01 TOO CLOSE TO SEE

Alright guys, what's up, let's tear this fucking place down

A cup of two day old coffee you're feeling like yourself again
You're still on your own you've survived another night
In this dingy room with the same four walls

Lookin' in the mirror's gettin easier these days
That old friend anger is losing its hold on you
The game is survival in this crazy world
And it's good to see you're still standing strong
Not too long ago you were tearing at a world that would never let you in
Strung out, outcast turned away
You kept your face to the ground and fought the world with your silence

And so the seasons change and the people change
And the good times come and the good times go
You found yourself in a winless race
Fighting for a cause you never believed

Well it's easy to regret, not too easy to forget
All the stupid things that used to hold you down
You gotta break that chain and move on
Cause I know, I've seen it in your eyes before

To surrender now, to throw it all away is to sacrifice but you won't repay
In a world that don't owe you shit, you gotta think for yourself and fight for every bit
Of that piece of mind that keeps you going on, gets you outta bed and out that door
Step back take a look around and soon - you'll find there's something more
That'll come your way with a little patience it will all work out for you in the end
This is my song to a friend that never needed anyone until now

Sometimes you get too close to see
A whole different side of what your life could be
And if you stare too long it all becomes a blur
And its easy to forget just who we are
Don't stare too hard, take a look around

02 MONSTER

Time it makes you old, experience makes you wise
It's only a fool who judges life by what he sees in other people's eyes
The decisions that you cast effect the outcome of your game
And the only person who's gonna think about you is the one that's standing in your shoes
Go!

Live by the sword and die by the sword, I'm a weapon of my set
The only family that I've ever known is the gun that's by my side

Little big man, he's not alone now
He's all grown up, his story's written all along these city walls

Found unity, he's gained a brotherhood as they gather to beat you down
The fists reign hard, the fighting never stops, there's no mercy in this town
And I don't know when it's gonna' end for me
This side of town is all I know, it's all I see
If I go on like this I'm gonna end it all myself one day
It's my destiny, it's reality, it's society

What the fuck???

I wear colors proud but don't stare me down
I've got a million scars to prove my pain
You think you know who I am, fuck no
Try walking a mile in my shoes

Quick on the draw but never walk alone
And know your enemy will never be afraid, it's what they always say
Till they come around for you
Ghetto birds that light the evening sky as the sun begins to fall
Another night in this jungle spent with his back up against the wall

A little big man he's not alone now
He's all grown up, his story's written all along the city walls

The face aint hard, and never walk alone
And know your enemy will never be afraid, it's what they always say
Until they come around for you

03 ULTIMATE DEVOTION

One 'o one point one Fahrenheit,
To some it's a fever, to her it's just right
And I can't hold her, and she's bringin me down
Her blood runs hot but her heart beats cold
She's a devil with an angel's face I've been told
I think I'll push my luck next time you're around

I'd walk through fire for you, I'd burn in hell to make it all true
I never loved anyone else in this world but you
A thousand reasons why I try to prove to you I'm not the other guy
I don't give a damn what other people think

She walked my way with a sick, fucked up smile

A flare for the strange and a temper like a whip
And a soft hand clutches a riding crop grip
Smell of latex rubber, it drives me insane
Beat him once then send him on his way
There's no room in your life for anyone to stay
Engrave your moniker in welts of pain

There's nothin I wouldn't do to prove to make these words I promised true
I'd rather live my life alone, than without you
You know I'd rather die then fuck this up, wouldn't get another try
Got one chance there's nothing I wouldn't do

You be my master, I'll be your servant
On my knees I beg to be abused
Well you can take the skin right off my back
With a riding crop or a leather strap
I'd take it all just to be with you

I'd walk through fire for you, I'd burn in hell to make it all true
I never loved anyone else in this world but you
You know I'd rather die then to fuck this up, wouldn't get another try
You're my virus and I worship you

What's up guys?
This feels fuckin good man, that's all I got to say about that
Thank you, thank you very much

So incase you all don't fuckin know already
We're doin a live record and you guys are gonna be on it tonight
God damn!

I want to dedicate this song to every one of you fuckers with a Strung Out Tattoo out there!

