The Format Album

Ashes to Ashes
Some dust on the dash
I've got my cigarettes
but I can't find the fire
that's calming me down

I was just out on a night with my friends
You are still out on a night
with your friends
and you don't seem to tire
when I'm not around

I'm under the tunnel
I'm holding my breath

I searched every pocket
that hung in the closet
'til I found some matches
in a brown leather jacket
One I swore I've never worn
but it once kept you warm

Do you remember
we made love on the floor
and you still haven't called
So I'll wait 'til they're closing the bars

I made a wish
but the match never lit

Can we take the next hour and talk about me?
Talk about me, oh we'll talk about me
Talk about me, and we'll only talk about me

Can we please take this hour and talk about me?
And my hatred for corporate magazines
You know they don't speak to me
The irony is they won't speak with me

I placed you on a window sill
Cut notches up and down the door
My surprise I woke up one morning
And there in your place lay a note

It read, "Baby, You love me just ain't good enough.
I found sunlight 6 hours away.
You watered me down 'til I drifted abound
Somewhere far from your shade."

I shadow my former self
One's whole and now lonelier is just full of holes
red wax, it paints me unclear
When the big hand strikes 12, I disappear

Well the angels of fate can they lie to your face
Anything to keep you away
You watered me down 'til I drifted abound
Somewhere far from your shade

Now you on your back has buried the past
Can we please take this hour and talk about me?
Talk about me, oh we'll talk about me
Talk about me, and we'll only talk about me

Can we please take this hour and talk about me?
And my hatred for corporate magazines
You know they don't speak to me
The irony is they won't speak with me

Oh no, was it worth it?

Starting now I'm starting over.
I'm going to sleep
with the next person I meet.
Starting now I'm starting over.
You swore 'together forever'
Now you're telling lies
Tell me your words have got
no concept of time.

Tick tock, you're not a clock
You're a time bomb baby a time bomb baby.

Oh no, was it worth it?
Was it worth what you did to big buisness?
Was it worth what your friends
put up their noses?

Starting now I'm starting over.
Tell the new wave kids their make-up kits can find me where self pity gets
a breath of fresh air.

Tick tock, you're not a clock you're a time bomb baby
You set the watch just in time
to wreck my life
to bring back what I left behind.

Five years and you fell for a waiter.
I'm sure he says he's an actor.
You're acting like
you never tried to take your life
So starting now I'm starting over
I'm throwing bottles
I'm taking showers
I'm going to sleep

Starting now I'm starting over [stop it]
starting now I'm starting over [stop it]
To play the game
Get even
Act my age

Oh no, was it worth what you
did to your wrist?

All the girls pose the same for pictures
All the boys got the same girls' hair
I am bored 'cause I feel much older
Look at me, as if I've got a reason to stare

But you talk so loud
That it calms me down
You're crying, "let's make a toast"

She says she's leaving on a Sunday
That leaves me one more night
Can I take you home?
I know it's wrong
But I know your type

She says she's leaving on a Sunday
And I don't care
I need to know where to turn
I tried it once
It never caught on
I was the only one that got hurt

I've read every word you've said
From a poster of a cat
Four books look across your sofa
I thought your coffee table
Was more clever than that

It gets worse once we get to her room
As she stops and she sings
"doot do do doot do do doot do do"
I claim "New Religion" is my song
She doesn't get it
It's all before she was born

And you lock your doors
Like I've been here before
I feel like I've seen a ghost

Suddenly between sheets and eyelids
I am reminded why I don't do this
I fall in love far too quickly
I never want her to forget me
When you're gone
Will you call?
Will you write?

