Unless you could see inside my head,
you couldn't possibly understand
I'm happier when things are falling apart at the seams
and you'd never know just by looking at me
and I'm strung out on the future
and burnt out on the past
sometimes I'd rather just burn this place right to the ground
And y'know it just may be me
but the parking lot with all those creeps
keeps me convincing myself I'm completely sane
with sleep over rated
and my ideals outdated
I know that I wouldn't have it any other way
and I can't explain what this place races through my mind

Let me give you some insight into my insides
I haven't been this confused in such a long time
you can't believe I've spent just losing my mind
I can't believe that 10 years have really gone by
it's been a long time
Had a plan for every year I've been alive
a million more I've built up inside of me
there's a million more that I have bottled up
and that I've fucked up
do you feel like the hard times are mountains you've climbed lying awake
it still feels like it's '89 it's been along time
those mindless days the plans that I've made
the countless mistakes all the times I've changed
through the years I faced all that's kept me sane
every single day

Man this town will drive you insane
Check my thoughts to check my brain
Hold my wallet like it's glued
In one square block it'll tell you
What it thinks of you
And there's nothing you can do
And all that's left to say
And all that's left to say, now
Is feet don't fail me now
Man I must be out of my mind
This town can be so unkind
Forget about sleep there's nothing you can do
In 24 hours this town has become a living hell
And there's nothing you can do
10-9-8 forty ounces fill this place
7-6-5 then watch the bullets to stay alive
4-3-2 no one way out of this
It's been 24 hours in paramus

When it all came down, on that saturday night,
should I choose a side, at 9th at Pine.
Can we still say we're civilized,
watched some kid down at 9th at Pine...
which will it be? Sympathy or apathy,
which part of the human condition will I believe.
Tried then its tested
I've just decided
I failed
is it the crowd,
or the way this is going down?
Is being human watching all this without a sound?
tried...

Al said goodbye to his mom and dad for the first time in his life
tonight left the house and walked out to the waiting car outside
and somehow he thought they'd never understand that nothing lasts
and he just knows that time is just spinning by
and life is passing him by so fast
And sometimes I think I'm the only one
that feels like going nowhere is like giving up
Al said to me a few days ago
that he just thought for the first time in his life
he feels the last 10 years were only a waste of time
and that it was only a compromise of what he always felt inside
his declaration of independence
said to me under the orange street lights
he was the one
who always did the right thing
he was the one that listened to everything they'd say
but today he's never going back

Do you think it's strange
that there's this way of how you look at,
how you act like, and how you think and pretend they're not the same as you
Do you know about his strength of convictions
or how she puts all her faith in religion
Did you ever take the time
to really discover how little we know about each other?
this all becomes one more chance to
keep us from saying anything
and separate from everything.
And all this really means
you're one in a crowd and paranoid of every sound
another friend you won't miss anyhow

This one goes out to the kids
who drove 6 hours in a stolen car, then missed the show.
This one goes out to never
losing sight of all the
how it's been and how it was.
Here's to just sinking the ship
and not giving a shit.
Here's to sinking fast
with everyone else.
This one goes out to another
night with no sleep,
Crimpshrine records and
Gainesville streets
This one goes out to Mike,
Var, Mike and Tony,
All, Snuff, Jon, Terri,
Shaun, and Andre.
Thank You

What the fuck
the fuck have I become
I've become the product of the sum
caught in an endless circle
I've become the stupidest man in the world
Chalk another one up to experience
y'know it doesn't make any sense
to do it all over again
and then again
then do it all over again
I've become the stupidest man
I think I'm drawing a blank again
this dizziness never seems to end
never seems to end
you know it never seems to end
drunk and sitting in and thinking
change it never seems to come when I'm thinking

I think, I think I know it all,
but can I be sure of the things I've grown to know,
and can I say I know it all,
when rules just guide me to blindly follow
and things are automatic when you see them everyday
is it the same routine
or my fucked up dreams,
that keep me walking mindless all the way?
I think, I think I know it all
but is our beliefs just stringing us along
and was there something wrong in what I heard,
for every hour of the day?

Late at night
I can see so clearly
They see right through me
And I know that ten years before
I was the kid at the corner store and I still know
And at that age things are so confusing
And no matter what I tried
I still wound up losing. are things still that confusing?
And at that age, that awkward age
I knew someday that things would change
Have I been thinking too much tonight
When I think of how my life's gone by?
And at that age...
There were things that I never really knew
And I keep hearing my parents say:
Do as I say, don't say as I do.
What could I do?

