Story to Tell

I’ve been through hell
On my way to hell
I only fought with myself
So I’d have a story to tell

Once I cut off my arm
I sewed it back on all wrong
Now I don’t have to bend
To reach the bottom shelf
When I need a story to tell

The world is always on the brink
And love is dumber than you think
Singing songs of death and doom
With all the voices inside of you

Once I started a war
But I don’t fight anymore
I held the line until the old oak fell
I was left behind
With a story to tell

The world is always on the brink
Hearts are smarter than you think
Writing songs of death and doom
For all the voices inside of you

Once I looked you in the eye
And I told you lies
How I wish I could have treated you well
I wish I had more than
A story to tell

The world is always on the brink
Love is dumber than you think
Singing songs of death and doom
With all the voices inside of you

I’ve been through hell
On my way to hell
I only fought with myself
So I’d have a story to tell

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)

Ambulance

Once just by chance
I made a friend in an ambulance
I was half man half broken glass
She had a needle but I wasn’t afraid

I’d slap the cuffs right on my wrists
I’d get so high I’d arrest myself
For honeysuckle on a buckle
Broken teeth biting on my belt

High in a trance
My life smeared right past
In a blue light
I thought she was dancing
But she was just holding my cold hand

Cause everything can shine
Even the devil sometimes
And while I was busy dying
My lord she made some other plan

Traveling salesmen carrying trunks
You can smell them coming like skunks
In the distance, if your eyes can focus
That’s how God once spoke to us

Trying not to laugh
They pronounced me dead at half past
And that priest he pissed his pants
When he heard me start to say hello

Everything can shine
Even the devil sometimes
While I was busy dying
My lord she made some other plan

written by Jeff Tweedy

Remember the Mountain Bed

Do you still sing of the mountain bed we made of
limbs and leaves: Do you still sigh there near the
sky where the holly berry bleeds: You laughed as I
covered you over with leaves, face, breast, hips
and thighs, You smiled when I said the leaves
were just the color of your eyes.

Rosin smells and turpentine smells from
eucalyptus and pine Bitter tastes of twigs we
chewed where tangled woodvines twine Trees held
us in on all four sides so thick we could not see I
could not see any wrong in you, and you saw none
in me.

Your arm was brown against the ground, your
cheeks part of the sky, As your fingers played with
grassy moss, and limber you did lie: Your stomach
moved beneath your shirt and your knees were in
the air Your feet played games with mountain
roots as you lay thinking there.

Below us the trees grew clumps of trees, raised
families of trees, and they As proud as we tossed
their heads in the wind and flung good seeds
away: The sun was hot and the sun was bright
down in the valley below Where people starved
and hungry for life so empty come and go.

There in the shade and hid from the sun we freed
our minds and learned Our greatest reason for
being here, our bodies moved and burned There
on our mountain bed of leaves we learned life's
reason why The People laugh and love and dream,
they fight, they hate to die.

The smell of your hair I know is still there, if most
of our leaves are blown, Our words still ring in the
brush and the trees where singing seeds are sown
Your shape and form is dim, but plain, there on
our mountain bed I see my life was brightest
where you laughed and laid you head...

I learned the reason why man must work and how
to dream big dreams, To conquer time and space
and fight the rivers and the seas I stand here filled
with my emptiness now and look at city and land
And I know why farms and cities are built by hot,
warm, nervous hands.

I crossed many states just to stand here now, my
face all hot with tears, I crossed city, and valley,
desert, and stream, to bring my body here: My
history and future blaze bright in me and all my joy
and pain Go through my head on our mountain
bed where I smell your hair again.

All this day long I linger here and on in through
the night My greeds, desires, my cravings, hopes,
my dreams inside me fight: My loneliness healed,
my emptiness filled, I walk above all pain Back to
the breast of my woman and child to scatter my
seeds again.

