"I Am Gemini" (2012)

This House Alive lyrics - Cursive

There are voices in the attic
Wispy whispers past the cabinets
Filled with tawny photographs
I am stolid, I am steadfast
Where there's panic, lingers relapse
Oh, no; those breakdown days are done
This house alive
I can hear the floorboards breathe

Creak, creak

Are these angels come to take me?
If so, I'll wave my white flag willingly
I have shed my snake-skinned past
Clustered flies hinder the windows
For every angel there's a devil
Oh no, make these voices go away

I was a God-fearing boy
Sure, I stumbled more than once
But so did his begotten son

An orphan, thrown out to the wolves
Not prodigal, far worse

I was hustled, I was scorned
Made a criminal...

But I stand here reformed

There are voices in the dead of night
A child screaming, "I am Gemini!"
Oh, what are you, and why?
Are you specter? Are you spirit?
Am I lucid, am I losing it?
Oh no, this macabre facade
These walls, paper thin

Warmer Warmer lyrics - Cursive

You're blowing through the home like a hurricane
Shooting through the rooms like a bullet train
Oh no, looking for what you shouldn't
You're going to wish you didn't
You can find pleasure in the crux of pain
It seems you've find a way to dance on your own grave
You're digging deeper when you say:

Come out, come out
I heard such shouting from the wings
I know you're up there

Lurking ... watching ...

We could play a game of hot and cold
Your fingers nearly froze looking through those old photos
It ain't a memory you're seeking
It's more like a feeling
Inspiration's a funny thing
The more the mind wilts, the more of a wellspring
You're getting warmer when you sing:

Come out, come out
Don't be so proud, so obstinate
I know you're up there
Out, come out
Before I doubt your existence
You must be somewhere

Out, come out
Unveil this shroud wherever you are
Whoever you are, or should I say, whatever you are

I am, you are, oh-oh, oh-oh
I AM! I AM!

Warmer, warmer, house on fire
Warmer, warmer, cut the telephone wire
Warmer, warmer, cried the farmer's wife
Warmer, warmer, with a carving knife
Warmer, warmer, squealed the little pig
Warmer, warmer, let me in

Warmer, warmer! You're getting hot
Warmer, warmer! You're burning up
Warmer, warmer, or have you had enough?

The Sun And Moon lyrics - Cursive

You're like the Sun and I'm the Moon
A mere reflection of your magnitude
A replica cast across the room
A remedy for your solitude

Because you are my Sun and I'm your Moon
I am the one without a name
You are the glue; I'm bonded to you

I can see through you like a two-way mirror

No man's tried the trials you've been through
I see behind your eyes the horror that haunts you
Hanging over your shoulder
Hanging over your shoulder

Who's that misfit sitting in the corner?
The things that kid did are cloistered like a coma
Hanging over your shoulder
Hanging over your shoulder

My flesh and blood? It can't be true
You're everything I could never be
I was no one, now I'm two
You're actually here acknowledging that I am the we that makes us complete

It sure has been a lapper's life, living in these shadows
No that's not quite right
It was an illustrious life, until you eclipsed my lustre

Who was there when you dined with Dionysus?
Who'd you think that was, nourishing your hubris?
Hanging over your shoulder
Hanging over your shoulder

Who was there, engorged in Gommorah?
Who'd you think that was, dancing in the sulphur?
Hanging over your shoulder
I was hanging over your shoulder, singing in your ear

You're like the Sun and I'm the Moon
You're like the Sun and I'm the Moon

Well, maybe I'm like the Sun and you're the Moon?
Nah, you're like the Sun and I'm the Moon

Drunken Birds lyrics - Cursive

Mimicry's the most ulcerous form of mockery
It rewards me handsomely
Don't kill the mockingbird

Two teaspoons of the old elixir!

Magpie looks in the mirror
The external world seems to disappear
What, exactly, do you see in there?

Four teaspoons of the old elixir!

Drunken birds falling off the balcony
You got to flap them wings
Learning how to teach your parrot to speak...
A couple more drinks, hear the jailbird sing
How a lifetime cooped up has left him cagey

Repeat after me: I need to delete all history
Some things are best left repressed
Albatross necktie looks so dignified
But you got to loosen it up

Eight teaspoons of the old elixir!

Drunken birds weaving through sycamores...
How to teach your parrot to speak...
A couple more drinks, hear the jailbird sing
How a lifetime cooped up has left him cagey
Cagey!

I need to delete all history

Sixteen spoons of the old elixir
Thirty-two spoons of the old elixir
Sixty-four spoons of the old elixir

Night, night!
Night, night!

Double Dead lyrics - Cursive

Out cold, run over by the boulder of Sisyphus
Doesn't it seem to get a bit repetitive?
Over and over and over again
You got clean, climbing up that hill was an impressive feat
To think of all the demons you had to jockey
Just to see that boulder bounding!

Double dead - the first time was your worst mistake
This second one should take the cake
And smear it all over the mirror!

Out cold, cozy in the mausoleum of your home
Dozing to the shuffle of a metronome ticking out of time -
I-I-I'm, I-I-I'm, uh-uh, I'm a devil, I'm an angel
I'm whichever shoulder you've been glancing over
The boulder's getting closer, it can't be outrun
Time to take your medicine!

Double dead - you and me have got history
You and me have got symmetry
Two sides of the same loin
Double dead - I'm the shears that Samson feared
I'm the whisper in your ear -
Now, be a good little boy and do as you're told
Let's hit the road
One for the money, two for your head...

Double dead!

Double dead - the first time was so innocent,
This second one is insolent.
Double dead - you and me, we've got history,
But no real future I can see.

Gemini lyrics - Cursive

Crusted bloodstains down the nape of my neck
Concussed rhythms swelling in my bed
Who has been controlling everything I do and say?
They sure as hell have made some foul mistakes
Wait, something's shifting in this symmetry
Something's missing in my memory

Somebody's building a monster, it seems
And the parts look a lot like mine
Gemini! Gemini!

Gemini! Gemini!
Gemini! Gemini!
Memory missing
Symmetry shifting?
The old Sun has lumbered into a deep slumber
My Moon is soon on the rise

GEMINI!

Twin Dragon / Hello Skeleton lyrics - Cursive

Spotlight on center stage!

It's all the rage, hear them cry!
The unveiling of a Gemini

Welcome to the arcade!
Step right up, don't be afraid
The beast is chained

See the hate in his eyes!
The awakening of Gemini
Hear him howl, see him spit!
Take a picture with the kids

Oh, quit this bravado bullshit
I AM, again, the swan, the twin dragon!

Too much of a good thing
Has rendered you a pawn
And issued me a queen

All my rooks, all my knights!
To the christening of Gemini

What spoils will this evening bring?
Little piggies run and hide
From the majesty of Gemini
So, I'll huff and I'll puff
And I'll blow this house up
Oh,I may have just done myself in
I AM, again
I AM, I am, I am, I am

I AM! I am the holy second coming
I AM! I am the very double crossing
I am, and don't you ever forget that
I am not one half, I am wholly intact

What would that poor coward say
If only he'd see "him" this way?
Maybe he'd wake up, yeah
Maybe he'd finally behave
More like a man should behave
Maybe less like a nun
I swear he was stunted as a child
Meanwhile, I was
Stranded! Abandoned!
I AM, again, the swan, the twin dragon!

Now that I've paid my dues
I'm going to paint this bloody town
Black and blue

All the rage, hear them cry!
It's the rampage of a Gemini

Hear that whimper in the night?
The swan song of a Gemini

I've done deeds I could never repeat - skeletons
History can be so strangling - skeletons
All of our sins are rising again like skeletons
Someone, please, I must be seeing things
All these skeletons

I've done deeds I could never repeat - skeletons
Past mistakes climbing up from their graves - skeletons
All of our sins are rising again like skeletons
How could this be, dancing in front of me?
Hello, skeleton
Who could this be acting just like me?
Hello, skeleton

Wowowow lyrics - Cursive

The hollow at night, a blood swollen moon
An organ-grinder, his chimp churn out of tune
Carnival lights, a barker's decree
Pickled punks, oddities, freaks, all in one ring

I heard there exists a set of Siamese twins
Sisters sharing everything - wow!

An old cabaret, the dance of the bee
Like a swan I float up on stage looking for honey
A back alleyway, cloaked in red light
Coquettes in concupiscent dress bat their eyes

What have we here in my midst?
So it's true, you do exist
Thoughts long lost come crashing in

A birthday boy in the month of June
Blew out his cake, his wish came true
Splattered blood all over the floor
Gemini, what have you done?
What horrid wolves we've become
Oh-oh-oh

Wowowow!

We are the alone
We had no one
Only ourself
Never ever leave me
Without the sun, there is no moon
Without a me, there is no you
Oh... oh... oh...

Wowowow...

