A small town a little long in the tooth
Old testament fireproof
New York City’s got nothing on you
Except the glitter and the charm
And the money and the view
Then the Devil came around

Mother Courage where are you now
Sister Mercy run out of town
Father Confessor drowning in the crowd
Oh, brothers in arms,
There weren’t nobody around
And then the Devil came down
Oh, the Devil came down on you
You little suffering town

A double shift, a birth and a death
Four hundred dollars of crystal-meth
Nobody thinks they’ll end up here
But the Devil’s got a way of whispering in your ear
And then the devil comes down

Oh man, look at you go
A yellow taxi’s taking you home
Don’t know her name, couldn’t call it when you wake
She’s a comfortable mistake
The kind you know you’re gonna make
When the Devil goes down
Oh, the Devil went down on you
And you’re suffering now

Three bars and a video store
A gas station and a funeral home
Some days you’re cold to the bone
Even when you’re not alone
Get Jesus on the phone
Because the Devil came down
Oh, the Devil came down on you
And your suffering town

The phone’s too quiet and the bed’s too wide
Your friends deny it,  they’re all on your side
Now I can’t dig a hole deep enough to hide
I’ve been a dead man since you took that ride

My car’s dead and my clothes fit wrong
My day’s are restless and the night’s so long
I don’t see movies and I can’t hear songs
‘Cause I’ve been a dead man since you’ve been gone
I’ve been a dead man

A dead man talkin’ about love is like a prisoner talkin’ about the free
You’ve been talkin’ about love, but you ain’t been talkin’ about me
No you ain’t been talkin’ about me

I do all my swimming at the Rose and Crown
‘Cause it takes a lot of bad whiskey to drown
And a thousand women couldn’t anchor me now
I’ve been a dead man since you left this town

A dead man talkin’ about love is like a soldier talkin’ about peace
You keep talkin’ about love, but that name ain’t familiar to me
No his name ain’t familiar to me

I can rest peaceful I can lay my head down
As long as I’m sure, my sweet, you’re safe and sound
Now I can quit being a ghost haunting this town
It’s o.k. to be the dead man now

Don’t be long on that crooked mile
With your junky pose and your pawn-shop smile
And don’t be long in that tattered line
Or you won’t be long in this heart of mine
Because you don’t believe in coming home
In the courtesy call or the fuckin’ telephone
No, you don’t believe, you don’t believe

Don’t be long out in the rain
Because you fell flat fast asleep in your clothes again
You don’t belong out on Easy street
Because you’re always tempted far too easily
And you don’t believe in tender words
Or that there’s 4.6 billion other lonely people in the world
No, you don’t believe, you don’t believe

Don’t be long my condescending one
Waging wars and then defending them
You won’t be less strong if you surrender one
Because you sure as hell don’t belong to anyone
And I don’t believe your apologies
And I don’t believe when you get down on your knees
No, I don’t believe the tears you weep
Because I don’t believe you’re losing any sleep over me
I don’t believe, no I don’t believe

So don’t be long nursing your grief
Because it’s getting hard to suspend my disbelief
And don’t be too long crying in your sleeve
‘Cause this offer’s over come this new-year’s eve
Then I don’t believe I’ll be coming home
To the t.v. on and the car keys gone
No I don’t believe, I don’t believe
No, I don’t believe I’ll be coming home
I guess I could be wrong

Oh, Genevieve, this town is a guillotine
Sharp tongues like blades so mean they can bleed you blue
All those neighbourhood boys just want to get in your corduroys
I can’t blame ‘em but they miss the point with a girl like you

Oh, oh, Genevieve

Hey there Genevieve, you never had much use for me
But I’ll keep you company until the ambulance comes
Cruel maps of railroad scars, along the tracks of your pretty arms
How the hell did it get so hard just to take life as it comes

Oh, oh Genevieve
Oh, sweet Genevieve

No, don’t do it
Don’t climb your bedroom walls
Don’t rise to it
‘Cause you’re smarter than them all
And I always knew it
I just never had the guts to call
I hung up once or twice
My fingers cold as ice
And I left you all alone
On the dark side of the phone

Hey Gen you know some day, we oughta cut class and run away
Hop a Greyhound to Montreal and start us a band
I can sing and play guitar and you can scream all the pretty parts
Cross your fingers those city dogs don’t tear us apart

Oh, oh Genevieve
Oh, sweet Genevieve
Hold on to me
My sweet Genevieve

Telltale heart
Always telling tales
Mighty as a sparrow
Fragile like a whale
Slings and arrows
Crosses and nails
Telltale heart
Tell your tale

