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I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Remastered)

by Bright Eyes

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1.
(spoken) So there was this woman and She was on an airplane and She's flying to meet her fiancé Sailing high above the largest ocean On planet Earth and she was seated Next to this man who you know She had tried to start a conversation But really the only thing She heard him say was to order his bloody mary And she's sitting there and she's reading This really arduous magazine article about this Third world country that she couldn't Even pronounce the name of and She's feeling very bored and very despondent And the, suddenly there's this huge mechanical failure And one of the engines gave out And they started just falling thirty thousand feet And the pilot's on the microphone and he's saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry" And apologizing and she looks at the man and she says "Where are we going?" and he looks at her and he says "We're going to a party, it's a birthday party "It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling "We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much" And then he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this: One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four (sung) We must talk in every telephone get eaten off the web. We must rip out all the epilogues from the books that we have read. Into the face of every criminal strapped firmly to a chair we must stare we must stare we must stare. We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell, set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell. Into the ear of every anarchrist that sleeps but doesn't dream we must sing, we must sing, we must sing. (And it will go like this) While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun. He says, Death will give us back to God, just like the setting sun is returned to the lonesome ocean. We must blend into the choir, sing as static with the whole. We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul. And in this this endless race for property and privilage to be won, We must run we must run we must run We must hang up in the belfry where the bats and moonlight laugh. We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past. Into the caverns of tomorrow with just our flashlights and our love we must plunge we must plunge we must plunge. (And then we'll get down there, way down to the bottom of everything and then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it) Oh my morning's coming back, the whole world's waking up. All the city busses swimming past, I'm happy just because. I found out I am really no one.
2.
If you hate the taste of wine, why do you drink it 'til you're blind. And if you swear that there's no truth and who cares, why do you say it, like you're right. Why are you scared to dream of God, when it's salvation that you want. Like stars that clear, have been dead for years, but the idea still lives on. In our wheels that roll around, as we move over the ground. And all day it seems, we've been inbetween a past and present town. We are nowhere, and it's now. We are nowhere and it's now. And like a ten minutes dream in the passenger seat while the world was flying by. I haven't been gone very long but it feels like a lifetime. I got no plans and too much time. I feel too restless to unwind. I'm always lost in thought as I walk the block to my favorite neon sign. Where the waitress looks concerned, but she never says a word. Just turns the juke box on and we hum along and I smile back at her. And my friend comes after work, when the features start to blur. She says, these bars are filled with things that kill, by now you probably should have learned. Did you forget that yellow bird, how could you forget your yellow bird. And she took a small sliver wreath and pinned it onto me. She said, this one will bring you love. And I don't know if it's true but I keep it for good luck.
3.
Grey light new days leaks through the window. An old soul song comes on the alarm clock radio. We walked for forty blocks to the middle of the place we heard that everything would be. And there were baracades to keep us off the street. But the crowd kept pushing forward 'til they swallowed the police. They went wild.... We left before the dust had time to settle. And all the broken glass swept off the avenue. And all the way home held your camera like a bible, just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth. And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room. You drop the paper in the water and it all begins to bloom. They go wild.... Just when I get so lonesome I can't speak, I see some flowers on a hillside like a wall of new TV's. They go wild.....
4.
Lua 04:31
