The Lawrence Arms : Oh! Calcutta!
Lyrics
1. The Devil's Takin' Names
Shall we dance?
Or maybe just limp around?
These feet are cold and beat,
and strangers to the ground.
The sound of the kick is arousing.
The couples are sweet in their love.
Tonight, we'll stagger up from the basement
or fall to our deaths from above.
You've got those moves and those eyes
I've got these shakes and bad breath.
[Chorus:]
I've never tried that,
I've never tried that,
I've never tried that,
but I know I don't like it.
I've never tried that,
I've never tried that,
I've never tried that,
but I know I don't like it.
Or, maybe I do I'm just too weak to fight it. [x3]
Where are you? Where are you?
I hate to let 'em see me crying.
I'm gonna zip on my party suit and show y'all something:
there ain't no such thing as strumpin' for nothing
you can fly with us or hang on to the walls
but the devil's takin' names when the last curtain falls
I got a deep sick worry and I don't know why!
where are you? where are you? what are you doing tonight?
laughing and crying are almost the same
they just show everyone how much attention you're paying
[Chorus]
So dry them eyes
everyone else went back inside
laughing and crying are almost the same
they just show everyone how much attention you're paying
So dry them eyes
everyone else went back inside
2. Cut It up
it seems we're fading kinda fast.
like the red brake lights rushing past.
this is morning, waking up when you're still at the bar
lurking around with the queens after dark.
we've come a long way just to end up lost.
we've drifted, yeah we've drifted,
and now we're drifting along, along
cut it up until the pain goes away
everything on the avenue's a little more grey
and everyone's wearing just a little decay
cut it up, cut it up and hand it over
i don't wanna remember
[x2]
i don't wanna remember
cut it up until the pain goes away
when the ship done sinks
and the crew done drowns
what am i gonna do?
i'm not hanging around
this cruise is ending
please hang on to your stub
thank you for coming
and thanks for the love, thanks for the love
let's cut it up 'til the pain goes away.
3. Great Lakes/Great Escapes
I scratched my name into the table.
The knife and phone just fucking lay there.
I orchestrate a day of routine elements.
These letters are are so old and faded.
And in the end we'll burn in history.
I'll take a chance and fall in love tonight.
I'm lost and found. So lost again.
I wonder as I'm wandering.
(I don't worry when I'm wandering)
I used to paint myself with sentiment.
But all my colors turned to gray.
I spent the night out on the wire again.
But I wasn't looking for a savior...
And in the end we'll burn in history.
I'll take a chance and fall in love tonight.
I'm lost and found. So lost again.
I wonder as I'm wandering.
(I don't worry when I'm wandering)
Great Lake - I don't need a Great Escape.
Tonight. I've got this city on my side.
And in the end we'll burn in history.
I could fall in love with her tonight.
I'm lost and found. So lost again.
Nothing to do but keep on wandering.
We can live with our mistakes.
All my friends are going out tonight.
And I can't sit here just waiting for another day to die...
Fuck all this ancient history.
4. Recovering The Opposable Thumb
Is there any hope for us, or are the rumors true?
Are we just the mulch and kindling that accrues?
Can we recover from this?
I've seen expressions in department stores.
I've smelled regression wafting up from these shores.
This is not a celebration of slipping through some crack.
This is sloth and devastation and we're the resulting trash.
Count all your fingers tonight.
And believe what you find!
(I'm sick of making small talk in this rotting chowline.)
Can we recover?
We cover our heads and run for the gutter!
Toby Keith's horses and Toby Keith's men
finally put us all in our place.
It's a wonderful hug when there's so much MORE to love,
when there's steaks and hearts jammed in your face.
This is the fucking slop line and we're scratching with our hooves.
How much of evolution must we finally disprove?
Count all your fingers tonight.
I can't believe what we find.
Can we recover?
We cover our heads and we run for the gutter!
Dear Mother,
I'm sorry. There was nowhere left to run.
We fought and we fought until our bullets ran out,
and they took us one by one.
Dear Mother,
Im sorry. We had just barely begun.
This will be the last letter from your only son.
Yeah I do not believe!
Recover as one...
5. Beyond The Embarassing Style
Is it hard for you to sleep at night,
The powder glowing in your smile?
And is it hard to die a fraction at a time?
Is it just too hard to say goodbye?
Your life spins like a carousel,
Your hopes are buried in a wishing well,
Awake in a grave that you dug yourself,
Just keep on betting on that horse you love,
I can see the sadness in his face,
Deep behind his lacquered eyes,
A real devastation quaking in his jawline,
The demon always comes alive, comes alive
Your life spins like a carousel,
Your hopes are buried in a wishing well,
Awake in a grave that you dug yourself,
Just keep on betting on that horse you love,
Do you ever see the light of day?