Well the scene here he wants her back
he's trying to use the phone
she's hanging up he's given up
he should've known
looking lost then he wanders off
and tries to sing along to some song he's never heard
but just keeps mouthing all the words
It gets worse before it's all over
I know I'll get through this somehow
and nothing's gonna change her mind for now
Well the scene here he's still alone
another band goes on in this crowded basement
with too much smal talk and lame inside jokes
feeling useless out of excuses
he should've known to let it go
she said it's done
second chances seem to never come
After all the bad endings and misunderstandings
and all of the late night last hopes and lost time
and all that she left for me wasonly a memory
all I can say is she don't understand me

Wonder what hold things together
Is it political positions or maybe superstitions
The list goes on forever
It seems to go on forever
Are old rituals necessary to stand by
How many things just to get us through the night
And can we say their wrong altogether
The world keeps going on forever
It still looks big
Can everything in some way help us understand
From mathematical problems to rubber bands
And can we say it's wrong altogether
The world goes on forever
It still looks big

Sometimes, I think
something's wrong with me
because I was never one to believe
in anyone or anything
it's always been just me.
and y'know they've always had big plans for you
just to walk you through and cloud your views
and I'll never say that everything's O.K.
and you don't want to say that you're giving up right now
so hold your ground
don't give up in what you believe
why be different
when you can't be yourself
sometimes I think
something's wrong with me
because I was never one to believe
in anyone or anything.
and I don't want to say I'll ever change
because things always change.

Breaking down from every insult that you've taken
from one sided conversations
Burning out from all the minor misconceptions
that just play on your frustrations
your self doubt has your head so turned around
there's not a catch phrase that can save you
and it's not that hard to figure out
disappointment doesn't have to cut to a commercial now
I'm breaking down I'm burning out
and it's not funny like on television
when your self doubt turns you inside out
it's still not funny like on television
I'm passing time since I've been right
and it's not funny like on television
those times I've cracked with no laugh track
and it wasn't funny like on television

If only my problems were like water
they could be boiled away
and watching the steam drift upward,
watching my problems drift away.
And watch the steam turn and twist,
watch it all drift away.
Look how it rises and lifts
watch my problems drift away.
If only my problems were like water
they all could be washed away
and watch the water go downward
watch it all go down the drain.

Isn't it funny that it all comes down to money
Running on a treadmill, wasting time
Keeps you too busy to lose your mind
I was blindsided out on the street
The tension was so thick I could hardly even breathe
And I don't like the way things are going down
I don't like the way things are going down,
That's all, it's all
It's enough to knock me down
Man I was blindsided when a guy walked right past
Calls for help from this guy under the overpass
So I guess it's the problem will go away if I block it out
It's all enough to knock me down

So here let's talk about the boomtown facts
You've got stick up kids coming right at my back
Two blocks of reasonable rent and it's only getting smaller
And the rest of boomtown is only getting taller
You've got ten miles of traffic and three hundred miles of roadway
And a million lights burning bright night and day
With all these lights going off like roman candles
It's getting too much for me to handle
Boomtown's only based on image torn down and built up from one man's Vision
When all the workers are all up and gone
It feels like I'm sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Danny says that he got caught up
in all the talk of how it used to be
and he says I never used to mind
that same lame line it's just you and me
Danny says that he's so boring now
since he figured out that back in the day
really says..how I remember this,
and don't give a shit about what you have to say
He's only 19 burnt out on this scene
and just getting by on its memories

Dopeman dopeman's got another big plan
to sell it to you or anyone he can
because this is much better than minimum wage
no matter how things work he's still gonna get paid
think about it for a minute more -
it's either work at McDonalds or the corner store
a quick money fix from a deal or 2
when a decision comes down
what would you do? you take - take a welfare state
or a dopeman's fate
and keep the cycle spinnin' round dopeman dopeman's got the upperhand
people wanna get as much as they can
because those reasons they'll always stay the same
and for some people it's the only way to stay sane
and think about it for a minute more -
a life of crime or hangin' round the liquor store
a quick drug fix to get you through
when the decision comes down
what would you do?

