That's Me Trying
William Shatner w/Bens Fold & Aimee Mann

I Got your address from the phone book at the library
Wandered in, looked you up and you were there
Weird that you've been living, maybe, 2 miles away for the best part of 20 years
You must be, what, in your early forties now?
If I remember,
You were born in June or was it May?
Eisenhower was the president although it may have been JFK

Years of silence
Not enough who could blame us giving up?
Above the quiet there's a buzz
That's me trying

You still working in that store on Ventura?
You still going with--no, that's not fair
I know I haven't been the very best of dads
I'll hold my hand up there
The reason that I'm writing is that I'd like for us to meet
Get a little daughter dad action going soon
We can put things behind us
Eat some pizza, drink some beer
You still see your sister Lemli?
Bring her too

Years of silence, not enough
Who could blame us giving up?
Above the quiet there's a buzz
That's me trying

But I don't want to talk about any of that bad stuff
Why I missed out on your wedding and your high school graduation
I'd like to explain, but I can't
So let's keep things neutral
Stick to topics that won't bug us

How 'bout this?
Let's choose a book and we'll read it before we meet
Then we can sit down at a restaurant
Have a look at the menu and talk about it while we eat
See, if we never had a problem
Then that's what life would be like
Easy
Uncomplicated
Cool

So let's just pretend that the past didn't happen
I don't really like thrillers as well
I don't want to know if I've got grandchildren
No need to tell me where I went wrong
I don't want to know what happened in your thirties
You wanna try 'Cold Mountain'?
Or is that too long?

Years of silence, not enough
Who could blame us giving up?
Above the quiet there's a buzz
That's me trying
I'm trying

World War 24
Ryan Adams

Porcelain doll
Your mother runs an antique shop
She takes some stuff, I take a lot
We sleep all day
Slow response
I'm feelin' like an afterthought
I guess I'm kinda lost in space
And London's okay
She don't even ask what time it is anymore
Dressed up like its World War 24

Sugar sweet
She loves it when it hits her teeth
The river lights the carousel
Of London, oh well
Coma comes
Like bullets from a candy gun
Delivers us unto the sun
Of London, my love
She don't even ask what time it is anymore
Dressed up like its World War 24

And if we get too high
We'll burn this town
We'll burn this town
We'll burn this town
Oh baby, bring me down
Oh baby, bring me down
Oh baby, bring me down
Oh baby, bring me down
I'm all yours
I'm all yours
I'm all yours

 Observatory  
Aimee Mann w/Glenn Tilbrook

She was married to somebody else
I was lonely and lived by myself
Baby, that's a battle you can't win
So we met and we started the clock
Did that help?
No it did not
But I guess I knew that going in
And watched the sweeping second hand
But at least I was calm

On the road to the big observatory
Where the planets were hung
And the stars swung around the second story
And we stumbled upon
A room where a luminous moon was waning
And I knew I had leapt into the great beyond
But at least I was calm

Fun is fun, but when push comes to shove
When it's done, we'll deny it was love
She will say "Jim, this was a mistake"
And the room where we looked at the sky
Will be there with it's telescope eye
Just another sentry kept awake

Watching over Silverlake
Well at least I was calm

On the road to the big observatory
Where the planets were hung
And the stars swung around the second story
And we stumbled upon
A room where a luminous moon was waning
And I knew I had leapt into the great beyond
But at least I was calm

And you'll be glad to leave with dignity intact
She won't be sad so much as matter-of-fact
Like it was doomed and hopeless as a suicide pact

But at least I was calm
On the road to the big observatory
Where the planets were hung
And the stars swung around the second story
And we stumbled upon
A room where a luminous moon was waning
And I knew I had leapt into the great beyond
But at least I was calm
Yeah, at least I managed to stay calm

Strange Condition
Pete Yorn

Read me the letter, baby
Do not leave out the words
Stories and cigarettes ruined lives of lesser girls
And I wanna know
'Cause I want you to know

And it's a strange condition
A day in prison
It's got me out of my head
And I don't know what I came for

Send me the money, baby
Do not leave out the wage
You know you're the best thing ever
To come out of this place
Hey I want you to know
'Cause I wanna know

And it's a strange condition
A day in prison
It's got me out of my head
And I don't know what I came for
I want you to know

It's a strange condition
A day in prison
It's got me out of my head
And I don't know what I came for

