LYRICS

BLUE SKY BLUES / SOMETHING IN THE WATER

©2020 Giant Meteor Records. All rights reserved

All songs published by Alpha Mule Music (ASCAP)

IRONICALLY

your irony is killing me

just what you mean i can’t tell

but it’s just as well

i should just let it be

but some sincerity

might clear the air

because i can’t stop thinking

and it's got me drinking

alone in this place

your sweet voice i heard

didn't catch a word

so you replayed your dirge

and said here’s how i feel

and i’m such a heel

because i couldn’t tell

what you really felt

and i’m so confused

because i’m just not used to

someone that’s so cool

so you twist me around

make me think up is down

but i won’t say goodbye

because you’d laugh where i’d cry

i’ll say i’ll be right back

so you’ll know what i mean

do you know what i mean?

MAPS

the map is wrong again

we’ve been trusting like it was our only friend

it’s only showing us the places that we’ve been

no direction for the road out up ahead

as we drift into the night

all our actions to defend

we keep dressing up our secrets as our sins

showing no one where we end or we begin

cede the loss and yet we call it all a win

and pretend that it’s all right

nothing to say but we’re saying it

no way to play but we’re playing it

an open book with empty pages

is only spared the flames

so we climb the highest hill

comparing all the maps they’ve drawn until

once we see there’s no agreement to be found

sit and watch the battles raging on the ground

over who gets to be right

nothing to say but we’re saying it

no way to play but we’re playing it

empty thoughts and solemn faces

are always spared the blame

do we set the maps alight

or pull down all the cities in one night

with the offerings and effigies ablaze

signal fires burning in the haze

think we’ve got the right

HAND TO HOLD

maybe the weather was just never cold enough

to need a hand to hold

maybe it’s whether you could be bold enough

to reach for someone to love

but it isn’t the cards that you’re showing

that could make you risk playing a hand

its only you you’re fooling

when you walk away without placing a bet

maybe the nights were just never long enough

to see there’s something to gain

maybe you could never be strong enough

to try and win love again

the key to your heart

is hidden away

safe in the dark

is all that you dream

but you never can say

the key to your heart

is buried away

somewhere in the dark

is all that you dream

but you never can say

maybe the weather was just never cold enough

to need a hand to hold

maybe it’s whether you could be bold enough

to reach for someone to love

BLUE SKY BLUES

BLUE SKY BLUES

the cicada's droning

cuts through my sleep just like a blade

and an august sunbeam punches

right through my window shade

the snooze bar is busted

the church bell is chiming noon

for me this sunshine

just can't fade away too soon

because since you left me

the weather just don't match my mood

i feel so cold and dreary

got those blue sky blues

so i stumble out the door

and squint into the light

everybody is saying

that the temperature’s just right

the old folks like the heat

no one seems to miss the snow

but baby my dreams are made

entirely of H2O

a deluge from up above

could wash away all thoughts of you

but the smiling weatherman

is giving me those blue sky blues

your bitter words they scorched me

as you stormed across the lawn

with me standing in the shadows

i watched you drive into the dawn

i woke up parched and empty

another victim in the heat

now i need the rain to fill me

and leave me splashing in the streets

but the canopy overhead

is unrelenting in its hue

it’s gonna leave me down here singing

my blue sky blues

and the sinking of the sun

splashing bloody into night

offers no relief no comfort

leaves me sweating in the moonlight

the mercury is rising

the barometer says no change

but i feel a little misty

and i swear it smells like rain

so i beeline for a bar stool

and i settle into the gloom

there are plenty of people getting wet

in this darkened little room

my thoughts start getting cloudy

after tossing back a few

it takes a certain kind of downpour

to chase those blue sky blues

MOON DOGS

in the first light of day she was finally alone

driving away with the radio on

not a glance behind to trouble her peace of mind

there’s wind in her hair but no tears in her eyes 

the road winds away from all she’s known

a hundred years in a day from what was home

because the city’s lure and its streets could not carry her

any place that she wanted to be

she knows there must be stars at night

but she’s never seen them for the buildings planes and satellites

now she’s chasing the moon dogs and the coyote’s call

the city makes promises it never keeps

and everyone carries their scars

but down a washboard dirt road in the agave and creosote

only heartbreaking beauty there to break her heart

she knows there must be stars at night

but she’s never seen them for the buildings planes and satellites

now she’s chasing the moon dogs and the coyote’s call

a rising moon with no questions to ask

indigo shadows on a winding mountain pass

silence holds secrets deep in the night

and you can’t see the darkness by flooding it with light

she knows there must be stars at night

but she’s never seen them for the buildings planes and satellites

now she’s chasing the moon dogs and the coyote’s call

SOMETHING IN THE WATER

ah those golden days shooting monkeys into space / cold war propaganda and arms that you could race

now the moon launch is a fiction but even hitler lives on mars / we’re digging gold for aliens so where’s my flying car

the truth is what you make it they will swear that it is true / history is up for grabs which version works for you

johnson had his reasons oswald wasn’t what he seemed / we’re slowing down the footage and shooting up the limousine

we’re still traveling down the road / the check engine light is lit up and the car’s out of control

no one likes a mystery if it leaves them on the fence / a little misdirection is no capital offense

just trying to make up my mind but it gets stranger all the time

a hammer and a feather see the towers watch them fall / babushkas and umbrellas it’s a false flag free for all

science cannot keep us all from sailing off the edge / sea serpents in the water and there are monsters in our heads

