Lyrics: Lost in Light Rotation
1. Agincourt
Francine / the finer points careen / on a second hand drum machine / still I never minded
I misspoke / to start a fire without much smoke / if you can take, you can take a joke / till the words ignited
I always waved from the window when you walked past
I used to be clever but it didn’t last
The late crowd’s up all night
And they heard us singing
Oh – oh – oh / you don’t know when to stop
I keep finding all my records at the charity shop
Now I’m waiting
Agincourt
God save / God save the Queen’s allure / and these thoughts are not so pure / as to be reminded
That this Love / this love it bangs a drum / and you can take it –take it –take it down some / for the uninvited
I always waved from the window when you walked past
I used to be clever but it didn’t last
The late crowd’s up all night
And they heard us singing
Oh – oh – oh / you don’t know when to stop
I keep finding all my records at the charity shop
Now I’m waiting
Agincourt
2. Queenie Co.
And now everybody’s tongue-tied
And we may never be….
I love my music and I’m tired of my fake friends
I’ve watched the sun come up in Memphis and I can’t pretend
I tripped and fell and fell in love with the perfect sound
It took the stabs of near regret to turn me back around
White flags go up
Decidedly but…
This time, This time
You wrote the letters that I found
White flags go up
And now everybody’s tongue-tied and we may never be
And now everybody’s tongue-tied and we may never be here again
We wrote our names but for the ink and found the chapel wall
Sometimes I miss you and I hate you when you finally call
I’ve built this heart of precious metal and it’s not for sale
My friends back home don’t know me they still call me Abigail
White flags go up
Decidedly but…
This time, This time
You wrote the letters that I found
White flags go up
And now everybody’s tongue-tied and we may never be
And now everybody’s tongue-tied and we may never be
And now everybody’s tongue-tied and we may never be here again
3. Lost in Light Rotation
Modern saints hear themselves on the radio
Bulletproof till the girls say they gotta go
Drawn the line from the Minks to the Maginot
Trade the myth for the truth and tend to overrate
A working knowledge of the rock-n-roll your parents hate
turn it up, turn it up on the solid state
Sew the patches on your sleeve and claim the artifact
Bowery boys love you once they don’t want you back
Count the names you replaced in the photograph
Never took the time to learn the slang that we speak or the slogans on the t-shirts
Never took the time to read the map to avoid all the fake diy traps
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station when you’re lost in light rotation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station when you’re lost in light rotation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station with your broken reputation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the girls.
We’d seen enough to be done in Nevadaville
But now you’ve taken-taken-taken to the bitter pill
A vacant need to be a part of something bigger still
The second time on the line you were overheard
We caught you singing, heard you singing almost every word
Skip it once, skip it twice, then you skip the third
Never took the time to learn the slang that we speak or the slogans on the t-shirts.
Never took the time to read the map to avoid all the fake diy traps
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station when you’re lost in light rotation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station when you’re lost in light rotation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station with your broken reputation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the girls.
Got the taste of attention now you’re not the same
They caught you giving now you’re giving up your given name
Candy floss sit across in the parlor game
Sew the patches on your sleeve and claim the artifact
Bowery boys love you once they don’t want you back
Count the names you replaced in the photograph
Never took the time to learn the slang that we speak or the slogans on the t-shirts.
Never took the time to read the map to avoid all the fake diy traps
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station when you’re lost in light rotation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station when you’re lost in light rotation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the
Raygun – Raygun!
We just change the station with your broken reputation you’re not fast enough to keep up with the girls.
