[VERSE] It came in a flash Agonized and re-hashed Just a twist of a mustache, I'll be tying the Muse to the tracks. [PRE-CHORUS] I'll be riding the lightning, eighty billion wires, Toward a boon or a dead end, now I'm touched with fire- That which was lifeless now respires. [CHORUS] Idle doodles or dreams, rising off of the page Call me an Idea Man, a Muse in a cage Superman or a Clark Kent, no, I am the booth Call me an Idea Man, transformer of the truth [VERSE] For a couple of yucks Or a couple of bucks No, no such luck Content consumers all say, [PRE-CHORUS] "For the love of the game, you'd still show up to play You ain't got any leverage, we ain't gonna pay ¿What's an Idea, anyway? [CHORUS] [BRIDGE] The Lightbulb broke Such a cruel, cruel joke I'm never-ever late payin' that electricity bill, I'm risin' to the occasion to fill a void that will never fill. Now, I'm a dark horse stirrin' up Every manner of dark force for the Champions Cup Give a giddy-giddy-giddy-giddy-giddy-giddy- Giddy-giddy-giddy-giddy-up until I'm Saddled, embattled, no, my Demons all tattled on me [PRE-CHORUS] Now I'm breakin' away, and there's no looking back, Ain't no thinkin' or dreamin', only hooves on track, Yes, I'm breakin' the ground where castles once were shacks- And highways were once cul-de-sacs [CHORUS]

[VERSE] Standard fare T.V. dinner, a doobie, and a stale eclair Look in the mirror, see who's standing there, Mourning each thin, graying strand of hair. I've no illusions about true romance- Infatuation at a passing glance- All I'm hoping for is one more chance, Dying my beard for the Singles Dance. [PRE-CHORUS] And if all else fails, I'm gonna Wrap a roll uh quarters in a tube sock, Stuff it down the front of my pants I'm punchin' outta my weight class tonight And I ain't leavin' anything to chance Rev the motor, I'll be cruising the streets, though you know I ain't no stretch limousine No, honey, I'm a [CHORUS] Used white Saab, I'm somethin' you can drive into the ground with dignity I'm the one for the job Reach into your jacket pocket, grab a Fistful of fob Lock me up, and fog up my windows, Turn up the goddamn stereo We're almost there, yo... [VERSE] Not as planned Back on the market and off my brand ¿Cologne on the dresser for a one night stand Or lotion on the nightstand, and my cold right hand? Maybe the bar scene on a weekend night, Or an algorithm on a dating site By the candle of my phone's blue light FInger reluctantly swiping right In several hours [PRE-CHORUS] We'll be going at each other in the darkness, Stumblin' out of our pants I'll pay for the drinks and the dinner, but I ain't buyin' heartbreak in advance Maserati always peelin' away in the pale morning light With your heart's gasoline Take a flyer on a used white Saab [CHORUS] Pour me a stiff Valvoline [CHORUS]

[VERSE 1] Some people want the reason why Some people trick themselves to care Rifling through the cupboards and ascending every stair, Then flee the forest screaming when they find the fucking bear. Ask me why I don't return your texts Ask me if I'm achin' for your lovin' Maybe I would rather stick my head down in the sand Than wanna stick my head inside the oven [CHORUS] Truth points the way, but I won't go Truth set you free, but all that freedom's just a show My demons weaponize the truth, 'n' that's the reason why My better angels always lie [VERSE 2] My heart is not an open book That I will sell you for a bargain To bend and break the spine, to dog-ear all the pages, Underline each second paragraph, and scribble in the margins. I'll tumble any way the wind blows, You're blowing so much air, we'll have to open all the windows, Yes, you suck up so much oxygen, we all should prob'ly die I wouldn't tell you with my final breath, and you know why [CHORUS] [VERSE 3] There's always somethin' in my head Threatenin' to botch the operation, A little bit of truth, the rest imagination Sets off caterwauls like radios all stuck between two stations. Now face to face with my own dread, My fists are puddy in my pockets Like two pictures, one a hope, and one a nightmare, in a locket, One thing stops the other short from pullin' my plug clean out the socket [CHORUS]

