Once they tell me

ONCE THEY TELL ME (D A D F# B E)

I see myself riding to the beach. The trees and mud looking at me.

The face of an empty wave reminding me who I am.

And once they tell me I can come with you.

Peel my ribs back

PEEL MY RIBS BACK (D A D F# B E)

Peel my ribs back. Flowers opening.

The moon’s smile in the back of my mind.

Leave me where you found me.

On an empty beach.

In the sand sits a lunchbox full of mouldy fruit.

But I miss that beach. And the mouldy fruit, too.

If I wasn’t so cold I would come with you.

 

Looking at myself.

In the reflections of car windows.

On an empty street.

To remind me of who I am.

Only darkness. Only black t-shirts.

Peel my skin back. It doesn’t hurt.

And the ocean still glows blue.

If I wasn’t stuck here I would come with you.

If I wasn’t so cold I would come with you.

 

Maybe I don’t really want to.

Round midday

ROUND MIDDAY (E A D G B E, capo 6)

Maybe if I go outside I’ll be able to breath. This always happens round midday.

When the sun is high and the wind shakes the trees. I need relief round midday.

Now it feels like I’m sleeping all the time and I’m not so tired anymore.

But when I brush my teeth the day is already half gone.

So, don’t pull me out of bed, I can’t see the point.

Draw the blinds, let’s pretend its midnight.

 

Now it feels like the world is moving on, leaving me behind.

When the birds sing in the morning I’m no longer by their side.

So, can you wake me up before you leave?

I want to get ahead of midday.

Maybe one day (not today)

MAYBE ONE DAY (NOT TODAY) (E A D G A E, capo 2)

Maybe one day, not today. I’ll get it right for the first time in—

My life is crumbling like rocks from a cliff face—

Ing the things I can’t stop.

 

Maybe one day, not today. Worlds will collide with a crash.

And all that we knew—who could say that they saw themselves coming through and old creaky door?

Maybe one day, not today.

 

Maybe one day I’ll be lifted like a star in the sky.

Drifting through emptiness like a boat on the water.

Maybe one day I’ll be taller. Maybe one day I’ll be a baller.

Maybe one day I’ll have a rabbit in a hat with a bat and a 6’4 thruster.

 

Maybe one day, not today.

Maybe one day, not today.

Just be simple (songs: ohia cover)

JUST BE SIMPLE (SONGS: OHIA COVER) (E A D G B E, capo 2)

You’ll never hear me talk about one day getting out
Why put a new address on that same old loneliness
Everybody knows where that is
We built that house of his

And when he's not home
Someone else you know always is
If Heaven's really coming back
I hope it has a heart attack

When they see how dangerous it is for guys like that
The night has always known when it's time to get going
When it's really been so long that it starts showing
It's always had that ghost who always almost

Tells me the secret
How there's really no difference in who he was once
And who he's become
Everything you hated me for

Honey there was so much more
I just didn't get busted.
But I'm not looking for an easy way out
This whole life it's been about

Try and try and try
And try and try and try
To be simple again

A road long enough to travel on all night

A ROAD LONG ENOUGH TO TRAVEL ON ALL NIGHT (E A D G A E)

How many hot showers more until I start to feel better?

I took so much pride in the things that now seem like they were killing me.

Even a tree thick enough to embrace will fall down one day.

 

How many more days of sleeping in until I can open my eyes?

Because I want to look directly at the sun and hold her accountable for all that she has done.

Even a wave more powerful than we could imagine will break like all the others did.

 

You’re the third person today to ask me if I’m OK.

I’m starting to think maybe I’m not OK.

 

Even a road long enough to travel on all night.

Together alone

TOGETHER ALONE (E A D G B E)

You did it all on your own. Now you’re all alone.

Who would have thought? We couldn’t have known.

Together alone, together alone.

Now we’re all together alone. 

 

TOGETHER ALONE 2.0 (E A D G B E, capo 3)

You did it all on your own. Now you’re all on your own.

Who would have thought? How could you have known?

Together alone, together alone.

Now we’re all together alone.

Together alone, together alone.

Now we’re all in someone else’s home.

Watch the windows

WATCH THE WINDOWS (E A D G A D, capo 4)

You can leave but I won’t be abandoned. We have so much time. We don’t do anything, anymore.

I toss and turn and hope it doesn’t feel this bad tomorrow.

Oh, oh. Yea.

 

You’d think it should. You’d think it would float. It didn’t.

I’d think you would. I hope you know. I don’t want to have to tell you.

You will toss and turn tonight. Tomorrow you might feel alright.

I plug in my ear buds and watch the windows until morning comes.

If we live long enough

IF WE LIVE LONG ENOUGH (E A D G BB E

If we don’t die in a car crash. If we don’t drown in the sea. If we don’t fall off a ten-storey building. If we don’t get eaten by sharks.

If I don’t get struck by lightning. If you don’t get lost on the way home. If I don’t get stabbed in a dark alleyway. If they don’t go after you, too.

If we live long enough, we’ll die of old age.

 

If we’re not convicted of drug smuggling. If the neighbour doesn’t go on a violent rampage. If we don’t wake up with a tiger in the bed. If we don’t not wake up at all.

If someone doesn’t tell me to jump off a bridge. If someone just happens to catch me. If you don’t contract a rare and strange disease. If the doctors at the hospital do an outstanding job.

If we live long enough, we’ll die of old age.

 

If I don’t get talked into terrorism. If I don’t eat a bad piece of fish.

If I’m not walking down the street in the wrong place at the wrong time, we’ll die of old age.

We’ll die of old age.

Are you not as cold as i am?

ARE YOU NOT AS COLD AS I AM? (E A D F# B E)

 

Everyone can. Not many will.

I am not scared of being misunderstood.

It happens all the time.

 

I’m getting old but I’m not growing up.

I am not scared anymore.

Maybe I should be.

 

But if only for a few days we could let our guard down.

Because now it is winter and a tough exterior will only break.

For a few days, we should not be so hard on ourselves.

Because it’s cold and it’s windy.

 

I am not mad.

But it doesn’t feel good to have let yourself down and not know why.

 

But if only for a few days we could let our guard down.

Because now it is winter and a tough exterior will only break in the wind and the cold.

Or are you not as cold as I am?

You don’t look as cold as I am.

No one is as cold as I am.