Boy Genius (2003)

Can't Tell You That
Bad Luck
Don't Miss You
Everyday
Same Old Dream
Somewhere Else
Not Above That
Turn Me
Get To Me
Secret Life
All I Got
Tied Up In My Tongue
Both Ways

Can’t Tell You That

Your old boyfriend called me up
he told me run while you can
he said get out
while you’ve got time to leave

All my friends say man what’s up
they think I don’t understand
but who says I don’t have
a few tricks up my sleeve

I used to think you were so cool
how you’ve got no respect
you break things
just like it was your right

You crashed your daddy’s car
your apartment’s a mess
you'd have probably broke my heart
if I’d have stayed there last night

I can’t tell you that I’m getting stronger
but the days just get longer
and I’ve always loved the summertime

I can’t tell you that I’m not scheming
but baby you’re dreaming
if you think I’ll let you break this heart of mine

Listen I know that you cheat
I know each lie that you’ve told
I know you just plain hate my guts

Who knows why you stay with me
I guess you feel in control
You’re gonna lose it
when I finally go nuts

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Bad Luck

You’ve been in seven car crashes
yeah your parents bailed you out of that
but you had to work at Chick-Fil-A
in high school just to pay them back

Every pet you’ve had
has either died or lost a leg
somebody robbed your apartment once
and took everything even the bed

Your cousin came to visit you
and got Hepatitis C
I gotta tell you I’ve been wondering
what’s gonna happen to me

I’ve been extra careful
since I met you last Tuesday night
you told me all the awful things
that happened in your life

I’ve been extra careful
since this you and me thing’s goin’ down
‘cause bad luck seems
to follow you around

You’ve had a string of crappy boyfriends
who were selfish rude and mean
you spent the better part of your childhood
in special schools and therapy

And you claim no one has understood you
since you were about three
I don’t mean to be selfish
but I’m wondering what this has to do with me

CHORUS

Baby it’s amazing everything that you’ve survived
Me well I’m just hoping I can make it through this week alive

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Don’t Miss You

I don’t remember lying on your bed
I don’t remember your silhouette
the curve of your body
the light beyond the door
it’s like it never happened before

I don’t miss a thing about your smile
I hear sense of humor’s out of style
I don’t miss the way you laugh
at all the stupid things I do
and I don’t miss you

I don’t miss you
I don’t miss you
Oh if I can say it
I guess it must be true
I don’t miss you

I built a big old lonely city in my head
skyscrapers and the walking dead
oh and it grew bigger
everytime you came around
so I burned it all down

I don’t miss you
I don’t miss you
Oh if I can say it
I guess that means it’s true
I don’t miss you

Everyday I drive by your old house
and even though nobody lives there now
I wish I knew a way around
but you know this town
and I know you know
there’s only one way out

I don’t miss you
I don’t miss you
Maybe if I say it
then I’ll believe it too
I don’t miss you

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Everyday

Everyday I see the moon shine
Everyday I make a wish for you and I
Everyday I look for you
in some stranger’s stare
even though I know when I come home
I’ll find you waiting there

Everyday I go through the motions
Everyday I hold on to some crazy notion
Everyday I read into the mystery
even though I know it’s true that you’ll
always be here with me

It won’t mean a thing
if I go away
‘cause I’ll always take
a piece of you with me

Everyday I live down to the minute
Everyday I live I hope that you are in it
Everyday

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Same Old Dream

I had that same old dream again
last night after you left here
that dream you never are in
and everybody’s so weird
and compared to them I seem just fine
I had that same old dream last night

That same old dream won’t let me be
that’s why I haven’t known what to say
did you know I walk in my sleep
maybe I’m running away
last night they found me trying to climb a streetlight
must’ve had that same old dream last night

There’s not a single thing I know
a single thing about
in my dreams I’m a different person
in my dreams I’ve got it all figured out

in my dreams I can see this through
and we end up happy and fat
now tell me what would Dr Freud
have to say about that

I had that same old dream last night
my therapist says I am just a mess
she says it’s bad I don’t cry
I can’t remember the rest
with all those books of hers she must be right
I told her I had that same old dream last night

I had that same old dream
yeah it’s the same old thing
I had that same old dream last night

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Turn Me

You put a spell on the salt shaker
now it’s sitting on edge
on a table in a diner in the rain

I’m biting my fingers
waiting for an answer
on edge at a table in a diner in the rain

You wouldn’t kick a guy when he’s down down
come on you can turn me turn me around

Turn me into diamonds
I’m just lying here black as coal
Turn me into wine from water
maybe I’ll get better as I grow old

Now the people coming in
are kicking off the rain
while the waitress pours coffee
with a pencil in her hair

I’m looking at you
looking at me
trying to figure out
figure if you still care

CHORUS

You could have told me
you were gonna walk barefoot through me
filling your pockets as you leave
come on give me just a piece of me back
It’s easy you’ve got everything

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Tied Up In My Tongue

Look at you
you’re so good at what you do
you’ve got it coming
out of every inch of you

Your eyes closed tight
and your head thrown back
oh I wish I could be like that

I’m giving up on trying
to be myself everyday
I’ve never really known
who that is anyway

I’ll just wait ‘til I’ve got
something good to say
‘til then tied up
in my tongue I’ll stay

