1. SAMSON

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonder bread
And went right back to bed
And the history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us
And the bible didn't mention us
Not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the stars came falling on our heads
But they're just old light, they're just old light
Your hair was long when we first met

Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
Told me I was beautiful and
Came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright
And kissed me till the morning light
The morning light
And kissed me till the morning light

Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonder bread
And went right back to bed
Oh we couldn't bring the columns down
Yeah we couldn't destroy a single one
And the history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us
Not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first


2. OEDIPUS

I'm the king's thirty-second son
Born to him a thirty-second time
Born to him with my hair still on
Born to him with two eyebrows on
And that's all I was wearing
When I woke up staring at the world

My mom had been a rather crazy queen
But not at all like sex machine
She liked to keep her body clean
Thought the world to be quite obscene
But she'd retire to her chambers
And we'd remain quite strangers

And to see me made her awful sad
And to touch me made her awful sad
And to see me made her awful
And to touch me made her awful

I'm the king's thirty-second son
Man, all it took was thirty seconds' time
But a spoiled little prince i was not
Had a chamber maid and a chamber pot
And there's thirty-one others just like me
There's thirty-one others i can be

Sometimes I'd stand by the royal walls
The sky would be so big that it broke my soul
And I'd stand on my toes to catch a glimpse
Of my mother's eyes and my mother's skin
But she'd retire to her chambers
And we'd remain quite strangers
And to see me made her awful sad
And to touch me made her awful sad
And to see me made her awful
And to touch me made her awful

And one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Then one morning I woke up and I thought Rex, Rex, Rex
Then one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Thirty-two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two still counts
Gonna make it count
Gonna make it count
Gonna oh oh

Thirty-two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two still counts
Gonna make it count
Gonna make it count
Gonna oh oh

Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the

I'm the king's thirty-second son
There's thirty-one others just like me
There's thirty-one others on the way
There's thirty-one others after that

Sometimes i stand by the royal gate
People screaming love and hate
And they scream and they scream
And they scream and they scream
Long live the king!
Long live the queen!

And to see me made her awful sad
And to touch me made her awful sad
And to see me made her awful
And to touch me made her awful

And one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Then one morning I woke up and I thought Rex, Rex, Rex
Then one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Thirty-two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two still counts
Gonna make it count
Gonna make it count
Gonna oh oh

Thirty-two's still a goddamn number
Thirty-two's still a goddamn number
Thirty-two's still a goddamn number
Thirty-two's still a goddamn number

Thirty-two
Thirty-two
Thirty-two
Thirty-two
Thirty-two
Thirty-two
Thirty-two

Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king


3. PRISONERS

All of the prisoners serving life sentences
Wait for the earth to suddenly shake
For the walls to somehow suddenly come crumbling, tumbling and
For the bars to somehow magically break

There's nothing wrong with them
That a thousand bucks can't fix
That a thousand arms can't hold down
In the ground they're tattooing the stones with
Cusses like cavemen - your mama was here

But they want to run through the air with no barriers or obstacles
Gunmen or guard dogs or priests
And to rise from the mud and start over and over
With the people all dead

If Hans Christian Andersen could've had his way with me then
None of this shit would have ever gone down
In my cell I'm tattooing myself with
Mermaids and swallows and though i do swallow
My mama thinks I'm grown but I'm really just little
And someday I will remember


4. READING TIME WITH PICKLE

Walking home from work
Stop at the supermarket
The condiment aisle
A jar of pickles catches the eye
Made eye contact with a solitary pickle
Bought the jar, took it home

Then made it up the stairs
And made it through the doorway
And waded through the floor
Tried to head in the general direction of the bathroom
The truest room in the whole damn house

Saying love is the answer to a question that I have forgotten
And I know I've been asked
So the answer's got to be love

So feeding time with TV
Then sleeping time, not sleepy so
Reading time with pickle
But where the bedside lamp had been
Is now emanating soft soft green

Has it always been this way
Is it possible that all this magic went unnoticed?
Maybe now things will start to change
And life will turn a better page
No more rage

Saying love is the answer to a question that i have forgotten
But I know I've been asked
And the answer's got to be love

Tomorrow back to work again
But run to the supermarket
Running hopeful through the aisles
Haven't been this happy in a long time
But not a single jar was smiling
After all,
Pickle jars are just
Pickle jars and pickles are just pickles
Ingredients: water, salt, cucumbers
Garlic, and pickling spices

Love is the answer to a question that I have forgotten
And I know I've been asked
And the answer's got to be love


