POLETOWN
Released: 1997


POLETOWN
(Avsec)

Around the turn of the century
The D.P.s came to Poletown
And offered their labor in exchange for supper
And a bed to lie down on

Miles from the motherland
Built themselves a church

In Poletown
It was soul town

But a hundred years later
Only one accordian player is left
Standing on a corner
With his cheesebox
And a band of bullets cross his chest
The city took back his land
Sold it to General Motors
But he can't let go
He can't let go

CHORUS

Can't let go of Poletown
Poletown
Poletown
Can't let go of Poletown

And the D.P. women cried
And prayed to the virgin
The accordian player sighed
And just played

In 1981 the D.P.s lost their fight
304 North West 2nd 455
You can look up the site
Detroit bragged
They all got market price for thier homes

But where they gonna go
Where they gonna go
Where they gonna go
When the wrecking ball drops down
On Poletown



HOW YOU GONNA MEND IT?
(Avsec)

Some nights I scream into my pillow
Feels like I can't breathe
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

I'm sick for you
And I'm tired of your disease
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

For jealous lies
You apologized but
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

I saw you kissing him
With my own eyes but
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

I trusted you
But now it's all gone bad
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

I know you know
What's happened is just sad
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

I wash my face
I wash my hands
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

But I can't erase
The memory of your mysery dance no
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

The devil reached out
You grabbed his hand
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

You coulda walked away
You had your chance
How you gonna mend
How you gonna mend it?

Sometimes it seems too crazy
The way we mess around
How you gonna mend?
How you gonna mend it?

Givin into nature
Risking losing the good things we've found
How you gonna mend?
How you gonna mend it?

I hope your little fling was really cool
How you gonna mend?
How you gonna mend it?

Cause I won't be around to play the fool no more
Can I mend it?
Can I mend it?

So let us rise
And drink a toast
Can I mend it?
Can I mend it?

Good luck to you and adios
Can I mend it?
Can I mend it?

Can I mend it?
Can I mend it?



VALERIE
(Avsec)

I smell the incense
And I'm filled with hope
Got the mother and the Holy Ghost
I'm lookin for a miracle
A second chance
Yeah I'm gettin ready
To do my mercy dance

He's in his stall
Down by St. Joseph's altar
I almost turn around
I nearly falter
But I take my place in line
Enter when it's time
And soon the door slides open

Father, I should come to my senses
I have a good wife
I plead no defenses

But when I look at her
I see Valerie
And when she speaks to me
I hear Valerie

Ain't no good reason
Why a man should wander
From the field he's sewn
But Father
Sometimes the heart has reasons
Which reason does not know

I will not leave my family
It's my kid I have a concern for
But when I hold my wife
It's Valerie I burn for

And if I were to go to hell
Well, that's just the way it's gonna be
Cause it's gonna take more than three Hail Marys
Before I forget Valerie

And so I live with this sadness
The secret no one knows
Except you father
Just you

Father
Can you make my feelings go away?
I just wanna go home and hug my baby
Tell her everthing's gonna be ok

CHORUS

But when I look at her
I see Valerie
And when she speaks to me
I hear Valerie
And when I kiss her lips
I'm kissing Valerie
Father forgive me
I miss my Valerie

She's like a serpent
Crawlin' through the backwoods
Of my heart
Tryin' to get the better part
I cannot fight her
When I'm with her I'm on fire
Send out the Devil
Extinguish my desire

Valerie, Valerie, Valerie Go
Cause I'm all mixed up
My head is turned around
I want it both ways
Don't wanna lose a good thing I've found
But I can't run with the fox
And hunt with the hound

REPEAT CHORUS



I AM YOUR EYES
(Avsec)

One wants to be your hair
I hope you'll take a brush to him
One wants to be your legs
I hope you do a dance on him
And one wants to be your brain
How does it feel to be insane?
And one wants to be your ears
To hear the music that you hear

But as for me
I want a window
So I can see
The runway that you fly on

I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes

One wants to be your lips
And feel your breath whisper
One wants to be your hips
And feel the rhythm blister
One wants to be your tongue
To know sweet from sour
And one wants to the heart
I wouldn't want to feel that power

But as for me
I want a window
So I can see
The runway that you fly on

I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes
I am your eyes



THE STALKER
(Avsec)

Saw a hundred men
Bet a hundred more
Are on their bellies
Crawling through your backdoor

I am a stalker
A dangerous man
A jilted lover
Ooh an angry fan

I am the fly that buzzes around
Your room at night
And makes you crazy
I am a thought that thinks inside
Your head and screams
Be afraid of me

Spank the donkey
Kill the hog
Crack the whip
I am a watchdog

I'm listening baby
I'm stalking you
I'm watching everything you do

I am the spark that burns
Inside your brain at night
And won't let you sleep
I am the tears
That make your head ready to burst
And won't let you weep

