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There Is No Feeling Better

Do You One Better

Pressing Mesh

Going out of my head with too much time to whittle
All this waste, it ends, out of my head with too much time
How do you contend it will all work out
Half a dozen kids and we’ve all got doubt
I’ll do you one better, I’ll do you one better
Even if it gets so we hate that sound
If heaven isn’t great, we can waltz right out
I’ll do you one better, I’ll do you one better
Guess its out of my hands, and no one tried to get em
What if? Wasn’t it out of my hands? Now we try

Love light the way through the gate, corridors, and gauntlets
Coming up, call the cops, let them know we’re out there
Hard-pressed to fine tune, turn and take the keys, why don’t you
Look away from that, leaning way into my left side
Study their face, say their names, recognize the past life
Can’t decide, half the time, who’re the good and bad guys

Oscillate Wisely

Bad Weather

I have electric veins when bad weather came
I have a haircut way laid out for me
Do you love me now, how can I know?
Spirit's upstairs banging hard on the wall
Babysitter's in a ball on the kitchen floor
Don't got a thing figured out, but can't believe in it all
And I don't want to hear a word about making it difficult
I heard the altar cave when it said my name
I have a tent stake way behind my face

Skeletons In The Cloner

Fluorescent tubes, ears and in the mouth and you do
Rest area, ducking out behind the men's room
Left the 1 to search for 99 the shepherd can't use
Ruined by a stretch of images and passages that I can't lose
So far, so good...
Into the yard, straight to the barn and uphill
News of the world, hiding out behind a wagon wheel
To know the only thing to know, that watching it will change it
And all I want is not to want and not to rearrange it
So far, so good...

I Don't Want To Believe In Anything

I don't wanna believe in anything, but I do and I don't know why
I heard him when he said, "Lord, bless the ones who have to give,
And especially those who have none"
And I can get behind most every word he ever said
Cuz when it came to love, we had one
But I don't wanna believe in anything, but I do and I don't know why
Some of this is true, I know because I have the proof
But then again that's based on how I feel
Then I am reminded, every time, the truth is not what I believe
The truth is what's real

I'm Not Worried

Life was full of love, and we're not often wrong
But she saw it coming from a mile off
And they won't say a word but what they think I want
So I saw it blowing up, like it does
And you went to far, and you wait too long
And it takes too long, but you find,
We just might keep ourselves alive this time
Now who can you trust? We've all been working hard
Finally it fell apart and came undone
It's just criminal to see how the tragic stuff
Always seems to come to the best of us

Sunrise

Stay with me tonight, hold me so tight, it's alright
Let's watch the sunrise
Only sleep can keep you from me tonight
And if I should lose you to dreams
Make sure it's me that's on your mind
You'll be on mine
Now it's time to say goodnight
And if I see you in the morning
I'll know why you stayed with me
And it won't be
The last time

Don't You Blanket When That Happens

To this end, I do not have to know
It's all in fun but gets so personal
I know it so well, I could quote it to you now
It's fading fast and we'll see if I care on the day it's gone
This old world has tried to tell us a thousand times
We'll lay in wait to carve out a better space
I love it when that happens, don't you love it when that happens?
Too fast to climb, too far to fall
When it turns out we need it all along
Will this end? It seems I have to know
I wasn't then, but now I'm volatile
I know it so well I can quote it to you now
It's fading fast but we'll see if I'm dead before it's gone
This old world has tried to tell us a thousand times
The burden's great, but it's worse when you're out of shape
I hate it when that happens, don't you hate it when that happens?

