TV On The Radio Album

I was a lover before this war
Held up in a luxury suite
Behind a well barricaded door
Now that I've cleaned up, gone all legit
I can see clearly, round hole
Round hole - square peg don't fit

I'm locked in my bedroom
So send back the clowns
My clone wears a brown shirt
And I seduce it when there's no one around
Mano y mano on a bed of nails
Bring it on like a storm
'til I knock the wind out of his sails
And we don't make eye contact
But we have run-ins in town
Just a barely polite nod
And nervous stares toward the ground

I once joined a peace class
Plastic, inert
Slow dance with commerce
Like a lens up a skirt

And we like to party
And we kept it live
And we had a three-volume tome of contemporary slang
To keep a handle on all this jive

Ennui unbridled, let's talk to kill the time
How many styles did you cycle through before you were mine
And it's been a while since we went wild
And that's all fine, but we've been sleepwalking through this trial
And it's really a crime
And it's really a crime
And it's really a crime

It's really criminal

We're busy tempting, like fate's on the nod
Running on empty, bourbon and God
It's been a while since we knew the way
It's been even longer since our plastic priest class
Had a goddamned thing to say

I was a lover before this war
I was a lover before this war
I was a lover before this war

You walked around
Sought / Thought yourself beatufiul
Just too bad they stare
Just too bad they stare
Broke up your crown
Called you unusable
See how well you fair


Stole underground
To keep your heart around
Banished from above
Banished from above
Forgot yourself
Go home and shot your health
Left it all for love

And all their lips
Delirious quips
Last seen with friends
Wishing them well


You ?????
You listen for the truth
Just too bad they lied
Just too bad they lied
Oh come around
Inform our future youth
Summon from the sky

The future is cruel
Unusual fools
Leave them to rule in hollow point hell


??????
Now listen to the truth
Cradle and a cry
Cradle and a cry
Your light will shine
500 ??????
Keep your head on high
Keep your head on high


You walk around
Know you are beautiful
Aimless and alive
Broken and defined
Oh walk around
Know you are future youth
Summon to the sky

Suddenly, all your history's ablaze
Try to breathe as the world disintegrates
Just like autumn leaves we're in for change
Holding tenderly to what remains
And all your memories are as precious as gold
And all the honey and the fire which you stole
Have you running through all your red cheek days
Shaking loose these songs from their sacred hiding space

Hold your heart courageously as we walk into this dark place
Stand, stare fast, erect and see that love is the province of the brave

Push under the ??(whizzing lights) of buzzing stars
Let this burning brightly illuminate where we are
Build this hallow that lovers' voices occupy
Let it follow that we let it free, let it fly
Breaking open the walls of this cage
Intoxicated, oh so amazed
Much like falcons tumbling from our hearts that blaze
Oh come join, at our arms engaged

Hold these hearts courageously as we walk into this dark place
Stand, stare fast beside me and see that love is the province of the brave

Playhouses
Swept away by the river now
Confounded
Sound it out now

Vodka cran in your hand and whose litte girl are you now?
Oh I'd ask for this dance but I know you'd play like you don't know how
What your coy smile exposes
A recent memory of when we shit our bed of roses

And I know the moon above is shining down
But not for our love
So for who?
So for who?

Beneath the cigarettes and sugar shit of alcohol breath
I can taste the ocean of your tongue
Remember when we sat on the sidewalk of your old block
Against the wall under the stars
Talking about love's meaning
Well, I wasn't dreaming

I meant every word
Just didn't know your demons
Do you know mine, babe?
Are we wasting time, babe?

Playhouses
Haunted by
Broken spirits
Just trying to get high

Well we chose this course but
The weather changed
And the river froze
And when it thawed it was running
Backwards and dry now
I suppose it's appropriate to cry now

Over wasted time
And naked lies
Still get wasted sometimes

Say say my playmate
Won't you lay your hands on me
Mirror my malady
Transfer my tragedy

Got a curse I cannot lift
Shines when the sunset shifts
When the moon is round and full
Gotta bust that box gotta gut that fish

(My mind's aflame)

We could jet in a stolen car
But I bet we wouldnt get too far
Before the transformation takes
Its bloodlust tanks and
Crave gets slaked

