Stephen Malkmus

At age 19 i was kidnapped by turkish pirates
Mediterranean thugs
After some torture they considered me their mascot
Cypriotic good luck
I had to taste the deck and many other things
I had to pay the piper with my wedding ring
And i would never see my family again

By 25 i was respected as an equal
My art was a knife
On countless raids i was the first one up the lanyard
Yeah i was seeking a fight
There is no time to pray
And there's no time to beg
And then it's off with an arm
Or it's off with a leg
And if i spare your life
It's because the tide is leaving

Oh yeah

By 31 i was the captain of a galleon
I was poseidon's new son
The coast of montenegro was my favorite target
It was ever so fun
We had no wooden legs
Or steel hooks
We had no black eye patches
Or a starving cook
We were just killers with the cold eyes of a sailor
Yeah we were killers with the cold eyes of a sailor

Do you want to know where it stands right now?
Do you really care what, when, why, or how?
I came to crave your spastic touch
The honest way you move is too much
Before we can change we could levitate
Erase mistakes of the forest greats
Fermented minds could make them shake
Permission granted for the wolverine stakes,

A love to tear you off

The formless matters of the brain
Inequality of the drifting chain
A moment i could learn to love
The salutations to the levels above
We'll split the difference, call it quits
This is no new romantic blitz-krieg
Pull off the foil and watch it break
A whisper's crushing all the sympathy gates

A love to tear you off

"and in a funny way, the shaving of my, uh, head has been a liberation from, uh, a lot of, uh, stupid vanities really. uh, it has simplified everything for me, it has opened a lot of doors
."
[sm]

I'm not what you think i am
I'm the king of siam
I've got a bald head
My name is yul brynner
And i am a famous movie star
Perhaps you saw me in westworld
I acted like a robotic cowboy
It was my best role
I can not deny i
Felt right home deep inside
That electronic carcass

You're such monumental slime
Let the punishment fit the crime
Tie it to a chair
The house music will blare
And turn your ears into
A medicinal jelly
Stay inside on christmas day
And make believe that you are my candy cane
You said, "i'm not that type,
No i'm not sweet, and i'm not overripe

Bob dylan sang in
"its alright mama im only bleeding",
Everything from toy guns that spark to flesh colored christs that glow in the dark
Its easy to see we got in too far and not much is really sacred.

Greek gods are communing
Beneath the doric arch
And they talk how small we humans are
They drink to agamemnon
They toast his pyhrric march
And wait for the sacrifices

Shepherds herd in real time
Sheep are barley-grazing on a field of green
Vines ripen to find
Troy will prevail
Trojan curfews prevail

So we got smashed on ios
Down around some doric arch
And the trashed blonde scandi
Mistook me for a swede
Her slurred medieval accent
Was like a puddle at my feet
You could see chopped tobacco in her teeth

Flaccid
On a rock hard strip of concrete
Near a field of green
We sign deutschmarks are fine
Aren't you too pale
Does it hurt you?
So pale
Trojan curfews prevail

Jennifer dates a man in a 60s cover band
He's the ess-dog, or sean if you wish
She's 18, he's 31
She's a rich girl, he's the son
Of a coca-cola middle man

Kiss when they listen
To "brothers in arms"
And if there's something wrong with this
They don't see the harm
In joining their forces and singing along

See those rings on her toes check that frisbee in his volvo
It's a volvo with ancient plates
They've got a dog she named trey
A retriever with a frayed bandana around his neck

Trey has a window into their relationship
The baby talk voices
And the post class-a nasal drip
But it all seems to function
At least in her dog's mind

Let me out of here
Let me out of here
You got to let me out of here
You got to let me out of here
Let me out of here
Out of here
Out of here, out of here
Let me out of here ill hit the ground running

Jennifer left for school up in boulder
And the ess-dog came to visit when he could
But the strain was too much
They could not make up for distance
And the distance between their years

Neither one listens
To "brothers in arms"
The ess-dog waits tables
And he sold his guitar
Jenny pledged kappa and she started pre-law
And off came those awful toe rings
Off came those awful toe rings

Offer your trust to a friend
Who is not what he says
And you know when you're dry, what you're thinkin
Trout in the brook, you're about to get hooked
To a greedy false un-catholic knave

The black book you took
Was permanent-ally diversified
Cousin why, cousin why, cousin why (2x)

I took the locomotive to kreutzberg
Passed through the scenery
And passengers got on that train too
And they really surprised me when they said:

" the black book you took
Was permanent-ally diversified
Cousin why, cousin why, cousin why" (2x)

I've got some friends
But i got some enemies too
And yes i got some people in between
People just like you

The black book you took
Was permanent-ally diversified
Cousin why, cousin why, cousin why
The black book you took
Was permanent-ally diversified (2x)