It’s The Thought That Counts
Previous: In Times Of Transition Leftovers (2007) > Jump To Current Lyrics > Next: Flashbulbs And Futures Leftovers (2009)
Considering this grouping had more of a story to it, I’m surprised at how much quality material was left off.
While some of it fits the narrative of It’s The Thought That Counts, the rest really doesn’t. I remember taking some time between finishing the lyrics initially and making my final edits. During that break, I ended up writing like seven new things and most of them are here. I guess that was my way of celebrating the completion of the main grouping.
Anyway, Intimidated, Lines To Befriend, Picking Locks and Beneath You were all written during that period of time. Not Coming Out was originally set to be on It’s The Thought That Counts but got swapped out with Believe In Everything at the last second: The latter was actually created during that same break I previously mentioned.
I have no real recollection of Fire Escape other than the title. All I know is that I thought it was good when looking through these lyrics and decided to include it. Late Night Heartache was something I’d attempted for Where It Ends and In Times Of Transition, but it took me a few years to get it right. Can you tell it’s my attempt at a bad country song?
All in all, I think these are pretty strong despite still being a strange mix of styles.
Lyrics Content
01. Intimidated
02. Lines To Befriend
03. Fire Escape
04. Picking Locks
05. Nothing Coming Out
06. Beneath You
07. Late Night Heartache
Intimidated
I’m intimidated now
Focused on the words that won’t come out
We’re holding on so tight
Waiting for some silence in the night
And socially I’m yours
With stuttered awkward pauses changing course
There’s nothing left to say
I’ll watch another midnight waste away
Watch another midnight waste away
I don’t wanna be intimidated
No I don’t wanna get lost in the crowd
Everything that flies will get deflated
And everything I say will get shot down
I’m searching through my mind
Why can’t you see the words are hard to find?
In struggling with some thoughts
Of everything this is and what it’s not
We’ll take it to the streets
Walking as I stare down at my feet
And in this crowded room
To find some more relief when I resume
Find some more relief when I resume
I don’t wanna be intimidated
No I don’t wanna get lost in the crowd
Everything that flies will get deflated
And everything I say will get shot down
Everything I say will get shot down
I look around but still can’t see
So what the fuck is wrong with me?
Well it used to be that I was scared
Of words but now it’s silent prayers
For conversation’s sake you know
With all these hopes I’ll let it go
To speak these words and hear them back
But without them how can I react?
I don’t wanna be intimidated
No I don’t wanna get lost in the crowd
Everything that flies will get deflated
And everything I say will get shot down
Everything I say will get shot down
Everything I say will get shot down
But wait another day and I’ll come around
Lines To Befriend
Through these holes the daylight falls
It’s an open target on my wall
For every night that’s been adorned
Before these disillusions formed
I’ll pick a time and step right in
To find some lines that you’ll befriend
All sheltered with these thoughts of fire
To hide the things I still desire
If it were harder for you
Would it be simple for me?
I never know what I’m supposed to do
And you’d think that it’s so easy
You’d think that it’s so easy
But all in time the evening falls
As I wait around to take some calls
Then pretty soon this day is done
Until it drifts into another one
I’ll count the numbers coming down
To make this all seem so profound
As stars keep trailing through the skies
To always leave me wondering why
If it were harder for you
Would it be simple for me?
I never know what I’m supposed to do
And you’d think that it’s so easy
You’d think that it’s so easy
Easy does it, let it go
Before this life goes up in smoke
Repeated fast and to myself
It isn’t where I’m gonna dwell
This isn’t where I’m gonna dwell
If it were harder for you
Would it be simple for me?
I never know what I’m supposed to do
And you’d think that it’s so easy
You’d think that it’s so easy
Well I’m still so confused
As this roams through my head
But it ain’t easy my friend
It ain’t easy my friend
Fire Escape
We stayed up ’til the early hours of morning
Talking about the times we used to know
No regrets but misplaced interruptions
Contemplating rules we can’t let go
All the others fallen by the wayside
Lost to life but not yet lost to death
Victims to the cancer of their conscience
Dying just to take another breath
Into the past like a fire escape
The bottom fell out but it can’t be replaced
Up with the smoke or lost to the flames
I can’t get back again, can’t get back again
In these words are flashes of the meanings
Littered through these stories of the truth
Nothing witnessed seems to bare repeating
But in the end it’s siphoned from our youth
Another shrine to build around a memory
When everything back then just seemed to suck
Still with thought and shot into perspective
It seems our time is running out of luck
Into the past like a fire escape
The bottom fell out but it can’t be replaced
Up with the smoke or lost to the flames
I can’t get back again, can’t get back again
Picking Locks
You compromise with me because you know I’ll still give in
The love we share’s so beautiful but that’s just where it ends
Lost in our translations with these signal fires of hope
We’re planning out our future like the punchline to a joke
If we don’t speak and learn to sweep our dirt under the rug
You’re sure that we can fake it, looking down from up above
Comparing all their stupid moves to standards yet attained
It’s less than we could hope for but still futile all the same
When you sleep is this the dream that’s been imagined?
Or when you scream are these the words you’ve longed to hear?
All entrapment failed to work here as a magnet
But when you stop to take it in is there some fear?
Well just you wait another year
I’ll hold your hand to keep it warm but never for control
Too many seek to get their way but I’ll never be so bold
Passive like this sleepless night, I’ll take in anything
Chasing it and chasing it until it forms a ring
When you sleep is this the dream that’s been imagined?
