OVER THE MOUNTAIN, ACROSS THE VALLEY AND BACK TO THE STARS
(MATADOR RECORDS, 2006)

Produced by Jennifer O’Connor
Recorded & mixed by Jim Bentley at The Fort, Brooklyn, NY
All songs by Jennifer O’Connor, Truth Love Work Music (ASCAP) Administered by Compositions of Rough Trade Publishing

CENTURY ESTATES

Maybe she’s on her lunch break thinking of you
Or typing words on a screen flashing black and blue
God keeps us guessing and I’ve been guessing hard
There’s hardly a word to screw this hurt
back into the stars

I dream vacations and arguments plucked from a vine
I lost my keys in the vacuum of your worried mind
I can’t move from sleeping and sleeping 
is the way that I move
Over the mountain, across the valley and back to you

Please report me missing to the sheriff of Century Estates
I’m not going to listen and I won’t feign escape
God keeps us guessing and I’ve been guessing hard

Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars
Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - keyboards

DIRTY CITY BLUES

I don't want to breathe if I can't breathe here next to you
I am a middle-aged photographer with nothing left to shoot
I'm going to wipe away the dirt from all these dirty city blues
I'm going to try now I'll try now not to lose

If the microphone is broken I will scream in the street
I will love you like the woodpecker can only love the tree
I feel the wasted afternoon trying to clamp its teeth in me
I'm going to try now I'll try now to be free

Counting backwards from thirty to one
Everything looks perfect in the sun
I can't let you turn away and run
Oh come on now come on baby come on now

I see you sitting on the dock
So young and so carefree
Wrapped up in some summer story
Water covering your feet
Inside a time when I knew you
The same as you knew me
I'm going to try now I'll try now to believe

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals,  electric guitar
Britt Daniel - background vocals
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - keyboards

EXETER, RHODE ISLAND

I’ve driven through every end of the state today
I cross little towns and empty fields just the same
I drop them off at the airport
And make my way back home
I drive through Exeter, Rhode Island all alone

The radio plays a power pop song
it keeps me company like a friend
I travel down 102 South and want
to kiss your mouth again
The song goes “Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ooh-Ah-Ooh-Ah-Oh”
I drive through Exeter Rhode Island all alone.

When I pick up the phone to call you
The line it goes all static and I can’t get through
But it doesn’t matter ‘cause I’m on my way
Oh, I’m on my way home to see you

Then I daydream about a house in this little town
where I could live and grow old
I’ll forget all my prospects and all of the places that 
I have yet to go
I’ll get a job at a yard and maybe a love of my own
I drive through Exeter Rhode Island all alone

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, electric guitar
Britt Daniel - background vocals
Jon Langmead - drums
Len Small - bass
Kendall Meade - keyboards
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

SISTER

N train going home
I am here alone
Night falls on city skin
That's closed off and withering
And I've been thinking of your face
The last time that we embraced
It feeds me while I count stars
From the back of this subway car

Sister, what can I do
Sister, I miss you

And he calls twice a week
Just to hear me speak
And we don't talk about
What's gone or who's left without
And it's a stone's throw to a black flower
It's got me counting every hour
When a phone rings late at night
There's no way it's ever going to be right
Ever again

Sister, what can I do
Sister, I miss you

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic/electric guitar
Jon Langmead - drums
Len Small - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

TODAY

An ocean of longing
I spit out the song and
I laugh with the tide that rolls in goes out
A bookshelf casts shadows
They dance out my window
The kids in the neighborhood scream and shout

Today, today
Today I stop guessing and give you my heart
Today, today
Today is a blessing
You're far and I'm missing you
I can't wait to be with you if only to say
Stay, stay

A puzzle of pieces
Mixed and unequal
I try to make sense of the shapes as they shift
I'm keeping a record
Desires that I can't afford
I hope to receive each one as a gift