The Cat And Mouse lyrics - Cursive

A little mouse creeps as the mighty tomcat sleeps
He's been up for forty nights, he needs his forty winks
To think of all the mischief his teeth did sink
I can nearly taste it

Some scars heal and practically fade away
While some reveal a past you can't escape
And others still are entirely fake

So what's it going to be, my long lost brother?
Show your scars
Are you going to be my long lost brother
After all?
I don't really need a long lost brother
Tearing me apart
Let's start knocking them nine lives off

I know what you are, I know what you're doing
I know what this is, it's a bloodletting

When the cat's away, it's said the mouse will play
Oh, but this little mouse was brainwashed to behave
Now the cat's out of the bag and someone's got to pay
Here kitty kitty

All my life I've been made to do what's right
Well, all my life is going to end tonight
And you my pet are my first sacrifice

So what's it going to be, my long lost brother?
Pass or fail
Are you going to be my long lost brother?
Heads or tails
I never really had a brother
But it doesn't hurt to be double sure

I know what you are, I know what you're doing
I know what this is, it's a bloodletting
I know what you are, I know what you're after
You're a dead ringer, you're a doppelgänger

Kill the demon, kill your doppelgänger
Kill the demon, kill your doppelgänger
Kill the demon, kill your doppelgänger
Kill the demon, kill your doppelgänger

A Birthday Bash lyrics - Cursive

Repeat after me: I will not repeat
The horrifying dreams I cannot delete
Try as I might to erase my mind
I keep finding traces of you inside

Repeat after me: I will not repeat
The lust and the greed and the gluttony
Try as I might to erase my mind
I keep doubling back to Gemini

Now that I've got you all tied up in knots
We're going to tell the tale that I almost forgot
We're going to recreate what I should've stopped
We're going to blow this unholy house to dust
We're going to have a birthday bash just for us

Line up the candles, two by two
Two for every year beaten black and blue
Two for every monster more deformed
By forced reform!

So here's we are again, living in the scene of the crime
So, how's it all look, are the decorations right?
The only difference is, now we've got these big red sticks
Two by two, you got to help me get them lit

Light them up, light them up
Light them up, light them up

A troubled little boy stranded in an orphanage
An imaginary friend hidden underneath his skin
An identical twin, whispering inside his head:

Stab with all your heart, I want to see red

We're going to blow this unholy house to dust!
Come on, light it up!
We're going to blow this unholy house to dust!
Come on, light it up!
Light it up! Light it up!
Light it! Light it!

Eulogy For Name Name lyrics -

Soon as you were born, you were aborted
Cast away
Child of moral doctrine and rape
Lord knows, the monsters that marriage makes

Lost wolves void of direction
Head south, thrown in connections
They gave you no name, gave you no name
They gave you no name

A lifetime of brawling with demons
Makes a fallen man
Even on his deathbed he's beaten
Pinned by his fiendish inner twin
Such turmoil in your head
Will it never let you rest?

Blank cake, a blank birth certificate
Blank boy made a decision
They gave you no name, gave you no name
So, you'll give yourself a name:

I am Gemini

A twin star burst into being

I am Gemini

Splattered on the orphanage ceiling
The other children ran off in terror
On your dying day, does absolution even work?
On this, your dying day, do you curse the universe...
Do you wish you never were?

Lost twin screaming in the attic
No remedy, no respite
You gave him no name, you gave him no name
So, he gave himself a name

"Mama, I'm Swollen" (2009)

In The Now lyrics - Cursive

Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know

We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell
We’re wearing out our heels
On a road to hell

While history repeats
The present won’t repent
So history repeats
Cus present won’t repent
So history repeats
Cus present won’t repent
Repeat repeat repeat

Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now
Don’t wanna know what I know
Don’t wanna live in the now

From The Hips lyrics - Cursive

I'm at my best when I'm at my worst
I'm at worst when it's not rehearsed
I don't wanna know the goddamn words
I don't wanna have to spell it out
Don't wanna mumble what i'm trying to say
I wanna scream it from my foaming mouth
Shoot out the lights and ride away

I'm at my worst when I'm at my best
I'm at my best when I'm trying to look
And think and talk and sing and read and write
Like all the rest
We're all just trying to play our rolls
In a play that runs ad nauseam
I hate this damn enlightenment
We were better off as animals, right?

We're at our best when it's from our hips
From our hips we don't give a shit
It just feels good and that's no sin
It's the only way to feel alive
The closest thing to being born again
And when baby comes it's job well done
Roll in the hay, oh roll around the sun

We're at our worst when it's from our lips
From our lips we caused a rift,
And world has fallen in
From babble to ball room brawls
Our words have formed a death sentence
And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all

And I wish that we had never talked
Our hips said it all

I Couldn't Love You lyrics - Cursive

Love may be man-made
But it must exist
It's what you want the most
And most resist
Love's polluted
No, no, it's pure
It's convoluted
One thing I could say for sure
I couldn't love you anymore

I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore

It's a game of fetch
We'll never win
You throw me out
It brings us back
You throw me out again
Loves an affliction
No, it's a cure
It's a contradiction that harms and heals
Adores and abhors
I couldn't love you anymore

I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore

Love is a tantrum
Love is an interlude
Love is an instinct
Not now, dear, I'm not in the mood anymore

No, no, no, no, no
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

It's no big deal
It's not worth losing sleep
You over-analyze
The simplest things
Love's what you take
But can never give
Love's what you hate
You'll never figure out what it's for
I couldn't love you anymore

I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore
I couldn't love you anymore

Donkeys lyrics - Cursive

Don't lie, where have you been?
Your teeth are red, your eyes are peppermints
Sailing out to sea with your new best friend
You don't like the way you live so you play pretend
But isn't it time you act your age?
You got a mortgage on your shoulder, got a babe on the way
You shrug it off with a jackass grin
Thinking once you clean up you're going to do it again
He says

Whoa, oh, oh no
I'm going to Pleasure Island, I don't want to come home
Whoa, oh, oh no
The reverend says beware, he swears we're going to hell
We may be donkeys but at least we have a tale to tell

Don't start with the slap on the wrist
I don't need no cease and desist
I ain't fooling around and it ain't no sin
So you best be stepping back because ugly ultimatums
And never you mind what your old maid says
There ain't nothing to complain so long as you're earning bread
She's got a way of getting under your skin
She plants a little seed of doubt, the guilt blossoms
She says

Whoa, oh, oh no
You're going to Pleasure Island, you can never come home
Whoa, oh, oh no
The problem with you, kid, is you can't say no
You can't take a little nibble, you got to lick the bowl

I pushed off, I'm sailing away
And I ain't looking back
I can't look at that face
This just might be my greatest mistake
So when the future turns away for the present's presence
My life was born of pleasure, but it sure wasn't pleasant
He says

Whoa, oh, oh no
I'm going to Pleasure Island, I ain't never going home
Whoa, oh, oh no
I'll make an ass out of myself before I say I'm broke
Yeah, I'll soon be bucking around in the mud

Whoa, oh, oh no
I'm going to Pleasure Island, I ain't never going home
Whoa, oh, oh no
The reverend says beware, he swears we're going to hell
The sheriff says be careful, they're going to throw us in jail

We may be donkeys but at least we have a tale to tell

Caveman lyrics - Cursive

I want to live life duty free
Let my instincts take the lead
I want to take what I can get
Don't want to choose don't want to beg
I want down from this family tree
I don't need no upward mobility

I want to unlearn what I've learned
Want to unearn what I've earned
Want to burn my bridges down
Find a place I can't be found
This is my manifesto destiny
Tear down this awkward mobility

Because I'm tired of standing upright
The taller we become the more dollars we can grab from that highest branch
And then step on your back given the chance
But not me I'm a bipedal backpedaler just as sure-footed as I can

I'm no high society man
No suit and tie, no Dapper Dan
I'm no happy family man
I'm no husband, ain't no dad
I'm a goddamn caveman
This upward mobility is more than I can understand

I won't stand, no, I won't stand for it
I won't stand, no, I won't stand for it
I won't stand, no, I won't stand for it

I'd rather be all hands and knees
Yeah, I'd rather be swinging in the trees
With the monkeys and the junkies and bums and sloths and jailbird canaries
Yeah that's me I'm a bipedal backpedaler from sea to shining sea

We're Going To Hell lyrics - Cursive

Don’t tell me what you’ve done
Cus I don’t wanna know
You say it’s not so hard
Just let your conscience go

You’re flashing me that politicians grin
You got your image squeaky clean
You’ve such a fetching smile
But a maw with sharp teeth

We’re going to hell, we’re going to hell
We’re going to hell, we’re going to hell

So show me some remorse
Show me a little guilt
Don’t tell me we’re just animals
Awaiting our next kill

I’ve been disciplined by religion, by fear
So I can’t quite seem to keep my thought pure
I’ve a hunger for the deviant
And a thirst for worse

We’re going to hell, we’re going to hell
We’re going to hell, we’re going to hell my friends

So what’s that something sinister inside
We act so civilized
Devils in tuxedos
Our sordid hearts are far too hard to hide
What’s that ‘neath the floorboards?

