I met a new me at 8 am, the other one got lost
this was not a trade-in, although I wouldn't believe the cost
I woke up crying as we said goodbye
me and my old self, each day he vanished more and more
as I became someone else

He actually was murdered, I had taken him apart
but when I put him back together, I couldn't find his heart
It was resting underneath a chair, in a bed of bright tin foil
if I pulled back the flaps, I could still see it beat
I could still hear his voice uncoil, As I said :

I want a trade-in, a 14th chance at this life
I've met a woman with a thousand faces
and I want to make her my wife

How could I have been so mistaken? how could I think that it was true?
a child that is raised by an idiot, and that idiot then becomes you
How could I believe in a movie? how could I believe in a book?
but, most of all, how could I listen to you, such an obvious schmuck
A life spent listening to assholes, it's funny but it's true
so "Get rid of them!" I said to myself
"but first I'm getting rid of you!"
I want a trade-in, a 14th chance at this life
I've met a woman with a thousand faces
and I want to make her my wife

"Take me over to the window", my heart said to my head
"please set me on fire, so we can start again
I was so wrong that it's funny, and I can't apologize
but instead you can be everything that I'm not, the second that I die"

ooohhh, I want a trade-in, a second chance at this life
I've met a woman with a thousand faces
and I want to make her my wife

A 14th chance at this life, I want a trade-in ...

From we who have so much to you who have so little
to you who don't have anything at all
We who have so much more than any one man does need
and you who don't have anything at all

Does anybody need another million-dollar movie?
does anybody need another million-dollar star?
Does anybody need to be told over and over
spitting in the wind comes back at you twice as hard?

Strawman, going straight to the devil
strawman, going straight to hell
Strawman, going straight to the devil
Strawman
strawman
Strawman
strawman

Does anyone really need a billion-dollar rocket?
does anyone need a 60,000 dollar car?
Does anyone need another president
or the sins of Swaggart parts 6, 7, 8 and 9?
Does anyone need yet another politician
caught with his pants down and money sticking in his hole?
Does anyone need another racist preacher?
spittin' in the wind can only do you harm

Strawman, going straight to the devil
strawman, going straight to hell
Strawman, going straight to the devil
Strawman
strawman
Strawman
strawman

Does anyone need another faulty shuttle
blasting off to the moon, Venus or Mars?
Does anybody need another self-righteous rock singer
whose nose he says has led him straight to God?
Does anyone need yet another blank skyscraper?
if you're like me I'm sure a minor miracle will do
A flaming sword or maybe a gold ark floating up the Hudson
when you spit in the wind, it comes right back at you

Strawman, going straight to the devil
Strawman, going straight to hell
Strawman, going to the devil
Strawman, strawman
strawman
Strawman
strawman...

Life's like a mayonnaise soda
And life's like space without room
And life's like bacon and ice cream
That's what life's like without you

Life's like forever becoming
But life's forever dealing in hurt
Now life's like death without living
That's what life's like without you

Life's like Sanskrit read to a pony
I see you in my mind's eye strangling on your tongue
What good is knowing such devotion?
I've been around - I know what makes things run

What good is seeing-eye chocolate?
What good's a computerized nose?
And what good was cancer in April?
Why no good - no good at all

What good's a war without killing?
What good is rain that falls up?
What good's a disease that won't hurt you?
Why no good, I guess, no good at all

What good are these thoughts that I'm thinking?
It must be better not to be thinking at all
A styrofoam lover with emotions of concrete
No not much, not much at all

What's good is life without living?
What good's this lion that barks?
You loved a life others throw away nightly
It's not fair, not fair at all

What's good ?
Not much at all

What's good ?
Life's good -
But not fair at all

Andy was a Catholic
the ethic ran through his bones
He lived alone with his mother
collecting gossip and toys
Every Sunday when he went to Church
he'd kneel in his pew and say
"It's work
all that matters is work"

He was a lot of things
what I remember most he'd say
I've got to bring home the bacon
someone's got to bring home the roast
He'd get to The Factory early
if you'd ask him he'd tell you straight out
"It's work"

