1. |
Around The Bend
03:21
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The mirrors in our eyes
distort the things we see outside
I want to hide, you want to die
we both feel selfish, we're both ashamed
And we are hopeless, seeking help
but what we touch just turns to dust
blowing back into our eyes
But we try
And my stomach's been in knots
rotting away inside myself
I can't find the words to say
and this is happening to everyone else in different ways
It's not your fault
I'm not even sure who you are
but I know we're falling apart
So close, yet so far
These words are murky like the feelings they're attached to in my heart
We fight so violently to rip them out, to make a brand new start
But they keep coming back to haunt us, keeping us awake at night
assaulting all our senses, 'til we've lost the will to fight
And we've been close to giving up, we've been praying for the time
But we won't let ourselves surrender, no it's not our time to die
I hope you know that I love you
I hope you know that I care
You're not one single person
You're every good thing that I've shared
We all seek something we've been denied, things we've never found
all these years that we've been searching, we've been wanderin' around
But if we ever can believe something's better around the bend
that we can make it if we try, that this isn't the end
my arms are open for your body, for your mind, for your soul
and I can't promise, I'm not perfect, I'm just here
and I'm your friend
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2. |
On The Other Side
04:00
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I swore I wouldn't write about heartbreaks again
But I find myself detached from everything
Feelings polar opposites, they swing back and forth
Like a tornado, I wreck everything I touch
And I care, I care, I swear I do
but, wow, it must not seem like it
I hurt people I care dearly for
and I just cannot stop this shit
I got stuck inside a question that I could not find an answer for
Fumbling around the room, no lights and I can't find the door
I'm knocking shit everywhere, why can't I find the switch
to lighten up the room a bit and clean up some of this
(is this even possible to fix)
(oh god I hope it's possible to fix)
It happened to me countless times before, I remember what it's like
I never thought that I would be the person on the other side
I didn't try to start the ball in motion, but I reached out my hand
I fell head over heels and now I can't even stand
Because I don't know if every decision I've made has been the right one
but I've had to trust myself and I can say
that I'm sorry, but I needed this
My only ever-lasting regret is that the triggers won't be something you forget
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3. |
Breathe
03:37
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It was built while you were missing
It flourished while you were away
I couldn't find you to tell you
I couldn't find the words to say
I didn't ask for it to go like this, but things don't always go as planned
I tried to cross the bridge with you, but you wouldn't take my hand
And if this hurts you, well it hurts me too, because I tried so hard in vain
and when I couldn't stand it any more, I left you with the pain
Now I'm with her and it's lovely, but it's not all fun and games
'cause I watch you as you kill yourself in new and different ways, and yet the same
and some they tell you that it can't go on, it's time to change
and some they feed you alcohol and pills and sleepless nights while you decay
And now I've got no leg to stand on as I plead with you to stop
As I hear about it everyday, I watch you as you drop
I always wanted to see you happy and you wouldn't do it for me
but now it's over and you're sinking deeper, will you ever let yourself breathe?
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4. |
Tumble To The Ground
02:46
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Answers, answers everywhere, no solution found
Watch the building, now abandoned, tumble to the ground
I hear the sounds, I see the signs, but I am helpless anyway
Decaying not through nature but from wreckless escape
I ask about the wreckage, I wonder how much I've caused
I keep checking up on you, I keep feeling the loss
You paint the words that can't be said upon the city that dies
while you erase yourself so carelessly despite all of our cries
But I beg you don't crumble though I know I hurt you so
We aren't all as strong as we wish we were, we're not all made of stone
But so many care about you so much more than you could know
Oh, please stand up on your feet again, it's not your time to go
Oh, I play the major key because it's all that I can do
The words, I can not sing unless I add a brighter tune
And I can't sing on your sidewalk now 'cause it hurts to see you fall
But one day I hope you resurrect yourself and you stand above us all
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5. |
Sun Will Shine Again
02:33
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It's falling all around me
drowning, pounding at my chest
I can't get anything out
it's trapped inside, denying me any rest
I watch my friend slowly kill herself
I watch my other friends try to live
and I make mistake after mistake
breaking everything we've built
I search for hope in all the wreckage
but my eyes are clouded with tears
My fears debilitate me
keep me locked up grinding gears
And when I try to write about it
words don't come, my pen spews shit
I'm sick, I'm scared, I'm helpless
I can't handle all of this
So until the rainbow shines
and happy days come back to us again
I won't be able to be who I want to be
and I hope you understand
But I've never ended anything without a little hope
Though I seldom lately feel it, I still hold on to the rope
There's nothing that scares me more than watching friends hurt inside
But if we can all get through this together, then I know someday the sun will shine on us again
The sun will shine on us again
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6. |
Canned Art
02:30
