I Trust You Burned It
(Magnuson)

You found an old love letter
That I sent you in the winter
Of 1986
I trust you burned it

You found a little lock
Of my hair inside a box
It hasn’t grayed a bit
I trust you burned it

You found a wrapped candy bar
I gave you in that little bar
Out on the highway strip

You found that stupid poem
That I wrote for you so far from home
So full of woe and wit
I trust you burned it

You found our favorite song
Another someone done somebody wrong song
We had it on cassette
I trust you burned it

You found a wrinkled menu
From our favorite pizza venue
Small crowds, not too well-lit
I trust you burned it

You found that photo-copied
Picture of that crappie
I caught up in Baudette

You found that old bandana
That my folks bought in Atlanta
Somehow you ended up with it
I trust you burned it

I Stand Corrected
(Magnuson)

I thought the world was free
Not run by gods in charge of chimps
The hand we're dealt is fair
The cards aren't marked and crimped
I was a whore so sure
Of the benevolence of pimps
I stand corrected
And sit corrected
But I walk with a limp

I stand corrected
Still I sink into the sand
I stand corrected
But still I don't know where I stand
I sit corrected
But one leg's short, the rest are long
All these corrections
And yet so much, at times, seems wrong

I thought the hand of fate
Would shake our hands till wrists went limp
My spirits, they would always 
Fly as high as silver blimps
I could at least buy a new chair 
If I really saved and scrimped
I stand corrected
Sit uncorrected
And I walk with a limp

A Bird That Doesn’t Sing
(Magnuson/Crumb)

You can see her in the sky
Stretching out her weary wings
Quietly resigned to fly
She’s a bird that doesn’t sing

She'll look at you with eyes that long
For dreams you cannot bring
She wants to lift her voice in song
She’s a bird that doesn’t sing  

Some guess that she’s just shy
No telling what others will think
“Her silence means she’s satisfied”
She’s a bird that doesn’t sing

Maybe she was born that way
She’s always lacked some thing
She should accept her songless days
This bird who doesn’t sing  

I understand this silence
My heart decries this yearning           
She suffers in her defiance
She’s a bird that doesn’t sing  

You won’t hear her coo like doves
I’ve heard it said by Augustine:         
“Singing belongs to one who loves”
She’s a bird that doesn’t sing

Barely Noticeable
(Magnuson)

Not dead but just the same
I may as well not have a name
For some, it's sad
For me, it brings no shame

No force attracts me like the pull
Of being barely noticeable
To win and lose
And yet not play the game

Nothing liberates my soul
Like being barely visible
They sense that I'm around
But can't be reached

Forever in a state
Of falling forward on my face
After tripping over
Halts to which I've screeched

There is no place beyond
The utter joy of being gone
While still lurking near
The field of play  

In the thoughts of just a few
Maybe on a mind or two
But out of everybody
Else's way

Someday they'll find me dead
Just like that guy from off the internet
Who never did exist
Not unlike me  

Mostly void and null
Barely noticeable
The less within their reach
The more I'm free

Out On A Limb
(Magnuson/Crumb)

We didn’t know we were searching
When our souls found their match
We thought they were already whole
But it turns out they’re just patched

Wary like a fledgling bird 
We want to try our new wings
But we’re afraid of the danger
The departure would bring

Dreams of falling led me out on a limb
Fears of falling led me out on a ledge
Do I hang on to all the branches I know?
Or do I blindly believe and step off the edge?

Maybe we’re safe here
There’s no need to stray
In our homes we know so well
On solid ground we'll stay

You and I cannot fly
With this hole in our heart
Must our journey end
Before it was able to start?

Dreams of falling led me out on a limb
Fears of falling led me out on a ledge
Do I hang on to all the branches I know?
Or do I blindly believe and step off the edge?

Is our love forever
Just a bit out of reach?
Do we jump to our death?
Or do we soar heavenly?

Whatever You Choose To Believe
(Magnuson)

The price of really saying
How you feel is not worth paying
Despite how it can buy you
What you really, really want

So you stay essentially silent
And equip your harmless island
With items that are useful and can be relied upon

The rich control the weather
This chair is not real leather
There's nothing up the ruling party's sleeve
We're all in this together
I'll live with whatever
You choose to believe

Ghosts hear your repartee
They hang on every word you say
Living, breathing ghosts locked down in prisons that they haunt

That's all they do, is listen
And they know so much is missing
It's straight from day to night to day, without a dusk or dawn

Spaceships in the desert
Way too small to measure
Strange creatures we will meet on Christmas Eve
We're all in this together
I'll live with whatever
You choose to believe

Whatever you may tell them
In all likelihood won't help them
Just give them ammunition for more scrutiny and taunt

So parts of you remain
While others go, against the grain
You seem to have departed and will stay completely gone

Our fate depends on whether
All this empty pleasure
Is all that's left out there to be received
We're all in this together
I'll live with whatever
You choose to believe

Did You Ever Really Go?
(Magnuson)

Well I know you said goodbye
But did you ever really go?
And I know that you're not here no more
But did you ever really go?
That song is still playing that was on the radio
When I peeked past my paper at you standing by the door
You slammed it and the windows crashed and the same cold winds still blow
Oh but I don't know
Did you ever really go?

