One, two, three, four



I was kidnapped real young by the sweet taste of love

Built a fondness for things that just weren't good enough

I cradled the crow, always shooed off the dove

Which tagged me a naive son



So the forunate kids, yeah they left on their lights

And they stuck up their noses and started some fights

Their parents all cackled at dirt on my hands

While my father was slaving, my mother explained it

"Sometimes that's just how it is."



So my sister went kissing a maple-skinned boy

Finally held up her fists, said "I'm done being coy!"

And the neighborhood boys started buzzing with joy

We finally had front page news



Although it was sad, I couldn't help but laugh

Such ridiculous hate in the hot summer sweat

I laid on my back, let the punk record spin

The stomping guitar, it was shooting out stars

It all went to my heart, yeah some rainbows in the dark

So I called up danger, my friends and some strangers

They stumbled and wavered, one called me his saviour

They slipped me the blood in the whole of the vial

But I didn't feel them change



Then I met a man with a fist for a hand

Held me flat on my back, taught me how to give in

Some phrases were shot, pretty roses got tossed

The gift of a fat-lipped grin



Now they're drilling my teeth while I'm soiling sheets

With my lover, she's counting the diamonds on rings

And even when truth doesn't help with the sting

Out of no numbers, some harsh looking colour

You pull them out, feel they're changed

No need for a thousand cranes



So I thank the city, the lights that it's spinning

The friends that I have and the shoes we're not shining

The drunk horn's so violent, all spinning out sounds

But the colour's so vibrant , the colour's so loud

The newly-born crying realizing what life is

In the eyes of my grandpa, the right people dying



The see-saw of love, its rickety bounce

The feeling of coming, the feeling of going

The mother, the child, the tame and the wild

The sleeping in minor, the gold leaf, the tire

The crooked, the straight, all the hip and the fake

Oh, I'm finally feeling the stitching of beautiful seams



Sometimes you just can't hold back the river

Sometimes you just can't hold back the river

Sometimes you just can't hold back the river

Sometimes you just can't hold back the river

Hold back the river, hold back the river, hold back the river