Well, I’ve been lonely
And I’ve been blind
Sometimes a sinner
And sometimes unkind
But my blood is thinner than water some times
Like a telltale river
It endlessly winds

Telltale people
Are a curious folk
Their life is a sadness
Their love is a joke
They carry their hardship
They pull on that yoke
Murdered and martyred
Busted and broke

Slings and arrows
Crosses and nails
Telltale heart
Tell your tale

When did the room start spinning?
When did the blinds get drawn?
When did the wolves start winning?
I turned around and you were gone

When did the leaves start falling?
When did the trees get so bare?
When did the lake freeze over?
I turned around and you weren’t there

How did our creed get re-worded?
How did our yes become a no?
How did the street get so deserted?
I turned around and watched you go

When did our stock start falling?
When did you unplug your phone?
When did we just stop calling?
I turned around and noone’s home
I turned around and noone’s home

Some things won’t stay put anymore
Lovers, lives and keys
When you turn your back to the door
They ever so quietly leave

Why does your sweet heart stutter?
Why are your hands so cold?
Why do you sound just like your mother?
I turned around and we got old
I turned around and we got old
Turned around
We got turned around

I was young and dumb and full o’ cum
So I bought me an old red car
I had hair on my chest so I headed out west
Following the lines on the tar
And I mistook my brains for looks but I’ll never be a movie star
Now the stars have shone but the film crew’s gone
So I’m coming back home

You smile like a crocodile
And you growl like an old brown bear
But you can fly like a dove in the sky
When the wind takes hold of your hair
And I must’ve been blind, ‘cause I thought I could find that kind of love anywhere
What the hell, I was wrong
The night’s so long
So I’m coming back home

Rome’s alright
It snows in Iceland
Melbourne’s way too far
There’s Istanbul
And L.A.’s cool, but you always gotta to drive your car
I can’t stand planes
And I don’t like trains
And the ocean’s way too dark
I wanna lay down my hat
I’m through with all that
So I’m coming back home

Well, the grass seems green where we’ve never been
But it’s seldom true my friend
It’s a myth we make
It’s a big mistake
It’s a party that we all attend
My whole heart shook when I read in that book “you can never go home again”
But the man was wrong
‘Cause the light’s still on
And it’s humming back home
Well the road is long
But my legs are strong
And I’m coming back home
Now I’m all done
With that prodigal sun
So I’m coming back home

I don’t remember who wrote
Was it St. Peter or St. Paul?
That into every life
A little shit’s gonna fall
I’ve been unfair and you’ve been untrue
What the hell?
What are we gonna do?

We wrote that book
That angry almanac
Where the words you should never say
Meet the things you can never take back
Sad sleight of hand
Cruel callous cracks
Hollow hollers and countless counterattacks

I took a walk past your home
That old place on Virtue Street
Didn’t take me too long
It’s just eight houses, a lane and some trees
Why’s that street so small?
It ain’t no mystery
It seems like living on virtue is the hardest place to be

I woke up on Sunday mornin’
With a freight train on my chest
Evangelically alone
Just me and that old Infinite Jest
Words can feel like stones
Words can be a noose
Godspeed D.F.W.
Words can take you home
Words can make you choose
Godspeed D.F.W.

A million stupid love songs
Drop dead in the middle of the room
Your bag’s packed and your coat’s on
Before you leave would you pass me the broom
So I can sweep ‘em all under
The greatest hits and the one shot wonders
The rain’s the only thing
The rain’s the only thing singing like thunder

I go walkin’ out nights
Just to hear that hustle and flow
Baptized in the streetlights
The night owls and the midnight crows
They ain’t afraid of lightning
They’re terrified of the radio silence
And the rain’s the only thing
The rain’s the only thing they get through the night with

Monday poured and Tuesday roared and Wednesday had rain
Thursday spat and Friday’s cats and dogs again
But Saturday the clouds may break
And Sunday morning when I wake
The sun may smile and say, “hey pal, it’s over.”
That’s why the rain’s the only thing
The rain’s the only thing keeping me sober

The rain’s the only thing getting’ me over
Tappin’ my shoulder
Wiser but colder

Don’t say it’s over
(Don’t come knockin’ on my door)
Don’t say it’s over
(Don’t say what you did before)
Don’t say it’s over
(I don’t think of you anymore)

I was one kind of man when I started
With two kinds of problems in my life
Three kinds’a whiskey that could solve ‘em
Four kinds of sleepless nights
But there were five kinds of clouds on the horizon
Six kinds of pain in my head
Seven little angels came a ridin’
With eight or nine kinds of different regret

And I’m ten kinds of lonely now…