My mind has changed
My bum has framed,
But God I like it
My heart's aflame
My heart is strained
But God I like it
(2x)

Charge me your day rate
I'll turn you out in time
When the moon is round and full
Gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mongrel mind
Baby doll I recognize
You're a hideous thing inside
If ever there were a lucky kind
It's you, you, you, you

I know it's strange
There's no other way
To get to know you
You'll never know
Unless we go
So let me show you
I know it's strange
There's no other way
To get to know you
We've got 'til noon
Here comes the moon
So let it show you
Show you
(now)

Dream me oh dreamer
Down to the floor
Open my hands and let them
Weave onto yours

Feel me, completer
Down to my core
Open my heart and let it
Bleed onto yours

Feeding on fever
Down on all fours
Show you what all the
howling's for

Hey hey my playmate
Let me lay waste to thee
Burned down their hanging trees
It's hot (here), hot (here), hot (here), hot (here)

Got a curse we cannot lift
Shines when the sunshine shifts
There's a curse comes with a kiss (we're howling forever)
The bite that binds the gift that gives (oh, oh)

Now that we got gone for good (we're howling forever)
Writhing under your riding hood (oh, oh)
Tell your gra'ma and your mama too (we're howling forever)
It's true, true, true, true... (oh, oh)


We're howling forever
Oh, oh
(5x)

Eyes wide mine, suddenly everything
Flies by fine, mind goes on holiday
In its stead, clicking along the curb
Clucking tongues how could they have the nerve

There is hardly a method you know

It's a broken poem, started up yesterday
And it came true now, mind was on holiday
It's an open road will we soon see the end
It's an open book, a story to tell the band

There is hardly a method you know

I'm a storm faced cloud, hanging in dystrophy
I'm a cold, base clown laughing at enemies
It's a rough wild world could you please chaperone
It's a mind field trip, oh leave it the fuck alone

This is hardly a method you know

There's a purple pain strangling yesterday
There's a purple stain spattered on interstates
It's an awkward stage grasping at anything
Cause it's lost the page
Can't find a word to say
But they want you to
Oh they want you to
Yes they want you too
Oh they want you, too

Broken plates on dirty highways
Pave the way for alien grace

There is hardly a method you know

Beg the bee's forgiveness as it's falling from your sleeve
Watch it's guts pump poison into sting
Watch it reach completeness, see it fall asleep
Legs above fold in eternal dream

Oh that calls to mind a joke, an off coloring
About these fools blindfolded, drugged, and raped and left laughing
They let the devil in, he brought his pirate friends
They brought a hunger for blood, and flesh and bone and skin

So teeth left chattering, and tongues flexed to sting
Got dressed up in so many fancy things

Is it a waste of time, please tell me if you mind
Me dipping into useless sentimentality
A rant on how things used to be when this shit was free
I answered my own question, I can hear the crickets yawning

But in the back pocket of a discarded pair of jeans
Is a priceless ticket to the grandest opening
So when the chariot arrives, you'd best enjoy the ride
'cause when we get to heaven's gate we're not getting inside

Better beg forgiveness
Better drop to knees
Better find your ticket
Before we join the bees

Woah...!!!
Woah...!!!
Woah........!!!
Woah...!!!
Woah...!!!
Woah........!!!

Oh there is a murderess amongst us
Her love is a violent spiral
Hurling in upon us, conjured up
At the birth of the world

Durga is a dancer
Mindless questions find no answers
Slicing through the ether
Yeah she's gleaming like mother of pearl

Dirty little whirlwind
Commander, controller
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
I am pinned by the heat of your swirl
Dirty little whirlwind
Defender, destroyer
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
Tangled up in the flesh of a girl

Oh you could curl me beside you
The spark in your eyes belies the Apocalypse inside you
Twisting the pits from the particle
Skull can't save face

So shake the shame from it
Burn me up inside you
Let me churn in your furnace of whirl
Dirty little whirlwind
Commander, controller
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
I am pinned by the heat of your swirl
Dirty little whirlwind
Defender, destroyer
I found you
Dirty little whirlwind
All caught up in the flesh of a girl

All that I ever wanted to be was destroyed at sea
Hurricane rescued me salvaged calamity
Do not delay we stood in place for it
Turn me up inside you
Up and into the heart of your world

From the depths I called you ma
For your breath and breast so warm and fabled
Your hands reached inside
Grabbed my heart, enlarged, disabled

Hailed for your mercy
An ear that cares

How the blues sound from up there?

