my take on the postal service’s sublime and essential ’00s track.

just a dj on a downtown A
sleepin it off to get up 1/2 awake
for a dead-end gig in the Rockaways
he sees this girl transfer from the D
dreams in her head, kid asleep on the seat
she’s always on his train
and always in the sky

she can’t know the sky
she can’t see the sky
she can’t have the sky
but she’s always in the sky

he pictures her as Grace
spinning records into the empty space
over the ocean off the Rockaways
her beauty is her pain
the moon’s behind clouds; the sun don’t play
she just loses days
always in the sky

she can’t know the sky
she can’t see the sky
but she’s always in the sky
she can’t dream the sky
she can’t live the sky
but she’s always in the sky

we’ve been (radiated)^3
always in the sky

always in the sky
always in the sky
so perfect it makes you high
always in the sky
always in the sky
so perfect you never want to say good-bye

this is an evolving project for this year. all live to two track, tho the acoustic rule may get violated.

the latest update of the new record. :^D is the working title, but it’s been sticking.

yes, nye 2010 was in austin, tx. our first time there. we’ll be back.

Tonight I’m leaving this big city and all its bullsh*t
Where my friends have to clear their names
And the snow has to clear itself
I want to drive all night with some music loud
Fly away on a song
Hold you in my arms and get to a place
Where nothing goes wrong.

There’s magic in this crazy world that’s sometimes hard to see
And there’s times I drift away in an Austin dream

I got resolutions to get myself out of this dirty town
Because the snow is all turnin’ black while all the trains melt down
I don’t want you wondering just how long it’s been
Since it’s been you
Taking that lakefront road, taking every risk
Just to feel something new

There’s magic in this mad mad mad world you see
Drifting away in an Austin dream

I think they like us there because we’re from far away
That’s why we’re always welcome back
And why we really shouldn’t stay
We got a three-day drive through desert nights
And a couple thousand songs
But we’re gonna write one more and get one more night
Where nothing goes wrong

There’s magic in this crazy world you just need to believe
That you can live and breathe and die inside a dream

You see I found myself in Austin that new years eve
And now I find myself in Austin almost every time I dream

Rcrdd n m brthd ths yr. 1 f th 1st sngs i lrnd 2 ply n th gtr bt nw i sng t abt rl tms.

Once my future was shiny as the seat of my pants are today
Then old mother luck and all her daughters started duckin’ me
When I finally got tired of just sittin’ there watching my life slip away
I said I better start takin’ all the living that’s a-comin’ to me

Now I love too much, fight too much
Stay out late at night too much
But you bet your butt I’m going to live before I die
And I may smoke too much, drink too much
Every blessed thing too much
It’s a low-down life, but it ain’t gonna pass me by

I don’t care if the world don’t ever hear the sound of my name
And old mother luck and all her daughters keep a-duckin’ me
As long as that Cat that I gotta look at when I shave ain’t ashamed
There ain’t no Jody in the world I’d ever rather be.

Still I love too much, fight too much
Stay out late at night too much
But you bet your butt I’m going to live before I die
And I may smoke too much, drink too much
Every blessed thing too much
It’s a low-down life, but it ain’t gonna pass me by

track released 20 November 2010

Written by Kris Kristofferson for his 1973 record Spooky Lady’s Sideshow. Published by Universal Music.

another twistytrack. a nod to the wombats and “moving to new york” and how real friends forgive. i use floodlights in this version but i’ve toyed with searchlights, which may get the release like circle gets the square.

The past slides down a bottomless wall
Over miles upon miles of one-way calls
Man, it’s been years
Since that open-arm town.

if you knew who your friends were
you wouldn’t go back.
there’s just no way
you would ever say that
friends like those would ever take you back.

in ninety four you swore you wrote the code
and you and me we chose to give up all control.
now we can never be invisible
or keep floodlights off our fears.

if you knew who
your friends were
you would never go back.

if you knew who your friends were
you wouldn’t go back.
there’s just no way
you would ever say that
friends like those would ever take you back.