Girlfriend

THE BRINK

I don’t think I told you
but you’re beautiful the way you are,
I never should have talked so hard about you.
And I don’t think you know it
but I’m struggling now that you are gone,
I’ve got to learn to get along without you.
Whatever happened to the good old days?
Hey, come on over.
Whatever happened to your angel ways?
We’re just a little older.
Sometimes when I’m in my room
the curtains blow but there’s no breeze,
perception sure can be a tease I think so.
Seeing things the way they are
sometimes is more pain than it’s worth,
you’ve always been among the first to let it go.
Whatever happened to security?
Hey babe, come on over.
Whatever happened to your love for me?
We’re just a little older.
And the world’s a little colder,
as it rains and I grow older.
And in the night I still have scary dreams.
In the night, I still wake up with screams.
And in my life, I always will be free,
and it’s alright, it’s just how I’ve got to be.
Overcoming what the world calls sanity,
escaping from reality is just a little trick now.
Everybody’s got their way of dealing with the everyday,
we’ve all got little habits to be kicked now.
Whatever happened to sincerity,
and saying what you think, love?
Whatever happened to the honesty
we always were on the brink of?

 

 

TAXI

Taxi to the airport,
today you’re going to learn to fly.
Everyone knows what you’re there for,
see the silver in the sky.
Other happy people in the ticket window line.
Check that suitcase light
and easy now you’re free.
Hope your gate’s not hard to find.
And oh, you’re flying today.
Oh, and you’ll land so far away,
another place and time,
leave your home far behind.
Walking through the airport,
other passengers go by.
It’s kind of different from the freeway,
but cars could never go so high.
And oh, you’re flying today.
Oh, you’ll land so far away,
another place and time.
Careful not to blow your mind.
I hope we don’t crash, have to use a life raft.
I hope there’s no bomb on the plane we’re on.
I hope we don’t crash.
I don’t want to use a life raft.
No no no no no, no no no bomb on the plane we’re on.

 

 

RANKIN HOUSE

Well the oven is broken,
no heat’s coming out
but the landlord’s too old
to be traveling about.
He’s a little deaf
so you may have to shout
and the place is so rundown
that I haven’t a doubt
it’s a rankin’ house,
and there ain’t no trees in the yard.
And the white paint is peeling
off every wall.
And the faucet is dripping,
yeah the water will fall.
And don’t you give the man your money,
cause he’ll take it all.
And the porch is collapsing,
you’d better watch your step y’all.
It’s a rankin’ house,
and there ain’t no trees in the yard.
Well we’ve got five people living
in a three bedroom house
and there ain’t no telling
when the lights will go out.
Two hundred bucks a month for heat
is what we pay,
but we’re breaking every rule,
so what can we say.
If something’s broken, he’ll fix it,
he’ll make it real nice.
Or else he’ll forget it,
and then charge you twice.
And if you’re hearing funny noises
well it’s probably the mice
and the freezer ain’t working
so forget about ice.
It’s a rankin’ house,
and there ain’t no trees in the yard.

 

 

MY DOG JESUS

There’s a bird in the tree
Jenny said as she died.
It sings just for you
said the boy as he cried.
The bird looking down
saw the two children there
but then he flew away as if he didn’t care
they were crying,
Jenny was dying.
And it happened so fast
and the story’s too sad
but I still can recall
all the times that we had.
And the way that you smiled
and the way that you laughed,
it was over so soon
yeah it happened so fast
babe I’m crying, the feeling is dying.
But I cannot leave this place.
And I cannot see your face anymore,
that’s for sure.
The way life works out
yeah it’s funny sometimes
how we sit in our boxes
and think of our rhymes
and we bury the children
six feet underground
and the whole world turns out
to see Jenny go down
and they’re crying,
the children are dying.
And you wanted so much
’till you just could not see
the way that your love
stuck its needles in me.
Would you ever forget
all the things that I gave?
Would you come if I called,
would you dance on my grave
if I’m dying?
I never stop trying.
I’m beat up and bruised
by all life’s cruel blows
so don’t send an excuse
I don’t want none of those.
My friends and my family
have all gathered ’round.
They’ve put on their best clothes
they’ve all gone to town
and they’re smiling,
the flags are all flying.
And I call my dog Jesus
’cause she died for me
and I think she turned into
that bird in the tree
and he sings in the driveway,
he sings on the lawn,
yeah he sings everyday
for a little girl gone.
He’s not flying,
the children keep dying.

 

 

OKLAHOMA ROOTS

Well even in this place brand new,
the Oklahoma roots show through.
And you never meant to be so wild,
never thought you’d strike the child.
And in the corner as she cries.
You blame it on the family tree.
The Irish mixed with Cherokee.
And woman no one likes to watch you going down.
You try to hide it but it’s just to small a town.
Still they come knocking on your door.
A little softer than before.
And Arizona morning sun can clear away the wrongs we’ve done.
You survive Wisconsin winter nights.
Referee the endless fights.
And bring your children to be tried.
In Texas you can change your name.
But have the nightmares just the same.
And she’s been running now since she was just fifteen.
You know she’s frightened but you don’t know what she’s seen.
Still they come knocking on your door.
Not quite as often anymore.
And now at night you’re on your own.
You work your anger out alone.
And though you’re older still you don’t know what you’ve done, no.
And if you’re angry well you’re not the only one.
Still they come knocking on your door.
Once or twice then nothing more.
I sing a song of memories.
Pillow fights and climbing trees.
And Sunday morning breakfast gowns.
Moving to another town.
And watching as we all fall down.
It leaves the family wondering,
“well where’s the child at twenty-three?”
And your misfortune is you tried to really care, didn’t you?
You miss her badly, but you hate it when she’s there.
Still they come knocking on your door,
you know exactly what it’s for.
And they’ll come knocking on your door
’till you’re not listening anymore.

