All Things Must Pass

by George Harrison

A sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

A sunset doesn't last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays the nighttime
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

I Saw a White Lady Standing on the Street Just Sobbing (And I Think About It Once a Week)

by John Mulaney

It was two years ago
Christmas time, foot of snow
Passing through Union Square
And I saw this crying white lady
Just kinda standing there

(Funny, what if instead of getting on the subway with my entire class for our field trip to look at bugs, I'd walked over?)

I approach, she's demure
She thinks, 'Who is this four-foot bachelor?'
So my hand I extend
And say, 'I'm Alex J.
'And you look like you need a friend

'Why are you crying in a public place?
'Perhaps a friend of yours was fake to your face
'Or did you just come from Trader Joe's
'And you paid too much for your avocados?'

No Kleenex in her purse
I've a handkerchief for her
Of course, monogrammed, 'Alex J'
'Keep it, ma'am,
'Because you're just having one of those days

'I understand'
She takes my hand

We walk uptown and dine at Au Bon Pain
I talk of Sherlock Gnomes from beginning to end
Then suddenly I say, 'What's that sound I hear?
'Your lovely laugh, my dear'

You got problems and I don't want to delve
You're a grownup and I'm barely 12
Expel your problems, I can help you with coping
Look me in the eye, and the floodgates will open

They're phasing out my department
And I will lose my apartment
My mom is no support system
I like bad guys, can't resist them
Forgot to DVR Drag Race
My friend Elise, fake to my face
Some fraud made them freeze my AmEx
And later ran into my ex
And some days, this city and de Blasio just make me scream 'Why??!
'Why not just stand here and cry?'

(And also this whole time I'm wearing my dad's fancy scarf and my Heelys)

Her eyes glisten
I don't talk, I listen
Then the rain starts again
We scurry down the street
Into another Au Bon Pain

She takes my handkerchief from her purse
She says, Alex J, I feel like I'm cursed
'Lady, I know that the sky isn't clear
'But it cannot rain every day of the year
'Can't you just be crying in your own narrative?
'Because "We tell ourselves stories in order to live"'

She nods, 'Joan Didion'
I take her hand, to Le Pain Quotidien
And we talk about life and love
And Sherlock Gnomes
Until it's time to go home

That's what I think would happen
But it's all imagined
And I will wonder till the end
What if I hadn't walked away
Would that crying lady be my friend?

Anyway, I remember all sorts of things
Thanks for listening
And wherever you are, lady, have a good night

If We Were Vampires

by Jason Isbell

It's not the long flowing dress that you're in
Or the light coming off of your skin
The fragile heart you protected for so long
Or the mercy in your sense of right and wrong

It's not your hands, searching slow in the dark
Or your nails leaving love's watermark
It's not the way you talk me off the roof
Your questions like directions to the truth

It's knowing that this can't go on forever
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone
Maybe we'll get forty years together
But one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone

If we were vampires and death was a joke
We'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke
And laugh at all the lovers and their plans
I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand

Maybe time running out is a gift
I'll work hard 'til the end of my shift
And give you every second I can find
And hope it isn't me who's left behind

It's knowing that this can't go on forever
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone
Maybe we'll get forty years together
But one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone

Donal Óg

by Aoife O'Donovan

Black as night is this heart within me
Black as coal is this grief that drives me
Black as bootprints on polished hallways
And it's you who have blackened it forever and always

For you've taken what's before and behind me
East and west when you would not mind me
Sun, moon, and stars from the sky you've taken
And God, as well, if I'm not mistaken

Oh, Donal Óg, you'll not find me lazy
Not like some high-born expensive lady
I'll do your milking, and I'll nurse your baby
And if you were set upon, I'll defend you bravely

When all beside a vigil keep
The West's asleep, the West's asleep
Alas! and well may Erin weep
When Connaught lies in slumber deep
There lake and plain smile fair and free
'Mid rocks their guardian chivalry

A Terre

(Being the philosophy of many Soldiers.)
by Wilfred Owen

Sit on the bed; I'm blind, and three parts shell,
Be careful; can't shake hands now; never shall.
Both arms have mutinied against me — brutes.
My fingers fidget like ten idle brats.

