The Wonder Years - No Closer To Heaven Album Lyrics

We're no saviours if we can't save our brothers
We're no saviours if we can't save our brothers
We're no saviours if we can't save our brothers
We're no saviours, we're no saviours

Cardinal crashed into my window, I think he might die
I'll plan him a funeral, I'll read his last rites
'Cause I know what he saw in that reflection of light
On the glass was a better life

Staring at a hole in your chest that's been dug there for decades
American broken promises
Caught between the lies you've been fed
And a war with your bloodstream
I should have been there when you needed a friend
I was off on my own again
Selfish and stupid

So if you call me back or let me in
I swear I'll never let you down again
I know the devil you've been fighting with
I swear I'll never let you down again

I had that nightmare again
You're seven and helpless, angry as hell
And you balled up your fists but I laughed at your swings
And I beat you half-conscious
I know that I failed you, woke up in a sweat
I want those years back

So if you call me back or let me in
I swear I'll never let you down again
I know the devil you've been fighting with
I swear I'll never let you down again

We're no saviors if we can't save our brothers
We're no saviors if we can't save our brothers

So if you call me back or let me in
I swear I'll never let you down again
I know the devil you've been fighting with
I swear I'll never let you down again

So if you call me back or let me in
I swear I'll never let you down again
I know the devil you've been fighting with
I swear I'll never let you down again
Never let you down again

My airbag light's been on for weeks
And I keep having dreams
Where I go through the windshield but I don't fix it.
Patsy Cline came and sang to me.
She told everybody
That she knew she would die soon before she did.

I hear you cry on "Faded Love".
The air in August here's heavy with salt and smoke and stings my lungs.

My airbag light's been on for weeks
And I can feel it mock me.
It's bittersweet, like laughter through crooked teeth.
I wanna move so far from everything
That they can hear my heart beat
And then break as I lay dying in the street.

They'll think the ice cracked at the lake.
They'll think a tire blew out and a car crashed on the interstate.

It's hard to watch you walk away.
These aren't the vultures that were circling just yesterday.
It's hard to watch you walk away.
(It's hard to watch you walk away.)
They're picking at bones, at what's left of your misery.

Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh

So when my vocal chords rip,
So when my knees give in,
So when I bury all of this,
Who's gonna give a shit
If I'm breathing?

It's hard to watch you walk away.
These aren't the vultures that were circling just yesterday.
It's hard to watch you walk away.
(It's hard to watch you walk away.)
They're picking at bones, at what's left of your misery.

Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
My airbag light's been on for weeks.
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
My airbag light's been on for weeks.

Tossed around like sea glass, and you rounded out my edges
I'll feel better when the headaches go away
I've got a scar across my forehead, turning purple in the cold
From a night at Shore Memorial, I was sixteen and afraid
Turned away
And I'm working babyface
Out of Mid-South in the eighties
I kept a blade hidden in my wrist tape

I think I'm growing into someone you could trust
I want to shoulder the weight until my back breaks
I want to run till my lungs give up
If I could manage not to f*ck this up
If I could manage not to f*ck this up
I think enough is enough

Hidden in the tall grass, in the naked light of day
Put my past self in the ground, I've been dancing on the grave
I'm not the person that I was then, you're standing in the way
I was bitter, I was careless, I was nineteen and afraid

But you deserve more from me
I don't know why I would say those things
But you deserve more than me and I'm trying every day

I think I'm growing into someone you could trust
I want to shoulder the weight until my back breaks
I want to run till my lungs give up
If I could manage not to f*ck this up
If I could manage not to f*ck this up
I think enough is enough

Let me walk in circles
You were a shot in the dark
You were the baby teeth I buried
You were the sounds of distant cars

Let me walk in circles
You were a shot in the dark
You were the banner that says "no one"
That I tattooed across my heart

Let me walk in circles
You were a shot in the dark
You scattered like ashes across every song that I write
You are the light pollution stars

I think I'm growing into someone you could trust
I want to shoulder the weight until my back breaks
I want to run till my lungs give up
If I could manage not to f*ck this up
If I could manage not to f*ck this up
Enough is enough

Twice a week I pass by the church that held your funeral
And the pastor's words come pouring down like rain
How he called you a sinner and said now you walk with Jesus
So the drugs that took your life aren't gonna 'cause you any pain
I don't think he even knew your name
And I refuse to kneel and pray
I won't remember you that way

I lit you a candle in every cathedral across Europe
And I hope you know you're still my patron saint
I tried to forgive, but I can't forget the cigar in his fist
I know that they were heartsick, but I need someone to blame
And I know how they blamed me
I know what you'd say
You'd tell me it was your fault
I should put all my arrows away

