The Commercial Album
Lyrics

Easter Woman

Down, down down, down down, down down...

Easter woman came today
And took away my wife
Took her to an open doorway
To the afterlife

Perfect Love

There's something I must tell you
There's something I must say
The only really perfect love
Is one that gets away

Picnic Boy

She called my friend a picnic boy
I never could stand that
Oh she called my friend a picnic boy
And said he was too fat

I left her in the early morning
Looking at the rain
I found I could not take the pressure
So I took the train

End of Home

Darkness fell upon the garden
As I sadly sat alone
Dreaming of the end of summer
And again the end of home

Our love was like a flowing river
Deeper still than what it seemed
It consumed my waking hours
Creeping deep into my dreams

Amber

Life is just a situation
Life is just a game
Life is just a whirlpool
And it's calling out my name

Amber were the autumn leaves
And amber was her skin
Amber was the evening
When the whirlpool pulled her in

It was irresistible
Was what she used to say
Like the sound of running horses
Early in the day

Japanese Watercolor

Instrumental

Secrets

Something's going on between them
Something I can see
Nobody seems to pay attention
So it's up to me

They're always touching
Always looking
In a secret way
I thought that I might cut them deep

Die in Terror

She said she wished to die in terror
Screaming in the night
To feel the crawling flesh of panic
As her hair turned white

She also had a pretty little
See-through negligee
I often wonder where she went
And if she got her way

Red Rider

Cellar doors were open
For the storms were out that night
The night reflected from the leaves
The sky was still too bright

I saw her passing as the wind
Was rising in the air
She rode upon a red bicycle
And she had red hair

My Second Wife

Yesterday my second wife fell in the afternoon
Slipped into hysteria and talked about the moon
Well this was only temporary so the doctor said
So I watched a football game and she went off to bed

Floyd

Instrumental

Suburban Bathers

Suburban bathers own the sea
But just between you and me
The sun has never fully set
That's seen the bathers fully wet

I see the sea,
The sea sees me

They seem to run to morning light
And crash the boards between the night
If they'd learn to love themselves
They might survive the murky depths

I see the sea,
The sea sees me

If I'd learn to love myself
I might survive the murky depths

Dimples and Toes

She is unhappy and even unkind
She would not listen but I do not mind
Kissing her dimples and touching her toes

She is attractive but very restrained
Slightly because of worry and strain
I was her father a long time ago
Kissing her dimples and touching her toes

The Nameless Souls

She was just uncaring
She was just untrue
She was just indifferent
What else could she do?

I was just a stranger
I was just subdued
I was just uneasy
What else could I do?

We were just the nameless
Souls that sit inside
Wishing that we were
Someone on the outside
Wishing that we were
The ones on the outside
Wishing that we weren't
The ones who were stuck

Love Leaks Out

Hour by hour
Day by day
Love leaks out
And goes away

Act of Being Polite

I found her crying in the morning
Sitting in a chair
She was wrapping something up
And wrapping it with care

I did not mean to hurt her
When I fell asleep last night
I was just exhausted
From the act of being polite

Yes, I was just exhausted
From the act of being polite

Medicine Man

Instrumental

Tragic Bells

Tragic bells are ringing for me
Tragic bells are ringing in my ear again
And I don't know why I'm going on

Loss of Innocence

Amusement parks are caked with sounds
A solid hunk of meat
A barker's sweat flings from his tongue
His tattoo shines with heat

A wary stranger stands and sways
Enraptured by his stance
Two-headed goats come stumbling by
And give a troubled glance

The barker looks into the eyes
The stranger tries to bend
The barker swears to more delights
For all who seek within

The stranger enters canvas doors
And smells the fresh cut hay
The barker points to Siamese twins
The stranger looks away

The eyes of horse faced women
Watch the few who wander through
They sense the tension in the air
And smell the sweet taboo

A heart beats fast against a chest
The stranger leaves the tent
The waves of people drown the sounds
Of loss of innocence

The Simple Song

We are simple
You are simple
Life is simple, too

Ups and Downs

She was opening up an elevator
On a rainy day
Sitting on a little stool
And looking far away

I asked if she would take me
To another floor
She laughed and said she probably would
And then she closed the door

Possessions

Some are into silver
Some are into gold
Some are into having
Something nice to hold

Give it to Someone Else

I wanted to give it to someone else
And hear what they would say
I wanted to give it to someone else
And watch them as they played

I left it helpless all alone
And waiting on the floor
Squirming just a little bit
And looking at the door

He would take it as he wished
And I would listen in
Documenting as I would
The sound of slapping skin

Phantom

Instrumental

Less Not More

The railings of the bridge
Were moving by the glass
The opportunity to leave
Was coming up fast

The situation passed across my
Mind once more,
And I decided that I needed
Less not more
Less not more
Less not more

My Work is So Behind

Smoke was feeling up the house
A burning yearning heat
The cats were looking through the haze
And licking at their feet
They were licking at their feet

A caller came and looked at me
And asked me if I'd mind
I said I would not normally
My work is so behind
I'm just way behind

The fire it sparkled in his smile
And then beneath his skin
And so he jumped right in right in
And so he jumped right in

Birds in the Trees

Birds in the trees
Shook dust from their wings
I thought of the heartaches
That shattered our love not long ago

Birds in the trees
Now asleep

Handful of Desire

Sinews crackled in the heat
Of noonday raptured thrill
A moisture laden syncopated
Automated thrill
A handful of desirous needs
That's much too soon fulfilled

Moisture

Someone saw a strange amount
Of moisture on her lips
And it was also seen upon
Her arms and on her hips

No one knows exactly
Who she was or how she died
But when they opened up her purse
They found a snail inside

Love is...

Love is only loneliness
Divided by another
Love is only living for the lonely

Love is only loneliness
Divided by another
And I know that life is lonely

Troubled Man

His wife had left him long ago
For someone without skin,
And now he faced the mirror
And he saw a doubled chin

He was having trouble
And he'd had it for awhile,
His doctor died a year ago
She was his only child

La La

La, la-la
La, la-la
La, la, la

La, la-la
La, la-la
La, la, la

La, la-la
La, la-la
La, la, la

Loneliness

I came upon it in the night
And left it in the rain
And from that moment to today
I've never been the same

I knew not what the weather meant
When he said goodbye
I only know this loneliness
Will never make me cry

Make me cry

Nice Old Man

Something smiling sweetly
Something tall and thin
Something deep within my heart
Reminded me of him

He was not my lover
He was not my friend
He was just a nice old man
Who played the violin

The Talk of Creatures

Mumbling weighs upon my mind
The talk of creatures in my spine
A contest fought between two souls
To know which thought that each controls
They argue deep into the night
Displaying wrongs, inciting rights
They sing their songs with unknown tones
And keep the beat upon my bones

Fingertips

Something faintly emanating
Perfume and decay
Whispered lightly in the wind
That she had got away

Longing for the touch of something
Soft upon my face
I thought about her fingertips
And not her lack of grace

In Between Dreams

Instrumental

Margaret Freeman

Margaret Freeman had a body
Unlike any I'd seen
It seemed to drip her mental thoughts
Like much too warm ice cream
One day while she washed the dishes
In the nude I saw
How her mother's sodden ways
Had rubbed her rib cage raw

The Coming of the Crow

Instrumental

When We Were Young

Instrumental