I know that it is freezing but I think we have to walk. I keep on waving at the taxis they keep turning their lights off. But Julie knows a party at some actor’s west side loft. Supplies are endless in the evening by the morning they’ll be gone. When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend. I get a coffee and the paper; have my own conversations with sidewalk and pigeons and my window reflection. The mask I polish in the evening by the morning looks like shit. I know you have a heavy heart. I can feel it when we kiss. So many men stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it. But me I’m not a gamble you can count on me to split. The love I sell you in the evening by the morning will be gone. You’re looking skinny like a model with your eyes all painted black. You just keep going to the bathroom always say you’ll be right back. Well, it takes one to know one, kid, I think you got it bad. But what is so easy in the evening by the morning is such a drag. I got a flask inside my pocket we can share it on the train. And if you promise to stay conscious I will try and do the same. We might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain. But what was normal in the evening by the morning seems insane. And I’m not sure what the trouble was that started all of this. The reasons all have run away but the feeling never did. It’s not something I would recommend but it is one way to live because what is simple in the moonlight by the morning never is. It was so simple in the moonlight now it’s so complicated. It was so simple in the moonlight... so simple in the moonlight... so simple in the moonlight...
5.
You were born inside of a rain drop. I watched you falling to your death. And the sun, she could not save you. She had fallen down too, now the streets are wet. Body of water, toxic and timeless. Atlantic Ocean, New York skyline. I always get lost when I leave the village, so I couldn't come meet you in Brooklyn last night. But I still sing Glory, from my lowest. And I will say peace to the people I meet. While the world waits for an explosion, that instant of light that wipes the slate clean. Don't be fooled, don't get lied to. Love was always cruel. Don't act strange, don't be a stranger, it happened to me now it's happening to you. But if you take that train under water we could talk it through. If I could tame, all of my desires. Wait out the weather that howls in my brain. Cause it seems that it's always changing, the wind's indicision, the sorrowful rain. I was a postcard, I was a record, I was a camera until I went blind. Now I'm riding all over this island, looking for something to open my eyes. But I still sing Glory, from a highrise. I will say thanks, if you're pouring my drinks. While the world waits for an explosion, that moment in time when we'll be set free. So don't stay mad. Just let some time pass and in the morning you'll wake feeling new. And if I don't come back. I mean, if i get side-tracked. It's only cause I wanted to. I'm keeping up with the moon on an all night avenue.
6.
This is the first day of my life. I swear I was born right in the doorway. I went out in the rain and suddenly everything changed there spreading blankets on the beach. Yours is the first face that I saw. Think I was blind before I met you. I don't know where I am I don't know where I've been but I know where I want to go. So I thought I'd let you know. These things take forever, I especially am slow. But I realized that I need you and I wondered if I could come home. Remember the time you drove all night. Just to meet me in the morning. And I thought it was strange you said everything changed you felt as if you just woke up. And you said, this is the first day of my life. I'm glad I didn't die before I met you. But now I don't care I could go anywhere with you and I'd probably be happy. So if you want to be with me, with these things there's no telling we just have to wait and see. But I'd rather be working for a paycheck then waiting to win the lottery. Besides maybe this time it's different, I mean I really think you like me.
7.
Well I'm changing all my strings I'm gonna write another traveling song. About all the billion highways and the cities at the break of dawn. I guess the best that I can do now is pretend that I've done nothing wrong. And dream about a train that's going to take me back to where I belong. Now the ocean speaks and spits and I can hear it from the interstate. I'm screaming at my brother on a cell phone, he is far away. I'm saying, nothing in the past or future every will feel like today. Until we're parking in an alley, just hoping that our shit is safe. So I go back and forth forever. All my thoughts they come in pairs. I will I won't I doubt I don't. I'm not surprised, but I never feel quite prepared. Now I'm hunched over a typewriter I guess you'd call that painting in a cave. There's a word I can't remember and a feeling I can not escape. Now my ashtray's overflowing I'm still staring at a clean white page. And morning's at my window and she is sending me to bed again. Where I dream the dark on the horizon I dream the desert where the dead lay down. I dream a prostituted child touching an old man in a fast food crown. I drempt the ship the sinking there were people screaming all around. And I awoke to my alarmclock it was a pop song, it was playing loud. So I will find my fears and face them. Or I will cower like a dog. I will kick and scream or kneel and plead. I'll fight like hell to hide I've given up.
8.
