performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

extra performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

take these words
out of my mouth
use them
to paint your portrait
i never spoke
or sang a note
you sang for me

let it be known
that we were here
and we knew no release

sing for me
open your mouth
river flows down the sound

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

i see you across the bar
sipping ginger and jack
contemplating the bartender
buff butch and black
in a stupor i stumble up
like i'm on crack
and you smile
and i freeze

now i am caught
with my tongue on permanent display
while my head scrambles
for something witty to say
but i can't think of shit

i see you later
two weeks after i drop the ball
we say hi
say goodbye
and look back when we're walking away
in opposite directions
i inquire later how you could possibly
be interested in me

then there's the wedding
the flowers the people the rings
two canaries together
i whine and you sing
this is not going to last

i organize an attack
on my identity
i create holograms of myself
just to see what you'd do
if i ran around naked in a mall
would you think less of me

i see the signs passing by
with swift kicks to my head
i ignore them
we spend all our time in the bed
until even attraction is useless and dead
then we call it a draw

now we don't talk
we don't fuck
we don't carpool to work
you call me unromantic
i call you a jerk
all of this is your fault

you're sending the signal
as you light your cigarette
what i want
what i don't
you suddenly forget
your role here is as a punchline
i'll never get
have a wink and a smile

take photographs while you can
soon the doors will be closed
come again
don't forget to forget me as you go
this was not meant to last

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

extra performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

may you weep among the silent golden rushes of the sun
may you sleep tossing dreams back and forth across the finish line
may you smile standing among the shadows of the spirit world
may you stare silently at the figures bowing out of the mirror
may you run slipping along motionlessly the ice cracking behind you
may you wind slowly in and out of a powerless movement of grace
may you swim dancing across the oceanographer's dreams you toss back and forth across the finish line
may you be small
may you be silent
may you be strong

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

lie in the bed
dream of me
blanket over your chest
dream of me
we're together again
we're alone again
in philadelphia
in your dream

2:00 a.m. half asleep
artificial wind covers me
i see us in rittenhouse square
holding hands as people stare
as i lie awake and dream

lie in the bed
dream of me
pillow under your head
dream of me
we'll be together again
dream of me

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

blackened sickened white
poison silver sun
blue fluorescent light
subterra serrer
hazy shifting shape
growling barking bite
right foot then the left
left foot then the right
left foot then the right

i will count to 10
quiet pushes in
can't remember when
i took all this in
i will count to 10
and wake up screaming

lipstick suits and ties
excess body fat
soft drink super size
house in the suburbs
neighbors mow the lawns
income tax returns
right foot then the left
left foot then the right
left foot then the right

i will count to 10
driving pushing in
shaking hands again
sweating plastic grin
i will count to 10

comfortable and high
so american
smiling choking cry
broken sickened earth
mirrors itself in
broken sickened sky
right foot then the left
left foot then the right
left foot then the right

i will count to 10
watch the ceiling spin
children trample men
the fat strangle the thin
i will count to 10
and wake up again
screaming

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

charlotte dhl dilworth and coffee
work up in hickory
drive trucks and dream of change
reimer ellis chip and spanky
life's good and guilt free
humble and sane

take an interview in a skyscraper
put on slacks shirt and a tie
and join the game
work your way up the staircase
pick up the briefcase
and run away
you'll stop face to face
with mark reimer
you'll hear the timer
you'll detonate

work your way up the ladder
forget what matters
you satiate
you'll stop face to face
with chip bishop
you'll feel your feet slip
you'll detonate

try to remember where you came from
return to sagemont
and vegetate
stop when you realize
you're far from where you belong
you detonate

shrug your shoulders
turn and clutch the covers
soon you'll recover from this mistake
work your way
back down the staircase
smile and about-face
you detonate

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

extra performance:

jason harvey: bass guitar

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

i wake up at 10:00
and come home tired and hungry
around noon
did you think i wouldn't give a fuck
about the sideways jabs at my career
no i don't think so
i don't think so
don't think so

vine vide vice
look it's a job
and do i need a constant reminder
of how much better you are
no i don't think so
i don't think so
don't think so

i feel sick as a pike
i feel sick as hell
don't touch me there
oh god not again
no i don't need your help
please just pretend i'm not here
go about your business
i feel fine
i feel fine
i feel fine

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | mastering | mixing | production | recording

and when we walk
there's nothing between us and the earth
and when we fly
there's nothing between us and the air
and when we speak
there are moments passing between us
and when we dance
there are stars
and when we dig
there are secrets that we unveil
and when we swim
we wash away the mud
and when we feel
there is nothing else to say
and when we sleep
there are times when i want to walk
and fly and speak and dance
and when we're waiting
at the station
for a train to come and take us away
i look over
at the guards and the dogs
and the guns and the cuffs
and the clubs and the boots
and i turn
to see your face and the tears
and the eyes and synapses
and diodes and wires
and i say
don't worry girl just hold on

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

six
dawn
what's wrong with me
have i forgotten how to live again

wake me up when the stars come
wake me up when it's time to go
please don't forget me
come back if you can

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

watch people dance
watch people watch and dance away
watch people sing and dance away
in each others' arms
they must be god

watch these people
in sickness and in health
watch these people
incensed and overjoyed
these must be god

watch me hold my eyes
watch me dry my eyes
watch me close my eyes

watching it as it is watching the eyes in my eyes light up
watching it as it is watching my eyes watching on the screen
watching it as it is watching my eyes focus on it

why have i these eyes
why must these be mine
why must these be blind

watch you in the mirror
watch you in the screen
watch you as you lift your hand
to touch the glass
and trace your silhouette
as i trace in shock
i of all the people here
can see your face
you must be

open your eyes
see me
my eyes and my android heart
my android heart
my android heart

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

watch yourself drowning yourself
watch you leave
maybe you'll stop
watch your feet
slipping on the balustrade
as you grin
sliding down the wall you will
sliding down the wall you will

one surprise then the other
takes you away
should you feel a body next to you
don't last long
see me at the wall you will
see me at the wall you will

make you a simple and reticent heart
try on the armor while it falls apart
pick up the pieces and label it art

watch yourself drowning yourself
watch you breathe
maybe you'll stop
watch your hands beating at the waves
you wave back at him
capitan

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording

make you a simple and reticent heart
try on the armor while it falls apart
pick up the pieces and label it art
swimming and drowning and drifting afloat
drop all your baggage and jump in the boat
sail off in search of a new antidote
finally find it the air fills with smoke
turn around crying you gasp and you choke
facing the face of the heart that you broke
wake up one morning a lump in your throat
write down a love song then hate what you wrote
falling apart as you hit every note
decide to shut down your reticent heart
make all the moves to start falling apart
but instead at the last minute choose to restart

performance:

dennis harvey: all instruments | voice

composition/production:

dennis harvey: composition | lyrics | mastering | mixing | production | recording