Blue Days Black Nights

Track Listing:
Underwater Life
The Farthest Lights
While I Wait for You
Pretend It's Summer
Changed Your Mind
Caught As You Look Away
Moving on a Holiday
Until the Sun Comes Back Again
Depending on the Night
Emily
 

Underwater Life

I sail alone
In a homemade boat
Repairs and jokes and stares
Everywhere I go
And then one night
Out about ten miles
The sea glowed far below
On the starboard side
 
There underneath the waves
A drowned city was never saved
In a deep sea paradise
They know better than to rise
And if I had my way
I'd trade my own today
For the underwater life
 
The sailors laugh
At my unnamed craft
Ignore it and collect my coins
For hauling trash
And every night
Where the sea goes deep
I drop sail and watch until
I drift off to sleep
 
There underneath the waves
A drowned city was never saved
In a deep sea paradise
They know better than to rise
And if I had my choice
I'd trade my own of course
For the underwater life

The Farthest Lights

At the window by yourself
I'm outside with everyone else
Hold yourself against the chill
And look at me with no expression

In the eyes I know so well
Is a question and a spell
An astronomerall my life
I've never seen a light so pale

The night is clear
When the stars appear
I recite their names
The farthest lights
Only now arrive
Wonder how they've changed

Everybody says goodbye
Driving off into the night
I look up when the moon comes out
Then shut the gate and go inside

More distant every day
I will ask but you won't say
Do I watch the sky too much
Familiar and so far away

The stars appeared
But they're always there
Up above the day
The farthest lights
Take us back in time
Wonder how they've changed

While I Wait for You

You left your watch
It's already stopped
Your favorite shoes
Where you dropped them

And the rain won't stay
And the sun won't move
And I hold my hands
While I wait for you

Won't be long
A note by the phone
Two weeks now
And you're still gone

And your garden's dying
And the flowers won't bloom
And I sit by the window
While I wait for you

When I wake up I forget
Put my arm across the bed
Where it left, the wait begins again
I imagine, I recall
To the family and the walls
And I still believe no one knows

How a night needs day
Like a lie needs true
And the rain won't stay
And the sun won't move
And I hold my hands
While I wait for you

Pretend It's Summer

I remember when we met
A summer storm wasn't over yet
We discovered our initials matched
Now the radiator's cold
And you're off somewhere I don't know

I pretend it's summer
And go outside
Change the weather
In my mind
Wild roses are in bloom
On a shaded path with you
It's a lonely kind of thing I do

I wonder what made you decide
You took a breath and said goodbye
Left me on that bench alone to cry
Now the ice has had its way
And you're off somewhere who can say

I pretend it's summer
And go outside
Change the weather
In my mind
Days go by and hours pass
You and I lie on the grass
It's the only daydream I have left

Now the ice has had its way
And you're off somewhere who can say
I pick flowers in the snow all day

Changed Your Mind

You call me up late
You're loaded and say
Can I come talk
And I'm thinking no way
You're dumping that guy
And when he asked why
Bet you said hey if you're ready or not you

Changed your mind
You decided maybe that
he wasn't your type
Told him you
Changed your mind
But it's not my problem
No not this time

Now wasn't that great
Remember that date
You never showed up
and you never explained
You did it again
I'm sorry for him
Only too well I remember it when you

Changed your mind
You decided maybe that
I wasn't your type
Baby you
Changed your mind
And it knocked me down
for quite some time
Maybe you
Think I'm blind
Could I be sympathetic for the old times
Baby you
Changed your mind
And you said hey ready or not
If you're ready or not
Goodbye
Ready or not
If you're ready or not
Goodbye

Caught As You Look Away

I don't believe I'd had a birthday yet
You're holding me and talking to someone else

A backyard afternoon
Forever in this frame
I keep you here
Caught as you look away

A camera can't lie and it won't defend
And then it tells everybody where you've been

A not yet shattered bliss
In the profile of your face
I keep you here
Caught as you look away

I wish I didn't know
A future long since told
The years we never saw you
Left a scar that you would always show
So before I'd learned to say
Such a lovely day
I keep you there
Caught as you look away

Moving on a Holiday

Here comes the first good snow
Only to decorate a vacant yard
Moving out of here tonight
All that's left to do is sweep the floor

Old address book in my hand
How'd I lose my place again
The only thing not packed away
Moving on a holiday

Just another place left clean
Won't be dreaming here anymore
Empty shelves and lonely keys
Sounds so hollow when I shut the door

Driving slowly, quiet streets
Signals even red and green
Me and what's not thrown away
Moving on a holiday

I can almost hear my heart
But the motor's making
such a peaceful sound
Up across the great divide
And you can't tell
when you start going down

Until the Sun Comes Back Again

Until the sun comes back again
We'll drop our paper and our pen
The lonely day is at an end
Until the sun comes back again

You look like a quiet type
But keep up if you can

Turn thesign and pull the shades
Check the locks and hide the keys
Catch the train before we're late
I know where so follow me

Until the sun comes back again
I'll buy you drinks and be your friend
The lonely day is at an end
Until the sun comes back again

You look like you might be tired
But I'll give you a hand

Falling down into the street
Pick you back up to your feet
Count the church bell when it rings
Almost there so follow me

Depending on the Night

This is how the story ends
Face up on the floor again
Wondering how he let himself believe her
Darkness now his only friend

Since she's gone away
He's depending on the night
Only gets through the day
Waiting to come home and get blind

Together and then left alone
Well that's the way the story goes
How're you supposed
to learn to be forgotten
Darkness just pretends to know

Might be blue or black
Depending on the night
Each day's like the last
Broken down and quiet

Shadows come to play
And always let him hide
Since she's gone away
He's been depending on the night

At this hour you almost can defeat memory
One voice never seems to fade away,
fade away, fade away

Shadows come to play
And always let him hide
Since she'd gone away
He's been depending on the night

Emily

Well I wonder who knows
If anyone knows
Where lovers go in their sleep
And what if they meet
Dream the same street
And she passes obliviously

Emily, you're lovely tonight
Look at me baby, it's me
Emily, are you feeling alright
You act like you've heard
And you stop and you turn
But it's like you have never
Seen me

Hey baby, it's me

I wonder who knows
If anyone knows
Why lovers dream of the rain
And what if he finds
It's some other time
Before she had even met him

Emily, where are you going
Talk to me baby, it's me
Emily, tell me what's wrong
No recognition, I must be mistaken
You're sure you have never
Seen me

Emily, come into the light
Look at me baby, it's me
Emily, are you feeling alright
You act kind of cross
And you turn and you
walk away down the street
Sorry