Resigned

All songs written by Michael Penn, ©1997 Sony Music Entertainment. Recorded in Atlanta, GA; Hollywood, CA; and New York, NY. Produced by Brendan O'Brien.

Here we have Michael's 3rd album... and it is definitely true that all things are better with age. This album, released in early June, 1997, has been worth the wait. Of course, the first 2 albums were/are amazing, but with Resigned, we become thrice graced with Michael's lyrical and musical talents. God, this guy is good.

1. Try (3:18)
2. Me Around (2:30)
3. Like Egypt Was (3:50)
4. Out of My Hands (3:37)
5. All That That Implies (4:14)
6. Selfish (2:53)
7. Cover Up (2:52)
8. Figment (5:32)
9. Small Black Box (2:27)
10. Comfort (3:03)
11. I Can Tell (5:02)

I picked up that something of it
I could still try to make
Then watch me blink and overlook
What I undertake
'Til I don't try
I don't try
and I don't want to try to anymore

I would choose to accuse you
Strike the fire 
Issue a decree
Ask you why
Watch you take the fifth as I 
Give you the third degree

But I don't try
I don't try
I don't want to try you anymore
I don't try to anymore
I won't try you anymore

With a witness dismissed it's adjourned
And by heart the only rope that it's learned is
Mercifully do not prolong
If the way I'm rubbing you is wrong

That is why I kept away so 
I'd look strange at your door
In my way, in a nutshell
I don't try
I won't try
I don't want to try you anymore
I can't try to anymore
I can't try you anymore
I don't try
(nine!)

The fire that this town can see
Is me alight in effigy
I suppose baby don't want me around
She threw my stuff into a pit
And laughed aloud as I dove after it
I suppose baby don't want me around

Is this the place you want to be?
Out of the woods
Out of control
And is it really only me
Who never gets here with you

She changed the number, changed the lock
A rubber door in case I knock
I suppose baby don't want me around

Is this the place you want to be?
Out of the woods
Out of control
And is it really only me
Who never gets here with you

Looking up your balcony
By the light of the moon I will be
I suppose baby don't want me around

The stars above they are not real
They are the sparks from smitten steel
I propose forging is making that sound
Baby don't want me around
Baby don't want me 
I suppose my baby don't want me around

I shook upon a bridge 
On a fault on the north ridge
Where I placed a picture of you on my Etch-A-Sketch

I give you now the river
And it is too a river though
You may not know
That it is so
And I do not suspect
It's the kind that you'd expect
In this respect
It's concrete and cats
Like Egypt was

I'm on a three day binge
On the lunatic fringe
Palm Desert to the Valley of the Antelope
Where you wore colognes
Made of human pheromones
And I only want to stay inside your envelope

I'll take you to the river
And it is too a river though
You may not know
That it is so
I give you now the river
Not the kind that you'd expect
In this respect
It's concrete and cats
Like Egypt was

I'm on a three day binge
On the lunatic fringe
From Riverside all the way to Livermore
Where the scent she makes
Will now emanate
Until everyone in range
Collapses to the floor
And men will toil
In suits of foil
As they explain that this girl 
Was anointed with an oil 

I give you now the river
And it is too a river though
You may not know
That it is so
And I do not suspect
It's the kind that you'd expect
In this respect
It's concrete and cats
Like Egypt was
Like Egypt was
Like Egypt was

I feel like I'm coming down with it
All of the symptoms fit 
And I backslide
An eye on the clock
I don't talk much
When I'm running 
On the inside
When every conclusion reached
Is out to you
I put on my best face and my kid gloves, too
And held up the end
Until it's out of my hands
Out of my hands

And if you tuned in to see blood
It's not a subject that I surpass in
My mission's been scrubbed; my brains were washed
Because I never was your assassin

It's like a desert 
Sand will have to do
And between my fingers 
Saw it running through
Until it turned into this
And out of my hands
Out of my hands
Out of my hands

So come up and check
There's nothing up my sleeve
All the while
It's getting harder for you to believe

Out of my hands
Out of my hands
Out of my hands

Filibust and hesitate
You say I procrastinate
And that my heart beat's second rate
To one you'll recognize

I know that you are drawn to it
So all I am is counterfeit
It pulls you so you must submit
Like ant to honeydew

What I once took as remedies
Are only chalk hypotheses
'Tis the season for a breeze
To blow them all away

To add insult to injury
The sum you gets means I agree
So you can call that empathy
And find someone else to blame

You say it's truth and nothing but
Baby, I sympathize

But all that that implies are lies
Surprise, surprise
All that that implies are lies
Surprise, surprise
They're lies, surprise, surprise

Take this heart and claim a stake
Shove it through so I can't wake
The cock will crow, the day will break
But I won't be around

And it may be the kindest cut
Word comes in edgewise  

But all that that implies are lies
Surprise, surprise
All that that implies are lies
Surprise, surprise
They're lies, surprise, surprise

I want to you understand
That I want you
And I want you
The way I do and 
I want you to want to have it done to you

I'm so selfish 
I am so selfish 
I am so selfish

I'm absorbed I am absolved
It's best that you don't get involved
It is not conscious, be assured
And it's not like I haven't heard

I'm so selfish 
I am so selfish 
I am so selfish
So selfish
I'm so...

