Lyrics for 11/10/23 @ The Stray

1. Steve says that I’m not in love:
“It’s too soon— blah, blah, blah…"
But I didn’t listen to a word he said.
Maybe I will never learn 
the thousand ways
that love can hurt you,
but I’d rather die learning
than live just avoiding the pain.
So I’m jumping back in it.

Love—could anyone hope for more than 
love?
Isn’t it all we want?
Love—who wouldn’t give it all for love?

2. Lovers have come and lovers have gone;
they’ve spilled their ink and they’ve sung their songs.
God only knows I’m not the first one to feel this way.
Love, from a distance, is cool and remote
like the moon seen through a telescope.
But now I’m in your orbit, under your sway.
And I can’t get away from

Love— could anyone hope for more than 
love?
Isn’t it all we want?
Love— who wouldn’t give it all for love?

3. Does the world need another love song
with the hopeful lift of ii, V, I chords
and a “love, love, love” that comes back again and again?
We might get tired of the same refrain,
the pop cliches, deceptive cadences,
but we all hope we’ll find love that never ends.
 And so we keep singing:

Love— could anyone hope for more than
 love?
Isn’t it all we want?
Love— who wouldn’t give it all for love?

Love— could anyone hope for more than
 love?
Isn’t it all we want?
Love— who wouldn’t give it all for love?

Love, love, love… Who wouldn’t give it all for love?

1. St. Valentine, 
can you share a little wisdom?
You were chaste, but love’s your business.
It’s your day, but it’s my daily burden.

My love and I, we have our holiday traditions,
like the way we ruin Christmas
and anniversaries over stupid things like the dishes.
It’s never perfect.

It’s never perfect.
It's never perfect.
It's never perfect.

2. St Valentine,
do you take prayers from weary lovers
who aren’t looking for another, but wonder
how they turned into business partners or brothers?

Why does love seem so perfect at a distance?
Does the consummation kill it?
Wondering if it’s worth it,
when it’s never perfect.

It’s never perfect.
It's never perfect.
It's never perfect.

3. St. Valentine,
you were a saint, but I’m sinner.
I pray the pain of love won’t kill me,
but I’m afraid that prayer’s not working.
It’s never perfect.

It’s never perfect.
It's never perfect.
It's never perfect.

1. I was born to soon.
It was all brand new.
I’ve had to make it up as I go.
But I found my way
and I found my place
and I found some joy in it all.

I was born again;
 don’t know exactly when,
but I know my heart was strangely warmed.
Lived a life of grace–
at least it felt that way–
but then the whole damn thing
came crashing down to the ground.

Did Satan ask the Lord to sift my soul?
Take everything away from me, like Job?
I’m not one to question God,
but I liked how things were before…
the year of my fall.

2. I remember how
I thought I had it all.
Maybe I did, but now I’ll never know.
Lightning struck me twice, 
then it became my life.
Who I was before, I can barely recall.

Cradling my head in empty hands;
the facts are clear, but I still don’t understand
how I had so much, but somehow managed to lose it all
in the year of my fall.

3. In a twist of fate,
 I would die too late
to be spared the pain of it all.
I do what I can
with the days I have
and try not to dwell on what’s lost.

Where the river runs nobody knows.
The current sweeps us on in its blind force.
There’s no going back;
there’s only hope I’ll survive at all…

Does fate or grace or karma guide me now?
Or is it just dumb luck and nothing more?
I’m praying for some mercy in the years that lie beyond.
I’m pleading for some mercy in the years that lie beyond.
I’m begging for some mercy in the years that lie beyond
the year of my fall.

1. Do you remember
the night we fell in love?
We were closer than a kiss,
pressing hip to hip,
and I said, “I can’t…
I just can’t get enough.”

We were drinking
to St. Patrick and our love.
I said, “God bless the holy saint
of water and of drink!”
And you laughed, “Maybe…
maybe you’ve had enough.”

2. This year
 your kiss was quick,
my drink was long.
Do I think another round
will finally drown
 this feeling
that we’ve been two islands all along?

There’s an ocean; an ocean;
There’s an ocean; an ocean;
There’s an ocean between me
and my love.

3. St. Patrick,
 you sailed the sea
to set sinners free.
If ever there was a soul
adrift and alone,
St. Patrick, 
it is me.

There’s an ocean; an ocean;
There’s an ocean; an ocean;
There’s an ocean between me
and everyone I love.

Jesus Christ, I need a miracle:
like water into wine, or life for Lazarus.
‘Cause all I I have now is the party trick
of turning beer into piss.

And I can’t… I just can’t get enough.
I can’t… I just can’t get enough.
I can’t… I just can’t get enough.

1. Don't want to go to bed,
don't want to go to bed tonight.
I'm tired to the bone,
but I can't bear to be alone with them—
the voices in my head.

2. The voices in my head;
the voices in my head begin
to sing a song of woe—
as if I hadn't heard them all before.
The past begins again.

Saints and sinners branch
from the family tree,
connect my roots to the dirt of our history;
bitter fruit from which I'll never be free.
The past possesses me.
The past possesses me.

