Destroyer Album

They led us on...
They said it would be yours...
Tear down the borders, stop patrolling the shores,
Let us in...
We wrote a winter song...
Come on, come on, come on, come on...
Don't shelve the opera,
You've been working This long on it...
Twelve years on the Eastside,
And still so house proud...

All the neighbourhood angels,
Are humming the psalms (hum along...)
To themselves again...
Oh, they seem to think that when you show up
You'd look good in somebody's arms...

Oh, you should have been a clerk...
You should have stayed a stranger...
You should have just done the work...
But it's too late now, school's out...

Wildcats - you were supposed to go wild...
Butchers - you shouldn't be obsessed with a child...
Now Diorama Pete thinks he just sunk the fleet...
Much like him, you know I live to be cornered. So come on...

Hey, Easterner, open your mouth...
Don't speak in tones...
I know there's beauty in the bones of the dam that burst...
I know you look good in the shadow of the Diamond Monger's thirst,
But get out...

To the west there is an ocean...
There's a mountain on the right...
Now will you walk away
Or take the blame for the unfortunately-named
Children of This day... Children of This Night...

I was stark and I was ravening...
I was idle in spring, and it felt good...
I was fashioned after something made of wood,
That I shouldn't have done...
Some girls got guns...
And some get into running favors for the Queen,
Like deciphering what it means when the band goes -
"DooRah DooRah DooRah DooRah!"

I was 'bedsit' and reviews were rave...
I dug your poetry a grave and it felt good...
I was modeled after something made of wood,
That I shouldn't have done...
Some boys build guns...
And some get into running errands for the King
Like making out the words when the band goes -
"DooRah DooRah DooRah DooRah!"

Hey there, pretty flower...
Get yourself together...
Momma's been looking for you,
But momma should know better.

I was silver... I was gold...
I watched Holly going lightly down the road...

All the skies opened up
And now they're mentioning your name
In connection with a drowning when you're just saying -
"Ah, let it come down!"

So you stole that Schwinn
And rode right in to the Winner's Circle of the Sun...
Now Mile-End is claiming -
"You're one of those! Take off those clothes!
You're one of them!"...
But you won't...

I couldn't turn around.
I couldn't wrap my head around it...
Best to forget that things change,
Hanging outside in the rain is OK...
I walked into the festival.
Did these cacophonies please you?
Hey, they pleased me too...
While we still had our sight, but don't look now, people,
Here comes the Night...
Here comes the Night...

I heard those traps you've been living off of (and on) have come undone...
I heard you only poach to save your children...
Well save it...
Cause a real thief (Thief! Thief! Thief! Thief! Thief!) thieves...

I couldn't turn around...
Or phrase it as a question...
'cause when it comes to that prize a temple your size was too big...
I walked into Festival... (I know you know)
The Festival of Symphonies pleased you...
They pleased me too...
Back when we still had our sight,
But don't look now, Angel, here comes the Night...
Here comes the Night...

Shut up, you better stop it...
Put that thing back in your pocket...
Don't ride the silver rocket...
Tell your brother not to start...
And tell your sister not to start...
And tell the Chosen Few not to start in on me too...
I know their majesty by heart...

Karen, crawl back into your shell.
I know the record is doing well,
But your boyfriend is from hell...
I know the Judge played a part...
I know the Jury played a part...
Now tell the Chosen Few that their favorite kangaroo is busy
Throwing daggers at the dark...

I know you've been waiting ages for your pardon,
But the Governor's wasted in the garden,
Clawing his eyes out - he's insane...
So I'll be your map and I'll be your mirror
And maybe someday I'll see you building dungeons in the rain
And when it's time to go free -
No. I won't leave...
No, I won't leave...

All your brokers screaming -
"Sell those bridges to the island in the well!"
They landed you in architect hell..."
Tell your brother not to start...
And tell your sister not to start...
And tell the Chosen Few not to start in on me too...
I know their majesty by heart...

Ok, and for a start,
There was a craft sale of the heart...
Where things are made and things are sold
And returned into the gold from whence they came...
And I said I would come...
And you said you'd come too...
Hey, rock n roll's not through (yet)...
I'm sewing wings on This thing...

Every time I try to speak your language a new part of me lives...
So I said I would start something and you'd start something too...
Hey, rock n roll's not through (yet)...
I'm sewing wings on This thing...

How can we not be so territorial, when everyone's in love with the land?
So I said I would go there, and you said you'd go too...
Hey, rock n roll's not through (yet)...
I'm sewing wings on This thing...

Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some

When the company goes public, you've got to learn to love what you own
When the company goes public, you've got to learn to love what you own
You've got to learn to love what you own
You've got to learn to love what you own

Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright
It's gonna be alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright
Hey, Snow White, it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some
How can you win some

When the company goes public, you've got to learn to love what you own
When the company goes public, you've got to learn to love what you own
You've got to learn to love what you own
You've got to learn to love what you own

Modern painters can't decide
Why every time she smiles it's just a dream
Of a world inside...
There's a world inside...
There's a drunkard picking fights with the bride
On what we thought would be a new, new day...

You could always stay in tonight,
And see if what the walls have been whispering is right...
I mean, that shit is right up your alley, isn't it?...
A girl in every port,
But the world still makes sport of you, saying -
"Go find a reason... Call it Helicopter Season...
Now, repeat after me -
Is it for This I have hunted?"

