Wilco

Down From Above

Down from above
I know
It’s only love
Until it goes
When the last book is written
The last song is sung
When the last beginner has begun
Down from above
Comes the day
A light is made
to go away
Where can I go
Where can I flee
Now that you know
Will you take me?
Down from above
I know
It’s only love
Until it goes
The world is filled with sadness
Your darkness falls on me
Where will you go?
Where will you be?
Down from above
Too wonderful for me
Down from above
Too wonderful for me

Diamond Light Pt. 1

Why don’t we pick one script
and read it
Where the milk has dried
on the throne
Open wide
Sing gracefully beside
Rolling rivers of diamond light
Dash and heave
Each ache to the sky
Why don’t we choose one to
believe in
Where shadows die
Also alone
Coincide
Colliding points of view
Perfect mountains of diamond light
Dash and heave
Each ache to the sky
Are you scared
Are you frightened
Terrified of being alone
Are you scared
Are you frightened
Terrified of being alone

 

Flowering

Hold me stranger
Don’t deceive
Angel master
Can’t retrieve
Northern knots
Hung high in the trees
Spilling oceans
Existing to believe
Flowering
I told you danger
Carbon crown
March through the salt slush
Howling at the ground
Whistle my answer
Dance a blank face
Torment my sugar
And leap at any trace of
Flowering
Hold me stranger
Don’t deceive
Angel master
Can’t retrieve
Northern knots
Hung high in the trees
Spilling oceans
Existing to believe
Flowering

 

Desert Bell

Oh, I am sorry you won’t recognize me
Born and bred to be led
and be dead by degrees
I’m taking a moment to express my regret
Before I forget how it goes
As fast as our blood can crackle with blame
The arrows of eyes
Defined our embrace too soon
And piercing the place where even the moon
Would never dream to shine
The deluge day-dreaming turned to pain
Blades of blood
Rained beneath
Silk teeth
I barked like a cricket flaked like a bone
Tricked and switched off in a heap
And buried myself so deep and so true
No one ever saw through
Thoroughly cruel and alone
Am I so sorry you don’t recognize me
I am always the one
You lost to all tomorrows
Oh, look past your anger and please render me down
In a hole in the ground
Mixed with the earth
Remember these words
And let me no longer be worth your sorrow

Summer Noon

Summer noon I can always stay
To radiate what the cello can’t play
She spoke to me and provoked my band
And I broke in two in the heat of her hand
Like a lioness or a coyote
At a pink beating heart in the balcony
I followed the finger to the creature’s gate
In the hubbub where the pitiful congregate
I thought there was a note that I couldn’t hear
So I floated to the whisper up against my ear
Afterwards I found my face in the trash
Really at the core of it it wasn’t so bad
Never leave your mother's womb
Unless you want to see how hard a broken heart can swoon

Honey Combed

I can feel the mystery
But I can’t play it
Grey as the children are grey
My thoughts are grim, polluted as I am
Walking out one summer noon
So soon
How will the weather bring
Sing like the children have sung
High as the stars are hung
I vanish before I go
I have written with a rope
Wrapped around my throat
Loomed like an island
Dope hooked and cycloned
Honey-combed my heart in love
And from above
Every cemetery
Against the bloom
Rattle the pigs, visit the silence
Waking up an open wound
I can feel the mystery
But I can’t play it
Grey as the children are grey
My thoughts are dim, polluted as I am
Walking out one summer noon

World Away

I only want to feel
this morning
Catch the avenue
I intend to steal
this moment
As we’re moving through
Make my rendezvous
As if it’s all I do
I’m about to feel it lift
sorrow floats away
Over miles of old world
Darling
Honey I can’t complain
Only a world away
Only a world away
I’m about to freeze the sun
So let me fall away
How it comes to be so really
Nothings left to say
Only a world away
Only a world away
Out of bounds of maps crawl
Over the mounds of bones
Is how I came to call you lonesome
Over the telephone
Over the telephone
Only a world away
I only want to feel
this morning
Catch the avenue
I intend to steal
this moment
As we’re moving through
Make my rendezvous
As if it’s all I do
I’m about to feel it lift
sorrow floats away
Over miles of old world
Darling
Honey I can’t complain
Love me a world away
Only a world away
I’m about to freeze the sun
So let me please explain
How it comes to be so really
Nothings left to say
Only a world away
Only a world away
Out of bounds of maps crawl
Over the mounds of bones
Is how I came to call you lonesome
Over the telephone
Over the microphone
It’s only a world away

New Moon

Well, I’ve always been certain nearly all of my life
One day I’d be your burden and you would be my wife
Let me hang like a new moon and let me be your twin
Let me hang like a new moon
Don’t treat me like a stranger again
You keep me as your thief, please let me be a little more
When you fall asleep let me be what you’re dreaming for
Let me hang like a new moon
Don’t treat me like a stranger any more
Well, I’ve always been certain nearly all of my life
One day I’d be your burden and you would be my wife
Let me hang like a new moon high in the wind
Let me hang like a new moon
Don’t treat me like a stranger again
You keep me as a thief, please let me be a little more
When you fall asleep let me be what you’re dreaming for
I’ve always been certain nearly all of my life