I Did Not Create This Body

I did not create this body
But I certainly didn't take much care of it
The left hand says never trust the right hand
The right hand says there's too much work to do
To debate on everything the head and heart says
So we'd better get to weighing it, because
I do not mind saying it, it's true
I did not create this body
But I certainly didn't take much care of it

IIIIIIIII Love A Parade

I put my hands out and wait for you to rescue me
But you are nowhere to be found
You kept your mouth closed when I would ask you where to be
Now my heart's hard
And I don't trust you anymore
What happened to my friends?
We're all cuss words and cigarettes
And I used to trust them
And I'm sure they trusted me
But i don't know them anymore

It's All Been Done, You Said

It's all been done, you said, but I don't believe in that
I don't believe in what? You're wasting time
They'll hold the candle to our hands
And see if we believe in that
See if we believe in what? We're killing time
It's all well

You'll Have Me As Long

You'll have me as long as I'm here to be had
And I'll never leave you alone
And I'll have you as long as you'll let me do that
I'm happy to take you along
All things will now remain the same

Best of Boiler Room Classics

Be Free, Live Well

I want to be free, I want to live well
Make waste of my body and drag me to hell
And keep me warm while I kick and I scream
It's true that I always know what's best for me
An honest day's honest work
If nobody noticed, then what was it worth?
Now everybody's dealing with closer walls and a 4/4 rhythm
The kind of luck that you can count on your fingers
But I'm the one who's standing in the back
with your warm right hand
Toughest love but you wind up in ruin
Turn your neck, but you know what they're doing
Swinging back and forth like they're hanging
The long last limb, aren't you proud of them?
Every head is bowed, every eye is closed
We're waiting to death while our fortune is told
On the clock and on the mend
The living have been sorted out by the dead

I'm Worried

What'll it take now to get me home?
My arms are twisted up, right back through the ringer
Tits and teeth and all
Pile them on now, let's take one more
Show me show me show me how
You do that trick that keeps you calm
I signed off for missing parts
One half-dollar broken heart
I never knew I felt that kind of love holding me up
Until I ran out of luck
I don't know
Smoking me out past the concrete tongue
Celebrating two lifetimes that we're hiding
In front of everyone
Keeping the oath that was writ in blood
Extending to the end, come back when it's over
And tell me it was fun

Findings of Feeling, Findings of Fact

Kept my ear to the floor and tuned the radio
All the frequencies the same
and they're bouncing all around the place on the inside
Revved up to 45, but turn it way down low
Findings of feeling the floor to the ceiling is all that you know
You want to love, but you don't
It's not like you've never been shown
If you want a friend, then be one, and if you believe in a ghost
Then why don't you see one
It's not as bad as we let on
I don't like hanging on, when it's gone it's gone
All the difference is the same
When I'm close, or am I far away? What a let down
1000 in the crowd, but what a way to go
Findings of fact keep my knees crawling back
To the places I've known

A Woman Is The New Man

A woman is the new man
Wait a little bit, now move on up ahead
A woman is the new man
Now how am I supposed to
get along if I don't see your face?
I love you, but I want you
And no one can take your place
The fellas left with nothing to do
And he won't spend his time with his jaws out of tune
The fellas left with nothing to do
Because a woman is the new man
Snatched up the last living shred of us and
A woman is the new man
I won't be alone

Count On It

Who put the lights out after I fell asleep?
I don't know, but I know I can count on it
What makes the work pile up on a Saturday?
I don't know, but I know I can count on it
All your love keeps my confidence up
And I know I'm alone, but I'm ok
I can face another day with you beside me
What if your heart takes a final beat?
Well, I don't know, but I know we can count on it
And if you die, do you think you'll remember me?
There's no doubt in my mind, you can count on it

The Bright Line

Can't fight the feeling when you're running on
The bright line
I told a lie when I said that I could
Feel the door closing, the floor was opening
And soon it swallowed me whole
I don't think that you know, long-winded funerals and all
We were so close they came and named us
Nicest of the damned and shook our hands and told us
That it was time to go
Let it lie where it lands, and never come up again
Keeping our bellies full and our babies fed
The horse away from our necks
Dodging two-liter cokes, and museum shows
For post-traumatic stress, there's no making sense of it
A Handful of copperheads and we're only scared
A little bit
But you and I will wait right here until we're
Bit or shed the skin that tied our wrists together
And got us into this
My demon's backing me up into the corner I love
So I put that dude into a song and slammed and sealed
The lid shut, threw the lock and ran as far away from the key
Let it lie where it lands and never come up again
How can I balance on a tablespoon of history
Planted in hope
What if the only thing I ever do is teach him all that I know
And leave with an attitude?

