Palisades Park

(album: Somewhere Under Wonderland - 2014)

Somebody screamed and all of Jim Jeffries' dreams
Explode into a black fist, he falls to the floor
He stares up at the sky and he may wish he knew why
But you can't go back there no more
Future sounds so crazy, we've all heard that song before
Tomorrow's the name we change from yesterday to blame
When the train just don't stop here anymore

I got starry-eyed on the coaster ride
Andy says, "Man, I need a break from the world outside"
And these days my life just careens through a pinball machine
I could do so much better but I can't get off the tilt
And there's a photograph on the TV, black and white and
Andy says something to you
Jack Johnson straddling Reno, Nevada like
She says, "I forget myself sometimes too"

But out past the doorways where we are sleeping
Well, the white queen's creep and the tom cats peep

Now I'm not breaking, the train's just shaking
I never made it here before
And there's a wild mouse spinning the girls around
Till they can't take it anymore
I used to dream in the dark of Palisades Park
Up over the cliffs and down among the sparks
It's a long life full of long nights

But it's not what I was waiting for
Everybody's seen the horses diving down the shore
It's a miracle they don't make them anymore

So "make up ladies", oh wake up baby
You walked into the bar like some Saturday star
Stud-straight on spiked heels and needles and nerves
And you're a downtown pride, fully amplified Clyde
Gin-tight and aging, but well preserved
Remember Andy outside your bedroom window
Saying "Come on, let's drive across to the Palisades"
"Keep going till we hit Reno, Nevada"
I don't see Andy all that much these days

Still there are pages in back of the action stacks
Where the white queen's creep and the tom cats peep and

The train's not braking, the track's just shaking
I never made it here before
And there's a sky rocket turning the world around
Til I can't take it anymore
You can carry that spark from Palisades Park
Down over the cliffs and out into the dark
It's a long life full of long nights

But it's not what I was looking for
Everybody dreams of horses flying 'round the shore
It's a bad dream we're not having anymore

Man, have you seen Andy?
Hey man, hey man, have you seen him around?
Hey man, have you seen my my my my my Andy?
Hey man, have you seen him, have you seen him
Have you seen him, have you seen him?
Hey, have you seen Andy around?

Dressed up in our pirate best, all leathers and feathers and pearls
Andy said, "Look at me, man! I'm cooking
These hands could finger up this whole world"
He said, "Come outside, climb out your bedroom window
Shimmy down the fire escape and say goodbye
Come outside," Andy says, "I'm dressed up just like Edie
Changing all the time, my leopard spots to polka dots, and say good-bye"
Come outside, well maybe we could move to California
Just meet me at the subway and say good-bye
Come outside, the cops all think we're crazy
If you stay, you'll just get married
To a girl who'll never know you and then say goodbye

Hey man, have you seen Andy?
I lost her in the sun
I was high as a kite on lovely and white
Man, you could lose anyone
Hey, hey man, have you seen Andy?
I don't know where she's gone
But real love outlives teenage lust
Oh, we could get wet and it keeps us warm
Love is like angel dust
Lovely sometimes changes us

Sometimes not
Have you been aching to trust or just...?
Have you been waking yourself with lust...?
Have you been making us up or just taking us home?

It's a long wait
At a long light
Cars frozen in flight
All the traffic stops to stare
At a crosswalk in Reno, Nevada
Wearing nothing but air and a pair of grey paper wings
Andy thinks, "Man, I have got nothing to wear"
We got nothing new and
We got nothing to wear
We got nothing to wear
We got nothing to wear