![[album cover]](images/realnite.jpg)
Real Nighttime
Release date: 1985
The band: Scott Miller, Nancy Becker, Fred Juhos, Dave Gill
Guest musicians: Michael Quercio, Mitch Easter, Jon Cowans, Jozef Becker
Producer: Mitch Easter
Liner notes: Annotated by Jeffrey Norman and friends.
Here Comes Everybody
24
Waltz the Halls Always
I Mean It This Time
Friend of the Family
If and When It Falls Apart
Curse of the Frontierland
Rayon Drive
She'll Be a Verb
Real Nighttime
You Can't Have Me
I Turned Her Away
And for whatever reason I wish that I had two minds
Opposite signs, parallel lines, wide point and fine
I hate admitting when you're right and I want you in plain sight
Isn't it odd? We think a lot alike tonight
And everyone asks if I'm leaving, no sir
I get around but I don't get closer
Is it because I'm 23, not 24?
And in a way I don't mind watching it get unkind
Stand where it shines, I can inspire myself just fine
I'm in the sweetest way misled, growing my hair in bed
Coffee or beer--These are a year's component thread
And everything is in terms of next time
Twenty-five thousand more miles to the dateline
Is it because I'm 24, not 25?
I think I saw the movie where you learned that you can't be nice
You write the boys in your home town and sing yourself "Edelweiss"
How much did you give up that it should make me this guilty now?
Don't you tell a soul that you would be off on larger lives
But I've clamped you down
Waltz the halls always, need what you need
There's more out there than we both know
It's what it should be even though it's not what it seems
Nobody knows what it means
Spare me the sincerity, I can't use what I can't see
When all your foreign words translate in English to "misery"
You think you've forced a tough decision, I don't think that's the case
Maybe we'll both find just what we need
But we're searching at entirely different rates
So waltz the halls
Jody were you always sure things had gone as they should go?
Does the world come on with a handshake and hello?
I don't lose a lot of sleep, and I'm not sure what this means
But at some point I stopped remembering last night's dreams
And there's a lot to throw away
As in Soviet Russia failing to watch the things you say
Give me all the gin I need 'cause I may not feel this strong
When I phone my parents and tell them they've been wrong
Please don't ask what will I do
I can't live it this way, Jody I think I'm not like you
I've seen enough to find no news to change my mind
And I'll drop out, I mean it this time
Am I standing on my rights to demand to be so free?
Is it common knowledge the joke will be on me?
Cars won't stop for me, I know, when the light for them is green
They'll ask questions later about what light I thought I'd seen
Is it right to feel so used?
I once planned ahead longer than when the rent was due
I've seen enough to find no news to change my mind
My nerves are buzzing and working
Eyes are flashing and jerking
My feelings on the windshield
Night air as cold as chain mail
Takes me back to the first day
The little girl in you spoke to me
You know, it spoke right to me
Sweet cream dream girl
Too much, it's just like candy
I won't forget it quickly
Blind ride on highway 80
And I think it's time you learn how to drive
Say hi to the big time
Bright lemon lime memories that rhyme
White lace, bracelet charms and silent alarms
You and I work in factories
We run the big machinery
The will to try leaves slowly
The murder goes on daily
Don't give me phobias walking the cable
We'll go when we're willing and stop when we're able
I wish these cards on no one's table
And when love is crowded out I'm a friend of the family
At the funeral of our love just a friend of the family
Ah, Miss Critical, might find you're minus one now
If there's someone you love now, tell them you love them right now
Have we been cheated of three of our seasons?
How could we break off for such practical reasons?
All the right reasons
Sleep young bride to be no more
Whatever we do now has been done before
I'm going to drive out to the end of the dirt road
To a place where no one living goes
I'm going to run on foot till I can't feel the cold
And find a sunrise so beautiful
It would capture your soul
And shoot it full of holes
Well we could hate ourselves
Just like the friends of the family do
We could quit our jobs
Just like the friends of the family do
We could change our minds
Just like the friends of the family do
Step right over the line
Just like the friends of the family do
Hey, Ironclad do you see me getting it bad
With your hair down in your eyes?
