Melissa Etheridge Album

(M. Etheridge)

How could I stay
How could I breathe 
There had to be more for me 
Promises gone
Plastic and stone
I'm doing fine all alone 

So you're having a breakdown 
So you're losing the fight 
So you're having a breakdown
And I'm driving and crying Unraveled and flying 
I'm coming to your breakdown tonight

I cannot run
I cannot hide
It came with me locked inside
The bough will break
Cradle will fall It only takes one call 

So you're having a breakdown 
So you're losing the fight
So you're having a breakdown 
And you need me tonight 
I found my place in this downtown
Salt air and yellow street lights 
So you're having a breakdown 
And I'm driving and crying
Unraveled and flying

(M. Etheridge, J. Shanks) 

The rope that's wrapped around me
Is cutting through my skin
And the doubts that have surrounded me 
Are finding their way in 
I keep it close to me 
Like a holy man prays 
In my desperate hour
It's better that way 

So I'll come by and see you again 
I'll be such a very good friend 
Have mercy on my soul
I will never let you know 
Where my mind has been

Angels never came down
There's no one here they want to hang around
But if they knew 
If they knew you at all
Then one by one the angels 
Angels would fall 

I've crept into your temple 
I have slept upon your pew
I've dreamed of the divinity 
Inside and out of you
I want it more than truth 
I can taste it on my breath
I would give my life just for a little death

So I'll come by and see you again
I'll be just a very good friend
I will not look upon your face 
I will not touch upon your grace 
Your ecclesiastic skin 

I'll come by and see you again
I'll have to be a very good friend
If I whisper they will know 
I'll just turn around and go 

(M. Etheridge)

So you closed your eyes in the morning 
You said you want to start smoking again 
You said you had that dream last night 
Of the stranger in your room 
You said you want to start making new friends 
Well I'd found some peace 
You want release 
You must be stronger than me 

I don't know how you can take it
Invest your heart and then you break it 
I don't know how you can set it free 
You must be stronger than me 
Set it up but it's not perfect 
Tear it down cause it's not worth it
If someone else can light your mystery 
They must be stronger than me 

So I closed my eyes at midnight
Cinderella must go home 
But the map was burned 
And I've taken a wrong turn 
And I found myself alone 
I'm tired of this war 
I don't want to fight no more 
You must be stronger than me 

So it's too late then 
You could have told me when 
Living died and passion lied
Now you're a refugee 
Well if it's what you need 
Run away from the truth you see 

(M. Etheridge)

There were stairs they were steep
I was falling falling deep 
You were there you were small 
There was screaming down the hall

I've been here sleeping all these years 

There comes a time we all know 
There's a place that we must go
Into the soul into the heart 
Into the dark 

There was fire there was death
There was lying on your breath
I turned away I would pretend 
But the burning never ends 

I've been here sleeping all these years 

There was a wave over the house 
There was fear choked in my mouth 
You were there you left your mark 

(M. Etheridge)

We were all wounded in some domestic war 
I found you to settle my score 
You looked like father 
You felt like mother 
My mind told my heart 
There is no other

And I gave you my soul
And every ounce of control
I gave you my skin
And my original sin 
I gave you my pride and my side
oh my pride

Ain't that enough 
I turned your dreams into lightning 
Ain't that enough
I held the world back for you 
Ain't that enough
I loved you past the point of dying 
Ain't that enough of me for you 

I was so sure one and one gave you one 
My noisy love is coming undone
Now you leave like father 
Disappointed like mother 
And I know in my heart
There is no other 

And I gave you my soul
And every ounce of control
And I gave you my shame 
And my eternal flame 
And I gave you my need and my seed Oh my need 

(M. Etheridge, J. Shanks)

I hear your questions 
I see your face 
Your life before you 
Is full of grace 
What can I tell you
To let you know 
Your angel's eyes 
Will watch you grow

Come listen close
And I'll try to let you know
It's all I know

There is no magic 
There are no secrets 
We all begin this race at the start 
But I have come this far
With a truth of the heart 

Deep down inside
I think we're all the same 
Try not to judge someone 
And never shame 
I do believe that people are good
They just want hope and respect
And to be understood

Sometimes it hard sometimes it's strange 
But the truth of the heart is people can change 

Yes there is danger and there are shadows 
And there is fear inside the dark 
It has powered countries and borne religion 
Fear can never rule the heart 

My father's burden 
My mother's rain
My own desire 
My sister's pain 
All souls have traveled along this road

(M. Etheridge)

What's this little lie 
They keep on telling me 
It's just another high 
They keep on selling me 
I was only five 
They fed me so much jive
They said just have a ball Just be a Barbie doll 
They churned and burned me out 
Until they turned me out 
Over and over again

Mama I'm strange 
The thoughts and the wants are the locks
On the back of my brain 
I'm descending pretending I'm blending 
I'm going insane 
And they want me to change 
Mama I'm strange 

I'm on a shaky wall 
I'm tripping down the hall
And all the king's men can't
Can't sew me up again 
I've got a leaky head 
Don't know the full extent
I'm drowning in my bed
I'm just an accident 
They chewed and blew me out
Until they threw me out
Over and over again 

