Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Lyrics

Dying is Life-like



Contents

1. Leavetakings
2. Blind Horizon
3. Threnody
4. The Stranger
5. Somewhere, Saskatchewan
6. Smoke Breakdown
7. Dying is Life-like
8. Nighttime
9. Sleepless
10. Psychopomp
11. Homecoming
12. Epilogue



Leavetakings

Wave Good-bye, beneath fluorescent lights
That make us look a little dead but we’re still alive
For the time, but not forever
Leaving home beneath departure signs

It doesn’t look like Heaven from the brochures that I read
Step aboard the Greyhound I’m already dead
But if you never leave then you can never arrive
Your home is waiting out there for you on the other side
Behind the sky.

Wave good-bye beneath a luminescent sky
We’re happier in Heaven where we can fly…

Three days in the Underworld, it takes three days to die
Bring a book, bring pen and paper to kill the time
Taking leave of friends and family, and all you leave behind
Take your final look at me and wave goodbye.

Blind Horizon

Snowstorm on the prairies, the horizon makes us blind
The map is gone, the itinerary worthless as we fall behind.
So that nighttime overtakes us, and we sink into our seats
I’d love to get away from here but I cannot sleep

The driver turns the bus around, we’re driving back to town
There’s nothing so dispiriting as heading backwards
His voice over the intercom, stay in your seats, please remain calm
We’ll get you where you’re going, unless your going forward-

We’re going nowhere.
And we’re almost there
We’re going nowhere
And I’m too tired to care I just stare
Out the window

Like a prisoner of weather
Sentenced to death and travel
Destined to never arrive at my destination
What lies beyond the horizon
On the other side of the sky
We’ll never know where
We can never hope to go there
If we put our backs to it.

Threnody

Feel the weight of our escape, running late but finally on our way
As we race toward the break of day, we’re in between
And freed from all constraints

The number one is our parade, the greyhound bus our motorcade
Race toward a better place, we’re free of all our chains

Driving down the highway of our lives, eating up the miles after miles
All we see are headlights, we’re bounded close by nighttime
And distantly the stars shine bright in Heaven

Feel the weight of our mistakes, lifting like a spirit from the grave
Desperate, we lead quiet lives, ride the highway until it’s our time to die

On the road we’re all reborn, wherever we go, wherever we’re from
Until the day of judgment comes - We are all and all is one

Driving down the highway of our lives
You can try but there’s no getting back the time
But traveling is remedy, the engine’s humming threnody
A siren song that calls you on forever

Driving down the highway of our lives,
You can try but there’s no getting back the miles
The money or the memories, the sweetness of the threnody
A siren song that calls you on forever
A siren song that calls you on towards the dawn

The Stranger

Strangers when we meet, by chance we’re sharing seats
And my silence can be best expressed by screams
Strangers met by chance, forced together without romance
Hell is other people intruding on your plans

To sleep, perchance to dream,
To be the person you can only be when you’re alone
When you’re devoid of company
If I had known I might have flown, if I could only have foreseen
That there’d be this stranger sitting next to me
That there’d be a Stranger sitting next to me.

Strangers everyone, we’re all living on the run
Sharing endless road and boundless sky and tedium.
And if simultaneously we fell asleep, could I wake up as you and you as me
We’re total strangers sharing stranger dreams.

What’s your name? Where are you going?
If words are wind the wind is blowing
All the trivia I’d never need to know
But we smile, we’re so polite, we take it all in stride
If by chance our paths collide along the ride…

Somewhere, Saskatchewan

There’s nothing around but they call it a town
And we’ve stopped here for reasons unknown to me
I slipped out to use the old payphone hanging so cold on the wall
I just needed to call you to say that I’m here
Though I couldn’t say where that may be – it’s Somewhere, Saskatchewan
Now I can say that I’ve finally been, as far from the center of civilization
Is that Nowhere I see, or maybe a mirage of the snow-covered prairie
It’s Somewhere, Saskatchewan, Somewhere Saskatchewan baby
And I can’t wait to leave.

Smoke Break Down

Not quite good enough for Heaven
Wasn’t bad enough for Hell
I think I’m in some third place
But I cannot tell

One more blind horizon
One more Broken Heart
One more time to dry my eyes
And then one more false start

Dying is Life-like

All of my life, since I was a child
I was a little too smart for my own good, a little too wild.
‘Cause what can be learned when you already know everything
But everything burns as everyone dies, every beggar & king

Side of the road there’s a horrible shrieking
Beneath a voice so familiar is speaking to me-

Saying all of your life, since you were a child
You never did learn, all your gifts were defiled
But they always were mine, your life was on loan for a time
You only did borrow it just for a little while

At the side of the road there’s a glorious light shining
Filling my sight, the headlights are blinding my eyes-

I don’t want to die on the side of a highway
Why am I staring up at the sky?

