Ideology/Casualty

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Lyrics

Figs

Don’t you people realize all the things I did? / I always spoke so kindly, I never ran and hid, 
I never flew old Dixie’s flag, I always told those folks I thought it in poor taste
I yelled at my TV in a moral, just outrage /cried for all their pain in a truly saintly way 
I said “people need to change” as I shook my head in my new living room 

So how can you now tell me that I will go to hell?/I helped my fellow man, and I always did it well 
I voted for that nice black man, I was a modern Whig / ah, master it was not the time for figs 

And now you’re trying tell me that the blood is on my suit? / but what else could I have done? it’s not like I put on the boot
And you know, I know I was no MLK, but you know I never wore no pointed hat. 
Can it really be my fault that things were the way they were? / What should I have done instead, what pot should I have stirred? 
Ask anyone who knew me if I ever said a single hateful slur. 

So how can you now tell me that I will go to hell? / I know I wasn’t perfect but I tried my best as well 
I mostly acted kindly, I just once or twice reneged / oh, master it was not the time for figs 


With my last breath spent I open my eyes 
See fire all around me, oh what a surprise for me to find; how did things end up like this? 

and Oh God, please don’t tell me that he’ll sit next to me/with No hope of me moving; for all eternity 
I mean, it’s nothing against him personally, but isn’t there a whiter circle here? 
I Thought that there’d be more of them here, but I only see a few/you mean to say I’m down here suffering and they’re up there with you? 
well, if his kind sits in heaven, then I guess it’s just as good I stay down here. 

but how can you now tell me that I will go to hell?/ I know I wasn’t perfect but I tried my best as well 
yes, I’ve only got the leaves of my undeveloped sprigs, but master it was not the time, no not the time for figs 
And how can you now tell me that I must stay in hell? / well, I know this ain’t a place where I deserve to dwell 
Yes, I know I should have more than these poor malnourished twigs / but, master it was not the time for figs

Autumn Waltz (sans Fall)

Deciduous evergreen canopy over me / makes me regret my decisions in life 
Now I see colors mean something quite int’resting / Even more than I gave ‘em credit for before 

Caramel apples and mugs full of cider / crisp days and crisp leaves but still warmth from the sun 
Garrison Keillor as I’m waiting to meet her / tells me the news from Lake Wobegon 

The autumn of life are the best years they say and I / think that it’s true of the season as well 
So enjoy it right now for me, soak it up and I’ll be / joining you soon for an autumn again 

1 2 3 follow me as we glide easily / to soft overtures you can hear on the breeze 
Metered by the swaying of half-naked maple trees / a crushing of leaves shuffling under our feet 

We waltz through the woods with the leaves tumbling round us / As the breeze bites our noses you say 
“Stop here and look at the colors around us / God pulled out his paintbrush today” 

As we sit in the leaves we start to reminisce / ‘bout Octobers that passed years ago 
The pies that we baked and the forts we would make / crawl inside and do nothing at all 

We wander back home with a waltz in our soul / it’s a dance that the leaves have inspired 
It’s quarter past eight and you’re going to be late / it’s time to let you go after all 

Please understand as I let go your hand / it doesn’t mean it doesn’t mean much to me 
But colors must change and they won’t stay the same / an evergreen in autumn feels false

Callused

I hope your days are all filled up with love

That you give and you give and it’s never enough 
I hope you toil all your earthly life through 
And I know it’s not what a father might normally do 

I hope your hands’ll get callused, but your heart never will 
You’ll live til you’re broken and give til you’re filled 
When your days reach their end may you be able to say 
That you gave every one away 


May your faith never fail, may you always be strong 
And may you never omit to admit when you’re wrong 
Don’t think that you’re better, don’t let yourself hate 
But don’t forget that you’re born to be great 

And may you never forget your mother loves you 
Always remember the warmth of her kiss 
And when you grow up and have your own children 
May you always remember this: 

Know that each day may be worse than the last 
Know that whatever it is, it may not soon pass, 
But be sure of one thing that I’ll tell you is true 
I’d live and I’d die, 
I’d give my left eye, 
and I’m sure gonna try for you

