1. |
Not That Strong
04:38
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Maybe I’m not that strong
Maybe I want you, too
Have I given far too much away?
On the verge of a complete collapse
I let the rashness of the wine betray
What I’d tried to keep so quietly under wraps
Maybe I’m not that strong
Maybe I want you, too
Pushed it away so long
But now that it’s showing through
Maybe I’m not that strong
One of us has to be
‘Cause there’s no turning ‘round
And no kind of guarantee
So, the veil is gone, it’s plain to see
Every urge at which you might take aim
Wired to want what we know could never be
It’s tempting: a child reaching for flame
Maybe I’m not that strong
Maybe I want you, too
Pushed it away so long
But now that it’s showing through
Maybe I’m not that strong
One of us has to be
‘Cause there’s no turning ‘round
And no kind of guarantee
Tension without resolution
Impulses coexist
With strains of vigilance:
It’s almost easy to resist
One more glass, another furtive glance
One more turn into an empty street
Alternate avenues of choice and chance
And alleyways from which there’s no retreat
Maybe I’m not that strong
Maybe I want you, too
Pushed it away so long
But now that it’s showing through
Maybe I’m not that strong
One of us has to be
‘Cause there’s no turning ‘round
And no kind of guarantee
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2. |
Tropical Depression
02:48
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My affection is best confined
To the scope of my own mind
Hid down where you cannot see
Firmly fixed in surreality
I’d be staid, I’d be self-restrained
And terribly well-behaved
Circumspective, sure and steady
But the moon is awfully heady
And temperance never meant that much to me
Don’t know when to let up, but I know what I’m feeling
Are you feeling me?
I like the way you lend a hand
And sighingly condescend
How you seem just to let it slide
When I’m painfully undignified
But surely you must know
You can tell me exactly where to go
When I’m sunk and my money’s spent
And I’m growing too dependent
‘Cause temperance never meant that much to me
Don’t know when to let up, but I know what I’m feeling
Are you feeling me?
Did I make it plain?
And did you learn your lesson?
You want a little rain:
You’ll get a tropical depression
‘Cause temperance never meant that much to me
Don’t know when to let up, but I know what I’m feeling--
Temperance never meant that much to me
Don’t know when to let up, but I know what I’m feeling
Are you feeling me? Are you feeling me?
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3. |
There, There
03:46
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When did I last feel so much like a child?
You smiled so pitifully down on me
I stood with my hands at my side
Tongue-tied, but I am all-right, really – I’m all-right, really
Give it a minute, you’ll know everything:
Every passion, every pang
Each senseless impetus
On which my troubles hang
I’m not a man to be reasoned with
Just a thin-skinned simpleton
A clumsy little kid
Who’s fallen down again
When did I last feel so much like a child?
You smiled so pitifully down on me
I stood with my hands at my side
Tongue-tied, but I am all-right, really – I’m all-right, really
If there are astral rhapsodies
Fruit on the tress, surely I could be happy
If there are those who’d please me
Why am I not pleased? Why am I so uneasy?
Kindly creditors I can’t repay
Bright visitors of my dismay
Dotingly stroke my hair, saying
“There, there: things are not so bad, are they?”
“There, there: things are not so bad, are they?”
When did I last feel so much like a child?
You smiled so pitifully down on me
I stood with my hands at my side
Tongue-tied, but I am all-right, really
Tongue-tied, but I am all-right, really – I’m all-right, really
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4. |
Glitch
03:01
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A mix of intricate quandaries and little quirks
A vicious glitch in your system, a wrench in your works
Never mind what I say when I’m tired
Every drowsy overture
Never mind how I’ve conspired
To draw you closer
I’ve been debating the virtues of humanness
But just how human you’ve been, well, I couldn’t guess
‘Cause there really isn’t very much
I could possibly surmise
In examining the depths of such
Inscrutable eyes
Put on your brave face, do what you must do
I tell myself, People trust you, they trust you to
He and his Gideon Bible are bound to find
Themselves left holding the bags in a terrible bind
I’ve been stealing out and slipping through
I’ve been feeling like a fake
Strangled by the pangs that grip me
When I lie awake
Put on your brave face, do what you must do
I tell myself, People trust you, they trust you to
Never mind that I’m a nervous wreck
Every word I can’t convey
Never mind how I suspect
You’re growing farther (farther, farther) away
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5. |
||||
For the gentleman with everything
What can you bring?
A telephone dialer? A cracker jack ring?
He’ll merely scoff
When the sheen’s worn off
And it’s already vanishing
For the gentleman with everything
Wait at the door
It’s easier if you’ll simply ignore
The blithely bright
Second-floor light
The way you feel desperately poor
I don’t know what I said
But I know what I meant
And if you resent it
I’ll gladly repent of it
For the gentleman with everything
Please be discreet
Don’t sit so still at his feet:
A docible stray
To frighten away
Then coax back so sweetly
I don’t know what I said
But I know what I meant
And if you resent it
I’ll gladly repent of it
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6. |
Charts And Graphs
03:22
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So, you don’t want to hurt anyone?
As if that does any good
As if skirting the question makes the answer
Better understood
You see through your prism
This unblemished vision of her:
Yours, until the vision grows
Insensibly obscure
But how are you to so impassively dismiss
The frail intensity of that initial kiss--
The way you laid your hand upon her blushing face?
You’re not ashamed to relish any lingering trace
. . . . . . . . .
If I speak in the tenderest terms
Will you promise not to wince?
I know that the pragmatist squirms
At such unruly sentiments
And maybe I’m useful
Only for a few good laughs
Near worthless when you’ve laid me out
On charts and graphs
But how am I to so impassively dismiss
The frail intensity of that initial kiss--
The way you laid your hand upon my blushing face?
I’m not ashamed to relish any lingering trace
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7. |
A Room Inside You
04:12
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Should I presume upon you?
Should I pester you to death?
Should I call you in the midst of your day
For nothing in particular
Just to hear you when you speak
In your restrained, familiar way?
Is there a room inside you:
A place where I could stay
To lay my head, if only temporarily
Knowing you are close-at-hand
And that I’m not too much to carry?
I’ve set up more impediments
Than any soul could bear:
They were exhausted when they walked away from me
So, what is it costing you to
Linger within reach
And what is it that keeps you coming?
Is there a room inside you:
A place where I could stay
To lay my head, if only temporarily
Knowing you are close-at-hand
And that I’m not too much to carry?
I see you pass me by
From the corner of my eye
Only to vanish into thin air
Will it ever be sufficient
Just to know you’re existent
For someone, somewhere?
But in some alternate state
There’s an open garden gate
A passageway down which you’ll still be waiting
And there’s a room inside you
And there’s a room inside you
And there’s a room inside you
And there’s a room inside you
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8. |
Fortunate Girls
02:59
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Fortunate girls, on whom the stars shine
For whom they realign
In spectacular patterns
Which I saw suddenly, clearly, once you stepped into view
After every disaster, am I finally a fortunate girl, too?
A fortunate girl…
I never knew what I was made up of
Until push came to shove
And I stumbled to you
Where I slipped shudderingly
Out of a chloroform-haze
Into the warmth of your invigorant-gaze
And I saw suddenly, clearly, once you stepped into view
After every disaster, am I finally a fortunate girl, too?
You draw me outward, into focus
You don’t notice my flaws, you don’t seem to wonder…
Fortunate girls have hearts that still may break
It would be a mistake
To pretend they never do
But the past began to vanish when you stepped into view
After every disaster, at long last, I’m a fortunate girl, too
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