And you
you're gonna walk backwarsd through the room
does that mean i won't see you?
it means you'll walk backwards through the room
tiffany's crying
she's dying to make it out of this hell
well i just laugh
cuz it was my job to be her hell
i'm in my bedroom
i found me a corner
where friends won't debate my health
like "how can he save some summer night when he cant save himself?"
you gotta pick me up
come on and pick me
when i'm falling down
you've got to pick me up
cut to december and how can a scalpel tear him to skin
reveal the walks in the park
lord, how can a heart come from two seperate organs?
are gonna make this simple?
do you wanna make me sweet?
oh
well i know i know i know i know
i let you down
pick me up
come on and pick me up
when i'm falling down
you've gotta pick me up
and you
you're gonna walk backwards through the room
does that mean i won't see you?
it means you walk backwards through the room
are gonna make this simple?
do you wanna make me sweet?
oh
well i know i know i know i know
i let you down
pick me up
come on and pick me up
when im falling down
you've gotta pick me up

Don't you dare sleep with someone you don't know.
They'll feel it in the back of their throat.
We know I cant construct a poem,
Cause words like girls get bored and run
C'est la vie, I say I've got so many better things
I've got nothing, you should see me,
I smoke myself to sleep.

And blame postmodern things I cant relate,
Like summer camp and coastal states.
Like alcohol and coffee beans.
Dance floors and magazines.
I think its safe to say I've only got myself to blame
But boys in swooping haircuts are bringing me down,
Taking pictures of themselves.

?Boys in swooping haircuts you know who you are?

And so I walk the web in search of love,
But always seem to end up stuck.
I'm finding flaws in everyone.
I've reached the point where all I want,
Is to sleep around in hopes that I will catch back up.
We are parallel lines were running in circles,
We're never meant to cross.

I'm at a loss, you were my tangerine,
My pussycat, my trampoline.
Now all I get are wincing cheeks,
And dog problems, I signed a lease.
Thinking my heart belonged at 93rd and park.
Instead I broke a girls heart,
And flew back to phoenix to finish the year as it started.

Can you hear me?
Are you listening?
This is the sound of my heart breaking.
And I hope its entertaining,
Cause for me its a bitch.
Was it worth it?
When you slept with him?
Did you get it all out of your system?

I am over that
Hope you dont get up
I couldnt breath
Caught me on the cross
I didnt know
I couldnt give up

B is for believing you'd always be here for me.
E is for everything, even when we'd see it though.
C, c is for seeing through you, you are a fake, which brings me to
A because, because, you always run away.

I never finish phrases, I misspell.
Open arms are prison cells.
When I said, I hate what I've become
I lied, I hated who I was.
So when you start to wonder 'bout the strain in my throat,
Then don't you ever, no never, ever, sleep with someone you don't know

You've got flaws
that you wont admit
yet you tell me its a sin
that i dont believe in God...
you traded in your cross
for a chance to dance with stars
now nothing is sacred

ooo
ive given thought to leaving
ooo
f-f-f-for some time
ooo
if only i could read a map
my moat is new mexico
so its you i wrote

i started sending you a note
on how i hope that youre happy
i hear youre somewhere in the sand
and how i wish i was an ocean
maybe then, id get to see you again

now all my friends
they break and they bend
they take shape and they tend
to get better with time
and i say:
"who am i to work so much less to get more
you all deserve what i am walking towards
if you want, you should move away"

ooo
this has become a weakness
ooo
the golden state wins again
ooo
perhaps its time i settle down
say its blue, at least thats a plus
plus, i miss you so much

why am i scared of people in a room?
why cant they see a good time are the people close to you?
why dont i just give in, have a drink and shake some hands?
oh ay oh
oh ay oh
why am i scarred from what she did to me?
why cant i trust the only one who's yet to believe?
why dont i just give in, have a drink and shake some hands?
oh ah oh
oh ah oh

ooo
ive given thought to leavin
ooo
f-f-f-for some time
ooo
maybe its time i put a profile up of who i want to be
fool everyone, just to start over clean
i can hide behind a big blue screen
or you can return to me
(return to me)

Hold on, there's a hole in my heart
Everyone can see right through me
It goes all the way to the waves
Where my love she tried to wash it away

See we break for the summers
so she can find lovers
She treats them like a bottle of wine
They make you dinner
and sing you to sleep
but by the morning find the bottle is empty

