monday morning I wake up
I look at the clock
I hit the alarm
I go back to bed
don’t know why

but someday day I’m gonna take up
the weight of the world but
the covers are cool and
when I dream I’m alive

and the afternoon’s too bright for me
but the evening comes so soon
I will sleep when I die

tuesday morning I get up
and go back to bed
I hit the alarm
and look at the clock
every time

but when every day is a saturday
then there ain’t no reason for to go out and play
but then what do I know?

and if I knew now what I’d known before
well I would sleep so sound every night on the floor
and yes I'll try somehow to get up in the morn
but tell me who knows now what a life’s really for?

wednesday morning I get up
and I see the sun
it’s just only begun
to come up off the sea

and the clouds are breaking now
and the rain no longer makes a sound
no lashing ‘gainst my windows and
no pattern for me to hear when I lay down

still the afternoon’s too bright for me
but the evening comes so soon
I will sleep when I die

and if I knew now what I’d known before
well I would sleep so sound every night on the floor
and yes I’ll try somehow to get up in the morn’
but tell me who knows now what a life’s really for?

sleep when i die

help me understand
what i need to do to be a man
i’ll start a family if i can
but i ain’t got no master plan at all

i feel i must be superman
stoic, silent, stronger than
the world on which i lay my hands
i want to be american you know

and oh mama help me
understand my role

/

help me understand
what it is for which i stand
cause purpose is a funny thing
should life be lived in deeds they’ll sing about?

i tend to overthink
everything that i believe
well jesus praised the poor and meek
but i crave something more, i seek it all

and oh mama help me
know what i should know

/

i said what do you want, and what do you need?
what do you long to be and how do you feel when you look around?
do you belong or do you disagree? what do you know?

cause i’ve been around for eternity
and i heard the sound of the city when the song wasn’t pretty
and i couldn’t account for the courtesy i was shown

oooh… oh what do you know?

/

help me become what i need
and i’ll tell thee about eternity
you know i felled the tree that the snake was sittin’ on

i said help me become what i need
and i’ll tell thee about eternity
you know i sheltered eve when she and adam weren’t getting along

i said help me become what i need
and i’ll tell thee about eternity
you know i held back the sea that moses was standin’ on

i said help me become what i need
and i’ll tell thee about eternity
you know i helped jonah see that everything wasn’t his fault

/

i said what do you want, and what do you need?
what do you long to be and how do you feel when you look around?
do you belong or do you disagree? what do you know?

‘cause i’ve been around for eternity
and i heard the sound of the city when the song wasn’t pretty
and i couldn’t account for the courtesy i was shown

and i was in love with a little thing
she was just four foot two but ooh if you’d heard her sing
and if i could back then then maybe again?

and i’m an old, old man
i feel it in my bones, in my hands,
but i tell you i’d do it all again
if i could

oooh… oh what do you know?

what do you know?

far away above the sky
obscured by day, the stars at night
allude to worlds I'll never see 
they drift alone in silence, free 
from prying eyes and minds to wonder 
whence the heavens cast asunder 
peopled planets pale and blue
bedfellows who might wander through 

to wake what lies in wait for them, 
and find a friend 
and know they're not endowed

with purpose, destiny
benevolent divinity

but rather on their own to make
a higher stake
worth fighting for at all

to tame the chaos with
brief bouts of beauty, fleeting riffs

to try somehow to make a meaning
through their dreaming
of life’s grip across the void

yes they might find some comfort finding others who could be
a proof of possibility
if they could live why couldn’t we?

progress so far that we should see
the reason our humanity

survived for eons, fought for
abstract ideals (some quite harmful)
all the while living under constant threat of curiosity

will we be lost before we find them?
and what will it cost for us to find them?
the wisemen

could they be
right here?
so near

or are we alone?

