I have not been writing
that many new songs
how I wish I could stay longer
how I wish I'd never gone

You have not been writing
me as often as I wished
and sometimes I think I left you
just to see if I'd be missed

I saw my fortune scrawled out
up against the wall
in a crowded market place
in a town I can't recall
and the teller told me that I would be
young and I would fall
but my new friends all assured me
that it all was surely false

Back at home, you found religion
in a dirty crystal ball
in the back of a dollar store
in that shopping mall

I found religion
out in San Cristobal
now I feel that I've come far enough
to give you a call

I have not been writing
as often as I'd hoped
but there are some things you're good at
and then some you can't control

You have not been visiting
I can't say that I mind
'Cause every time you go somewhere
you leave somewhere behind

I saw my fortune scrawled out
up against the wall
in a crowded market place
in a town I can't recall
and the teller told me that I would be
young and I would fall
but I didn't think he meant so soon
so soon at all

Back at home, you found religion
in a dirty crystal ball
in the back of a dollar store
in that shopping mall
I found religion
out in San Cristobal
now I feel that I've come far enough
to give you a call

So I'm calling now but it says
I don't got the number right

Your body looks to me
a way it never has before
and is this what's making you so sad,
and what you did this for?
She said,
your body looks to me
a way it never has before
and is this what's making you so sad,
and I can't do this anymore

I found religion in a dirty bathroom stall
in the back of a liquor store
in that mini mall
you found religion
when you realized you could fall
now you say that you've come far enough
to give me a call

So you're calling now,
but I lie and I tell you that I moved

Everything's brand new.

I would have meant it if I'd said it
but I didn't think to say it at the time
And you never really said it
with your mouth,
and only one time with your eyes

And you would get it if you get it
'cause I know that you're the type
who gets it when they get it
and they always get it right
I hate that type

Now I am sitting in your bed
in your bedroom with my new homework machine
I am playing with your cat
with bits of string
and I am waiting patiently

You are out with a woman
at exhibits about people like me
I don't get it

Because you don't like art
you just buy and sell
and you wouldn't give it up
if you were getting it
well, so I brought this on myself
I can't say I disagree
you take that woman to exhibits
about people like me

I am at home
with my watercolors
filling in my life
with you, my life without
I am at home with my watercolors
while you are out

I would have meant it if I'd said it
but I didn't think to say it and I'm shy
so I hid inside my tee shirt
and I looked the other way
when you walked by

I gathered up my things
and I dusted off my bike
and I found a quiet place
where I could sit and I could write
and I wrote this

And you would get it if you get it
'cause I know that you're the type
who gets it when they get it
and they never have to write it on paper
not on paper

but you never got it, never!
not to tell you the truth
because you show up to my shows
and think I'm singing about you
when I'm not
I don't get it

'Cause you don't like art
you just buy, buy, sell
and you wouldn't give it up
if you were getting it
well, so I brought this on myself
I can't say I disagree
you bring that woman to my concert
and she tells you that she likes me

I am at home
with my watercolors
filling in my life
with you, my life without
I am at home with my watercolors
while you are out

All my friends and the issues that we face
you want to stick us in a box
put us in our place
or maybe hang us on a wall
then leave me out to dry
was I a joke, was I a freak
or was I just too much alive

I am at home
with my watercolors
filling in my life
with you, my life without
I am at home with my watercolors
blotting it out

tomorrow I am leaving for Baltimore
you think I act like Harry Potter
like you're Voldemort
I don't care what you said
you didn't mean it like I did
don't even start with me
turn up the heat, turn up the heat
or get out the kitchen
you're like vegan cheese!
try as I might, you never melt for me
it wasn't quite as funny at the time

now in ten minutes
I will be ten minutes away
part of me thinks I should go back
to the folk-punk house and stay
everybody was so nice there
there were lots of heavy things that stayed in place

and I wish that this was more like that
but when you feel held back, you slip away
and really, I get that
sometimes i also feel that way
but I'm older now and I know this now
it's a game and I can't play

because I shoot for the impossible
knowing that it won't come
and you'd think I would know better
now that I am twenty one
I've been bored, I've been so bored
and I've been numb and dumb
and I'm still pretty young

besides I'm really getting so adept
at preventing my own happiness
complacency breeds latency
in that space it sits deep in my chest
and the thing that beats
beneath your breast, has been at rest
but I try my best
to see how close I can get to it
because I get productive when I get upset, hey

