From the Thinland album Tracing the Cracks (2003)
These Last Days
These last days Between the bookstore and the parking lot I turned These last days Have given me a taste for living So I turned Meeting you Has changed the taste of ash to sugar So I turned In this apartment Underground and full of nothing I turned These last days Have been like water for the thirsty So I turned These last days Have given every thought new meaning So I turned When there was one The days all ran together So I turned When I’m with you Each moment has a color So I turned ©1999 CrandallFiregod
I am the prophet You are the steel You are the certain fall And I’m at the wheel And we’re waiting for our ships to go Waiting for the axe to fall Waiting helpless in our own ash heap I am the firegod Stricken by rain Helpless the martyrs They suffer our shame But they’re fighting plastic enemies With vehemence and hypocrisy But who will stand up And make a big deal? Where there is happenstance We search for meaning Until there’s nothing left And we speak of random chance Still there is little chance We speak of anything We starve and we multiply Turn old and degenerate The sofas and the flowers Are in the front yard We are biding We are counting time We are frozen at the dividing line Hoping somebody has all the answers But sometime when the coast seems clear Time will reach right over here And slap us in the side of the head Well, sometime when the coast seems clear Time will reach right over here And slap us in the side of the head I am the firegod Let me choose my flame And when I’ll stomp it out ©1992 CrandallWalk On
Ask me, “You got a reason to live?” Well, I’ve got a lot of soul And I’ve got a lot of things to burn Ask me, “You got a reason to try?” I’m standing at your side And I’ve got to think we’re gonna make it Walk on, walk on I don’t know how we’ll take it We’ll keep our heads to the ground Walk on, walk on We’ve got the will to make it Touch me, but tell me, who is it for? I’ve got nothing but my conscience And I haven’t got the will to want more Look down, tell me what do you see? We’re standing at the bottom I think we’ve got our feet on the ground Walk on, walk on I don’t know how we’ll take it We’ll keep our heads to the ground Walk on, walk on We’ve got the will to make it If you call around, you’ll know You can’t believe it all If you tell me you should go You can’t help it, you’ve got So little, so little time So little, so little time So little, so little time So little, so little time Walk on, walk on I don’t know how we’ll take it We’ll keep our heads to the ground Walk on, walk on We’ve got the will to make it There’s still a chance we’ll survive Walk on, walk on I don’t know how we’ll take it We’ll keep our heads to the ground Walk on, walk on We’ve got the will to make it ©1999 CrandallUh Huh
You held yourself away from me So long I could not count The months, the days, the hours My spirit crumbled befor it fell Your heart was just cold enough To wait until I’d fall Your heart was not good enough To just open up Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh I would not spend my life alone I would not dare to speak the truth So I built myself a secret world While I played the passive man Your heart was just cold enough To wait until I’d fall Your heart was not good enough To just open up Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh Our love seemed so much bigger And we seemed so much better If I had only been stronger Why couldn’t you just stall A little bit longer Our instincts driven fast by fear Built tall this wall between us All those years we held our ground For nothing but a cruel, cruel end Your heart was just cold enough To wait until I’d fall Your heart was not good enough To just open up Your heart was just cold enough To wait until I’d fall Your heart was not good enough To just open up Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh ©1998 CrandallHeat and Light
My body is aching There’s nothing to say I’ve burned all my bridges Not much that’s coming my way The floors are all silent I breathe in the night How long ago was it? This room was once filled With the heat and the light Still, there’s a mark we made inside Hand over hand on every door As they board up the neighborhood We live in no more I stand in the hallway And trace all the cracks That break through the plaster And run from the font to the back Sweet dampness and decay I breathe in the night How long ago was it? This room was once filled with the heat and the light Still, there’s a mark we made inside Hand over hand on every door As they board up the neighborhood We live in no more See them flatten out the block For new high rises on the way In a pile a stick of furniture From yesterday My body is aching There’s nothing to say I’ve burned all my bridges Not much that’s going my way You used to bring me the heat and the light Words and Music copyright Leigh GregoryRarebird
I can feel you stepping through me I’m wide awake, dear I’m not sleeping through this Where you headed? You’re still a specter, dissipating I wish that you could Rest your head for awhile I’d like to stop this train And walk from these tracks Into the woods Where days pass unnoticed Where we could sit still for awhile Rarebird Where are you going? Rarebird What are you asking for? Rarebird What’s that song your singing? Rarebird ©1997 CrandallSuffocate Susan
