- Let your dim light shine -
                    - Soul Asylum -

The band:

Dave Pirner - Guitar/Vocals/Trumpt/organ

Dan Murphy - guitar/back vocals (lead vocals on "Promises broken"

Karl Mueller - Bass (back up vocals on "Just like anyone?"

Sterling Cambell - All percussion, some backing vocals

DISCLAIMER: Karl Mueller is not listed in the CD lining with
            vocal credits, but in the video to "Just like anyone"
            all the standing members of the band were singing
            into the same mic, he did this as well at a show
            in cleveland i went to. :)


Songs:
01. Misery *
02. Shut down
03. To my own devices
04. Hopes up *
05. Promises broken
06. BitterSweetHeart
07. String of pearls
08. Crawl
09. Caged Rat
10. Eyes of a child
11. Just like anyone *
12. Tell me when
13. Nothing to write home about
14. I did my best

* Marks the song as a single.

NOTES:
All credit on these lyrics go to Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy.
If you'd like to thank Soul Asylum for writing such great music
and sticking it out over all these years, or care to write to
them for anything else, here's the address.

             Soul Asylum
             P.O. Box 8346
             Minneapolis, Mn
             55408-0346

 - Some lyrics may have some more then printed in the lining
   it's just what the Dan sings in back up. thought it might help.

 - i put the track number in ()'s next to the name
   for people without CD players. just the tapes.

-  i think you'll notice, if you're familiar with the album

-  that the lyrics i typed are the way they are sung
   Chorus' repeated, etc...

 -  I am working on doing 'Hang Time' next, and i'd apprciate
    any help with those songs i could get, i'll put it all together
    and such, put it in format, etc... just e-mail with any
    lyrics from 'Hang time' that arn't int he lyrics archine
    at nevada. (ftp.uwp.edu) - Please e-mail me at
    fu838@po.cwru.edu  -- do NOT mail me at the address i
    posted at.. thanks.

 -  Agian, thanks to Soul Asylum for the music.

       Finally, here is your lyrics :)





                    - Misery - (1)

Spoken: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4

They say Misery
Loves company
We can start a company
and make misery

Frustrated Incorperated

I know just what you need
I might just have the thing
I know what you'd pay
To see.
Put me out of my Misery
I'd do it for you would ya do it for me
We will always be busy
Making Misery

We can build a factory
and make miasery
We'll create the cure
We made the disease

Frustrated Incorperated
Frustrated Incorperated

I know just what you need
i might just have the thing
i know what you'd pay, to feel

Put me out of my misery
all you suicide kings and you drama queens
Forever after happily
Making misery

Did ya satisfy your greed?
Get what ya need?
Was it only envy, so empty

Frustrated Incorperated
Frustrated Incorperated

Frustrated incorperated
   (Put me out of my misery)
Frustrated incorperated
   (i'd do it for you, would you do it for me)
Frustrated incorperated
   (Forever after happily, i know just what you need)
Frustrated incorperated
   (i might just have the thing)
Frustrated incorperated
   (Bathed in Misery, i know just what you need)

Frustrated incorperated
(Put me out of my misery)



















             - Shut Down - (2)

I've been vindicated
I've been loved and hated
I've been pulled aside
and told that life overrated
No i dont believe it
i just can't conceive it
I can write all night
But in the morning i can't read it

Oh no, don't know what's the matter
stuck up on a ladder
Scared of coming down

If i don't get what i want
And there ain't enough to go around
I become oblivious to the obvious
Just ridiculas

As i flip the pages
You're a time that's ageless
In between us lies
A calm before the storm that rages
Thought we were related
Couldn't be seperated
Tried to get ahead
but only got decapitated

I don't get what she wants
   (Don't know what's the matter, tired of hangin 'round)
And i don't get what i need
   (Stuck up a ladder, scared of coming down)

We become oblivious to the obvious
Just dysfuntional
Shut down, shut down, shut down.