Something Beautiful

Oh my feet they keep wandering, listlessly, endlessly / 
treading on paths that they don’t have a right to be 
Trampling under their weight with every foot/fall that keeps hitting the ground 
And my hands they keep fiddling, mindlessly whittling 
Away all the wood they can get their long fingers on 
Desperate to form something worthy of someone at all 

Oh but my heart it is pounding and echo’ing inside of my head as it hopes it will beat out a rhythm worth Living to, list’ning to, breathing to, dreaming to; Anything worthy of anything more than itself 

Oh my tongue is still babbling, fruitlessly prattling a/Shower of sentences, windfalls of words that itPrays can communicate something instead of betraying its idiot mind 
And my eyes always watching the wrong intersection of 
Lives that are lived and that surely could give me a 
Picture of life that is one that’s worth living instead of worth wasting away 

Oh but my heart, gets carried away…and my mind, gets carried away 
Oh and I lose myself in the rhythm guiding the music in my mind 
I lose myself in the rhythm guiding the music in my heart 
Yes just lose yourself in the rhythm guiding the music in your mind 
Go on and lose yourself in the rhythm guiding the music in your heart 

Oh my heart it keeps wishing that it would be trusted /It keeps sending messages telling my mind that it 
Knows what it’s doing, it’s made for this purpose it has its own wisdom as well 
But my mind it stays skeptical how can it trust such a muscle as that one how can it have wisdom it Doesn’t have reason to guide anymore than a blind shepherd tending the blind 

Oh but my heart it is pounding and echo’ing inside of my head as it hopes it will beat out a rhythm worth 
Living to, list’ning to, breathing to, dreaming to; Anything worthy of anything more than a 
Trite imitation of melodies ever repeating themselves as they’re spiraling downwards 
Amongst all the noise that is constantly pulling the song in our hearts that should rise to the heavens 
And Cry hallelujah! and glory to God, oh my God won’t you take it and make something beautiful now

Will You Love Me?

I’ll be so careful when I cut all the hair / flowing out of your ears, though it’s one of my fears 
To cut your toenails tough as fierce dragon scales / that could disembowel me or shatter a jowl 
Gently I’ll hold all the free flowing rolls of the / fat that will fall from you, scraping the wall that you’ll 
Have to expand when you can’t reach your hand / to your feet anymore, say goodbye to the door 

Will you still love me when I am so ugly that / people will stare and they won’t even care 
They’re breaking a rule and they look like a fool / but it’s worth it to see me 
Widows will pray and strong men run away / when they see my face in a public place 
Babies will cry and young girls want to die / will you love me still? 

I’ll clean your dentures when we’re on adventures / in far off lands, holding hands 
In spite of bad weather, we’ll stick together / though storms swarm and warn us to warm ourselves 
I’ll change your diaper and clean you and wipe yer / behind if I must and I won’t make a fuss 
I’ll pull up your pants if you don’t have the chance / cause you can’t use your hips or they’ve gone on the fritz… 
Will you still love me when I am so ugly / that mirrors will break, was it a mistake 
The first time you met me and will you regret the / first time that we kissed? 
Widows will pray and strong men run away / when they see my face in a public place 
Babies will cry and young girls want to die / will you love me still? 

I’ll sponge your armpit in spite of the harm it / might do to my eyes, and I won’t criticize 
The strange smell of your toes when I have to scrub those / to massage the bunion that smells like an 
onion 
I’ll wipe up the spittle that surely will riddle / all of your clothes as your spit control slows 
But I’ll kiss your cracked lips and hold your weary hips / close to me as I sing your sweet melody 

Yes, I’ll still love you when you’re old and can’t run to / me anymore, and I still will adore 
The way that you smile or just stare for a while / ‘cause who needs to always talk anyway? 
Yes, I’ll still love you even when I’m sick of you / and think I might go for a minute or so 
But I’ll never leave you, it’s something I can’t do / we’ll stay and be withered together