You'd Prefer an Astronaut / Singles Lyrics
Key: (accentuated) / [alt interpretation] / incidental / non-lyrical / ± uncertain / indiscernible | Note ▾
Regarding HUM Lyrics
Matt, quite wisely, has persistently demurred away from lyrical scrutiny over the years, passionately encouraging - as with all good art - personal interpretation over any specific and intentional meaning, on his or HUM's behalf. Of course there is meaning. Gobs. Oceans. Macrocosms. However, pulling it down out of the more nonlinear, energetic aether, and into dualistic, deterministic, and materialistic reality changes things, appreciably. There's something about the transcendent magic suffusing a greater poetic & musical vehicle that is then lost, crumbling in the cloying grasp towards, and diminished, leaden results from an act of petrifying transcription.
Nevertheless, I get it - sometimes you just want to cut the foreplay, one hemisphere wanting to know just what the heck is being expressed and conveyed, so you can just get on with the rockin'. Well, here we are. That said, please don't get hung up on particulars of the interpretations here, or out there in the digital realms, which are often Frankensteined together with rather hackneyed scissoring & gluing, in some gawd-awful game of Internet telephone.
I've always hoped this would serve more as a touchstone or launching point in honorary spirit, if not as a humble guide, to see if anything jives with what gets lit up inside your folds when the roiled waves come crashing in.
Little Dipper
if we go [both] stand with paths on high [I'd]
sink without [think about] the oceans, watch them dry
then we can see far to the other side
it's you and I forever, and we don't have to hide
we don't have to hide
•
if we ignore the signals that mission control will send
it's one big ship ride anyway, this hell will never end
and gaze out on what they left of the stars
all we see now we can take our songs
•
you two [too] have got just moments left to give...
...to give
come back now and we will let you live
stay inside of our blue protective eye
we won't let them take you
we won't let you die
•
my baby spins propellants, the system is set to blow
she's at the Milky Way now, exploding into snow
and she's constructed flash points to cover up the sun
while I sleep under glass, I know that she will wake me when she's done
•
you two [too] have got just moments left to give
come back now and we will let you live
stay inside of our blue protective eye
we won't let them take you
we won't let you die...
...you two [too] have got just moments left to give
come back now and we will let you live
stay inside of our blue protective eye
we won't let them take you
we won't let you die
The Pod
the morning scatters in and I am steady like a drug, feeling out this one
she wakes up smashed as hell and steadies her ass against the rail
and bends [blends] before the pounding rain
she had the widest, bright ideas, all along about my love
and I need this fucking fix and I beg her to pick from
one of the billion ways to feel no pain
•
the morning after her bends reflected, and I can hardly stand
the way this whole thing makes me seem
she climbs out from her dream with lungs, hardly, as she screams a stereo scream
and bends before astounding rain
she's got a system made of metal and magnet bits inside her brain
and she opens her box of tricks and begs me to pick from
one of a billion ways to feel no pain
she had the widest, bright ideas
that all the world would sleep away until the nightmare ends
everyone is on way, way on the end
hold me up, tight
let me breathe now
•
she had the widest, bright ideas
that all the world would sleep away until the nightmare ends
everyone is on way, way on the end
and hold me upright
let me breathe now
Stars
she thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars
she thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars
•
she's not at work, she's not at school
she's not in bed, I think I finally broke her
I bring her home everything I want, and nothing that she needs
•
I thought she'd be there holding daisies, she always waits for me
she thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars
•
I found her out back sitting naked looking up and looking dead
a crumpled yellow piece of paper, with seven nines and tens
•
I thought she'd be there holding daisies, she always waits for me
she thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars
•
I thought you'd be there holding Daisy, you always wait for me
she thinks she missed the train to Mars, she's out back counting stars
Suicide Machine
sleep comes to everyone while we wait for the Sunday afternoons
sleep comes to everyone, everyone maybe yeah, but you
sleep comes to everyone while we wait, wide awake and blue
sleep comes to everyone, everyone maybe, yeah, but me and you
•
and so I give myself away
to everybody every day
and so I give myself to you
and you need it more than I do
and so I give myself away
unto everybody every day
and so I give myself to you
and you need it more than I do
•
sleep comes to everyone while we wait for the Sunday afternoons
and sleep comes to everyone, everyone maybe, yeah, but you
and I had this one figured out that's why the suicide machine is built for two
a simple sick device devised to overload on love
to bring us colored dreams and sound-tracked waves of fun
•
and so I give myself away
to everybody every day
and so I give myself to you
and you need it more than I do [need more than I can do]
and so I give myself away
to everybody every day
and so I give myself to you
and you need it more than I do
•
(...ridiculous dreams...) ±
(...I hear voices of mourning [all morning]...) ±
(...like an image sometimes...) ±
(...it's just so meaningless [hopeless]...) ±
(...to keep transmitting...) ±
(...or there's no meaning at all...) ±
(...a dream can't touch us...) ±
(...you can have...) ±
(...listen to the dreams that you receive [these are the dreams you can receive]...) ±
•
sleep comes to no one else like we have falling through the ground
fulfilling promises of endless summer nights
I'm losing ground, you're losing sound
somewhere through a thousand blues a dragonfly descends with just a whisper
I'm lonelier than God
and all my wishes spin the fishes in the air
and everyone a different shade of you
and to the left where up is down
now stands a zebra made of shapes of me, it's silver and the sun
so bring no guilt with you up above the flat line
let's just look the sky exploding into one
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
ahm [Om]
The Very Old Man
sorry
sorry
•
it's eerie and it's awesome how all connected
two pods scattered on the surface can become
lazy into one
he knows lightning kills the other
she can't stand to watch his petals fall
it's better when cascades become like us all
•
afternoon a golden disengagement
leaves a woman with a household left to fill
sit, and be still
and send the voltage cross his ticker
watch the stars they start to flicker
and one by one the levels fall
•
another drink my love, and make it tall enough
so I can stand on it and see
all you'd done for me
a world of curves and lines electric
remember how you strung the colored lights
from Christmas tree to me
Why I Like the Robins
the distance outside of you [view] comes into focus, collapses away lovingly
and hands to the glass and eyes to sky and glued to the south she waits to see
•
she's looking for a bird she met last fall
who said they would come back different and all
she's waiting for six who know about sound
we promise[d] to come back upside down
•
and I like your raindrop collector
splash in my eyes and makes everything else look like you
so hand me the glasses and teach me to use them
show me the window
I want to look too
•
I'll take the glasses and cover for you
you get some sleep and I'll stay 'till two
I'm looking for six who know about sound
we promise to come back upside down
•
she's got colors to spare
and I don't care what they choose
I've got nothing to do
and nothing like you left to lose
she's got colors to spare
and I don't care what they choose
and I've got nothing to do
and nothing like you left to lose
she's got colors to spare
and I don't care what they choose
and I've got nothing to do
and nothing like you left to lose
she's got colors to spare
and I don't care what they choose...