I'm sure there ain't a heaven
But that don't mean I don't like to picture you there
I'll bet you're bumming cigarettes off saints
And I'm sure you're still singing
But I'll bet that you're still just a bit out of key
That crooked smile pushing words across your teeth

'Cause you were heat lightning
Yeah, you were a storm that never rolled in
You were the northern lights in a southern town
A caustic fleeting thing
I'll bury your memories in the garden
And watch them grow with the flowers in spring
I'll keep you with me

These wolves in their suits and ties
Saying, kid, you can trust me
Charming southern drawl, sunken eyes
Buying good will in hotel lobbies
Buy fistfuls of pills to make sure you don't hurt no more
You don't gotta feel anything
Got their fangs in our veins
Got their voice in our head
Got our arms in their grips
No, we can't shake free

This goddamn machine, hungry and heartless
My whole generation got lost in the margin
We put our faith in you and you turned a profit
Now we're drowning here under the waves
(We're no saviors if we can't save our brothers)
Drowning out under the waves
(We're no saviors if we can't save our brothers)
Drowning out, drowning out

You can't have my friends
You can't have my brothers
You can't have my friends
You can't have my brothers
You can't have my friends
You can't have my brothers
You can't have me
No, you can't have me

We sat quiet on the hill,
Out just north of Wing's Field,
Waiting on the runway lights.
We were wrapped in winter coats.
And I said I'd drive you home.
You'd been pulling at your flask all night.

I wrapped my arms around the moment like I'm clutching a memory;
You alive in your madness, in love with the night.

The glow of the furnace.
The ambulance lights.
The bluest things on Earth don't know shit about the blues.
You used to be vibrant.
You used to burn bright.

Put out the light
In your clouded eyes.
Kept you inside
Through the summertime.
You put up a fight
Pressing flowers at night in a book that you loved.
The pieces they can't take of us.

I found you shaking at a lake,
A hospital bracelet still tight to your wrist.
We talked to fill the empty space.
Dance on the ice until it breaks.
They flooded a town so this park could exist.
You see us walking on the streets in your dreams.

The pills that they fed you.
Your half-awake eyes.
The bluest things on Earth don't know shit about the blues.
You used to burn.

Put out the light
In your clouded eyes.
Kept you inside
Through the summertime.
You put up a fight
Pressing flowers at night in a book that you loved.
The pieces they can't take of us.

Put out the light
In your clouded eyes.
Kept you inside
Through the summertime.
You put up a fight
Pressing flowers at night in a book that you loved.
There's pieces they can't take of us.
There's pieces they can't take of us.

The sky goes from concrete to charcoal.
I'm laying on my back on the roof.
I'm gonna shoot these clouds full of holes.
I need some f*cking light to pour through
Because December's got me up against the ropes.
And I don't know how to get loose.
I can't get feeling back in my toes.
I'm walking in circles with you
Like we're lost Canadian geese.
I should be south of here already.

I'll be your dead bird.
You'll be my bloodhound.
You're just doing what you're told;
Pick my body off the ground.
I'll be your dead bird.

I'm staring at Hemingway's shotgun.
I picture him drinking alone.
He's forgetting things that he wouldn't have before.
His eyesight's starting to go.
And I heard all about how his plane went down after Christmas in the Congo.
He read about his own death in the paper.
I bet it was freeing to know.
When you destroy anything worth chasing,
There's nowhere left to go.

I'll be your dead bird.
You'll be my bloodhound.
You're just doing what you're told;
Pick my body off the ground.
I'll be your dead bird.
Hanging from your mouth.
You're doing what you're told;
Gonna make your master proud.
It's good to know
I didn't die for nothing.

December's got me backed into a corner again.
My ears are back.
My teeth are showing.
I'm combing through the wreckage trying to find where I've been.
I still get phantom pains,
But from a safer distance.

I'll be your dead bird.
You'll be my bloodhound.
You're just doing what you're told;
Pick my body off the ground.
I'll be your dead bird.
Hanging from your mouth.
You're doing like you're told;
Gonna make your master proud.
It's good to know
I didn't die for nothing.

December's got me backed into a corner again.
My ears are back.
(I didn't die for nothing.)
My teeth are showing.
I'm combing through the wreckage trying to find where I've been.
I still get phantom pains,
I didn't die for nothing.

