The Soft Sell
You say you’re coming home with me tonight
That’s the first clear sign that the girl ain’t right
You see the boy with the checkered past
Most girls can’t run too fast
You’re the one comes barreling through the lights
So I guess I’d better tell you about my place
Truth be told it’s a damn disgrace
Ripped the floor up, tore out the walls
Hit a snag and abandoned cause
But I’m living in my head so it just don’t phase
So don’t believe me baby, don’t be taken in
I’ll lay the Soft Sell on you, I only play to win
Don’t you listen when I tell you in sincerity
You could do better, you could do better than me
You could do better than me
Some days you can hardly take a note
Some years are full of tears and that’s-all-she-wrotes
You know the next one’s gonna go fast
You know you’ve lost everything that’s past
You know the moment is the antidote
It’s just a couple blocks from end to end
From the 5 and 9 to the 7-10
Some folks they’re living good lives
But don’t know it ‘cause they aim too high
My American dream is an American Friend
So don’t believe me baby, don’t be taken in
I’ll lay the Soft Sell on you, I only play to win
Don’t you listen when I tell you in sincerity
You could do better, you could do better than me
You could do better than me
There’s a big old hole and a lonely soul
And the child is lost in space
But you tell yourself
You can’t be everywhere and in one place
So as the years go by I hope
you’ll seat me at your table
I’ll bring the Lilac Wine
And something sweeter with no label
Grievings From San Jose
I’ll fly into the town again
Touchdown brings me down again
Luego mes Guiones
Hello smog and sickness
Where I’ll see your shadows on the wall
I’ll look for you in every car
I’ll swear you’re gonna break and call
But you won’t though
And now I’m downtown San Jose
Got a long wait for the train
Now I’m downtown San Jose
Got a long wait for the train
Ran into Martine again
Prancing by her sea of men
Do all these jungle beaches
Bring such strange queer numbers?
Like the one who couldn’t tell a lie
If it smacked me right between the eyes
I feel exiled in the sunrise
No muy bueno
Now I’m downtown San Jose
Got a long wait for the train
Little Tica girl calls me honey
Now I’m downtown San Jose
got a long wait for the train
I don’t want to spend this money
I sometimes wonder if we could
I know we probably never should
But I’m still writing chapters
That you have long since skimmed through
And the Costa Rican jungle cries
To those who’ve led such scattered lives
And they’d like to leave it all behind
But they don’t though
And now I’m downtown San Jose
Got a long wait for the train
Little Tica girl calls me honey
Now I’m downtown San Jose
Got a long wait for the train
I don’t want to spend this money
Now I’m downtown San Jose
Got a long wait for the train
King Rut
So what’s a day in your life like now?
After all of this time’s gone by?
When you went away
That’s when you finally stayed with me
Foolish me
So what are folks in your life like now?
Are they hard as I was back when?
Well I’d like to tell you I’ve changed since then
And I’ll sure tell you….
(As soon as I can)
The more that people change
The more I stay the same
I’ll always be your Good King Rut
You can come to Good King Rut
So what’s a good thing to buy you now?
Still into the incense, the candles, I Ching, and the Tao?
Or are you reading some how-to guide
On when to double down
And when to let it ride?
The more that people change
The more I stay the same
I’ll always be your good King Rut
You can count on good King Rut
Well I could tell you with a tear in my eyes
But I haven’t really cried in years
I could tell you an elaborate lie
Like a poet or a balladeer
But if you wanna know when and why
It was when you left ‘cause I disappeared
So what do people you see say now?
When they ask are you with that guy?
Do you say you left me
It’s sad but true
“Cause my love needed room
Yours just outgrew
The more that people change
The more I stay the same
I’ll always be your good King Rut
You can call me good King Rut
Bring it home to good King Rut
You can come to good King Rut
Like a Tree
I wouldn’t say I was so strange to love
Maybe I just never saw enough
It wasn’t clear between the moms and dads
I never knew what kind of love they had
I tried to show some love the way I’ve known
My world had been so small
But now it’s grown
But here again I’ve missed the point
I wish I’d filled my verse with counterpoint
I’ve learned to listen and it’s taught me well
A private world is just a private hell
And you know I’m alone
Like a tree going down in the forest
Does anybody hear me hit the ground?
Because you know I’m alone
Like a tree going down in the forest
Does anybody hear me make a sound?
You shut it out and it just shuts you in
You live without it and you die within
We must be here to help increase the bliss
We might as well make some good out of this
‘Cause I’ve sucked enough to know
With energy
What I take from the world comes out of me
And I’ve missed it if it came out trite
I’m trying to forget myself tonight
But do you find you’re alone
Like a tree going down in the forest?
Does anybody hear you hit the ground?
‘Cause you know I’m alone
Like a tree going down in the forest
Does anybody hear me make a sound?
“Cause Gaya’s an eternal energy
I’m a part of you and you are me
And i’m drunk with all the pain and light
But I know we’re on to something real tonight
But do you find you’re alone
Like a tree going down in the forest?