 

High As Hello

So long I will wait for
Howl at the moon
So low all the way home
Sit at the spoon
I should take you too
O’ I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Hello on the waveform
The wicked will die
So alone I know I’m shade-grown
Now why would I?
I’ll take you too
I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Oh I’ll take you too
I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Hello
Solo all the waveforms
The wicked will die
I’m alone all overtone
The rivers awake
I should take you too
O’ I’m as high as
I’m as high as
Hello
Hello
I’ll take you too
I’m as high as
I’m as high as
I should take you too
O’ I’m as high as
I’m as high as

 

Where My Love

I want to watch you growing old and dumb
I want to see what you and I become
City arrow a mountain flame
I want to be born just the same
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
I had a dream we were cast away
I came to say this but you wanted to stay
I sail away, I woke up
I couldn’t hold you long enough
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love is gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Where all my love has gone
Yeah where all my love is gone
I want to watch you growing old and dumb
I want to see what you and I become

Fake Fur Coat

Behold the drift of a distant sun
Cold as my own heart
Blind at the edge of no return
Every time I dare depart
I believe the myth may illuminate
an anchor in dry weeds
At the end of July in a fake fur coat
Hoping that your heart still needs me
I concede there’s beauty in bubblegum
And rolling up my sleeves
To advertise the new freedom
I accept that I can’t receive
Behold the gift of a distant sun
The canyons full of loose bones
The metals and brambles and the jack bitch boss
Thundering down from his throne

Slow Love

Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
Slow love is the only love
And so it was on one cold night
In the middle of a lonely life
And so it was you found my door
And though it wasn’t open
O, I had never seen it before
So it was we fell in love
What would you call when it rises up
Or what to call it but falling in love
I never needed to know what it was
You never needed to know what it was
We never needed to know
Oh
So it was that it was there
A part of us as real as the air
I never needed to know what it was
So it was that it was there
A part of us as real as the air
I never needed to know what it was
No love is the only love

 

Nobody Dies Anymore

Sitting in a combed out room
Watching the world to end
I won’t say golden
Until you let me back in
Nobody says goodbye
But everybody goes home
We end the day sober
To a depth we don’t own
I stand where I grew
Oh, I hated that too
When hell’s about to blow in
I saddle up new
And it won’t be long
To find a broken back bone
Or another ocean
Are there any unknown
So I dance my shoe
Beneath the black balloon
Flip it at you for your trouble
So long, so soon
I’m going to
Nobody dies anymore
but don’t you think it’s never over
Nobody dies anymore
No badge knock on a dark front door
Some things still change
But
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Don’t I look over my sister
Sister don’t you know me no more
She calls me once every summer
Before the leafs turn gold
When she was the daughter
Of a world without end
They told her I was stolen
She couldn’t comprehend
Poured out in the street
By the blood in the grass
Poured out at the feet
By the broken glass
Nobody dies anymore
No badge knock on a dark front door
Some things still change
But
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Nobody dies
Love every song that I know
You ask me well how so
Strange I can’t defend
I love how every song ends

 

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

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

Muzzle Of Bees

There’s a random painted highway
And a muzzle of bees
My sleeves have come unstitched
From climbing your tree

When dogs laugh some say they’re barking
I don’t think they’re mean
Some people get so frightened
The fences in between

The sun gets passed from tree to tree
Silently
Then back to me
With a breeze blown through
Pushed up against the sea
Finally back to me

I’m assuming you got my message
On your machine
I’m assuming you love me
And you know what that means

The sun gets passed from sea to sea
Silently
And back to me
With a breeze blown through
Pushed up above the leaves
With a breeze blowing through
My head upon your knee

Half of it’s you
Half is me

Half of it’s you
Half is me

Instrumental Credits
Jeff Tweedy Vocals, Acoustic Baritone 12 String & Lead Guitar
John Stirratt Piano, Background Vocals
Glenn Kotche Drums
Leroy Bach Bass
Mikael Jorgensen Piano & Farfisa Organ
Jim O'Rourke Acoustic Guitar & Piano

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)
   

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

Born Alone

I have heard the war and worry of the gospel
Ferried fast across the void
I have married broken spoke charging smoke wheels
Spit and swallowed opioid
I am the driver at the wheel of the horror
Marching circles at the gate
Mine eyes have seen
The fury so flattered by fate

Tonight I’d rather count the warm fuse internally
Subtract the silence of myself
I would rather choose the middle mind of mystery
Reverse a riddle for my health
I’ll unwind strange rinds overpowering
Toss the chimneys in the sea
I believe I’ve seen
The finger divine extremity

Please come closer to the feather smooth lens fly
Sadness is my luxury
Will you weather, join the cold, come before I die
More aware of it than me
The valves are blowing stone
The kids are unabashed
Loneliness postponed
Mine eyes deceiving glory
I was born to die alone
Alone

