01. THE WEAKERTHANS: (manifest).
02. ALKALINE TRIO: rooftops.
03. MEW: snow brigade.
04. PEDRO THE LION: the fleecing.
05. NADA SURF: happy kid.
06. STRIKE ANYWHERE: we amplify.
07. STRIKE ANYWHERE: blaze.
08. SAY ANYTHING: woe.
09. THE AMERICAN ANALOG SET: know by heart.
10. CATCHING FIRE: great britain 1668.
11. THE BEACH BOYS: feel flows.
12. THE ANNIVERSARY: peace, pain and regret.
13. CONSTANTINES: shine a light.
14. KID DYNAMITE: heart a tact.
15. AGAINST ME!: this shit rules.

01. THE GLORIA RECORD: start here.
02. THE SHINS: caring is creepy.
03. THE SMITHS: ask.
04. CHAMBERLAIN: try for thunder.
05. WITH HONOR: gun for hire.
06. ELLIOTT: song in the air.
07. SPLIT LIP: the simple life.
08. OWEN: use your words.
09. SIMON & GARFUNKEL: america.
10. SMOKING POPES: pure imagination.
11. MINERAL: parking lot.
12. LIFETIME: the truth about lars.
13. JETS TO BRAZIL: sweet avenue.
14. THE PROMISE RING: all of my everythings.
15. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: passenger seat.


01. THE WEAKERTHANS: (manifest).
i want to call a request through heating vents, and hear them answered with a whispered "no", to crack the code of muscles slack and tense, let every second step in boots on snow, complete you name in accents i can't place, that stumble where the syllables combine, take depositions from a strangers face, paint every insignificance a sign. so tell me nothing matters less or more, say whatever we think actions are, we'll never know what anything was for, if near is just as far away as far, and i'm permitted one act i can save, i choose to sit here next to you and wave.

02. ALKALINE TRIO: rooftops.
i've got the scars to remind me, i've watched the clocks go around. i've walked myself through some days that have put me where i am. in another time, in another place all things might have been in place, but for now i'm finding myself up here standing on a rooftop screaming "hey world, are you listening? are you listening to me? i'm here and i'm hurting to begin again." it's another time, it's another place, and we are making more old days, but for now i'm finding myself out here standing on my doorstep screaming. "hey world are you listening? listen to me, i'm here and i'm hurting to begin again. hey world i'm ready to listen, and learn something new. i'm here and i'm willing to get myself through."

03. MEW: snow brigade.
enable to bring out the something you want to know beneath the snow. in winter you're an affliction that repeatedly defeated me, because i'll find you somewhere, show you how much i care. know that there is no escape from my snow brigade. bring out the someone you want to see for jealousy. we all know one day you'll leave behind your everything and feel the spring come. my arms retreat, i wish they were there to hold you.

04. PEDRO THE LION: the fleecing.
deep green hills, whose shoulders fade into thick grey. tall, wet grass, whose flesh makes fools of grazing sheep, whose fleecing makes a fool of me. and who shall i blame for this sweet and heavy trouble? for every stupid struggle? i don't know. i could buy you a drink, i could tell you all about it, i could tell you why i doubt it and why i still believe. but i can't say it like i sing it, and i can't sing it like i think it, and i can't think it like i feel it, and i don't feel a thing. o, no, i don't feel it. i could buy you a drink, i could tell you all about it, i could tell you why i doubt it and why i still believe it, and why i need it, and what the pharisees don't see. we'd have more drinks, we would speak of so many things, but i don't know you and you don't know me.