I am so selfish 
I am so selfish
I am so selfish 

In dust we end industrial
Virtuous or virtual 
You might find a prince of men
Until that time my name is Penn 

And I am selfish
I am so selfish
I am so selfish
So selfish
I'm so selfish
I am so selfish
So selfish
I'm so selfish
I am so selfish
So selfish
I'm so...

What could it be
What would you bet
I'm not too sure
About anything yet
'Cause when you put all the love
In the world on a chip
It gives me the creeps
And the Fortean Slip
This revelation
Disinformation
Is a cover up
You cover up
A cover up

I was abducted
I saw the king
I saw the puppet
And looked for the string
I am just one of a number of guests
That you'll drop after running 
A couple of tests
Watch 'em hover
Duck and cover
A cover up
You cover up
A cover up

Hey hey I'm underdog
I'm Wally Cox
Got no beer in my fridge
Got no gold in my Knox
But I'm eternally grateful
To you for the call
Cause some kinds of time
Happen once and for all

My hands did not shake
I'm a very good aim
And I know I missed you
Again and again
Lose a lover
Find another
It's a cover up
You cover up
A cover up

Lose a lover
Find another
It's a cover up

Leave it for a while; come back
Leave it for a while; come back
Leave it for a while; come back
What would make a smile on you?

Are you closing in?  Come back
Are you still believing what you read?
Are you still believing every word?
(That is what I heard)
But before the day is done
You will notice one
Is caught inside a web somebody spun
In your imagination

Treaded water 'til I made you cry
But I loved you more
Than I will now recall at all
I was born to call that bluff
And isn't history
Just a bargain and a plea
That we'd all know what to break
And what to rise above
Do you think that love
Is a figment of your imagination?

Leave it for a while; come back
Leave it for a while; come back
Leave it for a while; come back
What would make a smile on you?

Are you closing in?
Are you now receiving what you need?
Go find your magician now
I'm an apparition
Under some suspicion
So I flew
And the sky's so blue
For a coup d'etat in your imagination...

Picture this, a small black box
To open it, unlock the locks
As I dissect in retrospect this scene

You turned it on like a machine
A mechanizing go-between
The clock-to-China figurine

I do crash
With everybody on the ground
In pieces, coming down
If we do crash
With everybody on the ground
And pieces coming down

On take-off we were unaware
That we'd wind just up in the air
Now we're fighting for the flare it seems

All you want's another toy
We all need something to destroy
Until you can believe the joy when

You crash
With everybody on the ground
In pieces, coming down
If we do crash 
With everybody on the ground
And pieces coming down

...And you want to impress
That you love me more or less
Which of us will be first
To get off
To get hurt

When you come too close for comfort
Come too close for comfort
Much too close for comfort
Too close for comfort

And on line
The acrobat
Who has got his act down pat
Balance rules of etiquette
Until you hang another net

If I get too close for comfort
Come too close for comfort
Much too close for comfort
Too close for comfort

Much too close for comfort

Who comes clean?
Who'll confess?
Who was my second guess?
All that's left you to address is
Will you love me more or less?

When I come too close for comfort
Come too close for comfort
Much too close for comfort
Too close for comfort
Much too close for comfort

Whatever news you had
Whatever shoes you had
Whatever made you mad enough
On the promenade you can
Give it a rest
Give it a seat
Or in the glass you can cut your feet

Pop a knee
Flesh torn
And everything else seems
A little worse for worn
A simple thing, I admit
Out I never did figure it

I can tell that I'm about to
I can tell when I'm without you

I've seen you juggle
I've seen your best
I've seen you running out of luck you pressed
I've seen the scores on how far up you fessed
Until a thinner air is what you're breathing now
So catch your breath
Don't just stand there holding it 
I've seen you die a little death
I'm pretty sure you were here
But lately things tend to disappear
Like the days I never got around to

I can tell when I'm without you

Psychic on the corner
'Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea'
The proprietor gives matches to the girls in line
For Club Diplomacy

Be he's not on to me
Crossed Olympic to collect my fee
But there's no one in this neighborhood who
I can tell when I'm without you
I can tell when I'm without you
I can tell when I'm without you

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June 27, 1997