new album currently in production
live at richardson (2010) [free EP]
ends meet /
across the atlantic /
bed bugs
night owl (2008)
coyotes came down /
night owl /
home free /
cars /
chicken /
flower press /
over the
grey fields /
four months /
silo /
nothing
between us /
we can keep our clothes on /
to sleep in spain
life of b-sides (2005)
room 9 (2005)
this house (2004)
maker (2004)
ENDS MEET
You don't owe me anything that wasn't free--
not the subway fare,
not the cigarettes,
not the whiskey.
But you can jump my turnstile,
you can steal my breath,
you can drink me right on down.
Just give me back our night on the town.
Cause I don't want to be nobody's second somebody
but I want another round of you
but I know I'm gonna get less
the longer it's overdue.
If you can hold me the whole night through,
if you can't stop kissing me in the street,
why can't we make ends meet?
You don't owe me anything.
Go on and keep that change.
Keep my favorite books, my poems,
there's worse I could estrange.
But you could read me over,
you could write me down,
you could close this cover tight.
Just give me back the time our inventory balanced right.
Well I was wrong, I was right,
I was wrong, I was right--
that we could break even more than one night,
that we could turn this red ink into black,
that we could send the invoice back.
Well if I was wrong, then tell my why.
If I'm not wrong, why can't we try?
top
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
I haven't sent you a postcard
but I haven't built up a wall either
across the Atlantic,
but then first thing in the morning
you come knock, knocking at my computer screen.
The time zones tell me you were drunk while I was asleep,
across the Atlantic.
Was it just the ocean?
Was it all the water
that made you finally feel
all of my love you'd squandered?
I haven't sent you a poem
but that don't mean I'm not writing them
across the Atlantic,
but then first thing in the morning
you come, black and white, back on my page,
throwing down the anchor when I thought I was on my way
across the Atlantic.
Was it just the time zones
that made you face the shipwreck
of your sails opening not too soon but too late?
Was it just the distance
that made you want to dare to cross it
when you wrote me finally with what was
too soon but too late?
Because
Somewhere 'cross the water
I dropped your heart,
but inside it I'd put my own.
Oh impossible boy,
would you leave me alone?
top
BED BUGS
My baby's got bed bugs.
They come out every night.
So much for sweet dreams.
All I get are red rows come morning light.
And oh, they wake me,
and you're lying there,
my baby, my baby boo.
As much as I love the midnight time love,
I wish the waking would come from you.
My baby's got dirty dishes
and there's sludge stuck to the bottom of the sink.
So much for a clean cup
to fill up with my morning-time whiskey drink.
And oh, the pile grows higher each day
and the table is scattered with papers and post-its
you never read to know to throw away.
As much as I love installation artwork
I wish I had a clear spot to set down my elbows.
And oh, the chaos came clear as neglect.
And if the lesson ain't done caught you,
get running boy, cause it's gonna get you yet.
Cause I am leaving.
It's springtime cleaning season.
My baby's got bed bugs
but my baby ain't got me.
top
COYOTES CAME DOWN
We grew up at the foot of the canyon
We grew up at the foot of the canyon
And at night
Coyotes came down
And we stayed inside
And we tucked in tight
And you grew up tall
And I grew up wise
But I still remember you
And the condors fly
Even though they're too big to survive
Much longer evolution
And at night
Coyotes came down
Do you remember when they shot the big horse?
Do you remember when they shot the big horse?
And the burrows howling all through the morning
Do you remember when they shot to the good times down?
