Wilco

Down From Above

Down from above
I know
It’s only love
Until it goes
When the last book is written
The last song is sung
When the last beginner has begun
Down from above
Comes the day
A light is made
to go away
Where can I go
Where can I flee
Now that you know
Will you take me?
Down from above
I know
It’s only love
Until it goes
The world is filled with sadness
Your darkness falls on me
Where will you go?
Where will you be?
Down from above
Too wonderful for me
Down from above
Too wonderful for me

Diamond Light Pt. 1

Why don’t we pick one script
and read it
Where the milk has dried
on the throne
Open wide
Sing gracefully beside
Rolling rivers of diamond light
Dash and heave
Each ache to the sky
Why don’t we choose one to
believe in
Where shadows die
Also alone
Coincide
Colliding points of view
Perfect mountains of diamond light
Dash and heave
Each ache to the sky
Are you scared
Are you frightened
Terrified of being alone
Are you scared
Are you frightened
Terrified of being alone

 

High As Hello

So long I will wait for
Howl at the moon
So low all the way home
Sit at the spoon
I should take you too
O’ I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Hello on the waveform
The wicked will die
So alone I know I’m shade-grown
Now why would I?
I’ll take you too
I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Oh I’ll take you too
I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Hello
Solo all the waveforms
The wicked will die
I’m alone all overtone
The rivers awake
I should take you too
O’ I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Hello
Hello
I’ll take you too
I’m as high as
I’m as high as
I should take you too
O’ I’m as high as
I’m as high as

 

Desert Bell

Oh, I am sorry you won’t recognize me
Born and bred to be led
and be dead by degrees
I’m taking a moment to express my regret
Before I forget how it goes
As fast as our blood can crackle with blame
The arrows of eyes
Defined our embrace too soon
And piercing the place where even the moon
Would never dream to shine
The deluge day-dreaming turned to pain
Blades of blood
Rained beneath
Silk teeth
I barked like a cricket flaked like a bone
Tricked and switched off in a heap
And buried myself so deep and so true
No one ever saw through
Thoroughly cruel and alone
Am I so sorry you don’t recognize me
I am always the one
You lost to all tomorrows
Oh, look past your anger and please render me down
In a hole in the ground
Mixed with the earth
Remember these words
And let me no longer be worth your sorrow

Flowering

Hold me stranger
Don’t deceive
Angel master
Can’t retrieve
Northern knots
Hung high in the trees
Spilling oceans
Existing to believe
Flowering
I told you danger
Carbon crown
March through the salt slush
Howling at the ground
Whistle my answer
Dance a blank face
Torment my sugar
And leap at any trace of
Flowering
Hold me stranger
Don’t deceive
Angel master
Can’t retrieve
Northern knots
Hung high in the trees
Spilling oceans
Existing to believe
Flowering

 

Honey Combed

I can feel the mystery
But I can’t play it
Grey as the children are grey
My thoughts are grim, polluted as I am
Walking out one summer noon
So soon
How will the weather bring
Sing like the children have sung
High as the stars are hung
I vanish before I go
I have written with a rope
Wrapped around my throat
Loomed like an island
Dope hooked and cycloned
Honey-combed my heart in love
And from above
Every cemetery
Against the bloom
Rattle the pigs, visit the silence
Waking up an open wound
I can feel the mystery
But I can’t play it
Grey as the children are grey
My thoughts are dim, polluted as I am
Walking out one summer noon

World Away

I only want to feel
this morning
Catch the avenue
I intend to steal
this moment
As we’re moving through
Make my rendezvous
As if it’s all I do
I’m about to feel it lift
sorrow floats away
Over miles of old world
Darling
Honey I can’t complain
Only a world away
Only a world away
I’m about to freeze the sun
So let me fall away
How it comes to be so really
Nothings left to say
Only a world away
Only a world away
Out of bounds of maps crawl
Over the mounds of bones
Is how I came to call you lonesome
Over the telephone
Over the telephone
Only a world away
I only want to feel
this morning
Catch the avenue
I intend to steal
this moment
As we’re moving through
Make my rendezvous
As if it’s all I do
I’m about to feel it lift
sorrow floats away
Over miles of old world
Darling
Honey I can’t complain
Love me a world away
Only a world away
I’m about to freeze the sun
So let me please explain
How it comes to be so really
Nothings left to say
Only a world away
Only a world away
Out of bounds of maps crawl
Over the mounds of bones
Is how I came to call you lonesome
Over the telephone
Over the microphone
It’s only a world away