half a truth or half a lie / you say your eyes are open but the light inside has died

we’ve given up on praying even god’s an alien / the government complicit and they’re coming for your guns

always someone whispering in your ear / and the dogs are always barking from the whistling they hear

history won’t repeat itself but they say it often rhymes / what good are all these books if you can’t color in the lines

trying to make up your mind but they’ve got you on the line

it’s worse than you imagine it goes deeper than you know / there’s something in the water or the chemtrail mind control

we’re making the connections see them flicker on the screen / we’re pinning up the print-outs and connecting them with string

try not to have a heart attack / if you stare too long down the rabbit hole the rabbit hole stares back

the icebergs disappearing didn’t make it on your list / but no one is too busy to watch the sinking of the ship

be careful not to pry you don’t want to know who’s on the line

still trying to make up your mind but it gets stranger all the time

with all that you know / better watch what you say

you’re in this too deeply / you should be sleeping

it’s another new day

WINDOW OUT OF HERE

can’t sleep for the dreaming can’t wake from the dead

can’t stampede the voices all bunched up and screaming in my head

i’ve walked ruts in the carpet stacking mumbles on the shelf

i’ve stared holes in my cereal bowls but i’m keeping all the bad parts to myself

the sun’s moved from my doorway fifteen times since you veered

i'd leave myself if i thought it would help but you’re the only window out of here

you might think i’m obsessive to follow you how i do

just making sure nothing happens to you

while you figure out that i’m your only fool

a man’s home is his castle but i’m living in my head

all these walls are too wide and too tall and you’re the only window i have left

each night you step outside your door i can’t but wonder where you go

i’d never ask you you’d never tell and you’ll never see me and it’s just as well

but there’s something tender in my soul

now beneath your veranda i’m living here in bliss

every night i can see that i’m right you’re the only window out of this

don’t trust my own opinion my reflection’s no help

i’m god i’m shit i’m a son of a bitch

and you’re the only window i have left

a man’s home is his castle but i’m living in my head

all these walls are too wide and too tall

and you’re the only window i have left

FLOATING OMENS

it’s a silence you want

while she’s lost in your thoughts

caught between heaven and hell

eager for epitaphs

searching the photographs

she’s always someone else

it’s out of your hands

it’s out of your hands

low light and long shadows

with your stories to tell

peripheral matters

it’s out of your hands

weathered and weightless

stung by the cold

feelings you’ve wrung from your eyes

a small price to pay

for a handful of days

til the laughter drained out of her smile

surprised to be standing

you slipped past the ending

gone in a green flash of light

a silent goodbye

in a darkening sky

it’s out of your hands

Pavlov

Charlie curb crawls with a carving knife

for the scarlet letter girls

and he double-checks his color wheel

before he asks ‘em for a whirl

got to make some careful choices

before he spills a little ink                 

because he could write his own obituary

if they’re blue instead of pink

Carrie’s tarted up like Alice

she’s in a dress that’s size 13

she doesn’t dare drink from the bottle

she knows that just makes her mean           

but she can fake a little wonderland

‘cause there’s all those bills to pay

she’s a pistol in the evening

and a bullet in the day

I guess we all make our choices

from the cradle to the grave

someone’s ringing Pavlov’s dinner bell

maybe the choice is already made

Charlie wrapped himself in Cupid's arms

and he drifted off to sleep

thinking she’s no imitation

a gritty pearl against his teeth

she dreamed she flew across the ocean

and it was like she always could

but she keeps clipping off her feathers

because they look nice in a book

she’s the bright spot in his darkness

he’s just a stain upon her dress

wasn’t hoping for transcendence

just to relive an old caress

you know he never understood her

though he tried so hard to please

you know she married him in Spanish

and divorced him in Chinese

he’s only got a little kindling

but he can make the chimney smoke

she’s just dreaming of ol’ Henry James

whether Henry likes it or he don’t

we’ll all keep taking chances

til they put us in the ground

because virtue is sold by volume baby

and vice is sold by pound

now the shed’s all full of drama

wrapped in old extension cords

and there’s fingers like a midget’s

from the rusty table saw

she’s digging up the power lines

and burying the dead

and fussing with the wiring

at the bottom of the bed

I guess we all take our chances

from the cradle to the grave

someone’s ringing Pavlov’s dinner bell

maybe the choice is already made

Charlie’s up before Jesus

telling Sunday morning tales

with a virgin bloody Mary

stretching canvas pounding nails

ain’t no diamonds without pressure

and the deadline’s judgment day

gotta keep begging for redemption

while we keep the lord at bay

I guess we all got our problems

from the cradle to the grave

someone’s ringing Pavlov’s dinner bell

outside an empty cage

we’ll all keep taking chances

til they put us in the ground

because virtue is sold by volume baby

and vice is sold by pound

EMPIRE

The astronaut is buried

in the bosom of the earth     

the mariner lies silent

in his silted berth

All these unanswered questions

skeleton prayers

are the cares

the ruts we’ve worn in the world

conquistador dreams

lost cities of gold

Still we listen for wisdom

from the mouth of a grave

parse the ancient scratches

on the walls of shadowed caves

Now a broken world spins

to face another rising sun

it’s begun

when the flags are all furled

and the swords turn to rust

the cartographer’s empire

will collapse into dust

The earth will dream without us

and bury our gods

ashes to ashes

dust to dust

Photography: Peter Barwick

except: Moon Dogs: Eric Merrell

Hand to Hold/Floating Omens: Joe Forkan

Pavlov: Eric Stoner