Complete American Slang (the album) lyrics

I found all the lyrics to the new album.

American Slang



Look what you started

I seem to be coming out of my skin

And look what you've forgotten here

The bandages just don't keep me in

And when it was over, I woke up alone

And when it was over, I woke up alone


And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

I've got your name tatooed inside of my arm

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

And I called for my father, but my father had died

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

While you told me fortunes in American slang


And look at the damage

The fortunes came for the richer men

While we're left with gallows

Just waiting for us liars to come down and hang

And when it was over, I woke up alone

And when it was over, I woke up alone


And they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

I've got your name tatooed inside of my arm

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

And I called for my father, but my father had died

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

While you told me fortunes in American slang


And here's where we died that time last year

And where the angels and devils meet

And you can dance with the queen if you need

And she will always keep your cards close to her heart

So close to her heart

Before they tear you apart


Well they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive

I've got your name tatooed inside of my arm

And I called for my father, but my father had died

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

And we called for our mothers, but our mothers have died

(In a dream I had, oh in a dream I had)

And you told us fortunes in American slang

Oh, you told me fortunes in American slang


Stay Lucky



It took so long to get me back on my feet

It takes so long to find the words and the beat

And Charlie's waiting on the end of the phone

To hear you call on him to try to recapture

But them old records won't be saving your soul

And them feelings got the reasons you know

That you've forgotten somewhere

Riding a train to place

You are out in the cold cold

And it feels like all you'd have to do is step outside

Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment

That might never arrive


But you're never gonna find it

Like when you were young

And everybody used to call you lucky


Nothing feels right in the wintery cold

Steam, heat, clang, and the dark at your door

All the other rooms are a party tonight

And you never got an invitation

And you feel in your bones

Steady aching some more

Twenty five years gone just an hour ago

Momma never told me there'd be days like these

Until it was much too late to recover

And it feels like all you'd have to do is step outside

Stop pacing around and waiting for some moment

That might never arrive


But you're never gonna find it

When your knees got so weak

But it's right here in case you need it

Like when you were young

And everybody used to call you lucky

When you were young

And everybody used to call you lucky


But it feels like you just might explode inside

You've been pacing around and waiting

For some moment that might never arrive at all

What you don't have, you don't need it anymore

What you don't have, you don't need it anymore


But you're never gonna find it

When your knees got so weak

And it's right here in case you need it

Like when you were young

And everybody used to call you lucky

When you were young

And everybody used to call you lucky


If you're anywhere in Manhattan

In the next eight days or so

Let me know

Speak soon, stay lucky.



