Surf And/Or Die

Earthbound to Johnny boy just picked up your message

'Bout those Balinese ikats you thought I might buy

Now your voice on my machine is more alive than what you are

Since your daredevil hang glider fell out of the sky

Now Armand's looked all over but he can't find your car keys

Were they under the tire? Were they under the seat?

Because as it stands now your beloved white Aires

Is fair game for the vandals up on Makapuu Street

And your grandmother's number, we know it's here somewhere

But Suze can't seem to find it, now she's losing control

And so what about her, and little Eldon and Layla

And that hypothetical spectre, your gilt-edged soul

Which defied many perils, in the face of all reason

And in so many settings and for all your young years

Insisting on pure freedom for its too-short season

Riding high on its ration of enchantment and fear

Over the hill and into the next meadow and on and on and on

In a near random universe there are still certain combinations

Picked out from all other possible ones

Which, when given some time and the just-right circumstances

Not too far from the earth or too close to the sun

They will dance and they'll spin in the embrace of the trade winds

Playing havoc with the hearts and the upturned faces down below

Until the laws of curved spacetime, susponed without warning

Kick back in with a vengeance for the last act of the show

Going too far too fast in that final wing over

As your glider comes tumbling out of the clouds

And you clutch at your chest but the chute never opens

And they find you there tangled in that white nylon shroud

When we get Grandma's number I think I'll just say to her

Your Johnny's home for Christmas, it was a hell of a ride

And I know that some day you'll be showing me those blankets

All covered in glory on the hereafter side, saying

There was never any question, it was always all or nothing

Surf and/or die