Try To Be Kind
The ocean is in us/wipes out the land. Desert is in us/save what you can. I am a widow/of my own heart. Please take me with you/oh when you die.  Chorus-We try to be kind…not too kind- Devil is in us/works through our hands. Our better angels/weak and inane. I am an orphan/family of man. Please take me unto your breast/do what I can. Chorus I you cannot go home, stay with me. If your man is raging at home, stay with me….

Raise up the Sheets
Step into the light/come out on the other side. Dark end of the street/where lovers and loved reside. There’s cameras of course/at least a thin white film/that covers the teeth/leaves the mouths open. Oh, let the boys talk/let their lips form a hollow ring. And raise up the sheets/use them as curtains/keep out the awful day. Chorus-So hard to keep straight. High minded talk. Worlds a black casket/curtain. We just reflect its love. Let’s not be precious. Hoard what you need. Pared to the bone, we shiver into our love. Blood in our nails/iron beneath the skin/where hearts used to beat/cables contain lightning/so shoot out the lights/shove your hand in the wiring. We rise in the early afternoon/change all the sheets/cover up our bruises/bury the bodies that need burying. Our lies/shine like the truth/if they want us to stop/than they have to prove it. So raise up the sheetsx4 My body belongs to/ your body belongs to/ my ass belongs to you.

Hotels
Are you tired? You seem tired/don’t misunderstand me, you wear it well.  Losing sleep from all that shouting/Please take my arms as your hotel. Are you fading? I’ve been fading/since you got here, ‘round half past 4. Are you sleeping? Are You sleeping? / I’ll guard your body, I’ll watch the door. Chorus-We are not children/ we are not children/we know things end badly, we know things end bad.  There is no future/there is no resolution/until there is, baby, I’m your man. In my bedroom, stands a bookshelf/ for all the books I’ll never read. Hangs above it, an empty frame/waiting for a picture of you and me.  I’ll be wearing black bars on badges/you’ll wear a gown of dagger print. Our eyes our close and we’re kissing/the knives without, the knives within.

Child We Almost Had
I’m a goddamned cheat/I’m a gifted liar. But, oh you should have seen me as a child. To be loved is nice/but it’s hardly essential. But oh you should have seen me as a child. Chorus-Not tonight not tonight, took some pills and now we’re tired. Not tonight not tonight, we can’t sleep ‘cuz we’re so tired. The right thing aint easy/or even interesting. But oh you should have seen me as a child. To be loved is oppressive/you know that better than most, but oh…When we finally get to sleep, meet the child we almost had, and you know she’ll be sweet (brave) and we’ll name her Velouria.

The Bigger Man
I tell no lie. I tell no lie. We lost a good friend, we don’t miss him much. / Politics aside. Politics aside. He was a mirror made of alcohol and snide remarks. /No fake remorse. No fake remorse. He was a ham hock. He was a sex drive. He was a thick slab of exercise. He did what fat comedians do…he died. Chorus-Good my conscience. Goodbye dignity. I got the sound on the stereo. Goddamn the bigger man. Turn out the lights. Turn out the lights. My body’s a temple made by a people long since dead and gone. / I tell no lie. I tell no lie. Let’s not pretend that death’s the worst of all our options…. Our friends in science invented finance. Got involved with fairly evil Martin Amis type shit. Thought we’d grow up to be pirates. Instead we grew up to be graphic designers. Now what are we to do with all these ridiculous tattoos? I was only with you because you were there. You were only with me because I was amusing. At some point I stopped being amusing. At some point you stopped being there. Now Jesus Christ was a carpenter, but you know he’s not the boss of me and when my hand’s inside of you, you know I hear a symphony.

Frankie and Johnny
Frankie was beautiful/Johnny was beautiful/they were in love, love, love. Frankie was weakness/Johnny was her keeper/ they were in love, love, love. Frankie grew stronger/Johnny lost ground to her/ they were in love, love, love. Frankie said to John “I won’t be held down/by god’s love or anyone else’s. We had a good thing once/but good things don’t last/just ask your mother and father”. John said to Frank “There’s cause and effect/there’s butterflies and battleships sinking/there’s sailors lost and mothers who mourn/I won’t live in a world without love, love, love”. Frankie was careless/Johnny was a spilt drink/they were in love, love, love. Frankie and Johnny/were not sentimental/about love, love, love. Everybody is careless/everybody is careless/in love, love, love, love

