Conor Oberst Album

Potential, well, you're a loaded line
The veil between the world and the faceless bride
There's nothing yet but a bunch of white
Oh potential, well, you're a loaded line

Tomorrow, well, I'll wait for you
Laying right here floating in this swimming pool
There's a lot of things I got left to do
Oh tomorrow, but I'll wait for you

The days keep slipping down into the cracks
It takes a while to realize where you're at

Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly, it's slowly ending

Dementia, you better treat me good
The human race is in its second childhood
I never learn but I understood
Oh dementia, you better treat me good

Sometimes I need a place to go
Classical music plays from the radio
I sit real still, let my shadow grow
Yeah, sometimes I need a place to go

My mind keeps slipping back into the past
I hope someday that I can get it back

Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly, they're slowly ending
So slowly

Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly, it's slowly ending

And soon that train is going to pull away
I hear it whistling, I try to wave at a glowing face
They can't tell who I am

Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly (so slowly)
Slowly, it's slowly ending

Moses up on the mountainside
What a place to meet
He brought his pad and his pencil
Poured himself some gypsy tea

And all the world's multiplicity
They turn his brain and his soul to stone
He drew his face on a tablet
And carried it back home

Jesus off in the water
Standing on his feet
Yeah, that's the thing about charisma
It makes everyone believe

That there is nothing impossible
When I'm with you and when you're with me
I got a sad sinking feeling
That that can never be

But I'm going to do what I can for you
I will make a plea
To all the lights in the windows
The puddles in the streets

And all the lovers that you've been teasing
From your balcony
May they carry you
You far from my memory

Solomon heard a protest
From the lower court
Reached in his ear for a silver dollar
Just like he'd done before

He tossed it high, said that wisdom's fickle
And chance is God's retort
And handed them a sentence
It was death by Trojan horse

Pharoah woke from a bad dream
Splashed some water on his face
When it's a matter of nightmares you had
Better ask a slave

And he may tell you a famine's coming
Or he may look away
If he's kind then return it
Let him lick your plate

But I'mma do what I can for you
I will make a plea
To all the birds in the chimneys
The whales up on the beach

And all the footsteps that you've been hearing
Like a tympani
May they carry you far from your enemies

I'mma do what I can for you
I will make a plea
To all the lights in the windows
The puddles in the streets

And all the hours that you've been sitting
At your vanity
May they carry you
You far from your misery
May they carry you, you far

Jesus off in the water
Standing on his feet
Yeah, that's the thing about charisma
It makes everyone believe

That there is nothing impossible
When I'm with you and when you're with me
I got a sad sinking feeling
I got a sad sinking feeling
I got a sad sinking feeling that will never be

Big black nothing
Fooling everyone
Big black nothing
Put a halo around what you've done
Because a big black nothing
Is coming up

Would you be my
Would you still be my friend
If I told you
It's all just pretend?
'Cause a big black nothing
Is not the end

(Ooh, ooh, ooh)

Sing (big) me (black) something (nothing)
Something I can feel
Sing (big) it (black) louder (nothing)
The whole world has to hear
Because a big black nothing
Was made to appeal

(Ooh, ooh, ooh)

Lock the doors
Hide the keys
Flipping channels
Through the streets
All this news
Just makes me scared of you and you and you

Board up the windows
Unplug the phone
Make it look like
Nobody's home
I was scared
But so prepared for the worst, yeah for the worst

Big black nothing
Fooling everyone
Big black nothing
Put a halo 'round what you've done
It's just a big black nothing

I want to sleep on the air mattress with you
And let the air leak out, what would I do?
And as we sleep our bodies slowly meet
I can feel it when your heart beats, I do

The air mattress with you
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?

It's under covers where it all begins
And we pretend that we are just friends
But when the others fall asleep, it ends
We become lovers once again, we do

The air mattress with you
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?

My dreams, they have a holiday
My lungs, they twist the night away
And even if I stay away
I still get rest for hours
I still get rest for hours
I still get rest for hours

And even if there was a king-size bed
Where I can stretch my legs and lie my head
All by myself, in the darkest room
Just know that no matter what the options are, I choose

The air mattress with you
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?
(Can I sleep on)
The air mattress with you?