Like quicksand, i'm always getting deeper
The more I struggle, the more I get in deeper
And here I am, out there doing time
Out on the mission, down on the mission line
I'm down in the mission

Downbeat, downbeats coming for you
Everythings gone that you once knew.
Trying to rely on what things used to be
And trying to live up to your responsibility.
Everythings fucked up that you see.
Downbeats coming for you
And it's coming for me.
Trying to rely
Downbeats coming and you can't hide
Standing on the front porch
While downbeats collide,
And downbeats coming up up
It's got a grin
And I'm left in this situation.

Step it up
my life spent round the clock
has got me running on a treadmill with no time to stop
and competition has put a price on time,
see all the people you left behind
and step on all the people that have fell behind,
competition has put a price on time.
Man, I'm all I've got,
like it or not, I'm all I've got.
I'm Econolodged.

And I
I wonder if you'd understand
if I said I'll never go never go along again
And if I told you all that I believe in
and gave you my reasons and always had an answer
an honest answer for all of them
sometimes you just want to belong
at any loss or any cost
yeah I've
I've made mistakes before
but I just can't seem to remember them anymore
and I've followed everyone's lead before
and I've made my own decisions
and I've never felt so strong before
I've never felt so strong before
sometimes you just want to belong
at any loss or any cost
sometimes your best defense is a good reminder
of your common sense
strike a match and hope it lasts
here's to following your own lead
it's the path that I have taken
after all the contemplation
it's the promise I have made
I hope it lasts

Got on the 47, transferred to the 89
left town eastbound past all the city signs
and y'know sometimes it's hard to leave your past behind
and as I pass the crummy bars and beat up cars
nothing's gonna change my mind this time
By now you think I've found that things changed, just don't look that way to me
by now you think I've found that things change, and look rearranged to me
it never used to look that me.
At half past seven I'm on the 95
sick of malls and alcohol
just passed the next state line
and I know sometimes it's hard to leave your past behind
and as I think of the corner creeps and dirty streets
nothing will change my mind,
there's no turning back this time.
And when going off is like going on
and never going back is just like giving up
it's like I'm going nowhere fast.

Focus a moment
On the message sent
The anthem of a generation
Based on degradation and resent
Where money and power
And being the man of the hour
Has left communication
Left it standing out to sour
We fucked ourselves again

This map hung up on the truck stop hallway door
is looking worn and I can hardly read it anymore
I feel like I'm a speck thrown on the map
and I can't help my urge to laugh
I never used to feel like that
Well I'm half awake half a world away
all my past mistakes and every wasted day
I wouldn't have it any other way
I'll try through my haze and half shut eyes
to count up all the reasons why
I should be back at home tonight
Half awake half a world away
all my past mistakes and every wasted day
proves that I'll never change
I'll always stay the same
I wouldn't have it any other way

Second street west of 39th
Tries to sleep
But he only winds up walking all night
Tries to remember when his head was right...
Sees his breath in the corner light
He walks away from his life
He tries to find...
Third street east of 49th
Can't sleep
She always seems to cry all night
Smokes another as the neighbors fight
Can't seem to keep her head on right
She wonders where's her life
She tries to find...
And when your thoughts are all you're finding
Can't you feel your gears are grinding you into the ground.

So you think of what it could've been
when time is all you've lost
keeps burning through your head
now you fall asleep standing but lie awake in bed
watch the clock drag on and think about what you should've said
It's for the better your better half is gone
its O.K. you didn't need her anyway
and I don't want to hear you say nobody can take her place
and what more can I say you didn't need her anyways
So you think of how it should've been
and it's just over keeps going through your head
you're hearing all those words
time and time again
watch the phone all night and think about what you should've said.
It's for the better your better half is gone

How many things that you believe
Are straight out of TV and magazines
And when comfort comes before truth
Can you say that you never knew,
Sitting in front of your TV,
Do you believe the lies
Given to us from another time
And can you say that everything is fine
when your ideology is only right half the time
I'm growing up on the couch

Happyman smiles almost every single day,
too numb to notice that he's walking in a haze,
he's pushed himself here and doesn't know what to do.
Choked by the clock and he doesn't know what to do.
I say, you say, you say its work, yeah its work all day.
Happyman is mad at the world
(green grasses, picket fences, liquid lunches lost his senses)

He got in his car and told himself to drive
gotta leave it all behind if he wants to feel alive
19 and lost and never thought he'd ever leave this place
vacant mind from endless grind so what's to lose anyways
Another fast food job?
Another 8 to 5 day?
Ten minutes and two miles is just a mile too many today
and you can see why it's easy to say
y'know that hell looks a lot like L.A.
six months ago was the last she felt alive
moved down from the north and told herself she'd try
18 and lost and never thought this place would change
ignored and bored the same feelings as yesterday
she said it's way too much more than she could take
it's one less car that's in the way
y'know that hell looks a lot like L.A.

