Distant lovers who take times of peace for granted while away Will learn that by the droughts of war man’s thirst for conquest cultivates You’re a damn, damn fool to make her wait boy, yeah, she’s studied history Oh, she knows peace is expensive, yeah, cuz blood like yours is free Oh, she’s worried Yeah she worried That an army will block the way, block the way to her heart Yeah, she’s worried Yeah, cuz she can’t help but think “What if a war breaks out in between and keeps us apart?” You’re a damn fool You’re a damn fool to make her wait, boy

“Since you left the cave You haven’t been the same Talkin’ about these 10,000 footers We know it’s poppycock Ain’t no foreign rocks Taller than the ones that we've measured Yeah, since you ran away From the Allegheny You’re acting like there’s prettier flowers Than azalea flames And Carolina lilies But it’s all in your imagination” They all say But I swear that when I set foot on the summit I saw a peak in the distance that seemed to be eclipsing the dawn I know what I saw but I don’t know how to tell everyone on the ground that what they believe is wrong cuz Small mountains seem awfully big to someone who’s only ever seen pictures of the Rockies and heard stories of the Grand Canyon Small mountains seem awfully big to those who've never seen anything beyond the sheltered point of view from where they are standing So they continue looking for ways to Say my eyesight’s no good, yeah So they continue doing what Plato Prophesized they would do So I continue doing what I can To look for the truth In the horizon And from that distant vista I heard a voice in the wind Of a lonely broken girl, apostate of the nymphs Ostracized like me The sycamores pointed their arms towards the great unknown And the mushroom choir sang her words back to me note for note And she said: “Follow the light out from the cave Over mountains, rivers, woods and plains And save me from the shadows” Follow the light Follow the light Follow the light And I knew it then, she’s sick of her own cave as well She knows about the flames but also what happens to infidels I need to be the one who makes the great migration And shows her that no terrain can stand in the way of minds that roam like ours Follow the light I need to save her I need to Save her So much in the way But I need to save her now Over mountains Rivers Woods and plains Out from the cave Follow the light Follow the light Follow the light Follow the light Follow the light Follow the light Save her from the shadows Follow the light So they continue doing what Plato Prophesized they would do So they continue doing what Plato Prophesized they would do, cuz Small mountains seem awfully big to someone who’s only ever seen pictures of the Rockies and heard stories of the Grand Canyon Small mountains seem awfully big to those who've never seen anything beyond the sheltered point of view from where they are standing No one is the same after they leave the cave Mountains, rivers, woods and plains No one is the same after they leave the cave I need to save her Follow the light

Dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore You’ve got your ear up to the grapevine, now Hoping to hear all the things you wanna hear If you listen close enough to the grapevine, now The muddy water you drink will seem so clear, yeah You’re speaking on the other side of the grapevine, now Running around in just enough time to hear Picking what you’ve grown up on the grapevine, now A delusion that stays ripe all year You choose to drink dirty water You choose to breathe polluted air You choose to drink dirty water When the well of truth’s right there, yeah Poison the vineyard, yeah, poison the wine When we retch at the taste you say it’s just moonshine You can be sure that in time you’ll drink the poison you pour You say it’s fine as there’s dead fish washing up your on your shore Poison the vineyard, yeah, poison the wine Poison the mouth of the river and try, fruitlessly To keep it from flowing downstream to your mind You say it’s clean but there’s dead fish washing up on your shore Dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore, now Dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore, now Poison the vineyard, poison the wine You wanted to hear the devil’s voice coming through the grapevine So you could tell god about how you were right To turn his good water into sparkling lies From tainted soil grows, grows crooked trees Everybody knows that your roots are weak Think you’ve got us all fooled by your colorful leaves But you’re the only one who doesn’t know what that means You’re gonna fall You’re gonna fall Dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore, now The lamb’s blood painted on to your door Meant to appease the Lord So that he won’t ask about the smell Poison the vineyard, yeah, poison the wine When we retch at the taste you say it’s moonshine, you can be Sure that in time, you’ll drink just what you pour You say it’s fine but there’s dead fish washing up your on your shore Poison the orchard, yeah, poison the core Poison a country to the brink of war Your false beliefs have poisoned the whole damn Mississippi, now You say it’s clean but we can all see The dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore now Dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore You’re gonna fall Dead fish washing up on the shore Too many to ignore

Not all that comes out of the ground Is beautiful or succulent These farmers all try to push it down Like it’s a darker part of them rising These parasitic plants are in the way Of the paradise we wanna make And when they grow back this fast Eden seems so far away Everyday up at dawn pulling out the weeds Their roots are so much longer than they seem Breaking my back all day pulling out the weeds It never seems worth it when the fruits are yet to reap And it’s easy to lose faith in the fruits you’re yet to reap It isn’t easy to taste all the fruits you’ve yet to reap It’s easy to lose faith in the fruits you’re yet to reap Oh it’s hard to see the flower in a seed Pulling out the weeds... If you wanna climb to heaven then your beanstalk’s gotta be high If you’re waiting on a seed then it’s gonna take a while Bring your sharpest sickle and your longest scythe The patient path to Eden’s overrun with trials Everyday up til dusk pulling out the weeds They drink up all the water underneath Breaking my back all day pulling out the weeds It never seems worth it when the fruits are yet to reap If you wanna climb to heaven then your beanstalk’s gotta be high If you’re waiting on a seed then it’s gonna take a while Yeah, obstacles will blossom from the ground you’ve fertilized And you’ll think of giving up so many times And it’s easy to lose faith in the fruits you’re yet to reap It isn’t easy to taste a fruit you’ve yet to reap It’s easy to lose faith in the fruits you’re yet to reap Oh, it’s hard to see the flower in a seed It’s hard to see the flower in a seed To believe in heaven before you leave The hell from which you bloomed and came to be It’s so hard to see the flower in a seed Pulling out the weeds... When they grow back this fast When they grow back Pulling out the weeds

