Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today

LYRICS

MELTDOWN

Ten minutes to meltdown, I'm having a drink
And I don't think you care, no I don't even think
About you or the hands that you say you don't love
As you hold them so tight while the sky up above
Opens up and rains down with an unholy bore
There's holes in the ceiling, there's holes in the floor
There's holes in these walls all so covered with grime
Hey Baby, it's the end of the world, have a good time

Tectonically speaking integrity's lost
Still I don't feel foundation was ever at cost
Just some old bricks and mortar, some holes to be filled
This plywood and prefab can all be rebuilt
It's just toothpicks and twine, some matchsticks and paste
But it's all too late now, oh my god what a waste
And I feel the ground shaking, I hear a strange sound
Hey Baby, it's the end of the world, I will see you around
Affection is earthbound, our crushes of stone
But these all fall away, still you're never alone
When your one mode of function's steadfast deconstuction
Of attachments once forged with a fiery rambunction
And I can't help but think way before the big sink
That the streets of Atlantis already held a stink
And I can't help but know way deep down in my soul
That the best has already come and now it's time to go
So sign all your yearbooks, give a last glance
We've all missed the prom, still you're used to this dance
Soon a figureless shadow will drown out the sun
Hey Baby, it's the end of the world, I hope you have fun
I hope you have fun

PLACEMAT BLUES

Get up from the table and just walk away
There's nothing for me anyway
No reason that I should stay
Where's the place at the table for folks like me?
There's not one that I can see
Not one I can see

Used to be nothing sweeter than the signals it could send
The musical hand it could lend
Could be a lonely man's best friend
Where's the place at the table for folks like them?
Do you not want what they can spend?
Where's your place for them?
Now don't tell me that you don't see these things all sideways
I wish that you might one day see things my way
I know what you say, you say you serve the youth
You serve them Bizkits and Korn with a spoon
But I think you just serve you
Where's the place at the table for folks like us
When there's no one that we can trust?
Where's the place for us?

Now don't tell me that you don't see these things all sideways
I hope that you might one day see these things my way
That's my rant, I bet it don't make a dent
I waste all these little laments
And wait for accidents
So go on buy it all, buy it all and sell it off
The towers, the meters, the speakers, the knobs
Send it back to God

Just don't tell me that you don't see these things all sideways
And don't tell me that I might one day see things your way
We should kick your ass from here to Friday
Then maybe you might one day see these things my way

TRUST JESUS

A traveling salesman, the road was his life as he
Carved a path through all the struggle and the strife of this
Great big nation falling to it's knees
Oh Lord please give us the strength
The World Book was his trade but paint was his tool
A Chrysler his engine but the Good Book his fuel
Concrete his canvas, his message was simple
And at the start of every day he would pray:
Lord, I'm only just one man
Lord, I've only got two hands
Lord, I'll do the best I can

San Diego to Boston and all points between
From Brownsville, Texas up to Canada in the spring
From the Great Smoky Mountains to the Bitteroot Range
It's all the same
Some'd say he's a messenger and some would say a sage
Some would say a vandal but I guess it's hard to guage
Travel any highway in this land and you can probably catch his track
But you won't ever catch him in the act

Lord, I'm only just one man
Lord, I've only got two hands
Lord, I'll do the best I can

Now one day this world is gonna curl up and burst
It's gonna choke on it's own tongue and die of it's own thirst
Until that day comes our roads will always be long
But he's left signposts to guide us along
On overpass columns from Mexico to Maine
The color may vary but the message doesn't change
He knows he's not judged by his works, he does it just the same
And at the start of every day he would pray:

Lord, I'm only just one man
Lord, I've only got two hands
Lord, I'll do the best I can
Lord, help me help them to understand

GIMME BACK MY DOG

Gimme back my dog

It was mine before I met you
It was mine before I'd let you come closer and hold it and know it
The way you once knew me
It was mine before you knew me
It was mine before you'd chose me and use me and lose me, refuse me
The way you're now refusing to

Gimme back my dog

It was mine before I'd see you
It was mine before I'd believe you
When you said "I need you" it seems that you were just throwing me a bone
And it was mine before you found me
It was mine before you'd hound me and bound me, ground me then pound me
Like a stray with no way home
Like a dirty stray dog with no way home

So come on girl, you gotta give me some credit
It was mine before you'd go get it and pet it and let it run
When you threw the damn thing it's ball
And it was mine before you liked me
It was mine before you'd try me, lie to me and try to deny me
That you ever loved me at all, yeah so

