"Passwords" (2018)




Living In The Future lyrics - Dawes

I know all of my exits
I'm always planning my escape
It's the most aggressive symptom
Of this collective phantom pain
And the more that you ignore it
The more it makes you go insane
Just look around

It's the battle of the passwords
It's the trumpets on the hill
It's that constant paranoia
It's the final fire drill
And if you won't sing the anthem
They'll go find someone else who will
They're Cracking down

We're living in the future, so shine a little light
It may not make it any better, I'm just hopin' that it might
I'm not talkin' bout forever, how about just getting through the night
We're livin' in the future, so shine a little light

I'm always lookin' over shoulders
Not knowing what I'm looking for
Now that the feeling someone's watchin'
Isn't just a feeling anymore
Now that both sides of the aisle
Are this good at keepin' score
We've crossed a line

There's a madness to the method
There's a market for the fear
It's that dance out on the razor's edge
The wolf held by the ears
It's the man behind the curtain
It's the weight of awful tears
Since the dawn of time

We're living in the future, so shine a little light
It may not make it any better, I'm just hopin' that it might
I'm not talkin' bout forever, how about just getting through the night
We're livin' in the future, so shine a little light

We're living in the future, so shine a little light
It may not make it any better, I'm just hopin' that it might
I'm not talkin' bout forever, how about just getting through the night
We're livin' in the future, so shine a little light

Stay Down lyrics - Dawes

Micheladas in the afternoon
Lie on the couch in a rented room
Watchin' Jeopardy without the sound
It's easy to stay down

Quick mistakes and long goodbyes
Hold-over truths and necessary lies
I caught a train that was backwards-bound
It's easy to stay down

Stay down when your mind has been cleared
And your trail can't be found
Stay down with your eye to the sky
And your ear to the ground

Down by the pool with all my brand-new friends
Re-writin' letters that I never sent
Declinin' invitations into town
It's easy to stay down

Slowly admit that you have had your fun
The girl you loved and every word you sung
All the profane that you thought profound
It's time now to stay down

Stay down when the smoke is cleared
And you name can be found
Stay down with your head in the clouds
And your eyes to the ground

Feel the sting of the final blow
What could've been, you don't care or know
Don't try to go another round
Stay down

Feed The Fire lyrics - Dawes

I used to dream I was a poster in a bedroom
Or the pictures that get cut out of the fancy magazines
Some tortured genius went to leave the planet too soon
Livin' on champagne in the back of limousines

Tryin' to feed the fire without really knowin' why
Tryin' to feed the fire while hopin' that it dies

Tradin' where I'm at for some future destination
Workin' for attention I'll eventually resent
Tyrin' to ignore some of the darker implications
Of smilin' for the camera with my hands in wet cement

Tryin' to feed the fire without really knowin' why
Tryin' to feed the fire while hopin' that it dies
Tryin' to feed the fire without really knowin' why
Tryin' to feed the fire while hopin' that it dies

There's someone in my reflection that's been hauntin' me my whole life
There's a world outside my window I can barely even hear
And I wonder to myself as I am straightenin' my bowtie
How could I look so perfect on the screen and so awful in the mirror?

Tryin' to feed the fire without really knowin' why
Tryin' to feed the fire while hopin' that it dies
Tryin' to feed the fire without really knowin' why
Tryin' to feed the fire while hopin' that it dies
Hopin' that it dies
Hopin' that it dies
Hopin' that it dies

My Greatest Invention lyrics - Dawes

I wonder where you are right now
I guess I always do
People mention you all the time
Without me askin' them to
I take the dirt they give me
I put it in the books
I smear around the memories
Until I like how it looks
I get a taste for everything
Then I swallow your hook

You are the life of the party
Even when you didn't attend
How to get lost tellin' stories
But I'd always have to change out the end
I'd complete the collection
Of my favorite reflections
With an all-out rejection
Of our true imperfections
You are my greatest invention

It's gettin' harder keepin' order
My different versions of you
Which one's just an answer to a question?
Which one is actually true?
You can turn a second inside out
And end up with an eternity
But to polish up a diamond
You have to clear some debris
It doesn't work for everyone
But it works for me

You are the life of the party
Even when you didn't attend
How to get lost tellin' stories
But I'd always have to change out the end
I'd complete the collection
Of my favorite reflections
With an all-out rejection
Of our true imperfections
You are my greatest invention

You are the life of the party
Even when you didn't attend
How to get lost tellin' stories
But I'd always have to change out the end
I'd complete the collection
Of my favorite reflections
With an all-out rejection
Of our true imperfections
You are my greatest invention
You are my greatest invention
I wonder where you are right now
I guess I always do

Telescope lyrics - Dawes

He watched the bronco leave the driveway
The day after he turned ten
His dad said the band's booked up through Sunday
Ricky never saw him again
His mother made excuses
His brother got his wish
Ricky just stared at the posters in his bedroom
And started talking to his fish

And whenever he thought he could untie these knots
He didn't get too far

The stronger the telescope
The more stars there are

There were reports within the family
There were rumors at his school
Deadbeat got stuck in Calgary
Cleaning swimming pools
But Ricky had some questions
He couldn't get it through his head
How a father so drunk on his own destiny
Could end up like this instead

The boy could feel himself get older
With each shot in the dark

The stronger the telescope
The more stars there are
The stronger the telescope
The more stars there are

Now Ricky's in a trailer outside Albany
And he spends all his nights alone
With a penchant for conspiracy
And his take home methadone
But he hasn't been forgotten
His hometown speculates
If the world had just got to him too early
Or if it got to him too late

And the more they give each explanation
The more it comes apart

The stronger the telescope
The more stars there are
The stronger the telescope
The more stars there are
The more stars there are
The more stars there are
The more stars there are

I Can't Love lyrics - Dawes

Once we let the fire die a bit
I started findin' out who I was really dealin' with
Once we moved past the initial spark
I caught that first glimpse of the person that you really are

Can't love you any more
Can't love you any more

With your easy way of drawing out
The parts of me I don't know how to talk about
How the evening light on your sleepin' skin
Shows me this is all there is that's worth believin' in

I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more
Than I do right now

Once we stopped kickin' up the dust
We found out what it's like livin' with both of us

I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more
Than I do right now

Than I do right now
Than I do right now
Than I do right now
Than I do right now
Than I do right now
I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more
I can't love you any more

Mistakes We Should Have Made lyrics - Dawes

You look at me through your red glasses
While the yellow cab waits
We've been thinkin' 'bout our soulmates
Too long
Let's take it all off, everything off

Not everybody gets to feel this way
Not everybody gets stuck so bad
We've been talkin' 'bout who we had
Too much
Let's cut to the wrong, let's get it up

If we start right now, we could figure out
The mistakes we should have made
We could hypnotize our wand'rin' eyes
With the games we should have played
The mistakes we should have made

I wanna [?] the rubble
I want a future [?]
I wanna make sure all my aces
Get played
A firework's gotta' crack before it fades

One hour gettin' off the books
The one night that we could stand accused
One night that we have to lose
Control
Let's settle the bill, let's rock 'n' roll

If we start right now, we could figure out
The mistakes we should have made
We could hypnotize our wand'rin' eyes
With the games we should have played
The mistakes we should have made

All of this nonsense past tense living
All this [?] existence
All these night shift what if questions
These taboo rear view

If we start right now, we could figure out
The mistakes we should have made
We could hypnotize our wand'rin' eyes
With the games we should have played
The mistakes we should have made

Never Gonna Say Goodbye lyrics - Dawes

I never could admit when I was wrong, man
Even when I felt it in my bones
I always thought it meant I was a strong man
And I wondered why I was alone

That's when she stepped out of the ether
Right when I was ready for a dance
She said "I don't know what I am doing, either
But I know when to take a chance"

I never knew how to be scared
'Til I found something I knew I couldn't lose
And then a revelation trembled
From the tip of my own tongue

And like the last few boys at the Alamo
Like Cusack holding that stereo
Or what Juliet hears from Romeo
I'm never gonna say goodbye

There's not a way to someone's heart that she can't see
She lives and loves with everything she's got
My dark days showed me how to ask, "why me?"
She showed me how to ask, "why not?"