Today, today
Today I stop guessing and give you my heart
Today, today
Today is a blessing
You're far and I'm missing you
I can't wait to be with you if only to say
Stay, stay

Put your hand in mine
Just like you do all the time
In a room with the door closed
In a room when we're all alone

If there's a method to madness
And secrets bring sadness
I'll draw up a map we can leave today
Forget all the messes
We'll change our addresses
If there's one thing I know
It's how to run away

Today, today
Today I stop guessing and give you my heart
Today, today
Today is a blessing
You're far and I'm missing you
I can't wait to be with you if only to say
Stay, stay

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar

BULLSHIT MAZE

Let’s take a walk we need to talk
Oh there’s a lot that I’ve been keeping 
to myself for far too long
I know it’s wrong you’re always asking 
what I think and what I thought
and if it ever gets to be too much for me 
Oh yes it does oh yes it does

Let’s have a drink maybe a few
Oh there’s a lot of things I need to say to you
Like why I start and then I stop
Just short of getting to the top
of where I want to really be 
With you or not, maybe just me 

Once in a while I stop
In this bullshit maze that I run
I look at my feet and then 
I look up at the sun
I wonder to myself
If I’m having any fun
And then I run
And start again

I’m out of breath most every day
Can’t stop the racing in my heart or in my brain
I think I’m sick I think I’m well
It’s never that easy to tell
Except for you - you always do
Just stop this shit, that’s what you say
I hear it each and every single day
And you don’t have to say a thing
No you don’t have to say a thing
I can hear, oh I can hear you anyway

Once in a while I stop
In this bullshit maze that I run
I look at my feet and then
I look up at the sun
I wonder to myself
If I’m having any fun
And then I run
And start again

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, percussion
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - background vocals
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

COMPLICATED RHYME

Oh it's a complicated rhyme
A bad transmission on borrowed time
A morning spent on your own
With too much coffee and a telephone
You navigate the lapse
Between what's coming and what has passed
A complicated rhyme
A bumpy ride through space and time

And I want to know what you would do
If I came around and said to you
"We could make everything much easier
We could start over, darling
We could make everything brand new"

Oh there's a price you have to pay
For wanting everything your own way
I pay it every day
And I'm not proud of that anyway
I put in so much time
Breaking down this complicated rhyme
I think I'm losing my mind
And I miss you baby all of the time

And I want to know what you would do
If I came around and said to you
"We could make everything much easier
We could start over, darling
We could make everything brand new"

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - background vocals
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar
Margaret White - violin
Jim Bentley - castanets

I WAS SO WRONG

Shoot me down again I understand
Why you think I lie
Why you think I'm fine
Why you think I tried to destroy our love

Everybody has to find the time to ask themselves
What would really help
And should I really tell
Oh baby I'm sorry
I was so wrong
I was so wrong

You came into my life so suddenly
And I remember your face
like it was yesterday
And it was me you saved
Oh baby I'm sorry
I was so wrong
I was so wrong
I was so wrong

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - keyboards
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

TURN IT DOWN

When your nerves are shot
And you jump at every sound
And you know what it is
But you can't just turn it down
You ask for clarity
As you try to light a match
And your mind goes dark
Waiting for the flame to catch
You feel so strange
Like your head's up in the clouds
And you'd break your back
Just to hear her say out loud

"Oh it's okay
I know why you had to go away
And I hate you most of the time
But I'll try to forgive you anyway
Yes I'll try to forgive you anyway"

When the day drops in
And you're still on last night
You can tell yourself it's cool
But you know it ain't alright
Because you're looking for something
You know you'll never find
It happens every day
And you always change your mind
Like your mind's a thing
That you ever could control
And you watched me trip into every single hole

But hey, it's okay
You know why I had to go away
And you hate me most of the time
But you'll try to forgive me anyway
You'll try to forgive me anyway