Don't Want It, Don't Get It

If we last, then we'll know
That was that, I suppose
I'm surprised a little
That you can't hum the tune now
The way you'd tear up the middle
When you're on
I don't want it, you don't get it
I guess that we'll just have to let it go
Cross the room, cross the world
That'll do, so I'm told
In the summer kitchen
In the back of your friend's house
In spite of our ages
We were old

The Fingers You Know

Well, I'll be! Face the facts, don't think you know what I know
You don't say! Handed down into the fingers you know
It's far out, but it's easy to find
It don't take long
Slow down, and that's all, and you'll find
You're worn out
You won't solve! Is that the truth? Is that what's holding you on?
You don't say! Gather round, holds hands and don't make a sound
You're all wrong!
And I won't fall apart at the seams, but I cracked off a piece when
He said, "I'll see you in Hell"
You don't say!
And these lost ones off finding themselves
Rooting around for a snoot full of what they want
But I don't

That's Itt, Cuz

It's not the weight of the world
Or the end of it all, but it's hard
And you should know
Take me home, take me anywhere
But don't leave me alone
If it's breaking your heart
Or giving you hope
I don't know, I just don't know
Tie it closed, or spill it everywhere
And wait outside the door

Good Thing Going

Of all the things that you wanted
Of all the things that you know are happening
The force required to wake up
The distance between pain and suffering
We've got a good thing going
So we'd better get going before the good thing goes
Fingered in a watch pocket
Darken every door
Could you describe the condition
Of my everlasting soul
Who wants to know?

Casino Drone

Bronze Worlds

My memory fades, after very long
I turn to notes dripping off my palm
You won't pick up (What's that look for?)
You spend your time getting under my skin
You call me back (You called me out)
You shine your light down the open end
That's right when I'm getting into it
Alone in line for the viewing room
In mid-July, but the air was cool
What do you love that is any good? (Don't answer that)
The only bronze in a golden world

Hobart, Chuck Manson, & Jim

Has anybody here heard the signature sound?
Take the Capital City senator down
Hang my best suit on the footer board
It's what I'm coming back for
Has anybody here seen the teenager now?
A couple failed attempts, guess he finally got out
Hang my best suit on the footer board
It's what I'm coming back for
Kneel yourself down before the Lord
It's what I'm coming back for

The Lucky One

Time to quit with the tough love
And leave the light alone
I'm in the middle of a conversation
Jumping ahead would get to anyone
Finding the pleasure in delivering bad news
To a love that you can't ignore
Hide in the lobby of a hotel suite
Let down cuz the thieves are never thick enough
But I'm the lucky one
Out of the fog, into the sun
With that much less left to carry along
At least we were kept from having fun
And now our old hands are wrung to the bone
But I'm the lucky one

Stainless Still

Blue smoke, screen printed trash, other peoples' ads
hug your arms around my neck
Dive into medicine cabinets, surrounded by your friends
Who can scream into the air the loudest?
And I've had it...
I'm fine
Blue jokes, medium dependence, Hollywood connections
Run your fingers through my hair
Dirt men living off the land, making lots of plans
Just in case there's ever a disaster
Then it happens...

