watch America eat itself live on camera

 

watch America

eat itself

live on camera

telegraphically

line by line

crawling chyrons

watch America

eat itself

from the inside

Jake and Jacob,

Colin and Connor,

Logan and Lucas,

Hunter and Tanner

convoys of

flag shaggers

listening to

brain lizards

Amy and Abigail,

Allison, Jenna,

Katie and Caitlin and Katelyn and Kaitlin and Kaitlyn...

Katherine and Kathryn,

Emily, Emma,

and they are

locked and loaded, they are

out on the front lawn, they are

waiting for something, they are

watching a

river of

Black people

march up the

street

Madeline, Molly,

Carly and Claire

Heather and Holly

all of them there

and they are

locked and loaded, they are

out on the front lawn, they are

waiting for something, they are

waiting for a signal...

= = = = = = 

[[ notes ]]

https://abcnews.go.com/2020/top-20-whitest-blackest-names/story?id=2470131

they sing

god save our picket fences

god save our all-white schools

god save our 

watch the soccer moms

watch the bubbas

angry white male

Karen and Kyle guard their picket fences

man the bastions with pop guns

boarding up windows and

erecting fences

rejecting ballots

convoys of

flag shaggers

listening to

brain lizards

at the end of the news

dumb boys

gone boys

wrong boys

with guns

Amy and Abigail,

Allison, Jenna,

Katie and Caitlin,

Emily, Emma,

Katherine and Kathryn,

Carly and Claire

Madeline, Molly,

Heather and Holly

and Hannah were there

Jacob, Jake, Jack

Colin, Cody, Cole,

Connor, Tanner, Hunter

Logan, Lucas, Luke

Brett, Scott, Wyatt, Garrett

Maxwell, Dylan, Dustin, Bradley

Molly

Amy

Claire

Emily

Katie

Madeline

Katelyn

Emma

Abigail

Carly

Jenna

Heather

Katherine

Caitlin

Kaitlin

Holly

Allison

Kaitlyn

Hannah

Kathryn

Jake

Connor

Tanner

Wyatt

Cody

Dustin

Luke

Jack

Scott

Logan

Cole

Lucas

Bradley

Jacob

Garrett

Dylan

Maxwell

Hunter

Brett

Colin

 

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

 

after talking to the cat

after the telephone rings

after snow buries the house

before we all are dead

you settle in a chair

grilled cheese sandwiches

Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes

you could be either one

 

the smell of the fear of being alone

cut a hole right through this air 

watch the world 

fall apart 

for someone

find a place where we can stare

watch the world 

fall apart 

for someone

pull us up a sticky chair

watch the world 

fall apart 

for someone

take a whiff of this night, would ya, kid?

that's not the smell of alone, it's something else

the smell of 

the fear of 

being alone

the smell of 

the fear of

being here

    after everyone's gone

the smell of 

the fear of

being in love

the smell of 

the fear of

being here

    after falling in love 

the smell of 

the fear of 

the sound of

being alone

the taste of

one last beer

the smell of 

the fear of

being here

we formed a religion

 

we formed a religion

out in the woods

with our hands, the religion

the one true religion

we found a religion

out on the road

where the dust whirls skyward

and baffles the eyes

we heard a religion

scream through the walls

from invisible neighbors

a new revelation

each morning we build another religion

and tear it all down at night

we are running in deep dark water

we fly with a will of our own

we wake with a faith

we will not float away, we believe

we will cling to the street, we believe

we will breathe, we will breathe, we believe

we will whirl round this star

we will whirl round this star

we will never never never disappear

it's a wonder

 

let's take a short tour of my long-term memory

there's somebody's car,

they're leaving,

we're left holding

the new door keys

we're moving in,

it's our first home,

and we're already

climbing the trees

we were monkeys

way back then

little monkeys

way back when

how old were we?

how old are we now?

how old will we ever be?

when, oh, oh, never mind comes over the hill

when, oh, oh, never mind comes around the bend

it's a wonder

our bones are still cracking

it's a wonder

our teeth are still clacking

it's a wonder

we can wonder at all

we can wonder at it all

there's the telephone,

it's ringing

we're all talking

on a party line

we're moving on,

it's party time,

and we're already

swinging, swinging, swinging free

there's my memory,

it's fading

I'm forgetting

everyone's name

I'm moving up,

back to the trees

and I'm already

slipping away

anodyne

 

let's go down

the boulevard

to the Seven Seas

bring your cash

and credit card

and buy us a breeze

have a few

umbrella drinks

and pick up a squeeze

share some coconut milk

perfect circle

 

