- Alibi
well I'm sure it's complicated
and I'm sure your story goes way back
but you're looking desperate lately
and now is not the time to look like that
I don't know if he did it and I won't ask
there's a lot of good women with a lot of bad backs
your man's in something heavy, it already looks bad
careful what you carry on his behalf
- Call Off Your Ghosts
[Verse 1]
Last night, best friend, big weddingAnnotate
And I knew you'd be there too
Look at us, all grown up
Collared shirts and high heel shoes
You crossed the room, just the decent thing to do
Make sure we've all been introduced
You brought your new friend
- Children's Work
my father was a paper plane
my mother was a windswept tree
my little brother's nearly twice my age
he taught me how to meditate
I taught him how to read
I grew up with a book in my bed
I got these dark circles before I turned ten
heard my mother with her friends worry
- Congratulations
Alexander
Congratulations
You have invented a new kind of stupid
A 'damage you can never undo' kind of stupid
An 'open all the cages in the zoo' kind of stupid
'Truly, you didn't think this through?' kind of stupid
Let's review
You took a rumor a few maybe two people knew and refuted it
- Dutch
Dutch
Mind your step
I keep the overhead low
Just the bed
And the books
And the rotary phone
Chicago Manual of Style
Keeps the prose right crisp
- Go Home
it's too dark
just the passing cars
illuminate the room
and it's harder every time I see you
and then when you leave
I'm wondering when
would be too soon
but you ain't mine to miss
- Into the Spin
so here we go back again
slow climb but quick to descend
arms out, arms out
turn into the spin
it's lovely and brief
with just gravity and me
so here we go back again
- It's Only Me
Hello, it's only me, I know it's late
Hoped to catch you still awake
And maybe I was wrong to call
guess tonight broke my resolve
I've been having that dream again
It seems I always will
- Matches to Paper Dolls
I changed the locks
But your key, your key's still working
You can't train a moth, I guess
Uh, each beast gets her burden
So we circle this old flame
Too much at stake but too late to change
My nerves are shot, my reserves exhausted
It's a tired plot but we bought it
- Mineshaft
To the bottom of the mineshaft
The list of things I used to be is longer than the list of things I am
Ex-lover, ex-friend
Ex-communicated atheist, ex-patriot
Living in the heartland
Living on the small chance
Luck would save the last dance
For an underrated writer, overrated rapper
- Mineshaft II
fifteen years from tonight you have to make a decision
the greatest love of your life
is gonna call during dinner...
from the home of the girl that he's living with now
and the guilt he'll say is killing him
he's wilted in the middle and
he knows how bad he acted
knows he can't have you back
- NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
Swimming in a snifter
Pretty as a picture
Don't get it twisted man, her bite is a bitch
You can name, you can keep her
But take care when you feed her
You never can take the fight out the fish
Chomping at the drill bit
Never one to still sit
- The Beekeeper
Here comes the beekeeper
With her pitcher full of smoke
She'll put us all to sleep and hope
It’s dream and honesty
Sweet Prometheus come home,
They took away our fire
And all that scarcity promotes
It’s desperate men and times
- The Bullpen
Forget the bull in the china shop
There's a china doll in the bullpen
Walk with a switch, fire in her fist
Biting at the bit
Swing at every pitch
Coach put me in like
Forget the bull in the china shop
There's a china doll in the bullpen
- The Chaconne
now the bough breaks
the books I read
said you were a fragile kid
just as I imagined it
your story goes:
another nosebleed
- The Crow
That old crow came back today
Sitting in my window like a prophet
Out on the fire escape, to say
Anger is just love, left out, gone to vinegar
You wake up a stranger to yourself then you
Learn to live with her
Sit in her clothing 'til you fill out her figure
You know life's no bella telanovela