She keeps a hopeful eye upon the future
She finds a way to share that hope with me
And the few times that she's met some sort of failure
She wins a little back by laughing at defeat

I never knew what life could be
So it stands to reason why I can't go back
And now a revelation trembles
From the bottom of my heart

And like the stock exchange for the billionaires
Like the convert singing his morning prayers
Or the scientist to the polar bear
I'm never gonna say goodbye

Like those last few boys at the Alamo
Like Cusack holding that stereo
Or what Juliet hears from Romeo
I'm never gonna say
Don't make me say
I'm never gonna say goodbye

Time Flies Either Way lyrics - Dawes

Between the chemical trails in the morning
And the UFO's at night
The sky becomes a canvas
For my worst conspiracies
And through the storm clouds that were forming
More black and blue than white
I saw two shootin' stars as the getaway car
My life turned out to be

But my face is pressed against the window
While the traveled road lives up to its clichés
Desperately just tryin' to hold on to somethin'
'Cause I'm learning now that the time flies either way

I confuse a sense of purpose
With grabbin' the future by the throat
While the museum of my memories
Was just some blurry photographs
When I was younger I was serious
Now everything's a joke
But my friends detect a sadness
At the end of every laugh

Which has left me with a tricky sense of humor
I keep gettin' further led astray
Every punchline takes on another dimension
When you realize that the time flies either way

But at the height of this confusion
That's when your eyes met mine
I caught a small chance at salvation
Starin' right at me
I saw my boyhood reach conclusion
I saw a life spent at your side
I saw the permanent replacement
Of all the you's and I's to we

Findin' out that all my proudest moments
Will be spent tryin' to put a smile on your face
And I'm lettin' that fact answer all of my questions
'Cause I know now that the time flies either way
I know now that the time flies either way

"We're All Gonna Die" (2016)

One Of Us lyrics - Dawes

Your mother finally took all of her money
And put it where her mouth used to be
Turning anybody's ear
About her friends that disappeared
And how she's sailing further out to sea

Your father's spending all of his vacation
Learning foreign names for all his fears
And the spirits he's detected
About the data he's collected [?]
Turned out to be just ringing in his ears
You look like one of them
But you talk like one of us
Everything they're telling you is wrong
You look like one of them
But you talk like one of us
Babe I think you know where you belong

Your sister's always mortally offended
At the mispronunciation of her name
Telling all her newest clients
That the "w" is silent
Before she turns them back the way they came

Your brother sends me all his latest poems
About his secret dreams of learning how to dance
He knows these hands are not for you [?]
Asking when you're coming through
So he can tell his supervisor six months in advance

You look like one of them
But you talk like one of us
Everything they're telling you is wrong
You look like one of them
But you talk like one of us
Babe I think you know where you belong

Your old flame is still counting up his money
In a secret lair he built behind the shelf
When a chance at repetition
Leading out into temptation
I'm pretty sure he knows the way himself

You look like one of them
But you talk like one of us
Everything they're telling you is wrong
You look like one of them
But you talk like one of us
Babe I think you know where you belong


We're All Gonna Die lyrics - Dawes

Hey kid at the show tonight..
The face beyond the barricade
How ya dance and ya sing to every single line
Like it was you up on that stage

I mean to know your secret
I'm asking you for help
How do I fall in love with anything
Like you seem to do so well?
I gotta get back to when it came out
The way it was supposed to sound
Before money was ever changing hands
And my feet were on the ground

When I could feel the wind's direction
When I knew what songs to sing

And he said, "Try not to get upset
Let it all go by
Because how can it be that bad
If we're all gonna die?"

So I started to think about
That girl that disappeared
And if really was the road that pulled me away
Or if I'm still a victim of my fears

As she showed me, the machine ran
That our words protect us from
How she could keep me in the moment
How that's all there ever was

As she called, I asked to see her
Even if it's just a couple days
I could meet her out in Georgia
She could fly out to LA

And if the plane goes down on her way to me
I think I know how she would react

She'd smile and close her eyes..
Think about her life..
While some voice screaming in the back
"We're all gonna die."

So try not to get upset
Everything is fine
Hey, it's not that big a deal
We're all gonna die


Roll With The Punches lyrics - Dawes

The separation was symmetrical
They both retreated to their sides
Drawing lists of demands
And muddy lines in the sand
Trying out their separate lives

Most of the damage was collateral
But still inspired some debate
All the principles of why all the people we love
Are the same as we also can hate

You just roll with the punches
Until you can't feel a thing
You just roll with the punches
Aww yeah

The separation was logistical
Deciding what belongs to whom
How dying love manifests
In a rug or a chest
The decorations of a room

Every promise was negotiable
Most of all the ones they made alone
When she finally forgave
What he'll take to his grave
Learning not to pick up the phone

You just roll with the punches
Until you can't feel a thing
You just roll with the punches
Aww yeah

He starts existing as a miracle
A man of static right behind your eyes
That you filter everything through
Without knowing you do
A past and future synthesized

You just roll with the punches
Until you can't feel a thing
You just roll with the punches
Aww yeah

You just roll with the punches
Until you can't feel a thing
You just roll with the punches
Aww yeah

Picture Of A Man lyrics - Dawes

In the depths of dizziness
I picked a fight with myself like a real roughneck
Screaming, "You don't know who you're dealing with."
I threw a hell of a punch but I couldn't connect

At the edge of a silhouette
I caught a glimpse of a face I will never forget
Speaking future words of an idiot
I understood them at once but didn't know what I meant

Be still or break everything in half
Find free will in a drawing of a bath
Kill what you want or save everything you can
Be still. You're the picture of a man

Oh, man, can you picture it? Picture of a man
Oh, man, can you picture it?

In the heat of an argument
I got tricked into saying that I knew how I felt
As if you give something a value just by naming it
I'd be a hell of a vendor if I knew who I'd sell

And at the end of everything relevant
I slowly emptied my lungs and watched the light sunset
Burning everything natural and negative
I inhaled it all and didn't know where I went

Be still or break everything in half
Find free will in a drawing of a bath
Kill what you want, or save everything you can
Be still. You're the picture of a man
You're the picture of a man
You're the picture of a man

Oh, man, can you picture it? Picture of a man
Oh, man, can you picture it? Picture of a man

Less Than Five Miles Away lyrics - Dawes (feat. Blake Mills)

Between the cold drinks in the freezer
And the latest tabloid rags
A voice screams over the music
"Put the money in the bag!"

No one ever hears his reason
No one ever hears his name
This is all happening right now
Less than five miles away

A shifty fortune teller
Communion with the dead
Lying about the astral plane
So she can keep her children fed

Listening to a mother sick with cancer
Wondering what she's gonna say
This is all happening right now
Less than five miles away
This is all happening right now
Less than five miles away

There's a stranger in the bushes
Looking through the windows of a home
At a woman from the movies
That's been living there alone

She's home at 7 in the evening
He sees the code punched in the gate
This is all happening right now
Less than five miles away
This is all happening right now

And it all looks so pretty from a distance
How we're living out this story that we tell
Baby we were both designed out in the cosmos
As just a way of asking questions about itself

You know the great writer that left us
Well his house is still around
Like an old dead volcano
That sleeps over the town

They're gonna turn it into condos
They'll be done by New Year's Day
This is all happening right now
Less than five miles away
This is all happening right now

Roll Tide lyrics - Dawes

I'm sad about the messages you're sending
I'm sad about the shit we're doing wrong
I'm sad about the never-ending love we had
We keep pissing on the fire, but it keeps burning so strong
Can we both just say "I love you" and get it on?

