Barenaked Ladies Album

So long ago, on a summer day
I put my best shirt on
I took you to the matinee
With money from mowing lawns
Money from mowing lawns

You worked down at the Dairy Queen
We hit it off from the start
Now there's a blizzard in between
Frost inside a heart

If I had a good reason, I would share
It with you
Then the coldest season came
Making room for something new
Good for you
Good for me
Call it serendipity

Walking on coals, just trying to get through
But summers don't last that long
All that is left here is the truth
Everything else is gone

Gone without a good reason for me to share
With you
When the coldest season came
Making room for something new
Good for you
Good for me
Call it serendipity

If I could only hit my stride
I'll make it to the other side
I don't wanna be roadkill
When there's half a cup to fill
To fill

Good for you (Call it serendipity)
Good for me (Serendipity)
Call it serendipity
Call it serendipity
Call it serendipity

Walking on coals, just trying to get through
Now summers don't last so long
All that is left here is the truth
Everything else is gone

You're looking for something
That you'll never find
You've got the questions
You've got the time
You've got the bruises
To show you've been blind
'Cause you're looking for something
That you'll never find

I'm hoping you find it
And someday you might
But not in an instant
And not overnight
And I am the one who's
Holding you tight
Hoping you find it
And someday you might

Could you be the one
Could you be the one who will find it
Staring at the sun as you're blinded
Could you be the one who will find
That it's fine if it's not in me

You're looking for something
That's not even there
You're knocking down tables
You're kicking in chairs
I know you're angry
You know I don't care
Looking for something
That's not even there

Make me an offer
That I can't refuse
Set up my options
Force me to choose
You've been abandoned
I've been abused
Set up my options
'Cause I can't refuse

Oh, could you be the one
Could you be the one who will find it
Staring at the sun as you're blinded
Could you be the one who will find
That it's fine if it's not in me

Over in Indiana
Wearing their red bandanas
The Indians eat bananas
Thinking they're full of Vitamin C

Looking for someone
That I'll never be
Some kind of bondage
To make you feel free
A Lover, a savior
Oh, that isn't me
Well you're looking for someone
That I'll never be

Could you be the one
Oh could you be the one who will find it
Staring at the sun as you're blinded
Could you be the one who will find
That it's fine if it's not in me

Hey, pass the ball
Why do you run it in circles?
Waves crash the wall
Soon enough all your hard work will fail

Wait, hold the phone
I don't know if I can take this
Leave me alone
I don't know if I can make this work

See, I know I'm lost and lonely
Please go slow; I'm one and only

I need to think
'Cause now I've got everyone wondering
Pass me a drink
Last, but not least, and my virtue's gone

Lend me a hand
I think I could walk if you help me
Please understand
If I could talk, I would tell you why

See, I know I'm lost and lonely
Please go slow; I'm one and only

Only one
All or none
My heart's done
Weighs a ton

Hold me a while
Tell me you'll never be leaving
I'll walk the mile
Seeing but not quite believing you

See, I know I'm lost and lonely
Please go slow; I'm one and only
See, I know I'm lost and lonely (See, I know I'm lost and lonely)
Please go slow; I'm one and only (Please go slow; I'm one and only)...

That's the problem, dear, with angry people
They try to go it alone
Digging in and making cranky feeble pleas
That other angries disown
Angry people think a good solution
Is getting others involved
So they surround themselves with happy people
And watch their smiles dissolve

We just drag them down
We just drag them down
We just drag them down
Until they're just like us

Angry people get so sanctimonious
Telling us what to do
Hoping no one outs them all as phonies just cause
We are all phonies too
And those of us who once had wives and families
Understand what I mean
What was once a calm and peaceful refuge
Is overtaken by spleen

'Cause we just drag them down
We just drag them down
We just drag them down
Until they're just like us

I am the singer in the band
We're only trying to lend a hand
And though it's not what we had planned
We understand

That we just drag you down
We just drag you down
We just drag you down
Until you're just like us

In a square a thousand angry people
Are waving signs in the air (HEY!)
While a million other happy people
Are trying hard not to care (BACK OFF!)
You see, the happy people's biggest problem
Is they're never fearing the worst
While the rest of us will never sleep until
Your happy bubbles are burst

Yeah, we just drag them down
Didn't I just drag you down
Just watch me drag you down
Until you're just like us
Until you're just like us
Oh, until you're just like us
Until you're just like us