Published by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. (BMI)/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing
Corp./Words-Ampersand Music (BMI)/You Want A Piece Of This Music (ASCAP),
administered by Bug Music

Words: Woody Guthrie 1944
Music: Jeff Tweedy/Jay Bennett 1999
Leroy Bach: piano
Jay Bennett: organ, nylon-string guitar, backing vocal
Ken Coomer: drums
John Stirratt: bass, backing vocal
Jeff Tweedy: vocal, 12-string acoustic guitar

Evergreen

If I get back from wherever I travel

I'll tell you what I've seen

The good and the bad

The hearts and the hassle

In the cities under siege

I'll tell you all about where I have been

And I won't ever leave again

Now you might think it's a lie

When I say I'm going to write

But if I break my pen filling you in

Wouldn't that change your mind

Evergreen

Evergreen

Have you even seen anything?

Evergreen

Whenever I get back from

Wherever I go

I'll look for you in the shade

A marker in the grass

I'll tell you at last

You're not the reason I went away

Sometimes I wish you were the one

Who had left and I had stayed

Evergreen

Evergreen

Have you even seen anything?

Evergreen

Evergreen

Evergreen

Have you even seen anything?

Evergreen

Gwendolyn

I don’t think I can take another day

Oh I don’t know how I could ever say

I’m OK being so far away

Oh I don’t think that I can take another day

When Gwendolyn, when she starts to speak

To a county police with a plastic cup between her teeth

The sun beating down like a big trombone

That’s right when I start missing home

She holds my hand between her knees

It’s like a dream, I never know what it means

I only know I’m feeling alone

That’s right when I start missing home

Honestly Gwen I’m not ashamed to say

Between you and me I’m relieved they put you away

Sun coming up like a piece of toast

That’s right when I started heading home

That’s right when I started heading home

Well that’s right when I started heading home

KC Rain

I was born a little sad I never knew what I had Mom and dad let it slide No wonder I'm never satisfied I swayed and I swooned I howled at the moon Tied myself to the tide No wonder I'm never satisfied
High in the morning
High in the afternoon
High in evening
When I'm sleeping
I'm with you

I only care about the cat
Some of this, a little of that
Fat chance I'll sing the blues

Like an old welcome mat
I'm filthy and I'm flat
Oh ain't that the truth
No wonder I'm so confused
High in the morning
High in the afternoon
High in evening
When I'm sleeping
I'm with you
written by Jeff Tweedy (need to confirm lyrics with Jeff)

An Empty Corner

Eight tiny lines of cocaine

Left on a copy machine

In an empty corner of a dream

My sleep could not complete

There are sirens in the birds

And you and I are too far apart

And my eyes need a shave

What else can go wrong?

Now that I'm not longed for

Wild life seems wrong

Won't care

Won't stare

You've got family out there

The silver black boot

That cracked my front tooth

Is a new kind of truth

I'm getting used to

Come back lonely

How sad if only

I don't believe you don't care

You've got family out there

Where the power lines are down

Whipping sparks around

Like angels touching down

I see you there

How sad

If only

Don't believe you don't care

You've got family out there

You've got family out there

Dawned On Me

I’ve been young
I’ve been old
I’ve been hurt
And consoled
Heart of coal
Heart of gold
So I’m told

I’ve been lost
I’ve been found
I’ve been taken
By the sound
Of my own voice
The voices in my head

I can’t help it if I fall in
Love with you again I’m calling
Just to let you know
It dawned on me

Every night is a test
To the east from the west
The sun rises and sets
That’s the sun at it’s best

I forget, then I know
I’d regret letting you go
Sometimes I can’t believe how dark it can be

I can’t help it if I fall in
Love with you again I’m calling
Just to let you know
It dawned on me
It dawned on me

So on
And so forth
And again
I will stop to begin
At the end

I can’t help it if I fall in
Love with you again I’m calling
Just to let you know
It dawned on me

Oh I can’t help it if I fall in
Love with you again I’m calling
Just to let you know
It dawned on me