Your boy from Birmingham seems nice enough to me
But unqualified for you, and your heavy vibes
He doesn't know the troubled story that he's written himself into
He doesn't know he's just a place for you to hide
You wanna tell him "Best of luck, man Roll Tide"

Roll Tide
It can't be easier to swim, when the water's high
Roll Tide
When what we want the most has us terrified
Roll Tide
If we don't want to let go, then we have to fight
Roll Tide
Roll Tide

I'm asking now for reconciliation
I'm asking now for what we have to say
I'm asking now for both of us to do a little changing
I wanna dance with you forever, in this one cabaret
If we just allow ourselves, it'll be okay

I close my eyes sometimes, now, when I'm driving
To feel the lack of distance between our sides
To see the orange and purple glow of our two flames
To take my weary self out for a ride
To tell myself, "Hang in, man Roll Tide"

Roll Tide
It can't be easier to swim, when the water's high
Roll Tide
When what we want the most has us terrified
Roll Tide
If we don't want to let go, we have to fight
And if we can't let go, then we have to try
Roll Tide
Roll Tide

When The Tequila Runs Out lyrics - Dawes

Everyone that greeted me, was moving slow and drinking fast
I was lost inside a painting on a wall
A pretty baby with a cigarette, was looking for a place to ash
Stumbling toward the voices down the hall

They had thriller on the stereo, not the album, just the song
For two dancers all in white, that no one really knew
There were a lot of leather jackets, there was a haircut reading palms
There was a line outside the bathroom that didn't really move

When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be feeling no pain

Some girls forgot their bathing suits but felt like jumping in the pool
Right after making sure the underwater lights were on
I was staring at a silhouette, I was blushing like a fool
Letting everyone pretend they hadn't planned it all along

Then our host bust out of his bedroom, with his glasses slightly bent
He gets up on the diving board to tell us how he feels
“Ladies and gentlemen we've begun the initial descent,
And now it's time to pull up on the wheel”

When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be feeling no pain

On the floor of the living room, I saw my past life passed out
Laying next to her handsome new flame
I didn't recognize his face too much 'cept for the grimace on his mouth
He looked a lot like me, he seemed to be in pain

I didn't hear the picture window break, I didn't see the rising sun
But I could feel the morning breeze
Then I heard her tired voice speak up and say “I think this party's done”
She asked if I could drive her home, and then she added please (Please)

When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be drinking champagne
When the tequila runs out, we'll be feeling no pain

For No Good Reason lyrics - Dawes

A little girl sinks down in the deep end
and looks up towards the sky,
and through a little blue world of legs
and her feet that look like their in flight
in a slow motion dance while the water expands
the Sun's refracted light
she just has to pretend she can hear the music

When she starts crying in her goggles
the scene becomes unclear
but she keeps peering into this underworld
through the filter of her tears
which let her keep hold of the moment
as if it was a souvenir
she just has to pretend she knows how to use it

Or maybe it's the cold hard truth that makes her cry
Maybe it's her ancient past life memories come
Maybe it's a chemical that got into her eye
Or maybe it's for no good reason at all
Maybe it's for no good reason at all

His wife asked "How were things at work today?"
as Bill walked through the door
and put his coat on the chair and his keys on the table
and his eyes down on the floor,
and he tightened his jaws and he thought of the cause
and effects weren't clear anymore,
figuring out how to say what's wrong

He said "I know that I'll be leaving you,
that's all I really know,
but I wish I could tell what exactly compels
me to turn my steps and go,
because there's so much love that you've given me,
and so much love that I owe,
it's with myself that I can't seem to get along"

Or maybe he just felt the hungry hand of fate
Maybe he won't rest until he's seen it fall
Maybe it's that mood that he's in just for the day
Or maybe it's for no good reason at all
Maybe it's for no good reason at all

An actor was found dead today in his Culver city home,
and with no evidence of foul play it seemed he'd acted on his own,
the position of his body looked like he was reaching for the phone,
makes you wonder who he was gonna call

Maybe all his demons were settling their debts
Or maybe all the pressure finally drove him to the wall
Maybe there were secrets that he needed to protect
Or maybe it's for no good reason at all
Maybe it's for no good reason,
no good reason, no good reason at all

Quitter lyrics - Dawes

Quit talking to God if your prayers don't get answered
Or if you don't exactly notice when they do
Quit taking the jobs that rob you of your powers
So you can buy more shit you don't have time to use
Quit hanging around in this air conditioned town
Where your life is lived up hunched over your phone
You're gonna have to quit everything, until you find one thing you won't

Quit living in the past if all you end up doing
Is practicing apologies you won't make
Quit filling up your glass if it's mixing and churning
With the feelings you are trying to escape
Quit committing these sins and absolving them again
As if it matters when you do or when you don't
You're gonna have to quit everything, until you find one thing you won't

Quit turning to words and putting pen on paper
If it feels like you're just putting black on white
Quit telling these girls their ideas about forever
When you only plan to know them for a night
Quit wasting my time because pretty soon you'll find
It's the only thing of value that we own
You're gonna have to quit everything, until you find one thing you won't

Quit trying to act like the world breaks into facts
When life itself is swimming through your bones
You're gonna have to quit everything, until you find one thing you won't
You're gonna have to quit everything, until you find one thing you won't

As If By Design lyrics - Dawes

The stars were just the holes punched in a shoebox
That gives the creature all the air he needs to breathe
As if every constellation was just a form of innovation
From a captor too enormous to conceive

The moon beamed like a coach from junior high school
When players hacked their way through each opposing team
And the brighter it was shining, felt like the wider he was smiling
On a season that he loved too much to leave

When you stare off in the night sometimes you see a little too much
Sometimes there's a world behind the mirror, sometimes a razor and a toothbrush
When in those fleeting moments when the stars all seem aligned
It all runs together, as if by design

The boat out in the middle of the ocean
Is like the butterfly just breathing on the sea
Giving all of its attention to this new and strange reflection
Not recognize that's what it used to be

When you stare off in the night sometimes you see a little too much
Sometimes there's a world behind the mirror, sometimes a razor and a toothbrush
When in those fleeting moments when the stars all seem aligned
It all runs together, as if by design

Every day getting a little
More aquainted with the riddles
Until I'm looking for them everywhere I go

When you stare off in the night sometimes you see a little too much
Sometimes there's a world behind the mirror, sometimes a razor and a toothbrush
When in those fleeting moments when the stars all seem aligned
It all runs together, as if by design
As if by design
As if by design

"All Your Favorite Bands" (2015)

Things Happen lyrics - Dawes

I could go on talking or I could stop
Wring out each memory til' I get every drop
Sift through the details of the others involved
The true crime would be thinking it's just one persons fault

Like an honest signature on a fake ID
Like the guilty conscience with the innocent plea
You can just ignore it, put it out of mind
But ain't it funny how the past won't ever let something lie

Let's make a list of all the things the world has put you through
Let's raise a glass to all the people you're not speaking to
I don't know what else you wanted me to say to you
Things happen, that's all they ever do

In a different time, on a different floor
I might mourn the loss of who I'm not anymore
So I'm driving up to Oakland for a good look back
And a few revisions to my plan of attack

Let's make a list of all the things the world has put you through
Let's raise a glass to all the people you're not speaking to
I don't know what else you wanted me to say to you
Things happen, that's all they ever do

I think I'll see Lily, see where she stands
I can't help how I feel, I don't think anyone can
Sometimes we're lovers, sometimes we're friends
Behold the magnetism between two dead ends

Let's make a list of all the things the world has put you through
Let's raise a glass to all the people you're not speaking to
I don't know what else you wanted me to say to you
Things happen, that's all they ever do

Lets' make a list of all the things the world has put you through (we can qualify the spirit guides we listen to)
Lets raise a glass to all the people your not speaking to (or why are moms compelled to bronze your baby shoes)
I don't know what else that you wanted me to say to you
Things happen, that's all they ever do
That's all they ever do
That's all they ever do
That's all they ever do

Somewhere Along The Way lyrics - Dawes

She went from table manners to tunnel vision to premature farewells
With a restlessness reserved for those who believe in themselves
She thought the world was hers so she made sure it bent beneath her will
She was as new and as ancient as the solar paneled hills

She was certain she could take this town by storm
The wonder of sound and light seeking a form

But somewhere along the way
The dots didn’t all connect
The promise became regrets
Somewhere along the way
The dream and the circumstance
Continue their tortured dance
Somewhere along the way

She was my lullaby personified, my vision in the mist
But her contacts were all promoters and a westside therapist
The 5ams, the worried friends, the parting of her lips
But I needed to witness someone wrestle with what it means to just exist

How her only plan in life was getting lost
How she took me to the edge and made me watch

But somewhere along the way
The running just lost it’s fun
It happens to everyone
Somewhere along the way
Her trail became too obscure
But that was her signature

She would talk about letting go - I guess I didn’t understand
Giving over to the currents that were there since time began
And on a long drive from El Paso to the Pacific Ocean cliffs

I finally felt connected to the continental drift
But somewhere along the way
I started to smile again
I don’t remember when
Somewhere along the way
Things will turn out just fine
I know it’s true this time

Don't Send Me Away lyrics - Dawes

You can send me a message if you don’t want to talk
And make sure I don’t interrupt
It might help you let it go
It’s hard for you, I know
To act like you’re not giving up

