Yesterday Rules

She's Not A Flower

She's not a flower
she isn't growing in your garden today
you couldn't cultivate her anyway

you're not a king bee
you like honey and you're packing a sting
but there really isn't such a thing

you're in flight, and she smells all right
but she's not a flower

She's not an ocean
that you're an island in the middle of
and there isn't any prison of love

you're not a freebird
hey you, up on that mountain peak
can't you hear what's coming out of your beak?

you can say you'll fly away
but you're not a freebird

Love's not a poison
you better find a better reason why
you feel like you want to die

a broke heart won't kill you
you might suffer till the end of your days
but that was gonna happen anyways

and even if the love you mourn
is equal to the love you scorn
and fortune mocks the love you gave
and someone lays her on your grave she's not a flower

I don't have many friends
just some pretty loose and dead ends
even one can be a bit much for me

and they call me but I never end up calling them back
they lose patience as I lose track
I don't care anymore
if I ever did before
but I'm not really paying attention
people say what reflects well on them
and everyone's lying like rugs
and everyone thinks I'm on drugs
but I'm just
fucked up on life

cause it doesn't add up
and I never know what should be done
I know I'm far from the only one
I stay out of the fray
I figure I do less damage that way
I'm outstanding in my field
and all I ever want to do is just get plowed
I always feel outnumbered in a crowd
and if the truth be known
I feel outnumbered when I'm all alone
if you're wondering why there's no affect
when I speak, when you look in my eyes
I couldn't begin to explain
I'm almost perfectly sane
but I'm just
fucked up on life

I'm just fucked up,
fucked up on life
oo oo oo
ah na na na na

dum dum day
I never know what I should do or say
when words fail me
I react reciprocally
I'm just
fucked up on life
I'm just fucked up,
fucked up on life

You didn't make my crucifixion
I know you had a lot on your plate
but from what I read and what everyone said
I handled it just great
I'm even kind of disappointed
cause I really couldn't feel it at all
well I'll come down to you when I get around to you
all you gotta do is crawl

oh, just have some faith in me
smart things come in stupid packages

when all you hear is the crying
you read a lot into each other's sobs
we're going through a spell
but we're aging well
even if we don't have jobs
and we can't even leave the apartment
cause we live on such a scary street
but I don't mind
I'll risk my life just to try to get you something to eat

oh, just have some faith in me
pure love gets sent in mixed messages
oh, just have some faith in me
smart things come in stupid packages
so come on

bop bop bop...

oh, just have some faith in me
I'll guide you through the obscure passages
oh, just have some faith in me
smart things come in stupid packages

Discretion is a must, rising from the dust,
on your feet but just a bit unsteady
you want to close your eyes, be taken by surprise
but not before youíre absolutely ready

so lay low, as time permits
and you'll know it when it hits:
it's gonna sound like a big
it's coming down like a big
it's gonna pound like a big, strange, beautiful hammer

You're feeling like a saint, powerful but faint
like you want to call for an attendant
heavy in your hand, courage on demand
you feel safe, and strangely independent

once baptized in pain and light
you'd be advised to hold on tight
when you collide with a big
you coincide with a big
filled inside with a big, strange, beautiful hammer

it's coming down on you
it's gonna drive you home

Discretion is a waste, now you've had a taste
you see yourself as well-maintained and polished
existence is a test, we try to do our best
but we're on a quest to be demolished

it's your right, so don't be shy
day and night you're smitten by
the might of a big
the blinding light of a big
it's the night of the big, strange, beautiful hammer

I'm sorry for freaking out on the phone last night
I don't know how it happened but I'm basically all right
even though you never really know
before you start to wonder like I'm pretty sure you do
how a man can be so fragile and so easy to see through
while remaining so inflexible
I've noticed that one, too
but let's keep the freaking out to a minimum

I'm sorry for freaking out when you freak out on me
things don't always come out how you wanted them to be anyhow
including now
are we just being normal?
it's so difficult to tell
and love can be so simple and impossible as hell
I've devised a little system you can implement as well:
let's keep the freaking out to a minimum

I'm sorry now
I'm always sorry
you're always sorry in return
and I'm with you
I always mean well, too
you can mean well and never learn

but I'm still sorry for freaking out in the car today
I can't always see straight when I don't know what to say
there's still so many questions that the chances could be slim
that we'll lay them all to rest before our lights begin to dim
when you let love move a mountain you endanger life and limb
but let's keep the freaking out to a minimum
but let's keep the freaking out to a minimum
oo oo oo oo oo oo oo oo

How many times can you read that letter, and what do you need it for?
Can't you see that the salutation has no meaning anymore?
and you can't resurrect the body and the closing's out of date
and if you stumble upon an answer it will always be too late--

you better take that letter, put it in the boyfriend box

Are you still staring at that picture of someone who doesn't care,
just like you're looking through a window at a world that isn't there?
If you're trying to reconstruct it, it will only fall apart
'cause there's really nothing in it but your late, great heart--

you better take that picture, put it in the boyfriend box

ooh, la, la. ooh, la, la. ooh, la, la.

There's something dark and dead
buried in your head and underneath your bed

You're still tempted to believe the world is true
you even almost do

Your little world is a little empty, but the memories never stop
organizing themselves in layers, the most recent at the top.
If you need to go any deeper, you can dig them out again,
just in case you need to be reminded of what a fool you've been--

you better take those memories put them in the boyfriend box

ooh, la, la: take those letters, put them in the boyfriend box.

