Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness (Deluxe Edition)

(McMahon, Hollander, & Griffin)
The sun ran out on a cold October
Somewhere under the canyon moon
Camera jammed in a slow exposure
California in her rear view

She couldn’t handle another season
Another ocean of fiction blue
Said a prayer to a dashboard Jesus,
Death Valley and worn out shoes

Then the road turned into desert everywhere
The sun ran out on a cold October
She disappeared, she disappeared
Take all your troubles, put them to bed

Burn down the mission, the maps in your head
Shot like a bullet, don’t know the way
The ricochet, kind of got away from you
The leaves are falling, the church bells ringing
Marching band in a high school dream
Little town and a faded beauty
They still remember when she was queen
Then the road turned into desert everywhere
The leaves are falling, the church bells ringing
She disappeared, she disappeared
Chorus
The sun ran out on a cold October
And where she ended up, no one knew
Chorus

(McMahon, Flannigan, & Grahn)
I locked myself in a hotel room
Then waited all night for the walls to move
I’ve loved some girls that I barely knew
I’ve made some friends, and I’ve lost some too
Crashed my car, I was seventeen
My mother in the seat riding next to me
The things I’ve learned from a broken mirror
How a face can change when a heart knows fear
For all the things my eyes have seen, the best by far is you
If I could fly, then I would know
What life looks like from up above and down below
I’d keep you safe, I’d keep you dry
Don’t be afraid, Cecilia, I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
I’ve café crawled through Amsterdam
Been around the world with a punk rock band
And I’ve seen London, and I’ve played Japan
I’ve been knocked down, I got up again
For all the places I have been, I’m no place without you
Chorus
For all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you
Chorus

(McMahon & Viola)
I took the train home
Facing backwards
Another hopeless chase
Echo Park, Indian summer
I wrote a new song
About your new life
Like steps I retrace
Block letters in your little black notebook, yeah
Flashbacks get me close
I’m almost there
Headlight in the driveway
You stand in the window waiting
The stars are out tonight
One million fires burning
Out there on the high dive
You dance with your headphones on and I
Could watch you all night long
Dancing to someone else’s song
Black jacket
A blue motorbike
Passed the mission in the moonlight
Teenagers in the alley kissing
Smell the gas burn
Saw your street sign
Doing 80 in a 45
Throwing shadows you could hear if you listen, yeah
Flashbacks get me close
I’m almost there
Chorus
Flashbacks get me close
But I’m staring at someone else’s
Headlights in your driveway
You stand in the window waiting
The stars are out tonight
One million fires burning
Meet me on the high dive
You’ll dance with your headphones on
So I can watch you all night long
Dancing to someone else’s song

(McMahon, Goldstein, & Lee)
I saw this old friend at the Eveleigh bar
Life hadn’t treated him so well
A heart so gold, and words so blue
In a body home from hell
He said, “If I could tell you one thing, I would tell you this:
There’s only one mistake that I have made
It’s giving up the music in my fingertips
By trying to get to heaven through my veins.”
All our lives
I watched you search beneath the fallen skies
This was no path to glory
You always walked before me
But you came back to warn me
All our lives
I saw this woman with tears in her eyes
Driving beside me yesterday
She turned her head, then I turned mine
And I watched her drive away
I thought, “If I could tell her something, I would tell her this:
There’s only two mistakes that I have made
It’s running from the people who could love me best
And trying to fix a world that I can’t change.”
Chorus
I remember being young and staring at my hands
In the middle of the night, the first light of the morning
My room like a church, voices down the hall
I barely made ‘em out, but sometimes you don’t want to know
Now that I’m older, I can tell you this:
The mornings I miss, but I don’t really miss the voices
You’ve got a choice, I’ve got the hands
Skeletons and plans, you’ve got to let ‘em go
Chorus

(McMahon)
Up around ten with a headache kicking
Guess I fell asleep with a cigarette
My girl’s back home with the morning sick
Got a baby on the way, not here yet
And I’m alright, I think we’re good
Yeah, I drink more than the doctors say I should
I’ve been a little hard to reach, but my girl is at the beach
And I’ll see her on the weekend
I’ll see her on the weekend
I’ll see her on the weekend
I’ll see her at the end of the week
Friday comes, lately I’m sleeping
Until the sun fills up my rented room
I pack my things, get my car started
Yeah I’ve been gone but I’ll be home real soon
Cell phone’s dead, and she’s calling
Message box is full
Chorus
Cell phone’s dead, and she’s calling
Message box is full
Up around ten with a headache kicking
Guess I fell asleep with a cigarette
My girl’s back home with the morning sick
Got a baby on the way, not here yet
And I’m alright, I think we’re good
Yeah, I drink a little more than the doctors say I should
I’ve been a little hard to reach, but I know you’re at the beach
And I’ll see ya on the weekend
I’ll see ya on the weekend
I’ll see her on the weekend
I’ll see her at the end of the week

