Over The Rhine Album

You're makin' a mess
Somethin' I can't fix
This time you're on your own

I'd make it alright
But I wouldn't get it right
I'm leavin' it alone

For cryin' outloud
Cryin' outloud
Cryin' out
You're cryin' out

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

You're makin' a mess
Is that what you do best?
Is madness just a hand-me-down?

It's anyone's guess
But I must confess
The performance isn't that profound

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

I'm waiting for the end
Waiting to begin again

You're makin' a mess
Somethin' you can't hide
A slow suicide
Just one bite at a time

I should love you less
But I can't I guess
Only God can save us now

Cryin' out
Cryin' out
Cryin' out

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

Yeah
Yeah
Yeah

The saddest songs are the happiest
The hardest truths are the easiest
Put us both to the test
And tell me if you still need me
And I will swallow these words
And see if I can still believe

The biggest lies are the little ones
When the look in your eyes is the distant one
Angel or demon
You know that they can share the same bed
I've laid awake so long
I've got them both inside my head

This is what I'll remember most about dying
So many moments like ghosts
Slipping through my hands in vain
You were 80% angel
10% demon
The rest was hard to explain

This American dream may be poisonous
Violence is contagious
Crowded or empty
I walk these city streets alone
Whoever brought me here
Is gonna have to take me home

This is what I'll remember most about dying
Loading these moments like a gun
Hoping to kill the pain
You were 80% angel
10% demon
The rest was hard to explain

This is what I'll remember most about dying
So many moments like ghosts
Slipping through my hands in vain
You were 80% angel
10% demon
The rest was hard to explain

You were 80% angel
10% demon
The rest was hard to explain

I've lost the words
It ain't my way
Takes some a breath
What takes me twenty-five years to say
Baby you're my favorite rolling stone
Elvis left the building
I have never been so alone

Come on and show me how it feels
Come on and show me how it feels
Can we make it last can we make it real
Come on and show me how it feels

It's only me in this flimsy dress
I could spread this love from the east to the west
The bed is made the world's a mess
Maybe we've got it backwards
Maybe we should just care less

Come on and show me how it feels
Come on and show me how it feels
Can we make it last can we make it real
Come on and show me how it feels

I close my eyes I see your face
Every inch of your skin I begin to retrace
Let me be the voice inside your head
Listen to me whisper
We can sleep when we're dead

Come on and show me how it feels
Come on and show me how it feels
Can we make it last can we make it real
Come on and show me how it feels

The last time I saw Jesus
I was drinking bloody mary's in the South
In a barroom in New Orleans
Rinsin' out the bad taste in my mouth

She wore a dark and faded blazer
With a little of the lining hanging out
When the jukebox played Miss Dorothy Moore
I knew that it was him without a doubt

I said the road is my redeemer
I never know just what on earth I'll find
In the faces of a stranger
In the dark and weary corners of a mind

She said, The last highway is only
As far away as you are from yourself
And no matter just how bad it gets
It does no good to blame somebody else

Ain't it crazy
What's revealed when you're not looking all that close
Ain't it crazy
How we put to death the ones we need the most

I know I'm not a martyr
I've never died for anyone but me
The last frontier is only
The stranger in the mirror that I see

But when I least expect it
Here and there I see my savior's face
He's still my favorite loser
Falling for the entire human race

Ain't it crazy
What's revealed when you're not looking all that close
Ain't it crazy
How we put to death the ones we need the most

The last time I saw Jesus
I was drinking bloody mary's in the South
In a barroom in New Orleans

Ain't it crazy
What's revealed when you're not looking all that close
Ain't it crazy
How we put to death the ones we need the most

Hello Ohio
The back roads
I know Ohio
Like the back of my hand
Alone Ohio
Where the river bends
And it's strange to see your story end

In my life I've seen a thousand dreams
Through the threshers all torn to pieces
And the land lay bare
Someone turned a profit there
And a good son lost his life in a strip pit

Hello Ohio
The back roads
I know Ohio
Like the back of my hand
Alone Ohio
Where the river bends
And it's strange to see your story end

When the sun went down we would all leave town
And light our fires in Egypt Bottom
And the reservoir was just as good for Joni
'Cause we knew we would
Dream out loud in the night air

Holly said, Don't go inside the children's home
Mary said, Don't leave your man alone
Valerie was singin' to the radio
Ohio

It was summertime in '83
We were burnin' out at the rubber tree
Wonderin' what in the world
Would make all this worthwhile
And if I knew then I was older then
Would I see regret to the last mile

