GREG GRAFFIN / AMERICAN LESION
Help Me Out
1.Opinion
2.Fate's Cruel Hand
3.Predicament
4.The Fault Line
5.When I Fail
6.Cease
7.Maybe She Will
8.The Elements
9.In the Mirror
10.Back to Earth
OPINION
the first thing i remember was the friction in the room and that brown spinet piano
that never played in tune the cruel impatient tyrant,
the frustrated malcontent,
the
need to find the pieces,
and the absence of cement no one ever told me about the
right way to love and no one ever showed me what we're supposed to be made of
so don't be too forthright about what you think that i should be and i'll willingly
accept your low opinion of me the last thing i remember was the slamming of the
door and the resonance of my imperfection broke the silence once more the selfish
angry bastard who doesn't want to hear
i tried to learn compassion you turned the
other ear
the worn out broken record who doesn't fit the mold the righteous
independent,
the mood so harsh and cold momma never told me about the right way
to love and daddy never showed me what we're supposed to be made of so don't be
too forthright about what you think that i should be and i'll willingly accept your low
opinion of me
FATE'S CRUEL HAND
there's a leaf in the sky and it's floating on by a new season dawns but something is
gone there are days in the past and days waiting for me i don't need a visionary in
order to see you can do what you want to me 'cuz i don't have the energy to retreat
or hold ground or barely to stand but i feel the sting from fate's cruel hand like a
bond true and pure we're never quite sure our choice in the play as it erodes away
when you can't compete it ends with total defeat you just let it go so nobody knows
you're suffering you can do what you want to me 'cuz i don't have the energy to
retreat or hold ground or barely to stand but i feel the sting from fate's cruel hand
when you're not looking it takes from you
PREDICAMENT
i've got hope but i can't talk about the future i've got desire but i can't exercise it on
my own time won't solve this predicament time won't solve this predicament i've got
pain but to tell it hurts the one i love i've got strength but it attenuates every day
time won't solve this predicament time won't solve this predicament troubles never
go away they just resurface on another day i've got heart but now it's weakened by
an empty space i've got soul but it's been soured by the bane of hate time won't
solve this predicament time won't solve this predicament
THE FAULT LINE
the sun comes up with promise and my eyes burn open wide and the sting
compounds the torture from the vacant hole inside my conscious recollection of the
past events all seem to verify the emotion that now envelops me dogged as a drone
stagnant as the stone weathered and alone living on the fault line there's no one
here to listen but there's always room for more they pretend to give you your say
before they slam the door there's very little patience, and very little love there's
just your constant puzzlement for what you're guilty of dogged as a drone stagnant
as the stone weathered and alone living on the fault line no one need deliver me
from such a familiar place i've come to terms and work in this ribald downtrodden
state it's subliminal friction under a kind of veneer and a form of cold injustice that
keeps me stationed here dogged as a drone stagnant as the stone weathered and
alone living on the fault line
WHEN I FAIL
one day my life will be a chocolate shake and late night t.v. but right now i'm afraid
of everything that is goin' down too many decisions too much responsibility and no
one is there to hold me when i fail like the deer who knows he won't survive the
winter so he runs in fear the drifts too deep, the browse too scarce, the able too
strong to compete and i wonder if i was stronger when i didn't care if no one was
there to hold me when i fail
CEASE
blacktop pavement cover me like a chemical reaction or a steam roller spreading
randomly there's a distant buzz, and a low frequency it tickles my ear, it rumbles
under my feet and it shakes the leaves off of every tree, violently what pretension!
everlasting peace everything must cease institution of the hill like a beacon in the
mind of an ancestor to ignite a people's will there's a shadowed stain on the west
facade it has spread like decay to enshroud the fraud and the descendants find it oh
so odd oh so odd what pretension! everlasting peace everything must cease grave
memorial hewn white stone like the comforting caress of a mother or a friend you've
always known it evokes such pain and significance what was once is reduced to
remembrance and the generations pass without recompense what pretension!
everlasting peace everything must cease
MAYBE SHE WILL
laws of gravity fight uncertainty but i sit here without a clue life had different
meaning and i was only dreaming someone else came to her rescue now she's gone
and i am too maybe she will want to have me near enough to feel unparted maybe
she will ask me for some help to get her new place started maybe she will see me
'round and want to take a mid-day walk maybe just feel lonely and will want to talk
with me in cold and darkest weather, the times we had together come to me and i
smile to sleep then clouds dissipate and i soon re-awake to such a living tragedy i'm
resolved to pondering maybe she will call me up to see if i am doing alright maybe
she will remember the times when i would hold her so tight maybe she will think
about the letters that i used to send someday change her mind and want to find me
again they all say i'm wasting my whole life away but i don't care because i have this
candle from our courting days and it's almost gone but dim hope flickers anyway
maybe she will look at those old pictures and get teary-eyed maybe she will feel my
lonely heartbeat and hear me cry maybe she will help me shovel out of this misery
one day say she's sorry for giving up on me maybe she will
THE ELEMENTS
you have always lived like this the ice blue chill the dark gray sky the frozen ground
and the helpless feeling of insignificance you have always lived like this the day's
routine the day's unsure the day is done and the dreams of being somewhere you
can't be you have always fought the elements they take on different forms there has
always been a struggle with the things you can't perform you will always fight the
elements they are not in your hands you will always fight the elements unless you
understand unless you understand unless you understand that you have always
lived like this
IN THE MIRROR
your arrogance! it will surely bring you down is there a judgement appropriate for
you that you spit at others? look hard in the mirror then in ten years look again there
will be lines, sags, and rashes but you'll have come no further than where you are
today still helpless, all the while protracting your imminent demise, and feigning
superiority there will be a trail of those you have injured and made worse by your
vicious acts of greed without regard you piece of shit! (repeatedly) look in the
mirror there you'll see the truth of your ways
BACK TO EARTH
he wakes with the glow of adventure and hope the morning smells sweet and
replete with opportunity he dressed into another day feeling lucky to be alive
though nobody follows him he's sure his future is bright bring him back someone's
going to have to bring him back to earth he's getting out of hand his alacrity for life
is more than people stand oooohhhhh bring him back to earth discipline and toil,
well lit made her blood boil the finer things were impatient waiting discovery like a
bird in spring the sun made her sing with seeming inattention she was on to other
things bring her back someone's going to have to bring her back to land she's way
too high her alacrity for life ain't going to help her get by ooohhhh bring her back to
earth who's it going to be? i can assure you it ain't gonna be me! bring them back
someone's gonna try and bring them back to land and i'll be there to catch them
when they fall and send them up again ooooohhhhh bring 'em back to earth
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