Welcome to the Ether lyrics

Ether
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

Take a right there at the Esso 
With that old Purina silo
And straight on through to where the pavement got redone
It’s an hour and some change to where you’re going
But you can bank a little time if you get off the 301
It’s pretty thin for half an hourLeft to right across the dial
You want a song you got to sing it in your head
Once you clear the interference
You get a solid hour of company
Unless you pull the parking brake and stay a while instead

(Welcome to the Ether) We been waiting for you darling
(Welcome to the Ether) Some things never change
Put your attention between the ditches
And your hands on ten and two
Because your ears are ours until you’re out of range
Welcome to the Ether

Your apartment's closing in on you and
You can't find a spot that's far enough away from any of the walls
But your edges start to melt when you step out into the rain
Looks like you might be made of sugar after all
Jam your hands into your pockets hike your shoulders bow your head
At least you’re dry between your collar and your chin
Pick a path along the road marching faster than the traffic
Till somebody rolls the window down and here we are again

(Welcome to the Ether) We got towers everywhere
(Welcome to the Ether) It’s all we ever say
Any trip can be a dance if you know how to stick the landing
And we can get you there a couple times a day

Nobody blames you for climbing up into your head when reception gets spotty
Nothing you buy or consume or collect gets your comfortable in your body

(Welcome to the Ether) Rooted to the driveway
(Welcome to the Ether) You ought to see your face
It can take you off the board if you hang out up here too long
So we know sometimes you have to go away
And we don’t like it either
Welcome to the ether


The Quiet Part
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

You don’t have to guess why I’m made out of chalk
It was the shake in your voice when you told me we got to talk
I haven’t been around to meet your eyes for a while
So I hold on to the edge of the chair and I stick on a smile

Don’t want to hear what you’re trying to get over to me
I can tell this morning gonna break us over its knee

And it runs under your breath in a delicate hum
It’s a little bit sad and a little bit numb
And I know you’re ready to go now we come to the quiet part

I got tired of dancing on that hot griddle
I whispered a lie that was not sweet and it was not little
A bit at a time I forgot how to talk to you
I tell you you’re right, I promise to change, then I do what I want to do

I admired your dignity and grace
It turns out you’re just too tired to trash the place

Don’t know how much of me you’re looking to keep
But this is the last time I get to watch you falling asleep
Sun coming on, the horizon is going to gray
I busted the clocks, I curtained the windows and it’s coming in anyway

And now I probably agree with whatever you said
But I don’t know how to get out of my head
So I gather my shoes and a bundle of clothes
And slip out of your life on the tips of my toes
We can call it whatever you want but it isn’t 
That we got to talk it’s that I got to listen
But count on me to go missing when we get to the quiet part
When we get to the quiet part


Pelican
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

I wave you on in, you don’t have to knock anymore
You offer me half of your coffee like you’re gonna need it to get in the door
My place is a spot to get out of the weather
You duck in sometimes when it rains
You could beat a path home but your mail would get soggy that way 

You leave your boots on – I don’t care what you’re tracking in
I brew up my own cos I’m not big on nutmeg and cinnamon
You don't have to look up from your phone, I like how it lights up your face
Yeah, that came out kind of creepy, I hope you don’t take it that way 

I can be super poetic and stuff
But I’ll shut up before that kicks in
Much better bet’d be to see if I can get you
To put latte through your nose again 

I'm on board for wherever you're driving this story 
You know what, maybe not, I forgotYou can get kind of morbid  

So I can be awkward and more than a little indelicate
And as far as being graceful and poised I've been compared to a pelican
So I got no method or strategy to get you to toe off those galoshes and stay
Looks like my big play is to just say it
I like you
That way


Anywhere But Here
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP) and Mary Bragg (Mary Bragg Music/ASCAP)

Another junkie on the corner
Makes it official now, it's getting kind of rough
But you'd be amazed what you can live with
If you live with it often enough

You sit across my kitchen table
I feel it hanging in the air
You can't believe you even have to ask me
Why I haven't moved to anywhere but here

