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Window facing an ill-kept front yard
Plums on the tree heavy with nectar
Prayers to summon the destroying angel
Moon stuttering in the sky like a film stuck in a projector
And you
You
Twin prop airplanes passing loudly overhead
Road to the airport, two lanes clear
Half the whole town gone for the summer
Terrible silence coming down here
And you
You
There is no deadline
There is no schedule
There is no plan
We can fall back on
The road this far can't be retraced
There is no punchline anybody can tack on
There are loose ends by the score
What did I come down here for?
You
You
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2. |
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Bad luck comes in from Tampa
Bad luck comes in from Tampa
On the back of a truck
Doing ninety up the interstate
We have bad dreams the night he rolls in
We have bad dreams the night he rolls in
And we try
To keep our spirits high
But they flag and they wane
When the truck pulls up out front in the light spring rain
And they sag like withering flowers
Let the good times roll on through these first few desperate hours
The driver drops his cargo at the curb
The driver drops his cargo at the curb
And the sun peeks in
Like a killer through the curtain
And when cloven hoof prints turn up in the garden
Yeah, when cloven hoof prints turn up in the garden
We keep up the good fight
We keep our spirits light
But they drop like flies
And there's a stomach-churning shift in the way the land lies
And they lean like towers
On a hillside, struggling to stand through these first few desperate hours
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3. |
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I got you
You've got whatever's left in me to get
Our conversations are like minefields
No one's found a safe way through one yet
I spent a lot of money
I buy you white gold
We raise up a little roof
Against the cold
On Southwood Plantation Road
Where at night the stars blow like milk across the sky
Where the high wires drop
Where the fat crows fly
All night long
You giggle and scream
Your brown eyes
Deeper than a dream
I am not gonna lose you
We are gonna stay married
In this house like a Louisiana graveyard
Where nothing stays buried
On Southwood Plantation Road
Where the dead will walk again
Put on their Sunday best
And mingle with unsuspecting Christian men
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4. |
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Dug up a fifth of Hood River gin
That stuff tastes like medicine
But I'll take it
It'll do
On the couch in the living room all day long
Music on the television playing our song
And I'm in the mood
The mood for you
Turn the volume up real high
All of that money, look at it fly
And you smoking
Like a chimney
Shadows crawled across the living room's length
I held onto you with a desperate strength
With everything
With everything in me
And I handed you a drink of the lovely little thing
On which our survival depends
People say friends don't destroy one another
What do they know about friends?
Thunderclouds forming, cream white moon
Everything's going to be okay soon
Maybe tomorrow
Maybe the next day
Carried you up the stairs that night
All of this could be yours if the price is right
I heard cars headed down to oblivion
Up on the expressway
Your drunken kisses, as light as the air
Maybe everything that falls down eventually rises
Our house sinking into disrepair
Ah, but look at this showroom filled with fabulous prizes
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5. |
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Look beyond the broken bottles
Past the rotting wooden stairs
Root out the wine-dark honeyed center
Not everyone can live like millionaires
Look through the air-thin walls
Tear up the floorboards, strip the paint
Go over every inch of space
With the patience of a saint
Grab your hat
Get your coat
The cellar door
Is an open throat
Look past the kitchen cabinets
Go through the chest of drawers
Scrutinize the casements
Rip the varnish off the doors
Dig up the laughing photographs
They're here somewhere or other
Take what you can carry
But let me tell you, brother
Still waters go stagnant
Bodies bloat
And the cellar door
Is an open throat
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6. |
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This place with its old plantations
These roads leading out to the sea
This day full of promise and potential
More clay pigeons for you and me
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them all lined up
Huge crows loitering by the curb
Our shared paths unraveling behind us like ribbons
And I dreamed of vultures in the trees around our house
And cicadas and locusts and the shrieking of innumerable gibbons
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them all lined up
How long will we ride this way about?
How long 'till someone caves under the pressure?