4. Westchester Turnabouts
Hanging up the phone with the fliers / at the bus stop waiting patiently as patience expires
Standing still with toes on the line / your co-dependant zine relationship affords you the time
The Terry town bell doesn’t ring anymore / unpolished slogan reads that punk love has finally lost / mistakes & letters tossed / you’re standing with your ankles crossed
Tiptoes and tailored doubts / Westchester turnabouts
Still you keep holding out for too much the same
Six years and mixed regrets / Westchester minuets
Stuck on the day you left I’m too much the same
Saving up the words for the few / replaced the subtlety of irony with songs no one knew
The truancy of love we had known / I’d dance with anyone to keep myself from being alone
The muted post horn doesn’t sing anymore / unpolished slogan reads that punk love has finally lost / mistakes & letters tossed / you’re standing with your ankles crossed
Tiptoes and tailored doubts / Westchester turnabouts
Still you keep holding out for too much the same
Six years and mixed regrets / Westchester minuets
Stuck on the day you left I’m too much the same
5. From Wichita with Love
The cliques and the codes were universal
The rain set the tone at the rehearsal
Still the years had worn
A simple conversation might remove the thorn
The months and mistakes would sit between us
A plan poised to fail less than ingenious
But who could know the band would play so sudden
Your skirt was made from curtains
While your bangs showed off your buttons
It’s too precise for some
You asked me if I wanted
Too precise for some
You asked me if I wanted
It’s too precise for some
You asked me if I wanted to dance with you
Do you wanna dance
The fits and the breaks weren’t worth regretting
Three years, four proms, and then a wedding
But some time had passed
The swans that ruled the lunchroom they wouldn’t last
The rules we ignored were understated
In a wave of contempt we’d both created
Taking tempered risk and a borrowed blank aesthetic
From Wichita with love we’d woken up to apathetic
6. Elks Lodge Riot
We counted cracks on the ceiling as the moonlight split the pines
We hadn’t paid much attention as the car crossed county lines
Tuned the dial to the station on the outpost radio
It wouldn’t make much difference if the viceroy hadn’t known
Between the moonlight and the door
It didn’t feel right anymore
We counted cracks on the ceiling as the moonlight split the pines
Despite the vows we had taken for the first time there was doubt
We took the bombs to the basement and the dancehall records out
I doubt we’ll leave on this train, this train
I don’t believe a word you say
I doubt we’ll leave on this train, this train
Too Quite / Too Quite
We’re thowin’ pebbles at the Elks Lodge Riot
Make a promise to me next time we’ll get out
We counted cracks on the ceiling as the moonlight split the pines
We may collide for attention if we lose sight of the lines
I watched the rain run behind us and the cracks form in the mirror
In a rich pool of neon we were both faced with the fear
Between the moonlight and the door
It didn’t feel right anymore
We counted cracks on the ceiling as the moonlight split the pines
Despite the vows we had taken for the first time there was doubt
We took the bombs to the basement and the dancehall records out
I doubt we’ll leave on this train, this train
I don’t believe a word you say
I doubt we’ll leave on this train, this train
Too Quiet / Too Quiet
We’re thowin’ pebbles at the Elks Lodge Riot
Make a promise to me next time we’ll get out
We hadn’t been downtown since the lights went out and the darkness owned the street /And you may not recognize me when we meet
7. No Tic, All Tac
Once upon a plasticana red letter “V” / Chelsea broke her cousins out of C.C. D. / They bought the last four tickets up to 383 / And they waited
Vicky’s home from holiday with three weeks to go / She caught the flat fare bus and let her tan lines show / Looks like a top-notch line-up but the answer was no / still she waited
There’s no tic / It’s all tac
Every single one she’s got her hair dyed black
Chelsea kept the keys and now she’s fed up with boys / She wrote the first four digits in the back of McCoys / Attended Secondary Modern till she quit for The Noise / And she waited
Underlining phrases and circling love / Vicky says they’ll gonna blow-up at the Laurel Tree Pub /She’d make ‘em p – p – practice it in the attic above / Till they’ve made it
There’s no tic / It’s all tac
Every single one she’s got her hair dyed black
Eileen wants to play guitar in Reno / Chelsea needs to pay the rent on time / Allie’s heart’s not in it (and) Maureen wants to quit it / Vicky’s out to save the perfect rhyme
No one’s blamin’ Chelsea and it’s not Vicky’s fault / She’d written songs that paid attention (and) they shook for the salt / Too many t- t- tigers spun the band to a halt / and they faded
Allie was the first to go she quit with Maureen / They never played a proper show outside of Glasgow Green / we hear that Vicky‘s goin’ solo, Chelsea stuck with routine / And she waited
There’s no tic
It’s all tac
Every single one she’s got her hair dyed black
8. Dig Up the Graves
It started early and we stayed out late / the rings of Saturn would decide our fate
A dozen things that you never told me / The weeks and the months still you never told me
Divided up between the ones we know / we only wanna hear the ones we know
A dozen things that you never told me / The weeks and the months still you never told me
We’re staying up all night / They’ve seen us up all night / There’s just enough time left / Dig up the Graves! X2
The doubts / The beats / The punks / They follow you home
The days / The weeks / The months / They follow you home
Graves digging into your past / Convinced the days would last / Josie’s seen us up all night / We’re staying up all night
We pledge allegiance to the one we’ve known / This fear has held us like a sinking stone
A dozen things that you never told me / The weeks and the months still you never told me
Discount the reasons when the reasons rhyme / You couldn’t be a rebel not this time
A dozen things that you never told me / The weeks and the months still you never told me
We’re staying up all night / They’ve seen us up all night / There’s just enough time left / Dig up the Graves! X2
The doubts / The beats / The punks / They follow you home
The days / The weeks / The months / They follow you home
Graves digging into your past / Convinced the days would last / Josie’s seen us up all night / We’re staying up all night
Dig up the graves / I gave you fixed replies
Dig up the graves / I told you lies, lies, lies
Dig up the graves / As we embrace the light
And there will be no peace tonight… Dig up the graves
9. Wake up, Wake up
You seem resigned to find a frequency / Somehow I still believed in alchemy / The secrets we were told / they never turned to gold / Untie – untwist – until the brake lights blind us
The radio they called it Caroline / From ship to shore can we g-get a crime / We sank ‘With Sympathy’ / in 1983 / A heavy handed touch of symbolism finds us
Near the road / whose great fame was owed / to pending coronation
Near the road / in absence we’re told
We’re gonna wake up too soon
And I don’t wanna be the one who loved you
We’re gonna wake up too soon
We fell asleep without a sound / turn around
Turn around and finally brave the night /A single moon a single satellite /Picked up a souvenir / to prove that we were here / We trade nostalgia from the comfort of the bar stool.
