Over The Rhine Album

Down south where Elvis is king
And Jesus is Lord
We drove just shy of forever
In our wheezy old Ford
Hey love, don't you think this life
Has grown a little absurd?
He said, Not bad for a Yankee girl
Destined for Betty Ford
(Oh Lord I said)

Help me, it's our last night on earth again
Help me, it's our last night on earth again
I've been livin' this so-called life since I can't remember when
Help me, it's our last night on earth again

Down in Texas where guns and guitars
Are the friends a man loves best
You might feel like your spinning wheels
Are truly headed West
Someone said the best we can hope for
Is to make a beautiful mess
I put my soul up for sale
And the whole world asked,
Could you take any less?

Help me, it's our last night on earth again
Help me, it's our last night on earth again
I told Jesus he could have my heart
He said, What kinda shape's it in?
Help me, it's our last night on earth again

Down South where Elvis is king
And Jesus is Lord
We played our songs in a field
Where they found a Civil War sword
I was singin' Amazing Grace
And someone yelled, Freebird
I strummed and smiled to myself and said,
Honey, it's a bitch to be ignored

Help me, it's our last night on earth again
Help me, it's our last night on earth again
I've been wonderin' my whole life,
How's this goin' to end?
Help me, it's our last night on earth again

i'm so tired in the mornings
i try to go back
i try to remember
the light appearing
without warning
tying up my hands
like i'm good for nothing

if nothing else i can dream
i can dream
i'll never tell never tell
all i've seen
right in front of me
like the ghost of every thing that i could be

for the night sky is an ocean
black distant sea
washing up to my window
all the stray dog night owl junkies
orphans vagabonds
angels who lost their halos

if nothing else i can dream
i can dream
i'll never tell never tell
all i've seen
right in front of me,
like the ghost of every thing that i could be
in the cool and callous grip of reality

words in my head
like misfits after midnight
begging for a light
words left unsaid
they may never see the light of day
and that may be okay
if nothing else i can dream

Whatcha doin' with a suitcase
Tryin' to hit the ground with both feet runnin'
Aren't you trippin' on your shoelace

You're stealin' away on a sunny day
Well aren't you ashamed at all
Funny but I feel like I'm fallin'
I wanna beg you to stay
You're stealin' away on a sunny day

Why'd you love me in the first place
You were always closer than a brother
I can barely look at your face

You're stealin' away on a sunny day
Well aren't you ashamed at all
Funny but I feel like I'm fallin'
I wanna beg you to stay
You're stealin' away on a sunny day

I've said my I've said my
I've said my piece
I'm on my
I'm on my
Down on my knees

Whatcha doin' with a suitcase
Whatcha doin' with a suitcase

You're stealin' away on a sunny day
Well aren't you ashamed at all
Funny but I feel like I'm fallin'
I wanna beg you to stay
You're stealin' away on a sunny day

Whatcha doin' with a suitcase

Sitting in the rain alone
Looking at a place that's gone
Boarded up my memories
But something's drawn me here again and I
I cannot leave the past alone

Hoped that I would never find
All the shit I left behind
Now I find the child in me
Is going to remind me that I
I can't forget my past for long

So take a look outside yourself
And tell me what you see
I can't believe
That you won't see the change in me

Give me strength to find the road that's lost in me
Give me time to heal and build myself a dream
Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me
Give me strength to be only me

I don't want to hear the things
You say you know all you've redeemed
'Cause I can't change what's come before
Build myself some better dreams
And cast off the fear that holds me here

So take a look outside yourself
And tell me what you see
'Cause I can't believe
That you won't see the change in me

Give me strength to find the road that's lost in me
Give me time to heal and build myself a dream
Give me eyes to see the world surrounding me
Give me strength to be only me

What a beautiful piece of heartache
This has all turned out to be
Lord knows we've learned the hard way
All about healthy apathy

I use these words pretty loosely
There's so much more to life than words

There is a me you would not recognize, dear
Call it the shadow of myself
And if the music starts before I get there
Dance without me, you dance so gracefully
I really think I'll be okay
They've taken a toll, these latter days

Nothing like sleeping on a bed of nails
Nothing much here but our broken dream
Oh, but baby, if all else fails
Nothing is ever quite what it seems

