Coughing Colors

(album: Bottoms Of Barrels - 2006)

she homed with thieves
kicked up dirty leaves
she was a maniac
no one's heart attack
she got around
slept on the bad side of town
she was cooler than you
way cooler than me
she was true
all blinded and bruised
she didn't give a fuck
no she had given up
she was alive
she was caught on fire
she was everything
she was all of this

she opened up and laid it all right there
she said, "i don't mind, no, no i don't care
i'll help you shovel out my shallow hole
and i know i know they're threatening
but at least we're not the ones carrying
such heavy heavy heavy stoning stones

and yeah i know they'll get you down
they'll do you in and they'll drag it out
'cause me and you, we are one of a kind"

she liked to lose
never wore sunday shoes
she found her luck in wells and corner stores and jails
she was crazy
a downtown kind of baby
always dangerous, she got me down on my knees
she made it rain
she called the wind and then it came
oh with the wave of her hand
she brought the sunshine right in
she was the sky
beyond steeple and the choir
oh, the preacher's amen
his hallelujah child

she opened up and laid it all right there
she said, "i don't mind
no, no i don't care
i'll help you shovel out my shallow hole
and i know i know they are threatening
but at least we're not the ones carrying
such heavy heavy heavy stoning stones

so when your bones are broke and you're all alone
and the fog's so thick you can't see up close
just know that i will end up strangled too
and when the floods they come all rushing in
and the boat is full and you can't get in
oh, it's okay if you don't want to swim
and when you're swallowed up, oh, don't you cry
just give right in, don't try to fight
'cause baby i wouldn't pay no mind
there's nothing you can do"

they'll have you coughing up your colors
they'll have you coughing up your colors

she sang the blues
out of time and out of tune
spoke no silver spoon
only simple truths
she was a friend, stabbed backs and broke plans
she would give you her coat
or put nails through her hand

she was wise, full of magic and life
oh you could see it in her eyes
oh yeah i saw it in her eyes
she was more than this
oh way more than this
she was everything
she was all of this