1. Five Lessons Learned (Koski/Aust Koski)
Five lovely lessons learned today
Coating my throat with the dust of a new day
As the saints pray their lonely way
And their deadweight lays the passion to waste
Maybe if I sew my heart on my sleeve
They'll drop the bomb on me and I'll wake up
I can only fix so much in my sleep
I can only drink so much from this empty cup
I know I must not think bad thoughts
I'm always beaten to the punch
I'm holding aces high and low
And in between I'm trying to break my fall
Give me a piece of what you've got
I'll make it new with much less thought
it's symbolic and full of trash
Lofty endearments whispered under your breath
Five lessons remembered from yesterday
Easing my mind and seizing each new day
Beyond and back I?m still the same
Kicked over some old trash but I still waste
2. Tell me Lies (Huber)
My life's a mystery
I just cant figure it out
It's strange to me
That the visions I see
Seduce me but for now
I try to focus
But I can only do a little
at one time
Everyone keeps telling me
Everything's going to be all right
Just sit right down
And we'll tell you lies
I'm at a junction
But I just don't know which path
I'm proud of all the work I?ve done
But it never seems to last
It's not for money it's for love
And it just might break my back
Sometimes it seems as though
Something might go my way
I'll never give it up
Too many things I?ve yet to say
I've done it by myself
And I can do it all again
3. A Promise To Distinction (Koski)
One I was younger than
The youngest of fragile minds
I ate the day with bad manners
Then spit out the rind
And mother told me
As I looked to the sky
Yes my mother told me "My dear son,
You're not the one"
I flew from home when I was just twenty-one
Young enough to be the feather of someone
I've got a conch pissed with conch republic rum
My father by my side, teary-eyed, he said:
"Son, by god what I could have done,
And you're just like me,
You can really put 'em down
oh if I was in your place I'd stay, have fun
But I?m not the one"
Now I'm sitting here
Haggling over sums
Of money made by someone else
To me it don't belong
I toss a smile to the mighty boss
He's my God
But I'm a bit backwards
And I know he's just a fucking dog.
4. The Stooge (Koski)
I've kept it in my heart
for over twenty fucking years
And all that time washing away
With the stench of my spilt tears
I've lingered on the amorous
Transformed into something hideous
With the love of life felt to new extents
And reaching new heights of ugliness
The Stooge
Stool pigeon of idiots
King of jesters, pawn of comediennes
A pillar that supports my own demise
Believing all that?s seen
Throughout my vacant eyes
I'm rewriting paragraphs
In my life that don't read well
Once opposed to editing my regrets
I've grown sick of this denial
Tempted every hour
By the benefits of being a liar
Turning my back at what's at hand
And writing stupid verse to make it all seem grand
Some say there's something to strife
That serves those grieving spineless artists
Transforms shit into a masterpiece
And makes their vain attempt at pain
So fucking romantic
And I'm certain that someday my time will come
I'll crash and burn like everyone
5. The Pictures Perfect (Huber)
I write alone now that you're gone
And it's nothing
I studied all you've said and done
and it's nothing
The pictures perfect
There's no time
It's nothing
Resolutions made
What's yours is mine and it's nothing
Through all the years
There's been a feeling
Of forsaken
That's lost my mind and now I know
I've been a fool
And you showed up
But it's the last time
That this place will know
Its self or the people that we once knew
I walk the streets now
Dusk till dawn and it's nothing
I never cared to see you
Gone and that's nothing
These years have lasted far too
Long and I'm stuck here
with this song
And all the problems I've
Endured are nothing
The picture's perfect
And it's nothing
6. This Bastard's Life (Huber)
Why can't I beat the bankers
Deal then find a home to rob
Why can't I lie and cheat and steal
Who wants an honest job
And if I curse you night and day
My integrities been tried
While I waste a life away
Why don't you try and hide
The end has just begun
The end has just begun
Your life's been run
My bastard son
Why can't I turn off the light
And see I'm all alone
Why can't I change my liars
Life and find myself a home
And if I did where would I be
Lost in my due misery
So if there's truth you'd
Better keep it away from me
It away from me
So why can't I shut the
Window tight and keep the
Wind outside
And with no friends in sight
To help me fight the tides
My own rests in a hotel room
And on a switchblades knife
Why must I find the truth so
Soon and end this bastards life
The end has just begun
The end has just begun
Your life's been run
My bastard son
7. As You Start Leaving (Koski)
A train sounds off with whistle blowing
Lighthouse horn sounds early warning
Clean cool air with stars out shining
Overcoat and whiskey drinking
Hands locked tight and close together
These nights are bliss in drunken leisure
Spitting air in gusts as it gets cooler
Spase clouds try to come together
You can feel the chill and bid farewell
As you start leaving
Sounds like an evening
The cars thin out on empty streets
no traffic jams to make you weak
Shopkeepers leave, at home they speak
Of good patrons and of cash and thieves
The wind is gaining ground on you
The air turns damp with seaside dew
But it don't lie, it tells the truth
And all is well and all is new
Your west side is a teenage waiting
Los Angeles a childhood haze
Like steps to nowhere you sit there gazing
At friends you've lost through years of forgetting
time sells you short of all you're wanting
Though you don't know just what you're seeking
Except winter nights and cigarettes
And boozing with the best of them
8. I Need Feedback (Huber)
10 AM yeah I just woke up
I can't clear my head
