Nothing You Can Do About It

All songs written by Joe Dickinson

Well there's people out there somewhere

You can't see 'em with your eyes

They're tired and sick and hungry

And they're more dead then alive

Deep down you want to help 'em

But you're barely getting by

You know you want a better world

But you're too afraid to try

There's nothing you can do about it

You tell yourself that that's just the way things go

There's nothing you can do about it

You tell yourself it don't hurt if I don't know

There's a difference between who you want to be

And who you are

Well there's winners and there's losers

And there's those that never try

There's those that brave the weather

And there are those that sit and cry

The end and the beginning

Never meant to coincide

The truth will never be revealed

It'll find a way to hide

There's nothing you can do about it

You tell yourself that that's just the way things go

There's nothing you can do about it

You tell yourself it don't hurt if I don't know

There's a difference between who you want to be

And who you are

And the wish ones know

You can only go so far

Well the worry and the fury

And the neverending pry

Will weigh and stay and prey on you

Until the day you die

The one eternal circle when you ask the question why

Will haunt and daunt and taunt you

It'll suck your brain right dry

There's nothing you can do about it

You tell yourself that that's just the way things go

There's nothing you can do about it

You tell yourself it don't hurt if I don't know

There's a difference between who you want to be

And who you are

And the wish ones know

You can only go so far

When the human way

Is to always stay

At war

Chester's Apple Suit

Chester's got his apple suit on

Drowning in the purple poison

Stimulation unrelenting

Oh hello

Thank you kindly

Oh hello

Follow blindly

Oh oh oh oh oh

Bees have knees I don't deny this

Pictures have been circulating

Raise your hand if you are special

See you in the cemetery

Oh hello

Kiss your neighbor

Oh hello

Taste the flavor

Oh oh oh oh oh

Stake your claim and sit forever

Solving economic riddles

Paradise is peace and progress

Power is a splitting headache

Oh my god you must be joking

Oh hello

Me is so mad

Oh hello

Come on comrade

Outside forces intermingle

Are you really choosing choices

Thrown into a situation

Where the odds are not in favor

Major items must be missing

Flashlight warehouse inventory

Oh hello

Don't stop giving

Oh hello

Keep on living

Oh oh oh oh oh

Swimming in the clear blue water

In between majestic mountains

Where the sun is always shining

And the sand is always sleeping

Let this be a recognition

Of the disconnected feeling

That I have been known to long for

Oh hello

Isolation

Oh goodbye

Daydream nation

Oh oh oh oh oh

Time and Place

There's a time and a place for everything

It's so hard to say I love you when it counts

You never know

There's a time and a place where everything

Can be cured with a kind word and a smile

It's a place you've seen in all your dreams

Where sadness has been exiled

I want you to go

There's a time and a place

Where the noise gets so loud

You can't think and your hands start to sweat

Where the darkness that you hide

Makes you want to stay inside

And choke everyone that you've met

Let it out let it out let it out

There's a time and a place where everything

Will be revealed, where you'll feel good again

I want you to know

Let it out let it out let it out

Fire in the Firefly Fort

Amen army

Beast with the beauty

Cat's in the cradle

Desolated downtown

Everybody eating

Fire in the firefly fort

Zeus in the zen zone

Young one yearning

X-rated x-ray

Walrus out walking

Veni vidi vici

Fire in the firefly fort

Ghosts in the graveyard

Heatwave haircut

Intense interest

Jackknife joker

Kickback killer

Fire in the firefly fort

Question quota

Radiation radio

Season of the snakebite

Tiptop tiptoe

Unread unrest

Fire in the firefly fort

Look around and listen

Pine tree palace

My kind of moment

Ousting the outline

Now is the new next

Fire in the firefly fort

Logan Square

What do you think about the world outside

Do you think it's messed up

Do you feel like you want to hide

In your black castle

What do you think about the war on drugs

Is it working is it anything at all

And does it really matter

Logan Square

I'll be there

If I'm able

You know it takes a really long time

On the bus for me but I'll be there when I can

You know I like the neighborhood

Pretty much all of my friends live there

Now do you think I'm gonna sit up here

When there's a dance party going on

Logan Square

I'll be there

If I'm able

What do you think about all those fakes

I really think that they want to make a change

They're just so full of shit

And pretty people make bad waves

But they can't touch your heart

If you hide it my friend

Deep underground

Logan Square

I'll be there

If I'm able

Logan Square

I'll be there

If I'm able

