Mordred
The Next Room
1. Lo-Cal, Hi-Fiber
You've got me lying on the ceiling
My world's turned upside down
I'm unaccustomed to this feeling
Better let me loose right now
Get away from the back of my brain and the front of my heart
Get away and the pit of my pain is an alien part
Any day with a diligent turn of convenient lies
You'll go, I'll stay, it'll be better that way
I'm hanging limp like a weasel
Which hunts the fine sight of your flesh
You'll have to walk around
With my body hanging down
Or tumble down the stairs
Meet me at the bottom
Get away from the back of the brain and the front of my heart
Get away and the pit of my pain is an alien part
Any day with a diligent turn of convenient lies
You'll go, I'll stay, it'll be better that way
[Breakdown]
A big attack is better for me, you'll turn it around
Feel like a fish washed out of the sea, it's tough to breathe
You'll throw me back and if you wish I'll disappear
You'll feel much better in time, time for me to go
My fingers cold on the window
I see you walking out, pressed to the pane
Get away from the back of my brain and the front of my heart
Get away and the pit of my pain is an alien part
Every day with a diligent turn of convenient lies
You'll go, I'll stay, it'll be better that way
2. Skid
Sick of immortality, we've sharpened all the razors
And the pets aren't going hungry 'cause they've never learned to feed themselves
Robbed of all connection to the world of creature instinct
We have no regard for anything that can't increase our comfort
Living hand to mouth with no arms to defend ourselves from entropy
Skidding to a halt upon a road that's paved with ulcers
Breathing in the skin that covers everything in layers
Like the silt in all the river beds, we're spilling past insolvency
Go on, put the knife down
You've been looking mighty grim, but there's no turning 'round
Go on, take the map down
Water takes us all away, and floats us till we drown
Lacking in intensity, despite our best intentions
Go from parody to role model in seven easy lessons
Boredom is the killer and we struggle to anticipate
Just how we will be vilified by future generations
Staring down the barrel that has leaked into the watershed
Concerned about our future infiltration of the market
So we look into the headlamp of the steam-engine of progress
As it turns the virgin landscape into air-conditioned cinemas
Go on, put the knife down
I've been waiting 40 days to hit that higher ground
Go on, put the map down
You've been looking mighty grim, but there's no turning 'round
[Solo]
Go on, put the gun down
Don't you know that we've been waiting so long to set a pattern for the higher ground
What a goddamn waste of a pretty good hand
The last of the race, now, the final land
It was all that we built upon, ripped apart
It... what we're drifting on
No way out, no way you'll ever bring it down
Though we floated round and round and round
Hoping that we'd see something that'd bring it round
No one, no, no, no one's gonna help us now
Go on
Pass the gun round
3. Crash
It's just a gift to the earth not to breed
She took his silence to mean he agreed
They rode a wave of nostalgia
That crashed like a flue
Punching neglect it'd do this to him
She grew aware of their stitching of limbs
And she taught them to move
Traded her own life anew
Yeah, can't touch her now
You've been squeezed out
Your set's crashing down
Alone in your mess on the stage
He drove a car that had wood on the side
See it first and it'd knock you as fine
But his intentions were crystalline right from the start
Fighting the way back, a pressure so real
She learned a method, a strategy how to conceal how she felt
When nothing was left in her heart
Yeah, can't hurt her now
Don't you know that you've been tuned out
The set's crashing down
You're alone in a mess on the stage
[Breakdown with scratching]
[Solo]
..... power from deep in a dream
Float to the surface and let out your scream
Show the mistake, can't turn away
"Call me a victim", he said to his bed
He never guessed that her ignorance wasn't sincere
It was fear
You can't know her now
Don't you know that you've been left out
The curtain is down
Alone in the dark on the stage
Never flow our way
Never go away
Never go away
Never go your way
4. Splinter Down
See you hunkered on the ground
Magnifying glass in hand
Can you focus in one spot for long enough?
If you see the whispered smoke
Curling vine-like from a leaf
You will turn the glass on me
That I know for sure
Pass the boneyard on the left
There's a secret that I keep
Like a tick upon my skin
I will take you to that place
If you leave your glass behind
Not afraid to say "I am afraid"
You've got to learn which logs to cure
Which ones to burn
If I rake up all my wits
Pile them up into a heap
There's no guarantee that you won't be the wind
Turn a placid day in fall
Into a hurricane
So if I stay inside again, some windows down
You know I'm saying
You've got to learn which logs to burn
Which ones to cure
And I wanna say this now
When I see you with the timber I will splinter down
And paint your arms with scars
Paint your arms with scars
[Breakdown]
You won't ever let me out
I won't ever let you
That would serve me right
Would serve me all too right
That would serve me right
Would serve me all too right
Won't hear you laugh in my face, what's your name?