You've been searching around north and south Hoping that you can find Just one safe passage to the other side You just arrived at this impasse But doesn't it feel like you've been Looking for a way through all your life? You've been searching around north and south Praying that you can find Any sort of passage through the continental divide

I've been trekking out deep into the woods On trails that I've had to make on my own Clutching my axe like it's lighting the way Keeping demons at bay as I cross through the unknown Nobody gets what I’m toiling for Fighting this giant for what seems like no reward Can’t understand that I’m chipping away At the absence of purpose itself You say that I should stay In the home that I was born And just gather wood that is blown in when it storms You see no greatness in me And you think I'll come to see The wisdom of futility that you settled for You wanna see me bury this axe now With the same shovel that you buried your head Dirt in your ears so that you’re deaf to The rhythms of falling evergreens But when this tree comes tumbling down You can be damn sure it'll make a sound Your disbelief won’t matter then Cuz no one will ever doubt my strength again When this tree comes down The creatures of the floor will feast Proclaim me as their god Til they consume me too One day Working my way through it’s colossal trunk Each day a little closer to watching it go down They all think that I’m possessed by the spirit of Ahab But I’m firmly rooted in the ground Still the judgment’s decomposing my will Making me doubt my right to bare the axe Sweat dripping out of my hands, losing grip Maybe it’s me who will collapse You wanna see me bury this axe now In the same hole that your spirit’s entombed in Coffin of ivory so that you’re deaf to The calls of ‘timber’ that echo through the endless growth of time When this tree comes tumbling down You can be damn sure it'll make a sound Your disbelief won’t matter then Cuz no one will ever doubt my strength again When this tree comes tumbling down You’ll never have heard anything so loud Your disbelief is a shelter of flimsy twigs that will not remain standing in the aftershock How could you never look up and wonder what it would be like to… What it would be like… To see the giant fall Roots ripped upright When we all decompose away in the end To see the rings inside And the secrets that they hold When we all decompose away in the end To know for sure you tried Despite the rotten odds Not to decompose away without a fight Not without a fight Not without a fight I don't plan to build nothing With the spoils of my war Let the weevils dance and sing All I've done left to the swarm Most of us are just like them Feeding off what the earth has killed Claiming to be better men For just keeping what their father's built From falling down From crashing down From tumbling down As if all that we build won’t wither away one day You say that I should stay Be satisfied with the house you made Cuz you chose to scorch the path of exodus from your hometown But your wisdom of futility Only serves as kindling for me Stoking my ambition to see this giant come tumbling down Let the weevils dance and sing All I've done left to the swarm

El Dorado’s turned to a ghost town Now that the water no longer glitters I’m heading west of the west now Let these fools fight over the silver Every go getter thinks that it’s meant to be Who would question manifest destiny? Everybody wants to believe that they’re right And that’s why I’m going west of the west now I don’t wanna be here anymore among All these 49ers mining me for guilt I don’t wanna be here anymore around These men who dig holes to be fulfilled I don’t wanna live here anymore This new world is growing old I don’t wanna live here anymore California’s out of gold, yeah They’ve got a Midas philosophy Melded into a pyrite identity They’d never sink their teeth into their own skin To find out if the shine is authentic But they would take a bite out of anyone That doesn’t wanna get on the bandwagon I see the tallest poppies getting cut now A sign of the famine to come, yeah The minds of simple men who just want to strike it rich Cannot comprehend the existential risk Praying for an apocalypse to justify their beliefs I ain’t gonna stick around as it’s all blown to smithereens Yeah, I’m heading west of the west now Yeah, cuz the river’s got no money left now Yeah, I’m heading west of the west now Cuz the river’s got no money left now Everybody here seems desperate to know ‘How many explosives til we hit the Mother Lode?’ I fear that they see nothing worthy to preserve And I’ll be damned if I march off the cliff just to stay with herd I don’t wanna be here anymore among All these 49ers mining me for guilt I don’t wanna be here anymore around These men who dig holes to be fulfilled

And I know That everywhere I go it will be the same Human nature won’t change They will die for gold They will kill for gold And anything that shines Bright enough to believe that it’s divine But I, yeah, I know why The reason I came all this way Over mountains, rivers, woods and plains Through pestilence, perennials and pain Was just to be with someone who Could see all that clearly And tell me I’m not crazy Say I’m not insane For reserving praise from The golden gods who seem to Bind all men together In aerial fixation And blissful disregard Of the loveless ground From which we grew

No one is aware of the damage that the dynamite will do When the sky is red they say that it’s blue All the gold in the world couldn’t make, couldn’t make me stay Knowing this reckoning awaits No one is aware of the damage that the dynamite will do The smoke in their eyes blinds them to the truth All gold is fools gold when the mine collapses in Burying her children I don’t wanna live I don’t wanna live I don’t wanna live here anymore I don’t wanna live I don’t wanna live I don’t wanna live here anymore I’m heading west of the west now I’m heading west of the west now I’m heading west of the west now Cuz there’s not enough gold in El dorado to pay the debt that its hubris has incurred I don’t wanna live here anymore This new world is growing old I don’t wanna live here anymore The new world is out of gold

My love is waiting for me far away in a distant land Can't be together now but we’ve got a plan When the war is over, pick the flowers from the debris Give them a terracotta citadel to sleep Cross the sea and bring them to you But until then all that we can do Is just wait for those olive branches to bloom My love is waiting for me far away in a distant land Can't be together now but we’ve got a plan When the war is over, pick the flowers from the debris Give them a terracotta citadel to sleep Cross the sea and bring them to me But until then all that we can do Is just wait for those olive branches to bloom