05. NADA SURF: happy kid.
iÕm just a happy kid, stuck with the heart of a sad punk. drowning in my id, always searching like itÕs on junk. no matter who i hang out with i can hear the clack clunk of the chains that pull the cars up the roller coaster mountain top so high. when it comes down it shoots back up, straight back to the sky. i gotta laugh and then iÕm asleep and then i walk around and wanna cry. out at night to do the strand, the little candles make the bottles glow. got ink all over my right hand, getting crushes with no chance to grow. itÕs like iÕll never ever land, thereÕs always too much sun or too much snow. i get slow days and no days, i get rusty and itÕs hard, but i get notions that oceans are coming to my call. you can learn to get along. iÕm just a happy kid, stuck with the heart of an old punk. drowning in my id, always hungry like itÕs on junk. iÕm just a happy kid.

06. STRIKE ANYWHERE: we amplify.
we're amplified, adrenaline, another flag's shadow cover us again. and on these steps, take back our days. so when we go go out in a blaze. we go, go out in a blaze. cause we all are human polution.

07. STRIKE ANYWHERE: blaze.
we rise like lions after slumber, in unvanquishable number. shake these chains to earth like dew, you are many, they are few! without a voice to question the hollow aggression of public perception through all this time we rise, the human solution! we're amplified, adrenaline, another flag's shadows covers us again, and on these steps, take back our days and when we go go out in a blaze. we'll go go out in a blaze. human pollution! in the people's war, behind the writing on the wall. in the people's war searching, spoiling for a fall. it's written in our blood, so don't misdirect your rage, in the human solution.

08. SAY ANYTHING: woe.
all the words in my mouth that the scene deemed unworthy of letting out banded together to form a makeshift militia and burrowed bloodily through my tongue and my teeth. i stood proud in the gallery, with my open socket of a mouth for them to see. they all just laughed and said "that boy he, that boy's got woe. he lives with woe" and this girl who i met, whose pride makes her hard to forget, she took pity on me, horizontally, but most likely because of my band. and that's all i can get when i'm lonely and these visions of death seem to own me, in the quiet of the classrooms all across the stacked united states of woe, we live with woe. she said "i can't get laid in this town without these pointy fucking shoes, my feet are so black and blue, and so are you" please take me out of my body, up through the palm trees to smell california in sweet hypocrisy. float in my senses, surround my body, i wake my nose to smell that ocean burn. so now i'm forging ahead, past all the plutocrats who sold me out. go sob in your bed, if life is twice as pretty once you're dead, then send me a card. i'm still the optimist, though it is hard, when all you want to be is in a dream.

09. THE AMERICAN ANALOG SET: know by heart.
you are a book for me to read, line after line i read on and on. you are a film for me to see, a string of frames that just goes on and on and on. and of all the places that i've been, name after name, it just goes on and on. you are a song for me to sing, a string of verses that goes on and on and on.

10. CATCHING FIRE: great britain 1668.
up the sullied hill sun kissed love on her pallid visage and i thanked him for that burnished light on this brilliant day on this english bay, in your garden it's all the same just as long as we came. how could we waste last summer's days, were they too uneasy? what she says goes we made it so when the struggles leave, we breathe easily, and what's a good film that we can talk about when the summer's gone and we don't get along? two partners in a game that's against us, let's find out what's up in them hills or we can always just savour those last days together. 

11. THE BEACH BOYS: feel flows.
unfolding enveloping missiles of soul, recall senses sadly. mirage like soft blue like lanterns below to light the way gladly. whether whistling heaven's clouds disappear, where the wind withers memory. whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away, feel goes, (white hot glistening shadowy flows) feel flows (black hot glistening shadowy flows). unbending never ending tablets of time, record all the yearning. unfearing all appearing message divine eases the burning. whether willing witness waits at my mind, whether hope dampens memory. whether wondrous will stands tall at my side, feel flows, (white hot glistening shadowy flows) feel goes (black hot glistening shadowy flows). encasing all embracing wreath of repose, engulfs all the senses. imposing, unclosing thoughts that compose, retire the fences. whether wholly heartened life fades away, whether harps heal the memory. whether wholly heartened life fades away, whether wondrous will stands tall at my side, whether whiteness whisks soft shadows away, feel goes, feel flows, feel goes, feelings to grow.

