The Wallflowers Album

So long ago, I don't remember when
That's when they say I lost my only friend
Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
As I listened through the cemetery trees

I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
The long broken arm of human law
Now it always seemed such a waste
She always had a pretty face
So I wondered how she hung around this place

[Chorus:]
Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me & Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

She said it's cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can't break away from this parade
But there's got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed
And I seen the sun up ahead
At the county line bridge
Sayin' all there's good and nothingness is dead
We'll run until she's out of breath
She ran until there's nothin' left
She hit the end-it's just her window ledge

[chorus]

Well this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
Well it smells of cheap wine & cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn
I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think her death it must be killin' me

[chorus]

Sirens ring, the shots ring out
A stranger cries, screams out loud
I had my world strapped against my back
I held my hands, never knew how to act

Chorus:
And the same black line that was drawn on you
Was drawn on me
And now it's drawn me in
6th Avenue heartache

Below me was a homeless man
I'm singin' songs I knew complete
On the steps alone, his guitar in hand
It's fifty years, stood where he stands

Now walkin' home on those streets
The river winds move my feet
Subway steam, like silhouettes in dreams
They stood by me, just like moonbeams

Look out the window, down upon that street
And gone like a midnight was that man
But I see his six strings laid against that wall
And all his things, they all look so small
I got my fingers crossed on a shooting star
Just like me-just moved on

Once upon a time
They called me the bleeder
Well swimmin' up this river
With sentimental fever
But this ain't my first ride
It ain't my last try
Just got to keep a-movin' on
If they catch me ever
They'll throw me back forever

[chorus:]
I guess I should be ashamed
But I forget to be vain
Well I did the best I could I guess
But everything just bleeds
They say you're only sad and lonely
And no one is impressed

I sent it off in a letter
I need somethin' better
Than a nail and a hammer
To put me back together
But this ain't my first ride
It ain't my last try
Just got to keep a-movin on
Got to keep this together
Maybe next time is never

[chorus]

Sometimes I must confess
I do feel a little over dressed
Sometimes it's hard to tell the wishing from the well
Where you threw the penny and where it fell

I guess I should I should be ashamed
But I forget to be vain
Well I did the best I could I guess
But everything just bleeds
I guess I should be ashamed

But I forget to be vain
Well I did the best I could I guess
But everything just bleeds
They say you're only sad and lonely
And no one is impressed

Alone tonight in somebody's bed
She gone and dyed her hair red
She only went and did what she did
'Cause he would drive her home then
There's lipstick on her new dress
She hadn't even paid yet
But it doesn't matter where the money went
It wasn't how she paid 'er rent

One, two, three Marlenas
There's got to be someone we can trust
Out here among us

Now lookin' out across the city lights
She thought they'd be a good pair
Now he could make a living sellin' cars
Maybe she could work there
She's gonna pick a star in the night
And pray to make it all right
She tried so hard not to pick a kite
She always prayed to heaven lights

One, two, three Marlenas
There's got to be someone we can trust
Out here among us
One, two, three Marlenas
It's see no, speak no, hear no evil about us
The three Marlenas

Man, I think I'm gonna buy myself a Rolls
Maybe a Chevrolet
One where I can pull that top down
Just let my radio play
Now I'm headin' out on that highway
I'm goin' right out of state
Now I ain't lookin' back until I'm gone
Right through heaven's gates

One, two, three Marlenas
There's got to be someone we can trust
Out here among us
One, two, three Marlenas
Ya see no, speak no, hear no evil among us
The three Marlenas
Three Marlenas
Three Marlenas

One, two boys by the river
Down by the water
Tellin' riddles in the dark
With fireflies under the moonlight
Carvin' the insides of a tree with a knife
Ever hear the one about the boy's big sister
His best friend come along
He tried to kiss her

[Chorus:]
The only difference
That I see
Is you are exactly the same
As you used to be

One boy lives in a tower
With bow and arrow
And the artificial heart
With his girl
Miad of dishoner
He loaded the cannon
With a jealous appetite
They say that children now
They come in all ages
And maybe sometimes old men die
With little boy faces

[chorus]
[repeat]

You always said that you needed some
But you always had more, more than anyone

[chorus]
[repeat]

Lookin' back at the crash site
I don't see me by the roadside
Well this heart is on wheels tonight
Straight through the ghettos
And without lights
Now every heart has a blind side
Where it learns how to improvise
Well this place is a whorehouse tonight
Cheaper lovers make expensive wives

[Chorus:]
But all of these horses
That you chase around
In the end they are the ones
That always bring you down
This invisible city
Where no one sees nothing
We're touching faces in the dark
Feelin' pretty is so hard

Now all of these voices
And all of these noises
With all their illusions of choices
They've come to my door
With one dozen roses
The imitation of good faith
Is how you stumble upon hate
It may have been the first of mistakes
When we held on too loosely
Then opened the gates

