Nest

Someone Who's Cool*

in natural selection
I've avoided all detection
and the tender bits underneath
all with window dressing and
calculated guessing
and a bark bigger than my teeth

It was the suit that got me the gig
It was the tear that got me the girl
I'm a sheep in this wolf's clothing
I'm a picture that I'm holding
of someone who is cool

soul like a thimble
swallowed up in symbols
wanting what I don't need
if sympathy's the answer
I'll have temporary cancer
but that's not what I'll have you believe

It was the suit that got me the gig
It was the tear that got me the girl
I'm a sheep in this wolf's clothing
I'm a picture that I'm holding
of someone who is cool
someone who is cool

close but kind of meatless
like actors who play Jesus
in movies of the week
What other people wish for
oozes from my every pore
I'm the coffee not the sleep

and I'm the song about the song
that once said something new
I'm a scandal that's unfolding
I'm a picture that I'm holding
of someone who is cool
someone who is cool

Make You Mad*

look outside it's nice enough
but we'll stay in with all our stuff
this is dedication more than love
my cowardice is what you need
so your vanities can breed
plant your flowers in my weeds

When I call you beautiful
it's cause I can
and when you think I'm sucking up
I sort of am
the little lies that make you feel good
I say more often than I should

'cause I'm a low level rebel
I jaywalk to beat the devil
I'm no bass but lots of treble
all the things about me are forced
a costume party or compulsory course
so let's get right to the source

When I call you beautiful
it's cause I can
and when you think I'm sucking up
I sort of am
the little lies that make you feel good
I say more often than I should
so I can never make you mad...

any change will bring on pain
so I deny it all the same
so I can never make you mad
never make you mad...

Hurt Me*

a brush with death could make me beautiful
who gave the crow that telling voice?
felt good enough to go and do some damage
releasing that important crowing noise

It's gonna hurt me
It's gonna hurt me
as much as it hurts you

low on meat and high on flies
you were hunted down by packs of lies
falling like fruit bats in a bright sunbeam
caught for mining someone else's seam

It's gonna hurt me
It's gonna hurt me
as much as it hurts you

Heard You Wrong+

It's early morn
the birds are gone
no need to wake up
the bed's so warm
and open wide
there's no one sleeping
at my side

it was the break of dawn
I thought I heard you wrong

the body's here
but the soul's not near
I'm hiding out and yet
I'm still here
It's afternoon maybe
you're OK I bet you'll
be home soon

it was the break of dawn
I thought I heard you wrong
now you've been gone so long
I hope I heard you wrong

If I could go on sleeping for the rest of the year
stare at the ceiling til there's nothing there
avoid my life and unplug my head
and never ever leave this bed

evening comes
sun go down
nothing here but some
distant sounds
and the bed's a cell pull the
blankets 'round and I'll never tell

it was the break of dawn
I thought I heard you wrong
now you've gone so long
I hope I heard you wrong

Tears & Laughter+

in a fluid notion
give away your best
make a forward motion
and in the heat undress
nearly forty hours
it's a living death
if we could only catch our
breath

when your tears and laughter fall like rain
turn around and things still look the same

time to make an entry
in the book of life
maybe the animal-husband
or the good midwife
in the current rhythm
now the feet are bare
and the luscious diamond
there

when your tears and laughter fall like rain
turn around and things still look the same
let it happen now or never
a day like this won't last forever
now your tears and laughter fall like rain

under a sad mistaken
get yourself a rash
of mysterious break-ins
better watch your trash
and before the weekend
can you close the deal?
tell me are your freak friends
for real?

when your tears and laugher fall like rain
turn around and things still look the same
let it happen now or never
a day like this won't last forever
now youre tears and laughter fall like rain

Nothing Beautiful*

first I drank insecticide
a little more each day
followed by dirty and sugary foods
grown where the light was grey
later my thoughts were small and sharp
adapted to their purpose
to extract the fuel from fat
under the lovely surface

'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts

moved to a ghost town for inspiration
I could start where they'd given up
feed on the seed of the dreams people left
out to rot when the going got tough
cockroaches turn adversity to immunity
there ain't a niche lower in the animal kingdom
or one with more longevity

'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts

easier to deny what is real
and what's solid and what you can see
if you bulldoze the bankrupted buildings
failure's the dust that settles on the trees

'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts...

