album: "The Earth Pressed Flat" (1999)

The Earth Pressed Flat lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Detroit, L.A., Boston, San Francisco,
first time o'er the ocean on a plane a billion stars below me lay,
circle slowly JFK,
so much there to see inside of a week they came looking for something new
try to press it flat inside of a few days Old Dominion Saturday,
Arlington's eternal flame Sunday tour Niagara Falls in the mist.
Monday I'll be heading south New Orleans the Cajun sound
Tuesday's Tupelo Elvis's home . . .
try to press it flat inside of a few days what a wonderful stay,
on a mule Grand Canyon ride on Wednesday,
hope to get to Denver in a day Friday ride to Washington,
in the glacial mountain sun hop a train for Canada
to the east they came looking for something new
try to press it flat inside of a few days what a wonderful stay

Ellen lyrics - 10000 Maniacs


Eager to please was just the way
that he was though his attempts there falling short,
expectation see he would tell of all his conquests, was he bragging?
but in the evening all alone Ellen unplanned delays saving for someone
who really cared about you invincible
they say married to your name she was the kind between a child and a lady,
quick was her temper like a blaze from an ember no one had measured
to her standard, so in the evening all alone all alone how do I tell them
to open their minds and to take a chance maybe on finding
life's treasure stubborn they stay set in their ways really not wanting
to be lonely not alone

Once A City lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

This was once a city harmony a common theme
but these complications now make life a bit uneasy hallowed buildings scrape
the sky voices ride the airwaves once a city years gone
by will they still be standing in the centuries ahead going
underground little children hiding,
bullets never meant for them must there be such bloodshed in our hearts,
our homes, our heads? will I be walking, walking so free?
this was a city once this was once a city harmony a common theme
but these complications once a city, once a dream

Glow lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

In the coolness of the morning sparing moments here in magical tide
I would meet you without question to share a starry gaze
a look through the sky from the start there was this kind of glow the start
when it's right you'll know,
fascinating love's a secret an ancient riddle with no reason
or rhyme unpredictable the muses
they play never knowing whether teasing or shy

On And On lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Out through the foggy window there just to see the eyes of my future children
looking back at me back through the foggy window
on and on miles pass years turn over
on and on there from that rolled down window ponies run free
cradled protectively there in the greenery somewhere I keep this picture
on and on miles pass years turn over
on and on for all the roads we've travelled
and all the bridges burned I was thinking out loud the ways
of the world that all seem so constant how few
of the lessons we really have learned.
out through the foggy window frozen in frame capturing passing pictures
life's last refrain, memories ashes scatter
on and on miles pass years turn over
on and on

Somebody's Heaven lyrics - 10000 Maniacs


There like a feather you fell someone's heaven above me floating
so fickle tempting me teasing my ways thrown from
its clutches I struggle to free what escapes me
Absalom hanging like you I'm caught in between heaven
then earth then heaven between you release me untangle my hair
Absalom hanging like you I'm caught in between heaven
then earth heaven between you patient I wait
as I hold a small feather that floated from somebody's heaven

Cabaret lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Shards of glass cut through my gaze broken streamers hanging
at my legs drunk and giddy full of fate at the cabaret smokey stares
from the bar do stray bottles tumble I feel the misty spray what a perfect,
perfect day for the cabaret from afar he sees Venus rise
overwhelmingly beautiful he sighs the look of love was in her eyes
puts his hand upon her leg looking closer his lust begins to fade "what a drag,
" the queen did say. could this be a dream I'm in?
Fellini would be proud. gluttony enfolds the scene "give them one last round"
shining faces dance away swinging skirts between the panted legs
kaleidescoping then shassez in a blink the glasses fly suddenly joy
becomes a fight there they tossed and turned a sight

Beyond The Blue lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

I was thinking today if you would remember you choose to remember
what you left me out there in the cold days fading away
I see you so near I hear your voice calling
it calls me from these pages to you beyond the blue,
so sudden too soon the secrets we knew
I was thinking today if you would surrender to feelings
that you tried deserting and if given the choice
I'd still wait for the moment still wait for the moment
when I could have a hero like you days fading away
but I see you so clear I hear your voice calling
it calls me from these pages to you

Smallest Step lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

When the day ends and church bells are ringing
when the valley is shrouded in snow,
when you're feeling that hope somewhere vanished
and there's no poetry left to console you,
with the smallest step you'll find a way oh of fate borne
and life is a jewel but stone will tarnish as dust will descend take a minute
and wipe free the lustre,
it'll mirror a day without end with the smallest step you'll feel
it starts a journey your way.
oh they tried to tell me but I'll learn for myself
and when they tried to tell me you know the words disappeared
on the wind I was running away
and when the laughter echoes through you in a pale beaming ray
and you'll know always and ever within you anyway