And just outside I can heard the sounds
of the early morning street becoming way too loud
and the hum of the engines of the cars on the street
And with this cigarette that I just lit
as I pass the 53rd St. Bridge
Right now the world just seems too big
so sit down and remind me how
this is the same old story of growing up and getting lost.
And outside I can see my breath
in between the words that fog my spinning head
and I can see the sun coming up. And it's just light enough to see
Another cigarette that I just lit
as I pass the 53rd St. bridge
right now the world just seems to big
And all the late night calls and all the lost hopes
and the missed connections and the lost direction.

Just talked to this girl who used to live on my street
after all these years you're here and you remember me
She said her old boyfriend
packed up and headed back east
but she always knew someday he would go
she just got a new job but doubts it will last
so lets take a drink and never think
here's to the past
She says it's so funny how life burns out so fast
it's just another wasted day
A boring life in a boring town
with the same old crowd
and I used to say that I'd never stay
but I'm rotting here today
With that same old crowd that's always been around
and I always thought I'd be the first to go
That same old crowd that brings me down
another day in a boring town
And remember when they'd look through you
and then look past me
we were the ones they said would always leave
when you go think of me.

Friday night on coke with a crow bar,
left at two in the back of Doug's car,
without a plan and being fucked up,
looking to get something for ourselves.
Friday night at three at a side door,
Doug said try to get the door just once more
I said man this all fucked up
just looking to get something
something for ourselves
feeling kinda weird and thinkin' to myself
fuck doug
I'm not going out like this
he said man I'm all I got and I won't be missed
this makes no sense
it makes no sense to me
this isn't the way its supposed to be

When all the things that you've been thinking
has you so confused and so unglued
your head is spinning
well we've all felt the same inside
I've been on that ledge countless times
and I know what that feels like
you've on your own can't make it through this world all alone
is this thing on at all?
when all your friends don't have the answers
and you're so convinced that inch by inch
they've turned to strangers
we've all seen the different sides
no one hears even though you've talked all night
and I know what you feel like
can we really measure if we're any better
than that skyline that goes on and on forever on and on?

Jen thinks it isn't fair that I don't really care
If she likes me or not
And Jen doesn't like to settle
Until she makes me feel like Howie Reynolds
She thinks that I'm all that I've got
No Jen doesn't like me anymore
Jen doesn't like to go to the shows,
She doesn't like my whoa - whoa's.
Jen doesn't like me anymore.

Well I
Really don't know
If it matters at all so,
But we try to keep our prices low
For records and our shows
But is that enough,
Or is it that we're not punk enough,
Or it that you think ska just sucks,
But Johnny Quest, he thinks we're what?
Johnny Quest thinks we're sellouts

He's just like anyone
he's just like anybody
he's just like frank
and I know it
and he knows it
it's his one sided point of view
I know it when he says
it's my way, or the wrong way
and I don't care about you
but to see my side wouldn't be the worst thing he could do
when someone's politic blinds you
and binds you
to something you don't believe in
and he's just like anyone...
and I saw him walking on my way
path third street just the other day
why doesn't he understand views keep changing?

