Copyright © 1996,1997 Rumpus. All Rights Reserved









Against Myself
August
At the Track
BAM
Covered in Ants
Donna
Drag
Eleanor Rigby
Fairweather
Feel
Hardcopy Headlines
In the Wee Hours
Latin Gate
The Pin Machine
Reclamation
Red Ranger
Top Floor
Waiting on Mine
Yellow Slicker

Against Myself (Ide)

sideways glances shot across a room
her bullets burn like a flower blooms
orpheus leads euridice home
if he don't let go he'll be singing alone

i been there and back again
meters measure the signal sent
my orbit's going retrograde
yeah i fade away

things i say can't be repeated
things i say can't be repeated
blackboard draw the diagram quick
obsession is so fucking sick

chorus
yeah, you turn me against myself


August (Ide)

so long so hard
when you're left inside
when your left hand sighs
i get my mad on
i get my freak on

so fine so wrong
when you're left inside
when your left hand sighs
i get my mad on
i get my freak on

chorus
what is wrong here?
what is wrong with me?

At the Track (Ide)

honey white and butter wasp
you follow me you follow me you follow me you follow me

vicious victor and black vengeance
you follow me you follow me you follow me you follow me

momma's girl and daddy's boy
you follow me you follow me you follow me you follow me

chorus
at the track
at the track
at the track
at the track
it's where we smoke crack
and now we can't go back

Bust a Move (Young, Dike, Ross)

Covered in Ants (Ide)

i'm numb
and funky
i can't type
i'm a junky
i'm far gone
and wierd
stop me
you can't

feedback
and killian's
i'm gone
i'm numb
over
and over
and over and again
and again and again and again

i'm a few beats off
i'm hammered
i'm insane
it doesn't matter
it's my instrument
it's my forebearance
it's a detriment
i'm covered in ants

chorus
just try
just try
just try
and stop me

Donna (Ide)

show me my baby
show me care
show me crazy
show me there

babysitter i wish
babysitter i know
babysitter i'm sick
babysitter now you know

donnadonnadonnadonnadonnadonnadonna
i don't wannawannawannawannawannawannawanna
but i'm gonnagonnagonnagonnagonnagonnagonna
with donnadonnadonnadonnadonnadonnadonna

chorus
don't you know, you're the only person i ever hated
don't you know, you're the only person i've ever known

Drag (Ide)

the answer doesn't matter if the question's kinda trendy
i can't hang out with the crowd-curse of the semi-friendly

i smile too much when it pays to frown
it helps to have some friends to drag you down

chorus
it's a drag

Eleanor Rigby (Lennon, McCartney)

Fairweather (Ide)

it's a strange thing
to be so far away from yourself
that you can't feel yourself spinning down
you're winding down
there are some days
where you can't see the eye for the skull behind it
make up your mind
it's a fine line just in time

all the sweet things
are gone from your mouth
all your story-book birds
have flown south
you get cold and mean
you get old and lean
you get all tied up in making the scene
a little touch up makes you look obscene

chorus
i want to sparkle i want to shine
i want to be everything divine
but i spend my time falling into line
behind these fairweather friends of mine

Feel (Ide)

the killer hovered
like a lover
circling his prey with eyes open
gonna discover
uncover
feel

the priest taught
or so he thought
immaculate misconception
it was all for naught
he lost all he sought
it was too real

tv screen
the other kids are mean
mother says it's just a phase
love it seems
is naked dreams
and it's the end of me

chorus
and i can feel
see it all
the open is ugly
but it's the truth


Hardcopy Headlines (Green)

their theories tell me this
while their mouths tell me that
yeah, i'll get free advice if i
put the change down in their hat
"according to freud," he'll say . . .
i'll avert my gaze
"put your feet up, talk to me"
my eyes stinging in the smoky haze

Chorus 1
if i know better
then why am i here?
hard copy headlines
are decency's worst fear
the arguing voices
are all that i hear
a day when everything
was near

and now there's a road more traveled
though it shouldn't have to be so
do they worry that it taxes my brain
to be scurrying to and fro?
perhaps i'm good for another session
to keep my faculties intact
but the wheel lies in my grip today
steering clear of all contact