Boom boom
Boom boom
Boom boom

We’re going to hell, we’re going to hell
We’re going to hell, we’re going to hell

Mama, I'm Satan lyrics - Cursive

You're going to do what I say
And say what I say
You stretch your peacock feathers
You're always on display
Don't act so goddamned conflicted
You wouldn't have it any other way

You're going to write down these words
And pass them along
You're going to fill your book
With your rights and wrongs
You're going to tell your lurid world
The true intentions of these songs

I'm writing out a confession
Every record I've written has left me smitten
A career in masturbation
All in all we're pawns
The ego of mankind stirs in us all

You want to wipe that slate
And start all over again
You want to hide your face
In shame of what your grandpappy did
Pretty soon here we'll all be grandfathers
And our offspring will sing the same shit

The world was built on ego
It was built on slaves
The world was built on a tickle
Between our legs
Come on, you big strong man
You wouldn't have it any other way

I'm writing out a confession
My fathers and brothers
Raped your sisters and mothers
We are the sons of butchers
All in all we're pawns
The darkness of mankind stirs in us all

I cast you out
I cast you out
I cast you out
I cast you out
I cast you out
I cast you out
I cast you out
I cast you out

I'll drag you out
I'll drive you out
I'll drug you out
I'll tear you out
I'll cut you out
I'll kick you out
I'll push you out
I'll pull you out
I cast you out
I'll curse you out
I'll shut you out
I'll shit you out
I'll clean you out
Grab a rope and hang you out to dry
Now I'll damn you out
I cast you out
I'll shove you out
I'm staying
All in all we're pawns
The darkness of mankind stirs in us all

Let Me Up lyrics - Cursive

Diseased heat
August on the 101
Let me up
The pale moon
Offers no consolations
Would you let me up?
Mosquitoes fat with our marrow
Ebb and flow through the gumbo
This humid bouillon a cesspool
Stop
Won't someone please let me up?
We're buoyed in
Atop the mercury
Let me up
We're the salt of the earth
From a cell of the surf, this universe
Well let me up
Let me up
(Why won't you let me up?)

I once had gills but they closed up
Had webbed feet but they dried up
Still have lungs but they're sewn up
Stop
Stop
Won't someone just let me up?
Oh
We don't exist
In an instant
Let me up
There's a hole in the floor
As black as my momma's womb
Those were the days
Won't you let me up?
I can't stop thinking of the time
I was swallowed in the brine
Won't you let me up?
Let me up
Mama, the planet is a placenta
Pull the plug
Let the heavens rise above
Won't you let me up?
Let me up
Let me up
Let me up
Let me up
Let me up
I can't stop dreaming of the day
I got swallowed into space
Let me up
Let me up
Let me up
Let me up
Let me up
I'm drowning in the egg
Let me up

Mama, I'm Swollen lyrics - Cursive

I was alone
I was at home
Until the fabric was torn
The cord was cut
My orbit had begun

I was a simple being
I was simply being
Until I caught my own reflection
In a spoon

I am the egg
I am the spark
The fire in the dark
I am fertilized, fully actualized
A loaded gun
Born near the blood red sun
Born near the blood red sun

I am not ignorant
I am intelligent
I'm not an ape
I am the way
I am the truth

I am religion
I am politics
I am a psychoanalyst
I'm an inkblot shaped like Zeus

I'm not an egg
I'm a runny yolk
Got no faith, I got no hope
I'm the joke of all existence
I am no one
Burning beneath the blood red sun
Just a burning beneath the blood red sun

I am the body and the blood
The earthquake and the flood
I am the cancer born and growing in each and everyone
To the beat of a blood red sun
To the beat of a blood red sun

What Have I Done? lyrics - Cursive

A year now and nothing much has changed
Holed up in a motel in El Paso
This was meant to be my great escape
I got lost along the way
Amongst free HBO and take out

Going to write my Moby Dick
More like scratching lyrics on paper plates
I spent the best years of my life
Waiting on the best years of my life
So what's there to write about?

What have I done? What have I done?
So is this my destiny?
From starlight into eternity
The gods must be laughing down at me
Ha, ha, ha

A traveling salesmen at twenty years old
Stranded in Ann Arbor with a flat tire
I watched the sun sadly set
Any younger, I may have wept
Much older, I wouldn't noticed

But I was out there in the world
Yeah, then the world, it passed me by
I was telling everyone back home
That I was taking it by storm
Instead, I watched it from the roadside

What have I done? What have I done?
Are these the best tales I can spin?
A boy waiting to begin
A man of no memoirs

What have I done? What have I done?
And you're young and you're gonna
You're gonna be someone

And you're old and you're
You're ashamed of what you've become
Well, take a look around you
You're preaching to the choir

Tell me darling, what have I done?
And I don't, don't know, what have I done?
What have I done? What have I done?
What have I done? What have I done?
What have I done? What have I done?

Oh, tell me darling, what have I done?
Oh, c'mon baby, now, what have I done?
Oh, what have I done? What have I done?
What have I done? What have I done?
What have I done?

"Happy Hollow" (2006)

Opening The Hymnal / Babies lyrics - Cursive

Welcome one,
And welcome all
To our small town,
The lyrics are the voice
Of the neurosis of a city
inside each house
you'll find the guilt
The fables and folly
Of the residents residing in...

[barely audible]

Fourteen hymns for the heathens…

Baby, baby, baby
This world must seem
So immense compared to the womb,
And baby baby,
Your head must seem
So much smaller than you assumed
Your whole world
Seems to center around you
Be easy to make the mistake
That maybe you’re why the world was made,

Baby, baby, baby,
You learn so fast,
You seem to carry a special gift
Maybe you’ve been given
To this world to make a difference

Such delusions we all struggle with
But the beautiful truth of it is
This is all we are,
We simply exist
You’re not the chosen one
I’m not the chosen one
But we don’t need anyone
Let’s not choose anyone

Dorothy At Forty lyrics - Cursive

Dorothy, I know you've had amazing dreams
We can't go chasing down each golden street
Each and every rainbow, each passion, each unattainable goal
We're not in dreamland anymore

Dorothy, it seems you'll never understand
This here land is everything we have
Every sweat-stained collar, every dollar,
every bent and bloodied spur
We're not the kids that we once were
We can't be the adults we want to be

Dreams are all you have, dreams have held you back
Dreamers never live, only dream of it
Dream cars, dream houses, dream jobs, dream spouses
Dreams of tornadoes, cities of emerald

And I know we swore we'd make more of ourselves
but this plot is literally our lot in life.

American dreams pollute our cities
Our piece of the pie can't fill our bellies
(More!) More square inches
(More!) Picket fences
(More!) Clothes on the line
(More!) Naps at noontime
More of our fair share
More of our birthright
More of what we're owed

More...

Paid vacation
(More!) Entertainment
(More!) Compensation
(More!) Gratuitous gratification

Dorothy, wake up, Dorothy, wake up
Dorothy, wake up, it's time for work

Big Bang lyrics - Cursive

Before we ever saw straight, we were grasping at straws
A debate was born, picket lines were drawn
There was this big bang once, now we're learning to use our thumbs

We need a purpose in life, a survival guide
We need explanations for how we arrived
There was this big bang once, now we're standing on our own two feet
There was this big bang once, we've been sharpening up our teeth

They say there was this big bang once, but the clergyman doesn't agree, oh no
There was this big bang once, but it don't jive with Adam and Eve
Original sin, idyllic garden
Some talking snake giving apples away
What would that snake say if he could only see us today?
Ha ha ha!

There was this big bang once and we were left here to fill in the blanks
There was this big bang once, now we're aimlessly drifting in space
We're gonna need an explanation for rational thought
Enlightenment and the weight of our hearts
In a world of entropy, why can't we just simply be?
And don't feed me lines, intelligent design

There was this big bang once, why are we back down on our knees, huh?

Bad Sects lyrics - Cursive

For 20 years I've held this pulpit
Preached the word, served the Eucharists
Gained the trust of the townsfolk
Made every football game, never missed a social
Last week a boy I taught theology
Came back in town with a new ideology
Those feelings I tucked away
Threaten the sanctuary
A lifetime of burning culminated in one innocent forbidden touch
I know this is wrong
Cause I'm taught this is wrong

A new recruit, 25 years old
He joined the habit with a chip on his shoulder
Some nights he'd proclaim his preference
But only flat back drunk on a bottle of Jameson
One of those nights we stayed up, the two of us
Singing our lives, just the two of us
We were hiding in the dark
I fell asleep by his side
We woke to the chimes of the bells in the steeple, and ran off to separate rooms
They can't know what we've done
Our whole world would come undone

You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down
You'll never live this down

They're gonna find you out
And when they find you out
They're gonna drag you out! Don't let them find you!

I know this is wrong
Cause we're told this is wrong
A lifetime of burning culminated in one innocent forbidden touch
I know this is wrong
Cause we're told this is wrong

Flag And Family lyrics - Cursive

Your daddy and my daddy had a drink at the bar
Talking about what was best for me
Without an aim or a degree,
Stubbornly holding on to you
And you pulling away from me

The best that they could say
For my restless teenage ways
Was some time in the service might serve me well,
Even if it’s just servicing the latrines

Lucy my love, don’t go sending me off to war

I put up with your family,
Full of bigots and fanatics,
Just to get a little closer to you,
Now you’ve turned on me too
You have turned on me too.

Go hide behind your flag and family
This town has nothing left for me
This town is nothing more
Than a fundamentalist penitentiary

When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for holy war?
When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for oily war?
Lucy my love, don’t go sending me off to war

We must live,
We must true to our childhood dreams,
Or they’re worthless and our youth is insincere

So where do we find worth?

