lyrics from ILL SEEN ILL SUNG

old hannah

you came to me a castaway
the earth beneath your feet
i could see the sea had broken you
with all it hides beneath
your fingers marching up and down
like soldiers on display
and boredom loads your gun
and the day is getting done

cat's trapped in the birdcage
scarecrow's lost its head
the wheels have all been spun
and the day is getting done
workers on the highway
look like chain gangs of old
the freight train's filled with rusty cans
as if the tale's been told, so

go down old hannah
and rise no more for me
your light it weighs a ton
and the day is getting done

i can write you letters like
the alphabet's gone berserk
and yonder lurks the sun
and the day is getting done
it rises up beside you just to
burn you with a stare
and later casts a shadow showing
you ain't gone nowhere, so

go down old hannah
and rise no more for me
your light it weighs a ton
and the day is getting done






any lethal storm


if i was a blind man i'd
dress you all in white and
keep you in a white room
turn on the bright lights and
call you invisible, call you invincible
and i'd dream of white waves on
a very lethal shore

if i was a sick man i'd
drink your bourbon and
drift into a blizzard or
any lethal storm and
emerge all windblown
cross-eyed and clothes torn
all just to see you on
another lethal shore

if i was a strong man i'd
pull your curtains
down from the heavens, past
where the sky was born
kiss you in secret
right in your locket
and then i'd pull your house down
like some very lethal storm

if i was a storm i'd
blow past your window
and linger in spirit
all around your face
and you'd never know, dear
the force that i bring
just to make your ears ring
and keep you in a haze

if i was a bird i'd
orchestrate branches
into a chorus
only you would know
crash through your window
all just to see you
all just to meet you
on another lethal shore






all readymade

i think it's been a long time
since i've had a good time
but i can't even tell time
to think that only yesterday
i was a piano, i was key by key

i think it's been a long ride
swaying side to side
but i can't even stand up
and to think that only yesterday
i was a rooster, on a rooftop
and i'd crow all day
but i sound like just a bluejay

but it's alright, it's okay
because i'm all ready made

i think it's been a long time
since it's been a long time
but i can't even tell time
to think that only yesterday
i was all right, i was okay






takeaway

take me away to your far away town
i've gotten in over my head
i can't stand up and i can't stand down
or suffer the radio

the radio waves and i'm dizzy as hell
seasick on solid ground
no dramamine, no heroin
can shield me from the sound

so take me away, i'm weary as hell
my tongue is too numb for to speak
i won't put you on as i ramble along
with no hook to catch you on
with no hooks






when i come around

i can make a willow cry
with a wicked sound
jam your fingers in your ears
when i come around

i can make the world go stark
and quiet with my hands
i can make the gurney swing
and i can just kill a man
when i come around

i can make you shatter
i can make you lame and tired
i can make a wheel turn
into a ball of raging fire
i can make you wish you've never
wished a wish before
your riches will consume you
until you envy the poor
when i come around

i have no hands, i have no heart
i have a shotgun shell
and when it sings you get a glimpse
of what i will unwell
when i come around



hollow halo

where did all the halos go
where oh where cries thee
they're hovering over history
and it wears them horribly

where did all the halos go
we holler with all our might
don't you recall those paintings at all
when you try to draw the light
the halo retires

it's just a hollow halo

where oh where does a halo go
a halo loud and free
invisible from far above
a halo longs to be
in fallen company

of a hollow halo
it's just a hollow halo





mama

mama my mother earth is flat
and the garbage cans are rolling down the streets
and they're filled with tiny skeletons
of people who just couldn't stand this heat

and i can tango by myself
but one dead makes a graveyard by design
and i have reasons to believe
honesty is only in your mind

mama my mother earth is cracked
it's a crack through which all decency escaped
and i wish i could convince the bells
that they conduct their own symphonic hells

mama my mother earth is tangerines
and gasoline and two demonic hands
and all the eyes are fixed upon the saints
as they come marching through again

i can tango my myself
but one dead makes a graveyard by design
and i have reasons to believe
that honesty is only in your mind

and these litter piles are evidence
of someone else's rotten day today
so i traded in my violins for violence
and we'll see how it plays

i can tango by myself
but one dead makes a graveyard by design
and i have reasons to believe
these things are not healed by bread and wine





canção bebendo

if i don't drink i go dry
and dry i cannot sing
if i can't sing i die
and dead i cannot love
i go mad if i can't love
and if i go mad
they'll cart me off

(translated from the Portuguese)





fencepost

i bet you all the money in my pockets
that i have a dollar and a dream
the dream might cost me two
so i'm begging you
to dream with me so i can dream a dream

my fingers on the fencepost going tap tap tap......
and i told you about the suffering in the street
i gave your string of pearls to some rabid little girls
in hopes tonight that i might dream their dream

diamond joe is sweeping out the alley
he's always whistling tunes and tempting me
with whiskey and a smoke
and i never understand his jokes
but his punch lines all come to me in my dream

and i'd bet you all the pigeons in my city
and i'd bet you the shoes upon my feet
that if it rains tonight
i will fall from the sky
and i may finally get to dream a dream








recover ring

daylight's a banquet
evening's disasters
work what you're worth
snap that neck backwards
recall the ring
recall the ring

you're sick as a secret
whisper a nothing
shake your bones loosewise
some dry shoes for walking
recall the ring
recall the ring

i've seen you in black
in your black and blues
i've seen you in black and white
picking crops at night

a horse is a horse
don't have to be rocking
nothing need move you
as long as you're stopping
recall the ring
recovering








lame horse

little lame horse, big rider
wouldn't you know it was
too much weight

digging ditches in the big black earth
and i am a man made of this mud
wouldn't you know it was
too much mud

and i am a traveler, on this crutch
wouldn't you know it was
too much








be leaving

i can hear them calling far above and far below
please believe in me
but i know what a drag it is to wake up every morning
with belief in these

i drink till i forget my name but i remember yours
dee dee dee dee dee
but i've got ancient stories from yesterday morning
that put the fear in me

and i can die a broken man or i can live a king
it's all the same to me
but i'll work like a dog if i can wake up every morning
with you believing





far to strange

born of fire
nursed by rain
you wandered far to strange
and it's quiet now
in the age of sleep
but oh, don't you sleep too deep
oh, don't you sleep too deep
please, don't you sleep too deep