I tried to peg out soldierly — no use!
One dies of war like any old disease.
This bandage feels like pennies on my eyes.
I have my medals? — Discs to make eyes close.
My glorious ribbons? — Ripped from my own back
In scarlet shreds. (That's for your poetry book.)

A short life and a merry one, my brick!
We used to say we'd hate to live dead old, —
Yet now . . . I'd willingly be puffy, bald,
And patriotic. Buffers catch from boys
At least the jokes hurled at them. I suppose
Little I'd ever teach a son, but hitting,
Shooting, war, hunting, all the arts of hurting.
Well, that's what I learnt, — that, and making money.
Your fifty years ahead seem none too many?
Tell me how long I've got? God! For one year
To help myself to nothing more than air!
One Spring! Is one too good to spare, too long?
Spring wind would work its own way to my lung,
And grow me legs as quick as lilac-shoots.
My servant's lamed, but listen how he shouts!
When I'm lugged out, he'll still be good for that.
Here in this mummy-case, you know, I've thought
How well I might have swept his floors for ever,
I'd ask no night off when the bustle's over,
Enjoying so the dirt. Who's prejudiced
Against a grimed hand when his own's quite dust,
Less live than specks that in the sun-shafts turn,
Less warm than dust that mixes with arms' tan?
I'd love to be a sweep, now, black as Town,
Yes, or a muckman. Must I be his load?

O Life, Life, let me breathe, — a dug-out rat!
Not worse than ours the existences rats lead —
Nosing along at night down some safe vat,
They find a shell-proof home before they rot.
Dead men may envy living mites in cheese,
Or good germs even. Microbes have their joys,
And subdivide, and never come to death,
Certainly flowers have the easiest time on earth.
"I shall be one with nature, herb, and stone."
Shelley would tell me. Shelley would be stunned;
The dullest Tommy hugs that fancy now.
"Pushing up daisies," is their creed, you know.
To grain, then, go my fat, to buds my sap,
For all the usefulness there is in soap.
D'you think the Boche will ever stew man-soup?
Some day, no doubt, if . . .
Friend, be very sure
I shall be better off with plants that share
More peaceably the meadow and the shower.
Soft rains will touch me, — as they could touch once,
And nothing but the sun shall make me ware.
Your guns may crash around me. I'll not hear;
Or, if I wince, I shall not know I wince.
Don't take my soul's poor comfort for your jest.
Soldiers may grow a soul when turned to fronds,
But here the thing's best left at home with friends.

My soul's a little grief, grappling your chest,
To climb your throat on sobs; easily chased
On other sighs and wiped by fresher winds.

Carry my crying spirit till it's weaned
To do without what blood remained these wounds.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
Then later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feeling?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
When the wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
'Twas the witch of November come stealing
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck
Saying, 'Fellas, it's too rough to feed you'
At seven PM a main hatchway caved in
He said, 'Fellas, it's been good to know you'
The captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below, Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go, as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

Here Lies Carl Mays

by Steve Wynn

It's so peaceful here
In the Riverview graveyard
And sometimes it felt that way
Out in the green ballfield
But life can take a turn
Right before your eyes
And you know
You'll never be the same again

Chappie was a favorite son
Called a prince by everyone
But he couldn't hit me a lick
And he'd tell you so
When he squared to bunt again
I submarined it up and in
He was leaning out over the plate
And he just froze

I wasn't trying to hurt anyone
But now it's all so said and done
And I wish that killer pitch never left my hand

It was never far from my mind
But the next year I went 27-9
Hit .343
And we won the Yanks' first flag
Still people didn't like me
Accused me of being on the take in the Series
I pitched three complete games
With an ERA of 1.73

In '28 Ray's wife died
Suspected it was suicide
And the daughter he never saw
Passed in '29
And the very ball I threw that day
Thirty years later it was put into play
Took a bad hop
And smashed some kid in the eye

Speed Trap Town

by Jason Isbell

She said, 'It's none of my business, but it breaks my heart'
Dropped a dozen cheap roses in my shopping cart
Made it out to the truck without breaking down
Everybody knows you in a speed trap town