Gimme back my dog

THAT IS ALL

All this talk of fire, of gumption and direction
Leave you reaching for some kind of resurrection as to
Who you thought you were and who you thought you'd be
They'll say it's the trying not the being, the journey not arrival
But all I'm seeing's discouraging reprisals
Of every mistake I've made and all the things I'll never be
And every version of me I tried so hard not to miss
Gets stabbed and shot with the thought of someone else's kiss
There's just no easy way to say
That everything you thought was right was wrong today
That is all, go away

So go on and sing another about the drinking and fights,
Cracks in the sidewalk, the darkness of night
Can you still believe it'll all put you closer to the light?
'Cause yeah direction's just an arrow, not a place to reside
Though "home is where you find it" and "time is on your side"
But none of that crap means squat alone on a Sunday night

And every version of me I tried so hard to retain
Gets swallowed and sweat out and pissed on down the drain
There's just no easy way to say
That everything you thought was right was wrong today
Move along, 'cause you can't stay

JOSEPHINE

They say he's trouble waiting to happen
Like he's a bottle filled with gasoline
I say he's waiting, but not for trouble
I say he's waiting for Josephine

And he cruised on the weekends just to be seen
And they all made fun of him yelling "Where's Josephine?"

And he climbed the tower and he painted "I Love You"
In the brightest color I've ever seen
And it got him in trouble and he landed in the drunk tank
And his only call was for Josephine

And he cruised on the weekends just to be seen
And they all made fun of him yelling "Where's Josephine?"

One night he got high and decided to call her
He tried to talk to the beauty queen
She said hello, and his heart it just melted
And his only words were "Goodbye, Josephine"

And he cruised on the weekends just to be seen
And they all made fun of him shouting "Where's Josephine?"

LAZY GUY

I'm a lazy guy
I'm amazed at the way some people try and try and try
To erect and then perfect some kind of proof that they're alive before they die
Well not me, 'cause I'm a lazy guy

And I'm amazed at the way some people holler, fuss and run 'round
Like sime chicken with their head cut off or a bullet from a gun
They should all sit back, relax and maybe try and have some fun
I'd help them try, but I'm a lazy guy
And I must defer a life of labor to someone who needs it more
I'd much prefer to be their neighbor, just the guy who lives next door
Sit out on the porch with my crap guitar and my mason jar of tea, and you know why
'Cause I'm a lazy guy

I'm a lazy guy
I'm amazed at the way some people try and try and try
To erect and then perfect some kind of proof that they're alive before they die
Well not me, 'cause I'm a lazy guy

And I'm amazed at the way you count my failings like some clerk
Like you're the saint in this relationhip and me I'm just some jerk
'Cause it's love we got between us, and relationships take work so why don't you try?
'Cause I'm a lazy guy

I'm a lazy guy
I'm amazed at the way some people try and try and try
To erect and then perfect some kind of proof that they're alive before they die
Well not me, 'cause I'm a lazy guy

Yeah I'm amazed at the way the days just slip on by so fast
Like ten thousand go-carts racing down the mountain of the past
If I had a bead on what I need to make the moment last I just might try
I just might try

Yeah I'm amazed at the way the days just keep on slipping by
And I got plans and dreams and hopeful schemes, enough to make you cry
I'm just waiting for that single perfect point in time to give 'em all a try
And I'm a lazy guy

I'm a lazy guy

BRIGHT EYES DARKENED

You say that love is everything
Then you turn around and sing about all your painful moments
How in the end they didn't care for the memories you shared
Your despair and inner torment
Yeah well wait a minute, friend, stop before you begin
We've heard this one before
So you're on a downward slide, but you've seen the other side
You can't ask for more
The end of summer's in the air
Do you remember when you cared about friends and change of season
And a guitar was in your hands, and you played in twenty bands
And you never needed no reason
Yeah well stop a minute there, why should anyone else care?
They've all got holes to plug
She's a shovel in your hands, she's a pail of sand
Someone you once dug

You say you gave it all you could and did everything you should
And you still wound up defeated
And all the efforts inbetween don't amount to anything
Just old mistakes repeated
And it's probably pretty true but what else you got to do?
We've all got time to kill
She's the T.V. ad that lied, the drug you hadn't tried
She was a perfect little pill

I've seen your bright eyes darken
Eyes that always shone
So bright I had to close my own

You say you can't live in the past
But you're driving there so fast
Headlights aimed for drinking
You'll say "I knew it all along", as the bars they pass along
With the ground below you sinking
Yeah so stop for three or four, they won't card you at the door
They've seen you there before
It's not your favorite place to drink, but a place to stop and think
Maybe you can't ask for more
Sputtering and spent and wondering where it all went:
Your dreams and things you wanted
You built a space for them inside where the walls are made with pride
Empty, cold and haunted
Yeah but who am I to judge or negotiate your grudge
I should keep my damn mouth closed
You should call them with the news, tell them they're the one who's screwed
You just might be right, who knows?

