1. |
The Nighttime Driving
03:57
|
|
||
She’s been asking since Seattle
If I want to switch her sides
But I could make it to Northern California
Just to get us home alive
Another sad song on the radio
Another steel guitar in the night
Another forty miles of white-washed fences
Reflecting back the light
On you sleeping here beside me
And you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen
You’re sleeping here beside me
So I’m glad I took the nighttime driving
They’ve been sleeping since Vancouver
When there’s just an hour to go
Been away a few too many days
And I’m aching to be home
Another night drive through the darkness
Another engine lulling you to sleep
Another hundred miles go by in seconds
And you wake in your own bed
And you don’t recall arriving
And you can’t remember how you got there from the car
You don’t recall arriving
But you didn’t miss the nighttime driving
|
||||
2. |
Portland, Oregon
03:43
|
|
||
There was a band
With a sound like the Weakerthans
And everyone in Portland, Oregon loved them
They got a room one night at the Jupiter
After a show at Doug Fir
Where they got signed
If all your friends start coming to the show
Sitting at the bar
Drinking PBR
And if I wear my corduroy tight
And muss my hair just right
I could get a Tuesday night
There was a club
For all the touring bands
In their buses and cargo vans
On Burnside
There was booking guy
Looked about 45
Looked me right in the eyes
And said no dice
Until your friends start coming to the show
Sitting at the bar
Drinking PBR
And if you fill the room a couple times
On Tuesday nights
You can have a Wednesday
For all the talk
Of art and love
And reciprocity
Maybe we should get our affectations on
And see where they can lead
Oh yeah, oh yeah, see where they can lead
Oh yeah, oh yeah, you’ll never see what we could be
Until your friends start coming to the show
Sitting at the bar
Drinking PBR
And if you fill the room a couple times
On Wednesday nights
You can have a Thursday
|
||||
3. |
|
|||
On the interstate
We’re counting license plates from other states we’ve never seen
And you pass the time
Finding dates on dimes and nickels, quarters, and pennies
Did you have both hands on the steering wheel now, son
Did you remember to keep them at two and ten
Every error that you make
Could be your last mistake
On the interstate
We’re counting license plates from other states we’ve never seen
And you pass the time
Scanning highway signs for all the letters from a to z
Did you have both hands on the steering wheel now, son
Did you remember to keep them at two and ten
Every error that you make
Could be your last mistake
Don’t worry
I’ll be right here
I just need a little rest
The tank is full and the road ahead is straight
So do your best
On the interstate
We’re counting license plates from other states we’ve never seen
And you pass the time
Reading mile-markers, maps and motel vacancy signs
|
||||
4. |
|
|||
I’m a contradiction, a counterfeit, a charlatan, a shell
When bits of fiction figure into narratives I tell
The heart God created
Is busy making plans to murder and betray
All the lies I fashion
He was never really buying anyway
A view from the castle
Is how it starts but never how it ends
When the things I only ponder
And the things I really do become best friends
I say nothing happened
But I really mean it hasn’t happened yet
And I’m planning failures
Every opportunity I get
I can’t pray a lie
And I can’t fool myself
But I can make it sound all right
Maybe it’s the challenge
Maybe I just need to know I’m still around
Baby I don’t want to
Take it any farther than the sound
Of a whispered promise
That what could be could be the death of me
In this sort of setting
I may not always be the one to write the scene
I can’t pray a lie
And I can’t fool myself
But I can make it sound all right
|
||||
5. |
|
|||
Every winter exhalation
Is a casualty anyone can see
I make a joke and make like
I’m smoking cigarettes
Instead of letting go of what I need
And the first thing you learned about breathing
Would have helped you to see how I could leave
I take oxygen and give back poison
Poison you could never breathe
Every swimmer underwater
Is a picture of what I really mean
I make a joke and make like
I’m walking on the moon
Instead of letting go of what I need
And the first thing you learned about breathing