Ideals are like opinions and beliefs just like tradition
Sometimes both are not enough
Faded stickers and crumpled flyers They've become the reminder
that there's an anthem in us that fits
the flag we've flown for years
I've always had this same old song
Stuck in my head for so damn long
A soundtrack to whether I'm right or wrong
Ideals are like opinions beliefs just like tradition
Sometimes both are not enough
faded pictures and yellowed flyers
and memories so far behind us
there's an anthem in us that fits
the flag we've flown for years
Ideals and its actions
Beliefs and convictions
Faith and tradition
The flags we've flown for years

It seems I can't explain it all
all the reasons gone and I just can't seem to shake
what I've been brought up on
and well it hard to say
and its hard to explain
that all the things I've known are feeling strange
I guess I'll always have tradition
to fall back on
and just what the hell
am I supposed to do
just accept someone else's point of view
and we could ramble on and on and still not know...
and what keeps rolling through my brain
it keeps running like a non-stop freight train
its that tradition seems to stick to you
just like krazy glue

I couldn't help but think back to the advice
that I got from my dad a few times
he said...time goes by so fast in a blink of an eye
so never close your eyes...
...I always wanted something more than 50 hours every week
and a paid vacation on the jersey shoreline
And he said
So when ambition turns into competition
I'll never be the better man
I can't help but think back to the time
he said life goes right by
And told me never think twice
you can't second guess how to live your life
All these years have been way too short
to be spent on some factory floor like me
I never went back again
I never looked back again
And he said
So when ambition turns into competition
I'll never be the better man
It's the last hour of the last day
don't fall so far behind now
you'll be another nameless face
he said

I know there comes a time when you lose faith in what you believe inside
and did you know somehow it's just a spark that's a start
that keeps us from the crowd.
The other day this girl came up to me
and asked if she used to go to school with me and kinda laughed
and she said wasn't I the guy her friends always called a waste of time.
I know just who I am
and what's in my head is that I don't really give a damn
who you think I am.
When I stop and think about to where I'll be 10 years from now
I wonder if the me of now would call myself washed up or watered down
or part of the crowd?
and the other night this guy came up to me downtown
and can't believe that after 5 years I'm still around
and he said, wasn't I the guy who walked these streets all night?
It's such a waste of time.

Its got me on the run, its got my brain tied
Its got me down as the trains pass by
All these people crowding my sight
I wonder if my head was ever screwed on tight
Concrete buildings are all that I see
I used to never let it bother me
Last train remember me
Walking past the cracks on 2nd street, watching
Lights and sounds the city doesn't sleep, and I say
Get this fucking city out of my brain, so I
Guess I'll have to wait for the last train
Remember me...

Now listen up and hear what i'm saying
If he's not talking to himself
Then he must be praying
Shine my shoes and ask for a dime
Then pick my pockets while i'm in line
He keeps telling me the score
Down at the liquor store

Something's not right
Urban sprawl, from urban blight
something's not right
when history turn into a building site
locked out, fenced up, closed down without a sound
Something's not right
when downtown is just all blinking lights
Something's not right
when strip malls and condos are at your every side

And I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try
and we'll walk in circles around this whole block
walk on the cracks on the same old sidewalks
and we'll talk about leaving town
yeah we'll talk about leaving
I swear it's the last time I swear it's my last try
We rode across that bridge all night
we talked our way through city lights
traced all the lines we're killing time
under those buzzing signs
from downtown to anywhere but here
tonight yeah I swear to these rooftops
and just hoped that car would never stop
we drove around this place all night
past closed signs and familiar sights
we're moving by passing time
counting those center lines
with 20,000 lines left to go
that lead to somewhere I don't know
it might be the time tha twe leave this all behind
there's been a few times
that we thought it felt right
to take all the westbound signs
and just leave town tonight

I know you'll be around
short sighted and undecided
and you'll know where I'll be found
Just another day of smoking cigarettes
apathetic, and just plain pathethic
just like the day we met
and we're not growing up
and it's just my luck
that I'm broke and standing with you again.

Do you see me out there
Getting ready to go
Packing my frustrations away
I can always go for miles and still don't know
Why my disappointments always stay,
Packing all my frustrations away...
Why my disappointments always stay...
Am I wasting my time
I don't know what I will find...
Took eighteen years to realize
I don't know the reasons why!
The day I walked away
That was my lucky day!!!

