American Slang

Look what you started
I seem to be coming out of my skin
And look what you’ve forgotten here
The bandages just don’t keep me in
And when it was over, I woke up alone
And when it was over, I woke up alone

And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
I’ve got your name tatooed inside of my arm
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
And I called for my father, but my father had died
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
While you told me fortunes in American slang

And look at the damage
The fortunes came for the richer men
While we’re left with gallows
Just waiting for us liars to come down and hang
And when it was over, I woke up alone
And when it was over, I woke up alone

And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
I’ve got your name tatooed inside of my arm
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
And I called for my father, but my father had died
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
While you told me fortunes in American slang

And here’s where we died that time last year
And where the angels and devils meet
And you can dance with the queen if you need
And she will always keep your cards close to her heart
So close to her heart
Before they tear you apart

Well they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
I’ve got your name tattooed inside of my arm
And I called for my father, but my father had died
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
And we called for our mothers, but our mothers have died
(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)
And you told us fortunes in American slang
Oh, you told me fortunes in American slang

 

Stay Lucky

It took so long to get me back on my feet
It takes so long to find the words and the beat
And Charlie’s waiting on the end of the phone
To hear you call on him to try to recapture
But them old records won’t be saving your soul
And them feelings died for reasons you know
That you’ve forgotten somewhere
Riding a train to place you bought out in BaCoCa
And it feels like all you’d have to do is step outside
Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment
That might never arrive

But you’re never gonna find it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky

Nothing feels right in the wintery cold
Steam, heat, clang, and the dark at your door
All the other rooms are a party tonight
And you never got an invitation
And you feel in your bones
Steady aching some more
Twenty five years gone just an hour ago
Momma never told me there’d be days like these
Until it was much too late to recover
And it feels like all you’d have to do is step outside
Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment
That might never arrive

But you’re never gonna find it
When your knees got so weak
But it’s right here in case you need it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
When you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky

But it feels like you just might explode inside
You’ve been pacing around and waiting
For some moment that might never arrive at all
What you don’t have, you don’t need it anymore
What you don’t have, you don’t need it anymore

But you’re never gonna find it
When your knees got so weak
And it’s right here in case you need it
Like when you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky
When you were young
And everybody used to call you lucky

If you’re anywhere in Manhattan
In the next eight days or so
Let me know
Speak soon, stay lucky.

 

Bring It On

My queen of the Bronx
Blue eyes and spitfire
I saw you walking back and forth
About another boy
Thinking that you may want to leave

So give me the fevers that just won’t break
And give me the children you don’t want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it’s better than my love
Then bring it on

And take it back out to the streets
Where you know you used to be
For the Romeos uptown
If I bring you down
And you’re tired of those vows
And you’re really walking out

So give me the fevers that just won’t break
And give me the children you don’t want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it’s better than my love
Baby, bring it on
Oh, bring it on

Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home
I’m hearing that he tells you he can read your palms
Is he better than my love
Better than my love
Is he better than my love
Better than my love
So I found the letters with the reasons to things
You’ve been feeling
That he says they’ll never know
And you say the night just got too cold
Well everybody’s cold
Who’s gonna keep my baby warm
Who’s gonna keep my baby warm
When everybody goes

So give me the fevers that just won’t break
And give me the children you don’t want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
If it’s better than my love

Well then wait a minute, wait a minute
Wasn’t I good to you
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Wasn’t I good to you
Wait a minute, wait a minute
You don’t know what’s good for you

So give me the fevers that just won’t break
And give me the children you don’t want to raise
And tell me about the cool
He sings to you in those songs
You’ve been baby for so long
Come on, bring it on
Oh, bring it on

Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home
I’m hearing that he tells you he can read your palms
If he’s better than my love
If he’s better than my love
If he’s better than my love
Better than my love
If he’s better than my love
If he’s better than my love
Then go on, take it all

 

The Diamond Church Street Choir

Now the lights go low on the avenue
And the cars pass by in the rain
University boys and the girls fill the bars
While I’m just waiting on the light to change
And the steam heat pours from the bodies on the floor
In the basement where the Jacknives play
For the hub city girls in the ribbons and the curls
Who know the meaning of staying out late
The know the meaning of staying out very, very late

Singing, who does it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond’s choir
Woah, nobody knows
I’ve been crazy for so long without you

They’ll find me beat down out in the universe
Though I’ll never forget where I’m from
I might have moved away from home
And slept out there on my own
A million miles away in the stone
But the beat never leaves
And the tempo’s a relief
To my aching bones, rambling all over
And if I’m gone for too long
I can always hum along
So don’t never forget what I told you
So don’t never forget what I told you

Everybody singing, who does it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond’s choir
Woah, nobody knows
I’ve been crazy for so long without you

Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues
So sad, so slow
Like I do, like I do
And oh, ain’t it just like you want to
And oh, ain’t it just like you always wanted to
Every night waiting
So long without you

Baby, who sings it better than we do
Them sopranos in Andy Diamond’s choir
Woah, nobody knows
I’ve been crazy for so long without you
Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues
So sad, so slow
Like I do
And just like you want to

 

The Queen of Lower Chelsea

Did you grow up lonesome and one of a kind?
Were your records all you had to pass the time?
Or maybe you were taken by the mysteries of New Orlenans?
Or the uptight, rowdy girls of Lower Chelsea?
And we’re hustling under but we live in the city
And we keep it down when we take a beating
Yeah, we keep it down with the radio on
And if you find a good man, don’t take him home

When you’re working full-time 
And spending all of your nights, dancing like you did
While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,
She’ll still remain the Queen of Lower Chelsea

Did you grow up a good girl,
You daddy’s pride?
Did you make all the right moves,
Take all the right drugs right on time?
American girls, they want the whole world
They want every last little in New York City

But we’re hustling under and we’re fast asleep
And we keep it down when we take a beating
Yeah, we keep it down with the radio on
And if you find a good man, don’t take him home

When you’re working full-time 
And spending all of your nights, dancing like you did
While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,
She’ll still remain the Queen of Lower Chelsea

Well they say these days,
Nothing comes cheap
And everything has a price
Everything has a price
Nothing is free
Not even me

When you’re working full-time 
And spending all of your nights, dancing like you did
While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,
She’ll still remain the Queen 

When you’re working full-time 
And spending all of your nights, dancing like you used to
While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,
She’ll still remain the Queen of Lower Chelsea

 

Orphans

Goodbye circus wheel
May you rest along the seas
Well I’ve given you the fire of my youth
And the triumph over my enemies
And goodbye to fairweather home
And your faithless factories
I have given you the blood and the truth
From the wounds that they laid on me
And whatever they left
I kept it for my own heart

And the lonesome understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
How the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons in your songs

And now my lights, they never go down
The waltz the moon and stars for me now
So you can find some local Libertine
To take your daughters out on the town
And I can feel it in my aging bones
How the sound of the rain mixes up
Into the fountains where I drank my hero’s blood
So I left you to find my very own hat full of rain

And the lonesome understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
How the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons of your songs

And now I’m trying to keep it straight
Learning all the streets and the alleyways
And learning where they lead
Now that I’m left alone here to drive
But it’s so hard to stand on your own
Against mirror of glass, hot and cold
But the clothes I wore
Just don’t fit my soul anymore
No, the clothes I wore
Just don’t fit my soul anymore

And the lonesome understand
With the choirs in my head
And we were orphans before
We were ever the sons of regret
My baby
And on and on and on
How the alphabet boys carry on
We were orphans before
We were ever the sons in your songs
My baby

When we were young
We were diamond Sinatras
Like something I saw in a dream
We kept our secrets and rules
Locked up tight like a tomb
Where ballerinas lay

 

Boxer

Got your pride and your prose
Tucked just like a Tommy gun
Somewhere in the smoke
Just in case you need it
I know you got your pride and your prose
Tucked just like a Tommy gun
Somewhere in the smoke
Just in case you needed some
I heard it’s been a ride
Rougher than the last one
But once you used to say
Oh, the harder they come
But he just swears he’s praying for a good time
And he, he said he just doesn’t miss her
I have heard you never really lose it
Do you, do you

You took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
You found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something heavy holding you down
And there were whispers that were driving you crazy
And now you haunt the heart of this town
But I remember when I knew a boxer, baby

And your tattooed knuckles
Oh, how they grind down
Try to be a man
Tough just like your father
Try to settle down
More like calm down
Remember them songs
And the reasons we were singing for
But he said he just doesn’t miss her
He, he said it’s somewhere in his framework
And I have heard you never really lose it
Do you, do you

You took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
You found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something heavy holding you down
And there were reasons that were driving you crazy
And now you haunt the heart of this town
But I remember when I knew a boxer, baby

And you can wait all night long
Until it all goes wrong
And you waste away your soul
And you can wait, wait, wait, wait

You took it all gracefully on the chin
Knowing that the beatings had to someday end
You found the bandages inside the pen
And the stitches on the radio
There was something heavey holding you down
And there were whispers that were driving you crazy
And now you haunt the heart of this town
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby
Remember when I knew a boxer, baby

 

Old Haunts

Oh cherry bomb, you are a mystery
Exploding, sparkling quiet nights
My teenage heart pumped all my misery, baby
To fingertips that might ignite
And all along you knew my story, didn’t you
And all night long, I carried yours
Your blood was mixed wine and robbery, baby
And left us always wanting more

