1. |
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May you stand in the face of the weather
May you live in interesting times
May you break from the fashion
May you smuggle compassion behind enemy lines
May you walk with respect for the journey
If you’re offered a shortcut, decline
May you stand in the face of the weather
May you live in interesting times
May you live in interesting times
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2. |
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I truly meant it at the start
Cross my cold and empty heart
I never thought that this would happen to me
I came with virtuous intentions
And offered honest interventions
And I believed it all so innocently
But then the more I learned about
The way the whole thing’s figured out
I found there’s really not a thing I can do
So I got myself indoctrinated
Into what I thought I always hated
Come so far I might as well see it through
And now I’m singing
Ooh ooh ooh
Don’t you know that you’ve never had it so good?
Ooh ooh ooh
Don’t you know that you’ve never had it so good?
It’s this crazy situation
I get the same old accusations
“Hey why don’t you show a little more class
And state your honest point of view?”
But you’ve got to understand that
You don’t need convictions when you’re out on your ass
“Oh have mercy I disclaim!”
I cannot be the one to blame
You know I never mean the words that I say
Cos I’ve been known to praise the Lord
And then put my neighbours to the sword
It’s complicated, hell, what else can I say?
And so I’m singing
Ooh ooh ooh
Don’t you know that you’ve never had it so good?
Ooh ooh ooh
Don’t you know that you’ve never had it so good?
It’s just the sweet manipulation
It’s the myth of cause and correlation
Take a bad idea then move it along
And still we tend to be resistant
To one whose views are inconsistent
More than one who’s just consistently wrong
But if you beat the same old drum
Say something slick but kinda dumb
Well then there’s every chance that you’re gonna win
And yes although I may be faking
You’ve got to understand that
Taking care of business is the business I’m in
That’s why I’m singing
Ooh ooh ooh
Don’t you know that you’ve never had it so good?
Ooh ooh ooh
Don’t you know that you’ve never had it so good?
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3. |
The Bar Is Open
03:14
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The bar is open but please don’t come in
When you step through the door
Well God knows what you’ll bring
It hardly seems worth it for a bottom shelf gin
The bar is open but please don’t come in
Now I view with suspicion every penny that I touch
And my fingers are bleeding
‘Cause I wash them so much
And this blood on my hands is the mark of my sin
The bar is open but please don’t come in
And I smile through my teeth at the regulars who
Keep on pouring on in
‘Cause it’s just what they do
And I want to punch each of them square in the chin
The bar is open but please don’t come in
Now they scream for more booze at the tops of their voices
And I’m part of the problem but I’m all out of choices
All I want is to stop but I don’t know where to begin
The bar is open but please don’t come in
Now I hate this hypocrisy that I represent
But if I don’t go to work, well I won’t make the rent
Now Emily’s pregnant and we’re all on our own
The bar is open but please stay at home
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4. |
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The wall has come between us
I cannot stare it down
We fight upon the beaches
We yield the higher ground
The wall has come between us
It’s blocking out the sun
All hail the stable genius
Sing a prayer and clean your gun
Build it up high
And build it up strong
Everybody choose a side
Switch off and sing along
The wall has come between us
We’re told it’s for the best
The Devil holds a mirror
And nature does the rest
The wall has come between us
Does anybody know
If these fences make good neighbours
Berlin to Jericho
Build it up high
And build it up strong
Everybody choose a side
Switch off and sing along
The wall has come between us
Was there ever any doubt
That we should fear the enemy within
More than the enemy without?
Build it up high
And build it up strong
Everybody choose a side
Switch off and sing along
The wall has come between us
Divided we must fall
And somewhere in the ashes we’ll forget
Why we ever thought to build this wall
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5. |
6ft Apart
03:01
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Baby there’s trouble that we cannot see
Don’t know what’s gonna happen to you or to me
Well it’s not the answer, It’s only a start
We’ll all stand together six feet apart
I’m gonna to miss you my brother, Lord only knows when
We’ll be down at the bottle shop drinking again
Love to the family with all of my heart
I’ll be right beside you, six feet apart
And maybe September, well there’ll be a bright, sunny day
‘Til then I’ll be keeping away
Oh yeah
I’m sorry my darling but you can’t go to school
Or play with your cousins or go to the pool
I know just how cruel and unfair it all seems
But it’s hard to explain just what sacrifice means
Oh Maria, it just ain’t any good
I can’t come and see you like I promised I would
All this saving your life, well it’s breaking your heart
But you’ll always be with me six feet apart
Yes you’ll always be with me six feet apart
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6. |
2 Shots
03:55
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I gave my finest days to Rock and Roll
Soda pop and philly soul
It’s a choice I’d recommend
I knew it couldn’t last forever though
It’s funny how you never know
You’re done ‘til it’s the end
Oh raise me high above the flood
Deploy the soldiers in the blood
The time has come, the moment’s gone
The needle I can pin my hopes on
Two shots of Astra-Zeneca
And all the hope eternity can spring
Then I’ll be back out singing
Two shots of Astra-Zeneca
And thinking just as wishful as I can
That I can see you once again
The fruit has fallen from the apple trees
The wasted opportunities
Are strewn across the ground
And there they sit and rot like expertise
While a thousand dumb conspiracies
Come circling around
So raise me high above the flood
Deploy the soldiers in the blood
The time has come, the moment’s gone
The needle I can pin my hopes on
Two shots of Astra-Zeneca
And all the hope eternity can spring
Then I’ll be back out singing
Two shots of Astra-Zeneca
And thinking just as wishful as I can
That I can see you once again
The Sun will rise
The Earth will spin
The bastards will find a way to win
And this broken heart still holds a song
I haven’t seen you round here in quite some time
How you been? Yeah I’ve been fine
I’ve missed this, how about you?