I put up with your family,
Full of bigots and fanatics,
Just to get a little closer to you,
Now you’ve turned on me too
You have turned on me too.

When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for holy war?
When you’re down on your knees
Are you praying for oily war?
Lucy my love, don’t go sending me off to war

We must live,
We must true to our childhood dreams,
Or they are worthless and our youth is insincere

So where do we find worth?

Dorothy Dreams Of Tornadoes lyrics - Cursive

You said we'd leave next year
Each year for thirteen years
Each year, it gets harder to hear
It's getting hard enough just to stay in love

And now our roots grow deep
Beneath these barren streets
I've had the darkest dreams
The city's pipes and wires
Run through our nerves and veins

And those nights, after a double shift, I feel it
The dashed plans you never dared to live
They used to light up your eyes
Those bulbs have long burned out

Let a tornado tear through
Let it tear straight through our roof
And let the rain pour in
I'll scream, "Babe, this is it!
We'll leave the house in ruins
If we escape right now, we just might make it out"

This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
It's killing us

It's killing us

This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
This city, this city's killing us
It's killing us
It's killing us
It's killing us

Retreat!! lyrics - Cursive

They checked the shrine and the temple,
But he wasn't there.
They checked the mosque and the chapel,
Nope, not there.

Since you've been away on holiday,
The natives are all nightmares.
Since you've been away on holiday,
I daydream you'll disappear.
You keep us on a leash we can't conceive,
But still must adhere to.

The natives are whipping each other,
Over which god they prefer.
I wish you'd do us all a favor,
And just differ.

Since you've been away on holiday,
We don't know which god is which.
And since you've been away on holiday,
It's getting harder to give a shit.

So if you stayed away on holiday,
We could get on with it.
I mean, we could evolve like this,
If you'd just call it quits.

Since you've been away on holiday,
We've stomached your archaic rule.
And since you've been away on holiday,
We've hosted some wars over you.

So stay away on holiday, my friend,
We don't need your services;
Your excuses --
Your "mysterious ways" [x4]

What a mysterious way to behave.
What a mysterious way to just go away.

Lord let us go! [x16]

The Sunks lyrics - Cursive

Surrender your furniture
push the television out the window
overmedicated, this must be the sunks
if you can't understand the blues you don't know much

With much love for science and a youthful defiance
we struck blindly at the roots of this tree
whose branches got broken, pissed on and trampled

O please forgive us o mighty shady tree
O please forgive us o mighty doomsday tree

It's time to stick your branches
in the merciless wheel of Time
It's time to stick your branches
in the merciless spokes of Time
It's time to stick a fork in the merciless socket of Time
It's time to be sewn into the limitless fabric of Time

They'll call you a wash up
when you can't stay sunk
it's a shame to be so wet so young
living your life with much love for science

At Conception lyrics - Cursive

Jeanie's been throwing up all morning
Poor girl's been so heartsick ever since her boyfriend went to war
Father Cole's done his best to console the girl-
more so than some neighbors deem necessary-
but you just can't measure young love.

Picketing the clinic outside town,
Father Cole holds the record for turning twelve girls around.
If anybody knows the sorrows of the young woman, it's...

Father Cole, he's been acting out of sorts;
that strange sermon he gave accepting termination due to rape.
Jeannie whispered, "She's carrying" but there's one awful catch:
her boyfriend's been off in the desert for half a year.

Cole cried, "This simply cannot be!"

She quipped, "Quite the opposite-
I'm hardly the Virgin Mary...and you're no carpenter.
So, who will build my home?"

"Jeannie, you're just a kid. You can't conceive such mortal sins.
Everything will be alright...what happens in confession stays in the confessional."

So what goes on behind those curtains?

"Jeannie, you're just a kid, you WON'T conceive this mortal sin."

So-So Gigolo lyrics - Cursive

If you've got the looks
And if you've got the goods
I suppose you can make it
Anywhere you wanna get made

And you wanna get made...

My model agent says
You've got to get paid
You've got a special gift
You can't just give it away

For free... Don't give it up for free

And when my daddy calls
Asking how it's going
on them streets
All I can say is

I'm not exactly a salesman
Sure there's a product I'm selling
Guess you could say I'm an actor
Though acting's not what they're after

No, not quite

Sure this service
Is a popular year
More popular than my acting
Or my modeling career

This city
Has quite the service industry

Small town Adonis
Hits the Metropolis
Is brought down to his knees

Guess I'm a so-so gigolo
Guess I'm a so-so gigolo

Every audition
my agent commissions
Isn't so much an audition
So much as a job

I guess a job's a job

I thought that if they saw
How bad I wanted the part
The very least
They'd have to take pity on me

A word this city's never heard

So-so gigolo [x6]

I'm not exactly a salesman
Sure there's a product I'm selling
Guess you could say I'm an actor
Though acting's not what they're after

Bad Science lyrics - Cursive

Moms and dads break up their gangs,
take away their roller skates
Give them algebra and trig
raisins, dates, or figs
But take away the gingerbread and cake

Every husband, every wife, every cop, every teacher
everybody do the taking away
every law, every curfew, ever Bible-branded textbook
watch the kiddies do the breaking away

Moms and dads say,
"No more bands
no side projects, no solo careers
no young love
no kissing fish
no pets at all
no fun
and
I think we've had enough art, Mr. Marks."

Every molecule, every atom, every single particle
down to the quark

Do the breaking apart!

No skateboard no swimming pools
until you've finished your state approved chemistry,
kid!
Break it down to the electron and quark
and please tell us what happens when the particles spark

Every molecule, every atom, every single particle
down to the quark

Do the breaking apart!

Into The Fold lyrics - Cursive

[The Shepherd:]
I can't say I've always been honest; you can't say I've done a disservice.
The girl, she's just a child. She's got a lot to learn, and I'm helping out.

Your deceit is under your wing. You won't let her go.
You know it's not appropriate. Into the fold, into the fold.
But all that hair...and porcelain.
You swear it's more than mere lust. Into the fold. Into the fold.
If she knew what you do, the pristine routine to fool the rube.
The gentle gentlemen, the loathed Lothario.
You feign you've changed your ways, but we know, yeah, we know.
Can't you quell this need for submissives?

[The Shepherd:]
Oh, such lovely girls. To lead each other tender little lamb into the fold,
into the fold. And you, my pet, "The Sweetest Yet"-I'll hold you closest to my heart,
into the fold...

Into the fold, into the fold, into the fold, into the fold!

[The Lamb:]
I was in the student union studying for an English quiz;
he came up and asked direction to the new auditorium.
We walked up and down the campus, no one had ever heard of it.
He was so embarrassed when he realized he had the wrong college,
he offered to buy us coffee for the time and effort wasted.
We drank and talked for so long, we started making plans for dinner...

[The Shepherd:]
She was young and impressionable; I pretended to need directions.
She led me all over the campus. All the while, I'm asking her questions.
She agreed to have a cup of coffee-that's when I started to lay it on heavy.
Once she learned I studied Dostoevsky, it was in the bag.

Rise Up!! Rise Up!! lyrics - Cursive

Dear preacher, thanks for making time for me today
Hope you don't mind if I hide behind the curtain
It's been fifteen years since my last confession
By your good book's standards, I've sinned like a champion
But that book seems a tad bit out-dated

Please forgive me, for questioning divinity
It's an ugly job, but I think I'm up for it
I'm not saying who's right
I'm just saying there's more than one way
To skin a religion
There's more than one way
To explain our existence

Reverend, sir, I don't want to seem malevolent
My teenage angst is far behind me
But father, certainly it's troubling to see
All these people kneeling, instead of dealing
With the fact that we are all we have

So, rise up! rise up!
There's no one to worship!
But plenty of life to lose!
I'm not saying "let's burn down the church"
But do you want to hear my confession?
It's my greatest sin..

Okay, here it is:
I wasted half my life on the thought that I'd live forever!
I wasn't raised, to seize the day, but to work and worship
'cause "he that liveth and believeth" supposedly never dies

Rise up! rise up!
And live a full life!
'cause when it's over, it's done
So rise up! rise up!
Dance and scream and love!

[barely audible outro]
You're not the chosen one
And I'm not the chosen one

Hymns For The Heathen lyrics - Cursive

Night has draped its cape of stars
Over our small town
From the campus and the tavern
To the chapel and infirmary
We've seen their dreams
We've found the goods
The fables and folly
Of the residents residing in...

