Merrymakers - King James Version - B-sides and misc.

Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?

1. carlotta valdez

jimmy stewart follows kim to where your portrait hangs on a wall
such a haunting vision he forgets his partner's fall

jump into the san francisco bay
i'll follow you in
i know you can't swim
when you've been dead 100 years, carlotta

Carlotta Valdez, i will make you her.

everything's subjective, nothing lasts for johnny o.
kiss kim novak where the redwoods grow
i'll bleach her hair and pretend she didn't die
go up the mission stair
i'll follow anywhere-that is, until you climb too high
cause i get vertigo

carlotta valdez, i will make you her

what a thing to be the center of attention all the time
he isn't really falling for this, is he?
he's getting dizzy
and so am I
carlotta valdez carlotta valdez carlotta valdez...

2. flagpole sitta

i had visions, i was in them
i was looking into the mirror
to see a little bit clearer
rottenness and evil in me

fingertips have memories
mine can't forget the curves of your body
and when i feel a bit naughty
i run it up the flagpole and see who salutes
(but no one ever does)

i'm not sick but i'm not well
and i'm so hot cause i'm in hell

been around the world and found
that only stupid people are breeding
the cretins cloning and feeding
and i don't even own a tv

put me in the hospital for nerves
and then they had to commit me
you told them all i was crazy
they cut off my legs now i'm an amputee, god damn you

i'm not sick but i'm not well
and i'm so hot cause i'm in hell
i'm not sick but i'm not well
and it's a sin to live so well

i wanna publish zines
and rage against machines
i wanna pierce my tongue
it doesn't hurt, it feels fine
the trivial sublime
i'd like to turn off time
and kill my mind
you kill my mind

paranoia paranoia
everybody's coming to get me
just say you never met me
i'm going underground with the moles
hear the voices in my head
i swear to god it sounds like they're snoring
but if you're bored then you're boring
the agony and the irony, they're killing me

i'm not sick but i'm not well
and i'm so hot cause i'm in hell
i'm not sick but i'm not well
and it's a sin to live so well

3. woolly muffler

all i ever wanted to be was a woolly muffler on your naked neck
double-wrap me when it's cold
but you pulled a little tight just now
and i'm afraid i feel a choke hold coming on

all i ever thought we might come to was second dates
and flirting eyebrows
or maybe even psychic friends
and we could share a secret language
and almost definitely make more of it
than it was
but everyone around us would know
everyone watching would know

this is not a walk with walking wounded
here's the ball, here's the pole, now where's the tether
where's the tether?
hands can grow together
if you're not careful or grateful or whatever
and i never much cared much too much to begin with

i will not take your possibilities under my care
i will not see you on the bus
you want me to hold your hand
it's a courtship i can't stand
and here i thought you were crying because you were happy
but no no no

friends will turn against you
people disappoint you every time
so if you've got greatness in you would you do us all a favor
and keep it to yourself?
keep it
keep it to yourself

a labored expat fantasy:
quit your job and move away with me
oh what bliss it would be
to pretend we never met

i'm elated now
i'm elated now
i'm elated now
i'm elated now

4. private helicopter

i'm on a private helicopter with my favorite ex-girlfriend
tiny little cabin in the sky
now we're alone and we can remember how we felt before we were angry:

we were guilty and we were bitter
(I must admit I said a few things, but...)

i'm still attracted to you
sorry we've been so cold, so
eight miles high and three hours to landing,
god, your hair smells really great

i'm on a hovercraft to Paris with my former best friend
we have to get to the cinematheque
we're not alone but no one speaks english, so we're free
to look into each other's minds
and see what we're thinking like we always used to

i miss talking to you
but you never draw me out so
cast off the ego scars and let's go hit the bars

i reserve the right to hold my grudges
friends like you, you know the rest
but all told, i hold on to my anger far too long
until it's a joke
the night is cold
the joke is old
(and poorly told, i told you once)

i'm on a private helicopter with my favorite ex-girlfriend,
no one to keep up appearances for
now we're alone and we can remember how we felt at first;
the desperate need to be together
must've been good for something, sugar

i'm still attracted to you
no one's making us do what we're supposed to
so lie here in my arms
lie here in my arms...

