Cursed is the thinker, with all them thoughts up in her head Fucked is the writer, there's no ink left in his pen Cursed is the scientist, who sees the future, but can't change it Meanwhile the dancer dances on Cursed is the guitar player who wishes he could sing To move the crowd with an angel's voice, well that would be the thing But the singer, he secretly yearns to be that funky drummer 'Cause the drummer is closest to a dancer When he hits them skins he's closest to a dancer There's a plum tree outside my place, and in the last week of February The blossoms burst, out of nowhere it seems, in boundless hope and joy But so soon the petals start to fall, and by the middle of March, they've come and gone To lay in cream pink drifts upon the ground While fools like me start countin' down How many more springs have I got left in this town But the dancer, she dances not to think Draws circles with her toes in the drifts of pink Leaps to touch the leaves above her head Loves the solid ground when she descends Meanwhile, the dancer dances on...

The bells of St. Andrew's call across the morning mist You can tell it's gonna be a fine one as the clouds begin to lift It calls to mind another sunny day, looking back these three long years When I gazed out on the glorious morn, my eyes filled with tears That's the day my darling waved goodbye, the brightest smile on her face To seek herself and to find her own way. Now I know it can't be just like it was, I know she will have changed Still I can't wait to hear her voice, can't wait to see her face To hear the tales that she has to tell, the poems that she has made The joy that starts down deep inside, the laugh like God's own grace What it was she saw in me, I never quite could tell But when the queen chooses you, you simply kneel. I remember watching her, as she headed down this road Clear as yesterday, though it seems a thousand years ago Her red knit cap against the bright blue sky The wind playing in her raven hair, flowin' out behind I thought, if my heart don't break from grief, it'll surely burst with pride As I watched her ride into the rising sun and said goodbye To my brand new bride... So git up pony, pick up your pace, and bring my little lass back home I'll be waiting on the lookout hill, my eyes trained on that road Where it winds away into the haze, whence it carried my girl away Lookin' for that red knit cap, comin' back the other way She's been out there livin' her life, while I've been faithful here Now I can't wait to start again, my dear.

There was a war here once, I believe It had nothing to do with me I've a memory of fighting, but that was just a dream It's got nothing to do with me Some of my fellow soldiers never woke They lie snug beneath six feet of soil and a couple more of snow I'll walk among the lichens hangin' from the leafless oaks I'll see the moss resplendent in the damp and in the cold And when the devil comes for me I'll tell him no, no, no Get thee gone, 'cause I've found my home In the window of the van, a vase to hold The sweetest gifts you've stopped to pick from the side of the road Clarkia, matilija poppy and the virgin's bower vine If you wander long enough, I know you will find That crescent-shaped cove where the bluffs meet the sea You'll recognize that perfect beach from a distant memory You'll walk along the wet sand with the foam around your feet Gaze upon that disc of orange as beyond the blue it sinks And when the devil comes for you, you'll say hell no, not me Get back fiend, this is my home sweet I'll roam the quiet hollows that the hills hold close You'll plant yourself a garden and you'll see what grows And when the devil comes for us, we'll tell him no, no, no Get thee gone, 'cause we've found our home We've no use for you, 'cause we've found our home Get back fiend, 'cause we've found a home.

Readin' Actual Air for the first time in years, it's as good as I remember Your voice shinin' through, hazy but true, like a neon light in the rain From a couple of my oldest friends I heard about your death And like Sarah said, it's hard to be someone who cares And I would almost pay the spirit that owned you, pay it with my soul To see the world the way that you did, akimbo and aglow I take heart from the words you left, I always trusted in what you said You said "The dead know what they're doing when they leave this world behind" You made a world of your own You built it from the broken pieces of the world that we know And I followed you across frozen lakes and down every country road Lonely you may have been, but you were never alone Rainy winter in Berkeley town, must have been early '98 Stumbled across The Natural Bridge, and I've never been the same Late nights and lonely afternoons, I wandered through the gloom And I found the strangest comfort in your haunted rooms You made a world of your own You filled it with the broken pieces of the world that we know And I sat with you at the airport bar and on the county courthouse lawn When I miss you man, I'll find you there in your songs You cared about the things that slip through the cracks You cared about the shit that's never comin' back You cared about the edges and the underneath You looked at the mundane and saw pure mystery You made a world of your own Built it from the broken pieces of the world that we know And I followed you across frozen lakes and down every country road Lonely you may have been but you were never alone.