She never believed
She never dreamed
She wants to be just friends
But she just couldn't see
What that'd do to me
I need to consume her

I am the stalker
I'm watching you
I'm watching everything that you do

I know your smell
I know your touch
I know it when you sleep
And when you're up
When you're not home
And when you're alone
And when you're shavin'
When you're talking on the phone

I am the space between the ticking of the clock
I have the time
I am an old skeleton key that needs a lock
And you will be mine

She never believed
She never dreamed
She wants to be just friends
But she just couldn't see
What that'd do to me
I need to consume her

Now she never believed
(He mystifies her)
She never dreamed
(He glorifies her)
She wants to be just friends
(He gets inside her now)
But she just couldn't see
(He mystifies her)
What that'd do to me
(He glorifies her)
I need to consume her
(He gets inside her now)

Spank the donkey
Kill the hog
Crack the whip
I am a watchdog

Listen baby
I'm stalking you
I'm watching everything that you do
I'm listening baby
I'm stalking you
I'm watching everything that you do
Still here
I'll be around
I'm still here
Still here



DON'T WANT TO BE A HERO
(Avsec)

Ya know these days we'll call anyone a hero
Some of them do nothing
Absolutely zero
Still everybody in the world knows their names
It seems to me we all confuse honor with fame

We see them in primetime
Stylin' on our T.V.s
Then at Breakfast
Smiling on our Wheaties

Oh just a bunch of rich folks
Getting paid to play
Hey if that's all it takes today

CHORUS

I don't wanna be a hero
I'll only break your heart
Don't wanna be a hero
I'll only break your heart

Personally, I think we oughta
Set our sights higher
Why imitate sparks
When you wanna be fire?
Why use a flashlight
When we've got the moon?
We're flesh and blood people
We're not damn cartoons

I wish I was
But I'm not a Jonas Salk
Nor Mother Theresa
Hell no, I just rock

Now listen to me
Just trying to make ya blink
I'm not a role model
I just sing

Don't wanna be a hero
I'll only break your heart
Don't wanna be a hero
I'll only break your heart

Artificial saviors
Oh they make me scream
Cause there ain't no easy way
To be redeemed
So many paths to take
Ya gotta find your voice
Just can't escape
The fact that it's you
That has to make that choice

Don't limit yourself
To cable television
Heroes have been around
Why ever since heroism

So pull out your Plato
And read your Shakespeare
Jefferson
Einstein

But I don't wanna be your hero
I'll only break your heart



I LIE DOWN
(Avsec)

It's been 24 months
Since you left our house
24 months Friday past
54 months
Since we fell in love
10 seconds
Since I thought of you last

I wake up in the morning
Lying to my coffee
Running out of reasons
Trying to get your smell of me

By midday I'll feel pretty good
Feels like it's over
Feels like I think you think I should
Yeah, I'm meeting new Friends
Eating new food
Reading new books
Subscribing to a new groove

CHORUS

But when I lie down
(I lie down)
Feels like the world's upon my shoulders
(I lie down)
Yeah I lie down
A little more worn
A little older
(I lie down)
Cause when I lie down
Then it's just you and me
(I lie down)
Cause I lie down
With the ghost of your company

How do ya kill the ghost
When the ghost don't bleed?
She hangs out in my bed
She often needles me
Screaming for attention
In the middle of the night
Just won't let me forget her
Stalkin me til dawns light

Woman is as false
As a feather in the wind
Blowin' in the breeze
The original sin
Forget she's there
And she'll tickle your nose
Gentle as the daybreak
Smellin' like a rose

REPEAT CHORUS



BITTER LEMONS
(Avsec)

Take a hundred pounds of clay
My friend
And a hundred gallons of sea
And forty days of wind and rain
Behold the lemon tree
The tree it bears a holy fruit
A product of the earth
Good book tells how the snake
It sucked the sweetness from the dirt

Chorus

The gods are laughing
They watch us grappling
What will we do with bitter lemons?
How tart the apple
How sweet the grape
No where in Heaven are bitter lemons?

A dozen packets of seeds
My friend
Six yards of midnight soil
Build a fence to keep the voodoo away
Mix vinegar with oil
When the fruit begins to sprout
I sensed the mighty power
The tomatos sweet
And red as a beet
But the lemons have gone sour

REPEAT CHORUS

I took a pretty woman for my wife
And dressed her in white lace
I laid her on the bed of lilies
Ran her like a race

I squeezed the lemons in the jar
Now I've got it made
Mmmm... taste like sugar baby
Sweet as lemonade

REPEAT CHORUS



HEY REMBRANDT
(Avsec)

Muffled in the calm
The night was almost down
A honey colored moon
And the grass was brown
And your memory shakes
My body in the night
Blasting the thick silence
But it's alright

