Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987

Let's put our heads together and start a new country up
Our father's father's father tried erased the parts he didn't like
Let's try to fill it in bank the quarry river swim
We knee skinned it you and me we knee skinned that river red

This is where we walked this is where we swam
Take a picture here take a souvenir

This land is the land of ours this river runs red over it
We knee skinned it you and me, we knee-skinned that river red
And we gathered up our friends, bank the quarry river, swim
We knee-skinned it you and me, underneath the river bed

This is where we walked, this is where we swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Let's put our heads together, start a new country up,
Underneath the river bed we burned the river down.
This is where they walked, swam, hunted, danced and sang,
Take a picture here, take a souvenir
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Rewrite the book and rule the pages, saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you

This land is the land of ours, this river runs red over it
We are not your allies, we can not defend
This is where they walked, this is where they swam
Take a picture here, take a souvenir

Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone
Cuyahoga
Cuyahoga, gone

Take a turn take a turn
Take our fortune take our fortune

They called the clip a two headed cow
Your hate clipped and distant your luck pilgrimage
Rest assured this will not last take a turn for the worst
Your hate clipped and distant your luck a two headed cow
The pilgrimage has gained momentum
Take a turn take a turn
Take our fortune take our fortune

Speakin' in tongues it's worth a broken lip
Your hate clipped and distant, your luck, pilgrimage
Rest assured this will not last, take a turn for the worst
Your hate clipped and distant, your luck a two-headed cow
The pilgrimage has gained momentum
Take a turn, take a turn
Take our fortune, take our fortune

Pilgrimage, pilgrimage.

Speakin' in tongues, it's worth a broken lip
Your hate clipped and distant, your luck
Rest assured this will not last, take a turn for the worst
Your hate clipped and distant, your luck two-headed
The pilgrimage has gained momentum
Take a turn, take a turn
Take our fortune, take our fortune

Pilgrimage, pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage has gained momentum
Take a turn, take a turn
Take our fortune, take our fortune
Take a turn, take a turn
Take our fortune, take our fortune

When the world is a monster
Bad to swallow you whole
Kick the clay that holds the teeth in
Throw your trolls out the door

If you're needing inspiration
Philomath is where I go
Lawyer Jeff he knows the low down
He's mighty bad to visit home

(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)

When your hands are feeling empty
Stickheads jumping off the ground
Tris is sure to shirr the deers out
Brother Ray can sing my song

(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)

Hands down, Calechee bound
And locked, kiss the ground
The dirt of seven continents going
Round and round
Go on ahead Mr. Citywide
Hypnotize, suit and tie
Gentlemen testify

If your world is a monster
Bad to swallow you whole
Philomath they know the low-down
Throw your trolls out the door

(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)
Can't get there from here
(I've been there I know the way)

Put your hair back we get to leave
Eleven gallows on your sleeve
Shallow figure winner's paid
Eleven shadows way out of place
Standing too soon shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon shoulders high in the room

Pull your dress on and stay real close
Who might leave you where I left off?
A perfect circle of acquaintances and friends
Drink another coin a phrase
Heaven assumed, shoulders high in the room
Heaven assumed, shoulders high in the room
Heaven assumed, shoulders high in the room

Try to win and suit your needs
Speak out sometimes but try to win
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room

That's great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes,
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid

Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs,
Don't mis-serve your own needs
Speed it up a notch, speed, grunt, no, strength,
The ladder starts to clatter
With a fear of height, down, height
Wire in a fire, represent the seven games
And a government for hire and a combat site
Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry
With the Furies breathing down your neck

Team by team, reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped
Look at that low plane, fine, then
Uh oh, overflow, population, common group
But it'll do, save yourself, serve yourself
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed
Tell me with the Rapture and the reverent in the right, right
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam fight, bright light
Feeling pretty psyched

It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine

Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crush, uh oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline

It's the end of the world as we know it
(I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)
I feel fine (I feel fine)

It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

The other night I dreamt a nice continental drift divide
Mountains sit in a line, Leonard Bernstein
Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs
Birthday party, cheesecake, jellybean, boom
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam but neck, right? Right!

It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
(It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine (It's time I had some time alone)

(It's time I had some time alone)

I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph

Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around
Peel back the mountains peel back the sky
Stomp gravity into the floor
It's a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Time and distance are out of place here

Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed
When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull

Somewhere near the end it said
"You can't do this", I said "I can too"
Shift sway rivers shift, oceans fall and mountains drift
It's a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it

Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed
When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull onto my eyes,
Holding my head straight (looking down)
This is the easiest task I've ever had to do

I fell asleep and read just about every paragraph

Read the scene where gravity is pulling me around
Shift the swaying river's shift
Oceans fall and mountains drift
It's a Man Ray kind of sky
Let me show you what I can do with it
Time and distance are out of place here

Step up, step up, step up the sky is open-armed
When the light is mine, I felt gravity pull onto my eyes,
Holding my head straight (looking down)
This is the easiest task I've ever had to do
Reason had harnessed the tame
Holding the sky in their arms
Gravity pulls me down

Burn bright through the night two pockets lead the way
Two doors to go between the wall was raised today
Two doors remain before your others and your own
Keep these books well stocked away and take your happy home

My carpenter's out and running about talking to the street
My pockets are out and running about
Barking in the street to tell what I have hidden there

Burn bright through the night, two pockets lead the way
Two doors to go between the wall was raised today
Raise the walls and shout its flaws, a carpenter should rest
So that when you tire of one side the other serves you best

My carpenter's out and running about, talking to the street
My pockets are out and running about
Barking in the street to tell what I have hidden there

The hills ringing hear the words in time
Listen to the holler, listen to my walls within my tongue
Can't you see you made my ears go tin?
The air quicken tension building inference suddenly
Life and how to live it

Raise the walls and shout its flaws, a carpenter should rest
So that when you tire of one side the other serves you best
Read about the wisdom lost, a knock, a knock, a knock
A secret knock one hammer's locked the other wisdom lost

My carpenter's out and running about, talking to the street
My pockets are out and running about
Barking in the street to tell what I have hidden there
My carpenter's out and running about, barking in the, listen to the holler
My pockets are out and running about
Barking in the street to tell what I have hidden there

Listen, listen to the holler,
If I write a book it will be called "Life and How to Live It"