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7. |
Just Like You
03:23
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Maybe I’m just like you and I’m sick of all these ridiculous things I do
Maybe you’re just like me and you fall a part so expertly
Maybe we’re just like them and we screw it up every time and time again
But I don’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
Oh I don’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
Out in the weekend lights we learn to choose our battles and pick our fights
Out on the frozen sea we come to dance so recklessly
Out in the violent storm we gather our regrets to keep us warm
But I don’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
Oh I don’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
Some days hit you worse than others
Cast into the valley of the jilted lovers
And I never hit the bottom but I keep on sinking
But somewhere in the darkness I get to thinking that
Maybe I’m just like you and I’m sick of all these ridiculous things I do
Maybe you’re just like me and we fall a part so expertly
Maybe we can just agree that I’m gonna lean on you and you can lean on me
And I won’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
Oh I won’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
I don’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
Oh I don’t ever wanna be with someone not like you
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8. |
Lower Your Weapon
03:47
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We’re stuck here together, we don’t have a choice
If you lower your weapon I will lower my voice
And maybe we can think about what makes us the same
And let’s not get hung up on my face or my name
Or the circumstance that brought my people to here
Or the books I have read or the demons I fear
Now all that I know is mostly things I have heard
And I’ve come to repeat them like some old mockingbird
Now the contrary voices, they don’t make any sense
So I don’t trust the speaker and I refute evidence
That denies the opinions I’ve learned to repeat
And my rage at this heresy put my boots on the street
Where I proudly declare that I’d sooner be dead
Than embrace this philosophy that I’ve never read
‘Cause it’s something I’ve grown up always saying I hated
It’s a rationale beautifully uncomplicated
But then maybe my enemy is just one more mockingbird
Devoutly repeating this truth that they’ve heard
So let’s come together and sing a new song
But first let’s concede we were probably wrong
To be digging our heels in, proclaiming the word
Of the half-conversation that we actually heard
And that maybe there’s merit in the things we don’t know
And that your path may not be the best way to go
And I won’t get my way and that’s how it should be
And your good ideas will temper the bad ones in me
‘Cause the truth is most likely some place in between
And not shining immaculate at either extreme
As to rule by one scripture with hands over ears
Would suggest we’ve learned nothing these past thousand years
So if somebody tells you that they’ve got it worked out
And they know all the answers and there can be no doubt
And they don’t need to compromise and will not discuss
If their reasoning’s sound and their logic robust
Well I don’t know a lot but I know that they’re wrong
That’s just one mockingbird replicating one song
It may not be easy but it’s time to take pause
Maybe you can sing my song and I promise
I’ll learn to sing yours
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9. |
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It’s been a long and glorious road that’s led to here
But now I feel the days are closing in
Now I don’t see nothing wrong with a little healthy competition
But I don’t like what it takes to win
(sing to me)
Anyone can see that this house is falling down
I don’t believe you can fix it from inside
And so we ask ourselves what colour to paint these crumbling walls
And even then we can’t decide
Oh tell me mama
How am I free to choose
When I cannot believe the news
Oh it’s just the goddam constitutional blues
Now I try to fool my mind with the blindest of optimism
I sing “everything’s gonna be alright”
But that only really served to pour a little gasoline
Onto the dying of the light
Oh tell me mama
How am I free to choose
When I cannot believe the news
Oh it’s just the goddam constitutional blues
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10. |
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And we breathe
Take a minute or two
And allow for the fallout to settle
On this test of American metal
And just see what remains
And we stand
Is there any with wisdom enough here to offer a reason
For the two armies, each one yelling treason
That doesn’t call them insane?
So let your freedom ring
We all listen but we don’t hear the same thing
And I’ve done all I can but I don’t understand
It all makes about as much sense to me
As person, man, woman, camera, TV
Oh I’ve tried
Honest I have
To identify some kind of meaning
To disavow any radical leanings I may have kept from my youth
And I’ve tried
Heaven knows how I’ve tried
To see it all from another perspective
And wind up somewhere close to objective
Like maybe the truth
So let your freedom ring
We all listen but we don’t hear the same thing
And I’ve done all I can but I don’t understand
It all makes about as much sense to me
As person, man, woman, camera, TV
Well okay
Let’s just say that I’m wrong
And the deep state reeled me in like a sucker
Those nefarious snowflake motherfuckers
They put their feet in my shoes
But even if
You convince me of this
And I repent for my godless behavior
I just can’t believe any credible saviour would take the form of Ted Cruz
So let your freedom ring
We all listen but we don’t hear the same thing
And I’ve done all I can but I don’t understand
It all makes about as much sense to me
As person, man, woman, camera, TV
And I’ve done all I can but I don’t understand
Y’all make about as much sense to me
As person, man, woman, camera, TV
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