When i can't keep from getting down
   (Stuck up on a ladder, scared of coming down)
I grow tired of hanging around
   (Don't know what's the matter, tired of hangin 'round)

I become invisible
Unlivable
Just dysfuntional
Shut Down, Shut down, Shut Down



















                  - To my own divices - (3)


Should't a got so loaded
damn near exploaded, Oh lord
Ya know, i should have known this

Whatever the prices
Whatever the Crisis
Oh please, don't leave me
To my own divices
Please Don't leave me
To my own devices
Oh please, Don't leave me
To my own divices

She was a pretty good waitress
Said she waited on Elvis
Said she talks to much

Please don't leave me
To my own divices
Oh please, Don't leave me
To my own divices

Save it up for a rainy day
it just rained Yesterday

Whatever the prices
whatever the crisis
Oh please, dont leave me
to my own divices
Please don't leave me
to my own divices
Oh please, Don't leave me
To my own divices




















                      - Hopes Up - (4)

There's just no substitute for fun
I've tried every single one
And no one can take your place
Everybody gets replaced
My time has neither come nor gone
It just slips out when i yawn
Without hope i can't go wrong
Can't go wrong

Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now

Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now

It's so hard to settle down
Don't recognize my home town
Home is where i hang my head
lost in all these things i've said
been my holding my breath for so long
I don't need air anymore
If you never let me breath I'll never breath
I'll never breath

Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now

Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now

Don't know what i was hoping for
I feel like feeling better than i've ever felt before

My time has neither come nor gone
it just slips out when i yawn
holding my breath for so long
For so long

Don't want to be bored no more
I know there's so much more
Don't know what i was hoping for
I feel like feeling better than i've ever felt before

Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now

Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up
Don't get my hopes up now



















               - Promises Broken -  (5)

Streets are filled with broken glass
you get buired by the past
give me just a little taste
lay this mess to waste
Take me home

My mind is racing take me home
my body's aching so alone
i'll make you want to stay with me
befriended by the enemy
One more time

Every little thing about this tells me
nothing out there is ever gonna help me
All these words that i have spoken
Just promsies Broken now

Looking outside form my window sill
Throw another coin in the wishing well
Never find what you're looknig for
15 miles, your dim light shines
from so far away

Your sad smile
It's all i see, when i say

Every little thing about this tells me
Nothing out there is ever gonna help me
All these words that i have spoken
just promises broken now

from the hotel satalite
Don't look like you're living right
Here's a deal you can't refuse
You ain't got as much to lose

Who can you tell your troubles
Someone who won't laugh at you
and it's alright
As i watch you walk away
Hope apart of you would stay
But it's alright

Every little thing about this tells me
Nothing out there is ever gonna help me
All these words that i hear spoken
Are just promises broken




















                  - Bittersweetheart - (6)

Why you always wanna get the best of me?
I'm like seeing eye dog and i can't even see
they're naked and they're following my master who's blind
And my mind's gone to pieces, i could use a piece of mind

So i picked up the pieces and i made a new start
Stole an old stiletto and started stabbing in the dark
I can't live without out, i would certainly fall apart
But it's hard to make arrangments around a bittersweetheart

Bittersweet, Bittersweetheart, bittersweetheart
Better get yourself a little street smart
Bittersweetheart sad but true
It's a bittersweetheart that's a hard heart to cure
It's just my bittersweetheart

Bittersweetheart, Bittersweetheart

It's like a suicide mission when you can't see no end
Tired of compliment fishin and impressing your friends
I never kissed no one just to kiss and tell
It's a little bit of heaven and a whole lot of hell

In the eye beholder it's a beautiful start
You always seem to end up with a bittersweetheart
There's a darkness looming
but the sun is shining bright
I can't live to see the morning if i stay up all night

Bittersweet, Bittersweetheart, Bittersweetheart
Got a short gun, got a head start
Bittersweetheart, sad but true
It's a bittersweetheart that's a hard heart to cure
It's just my bittersweetheart
It's the hardest part, Bittersweetheart

