Tape Deck Classics
These are the lyrics from my third record, Tape Deck Classics.
Big Truck
I had a heart attack before
And I'm still limping
Clearly that's a metaphor
Cuz I just blew past you sprinting
Sorry for your bad timing
I said I'd wait but I was lying
Love is a big truck
That you can't steer and you can't stop
Love's got a fat tank; it's a big, big truck
Yes I know I rang your bell
And ran before you opened
It was more than a child's prank
I really meant to sell you something
Sorry for your bad timing
We got to bed but my sheets weren't dry yet
Love is a big truck
That you can't steer and you can't stop
Love's got a fat tank; it's a big, big truck
This is the common cold, babe
We pass it on when we're not at our strongest
You're a passenger from the first sign of fever
You might as well have fell asleep at the wheel, girl
Love is a big truck
That you can't steer and you can't stop
Love's got a fat tank; it's a big, big truck
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Tape Deck Classics
When have you made a promise to love
When has a heart taken off its' gloves
Is there a tacit vow, a penultimate caress
Is it before or after you undress
Tell me when are you guilty for walking away
What are too many words to swallow and say
I thought I had just penned a smash hit
But I was just playing back those tape deck classics
I took a Polaroid, I put it in a drawer
At the foot of my bed like the brake on a car
When judgment is impaired, the taxi's long gone
I still turn up the volume and try to steer my way home
Tell me when are you guilty for walking away
What are too many words to swallow and say
I thought I had just penned a smash hit
But I was just playing back those tape deck classics
History will teach us
to pay more attention to the things we've recorded before
Cuz memory and desire
are like looking through the window in the back wall of a theatre
A movie theatre
Tell me when are you guilty for walking away
What are too many words to swallow and say
I thought I had just penned a smash hit
But I was just playing back those tape deck classics
Tape Deck Classics
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Love is Working
There's such a thing as luck in love
Hard luck, blind luck, dumb luck, my luck
Hearts don't break, they get hurt on the job and quit working
Accidents come with the pay
Even if you form a union
Some join the picket fence line, some wait for compensation
If you've got the attitude
Then have I got a job for you
Just show up every day
Cuz love is working
The love life is a forest that
Is full of wolves and flowers
My lover's going to need a basket and a shotgun
If you cover me then I
Will cover you and together we
Will make it through until the beasts defeat us
If you've got the attitude
Then have I got a job for you
Just show up every day
Cuz love is working
If you've got the attitude
Then have I got a job for you
Just show up every day
Yeah, show up every day
Just show up every day
Cuz love is working
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Big Enough For Two
i pull up in your driveway
you pop your seat belt right away
i pop mine so we can fondle
but you reach for the door handle
then you go home, i leave alone, blasting the Stones
your house is big enough for two
but you're much smaller than your house
i've measured both from the inside
i put my hand on your thigh
but you watch the wiper blades and sigh
i'm not asking for nude photos
i just want one clear emotion
your house is big enough for two
but you're much smaller than your house
i've measured both from the inside
we lost our love, and i'm just trying
to trace our steps and find where it's hiding
we lost our love, and i'm just trying
to trace our steps and find where it's hiding
then you go home, i leave alone, blasting the Stones
your house is big enough for two
but you're much smaller than your house
i've measured both from the inside
I've measured both from the inside
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Sneakers
It's the usual downfall of a favourite t-shirt
I gave it to a girl
I gave it to a girl
There are two destinations for a boy's lost garment
Washed and folded on a hope chest
Or burned and buried in the garden
Sneakers for boys who like to run away
Without a lot of noise
Got dressed in the half dark the reverse of how the clothes came off
Cautious and thoughtful
Sock, underwear, pants, sweater, jacket
Don't know what you're thinking, frankly I'm not curious
Race to lace my shoes up
Look down, she's sleeping furious
Sneakers for boys who like to run away
Without a lot of noise
Will you still go home with me
Now that you have heard this song
Others have been so reckless
Please, please be the next one
Sneakers for boys who like to run away
Without a lot of noise
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Your Heart Will Taste Green
Your heart will taste green
Until it's had its seasoning
Call me once you've seen the summer turn to fall
Only when you're raking
Fallen leaves from your dry garden
Have you started learning to grow anything at all
I warned you with a blanket
Of snow on your front doorstep
Sometimes it seems most beautiful, when it finally turns cold
You can call the winter traitor
But here it's the lawmaker
And until you reach your home it will have you in its hold
I'm not unkind but I'm no longer blind
I won't pretend that I don't see the end of this
I won't mistreat you but I can't complete you