There's been borders and there'll be boundaries
and there's been times misidirection's found me
There's been clear heads and there'll be clean slates
and times we'd find we'd pass the night away thinking
Everyone here hates everyone here
for doing the same thing that they do
There's been new starts and they'll be no sleep
and there's been times when inspiration's found me
and there's been walls built and there's been worse days
and times we'd find we spent the night awake thinking
all those people they keep watching me
all those people that hate me
all those people they watch me
all those people are just like me

And I've been so busy trying
that I've only wound up living
weekend to weekend
getting by just simply trying
And I should be out looking for a job
but only wind up heading for a stiff drink
left with nothing else so I think
it's time to stumble home
So I say Hello to wasted hours
and I say bottoms up to better days
I've been so busy dying
that I've always wound up living
paycheck to paycheck
scraping by but hardly trying
what will it take to get me out of bed
when half the check goes to rent
the other half goes to debt
I should be out looking for another job
Instead I stumble home
Another day not trying
there's no one left to blame
it's just the routine and the repetition
I've spun out of control

A friend of mine he pointed out to me
that who I've become
is not the same person that I used to be
A friend of mine he pointed out to me
That I'm not the same as I used to be
And y'know he made me think twice about who I am
And now I think of how I lived my life
Sitting on the corner under the street light
What would I change?
What would I want to stay the same?
And I've decided that I won't decide
So I 'll sit on the curb watching the cars roll by
who the hell needs self doubt
When it's always the same shit that goes around town.

Have you ever felt that something,
you know that something that keeps you sane?
and you can't explain why
But you know it's what's left inside you
and I know that it's that something
you know that something that keeps me sane
and I can't explain why when it's all I have I have left to hold onto
And when I say It's everything
from my highest hopes to my dumbest schemes
you'll never know what it means to me.
I'm just a reason away, from that something that keeps me sane.

Well I thought all my friends were sane
then I met this kid in the fourth grade
let's go throw rocks through the neighbor's windows
I never wanted to go but he would always make me
I wanna know what you were thinking
I wanna know what you were drinking
Mark Cruce
Have another drink Mark Cruce
He's the guy passing out and crashing on your couch
Mark Cruce Have another drink Mark Cruce
He's the guy pissing in the front yard of your house
Mark Cruce
Through all the years not a whole lot's changed
how 'bout that party where you stole the beer tap
off some burnout's keg
I really hope that you know
I almost got my ass beat
have another drink Mark Cruce
he's the guy with the bat that took your mailbox out
setting fire to bags of shit outside your neighbor's house

Something that's inside of me
It's something that I cannot see
Like rules and regulations
Passed down for generations
I wish I had my very own flag,
And as I walk away
I can hear you say
I wish that I had my own flag

On a tuesday in the rain I never thought there'd come a day
if I put myself to the test would I ever raise a fist
would I just shut my mouth, would I just block it out?
I've sworn a million times never to be left,
standing with that feeling
of hopelessness, just standing nervous in the alley
When all is said and through
would I know just what to do
and if I put myself to the test
would I ever raise a fist
would I just shut my mouth or just block it out
I've sworn a million times never to be left,
standing with that feeling
of hopelessness, just standing nervous in the alley
Is it a change of heart,
that keeps us apart
and you say it's true
and we know it's true
when all we have left is me and you
and it's so strange,
when all I have left to say
is I wonder what's worth fighting for?

There was a time when I could say it right to you
that I was never going to leave this place
but now its I was wrong
and I don't wanna fucking talk about it
cause it feels like things have changed
Yeah well I could talk, talk, talk
and say I'm wrong, wrong, wrong
but I feel I'm in a place I've never known
and it feels like there's something wrong,
something wrong, something wrong
and I know that I don't wanna know...
I'm never going back again
there was a time when I would say I must be crazy
that I would say this place is looking strange
but now its I'm kinda lost and I just don't remember
because things never stay the same...yeah, well I could talk, talk...

I check the time, it's 4:00 a.m.
And I just passed the westside buildings
All the broken glass
As I try to shake the cold away, but anyways,
It's late at night and I'm about to crack
And decide to just walk the tracks
That I just walked yesterday.

I won't compete because I don't need to be
In front of someone that wants to compete with me
Who needs another aggravation
Or a fucked up situation
So you call me burnt out
Call me washed up
Or weaker cause I won't get up
Be first in another line
Just one more time,
Cause I won't compete again
I can't hear a sound that's out of the crowd.