So I spread myself out
on the floor around me
the people I’ve known
the places I’ve seen

what does it mean
maybe I should take it out someday
and smile looking back
oh I wish I could be like that

CHORUS

Crystals and candles
and a map of the stars
prescriptions subscriptions
half a dozen crashed cars
but I always end up
back where you are

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Somewhere Else (Hey David)

Hey David
it’s getting up on summer
the windows are coming open
they’re sweeping off the porches in this town

Kathy’s cooking breakfast
yeah just like you like it
we’ve been trying to guess where
you might be right now

Every year
about this time of year
seems like somewhere else
starts calling you away from here

Everyone’s
got you on their mind
could you make this place
your somewhere else sometime

David
you-know-who asked about you
she was asking me if I knew
where a girl like her
might find a guy like you

And David
this might sound strange
but I’ll tell you anyway
it just felt good to think she thought I knew
when you might be passing through

CHORUS

Summer heat
liquid streets
we’re just trying to keep our cool
swimming pools
and sunburned fools
it’s just not the same without you

Hey David
I got that job in Asheville
you know how much I’ve been needing it
they say there’s lots of traveling
but I don’t care

And David
I was thinking on all your roads
you might keep an eye out for me
we might pass each other out there
on the highway somewhere

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Secret Life

Your blue guitar
your fancy cars
limousines and movie stars
you’ve never known
quite who you are
but we love you anyway

That strange tattoo
on your left arm
from your time down in Africa
with your favorite black harmonica
that your grandfather gave

You still can see him standing
alone behind the house
hands up to his mouth
you could barely hear the song

When you’re gone
are you gonna be just like him
or will the smoke and mirrors fall

With your secret life
it’s a mystery
that anyone ever even knew you at all

So you cut your chops
on the Europe trip
‘til you could not feel your fingertips
then in the square in Marrakesh for tips
just think we knew you when

Now everyone knows who you are
limousines and movie stars
but all your dreams and fancy cars
won’t bring him back again

The songs come late at night now
through the air lighter than ether
you say you’re just the receiver
but you ain’t slept in so damn long

CHORUS

So take your time and think it over
there’s nothing left to say except hello
‘ cause just like him you’re living
like an out of body experience
just waiting for somebody real to know

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Not Above That

I still miss you
I don’t even want to get over you
still counting mistakes
still counting days

I’ve tried and I’ve tried
to think how I
could’ve done it all different
I’m better at missing you anyway

Could I come back if I’ve changed
would you want me back
would you take me just the same
or is the old me old hat
Could I come back if I begged
and moaned and cried and spat
I’m not above that

I’ve been down on this floor for so much time
I’ve got every inch of the ceiling memorized
phone on my chest
flat on my back

I keep listening
to that same damn song
over and over and on and on
my self-inflicted three minute heart attacks

CHORUS

I remember that summer
that I was so cold
I can still see you in the rearview
as the memory unfolds

CHORUS

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Get To Me

I’ve been dreaming of you
I dream you live in the moon
that’s a long way to get through
I don’t know how you get to me
but you do

I don’t know much about space
just the light on your face
I love watching you change
I don’t how you get to me
I guess you have your ways

I’ve never known
I hope I never do
how you get to me
the way you do
my favorite mystery
is you

One thing’s faster than light
the speed of love through the night
a million miles in a flash of white
you always seem to get to me in time

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

Both Ways

I bet I’ve got about a hundred stories
how she busted up my heart
now I use duct tape
to keep it all together

But I’m worried I left some piece out
‘cause now it rattles in the wind
and it starts to ache when the weatherman says
we’re getting bad weather

I guess I oughtta be trying
trying to forget you
but I just wander around
in a daze

I’ve tried everything I can think of
and I think it’s true
I’ve been loving you uphill
loving you uphill both ways

She was a dancer from Vegas in New York City
she always wore black
and her name was Kitty
and she’d come there to become a Rockette

She left me standing at the altar for a Broadway play
it was the Will Rogers Follies matinee
now she’s gone and it hurts but I’ll tell ya
it’s better than a kick in the head

CHORUS

A friend of mine told me
last month he’d seen her
she was living out in LA
with a husband and three ugly kids

I don’t know if I should’ve felt happy or sad
when my friend told me she’d gotten fat
I just thought of New York
and I smiled yes I did

CHORUS

I’ve tried herbal medicine
acupuncture and pills
but I’ve been loving you uphill
I’m loving you uphill both ways

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin

All I Got

I got so much stuff I can’t keep up
I got a freight train full of pixie dust
I got tons of other stuff that sounds made up
that’s not all I got

I got shoes hat shirt pants socks coat tie
I got gold I got art
I got jewels I got wine
I got bones of some famous guy who died--why not

I got all of that it’s true
but I don’t have a clue

All I got is everything
but all I need is you

I got patè sheet cake beef cake clam bake
hot plate can’t wait up late first date
good rate front gate clean slate new state
all in just one day

I would give it all away
just tell me what to do

CHORUS

They say you can’t take it with you it’s true
(don’t worry baby)
I got a whole cemetery just for me and you
All I got is everything
but all I need is you

Copyright ©2003 Josh Lamkin