Chorus 2
i do know better
yet still live in fear
let the hard copy headlines
tell the world i'm queer
now and again
a loving voice will reappear
reminds me of a day
when everything
was near

tell me it's what's best

In the Wee Hours (Ide)

drop a flower on the ground, my love
and i'll be yours yesterday
give me some support in the wee hours
and i'll pay you back in spades

take me on the trestle over the river
watch the shit fall from my shoes
put a coat over me if i shiver

follow me down to the low district
pull me out of all my fights
give me an arresting look across the room
take me home and read me my rights

chorus
all i want is a little time
all i want is a piece of my mind
all i want tonight is a friend
all i want is someone to put me to bed

Latin Gate (Ide)

travelling
is a fading way
to an early grave
run through the jungle
past the poison
home for a few days

i can say
"but hey"
and try my best to pretend
i'm not tired of you
try to meminisse
before it all drifts away

i might spend all my time
in lands of make-believe
when it gets too real
you start to deceive

chorus
i can be barefoot
cigar in my hand
latin gate is a picture-framed away
too beautiful to be discrete

The Pin Machine (Ide)

and so it comes to pass that i may remember
the girl with the aquiline nose who i met in december
on a forty second street they beat my feet so that i could be a member
devotion like that is the type that a body just can't forget

look out-someone got crass and sprang the beasts from out of their fetters
bring in something from the outside just to make it better
midnight sight, ecstasy, and dirty boy letters
man you run yourself too hard but it's like a race to forget her

the types of violence scroll in tandem across the screen
everybody's got style everybody's playing the scene
she was shot to the stars last night like nobody that i'd ever seen
everybody makes a perfect replica of themselves in the pin machine

chorus
she will always come down

Reclamation (Ide)

sometimes you'll do strange things
lately all my nights have been the same
suddenly the only guy i know isn't anything
yeah, he was set loose in a bad dream

"i had a point about a minute ago" he says
but i haven't been following him
hope i hit my peak one of these days
before my hands get too thin

frightened of a sunrise and what the light might bring
i've been cutting my fingers off to get at the rings
yeah, sometimes you do strange things
yeah sometimes you become a stange thing

chorus
I know it's a strange thing

coda
bryan it's ten o'clock
do you know where i am
mother it's ten o'clock
when are you coming to get me?

Red Ranger (Ide)

a bank
a heist
a crook
he flies
help is on the way x3
gonna live to see another day

the mob
a hit
a job
for him
they won't get away x3
they'll get their's if he gets his way

a side
a kick
a friend
for him
he's got antennas on his head
antennas on his head x2
they let him talk to his super-friends

Top Floor (Ide)

I went to the top
Just to see what I could see
When the elevator stopped
There wasn't very much left of me

in a transparent daze
stumble out into the rain
drop off cliff passing lane
time and time again

rushing back and again to meet
like beads on a bicycle spoke
nectar ain't so sweet
if you drink too much to choke

Chorus
All the pretty city people keep a'coming down and laughing at me


Waiting on Mine (Milk Shake) (Ide)

Now I don't think I love her
But I get kinda thick when he calls her name
Over milkshakes
Sweet nothings
Well, I'd like to offer her something
But I feel like I don't have
Anything
At all

Now I'm not sure I love her
I have to be thick when she calls my name
For a deep
Enlightening chat
Well, I don't know about that
She probably sees it
As a diversion
It's my life

Well, I don't think I love her
She's saying goodnight from the hall
He smiles
He's always smiling
Yeah I'm whiling
Away vast tracts of time
Waiting to be sown
Waiting on mine

Chorus
Her attention is another matter-it matters


Yellow Slicker (Ide)

i know a girl
she's like a shrew
and if you're a weaker mammal
she dig on you
she make a burrow
with her nose
when it's cold outside
that's where she goes

i know a girl
got a big red car
and if you're laughing
she'll take a joke a little too far
she makes wishes
on a distant star
it don't get her funny jokes
it don't wash her car

i know a girl
she's way out there
she sings and dances
with a trained pygmy bear
circus sideshow
in old detroit
don't make me love her
like bruce benoit

chorus
but i got a yellow slicker
makes my skin a little thicker