There was a time,
long before sleep came to kiss you goodnight.
Laws were written only with love in their eyes.
As children we ran to the rivers nearby
and as rivers run dry so have I.
 

Does this remind you we're only getting older?
I was sleeping on your shoulder fresh off the plane from Sarasota.
And at one time I realized we are in love with starting over,
we never seem to notice every door that's let the cold in.

It was a far cry from over.
I am a long way from letting go.
It was a lie sung like a promise.
It was the rain we saw from drier shores.
I'm a long way from letting go, this I know.

I am still getting used to a drive I've done for years now,
the songs that bring me northbound warm like a summer love at sundown.
And it was just shy of springtime I got the call about your mother,
the ocean now above her, we said she knows you love her

It was a far cry from over.
I am a long way from letting go.
It was a lie sung like a promise.
It was the rain we saw from drier shores.
I'm a long way from letting go, this I know.

Nobody mentions the stories get old.
You wait on the corner for someone you think you still know.
And all that I know,

It was a far cry from over.
I am a long way from letting go.
It was a lie sung like a promise.
It was the rain we saw from drier shores.
I'm a long way from letting go, this I know.

Wide eyes, what'd you have in mind?
Laying awake, gone as I may be now.
You wore summer like a crown.
Laying awake, long as the day we

Carried the morning back to town, 
A year on the way out.
Dark as the land that held us down,
 gone as it may be now.

Good night, sleep is in your eyes
I think I may stay till the day falls down
You heard love in every word
Laying awake long as the day we

Carried the morning back to town, 
a year on the way out.
Do we belong to what went down, 
gone as it may be now?

Did you see the picture on the mantlepiece?
I agree it isn't what it used to be,
patiently, will you wait for me?

Did you know I moved away a month ago?
I suppose it's kind of like I'm coming home,
I believe even cities dream of who they are
and where they oughta be.

Too much wasn't quite enough,
tough as I was everything came undone.
Can I see you Sunday night?
You come and you go, as long as you know we

Carry the morning back to town, a year on the way out.
Do we belong to what went down, gone as it may be now
Laying awake, gone as I may be now.

Take it back, I know that you don’t mean it.
Saying things you don’t mean to say.
Hold your tongue, I refuse to hear it.
Play the game we said we’d play, 
what happened to the rules we made? 

Hope you know that I let you go
The second you walked out the door.
I hope you know, 
you don’t live here anymore.

Tried my best to be the one you wanted, 
Say the things you need me to say.
I held my tongue and for a while you bought it
All the lies and compromises, 
tell me it’s the only way.

Hope you know that I let you go,
The second you walked out the door.
I hope you know, 
you don’t live here anymore.
 

Oh no, oh no. 
What do you say we go now?
I'm so, oh I don't know, 
I'm just so careful now.

How do I find
what this reminds me of,
when nothing looks the way
it looked the day I'm thinking of?
Where does the time go?

So what, so what
what do you think we know now?
Held up, so stuck
we’re just too careful now.

How do I find
what this reminds me of,
when nothing looks the way
it looked the day I'm thinking of
Where did the time go? 

You alone in the bedroom,
I was out like the full moon,
hard to say if I reach you.

Oh no, don’t go
What do you say we slow down?

I know we try, is scraping by enough?
‘Cause nothing looks the way it looked the day I'm thinking of
Where did the time go?

You alone in the bedroom,
I was out like the full moon,
hard to say if I reach you.

I know you’re mine, 
Maybe we ought to trust
Though nothing looks the way it looked
the day we’re thinking of.
Where did the time go?
 

Carry me baby or drop me and run,
You may get there faster but it won’t be as fun.
String me along, but don’t tie me up
I’m tired of hanging from cords I can’t cut. 

Please take your time, 
but be sure to take none of mine
I’ve got no more to give, ooh. 

‘Cause you and I made so made plans
those first few months,
but for once I think I’m seeing clearly.

All the things that we wanted, 
they’re haunting us,
and I’m worried we’re merely fooling ourselves.

Once when I asked you if you felt the same, 
you hesitated, I thought I was to blame.
Sing me a song, but not one of yours
I fell for your voice but none of the words.

I staggered I swayed
but this is the only way. 
I gathered I gave to you. Oooh.

‘Cause you and I made so made plans
those first few months,
but for once I think I’m seeing clearly.

