Love is stranger than fiction
There are walls
Before me
There are walls
all around me
And walls that keep me safe
There are secrets, and strategies
hide-outs and ciphers
snakes and snipers
and tales that make me brave

There are secret doorways
with secret codes
no one seems to know
I’ve got borders and spies
I’ve got x-ray eyes
and signs that lie
and tests that everyone
must satisfy

I want to feel the love
I want to take a chance
walk tall in the sun
and live a life of romance
But I can’t be sure
If sex is an addiction
And faith is an affliction
and love is stranger than-
love is stranger than-
Love is stranger than fiction…

There are parapets and batteries,
bridges and motes,
mythology, biology and
scanners and ghosts
there’s poison and prophesy
and riddles that everyone
must answer by rote

I want to feel the love,
sing songs in the rain
I want to look in your eyes
and know you feel the same
But I can’t be sure…
If hope is just illusion
and ego is delusion
this life is strange confusion
‘ cause love is stranger than-fiction

I’d learn Morse code
I’d send smoke to the sky
I’d take your word as gospel
And never ask why
I'd hang my hair from the window
leave crumbs in the dust
I'd taste a poison apple
if I knew I could trust
that you'd touch my heart and set me free
kiss my eyes, lift this blindness from me
can you... save me…?
Can you save…me?

I’ve got protocols and firewalls,
scripture and verse
I’m sheltered from sin
but it only gets worse
Protected from the world
so nothing gets in
no sign of life, no hope from within

I want to feel the love
But I can’t take the pain
I want to hide from the son
and not have to explain
‘ cause I’ll never be sure
that sex is an addiction
and faith is an affliction
‘ cause love is stranger than-
love is stranger than-
Love is stranger than fiction…

The Inner Workings of a Hive
{...the benevolent bustle of industry!..entomological hierarchy...organizationalizing customer focus!......all together now!....Mission Possible!}

I'm losing my mind
playing Bullshit Bingo
while I'm nodding at the suits
who all live by the lingo
We're talking in tongues
and stroking our sins
trying to keep the steady flow
of money rolling in

We're singing:
Best practices, the bottom line
you can see him get it right
before his soft dead line
Due Diligence runs a
benchmark test
on a scalable server side
double D chest

We're verticalizing
the salary cap
spinning our cycles
in a strategic gap
playing hardball,
with a value-add
we'll win win win

We're progress,
groundbreaking,
a brand new paradigm,
we're bandwidth, and content
a divine mainline
We're a brand new car, high impact sex,
we're an out of the box, unbridled success
We're a proactive,
value add, fast track bottom line...

We're verticalizing
the salary cap
spinning our cycles
in a strategic gap
playing hardball,
in the critical path
it's a win win win

I've got deliverables, I'm
setting expectations
I've got no close relations...

There must be a path through this system
There must be a way to be true
There must be a place for humanity
For love and for life to shine through…

{for near parity total quality enhanced performance!...Reliable to Five Nines!}

…I’m thinking outside of where everyone talks
I’m living inside of the box
I’m living inside….

We're profiting by
Our credibility gap
spinning our losses
from the knowledge base rap
playing hardball
we're a 5 nines bash
a solid platinum number One Smash
{'win win win'...}

I’m "Taking a hit
for the good of the hive"
we’re shaming the true
Just to stay alive
I'm making up time, I'm taking up space,
as everything's losing just a little more grace
it's autoerotic
asphyxiation
A Wall St., Silicon Valley enlarging
Injection

There must be more to my time here
than staying ahead of the curve
Something that I can believe in
That’s worth all my time here,
to serve…

I’m moving outside, I’m thinking outside, I’m staying alive, I’m
living outside of the Hive…

That's OK
If it makes you happy
To make assumptions
Never understanding what's really going on

That's okay
That's okay

And if you like driving an SUV (a big HumVee)
Well oil is cheap
and it makes people free

That's okay
That's okay

If it doesn't matter who lives or who dies
Well suffering's something that's in short supply
So
That's okay
That's okay

If it brings you joy to live your life in a lie
Well truth is overrated and often complicated
So

That's okay
That's okay
With me

It's not what you do
that counts in the end
It doesn't matter who's right
It only matters if you got the might
Then it's all okay, it's all okay 'cause if it
makes it better causing someone else pain
It's not a problem if they're not the same
As you

It doesn't really matter what happens in the world
As long as you keep
your colors unfurled

It's okay, it's all okay with me

Except there is no end, to justify your means
No flash of redemption, to sew up your seams
Everything you do marks everyone you do it to
And everyone else, a little bit too

But that's okay, I guess
That's okay with you...

