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