I can see it all right now
his mom and dad so proud of his son and his new found wife
and I wonder if after all these years
will his dad still give him a pep talk for his wedding night?
I can smell his cousin's polo mixing with his grandpa's old spice and the
Swedish meatballs look so tempting that his two fat aunts might even fight
and his uncles have all gone drinkin'
highballs and hamms light in the parking lot
while the rest of his relatives are busy just tearing up the Manville Elks Lodge
I can smell his cousin's polo mixing with his grandpa's old spice and the mashed
potatoes look so tasty that his two fat aunts might even fight
on that day what else could I say?
I'd say here's to you staying drunk
here's to all your good luck
you're gonna need it

Watching the man up in the window
it always seems to me
that in 10 more years another someone may be watching me.
And do I really know what goes on inside?
As he dances down the street to the music in his mind,
time after time.
Watching the man up in the window
it always seems to me
that I'll be the one talking to myself as someone sits and watches me.
And do I really know what goes on inside
as I wonder what goes on in their little plastic minds,
time after time.

Don't call me Rich
don't call me George
just call me cheez
that's who I am
Civilized?
yeah until the keg runs dry
and he's tried
to drink from 9 to 5
then from 5 to 9
always drunk and going crazy
you better believe it
chesterfield
where the kegs never dry
it's always filled
have beer with fear!
have a beer or two
then he'll show you his cheese tattoo
drunk and going crazy
you better believe it

So she's been around
Lived in every town
And she always seems to know
So she does a zine
Says she's in the scene
And she goes to the cool punk rock shows
And it's not like I've seen the world
And it's not cuz she's a girl
It's just cuz no ones always right
And I'm almost never right so she can't be
Yeah he's been around
Likes to hear the sound
Of his voice annoying me
His shirt off at shows
Brand new punk rock clothes
Do you think that I have a choice to see
That I sometimes think he's wrong
And been talking way too long
In fact it's cuz no ones always right
And I'm almost never right
So you can't be.

Man its really strange
this city never stays the same
its always
I've got to keep on moving and I've got to keep on going
but maybe it's to keep itself sane
that its always
I've got to keep on going, so I don't have any feeling
So I'm on my way out of this place that has me turning numb
I'm on my way,
all the feeling in this place has up and gone
so with one hand on the wheel
and the other out the window
with a smile on my face
and my middle finger up
with on hand on the wheel
this city's going crazy
without a care that its all fucked up

When I think of how things are
right now it feels like
yeah it all feels like some kind of circus show
and how this town it keeps you pinned down
with the same old song from years ago
and y'know this place will chew you up and spit you out
before you go
and when they drag you
kicking and screaming from the scene you know
it's time to leave
when I think of this town right now
it's filled with speed freaks and assholes
and all kinds of creeps
and somehow every new face in every single case
in a year or two will be erased
and to think of how I'm feeling right not somehow
I still remember how I felt 4 years ago
and when I think of how things are right now
it's still the same old song from years ago
what do I know?
that it's still the same old song from years ago

Something's out there
and it takes me away
from a world too small to stay
something's out there
Another day in this place so small,
I'd rather be somebody else
maybe if my mind wasn't so tall,
I wouldn't be able to tell
and I've walked these streets
it seems like 10 million times
and I've seen things up and leave
time after time
(and its just another day) in this place so small
I'd rather be somebody else
old habits die hard

Have you been feeling down, pushed around
Feeling like everything has been done before
Do I need to understand every word from every man
Or everything from every band
Can I say it's all been done before
Religion, science, similes to metaphors
Can it be that there's nothing new
When there's more ways of looking at the truth
The more things seem to change
The more they just stay the same
But now it's called a different name
Can you say things are new
When you look at magazines
And things you've seen in the news.

There was a kid so low, he couldn't stand up
No money, no respect and too much bad luck
Desperation had gotten to him at last
It was dark
Dark alley and a shot gun blast
And I knew a man everyone thought
Was out of his mind
He had a cane and seemed to be around all the time
And it's a shame, when a car rolls past
It was dark
Dark alley and a shot gun blast
Shotgun - no one ever thinks about it
Until your out of your head

I always thought of music as more than words and sound,
something more like inspiration that picks you off the ground,
when your down...
And I, know that music will pull me through.
So it's a soundcheck to an empty room.

