Lyrics

Between the

water and you

By John Cameron Mitchell

and Lance Horne

lets go
what do i owe
i’m caught
between the water
and you
what do i do

i thought
i could stay here
forever
i thought i was so clever
that he’d never notice
like the sun or the wind
or whatever

i can’t see through
out of the blue
we fought
as if we were two
when we were
pale blue
way past due

we bought

what we thought would

save us

the price was high

but so was i

and you taught me to

find a way to

break through

out of the blue

so softly

you taught me

how to

make do

between the water and you

Sophia

By John Cameron Mitchell

and Izae

oh sophia you never fit in above

oh sophia so you joined us down below

to show how far you could go

your daddy told you you’d not last a day

his little stowaway

your mama told you to stay

but you can’t wait

to miss them

you’ve lost the plot

your brow is hot

in the yard is a tree

hung with toys

for dead little girls and boys

that’s their fate

but one always hangs oneself too late

you asked me how does the story end

i said all stories end the same

if you take them far enough

you’ve got them eating out of your hand

but now you fear for your hand

you always go without saying

your sweet smile is fraying

splintered on wooden teeth

they’ll peel you like a grape

oh sophia you come from such great wealth

oh sophia now you are beside yourself

i’m a close friend of a friend

and i loved you as much as i could

but i think we can agree

if it’s down to you and me

id choose me

if it’s down to me and you

you’ll choose

you are full of something good and bad

you are stuffed with your own predator

as you flee your creditors

death minus god equals science

death minus science equals god

but god minus death equals nothing

you lay upon the earth as upon a man

buried alive in the air around you

but the sunlight lays upon the earth

as upon a woman

this is your lucid dream

youve lost the plot

your brow is hot

in the yard there is a tree

hung with toys

for your dead little girls and boys

that’s their fate

but one always hangs oneself too late

don’t ask me how your story ends

all stories end the same

if you take them all the way

he lay upon you as upon the earth

buried alive in his afterbirth

but the sunlight lays upon you

as a child upon your breast

its kiss seemed obscene like a lucid scream

let me hold you and help you sleep

for we are all geniuses

oh when we dream

oh sophia your child was born of hate

oh sophia i’ll hold you til it wakes

and turns to see your face

New American Dream

By John Cameron Mitchell

and Justin Craig

i dreamed in a meadow and when i woke

i lay on a pillow of poison oak

this is my dream

come november the weakest of us all will fall

and he will refuse to leave the oh so white house

he will be dragged from his golden bunker

and cast down before lincoln’s graven image

who shakes his head in disbelief

with a massive grinding grief

then mitch mcconnell i presume

will be forced to consume

the weak one’s living flesh

when he vomits as he must

it’s only just that in his mouth be thrust

the golden vomit of him

thus the diseased body will pass through mitch’s gut

and resolve itself into a stew

a kind of vile fondue

this is my dream

that he will again be forced to eat

this is my dream

and again excrete

this is my dream

this is my american dream

that night under the cover of a blood red moon

pale white unvaccinated children in golden balaklavas

will pluck his gleaming hairs and shattered nails

from the hardening piles

and pass them from tiny hand

to tiny shit-stained hand

across this great and venal nation

new communities decimated by turd immunities

will spring up like fungi

from the moist and unholy relics

like lowly psychedelics

for example

a single dyed pubic hair will inspire prayer

from a sleeper cell of senior-supremacist swingers

this is my dream

and his big toenail will blaze a trail

for an unintentional community of anti-vax gluten-free karens

this is my dream

this is my american dream

straight-acting high-yellow gay black uncut gun nuts

tell you what

will rally around a splinter of his arthritic trigger finger

a cathedral for pro-life half-price vol-cel asswipes shall rise over his shrivelled foreskin