New Moon

Well, I’ve always been certain nearly all of my life
One day I’d be your burden and you would be my wife
Let me hang like a new moon and let me be your twin
Let me hang like a new moon
Don’t treat me like a stranger again
You keep me as your thief, please let me be a little more
When you fall asleep let me be what you’re dreaming for
Let me hang like a new moon
Don’t treat me like a stranger any more
Well, I’ve always been certain nearly all of my life
One day I’d be your burden and you would be my wife
Let me hang like a new moon high in the wind
Let me hang like a new moon
Don’t treat me like a stranger again
You keep me as a thief, please let me be a little more
When you fall asleep let me be what you’re dreaming for
I’ve always been certain nearly all of my life

 

Summer Noon

Summer noon I can always stay
To radiate what the cello can’t play
She spoke to me and provoked my band
And I broke in two in the heat of her hand
Like a lioness or a coyote
At a pink beating heart in the balcony
I followed the finger to the creature’s gate
In the hubbub where the pitiful congregate
I thought there was a note that I couldn’t hear
So I floated to the whisper up against my ear
Afterwards I found my face in the trash
Really at the core of it it wasn’t so bad
Never leave your mother's womb
Unless you want to see how hard a broken heart can swoon

Where My Love

I want to watch you growing old and dumb
I want to see what you and I become
City arrow a mountain flame
I want to be born just the same
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
I had a dream we were cast away
I came to say this but you wanted to stay
I sail away, I woke up
I couldn’t hold you long enough
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love is gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Yeah where all my love is gone
I want to watch you growing old and dumb
I want to see what you and I become

Fake Fur Coat

Behold the drift of a distant sun
Cold as my own heart
Blind at the edge of no return
Every time I dare depart
I believe the myth may illuminate
an anchor in dry weeds
At the end of July in a fake fur coat
Hoping that your heart still needs me
I concede there’s beauty in bubblegum
And rolling up my sleeves
To advertise the new freedom
I accept that I can’t receive
Behold the gift of a distant sun
The canyons full of loose bones
The metals and brambles and the jack bitch boss
Thundering down from his throne

Slow Love

Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
And so it was on one cold night
In the middle of a lonely life
And so it was you found my door
And though it wasn’t open
O, I had never seen it before
So it was we fell in love
What would you call when it rises up
Or what to call it but falling in love
I never needed to know what it was
You never needed to know what it was
We never needed to know
Oh
So it was that it was there
A part of us as real as the air
I never needed to know what it was
So it was that it was there
A part of us as real as the air
I never needed to know what it was
No love is the only love

 

Nobody Dies Anymore

Sitting in a combed out room
Watching the world to end
I won’t say golden
Until you let me back in
Nobody says goodbye
But everybody goes home
We end the day sober
To a depth we don’t own
I stand where I grew
Oh, I hated that too
When hell’s about to blow in
I saddle up new
And it won’t be long
To find a broken back bone
Or another ocean
Are there any unknown
So I dance my shoe
Beneath the black balloon
Flip it at you for your trouble
So long, so soon
I’m going to
Nobody dies anymore
but don’t you think it’s never over
Nobody dies anymore
No badge knock on a dark front door
Some things still change
But
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Don’t I look over my sister
Sister don’t you know me no more
She calls me once every summer
Before the leafs turn gold
When she was the daughter
Of a world without end
They told her I was stolen
She couldn’t comprehend
Poured out in the street
By the blood in the grass
Poured out at the feet
By the broken glass
Nobody dies anymore
No badge knock on a dark front door
Some things still change
But
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Love every song that I know
You ask me well how so
Strange I can’t defend
I love how every song ends

 

Via Chicago

I dreamed about killing you again last night
And it felt alright to me
Dying on the banks of Embarcadero skies
I sat and watched you bleed
Buried you alive in a fireworks display
Raining down on me
Your cold, hot blood ran away from me
To the sea

I printed my name on the back of a leaf
And I watched it float away
The hope I had in a notebook full of white, dry pages
Was all I tried to save
But the wind blew me back via Chicago
In the middle of the night
And all without fight
At the crush of veils and starlight

I know I'll make it back
One of these days and turn on your TV
To watch a man with a face like mine
Being chased down a busy street
When he gets caught I won't get up
And I won't go to sleep
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
Via Chicago

Where the cups are cracked and hooked
Above the sink
They make me think
Crumbling ladder tears don't fall
They shine down your shoulders
Crawling is screw faster lash
I blow it with kisses
Rest my head on a pillowy star
And a cracked door moon
Says I haven't gone too far

I'm coming home
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Via Chicago

I'm coming home
I'm coming home
I'm coming home

Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Searching for a home
Via Chicago

I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Instrumental credits: Jeff Tweedy – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers Jay Bennett – banjo, piano, organ, moog, tambourine John Stirratt – bass Ken Coomer – drums

New Madrid [Uncle Tupelo]

All my daydreams are disasters
She's the one I think I love
Rivers burn and then run backwards
For her, that's enough

They all come from New York City
And they woke me up at dawn
She walked with me to the fountain
And she held onto my arm