I want you to know
I want you to know

So leave out the others, baby
Say I'm the only one
Cut out the uniforms
And settle with the sun
Hey I want you to know

'Cause I wanna know

And it's a strange condition
And life in prison
It's got me outta my head
And I don't know what I came for
I want you to know

'Cause I wanna know
Yeah I gotta know

Houdini And Cecilia
Paul Bryan

London to Berlin
Town to town I cast a fakir's spell
No chain could hold me down
No straightjacket or water torture cell

In the summer of Thirteen
I came home to bury you in Queens

No matter how I tried
I realized I could not conjure you
So I haunted parlor halls
Where tables rose and breathless voices flew

And oh the irony 
When the deceiver longs to be deceived

Only spirit trumpet sound, or bellbox ring
Could unlock this Handcuff King
So mother speak to me, send a message through
I could believe for you

Eventually
Seers failed to see or didn't understand
I've swallowed every key
I know every sleight of hand

Like a question mark
I'll just sit here bending in the dark

So spirit trumpet sound, bellbox ring
Unlock this Handcuff King
Mother speak to me, send a message through
I could believe for you

-Review Excerpt from the New York Observer:

"The high point of this 11-track album comes at the halfway mark with "Houdini and Cecilia," which is about the famed magician's obsession with his mother and his attempts to contact her in the afterlife. It's also where the album gets it's title. "Mother speak to me, send a message through / I could believe for you," Mr. Bryan-as-Houdini pleads over a forlorn piano, acoustic guitar and brushed snare." 

In Exile (for Rodrigo Rojas)
The Dream Academy

I.......I was never very young
I walk like a stranger
Through this world
No, no you don't know me
Although I'm with you
I'm so far away...

But it wasn't the heat that
Threw the night into turmoil
Put the city in darkness
And soldiers on the street
But the car burning up on the roadside
For all of those in exile
Waiting to be released

In city 
Surrounded by slums
Invaded by soldiers
Invaded by debt
Under dictator
Who escalates terror
Provoking further intensive civil unrest

And in the fear of the nights' disappearances
A conspiracy of silence 
Spread up around us like a wall
Between commemoration candles
And the twelve o'clock curfew
You started to feel less
Until you couldn't feel at all
Stood on the wrong side
Of the barricades in the national strike
Then became exile

Remember:
    Soldiers shooting into the crowd at the university
    Growing up under government
    Where to be young is to be the enemy
    Where soldiers tear gas churches
    And there's ten thousand missing persons
    Whose cases are never solved
    And the government advices not to get involved

No Te Metas...

Someday we'll return there
From the years spent in exile
To the land where we were born
From the years spent in exile
Someday we'll be free there
In the land where we were born...

Kansas
Ian McCulloch

Coming up, coming into view
Come and see what I've become
I'm saving up my souvenirs for you
You can take them when I'm gone
Where I'm heading I can't tell
Down to heaven
Or up to hell

And if who we are is who we love
Then who put all this hate inside me
And if who we are is written in the stars
When's someone gonna come and find me?

I'm growing up, growing into me
Knowing now where I come from
I'm going back, going back to see
How going right could go so wrong
Where I'm heading I can't tell
Down to heaven
Or up to hell

And if who we are is who we love
Then who put all this hate inside me
And if who we are is written in the stars
When's someone gonna come and find me?

We're the jewels the river gives
In the pool where we live
In the glow of shadows
Magic waters flow

Burning up, burning up inside
I don't want to feel the cold
I'm turning round, turning round to find
All that glitter turn to gold
Where I'm heading I can't tell
It's not to heaven
Not to hell

And if who we are is who we love
Then who put all this hate inside me
And if who we are is written in the stars
When's someone gonna come and find me?

Underground 
Savoy

I crossed the town, underground
You turn, turn away
Tell me how, help me now
Turn, turn away

Oh Joan, we should have stayed together
It's wrong - your friends don't make you better
I crossed the town, underground
You turn, turn away
When I'm there, people stare
So I turn, turn away

I know, for her my heart will weep
I know, hey Joan I'm in too deep
From my head down to my toes
There are places you should know
From my hips down to my knees
What peculiarities

So take me down, underground
Don't turn, turn away
Tell me how, help me now
You turn, turn away
Turn away

From my head down to my toes
There are places you should know
From my hips down to my knees
Such peculiarities

Oh Joan, we should have stayed together
Take me down, underground
And turn, turn away
Tell me how, help me now
Turn, turn away
Across the town
Turn, turn away...

