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all songs ©copyright 2009 Eric Sarmiento. All rights reserved.

The Declaration of Interdependence lyics:

reptiles

i can feel my blood growing cold as the reptiles rise again

everything i love i see growing old as the reptiles rise again

it’s in the way that they smile, see them on the två

they do it in cold blood, they do it for you and me

i can feel those leathery scales as the reptiles rise again

everywhere i look faces grow pale as the reptiles rise again

it’s in the way they tie their ties

voices fill the radio air

it’s in those lidless eyes

never see a light in there

they say “i don’t want to change you

we don’t want to change anybody

everything is just fine”

nobody wants to change anybody

“everything is just fine”

nobody wants to alarm anybody

…it’s in the way they tie their ties

see them on the tv

it’s in those lightless eyes

they’re training them on you and me

nothing’s ever satisfying

i’ve seen the sun circling the moon

i tried to tell someone but nothing’s ever satisfying

flipped on the television, saw a foreign city

i saw the bodies burn but nothing’s ever satisfying

nothing, nothing, nothing

i’ve felt the flame of bitterness burning everything

i read the prophecies burning everything

i’ve heard the preachers and corporations

i wish i’d listened more ‘cause nothing’s ever satisfying

“take a number, think it over

relax relax relax

please don’t worry, tell me what’s the hurry

don’t be so uptight

you know we’ve got time”

sometimes i get so old, feel just like a shadow

i’m so much younger now but nothing’s ever satisfying

i met montaigne in a dark café

i bought a camera bought stuff made out of plastic

i saw saddam, i saw the president

i saw their lips move but nothing’s ever satisfying

i don’t know of anything that’s not sold or so we’ve been told

so we don’t have to cry

we don’t have to be alive

“don’t be so uptight,” they tell us

“go ahead and buy”

i’ve seen the rain falling up into the sky

i kept my mouth shut

stranger

i became the stranger

by trying to see tomorrow

through yesterday’s eyes

i’m on the tightrope balancing high between

regret and desire

i can’t figure it out

nothing ever changes

i’m living it out

again i have become the stranger

the wind keeps blowing

all of the papers from my table

i’m on the brink of

something big, i can feel it

but then it slips away

the best things in my life happened after i gave up

why can’t i give up now?

i can’t figure it out

nothing ever changes

i’m living it out

again i have become the stranger

but nothing ever lasts forever

sundays

i remember sundays never failed to get you down

we’d go walking around the city

in hopes of turning it around

sometimes you’d stop on the sidewalk

just staring at the light

grab my hand to stop me

from disappearing in the night

we didn’t know what songs to sing

we didn’t know about love

we didn’t know much of anything at all

i remember crowds of drunken businessmen

in the light from the blue skyscraper screen

and the splinters in our bones, echoes of our broken homes

the silent spaces in between

sidewalks they were slippery

you know, we never saw the line

and the rain was falling on that day

it did every day at the time

i threw a bottle at a shop window

or at least i wanted to

it’s another endless season and another chance to call

we’re pushing so hard at the door, we’re waiting in the hall

and i see you in my mind, still standing in the light

on this most typical of sundays, we’re waiting for the sun

to burn away the night

we didn’t know

we didn’t know

bitter older men

i’ve got a message for the bitter older men

who are driving us into the ground

i’ve got a message for the bitter older men

who are running the ship ashore

i know why you’re bitter

‘cause you’re obsolete

fade into the sunset now

have a little grace for a change

and fade into the sunset

like in those cowboy movies that you love

fade into the sunset

last living expert

the last living expert on living died today

i never got to meet her, i never had the chance to say

“show me the hidden dimension

between the pure and the impure”

but i saw her on tv, i was walking through electronics town

a guy with a mic was staring at her like she was supersonic sound

and he said, “show me the hidden dimension

between the pure and the impure”

we were walking through the cemetery

taking in the cherry blossoms in the spring

there were people all around and they were sitting on the ground

and riding bikes and walking

we ran into someone we knew and, as people do, we started talking

that’s when she walked by

her t-shirt said “hi!”