All that blotter going to twist up your mind
You can do it, just not all the time
Hiding in your room, you'll be feeling fine

Always manage to have something to sell
Talk on the telephone while painting your nails
Little plastic bags and a digiscale

Aw, this hallway's full of plastic kids
Aw, they jump and make the CD skip

I'm never telling what I find out
I'm going to love you like the New South
You drive me crazy with your foul mouth
Until you meet me down in Cabbage Town
Down in Cabbage Town

The way I see it we got plenty of time
It's going to happen but just not overnight
Bring a pack of cards and a box of wine

Oh, on the day when I flash that badge
Just try to think of the other half
It's hard living when it's a matter of fact

But this city's full of lazy kids
Sweetie, someone's got to steer this ship

I'm never telling what I find out
I'm going to love you like the New South
You make me crazy with your foul mouth
Come on and meet me down in Cabbage Town
Come down to Cabbage Town

Well it's just like old friends
To play "Remember When...?"
But if you want my help, I'm in

I'm never telling what I found out
I'm going to love you like the New South
You're talking crazy with your loud mouth
Come on and meet me down in Cabbage Town
Oh, come to Cabbage Town

I'm never telling what I find out
I'm going to make you like a new sound
You make me crazy with your foul mouth
Oh, won't you meet me down in Cabbage Town
Come down to Cabbage Town, oh

Come on to Cabbage Town
Come down to Cabbage Town
Come to Cabbage Town
Come on to Cabbage Town
Come down to Cabbage Town
Cabbage Town

Ten women (ten women)
Ten women between you and me
Ten women (ten women)
Ten women, the nightmare, the fantasy

Ten women, the thrill and the shame
Ten women, I miss you the same
While you're kissing the ring
Of some good timing king
Ten women, a fool I have made

Two faces (two faces)
Two faces, two faces you have
Two faces (two faces)
Two faces, keep one in your bag

Two faces from which you can choose
Two faces and neither are you
Though I'm biding my time
Like a cellar of wine
With two faces, you'll never be true

One witness (one witness)
One witness is all that I need
One witness (one witness)
One witness, just someone to see

One witness to all that's been done
One witness whose eyes will not run
Just someone to shout
In this big empty house
One witness to mourn for our love

Ten women (ten women)
Ten women between you and me
Ten women (ten women)
Ten women, the glory, the tragedy

Ten women to trust and betray
Ten women, I want you the same
It will be like it's been
If you come home again
Those ten women have all gone away

Well, call me if you want to talk
There's a telephone on your wall
And the reasons are many
And not too far apart

If there's some blood left in your heart
Well, let our loving finally start
If you run, you can catch me
Well, he's wide but not too sharp

I want to hear the wistle blow and feelings go
I want to be done with everything I know

Difference is time
It's the best prison waiting in line
Difference is time
It's yours and it's especially mine
The difference is time

And it's hard to stand on my feet
With this weight of vagrancy
I've been trying to tell the difference
Between the road and my street

But there's an end I shouldn't eat
When I'm done dancing to this beat
On my headstone it'll be written
"Life is hard, even if you cheat."

I want to hear the wistle blow and the feet is row
I want to be done with everyone I know

The difference is time
It's the best prison waiting in line
Difference is time
It's yours and it's especially mine
Difference is time, woah
Difference is time

Don't act like there ain't nothing wrong
With a switch like that
It's just mean to keep it on
Don't act like there ain't nothing wrong
With a switch like that
It's just mean to keep it on

Difference is time
It's the past prison waiting in line
Difference is time
It's yours and it's especially mine

Difference is time
It's the best prison waiting in line
Difference is time
I know she's yours but she's especially mine

Difference is time, woah
Difference is time

Difference is time
Difference is time
She ain't yours and she sure ain't mine
She ain't yours and she sure ain't mine
Difference all the time
Difference all the time