Some people are just all show
Well, I don't mind that if the show is worth watching
But it's all bark and no tree
What's more ironic than a hippie in Versace?
It's all peace and love and limousines
You got the right message, but the wrong intentions
How can you be touchy-feely when you've lost touch?
I think it's time we had a little intervention with you

Hey now, wake up
And lose the makeup
She makes you wanna know her
When you don't know what it's worth
Now you really wanna show her
How she's just so down to Earth (via satellite)

There's no better friends than the, the kind you pay
If they don't balance, great - then the door will keep revolving
It's a tight circle of the chosen few
Well, how'd you manage that with the recipe involving
Just a pinch of sweetness and a cup of angst?
Mix it all up - you're the all-purpose flour
Though it looks delicious, something smells bad
I don't think I'd last a half an hour with you

Hey now, wake up
And lose the makeup
She makes you wanna know her
When you don't know what it's worth
Now you really wanna show her
How she's just so down to Earth (via satellite)

What's it like to love you
When there's no one else above you
And no one gets to know you?
Well, who'll be there to show you (via satellite)?

It's like making love to a TV
It's kinda novel, but it's miles away from satisfying
Your hangers-on say it's a great deal
But what you're selling, there's no chance in hell that I'll be buying

Hey now, wake up
And lose the makeup
She makes you wanna know her
When you don't know what it's worth
Now you really wanna show her
How she's just so down to Earth
She makes you wanna know her
When you don't know what it's worth
Now you really wanna show her
How she's just so down to Earth (via satellite)

What if you were not just for show?
What if you were not good to go?
What if you were simply not so
Beautiful

What if you were not thin and tall?
What if you were done with it all?
What if you were not baby-doll
Beautiful

(Beautiful)
Isn't she?
(Beautiful)
Paid to be
(Beautiful)
When I see
(Beautiful)
Shame on me

Hoping that it's deeper than skin
Open to the beauty within
Scoping out the room's not a sin
Beautiful

Beautiful
And not much else
Not much else going on
No matter 'cause no one's as

(Beautiful)
Everytime she walks in the room their heads all turn to find her
(Beautiful)
Everything she says I simply say I never mind.*
(Beautiful)
Everyone she sees seems to ignore the whole experience.
(Beautiful)
Everytime she sees me checking her appearance

What if one day I wake up blind?
Would I go on losing my mind?
Groping in the dark just to find
Beautiful

Beauty disappears
Boredom perseveres

(Beautiful)
Isn't she?
(Beautiful)
Paid to be
(Beautiful)
When I see
(Beautiful)
Shame on me

(Beautiful) Isn't she?
Everytime she walks in the room their heads all turn to find her
(Beautiful) Paid to be
Everything she says I simply say I never mind.
(Beautiful) When I see
Everyone she sees seems to ignore the whole experience.
(Beautiful)
Shame on me

I stopped into a club
I thought I'd see a show
Everyone was there
At least everyone I know
Their knickers in a knot
Their hands upon their heart
The best they'd ever seen
The greatest work of art
I wished that it was me....

It's bleaker than you think
I'm running out of ink
Give a guy a break
This is what it takes
To drive a man to drink

A party at a friend's
Toronto's coolest scene
I thought I'd bring a tape
To show them where I'd been
And listen for a while
The lyrics made them smile
They said that it was fine
Although it's not the style
I said it wasn't me

Once upon a time
I couldn't get enough
Until I made it big
And that's when it got rough
Dissapointed now
Perhaps a bit surprised
To look them in the face
And see it in their eyes
They wish it wasn't me

It's bleaker than you think
I'm running out of ink
Give a guy a break
This is what it takes
To drive a man to drink

I used to hold you close
You used to tell me things
You never told a soul
Until you heard me sing
The details of your life
Condensed into a song
The neighbor and his wife
Work out and sing along
And you can't look at me

It's bleaker than you think
I'm running out of ink
Give a guy a break
This is what it takes
To drive a man to drink

Could song be an alibi
A lyric replacement for falling in love
But now that the well is dry
I can't understand what I've been singing of...

Do you know what it is to love?
To really love?
To really love....
Do I?

I cycled by your house
I saw you on the lawn
I see you all the time
Now that you are gone
I tried to call your name
But something made me stop
I call you once a day
Until you call the cops
And told them it was me

I filled a plastic bag
With everything I wrote
I threw it off a bridge
And thought that it would float.
The water made it sink
The bag was bleeding ink.
I wished that I could swim
I wished that I could drink
I wished that it was me.

