Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
released 8.13.2002 by saddle creek
favorite songs have asterisks
favorite lyrics are bolded
i’ve typed out the lyrics in drop down menus
my own covers are linked where relevant
full album linked on first line – enjoy <3 🙂
well, you say that i treat you like a book on a shelf
i don’t take you out that often cause i know that i’ve completed you
and that’s why you are here
that’s the reason you stay here
how awful that must feel
you said you’d be my dream, i could have you every night
and if by morning i’d forgotten you
well, no big deal, i’d be alright
cause you’re the reoccurring kind
you are the reoccurring kind
you never really leave my mind
are you the love of my lifetime? cause there’s been times i had my doubts
we were just kids when i first kissed you in the attic of my parent’s house
and i wish we were there now
that took so long to figure out
what this book has been about
now i write when i’m away letters that you’ll never read
you said go explore those other women, the geography of their bodies
but there’s just one map you’ll need
you’re a boomerang, you’ll see
you will return to me
you will, you will, you will
cause if you don’t then this book’s all lies
if you don’t then my plans would all be ruined
if you don’t i’ll start drinking like the way i drank before
and i just won’t have a future anymore
i picked you out of a crowd and talked to you
said i liked your shoes
you said thanks, can i follow you
so it’s up the stairs and out of view, no prying eyes
i poured some wine
i asked your name, you asked the time
now it’s 2 o’clock
the club is closed, you’re up the block
your hands on me pressing hard against your jeans
your tongue in my mouth trying to keep the words from coming out
you didn’t care to know who else may have been you before
i want a lover i don’t have to love
i want a girl who’s too sad to give a fuck
where is the kid with the chemicals?
i thought he said to meet me here but i’m not sure
i got the money if you’ve got the time
you said it feels good
i said i’d give it a try
then my mind when dark
we both forgot where your car was parked
let’s just take the train
ill meet up with the band in the morning
bad actors with bad habits
some sad singers they just play tragic
and the phone’s ringing and the band’s leaving
let’s just keep touching, let’s just keep singing
i want a lover i don’t have to love
i want a boy who’s so drunk he doesn’t talk
give us the kid with the chemicals
i got a hunger and i can’t seem to get full
i need some meaning i can memorize
the kind i have always seems to slip my mind
but you but you
you write such pretty words
but life’s no story book
love’s an excuse to get hurt and to hurt
do you like to hurt? i do, i do
then hurt me
then hurt me
bowl of oranges *
don’t know when but a day’s gonna come
nothing gets crossed out *
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make war **
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waste of paint *
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from a balance beam
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laura laurent *
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let’s not shit ourselves (to love and to be loved)
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the big picture
the picture’s far too big to look at, kid
your eyes won’t open wide enough
and you’re constantly surrounded by the swirling stream of what is and what was
well, we all make our predictions but the truth still isn’t out
but if you want to see the future go stare into a cloud
and keep trying to find your way out of that maze of memories
it all sorta looks familiar until you get up close
and then it’s different clearly
but each time you turn a corner you’re right back where you were
and your only hope is that forgetting might make a door appear
is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak?
an avalanche of opinions like the one that fell that i’m now underneath
it was my voice that moved the first rock
and i would do it all again
so i mean it’s cool if you keep quiet but i like singing
so i’ll be holding my note
and stomping and strumming and feeling so very lucky
and there is nothing i know
except this lifetime’s one moment and wishing will just leave me empty
so you can try and live in darkness
but you will never shake the light
no, it will greet you every morning
and it will make you more aware with its absence at night
when you’re wrapped up in your blankets, baby
that comfortable cocoon
but i’ve seen the day of your awakening boy, and it’s coming soon
so go ahead and lose yourself in liquor and you can praise the clouded mind
but it isn’t what you’re thinking, no
it’s the course of history your position in line
you’re just a piece of the puzzle so i think you’d better find your place
and don’t go blaming your knowledge on some fruit you ate
because there’s been a great deal of discussion, yes
about the properties of man
animal or angel? you were carved from bone, but your heart it’s just sand
and the wind is gonna scatter it and cover everything with love
so if it makes you happy then keep kneeling mama but i’m standing up
because this veil it has been lifted, yes
my eyes are wet with clarity
i’ve been a witness to such wonders
i have searched for them all across this country
but i think i’ll be returning now to the town where i was born
and i understand you must keep moving friend, but i’m headed home
yeah, i’m gonna follow the road
and let the scenery sweeping by easily enter my body
and i’ll send you all this message in code
underground, over mountains, through forests and deserts and cities
all across electric wire, it’s a baited line, yeah
the hook’s in deep boys, there’s no more time
so you can struggle in the water, be too stubborn to die
or you can just let go and be lifted to the sky
method acting
there’s no beginning to the story
a bookshelf sinks into the sand
and a language learned and forgot in turn is studied once again
it’s a shocking bit of footage viewed from a shitty tv screen
you can squint at it through snowy static to make out the meaning
and keep on stretching the antennae hoping that it will come clear
we need some reception, a higher message
just tell us what to fear
cause i don’t know what tomorrow brings
it’s alive with such possibility
all i know is i feel better when i sing
burdens are lifted from me
that’s my voice rising
so michael please keep the tape rolling
boys keep strumming those guitars
we need a record of our failures
yes, we must document our love
i have sat too long in my silence
i have grown too old in my pain
to shed the skin, be born again
it starts with an ending
so thank you friends for the time we’ve shared
my love stays with you like sunlight and air
and though i truly wish i could keep hanging around here
my joy is covering me, soon i will disappear
it’s not a movie, no private screening
this method acting, well, i call that living, yeah
it’s like a fountain, a door is opened
we have a problem with no solution but to love and to be loved
so i make peace with the fallen leaves
i see their same fate in my own body
but i won’t be frightened when i’m awoken from this dream
and return to that which gave birth to me
and the story goes
and the story goes
it goes on and on and on and on and on
it’s going on and on and on and on
and on
false advertising
on a string, on a string, on a string
i was held
the way i move, can you tell
my actions are orchestrated from above
so i swing and i sway
wave my hand, kick my legs
and it’s always right with the music
(till all that’s swaying starts to make you sick)
for a song i was bought
now i lie when i talk
with a careful eye on the cue cards
onto a stage i was pushed
with my sorrow well rehearsed
so give me all your pity and your money now, all of it
(we used to think that sound was something pure)
but if i could act like this was my real life and not some cage where i’ve been placed
then i could tell you the truth like i used to and not be afraid of sounding fake
now all anyone’s listening for are the mistakes
in a house by myself i hear the ice start to melt
and i watch the rooftops weep for the sunlight
and i know what must change
fuck my face, fuck my name
they are brief and false advertisements
for a soul i don’t have, something true i have lacked
and spent my whole life trying to make up for
but i found in a song and in the people i love
they will lift me up out of darkness
and now my door, it stands open
i’m inviting everyone in
we’re gonna laugh, we’re gonna drink until the morning comes
that’s what we’re gonna do