Small Towns Burn A Little Slower Album

I hate my need for affirmation and attention.
Wish I could begin to blend in with the Scenery.
But I'm struggling to find a balanced flow
Between my id and both my egos (who knows?).
So I go in love, hoping that love will fallow,
It's truth that's not too hard to swallow.
And each new bite either fools or fuels my appetite.

[Chorus:]
All I have are these open hands.
So feel free to take what you please.
For I believe that the giver is also open to receive.

X marks the spot I've buried. All my whys underground.
Because there's bound to be a carnival of carnage
When the barker decides to bite down.

[Chorus]

I've always had the dream. Now I prescribe the drive.
20 milligrams of zeal to keep me feeling in my stride.
As I strive to mine the gold I've been told
Resides in the unconscious human mind.

[Pre-Chorus:]
Am I clever enough to sever the ties
That bind me to the things that blind me?

[Chorus:]
Can I maintain, the strength, perseverance and patience
It takes to leave my doubts behind me?

We are all suppressed yet sustained by the same things.
Energy and our disbelief.
Without oppression there would be no sweet relief.

[Pre-Chorus]
[Chorus]

I've been shown that the path is only as clean as my nose
And the answers just as close.
So I sort my morals from manipulation.
Integrity over self-degradation.

[Chorus]

Phantoms dance in semantics.
There's no pure way to describe what I'm feeling.

[Chorus:]
But I'll still try to crystallize my lifetime.
So when I die, I can survive as a melody.
Will these songs be enough for us to secure our legacy.

There's no room for logistics when dealing in the mystical.
You can't transcribe them as statistics or anything so typical

[Chorus 2:]
But I'll still try to search for God in my mind so when I die,
I can survive as more than memories.
Will these songs be enough for us to secure our legacy?

Phantoms dance in semantics.
There's no pure way to describe what I'm feeling.
But I'll still try...

Soft words pull them from their tall perch.
It all hurts when it's only worth a damn.
But our collective breaths could change the weather,
Let's band together and take this pain out on the road.

[Chorus:]
Neither rain, nor snow, nor the darkest of nights
Will keep a noble bird grounded.

Forfeit the fantasy romancing me into standing still as potential built.
The cup was almost spilled by guilt wilting all the strength I was peddling.
I'm not settling.
Even though a weaker heart can still control the body.
The brain must remain strong to keep those steady hands
One step ahead of nervous feet still faltering.
Now I'm altering those statements I made in haste.

[Chorus]

Let nothing take the place of the grace that has brought us here

In this chain of communication
I think we skipped the link where you mention your intentions.
And since I brought it up this is when I thought
I would speak my mind and tell you why me and my kind are note feeling fake.

[Chorus:]
For those friendly leaches with their suction cup tongues.
They talk you in and out of whatever they want.
Not out for blood, just # 1

And I for one am ashamed to say I'm guilty of the same double dealings.
Pillars of promise built to keep the floor from the ceiling.
But I don't want to be put on a pedestal
So if you could do the same then you'd be feeling fake.

[Chorus]

Fed up with this spinning, so we're swinging on our own.
Singing like we know but admitting that we don't.
Fed up with the spinning so we're swinging but not for those friendly leaches

What's the deal with destiny?
It's got me guessing when I shouldn't be.
Am I a slave to the way (the why) whatever God made me.
Were the choices even mine to make?

[Chorus:]
As I saw my youth in the splendor of a well lit sky
And the moon's reflection on a pebble.
I saw my future in a dust cloud,
As dull as anything to be remembered.

So I traded the vows and bands in the presence of family and friends.
Now I'm a slave, to mood ring eyes.
Blue when you're happy and grey when you cry.

[Chorus]

Don't be a slave, be a servant with purpose.
Because it would be worthless to to give up on a book
Just because you think you know how it's ending.
And search for the hidden chapters,
The pages that capture life and define the meaning that we are all after.
..I'm no longer a slave to the grave.
I'm a servant to those circles.
My life finally feels worth the skin I'm living in.