5. problems and bigger ones

cross through the border states to the wrong side
and look away, virginia

spend every day like the past is a bridge crossing twenty years
whispers away, not so much
get your poison tongue out of my ear

here's a fact you cannot rise above:
we'll have problems and then we'll have bigger ones

from damage to damned control
you wanted to go alone though
i never said no
i never said no

spiteful confrontations, trial separations,
it's just another present to get past
the man was very helpful but i knew he wouldn't stay
there used to be a baby but the baby went away

forswear what you undergo
you wanted to go alone though
i never said no
i never said no

it doesn't make me cry to hear dylan say
most likely you go your way
i'll go mine
i'll go mine
i'll go mine

forswear what you undergo
you wanted to go alone though
i never said no
i never said no

6. jack the lion

rake up all the leaves in pleasant valley
it's the last day of my visit upstate new york
to pay respects to the old man

he's still got his sense of humor
but his body fails him
he's surrounded by loved ones
but that only goes so far
and does he know where he is?
i doubt it.

jack the lion roaring his last
like a vision sent from the past
bedside, crying, holding his hands
strong hands

finally get a moment alone with the old man
he's having trouble breathing and he's not the only one
he wonders where time goes
and why we haven't spoken for so long

he regrets it
he forgets it
and none too soon...
because he's closing his eyes and fading

we thank you for uniting
we thank you for the cause
we thank you for the lion
we thank you for the claws

come see him again
come see him again
come see him again
come see him again

bop bop bop

jack the lion roaring his last
like a vision sent from the past
bedside, crying, holding his hands
strong hands

7. old hat

call me disruptive, say i break your concentration
familiar patterns, like waves that break too fast
what do you do when it's so brand new that it kills you?
came on too strong, couldn't stand it slow,
now i know
she can knock me back like a champ

disembodied ringlets from hair that look like yours
call me the looming shapes of winter dusk impending

she barely fits inside my head, but i feel something
every element but one is in my thrall
stop traffic as i lie down in your footpath
like a similie i paint suggestive pictures

disembodied ringlets from hair that looked like yours
call me the looming shapes of winter dusk impending
call me freaky
call me childish
call me ishmael
just call me back
call me back
call me back and i'll follow you around

i forget what my friends look like and they forget why they like me
but that's old hat.
i'm so happy.
how do you write about that?

disembodied ringlets...

8. (down at the) terminal annex

here's something beautiful
now smash it to bits
save your little wheelchair empowerment films
save your swoons, i'm spoken for
it isn't pretty to think so
but i can't feign interest now

dreaming of the fistfight i never got into
thinking of the mean shit i wish i'd said to you
such a fancy lady, call her secretina
she didn't get all the good stuff
but she looked like you

like a zero drowning in a sea of higher numbers
everything you say to me is dumb,
(at least it's stupid)

twenty heavy hammers smashing down
here's a doorstep you can never darken
you complain about an overflowing cup.
don't forget that i'm the one who filled that fucker up

like a zero drowning in a sea of higher numbers
i remain as ever intrigued but no more astounded
like a zero drowning in a sea of higher numbers
i think that i like you better when you just ignore me

so i sit and notice shadows growing
i think of how the clocks are slowing
hoping hope's eternal flowing springs will do their thing and save me from myself

like a zero drowning in a sea of higher numbers
i remain as ever intrigued but no more astounded
like a zero drowning in a sea of higher numbers
you want ego? i will show you ego
i'm jealous now

9. wrecking ball

tear down the bearing wall
put up a picture window
something to look through
at the bastard colors
burnt sienna

put down the wrecking ball
who has a friend, who needs one?
i've got a way to get to work in almost any city
doesn't matter where
take a needle, i won't be there
privileges forsaken there
liberties i've taken take me nowhere

put down the wrecking ball
don't let a childhood linger
they'll take the world apart and break my baby brother's finger
so he can't shake my hand
guard the dead against my legacy
and lack the wound no more

run from nowhere, nowhere follows you

burn down the house
make sure the family is inside
nothing more to tether you
also no one there to catch you crying

nothing but my famous pillow
and my father's rocking chair
(get a sliver when you sit there)
every mess i make i make a run from nowhere
nowhere follows you

10. radio silence

let it sing
let it die
and roll out the carpets
no such thing
mustn't pry
all hail to another confession
and it's losing me

where have all the merrymakers gone?

some people will surprise you with a real depth of feeling
others still may shock you with all that they're revealing
but one thing's sure: there's always more information than you ask for.
ask for this:
just enough knowledge to know i don't know anything
some things are personal (at least they should be)
or is it too much to ask you just to maintain a little
maintain a little
maintain a little
maintain a little
maintain a little
maintain a little
(take the cynical saint to the stake and burn it)

it's radio radio silence silence.