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Sister Dough read me a story under the tissue tree 

It was hard to pay attention so I pretended to be asleep 

Deep in the weeds the sky opened wide 

And just like an eye it began to cry 

Under the tissue tree I blew my nose for free 

Under the tissue tree Sister Dough and me 

In the middle of a big field we found the setting sun 

And when we caught it in our butterfly net 

It shot away like a gun deep in the stream 

The rocks broke into minerals that nourish me and you 

Under the tissue tree I like you, you like me 

Under the tissue tree, no place I'd rather be

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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When you feel scared about the stories that you hear 

All you got to do, my dear, is fly 

When you're all alone 

The phone don't ring and no one home 

Open up your eyes, my love, and fly 

Fly away from your tears, fly till gravity disappears 

Strip your skin and let the sun in your heart 

Fly till you feel no more pain 

When you've got nothing to lose or gain 

Fly till you tear your black inside apart 

When you want to die

Things don't work even when you try 

Spread upon your wings and let it fly 

When your throat is small 

You're sitting talking to the wall 

Open up your legs and let it fly 

Fly away from your fear 

Fly till you reach the top of this sphere 

Crash your car on the boulevard and fly 

Melt right through your chair 

When you've got no way to go anywhere 

Ascending together, you and I 

When you feel numb 

Like Novocain makes your gums become 

Give up on the ground, my friend, and fly 

When your eye is wet 

Cause of something you can't forget 

All you got to do is let it fly

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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I've got your picture on my wall, Ms. Bankhead 

But you don't know me at all 

I watch your movies when I don't have things to do 

I do declare, I think that I'm in love with you 

Do you love me too, Tallulah Bankhead, I love you 

Can I cook for you, Tallulah Bankhead, I love you 

I went to Hollywood and I drove right by your house 

I wanted them to stop the bus

But they wouldn't let me out 

So I wrote you a letter saying how I feel inside 

But you never answered 

Could it be you got another guy 

Do you love me too, Tallulah Bankhead, I love you 

Will your love be true, Tallulah Bankhead, I love you 

If you felt for me the same things that I feel for you 

The world'd be half as grim and I'd be half as blue 

Why don't you call me on the phone? 

I bought an answering machine in case I'm not home 

I wrote a poem about you and me, Ms. Bankhead 

About how happy we could be 

You'd go to your movie premiere hanging on my arm 

And in the winter we could live out on the farm 

Do you love me too, Tallulah Bankhead, I love you 

Can I shine your shoes, Tallulah Bankhead, I love you

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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I got the word inside my head 

It won't come out, I don't know why 

I want you oh so much, sweet thing 

You know it make me cry 

But when I try to think of what I should say 

All the words seem to slip away 

I can't tell you, I can't say what I mean, so I say 

"The dishwasher and the washing machine" 

They say communication in relations 

Is the only foundation on which to build 

But everyone will tell you 

All the things they want to sell you 

In the end they're only wanting you to swallow their pill 

(and you'll choke on it) 

But in the night when I fight to try to make out alright 

The things to say, I find it doesn't matter 

Cause it's all a mindless chattering anyway 

I can't tell cause I don't know what I mean, so I say 

"The dishwasher and the washing machine" 

I see the sentence in the rain 

But what the meaning is, I just can't explain 

I got a picture in my head 

But when I try to photograph it, it disappear 

Just like a dream you can't pronounce 

Foreign word you can't hear 

But when the bell rings and I answer the phone 

I always pretend that I'm not at home 

I can't tell you I can't say what I mean, so I say 

"The dishwasher and the washing machine"

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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Ten thousand hours I've spent wishing 

Ten thousand years I've been asleep 

The x-ray shows some kind of growth inside me 

Could it be the side on which I sleep? 

Will you be with me in my surgery? 

Will you hold me when I bleed? 

When they cut the skin, will you be within? 

Help me to get rid of my disease 

Inside my dreams I've imagined 

A healing light would penetrate 

But every morning I awaken 

To a new sensation of pain 

Surgery, will you watch them insert the key? 

Surgery, won't you mutter a prayer for me? 

