Jackson Cannery
Philosophy
Julianne
Where's Summer B?
Alice Childress
Underground
Sports & Wine
Uncle Walter
The Best Imitation of Myself
Video
The Last Polka
Boxing
Jackson Cannery
Stop the bus
I wanna be lonely
When seconds pass slowly
And years go flying by
You gotta stop the bus
I'll get off here
Enough's enough
I'm leaving this factory
All she wants
Is food on the table
I won't be able
To bring it home
All she wants, come on,
All I need is free
I'm a factory
(chorus):
Did Mother Nature tell you
Boy you come and go as you please
That's what she said to me
Big brother got the keys
And I got Jackson Cannery
Millionaires and mill rats live side by side here,
Messed up my brother's mind
He's far from earth
What's he worth
The same as you or me
In this factory
(chorus)
It's 4 in the morning
Mother don't know
That I'm going far away
She's whispering to the moon
I hope he don't join you soon
Baby boss
Climbs up on his soapbox
But Great Caesar's ghost
Knows what's best for me
He says stop the bus
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Philosophy
Won't you look up at the skyline
At the mortar, block, and glass
And check out the reflections in my eyes
See they always used to be there
Even when this all was grass
And I sang and danced about a high-rise
And you were laughing at my helmet hat
Laughing at my torch
Go ahead you can laugh all you want
I got my philosophy
(Keeps my feet on the ground)
And I trust it like the ground
That's why my philosophy
Keeps me walking when I'm falling down
I see that there is evil
And I know that there is good
And the in-betweens I never understood
Would you look at me I'm crazy
But I get the job done
I'm crazy but I get the job done
And I say, Go ahead you can laugh all you want
I got my philosophy
(Keeps my feet on the ground)
And I trust it like the ground
That's why my philosophy
Keeps me walking when I'm falling down
I pushed you cause I loved you guys
I didn't realize
That you weren't having fun
And I dragged you up the stairs
And I told you to fly
You were flapping your arms
Then you started to cry, you were too high
Now you take this all for granted
You take the mortar, block, and glass
And you forget the speech that moved the stone
But it's really not that you can't see
The forest from the trees
You never been out in the woods alone
So you can laugh all you want to
But I've got my philosophy
(Keeps my feet on the ground)
And I love you you're my friend
But you got no philosophy
Now it's time for this song to end
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Julianne
I met this girl, she looked like Axel Rose
Got drunk and took her home and we slept in our clothes
In the morning put my feet on the floor and thought
Being awake never felt like this before
And Julianne y'know she wouldn't approve
Spent all day on the phone 'cause I had nothing to do
Got rid of Axl by the afternoon
Being awake never felt so clear and blue
(chorus):
That's all I knew
Guess that I was innocent too
I'll sing a song and it won't be the blues
I don't miss Julianne
A friend she told me she felt sorry for me
She said the truth would come crashing down on me
That I'd be sorry but the truth of it is
That I feel guilty for not giving a shit
(chorus)
I got my bag of trash
I got my bag of trash
I drag it up and down, I drag it up and down the road
How could she miss a man
Who drags a bag of trash down the road
This week I feel like I been born again
I know that Julianne would have a fit
She'd find a reason for the things that I did
And gave me credit for the things that I've never been
That's all I knew
Guess that I was innocent too
I can try just as hard as I can
But I don't miss Julianne
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Where's Summer B?
I'd like to tell you, like to tell you
Tell you everything
'Cause nothing changes, ever changes
Nothing seems the same these days
Dave's been a mess since Cheryl left
Just sits at home and beats back death
And Beth still wears his stupid dress
There goes Joe Caparo again
With Darren's girlfriend
They're asking where ya been, like I know
Where ya been? Hey Summer, where ya been?
I tried to tell you, tried to tell you
Just took a bit too long
And now your phone is disconnected
And your shit's out on the lawn
The hardback cafe closed down
Now we've got Office Town
You shoulda stuck around
There go Ross and Frank again
They're holding hands
They're asking where ya been
Like I know where ya been
Hey Summer, where ya been?
