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Grant Lee Phillips
Mobilize - 2001


1. SEE AMERICA

Sleeping in a yellow cab
My head against the barrier
Lost 'em as we touched St. Anne
Stepped from the ferry boat there
Looked around the terminal
Paid the toll
And split the fare
Wake me up oh wake me before Union Square
Got a couple numbers to call ah
Tryin' to wrack my brains
But I can't think of the name
Of the hotel at all

We're off to see America
We're asking for directions yes
We're off to see America
We're tumbling in our chariot

Speeding over soaking streets
Tides of the destitute wail
Coughing up a lung of steam
Rise from the underground rail
Never felt so far away
Up till now
But I was green
Wake me up oh wake me before Union Square
Got a couple numbers to call ah
Tryin' to wrack my brains
But I can't think of the names
Of the people at all

We're off to see America
We're asking for directions yes
We're off to find America
We're tumbling in our chariot

What a slender thread I've been clinging to
All these cracks for me to slip into

We're off to see America
We're off to see America
We're asking for directions yes
We're tumbling in our chariot

We're off to see America


2. HUMANKIND

And the point of my life is what
What if it doesn't add up
And the trouble was all for naught
Chalk it to the state of the world
Revelations are soon forgot

If only humankind was not so heartless now
Heartless now
It's hard to love your fellow man
However can I help myself
From harboring such evil

And the reason of pain is clear
Never learned the lesson of bliss
All the riches to squander here

If only humankind was not so selfish now
Selfish now
It's hard to love your fellow man
However can I help myself
From harboring such evil

Heartless now

And the point of the stars is to shine
Shine a little light in our way
When the fear in my heart leaves me blind
Even in the light of the day
Come stumbling out

If only humankind was not so heartless now
Heartless now
It's hard to love your fellow man
However can I help myself
From harboring such evil

Whenever we're so heartless now
Heartless now


3. LOVE'S A MYSTERY

Another sunny day wash
Soaking up the radar
Antennas on the garage
Whispers on the airwaves
Robin to the Batcave
Nearly cracked the crime wave

And love's a mystery to unwind
She holds a key to every crime

Trace the paces backwards
To the garden they were
Just a pair of jail birds
Didn't take 'em no time
Made a run for state line
Passion pays the law no mind

'Cause love's a mystery to unwind
She holds a key to every crime

Another sunny day rut
'Round the bungalow hut
I done beat the pavement blind
High above Cahuenga
Where the stars entangle
Life and death they mingle arm and arm

'Cause love's a mystery to unwind
She holds a clue to every crime

And love's a mystery to unwind
She holds a key to every crime

Another sunny day rut


4. SADNESS SOOT

I'm movin' with the strength of a spear
I'm cruisin' with the past in my mirror
Done leveling my city of ghosts
Cool ashes like it's all that she wrote

Shake off the sadness soot
It's doin' me good
Embrace the solitude
It's doin' me good

I'm darting through the traffic alone
Dim shadows carve the streets that I roam
Bewitching is the need to be held
I try to fight it but I'm under that spell

Knee deep in sadness soot
It's doin' me good
Embrace the solitude
That's welcoming us

Face the night and all it's fireworks
Wrap yourself up in the silence
Birthing dreams of love and hurt
Aborted by the cry of sirens
Face the night
Face the night alone

I'm swimming with the weight of my heart
Upstream to where the green river parts
And two directions force my will to decide
Shall I drift before I swim for my life

Knee deep in sadness soot
We're gathering rust
Embrace the quiet flood
That's welcoming us

Shake loose the sadness


5. WE ALL GET A TASTE

Holding on for dear life dodging arrows
What a strange elation in my bones
Bit the dust and tasted imperfection
What a sweet confection I have known

But you can't take that away
No you can't take that away
'Cause the Gods make sure
We all get a taste

Signing off I saw the correspondent
Throw his crap back in the van
Still with pride while having grown despondent
Journalism broke that man

But you can't take that away
No you can't take that away
'Cause the Gods make sure
We all get a taste

Get a taste
We all get a taste

Wooden wheels and dust up ride the bandits
Gunning for some treasure trove
If you could store their joy and jubilation
And take it in a jug back home

But you can't take that away
No you can't take that away
'Cause the Gods make sure
We all get a taste

Get a taste
We all get a taste
Sooner or later


6. SPRING RELEASED

Shangri-La out on the West side
In the blinding night oh why
Where they swing their arms out by the roadside
Like a baby doll oh why

Damn this floor is thumpin' spring released and
My little girlfriend's hanging light
I feel the blood rush pumpin' haulin'

Late July fire in the dance hall
Honey where am I stuck to the wall
Out on the rim of space up by the bandstand
Don't I know my place always

Damn this floor is thumpin' spring released and (spring released ah)
My little girlfriend's hanging light (she's hanging light)
I feel the blood rush pumpin' haulin' (I feel the blood rush)
My little girlfriend she's a hanging tight

Pale eyes don't show your weakness
On the town tonight oh why
Pale heart don't cut your wrist up
'Cause ya can't decide oh why would ya

Damn this floor is thumpin' spring released and (spring released ah)
My little girlfriend she's hanging light (she's hanging light)
I feel the blood rush pumpin' haulin' (I feel the blood rush)
My little girlfriend she's a hanging light
She's a hanging light


7. LAZILY DROWNING

On a sea of untapped leagues
Rocking to and fro I dreamed
Far below there was a monster
Golden finned with confidence
Churns the muddy floor alive
Drowns the voices in the water

Lazily drowning
Ferry me downstream
Lazily drowning
Not a care in the world
In the blink of an hour
Races a lifetime
Lazily drowning
Not a care in the world
Not a caring world