It's a Thursday night, but there's a high school game
Sneak a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name
These 5A bastards run a shallow cross
It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss

And it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
And there's no one left to ask if I'm alright
I'll sleep until I'm straight enough to drive, then decide
If there's anything that can't be left behind

The doctor said Daddy wouldn't make it a year
But the holidays are over, and he's still here
How long can they keep you in the ICU?
Veins through the skin like a faded tattoo

Was a tough state trooper 'til a decade back
When that girl who wasn't Mama caused his heart attack
He didn't care about us when he was walking around
Just pulling women over in a speed trap town

But it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
When I realized he'll never be alright
Sign my name and say my last goodbye, then decide
That there's nothing here that can't be left behind

The road got blurry when the sun came up
So I slept a couple hours in the pickup truck
Drank a cup of coffee by an Indian mound
A thousand miles away from that speed trap town

Never Saw It Coming

by James Wilson

Johnny lived alone, some said he drank himself to death
But the drinking only started after years of cold neglect
They say the silence followed him like a killer down his trail
'Til the day that they all screamed as he was looking down a barrel

You never saw it coming 'til it's all over the news
You're writing young girl's elegies and singing young men's blues
You never saw it coming 'til it looks you in the eye
No, you never know what you will do or know the reason why

The kids all went to school just like any other day
But only Frank and Johnny knew some wouldn't walk away
After sixteen years of getting kicked and laughed at at the gym
I guess sooner or later it just got the best of them

You never saw it coming 'til it's wrapped around the wrist
Of a pretty little girl who never got to her first kiss
You never saw it coming 'til it's pointed in your eyes
You never know what you will do 'til you're about to die

It's times like this that remind you that the world ain't what you thought
When blood and dust are mixing on conspired parking lots
It all could have been different, and when all is said and done
You could have been the one who took the bullet
Could have been the one that held the gun

You never saw it coming 'til it's all over the news
You're writing young girl's elegies and singing young men's blues
You never saw it coming, no matter where it is
'Cause we never saw it coming, never thought it'd end like this

Sunny Afternoon

by Ray Davies

The taxman's taken all my dough
And left me in my stately home
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
And I can't sail my yacht
He's taken everything I got
All I've got is this sunny afternoon

Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
I've got a big fat mama trying to break me
And I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime

My girlfriend's run off with my car
And gone back to her ma and pa
Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty
Now I'm sitting here
Sipping at my ice cold beer
Lazing on a sunny afternoon

Help me, help me, help me sail away
Give me two good reasons why I ought to stay
'Cause I love to live so pleasantly
Live this life of luxury
Lazing on a sunny afternoon
In the summertime

War Is Kind

by Stephen Crane

Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die.
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom—
A field where a thousand corpses lie.

Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind!

Tony (Boston's Chosen Son)

by Steve Wynn

Set against the fading Fenway sun
Years since the last pennant had been won
Long since the Bambino had been bought
Boston found the hero it had sought

Tony, our hearts beat as one
Tony, you're Boston's chosen son
In August he was only 22
And there was nothing that he couldn't do

That bastard Hamilton threw at his head
Tony dropped, the crowd feared he was dead
Tony, our hearts bleed as one
Tony, what has that pitcher done?

But miracle of miracles on Lansdowne Street
A comeback and a home run swing returning, oh so sweet!
But it was never meant to be
Tony cried 'I cannot see!'
His eyes, they fade; the fans, they cried
And at 45 Tony died

Tony, our hearts they still ring true
Tony, we still remember you
Tony, our hearts they beat as one
Tony, you're Boston's chosen son

Ein deutsches Requiem

Excerpts from Holy Scripture
Compiled by Johannes Brahams

I.
Selig sind, die da Leid tragen,
denn sie sollen getröstet werden.

Die mit Tränen säen,
werden mit Freuden ernten.
Sie gehen hin und weinen
und tragen edlen Samen,
und kommen mit Freuden
und bringen ihre Garben.

II.
Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras
und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen
wie des Grases Blumen.
Das Gras ist verdorret
und die Blume abgefallen.

So seid nun geduldig, liebe Brüder,
bis auf die Zukunft des Herrn.
Siehe, ein Ackermann wartet
auf die köstliche Frucht der Erde
und ist geduldig darüber,
bis er empfahe den Morgenregen und Abendregen.
So seid geduldig.