Hello Ohio
The back roads
I know Ohio
Like the back of my hand
Alone Ohio
Where the river bends
And it's strange to see your story end
How I hate to see your story end
It's so sad to see your story end

Whatcha doin' with a suitcase
Tryin' to hit the ground with both feet runnin'
Aren't you trippin' on your shoelace

You're stealin' away on a sunny day
Well aren't you ashamed at all
Funny but I feel like I'm fallin'
I wanna beg you to stay
You're stealin' away on a sunny day

Why'd you love me in the first place
You were always closer than a brother
I can barely look at your face

You're stealin' away on a sunny day
Well aren't you ashamed at all
Funny but I feel like I'm fallin'
I wanna beg you to stay
You're stealin' away on a sunny day

I've said my I've said my
I've said my piece
I'm on my
I'm on my
Down on my knees

Whatcha doin' with a suitcase
Whatcha doin' with a suitcase

You're stealin' away on a sunny day
Well aren't you ashamed at all
Funny but I feel like I'm fallin'
I wanna beg you to stay
You're stealin' away on a sunny day

Whatcha doin' with a suitcase

I follow you from town to town
I need it
I'm better off when you're around
I mean it

Sooner or later
Things will all come around again
Sooner or later
I won't need anything
Anything at all

I walk these streets alone at night
When it hurts me
A perfect life's an oversight
You curse me

Should've known better
Than this esoteric love
Down to the letter
It don't mean anything
Anything at all

Anything, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Anything at all

You and I
You and I, yeah

I wrestle with these guilty thoughts
And I'm losing
You're all I am I'm what you're not
Confusing

Sooner or later
Things will all come around for good
Sooner or later
I won't need anything
Anything at all

Anything, yeah, yeah, yeah
Anything at all

Part of me
You are a part of me
I never want to lose
Hard for me
This is too hard
Maybe I can't get through
What will I miss the most
Pray that I'm haunted by your ghost

Listening
You're always listening
I don't know what to say
Why don't you turn and run at break-neck speed
Just to get away
And when you catch your breath
Pray I said every word I meant

Alright it's alright now
Alright it's alright

Broken down
We're all so broken down
Bandages on our wings
I know I don't have to tell you
Only broken hearts can sing
I'm hoping for a sign
Pray that I'm anything but fine

Alright it's alright now
Alright it's alright
Alright it's alright

Some things are never gonna change
You ought to know by now

You ought to know by now

Alright it's alright now
Alright it's alright
Alright it's alright
Alright it's alright

The moon blind-sided the sky again
As we grabbed loose ends of the tide and then
The slippery slide
You know I can't say when
I ever took a ride that could slap me this silly
With roiling joy
Lazy as sin
Lyin' up in heaven with my special friend
And the space he's in
It can make a girl grin
In the beginning of a lifelong fling

I wrote down a dream
Folded the note
Slipped it in the pocket of my tattered coat

I wrote down a dream
In invisible ink
It never was mine I'm beginning to think

I wrote down a dream
What more could I do
I drew myself a picture and the picture was you

I wrote myself a riddle
I said, What I wouldn't do
To give something good
To a love like you

The moon blind-sided the sky again
As we grabbed loose ends of the tide and then
The slippery slide
You know I can't say when
I ever took a ride that could slap me this silly
With roiling joy
Lazy as sin
Lyin' up in heaven with my special friend
And the space he's in
It can make a girl grin
In the beginning of a lifelong fling

I wrote down a dream
Folded the note
Passed it to you we stepped in our boat

Sailed ‘round the world
We were hoping to find
More than the sum of all we left behind

I wrote down a dream
But what was it now
And why does it all feel so distant somehow

Did I take too long
Did I get it wrong
You're still the missing line in my favorite song

The moon blind-sided the sky again
As we grabbed loose ends of the tide and then
The slippery slide
You know I can't say when
I ever took a ride that could slap me this silly
With roiling joy
Lazy as sin
Lyin' up in heaven with my special friend
And the space he's in
It can make a girl sing

Changes come
Turn my world around

Changes come
Turn my world around

I have my father's hand
I have my mother's tongue
I look for redemption in everyone

I wanna wear your ring
I have a song to sing
It ain't over babe
In fact it's just begun

Changes come
Turn my world around
Changes come
Bring the whole thing down

I wanna have our baby
Somedays I think that maybe
This ol' world's too fucked up
For any firstborn son

There is all this untouched beauty
The light the dark both running through me
Is there still redemption for anyone

Changes come
Turn my world around
Changes come
Bring the whole thing down

Jesus come
Turn the world around
Jesus come
Lay my burden down
Jesus come
Turn this world around
Jesus come
Bring the whole thing down
Jesus come
Turn this world around
Jesus come
Bring the whole thing down
Bring the whole thing down
Bring the whole thing down
Bring it down

