Pere Ubu Lyrics
Story of My Life
(1993)

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Wasted

It's the kiss of the tears
stinging and cold
The sum of the years
The story untold
In the heart of our hearts
The heart of the soul
At the heart of the hopes and the fears that we've known
know that we know that we were throwing time away
Breathlessly
Throwing time away
Recklessly
Throwing time away.

It's the dawn of the day
that surely must come
Married we've stayed
but look what's been done
In the heart of our hearts
The heart of the soul
At the heart of the hopes and the fears that we've known
know that we know that we were throwing time away
Breathlessly
Throwing time away
Recklessly
Throwing time away.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Come Home

Go on home
Don't you know
I was the spy in the heart of our home?
The double life of a provocateur
Like the doctor who won't provide the cure
Come home
Nobody's waiting
Come home
Somebody cares
Come home
I left the light on
Come home
Nobody's there.

Go on home
Don't you know
I was the spy in the heart of our home?
The double life of a provocateur
Like the doctor who won't provide the cure
Come home
Nobody's waiting
Come home
Somebody cares
Come home
I'm at the freeway
Come home
Nobody's there.

In the backseat of a blue fin mystery
I hang my head and I cry
Outside the night birds call
Early morning mists swim free
I'm at the bridge
and the river's enraged
I'm a bird
but that bird's encaged
I'm a free man
otherwise engaged
I'm a fool.

In the dim light of the New Dawn
I shake the cold out of my hands
The radio is on
and I look for the lights of the road
I'm at the bridge
and the river's enraged
I'm a bird
but that bird's encaged
I'm a free man
otherwise engaged
I'm a fool.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Louisiana Train Wreck

Down by the riverside
Corn is creaking
Moon's on high
Bodies broken
House on fire
Down by the riverside.

I hang my head
Tears I start to cry
I see the river
The river's wide
Mile of moonlight
Too much to hide.

I see the faces
I get the news
I see the water
I read the shoes
Down by the riverside
We were born to disagree.

Out on the highway
Mess of a night
Tank car burning with a terrible light
Be the boss Look here son
You'll go far
You'll be the one.

Of all the dreams
that haunt the awful black
I see the steamboat
Golden stacks
Jump the river
Won't go back
Face to face
Me and you
Then there's one
I'm going too.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Fedora Satellite II

I wondered what I'd want without you
I wonder what I would say
when the memory of that last kind face faded away.

Moonlight in an attic hallway
Footsteps in a lunar dust
I wonder how it came to be
that I'm at the crossroads
I'm turning all around
My heart is thumping hard
My feet are pumping up and down in time
My head is spinning round
I wanna run to you.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Heartbreak Garage

People say I wonder why
Why do the stars twinkle in the sky?
Why do lovers ever say goodbye?
People say I wonder why.

People say I wonder how
How do men and women ever get along?
Where do the brokenhearted
ever find to park their cars?

Down Mystery Road
Again and again
You build up your hopes
You let them back down
Bye bye baby my friend.

The lights look bright
Coming over the hill
In the moonlit night I do believe
that we're in Nowheresville.

How long til the `dozers roll daddy?
How long til we get the news?
How long til that stupid highway
beats a path straight to our door?

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Postcard

I sent her two postcards
They came right back
A big potato from Boise Idaho
A giant trout from Boston Massachusetts
A catfish in a top hat from New Orleans
Flaming watermelons from Dallas Texas
Corn cob with 2 feet and 3 hands from Omaha
Pencils from Lincoln Nebraska
A 3-D Grand Canyon
Strangely enough that was from New Mexico
Oh Happy day.

I sent her two postcards
They came right back.
Big wheel from Detroit Michigan
A lake freighter from Chicago
A cow wearing a stetson Montana
A chicken farm ranch from Utah
Utah was a good state for that sort of thing
It's Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City is a very good thing for that sort of thing
It's one of the best places for that sort of thing
that I've ever run into.

Delaware Water Gap
Bill's Laugh-Inn
Jersey Shore Pennsylvania
Dubois Pennsylvania...
Did I ever tell you about the time I broke down outside Dubois?

