The Shins Album

Called to see if your back
Was still aligned and your sheets
Were growing grass all on the corners of your bed

But you've got too much to wear on your sleeves
It has too much to do with me
And secretly I want to bury in the yard
The grey remains of a friendship scarred

You told us of your new life there
You got someone comin' around
Gluing tinsel to your crown
He's got you talking pretty loud
You berate remember your ailing heart and your criminal eyes
You say you're still in love
If it's true what can be done
It's hard to leave all those moments behind

You tested your metal of doe's skin and petals
While kissing the lipless
Who bleed all the sweetness away

After that confrontation
You left me wringing my cold hands
We shared some information
We might not recover from
And I watch your convictions
Melt like ice cubes in an ocean
You were so poorly cast as a malcontent

You've got them all on your side
That just makes more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water"
Will you remember my reply
When your high horse dies?

We'd like to go the distance
But not a one of us is going to you
See no one is wise enough to turn the ancient boat around
These are the muddy waters I am swimming in
To make a living were I to drown in them
It should come as no surprise

You've got them all on your side
That just makes more for doubt to slaughter
"I never knew he thought that!"
I heard you say falling out of the van
"Don't ask for his opinion
They ought to drown him in holy water"
Will you remember my reply
When your high horse dies?

An address to the golden door
I was strumming on a stone again
Pulling teeth from the pimps of gore when hatched
A tragic opera in my mind...
And it told of a new design
In which every soul is duty bound
To uphold all the statues of boredom therein lies
The fatal flaw of the red age

Because it was nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Our lust for life had gone away with the rent we hated
And because it made no money nobody saved no one's life.

So we burned all our uniforms
And let nature take its course again
And the big ones just eat all the little ones
That sent us back to the drawing board.

In our darkest hours
We have all asked for some
Angel to come
Sprinkle his dust all around
But all our crying voices they can't turn it around
And you've had some crazy conversations of your own.

We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs
But we still can't just behave ourselves
Even if to save our own lives so, says I, WE ARE A BRUTAL KIND.

Cuz this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas More we've got another failed attempt
Cuz if it makes them money they might just give you life this time.

A cold and wet November dawn
And there are no barking sparrows
Just emptiness to dwell upon.

I fell into a winter slide
And ended up the kind of kid who goes down chutes too narrow
Just eking out my measly pies.

But I learned fast how to keep my head up 'cause I
Know there is this side of me that
Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot and just
Fly the whole mess into the sea.

Another slow train to the coast
Some brand new gory art from way on high
I sink and then I swim all night.

I watch the ice melt on the glass
While the eloquent young pilgrims pass
And leave behind their trail
Imploring us not to fail.

Of course I raised to gather courage from those
Lofty tales so tried and true and
If you're able I'd suggest it 'cause this
Modern thought can get the best of you.

This rather simple epitaph can save your hide your falling mind
Fate isn't what we're up against there's no design no flaws to find
There's no design no flaws to find.

But I learned fast how to keep my head up 'cause I
Know I got this side of me that
Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot and just
Fly the whole mess into the sea.

After all these implements and text designed by intellects
So vexed to find evidently there's just so much that hides
And though the saints of us divine in ancient feeding lines
Their sentiment is just as hard to pluck from the vine

I'm trying hard not to pretend
Allow myself no mock defense
Step into the night

Since I don't have the time nor mind to figure out
The nursery rhymes that helped us out and make a sense of our lives
The cruel uneventful state of apathy releases me
I value them but I won't cry if the time was wiped out

I'm trying hard not to give in
Battened down to fair the wind
Read my head, at least pretend
Allow myself no mock defense
Step into the night...

Mercy's eyes are blue
When she places them in front of you
Nothing holds a roman candle to
The solemn warmth you feel inside

There's no measuring of it
As nothing else is love

I'll try hard not to give in
Battened down to fair the wind
Read my head, at least pretend
Allow myself no mock defense
Step into the night...

Mercy's eyes are blue
When she places them in front of you
Nothing really holds a candle to
The solemn warmth you feel inside of you

Just last night I woke from some unconscionable dream
And had it nailed to my forehead again
To keep this boat afloat
There are things you can't afford to know
So I save all my breath for the sails.