04 THE KIDS

Don't pack your bags, don't bring your things, just leave them all behind
Don't you worry about a letter left for someone else to find
No explanation needed to define what we have done
We've mapped our course, and set our sights, crossed hairs on everyone

Today it's you and me and we're blowin up the world
We'll climb it's highest peak and watch it fall apart
We are the end result, we've forged our destiny to rebuild it all again

Spray paint begins to dry the message soon becomes so obvious
That this walking adolescent death trips tired of doin' time
They are the reversal, they are silent, they are one
They are everything you made them, assassination of the young
Today it's you and me and we're blowin up the world
They'll write about us all if they get out alive
We are the end result we've forged our destiny to rebuild it all again

You medicate into submission
A sleeping monster needs no attention
You bring me up to bring me down
You knew one day I'd come around
This wasteland be our playground, be our temple, be our salvation

We'll fill the seas with gasoline, and shoot the sun right out the sky
The spark of our imagination will keep all hope from running dry
They'll write about us all if anyone gets out alive to build it all again

05 EVERYDAY

I'm preaching life, I'm preaching thought
Cause I see it all around me as it struggles to unfold
On a world, born afraid
I don't need science no reason to calculate what is here inside
No answers won, no questions asked
Will chase this feeling away

I know about hate, I've been in love
And I've seen everyone around me close their eyes and turn to stone
I've seen hope in disguise, well I'm not trying to save your soul
Don't wanna show direction don't wanna take control
I've been a lie, I've told a lie
But I'm trying to get better each day I try

Life, shot in the vein
Pumped in the heart awakening my soul
Knocked down, kicked in the face
Shown that the easy path is the hardest way down
I've drawn to one conclusion that no one really understands anything
We're grinding gears don't know which way is up
Once the soul is dead the mind aint far away

Fuck
What's up

On the steps of my mind one thousand thoughts decline away

06 POPULATION CONTROL

I kneel to you when you preach to me
You're my god you're my TV
You control what I say, you control what I hear, you control what I FUCK!
My whole existence revolves around this cable to my mind
It's thought parole, population control
It's slavery of mankind

Under their control!
You're under their control!

Don't question the forces that govern your miserable life
Don't seek out the answers that void your empty life
Cause this melancholy vision is just a brief episode
In this game called reality
It's somethin I've been trying so hard to figure out

Ahh, for the second time today
Ahh, as we watch the world decay
Ahh, maybe it'll all just go away
Ahh, maybe it all just ought to go away

07 VELVET ALLEY

You can't make me see what you think I should know
You don't understand where I'm coming from
We're passing through worlds no perception in time
I'm not the same as when I began

Show me, don't tell me
What's going on inside your little world
You say we never landed on the moon, you heard we never reached the sky
Then shed some light, I'll lend a patient ear

Don't let me down, I gotta know
If something good can grow out on this rock
Save me one more time, and I'll be free from the way I think it ought to be

FUCK! Fuck!

Babble on, could I be wrong
A silhouette of you and me, just negative space and time
Just reference to a simpler history
And I'd sacrifice one million nights for a moment's peace with you
Reflections to dissect reality

It's all in what we hold as being real
When the symbol kills the substance then we're FUCKED
Save me one more time
And I'll be free from the alleyways of my heart, my heart

I'm goin nowhere, I'm goin nowhere inside this head of mine
(You can't make me see what you think I should know)
We're goin nowhere, we're goin nowhere inside this head of mine
(You can't make me see what you think I should know)
Sit and stay awhile, and talk to me about the things that make you real
Let's forget about, all that make you and me surrender, surrender
FUCK!

Here, how bout some water?

08 BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

One brief recollection of all the people in my life that have come and gone
One brief fleeting moment of people I've fucked
And people that I have wronged

Long lost are loved ones gone
But this bird cannot seem to mend it's broken wings
So the lust for life dissipates
And a new greed rises for the needful things

Don't wanna think about it, I indulge myself
Distraction eases pain
Bury my emotions to protect myself
T ill I can't feel a fucking thing
I've dared to dream and I've tried to live
But I've played it safe instead
I'm just a slave to my vices now

Bring out your dead

Voices wither and crack then die
Ringin in my ear would sing me soft asleep
Deathly silence now is all I hear
Has inspiration finally eluded me?