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Kathleen

Somewhere near
Somewhere far
Somewhere down a street
Past the local bar
A shot and beer kinda homey place
I go inside and tell my story
to a glass of foam
A poet and a heart of gold
Kathleen Wwy don't you call my name?
Kathleen call me.

No one hears me tell the truth
I lost the track of time
The blush of youth
A world that time forgot
A skittle bowl social swirl
Bowl of chili
Onion rings
The check on time and a Rolling Rock
Kathleen Wwy don't you call my name?
Kathleen call me.

Self pity is a terrible thing to waste.

I've dropped out of line
Past my prime
Slave to a way of life
I'm just the sort of fellow
to tell a story to
Waiting at a bus stop
Banging on a desktop
I long to see you
Kathleen Wwy don't you call my name?
Kathleen call me.

Something near
Something far
Something down a street
Past the local bar
A shot and beer kinda homey thing
I go inside to show my face
It's someone I barely know
A poet and a heart of gold
Kathleen call me
Kathleen.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Honey Moon

Hang my head
Believe that I'd died
Frying fish by the riverside
You the way
The way back home
Honey Moon.

All the world
Like a one arm man
Swimming hard
Best that he can
I'll be the one
You never know
Honey Moon I miss you so.

Cloudy sky
Looks like rain
Stand aside
The start of some pain
I get so tired it's like I'm another man.

Say no more
The rest I know
I never like it when that part of me shows
Cover up
I think that I'm needing
Honey Moon I'm already bleeding.

Swing low
I know
Saw the pot
called a heart of gold
Hung around
Like a one eye dog
Fix the roof?
Believe that I'll try
Might know better
When it's day or night
Stand by
I think that I'm sleeping
Outside
Corn it is creeping.

All the world
Like a one arm man
Swimming hard
Best that he can
I'll be the one
You never know
Honey Moon I miss you so.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Sleep Walk

It ain't me
I walk the line brother
It ain't me
On the high wire
It ain't me
Calculate how far I can fall
It ain't nothing.

Somewhere I see a face in a stream
I watch the dust in a beam
I work harder harder to break away
From the grip of a dream
On a high wire
I live and I breathe it
On a high wire
Will I never be...?

It ain't me
Don't watch the sky brother
It ain't me
Or the ground far below
It ain't me
Or speculate how far I can fall
It ain't nothing.

On a high wire
I live and I breathe it
On a high wire
Will I never be free?

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

The Story Of My Life

I was born in Miami Florida in 1953
First thing I did was crack the back of my head on the floor
I stepped on a bee when I was four
I slammed the door of a `57 Chevy on my hand when I was six.
Little did I know that darker clouds were gathering on the horizon of my life
That's the story
That's the story of my life.

Later on
Messing around in the backyard
I was nine
I stumbled onto the secret of Anti-Gravity
It's such a simple trick I said to myself
I hope I can remember
Instinctively I knew that trouble was bound to come
That's the story of my life.

Still later I met a girl named Sue
Only daughter of the football coach
I liked her
I think she liked me
Her family moved to Toronto
Naively I said to myself
Why that's the story of my life
That's the story of my life.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Last Will And Testament

Late one night I was lying awake
I was thinking of what Langston Hughes had said
I heard the birds of the morning rousing
Birds of prey in my heart I was thinking
Home is a raisin field
A raisin field is calling me
Home is a raisin field
Oh raisin field You're calling me.

In the middle of a hiding hole
I was surely wakened by the thing I know
It had the shape of a shadow a-nearing
Clouds of mystery round it were clearing
Home is a raisin field
A raisin field is calling me.
Home is a raisin field
Oh Raisin field calls to me.

I'm balanced on the razor edge
Hanging on by the skin of my teeth
In my heart the walls have been broken
All around the silence is aching
Centerstage is a memory or two
My last will or a testament to you.
Hope is a razor hedge
A razor's edge calls to me.

I fear I know the things I hope.

Writers: Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1993 Ubu Projex.

Fedora Satellite

I wondered what I'd want without you
I wondered what I'd say
When the memory of that last kind face floated away.

I fear I know the things that I hope
Those eyes without fear
The taste of you near
Your skin so fine
How can it never be mine?

I've got a heart of gold.

Writers: Cutler - Feldman - Jones - Krauss - Maimone - Thomas.
©1989 Ubu Projex.


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