Cursive Lyrics

Free To Be Or Not To Be You And Me lyrics - Cursive

So I dug deep down

Deep inside myself

To the pitted heart

Of this scabrous shell

Oddly, all I found

Was a nest of cells

On the hunt for some significance

The indifference of the

Chromosome prevailed

So I dug deep back

Through a fractured past

Marriage, work and school

Every dagger twisting branch

Sadly, all my story told

Was an aging man

Just another human organism

Obsessed with -isms

To live is to be in schism

Still, the search goes on

'Cause it must go on

'Cause I won't be assuaged

By the cooing birds of inconsequence

So yes, I'm pissed

I feel cursed with life

I can't just exist

When I need to know I'm right

And I'll never know I'm right

And with this I'll die

Never given any reason for—

What reason do you need to be alive?

Just merely survive

Or don't — you are or you aren't

What I sing right now

Someone's screamed before

Time to take a bow

Before the stage is taken over

It's a flash in the pan

All a flash in the pan

Gotta do what you can

On the head of a pin

Gonna sing into the void

And make some noise, noise

Does anybody out there hear this voice?

Just a flash in the pan

Free to be or not to be you and me

Clearly, I am clamoring to be

I know there is no point to this

I keep on crying out for transcendence

Pick Up The Pieces lyrics - Cursive

So, this is it

The world just fell to shit

And we're left holding the bag

What do we do

With refuse we refuse

That no one's taking credit for

This civil war ain't civil anymore

They thrive when we're divided hordes

Pick up the pieces one more time

Wash our hands of our parent's crimes

Pick up the pieces

'Til we're clean of pesky, guilty feelings

We're back again

With the same arguments

All thoughts and prayers — no action

It's all a fix

They're sticking to the script

And we're the rote recipients

They need dissent to run the show

More bullet points, more bullet holes

Pick up the pieces one more time

They shit the bed, we apologize

Pick up the pieces yet again

It makes no difference

But we can't give in

It's a game we know we can't win

They know it too

But they need participants

Lest we think the news is new,

We've been on a loop

They're just tightening the noose

Pick up the pieces, give a fuck

This world's a turd to polish up

Pick up the pieces

We're the yin, the yang,

It's all the same

It's Gonna Hurt lyrics - Cursive

(You know it's gonna hurt)

You know it's gonna hurt

But you do it anyway

If you know it's gonna hurt

Could you at least look away

Your trembling eyes betray your pain

You could never forgive me

You know it's gonna hurt

But there's nothing left to lose

You know it's gonna hurt

And you know it'll hurt me too

You said, "fuck this world"

You don't owe it shit

And most nights I agreed with you

I never thought you'd really do it

(You know it's gonna hurt)

That crooked smile

A soft "fuck you"

You could never forgive me

If the lies they spewed turned up true

They said you knew what you were doing

I could never forgive you

You know it's gonna hurt

Under The Rainbow lyrics - Cursive

The one percent live in high rises

They block out the sun for all the denizens

Under the rainbow

They write the laws on guns and gods

And push 'em upon the hard folk down below

Under the rainbow

Reading my palm, reading my charts

Reading my leaves, reading my tarot cards

They all know where I'm from

Under the rainbow

No prayer, no plan, no promised land

Wish I had time, wish I had hope

Wish I had mine, wish I could cope with this

We've been left all alone

Under the rainbow

You've got your dreams that won't take hold

Boy, I shook myself awake so long ago

Under the rainbow

We've been fed lies, we've all been duped

And we don't want to know the truth

This bubble suits us just fine

Under the rainbow

Checking the news, checking the stocks

Checking for clues, checking the doomsday clock

Who's checking in on us?

Under the rainbow

No god, no gold, nowhere to go

Remorse lyrics - Cursive

The world can look distorted

When peering through a rocks glass

Is it not the life you asked for?

Join the club

Yet none of us will show remorse

Who of us will sow remorse

Ouroboros lyrics - Cursive

I am a parasite

I am a shill

I am that lowly snake

Chasing its tail

In the beginning, we were starving under stars

The stars told the farmers when to farm

Farms evolved into corporations

Corporations left us all to starve

And in the end, we'll start again

Apocalypse will level every monopoly and monolith

Ouroboros

We were blessed with an enlightened intellect

Enlightened intellect made the internet

The internet gave the world a mouthpiece

That swallowed our enlightened intellect

The voice of man has been exposed

As vitriol — don't gotta read between the HTML

Ouroboros

The writer will obsess over success

Success is like the carrot on a stick

Once the writer finds it's just a carrot

The writer takes a shit all over it

'Cause in the end the masterpiece

Won't be achieved

Who the fuck is achieving mastery?