Oh please just tell me how to
'Cause I don't know how to be on my own

Oh it's been keeping me up
And when I sleep you're in my dreams
And it's always really strange
And I don't know what it means
I hate myself because I know
Why it went wrong
And it breaks my heart
Like a beautiful, sad song
The kind you hear
When you think you've finally found
The way to block it all out
But you can't just turn it down

Oh baby, please say
"I know why you had to go away
And I hate you most of the time
But I'll try to forgive you anyway
Yes I'll try to forgive you anyway
Oh I'll try to forgive you today"

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, electric guitar, distoro wurlitzer, maracas
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - background vocals
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

PERFECT MATCH

Here's a story that you never can erase
And everyone is looking at your dirty face
Do yourself a favor
Just get out of this place

I've got half a mind to show up where I should not be
The other half knows that you're just plain fucking with me
I'm a glutton for punishment
And baby you're so empty

And I think that makes us
A perfect match
I've got that same itch
It never helps to scratch

Here's a problem that you never seem to fix
I see you reaching for your same old bag of tricks
Oh you strip down naked
Waiting for that crucifix

And I could track you down like everyone before
Make you love me then show myself the door
It's so easy going in
When you know the final score

And I think that makes us
A perfect match
I've got that same itch
It never helps to scratch

And I wonder what would happen if I
I just let go
I wonder what would happen if I
I told you no
No-o-o-o-o

There's a reason that we're sitting here again
Talking about the same things we did way back then
You could be anyone
As long as you don't let me in

And I think that makes us
A perfect match
I've got that same itch
It never helps to scratch

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass
Kendall Meade - wurlitzer
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

TONIGHT WE RIDE

Tonight we ride, aim high
Shoot the bright lights right out of the sky
Patchwork quilts below cover everything
like ice and snow

And baby we'll get so high
I hope we never come down
This is where I want to stay
I think we should live here
Way up in the stratosphere
Every minute of every day
Oh I want to stay

Tonight's the night and we know
This is not happenstance
Oh this is an overthrow!
The kingdom failed and they lied
So we must seize their power
And climb right back inside

And baby we'll get so high
I hope we never come down
Oh this is where I want to stay
I think we should live here
Way up in the stratosphere
Every minute of every day
Oh I wanna stay

Tonight we ride, aim high
Shoot the bright lights right out of the sky
Patchwork quilts below cover everything
like ice and snow

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar
Jon Langmead - drums
James McNew - bass

I’LL BRING YOU HOME

I believe in every word that you have spoken
And I’ve been a witness to all the hearts you’ve broken
And I sat up with you all night drinking and smoking
And I just can’t believe this you must be joking

I’ll pick you up when you fall down
I know the way to our hometown
And I think you’re lost
Come on I’ll bring you home
Come on let’s go

There’s people hurting people everywhere I turn and it makes me cry
I watched you sleeping in your bed so sick you couldn’t even say goodbye
And if she’s watching us like I think she does
I hope she sees how hard we tried
To be like parts of her so different but so perfectly aligned

And I’ll pick you up when you fall down
I know the way to our hometown
And I think you’re lost
Come on Ill bring you home
Come on let’s go

I like to remember
All those summers
Green hills and the dogs
Moving cars and open windows
lakes and trees and farms
We were never going far

Maybe one day all of this will make sense to me and you
Until then we just keep on doing all the things we always do
I just hope you know how much I care
I just hope you know

I’ll pick you up when you fall down
I know the way to our hometown
And I think you’re lost
Come on I’ll bring you home
Come on let’s go

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, bass
Jon Langmead - drums
Kendall Meade - background vocals, wurlitzer
Margaret White - background vocals
Vinnie Scorziello - background vocals
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar
Singers on final chorus: Ben Morrison, Tory Harris, Matthew Carlin, Clay Andrews, Dave Levin, Debora Francis, Margaret White, Clint Asay, Bill Johnson, Rachel McIntosh, Max Low, Kendall Meade, Lucy Hurst, Matt McDonald, Cami Boyd, James Botha, Sandro Olivieri, Sam Brown, Andy Snyder, Sonny Aronson, Arabella Kauffman