Does anybody hear you hit the ground?
‘Cause you know I’m alone
Like a tree going down in the forest
Does anybody hear me make a sound?
Make a sound
Make a sound
Beware My Love
Beware my love
What you think you’ll find
Beware my love
When you go searching for a new light
Take care my love
The bag of bones and all the blood slides
Cause I don’t know the things
That go through your mind
Are you here or will you leave me behind?
Beware my love
Beware my love
I think you take it kind of lightly
Beware my love
You’ve been looking for it nightly
I just want to keep you satisfied
‘Cause I don’t know the things
That go through your mind
Am I here or will I leave you behind?
Beware my love
I’m trying to give you a fair warning about me
Beware my love
I’m not the kind
who’ll leave no room for mystery
So forewarned is forearmed
Forewarned is forearmed
I don’t want to leave it on the side
‘Cause I don’t know the things
That go through your mind
Are you here or will you leave me behind
Beware my love
I’m trying to give you a fair warning about me
Beware my love
I’m not the kind
who’ll leave no room for mystery
So forewarned is forearmed
Forewarned is forearmed
I’ve Been Ruined
Well I’ve been ruined by the rays of the sun
Lay on the beach and put your mouth on the gun
And I’ve been ruined by the things that they said
And I’ve been ruined by the fire in my bed
I’ve been ruined but i’m still gonna stick it out
Time’s a dragon breathing fire on my neck
The vultures gather and they all take a peck
I’m just another falling leaf in this world
The wind will blow and I’ll be lost in the swirl
I’ve been ruined but I’m still gonna stick it out
I’m down hard I’m out cold I’m moving up to the barrio
The dark streets they’ve got my number
Chop me up and use my bones for lumber
Good people worry about the crumbling lot
It’s gonna tumble and we’re gonna get shot
Hide in the basement with a years worth of cans
And let the zombies fight it out on the land
I’ve been ruined but I’m still gonna stick it out
I’m down hard, so hung low
Not too well suited for video
The dark eyes are hard sunk
Young turks come meet the old punks
All I need is maybe 20 good years
Until the robots in my veins are in gear
And then I’ll live another 20 or so
And on and on like that forever it goes
I’ve been ruined but I’m still gonna stick it out
I’ve been ruined but I’m still gonna stick it out
Hollow Heights
You say you're slaving away
and there's nothing to show
for the work you've done
You say you come and you go
But there’s nobody knows if you come undone
But you've been wrong before,
you've been wrong before
And we all know something isn’t right
Since your days at happy hollow heights
You cannot really believe in
All those things they held to light
And you know there's no retrieving
All the days you said you might
But you've been wrong before,
you've been wrong before
You say 1-2-3 the hell with me
Cast yourself out of infinity
They tell you an ancient tale
The makeup or the veil
And I think that something isn’t right
Since your days at happy hollow heights
You've been wrong before,
you've been wrong before
You say 1-2-3 the hell with me
Cast yourself out of infinity
You don’t give yourself a chance
You don’t even try to dance
And we all know something isn’t right
Since your days at happy hollow heights
Someone Like You and Me
No one could find you in the Halcyon days
That feared you had drowned
when you floated away
But even before we were through
I needed someone like you
“Cause all true believers
could lose faith one day
But all education never drove you away
I talked to my father he knew
I needed someone like you
Someone like me would break my heart
I knew from the very start
The only way I could get through
Is with someone like you
So run to the sister to take care of things
The car they don’t drive
and the doorbell won’t ring
The only way she could get through
Is with someone like you
Down with a fever that don’t seem to break
Learned all the lessons
but they don’t seem to take
I talked to my father he knew
I needed someone like you
Someone like me would drive me mad
So the opposite’s bound to attract
But maybe before this is through
I’ll be someone like you
Someone like me would break my heart
They say love is a tactical art
The only way I could get through
Is with someone like you
Someone like me would break my heart
Say love is a tactical art
The only way I could get through is with someone like you
Someone like me would drive me mad
So the opposite’s bound to attract
But maybe before this is through
I’ll be someone like you
I Will Try
I don’t know if I could take back half a lifetime
I’d give it all in a minute
For a minute back
I don’t know if I could reach you where you are now
Or make a difference so long after the fact
But I will try
I will try
On the day that you came all sang the angels
And on the day you were gone all cried the storm
I don’t know if I can reach you where you are now
I don’t know how to tell you I want more
But I will try
I will try
To get a message through the time and space
I want to meet you in the state of grace
And get high
Never you mind my love
Wherever you shine my love I'll be here
Never you mine my son
I know the best been done
So just heal
I don’t know if there’s a place of pure forgiveness
I don’t know if there’s a heart that runs so deep
I don’t know if I can reach you where you are now
I don’t know if I can sow what I need to reap
Before that morning I could not be caught for crying
Just a movie or the music in the show
Now I know the pain of losing
Pain of losing
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know
Now I know I didn’t know I didn’t know