Calexico Album

Cruel, cruel grounds
Leak truths never found
Torturous ways
Whisper from the grave
A slow spun song of distortion

Bitter, bitter mouth
Spitin' out seeds of doubt
Rituals seek root
Razed before they're told
Stories break like branches in the cold

Seasons trial finds man's mistakes fair game

Careless hand
Lay and law of the land
Falls by the side
Silenced sentient cries
All within the lines of divine right

Better bury the tracks in an unclosed case
Weeds of discontent choke a broken ghost landscape

Cruel, heartless reign
Chasing short term gains
Right down to the warning signs

Birds refuse to fly
No longer trust the sky
Drifting out beyond the signals

Even the horizon is gone
Weather flees underground
Future's left to wallow in fortune's waste

Getting late for decision
What's that waiting about
Horses are chomping at the bit
The gate is nearly busted down
Moment before the calm of the storm
And everyone's blood goes wild
Except yours and mine

How many years has it taken
Your restless heart growing old
Horses running off on their own
And the stable's burnt to the ground
The longer you wait
Your decision will fade
And wind up wasting this time
Yours and mine

When you can't find the hours
Days keep on slipping thru
Avenues under construction
Blocking out your sky blues

Burried beneath the letters
Bills and the junk in the mail
Finding the strain to your heart
From the troubles down the trail

No sign of your old haunts here

Gone with the copper crews
Veins mined in vein remind you
Choices we choose to lose

New cities keep on sprawling
Old towns falling too
Raining a river of color

And it's flowing bisbee blue

Straight to you bisbee blue

Some say this way's the only one that's true

Bring me back bisbee blue
Bring me back

Oh these days, seem dark

Darkest I've seen

Darling you send me thru the hours

Days keep on sifting thru
Chipping away to remember

Days with you bisbee blue
Shining like bisbee blue
Bring me back bisbee blue

Panic open string, power grids blackout
Birds all fly in numbers down to the ground
Reassure the blades of green, green grass

Season's still asleep more or less
Wind is gearing up for a reckless ride
Leaning accidental on nature's side

Propeller power fields, solar panel sides
Lightning bolts connect, it's with you I will go
I close my eyes and the seasons pass

Above the cityscape, the city out of reach
Way beyond our lives, up into the sky, far below the
Green

My dreams are all blue, so is my heart
Light up screens of you, if you could only see
Time's dreams escape, late into the night

When the stars align reminds me of you
Words will lose their fear
And I will find their truth
Church bells in the hills they will ring and ring

Ocean's to the coast will cling to their host
The sun will split in two , sink thru an empty sky

It's where we'll go when we
Leave this place and die

Everyday on my way home
The clouds would break and the angels
Would sing their refrain

This world's an ungodly place
Strangled by vines unchaste
So with my shining blade of steel
I would cut a path wide

Dipped in the ink of the fight
Written clean through the night
Mark my words upon the front page
To set my world straight


It's too late, it's too late
It's too late, it's too late
Just like I found it, my world is split
Right down the spine

Years bled dry now ripe for a reckoning
My blade's back slash beckoning
Slice my wounds and I make the sign one more time

Come on. come on. come home. come home
Yeah it's too late, it's too late
It's too late, to refrain...refrain...refrain...

Did those angels ever sing?
Sliced my world in two

Sleeping in the valley, valley of ill fortune
Waking cross the river, river of delusion
Full moon lures the waves, waves of desperation
Empty hearts and mouths wither away

So close your eyes
Slow your breath
Dream of northern lights
Around this dance of death

No abandones, no llores, busca tu rio
No te sientas perdido
Gira, vuelta y vuelta gira
Danza de la muerte
Que viene a verte
Bailala

Cup your hands to her parched heart, parched and
Broken heart
No water here to drink way downstream
One goes where the water flows and water's running dry
So don't give up no don't cry, don't cry

Just close our eyes
Pretend we forget
North country dreams
Twist this dance of death

Danza de la muerte
Si viene a verte
Que bailando te encuentre
Bailando, girando
Danza de la muerte

Spin round, spin round, spin round
Vuelta, vuelta, muerte

Bailala

Found a dime in the metro line
Funny to see a familiar face
Since you left us long ago
There's never been a trace of luck to guide me

Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky dime

Searching as I go
Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky'

Someone told you long ago
All you ever needed to know
No matter how far you drift alone
I'll always be here around'

Hoping to see a sign
Or a lucky dime

Is there anyway I can fix it
Take out my tools maybe smash with it
Let me destroy the parts that annoy

