Over The Rhine Album

What a beautiful piece of heartache
This has all turned out to be
Lord knows we've learned the hard way
All about healthy apathy

I use these words pretty loosely
There's so much more to life than words

There is a me you would not recognize, dear
Call it the shadow of myself
And if the music starts before I get there
Dance without me, you dance so gracefully
I really think I'll be okay
They've taken a toll, these latter days

Nothing like sleeping on a bed of nails
Nothing much here but our broken dream
Oh, but baby, if all else fails
Nothing is ever quite what it seems

And I'm dying inside to leave you
With more than just cliches

There is a me you would not recognize, dear
Call it the shadow of myself
And if the music starts before I get there
Dance without me, you dance so gracefully
I really think I'll be okay
They've taken their toll, these latter days
They've taken their toll, these latter days

Tell them it's real
Tell them it's really real
I just don't have much left to say
They've taken their toll, these latter days
They've taken their toll, these latter days

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
a little lower than the angels.
And it's got nothing to do with me.
The wind blows through the trees,
but if I look for it, it won't come.
I tense up. My mind goes numb.
There's nothing harder than learning how to receive.

Calm down. Be still.
We've got plenty of time to kill.
No hand writing on the wall:
just the voice that's in us all.
And you're whispering to me,
time to get up off my hands and knees,
'cause if I beg for it, it won't come.
I find nothing but table crumbs.
My hands are empty. God I've been naive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
a little lower than the angels.
This voice calling me to you:
it's just barely coming through.
Still, I clearly hear my name.
I've been fingering the flame
like tomorrow's martyr.
It gets harder to believe.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

So from now till kingdom come,
taste the words on the tip of my tongue.
'Cause we can't run truth out of town,
only force it underground.
The roots grow deeper
in ways we can't conceive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

All I need is all I need.

Don't speak.
Words come out your eyes.
You're wet with this nightmare.
Like thorns you hold these secrets to your breast,
your slender fingers closing into fists.

Trace your bruise
like a guilty streak.
Hold the pain.
You're a connoisseur.
You think you have no other gift to give,
but we have so much left to live.

We don't need a lot of money.
We'll be sleeping on the beach,
keeping oceans within reach.
(Whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free.)
I will stumble there with you
and you'll be laughing close with me,
trying not to make a scene
etcetera. Whatever. I guess all I really mean

is we're gonna be alright.
Yeah, we're gonna be alright.
You can close your eyes tonight,
'cause we're gonna be alright.

So come on now,
I can almost see
that place
on a distant shore.
And courage is a weapon we must use
to find some life you can't refuse.

We don't need a lot of money.
We'll be sleeping on the beach,
keeping oceans within reach.
(Whatever private oceans we can conjure up for free.)
I will stumble there with you
and you'll be laughing close with me,
trying not to make a scene
etcetera. Whatever. I guess all I really mean

is we're gonna be alright.
Yeah, we're gonna be alright.
You can close your eyes tonight,
'cause we're gonna be alright.
All that I can see is your eyes.
Close your eyes.
Close your eyes.

[No lyrics]

Your paint dries, the canvas smiles,
with two eyes you lift yourself up.
Stroke your skin, there are teeth marks to be sure.
Maybe we're best close to the ground.
Maybe angels drag us down.
I wonder which part of this will leave the scar.

Dip your hands in colours
while the young night flutters in on you and
finger paint me pictures of all you see.
No matter what they say, you'll always be
faithfully dangerous, lost and lovely,
so beautiful to me.
I'm not too blind to see.

Red is blood. Black is sky.
White's the dove that longs to fly.
You set it free and it beats its wings in me.
It leaves us at a loss for words.
Is that me now in your arms?
We cradle together and fall down on our knees.

Let the whole world drift downstream.
We'll always be different.
Swim the silent slipstream inside of me.
No matter what they say, you'll always be
faithfully dangerous, lost and lovely,
so beautiful to me.
I'm not too blind to see.

Red is blood. Black is sky.
White's the dove that longs to fly.
You set it free and it beats its wings in me.
It leaves us at a loss for words.
Is that me now in your arms?
We cradle together and fall down on our knees.

The heart that beats is yours inside me.
Red is love. Black is night.
I'm drunk with angels taking flight.
The heart that beats is yours inside me.
The heart that beats is yours inside me.
The heart that beats is yours.

Welcome to the goldrush.
Wait till after dark.
Open up the ceiling, we'll be kneeling,
we'll be breathing on a spark.

