Cass McCombs Album

I was born in a hospital
that was very big and white
The hands of a male doctor
pulled me into the light
My grandmother cut
the umbilical cord
and I took my first breath
in a maternity ward

They gave me food and shelter.
they gave me clothes and things
I was allowed to go to school
and I was encouraged to sing
I was healthy,
I was a privileged soul
and I am lucky today,
and thankful on the whole

I am called Scorpio,
if they got the date right
I cannot transcend this caste
even if I tried

I hope to kill
a great lion someday
and I will because with
work ethic I was raised

Fire, Water, Earth, Wind have gone
to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Elements are assigned.
Stars given names.
Baseball on T.V., pictures in frames
I am still hunting
for the hide of such sheen
My hair is still curly
and my eyes are still green

Stick a needle in my eye
I'm middle class 'til the day I die

I offer you some wine
You say it's not a mood
The cars on Shattuck Ave.
are quiet this afternoon
Waiting out rain with you
A pregnant pause that I do

It's days like these that pass
The Sun isn't forgotten
Pleasures of tilt and glass
Ex-lovers gangrene and rotten
Waiting out rain with you
A pregnant pause that I do

And the hope that lives within you
will cause the rain to bend
and we will walk between them
and all of this will come to an end

Look at this dirty pipe
Your mother will surely know
Your father too. I guess
My secret love, please go
Waiting out rain with you
A pregnant pause that I do

On a whim
We climbed in a car
That was headed down South

You were older
And I was hard-pressed for action
Could you tell?

You said "Here, my dear"
At the vanity fair
"Let's make hay while the Sun shines!"
But was it fair?

Old playthings are all laid to waste
Thrown out to make better space

So I got a job
Cleaning toilets
At a nightclub in Baltimore

And I guess that's that
Almost shorter than a dream
And definitely of less noise

Old playthings are all laid to waste
Thrown out to make better space

Do I Do?

Our lives weave a pattern
A staff twined by adders
Our mouths
Sore to chew
Now you’re eating for two
Yesterdays
Wine and song
Are you very far along?
What’s the dream to the bed?
What’s the wreath to the glorious dead?
Look at what I found in the dresser!
No means yes
Petrified forest
Dad gummite
Gall dangit
Dag nabbit
You’re darn tootin’ tripping is un-American
Do you ever get the feeling
That you’re being followed by a van
Yesterdays
Yet to come
Wine some, lose some
No means yes
Petrified forest

Plodding morning shadows
blanket the cracks
along the patio
Droplets fall
into tiny pools
that brighten with
the white light of renewal
As one memory eludes me
another consumes me
A pane of glass
fogged by breath from nostrils
keeping me at bay
from a world less hostile
The world is so vain and uncertain
A death in the family and I'm in love again
New day
New day
New day
New day
Melting frost
on the juniper
Greyness evolves
into a spectrum of color

[No lyrics]

I woke up in a bed
So I rang to be fed
From a dream to Tetley
I woke up in a war
Flynn as John Barrymore
Constant drama of body
You ask me "what the heck?"
Crick in my neck
Um, could you wait a sec?
A crick in my neck

There, behind my back
What's that sound behind my back?
Jesus said: "I gotta get outta here..."
But on the other hand
Salvage from the new land
And floating up into the atmosphere
I heard "what the heck?"
Crick in my neck
Brother, could you wait a sec?
A crick in my neck

O, body, holding me back
O, body, you're such a drag!
The physical
The tooth and nail
And withal, time is the crime

Winter in Pigtown, bucket of rain
I swept the asbestos into a pile again
In my small room without a window
I was graceful enough just to be alone
I don’t know what’s come over me
The full moon or Infinity?

On my walk I found a watch in the snow
Second hand still ticking. I slid it on my wrist slow
Though time was of essence, I ignored
Instead, to hide my face into the fat I’d stored
I don’t know what’s come over me
The full moon or infinity?

For tourist woman, vacation’s squalor
Is something to gloat about, especially the rent. I’m sure
Come to me, sit with me, chain me down
Hair is growing in so many new places I’ve found!
I don’t know what’s come over me
The full moon or infinity

The soft light of candles fill the house
I am compelled to repeat my vows
Infinity whispers in my ear
Will my violence reveal itself away or near?
I don’t know what’s come over me
The full moon or infinity

Waking up to the breath of the shore
and feeling an aire I had never before
Windfall! Windfall!
Surrounding me!
Windfall! Windfall!
I ride on thee!
Flying through the amber clouds
Blowing words right from my mouth
Windfall! Windfall!
Take me away!
Windfall! Windfall!
To an endless day!
Now I don't much care for landlubbing
I was so desperate and young
You came beginning in the lobe of my lung
And ended at my heels!
The world is lost
Even the birds are tired
But I can fly with you
As long you can inspire
Heaven's Windfall!
Eyes in the sky
Feel the front come!
We will never die

[No lyrics]