 

 

GIRLFRIEND

So you want to be his girlfriend,
you want him to be good to you.
But you know that it’s just passion,
passing fancy, passing through.
And then everytime you see him.
Oh lord you don’t know what to do
and your money flows like water
and the monkey’s got the best of you.
And I look into your sad eyes,
say girlfriend what is wrong with you
and you know you’re such a beauty
and that boy just doesn’t deserve you.
’Cause he lies, oh no it’s nothing new
and you’re trying to be with him
and I’m trying to get through to you.
But he’s so beautiful, omygod yeah, he’s so beautiful.
And you’re saying it’s a bad time,
and that this boy’s expecting you.
And you just can’t keep him waiting
cause then honey lord knows what he’ll do.
Well that’s fine, I won’t be keeping you.
It’s your life you gotta live it
guess I’ll try and find some work to do.
But he’s so beautiful, I heard you say it, he’s so beautiful.
Try and change your mind girl.
Find someone who might stay.
He just crashes into your world.
But it’s worth it for the good lay, we say.
Oh we all say, when we feel this way.
And the lights go down, after one more day.
And we’re all alone, and we feel the pain.
But we like our lives and we like this pain
and we like it like it, we like it like it like it this way.

 

 

TRUE WEAKNESS

So here I am with him again,
I can’t believe it’s true.
I could have sworn I hated him,
that he and I were through.
I really thought I loved you.
Why did he have to call?
He knows just how to get to me.
He knows all my favorite lies.
And he speaks them all so eloquently.
And he looks into my eyes.
Oh god he barely tries, with the lies.
And I shamelessly fall.
And oh, he’s like a poison to me.
A true weakness, a sickness a sin.
Oh, will no one deliver me,
must I fall to the boy once again.
And will it never end?
I wish I could be strong.
You’re leaving now I know.
And you would be so good for me,
it’s plain to see just how good you’d be.
The tragedy is needing him so.
I’ve got no control, but I know I could have had it all.

 

 

BARBIE

I still remember my first barbie doll.
So pretty and so blond and sweet.
And I longed to look just like that barbie doll.
So even though I was only six, I wouldn’t eat.
My family thought that I had lost my mind.
That that pink corvette went straight to my head.
So my mama came one day and sat me down,
and with a stern look in her eye, here’s what she said:
No one really looks like barbie,
she’s plastic from her head down to her feet.
Yeah, no one really looks like barbie.
So come to the table and eat.
As I grew older and I got a job
selling women’s clothing at the mall,
one thing I noticed quite consistently
was that all the really cute clothes were too small.
But my friends and I tried to squeeze into them,
starving ourselves so they would fit.
But those clothes were made to fit a barbie doll,
and you know all those top designers are full of…it.
Because no one really looks like barbie,
she’s plastic from her head down to her feet.
No one really looks like barbie.
So come to the table and eat.
Now that I’m grown up and I look around
at all the girls trying to be so thin,
it breaks my heart that we don’t realize
that the whole world should unite and say to them:
Hey, no one really looks like barbie,
she’s plastic from her head down to her feet (poor barbie).
Yeah, no one really looks like barbie.
So come to the table and eat, girls, eat,
yeah no one really looks like barbie.
And if we did the world would be completely boring.
No one really looks like barbie.
And you’ll kill yourself trying,
so you better stop trying.
About a million girls are dying,
so baby sit down at the table and EAT.

 

 

MY FRIEND JOE

My friend Joe is a guitar player
that never leaves the house,
you know he’s a real hard drinker,
a first class thinker.
He goes around in the same clothes
that he wears everyday, he ain’t got much to say.
And I met her at a party a long long time ago.
We shared a pizza, I didn’t like her,
you made me drive her home.
And I know that you two, yeah well you go a long way back,
and you’re great friends, that’s why you call her up on the phone.
And she knows everything about you dear.
She knows all your friends from high school
how could I know them?
And she has always been such a beauty queen.
Yes she’s lovely, I agree.
And she has perfect fashion sense.
In my car I take the highway, I love the highway.
I take my time, take the long road and back in Oregon
I decide to get the courage and call you up but you’re not alone.
So I call my friend Joe.
And we know everything’s not so bad.
But it’s just hard to find the right words
how could I know them?
And if you’d rather be with your beauty queen,
well I won’t keep you anymore.
I’ll just turn and walk away.
I won’t feed on jealousy,
no I’ll just drink with my friend Joe.

 

 

NOAH

Well you were just a child, and I felt so old.
Although not exactly wise.
I felt more like a book, yellowed with time.
And the longer you took to read through my pages
the more you would find that I was not like you babe.
And you were on the road on a hot desert day.
And I was traveling alone.
And we swam in the blue Colorado by day,
and slept on the sand.
And I was so into you, that I wanted to love you
and make you my man, but that was not like you babe.
And you know that I know you’ve got a more permanent lover.
You told me she lived in St. Louis or Boston or Denver,
I really don’t remember.
And my mother had just died in June of that year.
But I felt so alive. I felt like she was there,
in the warmth of the sun and the cool of the air.
And I wanted to love you and love everyone.
And I felt like a newborn babe.
And I never felt so free like I did in those days.
And you were so good to me.
And if you changed my way, well that’s cause I let you in.
And I’m honored to say that I met you
and knew you and I was your friend.
And you changed my way when I let you in.
You changed my way, then you walked out again.
And I still think about you babe, all about you babe.
And you know that I know you’ve got a more permanent lover.
You told me about her, I thought I would never recover.
But time’s doing wonders.