Handshake Drugs

I was chewing gum
For something to do
The blinds were being pulled
Down on the dew
Inside out of love
What a laugh I was looking for you

The saxophones
Started blowing me down
I was buried in sound
And the taxi cabs were driving me around
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown

They were translating poorly
I felt like a clown
I looked like someone I used to know
I felt alright
And if I ever was myself
I wasn’t that night

Oh it’s ok for you to say what you want from me
I believe that’s the only way for me to be
Exactly what you want me to be

Oh it’s ok for you to say what you want from me
I believe that’s the only way for me to be
Exactly what you want me to be

I was chewing gum
For something to do
The blinds were being pulled
Down on the dew
Inside out of love
What a laugh I was looking for you

The saxophones
Started blowing me down
I was buried in sound
And the taxi cabs were driving me around
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown
To the handshake drugs I bought downtown

Oh it’s ok for you to say what you want from me
I believe that’s the only way for me to be
Exactly what you want me to be

Exactly what do you want me to be

Instrumental Credits Jeff Tweedy Vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitar John Stirratt Bass & Background Vocals Glenn Kotche Drums Leroy Bach Piano Mikael Jorgensen RMI Rock-si-chord Jim O'Rourke Electric Rhythm Guitar Tim Barnes Percussion

If I Ever Was A Child

I’ve never been alone
Long enough to know
If I ever was a child

I was tied up like a boat
Unbuttoned like a coat
Set free for a while
Well I jumped to jolt my clumsy blood
While my white, green eyes
Cry like a windowpane
Can my cold heart change
Even out of spite?

I slump behind my brain
A haunted stain never fades
I hunt for the kind of pain I can take

And I cry like a window pane
Can my cold heart change over night?
So I won’t ever want to touch
Your heart too much
Or hold you too tight

I slump behind my brain
A haunted stain will never fade
I hunt for the kind of pain I can take

I never was alone long enough to know
If I ever was a child

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

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)
   

Kamera

I need a camera to my eye
To my eye reminding
Which lies have I been hiding
Which echoes belong

I've counted out days
To see how far
I've driven in the dark
With echoes in my heart
Phone my family tell them I'm lost on the
Sidewalk

No it's not O.K.

I smashed a camera
I wanna know why
To my eye deciding
Which lies have I been hiding
Which echoes belong
I'm counting on
A heart I know by heart
To walk me through this war
Memories distort
Phone my family tell them I'm lost on the sidewalk

No it's not o.k.

I'm counted out
And no one knows how far (tell them I'm lost)
I've driven in the dark (tell them I'm lost)
With echoes in my heart (tell them I'm lost)
Phone my family tell them I’m lost

(yeah I’m lost)

No it's not O.K.

No it's not O.K.

No it's not O.K.

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

Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull

There was a man with a double deed
Who sowed his garden full of seed
When the seed began to grow
Was like a garden full of snow

When the snow began to melt
Was like a ship without a belt
When the ship began to sail
Was like a bird without a tail
When the bird began to fly
Like an eagle in the sky
When the sky began to roar
Was like a lion at my door
When my door began to crack
Was like a stick across my back
When my back began to smart
Was like a penknife in my heart
When my heart began to bleed
Was death and death indeed

When my heart began to bleed
Was death and death indeed

written by Jeff Tweedy

I'm Always In Love

Why, I wonder is my heart full of holes
And the feeling goes but my hair keeps growing
Will I set the sun
On a big-wheeled wagon
Well I'm bragging
I'm always in love

When I let go of your throat, sweet throttle
When I clean the lash of your black-belt model
Will I catch the moon
Like a bird in a cage
It's for you I swoon
I'm always in love

I don't get the connection
If this is only a test
I hope I do my best
You know I won't forget

When I fold the cold in my jet-lag palm
When I soak so long I forget my mother
Will I set the sun
On a big-wheeled wagon
Well I'm bragging
I'm always in love

It's a drag I snag
Well I'm always in love
Well I'm worried
I'm always in love

I'm worried
I'm worried

I'm worried
I'm always in love
I'm worried

I'm worried

I'm worried

I'm always in love

I'm worried

I'm worried

I'm worried

I'm always in love

I'm worried

I'm worried

I'm worried

I'm always in love

  Instrumental credits: Jeff Tweedy – vocals, baritone guitar Jay Bennett – bass, piano, keyboards, drums, backing vocals John Stirratt – piano, backing vocals Ken Coomer – drums

Everyone Hides

If you're telling yourself a story

Where the secrets twist like vines

And you know where the bodies are buried

But you can't remember where you buried the mines

Oh no one denies

Everyone hides

Oh oh, everyone hides

If you're selling yourself on a tale

Where the details drift with time

Where the point gets lost in the telling

And the telling was the point all the while

Deep inside

Everyone hides

Oh oh, some of the time

If you're selling yourself on a vision

A dream of who you are

An idea of how it should be

And a wish upon a star

Remember...

Remember...

It can't be denied

Oh oh everyone hides...