In The Quiet Morning lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail

She once walked tight at my side
I'm sure she walked by you
Her striding steps could not deny
Torment from a child who knew

That in the quiet morning
There would be despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
She cried out her song so loud
It was heard the whole world round
A symphony of violence
The great southwest unbound

Time Turns lyrics - 10000 Maniacs



I saw time turn so much there to unlearn,
you were envy you wouldn't say you tore heart strings
that sorry day dark light hid the tears one for each of the years
love has reasons reason never knows
time turns over love overflows I should have spoken sooner
on that sorry day your arms are open
and I wondered why
wondered why
five years passed to the day time heals some people say
when you hurt the ones I love you're also hurting me
and time turns over turning you from me I thought you'd never reach me
on that sorry day your arms were open wide and I wondered why

Hidden In My Heart lyrics - 10000 Maniacs


I see the leaves of autumn changing falling turning what was green
I see a door standing open, open to curiosity we could be together tear
it all apart would you ever notice what was hidden in my heart
heartstrong do we ever listen closely
as willows start to weep there as we stood upon the threshold
who said forever was for keeps?
would you ever notice what was hidden in my heart,
my deep heart is reeling forward and steady on to keep,
who made me miss the last ferry?
who made this river so deep?

Who Knows Where The Time Goes? lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time

For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

album: "Love Among The Ruins" (1997)

Rainy Day lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

On bended knee I've looked through every window then.
Touched the bottom, the night a sleepless day instead;
a day when love came, came easy like what's lost now found.
Beneath a blinding light that would surround.
We were without, in doubt, we were about saving for a rainy day.
I crashed through floors of laughter, then.
In a blind science, no ties would moor us to this room.
A day when love came, came easy like what's lost now found.
And you would save me, and I held you like you were my child.
If I were you, defiant you, alone upon a troubled way.
I would send my heart to you to save it for a rainy day.

Love Among The Ruins lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

The sky was falling, heaven was calling.
When danger crashes, rose from the ashes.
Like two statues hidden inside ancient rock,
we were praying for the secrets to unlock.
And when the sun had turned its back on us,
in the dark our love kept track of us, pushed together by the lack of love.
We held each other tightly through our hell of dreams.
I still hear the never-endig echo of those screams.
But it's a life not made for reliving, it's a life that makes your soul forgiving.
We sealed our bond from the beginning.
Aching, affection, vulnerable protection; falling, captured, crawling, rapture.

Even With My Eyes Closed lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Funny how I know it's harder, it's harder now.
Young girl in my young girl days, thinking I could live for always.
But like an ocean tide, I'm drawn back inside and I know.
Seasons pass like sand inside a glass and nothing, nothing returns.
Standing with the friends I've made, I'll race them to the grave.
Well who won, won the extra days?
When you take away the years toll on the waters wide, shallow high and low.
In the autumn sky, happy to know I'm going home.
Even with my eyes closed, funny how I know it's finally, has it finally begun?

Girl On A Train lyrics - 10000 maniacs

Waking on a train dreaming, charmed alone they started speaking.
Captured in his artist way before the memories fade away.
To remember a face, and you're home or want to.
Certain they would meet soon, paint a portrait of a family.
Sigle light on, single way, single light away.
The night fell.
Saw a painting on the stairwell to mourn the passing of a daughter dear.
Her soul upon the train so far so near.
Just close your eyes and you're home.

Green Children lyrics - 10000 Maniacs


An August day in the hills of Spain, a pair of children emerged from a cave.
The strangest sight there alone they stood,
with skin of green and words no one had heard.
The girl was stronger, the boy was weak,
with her new mother she learned to speak.
And wove a tale of a dying sun, they had left darkness,
a dark world come undone.
They travelled so far. Believing they came from a star.
She fell through life, through time, through parallel lives.
The men of science, the men of fame, the men of letters tried to explain:
Was it parallel worlds or a twist of time to make her
think she'd fallen from the sky?
A whirlwind spun them all alone, took them from their twilight home.
Believing they came from a star.

A Room For Everything lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

You were looking away from me, western skies calling you.
Colors spilling, running dazzling you.
I was looking the other way, voices call from the east,
I saw my roots of the trees there planted at my feet.
It could be I'm searching for a place so small with room for everything
where worlds on worlds revolve.
But how can we wait? I wouldn't hold you back.
Suppose I was the clever one and words came easy to me.
I could say I was writing a song about you and me.
Maybe that verse is yet to be found, but waits inside of me,
a secret room a tangled web to unweave.
But how can we wait knowing our ways, how can we hold on,
still you know it's not too late.

