Cursive Album

Welcome one,
And welcome all
To our small town,
???
inside each house
you’ll find the guilt
???
???

[barely audible]

Fourteen hymns for the heathens…

Baby, baby, baby
This world must seem
So immense compared to the womb,
And baby baby,
Your head must seem
So much smaller than you assumed
Your whole world
Seems to center around you
Be easy to make the mistake
That maybe you’re why the world was made,

Baby, baby, baby,
You learn so fast,
You seem to carry a special gift
Maybe you’ve been given
To this world to make a difference

Such delusions we all struggle with
But the beautiful truth of it is
This is all we are,
We simply exist
You’re not the chosen one
I’m not the chosen one
But we don’t need anyone
Let’s not choose anyone

Dorothy, I know you've had amazing dreams
We can't go chasing down each golden street
Each and every rainbow, each passion, each unattainable goal
We're not in dreamland anymore

Dorothy, it seems you'll never understand
This here land is everything we have
Every sweat-stained collar, every dollar, every bit and bloody spur
We're not the kids that we once were
We can't be the adults we want to be

Dreams are all you have, dreams have held you back
Dreamers never live, only dream of it
Dream cars, dream houses, dream jobs, dream spouses
Dreams of tornadoes, cities of emerald

And I know we swore [...]

American dreams pollute our cities
Our piece of the pie can't fill our bellies
(More!) More square inches
(More!) Picket fences
(More!) Clothes on the line
(More!) Naps at noontime
More of our fair share
More of our birthright
More of what we're owed

More...

Paid vacation
(More!) Entertainment
(More!) Compensation
(More!) Gratuitous gratification

Dorothy, wake up, Dorothy, wake up
Dorothy, wake up, it's time for work

Before we ever saw straight, we were grasping at straws
A debate was born, picket lines were drawn
There was this big bang once, now we're learning to use our thumbs

We need a purpose in life, a survival guide
We need explanations for how we arrived
There was this big bang once, now we're standing on our own two feet
There was this big bang once, we've been sharpening up our teeth

They say there was this big bang once, but the clergyman doesn't agree, oh no
There was this big bang once, but it don't jive with Adam and Eve
Original sin, idyllic garden
Some talking snake giving apples away
What would that snake say if he could only see us today?
Ha ha ha!

There was this big bang once, we were left here to fill in the blanks
There was this big bang once, now we're aimlessly drifting in space
We're gonna need an explanation for rational thought
And what it meant and the weight of our hearts
In a world of entropy, why can't we just simply be?
And don't feed me lies, intelligent design

There was this big bang once, why are we raptured on our knees?
Ha!

For 20 years I've held this pulpit
Preached the word, served the Eucharists
Gained the trust of the townsfolk
Made every football game, never missed a social
Last week a boy I taught theology
Came back in town with a new ideology
Those feelings I tucked away
Threaten the sanctuary
A lifetime of burning culminated in one innocent forbidden touch
I know this is wrong
Cause I'm taught this is wrong

A new recruit, 25 years old
He joined the habit with a chip on his shoulder
Some nights he'd proclaim his preference
But only flat back drunk on a bottle of Jameson
One of those nights we stayed up, the two of us
(???), just the two of us
We were hiding in the dark
I fell asleep by his side
We woke to the chimes of the bells in the steeple, and ran off to separate rooms
They can't know what we've done
Our whole world would come undone

You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down

They're gonna find you out
And when they find you out
They're gonna drag you out from under (???)

I know this is wrong
Cause we're told this is wrong
A lifetime of burning culminated in one innocent forbidden touch
I know this is wrong
Cause we're told this is wrong

Your daddy and my daddy had a drink at the bar
Talking about what was best for me
Without a name or a degree,
Stubbornly holding onto you
And you pulling away from me

The best that they could say,
For my restless teenage ways,
Was time in the service
Might serve me well,
Even if it’s just service in
The latrines

Lucy my love,
Don’t go sending me off to war
I put up with your family,
Full of bigots and fanatics,
Just to get a little closer to you,
Now you’ve turned on me too
You have turned on me too.

Go hide behind your flag and family
This town has nothing left for me
This town is nothing more
Than a fundamentalist penitentiary

When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for holy war?
When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for holy war?
Lucy my love,
Don’t go sending me off to war

We must live,
We must true,
To our childhood dreams,
Or they’re worthless
And our youth is insincere

So where do we find worth?

I put up with your family,
Full of bigots and fanatics,
Just to get a little closer to you,
Now you’ve turned on me too
You have turned on me too.

When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for holy war?
When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for holy war?
Lucy my love,
Don’t go sending me off to war

We must live,
We must true,
To our childhood dreams,
Or they are worthless
And our youth is insincere

So where do we find worth?

