Nickel Creek Album

[No lyrics]

(Stephen Malkmus)

However you feel, whatever it takes;
Whenever it's real, whatever awaits me;
Whatever you need, however slight;
Whenever it's real, whenever it's right.
I've been thinkin' long and hard about the things you said to me.
Like a bitter stranger.
Now I see the long and short, the middle, and what's in between.
I could spit on a stranger. (Pull me out.)
You're a bitter stranger. (Pull me out.)

Whatever you feel, whatever it takes;
Whenever it's real, whatever awaits me;
Whatever you need, however so slight;
Honey, I'm a prising door, I catch you, we're the perfect match.
Like two bitter strangers.
Now I see the long and short, and I can make it last.
I could spit on a stranger. (Pull me out.)
You're a bitter stranger. (Pull me out.)

I could spit on a stranger. (Pull me out.)
You're a bitter stranger. (Pull me out.)

I could spit on a stranger. (Pull me out.)
You're a bitter stranger. (Pull me out.)

See the sunshine eyes.
Try the things you never tried.
I'll be the one that leaves you high, high, high.

(Sean Watkins)

Well, I sat down next to a photograph.
Tried my best, almost made her laugh.
She was my doll-faced crown.
There in the way was a mountain of inner clouds.

Well, I can't sleep and I'm not in love.
Well, I can't speak without messing up.
Eyes tell her what's behind.
Hers showed the way to a long and a lonely climb.

At the failure of the sea,
She'll see how far I've come.
And it's you an' me in the silent sea.
I'll offer my heart to yours.
Seems to me no mystery.
It isn't so I'll try hard to speak.

Well, I sat down next to a living hell.
Tried my best until I struck out.
The movement is not mine.
I stood in the way, pretending that I was a vine.

Got no feeling I perceived,
From a mouth that drinks it's wine.
And it's not me, not my sanctity,
These aren't my words to you.
It's all clear when it's not in here.
So clear so I'll try not to speak.

(Gordon Kennedy/Wayne Kirkpatrick)

There's a kind of emptiness that can fill you.
There's a kind of hunger that can eat you up.
There's a cold and darker side of the moonlight.
An' there's a lonely side of love.

With you here, baby, I am strong; no sign of weakness.
With you gone, baby, I am hanging by a thread.

There's a certain kind of pain that can numb you.
There's a type of freedom that can tie you down.
Sometimes the unexplained can define you,
And sometimes, silence is the only sound.

With you here, baby, I am strong; no sign of weakness.
With you gone, baby, I am hanging by a thread.

With you here, baby, I am strong; no sign of weakness.
With you gone, baby, I am hanging by a thread.

(Carrie Ann Newcomer)

Been a long time comin', and the cards were stacked.
It's been a long hard road to hell and back.
You were love-makin' trouble from the day we met.
You won every hand; I lost every deck.

Now you'd think that I should've known better.
Now you'd think that I would have seen it comin'
My heart sayin', when I read that letter:
"Sink like a stone; sink like a stone."

If I could stop yesterday's mail,
Brown love like this is always bound to fail.
Your love meant trouble from the day we met,
If you wanted your things, they're on the front step.

Now you'd think that I should've known better.
Now I think that I should have seen it comin'
An' my heart sayin', when I read that letter:
"Sink like a stone; sink like a stone."

All alone in my kitchen, all alone in my head.
Some things you can't take back once they've been said.
Don't know why this love is full.
All I know is I don't want it anymore.

Now you'd think that I should've known better.
I, I should have seen it comin'
My heart sayin', when I read that letter,
"Sink like a stone; sink like a stone."

(Sean Watkins)

One day you'll see her and you'll know what I mean.
Take her or name her, she will still be the same.
She'll not try to buy you with her time.
Nothing's the same as you will see when she's gone.

It's foreign on this side.
And I'll not leave my home again.
There's no place to hide,
And I'm nothin' but scared.

You dream of colours that have never been made.
You imagine songs that have never been played.
They will try to buy you and your mind.
For only the curious have something to find.

