Ben Folds Five Album

I should warn you
I go to sleep
I know you don't
know what I mean
yet
I get
upset or happy
I go to sleep
nothing hurts when
I go to sleep

but I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired

I know it seems
that I don't care
but something in me
does, I swear
I don't remember
all last year
I left you awake
to cry the tears
while I was dreaming in streams
flowing between the shores
of joy and sadness
I'm drowning
save me
wake me up

I should warn you
I go to sleep
you won't know when I go to sleep
'cause I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired

I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired

I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired

I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired
I'm not tired

sometimes I get the feeling
that I won't be on this planet
for very long
I really like it here
I'm quite attached to it
I hope I'm wrong
all I really wanna say:
you're the reason I wanna stay
I loved you before I met you
and I met you just in time
'cause there was nothing left

I sat here on my suitcase
in our empty new apartment
'til the sun went down
and I walked back down the stairs
with all my bags and drove away
you must be freaking out

all I know's I gotta be
where my heart says I oughta be
it often makes no sense, in fact
I never understand these things I feel

don't change
your plans
for me
I won't
move to
L.A.
the leaves
are falling
back east
that's where I'm going to stay

you have made me smile again
in fact, I might be sore from it
it's been awhile
I know we've been together
many times before
I'll see you on
the other side

but don't change
your plans
for me
I won't
move to
L.A.
the leaves
are falling
back east
that's where I'm going to stay

all I really wanna say:
you're the reason I wanna stay
but destiny is calling and won't hold
and when my time is up
I'm outta here

all I know's I gotta be
where my heart says I oughta be
it often makes no sense, in fact
I never understand these things
I feel

I love you, goodbye

there was a time when I
had nothing to explain
oh, this mess I have made
but then things got complicated
my innocence has all but faded
oh, this mess I have made
and I don't
believe in God
so I can't
be saved
all alone,
as I've learned to be
in this mess
I have made

all the untested virtue
the things I said I'd never do
least of all to you
I know he's kind and true
I know that he is good to you
he'll never care for you more than I do

but I don't (no I don't)
believe in love
so I can't
be tamed (be saved)
all alone,
as I've learned to be
in this mess
I have made
the same mistakes
over and over
again

there are rooms in this house
that I don't open anymore
dusty books and pictures on the floor
that she will never see
she'll never see that part of me
I want to be for her what I
could never be for you

and I don't (no I don't)
believe in God
so I can't
be saved
all alone,
as I've learned to be
in this mess

from the back of
your big brown eyes
I knew you'd be gone
as soon as you could
and I hoped you would

we could see that
you weren't yourself
and the lines on your face did tell
it's just as well
you'd never be yourself again

saw you last night
dance by the light
of the moon
stars in your eyes
free from the life
that you knew

you're the magic that holds
the sky up from the ground
you're the breath that blows
these cool winds 'round
trading places with
an angel now

saw you last night
dance by the light
of the moon
stars in your eyes
free from the life
that you knew

saw you last night
stars in the sky

lying awake
in my hospital room
Silas Creek Parkway
is my only view
and the doctor just came by
and told me the news
I need a second opinion
I don't believe

well, I thought about the army
Dad said, "Son, you're fucking high"
and I thought,
"yeah, there's a first for everything"
so, I took my old man's advice
3 sad semesters
it was only 15 grand
spent in bed
I thought about the army
I dropped out and joined a band instead
grew a moustache and a mullet
got a job at Chick-fil-A
citing
"artistic differences"
the band broke up in May
and in June reformed without me
and they got a different name
I nuked another grandma's apple pie
and hung my head in shame, no...

