R.E.M. Album

Grounded, 5 a.m., the nightlite is comforting
but gravity is holding you.
Once settled into sleep,
you have watched
on repeat the story of your life
across the ceiling
and in review.

You've said the air was singing.
It's calling you, you don't believe.
These things you've never seen.

Good morning, how are you?
The weather's fine,
the sky is blue.
It's perfect for our seminar.

Now close your eyes and start to breathe,
allow the noise to recede,
allow yourself to drift and fly away.
But you just stay.

You've said the air was singing,
it's calling you, you don't believe
these things you've never seen,
never heard.

Did you hear these voices?
Did you hear these voices calling?
Did you hear these voices calling you?

Locked into a conference room,
we're only what our minds assume
and rationale is leaving you. 

This conceit these systems of belief
Your counselor agrees
You always mark these boundaries now you're free
and with relief.

You've said the air was singing,
it's calling you, you don't believe
these things you've never seen,
never heard, never dreamed.

You said the air was singing,
it's calling you, you don't believe
these things you've never seen,
never heard, never dreamed.

Never, never, never...

Once you had a dream
of oceans and sunken cities,
memories of things you've never known
and you have left alone.

Have you seen?
Have not will travel
Have I missed the big reveal?

Do my eyes,
Do my eyes seem empty?
I've forgotten how this feels.

I've been high
I've climbed so high
The light sometimes it washes over me.

Have you been?
Have done will travel
I fell down on me knees

Was I wrong?
I don't know, don't answer.
I just needed to believe.

I've been high
I've climbed so high
The light sometimes it washes over me.

So I dive into a pool.
so cool and deep that if I sink I sink
and when I swim I fly so high.

What I want
What I really wanted
Just to live my life on high. 

And I know
I know you want the same
I can see it in your eyes.

I've been high
I've climbed so high
The light sometimes it washes over me.
Washes over me
Close my eyes
So I can see
Make my make believe believe in me.

hummin'
all the way to Reno
you've dusted the non-believers
and challenged the laws of chance

now sweeter
you're so sugar sweet
you may as well have had Kick Me
fastened on your sleeve

you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star.
you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star,

wing is written on your feet
your achilles heel
is the tendency
to dream
but you've know that from the beginning
you didn't have to go so far
you didn't have to go.

you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star.
you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star.

you know who you are
you know who you are
you know who you are

hummin'
all the way to Reno,
you've written your own directions.
and whistled the rules have changed.

you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star (star).
you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star (star).
you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star (star).
you know what you are,
you're gonna be a star (star).

hummin'
all the way to Reno
all the way to Reno.
all the way to Reno.

you're gonna be a star
you're gonna be a star
you're gonna be a star
you're gonna be a star

It's not that she walked away,
her world got smaller.
All the usual places, the same destinations,
only something's changed.

It's not that she wasn't rewarded
with pomegranate afternoons
and Mingus, Chet Baker and chess.

It's not the stampede and fortune
of prim affectations
she's off on a right and she knows now
it's greater than the whole
of the past
it's greater
and now she knows.

She just wants to be somewhere
she just wants to be.
She just wants to be somewhere
she just wants to be.

It's not that the transparency
of earlier incarnations
now we're back on, we're enriched
and loaded
with beautiful vulnerability
and now she knows.

Now is greater
and she knows that.

She just wants to be somewhere
she just wants to be.
She just wants to be somewhere
she just wants to be.

Now is greater
now is greater
and she knows that

She just wants to be somewhere
she just wants to be.
She just wants to be somewhere
she just wants to be.

It's not like the angels
could truly look down
stir up the trappings
and light on the ground.
Remind us of what, when,
why or who?
The how's up to us, me and you
and now is greater than the whole
of the past
is greater and now she knows that.

Now she knows.

I dragged my feet across the seat
Jumped out the passenger side
The only thing worth looking for
Is what you find inside
But that had not yet appeared

Lost invisible here.
Tel Aviv and Agadir
taroudant or olomouc
Before I learned to see
The vanishing point appeared.

I looked for you everywhere.
I looked for you everywhere.

There is a calm I haven't come to yet
I spent half my life figuring what comes next
I telescoped in I finally win
I finally win the prize.

That now my eyes see
a comic's perfect timing squeezed.
Head first fighting everything
The crushing force of memory
Erasing all I've been
The vanishing point appeared.

I looked for you everywhere.
I looked for you everywhere.
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear.

Look at this face
Can you believe it?
Am I living in the beautiful vacuum?
Because I can't see it
The vanishing point appears.

I looked for you everywhere.
I looked for you everywhere.
Tell me why you're here.
I came to disappear
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
I came to disappear

Easy to poke yourself square in the eye 
Harder to like yourself, harder to try 
These are espouses 
Postcards and neoprene 
Roses a dollar a stem 
Everyone's sleeping or pulling the long haul and 
Keys in the cooler its three A.M. 

And Saturn is beckoning no one 
It's off on its own 
It's offering up 

Late shift can bring in store, burn out the lights 
Telescope roof towards the northwestern sky 
You pulled the ladder and no one's the wiser 
You find your sights and discover 

Saturn is orbiting nothing 
He's off on its own 
He's breaking from home 

Harder to look yourself square in the eye 
Easy to take off 

You found the ladder in the pattern of your wrist 
You've seen and you've marked horizons 
Mother was difficult, she made you cry 
Cover the mirror, look to the sky 
You climbed into your rocketship trying 
Lift up and hold out your hands 

Saturn is orbiting nothing 
He's off on its own 
He's breaking from home 

Saturn is orbiting nothing 
He's off on its own 
He's breaking from home 

Saturn returns when you chase down, it slows 
Throw them into a new gravity 
Harder to look yourself square in the eye 
Easy to poke yourself, easy as pie 
Easy to take off, harder to fly 
Harder to wake Galileo

the sun reflected in
the back of my eye.
I knocked my head against the sky.

