LUKEWARM 

People always tellin me how happy I could be — I’m never gonna find out. A house in the burbs and a bitchin' SUV is how I'm never gonna wind up. I didn't know Lennon or King or Kennedy, but I know one thing: You gotta know yr enemies. People always tellin me how happy I could be, I'm never gonna find out… 

Better to suffer it than live under it. 
I'm never gonna be just fine, no way. 

I'm never gonna be that guy, I'm never gonna be just fine,
But there are times i need you to remind me. 
I'm never gonna be that guy, I’m never gonna be just fine, 
I never wanna say my best days are behind me. 
I never wanna be lukewarm again. 

If being frightened means that I'll always be aware, I'm always gonna be scared. Everybody's got a way of working out the world, like E is M and C squared. There's Buddha and Muhammadand JC and Allah them, and I'm ivri (Baruch ata HaShem). Everybody's got a way of working out the world, I'm never gonna find out. 

There is a summer, it’s all the time, for every one of us. 

***

14-41 

14 to 41. Start blind, end up dumb. 
You're 16, You're 23, you're 32, you're 41.... 

Gonna leave it all behind and not say sorry. 
Yea you are always right, so why worry? 
You learn to steal and lie to friends -- You trust no one. 
My birthday's comin' around again... 

And there is no other way… 

I'm waiting for the bell to ring. I'm always older. 
Pressures and folds of fat and lipstick-stained calendars 
All hide under marriage porcelain that I'm falling over 
My birthday, my birthday, my worst day. 
My Birthday's comin around agaiin… 

Yea, you're 32, you're 41. 
You're all those things and then your none. 
You're through all that, you've just begun. 

***

HOSTAGE

Falling up a flight of stairs. What went wrong where? 
There's a room around a man. 
His eyes are gleaming, his arms around me, 
One hand in my hair, the other on a gun, and you look scared. 
"Back off or someone'll die, Back off or someone'll die" 
He has me by the hair. He drags me down the hall. 
I'm falling up a flight of stairs. 
You never run away. Oh, to be you. 

He's a pretty little girl, he’s my father 
One way or another, he’ll get heard 
And talking him down is like making it rain, and oh I'm dry 
When all I've got is hurt or hurtful, I don't feel like sharing 
It doesn't mean that I don't care 
You never run away. Oh, to be you. 
Oh, i can run away. I run away real good. 
Maybe I should have when i had the strength. 
A winner never stuck with anything he couldn't do. 
What is my way to heaven?

***

LEPER SONG 

Am I peeking if I look? Do my kisses feel invasive? 
Am I crying when I smile? Who am I to say? 

Can I see this from the inside? Am I dying just to say? 
With all these words hung 'round my neck, my head is feeling heavy. 
Let me sleep. 

Did i sneak something inside? A bitter pill, a tasteless poison? 
Do I have something to hide? Who am I to say? 

I'm lonely as a leper, I’m contagious as hell. 
With my clothing and my make-up, I bet you couldn't tell. 
Some nights i don't sleep, and when I do, I sleep fitfully. 
These dreams are not mine, and i wake up in a very bad mood. 

***

TITANIC 

Two easy over. A greasy spoon 
"Flies shit wherever they land.” 
I overheard that. I made a smile. 
We eat whatever we can. 

Could you see beauty in long, simple faces? 
Weighted down, waving while they're drowning 

Congratulations, you won the world! 
What would you do with it then? 
Would you decorate it, surrender, or burn it and start it again? 

Could you see beauty in long, simple faces? 
Weighted down, waving while they're drowning 
Could you find beauty in sun shining over, raining down. 
Waving while they're drowning… 

Congratulations, you won the world. 

***

BETTER THAN EVER 

Steal a girl's clothes, and see what she wears. 
See it that way, and see if she cares. 
Whoring myself out to you. Holding myself up to you. 
You aren't risking, you aren't risking a thing. 
Better than ever. 
Maybe what you said was true. 
Maybe I should have been afraid of you.

***

WEARY PROGRESS 

It was a nervous little shudder, I was thinking of my mother, 
I was making up excuses, I was sorry, sore, no intimacy. 
Cradle-cap and funny skin and thin, I miss my daughter's breath. 
What really sticks it in are the cold spots in the bed. 

I yell, I get frustrated, I scream. 
Drunk brother painting bare rooms. 
Christmas trees are scary things at 2 a.m and 
Foolish lips are all the way in Boston, 
But they're sounding pretty good. 

Like everybody in the world, I want to be misunderstood. 
Likable, creepy, underrated, braggart, busy, really good. 
It's weary progress.

***

#1 DEFENDER 

The greatest gift you ever gave me was a faded, red broken ballerina. 
And you would wind it up, nd it would barely move, and there would be no sound, 
And you'd look up and say 

I'm your number one, I’m your number one defender, and I will understand 
When you are gone, I don't need a raise, I don't need a paycheck. 
I will understand. I’m your number one. 

I've always had this thing with bravery, 
And I never wanted no one to believe me, 
Or even see me, or understand. 
I thought that maybe there would be this girl, 
And she'd be just like me, but not like me, 
And you’d look up and say… 

I never thought that love would save me. 
I've never been so happy to be wrong. 
So thanks for the silence, thanks for the days. 
Thank you for the ocean.

***

HALO 

I could go to the middle of the desert. I could go there all alone. 
I could sit for hours, I could fast for weeks. 
I'll never know what you know. 

I'll give you all the water, give everything that matters. 
And when the world is full, I'll give you all the spaces. 
I'll give you all of the time. 

You've got a halo hanging above your head. 

You're as young and as old as the ocean. 
You smile, and skies unfold. 
And the wind and heavens are still and solid. 
You've got an unearthly glow…

***

THE NAME 

There were years in my way. I was thinking it over. 
Now I'm running for cover, finally. 
I'm so hung up on things, and the pain that pride brings. 
We're just following no one down the well. 
Better times than this, the first snow to fall. 
Harbor two lovers, locked in a full embrace. 
All these things, the name will erase. 
Better times than this, the first snow to fall. 
Harbor all of us, locked in a full embrace. 
All these things, the name will erase.

***

BETTER THAN THIS 

I'm thinking over it. I think too much. 
It hinders my spirit when there's never enough. 
Shell-game sleight of hand to wish for something more. 
Honest husbands, cheating wives, generous buyers, greedy stores. 

"I'll get through it, I'll get through it." 
I'll say it ten times over: "I'll get through it… I’m better than this.” 

That's what anchors me (I mean it weighs me down). 
I can't give thanks to fear, can't say no to crowds. 
Guess I'll just play dumb, shouldn't be too hard. 
Peaceful people, violent guns, sober drivers, drunken cars. 

I’m better than nothing, and nothing is better than this.

***

ONE BIG APOLOGY (b-side)

I look in the eyes of my drunk friends, and I see my father, 
And it weighs me down. 
They don’t know whether they love me, or they want to fight me, 
Or how much they’ve had, 
And it weighs me down. 

It’s just one big apology… 

How do you work up so much emotion over something that's over? 
Is once enough? 
How do you make things bigger, or make things smaller, 
To get where your going, or think you want. 

It's just one big apology… 

I’ve thought my way around it, I’ve thought of all these things. 
I thought if you could say it, you could own it, like wedding rings. 
The siren gets a bad rap when she brings sailors in. 
Yeah, they should all know better,  
But they’re just finding better things.