My dreams are haunted by armies, armies of ghosts
Faces too blurry to make out, numbers far too high to measure
Your face like a vision straight of Holly Hobby
Late light drizzling through your hair
Your eyes twin volcanoes
Bad ideas dancing around in there
All, all of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them all lined up
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7. |
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I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come out with a fail-safe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again
In my life, I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
And I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
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8. |
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I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come out with a fail-safe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town again
In my life, I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
And I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
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9. |
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I was driving in from Tampa when the radiator burst
I was three sheets to the wind, a civilian saw me first
And then there was the cop and then the children standing on the corner
Your love is like a cyclone in a swamp and the weather's getting warmer
I was getting out of jail, headed to the Greyhound
You said you'd hop on one yourself and meet me on the way down
I was shaking way too hard to think, dead on my feet, about to drop
Went and got the case of vodka from the car and walked the two miles to the bus stop
Got on the bus half-drunk again, the driver glared at me
Met up with you in Ingles, thumbed a ride to Cedar Key
If we never make it back to California, I want you to know I love you
But my love is like a dark cloud full of rain, always right there up above you
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10. |
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I hear them squeal
I see them preen
Fans all spread out
Neat and clean
Grab hold of the morning
Head out to the porch
Feel the wind stopping
Feel the sun scorch
I fear for my safety
You can see it in my eyes
In an hour or two
We will rise
Then a sharp breeze kicks up
I hug myself hard
How come there's peacocks
In the front yard?
Sun's all prickly
On my neck
When the helicopter passes
We both hit the deck
Hands grasping and groping
Seizing opportunity right where it lies
The sky will fall
We will rise
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11. |
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My love is like a powder keg
My love is like a powder keg in the corner of an empty warehouse
Somewhere just outside of town
About to burn down
My love is like a Cuban plane
My love is like a Cuban plane flying from Havana
Up the Florida coast to the 'Glades
Soviet made
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you, baby, can't explain it
You got the best of my love
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12. |
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Tile floor of the bathroom, scrubbed clean and bright
Checkerboard white and gray
Towels from the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Kingston, Jamaica
I can still see the rust colored stains today
The stage is set, someone's going to do something someone else will regret
I speak in smoke signals and you answer in code
The fuse will have to run out sometime
Something here will eventually have to explode, have to explode
You and me lying on the tile floor, trying to keep cool, restless all night
Sweating out the poison as the temperature climbs
Staring up, up at the hundred-watt light that burns above
Name one thing about us two anyone could love
We roll out the red carpet when rotten luck comes down the road
Five, four, three, two, one, watch for the flash
Something here will eventually have to explode
Have to explode
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13. |
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From the housetops to the gutters
From the ocean to the shore
The warning signs have all been bright and garish
Far too great in number to ignore
From the cities to the swamplands
From the highways to the hills
Our love has never had a leg to stand on
From the aspirins to the cross-tops to the Elavils
But I will walk
Down to the end with you
If you will come
All the way down with me
From the entrance to the exit
Is longer than it looks from where we stand
I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
Things will shortly get completely out of hand
I can feel it in the rotten air tonight
In the tips of my fingers, in the skin on my face
In the weak last gasp of the evening's dying light
In the way those eyes I've always loved illuminate this place
Like a trashcan fire in a prison cell
Like the searchlights in the parking lots of hell
I will walk down to the end with you
If you will come all the way down with me
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14. |
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Well, guy in a skeleton costume
Comes up to the guy
In the Superman suit
Runs through him with a broadsword!
I flip the television off
Bring all the bright lights up
Turn the radio up loud
I don't know why I'm so persuaded
That if I think things through
Long enough and hard enough
I'll somehow get to you
But then you came in
And we locked eyes
You kicked the ashtray over as we came toward each other
Stubbed my cigarette out against the west wall
Quickly lit another
Look at that
Would you look at that
We're throwing off sparks
What will I do when I don't have you
To hold onto in the dark?
