off the wall
the ticking doesn't stop because I don't believe
life is short, that's why we sing
you take my hand, and turn to me, and say
"why would we ever want to leave?"

well, I think forever smells like flannel
I think forever tastes like dandilion wine
I think forever feels like the closing of your open hand on mine
I think forever sounds like breathing
I think forever looks like

grass-stains and gasoline
you're my home away from home away from
pick-pocket smiles for a sing-a-long
and everyone swearing they're alone
dry your eyes, love - they're looking

and did you find your mother lied to you about God?
cause the paper bends if you draw the lines too far
but all they see is all they need
and all you need, I carry with me

well, I think forever smells like flannel
I think forever tastes like dandilion wine
I think forever feels like the closing of your open hand on mine
I think forever sounds like breathing
I think forever looks like

keep walking barefoot to endless summer
trust walking backward to endless dawn
withhold our voices when the song is wrong

cause if it all ends in the sun
and it all adds up to one
I'd turn my eyes from the light just to watch yours take it in

I think forever smells like flannel
I think forever tastes like dandilion wine
I think forever feels like the closing of your open hand on mine
I think forever sounds like breathing
I think forever looks like you

ex-boyfriend song

I'm a little older
but I still got room to grow
yeah, I'm a little bolder
and I want you to know
that I'm a little better at knowing what's mine now
yeah, I'm a little better at telling the time now
cause I'm a little older
and I've still got room to grow
I'm a little bolder
and I want you to know

that you could tell me the moment you realized what it meant to be born the last child in your family / you could show me your apartment and then send me away / you could sell me a poster of your favorite band / you could draw a picture of every one of your ex-girlfriends / holding hands and singing ani into your machine

and you could make me cry just as easy as you could make me laugh out loud / you could force me to forgive you / open up my mouth, and let you crawl on in.

cause I'm an easy game for you to play
I better watch you think, not watch you say
you don't know me now but it's ok
it's not like I’m here to stay

still, I could tell you the moment I realized what it meant to be born in America / I could show you the places on my body I offered up to brown-skinned boys / I could sell you story, not a word of it true / I could show up wearing nothing but your cowboy boots / rain-soaked and smiling and smelling of another boy’s cologne

and I could make you cry just as easy as I could make you laugh out loud / I could force you to forgive me / open up your mouth - I think I'll crawl on in

cause you're an easy game for me to play
you better watch me think not watch me say
cause I've been counting exit signs all day
it's not like you're here to stay


drug to me

my friend called me up on Tuesday to say her lover'd gone away
you called me up on Wednesday and said you couldn't stay
you thought that I'd surrender cause I didn't want to play
you know, I know
you always liked them begging

and I know there is no way to show you how I loved you even when
you wouldn't speak my name, and you couldn't comprehend
how a girl could know how much easier it is to never win
I know, you know
I've never walked out begging

but I'm sleepy now and tipsy on your floor
you pretend to blow a kiss as you're walking out that door
I say that love is everything,
and you said you needed more
I think I'm blending

cause you are like a drug to me
careful that I don't o.d. on your memory
you are like a drug to me
this is not who I want to be

a thousand stretched tight evenings taught me things I'll never say
like how I learned to close my hands before I pray
some things fade to openness and some things fade away
I know, I know
God doesn't like us begging

now I sing songs as if I knew you, as if you had known me
while a dozen drunken people pretend that they can see
they pay to watch me suck the marrow from your memory
you know, you know
I'd never leave them begging

but it's over now and I'm coming down off stage
your phone call wakes me but I try to act my age
I say that love is freedom and I'm living in a cage
you hang up, I fall back to nothing

cause sleep is like a drug to me
careful that I don't o.d. on my crying dream
sleep is like a drug to me
don't want to talk, don't want to bleed

ahh...

carnivore

it's Saturday night
the lights, they're bright
the boys are pounding down your door
you turn to me and say "hey, hey -
I've never been a carnivore before.
and I don't know if they like it
but they're opening their doors
and for now I am not hungry,
jaw to jaw with a carnivore"
jaw to jaw with a carnivore

I took a swing, he broke my wings
last time I saw him we pretended we were friends
the thing is, we aren't now
and we probably weren't then
but somehow the pretending makes it easier
to begin again

cause it's a business just like any other business
trading sex for love and hoping it'll be enough
our voices get a little harder,
our fingers get a little softer

his eyes were bigger than his stomach
her mouth was bigger than his eyes
and the only word she knows for love is
come-here-baby-lick-off-the-disguise
last time she saw him, he told her he was lonely
she played the last card in her hand,
a face he never thought she'd show:
smiled and nodded like she didn't notice what he'd said
like she didn't already know

sometimes I think that all this dissonance
is just a tune we cannot hear
sometimes we drown out all the harmony
drumming to our fear
you say he could be the one to turn your life around
well, an anvil, a piano - it's all the same when it hits the ground

now there's no one around, the sound is down,
a boy is huddled on my floor
he turns to me and says "why did I let
a carnivore inside my door?
cause I don't think that I like this,
but I keep coming back for more,
and if break me I will leave them starving
mouths aflame and stomachs torn."

