"Shallow Means, Deep Ends"
 
Swimming at night
We've dug this hole
The water's fine
I wonder how far down it goes
Down it goes...
Down it goes...

The stars above have lost their shine
And so, my love, departs our sight

The unending plains project a void
Where lovers gawk in pantomime

[scream: So let me up??]

Shallow means, deep ends
When the regret sinks in
Pressure erupts
Which way is up

Swimming at night
We've finally hit, hit...
We've finally hit bottom...!
Swallowing promises back into our lungs
Losing direction of our affections
Alright...

Shallow means, deep ends
When the regret sinks in
Pressure erupts
Which way is up

Down it goes...
Down it goes...

"Making Friends And Acquaintances"
 
Loose-lipped secrets
I've seen those birdies chirping
Another promise perched on their fragile branches
Cradle and all...

We all hide a diary beneath some mattress
And someone has slept in my bed
Sometimes I get so naked I sing like a canary
And I scream out what I shouldn't scream

Some lies last a lifetime
They keep our diaries hidden
They don't let the whispers slip
Between the cracks of the bathroom stalls
Or be written on the bathroom walls....

But still I can hear those dirty birds chirp away
It's a song I know by heart
Sometimes I resent making friends and acquaintances
It's a thin veil between us --

Between the bedsprings and the mattress
I keep my secrets
The ones I can't keep
The ones you took from me
The ones you scattered with your wings

It was nice to meet you...
It was nice to meet you...
It was nice to meet you...

"A Red So Deep"

The furnace burns, the baby turns
She cries when she's hungry
The morning paper will knock the door
To interrupt their slumbers

Are you satisfied tonight, oh, trader's wife?
Does he neglect you?
Crawling bar stools and touching the girls
As you wash their smell from his clothes

They shoot the horses when they're too old to race
And so, my dear, is there room in bed for me?
The setting Sun has eteched lines upon this face
Shades of red of a furious defeat

Are you satisfied tonight, oh, trader's wife?
As he thinks to you:
"I don't know you anymore,
And I can't breathe in this apartment"

Sleep, my Sweetie, let the days expire
They've outnumbered you
Hold me sweetly, like the days we bled with love
A red so deep we sunk
We sunk...

"The Lament Of Pretty Baby"
 
I saw something I was not supposed to see
A ghostly memory that keeps on haunting me

(The kitchen door was open a crack,
So naively we peeked inside)

Oh, darling sister, have they hurt you, have they hurt you?
Oh, Pretty Baby, they won't touch you
They won't touch you again
We will fix this incident

I don't want to be seen as a pretty thing
'Cause it's the pretty things that we're always breaking...

(And now she whispers into the mirror:) I'm broken.

Oh doctor, doctor, can you fix me, can you fix me?

Oh Pretty Baby, you're so naive -- but it comes off so cute
We don't want to fix you
We love you just the way you are
The butterfly pinned to the page
The nightingale locked in the cage -- won't you sing for me?
Sing for me, uh-huh
Yeah, we love you just the way you are
Crushed 'neath fashion magazines
Trampled by circus pony dreams -- won't you kiss me?
Won't you kiss me, uh-huh

Oh please, mister, can't you fix me, can't you fix me? (uh-huh)
Someone, anyone, won't you fix me, won't you fix me? (uh-huh)
Oh, someone, please, the moon has raped me
I can feel it inside me
Oh, mama, please let someone fix me!
Let them fix me, uh-huh
Let them fix me, uh-huh

So cry yourself to sleep
Cry yourself to sleep 'cause I am strong and you are weak
Wait, you are strong, and I am weak
Fuck -- just cry yourself to sleep

"The Game Of Who Needs Who The Worst"
 
A little bit closer,
I know you're not bashful
There, now that's not so bad, is it?
So what was that secret?
What did that prick whisper to you?
Was it playful and flirty
Or degrading and dirty?
I know you like it both ways
So -- what did he say?
To make you so goddamn defiant
So fucking triumphant

Relations, in direct competition
Domination
The players, disguised as the lovers
The best friend
A game of who needs who the worst

A little bit closer
Your lipstick is smudged, dear
Here, let me wipe that smirk off

A secret
But you couldn't keep it so secret
Relations, without hesitation
Or social tact

And as it occured, it occured to me
Who needs who?
Who needs who?

