Archive for the ‘Barenaked Ladies’ Category

Who Needs Sleep?

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

Now I lay me down not to sleep
I just get tangled in the sheets
I swim in sweat three inches deep
I just lay back and claim defeat

Chapter read and lesson learned
I turned the lights off while she burned
So while she’s three hundred degrees
I throw the sheets off and I freeze

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won’t sleep
I countdown, I look around

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

My hands are locked up tight in fists
My mind is racing filled with lists
of things to do and things I’ve done
Another sleepless night’s begun

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won’t sleep
I countdown, I look around

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

There’s so much joy in life,
so many pleasures all around
But the pleasure of insomnia
is one I’ve never found
With all life has to offer,
There’s so much to be enjoyed
But the pleasures of insomnia
are ones I can’t avoid

Lids down, I count sheep
I count heartbeats
The only thing that counts is
that I won’t sleep
I countdown, I look around

Hala Hala Hala…

Who needs sleep?
(well you’re never gonna get it)
Who needs sleep?
(tell me what’s that for)
Who needs sleep?
(be happy with what you’re getting
There’s a guy who’s been awake
since the Second World War)

When You Dream

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

With life just begun, my sleeping new son
has eyes that roll back in his head
They flutter and dart, he slows down his heart
and pictures a world past his bed
It’s hard to believe
As I watch you breathe
Your mind drifts and weaves

When you dream,
what do you dream about?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
Do you dream about
music or mathematics
or planets too far for the eye?
Do you dream about
Jesus or quantum mechanics
or angels who sing lullabies?

His fontanelle pulses with lives that he’s lived
With memories he’ll learn to ignore
And when it is closed, he already knows
he’s forgotten all he knew before
But when sleep sets in
history begins
But the future will win

When you dream,
what do you dream about?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
Are they colour or black and white,
Yiddish or English
or languages not yet conceived?
Are they silent or boisterous?
Do you hear noises just
loud enough to be perceived?
Do you hear Del Shannon’s “Runaway” playing
on transistor radio waves?
With so little experience,
your mind not yet cognizant
Are you wise beyond your few days?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?

The Old Apartment

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

Broke into the old apartment
This is where we used to live
Broken glass, broke and hungry,
Broken hearts and broken bones
This is where we used to live

Why did you paint the walls?
Why did you clean the floor?
Why did you plaster over
The hole I punched in the door?
This is where we used to live

Why did you keep the mousetrap?
Why did you keep the dish rack?
These things used to be mine
I guess they still are, I want ?em back

Broke into the old apartment
Forty-two stairs from the street
Crooked landing, crooked landlord
Narrow laneway filled with crooks
This is where we used to live

Why did they pave the lawn?
Why did they change the lock?
Why did I have to break in?
I only came here to talk
But this is where we used to live

How is the neighbour downstairs?
How is her temper this year?
I turned up your TV
And stomped on the floor just for fun

I know we don?t live here anymore
We bought an old house on the Danforth
She loves me and her body keeps me warm
I am happy here
This is where we used to live

Broke into the old apartment
Tore the phone out of the wall
Only memories, fading memories
Blending into dull tableaux

I want them back
I want them back
But this is where we used to live
I want them back
This is where we used to live
I want them back
But this is where we used to live
I want them back

Shoe Box

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

A key in the door, a step on the floor
A note on the table, and a meal in the micro
Note says “I’m in bed, please make sure that you’re fed
if you’re taking a shower, you can borrow my bathrobe
When I’m asleep I dream you move in next week”
I crumple the note and save it to put inside

My shoe box
Shoe box of lies
Shoe box
Shoe box of lies

it’s under my bed, it’s never been read
it’s in with my school stuff and my mom never cleans there
From my first little fib, when I still wore a bib
To my latest attempt at pretending I’m someone
Who’s not seventeen, doesn’t know what you mean
When talk turns to single malts, or stilton, or

My shoe box
Shoe box of lies
Shoe box
Shoe box of lies

Did somebody tell you
This is how it’s supposed to be?
Or did you just find it
And you don’t want any more from me?

My shoe box
Shoe box of lies
Shoe box
Shoe box of lies

Was it something I said, or was it something you read
That’s making me think that I should never have come here
I can offer you lies, I can tell you good-bye.
I can tell you I’m sorry, But I can’t tell you the truth, dear
And what if I could — would it do any good?
You’ll still never get to see the contents of

My shoe box
Shoe box of lies
Shoe box
Shoe box of lies

You’re so nineteen-ninety
And it’s nineteen-ninety-four
Leave this world behind me
‘Cause you don’t want me anymore.

Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006

Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open our eyes
One minute you’re waiting for the sky to fall
The next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This fragrant skin this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste

Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you’re made to feel as if your love’s a crime
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

We were lovers in a dangerous time
We were lovers in a dangerous time