Ouroboros

Society has got a heinous case of crabs

Everybody's got an itch to scratch

This manmade bucket we're all stuck in

We're all fucking over each other's cousin

So, serve it up — surf n' turf

It could be worse

You could be eating your words or your own foot

Ouroboros

I am a parasite

I am a shill

I am a cannibal

Eating my words

I am a parasite

I am a shill

I am that lowly snake

Chasing its tail

I am a parasite

I am a shill

I am that lowly snake

Chasing its tail

Ouroboros

Everending lyrics - Cursive

We think we want to live forever

It's an unrealistic feat

I don't want to live forever

I can't bear the agony

I don't want to live to outlove everyone

Goddamn — one life is hard enough

All this beauty's everending

Every sunrise you attempt

Every sunset you neglect

They're counting down to finity

Nothing seems so evergreen

When everything is everending

It's that time of year again

Tree's stripped of their elegance

Our skeletons ache in our skins

Seasons passing, as do we

You and me are everending

You and me are ever —

Trying to make a diamond out of coal

Trying to make a mountain out of mulch

Everybody's drinking heavy

We're in a hurry to be done

The point of all of this eludes us

Like a snowflake on the tongue

We're uniquely on the brink of extinction —

This blip of life is one and done

All this beauty's everending

I try to find significance

In each line that I commit

An exercise in senselessness

Time will scrub our past from us

Memory is everending

In the Winter of our lives

Will we hibernate or fight?

What's the upside to survive

It may be short and ran it's course

Life is rich and everending

Life is rich and ever —

Trying to make a molehill seem more grand

Trying to make a mountain —

It's just sand upon eroding shores

A city bombed and since ignored

A simple dream you can't recall

A glimpse into a crystal ball

You and me, forever everending

A brilliant flash of fantasy

Trying to make this life seem less absurd

Trying to make a mountain out of words

Ghost Writer lyrics - Cursive

I'm at your secretary

Writing quips in your diary

Inflating your life story

Poor taste and rich hyperbole

Nobody asked me to do this

Yet, here I am

These exorcisms are useless

But then again…

If it's the last note I'm writing

I'll make it a grand finale

Rampant politicizing

This constant finger wagging

It's not a drama anymore

How'd your life become one big horror

Nobody asked my opinion

Yet, here it is

We're in an unholy union

With arrogance

This is the last note I'm writing

This world has never felt less inviting to me

There you go again

It's just a simple entry

Some light prose, sad and sweet

You had to go and fuck with the wording

You gotta shit on everything

Ghostwrite your wrongs

Nobody asked for an encore

Yet, here I am

This epilogue is an eyesore

It makes no sense

This is the last note I'm singing

Can you imagine such hubris got me this far?

Life Savings lyrics - Cursive

Living in a statistic

Sailboats floating on their flow chart

I don't wanna live like this

A day in the sun, swimming with sharks

There's no future, only money, money

No 'me and you', it's only money, money

Money buys a bright future

But we will be forever indentured — money, money

May we never get what we deserve — money, money

Head down, anonymous

The more you comply is the more you subsist

There's no scruples, only money, money

Dollars or rubles, it's all money, money

Money buys you clemency

In a clandestine economy — money, money

Bagged and price tagged, dangling off your feet

Living in a statistic

Sailboats floating on their sales graph

I don't wanna die like this

They wanna make waves, capsize the craft

Underneath the bathroom sink

In a wooden box with a broken lock

You can find my life savings

A high school ring and baseball cards

And when this horror's over

And the greenback's all but trashed

Currency will be our head and hands

So, you don't want to lose your head

You can't afford to lose that

Don't sell yourself to me

You do it for the money

You sell the dream to me

You do it for the money

You're selling us your innocence

Don't sell your faith to me

You do it for the money

You're selling us your ignorance

Your money is counterfeit

Money, money

May we never get what we deserve

Money, money

May we never get what we deserve

Money, money

Noble Soldier / Dystopian Lament lyrics - Cursive

[Noble Soldier]

