deep thoughts

BUT WHO REALLY KNOWS ANYTHING

It seems as though there are two types of humans
those who think that this life is enough and
those who think that it’s not.
If you are of the first persuasion, consider yourself safe
and even, on some days, lucky.
But if you are of the second persuasion,
you have two options.
Either live in fear of the inevitable end or
trick yourself into believing that there is something greater and perhaps better
than this life.
If you do achieve success in this endeavour,
when you finally draw your last breath,
you may be reassured that there is, in fact,
something more than this existence,
something more than this attachment,
and something more than this happiness and suffering.
But who really knows anything…..

lyrics

CREOSOTE

I love the smell of the creosote
She reaches up and grabs my throat
Brings me back to my Chicago years
Drinking whiskey and drinking beer

We would eat the cruellest of food
Greasy spoon greasy attitude
And the smoke would rise up and curl
In the hog butcher to the world

And you went overseas while I stayed on
And when you returned you discovered
That I was gone

We use to meet at the Charleston
Talk about all things and nothing
What about that time at the Rainbow Room
With Mike Watt and Kira too

You used to live in such a run down joint
We’d scare the rats but what was the point
We’d go to openings where I wouldn’t know a soul
In old factories still burnin coal

And I went overseas while you stayed on
And when I returned I discovered
That you were gone

Now it seems like a world away
The Sears Tower and Lake Michigan waves
But somewhere in the heart of that town
You’ll find us in the lost and found

-for hammer

lyrics

WHITE SURFACES

I see your shoes you’re back again
They’re in a row by the door
Why don’t you move them closer
So you can’t walk so far away no more
I’ve missed the sound of your footsteps
They seem to speak a million words
But you’ve been hidin or choosin
White surfaces so you can’t be heard

I can see a woman
I can feel her age
Somewhere between an infant
And a relic with silver hair
She’s always known about distance
But that don’t mean she’s strayed
Her footsteps are kept inside her head
But the echo is too big for her some days
You know that echo is too big

I’m going down to the woodpile
And I won’t go beyond
Got to keep that fire burning for there are many ways
In which to respond
There’s a wall of darkness
With many holes that leak
Nothingness onto my legs
And gets me where I am so weak
You know it gets me

lyrics

CIRCUMNAVIGATIN THE SUN

As the crow flies under my spell
He takes these shortcuts he’s quick as hell
As I stumble amongst these big stones
Like a mortar and pestle it could crush my bones
Can I catch him he’s lost in my sights
And the sky is turning all Edgar Allan and I’m losing the good light

But he keeps me running keeps me running
like I’m circumnavigatin the sun
Keeps me running keeps me running to you the only one
Is it all just a dream? Which I’d never trade
Is it all just a dream? I hope she never fades

I could rest now right here
Oh these old tired eyes are sweating tears
I could drift in into a deep sleep
Here it comes that gentle creep
Well I can see that shape again
I think to myself why should I let that little bastard win

But he keeps me running keeps me running
like I’m circumnavigatin the sun
Keeps me running keeps me running to you the only one
Is it all just a dream? Which I’d never trade
Is it all just a dream? I hope she never fades