musikmania.net > paroles > the ataris > so long, astoria (2003)

SO LONG, ASTORIA

It was the first snow of the season
i can almost see you breathin
in the middle of that empty street

Sometimes i still see myself
in that lonesome bedroom
playin my guitar
and singing songs of hope
for a better future

life is
only
as good as the memories we make
and i'm taking back what belongs to me

polaroids of classrooms i attended
these relics of remembrence
are just like shipwrecks
only theyre gone faster
than the smell after it rains

last night while everyone was sleepin
i tripped through my old neighborhood
and resurrected memories from ashes

we said that we would never fit in
we were really just like them
does rebellion ever make a difference

life is
only
as good as the memories we make
and im taking back what belongs to me
these relics of remembrence
are just like shipwrecks
only theyre gone faster
than the smell after it rains

So long astoria
i found a map to buried treasure
and even if we come home empty handed
well still have our
stories of battle scars, pirate ships and wounded hearts,
broken bones, and all the best of friendships

and when this hourglass
has filtered out
its final grain of sand
i raise my glass to the memories we (own?)
this is my way
this is my way
im takin back
im takin them all back

TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS

On this coldest of January nights
We drive out past the runway and watch the planes go flying by
The runway lights are the deepest blue like the colors of your eyes
So close them tight and kiss me one last time

If you could go anywhere right now
Where would you go?
And would you miss me when you get there?
No place that I would rather be
Please don't let me go falling from the sky
The "fasten seatbelt" sign just needs to go out
If only you could be right here by my side
Home wouldn't seem so far from here

Passport, customs, carry on, remember
To shut off all of your electronic devices
Fell asleep on Tuesday woke up Monday afternoon
I slept right through your International Date Line

If you could go anywhere right now
Where would you go?
And would you miss me when you get there?
No place that I would rather be
Please don't let me go falling from the sky
The "fasten seatbelt" sign just needs to go out
If only you could be right here by my side
Home wouldn't seem so far from here

Please don't let me go falling from the sky
The "fasten seatbelt" sign just needs to go out
If only you could be right here by my side
Home wouldn't seem so far from here

IN THIS DIARY

Here in this diary, I write you visions of my summer.
It was the best I ever had.
There were choruses and sing-alongs, and not a spoken feeling.
I'm knowing that right now is all that matters. All the
nights we stayed up talking listening to 80's songs
and quoting lines from all those movies that we love.
It still brings a smile to my face.
I guess when it comes down to it...

Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up:
These are the best days of our lives.
The only thing that matters is just following your heart
and eventually you'll finally get it right.

Breaking into hopes of swimming pools,
and reeking havoc on our world.
Hanging out at truck stops just to pass the time.
The black top's singing me to sleep.
Lighting fireworks in parking lots, illuminate the blackest nights.
Cherry cokes under this moonlight summer sky.
2015 Riverside, it's time to say goodbye.
Get on the bus, it's time to go.

Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up:
These are the best days of our lives.
The only thing that matters is just following your heart
and eventually you'll finally get it right.

MY REPLY

i got your letter and the poetry you sent me
postmarked in december of last year
i really hope your doing better
all your friends close by your side
one step closer to recovery

i wish there was something i could say
to erase each and every page
you've been through
even though its not my place to save you

i appreciate but cant accept this thank you note
thats sealed with your last breath
and i won't stand aside
and listen to you give up

if you'll just hold on for one more second
just hold on to what you have
just hold on/ just hold on
if you'll just hold on for one more second
just hold on to what you have
just hold on/ just hold on

these arms remain stretched out to you
maybe someday you'll accept them
maybe its too late to save a young girls heart that slowly stopped beating
(maybe)

wake up wake up you've gotta believe
wake up wake up
you cant give up time keeps going on without us
long after we're dead and gone

i wish there was something i could say
to erase each and every page
you've been through
even though its not my place to save you

i appreciate but cant accept this thank you note
thats sealed with your last breath
and i won't stand aside
and listen to you give up
if you'll just hold on for one more second

just hold on to what you have
just hold on/ just hold on
if you'll just hold on for one more second
just hold on to what you have
just hold on/ just hold on

