Funny what you think of after a collapse While lying in the dirt the first thing that comes back is never quite what you'd have guessed And if you could have, you probably would've said you'd check if all your limbs were intact still and then try to get out
We played house with the neighbors in their basement Sister made me husband she was older so I did her bidding I remember once their dad came in said, "You think this is bad? You don't know the half." And he laughed.
It's funny what things come back The first things you see
How he sort of smiled like it's only a joke but he was lying There was something else inside of his eyes All those secrets people tell to little children Are warnings that they give them Like, "Look, I'm unhappy. Please don't make the same mistake as me."
Why are those old worn out jokes on married life told at toasts at receptions still? How does it never occur how often couples get burned and end uncertain in Splitsville?
Funny what you think of in the wreckage, lying there in the dirt and the dust and the glass How you're suddenly somewhere, in the desert, in the nighttime, and it's getting close to Christmas And then her and that movie voice she uses when she reads, "Welcome to the Land of Enchantment" from a highway sign And it's late so you take the next exit
When that trip ended we came back the rent was due I was jobless I guess in retrospect I should've sensed decay Then that day, how you said, "I just don't know" and I promised We'd rearrange things to fix the mess I'd made here
But I guess in the end we just moved furniture around 3X
But I guess in the end it sort of feels like every day it's harder to stay happy where you are There are all these ways to look through the fence into your neighbor's yard Why even risk it? It's safer to stay distant When it's so hard now to just be content Because there's always something else
Now I'm proposing my own toast, composing my own joke for those married men Maybe I'm miserable, I'd rather run for mayor in Splitsville than suffer your jokes again
For Mayor in Splitsville Lyrics
By La Dispute
Funny what you think of after a collapse While lying in the dirt the first thing that comes back is never quite what you'd have guessed And if you could have, you probably would've said you'd check if all your limbs were intact still and then try to get out
We played house with the neighbors in their basement Sister made me husband she was older so I did her bidding I remember once their dad came in said, "You think this is bad? You don't know the half." And he laughed.
It's funny what things come back The first things you see
How he sort of smiled like it's only a joke but he was lying There was something else inside of his eyes All those secrets people tell to little children Are warnings that they give them Like, "Look, I'm unhappy. Please don't make the same mistake as me."
Why are those old worn out jokes on married life told at toasts at receptions still? How does it never occur how often couples get burned and end uncertain in Splitsville?
Funny what you think of in the wreckage, lying there in the dirt and the dust and the glass How you're suddenly somewhere, in the desert, in the nighttime, and it's getting close to Christmas And then her and that movie voice she uses when she reads, "Welcome to the Land of Enchantment" from a highway sign And it's late so you take the next exit
When that trip ended we came back the rent was due I was jobless I guess in retrospect I should've sensed decay Then that day, how you said, "I just don't know" and I promised We'd rearrange things to fix the mess I'd made here
But I guess in the end we just moved furniture around 3X
But I guess in the end it sort of feels like every day it's harder to stay happy where you are There are all these ways to look through the fence into your neighbor's yard Why even risk it? It's safer to stay distant When it's so hard now to just be content Because there's always something else
Now I'm proposing my own toast, composing my own joke for those married men Maybe I'm miserable, I'd rather run for mayor in Splitsville than suffer your jokes again
Lyrics
By La Dispute
Drivers out on the bridge Slowing down as they go through a lane shift Wires snap Concrete gives Metal twisting and Everything tumbling
At the end of the work day Stuck in traffic don't feel when the road sways Underneath Concrete gives Metal twisting and Everything tumbling
To their partners and kids Don't suspect anything till the bridge splits Wires snap Concrete gives Metal twisting and Everything tumbling Down
Where I sat I saw brake lights flash And I pictured them: all the people, their faces in free fall, the water beneath I pushed my palms against the table hard to see if it hurt Were it glass would I have shattered it? Could I battle every impulse to panic and then win Swim out through the metal twisting upward like a sculpture Or some terrible beast?
People trapped in their cars Put both feet on the glass and then kick hard Water pours in Seatbelts twist River flowing and Everything going down
People under the water line Workers sift through the wreckage of it find Seatbelts stuck Water fills up River flowing and Everything going downstream
On the dining room wall I watched it Play in the reflection of the television The reversal in the mirror hung I could see it all How the dust clouds gather color as they billow out Shades change shifting in the night From the lights atop an ambulance Like a firework's flash then that otherworldly glow In the smoke thrown in the aftermath blows Almost frozen for a moment there I could see it all
Every Dust cloud Shattered glass Billow out On the TV Wires snap and the Concrete gives Metal twists up and onward I can see it all Every Dust cloud Shattered glass Billow out On the TV Wires snap and the Concrete gives in Metal twists up and onward I watch And I can see it all
All the wreckage All the cars piled In the river and The rail yard Metal twists Wires snap Concrete blocks split Dangle from tie rods And metal twists up Wires sway When a breeze blows In the distant Sirens glow I can see it all Where they look for survivors Searchlights float Change the color of smoke clouds And shadows still fall People under the water People trapped in their cars kick and try to get out People still with their seat belts on Pets they had in the back and Car seats
And I watch it on TV lying down here On the floor in the dining room reversed in the mirror Where I know I'm not dreaming now But I know I've been sleeping I just don't know since when I only know that it's light outside I only know that the rent is still late When did they find out the concrete gave? When did they learn that the wires snapped?