With weathered hands
We grew up to the spark of the horse hoof
We grew up in the time of the long drought
And at night
Coyotes came down
And we hid our eyes
And you took my hand
And it came up quick
And it went down fast
But I still remember you
And the fires rise
And the ashes fly
Right up with the condors
The mist over the valley
And the undertow of goodbye
top
NIGHT OWL
Go straight on til morning
Go straight back into her bed
But when you wake it'll be almost evening
And I'll still be here
Cuz I'm still the night owl
I'm still the zombie in the day
You went back to the sheets of the one who wears your ring
I still couldn't sleep
A friend of mine used to drive to Montana's border
On the nights when sleep didn't know his name
You make me want to do the same
I could do the same
My engine would roar for you
My doors would rattle and my hands would shake
The four walls of my empty house ache for you
I am still awake
I had to head out to Ojai to forget the fuck about you
I hid myself in the orange trees to write and booze
You're not gonna call me and I'm not gonna call you
I guess that's why they call it the blues
Cuz I'm still the Lord-my-baby-done-gone-and-left-me
I'm still the bye-bye-bird
You still go keeping your distance on me
I want shout but I never said a word
I'm still eating myself to pieces inside
My friends don't even know what I've faked
But olly olly oxen free, gonna tell the truth this time
I miss you, I'm still awake
You can stop by, I'm still awake
Come back to me
Leave what you gotta leave
Come back to me
top
HOME FREE
Pick up whatever strikes your fancy, sure, and throw it at me
I'm the one who let you down so I deserve the black and blue
I deserve
I deserve
I remember making love to you
I remember the good times
But now you've turned them all sour
Cuz I was sucking onto them long after the hour that I should have been
I'll be late for sleep again
But did you really believe
That letting you down wasn't hell on me
I tried to do it easily, ethically
But you want to burn your bruises into me
You won't be letting me home free
So you say that you need your space but when you come up for air
You're all bullets and hatchets and shrapnel and skid marks
And kisses with somebody
Kisses with somebody
Kisses with somebody who a while ago you left on account of me
I couldn't toe or walk the line that you were needing
Still I didn't expect to find myself pleading
For a little dignity
To be treated kindly
top
CARS
Didn't you think I'd find out?
Didn't you think I'd be tearing my own eyes out after you?
As you just passed on through my ghost town
Where I burned the cathedral and the hospital down
I don't want heal
Just want to feel your skin on my skin
I want to shave down your persona til I find your person
Then I want to make less of you
You're too big for me
I want to grate you down like cheese
Pull you out like hair
Small enough like sand
But it's too small anyway
It makes me itch
It covers the rock
Where I built my ghost town by the sea
Where at night I dream of cars running over me
I don't want heal
Just want to feel your skin on my skin, that's all I'm asking
But if you draw blood when I don't ask you to
If you can't take my little love when it's the best that I can do
If you wound me when I'm already broken through
If you wound me at all
It the scars don't fade with the fall
I know that I can find a smoother skin than you
I don't want heal
Just want to feel your skin on my skin
I am a piece of shit tonight
I am drunk and too high
But that don't make me target, moving or not
That don't make me a target, pistol-whipped or not
Oh, in my ghost town
I build my ghost town by the sea
Where at night I dream of cars running over me
top
CHICKEN
You've got a husband
I've got a heart that's broken
I am tired of playing chicken:
Who will be the last to fall?
Sure I can be the other woman
But that means you got to me your woman
If we agree that we love
Why don't we what love
If we agree that we love each other
Why aren't we kissing yet?
Who will be the last to fall?
I won't say a peep
I won't say a peep
Ni pio
When you came by and you kissed me today
Right before you headed through my doorway
I wanted to say
And I had the language to say
No te vayas, no no, no te vayas
Ni pio
Quedate
I love you I love you
Te quiero, je t'aime
You've lived four years in the house of your husband
Who will be the last to fall?
I can't go on, I can't survive
Playing chicken
Who will the last to fall?
top
FLOWER PRESS
You were gone by the time that I woke up
Sleepyhead, 'lone in your bed
Got myself to LAX
Sat myself on through the wait
What am I gonna say?
What am I gonna hear?
Thirty minutes til the plane
Docks down on his shores
Growing up I had a flower press
Wanted to do that with him and me
Press the blocks down tighter still
Nothing gets in, no, nothing gets out
What am I gonna say?
What am I gonna hear?