12. THE ANNIVERSARY: peace, pain and regret.
i've known a lot of funny people, the ones that makes us laugh. i've known a lot of lonely people, calling from the past. and in my darkest hour, i find a place where i fit in, somewhere between the heans and the devils weary grin. i always will be haunted by the ones i've loved, yes i always will be haunted by the ones i've loved, in my eyes. we are the ones that make you laugh, forget your troubles. live in peace, pain and regret, and forget all your troubles. i've known a lot of lovely people, though they never spoke to me. i've known a lot of lovely people, and they never meant a thing. so bring on the piper or the jester's lonely heart. for even a happy man gets lonely in the dark. i plan to be high beneath the sea, so don't hold your breath, just breathe. we are the ones that make you love, when you have no one at all. yes we are the ones that make you laugh, yes we are the ones!

13. CONSTANTINES: shine a light.
donÕt talk to me about simple things, there is no such thing. all a man can build is his vision, and i love my man for trying. a crime of passion, a cardiac arrest, i hope a little rest comes to you. you shine a light, a light on me. it gets me through. sister donÕt reduce yourself, you gotta find something to love. pigeon girls got no religion, you are a diamond in the rough. half done, half done, here comes a gentleman, he'll put you to the test. i hope a little rest, comes to you, comes to you. babyÕs got the fever, mamaÕs washing the white sheets. a man is sleeping naked with a fire under his feet.

14. KID DYNAMITE: heart a tact.
crashing down on consensus. it's the vice that kills defenses. piercing through sort of feeling. it only hurts if i let it take control of me. won't let the world weigh me down, cause i'm coming alive. what's the deal with life lessons? if you can't forget, regret them. taught to fold under pressure, failure doesn't mean you have to die. won't let the world weigh me down, cause i'm coming alive. just how many are there on my side? a calendar filled up with sleepless nights, keeps time. afraid of what it may have left behind. who cares? i've thought about it all too many times. what's worse? is that my self-esteem suffers a curse, that tries to kill me but i kill it first. i'm coming alive, alive through you. today i found a friend in who i am. who promises to be there 'till the end, of what? when it's over will it start again? can't worry about it or life becomes too crowded with panic. i'll panic and then i'll start to doubt it, it's not worth it. so fuck it, not gonna walk around it. i'll face it, i'll smash it, i'm not gonna lose again. i'm coming alive through you.

15. AGAINST ME!: this shit rules.
the party's over, a cd skipping, it's the same hook repeating, grows more grating with each passing second. and the walls contain a resonation, laughter, and conversation. it was fun while it lasted, but now we should be going. i hope everybody had a real good time. the hospitality's partaken, my head is flying my heart's racing to keep up. and i hope i haven't overdone it no. i hope my body can take it, i hope i make the occasion. it's only this fucked up i start realizing all this living is just dying, and if these are my friends, if this is my home, if this is how i spend my nights, how i communicate, and demonstrate a love of life? my eyes roll into the back of my head, if these are the last words that i ever said "no i'm not ready to die just yet."



01. THE GLORIA RECORD: start here.
lose yourself, you're young and you've got time. it's simple then, start here, and move forward. you'll figure it all out eventually, or not. either way you'll have company.

02. THE SHINS: caring is creepy.
i think i'll go home and mull this over before i cram it down my throat. at long last it's crashed, the colossal mass has broken up into bits in my moat. life the mattress off the floor, walk the cramps off
go meander in the cold. hail to your dark skin, hiding the fact you're dead again. undeneath the power lines seeking shade, far above our heads are the icy heights that contain all reason. it's a luscious mix of words and tricks that let us bet when you know we should fold. on rocks i dreamt of where we'd stepped and the whole mess of roads we're no on. hold your glass up, hold it in, never betray the way you've always known it is. one day i'll be wondering how, i got so old just wondering how, i never got cold wearing nothing in the snow. this is way beyond my remote concern of being condescending. all these squawking birds won't quit. building nothing, laying bricks.