Underneath The Door

I swear that if I say another thing
I'll switch it on, but I'll stop it right away
Because if I let it run I know I'll have to stay
And see that it's done
Let's not forget what we came here for
They'll race you straight to the bottom
I slipped a note underneath the door
I only hope that you got them
If getting what you want can make you soft
I put it on, but I had to take it off
And they played it cool, but I knew I was caught
And I knew I was wrong

Frozen Car

Frozen Car, buried under miles of snow
We'll wait inside and put the radio on
And let her heat up
Wrecking ball, you know I love your long blonde hair
What a way to do whatever we want
Anticipate enough
Crystal Fog, press your breath to the window
I wonder how you think of things that you draw
To watch them fade off

Diem Be

Mixed up a fall with a break down
And turned on it's end, just the same
Won't help to freak out, they don't even want to know
Got them in the seats and filled with suspense
Wrap the sucker up, then doing it again
Won't help to freak out, they don't even want to know
But, they know
Roll it over if you've had enough
Hard to hold it with your hands full

Smart Marks

If you can be my demo vid, then I can be your fish-eye lens
But for how long? Now, that depends what it's about
But for now you be my Martin, I can be your Cloud
And we'll hang-ten and ride it out
Wide open, impossible, true love with your heart in the middle
Spread open on the floor, true heart with a hole in the middle
The baby grand has come apart, but you can learn to play the harp
And I'll fall into my brothers' arms when the money's gone
But for now you be my Rivers, I'll be your Matt Sharp
And we'll be safe where we are

On the Fumes

You know, these party people roll
They grip you and you can't let go
Too much to get wrong
I'll pull you up by the sport coat
Just roll on it, let the tank go
We'll put some miles underneath us
Just coasting in on the fumes though
You know, the ladder climbers all
Using us to break their fall
Too much to die for

Keep My Heart Alive

All that wait to find out nothing's wrong
Flashbulb strengths, the one thing to go on about
Detailed maps, recite navigation
Venice 13, and Ghost Town dating
Rosemary smoke, carry on, carry nothing
Lifting glad hands alone, I know...
No amount of luck can keep my heart alive
All that pain to find out nothing's lost
Timecode breaks and cold, white-knuckle roundabouts
Memory loss, record inventory
Like what I find, but it's not for me
Turn a blind eye to the smoke and the mirrors
Videotapes and last best hopes

Ideas Man

All at once we're late for something, might just wait it out, no I won't, I won't
Caught my hands reaching for something, something I don't want, no I don't, I don't
Confidence of smoke break nurses, easy don't speak up, no I won't, I won't
Open-mouth teeth clicking kisses, warmer to the touch, no I won't, I won't

Hello, World!

Preparation Age

Lehrpez

Go ahead and get me fired up
Headed out, for once, and better drugs
Finally hanging out with the wrong crowd
I don't think about that now, I don't wanna think about that now
She's the only girl in the boys' club
She can hang with what we're thinking of
Beating most of us to every punch
I don't think about that now, I don't wanna think about that now
What's she sneaking around for?
No occasion to get what she wants
Can't relate to the make-out king and queen behind the door
Coming into her own now
Politicking's a must in this town
Glad she's sticking around to sort it out
She's the only girl in the boys' club
I think I'm better for knowing her because
I don't think about that now, I don't wanna think about that now

Too Mas

I spoke up, but it turns out I was wrong
So, I sank into my chair and time forgot
But I've been too young, and I wanted it too bad
Blown out windows with the backdoor swinging shut
The confidence of a funeral, the confidence of an only child
Find ways to fall into that first feeling
and disappear entirely from the world
I woke up just in time to see them off
Then i climbed back into bed and pulled the curtains closed
And covers up
But I've been too young, and I wanted it too bad
Blown out windows with the backdoor swinging shut
The confidence of a weatherman, the confidence of feeling comfortable
Find ways to fall into that first feeling
and disappear entirely from the world

Live Alone

I guess you didn't know, I never lived alone
And you think it is a joke
It's funny, but I mean it
Maybe when it's gone, it's over and it's done
And it wasn't any fun
It's ugly, but we made it
Am I the widow? Am I the poor?
Is anything left if we tear another hole
Trying to see it through
It's curious enough, I never touch the stuff
And it wasn't very much
It's working, but we faked it
In striking out the scene, we set the sucker free
And it ruined everything
It's over, but I need it