Bring It On



My queen of the Bronx

Blue eyes and spitfire

I saw you walking back and forth

About another boy

Thinking that you may want to leave


So give me the fevers that just won't break

And give me the children you don't want to raise

And tell me about the cool

He sings to you in those songs

If it's better than my love

Then bring it on


And take it back out to the streets

Where you know you used to be

For the Romeos of town

If I bring you down

And you're tired of those vows

And you're really walking out


So give me the fevers that just won't break

And give me the children you don't want to raise

And tell me about the cool

He sings to you in those songs

If it's better than my love

Baby, bring it on

Oh, bring it on


Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home

I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your thoughts

Is he better than my love

Better than my love

Is he better than my love

Better than my love

So I found the letters with the reasons to things

You've been feeling

That he says they'll never know

And you say the night just got too cold

Well everybody's cold

Who's gonna keep my baby warm

Who's gonna keep my baby warm

When everybody goes


So give me the fevers that just won't break

And give me the children you don't want to raise

And tell me about the cool

He sings to you in those songs

If it's better than my love


Well then wait a minute, wait a minute

Was he not good to you

Wait a minute, wait a minute

Was he not good to you

Wait a minute, wait a minute

You don't know what's good for you


So give me the fevers that just won't break

And give me the children you don't want to raise

And tell me about the cool

He sings to you in those songs

You've been baby for so long

Come on, bring it on

Oh, bring it on


Stop clicking your red heels and wishing for home

I'm hearing that he tells you he can read your thoughts

If he's better than my love

If he's better than my love

If he's better than my love

Better than my love

If he's better than my love

If he's better than my love

Then go on, take it all



The Diamond Church Street Choir



Now the lights go low on the avenue

And the cars pass by in the rain

University boys and the girls fill the bars

While I'm just waiting on the light to change

And the steam heat pours from the bodies on the floor

In the basement where the Jacknives play

For the hub city girls in the ribbons and the curls

Who know the meaning of staying out late

The know the meaning of staying out very, very late


Singing, who does it better than we do

Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir

Woah, nobody knows

I've been crazy for so long without you


They'll find me beat down out in the universe

Though I'll never forget where I'm from

I might have moved away from home

And slept out there on my own

A million miles away in the stone

But the beat never leaves

And the tempo's a relief

To my aching bones, rambling all over

And if I'm gone for too long

I can always hum along

So don't never forget what I told you

So don't never forget what I told you


Everybody singing, who does it better than we do

Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir

Woah, nobody knows

I've been crazy for so long without you


Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues

So sad, so slow

Like I do, like I do

And oh, ain't it just like you want to

And oh, ain't it just like you always wanted to

Every night waiting

So long without you


Baby, who sings it better than we do

Them sopranos in Andy Diamond's choir

Woah, nobody knows

I've been crazy for so long without you

Just, baby who sings the rhythm and the blues

So sad, so slow

Like I do

And just like you want to


The Queen of Lower Chelsea



Did you grow up lonesome and one of a kind?

Were your records all you had to pass the time?

Or maybe you were taken by the mysteries of New Orlenans?

Or the uptight, rowdy girls of Lower Chelsea?

And we're hustling under but we live in the city

And we keep it down when we take a beating

Yeah, we keep it down with the radio on

And if you find a good man, don't take him home


When you're working full-time

And spending all of your nights, dancing like you did

While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,

She'll still remain the Queen of Lower Chelsea


Did you grow up a good girl,

You daddy's pride?

Did you make all the right moves,

Take all the right drugs right on time?