I washed chain grease and blood off of my hands
In the ocean, I let salt water rinse the dirt away
I stood calm in a room I hadn't been in
In a decade, I felt dizzy, used to stand here every day

Wait out the storm in a harbor town
Pretend I'll see you in fall
Wait out the storm in a harbor town, whoa

Hey Hannah, don't go
We could've given you such a beautiful home
I won't call
No, you're waiting right outside
Thanks for the ride

I watched lines of container ships drift in
Just off of Long Beach, I thought long about where you would be today
We lose touch after college came my way
I hear you got married to some boy from California
Have a family on the way

Wait out the storm in a harbor town
Pretend I'll see you in Fall
Wait out the storm in a harbor town, whoa

Hey Hannah, don't go
We could've given you such a beautiful home
I won't call
No, you're waiting right outside
Thanks for the ride

Hey Hannah, don't go
We could've given you such a beautiful home
I won't call
No, you're waiting right outside

I'm letting balloons drift off
Sending kids to a lonely God
Darling, please wake up
I'm letting balloons drift off
Sending kids to a lonely God
If you see her, tell her I'm not giving up
(See her, tell her I'm not giving up)

Hey Hannah, don't go
We could've given you such a beautiful home
I won't call
No, you're waiting right outside

Hey Hannah, don't go
We could've given you such a beautiful home
I won't call
No, you're waiting right outside
Thanks for the ride

Hey Hannah, don't go
We could've given you such a beautiful home
I won't call
No, you're waiting right outside
Thanks for the ride

Like a burning monk
My light flared out in the dark
You're my constant call to arms
Took the blindfold off then left chalk outlines where the future was
It's a goddamn war of attrition
It's a death by a thousand cuts
And if these motherf*ckers made it to heaven
They burned the bridge when they got across

They're gathering anchors, they're gathering rope
You push into heaven all alone
They're grabbing your ankles, they won't let you go
The ebb and the distant flow
They're cutting your wings off
Built your ceilings out of stained glass

Well you cut like gravel in my skinned knee
The wound will close eventually
You'll stay as a reminder of how f*cked this world can be
Held your funeral on a Tuesday
Holy waters, November cold
The kid who pulled the trigger
Knew too well, couldn't promise him hope

All these bastards are gathering rope
You push into heaven all alone
They're grabbing your ankles, they won't let you go
The ebb and the distant flow
They're cutting your wings off
Built your ceilings out of stained glass
They were cutting your wings off
I was staring at my idle hands
Maybe I could've done something
Maybe I could've made a difference

John Wayne with a God complex tells me to buy a gun
Like shooting a teenage kid is gonna solve any problems
Like it's an arms race, like death don't mean nothing
To know the heavy price of a living boy?
The world in my red lines, backed into a corner
Not knowing growing up what it's like to belong here in America

If everyone feels the same then how come building's so f*cking hard for you?
It's something we're all born into
Enough is enough, too gray
It's black or white and sometimes black and blue
It's something we're all born into, whoa-oh
Now I know what's in a name, not just my father
This old man makes half of me, why should I bother?
Machines of misery
Stuck in the dead f*cking John Wayne's f*cking God complex
Everything in front of me, but there is far enough
To touch those fever dreams they call America
I am the general's chosen one
The privileged bastard's son

They're gathering anchors, they're gathering rope
You push into heaven all alone
They're gathering anchors, they're gathering rope
You push into heaven all alone, no, all alone

Well I cut open my palm and held it out to you
You do the same with your own army surplus blade
My blood's never as warm as I expect it
You grab my hand adorned in wildflower warpaint

You made yellows out of marigolds
You made purple out of camellias

We charged in first into the woods with bows and arrows drawn
Crudely fashioned sticks and rubber bands and spray paint
We swore ourselves protected from all the evil in the world
You weren't born my brother, but you're gonna die that way

You ran alone (you ran alone)
In the falling snow
Backwards down Wickes Road
I watched your bruises grow (your bruises grow)
Strictly beautiful
Purple and yellow
You said don't
Don't take me home
Don't take me home
Don't take me home

Your father came in angry like a thunderstorm
Searching room from room and I watched color draining from your face
Fog lights started forming underneath all of your floorboards
We sat terrified waiting on an earthquake

I watched you put on a brave face
I wanted so badly to be brave

You ran alone (you ran alone)
In the falling snow
Backwards down Wickes Road
I watched your bruises grow (your bruises grow)
Strictly beautiful
Purple and yellow
You said don't
Don't take me home
Don't take me home
Don't take me home

Kicked you out to teach you what a man is
But I don't think I'll ever know what that means
They'll put a gun into your hand and call you weak
Until you're violent
Don't believe it
They're hateful 'cause they're empty
We've got a chance to break the cycle

We could be the heroes that we always said we'd be
Don't take me home, don't take me home, don't take me
Don't take me home, don't take me home, don't take me
Home, home
Don't take me home, don't take me home, don't take me
Home, home
Don't take me home, don't take me home, don't take me

Goddamn you look holy
Hit from behind with light
You're a painting of a saint
And I'm nervous, stumbling over my lines
When I tell you I love you
When we stare at Catalina
The city lost to the sea
Carried out by the tides
You were the one thing I got right

