Road Apples (1991) Lyrics And Backing Vocals
  Road Apples (1991) Lyrics And Backing Vocals
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Lyrics &
Backing Vocals

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Little Bones
Reference Window

It gets so sticky down here
Better butter your cue-finger up
It's the start of another new year
Better call the newspaper up
$2.50 for a hi-ball,
And buck and a half for a beer
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

The long days of Shockley are gone
So is football Kennedy style
Famous last words taken all wrong
Wind up on the very same pile
$2.50 for a decade
And a buck and a half for a year
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

I can cry, beg and whine
T'every Rebel I find
Just to give me a line
I could use to describe

They'd say, "Baby eat this chicken slow
it's full of all them little bones"

So regal and decadent here
Coffin cheaters dance on their graves
Music, all it's delicate fear
Is the only thing that don't change
$2.50 for and eyeball
And a buck and a half for an ear
Happy hour, happy hour
Happy hour is here

Nothing's dead down here, just a little tired

They'd say, "Baby eat this chicken slow
It's full of all them little bones" (Little bones * live versions only) 

Twist My Arm
Reference Window

There she blows, Jacques Cousteau
Hear her sing so sweat and low
Lull me overboard, cold-out
Gathered in a swallowed hole.

Do I want to? With All that charm
Do I want to? Twist my arm

You just hit me where I live
I guess it looked quite primitive
What was that supposed to prove?
Throw the calf or he'll throw you

Sucked in by the victim world
Thirsty as a cultured pearl
Culled and wooed, bitten chewed
It won't hurt if you don't move

Do I want to? With All that charm
Do I want to? Twist my arm

Musical chairs, double dares , memorized stairs
Shootin' of flares, springtime hairs and broken down mares

Coward phones , big soup stones, pride less loans
Grill-sick cows, motel moans and big fat Jones

Martyrs don't do much for me
Though I enjoy them vicariously
After you No, after me
No I insist please after me

Do I want to? With All that charm
Do I want to? Twist my arm

Cordelia
Reference Window

Angst on the planks, spittin from a bridge
Just to see how far down it really is
Robbing a bank, jumping on a train
Old antiques a man alone can entertain

It takes all of your power
To prove that you don't care
I'm not Cordelia. I will not be there.

Tin can man, dragging from a car
Just to see how alive you really are
Marrying words, falling in your wake
Just to tell what you can't eliminate

Treading the boards, screaming out Macbeth
Just to see how much bad luck you really get
Jump in the ring with your hidden cape
The bull can't decide what it is that he really hates

Angst on the planks, spittin from a bridge
Just to see how far down it really is
Robbing a bank, jumping on a train
Old antiques a man alone can entertain

Thief lingers on, on his hands and knees
Must be one more thing here I really need
Die in your dreams, falling on your knife
A Thief blinded on the job has to steal for life

The Luxury
Reference Window

Zoo Lion sobers up and starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home-fire got him all smoothed out
Melancholy wine-soaked tenderness
She hated it here and she couldn't care less

Prisonyard stares and fleur-de-lis tattoos
Cannibals are saving all their bones for soup
Eating with my fingers and sucking hulls of ships
My parasite don't deserve no better than this

The Golden Rim Motor Inn (The Golden Rim Motor Inn)
Soft water and colour TV (Soft water and colour TV)
So consumed with the shape I'm in (So consumed with the shape I'm in)
Can't enjoy the luxury (Can't enjoy the luxury)
The luxury

She says, "Why are you Partial to that Playboy con?
When you can see me naked anytime you want?"
If I had loads o' money To make me tame and sour
I could pay you to remind Me of my baby by the hour

Zoo Lion sobers up and starts to scream and shout
A little dose of home-fire got him all smoothed out
If this is where it all starts getting good
Then I'll be here waiting for you, like I said I would

The Golden Rim Motor Inn (The Golden Rim Motor Inn)
Soft water and a colour TV (Soft water and colour TV)
So consumed with the shape I'm in (So consumed with the shape I'm in)
Can't enjoy the luxury (Can't enjoy the luxury)
The luxury

Born In The Water
Reference Window

Rolling hill all covered in suede
I'm heat-nervous and out of road (Heat-nervous and out of road)
Downtown there's a parade
But I don't think I wanna go (I don't think I wanna go)
Smart as trees in Sault Ste Marie
I can speak my mother tongue (I can speak my mother tongue)
Passing laws just because
And singing songs of the English unsung (Singing songs of the English unsung)

How could you do it? (How could you do it?)
How could you even try? (How could you even try?)
When you were born in the water (Born in the water)
And you were raised up in the sky? (Raised up in the sky?)

