I Can't Keep From Talking
Hey ain't it great
For us to be alive?
I've been lying in wait
For you to come outside
I know you don't know me
But I know a lot about you
You're the one who knows me
Better than I do
When I get back home
I'm gonna put your records on
I play 'em way too loud
And I'll sing along
I know all the words
To every song
And I don't really care
But tonight you sang one wrong
And I, I can't keep from talking
I can't keep from talking about you
And I just wanted to thank you
Thank you for doing what you do
I wanted to tell the world a little bit about myself
Realize my feelings and put them on a shelf
Then jump out the window
So you'd all know what it's about
'Cause I can't be there
To help you figure it out
And I, I can't keep from talking
I can't keep from talking about you
And I just wanted to thank you
Thank you for doing what you do
**written by Jeff Tweedy for Golden Smog's Weird Tales**
Feel Free
Feel free
Get on the floor and dream
Cutting pictures out of a magazine
Feel free
Feel free
Plant yourself like a seed
And take your time being buried
Feel free
Feel free
Carry a torch in the street
Say you’re full when we know you’re empty
Feel free
Feel free
To fall in love with the people you know
And fall harder for the people you don’t
Feel free
Feel free
Keep it all pristine
Clean, in its original packaging
Feel free
Feel free
Taking it slow and easy
Even though your heart is racing
Feel free
Feel free
Swim alone in the open sea
Bounce around holding a baby
Feel free
Feel free
Hail Satan, doesn’t matter to me
Or you can be the devil every Halloween
Feel free
Feel free
Lay it down, like a wreath
And leap over what’s underneath
Feel free
Feel free
To never listen and always speak
To never learn and try to teach
Feel free
Feel free
Kick a ball at a tree
Trying to retrieve your frisbee
Feel free
Feel free
Let It Bleed or Let It Be
John or Paul, Mick or Keith
Feel free
Feel free
Think of your name on a marquee
Aim for something you can’t see
Feel free
Feel free
Spin around and get dizzy
Do I know him? Who is he?
Feel free
Feel free
Get yourself born in the USA
Love with a love they can’t take away
Feel free
Feel free
Shave your head in the sink
Be brave, don’t think
Feel free
Feel free
Put your love above the part you play
Keep your love away from what you get paid
Feel free
Feel free
Make a record with your friends
Sing a song that never ends
Feel free
written by Jeff Tweedy
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
Sunlight Ends
You’re not the kind of city street
Anyone can cross
You’re the kind of spinning star
That only gets you lost
You
Dance
Like the dust in the
Light
Where the sun comes in
And I’m
Following
‘Til the sunlight ends
You’re not the kind of mountain stream
Anyone can cross
You’re the kind of flashing sign
That only gets you lost
You
Dance
Like the dust in the
Light
Where the sun comes in
And I’m
Following
‘Til the sunlight ends
You’re not the kind of desert sand
Anyone can cross
You’re the kind of missing page
That only gets you lost
And you’re lost
And I’m lost
A Magazine Called Sunset
There's a magazine called Sunset
And a tape machine that won't let
Me ever forget this impossible longing for you
Let's take a map across your pillow
And breathe the sky in through your window
I'll stay in the riddle and watch your books cave in
Oh maybe you're my inspiration
Just lead me to some new sensation
I'll make a little guide they can call our own
Cause there's a magazine called Sunset
And a tape machine that won't let
Me ever forget this impossible longing for you
Oh I'm a future fallout standing
In the present erase our phantom
There's a magazine
There's a magazine
Oh there's a magazine, oh yeah
Oh I'm a future fallout standing
In the present erase our phantom
Oh there's a magazine
And a tape machine
Oh that's everything
Oh there's a magazine
And a tape machine
Oh that's everything
Oh yeah
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
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)
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Spiders are singing in the salty breeze
Spiders are filling out tax returns
Spinning out webs of deductions and melodies
On a private beach in Michigan
Why can’t we wish their kisses good
Why do they miss when their kisses should
Fly like winging birds fighting for the keys
On a private beach in Michigan
This recent rash of kidsmoke
All these telescopic poems
It’s good to be alone
Why can’t they say what they want
Why can’t they just say what they need
Come clean, listen and talk
Hello private caller
ID blocked
The sun will rise, we’ll climb into cars
The future has a valley and a shortcut around
Who will wear the crown of drowning award
Hold a private light
On the Michigan shore
Fool me with a kiss of kidsmoke
From a microscopic home
It’s good to be alone
I’ll be in my bed
You can be the stone
That raises from the dead
And carries us all home
There’s no blood on my hands
I just do as I’m told
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
Forever Never Ends
On the side of the road
In a tuxedo
Three below zero
In a red cummerbund
Highway 13
Not a king not a queen
I didn’t wanna come
To your stupid prom
A hissing road flare
Baby’s breath in her hair
In the middle of nowhere
In the middle of a nightmare
I had to call my dad
I knew he’d be mad
I’d never seen him not mad
Vomit in the frozen grass
Peppermint Schnapps
Well, here come the cops
They don’t even stop
Oh, there they go
Forever never ends
I’m always back there again and again and again
Forever never ends
I’m always back there again and again and again
Forever never ends
I’m always back there again and again and again
Forever never ends
I’m always back there again and again
On the side of the road
In a tuxedo
In the middle of nowhere
In the middle of a nightmare
written by Jeff Tweedy
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.
