1. |
The Idiot
05:46
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If you take a number A
And add it to a B
You know what you will get.
The world's a logical place.
And I was always A of course.
And sometimes you were B.
In a hat and gloves of course.
The world's a logical place.
But I'm learning how
to be an idiot now.
O just come right out.
Come right out and say it.
If we subtract the me from you
And the places where we live
Who will take, and what's to give?
The world's alogical.
I was always bad at math.
but this is something worse
When you hold me in your arms
Can I hold you in reserve?
I must be learning how
to be an idiot now.
O just come right out.
We never added up.
O just come right out.
Come right out and say it.
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2. |
River of You
02:36
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Things don't change but they change too fast.
Nothing but nothing might never last.
A river of you might be flowing past
but that doesn't move me.
Let's get tattoos to remind us of
something we honestly used to love.
Your naked skin should have been enough
but that doesn't move me.
I'm going to stand right here
until I get the answer I want.
I'm going to shut my eyes
until I get the answer I want.
Inside of me there's an abandoned cathedral.
Somewhere inside is an empty ruin.
We can make it echo but that's all we're doin'
and that doesn't move me.
Let's try something we never tried
A conversation like a river too wide
A road that splits at the other side
Who knows if it'll move me
I'm going to stand right here
until I get the answer I want.
I'm going to shut my eyes
until I get the answer I want.
Che bella la barca, quando sei in mezzo al mare, non te ne frega piú niente manc’atté.
Se non te ne frega atté delle cose tue, ma figurati quanto gliene frega agli altri.
I'm going to stand right here/ Things don't change
until I get an answer / They go right through me.
I'm going to shut my eyes / Things don't change but they change too fast
until I get the answer I want / Until you move me
I'm going to stand right here
Until you move me / You. Move. Me.
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3. |
The Storyteller
05:04
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Last weekend
you ran out of stories to tell.
No one can light up a birthday
or brighten up a bar night
like you.
This evening
you are shaving your legs,
picking your clothes.
Ready to take a plane,
and let your heart
blow up in your face.
How we all love to hear
a good story.
Everybody knows
the characters
you have to make them suffer.
How we all love to hear
a good story.
A picture of a cut on your chin,
a half grin.
You're on a ferryboat
A night ahead
on a big black sea.
Looking for a stranger to meet,
a code to crack.
A little dot on the map,
a bird you heaven't heard about yet.
How we all love to hear
a good story.
Everybody knows
the characters
you have to make them suffer.
How we all love to hear
a good story.
Oh you're a writer.
And someone will
laugh about this later.
Someone will
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4. |
For You
02:51
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For you
I'm saving my disappointments for you.
Counting and numbering them
with an archivist's fervor
With a jeweler's precision
I'm shaping them into charms.
That I'll hang around my neck.
Like some kind of life preserver.
A life I'm saving.
of pitiful craving.
For you
I'm saving my disappointments for you.
With a deathbed doctor's dispassion
I'm saving my disappointments to fashion
some kind of fisherman's net.
Look long enough and you'll get
what you're looking for.
And not even a tiny bit more,
like a widow who survived the war
on scraps that she can't stop saving
even now that the peace is raging
I'm saving them for you.
I'm saving them for you.
And with a midwife's gentle strength
I'm holding my disappointments close.
Sometimes taking them out
for a walk in the sun
I want you to see.
I want everyone
to know what I'm saving.
For you.
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5. |
Tongue
03:14
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When people say “motivated” I'm never sure what they mean.
It sounds like a seed took root
somewhere inside their head
and grows there whether or not
they want it to.
It sounds like a spinning wheel's
connected to your legs,
your arms, your eyes, your tongue
and all the rest of you.
Whenever I say “driven” I'm never sure who is driving.
Sounds like my heart's been keeping
secrets from you and me
about just who she sees
in her spare time.
Or my mind is of two minds
and those minds they have two more
and no one can exactly tell
who any of them are working for.
When people say “desire” I'm never sure what they mean.
It seems like I was born
speaking a foreign tongue.
It seems like I received
a modest education.
It seems like things work out
for the best except they don't.
It seems like I didn't get
what I wanted for a present.
It seems like something's missing
and something's always missing.
It seems like everyone else
is somewhere having fun.
And it seems like I was born
speaking a foreign tongue.
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6. |
The Minimum
03:28
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Give me just enough
to live on
feed me just enough
to keep me hungry
Don't quite keep me warm
keep me safe, keep me hopeful
but give me just enough
to live on
because the minimum of you is enough.
Keep the necessary and the rest for yourself.
The minimum of you is enough.
Who owns this dirty cracked
pavement?
Who owns this mattress
of soft wet leaves?
Who owns this variation
on four walls and a roof
and who has the proof
they deserve to own
what they do
and who owns the minimum of you.
Give me someplace
to sleep
but don't give me anything
that you need to keep
I'll take what i find
I'll never you mind
your leftovers, your castoffs
your remains.
O the minimum of you is enough.
Keep the necessary and the rest for yourself.
The minimum of you is enough.
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7. |
Gravity
05:17
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Where were you those days,
those months – where were you.
Sometimes you're a soap bubble
and sometimes I am too
breakable and self-contained
but only till you're not
and sometimes you're the only
gravity I've got
Dress yourself in black and white,
call yourself a spirit.
Sing along with ghosts, and be
the only one to hear it.
The earth is cold, until your feet
are nearby firmly on it
and then you make the only
gravity I've wanted.
sometimes
you're the only gravity
Everyone is spinning
and not just here tonight
being pulled to pieces
shot through with waves of light.
Your pull is small but still it does
remind me that i'm living
and grounds me in the world-making
gravity you're giving.
sometimes
you're the only gravity
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Merel & Tony Houston, Texas
Merel & Tony are from the Netherlands and Texas, respectively.
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