interrobang

beloved

maybe all the world is insecure

maybe all of us are looking for a cure

maybe, something that can finally reassure, maybe

we’re chasing after money like a drug

but the money’s never gonna be enough

no, it’s never gonna take the place of love, maybe

i’m still looking for the truth, but i

can’t seem to find it in the news

when it all starts singing like the blues, maybe

the days start feeling like the nights

like it’s just another way to lose a fight

like i’m the only one who’s looking for the light, maybe

if only i could open up my eyes

would the truth be what would set me free?

if only i could open up my eyes

would i see that maybe i need you like you need me?

and the new year dawns

and the old year’s drifting on and on

like my doubts in orbit around the sun

every day begins to feel the same, like i’m

waiting on the wind to go and change

but there’s no one but myself around to blame, lately

staring and despairing on the screen

turning everything that’s real into a meme

but the feeds that i read don’t feed me what i need

if only i could open up my eyes

would the truth be what would set me free?

and the new year dawns

and the old year’s drifting on and on

like my doubts in orbit around the sun

and i still don’t think i’m wrong

to be so earnest in these broken, longing songs

like my doubts in orbit around the sun

around the sun,

around the sun

the questions that we’re too afraid to ask

cause the present is the future of the past

cause the river is the same but moving fast, lately

maybe every “other” is a “we” maybe

differences are easier to see

than the family we are that’s underneath, maybe

like you need me?

and the new year dawns

and the old year’s drifting on and on

like my doubts in orbit around the sun

and i’m looking in your eyes

i see reflections of the sea reflecting the skies

i see myself

looking at you

looking at me

looking at…

i start to recognize that i need you

like you need me

like i need you

like you need me

lost ‘cause

i took the midnight path

in the aftermath

tearing out the sutures

is there no way back

to a broken past

just our broken futures

i heard you tore it all down

destroyed the world we found

are we a lost cause?

or are we just lost ‘cause

we won’t be the future we refuse to see

and if i’m your lost cause

it will be your loss ‘cause

you won’t see me as i am, not the enemy

i’ll be your lost cause

do you remember us

on the late-night bus

taking everything for granted

you said it’s scary with the lights on

and my love songs are fight songs

but my punches never landed

i heard you tore it all down

destroyed the world we found

i’ll be your lost cause

or are we just lost ‘cause

we never see the future we refuse to be?

and if i’m your lost cause

it will be your loss ‘cause

you won’t see me as i am, the possibility:

that i’m not the enemy

i’ll be your lost cause

fluorescent

i am the moth

beating his wings against the dusty window

outside of your dull fluorescent light

youth was dark with the simple things

you had your light

i had my wings

you were the brightest star in the black night

my fluorescent girl in the city light

how long, my fluorescent favorite?

how long until you are mine?

today, tonight, today, tonight?

how long, my fluorescent light?

the spiders and the ants, and the dance goes

two by two into arks of oblivion

ours is a desperate song:

"you’re not that bright, i’m not that strong”

and our outcome looks exceedingly clear:

we are always separate, always near

how long, my fluorescent favorite?

how long until you are mine?

today, tonight, today, tonight?

how long, my fluorescent light?

how long, my fluorescent favorite?

how long until you run out of light?

a year, a month, a day, a night?

how long, my fluorescent light?

you lead me on

with your pseudo sun

your light might not be all that bright

but in the dark it feels so strong

my wings can’t last this long

if i were you

2020 enemies

what a dismal odyssey

held by only apathy

is there any remedy?

cause we bicker over listerine

with twitter as our liturgy

what a crumby legacy

2020 enemies

if i were you

and you were me

would we still be doomed

to disagree

cause you’d be me

if i were you

and you'd never see

my point of view

if i were you

hey romeo it’s juliet

are you montague or capulet

or some denigrating epithetic

Insult that we both forget

cause fake is on the internet

and fear is on the tv set

outrage is the habitat

for 2020 novelettes

if i were you

and you were me

would be still be doomed

to disagree

cause you’d be me

if i were you

and you'd never see

my point of view

if i were you

hey babe we’re the dinosaurs

i get the feeling we’ve been here before

ain’t it clear what were aiming for

hey babe we’re the dinosaurs

yeah but what if me and you

were in each other's shoes

could we break through

to somewhere different, somewhere new

cause if you're stuck with me

i guess i’m stuck with you

could we rise above the scars

that we both put each other through?