'Cause she never gives it the time
Every bottle she finds
They don't compare
to the ones she left behind
There is never a note
So she waits for me to come back home

I'm looking for a dead end song
You wish that smoke
could change its color
I love it when you talk so much
and act like nothing went wrong
I'm looking for a dead end song
while we sit and find flaws in everyone
I want to keep you by my side
Holding off tidal waves

"Mint car" is keeping us warm
She lays crossed upon the bed
We are puzzles making shapes
with our hands
I take my finger, turn it into a pen

Then I run my hand down your spine
You guess I wrote something profound
Something like:
"Our love will last 'til we die"
I say, "you're good at this game"
But what I really wrote is
"How I've yet to be saved"

I'm looking for a dead end song
You wish that smoke
could change its color
I love it when you talk so much
and act like nothing went wrong
I'm looking for a dead end song
while we sit and find flaws in everyone
I want to keep you by my side
Holding off tidal waves

N... take it slow, show me that you care cuz loves just not a flare on my sleep

Sleep well, I pray the cardboard box set the perfet stage cause woodgrain makes all man make things seem so out of date,
Life is not a play its what we make of the people we love,

Snails see the better fits, the beauty in every inch Oh wa wa ah wa oh wa, you're quick to kiss

She bites up late and leaves and got danty shruberry, I'm sick of vanidy, the place we should move, to the UK, its like we're in the states as escape,
all the people we love, what we make of the people we love

Snails see the better fits, the beauty in every inch Oh wa wa ah wa oh wa, you're quick to kiss

Baby maybe, I spoke to soon I'll touch once you make the first move, snails see the better fits, the beauty in every inch

I watch her as she runs, my mother jumps the gun, she puts her in her arms, thats is just like my mom never lets got, never lets me grow old, I wanna pay
her back, but love is nothing you can tax

My familys not rich by any means, but I feel we won the lottery, that day, rock squalo girl, I cry as cameras caught my eye, my tears turned into
butterflies, they fly away as caskets close and new day comes you'll weigh unfolded, smile when you feel the sunlight, feel the sunlight, you feel the
sunlight

Snails see the better fits, the beauty in every inch Oh wa wa ah wa oh wa, you're quick to kiss

Baby maybe, I spoke to soon I'll touch once you make the first move, snails see the better fits, the beauty in every inch

Snails see the better fits, the beauty in every inch

You
You think it's cool to be crazy
I say you're born rich
Stay rich
There's no point in taking chances

And me
I wouldn't call it a sophomore slump
I'd say I'm one step closer to being just
Where I want
To be
Away from this scene
Away from this machine

Meet me in the middle
C'mon let's make up a dance
We'll agree to call it The Compromise

Step one:
Find a partner
Grab a pen
Don't you dare ask questions
Just sign on the dotted line

Step two:
Throw your partner behind a desk
Where they'll do absolutely nothing
So it's your job to dance and smile
The whole time

Don't call it a trend
It's the only way we think to get ahead

Meet me in the middle
C'mon let's make up a dance
We'll agree to call it The Compromise

There's no sense in complaining
It doesn't change our mind
Take me by the hand
Let's Compromise

I can feel your feet touching mine
If you can't dance
There's someone else in line

I love Love
I love being in love
I don't care what it does to me

Take these tattered boxes
that used to hold your clothes
Break them down
Build them back up with your bones
All you did was construct a mess
You'r good to me when only flesh
You'r a momory with nothing to show

When we would take trips
We swore we'd never take pictures
Pictures only prove you can't convince
Now i wsh those photographs
could convince you that what we had
would only turn out a negative

well
well
well

If fingertips are relationships
then i could barely carry your weight
If fingers are mistakes
Don't use this one to point the blame
Just sing
sing

I love love
I love being in love
I don't care what it does to me
These pills are fine to pass the time
'til i find my new drug
Then
We'll take our chances
we'll last a month
we'll never speak again