[chorus]

Now I try not to tell lies
But there's pressures from inside
So I've learned how to compromise
Good people for alibis

[chorus]

Man, you oughta finish what you've started
You can't leave me here alive
Well I know it started as a fist fight
But you've got me covered up in hives

I don't need an invitation
The best peach is at the top of that tree
But when all this indecision reigns
So aimlessness that helps me see straight

You got me walkin' up a tightrope
With vaseline from my head to my feet
You got me lookin' into blindfolds
But I know you've got your hands all over me
So when all these imitations fail
Just don't look back 'cause I won't be there

[Chorus:]
Laughing out loud
When I didn't ever know just what it was all about
Laughing out loud
When I didn't ever know just why you push me around

Well I'm doing time inside a grapevine
Little things amuse little minds
Well, nothin's free except a little bit of bad advice
On how to live on only water, bread and rice

I don't need an invitation
The best peach is at the top of that tree
So when all this nighttime vision fails
I'll lose all these chains and slip out of this jail

I feel pretty good
I feel all right
And I've been thinkin' maybe
I could spend the night

I know you've been sad
I know I've been bad
But if you'd let me
Make you ribbons from a paper bag

[Chorus:]
Josephine
You're so good to me
And I know
It ain't easy
Josephine
You're so sweet
You must taste just like sugar & tangerines

I won't make a sound
Sleep on the ground
When you wake I will
Drive you into town
I missed your smile
Your schoolgirl style
But I never had much fun
Maybe the very first mile

[chorus]

Don't you know
I watched you walkin' home from school
Your friends on the old playgrounds
You never looked so down
Won't you come and help me with these cuts of mine?
I've disconnected my heart
And cut myself on the wires
Josephine

I know I was wrong
I knew all along
But I got so far from my home
I never thought I'd be so lonesome

[chorus]

Senorita
Looks like you ain't done nothing
good women ain't supposed to do
Oh no no no no
I seen her downtown
'Bout an hour ago
Behind the glass at a peep show
I got nervous 'cause I don't know
Can she see me behind that window?

It's almost nine and I'm back in line
I can't get the girl with the Spanish tears
Out of my mind
I've got to make her mine, all mine
But somethin' is wrong
She don't belong
She oughta be back where she's from
Maybe back home is Mexico City
Man, I don't know her
But she sure is pretty

[Chorus:]
But God don't make lonely girls
Sure didn't want 'em in His world
God don't make lonely girls
Yeah, yeah, doo doo doo doo

Now when I make that girl all mine
I'm gonna stand by her
Once I get inside of
Her barbed wire
Once I get inside
I bet she'd look good in a brand new dress
She never felt good in her fish net
She's got to be this towns best mess
But it ain't nothin' that her face would suggest

[chorus]

I gotta make her see
I'm a guarantee
Oh, if she'd only come along with me
Well I can make her see
Gonna take a walk right through these walls
'Cause she's comin' home with me
I ain't even gonna touch her at all
Man, I'm only gonna lay awake and watch her sleep

[chorus]

She knows just what I like
The angel on my bike
She found me down on a two ton anchor
Tangled up in wire
She always gets it right
The angel on my bike
I could be killed if the train goes faster
Well angel watch my life

I can't handle a care
I want, but I can't be there
While angel's a prayer

It's 45 miles on that highway
Angel double prayer
I have to sleep with my eyes on the white lines
Elvis need of repair
I only wanted to believe
That angel it's me that you need
And there's only, only one heart on that highway
Angel double prayer

I can't handle a care
I want, but I can't be there
While angel's a prayer
I can't handle a care
I want, but I can't be there
While angel's a prayer

Now it's hard time on these wheels
These fairytales
Turn to rusted steel and it's
Gettin' hard now to believe
She's seein' me
Angel, please, tell me
Can't you see
Angel it's only me
Angel it's only me

Well I can't take a care
Man, I want, but I can't be there
While angel's a prayer
I can't handle a care
Well, I want, but I can't be there
While angel's a prayer

Say when you're alone
It's better 'cause nobody knows you
When no one's your friend
It's better 'cause nobody leaves you
So you turned your back
On a world that you could never have
'Cause your heart's been cracked
And everyone else's is goin' mad

[Chorus:]
But I hear voices
And I see colors
But I wish I felt nothing
Then it might be easy for me
Like it is for you

Now all of these people
Come up from deep holes
Pullin' you down
And it's just no use
When all the abuse follows you down
By the morning you've gone
Leavin' me here all alone
Sayin' it's no mystery
I know that nobody here needs me

[chorus]

And I know you believe that you and me don't belong here
And the worst we could do
Is keep trying to pretend we care