Having Been Is No Way to Be

Album: Warm (2018)
Play Video
  • Oh I was naive
    My shoes were untied
    In heaven everything is just fine
    But the phones are dead
    And so is the light
    And so are you
    And honey so am I
    But the earth still turns
    For the unconcerned
    Days pass below like train windows
    I was a sapling tree
    The birds looked like me
    Oh I begged my nerves to kick me something new

    From time to time
    I would watch you sleep
    Oh, I wonder how much freedom we can dream

    And I'm sorry when you wake up to me
    I just got tired
    Shining steady like a spider web's an empty stage
    Now the people say
    What drugs did you take?
    And why don't you start taking them again?
    But they're not my friends
    And if I was dead
    What difference would it ever make to them?

    If I got high
    From time to time
    Oh I wonder how much freedom you would need
    And I'd be sorry when you wake to me

    I'm reaching out to you
    I'm writing all the time
    I don't see deep but I see far and wide
    I see dead trees
    But the roots have leaves
    Just because I can't describe it doesn't mean I shouldn't try
    To untwist the knife
    To unmake my mind
    Having been is no way to be alive

    And I'm alive
    When I watch you sleep
    I wonder how much freedom we need
    And I'm here
    When you wake up to me
    And I'm still here
    When you wake up to me Writer/s: Jeffrey Tweedy
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

In The Cards

In The CardsSong Writing

Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired MenSong Writing

Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.