Rilo Kiley Album

Any chimp can play human for a day
And use his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform;
And run for office on election day;
And fancy himself a real decision maker,
Then deploy more troops than salt in a shaker.
But it's a jungle when war is made,
And you'll panic and throw your own shit at the enemy.
The camera pulls back to reveal your true identity.
Look, it's a sheep in wolf's clothing,
A smoking gun holding ape.

Any asshole can open up a museum;
Put all of the things he loves on display
So everyone can see them.
The house, the car, a thoughtful wife;
Ordinary moments in his ordinary life.
But if she blinks or smiles, she'll give you away;
'Cause no one wants to pay to see her happiness.
No one wants to pay to see her day to day
And i'm not buying it either,
But i'll try selling it anyway.

Any idiot can play greek for a day
And join a sorority or write a tragedy;
And articulate all that pain,
And maybe you'll get paid.
But it's a sin when success complains,
And your writers block- it don't mean shit.
Just throw it against the wall and see what sticks.
Gotta write a hit -- i think this is it.

It's a hit.

And if it's not,
Then it's a holiday for a hanging,
Yeah it's a holiday for hanging
Yeah it's a holiday for hanging, yeah
Shoo-bop-shoo-bop my baby

Any fool can play executioner for a day,
And say with fingers pointed in both directions
'He went that way,
It's only a switch or syringe,
I'm exempt from eternal sins...'
But you still wear a cross,
And you think you're gonna get in...

Ah, but the pardons never come from upstairs;
They're always a moment too late,
But it's entertainment; keep the crowd on their toes,
It's justice, we're safe.
It's not a hit, it's a holiday.
Shoo-bop-shoo-bop my baby

It's a holiday for hanging, yeah
It's a holiday for hanging, yeah
It's a holiday for hanging, yeah
It's a holiday for hanging, yeah

I'm a holiday for hanging,
I'm a holiday for hanging,
I'm a holiday yeah
I'm a holiday for hanging,

It's a holiday for hanging, yeah

Get a real job, keep the wind at your back and the sun on your face.
All the immediate unknowns are better than knowing this tired and lonely fate.
Does he love you, does he love you? Will he hold your tiny face in his hands?
I guess it's spring; i didn't know; it's always seventy-five with no melting snow.
A married man, he visits me. I recieve his letters in the mail twice a week.
I think he loves me and when he leaves her,he's coming out to california!

I guess it all worked out; there's a ring on your finger and the baby's due out.
You share a place by the park and run a shop for antiques downtown.
And he loves you, yeah he loves you, and the two of you will soon become three.
And he loves you, even though you used to say you were flawed if you weren't free.
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend. You and i were almost dead.
You're better off for leaving, you're better off for leaving.

Late at night, i get the phone. You're at the shop sobbing all alone.
Your confession, it's coming out.
You only married him because you felt your time was running out.
Now you love him, and your baby. At last, you are complete.
But he's distant and you found him on the phone pleading, saying
'Baby i love you and i'll leave her and i'm coming out to california...'
Let's not forget ourselves, good friend. I am flawed if i'm not free.
Your husband will never leave you, he will never leave you for me

There's blood in my mouth 'cause i've been biting my tongue all week.
I keep on talking trash, but i never say anything.
And the talking leads to touching,
And the touching leads to sex,
And then there is no mystery left.

And it's bad news, baby i'm bad news
I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news

I know i'm alone if i'm with or without you,
But just being around you offers me another form of relief
When the lonliness leads to bad dreams,
And the bad dreams lead me to calling you,
And i call you and say "c'mere!"

And it's bad news, baby i'm bad news
I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news

And it's bad news,baby it's bad news
It's just bad news, bad news, bad news
'Cause you're just damage control
For a walking corpse like me,
Like you,
'Cause we'll all be portions for foxes.
Yeah, we'll all be portions for foxes.

There's a pretty young thing in front of you
And she's real pretty, and she's real into you
And then she's sleepin'inside of you.

And the talking leads to touching, then the touching leads to sex
And then there is no mystery left.

