Cold War Kids Album

I kissed the kids at noon
then stumbled out the room
I caught a cab
ran up a tab
on 7th and flower

best recital I had to ruin
missed my son's graduation
punched the Nickles boy
for taking his seat
gets all that anger from me

still things could be much worse
natural disasters on the evening news
still things could be much worse
we still got our health
my paycheck in the mail

I promised to my wife and children
I'd never touch another drink
as long as I live
but even then
it sounds so soothing
this will blow over in time
this will all blow over in time

I'm just an honest man
provide for me and mine
I give a check to tax deductable
charity organizations
two weks paid vacation won't heal the damage done
I need another one

still things could be much worse
natural disasters on the evening news
still things could be much worse
we still got our health
my paycheck in the mail

I promised to my wife and children
I'd never touch another drink
as long as I live
but even then
it sounds so soothing
to mix a drink
and sink into oblivion

I promised to my wife and children
that accident
left everyone a little shook up
but at the meetings
I felt so empty
this will blow over in time
this will all blow over in time

Careless in our summer clothes splashing around
in the muck and the mile
Careless in our summer clothes splashing around
in the muck and the mile

fell asleep with stains
cake deep in the knees
what a pain

now hang me up to dry
you wrung me out
too too too many times
now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the whites
the whites of your eyes

all mixed up in the wash
hot water bleeding our colors
all mixed up in the wash
hot water bleeinding our colors

now hang me up to dry
you wrung me out
too too too many times
now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the white
the whites of your eyes

now hang me up to dry
you wrung me out
too too too many times
now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the white
the whites of your eyes

now hang me up to dry
you wrung me out
too too too many times
now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the white
the whites of your eyes

Speak about Greenly
now that she's gone
take my time when I go to bed
and I sleep, Lord
I'm getting over
rolling over
I said can you just wait
to tell me in the morning?

slow it down
slow it down
lay it low
save it for the morning

I know that you would like
like to change me
make me softer
tune your voice like a baby
I'm using caution
bet you wanted
I wish you could wait
to tell me in the morning

slow it down
slow it down
lay it low
save it for the morning

I shouted questions
like a fierce fire
you tried to take me by the arm
into the light
I'm almost over
rolling over
I said could you just wait
to tell me in the morning?

slow it down
slow it down
lay it low
save it for the morning

and i'll tell you one more thing
I confess to self deception
pull the lock and pry it open
they're pretending to be stolen
I am my own thief in the night

struck up for mnay years
just to get here
between the humility
and be my own teacher
I guess it backfired
'cause my motive
was just to take and
never kept that way I guess

slow it down
slow it down
lay it low
save it for the morning

I shouted questions
like a fierce fire
you tried to take me into your arms and lead me to the light
I'm almost over
rolling over
I said could you just wait
to tell me in the morning?

slwo it down
slow it down
lay it low
save it for the moring

and I'll tell you one more thing
I confess to self deception
pull the lock and pry it open
they're pretending to be stolen
and I am my own thief in the night

Conversations that went on terrible paths
don't talk about that
No no, don't talk about that
We're coming back loud
and end this conversation

Said you let your hair down
you got enough to go round, oh mine
Said you let your hair down
but you've been telling me that since the day we meet

She's laughing like a choir girl
She's laughing like a choir girl
She's laughing like a choir girl
when she doubles over sounds like Hallelujah

She's talking to my mother
She's on the phone with my mother
She's talking to my mother
She's looking up at me like I'm a criminal

She bargains like a lawyer
sacrifice like a martyr
She's just her mother's daughter
cutting cloth and washing a pan

Man, we were still just babies
dreaming of the sixties
Man, we were still just babies
dressing up in rags with our wallets full

Now our pockets are shallow
our quart running low
I saw their empty but I'm just a fool
A woman in the kitchen told me that true love it waits
but of all the rules he lives by that's the one that he hates

Look up from the hymnal, look 'round at the faces of families closing their eyes
We're taking Communion and passing the offering hat around at the same time

I reached for the hat and take all the cash
And slide it into my ragged coat sleeve
And leave in its place a note to explain
All of the reasons that stealing has led me to leave
If there was a worthy cause for to give to
May I be so bold as to say
The givers not knowing where their money's going
Is as sinful as throwing away