A raft of waves to ride
A torch of ice to lead
Where the currents cool meander
And these strange persuasive tides
Draw me closer still tonight
On my voyage of surrender

Lazily drowning
Ferry me downstream
Lazily drowning
Not a care in the world
Not a caring world
In the blink of an hour
Races a lifetime
Lazily drowning
Not a care in the world
Not a caring world

Onyx slivers catch the light
Still a slave in heaven's eye
But I'm soon to be delivered
For the tales that we've been fed
Only leave ya dumb and deaf
To the gospel of the river

Lazily drowning
Ferry me downstream
Lazily drowning
Not a care in the world
Not a caring world
In the blink of an hour
Races a lifetime
Lazily drowning
Not a care in the world
Not a caring world

Lazily drowning


8. LIKE A LOVER

Of all the fishes in the sea
So ghostly white and glittering
Nobody's ever stole my heart
And took it down to the ocean dark
Nobody's ever meant that much to me
Judge and my jury hear my plea
No woman's ever held the reigns on me
No warden's ever held that key
Not a soul on cell block three
Nobody but her come to set me free

I rattle on for miles
Put it on a page
You let me tap away
I'll rattle on for days
Days

Nobody hits home the way ya do
Nobody makes sense out of my blues
Nobody makes me laugh that hard
Or hurts me so till I see stars
Nobody holds a candle up to you
Nobody knows best how to shine my crown
Or the ease it takes to knock it down
Nobody's ever been that true
None of the flunkies on the midnight crew
I've found something there that I'm afraid lose

I rattle on for miles
Put it on a page
You watch me tap away
I'll rattle on for days
Days

Nobody's gonna piss me off so bad
It's a certain power that you have
Never one just to recoil
'Fore ya bring my blood to a boil
Nobody like a lover makes you feel so sad

Nobody like a lover makes ya feel so sad
Nobody like a lover


9. MOBILIZE

High time to mobilize
The work we'll do
High time to synchronize
Gather our crew
A secret battlefield
Lies within you
War is the cost
Of fighting off the truth

We're gotta fight the good fight
Well no one's dragging you along
On a Saigon summer night
You're gonna come to realize
When your belly's in the trench
Then your heart's gotta mobilize

I'll be a spy for hire
I'll plant the bug
Eavesdrop on sweet desire
Go undercover
But you must promise
To stop fighting off the truth

We're gotta fight the good fight
Well no one's dragging you along
On a Saigon summer night
You're gonna come to realize
When your belly's in the trench
Then your heart's gotta mobilize

My enemy grows stronger
As I pace the floor and wonder how
I've let it come this way
My enemy is part of me
The last one that I wish to meet
In battle face to face

We're gonna fight the good fight
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
Well no one's dragging you along
On a long long summer night
You're gonna come to realize
When your belly's in the trench
Then your heart's gotta mobilize

You're gotta mobilize


10. BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS

Gunning for a miracle
One they can't take away
Found it in a skinny girl
Might have been half his age
Betty likes to push his buttons
And Marco he lose his cool
Call each other good for nothin'
Yet when the war is through
They crawl out the fire escape
And take sweet time making up

Beautiful dreamers
Beautiful ones

Carla she's a true romantic
Living her life in verse
And Daniel was her live in love
When everything turned for worse
It could have been a chance relation
Both of them lonely souls
Struggle with the big decisions
Both of them growing old
Now and then they break their vows
To spend these nights alone

Beautiful dreamers
Beautiful ones

Beautiful dreamers odd ones
All of us trapped in the webs we've spun
Beautiful Venus love love
All of us flying too close to the sun
Close the sun

And honey what of you and I
How will they tell our story
Maybe like a movie script
A scene through an open doorway
And as the camera pulls away
We could have been anybody

Beautiful dreamers
Beautiful ones


11. SLEEPLESS LAKE

Dare ya draw me closer still
And let me be the wild witness to the kill
See how the stars abide
Showing no resistance late into the night

Bluer than the winter wind that howls
On a sleepless lake

Me I'm under no duress
Offering my throat before a hungry lioness
Hear how the jungle whines
And beats a violent drum along with these blues of mine

Bluer than the winter wind that howls
On a sleepless lake

Where the light and shadows bend
I walk your silent haunts along the Michigan
Grief banished by the glow
Electric dying autumn has a color all of it's own

Bluer than the winter wind that howls
On a sleepless lake


12. APRIL CHIMES

Here it begins
April chimes tangled in the wind
Timing's everything and all that friend

Thunder erupts
On the lake pull the anchor up
Make for the shore
Count the seconds 'tween the lightning and the roar
Timing's everything and so much more

Harmony blows in for us
Not for long before it's on to
Other songbook pages wilting
Yellow in the sun

You'll love again
Keep on tellin' you the ship is comin' in
Timing's everything and all that friend
All that friend


13. HUGO'S THEME

(Instrumental)


14. SUNDAY BEST

Puttin' on the Sunday best
High on the fumes of sweet success
Goin' on a Sunday stroll
I'm movin' up you walk
Even if I have to hug the fence
I'm determined to call you my lover

Well can't you tell
That I'm over the moon
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon yeah

Goin' on a Sunday drive
Windin' our way 'cross the countryside
Hopin' that you slip on over close
For the rest of this ride you my lover

Well can't you tell
That I'm over the moon
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon yeah

Hit me like a Sunday bus (like a Sunday bus)
That comes only once in a moment's glance
The lyrics of my heart could miss a beat
And get lost in the language of romance my lover

Well can't you tell
That I'm over the moon
Well I'm over the moon
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon for you
I'm over the moon yeah

I'm over the moon for you