I'm just trying to stay a human being
Sitting in the sun eating ice cream
Texting my friend about a bad, bad dream
Just had to tell someone who knows me

But I don't got time for this cuckoo clock
And I don't want to go to your Mason Lodge
There's nothing more sad than a lynching mob
Full of rational men who believe in God

But nothing makes sense when the wave rolls through
Nothing makes sense when the wave come through
So it coulda been me or it coulda been you
Whatever's in me is whatever's in you

My neighbor dreams big because his house is small
Says all he needs now is some capital
It's a pirate world, it's a free-for-all
They steal your bright ideas and they make them dull

Now everyone I see I think I've known before
From the opera house to the grocery store
My love for them, I cannot ignore
Like a human voice in a quiet morgue

But I don't want to wear no dead man's suit
I don't want to wear no dead man's suit
I don't want to wait until the moon gets blue
I don't want to wait until the moon turns blue

Well, it's all just a fix
Just one little hit
You'll hold it in

Sitting on a plane chewing Nicorette
Paradise lost, haven't found it yet
Will you talk me down if I get upset?
Be the cool washcloth to my fevered head

'Cause I don't want to dream if it don't come true
I don't want to dream if it don't come true
If there's something in me, well, I guess it's in you
If there's somewhere in me, then I know it's in you

Well, it's all just a fix
Just one little hit
You're holding in
You'll hold it in
You're holding in
You'll hold it in

And I don't want to dream if it won't come true
I don't want to dream if it don't come true
If there's something in me, then I know it's in you
If there's somewhere in me, then I know it's in you
If it happens to me, it's going to happen to you
Whatever happens to me, it's going to happen to you

You can wear your new white shoes
In the muddy afternoon
Walking past the day drunks, too
They whistle with their hands
But I could be your catcall, too
Anything you want to do
Anything you want to do

You can take your slide trombone
Play it in the catacombs
Find a town that moves real slow
And turn it on its head
And I could be your pharaoh's tomb
Anything you wanna do
Lover, anything you wanna do

If you want to be common
I can claim that I tamed you
A demigod in a bonnet
They're going to know it ain't true

You can paint your nails lime green
Rent yourself a limousine
Kidnap the professor's niece
Let's tell them that she's dead
We'll party in a hotel room
Anything you want to do
Sister, anything you want to do

You can get your hair all wet
Sleeping on the riverbed
Kiss a frog and then dissect
You got to find out what's inside
But you can have my bad side, too
Anything you want to do
Sugar, anything you want to do

And if you want to be common
I will claim that I tamed you
A demigod in a bonnet
They're going to know it ain't true

And yes, you are King David's star
And the crescent moon, and the crescent moon
You must sweep the Bowdhi tree
I sit beneath, oh I sit beneath

You can wear your new white shoes
In the dirty afternoon
Walking through the traffic fumes
A flower in your hair
And I will swing upon your moods
Anytime you want me to
Just tell me what you want to do
Lover, anything you want to do
Lover, anything you want to do

Rolling around a lifetime on a name that spells my past
Carried through the mile markers up towards some last laugh
And if fools could only prosper, I'm afraid what they might say
From a podium built on generations bleeding what they make

Because here it comes
Watch them all jump right in
Tell me, how could you refuse to float with the rest of them?
You were born into it, there's no shame if you drift
Down the bloodline

Feeling temperamental underneath a broke sun
A certificate of excellence, but no proof on your pay stub
And if money's not a problem, I suggest you best believe
There's ten dollars on the table and a million up his sleeve

And here they come, watch 'em all pass us by
Tell me how could you refuse to look one in the eye?
Two sheets to the wind all over again
Down the bloodline
Down the bloodline

Yes, it feels scary to be ordinary
In a world that don't know your name
It would not be weird if I just disappeared
Blowing my back out, trying to hope I wake

Looking for a doctor with a cure for a broke heart
Seems I spent it all on a miracle just to watch it fall apart
Now there's no room for ill-complaining, I know it's all just what it is
Cherry-pick my best believers and send 'em off with a kiss

