mp4
Days Since a Lost Time Accident

All songs written by Michael Penn, © 2000 Bucket Brigade Songs.

MP4... we waited, and we waited, and we waited while those record execs kept this shelved... but as with his other albums, this was worth the agonizing wait. Released in February 2000, this album features ten magnificent songs. I can't say anything else. They just rock. :-)

1. Lucky One
2. Whole Truth
3. High Time
4. Beautiful
5. Footdown
6. Perfect Candidate
7. Don't Let Me Go
8. Out of Its Misery
9. Trampoline
10. Bucket Brigade

I'm sending out a call to arms
from the cities to the farms
to the sounding of alarms
with all the bells and whistles
took my prize,
hung my plaque
pat our big collective back
and then got drunk 
on crackerjack
and e-mailed my epistle
I must be the lucky one
the luckiest in Luckydom
who reached the moon but 
wound up numb
now that I've had my fun
here comes the millennium
Knowing love everyday
my baby wants to be that way
but I can't bring myself to say
how I can't hope for crying
things got bad,
things got worse
I got loaded in a hearse
when all I needed was a nurse
believe me, I'm not lying
I must be the lucky one
the luckiest in Luckydom
who reached the moon but
wound up numb
now that I've had my fun
here comes the millennium
I must be the lucky one
the luckiest in Luckydom
who reached the moon but
wound up numb
let's call this party done
here comes the millennium

Monday
seventeen degrees
the shadows disappear
all around you dear
until it's loud and clear
isn't it the truth
the whole truth
nothing but the truth
so help me
the whole truth
nothing but the truth
so help me God

I'm the bad guy
waiting in the wings
and the key light hat
all my words fall flat
but I'm used to that
getting to the truth
the whole truth
nothing but the truth
so help me
the whole truth
nothing but the truth
so help me God

baby if you want to talk
I'll be there to listen
neither rain,
not hail nor sleet or snow
but Cahuenga is stop and go
this much I do know
all I want's the truth
the whole truth
nothing but the truth
so help me
thw whole truth
nothing but the truth
so help me God

What a scene
what a drama 
just to find the door
that was mean
that was totally uncalled for
have you reached the point 
where you must choose
between what you lost and
what you stand to lose
isn't it high time?

Could it be that the future's going 
to turn out great?
well, we'll see
meantime somebody
lays in wait
'til you reach the point where
you must choose
between what you've lost
and what you stand to lose
so come up with a new line
'cause baby it's high time

What a shame
I know nothing's ever
been this tough
out of blame
and out of all of that other stuff
but when you're alone with
what you've left
and you've done bereaved and
been bereft enough
you have reached the point
where you must choose
between what you've lost
and what you stand to lose
isn't it high time
baby it's high time
baby it's high time

One more for the collection
you've got on your wall
paint it in the frame until
you hire out a little stall
and on a few,
you've got to laugh
as you inscribe 
his autograph...
they are the ones that
everybody chooses
beautiful excuses
Closing in on targets 
in an open sight
each one spins around you 
and around you like a satellite
just take one down 
when times are tough
a diamonetta in the rough
they are the ones that
everybody chooses
beautiful excuses
Always tragic perfect bait
they grip you as they captivate
twist, but do not fabricate
then imply they implicate
you get thirsty; while you wait
a demonstrator demonstrates
that you've run out of 
holy water, dude

Your works of art are
hanging in the Parthenon
but where's the only one who
ever bothered to take you on
you can't explain 
why that one's gone
until you put your finger on
whatever it accuses
beautiful forgery
such beautiful excuses
all you ever wanted someone
who refuses
beautiful

In a little while
I'll forget your name
and with the time we had
I will do the same
'cause I can't belong
to any future
the past's a 
never ending overture
until it's only now
no matter how
I put my foot down
I want to know my rank
and I want my reward 
or I will make a little war
that you can not afford
I don't mean to be
somehow unkind
but the bottom of my heart
is in the backseat 
of my mind
it's a drive with will
I guess until
I put my foot down
I don't mean to be
somehow unkind
but when you put 
your best foot forward
something's left behind
I'm gonna tell you now
I'm going to make a vow
to put my foot down

First she's going to relocate it
to the southland
stake her claim in Silverlake
what she's showing off 
will be on your account
there's little doubt she's 
stealing what she confiscates
chalking it all up to fate
that is why she always waits
for the perfect candidate

She's got every reason in the
world to pick one more
as she will demonstrate
how many does that
make it now?
I'm losing count
it's tantamount to 
stealing what she confiscates
chalking it all up to fate
and she can not hardly wait
for the perfect candidate
congratulations!
take a bow
what will you do now,
anyhow?

She can read your mind
'cause she wrote it for you
you who'll take surprising bait
like a magic lantern
beaming with projection
my reflection:
slate as blank as 
face is straight
makes the perfect candidate
and she can not hardly wait
for her perfect candidate

I want you to keep a piece of me
in there; right below
your majesty
I may tend to it with flattery
or maybe I'll jump start
counting on a battery
what's right, unglue
what's left, breakthrough
brake up, brakedown
let up, leave town
oh fuck, got stuck
you lose, tough luck
the odds were in your favor
the taste was in your savor
how bitter is that swill?
and it's dragging me to you
don't let me go
black hole
falling in
don't let me go
if I'm wrong again
don't let me go
even if it pulls you in
don't let me go

If you don't you can say
you didn't quit
and I'm likely to be needing it
so sorry but
When I let go
I thought you'd know
how to follow
did you swallow?
its gone
head rush
can't see
this crush
will prove I was unworthy
and what I did was usury
I'm sorry for that too

That's the way it goes
you're going to have to
see it through eventually
listen, I propose that
everybody show
some sort of sympathy
'cause all the highs and lows
are really wearing out
its elasticity

there's no bouncing back
no recovery
put it out of its misery

If you take my devotion
and figure it as something
you're due to accrue
it's only emotion
winding up the motion
we are going through
and don't it break your heart
to watch its little quiver
on the avenue

'til it's crawling back
on its only knee
put it out of its misery
I can hear mercy mercy me
letting this go on and on and on
endlessly

That's the way it goes
everybody knows we're through,
so you see
your I-told-you-sos
weren't any help
and now they're boring me
listen I propose
that we might indulge
a little luxury
but there's no going back
and it falls on me
that it is murder
'cause I know baby, only you
can put me out of my misery

When you're on a high
with no telling how 
you got there
I might catch your eye
from a world beneath you
How do you?
Don't you recognize
what you are leaving?
Let me introduce
what you've just seen

a trampoline
and it's dropping out of view
trampoline
until gravity pulls you

When you hit the ground
the impression you are making
is of one who's found
what all the reasons are
you fall so far
and with that put a dent 
in my resistance
Hey, look who'se lining up
to intervene

a trampoline
and it's dropping out of view
trampoline
until gravity pulls you
trampoline
and it's dropping out of view
trampoline
until gravity pulls through

it's a kind of parade
it's a bucket brigade
who got it off the wire
that you'd set it and left
just to cover the theft
that would topple an empire
but you wanted the world
and it was only the heart...
only the heart of a girl

for everyone in the know
he's going to put on a show
death defying feats of daring
and for the riff and the raff
he's gonna mimeograph
a statement he's preparing
that he wanted the world
and it was only a heart...
only the heart of a girl

here we are
handing over all we know
either that or 
start to blow 'til we've
run out of breath

it's a kind of parade
it's a bucket brigade
who read it off the wire
that you lost your whole world
and it was all over 
the heart of a girl
only the heart of a girl
here we are
handing over all we know
either that or
start to blow 'til we've
run out of breath 

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June 17, 2000