5. CONCEQUENCE OF SOUNDS

My rhyme ain't good just yet
My brain and tongue just met
And they ain't friends so far
My words don't travel far
They tangle in my hair
And tend to go nowhere
They grow right back inside
Right past my brain and eyes
Into my stomach juice
Where they don't serve much use
No healthy calories
Nutrition values
And i absorb back in
The words right through my skin
They sit there festering inside my bowels
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds

Got a soundtrack in my mind
All the time
Kids screaming from too much beat up and they don't even rhyme
They just stand there on a street corner
Skin tucked in and meat side out
And shouting - i'd like to turn them down but there ain't no knob
Born into picket fences
Not into picket lines
All this hippie shit's for the sixties
Only cliché in our times, but
What if one of these days your heart will just stop ticking
And they sort of just don't find you till your cubicle is reeking?
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds

Did you know that the gravedigger's still getting stuck in the machine
Even though it's a whole other daydream?
It's another town, it's another world
Where the kid's asleep, and the loans are paid, and the lawns are mowed
What'd you think--all the gravediggers were gone just cause one song is done?
There's always another one
Waiting right around the bend
Till this one ends
Then it begins squeaky clean and it starts all over again

The weather report keeps on tossing and turning
Predicting and warning and warning and warning of
Possible leakage from news publications and
Possible leakage from news tv stations, that
Very same morning right next to her coffee
She noticed some bleeding and heard hollow coughing
The national geographic was being too graphic
When all she had wanted to know was the traffic

The world's got a nosebleed, it said, and we're flooding
But we keep on cutting the trees in the forest
And we keep on paying those freaks on the TV
Who claim they will save us but want to enslave us and
Sweating like demons they scream through our speakers
But we leave the sound on cause silence is harder and
No one's the killer and no one's the martyr
The world that has made us can no longer contain us
And prophets are silent and rotting away cause
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds


6. DANIEL COWMAN

On the day that Daniel Cowman stopped existing
The world should've ended right then and there
At precisely four-fifteen when he stopped existing
The world should've ended
How could it go on
How could it go on
How could it go on

Oh and I don't exist
I don't exist…

And now that we got that straight, doesn't mean that I can fly
Doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I want
Now that we got that clear, and you know that I'm not here
Doesn't mean that i can go do whatever I please

The premature ejaculation of his death sentence
Hit Daniel in the face like a big round spitball
And everything got hazy in the courtroom
And then he stood up and then he sat back down
Another two times in a row
And everything got real slow like a gunshot in the movies
And he remembered heroin boy walking through the door
Bouncing off the walls and the floor
Taking off his belt, taking off his pants
Filling up the bathtub, getting ready to go in for a swim
Singing I don't exist

And now that we got that straight, doesn't mean that I can fly
Doesn't mean that i can go do whatever I want
Now that we got that clear, and you know that I'm not here
Doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I please
And he start remembering and remembering and remembering
And remembering…

The heroin boy'd walk through the door
And he was screaming and everybody was, like,
What're you screaming as if it's the end of the world?
And he was, like, well it is
And i was sitting in the corner with my pants down
And i was sure someone next door was blowing up balloons
And they was red and orange

And there was this one lady at the bar and she was trying to buy gin
And this other lady at the bar and she was trying to sell gin
And it worked out good for the both of them
And heroin boy started taking off his belt
Started taking off his pants, started taking off his shoes
Filling up the bathtub, getting ready to go in for a swim
I says, no--you're gonna drown
And he says, no I can't drown
Simply because

A man destined to hang
Can never drown,
A man destined to hang
Can never drown,
A man destined to hang
Can never ever drown.

A man destined to drown
Can never burn,
A man destined to drown
Can never burn,
A man destined to drown
Can never ever burn.

A man destined to fry
Can never ever ever
A man destined to fry
Can never ever ever
A man destined to fry
Can never ever ever die…
In any other way but frying
Lucky that I'm dying
By hanging and not drowning

So now that we got that straight
Can't I just be left alone
I want to take a fucking bath


7. BON IDEE

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love

Don't tell your secret to anyone
Because ideas are vulnerable
As soon as you say your idea out loud
Then it can go and live on its own
And you will miss it oh so much
And you will wait for its return
And you will wish it were your own
But ideas that left never come back home

Don't tell your mother that you are afraid
Don't tell your lover that your heart might break
Don't tell your gods that you no longer believe
Because as soon as you say it out loud they will leave you
And you will miss them oh so bad
And you will wait for their return
And you will wish they were your own
But gods that have left you will never grace your home

