Neko Case Album

Want to get it all behind me
You know everything reminds me
I can't be myself without you
Want to crawl down deep inside
The springs inside the mattress
Where l cry my dirty secrets
'Cause I just can't shake this feeling
That I'm nothing in your eyes

And if I knew heartbreak was coming
I would've set out running
Past the city houses
And the ditches on the highway
Read between the seasons
Under the bridges in valleys
Til the winds out on the prairie
Whip the tears from my eyes

Want to get it all behind me
You know everything reminds me
I can't be myself without you
Want to crawl down deep inside
the springs inside the mattress where I cry my dirty secrets
'Cause I just can't shake this feeling
That I'm nothing in your eyes

And if I knew heartbreak was coming
I would've set out running
Across the muddy river
And the smokestacks on the bank
Swallow that horizon
Hunger beyond hunger
Til the cloudy blue Pacific
Took the air in my lungs

And if I knew heartbreak was coming
I would've set out running
'Cause I just can't shake this feeling

Voices that did comfort me
Are furthest from my sanity
And come from places I have never seen
Even in my darkest recollection
There was singin' my life back to me

The life you learn from someone else
That you can only trust yourself
Sometimes that is still too much to want

Gravity won't get you through the mazes
You can never travel by the way you've come

I could never choose the ones to love
And the ones who took the credit left me reelin'
But I owe much to the nameless and all those surrogates
Those who're singin' my life back to me

Life is not a constant thing
It's only made of short stories
I couldn't even tell you where I'm from
Guided by the voices I've deflected
Guided by electric wires' hum

I could never choose the ones to love
And the ones who took the credit left me reelin'
But I owe much to the nameless
Those who're singin' my life back to me

I see you in the future, skippin' time
While the eyes of all the faithful rest in peace
Yet tonight I see the highway

So far away
Curses wild upon you
Hungry and gaining
Porchlight burns so far away
Miles away

Days have gone by and I've barely gone
Safe on the road that speeds from your front door
I can't turn around 'cause I long to be forgiven

It hangs in my hair and the hems of my clothes
I thought in the madness my arms could not hold
I can't tell you why 'cause I long to be forgiven

So far away
Curses wild upon you
Hungry and gaining
Porchlight burns so far away
Miles away

I'm sorry to tread on your patience, my dear
My heart might be willing by this time next year
I can't make you wait 'cause I long to be forgiven

So far away
Curses wild upon you
Hungry and gaining
Porchlight burns so far away

So many people live in my town
And mind to my business but none of their own
They're all so happy now that I've done wrong
I'm surprised they don't come up and thank me

So if you want moral advice
I suggest you just tuck it all away
'Cause my mood to burn bridges
Parallels my mood to dig ditches
Don't cross me on neither a day, baby

Don't make mistakes or be human
They savor your every false move
And the fear that they hide looking for a Break
If ever confronted with truth

So if you want moral advice
I suggest you just tuck it all away
'Cause my mood to burn bridges
Parallels my mood to dig ditches
Don't cross me on neither a day, baby

From the well of their hearts spring the poison
That mixed with suspicion and reckless derision
And something they read on a church toilet stall
They think that their lives are much better
Than mine on the soapbox and ladders stand tall

So if you want moral advice
I suggest you just tuck it all away
'Cause my mood to burn bridges
Parallels my mood to dig ditches
Don't cross me on neither a day

I see those arrows beside me
I hear you right behind me

Lie in bed and ignore the TV
Watch the clouds sift through the aero
And you'll be in my arms again
There's no need to cry

Of all the things so bittersweet
You're the first thing I see in morning and in sleep
And you'll be in my arms again
There's no need to cry

Years have been lost but can never be replaced
But my thoughts are with you
Tied to that interstate
And you'll be in my arms tonight

There's no need to cry
There's no need to cry

Tenderly
Tenderly
Please take my breath from me
Into the fountain
And up from the graves

Tearfully
Joyfully
Burn what is left of me
I don't want these burdens
I've handsomely gained (?)