At the side of the road there’s a glorious light shining
Filling my sight, the horizon is blinding my eyes

But I don’t want to die on the side of a highway
Tell me, why am I staring up at the sky?

Nighttime

Wherever we are we’re alone in the dark
With the cars and the stars and the beating of our hearts
The shadows and the snow that follow us wherever we go

We talk amongst ourselves ‘til we know each other too well
The stories get old like the winter gets cold
Like the wind whispers words and the engine softly murmurs
The fear sings a verse in an answer…

Wherever we are, wherever we might be
We’re an island of light on a darkened sea
Catching no glimpse of what lies in the distance and it’s troubling
It’s worrying to me
Wherever we are, wherever we’re going
It’s sure to be cold as it’s sure to be snowing
And I wouldn’t be surprised if we find that it’s always the nighttime

It’s been days since I’ve seen the daylight
It’s been days since I’ve seen the daylight
It’s been days since I’ve seen your sunny face
And I wouldn’t be surprised if we find that it’s always the nighttime

Sleepless

Insomnia of circumstance in a Carnival of the Damned
I don’t ask much on a crowded bus but I’m envying the dead
Who forget this ride is endless and that night will never end
It’s been so long since I’ve seen a sign that could tell me where I am
or where I’ve been

Sleepless… Though we show no sign of weakness
But everybody’s grieving just as each of us has something that we need

Skeletons in every seat where their ghosts like chains of grief
They’d where identical masks of disbelief if there were faces that I could see
But I’d give anything to sleep, every fiber of my being feels the need
It’s been so long that I could weep bitter tears
It’s been years

Sleepless… Though we show no sign of weakness
But everybody’s grieving here just as each of us has something that we need
Sleepless… Wishing something would just free us
‘Cause everyone is screaming just as each of us sits quietly…

I had the most wonderful dream, that I had finally fallen asleep
And I looked at myself from outside of myself
Breathing so silent and deep

I wake up and you’re seated beside me, did we meet in my moment of dying?
That doesn’t seem right I’ve known you my whole life
Now the journey is nearly complete

Psychopomp

To begin, you must breathe in, breathe out again and it’s the end
The stranger seated nest to you is the Angel of your Death
A psychopomp to lead your soul from this world to the next
The lights you see ahead belong to the City of the Dead

Breathe in, breathe out, release and clear your mind of any doubt
Inhale through the nose, and out through the mouth
Your heart is slowing down as you accept it now, I take your hand,
as your midwife to this shrouded land
You pass beyond, beneath the veil as you exhale

I’m lost and confused, I took a window seat but now I fear the view
For now I see my doom, I see the fires
Hear the weeping and the wailing like a choir
Help me and be my guide, in the afterlife remain here by my side
You know it’s kindof like not what I had in mind
I dreamed a nightmare that I died and I denied it

I’m lost and confused, see how the seats upon the bus resemble pews
As we all sing the blues in this our church
But we’re all out of tune and no one knows the words

All roads lead here
Like rivers to a pale grey sea
Here’s where you were born
You return each time you dream
You seek it in your sleep
With a half-remembered need
For a home you’ve never known
Now rest in peace, my child
Now rest in peace




















Homecoming

A change is as good as a rest, and I hope that we all rest in peace
Now we’ve come home we are blessed, and I know that we always shall be

A change is as good as a rest, and I hope that we all rest in peace
At home is your own soul undressed, shed the clothing of flesh and deceit

A change is as good as a rest, we’re arrested by life all our lives
No wonder you’ve felt so depressed, no wonder you’ve wanted to die

‘Cause we all go to Heaven, one way or another my friend
We all get to Heaven in the end

A change is as good as a rest, and the rest of the trip is a dream
If you enjoyed it I’d kindly suggest, that you’re reborn the next time you sleep

‘Cause we all get to Heaven, sooner or later my friend
Yeah we all get to Heaven… in the end

A change is as good as a rest, and I hope that we all rest in peace
The Greyhound of life runs express
It’s a non-stop coach where you cannot smoke
And you cannot leave and you must stay in your seat
And you never know when you come or go
But you hope against hope and it finally brings you home.