Bright Eyes - Digital Ash In A Digital Urn lyrics
- Time Code
- Gold Mine Gutted
- Arc Of Time (Time Code)
- Down In A Rabbit Hole
- Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
- Hit The Switch
- I Believe In Symmetry
- Devil In The Details
- Ship In A Bottle
- Light Pollution
- Theme From Pinata
- Easy/Lucky/Free
Time Code
death
data entry
ant hill law
encoded arc our common cause
drink liquid clocks 'til I see God
crystal display
can't turn it off
shh...shh...shhhh
don't talk
don't talk
Gold Mine Gutted
It was Don DeLillo, whiskey, me,
And a blinking midnight clock
Speakers on a TV stand
Just a turntable to watch
And the smoke came out our mouths
On all those hooded sweatshirt walks
We were a stroke of luck
We were a gold mine, they gutted us
And from the sidelines you see me run
Until I'm out of breath
Living the good life, I left for dead
The sorrowful Midwest
Well I did my best...
To keep my head
It was grass stain jeans and incompletes
And a girl from class to touch
But you think about yourself too much
And you ruin who you love
Well all these claims at consciousness
My stray dog freedom
Let's have a nice clean cut
Like a bag we buy and divy up
And from the sidelines, I see you run
Until you're out of breath
And all those white lines that sped us up
We hurried to our death
Well I lagged behind...
So you got ahead
Arc Of Time (Time Code)
You can make a plan
Carve it into stone
Like a feather falling
That is still unknown
Until the clock speaks up
Says it’s time to go
You can choose the high
Or the lower road
You might clench your fist
You might fork your tongue
As you curse or praise
All the things you’ve done
And the faders move
And the music dies
As we pass over
On the arc of time
So you’ll nurse your love
like a wounded dove
in the covered cage of night
Every star is crossed
by phrenetic thoughts
They separate and then collide
And they twist like sheets
‘til you fall asleep
and they finally unwind
It’s a black balloon
It’s a dream you’ll soon deny
I hear if you make friends
With Jesus Christ
You’ll get right up
From that chalk outline
And then you'll get dolled up
And you'll dress in white
All to take your place
In his chorus line
And then in you’ll come
With those marching drums
In a saintly compromise
No more whiskey slurs
No more blonde hair girls
For your whole eternal life
And you’ll do the dance
That was choreographed
At the very dawn of time
Singing “I told you son,
The day would come,
You would die, you die, you die, you die…
You would die, you die, you die, you die…
You would die, you die, you die, you die…
You would die, you die, you die
To the deepest part
Of the human heart
The fear of death expands
‘til we crack the code
we’ve always known
But could never understand
On a circuit board
We’ll soon be born
Again, again, again, again…
And again, again, again, again…
And again, again, again, again…
And again, again, again
Down In A Rabbit Hole
I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
Covered yourself up in snow
Baby, tell me where'd you go
For days and days
Did they make you stay up all night?
Did they paint your face that pasty white?