It's bleaker than you think
I'm running out of ink
Give a guy a break
This is what it takes
To drive a man to drink
I'm running out of ink
Give a guy a break
This is what it takes
To drive a man to drink
To drive a man to drink
To drive a man to drink

Drunk on wine, I'm amazing
Bitter Pill; it's my raising
News at five and at midnight
Caught on tape; serves me right

The crowd around me starts to grow
I can feel the undertow

Anyone with a half a heart would help me out
Before they ever let the other half find out
But if they could see how far I've let you down
Anyone with half a heart would let me drown

Flashing lights couldn't warn her
Paint myself in a corner
Bracing now for the impact
Losing hope, keeping track

Standing on a crumbling wall
Tethered to a cannonball

Anyone with half a heart would help me out
Before they ever let the other half find out
But if they could see how high I've built this wall
Anyone with half a heart would let me fall

In the space between sleep and sleeplessness
We redress all our wounds
If we replace all this hopeless hopelessness
Then we could rest

Anyone with half a heart would let me drown
Anyone with half a heart would pull me down
Anyone with half a heart would let me fall
Anyone with half a heart wouldn't care at all

Anyone with half a heart would help me out
Before they ever let the other half find out
But if they could see how far I've let you down
Anyone with half a heart would let me drown

Pretty soon you will be wanting me to go.
And I will only be the enemy I know.
Pretty soon you will be needing me to leave.
But know that you and I will always be naive.

Maybe you'll forgive the things that I forgot.
Maybe you're forgetting all the times we fought.
Maybe we should divvy up the things we bought.
But maybe not.

Why don't we lay down on the kitchen floor
All that we say we had with us before?
We'll find our way to what we're looking for
By seperating what is mine from yours.

Pretty soon I'll be the one you hold at bay.
And then forever I'll be good as gold if I may.
I know your heart cannot be bought or sold for much.
Darlin' I'd consider yourself told in Dutch.

And we can argue 'till our throats are sore
About how far you take a metaphor.
You always deign to see the glass half filled
And now it seems to me the half glass spilled.

Maybe you'll forgive the things that I forgot.
Maybe you're forgetting all the times we fought.
Maybe we should divvy up the things we bought.
But maybe

Maybe you'll forgive the things that I forgot.
Maybe you're forgetting all the times we fought.
Maybe we should divvy up the things we bought.
But maybe not.
Maybe not.
Maybe not

Friend, this shouldn't be the way things end
But then, a break is just around the bend.
And when you tell me as I leave
You're scared you'll never see my face again
Well, I'm not sure it's the truth

You don't think I can love you
You don't think I can love you
You don't think I can love you
But I can and I will and I do

You write - I read your letters every night
All right, I skim then just to be polite.
I fight embarrassment and shame
The mention of your name makes me turn white
But guilt still makes me refrain

You don’t think I can love you
You don’t think I can love you
You don’t think I can love you
But I can and I will and I do

I imagine you think I don't think of you
You know you couldn't be more wrong
If good intentions paved the road that gets me through
Then I've got a six-lane highway
And I intend to someday
Do all the things I say I can and I will and I do

Hey - it's hard for me to go away
Okay, I know it's not adult
But it's just as difficult for me to stay
And anyway you say

You don't think I can love you
You don't think I can love you
You don't think I can love you love you love you

We sent in the army
They sounded alarms we
Saw it coming from a mile away.
We kept it off radar
Because we had to say our
Intentions were to save the day.

Why did you fail to see?

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
And they were shocked and they were awed
And they were blown in half

Fun and games
We're just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun
Would be a powderkeg

We kept it all long-range
And made a regime change
You'd have thought it would have been a gas
But when it got ugly
We sat around smugly
Because you bought our little joke en masse
Don't look at me that way

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
We knew your sons and daughters
Would be blown in half

Fun and games
We're just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun
Would be a powderkeg

Put a smile on
We're the ones that you selected
Leave that dial son
Because we just got re-elected
In a while our
Bill of rights will be rejected

And all the blame will be deflected
The forests will be unprotected
The nation's poor will be neglected
Creation myth is resurrected
A new salute is genuflected
A gallup poll will be respected
Gallows pole will be erected
All this will go undetected

While you all slumbered
We sat and crunched numbers
Of all the causalities we could afford
There's no need to draft them
You could hear us laugh then
The poor and black all need the room and board
Did I say that out loud?

It was a gag
It was all for a laugh
And now our very nation has been blown in half

Fun and games
We're just pulling legs
We knew this barrel of fun
Would be a powderkeg

Oh yeah....

