It's true that all the men you knew were dealers Who said they were through with dealing Every time you gave them shelter I know that kind of man It's hard to hold the hand of anyone Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender Who is reaching for the sky just to surrender
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind You find he did not leave you very much not even laughter Like any dealer he was watching for the card That is so high and wild He'll never need to deal another He was just some Joseph looking for a manger He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
And then leaning on your window sill He'll say one day you caused his will To weaken with your love and warmth and shelter And then taking from his wallet An old schedule of trains, he'll say "I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger"
But now another stranger seems To want you to ignore his dreams As though they were the burden of some other O you've seen that man before His golden arm dispatching cards But now it's rusted from the elbow to the finger And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter Yes he wants to trade the game he knows for shelter
Ah you hate to watch another tired man Lay down his hand Like he was giving up the holy game of poker And while he talks his dreams to sleep You notice there's a highway That is curling up like smoke above his shoulder It's curling just like smoke above his shoulder
You tell him to come in sit down But something makes you turn around The door is open, you can't close your shelter You try the handle of the road It opens do not be afraid It's you my love, you who are the stranger It is you my love, you who are the stranger
"Well, I've been waitin', I was sure We'd meet between the trains we're waitin' for I think it's time to board another Please understand, I never had a secret chart To get me to the heart of this Or any other matter" When he talks like this you don't know what he's after When he speaks like this you don't know what he's after
"Let's meet tomorrow if you choose Upon the shore, beneath the bridge That they are building on some endless river" Then he leaves the platform For the sleeping car that's warm You realize, he's only advertising one more shelter And it comes to you, he never was a stranger And you say, "Ok, the bridge or someplace later"
And then sweeping up the jokers that he left behind You find he did not leave you very much not even laughter Like any dealer he was watching for the card That is so high and wild He'll never need to deal another He was just some Joseph looking for a manger He was just some Joseph looking for a manger
And then leaning on your window sill He'll say one day you caused his will To weaken with your love and warmth and shelter And then taking from his wallet An old schedule of trains, he'll say "I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger I told you when I came I was a stranger"
Extrato de "Stop Making Sense" de Jonathan Demme (1984), a partir de imagens de concertos de Talking Heads no Hollywood's Pantages Theater, LA, em Dezembro de 1983.
I came across a cache of old photos and invitations to teenage parties 'Dress in white' one said with quotations from someone's wife, a famous writer in the nineteen-twenties When you're young you find inspiration in anyone who's ever gone and opened up a closing door She said we were never feeling bored
'cause we were never being boring We had too much time to find for ourselves and we were never being boring We dressed up and fought then thought "make amends" And we were never holding back or worried that time would come to an end
When I went I left from the station with a haversack and some trepidation Someone said if you're not careful you'll have nothing left and nothing to care for in the nineteen-seventies But I sat back and looking forward my shoes were high and I had scored I'd bolted through a closing door and I would never find myself feeling bored
'cause we were never being boring We had too much time to find for ourselves and we were never being boring We dressed up and fought then thought "make amends" And we were never holding back or worried that time would come to an end We were always hoping that, looking back you could always rely on a friend
Now I sit with different faces in rented rooms and foreign places All the people I was kissing some are here and some are missing in the nineteen-nineties I never dreamt that I would get to be the creature that I always meant to be but I thought in spite of dreams you'd be sitting somewhere here with me
'cause we were never being boring We had too much time to find for ourselves and we were never being boring We dressed up and fought then thought "make amends" and we were never holding back or worried that time would come to an end We were always hoping that, looking back you could always rely on a friend
And we were never being boring We were never being bored 'cause we were never being boring We were never being bored
A black/white video shot by Vincent Moon in 2005 in Paris, celebrating a wonderful song by his new-yorker friends THE NATIONAL, from their album 'Alligator' on Beggars Banquet Records.
I have your good clothes in the car
So cut your hair so no one knows
I have your dreams and your teeth marks
All my fingernails are painted
I'm here to take you now
You were right about the end
It didn't make a difference
Everything I can remember
I remember wrong
How can anybody know
How they got to be this way
You must have known I'd do this someday
Break my arms around the one I love
And be forgiven by the time my lover comes
Break my arms around my love
Break my arms around the one I love
And be forgiven by the time my lover comes
Break my arms around my love
I don't have any questions
I don't think it's gonna rain
You were right about the end
It didn't make a difference
I'm here to take you now
Out among the missing sons and daughters of the SoHo riots
Out among the missing sons and daughters of the SoHo riots
I'm here to take you now
How can anybody know
How they got to be this way
You must have known I'd do this someday
Break my arms around the one I love
And be forgiven by the time my lover comes
Break my arms around my love
Break my arms around the one I love
And be forgiven by the time my lover comes
Break my arms around my love
Break my arms around the one I love
Songwriters: Bryce D. Dessner / Matthew D. Berninger / Scott D. Devendorf
"The Rockaways" / Conor Oberst- guitar and vocal / Nathaniel Walcott- keyboard
Produced by Bryce Gonzales and Conor Oberst Engineered by Bryce Gonzales All songs by Conor Oberst (Bedrooms; Bedrooms and Spiders, BMI) Mastered by Warren Sokol at United Recording Studio Paintings by Jerry Kinney Lay out by Autumn Seguin