No matter what I did it never seemed enough
he said I was lazy, I said I was young
He said, "How many songs did you write today?"
I'd written zero, I'd lied and said, "Ten."
"You won't be young forever
you should have written fifteen
It's work
You ought to make things big
people like it that way
And the songs with the dirty words
make sure your record them that way"

Andy liked to stir up trouble
he was funny that way
He said, "It's just work"
Andy sat down to talk one day
he said "decide what you want
Do you want to expand your parameters?
or play museums like some dilettante?"
I fired him on the spot
he got red and called me a rat
It was the worst word that he could think of
and I've never seen him like that

"It's work"
I thought he said it's just work
Andy said a lot of things
I stored them all away in my head
Sometimes when I can't decide what I should do
I think what would Andy have said

He'd probably say "you think too much
that's 'cause there's work that you don't want to do
It's work
the most important thing is work
It's work
the most important thing is work"

For my grandmother (it's my thread, I can break the rules):

Ace said:

I still enjoy the New York Album.

It might be fun to have a kid that I could kick around
a little me to fill up with my thoughts
A little me or he or she to fill up with my dreams
a way of saying life is not a loss

I'd keep the tyke away from school and tutor him myself
keep him from the poison of the crowd
But then again pristine isolation might not be the best idea
it's not good trying to immortalize yourself

Beginning of a great adventure
Beginning of a great adventure

Why stop at one? I might have ten, a regular TV brood
I'd breed a little liberal army in the woods
Just like these redneck lunatics I see at the local bar
with their tribe of mutant inbred piglets with cloven hooves
I'd teach 'em how to plant a bomb, start a fire, play guitar
and if they catch a hunter, shoot him in the nuts
I'd try to be as progressive as I could possibly be
as long as I don't have to try too much

Beginning of a great adventure
Beginning of a great adventure

Susie, Jesus, Bogart, Sam, Leslie, Jill and Jeff
Rita, Winny, Andy, Fran and Jet
Boris, Bono, Lucy, Ethel, Bunny, Reg and Tom
that's a lot of names to try not to forget
Carrie, Marlon, Mo and Steve, La Rue and Jerry Lee
Eggplant, Rufus, Dummy, Star and The Glob
I'd need a damn computer to keep track of all these names
I hope this baby thing don't go too far

I hope it's true what my wife said to me
I hope it's true what my wife said to me
I hope it's true what my wife said to me

She says, "Baby, it's the beginning of a great adventure!"
"Babe, beginning of a great adventure"

It might be fun to have a kid that I could kick around
create in my own image like a god
I'd raise my own pallbearers to carry me to my grave
and keep me company when I'm a wizened toothless clod
Some gibbering old fool sitting all alone drooling on his shirt
some senile old fart playing in the dirt
It might be fun to have a kid I could pass something on to
something better than rage, pain, anger and hurt

I hope it's true what my wife said to me
I hope it's true what my wife said to me
I hope it's true what my wife said to me

She says, Lou, it's the beginning of a great adventure
Lou, Lou, Lou, beginning of a great adventure

Sylvia: how you call your lover boy?
Sylvia, how you call your lover man?

Good evening, Mr.Waldheim
and Pontiff how are you?
you have so much in common
in the things you do
And here comes Jesse Jackson!
he talks of Common Ground
does that Common Ground include me?
or is it just a sound?
A sound that shakes
oh Jesse, you must watch the sounds you make

A sound that quakes
there are fears that still reverberate
Jesse you say Common Ground
does that include the PLO?
what about people right here right now
who fought for you not so long ago?
The words that flow so freely
falling dancing from your lips
I hope that you don't cheapen them
with a racist slip
Oh Common Ground
is Common Ground a word or just a sound?

Common Ground
remember those civil rights workers buried in the ground?
If I ran for President
and once was a member of the Klan
wouldn't you call me on it
the way I call you on Farrakhan?
And Pontiff, pretty Pontiff
can anyone shake your hand ?
or is it just that you like uniforms
and someone kissing your hand?
Or is it true
the Common Ground for me includes you too?
Oh, oh, is it true
the Common Ground for me includes you too?

