CFCFCFCFCCFCF
I have a friend, he's mostly made of pain
CFCF
He wakes up, drives to work and straight back home again
CFCF
He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper
CFCF
I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover
GCF
And I tried to tell him that he had a sense
GCF
Of color and composition so magnificent
FGFG
And he said thank you, please, but your flattery
FGFG
It is truly not becoming me
FGFG
Your eyes are poor, you're blind, you see
FGFG
No beauty ever could have come from me
CF
I'm a waste
CF
Of breath,
CF
of space,
CF
of time
CFCFCF
I knew a woman, she was dignified and true
CFCF
Her love for her man was one of her many virtues
CFCF
Until one day she found out that he had lied
CFCF
And decided the rest of her life from that point on would be a lie
GCF
She was grateful for everything that had happened
GCF
And she was anxious for all that would come next
FGFG
But then she wept, what did you expect?
FGFG
In that big old house with the car she kept
FGFG
And, "Such is life," she often said
FGFG
With one day leading to the next
FGFG
You get a little closer to your death
FGFG
Which was fine with her, she never got upset
FGFG
And with all the days she may have left
FGFG
She would never clean another mess
FGFG
Or fold his shirts or look her best
CF
She was free
CF
To waste
CF
away
CF
alone
CFCFCFCF
Last night my brother he got drunk and drove
CFCF
And this cop pulled him off to the side of the road
CFCF
And he said, "Officer, officer, you've got the wrong man
CFCF
No, no, I'm a student of medicine, a son of a banker, you don't understand"
GCF
The cop said, "No one got hurt, you should be thankful
GCF
Your carelessness, it is truly something awful
FGFG
And no, I can't just let you go
FGFG
even though your father's name is known
FGFG
Your decisions now are yours alone
FGFG
You're nothing but a stepping stone
CF
On a path
CF
To debt,
CF
to loss
CF
to shame
CFCFCF
The last few months I've been living with this couple
CFCF
Yeah, you know the kind who buy everything in doubles
CFCF
Yeah, they fit together like a puzzle
CFCF
I love their love, and I am thankful
GCF
That someone actually received the prize that was promised
GCF
By all those fairy tales that drugged us
FGFG
And still do me, I'm sick, lonely
FGFG
No laurel tree, just green envy
FFG
Will my number come up eventually?
FGFG
Like love's some kind of lottery
FGFG
Where you scratch and see what's underneath
CF
It's sorry,
CF
just one cherry
CF
I'll play again
CF
get lucky
CFCFCF
So now I hang out down by the train's depot
CFCF
No, I don't ride, I just sit and watch the people there
CFCF
They remind me of windup cars in motion
CFCF
The way they spin and turn and jockey (or jerk each other off) for positions
GCF
And I want to scream out that it all is nonsense
GCF
And their life's one track and can't they see it's pointless?
FGFG
But just then my knees give under me
FGFG
My head feels weak and suddenly
FGFG
It's clear to see it's not them but me
FG
Who's lost my self-identity
FG
And I hide behind these books I read
FG
While scribbling my poetry
FG
Like art could save a wretch like me
FG
With some ideal ideology
FG
That no one could hope to achieve
FGFG
And I'm never real, it's just a sketch of me
FGFGF
And everything I've made is trite and cheap
CF
And a waste
CF
Of paint
CF
of tape
CF
of time
CFCFCFCF
So I park my car down by the cathedral
CFCF
Where the floodlights point up at the steeples
CFCF
Choir practice is filling up with people
CFCF
I hear the sound escaping as an echo
CFCF
Sloping off the ceiling at an angle
CFCF
When the voices blend they sound like angels
CFCF
I hope there's some room still in the middle
GCF
But when I lift my voice up now to reach them
GCF
The range is too high way up in heaven
FGFG
So I hold my tongue, forget the song
FGFG
Tie my shoes, start walking off
FGFG
And try to just keep moving on
FGFG
With my broken heart and my absent God
FGFG
And I have no faith and it's all I want
CF
to be loved,
CF
and to love
CF
and believe
CF
In my soul
CFCFCFCF
in my sooooooo oh oh ooooh oh oh ooooul
CFCFCFCF
in my sooooooo oh oh ooooh oh oh ooooul