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A Song To Pass The Time Tab

by Bright Eyes


E   - 022100
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There is a middle-aged woman, she's dragging her feet
                                
She carries baskets of clothes to a laundromat
                              
While the Mexican children kick rocks into the street
                                 
And they laugh in a language I don't understand
                               
But I love them... why do I love them?

                               
So the neighborhood's dimming, I smoke on the porch
                                     
Watch the people as they pass enclosed inside their cars
                               
And on their faces just anger or disappointment
                                        
I start wishing there was something I could offer them
                                  
A consolation... what could I offer them?

                                        
And they are sad in their suburbs, robots water the lawn
                                  
And everything they touch gets dusted spotless
                                               
And so they start to believe they've not touched anything at all
                              
And the cars in the driveway only multiply

                                             
They are lost in their houses, I've heard them sing in the shower
                                   
Making speeches to their sister on the telephone
                                                 
Saying you come home, you come here, don't stay so far away from me
                                  
This weather has me wanting love more tangible
                                   
Something I can hold... it's getting cold

                                    
I say hold up our fists to a flame in the sky
                                         
To block out the light that's reaching for our eyes
                                                        
'Cause it... 'cause it would blind us, yeah it will blind us

                                 
Well I've locked my actions in the grooves of routine
                           
So I may never be free of this apathy
                             
But I wait for a letter that's coming to me
                                     
She sends me pictures of the ocean in an envelope

                 
So there still is hope, yes, I can be healed
                
There is someone looking for what I've concealed
            
In my secret drawer, in my pockets deep
                 
You will find the reasons that I can't sleep
                                                         
And you will still want me... but will you still want me?
                   
Will you still want me?

                                             
Well, I say come for the week, you can sleep in my bed
                                           
And pass through my life like a dream through my head
                                      
It will... it will be easy, I'll make it easy

                                 
But all I have for the moment is a song to pass the time
                     
A melody to keep me from worrying
                                 
Some simple progression to keep my fingers busy
                            
And words that are sure to come back to me
                                             
And they'll be laughing... and they'll be laughing
          
My mediocrity
          
My mediocrity

   ...