But don’t send me away
There’s nowhere else I’m going to
Don’t send me away
I know that’s what you want to do
Don’t send me away
Don’t send me away
Don’t send me away

You can send me a picture of the room you’re in
With your evening downtown view
The way the city spreads
When you’re laying in your bed
You can send it so I know what I can stand to lose

But don’t send me away
This is where I’m supposed to be
Don’t send me away
You don’t know what you do to me
Don’t send me away
Don’t send me away
Don’t send me away

I’m getting on the freeway
Your jacket’s in my car
Your ash is in my ashtray
And I’m there with you wherever you are

Don’t send me away
There’s nowhere else I’m going to
Don’t send me away
I know that’s what you want to do
Don’t send me away
Don’t send me away
Don’t send me away

All Your Favorite Bands lyrics - Dawes

Late night drives and hot french fries and friends around the country
From Charlottesville to good old Santa Fe
When I think of you, you still got on that hat that says let's party
I hope that thing is never thrown away

I hope that life without a chaperone is what you thought it'd be
I hope your brother's El Camino runs forever
I hope the world sees the same person that you've always been to me
And may all your favorite bands stay together

Now I'm just waking up and I'm not thinking clearly so don't quote me
With one eye open I'm writing you this song
Ain't it funny how some people pop into your head so easily
I haven't seen you in there for so long

I hope that life without a chaperone is what you thought it'd be
I hope your brother's El Camino runs forever
I hope the world sees the same person that you always were to me
And may all your favorite bands stay together
[x2]

I Can't Think About It Now lyrics - Dawes

If you’re just asking for a reason
Reasons are everywhere you look
The only difference between them
Are which you gave and which you took

Every smile with some dark anticipation
And dreams of back before it settled in their brows
I don’t remember when you first began to notice
But I can’t think about it now
I can’t think about it now

The latest singer’s latest single’s got me listening
For the pact between the writer and the star
This is how mythology is written
This is where the lawless jungles are

She’s just a singer living mostly after midnight
Pumping blood and money back into a town
And it all eventually betrays her
But I can’t think about it now
I can’t think about it now

So I guess it makes me wonder what I’m chasing
Like a dancer when she’s breaking in her shoes
Like sending men up to the moon just for the landing
Displaying power we don’t know how else to use

Sometimes it’s more than I can handle
Sometimes it’s all the joy I’ve found
And it’ll all end up on one side or the other
But I can’t think about it now

The decades that are hidden in the sidewalks
The narrative that naturally occurs
The everlasting wisdom of a sports bar
The poison that’s mistaken for a cure

All these backward glances putting me in danger
Of forgetting how to turn myself around
It’s just that time just keeps on slipping through my fingers
But I can’t think about it now
I can’t think about it now
I can’t think about it now

I can’t think about it now

To Be Completely Honest lyrics - Dawes

To be completely honest
The picture isn’t clear to me yet
You insisted that you owed explanations
While I was patiently enjoying the debt

And when I think about it
I’m not even sure if I mind
You were the fading signal that would slip through the static
For a station that I never could find

So you don’t need to say a word right now
All your reasons would just flicker in the darkness
Maybe that’s why nobody knows how
To be completely honest

To be completely honest
It feels like you’re still in the room
From the bracelets that you left on the nightstand
To the crows in the yard each afternoon

And I just can’t get off it
I haven’t been sleeping at all
Some questions weave themselves into the fabric
And some are what compel me to call

But then I never know where I should start
And a record of the symptoms is all I have accomplished
I never really thought it’d be so hard
To be completely honest

To be completely honest
I think I know how it ends
The universe continues expanding
While we discuss particulars of just being friends

And maybe that makes everything okay
Remembering the defect at the heart of every promise
Well maybe that’s the only way

To be completely honest

Waiting For Your Call lyrics - Dawes

When your restlessness has lost it’s way
And you’re finished with your need to stray
It’s not even something I am proud to say
I’ll be waiting for your call

When you reach the other side of this life you live
And you ask yourself what good you did
When you wanna know just how much I can forgive
I’ll be waiting for your call

When the charms and riches do not seem to last
When your lover asked for proof is not up to the task
I’m surprised you think you even need to ask
I’ll be waiting for your call

I’ll be here as I’ve always been
For you to think of on your way
The same way stepping into the evening
Is the time to praise the day

May I never give in and accept the fact
If I can’t feel your presence let me feel the lack
‘Cause even if you never will be coming back
I’ll be waiting for your call
Even if you never will be coming back
I’ll be waiting for your call

Right On Time lyrics - Dawes

Ohh ohh ohhh
Ohh ohh ohhh
Ohh ohh ohhh

If these walls could talk
I'd defer to the furniture
The piano, the table, the bed that we both sleep in
These constant, silent messengers

'Cause there's a story that's recorded in each fingerprint
That these disregarded artifacts collect
And if we boil down these documented memories
I have a feeling you should know what to expect

You were right on time
And out of nowhere
Right on time

Ohh ohh ohhh
And if they don't talk
I'll investigate a formula
Figures, equations, the details of our union
The edges of the nebula

At the end of such a long and worthy sacrifice
All that's left is to submit my full report
I'll have turned all of my hunches into certainties
And I will confirm what I already knew before

That you were right on time
And out of nowhere
Right on time

Ohh ohh ohhh

And as I stumble through the streets back from the alleyways
And everyone can see I'm bleeding through my shirt
And after describing all the shooter's details carefully,
And I start to realize just how badly I've been hurt

You were right on time
And out of nowhere
You were right on time

Right on time
And out of nowhere
Right on time

Now That It's Too Late, Maria lyrics - Dawes

The flicker of the candle looks like a one way conversation
Reacting to something nobody else could see
While I sit at the table and relive the whole situation
Until the valet who wants to go home comes in and gives me my keys
And tonight every single star is shining
The power lines all sizzle and buzz
And now that it’s too late, Maria
I see it all for what it was

There’s nothing sadder than a streetlight shining on a stretch of empty sidewalk
Or maybe the fog that I’ve been living in has lifted for the first time in weeks
Every day’s been a step forward perfecting the art of the small talk
So I never have to say something I might really mean
But I remember all those final words that you told me
How I was too green to be blue
But now that it’s too late, Maria
I can see how that was true

Now when I am in your city I come across the company you’ve been keeping
They all hit it off so well with some infamous ghost of my past
It’s so hard to imagine what you could have possibly told them
Some wonder how I’m doing but most don’t even ask
But now every single door stands open
I even signed some autographs
And now that it’s too late, Maria
We can both look back and laugh

There’s always more to say but I’m just skipping to the ending
When you move back to Texas and I meet a girl who wants to change her name
When we both start to forget the problems that were never worth having
And everybody goes on living watching nothing really change
There will always be a part of you that’s with me
And you sure as hell had better feel the same
And now that it’s too late, Maria

There is no one here to blame

"Stories Don't End" (2013)

Just Beneath The Surface lyrics - Dawes

Have you ever thought your little girl glamour shots
And the events of that whole day spent at the mall
Is maybe a part of you you didn't know you were clinging to?
As if that's where the secret had taken its hold most of all
Like a feather that finds its invisible path as its fall

Just beneath the surface there's another one of me
At the root of all my trouble, in the twitch before I speak
With thoughts and revelations even I could not accept
So just beneath the surface is where he will stay kept

When you talk about me, do you stick to the memories?
Or was I just another victim of the case?
The one that went cold on you the way it was meant to do
For any detective that hasn't accepted his place
And still wanders a city in hopes of it showing its face

Just beneath the surface there's another one of me
At the root of all my trouble, in the twitch before I speak
With thoughts and revelations even I could not accept
So just beneath the surface is where he will stay kept

Between the thoughtless words and the wordless thoughts
Between my plotless fears and my fearless plots
Between the parts of me I keep from you and the things that I'm just not
The center keeps on drifting
The music never stops

Just beneath the surface there's another one of me
At the root of all my trouble, in the twitch before I speak
With thoughts and revelations even I could not accept
Just beneath the surface is where he will stay kept

From A Window Seat lyrics - Dawes

I'm buckle in my seat belt, plug my headset in a chair
And to the music, I watch flight attendants move
They are pointing out the exits, but it looks more like a prayer
Or an ancient dance their bloodline reaches through

