Modern Drag

Modern Drag
South of Here
Chrysanthemum
Porcelain
Je Serai Libre
New York Charlie
One Eyed Jack
Like Nina Said
Danger Road
1984
Bankrupt Culture
Penitence

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Lyrics

Modern Drag

Well you know everything’s right in the world
Ain’t nothing gonna touch me now
You know I got the choice to make

There ain’t nothing gonna bring me down
I can walk on water
Or part the seas, for you and me

Oh I see only sunshine through these eyes
I must be blind or at least I’ll try
Try for awhile

Oooh nothing you can say will change my mind
No matter what, I have it all
I always have, I didn’t see it before

It’s always been there baby, it’s always been there baby, it’s always been there baby …

And you say everything’s wrong in this world
Your caught in the devil’s mirror
Just close your eyes, to these trying times

And let the fuckin’ clowns run around in shame
Their rhetoric
It’s nothing more, than more of the same

Well you know I’ve always had something to say
I always have,
Well it took me awhile to find my voice

Oooh nothing you can say will change my mind
No matter what I have it all
I always have, I didn’t see it before

South of Here

Cold hands cold heart don’t warm the night
And this empty boulevard is bathed in cold pink light
Skeleton trees are a’ whistlin’ up in the wind
Metal bars over windows are keepin’ me in

And the concrete men are pounding on these concrete paths
Is there blood in there? I dunno ‘bout that
The dirt and the grime, the city in its prime
Corruption of wealth, livin’ a life of crime

And I just have to go somewhere south of here …

Lonely man is lonely livin’ out on the streets
His heart ain’t broken, but it’s skippin’ beats
Ain’t nobody know if he’s alive or dead
His blank eyes are staring straight out his empty head

Now the president won’t listen to the village voice
Is he speaking tongues? Just static white noise
…
And back in the city I slobber like a doy-yoy-yoy

And I just have to go somewhere south of here …

Chrysanthemum

Ooooh … We shake our hands
Ooooh … We shake our heads
We shake inside these empty beds
We shake inside these empty beds
It’s no surprise our time's gone by, gone by, gone by
It’s no surprise our time's gone by, gone by, gone by
Love is just a faded memory
Love is just a faded memory

Chrysanthemum
Oh so plain, your day will come
Chrysanthemum
Such a plain Jane, your day will come

Ooooh … I was a simple man
Ooooh … With a simple plan
I did what I could with what I had
I did what I could, was it so bad?
I didn’t fare so well, oh well, oh well, oh well
I didn’t fare so well, oh well, oh well, oh well\
Love is just a faded memory
Love is just a faded memory
Love is just a faded memory
Love is just a faded memory

Chrysanthemum
Oh so plain, your day will come
Chrysanthemum
Such a plain Jane, your day will come

You’re time will come Chrysanthemum

Porcelain

Dark fingers fracture the sky
Empty veins whisper a sigh
Colors drained to the bone
White on white we were all alone

The rain kept falling on porcelain
The rain kept falling on porcelain

Porcelain, I saw through you
Porcelain, it covered you
Porcelain, I loved you

Crescent shapes crease and bend
They terminate at a jagged edge
In our hearts perfect spheres
Fade away year on year

The rain kept falling on porcelain
The rain kept falling on porcelain

Porcelain, I saw through you
Porcelain, it covered you
Porcelain, I loved you

I just needed time to patch the holes
I just needed time to paint them over …

Je Serai Libre!

When a million thoughts stampede your head
When you wish that you or she were dead
When the social climate is all too deadly
When the booze and drugs are all too friendly

When the days run dry of inspiration
When the news is filled with misinformation
When dog day nights begin coming in December
When your own fucking name is too hard to remember
You know the time …

When you feel you are half the man you were meant to be,
Rend-toi á Paris
To feel twice the man you believe you really are,
Rend-toi á Paris

When buildings fall and tempers flare
When ego is paired with flags in the air
When art is spoon fed from a plastic cup
When diet and exercise just aren’t enough

When shiny starlets light up the night
When the urge to fight is at its height
When the bell tower rings half past one
When the old man shouts “Get me my gun”
You know the time …

Je vais échapper à cette folie
Je vais échapper à cet homme fou
Je vais me libérer de cette oppression
Je vais me libérer de cette nation
Je serai libre!

Lunch with Gertrude and Alice B
Watch the Madahari at Natalie’s
T.S. Eliot and Joyce and Pound
I want to find what Rivers found
Like Pablo I want to be impressed
And I want Miller’s stark happiness
What was Earnest’s inspiration?
Let’s get lost with the Lost Generation …

New York Charlie

So now tell me, what’s this provocation?
All this because you’re not caucasian
So now tell me, what is the occasion?
Because this is one fucked up liaison

I never used to think that you were like this
Fake plastic show, nothing under the surface
I never knew that you could be this bad
You say this but then you go and do that

New York Charlie, oh we want to be
All of us, just like New York Charlie

So now tell me, what’s your inspiration?
All you do is for your ego inflation
So now tell me, what’s this demonstration?
I’m so tired of your passive aggression

I never used to think that you were like this
Fake plastic show, nothing under the surface
I never knew that you could be this bad
You say this but then you go and do that

New York Charlie, oh we want to be
All of us, just like New York Charlie

You’re just a paper moon hanging over a cardboard sea
And you’re held in place with a tiny piece of cellophane tape

One Eyed Jack

The man named One Eyed Jack, he stands by the wall
He flicks his cigarette onto the floor
But no one else has seen the gasoline
No one else except of course you and me

He jumps into a Cadillac
He turns and winks then turns and smiles
His wicked grin is meant for you and me
As we tumble into the backseat

The man named One Eyed Jack, he slides on past
Ropes of velvet, his smooth bare chest
A flower in bloom, dog in heat, dare he stay
But the hangman he waits for some other dame

His hair white with bleach and his long coat tail
And blue eyes that squint in the sun
The scent of cheap sex is expensive cologne
We belong to him and to him alone

I don’t know whad’ya see
I don’t know whad’ya see
Whad’ya see, One Eyed Jack, whad’ya see?