Oh, to be a pretender, stepping out the door, No one giving you grief, and no one rolling their eyes anymore No on ever remembers your mistakes or oddness, You're a tabula rasa, no one knows who you are anymore Oh, to be a pretender, heaven knows I've tried, With the weight of the world up off your shoulders, and somewhere to hide, Every day is a new day, and you're getting older, But what you gotta give up and what you get's still something you decide Oh, to be a pretender, living day to day, No one pulling your heartstrings, no one telling you what to say They can only connect to you through your persona When you change like the weather, what they knew of you melts away Oh, to be a pretender, what do we betray? ¿Don't the many disguises that you lie through guide you astray? If I were a pretender, not a soul would buy it Each of us, in a fashion, always giving ourselves away Oh, to be a pretender, living day to day, No one pulling your heartstrings, no one asking you to convey You can only connect to them through your persona When you change like the weather, what you mean to them melts away Each of us, a pretender, stepping out the door, I'll be fidgeting guilelessly, and you'll be the same evermore, But I'll remain a pretender till somebody buys it, Oh , to be a pretender, no one knows how you were anymore

KAALOUETTE I think I'm lost in the wilderness... ODOMM ...well off of the beaten trail... KAALOUETTE ...Don't think the vessel was made for this... ODOMM ...at sea with a tattered sail... KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, ODOMM- KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, SHIN-JAI KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, HAWNKEE, KAALOUETTE... Mark it, lest we forget I'm lost in the wilderness, baby, I'm a bottle of well-packed earth, from a continent, long-since forgotten, No measure of wealth or worth... ODOMM We've got a compass and map to find... ODOMM ...our way to a higher ground... ODOMM ...the map is merely an orange rind... ODOMM ...the compass is spinning 'round KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, ODOMM- KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, SHIN-JAI KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, HAWNKEE, KAALOUETTE... Into the breach, go I... KAALOUETTE, KAALOUETTE, ODOMM... [...the compass is spinning, the end's the beginning, I don't think I'll make it out...] IT ISN'T OVER YET I'm lost in the wilderness, baby, Divorced from a context shared, Like sheddin' a lobster shell, baby, In your mind, and you're woefully underprepared- Ain't holdin' to sanity, baby, That doggy won't hunt no more, I'll never get back to Here, baby, Here is nowhere we've been before... I'm lost in the wilderness, baby, O'ficially out to lunch- Ain't holdin' to sanity, baby, Sanity's a vanity fantasy for denyin' a hunch- My love is a lightnin' rod, baby, My mind is an empty shell- I'm ready to ride the gods, baby, Heavier than heaven, I horseman like I'm ringin' a bell

[VERSE 1] You call yourself a non'believer As if some god above might care- You're like a ghost now, Even you don't think you're there [CHORUS] I've seen the way the world will break you Like hanged men, twisting in the air, Hello, Cruel World, I've mistaken you for one that's fair. I've seen you drive a man to something Made up, as if it all were true- I've only breath to say this one thing: Hello, cruel world, I'm not runnin' I'm gunnin' for you [VERSE 2] You're always upping all the antes To prove you're not afraid to lose- This world's a ruthless vigilante It knows your living's just a ruse. Oh, world, you set a man to dreamin', And help his dreams up off the page- Unprovoked, you start to draw the curtain Before the actors leave the stage. You try to guarantee your safety You only make your sharpness dull The world is waiting To drink from the goblet of your skull [CHORUS] [VERSE 3] The world is waiting on the sunset To wake you up from all your dreams; Leaves you to your feeble devices, To write a hymn from panicked screams Oh, world, you build a man a mountain And you compel him toward the top But he is only mortal, You know, he's only got one shot And if the climbin' don't destroy him, It just deludes him that he's not [CHORUS] [VERSE 4] It takes your love, and tries to break it As if to only prove you wrong It's all but certain You won't make it till the dawn- It draws the curtain, But I'm still on stage, and stayin' on Hello, Cruel World, I'm not runnin.'

Bastard confidant Latchkey to a font, silently feeding, Reservoirs of secrets, Scams, schemes, and cheating, I am the envoy you found, I'm around, I'm your Bastard confidant Creep non-chalant, a cypher concealing All your confessions, Subtext and feeling, Desperate obsessions now abound Tell me of your dark desires, No one's gonna be the wiser, All indescretions, I'm all-in, no questions, I'm ruthless and all you could want- Your confidant I hear it all, Even when you are silent, I know your tells, fears, and Fantasies violent, yes All the awful things you think of, Trespasses you're on the brink of, Blood you're washing down the sink of Friends, foes, or a crass vaunter All indiscretions, You're all-in, confessin' You're hopeless, and still counting on Your confidant

