It’s been a few months
And there’s been a disconnect
From my hands on your strings
And my touch against your neck
- And the chords that used to ring clean
But have become anything except on key
Now ill write because I miss the way
I used to press into your frets
- And feel you bounce back when I let go
To make sure that you were still free
To make sure that you could survive without my hands plucking your strings
So I sit and take you back into my arms
To make up for the late distance that’s come between us
Because when you broke free from me
- Well it turns out that you’ve always been the one pressing against my frets
Because ever since you left
It’s been me that can’t break free
You took that bounce from me
You took that bounce from me
I twisted these pegs for days and days
Tried different keys but the tunings never stayed
And out of all of the techniques
- A sharp here and a flat there never before has taken so much out of me
The roles have changed and now it’s me that you play
- And when you press into my frets
I don’t bounce back quite like when we first met
So you set me down
- And now its been a few months
And there’s been a disconnect
From your hands on my strings
And your touch against my neck
Its been me that can’t break free
You took that bounce from me
You took that bounce from me
She said, “I’m not young enough to know everything anymore”
And that’s when I realized that we’re at that age
Where everything starts to change
When you can see all the different aspirations in your eyes
They said it first:
“This is growing up”
It’s the fall, so why’s it raining like the spring?
I thought I had more time
And this umbrella’s keeping me dry
But soon enough I’m gonna feel the flood
Cause I’m older now and this youth is not enough
She said, “The world seems to big for me to make a stand”
But the world’s a small place just as long as you talk about it
And I’ll keep spinning when you’re gone
Because it won’t end when we end
The world keeps moving on
You gave me everything, and I took it all
I cut you down when you couldn’t offer any more
You are just like an oak
Your trunk and roots will remain alive in me
Long after the leaves fall from our tree
It’s the fall, so why’s it raining like the spring?
I thought I had more time
And this umbrella’s keeping me dry
But soon enough I’m gonna feel the flood
Cause I’m older now and this youth is not enough
I’ll keep spinning
(But time cut us down)
I’m pretty sure I’ll keep spinning
(I promise to visit our trunk)
I’ll keep spinning
(Before I hit the ground)
So show me a map with no destination
Show me a field with grass so high that I cannot see the ground
Tell me to jump into a river that no one knows how deep
Put ink on your arms that only you can truly read
Take me on a walk in an undeveloped neighborhood
To show me just how undeveloped we all are
He wants nothing more than to be always there,
On a rest between notes during a pause between words,
Composing and writing, singing back and remembering,
Frozen in the tempo and the rush of the song
You could stand on the street for an eternity
And you could fail at handing out flyers to nobody
You could give up and pack it in before you let love in
But someday somebody’s gonna take one
Cause even a broken clock is right twice a day
It’s just a matter of when the hands will meet
So pick up two pebbles on the beach
And send one of them off to me
Because I know that you’ll be holding the other beneath your tongue
In hopes that I will feel your pulse
But I won’t
But I won’t
He wants nothing more than to be always there,
On a rest between notes during a pause between words,
Composing and writing, singing back and remembering,
Frozen in the tempo and the rush of the song
Well I’ve been walking on crumpled leaves for far too long
The veins that keep them in shape tear and crunch when I step too hard
It’s not even fall and I can sense that my breathing’s stable
It seems I’m going to let my year be more than one season long
It’s spring and the air tastes good enough to be content just from walking home
You can’t wrap your arms around a memory
But you can wrap your mind around your fears
And turn that fright into what you’ve said
Your hearts been lacking for years
I tried so hard to fight off my demons
But up on the silver screen these memories, these demons, they played
And I thought that everything I could once love would, fade away
But I didn’t know the weight until I felt the freedom
And it seems we all just need a vice
And I found my vice
You can’t wrap your arms around a memory
But you can wrap your mind around your fears
And turn that fright into what you’ve said
Your hearts been lacking for years
Now I’ll paint from the palette in my eyes
And no longer write what I’d like to emulate
Because this new sense of vision makes it easier to
Portray the emotions that I used to fake
We all just need a vice
But I didn’t know the weight until I felt the freedom
Sometimes it’s just so hard to fight off our demons
And even though you can’t wrap your arms around a memory
You can wrap your mind around your fears
And turn that fright into what you’ve said
Your hearts been lacking for years
It’s been two years
And I swore I’d write back
About the times I’ve had
And all the nights that are in the past
So as I sit down I’ll play your favorite record of the year
And watch the needle dig its grooves
Into a vinyl so frequently used
So as this record spins,
The tales begin
You tried so hard to mold me with your hands
But clay can’t settle when you don’t give it a chance
But now that you’ve left,
I’ve taken the time to mold myself from your sketch
And love, this clay is dry,
But now you’ve found better materials to work by
It’s been two years
And I swore I’d write back
But there are still too many ideas that seem to lack
A good use, an excuse for ink
So I’ve been sitting down and trying to think,
But the memories I wish I never had
Always seem to overpower the memories I wish could last
And I’m afraid that they’ll get the best of me
You tried so hard to mold me with your hands
But clay can’t settle when you don’t give it a chance
But now that you’ve left,
I’ve taken the time to mold myself from your sketch
And love, this clay is dry,
But now you’ve found better materials to work by
We used to lay around and we’d listen to “Stolen”
You used to be the best one, of the best ones
But now I can lay and listen alone
And it’s been two years
So how much longer will I be alone?
