modern living

[[ the whole thing is silly, a bad action movie script in a song - any part of it could be deleted or mixed and matched elsewhere ]] 

= = = = =

[[ sounds like a health regimen at first (take the stairs) or a home design magazine, but... no, it's how to take a building? what's going on? be vague -- words are pictures, noise ]]

skip the elevator

take the stairway

stay alive
for one more day

keep your head down

blow a mouse hole 

step next door
for rock and roll

door to door

wall to wall

floor to floor

modern living

= = = = =

[[ now we are in "the call is coming from inside the house" territory ]]

we could be underground

we could be on the air

we could be one small sound

we could be on the stair

we could be one old man

we could be in the trees

we could be on the phone

we could be all the bees

= = = = =

[[ escalation - scary guys threatening to do bad stuff  ]]

what if we watch every keystroke you make?

what if we hear every word?

what if we told all your enemies about you?

what if we heard? what if we heard? 

what if your package blew up in your face?

what if your home is on fire?

what if your family vanished forever?

what if we slip through the wire?

= = = = = 

[[ scary guys taunting their watchers ]]

you think you got us all?

we smell your dinner cooking (you need a new cook)

we see your curtain moving (peek-a-boo)

we hear your faucet dripping (I know a good plumber)

we feel the cloth she's wearing (good material)

we lick the lipstick (now we're licking your lips)

you cannot warthog

or predator us gone

now everyone has

a bomb and a drone

you like to watch us?

are you listening?

are we in Pine Gap?

or in Alice Springs?

go out to walk and  

watch the dust

in the evening

move in the evening

move in the evening

= = = = =

[[ scary guys taunting their watchers ]]

sink into the city

building by building

stairwell by stairwell

running down

sink into the city

down to the asphalt

down to the river 

flowing through

[[ contradictory images -- scary guys shot up or controlled by others or walking away or unreal? -- ambiguity is the point ]]

watch a puppet body

shaking on strings

watch a puppet body 

shake and walk away

this is a world 

we must move

to and through 

and from and under

to and through 

and from and under

to and through 

and from and under

to and through 

and from and under

= = = = = 

= = = = = 

the beach

used to be a beach here

we played in the sand

you'd never know now

without being told

hey, shut up, grandpa

everyone knows that

it's all your fault for

being so old

hey, shut up, grandpa

why don't you go and

dig your own grave and

jump in the hole

hey, shut up, grandpa

we're all so young and

we're all so smart for

being so young

nobody young was ever dumb

used to be peace here

we lay in the grass

you'd never know now

without being old

hey, shut up, grandpa

it's all your fault for 

having been born and

living too soon

hey, shut up, grandpa

here's a new product 

we hope will let us

move to the moon

hey, shut up, grandpa

here's a new model

throw out the old one

things'll be fine

nobody young was ever dumb

if you could stand

[[ another horizon/boundary ]]

if you could stand

on the surface of the sea

be a tinpot Jesus

on the surface of the sea

you would see  

for three point one miles 

in any direction

you would be 

the ruler of all 

the fish in the ocean

the line that separates earth from sky
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the line that divides all visible directions

three point one miles  

in all directions at once

with a five foot seven

tinpot Jesus standing still

look what we've done

look what we've done

we had a plan of attack

lined up our forces

then went out for a snack

look what we've done

we had a world here

put things together

then went out for a beer

we took out a wrench

and put parts together

we took out a wench

and put parts together 

now 

everything is going,

going, going, gone.

everything is going wrong.

now 

everything is nothing

nothing is everything

everything is nothing again.

we had the birds 

in the trees

now we have no birds

now we have no trees

now we have no have

now we have no we

no now no now

looks like we're done

a stack of 45s

[[ part one ]]
a stack of 45s - my sister abandoned
a stack of 45s - before she went away
a stack of 45s - my sister left behind her
a stack of 45s - I used to play

[[ part two ]]
a stack of 45s - a stack of 45s
when the smoke cleared, the only thing left
a stack of 45s - a stack of 45s
she did the dances they danced in the day
a stack of 45s - a stack of 45s
record player dropping song after song
a stack of 45s - a stack of 45s

[[ dance break ]]
and she would
snap the bubblegum
and she would
scrape the sticky gum from offa her shoes
(offa her shoes and walk away)

