SYRACUSE
it's 3am and it's christmas. let's drive to syracuse. she's bored at her parent's house, now here's something to do. six hours of frozen road, i wonder what she'll say? you and i are going to find out. this is the only way. in my backpack, a change of clothes, and if i need it i don't know. it's the risks that make life seem more worthwhile. two cups of coffee, we're making time. you say she'll break my heart and i say that's fine. onondaga county, 17 miles. her parents don't speak much english. i think they're judging me. that chinese boy that doesn't speak chinese. i'm an oddity. "what do your parents do?" "do you have a job?" dollars and sense. i catch a few words of mandarin. everyone's laughing. it's another joke at my expense. it gets worse from here and though. i tend to live for the anecdote. what learned lesson will make this one all ok? the stupid things you do, when you think you're in love. remember when we drove to d.c. for susie's funeral? everybody's staring at us. "who are those kids sitting in back?" this is a lot like that.

THROWDOWN
gonna break up all your windows. gonna tear down all your doors. your knees will be creaking. your hips will get sore. your boyfriend won't be happy. your girlfriend thinks youre queer. it's just that throw down, slam damn, bang getting in your ear. your music is stupid. yeah, man it's out of sight. and it's gonna play all day, all night, all right.

JUST CAN'T TALK TO YOU
no explanation, you turn your back to me. everything is wrong. i'd take it all back, if i knew what the hell is going on. walk away, demoralize me. yeah, hang up the phone. consider spending the rest of your life alone. i just can't talk to you. i don't know what i'm supposed to do. one minute here and now you're gone. i just can't talk to you. yeah, come on. that's what i thought you said. forget it, i'll find my way home. another state, another town. fuck if i know. outta sight. carry on all night, i'm gonna go. i just can't talk to you. i just can't talk to you. i don't know what i'm supposed to do. one minute here and now you're gone. i just can't talk to you. now, come on. all the things you say and do. all the things you put me through. all the words you don't comprehend. this is the end.

IN MY HEAD
woke up today. stayed in bed. i’ve got too many things in my head. i don’t wanna work. i can’t talk. every word comes out as “fuck." don’t come over. don’t even knock. i am not getting up. i don’t want the answers. you don’t see. nothing you say will remedy. my heart is broken. your love was a token. stinking drunk. you, shut up. hands in pockets. pull em back out. break my dishes. scream and shout. drink a little. drink a lot. pick at it before it clots. can’t play records. won’t grow up. since you left all I do is suck. i’m not the man, i never was. don’t call me just because. in my head. the phone is dead. here I’ll stay. hey hey hey.

ANGELA
there were days when i thought this was that childhood fantasy. but what i didn't see was that you could only love me when i was about to leave. otherwise, your other shit was way more important. they say that life is war and love is surrender. but what they neglect is when you lay down your arms it can make you a prisoner to people who say they want love unconditionally because aren't they more selfish? is it really their insecurities? or do they prefer to treat you like shit? and have you love it? i thought we'd quarrel to the bitter end. so i quit you, and now i can't get out of bed. angela, why do you commit, when other guys make advances you still accept? is it that book by that franco-czech, again? there are plenty of guys that you can have great non-monogamous relationships with. it's just that i won't be one of them.

WHO'S GOING BACK TO WHOM?
it's a simple relationship that you don't seem to understand. i did what i could, i tried not to suspect. maybe i had expectations. but then you slept with another man. november rain gave way to winter snow, but that's not the main reason i'd grown cold. did you believe that i'd take this all in stride? that i could take you in no matter who's arms you'd been in? regardless of the sin. but then somehow i doubt that i was on your mind. it's all semantics if you say i'm someone you love. because you love all of them and thus love no one. i'm at work with coffee and my insecurities. are you home in boston with your mind at ease? one day you'll be in town and want to spend the time. i'll leave an okay and i won't hear from you again, and i won't mind. i won't sulk at home, i won't spend the day, crossing out your name. and after this song i'll have nothing more to say. because i used to think who's going back to whom? but now i think that i am done with you.