[[ this should be recorded by Toyah and Robert ]]

there is no perfect

circle on the ice

these dusty skates

are hand-me-downs

from aunts and cousins

screwed and glued

and passed on

to the next girl

in the clan who's

grown enough to wobble

out uncertainly

with these dull blades

on ice and scream

back in the arms

of gravity and live

to tell her sister

 

it's not the way i feel

 

it's not the way i feel

i don't know how i feel

it's the things i do

that show my love is real

if any love is real

it's not the things i say

i don't know what to say

it's the things i do

and don't do every day

if love is here today

i couldn't tell you 

if love is here to stay

love is here today

and that's enough 

i've seen enough 

to put much trust 

in the woo of woo

it's only me and you

i throw my love in the deep end 

and teach love to sink or swim

devotion

 

[[ vague thing about aliens or gods or lunacy or some sort of visitations ]]

Devote half an hour 

to UFOs 

every night 

when it's clear         [[ sky when it's clear ]]

Go stand out nights

and learn the sky

off by heart

when it's clear        [[ heart when it's clear ]]

Learn to recognize

the UFOs

in your mind 

when it's clear       [[ mind when it's clear ]]

when all is clear

we will see them all coming

roaring with fire or 

descending with grace

 

 

the tools of oppression

 

the tools of oppression

no longer come 

on metal tracks 

and dragon roars 

the tools of oppression

grow larger and smaller

faster and stronger

swarms of birds that were never birds

things that walk 

something waiting on the floor of the sea

things that whir and never were

on they come on ballet legs with hard sharp toes

they walk up walls and walk through walls

they sink under the lake and hold their breath

they swarm and hum and bite and disappear

they perch on the gutter and look down

they climb a tree and point a gun

they burrow down and wait a hundred years

they think about they way you look around

they think about the places you have been

they think about the people you have met

they think about themselves... 

they carry out their deeds

they carry off their dead

they carry home fingertips and head

the tools of oppression, 

magic stenographers,

transcribe a joke 

you can never untell

the tools of oppression

look at your grocery list

wonder who's coming

tonight after dark

the tools of oppression

better than anyone

would know you a mile away

by how you walk

 

in times like this

 

in times like this

we set a timer

hold our breath and

watch the parade go by

in times like this

we tunnel out

and change our names

and disappear into the crowd

in times like this

we push a knife in

through the temple

and change their minds forever

there is nothing

we will not do

in times like this

the human body 

makes an excellent 

conductor when under stress 

the human body 

bursts into light 

and sound and smell and fire

have you seen the signature lightning leaves on the skin of the people it strikes?

i singe [ sic] the body electric   [[ Whitman + torture ]]

 

Alcatraz

 

[[ maybe partly a quarantine story ]]

When I get out of here

Mr McCartney

I'll take a tour

of the horizon

I've memorized

in my dreams I am 

already knocking a hole through this wall 

somebody's picture of nothing at all

just a girl with ambition, a bottle of pills

and a number to call

I'll run my hands over 

every building of this awful town

turn it all upside down, 

shake it and see

-- that's what you fear most most of all

I'll run my hands over 

every woman in this awful town

turn them all upside down, 

shake em and see

-- that's what you fear most most of all

I can see Alcatraz

myth on a hard bay

from out the window

of this cable car

I'm mesmerized

 

oh, my word

 

 

oh, my word

trying to be so hard

trying so hard to be 

that pretty thing

with muscles of steel

oh, my word

trying to be so hard

trying so hard to be 

somebody else

with nothing to feel

it gets so cold 

the ice forms

at these heights

the terrifying physics 

of falling down

the terrifying gravity 

of everything

stop for a minute, 

forget about dying

hold up for awhile

listen to this record

 

listen to this record

her ghost is in the crackle

listen to her crackle

all up and down Chicago

listen to Chicago

the crackle of a record you've heard before

she ain't asking no one in particular

she is questioning the air

the crunch of thunder

the clarity of lightning

so we never forget

the old days 

when real men was

would listen to jazz

what it is 

what it is 

what it was 

stay up till dawn

then walk out of this place 

believing in ghosts

American ghosts outlasting 

their ramshackle castles

American ghosts out standing 

where their cities used to be

nothing but this

[[ 

Someone regrets life and contemplates running away from the current situation, but it seems like this is not the first time the singer has run away. Always between things, always nowhere, geographically and on the radio dial: white noise, static, lightning.

