Refrigerator

Every time I walk down a famous Chicago street
I think of you
and I think that maybe someone is taking a picture
for a postcard
and one of your friends will send you a wish you were here
and I can live on your fridge for a month or two
at least until you move

Song for Kathleen, Number 17

I’m trying not to fall in love with you
I’m trying not to fall in love with you
but you’re little words have pierced me through
you’re little words have pierced me through
that’s why I’m trying not to fall in love with you

I’m trying not to dance all night with you
I’m trying not to dance all night with you
my knees are sore, they’re searching for the door
my knees are sore, they’re searching for the door
but my heels are glued here to the dancefloor

I’m trying not to steal a kiss from you
I’m trying not to steal a kiss from you
but your eyebrows have the perfect arc
your eyebrows have got the perfect arc

And I assume that under that pinstripe powersuit
there’s a 32 year-old VP of Operations
who likes dancing
and the house red wine
apparently

I’m trying not to get attached to you
I’m trying not to get attached to you
your train is leaving for a distant place
but maybe you don’t have to leave come May
maybe you could stay

Nonsense Stories

He used to tell you nonsense stories
as you drifted off to sleep
when you were passing through Onconomowoc
stealing back to the keep
making your way

Oh darlin’
your behavior has been to blame
I don’t condone you
spinning around like a weathervane
he won’t mind if you take some time
to gather your druthers
but it’s a silly cause to leave your lover

He used to tell you nonsense stories
as you drifted off to sleep
when you were drunk as hell in Onconomowoc
and he swept you off your feet
and took you away

He used to tell you nonsense stories
as you drifted off to sleep
whimsical little stories
beautiful little stories

Girl With The Faraway Eyebrows

I am holding your face
in my clumsy hands
lost in your brows
taken to far away lands
the perfect curve makes me dizzy
the arc makes me spin
I must close my eyes
so I’m me again

No Patience For Movies

That girl
she’s got no patience for movies
she’s more into figures and ones and twos
does crosswords in the darkened room
while I live my life through the screen
try to live my life through the screen

I tried
introduced her to Hitchcock
bored her with Herzog and Almodovar
she just asked to stay in the car
she’s only twenty-three
no time for things like these

That girl
she’s got no patience for movies
it breaks my heart when she rolls her eyes at me
as I turn on the director commentary
and then she leaves me be
alone on her beige settee

And lord willing
we’ll see them filming
some tender scene
that will bring her close to me

And lord knowing
we’ll catch a showing
that will change her mind about it
but I doubt it

Poor girl
she’s got no patience for movies
her brain is hardwired for efficiency
she does jigsaws and geometry
I’m just doomed to be
an unmemorable scene

That girl
she’s got no patience for movies
she wants to travel and eat and have fun again
instead of laying in bed with her sad boyfriend
she’s only twenty-three
she still has hope and faith and dreams
she doesn’t need a tv screen
to set her free

Favorite Songs of 2008

Starry Stairs – Okkervil River
Change Is Hard – She & Him
Constructive Summer – The Hold Steady
Temptation of Adam – Josh Ritter
If It Be Your Will – Antony Hegarty
Gardener – Tallest Man on Earth
Challengers – New Pornographers
Sequestered in Memphis – The Hold Steady
Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife – Drive-By Truckers
Skinny Love – Bon Iver
A Postcard To Nina – Jens Lekman
No Bobby Don’t – Kelly Hogan
She May Call You Up Tonight – The Left Banke
Don’t Let Me Be Understood – Nina Simone
Busby Berkeley Dreams – Magnetic Fields
Carmelita – Warren Zevon
Skeleton Key – Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s

Earthquake Song

on the day the earth shook I was unprepared
it had been thirty years since the earth had shook down there
I was down south in southern Illinois, it was April I suppose
stuck in a cheap hotel room with a spoon up my nose
and it frightened me to think the ground could move on you
if it wants to, if it wants to

it was 4 AM and I should have been in bed
but the walls started shaking, coming down on my head
all the certainty I knew flew through the rattlin’ window
I was hugging at my knees thinking this ain’t San Francisco
and it frightened me to think the walls could move
if they so choose, if they so choose

oh I missed your touch when the earth began to quake
the room spun like a carousel, minibar began to shake
I rode a wave of tremors and waited for the aftershock
I saw the face of a god in a microwave clock
and he said “nothing in this world’s for sure
she chose you, so stick with her”
and it frightened me to think you could just go
if I ever made you want to go
so I rushed home

let every scientist call me a fool
to love a New Madrid fault like you
I’ll dig through the rubble and find a ring
and I will sing, I will sing
“you are the ground, you are the ground
please stick around”