1. |
End Up First
03:42
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There is a man upstairs nine stories higher than I
He is squinting through his spectacles separating land from sky
He oversees the rise and fall of his business each day
He lives his life through the profits of the money that he makes
What’s ethical and economical are two very different things
Because it ain’t over until the government sings
We desensitize ourselves with these aspirations full of greed
Because we have these illusions of the things we think we need
We’re eating off of cardboard trays
Living through an angry phase
Wondering where all the virtue went
Begging and begging for the things that we can’t afford
Making the millions because we can
America the beautiful, home of this stock market game
We study our Wall Street Journals hoping another dollar could be made
It’s a bull market today but it’s a bear market the next
And we stumble around with our huge wallets
Holding more than enough to pay the rent
We’re eating off of cardboard trays
Living through an angry phase
Wondering where all the virtue went
Begging and begging for the things that we can’t afford
Making the millions because we can
We like our profits big and our outlooks small
Our cars fast and our buildings tall
We spend a fortune for a shirt without a dime to trickle down
Because we don’t know the man in the dirty shirt
Working in a factory downtown
We’re eating off of cardboard trays
Living through an angry phase
Wondering where all the virtue went
Begging and begging for the things that we can’t afford
Making the millions because we can
We cloud our perceptions with “oh, it’ll get there.”
“They’ve got enough. they’ve got their share.”
But don’t turn your heads to it or pinch the pennies in your purse
Because it tends the ones who are left below are gonna always end up first
The ones who are left below are gonna always end up first
We’re eating off of cardboard trays
Living through an angry phase
Wondering where all the virtue went
Begging and begging for the things that we can’t afford
Making the millions because we can
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2. |
Bein' Ugly
00:04
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3. |
Sorry I Am
04:58
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I know I’m not a pretty sight
But I could clean up well
At least I don’t smell bad
As far as I can tell
I know I’m not a Cindy Crawford
And I’m not a Tyra Banks
And to both of my parents
I owe all of my thanks
Just what you see
Isn’t always just what you get
If you think about it first
You just might regret
Choosing the pretty girl
Just because she hangs well on your arm
Well, a girl with a brain
Never did a boy no harm
Sorry I am
Not a trophy for your fire place
I’m sorry I am
Not just another pretty face
You don’t have to be sorry
But you don’t have to be proud
Of all your ignorant thinking
Yet you sing it so loud
This is what I was given by birth
So I’ll just have to “make do”
Yet when I think of perfection
I don’t picture you
Maybe you should read a book
And I could practice my poise
And you could listen to something other than
The sound of your own voice
Sorry I am
So hard to comprehend
Sorry I am
Not so shallow, not so shallow
But how’d you like to be on the outside looking in
On everybody else’s romance?
How’d you like to be just the pretty girl’s best friend
When no one’s gonna give you chance?
Sorry I don’t have the body you dreamed of
Sorry that I have a mind of my own
Sorry that I may be a little different from the rest
Sorry I won’t enlarge my breasts
I know I’m not a pretty picture
And I’m not sure who painted me
But I know he painted you too
Whoever you may be
Sorry I am
I’m sorry I am
Sorry I am
I’m sorry I am
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4. |
Art of Silence
04:11
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When I talk, I talk too much
Without ever really saying enough
I just can’t say it the right way
I never know what to say
The syntax is muddy; diction is too
I wish it were clearer, mostly for you
So you could understand
The things i wish you knew
My head is full; I can’t fit it through
this little space above my chin
In the middle of my face
Just so out of place
Every time my mouth is open
I am plagued with the constant notion
To say the wrong words
That should never be heard
But these words that hang from my bottom lip
That I lick, they sit on the tip
Of my tongue
Just waiting to be sung
Because half of what I say I don’t really say at all
Like it’s implied in some unspoken law
And I can’t help but keep my reserve
Only the best of this dialogue do you deserve
I sit and daydream every minute
This fantasy world, you are in it
And everything I say
Comes out in a clever way
I never cease to be amazed
How perfectly good words go stupidly phrased
Maybe it’s some disease
Or maybe I just shouldn’t speak
follow what I say if you can
My pockets-crowded with my hands
And I know I tend to wander off
With the train of thought
I over thought it; my head is tired
Now I’ve decided to get my mouth wired
Shut forever
I’m gonna keep these lips together
Because half of what I say I don’t really say at all
Like it’s implied in some unwritten law
And I can’t help but keep my reserve
Only the best of this dialogue do you deserve
But if I knew just what to say there’d be no words to choose
And if I knew how this would end up
There’d be nothing to lose
But I guess this is the risk we take, the safety net we break
In taking a chance
When I talk, I talk too much
Without ever really saying enough
I just can’t say it the right way
Never know what to say
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5. |
Monopoly
04:12
