1. |
Half-life
04:47
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I was born in a city but,
someone in the past
got caught out in the wasteland.
Some uranium particulate
Embedded in some flesh
Predetermined who I am
And I think I wanted you to want to
understand
and I think you needed me to want you
but understand
I don't think I can
Cause I don't think you can
You were born in a city but
Someone in the past
Forgot about the wasteland.
And a fictional utopiate
of rocketships and glass
Let us empty out its trash cans
And I think I wanted you to want to
Understand
And I think you needed me to want you
but understand
I don't think I can
cause I don't think you can
Take a step back maybe baby then you can see,
We're building cities in abandoned factories
and your apologies don't mean nothing at all
My fate was made in the shadow right here in the lee
Of a twelve mile tin can crushing machine
and you maintain it's the same both sides of the wall
between us a wall
Well, compassion has a limit
cause one day
I'll drop dead and you'll say
"Isn't it a shame to live a life,,
with one hand and one foot tied"
Thinking it'll all be different next time
you're thinking it'll all be different next time
It ends with a scene
where you're still alive
and it comforts my ghost
that you sympathize
but pretty words just amplify
the fact
you tell yourself
"you know its not right"
to have to live a half life
to have to live a half life
to have to live a life
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2. |
Alien
03:50
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Alien
We're wrong again
we're wrong again tonight
we did them in
the winter wind and snow delayed the flight
and I don't wanna stay here
I don't wanna go
but I don't wanna be
alone...
Alien
we're wrong again
we're wrong again tonight
Alien
you told me so
I thatched their roofs with lies
and gave them stones to throw
I thought that I'd get away with it
I thought that I'd get away with it
I thought that I'd get away with it,
get away with it
I thought that I'd get away with it
I thought that I'd get away with it
I thought that I'd get away with it,
get away, get away with it
I thought we'd all get away with it
I thought we'd all get away with it
I thought we'd all get away with it
get away, get away with it
oh...alien....
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3. |
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Eighteenth Century Gentry
run their dogs out in my street
in new york city
in a city
but whoever heard of foxes
making dens in cardboard boxes
in a city
in a city
well, I thought alot today
how their empire's slipped away
and they stand still and wait for something better
bigger, better, and never the same
bigger, better, and never the same
Gangs of lovable tomcats
roam around in coats and tophats
in a city
in a city
Invisible waves are breakin'
as my consciousness is shaken
in a city
in a city
and I tell myself
whoa
don't let me
and I tell myself
whoa
keep your feet on the ground
I convince myself
whoa
to stop hanging around
with fools and ghosts
and doing nothing
....but I'm so good at nothing
then I got much bigger
I broke up the sky
smote the sun like a candle
poked god in the eye
I wanted to call you
I wanted to see if that's alright
so I ripped up a powergrid
cast-netted a satellite
heard words through the static
you said that everyone's dead
I said "no, no, I just breathed them in
they're somewhere here in my head,
they're somewhere here in my head,
they're somewhere here in my,
they're somewhere here in my head,
they're somewhere here in my,
they're somewhere here in my head,
they're somewhere here in my,
the're somewhere here in my head,
and I guess you were right about me...
all along you're right about me...
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4. |
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I wore my best red dress
less like wine
and more like blood
It was raining
it was wet
the drains began to flood
it was a shadow with a knife
I'd thought they'd use a gun
and I can still hear the cough
the choke
the squish
of patent leather in the mud
and now I'm so ashamed
so ashamed
ashamed I dragged you along
Symbiont.
I've been a bad host
I was a weak man
now I'm a bad ghost
symbiont
I've been a bad host
I was a weak man
now I'm a bad ghost
I picked the antique lock
on your laboratory door
I didn't know just what
the formula was for
and now I'm so ashamed
so ashamed
ashamed I dragged you along
ashamed I dragged you along
Symbiont.
I've been a bad host
I was a weak man
now I'm a bad ghost
symbiont
I've been a bad host
I was a weak man
now I'm a bad ghost
Symbiont.
I've been a bad host
I was a weak man
now I'm a bad ghost
symbiont
I've been a bad host
I was a weak man
now I'm a bad ghost
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5. |
Chemical Fire
04:13
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I still play rock n' roll
to test fine motor control
its the only way that I know I know
I'm still in this body
Flash bang then another scene
I'm still me but I'm mostly machine
and I
arrive alone in a limousine
ashamed that its so gaudy
Now look I've walked that broken line
up and down the corridors of time
and to keep my engine runnin
to satisfy my need
I been feeding little pieces of me
to a chemical fire
a chemical fire
a chemical
a chemical
a chemical
fire
the fire....