LUMBERLUNG

A breath of whiskey on my cotton shirt
Turn on the fan, take off your skirt
Lay here beside me on these sheets so stained
For a little while, but it ain't the same

And she brings me water and it always tastes so good
She brings me flowers from the woods
Stays here in this house with me when I know she'd rather leave
Stays with me as I sleep
And she helps me nurse my lumberlung
But it's no longer fun
For her

Once I dreamed we'd took a roadtrip, just me and her
Through the southern and midwest states
Turned north just south of Arkansas and we headed up
Towards the vast Great Lakes
And I thought I'd sleep through Texas, but I woke up in Illinois
And the car in the lane next to me was driven by a little boy
And he flashed a smile at me then he drove straight off the road
Smacked an overpass, I watched his car explode
And when she wakes me from my delirium
I know I'm no longer fun
For her

And she brings me water and it always tastes so good
She brings me flowers from the woods
Stays here in this house with me when I know she'd rather leave
Stays with me constantly
And she helps me nurse my lumberlung
But it's no longer fun
For her

SOME NEW TOWN

Got in your car, you never turned around
And I hope you're happy in your new town
And I hope you live where nothing goes wrong
And the bars stay open all night long

Hope you live where everyone's happy, and I
Hope you live where nothing gets crappy, and I
Hope the sidewalks and the streets are clean, and I
Hope you've got good weather and everything, this is

Just a phone call from the place you once lived
Where we're still waiting for the sleet and rain to give
It's just a line from you're old town
Where we're still drinking to the times when you were around

Days were we gave you good times and more
Enough for you to break down and call this town yours, you gave us
Remedies for everything shitty
Back when girls were pretty, yeah this is

Just a letter from this house you once blessed
Where I'm still waiting for the forwarding address
Just a note from the past we once shared
Where I'm still waiting on a present from the future to get me there

I know your new town is so far away
That I could maybe come and visit but could never stay
It's just me calling from a town so far
And I'm still waiting on directions to wherever you are

Times were I wouldn't hold your arm
For fear of letting go of the other one
Fears I had to kiss you
With my eyes closed I might miss you if you
Looked at me in some way I hadn't seen, if you
Took my words in some way I didn't mean
If your smile showed signs of some inner frown
Of thoughts of packing up and moving on to some new town

PINBALL SONG

Six weeks on the road now, I'm feeling kind of spent
There's a few things I need and ones a friend
A few good games of pinball and a double whiskey sour
I'll rinse it with a beer and repeat again

You know I couldn't find you in the place you used to be
I'm a sucker for the old times, that's me
But I asked around the bar and they said you were gone for a couple of days
On a vacation in the drunk tank so they'd say

I saw that girl you used to know at the other end of the bar
I never thought she'd ever get that far
She said you two were through, it seemed you were driving for different things
I said I understood, I've wrecked that car
So now there's thirteen empty bottles, a glass or two or four
The lights came on we headed for the door
But the night was adolescent and she said she wanted more
And that's what she kept the apple blossom for
So up the stairs to her apartment with the Christmas lights that blink
It's the second week of May but that'd be okay
Except that under those blinking lights we opened a big old can of stink
And you smell it soon enough in one more day

Saturday, the twelfth of May, the policeman turns the valve
And the first drunk of the weekend dribbles out
Collect all your effects and take a cab straight to the bar
You're wondering what the whisperings all about
Well I'll tell you:

It's about the easy sheen of alcohol, of better-not-do's done
Of blinking lights and the curse of roomates' tongues
An entire bar's worth holding theirs, but it only takes just one
And then it's pass that can around, it's your turn, son
Because this pinball gane I'm playing, you know it's not the same

Times used to be you and me could always match
Yeah and the multiball came easy just like the replay game
And the wagers won and tossed hard down the hatch
So now I nailed the free game and there's a bottle across my head
My table tilts, I'm headed for the floor
Went out to find an old friend but I lost me one instead
I lost it all for just another score