Are you in there are you beating
beating me up, until i'm bleeding
How much blood can you spare

Bittersweetheart, Bittersweetheart
Think just a drink will get you to the good part
lyin in bed just wondering what to do
It's a bittersweetheart that's a hard heart to cure

In times inside you find you always
end up with a bittersweetheart

Bittersweetheart, Bittersweetheart

It time inside you find you always
end up with a bittersweetheart




















               - String Of Pearls -  (7)

She Swings a string of pearls on the corner
the street lights reflect, The light in the water
The string, it snaps and the pearls go sailing
and they splash, and bounce and roll accross the wet street
As she bends to chase the pearls
a car swings around the corner
She darts from the eyes of the panic struck driver
Who's racing to the delivery room
cause in the back seat his wife is busting out of her womb

And the sack breaks out come the siamease twins
Who grow up to become the first president with two heads
Are better than one
He puts his heads in his hands and says i've got to
put my heads together
I can become the best president ever
And not just president
Fend for yourself

Signs his name, takes the blame
For all of the names with no shame
in their beliefs they ajourn
And they leave, and in walks a man
witha  brook and a knife
and blood on his hands
and he sweeps everything under the rug
and goes home to his kids and gives them a hug
But his wife was not there
she had just left a letter
That said you'd be much better off without me

Now his wife took the train to her ex-lovers funeral
Who died in the bathroom
hit his head on a urinal
When they got together
the knowledge was carnal
And the widow was at the funeral
And they had quite a cat fight
and they fell into the hole
where the casket was resting
And the preacher just left in the middle of the service
cause death was one thing, but women made him nervous
And he ran to his car and he drove around the corner

Then somthing in street caught the light in his eye
he pulled over, reached down
and picked a pearl from the gutter
And he didn't know what to think
So he brought it home and washed it in the sink
and he gave the pearl to sister Mary Teresa
Who could not accept it
So she gave it to Lisa
a young prostitute who was missing a pearl
on the necklace that broke
late last night




















                          - Crawl -  (8)

You got me going
So get me outta here
I should be blowing
in someone else's ear
I'm looknig forward on looking back
Like days like today
though i wish you'd would go away
Stay won't you stay

I'm gonna crawl
Crawl home
Crawl Home
I never felt better just crawling home
I'm gonna crawl home, Crawl alone
Good to see ya, see ya later
Maybe one more beer
I'm gonna crawl home, Crawl home from here

Some respond to pleasure
Some respond to pain
I'm hanging out to dry
In the pouring rain
Victims of temptation
never can complain
I could use the sensation
To say i can't feel pain

I'm gonne crawl
Crawl Home
Crawl Home
I never ever said i'd never make it home
It's just a stone's throw
A crawl home

Good to see ya, see ya later
Maybe one more beer
I'm just a crawl home
A crawl home from here

I could use someone
To drag out of here
I am that someone, it's all become quite clear
Get me outta here

I never felt better just crawling home
I'm gonna crawl home
Crawl alone
Good to see ya, see ya later
I'm outta here
I'm just a crawl home
just a crawl home from here




















                   - Caged Rat - (9)

Why don't ya go home
crawl into your hole
Why don't you go home and spend time alone

In the corner
i looked accross the room
To the other corner
i knew i'd be there soon

Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat
Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat
Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat
Caged Rat, Caged Rat

In the corner, in the corner
in the corner i looked accross the room
i knew i'd be there soon
in the corner

Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat
Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat
Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged rat
Caged Rat, Caged Rat

Why don't ya go home
and crawl into your hole
Why don't ya go home
and spend some time alone

From the corner
I looked accross the room
to the other corner
i knew i'd be there soon

Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat
Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged rat
Rat, Caged Rat, Caged Rat, Caged rat
Caged Rat, Caged rat




















                  - Eyes of a child -  (10)

She has 13 kids
each one had 13 problems
3 uppers, 10 downers
just to put up with this
And she don't know which children
belong to each father
But she loves them all anyway and they each get a kiss
And the toilet ain't flushin
and the toaster is smoking
The vacuum don't suck
but it needs a new belt