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They’ll tell you ignorance is bliss ‘til you get a bitter taste of the truth
Then you’ve got but no choice but to voice your own rebuke
Against the widespread greed of all material things
And the selling of so-called essentials and all the money it brings
What we know is little and what we ponder is less
Until some redundant headline makes them all confess
To the sins that they’ve committed towards the goodwill of all men
In starchy white collars who’ve paid off all the Feds
They’re shoving down this consumerism via my mouth
I’m so bloated by the welfare of the corporates i can barely shit it out
Someone is living out their monopoly board game dream
Because they bought up every parkway, every railroad, every tree
Now they’re buying all our homes with every roll of the dice
This land is your land, no longer is it mine
The little bald man with the top hat and the coat
Seems so cute at first but his eyes are filled with money notes
And we lie to ourselves and just laugh it off in jest
But sooner than later there will be barcodes on all our necks
World domination is on the top of all their lists
First they’ll fatten us up, and then force us all to submit
To the buying of their products just to better their cuisine
While some anorexic teenage girl starves herself reading their magazines
But there’s not surefire way to stop it as they’ve got the head start
I guess it’s lack of human understanding on everybody’s part
Someone is living out their monopoly board game dream
Because they bought up every parkway, every railroad, every tree
Now they’re buying all our homes with every roll of the dice
This land is your land, no longer is it mine
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6. |
Stephen Dedalus
03:43
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There’s a talk of weather in search for common ground
In the conversation between my head and my heart
And if the end result is hardly anything if anything at all
What was the sense in working myself so hard?
But I know I can’t change the cards I was dealt
So I stiffen my lip and i tighten my belt
And I say “ok” for the rest of the day
And I say “all right” for the rest of my life
The puddle blurs out the better part of my face
I got two left feet and just one right half of my brain
My heart percolates like my grandmother’s coffee machine
I think if I’d known her, she’d know what the words I say really mean
But I know I can only do what I can
And you can’t mess around with some grand masterplan
And I say “ok” for the rest of the day
And I say “all right” for the rest of my life
My head and my feet go two different ways
You know come to think of it, I never did think straight
If there’s one way out then I want to take the back door
Suddenly, nothing is that funny to me anymore
This trite metaphor is getting so old
I look at my hand and I know when to fold
And I say “ok” for the rest of the day
And I say “all right” for the rest of my life
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7. |
Never Never Land
01:09
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8. |
Plastic Song
01:45
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Two nose jobs five tummy tucks
And one fake plastic grin
Tape my ears back, get a face lift
Now I can’t feel my chin
I might as well just be somebody else
I might as well just be somebody else
Suck my thighs out, put in my lips
Say “honey, does this look real?”
Check my chest size and bump it up to double d
Go ahead give ‘em a feel
And I might as well just be somebody else
Now I can’t even recognize myself
I might as well just be somebody else
Get a butt lift, take a rib or two
Say “damn, don’t I look good?”
Wrap me up in plastic put me in a doll box
Send me off to Hollywood
I might as well just be somebody else
Because I can’t even recognize myself
I might as well just be somebody
Because I can’t even recognize myself
Thank God for plastic I'm microwave save
But I might melt in the sun
And I changed myself around so many times
That I’m right back where I’ve begun
Do I might as well just be somebody else
Now I can’t even recognize myself
I might as well just be somebody else
I guess I just want to be somebody else
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9. |
Your Theory
04:47
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You tell me your theory
Through your face
Because you are transparent
And I am opaque
But see-through is better
Than a concrete wall
Can’t find a balance in the midst of it all
But iI would if I knew how
To learn to embrace
But the circle is surrounding me now
And if this is the way it’s always going to be
Then I’d rather not stay
Troubling over my poker face
Can’t find a room with a big enough space
Anywhere near you is too close for me
Everything is too close as far as I can see
But I would if I knew how
To learn to embrace
But the circle is surrounding me now
And if this is the way it’s always going to be
Then I’d rather not stay
I’m going to pull this fork right out of the road
And I’ll take this butter knife
Show you exactly where it goes
And my plate is so full
But I am less hungry than I have ever known
but I would if I knew how
To learn to embrace
But the circle is surrounding me now
And if this is the way it’s always
If this is the way it’s always
If this is the way it’s always
Going to be
Then I’d rather not stay
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10. |
Hopeful Hannah
02:31
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Why do I leave the light on
No one comes here anymore
Why do I keep thinking
Someone is going to show up at my door
Hopeful Hannah has a way
Of setting expectations high
