Pere Ubu Lyrics
Saint Arkansas
(2002)
Fevered Dream of Hernando DeSoto
In the midday sunSaint Arkansas
Oh, the mighty road
US 49 wrote
Not Fade Away.
In the cool of the shade
of Helena Bridge
How do you know?
Why do you tease Lula so?
DeSoto?
Oh-oh, de soto voce.
I don't want to know why I need you if I love you
I don't want to know why I've lost you if I love you
I don't want to know why I miss you if I love you
I don't want to know why I found you if I love you.
In the withered heart
of the modern man
is there no hope to find
that some things are worthy?
Worthy holy or true?
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Slow Walking Daddy
I wear a suitand, honey, I wear a tie
Yeah yeah yeah
I'm gonna look good each
and every day I say goodbye
I love that highway
US 322.
Six miles south of Meadville
all bare cinderblocks
sitting there is Moose Lodge 2505
Outside there's a sign that says
Good Cod Dinner Fridays $5.95
Good Steakeye Dinner Saturdays $5.95
It says Welcome
You are welcome...
To the crazy green
of the midsummer nowhere
Yeah yeah yeah
Mr In-Between is showing up fair
Four-square
I love that highway
US 322.
I saw stars
in strange constellations
trapped inside the blackness
of never ending night
seen through the pearly luminescence of shatterproof glass
framed by the wrong side of green velour
and maybe it felt like home
Maybe for just a little while.
I love that road
I love the way it yields to me
Yeah yeah yeah
It sorta breathes and whispers out my name
that's how it feels
I love that highway
US 322.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Michele
I am an eraserThe sheet is nearly white
but something still nags at me
It's a smear of graphite
I think it might be you
or something you said.
I am an eraser
I will rewrite and recast
so nothing can haunt the future
of my fabulous past.
My baby done told me
I have been informed
that nothing would hurt me
if I had never been born.
I am an eraser
My mind is a blank
I wish I could recall
the one I must thank.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
333
I don't care what people sayTV says it's gonna be the way
and I guess they oughta know.
Make a man a boy, fish or fool
Info Babe is gonna play it cool, oh my
My home is on the moon.
I'm just passing through this town
Busted pier with a gang of clowns
I guess they like the view.
The sun comes up
An open can of beans
I gotta say just what it means, I know.
My home is on the moon
and any day now hope will come to me.
Born to cry when I gotta laugh
I'm shooting fish in a pearly bath
They think I'm keeping score.
Sky is up
The sea is glue
I've got a notion that will stick to you.
My home is on the moon.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Hell
MercyMercy me
I'm in hell
or so it seems.
My eyes are dim
I cannot see
It feels like the earth has been raised up
just to swallow in on me.
Water my earth with no tears
Tell passersby just to kick the dust around
It's in hell
that I am bound.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Phone Home Jonah
I lost my will by the side of the roadwhen it flew out the window like a bird before the rain
Up on Crystal Hill I will be crawling around
in the dust on my belly when the sun goes down.
Memory of you is like a mist on a river
like the hard luck story of an indian giver
It follows me around just to dog my trail, saying
How much longer can you stand to fail?
How hard are you?
I thought I could run
I thought I could hide
I thought I mighta hitched one helluva ride
I will phone home, Jonah, from the belly of the whale, saying
Hang on buddy I shoulda knowed.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Lisbon
At Nervous Charlie Fireworks & Beermy baby told me she will not drink whiskey
I have been informed
She will not be warmed
and in Lisbon it seems
there was a car full of dreams.
At Nervous Charlie Fireworks & Beer
my baby told me she will not drink whiskey
Its dark liquid flame
does not appeal to her
and in Lisbon it seems
there was a car full of dreams.
In Lisbon it seems
there was a carful of dreams
All of them nameless
Some of them shameless.
At Nervous Charlie Fireworks & Beer
my baby done told me
she does not feel frisky
I have been informed
that she will not be warmed by dark liquid eyes
which do not appeal to her.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Mr. Steve
Au clare de luneA monstrous spittoon
hangs in the air
while time moves slowly
and chases each moment
each shaped discretely
each one a bead
So many beads on the string that binds me
that binds me to you.
My brother Danny
works in a zoo
He travels there daily
for something to do
and chases each moment
each shaped discretely
each one a bead
So many beads on the string that binds me
that binds me to you.
And time began to move so slow
I could see each moment
like it was a bead
Each moment.
She used to say
Dear, talk to me please
but I'd say to her,
My mind is a bank
so many pearls to keep
She said, Cut the crap, honey
that binds me
That binds me to you.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Where's The Truth?
Take my heart, take my handTake my whole world
I cannot help it if I fall in love with you
Well, some things are not meant to be.
Like that river flows
it flows into the sea
so that river goes
and some things are not meant to be.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
Dark
Oh, my friends don't understand meand my wife begins to fear
that I've lost some sense of balance
and I've lost the will to live.
Oh the radio, AM radio
Oh the radio will set you free.
I drive into the wilderness
and I drive to find a sense of purpose
and I drive to find a perfect world
where I hope to build a house.
I drive because I do what I want
and I drive cause I was born to drive
and I drive cause every ghost town rising in the dust
feels like a home to me.
I drive to close an open wound
and I drive just to be alone
and I drive to hear Tom Dooley swearing to his faith
that must be nearly gone.
Oh the radio, AM radio
Oh the radio will set you free.
I drive to find a river's edge
and I drive to hear a woman crying
and I drive because I want to
I agree to pay the price.
I drive to feed the ring of fire
and I drive to be a one who knows
and I drive to hear a worried man
recount the things he always wanted to be.
Oh the radio, AM radio
Oh the radio will set you free.
I drive because the angels fly
and I drive because I fear the coming of the night
the fearsome night
I've agreed to pay the price.
Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler
©2002 Ubu Projex.
