1.At Least I Got A Car

A friend of mine dropped out of school
He didn't tell no one.
He just left one day
Folks said he was actin' like a fool
But he said, "I was about to go crazy and I was already foolish anyway
And what did I have to lose?
What did I have to lose?"

He took off to Wisconsin late that night
Wisconsin, where he figured he could blend in
He said nothing felt good under him- not the road,
Not the tuition money in his pocket,
Not really even the car he was driving in
And what did he have to lose?
What did he have to lose?
He said

At least I got a car I can drive tonight
I know it ain't much but it makes me feel alright
And alright ain't good, but alright's alright
At least I got a car I can drive tonight

Oh, college was hard for me and my friends
We all felt like little kids but they said we couldn't act that way
I knew I was supposed to change

But changing's hard and it was easier just to play video games
What did we have to lose?
What did we have to lose?
We said

Man, sometimes don't you want to just sit still?
Cause you can only run so fast or drive so far
And home might feel like a funny idea that you never understood

But you want it more than you want the car

Cause you're tired of how the seats feel
And you're tired of the steering wheel
And you'd buy a new car but
The last thing you want is something new
Last thing you want is something new
Going home feels like the thing you ought to do
Cause You can only drive so far

Man I wish I had a home tonight
Somewhere I could feel more than alright
And alright ain't bad, but alright's just alright
And, man, I wish I had a home tonight (Man, I wish I had a home)

2.We're All Dying, Tracy James

We're all dying, Tracy James
There's no need for naming names
'Cause we're all dying, somewhere out there crying
'Cause we're all dying, Tracy James

I have watched you as if you were on a skillet cooking
I am waiting for the moment to say something looking
Looking like an idiot.
You are so beautiful
Beautiful but dying, Tracy James

I have hoped for something new and simple, virgin
I have stitched together people like a surgeon
Hoping like a madman.
You are so innocent
Innocent but dying, Tracy James

Ambulances and their bleeding sirens
Books and all their stale pages
Smiles, but they're vain
We're all dying, Tracy James

I am seized now by how every soul dies stately
I am taken by the afterlife then lately
Taken like a captive by a truth that will not let me go
We must live forever, Tracy James

'Cause we're all dying, Tracy James
There's no need for taking pains
To catalog the sins and blames
There must be some much greater Name
Who sees the struggle and the shame
We all live forever, Tracy James
We all live forever, Tracy James

Live forever, Tracy James
Each one named by her name

3.On Our Way To Crazy

There's a crazy girl in Santa Fe
That Allan used to see
She got mad one day and threw his things
Out the window violently
There's a park where she hangs out now
With the hookers and the bums
Ain't it wild how quick it changes
From the suburbs to the slums

Almost no one slides on purpose
No one sells their soul for free
But once we love the things that hurt us
We're on our way to crazy
On our way to crazy

There's a deep and howling darkness
That is tucked into the film
In between the flickers of her body
Milky white and slim

It's a loneliness translated
Into sex and back again
But the meaning gets all muddled
When she thinks he is her friend

And the black hole of attraction
That just follows her along
It looks all rich and sumptuous
But it always feels wrong

And "The contents they don't matter
It's appearance that is key"
That's the mantra that she mutters
By the glow of the TV

Now you've followed down the spiral
To its deadly final point
Where you think the reason you was born
Was just to dirty up the joint

Now remember how it used to feel
How everything would work
Back before you lost control
Back when the steering wheel jerked

4.Rollin' Like A Semi

Everyone is hungry, baby
Everyone in sight
Everyone is groping, honey In the middle of the night

Lies and altercations, Johnny Federal Offense
Swinging for the bleachers, buddy
You hit the foul side fence

Rolling like a semi, brother
Diesel runnin' low
Try to make your destination
Try to make the show

I see it on your face now sister,
Skin all fake and tight
You're smiling like an alley cat, dear
And it doesn't look quite right

And we all try to break it down
Into our religious code
We're deluded by the thought that maybe one day We will have paid back what we owed

You roll it like a joint now, sister
Breathe every page in deep
And wonder when the blues will fade out
And why the high won't keep

Lean, brother, lean
Get the weight off of your feet
Let the judgment overtake you
And then find the mercy seat

6.Secret Lives

Everybody's got their secret lives
Yeah

All the way from the ocean to the desert
A million stories dying to be heard

But once they open up their mouths
They know they will never be the same again
So they hide

He's been pushy since he was young
From the things he's done
In dark and private places

She's been skittish since the car wreck
And the thing that doctor said
Can't get it out her head
So she cries

Maybe it won't be the same
But what is there to lose
That you can hold on to
I mean really hold on to

7.Motel Rooms

Those motel rooms are lonely places
Sometimes that Gideon's Bible is your only friend
You can change the channel
You can talk to her on the phone
But you hang up and you're alone there in the end

And you wonder if anyone's ever felt this way
And you know they have, but you wonder what they would say
And when Jacob wrestles the angel, and winds up limping on that day
A little bit of that old loneliness just goes away

When you turn the engine over the next morning
And it's on to the next motel room in the next town
And the miles stretch out
Like a long thin asphalt desert

And you're still five days from being homeward bound

But when Samson, he goes blind after his woman done him wrong
You figure, "Ah well, five days ain't really all that long."