Soon I'll slip into unconsciousness 

Arms and fingers motionless 

Where were you when I got started 

Where will you be when I get done 

I'll think of you inside my coffin 

Tattoo your name upon my arm 

Surgery, that's one place I don't want to be 

Surgery, take my hand cause I don't want to bleed

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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Kelly was a girl I met 

When she was working at a Chinese restaurant 

Her friends all though she was so nice 

But that's not what she wanted 

So she built up all her hair 

And shake it like she just don't care 

But someone with a comb put it on her head 

And he messed up all of her hair 

He messed it up in the front 

He messed it up in the back 

Real bad side to side, oh, it looked so slack 

And if Kelly were here today 

She'd say, how can you send me to my grave 

with that hair 

Billy was a guy I guess I knew 

From a class I took in school 

Everyone made fun of him 

When they decided he wasn't cool 

So he grew out all his hair 

And sprayed it like he just don't care 

But someone with a brush 

Parted him on the side 

And she messed up all his hair 

She messed it up in the back 

She messed it up on the side 

Couldn't hide it with a hat 

Couldn't find no place to hide 

And if Billy were here today 

He'd say, how could you leave me that way 

with my hair

Words and Music © 1996 Douglas Chay

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I knew a girl blue velvet cats surround her 

as she talks at the sky 

She holds your love so delicately, just a glass obelisk 

There within her eyes 

She will whisper in your ear the kind of thing 

that you'd like to hear 

But she says the same things to herself 

Cause she's a girl with no eyes

She's a girl with no mind 

She's got nothing to say, 

with her you're wasting your time 

She will rip off her wig, and she'll stand in the door 

But this girl with no heart, doesn't love anymore 

I knew a girl who watched the white stars 

and wrote them all down in her file 

She sealed up tight her windows 

but left her door ajar for the rest of the night 

She will tug you on the sleeve, 

a party that she wants to leave 

But you know she'll go home by herself 

Cause she's a girl with no eyes, she's a girl with no brain 

If you let down your guard she will drive you insane 

Watch her take out her teeth while she's pacing the floor 

But this girl with no heart doesn't love anyone anymore 

She's a girl with no mouth, she's a girl with no soul 

Like she'd been shot with a gun

that left a deep gaping hole 

She will take off her face and she'll hurt you for fun

Cause this girl with no heart doesn't love anyone

Words and Music © 1988 Douglas Chay

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When I had a monkey pull my hair 

You were the one who put it there 

So you could pull it out again 

You were a friendly kind of friend 

And now you're gone 

No one ever made me feel the way I never felt 

Everybody says OK to anything 

Someone somewhere has a paper 

where it's written down 

You were, well maybe that's someone else 

Once I think you saw me changing hue 

I didn't know just what to do 

It always rains upon the hill 

I like the rain and like it still 

You were the one who's one with me 

I couldn't tell you cause of me 

And all the love I couldn't show 

When it's too late I'll let you know 

And now you're gone

Words and Music © 1988 Douglas Chay

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I'm taking a plane, I'm going away 

To the city cause I've been here too long 

I'm zipping my pants 

I'm taking a chance on you 

I'm riding a train fast like a hurricane 

Want to see you in the moonlight naked 

I don't know just how 

But I'm gonna come back to you 

I'm stealing a car from a guy in a bar 

And I'm speeding with the police chasing 

I blow out a tire and I crash in a fire, 

boom 

So I hop on a bus with a curse and a cuss 

But they stop me cause I've got no token 

Someway somehow I'm gonna come back to you 

I'm coming back to you 

cause we're attached with glue 

A pair of Siamese twins, 

dipolar molecule 

And when I'm in your arms, 

you will slap my face 

And you'll withhold your tan, 

but I don't give a damn 

I'm coming back to you 

I'm here on a boat but it won't stay afloat 

Cause it's leaking and we're faster sinking 

So I swim to the shore 

I don't care anymore how I get there 

Yes, I'm hurting my feet 

cause I'm walking the street in your direction 

and I hope you'll be there 

I don't know just how, 

but I'm gonna come back to you 

To come on back to you 

what do I have to do? 

Should I walk through a wall? 

Submit to ridicule? 

How do I even know 

that you'll be there for me? 