Stained glasses shine on my red wine
And the sweat of my brow drips to my shaking knees
A small sacrifice to benefit one man's journey away from America's seas

Sweet sweet sigh of relief
Sweet sweet O Baltic Sea
Sweet sweet sigh of relief
Sweet sweet O Baltic Sea
Sweet sweet sigh of relief
Sweet sweet O Baltic Sea

Nobody here knows my name
Call it right or wrong
I bought my ticket just the same

Supper time in the hole.
supper time in the hole.
shame my family,
shame my home.
supper time..

old st. john on death row,
he's just waiting for a pardon.
old st. john on death row,
he's just waiting for a pardon.
old st. john on death row,
he's just waiting for a pardon.
old st. john on death row,
he's just waiting..

all the white boys in the stay-pressed slacks,
they're home for the summer from college.
stayin' out late, getting rowdy at the bar
and lookin' for trouble uptown.
they come up my block, about 5 or 6 of them.
smashing their bottles in the gutter. yelling all kinds of obscenities,
[i have no clue what he says here, anyone have any input?]

supper time in the hole.
supper time in the hole.
shame my family,
shame my home.
supper time..

young girl turning the corner with a clerk dress on,
that girl was my sister.
just got off the night shift, pretty desperate,
just wanna go home and get some sleep.
well, he grabbed her by the waist with the caffeine eyes.
[?]...
i picked up a brick from my papa's front yard
and threw it at the tallest boys face. well blood was streaming like a well that sprung.
i couldn't believe what i had just done. well the other boy's ran and this one stayed,
on the ground and he would never move again.

old st. john on death row,
he's just waiting for a pardon.
old st. john on death row,
he's just waiting for a pardon.
all us boys on death row,
we're just waiting for a pardon.
all us boys on death row,
we're just waiting for a..

jury on trial, i testify.
got to keep on runnin til the well runs dry.
jury on trial, i testify.
i keep on runnin til the well runs dry.
jury on trial, i testify.
i keep on runnin til the well runs dry.
jury on trial, i testify.
i keep on runnin til the well runs dry

Sulkin'
walkin' 'round the city after dark
need protection from street thugs
who clip the tires
and rip the doors off rugs
and cowards

and all this life we've glorified
robbin' from the blind
it's not easy, you see
don't think I don't know sympathy
my victims in my shadow
starin' back at me

not me, I'm knockin
tip toe outside a stranger's door
casually let myself in
fill pockets with
trinkets, purses, china antique armoirs

and all this life we've glorified
robbin' from the blind
it's not easy you see
don't think I don't know sympathy
my victims in my shadow
starin back at me

as robbers in my thoughts
they tell me what to think
they're hiding in my clothes
crawling in the kitchen sink

There's nothing to do here
some just whine and complain
in bed at the hospital
coming and going
asleep and awake
in bed at the hospital

tell me the story
of how you ended up here
I've heard it all in the hospital
Nurses are fussin'
doctors on tour
somewhere in India

I've got one friend
laying across form me
I did not choose him
he did not choose me
we've got no chance of recovery
Sharing hospital
joy and misery
joy and misery
joy and misery

put out the fire boys
don't stop don't stop
put out the fire on us
put out the fire boys
don't stop don't stop
put out the fire on us

bring the buckets by the dozens
bring your nieces and your cousins
come put out the fire on us

Vietnam Fishing Trips
italian opera
Vietnam Fishing Trips
italian opera

I've got one friend
laying across from me
I did not choose him
he did not choose me
we've got no chance of recovery
joy and hospital
joy and misery
the joy and misery
the joy and misery
the joy
the joy
the joy misery

put out the fire boys
don't stop don't stop
put out the fire on us
put out the fire boys
don't stop don't stop
put out the fire on us

bring the buckets by the dozens
bring your nieces and your cousins
put out the fire on us

Sliver to see
speaking in tongues
deft as a surgeon's knife
cloven through bone

pregnant with doubt
you figured out
tricks of the trade to make
a whisper shout
mouth full of sweets
rotting your teeth
lift up the rug and sweep
it underneath

you... were... breme...
when... you... don't...

believe

He pours the wine into his coffee cup
His gin has dropped
It's time to pick it up
Too fed, he rose out of his bus and left
Tearin slow he's barkin something crass