Goddamn you look holy
Bathed in the January light
On the floor of our new bedroom
On the carpet with the window open wide
When you tell me you love me
I can actually see it
Your breath frozen in the air
Newborn droplets of light
You were the one thing I got right

I'm measuring heartbeats and miles away
You held me together
I used to burst and decay
We got off the airplane
A couple of runaways
I was hoping you'd stay
Could you stay

You were the holiest one
From a taxi cab in Chelsea
Out past Appalachian Mountain
You were the holiest one
From a walk along the highline
Out to Wicker Park in August
You were the holiest one
From your Upper East Side dorm room
To the South West barren hot lands
You smile into the sand
Goddamn I hate leaving

Another early flight
I ran the dishwasher this morning
I wanted there to be clean plates for you tonight
I've grown used to your perfume
It hangs in the morning light
Wake me up before you leave for work
Kiss me goodbye
You were the one thing I got right

I'm measuring heartbeats and miles away
You held me together
I used to burst and decay
We got off the airplane
A couple of runaways
I was hoping you'd stay
Could you stay

I'm measuring heartbeats and miles away
You held me together
I used to burst and decay
We got off the airplane
A couple of runaways
I'm glad that you stayed

I bought flowers from a drifter
Cut my hand on a thorn
Straight across the fate line
I'm no palm reader but
I doubt that's the sign I was looking for

A rainy night in California
Told me you fought in the war
And I'm so desperate to do the right thing
I'm not sure what that even is any more
He found a bus stop to weather the storm

I'm gonna stand up straight
I'm gonna clear my throat and speak out, unafraid
Mom, I want you to know
I'm letting everything you taught me guide me home

Faded light from the projector
It's spitting something out on the screen
That pool we swam in caved in years ago
We filled it up with furniture and concrete
I saw right in the wrong then
The lines were simple and clean
And now the people I was taught would be heroes
We're acting like cowards, killers, and thieves
I'm losing track of who the good guys are supposed to be

I'm gonna stand up straight
I'm gonna clear my throat and speak out, unafraid
Dad, I want you to know
I'm letting everything you taught me guide me home

Coming undone at the seams
Stretched back shirts and muted dreams
Oh please
Undone at the seams
Stretched back shirts and muted dreams
Oh please
Undone at the seams
Stretched back shirts and muted dreams
Oh

I'm gonna stand up straight
I'm gonna clear my throat and speak out, unafraid
Mom, I want you to know
I'm letting everything you taught me guide me home

Stand up straight
I'm gonna clear my throat and speak out, unafraid
Dad, I want you to know
I'm letting everything you taught me guide me home

Digging up the bones of the failures I've buried
I'm pulling out my white flags in various stages
The sun bleached in gray
Gonna sew them all together
Gonna fashion their bones into a frame
Tie the flags on a string
Stretched across until they're wings
I'm no closer to heaven

I clipped a bird with my car on the freeway
He won't see a burial
And all week long I kept thinking of death
How me and Hemingway share forehead scars
I won't meet the same fate that he did
In a world that I can't fix
With a hammer in my grip
I'm no closer to heaven

It feels like the day before something important
It feels like the first snow of the season that sticks
It's how I'll always feel like a failure
In the back of my head
No matter where I've been

The future feels bright
The glow of the city
Out across the great plains
With the closer I get
The further I feel away
I can stay here in the darkness
Feels like I'm wandering in circles for days
We never reach the gates
I'll keep walking anyway
I'm no closer to heaven

The heat coming off of the highway
makes the mountains out in the distance
look like they're shuddering;
look like they lost themselves in a moment
they hate remembering.
I know the feeling.

I want you to know (I want you to know)
I don't feel so alone (I don't feel so alone)

I'm slow dancing with San Andreas,
scared to death I won't walk these streets again.
If we fail are we collateral damage?
Did any of this make a difference?

These snow drifts haunt the Dakotas
like they're ghosts crawling on the freeway
Looking for a resting place.
Looking for roadside memorials, crosses and roses, a makeshift grave
A place they could fade away.

I want you to know (I want you to know)
I don't feel so alone (I don't feel so alone)

I'm slow dancing with San Andreas,
scared to death I won't walk these streets again.
If we fail are we collateral damage?
Did any of this make a difference?

I'm drowning in shallow water.
I'm singing through the lump in my throat again.
If I'm given a voice but I don't say a thing,
is that blood on my hands?

My grandfather drove a city bus
so maybe all this wandering in circles
comes from somewhere in my blood.
My grandfather drove a city bus
so maybe all this restlessness,
this discontent, this constant search for progress is in my blood

I'm slow dancing with San Andreas,
scared to death I won't walk these streets again.
If we fail are we collateral damage?
Did any of this make a difference?

I'm drowning in shallow water.
I'm singing through the lump in my throat again.
If I'm given a voice but I don't say a thing,
is that blood on my hands?