Somewhere in me there's a desert spire
built of mudbrick, wreckage and wire
smelling the smoke
means they're keeping the fire
burnin and burnin
Slice it open, see the factory
blood and money boiling love for steam
and I
still feel the phantom wheels
turnin and turnin
Now look I've wrought my own demise
shattering the windows of my mind
and to keep my engine runnin
to satisfy my need
I've been feeding little pieces of me
to a chemical fire
the chemical fire
chemical
chemical
chemical
the chemical fire
chemical
chemical
chemical
feed it to a chemical fire
chemical
chemical
chemical
fire
the fire....
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6. |
Newton's First
04:25
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Our scene lights up on a seedy motel
it's not by the ocean
but called the "seashell"
and the "seas" are burned out
but that won't go changing my plans
A drunk man walks up to me
stinkin of piss
he asks for a smoke
but I told him I quit
then he mumbles of Jesus
and reaches out one shaky hand
I reach in my pocket to pull out some change
and I wonder why everything's stay in the same
Guess the magic you're given rattles,
but not in a can
We're both just riders,
on turtles of stone
swimmin through oceans of
of fire and bone
and we move
just a little
ah we move
just a little
we move
just a little
each time
The next thing we see is a tall ancient stair
it was built when the water was plentiful there
but I'm parched and the hot desert wind keeps a-burnin my eyes
Well I head to the cave of the eternal fire
hopin to build it a little bit higher
or maybe to find out
someplace to go when I die
Inside I see some folk hanging around
they're feeding the flames but not making a sound
they just stare at the embers
and drink up the heat and the light
For thousands of lifetimes,
they've stood in this line
hoping that someone they don't know will die
so they'll move
Just a little
ah they'll move
just a little
so they'll move
just a little
each time
Starlight and oceans, and cool mountain caves
they speak but their words can take many an age
and inside the moment I wait for this train
I think I can feel the world spinning again
as I move
just a little
in stillness just a little
well I move
just a little
this time
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7. |
Ultraviolet
05:37
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We have
code names
to protect
the innocent
carcinogeneration
cause when they go too far
they'll suffer dim frustration
like wishing on a star
when we say their names
they'll wear dark glasses
they'll say we came
from a hole up in the sky
they''ll block us out
with their dark glasses
'cause who would want
to die from a little light
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolent
They call me infrared
We have
code names
to prevent
the decadent
recalcitrance
of nations
'cause when they go to far
they'll bathe in radiation
become a newborn star
When we say their names
we'll wear dark glasses
we'll say they came
from a hole up in the sky
we'll block them out
with their dark glasses
'cause who would want
to die from a little light
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet
Ultraviolent
They call me,
they call me infrared
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8. |
Silver Bullet Ricochet
04:39
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I never believed in ghosts
until I became one
until I became one
I've been leaking through a bullet hole
and till now I'd forgotten
till now I'd forgotten
Before the both of us were ever dead
I caught you stealing a soup bone
I took a timber to the left of your head
let you die on the hearth stone
and when we both had found a different face
you said I'd murdered your grandson
you stuck my liver with a scissor blade
pushed me into a canyon
then I was sniping from a hidey-hole
I saw you cross the piazza
and through the smoke I saw your radio
I pulled the trigger and gotcha
I got ya
I got ya
and thus you kill me
and I come back
and I kill you
and you come back
and you kill me
and I come back
and I kill you
and you come back
why can't we
just put a bullet in this
put a bullet in this machine?
why can't we
put a bullet in this
put a bullet in this machine?
'cause shot's fired
sometimes
back fire
just like
just like
this time
this time
this time
oh how I wish it was you that got me
this time
oh how I wish it was you that got me
this time
how I wish it was you that shot me through the heart but no
It was my silver bullet ricochet
It was my silver bullet ricochet
It was my good idea
my good idea
It was my silver bullet ricochet
it was my silver bullet ricochet
it was my good idea
my good idea
I never believed in ghosts
until I became one
until I became one
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E.W. Harris Brooklyn, New York
Born in the Rust Belt and raised in the South, E.W. Harris is what he terms "a dystopian romantic." Known in the Brooklyn folk and electronic scenes for his strong vocals, unconventional songwriting, and infectious laugh, Harris has become a staple in the Big City Folk Collective, and in many venues both at home and abroad. ... more
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