1. |
Alice
04:19
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She is standing, she is standing
At the window looking in
There are marbles, there is whitewash
And lots of coins piled in a tin
Tom Sawyer's playing with a pocket knife alone
Somewhere out there Injun Joe's waiting
Is he lost inside the cave
Searching for gold again
And just right there
The page tears in Mark Twain
She is walking, she is walking
Through the doorway feeling young
Huck Finn's fishing with his big toe
Knotted tightly in a string
Tom Sawyer white washed fences alone
Waiting for some fool to come
She is lost inside the cave
Searching for gold once more
And just right there
Mark Twain's pages tore
She is standing, she is standing
At the counter to get served
There are caverns there's a thousand
Books on which to slip and lose her nerve
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2. |
The World
02:53
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When I was a kid
I learned about the world
From my mom and dad
And the books I read
Like a treasure chest
Bursting at the seams
With these amazing things
I was too young to see
So when I finished school
It finally arrived
The world was on my doorstep
I wrestled it inside
I opened it right up
Could not believe my eyes
About a billion pieces
No instruction guide
And even worse some parts were missing
That I'd been led to think were there
And even worse some parts were broken
And possibly beyond repair
And even worse some parts were stolen
From someone else's world somewhere
With every year gone by
The task seems more immense
The more I piece together
The less it all makes sense
Some days this heap of junk
Is more than I can stand
Each time I try to throw it out
Some wonder stays my hand
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3. |
Grinding the Mill
05:19
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A knock at my door
Time again for the crisis of the hour
You paint your melodrama
Words with hooks to snare reactions
And colors...
To make my mind's eye water
In the air I smell a fever
And every eye is open wide
A thousand voices hoarse with tragedy
But still my blood runs warm inside
You watch me like a beggar
Time again for a taste of someone else's tears
You await the spectacle
But maybe I can never give the right reaction
To suit you...
Paralyzed by the world
Is every ear deaf but for thunder
Is every eye blind but to flame
When every word's blown up beyond recognition
Then every story sounds the same
Tonight they hope to bring the house down
Through every act the sirens sing
Hold your applause 'til they're done staging the sorrow
Or join me waiting in the wings
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4. |
2000 Gods
05:58
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In a vessel on a tower
In a town where no one lives
Lies an offering to Shiva
A rare and precious gift to give
The priests are chanting in their chambers
Eyes averted from His light
If the scriptures aren't mistaken
A god will walk the earth tonight
And in his robe of flame and dust he danced above them
Like a thousand suns he burned and brought destruction
Far from land an island rises
From a sea as still as glass
By its shores the priests have gathered
To say a different kind of mass
A hundred ships of war are anchored
Offered up in sacrifice
For those who'd gaze upon Poseidon
First must sate his appetite
Wrapped in hurricanes he comes to rend and shatter
In his wake the sea is torn and chokes the heavens
Two thousand gods among us
Luna Shakti Oberon Ceres and Canopus
Two thousand gods among us
Chagai Lop Nur Socorro Trinity and Argus
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5. |
This Life
04:20
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It's all too easy to close your eyes
Stop to rest for a moment and the days blow by
You tell yourself it's all you can do just to survive
But sometimes you wonder...
They say a man is nothing more than what he's done and seen
So if I only think about it am I something less
In my imagination there's a better man I've been
In real life I'm not quite him
Do I want the life I have
And if I had the courage
Could it be a different way
This is not how I thought it would be
Walking on the treadmill
While the time slips through my hands
And I rage against the fading of the light
The force of habit, the weight of need
With her arms to help me
Can I clear a space to breathe
The finding is easy, but it's hard to keep
With the strength of desperation
I hold to my dreams
Is this all there is to me
And if I die tomorrow
Will the world remain the same
Is talk worth anything at all
Paved with good intentions
Is that the road I'm on
And I rage against the fading of my life
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6. |
More Than Meets the Eye
05:15
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I’m headed home on the 101
When without warning
A jet screams out of the setting sun
It’s coming straight for me
But then it starts to fall apart
And suddenly in some sci-fi origami move
There’s a killer robot above my car
My engine revs
A metal head’s
Folding right out of the hood
A grinding sound
Then I’m on the ground
Watching the battle of evil and good
I just found out that my Honda’s a robot
Thirty feet tall and I just had it cleaned
With lasers and bombs and the optional sunroof
Seating for five with a bit of a squeeze
The battle lasted for half an hour
They blasted and pummeled
And illegally trampled the wildflowers
But my Honda won at last
And the evil robot had to fly
My car lost its windshield and a bumper
But you should see the other guy
By way of thanks
I filled the tank
At the first station we passed
He drained it dry
Now I know why
I spend so much money on gas
I pull in my driveway
Looking up at the sky
How many are there?