A little bit closer...
Closer...

"The Radiator Hums"
 
Dinner's getting cold --
You haven't touched a thing
So what's it gonna be?
I can hold out much longer than you
When it's steady I'm just acting out my roles
When you're ready I'll be walking out that door
And don't call me Pretty Baby anymore,
Oh, foolish worker bee --
I'm your fucking queen.

I threw out the phone to try to get through to you
The lines are down, drowned by the hum of the radiator
This house is the hole that you could never fill
With rose-blossomed bouquets, vanities and loveseats

Sad little boy, I know you get confused
But everyone goes through these trials of self-truth and self-abuse
When you're selfless you're so hard not to adore
When you're selfish, I just love you even more
I want to help you, but you've got to say the words:
"I want to be cured."

Drowned...
Deep in this hole we've dug for ourselves
Throw me in -- headfirst, submerged in this great depression
Impoverished, and Impotent....

...And Don't Call Me Pretty Baby

I threw out the phone to try to get through to you
The lines are down, drowned by the hum of the radiator
This house is the hole that you could never fill
With shattered dinner plates
That's how we'll communicate

Hey, Pretty Baby, are you ready for bed?

"The Night I Lost The Will To Fight"
 
I need a catalyst, to rekindle the flame
That once burned within these fists where defeat remains

The night has fallen down the staircase...

I need a catalyst, to rekindle the flame
That once burned within these fists where defeat remains
One Februrary night, we screamed our agonies
And I swear I tried to care
I tried, I tried...

But the icicles hung down like prison bars...

I need a catalyst, to rekindle the flame
That once burned within these fists where defeat remains
One Februrary night, we screamed our agonies
And I swear I tried to care
I tried, I tried...
(And) I lost the will to fight...
The will to fight...
(I lost the will to fight... I lost the will to fight... I lost it... I lost it...
I lost the will to fight.)

Burst And Bloom (2001)



1.   Sink To The Beat
2.   The Great Decay
3.   Tall Tales, Telltales
4.   Mothership, Mothership, Do You Read Me?
5.   Fairytales Tell Tales

"Sink To The Beat"
 
I'll try to make this perfectly clear
I'm so transparent I disappear
these words I lyrically defecate
upon songs I boldly claim to create

Clint steps in to establish the beat
4/4 hip hop and you don't stop
this unique approach to start an EP
intended to shock, create a mystique
a cheap strategy, a marketing scheme
building awareness for the next LP
they've got a good fan base
they've got integrity
they've got a DC sound
Shudder to Think, Fugazi
and Chapel Hill Around The Early 90's
this is the latest from Saddle Creek

some melodies are like disease
they can inflame your misery
they will infect your memory
they haunt me
some memories are like disease
they can inflame your misery
they will infect your melody
they haunt me

I write these words with my motherly intuition
I shape these sounds into harmonic apparitions
but I can see can see through these haunting things
my moldy dreams are debased by the same hands that shaped them

I'll try to make this perfectly clear
I'm so reflexive i am a mirror
these words I'm driving into the ground
the same words I scream out over the crowd

I'm just an airwave rolling around
I storm and crash without a sound
There's all these islands out at sea
I can't reach

I'm just an airplane diving down
I storm and crash without a sound
engines exploding silently out at sea
where waves caress unstable egos
where melody is completely swallowed
where songwriters chain their songs
to their ankles and
sink to the beat
'til it stops and
bursts under pressure
let it
burst and bloom
hit song
let it burst and bloom

"The Great Decay"
 
this is the bed that i have made
this is the grave where i will lay
these are the hands where i will bury my face
i dont believe in wasting time
searching for truth you never find
nobody moves we live in the great decay
all these ghost towns share a name
anywhere, usa
all these strangers look the same
day after day after day
this great decay, the great decay
from birth to the grave
and ive seen what it can do
and im afraid its got me to
cause i can feel it suck me in
cause i can feel im losing grip
day after day its static life
week after week is sacrificed
month after month you meditate
all of the years that waste away
this is the life that i embrace
this is the world that i create
falling into the great decay
give in give in give up
all these verses share a theme
we dont amount to anything
its the day after bloodsucking day
this great decay, this great decay
asleep in your grave