Shayla (live)   
Blondie

Shayla worked in a factory
She wasn't history
She's just a number
One day she gets her final pay and she goes far away

Green trees call to me
I am free but life is so cheap
Scenery is still outside of me
All alone, trapped by its beauty

Shayla turned to run away
To leave in peace and end her stay
Years of fear were in her way
Lost in space and down she came

Suddenly, some subtle entity
Some cosmic energy
Brushed her like shadows
Down here we stop to wonder
Cars on the freeway
Bright lights and thunder

Careless Memories
Duran Duran

So soon, just after you've gone
My senses sharpen
But it always takes so damned long
Before I feel how much my eyes have darkened

Fear hangs a plane of gun smoke
Drifting in our room
So easy to disturb
With a thought, with a whisper
With a careless memory
With a careless memory

On the table, signs of love life scattered
And the walls break with a crashing within
It's not as though, as though you really mattered
But being close, how could I let you go?
Without some feeling
Some precious sympathy following
Fear hangs a plane of gun smoke
Drifting in our room
So easy to disturb
With a thought, with a whisper
With a careless memory
With a careless memory
With a careless memory
With a careless memory

Oh, I walk out into the sun
I try to find a new day
But the whole place just screams in my eyes
Where are you now?
Cause I don't want to meet you
I think I'd die - I think I'd laugh at you
I know I'd cry
What am I supposed to do?
Follow you

Outside the thoughts come flooding back now
I just try to forget you
So easy to disturb
With a thought, with a whisper
With a careless memory
With a careless memory
With a careless memory
With a careless memory
With a careless memory

Look out!
Look out!
Look out!
Look out!

 Original of the Species
U2

Baby slow down
The end is not as fun as the start
Please stay a child somewhere in your heart

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing that you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no-one before
You steal right under my door
And I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing that you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it

Some things you shouldn’t get too good at
Like smiling, crying and celebrity
Some people got way too much confidence baby

I’ll give you everything you want
Except the thing that you want
You are the first one of your kind

And you feel like no-one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want the lot of what you got
And I want nothing that you’re not

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it, no

And you’ll never be alone
Come on now show your soul
You’ve been keeping your love under control

Everywhere you go you shout it
You don’t have to be shy about it

Everywhere you go you shout it
Oh my my

And you feel like no-one before
You steal right under my door
I kneel ‘cos I want you some more
I want you some more, I want you some more…

Bled White  
Elliott Smith

I'm a color reporter (rose city on the 409)
But the city's been bled white (white city on the yellow line)
And the doctor orders (drinking till he's trashed is just a waste of time)
He drinks all night to take away this curse
But it makes me feel much worse

Bled white

So I wait for the f-train (white city on the yellow line)
And connect through a friend of mine (white city to a friend of mine)
To a yesterday dream (yesterday a dream was just a waste of time)
'Cause I'll have to be high to track the sunset down
And paint this paling town

Bled white

So here he comes with a blank expression
Especially for me 'cause he knows
I feel the same
'Cause happy and sad come in quick succession
I'm never going to become
What you became

Don't you dare disturb me (don't complicate my piece of mind)
While I'm balancing my past (don't complicate my piece of mind)
'Cause you can't help or hurt me (the anger, being mean was just a waste of time)
Like it already has, it may not seem quite right
But I'm not ----ed, not quite

Bled white
Bled white

Whatsername 
Green Day

Thought I ran onto you down on the street
Then it turned out to only be a dream
I made a point to burn all of the photographs
She went away and then I took a different path
I remember the face
But I can't recall the name
Now I wonder how whatsername has been

Seems that she disappeared without a trace
did she ever marry old what's his face
I made a point to burn all of the photographs
She went away and then I took a different path
I remember the face
But I cant recall the name
Now I wonder how whatsername has been

Remember, whatever
It seems like forever ago
Remember, whatever
It seems like forever ago
The regrets are useless
In my mind
She's in my head
I must confess
The regrets are useless
She's in my head
From so long ago

(Go, Go, Go, Go...)

And in the darkest night
If my memory serves me right
I'll never turn back time
Forgetting you, but not the time