If you walk away I'll walk away. First tell me which road you will take. I don't want to risk our paths crossing some day. So you walk that way I'll walk this way. The future hangs over our heads and it moves with each current event. Until it falls all around like a cold steady rain, just stay in when it's looking this way. The moon's laying low in the sky. Forcing everything metal to shine. And the sidewalk holds diamonds like a jewelry store case. They argue, walk this way, no, walk this way. Laura's alseep in my bed. As I'm leaving she wakes up and says, I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave, baby don't go away, come here. There's kids playing guns in the street. And one's pointing his tree branch at me. So I put my hands up, I say enough is enough, if you walk away I'll walk away. And he shot me dead. I found a liquid cure. For my landlocked blues. It will pass away like a slow parade. It's leaving but I don't know how soon. The world's got me dizzy again. You'd think after 22 years I'd be used to the spin. And it only gets worse if I stay in one place, so I'm always pacing around or walking away. I keep drinking the ink from my pen. And I'm balancing history books up on my head. But it all boils down to one quotable phrase: If you love something give it away. A good woman will pick you apart. A box full of suggestions for your possible heart. And you may be offeneded and you may be afraid, but don't walk away don't walk away. We made love on the living room floor. With the noise in the background of a televised war. And in the deafening pleasure I thought I heard someone say, if we walk away they'll walk away. But greed is a bottomless pit. And our freedom's a joke we're just taking a piss. And the whole world must watch the sad comic display, if you're still free start running away. Because we're coming for you. I've grown tired of holding this pose. I feel more like a stranger each time I come home. So I'm making a deal with the devils of fame, saying let me walk away please. You'll be free child once you have died. From the shackles of language and measurable time. Then we can trade places play musical graves. 'Til then walk away walk away walk away. So I'm up at dawn, putting on my shoes. I just want to make a clean escape. I'm leaving but I don't know where to. I know I'm leaving but I don't know where to.
9.
Poison Oak 04:39
Poison Oak some boyhood bravery. When a telephone was a tin can on a string. And I fell asleep with you still talking to me. You said you weren't afraid to die. In polaroids you were dressed in womens clothes. Were you made ashamed. Why did you lock them in a drawer. Well I don't think that I ever loved you more. Then when you turned away, when you slammed the door, when you stole a car, drove towards Mexico. And you wrote bad checks just to fill your arm. I was young enough, I still believed in war. So let the poets cry themselves to sleep. And all their tearful words will turn back into steam. But me I'm a single cell, on a serpants tongue. There's a muddy field where a garden was, and I'm glad you got away but I'm still stuck out here. My clothes are soaking wet from your brothers tears. I never thought this life was possible. You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for. The end of paralysis, I was a statuette, now I'm drunk as hell on a piano bench. And when I press they keys it all gets reversed. The sound of lonliness makes me happier.
10.
Road to Joy 03:53
The sun came up with no conclusions. Flowers sleeping in their beds. The city cemetary's humming, I'm wide awake it's morning. I have my drugs I have my woman. They keep away my lonliness. My parents' they have their religion, but sleep in seperate houses. I read the body count out of the paper. And now it's written all over my face. No one every plans to sleep out in the gutter. Sometimes that's just the most comfortable place. So now I'm drinking, breathing, writing, singing. Everyday I'm on the clock. My mind races with all my longings. But can't keep up with what I got. So I hope I don't sound too ungrateful, what history gave modern men. A telephone to talk to strangers, a machine gun and a camera lense. So when you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing. It's best to join the side that's going to win. And no one's sure how all of this got started. But we're going to make them goddamn certain how it's going to end. I could have been a famous singer, if I had someone elses voice. But failure's always sounded better, let's fuck it up boys. Make some noise.

credits

released November 11, 2016

Remastered by Bob Ludwig. Originally released 2005.

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For the most part this record was recorded one freezing week in February of 2004 at Presto! In Lincoln, NE by Mike Mogis. Except for EmmyLou and Jim James who added their loveliness in the spring in Nashville and Louisville respectively. It was then mixed by Mike at Presto! in June and mastered by Doug Van Sloan at Studio B in Omaha. The painstaking and beautiful artwork/patchwork was made by Zack Nipper with layout help from Jadon Ulrich. I would like to thank these individuals as well as all the other incredible musicians who gave their time, talent, and love to make this recording what it is.

All Songs © Bedrooms: Bedrooms and Spiders/Sony/ATV Songs LLC (BMI)

Jason Boesel appears courtesy of Brute/Beaute Records, EmmylouHarris appears courtesy of Nonesuch Records, Jesse Harris appears courtesy of Verve Records, Jim James appears courtesy of RCA/ATO Records

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Bright Eyes Omaha, Nebraska

Bright Eyes are the Omaha, Nebraska based band consisting of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nathaniel Walcott.

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