Judy Garland! (You're Never Home) 1996

Circus
how did you sneak in i thought all the doors had been closed?
now that you're here i don't think i can stand to see you go
i am only i am only i am only i you are only you
we are only we for a little while

with the night as our blanket
ghosts in the yard
you lean in close and say
i think we can go far

me i'm always drowning water whiskey wine
look how we've managed to make a circus of us this time
i am only i am only i am only i you are only you
we are only we for a little while with

the night as our blanket
ghosts in the yard
you lean in close and say
i think we can go far


Radio #9
rachel calls up to say its over
says its time to get my act together
i say would i could were i clever
rachel calls up to say its over

all the stories from the road
all the people that you've met
all the things you said you'd do
are all the things that you never did

we are experiencing signal loss
houston i think we've got a problem
houston please come in, transmit
i need to be sure you're recieving (tom's cough)

why don't you radio?
why don't you radio?
why don't you radio home?

old bars alcohol and cigarettes
late to rise late to show and late for bed
you say you're this self contained unit
having someone around would only ruin it

all the stories from the road
all the people that you've met
all the things you said you'd do
are all the things that you never did

we are experiencing signal loss
houston i think we've got a problem
houston please come in, transmit
i need to be sure you're recieving (tom's cough)

why don't you radio?
why don't you radio?
why don't you radio home?


Never Home
somehow there must be some money in this business


Judy Garland
i keep recalling us at the airport
saying good night for the last time me
i managed a smile as you made nervous

say hey, hey never mind
every song sounds like a love song
every kiss feels like your first
i'm afraid i'm losing you
from better than bad back to worse

hey i never told you you're my judy garland
me i'm your cyclone
calling out to kansas but you were never home

every song sounds like a love song
every kiss feels like your first
i'm afraid i'm losing you
from better than bad back to worse


Grandma
grandma says to the boy everything has its time
everyone's time must end
i thanked her for the checker games all the coffee talk
and said i'm glad to have you as a friend

she says true love can never be a weapon
good friends are so hard to find
o and keep your nose clean and watch before you cross the street
everything will be fine.

anything worth having is never easy
the pain is only a sign
if you can just push through and
make it out of bed
everything will be fine

she says true love can never be a weapon
good friends are so hard to find
o and keep your nose clean and watch before you cross the street
everything will be fine.

Your Road
i heard the story on the radio
its a shame the way they tried to paint you down
here i just thought you were being paranoid
now that your turn has come around

and its a long road it must get hard to walk
my doors always open if you need someplace to stop
and its a long day and it must get hard to do
when it feels like everybody just wants a piece of you

i just don't get how you don't get it
you used to be so good at pointing out the shit
and now your tied up in knots
and everything you've got is slipping away before you even had it

and its a long road it must get hard to walk
my doors always open if you need someplace to stop
and its a long day and it must get hard to do
when it feels like everybody just wants a piece of you

Oxygen Tent
after the oxygen tent
where the doctors coughed smiled and came and went
you said i am a trinity i am a ghost
i promise it won't get this bad again

all that's left are promises
you must be getting tired of promises
between this beginning and our end
there must be something we haven't said

the beer buzz is enough to wash out
the band playing top forty radio
the couple dances slowlike
erase the stars gallileo

after the oxygen tent where the doctors coughed smiled and came and went you
said i am a trinity i am a ghost
i promise it won't get this bad again

If Your Name Ain’t Hank (Then You’re a Nobody)
this song borrows the bit of a story that tom murray used to tell, often referencing that, in his day, if your name wasn't hank (hank william, hank carter...) then you were a nobody musically. eric duerrstein recorded this album on his tape system and mentioned that we had a bit of tape left on the one end. we just recorded with the mandolin and guitar and filled it up with this small ditty.


Open Window
o what is this feeling that we're feeling
that makes me feel so small
makes me feel like you don't
you don't need, don't need me at all

o and who am i to you
just a collection of expressions
old and angry sentiments
washed away washed away with time

where do you keep your ghosts
wrapped up in guards and tresses
secret and smoky pretensions
that say i need i need you.

o what is this feeling that we're feeling
that makes me feel so small
makes me feel like you don't
you don't need, don't need me at all


Lion and the Dragon
how do you say i don't know when my mouth is full of words
how do you say i'm not and never sure without sounding absurd
here it is 3am and you're the one i call when i get like this
you'll likely always be the one i call to clean up the mess

i could be the lion to your dragon
the river to your ocean
moon stuck in your sky
the calm to your commotion
as long as i can be me

i can't explain why its taken me so long
to sort it all out and push it into a song
and i'm the boy who sat in the back
i am the boy who'd walk you home
i am the secret admirer the unsigned poem

i could be the lion to your dragon
the river to your ocean
moon stuck in your sky
the calm to your commotion
as long as i can be me

Pushed
this is the song i wrote after i heard about the accident
i wasn't sure if i should come by
all our angry words didn't hold much water
in the face of all your pain

a night with ani difranco the rheostatics pierre trudeau
a few beers should fix us up just right
i'm feeling colder than i have ever felt
in the short span of my life


i pushed you, you pushed farther i pushed you, you pushed farther
i pushed you, you pushed me away

maybe we'll always be angry
maybe we'll talk when we're eighty if you make it and say
none of this ever really mattered
now that we figured out what matters more

a night with ani difranco the rheostatics pierre trudeau
a few beers should fix us up just right
i'm feeling colder than i have ever felt
in the short span of my life

i pushed you, you pushed farther i pushed you, you pushed farther
i pushed you, you pushed me away