UNOPENED LETTER TO THE WORLD

If i died tomorrow
would this song live on forever
and here is my

unopened letter to a world
that never

if i died tomorrow
would this song live on forever
and here is my

unopened letter to a world
that never shall reply

never shall reply
from this second story window
i can hear the church balls calling out my name
this table is set for one
even angels would be homesick
in this forsaken town

on random notes of parchement
im scrawling my existence
dressed in white

this candle radiates throught the night
and its never burning out

never burning out

from this second story window
i can hear the children down on main street
theyre singing their songs tonight

int he shadows i will listen to their every movement

mister higginson am i not good enough for the world

am i destined only to die
the same way that i lived
its seclusion

but high up on this mountain
i can almost see your lonely window sill

theyll carry you off tonight

theres a ghost in your old bedroom
and a candle burning bright

if i die tomorrow
will this song live on forever

THE SADDEST SONG

Only two more days, until your birthday
Yesterday was mine
You'll be turning five
I know what it's like, growing up without your father in your life
So I pretend, I'm doing all I can
And I hope someday you'll find it in your heart

To understand
Why I'm not around
And forgive me for not being in your life

I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Remember waiting there to find nothing at all
I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Waiting there to find nothing at all

I hope I get the chance
To make it up to you
We got a lot of catching up to do

So I pretend, I'm doing all I can
And hope someday you'll find it in your heart

To understand
Why I'm not around
And forgive me for not being in your life

I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Remember waiting there to find nothing at all
I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Waiting there to find nothing at all

Forgive me!
I'm so sorry!
I will make it up to you....

SUMMER '79

Our last day of summer
1979
We gotta live up one time before it's over
We will make history tonight

Out at the drive-in
All of our closest friends (we?) will be sneaking in
You'll be spending your whole night
Trying everything you can to get that girl to notice you

"We are the champions"
Playing out on the radio station
Everyone's singing along with these anthems of our generation
Cruisin down Pacific Coast Highway
With the top down, crawl into the back seat
Let's create anthems of our own tonight

Down at the roller rink
All the cool kids crowding around the air hockey table
Hey, my best friend and likes you
I hear you shout at me as you go skating by

"We are the champions"
Playing out on the radio station
Everyone's singing along with these anthems of our generation
Cruisin down Pacific Coast Highway
With the top down, crawl into the back seat
Let's create anthems of our own tonight

Sneak out of your window, darling
Let's live like outlaws, honey
We'll never look back

Climb out on this rooftop
And stare at the city lights below us
This world belongs to us tonight
The kids will keep raging on
They're never gonna stop

"We are the champions"
Playing out on the radio station
Everyone's singing along with these anthems of our generation
Cruisin down Pacific Coast Highway
With the top down, crawl into the back seat
Let's create anthems of our own tonight

THE HERO DIES IN THIS ONE

As I laid here today, Apartment 108
I'll always keep you in my heart.
Anderson is cold tonight, the leaves are scattered on the ground.
I miss the seasons in the comfort of your smile.
Sometimes this song feels like a dream,
I'm waiting for someone just to wake me up
(wake me up) from this life.

As I look out on these fairgrounds,
I remember how our family split apart.
I don't think I ever told you,
but I know you always did your best in the hard times
that only made us stronger.

As I sit here all alone,
I wonder how I'm supposed to carry on when youre gone.
I'll never be the same without you,
I love you more than you will ever know.
So maybe now you finally know:
sometimes we're helpless and alone,
but you can't let it keep you weighted down.
You must go on.

Do you ever feel like crying?
Do you ever feel like giving up?
I raise my hands up towards the sky
and say this prayer for you tonight,
because nothing is impossible.

As I sit here all alone,
I wonder how I'm supposed to carry on when you're gone.
I'll never be the same without you,
I love you more than you will ever know.
So maybe now you finally know:
sometimes we're helpless and alone,
but you can't let it keep you weighted down.
You must go on.

(SPOKEN:)
The hardest part isn't finding what we need to be,
it's being content with who we are.

Stay who you are.

ALL YOU CAN EVER LEARN IS WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW

Is this how it was intended?
The sunrise over smoke stacks in the Midwest,
the beauty of this abandoned factory.
Christmas lights blinking on and off
all out of time in what used to be the bleakest dreams of middle class America.
I'm trying to believe in you, but all these satellites
and shattered dreams are blocking out my view.
Please don't forget who you really are,
because nothing really matters when we're gone.

