First Two Pages of Frankenstein Album Lyrics by The National

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Once Upon a Poolside

Don't make this any harder
Everybody's waiting
Walk on's almost over
Teenagers on ice
Try to keep my distance
Talking of forgiveness
Once upon a poolside
Underneath the lights

What was the worried thing you said to me?

I'll follow you everywhere
While you work the room
I don't know how you do it
Tangerine perfume
I'm not doing anyone
Any kind of favors
Watching airplanes land
And sink into the pavement

What was the worried thing you said to me?

I can't keep talking, I can't stop shaking
I can't keep track of everything I'm taking
Everything is different, why do I feel the same?
Am I asking for too much?
Can't hear what you're saying

What was the worried thing you said to me?
I thought we could make it through anything

This is the closest we've ever been
And I have no idea what's happening
Is this how this whole thing is gonna end?
This is the closest we've ever been

Don't make this any harder
Everybody's waiting
Walk on's almost over
Teenagers on ice
Try to keep my distance
Talking of forgiveness
Once upon a poolside
Underneath the lights

What was the worried thing you said to me?
I thought we could make it through anything

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Eucalyptus

What about the glass dandelions?
What about the TV screen?
What about the undeveloped camera?
Maybe we should bury these
What about the last of the good ones?
What about the ceiling fans?
What if we moved back to New York?
What about the moon drop light?

You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it
I'm only gonna break it
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it, you should take it

What about the rainbow eucalyptus?
What about the instruments?
What about the Cowboy Junkies?
What about the Afghan Whigs?
What about the Mountain Valley Spring?
What about the ornaments?
What if I reinvented again?
What about the moon drop light?

You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should it take it
I'm only gonna break it
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it, you should take it
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it
If I miss it, I'll visit
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it, you should take it

I don't want it, I don't care
I don't want it, it wouldn't be fair
It'd be so alone without you there
It wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be fair
There's nobody home, I'm already there
It wouldn't be fair

You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it
I'm only gonna break it
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it, you should take it
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it
If I miss it, I'll visit
You should take it
'Cause I'm not gonna take it
You should take it

It wouldn't be fair
It'd be so alone without you there
It wouldn't be fair, it wouldn't be fair
There's nobody home, I'm already there
It wouldn't be fair

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New Order T-Shirt

How you tapped on a box of blue American Spirits
At Anyway Cafe a little under a month
Before the ashes and management capital files filled the streets

How we wove through the cones walking home
To the place on Atlantic you shared with your hilarious sister
Kicking off your black flats, demolished and laughing

I keep what I can of you
Split second glimpses and snapshots and sounds
You in my New Order t-shirt
Holding a cat and a glass of beer

When you rescued me from the customs cops in Hawaii
When I shut down the place with my Japanese novelty bomb
And your dad came along

How you had me lay down for a temperature check
With the cool of your hand on the back of my neck
When I said "I think I'm finally going crazy for real"

I keep what I can of you
Split second glimpses and snapshots and sounds
You in my New Order t-shirt
Holding a cat and a glass of beer
I flicker through
I carry them with me like drugs in a pocket
You in a Kentucky aquarium
Talking to a shark in a corner

You in the bath on the phone
Telling somebody that maybe they're better off leaving
Than staying in it alone
You in the bath on the phone
Telling somebody that maybe they're better off leaving
Than staying in it alone

When you cried at the beach and recovered in seconds
And said everything's fine but I knew that it wasn't
Then you stayed out of reach of me for almost a year

How you looked like a poster of a 70's movie
Standing outside at the base of your magazine skyscraper
Waiting for me to go drinking downtown

I keep what I can of you
Split second glimpses and snapshots and sounds
You in my New Order t-shirt
Holding a cat and a glass of beer
I flicker through
I carry them with me like drugs in a pocket
You in a Kentucky aquarium
Talking to a shark in a corner

I keep what I can of you
Split second glimpses and snapshots and sounds
You in my New Order t-shirt
Holding a cat and a glass of beer
I flicker through
I carry them with me like drugs in a pocket
You in a Kentucky aquarium
Talking to a shark in a corner

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This Isn't Helping

I cannot believe what you get away with
You find beauty in anything
Whenever you look down into a sewer
You see a diamond ring

It isn't fair how you never look like you're trying
As if you couldn't care any less
And I'm here kicking myself to keep from crying
You say you're impressed

But this isn't helping at all
It only makes me wanna get further off
This isn't helping at all
This isn't helping

You say that this doesn't have to hurt
You're there if you need to be found
Can't you see that that makes it so much worse?
I'll always see you around

Maybe in time, we can give it one more try
But let's think about what matters now
Keep kicking yourself to keep from crying
That, you're so right about

'Cause this isn't helping at all
I know you think it's kindness, but it's not
This isn't helping at all
This isn't helping

Don't say that it's all your fault
I know you're banking on it coming up
But would your life be so bad
If you knew every single thought I had?