Hummingbird

his goal in life was to be an echo
riding alone, town after town, toll after toll
a fixed bayonet through the great southwest
to forget her

she appears
in his dreams
but in his car, and in his arms
a dream could mean anything
a cheap sunset on a television set could upset her
but he never could

remember to remember me
standing still in your past
floating fast like a hummingbird

his goal in life was to be an echo
the type of sound that floats around
and then back down like a feather
but in the deep chrome canyons of the loudest Manhattans
no one could hear him
or anything

so he slept, on a mountain
in a sleeping bag underneath the stars,
he would lie awake and count them
but the great fountain spray of the great Milky Way
would never let him
die alone

remember to remember me
standing still in your past
floating fast like a hummingbird
remember to remember me
standing still in your past
floating fast like a hummingbird
a hummingbird
a hummingbird

Instrumental Credits

Jeff Tweedy Vocals
John Stirratt Electric Rhythm Guitar & Background Vocals
Glenn Kotche Drums
Mikael Jorgensen Piano
Jim O'Rourke Bass & Electric Lead Guitar
Frankie Montouro Hammer Dulcimer
Karen Waltuch Viola

Evicted

Oh I can take a joke but
My clothes are all soaked
It’s too late to be unclear
I’d laugh until I’d die
If it wasn’t my life
If it wasn’t me in the mirror

Am I ever going to see you again?

Maybe I’m a whistle on a lonely old train
I’m crying all the time
Listen to the sound getting further away
Fading deep
Into the night
Am I ever going to see you again?

I’m evicted
From your heart
I deserve it

Black against the shade
Shadow lovers embrace
I look away, I look away
They say heartache
Always fades
I look away I look away

I’m never gonna see you again

I’m evicted
From your heart
I deserve it

Oh I can take a joke but
My clothes are all smoke
It’s too cold to be unclear
I’d laugh until I’m old
If it wasn’t my life
If it wasn’t me in the mirror

I’m never gonna see you again

I’m evicted
From your heart
I deserve it
I’m evicted
From your heart
I deserve it
I deserve it
I deserve it

Say You Love Me

Once you’re born
A single drop of sun
A ray of light
Holds you in it’s arms
Once you’re gone
You shine on
In your friends
And then
Everyone you love
Hears your voice within

Say “I love you again” x 4

I know how it feels
When something really ends
Below the waves
Breathing water in
You finally find a pearl
And the world
Takes it from your hand
When it’s only a word
Never on the wind

So
Say you love me again x 4

I Am My Mother

Dangerous dreams have been detected
Streaming over the southern border

As bad as it seems it’s worse than expected
Fleeing through the night corridor

Oh I’ve done the math
With a stick in the sand
I’ve kicked the can
Into a dead end

Oh I can’t mend
Every broken fence
I’m a new man
But I am still my mother

If it was up to me I would have rejected
The idea that money could keep you poor

And as dark as it seems it’s worse than neglected
When you need the one who loves no more

Oh I’ve done the math
With a stick in the sand
I’ve kicked the can
Into a dead end

Oh I can’t mend
Every broken fence
I’m a new man
But I am still my mother
written by Jeff Tweedy

A Lifetime to Find

Oh death
Oh death
I was just getting dressed
The place is a mess
I was hoping you’d forget
But I can feel you in my chest
I can feel you in my chest

Oh yes
Oh yes
Death never rests
I can see you’ve done your best
The problem is just this
It’s too late for regrets
I am here to collect

It takes a lifetime to find
A life like the life
You had in mind
It takes a lifetime to find
A life like the life
You had in mind
Now you’re mine

Oh death
I confess
I should have known what to expect
But you’re so hard to accept
Last time I checked
I was neck and neck
As healthy as the next

Oh Yes
You were blessed
Blessed in the past tense
But it’s too late now
To make it make sense
It’s too late to pretend
This day won’t ever end

It takes a lifetime to find
A life like the life
You had in mind
It takes a lifetime to find
A life like the life
You had in mind
Now you’re mine

So alright
Today’s the day and
Tonight is the night
There’s no reason there’s no rhyme
It’s just time to go goodbye
But why can’t you try
To ease what’s on
my poor mind

O’ Jeff
Don’t obsess
It’s the best that I can do
To help you see the light
And help the light to see you
It’s true there was a truth
That was you and only you ever knew