As the paper starts to peel away
And the flatness starts to show
You said, "Come out to the west coast"
You said, "Come out to the west coast"
You said, "Come out to the west coast"
You said, "I can't love you"
You said, "Come out west"
But I live east
You said you can't love me
But I can't love the one I'm coming home to
Earth still spinning right below
Street lights still coming on
"Miss could you put your tray table up
And your notebook away?"
What am I gonna say?
What am I gonna hear?
Plunging down to JFK
Baggage claim then to the train
Four days out here
Five hours nonstop
Back to the body I been living with
What am I gonna say?
top
OVER THE GREY FIELDS
I'm gonna flee the scene of the crime
I'm gonna find a jukebox and dime
I'm gonna sit at the diner with bottomless coffee cup
Next to the windowpane
And watch the sun come up
Over the grey fields, up to the heavens
Because you don't love me no more
No more
Sometimes I go to the rocknroll show
And I feel it start to soothe my soul
The bodies move along with me
But they ain't you
The pretty boys play guitar
Sometimes they sing real loud
But you don't love me no more
No more
I'm gonna finish this last topoff and go
I'm gonna be in the subway car alone
I'm gonna hold my own hand til the doors open up onto my stop
And I head up to the air
And watch the moon sliver drop
I remember waking up with you
I remember getting dressed with you
I remember drinkin' joe with you
I remember touchin' you like you wanted me to
I remember shootin' down like a comet
I remember blowin' up like the stars
I remember catchin' my breath with you easy
But now I'm stayin' late nights at the bars
And the lights are comin' up
The tabs are closin' down
I'm stumblin' out onto the streets on the shoulders of my friends
To the sun comin' up over the same town
top
FOUR MONTHS
Would you tell me that four months is not a long time?
Would you tell me that what's mine is mine?
Would you tell me that time is ours?
Would you tell me that we have time?
Confusion has always been my specialty
Uncertainty has always been my fall
Illiteracy may keep you far from me
But I will write you and you can read it with your eyes closed
And when I get back I will kiss you from your head to your toes
Would you tell me that four months is not a long time?
Would you tell me that California is not that far?
Would you tell me that time is ours?
Would you tell me one of these days I'm gonna be waking up where you are?
top
SILO
I got two days to fly the hell out of here
Summer's haze is starting to clear
So I drive up Cedar Road, I take a left and then a right
This is gonna be my last thought tonight
I will find an empty field
I will fill it with what I know
The Silo
The stars are all music
Playing me songs, playing me tunes
If it takes a year then it takes a year
But I got here, yeah I'm right here
I got here by looking at the moon
Climb it up, rung by rung by rung
Til your life gets hung
Up above the city
top
NOTHING BETWEEN US
Nothing between us 'cept two cups of coffee
And we made love til the morning, til the morning
And there's rain over on the west side again
There's rain coming up over the Sound
I'm sorry I stepped on your feelings
I'm sorry I stepped on your feelings
top
WE CAN KEEP OUR CLOTHES ON
If you don't want a love song
I will pen you a poem
I will spin you a story
I will kiss the air where you used to be
If you don't want a letter
I will go out and see you
I will take the plane
I will take the plunge
If you don't want to make love
We can keep our clothes on
If you don't want me to touch you
Could I just look on?
I know this is hard
I know this is hard
I know that you're in a body that's not yours anymore
I know this is hard
top
TO SLEEP IN SPAIN
You're gonna sleep tight tonight
You won't miss a thing
The morning bells are waking up
And they'll start to ring
You'll know that I love you
Even if I'm not here
I have gone back to my world
I have spent my year
Distance makes the heart grow fonder
Distance makes the heart pound louder
I came here to learn how to live
And I will be leaving soon
You could be a pilgrim
You could come with me
I will sing myself this dream
Until I fall asleep
I don't know what I'm gonna do when I can't see you
I don't know the next time I'll be in the south of your country
To feel you kissing me
To watch you sleeping
Sleeping through the bells
top
all material (c) Ellen Adams