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The Way You Never Are

by The Scrimshanders

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1.
you came to town trapped in the middle of ten years of bad luck with your artificial heart. one good thing will lead to another; before you know it, your life begins to start. a boy and a girl on the streets of minneapolis; it’s not a real big city, but it’ll have to do for a place to get lost. will you come and find me? i promise you won’t miss a thing that you lose. hey, i want to get lost with you. i need a new life, and you could use one too. it seems like every girl i meet has got a mixed up part, and that’s the way you never are. the way you never are gets into my heart. one of these days we’ll find a stack of letters. the ones from you will say, “i feel like falling in love”. i will write back, “you gotta get lost to find me. when we have each other then we’ll know we’ve got enough.”
2.
Christine 03:32
christine was the only girl who ever showed me the top of this lonely world. just short of the taste of love, but on the top of the world it seems enough. and she’s gone, and my heart sinks like a stone, and i feel oh so alone. i’m outside her door, i’m on the phone. christine, come outside – i’ll take you home. some things i didn’t mean – well, you know what they are, don’t you, christine? forget ‘em. they’re gone, they’re past. i want the top of the world to take me back. christine comes back to me – at least she does in one of my little dreams. comes back in the shape of love, but when i slip in her arms the dream is done.
3.
Some Blues 04:07
some blues are like the wind – they blow through you, you never feel ‘em again. if you’re never really very deep in, those blues are like the wind. some blues are like a lake – they leave you feeling clean in their wake. when you recognize your mistakes, those blues are like a lake. but my blues are like the earth – an angel set me down, and there they were. when they’re under your feet like a curse, those blues are like the earth. some blues are like your friend – they come and they go, and then they come back again. if you always let ‘em back in, those blues are like your friend.
4.
there’s a blinking sign in houston: it says you won’t find sleep for miles. but in the mirror at night, you can read it right; it says that sleep is not your style. on the road out of the city, there’s a turn that you can’t miss to a cold and dark amusement park where you gave me my first kiss. it’s a turn that you can’t miss. when you tried to reach me your signals got all crossed, and when the tears fall down your hardest face they make you look so soft. you’re a lazy kind of sinner, like a lover leading on to the point where no-one knows who goes, and who will not be gone. it’s a kind of architecture; it’s not a school of thought. it gets you less to take a guess than to build up what you’re not; it’s not a school of thought. and when you tried to hurt me, your signals got all crossed, and when the tears fall down your hardest face they make you look so soft. she’s so safe, she’s all alone, she’s waiting by the telephone.
5.
Bullet Train 04:16
up from the ranks of little girls, you flew into the world looking for your life. you couldn’t get it right. we said some pretty crazy things. we found a song to sing. on the bed where love became a lie, too late for the sky. we won the battle and the war, but what we fought them for disappeared before our eyes, no matter how we tried. we talk like angels in the night, feeling like a bullet train on fire. to fall at all, you really have to fly - a bullet train won’t take you to the sky. one thing your mother never said is how she feels so dead; she gave you life to get it right. a love above is waiting for the ones who know just who we are. we’re gonna meet our stars.
6.
all around town the rain’s coming down, and i’m falling out of love with you. who are you to be playing so tough? you’ve been around; you know you’re not good enough. first came tom, and then came tim, and then came someone else - you never loved him. then came me; I thought i was the best, but not good enough – at least not yet. next time you meet someone, think hard: you might end up with a broken heart. why not go with the devil you know? it’s about time you say so what about these things that seem a little hard (my terrible shoes, my mixed up heart). there will be guys that would be glad to treat you bad, to make you sad. we’re all a little rough – even I say so. why not go with the devil you know? first things first and last things last, and then we’ll get down to it. i’ll be waiting at the end of your past. it won’t be long – i love a girl who learns so fast.
7.
Carried Away 05:32
the empty streets are cold at night. i lie awake without a light. why go to sleep when i can’t rest? i couldn’t want my dreams much less. you got carried away, but who am i to say what makes you sick and makes you well? who am i to tell? carried away, gone in a day – do you want to come home? the saints of loneliness are lost; even saints get carried off. if i could call on them i would – if i could change your mind for good. carried away, gone in a day. we built it such a long time; it just slipped away. i can get through the spring, but it’s gonna get cold, and i don’t really care for getting old alone. when i get up i can’t find any place to go. when i get down i even love the lies you told. this ain’t bad luck; it’s just the devil playing low. i hope you know. i guess i never knew your heart, but how could i have missed this far? to not provide a life of love, to hear you say you’ve had enough.
8.
Thirty Years 04:27
here i am alone with the california sunset, thinking that it’s one of all the things we haven’t done yet. i feel like i know you like we went to school together; it’s been a hundred days, but it sure feels like forever. i want to be with you on your birthday, but i can’t. i want to be the part of life that turns out like you planned. i’m falling for you like a country falls down to its knees, waiting for a revolution to bring you home to me. 30 years ago your daddy closed his eyes and wished his daughter would be beautiful – and what he wants he gets. for your birthday he would say that he would rather be nowhere else but telling you you’re everything he wanted you to be. honey, i would take you anywhere love is in style, and that’s everywhere except where you’ve been for a while. your life is like an upside down version of itself, and I am just a secret I thought other people tell.
9.
10.
i know your car, and you know mine, and we know the same girl most of the time – but i know a side of her that you never will. nice to meet you: i’m the man you want to kill. you call me up on all my phones. you say, “i thought you knew how to be alone.” well, buddy, we all have a name we like to speak. when i say hers, she gets kind of weak. when she says mine, i feel like a thief. when it gets hard, you really find out who you are, and what you’ve got, and what you’re not. you go to sleep; all you can hope for is one good dream. you go to sleep; you hope for one good dream. you’ve got my number, you’ve got my name. you get in line, but can’t get in the game. you come so close, but end up just the same. you come so close, you got yourself to blame. you think you’ve got big shoes to fill; i don’t mind if i do, i think i will. well, life passes you by if you stand still, and you can barely catch the eye of the man you want to kill.

credits

released June 1, 2008

John Magee - singing, playing, programming, recording
Jamie Griffith - bass
Joby DeCoster - drums, background vocals

with Tim Obetz, Kevin Belz, Shawn Byrne, Tad Overbaugh, Alicia Maher, Steve Scott

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The Scrimshanders Boston, Massachusetts

The Scrimshanders came out of Jamaica Plain, MA in 1998. John Magee, Tom Baker, Jamie Griffith and Kevin Scollan grabbed a case or two of Buds and a bag of songs one night; the rest is history. Ace pedal steelman Tim Obetz lent a regular hand. Joby DeCoster took over from Scollan on drums in the early going, and "Longneck" was born.

It took 9 years for the followup to appear. Will there be more?
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