Don't wanna think about it, I indulge myself
Distraction eases pain
Bury my emotions to protect myself
A nd I can't feel a fucking thing
I've dared to dream and I've tried to live
B ut I've played it safe instead
I'm just a slave to my vices now

What you doing, what I want to be
There's something you don't want me to know
There's something I don't see
That's all I ever knew is what you made me do to you

My addiction, my illness, my only childhood friend
My addiction, my illness, my only childhood friend
Your twisted warm embrace engulfing all I tried to be
My body's breaking under arms that will not set me free!

Bring out your dead bring out your dead bring out your dead

My addiction, my illness, my only childhood friend
My addiction, my illness, my only fucking friend
Your twisted warm embrace engulfing all I tried to be
My heart is breaking under arms that will not set me free!

Locked in this cage that I've built myself
Constructed out of twisted cold reminders of a life once lost
But I've found my way again
Here among the wreckage and the vampires
I'll play it safe again, I'm just a slave to my vices now

09 ROTTIN' APPLE

Hey tired man I see you walk alone
The wrinkles on your face, a map of all your pain
Your expression becomes an open book of time
Filled with pages of forgotten hopes
Good intentions, regret, and disillusion with life
Animosity, unbridled purity
All these that things I swear I see
And your eyes tell me all you could never be

So many times I've stared into the eyes
Of the young, the old, the lonely and the wise
Just to find a glimpse of all I have not seen
Just to find some peace for my jaded mind
Don't wanna live my life by the second hand
Of a clock that's long since passed me by
You say, I've got to stay in line
We'll your line is going nowhere and so are you

Choices, decisions made, smokin' away the pain inside
Sit back and watch it all go by
We could never find the peace of mind we need
We hid it all away for another day
Sit back everything's gonna be alright

Rivers of pain map your aging skin
Your expression a journal of where you've been
All your dreams and your chances lost
You walk along that dotted line

Go

Do you remember a time when you used to live?
Do you remember a time when you used to dream?
All your dreams and chances they're all gone

So you gave it all away unable to say all you wanna say
Look at you now, turned out to be a face of misery
Look at you now a rottin apple's all I see, yeah

10 KLAWSTERFOBIA

Thirty second song

The view from this perspective's getting stale
As my best defenses crumble one more time
The walls are gettin' tighter, voices gettin' louder
Desperation's growing inside my mind
So I can hide away
I don't want anything from you

11 LOST MOTEL

A picture on the wall, like a postcard with a better view of
All things are absent from Room 209
Diana sips from an empty glass of hope she poured last night
The clouds above reflect the shape of all she's gotta leave behind

We always think there's something better in this place that we are not
In dreams the reality of it all
Nobody's happy where they're at and we all wanna be somebody else

Another scribbled stationary book of lies
Another staged confession that just goes unheard
Harry Detroit in 304 made one last promise now
I'm going out without a trace, a vanishing act before your eyes

Nobody wants what they have got and what they got is not enough
In dreams the reality of it all
A lighter shade of green the grass maybe if I believe it so
Then I'll be home

Here I go uncertain that if what I find is what I want
The best for me is everything
I reach for the same as what I'm running from
I guess I'll never, guess I'll never know
I'll never know

Is it the struggle that we live for
Is it keeping us alive to breathe to want, to know, to love
Just one more day, just one more way

So here I go, I'm half the way to home
I'm half the way home, I'm half the way home

12 RAZOR SEX

And now I think I know what's on your mind
Your eyes melt through me and it's no surprise
I can become you, and through your eyes I'll watch you
Lie to me step right over me as I fall to my knees

Like a movie star, like kerosene
Your burning arrows sinking into me
You're my favorite ache inside
So put down that knife and come lie down with me
Step right over me
You can do anything your heart pleasures
You can do anything you want

Just like before she'll bring me down into that place
We come together and erase each other one more time