With my wet hair, I wipe the blood off of your feet
Carry me through these shark infested waters
Well you spared me from the slaughter for sure
But these sharks are equally in need of a martyr

Oh kindness shared
Undeserved purest gift
This life you're spared

How the blues sound from up there?

Teeth gnashing, masticating this dumb tongue
Quiet now, quiet now, hear that supplication
Echo into the void
Been received by no one

Oh my sweet dear
Cold alone poisoning ourselves
Engulfed in our own tears

Signed, blues from down here
Signed, blues from down here
Signed, blues from down here

Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your..
Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your..
Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your..
Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your..
Pull the pin, drop it in, let it wash away your..

Time for favorite story
Of how to achieve golden glory
Wash yourself all squeaky clean
All in white, all hallow's eve

Lessen your desire
Hold your breath so patiently
Never inquire how to be free
Just stay on your knees

You might doubt it
Think there's nothing left for you to do
But stomp my feet and shout about it

From the depths I called you

Now I'm waiting for an answer patiently
Stuck here at the bottom of this well
It's not the last you've heard from me

My mind is like an orchard
Clustered in frozen portraits
Blossoms that bloom so fine, just to drop from the vine
I've seen them all tonight

Who'd keep a silent orchard
I'll shove it all to the floor boards
Her rusty heart starts to whine, in its telltale time so
For freedom tonight

Life is a measly portion
A light on good friends and fortune
It strips you away inside, drawn all your blinds
Conceal it all from sight

You took that final courter
Shot the boy, no quarter
We'll skip to the final line of some suicide note well publicized
Or give it up tonight

Carry with bursting order
To the options you've laid before you
The needle, the dirty spoon, the flames and the fumes
Just throw them out tonight

The time that you've been afforded
May go unsolved, unrewarded
Some nameless you cannot know, may be coming to show you
Unbridled love and light

Should you grow an orchard?
Covered in dusty portraits
Blossoms that bloom so fine, just to drop from the vine
I'll listen up tonight

Don't keep it silent orchard
Shove it all to the floorboards
Your rusty heart will be fine, in its telltale time
So give it up tonight

Little flightless metal birds
High above in limbless tree
Ring out into the atmosphere
Creating beauty inadvertently

It was a technological feat

This little bird

Wading through the market's waste
We locked eyes felt our lonliness abate
True desire showed its face, but only momentarily

Grey cascades in foreign waves
Wash the day away

I bought you from the dying woods of Brazil
This little bird
While the kids burned down the greenhouse pushed the
Charred frame into the landfill
Put his beak to the world
We bought new bodies we bought diamond encrusted guns
So who the hell are you?
Making out so high in the backseat of a car-bomb under carcinogenic sun

Grey cascades in foreign waves
Wash the day away
Grey cascades in foreign waves

We did believe in magic we did believe
We let our souls act as canaries
Our hearts gilded cages be

Watched a million dimming lanterns float out to sea
Lay your malady at the mouth of the death machine

Aeroplane odabo
ba mi ki won lo Odabo
Eko meji, o yo mi
O yo mi
O yo mi

Grey cascades in foreign waves
Wash the day away
Grey cascades in foreign waves

[No lyrics]

[No lyrics]

Everyone makes the same wave at the same time,
like pebbles on water,
And we call all those inturupting lines,
sons and daughters,
A community so lets join hands in some blessed unity,
but brother
i don't wanna know ya
i don't even want to know ya
and sister
i don't wanna know ya
i don't even want to know ya
but we're trapt in this lovely mess,
hold you close and smile,
fake like they do way out west
so many medicines for so many heads and
i'll help you clean those skeletons from under your bed but
i don't even know ya
how could it be me that sends you
darlin
didn't your mama, tell not to let no stranger bend you
probably someone here that could help to mend you
but it's not me
got my own anxiety
saddness isn't any way to explain
i know your crying tonight
don't end insane
it's as simple as the way you wear your unpolished shoes
and your righteous ways, are made low
but all i know is your blues ain't like my blues
and why would they be?
if there's one comminality its that that feelin in mutual
given time you'll see
you'll see

[No lyrics]