Flying kites at midnight,
such a dizzy height.
Up above the small town,
pulling moonlight down and wearing it skin tight.

You can always tell me
anything at all.
Think of all the times
you've let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Suddenly I'm weightless.
Gravity is mine.
I see it with my eyes closed,
what my heart knows: we must leave this world behind.

‘Cause when I wake from dreaming,
it's then I'm most alive.
Eye lids barely open, no words spoken,
ah, but you were by my side.

You can always tell me
anything at all.
Think of all the times
you've let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, what you're missing.
Don't you wanna see what you're missing?

I can always tell you
anything at all.
Break the alabaster,
hearts beat faster, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You can always tell me
anything at all.
Think of all the times
you've let my lips move, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, what you're missing.
Don't you wanna see what you're missing?

Look inside for the elusive goldmine.
Broken glass and a little cheap wine
is all that I can find.
And bundles of contradictions,
my heart full of loose connections,
hands across my eyes.
I cannot disguise I'm everyman's daughter.

It's always the same old question.
Who am I and whose invention?
This armour's full of dust.
There's so much of us in each other.
If I hate you you're my best reminder
of all I wish I was.
I hate you just because I'm everyman's daughter.

Who do you think that I am?
It don't matter long as we can understand.
I am hurting someone.
I am hurting someone just like, just like you.

Insulting the wounds of others,
my sisters, my brothers,
my vision's way too good.
I carry the inward aching.
Like you, I too am naked.
I don't look that good,
but this is flesh and blood. I'm everyman's daughter.

Look at all the blood we've spilt.
I can't deal with all this fundamental guilt.
I am hurting someone.
I am hurting someone just like, just like you.

I am. I am. I am everyman's daughter.

I thought I'd go up Poughkeepsie,
look out o'er the Hudson,
and I'd throw my body down on the river.
And I'd know no more sorrow,
I'd fly like the sparrow
and I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

There are those who know sorrow
and those who must borrow
and those whose lot in life is sweet.
Well I'm drunk on self-pity,
scorned all that's been given me,
I would drink from a bottle labeled Sure Defeat.

I'd ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I'd take to the sky with all my might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'd just ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

Then the skies, they fell open
and my eyes were opened
to a world of hope falling at my feet.
Now I've no more or less
than anyone else has,
what I have is a gift of life I can't repeat.

So I go up Poughkeepsie,
look out o'er the Hudson
and I cast my worries to the sky.
Now I still know sorrow,
but I can fly like the sparrow
‘cause I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.

I ride on the backs of the angels tonight.
I take to the sky with all their might.
No more drowning in my sorrow,
no more drowning in my fright,
I'll just ride on the backs of the angels each night.

[No lyrics]

and your face
I do know well
every breath breathes
farewell
it's so still
no soul could tell
but one day
like this
the angels fell

and it's never quite what it seems

and it bleeds
this setting sun
and my arms ache
from holding on
let it go
this dying light
makes it hard to tell
wrong from right

and it's never quite what it seems

all the shadows of our doubts
and the light that burns too bright
soon burns out

and your face
you do know well
that the race is lost
hold still
‘cause the first
shall be the last
those that burn with thirst
will lift their glass

and it's never quite what it seems

Anything I say will be held against me,
so I won't say much or I'll spill it all.
By the light of day it's an elusive feeling,
but every single night that's immaterial.

I know a love that will not let me go.
My heart is bound and happy to be so.
It's so happy to be so,
happy to be so,
happy, happy, happy to be so.

If I try to pray, it's like a game of red rover.
I take a real good run at it, but I can't break through.
Don't matter anyway. I'm so redhanded.
The game is over. I'll just tell the truth.

I know a love that will not let me go.
My heart is bound and gagged and on death row.
It's so happy to be so,
happy to be so,
happy, happy, happy to be so. Ooh.

Go down easy babe.
Go down slow.
Take all the time you need.
We've no place else to go.

Gonna put on my favorite dress.
Put my hair up too.
Take me North, South, East or West.
I guess I'll leave it up to you.

You threw a noose around my shadow.
Got me into all this mess.
I would have dove in head first anyway
for less, for a whole lot less.

Go down easy babe.
Go down slow.
Take all the time you need.
We've no place else to go.

Say farewell to the confines of my own back yard.
Weeds growin' ‘round the flowers.
Sometimes the only way to break the curse
is to leave it all behind.

Find the slow curve of a back road,
one hand on the wheel.
Drive till I remember how it feels.
So this is how it feels. Oh.

Go down easy babe.
Go down slow.
If there's anything better than this
I'd like to know.