Step back as I set myself up for the kill
Shoot myself in the foot while I swallow that pill
Stand right above us to unbreak my fall
Your sex with a razor and my blood tells it all
Step back as I set myself up for the kill
Shoot myself in the foot while I swallow that pill
Stand right above us to unbreak my fall
Your sex with a razor and my blood tells all

Like a movie star, like kerosene
Burning in my eyes
I can feel you now, here I leave myself wide open now
Self wide open
I leave myself wide open now
Self wide open
It's all I ever knew

We're gonna dedicate this next song to Jim Cherry who used to be in our band
But he's not with us anymore
Strung Out wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for that guy
And I want to thank him cause I'm thinking about him right now

13 SUPPORT YOUR TROOPS

Well I don't pay for Russian sand
Painted with the blood of a fellow man
Mr. President said there's nothing to fear
But the look in his eyes says the end is near

But the bombs still fall
Falling down on me, falling down on me
Falling down like rain

Well fuck your troops and fuck their cause
Your leader's a desperate man
The years have passed and now at last
We can finally take command
Startin to make him want this year's
Reelection for another term
What a better way to make fun of swing
Guarantee a safe return

Maybe we'll only lose a few thousand lives
Well that's just a chance I'll have to take
Get the public off my back
Hand off this domestic crap
Evading the mess I will create, go

Disappear the disk drive, give away toms plane
George Bush and the cavalries will blow it all away
Loyalty will stir up and recede and won't come back
The war is that, it's over with the desert to their back
The war is that, it's over with for now
Help my people now by standing, wait!
It's just a matter of time, 'fore they make up their minds
But it'll be ignored some way

14 BARFLY

One more fix, just a little bit
Of that heaven I found crawling in the sun
Sitting, waiting, calling me
To indulge in this game that's gonna set me free

Another wasted night and here I am again
Promises remain, just promises and I don't know why
A moment of weakness is a moment of clarity
I know what I want
Why fight the temptation when it's all you've got
And it's all I've ever known

So I give in to the old ways of the past, I start this up
Once again I drown myself delivering from all I came
I've sued myself I've seen to justified the means
I've got no time to listen to you
I couldn't pass I'm doin' just fine
Here on my own down here

I know one day this dance will bring me to my knees
It's only a matter of time before I fall again but that's alright
It's the little things in life that always mean the most to me anyway
So what if I go with a little piece of heaven to take the edge away

Just like the living dead all walk around this place
It's not bad here in the clouds
I found a piece of mind I never had
Call it escape from reality
I call it looking at the world
With both eyes open wide to the truth, yeah

I wanna be found smiling when I die here
I wanna burn my eyes out on the sun
In heaven's basement you're the one that killed me first
Another endless night goes down

One more fix, just a little bit
Of that heaven I found crawling in the sun
Sitting, waiting, calling me
To indulge in this game that's gonna set me free
A moment of weakness is all I got, and it's all I've ever known
Another wasted night and here I am

Thanks a lot guys for showin up!
Thank you very much!
You guys doin alright?
I know it's a little fuckin early for a punk rock show man

We got, we're gonna play all this shit that we never play man, I swear to God
I swear
Where's the setlist, I'll show it to you man, it's in there somewhere I promise

Ooh, it feels early today!
I hope you guys didn't have to cut out from work or school or anything like that to make this here
That would suck!

15 SAVANT

It's here, I can hold em off for a while
At least till I think of a way to
Make them see what I gotta show
And to make them feel what I already know now
Pour the gas all over me
Light a match, say a prayer, and set me free
Turn your cameras on this burning boy
I'll be the life of an image you can't destroy

Burn

To see me here is to pass me by
And to watch me live is to watch me die
Your conscience ignored, your panic spread
You're whimper in the wind that no one said

You crucify what you fear, hold it up to the light and make it shine
The desperation in these eyes is no dim reflection I won't disguise
But you never listened too afraid to give
Now I'm giving up on you to save face
And deny you've lost your chance for a better way
A better way

Assassinate the threat immortalize the corpse
Write a book about the show and sell it to the source
Riddle me this and I'll shake your world around
Hang me on your wall and Ill bring your hurt down

You crucify what you fear hold it up to the light and make it shine
The desperation in these eyes is no dim reflection I won't disguise
But you never listened too afraid to give
Now I'm giving up this time again

Thanks a lot, guys
You're bout to fuckin pass out?
Get over it you fucking pussy!