'Cause I only have two things to say to you
But you say two things about everything, babe
Well, just when I thought
You don't even notice me at all

'Cause this isn't helping at all
It only makes me wanna get further off
This isn't helping at all
This isn't helping

This isn't helping at all
I know you think it's kindness, but it's not
This isn't helping at all
This isn't helping

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Tropic Morning News

I wasn't starting yet, I didn't even think you were listening
I wasn't ready at all to say anything about anything interesting
It's a thing you have, you just don't know that you do it
You wait around in a conversation while I get in and start stumbling through it

I was so distracted then
I didn't have it straight in my head
I didn't have my face on yet
Or the role, or the feel, of where I was going with it all
I was suffering more than I let on
The tropic morning news was on
There's nothing stopping me now
From saying all the painful parts out loud

Got to my feet feeling that I'd let you down
Wanted to say it slow and perfect but it all somehow got switched around
Something went off on its own, my dumb automatic chit chat
It's not what I meant to say at all, there's no way you can attach me to that

Got up to seize the day
With my head in my hands feeling strange
When all my thinking got mangled
And I caught myself talking myself off the ceiling
I was suffering more than I let on
The tropic morning news was on
There's nothing stopping me now
From saying all the painful parts out loud

Oh, where are all the moments we'd have?
Oh, where's the brain we shared?
Something, somehow has you rapidly improving
Oh, what happened to the wavelength we were on?
Oh, where's the gravity gone?
Something, somehow has you rapidly improving

You found the ache in my argument
You couldn't wait to get out of it
You found the slush in my sentiment
You made it sound so intelligent

You can stop and start an athlete's heart
How do I feel about it?
I would love to have nothing to do with it
I would like to move on and be through with it

I'll be over here lying near the ocean making ocean sounds
Let me know if you can come over and work the controls for a while

I was so distracted then
I didn't have it straight in my head
I didn't have my face on yet
Or the role, or the feel, of where I was going with it all
I was suffering more than I let on
The tropic morning news was on
There's nothing stopping me now
From saying all the painful parts out loud

Oh, where are all the moments we'd have?
Oh, where's the brain we shared?
Something, somehow has you rapidly improving
Oh, what happened to the wavelength we were on?
Oh, where's the gravity gone?
Something, somehow has you rapidly improving

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Alien

Try not to worry there's a voiceover
Go on, go quiet for a change
We can dial down the daylight a little
I think the candy blue sky's messing with out brains

We must have hit our heads
Don't expect familiar feelings
No one knows what to talk about
Just come lay down here on the couch

Drop down out of the clouds you're in
Drop down like an alien
I'll go outside, cry
And come right back in
Drop down like an alien

I'll find you something fun to wear
That goes along with all your feelings
We'll go extremely vivid
Buttoned up and unrevealing

I can be your nurse or something
Bring you watermelon nicotine
I can hold a swimmer here
To the shore by a string

Hurry up, we don't have time
Avalanches in my mind
I'm getting buried in this dream
It's just as soapy as it seems

Drop down out of the clouds you're in
Drop down like an alien
I'll go outside, cry
And come right back in
Drop down like an alien

There's this one old idea I'm having
Stuck in a carwash somewhere
And you can't stop laughing
Off the rails and no one's coming to get us
I think I like it here, so
I'm gonna let 'em forget us

Hurry up, we don't have time
Avalanches in my mind
I'm getting buried in this dream
It's just as soapy as it seems

Drop down out of the clouds you're in
Drop down like an alien
I'll go outside, cry
And come right back in
Drop down like an alien

Drop down out of the clouds you're in
Drop down like an alien
I'll go outside, cry
And come right back in
Drop down like an alien

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The Alcott

I get myself twisted-in threads
To meet you at the Alcott
I'd go to the corner in the back
Where you'd always be
And there you are, sittin' as usual
With your golden notebook
Writing something about someone
Who used to be me

And the last thing you wanted
Is the first thing I'd do
I tell you my problems
You tell me the truth
It's the last thing you wanted
It's the first thing I'd do
I tell you that I think I'm falling back in love with you

I sit there silently
Waiting for you to look up
I see you smile when you see it's me
I had to do something
To break into your golden thinking
How many times will I do this
And you'll still believe?

It's the last thing you wanted (tell me, which side are you on, dear?)
It's the first thing you do (give me some tips to forget you)
You tell me your problems (have I become one of your problems?)
And I tell you the truth (could it be easy this once?)
It's the last thing you wanted (everything that's mine is a landmine)
It's the first thing I'd do (did my love aid and abet you?)
I tell you that I think I'm falling back in love with you

And I'll ruin it all over
I'll ruin it for you
I'll ruin it all over
And over like I always do

I'll ruin it over for you (why don't you rain on my parade?)
I'll ruin it for you (shred my evening gown)
I'll ruin it all over (read my sentence out loud)
And over like I always do ('cause I love this curse on our house)

It's the last thing I wanted (tell me, which side are you on, dear?)
It's the first thing I'd do (give me some tips to forget you)
I tell you my problems (have I become one of your problems?)
And you tell me the truth
It's the last thing I wanted (everything that's mine is a landmine)
It's the first thing I'd do (did my love aid and abet you?)
I tell you that I think I'm falling back in love with you (back in love)
Back in love with you

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Grease in Your Hair

This machine's a backwards thinker
That looks for you until its neck hurts
It's not so hard to be a person
If you've got something you can reference

Grease in your hair
Fingernail polish
Water balloon eyes
Totally honest

I've worked up a sincere speech
I just don't know how I'm gonna say it
The second I stand up, I freeze
My only move here is to fail

Don't splash apart
Everything changes
All jumbled up
Wide-open spaces

Grease in your hair
Fingernail polish
Water balloon eyes
Totally honest

Down we go on the grass
Magnets make machines go crazy
I used to know you well
You'd give me such a future feeling
We're in the middle of
Some kind of cosmic rearrangement
You were so funny then
And I kept thinking I would catch it

Stay in one state
Nothing is stable
Whip on a cape
Step on a cable

I have no more feelings for it
I have no more frame of mind
I have no more feelings for it
I have no more frame of mind

Grease in your hair
Fingernail polish
Water balloon eyes
Totally honest
Don't splash apart
Everything changes
All jumbled up
Wide-open spaces

Down we go on the grass
Magnets make machines go crazy
I used to know you well
You'd give me such a future feeling
We're in the middle of
Some kind of cosmic rearrangement
You were so funny then
And I kept thinking I would catch it

I kept thinking I would catch it
I kept thinking I would catch it
I kept thinking I would catch it

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Ice Machines

Cartoons from a television
Whistles from the street
Black out curtains, summer sirens
Electricity

I don't need ice machines
I don't need speaker systems
I don't need white lights blinking
I don't need you to witness
I don't need your forgiveness
I don't need anything

Finally start to make connections
When everything goes dark
It's pulling me in all directions
It's tearing you apart

I don't need ice machines
I don't need speaker systems
I don't need white lights blinking
I don't need you to witness
I don't need your forgiveness
I don't need anything, but I do

What am I doing? Watching clouds
This space is too empty, this room's too hot
What am I doing? Wandering halls
Ringing doorbells, pounding walls

I don't know what to say to people
It only makes things worse
It's time to take my silent treatment
This won't be the first

I don't need ice machines
I don't need speaker systems
I don't need white lights blinking
I don't need you to witness
I don't need your forgiveness
I don't need anything, but I do

What am I doing? Watching clouds
This space is too empty, this room's too hot
What am I doing? Wandering halls
Ringing doorbells, pounding walls

A rock that fell from orbit
I roll across the carpet under
Frozen flowers on the walls
Leaning on my shoulder

What am I doing? Watching clouds
This space is too empty, this room's too hot
What am I doing? Wandering halls
Ringing doorbells, pounding walls

What am I doing? Watching clouds
This space is too empty, this room's too hot
What am I doing? Wandering halls
Ringing doorbells, pounding walls

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Your Mind Is Not Your Friend

Your imagination
Is in an awful place
Don't believe in manifestation
Your heart'll break

Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend again
It takes you by the hand
And leaves you nowhere

You feel it in your nerves
It's choking out the sun
You try in vain to be persuaded
That it's nothing

Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend again
It takes you by the hand
And leaves you nowhere
You are like a child
You're gonna flip your lid again
Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend

You inherited a fortune
From your mother's side
Your sister didn't get it at all
She survived

Tranquilize the oceans
Between the poles
You're crawling under rocks and
Climbing into holes

Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend again
It takes you by the hand
And leaves you nowhere
you are like a child
You're gonna flip your lid again
Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend

Your mind is not your friend
Your mind is not your friend
Your mind is not your friend
Your mind is not your friend

Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend again
It takes you by the hand
And leaves you nowhere
you are like a child
You're gonna flip your lid again
Don't you understand?
Your mind is not your friend

---

Send for Me

If you're ever sitting at the airport
And you don't wanna leave
Don't even know what you're there for
Send for me

If you're ever heartsick in an elevator
Full of bachelorettes
Cornered in and it's taking forever
Please don't forget

Send for me, whenever, wherever
Send for me, I'll come and get you
Send for me, whenever, wherever

If you're ever at a glass top table
Selling your ideas
To swivel-chairing underlings
Who just don't see it

If you're singing in a song museum
Without a drop to drink
And you can't even make eye contact
Can't even think

Send for me, whenever, wherever
Send for me, I'll come and get you
Send for me, whenever, wherever

Send for me, whenever, wherever
Send for me, I thought you'd never
Send for me, whenever, wherever

Run out, run out, run out to me now
Run out, run out, I'm pulling around
Run out, run out, run out, run out to me now
Run out, run out, run out to me now
Run out, run out, I'm pulling around
Run out, run out, run out, run out to me now

If you're ever in a psychiatric greenhouse with slip-on shoes
Wipe a smile on the shatterproof windows
I'll know what to do

If you're ever in a gift shop dying inside
Filling up with tears
'Cause you thought of somebody you loved
You haven't seen in years

Send for me, whenever, wherever
Send for me, I'll come and get you
Send for me, whenever, wherever

Send for me, whenever, wherever
Send for me, I thought you'd never
Send for me, whenever, wherever

Send for me, whenever, wherever
Send for me, I'll come and get you
Send for me, whenever, wherever