14 hymns for the heathen
First hymn, the son of God complex
Second hymn, the prodigal damsel
Third hymn, the tree stump of knowledge
Choking on Adam's apple

This odd lot under the cross
This broken promised land
Of dreamers and schemers
And preachers and predators.
They shall not want
What they've got coming to them
Whether innocent or insolent

14 hymns for the heathen
Fourth hymn, the passion of the chaplain
Fifth hymn, the brute kiss of Judas
Sixth hymn, Sodom falls to ashes
Seventh hymn, the church of doubting Thomas
Eighth hymn, a horse of the apocalypse
Ninth hymn, an immaculate exception
Tenth hymn, the demons of Mary Magdalene

I am a chapel, this is prayer book, these are the parables
God, forgive us, this is our business:
absolving sins of all of these heathens

Eleventh hymn, the Bible Belt tightens
Twelfth hymn, a leacherous Shepard
Thirteenth hymn, hiding in confession
Fourteenth hymn, an afterword

Rocking chairs of disenchantment
Green grass of envy and malice
Our salad days, living in Happy Hollow

No News Is Bad News lyrics - Cursive

I took a stroll down a primrose lane on a clear blue day
Everything seemed so perfectly placed
Daises lined each manicured lawn
Well groomed men walked well groomed dogs
Stopped in a bar for a mid-day drink
On search of a scene more inspiring
Shooting off the cap of a ball point pen
Thinking happen, something happen

When everything's in order
Is that what you write about?
There's nothing much new
There's not much to say
Well there's not much to say
I got everything in the news
It occurred to me
No news is bad news
When you trying to spark that fuse
Well you wanna sing them blues

You're waiting 'round for a water to boil
For the fire to lose control
But you can't heat up that kettle
You gotta leave the elements alone
It scares the shit outta me
When weathered writers lose their steam
I'm lonely, getting older, less interesting
You can't make this shit up
You can't make this shit up
You can't make this shit up
You can't make this shit up

When everything's in order
Is that what you write about?
There's nothing much new
There's not much to say
Well there's not much to say
I got everything in the news
It occurred to me
No news is bad news
When you trying to spark that fuse

I stumbled out into a black alley on a blood red dawn
The ramshackle block seemed trampled upon
Shattered glass smeared on burned cement
A stray dog eating from a black bean tin
Stopped in Eddie's for a pick me up
For leads on how the town got so fucked
Bought a bloody mary with tired grin
Saying, too dramatic
Try again

"The Ugly Organ" (2003)

The Ugly Organist lyrics - Cursive

(And now, we proudly present
Songs perverse, and songs of lament.
A couple of hymns of confession,
And songs that recognize our sick obsessions.
Sing along - I'm on the ugly organ.)

Some Red Handed Sleight Of Hand lyrics - Cursive

And now, we proudly present
songs perverse and songs of lament.
A couple of hymns of confession,
and songs that recognize our sick obsessions.
Sing along- I'm on the ugly organ again.
Sing along- I'm on the ugly organ, so lets begin.
There's no use to keep a secret,
everything I hide ends up in lyrics...
so read on- accuse me when you're done-
if it sounds like I did you wrong.

Our father, who art in heaven,
save me from this wreck I'm about to drown in.
Didn't I learn anything counting out
my sins on rosary beads?
The reverend plays on the ugly organ;
he spews out his sweet and salty sermon
on the audience.

...So why do I think I'm any different?

I've been making money off my indifference.
We all pass the hat around,
'This is my body', this is the blood I found
on my hands after I wrote this album.
Play it off as stigmata for crossover fans...
some red handed sleight of hand.

Woah oh.

Art Is Hard lyrics - Cursive

Cut it out - your self-inflicted pain
is getting too routine
the crowds are catching on - to the self-inflicted song
Well, here we go again - the art of acting weak
Fall in love to fail - to boost your CD sales
And that CD sells - yeah, what a hit
You've got to repeat it
you gotta' sink to swim

If at first you don't succeed
you gotta recreate your misery
'cause we all know art is hard
young artists have gotta starve
Try, and fail, and try again
the comforts of repetition
Keep churning out those hits
'til it's all the same old shit

Oh, a second verse!
Well, color me fatigued
I'm hiding in the leaves
in the CD jacket sleeves
tired of entertaining
some double-dipped meaning
a soft serve analogy
This drunken angry slur
in thirty-one flavors
You gotta' sink to swim
immerse yourself in rejection
regurgitate some sorry tale
about a boy who sells his love affairs
You gotta' fake the pain
you better make it sting
you're gonna' break a leg
when you get on stage
and they scream your name
"Oh, Cursive is so cool!"

You gotta sink to swim
impersonate greater persons
'cause we all know art is hard
when we don't know who we are

The Recluse lyrics - Cursive

I wake alone, in a woman's room I hardly know.
I wake alone- and pretend that I am finally home.
The room is littered with her books and notebooks.
I imagine what they say, like, 'Shoo fly, don't bother me,'

And I can hardly get myself out of her bed.
for fear of never lying in this bed again.
Oh Christ, I'm not that desperate. oh no- oh God- I am.

How'd I end up here to begin with? I don't know.
Why do I start what I can't finish?
Oh please, don't barrage me with questions to all those ugly answers.
My ego's like my stomach- it keeps shitting what I feed it.
But maybe I don't want to finish anything anymore..
maybe I can wait in bed 'til she comes home. and whispers.

"you're in my web now - I've come to wrap you up tight 'til it's time to bite down."

I wake alone in a woman's room I hardly know.
I wake alone - and pretend that I am finally home.

Home

Herald! Frankenstein lyrics - Cursive

"Now I can't stop the monster I've created"

Butcher The Song lyrics - Cursive

There's a time and a place, this is neither the time nor the place.
"Where do I fit in, in this jigsaw of a relationship?!?
Why should I play the fall guy to your love?
I keep getting snubbed... what dumb luck, what dumb luck."

'So rub it in... in your dumb lyrics.
Yeah, that's the time and place to wring out your bullshit.
And each album I'll get shit on a little more, 'Who's Tim's latest whore?"
Now, that's not fair - no, that's just obscene.
I'll stop speaking for you if you stop speaking for me.

I'm writing songs to entertian,
but these people... they just want pain.
They want to hear my deepest sins
the songs from the ugly organ.
And what comes out is a horrible mess,
songs I can't forget
what's been said and this guilt I can't shed.
It still rings in my ears - Oh, get out
the butcher's knife.
I've been screaming for years
but it gets me nowhere
just get out the butcher's knife.

That organ's playing my song,
but this song's gone on too long.
What a day to sever such ugly extremities.
"What a lovely day", says the butcher
as he raises his arm.

[Spoken:]
And I am what is left: a puppet!
Laughing at the look of amazment on the musician's face,
Pinocchio dove off the cliff and swam away

Driftwood: A Fairy Tale lyrics - Cursive

[Spoken:]
He swam steadily for most of the day.
Suddenly he found himself approaching an enormous floating cavern.
Could it be an island?
Pinocchio looked closer and he saw two huge rows of sharp,
yellow teeth and he realized his mistake.

So he would sulk and drink and mope
and cross his arms and hope to die.
And then a fairy came one night
to bring this sorry boy to life.
She pulled some strings
and spun him about.
That boy sprang up
and began to shout,
"My arms, my legs, my heart, my face they're alive!"
And she would cry, "Liar, liar!
What have I done?
You're no lover, and I'm no fighter."

(The story goes on)

So he would buy her things and kiss her hair
to show he was for real.
And she would take those gifts and kisses
though just stringing him along.
She knew about those wooden boys-
it's an empty love to fill the void.
"Pinocchio! Oh boy, how your nose has grown!"
So he would cry, "Liar, liar!
I'll prove it to you!"
But then it grew
He had grown tired of her
So it was true
He left her apartment
And he walked all night long
'til he was stopped by the shore of the ocean.
But still he walked on, amongst the whales
and the waves, and screamed
"Liar, liar!"
And his wooden body floated away.
He just drifted away.

And now I wonder how i was made...
my arms, my legs, my heart, my face,
my name is Driftwood.

A Gentleman Caller lyrics - Cursive

Your gentleman caller...
Well, he's been calling on another.
He loves his forbidden fruit...
And as it dribbles down his chin
He cries, "Baby, I've been drinking with some friends! Now how 'bout a little kiss..."
Bad boy...
Rub his nose in it.
What a mess.
... and he's playing dumb.
Do do do do do do do do...

I'm not looking for a lover...
All those lovers are liars.
... I'd never lie to you.
You say you want to get even?
Yeah, you want to get your bad man good?
Well, are you in the mood?

You bad girl...
Does it feel good being bad?
And getting worse?
Do do do do do do do do...

But in the morning,
on the sober dawn of Sunday...
You're not sure what you have done.
Who told you love was fleeting?
Sometimes men can be so misleading
to take what they need from you.
... Whatever you need to make you feel
like you've been the one behind the wheel.
The sunrise is just over that hill,
The worst is over.
Whatever I said to make you think
that love's the religion of the weak..
This morning we love like weaklings.
The worst is over.
The worst is over.

Harold Weathervein lyrics - Cursive

Harold walks down any street of this town
both crier and witness the sun drops clouds shift
his legs twitch

the clocks chime on cafes, pharmacies, and dime stores, in bar rooms he stils all alone erupting.
in his head its like the weather
back and forth its like the weather
when it rains it pours down

Weatherman, do you feel?
Is it stormy inside of your veins?

Bloody Murderer lyrics - Cursive

There's a ghost in my bed
she cries in her sleep
she says I won't let her leave
I lie perfectly still
as she stifles her tears
I don't want to disturb her

'Let go, let go - please let me be
Look at the ghost you've made of me'

Dusk dropped her starry gown
I whispered out
"Sweetie, are you here with me?"
the mirror crashed on the dresser
and she began to scream
"Bloody murderer! Let me rest in peace!"
"When I was yours, you fled the scene,
now you can't wash your hands of me."