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love

Don't tell your secret to anyone
Because ideas are vulnerable
As soon as you say your ideas out loud
Then they can go and live on their own without you
And you will miss them oh so bad
And you will wait for their return
And you will wish they were your own
But ideas that left will never come back home


8. ACHING TO PUPATE

Aching to pupate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate

Pu-pupate, pu pate,
Pu-pate, pu-pupate, pu pa-ate…

I should peddle butterflies
There's a shortage in the city
I'll stand on a street corner
All mysterious and giddy
When the passers-by pass by
I will open up my trenchcoat
They will see the butterflies
Dangling like fake rolexes

Every morning i'll wake up
With a purpose and a smirk
I'll put on my fake moustache
I'll drink heineken, eat cornflakes
Then i'll call my mom and dad
Tell them that i'm doing fine
Or i'll write a tipsy letter
To a real good friend of mine
Or i'll jump up on the bed
Waltzing madly with the broomstick
But before i leave the house
I will fill my lips with lipstick

But peddling is a dirty sport
There's competition in the city
Everyone is on a street corner
All mysterious and giddy
Some are selling bags and shoes
Some are selling books and gold
I've been standing here for days
Not one butterfly's been sold

And how i'm aching to pupate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate
Pu-pu-pate, pupate,
Pupate, pu-pu-pate pu pa-ate


9. LOUNGE

I don't care that flowers grow for you and me, and me
You don't know what love is till you see her standing there
A web of skin and nails and hair
And bones and bones
And thoughts rush in and
Arch your head, you think you are alive
But you are dead, you keep
On driving in your car asleep

I don't know why flowers grow in wintertime
The sky turns gray, the sun don't shine
And people rush to be
On time for work, they
Wrap themselves in woolen cloaks
And hats and scarves
Like larva in their incubated cars
Like larva in their cars
And drive until they get away


10. LACRIMOSA

We keep on burying our dead
We keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow, the sun doesn't help
The rain doesn't help

If my garden would have a fence
Then the rabbits couldn't just come in
And sit on the grass and eat all the flowers
And shit

Hi, I'm Icarus
I'm falling down
Man for judgement must prepare me
Spare oh god in mercy
Spare me

Man I have a terrible feeling
That something's gone awful very wrong with the world
Is it something we made
Is it something we ate
Is it something we drank

Hi I'm Icarus
I'm falling
From the dust of earth
Returning back for judgement
We must prepare
Spare oh god and mercy
Spare me

Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa

They keep on burying our dead
They keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow
The sun doesn't help
And all we've got isn't a giant crop of names
And dates

Hi I'm Icarus, I'm falling down
On this day of tears and mourning
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgement must prepare me
Spare oh god and mercy
Spare me

Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa dies ilia
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus
Huic ergo parce, Deus
Pie Jesu Domine
Dona els requiem


11. LULLIBY

I know that you cannot be here
I know that you are not mine, no
Looking out the window at another window
I see toenails changing colors
Like the leaves of fall

If you often smile but often don't smile
Which do you do more often smile or not
I dreamt a hydrant was covered in snow
A white light glowing below

I know that you cannot be here
I know that you are not mine, no
Looking out the window at another window
I see toenails changing colors
Like the leaves of fall


12. NE ME QUITTE PAS

Down in Bowery they lose their ballads
And their lipped mouths in the night
And stumbling through the street they say
Sir do you got a light
And if you do then you're my friend
And if you don't then you're my foe
And if you are a deity of any sort then please don't go

Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas ah ah ah
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas

Down in Lexington they walk in new shoes stuck to aging feet
And close their eyes and open
And recognize the aging street
And think about the things were right
When they were young and veins were tight
And if you are the ghost of Christmas past
Then won't you stay the night

Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas ah ah ah
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas

Down in Bronxy Bronx the kids go sledding
Down snow covered slopes and frozen noses, frozen toes
And the frozen city starts to glow
And yes they know it will pass
And yes they know New York will thaw
But if you're a friend of any sort
Then play along and catch a cold

Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas

I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
I love I love I Love in the rain
I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
And I Love I love I love in the rain
I love I love I love in the rain

Down in Paris they walk fast
That is unless they're walking slow
And in cafes they look away
That is unless they look right in
And in the gardens I'm getting lost
That is unless I'm getting found
And if you are the ghost of New York City
Then won't you stick around

Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas mon cher
Ne me quitte pas

I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
I love I love I love in the rain
I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
I love I love I love in the rain
And I love I love I love in the rain