Front seats stamped by the window
No erasees in this game (No erasees in this game)
Arbitrary as the wind blows
It's another way to lay claim (It's another way to lay claim)
Ain't no cause for bloodthirsty
In a little town so dry (In a little town so dry)
Where the angels dance on a pinhead
Just to make room for you and I (Just to make room for you and I)

How could you do it? (How could you do it?)
How could you even try? (How could you even try?)
When you were born in the water (Born in the water)
And you were raised up in the sky (Raised up in the sky)

Thoroughbreds with their great big heads
Think a mile might be too far
Highway horses laugh, but of course
When they don't know where the hell they are

Smart as trees in Sault Ste Marie
Victorious mother tongue (Victorious mother tongue)
Passing laws just because
Singing songs of the English unsung (Singing songs of the English unsung)

Well how could you do it? (Well how could you do it?)
How could you even try? (How could you even try?)
When you were born in the water (Born in the water)
And you were raised up in the sky? (Raised up in the sky?)

Long Time Running
Reference Window

Does you mother tell you things?
Long, long when I'm gone?
Who you talking to?
Is she telling you I'm the one?
It's a grave mistake and I'm wide awake.

Drive-In's rained out
Weatherman wet-fingers the sky
He pokes it out, he pulls it in
He don't know why
It's the same mistake

It's been a long time running
It's been a long time coming
It's well worth the wait

We don't go anywhere
Just on trips
We haven't seen a thing
We still don't know where it is
It's a safe mistake

It's been a long time running
It's been a long time coming

Well, well it's all the same mistake
Dead to rights and wide awake
I'll drop a caribou, I'll tell on you
I'll tell on you, I'll tell on you

You've got a boat-load O'nerve
But I would say you've been told
You work me against my friends
And you'll get left out in the cold
It's the same mistake

It's been a long time running (Long time running)
It's been a long time coming (Long time coming)
It's been a long, long, long time running (Long time running)
It's well worth the wait

Bring It All Back
Reference Window

I'd been carving you
To see what form you'd take
You were hiding in ivory
I just wanted to free your shape

Bringing me down, its too quiet to breathe
Who wants to hear their heart beat?

It's gotta be here
In your spider-web alphabets
Did I read it all wrong?
Or have I just not gotten it yet?

You got what you want. You wanted release. (You got what you want. You wanted release)
Can you be appeased? Can you bring it all back to me?
Bring it all back to me

Bringing me down, the obvious turned out to be true
All that I couldn't see, how it was turning me on
I don't want to pare you down
No, I don't want to wear you down
I don't want any more than what's there
No, I don't want to pare you down

Well you got what you want. You wanted release. (You got what you want. You wanted release)
Can you be appeased? Can you bring it all back to me?
Just bring Just bring it all back to me

It's all that I want
It's all that I need
It's all that I want

Bring it all back to me
Bring it, give it, bring it

Three Pistols
Reference Window
Full Three Pistols Exhibit

Tom Thomson came paddling past
I'm pretty sure it was him
And he spoke so softly in accordance
With the growing of the dim
He said, "Bring on the brand new renaissance
Cause I think I'm ready
I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady."

Three pistols came and three people went, on their way (Yeah, sweep them all away, went on their way)
Three pistols strong and three people spent (Three pistols strong, three people spent)

Well he found his little lonely love
His bride of the northern woods
But, she took me to the Opera House
Like she said she would
Then she sighed and she fell from the balcony
Shakespeare's bent to touch
She never had any time for me
Cause I didn't protest enough

Three pistols came and three people went, on their way (Yeah, sweep them all away, went on their way)
Two pistols strong and three people spent (Two pistols strong, three people spent)

Little girls come on remembrance day
Placing flowers on his grave
She waits in the shadows 'til after dark
To sweep them all away

I say, bring on the brand new renaissance
Cause I think I'm ready
I've been shaking all night long
But my hands are steady

Three pistols came and three people went, on their way (Yeah, sweep them all away, went on their way)
Three pistols strong and three people spent (Three pistols strong, three people spent)
Three pistols came and three people went on their way (Yeah, sweep them all away, went on their way)
One pistol strong and three people spent (One pistol strong, three people spent)

Fight

We wake up different, rifle through our dreams
Another placid day, ripples at the seams

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
So tangle-minded then so becalmed
It's all so subway-grim and then it's gone

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
We get so weary, taking fish off hooks
It's not as effortless as it may look

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
We lay down seething, smell our pillows burn
And drift off to the place where you'd think we'd learn

Do you think I bow out cause I think you're right?
Or cause I don't wanna fight?
I said, "I give"

On The Verge
Reference Window

Here we are, now where are we?
It's like nothing I've ever seen
We got hoarse-throated hucksters whispered gimmicks
Rubbernecking the curious cynics
And headlong-walkers, one born every minute
Do I plug it in? Or do I stick it in it?