Like Nina Said

It’s like Nina said, they don’t know that I’m dead
It’s just the ghost of me hanging by a thread
The lies are sublime, I mean yours and not mine
The national pride reveals the animal side

And oh my god, here we go again
I swear to god they told me that it’s not a sin
And oh my god, here we go again
I swear to god they told me that it’s not a sin

It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said

The radio emissions from the hexagon
Saturn’s talking to me from beyond
The stars all disappear candle flames flicker out
The heroes of our youth are all headed south

And oh my god, here we go again
I swear to god they told me that it’s not a sin
And oh my god, here we go again
I swear to god they told me that it’s not a sin

It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said
It’s like Nina said (I’m already in church)
It’s like Nina said (I’m already in church)
It’s like Nina said (I’m already in church)
It’s like Nina said (I’m already, I’m already in church)
It’s like Nina said (I’m already in church, I’m already in church)
It’s like Nina said (I’m already in church, I’m already in church)

It’s like Nina said, they don’t know that I’m dead
It’s just the ghost of me hanging by a thread
It’s like Nina said, they don’t know that I’m dead
It’s just the ghost of me hanging by a thread

Danger Road

There’s no end to the days and nights
No time for cable television
No cell phones in our utopia
No priests in the ivory tower
No thieves lurking in the temple
No wasted lives and no lost dreams
No senseless war or silly monarchy
No used goods, no maniac’s folly

We used to live down on First and Main
But we’ve been cast out again
We’re all alone, all alone we roam,
We live at the end of Danger Road …

Our numbers grow and we become strong
We walk the tracks all the day long
Laying in the wheat fields like we do
Occasionally blowing on a daffodil
We’re riding the good times high
Blood orange skies burned in our eyes
Walking on the thin blade of the knife
We’re just taking our time at life

We used to live down on First and Main
But we’ve been cast out again
We’re all alone, all alone we roam,
We live at the end of Danger Road

We used to blend into society,
Floating with the masses in a big white sea
But they found out their Prince was a toad,
We live at the end of Danger Road …

1984

Now don’t believe in
What it is you’re seeing with your own eyes
(This could be the end)
And don't believe in
Whatever you’re hearing with your own ears
(This could be the end of our everything)

We’re living in this world, we’ve seen it before
It’s a nightmare like in 1984

And if they tell you
That up is down and left is right
(This could be the end)
And if they tell you
That in is out and day is night
(This could be the end of our everything)

We’re living in this world, we’ve seen it before
It’s a nightmare like in 1984

Bankrupt Culture

Are we gonna be able to (outlive this bizarro nation)
Postpone our deaths (by character assassination)
Camaraderie among thieves (they’re stealing time)
Time spent in needless self-defense (and making up of lies)
The laymen are too dumb (to understand your rhetoric)
To take action in our name (Don’t say we’re better off for it)

The kids are all alright (at least you think that is the case)
There’s no gun in your hand (just superiority on your face)
Tax gifts for the rich disguised (as relief for the working man)
Your big bag of candy (to lure the kids inside your van)
This shell game works too well (when there is no ball to find)
Smoke and mirrors, a walking cane (hide the fact that you’re not blind)

Fame and fortune aren’t elusive (for those born with a silver spoon)
April showers bring May flowers (but they wither away by June)
Your secret ingredients (proprietary, you’ve made your case)
You know something that we don’t (it’s that smirk upon your face)
A continued search for the things (we all know really don’t exist)
But you pout and you get your way (look at you slam your fists)

Livin’ in a bankrupt culture (strange days) we don’t live in the past
Livin’ in a bankrupt culture (strange days) we ain’t afraid to go fast
And if we happen to die young (strange days) then it won’t be so bad
But if we live to a hundred (strange days) who’s gonna pay the tab?

And you say this hurts you more than me but I’ve heard that line before,
You’re playin’ dumb and you’re playin’ me for a fool.
So don’t rape me, don’t rope me into your grand schemes to take over the world.
I’m not your tool … I’m not your tool …

Penitence

I don’t know why you feel so alone tonight
It’s just you and I, there’s no one else in sight
And we’re running as fast as we can.

And I don’t know why we’re getting caught in the searchlights
I tried to do what was right and slip into the night
When I saw you with another man.

But the forest had been tinder dry for days
You were just spark that set this fire ablaze
But it burned so hot and it burned so long
And my head went off, went off like a bomb
Then my mouth went dry when your eyes asked why
Oh, where did it all go so wrong?

I don’t know why you are so scared of this ride
Yes it goes so high, c’mon learn to fly
Inside’s where the true treasure lies.

And I don’t know why I felt such great passion that night
I know I wasn’t right, I didn’t want to fight
All that’s left is to say our goodbyes.