(McMahon & Viola)
As the summer came and left with the rain
Pushing shadows down the road
In this old beach town when the sun goes down
All the grey turns into gold
Got no plans, just a feeling
I’m no architect at all
There’s a fan on the ceiling
And a telephone that you should call
Are you home tonight?
Are you laying in bed watching black and white movies?
All alone, tonight?
Do you ever rewind to the summer you knew me?
Black and white movies
You were out at dawn with a wetsuit on
That’s the picture in my mind
Now the waves still crash on the bonfire ash
That the tourists leave behind
Waves of sound, waves of static
Through the windows in my room
And the seeds that you planted
In a coffee cup, that never bloomed
Chorus
Are you home tonight?
Chorus

(McMahon & Viola)
Straighter than the flatline freeway
That’s the way your hair falls down
We could watch the trains from the tightrope
Chase the dark
Out here on a desert fault line
That’s the way the world goes ‘round
I’m losing track of time inside this racing heart
Your racing heart
Staring out the window with your head on my shoulder
Try to get some sleep, we’ll be driving through a dream
Riding through the heart of the dark that you fought like a soldier
Try to get some sleep, we’ll be driving through a dream
Clinging to your late-night courage
Anything to pass the time
Lying in the back seat trying not to fall apart
Waiting for your life to start
Chorus
And the night is long, the road is longer,
You say you sleep better when I’m awake
I’ll stay awake for you
Chorus

(McMahon & Viola)
Pouring rain in Tucson, Arizona
Checked into the Congress Hotel
Met the band in a bar next to the lobby
Looking for another story I could tell
When I left town we were headed for the altar
And I told you I’d be back before too long
Cut my hair, and I found me a new girlfriend
Thought a broken heart could write a perfect song
And it did, and I was right, so now you’re gone
You echo in the halls
I feel your shadow on this empty stage
I hear your music through the walls
I see your picture on the blank page
Oh, you echo in the halls
Played the show, left another message
Booked a ticket for tomorrow in Tempe
3 a.m., doing cartwheels down the hallway
I’ve been drinking since the day I set you free
But on this airport morning will you wait for me?
Chorus

(McMahon & Viola)
Rainy girl
I can’t wait to meet you
And I can’t wait to hear your name
And sing it to the skies above
Rainy girl
Wash away my memory
Swimming through infinity
For you will be my love
Sometimes when I’m falling in my dreams
I can feel you falling next to me
I guess we’re going everywhere together
Rainy girl
The sun is coming up for me
Blackbird on a wire sings
A song so blue
Chorus
Home at last, following a cloud
Chorus
Rainy girl
I can’t wait to meet you

(McMahon, Viola, & Flannigan)
Parked outside the house we used to live
And there’s a light left on inside
Think of all the days we spent
Orchestrating accidents
Lights that used to blind us
Somehow they will guide us through the night
Following the outline of your face
I can see your breath move in the dark
Through all the autopilot years
The tears of joy, the face of fear
Now that we’re not hiding
Somehow you’re still riding in my car
No cash in the bank, no paid holidays
All we have, all we have is
Gas in the tank, maps for the getaway
All we have, all we have is time
Parked outside the house we used to live
Staring down the green roof and the walls
The balcony, the hills, the pain
The years of hope, the months of rain
Now that we’re outside it
I guess we survived it after all
Chorus
All we have is time
No white picket fence, no job with the government
All we have, all we have are
Mornings in bed, coffee and aspirin
All we have
No cash in the bank, no sign of yesterday
All we have, all we have
Is gas in the tank, maps for the getaway
All we have, all we have is time

I guess I'll wait for the words to come,
Can't write another song about being young.
Not me, not now, I'm not that clever.

31 and my voice was shot,
Grew a beard, spent a year at the coffee shop,
You called to say "it's now or never."

Don't fall back now,
Don't fall back now.
We are the fortunate ones.
Pick me up in the parking lot, I've got a good buzz and a lottery ticket.
We are the fortunate ones.
And we don't care if we win or not, got a good buzz and a lottery ticket.

Guess I'll wait for the lightning strike,
Guess I'll pray for rain to make this right,
You've got these eyes that keep me hoping
In the shadows when I doubt myself, I've started to see with the lights out
You called to say "the sky is open"

Don't fall back now, don't fall back now.
We are the fortunate ones.
Pick me up in the parking lot, I've got a good buzz and a lottery ticket.
We are the fortunate ones.
And we don't care if we win or not, got a good buzz and a lottery ticket.

