1. |
Fluorescent Light
02:54
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Her nails dig furrows, bleeding my arms in the night
The crackling machinery
Illuminates so painfully
I know how much she hates fluorescent light
The remedy calls for ingredients bought on the street
Scratch the blisters till they bleed
Render science obsolete
Bathe it all in pale fluorescent light
And the sunshine made it through the curtains
And the weatherman made promises
To come around again tomorrow
With sunshine, with sunshine
With sunshine
Strawberry flowers blooming on sheets robbed of white
Her waxy flexibility
Sounding out phonetically
You know how much I hate fluorescent light
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2. |
School
05:42
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I’ve been waiting for an answer
Here’s the question: she’s a dancer
I think I learned that back in school
Solitary, a betrayal
We’re still friends but just in the mail
I think I learned that back in school
School is almost out on break
Don’t forget to graduate
Mix a drink and think about your day
I heard they made a four-day week
So much more to spend asleep
The minimum, the minimum of wage
I impress her with my patience
It’s expensive education
I think I learned that back in school
I’ve been working on my education
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3. |
Better Than Dreams
05:29
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Take a walk in space with me
And we'll escape the gravity
The view is nice and no one knows we’re here
I understood you underwater
That golden afternoon
The sweetest sweat, a taste just like my own
Just like my home
Oh, we can float away
The sun shines lazy rays this time of day
Oh, we can float away
On the thunderclouds and the velvet breeze
This is better, this is better than dreams
Take a walk in space with me
We’ll get lost where we can see
There’s really nothing anywhere at all
Sailing through the atmosphere
We’ll melt away and disappear
Just particles, sparkling in the sun
In the sun
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4. |
Hologram Girl
03:26
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Got a picture of your face
It spins around, but won’t look my way
While it makes few demands on my space
It whines a lot, then asks me to pay
For the dancing it does in my room
Though that’s not what I asked it to do
Well I’ve got my dancing hologram
Just a little picture of you
Ballerina school
Never taught you how to choose
The partners to lose
Hologram girl
Keep on dancing
Hologram girl
And me feet turn to ribbons from shards
Of the mirror you left on my floor
To fulfill your current desire
I’ll just bleed, till you ask for more
But you’re really not that clever
Despite things your teachers tell you
Yeah, you’re really just a picture
Of a girl whom I can see through
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5. |
Doctors
05:54
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How it started is not important
She was trapped there in her bed
No more planning, just existing
In a melody now
And every night she dances while the needles jump into her arms
And she says you’re my doctor
I just watch her
And we both hum that song
I rang her sister I tried to beg her
But there was silence on the line
Some suspicion, some superstition
There’s no medicine here
And every night she dances while the needles jump into her arms
And she says she’d pray for courage
That I would need it
That’s what the doctors say
And the moral to the story is
That doctors always tell you this:
I can cure you now- you just close your eyes
And hum this song
A little notebook which she would scrawl in
Brownish dots dried on the page
Scraps of paper, cookie fortunes
And things she’d do someday
And every night she dances while the needles jump into her arms
And she says I trust you doctor
So I’ll just lie here
While the needles play
And the moral to the story is
That doctors always tell you this:
I can cure you now- this won’t hurt a bit
I can cure you now- just a little pinch
I can cure you now-you just close your eyes
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6. |
Mr. Skinny Legs
04:10
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Mr skinny legs, with your big blind eyes
Always hypnotize yourself with those pretty yellow skies
Mr skinny legs, always following your scents
You leave the dollar signs to those who set the rents
Mr skinny legs, why you hardly ever eat
You’re going to need your strength now to get back on your feet
Mr skinny legs, it’s confidence you lack
That little thread you’re tied to can help to bring you back
And we can save you, we can save you
For the children you’ll have, for the wife you’ll love
For all those things you will become
We can save you
Mr skinny legs, you just need a loan
For your intensive care and for a fresher, cleaner home
Mr skinny legs, you’ll find help out there
Please turn on your phone now and call someone who cares
Mr skinny legs, you just need a home
Mr skinny legs, Mr skinny legs
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7. |
Number 5
03:12
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Close your eyes
And sing to me
One last dance
On New Year’s eve
Number 5 is acceptance
Smoky breaths
And chlorine drinks
And roads we’ll never drive again
Number 5 is acceptance
Little pills
And memories
Watch the sky as it recedes
Number 5 is acceptance
What we’re left with
Can’t forget it
Number 5
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8. |
Cape Canaveral
03:38
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I lost my grasp on you and you sailed out of sight
A pale yellow birthday satellite
And I’d always promised you no matter what it might cost
To organize the searchers' stars to cross
If you got lost
Cape Canaveral
I want to rent the shuttle tonight
I need some astronauts
To help me find a friend
Who is lost in space again
I hired astronomers to chart trajectories
Of well-dressed rescue party invitees
I printed some flyers up for interstellar roads
And radio transmission microphones
To guide you home
I got some bad news from mission control
We’ve run out of funding so they’re bringing us back home
I found out the hard way, you can’t have a party
Unless you bring money down
To Cape Canaveral
So I’ve just been sitting here staring up at the sky
While the sunlight bleaches colors from my eyes
Hoping you’ll float by
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9. |
Remembering Numbers
03:06
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I watched the numbers fall on the ground
Some kind of program, you’re not around
And I’ll watch the paint as it peels off the walls
I can remember, remember it all
I never remember the faces I see
And names are just syllables, so easy to lose
But I’ve got a way of remembering numbers
You’ve got a face like a number to me
I watched the carnival load up the trailers
Just dusty taillights fading tonight
And I got embarrassed when children were asking
“Do blind men have memories of when they had sight?”
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10. |
Albert Einstein
07:40
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In the mail this afternoon I got the note concerning you
With all the bills and other useless shit
It said that you’d checked out forever
and a few old friends would get together
For memories and hold each other up
In the mail this afternoon
I raised my hand in sixth grade class
I was never too good at math
I think they tried to tell me what he said
That somewhere in some other place
I’m watching sunlight on your face
And you’ve just whispered
“I’m so happy now"
I think they tried to tell me what he said
Albert Einstein said we’re all alive
In some place and time
That we’re all alive
No words like “never”
Only forever
Albert Einstein
He’s a man you can believe
Had a little dream of us
Cross the country on an old time bus
Hiding out in little mountain towns
A secret team of you and me
We left the words we’d never needed
You’d touch my hand and
I’d know what you mean
That’s the way we’re living in that dream
I never check the mail anymore
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Sawing For Teens California
Sawing For Teens is a sporadic recording project by John Brinton Hogan.
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