So don’t sing me your songs about the good times
Those days are gone and you should just let them go
And God help the man who says
If you’d have known me when
Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts
Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts

Cherry bomb, your love is surgery
Removing what you don’t regard
And every breath felt like a funeral, baby
While you were packing up your car
And with the window down
I hear you’re tired now
You borrowed everything
And wore all your old welcomes out
And shame on you, my love
You sold your youth away
Memories for sinking ships
That never would be saved

So don’t sing me your songs about the good times
Those days are gone and you should just let them go
And God help the man who says
If you’d have known me when
Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts
Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts

And shame, shame, shame, shame on you
You kept your mind and heart and youth
Just like a tomb
And shame, shame, shame, shame on you
You kept your mind and heart and youth
Just like a tomb
Just like a tomb
Just like a tomb
Just like a tomb
Just like a tomb

And don’t sing me your songs about the good times
Those days are gone and you should just let them go
So God help the man who says
If you’d have known me when
Old haunts are for all those ghosts
And don’t sing me your songs about the good times
Those days are gone and you should just let them go
And God help the man who says
If you’d have known me when
God help the man who says
If you’d have known me when
God help this man who says
My baby, if you’d have known me when
Old haunts are all we’ve ever known

 

The Spirit of Jazz

The cool is dead, baby
Go on and sleep
Rest your weary head and love a better me
And in the morning
We’ll start over again
That’s how they do it up on the screen
So me and my baby
We would dance all night
But I don’t know the steps
In my baby’s time
To do it like they do it
For the girls uptown
I heard they light them up like the blues
So I’m waiting, so I’m waiting
And she’s waiting, and she’s waiting
For us to remember

Was I good to you, the wife of my youth
Not another soul could love you
Like my rotten bones do
So I will wait on the edges in between
These New York streets
Where you and I would meet

For twenty nine years
We loved that line
And I would take it easy
If I had your mind
But I’m a cannonball to a house on fire
And you’re slow like Motown soul
So what now lover, with that long black hair
If I cut you up, maybe I can repair
And bandage your wounds
With the salt on my tongue
And I’m the only one round here
And I’m waiting, and I’m waiting
And she’s waiting, and she’s waiting
For us to remember

So was I good to you, the wife of my youth
Not another soul could love you
Like my rotten bones do
So I will wait on the edges in between
These New York streets
Where you and I would meet

And only I can heal your wounds
Only I can heal your wounds
When you can’t go on
When you can’t go on
When you can’t go on
When you know, hold on

So was I good to you, the wife of my youth
Not another sould could love you
Like my
So was I good to you, the wife of my youth
Not another soul could love you
Like my rotten bones do
So I will wait on the edges in between
And I will wait on the edges in between
And I will wait on the edges in between
These New York streets
On all these New York streets
Where you and I would meet

 

 

We Did It When We Were Young

Don’t write me no more letters
My mailbox is full of bombs
Between you and the crooks on my block
I don’t remember the good times
I wasn’t there and you were kind
And my wife has some dogs in our yard
And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty gun
We were strangers many hours
And I missed you for so long
When we were lions, lovers in combat
Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned

But I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young

There are no reasons to believe
I buried my faith in another plot
Where your heart and your claws will not find
And I don’t feel your recall
I’ll put your bones out in the yard
For someone else to be called and caught by
And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty gun
We were strangers many hours
And I missed you for so long
When we were lions, lovers in combat
Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned

But I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young
I am older now
And we did it when we were young

 

She Loves You (Bonus song)

President Street, where you’ll find the sisters praying over my city’s heart
While Union Avenue turns to its disciple who feels the pressure heat coming on hard

And if all was well and your heart could find the words
Would we be for better baby, would we be for worse?
And if there was a way to navigate your seas
And if tonight, my true love did belong to me

Now Juliet, she’s smoking by the window, saying stone-cold, « I believe in you, Romeo »
And the raindrops and the cars keep on falling from off the bars, blocking out a good song playing on the radio

And if all was well and your heart could find the words
Would we be for better baby, would we be for worse?
And if there was a way to navigate your seas
And if tonight, my true love

Well, I been down, I been out, had my head and my heart kicked around
I been down, I been out, had my head and my heart kicked around

And in the quiet in the night where Romeo’s mind is burning, from putting all of his blood into them sermons

And if all was well and your heart could find the words
Would we be for better baby, would we be for worse?
And if there was a way to navigate your seas
If tonight, my true love, she did belong to me

 

 

Paroles par The Gaslight Anthem. Tous droits réservés.