And when Jesus raises up the dead and gives sight to the blind
You say now there's a man that I could get behind

9.Let's Get Into A Fight

Let's get into a fight
Come on, little baby, let's argue
Then we'll be sure that everything's all right
Even if we get mad like dogs
Dogs out in the junkyard
Crazy from the neighborhood kids' talk

Come one little baby, let's cast aside
All this crap and take a ride
To the California ocean side
Eat some oysters, let 'em slide

Even if they taste bad
We'll head to the dock where the waves get wide
And hide ourselves away

I just wanna be a little crazy
Baby, I just wanna live
Oh, I wanna patch the holes and stop the drain
And stop this leaking, stop this leaking like a sieve

Let's get into a fight
Come on, little baby, let's argue
Then we'll be sure that everything's alright
Even if we get small dark holes
Holes in our famous egos
Where a little light can reach our poor souls

Come on baby, let's hoist the sail
Out on the sea where the wind won't fail
A thousand miles from the nearest jail
Pour some wine and eat some cheese
Take deep breaths and slack our knees
And sail away

10.Build The Tower Tall

The revolution came and the revolution died
We believed all of the leaders but the leaders just lied
Sitting in a jail with a bitter grudge to bear
Released as a loner with nothing left to share

Make a tower tall.
Make a tower high
Build it so big that it just rips through the sky
Scramble up the language; try to communicate
We make our plans in vain; we cannot elevate

We all just grit our teeth while we watch the nightly news
Another year another hundred thousand lives to lose
All this talk of peace and the great new consciousness
But the weight of expectation left our living rooms a mess

When I was in the cell, nobody came by
No one would have known if I'd have died
And all I want to know is- would someone shoot me straight-
Was there ever a chance, or were we meant to wait?

To see the tower fall, to see the crooked straight
To see the huddled masses pass through the gate
Speaking all in common
The promises of peace
The sound of weeping mothers
Everywhere has ceased

11.The Family In The Woods

The stepson of the engineer
That drove the train you rode
Sold the railroad company
And the debt that you owed

And so now the new management
Comes a-knockin' at your door It's pay up or eviction
There's no mercy anymore

Hey, hey
Who will remember me when I'm gone?

It ain't about how much you know
Or how long you been known
It's do you know the folks in charge
And how much do you own

It's bucks and bloody knuckles
It's contracts cut in steel
It's clauses sharp and pointed
And who's behind the wheel

So tell me that old story
Of the family in the woods
Momma cooked the crawdad
And Daddy traded goods

Tell me how when their boy died
They yelled and cried and prayed
Tell me how this very day
There's flowers on his grave

12.All The Places You Can Run

Out behind the shed
In the valley of the dead
All in one accord
Underneath the hood of a '65 Ford

In grocery store
Crying out for more
Getting stoned or bored
Even on a pew in the house of the Lord

All the places you can run
All the ways you set to flight
In the middle of the broad daylight
Under cover of the secret night
You can run

Behind your smiling eyes
Your face looked so surprised
Sure, I'm doing fine
Down at the bottom of a bottle of wine

In a suit and tie
Seeing someone on the sly
Without nothing on
Pushing your lawnmower regularly 'cross your lawn

13.O Virginia

Don Chaffer & Matthew Perryman Jones

O Virginia
You been trailin' off too fast
You laid your dress down
In that old Kentucky grass
You said your baby was the prince of Persia
All he did was worship you
Do you remember what your daddy told you
When he would hold you

And when everything was going hazy
Did you ever think that this is crazy now?
O but even though you missed the warning
There's a mercy born on every morning

O Virginia
You been on the road too long
You learned the grinding
Yeah but you forgot the song
In your memory it's the angels falling
And the men all calling you
And when you answer at the door, you're there
Ready to share
But O Virginia, there's nothing left

In the war between the blame and pity
Your words were smooth, but your teeth were gritty, girl
Cause you wouldn't lay down your defenses,
And admit the way you killed your senses
When everything was going hazy
You did not believe that this is crazy now
And, Virginia, though you missed the warning
The angels wept and prayed for mourning

O Virginia
That young sweet and tender girl