And it's bad news. I don't blame you,
I do the same thing. I get lonely too.
And you're bad news; my friends tell me to leave you,
That you're bad news, bad news, bad news

You're bad news,baby you're bad news
And you're bad news, baby you're bad news
And you're bad news
I don't care i like you
And you're bad news
I don't care i like you
I like you

Pull the ripcord, the ship has lost its sail.
Your momma's got a new man. Your daddy always fails.
And you're eating again, at them, 'cause nobody loves you.
And even fancy things have finally lost their charm.
Wine and diamond rings, they never get you anymore.
You're sleeping again, alone, 'cause nobody loves you.
And ooh ooh ooh ooh, they should have seen you,
Should have known you, should've known what
It was like to be you.
So come on kid, look at what you did.
I don't know if you meant it,but you did yourself in and
I was even havin' a good day when i found out we lost you.
So aye aye aye and a
Oh oh oh and a yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah oh oh
Bad-da-da-da-dada...
And ooh ooh ooh ooh she said "it was in the singing and the
Strumming-- oh man, i even saw it coming"
(whistling)
Bada-da-da-da-da

I'm only a woman of flesh and bone
And i wept much, we all do.
I thought i might die alone
But i had
Never, never, never,
Never, never, never,
Never, never, never,
Never, never met you.
So baby be good to me.
I got nothing to give you, you see
Except
Everything, everything,
Everything, everything,
All the good and the bad,
'Cause i've been bad.
I've lied, cheated, stolen and been ungrateful for what i have
And i'm afraid habits rule my waking life.
I'm scared and i'm runnin'in my sleep
For you but all the oceans, and rivers and showers
Will wash it all away and make me clean
For you
'Cause i have
Never, never, never,
Never, never, never,
Never, never, never,
Never, never, met you.

So lets take a loan out, put it down on a house
In a place we've never lived.
In a place that exists in the pages of scripts
And the songs that they sing
And all of the beautiful things
That make you weep, but don't have to make you weak

'Cause i've
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never
Loved somebody the way
That i loved you

The absence of god will bring you comfort, baby,
And planning's for the poor so let's pretend that we're rich,
And i'm not my body or how i choose to destroy it.
Folk singers sing songs for the workin' baby.
We're just recreation for all those doctors and lawyers,
But there's no relief for the bleeding heart
'Cause they'll be losing bodies tonight.

And rob says "you love, love, love, love and then you die..."
I've watched him while sleeping and seen him crying
With closed eyes.

And you're not happy, but you're funny, and i'm tripping over my joy.
I just keep on getting up again.
We could be daytime drunks if we wanted,
But we'd never get anything done that way, baby,
And we'd still be ruled by our dueling perspectives.
And i'm not my perspective, or the lies i'll tell you every time.

And morgan says, "maybe love won't let you down.
All of your failures are training grounds
And just as your back's turned, you'll be surprised," she says,
"as your solitude subsides."

And mike, i'll teach you how to swim
If you turn the bad in me into good again.

And i say "there's trouble when everything is fine..."
The need to destroy things creeps up on me every time,
And just as love's silhouette appears i close my eyes
And disappear, tonight...

And something's got to change
'Cause our love's the slowest moving train

You're obsessed with finding a new brain,
But what you need is a new body.
It feels your brain has lived a thousand lives before
And the skin you call your home
Holds a heart that quits,
And knees that buckle in,
And lungs that can't breathe when they're alone.

And the days come to you like sailors;
You watch them as they drift away.
They meet the sunrise out at the horizon
And it's neither sink nor swim;
Least the water's beneath your chin.

There's blood spilled on the floor.
Everyone's staring at you-- what for?
Till you realize the blood is probably yours...

You feel you lost something. You want it back.
You're lying motionless on your back,
And your legs aren't taking anymore requests.

Those disobedient wrecks!
How you cared for them as they carried you
From class to class and coast to coast;
When you owed rent and you were broke,
Through recessions and addictions.

It's just your accidental death;
Your accidental death.
It's just your accidental death.
You're the indian in the cougar's nest.

Your fright gives way to memory;
Having coffee with your love,
Or the story your father told you long ago:
He was hunting with his own father
For deer. He pointed and spotted her,
Then tripped over some roots or some dead trees.
The gun went off; it was a mistake
And my father was only eight.
And as he watched the dying deer, he was changed
'Cause he felt sorry for what he'd done,
And then he put down his gun.

Will you feel sorry for what you've done?
Will you put down your gun?

It's just your accidental death;
Your accidental death.
But there's no accidental death
When you're the indian in the cougar's nest.

It's just your accidental death;
Your accidental death.
It's just your accidental death;
You're the indian in the cougar's nest

And it's only doubts that we're counting on fingers broken long ago.
I read with every broken heart, we should become more adventurous.