so now in ten minutes I will be ten minutes away
part of me thinks I should leave right now
but I sit back and wait
I've been bored, I've been so bored
and I've been looking for a little bit of heartache

but tomorrow I am leaving
for Baltimore
where it won't bother me
not in Baltimore
tomorrow I am leaving for Baltimore
once more

it's a happy new year
I'm making guacamole
you couldn't even pick up the fucking phone and call me
I don't like my tee shirt
I don't like my blue jeans
I don't like my attitude, it's gonna be a party

it's a happy new year
last year was so stupid
most of us were drunk and even more of us were puking
although I heard a rumor
something about bad shrimp
don't know how I made it
up the stairs to your apartment
oh, I remember it
oh, climbing up to bed

and that's not all that I'm forgetting
it's a new year, the last one's ending
don't know how I ever made it out
here's to nothing ever changing
if it were, then I'd be parting ways
with all the bad habits I've found
but I still hang around
I still hang around

it's a happy new year
I'm eating guacamole
you kissed me at midnight
'cause you thought that I looked lonely
I don't like my outfit
I guess it's not important
'cause I like your four track
and the things you record on it

it's the time of year now
to keep your close ones closest
we'll be friends forever
and I don't care if you know it
it's a happy new year
unlike all the rest
feels like I am changing
and I know it's for the best
oh, I remember that

and that's not all that I'm pretending
it's a new year, the last one's ending
all the guacamole that I made browned
here's to always, everchanging
circumstances we're arranging
throwing all our cautions to the ground
they only weigh you down
I won't let you down

but hey, did you know
you can check the time
your call reaches the other line?
hey, did you know
that I know you lied?
so, board it up
don't even try
last year is ending just in time
I got out alive

it's a happy new year
here I am again
writing in my car
and this time I can't pretend
that we are friends, we're not friends
friends don't do the things we did
and the ones you've done since then
make me think we've never been

when is this night gonna end?
are you lying in her bed?
all these questions in my head
where the whiskey at again?
you are discombobulated
when you show up at my door
leaving glitter on my floor
but I don't like you anymore
I don't like you anymore
I don't like you anymore
I don't like you anymore

We could get robbed tonight or thrown under a bus
your favorite dog could die and the holidays are rough
you've got to nip those tragic feelings in the bud
you've got to nip those tragic feelings in the bud

you talk it over with your roommates
you talk it over with your moms
I cry and listen to Beyonce
Single Ladies is my favorite song now

and I think I'm gonna be fine
I'm gonna be good now
I'm gonna be everything I always wished I could now
I'm gonna be awesome
i'm gonna be sure
I'm gonna be everything you asked me for and more

but I could not be,
I could not believe it when I saw
you on that subway platform talking down to me
and I could not be making that much sense
but I'm getting it all out
and I hear that's the first step

to being fine
you're gonna be fine
you're gonna be tip top shape
and tapping toes
and fly
you're gonna act awesome
and self assured
we're gonna seem
contemplative, nonchalant and bored

and if anybody tries to tell you differently
you tell them to come over and talk to me
'cause I don't even know you
but I'd take you home with me
just to show you all the things
in the world that you could be
including fine

I'm gonna be fine
I'm gonna be good now
I'm gonna start acting the way I know I should now
and then I'll be awesome
and then I'll be sure
and then I'll be everything you asked me for and more

but excuse me, if I don't want you there
to share in my new attitude
excuse me, I think that I might fly
but it's alright
it's just 'cause I
realized I'm gonna be fine
you're gonna be fine
we're gonna be fine

nothing you have felt before
tonight you're sleeping on the floor
it's not the worst place to be
at the club
at the club you fell in love
you lost your mind
and you did some drugs
or at least that's how it seemed

1, 2, 3 - it's a little bit like that
when you go walking by
I don't know how to act
I try to keep my cool
but I never got it back in the first place
in the first place

and when you look like that
I think I know what you are thinking
you're a heart attack
it makes me wish that I were drinking
'cause I can't sit still
and I'm feeling like I might faint

oh, it's a leap of faith
we're all gunning for a taste
of something else
that we've never felt before

it's a leap of faith
and I admit, I love the chase
but I won't wait forever,
baby, I get bored

I won't wait forever, baby
I won't wait forever, baby
I won't wait forever, not for you

I won't wait forever, baby
I won't wait forever, baby
I won't wait forever, now, would you?

