"Sleeping With Nunchucks" lyrics

"I'll Shoot You Ace I Swear To God" lyrics

"More Shit from the Bogus Captain" lyrics

Sleeping With Nunchucks (2007)

1.  We’ve Been Holding Our Breath Since Before There Was Air

 

Every time I go under I just want to stay a

Little bit longer than I did the last time

These days things go a little bit slower than they

Used to do.

Leastaways I forget about the thunder I

Wander in the pasture, begin to wonder

How many rounds of this are we going to go

Through?

 

And they all say that mountain’s going to

Blow now pretty soon but I just can’t say as I’d care much if it did.

We’ve been waiting so long we’ve been tearing out our eyes and it’s the

Same now if it isn’t or it is.

 

Because she was born in Alabama with her feet in the mud and the

Fire in her eyes and the rhythm in her blood and there

Ain’t no storm tornado or flood

That’s ever going to make us fail in the eyes above.

 

Once again but then at least for a little while

Cow’s in the corn and the coon’s in the woodpile

Ain’t nobody going to do a thing about it today.

I’m shooting in the shadows and I’m hoping that you don’t care

You can pack up but I’m not going anywhere

You can’t talk to the boss, the boss gone away.

 

And they all say the end of everything we know is near but I just

Can’t say as I care enough to leave.

We’ve been single-filing we’ve been calling out our names now I doubt

More of what they say than I believe.

 

Because she was born in Alabama with her feet in the mud and the

Fire in her eyes and the rhythm in her blood and there

Ain’t no storm tornado or flood

That’s ever going to make us fail in the eyes above.

 

And the ocean’s rising higher now the roads are getting wider and that river’s rolling on.

And the razor blades are flying out and the razor blades are

Long.

 

Rising to the sky like silver blades of grass and slicing through the night to let the light back in.

 

Once upon a time it was a story and it started like

Once upon a time it was a story and it started like

Once upon a time it was a story and it started like this:

2.  Black on Blonde

 

You got a smile like a ten-pound kickstand

I drop my ass and I lose my eyes

Loops and arrows and big tornados

Lathered up in a big surprise.

 

Handle me like a bearskin rug babe

Smoky watery in your eyes

Run me down with a reservation

Gasoline by the fireside.

 

I said Hey - Hey now baby

Come on at least say maybe
You got the hired help crazy

For all the black on blonde

All of the black on blonde.

 

You got me buzzing and falling down babe

Blathering I don’t make any sense

You’re like a lit park in a penthouse suite just like a

Bright yellow gate in a big black fence.

 
I said Hey - Hey, now baby

Come on at least say maybe
You got the hired help crazy

For all the black on blonde

All of the black on blonde

 

And I’m gonna memorize all the best lines from your cracked upper lip.

And I’m gonna chew that tattoo right off of your hip.

 

Hey - Hey, now baby

Come on at least say maybe
You got the hired help crazy

For all the black on blonde

All of the black on blonde.


3.  Where Do We Go From Here?

 

Years ago we left our homes

Fooled the Turks and conquered Rome

Left the pieces where they lay and the

Questions for another day

Hunted down the wildest beasts

Taunting clerics, robbing priests

Singing like coalmine canaries

Slaying revolutionaries.

 

And buddy you know as well as me

Things just aren’t like they used to be

And it’s so unclear

Where do we go from here?

 

Marching into battle

Sailing off on open seas

Rescuing our women from the

Clutches of our nemeses.  While

Martyrs burned on tops of hills we

Sacked the towns and robbed the tills

Opened up the doors to traitors

Filled the glasses, worried later.

 

And it’s nothing that I didn’t know

Robbie started telling us about it years ago

And it’s hard to steer

Where do we go from here?

 

Setting downfalls into motion

Drinking up entire oceans

Dancing on the walls of cities

Occupied bereft of pity and

Living free of reservations

Sleeping with entire nations

Painting slogans on our arms and

Staying free from hate and harm.

 

And buddy you know as well as me

Things just aren’t like they used to be

And I can’t drink any more beer

Where do we go from here?

 

4.  Terrified

 

This is a way for you to go to bed each night and know you’re terrified.

This is a way for you to know that there is something evil in your head.

And though you try to fight it I know you will still invite it in.

 

This is a way for you to know that there will be another time and place.

And that this one will amount to nothing more than something in your head.

And though you try to fight me I know you will still invite me in.

 

If I were only just a hole

And you were just a spade.

We’d be fit for photographs

We would have it made.

Not a lot of blood and guts

Just a little sick that’s all.

Standing on the top of the world

It’d be quite a fall.

 

 

5.  Leave it to Me

 

I stayed sober for a week just to try to make sure things didn’t go wrong

I never ever cared about anything quite so much for quite so long.

 

And now it’s just so in-between

Tangled up and serpentine

Leave it up to me to go fuck up

The unfuckupable thing.

 

And you were always such a hard touch little cookie to crack with your back in black

Uh-huh.

Living all day underneath the sheets and trying to drag me back into the sack

 

The omelets, they were Florentine

But the downfall’s been just Byzantine

Leave it up to me to go fuck up

The unfuckupable thing.

 

Leave it to me.

 

6.  Living On the Edge This Ain’t

 

This ain’t no honky-tonk in Brooklyn

This ain’t no wax around the lid

This is the misery of history condemning me

For things that other people did.

 

This ain’t no walking on the water

This ain’t no penny in the well

This ain’t no cellar door no tell her more though eyes are sore

This is a speak but do not tell.

