Celebrating the music of Silver Jews and the genius of David Berman.
In the times I dream of Jesus
It’s like he’s coming through the walls
When I’m working at my desk at night
I hear his footsteps in the hallYou can believe me, not believe me
I’m just a bird upon the sill
And these words just course right through me
Like water through a millHe was a rebel jew
He was a rebel jew
And he died for you and your sins
He was a rebel jew
He was a rebel jew
Let him inSometimes I dream of Texas
Yeah, it’s the biggest part of me
And the planes look like the sea at night
Oh, she wants to be so freeShe is a rebel state
She is a rebel state
And it’s not too late for her to break
From a sick, sick union
An unhealed wound and separateAll the time I dream of Michele
And the towers in her mind
Some women lie down with killers
Oh, my baby’s not that kindShe is a real good girl
Yeah, she’s a real good girl
And she stops the world so I can’t see
That she’s a good, good girl
A good, good girl to meWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: Starlite Walker
Released: 1994
Of all of the people I knew
I always looked up to you
And after millions of years of crime
The sun still shines and shinesLook, a horse, of course
Gallops through the desert light
I make such good time through sub-space
When I dream all day and write all nightRobot walks into a bar
Orders a drink, lays down a bill
Bartender says, “Hey, we don’t serve robots”
And the robot says, “Oh, but someday you will”Prison’s a good time for some
Many people get caught with a gun
This trucker says it’s good to be free
Says he knows lots of folks who agreeBumper stickers talk to him
Say, “Let the stars get in your eyes”
Time, cum, sand, and surf
These are the building, building blocks of lifeBoy wants a car from his dad
Dad says, “First, you got to cut that hair”
Boy says, “Hey, Dad, Jesus had long hair”
And Dad says, “That’s right, son, Jesus walked everywhere”When I was younger, I was a cobra
In every case, I wanted to be cool
Now that I’m older and sub-space is colder
Just wanna say something trueWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: The Natural Bridge
Released: 1996
In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection
Slowly screwing my way across Europe, they had to make a correction
Broken and smoking where the infrared deer plunge in the digital snake
I tell you, they make it so you can’t shake hands when they make your hands shakeI know you like to line dance
Everything so democratic and cool
But baby, there’s no guidance when random rulesI know that a lot of what I say has been lifted off of men’s room walls
Maybe I’ve crossed the wrong rivers and walked down all the wrong halls
But nothing can change the fact that we used to share a bed
And that’s why it scared me so when you turned to me and saidYeah, you look like someone
Yeah, you like someone who up and left me low
Boy, you look like someone I used to knowI know you like to line dance
Everything so democratic and cool
But baby, there’s no guidance when random rulesI asked a painter why the roads are colored black
He said, “Steve, it’s because people leave and no highway will bring them back”
So if you don’t want me, I promise not to linger
But before I go, I gotta ask you, dear, about the tan line on your ring fingerNo one should have two lives
Now you know my middle names are wrong and right
Honey, we’ve got two lives to give tonightTo give tonight
To give tonightWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: American Water
Released: 1998
Moments can be monuments to you
If your life is interesting and true
It’s just the same for a man or a girl
The meaning of the world lies outside the worldPeople love people and they understand
If you wanna renovate your background mind
(A federal woman needs a municipal man)
People gotta synchronize to animal timeYou can’t change the feeling
But you can change your feeling about the feelings in a second or two
People always come aroundI’m studying the ceiling on a little afternoon
And when I paint my dining room
People gonna come aroundI love to see a rainbow from a garden hose
Lit up like the blood of a centerfold
I love the city and the city rain
Suburban kids with biblical namesPeople ask people to watch their scotch
People send people up to the moon
When they return, well there isn’t much
People be careful not to crest too soonThe drums march along at the clip of an I.V. drip
Like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip
I really hope you’ll come aroundIt’s sunny and 75, it feels so good to be alive
Come on baby, don’t stay inside
Everybody’s coming out tonightWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: American Water
Released: 1998
Send in the clouds. Bring down the rain.
Shut all the blinds, turn out the lights:
I feel insane when you get in my bed.I am the trick my mother played on the world
Seventeen doctors couldn’t decide
whether I should be allowed in the game.Why can’t monsters get along with other monsters?
Soi disantra, soi disantra…I know a puppy who walked form Kentucky.
Made to East Virginia by dawn.
He had seventeen ideas in his head.Windex tears flow down the robot’s face.
He never felt a mother’s embrace.
My momma named me after a king.
I’m gonna bury my name in you.Why can’t monsters get along wih other monsters?