Yes, everybody's going to need a witness
Everybody's going to need a little backup in case the scene gets nasty
You throw the attic window open
And I throw myself all around you
And night comes to Tallahassee
I don't know why it's gotten harder
To keep myself away
Thought I'd finally beat the feeling back
It all came back today
And then we fell down
And we locked arms
We knocked the dresser over as we rolled across the floor
I don't mean it when I tell you
That I don't love you anymore
Look at that
Would you look at that
The way the ceiling starts to swerve
What will I do when I don't have you?
When I finally get what I deserve
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15. |
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Ah, the lengthening hours in the refinery
Belching fire into the sky
We do our best vampire routines
As we suck the dying hours dry
The night is lovely as a rose
If I see sunlight hit you
I am sure that we'll both decompose
Ah, the fitful sleep and the fire engines
That I dream of when I dream
Someday we'll both wake up for good
I will try hard not to scream
The evening wind will shake the blinds
You're stirring from your slumber
We've got something hateful on our minds
Oh, sing, sing, sing
For the dying of the day
Sing for the flames that will rip through here
And the smoke that will carry us away
Yeah, sing for the damage we've done
And the worse things that we'll do
Open your mouth up and sing for me now
And I will sing for you
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16. |
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We were drinking Colorado bulldogs
When inspiration struck
And we knew it was high time
For us to change our own luck
We cracked a couple Coca Colas open
Mixed em up with vodka and some coffee liqueur
Poured in some cold milk
Raised glasses high to old friends
My love for you is 98 percent pure
But the two percent that remains
Has fried the circuits in my brain
I got out my smoking jacket
You put on some fishnets
And your smart black beret
We cut quite a figure in the mirror
And then we were on our way
Oh would that you would kiss me
With the kisses of your mouth
Because your mouth is sweeter
Than wine and has
A more complicated history
Than the American South
As the evening took us in
You could have popped the tension
With a safety pin
We went down to Pete Brown's Chevrolet
Because Pete Brown can satisfy
All your new car needs
We were nicely oiled by then
Our internal transponders
Picking up satellite feeds
From well worn ancient places
Our eager young sales rep handed us the keys
We drove about three-quarters of a mile
All that's left for us now
Is moments like these
We parked behind the high school
Away from the light
And the flames climbed high into the night
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17. |
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Window-mounted air conditioning unit
Humming like a hive
We want to send postcards to the friends we used to have
Rub their noses in the ugly fact that we are still alive
And we play lovers' reggae
On accordion and banjo
When the moon is high
And we lie on the floor
Get suspicious of the people
Who've just moved in next door
The bad taste in our mouths
The twinkle in your eye
Good things never last
Gad things never die
Wind chime from Tahiti that we found down at the auction
Tolls its minor chord
And I can't think of one thing in this whole wide blessed world
That's more dangerous and frightening than you when you get bored
We go through scads of money
Don't know where it comes from
Don't know where it goes
And we stare out the window
See the poison flowers the neighbours grow
Sprouting up in nice neat rows
The swelling in our limbs
The twinkle in your eye
Good things never last
Bad things never die
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18. |
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I took to the highway
Went out to pico-crenshaw
Old friends, old friends
I took to the highway
The highway took to me
Like a second skin
Rolled around in the evening
Circling like a buzzard
Trouble in mind
Excavating the space
We left behind
Yes, i took trinkets with me
Left them by the crater
Here ghosts, old ghosts
Smelled all the chlorine
I took the low road
Where the light is just right
Crawled around in the glowing
All-embracing wreckage
Sun-burned and snow-blind
Excavating the space
We left behind
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All songs belong to John Darnielle & The Mountain Goats, but this is a love letter to John and his music, that his music has touched our lives. We'll be doing more albums too, and they'll all be available here for free.
Any money donated will go toward future compilations. We are not trying to make money off of this though, as it's simply a fan project.