Throw down your axe, you're a mess, what a shame
[Solo]
You've got to learn which logs to burn
Which ones to cure
And you know it's now
Not long before the fire's spent
And all your trouble's gone to waste
Gone to waste
You've got to learn which ones to burn
Which ones to cure
Which ones to do something with
You've got to learn
Which ones will burn you
And which ones will splinter down and paint your pretty arms with scars
5. Shut
Pause
My man Holo told me the devil would control me
If I didn't have a hold of my soul and mind
'Cause now I think back on when I used to sell crack
To all the twigged-out bags makin' a grip in '89
It's a... she made Philmo' clique
Eight years old niggers on the corner running bags
While I'm in the park smokin' weed & drinkin' port
It was the boys in the hood taggin' fucking...
But-a, that was the past, all that
I'm thinking of other ways of making my pockets fat
And mixing those beats on plastic
They like tricks, fool
You can't have it silly rabbit
Kimball
Got the past in the past and we're in the present tense
Looking out from where we are, it's amazing that we got this far
Like a... it hits, gonna follow you...
Like a son in your gun, turn the corner and the door is shut
Pause
Back when I was young in the hood carryin' a gun
It was an everyday thing 'cause you had to watch your back
Running from the 5-0, jumping fences high and low
For no fucking reason, just because my skin is black
Ain't a damn thing funny in the land of milk and honey
When... mess with me for their change
'Cause eight years later now my soul is feeling greater
But my mind is not at ease, 'cause the system's still the same
The best that I can do is go on
Exactly what my mom and pop told me, stay strong
I know I might seem like I'm a stranger from the moon
And now I got the key so I can step into the next room
Kimball
Our plan it happened there and then, no repent or second dance
Makes one thing...
That's the rub, ah that's the rub
Won't you turn the corner to the next room and the door is shut
That's the rub, a, that's the rub
Won't you turn the corner to the next room and the door's
Shut
Pause
Fools still steppin' with the same old shit
Asking how I make the rock and the hip-hop mix
It don't fit is what they're telling me but I keep denying it
Fuck it, put on Vision track 5 and rewind it
God's great destiny, you shouldn't ever test me
You'd best not flex 'cause you might get fucked
You're trying to escape yeah with everything but rape
You turn the corner to the next room and the door slams shut
6. Pauper's Wine
On the roof something wasn't clicking
Like the blade on a pocket knife that just won't unfold
Rain on my face couldn't help my disposition
It was clearly a mission for the comfort of the road
Passed me by one too many times
And the wick get old but I'm fine
Save your pennies and your pity
Save them all for pauper's wine
Save for pauper's wine
Help me up, help me off
Merge through the exit in three quarters of a mile
She was the light of day, but she was never mine
Took just enough to make me smile
In the dark, I know that's where she kept me
And it never bothered me, until the light
Shining, I can handle the truth I said
Passed me by one too many times
Wick gets old but I'm doing fine, doing fine
Save your pennies, save your pity
Save them all for pauper's wine, save for pauper's wine
[Solo]
Blinker's on the blink I think and chuckle to myself
With the nova through you
Gas 'er up and never stop until she drinks the bottle drop
I'm feeling right
7. Acrophobia
"Dream while you can" I was saying
As the hurricane approached us from the east
Sleep in your eyes was all the medicine you needed
And your fever decreased
You're a little high
Just a little scared and a little cold
Loosen up those legs at the open sky
Let it all unfold
I wouldn't hold you down
I guess it's not my way
But you refuse to cry
And then you fall behind
"Sleep while you can" I was saying
As the hurricane approached us from the west
Dream if you can
Of all the worlds that open up to you
When you are at rest
You're a little high
Just a little scared and a little cold
Loosen up... at the open sky
Let it all unfold
I wouldn't hold you down
I guess it's not my way
First you refuse to cry
And then you fall behind
[Solo]
I'd never hold you down
You know it's not my way
First you refused to cry
And then you fall behind
8. Murray The Mover
Hey you've got some and...
Mama, you've got some, I'm begging baby please
No, don't you drop me, just telling you what I know
Girl you know you've got some
So come on mama let's go
....'s finally brought you out
I'm looking you up, looking you up, girl you're found
Tell me, tell me are you down
We're taking a ride, taking a ride
Damn, got both hands tied up with fascination
Have another goddamn drink to help my concentration
Yes I'm working you into a fever pitch
Baby you've just got to admit
I'm one slick son of a bitch
I'm Murray the mover
Your worry soother
Dig my maneuvers
Now I'm talking you're listening to what I say
Girl I gotta wonder why you seem to be getting up and walking away
Soon you'll miss me, I'm willing to be kind
Yeah... you'll see the sign
... has finally brought you home
I'm looking you up, looking you up, girl you're found
Tell me, tell me are you down
We're taking a ride, taking a ride
I'm Murray the mover
Your worry soother
Dig my maneuver
[Harmonica Solo]
[Guitar Solo]
Hey... now I got your attention baby
Layin' off or richochetin', there's got to be a better way
Are you little just asleep
Still water's running deeper
Still water's running deeper
Still water's running deeper
Still water's running deeper
[A few more times.....!]
I'm Murray the mover
Your worry soother, yeah you know
I'm just a groover
Dig my maneuver, you know you've got to
[Fade out]
9. In A Turn
It's a wonder, wide eyed wonder
You're just a nickle away
Living in your shadow all this time
Always loved your kind of leaving
I ain't got nothing to say
But I'm saying nothing anyway
The clock on the wall is crooked, your time is running out
I suck down the deadly coffee wasting in your cup
The back of my neck is itching, look me in the eye
Not such an easy matter, it takes you by surprise
Like a pistol, something's backfired
I never promised a thing
Can you build a bridge and never cross?
First a whisper, nervous laughter
And then the shock of the sting
Toss me right and left me at a loss
The back of my neck is itching, look me in the eye
Not such an easy matter, it takes you by surprise
The clock on the wall is crooked, your time is running out
I suck down the deadly coffee cooling in your cup
It's just remarkable the way she turns away
Then turns her back again, am I lover am I friend?
Nothing is so neatly planned
Pull my teeth out of your hand
[Solo]
What's a boy, what's a boy supposed to say
When his pride is shaking and his courage slips away?
What's a girl, what's a girl supposed to do
In a turn of the watch...?
It's a wonder, wide-eyed wonder
That you turn away
Turn away
From me
10. The Trellis
Under the overpass tossing lit matches around
You burned my favourite shirt, ended up on the ground
You ended up on the ground
That was when
All the days
Went to one
In a haze
And we never had to try.....
Down by the ocean we watch as the sun hits the waves
Dark in the twilight, I don't see you slipping away
Dark in the twilight, I don't see you slipping away
That was then
And we knew
Wouldn't end
Believed it too
When you said
We were kin
Made me proud
That was then...
And we never had to try
Never saw the gap until we could fit inside
[Solo]
So we never had to try
Never saw the gap until we could fit inside
Last time I saw you you looked like a dog in the rain
Greetings were murmured and then we just walked on again
Then we just walked on again
So it goes
As we age
Chapter's end
Flip the page
No surprise
Not much pain
I'll survive
If I don't see you again
11. The Next Room Over
[Instrumental]
12. Rubber Crutch
Turn around, not looking at me kindly
View me as a party to be shamed
Pour me out, fill the moat so dear to your mama
Pray aloud for a lamb to lead astray
Lies and warnings
Greying men, wringing hands
Lies and warnings
All the heads are in the sand
Gravity - tore the door so slowly
In position - for a speedy escape
Stare - I've stared for an hour or more
How much longer will it take?
Lies and warnings
Greying men, wringing hands
Lies and warnings
All the heads are in the sand
Is there a reason that compels you to avow?
You've got to squander your days
I know you're worried for my eternal soul
But mama, I don't want to stay
[Solo]
Lies and warnings
Idiots, Uncle Sam
Lies and warnings
Let them show you to the promised land
Is there a reason not to turn the corner 'round
Must we piss away the day?
I know you're worried for my eternal soul
But mama I just want to play
Is this the way that you will murder your mind
The lie on which you depend?
There's lots of people that you can't stand...
Ride up to the end
Ride up to the end
Ride up to the end
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