Why Are You So Unforgiving?
Why are you so unforgiving? Everything I say is not a lie. Just want to take some hope from your life. Shove it down the throat of mine. And the curtain rose and you said to me “is that all there is” and I said to you “what do you mean? Is that all there is” and you said to me “I wanted something more” Why must you go out dancing/when my room is dark and warm. I always thought of you as a refuge, from what in my weakness I called a storm. And you said to me “are you gonna leave?” And I said to you “well people leave” and you said to me “I’ll never leave” and I said to you “I’ll watch you leave”. Chorus-We’re eating; we’re sleeping the fruit of bad ideas. We shower together, why not bring the bottle. This sweating this grinding, strange thorns bloom inside us. If we had not been born, would they even notice? Why are you so unforgiving? All over the world, people lie. I always thought of you as a solution. Temporary or the other kind…

The Wolves That Raised You
I’m not afraid to/say that I love you/even when I’m/down on all fours. Not afraid to/have my head held down/just so long as/the holding hand is yours. Not afraid to/say that I’m your man/even though you/got another. Doesn’t he look/cute there in those shoes/like an English dandy/in a Brooklyn fashion shoot. Chorus- Want to send a note/thank the wolves that raised you/your command of the human tongue/truly is amazing…hold on…release… I’m not ashamed to/ speak ill of the dead/when they’re still breathing/sleeping in your bed.  A mystery-ah/ religion built for two/resurrection/ for the chosen few. Chorus When I kiss your friends/you should pretend/that I’m kissing you/that’s what I do. I used to love love/like a blind man loves sun. Now I’m into harder stuff.

New Folk Songs for New Buildings
New Folk songs for new buildings/I take the highest one/I put my money in futures. We got plans/we got answers. We hold our lost souls for ransom. New folk songs for new buildings/I’ll take the highest one/I put my faith in the future. We got facts/we got answers. We give each others diseases. If you want to drown, shallow water’s all around, lie down. To lose your town, you just have to stick around. To lose yourself, all your friends are here to help/you fall. New folk songs for new buildings/I kiss the broker’s ring/I lay myself at his mercy. We got phones/to air grievance/ some things aren’t even worth speaking. To build a shrine, throw some rocks upon the ground, and pray To lose your town, you just have to stick around. To lose yourself, all your friends are here to help/you fall. Rise, East River, rise.

Positive Vibes
You want a glass of water? I’ll get you a glass of water. /You don’t have to fill that cup up with tears. /Yeah, those boys in the band, they’re wicked understanding, they ain’t too smart, but at least they’re sincere. / You say “safe sex is boojy, let’s have some kids and lose ‘em/ get some disease up in this piece and then die”. / I say “that sounds pretty swell, if I’m gonna go to hell, I’ll take the entrance through your thighs.” Chorus- Oh, these positive vibes are killing me. I don’t want to have fun, I’ve had fun before. I want to lie in the dark all day. With you. With you. Oh, these positive vibes are killing me. I don’t want to have fun, I’ve had fun, it sucks. I want to lie in the dark all day. With you. With you. You want a vodka soda? I’ll get you a vodka soda. Just stop waving money at the bartender. /I swear to god, the clock hits ten to five, and your manners go right out the window. /We sit on your car, spilling drinks, drenched in strings, talking about the end of the world. / I ask again “why you got to crush your own dreams?” You say “Oh, I guess I’m just that kind of girl.”

Asleep Means No
Well you had to leave town. Because she was passed out. And now you’ve found that the rumors have followed you down. So you found a new town where the girls are credulous And the boys got a game called "let’s get gutless". Let’s go. So you had to lie down because she was attractive. And then you blacked out. When you came to, shit was active. So you got your hands. And you got your skin. And you got your conscience, maybe, but, baby, you’ve got no friends here. Chorus- If the DJ’s a rapist, why are we hanging out hanging out with him? If the singer’s a rapist why are on tour on tour with them If the song is so vicious, why do we still listen to this shit? If the song is so vicious, why are we still listening? I’ve pulled some shit. Some seriously shady shit.  I’m not the one that you should ask forgiveness from. I’ve seen some shit. Some seriously shady shit. Even in the absence of absolute truth, I can’t swallow you. Chorus In the absence of an interventionist god I believe in a system of right and wrong I believe in the existence of a living soul I believe in the annihilation of a soul Chorus x2