My Brain Is Broken, My Mind Is On Fire

I'm a broken record

And I don't know what I'm doing today

I don't know what I'm trying to say

I'm a middle class thief

Disappear if you so desire

Come back when you're feeling tired

My brain is broken

And my my mind is on fire

I'm a typical talker

Run away from another week

Sit around do nothing

Then you sit around and speak

You got a lot of nerve

I got a lot of nerve

To trust myself

I know I'm a liar

Everything that you ever admired

My brain is broken

And my my mind is on fire

I'm a feeling deep down

This is not the place for me

This is not where I wanted to be

I take the good with the bad

And try not to be sad

In too deep waking up on the wire

No man's land and another flat tire

My brain is broken

And my my mind is on fire

My brain is broken

And my my mind is on fire

This Heirloom and This Memory

Sometimes I'm minding my own business

And you see me

And you come along

And you know what you ask me

What's wrong?

Now you know me I'm strong like a tree

Not really

So when someone comes along

And asks me what's wrong

I tend to get a little bit silly

See I falter everyday

I swing and I sway

Up and down

All around

Ping pong ping pong

It's hard you know

To feel the flow

To be positive

To have joie de vivre

To stay strong all day long

So it gets my goat

When you rock my boat

As I'm trying to float and you ask me midnote of a song

What's wrong?

Now by asking that way you force my brain

Against the wall like a porcelain doll

I start to feel small and kind of like all

The world is as scary and tall

As King Kong

I have visions of war, the poor, much much more

The darkness comes to my door

Rings the bell

Ding dong

What's wrong?

Now I'm not denying the bad out there

And I'm not just trying to get you out of my hair

I really truly deeply care

About the fate of people's everywhere

But I am just one lowly human

Do you really expect me to get the broom and

Sweep the darkness under the rug?

Squash the darkness like a bug?

I can do a lot I know

But no matter how fast I try to go

Change moves slow slow slow

So let me simply ask you this

When you ask me what's wrong

What does that fix?

I'd rather focus on the good than the bad

I'd rather think about the happy than the sad

I'd rather be in touch with the love in life

Than concentrate on constant strife

Right?

So next time that you come along

Instead of asking me what's wrong

Ask the question at the end of this song

It'll help us both feel nice and strong and get along

What's not wrong?

The Iron Trees of Wolcott

'Cause we are all

Flowers and garbage

We are all

One and the same

We are all

Flowers and garbage

We are all

Everything

If I'd been born into different conditions

I would have turned out a different way

All it takes is one different decision

One different moment on one different day

'Cause we are all

Flowers and garbage

We are all

One and the same

We are all

Flowers and garbage

We are all

Everything

No one among us has clean hands

No one can claim that they don't play a part

There's no such thing as independence

It doesn't matter who you say you are

'Cause we are all

Flowers and garbage

We are all

One and the same

We are all

Flowers and garbage

We are all

Everything

Try Not to Be Disappointed When

If my heart stops beating

My life will end

Therefore I love my heart

You're not limited to what's inside of you

The sun

My heart

If the sun stops shining

The plants won't grow

Therefore I love the sun

You're not limited to what's inside of you

The sun

My heart

The sun

My heart

If the plants stop growing

The air runs out

Therefore I love the plants

You're not limited to what's inside of you

The sun

My heart

The sun

My heart

Walt Whitman says that a leaf of grass

Is no less than the journeywork of the stars

You are large

You contain multitudes

The sun

My heart

The sun

My heart

The sun

My heart

So Damn Bad

Once upon a time there was a river

Making her way down to the sea

She started as a simple stream of water

She flowed so effortlessly

She began to notice the clouds that lie within her

Shapes and colors and forms

All she wanted was to chase after them

All she wanted was to have one of her own

Well the wind made everything sway

And it blew all the clouds away

The sky was empty as ice

Without clouds the river thought

Life is not worth living

Without clouds the river thought

Why should I be alive

But how can a river die?

That night she had no choice but to stop chasing

She had a chance to chill and check herself out

She realized that she was made out of water

And so were the clouds

The next morning she saw the blue sky for the first

Stable immense and true

She was so focused on the clouds that hung above her head

She never noticed that the sky was there too

Well the clouds came back eventually

But The River didn't chase them or stare

She greeted each cloud with kindness

She remembered that the sky was still there

There and everywhere