We are scatterlings and refugees, we have never known peace
We have never known a home
Home is wherever we are when we’re together
Peace is the sound that we make when we’re alone

I rang the New Year in
In a field out in the suburbs somewhere outside East Berlin
I watched the fireworks burn the night
And I wondered where you were and if you were alright

We are scatterlings and refugees, we are bastards, we are orphans
We don’t ever make a sound
Traversing the oceans in perpetual motion
Our feet don’t ever touch the ground

We went dancing
Old soul records playing in the alleyway
And we are old souls, you and me
Disappearing at the dawning of the day

We are scatterlings and refugees, we have never known peace
We have never known a home
Home is wherever we are when we’re together
Peace is the sound that we make when we’re alone

And when my telephone rings in the dark
And you say ‘Hey, I’m at the White Cross
On Las Vegas Boulevard‘
No matter where I am, I’ll get on a plane
I’ll go anywhere to see you again

We are scatterlings and refugees, we are angels, we are monsters
We never mattered anyway
We’re the patron saints of rented cars and last goodbyes in airport bars
And in the morning, like ghosts, we slip away

We slip away

Speak in ones and zeroes
Don't let anything get in your way
Spinning down the 101
VC meeting here today

Mothers in their denim dresses
Networking in SUVs
Autistic children drawing pictures
Soccer scabs upon their knees

From one driveway to another
I will find another lover
In the city
In the city by the water
In the city
And the city gives us shelter

Silicon germanium
Thirteen microns thin
Daemons juggling numbers
While the angels dance on pins

Think in ones and zeroes
Don't think anything at all
Redwood City station
And I'm waiting for your call

From one driveway to another
I will find another lover
In the city
In the city by the water
In the city
And the city gives us shelter

All last night, I was looking for you
Your burning skin and your paper heart
All last night, I was dreaming of you
But in the morning you fell apart

All my life I’ve been waiting for you
And now you’re here and I’m a mess
All these stolen moments, kissing you on camera
And everything that hasn’t happened yet

I don’t believe in anything
Not anything that I could mention
But you are something unexpected
You are divine intervention
You are divine intervention

All my life is falling downward
Like a candle used up by the flame
All last night, I was dreaming of you
And I don’t even know your name

I don’t believe in anything
Not anything that I could mention
But you are something unexpected
You are divine intervention
You are divine intervention

Greta married for money and divorced for shame
Now she’s living on the remnants of her family name
She plays the strasse with the boys that she cruises
She hides her smiles but she shows off her bruises, yeah
Oh yeah

Michael used to make movies in the indie scene
Till his muse ran away with a beauty queen
Now it’s heroin and roses every night of the week
Them bloodstains are ugly but they sure are chic, yeah

Something like a murder
Something like as low as you can go
Something like desolation
Something like a Berlin floor show

I saw you on a broadcast of the BBC
And my Lord, you still looked good to me
You were smiling at the man with the microphone
But in the back of my mind, I could still hear you moan

I could hurt you, baby, if it’s what you’re asking
I ain’t Launcelot, you ain’t no lady faire
I could keep you coming in the middle of the night
I could leave you grasping at the empty air, baby

Something like a murder
Something like as low as you can go
Something like recrimination
Something like a Berlin floor show

You tell me how you really love the glamour
You love the cafes and the cabaret
You ask me if I’m coming home tonight
I can’t think of a single thing to say
You were so pretty back in Indiana
You were such a lovely homecoming queen
But now you’re decked out in Milano leather
Now you want someone to tell you this is just a dream

Something like a murder
Something like as low as you can go
Something like dislocation
Something like a Berlin floor show

Something like a murder
Something like as low as you can go
There’s nothing like absolution
There’s nothing like a Berlin floor show

I’m a good soldier, I march like they tell me
My feet fall in time
When I stop moving, I stare at your picture
And I trace the lines

Of your eyes and your mouth and your hair
As it falls in fractured waves
I put you back in my pocket, and I count the days
But I am sunburnt and sand-blinded
And I’m lost in space
I disappear in the whiteness
I am erased

Never again, never again, never again
Will I laugh at your lies
Never again, never again
Not in this world or the next one

Wear that gray dress that you wore on the day
That we went to the zoo
Watching the animals climbing for shelter
And I looked for shelter in you

But now I’m surrounded by bullets
Screaming like ghosts
Of all of these things that I’ve left
I think I will miss you the most
But if it wasn’t this, it would be something else
And I am no longer afraid
This is all anyone gets
And I am not ashamed

Never again, never again, never again
Will I beg at your feet
Never again, never again
Not in this world or the next one

Never again, never again, never again
Will I call you up drunk and afraid
Never again, never again, never again
Will I break any promise I’ve made

I would like you to forget me
My name and my face
Lock all the doors of my memory
And throw all the keys away

Go out and get drunk and get crazy
And start a new life
Ghosts have no need for companions
And no need for wives

Never again, never again, never again
Will I haunt you
Never again, never again
Not in this world or the next one

Never again, never again, never again
Will I haunt you
Never again, never again
Not in this world or the next one

Is any of this real?
The streetlight spills like water on my face
Frozen, broken, stolen
I have finally found my grace

You hold the line
You hold the camera
Taking pictures as the shadows burn the wall
You think you saw me
You think you knew me
But I was never really here at all

We are walking beside the river
Throwing stones into the water
Watch them sink without a trace
This is where we go our separate ways
You can’t look me in the eye
You can’t tell me to my face

And I’m a scarecrow
I’m an autumn leaf
All my certainties are blown apart
And cast upon the wind
I fall apart
I fall to pieces
When the winter comes
I am born again

When I am gone
Will you remember?
Will you tell stories of
The way I used to be?
Or will I sink
Without a ripple?

