I still love rock and roll, and we both grew up on oldies, but I think that she likes folk more nowadays, but I can't listen to those songs; I don't need a new reminder of the thing we found then lost and found again, and I'm trying to move on, but it's hard, you know, when I'm breaking down in the grocery store. When I pick up my guitar and search the soul that I don't believe in, I keep finding things that weren't there before, 'cause there's no sorrow any more, no more fuel to try to hurt you; I don't feel the need to prove a single thing, and I'm trying to move on, but it's hard, you know, when I think about it every day. She taught me to listen. She taught me to sing. She taught me to listen to the words that I sing. So I'm writing her a song, and the words, they're coming freely, and it feels different now than it ever has before, but if I'm doing this thing right, then who knows who's gonna hear it? Is it wrong for me to write it anyway? And I'm trying to move on, but it's hard, you know, and I think about her every day. She taught me to listen. She taught me to sing. She taught me to listen. She taught me to sing. She taught me to listen to the words that I sing. Sing... Sing... Sing...

If you love a city, will the city love you back? If you celebrate the pretty, will it renovate the bad? If you give it every penny, will it ever pay you back, and if you love it with abandon, will it recognize the fact? Oh, I don't know, I don't know why, but all this time, all this heartache... If you love a city, will the city love you back? And if you take what you've been given, then will you give it all you can? And if you tolerate the broken while you try to make it right, then will it ever even notice while it keeps you up at night? Oh, I don't know, I don't know why, but all this time, all this heartache... Why do I seek this fruitless passion of woe while I insist on fighting imagined ghosts? If you love a city, will the city love you back? And will you know it when you see it? Do you know how you’d react? While you tolerate the broken, will you recognize the fact that the city lives without you? Can you leave yourself with that? Why do I keep this static infatuation while I insist on feeding the monsters of old? If you love a city, will the city love you back? (I don't know, I don't know why...) If you love a city, will the city love you back? (all this time, all this heartache...) If you love a city, will the city love you back? (I don't know, I don't know why...) If you love a city, will the city love you back? (all this time, all this heartache...)

Long brown hair in a photograph someone else is there with her behind the camera I'm almost sure now But in a day the picture's gone now I don't know if she's aware that I was looking and I don't know why And I don't even know the things that I don't even know about the girl I used to know Look away in the photograph She could tell me anything in the world with her eyes I don't even know the things that I don't even know about the girl I used to know and everything I used to know in her whole life may be gone and I wouldn't know except her long brown hair Look away in your photograph You could tell me anything you want to tell me with your eyes

She was so unseen; he was a man of wax Two bystanders in a star-crossed plot caught up in Shakespearean acts Doomed to roam in Verona alone, just preparation for true love Did they cross the star-crossed loves or did love cross out the stars? Maybe it was fate or maybe she was just too young I don't know why he said he felt he died when she told him that true love waits It hurt so much, and it don't take much at all When he swung by to see her dance that night, he found a second love at first sight She wondered just how bad could it get I don't know why she'd wanna date that guy. After all, she was a Capulet. She was so unseen; he was a man of wax Two bystanders in a star-crossed plot caught up in Shakespearean acts Doomed to roam in Verona alone, just preparation for true love Did they cross the star-crossed loves or did love cross out the stars? He was born to reign, had a title right in his name But all the same, you know a girl that age doesn't care about wealth or fame But he was too late, 'cause she was already in love Wealth and fame and a claim to his name couldn't help him get to her heart And he was not the fighting type, but for her he'd have to give it a try Before he died, he took a breath and sighed, "just lay me by her side." She was so unseen; he was a man of wax Two bystanders in a star-crossed plot caught up in Shakespearean acts Doomed to roam in Verona alone, just preparation for true love Did they cross the star-crossed loves or did love cross out? Cross out the love, love. Cross out the love, love. Cross out the love, love. Cross out the love, love.

Incendiary is just a word, but it’s burning me alive To fight the flames, focus on the future, linger in the past Alive, better, stronger Bolt down my heart, tie me to the mast and keep the keel straight We made a pact: easy to remember, harder to enact Alive, better, stronger

I recall watching your fingers play tactual melodies Tracing the constellation of an umbrella on my arm Trying on furs and practicing words that we’d never said I recall driving all day and not going anywhere Wandering aimlessly and waiting impatiently at the mall Did we spend every day wondering which of us would explode? Pounding out chords and screaming out words ‘til we're out of breath I dedicated my whole life to her thinking that we were through I recall keeping a pocket of paper apologies Hating myself for loving somebody so difficult Choosing my words to barely obscure my embarrassment Blaming myself for trying to live in a narrative Wondering how many days it would take it to fall apart Alternate feelings of wishing and thinking I had it all Lying awake waiting for morning to come I dedicated my whole life to her thinking that we were through I dedicated my whole life to her thinking that we were through ...taking back love, we're taking back we're taking back love, and we're taking back love, and we're taking back love we're taking back love,and we're taking back love, and we're taking back taking back we're taking back love, we're taking back love taking back love, taking back love, and I'm taking back love, taking back love and I'm taking back love, I'm taking back love, and I'm...

With beating hearts, we cast the role of lovers even though we wrote the parts for others But the show goes on. It's too late now for revisions The rise and fall of poets and their decisions Maybe I deserve to be the one all alone. Dramatic arts; we're cursed to follow the fiction living like the pages know they were written But the show goes on. It's too late now for revisions The rise and fall of poets and their decisions Maybe I deserve to be the one all alone. I could go underwater. I could live underwater. I should go underwater. I could stay a while... With beating hearts, we cast the role of lovers even though we wrote the parts for each other

I'm not alone out here Turn on the radio and feel you through my ears Fifteen absent years gone in a melody and it feels just like you're here You know I know you are True love, true love Try to escape my fears drive 'til I'm out of town and raindrops fall like tears Am I alone like this? Hoping was half as bad as knowing ever is. I hope you found the one Your true love, true love

Hey there my princess, I think I've seen you here before. You watch yourself aging in the stained glass of the front door. You say, "Was it all worth it and why did I give it away?" The questions you build up inside you can't drive them away you swear yourself by singing Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time? Hey there you poet, I've seen you write that line before. You feel yourself losing. You feel your thoughts slipping away. You say, "Why don't they like this and why do I give it away?" The doubts that coalesce in your mind, you can't drive them away You swear your life by singing Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time? Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time? Hey there you seamstress, I've seen you sew that dress before. You tug at the seams and your pull all your hemming away. I've got to save something. There must be something here to save. The pointless progression you swear your life by every day You swear your life by singing Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time? Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time singing? Why you gotta waste your, Why you gotta waste your, Why you gotta waste your time? Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time? Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Why you gotta waste your time, Girlia? Hey there my princess, I think I've seen you here before.

There was one, and then there were two Now there's three. What can I do? and I don't care, I mean, I'm glad for you There were times when I knew you well now I struggle to even know myself and it's not fair. Life keeps moving on but it's no fun being left behind Time won't stop and it moves so fast I keep thinking about my past and it's OK, but it just won't come back I belong in a different age maybe I ought to change my ways but I just don't want to, and what's wrong with that when it's no fun being left behind? No, it's no fun being left behind Take every picture that you can afford to take Take every picture that you can afford to take