•
ha
alright
I'd Like Your Hair Long
I'd like your hair long and ladled to the ground
you'd prefer an astronaut
someone to relate to and someone to command
and I will be a simple man
I could hardly wait for my stars to fall in line
and synchronize and shine
a wasted string of years and a wasted string of lies
you're [It's] still the same to me
•
it's a waste of a song
it's a waste of a song
you're a waste of my lungs
it's a waste of a song
•
I'd like your face gone and in its place the sun
and I will be an astronaut
for I have come to surface to catch some light and feed
and I have everything I need
and I could hardly wait for my stars to fall in line
and synchronize and shine
a wasted string of years and a wasted string of lies
you're still the same to me
•
you're a waste of a song
you're a waste of my lungs
it's a waste of a song
•
it's a waste of a song
you're a waste of my lungs
you're a waste of a song
I Hate it Too
morning gray ignites a twisted mess of foreign shapes and sounds
I wish the ceiling was the ground
I'll send you flowers made of silent tiny pieces of the sun
to help me make up for this one
while you send me tidal waves of love when you're all alone
and I can't remember what you do
to find a way to turn the signal back to heaven sounding blue
and bring me faithful back to you
•
and she don't hold me right
she's never going to get me there
and she don't hold me right
she's never going to get me there
not tonight
•
if we break off gently in slow motion
spinning outward into space
my hand, always firm it gently at the wheel
while you sweetly hold my face
and I need you to give it meaning
I need you to share the view
or it becomes a time for me to love myself
like every other thing I do
•
and she don't hold me right
she's never going to get me there
•
and she don't hold me right
she's never going to get me there
not tonight
Songs of Farewell and Departure
before we steam and send
steady to the signed
a simple tale of woe
your hearts will be undone
a love song to everyone I know
arms wide open, here we go
•
she weaves a trail of petals through the embryonic ice
her hair is warm to the touch
her flowers twice as nice
and if he stands on the moon he can barely catch her eyes
always open to the sky
•
and so we land only to find we never left the ground
please leave the walls and the floors exactly as you found
a love song to everyone I know
arms wide open, here we go
here we go
here we go
here we go
Boy With Stick
if I had to settle up now
I'd really need to find you
if we have to die alone [now]
let's take a walk and watch the bugs fuck
like a rock when you sleep still
•
I knew one day you'd die [dive]
I promised not to die [dive]
a noise inside a mind
and everything is fine
while the world rings on the next blue ±
or heaven [haven't] kissed a road to you ±
and I have to spot it in you
you'd [you'll] gradually be between the sunsets
connect[s] me with your eyes
while I come clean with the tears, know
I really hate to shine
and I have to settle up now
a million, billion souls
so always know I tried
•
I knew one day you'd die [dive]
I promised not to die [dive]
a noise inside a mind
and everything is fine
and everything is fine
Baby, Baby
we're rolling here
ready?
•
baby, baby this I know
that you won't be the last thing to go
baby, baby this I know
that you won't be the last thing to go
flipping on to manual
'till I get nothing done
gonna drown the telephone
and you and I can be like one
baby, baby this I know
that you won't be the last thing to go
baby, baby this I know
that You won't be the last thing to go
throwing all my records away
throwing all my records away
throwing all my records away
throwing all my records away
throwing all my guitars away
throwing all my guitars away
throwing all my guitars away
throwing all my guitars...
throwing all my guitars away
•
right on, that's a take [let's tape]...
Ms. Lazarus
I come to you all dressed in sound
with bluebirds tripping [dripping] wires to the ground
connected to a time machine that will not power down
set the crosshairs back on one
you said we'd only die here in the sun
the way your headstone shines
I only wish that it was mine
•
so set the crosshairs back on one
I nail the loop that brings the second run
past the wished on charms
and through the lens back to your living arms
•
this time machine won't power down
this time machine won't power down
•
and still the crosshairs rest on one
and still you rest here in the morning sun
still I fumble through pages of constructions on the ride
I like the blown out sound you've found
I like the way it feels here coming down
the way the headstone shines
I only wish that it was mine
•
Tim's dog, barking
