The Ballad Of The Costa Concordia

I used to like the mornings

I’d survived another night

I’d walk to breakfast through the garden

See the flowers stretching in the sunlight

Now I wake up in the mornings

And all the kindness is drained out of me

I spend hours just wincing

And trying to regain some sense of peace

If only I could sustain my anger

Feel it grow stronger and stronger

It sharpens to a point and sheds my skin

Shakes off the weight of my sins

And takes me to heaven

I stay up late every night

Out of some general protest

But with no one to tell you to come to bed

It’s not really a contest

And maybe you think

I’ll learn from my mistake

But not this time

It’s just gonna break me

If only I could sustain my anger

Feel it grow stronger and stronger

It sharpens to a point and sheds my skin

Shakes off the weight of my sins

And takes me to heaven

And if I’ve lost you for good

Could it have been any other way?

Was the water filling up for years

Or did I wreck it all in a day?

I’m going to bed now

I’ve sunk into my sorrows

And it’ll take three hundred million dollars

To get me up tomorrow

I won’t go down with this shit

I will put my hands up and surrender

There will be no more flags above my door

I have lost, and always will be

It was an expensive mistake

It was an expensive mistake

My horse broke his back to get me here

I have his blood on my hands for no reason

But what was I supposed to do?

How was I supposed to know how to use a tube amp?

How was I supposed to know how to drive a van?

How was I supposed to know how to ride a bike without hurting myself?

How was I supposed to know how to make dinner for myself?

How was I supposed to know how to hold a job?

How was I supposed to remember to grab

My backpack after I set it down to play basketball?

How was I supposed to know how to not get drunk

Every thursday, friday, saturday, and why not sunday?

How was I supposed to know how steer this ship?

How the hell was I supposed to steer this ship?

It was an expensive mistake

You can’t say you’re sorry and it’s over

I was given a body that is falling apart

My house is falling apart

I was given a mind that can't control itself

I was given a ship that can't steer itself

And what about the pain I’m in right now?

And what about a vacation?

And what about a vacation to feel good?

My horse broke his back and left me here

How was I supposed to know?

And God won’t forgive me

And you won’t forgive me

Not unless I open up my heart

And how am I supposed to do that

When I go to this same room every night

Sleep in the same bed every night?

Same fucking bed

With the red comforter, with the white stripes

And the yellow ceiling light makes me feel like I’m dying

This sea is too familiar

How many nights have I drowned here?

How many times have I drowned?

I give up

I give up

Let us take you back to where we came in

We were united, an undivided nation

We got divided, it was something inside us

And it was not us

We were so naive, we were just like animals

Told what to believe by the beasts who took control

We wanted control too, but that was normal

'Cause our life was one of survival

The decisions we've made, if you can call it deciding

With your life on the line, it'd be social suicide to change your mind

So we got mad and we split the scene

Now we download all of our shit for free

It's the new economy, we have nothing to offer and we sleep on trash

I give up

I give up

Let us take you back to where you came in

A man clinging to the cliff of revelation

So scared of what he would find, he started crying

It was not me

Stopped at the borderline, they took his disguise

So he read a book that won a Pulitzer prize

It was about death

It didn't help

He saw himself in it

He was disturbed at the conclusions it led to

But he couldn't say what, because the author was dead too

And so though he made fun of us, he has now become one of us

I give up

I give up

I give up

I give up

And you wake up trembling

From a dream where I swam into the river

I reach out and hold you in my arms

I love you, I love you, I love you