Come on, do what you did
Roll me under New Madrid
Shake my baby and please bring her back
'Cause death won't even be still
Caroms over the landfill
Buries us all in its broken back

There's a man of conviction
And although he's getting old
Mr. Browning has a prediction
And we've all been told

So come on back from New York City
Roll your trucks in at dawn
Walk with me to the fountain
And hold onto my arm

Come on, do what you did
Roll me under New Madrid
Shake my baby and please bring her back
'Cause death won't even be still
Caroms over the landfill
Buries us all in its broken back

originally appears on Anodyne / Uncle Tupelo written by Jeff Tweedy

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

I am an American aquarium drinker
I assassin down the avenue
I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
What was I thinking when I let go of you

Let's forget about the tongue-tied lightning
Let's undress just like cross-eyed strangers
This is not a joke so please stop smiling
What was I thinking when I said it didn't hurt

I want to glide through those brown eyes dreaming
Take you from the inside (baby) hold on tight
You were so right when you said I've been drinking
What was I thinking when we said good night

I want to hold you in the bible black predawn
You're quite a quiet domino bury me now
Take off your band aid cuz I don't believe in touchdowns
What was I thinking when we said hello

I always thought that if I held you tightly
You would always love me like you did back then
Then I fell asleep in the city kept blinking
What was I thinking when I let you back in

I am trying to break your heart
I am trying to break your heart
But still I'd be lying if I said it wasn't easy
I am trying to break your heart

Disposable Dixie cup drinker
I assassin down the avenue
I've been hiding out in the big city blinking
What was I thinking when I let go of you

(I'm the man who loves you)
   

Radio King (Golden Smog)

Lets go down, together 3 A.M tomorrow night I’ll take you over anything Lets go out, together Broad daylight in the street I’ll take you anywhere Your music fills my car Your voice breaks every time I’m still wonderin If I know who you are I hang on every line Lets go down, together Down by the old mainstream I’ll take you over anything Lets go back in time Nineteenfiftynie I’ll take you, Radio King Your music fills my car Your voice breaks every time I’m still wonderin If I know who you are I hang on every line written by Jeff Tweedy and Gary Louris (appears on Golden Smog album down by the old mainstream)

Passenger Side

Hey, wake up
Your eyes weren't open wide
For the last couple of miles
You've been swerving from side to side
You're gonna make me spill my beer
If you don't learn how to steer

Passenger side
Passenger side
I don't like riding
On the passenger side

Roll another number for the road
You're the only sober person I know
Won't you let me make you a deal
Just get behind the wheel

Passenger side
Passenger side
I don't like riding
On the passenger side

Should've been the driver
Could've been the one
I should've been your lover
But I hadn't seen

Can you take me to the store, and then the bank?
I've got five dollars we can put in the tank
I've got a court date coming this June
I'll be driving soon

Passenger side
Passenger side
I don't like riding
On the passenger side
I don't like riding
On the passenger side

Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic guitar
John Stirratt – bass
Max Johnston – mandolin, fiddle
Ken Coomer – drums
Brian Henneman – small stoned guitar

The Ruling Class

He resurfaced on the sidewalk on my block the other day
Yeah it's a fact, check it sorry charlie honey he's back from LA
So son you better turn it around, yeah Christ is on his way across town
He was gettin' tired of hangin' around
Yeah he's back jack, smokin' crack, find him if you wanna get found
he's having supper with the upper management of a new regime
He's in a new jacket, tax bracket, sandals and a dark pair of jeans
He's got deductions right on down the line
Dependent claims on all of my mankind
Have no fear he's right here drinking beer just trying to get down
he resurfaced on the sidewalk on my block the other day
Yeah it's a fact, check it--sorry charlie honey he's back from the grave
You better turn your frown upside down, yeah Christ is on his way across town
He was gettin' tired of hangin' around
Yeah he's back jack, shootin' smack, find him if you wanna get down
Yeah he's back jack, smokin' crack, find him if you wanna get found

Should've Been in Love

You've been dealing with all of these feelings
Like they got you believing they have no meaning
But they do

Your life's been stinking, your heart's been sinking
And you're too busy thinking to stop
You blink and you're blue

Should've been in love
Should've been in love
Should've been in love

Your mind's been racing, your heart's been chasing
And you might as well face it
Time's wasting, it's true

Your life's been stinking, your heart's been shrinking
And you're too busy thinking to stop
You blink and you're blue

Should've been in love
Should've been in love
Should've been in love
I know how it goes
So
I just had to
Let you know I know

My life's been stinking, my heart's been shrinking
And I'm too busy thinking to stop
I blink and you're gone

Should've been in love
We should've been in love
We should've been in love

Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic guitar
John Stirratt – bass
Max Johnston – dobro
Ken Coomer – drums
Brian Henneman – guitar