Alone

Hesitating Beauty

For your sparkling cocky smile
I have walked a million miles
Begging you to come wed me in the Spring
Why do you my dear delay,
what makes you laugh and turn away?
You're a hesitating beauty, Nora Lee

Well I know that you are itching to get married,
Nora Lee
And I know I am twitching for the same thing,
Nora Lee
By the stars and clouds above,
we can spend our lives in love
You're a hesitating beauty, Nora Lee

We can build a house and home
where the flowers come to bloom
Around our yard I'll nail a fence so high
That the boys with peeping eyes
cannot see that angel face
Of my hesitating beauty, Nora Lee

We can ramble hand in hand
across the grasses of our land
I'll kiss you for each leaf on every tree
We can bring our kids to play
where the dry winds blow today
If you’ll quit your hesitating, Nora Lee

Words: Woody Guthrie 1949
Music: Jeff Tweedy 1997
Jay Bennett: piano, electric guitar, backing vocal
Billy Bragg: electric guitar
Ken Coomer: drums
John Stirratt: electric bass
Jeff Tweedy: lead vocal

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

Pecan Pie (Golden Smog)

As I walk along and stumble
Trains rumble in my head
As I breeze along and grumble
Think about you instead

And a piece of pecan pie
And you thats all I want
Just a piece of pecan pie
And all I want is you

Sometimes I get so hungry
Think about pie all day
Just a little whipped cream
Honey, Im on my way

With a piece of pecan pie
And you thats all I want
Just apiece of pecan pie
And all I want is you

Just a piece of pecan pie
And you thats all I want
Just apiece of pecan pie
And all I want is you

Now, dont you call me key lime
You are the apple of my eye
Dont you know Ill be fine
Whenever youre by my side

With a piece of pecan pie
And you thats all I want
Just a piece of pecan pie
And all I want is you

All I want is you
All I want is you
All I want is you
All I want is you

written by Jeff Tweedy (Appears on Golden Smog album Down By The Old Mainstream)

Wait For Love

Honey I’m worried the fire is cold our tired souls have lost their way. Stay home and find the song fade away alone and strange, out of range
I’ve heard you say dreams don’t matter That’s why we hold on as the days pass and wait for love
Arm and arm waltz through the distant days the scattered parades as the sweet slips away
Oh I guess you’d say we don’t matter and I bet that could be true. But I still wanna look in your eyes and say I’ll wait for you
Oh I guess you’d say we don’t matter and I bet that could be true. But I still wanna look in your eyes today and wait for love. Let’s wait for love
 

Low Key

I want to let it be known
Ever since I was young
I’ve always been a refugee
Of the very high strung
I’ve always been low key
Let’s let the record show
No I won’t jump for joy
I don’t
If I get excited
Nobody knows
But I’m going love you the same
I’ll always be your fool
If it looks like I don’t care
I’m just playing it cool
No I won’t jump for joy
I don’t
If I get excited
No no one will know
I’ve always been low key
You know me
I’ve always been low key
You know me
No I won’t jump for joy
I don’t
If I get excited
Nobody knows
I’m gonna love you the same
I’ll always be your fool
When it looks like I don’t care
I’m just playing it cool
No I won’t jump for joy
I don’t
When I get excited
Nobody knows

 

Give Back The Key To My Heart [Doug Sahm cover]

Take my picture off the wall
It don't matter to me at all
Said I was headed for a fall
But you wanted me to crawl

Give back my TV
It don't mean that much to me
While you're giving back my things
Give me back the key to my heart

Give back the key to my heart
Give back the key to my heart
And let my love flow like a river
Straight into your heart, dear

Well, you say I was the one
To blame for the wrong that's been done
Well, you got a friend named cocaine
And to me he is to blame

He has drained life from your face
He has taken my place
While you're alone in San Antone
Give me back the key to my heart

Give back the key to my heart
Give back the key to my heart
And let my love flow like a river
Straight into your heart, dear

written by Doug Sahm © Bluewater Music Corp.

Misunderstood

When you're back in your old neighborhood
The cigarettes taste so good
But you're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood

There's something there that you can't find
You look honest when you're telling a lie
You hurt her but you don't know why
You love her but you don't know why

Short on long term goals
There's a party there that we ought to go to
If you still love rock and roll
If you still love rock and roll?

It's only a quarter to three
Reflecting off of your CD
You're looking at a picture of me
You're staring at a picture of me

Take the guitar player for a ride
'Cause he ain't never been satisfied
He thinks he owes some kind of debt
It'll be years before he gets over it

There's a fortune inside your head
When all you touch turns to lead
You think you might just crawl back in bed
With a fortune inside your head

I know you're just a mama's boy
You're positively unemployed
So misunderstood
So misunderstood

I know you've got a god-shaped hole
You're bleeding out your heart full of soul
You're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood
You're so misunderstood

I'd like to thank you all for nothing
I'd like to thank you all for nothing at all
I'd like to thank you all for nothing
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing at all
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing at all

official show poster by Flora Fauna