SHOWGIRLS
boy, we've gotten so close now. and yet you say i'm still too distant. well, have you considered just how well you know yourself? how well can you know me? and i just can't be part of your personality change movie. though they're fun to believe in, life just is no fairy tale. my father left me when i was 13. and i don't trust anyone, not even me. i've learned the hard way that we're bound to fail. that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. and if i push you away, it's because i don't know why.

TWO ORDINARY TALES
girl one calls in a snowstorm. and when the end of pleasantries arrive, i remember a rainy morning when she said her feelings for me died. it's a seasonal depression and i console her now as I did then. knowing all too well, she's become a bad weather friend. her poet, her washer of dishes, i cleaned the house, i wrote haiku. i've been a fool. girl two lies in a heartbreak on the other side of town. i've grown selfish, i parry her advances, because of that world that's let me down. one time we fell together, and i felt happy enough to die. and now we stand apart, there's not a day that i don't sit and consider why. a lover, a friend, and when she smiles at me, i hate myself, i do. i've been a fool. two ordinary tales of romance. if I tell you all my secrets, do they become second chances? and if you sway and sing and dance, is it a celebration of my failures?

EDUCATED HIPS
your naked midriff is keeping me stiff. yeah, swingshift, sister. won't you spread it on thick? that male white hegemony that's keeping you and me down. i hate to objectify you. but i can't think of another way around your educated hips.educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. you've been hanging with that pale man that don't understand you. cause you've given up on men. you know i have too. call me a cultural nationalist, shit tell me i'm a lout 'cause your educated hips. they're knockin' me out. educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. educated hips. five foot six, take no shit. college degrees, baby please.

AUTUMN
stiff sheets and drapes keep out the cold. is it night or is it day? room service plaques, half empty glasses. how many hours 'til you’re away? your name’s still new, cleaning women knock. "no, please not just now." we’ll mess the bed and change the scents in a minute anyhow. on cable it was 'sweet and lowdown' that time that we went to town. conversation flies and stops as if we have a day to live. i see you sleep and when i wake your taste is on my lips. yesteryear, tomorrow, this morning, here today. i don’t remember ever feeling quite this way. it’s the dim lights, the touch, and the sound. that time that we went to town. remind me next time that you’re around. about the time that we went to town.

DOMESTICS
we open the curtains on a sunday afternoon. i spend more of these with you. i'm a rich man. we're folding these linens. they lack sole ownership. but whether that's my shirt still seems relevant, when that shirt's on your back. now i'm smiling, and you're smiling too. now our breaths taste like mint. i switch on the radio. i don't know who this is. but i think i like it. this song is staying in my head. is something happening? because i'm taking notes. you seem to forget all the little things that i don't. i think the devil's in the details. mundalities will be our legacy. the way we sleep, the way we wake, between these tartan sheets.

IN JANUARY (originally performed by brent's tv)
in january. i saw her walking cross the street. her name was mary. she had short black hair and a backpack on. carrying biology, anthropology, psychology, and a lonely heart. in the library. i was walking from A-Z. when i saw sweet mary. she was reading a deposition about a man who lost his limbic system. and now he can't love at all. mary, mary. put down that book. and give me a moment with you. mary, mary. take one look at me and tell me you love me too. baby, i love you. i'm not machiavelli. tolstoy, and i can't paint like botchelli. i'm just a boy from the other side of the tracks. with a tattoo scratched right on my back. and it looks like. baby, just like you. mary, mary. i don't get my kicks from smelling dollars all day. mary, mary. if i had my pick, we'd go right through that door. whoa-a-whoa-oh-oh. we could go to a show. we could see the ramones. get an ice cream cone. whoa-a-whoa-oh-oh.

note: yeah, yeah. we know! we totally messed up some of the words. but thats the silly appeal of doing cover songs anyway, right?