It takes a lifetime to find
The life like the life you had in mind
It takes a lifetime to find
The life like the life you had in mind
It takes a lifetime to find
The life like the life you had in mind
Now you’re mine

written by Jeff Tweedy

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

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

Country Song Upside-Down

I found
A
Song
Upside-down
A country song
Like a trout
Dying sky and water
Rainbow
Flickering out

Inside
A dark
Cabin
The more moonlike
I become
I’m rounding all of my edges
Because
I’m worried
It can’t be sung

This is the gist
It goes
Like this

I found
A
Song
Upside-down
A country song
Without a doubt
Dying sky and water
Rainbow
Flickering out

written by Jeff Tweedy

In a Future Age

A genuine
Day will come
When the wind
Decides to run
And shakes the stairs
That stab the wall
And turns a page
In the future age

Some trees will bend
And some will fall
But then again
So will us all
Let’s turn our prayers
To outrageous dares
And mark our page
In a future age

High above
The sea of cars
And barking dogs
In fenced-in yards

Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic, bowed and tremolo guitars
Jay Bennett – piano, organ, backing vocals
John Stirratt – bass
Ken Coomer – drums

How to Fight Loneliness

How to fight loneliness
Smile all the time
Shine your teeth 'til meaningless
Sharpen them with lies

And whatever's going down
Will follow you around
That's how you fight loneliness
You laugh at every joke
Drag your blanket blindly
Fill your heart with smoke
And the first thing that you want
Will be the last thing you ever need
That's how you fight it

Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time

Lou Reed Was My Babysitter

I want to sweat
Sweat next to you
With a sticky carpet
Sucking on my shoes
Rock n roll
Ain’t never gonna lose
No

I want you
To dance into me
Spill my drink
I want to feel the kick
Kicking in my teeth
My bleeding heart
Bleeding to the beat
Uh huh

I want you
To blow smoke in my eyes
Smoke in my eyes
I want to shake shake
Shake shake shake
Until my shoes untie
Rock n roll ain’t never gonna die
Not as long as you and I are alive

’Cause rock n roll is dead and the dead don’t die
The dead don’t die
The dead don’t die
The dead don’t die

I want to feel everything
I want to feel everything
I want to hear the idiot sing
Until I can’t feel anything

’Cause rock n roll is dead and the dead don’t die
The dead don’t die
The dead don’t die

written by Jeff Tweedy

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

Please Tell My Brother (Golden Smog)

Please tell my brothers I love them still Over the mountains On their phone bill I should call more often But they know I never will Please tell my brothers I love them still Please tell my sister I miss her too My nieces and nepfews And their swimming pools When I think about her Her skies are blue Please tell my sister I miss her too Please tell my father I love him still Forget the railroad And all those bills Head for the cooler And drink your fill Please tell my father I love him still Listen dear mother I miss you the most And as I travel From coast to coast I feel your love And I feel your ghost Listen dear mother I miss you the most Listen dear mother I miss you the most written by Jeff Tweedy

I'm the Man Who Loves You

All I can see
Is black and white
And white and pink
With blades of blue
That lay between
The words I think
On a page
I was meaning
To send to you
I couldn't tell
If it would
Bring my heart
The way I wanted
When I started
Writing this letter to you

But if I could
You know I would
Just hold your hand
And you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

All I can be
Is a busy sea
Of spinning wheels
And hands that feel
For stones to throw
And feet that run
But come back home
It makes no difference
Ever known
Makes no difference
Ever known to me

But if I could
You know I would
Just hold your hand
And you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

All I can see
Is black and white
And white and pink
With blades of blue
That lay between
The words I think
On a page
I was meaning
To send to you
I couldn't tell
If it would
Bring my heart
The way I wanted
When I started
Writing this letter to you

If I could
You know I would
Just hold your hand
And you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

If I could
You know I would
Just hold your hand
And you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

If I could
You know I would
Just hold your hand
And you'd understand
I'm the man who loves you

I'm the man who loves you

I'm the man who loves you

I'm the man who loves you