I run some fingers through my hair
Look out the window at what ain’t there
I just love the cuckoo's calling 
I never ask it why it does
I'm living what I mean
But I don't have the words to sing
We been over it for hours and all I got so far is
Because

My brother showed me how to play this lick
Been fifteen years, still can't play it half as well
Next time I see him I'd get him to show me one more time
I kinda doubt he’s got a guitar in his cell

But I don't mark it by the hour
Get my comfort when it comes
When all you want’s a shower
And you don’t know if it’s coming
When you finally make it underneath that water
It’ll hit you like a drug

We can stand here and kill ourselves
Or we can talk about something else
You don't right come out and say I'm crazy
 But I can hear it in your voice
Ain’t got nothing to do with pride
I'm just taking up my side
You get to stick or walk away 
But I have to love it here because 
Because 


Everyone Dances
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)
 
Libby and me we lock hands and march up to the water
She keeps her eyes on the lake but her fingers are talking to me
They say we don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to
But I’m living in Libby’s world now

Libby takes all the time in the world to do anything
So I’m nowhere near ready when she pulls us both over the rail 
But she never lets go as the sky tumbles into the water
And the last thing I hear is some Native American name

Under the water
Everyone dances
We turn in the current
Like everybody else
Dance long enough 
The music will come to you
Might get what you came for
Don’t hold your breath

Libby ain’t there when I come up for air
And ain’t nothing on shore where her clothes ought to be
And I’m wanting so hard to stay this side of knowing
Go to call out her name; I don’t make a sound
Put a wish on the water to swallow me down
Cos I’m living in Libby’s world now
And Libby’s not home


Orangeandmagenta
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

So Orangeandmagenta paddles out beyond the breakers to the swell
Male or female black or white from where I’m at you’d need binoculars to tell
Been here on this rock for fifteen days to true my compass and forget you
And every morning I come out and grab a little time with Orangeandmagenta
 
I can see my options iris down and fade away the more I walk this world
Guess I threw away my shot to hang my toes or run my fingers down the inside of a curl
Hunker down a minute and take the time you need to sketch out your adventure
But read the tide or it can pull you down for good you just ask Orangeandmagenta
 
It can cost a lot of sleep to try to figure where the day went every night
If you allow for all the time you put in worrying it balances all right
Plot your moves to minimize the danger and avoid another lecture
And while you’re staring at your shoes the day will bleed from blue to orange and magenta
Orange and magenta


The Wires
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

Lying awake
With your fingers laced around behind your head
Under a little rectangular raincloud
And you’re tethered to the bed

Shut so tight
You got shimmery patterns blooming in your eyes but
That’s alright
This is how it looks when you try to uncouple the wires
 
Scanning the place for suspicious equipment
You know, like you do
Honest as long
As you know nobody’s listening to you
 
Laying your bets on red
To keep your reputation in the black
Paying with twenties 
Cos that folding money doesn’t track 
On the wires
  
Scramble the code again
And whisper it into the subway grating
Or find what you’re scared to say 
And sing it straight into the wires


Stethoscope
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

Turning your antenna you can pick them up no matter what they do
Oil their joints and tape their mouths they’ll never keep it down enough for you

Flattening yourself against the outer wall
Away from all the whistle calls and rattling
You kick against the static and you lose
But they do too

Open your umbrella and you turn it upside down to catch the rain
Choking down your medicine and all it does is clarify the pain

Penny in the dryer or a cricket in your room
A bag of nickels to the temple or an arrow to the spine
It’s all the same
But don’t complain

Here, take my pliers
You could yank out the wires
Yeah, they hold you upright
But man you look tired

Get yourself so far away from everything 
Nobody sees you reach into your coat 
Pull on your stethoscope 
And touch it to the ground
We’ll keep it down

We’ll keep it down


Better 
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

Go on, tell me I’m wrong 
Peel off and go home 
Settle my hash all the way to your house
I won’t hear a thing, but you’ll feel better
  
Tell my picture what you think
Pour my liquor down the sink
Cry to mama how I do you so bad 
Like mama’s got the stuff to make you feel better 
 