There is a place not far from the city
Where old men go to die and bums are pissing
Last night no one checked out,
And I checked back in
While toothless winos
Watched and grinned
And they don't really care about you
Some things you can't tell
Sometimes I can't take the smell
St. James Hotel

So let's hit the streets tonight
And I'll show you where I lost my job
and where I got chased by cops
so we'll jump the fence at 13th and 10th
to see where we played our first show
I told you everybody loses sight of
All the how it's been and never was
So let's hit the streets tonight
And I'll show you where I drank on the job
and hung out In that parking lot
left at the light there's park 16th on the right
and that's the place that we called home
That place you'll never get a chance to know
and all the people through the years you could've known
it makes me wonder what your seeing is almost home

If I had a scheme for everything,
It seems that I'd more content with it all,
If I had it in me to stop my random thoughts,
and my dumb dreams
I could deal with this nonstop spinning world.
If only I could say that everything's ok
take a good look
and look the other way,
frustration, hell, who needs it anyway.
I'd rather sit back,
and just smoke cigarettes.
be the one with the loudest mouth
be the most closed minded that I could get

You know my best friend,
just left yesterday and I know
I know your girlfriend, couldn't explain, why she moved away
things are so the same,
that all I can really bring myself to say
is that I know
and yeah just outside,
the conversation's getting old
and I know they're right,
betting smokes that our end is just as close.
things are so the same
and remember when they said
just how long can your ideals
keep you warm
and we just laughed that kinda nervous laugh
and we just sang along to that song on the radio
you were right about,
just how we'd figure out things change
but beliefs stay the same
and you were right about just how we'd figure out
a change of ideas I've known

I'm walking around what used to be
downtown wet and feeling cold and kinda feeling old,
I'm walking around and I can almost hear the sound
of everyone I've known and all the people I've seen get up and go.
And there's nothing left to say when I look at friends and see how they've changed.
I kinda wish that it was years ago.
It's another missed connection,
another friend headed in the right direction?
Maybe it's the wrong one and when it's all said and done,
I don't think anybody knows and it goes to show that I'm lost at the edge of 18,
keep losing track of what seems to have been 5 minutes ago.

There's an old man at the very end
Of the parking lot leaning on his car and
Drinking beer and laughing out loud
Before my head starts spinning around,
As I try to find a place to take a stand
But only wind up sitting anyplace I can
With DIDJIT's song stuck in my head
I kinda think I might of said
Now I'm three quarts drunk and I'm out of time.

Two days before his mom moved him
To a trailer park in Florida from a suburb in Michigan
He left the house headed for someplace downtown
Thinking who needs them, cuz they brought me down
Out on the streets words burning in his brain
With his pulse pumping just like a freight train,
Wondering what he has to lose
What's to lose anyhow
If he throws this rock will it all be solved now
Throw the brick one more time
Thinking of the problems that I left behind
Throw the brick

It was a cold december on 2nd ave and 6th st.
Too cold to think about anybody passing me
When I overheard 'I'm gonna tell you straight from the shoulder...
Boy... You better get running'
On the corner of 2nd and 6th and outta time,
With a cough, feeling lost and a bottle of cheap wine.
Just then I realized that I can't seem to understand
When I saw that guy heading for the dopeman.
It's just the same old story on the same old street
And it's just another worn down, worn out casualty
Of 2nd ave and 6th st.
On the corner of 2nd and 6th and feeling down
When I overheard 'I'm gonna take a gun and take you out'
Just then I realized that I can't seem to understand
How anyone can take the life of another man.
It's just the same old story on the same old street
And it's just another worn down, worn out casualty
Of 2nd Ave and 6th St.

I've never known what made you get up and go
And what pushed you over the edge,
When we were up on the roof
Was it the truth when you said
You never made a single difference.
Did you get it in your head
That things are better left unsaid
when you up and left town now?
Did you need to rearrange
Or did you need to make a change
Rather than just rotting the place
We used to hang around?
I know that things have gotta change,
I know your never coming back to this town.
I wonder where you've gone,
Who you're with;
I still ask myself,
Where the hell is Mike Sinkovich?

The world keeps on spinning.
Inside his head keeps on spinning.
Wishing he could be on top for once,
seems he hasn't spoke a word in months.
It's the complications that make him lazy
and it's the frustrations that make him so lazy.
He's the whipping boy.

When you look around
What you got don't mean a thing...
Waiting, waiting, waiting - stop!
You gotta stand and pick yourself up...
Hanging around don't mean a thing
Unless you hold the power ring.

I wish I could have it all
And even if I could and then I would take it all,
Start it new with one thing that I could do
One wish I'd take it all away
I'd take it all away from you
I'd wish it all away...