and she said in a voice clear and loud

“you’re on your own, you’re on your own now

you’re on your own, i’ve done all i know how

you’re on your own, you’re on your own now

but the music will start shortly!”

paris

there’s a song being played and it’s just a single note

there’s smiles on faces, but they’re blank

i’m having trouble sleeping, days stretch into years

things just don’t seem real without you near

it’s an ocean luxury liner

it’s a jet plane and its wings in the sun

it’s a satellite beaming through your window

can you hear it, is the signal coming clear?

when we get where we’re going

that’s when we get where we’ve been

in america now they’re dreaming of paris and lying by the seine

fear of people do you wrong

sick of feeling this so long

we fall alone and the moon he say you’re lovely

darling, i have open ears

if we start to die on the day we’re born

maybe we start to be born on the day that we die

there’s plenty of time to find out later

for now let’s stay

the lives of ghosts

you couldn’t know how long it takes to explore

all of these places

empty rooms full of artifacts

lines on their faces

and the ancient furniture world that’s never been uncovered

some things are best left in darkness

least that’s what i’ve discovered

and they say,

“the old life is gone

doesn’t matter at all”

sometimes i get all keyed up and folded away

the life i chose beneath the wheel

i’m learning it these days

outside the soldiers are coming now

boots are marching up the street

but no one’s left to hear their song

i slipped out the back to the place that we’ll meet

and we’ll say,

“the old life is gone

doesn’t matter at all”

you spend too much time in shadows, shadows they learn your name

you can get lost in illusion, like a flag beheld in shame

if i forget what i learned looking in, i get to learn it all again

and when we get where we’re going that’s when we get where we’ve been

and we’ll say,

“the old life is gone

doesn’t matter at all”

me llamaron

no quería ver el fin así que fui

a las calles y corrí y corrí y corrí

pasé por la ciudad y la ciudad ardía

flores de la noche charlaban por la esquina

y me llamaron

me llamaron

salí de la ciudad al campo

un coche oxidado regresaba a la tierra

ví una culebra molida al camino

la música de los campesinos se atenuaba a la distancía

y me llamaron

había llovido y todo olía pudrido y dulce

pudría, se moría y crecía otra vez

todo me recordaba de ti

volví a las calles ancianas de la ciudad

me llamaron

a thousand years or more

i walked into a room full of air

i could swear someone had just been there

you wouldn’t know it by the sleeping computers

or the magazine piles, dusty smiles from the photographs

hanging on the walls

no, you couldn’t tell just by looking at all

anyone had been there for a thousand years or more

what do you say when you don’t know how to explain?

it’s just a feeling i have, i can’t explain but i swear

someone was just here

downtown the lights are on in all the shops

candles flicker in restaurants, signals change from red to green

but from then avenues to the tiny back streets

i’m walking around ‘til i’m dead on my feet

but there isn’t anyone, not a soul to meet

so i go down stairs and take a seat

on an empty subway train home

it was only for a second i turned my head

but when i looked back

it was gone

i’m going to leave these magazines and machines

turn out the light on these faded photo scenes

i’m going to walk out now and leave this room behind

i’m going to shut the door and

in a thousand years or more

someone’s going to come along

and even if they can’t explain for sure

they’re going to know that someone had just been here

i turn around, i turn around, i turn around

who and what are we?

we fall in love, dance, and go to movies

we undress each other, drink wine, and sing songs

we make movies, we make books, lps, and we make bombs

we play tricks on each other, show up late for parties and dinner

maybe we’re here just to be here

but maybe we’re here for figuring out

who and what are we?

and who wants to know?

we demand answers but we’ll settle for pictures on magazine covers

we reach out for the things we know we can never have

when we were young we saw red foxes in the wild but not anymore

bigger, faster, further, richer, newer, now, MORE!

maybe we’re here just to be here

but maybe we’re here for figuring out

who and what are we?

and who wants to know?

who wants to know?

hey, punk rocker, sri lankan chefs, carnival worker, salary man, l’homme de camembert et sushi, french horse shamans, nepalese sauce makers, drummers with keyboards!