I won't wait forever, baby
I won't wait forever, baby
but I guess there's nothing else to do

he was racing his way home
running every light
trying to get pulled over
maybe use his fight or flight

and there was not so much a silence
as there was a dissonance
no one talked about the things
that weren't relevant

she said:
"if you want me
I'll be waiting
on the fourth ave stop
you can take the heart from your chest
to use as a compass
when you are lost"
and he had never heard before
such passionate discourse
but no one talked about those things
for better,
or for worse

she said:
"I have been your lover, dear
I have been your mother, dear
I have been the eye of your storm
when there was no break in sight
and I have been your troubadour
singing your praises from shore to shore
if your circus heart wants more...
good luck, and goodbye"

but guess what
he made it home on time

you lock the house
you slam the door
you do it so hard your fingers are sore
I've seen you act
this way before
just once before

you know, you're right
turn out the lights
maybe we can make it through the night
I hold my tongue
I pay the price
it's a sacrifice

but 1, 2, 3, we're family
like an apple falling from a tree
and if you cry
then I can't sleep
and I won't rest until you're lying next to me
I have to say, I used to feel a lot like you
not long ago

you went to school
you were so young
don't forget where it is you came from
I used to worry that I'd never be someone
not long ago

you learned the rules
you learned them twice
no one got somewhere by being nice
you did your best
you got in fights
when you wanted more

but 1, 2, 3, we're family
like an apple falling softly from that godforsaken tree
and if you cry
then I can't sleep
and I won't rest until you're lying next to me
I have to say, I used to feel a lot like you
not long ago

I have to say, I used to feel a lot like you
not long ago

I got drunk last night
and the night before
and tonight I'm gonna get drunk some more
it's just so hard when there is nothing else to do
it's just so easy when there's nothing else to lose

I've got to move
I've got the blues
I've got some bruises, I don't know where they come from

I've got to move
I've got the blues
I've got to drink 'til I am dead or I am numb
but you wouldn't know
about all that anymore

I got drunk last night
and the night before
and somehow I ended up outside your door
I've got my whiskey bourbon
and my chevy suburban
writing stupid rhymes in front of your house
you come out and kiss me
on the mouth

I've got to move
I've got the blues
I've got these bruises,
I don't know where they come from

I've got to move
'cause I've got the blues
I've got to drink 'til I get drunk
do something dumb,
something dumb

progress is in the eye of the beholder
once you think it's finished it will roll you right over
then you let the rope go
and pick up some slack
when it gets too close
that's when you pull it right back

I swear I'll move
'cause you said the blues
and the bruises
go away in a year or two
but I swear I'll move
if I have to
so proud you pat me on the back
singing, hey, I'll drink to that
and I'll drink to that

you
you are my brother and I love you
like a brother,
like I'd ride your bike home after school
and fix you peanut butter
sandwiches when you're sad

because believe me, I get sad sometimes
I get so shaky I could lose my mind
and I will wait with you in the meantime

if you find you're weary
if you find you're weak
if you find yourself
without the comfort that you've come to seek
you can count on me

you,
you are the leader of the pack, it's true
without you we would not know what to do
I dare to say we wouldn't have a clue
no, we'd be clueless without you
you have the nicest heart somebody can
always there to lend a helping hand
drive 3 hours just to see my band

if you find you're weary
if you find you're weak
if you drive all night and
don't like what it is you see
you can count on me

we,
we wrote this song in someone else's house
when we were on a trip way out of town
I had this feeling like I might just drown
did you have it too?
had no idea that you were part of this
you wrote the chorus and you placed the bridge
your music has a certain grace in it

if you find you're weary
if you find you're weak
if you try all night and still you just can't
write a melody
you can count on me

yes, it's true
I always have to hide my art
'cause if I didn't hide my art
then it would lead back to my heart
and if I led you to my heart
then you would find me sitting there
on a pile of all the clothes
that I stole from you last year

and then I'd start to cry
and I won't want to write my feelings, it's alright
so I lie
make it funny, make it rhyme
and I hope that you believe me
and that's how I play it live
'cause I think that you believe me
miss the real important lines

like, how I get so sad sometimes
and how I get so shaky
like you could just ignore all that
if I use the word achey
and pretend like it's a love song
I don't care that it's not true
besides, isn't that what love's about?
I'll hide myself behind you

I will hide myself behind you
I will hide myself behind you
I will hide myself behind you
I will hide

'cause maybe I'm the one that's weary
maybe I'm the one that's weak
and now I find myself without the words
I really want to speak
but you can count on me