jaw to jaw with a carnivore
mmm...

braking at green lights

pretty swing of green
against a rain-lit sky
I got poppies on my dashboard
got a trunk full of snow
and a hundred miles of desert to go

hey, boy - you ever prayed for rain?
hey, boy - you ever prayed for rain?

cause I've seen you pull it from the sky
and you've seen me boiling up my insides
little molten me, poking at the clouds
I don't wanna be your enemy
when it all starts coming down

I'm just six days from taking your shoes off
I'm two weeks shy of forgetting your name
you touch my sleeve like you’d open a bible
I drink your wine til it bruises me

and no, babe - this don’t have the urgency you were looking for
but all you pretty genius boys just turn to water on my floor
and yeah, that's my piano – and that’s my kerosene
sometimes we draw roses, sometimes we’re just ripping seams

there's a thread of red
it’s a pretty bind
got poppies steaming up my windshield
got a boy made of snow
who say he got nowhere to go

he say
hey girl - you better pray for rain
hey girl - you better pray for rain
hey girl - you better pray for rain
pray for rain you better pray for rain
pray for rain

Blue's Honest Game

Blue runs a funny game
he can’t be bothered to win
he’s got two feet in the pasture, two feet in the wind
you can't blame him, though -
he's been running too long
he's got one race left
and he’s running it wrong

it's a blue horse, red wheels
a little boy like an orange peel
the method is tragic just on account of the speed

Blue plays an honest game
but he's living in sin
he's got a five string tambourine
and a bottle of gin
Blue just stopped believing in the fourth of July
he's got a firecracker taped to his ceiling fan
watches it fly circles around the light
you can't blame him, though
he's been watching too long
they've got one race left
and they're running it wrong

it's a blue drum, a done deal
a little orange peel man at the wheel
the method is tragic just on account of the speed

amsterdam, song 2

n every city there's a time and a place where you can buy stolen things -
I'm standing there, waiting for you
but there's an ocean of questions flowing between us now
and your answers just aren't coming through

if you can guess what this city is selling tonight
then all of it's yours
but you don't speak the language and you don't know the currency
so she's closing her doors

your letter came on Sunday - about a year too late
you called, I guess to remind me of how much was at stake
come on, baby - give me some credit
for falling apart
give me ten drinks and a telephone
and I could break your heart

sometimes trust becomes a habit
and betrayal a metaphor
we fell in love with the language but I don't know what I'm doing here
so I won't anymore

sometimes you pretend you don't have any choices
when the fact is, you're free
or maybe the problem was just too many voices
or maybe too many fingers pointing at me
just remember as I’m turning away -
I wanted to stay

almanac

oh, my love
please take your shovel back
it's a bad year
I read in the almanac
for breaking ground
where roses have been
it's a bad year to start again

oh, my love
I don't know the season
for all these bulbs
I found in my garden
I'm striking stone
where I know there was life before
afraid of the things I have torn from the earth

I watch gray wings and blue wings and red-bellied birds
circle the steeple of somebody's church
I flow like a river down into the ground
I grow like a vine, always wrapping around
I've got my clouds all lined up in a row
I am waiting for something to show

oh, my love
yes, I am smiling
but it is July
and I've still got my sweater on
and two pair of boots
I won't leave the house without
checking the almanac
checking the almanac

rinse off your orchids and lie in my yard
with hose to the sky I can't see very far
got the best of my hope here
pressed into the mud
no one told me that Bleeding Hearts die in the sun
I've got my pots all lined up in a row
I am waiting for something to grow
I've got my pots all lined up in a row
I am waiting for something to grow

oh, my love
thanks for the shovel

all the boys in north america (your revolution is a one-night stand)

let's drive back to our old hometowns, one by one
paint the radio red and drink tequila out of paper cups
you got the looks, honey, and I got all the luck

our best friends all got babies
all we got is a string of hurricanes -
a boat in the yard and a couple bathtubs full of rain
I tried to show you a photo of me as a kid
but you were gone in the morning
and it's just another windy weekend

cause all the boys in north america
they thumb-wrestle for their daily bread
sometimes a girl's gotta leave her mountain love
and sing for Mexico instead
save a little sweetness for my baby
I'm gonna tell him when I cross that line
cause I'm not scared of chasing borders all my life

you got paisley in your kitchen
and candles in your sink
you love to watch me breathe it in
I love to watch you think
we stay up all night
making pillows out of national flags
we cry and we drink and we sleep bathed in color and war
and I wake in the morning with smoke in my hair and one foot on the floor
but your revolution is a one night stand

and I'm just sugar sugar on your brown shag carpet
sugar sugar on your green and yellow bed
sugar sugar sleeping upside down
in your head in your head in your head in your head

and all the boys in north america
they thumb-wrestle for their daily bread
sometimes a girl's gotta leave her mountain love
and sing for Mexico instead
save a little sweetness for my baby
I'm gonna tell him when I cross that line
cause I'm not scared of chasing borders all my life
no, I'm not scared of chasing borders all my life