1. |
Lazy Genius
02:38
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Lazy genius, at home as we grow
Living off the royalties from an old TV show
Now he lets his influence lag
With his hands in his crotch and the snack food bag
You could change the world without leaving your house
You could bait the cat if you would bait the mouse
Lazy genius, why can’t you see
That you’re killing you while you’re killing me?
Lazy genius, why must you prove
That the world spins around while it does not move?
You could change the world without leaving your house
You could bait the cat if you would bait the mouse
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2. |
Being a Better Person
03:07
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I could be a better person than you
If I wanted to
If I had nothing else to do
I would suffer through the sun-shiny day
If I had a thing to say
If I thought it mattered anyway
You see several men attacking me
Down the street, up the alley
And you keep walking
You feel chewing gum stuck on your heel
This concerns you a great deal
You stop and you peel it
I would be a better person than you
If my conscience knew
If all the lies I told were true
I would not pay what you say any mind
If your words weren’t so unkind
If my flaws weren’t so easy to find
You see several men attacking me
The middle one is quite sexy
And you’d like to meet him
You know nothing’s going on below
Not much happening above
You must be in love
You would wait for me on the golden shore
If it wasn’t such a bore
If you didn’t treat it like a chore
Then we’d disappear into the sunset
If we were not so in debt
If we weren’t both low on cigarettes
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3. |
America Said
03:15
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There’s nothing you can do that can’t be photographed
Then analyzed to a void before anyone has laughed
But you might forget before reason stops your head
If you’re too busy listening to what America said
And the flies would attend choir with the birds
But the invitations had some misspelled words
Now the blue jays hunt the hiding flies
Over the window sill
Where old women chill
Their homemade pies
There’s nothing you can say that can’t be monitored
Then filtered through devices that muffle every word
Even the ones you say unknowingly while you’re in bed
Awake and dreaming about what America said
America said that if you be a good boy
You can be anything that we want you to be
But it was half misquoted, and it was mostly a ploy
From the ones with the dream they don’t want you to see
There’s no way you can act that isn’t paranoid
On your deathbed wondering which part you most enjoyed
Thinking about what you should have changed instead
Of letting voices drown out what America said
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4. |
The Words We Sang
04:39
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They came in fast, yet they came discretely
You entered last, but entered completely
And the words you sang were the words I sang to you
The draft blew cold and the stage was creaking
The crowd droned on, and their chairs were squeaking
Peaking from stage right, you hoped they would hush for you
The outcome neared, but it wasn’t certain
You shook in fear as they drew the curtain
And the music played, it was playing just for you
Your act was short, the third verse was missing
But you made it through via strategic kissing
Had you asked for more, I’d have written it for you
But you never asked, you just took what lay there
To always be yours and forever stay there
Till you ran away — was that exit meant for you?
And the circus was in town
And you asked if you could join them
Still wearing your pageant gown
As you pressed against the boredom
But they never knew and they never could
The greater pain of the greater good
So they packed their tents and went on their way
While you and the mud would forever stay
You left it there till the final hour
You left it dying, but it still had power
And it cried in pain, it was crying out for you
Just you
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5. |
Janean
02:44
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Janean shaves the ice and she offers you a snow cone
That is made from all the syrups, but it’s not a suicide
And the sun shines upon her, then the storm clouds push and split it
But it really doesn’t matter, ’cause it’s still there when it hides
And everyone complains about the hot summer weather
And everyone whines often when it’s cold
Janean warms the milk and she offers you hot chocolate
That is really some strange mocha, but you drink it anyway
And the snow falls upon her, but she’s got a nice warm hat on
So it weighs down all the branches as it brightens up the day
And everyone rejoices for the warm, summer weather
And everyone plays outside in the snow
And everyone complains and then rejoices for the weather
And for some reason it never quite gets old
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6. |
Metropolis
01:31
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There’s a pendulum on the digital clock
The town’s decoration with a really loud tock
That wakes everyone 10 miles from the city
But no one complains ’cause it looks so pretty
And the satellite delivers them the time
So they know it’s 4 a.m. and it’s a crime
That they’re listening to the clock instead of sleeping
There’s a monument to the new modern age
With a Romanesque arch in a neo-Greco cage
It’s holding up a thousand-watt speaker
That keeps the town’s morale from getting bleaker
And the speaker loops a message to the town
Reminding them that they should never frown
Or spend any of their public time weeping
And no one can sleep
’Cause if they’re caught awake
They will lose all their friends
And have to find a new town
That fakes the rain and takes all the snow
And hides it somewhere no one ever goes
And the satellite delivers them the time
So they know it’s 4 a.m. and it’s a crime
That they’re listening to the clock instead of sleeping
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7. |
Diving in Quicksand
05:02
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I feel my soul diving in quicksand
I see a hole filled up with thick sand
And so I jump in with hope so low
I’d be happy to sink if it were not so slow
’Cause my soul is diving in quicksand
I see a pool — of course it’s a mirage