You don't try, the love you need is there when you cry
Oh girl it must be nice
This city brings me down, it always brings me down
Take a look around--What's going to get you through
If and when it falls apart on you?
It's come slow but now I think I know what you mean
And how it must feel so wrong
Trust your mind and when you think it's time you can
I won't ask what took so long
This city brings me down, it always wears you down
Take a look around--What's going to get you through
If and when it falls apart on you?
This city brings me down, all cities bring me down
Take a look around--What's going to stand as true
If and when it falls apart on you?
Lost to your mascara, I used to like your eyes
Still got your looks I guess I'm tired of what it all implies
A year ago we called this a good time
Nightmares of love affairs, who cares why?
It's five A.M. and we've got everything we want
And I say don't look now
Taking it while we can
Curse of the frontier land
It's no big secret, folks insist the sickness goes too far
German genius, Paris jet-set breaking down our door
They talk about us like we never tried
Old-moneyed ballroom corpses
Fuss and whine
I don't like quiet rooms but I just can't take that sound
Fair Oaks hot spot between Howe and Watt
Sell me something I haven't already got
Her name's Marie earning her PhD
Tonight I think she'd still do it with me
You come up to me so erudite, you want some senseless scene tonight
You don't know half what goes on
Live on rayon drive
21st and J, the place is okay
Fun things to talk about when there's nothing to say
Look at you three, scared of everything you see
High school and speed never agree
Now you look to be so sensitive, you want some frightening life to live
You don't know half what goes on
Live on rayon drive
Excellent taste--It's in each look on your face
A proud young member of the white race
Walk right away, I too would be bored
No memory at all of who I voted for
Diva while rehearsing speaks just in third person
Making sure you give her more than she delivers
Soft-core good vibrations in smart situations
Most predicted other than has been discovered
And though it doesn't seem so now
It doesn't matter what works out
If I were you I wouldn't put my world in doubt
What's this all about
She'll be a verb when you're a noun
And you've just got to laugh when she tries to put you down
She says "Don't assume" in language not quite human
She thinks, why go through it? Take all shortcuts
She says "Say what you need to say, don't waste words"
What do you think you'd do if you were her
Cinderella sine qua non
Sad conclusions must be drawn
Paint in oils how much you'll miss her when she's gone
What's going on?
She'll be a verb when you're a noun
And you've just got to laugh when she tries to put you down
Pull back the credit we take for breaking through
To the moment before we really knew
Take off the jackets and shirts and see some skin
Feel a chill of the air we were born in
Before the debate came in
The rewards are great for those who can stay
Would you all push me offside
Force me to hide from the sun?
Look at the oneupsmanship that gets you through
And you'll see that one put down is you
Shine the harsh light on the faults of those you know
And you'll find it's so bright your eyes stay closed
You better get on the first bus home
What makes it okay? So tempting to stay
Would you all turn me aside
Force me to hide from the sun
If I should run when real nighttime comes?
If I should look down off my ledge
Pare down the man who can order someone dead
To the boy who can't take the sight of red
Show the landlady who throws her weight around
As the girl who won't walk alone downtown
And you'll see it's a long way down
My bed in my room, I need some sleep
Would it be so much to ask
To please leave out of the fun?
'Cause I'm not the one
If I should run when real nighttime comes
If I should look down off my ledge
Now I don't want anything I can't afford
Just a letter from home and a lock on the door
Stacks of things I've begun
Summer indoors, nothing gets done
Can't pick out things to wear
Reasons I had no longer there
Wide-eyed West Coast
Magic on her side
She cleaned my house and said I'd never die
She thought I'd let her stay don't believe
She thought I'd let her stay don't believe
But I turned her away
And something I don't like is closer every day
Sharp wit party Oh don't make me go
They'll be making good points and I don't want to know
Send me home counting the chances I've had
I could fill up three digits
But that's not what it means to be sad
Magazines by my side
Taking to task, hurting my pride
Drive the freeway too fast
World without cops, critical mass
Restless from L.A. to Amsterdam
Somewhere she's forgetting who I am
She just wanted to stay don't believe
She just wanted to stay don't believe
But I turned her away
And something I don't like is closer every day