then and only then shall the final vengeance begin

the mad ones shall tear each other limb from limb

and descend in their final rapture

to a heaven where they can safely destroy each other

for eternity

without disturbing those who remain

the strong the loving and the sane

who will establish a dream

oh the new american dream

this is my american dream

oh my american dream

dream dream, my american dream

dream on dream my dream machine

dream dream dream on with me

a dream of an equitable caring society

that speaks truth to powerlessness

and welcomes and honors all those

who honor their fellow humans

and their terrified home the earth

this is my dream

dream dream american dream well come on

you got me dreamin baby this aint no meme

dream dream…

Picaflor

By John Cameron Mitchell

and Izae

i know how to say don’t leave me

i know how to say don’t go

you knew how say it believably

that you needed me

oh no

i know how to say don’t fuck with me

i know how to say i’ll go

but you knew how to say you’re stuck with me

good luck with me

although

you took an ambien an hour ago

now i say that i’m ready

i bit your neck and said tomorrow we’ll know

if i recall

the source of such a small

wound

i can’t wait to say i don’t miss you

i’m practiced at i told you so

but this house has survived three wildfires

two hurricanes

a tornado

i tried to say it’s over

as aretha sang going down slow

but you said

hey john let’s have a baby

but please don’t blame me

if i roam

i was the last one to get a cell phone

now i’m texting and crying

i don’t believe in things til they’re shown

not a big fan

of love that i can’t

see

a hummingbird uses geometry

draws blueprints between bluebells

impatiens mapped so patiently

a sip here

a sip there

moving on

when things are good

i know how to say i’m sorry

when years have softened the pain

we’ve both had our share of mortality

and vanity in vain

now we fly in not quite parallel paths

einstein might say we’ll converge

i was never that good at math

yet i pray

we’ll find a way

to stay when things are good

Say their Names

By Leland and

John Cameron Mitchell

you thought you had some time

just enough to wait for it again

there was love that you could find

might not be too late for it but when

oh no, they took it too far

they took your life away

my friend

they’ll never know who you are

that you might have loved them

but then

they cut you

they told you not to speak

told you not to move

your hands

they thought that you were weak

but you carried more than any man

oh no i see where you are

i see where you ought to be

and when

they killed you they killed themselves

now let us live in your names

Layleen Polanco, Tony McDade, Monika Diamond, Serena Velázquez
Ramos, Dominique Fells, Yampi Méndez Arocho, Nina Pop, Layla Pelaez
Sánchez, Johanna Metzger, Alexa Negrón Luciano, Jayne Thompson, Dustin
Parker, Penélope Díaz Ramírez, Helle Jay O’Regan, Lexi, Selena Reyes-
Hernandez, Ríah Milton, Brayla Stone, Elizabeth Montaño, Mercy Mack,
Tatiana Hall, Bree Black, Shaki Peters, Luz Clarita Zúniga, Draya McCarty…

i see where you are

i see where you ought to be

my friend

when they killed you, they killed us all

now let us live in your names

in all your names

you thought you had some time

just enough to wait for it

again

there was love that you could find

it will not be too late for it

but when

No Debt

By John Cameron Mitchell, Ezra Furman, Jorgen Jorgensen-Briggs, Ben Joseph and Sam Durkes

over the sea

i’ll get there

i wanna see

there’s gonna be

no debt there

i need a disguise

i think it wise

to color my eyes

kiss my lips away

burn my fingertips

cut off the lips

that kissed you

shatter my teeth

and the bones underneath

reset them in the shape

of a good man

give me a new name

i’ve always liked cosmo

they’ll never find me

they’ll never know me

got a new passport

i want to go home

my woman has changed

her face rearranged

since i met her

i’m scared of my kid

and the things that i did

to get him to like me

i wasted my whole life

but i love my wife

cause she only wasted a short time

with me

nothing i could do

made her love me how she used to

before she really knew me

over the sea

i’m gonna get there

i’m gonna see

there’s gonna be

no debt there

here’s an idea

shut me up in a cave

let it be my grave

with just a hole for a straw

til i forget what i saw

and all i did wrong

help me self-embalm

pour me in a mold

paint me gold

put me high on a shelf

watch over you

in sickness and in health

finally true to myself

i’ll do no harm i’ll do no harm

watch me through a rolled up dollar

ain't moving but i’m getting smaller

over the sea

there’ll be

no debt there

never sing a song that you can’t sing to a dying man

oh no debt there

no debt debt debt debt debt

oooh etc.

See You Again

By John Cameron Mitchell

be on your guard

beyond the masking of your scars

you must feel so all alone

if i don't see you tomorrow

i know that i will see you again

i know that i will see you one day again

and if you have no shelter of your own

no place to call home

you are like a child the world has disowned

you are unknown

be on your guard

beyond the brutal and the dark

your only path is through an empty park

if i don't see you tomorrow

i know that i will see you again

you know i will see you again

for if on the day after this ends

i don’t call you friend

we will never learn how to mend

we are condemned

and if this plague has seeds that are sown

we must atone

i pray our rulers hear your moan or be overthrown

and be overthrown

be on your guard

upon the unmasking of your scars

you may still feel so all alone

if i don't see you tomorrow

you know i will see you again

i know that i might be you some day

i pray that we will see each other again

Mx Otis Regrets

By John Cameron Mitchell

and Xiu Xiu

mommy mommy

i can see

i can see inside you

i can

mommy i can hear

i can hear inside you

i can move

mommy mommy mommy

don’t wanna go out

mommy mommy mommy

wanna dance and shout

mommy mommy mommy

don’t wanna go out

mommy mommy mommy

wanna dance inside you

not outside you

inside you

why do i have to be a man

to save the fucking world if i can

or maybe i will be a woman

or something else in between

something better in between

i don’t wanna go etc

i wanna stay right here

won’t ya let me

why do i have to be a man

to save the fucking world if i can

or maybe i will be a woman

or something else in between

why do i have to be a man

to save the fucking world if i can

or maybe i will be a woman

or something that’s in between

na na na..

here i’m ready

i’m ready to go

ok here we go

oh shit

did anybody see my earring?

American Sickness

By Alynda Segarra and John Cameron Mitchell

i have the american sickness

i’m never satisfied

i wanna buy the experience

i will be denied

always at the window

but never inside

i have the american sickness

i’m feeling endless pain

i have the weight of atrocity

it’s done in my name

i’m not to blame

it’s done in my name

how

did it come to this

i know for some

shame no longer exists

but i’d

like to reminisce

about a time

when a sin was a kiss

between god and money

i seek total forgiveness

i’ve outlived all my friends

i feel like the final witness

didn’t think i’d last

never thought i’d last in a land

with no future or past

and i don’t care about loyalty

i run and i run from my humanity

an earthquake

an outbreak

oh what will it take

just to shake me

wake me out of this feverdream

and i long for purity

but nobody comes out clean

baby there’s nowhere left to hide

unless the mob is on your side

and i miss the days of a secret life

someone’s always watching you

watching me

and i should take my own advice

but i no longer believe

in what i was about to say

so i pray

i have the american sickness

i don’t know who i am

i don’t know what afflicts us

behold the man

he’ll do what he can

to finish what we began