I Know. I Know
I know I know.I know I know.I know I know.We’re all in this together.I hope. I hope.I hope. I hope.I hope I hopeWe’re all in it to win it.Chorus-They opened the door and they gave us their word. And we never wanted it.They said it was perfect, yeah, they said it was good. And we never wanted it.The river was red and they said it was gold. And we never wanted it.They gave us our options and they gave us control. And we never wanted it.I know I know.I know I know.I know I know.We’re all in this together.I know I know.I know I know.I know I know. Now. It don’t pay to be clever.ChorusI know where this is leading.I know where this is leading. Uh-huh.I know where this is leading.I know where this is leading. Uh-huh.I know where this is leading. A contract. A landmine.

Enemies
Walk into walls, thinking we’re ghosts. All around us the graveyard grows. Show our friends that they’re forgiven. By throwing their ashes into the river. We kiss on the piers till our glasses break. You can call me careful. I’ll call you ache. You say it’s a cruel world. That’s a lie. Why get emotional just because we’re still here. Wolf’s at the door. So we open the door. We’re taking our clothes off again. Using our mouths to give up the ghost. Two only children putting on a show. I warm your hands at the end of the pier. Don’t know what’s coming but I know it’s near. You say you love me but that’s a lack. Won’t be held responsible for what you don’t have. Chorus- You can’t save anyone. You can’t save anyone. This is your enemy. This is your enemy. X2  Never mind the thrashing behind the door. We know what bodies are really for.  Never mind our gone friends, our shallow needs. Never mind the days until you leave. My heart is careless. It lacks precision. But I love those ashes, I love that river. You say the sky’s empty. I disagree. I can feel something enormous rushing towards us. Chorus

My House
I hope the metal’s false. I hope the rumor’s true. I hope from 6am to 2pm I’ll be staying up with you. You’re just like…Chorus-Got a couch got a floor at my house. My house. I want you there.Got a couch got a floor at my house. My house. I want you there.Got a couch got a floor at my house. My house. I want you there.Got a couch got a floor at my house. My house. I want you there.  I hope your dress is torn. I hope your makeup’s smeared. I hope from 12am till 4am You were getting pretty weird. I pray aloud that you come around. I pray aloud that you come around. I pray aloud that you come around.That the skins are gone, that the parties dead, that your eyes are red And you come around. Chorus

Hard To Be Decent
Well, I like your dress. It’s revealing. Without giving away your secrets. You should keep them. I don’t want to know who you sleep with. You know I’ve been with them too, it’s so hard to be decent. At 4am we sing. Chorus- I can leave my phone on my pillow. You can call. You can change your mind. X3. Well I like your friends. They’re not smart, but they’re charming. When they break out those pills, it’s positively disarming. And I like your face. It’s been beaten.  By so many disappointments, I can feel them. When you take my hand in your hand and you talk about the other man. When you take my hand in your hand and you talk about the other man. In reply I sigh Chorus.  Oh. Love. You’re all I have.

I Quit Smoking-
She said Next time we kiss We’ll be single and sober. I said You believe what you want She said I can feel our passion imploding I said Is that a new dress? She said  You make love like a punchline Jokes die in your mouth I said Chorus- I…I want to be happy for you  And I… want to be less helpless all the time And I… don’t want to be someone you got over And I…just want to be around When you come alive I said I quit smoking To keep your scent on my sheets I said  I quit smoking To keep your taste in my mouth. I said Chorus

Revelations
Famines and floods. Famine and floods.  Now bow your head, know that evil is real. Now bow your head, know that evil is real.  You’ve got to believe. You’ve got to believe.  Famine and floods. Famines and floods! Now throw your hands up the damage is done. Now throw your hands up the damage is done. We all look so smart. We all look so smart.  Famines and floods. Famines and floods!  Now sing the song that our grandparents sung. Now sing the song that our grandparents sung. You’re not alone. You’re not alone.  Chorus- If you think the heart that beats, beats for you and yours alone…revelations. Revelations. Revelations. X2  Famines and floods. Famine and floods.  Bend down your knees, know that evil is real. Bend down your knees know that evil is real. You’ve got to believe. You’ve got to believe.  Famines and floods. Famine and floods.  Joy is a lie. Grace is so hard to find. Joy is a lie. Grace is so hard to find.  And flesh is just loss. And flesh is just loss.  Famines and floods. Famines and floods.  Now sing the song that our grandparents sung. Now sing the song that our grandparents sung.  You’re not alone. You’re not alone. Chorus.  Now sing the song that our grand parents sung…

