THE GREAT DIVIDE: LYRICS

THe unexamined Road

You lost your way
You lost your way
And it's my greatest regret
That I couldn't convince you to stay
I'd never lead you down
An unexamined road
You haven't already found

So where to now my long-lost friend?
You're always living your life on the edge
As if it's the end
So what become of this?
This insouciant adolescent bliss?
You make it so hard to resist
The message you send
What if you led me down
An unexamined road
I haven't already found?

The light hits my eyes
It's a new day
But most days I don't have a lot to say
The challenge is direct
Yet I delay
Why in God's name are you so far away?

I lost my way
I lost my way
And it's my latest regret that I haven't fulfilled each day
It's time I travel down
An unexamined road
I haven't already found

SAME OLD SHIT

You know how to play
You know what to say
Okay, so why is it you won't quit
Playing the same old shit?

You know lots of chords
You could learn some more
What for? Cuz I you know you'll never quit
Playing the same old shit

Time and time again I've tried
To turn the tide but you keep on insisting
Music died in 1985
We could take a different track
And take them back to a time more uplifting
Rock and roll could be ours to revive

There's gotta be a way
To change the way we play
Okay? Cuz I'm gonna throw a fit
Playing the same old shit

Do we have to play Boston so often?
I like the Doobie Brothers, but how about some others?
Would it be illegal to not play the Eagles?
And play a song we don't hear every fucking day
On every station in the USA?

Time and time again I've tried
To turn the tide but you keep on resisting
Learning songs we can't play in our sleep
Maybe just a little ditty voted by committee
That won't make me want to take a flying leap

Keep on doing what you're doing and we're through
We're screwed
Unless you decide to quit
Playing the same old shit
You're writing your own obit
Playing the same old...

LIES OF THE DAMNED

Ten minutes late
The prima donna walks in and says, "Let us begin."
A few self-effacing quips
To settle his audience
Hasn't prepared like the others prepared
But overcomes this with showmanship flare
Closing his eyes to convey how much he cares

You follow the voices in your head
To tell you a story when you go to bed
Don't let it get you down
I'll never make a sound
I'll never publish the lies of the damned

I don't know how all of this came to pass
Me standing here, you standing there
But I think it's time that we both clear the air
I asked for assistance, a beggar in need
You could have demurred, instead you agreed
To ride in like the hero upon his noble steed
But you screwed the pooch, my friend
You let me down
Along with the dozens of others I found
Who all suffer fools, though not gladly
In the wake of a clown

It's the error of your ego
The vice of you vanity
The drive of a diva
The deeds of a drama queen
Trying to reclaim all the promise you had as a teen
It's the curse of the conman who believes his own lies
Who no longer discerns what is real or disguise
Who only commits when his own skin's on the line

WHAT IS TRUE

The scent of cigarettes and beer
And dancing bodies at the discotheque
Resplendent lights that lift the soul away from here

It all comes flooding back again
From the halcyon days of tranquil youth
To a place of shaken faith and shaken son
What the nanny's done can't be undone

You say, "I don't want to talk about it now"
I say, "Could this be happening to me?"
All I've known is just a shadow on the wall
Of what is true
What is true

I've seen it all
The days gone down
Of you and me just knocking around
Dressed in drag
A couple social misfits

Sometimes the inner rage subsides
In place I hear a child's laughter rise
There's nothing left to do but
Let the day begin
And swear to God one day
My son will walk again

Are You gonna fight for her?

Are you gonna fight for her?
Are you gonna let her go to do the things she does?
Are you gonna fight for her?
Or are you gonna hold your ground for some unspoken cause?

Are you gonna lay down and die
Just when she needs you most?
Oh, I can hear her calling your name
Are you gonna follow your heart
Or wander like a ghost
And wonder who's to blame?

Are you gonna fight for her?
Are you gonna let your foolish pride get in the way?
Are you gonna fight for her?
Or let her careless instincts get the final say?

Is she gonna get up and go
To some forgotten town
And leave you here with what might have been?
Why don't you just let her know
How much you need her now
And let your love shine in?

Don't you give up that right
Or I will take up the fight

You fought for all you won
You fought for all you own
You fought to overcome the fact of your unhappy home
You fought for every right
You fought for every cent
You fought to lead and achieve and accent your ascent
You fought for everything in life so undeterred
Why won't you fight for her?

Are you gonna fight for her?
Are you gonna let her go to face the world alone?
Are you gonna fight for her?
Or are you gonna realize this whole thing's overblown?