Good evening, Mr.Waldheim
pontiff, how are you?
as you both stroll through the woods at night
I'm thinking thoughts of you
And Jesse you're inside my thoughts
as the rhythmic words subside
my Common Ground invites you in
or do you prefer to wait outside?
Or is it true
the Common Ground for me is without you?
Or is it true
the Common Ground for me is without you?
Oh is it true?
There's no Ground Common enough for me and you.

lazycrockett said:

Love that album. You realize "What's Good?" is from Magic and Loss, right?

How do you speak to an angel?

You can't have the flower without the root
you can't have the fire without the soot
Even a stripper needs her red tasseled suit
and we were meant to be

In every war the North needs the South
and everyone knows all assholes have a mouth
Without mystery what would writers talk about?
and we were meant to be

An apple needs pits the way melons need seed
your foot needs your arm and your arm needs your knee
And one of these days I know you will need me
we were meant to be, ooohhh, we were meant to be

You're mother's an ogre, your father's a scamp
you won't see my parents honored on any stamp
But just like a bulb screws into a lamp
we were meant to be

The way that AIDS needs a vaccine, somewhere a vaccine needs AIDS
The way a victim needs life, a life needs to be saved
And out of all of this will come a better way
we were meant to be

So you can go to Europe, Los Angeles or Mars
you can stand on a building throwing cinder blocks on cars
You can practice deep voodoo, but like me you'll see
we were meant to be, we were meant to be

We were meant to be
We were meant to be
We were meant to be
We were meant to be
We were meant to be
We were meant to be
We were meant to be
We were meant to be

i dedicate the whole damn BERLIN album to myself, because i love it and i'm not sharing.

It's so cold in Anxaska!

Moonbeam said:

Anxasska? Isn't that where AB wants to reside?

Moonbeam said:

Anxasska? Isn't that where AB wants to reside?

Ace said:

boooo

Looking in the mirror Harry didn't like what he saw
The cheeks of his mother the eyes of his father
As each day crashed around him the future stood revealed
He was turning into his parents
The final disappointment

Stepping out of the shower Harry stared at himself
His hairline receding the slight overbite
He picked up the razor to begin his shaving
and thought oh I wish I was different

I wish I was stronger I wish I was thinner
I wish I didn't have this nose
These ears that stick out remind me of my father
and I don't want to be reminded at all
The final disappointment

Harry looked into the mirror thinking of Vincent Van Gogh
and with a quick swipe lopped off his nose
And happy with that he made a slice where his chin was
He's always wanted a dimple
The end of all illusion
Then peering down straight between his legs
Harry thought of the range of possibilities
A new face a new life no memories of the past
and slit his throat from ear to ear

Harry woke up with a cough the stitches made his wince
A doctor smiled at him from somewhere across the room
Son we saved your life but you'll never look the same
And when he heard that, Harry had to laugh
Although it hurt Harry had to laugh
The final disappointment


I can't dedicate this to anyone (best not - I think) but have always loved this album and this song. I think it's the way that the music for this is so laid back and dreamy but the lyrics are so...well, you know what I mean

sj1600 said:

I love that album, but this song's too depressing for even me (and that's saying something!). In fact, to me, it's a photo-finish between this and Richard Thompson's "End of the Rainbow" for Most Depressing Song Ever Written.

"well at least he's making the effort."

sj1600 said:

Ace said:

J/K - I don't know why I find it relaxing, i'm fully aware of how tragic the subject matter is, but it's always made me feel.. well, relaxed!

Not explaining myself very well am I?

I know very little of Lou's solo stuff. But I'll dedicate Who Loves The Sun to myself.

CarrieMpls said:

Have you heard Hafdis Huld's recent cover version of that? It's so cool...

I know very little of Lou's solo stuff. But I'll dedicate Who Loves The Sun to myself.