I could take a train or fly away
Maybe write a book or change my name
I could settle down
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Alice Childress
Some summers in the evening after 6 or so
I walk on down the hill
And maybe buy a beer
I think about my friends
Sometimes I wish they lived out here
But they wouldn't dig this town
No they wouldn't dig this town
(chorus):
Try not to think about it, Alice Childress
Try not to think about it anymore
Try not to think about it, Alice Childress
Anymore, no not anymore
Alice, the world is full of ugly things
That you can't change
Pretend it's not that way
It's my idea of faith
You can blow it off
And say there's good in nearly everyone
Just give them all a chance
Now let's give them all a chance
(chorus)
No it didn't work out
No it didn't work out the way we thought it would
No it didn't work out
An arranged marriage is not so good
Thank God it's you
Y'know your timing is impeccable
I'm not fooling you
I don't know what to do
Some dude just knocked me cold
And left me on the sidewalk
Took everything I had
Everything I had
Try not to think about it, Alice Childress
Try not to think about it anymore
It's getting late where you are, Alice Childress
Anymore, no not anymore
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Underground
I was never cool in school
I'm sure you don't remember me
And now it's been 10 years
I'm still wonderin' who to be
But I'd love to mix
In circles, cliques, and social coteries - that's me
Hand me my nose ring (Can we be happy?)
Show me the mosh pit (Can we be happy?)
We can be happy underground
Who's got the looks, who's got the brains
Who's got everything
I got this pain in my heart, that's all
Hey you with the long and lonely face
There's got to be something else
Let me tell ya something else
There was this girl who passed me by
She gave a smile but I was shy
I looked down, so down
Don't look there no no, go go underground
But now there's a place to go
It's the morning, it's the evening
It's everything
I click my heels and I'm there
Underground, underground
Everything's happy underground
You been kicked around
Did life bring you down here
Everything's heavy underground
We'll be decked in all black and
Slamming the pit fantastic
Officer Friendly's little boy's got a mohawk
He knows just where we're coming from
It's industrial, work it underground
Get down, get down, get down
Underground, underground
Everything's happy underground
You been kicked around
Did life bring you down here
Everything's heavy underground
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Sports & Wine
Destiny was calling
Monday afternoon
Wednesday you'll be crawling
And you'll pray to be there soon
With sports and wine
Some men never grew up
Fortunate like you
Some men never found out
What it takes to be a dude
That's Sports and Wine
The girls don't understand it
What you think is art
My oh my we're all impressed
How sensitive you are
Everybody's talkin' about you now
You know it's true
Always has been sports and wine for you
So you ask me how I think I know
Just what makes you tick
I know what I know y'know
I know you make me sick
Sports and wine
Girls don't understand it
Anything you say
I don't understand it either
Guess that makes me gay
Everybody's talking 'bout you now
You know it's true..