THE COLOR AND THE LIGHT
(RED PANDA RECORDS, 2005)

Produced, recorded & mixed by Al Weatherhead at Sound of Music & Al’s House, Richmond, VA
All songs by Jennifer O’Connor, Truth Love Work Music (ASCAP) Administered by Compositions of Rough Trade Publishing

BEG OR BORROW DAYS

I’m going to find myself a brand new skin
Make myself a heroine
Climb up from the depths of sin
Again again again

I’m going to walk ‘til I can’t feel my feet
Up and down this narrow street
I’ll make big plans while I’m asleep
Then I’ll watch them all come true

‘Cause I’ve changed my ways
And I won’t go back to beg or borrow days
I’ve changed my ways
And I know that everything will be ok

Not going to listen to your bad advice
I’ve got no time left for sacrifice
I won’t smile pretty I won’t play nice
For you or anyone

I’m going to drink black coffee all night long
Until I write the perfect song
I won’t give up if chords are wrong
And words don’t fit or rhyme

‘Cause I’ve changed my ways
And I won’t go back to beg or borrow days
I’ve changed my ways
And I know that everything will be ok
I know where going to find our way
And it really doesn’t matter what you say

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

DRIVING THROUGH

Your feeling so sentimental
Passing the parking lots and frozen lakes
In your hometown
Where there’s no one there to
Keep you from making the same mistakes

You’ve been driving all day with the sun in your eyes
Living dead people’s former lives
You ask them but they do not reply

But sometime’s they speak to you through songs
And you have got the radio turned on
They’re singing hallelujah, hallelu
Oh I love you, I love you
hallelujah, hallelu
But is this the best you can do
Is this the best you can do

The DJ is playing all of American Water today
It helps a little driving through the places where you used to stay
The one with the long driveway
The one with the big red gate
The one you left that final fateful day

Here it comes that perfect song
The one where people go and then they’re gone

I know you’d love me anyway
I know you’d love me anyway
But I want to do better for you
I want to do better in every way

Then I can go back and smile at all I see
I’d go back and I will smile at everything
And it will be so easy on me
It will be so easy on everybody

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, electric guitar
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar, keyboards

THE COLOR AND THE LIGHT

When I asked you the way out of here
You told me that nothing you could say
would make me disappear
And I guess I knew that you were right
So we had a drink and then a fight
It lasted the better part of the night

I told you that I wanted to be like
The color and the light
Filling up everything with
the brightest kind of bright
You just smiled at me the way you do
When you don't want to break my heart in two
And I keep looking back to you

If we take three steps forward and then a couple back
We’ll still be ahead of the game Ii not quite on track
Color fades and light does bend
but you will always be my friend
Until the bitter end

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

HOLE IN THE ROAD

There's a hole in the road
I forget every time
And the impact it shocks me
Right out of my mind
When I'm thinking of you
And the way that you left
Leaving all of us wishing
We had taken that step
And said hello, said we cared
Hadn't been frozen scared
By a beauty so painful
And so underprepared to endure

And if your memory had a timeline
I'd know right where to begin
Driving down that road in Georgia
When the first chords started in
They hit me like an arrow
A ray of light from the sun
And I didn't know I was a target
'Til you made me feel like one
And I was hit in the heart
A bright blue shot in the dark
And I knew right then what I had to end
And what I had to start

It's only been one week
Who knows how many will follow
I can only hope that the air in this room
Becomes a little bit easier to swallow
Maybe tomorrow

There's a hole in the road
And I guess I'm not surprised
Even though I thought they'd fixed it
Since the last time we drove by
But you can never be too careful
Keep your eyes open wide
And maybe next time you'll remember to
Remember every time
And I hope that you're okay
And I'm sorry that you couldn't stay
And if I ever have the chance again
I'll know exactly what to say

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar, keyboards

SAVED

Tears well up inside a dream
A picture that I’ve never seen
In waking life
It’s you and he and a guitar
Shining like the northern star

And I know that I’m saved
I know that I’m saved

Four years passed the dreams still come
But I no longer hide or run into the light
Just keep my eyes closed tight to see
Everything you are to me

And I know that I’m saved
I know that I’m saved
Oh by you
Your truth
And I don’t need any kind of proof

The summer knows no sympathy
Its heat it won’t relinquish me
From that day
Life and death a brittle mess
That won’t let go or let me rest
And I know that I’m saved

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar
Al Weatherhead - strings, keyboards

YER COPOUT

There’s a million ways to get lost and never find your out
A million ways to get water wtihin an August drought
If you don’t have the wherewithal to figure that one out
You’d better give it up right now
And settle in with your copout

Oh these times are really tough
There is pain and there is sorrow
There’s always time to lend
And there is money you can borrow
So why do today what you can always do tomorrow
Let someone else put their foot forward
You will follow
Today

And if tomorrow is the sun
We are stuck here on the moon
And there is nobody around who’s gonna make you leave this room
And you don’t want to go
You don’t want to go
Because you don’t want to know

There’s a million ways to get lost and never find your way out
When the things you do say nothing to
Define what your about
The devil’s got his hooks in you
You’re his without a doubt
You’d better give it up right now
And settle in with your copout

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar, keyboards

READY TO GO

If you want to push me, I think I’m ready to go
If you want to blame me, I think I’m ready to know
What you really think of me
What you really want to see and don’t

If you want to hurt me, I think I’m ready for pain
If you want to shame me, it’s a pretty easy game
All you have to do is say, what you really want to say
And don’t

And if you want to get through to me
I think the time is coming soon
Oh I can feel the opening
I can feel the opening in me

And if you want to trust me but just don’t think that you can
If you want to fix me, go ahead we’ll make a plan
I know what you want to say, I know what you need to say and don’t

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic, glockenspiel
Al Weatherhead - keyboards, guitars

WHY DON’T YOU DO

Why don’t you do the thing you’ve been talking about today
You’ve got seven hours left before we fly away
And I’ll pack your bags while you work
And I will hold your hand on the plane
And then I’ll watch you write the same lines
Over and over again just to keep your mind sane

Why don’t you do the thing you’ve been talking about
For so long
Why don’t you do it today
Why don’t you do it today

We’re all here for you and we all love you
We’re all here for you and we all know why you do what you do

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar, keyboards

MILLION DOLLAR SMILE

Million dollar smile where are you now
I’ve got a couple thousand in my mouth
But you are you are so mean and trouble grey
You are so mean and trouble

Always the perfect to the perfect day
My car break down you pick me up on your way
But you are you are so mean and trouble grey
You are so mean and trouble

You are talking
You are moving so slow
There is nothing more to learn from you
You told it all

Million dollar smile where are you now
I keep a photograph of you in my crown
But you are you are so mean and trouble grey
You are you are so mean and trouble

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, piano
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar, keyboards

The Thought Of You

I wrote a letter to you today
You’ll never get it ‘cause I threw it away
I asked forgiveness for trying to make you stay
But I knew you didn’t want to go
But it was still wrong this I know

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen your face
I kind of hope that we never get to that place
I like to think that we are running our own race
In some kind of parallel divide
The kind that real life can’t provide
But I will always think you lied

And this is how I think of you
When I’m alone in a stranger’s room
In a southern town we once drove through
So many years ago
So I just thought I wouldn’t let you know

I wrote a letter there was so much to say
I wrote in circles until the words became a game to play
I guess I knew that it would never reach you anyway
Because my love never was for you
But just for something that I thought you knew
About how winners sometimes lose
And losers never really have to choose