But I don't give a damn even if it's a sham 

I'm coming back to you 

No, I don't think I care 

as long as you are there 

If you won't have me back, 

I wouldn't stop my track 

If only for a day, 

I couldn't stay away 

From coming back to you

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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You press your pencil to the paper 

And promise everything under the skies 

But all words are lies 

Crack--you put a crack in my throat 

But still--I go on reading your note 

Riding in the elevator up to the twelfth floor 

What happened to the next one? 

You pledge to me your love forever 

But there's one thing you don't realize 

That all words are lies 

I know you don't mean to be dishonest with our love 

But even if you were

I'd still be wearing rubber gloves 

I don't need no pin or pill to shake me up inside 

All I need is you to weave your long, lonely lies 

Black--is the ache in my soul 

Cold--is the food in my bowl 

Traveling to sight-see the six wonders of the world 

But isn't there a seventh? 

There's one question you can't answer 

Whatever, who, when, where, how, or why 

Cause all words are lies

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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I wash my hands a hundred times 

To get rid of the dirt and grime 

But even when I know they're clean 

I go back and I do it again 

Cause I can't get the thought out of my head 

That the germs that I touch 

are gonna strike me down dead 

Cause I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder 

It makes my life a living hell 

Yes I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder 

Can't drink my water from a wishing well 

Whenever I go out of my house 

I lock my door so the in won't go out 

I can't be sure if I done it so 

I go back and I check it some mo' 

Cause I can't get the thought out of my head 

That I left the door unlocked 

and someone's stealing my bread 

Cause I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder 

I'm never relaxed cause I'm worried all day 

That I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder 

Nothing I do makes it go away 

Pray please pray, pray for me 

Cause I'm afraid to use a public toilet seat 

Call the doctor, call your best friend 

Cause I can see my beginning is reaching the end 

I drive my car down the street 

I don't allow myself to use my feet 

I press the accelerator with my hand 

And why I do it people don't understand 

Cause I can't get the thought out of my mind 

That if I use my feet I'll surely go blind 

Cause I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder 

It runs my life and it makes me feel blue 

Yes I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder 

To get rid of it I don't know what to do 

Manumadubiobowshake

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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I live up on the seventh floor 

You work down on the street 

I press my face to the window 

And see all the people that you meat 

I love you and you know it's a fact 

Cause you're scheduled here in my love almanac 

You stand so self-confident 

I need a woman like you 

I pretend that you're in my living room 

And I set out a homemade dinner for two 

I love you and the hat on your head 

Can you picture both of us happily wed 

If I could have your love, I'd gladly rip off my arm

For just a little kiss, I'd give anything 

You don't need to worry 

If you give it I will take your pain 

And glory in the thought 

that you don't hold me in disdain 

I look at the stars in the sky 

And I wonder if you're looking too 

I pick the one that I like the best 

And imagine I'm giving it to you 

I love you and you know it's a fact 

According to the notes in my love almanac 

You don't need to worry 

Cause this book predicts my word is true 

And that I'll show what pervades 

and connects me into you 

You don't owe me your rugs and jewelry 

You can keep all your drugs and candy 

All I ask of you is your understanding 

You don't owe me an explanation 

Don't pledge me your love forever 

All I want from you is this time together

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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Once there was a little girl 

who played with her dolly all day 

Her momma called to come inside 

but she continued to play 

Then that night she fell into

A deep dark secret well

And when she hit, 

she found herself in the midst of a fiery hell 

All because she disobeyed, 

we can see what she got 

When you don't mind your parents, kids, 

you will suffer a lot 

Once there was a little boy 

who liked to scarf down sweets 

His momma said, "That's for dessert!" 

but he continued to eat 

That very night the heavens sent 

a raging thunderstorm 

His pretty face was split in half 

and grotesquely deformed 

His stubbornness, it was the cause 

He lost all that he had gained 

When you don't do what others want you to, 

you will die in pain 

Manners, you and I both need them, 

it isn't hard to be polite 

But if you choose to follow evil, 

you will surely fry

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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I look out my window and I see all the people go 