But you'll find those lingering voices
Are just your ego's attempt to make it all clean and nice
And make a moron out of you
Walking a bridge with weakening cables
Huddled up in fear and hate because we know our fate
And it's a lot to put us through.

Most ideas turn to dust
As there are few in which we all can trust
Haven't you noticed I've been shedding all of mind?
So let's abandon that track
And leave our fathers fighting in a sack
Cause we are way too wise-assed for that.

You might find some fools at your doorstep
Hustling the latest changes to the book
That's the strangest in an attempt to multiply
Marionettes on weakening cables
Huddled up with fear and hate
Because they know their fate and it's a lot to put them through.

We've taken on a climb
And it's long enough to put the best of us on our backs
Walking up a slide
And there are those we know who'd have us five miles off the track.

But you'll find those lingering voices
Are just your ego's attempt to make it all clean and nice
And make a moron out of you
Crossing the bridge on weakening cables
Huddled up with fear and hate because we know our fate
And it's a lot to put us through

I was just bony hands as cold as a winter pole
You held a warm stone out new flowing blood to hold
Oh what a contrast you were
To the brutes in the halls
My timid young fingers held a decent animal.

Over the ramparts you tossed
The scent of your skin and some foreign flowers
Tied to a brick
Sweet as a song
The years have been short but the days were long.

Cool of a temperate breeze from dark skies to wet grass
We fell in a field it seems now a thousand summers passed
When our kite lines first crossed
We tied them into knots
And to finally fly apart
We had to cut them off.

Since then it's been a book you read in reverse
So you understand less as the pages turn
Or a movie so crass
And awkwardly cast
That even I could be the star.

I don't look back as much as a rule
And all this way before murder was cool
But your memory is here and I'd like it to stay
Warm light on a winter day.

Over the ramparts you tossed
The scent of your skin and some foreign flowers
Tied to a brick
Sweet as a song
The years have been short but the days go slowly by
Two loose kites falling from the sky
Drawn to the ground and an end to flight.

She shone up bright like a knife
Wearing tennis shorts made of stripes
Hand in hand to the grass and we got it right
Got it nice, nice, nice
Just a glimpse of an ankle and I
React like it's 1805
And I'd swim to the poles just to find the right satellite
It'll take all of my strength to give up

But you all know I tried
So forget about it, girl
My head's like a kite
When such a creature I sight

To town!
Where you're feet leave no prints on the ground
Have I left my home just to whine in this microphone?
It gets worse every time that we talk
Can't afford to be just one in a flock
But that's your lot
When you're after such a well-made lock
Who was classically trained to give up

And my friends know I tried
So forget about it, girl
Even I don't know why
I can't just stay the course
Keep my hands on the wheel
Our detractors were right
My head's like a kite
All my thoughts run astray
And I'm a walking cliche
When such a creature I sight

Untie me, I've said no vows
The train is getting way too loud
I gotta leave here my girl
Get on with my lonely life

Just leave the ring on the rail
For the wheels to nullify

Until this turn in my head
I let you stay and you paid no rent
I spent twelve long months on the lam

That's enough sitting on the fence
For the fear of breaking dams

I find a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And go out of my head

You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there

It took me all of a year
To put the poison pill to your ear
But now I stand on honest ground, on honest ground

You want to fight for this love
But honey you cannot wrestle a dove
So baby it's clear

You want to jump and dance
But you sat on your hands
And lost your only chance

Go back to your hometown
Get your feet on the ground
And stop floating around

I find a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And go out of my head

You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there

Eyeless in the morning sun you were
Pale and mild, a modern girl
Taken with thought, still prone to care
Makin tea in your underwear
You went out in the yard to find

Something to eat and clear your mind
Something bad inside me went away

Quaking leaves and broken light
Shifting skin the coming night
The bearers of all good things arrive
Climb inside us, twist and cry
A kiss on your molten eyes

Myriad lives like blades of grass
Yet to be realized, bow as they pass

They are cold,
Still,
Waiting in the ether,
To form,
Feel,
Kill,
Propagate,
Only to die
[x2]

Dissolve
Magically,
Absurdly,
They'll end,
Leave,
Dissipate,
Coldly
And strangely
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