Would have helped you to see how I could leave
I take oxygen and give back poison
Poison you could never breathe
And the first thing you learned about breathing
Would have helped you to see how I could leave
I take oxygen and give back poison
Poison you could never breathe
|
||||
6. |
Every Sign Of Winter
03:18
|
|
||
We used to listen to records
Like we were watching golden sunsets
The seed that’s planted in the heart
Only grows the way it’s led
But I believe I’ll be happy
And I believe it’s not so bad
When every sign of winter is bringing it back again
We used to telephone DJs
With our requests for undiscovered things
They seemed to be deities of some kind
Airing their anointed kings and queens
And I believed I’d be up there
With all the other luminaries
But every sign of winter is bringing me down again
We used to think we’d be famous
But not enough to need a disguise
The seed that blossoms in the heart
Only blooms until it dies
But I believe I’ll be happy
And I believe it’s not so bad
When every sign of winter is bringing it back again
|
||||
7. |
Struck Dumb
03:25
|
|
||
I’m struck dumb
I can feel the letters forming in my mouth
But I can’t get them out
And I’m undone
I can feel the center moving to the side
And taking what’s alive
Other places out of my control
An effort of the will
Is good enough until
I grow tired
Of all my stupid habits and all my wasted words
Like captured birds
Taking wing
And slamming into wires
Barring their escape
They scratch and scrape
Other places out of their reach
An effort of the will
Is good enough until
It’s the same with the way I need you
It’s the same every night
Another false recovery
Another compromise will make me feel all right
I’m struck dumb
I can feel the letters forming in my mouth
But I can’t get them out
I can’t get them out
|
||||
8. |
If You'll Pretend
03:40
|
|
||
If you’ll pretend to be my friend
I’ll pretend that you are talking me down
Lonely in the early hours
Ours are always only running out
But someone understand this
Somebody an awful lot like me
And I can’t tell if I’m keeping you afloat
Or pulling you down with me
If we are all a deck of cards
A few of us must be the suicide kings
The jack of spades, the queen of hearts,
The other cards are always whispering
With the best and the noblest intentions
They’re cloaking their confusion in concern
But they don’t know that the hand they never show
Is only making matters worse
I’m always a sinner
So I’m always coming clean
But we’re never forgiven
And we’re never going to be.
But someone understand this
Somebody an awful lot like me
And I can’t tell if I’m keeping you afloat
Or pulling you down with me
|
||||
9. |
Mason Street
02:40
|
|
||
Funny you should mention Mason Street
Haven’t been there since 1993
Where every streetlight’s too low
And every headlight’s a show
A moth-light dance you’d rather never know
Funny you should notice little things
And miss the one that tells you I’m not listening
And stand there asking questions
While it’s thickening here
Guess you get used to almost anything
Came to take my statement but he hasn’t got one yet
When I start to move away he says “Sometimes I forget”
Funny you should mention Mason Street
Haven’t back been there since 1993
Where every streetlight’s too low
And every headlight’s a show
A moth-light dance you never outgrow
|
||||
10. |
Picture Windows
05:19
|
|
||
Patchwork pastures
And city skylines
Are rolling westward
On imaginary lines
--Central, Mountain,
Eastern standard time—
Get me older and it’s cold when I arrive
Could I cheat death
If I forever flew west,
Reclaim my life
An hour at a time
Across imaginary lines
A heavy snowstorm
Blows in from the north
In a crowded airport
They’re sleeping on the floor
And it makes me question
My destination
So I call your number
With this confession:
“I won’t be home”
Followed by the hardest part
“And I mean forever.
I never meant to break your heart
Across imaginary lines”
Picture windows
In airports make you cry
And you can’t imagine why
All the strangers disappearing into sky
Remind you that someday you’re gonna fly
|
My Weight in Gold Stars Mc Minnville, Oregon
My Weight in Gold Stars was an indie rock band based in McMinnville, Oregon.
If you like My Weight in Gold Stars, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp