Cartoon Blues lyrics

Song information

Artist: Bright Eyes
Album: Four Winds

Lyrics

I listened to a lecture of nonsense till dawn
By a plagiary poet with dark glasses on
He said, how did you ever dream up that song
The one where the baby dies?
I said, I'll tell you a secret, which one's your good ear?
See people are made up of water and fear
If there weren't women present we wouldn't be here
So let's make like we're friends
Then the pot turned to powder and soured the mood
The people I'd come with were gone from the room
So I asked like a child may I be excused
And disobeyed them all
Into the late night latrine rain soaking through my shoes
I tried walking backwards to get less confused
Working off a theory I could never prove
That it was life itself to blame

Time ruined the world
Like a failed revolution
A tumor we could not remove
An old friend
A constant
The blues

Now my days are distractions, sit wringing my hands
Solitaire, crosswords, and films on demand
When you turn from a cartoon back into a man
You start to smell that human smell
So I sleep with the fan on to drown out the street
And the noise rising up from the bar underneath
For that inconvenience all my drinks are free
So I guess it's just as well
Why do I envy the ending right from the start?
Just get it together to take it apart
Watching the horse as it follows the cart
I sweep up my broken spell

And I felt something changing the world
Like a new constitution
A thief I would have to pursue
At all times
At all costs
The truth