Say You Mean It Wondergirl+

say you mean it (say you do)
say you don't (or maybe not)
say it's stupider
be the genius (make your mind)
or be a clown (open wide)
be the witchdoctor and
cast your spells around (now you see)
underground (the best of me)
it's so beautiful and

she's my wondergirl
superstar attraction
come on wondergirl
let's go and start some action (meant to be)
the same reaction (and you feel it too)
is this destiny?
raise the mountain (scale the hill)
make your find (not an easy time)
build a four lane bridge with
one hand tied behind (it's destiny)
say you're mine (and you feel it too)
say it beautiful and

she's my wondergirl
superstar attraction
come on wondergirl
let's start some action
she's my wondergirl
superstar attraction
come on wondergirl
let's go and start some action
some reaction
say you mean it...

Out Come Stars*

a city cloaked in orange, glowing, heavy clouds
all the belches of indigestion
weigh heavy all around
a small car buzzing down a wide road
drifting out of bounds
out to a place where the noises of light
make a distant tiny sound

when out come the stars
pinholes of light in a moth eaten blanket held over the night

tuning out the engine, tuning out the song
get there but I don't know how
and why it took this long
I need something to burrow through my weeds
and blast me from the sand
to open up the new twilight
open up the can and

out come the stars
pinholes of light in a moth eaten blanket held over the night
out come the stars
targets for wishes and satellite dishes reflecting their light

and they're so far away it can't be fathomed
an elephant made of all these atoms
nature is patient with its jailers
like brothels will humour all those sailors

awestruck dumb and silent, consumed by all that's vast
it's a comfort to know that you're not in control
of anything but your past when

out come the stars
pinholes of light in a moth eaten blanket held over the night
out come the stars
targets for wishes and satellite dishes in astronaut white

Night's Embrace+

with a turn of phase
I'm a symphony
a sacrifice
like a flame
to a breeze
with a heated lip
bound up to adore
and like Oliver
do you want
a little more?

here in nighttime's cool embrace
have the weather wash my face

I'm delirious
and unsensible
but I'm coming home
with my
pockets full
in the belly of
this delicious eve
elaborate dreams
that I've kept
up my sleeve

here in nighttime's cool embrace
have the weather wash my face
disappear and find my place
here in nighttime's cool embrace

there's a blush of light
in a western sky
so long to
another day
gone awry
with a honeyed kiss
caught up in the fall
crooning dogs
follow
sirens all

here in nighttime's cool embrace
have the weather wash my face
disappear and find my place
here in nighttime's cool embrace

Suppertime*

an embarrassment of riches
up ahead between the ditches
steady on
pails of blue grass beads and baubles
in the toilets of the supermodels
steady on
watch what you wish for
as someone else pollutes it
some see the rarest bird
and hunt it down and shoot it

let me lose so beautifully
let me lick the dew from the money tree
have the moms of world all care about me
at suppertime

the road to wreckage stretches west
from survival to excess
and beyond
from magic beans and golden eggs
to swollen livers and tired legs
trammel on
the breakfast of failures
is an unexacting list
subtract oppurtunity
you can mix it up with your fists

let me lose so beautifully
let me lick the dew from the money tree
have the moms of world all care about me
at suppertime

let me feel what it's like to have it
let me battle all of your rich man's habits
let me cry down the front of a smoking jacket
after suppertime

let me stand hypnotized by what I'm doing
smell the orchids by the road to ruin
when the heirs are asleep and we think about screwing
after suppertime

At Your Word*

I'll take you at your word
and as far as I can throw you
leave you with the baby
and I hardly even know you
it's gut check time for daddy
when it's loaded and unlocked
got to go in to press some skin
and leave it gleaming in the dock
would you watch her for me sir?
I'll have to take you at your word...

I read up on the stallions
marked an X inside the box
I just want the strong one
not the one who counts and talks
and if you roll the sleeves up on your shirt
I'll take you at your word

doc's flicking at the barrel
with the needle to the sky
got me counting backwards
as it sinks into my thigh
you said you'd cut me good
and I'll have to take you at your word...

I trust in my abilities
but I want more than they offer
working then gambling like the cycle of water
it's harder to breathe as you're raising the stakes
move, bubble, rise, rain and evaporate

not an atom left to hold me
medicated on the bus
I'm sleeping soundly as we're swerving
but the driver's not I trust
c'mon Big Bopper c'mon Buddy
get in the chopper
hope your boots aren't muddy
she's an airworthy bird
I'll have to take you at your word...

I trust you to be on it
completely bonded and stone cold honest
sure

* -- Sung by Craig Northey
+ -- Sung by Steven Drake