The best ever death metal band out of Denton Were a couple of guys who'd been friends since grade school One was named Cyrus, and the other was Jeff And they practiced twice a week in Jeff's bedroom The best ever death metal band out of Denton Never settled on a name But the top three contenders, after weeks of debate Were "Satan's Fingers," and "The Killers," and "The Hospital Bombers" Jeff and Cyrus believed in their hearts they were headed For stage lights and Lear jets, and fortune and fame So in script that made prominent use of a pentagram They stenciled their drumheads and guitars with their names This was how Cyrus got sent to the school Where they told him he'd never be famous And this was why Jeff In the letters that he'd write to his friend Helped develop a plan to get even When you punish a person for dreaming his dream Don't expect him to thank or forgive you The best ever death metal band out of Denton Will in time both outpace and outlive you Hail Satan! Hail Satan tonight! Hail Satan! Hail hail!

(Whole Wide World) The last of the repercussions died off real slow The sky was still and the cold sun sank down beneath the snow I hung by my hand from the tree outside And I looked on the whole wide world The voices came quietly, I shut them down A tricky young southerly wind came at me with its high whistling sound I turned around to face it with real arrogance burning inside And I drank in the whole wide world (Ontario) i know what my weaknesses are probably better than you do revolutionary Chinese propaganda the color of blue i thought i knew what my weaknesses were anyway then the orange tree blossomed last Saturday there was nothing in it but pain for me i know what can hurt me real bad and what can't hurt me anymore i know how to rise up with the sun and i am learning what sleep's good for i thought I'd figured out the world and its circular way then I saw the sun fall out of the sky the other day there was nothing in it but pain for me squirrels climbing trees in bloom soft yellow light spilling into the room my favorite records, my favorite books the people i loved, the people i almost loved light beckoning, wind whistling hey hey hey hey day breaking river rolling hey hey la la la la

We heard the rats in the rafters scurry by And we wondered about the color of the sky outside In Warsaw in 1939 It was alright just to be alive It was good that you were mine And you held your hands up To form a heart in the air You held your hands up with your thumbs touching They formed a heart in the air Through the piece missing in the brick wall We had an excellent view of the soldiers coming down the hall And you held your hands up where I could see them In the dark and they formed a heart in the air You held your hands up And they formed a heart in the air I heard the old songs radiating from you I heard the old songs radiating from you

I hung pictures of you from every lamp post in town As the humidity climbed into numbers I don't care to repeat The air was heavy and the sky was alive And the Pacific Starlight train wasn't due in 'til 11:45 I thought about how cold you must be I thought about things I thought that I'd soon be forgetting I thought of you up in Canada as the lightning storms lit up All downtown Redding There were teenagers in mini-trucks coming around every corner You could taste the adrenaline coming out through their skin I came to the well-lit doorway of a sheet music store I saw my face in the glass, sat down in the doorway and I settled in I thought about how cold you must be I thought about things I thought that I'd soon be forgetting I thought of you up in Canada as the lightning storms lit up All downtown Redding

(Maize Stalk Drinking Blood) Lying in the hot sun today Watching the clouds run away Thought a little while about you The sky was a petrifying blue And while the geese flew past For no reason at all I let the sky fall This is an empty country, and I am the king And I should not be allowed to touch anything I picked myself up off the ground Shook the grass from my hair and I Walked around Felt the warm sun in my eye Strangers were passing by I shinnied up the black walnut tree Let the hard blue sky fall right through me And I saw the sad young cardinals trying to sing And I should not be allowed to touch anything (Waving at You) Listen you can tell your lawyer That he can go to hell 'Cause I can take whatever you're offering up Reasonably well And if four long years come to nothing It's alright But it's your birthday It's your birthday tonight And I went to buy you something But I caught myself in time And nothing makes any sense anymore But everything rhymes Die hard, die kicking Old habit of mine Die hard, die kicking Old habit of mine Die hard Die hard Die kicking

Wipe down the windshields and roll down the windows Let's go where the jackals are breeding Wrap this bandanna around your head Don't let anyone see that you're bleeding Fire up the scanner and keep your eyes on it Don't speak unless someone speaks to you Hands in your pockets and sun on your face The warm love of God coursing through you Home again Home again Garden Grove Garden Grove I can remember when we were in high school Our dreams were like fugitive warlords Plotting triumphant returns to the city Keeping TEC-9's tucked under the floorboards, ah-ha Now we are practical men of the world We tether our dreams to the turf And cruise down these alleys for honey to feed them Jellyfish riding the surf Shoving our heads Straight into the guts of the stove Home again Garden Grove Garden Grove

We stank of hair dye and ammonia We sealed ourselves away from view You were looking at the void and seldom blinking The best that I could do Was to train my eyes on you We scaled the hidden hills beneath the surface Scraped our fingers bloody on the stones And built a little house that we could live in Out of Dinu Lipatti's bones We kept our friends at bay all summer long Treated the days as though they'd kill us if they could Wringing out the hours like blood-drenched bedsheets To keep wintertime at bay But December showed up anyway There was no money, it was money that you wanted I went downtown, sold off most of what I owned And we raised a tower to broadcast all our dark dreams From Dinu Lipatti's bones

I took to the highway, went out to Pico-Crenshaw Old friends, old friends I took to the highway, the highway took to me Like a second skin Rolled around in the evening, circling like a buzzard Trouble in mind Excavating the space we left behind Yes I took trinkets with me, left them by the crater Here ghosts, old ghosts Smelled all the chlorine, I took the low road Where the light was just right Crawled around in the glowing, all-embracing wreckage Sunburned and snow-blind Excavating the space we left behind

On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time I felt free and I felt lonely and I felt scared And I began to talk to myself almost immediately Not being used to being the only person there The first time I made coffee for just myself, I made too much of it But I drank it all just cause you hate it when I let things go to waste And I wandered through the house like a little boy lost in the mall And an astronaut could've seen the hunger in my eyes from space And I sang Oh, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do without you? On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time I was cold so I put on a sweater and I turned up the heat And the walls began to close in and I felt so sad and frightened I practically ran from the living room out into the street And the wind began to blow and the trees began to pant And the world in its cold way started coming alive And I stood there like a businessman waiting for the train And I got ready for the future to arrive And I sang Oh, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do without you?

