"Hello Birmingham"

hold me down
i am floating away
into the overcast skies
over my home town
on election day

what is it about birmingham?
what is it about buffalo?
did the hate filled wanna build bunkers
in your beautiful red earth
they want to build them
in our shiny white snow

now i've drawn closed the curtain
in this little booth where the truth has no place
to stand
and i am feeling oh so powerless
in this stupid booth with this useless
little lever in my hand
and outside my city is bracing
for the next killing thing
standing by the bridge and praying
for the next doctor
martin
luther
king

it was just one shot
through the kitchen window
it was just two miles from here
if you fly like a crow
a bullet came to visit a doctor
in his one safe place
a bullet ensuring the right to life
whizzed past his kid and his wife
and knocked his glasses
right off of his face

and the blood poured off the pulpit
yeah the blood poured down the picket lines
yeah, the hatred was immediate
and the vengence was divine
so they went and stuffed god
down the barrel of a gun
and after him
they stuffed his only son

hello birmingham
it's buffalo
i heard you had some trouble
down there again
and i'm just calling to let to know
that someone understands

i was once escorted
through the doors of a clinic
by a man in a bulletproof vest
and no bombs went off that day
so i am still here to say
birmingham
i'm wishing you all of my best
oh birmingham
i'm wishing you all of my best
oh birmingham
i'm wishing you all of my best
on this election day

"Cloud Blood"

ive been wondering what you meant
when you asked do you have a light?
ive been wondering where you went
when you left that party that night
cloud blood sweat smeared on the sky
its dawns roadkill
ive been driving since midnight
and im driving still

stop on the top of the ridge
just to feel the wind on my rand mcnally
then i feel the air grow cold
as i drift to the first blue of the valley
and youre wondering how far down you are on my
call back list
but you dont realize
everytime i find im by a phone the landscape shifts

every other song someones trying to write
angels enter the world
every ace every grace every near miss
every decent kiss by a pretty girl
she was an angel
she looked like an angel
and all of the angels did sing
and the angels were watching
and the angels were listening
and the angels were on hand to stand in for everything

you can call it magic
when a man pulls a rabbit out of a hat
but the reason I dont call you
is cuz I wonder if there isnt a better word than that
and you can call me crazy
but I think youre as lazy as white paint on the wall
and I know youll only speak to me in dial tones
if I call

its been way too long
since ive been behind the wheel
headlights guiding me right through the dark
I feel
driving, trying hard to resist
sleeps first kiss
everytime I have time to think
I think of this

da da da da
da da da
da da
da da da da
da da
da da da da
da da da
da da
da da da da
da da da

"Providence"

who knew
at this party that I
would walk in and I'd see you.
I guess now
we could just get drunk
yeah, that could be our excuse
you could slip
from out of nowhere
i could be there to catch your fall
we could laugh
at ourselves
and the writing that's on the wall

it's a narrow margin
just room enough for regret
in the inch and a half between
hey, how ya been?
and
can I kiss you yet?
so we talk, like
nervous neighbors over a tall fence
true love, but for the lack of providence

but I just got one more
thing to tell you

'cuz words are vitamins
and life is short
and I know when we get up
to the front office
We're gonna have to fill out
a full report
and the first question will be
what were you thinking?
and the next question will be
what did you say?
then they're gonna check to see
if the answers to one and two
matched up much
along the way

in the interest of poetry
and the cowboy movie
that's you and me
I'm back on the horse now
and I am riding
I am striding so effortlessly
what I mean is
it's late
much to late for us
and I'm fixing to go home
with just my conscious
and a bitter sense of irony
as my chaperone

true love, but for the lack of providence.

"I Know This Bar"

I know this bar
With a jukebox full of medicine
And christmas lights blinking
Around a clouded mirror
Its not that far
From Voelkers Bowling alley
Just go up there and turn right
Its about 3 blocks from here

You'll probably find grace
Her shift starts at happy hour
She's got this sweet face
Easy as tea leaves to read
You gotta know what to look for
You gotta know what's there to find
But I guess you don't really know her
So nevermind

I used to hang out a lot around there
In that part of town
Where all the white kids
still have feathered hair

I know this song
With this one really killer line
I don't remember it exactly
But it slays me everytime
Its on the jukebox there
Number 5403
Go put that song on for me won't you
And make Gracie think of me

"Grey"

the sky is grey, the sand is grey, and the ocean is grey. i feel right at
home in this stunning monochrome, alone in my way. i smoke and i drink and
every time i blink i have a tiny dream. but as bad as i am i'm proud of the
fact that i'm worse than i seem. what kind of paradise am i looking for? i've
got everything i want and still i want more. maybe some tiny shiny thing will
wash up on the shore. you walk through my walls like a ghost on tv. you
penetrate me and my little pink heart is on its little brown raft floating out
to sea. and what can i say but i'm wired this way and you're wired to me, and
what can i do but wallow in you unintentionally? what kind of paradise am i
looking for? i've got everything i want and still i want more. maybe some tiny
shiny key will wash up on the shore. regretfully, i guess i've got three
simple things to say. why me? why this now? why this way? overtone's ringing,
undertow's pulling away under a sky that is grey on sand that is grey by an
ocean that's grey. what kind of paradise am i looking for? i've got everything
i want and still i want more. maybe some tiny shiny key will wash up on the
shore.

