Counting Crows Album

Step out the front door like a ghost
into the fog where no one notices
the contrast of white on white.
And in between the moon and you
the angels get a better view
of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.
I walk in the air between the rain
through myself and back again
Where? I don't know
Maria says she's dying
through the door I hear her crying
Why? I don't know
Chorus
Round here we always stand up straight
Round here something radiates
Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
she said she'd like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis
and she walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
just like she's walking on a wire in the circus
she parks her car outside of my house
takes her clothes off
says she's close to understanding Jesus
she knows she's more than just a little misunderstood
she has trouble acting normal when she's nervous
Chorus: Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs
Round here she's slipping through my hands
Sleeping children better run like the wind
out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
out of the lightning
She says "it's only in my head"
She says "Shhh I know it's only in my head"
But the girl on the car in the parking lot
says "Man you should try to take a shot
can't you see my walls are crumbling?"
Then she looks up at the building
and says she's thinking of jumping
She says she's tired of life
she must be tired of something
Round here she's always on my mind
Round here hey man got lots of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
and nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late
I can't see nothing.. nothing round here
will you catch if I'm falling
will you catch me if I'm falling
will you catch me cause I'm falling down on you
I said I'm under the gun around here
I'm innocent I'm under the gun around here
and I can't see nothing
nothing round here

Start tearing the old man down
Run past the heather and down to the old road
Start turning the grain into the ground
Roll a new leaf over
In the middle of the night there's an old man
treading around in the gathered rain
Hey mister if you gonna on water
would you drop a line my way
Chorus:
Omaha
Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you'd better turn your ticket in
and get your money back at the door
Start threading a needle
Brush past the shuttle that slides through the cold room
Start turning the wool across the wire
Roll a new life over
In the middle of the night there's an old man
threading his toes through a bucket of rain
Hey mister you don't want to walk on water
cause you're only going to walk all over me
[Chorus]
Start running the banner down
Drop past the color come up through the summer rain
Start turning the girl into the ground
Roll a new love over
In the middle of the day there's a young man
rolling around in the earth and rain
Hey mister if you're going to walk on water, you know
you're only going to walk all over me
[Chorus]
ooooh said Omaha
It's Sunday morning
I'm coming home today.

I was down at the New Amsterdam staring
at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation with this
black- haired flamenco dancer
She dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
We all want something beautiful
man I wish I was beautiful
So come dance this silence down through the morning
Cut up, Maria! Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
cause I want to be someone who believes
Mr. Jones and me tell each other fairy tales
and we st are at the beautiful women
"She's looking at you. Ah, no, no, she's looking at me."
Smiling in the bright lights
Coming through in stereo
When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely
I will paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very very meaningful
Gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play
Mr. Jones and me look into the future
Stare at the beautiful women
"She's looking at you.
, I don't think so. She's looking at me."
Standing in the spotlight
I bought myself a gray guitar
When everybody loves me, I will never be lonely
I will never be lonely
I will never be lonely
I want to be a lion
Everybody wants to pass as cats
We all want to be big big stars, but we all got different
reasons for that
Believe in me because I don't believe in anything
and I want to be someone to believe
Mr. Jones and me stumbling through the barrio
Yeah we stare at the beautiful women
"She's perfect for you, Man, there's got to be
somebody for me."
I want to be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more
funky
When everybody loves you, son, that's just about as
funky as you can be
Mr. Jones and me staring at the video
when I look at the television, I want to see me staring
right back at me
We all want to be big stars, but we don't know why
and we don't know how
But when everybody loves me, I'm going to be just
about as happy as I can be
Mr. Jones and me, we're gonna be big stars...

Just down the street from your hotel, baby
I stay at home with my disease
And ain't this position familiar, darling
Well, all monkeys do what they see
Help me stay awake, I'm falling...
Down on Virginia and La Loma
where I got friends who care for me
You got an attitude of everything I ever wanted
I got an attitude of need
Help me stay awake, I'm falling...
CHORUS:
Asleep in perfect blue buildings
Beside the green apple sea
Gonna get me a little oblivion, baby
Try to keep myself away from me
It's 4:30 A.M. on a Tuesday
It doesn't get much worse than this
In beds in little rooms in buildings in the middle
of these lives which are completely meaningless
Help me stay awake, I'm falling...
(CHORUS)
I got bones beneath my skin, and mister...
there's a skeleton in every man's house
Beneath the dust and love and sweat that hang on everybody
there's a dead man trying to get out
Please help me stay awake, I'm falling...
(CHORUS)
I can't keep myself away from me
in a perfect blue building
how I'm gonna keep myself away
how I'm gonna keep myself away from me
keep myself away
how I'm gonna keep myself away from me
keep myself away
how I'm gonna keep myself away from me

My friend assures me "it's all or nothing"
I am not worried- I am not overly concerned
My friend implores me " for one time only,
make an exception." I am not not worried
Wrap her up in a package of lies
Send her off to a coconut island
I am not worried - I am not overly concerned
with the status of my emotions
"oh", She says, "you're changing."
But we're always changing
It does not bother me to say this isn't love
Because if you don't want to talk about it then it isn't love
and I guess I'm going to have to live with that
but, I'm sure there's something in a shade of gray
or something in between
and I can always change my name if that's what you mean
My friend assures me "it's all or nothing`
But I am not really worried
I am not overly concerned
You try to tell yourself the things you try tell yourself to make
yourself forget
to make yourself forget
I am not worried
"If it's love" she said, "then we're gonna have to think about the
consequences"
cause she can't stop shaking and I can't stop touching her and.....
This time when kindness falls like rain
it washes her away and Anna begins to change her mind
"these seconds when I'm shaking leave me shuddering
for days" she says.
And I'm not ready for this sort of thing
But I'm not gonna break
And I'm not going to worry about it anymore
I'm not gonna bend. And I'm not gonna break and
I'm not gonna worry about it anymore
It seems like I should say "as long as this is love..."
But it's not all that easy so maybe I should just
snap her up in a butterfly net-
Pin her down on a photograph album
I am not worried
I've done this sort of thing before
But then I start to think about the consequences
Because I don't get no sleep in a quiet room and...
The time when kindness falls like rain
it washes me away and Anna begins change my mind
And every time she sneezes I believe it's love
and oh lord.... I'm not ready for this sort of thing
She's talking in her sleep-it's keeping me awake
And Anna begins to toss and turn
And every word is nonsense but I understand and
oh lord. I m not ready for this sort of thing
Her kindness bangs a gong
It's moving me along and Anna begins to fade away
It's chasing me away. She dissappears, and oh lord I'm not ready for this sort
of thing

