Living in this world alone Keeping all the pain inside Fortifying walls will stop them cold Backing down is just suicide Deadbolt the doors Staving off intruders you mark the line Others cross if they're feeling lucky Run… You wanna live like the king who stole the crown Run… You wander everywhere searchin for higher ground Reset your compass Navigate the course No conscience No remorse And when they find you [they never will] Make the whole gang suffer—it's what you're all about Running after midnight when the lights burn out Dying in this world alone Enemies you can't reveal Situations pave the road you'll follow Tell us what you feel Racing down an uphill course Changing direction when taken by force Who took the risk believing in miracles? Run… Erase the memories to flee your troubled past Run… Take cover—there's rubble beneath the blast Will you do what you're told? Or let them drill your head full of holes? Better learn to steal… …these terms are unreal Counter pending offers with pennies for a pound Running after midnight while the leaves turn brown How do you know which way to go? Caught in a trap trying to shake a bad rap Backstabbers all the way… They'll drown you in the sea of shame Then make you beg for mercy to clear your name Run… Rolled nickels and dimes you pledge to leave behind Run… Clothes never returned in the bags of rags you burn Tickets in hand you sneak right by the doorman Repaid in the end with dementia and gout Running after midnight till the sand runs out

How long? Who's there? It's cold I'm scared We torched streets together but felt so alone Always in trouble—we tripped on our own Everyone predicting we'd barely survive But we were not prepared for this… Why? Red in my eyes Dust in my ears Here I can taste it The loss of innocent years And now I'm saying things I don't really mean Like how much better I am Is all this a dream? The summers here are hot enough to melt glass But when the sun goes down my sense of relief fades fast …it never lasts Stretching new limits I'm out of control Choking off this boredom with drugs and rock n' roll If word got out that I was running sideways and confused I'd never hear the end of it—no one has a clue Capturing time Pictures for you No one to harm now Just a cool ocean view So why'd I come this far to keep us alive? Too many people were calling your name When you were calling mine My best ideas have been rejected countless times They demonize my choices expecting I'll act in kind …well that ain't kind Why can't they see I'm fighting back tears? I landed on this side of Mars to placate my fears The captain's advice I squander every day When a man rolls the dice the child drifts away This frightening idea occurs to me I pray in the dark to a God I'll never see So here's my confession to those keeping score The truth about Mars? She's taught me to love more Pinned to the wall I learned to fight Echoes in the distance restore me at night You caught me when I fell—when my heart was burning When I get back will the world still be turning?

Feel the haze closing in A megawatt invasion The buzz chills your fingers Try to squeeze it off but it lingers Doctors call for a round of tests Probe my brain and scan my chest When all I need is a potion To set the wheels back in motion This stranglehold is gonna choke me My last attack nearly broke free Sometimes I feel a slow burn inside Like a four-alarm fire tracking up and down my spine Weak defenses wringing my senses dry Book myself a front row seat For the summer concert season But then a sense of doom takes hold The back of my neck turns ice cold It never stays away long enough For me to know which end is up Gimme a decent warning I'll be crashin till three in the morning My girl's convinced I’m lazy This damn routine's makin me crazy Here it comes and comes again… Can't catch my breath Fight or flight hangs in the balance This fear of imminent death You can blame yourself forever And blow your shell-shocked brains out But they won't forgive and won't forget How you caved and took the bailout Even now when the worst is over The pitter patter fills my chest Not a heart condition but a signpost The symptoms lie like a talk show host Test results don't get disclosed To ease the pressure before it blows Just a message on my smartphone Emergency numbers—still unknown My self-esteem floats away in the water As reason and rhyme get slaughtered Sometimes I feel a slow burn inside Like a four-alarm fire tracking up and down my spine Pointless dread get outta my head Goodbye!

There he goes to the house of strangers He used to live there in constant danger Keeps the darkness locked away Head face down Now he's in the halls of magic Shhhh…don't make a sound Stretched out on the couch glazed eyes wide shut Tells a wild tragic story Feels the burn in his gut The doctor tries to wake him but he's just too drugged to hear Obsessed with all he used to be A captive of his fears There he stands in the house of strangers It's unfamiliar—they rearranged it A look of panic fills his eyes Hits the floor face down Breathe deep for the next half-hour Shhhh…let's go another round Stranded in a lime-green desert Chased by dogs through the woods Unprepared for the final exam Would scream for help if he could His doctor takes him deeper than instincts would suggest But this case seems untreatable This patient is possessed Doctor—I'm a wreck…here's your check Now can you help me here? You and I both know all too well I've been gettin it wrong for years and years How can I cut through these chains? Can I file a claim? There he goes from the house of strangers Crushed and torn apart from the flood of changes Speeds away… Can't look back Wants to die face down This time try to let yourself go numb We're goin way back now… Let's count off…1—2—3—to the ground! A grown man cries for the pain of his youth He doesn't waste time in the search for truth Vows not to punish the kids in his dreams But he'll never break the cycle It's not as easy as it seems No?