Separation Tree
I’m tired of listening. I’m tired of harmless things. All our friends are single again. All our other friends are crossing their legs. Let’s bury a time capsule underneath separation tree. Need someone to hold me down so I don’t die in the night. Chorus- Cry cry cry till our eyes are sore Cry cry cry till our jaws are broke Cry cry cry till our eyes fall out Cry cry cry. Let’s talk. Let’s talk it out.  Let’s talk about distance. Let’s talk about you and me. Infidelity’s easy. It’s telling the truth that causes grief.  I’m carving our names, with a heart, into that tree.  Chorus

Carolina
Carolina Carolina Carolina Caroline x4 Don’t take a room of psychics no, know how we’ll die Got my cufflinks and my razors, bag of fauxcain and our savior.Here’s to the restless and the weak. Our kind. Chorus- Carolina Carolina Carolina Carolinex2 Through this sullen vulgar world. I will never let you down. Carolina Carolina Carolina Caroline There are pedants. There are whores. Hope I never let you down. Carolina Carolina Carolina Caroline Don’t take a room of psychics no, know how we’ll die Propolactics and your pager, pint of sauza and our savior. You’re the only good thing in this world. Oh, caroline. Chorus

Winners
Like winners, not nervous. We’ve fucked our way through wars before.Like lawyers, not subtle. We pick the bone from our teeth with bone. Like orphans, so hungry, so many mouths to feed.Like cancer, we’re winning. It never goes out of fashion. Does it? Does it? Chorus- We are traitors. Collaborators. Please bury us beneath our flags. Our flags. Like winners, not nervous. We’ve fucked our way through wars before.Like locusts. Not Subtle. We salt the earth when we’re done. Like orphans, so ravenous, so many holes to fill. Like cancer, we’re winning. It never goes out of fashion. Does it? Does it? Chorus  And are we nostalgic? Say hey say hey. A little bit yeah. Say hey say hey. For when a rapist president. Say hey. Was as bad as it could get. Say hey. And aare we in denial? Say hey say hey. A little less now. Say hey say hey. We get enough blood on our suits, and, eventually, we figure it out.  Chorus

Future in Publishing
Stay a union man.  Remain loyal to no one side.  Never let the Stalinist, the apologists forget the blood on their hands./ Enter a bar Dunleavy, leave Hammil.  The cops on the beat they appreciate you because, just like them, you see Kitty Genovese everywhere./
Sing it louder.  Sing it louder.  Sing it louder.  Sing it! Chorus: It’s impossible to know/ your false friends will tell you so/ you’ve got a future in this world/ it’s a headache.
When your lover leaves you.  call her a faithless amateur.  make the walls of your home hotel walls./ And when your lover leaves you.  and she will.  call her a faithless amateur.  Tell her she’s got a future.  Yeah, a future.  In publishing. Chorus. It’s your world, baby.  There’s no world, baby.  It’s a wild world, babe.  Take it now.

Taste of Metal
1,2,3,4…everybody in this town is my best friend now./ Everybody is gonna hate me when I come down./Why not let me go to your head?/ Why not in your best friend’s bed now?
1,2,3,4…the metal feels good in my mouth/singing 1,2,3,4…Inside you know you’re right. Finally I see the light.  Well, I see some light.
It was the week after disaster./ the bridges were out, so we went faster./
what’s the point of friendship you don’t abuse it?/ what’s a useful object you don’t use it?
1,2,3,4 etc. Oral sex with strangers because we ain’t dead yet./ Keep it complicated, or forget it.  Singing 1,2,3,4

Hot Ex-Wife Action
You’re wearing a black dress alright/ your skin is pale, but we knew that./ we should have seen this one coming/ you look like my date./ well, well, well, well everybody find a love that fits/ when you see me now, first you smile, then you spit. We know each other’s birth marks/ history of undressing/ we always said we’d part as friends well/ we said a lot of things.  God bless us. Well,well, etc. Out of Manhattan and back into Greenpoint/ never left Poland if they knew they’d end here/ sonya and Tanya and what the fuck happened?/ Black leather boots ever stop tapping?/ I know this heart, the way that it cheats./ I know this bed.  I know these sheets. Some people see stars, I see/ empty hotel rooms, unmade beds/ we always swore that we’d never be here again/ we swore a lot of things/ yeah yeah yeah. Well, well, etc. etc.