It's foreign on this side.
And the truth is a better friend.
Reasons, few have I,
Go back again.

Your first dog blinded you, left you cursing the day.
Entrance is crucial and it's not without pain.
There's no path to follow unless you're here.
Climb up the slide and then you'll slide down the stairs.

It's foreign on this side.
But it feels like I'm home again.
There's no place to hide,
But I don't think I'm scared.

(There's no place to hide.)
(There's no place to hide.)
But I don't think I'm scared.
(There's no place to hide.)
But I don't think I'm scared.

(Chris Thile)

Man, of all of the people, hanging on one person's breath.
We would all vote him, but frankly to be loved to death.
I hope he still wants it, but it might remind him of when,
He aimed for the bullseye and he hit it that time, silent sign.

That one time his hand slipped and I saw, the dart sailed away.
I don't know where it landed, but I'm guessing between green and grey.
Well, I thought nothing of it but it still haunts him like a ghost.
With all eyes upon him except two that matter the most.

He says: "Green is the colour that everyone sees all around me.
"Grey is the colour I see around her.
"She's just a blur.
"The more the crowd cheers, the less I can hear,
"For they don't really care what I'm playin'.
"It might be for her but for now it's between green and grey."

We paid and we cheered, now we're gone and to us, that feels right.
But for him, every one of those evenings turns into the night.
With another hotel room where he lays awake to pretend,
That he's doin' fine with his notebook and deskman for friends.

He says: "Green is the colour that everyone sees all around me.
"Grey is the colour I see around her.
"She's just a blur.
"Night after night while I hear what I write,
"Fills the room an' my head starts to sway.
"Might be for her but for now it's between green and grey."

"I want you to love me," he whispers her name, 'bout to speak.
And he wonders aloud why feelings so strong make the body so weak.
Then he awoke, now he's scared to death somebody heard,
If it was you and you know her, please don't say a word.

(David Puckett/Sean Watkins)

When shadows fall, he'll close his eyes to hear the clocks unwind.
Powerless to leash the hands of time.
Kingdoms fall, the earth revolves, the rain will come this spring,
And nothing he could say would change a thing.

Seven wonders crowed the man, knowing six are gone.
And how the great illusion lingers on.

He can't involve the sun or moon, the wind within his head,
But count the times he'll shout the great I am.
When all the while, the parted smile, railing his disgrace.
And never owning more than second place.

Seven wonders crowed the man, knowing six are gone.
And how the great illusion lingers on.

Seven wonders crowed the man, knowing six are gone.
And how the great illusion lingers;
Oh, the grand illusion lingers;
While the sad confusion lingers on.

(Traditional, Arr. Sara Watkins / Alison Krauss)

"Well met, well met, said an old true love.
"Well met, well met, said he.
"I have just returned from the salt, salt sea.
"And it's all for the love of thee."
Come in, come in, my own true love,
And have a seat by me.
It's been three-fourths of a long, long year,
Since together, we have been.

"I can't come in and I can't sit down,
"For I've only a moment's time.
"They say you're married to a house carpenter,
"And your heart will never be mine.

"I could have married a King's daughter, fair,
"And she would have married me,
"But I have forsaken her crowns of gold,
"And it's all for the love of thee."

"Now you forsake your house carpenter,
"And go along with me.
"I'll take you where the grass grows green.
"On the banks of the deep blue sea."

Then she picked up a darlin' little babe,
And kisses, she gave it three.
Saying "Stay right here, my dalrin' little baby,
"And keep your pappa company."

They had not been on the ship two weeks,
I'm sure it was not three,
Till his true love began to weep and to mourn,
And she wept most bitterly.

Sayin': "Are you weepin' for my silver and my gold."
Sayin': "Are you weepin' for my store?
"Or are you weepin' for your house carpenter,
"Whose face you'll never see no more?"

"A curse, a curse to the sailor," she cried.
"A curse, a curse," she swore.
"You robbed me of my darlin' little babe,
"That I shall never see no more."