Soi disantra, soi disantra…Writer(s): David Craig Berman
Album: American Water
Released: 1998
Radio’s on, feeling all right
Cruising the strip on a Saturday night
I smile and I wave and I hide all my pain
But the sign on my bumper gives me awayHonk if you’re lonely tonight
If you need a friend to get through the night
A toot on your horn, a flash of your brights
Honk if you’re lonely tonightI know a honky tonk where we can go
A booth in the back with the lights way down low
The jukebox is playing a sad melody
For heartbroken lovers just like you and meWe’ll laugh and we’ll flirt and we’ll dance every dance
And before the night’s over, we’ll make romance
The morning will find us with a smile on our face
And we’ll be together in a lovers’ embraceHonk if you’re lonely tonight
If you need a friend to get through the night
A toot on your horn, a flash of your brights
Honk if you’re lonely tonightI know it seems sad to be so damn blue
But there’s always a chance that you’ll meet someone new
I know that somewhere waiting for me
Is a sad, lonely lover with a bumper that readsHonk if you’re lonely tonight
If you need a friend to get through the night
A toot on your horn, a flash of your brights
Honk if you’re lonely tonight (I am so)Writer(s): David Craig Berman
Album: American Water
Released: 1998
I was 19, and dead from the neck up
She was a Christian rock ingenue
Sentimental as a cat’s grave
Her fucking body broke my eyes
And she said, “I’m gonna love the hell out of you”Brandy wine rained on an android cross
Even the swans were bankrupt and blue
I’d been a liar my whole life
She said, “I wanna be your wife”
And she said, “I’m gonna love the hell out of you”In a lonely Swedish bookstore, banging a librarian
The sound of rain and lightning was my cue
I fixed the Preakness in the rain
I had a weakness for cocaine
And she saidI learned double entry bookkeeping when I was 12 years old
I learned there’s no imagination in the blues
They registered my name with the Catholic hall of fame
And she said, “I’m gonna love the hell out of you”Writer(s): David Craig Berman
Album: Tennessee
Released: 2001
I’m drunk on a couch in Nashville
In a duplex near the reservoir
And every single thought is like a punch in the face
I’m like a rabbit freezing on a starOn the wrong side of Sunday morning
Shattered in the terrible light
Working for a bankrupt circus
On the wrong side of Saturday nightAnd I wanna be like water if I can
‘Cause water doesn’t give a damn
Water doesn’t give a damnChased by a floating hatchet
You can’t just shoot your way out and go
I could tell you things about this wallpaper
That you’d never ever want to knowBut there’s an altar in the valley
For the things in themselves as they are
And the triumph of the obstacle
And horseleg swastikasI wanna take a ride on the back of a sunbird
Up into the highest number
Up into the highest numberAnd I wanna be like water if I can
‘Cause water doesn’t give a damn
Water doesn’t give a damnWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: Bright Flight
Released: 2001
Gold and Green
Red and Blue
Are the lights on the signs that line Charlotte avenue
From the corner window, I watch the falling white flakes
God must be carving the clouds into animal shapesAnimal shapes, animal shapes
God must be carving the clouds into animal shapesWe have no goodwill, no goodwill to give
To those who try to take away the things we need to live
Friend, this is from your friend, off of Natchez Trace
The last dream left worth believing starts with animal shapesAnimal shapes, animal shapes
Nothing better get in the way of whatever it takesLater on, somewhere else, I said some things I didn’t mean
Yes, I know everybody’s on a first name basis with the king
From a corner window, I watch the falling snowflakes
God must be carving the clouds into animal shapesAnimal shapes, animal shapes
God must be carving the clouds into animal shapesWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: Tanglewood Numbers
Released: 2005
Cranes on the downtown skyline
Is a sight to see for some
It ought to make a few reputations
In the cult of number oneWhile these seconds turn these minutes
Into hours of the day
While these doubles drive the dollars
And the light of day awaySuffering jukebox
Such a sad machine
You’re all filled up with what other people mean
And they never seem to turn you up loud
Got a lot of chatterboxes in this crowdSuffering jukebox
In a happy town
You’re over in the corner breakin’ down
They always seem to keep you way down low
The people in this town don’t want to knowWell, I guess all that mad misery
Must make it seem true to you
But money lights your world up
You’re trapped, what can you do?You got Tennessee tendencies
And chemical dependencies
You make the same old jokes
And malaprops on cueSuffering jukebox
Such a sad machine
You’re all filled up with what other people mean
Hardship, damnation and guilt
Make you wonder why you were even builtSuffering jukebox
In a happy town
You’re over in the corner breaking down
They always seem to keep you way down low
The people in this town don’t want to knowWriter(s): David Craig Berman
Album: Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Released: 2008
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