 

Freak Lamp
(Notes: "I'd like to say this one was inspired by The Mommyheads, but it wasn't".)

They come lurking from miles around
descend from the heavens
or crawl up from the ground
drawn to destruction by a light or a sound
I'd like to help them, but

I don't wanna be a freak lamp
a freak lamp
I don't wanna be a freak lamp, baby

Flyin' around me like moths,
to an open flame,
hangin' off me like tree sloths
or a shroud of shame,
it's enough to drive a man insane!

I don't wanna be a freak lamp
a freak lamp
I don't wanna be a freak lamp, baby

Oh, but I'm not a place to go
Can't you see I'm not the local freak show?
Your problems won't be solved here,
your sins won't be absolved here,
because

I don't wanna be a freak lamp
a freak lamp
I don't wanna be a freak lamp, baby

Oh Quasimoto, where's it gonna end?
Oh Quasimoto, you started a trend...

I don't wanna be a freak lamp
I don't wanna be a freak lamp, baby

Oh, no I don't!

 

Secrets (This song contains samples from Neil Finn)
You're telling me all the news
that's fit for me to know.
You're asking me questions
when you know
where the answers go

You're giving me "choice":
Right or Left, on the same
two-headed snake
while you cover up my voice
like ice on a frozen lake

Don't tell me, I know
You've got secrets to keep
while we sleep
you'll find us another cold war
that's all about dreams
we don't know that we're working for

I dream at night
of four color lovers
in places I'll never be.
I'm a star being born
between magazine covers
on the ready-to-wear high sea
it's reality-ware TV!

Don't mind me, I know
You've got secrets to tell...
like Hell!
you'll promise a dream of relief,
of fame and wonder, but deliver
another
long hard road to grief

{Distorted rap:}
Don't tell me you've got secrets to tell
you're livin' in sin while we're livin' in hell
fire in the kitchen is the secret you smell
in your fief, Thief!
We need relief, not this long hard road through a life of grief

Don't leave me, I'll go
we've got secrets to keep
and we'll sleep
and dream up another Cold War
about time,
and saving and taking
our ease
and all of the beautiful, fabulous things
we spend our lives
settling for

Little bitter Love
I see suffering and pain
times, they look the same:
victims bear the blame and I can't save
anybody

Little bitter love
little bitter love

I can't save anybody
I can't be happy
when I see someone's dream come true
I can't be happy
when I see someone loving you

Little bitter love
little bitter love

I can't be happy...
I can't save anybody...

Little bitter love
little bitter love

Something to Believe In
I don't want to sing a song
about the war
I don't want to talk about
what it's really for
I don't wanna talk about
the VP getting rich off the
score
I don't want to watch the
rich killing off the poor

(Chorus)
I want something to
believe in
That doesn't cost another man
I want leaders not
deceiving CEOs on CNN
I want peace, peace, peace
I want a chance for an honest life
Not an endless war for a
bigger slice
I want Peace. Peace. Peace.

I don't want to think about the sons and daughters
Fighting a fight started by their fathers
or the mothers taking comfort from a statistician
and the hollow lies of a politician

They need something to believe in
That doesn't cost another girl
They need leaders not deceiving
businessmen using up the world
They need peace, peace, peace
They need a chance for their daughter's life
Not this endless war for a bigger slice
They need peace

"They're telling us lies to keep us down and afraid
We're lining up to give our freedom away
They're killing thousands of people everyday,
breaking the heart of the US of A
Taking away our freedom to say
Give our freedom away..."
No one sane wants war
Even the terrified want something more
When hope looks like a weapon to a desperate man,
we can share the world, try to understand, or united we'll fall
and divided we stand

We need something to believe in
That doesn't take an eye for an eye
We need a future not a feeling
That won't be safe unless we buy the lies
We need peace, peace, peace
We need a chance for a better state
Not an endless flow Of blood, oil and hate
We need peace, peace, peace