 

This ain’t no showdown in a motel

This ain’t no hairpin in the bed

This ain’t no marathon no halcyon old days are gone

This ain’t no living on the edge.

7.  Sleeping With Nunchucks

I have been sleeping with nunchucks baby

Now don’t you go and take that the wrong way

I’m just terrified of everybody on my street.

 

I have been sleeping with nunchucks baby

When you think about it it’s not crazy

I’m better armed than anybody that I meet.

 

In the cowboy bars and schools

Where the let ‘er buck mindset rules

I’m dusting them off and I’m keeping it clean.

 

I have been sleeping with nunchucks baby

And now I’m feeling just like Oliver Brady

“Here comes trouble,” they all say, “Better watch out.”

 

I have been sleeping with nunchucks baby

And you might go try to that it’s lazy

Giving myself one up on the people at large.

 

I have been sleeping with nunchucks.

 

8.  They Took My Drums Away

 

They came and took my drums away.

They came and took my drums away.

 

9.  Really Bad on Purpose

                       

How’d we end up in Tacoma?

I was having fun back in Barcelona

I don’t understand this fascination everybody’s got with friends.

 

It’s stupid, I know it, it’s childish and cruel

But baby I get such a kick out of these things that I do

You never knew that living with me was going to be such a curse.

 

I’m going to hurt myself really bad on purpose

because I know it’s going to hurt you worse.

Hurt myself really bad on purpose

because I know it’s going to hurt you worse.

 

All right.

 

One, two, ten, I’m on the sauce again

Ain’t no telling what it’s costing and I’ll

Bet you’re going to be surprised when you get home/

 

It’s wicked and foolish and kind of obscene but baby

You should pay attention and you know what I mean

Because the misery I’m dishing out is soluble and it’s diverse.

 

I’m going to hurt myself really bad on purpose

because I know it’s going to hurt you worse.

Hurt myself really bad on purpose

because I know it’s going to hurt you worse.

Here we go.

 

10.  Unalone

Can’t believe that it happened

I know it’s not right

It’s got me scratching the sidewalks

My knuckles all white

And it was dark in the room there wasn’t hardly any light

And I was laying unalone but I was thinking of you last night.

 

We were billowy waistcoats

In a period piece

And we pretended that we knew

About DeMille and Matisse

And underneath the insincerity the pride and the peace

There was a little understanding and it’s grown into a bit of beast.

 

It never seemed to be worth it

Never followed it through

We burned the letters in the yard

And then we buried them too

But maybe something must have got away and maybe it grew

Because I noticed last night laying unalone that she laughs

A little like you.

 

11.  Slothrup’s Army

You tell me that you’re sorry and that things are going well

But in the morning at the dentist it was dark and I could tell

That everything you ever told me in the yard and at the well

Was never true.

It was never true.

 

And now you’re leaving and this and this and that

You’re leaving, and I should leave too

You said you’re leaving and this and that and this

You never do.

 

Bit me in the leg and what am I supposed to do

When all the neighbors hear me screaming and they ask if it was you?

And now the lies that I’ve been telling are the lies I got from you

And now they’re true

How could they be true?

 

You said you’re leaving and this and this and that

You’re leaving, you said that I should leave too

You said you’re leaving and this and that and this

You never do.

 

Slothrup’s army’s coming and I know you’re going to go

Because all the time that you’ve been living here was training and I know

That all the things inside my mouth are little things you put there so

Your little crew could do the things they gotta do.

 

You said you’re leaving and this and this and that

You’re leaving, you said that I should leave too

You said you’re leaving and this and that and this

You never do.

 

You hardly ever do.

 

You said you’re leaving and this and this and that

You’re leaving, you said that I should leave too

You said you’re leaving and this and that and this

You never do.

 

12.  Do You Really Want To Do This?

 

I see the cause of your indignation

Weaving into a web of perfect inspiration

Climbing over the walls of your investigation

 

But do you really want to, really want to do this?

Do you really want to do want to go through this?

 

One time in three there’s a liberation

Relieving the past of all its revelations

We sleep on the floor drenched in perspiration.

 
But do you really want to, really want to do this?

Do you really want to do want to go through this?

They walk in twos of perfect isolation

They speak in tongues tied in litigation

We used to fall asleep to Daydream Nation

 

But do you really want to, really want to do this?

Do you really want to, want to go through this?

 

13.  Smoke The Rest Tomorrow

 

Ice and wind and dripping down

It’s the same in every town

You see them on the TV in the rain.

Load them and dragging them down

The baby’s crying that’s the sound

Of knowing nothing’s going to be the same.

 

Can you make the daytime last can you pay back what you borrow?

We’ll sleep tonight

And smoke the rest tomorrow.

 

Half a nose and an arm in a sling

Bold face type and the doctor’s bringing

All the magazines that he can find.

Pictures on the walls and the floors

We busted in the basement door

It wasn’t much to lose but it was mine.

 

Can you make the nighttime last can you dance away your sorrow?

We’ll sleep tonight

And smoke the rest tomorrow.

 

Years and miles and power steering

Empty window brown eyes peering

Back from every corner of the room.

Shooting bluejays out the window

Ninety-three no next of kin go

Say it now because it’s going to happen soon.

 

The questions always beg themselves and the answers always are no.

We’ll sleep tonight

And smoke the rest tomorrow.

 

Early in the morning

Coffee eggs and waking birds

Singing "Eyes of the World"

Until we understand the words.