Bloody murder
You can't hear the screams

Sierra lyrics - Cursive

In the desert, where the cities are made of gold,
there's a girl playing hopscotch with pink ribbon pigtails.
And her mom calls out from an apartment balcony,
"Come on, baby! Your bath is ready! It's almost time for sleep!"
And I wonder who's the father...
And I wonder what they call her - Sierra.

Does her mother smoke, or does she jog every morning?
Does she drink when she thinks about me?
Or doesn't she need to drink... does she have a man who works a nine to five?
Does he come home to kiss our young Sierra, tuck her in and say goodnight?
(And an extra kiss for mama...)
I want that kiss, that kid, that apartment.

I'm ready to settle down now, so get that man out of my bed.
I want my daughter back now, I want to kiss her,
tuck her in and say, "goodnight, my baby girl, Sierra."

Sierra, Sierra, Sierra, Sierra,

I'll never know who you are, and I don't deserve to.
My little girl, we would've been so... oh, nevermind.
But I'm ready to settle down now - yeah, I'm ready to leave that wrecking ball behind.
I could be your carpenter, and you could be my twinkling north star o'er the desert sky.

Staying Alive lyrics - Cursive

I've decided tonight I'm staying alive just kicking and screaming
I'm... I'm staying alive blood boiling and steaming
There are things far too dark to comprehend
Sleep on it one more night, one more night my sad old friend

Alive, I'm staying alive
Alive, I'm staying alive
Kicking and screaming, blood boiling and steaming
Staying alive

Doo do Doo do Doo do Doo do

The worst is over.

split EP: "8 Teeth To Eat You (Cursive/Eastern Youth)"

Excerpts From Various Notes Strewn Around The Bedroom Of April Connolly, Feb 24, 1997 lyrics - Cursive

Why I should leave...
No
Why I'm leaving you...
For him
Well let's see here...
Well, let's see
Where should i...
Begin?

Everynight you get annihilated with all your friends
And everynight I drink alone until you stumble in the morning sun
It's a fuck and run
I know see it all I see it in the eyes of those girls
Those fucking girls they smile and nod
But never a single word
I'm just in the way
I'm the ball and chain
You're the jailbird chirping how
Hard life is in the cage
And how hard it is waking up next to me...

Well, you've dug this hole
Come on and fill me up
When you said you loved me
I knew I was getting fucked
You said you'd never let go
All that stopped;
You used to turn me on, now we're just getting off
Thats why I'm leaving you

You really really think that guy is gonna make it alright
Since you told me you could never be in love with another man
Oh but this one is it
But I remember when we met we knew that it was the end
Yeah I remember I remember I remember
All those things
Not everything
Summer haircuts
Dollar movies

We used to sneak a six-pack in your bag
And wait for a girl to scream or a car to crash
So we could crack open our cans
And the time you shaved my head in the front yard
A passerby stopped to take a picture
We ended up in the paper
And now you wanna leave
Well maybe I forgot a couple things
It doesn't mean I don't remember how it feels
When you're lying naked next to me

Valentine
I want to feel your hips pressed up against mine
We'll push into eachother
Love's alive
It might be fleeting but it's ours, it's tonight
So won't you reconsider
Love's lost lives
You might be lonely,
But I'm still by your side
You might have to leave
But not tonight

Am I Not Yours? lyrics - Cursive

Who's your school friend?
He left you some messages
He'd love to see you again
Thinks your ideas are brilliant and
Since you've been going out for coffee with him lately,
Is he a pretty good looking guy?
Jealousy
Jealousy
Am I
Am I
Am I
Not yours
Not yours
Not yours
We stopped for some alcohol,
And you stayed in the car.
The bars had gotten out
That line was so long
And I saw you over on the payphone
So I was thinking who do you ever call at 1 am
I wonder who that was.
Jealousy
Jealousy
I am
I am
I am,
Not yours
Not yours
Not yours
We lay in stillness
I stare at our ceilings you're not sleeping
You're not breathing heavily and
I know when you're sleeping you breath so softly on my neck.
Jealousy
Jealousy
I am
I am
I am
Uh huh
Uh huh
Uh huh

Escape Artist lyrics - Cursive

Midnight is rising your eyes adjusting on a sullen, distant and persistent moon the shadows are thickets they swarm with frogs and crickets droning a collective tone once you get lost in it there's no need for turning back twilight has pulled you in strong just like that the weather shifts and something triggers your legs to carry on.
Why are you running away over and over again?
Why are you running in place?
Daylight is shining your retinas are burning burning burning something is evident your legs will carry you on.
The old haunts are real!
It's just a matter of time before they bury you!

May Flowers lyrics - Cursive

I colored this picture for you.
A little girl crying in her room.
Her mom's just outside the door holding her head.
And her brother's outside shooting hoops.
Yeah, you can see him past her windowsill,
but we're not looking at him the same ever again.
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Tell mama that you're ok?
May flowers she won't say a single word the doctor's gave up on her,
some things just can't be cured. Or covered up.
These days she's hardly alive.
She's already dead in the eyes.
The house has been silent ever since.
Tell me what happened to Caroline.
Whatever happened to Caroline?
Baby what'd he do to you?
Come on what's happened to you?
Mama knows it hurts inside (deflowered)
"when you're on your feed again you'll grow a resilience to those cold,
unrelenting showers." May flowers grow taller,
the harder April storms on the land.
If you knew these storms were gonna come...
I thought mothers protected their young.
Those rainclouds are hiding your son.
Now look at what happened to Caroline!
Whatever happened to Caroline?
How do we solve a problem like
uh oh. Ugh uh, you don't.
still we've got to catch those clouds,
we've got to keep them down.
How do we solve a problem we don't want to know about?
Uh oh, we don't.

EP: "Burst And Bloom" (2001)

Sink To The Beat lyrics - Cursive

I'll try to make this perfectly clear
I'm so transparent I disappear
these words I lyrically defecate
upon songs I boldly claim to create

Clint steps in to establish the beat
4/4 hip hop and you don't stop
this unique approach to start an EP
intended to shock, create a mystique
a cheap strategy, a marketing scheme
building awareness for the next LP
they've got a good fan base
they've got integrity
they've got a DC sound
Shudder to Think, Fugazi
and Chapel Hill Around The Early 90's
this is the latest from Saddle Creek

some melodies are like disease
they can inflame your misery
they will infect your memory
they haunt me
some memories are like disease
they can inflame your misery
they will infect your melody
they haunt me

I write these words with my motherly intuition
I shape these sounds into harmonic apparitions
but I can see can see through these haunting things
my moldy dreams are debased by the same hands that shaped them

I'll try to make this perfectly clear
I'm so reflexive i am a mirror
these words I'm driving into the ground
the same words I scream out over the crowd

I'm just an airwave rolling around
I storm and crash without a sound
There's all these islands out at sea
I can't reach

I'm just an airplane diving down
I storm and crash without a sound
engines exploding silently out at sea
where waves caress unstable egos
where melody is completely swallowed
where songwriters chain their songs
to their ankles and
sink to the beat
'til it stops and
bursts under pressure
let it
burst and bloom
hit song
let it burst and bloom

The Great Decay lyrics - Cursive

this is the bed that i have made
this is the grave where i will lay
these are the hands where i will bury my face
i dont believe in wasting time
searching for truth you never find
nobody moves we live in the great decay
all these ghost towns share a name
anywhere, usa
all these strangers look the same
day after day after day
this great decay, the great decay
from birth to the grave
and ive seen what it can do
and im afraid its got me to
cause i can feel it suck me in
cause i can feel im losing grip
day after day its static life
week after week is sacrificed
month after month you meditate
all of the years that waste away
this is the life that i embrace
this is the world that i create
falling into the great decay
give in give in give up
all these verses share a theme
we dont amount to anything
its the day after bloodsucking day
this great decay, this great decay
asleep in your grave

Tall Tales, Telltales lyrics - Cursive

now and again youll remember the sound
of the sails waving helpless
the cables wrapping one another into knots so strong
youre lost at once if not tossed into the drink and lost beneath
a substance so dark yet elementary
four winds converge upon a point where your compass
spirals round in useless motions mocking everything
while bilge collects
your cupped hands attempt to shovel out the last few inches
and you plead with the gods but they send you no sign
hold on sailor, hold on brother
steady the vessel
tall tales of ghosts at sail
they spend the afterlife
in futile calculation, dead reckoning
telltales confuse the sails, direction is lost
the winds will spiral round a listless tapestry
and youre left all alone under the shine of the moon
hold on sailor, tighten the cables
steady the vessel
its a good life if you dont weaken
hold on, hold on

Mothership, Mothership, Do You Read Me? lyrics - Cursive

your navel is yearning for an extension - a ghost limb
it cant detach from mothers loving grasp
your starving - its burning for the nutrient it cant have
were all cut off alone and lost
calling out to homebase, do you read me?
(emergency: were floating endlessly)
transmission terminated
youve been created, severed from life and limb
stranded an infant
on the front step of the universe
infinitely searching for a warmth
once loved, now lost forever
mothership mothership do you read me?
does anyone hear my siren song?
maybe ill be rescued before too long
calling out to homebase one last time
(the signal faded out the ship is gone)
still starving for the reason
you were created
then severed from life and limb
stranded an infant
on the front step of the universe
infinitely searching for a warmth
once loved
now lost forever

