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)
War On War
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
It's a war on war
There's a war on
You’re gonna lose
You have to lose
You have to learn how to die
Let's watch the miles flying by
Let's watch the miles flying by
You are not my typewriter
But you could be my demon
moving forward through flaming doors
You have to lose
You have to learn how to die
If you wanna wanna be alive
O.K.
You have to lose
You have to lose
You have to learn how to die
If you wanna wanna be alive
You have to die
You have to die
You have to learn how to die
If you wanna wanna be alive
O.K.
A Shot in the Arm
The ashtray says
You were up all night
When you went to bed
With your darkest mind
Your pillow wept
And covered your eyes
And you finally slept
While the sun caught fire
You've changed
We fell in love
In the key of C
We walked along
Down by the sea
You followed me down
The neck to D
And fell again
Into the sea
You changed
Oh, you've changed
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm
Something in my veins
Bloodier than blood
something in my veins
Bloodier than blood
something in my veins
Bloodier than blood
something in my veins
Bloodier than blood
The ashtray says
You were up all night
When you went to bed
With your darkest mind
You changed
Oh you've changed
What you once were isn't what
You want to be any more
What you once were isn't what
You want to be any more
What you once were isn't what
You want to be any more
What you once were isn't what
You want to be any more
What you once were isn't what
You want to be any more
Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic and 12-string guitars, synthesizers
Jay Bennett – lap steel, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, drums
John Stirratt – bass
Ken Coomer – timpani
She's a Jar
She's a jar
With a heavy lid
My pop quiz kid
A sleepy kisser
A pretty war
With feelings hid
She begs me not to miss her
She says forever
To light a fuse
We could use
A hand full of wheel
And a day off
On a bruised road
However you might feel
Tonight is real
When I forget how to talk I sing
Won't you please
Bring that flash to shine
And turn my eyes red
Unless they close
When you click
And my face gets sick
Stuck
Like a question unposed
Just climb aboard
The tracks of a train's arm
In my fragile family tree
And watch me floating inches above
The people underneath
Please beware the quiet front yard
I warned you
Before there were water skies
I warned you not to drive
Dry your eyes you poor devil
Are there really ones like these
The ones I dream
Float like leaves
And freeze to spread skeleton wings
I passed through before I knew you
I believe it's just because
Daddy's payday is not enough
Oh I believe it's all because
Daddy's payday is not enough
Just climb aboard
The tracks of a train's arm
In my fragile family tree
And watch me floating inches above
The people under me
She's a jar
With a heavy lid
My pop quiz kid
A sleepy kisser
A pretty war
With feelings hid
You know she begs me not to hit her
Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, backing vocals
Jay Bennett – electric guitar, keyboards, tambourine, backing vocals
John Stirratt – bass
Ken Coomer – drums
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
Airline to Heaven
There's an airline plane Flies to Heaven every day
Past them pearly gates If you want to ride this
train Have your ticket in your hand Before it is too
late. If the world looks wrong And your money's
spent and gone And your friend has turned away
You can get away to Heaven On this aeroplane
Just bow your head and pray.
Them's got ears let them hear Them's got eyes let
them see Turn Your Eyes to the Lord of the skies
Take that airline Plane It will Take You Home again.
Yes, to your home behind the skies.
Well, a lot of people guess Some say no and some
say Yes Will it take some and leave some behind?
But you will surely know When to the airport go To
leave this world behind
Oh, a lot of speakers speak And a lot of preachers
preach When you lay their salary on the line But to
bow your head and pray Is the only earthly way
That you can fly to Heaven on time. That you can
reach Heaven on time.
Your ticket you obtain On this heavenly airline
plane You leave your sins behind You have got to
take this flight Might be daytime, might be night,
But you can't see your way if you're blind
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 1939
Music: Jay Bennett/Jeff Tweedy 1997
Jay Bennett: 12-string acoustic slide guitars, backing vocals, shakers, saw, claps
John Stirratt: backing vocals, claps
Jeff Tweedy: vocal, acoustic guitar, Mellotrone, claps
Feed of Man
If you beat up, you butcher, and you bleed a man
You bang up and badger and blood-let a man
And then I come along
On the feet of man
And halfway laugh and cry
About the meat of man
And I do what I can
To bale string and tie
Some ballad truths
Up and cured out
For the feed of man
Folks try to tell
That it's on God's orders
That you bleed your man
It's on God's good word that you
Bleed your man
On God's plan print
That you dead a man
Or spit and curse and whip your man
I say I'll help you squeeze and fix yourself up a
A new kind of God of some kind
One that tells you
Fertilize and multiply
One that tells you
Outsow and outblow
Outplant and outgrow
Outdo, and outrun, and outclimb, and outspread
Every other tree and bush
And brushy fruits and flower petals
Outfruit them all
For the feed of man
Outstalk and outhunt and outthink
For God's own sweet sake, outthink!
Outthink!
Outthink the fruits
Outgrow these animal kinds and shapes of man
It you miss and go down
Your dust will turn up on that long hot job
Once more again
To help in the feeding and the seed of man
And not in the bleeding and the end of man
Published by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
(BMI)/Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Words-Ampersand Music (BMI)
Words: Woody Guthrie (Date Unknown)
Music: Jeff Tweedy 1998
Jay Bennett: B3 organ, Leslie guitar
Billy Bragg: resonant guitar
Ken Coomer: drums
John Stirratt: bass
Jeff Tweedy: vocal, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
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
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
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.
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
Red-Eyed and Blue
We've got solid-state technology
Tapes on the floor
Some songs we can't afford to play
When we came here today
All I wanted to say
Is how much I miss you
Alcohol and cotton balls
And some drugs
We can’t afford on the way
When we came here today
We all felt something true
Now I'm red-eyed and blue
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
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
Sunken Treasure
There's rows and rows of houses
With windows painted blue
With the light from a TV
Running parallel to you
But there is no sunken treasure
Rumored to be
Wrapped inside my ribs
In a sea black with ink
I am so
Out of tune
With you
I am so out of tune
With you
If I had a mountain
I'd try to fold it over
If I had a boat (probably roll over)
You know I'd probably roll over (leave it on the shore)
And I leave it on the shore (leave it for somebody)
I'd leave it for somebody
Surely there's somebody
Who needs it more than me
I am so
Out of tune
With you
I am so out of tune
With you
For all the leaves will burn
In autumn fires and then return
For all the fires we burn
All will return
Music is my savior
I was maimed by rock and roll
I was maimed by rock and roll
I was tamed by rock and roll
I got my name from rock and roll
Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
Well I know we don't talk much
But you're such a good talker
Ooh, whoa
Well I know that we should take a walk
But you're such a fast walker, oh-whoa,
Well alright
I know where I'll be tonight, well alright
Outta mind outta sight
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
Well that's okay with me
Well alright
I know where I'll be tonight
Well alright
Outta mind outta sight
Outta mind outta sight
You don't see me now
You don't want to anyhow
Well look out
Here I come again
And I'm bringing my friends
I said, look out
Here I come again
And I'm bringing my friends
Okay, alright, okay, alright
I know where I'll be tonight
Well alright
Well outta mind outta sight
Outta mind outta sight
Outta mind outta sight
Well alright
That's quite alright
I know you don't love me
I know you don't love me anymore, alright
I know you