I still see my youth in the splendor of a well lit sky
And the moon's reflection on a pebble.
But now I see my future past the dust cloud
And I know it's something to be remembered

Play on words like a jungle gym.
Juggle until there's nothing left of them.
Shriveled and shrinking, foolishly believing
That we would be the first grapes to become a fine wine.

[Chorus:]
How do we keep fresh and still measure out success?
Will our best be good enough to keep doing what we love?

Until the state of stagnation takes the taste of inspiration.
The place in which all creation subsides.
Now it's up to us to decide

Should the friends make the music, or the music make the friends?
Does the man make the money or the money make the man?
If we can't get along should we bother writing songs?
If we can't make a dime is it even worth our time?

Love if you're reading this, than I am already gone.
Since I've fallen into grey, don't hesitate to take another love.
Don't want you to be alone, I didn't want to go.

Know that you have been, my salvation,
You stayed patient while my life was changing.

[Chorus:]
When the sheets have cooled down take them off and fold them.
Then give away our wedding bed.
There's no sense giving up while you still have time to shine.
Don't mourn my death, celebrate my life.

Bury me in what I was born with, except the ring around my finger.
It's up to you if you want to bury yours too. I won't hold that against you.

Know that you have been, my salvation,
You stayed patient while my life was changing.

[Chorus]

Skinny wrists and feeble fists clinched in rage,
Aimed at every evil that's in range.
Gutless mangy mutts that masquerade as dainty ladies
Waisting daises on shallow graves.
A clever cover to a book with no pages hung out
To dry before they even had time to grow.

[Chorus:]
If you've got soul, then you're bound to be walked on.
Just don't get caught under the heals of misery.
Who feel the need for company.

Skin gets tricked into thickening when the king pits the queen for your loyalty.
One shares the spoils, the other the sense of royalty.
So if hell is boiling beneath the clock is ticking.
"It's time to think again"

[Chorus]

I have beliefs that I only call out when it's convenient for me.
It seems like I change my mind more than my clothes.
And my ideas can be just as pungent.
But I don't want to turn this record into a laundry mat.
I just want to know

[Chorus:]
Is it possible to trade in a silver tongue for a heart of gold?
Does anything ever really work out?

I have regrets that I only express when it can make me look best.
Half the day spent wondering where I went wrong.
The other half wondering where I went so right to have this many great things in my life.
I just want to know.

[Chorus]

It's funny the problems that I have the most have no cause to the effect.
And I can't figure out the reason I'm breathing.
It's funny the problems that I had the most had no cause to the effect.
I finally figured out the reason I'm breathing.

[Chorus]

I want you to know.
It is possible to trade in a silver tongue for a heart of gold

There's a battle raging on the other side of this dry wall
That sheet rock screws fasten to two-by-fours.
They would if they could speak out against injustice and selfish sided arguments.
Sheila shouts as she's leaving.
"There's no way I'm coming back, until you get your shit together".
His head still a haze from today's dose or basement drug,
Shane sits with his face in his hands.
Tries to think of a way he can bring back
Those better days without giving in to her demands.
Danielle is coming down the stairs. She sobs "When is mamma coming home?"
"Don't you worry and get back to bed. Everything is gonna be fine"
But the morning light will make it clear, that it's all down hill from here.
They won't get their shit together.
And ten years later finds Sheila on husband number three and Shane just got out of Country

What can you do when the hands on your fate don't have the desire to call you back.
When every moment wasted is just another failure that you can add to your life long list.
You've got to move on. You've got to pull the whole weight now.
Cause the knob on the door won't turn without your hand.
And lady luck is a fickle mistress if you've got a pen cause I don't want you to miss this.

[Chorus:]
Neither hells bells, nor angels' voice will sound to say
Let's drain this body and claim this soul today.

I know I should be grateful.
So many are unable to do the things I've done, go the places I have gone.
It's just so simple to lose sight when you're running in that race to create.
And every finish line finds you in last place.
And lady luck is a fickle mistress if you've got a pen cause I don't want you to miss this.

[Chorus]

So if you're hanging on that cliff,
Dangling over patches of cactus and you feel yourself drop in then stop in
And I'll teach you how to whistle while we pull out the thistles