That was never quite so clear
As when you’d come and then just disappear
You are still my biggest fear
And I have got a few
But nothing scares me like you do
No nothing scares me like the thought of you

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar

HOPEFUL

There’s a light through the window
In our living room and it makes me smile
And you are sleeping in the bedroom
And I’m still half asleep myself
It is early in the morning and it’s your day off
but I’ve gotta go
And I wish that I could stay here with you all day

Pretty soon the stars and moon
Will come back and bring the night
Pretty soon we’ll sing a tune
That will make the day feel all right
We are hopeful
Full of hope tonight

I’ve got this friend that I see sometimes
Not as much as I’d really like
We used to hang around and play our songs
Until they played themselves

I know it’s useless to discriminate
Between the things you love
And the things you hate
It doesn’t get you any closer
To what you really want

So I tell my friend I loved him then
And I love him even more today
It feels good just having said
The thing that I want to say
I’m so grateful
’Cause I know that’s the only way

Pretty soon the stars and moon
Will come back and bring the night
Pretty soon we’ll sing a tune
That will make the day feel all right
We are hopeful
Full of hope tonight

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar
Miguel Urbiztondo - drums
John Daniels - bass
Al Weatherhead - electric guitar

JENNIFER O’CONNOR
(KIAM RECORDS 2002)

Produced by Jennifer O’Connor
Recorded & mixed by Ken Faulkenberry at AudioLab Studios, Tampa, FL
All songs by Jennifer O’Connor, Truth Love Work Music (ASCAP) Administered by Compositions of Rough Trade Publishing

BLESSED THE HAND

Oh blessed the hand
We have been good
And we understand
That everyday sun can matter to none
if rain is our pride

Oh Mari my god
We have been still
But we have too lied
The Sampsonite dread
The things that were said
the memory that died

I don't want to be a false hope to thee
I want you stay
and see how I know I can turn out to be

Oh let it all go
Something so sweet
For something so slow
The difference is now
The hands of my clothes
The covers and sand
That each of us know
The letter unsent
And the shaking regret
Of having not tried

I don't want to be a false hope to thee
I want you to stay
and see how I know I can turn out to be

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars

YOU DID

Take your photographs
and don't say you'll be back
‘cause I know I know you won't
It's a little thing I learned last time
oh last time we met
Last time I did not forget

I've been counting off the ways
on dirty fingers all day
And I keep glancing up the stairs
every oh every chance I get

Last time I did not forget
But you did

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitars

SISTER

N train going home
I am here alone
Night falls on city skin
That's closed off and withering
And I've been thinking of your face
The last time that we embraced
It feeds me while I count stars
From the back of this subway car

Sister, what can I do
Sister, I miss you

And he calls twice a week
Just to hear me speak
And we don't talk about
What's gone or who's left without
And it's a stone's throw to a black flower
It's got me counting every hour
When a phone rings late at night
There's no way it's ever going to be right
Ever again

Sister, what can I do
Sister, I miss you

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar

PINK FLORIDA

Pink sun I'm done
I won't come here again
I am so tired
I slept for 12 hours last night

Your hands soothe the hardest parts
The pink remove that mends the studied art

Sunscreen fails me
I'm as pink as a candy
I love some things
Some things break and tear me

Your hands soothe the hardest parts
The pink remove that mends the studied art

Pink Florida
Pink Florida

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel

ANNIE

Well I tried but I lied to you
I don't need a lot of answers
I don't take a lot of chances it’s true

2 years back from the farm
A city life that's doing me harm
A job and a train and folks who don't know my name
This city's got me blue

Annie can't you see
that we have been down this road before
With all the shaded dances
and all the failed romances in store
Where every day is the same
Feelings that we fail to name
Annie we can do it cause baby we have done it
Oh we've done it before

Annie I've got your best wishes in my back pocket forevermore
And a hope that doesn't falter
no matter what's to come or has before