Faster and faster like they're pulling a fire hose 

Everyone's talking on a lower-rate telephone 

About all the things 

that they can't say inside their homes 

Under a street light I can see a little girl 

Who is scoring some methadone into her little world 

She can sell she can smoke she can drink all day 

And her momma never know 

cause her momma went away 

Her brother is hiding scared inside a baking kiln 

Following directions from a governmental film 

While he had enough money to begin another life 

He could never afford to support his kid and wife 

So he cooked them all for dinner 

and he fed them to the cops 

Who had come to investigate 

The growing of the crops 

When they asked for his recipe 

He gave an index card 

With a listing of refugees 

Who all were working hard 

Let me know when to let go 

the things that spin inside my head 

Why should I go out 

When I can see it all from my bed? 

I look out my window and I see only glass 

That shatters to pieces with a pantomime crash 

I hear the wet echo of a blade on cement 

In the center of my living room I'm setting up a tent 

And I call it a Shelter 

For the Homeless and the Stray 

But they never can stay long 

Cause I make them go away 

They go down to the basement 

Where they wash out all their clothes 

And they stare at the ceiling fan 

to see which way it goes 

See the big building that belches out the smoke 

Inside of the window hangs a purple black cloak 

That covers a secret that you never should tell 

I'd tell you what it say but it's a word I can't spell 

But I know what it felt like 

And it felt like pretty weird

In the corner of my eye 

there formed a big pathetic tear 

And when it fell to the floor, 

you know I felt like I would drown 

In the deepening sorrow 

Of the water in the ground 

Let me know when I can grow 

the yeast I bake inside my bread 

Why should I go out 

When I can see it all from my bed?

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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Friday night you ring my bell and stay with me 

But you live so far away your mouth I need 

And I dread each passing hour 

Cause I don't want to see 

Dirty Monday's just a day away 

When I'm here all alone I think of you 

I won't talk to anyone feel so blue 

And I want to stop the second hand 

Cause I don't want to see 

Dirty Monday's just a day away 

And every hour the lines grow deeper on my face 

The calendar is full of X that won't erase 

And every time you know I'll let me down 

Still the image always blurs to white 

My eyes don't want me to see 

I call my mother and she say "Don't worry, son 

The one you know, 

The seam you sew won't come undone 

If you can be like you you'll be like everyone" 

Every time we get to know you say it's time to go

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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I dread living in this world, oh yeah 

Cause people killing every day 

I dread living in this body, oh yeah 

Because its needs won't go away 

I don't want to wash the dishes piled up in the sink 

I feel like I can't go to work, I haven't slept a wink 

Cause I dread everything 

Next week I have to interview for a job 

But I'm so worried 

they won't want me for their bank to rob 

I got a pain in my stomach

I got an ache in my neck 

And all I know is I don't know what's coming next 

I don't want to think about the things I got to do 

I just can't face up to all the food I got to chew 

Because I dread everything 

I dread living in this house, oh yeah 

Because the noise keeps me awake 

I dread living in this family, oh yeah 

Cause no one gives back what they take 

I don't feel like vacuuming the dirt upon the floor 

Everything I ever do feels to me like a chore 

Cause I dread everything

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay

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Back down inside then 

You gave all your marbles to me 

Afloat together in the middle of the round sea 

We live in a dream, sewed between the seams 

Behind the paper coating on a jar 

Sometimes at dinner 

You'd slip in my drink your magic potion 

And we'd ride together 

Inside of this spherical ocean 

What will I do when she's gone 

She's gonna leave before long 

I'll always find someone of that kind 

But give me one more chance to speak my mind 

She used to tell me that I was only 

Waiting to see what would happen after 

All had been finished and done 

She said I'd feel the same about anyone 

Do that don't we said to our hypothetical daughter 

Holding our oxygen under the circular water 

What do you think would happen 

If I could show you, 

if I could tell you my mind? 

Cover my eyes when I go blind 

And give to me your love so cruel and so unkind 

Make me understand the person that I find 

And hold me in your arms when I'm inside my mind 

There is a picture to see, it's so important to me 

If we could transform 

you ask me what I'd like to be 

But all I want to do is stay with you on 

the round sea

Words and Music © 1990 Douglas Chay