prelude to suite no. 1 (or, "the wisemen")

every december I return
to my old home
the erie frozen over
the trees wrapped up in lights that burn
the memory warms me as I fight my way through blinding snow

oh many years ago
well I was only up to here, you know
but we made a new world with that snow
and passed the hours building battlements against the cold


and through the window so well I know
I see two shadows
soft sentries looking out for me
they must be out of mice to tease
for they come bounding as I lay my hand against the door

and as it opens
I smell the brownies on the stove
and see my mother smile, the love
fills up this place I know will always be my home


and we will fly out across the seas
we’ll start new families
lay down new roots in new locales
and walk our lovely blue canals
and pass the hours telling stories of the days of old

but many years from now
I’ll still remember my old town
the place where I grew up and found
just what it means to have somewhere to call my home

home

now I’ve sung all that I can sing for you
so soon I know but I will return
I’ll come back to you and those I knew
I’ll move from where I once thought I belonged

away from concrete canopy and haze
to where the neighbors’ doors aren’t locked
and I will sing for you and we will live out our days
over the rainbow where dreams come true


outro

I know
That all told
It’s just a brief moment 
In time but you know I’ll whine all the same
Even though I find I can’t complain

It just feels so
Apropos
That I’m on my own
Well I got time, but no bones 
To pick with you
We couldn’t have knew

And I ain’t afraid of being alone
I’m just afraid of liking it you know

And all told
What’s been bestowed
It’s just a brief moment
In time and you know I’ll try and see past the pain
Cause ain’t nobody to blame

I’ll hold
Journey unbowed
Down this lonely road
Yes I will drive myself, survive just a bit at a time
Got myself a cat and a bottle of wine

Yeah I ain’t afraid of being alone
I’m just afraid of liking it you know

all told

when I was a younger man
just a boy in my teens
well I believed I was superman
that I could conquer my dreams

and now, well now I am 24
and I'm still learning to be much more
yeah I could be so much more
ever after living happily

and I know they look up to me
friends and family back home
the beloved bright young prodigy
on the road into Rome

but how, well how can I make them proud?
and follow through with the oaths I've vowed
stand tall with my head unbowed
ever after living happily

and I know I know I know... that you say you'll always love me
but are you sure you sure you sure... that I wouldn't shine a little less
if I were ordinary would it scare thee? could you bear me?
rarely do I feel like I can move the earth

but I'll try
yes I will try
I'll try to-

happily ever after

there's a girl who I know back home
who I call my own when I'm all alone
I'm in love

but she doesn't know
no she doesn't know oh oh oh...

her eyes are brown and I ain't ever seen them frown
and I know when I'm down they can turn me around
I'm in love

but she doesn't know
no she doesn't know oh oh oh...

and if I told her how I...
well she surely would go


the summer will bring her to me and when I sing
she will see I'm the one who could comfort her
forever more

but she doesn't know
she doesn't know oh oh oh...

what would I say if I saw her today?
being so far away makes me crazy and 
oh I'm in love

but she'll never know
she'll never know oh oh oh...

oh but if I told her how I...
well she surely would go

she doesn't know

one and one half years ago my brother said to me,
"Mickey what do you want to be?
Mickey want do you want?"

and I replied that I was fine just singing songs and drinking wine
the world will fix itself, just give it time

and now we're older, you and me
so strong was my belief that I knew everything

just about four years ago my sister said to me,
"Mickey what do you want to be?
Mickey what do you want?"

well I thought a while, then said with a smile that I'd like to know the mind of God
solve mysteries 'bout how we came to be

and now you're off in Italy
with a brave new world for you to see
do you find that all is as it should be?
how strong is your belief that you know everything?

...

twenty five whole years ago my papa gazed at me, said "mamma what is he gonna be?
and mama where will he go?"

they were just twenty five years old
and not visionary prophets, brave and bold
yet I can still hear the wisdom they extolled
"be strong in your belief that you can be most anything"

what do you want to be?

well I'm tired of sitting still
waiting by the windowsill
hoping for the future to call

and yes I've tried the city
but I don't think it's pretty
and I think there might be something wrong

yes I'm tired of sitting still
looking out a windowsill
hoping for the curtain to fall

yes I tried being pretty
but I don't think the city
really gets what I got going on

I said ooo oh
I got a feeling that you know (all about it)
well soon I'll go and you can follow me home

'cause I'm tired of sitting still
looking out a windowsill
waiting for the future to call

and yes I've tried being pretty
but I don't think the city
really gets what I got going on

yeah I've tried the city
but I don't think it's pretty
and I think there might be something wrong

...

oh I've tried New York City
but I don't think it's pretty
but I may as well keep keeping on

the city isn't pretty

I'm a physicist / singer / ukulelist / violist based out of Longmont, CO. I love making music and learning about the universe.

mickeymcdonald

Popular tracks