Gun (Uncle Tupelo)

Falling out the window
Tripping on a wrinkle in the rug
Falling out of love, dear
It hurt much worse when you gave up

Just don't tell me which way I oughta run
Or what good I could do anyone
'Cause my heart it was a gun
But it's unloaded now
So don't bother

Climbing up the ladder
Breaking my shin on the very first rung
Waking up the neighbors
It's all right, they understand they're just as dumb

And they don't tell me which way I oughta run
Or what good I could do anyone
'Cause my heart it was a gun
But it's unloaded now
So don't bother me now
Don't bother

Crawling back to you now
I sold my guitar to the girl next door
She asked me if I knew how
I told her I don't think so anymore

Don't tell me which way I oughta run
What good could I do anyone
'Cause my heart it was a gun
But it's unloaded now
So don't bother

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Born Alone

I have heard the war and worry of the gospel
Ferried fast across the void
I have married broken spoke charging smoke wheels
Spit and swallowed opioid
I am the driver at the wheel of the horror
Marching circles at the gate
Mine eyes have seen
The fury so flattered by fate

Tonight I’d rather count the warm fuse internally
Subtract the silence of myself
I would rather choose the middle mind of mystery
Reverse a riddle for my health
I’ll unwind strange rinds overpowering
Toss the chimneys in the sea
I believe I’ve seen
The finger divine extremity

Please come closer to the feather smooth lens fly
Sadness is my luxury
Will you weather, join the cold, come before I die
More aware of it than me
The valves are blowing stone
The kids are unabashed
Loneliness postponed
Mine eyes deceiving glory
I was born to die alone
Alone

Alone

Jesus, Etc.

Jesus, don't cry
You can rely on me honey
You can combine anything you want
I'll be around
You were right about the stars
Each one is a setting sun

Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad sad songs
Tuned to chords strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around

Don't cry
You can rely on me honey
You can come by any time you want
I'll be around
You were right about the stars
Each one is a setting sun

Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad sad songs
Tuned to chords strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around

Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together
Your voice is smoking
Last cigarettes are all you can get
Turning your orbit around

Our love
Our love
Our love is all we have
Our love
Our love is all of God's money
Everyone is a burning sun

Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad sad songs
Tuned to chords strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around

Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together
Your voice is smoking
Last cigarettes are all you can get
Turning your orbit around

Last cigarettes are all you can get
Turning your orbit around

Last cigarettes are all you can get
Turning your orbit around

Wait For Love

Honey I’m worried the fire is cold our tired souls have lost their way. Stay home and find the song fade away alone and strange, out of range
I’ve heard you say dreams don’t matter That’s why we hold on as the days pass and wait for love
Arm and arm waltz through the distant days the scattered parades as the sweet slips away
Oh I guess you’d say we don’t matter and I bet that could be true. But I still wanna look in your eyes and say I’ll wait for you
Oh I guess you’d say we don’t matter and I bet that could be true. But I still wanna look in your eyes today and wait for love. Let’s wait for love
 

California Stars

I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd love to feel your hand touching mine
And tell me why I must keep working on
Yes I'd give my life to lay my head tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd like to dream my troubles all away
On a bed of California stars
Jump up from my starbed and make another day
Underneath my California stars

They hang like grapes on vines that shine
And warm the lovers' glass like friendly wine
So, I'd give this world
just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

Published by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc./Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Words-Ampersand Music [BMI]/Titanic Majesties Music [ASCAP] Words: Woody Guthrie [no date] Music: Jay Bennett/Jeff Tweedy 1997 Jay Bennett: piano, backing vocal Billy Bragg: acoustic guitar Ken Coomer: drums and percussion Corey Harris: lap steel guitar Eliza Carthy: violin John Stirratt: electric bass, backing vocal Jeff Tweedy: acoustic guitar, lead vocal

Misunderstood

When you're back in your old neighborhood
The cigarettes taste so good
But you're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood

There's something there that you can't find
You look honest when you're telling a lie
You hurt her but you don't know why
You love her but you don't know why

Short on long term goals
There's a party there that we ought to go to
If you still love rock and roll
If you still love rock and roll?

It's only a quarter to three
Reflecting off of your CD
You're looking at a picture of me
You're staring at a picture of me

Take the guitar player for a ride
'Cause he ain't never been satisfied
He thinks he owes some kind of debt
It'll be years before he gets over it

There's a fortune inside your head
When all you touch turns to lead
You think you might just crawl back in bed
With a fortune inside your head

I know you're just a mama's boy
You're positively unemployed
So misunderstood
So misunderstood

I know you've got a god-shaped hole
You're bleeding out your heart full of soul
You're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood

I'd like to thank you all for nothing
I'd like to thank you all for nothing at all
I'd like to thank you all for nothing
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing at all
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing at all