Drank too much last night again
I might as well be dead
Well I'm just fuckin' lazy
My whole life's makin' me crazy
But I wouldn't give any of it
Up even if you paid me
We all get in my car turn up
The stereo
Gotta goto the Trocadero see
Another fuckin' show
Well I'm just fuckin' lazy
My whole life's making me crazy
But I wouldn't give any of it
Up even if you paid me
'Cause all I want is feedback
Yeah all I need is feedback
All my time is poorly spent
But it's all I can do
To make it through
I guess it's all right
Staying at home
Being with my friends
But the only time I feel all right
Is when I?m on stage again
'Cause I'm so fucking lazy
And everybody's makin' me crazy
And I should've givin it all up
'Cause they're never gonna pay me
So all I want is feedback
Yeah all I need is feedback
All my time is so well spent
And it's all I can do
Yeah it's all I ever do
To make it through
9. Good People (Koski)
Did you ask that man
On the corner for the time of day
Did he shrug and glance at his wrist and say
"Dunno, here you go"
And hand you a fool's gold watch
I should tell you some sacred stories
Secret and confound
But by God you tell me
That's the point
Go on and get your fortune told
Give away your fortune
You're fortunate enough to have one
You're morally disconnected
You seem to be a mistress or some forgotten wallflower
The cliché of an old man's dreams
The storybook disease
In a rush to get out and leave
Mister good for nothing
Miss disease
In need of heartache
Beg now and then
For a sin to appease
Beg now and then for a sin to appease
10. As Sure As I'm Down (Bonnel)
Well we're all gone good-bye see you so long
And you're so young and glad to see us move on
When the day's long and the moon just stares you down
notice your shoes are dirty when your heart's on the ground
As sure as I'm down
With my knees to the ground
As sure as forgotten and never been found
Never been so bored
Brickwalled on a bank holiday
And not looking forward
Tomorrow's dour as a petty wage
Line up those whiskeys while rotting on remand
It's like me to drown my sorrows
Sitting here I'm taking a stand
As sure as I'm down
With my knees to the ground
And sure as forgotten and never been found
I'm down
11. Untitled 21 (Huber)
I guess it's all right
That we never know
Just what it all means
And if there are ways
Of making a change
Please show them to me
So if I could stop time
Then I would stay 21
Cause everyday since that time
I wished I was young
I'm so paranoid
Of failing in life
I can't even think
And I'm so tired of worrying
That I can't even sleep
I'm so lost in my mind
That I can't touch the ground
And I've drank so much cheap wine
That I feel I might drown
Life's been so low
That I got so high
I can't even stand
I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please
Lend me a hand
12. Unpopular again (Huber)
It's been a prosperous four years
Many have come and staked their claim
But now it's over and the halls are cleared
And you're unpopular again
It takes so little time at all
To see who can really play the game
And before the winters fall
We won't be seeing you the same
And when I'm lost in all my thoughts
While I'm driving 'round the Bay
As the foundation slowly rots
Won't we ever find our way
Of all the ones who've come and gone
It never matters all the same
And as the day's so very long
It's all right to miss the train
13. New Day Rising (Koski)
"I was only laughing out loud" I say
"When anybody else would've done the same"
I could always shut my mouth again
But it'd still come out that way again
and again
Well I'm going to the hills now baby
Goin' out to the city building
Gonna sleep in the dirty alleys
Where the air is fresh
With the new day rising
You keep knocking on the door
But they don't answer anymore
Oh you know it aint your fault my dear
it's just that bad luck time of year
There's no use talking about the weather
And since that's all that's on my mind
Well then whatever
I don't have the time to waste my energy on lying
So babe I?ll see you later
"I'd die with one less cocktail babe
It keeps me from feeling naked and ashamed
Oh I'd love to tell you stories old and new
True and false but I?d best be on my way"
14. Two Jacks Shitty (Bonnel)
This journey started slow and free
And ended wrapped around a tree
Just like my self pity tangled in
the willow weeds
As high as right up to my knees
While scratching at the fleas
She is handsome she is pretty
She's the queen and I'm two jacks shitty
With our way the less traveled roads
And filthy ferry boats and filthy overcoat
Counted on the fields to be far away
from home and close to me
And the castles and sea
You can bet the city wind is going
to sting your eyes
When you forget to use the telephone
And the sleet the snow the rain and
cliché long good-byes
When you got to leave her all alone
I'm not sure how well I am
I know exactly where I stand with you
hand in hand
Place your head on the pillow please
There's one of our two hearts diseased
That one belongs to me
She is handsome she is pretty
She's the queen and I'm two jacks shitty
15. Fruitless Fortunes (Koski)
The fascists and their many guises
Anarchists and their fantasizing
It seems sometimes they're sailing the same boat
Politicians mesmerizing throngs of automated souls
As some similar psycho's screwing on the scope
I'm leaving town
To join sophisticates in my head
We'll have our fun playing the hypocrite critic
And when all the creatures in their palaces are crushed
I can safely say "I'm coming home"
Fairy tales and fruitless fortunes
Acquired from some sad story teller
Can sometimes be enough to keep me mum in my keep
Organ grinders orating overtures of madness
As the heinous hipster's spending his unearned currency
There may be many ways of reaching the same plateau
I'll take the road less traveled
If it looks like it ain't been sold
The chains around my neck won't break
But at least they're made of solid