You believe in polarized fiction Spreading lies to keep us down You're deep in the zone of mass deception Trying to hide this hole in the ground How can we be sure of your actions? Why not let us confirm it ourselves? I'm not inclined to offer you traction Aggressive war gaming never ends well Don't pretend you're only here for one season Just to buy a bigger house by the sea We're the pawns in a ramshackle system Designed to fool either you or me

The news is out They say it's not good Your hand was in the cookie jar stealin from the hood Why are you still running? When do you think you'll show? That look on your face says they're never gonna know Now you're in danger of losing an empire That took so long to build You're holding onto dead weight That shit'll bring you down Don't take us for granted man We're standing our ground Life don't mean a thing With your gut busted open or your head in a sling You eat what you kill—sometimes it comes up It trips the alarm but not before you've had enough Under false pretenses I signed the dotted line Sniping was my big mistake It taught me I was blind You were so committed then We brought them to their knees But the aftermath cost everything we'd built overseas Somewhere there's a prisoner donning his disguise The master of the castle looks down He watches as the prisoner tiptoes towards the gate The guards can't stop him—it's already too late Words don't mean a thing When twisted up like pretzels or chewed up like chicken wings Sew a pig's ear all covered in mud Even a cow can't make fresh milk from cud Hey wait a minute people Whaddya think I'm made of stone? Sure I tripped myself up a little here and there But I was only spreading God's word—was I alone? You're calling me a Jesus freakin guy Well look what I put up with? The mystery is why When history's rewritten And the bums are long gone They'll bargain for a bigger block of someone else's lawn We'll celebrate the empty rhetoric purged of all detail And leverage our future on a fool's coattails It's easy to be enthralled by a rags-to-riches story From the backstreets to Wonderland sells And each time we're suckered in we take a nosedive Over the icy cliff… Again? Downsized! This we call a punishing hard drive

It can numb your feeling Make you think you care It can leave you reeling Are you almost there? If your hope is fading Let your conscience sleep The red shadow awakens you When you plunge too deep Unhinged (they watch him closely) On the run (from a frightening memory) He left home (didn't even say goodbye) With a loaded gun Drew a line (he's afraid to cross) In the desert sand If he made it back home alive again He'd be a better man Tread carefully until there's proof You can't trust what you read Don't look to them to reveal the truth They'll cut and let you bleed Make believe you know what's right And then it all becomes clear The red shadow restores your sight When total darkness draws near

When he flies he sleeps and he dreams… Found on the bed A note A bottle It said she was really wrong He was scared He fled to her home alone She was there She was dead

I'm your brother lemme get near you I can be your best friend We can chill out Lemme teach you my new game You get two while I take ten I'm your mother let me protect you I know what you're thinking Your faith in me will surely destroy you Grab your vest this ship is sinking Thanks4thinkiname Maybe I don't show it much but I do appreciate it That thing you do it makes me run and hide And the way you prop me up I really hate it Stand back—you're crowding me You gotta learn to leave me alone Just take what's yours then be on your way The noise here is haunting me—it's deafening I'm not a drone! She is all I want But can't trust my feelings or reasons for love Afraid to take chances or make a new start Who'll take the blame when our world falls apart? I'm your sister let me adore you Tuck me in at bedtime I don't care if you're losing your marbles When I grow up will you still be mine? I'm your father—how can I reach you? You know what I'm after All I need is emotional rescue Give it up boy—come down from the rafters Thanks4thinkiname It's gotten hard to say but I do appreciate it You fucked me up where it counts inside And now that I'm here on my own You really hate it Get back! You're shadowing me I'd love to disappear and I've tried My getaway plans have been upgraded to urgent Go find yourselves a hero coz this one died She is all I have But we ignore our feelings and reasons for love Never take chances to open our hearts Will anyone warn me if she falls apart?

Who will save what's left of me? Let's turn it up and get tight together Set the house rules aside This bottle's gonna trash me and throttle me blind So hold on… I've never been accused of choosing water over wine Let's go now Wait a minute Let's go! Wait a minute [won't you please?] I've got another round or two Where are my car keys? There's blood on my shoe Life is so much sweeter when they're not pouring water over wine Will you give me a piece of your mind? I'd rather you wait till we're alone together It's been another wasted day My boss gave me the finger and two weeks' pay Maybe I'm crazy but I won't chug water over wine Let's go now Wait a minute Let's go! Wait a minute [pretty please?] I need another shot or three Come back and holler when I'm down on one knee Woman, you know how hard I've tried to chase water over wine All men feel the heat Some men taste defeat Good men come around When shit turns upside down Sunlight… New rhythm… Think twice… Then give it to em There's less to the story than meets the eye Just gimme a chance to make it sound more better Patience—you gotta have faith Things are gonna take a little time and space Don't say I promised you I'd ever drink water over wine Let's go now Wait a minute Let's go! Wait a minute [woman please] I'm begging you for just one more Help me pull myself up I'm nailed to the floor Sometimes I wonder why I don't explore water over wine

It's on my mind It's in my bones Why can't we just bury the stone? We let them tear our world apart Makes you wonder what's in our hearts We're subdivided Losing touch This us and them is all too much Locked-and-loaded corrupts the soul The fighting takes a wicked toll This started out with so much promise People came to learn our ways They crashed the ports and jumped the fences Some fought hard to let them stay While up on stage the rants grew louder Until they couldn't even hear themselves We watched them close their eyes in battle The thrill of war had cast its spell As crowds took sides they crushed the spirit Trapped inside a ghost-filled room We're stuck again with vexing choices Desperate now to crawl back in the womb You told me to run like hell that's true I lost my bearings without you They tied our hands We swallowed the pill Leaving behind a legacy Against our will

Here I am A man pleading guilty as charged The perfect life I was searching for Could never have surfaced on Mars And in the years since my return This wasting of energy and time Kept holding me back from running with you But that's just the least of my crimes I can do it I can change I can do it right away Whaddya say? In the darkness when the eyes fall Just show me the hole in the wall I'll crawl straight through That's all you have to do Stay with me Promise you'll finish your task The sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer Will carve your face into my mask And when I blink I'll look your way These memories will be there enshrined Together we can find peace running again No longer wasting our time