Ramshackle Glory - From here to utopia song for the desperate

^Amwell, i’m afraid that the circles i’ve b^Eeen drinking myself aren’t big enough for the vowels tha^Amt i try to fi^Gt inside o^Ef them. ^Amwhen i was young, i drank too much, and i’d be^E lying if i said i didn’t feel so goddamn young toni^Amght; maybe too ^Gyoung to ask what’s on m^Ey mind. ^Flike: if freedom means ^Amdoing what you want (well), ^Edon’t you gotta wan^Amt something? ^Fand won’t you tell me that w^Ame want something more than just mor^Ee beer?

^Amwell, i’ve been listening to mino^Er threat records all day, and shit if i do not know every word. ^Ami sing ^Galong as i tie ^Eoff. ^Amand ian screams he’s “out of step”^E as i throw the cotton into the spoon, draw up into the syringe. ^Ami’ll know just what h^Ge means until i hit ^Ea vein. ^Fbut after that i ^Amwon’t have to bother wit^Eh knowing who i am, for a while ^Amat least. ^Fin a moment the whole ^Amworld is gonna melt around me, ^Eand i’ll swear i don’t miss it as a i lie to you tonight. ^Cbecause i’m^E afraid to look th^Ame world in th^Fe eye. ^Cif nothing’^Es gonna change, wel^Aml, then i’d rat^Fher die. ^Cand i’m too unemployed t^Eo organize a union; i’^Amm too intoxicate^Fd to tear down a building. ^Ci’m too hopeless t^Eo look for a solution; i’^Amm afraid that if i found one, i’^Fd be out of excuses for th^Ce way i waste away in the ^Egutters that i chose like ^Amfashion accessories to go ^Fwith my dirty clothes. i ^Chaven’t bathed in months, but yo^Eu know it’s not because i’v^Ame been fighting bourgeois morals: i’m just^F lazy and i’m young.

^Ami’ve seen the best minds of my gen^Eeration dying drunk or high from the rooftops to the parking lots, ^Amstomped to death in w^Gest philadelphian s^Equats. ^Amthey’ve got me waiting on a day when we ca^En say “fuck the police!” with a little bit of integrity, ^Amwhen it will mean: “i??^G?ve got your back if you’ve^E got mine!” ^Fgive me a scene where ^Ami believe in more than^E bad hair cuts, ^Amguilt, and misery. ^Fi don’t know where i fit between th^Ame vegans and the nihilists. ^Ethat might be the first thing i’ve said that wasn’t a lie tonight. ^Cbecause there’s gotta b^Ee something more than lyin^Amg in the front y^Fard, naked, screaming at the constellations. ^Ci want something more than an ^Eapology to say when i ^Amlook the world in the ^Feye. i’ll tell you, man^C, my friend william came to me wit^Eh a message of hope. it wen^Amt: “fuck you and everythin^Fg that you think you know. if ^Cyou don’t step outside th^Ee things that you believe they’re gonna kill you.” ^{Am F} he said: ?^C??no one’s gonna stop you from dying young^E, and miserable, and right, ^Am but if you want something ^Fbetter, you gotta put that shit aside.” ^Ci thought about how for ^Ethousands of years there ^Amhave been people wh^Fo told us that things can’t go on like this: ^Cfrom jesus chris to the ^Ediggers, from malthus to ^Amzerzan, from karl marx to^F huey newton, but the shit goes ^Con and on and ^Eon and on and ^Amon and on and ^Fon and on

^Gnow, i’m not saying tha^Ft we can’t change the world, because ^Ceverybody ^Gdoes at least a ^Amlittle bit of t^Fhat. but^Am i won’t shi^Et myself: th^Fe way i’m living is a^C temper tantrum and i^A need something else, ^Eneed something else, ^Fneed somethin^Gg else to stay alive.

^Fand on the night that i ^Amplay my last show, i’l^El be singing so loud that my hea^Amrt explodes. ^Fand i’ll be singing, an^Amd i’ll be singing: we ^Eare free! ^Foh, but won??^Am?t you promise me that w^Ee won’t ever forget wha^Amt the means? ^Fi know it’s hard t^Amo give a shit sometime^Es, but promise me we’ll always try. ^Fbecause i don’t wann^Ama hate you, and i don’t wa^Enna hate me, ^Fand i don’^Amt wanna have to hat^Ee everything anymore.