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

Looking For A Way Out (Uncle Tupelo)

When you find you can't somehow
Make it like all the rest
You won't need to scrounge around for someone else

Torn between the unknown
And the place that you call home
And the life you want but have never known

There was a time
You could put it out of your mind
Leave it all behind
There was a time
That time is gone

What has a life of fifty years
In this town done for you
Except to earn your name and place on a barstool
You spent your whole life in this county
You've never been out of state
You say you're gonna make it out before it's too late
There was a time
You could put it out of your mind
Leave it all behind
There was a time
That time is gone

There was a time when nothing seemed to make much sense that's turned more intense
And all the crutches you've kept around
Now are nowhere to be found

Remember when you didn't have
To look ahead or behind you
There was always something right there to do
But now it's life in some kind of trap looking for a way out
Well, you keep moving on that's what it's all about
There was a time
You could put it out of your mind
Leave it all behind
There was a time
That time is gone

written by Jay Farrar,Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Fall Down Easy (Uncle Tupelo)

Disengaged, we're forsaken now
Communication does suffer
The moral stare of Big Brother
Not a chance, no compromise
Battling the barrier of belief
Not to try anymore
Don't want to murder the only memory or hide
Try to accept that it's all worthwhile
When you've been disengaged
Severed from any world that's mine

You can hang the blame on the wall
It'll be a frame around us all
Deluged by stickers and billboards
The conversation turns to war
Never thought it would come down to this
It seems every person for themself
Don't want to murder the only memory or hide
Try to accept that it's all worthwhile
When you've been disengaged
Severed and forsaken
When you've been disengaged
Severed from any world that's mine

More and more makes a hunger for less
You get hurt when you touch
The bright lights burning
When you're high
You can fall down easy

Too many years spent trigger-happy
At times I feel betrayed
I feel that I've been wronged
Suspended in all disbelief
Until it seems it just can't go on

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Nothing (Uncle Tupelo)

Been traveling around some
Crossing people’s paths
Some, they stand right in your way
Others like to watch you pass

Been trying to memorize
All the different lies
That people must tell themselves
Each night to justify their lives

Don’t call it nothing
This might be all we’ll ever have

Held myself for ransom
Wandered so blind
I found roads less traveled
To take you off my mind

And I told myself I know
Everything I do
I’m just looking for something
To lead me away from you

Don’t call it nothing
This might be all we’ll ever have
I know it’s not enough
To make it sound like more
So I swear if there’s a God
To make him sleep on the floor

Been traveling around some
Crossing people’s paths
Some, they stand right in your way
Others like to watch you pass

Don’t call it nothing
This might be all we’ll ever have
I’ll ever have, ever have

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Still Be Around (Uncle Tupelo)

I don't see you through the windshield
I don't see you in faces looking back at me
Alcohol doesn't have much that matters to say
Can't imagine where you and time to kill will stay
When the bible is a bottle
And the hardwood floor is home
When morning comes twice a day or not at all
If I break in two will you put me back together
When this puzzle's figured out will you still be around
To say you've just been there
Walking the line upside down

Walked and breathed many a cancerous mile
Where the bat of an eye is too slow to beat the coffin
They won't tell it on the TV
They can't say it on the radio
They pay to move it off the shelf and into our minds
until you can't tell the truth
When it's right in front of your eyes
When the bible is a bottle
And the hardwood floor is home
When morning comes twice a day or not at all
If I break in two will you put me back together
When this puzzle's figured out will you still be around
To say you've just been there
Walking the line upside down

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Watch Me Fall (Uncle Tupelo)

Some folks find
that their role in life
is to fail
at everything they try
while other folks see
but not like me
There's one thing
That they're damn good at

Gather around you all
Come around and see
Those who stand tall
Why don't you please watch me fall

The hole it is wide
and it's there to divide
it's no one's fault,
It's put there by design
and there's a bridge yet to build
as many men have willed
that can stand the weight
of all those who wish to pass

Gather around you all
Come around and see
Those who stand tall
Why don't you please watch me fall

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Punch Drunk (Uncle Tupelo)

Way in overhead
Caught off guard by the gutter
Everybody's spending his time
Just building and making
Someday someone will say, for what
Nine to five in a blind alley
Equals three sheets to the wind
Can't remember when it started
Don't know where that it ends
And there's never a dull day
When you're beaten by nonfiction
God still reads the headlines
The front page hope is missing

Working away on a rebuilt freeway
Straight away from the slash and burn cities
Hindsight is there
On a road sign pointed nowhere
No one gets off here
No way to slow down
There's peace of mind somewhere
For every someone that never thinks about it
And there's never a dull day
When you're beaten by nonfiction
God still reads the headlines we're all listening
For every drop of sweat that it takes
To speak out in wonder
Never knowing how or when to duck next
Just sitting here punch drunk, all the wiser