American girls, they want the whole world

They want every last little in New York City


But we're hustling under and we're fast asleep

And we keep it down when we take a beating

Yeah, we keep it down with the radio on

And if you find a good man, don't take him home


When you're working full-time

And spending all of your nights, dancing like you did

While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,

She'll still remain the Queen of Lower Chelsea


Well they say these days,

Nothing comes cheap

And everything has a price

Everything has a price

Nothing is free

Not even me


When you're working full-time

And spending all of your nights, dancing like you did

While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,

She'll still remain the Queen


When you're working full-time

And spending all of your nights, dancing like you used to

While the gravity hangs all over some boys you had,

She'll still remain the Queen of Lower Chelsea


Orpans



Goodbye circus wheel

May you rest along the seas

Well I've given you the fire of my youth

And the triumph of my enemies

And goodbye to fairweather home

And your faithless factories

I have given you the blood and the truth

From the wounds that they laid on me

And whatever they left

I kept it for my own heart


And the lonesome understand

With the choirs in my head

And we were orphans before

We were ever the sons of regret

My baby

And on and on and on

How the alphabet boys carry on

We were orphans before

We were ever the sons of the songs


And now my lights, they never go down

The watch the moon and stars for me now

So you can find some local Libertine

To take your daughters out on the town

And I can feel it in my aging bones

How the sound of the rain mixes up

Into the fountains where I drank my hero's blood

So I left you to find my very own hat for the rain


And the lonesome understand

With the choirs in my head

And we were orphans before

We were ever the sons of regret

My baby

And on and on and on

How the alphabet boys carry on

We were orphans before

We were ever the sons of the songs


And now I'm trying to keep it straight

Learning all the streets and the alleyways

And learning where they lead

Now that I'm left alone here to drive

But it's so hard to stand on your own

Against mirror of glass, hot and cold

But the clothes I wore

Just don't fit my soul anymore

No, the clothes I wore

Just don't fit my soul anymore


And the lonesome understand

With the choirs in my head

And we were orphans before

We were ever the sons of regret

My baby

And on and on and on

How the alphabet boys carry on

We were orphans before

We were ever the sons of your songs

My baby


When we were young

We were diamond Sinatras

Like something I saw in a dream

We kept our secrets and rules

Locked up tight like a tomb

Where violent dreamers lay



Boxer



Got your pride and your prose

Tucked just like a Tommy gun

Somewhere in the smoke

Just in case you need it

I know you got your pride and your prose

Tucked just like a Tommy gun

Somewhere in the smoke

Just in case you need it

I heard it's been a ride

Rougher than the last one

What'd you used to say

The harder they come

But he just swears he's praying for a good time

And he, he said he just doesn't miss her

I have heard you never really lose it

Do you, do you


He took it all gracefully on the chin

Knowing that the beatings had to someday end

He found the bandages inside the pen

And the stitches on the radio

There was something heavy holding you down

And there were whispers that were driving you crazy

And now you haunt the heart of this town

Remember when I knew a boxer, baby


And your tattooed knuckles

Oh, how they grind down

Try to be a man

Tough just like your father

Try to settle down

More like calm down

Remember them songs

And the reasons we were singing for

But he said he just doesn't miss her

He, he said it's somewhere in his framework

And I have heard you never really lose it

Do you, do you


He took it all gracefully on the chin

Knowing that the beatings had to someday end

He found the bandages inside the pen

And the stitches on the radio

There was something heavy holding you down

And there were reasons that were driving you crazy

Until you haunt the heart of this town

Remember when I knew a boxer, baby


And you can wait all night long

Until it all goes wrong

And you waste away your soul

And you can wait, wait, wait, wait


You took it all gracefully on the chin

Knowing that the beatings had to someday end

You found the bandages inside the pen

And the stitches on the radio

There was something heavey holding you down

And there were whispers that were driving you crazy

Until you haunt the heart of this town

Remember when I knew a boxer, baby

Remember when I knew a boxer, baby



Old Haunts



A cherry bomb, you are a mystery

Exploded, sparkling quiet nights

My teenage heart pumped all my misery, baby

To fingertips that might ignite

And all along you knew my story, didn't you

And all night long, I carried yours

Your blood was mixed wine and robbery, baby

And left us always wanting more


So don't sing me your songs about the good times

Those days are gone and you should just let them go

And God help the man who says

If you'd have known me when

Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts

Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts


Cherry bomb, your love is surgery

Removing what you don't regard

And every breath felt like a funeral, baby

While you were packing up your car

And with the window down

I hear your tired mouth

You borrowed everything

And wore all your old welcomes out

And shame on you, my love

You sold your youth away

Memories for sinking ships

That never would be saved


So don't sing me your songs about the good times

Those days are gone and you should just let them go

And God help the man who says

If you'd have known me when

Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts

Old haunts are for forgotten ghosts


And shame, shame, shame, shame on you

You kept your mind and heart and youth

Just like a tomb

And shame, shame, shame, shame on you

You kept your mind and heart and youth

Just like a tomb

Just like a tomb

Just like a tomb

Just like a tomb

Just like a tomb


And don't sing me your songs about the good times

Those days are gone and you should just let them go

So God help the man who says

If you'd have known me when

Old haunts are for all those ghosts

And don't sing me your songs about the good times

Those days are gone and you should just let them go

And God help the man who says

If you'd have known me when

God help the man who says

If you'd have known me when

God help this man who says

My baby, if you'd have known me when

Old haunts are all we've ever known


The Spirit of Jazz



The cool is dead, baby

Go on and sleep

Rest your weary head and love a better me

And in the morning

We'll start over again

That's how they do it up on the screen

So me and my baby

We would dance all night

But I don't know the steps

In my baby's time

To do it like they do it

For the girls uptown

I heard they light them up like the blues

So I'm waiting, so I'm waiting

And she's waiting, and she's waiting

For us to remember


Was I good to you, the wife of my youth

Not another soul could love you

Like my rotten bones do

So I will wait on the edges in between

These New York streets

Where you and I would meet


For twenty nine years

We loved that line

And I would take it easy

If I had your mind

But I'm a cannonball to a house on fire

And you're slow like Motown soul

So what now lover, with that long black hair

If I cut you up, maybe I can repair

And bandage your wounds

With the salt on my tongue

And I'm the only one round here

And I'm waiting, and I'm waiting

And she's waiting, and she's waiting

For us to remember


So was I good to you, the wife of my youth

Not another soul could love you

Like my rotten bones do

So I will wait on the edges in between

These New York streets

Where you and I would meet


And only I can heal your wounds

Only I can heal your wounds

When you can't go on

When you can't go on

When you can't go on

When you know, hold on


So was I good to you, the wife of my youth

Not another sould could love you

Like my

So was I good to you, the wife of my youth

Not another soul could love you

Like my rotten bones do

So I will wait on the edges in between

And I will wait on the edges in between

And I will wait on the edges in between

These New York streets

On all these New York streets

Where you and I would meet


We Did It When We Were Young



Don't write me no more letters

My mailbox is full of bombs

Between you and the kooks on my block

I don't remember the good times

I wasn't there and you were kind

And my wife has some dogs in our yard

And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty girl

We were strangers many hours

And I missed you for so long

When we were lions, lovers in combat

Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned


But I am older now

And we did it when we were young

I am older now

And we did it when we were young


There are no reasons to believe

I buried my faith in an unmarked plot

With your heart and your clothes

When I find that I don't feel you or recall

I'll put your bones out in the yard

Someone else to be called and called by

And I cannot hold a candle for every pretty girl

We were strangers many hours

And I missed you for so long

When we were lions, lovers in combat

Faded like your name on those jeans that I burned


But I am older now

And we did it when we were young

I am older now

And we did it when we were young

I am older now

And we did it when we were young

I am older now

And we did it when we were young

Prisoner wrote:

I found all the lyrics to the new album.

wow; some find

Prisoner wrote:

For twenty nine years

We loved that line

And I would take it easy

If I had your mind

But I'm a cannonball to a house on fire

And you're slow like Motown soul

So what now lover, with that long black hair

If I cut you up, maybe I can repair

And bandage your wounds

With the salt on my tongue

And I'm the only one round here

And I'm waiting, and I'm waiting

And she's waiting, and she's waiting

For us to remember

Call me crazy, but I hear "recover" here.

it is recover

nicely done sir , these random guest posts who seem to know everything are very intriguing

First off, does anyone else notice the emphasis of the word 'Queen' on the album? It's used throughout the album, starting with American Slang and then Bring It On and The Queen of Lower Chelsea.

Second off, what does Brian sing in the background of The Queen of Lower Chelsea near the end with the chorus?

Holland wrote:

nicely done sir , these random guest posts who seem to know everything are very intriguing

had the same thought

Clementine wrote:

Holland wrote:

nicely done sir , these random guest posts who seem to know everything are very intriguing

had the same thought

Why? It's almost certainly just a fan that hasn't taken the time to register an account. It's not like Brian (or anyone in the band for that matter) is correcting random lyrics around here.

Also, while someone spent time on these, I noticed some definite errors after looking over a few songs. So, it's not like these are anything official.

im thinking there are def errors on TQOLC...didnt get much further, but im not so sure about the accuracy here. for the most part, i usually only trust the lyrics that come with the album.

Why? It's almost certainly just a fan that hasn't taken the time to register an account. It's not like Brian (or anyone in the band for that matter) is correcting random lyrics around here.

]

Because it's a fun and harmless thought to entertain

One minor qualm with TQoLC. It sounds like "hustle in London" which makes a ton more sense because Chelsea is a district of London, it is also a district in NYC but was originally of London.