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Uncle Walter
Your Uncle Walter's going on and on
Bout everything he's seen and done
The voice of 50 years experience
Drunk, watching the television
You know he's been around the world
Last night he flew to Baghdad
In his magical armchair
Cigarettes and a six pack, he just got back
Now the spit's flying everywhere
Hey, hey, hey, hey (Your Uncle Walter's going on and on)
You're back so late (Where did you go that you were gone so long)
how could you leave me here so long
With Uncle Walter
Your Uncle Walter saw who fired the shots
He drove his chair in the cavalcade
He's flown from South Africa
To countries where
They beat themselves on the backs with chains
There was a fleet of battleships
And 1 reclining chair
Headed north on the Arabian sea
Now he's back and he'll tell us what
He and his oldest boy Blair
Are getting rich with their mail order scheme
Oh, oh, oh, oh
We're glad you're home
But how could you leave me here so long
With Uncle Walter
Your Uncle Walter told me
Everything he'd do if he was president
Oh what a perfect world
This world would be
If he were President now
And he sees the children
Smoking pot
He knows that in a moment
They'll be shooting up heroin
Teardrops in his armchair
A 50 minute lecture
And tobacco juice rolling down his chin
Hey, hey, hey, hey
You're back so late
How could you leave me here so long
With Uncle Walter
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The Best Imitation of Myself
I feel like a quote out of context
Withholding the rest
So I can be free what you want to see
I got the gesture and sound
Got the timing down
It's uncanny, yeah, you think it was me
Do you think I should take a class
To lose my southern accent
Did I make me up, or make the face till it stuck
I do the best imitation of myself
The "problem with you" speech
You gave me was fine
I liked the theories about my little stage
And I swore I was listening
But I started drifting
Around the part about me acting my age
Now if it's all the same
I've people to entertain
I juggle one handed
Do some magic tricks and
The best imitation of myself
Maybe I'm thinking myself in a hole
Wondering, who I am when I ought to know
Straighten up now time to go
Fool somebody else, fool somebody else
Last night I was east with them
And west within
Trying to be for you what you wanna see
But I can't help it with you
The good and bad comes through
Don't want you hanging out with
No one but me
Now if it's all the same
It comes from the same place
And if my mind's somewhere else
You won't be able to tell
I do the best imitation of myself
Yes it's uncanny to see
You'd really think it was me
The best imitation of myself
The best imitation of myself
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Video
Barren stares as they light up the screen
Bearing teardrops that shatter in slow-motion
Novacaine our brains and we're out like lights
But as I'm growing older I'm bored
I remember when misery thrilled me much more
When I can't relax
And I'd like to go back
But that's gone
Yeah, that's gone, Turn around
Turn the volume down
We're counting the days down
Till the day when we live in a video
I'll be stone-faced and pale
You'll pout in stereo
24 hours every day of the year
Oh, what fun I can't wait 'til the future gets here
Closing in on the pain and the torture
He's slamming the doors like it's something to strive for
The girl tearing the curtains down looks funny as hell
And of sense of humor is there be any doubt But that natural selection has weeded it out
Used to keep me from laughing out loud
But that's gone
We don't think that way no more
That's gone, turn around, turn the volume down
We're counting the days down
I've seen some old friends sort of die
Or just turn into whatever
Must've been inside them
And whatever all of us had then in common
Grew up and left home
We don't think that way no more
Turn around, turn the volume down
We're counting the days down
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The Last Polka
Well, she crept back in the house at half past three
Shook her head to see him snoring in his sleep
If you really loved me she said
I wouldn't have to be so mean
He's a heap of junk that pours from his top drawer
Sometimes likes to spread it out around the floor
It's evidence of what he was like
He likes to remember when...
CHORUS:
Sha la la, sha la la lo li
The end is growing near
We're treading water now
And holding back our tears
And the day is rising
We're sinking sha la la lo li
In a minute it will all be coming down
And they know it now but no one makes a sound
Such a shame to ruin this bright
Lazy summer day...
My my, the cruelest lies are often told without a word
My my, the kindest truths are often spoken, never heard
She said, "You've been pushing me like I was a sore tooth.
You can't respect me 'cause I've done so much for you."
He said, "Well I hate that it's come to this
But baby I was doing fine. How do you think
That I survived the other 25 before you?"
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Boxing
Howard, the strangest thing
Has happened lately
When I take a good swing
And all my dreams
They pivot and slip
I drop my fists and they're back
Laughing Howard
My intention's become not to lose what I've won
Ambition has given way to desperation and I
Lost the fight from my eyes
Boxing's been good to me, Howard
Now I'm told, you're growing old
The whole time we knew
In a couple of years I'd be through
Has boxing been good to you?
Howard, I confess I'm scared and lonely and tired
They seem to think I'm made of clay
Another day, not cut out for this
I just want to say, I say
Well sometimes I punch myself as hard as I can
Yelling nobody cares hoping someone will tell me how
Wrong I am
Has boxing been good
Has boxing been good
Has boxing been good to you?
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