And it's about escaping this desert and finding the sea, but maybe just a fantasy.

]]

nighttime's a real thing

crackles like lightning 

up all the bones of my spine

how did I ever

land in this desert

with nothing left that was mine?

between radio stations

there's nothing but static and hiss 

there's nothing but nothing but this

when you're so far between

a room in an attic

listening to static

feeling the sun coming down

I'll send a letter

out of this desert

baby please let me come home    [[ or baby please come take me home ]]

I'm going down

where the rivers run down

I'm going down 

to the sea

doctor told me

[[ standard blues form, kind of an old couple blues:

In the verses, the doctor says it looks like something's wrong with the singer's heart, brain, and blood in a literal/physical sense, and then the singer's partner says they could have told you that, with more figurative implications about the singer's heart, mind, and family/ancestry.

In the bridge, the singer checks the medicine cabinet, where you look in the mirror (examine yourself) and of course keep your medicine.

In the chorus, the singer says what all those pills are for, what they do in a literal or figurative sense.

]]

verses:

doctor told me

you've got a bad bad heart

doctor told me

you've got a bad bad heart

[[woman/baby/?]] told me

baby

I could have told you that from the start

doctor told me

nothing but trouble in your blood

doctor told me

nothing but trouble in your blood

[[woman/baby/?]] told me

baby

before you were born you were no damn good

doctor told me

there's a dark spot in your brain

doctor told me

there's a dark spot in your brain

[[woman/baby/?]] told me

baby

It's like I told you again and again

bridge:

let's check the medicine cabinet

let's check the medicine cabinet

first the mirror

then look inside

chorus:

I take

a pill

to make

my heart

beat slower

a pill

to make

my blood

run colder

a pill

to bring

me back

from the dead

I take

a pill

to make

the pres-

sure lower

a pill

to make

me one

day older

a pill

to get

[[me/her/him/you]] out

of my head

tidying up

[[ This pervy fellow is obsessed with razing civilization. ]]

this place would look better

burned to the ground

I love the sound of 

a crackling fire

this place would look better

blown to the sky

Can't tell you why I 

love bricks in the air

all this place needs is

a fuse and a match

pssst goes the secret fire 

stand back and watch

maybe a time bomb

some sticks and a clock

wait for the sound while I'm 

stroking my cock

this place would look better

strewn in the street

under my feet the 

hard crunching of glass

this place would look better

all washed away

into the bay when 

I blow up the dam

oh, damn

oh, damn

all this place needs is

a fuse and a match

pssst goes the secret fire 

stand back and watch

maybe a time bomb

some sticks and a clock

wait for the sound while I'm 

stroking my cock

air brakes

I was falling 

far from home

I was falling 

through a storm

cloud by cloud

from sun to sea

leaving holes that 

looked like me

so many miles high

going down from down

I was falling

till I stopped

don't look up to the stars

heaven protect 

children and sailors

sailors and drunken men

somewhere past the Kuiper belt

past the ring of babies unbaptized

where a star is just any star

that's where you'll see her

curled in smoke

don't look up to the stars

this nothing is permanent

this one is burning

(this one is burning so bright)

this one is glowing

(this one will not last the night)

the only forever is 

a nothing about nothingness

but that was all

before your time

this one's a baby

(this one is burning so bright)

this one is dying

(this one will not last the night)

the light in your eyes is

a prehistoric instinct

but that was all

before your time

this one exploded

(this one is burning so bright)

this one's forever

(this one will not last the night)

that star was extinguished

a million years ago

but that was all

before your time

heaven protect 

children and sailors 

sailors and drunken men 

under the pictures

[[ "they" is someone undefined, indefinite, unlikely, impossible, discovering the remains of the last of humanity huddled in our tunnels/caves ]] 

if they come for us

they will come for us

down in the tunnels

maybe they'll find us

what is left of us

under the pictures

we drew on the walls

pictures of animals

running for their lives

from us 

if they come on us

bones and dust of us

down in the tunnels

let them laugh at us

all that's left of us

under the pictures

we drew on the walls

pictures of animals

running for their lives

from us