Push it back, push it back,

Push it out of your head now

Push it back, push it back,

Push it out of your head now, my friend

Don't recall what you saw

Modern life is behind you

Don't recall what you saw

Freedom's a dream

Don't look up, don't look up

Don't look into the mirror

Don't look up, don't look up

You won't like what you're seeing in there

It's just a shell, just a shell

It's a vessel of who you once were

Shell shocked, well heeled

Noble soldier —

It's over, over, over

Push it back now

Push back, push back

Push it out now

It's over, over

Push it out now

Push back, push back

The life you knew is over

[Dystopian Lament]

I used to fall for love

For family and for friends

I used to fall for unity

Despite our differences

I used to fall for trust

The decency of man

I used to fall for secrecy

'Til a neighbor played my hand

I used to fall for math

A universal truth

I used to fall for science books

Until they were removed

I used to fall for hope

The promise of our youth

I used to fall for change

'Til our youth became recruits

I used to fall for currency

To dictate what I'm worth

I used to fall for ancestry

Now I know we're fucked from birth

I used to fall for news

I'd check it each morning

I used to fall for freedom of speech

Before the red warning

I used to fall for anarchy

But loved the world too much

I used to fall for rioting

'Til the sentry locked us up

Now I fall in line

Fall in line

Chemical Strain lyrics - Cursive

Chemical strain

A trickle trickle in your viny veins

Puppeting your heart-strings

You'll behave the way you should behave

Unless you crush it up, chop it up

Pour the old elixir down the drain

Your drain

The naughtiest wolves get the worst restraints

Chemical strain

Chemical burn

Your cerebrum's getting upturned

A deforestation of every memory you once preserved

Smash it up, smash it up

Beat them at the psychopathic games

You're truly in control, out of control

All those bottles in your drawer

They made you so sane

So sane

It slips in your veins

As your heart starts to race

The beat gets stuck on repeat

And breaks!

Chemicals, chemicals

No more chemicals, chemicals

No more chemicals

Chemical strain

Frankly, Mr. Shankly lyrics - Cursive

(originally by The Smiths)

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, this position I've held

It pays my way and it corrodes my soul

I want to leave

You will not miss me

I want to go down in musical history

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, I'm a sickening wreck

I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck

I must move fast, you understand me

I want to go down in celluloid history

Fame, fame, fatal fame

It can play hideous tricks on the brain

But still I rather be famous

Than righteous or holy

Oh, any day, any day, any day

But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled

Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill

I want to live and I want to love

I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, this position I've held

It pays my way and it corrodes my soul

Oh, I didn't realize that you wrote poetry

I didn't realize you wrote such fucking awful poetry, Mr. Shankly

Frankly, Mr. Shankly, since you ask

You are a flatulent pain the ass

I do not mean to be so rude

But still, I must speak frankly, Mr. Shankly

Oh, give us money

Mama's Baggage lyrics - Cursive

We stole all Mama's baggage

And stuffed it with Daddy's cologne and Sunday best

And then I sat up in bed in a nervous sweat

Waiting for those creaking warning stairs

As the lights went out, I snuck out my window

And ran down those railroad tracks

There's no turning back

No, I ain't turning back

This city's a crucifix and I have suffered for it

Just feel the scar along my side

And I'm no savior

But I could have saved you from this Bible-beating life

The train leaves half past twelve

You're too afraid to live without

Without a father

With no provider

We're bastards all along

When they dumped you in the lake

Were you held under too long?

My only brother

We swore we'd both escape from the cloth

In Mama's baggage, I found a photo

Of our trip to Colorado Springs

I was young and defiant, but you were compliant

A happy toddler in Daddy's arms

I hung the picture upon the mirror in my dingy motel room

The sirens howl at night, strangers prowl outside

I tremble in bed thinking of you

I tried to call the house

I keep hanging up the phone

When I hear his voice, I remember those Sundays

And I'm glad I finally left home

I'd rather be alone than wrong

You keep nesting away your doubt

But I'm no sinner

Sure, I've made some mistakes

Some I can't forgive

And this might be my hell

But at least I damned myself

No more preachers nailing me to the cross

You're too afraid to live without

He who believes will be saved

He who believes will behave

So I'm condemned, huh?

Some baptism, anointed with piss and spit

How could you leave me behind and join their side?

How long until we all surrender?