I’ve seen your friends / I hear you’re married now /With every single dare / I dare avow / Somehow I made it worse / and simplified the verse /We lied awake with thoughts we’d pilfered from the art school
Still you know / the breakwaters slow / the waves of California
Still you know / there’s nowhere to go
We’re gonna wake up too soon
And I don’t wanna be the one who loved you
We’re gonna wake up too soon
We fell asleep without a sound / turn around
10. We Knew Your Name Until Your Heart Stopped
Listen up Dixie cup / We knew your name until your heart stopped
Heart stopped!
Handwritten quotes in red and blue / The saddest song they sang for you
Listen up dixie cup / We knew your name until your heart stopped
Heart stopped!/ The poignant words unworthy of / Our only currency was love
And you were sick of hiding / mistakes and riding rails
Trading tokens for the knock-offs / Selling t-shirts stuck with Voxtrot
Counting days with a dead end boy left me lonely
Not so stupid as to blame us / Nearly certain he’d be famous
An arrow straight from a North Star state if I only
You started as a coat check girl in Ephrata / The kerosene we watched drip to the ground / You clouded your decision with a gunshot /Shout it out! shout it out!
from the rooftop / Come Saturday night you’re gonna burn it all down
Listen up Dixie cup / We knew your name until your heart stopped
Heart stopped!
Ticonderoga raise the oar / Not sure I loved you anymore
Listen up dixie cup / We knew your name until your heart stopped
Heart stopped!
You pressed your lips with no reply / To test the ends and say goodbye
And you were sick of hiding / mistakes and riding rails
Trading tokens for the knock-offs / Selling t-shirts stuck with Voxtrot
Counting days with a dead end boy left me lonely
Not so stupid as to blame us / Nearly certain he’d be famous
An arrow straight from a North Star state if I only
You started as a coat check girl in Ephrata / The kerosene we watched drip to the ground / You clouded your decision with a gunshot /Shout it out! shout it out!
from the rooftop / Come Saturday night you’re gonna burn it all down
11. Anacortes
I used to know all of your secrets and your girlfriends too
I’d memorized the words to “Up The Junction” backwards
Your smile had faded still I held on to our best ideas
I never knew that I’d be paralyzed by your words
You keep skipping stones at my heart
The conversation turns and I don’t feel smart
When everyone around us chooses sides
The tiny moments linger and I just realized
Despite the fleeting fame you may afford us
I won’t miss you Anacortes
I cut the emblem from the Pennsylvania first state flag
And now it’s looking like a heavy metal t-shirt
I’m not saying heavy metal was a bad idea
I’m just thinking bout when you and I would fake flirt
Your coat was lined with fleece and promises
A checklist of the exits and the fire escapes you missed
The hesitation grew and split the seams
Too early for the queue but still it’s later than it seems
Despite the fleeting fame you may afford us
I won’t miss you Anacortes
The air around us it was frozen with the night’s kiss curl
Words were missing and we hadn’t thought to fake them
The radio was playing ‘Honesty’ and ‘Uptown Girl’
You never knew the rules enough to even break them
You always chose the lens and found the scratch
The caption and the photo we agreed would never match
I’d seen the grave indifference in your eyes
I hope you’re still remembered when the death of glitter dies
Despite the fleeting fame you may afford us
I won’t miss you Anacortes