I don't want to talk about what it's going to cost
I don't want to sing about a generation lost

They need something to believe in
They need something to believe
(Don't let it be this)
They're waving their flags, standing tall with pride,
clinging to rhetoric to justify
the immeasurable loss of those who'll die
And who can blame them? Who can blame them?
They need something to believe in
Don't let it be this
We need peace peace peace

We need peace

Elsa Green (The piano loop & some backing vocals are from Neil Finn)
When I touch your face
I never know who I'm looking at
Please me and hold yourself down...
it'll kill you in the end
like sleep
just like sleep

And I love your face
but never know just where you're at
Leave me and knock yourself 'round
it'll kill you in the end this dream
this dream like sleep

"impossible", "Bride",
" golden mystery", "Prize"
I could never wait in line
behind all your other men
Where's it going to end, this scene?
This recycled dream?
When will you love being
whoever you really are
Elsa Green?

We are
chasing the wrong dream...

You don't have to take the blame,
you don't have to change your name,
Elsa Green
We are
chasing the wrong dream...

You don't need no cherrycoke
to make it through the day
You don't have to make your man
feel A-OK
You don't need permission
to love You anyway

Don't trust history to tell you anything straight....

 

The Golden Center
I saw the man
feeding on twelve lumps of coal
I felt the draw of his personal need,
felt myself fall into his soul.
A baker's dozen falling into
his soul

I held the man,
still losing my way
showered by a hail of guilt
I turned my back and stumbled away
I left him down and stumbled
my way

You can walk away
you can search for days
for all things in the world that are true
but the golden center is: you
the golden center...

I found the man
lying in a field of woe
I reached inside him, my breath held still
I felt his blood stain my hands
and had to let go
Left for dead in the world
below

You can run away
you can fast for days
or taste all in the world for what's true
but the golden center is you

he got in line with the rest
pealed the mask from his face
cast the smile away
corrupt with disgrace
he discarded belief
fragmented by grief
he lived the big damage
he lived
the big damage
he chose
the big damage
He chose.

He walks alone
down a road of despair
sees through a glass stained darkly
without hope of repair
Between rage and forgiveness
is a life so unfair…
Is life so unfair?

You can run for days,
You can hide away,
go down fighting, for pride
like a fool…
(but) the golden center is you
The golden center is you
The golden center is you…

There's no ‘blood & pain’, no
streets coated in rain...
...you can run for days....

you can run for days..
...you can run for days...
... run away

the golden center...

taste all in the world,
for the things that are true
love all of the girls,
for the one who'll love you

run from the beauty
that you have inside you
rage at yourself
when you don't have a clue

The golden center is you

the golden center is you

 

Celluloid Erosion
"...Needing to connect to heal, {but} needing to heal to connect..."

The Wolf I Feed
Whether God's betrayal of man predates man's betrayal of God
is ultimately,
irrelevant
...liberate us....

Prelude to Silence
The Golden Center is... you...

Breathe Memoria
"I always wondered what it would be like to just stand at the wall... helpless..."

"Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu Adonai Echad"

"...the bird feeding from the feeder is God,, the tree the feeder is hanging in is God... Everything is God..."

 

Secrets - radio edit
You're telling me all the news
that's fit for me to know.
You're asking me questions
when you know
where the answers go

You're giving me "choice":
Right or Left, on the same
two-headed snake
while you cover up my voice
like ice on a frozen lake

Don't tell me, I know
You've got secrets to keep
while we sleep
you'll find us another cold war
that's all about dreams
we don't know that we're working for

I dream at night
of four color lovers
in places I'll never be.
I'm a star being born
between magazine covers
on the ready-to-wear high sea
it's reality-ware TV!

Don't mind me, I know
You've got secrets to tell...
like Hell!
you'll promise a dream of relief,
of fame and wonder, but deliver
another
long hard road to grief

{Distorted mid rap:}
Don't tell me you've got secrets to tell
you're livin' in sin while we're livin' in hell
fire in the kitchen is the secret you smell
in your fief, Thief!
We need relief, not this long hard road through a life of grief

Don't leave me, I'll go
we've got secrets to keep
and we'll sleep
and dream up another Cold War
about time,
and saving and taking
our ease
and all of the beautiful, fabulous things
we spend our lives
settling for