3. The past begins again;
the past begins again in me.
It's like I'm destined to
repeat each voice inside of me.
I sing the chorus once again.

Saints and sinners branch
from the family tree,
connect my roots to the dirt of our history;
bitter fruit from which I'll never be free.
The past possesses me.
The past possesses me.

1. We've all got this disease,
and sometimes it feels
like it is the only thing
growing inside of me.

2. Is any of this real?
Is this just a dream—
a series of scenes
and cycles of feelings?

How do we know what's real?
How do we know what's real?

Is any of this real?
Is this just a dream—
a series of scenes
and cycles of feelings?

How do we know what's real?
How do we know what's real?

People are likely to be idiots.
Everyone I know but me
is bound to be stupid.
I can see, predictably,
that you will disagree.
And that would make you...
an idiot.

1. As the year slowly unraveled,
I saw the little hope I had unwind.
It seemed the only thread remaining
led away from here to a different life.

Maybe this time I'll get it right.
Maybe this time I'll finally get it right
if I leave it all behind.

2. No one's gonna miss me.
No one will apologize.
And I thought this time was different—
how could I have been so blind?

Maybe this time I'll get it right.
Maybe this time I'll finally get it right
if I leave it all behind.

From town to town,
from place to place,
it's all the same.
From time to time
I wonder why things never change.

3. I keep my options open—
my expectations low, but my hopes are high.
I need to put my past behind me;
clean my slate and cut my ties.

Maybe this time I'll get it right.
Maybe this time I'll finally get it right
if I leave it all behind.

Maybe I just need some space,
a change of scenery.
Shed some baggage,
get a taste of being free.
The only thing I take
from town to town is me.
It's me. It's me.

4. In a bedroom full of boxes
suddenly I realize
that the only thing I've mastered
is leaving everything behind.

Maybe this time I'll get it right.
Maybe this time I'll finally get it right
if I leave it all behind.

I've been searching for the perfect song.
I've been searching for the perfect song.
But it's been here all along.

I've spent my days chasing dreams.
I've spent my days chasing dreams,
so beautiful, but just out of reach.

Will it be enough?
Will it be enough?
Will it be enough?

I've been trying to find my place.
I've been trying to find my place,
but everywhere I go is already taken.

Will it be enough?
Will it be enough?
Will it be enough?

1. Well, that's just what we need— another song.
There are no new melodies
and all the good rhymes are taken.
Just twelve notes in their various combinations
make 479 million one thousand six hundred.
How many more of these can there be?
'Cause it means everything to me.

2. Is it vanity to even believe
that anything one says
could have new meaning at this stage?
It was a beautiful robe but the same as yesterday,
so the emperor undressed and everyone looked away.
If history's a parade, what will the spectators say?
'Cause it means everything to me.

It means everything, everything.
It means everything to me.

3. There is nothing new under the sun.
Every river runs into the ocean.
This tired, dizzy earth just keeps on spinning.
I can't catch my breath— it's always someone else's.
If originality is something I can't achieve
why's it mean everything to me?

It means everything, everything.
It means everything to me.

1. I thought you were my soulmate,
but now I just don't know.
How can there be so much hate
if it was ever love?
I thought the years would be more kind,
that love would only grow with time.

How could I have been so blind
to think that you'd love
someone you didn't even like?
We were both changing with each new season.
I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised
to see you leave to live your "destiny"
with the soulmate I could never be.

2. So I went looking for a soulmate
when I should have been looking for my soul.
And though I thought I had some good dates,
I was emptier than I'd been before.
I was hoping you could save me
from the gnawing emptiness that plagued me.

If I were alone with you, then maybe I could
finally find the peace that I'd been craving.
But my loneliness, it only grew,
because loneliness always has room for two.
Eventually I had to face the truth:
you'd never save me and I couldn't complete you.

3. Could you be my soulmate?
My heart is holding hope.
If we're not too jaded, and if we're not too old.
I used to see love more mysteriously—
across a crowded room, our eyes would meet—

But now I understand a soulmate to be
not something that you find,
but something we have to keep creating.
The intimacy we all desire
only grows when souls are open wide
and all the fear and pain that's inside us
is laid bare before our lover's eyes.

4. I don't know about a soulmate,
but I've found my soul.

Who could love this thing I've become?
Who could love this thing?

1. Behold the monstrous beast
as it lies there, sleeping.
Don't wake it from its dreams;
don't disturb its slumber.
For when it wakes it eats,
and its ravenous power knows no pity.
It knows only hunger and the lust to devour.

2. It was born to life like you—
wet and crying.
On its mother's breast was soothed
and it soon was sleeping.
But when it woke it knew
hunger and longing, which grew,
which consumed, and could never be sated.
It transformed to hatred.

Who could love this thing I've become?
Who could love this monster?

When will it awake?
What will it devour?
It takes and takes and takes,
but no one knows the hour.
Only a fool would try to tame
such a heartless creature.
Run away, run away, run away!
For if you're in reach
your heart may be its next feeding.

Who could love this thing I've become?
Who could love this monster,
this monster, this monster?

Who could love this thing I've become?
Who could love what I'm becoming?
Who could love this thing I've become?
Who could love this monster, this monster?