Each night a thousand stairs go up both ways
So incur the bee get through his sleeves
Elms down at the coast it's too late for Buster's ride
Slide down to his headphones
Sleeps till sallow mind

Success, success, its smile and saccharin
Glamour rust he's poor and poncho's jam
Lives his live a painful and loving day
In the history of a great pregnancy

Scrap public library checkin' out the trough
Starting to appear to gather his thoughts
Scrap public library checkin' out the trough
He's talkin' to himself about him

He's gonna get upset, get upset
He can't sleep
He'll hibernate the cigarette and don't get upset
He's gonna get upset, get upset

Backseat of your family station wagon
Listenin' to mom
100 years of solitude
and only 12 years old

God make up your mind
God make up your mind
Do you wanna play fair
Should I take what's mine?

Mama's callin' out
look at the grand canyon
Camilla couldn't care less
Gazin' to the home
your stomach feels the emptiness

God make up your mind
God make up your mind
Do you wanna play fair
Or should I take what's mine?
Like everyone else

From New York to New Orleans
played alphabet
Kansas to Boise
won a battleship
memorize the capitals
crossword puzzles
drew a picture of a cat
layin' dead in the street
Daydream about Maria back in California

Elephant in your brain
remindin' you you've got to make a choice
Wraps his arms around ya slow
Cause you tense up like an armadillo

God make up your mind
God make up your mind
Do you wanna play fair
Or should I take what's mine?
Like everyone else

Why am a teacher on the street sign
has done so much more than politicians
than musicans
You wanna help someone
you gotta be a no one
that's what I figured out
the cat in the street meant

You gotta make up your mind
make up your mind
make up your mind

So let's go deadbolt your shed door
Cram your paper money snug, closer than before
Chandeliers are falling in graveyard rows
And your eyes are shifting dials like AM radios

Snowed over river melted more last night
Still the same
The shattered windshields of spidered ice
Yes, yes mother I mean to be baptized
Seeds that make the higher ground grow and multiply

Joy to rubidoux in the the middle of the night
Bourbon and a pistol in the dash, out of sight
What did you expect
Romantic call of why
Just empty desert light

Few feet float above these Persian throw rugs
And tuck themselves in percussionist succession words
Tonight a single simple folk play themselves low
Just like talking city blues down in the hole we loathe

Joy to rubidoux in the the middle of the night
Bourbon and a pistol in the dash, out of sight
What did you expect
Romantic call of why
Just empty desert light

I suggest that you respect the deal
And keep your nose out of business of
Priests and holy men
The life you have chosen is filled with dirty finger nails
And lost and found
And canceled appointments

Ten more avenues, time to choose
And there's rain that'll fall down on fire
There's fifty doors to choose from and there's many more
Many more inside, inside, inside
Well the night time's going to come
The night time's going to come

Joy to rubidoux in the the middle of the night
Bourbon and a pistol in the dash, out of sight
What did you expect
Romantic call of why
Just empty desert light

Joy to rubidoux in the the middle of the night
Joy to rubidoux in the the middle of the night
Joy to rubidoux in the the middle of the night
Just empty desert light
Just empty desert light
Just empty desert light

Getting closer everyday, getting closer everyday
lord have mercy on me, we're talking about two different things
television and life magazine
lord have mercy on my
lord have mercy on me

got this idea in my head and i can't get it out
cause all your money and all your culture
i can surely live without
a pile of treaures up on earth
what you keep and what you take
a property, vanity, and even knowledge for knowledge sake
and i said..

lord have mercy on me
we're talking about two different things
televison and life magazines
lord have mercy on me
lord have mercy on me

don't want to see no psychoanalyst
experienced in assisting to adjust
european travel, the h bomb,
presidential elections
front page of the new york times
front page of the new york times

lord have mercy on me
we're talking about two different things
television and life magazine
lord have mercy on me
lord have mercy on me

quit your griping, shine your shoes
tell you a little secret for your blues
don't make no difference
just watching from the stairs
fat lady always claps her hands

lord have mercy on me
sayin.. even if you're robbing from the poor
lord have mercy on me
i believe the words can change the heart,
the words can change the heart,
the words can change the heart..
have mercy on me.. oh lord
lord have mercy on me
talkin' bout two different things
television and life magazines
lord have mercy on me
lord have mercy on me
gettin closer everyday
gettin closer everyday
gettin closer everyday