Capitol City
Capitol city skyline photo
Skyscraper shines the sun so
Low in the sky
Secretaries at the hotdog vendors
Cabs honk at the bicycle messengers
Rolling by
I can’t call with a subway token
Anyway the phones are all broken
I wish you were here
Better yet I wish I was there with you
You wouldn’t like it here
You should stay right there
Breathe in that country air
You wouldn’t like it here
Capitol towers radiator steam vents
Scream along with the clarinets and arguments
Echo down the hall
I can’t sleep, I can’t wake up
I’m shaken up maybe we should break up
I wish you were here
Better yet I wish I was there with you
You wouldn’t like it here
You should stay right there
Breathe in that country air
You wouldn’t like it here
Capitol city skyline photo
Picture postcard signed the moon so
Low in the sky
I can’t smile when my hearts still broken
Faraway, in love and unspoken
I wish you were here
Or I was there with you
Laminated Cat (Aka Not For The Season)
Springtime comes and the leaves are back on the trees again
Snipers are harder to see my friends
Weeding out the weekends
Summer comes and gravity undoes you
You're happy because of the lovely way the sunshine bends
Hiding from your close friends
Weeding out the weekends
Candy left over from Halloween
A unified theory of everything
Love left over from lovers leaving
Books, they all know they're not worth reading
It's not for the season
When autumn comes you sit in your chair and you stare
At the TV square
Hiding in the deep end
Weeding out the weekends
Winter comes and the days all start late
There's motion on the boughs where the dark shapes prowl
Feeling out the feelings
Feeling out the feeling
Candy left over from Halloween
A unified theory of everything
Love left over from lovers leaving
Books, they all know they're not worth reading
They're not worth reading
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
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.
Monday
Choo-choo Charlie had a plenty good band
But he couldn't understand why no one would go
The World Record Players on a tour of Japan
Charlie's fixing his van with a left arm tan
He said
Monday, I'm all high
Get me out of FLA
In school, yeah
I fooled ya
Now I know I made a mistake
Blister on a turnpike, let me by
I only want to wonder why when I don't die
Oooh, I shot ya, yeah, I know
I only want to go where my wheels roll
Monday, I'm all high
Get me out of FLA
I fooled ya
In school, yeah
Now I know I made a mistake
Everybody's wondering, "Where'd he go?"
He must be down in Pensacola
Hiding from the snow
The World Record Players on a tour of Japan
Charlie's fixing his van
He's waiting for a postcard
And he said
Monday, I'm all high
Get me out of TLA
Well I cut class
In school, yeah
Now I know I made a mistake
I made a big mistake
Kingpin
I wanna be your kingpin
Living in Pekin
I wanna be your bigwig
Living in Pekin
I got the flu and away I flew
N.Y.C.P.D. blue
Dimetapp and spinal tap
City maps and hand claps
Statue of Liberty play
It only works once
Don't throw it away
’Cause I wanna be your kingpin
Living in Pekin
Living in
Pekin
Living in
How can I
How can I give my love to you when
I don't know what to do
Acuff-Rose (Uncle Tupelo)
Early in the morning,
Sometimes late at night
Sometimes I get the feeling
That everything's alright
Early in the evening,
Sometimes in the day
Sometimes I get the feeling
Everything's okay
Because everything
Cuts against the tide
When you're by my side
Name me a song
That everybody knows
And I'll bet you it belongs
To Acuff-Rose
Children in the playground,
The folks in the home
Anybody anywhere
Who's ever been alone
'Cause everything
Cuts against the tide
When I hear that sound
Casino Queen
Well the money's pouring down
And the people all look down
And it's floating out of town
I hit the second deck
And I spent my paycheck
And my wife that I just met
She's looking like a wreck
Casino Queen
My lord you're mean
I've been gambling like a fiend
On your tables so green
I always bet on black
Blackjack
I'll pay you back
The room fills with smoke
And I'm already broke
And the dealer keeps on joking
As he takes my last token
Casino Queen
My lord you're mean
I've been gambling like a fiend
On your tables so green
Casino Queen
My lord you're mean
I've been gambling like a fiend
On your tables so green
Instrumental credits:
Jeff Tweedy – vocals, acoustic guitar
John Stirratt – bass, vocals
Max Johnston – fiddle, vocals
Ken Coomer – drums, vocals
Brian Henneman – guitars, vocals
Daniel Corrigan - vocals
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
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