And I'm dying inside to leave you
With more than just cliches

There is a me you would not recognize, dear
Call it the shadow of myself
And if the music starts before I get there
Dance without me, you dance so gracefully
I really think I'll be okay
They've taken their toll, these latter days
They've taken their toll, these latter days

Tell them it's real
Tell them it's really real
I just don't have much left to say
They've taken their toll, these latter days
They've taken their toll, these latter days

If this should end tomorrow
All our best laid plans
And all our typical fears
Am I running out of lifetimes
This is not the first time
Something ends in just tears

But tomorrow I can't imagine
How am I supposed to know
What's yet to go down
Is there only one religion
The kind that whispers
When nobody comes around

The world can wait
The world can wait
I want to drink the water from your well
I want to tell you things I'll never tell
The world can wait
The world can wait
I'm wide awake
And the world can wait

I want to feel and then some
I have five senses
I need thousands more at least
Every day a page of paper

Every night a photograph
A moveable feast

So fade to black and white now
Roll the movie of my life
Inside of my head
'Cause like all true believers
I am truly skeptical
Of all that I have said

The world can wait
The world can wait
I want to drink the water from your well
I want to tell you things I'll never tell
The world can wait
The world can wait
I'm wide awake
And the world can wait

Haven't I said enough
Haven't I said far too much
Haven't I done enough
Haven't I done far too much
Far too much
The world can wait

I've lost the words
It ain't my way
Takes some a breath
What takes me twenty-five years to say
Baby you're my favorite rolling stone
Elvis left the building
I have never been so alone

Come on and show me how it feels
Come on and show me how it feels
Can we make it last can we make it real
Come on and show me how it feels

It's only me in this flimsy dress
I could spread this love from the east to the west
The bed is made the world's a mess
Maybe we've got it backwards
Maybe we should just care less

Come on and show me how it feels
Come on and show me how it feels
Can we make it last can we make it real
Come on and show me how it feels

I close my eyes I see your face
Every inch of your skin I begin to retrace
Let me be the voice inside your head
Listen to me whisper
We can sleep when we're dead

Come on and show me how it feels
Come on and show me how it feels
Can we make it last can we make it real
Come on and show me how it feels

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

Pour me a glass of wine
Talk deep into the night
Who knows what we'll find

Intuition, déjà vu
The Holy Ghost haunting you
Whatever you got
I don't mind

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

Put your elbows on the table
I'll listen long as I am able
There's nowhere I'd rather be

Secret fears, the supernatural
Thank God for this new laughter
Thank God the joke's on me

'Cause I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

We've seen the landfill rainbow
We've seen the junkyard of love
Baby it's no place for you and me

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

I was born to laugh (Pour me a glass of wine)
(Talk deep into the night) I learned to laugh through my tears (Who knows what we'll find)
I was born to love (Put your elbows on the table)
(I'll listen long as I am able) I'm gonna learn to love without fear (Whatever you got, I don't mind)

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
a little lower than the angels.
And it's got nothing to do with me.
The wind blows through the trees,
but if I look for it, it won't come.
I tense up. My mind goes numb.
There's nothing harder than learning how to receive.

Calm down. Be still.
We've got plenty of time to kill.
No hand writing on the wall:
just the voice that's in us all.
And you're whispering to me,
time to get up off my hands and knees,
'cause if I beg for it, it won't come.
I find nothing but table crumbs.
My hands are empty. God I've been naive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
a little lower than the angels.
This voice calling me to you:
it's just barely coming through.
Still, I clearly hear my name.
I've been fingering the flame
like tomorrow's martyr.
It gets harder to believe.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

So from now till kingdom come,
taste the words on the tip of my tongue.
'Cause we can't run truth out of town,
only force it underground.
The roots grow deeper
in ways we can't conceive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

All I need is all I need.

