to the teeth lyrics

The sun is settin on the century
And we are armed to the teeth
We are all working together now
To make our lives mercifully brief
Schoolkids keep trying to teach us
What guns are all about
Confuse liberty with weaponry
And watch your kids act it out
Every year now like Christmas
Some boy gets the mildfed surburban blues
Reaches for the avaliable aresenal

I don't keep much stuff around
I value my portability
But I will say that I have saved
Every letter you ever wrote to me
The one you left on my windshield
Outside of that little motel
Is in the pocket of my old gigbag
From back when life was more soft shelled

Letters littered with little lewd pictures
Drawn by the ghost of Woddy Guthrie
Who would use your big thick hand

I'm losing my love of adventure
I'm losing all respect
For me and myself tonight
I wonder what happens if I get to
The end of this tunnel
And there isn't a light
I've worn down the treads
On all of my tires
I've worn through the elbows
And the knees of my clothing
And I'm stumbling down
The gravel driveway of desire
Trying not to wake up
My sleepy self-loathing

Life in the circus ain't easy
But the folks on the outside don't know
The tent goes up and the tent comes down
And all that they see is the show
And the ladies on the horses look so pretty
And the lions are lookin real mad
And some of the clowns are happy
And some of the clowns are sad

But underneath
There's another expression
That the makeup isn't making
Life under the big top

Going once
Going twice
Sold to the girl who ignored all the good advice
Of all the people who knew better
She just stood there
On the front porch
Waiting for her (will) to come and get her
She was packed
She had a suitcase
Full of noble intentions
She had a (map)
And a staight face
Hell bent on reinvention
And she was ready for a long day
She was in it for it (only)

Hold me down
I am floating away
Into the overcast skies
Over my home town
On election day

What is it about Birmingham?
What is it about buffalo?
Did the hate filled wanna build bunkers
In your beautiful red earth
They want to build them
In our shiny white snow

Now I've drawn closed the curtain
In this little booth where the truth has no place to stand

Back, back, back
In the back of your mind are you learning an angry language?

Tell me, boy
Boy
Boy, are you tending to your joy, or are you just letting it vanquish?

Yeah, back, back, back
In the dark of your mind where the eyes of your demons are gleaming
Are you mad
Mad
Mad about the life you never had
Yeah, even when you are dreaming?

are you weary as water
in a faucet left dripping
with an incessant sadness
like a sad record skipping
and an ugly and ornery
and shadowy dread
lurking like a troll under the bridge
between your heart and your head

she came to and her
whole life was how she remembered it
she had a mouth full of fur
and she was laughing
she parked her hearse across

How pleased can one
Sun setting make you
If you humble yourself to it?
How grateful can you
Really say that you are
Just to be here and live through it?
And when beauty asks a question
How often do you reply?
How often do you wonder about life on the other side?
On the other side of sorrow
On the other side of rage
On the other side of ok
OK at all in any way

ive been wondering what you meant
when you asked do you have a light
ive been wondering where you went
when you left that party that night
cloud blood sweat smeared on the sky
its dawns roadkill
ive been driving since midnight
and im driving still

stop on the top of the ridge
just to feel the wind on my rand mcnally
then i feel the air grow cold
as i drift to the first blue of the valley

Gonna go out to the arrivals gate at the airport
And sit there all day
Watch people reuniting
Public affection so exciting
It even makes airports OK
Watching children run
With their arms outstretched
Just to throw those arms
Around their grandpa's neck
Watching lovers plant kisses
Old men to their misses
At their arrivals gate

Watching a mother
With a mother's smile

Who knew
At this party that
I would walk in and I'd see you
I gues snow
We could just get drunk
Yeah and that could be our excuse
You could slip
And outta nowhere
I could be there to catch your fall
And we could laugh
At ourselves
And the writing that's on the wall

It's a narrow margin
Just room enough for regret
In the inch and half between
Hey, how ya been?

I know this bar
With a jukebox full of medicine
And Christmas lights blinking
Around a clouded mirror
It's not that far
From old voelkers bowling alley
Just go up there and turn right
It's about three blocks from here

You'll probably find grace
Her shift starts at happy hour
She's got this sweet face
Easy as tea leaves to read
You gotta know what to look for