Get Lonely

Title: Get Lonely

Released: 2006

Label: 4AD

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Liner notes

(main release):

recorded at prairie sun, february-march 2006

(japanese release):

Transcribed and translated in full here.

Related material

Get Lonely had a foreign release in Japan, and three songs were only released there: Naming Day, They Are Stone Swallowers, and Keeping House. Additionally, one outtake, Going Invisible, and the demo for If You See Light were released online in Seven for Australia. Going Invisible is accordingly annotated there.

Table of contents

Wild Sage

I leave the house as soon as it gets light outside

Like a prisoner breaking out of jail

And I steal down to Business 15-501

Like I had a bounty hunter on my tail

And somebody stops to pick me up

But he drops me off just down the block

And along the highway where the empty spirits breathe

Wild sage growing in the weeds

Walked down the soft shoulder and I count my steps

Headed vaguely eastward, sun in my eyes

And I lose my footing and I skin my hands breaking my fall

And I laugh to myself and look up at the skies

And then I think I hear angels in my ears

Like marbles being thrown against a mirror

And along the highway where unlucky stray dogs bleed

Wild sage growing in the weeds

And some days I don't miss my family

And some days I do

Some days I think I'd feel better if I tried harder

Most days I know it's not true

I lay down right where I fell, cold grass in my face

And I hear the traffic like the rhythm of the tides

And I stare at the scrape on the heel of my hand

'Til it doesn't sting so much and until the blood's dried

And when somebody asks if I'm OK

I don't know what to say

And along the highway

From cast-off innumerable seeds

Wild sage growing in the weeds

New Monster Avenue

Shadows on the broad lawn, canopy of trees

Sometime after midnight the ground is gonna freeze

Birds in the frosty air

What are they doing there?

Greenhouse full of butcher's-broom

Breeze is at my back

Sometime before the sun comes up

The earth is gonna crack

I look down at my hands

Like they were mirrors

Fresh coffee at sunrise

Warm my lips against the cup

Been waiting such a long time now

My number's finally coming up

All the neighbors come on out to their front porches

Waving torches

Half Dead

It was raining outside, so I cleaned house today

Spent half of the morning throwing old things away

Try not to get caught up, try to think like a machine

Focus in on the task, try not to think about what it means

Can't get you

Out of my head

Lost without you

Half dead

Took my spot at the window

Looked out at the road

Dots and dashes of traffic

Like a message in code

And whole boxes of memories

Wrapped up at the curb

I sang songs to myself that

Didn't have any words

Can't get you

Out of my head

Lost without you

Half dead

Stole out to the back yard late last night

Pine trees frozen in the silvery moonlight

Rising like giants from the cold earth

What are the years we gave each other ever gonna be worth?

Can't get you

Out of my head

Lost without you

Half dead

Get Lonely

I will rise up early

And dress myself up nice

And I will leave the house

And check the deadlock twice

And I will find a crowd

And blend in for a minute

And I will try to find

A little comfort in it

And I will get lonely

And gasp for air

And send your name up from my lips

Like a signal flare

And I will go downtown

Stand in the shadows of the buildings

And button up my coat

Trying to stay strong, spirit willing

And I will come back home

Maybe call some friends

Maybe paint some pictures

It all depends

And I will get lonely

And gasp for air

And look up at the high windows

I see your face up there

Maybe Sprout Wings

A bad dream shook me in my sleep

And I woke up sweating

Ran through the dark to the shower

Already forgetting

Try to think good thoughts

Trying to find my way clear

Let the room fill with steam

Traced pictures on the mirror

Ghosts and clouds

And nameless things

Squint your eyes and hope real hard

Maybe sprout wings

I clawed my way to the living room window

Stood there in the cold

The last bits of my dream like figures in the distance

Hard to hold

I thought of old friends

The ones who'd gone missing

Said all their names three times

Phantoms in the early dark

Canaries in the mines

Ghosts and clouds

And nameless things

Squint your eyes and hope real hard

Maybe sprout wings

Moon Over Goldsboro

I went down to the gas station

For no particular reason

Heard the screams from the high school

It's football season

Empty lot the station faces

Will probably be there forever

I climbed over the four foot fence

I was trying to sever the tether

Moon in the sky

Cold as a stone

Spend each night in your arms

Always wake up alone

I lay down in the weeds

It was a real cold night

I was happy 'til the overnight attendant

Switched on the floodlight

Walking home I was talking to you under my breath

Saying things I would never say directly

I heard a siren on the highway up ahead

Kinda wished they'd come and get me

Frost on the sidewalk

White as a bone

Tried to get close to you again

Always wake up alone

And as I was crossing our doorstep

I hesitated just a moment there

Remembered the day we moved into our small house

'Til the vision got too vivid to bear

You were almost asleep

Halfway undressed

I lay right down next to you

Held your head against my chest

And a guy with any kind of courage

Would maybe stop to think the matter through

Maybe hold you still and raise the question

Instead of blindly holding onto you

But we crank up the heat

And you giggle and moan

Spend all night in the company of ghosts

Always wake up alone

In The Hidden Places

Autumn came around like a drifter to an on-ramp

There were wet leaves floating in gutters full of rain

Took to walking barefoot around town

Melodies from grade school kicking in my brain

Saw you on the crosstown bus today

You were reading a magazine

I turned my face away

And I shut my eyes tight

Dreamed about the flowers that hide from the light

On dark hillsides in the hidden places

The brakes howled and the bus pulled up near my house

And I got off at the corner

Pulled my sleeves down over my hands, over my hands

And I wished I was someone else

And I wished it was warmer

And when I got home I thought about you

Like a desperate policeman searching for clues

And I almost passed out just then

And I shut my eyes again

Headed for the dark hillsides

In the hidden places

Song for Lonely Giants

No one washed behind my ears

High in the trees alone for years

Practicing my solitary scales 'til they rose like balloons

Watching them go where they will go

Face in the leaves, song in my throat

Fall through the air, hoping to float

Practicing my solitary scales 'til they grow heavy

Too heavy to carry

Watching them go where they will go

Woke Up New ##

On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time

I felt free and I felt lonely and I felt scared

And I began to talk to myself almost immediately

Not being used to being the only person there

Mm-mm

The first time I made coffee for just myself, I made too much of it

But I drank it all just 'cause you hate it when I let things go to waste

And I wandered through the house like a little boy lost at the mall

And an astronaut could've seen the hunger in my eyes from space

And I sang

Oh, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?

