"Tall Tales, Telltales"
 
now and again youll remember the sound
of the sails waving helpless
the cables wrapping one another into knots so strong
youre lost at once if not tossed into the drink and lost beneath
a substance so dark yet elementary
four winds converge upon a point where your compass
spirals round in useless motions mocking everything
while bilge collects
your cupped hands attempt to shovel out the last few inches
and you plead with the gods but they send you no sign
hold on sailor, hold on brother
steady the vessel
tall tales of ghosts at sail
they spend the afterlife
in futile calculation, dead reckoning
telltales confuse the sails, direction is lost
the winds will spiral round a listless tapestry
and youre left all alone under the shine of the moon
hold on sailor, tighten the cables
steady the vessel
its a good life if you dont weaken
hold on, hold on

"Mothership, Mothership, Do You Read Me?"
 
your navel is yearning for an extension - a ghost limb
it cant detach from mothers loving grasp
your starving - its burning for the nutrient it cant have
were all cut off alone and lost
calling out to homebase, do you read me?
(emergency: were floating endlessly)
transmission terminated
youve been created, severed from life and limb
stranded an infant
on the front step of the universe
infinitely searching for a warmth
once loved, now lost forever
mothership mothership do you read me?
does anyone hear my siren song?
maybe ill be rescued before too long
calling out to homebase one last time
(the signal faded out the ship is gone)
still starving for the reason
you were created
then severed from life and limb
stranded an infant
on the front step of the universe
infinitely searching for a warmth
once loved
now lost forever

"Fairytales Tell Tales"
 
let's pretend we're not needy
let's pretend our hearts still beat
let's pretend we fall in love tonight
clumsy enough to fall for anything
we'll stumble on our words
we'll spill our guts on creaking bar stools
below the neon blue
low lives hiding in dives there's no feeling in drinking sleeping with strangers
ghosts passing through bedrooms unaware
a faint reflection on the barbacks mirror
a face I never knew whispering,
please don't be a stranger to me. who are you if you're alone
you're no good at pretending
all my plays have tragic endings
you wish I was a fairy tale
this frog will never change anything
just pretend that you're in love
that scolding sun is bound to come up eventually
so who is it that whispers in your ear
a haunting voice blows in through the window
there's no feeling floating over beds
a needy pleading apparition
crying 'who am I if I am alone?
I hardly exist at all.
let's pretend that we don't need anything anymore from anyone.
I don't want to feel anything anymore let's just pretend
we'll live happily ever after

8 Teeth To Eat You (Cursive/Eastern Youth) (2002)



1.   Excerpts From Various Notes Strewn Around The Bedroom Of April Connolly, Feb 24, 1997
2.   Am I Not Yours?
3.   Escape Artist
4.   May Flowers

"Excerpts From Various Notes Strewn Around The Bedroom Of April Connolly, Feb 24, 1997"
 
Why I should leave:no-why I'm leaving you for him..well, let's see here:well, let's see; where should I begin? Every night you get annihilated with all your friends, and every night I drink alone until you stumble home wanting some- like some fuck and run. I know you sleep around, I see it in the eyes of those girls. Those fucking girls..they smile and nod, but never offer a single word-I'm just in the way-I'm the ball and chain, you're the jailbird chirping, "how hard life is in the cage!"{ how hard it is waking up next to me. Well, you've dug this hole, come on and fill me up. When you said you loved me I knew I was getting fucked you said you'd never let go all that stopped:you used to turn me on, now we're just getting off that's why I'm leaving you. ****and the drunken erratic response from april's ex-boyfriend Trevor Post, upon finding said various notes **** you really, really think this guy is gonna make it all right? You told me you could never be in love with another man oh but this one is it! But I remember when we met we knew that this was the end. Yeah, I remember I remember everything the haircuts the dollar movies. We used to sneak a six pack in your bag, and wait for a girl to scream or a car to crash so we could crack open our cans. Or the time you shaved my head in the front yard; a passerby stopped to take a picture - ended up in the paper and now you want to leave? Well maybe I forgot a couple things it doesn't mean I don't remember how it feels when you're lying naked next to me. Valentine I want to feel your hips pressed up against mine. We'll push into each other-love's alive. It might be fleeting, but it's ours and it's tonight..so won't you reconsider love-lost lives? You might be lonely, but I'm still by your side. You might have to leave but not tonight

"Am I Not Yours?"
 
Who's your school friend? He's left you some messages. He'd love to see you again - he thinks your ideas are brilliant..and since you've been going out for coffee with him lately, well, is he a pretty good-looking guy? Jealousy am I not yours? We stopped for some alcohol. You stayed in the car. The bars had gotten out, that line was so long:and I saw you over on the pay phone. So I was thinking - who do you ever call at one a.m.? yeah, I wonder who that was. Jealousy. I am not yours. We lay so stiffly, and act like we're sleeping. But my eyes are staring, and you're not breathing heavily. I know when you're sleeping - you purr so softly on my neck. Jealousy. I am.

"Escape Artist"
 
Midnight is rising your eyes adjusting on a sullen, distant and persistent moon the shadows are thickets they swarm with frogs and crickets droning a collective tone once you get lost in it there's no need for turning back twilight has pulled you in strong just like that the weather shifts and something triggers your legs to carry on. Why are you running away over and over again? Why are you running in place? Daylight is shining your retinas are burning burning burning something is evident your legs will carry you on. The old haunts are real! It's just a matter of time before they bury you!

"May Flowers"
 
I colored this picture for you.
A little girl crying in her room.
Her mom's just outside the door holding her head.
And her brother's outside shooting hoops.
Yeah, you can see him past her windowsill,
but we're not looking at him the same ever again.
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Tell mama that you're ok?
May flowers she won't say a single word the doctor's gave up on her,
some things just can't be cured. Or covered up.
These days she's hardly alive.
She's already dead in the eyes.
The house has been silent ever since.
Tell me what happened to Caroline.
Whatever happened to Caroline?
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Mama knows it hurts inside (deflowered)
"when you're on your feed again you'll grow a resilience to those cold,
unrelenting showers." May flowers grow taller,
the harder April storms on the land.
If you knew these storms were gonna come...
I thought mothers protected their young.
Those rainclouds are hiding your son.
Now look at what happened to Caroline!
Whatever happened to Caroline?
How do we solve a problem like
uh oh. Ugh uh, you don't.
still we've got to catch those clouds,
we've got to keep them down.
How do we solve a problem we don't want to know about?
Uh oh, we don't.

The Ugly Organ (2003)



1.   The Ugly Organist
2.   Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand
3.   Art Is Hard
4.   The Recluse
5.   Herald! Frankenstein
6.   Butcher The Song
7.   Driftwood: A Fairy Tale
8.   A Gentleman Caller
9.   Harold Weathervein
10.   Bloody Murderer
11.   Sierra
12.   Staying Alive

"The Ugly Organist"
 
(And now, we proudly present
Songs perverse, and songs of lament.
A couple of hymns of confession,
And songs that recognize our sick obsessions.
Sing along - I'm on the ugly organ.)