Is that how you guys wanna come ont he live record?
"I'm gonna pass out! That was me dude!"
We got a love song
This is a Strung Out love song

16 VIRGINIA MADISON

What?

No one knows where I buried my sweet Virginia Madison
The winter chill falls over me as it keeps me numb inside
Under the moon by the edge of town she'll quietly wait for me
I promised I wouldn't be too long till I return to sleep with

No one knows where I buried my sweet Virginia Madison
The winter chill falls over me and it keeps me numb inside
Under the moon by the edge of town she'll quietly wait for me
I promised I wouldn't be too long till I returned to sleep with her

She says she don't wanna live no more
Well I don't mind, no I don't mind
So, now I'm waitin' for the crack of dawn
To head on back there to the place where me and her will always be

Now I got my Sunday vest and I'm headed out that door
I dig my fingers deep in soil just to get to her
All dressed in black and she's so pale, she's waiting there for me
A blanket of soil covers us to fall asleep in eternity
And now I close my eyes

When I awake with a snap it was all a dream
I gotta empty bottle of something under me
I gotta really bad headache, my clothes are soaking wet and
At times like this I wish I hadn't slept
Star locked gaze, uneasy hands
Then the dream fades away and it leaves my head
Another riddle another dream another fucked up fantasy
I gotta learn to stay away from all this LSD

She said she would always wait for me
Well I don't mind, no I don't mind
So now I'm heading to the place where I buried my sweet Virginia Madison

That was emo!

17 IN HARM'S WAY

Democracy's become a tattered vision of truth
Corporate sponsorship, raping& ruling your land
Do you think what you say will make it any better
It's been this way two hundred years, will stay this way forever

You made promises of health care still my teeth rot in my head
You once seemed so concerned now you left us all for dead
The unemployed, the uninsured, the homeless in the street
We're the ones that put you there, buddy you've got a fucking hell

Fuck

We won't survive, this road to power led by all your kings
It's time to wake up and take back what you have lost
And when it all falls down again like a kingdom's fall, like the fall of Rome
It's happened once before, my friend, well here it comes again

Psych

This state we've built is a sick reflection of all that we've become
We've closed our eyes, been fed these lies, do you know what your country's done
In the land of mad consumers free to spend at their own will
We're losing sight of what it means to be a free America

There's something wrong with me, there's something wrong with all of this
There's something wrong with you, there's something wrong with this
I cannot stand by, and watch them as they fuck up this life
There's something wrong with me, there's something wrong with all of this
There's something wrong with you, there's something wrong with you
Believe these lies, they'll lead you to a path in harm's way
Cut

We're gonna play another song a lot of you guys probably never heard before
It's on the last record, uhh...
Actually some of you guys heard this song before, if you have the first 10,000 of our cd
I don't think I have even heard it before
So probably about 10 of you got it
So probably none of you got it here
Don't...don't....don't look back?
I don't know, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna wing it
Never good enough?
I don't know what the fuck is goin on
Never done that?
This is gonna be fucked up right here
Never been there
Bare with us
Alright let's see what happens

18 DON'T LOOK BACK

Before you say a word, before you turn away
There's just one thing I gotta know
Are you still who you'd claimed you'd be?

I've been told were all the same
Only difference is in the people that you wear
Growing up I thought I'd never change
No apologies, always stayed the same
Now I don't look back

Ideals, and blind devotion
Kiss loyalties goodbye
And it's growing what's inside that counts
Twisted, true and without a doubt

Yeah I've been told were all the same
Waiting for something that already came
Mind of confusion with no one to blame just waiting

Come on you mother fuckers

Behind, locked inside your emotions
Caging, releasing, it feeds your motives
Growing, changing, is something you don't know
Makes you feel you're losing ground

That's right, huh

Growing up I thought I'd never change
No apologies, always stayed the same
Now I don't look back

Hey, hey, hey
This song is about freedom of imagination
Freedom to do whatever the fuck you gotta do to get by