All that I can be for you is a man
I don't have a checklist
To tell me when I've found you
I only need my sense of smell to guide me way
And a heart that's seen its seasons
And learned to smell them coming
And a greedy prayer for kindness if I find your door again
I'm not unkind but I'm no longer blind
I won't pretend that I don't see the end of this
I won't mistreat you but I can't complete you
All that I can be for you is a man
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Break Your Own Dammed Heart
You're passionate but lazy
You stopped, dropped but didn't roll
You lie there and smolder
But you'll never get hot enough to glow
I want to get engaged
like the motor of a car
So say something electric
say anything to strike a spark
Love should leave you shouting at strangers
Expose your poetry to danger
If you want the waterfall to start
You better break your own dammed heart
Never hitch your wagon to the tail of a falling star
The shiniest and fastest
Are never going to take you far
Baby I'm a slow drive with a cooler and a credit card
I'm looking for a co-pilot
more than I'm looking for a passenger
Love should leave you shouting at strangers
Expose your poetry to danger
If you want the waterfall to start
You better break your own dammed heart
What a useless thing to live half asleep
So burn your daylight well then lie down next to me
Love should leave you shouting at strangers
Expose your poetry to danger
If you want the waterfall to start
You better break your own dammed heart
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Breathe Deeply
Go quit your job in a shopping mall; stop believing you're so small
Give yourself some well-earned rest
Cuz I'm the one who loves you best
Stop swallowing that garbage; you're gonna do your little heart in
Some things you can't digest
Like I'm the one who loves you best
The thing about breathing, it doesn't let you down
You can try to fight it
But your lungs will rebound
So you might as well breathe deeply
Give up on all of the banks; they will never offer you thanks
There're better places you can invest
Like in the one who loves you best
Go on give your car up; it won't take you far enough
We're going where the roads fade to dust
But I'm the one that you can trust
The thing about breathing, it doesn't let you down
You can try to fight it
But your lungs will rebound
So you might as well breathe deeply
If we get there will we regret it, and trade it all for instant credit
Fly south and live in debt
Well if you go and you bring a guest
Remember I'm the one who loves you best
The thing about breathing, it doesn't let you down
You can try to fight it
But your lungs will rebound
So you might as well breathe deeply
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
The Man Who Shoveled Coal
If you hadn't broken down
We could have kept our vow
I woulda got heavy
But now I drift like clouds
Every day I came home
To find you in the shower
The windows closed and drawn
You'd been in there for hours
When a train derails it kills the engineer
And then it kills the man who shoveled coal for years
I used to practice magic
Things sparkled in my hand
You slipped through my fingers
When you turned to sand
What happened to your power
To turn yourself to gold
Did you let it tarnish?
Or is your treasure sold
When a train derails it kills the engineer
And then it kills the man who shoveled coal for years
Everyone breaks, not everyone mends
Some people lose their hat to the wind
I always believed in better days
Till you stopped singing in the rain
When a train derails it kills the engineer
and then it kills the manĄ who shoveled coal for years
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Tugging
You're tugging at me but my body is slack
You're shouting my name but I won't answer back
I'm fading away like an old photograph
I've yellowed the white and greyed out the black
You're tugging at me while you cry in the phone
You're calling for help but I know we're alone
Sometimes you convince me but I know it will pass
So I stare at your lips like you're speaking through glass
You're tugging at me but you're giving up hope
So I lend you my hand like a life saving rope
I need you like skin to help me survive
You're my external organ, you keep me inside
You're tugging at me you are my lust for life
I thought I had lost mine but you brought it to light
As though I was sleeping and you shook me awake
I was blind to your love
Like a fish is blind to the lake
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows
Better Cards
I left you in November those holidays are cruel
Although I dropped out early I'm coming back to school
So bring on those wild horses
I'm a man who wants his woman back, that's what I'm here to prove
If I was an actor this song would be a tear
I know you hate the obvious less than the insincere
I'm laying my last dollar down
I'm a man who wants his woman back that's what I'm here to prove
I played it cool, I gave you up
But now I can't fall out of love
This gambling fool who bet his heart
Is wishing he'd drawn better cards
I know that I've been tardy you've taken someone new
I let you slide on purpose, I like you too much to
Ask you for another chance
To be a victim of romance- I couldn't be that cruel
I played it cool, I gave you up
But now I can't fall out of love
This gambling fool who bet his heart
Is wishing he'd drawn better cards
lyrics © 2005 Paul Bellows