What do I do without you?

On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time

I was cold so I put on a sweater and I turned up the heat

And the walls began to close in and I felt so sad and frightened

I practically ran from the living room out into the street

And the wind began to blow and all the trees began to bend

And the world in its cold way started coming alive

And I stood there like a businessman waiting for a train

And I got ready for the future to arrive

And I sang

Oh, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?

What do I do without you?

If You See Light

When the villagers come to my door

I will hide underneath the table in the dining room

Knees drawn up to my chest

When the villagers come to my door

I will breathe shallow breaths from high up in my stomach

Ah hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah

Waiting for the front door to splinter

Waiting all winter

When the villagers come to my door

I'll be all tucked away with my face to the floor

And my eyes closed

And no one knows how to keep secrets 'round here

They tell everyone everything soon as they know

And then where is there left for poor sinners to go?

Waiting for the front door to splinter

Waiting all winter

Cobra Tattoo

Sun just clearing the tree line when my day begins

Slippery ice on the bridges, north-eastern wind coming in

You will bruise my head, I will strike your heel

Drive past woods of northern pine, try not to let go of the wheel

Dream at night, girl with the cobra tattoo

On her arm, its head flaring out like a parachute

Prisms in the dewdrops in the underbrush

Skate case sailors' purses floating down in the black needlerush

Higher than the stars I will set my throne

God does not need Abraham, God can raise children from stones

Dream at night, girl with the cobra tattoo

And try to hear the garbled transmissions come through

In Corolla

The day I turned my back on all you people

I felt an itching in my thumbs

Salt air like a broadcast from the distant dark beyond

When my transformation comes

I went down to the warm warm water

Saw a pelican fly past

Waved once at the highway and then left all that behind me

I went wading through the grass

And no one was gonna come and get me

There wasn't anybody gonna know

Even though I leave a trail of burnt things in my wake

Every single place I go

And it was cool and it was quiet

In the humid marsh down there

I let my head sink down beneath the brackish water

Felt it gumming up my hair

The sun was sinking into the Atlantic

The last time that I turned my back on you

I tried to summon up a little prayer as I went under

It was the best that I could do

And I said, let them all fare better than your servant

The reeds all pricking at my skin

Here's hoping they have better luck than I had down here with you

All that water rushing in

Naming Day

I am hiding in the house

Someone's coming through the gate

When the doorbell sounds like an air raid siren

I am lying in wait

People used to come around

They fish-eyed and they rubbernecked

Anyone who'd come to visit now

Is automatically a suspect

I creep up to the window

Me and my buzzing brain

And we watch two Jehovah's witnesses

Retreating down the lane

I'm not coming out yet

It's too cold

Leave me alone 'til I learn

How to spin straw into gold

I put on night vision goggles

Work my way along the wall into the kitchen

As soon as the first snow fell this year

My fingers started itching

And I locked up the doors

And I sealed up all the windows

And friends came by sometime for a while

I never let 'em in though

And then they stopped, then they stopped at last

And now it's just us three

These walls and the Church of Jesus Christ

Of the Latter-day Saints and me

And I'm not coming out yet

It's too cold

Leave me alone 'til I learn

How to spin straw into gold

They Are Stone Swallowers

You went away to Stockholm for a week

You came back with some scratch-marks on your cheeks

The towers line the highway and they cry

From deep down in their guts until they die

The water tower crew are total devils

Toxicity near saturation levels

I rise up and greet the day

See the serpents rising from the clay

You were headed down to Salzburg for the night

All my hair was turning white

You and your crew were good to go

So many people that we'll never really know

I saw the city men, they make me laugh

Digging up the cables, cutting them in half

I watch the ancient sun until it falls

See the serpents coming through the walls

Keeping House

"Two, three, four."

You clean out your junk drawer

You mop up some blood, while the

First of some new creatures

Rises from the mud

Cursing the moment

That saw him draw breath

The ghost on your doorstep is starving

To death

You spray down the windows

You wipe them all clean, and you

Douse your old clothing

With fresh gasoline

And the ghost on your doorstep

Is soaked wet with rain

And he clutches his stomach

And howls at the pain

And you can stay busy all day

He's never going away

So let all the lights blaze

Keep your heart light

Play really loud music

All hours of the night

And when you set the table

Set it for two

The ghost on your doorstep has to eat

Same as you

Same as you

Credits

The incredible Wil Hall transcribed this entire album and is the sole reason this album managed to get posted while I was applying for residency. Wil, thank you! Even more wonderfully, Bryce Carr and Mairead Beeson did an incredible job annotating this album and submitting it, starting it off — it's very unlikely that annotations for this would be up within years of their submission without their hard work. Thank you, thank you! Thanks also to Andrew Fazzari, who unbelievably transcribed and translated the liner notes from Japanese, as you can see below.

Thanks as always to Caliclimber, whose Flickr page provided the album art.