Everybody knows that happy is the new sad
So I am gonna go and imitate my old dad
And never crack a smile again.

Everybody knows that as we all get older
The will is first to go and so upon my shoulder
The bluebird shall not sing again.

Everybody knows that as our hair gets greyer
We strike a bended pose and say a little prayer
To never feel this way again.

Everybody knows it's never getting better
Everything must go and you will have to let her
And never see her face again.

Everybody's youth is only what they make it
Longer in the tooth, so why do people fake it?
We'll never get it back again.

I know it hurts
Noone wants to die.
Goodbye.
Goodbye.

Goodbye.
Goodbye

Just show me the venue
When I'm the menu
It's personalized
The life of the party
I'm like Billy Barty
But regular-sized
I guess I should explain
Your guests will go insane
For me

'Cause I'm serving up quality
It can't be beat
If you're not down
Vote with your feet
My quality, biology
Enhanced with high technology

Over in England
Everything bent
But I'm satisfied
I hung with the stars there
You know they drive cars there
On the other side
They barely noticed me
You said you'd go with me
Always

'Cause I'm serving up quality
It can't be beat
If you're not down
Vote with your feet
My quality, biology
Inspired some Greek mythology

It's all true (cross my heart and hope to die)
I swear to you (stick a needle in your eye)
And if you've been misled
May some lightning strike me dead

Back Japan, they
Did not understand, they
Sent me back here
But look at them now, they're
Rubbing my cow, there
And feeding it beer
I may go back someday
They'll have a huge buffet
For me

'Cause I'm serving up quality
It can't be beat
If you're not down
Vote with your feet
My quality, mirology
Is studied in theology

It's quality
It can't be beat
If you're not down
Vote with your feet
My quality, biology
Enhanced with high technology

I had time to kill
One day in Alaska
I walked around until
I found the arts and crafts shop
I bought you a card
I don't know where to send it
I wrote it from the heart
I'm not sure how to end it

I wonder--where have you been?
Will I see you again
I give the globe another spin
All this time I'm wonderin'
Give the globe another spin
Are you in
Berlin?

Sweet potato pie
Is what your mom would always make
Your father smoked a pipe
My hand crushed in his handshake
They say you took a job
Spying for the army
And had to relocate
With a new identity

I wonder--where have you been?
Will I see you again?
I give the globe another spin
All this time I'm wonderin'
Give the globe another spin

Are you in (are you in)
Afghanistan?

Are you in...

Even if I let this settle, it'll lead to a little fight
Even when I get to meddlin' I need to remain polite
I could cut across this field but it hits pretty close to home
Maybe if I jiggle it a little it'll open up on its own

Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down

Never has a stranger had a better taste of another town
Just time for a cowboy breakfast, that's a leak and a look around
Looks like the land of plenty, there will be plenty there to do
That might've been funny at 20, but I just turned 32

Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down

Let down your guard
Moving forward
Finally four words
What a let down
What a let down

Even if I let this settle, it'll lead to a little fight
Even when I get to meddlin' I need to remember to remain polite
I could cut across this field but it hits pretty close to home
Maybe if I jiggle it a little it'll open up on its own

Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down

What a let down
Oh well, what a let down
Oh well, what a let down
What a let down

Why'd you put your dress shoes on if you didn't come to dance?
Frankly, I'd be on my own if I thought I'd stand a chance
Why'd you take your glasses off if you don't intend to fight?
Frankly, I'd be on my own if I thought I'd last the night

No screaming or fighting, no scratching or biting
We're just shaking hands goodnight
Sullen and silent, emotionally violent
I waited a while and nothing, nothing

Why say anything nice when you can say nothing at all?
Why say anything nice when you can say nothing at all?

Why'd you put your backpack on if you won't just take a hike?
Frankly, I'd be out the door if you hadn't sold my bike

No fencing or sparring, no bruising or scarring
And no 'au revoiring' yet
No communication, just alienation
I've tried to be patient but nothing, nothing

Why say anything nice when you can say nothing at all?
Why say anything nice?

Say anything nice, a simple device
That makes everything beautiful just ordinary
Nice can come at a price, forever imbued with all this boredom
Sacrifice can only suffice when something is beautiful

After all the resentment, all the discontentment
The flowers you sent meant nothing, nothing

Why say anything nice when you can say nothing at all?
Why say anything nice when you can say nothing at all? (Why say anything
nice?...)
You can say nothing at all
Woo-hoo-hoo
Nothing at all
Woo-hoo-hoo
You can say nothing at all
Woo-hoo-hoo
Nothing at all