19 CULT OF THE SUBTERRANEAN

It's called "Cult Of The Subterranean"

Tonight we're gonna burn it up 'till too much feels alright
The feast has been laid out to the hungry eyes inside our minds
We are not without a cause, the passion's in our vice
We are not content to judge or fit to moralize

We're on the outside looking in, unbreakable in all we are
Enemy of the Sun we are the subterranean
Apocalyptic daydream casual delirium
So take a deep breath and close your eyes and be glad that you are here
Let each passing moment sterilize and wash away like tears

Any means to an end are the means that I use to get by
And I try to be good, but it's understood, that tonight we'll both look the other way

The smoke of all our thoughts and cigarette exhaust, all possibility of ever getting out of this place
Nodding off but still aware of all that's pulling us to do, the things we always do

Any means to and end are the means that I use to get by
And I try to be good, but it's understood, that tonight we'll both look the other way
We are not without a cause, and we are not without a vice
We are not content to judge or moralize
So close your eyes and and see, take a breath and believe
That tonight we'll both look the other way

Hey Chris, Chris
What are we doin next
Wait, what
No dude, one more
You guys wanna hear a metal song or somethin?
You guys like heavy metal?
You guys like like an RPM song or or uh
Blink Osbourne song?
You guys like Ozzy Osbourne?
Uhhhhh who? Who? Who?
Do you guys like the Osbournes? Ozzy Osbourne?
Papa don't preach?
Kelly Osbourne, we know a Kelly Osbourne song!
This goes out to Ozzy Osbourne!
He's here tonight everybody, look for him, he's in the crowd
Thanks to Ozzy for comin out
Right there
This goes out to you and your family, Ozz
Thanks a lot

20 BARK AT THE MOON

Shut up and fucking play!
Put em up!

Screams break the silence
Waking from the dead of night
Vengeance is boiling
He's returned to kill the light
Then when he's found what he's looking for
Listen in awe and you'll hear him

Ha ha ha ha ha

Years spent in torment
Buried in a nameless grave
Now he has risen
Miracles would have to save
Those that the beast is looking for
Listen in awe and you'll hear him

Bark at the moon

They cursed and buried him along with shame
And thought his timeless soul had gone
In empty burning hell, unholy one
But he's returned to prove them wrong, so wrong
So fucking wrong!

Howling in shadows
Living in a lunar spell
He finds his heaven
Spewing from the mouth of hell
Then when he's found what he's looking for
Listen in awe and you'll hear him

Bark at the moon
Whoa yeah, bark at the moon
Whoa yeah, bark at the moon
Oh oh yeah, bark at the moon

21 MATCHBOOK

I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your voice
The signs are obvious that all we had has run its course
I don't mind giving up the upper hand in this little charade
Cause I've spent too many nights here on the floor
Waiting for something inside you to change

Don't look back in anger now it's all that you can see
Cause anger's all I got to keep me warm when you're away
And I know that this is nothing new but tonight it's all I know
Disconnect myself from your memory and never feel anything at all
To justify with all your words don't mean anything to me
Cause I cut you off

So here we stand and face each other we've got nothing to say
A flashback to another time when silence was a welcome friend
Now I'm sorry I can never really say all the things going on inside my head
Silence is a justified expression of my war
Now nothing's like it was before

Don't look back in anger now it's all that you can see
Cause anger's all I got to keep me warm when you're away
And all your words and all your actions don't mean anything to me
Cause I cut you off

Goodnight guys, see ya later!

Don't look back in anger, don't look back in anger, don't look back in anger, it's just a memory
I'm sorry I can never really say all the things going on inside my head
Silence is a justified expression of my war now nothing's like it was before
Don't look back in anger, don't look back in anger, don't look back in anger, it's just a memory

It's easy to forget your face and it's easy to survive in this place
Without you, without you

I just comb my hair and wash my face
Keep straight ahead and keep my pace
Don't think about nothin I might never be alright
Well I got my friends I got my pen
I got a million distractions to keep me warm
And I know that I'll be alright, that I'll be alright
I swear, I swear, I swear

Thank you, thank you