Hello Ohio
The back roads
I know Ohio
Like the back of my hand
Alone Ohio
Where the river bends
And it's strange to see your story end

In my life I've seen a thousand dreams
Through the threshers all torn to pieces
And the land lay bare
Someone turned a profit there
And a good son lost his life in a strip pit

Hello Ohio
The back roads
I know Ohio
Like the back of my hand
Alone Ohio
Where the river bends
And it's strange to see your story end

When the sun went down we would all leave town
And light our fires in Egypt Bottom
And the reservoir was just as good for Joni
'Cause we knew we would
Dream out loud in the night air

Holly said, Don't go inside the children's home
Mary said, Don't leave your man alone
Valerie was singin' to the radio
Ohio

It was summertime in '83
We were burnin' out at the rubber tree
Wonderin' what in the world
Would make all this worthwhile
And if I knew then I was older then
Would I see regret to the last mile

Hello Ohio
The back roads
I know Ohio
Like the back of my hand
Alone Ohio
Where the river bends
And it's strange to see your story end
How I hate to see your story end
It's so sad to see your story end

sleep baby Jane
sleep baby Jane

suicide suicide
Katie's talking suicide
homicide homicide
mama killed my man
turpentine turpentine
potion for my valentine
take a ride and take it
in a long black hearse

sleep baby Jane
sleep baby Jane

Vaseline Vaseline
Ruby's selling Vaseline
kerosene kerosene
everyone's a fetus
chamomile chamomile
someone spiked the chamomile
shake it mama shake it
it was my idea first

sleep baby Jane
sleep baby Jane
don't scream
sleep baby Jane
my baby

if you think I'm Jane
let me kiss you
if you think I'm Jane
if you think I'm Jane
let me call you an angel

Now if I could disclose secrets heaven only knows
if i'd lose all my ground and see your smile decompose
so I rest on the fact that I love you I suppose
and I hang like the colors on a blind man's clothes

how does it feel
how does it feel
how does it feel
to be on my mind

i'm the pale moon rising i'm the ghost in flight
that steals through the spaces of your inward night
i'm the moth that's resting on your window sill
with a lust for light and an iron will

pray tell talk to me can you feel me in the fingers
of the wind in your hair as if i'm standing there
very well like a child running to some mademoiselle
in his hand to his ear is pressed a great seashell

i'm the moon-eyed fish swimming up to you
you're the tall Titanic but you'll be subdued
there's someone mapping out a rendezvous
it seems to me.

you're in my shadow here in my room
love's such a strange word here in my room
i'm standing barefoot here in my room
sad as a gypsy here in my room

Walking out in the freezing rain
I feel nothing 'cause I numbed the pain
I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back
On this day

Prayed last night
Dear God please no
But I was never good at letting go
I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back
On this day

Good news can be so unkind
When it's everything you have to
leave behind
I'm lookin' forward to lookin' back
On this day

In the taillights
So much hindsight
Telling me what I already know
I know

is it because I cannot see you
that you feel so free to steal
my excess baggage full of darkness and despair
while I fumble with my locks
you're content to stand and knock
yet I know your knack for thievery is rare

do you know they call it arson
setting fires without permission
in my heart for sure and maybe elsewhere too
though your lack of inhibition
captures my imagination
I end up a wiser person thanks to you

it's coming to fruition
the sympathetic vibration
your train is at my station
within without

then there is your flare for murder
there's a dagger in the border
of your cloak and I suspect a captain's gun
as you put to death suspicions
kindly kill my fears as well
exorcise and slay the demons one by one

though I'm usually pacifistic
you are mercifully sadistic
and I didn't know that murder could be good
but the roses came crimson
springing from the prison
of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood

it's coming to fruition
the sympathetic vibration
your train is at my station
within without
it's calming my suspicion
with soothing intuition
your train is at my station
within without
within without
within without
within without

confused
ever since i spied you in the rooms of my mind
now i can't deny you

bleeding and bruised
like a vagabond in rags i've walked the streets to you door
to find just what's in store

i see you
you and many others in your clean well-lighted place
where i would find disgrace

but i do
know i'd find contentment just to be your furniture
i need nothing more

in the thick of the night take me out of the cold
let me sing inside
like a radio
in the thick of the night before we grow too old
let me sing inside
like a radio

shivering and cold this night's conducive to a
flight into my soul but i stand here
though my heart grows bold
once on the inside i can quietly persist
and hold my tears

and so still i wait
though i grow much weaker
i will not faint
i'll stay true

believe me when i say
i'd climb to heaven
crawl beneath the lowest hell
to stay near you