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

Postcard (Uncle Tupelo)

Lost sight of ground
Never been so down
Nothing here to stand on
It's a war-weary road
Another faceless tombstone
Nothing here to stand on

I turn to face the wind
May never get out
Forever caught in a spin
No better place to begin
Can't find the phone,
Can't hear to listen
Can't take along what we're missing
Just as well to write this postcard from hell
And the bar clock says three a.m.
Fallout shelter sign above the door
In other words, don't come here anymore

Too many miles between
I heard a dead man scream
Nothing here to stand on

Each and every step
Reeling out more or less
Nothing here to stand on

I turn to face the wind
May never get out
Forever caught in a spin
No better place to begin

I turn to face the wind
May never get out
Forever caught in a spin
No better place to begin

Tried to stay, tried to run
There's never been enough reason
To believe in anyone
This trickle-down theory
Has left all these pockets empty
And the bar clock says three a.m.
Fallout shelter sign above the door
In other words, don't come here anymore

written by Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, Mike Heidorn

D. Boon (Uncle Tupelo)

Do you remember, remember D. Boon
Part of what he was is a part of me now and if you think back, where would he be
Where would I be if time had allowed
This isn't written for any one man it's about me
This isn't written for anyone alive just the songs that he sang
I've been told that it's a waste of time
Well, so what
Will it be worth mine
And if Managua's bullets don't fly young men still would die for glory
Or for their countries
It's just me and Jay
Playing our guitars along with it all
This isn't written for any one man it's about me
This isn't written for anyone alive just the songs that he sang
And I'm not old
So I've got nothing but time to waste will it be worth mine

True To Life (Uncle Tupelo)

I can only sing it loud
Always try to sing it clear
What the hell are we all doing here
Making too much of nothing
Or creating one unholy mess
An unfair study in survival, I guess
But it always comes down to
What to do when it's all around you
And this tightwire act
Leaving us here for dead to news of the world
And liquor piles up ahead
Dodging those with words of power
Forever on their breath
When the quality of life gets tripped upstrangled like death
It seems it's getting harder out thereespecially without time enough to see
True to life is another hangover
True to life is more and more politics
True to life is always having to look over your shouldertrue to life is assembly-line sickness
But it always comes down to
What to do when it's all around you
And this tightwire actleaving us here for dead to news of the world
And liquor piles up ahead
Dodging those with words of power
Forever on their breath
When the quality of life gets tripped upand strangled like death
It seems it's getting harder out thereespecially without time enough to see

Cold Shoulder (Uncle Tupelo)

Doesn't matter what you've said
Or what you've done
When you've lost your head
You're looking for a new one
Your heaven looks just like my hell beautiful as far as I can tell
Your heaven looks just like my hell
Just as I drown
Then you say it's real
So I hold myself down
'Cause I like the way it feels
Your heaven looks just like my hell beautiful as far as I can tell
Your heaven looks just like my hell
How could I have ever needed
Such a cold heart to count on
And how could I have ever wanted
Such a cold shoulder to cry on

Discarded (Uncle Tupelo)

These lines don't work on me
They won't on you
Didn't knew the cards were on the table
Just can't stand to see things turn out wrong
No way to make things right
Never promise anything anymore
So goddamn hard to make it work
No easy way out of this one
Always someone or something
To get lost in the shuffle
At least this road leads straight out of here
Adversity is stable
And life in front of you
Discarded, recycled and new
Just can't stand to see things turn out wrong
No way to make things right
Never promise anything anymore
So goddamn hard to make it work
No easy way out of this one
Always someone or something
To get lost in the shuffle
At least this road leads straight out of here
Just can't stand to see things turn out wrong
No way to make things right
Never promise anything anymore
Someone or something to get lost in the shuffle
At least this road leads straight out of here
Too late to go back
Sorry needs to be said
But there's really nothing now to do

If That's Alright (Uncle Tupelo)

Every day is dreamlike
It seems like, in every way
And that's why
When I look back on my life
It's like a slideshow out of focus
And as the carousel goes 'round
The slides are upside-down
There's nothing to make out or even notice
When will it all become concrete wouldn't that be sweet
To know where you stand
But until then, it's a slideshow
That you're yawning through
Or even sleeping
And as the carousel goes 'round
The slides are still upside-down
There's nothing to make out or even notice
And if that's alright, then it's alright
If that's alright, then it's alright
And if that's alright
Then I want to hear you say it
And if that's alright
Then I gotta hear you say it now