I don't know what came over me (I'm on the verge)
I'm too dumb for words (I'm on the verge)
I didn't think I'd like it here at all
But I swear, I swear I'm on the verge (I'm on the verge)

Here we are, now who are you?
The long lost Queen's of some Hoodoo?
Well we're the last of the big-time penetrators
Playing dead to fuck the undertaker
The movie'll come out a little bit later
The Men, The Legend, The Goat, The Satyr

I don't know what came over me (I'm on the verge)
I'm too dumb for words (I'm on the verge)
I didn't say I'd like it here at all
But I swear, I swear I'm on the verge (I'm on the verge)

Here we are, now don't ask how
The time to leave was kinda now
Well don't cry, baby, there's no cause for grief

Deadheading's never gonna kill the Chief
It's an empty road without relief
And I'm a highway romance milking Thief

I don't know what came over me (I'm on the verge)
I'm too dumb for words (I'm on the verge)
I didn't think I'd like it here at all
But I swear, I swear I'm on the verge (I'm on the verge, I'm too dumb for words)

Fiddler's Green
Reference Window

September Seventeen
For a girl I know it's Mother's Day
Here son has gone alee
And that's where he will stay
Wind on the weathervane
Tearing blue eyes sailor-mean
As Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
For a boy in Fiddler's Green

His tiny knotted heart
Well, I guess it never worker too good
The timber tore apart
And the water gorged the wood
You can hear her whispered prayer
For men at masts that always lean
That the same wind that moves her hair
Moves a boy through Fiddler's Green

He doesn't know a soul
And there's nowhere that he's really been
But he won't travel long alone
No, not in Fiddler's Green
Balloons all filled with rain
As children's eyes turn sleepy-mean
And Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain
For a boy in Fiddler's Green

The Last Of The Unplucked Gems

Violins and tambourines
This is what I think they mean
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you

When the mystique varies thus
You can send a man to bury us
It's hard to say, it's sad but true
I'm kinda dumb and so are you

The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems
The last of the unplucked gems

Montreal (Recorded but not released)
Reference Window

She used to like lavender pantsuits
Long black velvet gloves
Smiles across crowded rooms
To the only boy she ever loved
Don't you worry (Don't you worry * live versions only)
Her mama's gonna make her look good (Her mama's gonna make her look good * live versions only)
Don't you worry (Don't you worry)
Her mama's gonna make her look good (Her mama's gonna make her look good)

She didn't care for leopard coats
Or tall thin millionaires
Kissing girls on New Year's Eve
Sitting up in leather chairs
Don't you worry (Don't you worry)
Her mama's gonna make her look good (Her mama's gonna make her look good)
Don't you worry (Don't you worry)
Her mama's gonna make her look good (Her mama's gonna make her look good)

Won't you give me the chance
The chance to explain
Ah well, explain away

The snow is so merciless
Poor old Montreal
In spite of everything that's happened
Yeah, in spite of it all

Don't you worry (Don't you worry)
Her mama's gonna make her look good (Her mama's gonna make her look good)
Don't you worry (Don't you worry)
Her mama's gonna make her look good (Her mama's gonna make her look good)

Because a coward won't die alone

Get Back Again (Recorded but not released)
Reference Window

What's the deal with your dad?
He don't even know my name
Didn't know he'd be back
Didn't know we'd been bad
No one stayed to share the blame

I didn't mean to do that
She won't even come around
Everytime I look back
Didn't realize that
I was better off then now

Mother's came and cried for Abel (Mother's came and cried for Abel)
Brother Cain survived the century's end (Brother Cain survived the century's end)
All the time that I thought was my friend (All the time that I thought was my friend)
Be all right till we get back again

Heaven knows you are right (They won't never drag you down)
They won't never drag you down (There aint time to lose sight)
There aint time to lose sight 
Getting lost in the light (Getting lost in the light)
Is more than never being found (Is more than never being found)

Mother's came and cried for Abel (Mother's came and cried for Abel)
Brother Cain survived the century's end (Brother Cain survived the century's end)
All the time that I thought was my friend (All the time that I thought was my friend)
Be all right till we get back again

We never could go back (And I could never leave my home)
And I could never leave my home (Why'd they change your face like that?)
Why'd they change your face like that?
If I'd never seen you (If I'd never seen you)
I could always dream (I could always dream)
That I'd be better off alone (That I'd be better off alone)

Mother's came and cried for Abel (Mother's came and cried for Abel)
Brother Cain survived the century's end (Brother Cain survived the century's end)
All the time that I thought was my friend (All the time that I thought was my friend)
Be all right till we get back again

Be all right till we get back again
Be all right till we get back again





All non-lyric content and Hip photographs � 2006 Stephen Dame
Lyrics are the property and copyright of The Tragically Hip, Gordon Downie and Stripper's Union respectively.
Lyrics are provided for reference, education and personal use only.