the mountain goats lyrics

Calculate magnetic north
And turn the other way
Wait for the coming disaster
I could do this all day

But the best you've got is powerless against me
And all your little schemes break when they come crashing up against me

According to reliable sources
In thirty days I'm getting evicted

You can arm me to the teeth
You can't make me go to war

How did the monkey get there?

You're gonna have to learn how to read

The compasses I came into this world with
Never really worked so good

Walk by faith
Tell no one what you've seen

Sit on my porch in Houston
Let the good times dance across my mind

That's not true
That's a rotten thing to say
That's a damnable lie
That's a damnable lie

How come there's peacocks in the front yard?

We write letters to each other
Invent secrets to confess to
I learn foreign and exotic terms of endearment
By which to address you

And I hope you die
I hope we both die

My love for you is ninety-eight percent pure
But the two percent that remains
Has fried the circuits in my brain

Live in the present, savor the grind
Relish the time before you have to leave it behind

The stage is set
Someone's gonna do something someone else will regret

Ready for the future
Ready for the world about to come

Nobody thought to carry a compass
It’s not the nineteenth century anymore

Just a few days above surface
A lifetime below

They sent their best and brightest to me
I sent them all back down

And I can't stand the way my body still remembers
How much we used to mean to one another way back when
And I can't stand going back to seek the shelter of your arms
And then I can't stand it again

But I've gone feral, and I don't speak the language anymore

Some things you do just to see
How bad they'll make you feel

I'm gonna burn it all down today
Down today, okay
I'm gonna burn it all down today
And sweep all the ashes away

You're mean to me
Why must you be mean to me
You shouldn't forget, you see
What you mean to me

And you are my best friend
And I have always known you

But my love is like a dark cloud full of rain
That's always right there up above you

In the world but not of it anymore
Starving to death down by the shore
Prehistoric insects trapped in ice
Letting the hunger claim its price

I said a small prayer for the poor and the naked and the hungry
And I prayed real hard for you

I don't know if that's true, but I've been told
It's real sweet to grow old