the dragonflies are busy buzzing me.
a seahorse as if we were in the sea.

half way from coal
half way to diamond.
my fall knocked a mean chip out of me.
gathering as far as I can reach.
perched up on the precipice
and this is what I've seen.

this is all I want,
it's all I need.
this is all I am.
this is all I want,
it's all I need.

a bluejay hectors from the felled Catalpa tree.
doctorate in science and the theologians dream.
the dragonflies are trying to lecture me.
a seahorse as if we were in the sea.

but this is all I want,
it's all I need.
this is all I am,
it's everything.
this is all I want,
it's all I need.

beat a drum for me
like a butterfly wing.
tropical storm across the ocean.

but don't explain I'm sure I'll want to know
but don't forget we're just halfway from home.

this is all I want,
it's all I need.
this is all I am,
it's everything.
this is all I want,
it's all I need.

charades, pop skill
water hyacinth, named by a poet.
imitation of life
like a koi in a frozen pond
like a goldfish in a bowl
I dont want to hear you cry

thats sugarcane that tasted good
thats cinnamon thats hollywood
c'mon c'mon no one can see you try

you want the greatest thing
the greatest thing since bread came sliced.
you've got it all, you've got it sized.
like a friday fashion show teenager
freezing in the corner
trying to look like you dont try

thats sugarcane that tasted good.
thats cinnamon thats hollywood
c'mon c'mon no one can see you try

no one can see you cry

thats sugarcane that tasted good
thats freezing rain thats what you could
c'mon c'mon no one can see you cry

this sugarcane
this lemonade
this hurricane, i'm not afraid.
c'mon c'mon no one can see me cry
this lightning storm
this tidal wave
this avalanche, i'm not afraid.
c'mon c'mon no one can see me cry

thats sugarcane that tasted good
thats who you are, thats what you could
c'mon c'mon no one can see you cry

thats sugarcane that tasted good
thats who you are, thats what you could
c'mon c'mon no one can see you cry

Mercury is rising still
Turn the fan on high

I won't step on my own shadow
No one wants to cry.

Someone put a pox on me
I spit in their eyes
Summer turns to high.

Lift my bed sheet keep in sandles
Circle search and there are candles
Summer's here but night is raising hopes and dragonflies

If those hopes are overshadowed
cotton-candy, caramel-wafer.

Summer turns to high
Summer turns to high
Summer turns to high
Summer high

After wine and nectarines the fireflies in turn
Move like syrup through the evening with the sweet resign
I won't fight for can't happen
I'm preoccupied

Summer turns to high
Summer turns to high
Summer turns to high
Summer high.

hey there now young one wholly,
swing along quote the scriptures,
keep them guessing which pit you crawled from

just defy it, just deny it,
was it fun?
your time has come
what have you done?
what have you done?

that's when the insults start to sting
you can't remember anything
the chorus chiming
the greek chorus, the machine of God, singin'

it's the poison that in measures
brings illuminating vision
it's the knowing with a wink
that we expect in Southern women

it's the wolf that knows which root to dig to save itself
it's the octopus that crawled back to the sea.

that's when the insults start to sting
you can't remember anything
the chorus chiming, the greek chorus,
the machine of God sing.....

hammered, shooting plywood in the backyard
laughing 'cause the racket makes the blackbirds sing
write the holy terror
suck the marrow from the bone
singe your own wings burning books,
you got the chorus and the ring

that's when the insults start to sting
you can't remember anything
the chorus chiming, the greek chorus,
the machine sings.

that's when the insults starts to sting
you can't remember anything
the chorus chiming, the greek chorus,
the machine sings.

that's when the calibration brittle
as a stick hits you
the gold ring in the tar museum
che quevera wink,
gold ring
gold ring. 

sing.
sing.
sing.
sing.

the rain came down
the rain came down
the rain came down on me.

the wind blew strong
the summer song
fades to memory

I knew you when
I loved you then
the summer's young and helpless.

you laid me bare
you marked me there
the promises we made.

I used to think
as birds take wing
they sing through life so why can't we?
you cling to this
you claim your best
if this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain
I'll take the rain
I'll take the rain.

the nighttime creases
summer schemes
and stretches out to stay.
the sun shines down
you came around
you love easy days.

but now the sun,
the winter's come.
I wanted just to say
that if I hold
I'd hope you'd fold
open up inside, inside of me.

I used to think
as birds take wing
they sing through life so why can't we?
you cling to this
you claim your best
If this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain
I'll take the rain
I'll take the rain.

this winter song
I'll sing along
I've searched its still refrain
I'll walk alone
I've given this, take wing
celebrate the rain.

I used to think
as birds take wing
they sing through life so why can't we?
you cling to this
you claim your best
If this is what you're offering
I'll take the rain
I'll take the rain
I'll take the rain.

Tonight's alive
The beachball is set to fly
Those well-tequilla'd guys
who smile at strangers.

á tes souhaits
á tes amours chéri
You give a little sneeze and dance the rhu-rhu-rhu-rhu-rhumba

This life is sweet.
You're dancin' in the street.
Who knows who we might meet?
You're too fine.

The little weekend's here.
Thursday has an ear.
Her coffee-clash career, she talks to strangers.

And kissing by the sea.
Particular to me.
'ti punch, mojito, sling and dance the rhu-rhu-rhu-rhu-rhumba.

This life is sweet.
You're dancin' in the street.
Who knows who, you and me
You're too fine.

We flash the seaside sky
with starfish butterflies
to cast a spell and
welcome locals
weekenders and strangers.

You're too fine.
You're too fine.
You're too fine.