Action Set - Weigh In

it only takes a few hours for things to go sour
we're sinking fast and losing power
I'm trying to disconnect all the wires that got tangled
up in the mess that we have always been
I'm trying hard to keep the room from filling
the water's overspilling, carpet to the ceiling
I'm holding on, but you know I'm not that strong
when things are going wrong, there's one thing left

I'm waiting (waiting)

and I'm waiting, I'm holding on, but my fingernails aren't all that long
they're chewed or gone
and I'm waiting, I'm anticipating when it's safe to say
that nothing weighs enough to hold me down

and I'm waiting (waiting)
no more waiting
the water's getting higher
cause you keep jumping ship

oh, the water's just fine if you would just jump back in

Action Set - The Arrest

I don't care if you care anymore
cause I've already stopped
I don't care what you wear anymore
or who you're letting watch
and if you feel lonely, you've got your reasons to call
if you feel lonely, you've got your reasons to crawl

(sike-out chorus that doesn't deliver)

I guess I'm unaware if you care anymore
it seems that we both want
to be less needy than we've always seemed,
we need to stop counting months
and if you feel lonely, you've got no reason to cry
you say you feel lonely, you've got your reasons to lie

I see no difference in traffic lights
red or green, I just stop

maybe you're right, maybe it's wrong
to make every fight a clever song
that's lasts long after we've gone on
we could go on and on and on and on
on and on and on and on
on and on and on and on
on and on and (just stop)

I see no difference in traffic lights
wedding nights that turn in to knife fights
no difference in wrong or right
if you start to like, I just...

Action Set - Hide and Seek

blue eyes, I'm dying to keep the game alive
we're too good at hiding which side we lie in
it's taking too much time, we're no good at finding
[the red dyes and glasses, your favorite disguise to try and hide in]
[I'll buy the sizes and colors you've implied, you'll still deny me]

we tried to fight it
we tried to deny it
we tried to hide it behind our eyes
we tired of hiding

[blues eyes, I'll try to keep them alive under dark indifference]
[sometimes I'll hide just to keep me feeling lost to keep me from smiling]
one time, you said no--I believed that it was so
so I just stopped trying
a month or so was all it took to let it go
we're past those beds we've lied in

we tried to fight it
we tried to deny it
we tried to hide it behind our eyes
we tired of hiding

our eyes--the light and dark versions of open skies
static and lightning
a good time to get inside, to save our sorry hides
rainfall, the middle of it all, stormfronts colliding

we tried to fight it
we tried to deny it
we tried to hide it behind our eyes
we tired of hiding

Action Set - London Bridges

pretty tickled, hearts are humble
make it up as you go
paint your victim, tiny fractions
setting the pieces to whole

mistaken for careless
stupid and fearless
from cradle to casket
with our eggs in one basket

pretty victim, hearts are broken
who are you fooling but you?
london bridges, seven minutes
how do you find your way home?

blush and bruise
pretty and useless
do you cry for your children
if they don't cry for you?

Action Set - Please! Don't Go

I always tell you, “don't go leaving,'
without having a reason to
I am hoping, you'll never need to
but I know it's too good to be true
It doesn't matter how much laughter
has passed since I've done you wrong
I'll worry I'll lose you, at least enough to
make me write you another song

and I'll be exclaiming, 'please! don't go...'

I've never met one that's quite like you
and likely I won't ever again
so when I lose you, please be sad, too
and then maybe we can be friends
I'm not such a bad guy, I'm lost but you can find
a few things that I want to improve
they say I've made progress, and I'll make you a promise
you can leave if it's ever untrue

and I'll keep exclaiming, 'oh please! don't go...'

when you meet another will you discover
what you had with me?
will he know how to keep you warm when it's cold out
and the snow is choking the streets?
will he understand you the way that I do?
will he love you for just being you?
if we lost it, if we ever had it,
it'll never return to you
and I'll be right back here, waiting to catch you
any chance I get to put my arms around you
yeah, I'll catch you, just like I used to
if it's the last thing that I do
and I'll die exclaiming!

I'll die exclaiming, 'oh please! don't go...'