I've been thinking a lot today
I've been thinking a lot today

oh, I think I'll write a screenplay
oh, I think I'll take it to L.A.
oh, I think I'll get it done yesterday
(oh, shit!)

in this time of introspection
on the eve of my election
I say to my reflection,
"God, please spare me more rejection!"
'cause my peers they criticize me
and my ex-wives all despise me
try to put it all behind me
but my redneck past is nipping at my heels (ha ha ha)

I've been thinking a lot today
I've been thinking a lot today
I've been thinking a lot today

choose
from any number of magazines
who do you want to be?
Billy Idol or Kool Moe Dee?
if you're afraid they might discover
your redneck past
there are a hundred ways to cover
your redneck past
they'll never send you home

roots
the funny limbs that grow underground
that keep you from falling down
don't you think that you'll need 'em now

just find a place where no one knows of
your redneck past
yeah you can easily dispose of
your redneck past
you'll show them all back home

désolé,
je suis Américain
please cook my steak again
je suis Américain
désolé,
je ne parle pas Français

(yo!]
(yo!]
(break some up!)
(break some up!)

laws
vary from state to state
get ya some books on tape
to learn about holes in space

if you're afraid they might uncover
your redneck ass
there are a hundred ways to cover
your redneck past

home

it's good to be back home

home
home
home
home
home
(home)

(6:49 a.m, Friday, November 20th)
"Good morning, Mr. Ben.
It's about 6:30 —
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.


Um...just laying here in the bed,
half awake, half asleep,
thinking about you.

I was
wondering if you were looking after your
most valuable
possession:
your mind.

I was thinking about
John Glenn,
his space journey and all.

They said that
when you're in space you lose
muscle mass
and the body
mass
and I wondered if there was any
end to it.

Or whether,
if you didn't exercise in space,
how long it would be before you were just
a head, or a mind —
and have no body or arms.
You'd have them but you couldn't use them.

I was wondering if
if your body mass would drop to a certain level,
and then it would stop right there.
And keep whatever you needed to
use your mind
because it would still be working."


(30 seconds remaining)

"Anyway, I was just pondering that.
What do you think about...that?

I hope everything is going alright.
I may well wake up here in a little while

I thought about
sitting on the floor in second grade
I couldn't keep the pace
I thought I was the only one
moving in slow motion
while the other kids knew something I did not
but if I acted like a clown
I thought it'd get me through
it did,
but that don't work no more
you're not a kid no more
I thought I'd do some travelling,
never did

regrets
regrets

I thought about
the hours wasted watching TV,
drinking beer
I thought about the things I thought about
until immobilized with fear
and all the great ideas I had
and how we just made fun
of those who had the guts to try and fail
and then I ended up in jail

regrets
regrets
regrets
regrets

if for a day,
it seems the police had made
a computer mistake
said there must be thousands like me
with the same name
anyway...

I thought about the things I settled for
or never tried
I never visited my grandma even once
when she was sick
before she died
so I don't blame you if you never come
and see me here again

regrets
regrets

Jane, be Jane
you're better that way
not when your trying
imitating something
you think you saw
so Jane, be Jane
and if sometimes that might
drive them away
let them stay there
you don't
need them anyway

you're worried there might not be
anything at all inside
but that you're worried
should tell you that's not right
don't try to see yourself
the way that others do
it's no use

you're worried there might not be
anything at all inside
but that you're worried
should tell you that's not right
you've had it harder than
anyone could know
so hard to let it go

but it's your life
you can decorate it
as you like
beneath the pain and armour
in your eyes
the truth still shines
Jane, be Jane

goodnight, goodnight,
sweet baby
the world has more for you
than it seems
goodnight, goodnight
let the moonlight take the lid
off your dreams
we took a small flight
in the middle of the night
from one tiny place
to another
and my parents they remain
at the shack with Lorraine
and my aunt and my grandpa
and brother

we walked past the tarmac
and boarded the craft
the rain had me chilled to the bones
just the three of us
took flight that night
Uncle Richard, me,
and James Earl Jones

and the pilot
he gave me a blanket
and the tall dark man
sang to me in deep rich tones

goodnight, goodnight,
sweet baby
the world has more for you
than it seems
goodnight, goodnight
let the moonlight take the lid