Made it home, barely alive, I was way too f*cked up to drive, to drive.
We are the fortunate ones.
Pick me up in the parking lot, I've got a good buzz and a lottery ticket.
We are the fortunate ones.
And we don't care if we win or not, got a good buzz and a lottery ticket.
Got a good buzz, and a lottery ticket.

I woke up on the ground, again
Left the tv on, the government is shutting down
My day's wide open.

I woke up on the ground, and you were in a cardigan sweater with your horn rimmed glasses on.
Can't see the world without them.

Living in the pages of a book she read,
I sewed a farewell letter with a needle and thread
and called in sick for good.
Sitting on an island with the girl I need,
I made a fat withdrawal from a cash machine
and I found a place to start again
with my art school girlfriend.
Art school girlfriend.

"I don't know where it is"

So I climb into bed awake
You got your camera out to take pictures of the mess we made
to save for later.
I'm happy wasting away, it's cool,
You're in a portable dark room and I'm dreaming of the swimming pool
while I read your latest papers

Living in the pages of a book she read,
I sewed a farewell letter with a needle and thread
and called in sick for good.
Sitting on an island with the girl I need,
I made a fat withdrawal from a cash machine
and I found a place to start again
with my art school girlfriend.
Art school girlfriend.

She's all I need,
she's all I need.
And so I'm living in the pages of the books she read,
I sewed a farewell letter with a needle and thread
and called in sick for good.
Sitting on an island with the girl I need,
I made a fat withdrawal from the cash machine
and I found a place to start again
with my art school girlfriend.
Art school girlfriend.

She's all I need.
She's all I need.

Parked outside the house we used to live
And there’s a light left on inside
Think of all the days we spent
Orchestrating accidents
Lights that used to blind us
Somehow they will guide us through the night
Following the outline of your face
I can see your breath move in the dark
Through all the autopilot years
The tears of joy, the face of fear
Now that we’re not hiding
Somehow you’re still riding in my car
No cash in the bank, no paid holidays
All we have, all we have is
Gas in the tank, maps for the getaway
All we have, all we have is time
Parked outside the house we used to live
Staring down the green roof and the walls
The balcony, the hills, the pain
The years of hope, the months of rain
Now that we’re outside it
I guess we survived it after all
Chorus
All we have is time
No white picket fence, no job with the government
All we have, all we have are
Mornings in bed, coffee and aspirin
All we have
No cash in the bank, no sign of yesterday
All we have, all we have
Is gas in the tank, maps for the getaway
All we have, all we have is time

I locked myself in a hotel room
Then waited all night for the walls to move
I’ve loved some girls that I barely knew
I’ve made some friends, and I’ve lost some too
Crashed my car, I was seventeen
My mother in the seat riding next to me
The things I’ve learned from a broken mirror
How a face can change when a heart knows fear
For all the things my eyes have seen, the best by far is you
If I could fly, then I would know
What life looks like from up above and down below
I’d keep you safe, I’d keep you dry
Don’t be afraid, Cecilia, I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky
I’ve café crawled through Amsterdam
Been around the world with a punk rock band
And I’ve seen London, and I’ve played Japan
I’ve been knocked down, I got up again
For all the places I have been, I’m no place without you
Chorus
For all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you
Chorus

Pouring rain in Tucson, Arizona
Checked into the Congress Hotel
Met the band in a bar next to the lobby
Looking for another story I could tell
When I left town we were headed for the altar
And I told you I’d be back before too long
Cut my hair, and I found me a new girlfriend
Thought a broken heart could write a perfect song
And it did, and I was right, so now you’re gone
You echo in the halls
I feel your shadow on this empty stage
I hear your music through the walls
I see your picture on the blank page
Oh, you echo in the halls
Played the show, left another message
Booked a ticket for tomorrow in Tempe
3 a.m., doing cartwheels down the hallway
I’ve been drinking since the day I set you free
But on this airport morning will you wait for me?
Chorus

I took the train home
Facing backwards
Another hopeless chase
Echo Park, Indian summer
I wrote a new song
About your new life
Like steps I retrace
Block letters in your little black notebook, yeah
Flashbacks get me close
I’m almost there
Headlight in the driveway
You stand in the window waiting
The stars are out tonight
One million fires burning
Out there on the high dive
You dance with your headphones on and I
Could watch you all night long
Dancing to someone else’s song
Black jacket
A blue motorbike
Passed the mission in the moonlight
Teenagers in the alley kissing
Smell the gas burn
Saw your street sign
Doing 80 in a 45
Throwing shadows you could hear if you listen, yeah
Flashbacks get me close
I’m almost there
Chorus
Flashbacks get me close
But I’m staring at someone else’s
Headlights in your driveway
You stand in the window waiting
The stars are out tonight
One million fires burning
Meet me on the high dive
You’ll dance with your headphones on
So I can watch you all night long
Dancing to someone else’s song