Mister Parentheses by The Cardboard City Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I had a dream that I was dead in bed
I’d set an alarm to spin in my grave
I took a bread knife
To a bike tire
I pressed my lips against the brow of a hill
From the land of ups and the sea of downs
Just some imaginary residue
Left under the silhouette tree
Mister Parentheses opened the door
Leading down into the drawing room of Hell
[Verse 2]
You left a message underneath my head
You gave the sign of serious shame
A broken grass blade
In a film frame
You played the club like you were paying a bill
In the mortared mix of your verbal jam
Excuses stacked up in control
An angry taxi driver in the liquid green night
Mister Parentheses closed the window
Looking out over the bottomless sky
[Chorus 1]
Who is he?
Why does he keep such careful track
Of the slights that start and end
And the topics of our lives?
Can we ask him
To explain
How to think?
[Verse 3]
This isn’t something that I ask in jest
It keeps me up at night when I’m alone
I have a land line
In my liver
I’ll call you quietly from under the lake
If you don’t write fast and you don’t write soon
I can’t collect the music for the wake
Tell me what you wanted to see
Mister Parentheses knocks down the wall
Holding up the broken road to your brain
[Chorus 2]
What is he?
Why was he baked inside a box
That is woven from the limbs
Of some useless crying man?
Shall I ask him
To explain what to think?
[Chorus 3]
Where is he?
Why has he given us these signs
That instruct us how to kiss
When we lie about our past?
Will you tell him
To explaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain
[Verse 4]
There’ll come a day when we can close this up
We’ll take all our candy and jump into a lake
You don’t need nothing
I don’t need anything
May I remind you that we’re under the gun?
Grab a piece of pie from the pie-piece guy
A cup of coffee with your stinky family
Made famous on national TV
Mister Parentheses knows what you need
As you melt into his rubbery arms
I had a dream that I was dead in bed
I’d set an alarm to spin in my grave
I took a bread knife
To a bike tire
I pressed my lips against the brow of a hill
From the land of ups and the sea of downs
Just some imaginary residue
Left under the silhouette tree
Mister Parentheses opened the door
Leading down into the drawing room of Hell
[Verse 2]
You left a message underneath my head
You gave the sign of serious shame
A broken grass blade
In a film frame
You played the club like you were paying a bill
In the mortared mix of your verbal jam
Excuses stacked up in control
An angry taxi driver in the liquid green night
Mister Parentheses closed the window
Looking out over the bottomless sky
[Chorus 1]
Who is he?
Why does he keep such careful track
Of the slights that start and end
And the topics of our lives?
Can we ask him
To explain
How to think?
[Verse 3]
This isn’t something that I ask in jest
It keeps me up at night when I’m alone
I have a land line
In my liver
I’ll call you quietly from under the lake
If you don’t write fast and you don’t write soon
I can’t collect the music for the wake
Tell me what you wanted to see
Mister Parentheses knocks down the wall
Holding up the broken road to your brain
[Chorus 2]
What is he?
Why was he baked inside a box
That is woven from the limbs
Of some useless crying man?
Shall I ask him
To explain what to think?
[Chorus 3]
Where is he?
Why has he given us these signs
That instruct us how to kiss
When we lie about our past?
Will you tell him
To explaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain
[Verse 4]
There’ll come a day when we can close this up
We’ll take all our candy and jump into a lake
You don’t need nothing
I don’t need anything
May I remind you that we’re under the gun?
Grab a piece of pie from the pie-piece guy
A cup of coffee with your stinky family
Made famous on national TV
Mister Parentheses knows what you need
As you melt into his rubbery arms