You have to hate the world
it's required by your clothes
consistency is everything
as everybody knows

it's so cold baby, you're losing your hold baby
and you're gonna fold, baby, before too long

but don't tell me your secret lies in London
I already know
I can see your secret lies in London
everywhere I go

there is a sun somewhere
extremely far away
your tired eyes reflecting the sky
a drizzly steel grey

there's no light in there, there's no sight in there
I get right in there and it's all dark

don't deny your secret lies in London
it's not worth your while
you can lie back and think of England
and miss it by a mile

you can't conceal your secret lies in London
obviously not
I can feel your secret lies in London
deeper than you thought

Elizabeth,
don't look to me
you can be yourself or find some other way to be
but time won't wait
and even if it does
it's unlikely to go back to how it was
so my advice is to not think twice:
Elizabethorfight

stick to your guns
it won't be long before
surrendering won't be an option anymore
so in the end I recommend:
Elizabeth or fight

peace whenever justice will allow
peace forever
Elizabeth for now

if that means eternally
fighting for Elizabeth and Liberty
or the reverse
you could do much worse:
Elizabeth or fight.

Everybody says you shouldn't cry
everybody's standing by
and everybody's gonna roll their eyes
if you ever do

everybody says it's not too late
and you can still participate
you take everybody's bait
and everybody laughs at you

they'll leave you crying all alone
they'll say they wouldn't have if they had only known

but you see the reality behind their indulgent stares--
everybody knows you're crying
no one ever really cares

everybody thinks you're a little slow
everyone wants you to know
they went through the same thing long ago
and it wasn't that hard to do

everybody says they sympathize
you stand by while they describe
someone you don't even recognize
that's supposed to look like you

but they never can explain
how to live with such spectacular pain

and when you're at your weakest
they advise you to be strong
everybody says they've been there
everybody must be wrong

ooh ooh ooh ooh everybody knows you're crying

they send their love
and love is loud
they feel it's greatly to their credit
and they're proud
of their compassion,
and it's true
but it doesn't have a lot to do with you

and you can't escape the conclusion
though you don't like what it was:
everybody says they love you,
no one ever really does.

ooh ooh ooh ooh everybody knows you're crying
everybody knows you're crying
everybody knows you're crying

I was here when the call came through, Jill
and I screened it like I always do, Jill
and they hung up on the machine
just like you, Jill

Well, that sounds like one of your stunts, Jill
and I'm only gonna say this once, Jill
you haven't left a message for me
in a couple of months, Jill

I'm not blaming you, Jill
this is hard to do, Jill
but I still don't know why I always feel like crying

I'm still having some trouble tying up your loose ends, Jill
and I still see life through the same distorted lens, Jill
and I think I may have said some things about you
in front of some of your friends, Jill

Well, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Jill
but these are not normally people with whom I have dealings, Jill
I still spend most of my time in silence, alone,
staring at ceilings, Jill

But you know all that, Jill
what I'm getting at, Jill
is I can't stop not knowing why I never don't feel like crying

She, shining like a star, like a sun, like a moon
and all that other stuff you know
I wanted everything, she gave me everything
but everything is never enough
what I mean is, she, my kind of fluff.

Like a star or a sun or a moon
like the surface of a still lagoon
like a stainless steel spoon she's shining

reach out to turn her on
she fills the room and hijinks ensue
in dark nights of the soul
I don't mind saying that I think I've had one or two
tried to tell her, she already knew

like an incandescent wish
like a silverplate chaffing dish
like a Siamese fighting fish she's shining
like a blinding brilliant thing
like a turned on electric ring
like a novel by Stephen King she's shining
ooh ah, ooh ooh ooh ah
glowing in her jar
just like a little piece of star

ooh ooh ooh ooh ah

like a blue electric shock
like a radioactive rock
like the hands of a digital clock she's shining
like the Thames or the Rhine or the Nile
like a luminescent radio dial
like a brand new ceramic tile she's shining
ooh she's shining, ooh she's shining
in this endless night
she's my little misguiding light

I'm not complaining, I'm just figuring out
how everything left us behind
I got my problems, I'm aware of them
I'll take care of them, never you mind

you're still repeating pre-recorded things
they used to say in universities
and books on left wing politics and law
about underlying structures
that so far as they mean anything
still won't support the personal connections that you draw

Institutionalized misogyny
that's all that stands between my baby and me

now science tells us I'm hard-wired to, I'm required to
do it with you
'cause I'm a man, and you're a woman
and that's what those kind of people do

I stole that line from Woody Allen
isn't it amusing?
I wish I could make you understand
what Woody Allen meant.
If there's no such thing as objective reality
why can't we quit our jobs and just imagine
we won't have to pay the rent

Institutionalized misogyny
that's why they're charging rent
to my baby and me

Michelle, ma belle: ton beau, Michel Foucault
a Foucault dependent is always ready to go
I think we're alone
I might have known
she's got Chomsky on the phone

Institutionalized misogyny
that's all that stands between my baby and me.

If you had wanted to see me today
I assume you could have found a way
but that's not how today went
God only knows what today meant
Take all the time you need
I'm not going anywhere
we're unsafe at any speed
take all the time you need

If I had the chance to say how I feel I would
even though it wouldn't make me look good
that's ammunition you lost
while you were trying to exhaust
each possibility
until you've exhausted me
the last of a dying breed
take all the time you need

and I will love you still
but you're hardly even needed now
as a lesson to us all

and I want you back again
but I don't know what I'd do then
Take all the time you need
I haven't prepared my case
I wouldn't know how to plead
so take all the time you need
take all the time you need
take all the time you need
and I'll follow your lead