You're thirsty but your appetite
Is chased away
The sun turns us to stone
It's a cloudy day
But we still can't go home
Open our back cellar door
Till we see the moon
We're invisible
No one ever takes the garbage out
A new kid gets dare to touch the house
He runs back only to announce
There's no one home
Does he paint the foil with a flame
Smear the soda, taste butane
For every fear that can't be named
To calm you down
Your heart starts skipping steps
So your farther gone
Then you might expect
If your thoughts should turn to death
Got to stomp them out
Like a cigarette
Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
First with your hands, then with your mouth
A downpour of sweat, damp cotton clouds
I was a fool, you were my friend
We made it happen
You took off your clothes, left on the light
You stood there so brave, you used to be shy
Each feature improved, each movement refines
And eyes like a showroom
Now they are spreading out the blankets on the beach
That weatherman is a liar, he said it would be raining
But it is clear and blue as far as I can see
Left by the lamp, right next to the bed
On a cartoon cat pad you scratched with a pen
"Everything is as it has always been
This never happened"
"Don't take it so bad, it is nothing you did
It is just once something dies, you can't make it live
You're a beautiful boy, you're a sweet little kid
But I am a woman"
So I laid back down and wrapped myself up in the sheet
And I must have looked like a ghost, because something frightened me
And since then I've been so good at vanishing
Now I do as I please, and I lie through my teeth
Someone might get hurt, but it won't be me
I should probably feel cheap, but I just feel free
And a little bit empty
No it isn't so hard to get close to me
There will be no arguments, we will always agree
And I will try and be kind when I ask you to leave
We will both take it easy
But if you stay too long inside my memory
I will trap you in a song tied to a melody
And I will keep you there so you can't bug me
(all of these corrections are from the actual "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" CD)
Hit The Switch
I'm staring out into that vaccum again
From the back porch of my mind
The only thing thats alive
I'm all there is
And I start attacking my vodka, stab the ice with my straw
My eyes have turned red as stoplights, you seem ready to walk
You know I'll call you eventually, when I wanna talk
'Til then you're invisible
'Cause theres a switch that gets hit and it all stops making sense
And in the middle of drinks, maybe the fifth or the sixth
I'm completely alone at a table of friends
I feel nothing for them. I feel nothing, nothing
Well, I need a break from the city again
I think I'll ship myself back west
I got a friend there, she says, "hey, any time."
Unless that offers expired, I have been less than frequent
She's under no obligation to indulge every whim
And I'm so ungrateful, I take, she gives and forgives
And I keep forgetting it
And each morning she wakes with a dream to describe
Something lovely that bloomed in her beautiful mind
I said "I'll trade you one for two nightmares of mine
I have some where I die, I have some where we all die."
I'm thinking of quitting drinking again
I know I said that a couple times
And I'm always changing my mind, well, I guess I am
But theres this burn in my stomach and theres this pain in my side
And when I kneel at the toilet
And the mornings clean light pours in through the window
Sometimes I pray I don't die
I'm a goddamn hypocrite
But the night rolls around and it all starts making sense
There is no right way or wrong way, you just have to live
And so I do what I do and at least I exist
What could mean more than this?
What would mean more?
Mean more?
Ohhhh
I Believe In Symmetry
Some plans were made and rice was thrown
A house was built, a baby born
How time can move both fast and slow
Amazes me
And so I raise my glass to symmetry
To the second hand and its accuracy
To the actual size of everything
The desert is the sand
You can't hold it in your hand
It won't bow to your demands
There's no difference you can make
There's no difference you can make
And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You aren't looking hard enough
I wasn't looking hard enough
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who makes love to the flower bed
And dies in the first freeze
Oh I want to learn such simple things
No politics, no history
Till what I want and what I need
Can finally be the same
I just got myself to blame
Leave everything up to fate
When there's choices I could make
When there's choices I could make
Yeah, my heart needs a polygraph
Always so eager to pack my bags
When I really wanna stay
When I really wanna stay
When I wanna stay (x4)
The arc of time, the stench of sex
The innocence you can't protect
Each quarter note, each marble step
Walk up and down that lonely treble clef
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
Each wanting the next one
Each wanting the next one to arrive
An argument for consciousness
The instinct of the blind insect
Who never thinks not to accept its fate
That's faith, there's happiness in death
You give to the next one
You give to the next on down the line
You give to the next one
You get to the next on down the line
The levity of longing that
Distills each dream inside my head
By morning watered down again
On silver stars I wish and wish and wish
Move on to the next one
Move on to the next one down the line
Move on to the next one
Move on to the next one down the line
You get to the next one
You get to the next on down the line
You get to the next one
You get to the next on down the line
Devil In The Details
A house of cards
A supple heart
Is not a place to dwell
Now you have your cake
Don’t hesitate
Come on just do it,
Come on just do it
Put it in your mouth
There is only now
Tomorrow has to wait
But know there’s no backing out
This is gonna be reality
You can never dream it down
I have No way
Of telling
The two apart
Well I made amends
In the general sense
But the devil’s in the details
And I know the cause
And I want to stop
But I can’t do it,
I just can’t do it
There was love I meant
There were accidents
So tell me which is which
‘Cus I just can’t work it out
But for memory and clarity
We had better write it down
I have no way
Of knowing the truth
With time dissolves
I put the past into the ground
I saw the future as a cloud
If theres still time to turn around
Im going to
Its just one day I fell asleep
And all day all night I dreamed
I am the first one I deceive
If I can make myself believe
The rest is easy…
Ship In A Bottle
I wanna be the surgeon that cuts you open
That fixes all of life's mistakes
I wanna be the house that you were raised in
The only place that you feel safe
I wanna be a shower in the morning
That wakes you up and makes you clean
I know I'm just the weather againt your window
As you sleep through a winter's dream
Someones churning the earth
Someone's stirring the sky
Every color at once in a column of lights
Bacteria breeds on a microscope slide
The worm in my heart's the apple of your eye
Don't adore what is impossible
We have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew how it worked
We'd have to grow old
Someone's eating at you, wakes you up in the night
If you're digging the past, who knows what you'll find
Read the newspaper print off the microfiche slide
And you're holding your breath for the rest of your life
Don't you love what is intangible
I have built this ship in a wine bottle
But if you knew who I was...