Did they choose me and why?
I step in my front door
And to my alarm
My microwave greets me
With four open arms
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7. |
Small Screen
05:21
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Oh, it's dark in here and cold
I walk softly now, if I ever walk at all
Here there be dragons, so I'm told
So never look too closely, child
At the inside of your skull
It's nature's cruelest joke, my friend
A prison we're born into
Before we even learn what crime is
To each, alone until the end
Locked in here behind my eyes
Guessing at my sin
Give me noise to keep me sane
Medusa's gaze brings peace of mind
From this vessel spirit drain
To dissipate among mankind
Abaddon sleeps above my spine
Thoughts will char the reckless soul
Who tries to claim them for his own
Pandora, waiting for a sign
Seems to me these big brains
Are like the soldier killed by his own gun
It's so much easier this way
Watching on the small screen
I can see from every side
There's always one thing more to say
The self fulfilling prophecy never has to lie
If pictures cost 1,000 words
Drown me in a pixelled flood
I want to rub against the herd
Bread and circus in the mud
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8. |
Dauntless
05:18
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Now there I was deep in the Maze of Madness
The treasure of the ancients lay at my feet
Years of searching must have made me careless
I didn't see the ambush til it caught me
The ninjas numbered seven, dressed in all black
Their whirling blades left no escape to speak of
But suddenly a roaring and a whip crack
And while her tigers ate I met my true love
We're on an expedition to the heart
Of places that the rest of you forgot
We're walking ways for ages overgrown
In caravans that lead to parts unknown
Ever since that day we've roamed together
Across the miles of mystery and wonder
Keeping cool no matter what the weather
Glimpsing secrets hidden in the thunder
She's got cunning like a fox in great abundance
Riddles runes and locks will never daunt her
Her ready wit a hundred times has saved us
From deadly perils sprung from every quarter
We're drinking up our days right from the source
Trusting tiny guides to find our course
To cities shaped by strange and dreaming hands
Beyond the fields we know and understand
I say "Four corners is nine too few
And there's more than three worlds
'cause we've traveled them through
We've sailed the nine seas and walked two moons
But I've just got one home here with you"
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9. |
Lullaby
06:09
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I come home from work
And let myself in
And stand at the foot of the stairs
The apartment is dark
The radio's off
I call but I know you're not there
So I fix myself dinner
And eat it alone
Then I whittle the evening away
It's not that I mind
Some time to myself
But I feel kind of hollow today
So if I can't be with you tonight
I'll sing you to sleep instead
Over the waves with the last of the light
You can lay down your sweet head
What are you doing
And where are you now
You've never felt so far away
So few years together
Are all that we have
We're fools to miss even one day
Where is my heart when you're gone
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10. |
Four Colors
04:23
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Far away across many borders
There's a land where I've never been
People there are so very different
Or so I picture it when I'm imagining
If I sailed to the ends of the ocean
Would I find a new world waiting there for me
In the depths of the far-distant jungles
Could there be forgotten cities no one's seen
But the atlas is open on the table
The earth lies naked upon the page
Acre by acre it's all parceled out
Til every inch is known beyond a shadow of a doubt
When I need to be far from other people
To calm the reckless beating of my heart
Every place that I turn to escape them
Bears the traces of someone who's gone before
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Ryan Houlette recommends:
Glen Phillips has been making thoughtful, great music for a long time.
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