[A1] Bedtime for mass-hysteria Time's up for tired hate Outside the walls of the castle Dark forces lie in wait [B1] Spinning a web many-lifetimes wide, Spiders in bloom, to commit a homicide Of ghosts in hiding, just behind Blind compound eyes [A2] Eight million eight-fingered hands Play harps of high torture- Inside the walls of the castle Cold comfort rots the orchard, now we [B2] Fatten ourselves on the purtified, Circling over a dream that's died, Wondering when will we be transmogrified, Reverse, to pupae from a fly [A3] Bedtime for mass-hysteria Time's up for tired hate Inside the walls of the castle, Always and ne'er to late I see the jaws approaching, Pink swarms of teeth await Dance toward annihilation, Transformation, freedom, fate, [B3] Tear me apart, let the heat join heat, Death is a heart with a scattered beat; Spinning a web through our sunblind eyes, Love is a spider, and we are the flies.

[VERSE 1] Gifts of everburning fire, carried forward by children to dreams, Or by madmen, to nonsense and disaster- We can see it all undone, but it won't be destroyed, The skies will crack with laughter Ash and cinder softly floating down [CHORUS 1] Look away, to beyond where the eye Ever could, through a tear in the sky Opened up, and through the blackened atmosphere we will rise [VERSE 2] I can't wish it all away, I can only relive it again, Hurtling downward, evermore and ever faster, Like the thrumming of a song, twisted up in a chord Of nonsense and disaster In deafened ears, the dissonance resounds [CHORUS 2] Look away, to beyond where the eye Ever could, through a tear in the sky Opened up, and through the blackened atmosphere we will rise To the void, through the gulf ever wide, From the Me, to the You, We the spied Silhouettes approaching through the cloudless, clear other side [BRIDGE] Through the bombs in the air, through the days of despair, And the place in our hearts we're forbidden to share, The missiles careen, skywriting a scream, It ain't the end of the world, but you can see it from there They will blow it apart, we will be released, And build anew what they've mangled, piece by piece, Don't have to die on our feet, or live on our knees- It's almost in reach [CHORUS 2]

Picture yourself, suspended mid-dream, Superimposed on a flickering screen, Closing your eyes, the images teem And you're drowning In ephemera hefting its temporal might Of messages beckoning, flickering light- You're almost detecting that something's not right, A force that needs reckoning, just out of sight I'd speak out of turn if I knew what to say- The windmills have won and the straw men are slain. You've got me outmatched, and outplayed, but I'm still playin', Down in the ninth, 0-2 and swingin' away, You condescend to me when I say, "All of it all could be better someway", Some pie-eyed Pollyanna, never passed eleventh grade, When we know, somebody'd figure it out if it paid Political complexities to dense to be unpeeled, The historical immensity of our hands on the wheel, Of an empire forged in guns, germs, and steel, And Faustian bargains, dressed up as a deal When we do the believing, and you keep the dreams, We feel the feelings, and you tell us what it means We'll stand our ground, and you'll work to scheme it away We'll do the achieving, and you'll own the rights We'll take the beating, and you'll pick the fights We'll do the misreading of the rules you rewrite You'll do all the speeding, you make the red lights And we'll do the feeding of beasts that confound us, We'll carry the water that they'll use to drown us, And smile through the sting of their high-handed slights- The price we pay to always be right. Oh, the price I'd pay to be less right, 'Cause I'm righteous, indignant, and drunk with the thrill Of tilting at windmills and plotting to kill Some army of straw men way up high on the hill; Mr. Smith throwing himself a parade, if you will [CHORUS] Goliath, meet David, in old running shoes, Hammer in hand that he'd rather not use, Poised for a battle he'll probably lose- ¿Attack or retreat? ¿Or simply refuse? I'm losing myself in delirious dreams, Delusional aims by mysterious means, Unreachable marks by untenable schemes- ¿Will you hear me? Precarious balance, each of us all, Suspended in air, mid-calamitous fall, And the time that makes widows of planets and gods Is making us even, in spite of the odds The sound of your voice getting lost in the din, The illusion of choice, with the walls closing in, Steeling your nerves for a fight you can't win- If you have no mercy, then listen again To the sound of your voice getting lost in the din, The illusion of choice, with the walls closing in, The jolt of defeat when you knew you would win, The sound of my hay-maker catching your chin If knocking you back on your jackboot heels Upsets you, and gets you to feel like I feel I'll keep ringing your bell like a noontime peal So you hear me I'm not asking for blood in the streets, A head on a pike, or a senator's seat, But a bully's gotta know that a bully can be beat So he fears me [CHORUS] Goliath, Meet David