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You in Black & White

All songs Lee Cuthbert except* Cuthbert/Susan Fitzsimmons.
All songs copyright 1998 Spanking Crane Music BMI.

Song Lyrics

Ruthless
You Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time
Young Ones
Lovers Know
Saving it Up
Got a Song
Eiffel Tower
City of Vacant Women
Highway Girl
How Low
Town & Country
When We Were Small
Real Smoke


Ruthless

whatever honest people do can be bent and mangled
I really thought I tried but now the story's tangled
how I became hollow
wish I knew
how I became ruthless
I met you
we'll never see this eye to eye
I used to care, I used to cry
you used up all of my reserve
we never get what we deserve
you made the facts a fiction
a version I could never write
you made the truth unravel
you made my secrets seem so trite
now we're reduced to rubble
recovered from a stumble
deadened like a damaged nerve
we never get what we deserve

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You Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time

you arrived unannounced and the first thought I had
was this will probably end if it's going to begin
we're a circular motion and I'm spinning now
you make me feel like I'm under the wheel
you're like wrapping my arms 'round the air
not that I really care
'cause you seemed like a good idea at the time
I've known people like you - now I am one too
one day we leave and it's hard to believe
that anyone's right or anyone's wrong
and soon the start is our favorite part
you're like no one that I ever met
precursor to regret
but you seemed like a good idea at the time
let's catalog all our mistakes
how many do you think it takes?
you seemed like a good idea at the time

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Young Ones

It must be nice to be young and in love
taking the stairs up two at a time
to nothing but blue skies
You hit the sunshine both feet off the ground
I saw the vapor trail before the engines came
soared over the cesspool
you are beautiful
leaving nothing but blue skies

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Lovers Know *

the lovers are in my house
expectations should be low
you think you're happy with nothing
then left with nothing to show
no one can understand the things that lovers know
they see my shadow walk
brush by and they let go
too polite to circle each other
so far I hold my own
no one can understand the things that lovers know
and it shows-
I woke up this morning
to the sound of squealing tires
the lovers rolled in here
and set my house on fire
no one can understand the things that lovers know

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Saving it Up *

There's a little of me locked at zero degrees
a little of myself inside your disease
there's a little of you that came from the zoo
a little life giving before it was through
so we're taking this life, this mind,
this boy, this time and saving it up
If I could repair what's hurting in there
I'd take what I wanted and I wouldn't care
If I could save you some pain I wouldn't explain
how I found what I needed, it just grew like the grain
so we're taking this life, this mind,
this boy, this time and saving it up
saving it up

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Got a Song

you and me
now we're free
we've been burned
we did it to each other
tossed and turned
and in return
someday
you'll find another
you're mad, I'm blue
at least I got a song out of you
what I do
who I knew
take some pain
and sing about it
our refrain
add some strings
no sad song's complete without it
you're o.k., I'm good as new
at least I got a song out of you
what did you get out of me?

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Eiffel Tower

and then there came confidence and back came resolve
there's nothing but heartbreak where you're involved
and I knew
those complicated days, I don't know why I turned to you
now you're blurred like the roadside, I will follow through
I saw the Eiffel Tower and I knew

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City of Vacant Women

we stopped for gas in the city of vacant women
I looked at the street map and knew it by heart
could tell at a glance though it was unspoken
we were about to be taken apart
we forgot what we knew, forgot what we wanted
dancing across a minefield of skin
we were separated and frustrated
by a beautiful vacuum we couldn't breathe in
start the car and leave the door open
I am real and I'm driving away
I'm not broken, I loved what I found there
I asked her her name and she wouldn't say
you can't have what you want
you can't get what you need
everyone's damaged and nobody's winning
in the city of vacant women

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Highway Girl

did you open up the throttle on that wonderbike you rode
to take you far away from trouble or right to it, I don't know
what were you thinking took the key and swung your leg
running away from something tasting dust is everything
oh highway girl take me to that wasted space
where you rode to find your place
rev your engines out of town
oh highway girl I'm coming down
you're just some hot breath
you're just a blue mood
somewhere on a desert highway
I'm waiting too
oh highway girl take me to that wasted space
where you rode to find your place
rev your engines out of town
oh highway girl I'm coming down
a nagging thought that's in my head
mirage across an unmade bed
I sing the chorus to your song
three hundred hollow horses strong

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How Low

I'm lonely even when you're here at home
you won't leave me so you just leave me alone
I hear the the tv static echo through the house
you turn your head when I'm unbuttoning my blouse
what's new
what's through
what do I know
how low can we go?
if you could tell me that I'm beautiful
if this is your idea of dutiful
you make the easy things too difficult to do
why should I be the one who reaches out to you?
what's new
what's through
what do I know
how low can we go?

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Town & Country *

if I'm reaping what I sow
then I'm putting down the hoe
think I've seen enough to know
nothing beats six feet of snow
the good/the greedy the saved/the needy the bold/the ugly (and me)
town & country
I want my feet back back in the ground
I want the wind to knock me down
I hope the raining soaks us through
I hope there's nothing we can do
the good/the greedy the saved/the needy the bold/the ugly (and me)
town & country
start the motor in the fields
count the money
check our yields
find the gauge on the machine
yank the dipstick, keep it clean
the good/the greedy the saved/the needy the bold/the ugly (and me)
town & country

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When We Were Small

when we were young
when we were small
when we were invisible baby
that was a time
that was a ride
things have been much quieter lately
when we were big
we had to think small
to understand the thrill of it all
when we were small
we dreamed we'd be big
we dreamed of the happy lives we'd live
when we were old
we wished we were young
it was so easy for us to have fun
take a walk in this room
explain the proportion
mirrors and we shine in velvet distortion

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Real Smoke*

in a city this big you can hide some things
like dumpsters of entrails and overfilled trains
at the the Museum of Science and Industry
they have a man in slices, displayed between panes
past the region, past the brewery
past the projects and into the city
real trains, real boats, real smoke
we're heading north to Chicago
I went for the music, I went for the scenery
slept on the floor or hung over in a Clark Street motel
we were ants, we were numbers and nobody knew us
back at home they knew us all too well
past the region, past the brewery
past the projects and into the city
real trains, real boats, real smoke
we're heading north to Chicago
flat on my back, I remember the air show
we were only looking for someplace quiet to sleep
the bellies of planes filled the edge of the lake
we were right on time when we had no place to be
for a couple of months we played lots at the Avalon
how we wished we were playing the Aragon
I hit a parked car, fell asleep at the wheel
we froze and smoked cigarettes then we were gone
past the region, past the brewery
past the projects and into the city
real trains, real boats, real smoke
we're heading north to Chicago

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LYRICS

It's a Sexy Life
(Our first record)


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