And I’m a fool who’d charge toward a barrage
And so I jump in with my head first
Just hoping I can quell my amazing thirst
But the cool taste turns to quicksand
I feel my soul diving in quicksand
I see a hole filled up with thick sand
And so I jump in and take a breath
So ready for my lungs to fill up with death
’Cause my soul is diving in quicksand
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8. |
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Put up an umbrella and louden the rain
Put drugs in my blood and quiet the pain
But most of all, put a strawberry in my champagne
You can say I’m foolish or quite insane
Whatever you do, don’t call me plain
At the crazy house, stick a strawberry in my champagne
If you need a hero, I’ll take the reins
Just promise my death won’t be in vain
And before I ride, you’ll put a strawberry in my champagne
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9. |
Home is a Hospital
02:22
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Your home is a hospital
And you aren’t ill at all
Yet take pills to heal
Your bed is always so sterile
And I’m covered in filth
And can’t share your meal
Lights-out comes before sunset
Security I’ve met
Chased me with a net
I was lost in the halls
And I couldn’t read the arrows on the walls
The new widow cried
And the door I guessed took me outside
If the hours were less strict
I’d pay you a visit
And sneak you a cake
But your home’s an intensive care ward
And I am a coward
Who can’t even bake
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10. |
We the Parasites
03:16
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The lights all dimmed on us
So they could shine on you
But you couldn’t quite figure out what you should do
You really looked the part
Never too short or tall
But you never could say that you gave it your all
We took the private jet
So you could spend the cash
And while we partied you sat hoping that the thing would just crash
We were the parasites
And you would let us feed
Because you had plenty everything you didn’t need
You really looked the part
Never too short or tall
But you never could say that you gave it your all
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11. |
Your Worth
02:31
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In the bathroom again, this time at the office
Hoping nobody asks where you are
You know you can’t quit, but you hope you get fired
Still you fear your career will go far
You’re singing along to the voice that you’re hearing
Until you realize there’s nobody there
So you run outside and you shout at the marquee
Until it tells you to go whine elsewhere
You zip up your backpack and get in position
To start your bid for the Olympic games
But the bomb in the village would leave people crying
And your bronze medal would rust in the rain
The children are daunting, the playground is haunting
And you cannot step a foot in the hall
So you’re dancing alone inside the little girls’ room
Doing a pirouette for the stalls
You know your worth
You can paint it in pictures
You wrote the book
But never typed a thing
It’s just the memory
Of the life that is gone
Although you know
It never went away
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12. |
About Me
04:04
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I’ve been floating around the town
In a hundred different memories that cannot pin me down
I’m atop the obelisk
I rustle the tree
And you are thinking about me
There was always something I really couldn’t say
That held the explanation of why I slipped away
Well, now I’m done slipping
And you still can’t see
Why you are thinking about me
I might have joined the circus, or I might have drowned
The world was but a nuisance, in sight and in sound
In the stench of the subway
The heat on the street
And you’re still thinking about me
You’re still thinking about me
Up the stairs and through the corridor, you offered me a cure
I promised you I wanted it, but you still can’t be sure
’Cause I was the lightning bolt
And you were the tree
And you’re still thinking about me
I’m not shrinking
And you’re still thinking about me
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13. |
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She never wrote you a love song
But for the past six weeks she’s been
Writing her manifesto
She can’t let it go
And you can’t see the floor through the pages
Of everything that she hates about you
And her list of your crimes through the ages
Is about 80 percent mostly true
You never said you were sorry
Which she’s taken to mean that you aren’t,
And therefore must be punished
While she gets published
And you can’t see the floor through the pages
Of everything that she hates about you
And the philanthropy of your agents
Can’t outweigh the bad deeds that you do
Can’t see the floor through the pages
Of everything that she hates about you
And the list of your crimes through the ages
Is about 80 percent mostly true
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14. |
Monotone
07:13
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I’ve been at the piano for a couple of days playing the same note
And to me it sounds as good as any melody anybody ever wrote
And the second tick’s the metronome vibrating the dust on the other keys
But I cannot write it down, despite all the commissioners whom I must please
And the full score will be due in a day or two for the musical
But to stop playing that G would be like denying me my pharmaceuticals
A cat can only be alive and dead at the same time if it does not exist
And that’s obvious to everyone except for the world’s smartest scientists
But my new tune could revolutionize the way people hear, if they’re listening
Then we’ll go repaint the whole Louvre as a canvas that’s smooth, white and glistening
And I’m beginning to fear that I’ll always be here with my monotone
And no one will come around to enjoy what I’ve found in this constant drone
And I’ve been in here for years and I still can hear my monotone
Interrupted by one thing: just the unanswered ring of the telephone
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NSPS recommends:
Withered Hand is quieter and more straight-forward than NSPS, but shares a certain outlook. Dan Willson is one of the best songwriters around—he can make you smile and tear up in the same rhyme.
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