Leaning on Elsewhere

cardboard cut out of a fantasy 

I want nothing to do with me 

just another chapter 

collecting dust at the library

goddamn it's awfully quiet 

not gonna be the first to do it 

victims of circumstance 

gladly complacent

give my chain a yank 

waste all my days 

you can have ‘em 

wasn’t doing too much

with 'em anyways

don’t ask many questions

but you’re the first to close the distance

seeping in your sheets 

as long as it’s no inconvenience

you don’t trust anything

‘cause you feel everything

packing all your things soon

as the walls start cracking

give my chain a yank 

waste all my days 

you can have ‘em 

wasn’t doing too much

with 'em anyways

you won’t write about me

it was just a cup of coffee

we were made for one night 

and one night only

eyes on the eight ball

collecting the quarters

from the blood money you found

on a Ballard corner

setting my facts straight

feeling bad in a good way

hope one day this is a

miniturette from an airplane

heart like a football

the way that you toss it

better just look buddy 

if you break it you buy it

left to my dangerous to devices

cartoon cat on a string

the kindness of strangers

us lone stars a’shining

the weight of a song

like a boot on my neck 

I shoot every shot 

‘cus odds are 50%

we’re like children in trenchcoats

stacked tall to fit in

when you’re lost in your anger

I’m a poor politician 

denim on denim 

always patching some new hole

cosplaying a cowboy

in the notes app on my phone

if nobody knows you

the way that you need to

just make your own movie

who cares about previews 

honkey tonk angel

with dreams that you dangled

on dashboards like a steed

speeding past the pan handle 

*miniturette is not a real word :)

got a little love left in my cup 

scared to return it 

but it doesn’t take taste

quite strong enough 

yeah guess i think i think

i’m pretty hot stuff

thinking i know everything 

staring at the night sky 

laying on the asphalt 

am I just cruisn’ for a bruisn 

or is there something up there 

fucking with me 

shooting in the dark 

trying to learn my lesson 

hoping something I can’t see

turns on the light for me  

I won’t won’t lick my wounds 

I let ‘em bleed 

leaving my fingerprints

all over you at the crime scene

duplex drug deal 

public pool 

self-medicating 

I forget where I am 

but I won’t forget this feeling

am I just cruisn’ for a bruisn 

or is there something up there 

fucking with me 

shooting in the dark 

trying to learn my lesson 

hoping something I can’t see

turns on the light for me  

[instrumental]

am I just cruisn’ for a bruisn 

or is there something up there 

fucking with me 

shooting in the dark 

trying to learn my lesson 

hoping something I can’t see

turns on the light for me  

smoking again not calling my friends

waiting for a bus not hoppin’ in

hoping my writing gets better 

by changing the color of my pen

if I could I would quit my job

build a cabin sing sad songs 

hoping the critters form a band 

& sing along

I don’t mean to guard the door

clog your holes with lines

you’ve heard before

I just don’t want to worry 

about being alive anymore

things get bad find a tree 

or when I get too busy

being mean to me

make a cup of tea add some whiskey

if there’s a market for everything

guess I can get away with anything

maybe even keeping

the apartment clean

I don’t mean to guard the door

clog your holes with lines

you’ve heard before

I just don’t want to worry 

about being alive anymore

I've got nothing nice to say

you come over anyways

it’s okay it's okay

tomorrow’s another day 

to make better mistakes

I don’t mean to guard the door

clog your holes with lines

you’ve heard before

I just don’t want to worry 

about being alive anymore

I just don’t want to worry 

about being alive anymore

I just don’t want to worry 

about being alive anymore

call me a coward

but I made the first move

I’d sniff you out baby

in any packed bar room

luck of the draw

you can stay if you want

circles on your chest

in your arms until dawn

tied with you in this twin bed’s 

all the room we could want

I feel most like myself

in your clothes on the sand

learning more from the waves

than any god given plan

don’t have to ask nothing

we just understand 

whispering those three words

just by squeezing my hand 

your ideas as my maps

got me tangled in blues

driving to the coast

don’t mean we wanna leave

our motel room

every beautiful thing that I see

I wanna show to you

my green light

at the edge of the water

north star

you’re always shooting after

[instrumental]

call me a coward

but I made the first move

losing my feet upstream

blazing reality my hot air balloon

sticking your hand in the wrong pot

I kiss it for you I know you 

like something I can place 

my finger on if only for a moment

to stop it over flowing 

we fall in anyhow

loosening the bolts in my head

you make me pick up my pen

by now I thought I’d be dead

instead I'm the bug in your bed

didn’t mean to shift out of park

behind the penny cinema junkyard 

pulling a fast one snaps us back 

real loud climbing out 

the background scene stumbling blindly 

treading me lightly 

but we’re all commotion 

‘til we notice the window’s wide open

we stay in anyhow

loosen’ the bolts in my head

you make me pick up my pen

by now I thought i’d be dead

instead I’m the bug in your bed

your bed

your bed

another broken item

piling up prescriptions

regretting another poison

purchased at the gas station

feels good don't it

then in splits you open

just to see what made you like that

another neon street

pondering the stains on my sleeves

doing the dirty work

to keep me looking clean

took years to figure out 

how to sing what I mean

just so the regular can talk over me

it's just words

just words

just words

all I got

another road lecture

from a motel bible

fear-filled fable

on late night cable

man in the static 

says even god ain't able

to take me away from myself 

it's just words

just words

just words

all I got

the brain becomes 

a landmine

pretending love's 

the last thing on the mind

you say I'll never write a song

that'll save your life

so I guess I'll try to save mine 

with words

just words

just words

all I got

all I got

all I got