Your four walls alter similar to the seasons
Summer and fall give you the respect to be free
Winter and spring give me impressions that you’re as lasting
As the imprint of an oar pushing through the water
To be able to paint in color rather than in words
Is a skill you’ve yet to gain
You struggle with the issue of sinning and living
Some dare to treat those two impostors just the same
We push the swing set and it comes faster back
We look back at being kids
And we can only wish we had held on to our laughs
We’re bound to sway back and forth between the lines
But hold on when there is nothing left in you
To keep you aligned
Old dreams never die, they just fade away
Old dreams never die, they just fade away
Old dreams never die, they just fade away
Old solders never die, they just fight wars in their minds
I drift from tree to tree
I suck the pollen from any flower that’s close enough to me
I tend to indulge, I take what I can until I find there’s room left
But there is no more there
I drift from tree to tree
And hop vines when the axe men come to cut down you and me
I make lists to make lists
And I don’t wear a watch because I’d rather not focus on the time
I wear ink because I like focusing on the things I wish I could write
She asked,
“How can you so effortlessly suck the life out of me?”
I make lists to make lists
And “You were just one of the pieces that needed to be checked off of my list”
I sleep to vindicate my dreams
I shower to try to absorb enough heat to bring some life into me
I rarely speak because my voice gives away my tone
And my tone hints to the world that I’d rather be alone
I sleep to vindicate my dreams
But my imaginations run dry and the darkness seems to get the best of me
I listen to music to think for me
I don’t enjoy exercise because it makes my heart race
And I don’t like remembering that nothing else makes my heart beat
It doesn’t require patience to kill
Not like it does to get things to grow
I listen to music to think for me
But the records stopped along with my thoughts
I drift from tree to tree
I make lists to make lists
I sleep to vindicate my dreams
And I listen to music to think for me
But fuck the metaphors,
I leave when the situation gets too tough
And I crossed you off my list because you wouldn’t let me fuck you enough
I don’t dream because I spend my day making up stories
And sleep is my only chance at reality
And I listen to music to try to remember what life used to be
Verse
A great big field, filled with stone and leaves
Coupled by a wooden fence and waves of scenery
And I know, it’s hard to believe that such a place
Could be filled with such daunting realities
Chorus
Don’t dig your shovel too deep
There’s a whole line of people behind you
Who have a stake in how well she sleeps
Verse 2
Noises of water fill your ears
The peaceful surroundings are for the living not the revered
They can’t see the leaves of fall, they can’t hear any sounds
Like a rock in a waterfall, it’s time you let her drown
Chorus
Drop the dirt from the metal onto the wood
Hear the breaths gasp as the sound of the earth covers
Up the wounds of a former lover, one that went too soon
The last person in line’s job is to close her up good
Verse 3
You can bend your knees to wipe the leaves away
You’ll see the engravings of meaningless words about grace
Your tears will run from your face and drop like rain on her grave
But just like rain on fallen leaves, they won’t bring back Spring memories
Chorus
Don’t dig your shovel too deep
There’s a whole line of people behind you
Who have a stake in how well she sleeps
Drop the dirt from the metal onto the wood
Hear the breaths gasp as the sound of the earth covers
Up the wounds of a former lover, one that went too soon
The last person in line’s job is to close her up good
Purple Heart
I feel like a man who has come home from war
I don’t see color in the faces that I once loved anymore
Time plays awful tricks
My daughter was so young when I left
But now she’s grown and I don’t have a heart for this
By the time I came back my father wasn’t much of a talker
But I needed someone to tell my nightmares to
I wouldn’t forgive myself for missing his death
But his tombstone listens well
And I feel like I’m making up for lost time spent
I can’t blame my wife for needing company
I had just hoped
It would have come in the form of companionship not physicality
Honestly is a valued trait but after war
A few lies could have gone a long way
When exhaust pipes backfire, I don’t hit the ground
The death doesn’t make me cringe
And the interrogation lights didn’t make me
Hate myself for being proud
Some men just want to watch the world burn
Some men just want to watch the world hurt
I watched the sun creep up and paint the sky in blood
I watched the clouds cover the wounds and shade the skyline in a gray flood
I stood and gazed as I realized that planes weren’t always made of paper,
But that planes always burn
As if it were in slow motion he fell to the floor
Each vowel became elongated as his screams shook the ground
I heard the words of a friend sink in the car
As we drove near the holocaust he pictured his father underneath tar
And that was the day innocence left this city’s heart
The ashes, they rained down from the clouds
It was someone’s Fourth of July in this town
I was young, to me they were just fireworks
But it was September; maybe I just didn’t know how the calendar worked
My mother had a moment of great rebirth
As the fires grew she tried to pull my roots from the Earth
I contemplated with a wiser man,
He told me that he saw war, that these firestorms were only a prelude to more
I was young, I pictured the enemy advancing their pieces on the Risk board
I used to wonder if they chose the highest building
So we would have less to look up to
But I’ve grown since, and now I know
That the bodies wrapped in burning steel
Have hardened at the bottom of the river
But the shrapnel from the metal
Is stuck in our streets
And there’s a whole new set of bright eyes that don’t know what this burning sensation means