How i love being in love

And don't pick up the line
You'er dressed to have a good time
you don't need him, you need to be seen
so someone else can treat you wrong
so you my love can sing this song

I love love
I love being in love
I don't care what it does to me
These pills are fine to pass the time
'til i find my new drug
Then
They'll take advantage
I'll claim that's what i want

To be the new statistic

How i love
How i love
How i love being in love

Take these tattered boxes
That used to hold your clothes
Break them down
Build them back up with your bones
All you did was construct a mess
you'er dead to me if love is death
You'er a memory with nothing to show

WELL
WELL
WELL

If fingertips are relationships
Then maybe i could use a break
She smiles
She points at me
shes says:
Baby i love how you sing
so just
sing

I love love
i love being in love
i don't care what it does to me
These pills are fine to pass the time
'til i find my new drug
Then
We'll take our chances
we'll rise above
we'll last until the end

How i love
How i love
How i love being in love

So the wind that blows across your room
carried cheap perfume onto your dresser
it rained for jewelry and for credit cards
two tickets to a film i dont remember
one day youll kiss your rabbits nose, pick up the phone
to find ive been turned over
and youll grab that piece of gold
only to find that the smell has taken over
now all the things you had, they arent the same...
as what you hold

im standing in a room,
its filled with older folks pleading "baby listen"
and i scream as loud as anyone,
but when asked to make a point i tend to whisper
now highways turn to tidal waves
theyre asking me to export all of your insecurities
but that wind that blows across your room
its gonna set the sails, and send me back to you

sometimes, when sailors are sailing
they think twice, about where theyre anchoring
and i think, i could make better time of my time on land
ill drink less
cause lord knows i could use a warm kiss
instead of a cold goodbye
im writing the folks back home to tell them
"hey im doing alright"

its a shame what your father did to your brothers head
he smashed it with a telephone
and your mother got scared and locked the door
you were only four, but lord you remember it
so now youre scared of love
im here to tell you loves not some fucking blood on the reciever
love is speaking in code
its an inside joke
love is coming home

sometimes, when sailors are sailing
they think twice, about where theyre anchoring
and i think, i could make better time of my time on land
ill drink less
cause lord knows i could use a warm kiss
instead of a cold goodbye
im writing the folks back home to tell them
"hey im doing alright"

yeah im doing just fine
and if she seems as lonely as me.....
let her sink.
let her sink.
let her

You could do the laundry
I'll come by on Monday
You give me the money
I'll go buy your ticket

On the local lottery
We could win the lottery
We could go to Vegas
And be very happy

Ohh…

I could be a plumber
We could wait ‘til summer
We could save our money
Have a fine vacation

We could buy a trailer
If we bought a trailer
We could go to Vegas
And be very happy

Ohh, if life is just a gamble
Gamble if you want to win
Ohh, life can be so easy
Let the wheel of fortune spin

We could make a record
Sell a lot of copies
We could play Las Vegas
And be very happy

Ohh, if life is just a gamble
Gamble if you want to win
Ohh, life can be so easy
Let the wheel of fortune spin

Ohh…

In the breathless hush of 4 a.m.
In the dark sits a sad cliche.
Cloaked in the navy blue of slowly fading stars

Tell me how this came to be
Sleeplessness talk to me
She'd say over and over again

Fumbling through a cut glass vase
Passing lipstick, cotton spools
Burning jealous pictures of marriages of friends

You never asked to be
The glutton of sympathy
She says over and over again that this is the end

Cause I see it in your eyes
What you don't know, time to let go
I see it in your eyes
There is so much more out there to be learned

Such mournful words on this snow white vacant page
All the lessons that she learns she packs away

Will you never cease to be the glutton of sympathy
She writes over and over again

Tossing turning roll away
Indecision won't you ever make up your mind
Lifetime Nigh time wake the day
Cause tomorrow will see if you've had your fill of sympathy

Will you never cease to be the glutton of sympathy?
Don't you know the stars are all fading let the sunshine capture the sparkle
of your smile