Field and Stream:
Our second favorite magazine about new ways of living...
Modern painters can't decide...
(don't cry)

So This is Crystal Country,
where refugees flee like I fly...
into forests of your eyes...
Hey, I saw full-on Night there...
She said - "You'll always be alone,"
and she was right, there...
She said you'll always be alone,
and she was right there rummaging through the eastern townships...
Just wait, here comes the comeback you've always hated...

Somewhere an olive branch is being planted
in honor of a dancers body and, granted,
you could take This as a sign that there is life outside the mine,
and maybe things are looking up but, Buttercup,
the form insists on rupture and therefore we break...
Ok?

So This is Crystal Country,
and, like refugees flee I fly...
into the forests of your eyes...
Hey, I saw full-on Night there...
She said - "You'll always be alone,"
and she was right, there...
She said you'll always be alone,
and she was right there rummaging through the western townships...
where they're staging a play called Comeback...
The only line is - "Don't go..."

Somewhere an olive branch is being planted
in honor of a dancers body and, granted,
I know things have never looked This good but -
somehow - indulge your life at sea for now...

Cause when a breeze is blowing,
it's just Crystal Country showing us
that everything must break to be beautiful
and, honey, that's what I meant when I called and said -
"This is fucked"...

Relax, trembling peacock...
No, I wasn't born to rock...
Oh, I was just plain born...
And then I kind of grew and then, well...
Vancouver made me, I guess it's true...
Sired to the House of Lords
(these days they call them 'Co-Op Boards'),
And now it's in my royal blood
To vote and vote and vote and vote
On things that never change...
Gods give and gods give our gifts away...

Settle down, trembling peacock...
No, I wasn't sent to rock you...
Oh, I just kind of came...
And then I withdrew and then, well...
I guess the rest of you already knew...
Sired to the House of Lords
On the day they declared it bankrupt and
Now conquered lands pay tribute to the shifts of your skirt,
Children at play get hurt,
And wars are won from a foxhole...

The inner world of a dove is complex, I'm telling you...
Lovers of the air, beware...
But for us it's real simple...
Look - shot through with arrows,
A chest full of sparrows,
Gonna show you the way to my heart...

I have seen a light...
I have seen a light...
Young lions at Night play too close to the wire...
That's OK, it's just fire...
I have seen a light...
I have seen a light...
Young lions at Night stray too close to the wire...
That's OK, it's just fire...

All the clay doves say they're hard done by me,
But Crystal we need real things tonight...
All the clay doves say they're hard done by me,
But Crystal we need real things tonight...

Yes, you've seen a light in that look...
(after taking every drug she took)...
I got found out...
Someone bought the book, now it's no good...

I have seen a light...

Students carve hearts out of coal,
I just thought I'd let you know...
In This town we go down for the sake of going under...

Students carve hearts out of coal,
I just thought I'd let you know...
In This town what goes around does not come around...

So when you crawl out from the mist that the City kept insisting was pretty...
And the government sets you up with her cousin and a broken cup to drink from...
Not some vessel of purity, just tea in Montreal with assassins...

Students carve hearts out of coal,
I just thought I'd let you know...
In This town we get down for the sake of going under...

Students carve hearts out of coal,
I just thought I'd let you know...
In This town what goes around has yet to come around...

You had a great idea...
How can you have a great idea
When the girls get back on the continent, they wont even see you
From the Boys Club Platoon blowing deaf dumb and tuneless?...
It's vile the way you smile for them,
There are limits you know...

Students carve hearts out of coal...
Students carve hearts out of coal,
I just thought I'd let you know
About the bulls charging out from the gallery walls...
Homelessness calls...
Ah, sister you must now wreck the streets...

My work was a sham, your work was a sham...
I took a bribe, you took a bribe...
And let them insult your body with fineries and silken things...
How could you not have known you wouldn't need those rings for the scene,
When it's called "Goddess of Drought Figures Us Out"?

I was looking good on the day that you fell for the way I looked...
The day your beauty became a sign of something more than a beautiful sign...
But now someone had better bless this meal before someone gets sick off of what they didn't kill
And the Goddess of Drought figures us out...

I can tell you want peace...
Oh I can tell you've been looking for a union...
I have seen it in your eyes...

Honey, I know I know, you were born to give...
And I also know I'm not the one you've been dying to slip off with into the Night...
Cherished radical, I always knew you had it in you...
Trials by fire are so easily won -
Just try not to burn and things might not get worse...
Hollowed-out valleys now rattle with the curse that
Tonight is not your Night... It's not your Night

Well, I followed the cries to a second-story flat and,
In praise of bad luck, I threw down the homemade hat she made...
Soon, the feral beast did beautify our wounds with a body that knew -
You shouldn't hurt the ones you love... unless you really want to...

Tried to celebrate the world, not hurl insults at a girl...
But that finite rush which destroys every one of us is good destruction...
Yeah, Hannah, you heard it here first - It's the good destruction...

Now it's one forty-five and for some reason it's the season of trying to stay alive...
So, let's stick together and breathe beneath the weather...
It will be our doing...

Son, given the right occasion, I'd put myself up for sale to post the necessary bail that would free you from This kingdom...
But tonight is not your Night...
It's not your Night...

The Relevant Ballads are calling you "truant" and then "untrue"...
The Annotated Swan Song says -
"You've been here too long with your ashes by the river...
There is something you were supposed to give her real soon..."

First things first, we burst
Onto the scene where the New, New Wave weeps over his brother...
Though reports all point to fratricide (and so do I!)
Cause these days pretty girls just make waves that go too far,
Repeating themselves through endless Night...