For several hours the visitors were here We saw them turned down and we watched them disappear Talked about the days they'd said were sure to come But I had a hard time believing I remember seeing you, my tongue struck dumb When you first arrived from wherever it was you came from The power in your voice Your rough touch You keeping care of me Keeping watch Open up the doors to the tent Wonder where it was the good times went I will do what you ask me to do Because of how I feel about you I saw his little face contract as his eyes met light Try to imagine anything so bright You only see it once and it steals into the dawn And then it's gone forever For several hours we lay there, last ones of our kind Harder days coming, maybe I don't mind Sounds kind of dumb when I say it but it's true I would do anything for you Open up the promise of the day I will drive the dark things away I will do what you ask me to do Because of how I feel about you

Like a star come down to walk the Earth in radiant array. I saw the light of my spirit descend the other day. I was standing by the bus stop on Northeast 33rd, When I got the word. I will be made a new creature, One bright day. I don't have to be afraid. Speed that day on it's way. And you can't tell me what my spirit tells me isn't true, can you? Woke up on lockdown one more time, My visions won't ever learn. But I see the light that much clearer, Every time I return. Forge my armor in the old fire. My spirit sings loud and clear, Even in here. I'll be reborn someday, someday, If I wait long enough. I don't have to be afraid. I don't wanna be afraid. And you can't tell me what my spirit tells me isn't true, can you?

Signal drawn upon the bricks of a clinic for the dispossessed Collect the brine from the rain gutters, let the devil take the rest Rats returning home to our nest Beneath the streets of the city with my brethren in the never-ending shadow Beneath the streets of the city with my brethren in the never-ending shadow, there I go Secret hymnal with the words in a version of the mother tongue Walls envelop all of us like a mother who protects her young Spores at play deep down in our lungs Beneath the streets of the city with my brethren in the never-ending shadow Beneath the streets of the city with my brethren in the never-ending shadow, there I go

(Raja Vocative) A bird you would've liked brought the sky down But it was useless to see it without you around And in the unstoppable camera of my mind's eye I saw you and some foreign guy And I could hear your voice ringing I could hear you singing From all the way across the country in Palm Springs I can hear you now Your laughter tore through the New Jersey night And I can't stand it that I'm alright Stood out on the balcony and I took a look around And a bird we would've loved the sight of brought the sky down And I can hear your voice ringing I can hear you singing From all the way across the country in Palm Springs I can hear you now (Car Song) The highway's open and the sun is full and the vinyl upholstery heats up like worsted wool the hills roll past us and they rear up again Take a deep breath now and count to ten I reach across the stick shift and I pull you near The highway's open and it's hot in here It's hot in here Your skin sends all the sunlight back to hell And you shine in the coming darkness and I guess it's just as well That there's no one left, no one left at all And then the skin behind your eyes start burning like a solid wall of licking flames They burn red and clear The highway's open and it's hot in here It's hot in here

I will sail to the far shore And I will chop a hole in the hull too big to repair And I will turn the soil with my hands And I will make my home there My garden will grow so high My garden will grow so high That I will be completely hidden I will go where I will go And I will jettison all dead weight And I will use these words for kindling And I will sleep by the garden gate My garden will grow so high My garden will grow so high That I will be completely hidden

(Minnesota) Seeds came in the mail today from Holland And the language on the package was wonderful and strange All sorts of flowers that grow up from the earth In goodly colors, gloriously arranged I circled the house and I scattered them around Let the water sink down into the soil Stared a long time at the residue Blood, milk, and oil God, the humidity is something Our shirts are soaked clean through The house is throbbing and the heat keeps coming And I keep looking at you And then you're singing in Dutch to me And I recognize the song It seems so old and so fragile I haven't heard it in so long We may throw the windows open later But we are not as far west as we suppose we are Hot wind coming off the water The sky gone crazy with stars While we stay here, we imagine we're alive We see shadows on the walls There's something waiting for us in the hot, wet air Sweat, water, and alcohol Just the old blood Rising up through the wooden floor again Just the old love Asking for more again (Song for Dennis Brown) On the day that Dennis Brown's lung collapsed Spring rain was misting down on Kingston And down at the harbor, local cops were intercepting an inbound shipment And for a while there it was chaos As they handcuffed and then roughed up some sailors On the day my lung collapses It's not going to be much different On the day that Dennis Brown's habits caught up with him School children sang in choirs And out behind the Chinese restaurants guys were jumping into dumpsters And the stench was overbearing But they were past the point of caring On the day my habits catch up with me I'll be down among the jumpers And when the birds come home in spring We will fill them full of buckshot And jets of contaminated blood Will cloud the rivers and the lakes It took all the coke in town To bring down Dennis Brown On the day my lung collapses We'll see just how much it takes