1. I am so far from home and all alone
but somehow I feel close
when I'm watching your TV shows.
They show me who you are,
the things that spark, the loves, the fears,
so deep in your heart of hearts.

2. I see the pretty things that lure you in,
the hungering, the jealousies
that make you crazy.
But mostly it's the petty things
that fill your weeks—
the comfort foods, the glowing screens
distract you from your pain.

Oh, you puny humans.

3. Your day's extent is eating breakfast,
sending texts and planning next
who you'd have sex with.
But it's perplexing: though it flexes,
no one frets at how defenseless
the human neck is.

Oh, you puny humans.

I won't shed a tear for you.
No, I won't shed a tear.
I won't shed a tear for you.
No, I won't shed a tear.
I won't shed a tear for you.
I won't shed a tear for you.

4. This won't hurt a bit.
Just think of it as an adjustment,
a gentle judgement or a quiet apocalypse.
You won't feel a thing until you wake,
you might feel something missing.
(But there's always something missing.)

Oh, you puny humans.

No one can hear your screams.
They only echo in my dreams.
This is my reality:
I am alone, but free.
I am alone, but free.
I am alone.

I am so far from home,
with so far to go.
I watch the lightyears pass
in such a dark and lonely place.
I am alone, but free.

1. I wanted to believe in love one more time.
I was hoping: maybe you could save me.
You had to leave your broken years behind
and just start again.
Would I catch you if you were brave enough to dive?

2. Who could have known how lovely love could be?
But sometimes you can taste more
of the sour than the sweet.
But it's still divine, like a lemon and lime.
It's still divine, like a lemon and lime.

3. By now you know the pleasure
and the pain are intertwined.
It's just the way it is.
Can you believe how all the joys and tears
can be so satisfying?
Like a lemon and lime.
So satisfying, like a lemon and lime.
So satisfying, like a lemon and lime.
So satisfying, like a lemon and lime.
Like a lemon and lime.

I will not cry, though my heart breaks inside.
You, O my long lost love!
You, O my long lost love!
I will not cry. I will not cry.
Though you may shine like dazzling diamond light,
those rays don't reach your heart,
as dark as night— that's never changed.

I will not cry, though my heart breaks inside.
I saw you in my dreaming.
I saw the night that fills your soul completely,
and saw the serpent that devours your heart:
I saw, my love, how sad and lost you are.
I will not cry. I will not cry.

1. We all want to be loved;
we're afraid to be alone.
We offer up our souls, but still it's not enough.
Our need, it only grows.
We're terrified of being left alone
with nothing but this hole: sinking like a stone.
Sinking like a stone, sinking like a stone.

2. We all want to be loved,
but we're afraid of being known.
Naked and exposed, we'll always hide ourselves.
So don't get too close; the intimacy's too much.
We're vulnerable to touch;
it opens wide the soul: sinking like a stone.
Sinking like a stone, sinking like a stone.

3. We all want to be loved;
we're afraid we'll disappear.
Love, pain, and fear are better than nothing at all.
We all feel the void. We're all hanging on
for dear life, lest we fall
into those dark jaws: sinking like a stone.
Sinking like a stone, sinking like a stone.

Sinking like a stone,
sinking like a stone,
sinking like a stone.
We all want to be loved, but we're afraid. . .

We're all going to die alone. (Hallelujah!)
Been that way since we were born. (Hallelujah!)
Everyone's hoping for a home. (Hallelujah!)
Someone they can call their own (Hallelujah!)

Everybody's looking for a friend. (Hallelujah!)
But we're terrified to let them in. (Hallelujah!)
If they knew what's in your heart and head, (Hallelujah!)
they'd leave you on your own again. (Hallelujah!)

All our lives are spent chasing the wind,
but it's the wind that catches us in the end.
Bones and memories turn to dust.
And another generation only coughs.
Is that enough? Is that enough?
Is that enough? Is that enough?

Spend our days wondering what we did (Hallelujah!)
to deserve all this. (Hallelujah!)
But we've spent our years collecting sins. (Hallelujah!)
Maybe that's why it's come to this. (Hallelujah!)
We all know we're going to die. (Hallelujah!)
We just don't know how or when.

1. Who knows of the ever after?
Who wants to arrive there faster?
I’m not sure about forever—
I only know I want to be together.

2. Who knows what our dreams are made of—
hopes or fears or fairy dustings?
All I know is when I’m fading,
there’s another world there waiting.

And when I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming of you.

3. When this sleep is finally ended,
I’ll wake up and I’ll remember
something, someone, somehow waiting
just beyond what dreams are made of.

And when I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming of you.

1. Have you lost faith?
Have you lost heart?
Has what is left grown tired and hard?
Has it been hard?
Has it been long?
Has it been going on and on?

Would it kill you
to not treat the toothpaste
like something you were trying to strangle?

2. Has it gone too far?
Has it gone too wrong?
Has it just worn you down?
Are you left with rage
when all your love is gone?
Are you left with nothing left at all?

Would it kill you
to not treat the toothpaste
like something you were trying to strangle?

Are you left with nothing left at all?