These planes are built for sifting through the warriors from the men
I've got time to sit and watch them for a while
You can see everywhere they're going, everywhere they've been
And how they look out at the clouds each time they smile

And I think, maybe he's in town for someone's birthday
Maybe he makes trouble everywhere
But as much he resists the conversation between the rivers and the freeways
He knows it's always there

As the northwest passage sits somewhere below me as I sleep
I dream of captains and explorers eating boots
When I ask if I can join them and they offer one to me
I wake up as my home comes into view

So I reach out down for my notebook to see what impressions could be spun
But it's just buildings and a million swimming pools
So I leaf back through the pages to see where I am from
Or for some crumbling map of what it's leading to

And I find that the hero in this song that I am writing
Doesn't know he's just an image of myself
But as much he resists the conversation between the rivers and the freeways
He's somehow always asking them for help

I want to make out all the signs I've been ignoring
How the trees reach for the sky or in the length of someone's hair
'Cause when you don't know where you are going
Any road will take you there

So maybe I'm in town for someone's birthday
Maybe I make trouble everywhere
But as much I resist the conversation between the rivers and the freeways
I know it's always there

Just My Luck lyrics - Dawes

Just my luck you'd walk into this party
Just my luck you'd show up with my friends
It's not the words that they reduce me to
Or where your life is leading you
It's the same reason that it always has been
It's just my luck

Just my luck, I never said I loved you
Just my luck, it completely slipped my mind
It's not my colder-hearted tendencies
That keeps you from being here with me
Or the universe's brilliant designs
It's just my luck

I spend my whole life moving forwards
But understand it looking back
Like watching last night's tapes
In the middle of a game
I should know how this thing works now
I should accept it as a fact
That there's really nothing out there I can blame

Just my luck, this goodbye could get so casual
Just my luck, I still talk like I got a chance
It's not because I do not clearly see
That you are finally done with me
No, I figured that out long in advance

And it's not because I don't know this dance
This has happened enough times for us to see
It's not because you're not meant for me
It's just my luck

Someone Will lyrics - Dawes

Grab your cigarettes and follow me out of the living room
And I'll get drunk enough to tell you how I feel
About the men you love and how they all seem to get the best of you
'Cause if I don't say these things, you know someone will

If that look in your eyes as I slowly go through the evidence
Gives any insight into the void you can't get filled
Then your heart is bigger than any that I've gone up against
And if nobody's loved you enough, I know now someone will

So I hope my voice can stay as clear as I need it to
But that my words take on the nature of a drill
To be set against the frozen sea inside of you
'Cause if I don't tell you I'm falling in love, someone will

Someone will and maybe someday you'll be listening
But I can be just as you need me up until
The guy you say you're looking for sounds like the kind of guy I want to be
But if you just want someone to hold you tonight, well then someone will

It's a night like this in the quieter parts of Los Angeles
When you think you see the outline of the beast up in the hills
And you might be sitting beside the only person that you could face it with
But if you don't want me after tonight, someone will
I have to believe someone will

Most People lyrics - Dawes

As she listens very carefully to a room of conversation
She can feel the planet orbiting through space
She hears pieces of arguments, beginnings of jokes
And the odd lines of a song she cannot place

And it all makes up an image that resists interpretation
Which is lately how she likes to see herself
How she does not believe in accidents, doesn't disagree out loud
And falls in love with every man she cannot help

And she thinks "most people don't talk enough about how lucky they are
Most people don't know what it takes for me to get through the day
Most people don't talk enough about the love in their hearts"
But she doesn't know most people feel that same way

If she focuses her energies on just walking through the neighborhood
With depths and shallows nobody could sound
Like January Christmas lights under billion year old stars
She comes up with more of what is lost than what is found

So by the time that she explains to me just a glimpse of what she's understood
She betrays the meaning putting it in words
So she smiles at me lovingly and says, "just let me hold your hand
So far it's the only way I can let myself be heard"

And she thinks "most people don't talk enough about how lucky they are
Most people don't know what it takes for me to get through the day
Most people don't talk enough about the love in their hearts"
But she doesn't know most people feel that same way

And she thinks "most people don't talk enough about how lucky they are
Most people don't know what it takes for me to get through the day
Most people don't talk enough about the love in their hearts"
But she doesn't know most people feel that same way

And she thinks "most people don't talk enough about how lucky they are
Most people don't know what it takes for me to get through the day
Most people don't talk enough about the love in their hearts"
But she doesn't know most people feel that same way

Hey Lover lyrics - Dawes

Someone plays a solo on a saxophone
Oh, you've never seen somebody throw their head so slow
And I see her cringe your lips and drop an ear that way
Scratch a dog behind its ear and it might do the same

Hey Lover, hey Lover
Hey Lover, hey Lover

Blue and white racing stripe pick-up truck
And when did I decide to grow this beard and gut?
Well, I may be white but I don't like my people much
But I want to raise with you and watch our younglings hatch,
Fucking make the first letters of their first names match

Hey Lover, hey Lover
Hey Lover, hey Lover

Well I'm back into the boring life that I once led
Stuffing white spread asshole on a sofa bed
Sometimes I hate myself for trying to be so bold
But nothing ever seems to get this story told

Hey Lover, hey Lover
Hey Lover, hey Lover

I never tell her when she plays a song I never heard
Because I always learn the music and forget the words
But I want to ride with her and I wish I sung that well
Just copy, paste, Google search, and send it to myself

Hey Lover, hey Lover
Hey Lover, hey Lover

Bear Witness lyrics - Dawes

You can put them on the counter, there with all the other flowers
And help me figure out how to turn off this TV
I'm glad you made the visit, and if you think you have a minute
You should sit and talk until it's time to leave

Is my granddaughter Ruthie still working at the movies?
Does she still let all her boyfriends in for free?
Does she still stare out of the front door as she's serving people popcorn
And talk about how nice today was supposed to be?

Oh, that's the love that I came to bear witness to
Oh, and the love I'm taking with me when I go

Did you notice walking over at the house down on the corner
There's a dog behind a window that doesn't move
I've seen him staring in the mornings, I've seen him staring in the evenings
As if time stops until his master's in the room

Oh, that's the love that I came to bear witness to
Oh, and the love I'm taking with me when I go

Some nights get worse than others, and I start thinking about your mother
And she's here with me as far as I can tell
As if the world revealed its secret and it's asking me to keep it
Like a kid that hears the ocean in a shell

And that's the love that I came to bear witness to
And the love I'm taking with me when I go

Oh, that's the love that I came to bear witness to
Oh, and the love I'm taking with me when I go

Stories Don't End lyrics - Dawes

From the paper umbrellas in both of our drinks
To the shadows that walk without us
My account of the details is as clear as you'd think
Kept up by friends that still ask about us

If our lives were a movie, if our lives were a book
It'd be longer than I'd recommend
'Cause if you're telling a story, at some point you stop
But stories don't end

The remains of a person, the habits of a ghost
You could still find in the places you used to
Still reading off cue cards and raising a toast
To the stories I still tell about you

But the plot line wanders and versions change
And I don't know where to quit

If I tried to show every side of you through words of a song
I'd say a fraction of what I'd intend
'Cause if you're telling a story, at some point you stop
But stories don't end

The next time I see you and my conscience tells me
That the episode has long since been closed
But he's not the one that gets up every morning
And wonders how long a memory keeps its pose
And how much that the man beside you knows
And how much of the toll it's taken shows

Like a famous singer that lost his voice
That we all still want to meet

If our lives were a movie, if our lives were a book
It'd be longer than I could defend
'Cause if you're telling a story, at some point you stop
But stories don't end
Stories don't end

They go on and on
Just someone stops listening

From The Right Angle lyrics - Dawes

You have found me on the other side of a loser's winning streak
Where my thoughts all wander further than they should
Let me sing to you my solitude, let me pay for your next drink
Let me defend these hearts which are so rarely understood

From the right angle, in the right light
I might seem like I could take care of you
For a brief moment, for a few nights
Until the changing world has tumbled back into view

When nothing really matters the world gets harder to resist
And saves you a place at the end of an empty glass
I am here as a reminder, the quick glance off of a cliff
I guess that's why I though you would never ask

From the right angle, in the right light
I might seem like I could take care of you
For a brief moment, for a few nights
Until the changing world has tumbled back into view