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What once we shared together, now we sell it to compete
The beauty of a painted sunrise sold seems so obscene
We write our lives on trees we chop down just to fuel our industry
and then we sell it to our neighbors at the market value of our dreams
And my voice cracks, I can't sing
I'll never get a record deal
I'll never have the music industry back me
or validate the way I feel
You'll never find my music in a corporate big-box store
The ads won't tell you that I'm everything you've been waiting for
And I'm not
Our lives are not commodities, why do we treat our art as such
We create stories from our experience that mean so much to us
and then we ask what we can get for them, like products in a store
Our lives bought and sold to each other to afford time to create more
And then we give a cut to the gallery, the label, or the promoter of the show
We put so much of our time and work into letting everyone around us know
that we are in it for the music, but it often goes the same
We trade the stories of our lives to be experts, creating art for financial gain
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7. |
Standing Tall
02:17
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We're fighting for our families, we're fighting for ourselves
We're fighting for our futures and we're fighting for our health
'Cause when they push us and we don't push back like dominoes we fall
So when we push back for one, we push back for all
We responded to your pleas, helped keep the company afloat
But when the market started booming you went straight for our throats
50% raises for top management while you make incredible demands
to end our health insurance and our retirees' pension plans
We spend our days working with carcinogens while you spend yours with a pen
Signing orders to betray us when we stop giving in
But now you've gone too far, you've locked us out, and if you think we're going to bend
you'd better think again because we're in this 'til we win
Oh Calgon, Oh Calgon, you're day is coming soon
You don't know what you're up against, we're the 5032
All we want is a fair contract and justice for us all
You can try to bring us to our knees but we're standing tall
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8. |
We Learn From The Past
03:03
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Well Stanik said he wants us back to work but we're still out here
Locked out on the picket line, though it's hard we persevere
We've been willing to work but they kicked us out the door
It's just another chapter in the epic novel of class war
Oh they take and take and take while we give and give and give
And when we ask for our share, they crack us with the whip
But power comes in numbers and there's more of us than them
So spread the word and hold the line and never, I said never, give in
They bargain for their bottom-line while we bargain for our kids
Our families' welfare at stake, our lives spent around carcinogens
While theirs are filled with earnings and the profit-margin grows
So we stand together and show that power comes from below
We look towards the future while we learn from the past
If we take the bait they offer, then our kids will end up trapped
in a far worse situation, with far worse demands
So as they push us we need to all together take a stand
Give us our jobs, give us our pay, our pensions, and our health
We brought you through the hard times, it's been us who've brought you wealth
Unlikely your greedy motives that lead you to rob us blind
our fight is honest, for our lives, with nothing to hide behind
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9. |
Danny Boy
02:12
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Not too long ago, our buddy Dan imposed the drink tax
pitting bus riders against tavern owners and patrons just so he
could pass the buck to the working class, while keeping us against each other
Now he wants to do the same to the drivers
Now Danny Boy is trying to impose a contract on the drivers' union
If they didn't accept it, he'd consider them on strike
Cutting pensions, dropping wages, sub-contracting out to union-busters
Oh Danny Boy, you're asking for the fight
They cut the buses, hiked the fare
They've routed buses away from where
the new class of the Steel City will live and shop in luxury
They've taken all the subsidies that could be going to help you and me
and left the bus riders in the cold
Now they want to blame the drivers for the lack of transit funding
They say the drivers are greedy and that we should feel the same
They've spent our money and the last year launching media wars against them
But Danny, you're the one who'll get the blame
So you can turn your back on us, but we won't turn our backs on you
We aren't naive enough to think that you won't stab us through and through
We'll barricade your driveway and we'll see you in the streets
The riders of this city will let you have no peace
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10. |
Blame The Winter
04:08
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Oh, I'd like to blame it all on the winter
Say that all this will be fine in the spring
But everyone is falling apart including me
and I'm scared to death of so many things
I haven't seen the sun in a week or two
I haven't heard any news that makes me smile
and when I look around the room, all I see is gloom
I feel it's been like this for a while
Everyone I love is drowning in debt, drugs, or depression
Everywhere I look the hurt is floating thick
All I want to do is make it disappear clear out of here
But no matter how we try to pry it off it sticks
And I sing please don't quit
I pray we'll all work through our problems and we'll smile again some day
Maybe in a bit
we'll find the torch to thaw the ice around our hearts away
Until then, let's stick together
Until then, let's not lose hope
We all want to build a new world
We all want to find the road
that will lead us out of winter
to the spring where we all grow
like the flowers that come from the ground
when the sun melts all the snow
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