Aber des Herren Wort bleibet in Ewigkeit.

Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden wiederkommen,
und gen Zion kommen mit Jauchzen;
Freude, ewige Freude,
wird über ihrem Haupte sein;
Freude und Wonne werden sie ergreifen,
und Schmerz und Seufzen wird weg müssen.

III.
Herr, lehre doch mich,
daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß.
und mein Leben ein Ziel hat,
und ich davon muß.
Siehe, meine Tage sind
einer Hand breit vor Dir,
und mein Leben ist wie nichts vor Dir.

Ach wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen,
die doch so sicher leben.
Sie gehen daher wie ein Schemen
und machen ihnen viel vergebliche Unruhe;
sie sammeln und wissen nicht,
wer es kriegen wird.
Nun Herr, wes soll ich mich trösten?

Ich hoffe auf Dich.

Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand
und keine Qual rühret sie an.

IV.
Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen,
Herr Zebaoth!
Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet sich
nach den Vorhöfen des Herrn;
Mein Leib und Seele freuen sich
in dem lebendigen Gott.
Wohl denen, die in Deinem Hause wohnen,
die loben Dich immerdar.

V.
Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit;
aber ich will euch wiedersehen,
und euer Herz soll sich freuen,
und eure Freude soll niemand von euch nehmen.

Ich will euch trösten,
wie einen seine Mutter tröstet.

Sehet mich an: Ich habe eine kleine Zeit
Mühe und Arbeit gehabt
und habe großen Trost gefunden.

VI.
Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt,
sondern die zukünftige suchen wir.

Siehe, ich sage Euch ein Geheimnis:
Wir werden nicht alle entschlafen,
wir werden aber alle verwandelt werden;
und dasselbige plötzlich in einem Augenblick,
zu der Zeit der letzten Posaune.

Denn es wird die Posaune schallen
und die Toten werden auferstehen unverweslich;
und wir werden verwandelt werden.
Dann wird erfüllet werden das Wort,
das geschrieben steht.
Der Tod ist verschlungen in den Sieg.
Tod, wo ist dein Stachel?
Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?

Herr, Du bist würdig
zu nehmen Preis und Ehre und Kraft,
denn Du hast alle Dinge erschaffen,
und durch Deinen Willen haben sie das Wesen
und sind geschaffen.

VII.
Selig sind die Toten,
die in dem Herrn sterben,
von nun an.
Ja, der Geist spricht,
daß sie ruhen von ihrer Arbeit;
denn ihre Werke folgen ihnen nach.

Holland 1945

by Jeff Mangum

The only girl I've ever loved
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
Now she's a little boy in Spain
Playing pianos filled with flames
On empty rings around the sun
All sing to say my dream has come

But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on

And now we ride the circus wheel
With your dark brother wrapped in white
Says it was good to be alive
But now he rides a comet's flame
And won't be coming back again
The Earth looks better from a star
That's right above from where you are
He didn't mean to make you cry
With sparks that ring and bullets fly
On empty rings around your heart
The world just screams and falls apart

But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on

And here's where your mother sleeps
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentations in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore
And it's so sad to see the world agree
That they'd rather see their faces fill with flies
All when I'd want to keep white roses in their eyes

I Kill Giants

by Alisa Xayalith

The end of June came
And took you away
We were all crying
Felt like I was dying

Black dress and black shoes
Tied laces for you
The saddest of days
Why couldn't we save you?

Inside my head
At the edge of the bed
Where somberness lay
In your children that day

As goodbyes are spent
Holding on to what's left
The saddest of days
Why couldn't we save you?

Nothing but ashes
In the old fire place
With all of the memories
He has erased

Heavier heels
His mourning concealed
On the saddest of days
Why couldn't we save you?