Did you ever think that you would live this way?
Is it just too hard to sleep at night?
Is it just too hard for you to say goodbye?
And when the sun goes down,
You better paint the town,
You just keep riding now,
Your horse will never touch the ground,
Your life revolves like a carousel,
Your hopes are buried in a wishing well,
Dead or alive - it's just so hard to tell,
It looks like you've already found your hell
You've found your hell
6. Are You There Margaret? It's Me, God
They told me where to go
(And I always follow)
They told me what to do
(I swallowed every drop down)
They told me bedtime stories
(of how I'd rise above)
They told me they were true
I sat and thought about her
On the train ride out
Until my stomach turned
Like it's done for years now
I thought about her hips and thighs
With the red in my eyes
I felt my body burn
Burn, yeah.
Aeroplane, aeroplane
Don't leave without me
'Cause I'm out here all by myself
And I got no place to sleep
Aeroplane, aeroplane
Don't leave without me
'Cause I'm out here all by myself and I
Ain't got no place to sleep.
And you told me that you loved me
(I swallowed every drop down)
And you told me how it felt
Like being gagged and bound
And you told me you were leaving
On the last train out
And you told me, "Go to hell."
Well, let me tell you, beautiful,
I've been there
Believe me when I say I'm not afraid
Of destruction, sorrow, fear or regret.
I heard the devil call me by my name
I heard the devil call me by my name
Hey, yeah.
Aeroplane, aeroplane
Don't leave without me
'Cause I'm out here all by myself
And I got no place to sleep
Aeroplane, aeroplane
Don't leave without me
'Cause I'm out here all by myself and I
Ain't got no place to sleep.
Aeroplane, aeroplane
Don't leave without me
'Cause I'm out here all by myself
And I got no place to sleep.
Aeroplane, aeroplane
Don't leave without me
'Cause I'm out here
All by myself tonight
And I got no place to sleep.
Yeah, I'm out here all by myself tonight
Got no place to sleep
No, no, no, no -
Got no place to sleep
No, no, no, no.
Believe me when I say I'm not afraid
I heard the devil call me by my name
Believe me when I say I'm not afraid
I heard the devil call me by my name
7. Jumping The Shark
Losing sight of a past time
The years fly right by with the drinks
It's morning in this small apartment
And I just threw up in the sink.
The coke is not settling anything
And I'm as tired as I've ever been
I'd like to go back to Chicago
But I'm not looking back there again
I fought with all of my teachers
I fought with all of my friends
I fought with the vices and sweating and shakes
I'm not going back there again.
No, I'm not going back there again.
Tonight, tonight I'm walkin' away.
Tonight, tonight I'm walkin' away.
I don't want to hear about old days -
What are we doing today?
Fake memories, they don't impress me.
The old times were never that great.
We got the whole city
Before us
Tonight, tonight we're walkin' away
And I wanna bury
The past
Tonight, tonight we're walking away
With bottles and dancing
With whiskey and love
Let's drink to the death of regret
Tonight, tonight I'm walkin' away
Tonight, tonight I'm walkin' away
Ohhh.
8. Lose Your Illusion 1
I'm sober like a Sunday morning mass.
Liars are lying to themselves.
I'm lost or I'm losing everything.
I'm wasted. I can't keep the night from falling down.
Don't recreate the scene,
or reinvent the meanings.
'Cause all that shit, it means nothing.
You just take it as it comes
and let it all fade away.
And all those times you felt something,
but your heart was on the run.
So it goes, so it goes.
I'm lonely like a lazy weekend.
My feet never touch the ground.
I'm drunk or I'm drinking everything.
My face has blossomed like a flower now.
Don't recreate the scene,
or reinvent the meanings.
'Cause all that shit, it means nothing.
We just take it as it comes
and let it all fade away.
And all those times you felt something,
but your heart was on the run.
So it goes, so it goes.
Somewhere along the way,
I lost my destination.
And then I ended up, yeah,
in a thousand different places.
The road is long tonight.
Maybe we'll be somewhere by morning.
We're never anywhere; we're either coming or going.
Yesterday means nothing to me.
We've gotta move on.
There is no other way.
Yesterday...is nothing but a dream to me.
9. Requiem Revisted
We'll knock back a few, (We'll knock back a few)
and talk about life (And talk about life).
His hero is gone and all the smiles have faded.
They come in masks to kill the child that came in.
His hands beat red with this mercy killing.
Good eye, dead man. You hit your mark again and,
these hands beat red with this mercy killing.
Good eye, dead man. You hit your mark again.
And all these words beg for the same damn thing now.
How to return to some place far behind now.
This heart is pumping blood much harder than you know.