Go huddle up again with your little band of confidantes
Fill them in on almost everything that’s going on 
Get ‘em to cluck a tongue and tell em that you’re shut of me 
Then come on back for a dose of reali- 
 
Tea and honey, sympathetic shoulder and a smile 
That kind of thing’ll get you over for a while 
Come a late night that itch is gonna get you
Out of bed and on the phone looking to feel better 
  
Won’t be long the pretty people you been singing to to 
They’re gonna turn around and show their pretty backs to you 
Pretty melody but the lyrics are such a snooze
They’d perk right up if you wailed em some blues 

Then come back for some hijinks 
Yeah whatever those guys think 
I don't hear about them when you’re hanging with me 
Take five if you like but don't ever forget 
I make you feel good you don't have to feel better 


Details
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

You took the dishes down and set them on the counter
Humming aloud cos I was trying to talk to you
And one by one you held them up just so and dropped them on the floor
Like you were trying to break them perfectly in two 

I tiptoed in to try to straighten up this morning
I couldn’t stop myself from looking in on you
I couldn’t tell if you were sleeping but your eyes were closed
Like you were trying to keep the coming day from coming true

You bore a hole into the world, it doesn’t notice
And I’m afraid to look at what you’re trying to see
I know you’re looking for the devil in the details
I hate to break it to you child, it might be me

You know your mom and me, we made it twenty summers
And we held up those vows just like we said we would
But like a dandelion seed caught in a spider web
It wasn’t doing either of us any good

She made a project out of cleaning out her wallet
Tossing the business cards and wrappers on the floor 
And it got good to her so she kept right on going 
And now I’m not in her wallet anymore

Now you can iron your soul to smooth away the wrinkles
And do exactly what you say you’re gonna do
But everybody’s got a devil in their details
And if you don’t know where it is it’s probably you

Mend the broken dishes 
Anything can be forgiven
Clean and round and sharp enough
To take your hand to ribbons

Sometimes I skip a couple frames so I can sleep at night
I understand if you don’t want to take my call
I have to back away to check the composition
Or else the devil in the details takes it all
It wants it all


You May Do That
©2015 David LaMotte and Wes Collins
Dryad Publishing and Whoompleytunes

You may never even notice what you’re doing
You may think until you cannot move at all
You can make your lists until you’re out of paper
You can roll the window down and let them fall
You may do that

You might think of the right words and never say them
You might let some things be said no one should say
You might wish you’d said the words you thought of later
And if you get another chance at it someday
You may do that

You may think that you are waiting on a hero
Would you recognize that hero on your bus?
You might think that you can never make a difference
It might look to you like no one ever does
But you may
You may do that

City transit takes a slow turn round the corner
Sunlight slides across the seat you squint your eye
Signs say watch your step and keep the aisle clear son
You keep following directions you’ll be fine
And you may do that

“It the law you give your seat up now. You know that, right?
Make it easy on yourself, you know your place.
I got the radio right here and I can bring in the police.”
She keeps her seat and looks him in the face
Says “You may do that.”

You may do that


I Love You Guys
©2018 Wes Collins (Whoompleytunes/ASCAP)

I love you guys
You’re the only ones that get me
Nobody gets me
At home
I love you guys
I’ll forget that in the morning 
But I know it here
You’re blurry but it’s clear
I love you guys

I love you guys
I’ll tug on your awesome shirt and say it right out loud
Right out loud
I love you guys
I’ll get clean up on this bar and sing it out to you
When I get ready to
I love you guys

I get like this whenever I start thinking hard
Feels like I’m sinking hard
Either way I’m blinking hard
You don’t give me that look like all the others do
It's only one or two
And I get to hang with you
Guys

I get like this whenever I start thinking hard
Feels like I’m shrinking hard
It shouldn’t be so stinking hard
Small and quiet till I get that third one down
I start to look around
Pick a fight and stand my ground

But I love you guys
I don’t know if you can hear me
You smile and nod your head
But not at what I said
I love you guys
I could throw mine in with anybody anywhere
I can’t tell if you care
But I love you guys