At the scene of all I've left unlearned, in the directions to your house
In every swing I took to crack the code
I need a cold beer from a dressing room, I need a string of dates back out
I think there are a few of us that still belong out on the road

From the right angle, in the right light
I might seem like I could take care of you
For a brief moment, for a few nights
Until the changing world has tumbled back into view

Until all you want is all I know how to do
I might seem like I could take care of you

Side Effects lyrics - Dawes

If there was no word for love now
We'd see how strong it really is
We could find out what it looks like
Or if it ever did exist

'Cause every time you said you loved me
Seems like the point escaped us both
And the current interrupted
The moment that you spoke

Now there's a loophole in the theory
That I cannot figure out
'Cause if love was what they said it would be
Then you'd be here with me now

It's a loneliness perfected
It's how to laugh when you should cry
The side effects of broken promise
Becomes a way of getting by

So the next time that you see me
And our exchange feels somehow cheap
Know that I feel every word you're saying
But from just a few steps out of reach

Where the view is a little hazy
And the noise a little loud
'Cause if love was what they said it would be
Well then you'd be here with me now

If love was what they said it would be
Then you'd be here with me now

Just Beneath The Surface (Reprise) lyrics -

And when the singing is through
There's not much else I can do for you
Which might be more than what you'd want
But less than you'd expect

From a coded dream
From a final scene
Where all the heroes and villains intersect
And that lost feeling through the credits feels correct

Just beneath the surface, there's another one of her
The one I'm taking with me, the one that I prefer
After all her reasons, but right before she left
Just beneath the surface is where she will stay kept

Just beneath the surface
Just beneath the surface

"Nothing Is Wrong" (2011)

Time Spent In Los Angeles lyrics - Dawes

These days my friends don’t seem to know me
Without my suitcase in my hand
Where I am standing still
I seem to disappear
But maybe that's how I found you
Maybe that's taught me exactly what I want
Maybe meeting you so far away from home
Is what makes it all so clear

But you got that special kind of sadness
You got that tragic set of charms
That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles
Makes me wanna wrap you in my arms

When people ask me where I come from
To see what that says about man
I only end up giving bad directions
That never lead them there at all
It’s something written in the head lights
Is something swimming in my drink
And if I were the moon
It would be exactly where I fall

Cause you got that special kind of sadness
You got that tragic set of charms
That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles
Makes me wanna wrap you in my arms

I used to think someone would love me
For places I have been
And the dirt I have been gathering
Deep beneath my nails
But now I know what I’ve been missing
And I’m going home to make it mine
And I'll be battening the hatches and pulling in the sails.

But you got that special kind of sadness
You got that tragic set of charms [x2]
That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles
Makes me wanna wrap you in my arms

If I Wanted Someone lyrics - Dawes

Like the memory from your mother's house
From before you got too old
Like the feeling from a photograph
Before it's meanings all got told

The words I say can be silver
But what's left unsaid can be gold
So get to know me once I go away

Maybe 'cause I come from such an empty-hearted town
Or maybe 'cause some love of mine had really let me down
But the only time I am lonely is when others are around
I just never end up knowing what to say

If I wanted someone to clean me up
I'd find myself a maid
If I wanted someone to spend my money
I wouldn't need to get paid

If I wanted someone to understand me
I'd have so much more to say
I want you to make the days move easy

I took everything I thought from what it means to be a man
We need words to be put to what we do not understand
While you lean into the echoes and you do not raise a hand
Oh woman, help me see it like it is

If I wanted someone to clean me up
I'd find myself a maid
If I wanted someone to spend my money
I wouldn't need to get paid

If I wanted someone to understand me
I'd have so much more to say
I want you to make the days move easy

If I wanted someone to clean me up
I'd find myself a maid
If I wanted someone to spend my money
I wouldn't need to get paid

If I wanted someone to cut me down
I'd have handed you the blade
I want you to make the days move easy
I just want you to make the days move easy

My Way Back Home lyrics - Dawes

A ballerina in Phoenix
The pines up north
The sunrise from a highway
That was not there before

If I can place it all together
Make out the nature of the call
I start to feel the love and the silence
That was always at the root of it all

And in my constant quest for truth
I am condemned to facts alone
And though my dreams all lead me nowhere
I won't forget my way back home

From the corner of a coffee shop
Or from the center of a stage
From the words used in a love note
Or from an empty page

While I struggle with these beauties
And my renditions end up dry
I'm like a bird that crashes into the window
That was drawn to the reflection of the sky

And the more I try to speak
The more I lose that earthly tone
And before heaven proves me hopeless
I won't forget my way back home

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

I admit that these answers that I seek
Are all to questions I've never known
But I pray to keep on looking for as long as I can roam
And when the world finally fulfills me
I will not forget my way back home

Coming Back To A Man lyrics - Dawes

You still wear your hair to your shoulder
You still look like a Friday night
You're still caught somewhere
Between the plans and the dreams
So that neither end up turning out right

And I myself look a few moments older
When I learned that love is not as simple as I thought
It starts to feel more real and the wounds all start to heal
Whether I want them to or not

So tell me why you think I should forgive what you did
And I'll tell you if I understand
'Cause you broke the quick-giving heart of a kid
But you're now coming back to a man

It means a lot that you came here to speak to me
And I will listen in ways I never did before
I'll hear the pause between each word
And when your presentations heard
Then I'll need to show you to the door

'Cause some people were just meant to be a memory
To be called upon to remind us how we've changed
The way the scattered ever-busy bright lights of a city
Might look off to a distant mountain range

And the guy you know is someone I work hard at keeping hid
And he is very good at sticking to the plan
'Cause you broke the quick-giving heart of a kid
But you're now coming back to a man

I might think of you more often then I'm willing to admit
But I can't show every card I'm holding in my hand
'Cause you broke the quick-giving heart of a kid
But you're now coming back to a man

So Well lyrics - Dawes

I am an old, old sailor
With a future much shorter than his past
I live alone, I do not wander
A world that just slips further from my grasp

And from my home I watch the people
Struggle through the burden of each day
That's where Marie sweet and gentle
Smiles to me when she passes on her way

And she does it so well
She pulls me out of times cruel spell
For long enough to finally tell
That nothing is wrong

I am a boy, I am a child
With those simple dreams still burning in my heart
I've known Marie for a while
She shows me where all my beginnings are

And once a week she takes me dancing
She shows me friends and places I never knew
And it always ends watching her leaving
With a man she knows don't understand
What loneliness will make you do

And she does it so well
She shows me where my dreams dwell
She shows me how to find myself
And that nothing is wrong

I am a lonely singer
With a song for every feeling I cannot name
And I find Marie in every measure
And somehow the clearer it becomes the longer she's away

And she does it so well
I was still falling in love when she said farewell
For long enough to finally tell
That nothing is wrong, that nothing is wrong

How Far We've Come lyrics - Dawes

Stars, please shine the way for me
Show the one that I have followed
To see how far I've come

Sun that slowly sets on me
Be the same to rise tomorrow
To see how far I've come

These are the days we swore upon
So barman keep the TV on
To see how far we've come

Peak to peak and shore to shore
This is all love was ever for
Is to see how far we've come

California's greenest parts
I reach out for my brother
To see how far he's come

For the girl that came to break my heart
I call on her new lover
To see how far she's come

Why your mother keeps a record of her child's height
Why we all are here tonight
Is to see how far we've come

The only point of clocks and maps
The only point of looking back
Is to see how far we've come

Ooh, ooh, oh, oh, oh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, oh
Ooh, ooh, oh, oh, oh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, oh

Stars, please shine the way for me
Show the one that I have followed
To see how far I've come

And sun that slowly sets on me
Be the same to rise tomorrow
To see how far I've come

Fire Away lyrics - Dawes

This one's going out to you
As the taxi pulls away
A song to keep you company for the ride

There's something wrong with a goodbye
In the middle of the day
So pretend I am still sitting at your side

And if you want to talk about all the differences
Between the shackle and the man
Or if you've got reasons no one ever let you say

Then fire away
Fire away

This one's going out to you
On the day they let you out
For the thousand ways they ask if you're okay

Because whatever answer that you give
It's only gonna play into their doubts
And be just half of what's behind each word you say

So if you finally roped that heartbreak song
That the experts never could
Or if you just wanted someone to listen to you play

Then fire away
Fire away
Fire away

This one's going out to you
If you ever start to slip and you learn
To read between these lines you've drawn

