They say it's complicated What goes on outside our walls Backlit and separated The first one slips, the other falls This might be unrelated Are you still looking for applause To let go of the pavement And find your footing in the stars I'm a little bothered by The plastic caps on metal needles I don't really understand The things we do to other people I'm a little commonplace A little good, a little evil Fresh faced and out of place A cynic's eyes and all things equal I read that something's missing In the margins of the page Not for a lack of wishing Feels like that feeling never stays And it might be something different Could feel like coffee in the rain No time to stop and listen Hope that temptation comes again I'm a little bothered by The plastic caps on metal needles I don't really understand The things we do to other people I'm a little commonplace A little good, a little evil Fresh faced and out of place A cynic's eyes and all things equal I'm told this plane's a mystery Best to leave these pebbles undisturbed And those stars are ancient history Love is strange or so I've heard Still pushing north of sixty So why does my future feel rehearsed? Might be that someone missed me Might be the migratory birds I'm a little bothered by The plastic caps on metal needles I don't really understand The things we do to other people I'm a little commonplace A little good, a little evil Fresh faced and out of place A cynic's eyes and all things equal

Good day for a sunburn Just a left up the block Long wait like an intern In the souvenir shop We got off at the right time, didn't we? No sir, wouldn't dream it Just minding my own Last chance for a clean hit Of my discount cologne We got off at the right time, didn't we? It pays to be easily entertained Don't let them tell you that the tears aren't real Past the point of believing this will be explained What makes you think it's any different here? Half baked, kinda handsome In the right kind of light Left hand, little random A little late for tonight We got off at the right time, didn't we? Hard times hitting easy Like those warm summer rains Sideways if it moves me If it catches my veins We got off at the right time, didn't we? It pays to be easily entertained Don't let them tell you that the tears aren't real Past the point of believing this will all be explained What makes you think it's any different here? It felt so strange On the wheel Like I was someone real Two dogs on the porch swing With their nose to the wind Mailman with his six string Wouldn't do this again He got off at the right time, didn't he?

Call it what you will That open ounce of mind Felt like standing still Broken half the time There's something in the sound Headlights in the glass Gravel breaking down Over rather fast Is that hope I'm feeling Or space between the rounds Still out there counting All the raindrops by the sound On the rooftops It's getting hard to hear But easier to guess Strained and insincere Blinded by success There's traffic on the waves And skylights through the clouds A customary shade Of evening coming down Is that hope I'm feeling Or space between the rounds Still out there counting All the raindrops by the sound On the rooftops Is that hope I'm feeling Or space between the rounds Still out there counting All the raindrops by the sound On the rooftops

For my own assurance Keep weighing them down And let go when you can She rains just when she pleases But it's warm if you want it Frozen in the hands Your harlequin eyes send me running Chemical fires out of focus They hung the moon a little to the left And these days it's all I ever notice I am not the first to wake But I'm the first to the morning And the last to shake it off Feels a bit uneasy But as soon as it started It never really stopped Your harlequin eyes send me running Chemical fires out of focus They hung the moon a little to the left And these days it's all I ever notice Your harlequin eyes send me running Chemical fires out of focus They hung the moon a little to the left And these days it's all I ever notice

Calm, collected, confused About the same as you Gin and tonic on my breath To hide the cigarettes "You could settle for a little disruption" "A brand focused never sanded its gears" I see them spinning but they don't even function And this mile goes for years Lost your name when I misdialed I guess it's been a while Still had a lovely time or two One number off from you "You could settle for a little disruption" "A brand focused never sanded its gears" I see them spinning but they don't even function And this mile goes for years Goodbye sunshine It could be worse but I don't know how when you said We wouldn't have been friends if you met me ten years ago You and me both

To every bird I've said hello to As I paced along the sidewalk With my shoulders broad and gridlocked From standing there alone Building signposts for the neighbors From their honeysuckle ceilings Such safe and neutral feelings Some settled in the bones To every cardinal out my window Still waiting for a tether Some say others have it better Whatever gets you there Dropping feathers for the strangers Glued like shadows to their footprints As if your coat could go unnoticed In this ashen open air As if I'd write you off as just another Mourning dove with faded colors As if that dove had nothing on my jeans Like I hope through every thin and narrow Alleyway I'd find a sparrow Lonely enough to sing a song for me To every pigeon in the subway Too drawn in by tornadoes Of human flesh and shadows To long to meet the sky Every time the train car seizes And lurches from the station I close my eyes through the vibration And dream that I could fly

Patience I never have enough I need that harder stuff What else could you mean? Maybe Another night awake Is easier to take Than the view from your dreams It could've been a fast one Pulled out of your eyes For a little while If you're quick, you can catch one And be alive For a little while Distance Was never more to me Than time I didn't need And a hand in the morning Vicious How we can pretend We like it when it ends Like it's more than a warning It could've been a fast one Pulled out of your eyes For a little while If you're quick, you can catch one And be alive For a little while You've got a funny kind of way Funny until... But nothing that's still Doesn't change Still

If all my mistakes led me here Then they must not be that bad And it's stupid to think you'd be anywhere else If you went back But oh what a waste to be young and so sure Of nothing or anyone else As if you knew better now As if you'd ever be your best self Keep it up Like you already know You'll never be perfect You'll never get close And you're letting down everyone equally All the time Who dropped your teeth in the snow And then said you'd be better off lost? It's not stupid to wish you could see through the fog With the sound off But oh what is living but just the beginning Existing too weird to be real Try setting the clock back an hour And see how you feel Keep it up Like you already know You'll never be perfect You'll never get close And you're letting down everyone equally All the time Good enough Like the camera could tell You're nameless and clueless Like everyone else Keep letting down everyone equally All the time

Censored by the stages Selling fortunes on exchange Another paperback bouquet Marked through every page To leave an empty afterword Baptized the ink until it blurred Send out for roses like there's gonna be a day All these thorns won't get in our way When this all blows over Like the solitary kings Hope the nightmares give you wings Sponsored by the letter Reading hollowed out refrains It's harder work to stay the same Send out for roses like there's gonna be a day All these thorns won't get in our way Send out for roses like there's gonna be a day All these thorns won't get in our way

Death, what a mess Taking the time you have left Hell is a man And heaven's a lost child who grabbed the wrong hand If God is alive In that house on the Upper West Side Nobody's right And they'll be happy as hell that I'm sleeping tonight Velcro hellos when the B train is slow And the breeze through the tunnel is thin Stale and mean as the passing cars scream And the coffee gets cold once again I'm not asking for something you don't have anyway Just give me the time of the day Static goodbyes on the Bakerloo Line For the chaos of smoke changing hands Walking free over day-old debris In piles exposed on the land I'm not asking for something you don't have anyway Just give me the time of the day All my memories are lies Keeping others alive Flashing cash to the crew Got my pictures of you On the other side And all my mantras repeat Til they turn obsolete Saying "life isn't fair" Yeah but shouldn't we try To get there Let me down Death, what a mess Taking the time we have left Hell is a man And heaven's a lost child who grabbed the wrong hand If God is alive In that house on the Upper West Side Nobody's right And they'll be happy as hell that I'm sleeping tonight