You would never grow old
Light Pollution
John A. Hobson was a good man
He used to loan me books and mic stands
He even got me a subscription
To the Socialist Review
Listening to records in his basement
Old folk songs about the government
"It's love of money, not the market"
He said, "these fuckers push on you"
And freedom yells, it don't cry
Whatever sells will decide
But there's no hell when you die
So don't look so worried
He got a night life, lost his day job
Pushing papers, swinging pendulums
Anything to serve a function
Or to occupy some time
You gotta earn this living somehow
You're good as dead without a bank account
But it's funny how alive he felt down
In that unemployment line
With all that trash at his feet
The pools of piss in the street
All of that filthy empathy
For the way we're feeling
The billboards shade
The flags they wave
The anthem was playing loud
The baseball game was letting out
And all at once
he saw the dust
And heard every tiny sound
Got in his truck and turned around
Drove out through the crowd and the cops
Drove out past that center mall
Drove out past that sickening sprawl
Out past that fenced in crawl
And maybe he lost control
Fucking with the radio
But I bet the stars seemed so close
At the end
At the end
At the end
Theme From Pinata
Well I wish I had a parachute
But I'm not sure what to do.
Cos I'm falling back for you.
I can see the ground approaching now
Guess I feel like a piñata
Won't you take a swing at me?
If you could just crack the shell open
Something sweet.
I think inside you would find
Your footsteps in the weeds.
Well I hear you like a hunter now,
I would gladly leave my hiding place
So let your arrow fly and sing
Yes, I'm hoping to be seen.
I'm well within your aim.
And lay your traps for a 1,ooo miles
Please don't let me escape
The winter came to Omaha,
It left us looking like a bride.
A million perfect snowflakes-
No two are alike
I know debris it covers everything
So it's hard for me imagining the flaws in this design
But still I am in love..
With this life.
Easy/Lucky/Free
Did it all get real, I guess it's real enough
They got refrigerators full of blood
Another century spent pointing guns
At anything that moves
Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot
My twitching muscles tease my flippent thoughts
I never really dreamed of heaven much
Until we put him in the ground
But it's all I'm doing now
Listening for patterns in the sound
Of an endless static sea
But once the satellite's deceased
It blows like garbage through the streets
Of the night sky to infinity
But don't you weep (don't you weep for them)
Don't you weep (don't you weep)
There is nothing as lucky
Honey, don't you weep (don't you weep for them)
Don't you weep (don't you weep)
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Don't be a criminal in this police state
You better shop and eat and procreate
You got vacation days then you might escape
To a condo on the coast
I set my watch to the atomic clock
I hear the crowd count down til the bomb gets dropped
I always figured there'd be time enough
I never let it get me down
But I can't help it now
Looking for faces in the clouds
I got some friends I barely see
But we're all planning to meet
We'll lay in bags as dead as leaves
All together for eternity
But don't you weep (don't you weep for them)
Don't you weep (don't you weep)
There is no one as lucky
Honey, don't you weep (don't you weep for them)
Don't you weep (don't you weep)
There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free
Or free, or free, or free
There's nothing, there's nothing, there's nothing...