Or when you scream are these the words you’ve longed to hear?
All entrapment failed to work here as a magnet
But when you stop to take it in is there some fear?
Well just you wait another year
I said that I’d get out of here, I told you that I’d leave
But all the doors are tightly locked and you’ve stolen all the keys
One that leads me back to light and one straight to my heart
I guess that I’ll just pick the locks and leave this house of cards
But you never saw it coming from the start
When you sleep is this the dream that’s been imagined?
Or when you scream are these the words you’ve longed to hear?
All entrapment failed to work here as a magnet
But when you stop to take it in is there some fear?
When you sleep is this the dream that’s been imagined?
Or when you scream are these the words you’ve longed to hear?
All entrapment failed to work here as a magnet
But when you stop to take it in is there some fear?
Well just you wait another year
Just you wait another year, yeah just you wait another year
I’ll pick these locks and run right out of here
Nothing Coming Out
I look outside, it’s springtime
But all these clouds are still so grey
I’d really like some blue skies now
But it keeps snowing anyway
And somewhere in the aftermath
We’ll start climbing from these holes
To watch this winter fade to black
As the credits start to roll
But I can’t forget this moment
When I’m replaying it to death
We’re always wishing for something better
I guess it’s time to move ahead
Yeah it’s time to move ahead
Pretty soon we’ll drift through summer
Meant to waste our time away
I’d like to feel the warm sun now
But the skies are still so grey
With every wasted moment
And the friends I’ve left behind
By guarding myself so closely
Where my beliefs aren’t hard to find
But I can’t forget this moment
When I’m replaying it to death
We’re always wishing for something better
I guess it’s time to move ahead
Yeah it’s time to move ahead
I’ve seen the leaves all falling
Making paths for winter nights
From April to December now
With some thoughts that I can’t fight
But these memories can’t be sheltered
And I’m the last one feeling proud
I’ll be the only one who sees them
And there’s nothing coming out
Now there’s nothing coming out
But I can’t forget this moment
When I’m replaying it to death
We’re always wishing for something better
I guess it’s time to move ahead
Yeah it’s time to move ahead
Nothing’s truly wasted
And I won’t be left for dead
I’ll keep moving through December
‘Cause there’s a springtime up ahead
There’s a springtime up ahead
Beneath You
I’m so lost in this sea of stumbling words
Yeah I’m still disconnected from the things that I’ve heard
Some failed intentions you keep holding so close
With fake aspirations to retain your control
I know that you think you’ve got it all figured out
In your fantasy world as you keep looking down
There’s more to my life than your perceptions of me
And I just don’t belong but it’s no tragedy
Why bother wasting your time on these stupid fears?
I think I’m doing alright even though it’s unclear
And I still can’t believe what you think I should be
But it’s beneath you I know
Well it’s beneath you I see
I’m wondering why it’s so different for you
With your mirrors all disguising the life you once knew
It’s like you can’t even stand to stomach the thought
But it’s all in your head with the past you forgot
Won’t you tell me one thing if you feel so inclined?
For these standards you’ve built in the back of your mind
You should know that I’m more than the sum of my parts
And I won’t waste my time finding where I should start
Why bother wasting your time on these stupid fears?
I think I’m doing alright even though it’s unclear
And I still can’t believe what you think I should be
But it’s beneath you I know
Well it’s beneath you I see
Drunken confessions and sober mistakes
Some false disconnections for the life that you make
And somewhere in time you’ll fall out of your mind
Is your existence undefined?
Is your existence undefined?
Why bother wasting your time on these stupid fears?
I think I’m doing alright even though it’s unclear
And I still can’t believe what you think I should be
But it’s beneath you I know
Well it’s beneath you I see
Late Night Heartache
It seems that there’s so much that I’ll never say
When you left, all you left was my heart in your wake
Now I’m stuck at the bottom to rot in this place
Though the sun divides nighttime, it still can’t erase
All of these thoughts, as I sit here alone
As I stare at the wall, you never pick up the phone
But I’m wondering what I would say even if you did
It seems that the nighttime is getting so late
I don’t know where to go and I can’t concentrate
Maybe I’m wrong or maybe it’s great
But now, oh now, oh now
I think I’ve got a heartache
It feels like there’s nowhere, there’s nowhere to go
Your intentions weren’t good but you put on a show
Placed on a platform until you chose to back out
Now I’m looking for reasons in this seasoned of doubt
With all of these thoughts, as I sit here in ruin
It’s all one night stands, I can’t stop what I’m doin’
But I’m really not sure if I’m better or much worse off
It seems that the nighttime is getting so late
I don’t know where to go and I can’t concentrate
Maybe I’m wrong or maybe it’s great
But now, oh now, oh now
I think I’ve got a heartache
Maybe by morning, it won’t be so bad
I won’t wake up thinking you’re the best that I’ve had
The daylight comes slowly, cause I don’t ever sleep
I wish I could call you, but you think I’m a creep
And these nightmares run in circles to repeat
These nightmares run in circles to repeat
It seems that the nighttime is getting so late
I don’t know where to go and I can’t concentrate
Maybe I’m wrong or maybe it’s great
But now, oh now, oh now
Now, oh now, oh now
Now, oh now, oh now
I think I’ve got a heartache