I wanted so badly somebody other than me
staring back at me But you were gone gone gone
I wanted to see you walking backwards
And get the sensation of you coming home
I wanted to see you walking away from me
Without the sensation of you leaving me alone
CHORUS:
Time and time again
Time and time again
Time and time again
I can't please myself
I wanted the ocean to cover over me
I wanna sink slowly without getting wet
Maybe someday, I won't be so lonely
And I'll walk on water every chance I get
(CHORUS) So when are you coming home sweet angel?
You leaving me alone? All alone?
Well if I'm drowning darling, you'll come down this way on your own
I wish I was traveling on a freeway
beneath this graveyard western sky
I'm gonna set fire to this city
And out into the desert we're gonna ride
(CHORUS) I can't please myself and I can't please nobody else
time and time again
time and time again
time and time and time and time again
I can't please myself. no no no no

When I think of heaven
deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
And all other instruments of faith and sex and God
in the belly of a black-winged bird.
Don't try to feed me
I've been here before
And I deserve a little more
[chorus]
I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been crying and I've been thinking
And I am the Rain King
[verse]
And I said mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone
I can't go outside
I'm scared I might not make it home
I'm alive, I'm alive
But I'm sinking in
If there's anyone at home at your place, darling
Why don't you invite me in?
Don't try to bleed me
I've been there before
And I deserve a little more
[chorus]
I belong in the service of the Queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been lying and I've been sinking
And I am the Rain King
[bridge]
Hey, I only want the same as anyone
Henderson is waiting for the sun
Oh, it seems night endlessly begins and ends
After all the dreaming I come home again
[verse]
When I think of heaven
deliver me in a black-winged bird
I think of dying
Lay me down in a field of flame and heather
Render up my body into the burning heart of God
in the belly of a black-winged bird
Don't try to bleed me
I've been here before
And I deserve a little more
[chorus]
I belong in the service of the queen
I belong anywhere but in between
She's been dying and I've been drinking
And I am the Rain King

Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
Cross the water and home through the town
Past the shadows that fall down wherever we meet
Pretty soon now I won't come around
I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly fallen to her knees
Take the way home
Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
Where all the bodies hang on the air
If she remembers, she hides it whenever we meet
Either way now, I don't really care
cause I'm gone from there
I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly crawling on her knees
She's down on her knees
Take the way home that leads back to Sullivan Street
where I'm just another rider burned to the ground
Come tumbling down
I'm almost drowning in her sea
She's nearly crawling on her knees
It's almost everything I need
I'm down on my knees
I'm down on my knees

I took the cannonball down to the ocean
across the desert from the sea to shining sea
I rode a ladder that climbed across the nation
Fifty million feet of earth between the buried and me
"How do you do?"
She said "Hey, how do you do?"
She buys a ticket cause it's cold were she comes from
she climbs aboard because she's scared of getting older in the snow
Love is a ghost train rumbling through the darkness
hold on to me darling I got no where else to go
"How do you do?"
She said "Hey, how do you do?"
I took the cannonball down to the ocean
watch the diesel disappear beneath the tumbling waves
love is a ghost train howling on the radio
"Remember everything" She said "When only memories remain"
"how do you do?"
She said "Hey, how do you do?"

This circus is falling down on its knees
The big top is crumbling down
It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no one's around
I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call
These train conversations are passing me by
And I don't have nothing to say
You get what you pay for
But I just had no intention of living this way
I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat
And I get no answers
And I don't get no change
It's raining in Baltimore, baby
But everything else is the same
There's things I remember and things I forget
I miss you I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?
I need a phone call Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train baby if I listen real hard
And I wish it was a small world
Because I'm lonely for the big towns
I'd like to hear a little guitar
I guess it's time to put the top down
I need a phone call
I need a raincoat

Blue morning Blue morning Wrapped in strands of fist and bone
Curiosity, Kitten,
Doesn't have to mean you're on your own
You can look outside your window
He doesn't have to know
We can talk awhile, baby
We can take it nice and slow
All your life is such a shame, shame, shame
All your love is just a dream, dream, dream
Are you happy where you're sleeping?
Does he keep you safe and warm?
Does he tell you when you're sorry?
Does he tell you when you're wrong?
I've been watching you for hours
It's been years since we were born
We were perfect when we started
I've been wondering where we've gone
All your life is such a shame shame shame
All your love is just a dream dream dream
I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow
Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there
counting crows
One for sorrow Two for joy
Three for girls and four for boys
Five for silver Six for gold and
seven for a secret never to be told
There's a bird that nests inside you
sleeping underneath your skin
When you open up your wings to speak
I wish you'd let me in
All your life is such a shame shame shame
All your love is just a dream dream dream
Open up your eyes
You can see the flames flames flames of your wasted life
You should be ashamed
You don't want to waste your life baby
I walk along these hillsides in the summer 'neath the sunshine
I am feathered by the moonlight falling down on me
Change, change, change