Weather On

I hear you're moving on and taking calls
And putting out emergencies and normal things are happening
What goes on in between?
Word is you're moving up to Wicker Park
And leading off with humor there, your senior year
Pregnancy scare, how do you get prepared?
Now that's good news
It's not as though there's nothing wrong
But I don't suppose things will just come apart
Why let the ruins weather on?
What gives with loneliness, acomplishment
And getting everything you wished, but being missed
And busy with what happens after this

Unforgettable People

Interesting people, 1989
Do what it takes to keep the kids in line
The state won't remember what he did for whole-time pay
But every kid in this town on two wheels will say
They don't make them like that anymore
Minding the grade book since 1933
Well rounded kids know a little of everything
With that kind of secret since 19-god-knows-when
You really must have been some kind of family man
They don't make them like that anymore

Other Stuff

Keep It Simple

Keep me interested and keep it simple
keep my mind from wandering
I don't remember when I was this tired
Call me centered, call me look-alive
Should we be worrying, it seems less evil
Have I forgotten everything
Should we be worrying, it's not that simple
But that's what they keep telling me

Tasteful Nudes

Spin a little while and tangle in the dangling cloth
As close as we can get, cocoon'd into your words like a moth
The flight pattern says I'm lost, there's too many lights left on
Run down the list its just a place to start
Let's go off the charts
Tonight, let's raise the bar
Are you tired of a life where nothing changes
In your heart?
Naked underneath and unashamed
Tape another blanket up behind our heads in the garage
Fingerprinted glass with members of the neighborhood watch
The flypaper sets me off, there's too many lights left on
Tear up the list and find a place to start
In my favorite spot

Caught On

When was the point you knew for sure
That we were hung up on those words?
How many times she touched your head
I nearly jumped out of my skin
You'd think with everything we've learned...
But still, we're not immune
I wonder if we'd known back then
Would we have been fair-weather friends?
But by the time we had it done
I put a live one through my thumb
Mistake that's classic and it's dumb
But still, I'm not immune

Not No More

Laid back, he's just been imagined through a contact lens
Bed fast, heaven in plain view is our level best
Tried one and found that the favorite fell far
From what I should know
Wave the light on tonight, and I won't get burned
Say it right or save the mission
Out of sight, out of mind, out of time
Take that, inflated with wonder and frightened to death
Think fast with hands in the air and a bead down your chest
Right on, tomorrow is tone deaf til dawn
Then she rewrites the song

Talk Too Much

Do we have to talk about it?
Do we have to think too much?
I'd just as soon have tiptoed around it
We haven't had that kind of luck
No, no
Do we have to talk about it?
Do we have to think too much?
Death could just tiptoe around us
But we don't have that kind of luck
No, we don't

Enter Tan Van

Tan Van Tour Talk

Stay, Too

With blow after blow, and time after time
With good after bad and all, but you just can't remember
the pain that caused your loneliness to
defend your heart, defend your heart
Don't tell me what I want to hear, but what to do
You know there's something happening
I feel it too, we're on our own
It's all because I lean into the trouble that hangs around
the fear that only lives in my heart
With hope against hope, the race against time
that turns me against the wall
I whisper to myself that I can't recall your face
And when I slipped in your arms, into your arms

Turn Our Love Around

Define the curve, nobody wants it to cause a divide
assume the worst, get the permission and just be polite
I know I did something wrong (suspicion)
I must have done something wrong (suspicion)
I know that you're leaving cuz I see that look
In your eyes
Take my hand now, let's turn our love around
Late returns, but I know the owner and dodge all the fines
Projector burns, kept it together and still cracking wise

The New Big Ending

Gliding through us like a ghost
We felt it in our bones
Let's not die until we know
We're leaving one of those

I hope
We get to see the Big One fall
And kiss goodbye the party
Last of all

For a temporary home
We made it feel our own
Don't record the video
It all goes up in smoke
Take your body but your clothes
And most of us are left behind
So long...

I hope
We get to see the Big One fall
And kiss goodbye the party
Last of all