When what is wrong and what is right
Seem more like just the ocean and the ship
And the straight line that you've followed here is gone

And if that same old fox comes and sweeps you up
Each time you spread your wings
I could at least love you through each stumble, shift and sway

So fire away
Fire away
Fire away

When you need someone to walk away from
When you need someone to let you in
(Through each stumble, shift and sway)

Moon In The Water lyrics - Dawes

When the wind is with me
But somehow out of sight
Not knowing where it comes from
Or where it goes

That's the way your memory
Shapes the middle of my night
Since the last time I saw you
And the words you chose when I said
"This must be what love is
Like I saw it in a dream"

You looked into my eyes and said
"You don't know what you mean
'Cause love is for the fisherman
Who cast his nets too far upstream
Fishing for the moon in the water"

So I act now as if I've forgot
My efforts all in vain
I spent some time with a new girl
Who made the simple world seem fine

But like a rose placed in a flower pot
A true nature contained
Not knowing what she asks for
Or what she'll find

When she says, "If I've had love
In my life then surely this is it"
I said, "Anyone who talks like
That doesn't understand one bit
That love is for the fighter born to lose
But never quit, swinging for the moon in the water"

So I left her with her dreams
Where I thought that she belonged
Not with my secrets
Which she heard but never knew

I hoped my loneliness found peace
I hoped my number had been drawn
When all I wanted from her was to
Remind me of you

So I stay out in the streets
Hoping to find you anywhere
Now that I understand
The woman you need to be

I can feel you in the heat
I can taste you in the air
And I can't help but find your face in
Everything I see

And once I can admit you're gone
I'll place it on a star
And wait for the day I'm what you need
And then reach out for heart

'Cause even if love is more my mistress
Than my lovers ever are
You'll always be the moon in the water

Million Dollar Bill lyrics - Dawes

When it hits me what she's gone
I think I'll run for president
Get my face put on the million dollar bill

So when these rich men that she wants
Show her ways they can take care of her
I'll have found a way to be there with her still

When it hits me that she's gone
I think I'll be an astronaut
Make the moon my home
And leave the earth behind

So when she steps out into the night
And finds the light that makes her prettiest
She'll be facing me every time she shines

When it hits me that she's left me alone
When I finally move on with my life
Her goodbye written into stone
And her shadow grown into a night

When it hits me that she's gone
I think I'll be a movie star
Play the finest men the world has ever seen

So when these lovers that she's found
Show her ways they learned to talk to her
Behind each perfect word there'll be a little bit of me


The Way You Laugh lyrics - Dawes

I suppose we are born from our silence
But you seem to take yours with you
Like a child that refuses to bloom

You forced me to face all of your beauty
Then turned your beauty away from yourself
This road that we've taken doesn't seem to stop here
But doesn't seem to go anywhere else

And your heart rests in your chest
Like a charm 'round your neck
That you couldn't find words to refuse

And this high horse you ride
It has broken its stride
As it leads us through worlds built for you

So walk with me a little bit further
So I can find the tenderness you keep inside
God made you with a taste for the madness in love
But you confuse your gift with your pride

And I can't help you with removed that bandage
I will leave you all to yourself while you heal
As I'm learning time is a language
And it's the best way to explain how I feel

And while the magician you meet
Sweeps you off your feet
Saying he'll teach you tricks all for free

I'll be in the way that you laugh
As he cuts you in half
And holds you up for the crowds all to see

So forgive me for feeling so strongly
But I feel like we can finally agree
That true lovers always end up lonely
'Cause they know how good it could be

I've heard the men in your wake
Describe you as a snake
As you slip away when they start to wilt

But I firmly believe
You're a lot more like Eve
As she enjoys a bit of her guilt

A Little Bit Of Everything lyrics - Dawes

With his back against the San Francisco traffic
On the bridge's side that faces towards the jail
Setting out to join a demographic
He hoists his first leg up over the rail

A phone call's made, police cars show up quickly
The sergeant slams his passenger door
He says, "Hey son why don't you talk through this with me?
Just tell me what you're doing it for."

"Oh, it's a little bit of everything
It's the mountains, it's the fog
It's the news at six o'clock
It's the death of my first dog."

"It's the angels up above me
It's the song that they don't sing
It's a little bit of everything."

There's an older man who stands in a buffet line,
He is smiling and he's holding out his plate,
And the further he looks back into his timeline
That hard road always led him to today,

Making up for when his bright future had left him
Making up for the fact his only son is gone,
And letting everything out once, his server asks him
"Have you figured out yet, what it is you want?"

I want a little bit of everything
The biscuits and the beans
Whatever helps me to forget about
The things that brought me to my knees

So pile on those mashed potatoes
And an extra chicken wing
I'm having a little bit of everything

Somewhere a pretty girl is writing invitations
To a wedding she has scheduled for the fall
Her man says, "Baby, can I make an observation?
You don't seem to be having any fun at all."

She said, "You just worry about your groomsmen and your shirt-size
And rest assured that this is making me feel good."
I think that love is so much easier than you realize
If you can give yourself to someone, then you should

'Cause it's a little bit of everything
The way you joke, the way you ache,
It is getting up before you,
So I could watch you as you wake.

So on that day in late September,
It's not some stupid little ring,
I'm getting a little bit of everything.

Oh, it's a little bit of everything
It's the matador and the bull
It's the suggested daily dosage
It's the red moon when it's full.

All these psychics and these doctors
They're alright and they're all wrong,
It's like trying to make out every word
When they should simply hum along

It's not some message written in the dark
Or some truth that no one's seen
It's a little bit of everything

Rest Easy lyrics - Dawes

There’s a place in my heart
Where you can always be found
However long you’ve been gone
Or however far away I happen to be bound,
And even though I only hear you in the whispers
I take a deep breath and I listen to that sound,
‘Cause there’s a place in my heart
Where you can always be found.

There’s a place in my heart
Where I will always wait,
Like the mother of a sailor
Who spends her time sitting by the waves
And the time it takes to work out your intentions
However small or how great
There’s a place in my heart
Where I can always wait.

And on the day that you return
Because your feelings get confirmed,
And you search my face for the changes that it lacks,
I hope this broken heart is healed
And that you definitely feel
That it was worth the time apart to come on back

There’s a place in my heart
Where you should always feel loved
However alone you end up feeling
Or however small you think the world has become,
Because even though the devil got his way
And stole that future we got very little of
There’s a place in my heart
Where you should always feel loved.

Strangers Getting Stranger lyrics - Dawes

Did you hear the one about a joke without a punch-line
Or the song about a movie of a book
Like a stolen bouquet meant to be given away
To the girl that never gives you a look

Well that's how I've been spending all my meantime
Wondering if it's doing any harm
Resetting myself to when everything felt
Like a book I'm holding under my arm

But it's not that I want back all my innocence
Just the joy of losing it again

The favorites get their favors
And this stranger's getting stranger everyday
The great one's all get greater
And this stranger's getting stranger everyday

We got doctors that know everything about us
We can level cities by the end of the day
The world is turning back into dust or maybe it's just
We're becoming all the god's that we've praised

Or maybe the world is finally moving on without us
While we wait to see who's winning some debate
It's like we're running a race after spinning in place
We're pulling left when we've been moving straight

But me I think I'll keep on spinning
And smile as I hit the ground

The favorites get their favors
And this stranger's getting stranger everyday
The great one's all get greater
And this stranger's getting stranger everyday

Like a tree that doesn't look for it's root, it grows
Like a bird on the day that it's season is through, it knows

The favorites get their favors
And this stranger's getting stranger everyday
The great one's all get greater
And this stranger's getting stranger everyday

"North Hills" (2009)



That Western Skyline lyrics - Dawes

Oh Lou, I'd like to let you know that I do not feel welcome.
All the birds, the trees, the falling snow;
No, they were not made for me.
And though this is where her heart resides, we met in California.
She saw a city's promise reaching through my eyes,
And she turned her self away.

Well how I curse that western skyline.
And yet I thanked it for my start.
Oh Lou, no my dreams did not come true.
No, they only came apart.

So I followed her here to Birmingham, where the soil is so much richer
And though my aching pride might guide my hand, she did not ask for me to come.
So I wait for her all through the day, as if I wait for her surrender.
And every time I get her to look my way, she says I'm not where I belong.

But I watch her father preach on Sundays.
I know the hymnals all by heart.
But oh Lou, no my dreams did not come true.
No, they only came apart.

Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh

All the snow fall this time of year, it's not what Birmingham is used to
I get the feeling that I brought it here, and now I'm taking it away.
But let's share one more drink together, before I go reload my car.
And oh Lou, no my dreams did not come true.
No they only came apart.

Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Take me home,
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh
Ohhhh, oh oh oh oh

Love Is All I Am lyrics - Dawes

I need a silent, true way to admire,
like you as a sunset and I as a wildfire.
And I can't let the day go.

I've locked up these words in fear that I'd say them wrong.
Is it love as a mountain, or love as a simple song?
And the moment that the two meet
has now laid itself at your feet.

And love is not convenient.
It does not cease at your command.
You might take and leave it,
but love is all I am.
Love is all I am.

I need a boundless, soft way to commend,
like you as a temper and I as its tender end.
And however long your fits last,
I will live within your shadow cast.

And love is still your stranger.
It does not respect how much you'll stand.
You might be love's reminder,
but love is all I am.
Love is all I am.

I need a graceful, proud way to let go,
to smile and accept the things that you don't know.
The losses and the gains blurred
the weight of these as last words.

And love is not excitement.
It's not kissing or holding hands.
I'm not some assignment,
no, love is all I am.
Love is all I am.
Love is all I am.

When You Call My Name lyrics - Dawes

If all my lovers sing the big words,
and all my brothers keep them small,
then I'll get lost in the difference
between their whisper and the echo of their call.

So I am headed for the ocean
to let the sea smoke guide me in.
I'd give up my belongings and questions
They only ever taught me, to begin.

So I will not turn around
as I step up to the train,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.
And I will not be the sound
of your roof under the rain,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.

So I am takin' off my wristwatch
to let the time move how I please,
to let my day be guided by the sunlight
through morning's mill and twilight's soft release.

So if you wanna get to know me
follow my smile down into its curves.
All these lines are born in sorrows and pleasures
and every man ends up with the face that he deserves.

So I will not give you bread
as you reach out from your cage,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.
And I will not give applause
as you step off of the stage,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.

There's a river running through the city
gently reminding me what's what.
Of course you are invited to come with me,
but I don't think that's really what you want.

I think you want a world that will hold you
through security and gravity and love
and I can't think of anyone who'd blame you
and I can't think of how that'd be enough.

So I won't come back around
when you curse the ground you've tamed,
but I'll hear it when you call my name.
And when you realize, once I'm gone,
that I never really came,
oh I'll hear it when you call my name.
And when the burden of the sun
reveals to you its pain,
oh I'll hear it when you call my name.
And when you realize that you're wrong
but you still give me all the blame,
I'll hear it when you call my name.

Give Me Time lyrics - Dawes

Give me time.
Give me time.
If there's one thing you could give
to help me show you all that's mine,
give me time.

Show me love.
Show me love.
If there's one thing that you know
that I've not had any of,
show me love.

Help me see.
Help me see.
If you know what it would take
to find the patience that you need,
help me see.

Give me time.
Give me time.
If there's one thing you could give
to help me show you all that's mine,
give me time.

Oh oh oh oh oh

When My Time Comes lyrics - Dawes

There were moments of dreams
I was offered to save.
I lived less like a workhorse,
more like a slave.
I thought that one quick moment
that was noble or brave
would be worth the most of my life.

So I pointed my fingers
and shouted few quotes I knew,
as if something that's written
should be taken as true.
But every path I had taken
and conclusion I drew
would put truth back under the knife.

And now the only piece of advice that continues to help
is anyone that's making anything new only breaks something else.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

So I took what I wanted
and put it out of my reach.
I wanted to pay for my successes
with all my defeats.
And if Heaven was all
that was promised to me
why don't I pray for death?

Now it seems like the unravelling
started too soon.
Now I'm sleeping in hallways
and I'm drinking perfume,
and I'm speaking to mirrors,
and I'm howling at moons,
while the worse and the
worse that it gets.

Oh you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it's starin' right back.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

Well you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks.
Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it's starin' right back.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.
When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

When my time comes,
Oh oh oh oh.

God Rest My Soul lyrics - Dawes

Take a last look around
Take the fall that is due
Hey, take your time, and I'll take mine
It's the last thing that is left for us to do

You have tried to define moments
And all the things that it is not
Your time became some old man's cane
While he dances to a song that he forgot

Oh you can't throw something out there without watching it fall
Only thing that's scarier than dying is not dying at all
So when I have lost all my control
God will rest my soul

I guess your mind can leave your heart
I guess thats what you're doing now
But it doesn't make us friends, or better men
It is not something that love would allow

Oh you can't throw something out there without watching it fall
Only thing that's scarier than dying is not dying at all
So when I have lost all my control
God will rest my soul

And just like how I'll drink myself through my seventh relapse
Like a captain of his sinking ship clutches to his maps
What the figure on the cross thinks with his one final gasp
This too shall pass

Oh you can't throw something out there without watching it fall
Only thing that's scarier than dying is not dying at all
So when I have lost all my control
God will rest my soul

Bedside Manner lyrics - Dawes

Some time as a much older man
I will sit down and put on this song.
It just might make me cry,
Or at the very least a tear in my eye.

I can't take all these years of my life
To be widdle down into a thought
That only appears to the year
I made memories perfectly clear.

Mama, mama
Mama, mama.

I just want to be making my mind,
Keep from changing my mind not to change.
Cause I'm greedy as the sea,
And that's how it always will be.
I'll be somebody now, and I'll be somebody then,
And I'll be all of you all in between.
And then I'll be ready to leave
When the whole world is taken with me.

Mama, mama
Mama, mama.

Mama, mama
Mama, mama.

Cause there're so many days in a year.
And there's so many years in my head.
So I think about when I'll be dead,
And how those very last moments get spent.
And if I think about you is that something you think you'd accept?

Some time as a much older man
I will sit down and put on this song.
It just might make me cry,
Or at the very least a tear in my eye.

My Girl To Me lyrics - Dawes

Go ahead and let your hands stay entwined,
I swear I could not possibly mind.
And when she lets down her guard,
Don't kiss her too hard.
She's sure to repay in kind.

Don't let your courtesy last too long,
My love blooms when I know it's gone.
So if I'm in the room,
It should be fair to assume:
You can both act how you want.

And I won't cross the line you drew
Cause I'm not here to compete
Oh and I don't know what she tells you,
But she's still my girl to me.

She's good with quick goodbyes
And whenever she rolls her eyes
That's her admission of guilt
On the temper she built,
And for me that's her most familiar side.

I'm always watching my bridges burn,
But if she didn't leave then she can't return.
And I don't know you too well,
But it's not too hard to tell
I miss her but I'm not concerned.

And I'm glad to see that someone stayed
I don't want to see her grieve
But it doesn't matter what you say,
She is still my girl to me.

Oh that's the way my sister might give a kiss
Oh, how I feel so passively missed.
And she says in your ear, as if I wasn't here
The quixote knows who he is

Oh, call me names if it comforts you
There are worst things I could be
But it doesn't matter if it isn't true-
She is still my girl to me.

Take Me Out Of The City lyrics - Dawes

Take me out of the city
Where my shadow can roam
Let me breathe in the morning
Let my way be my home

Take me out of the city
True love I will not find
Take me in new one's heart
Take me out of my mind

I feel my reflection slide
Along the eyes that march me past
I found my direction high up, close to sun
That I've kept to my back

Take me out of the city
Where God's never been
Where my soul is my sorrow
And it's bound by my skin

Take me out of the city
May I never return
Let the song of the mountain
Be the one that I've earned

I feel my reflection slide
Along the eyes that march me past
I found my direction high up, close to sun
That I've kept to my back

Take me out of the city
Where my shadow can roam
Let me breathe in the morning
Let my way be my home

If You Let Me Be Your Anchor lyrics - Dawes

1, 2, 3

I want love to stretch it's fingers wide
And touch on all our wandering parts.
Come, sit by my Californian side
With your Carolina heart

If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down
If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down

If I see the thin trace of his hands
Let the winter pay all my dues
Let me forgive every single man
That before me came to you

If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down
If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down

So find me when you welcome back your roots
And I will be where all of your ends meet
I want the feeling waking next to you
I want to find my children at your feet

If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down
If you let me be your anchor
I will hold you down

Ooh, ooh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh

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