we live high, our love gorges on the alcohol we feed it.
and it grows all fat and friendly
we have surplus if we need it.
we hold on as hard as we can.
our knuckles are white.
we write letters to each other, invent secrets to confess to.
I learn foreign and exotic terms of endearment by which to address you.
we feed fresh fruit to one another.
we stay up all night.
I am healthy, I am whole, but I have poor impulse control.
and I want to go home.
but I am home.

we are strong, we are faithful,
we are guardians of a rare thing.
we pay close careful attention to the news the morning air brings.
we show great loyalty to the hard times we've been through.
we are filled with riches and wonders,
our love keeps the things it finds.
and we dance like drunken sailors, lost at sea out of our minds.
you find shelter somewhere in me,
I find great comfort in you.
and I keep you safe from harm.
you hold me in your arms, and I want to go home.
but I am home

The cabbages that I will grow
One by one and row on row
Will fatten in the spring sun
And breathe in the evening air

And you will hear them breathing
If you walk by at night
You may not hear them after all
But that's all right

I've set the table for two
I've cleaned the windows for you
I've got cinnamon from Jakarta
For making French toast
The doctor says that I've got
Thirty days left at most

The cabbages that I will grow
The love songs on the radio
Will deepen in the springtime
They'll be brighter than the stars

In the holding tank I built for myself it's feeding time
And I start to feel afraid 'cause I'm the last one left in line
The endless string of summer storms that led me to today
Began one afternoon with you long ago and faraway
And someone leads the beast in on its chain
But I know you're thinking of me 'cause it's just about to rain

So I won't be afraid of anything ever again

In the cell that holds my body back the door swings wide
And I feel like someone's lost child as the guards lead me outside
And if the clouds are gathering, it's just to point the way
To an afternoon I spent with you when it rained all day
And someone leads the beast in on its chain
But I know you're thinking of me 'cause it's just about to rain

So I won't be afraid of anything ever again

Crude little wooden idols
And aviator shades
The trinkets and the treasures we
brought back from the Crusades
Some guy in an Impala shakes his
head when he rides by
But I remember when we shared
a vision, you and I

Worked hard to build this altar
We made it earn its keep
The cracks across its surface
spiderweb while we're asleep
The sacrificial stains all
spreading out and soaking through
But I remember when
we kept it pretty, me and you

And high above the water
The eagle spots the fish
Every martyr in this jungle
Is gonna get his wish

Stock shots stupid stock shots
From the Pomona mall
Set up like unloved icons
gathering dust up on the wall
From films no one remembers
They call down silently
But I remember when their names
were dear to you and me
Yeah

Pennies on the dollar
Everything's gotta go
The things that we
can't even give away
I don't wanna know
Try to see if secrets burn when
you hold them up into the light
I remember when we loved
each other day and night

And high above the water
The eagle spots the fish
Every martyr in this jungle
Is gonna get his wish

lob some spit at the window
watch it run down the pane
it's only the guilty
who concern themselves
with clearing their names

you bring tidings of hope,
false tidings
when you come here
there's two friends who did me wrong
that you're protecting
it's so clear

and when you speak it's those two
who speak through you
who'll speak for me?
the burning and the electricity

sun goes down San Francisco
friends are hard to find
chew them up just as quick
as I can find them
try to clear my mind

remember hours at the table
gauze flight light easing through
if there's one thing
that I'm not going to do tonight
it's die for you

'cause when you speak it's those two
who speak through you
who'll speak for me
the burning and the electricity

down here where the heat's so fine
I'll drink to your health and you drink to mine
as we try to make the money we scored out in Vegas
hold out for a while
we drink ***** from Russia
we get our chocolates from Belgium
we have our strawberries flown in from England.
yeah but none of the money we spend
seems to do us much good in the end.
I've got a cracked engine block, both of us do.
yeah the house and the jewels, the Italian race car
they don't make us feel better about who we are.
I've got termites in the framework, so do you.

down here where the watermelon grows so sweet
where I worship the ground underneath of your feet,
we are experts in the art of frivolous spending.  
and it's gone on like this, for 3 years I guess
and we're drunk all the time and our lives are a mess.
and the deathless love we swore to protect with our bodies
is stumbling across its bleak ending.  
but none of the rage in our eyes seems to finish it off where it lies.
I got sugar in the fuel lines, both of us do.
yeah the fights and the lies that we both love to tell
fail to send our love to its reward down in hell
I got pudding for a backbone, so do you!
la la la la.
hey hey!

I went down the road today
Just in the old way
And a black dog hobbled past me
His tags jangled on his collar
It made me wish I was dead
It made me wish I was dead

And a familiar sun on me
Just like it would always be
Rocky soil, dry land
I knew it all like the back of my hand
It made me wish I was dead
It made me wish I was dead

Terrific view from here
Sky's clear
Sun's high
I let things lie
And I know what is and isn't mine
And it was good to get back to the sunshine
But five years is a long time
And I spent five years in Sweden dying for you
I spent five years in Sweden dying for you