All the things that we wanted, 
they’re haunting us,
and I’m worried we’re merely fooling ourselves.

Carry me baby
or drop me and run
String me along
but don’t tie me up...

Gather your good days and let them sing like summer rain.
Let them grow, let them blow like the wind on which they came.
When you’re hollow like heartbreak, tell me who the hell’s to blame.
Do you see what I see? Shepherds in the city streets and none of them have slept in weeks.
The rain should come tomorrow but the garden rows are getting hard to keep.

I wanna be whole again, don’t you wanna be strong for them?
Is it too much to ask for the night to end?
So to the dawn I say “oh my god, where have you been.”

What are we learning? Does it use a different name?
Is there nowhere to go where the day won’t look this way?
Do you cry when it’s over? Do you laugh and let it die
How will we know when the well’s run dry if a bucket full of stones will not qualify?
The rain should come tomorrow but the garden knows it isn’t worth the time.

Go with the road now, send a note when you arrive.
What should we do with the songs unheard? Save them for the sinners and the morning birds?
The rain should come tomorrow but the garden knows a fire’s coming first.

I wanna be whole again, don’t you wanna be strong for them?
Is it too much to ask for the night to end?
So to the dawn I say “oh my god, where have you been.”

This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. 
This isn’t how. 
Find me a way to explain it. 
How the dark wins out. 

Cause I try every day, 
to fight the urge to cover my ears and turn away. 
Of all the things I hear people say, 
my favorite’s love, love, love.

The world is burning. 
So it seems some days, some days. 
How many times can we ask it:
How could they?

I try every day, 
to fight the urge to cover my ears and turn away. 
Of all the things I hear people say, 
my favorite’s love, love, love.

Can we be better this time?
Can we be better this time?
Can we be better this time?

I’ll try every day, 
to fight the urge to cover my ears and turn away. 
Of all the things I hear people say, 
my favorite’s love, love, love.

It wasn't even spring,
but linen squares and last year's mail
were hanging high from laundry lines
that held your small and sacred things.

We folded everything you owned,
whatever made it through Chicago.
You finally said "I hope you aren't going"
Where are you going?
We crawled into the bed
you hadn't made that morning.

North we go and so the ragged road.
However did you find me with my head so low?
Night was only daylight singing slow.
Watching from the street you'd never know
that I only ever called to say hello.

You lit me up and let me in
we were there, both unaware
of every low and lonely note
we'd ask ourselves to play again.

Barely room enough to move.
I made the bed but never said
I plan on coming back again,
because I always thought you knew
that I came for you.
Summer fell like caramel
and still I lost you.

North we go and so the ragged road.
However did you find me with my head so low?
Night was only daylight singing slow.
I suppose we love until we don’t,
but you have been a light when no one's home.

Say it ain’t so,
you couldn't hold onto the one that you chose,
now you're half asleep and all alone.
Seventeen where did you go?
Waking up on Ridgewood Road,
I wear the weight of the place like an overcoat.

How do you sleep
with a city so good at holding the heat?
Do you wait for rain or revelry?
September please, I'm on my knees,begging for reprieve.
Why won't you leave me in the passenger seat?
That girl from Indiana always looked familiar to me

We broke down on the montage bridge,
Making vows that we'd never come back to this,
whatever it is.
Don't make plans on the fourth of July,
we'll drive west meet you where you like.
I've been good since you've been mine.

To a degree
you can try to believe what they want you to see,
but there's nothing quite like honesty.
You saw the lights in Calgary?  
Did they made you think of me?
You said yourself you had nowhere else to be

We broke down on the montage bridge,
Making vows that we'd never come back to this,
whatever it is.
Don't make plans on the fourth of July,
we'll drive west meet you where you like.
I've been good since you've been mine.

Nobody knows,
we slept in the car on the side of the road
when the sun went down in Roanoke.
Is it luck or holding hope,
or the last knot on the rope?
I can't remember where we meant to go
so I'm heading home.
‘Cause that girl from Indiana
always felt like someone I know

I remember we played hide and seek
On the wooden playground that burned down in ’93.
She was out there looking for me
and I wanted to be found so badly.
She played me like music, wondering do other people feel this.