Tonight I saw her
By the witness tree
I saw her weeping
But not for me
Buried in the silence
Those thoughts deep in my brain
Underneath your love
Can come out tonight

CHORUS

Hey Rembrandt
Paint a picture of this
Cause I have never seen
Such loveliness
Tell Ruben and DaVinci
Michelangelo and Chagall
I just saw my baby

On my wall
His portrait of her I would hang
Stored up in the canvas
The pressures of his hand
Realer than the real thing
The lie beneath the truth
Hoping beyond hope
She'll come back to me

Sometimes I go back
To the witness tree
Because I love the ghost
Of her company
But still her memory shakes
My body in the night
Blasting the thick silence

REPEAT CHORUS

Hey Rembrandt
Look at those moves
Softer than soft
Beneath the yellow moon
Now poetrys romantic
But words are just semantics
Pick up your brush
And see what you can do

Pick up your brush and see what you can do

See what you can do

SCREAM
(Avsec)

I Scream
Like in the middle
Of a bad dream
How you gonna stop me?
How you gonna stop me?
How you gonna stop me child?

I failed in the east
I'm banned in the west
I'm beaten down by life
The blood has stained my chest

I scream
I cannot stand the pain
My tempers all I got
I'm jumpy as the rain

I'm as crazy as a loon

I scream
Cause there's nothing left to say
The poetry's been written
Somewhere I lost my way
Shakespear was right
We're just pushin and' shovin' here
We sing loud and furious
But we signify nothin' here

Like a banshee
Like a banshee
Like a banshee
Like a banshee
Like a banshee
Like a banshee
Like a banshee

I'm gonna scream



WITHIN ME + WITHOUT YOU
(Avsec)

I heard the news that
You were leaving
Out to find your bliss
I should be shocked
I should be grieving
Shaking like a fish

But I don't miss you
Don't need to fix you
Don't want to read your letter
I will forget you
Forget I met you
You know I think it's getting better

I woke up today
Without crying
First time in weeks
I had some breakfast
Though it was simple
A slice of toast and tea

I went to Kensington
Do you remember when
We used to shop on Sundays?
It didn't feel right
At first without you
But it will be one day

Because within me and without you
I will find a way
To get used to
Life without you
I will find a way

Here come the rhythm ants
I hear them marching
Marching for my bed
They think they'll find you
They always used to
But they'll find me instead

Try on a new heart
I need some new chains
I'm feeling so unfettered
I sometimes scream things
But I don't need to
I'm doing so much better

Because within me and without you
I have found a way
To get used to life without you
I have found a way

I went to Camden town
Do you remember when
We used to walk on Sundays?
It didn't feel right
Sunday without you
But soon it will be Monday

And within me and without you
I will find my way
I'll get used to life without you
I will find my way
Yes within me and without you
I will find my way
Must get used to life without you
I will find my way

Within me and without you
Within me and without you



COME, COME, COME
(Avsec)

I need so bad
To shed this skin
Come, come, come
I seek forgiveness
For my sins
Come, come, come

Tis salvation that we want
Come, come, come
But only life that we get
Human life and human death

All I want is someone to hold me
Yeah hold me close until I sleep

Momma prayed so hard for this night
So come, come, come
She must have lit a million vigil lights
Come, come, come

I'm never gonna be nobody's hero
I know
I'm just an ordinary man

And I'm tryin' to do the best I can
Tryin' to hold on to the wheel
Feel like a damn chaufer
So tired of goin' absolutely no where
Too blind to drive
Too proud to pull over
Pull over
Pull over

Don't shower me with holy water
Don't ring those bells
Faith is a gift
We simply give
To ourselves

Lose those bell bottom blues baby
Put your old 45's back on the shelf
All this time I didn't stalk ya
I've been stalking myself
It's ok to change all
Middle of the stream
Cause sometimes a man needs to change
Wants to pull out a new dream
Yeah

Momma says salvation's
Just a step away
Release yourself
Your soul you'll keep
Surrender your heart to the night
She says try to relax and get some sleep
I'll be on the quiet
In a voice as thin as a laser
I still hear them screaming
And touch me like a razor
Show me there's a better place
And take me to the river
I do believe
I do believe



CROSS THE RUBICON
(Avsec)

Maybe one day
When we're tired of thinking
We'll fall into
Each other's arms
And maybe one day
We'll get tired of blaming the drinking
And we will

CHORUS

Cross the rubicon
You and I
Cross the rubicon
To the other side

And maybe one day
We'll get so tired of resisting
That we will give in
Maybe one day
You will kiss me like I kissed you darlin'
And tell me that
You want me too
And we will

REPEAT CHORUS

Let's sail tonight
Don't worry 'bout tomorrow
The rest of our lives
Are filled with tomorrows
So quiet your mind
Let's put out to sea
This captains ready
So darlin' won't you sail with me?

REPEAT CHORUS

This ain't no game
This ain't no game