Fairytales Tell Tales lyrics - Cursive

let's pretend we're not needy
let's pretend our hearts still beat
let's pretend we fall in love tonight
clumsy enough to fall for anything
we'll stumble on our words
we'll spill our guts on creaking bar stools
below the neon blue
low lives hiding in dives there's no feeling in drinking sleeping with strangers
ghosts passing through bedrooms unaware
a faint reflection on the barbacks mirror
a face I never knew whispering,
please don't be a stranger to me. who are you if you're alone
you're no good at pretending
all my plays have tragic endings
you wish I was a fairy tale
this frog will never change anything
just pretend that you're in love
that scolding sun is bound to come up eventually
so who is it that whispers in your ear
a haunting voice blows in through the window
there's no feeling floating over beds
a needy pleading apparition
crying 'who am I if I am alone?
I hardly exist at all.
let's pretend that we don't need anything anymore from anyone.
I don't want to feel anything anymore let's just pretend
we'll live happily ever after

"Domestica" (2000)

The Casualty lyrics - Cursive

The night has fallen down the staircase
And I, for one, have felt its bruises
Equilbrium; inebriated
Our social graces have been displaced

As we sink deeper into the drink
The volume increases....
Night time resurrects fault lines
Silent wars -- rumble somewhere below
The surfaces verses...
The surfaces verses...
The shoe is dropped, lungs explode
Shards of words of a shattered voice
And there's still a hole where the phone was thrown

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah...
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah...

The moon is rising, a revolution
I close my eyes and the room is spinning
You're screaming:

"Sweetie, the moon has raped me --
It has left its seeds like a tomb inside me
So I must learn to abort these feelings
This romance is bleeding..."

Night time triggers the land mines
Bedroom wounds -- lovers like brigadiers
Marching two by two...
Marching two by two...
A soldier's down
Flood gates burst
I've said some things I wish you'd never heard
Like, "There's still a hole where the phone was thrown."
It's growing as we speak
And it's sucking us both in
A vacuum of sorrow to swallow up the day

The Martyr lyrics - Cursive

And so it's begun
This is year one
The birth of a child in the form of a man
Wrapped in towel
Passed out on the floor
These drunken hours -- graces deflowered
Cast down by an angel
She used to kiss his weeping eyes
Depressed in her bosom
Tears roll off her nipple

Sweet baby, don't cry...
Your tears are only alibis
To prove you still feel --
You only feel sorry for yourself
Well, get on that cross
That's all you're good for...

And thusly it ends
Depression seeps in on a lonely messiah
Now he drinks with the lepers
Losing a limb, his better half
A glass once half full
A head hung half-mast
He claims he's the victim
Strangled by the nine-to-five
And a pattern of stillness
That haunted this still life

Your tears are only alibis
To prove you still feel
You only feel sorry for yourself
And that's how you thrive
Your sorrow's your goldmine
So write some sad song about me
Screaming your agonies, playing the saint

The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
The Martyr...
Oh....

Shallow Means, Deep Ends lyrics - Cursive

Swimming at night
We've dug this hole
The water's fine
I wonder how far down it goes
Down it goes...
Down it goes...

The stars above have lost their shine
And so, my love, departs our sight

The unending plains project a void
Where lovers gawk in pantomime

[scream:] So let me up??

Shallow means, deep ends
When the regret sinks in
Pressure erupts
Which way is up

Swimming at night
We've finally hit, hit...
We've finally hit bottom...!
Swallowing promises back into our lungs
Losing direction of our affections
Alright...

Shallow means, deep ends
When the regret sinks in
Pressure erupts
Which way is up

Down it goes...
Down it goes...

Making Friends And Acquaintances lyrics - Cursive

Loose-lipped secrets
I've seen those birdies chirping
Another promise perched on their fragile branches
Cradle and all...

We all hide a diary beneath some mattress
And someone has slept in my bed
Sometimes I get so naked I sing like a canary
And I scream out what I shouldn't scream

Some lies last a lifetime
They keep our diaries hidden
They don't let the whispers slip
Between the cracks of the bathroom stalls
Or be written on the bathroom walls....

But still I can hear those dirty birds chirp away
It's a song I know by heart
Sometimes I resent making friends and acquaintances
It's a thin veil between us --

Between the bedsprings and the mattress
I keep my secrets
The ones I can't keep
The ones you took from me
The ones you scattered with your wings

It was nice to meet you...
It was nice to meet you...
It was nice to meet you...

A Red So Deep lyrics - Cursive

The furnace burns, the baby turns
She cries when she's hungry
The morning paper will knock the door
To interrupt their slumbers

Are you satisfied tonight, oh, trader's wife?
Does he neglect you?
Crawling bar stools and touching the girls
As you wash their smell from his clothes

They shoot the horses when they're too old to race
And so, my dear, is there room in bed for me?
The setting Sun has eteched lines upon this face
Shades of red of a furious defeat

Are you satisfied tonight, oh, trader's wife?
As he thinks to you:
"I don't know you anymore,
And I can't breathe in this apartment"

Sleep, my Sweetie, let the days expire
They've outnumbered you
Hold me sweetly, like the days we bled with love
A red so deep we sunk
We sunk...

The Lament Of Pretty Baby lyrics - Cursive

I saw something I was not supposed to see
A ghostly memory that keeps on haunting me

(The kitchen door was open a crack,
So naively we peeked inside)

Oh, darling sister, have they hurt you, have they hurt you?
Oh, Pretty Baby, they won't touch you
They won't touch you again
We will fix this incident

I don't want to be seen as a pretty thing
'Cause it's the pretty things that we're always breaking...

(And now she whispers into the mirror:) I'm broken.

Oh doctor, doctor, can you fix me, can you fix me?

Oh Pretty Baby, you're so naive -- but it comes off so cute
We don't want to fix you
We love you just the way you are
The butterfly pinned to the page
The nightingale locked in the cage -- won't you sing for me?
Sing for me, uh-huh
Yeah, we love you just the way you are
Crushed 'neath fashion magazines
Trampled by circus pony dreams -- won't you kiss me?
Won't you kiss me, uh-huh

Oh please, mister, can't you fix me, can't you fix me? (uh-huh)
Someone, anyone, won't you fix me, won't you fix me? (uh-huh)
Oh, someone, please, the moon has raped me
I can feel it inside me
Oh, mama, please let someone fix me!
Let them fix me, uh-huh
Let them fix me, uh-huh

So cry yourself to sleep
Cry yourself to sleep 'cause I am strong and you are weak
Wait, you are strong, and I am weak
Fuck -- just cry yourself to sleep

The Game Of Who Needs Who The Worst lyrics - Cursive

A little bit closer,
I know you're not bashful
There, now that's not so bad, is it?
So what was that secret?
What did that prick whisper to you?
Was it playful and flirty
Or degrading and dirty?
I know you like it both ways
So -- what did he say?
To make you so goddamn defiant
So fucking triumphant

Relations, in direct competition
Domination
The players, disguised as the lovers
The best friend
A game of who needs who the worst

A little bit closer
Your lipstick is smudged, dear
Here, let me wipe that smirk off

A secret
But you couldn't keep it so secret
Relations, without hesitation
Or social tact

And as it occured, it occured to me
Who needs who?
Who needs who?

A little bit closer...
Closer...

The Radiator Hums lyrics - Cursive

Dinner's getting cold --
You haven't touched a thing
So what's it gonna be?
I can hold out much longer than you
When it's steady I'm just acting out my roles
When you're ready I'll be walking out that door
And don't call me Pretty Baby anymore,
Oh, foolish worker bee --
I'm your fucking queen.

I threw out the phone to try to get through to you
The lines are down, drowned by the hum of the radiator
This house is the hole that you could never fill
With rose-blossomed bouquets, vanities and loveseats

Sad little boy, I know you get confused
But everyone goes through these trials of self-truth and self-abuse
When you're selfless you're so hard not to adore
When you're selfish, I just love you even more
I want to help you, but you've got to say the words:
"I want to be cured."

Drowned...
Deep in this hole we've dug for ourselves
Throw me in -- headfirst, submerged in this great depression
Impoverished, and Impotent....

...And Don't Call Me Pretty Baby

I threw out the phone to try to get through to you
The lines are down, drowned by the hum of the radiator
This house is the hole that you could never fill
With shattered dinner plates
That's how we'll communicate

Hey, Pretty Baby, are you ready for bed?

The Night I Lost The Will To Fight lyrics - Cursive

I need a catalyst, to rekindle the flame
That once burned within these fists where defeat remains

The night has fallen down the staircase...

I need a catalyst, to rekindle the flame
That once burned within these fists where defeat remains
One February night, we screamed our agonies
And I swear I tried to care
I tried, I tried...

But the icicles hung down like prison bars...