'Cause there they go
Watch 'em all wave goodbye
Tell me how could you refuse to think it's a wonderful life?
Two sheets to the wind all over again
Down the bloodline
Down the bloodline
Down the bloodline

Baby got her feelings hurt, hearing that old standard
Can't break a rule that ain't been made
A starlight chasing ponytails through mushroom clouds and black fields
I don't want to feel this entertained

Sitting on a crowded coach, staring at the stereo
Watching all the hippies through the haze
From gentle soul to sad and stoned
'Cause no one wants to be alone
But you know you can't always get your way

So tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you wanted and you still let down
Tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you wanted and you're still feel down

Yeah, farmer, he's a sentient being, sipping on his canteen
Passes it to me, I can't say thanks
Coco, she steers clear of me, remembers all those bad scenes
If she'd just sit still, I could explain

And every time I fucked her mind
It's 'cause I thought I was in love
And I woke up with that same thought today

Well, so it goes, the ebb and flow
Happiness was never us
If it's all free, why would you ever pay?

So tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you wanted and you're still let down
Tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you want and you still feel down
Yeah, you do, yeah you do

Tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you wanted and you still let down
Tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you want and you're still let down

Tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you wanted and you still let down
Tell me what you're going to do now
You get everything you want and you still feel down

I don't smoke in the morning, can't get no sleep
That's the time for thinking what's going to be
I had a good thing going, but it didn't stay
Don't make no plans anymore, except to go away

The table's set and now the guests will be here soon
Lying for a living, I guess that's what I do

You got to get me out of here
I always heard that the world is wide
There's a price you pay for a summer's day
When you leave it all behind

You got to get me out of here
I see it clear when I shut my eyes
There's a place to go when the winter's cold
Leave it all behind

I can always find you like the sweet north star
It doesn't really matter now where you are
If you are in trouble, I'm in trouble too
I've fallen through a trap door into you

No bones, no ghosts, I threw my passport in the trash
I don't need my face now that the wind is at my back

You gotta me out of here
I always heard that the world is wide
There's a price you pay for a summer's day
When you leave it all behind

You gotta get me out of here
I see clear when I shut my eyes
There's a place to go when the winter's cold
Leave it all behind

You gotta get me out of here
I gotta shut my eyes
Gotta get me out of here
Leave it all behind

Gotta get me out of here
Gotta to shut my eyes
Gotta get me out of here
I know the world is wide

Hey there, son of Adam
Hey there, daughter of Eve
Help me sing this tear gas riot song
For some fresh-faced police

They won't even know what hit 'em
When they lift their Roman shades
And the people's sun comes pouring in
On a brand new day

You who dammed the river
You changed our mountain's name
First we want Denali back
Then we're taking over Washington state

You get death as a consolation
You know only hate and rage
You paid a dowry for your child bride
And now she's living like a slave

A prayer came down the wire
It was all in the enemy's code
You couldn't figure out what mercy meant
So you did like you were told

When they finally sent the doctors
Once the fireball went out
There was nothing left but the cockroaches
And a movie with no sound

What good, what good are you
With your Cherokee trail and your Roosevelt Room?
What good, what good are you
With your Seneca plague and your Arlington tomb?

Go ask Hunter Thompson
Go ask Hemingway's ghost
It all catches up with you
Once you get just a little too old

Take a hard look in the mirror
It's a thing that you cannot see
Your shadow's long but the day is young
It just wasn't meant to be

There's no blankets for the winter
There's no oil in the lamp
And I'd like to write my congressman
But I can't afford the stamp

You want me to pay my taxes
So you can propagate your lie
While there's barefoot dudes down in New Orleans
Looking like they're gonna die

You who quote the legends
You who poisoned all of my dreams
You who pinned all of the medals on
All those boys from Omaha Beach

Hope you haven't got too lazy
I know you like your apple pie
'Cause the working poor you've been pissing on
Are doing double shifts tonight

What good, what good are you
With your Seneca plague and your Arlington tomb?
What good, what good are you
With your Cherokee trail and your Roosevelt Room?