Modern Love lyrics - Cursive

I know when to go out

And when to stay in

Get things done

I catch a paper boy

But things don't really change

I'm standing in the wind

But I never wave bye-bye

But I try, I try

There's no sign of life

It's just the power to charm

I'm lying in the rain

But I never wave bye-bye

But I try, I try

Never gonna fall for

Walks beside me

(Modern love) walks on by

(Modern love) gets me to the church on time

(Church on time) terrifies me

(Church on time) makes me party

(Church on time) puts my trust in God and man

(God and man) no confessions

(God and man) no religion

(God and man) don't believe in modern love

It's not really work

It's just the power to charm

I'm still standing in the wind

But I never wave bye bye

But I try, I try

Never gonna fall for

Walks beside me

(Modern love) walks on by

(Modern love) gets me to the church on time

(Church on time) terrifies me

(Church on time) makes me party

(Church on time) puts my trust in God and man

(God and man) no confessions

(God and man) no religion

(God and man) don't believe in modern love walks beside me

(Modern love) walks on by

(Modern love) gets me to the church on time

(Church on time) terrifies me

(Church on time) makes me party

(Church on time) puts my trust in God and man

(God and man) no confessions

(God and man) no religion

(God and man)don't believe in modern love

Modern love (modern love)

(Modern love)

Modern love, walks beside me

(Modern love)

Modern love, walks on by

(Modern love)

Modern love, walks beside me

Modern love

Modern love, walks on by

Modern love

Never gonna fall for

Modern love

Piccolo Pete lyrics - Cursive

You can devote your life to trying to get it right

But what's that even mean?

You can read every book, see every film

Now if you only knew how to make up your mind

You can yell from the mountains or down the well

To the same reply

Lucky bask in white

It's the echo of mankind

All we are is all we are; so what?

The more I learn, the more I just give up

From the highest cliff, o'er the raging sea

We march single file

Try as you might to step out of line

Eventually, we're all going to take a dive

You can halt the ticking of a clock

But you can't bind the hands of time

Lucky bask in white

It complicates mankind

We're born and procreate and then we die

Everything between's just beating off

The birds fuck, the bees fuck

The flowers fuck, the trees, all wrong

Just one big happy fucking family

We're almost to the sea, I can hear the crashing tides

Baby, I wish I weren't so afraid to die

Take my hand, we'll get there side by side

We never got answers, just wrinkles and cancers

Well, here we are at the head of the line

Supernova 95 lyrics - Cursive

Watching TV with the sound down

Listening to Primus on repeat

Scraping resin with the antenna

A fresh bag could be another week

Crashing out on the couch

You found curbed in the suburbs

Your roommate just became your ex

Her new man's taking over your bed

You're so bored with everything

You used to dream in color, so American

Reds and whites and blues, but mostly green

Until you learned economy is just a Ponzi scheme

Burnt out, burnt out

It's hard to give a shit

Burnt out, burnt out

When it's easier to quit

What's effort going to get me?

Responsibility?

Another job?

Some shitty job?

Making out with whoever'll have me

Drinking with whoever gets the drinks

America on a dollar a day

One buck, a dozen hush puppies

Bought an ax

Bought an amp

In the back kicking out the jams

30 pack of Natty Light

9.99's going to pull us through the night

I've worked each restaurant from downtown to the lake

Raking in the minimum wage

Doing part-time at 3.25

Became 4.25

Burnt out, burnt out

These jobs are fucking jokes

Burnt out, burnt out

The dollar is a hoax!

What's a degree get me?

Opportunity?

A foot in the door?

The doors are closed

So burn out, burn out

Burn out, burn out

What's effort going to get me?

Responsibility?

Another job?

Some shitty job?

Another job

Universal Shrug lyrics - Universal Shrug

It's not your parents

It's not your friends

It's not your siblings' indifference

It's not your job

It's not your boss

It's not the last five years you lost

It's not that girl you could never get

It's not the lover you never met

It's not your stuffy studio

It's not that shitty car you want

It's you

You're the sum of all the mistakes you've plotted through

The product of all pleasures

The situations you should come to

The guilt you've gone through afterward

You're the reason you don't sleep well sober

The whole of your hangovers; poor kid

The measure of your motives

And where those motives led

It's not the city you never left

That haunted house where you shared a bed

What'd that woman say to you?

It's not me, it's you

It's you

It's no big deal

You're the total of all the trials you've been through

The remainder of your anger

It's the albatross you'll never lose

That bird's been on your neck

Since you learned the world will always turn against you

You choose to live counter-clockwise

You're the time of your life

So what's in that dapper necktie?

Raise your cup to the universal shrug

Why get so worked up?

Just shrug it off, and pass the peanuts

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.

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