I need a catalyst, to rekindle the flame
That once burned within these fists where defeat remains
One February night, we screamed our agonies
And I swear I tried to care
I tried, I tried...
(And) I lost the will to fight...
The will to fight...
(I lost the will to fight... I lost the will to fight... I lost it... I lost it...
I lost the will to fight.)

split EP: "Silver Scooter/Cursive" (1999)

Returns And Exchanges lyrics - Cursive

"This is like pulling teeth"
Said the man with the gap-toothed smile
Upon decline
So the silence seeped into
An impatient line
Of returns and exchanges
And the silence brewed
Like a storm
As they brooded over their misfortunes

Some things you can't take
We're all the same
We share a common weakness:
We're all afraid
Of a pointless existence

Still the silence grows
A crescendo of deafening stillness
Silence you just can't speak
Much less repeat
To your lover
Or your mirror

Because such simple words
Can leave us crushed
As we deny that life is
One big mistake

It can't be exchanged

We're all the same
We're loveless liars tonight
We're all ashamed
Of our life
We've been declined
We shouldn't have tried
To fake such existence

Pulse lyrics - Cursive

I'll never go back there
Don't make me go back there...

Now that god is an atheist
Finally I can sleep at night

In a hotel room with holes in the curtains
I shivered as she slid up my leg
She could convince me a hundred hail mary's
She whispered "dear boy, your god is me"

I'll never go back there
Don't make me go back there...

I...don't...sleep...in this dead cold bed

In a hotel room the color of her skin
Holes in the drapes spray beams of light
Strangling lovers, were we kidding each other
Gasping for breath, in poisonous lies

In a hotel room (it was my second communion)
Is that your blood cleansing my veins
If three little angels (would peak in these curtains)
They'd whisper "dear boy, your mouth was too warm"
Was too warm
Was too warm

Tides Rush In lyrics - Cursive

The coast is clear
The coast is everywhere
I must have reached the end
Of the year of searching
For meanings in meaning
The coast is clear

Tides rush in
Are we all being tugged by
The same unit force that tugged me in?
That tucks us in with a kiss on those brows
It's something felt, but you can't describe
But we always try
We're always trying

Tides rush in
Fools fall for the undertow

For the chance encounter with something godsend
The gods haven't sent me a thing

Yeah

You don't know and you never will
This epiphany's just a cheap handjob I give myself
I give myself no credit for this
This bastard attempt at a standardized song
It's all I've got

After years of searching for meanings in meaning
The coast is clear
Tides rush in
Pull us farther, undertow

"The Storms Of Early Summer: Semantics Of Song" (1998)

The Rhyme Scheme lyrics - Cursive

Words have no feeling without loaded meanings
Words take too long to come across
Meanings are meant for defining defintions
We load them for effect, it's cheap but it's working

It's the best I've got to get your attention
I could never get your attention
I could never please you
The verses are wasted on words you won't relate to
On words you'll never hear

It's not working -- I don't feel any better
I don't feel so well
The verbal breakdown has failed
So I'm whispering secrets
Hush, hush, on the loudspeaker
Words sculpted on verse become absurd

But it's the best I've got to get your attention
I could never get your attention
I could never please you
Words so sympathetic -- symphonic, yet pathetic -- are tossed on to the song

The meaning is lost...
The meaning is lost...

Words... just... won't... work...
Words... are... slowly demeaning their meanings
Words... make... things... worse
Words... are... always repeating
Losing their meaning
These words failed
Words fail

A Career In Transcendence lyrics - Cursive

Congratulations
Looks like you've finally made it, boy
You're a real major-leaguer now
Mama must be so, so, so proud
The word around
Is that your nest was too cozy
Well, some words are like bricks
And so we build our fortresses

You're on your own now, boy
I bet you've got the whole world figured out
One man cleans up after the pony
And another man rides that pony in,
And prances around
Isn't that what you were trained for?
But your words weigh you down
You've built your nest of bricks
Built your nest of bricks...

All we are is all we'll be
We think today, we say tomorrow
All (we think) we are (today) is all (we say) we'll be (tomorrow)
All (we think) we are (today) is all (we say) we'll be (tomorrow)

The Road To Financial Stability lyrics -

Watching cars
Will anyone stop for us?
Or will we be passed by
Be passed on
The day passes away
The moment cracks along the sidewalk
And we're alone
Imagining what songs would be on our soundtrack

Maybe it's me
I've lost faith in visibility
On this street we are ghosts of the passers-by
Passive and stranded
The clouds are closing on
It's a storm watch, so beware
These cars have been known to capsize in strong winds

We've lost transmission...
We've lost transmission...

Don't tell me this is how it ends
Don't tell me this is how it ends

Tempest lyrics - Cursive

Wind blown
A semi capsized in the storm
Stranded
The rains of June have cleansed it
A baptism of sufferage

Take two
One man beneath a waning moon
Still birth
The abortive child of entropy
Careening for identity

Tempt him
Break him in slowly
His heart is quick to judge
But his hands are too lonely
Break him in slowly...

Red dawn
Another storm opens her arms
She's whispering
"Surrender all your loyalties"
Hand over your idle hands of false idols
Let the rains embrace you

Now...
Break them in slowly
Young hearts are quick to judge
But their hands are so lonely
Break them in slowly...
Break them in slowly...

Break In The New Year lyrics - Cursive

New years ago
We drank and danced and left our sour hearts behind
We sweetened for a kiss --
The kiss of a new year to come
But those days are gone
We never got resolution -- it never comes
All the best wishes were blown
So blow out your candles -- the year won
So long, to longing for the ressurrection of an unbrindled wantonness

Break in the new year...
Break in the new year...
Break in the new year...
Break in the new year...

Fear
Whipped us in shape
We must stay afraid -- our new god is discipline
New, but hardly improved, it's just new cliches
"They might nail your hands, but your neck has been saved"
So break in the new year with a vintage wine
Here's to aging, when some things just get bitter with age
And other are made to be broken
Broken
Broken in...

We're disciples of discipline
Sweetened for the kiss...
Off

Proposals lyrics - Cursive

Let's get one thing straight: we don't have any answers
We are proposals in a cosmic nursery
And these massive stars -- they're just little twinkles
If I can't possess them at such magnificence
So if you can really hear me,
And you think you really believe in it
Then there must be some kind of privelege here
To putter around with such an existence
And if you see me on some stage
And you really believe it's me over there
Well, there's a chance it's not really me
Maybe we're not ourselves at all
And maybe being is simply believing that each breath we take in
Must lead to another breath out, one more breath yesterday
From yesterday -- and a timeline of yesterdays
Filled in with love or with pain or whatever bullshit we smear on our sleeves
I've found my cause, and this is it --
There are no answers

Am I what I am? Is that what this is? Is this all there is

Semantics Of Sermon lyrics - Cursive

Since I wrote this am I the culprit
These useless wisdoms I dispense
At your expense
Picture postcards
A three minute essay
Some scribbled words to four line verse

Meanwhile, we mean well
We cannot escalate or escape this
So let's pretend our little songs are more than songs
More like sermons

Attention, attention
That's all we're asking for
Our little songs are our little whores
Jukebox cupids -- and the medium's a trend
The music lends itself to it -- to itself
The lyrics bend to make the song

Attention, attention
Don't tell me that's all we're writing for
Picture postcards
Three minute essays
We can never fit in what we want to say

A Little Song And Dance lyrics - Cursive

I sat around for hours on end
For an end so clearly predetermined
I shall no longer play a part of your equation
I missed your boat a thousand times, I swear
You must have stayed off shore to avoid such relations
Avoidance has been your trump
But still I wait for you
This is the best I can do
To throw my energy into your apathy
It's the best I can do

I once had pride, I once had guts
But I gave up all that shit for the big easy
So now I rely on you to get me through this
I once believe I had a name
But my name was changed to the numbers on my resume
So I hope that you're impressed
I did it all for you
It's the best that I could do
A little song and dance
Can have its consequences
It's the best that I can do
To sit around the phone
The patience waits for you
This is the best that I can do
This is the best that I can do...

I sweat it out for hours on end
For an end so obviously predetermined

When Summer's Over Will We Dream Of Spring lyrics - Cursive

A safe position -- a back against the wall
A simple shrug to shurg the questions off
When there's no action, there's no reaction
Curb the dead, avert the consequence
So if no one moves, and no one speaks a word
We could act OK

(We must standstill -- we must honor the stalemate)
And we must slumber... have we ever been awake?
Have we done a thing?
When summer's over will we dream of spring?
Safety can be disabling
A crippled history as an absentee

A safe position -- turn off the phone
Hang the blankets over the windows
'Cause if no one's home, then there's no one responsible
There's no response for disappointed eyes
To see through you -- well, they can't see you anymore

(We must standstill -- we must honor the stalemate)
Until we're pawned off... have we ever been present?
Are we too past tense?
When summer's over will we face autumn?
Safety is disabling
A crippled history
Crippled history
A crippled history...

Absentee... absentee... You're safe with me
Curb the deed, avert the season
Absentee... absentee... You're safe with me
When summer's over will you dream of your crippled history
Crippled history
Crippled history
Crippled history
Absentee... When summer's over will you dream of your crippled history
Crippled history
Crippled history
Crippled history
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