You'll be my guest
And i'll let you stay
Leave me the check
I'll pay with the rest of my life
Twist the knife

Carefully
Quietly
You took what's young from me
I didn't deserve it
I gave it away

Cowardly
Thoughtlessly
You walk away from me
And I'll tear my heart out to save you the day

You'll be my guest
And i'll let you stay
Leave me the check
I'll pay with the rest of my life
Twist the knife

Tenderly
Tenderly
Please take my breath from me
Into the fountain

I want to tell you about my hometown
It's a dusty old jewel in the South Puget Sound
Well the factories churn and the timbers all cut down
And life goes by slow in Tacoma

People they laugh when they hear you're from my town
They say it's a sour and used up all place
I defended its honor, shrugged off the put downs
You know that you're poor, from Tacoma

Buildings are empty like ghettos or ghost-towns
It gives me a chill to think what was inside
I can't seem to fathom the dark of my history
I invented my own in Tacoma

There was nothing to put me in love with the good life
I'm in league with the the gangs guns, and the crime
There was no hollow promise that life would reward you
There was nowhere to hide in Tacoma

People who built it they loved it like I do
There was hope in the trainyard of something inspired
Once was I on it, but it's been painted shut
I found passion for life in Tacoma

Well I don't make it home much, I sadly neglect you
But that's how you like it away from the world
God bless California, make way for the Wal-Mart

Oh my darling, oh my darling
How can you forget?
All the love we had between us
Now it's like we've never met

Oh it kills me, how it kills me
When I think I held you up
You were golden, I was blind
With your poison in my blood

Bittersweet are the memories
That make old lovers pine
But I'll trade all the memories
Just to have your heart in mine

Everybody's talking to me
But they just can't explain
Disappeared from all the pages
And nothing seems the same

Was a time I thought I knew you
When I looked you in the eye
Now the same eyes look right through me
You're too cool to see me cry

Bittersweet are the memories
That make old lovers pine
But I'll trade all the memories
Just to have your heart in mine

Oh my darling, oh my darling
How can you forget
All the love we had between us
Now it's like we've never met

You were golden and I was blind

Well it's hot in the yard
And it's cool in the bed
And I whip the blankets into cotton thread
And I'll tear all the carpet up over my head
'Til my feet can go right through the basement

Well you play so surprised at what you have found
But I heard you coming from way across town
So let's get to getting to burning it down
And the fire, it's spreading like madness

'Cause I'm steeped in this pleasure
I've snapped from my tether
That the nation may vibrate apart
And you lead me again to the back of the line
And we'll work our way slow to the start

When the dishes are broken and the kitchen's a mess
I'm trapped in the door
Why don't you make me confess
'Cause I'm tastin' delicious
To just keep you guessin'
Whatever it is, that ignites me

'Cause I'm steeped in this pleasure
I've snapped from my tether
That the nation may vibrate apart
And you lead me again to the back of the line
And we'll work our way slow to the start
Yes we'll work our way slow to the start

When instinct is dirty and morality's clean
And we're bound for damnation say those magazines
Well to hell with the sorrow and watered-down scenes
We'll burn us a bridge straight to heaven.

'Cause I'm steeped in this pleasure
I've snapped from my tether
That the nation may vibrate apart
And you lead me again to the back of the line
And we'll work our way slow to the start
Yes we'll work our way slow to the start

I put on that sweater you gave me
I woke up in the kitchen a few minutes later
I didn't know how I had gotten there
Did you guide me
I didn't make it to your funeral
I didn't want ritual nor resign
I just wanted to hold hands with
J.P and Mary-Jo
But I couldn't conjure tears
We're too good for stupid angels
Blackness held its breath beside me
And burned the air till it was gone
Till it was gone
Till it was gone

Couldn't pay my respects to a dead man
Your life was much more to me
And I chased away with sticks and stones
But that rage kept following me
Following Me
Following Me
So lost I was asleep in the palms of your hand
In dreams we were happy and safe
I can't comprehend the ways I miss you
They come to light in my mistakes
In my mistakes
In my mistakes
Now I'm travelling down Tacoma way
And the world turns in slow motion
It's the twilight of our old home
And I'm still in love with you
Oh here on South Tacoma way
We've memories for matinees
And the tears come warm and heavy
And the cross streets bare your name

Lost love
You're the one that lies in my arms
You're the one that stole all my charms
I let you in

Misery
You took everything young from me
Burned it down right in front of me
My blood runs cold

Nobody said that love was gonna be kind
But they did say that it was pleasurable as it was divine

Lost love
You're the one that lies in my arms
You're the one that stole all my charms
I'm bought and sold

Nobody said that love was gonna be kind
But they did say it was pleasurable as it was divine

Wish I could leave it behind

All night, all I hear, all I hear's your heart
How come, how come

I twisted you over and under to take you
The coals went so wild as they swallowed the rest
I twisted you under and under to break you
I just couldn't breathe with your throne on my chest

All night, all I hear, all I hear's your heart
How come, how come

So far under the bed
Into the beams you've gone
I've gone, you've gone

I'm wrapped in the depths of these deeds that have made me
I can't bring a sound from my head though I try
I can't seem to find my way up from the basement
A demon holds my place on earth 'till I die

All night, all I hear, all I hear's your heart
How come, how come

So far under the bed
Into the beams you've gone
I've gone, you've gone