I don't see you at church no more
But did you ever really go?
And I know you felt like hell
But did you ever really go?

I get mad, I say things in a voice that I don't know
Devil cats get my tongue and twist it up in crooked bows
When I said "Go to hell" I didn't think you'd really go
Oh but I don't know
Did you ever really go?

I went walking through the cemetery
Looking at the names on stones
And I didn't see your name engraved
Did you ever really go?

In bed at night I swear I see drifting eyes that glow
But when I turn on the light, I am bare naked and alone
If I were sure that you're not here, then I'd beg you to come home
Oh but I don't know
Did you ever really go?

I Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone
(Magnuson)

What kind of cruel game does destiny play
To show me the sun when the skies aren't gray
And even the clouds that I do sometimes see
Aren't really so troubling to me

Why send me one who can comfort and cure
And then send another that seems even truer
Destiny, I wish you just would've gone
And left well enough alone

Now I have to live with the truth that hurts so
If I left well enough, as if I could go
I might find a soul that is even more true
But I guess well enough will do

I can't leave well enough alone
I can't break her heart, or I guess I won't
I never will reap what I never have sown
And I can't leave well enough alone

As Do I
(Magnuson/Crumb)

You fear the uncertain tomorrow
You keep fires buried below 
You continue to put on a show
As do I

You wander around so confused 
You despair over all you could lose
You still light matches close to the fuse
As do I

You wish we had met long ago
You struggle with what you now know
You keep thinking of that smoldering glow
As do I

You worry your heart’s gone astray
You hope that this new light will stay
You tell yourself there must be a way
As do I

You know now where our hearts belong
You carry the torch in your song
You wonder how love can be wrong
As do I

A Bitter Man Than I
(Magnuson)

He didn’t relent when tensions rose
He could’ve withdrawn, instead he chose
To stand up and fight, absorb the blows
He’s a bitter man than I

He isn’t a monster deep inside
But temperatures rise, then don’t subside
The truth hurts, and so he lied
He’s a bitter man than I

Ties either bind
Or just unwind

He’s losin’ it all, his wife, his mind
Tearing up documents he signed
Dimming the lights that used to shine
He’s a bitter man than I

Liquor’s the chicken and the egg
It cost him his soul, an arm, a leg
Follow the liter, fall, renege
He’s a bitter man than I
It seems to ease
But just deceives

It started to fall so long ago
Domino after domino
If you had to face what he’s been through
You’d be bitter too

Whatever don't kill ya makes ya strong
He kept telling himself that all along
Only to find it’s just plain wrong
He's a bitter man than I

Restrained
(Magnuson/Crumb)

The sky calls out the loudest
To those who have clipped wings 
Guitar rings out the proudest
With tension on its strings 

The words mean so much more
When you keep 'em to a limit
Seconds are most savored
When you only got a minute 

Where the current is restrained
The river overflows
Wider and higher
In the forest of hidden desires
Burn the brightest fires
Restrained

A lover’s face is clearer
Right before she says goodbye
The stars can better lead us
In the deepest darkest sky

The sun is always warmest
To those stuck in the cold
The happiest endings are those
In stories not yet told

Holding back
Restrained
Nothing can be lost
Nothing can be gained

Holding back
Restrained
Nothing can be lost
Nothing can be gained

Crumbs taste so much sweeter
To those with hunger pain
We thirst most for water
When it’s going down the drain

The urge to breathe is greater
When you gotta hold it in
And love is all the stronger
When it’s doomed from the beginning

I Don’t Mind If I Do
(Magnuson)

Another gin and tonic
And I'll die from it
I made my pool of vomit
So I'll lie in it
Can't stand the thought of whiskey now
And wine won't do
But a beer?
I don't mind if I do

Wine's a snooty mother
Gin is medicine
Whiskey is the devil
But beer is just a friend
The others taint my liver
And leave me cold and pale
But if there was a river of
Beer, I would set sail

A stream where troubled waters
Can calm a troubled man
I'd clean with sponge and blotters
And wring 'em into cans
Taketh from the river and
Giveth back in tow
As the course delivers me
To where I'm bound to go

Lead, beer, and I'll follow
I've nothing else to do
With every happy swallow
I'll drink a toast to you
If I don't make it home
I still know I'll make it through
I don't mind if I don't
And I don't mind if I do