Something happened in the front row
Felt like I was waiting, for what stillI I don’t know.
Maybe just for her to serenade me,
because I thought it was her voice that made me
float to the rafters,
and try to find words to describe it after.

My best friend moved to palo alto
the first one, the one I thought would stay.
I cried on the couch in my PJs, 
asking mom why he’d gone away.

Dinner parties on the weekends, 
I’d hear them upstairs in my bed
or open my door just to stand there and listen in on the grownups drinking.
Don’t know if I was thinking we were lucky then. 

Give it time, that fell apart, we put it back together.
Same pieces, scattered places, different plan.
Now at night I hear the traffic on 85th and Lexington.

All those matinees in midtown,
and windows like TVs I forgot to turn off.
‘Cause all I see in them’s my family, tiny me with a show to see.
Don’t know if I was thinking I was lucky then.

I had everything I needed to get by
Just a few more good years.
That’s all we can ever hope for.
Just a few more good years.
 

It was late on the west side
the strangers in the trainyard saying “my, oh my.”
I was lonely, feeling small for never knowing,
how to hurt without it showing to the wolves outside.

Can we go out?
I promise not to talk about the money always running out
and where the summer’s gone.
It's getting late so tell me what you did today,
I'll think of something sweet to say before we get back home.

I think of you each time
the barkeep sweeps the lonely people out at night.
The ghosts of you and I still go and have a smoke outside
I wonder if they heard we're doing fine.

I tell you what, there's not a single one of us
who's glad for what they've given up, but so the story goes.
With any luck we'll make it out of Mattituck,
before the thunder catches up,
oh, how were we to know?

That storm probably saved us
from sleeping on a Sunday in the room those people gave us
Back to Boston, you're the best I've come across
and when you kiss me in the morning I know why.

Our brothers grew like summers do,
Autumn came and we left too.
Our parents stay and pace the rooms
they painted when the house was new.
All our friends have gone away
and not a single bill's been paid,
but we still have good things to say.

It was late on the west side
the strangers in the trainyard showed up right on time
I was lonely, now it’s better ‘cause you hold me
I wonder if they heard we’re doing fine.

Some mornings, oh I wish it didn’t matter,
oh I wish it didn’t matter,
so I could tell you how fucking great I am. 
Live like a reality TV star,
unapologetically make enemies for money. 
Believe my own bullshit, I could see it now
instead of sitting around, wondering if I can do this. 

Some mornings, oh I wish I were a politician, 
lie and grin, do nothing and still get paid. 
I could have my own slogan, 
something upbeat and vague people these days
are so easy to please. 

But there are no heroes, 
there are just people
who actually try, 
who fuck up less of the time. 
Show up and care. 
And be pleasant when you get there. 

Some mornings oh I wish I were a preacher, 
so I could tell you you’re going to hell. 
Pick and choose from overused excuses. 
Close my eyes and quote a line, 
let it divide the masses. 
Believe my own bullshit, 
I could see it now, always sitting around, 
telling people not to do it.

But there are no heroes, 
there are just people
who actually try, 
who fuck up less of the time. 
Show up and care. 
And be grateful when you get there

No, there are no heroes, 
there are just people
who actually try, 
who fuck up less of the time. 
Show up and care. 
And be present when you get there

Have you seen the light here?
Have you seen it grow?
Last I saw my brothers in the backyard,
playing baseball and Billy Joel.

What’s the good in going?
Will we ever know?
Last I heard she sold her mother’s last words
to the man on the radio.

Tell me did you hear it,
the sound of moving slow?
Back to west New England, we were drinking,
through a fog like the holy ghost
    
oh oh, ohh
oh oh, ohh
    
Where’d you learn to swear like that?
The neighborhood boys in their cadillacs?
How’d you come to grow so fast?
The trees on our street where I saw you last.

Makes no sense to wake them now
dreams of lights and circus crowds
I wonder when they’ll figure out
the traveling show is leaving town

She’s got time to take my calls,
Outside the bars and dancing halls.
Mama, I’ve been feeling raw,
Angrier still for guessing wrong.

Makes no sense to wake them now,
dreams of lights and circus crowds.
I wonder when they’ll figure out,
the traveling show is leaving town.

Growing only broke my heart
I hope heaven is less than half as hard.
Brooklyn’s been a dying art,
Stowaway slums and sleeping cars.

oh oh, ohh
oh oh, ohh