Waits for life to take her on
Daydreams the day goodbye
But subconscious tells her
To try not to feel
Subconscious tells her
That nothing is that real
It’s not that life is so wrong
But she’s aware of something else
And everyone else is so loud
She just can’t hear herself
Hopeful Hannah has a way
Of setting expectations high
Waits for life to take her on
Daydreams the day goodbye
But subconscious tells her
To try not to feel
Subconscious tells her
That nothing is that real
When everyone else has stopped
She’s continued growing
The only thing that holds her back
Is that awful sense of knowing
Hopeful Hannah has a way
Of setting expectations high
Waits for life to take her on
Daydreams the day goodbye
But subconscious tells her
To try not to feel
Subconscious tells her
That nothing is that real
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11. |
Waste My Breath
03:35
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I open my mouth
WhenI’m standing in the sun
To melt those cold words
That I’ve been keeping on my tongue
But I am holding out
For something worthwhile
That I can waste
My breath on
Now I can say I told me so
Because I know I wasn’t right
And everything different
Looks so much better
At first sight
But now I am holding out
For something worth my while
That I can waste
My breath on
And I think of those things
That I’ve left behind
That won’t fit in my suitcase
But won’t leave my mind
If life is just breathing
Then I’m going to stockpile my breaths
Because living needs a reason
And nothing less
That’s why I am holding out
For something worth my while
That I can waste
My sweet breath on
But I’m not fooling anyone
But they’re making a fool of me
I guess this drink and this joke
Are both on me
They’re both on me
So I’m just holding out
For something worth my while
That I can waste
My breath on
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12. |
You Suck
03:10
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I am rubber and you are glue
And everything you say bounces of me
And sticks to you
You are the splinter in my hand
The math problem I can’t understand
It’s half as much as I’d like to know
It’s half as much as I'd like to learn
But I didn’t want to know you
And I never asked for your name
But you left me shit out of luck
And for that
You suck
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words are even worse
And I can sit here and cliché all day
But I’m still left with an empty verse
It’s twice as much as I’ll ever know
It’s twice as much as I’ll ever learn
But I didn’t want to know you
And I never asked for your name
But you left me shit out of luck
And for that
You suck
Maybe you’re a dime a dozen
But a penny saved is a penny earned
Well I got enough in my bank account
But some spare change wouldn’t hurt
It’s more than I’ll ever know
It’s more than I’ll ever learn
But I didn’t want to know you
And I never asked for your name
But you left me shit out of luck
And for that
You suck
You suck
You suck
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13. |
In the Name of
04:01
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I’m not listening
To what you are saying
Because I can make my mind up on my own
And I don’t need your big mouth
Up against my eardrum
Because that thing’s got a rhythm of it’s own
But you just want to melt this down
Into its simplest state
And you just want to figure out
What’s so complicated
But you will find the reasons that
You are looking for
Are never the reasons that you want to hear
I left a trail of breadcrumbs
On my way out the door
And the birds were kind enough to leave them there
The fraction of this world I’ve seen
Ain’t nothing like the TV
But I, myself, wouldn’t mind living there
But I just want to melt this down
Into a simpler state
And I just want to figure out
What’s so complicated
But I find the reasons that
I am looking for
Are never the reasons that I want to hear
He thinks he’s going to heaven
Because he bought himself a Bible
But he uses it to level out his bed
And he’ll call you a sinner
If you pass him on the street
And he preaches every word he hasn’t read
But I’m just trying to melt this down
Into its simplest state
And I’m just trying to figure out
What’s so complicated
But I find the reasons that
I am looking for
Are never the reasons that I want to hear
Because I’m not listening
To what you are saying
Because I can make my mind up on my own
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14. |
Please Leave
03:44
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Please leave I don’t wanna hear you sing no more
Please leave and don’t forget to shut the door
Please leave before I give in to temptation
Please leave or send me into damnation
Because if you stay any longer
I might miss you more than I should
Then I’d ask for forever
You know I would
Please leave before I say something wrong
Please leave we’re getting too well along
Please leave before I lose all my senses
But just stay here for a few more minutes
It’s just that much to fill me up
But I have never had enough
Go away back to where you came from
Can’t say that I’ll miss you when you’re gone
Can’t say that I asked you to stay
And maybe i like it that way
But you’re only twenty feet out the door
I guess that’s just twenty feet too far away
And if I could hear my-silly-self now
And all the stupid things I say
Please leave before my composure comes undone
Who’ll piece me back together when you’re gone
Please leave I don’t need your company
Please leave you take up all my energy
Here I am dissolving in your hands
Snd you are absorbing me as fast as you can
Ss fast as you can
Please leave
I don’t wanna hear you sing no more
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