[[ part three ]]
put it on - put on the one about a new combination
put it on - put on the one about a boy and girl
put it on - put on the one about keeping together
put it on - put on the one about falling apart
put it on - put on the one about the wind in the city
put it on - put on the one about the men in the trees
put it on - put on the one about love me forever
put it on - put on the one about a telephone call
put it on - put on the one about the ocean and time
put it on - put on the one about us

the definite article

an indefinite death 

is all we can imagine

a good death 

is all we can wish for 

the death we get

is the definite article

last scene

[[ Roughly based on a local girl who disappeared forever walking home alone from a night out. There is security video of her walking down the seaside promenade in the very early light just before she vanished. ]]

last seen walking 

home from Friday

home from anger

phone running down

barefoot sidewalk

swinging her shoes

within the sound of 

waves coming down

coming home late like that

barefoot and wobbling

you will be the talk of the town

almost morning 

bathing in strange light

almost daylight

bathing in almost day

what is the color 

of this time? 

this blue hour? 

this golden hour?

stepping through the singing of first birds

stepping through echoes on empty streets

stepping through air, through morning dew, 

wet street lamps, 

wet windows, 

wet shining cars,

stepping through air, through morning dew, 

like nothing could ever

the place where a ball would be

[[ Is it a song about baseball? A song for two voices. ]]

as much as the next man  (I like America)

but don't expect me (to sing that song)

as much as the next man  (I like America)

but it is only (a baseball game)

but it is only (a baseball game)

people in bleachers (variant A and variant B)

people in bleachers (throwing out the first fuck)

he can throw a ball (the ball is not the ball)

he can see a ball (there is no physical ball)

he can hit a ball (the ball is not the ball)

he can catch a ball (there is no physical ball)

he can judge a ball (the ball is not the ball)

he can wear (a uniform uniform)

he can wear  (a hat and a glove)

he can wear  (a cup and a helmet)

he can wear  (a mask and pads)

he can wear (spikesssss)

he can swing (whoosh - stand and wait)

he can swing (and hold...)

he can swing (crack - run out)

he can swing (thump - run in)

he can swing (hey, batter, batter)

there is no physical ball (till it bathes in the Jersey mud)

the ball is not the ball (till it's wet from the sweat of his brow)

there is no physical ball (till the ball meets the bat)

there is the ideal ball (till the ball takes the air)

then there is air (by Jesus), then there is air

there is the air between (the ball and the bat)

there is the air between (the ball and the grass)

there is the air between (the ball and the glove)

there is the air between (each man alive)

there is the ball (between the sun and the man)

he can wear a grin (a wide commercial smile)

he can wear a mustache (he could hang a cap upon)

he can wear a beard (a person could get lost in)

he can wear nothing (but the face his mother gave him)

he can conspire (old men will share)

he can signal (will share a secret)

he can steal (but not until)

he can run (he can run)

he can be (far from home)

he can be (coming home)

he can be (sliiiiding. sliiiiiding)

he can be (safe. safe. safe.)

he can be back and (back and forth) forth

he (back and forth) can be back and forth

he can be back (back and forth) and forth

he can be (back and forth) back and forth

he can (out!)

there is no clock (the end will come for all of us when it will come)

there is no horizon (there is only the wall)

there is the wall (and there is over the wall)

no one goes home (until it's done)

the ball is not the ball (the ball is not the ball)

there is no physical ball (the ball is not the ball)

there is the ideal ball (the ball is not the ball)

there is the ideal mud (the ball is not the ball)

there is the air between (each man alive)

he throws it this way (it flies and it falls)

he throws it this way (it rises on the air)

he throws it this way (it curls to the left)

he throws it this way (it curls to the right)

he throws it this way (it's there before it's there)

as much as the next man  (I like America)

but don't expect me (to sing that song)

as much as the next man  (I like America)

but it is only (a baseball game)

but it is only (a baseball game)

hurricane states

I thought I'd look you up
it's been a hundred years, girl
see how life's treating you
you were so beautiful

I thought I'd look you up
but names just tumble from you
names and men and mobile homes
you go through southern states

I find you when I find you
in crime reports and
been-there mug shots
but how else can a girl
get her face in the news?

one story has you
walking home at 4am
screaming at dark houses
fighting strangers two at a time
they said you sank your teeth into them

one story has you
in your trailer 2am
telling your fiancee
walk away or I'll cut your throat
they said you did it, then swallowed pills

I thought I'd look you up
it's been a hundred years, girl
see how life's treating you
you were so beautiful

I thought I'd look you up
it's been a hundred years, girl
nothing left but concrete where
a trailer used to be