You said we'd leave next year
Each year for thirteen years
Each year, it gets harder to hear
It's getting harder now just to stay in love

And now our roots grow deep
Beneath these barren streets
I have the darkest dreams
The city's pipes and wires
Went through our nerves and veins

And those nights, after a double shift, I feel it
The test plans you never dared to live
They used to light up your eyes
Those bulbs have long burned out

Let a tornado tear through
Let it tear straight through our roof
And let the rain pour in
I'll scream, "Babe, this is it!"
We'll leave the house in ruins
If we escape right now, we just might make it out

This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
It's killing us
It's killing us

This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
It's killing us
It's killing us
It's killing us

They checked the shrine and the temple but he wasn't there.
They checked the mosque and the chapel; nope, not there.
Since you've been away on holiday,
The natives are all nightmares.
Since you've been away on holiday,
I did dream that you'll disappear.
You keep us on a leash we can't conceive but still must adhere to.

The natives are whipping each other over which God they prefer.
I wish he'd do us all a favor and just defer.
Since you've been away on holiday,
We don't know which God is which.
And since you've been away on holiday,
It's getting harder to give a shit.
So if you stayed away on holiday we could get on with it.
I mean we could evolve like this if you just call it quits.

Since you've been away on holiday,
we've stomached your archaic rule.
And since you've been away on holiday,
We've hosted some wars over you.
So stay away on holiday, my friend, we don't need your services,
Your excuses, your mysterious ways.
Your mysterious ways.
Your mysterious ways.
Your mysterious ways.
What a mysterious way to behave.
What a mysterious way to just go away.

Lord, let us go

Surrender your furniture,
Push the television out the window.
Overmedicated, this must be the sunks.
So if you can't understand the blues, you dont know much.
With much love for science and youthful defiance,
We struck blindly at the roots of this tree
Its branches got broken, pissed on and trampled.
Oh please forgive us oh mighty shady tree.
Oh please forgive us oh mighty doomsday tree.
It's time to stick your branches in the merciless wheel of time.
It's time to stick your branches in the merciless hoax of time.
It's time to stick a fork in the merciless socket of time.
It's time to be sewn into the limitless fabric of time.

They'll call you emotional when you can't stay sunk.
It's a shame to be so wet so young.
Living your life with much love for science,
And the youthful defiance, we struck blindly at the roots of this tree.
Whose branches got broken, pissed on and trampled.
It's time to stick your branches in the merciless wheel of time
It's time to stick your branches in the merciless hoax of time
It's time to stick a fork in the merciless socket of time
It's time to be sewn into the limitless fabric of time

Jeanie's been throwing up all morning,
The poor girl has been so heartsick ever since her boyfriend went to war.
Father Cole has done his best to console her girl.
Moreso than some neighbors deem necessary,
But you just can't measure young love.

Picketing the clinic outside of town,
Father Cole holds the record for turning 12 girls around.
If anybody knows the sorrows of the young woman, it's Father Cole.
He's been acting out of sorts.
That strange sermon he gave accepting termination due to rape.
Jeanie whispers she carrying but there's one awful catch;
Her boyfriends been off in the desert for half a year.

Cole cried this simply cannot be!
She quiped quite the opposite,
I'm hardly The Virgin Mary.

And you're no carpenter.
So who will build my home?
Jeanie, you're just a kid.
You can't conceive such mortal sins.
Everything will be alright.

What happens in confession,
Stays in the confessional.
What happens in confession,
Stays in the confessional.
What happens in confession,
Stays in the confessional.
So what goes on behind those curtains?
Jeanie, you're just a kid,
You won't conceive this mortal sin

If you got the looks and if you got the goods,
I suppose you could make it anywhere.
You wanna get made and you wanna get made.
My model agent says 'you gots to get paid,
You got a special gift you just can't give it away for free
No, dont give it up for free.'
And when my daddy calls,
Asking how it's going on them streets
All i can say is i'm not exactly a salesman,
I'm sure there's a product i'm selling.
Guess you could say I'm an actor.
But acting's that's not what they're after
No not quite.
Sure your services are popular here,
More popular than acting or a modeling career.
This city has quite the service industry.
Small town adonis hits the metropolis,
Brought down to his knees.
Guess i'm a so-so gigolo.
So-so gigolo.
Every audition my agent commisions,
Isn't so much an audition so much as a....job!
I guess a job's a job.
I thought if they just saw how bad I wanted the part
The very least they'd have to take pity on me.
Hey, a working city is never hurt.
So-so gigolo.
I'm not exactly a salesman,
Sure there's a product i'm selling.
Guess you could say i'm an actor...
But acting's not what they're after

For 20 years I've held this pulpit
Preached the word, served the Eucharists
Gained the trust of the townsfolk
Made every football game, never missed a social
Last week a boy I taught theology
Came back in town with a new ideology
Those feelings I tucked away
Threaten the sanctuary
A lifetime of burning culminated in one innocent forbidden touch
I know this is wrong
Cause I'm taught this is wrong

A new recruit, 25 years old
He joined the habit with a chip on his shoulder
Some nights he'd proclaim his preference
But only flat back drunk on a bottle of Jameson
One of those nights we stayed up, the two of us
(???), just the two of us
We were hiding in the dark
I fell asleep by his side
We woke to the chimes of the bells in the steeple, and ran off to separate rooms
They can't know what we've done
Our whole world would come undone

You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down

They're gonna find you out
And when they find you out
They're gonna drag you out from under (???)

I know this is wrong
Cause we're told this is wrong
A lifetime of burning culminated in one innocent forbidden touch
I know this is wrong
Cause we're told this is wrong

I can't say I've always been honest
You can't say i've done a disservice, girl.
She's just a child...
She's got a lot to learn.
I'm helping out
Your deceit is under your wing,
You won't let her know you know it's not appropriate.
Into the fold, into the fold.
In all that hem and porcelain
You swear it's more than mere lust.
Into the fold, into the fold.
It rips you up, what you do,
The pristine routine to fool the room.
The gentle gentle movement of euphoria.
You feign you change your ways
but we know, yeah we know.
Can't you can't quell this need for submissives?
Oh such lovely girls,
to eat each tender little lamb,
Into the fold, into the fold.
And you my pet, the sweetest yet
I'll hold you closest to my heart
Into the fold, into the fold
Into the fold, into the fold
Into the fold...

[woman]
i was in the student union
studying for an english quiz.
he came up and asked directions to the new auditorium
i led him around the campus
???
he was so honest and i realized he...
???
that's when he came here for dinner

[man, simultaneously]
she was young and impressionable,
i pretended to need directions
she led me all over the campus,
all the while i'm asking her questions.
she answered over four cups of coffee.
that's when i started to lay it on heavy,
???
into the fold

dear preacher, thanks for making time for me today
hope you don't mind if i hide behind the curtain
it's been fifteen years since my last confession
by your good book's standards, i've sinned like a champion
but that book seems a tad bit out-dated

please forgive me, for questioning divinity
it's an ugly job, but i think i'm up for it
i'm not saying who's right
i'm just saying there's more than one way
to skin a religion
there's more than one way
to explain our existence

reverend, sir, i don't want to seem malevolent
my teenage angst is far behind me
but father, certainly it's troubling to see
all these people kneeling, instead of dealing
with the fact that we are all we have

so, rise up! rise up!
there's no one to worship!
but plenty of life to lose!
i'm not saying "let's burn down the church"
but do you want to hear my confession?
it's my greatest sin..

okay, here it is:
i wasted half my life on the thought that i'd live forever!
i wasn't raised, to seize the day, but to work and worship
'cause "he that liveth and believeth" supposedly never dies

rise up! rise up!
and live a full life!
'cause when it's over, it's done
so rise up! rise up!
dance and scream and love!

[barely audible outro]
you're not the chosen one
and i'm not the chosen one

Night has draped its cape of stars
Over our small town
From the campus and the tavern
To the chapel and infirmary
We've seen their dreams
We've found the goods
The fables and folly
Of the residents residing in...

14 hymns for the heathen
First hymn, the son of God complex
Second hymn, the prodigal damsel
Third hymn, the tree stump of knowledge
Choking on Adam's apple

This I'd learn under the cross
This broken promised land
Of dreamers and steamers
And preachers and predators
They shall not want
What they've got coming to them
Whether innocent or insolent

14 hymns for the heathen
Fourth hymn, the passion of the Chaplin
Fifth hymn, the brute kiss of Judas
Sixth hymn, this autumn falls to ashes
Seventh hymn, the church of (???)
Eighth hymn, the horrors of the Apocalypse
Ninth hymn, immaculate exception
Tenth hymn, the demons of Mary Magdalene

I am a chapel, this is prayer book, these are the parables
God forgive us, this is our business, I shall be sent to all these heathens

Eleventh hymn, the Bible Belt tightens
Twelfth hymn, a leacherous Shepard
Thirteenth hymn, hiding in confession
Fourteenth hymn, an afterword

(???), cheers of disenchantment
Green grass of envy and malice
On sour days, living in Happy Hollow