Oh no one denies

Everyone hides

Oh oh, everyone hides

Oh oh

Oh oh

Oh oh

 

Annihilation

Hey
We’re fallen angels
I wish we never learned to fly
Let’s kiss before
Kiss before
We die
Life
It’s nothing but shadows
I looked for you far and wide
Let’s kiss before
Just before
Goodbye

A kiss like this
Is endless tonight
This kind of annihilation
Is alright

Oh
What a crazy spirit
Feathers fight
Joyless light
Let’s kiss before
We lift into the sky

Hey
We’re boiling angels
Let’s kiss for hours
Equal power
Let’s make it art
This kiss is ours
A kiss like this
Is endless tonight
This kind of annihilation
Is alright

A kiss like this
Is endless tonight
This kind of annihilation
Is alright (alright)

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

It's Just That Simple

There's a whole lot of money that you gave me
I'd gladly empty my pockets right now
You'd parlay all that by triple
It's just that simple

Those days I'd gladly walk so long for you
Although it seemed I crawled most of the way
After some time I felt like a cripple
It's just that simple

Last week I was thinking about traveling by land
And the time you remember we were by the lake
It wasn't even like we made a ripple
It's just that simple
In my head, the time didn't make a ripple
It's just that simple

Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic guitar
John Stirratt – bass
Max Johnston – mandolin
Ken Coomer – drums
Brian Henneman – guitar
Lloyd Maines – pedal steel guitar

Theologians

Theologians they don’t know nothing
About my soul
About my soul

I’m an ocean
And this emotion
Slow motion, slow motion

Illiterati lumin fedei
God is with us everyday
That illiterate light
Is with us every night

Theologians, oh they don’t know nothing
About my soul
Oh they don’t know

They thin my heart with little things
And my life with change
Oh in so many ways
I find more missing every day

Theologians

I’m going away
Where you will look for me
Where I’m going you cannot come
No one’s ever gonna take my life from me
I lay it down
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
A ghost is born

I am a notion
I am all emotion
I am a cherry ghost
Cherry ghost
Hey I’m a cherry ghost
Cherry ghost

Impossible Germany

Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan

Wherever you go
Wherever you land
I’ll say what this means to me
I’ll do what I can

Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan

(The) fundamental problem
We all need to face
This is important
But I know you’re not listening
Oh I know you’re not listening

If this was still new to me
I wouldn’t understand

Impossible Germany
Unlikely Japan

But this is what love is for
To be out of place
Gorgeous and alone
Face to face

With no larger problems
That need to be erased
Nothing more important than to know
Someone’s listening
Now I know

You’ll be listening

Written by Jeff Tweedy and Wilco

Art of Almost

No!
I froze
I can’t be so
Far away from my wasteland
I never know when I might
Ambulance
Hoist the horns with my own hands
Almost
Almost

I heard a faint olé
True love but
I had other ways to hurt myself
Like calling
I could open up my heart
And fall in and
I could blame it all on dust
The Art of Almost
Almost
Almost
Almost

I’ll hold it up
I’ll shake the grail
Disobey across the waves
Tomorrow
I’ll have all the love I could ever ache
And I’ll leave almost with you
All of almost
Almost

Art of almost
Almost

Art of almost
Almost

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

Heavy Metal Drummer

I sincerely miss
Those heavy metal bands
I used to go see
On the landing in the summer
She fell in love with the drummer
She fell in love with the drummer
She fell in love

Shiny shiny pants
Bleached blond hair
A double kick drum
By the river in the summer
she fell in love with the drummer
another
then another
she fell in love

I miss the innocence I've known
Playing Kiss covers
Beautiful and stoned

Unlock my body
And move myself to dance
Into warm liquid
flowing blowing glass
classical music blasting
masks the ringing in my ears

Oh I sincerely miss
Those heavy metal bands
I used to go see
On the landing in the summer
She fell in love with the drummer
She fell in love with another
She fell in love

I miss the innocence I've known
Playing Kiss covers
Beautiful and stoned

I miss the innocence I've known
Playing Kiss covers
Beautiful and stoned

Playing Kiss covers
Beautiful and stoned

Playing Kiss covers
Beautiful and stoned

 

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

 

Ashes of American Flags

The cash machine
Is blue and green
For a hundred in twenties
And a small service fee
I could spend three dollars
And sixty-three cents
On diet coca-cola
And unlit cigarettes

I wonder why
We listen to poets
When nobody gives a fuck
How hot and sorrowful
This machine begs for luck
All my lies are always wishes

I know I would die
If I could come back new

I want a good life
With a nose for things
A fresh wind and bright sky
To enjoy my suffering
A hole without a key
If I break my tongue
Speaking of tomorrow
How will it ever come
All my lies are always wishes

I know I would die
If I could come back new

I'm down on my hands and knees
Every time the doorbell rings
I shake like a toothache
When I hear myself sing
All my lies are only wishes

I know I would die
If I could come back new

I would like to salute
The ashes of American flags
And all the falling leaves
Filling up shopping bags

 

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

I Got You (At the End of the Century)

I got you and that's all I need
I got you and that's all I need
I got you and that's all I need
I got you

I got you and I still believe
That you are all I will ever need
It's you, oh

All the way back in the seventies
You were my little TV queen
Tarzan and your friend Janine
I got you

I got you and I still believe
That you are all I will ever need
It's you, oh

It's the end of the century
And I can't think of anything
Except you

It's the end of the century
And I can't think of anything
But you, oh

All, I, need

I got you
I got you, babe
I got you

You

You, ooh ooh

I got you

I got you

Oooh

I got you

Outtasite (Outta Mind)

I know we don't talk much
But you're such a good talker
Oh-whoa

Well I know we should take a walk
But you're such a fast walker, oh-whoa,
Well alright

I know where I'll be tonight, alright
Outta mind outta site

Well okay
I know you don't love me
But you'll still be thinking of me, oh-whoa

Well alright
I know you probably hate me
That's okay with me
Alright!

I know where I'll be tonight, alright
Outta mind outta site
Outta mind outta site

You don't see me now
You don't want to anyhow

Look out
Here I come again
And I'm bringing my friends

Look out
Here I come again
I'm bringing my friends
Okay, alright, okay alright!

I know where I'll be tonight, alright

Outta mind outta site
Outta mind outta si-ite
Outta mind outta si-i-i-ite