If I could tranquilize 
I might just vaporize 
They couldn't supervise
They couldn't criticize 
I have no evidence
I have no reverence 
It makes no difference 
I have no innocence

(M. Etheridge)

Showers of your crimson blood 
Seep into a nation calling up a flood
Of narrow minds who legislate 
Thinly veiled intolerance
Bigotry and hate 

But they tortured and burned you 
They beat you and they tied you 
They left you cold and breathing
For love they crucified you

I can't forget hard as I try 
This silhouette against the sky 

Scarecrow crying 
Waiting to die wondering why 
Scarecrow trying 
Angels will hold carry your soul away 

This was our brother 
This was our son 
This shepherd young and mild 
This unassuming one 
We all gasp this can't happen here 
We're all much too civilized 
Where can these monsters hide

But they are knocking on our front door 
They're rocking in our cradles
They're preaching in our churches
And eating at our tables 

I search my soul 
My heart and in my mind 
To try and find forgiveness
This is someone child
With pain unreconciled
Filled up with father's hate
Mother's neglect
I can forgive But I will not forget 

Scarecrow crying 
Waiting to die wondering why 
Scarecrow trying 

(M. Etheridge) 

You say you don't feel like yourself 
Does that mean you're somebody else
How would I know
Oh you say you just don't feel quite right today
Does that mean that you're slipping away
How would I know 
You might believe there's a paradise
In the next hello 

How would I know
If you don't tell me so
If you wanted to go 
How would I know

You say you don't know what you're doing here
Does that mean you might disappear 
How would I know 
You might feel that there's something real

(M. Etheridge) 

No one conceals me like
No one reveals me like 
My lover
No one can disconnect
No one can resurrect
Like my lover 

My lover makes me weak 
Gives me breath to speak 
My lover takes me home 
Cools the rolling stone 
My lover's thorny kiss 
The reason to exist 
I wonder 

No one can saturate 
No one manipulates
Like my lover 
The sensuality 
It's immortality 
My lover 

My lover needs to seize 
Bring me to my knees
Reads me like a prayer
Calls the spirit there
Secretly inspires
Strips me to desire 
I wonder 

No one can visualize 
No one can make me rise 
Like my lover 
They dream of paradise 
They'll never ever pay the price

(M. Etheridge)

After your laughter like thunder 
After your skin like coffee and cream 
After it takes our bodies into the night 
After we've come to the extreme 

I want to lay down on your shoulder 
Just inside your arm 
I want to listen to your heart beat 
And your breathing on and on 
I want to lay down on your shoulder 
Surrender to your peace
And go to sleep

And when we've gone a million miles
Made true our dreams with sweat and bone 
After we've built it up with our bare hands
Made strong a place we can call home

And when the light in my eye is fading 
When running water becomes too deep 
Finally angels turn my fire to dust 
And when my soul's no longer mine to keep 

I want to lay down on your shoulder
Just inside your arm
I want to listen to your heartbeat
And your breathing on and on
I want to lay down on your shoulder 
Surrender to the peace 

(M. Etheridge)

In a room full of silver shadows
A customary kiss goodnight
And it slips through your tightened shoulders
It reaches your heart and dies

And the sadness is bound to kill me
But i'm too far away to care
And i'd just like to know if you will
Could i even get there

Oh back to the touch and go
When not a soul could know
When you lovin' was slow
We lived every night for the touch and go

Now there's no one in the night to blame you
No one in your glasses of wine
I never won i only tamed you
Foolishly i called you mine 
And you're pacing your cage every morning
And you rattle your chains every night
And you stare past the bars never knowing
With nothing left to put up a fight

Then we would touch and go
When not a soul could know oh your lovin' was slow
And we lived every night for the touch
Oh remember
The touch and go
When not a soul could know
Oh when your lovin' was slow
We lived every night for the touchÉ. and go

Are you still breathing

Tonight the scent is in the city
Tonight it's on the radio
Tonight I'll leave the key beside the door

(M. Etheridge)

And so you meet me
Down at the bar
7th and Cherry 
That's where we are
And I promise not to take you down too far
Beetle takes a dollar
Benz will make a drink
Two will see you hollar
No one wants to think
And it's Que Sera Sera in black and pink

And so we dance
And my feet get lazy
All the stiffs here
They know I'm crazy for you
And so we dance
And the beat gets lost
And this jealous fool
Will pay the cost for you
On Cherry Avenue

Is this a crime
Or just a clear scheme
I want to make you mine
All your roads are green
And I promise not to show you what I've seen
Now it's closing time
Benz wipes down the bar
Beetle kills the lights

(M. Etheridge)

Someone's shouting at me 
You're all going to hell 
Must not be too far away 
Sometimes I can never tell 
My shoes are still as empty 
A mile they never walked 
Send in their donations 
And they never have to talk again 

My beloved
The only one I see standing up for me
My beloved 
Close my eyes heal my pride

I just want to show them who I am
I just want to show them what I can do 
There's not much use to curse the damned 
And there's power in nothing to lose

Someone's spittin' blood
Face down in the dirt 
Someone's thinking about a gun 
To try and stop the hurt
Someone drew conclusions
On the wall of destiny
Someone's gettin' louder 
And that someone would be me 

You think if you don't answer 
The world will pass you by 
But there's a fire in your kitchen