Some Mother's Son

by Ray Davies

Some mother's son lies in a field
Someone has killed some mother's son today
Head blown up by some soldier's gun
While all the mothers stand and wait
Some mother's son ain't coming home today
Some mother's son ain't got no grave

Two soldiers fighting in a trench
One soldier glances up to see the sun
And dreams of games he played when he was young
And then his friend calls out his name
It stops his dream, and as he turns his head
A second later he is dead

Some mother's son lies in a field
Back home they put his picture in a frame
But all dead soldiers look the same
While all the parents stand and wait
To meet their children coming home from school
Some mother's son is lying dead

Somewhere someone is crying
Someone is trying to be so brave
But still the world keeps turning
Though all the children have gone away

Some mother's son lies in a field
But in his mother's eyes he looks the same
As on the day he went away
They put his picture on the wall
They put flowers in the picture frame
Some mother's memory remains

Anthem for Doomed Youth

by Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
        —Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
        Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
        Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
        The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda

by Eric Bogle

Now when I was a young man I carried my pack
And lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's Green Basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my country said, 'Son
'It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done.'
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they marched me away to the war

And the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'
As the ship pulled away from the quay
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears
We sailed off for Gallipoli

And how well I remember that terrible day
How our blood stained the sand and the water
And of how in that hell that they called Souvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was ready, he'd primed himself well
He showered us with bullets and he rained us with shell
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia

But the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'
When we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of death, blood, and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse-over-head
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead
Never knew there was worse things than dying

For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and free
To hump tent and pegs a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed
And shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Souvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity

But the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

So now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reviving old dreams of past glories
And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, 'What are they marching for?'
And I ask myself the same question

But the band plays 'Waltzing Matilda'
And the old men still answer the call
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard
As they march by that billabong
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Halloween Parade

by Lou Reed

There's a downtown fairy singing out 'Proud Mary'
As she cruises Christopher Street
And some Southern queen is acting loud and mean
Where the docks and the Badlands meet

This Halloween is something to be sure
Especially to be here without you

There's a Greta Garbo and an Alfred Hitchcock
And some black Jamaican stud
There's five Cinderellas and some leather drags
I almost fell into my mug

There's a Crawford, Davis, and a tacky Cary Grant
And some homeboys looking for trouble down here from the Bronx

But there ain't no Hairy and no Virgin Mary
You won't hear those voices again
And Johnny Rio and Rotten Rita
You'll never see those faces again

This Halloween is something to be sure
Especially to be here without you

There's the Born-Again Losers and the Lavender Boozers
And some crack team from Washington Heights
The boys from Avenue B, the girls from Avenue D
And Tinkerbell in tights

This celebration somehow gets me down
Especially when I see you're not around

There's no Peter Pedantic saying things romantic
In Latin, Greek, or Spic
There's no three bananas or Brandy Alexander
Dishing all their tricks

It's a different feeling that I have today
Especially when I know you've gone away

There's a girl from Soho with a t-shirt saying, 'I Blow'
She's with the 'Jive Five Two Plus Three'
And the girls for pay dates are giving cut rates
Or else doing it for free

The past keeps knock, knock, knocking on my door
And I don't want to hear it anymore

No consolations, please, for feeling funky
I got to get my head above my knees
But it makes me mad, and mad makes me sad
And then I start to freeze

In the back of my mind I was afraid it might be true
In the back of my mind I was afraid that they meant you

The Halloween parade
At the Halloween parade
At the Halloween parade
See you next year at the Halloween parade

Elephant

by Jason Isbell

She said, 'Andy, you're better than your past'
Winked at me and drained her glass
Cross-legged on a barstool like nobody sits anymore
She said, 'Andy, you're taking me home'
But I knew she planned to sleep alone
I'd carry her to bed, sweep up the hair from her floor

If I'd f—ked her before she got sick
I'd never hear the end of it
She don't have the spirit for that now
We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud
And bitch about the weekend crowd
And try to ignore the elephant somehow

She said, 'Andy, you crack me up'
Seagram's in a coffee cup
Sharecropper eyes, and her hair almost all gone
When she was drunk, she made cancer jokes
Made up her own doctors' notes
Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone

I'd sing her classic country songs
And she'd get high and sing along
She don't have much voice to sing with now
We burn these joints in effigy
And cry about what we used to be
And try to ignore the elephant somehow

I've buried her a thousand times
Given up my place in line
But I don't give a damn about that now
There's one thing that's real clear to me
No one dies with dignity
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow