ALBUM TITLE:

RELEASE DATE:

In the Café at Night

October 7th, 2005

SONGS:

1. A Familiar Place
2. Sweet Lucille
3. Our Time
4. A Thousand Promises
5. Believe In Something
6. Bloodstained Hands (Part II)
7. A Love Affair With Booze

A FAMILIAR PLACE

I hope to arrive
In a well-tailored suit
At the restaurant on Barstow
Where the waitress is cute

And we'll talk of old times
Find the best years and trace the lines
The teens, the 20s, the 30s race by
But we have this familiar place
A familiar place

The man's here to do a story for the paper
You lost the photo of your date
Her voice echoes, as he stands in the hall
You feel like your thoughts are walls

And you'll talk of old times
Find the best years and trace the lines
The teens, the 20s, the 30s race by
But we have this familiar place

The photo album
Is dirty and old, but still you long
To be at home
In a familiar place

SWEET LUCILLE

He made sure today
To file the letters away
Make sure they're in order in that old, dirty house
If he should need them, doll
Someday, he'll be sure to call
But now he knows exactly where he's from
And he has no doubts

Sweet Lucile, you've lost your pride
When you lose your pride,
Clyde won't have you as his bride
Sweet Lucile, he'll file your letters away
Do away with lost love now, Lucile
And let a new love be your guide

Things might be easier
If outside was breezier
You'll find a community, where there's some sunshine to imbibe
But you say, "Father, oh, father
Why should I bother?
When there is no place for a girl to go and hide"

Sweet Lucile, you must blossom and grow
The fond fairy-dust glow you know
It won't haunt Clyde no more

Sweet Lucile, you coughed and you swore I thought you settled the score
But this is just what happens, be sure

Baby, when your blood fails you
Baby, are we nothing but dust, is it true?
Baby, is it best when the roof don't rust?
Well, Clyde…
Is gone!

Wish I had a better story to tell
But these heroes are headed to hell
And these are the tales, all the tales we ever knew
They were told by the storied
The useless and the gloried
Who felt, though they were the few,
That they knew just what to do

Sweet Lucile, this is your life
Words of love, words of strife
And words as sharp as a knife
Sweet Lucile, it's gonna be all right
The tree outside your window has died
In all your stories, the moral was a lie

In all your stories, the moral was a…
Huh? You didn't think I'd say it, did ya?
The moral was a lie, but you can find another guy
To boost back up your pride

OUR TIME

We held each other tight
We wanted life to be a story
And we wrote all our words on the page
So we held each other's hands
Sad that life hadn't turned out as we'd planned
And we fought the end with rage

Our time meant something, baby
Our time meant something, baby
Oh, just admit that all that time
Meant something to you

Not feeling like the heroes
From the movies we watched
Feelin' broken, but finally startlingly aware
But don't be sad, never be sad
At the ruins of your plans
And the fact that you won't ever ascend the stairs

Even if all your dreams come true
Our time meant something, baby
Our time meant something, baby
Oh, just admit that all that time
Meant something to you

A THOUSAND PROMISES

(Promises, promises,
Promises, promises)

(Promises) You know how to squash those dreams, those dreams
Oh, I'm a sailor, with a boat upon the shore
Lookin' for some dangerous scenes
(Promises)
Lookin' out into that great open blue
Where the water splashes and I'm outside your door

If I could only take your word and take your part I would take myself away
And I would live in your heart, oh-oh

(Promises)
A thousand miles, only a penitent son
A thousand miles for the fortunate one
Eyes ruby red in the dark

And hungry instead (Promises)
Of the life you wanted (Promises)
I wrote you a song (Promises)
But I can't make it right (Promises)

(Promises) Each time I sing the strains and the refrains They only serve to legitimize my plight Even though they impair my sight

And leave you hungry instead (Promises) Of the life you wanted (Promises) I wrote you a song (Promises) But I can't make it right (Promises)

Do-Do-Do (Promises)

BELIEVE IN SOMETHING

I've got no place in this city Just pages of worlds and pictures of pretty Half-deserted islands Where green waters splash

And the worst of your troubles Get washed in a bath Take it apart Then buy a ticket to take you away

What if you lined up a day Just as you had imagined? And all of the money and fortune Came in just as planned

Well, I hope that as we get older You still believe in something

I look around the lobby While the people who wait for their tires To be changed Try to avoid my eyes

You are only a stranger when you haven't Taken a chance When you haven't even tried You feel like hell in advance

But maybe my mistake is that I think it should be easy That you'll have the house, the job, the love of your dreams - and what of a family? Shall we stroll across the White House lawn? Shall we try to be something other than the pawn?

I hope that as we get older You still believe in something

You were always the one who called a spade a spade You looked at the things your father forbade There's your baby, dancing behind the shades Reelin' and rockin' in the dress she made

You were the one who would write of hypocrisy You called the sham when you saw it, "He is a phony, she's don't know how to pony She put herself up on trial for the money

I'm not sure if he is truthful to his wife How can we repent such a sin all our lives?" But perhaps your mistake Was believing in something

And refuting what did not coincide with your views On the New York Times front page You read the news And you said you could not understand the hues

But I hope that as we get older You still believe in something

BLOODSTAINED HANDS (PART II)

She works really hard And it gives her an edge She keeps all her goals In her locket

The county commissioner Approaches the ledge The investor has him In his pocket

Hold me now, for a dance in the twilight The music's fading It's breaking your might I see your face In the smallest grain of sand Hold me now In the rain and the sunlight The wind is howling, the moon is crying Hold me now In the palm of your bloodstained hand

Why, oh, why father Have you forsaken me? I did nothing wrong To deserve this

I'm way too young To not care or believe That you've got just cause To unnerve this Oh, it's all right That's the decree And I wound Like a child, aged three Who hasn't come of age It's not easy When nothing's sacred

Jemima you fell to Bacchus and his pards All your daughters Have lost all their pearls

Your son he is old And your father sees stars But he's lost all His lust for young girls

Hold me now In the eye of the needle Your father's old But his hands can heal I see paradise in the tiniest grain of sand You always hope That is could be better The beauty burst When you just met her But she heals me now With the soil of her bloodstained hands

A LOVE AFFAIR WITH BOOZE

Roll the cigars Lasso the bottle
Pull up a seat at the table Bid the marksman, "Adieu"

And you
And you, too
Each of you will win
Drink and be drunk
Carry on your love affair with booze
God never intended you to avoid it

In a world where the booze was free
And civilization hung by a thread
Outside the restaurant, In the cold streets,
A tiny child held a candle above his head
And to his tiny voice, all listened, as he said,
"Love is true, of this I'm sure"
This was not a tiny intention
His motivations, so deafeningly pure
Our love affair raged on
Turgid, disgraceful, rotten, and stale

Our consternation came like hail
A consistent, foreboding drone
A true emotional gun A large loathing

We will continue our affair
It's sad to contemplate that this scene must die
But I don't see that it could end any other way

And these things will pass
These merry party-goers, these life-affirmers
Will pass, by and by

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