jamie jenkins: listen

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

i say, “why you gotta take things so far?”
you say “why you gotta take things so hard?”
and i’m just color-coding all the ironies
in my mind’s eye.

and you say that all the ways you’ve done me wrong
add up to all the ways you’ve done me right,
like years worth of tears can be erased from my face
by a lullaby.

to think so many times i gave you the doubt’s benefit
while you looked me in the eye.
and to think of all the lies you had to custom fit
to assuage my mind.


and now your words have just begun to blow,
colder than december.
and i’m wearing through, my rust is starting to show,
winter’s much more harsh than i remember.


how many years did you try to hold on
before you lost your grip?
i have the suspicion that by the time i came along
you’d started to slip.


and your chill
hits me deeper than i’d like to know.
but i find solace in my secret:
that some plants need the frost to grow.


and now your words have just begun to blow,
colder than december.
and i’m wearing through, my rust is starting to show,
yeah, winter’s much more harsh than i remember.


i say, “why you gotta take things so far?”
you say, “why you gotta take things so hard?”
and i’m just color-coding all the ironies
in my mind’s eye.