This could be our reason
as good as any reason can get
This could mean the freedom
to do what we have not done yet
It couldn't be any clearer
Oh baby won't you look in the mirror
Nothing's gonna change until we cannot stay the same
and yes it's for the better

Annie I've got your best wishes in my back pocket forevermore
And a hope that doesn't falter no matter what's to come or has before

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar

SPIDERS AND HANDGRENADES

Take my hand
We're getting out of here
We can hide
From those people who want our lives
I wanted to be with you
And that's the truth

I'm not afraid of spiders or handgrenades
I've lost my fear
And I will call all your bluffs my dear
Cause i wanted to be with you
and that's the truth

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar

PERFECTION IS NOT AN ACCIDENT

She said shoot me twice I won’t die the first time
I’m resilient and full of pride
I don't believe in bullets and bad bad dreams
I am not what you think you see

Oh I will say goodbye
But I won't say you're out of my mind
I know that my will just won't
my will just won't survive

It takes practice to be perfect in every way
I know that is what you would say
And I see that you're right about most every thing
You are practically shimmering

Oh I will say goodbye
But I won't say you're out of my mind
I know that my will just won't
my will just won't survive

Take me back to my bed where I feel safe and warm
I don't know what to do today
Oh there's no time and too much time at the same
I have lost my ability

Oh I will say goodbye
But I won't say you're out of my mind
I know that my will just won't
my will just won't survive

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar

BEGGAR’S CUP

Flu-ridden days
Sleep past my stop
Can't say enough about what you've got
And I feel lonely today
But nothing is wrong
I guess I'm ok about where I stand

I know the shake of your beggar's cup
I recognize the sound of you giving up
I can hear it Oh i hear it
I hear it from two towns away

We wake every day as if we are frozen to death
And I can't say I blame you for being upset
With the ways and the means
of all these days in between
But it don't matter much now
Do you know what I mean

I know the shake of your beggar's cup
I recognize the sound of you giving up
I can hear it Oh I hear it
I hear it from two towns away

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, keyboards

FALLING TOWERS


Jump first and don't ask questions
First place to all who come
This is the town of futures
We hear the starting gun

We don't pray to a higher power
We just watch out for falling towers

Your song that keeps me holy
The greatest love of all
I miss the ceremony
Of every spring and fall

We don't pray to a higher power
We just watch out for falling towers

Jump first and don't ask questions
First place to all who come
This is the town of futures
We hear the starting gun

Kim Reinhardt - spoken word intro
Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic, keyboard

WINTER SONG

Could this be the last snow of the season
Or just another very good reason to stay indoors
Keeping score
Of what I want less in my life and what I want more

I guess I could call you up and
tell you all my thoughts about our biggest mistakes
The second-hand breaks of a girl who don't know what she wants and then cries when its fake

But you know I won't let go
Until you say I should
You know I steal the show
Just so you can see me shine

It's cold and it's getting colder but
You should know that I'm getting older and
I'm really all right
If just for tonight
The view of the world that you hold in your heart
It's a beautiful sight

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic & electric guitar

WHAT IF I’M RIGHT

I've left so many times
it's hard for me to find a place I can call home
I've done it with my love and I've done it with no one that I could call my own
Each time it is the same
I find that nothing's really changed
Nothing you can show
It's the itch you cannot scratch
The burning of the lack
Everywhere you go

What if I am right
What if I am true
What if it is not enough for you

Did I leave it far behind on the New York subway line or in her lover's hair
Will I find it on the shore in this southern city bore I hardly recognize
Cause I've seen it in his eyes and in the long goodbyes from here to falling rock
Oh I know that it won't quit
that we won't hear the end of it
until the day we die

What if I am right
What if I am true
And what if it is not enough for you

So give it all you've got love
Don't look to what you had
I think that you will find love
It's not so bad

Jennifer O’Connor - vocals, acoustic guitar & keyboard & melodica