Swallow the words I'm saving
Fumble the chords I'm playing
Better just break it apart
Then where should they go

But you know I'm just following suit
It's something I aim not to do
Can't mock up a model me and you

Is someone out there
I can trust
With the words that never seem to fit

No sense looking backwards
Shattered every mirror in my eye
Scattering the scrapbook
Blueprints on the floor

Always thought things would snap into place
With a little more ease and grace
Still a ship sealed in a bottle
Never reaches the sea

And I stash all of the reasons
Dash them against the wall
And I smash your heart into tiny little pieces

And every time this happens
It gets harder and harder to build back again

When numbers matter more than the heart
Your eyes are hollow and stiffness starts to take control
Capsize the soul, deep down you know it's evil
You've always known

Be a good example show your new tricks
And while you're out there they'll make the pitch
To rally the troops and make a huge contribution
To help push this through
Deep down you know it's evil
You've always known it's evil

The days here are numbered but your record is clean
Outstretched and waiting on banks that seem
To flow and flow, a rich reward to show
Duty carried out in the field
Deep down you know it's evil
You've always known it's evil
You've always known

Le corbeau s'approche
Atterit sur l'épaule de celui qui écrit
Reviens lui picorer le cou
Les veines sortent des chairs
Le sang se répand sur la page
Il crit ses dernières lignes
Et s'endort

Novembre et son manteau d'hiver
Revers sombres
Chemise blanche comme la neige
Manchettes noires
Plane sur la ville
S'agrippe aux murs, détruit les rues

Les lances de corne ac'r'es
Plongent dans les yeux et les coeurs des courtiers
Les enfants s'enfuient dans les rues des quartiers
Les voitures quittent la route, avalées par la mer

Les périls de l'hiver
Les photographes, les barrillets ouverts
La poudre à canon et les éclairs aveuglants

Etouffés par les fumées
Les cendres des usines
Livres de comptes déchirés
Sem's comme des miettes pour les sortir
Des tunnels, loin des murs de la vieille ville
Avant d'être enfouis sous l'ordure nouvelle.

Le corbeau se fatigue
Les corbeaux se multiplient
Le ciel noircit à chaque nouveau cadavre
Les champs s'enflamment
L'hystérie les chasse des villes vers les cavernes
Et les collines assombries

Vers les hauts plateaux
Vers les hauts plateaux

Vers les hauts refuges
Vers les hauts refuges

Vers les hautes plaines
Vers les hautes plaines

Vers les collines
Vers les collines

Vers les hauts terre
Vers les hauts terre

The raven flies down to the writer's desk
Landing on his shoulder, pecking at his neck
Veins popping out, spilling on the page
Makes a little note, falls to sleep.

November's coat with black lapels
Dressed in a snow white shirt, ready for the grave
Prepares to flee, from the city's gates
Tear down the walls ripping up the streets

Spearheaded horns stick into the hearts
Of the ticker tape market trades
Watch them all crash
While the children flee from the suburb streets
The cars veer off the road, swallowed by the sea

And the writer's peril, the photographers,
The open dusty barrels
Gun powder and white lightning

Choking on the fumes, buried 'neath the watse
Receipts from the factories torn up in haste
Used as breadcrumbs to lead them away
Out thru the tunnels while the city crumbles and
Breaks

The raven grows weary
The raven grows in numbers
Sky darkens with each kill
Corn fields burn, break on the farmers' heads
For the high country
For the high country

Hide in some hills
Deep dark caves
Return to the caverns
Rebar skeletons
Spell twisted, cryptic words
In the high country

Felt a tremor stir beneath my breath
That forecasts storms on the gallup poll
Waking up from the nightmare news
Hoping to read a sign in the morning air

Nothing changes here and nothing improves
All say my friends who just want out
And leave these troubles behind
Scatter like paper in the eye of the storm
Documented with a silenced note
That's only heard from far away

More cards in play, following suit
Everywhere you look, you only see red
Wonder when to call off the race
Watching a horse running down its last legs
When you think it couldn't get much worse
The numbers rise on the death toll
And the chimes of freedom flash and fade
Only heard from far, far away

I hear you can't trust in your own
Now the grey is broken in the early morn
And the words forming barely have a voice
It's just your heart that's breaking without choice

Everything you hear is distorted in your head
Bouncing off the walls, unraveling the thread
Staying up with the blue screen glow
Forgetting everything you ever dreamed years ago

When the dread is flowing down my veins
I want to tear it all down and build it up again
Hear your heart that's breaking without choice
I want to hear those chimes ring again
Ring again