if i were you i think i’m ready to try us

and you were me i think i'm ready to try

would we still be doomed to put the past us

to disagree ` to put the past behind

cause you’d be me cause it’s already behind us

if i were you i’m stick of falling behind

and all i'd see i think i’m ready to try us

is what you put me through maybe i'd be ready to try

if i were you

if you were me i would be you

and then we'd both be through

i wonder what we'd do

if you were me i would be you

would one plus one be two

i wonder what we'd do

if i were you

the bones of us

we met the bones of us in our old backyard

and i dug 'em all up with nothing but an old guitar

and the past starts talking with younger souls

about the dreams that we started off with

before we both let go

and it’s time to figure out

time to figure out

this war

time to figure out

figure out who I’m fighting for

into the unknown

let’s follow this through

i’m fighting for us

but most of all for you

our hearts like a flood

that washes us new

i’m fighting for us

but most of all for you

most of all for you

and the clock moves forward

we let our love get sore

it was one of those arguments

can’t remember what the fight was for

i heard the front door slam and

after the aftermath

i saw you smiling back at me

from a box of photographs

and it’s time to figure out

time to figure out

this war

time to figure out

figure out what I’m fighting for

into the unknown

let’s follow this through

i’m fighting for us

but most of all for you

splinter

it’s only illusions

it’s only an ebb and flow

it’s only a re-run

it’s only a so and so

it’s only a glimpse now

it’s only a glancing blow

it’s only a mind game

it’s only rock and roll

it’s only allegiance

it’s only heart and soul

just tell me a lie now

just tell me you can’t let go

it’s only illusions

my mind is at war

i lie awake in bed

like a splinter in my hand

like a splinter in my head

the promises we’ve sworn

and every word you’ve said

like a splinter in my hand

like a splinter in my head

don’t worry pedro

don’t tell me i think i know

cause i’m on the payroll

the cursed kaleidoscope

am i the pollution?

am i the foregone conclusion?

it’s only illusions

it’s only de-evolution

who can take these broken splinters from my head?

it’s only illusion, it’s only illusion

in all this confusion

i start to forget what i’m doing

it’s only a splinter in my hand

it’s only a splinter in my head

it’s only illusion

i need you (to be wrong)

you come round like a pirate ship

you’re just business

you got a fish for a lower lip

you’re just business

you’re the parentless nightmare kid

you're just business

you don’t answer for any of it

you're just business

i need you (to be wrong)

i need you

i got a body but i lost my mind

i’m just business

a placeholder with a bottom line

i’m just business

please don’t take this personally

it’s just business

you need me (to be wrong)

you need me

all along we both were wrong

i need you (to be wrong)

i need you

the hard way

oh my head

lately my eyes have been blood-shot red

they’re looking for some kind of sign

that could tell me what i needed to know

oh my head

lately all my thoughts are arriving dead

i drift where the sea meets the sky

could you tell me what i needed to know?

oh...

maybe i always learn things the hard way

i learn best from my mistakes

the road i took was the wrong one

it all works out in the long run

maybe there's no such thing as a rewind

there’s no way to go back in time

i learn best from the replay

i always learn things the hard way

words were said

now even the pain wants peace instead

i bury my thoughts in the tide

could you tell me where i needed to go?

on my bed

echoes of the trues and the lies we said

the ocean/ the mirror/ the sky

tell me everything i needed to know

maybe i can’t keep blaming it all on luck

when I complain and i self-destruct

maybe it’s me with the problems

stuck looking at you trying to solve ‘em

maybe there's no such thing as a rewind

there’s no way to go back in time

why do i learn things the hard way?

maybe the learning comes from the mistake

there's no beauty without pain

no one said it would be easy

we can't undo the things that we say

even if i could, would you believe me?

no one said it would be easy

maybe the song we sang was just out of time

maybe we could give it one more try

one more try?

maybe the small violin and the tissue

hoping to put it behind me and kiss you

singing along to chorus of “fix you”

all along it was me with the issues

maybe there’s no such thing as an easy fix

in love or war or politics

maybe it’s time that i dealt with this

and finally learned things the hard way

maybe there’s no such thing:

as a free ride

maybe there’s no such thing:

as a free way

maybe there’s no such thing:

as a rewind

maybe there’s no such thing:

i know why you walked away

maybe there’s no such thing:

as a quick fix

maybe there’s no such thing:

i don’t want to live like this

maybe there’s no such thing:

i always learn things the hard way

wolves

evening when the wolves come out

i’m a gloomy soul and i hear them howl in my head:

greedy

autumn in the fading light

trees are frozen fingers that claw and grab at the sky:

greedy

end. begin again.

all of my world’s are collision and spin

hope is a war that we’re already in

awaken, oh sleeper

snowfall for the battlefield

roses for the father’s sons see them red on the ground:

bleeding

when the revolution came

we were more than hungry men we were hoping for more:

bleeding

end. begin again.

all of my world is collision and spin

hope is a world that has yet to begin

awaken, oh sleeper

a new day begins

backwards in time

if we could go back

would we take the same path

if we knew what we know

it feels like the future

is born from the past

but the present we hold

i dangle my feet

off the edge of the bed

and i look down below

there goes the sun again

there goes the time

but where does it go?

at the back of my mind

if i could go backwards in time

before i went wrong

before you went right

if i could go backwards in time

before you let go

if i could start over tonight

if we could give this

just one more try

if i could go backwards in time

could you help me go back?

help me go backwards tonight

before words were spoken

a million wrongs won’t make it right

my heart is still broken

it’s there in the back of my mind

i’m holding on, hoping

help me go backwards tonight

my heart is still broken

if i could go backwards in time

could you help me go back?

electricity

i was just thinking about lightning storms

like the one that knocked the power out until dawn

the phone died and your eyes lit up laughing

darlin’, it’s been too long

so let’s shut up the phone for the rest of the afternoon

i don’t need nobody right here right now but you

come on hang up and hang out

funny how we're both sitting here alone

watching strangers living tv lives instead of living our own

been a minute since your eyes lit up laughing

maybe we could right that wrong

so let’s shut up the phone for the rest of the afternoon

i don’t need nobody right here in my arms but you

come on hang up and hang out

maybe we could just power down just you and me

maybe we could make our own

maybe we could make our own electricity

electricity