Suffocate Susan, seeing red again Black nails and alabaster skin Serotonin flowing through her veins Side to side, her face waxes and wanes She won’t go home She doesn’t care She won’t go home She’s wanted there She won’t go home She hates it there They’ll want to Suffocate susan again Too many tattoos to call it a fad Too many boyfriends to cheer up dear old dad Hardened softness with a searing stare She’ll have you thinking she really doesn’t care She won’t go home She doesn’t care She won’t go home She’s wanted there She won’t go home She hates it there They’ll want to Suffocate susan again Hanging Uptown With all her so-called friends Just waiting for the world to move An inch or two Suffocate Susan, seeing red again Black nails and alabaster skin Won’t take their love, she’ll keep them at bay But she can go home, it’s really o.k. She won’t go home She doesn’t care She won’t go home She’s wanted there She won’t go home She hates it there They’ll want to Suffocate susan again She won’t go home She doesn’t care She won’t go home She’s wanted there She won’t go home She hates it there They’ll want to Suffocate susan again ©2000 Fritts, CrandallHard Luck
It was cold out Waiting for time to jump Waiting for the chance to come alive You could fall down Standing in the frozen air Hoping that success would stop nearby It was hard luck That kept you down, dissatisfied Kept you from the heights you tried to climb You were just too smart You see too much for you to slide Your heart aches from the things You hide inside You don’t let go until it burns You life won’t change until you turn Slow down, we’re trying to reach you Listen, can’t you hear us? Breathe deep, we’re right beside you Right beside you, right beside you It was cold out Waiting for the time to jump Waiting for the chance to come alive You could fall down Standing in the frozen air Hoping that success would stop nearby You don’t let go until it burns You life won’t change until you turn Slow down, we’re trying to reach you Listen, can’t you hear us? Breathe deep, we’re right beside you Right beside you, right beside you You don’t let go until it burns You life won’t change until you turn You don’t let go until it burns You life won’t change until you turn ©1998 CrandallMore Trouble Than I’m Worth
Stepping on your photographic Memories of snapshots taken Of all these stupid little things That I’ve forgotten in the forest The grand hallucinations Of the gifted artist I’ve become I’ve been peddling all these arbitrary Explanations of why I’ve chosen To neglect a thousand friends I told that I would love forever You see me as calculated, Petrified, Incorporated Angrier than Martin Luther Never resting, so despondent Like all the empty bottles Filling up the grocery bags I try to hide beneath my kitchen counter Until they overflow the trashbin I’m too lazy to put a proper face on things It undermines my giving nature I’ve caused more trouble than I am worth More trouble than I am worth ©2002 CrandallWater for the Man
He’s got a family and some lovely friends and neighbors He gives a tithe to the church on every Sunday He prays for goodness as he weeps about his savior But he’s got his hands on me He likes to swim with the naked boys and watch them Through the goggles he bought for a vacation Diving with his wife off the coast of Italy Now he’s got his hands on me He knows that god is watching But he still needs water for the man He’d like for me to go to church with him on Sunday To play guitar in the hope that the assembly Will believe that I am just a Christian friend But he’s got his hands on me He knows that god is watching But he still needs water for the man He’s got no trouble in his soul He trusts that Jesus is the truth He knows the word of god is in him His perseverance is the proof So he’s made some minor errors His loving god will grant him grace For god planted this affliction And god will have to take its place ©1999 CrandallMaria
Maria cleans the ashes from her teeth Tarred and yellow like old pages In a long-forgotten book She pores over passages And reads between the lines But there’s no way to relieve them of the grime She says that time will take its toll And that all our ashes fall into all the holes Left vacant by the souls still grieving Maria breaks beside the river’s edge She kneels to faith then turns away She won’t compromise She won’t compromise Time won’t catch her today Maria speaks her final words To the face she’s lived her life in When the water breaks Her reflection fades away And there’s no one there To see the flower thrashing Crashing Maria breaks beside the river’s edge She kneels to faith then turns away She won’t compromise She won’t compromise Time won’t catch her today Drenched in grief we tie the knot Elope with gods to bind the frayed ends Though the rope is rather taught We feel safer when the storm hits Maria breaks beside the river’s edge She kneels to faith then turns away She won’t compromise She won’t compromise Time won’t catch her today Time won’t catch her today ©1992 CrandallI Don’t Belong to the Sun
Light, I keep listening for you In this final arcade On the dark side of no place I move in the shadows There’s no falling from here I’m frozen on this accident sphere I am one with the darkness I don’t belong to the sun I watch as my mantra consumes my soul It’s come for my being For what’s left to behold But the deed of the dead is already done Made my pact with the devil I am one with the darkness I don’t belong to the sun These renegade passions just slip away They turn me around, twist me up tight And lead me down the path To the prince of the night No words could break my fall No guilt will redeem my soul I am one with the darkness I don’t belong to the sun You won’t find me praying Down on my knees Collapsed in the womb of this mystery You won’t find my body in linen white I’ll be back but untouchable in the dead of the night I’m not moving on I’m not moving on In this permanent darkness I don’t belong to the sun ©1999 Crandall