Action Set - Prizefighter

he had a dream, but he had a life
he gave up the ring to have a wife
and he got a good job digging in a ditch
when it got deep enough, they pushed him in
'act your age!' they told him
and he fell right in line
you're old as you feel, they say
and so he up and died

and the gloves were hanging
alone in the basement
a lone rememberance of who he was before

he had a dream, but he'd rather die
hung from the ceiling by his tie
when she left, she took all that he'd had
gave him back the ring, made him see red
'settle down!' they told him
but he had other plans
none of them could hold him
his heart was in his hands

and his gloves felt like old shoes
that fit like they used to
a lone reminder
of who he always was

come out and play
come out and play, prizefighter
play
come out and play
mama's little prizefighter,
come on out and play
you've wasted your life away
get up before you're down
for the 1, 2, 3 count

Action Set - Give Up

shake me down now to bare branches
with your Manchester swagger and designer sunglasses
freshly kissed cigarette lips
and I let my process slip
tied up in a thousand knots
when you hit me with everything you've got
but I grown in any garden
and my stupid heart with harden

leave the test-tones on
let the dishes be
they'll be there in the morning, and so will we
it's okay to be afraid
sleeping in the bed that we made

I long for longer days
when all my tumblers will fall into place
we do as we please--perfect hair, perfect teeth

leave the test-tones on
let the dishes be
they'll be there in the morning, and so will we
it's okay to be afraid
(no one is as afraid as me)
sleeping in the bed that we made
(and no one's more ashamed)

Action Set - Country Song

1, 2, 1 2 3 4

you've spent your whole life running down that country road
getting back in shape and staying close to home
with looks yours, there's no telling how far you'll go

but you turn around when you hit the county line
you're a big fish swimming and it suits you fine
you'll be married here, you'll be buried here in time
it's no surprise

that you left me out there (left me out there)
you left me out there
I make you scream; you make me sing
until I've told you everything

the day you gave me walking papers, well, I took a hike
hitched a new direction on the old turnpike
and I hit the city limits by early light

and I found the things that i'd been searching for
all those just-like minds and those open doors
and I don't think much of the country anymore

since you left me out there (left me out there)
you left me out there
I make you scream; you make me sing
until I've told you everything

well, I know one day I'm gonna come back home
gonna see you walking down that country road
we'll stop and talk, then I'll say I have to go

and you'll bat your lashes and you'll give me a smile
the prettiest thing in a country mile
but I've been thinking in city blocks since the time you were mine

and you left me out there (left me out there)
you left me out there
I make you scream; you make me sing
until I've told you everything

Action Set - Dimly Lit Shoreline

we reached the boards, put the car in park
walked until the earth turned into rock
with all we planned, with everything we feared
we're off the map, there be monsters here

why won't you swim?

with the moon gone, with eyes that can't adjust
we held our ground where the earth dropped off
some driftwood on the shoreline in the dark
wondering how we got to where we are

why won't you swim?
I'm sunk, too, but why won't you swim?

you can be sure it started with a grain
on another grain again and again
and through the years a divide appeared
now there's sand everywhere

why won't you swim?
I want to, but why won't you swim?

Action Set - Floating Fortress

this city never sleeps
but it's been comatose the last three weeks
all tied up in my sheets
I'm tangled up in city streets
the subway map is incomplete
they must want us to trust our feet
a city planner's great defeat
in a game of chess creates this mess

you'd think with all the time we've lost
you'd be eager to make amends

the railways are down
so other routes had to be found
they drove us from the underground
we must adjust now to the sun being 'round
the city planner, yeah, he ran
or he'dve been bounded hand in hand
and set in chains against a wall
buried in all this urban sprawl

you'd think with all the time we've lost
you'd be eager to make amends

they pried the island free
cause we already seemed to be
a floating fortress out at sea
if love or war come down, we'll come about
if you hail, I'll come around
I'm game for all we talked about
if you hail, I'll come around
but we're too weighed down to drop anchor now

you'd think with all the time we've lost
you'd be eager to make amends

Action Set - Don't Wait Up

when I called your house, they made excuses
said you were out, it was useless
to try and track you down
I've gotten so much better now
I understand that I don't want to know
where you could be found
I went to your house
you had already gone out for the night
you know how I always have to be right

and you think that one day
I may call you back to the stage
well, maybe, but it won't be today

last time we spoke
you acted like it was a joke
that you kept between the bedsheets and me
well, between the sheets
we could tell the truth for weeks
but if you lied to them, you'd lie to me

and you think that one day
I may call you back to the stage
well, maybe, but it won't be today

I went to your house
that's the last time I'll call you out
until you learn to not lie every time you open your mouth
but until that day, I don't even want to hear your name
in casual conversation with your friends

and you think that one day
I may call you back to the stage
well, maybe, but it won't be the same
yeah, maybe, but don't wait up for me