They had not been on the ship three weeks,
I'm sure it was not four,
When there came a leak in the bottom of the ship,
And sank them for to rise no more.

(Luke Bulla/Chris Thile)

Cool water, blue eyes cover me.
If they could come as close, I'd let them see.
Getting down again, playing one more song.
It's all I really wanted, who's to say that's wrong.

Ain't that what you want them to know?
All they get of you is what they get out of the show.
The rest is mine, I guess,
The beauty and the mess to hide.

I throw myself under and down I go again.
Just a little bit hard letting them in.
Looking at the world through you see eyes.
I hide in the spotlight, it's a great disguise.

Ain't that what you want them to know?
All they get of you is what they get out of the show.
The rest is mine, I guess,
The beauty and the mess to hide.

Behind the melody, the words don't mean a thing.
An' every tune I play would give whatever I've not said away.
Behind the melody, the words don't mean a thing.
An' every tune I play would give whatever I've not said away.
Behind the melody, the words don't mean a thing.
An' every tune I play would give whatever I've not said away.

Ain't that what you want them to know?
All they, all they get of you is all they get of you is what they get out of the show.
The rest is mine, I guess,
The beauty and the mess.

Ain't that what you want them to know?
All they get of you is what they get out of the show.
The rest is mine, I guess,
The beauty and the mess.

The rest, the rest is mine, I guess,
The beauty and the mess.

The rest, the rest is mine, I guess,
The beauty and the mess, to hide.

(Andy Irvine)

Lonely, the life that I once led.
Strange, the paths on which we tread.
Led me to you, unlikely but true.
Sabra girl, clouding my view.

Rainy the day, the first time we met.
Deep was the dark, forever my day.
It didn't seem wrong to sing a sad song.
Sabra girl, seen you before.

Early the morning, you're sad, the good bye.
With a wave of your hand and a smile of your eye.
So lately did meet, no sooner to part.
Sabra girl, homeward must start.

Rosie, the lines you wrote with your hand.
Reading between them, to misunderstand.
I made the mistake you said not to make.

Yes, reading your letters, conviction did grow.
I thought it a chance; I knew I must go.
It's hard to believe I could be so naive.
Sabra girl, flattered but deceived.

Now you just told me that friendship is off.
I'm forced to repair the breach in my wall.
Illusions and dreams, as usual, it seems.
Sabra girl, they've been my downfall.

Lonely, the life and dismal the view.
Closed is the road that leads to you.
Since better can be, as friends we'll agree,
Sabra girl, time will cure me

(Chris Thile)

Young and with no clue.
An' I wanna love you.
Give me the key to,
What is so bad.

Everything I've read.
An' everything you've said,
Prove you're over my head.
Help me climb out.

I know that you told me nobody.
Are you sure you're that sure about me?

Hey, what did I do?
I've spoken too soon.
Listen, now this tune,
Forget the words.

Waited till someday,
'Cause when I know what you'd say.
Say it in the best way.
You've ever heard.

I know that you told me, nobody.
Are you sure you're that sure about me?

Young and with no clue.
Still wanna love you.
Give credit where it's due,
I've got good taste.

It's not like I wanna get married.
I never asked you to kiss me.
Just don't want you to be sorry.
You didn't try.

(Chris Thile)

Five years ago, you pressed your hand,
Into a brand new sidewalk.
It's well-worn now, and though some chime,
Yours is the only print there.
You might not have meant to, but
It's done you again, take it out.
You're shy about what fortune lent you.
Is that what this is about?

Smile while you can, 'cause when they find,
You're not a muse, not really.
They'll rob you blind, of what they gave.
Yes, you gave them that power.
You might not have meant to, but,
It's time you can't take it back.
Cry about where fame sent you, oh,
Without a plan of attack.

Five years ago, I warned you, dear,
As a concerned admirer.
You never knew, you never heard.
The veil was still in place.
Think how you hate to listen.
That would not be you.
Lifting the veil to kiss you,
Next to a friend who sang war.