03. THE SMITHS: ask.
shyness is nice, but shyness can stop you from doing all the things in life you'd like to. so, if there's something that you'd like to try, if there's something that you'd like to try, ask me, i won't say no, how could i? coyness is nice, but coyness can stop you from saying all the things in life you'd like to. so, if there's something that you'd like to try, if there's something that you'd like to try, ask me, i won't say no, how could i? spending warm, summer days indoors. writing frightening verse to a buck-toothed girl in luxemburg. so ask me, ask me, ask me, because if it's not love, then it's the bomb that will bring us together. nature is a language, can't you read?

04. CHAMBERLAIN: try for thunder.
i haven't smiled in a long time but i've learned how to look impressed, learned to lose the dreams i had when i was at my best. when i was a boy on the back lawn, faith, like a gun, i'd find and be it loaded or not i'd keep it at my side. this voice inside keeps saying: "congratulations on what you've done, on all you are and all that you won't become." but even when it's hard i guess i'm never where i don't belong and i'll get there by knowing i'd get there all along. this life to me it's like a try for thunder. this sky that i'm under, it's the best sky for me. i've learned less from daylight than from night threatening to leave. all along my voice goes after what my hands cannot reach. i ran through the fog without you, through the low hard language of rain, afraid that if i caught what i came for i'd never want it again. this life to me it's like a try for thunder. this sky that i'm under it says god's been good to me. one night in the rain you set me straight, you said i have everything i need, and for every slow day in the sun there's two storms in between. where i am is where you'll find me at the edge of many things, hands outstretched, doing circles in the rain, grinning like a thief. 

05. WITH HONOR: gun for hire.
if these walls had words, i'd fear the things they'd say when i'm not around. crashing image, painting me failure. because i've sold myself a slave, a slave to a cause that holds no end. and still i am nothing short of being broken hearted, thieving wings from innocence departed. locking eyes with hopes i just cant kill, staring at shoes that i may never fill. my wish, i wish, i'm wishing for the day when i can break these chains, and take to the sky. but now it seems my humanity is too much for me, i'm watching freedom pass me by. we're told that life is learning, but all i'm learning is that life is full of holes. we're told the past is burning, tides are turning, there is no place we cannot go. then why am i stuck here with one foot in heaven a foot in hell and a heart that's in between? stomach disgust, mourn inspiration lost. it's all i have to rise up and stir the war inside of me. a fight that holds no end, but i'm not dead, no i'm not dead.

06. ELLIOTT: song in the air.
don't send me away, come with song in the air. bring your life and your love, show that sparks last. drag on, away. maybe you're the same, without me.

07. SPLIT LIP: the simple life.
dark streets, carry me home now and i've stayed too long. we're brave men to sip the stars dry and leave sleep alone. i've built this house out of a fate-driven dream, and these walls aren't what they seemed. light breaks against, and i can't follow you down. hurt stays when the work is over, and we've stayed too long. i'll save what memory lends me, when these days are gone.

08. OWEN: use your words.
those books you've read in your youth, like holidays at home, continue to remind you of who you were, and who you are. some pages bent, the spines are creased and worn: all signs of being adored, and those words and how it meant more to you than who they were written for. those blankets in your bed, so tattered and sad, they've seen enough sleepless nights, both good and bad to pad a short story (use your words) or a few love songs. or ain't it about time you've moved on? those books that you've read, that you'll read again (after enough time passes) you'll remember some names but not how they end (after enough time passes) and your heart will break all over again (after enough time passes) and so on, and so forth.