These fists are squeezed too tightly ever to let go.
These are the syncopations of these weary bones, bones.
His hands beat red with this mercy killing.
Good eye, dead man. You hit your mark again and,
This time, this time, this time
I'll walk these avenues to find
a place where I can let these dreams and demons go,
and finally rest my weary bones, bones, bones, bones.
10. Key To The City
I sat with the drunks and the speed freaks
and I watched all the drones strolling by.
We sat on the street with our beers and our weed
and we blew our smoke up towards the sky.
I said, "It's one hell of an evening"
with a smile and I kicked back my can.
They shooed us away so we walked down aways
and we did the same damn thing again.
Now, I got nothing to wait for
and I got nothing but time.
So I'll swim in these streams
and warm these poor beaten insides.
Gimme the key to the city
These midwest eyes are dead tonight.
This demon smile is aching to explode.
Let's gather our bones, our guts and our hearts
and scream so they'll hear us down in those parks.
Under those trees
where the pigs lurk and crawl
there are bonfires and parties
that are fucking them all.
They give it by the inch
and take it by the mile.
It's one for the beating and
it's two for the trial.
They got nothing to wait for
and we got nothing but time
So I'll swim in these streams
(Drown in these dirty streams)
(Till I die)
Gimme the key to the city
These midwest eyes are dead tonight.
This demon smile is aching to explode.
(Let's burn out here 1000 miles from home)
I ain't here to remember!
I ain't here to breakdown!
Gimme the key to the city
These midwest eyes are dead tonight.
This demon smile is aching to explode.
Let's burn out here 1000 miles from home.
I know what I got and
I love what I know.
Don't wait up!
11. Old Dogs Never Die
The surging blood rushes through me
in tune to the pulsing in my head
The message echoes over and over;
what are you doing with your time?
I'm a piece of shit and tonight
my heart is reaching for the sky
I stand there and it just pumps harder and slower.
My feet settle into earth.
The twilight feels right.
The shadows fade along the avenue.
They talk all the time and it's obvious
that I hold my words in for too long
Our history creeps fast through the gutters.
A revolution on my mind.
Guess what I give a shit.
But I couldn't care less about the lives they choose to live
And your eyes speak to me deeper and deeper.
A truth that I have never known.
The twilight feels right.
The shadows fade into oblivion.
So just forget all the regrets that keep haunting you.
They aren't worth your time
And just forget all the days that dragged out for miles and miles
Leave them all behind...
12. Like A Record Player
I'm like a record player
I keep goin' round
with a needle in my arm
making someone else's sound
and lately I've been dreaming
of blue and empty skies
but nothing like that ever
crosses red and weary eyes
I've been traveling with bottles
working close with cans
sitting up for hours with my best friends in a van
Now, they say that this ain't living
but I don't know what they mean
cuz I don't feel dead, and baby, you look alive to me
it's the only game that I know how to play
[Chorus:]
The time, the time, to say goodbye
passed us long ago.
and I would say I've overstayed
my welcome but you know
I don't think I'm ever going home
I don't need a doctor
cuz anyone can see
that I had all of these shots
but, lord, I'm still sick as I can be
I think I need to rest my head
so baby come with me
lay down here beside me
keep me warm while I sleep
There's trouble on the way
huh! You'd best believe
there always is don't worry
sit and have a drink with me
When we go all we got is these days that we made
and I don't wanna waste them being wistful or afraid
Without all of you I'd be even lower down
You know what I wanna say but I can't get it out
The time, the time, to say goodbye
passed us long ago.
and I would say we've overstayed
our welcome but you know
I don't think we're ever going home
I don't think we're ever going home, oh no!
13. The Rabbit and The Rooster
it's burning and it's burning, it's burning,
a fire inside that i just don't believe
some call it anger, some say frustration
but i think i call this big greed
this time the circus has left without us
and we could run away
the fringe is the center now,
hey boys that's great
when i woke up in hawthorne,
i took ocean down to the fairground to see everyone
so beautiful that i drown in the waves of the haircuts
spin kicks and jumps
well i got my bottled water and my nachos,
it came in under twenty bucks
i got this bad taste in the back of my mouth
from my time on the back of a bus
this summer vacation, it's cheap and it's true
it's ideals are intact, it's the best we can do
this time you turn into your own enemy
not sell outs but dictated economies
(whoo!)
these thieves, these thieves in their flip-flops and bro attitudes
are the very reason we do what we do
when i say fuck the man, it's what i believe
no matter who that man happens to be.
no matter who that man happens to be.
this kevin or that one, it all seems the same
exploit the avenues, fix all the gains
maybe they'll buy everything that you sell
but i'm outside these fences,
rolling fast down that hill...
fuck your warped ideals!
mother fucker!
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