DIVERGE

This is where things start to diverge
The moment when something divisive occurs
And contradicts every act, every urge
I followed along to a point on the page
Where nothing made sense and all was betrayed
And neither of us was acting our age

If it's true we're all made of dust
Then what becomes of us
When the wind blows us to different sides
Of the great divide?
If we dig in, intransigent
We're left to circumvent
Any truth behind this dismal dirge
Oh, this is where we start to diverge

The time was ripe for a change in the plan
To traverse trails and till your own land
And damn the fool who betrays your command
But along the way we hurt who we love
I guess it's true that when push comes to shove
We're all too quick to put on our boxing gloves

I don't know where we go from here
Because it's all too clear
That the wind's blown us to different sides
Of the great divide
I pray and hope for a happy end
Of this film we're in
Where the cynics don't get the final word
Oh, is this where we stop?

This is where things start to diverge
When the war with oneself becomes a war of words
When our talks degrade to niceties rehearsed
And we become polite or maybe something worse
May their come a time we put things in reverse
When our parting paths care to converge
But til then, we start to diverge

COLD

I spilled my guts
I let the cat out of the bag
That's what makes this such a drag
I said too much
And yet I still have more to say
All this shit gets in the way
I offered my confession
To stop this game of guessing
And you...

Now you know all there is to know
And I'm prepared to let you go
I gave us a chance but my advance
Do do do do do
Has left you cold
Oh so cold

Do you hear this wretched rhyme
This maudlin melody?
Well, this is what you've done to me
I could write the grandest tune for you
If you'd only want me to

I spilled my guts
And now with tail between my legs
I will safely slink away

YOUR Mother's house

You took me to your mother's house way back when
And I don't think I know you any better now
Than I did then
You guard your feelings like a fortress, except anger
But nothing 'bout your yearnings, your dreams
And hopes and fears
I haven't heard about them in years

I pour my heart into my passions
That's the only place where it can go
Without being picked apart like vulture's prey
I used to offer my reaction
Then we'd have ourselves another row
Now I'm more incline to walk away

We should have known better
We should have known better than this
We should have known better
We should have known better than this
Cuz I know who you are, but I wanna know
Do you know who I am?

Do you remember how your brother grilled me
Up one side and down the other
And all the time with a big shit-eating grin?
And how we relished in the laughter
Til the milk came dripping from your nose
I've never seen you laugh that way again

There in your mother's house
Your mother's house
Your eyes burned bright
There in your mother's house
Your mother's house
You were the most amazing sight

Put you away

I
I've got to put you away for a while
Someplace I'll one day say with a smile
Or maybe a tear
This is where I kept my heart from feeling
Cuz I
I can't bear to feel any more
This is so much worse than before

All those little heartbreaks when you're young
They don't compare to what feels like a ton
Of trouble taking me down
All my passions turn to sure disaster
And I
I've got to put you away in a drawer
And remember how it was before

How you opened up my soul
When all I wanted
Is to crawl back into a hole
You let my spirit soar towards a future
Paved in gold

I have visions in the night
It seems so close I almost toast the cup in victory
Could this be really happening?
Could this be really happening?

Oh, how you opened up my soul
When all I wanted
Is to crawl back into a hole
This hurts me more than words can say
And still I know no other way
Cuz this is really happening
Yes this is really happening to me

End Game

The window is closed
You waited too long
What should have been so right
Is now all wrong
The weight of the world lies square at your feet
You're embarrassed and shamed
Imbued with defeat
And there's no one to blame but you
So what are you going to do?

I know how you feel
Cuz I've been there, too
Imagine the angels laughing at you
This moment will pass
As all moments do
But once this chapter's through
What are you going to do?

All last night you lay in a sweat
Replaying scenes that you can't forget
You feel like you've worn out your last appeal
No one weighs all the good you've done
You deny your impulse to flee and run
To face another day
Someplace far away from here

The window has closed
You waited too long
But what doesn't kill you
Just might make you strong
The weight of the world
Still lies at your feet
Now shake off the dust
Then wash, rinse, repeat
Cuz there's no one to blame but you
Now what are you going to do?

I'll tell you what you're gonna do
You'll cast away stones and search for something new
Stop worrying 'bout the moments that you can't undo
And set a course for action bright and bold and true
The next stage of your life is here, it's overdue
So start preparing plans for what you must pursue
You're going to find an opening and walk right through
Who knows, tomorrow just might be your big debut
Now do what you're meant to do
The world is relying on you