I saw an eagle on a pole
I think it was an eagle
Now that eagle has flown
And I'll never know

Could have been a rotten apple
Full of holes
Could have been an open wine bottle
Ready to go
Or it could have been an eagle on a pole

Well the beauty of the seasons
Can rip a man up whole
And what's happening while you're sleeping
You will never know

Never trust a truly wayward
Wandering soul
Never trust a wanted woman
Who can't say no
And you never trust an eagle on a pole

Don't you wanna know why
Why why, why why
Don't you wanna know why
Why why, why why
Don't you ever trust an eagle on a pole

I've seen pictures of my face from
Where I swear I did no go
Looked like laughing, looked like stealing
But I will never know

Looked like running, leaving tracks
Through the morning snow
Looked like darkness and the light
Going toe to toe
And it looked just like an eagle on a pole

Look out
Evil come and there's nothing left to laugh about
Eden come and we're crying 'cause we can't get out
Get out, get out

Something moving, something floating
Something falling soft and slow
It was getting supernatural
But you never know

Getting ready for the girls
At the burlesque show
Getting ready for the night time
Street light glowing
Get ready for that eagle on a pole

Look out
Evil come and there's nothing left to laugh about
Evil come and there's nothing left to laugh about
Eden come and we're crying 'cause we can't get out
Get out, get out

Don't you wanna know why?
Why not? Why not?
Don't you wanna know why?
Why not? Why not?

Don't you ever trust an eagle on a pole
No, you never trust an eagle on a pole

You know a lot can happen after everybody falls asleep
Ask the forest fire, ask the cop walking on the beat
And do right by them, work a little in your dreams
Don't let time rob you, hold onto your memories

In the glass houses, in the pages of the Rolling Stone
I get a sick feeling, like I'm rocking in a little boat
I hear the big church bell, it's ringing like a mobile phone
It's such a long Sunday drive to be taking it all alone

I want to belong to a reason
And cut a new key to the kingdom

And if anybody asks me, say I want to belong
If anybody asks me, say that it won't take long now
If anybody asks me, say I'm going to get it done
If anybody asks me, say I got a reason, oh

In the vast hard drive, in the satellites that kick and spin
They keep the old footage so everything can live again
Pretty pink roses, the ostrich and the elephant
It's the last Noah's ark, so everything's got to fit

In the creased pages of a letter I been trying to send
To a young widow who is desperate for some kind of friend
You'll find a long list of eligible, handsome men
Who want to lay with her upon the table of the elements

They're going to hold strong to a reason
And cut a new key to the kingdom

And if anybody asks 'em, say they're going to belong
And if anybody asks 'em, say that it won't take long now
And if anybody asks 'em, say Man I'm trying to get it done
And if anybody asks 'em, say they've got a reason, oh

I was born on Snake Hill
And that's where I'll probably die
Because I don't like to kill
But I've got poison in my bite

Well, I feel safe to say
That I should probably stay upon Snake Hill

My mother told me, "Son
You got strychnine in your blood
It comes from pedigree ancestory"

She warned me not to leave
Said my concience was too deep
That when I bite
It would hurt mostly me

For many many years
I stayed up on that hill
Occasionaly I'd go down to the edge
Just to see what I could see
So curiousity got the best of me

Well, it's a big world and it's not fair to me
To stay up there when there's so much to see
I want to play with others that I need to meet
Poison will be poison till it's through

Soon I hit the world
I discovered that a girl
Was what my mother tried to hide from me

She could make you feel alive
She could make you want to die
And that's exactly what she did to me

And it was only self defense
But I coiled up and I bit
I let my venom run into her veins

And I sat and watched her die
To me
Then I realized

I was born on Snake Hill
And that's where I'll probably die
Because I don't like to kill
But I've got poison in my bite

Well, I feel safe to say
That I should probably stay upon Snake Hill

And it's a big world and it's not fair to me
To have to stay when there's so much to see
I want to play with others that I need to meet

And poison will be poison till it's through
Poison will be poison till it's through
Poison will be poison till it's through
Poison will be poison till it's through