And if you banish me from your profits and if i get banished from the kingdom up above;
I'd sacrifice money and heaven, all for love.
Let me be loved! Let me be loved!

If my brain quits, well, i guess then that's just it.
And if my hands stop working, you can call me lazy.
And if i get pregnant, i guess i'll just have the baby.
Let it be loved! Let me be loved!

I've been trying to nod my head, but it's like i've got a broken neck.
Wanting to say 'i will' as my last testament...
For me to be saved and you to be brave,
We don't have to walk down that aisle
'Cause if marriage ain't enough,
Well, at least we'll be loved.

I've felt the wind on my cheek coming down from the east
And thought about how we are all as numerous as leaves on trees.
And maybe ours is the cause of all mankind:
Get loved, make more, try to stay alive.

I've been trying to nod my head, but it's like i've got a broken neck.
Wanting to say 'i will' as my last testament...
For you to be saved and me to be brave,
We don't have to walk down that aisle
'Cause if marriage ain't enough,
Well, at least we'll be loved

All is fair in love and we're in love.
Now that everybody's dead, we can finally talk.
Can vanity and happiness coexist?
All the lovers we've taken in direct view of the enemy.

And we shift each other's body to accept the bullet
And continue the pleasure; the treasures of battle.
It's only for the wounded, the purple-hearted.

Why must you try to ruin my peace of mind?
And they were only words and i've never meant them
I never loved you, even in my weakness.
You were fuel for the fire, cannon fodder.

When my grandpa drank, fell and broke his face in two;
When the cops arrived, he exclaimed "i fought in world war ii"
And then they carried him to a darkened hospital room
And said "no modern person here remembers you,
And we can't identify the enemy,
And it could be you, so it'll cost you."
"it already cost me my wife and my job, now what?"

When my mom and i went to identify the body,
And i wanted to see but she wouldn't let me.
I had to wait for the military cemetary
And when we got there, this is what she said to me:
"love and war, in heaven and in hell,
You get what you deserve-- you'd better spend it well.
All is fair in love and war-- and love,
A civil war like this, it always sells itself."

I had one friend in high school, recently he hung himself with string.
His note said,
'If living is the problem, well, that's just baffling.'
And at the wake i waited around to see my ex first love.
And i barely recognized her, but i knew exactly what she was thinking of.
We sat quietly in the corner, whispering close about loss.
And i remembered why i loved her, and i asked her why i drove her off.

She said,
"the slow fade of love,
Its soft edge might cut you
And our poor friend jim,
Well, he just lived within
The slow fade of love."

A woman calls my house once a week, she's always selling things.
Some charity, a phone plan, a subscription to a magazine.
And as i turned her down (i always do), there was something trembling in her voice.
I said,
"hey, what troubles you?"
She said,
"i'm surprised you noticed.
Well, my husband, he's leaving,and i can't convince him to stay.
And he'll take our daughter with him, she wants to go with him anyway.
I'm sorry i'm hard to live with, but living is the problem for me.
I'm selling people things they don't want when i don't know what you need."

He said, "the slow fade of love,
And its mist might choke you.
It's my gradual descent
Into a life i never meant.
It's the slow fade of love."

I was driving south of melrose. When i happened upon my old lover's old house.
I found myself staring at the closed oak door like the day she threw me out.
"diana, diana. Diana, i would die for you.
I'm in love with you completely, i'm afraid that's all i can do."
She said,
"you can sleep upon my doorstep, you can promise me indifference, jim.
But my mind is made up, and i'll never let you in again."

For the
Slow fade of love.
It might hit you from below.
It's your gradual descent
Into a life you never meant.
It's the slow fade of love.

It's the slow fade of love.
It's the slow fade of love.
It's the slow fade of love.
Baby, it's the slow fade of love.
It's the slow fade of love.
It's the slow fade of love.
It's the slow fade of love.
Slow fade of love.
It's the slow fade of love

Today is the day i realized that i could be loved.
It echoed though the park last night:
'He wasn't our son;
He belonged to everyone...'

And this loss isn't good enough for sorrow or inspiration.
It's such a loss for the good guys,
Afraid of this life,
That it just is.
'Cause everybody dies...

This loss isn't good enough for sorrow or inspiration.
It's such a loss for the good guys,
Afraid of this life,
That it just is.
Everybody...
This loss isn't good enough for sorrow or inspiration.
It's such a loss for the good guys,
Afraid of this life,
That it just is.

'Cause everybody dies