I thought that we'd be
Further along by now
I can't remember how
We stumbled to this place

I loved you like a long lost brother
On a bad day maybe I thought why bother
I've seldom seen so much anger
In a face

I wanna do better
I wanna try harder
I wanna believe
Down to the letter

Jesus and Mary
Can you carry us
Across this ocean
Into the arms of forgiveness

I don't mean to laugh out loud
I'm trying to come clean
Trying to shed my doubt
Maybe I should just keep
My big mouth shut

More often than not
When it comes to you
You want whatever's not in front of you
Deep down I know this includes me too

I wanna do better
I wanna try harder
I wanna believe
Down to the letter

Jesus and Mary
Can you carry us
Across this ocean
Into the arms of forgiveness

So tell me your troubles
Let your pain rain down
I know my job I've been around
I invest in the mess
I'm a low cost dumping ground

Trouble is I'm so exhausted
The plot, you see, I think I've lost it
I need the grace to find what can't be found

I wanna do better
I wanna try harder
I wanna believe
Down to the letter

Jesus and Mary
Can you carry us
Across this ocean
Into the arms of forgiveness

Jesus and Mary
Come and carry us
Across this ocean
Into the arms of forgiveness

What she would like to do
Is get you out of her head
She's tried every trick
She's so sick of thinking about it

What's so special about you
You're an ache she's learned to crave
You're a blade too dull to raise

But she cuts herself
On you every night
She's just dying
To lay down the knife

What she would love to do
Is get you out of her bed
She's played it over and over and over
In her head

But she cuts herself
On you every night
She's just dying
To lay down the knife

She clings to what's familiar
She thinks a change would kill her

What she ought to do
Is put a gun to your head
For all the things you said and did

But what she will not do
Is let you go before you're gone
It's everything that's ever been wrong
But it's all she's ever known

So she cuts herself on you every night
She's just dying to lay down the knife

What she would like to do
Is get you out of her head

I'm afraid I've lost the piece of me
I need the most you see
This puzzle is really just about the need
To be somebody
I'm afraid I'm not all that you see
All along the coast of me
I'm camouflaged, a desert mirage
A nobody

But you came so close and I assumed
You were looking
For the piece of yourself that's lost
It is the hiding place inside everybody
And though we love to numb the pain
We come to learn that it's in vain
Pain is our mother
She makes us recognize each other

C'mon now child don't cry
C'mon now child don't cry
Let's give it one more try
C'mon now child don't cry

Sometimes I feel so all alone
Here in this city I call my home
They say, Hey, you're one of us
Funny, I should feel so anonymous
But I'm drawn to you
And that still small voice is talking too
And that's the voice that so seldom can get through

C'mon now child don't cry
C'mon now child don't cry
Let's give it one more try
C'mon now child don't cry

You can't put no bandaid on this cancer
Like a twenty-dollar bill
For a topless dancer
You need questions
Forget about the answers
Do you really wanna die this way

That's the trouble with you and me
We always hit the bottom 'fore we get set free
I'm so far down
I'm beginning to breathe

C'mon now child don't cry
C'mon now child don't cry
Let's give it one more try
C'mon now child don't cry
Cuz we're just too young to die

C'mon now child don't cry
Let's give it one more try
C'mon now child don't cry

C'mon now, c'mon now
C'mon now child don't cry
C'mon now child don't cry
C'mon now child
C'mon now, c'mon now
C'mon now, c'mon now
C'mon now, c'mon now
C'mon now child don't cry
C'mon now child don't cry

He woke
He knew that he was dying
He spoke
And found that he was flying
Upstairs
High above the city
Through the ceiling of the stars
So cruel and pretty

Arms spread across the dark river
The night air causing him to shiver
Like the fluorescent lights in the Seven Eleven
Meet me in the backstreets of heaven

I don't wanna kiss you goodbye
I don't wanna kiss you goodbye
Hello, hello, hello, how the time flies
I don't wanna kiss you goodbye

He woke
He knew that he was dying
He spoke
And found that he was flying
Upstairs
High above the city
Through the ceiling of the stars
So cruel and pretty

Electric lines and wispy jet contrails
Ships at sea and B&O train rails
A tunnel of light like the Seven Eleven
Meet me in the backstreets of heaven

I don't wanna kiss you goodbye, no
I don't wanna kiss you goodbye
Hello, hello, hello, how the time flies
I don't wanna kiss you goodbye