SPRING (sing along)
came back today and i knew something was wrong. no messages and 17 million calls. nothing getting done even though there’s a million things to do. i haven’t seen anyone since i thought about seeing you. i hate thinking i can’t win. it’s all happening again. maybe if I went away. but then i did that yesterday. if i gave you a dollar, would you give me change? looking through your letters, i was trying to find something new. What’s a million words when you and i are through? i hate thinking i can’t win. it’s all happening again. maybe if I went away. but then i did that yesterday. if i gave you a dollar would you give me change? when everybody left i guess i stayed. if i regret it i can’t say. i just wish that you were here with me.

HURTING KIND (sing along)
i'm a liar, you want it all. you're a cheater and i'm irresponsible. i say i love you and you give me the eye. hurting kind we're the hurting kind. lights cameras this love is obscene. a naked picture come straight out of a magazine. the caption says all nude all live. hurting kind we're the hurting kind. take everything we're never getting old. shake thing girl boy irresponsible. it won't last, who cares why?

AUTUMN (sing along)
stiff sheets and drapes keep out the cold. is it night or is it day? room service plaques, half empty glasses. how many hours 'til you’re away? your name’s still new, cleaning women knock. "no, please not just now." we’ll mess the bed and change the scents in a minute anyhow. on cable it was 'sweet and lowdown' that time that we went to town. conversation flies and stops as if we have a day to live. i see you sleep and when i wake your taste is on my lips. yesteryear, tomorrow, this morning, here today. i don’t remember ever feeling quite this way. it’s the dim lights, the touch, and the sound. that time that we went to town. remind me next time that you’re around. about the time that we went to town.

IT'S ALL RIGHT (sing along)
2 spots behind you at the grocery store. your sake and cigarettes that i deplore. i’ll be your bottles, i’ll be your cans. because i know i can’t be your man. but it’s all right. yeah, it’s all right. read a magazine to get you out of my head. fifteen things all men want in bed. choice of gift with 12 issues and baby i’d pick you. but it’s all right. yeah, it’s all right. i wouldnt try to pick you up even if i had the skill. i’m not hardcore, i’m a CLARENDON HILL. i sleep all day i wake up at night. yeah, i think you would agree. if you were with me, it’d be alright. i guess i’m running out of things to say my friend say i should just go get laid. i wish my hormones had something else to say. but that’s the way that i'm made.

SOMETHING YOU WOULDN'T KNOW (sing along)
i heard him in the background over the phone. the years since we last spoke i should have known. ideals and promises that didn’t last. you might have loved me, but i didn’t ask. it’s not embarrassing, it’s just a small mistake. gamble with this call i had to make. i suppose it’s nice to finally know. that here’s another path covered in snow. i guess i’m not sure what i’m trying to say. it’s awkward now, and nobody is to blame. don’t dwell on it, it’ll eat at you slow. and now maybe that’s something you wouldn’t know.

WINTER INFIDELITY (sing along)
it’s complicated as you know. you shouldn’t stay but please don’t go. it’s dirty secrets or nights alone. is he expecting you at home? i dreamed about this from the beginning. and everything will change once you’ve told him. i don’t mean to play the demon or for you to play a liar. my heart's on fire, my heart's on fire, my heart’s on fire. you ask me if i think it will snow. i say 'i love you' and i don’t know. the world is tearing, the sky is falling. and everything will change once you’ve told him. your hands on my conscience and our mouths are on the prize. my heart's on fire, my heart's on fire, my heart's on fire.

YOU & I (sing along)
it’s my lack of confidence that you find so unattractive. well, your self-centeredness doesn’t do so much for me. it’s the reticence or talking small for hours. can’t just sit down and say the things you think. (i’m critical, but won’t you stay? you can’t expect to win, if you don’t play.) i’m no alcoholic, but i’d binge here once in a while. to boorish shouts and your occasional smile. darts, pool cues, neon lights, capitalists prospecting for wives. illusions of good times and the look in your eyes. you and i. multiply, divide. parentheses, there’s one thing on my mind. me and you. that makes two. add, subtract. i’m not sure what to do.