Is there enough cocaine in the world to make you care about me?
Courtney says I can/ got a coniption I call my friend./ Courtney says I’m dead.  That’s alright we can still be friends./ Powder burns in the bathroom.  powder burns on the bedroom wall./ someday soon you’ll see me crawl. Chorus: So, you’re in love. Doesn’t mean you’ll come any harder.  I come right apart, when you end what we started. Courtney says it’s science, the way the sky keeps crashing down./ Courtney says she’s tired of all this empty sound. Oh, mom, can you see us now?  Can you feel this need, like disease? Chorus.

If Things Don’t Change
My ultimatum fell in love with yours./ two vacant lovers, isn’t that what nature abhors?/ I’m never surprised to see you without your clothes./ our favorite secrets are the kind that everybody know. Chorus: If things don’t change, well they better.  And who can blame us for the way we feel about each other?
I do not trust the proclivities of the young/ those vicious dandies and their vicious ideas of fun./ I read in a magazine there’s a city rising up around us./ Our faith in the future that never comes/ is the tie that binds us. Chorus Here we are, just like we used to be. I will not leave you for the boys in the band.  I will not leave you for the girls in the scene.  I will not leave you for the suckers born a minute ago.  I will not leave you for the suckers working the clubs and the streets.  I will not leave you for those boys on the subway, those fauxhawked fucks, the way they talk:"Oh!Oh! Didn’t I meet you at the Fader party?" Chorus Here we are, here we are, just like we used to be, just like we used to feel.

Live In The City
Hey there, little runaway, cassanova got to get himself straight./Save the suicide for your birthday./ what you call fighting, I call fore play.
We can make it happen.  We can live in the city all our lives. Hey there, little F.I.T., you’re not the first to fake it during fashion week./ I love the maniquins and the new speak/ turn your face, I kiss the other cheek. We can make it happen. Hey there, little cast away, where you end up is where you aught to stay./ I take my lessons from the MTA/ it’s not what the city takes, it’s what you give away. We can make it happen. You can put your hand to the walls of the bathroom stall and pretend it’s Berlin/ you can embrace the new jack, beat the ghosts back, call yourself Vicadin/ you can move to the Northwest, Portland, Oregon, where the girls are easy and the boys lack ambition.  You can put your arms to the wall of the bathroom stall and it’s alright/ it’s not alright, but it’s alright because we live in the city.

Soda Water
We used to laugh at the working classes/ now you’re dating commies and your sense of humor’s suffered./ We used to kiss like a candy car crash/ now I’m killing commies and my social life has suffered. And they say "are you going uptown?" "No, man, I’m not looking to score." And they say "are you going downtown?" I say "why? when I’ve been there before." They say we love you.  We really love you.  They say we love something about you. We gave birth to a corpse for their casket./now I call you "princess" because your so precious./ We gave birth to a corpse for their casket./now I call you "baby" because your fantastic. And they say to me…etc.
Chorus:In the time it takes two people meet.  A little soda water, get the blood out.  In the time it takes to clean the sheets.  Little soda water, get the blood out.  Who’s going to tell this story?  Who’s gonna bother to write it down?  Who’s gonna make a conversation piece of this weakness and this doubt?
You can love a movie for it’s casting/ still hate the disaffection of the upper middle classes.
Chorus. Settle down now.  Just Settle down.

Hands Up
Now I feel blessed/I’m turning into something else./ Now I feel free/ my third eye is killing me./ No soul, no sense of passion/ I give myself over to fashion/ carry my body over/to a warm place and sober. Can you see the water rising? Now I feel free/ my third eye is killing me./ No I have distance/ carry my body to the finish. Can you see the water rising? Hands up, who’s in love/ with the blind and ecstatic/ the ecstatic and dumb? It’s 5 am and I’m stranded again with the same std’s i call my friends/ the names have been dropped, or at least they’re forgotten/ the doors are unlocked for the numbers we’ve called in/ i’m on the staircase with white knee high socks/ I’m tracing her outline with hands made of chalk/ she’s wearing white shorts/ works in publicity/ she says "you don’t like me.  That’s why you’re kissing me." Hands up.