"Imagine That"

imagine that i'm on stage under a watchtower of punishing light. and in the
haze is your face bathed in shadow and what's beyond you is hidden from sight.
and somebody right now is yawning and watching me like a tv. and i've been
frantically piling up sandbags against the flood waters of fatigue and
insecurity. and that's when i hear my guitar singing and so i just start
singing along. and somewhere in my chest all the noise just gets crushed by
the song. imagine that i'm at your mercy, imagine that you are at mine. just
pretend that i've been standing here, watching you watching me all of this
time. imagine that you are the weather in the tiny snow globe of this song.
and i am a statue of liberty one inch long. so here i am at my most hungry,
and here i am at my most full. and here i am waving a red cape, locking eyes
with a bull. imagine that i'm on stage under a watchtower of punishing light.
and in the haze is your face bathed in shadow and what's beyond you is hidden
from sight.

"In Here"

even when i look right at you
i always just see through
and i always just see new things
to admire about you

am i what you thought you were getting?
does this love we make make you proud?
does it look like it did on the menu
minus, of course, the little dark cloud?

'course when we signed up for forever
we had no idea it was in here
i guess always is all this and then some
i guess at least that much is clear
and whenever i look at you
you know, i always just see through
and i always just see new things
to admire about you

"Old Old Song"

i'll sing you a song that starts out descriptive
and locates a time and a place
like a dinner table where a whole family
is just sitting down to say grace
an old old song that moves into action
taking its sweet sweet time
and waits until we all say amen
again and again in rhyme

it's the story of a father and a mother
who battle each other over nothin'
with a couple of kids trying to figure
which way the plot's spinning
who's winning and who is bluffing

it's a story as common as a penny, son
it ain't really worth anything to anyone

poor little sore little song
that aches like a muscle each time that it moves
sad little song that you play
and you play and you play
and you play 'til you lose
while history is outside writing a recipe book
for every earthly pain
this song is inside finger painting dark swirls
again and again and they all look the same

cuz what if you come home from school one day
and you find your whole family's at war
and there's this ominous silence just waiting to be broken
and there's secret places for hiding underneath the floorboards
and everyone seems to be bracing
for the subharmonic thunder of the next bomb
and everyone seems to be waiting for the cops to bust in
with their guns drawn
at the bleak light of dawn

it's a story as common as a penny, son
i don't think it's worth anything to anyone

"Reckoning"

you can doubt anything if you think about it long enough. cause what
happened always adjusts to fit what happened after that. and it's hard to feel
like you are free. all you seem to do is referee. i remember when it was just
you and me steppin' up to bat. and win or lose, just that we chose, this
little war is what kills us. and either or it's that this war is, maybe also
what thrills us. we thought we left possession behind. the truth is i was
yours and you weren't mine. i've replayed a thousand times exactly what was
said. cause nothing is as it appears. and the fun house mirrors of your fears
on a roller coaster of all these years with your hands above your head. and
win or lose, just that we chose, this little war is what kills us. and either
or it's that this war is, maybe also what thrills us. and you know i don't
care how fast you run just tell me baby that when you're done with your little
marathon that you still have cab fare home. cause the finish line is a shifty
thing and what is life with reckoning? and baby you are still the song i sing
to myself when i'm alone. and win or lose just that you chose this little war
is what kills you. and either or it's that this war is, maybe also what
thrills you.

"Revelling"

you were so in love
that it was all you could talk about
and i think i felt a little left out
you were on cloud 9 all the time
while i was levelling
i was wringing my hands and you were revelling

but then why shouldn't you?
it was such a beautiful thing to do

would that i could get me some
of your yum yum delirium
i could level off the ground that we stand on
but with you down on bended knee
always looking up at me
that feeling of standing up together is gone

and though i love you through all time and space
my love always seems to take second place

you were so in love
that it was all you could talk about
and i think i felt a little left out
you were on cloud 9 all the time
while i was levelling
i was wringing my hands and you were revelling

but then why shouldn't you?
it was such a beautiful thing to do