Will there be anything
Left of me?

Where will you be in ten years?
Still in this bar, chillin’ with these drunks?
Or will you hit the highway
Like we used to back when we were punk?

And watching tempus fugit like a bird
Everybody dies, haven’t you heard?
Waiting till you pay off all your bills
Every hour wounds, the last one kills

She’s sitting in a cafe
On the Boulevard du Second Chance
Smoking English cigarettes
And waiting for her French romance

But I’ll never find her in this Starbucks
Waiting on another piece of good luck
Fingerpainting in my coffee spills
Every hour wounds, the last one kills

And when they find me face-down
In a pool of my own innuendo
Covered with the scars of dreams
I gave up long ago
I hope they take a picture and they
Send it out on Twitter
For every single person that I know

One day I will find the guts
To leave this desert town
And seek a new Jerusalem
With no one else around

No more traffic jams or telephones
No more Abercrombie-wearing clones
When I think about it, I get chills
Every hour wounds, the last one kills

Every hour wounds, the last one
Every hour wounds, the last one
Every hour wounds, the last one kills

Every hour wounds, the last one
Every hour wounds, the last one
Every hour wounds, the last one kills

Drink cobra whiskey fro a paper cup
There is no water, it's all used up
And when we speak
Our tongues stick to our teeth
They burn the bodies in a cardboard town
A hundred kilometers further down the river
Another monument to grief

'La la la la la la' sing the whores on the corner
'La la la la la la' sing the rude boys who are
Pissing in the gutter and crying in their sleep
'Bang bang bang bang' says the man with the big gun
'Bang bang bang bang' says the kid with the steel drum
Playing in the alleyway and dying in the street

And we are ghosts in a burning city
Ghosts in a burning city
Watch them burning
Watch them burning
Watch them burn

Buy this magic bracelet
And everything will be okay
You can't make it better
But you can make it go away
We don't have to think about it
We don't have to toss and turn
We don't need no water
So let the motherfucker burn

Motherfucker burn
Burn motherfucker burn

When the lights go out the war begins
Again and again and again and again
Nothing ever changes
Everything is still the same
No one sees and no one knows
There are devils wearing angels' robes
The children file their teeth to razors
The faithful pray for rain

And we are ghosts in a burning city
Ghosts in a burning city
Watch them burning
Watch them burning
Watch them burn

Burn motherfucker burn

It may be morning but the sun hasn’t risen
And I feel like I’m walking out of prison
And the moon is wearing a tie
And singing a song about you and I
My only comfort is a brave cigarette
To push away the things I cannot forget
And I was wrong
But I promise that I won’t be long

Why don’t we burn down this fucking town
And build an empire in these streets?
I’ll put on my cowboy boots
You can wear ruby slippers on your feet
And I’m calling your name
And you’re sleeping in flame, my love

There was a story, but I can’t remember
If it was January or December
A tale of lovers or a tale of friends
And I can’t remember how the story ends
I wanna keep this channel open
I wanna keep these words unspoken
‘Cause I know
This is a promise that I won’t let go

Why don’t we burn down this fucking town?
I’ve just seen too much to care
Chase me down into the underground
You can wear pretty flowers in your hair
And I’m playing my games
And you’re sleeping in flame, my love

Why don’t we burn down this fucking town?
There’s nothing better left to do
I will write love letters on these walls
I will write them all to you
And I’m signing my name
And you’re sleeping in flame, my love

My love

The clock tower beats a drum
Must be about half past one
All of the children are safe in their beds
All of us sinners are off of our heads
Won't be the first time
Won't be the last

And me in my coat
My expensive brocade
Laughing at jokes
That nobody made
And you look like somebody
Walked on your grave
And not even smiled as they passed

And do you remember
The way that we grinned
On the night that the great war
Came to an end?
Bringing our shovels
To tear down the walls
Erecting billboards in their place

And you with your hammer
And sickle and gun
And me with my colors
That would never run
Tipping the bottle
Through the barbed-wire fence
Toasting the end of the race

And weren't we lovely
In the days of our youth?
Claiming that beauty
Was nothing but truth
Moody cafe ballads
Filling our ears
Impassioned for the
Tender of heart

But now we are older
And now we are sure
Mankind's a disease
With no evident cure
Scuffling and shouting
Like drunks in a bar
Tearing the planet apart

So why be nostalgic
At the end of the day?
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
All of those children
Asleep in their beds
They won't even know
That we've gone

The clock tower sings a song
Says that it won't be long
You have never looked
So lovely before
And I have never
Wanted you more
Than I

Do

Now

So this girl comes over and asks you to dance
She's a warm refugee from the cold middle class
And you wanna take her home and sing her
All your love songs
But you feel so awkward and stupid and lame
That you can't even manage to spit out your name
She walks away disappointed
And you walk away with your [redacted]

With your heart on your sleeve
'Cause you'd love to believe
That in love it is better
To give than receive
That someone's looking for you in the night
And you'd love to believe that forever and ever
Is not just some poet being clever
That everything will all work out alright

At least sometimes

So you stumble back to your sad little room
And your roommate laughs 'cause you're home so soon
And you crumble in about a thousand little ways
And you watch all the movies on late night TV
About people in places you'd rather be
Falling for each other as the soaring music plays

And nobody goes for the kiss too soon
And everything's lit by the glow of the moon
And when he calls, she answers the phone
And nothing ever ends in regret
For the words that were spoken or weren't spoken yet
And nobody ever ends up alone

At least sometimes

So this girl comes over and tries to be cool
But she's stumbling over her words like a fool
And you slowly realize
And you start to smile...