Upstairs

Meet me in the backstreets of heaven
Meet me in the backstreets of heaven
Meet me in the backstreets of heaven

I don't know where this is going
I'm taking a ride on a wing and a prayer
Follow me there
We'll both be surprised
If we forget anything
Hopefully nobody will remind us

Can't bear the news in the evening
We're going to bed and we're going to war
All of this for
Anyone's guess
If we forget anything
Heaven forbid someone would remind us

Sinners and saints, priests and kings
Are we just using God for our own gain
What's in a name
Open your eyes
If we forget everything
There will be no one left to remind us

I don't know where this is going
I'm taking a ride on a wing and a prayer
Follow me there
We'll both be surprised

What's it like to be the only somebody in the room
Tell us all what does it cost you to be you
Takin' out Daddy's trash now ain't it a drag
Trippin' on Papa's brand new body bag

How long have you been stoned
How long have you been stoned
How long have you been stoned
How long have you been stoned

Places
Everybody places
Embrace it
It's the way it has to be
Wasted
Is everybody wasted
Complacent
Is anybody free

How long have you been stoned
How long have you been stoned
How long have you been stoned
How long have you been stoned

I'm thinking of a word that has been
Knocked up and overused
You could say it's lost all meaning
From so much abuse

But when you say love, OH
But when you say love, OH

Most everything I ever wanted
Doesn't really have a name
But baby you're as close as I've come and
I know that it sounds strange

But when you say love, OH
But when you say love, OH

So open up my heart-shaped box
It's full of combination locks
I've swallowed all my love-sick pills
To keep from getting chills
Look at all the books I've read
In my lonely single bed

But when you say love, OH
But when you say love, OH
But when you say love, OH
But when you say love, OH

But when you say love, OH
But when you say love, OH

Fool
Fool me
I'm just a sentimental fool
It happened again
When
I remembered you
And all that we've been through
Fool
Truly
I know this world it can be so cruel
I won't let you go

Fool
Use me
This is the part that I can't refuse
Just do what you do
My heart's becoming true
It aches to make room for you
Fool pursue me
To heaven above or to hell below
Just don't let go

Fool me
I'm just a sentimental fool
I can't let you go

Hey love
What do you say
We get outta here today
You ain't found your footing yet
But someday you're going to fly
My hometown boy

Cars up on blocks
The neighborhood's gone to hell
You wonder if the whole world's breakin' down
But you feel somethin', feel somethin'
You feel the need to run
But you don't know why
My hometown boy

No love
No sloe gin backporch nights for you
We've got work to do
White trash blowin' down the street
Just pipe dreams on paper
But starting tomorrow
We've gotta try
Me and my hometown boy
Me and my hometown boy
Me and my, my hometown boy
Me and my

Hey love
What do you say
We get outta here today

Don't be bothered by the fears
I'll try to bottle them
Like my mother's perfume
She wore it only on Sunday
Kept it safe in her room
In a chest with a key
We found it anyway

Don't be bothered by the fears
They'll only join us like the sky
That blushes red tonight
And makes the wind die down
Calms the troubled sea
More out of duty than pleasure
But out of pleasure nonetheless

Your fire burns me like a favorite song
A song I should have know all along
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes
And that is why, why

Don't be bothered by the fears
That sing from my eyes like carrillon
Ringing only on Sunday
On the roof down our street
Finally over the river
Ring for you ring for me
Finally forever
It's just I never
It's just I never thought
I never thought that I could be this free

Your fire burns me like a favorite song
A song I should have know all along
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes
And that is why, why

Your fire burns me like a favorite song
A song I should have know all along
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes
And that is why, why, why, why, why
Why, why, why

Don't be bothered
Don't be bothered

Why, why, why, why, why, why
Why, why
Why, why, why, why, why
Why, why

Till we lay these weapons at your feet, Lord
How long, how long
Till we call all hatred obsolete, Lord
How long, how long
Till we walk like lovers thru Bethlehem
How long, how long
Till the lion lies down with the lamb, Lord
How long, how long

Too late
I know it's not too late
To wrestle with this angel
Higher and higher
Don't let go
Higher and higher
Before we know
How does it end
How does it end
We're all riding on the last train
Trying to find our way home again

Till we wash the blood from the hands of our fathers
How long
We're all sisters and brothers, sons and daughters
How long, how long
Our eyes all shine in different colors we cry, Lord
How long
Our dreams our tears are all the same by and by, Lord
How long, how long

Too late
I know it's not too late
To climb up Jacob's ladder
Higher and higher
Don't let go
Higher and higher
Before we know
How does it end
How does it end
We're all riding on the last train
Trying to find our way home again

It's not too late