Anthem

Mother told me, yes, she told me I'd meet girls like you.
She also told me, "Stay away, you'll never know what you'll catch."
Just the other day I heard a soldier falling off some Indonesian junk that's going round.

Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.

Father says, "Your mother's right, she's really up on things."
"Before we married, Mommy served in the WACS in the Philippines."
Now, I had heard the WACS recruited old maids for the war.
But mommy isn't one of those, I've known her all these years.

Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.

Whatever happened to all this season's losers of the year?
Ev'ry time I got to thinking, where'd they disappear?
When I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch.
Rolling numbers, rock and rolling, got my Kiss records out.

Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.

Away.
Away.

So this pen is starting to become
A pipe bomb and these songs
Have turned to anthems again
To everything that's changed and to everything that's gone away
Here are my condolences tot he future I never met
It's gone and never coming back, it's not coming back
So don't hold on to your past, you gotta let it go

'Cause friends leave as time fades away
The people and the places along the way
Without a doubt
Screws fall in and screws they fall out

Tomorrow's gone up in smoke
And I wonder when I'm alone
Where'd my convictions go
So to everyone that's gone away
Or fades away or stays the same
Here are my apologies to the person that I used to be
Before I burned down every bridge and every inch
Of everything I used to know, I gotta let it go

Friends leave as time fades away
The people and the places along the way
So don't hold on to your past
No, it's never coming back, you gotta let it go

And I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try
and we'll walk in circles around this whole block
walk on the cracks of the same old sidewalks
then we'll talk about leaving town
yeah we'll talk about leaving
I swear it's the last time, and I swear it's my last try

We rode across that bridge all night
we talked our way through city lights
traced all the lines, we're killing time
under those buzzing signs
from downtown to anywhere but here
tonight, yeah, I swear to these rooftops
and just hoped that car would never stop

[Chorus:]
And I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try
and we'll walk in circles around this whole block
walk on the cracks of the same old sidewalks
and we'll talk about leaving town
and we'll talk about leaving
I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try

We drove around this place all night
past closed signs and familiar sights
we're moving by, passing time
counting those center lines
with 20,000 lines left to go
that lead to somewhere I don't know
it might be the time that we leave this all behind

[Chorus]

And there's been a few times
that we thought it felt right
to take all the westbound signs
and just leave town tonight

And I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try
and we'll walk in circles around this whole block
walk on the cracks of the same old sidewalks
and we'll talk about leaving town
yeah we'll talk about leaving
I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try
and I swear it's my last try
and we'll talk about leaving town
and we'll talk about leaving town

By this time tomorrow
You'll be out on the streets of Chicago
Walking all the way home from commuter trains

By this time tomorrow
You'll be back home in Chicago
At the bars until they close
Back at the places that you've known and
It'l be skylines and rooftops
And it's gunna be crowded tourist stops

So it's goodbye
To your brand new life
So it's good luck
Best wishes to your black lung

By this time tomorrow
You'll be walking home thru Chicago
Past the nine to five crowds and underneath
Those unused fire escapes
By this time tomorrow
You'll be at the bars in Chicago
Back with people that you know
Going places you used to go
It's gunna be skyline and rooftops
And it's gunna be crowded tourist stops

So it's goodbye
To your brand new life
So it's good luck
Best wishes to your black lung
So when you're leaving the party just to beat the crowd
Just make sure that you're the first one out

I've been down
wandering past 2nd street
and looking at the ghosts
of you and me and thinking back on
all those memories of how we used to be

I've been hearing
hear those voices
of the noises of the breaking glass
and all those plans we had to get us through
they're never coming true

And I hope and hope
that you won't forget
and I hope you, hope you know
that I can clearly see

The ghosts of you and me
'cause I'm just a moved on a memory
and you're still alive
and I'm still getting by
on these dead end streets
the ghosts of you and me

I'm still talking
talk of what we'll do
to the ghosts of me and you
and I'm still looking back into the past
when we were all we had

And I hope and hope
that you won't forget
and I hope you, hope you know
that I can clearly see

[Chorus]
the ghosts of you and me [x2]

Hope you won't forget
hope you know that I'll always regret
those things I said
hope you know that I can clearly see

[Chorus]
the ghosts of you and me [x3]

Yeah

Hello six pack of confidence
Been so many nights
since we first met
Glad to see you've brought
all your friends
For another night of
plastic cup politics

Hello Mr. Six Pack of confidence
I'm glas to see you've already met
Ms. Twelve ounces of loneliness
And Mr. Plastic cup politics
I see you're under the influence
Of warm beer and the comfort of
all your friends
And I see that Mr. Loud Mouth
has had his forty ounce
And will pass out
I have no doubt
So drop your plastic cup and
clear your clouded heads

I keep asking myself if they realize
That their fears are really just the
same as mine

Do they know all their insecurities
Are the same ones that are inside of me
As people come and go
Do they know they're really not alone?
And the life of the party just left
I guess I couldn't cure his emptiness
Like all the rest
So drop your plastic cups and clear
your clouded heads

Here we are, another wasted night and
I am right along side
of forty sets of bloodshot eyes
And plastic smiles miles wide match
plastic cups we'll leave behind

It's just another night of
plastic cup politics
So drop your empty cups and clear
your clouded heads

[Roger:]
So you say, all your white flags are up and that you've had enough and that you were tired of collecting dust, you say everything always looks the same and you made your brand new face to match your brand new place, you say all your distress calls have gone out and your ship is going down

[Pre-chorus]
[Chris:]
Well I say it to myself all the time,
"Stop living half and a life and stop feeling like I'm half alive."

[Chorus]
[Roger:]
I can't get enough, I'm not satisfied, I've wasted my time with this daily grind, in single file line, is this real life, I've been telling myself sometimes, what matters is on the inside.

[Roger:]
Do you remember when we had all the answers, and can you really remember when we wished for anything better, just to feel like it's been forever, does it feel like a broken record, a head full of yesterdays, you keep wishing your life away, you keep looking over you own shoulder, things'll never look up unless you start to move forward.

[Pre-chorus]

[Chorus]

[Chorus 2]
[Roger:]
I can't get enough, I'm not satisfied, I've wasted my time with this daily grind, I can't get enough, I'm just getting by, I can't stand this design for our bitter lives, I keep feeling lost and I'm not satisfied with traffic and turnpikes and these tired eyes

[Chorus]

All my friends always talk about
The stories of moving on and getting out
Then packing up and heading south
Their heads full of hopes and dreams
They