More Than This lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they're blowing
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing

It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we're going
No care in the world
Maybe I'm learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this - there is nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there is nothing

Big Star lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

I saw a big star running from me, a world from a record on my bed.
Turn the tables on me, what would happen if I fell to the tune of a dreamer,
to the tune of my heart?
A big start running from me, I saw a world out sunning on my head.
Turn the tables on me now. I would fall from heaven and ring your bell.
Baby, catch me in the middle of a lie.
The boys are out tonight, yeah the boys are out tonight.
The big shots singin' from me, I saw a world out sunning on my head.
Pity my heart signals: center of a storm inside my head.
Center of my heart, center of my out of time simple mind.
From the moon out my window a wink and a blink and a nod.
Had a wish on a start but now it's falling.
The boys are out tonight, big skies above me signal in my horoscope it said:
never heed a caution, never fought a lover,
never cross a street alone in the middle of a signal red,
middle of a drinker's heart, middle of a big parade, a signal in my horoscope.

You Won't Find Me There lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

I'd like to know what makes you stay while your eyes still search for escape.
You think that I don't feel the cold, but I wait while confessions unfold.
You'll never make a living from reading minds
or from getting your direction from exit signs.
Look into your heart and you won't find me there.
You won't find me where you hide and that makes us a matter of time.
Like trees exposed by fall, time reveals it all.
Tell me you want to do everything but you're stuck up to your knees.
And I'm less likely pushed forward by ambition than a breeze.
But there's a flame that must be fanned, and it appears as a beckoning hand.
Don't think 'cause you're not talking you're being kind,
you've been getting your direction from exit signs.
Look into your heart and you won't find me there.

All That Never Happens lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

She walks alone on the brick lane, the breeze is blowing.
A year had changed her forever, just like her grey home.
He used to live so close here, we'd look for places I can't remember.
The world was safe when she knew him, she tried to hold him, hold on forever.
For all that never happens and all that never will be,
a candle burning for the love we seldom keep.
The earth was raw in her fingers, she overturned it.
Considered planting some flowers, they wouldn't last long,
no one to tend them. It's funny how these things go,
you were the answer to all the questions.
The memories made her weary, she shuddered slowly, she didn't want to.
As a distant summer he began to whisper, and threw a smile her way.
She looked into the glass, liquid surface showing that they were melding,
together present past.
So where can I go from here?
The color fading, he didn't answer.
She felt him slip from her vision.
She tried to hold him, hold on forever.
So close forever, in a silent frozen sleep.

Shining Light lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Something was pulling me without knowing what was leading me on:
your shining light.
In my darkest hour the only way to bring the dawn was your shining light.
But you're unaware your shining light is even on.
Like with a little glance when you take me by surprise
and I take a chance and see it all through your eyes.
Free me from my history and show me where to draw the line,
by lighting up the mystery, and you don't even know that it shines.
I'm not worried now about flying too close to the sun.
When December skies are cold, you know I will always run to your shining light.
I won't abuse it so please just let it glow behind your smile.
Let me use it, let me feel the warmth like a little child
who understands your glance, though it takes me by surprise.
And I take a chance and I see it all through your eyes.

Across The Fields lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

Well they left then in the morning, a hundred pairs
of wings in the light moved together. In the colors
of the morning I looked to the clouds in the cirrus sky and they'd gone.
Across the marshes, across the fields below.
I fell through the vines and I hoped they would catch me below.
If only to take me with them there,
tell me the part that shines in your heart on the wind.
And the reeds blew me in the morning.
Take me along to the places you've gone when my eyes looked away.
Tell me the song that you sing in the trees in the dawning.
Tell me the part that shines in your heart and the rays of love forever,
please take me there.

album: "Our Time In Eden" (1992)

Noah's Dove lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

You won a prize for that,
for telling lies like that
So well that I believed it.
And I never felt cheated.
You were the chosen one,
the pure eyes of Noah's dove.
Choir boys and angels
stole your lips and your halo.
In your reckless mind,
you act as if you've got more lives.
In your reckless eyes, you only have time and your love of danger
to it you're no stranger.
In that August breeze
of those forgotten trees,
your time was set for leaving,
come a colder season.
In your reckless mind,
you act as if you're got more lives
In your reckless eyes,
it's never too late for a chance to seize some final breath of freedom.
Very, so very wise.

Don't reveal it. I'm tired, tired of knowing
where it is you're going.
In your reckless mind,
you act as if you've got more lives.
In your reckless eyes,
it's never too late for your love of danger
to it you're no stranger.
In your reckless mind,
you act as if you've got more lives.
In your reckless eyes, it's never too late
for a chance to seize some
final breath of freedom

These Are Days lyrics - 10000 Maniacs

These are the days.

These are days you'll remember.
Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days you'll remember.
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in
Every hour.
You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

These are days.

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you.