Fell in love with his Keno waitress.
They honeymooned in Memphis;
they were married by the drive up window.
Trailer parks, neon signs, and an empty box of Lucky Stripes:
all used up from the dashboard of America.
I'm trying to believe in you;
this world sold its fate for parking lots and drunk sincerity.
Please don't forget who you really are,
because nothing really matters when we're gone
You'll be saddened to know the train tracks you once walked as a young boy
are now nothing but a graveyard.
Please don't forget how small we really are,
because nothing really matters when we're gone.

Nothing really matters.
I'm trying to believe in you

THE BOYS OF SUMMER

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I'm drivin' by your house
Though I know you're not at home

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don't understand what happened to our love
But babe, I'm gonna get you back
I'm gonna show you what I'm made of

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walkin' real slow and you're smilin' at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

Out on the road today, I saw a BLACK FLAG sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice Inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back."
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

RADIO #2

Meet me at midnight
At the broadcast tower
High above the hollywood sign
You bring your guitar and I'll bring my radio (radio)

Everyone will come from miles around
To witness this beautiful site
We'll set bonfires and pretend its the 4th of July

This is the starting of a brand new revolution
Bite the hand that feeds
Stand up and fight against messages that they're sending
Stop their frequency

You're always talkin' (its never ending)
It's about time that we turned off the radio
Call the request lines and tell them that it's over
You're always playin' all of the same songs
Over and over again
It's about time that we all turned off the radio

We'll listen to b-sides and sing along
To anthems of the years gone by
Integrity and honesty will prevail tonight
When it's all over (when it's all over)
One question still remains
Why do so many bands never make it to the radio?

Refrain

Look outside your FM dial
They're preaching lies in 4/4 time
A generation without a voice
It's stripped of pride

LOOKING BACK ON TODAY

30th of April
Seems like yesterday
Bought a house above the ocean
Where our kids could laugh and play
I called you from Paris to tell you that I wrote
our names on the observation deck of the Eifell Tower
Remember those times
Playing summer wind in the jukebox of the bar we used to go.
We made out in the bathroom and you walked me to my house
And I tried to convince you not to go home

If only, I had more time, I'd take you where you wanted to go
Italy isn't the same without you here
If only, I had one wish, I'd want a billion trillion lifetimes
that I could spend with you,
fall in love with you again and again, Again.

First of November, 1998
I was thinking of what to say when I would call
Denise come over to my house, cause you're the one for me
We'll drink cheap wine and watch more shooting stars.
Remember our first apartment,
our couch was never big enough for two
Still we'd fall asleep in each others arms and wake up on the floor,
now looking back it was made for me and you.

If only, I had more time, I'd take you where you wanted to go,
Japan is really nice this time of year
If only, I had one wish, I'd want a billion trillion lifetimes
that I could spend with you, fall in love with you again and again.

EIGHT OF NINE

These hospital walls are the palest of white
Here in this desert reciting my last rites
The smell of these halls brings temporary confort
As the oxygen flows through my blood

El corazon was poisoned tonight
She's on her eight of nine

When half of all your prayers are insincere
The other half are lies
Here is this watermark under this bridge
The point where it crested
Rolled back and drifted into the sea

I climb from this wreckage
As the smoke begins to clear from my lungs
The closest of close calls has happened tonight
It's time that I made things right
For the first time, since the last time
Let this moment of clarity lift this curse that has been cast upon me

So appreciate the good times
But don't take the worst for granted
Because you only get
So many second chances....

THE SADDEST SONG (ACOUSTIC)

Only two more days, until your birthday
Yesterday was mine
You'll be turning five
I know what it's like, growing up without your father in your life
So I pretend, I'm doing all I can
And I hope someday you'll find it in your heart

To understand
Why I'm not around
And forgive me for not being in your life

I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Remember waiting there to find nothing at all
I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Waiting there to find nothing at all

I hope I get the chance
To make it up to you
We got a lot of catching up to do

So I pretend, I'm doing all I can
And hope someday you'll find it in your heart

To understand
Why I'm not around
And forgive me for not being in your life

I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Remember waiting there to find nothing at all
I remember waiting
For you to come
Remember waiting
For you to call
Waiting there to find nothing at all

Forgive me!
I'm so sorry!
I will make it up to you...