"Thoughts From the Eltingville/Annadale Train Station" lyrics

ELTINGVILLE
This song was recorded in my garage on my dad's 12-track with one microphone and one acoustic guitar that I got for free with my old Marshall amplifier. My dad produced it, because I trust him more than any other musical mind I know. The rest of the band had never heard the song at all until I recorded it, which is undoubtedly a first. I wrote the music then the lyrics (I remember this because I only recorded it about a week prior to me writing this and wrote it about two weeks prior to that). These lyrics are new for me because I've never really written any depressed-ish songs. Actually, it may come off as hopeless and depressed, but the true attitude I have in these lyrics is that we are so weak as human beings and when we fool ourselves into believing we can understand what is beyond our natural capabilities is just a waste of time. It was so easy to write, on the other hand, because I took directly from real life experiences. ex: the very first line refers to a night that I walked to my girlfriend's house. I waited for the little white man on the street sign to tell me I can go, and when I crossed that intersection in Eltingville across from Burger King, some asshole came through and made a turn right into my upper leg, and then just took off. I fell, got back up, called my girlfriend and told her and laughed about it, because I had been having a HORRIBLE day and that was just a really funny, ironic event to cap it all off. I was fine, not even a scratch, just a little shock. Other references you may or not want to know about are the Funky Diner, which does exist in New York City and the place is decorated with modern art (which I usually don't like, except for there) and Jones Sodas. It's my favorite restaurant in the entire world. Also, it got its title from the fact that when I sit at the train station, (which, in Staten Island, can last awhile) I seem to have it 'all figured out' in some way. It also includes the frustrations on having a Wendy's salary and struggling to get any kind of job in the first place and other general things that have a draining effect. But you accept it for what it is, do what you can, and move on. I could go on, but the Mets have been playing for like an hour now and I've disciplined myself for long enough to get a good explaination in.

I've been carelessly crossing
Busy intersections
And applying to jobs just to feel the rejection
Me and the bus...
We got something in common
Cuz all we want is change
If you give me a dollar
I will sing about your soul
I'll say whatever comes in my head
You'll forget all you used to know
We can catch a train to the ferry
And sail into the city
Go for sodas at the Funky Diner
and never come back home

The phone seems to get real shy
When you stare at it for an hour straight, yes I can testify
That the more you care and the harder you try
The more you'll lose and the harder you'll cry
And I don't know if she'll ever feel the same...
So I'll ride my bike to heaven
Fall back to Staten Island
Cuz I can use the exercise
and you can use the time to think

Life is a song
We try to sing along
But the words are mumbled, so we can't understand
...mumbled and whispered and we're never gonna understand

ANNADALE
This song is almost the opposite of Eltingville. What I mean by that is that Eltingville Thoughts is about uncertainty and accepting the fact that we'll never know. By the end of THIS song, however, I am completely certain of everything- everything has fallen into place and begun to make sense. This song was written at probably one of the saddest point in my life, yet for some reason I had this sick determined hope. I felt like I KNEW everything would be okay, and, although it didn't happen the way I intended it to, it was true. It has to do with a breakup that happened after a year of going out that kinda crushed me for awhile, but like I said, it's all totally ok. We'll always have a bond of great friendship that I'm pretty sure I'm singing about in this song, so all is well. At the time I was listening to a lot of Sublime, as evident in the music. This song also flows right into Bigtime, which was intentional. I wrote it in late June of '08.

I know that I will never understand
Why the bad things happen
And how to make them end
But there's one thing I know
One thing I know for sure, and it's that
You were meant to be mine
And I was meant to be yours
And now that life has dealt me this crushing blow to the face
It's never been more clear to me that no one else could ever take your place

Why should we pretend
That this could ever end?
What we had, we both know
We could never let go
It's a joke to think
That what we had
We could ever let go

I remember every ounce of pain I felt
The day you walked away and you left me there to melt
and I told you, I told you right away
That you and I we both know that this is a mistake
and I said 'Someday it will hit you, like a speeding 18-wheeler
delivering regret from Staten Island to wherever you are

Why should we pretend
That this could ever end?
What we had, we both know
We could never let go
It's a joke to think
That what we had
We could ever let go

I don't need a job to make me rich
cuz I feel like a million dollars every time we kiss
We could catch a train to the ferry, and talk about life
and I can swear that I will love you till the day we die
cuz there ain't a shadow of a doubt...