09. SIMON & GARFUNKEL: america.
"let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together." "i've got some real estate here in my bag." so we bought a pack of cigarettes and mrs. wagner pies, and we walked off to look for america. "kathy," i said as we boarded a greyhound in pittsburgh, "michigan seems like a dream to me now". it took me four days to hitchhike from saginaw, i've gone to look for america. laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces. she said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy. i said "be careful his bowtie is really a camera". "toss me a cigarette, i think there's one in my raincoat", "we smoked the last one an hour ago" so i looked at the scenery, she read her magazine and the moon rose over an open field. "kathy, i'm lost," i said, though i knew she was sleeping, "i'm empty and aching and i don't know why". counting the cars on the new jersey turnpike, they've all gone to look for america.

10. SMOKING POPES: pure imagination.
come with me, and you will be in a world of pure imagination. take a look and you will see into your imagination. we'll begin with a spin, traveling in a world of my creation. what you'll see will defy explanation. if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. anything you want to do, if you wanna change the world, there's nothing to it. there is no life i know to compare with pure imagination. living there you'll be free, if you truly wish to be.

11. MINERAL: parking lot.
i wouldn't mind if you took me in my sleep tonight, i wouldn't even put up a fight. i wouldn't care if you took it all away today, i'm sure i wouldn't even miss the pain. but i know i've got to live my life, and roll around on the ground and feel the strife, and realize along the way that i'm nothing more than a grain of salt in the salt of the earth, and everything is grace. so come on with the darkness, come on with the fear, cause i've got to start somewhere, and it might as well be here. when i'm finally naked and standing in the sunlight, i'll look back at all of this selfishness and foolish pride, and laugh at myself.

12. LIFETIME: the truth about lars.
i chose a life of missed callings, and lost hopes of empty trains, and railway dreams, losing fast and gaining steam. i was born tonight down highway skies. when miles race under my head, i'll remember what you said, and i'll stay out till it's done for me. and my legacy will be one that keeps pushing me away. so it's back to engines underfoot and miles of great disdain. they never understand the way i walk, and it's you that knows it's the way i talk that keeps me from knowing when i should see the things you're showing me. and it's you i want to do this to, and it's looks like that that'll make me stay with you. keep your cool i'll be home soon, and know that it's you.

13. JETS TO BRAZIL: sweet avenue.
tasting you and rain i walk down to the train, trying not to look down. this day could one day be an anniversary, everything is light and sound. facing forwards going slowly, wait for you to show me where this train wants to go. living by the hour, i stop for every flower, everything is soft and slow. now all these tastes improve through the view that comes with you, like they handed me my life, for the first time it felt right. thank you for making me see there's a life in me, it was dying to get out. holding you we make two spoons beneath an april moon, everything is soft and sweet. this cigarette it could seduce a nation with its smoke, crawling down my tired throat, scratches part of me that's purring, softly stirring. i'm a captain of industry, smoking famously, feet up on the windowsill. looking at all these trees, i feel affinity with everything so soft and still. budding at my fingertips, touching you i start to bloom. alive with trains and passing ships, soft and sweet along your lips now, i go "oh wow". thank you for taking me from my monastery, i was dying to get out. with tears of gratitude, i lock my latitude, cross town train to you. now all these tastes improve through the view that comes with you. like they handed me my life for the first time it felt worth it, like i deserved it.

14. THE PROMISE RING: all of my everythings.
dance record from before i was born on the stereo, playing last rights for my late nights; all of my evenings and all of my everydays. no business in the same place; coffee, scrambled eggs. starting our separate ways, now starting our separate days. by the time you read this, this house will have changed hands one more time again. wherever you are, dialing up friends on someone else's telephone, in someone else's home. why did ever we part and give back our hands? nothing but wear between all of my everything's.

15. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: passenger seat.
i roll the window down and then begin to breathe in the darkest country road and the strong scent of evergreen, from the passenger seat as you are driving me home. then looking upwards i strain my eyes and try to tell the difference between shooting stars and satellites, from the passenger seat as you are driving me home. "do they collide?" i ask and you smile. with my feet on the dash the world doesn't matter. when you feel embarrassed then i'll be your pride, when you need directions then i'll be the guide, for all time.