But she saw the world through the eyes of a child
and remembers how good it was
And how good it felt

He picked up the paper from the bitter cold morning
He had just gone to sleep
he had to get up for work
By morning he's a watchman
By night he's a waiter
In the late afternoon he worked as a clerk
And he can't the doctor bills
He just can't afford the pills
the car's repossessed and the child support's due

But he saw the world through the eyes of a child
Big problems seem smaller
and old things seem new

She was just 5 when she turnbed her first trick
and now she's 13 and it don't make her sick
And she does lot's of crystal
and she owns her own pistol
Got a goldfish named silver
and a pimp who's named Rick

And some are like customers
and some are like pateints
She'd have gone back to school
if she just had the patience

But she saw the world through the eyes of a chil
and none of the nightmares are nothing to deny
She saw the world through the eyes of a child
Ya she's seen it all, and she knows
they're all lies




















                  - Just like Anyone - (11)


She walks into the outhouse
the cold night breathes into her face
The flies are standing sitll now
The moon, it splills into the place

And she starts wondering
what it's like to be liked by everyone
and like everyone, be just like anyone
who wants to be so...
Just like anyone, Just like anyone

She reaches through the darkness
her fingers touch the porcelain seat
she spins and pulls her pants down
the cold air holds her, like a theif

And she starts wondering what they mean
Do they just mean to be mean?
And thinking about the scene
do they just want to be seen?
Trying not to seem so...
Just like anyone, Just like anyone

The door comes screaching open
she walks into the evening air
she dispears in the darkness
all that's left is the faint smell of her hair

And she starts wondering
what it's like to be liked by everyone
And like everyone, be just like anyone
Who just want to be so..
Just like anyone
And wondering what they mean
do they mean just to be mean?
And thinking about the scene
do they just want to be seen?
trying not to seem so...
Just like anyone
   (just like anyone)
Just like anyone
   (just like anyone)
Just like anyone
Just like anyone, just like anyone
just like anyone, just like anyone
just like anyone, just like anyone




















                     - Tell me when - (12)

She's all by herself at the end of the day
She'd talk herself but wouldn't know what to say
Wrings her hands and steps out of the bath
the mirror laughs and splits her in half
she looks around the room in her carpeted tomb
Threw the floor, left keys in the door

Tell me when, Tell me when
Tell me when, When does life begin

She got in her car and looked up at the stars
And made a wish
She held her breath and considered death
And in the rear-view
She looked back on her reflection
She was a long way from where she wanted to be
and a long way from perfection

Tell me when, Tell me when
Tell me when, Tell me when
Tell me when, When does life begin

She chickened out and called Triple A
And told them the way
After she paid, they fixed the car
Got on her way and drove passed the bar
Where no one bought her a drink
and she always thought it was too fat
and now she knows those places blow
maybe it was her nose

Tell me when, Tell me when
Tell me when, Tell me when
Tell me when, when does life begin
When does life begin




















                - Nothing to write home about - (13)

Dear mother,
What can i say?
It's been so long since i went away
Yes i miss the comforts of home
but i guess i'm better off on my own
No one told me people could be so cruel
Nobody told me about any of this in school
Still nobody understands the things that i don't understand

I've nothing to write home about
Nothing i have figured out
Still i have the same old doubts
Nothing to write home about

Dear John,
That ain't my name
I'm just hanging around to take the blame
I'm filled with guilt
i'm filled with shame
To much or not enough it's all the same
And no one wants to talk about the loss
No one wants to talk about the cause

And everyone just looks away
just like any other day
I've Nothing to write home about
nothing i have figured out
Still i have the same old doubts

Who can teach me how to change my ways
Who will come and save the day
Who will tell me what to say, When there's nothing left to say

Nobody told me about any of this ins chool
No one told me i've been takin for the fool
and everyone just looks away
and tries to make it through the day
I've nothing to write home about
Nothing i have figured out
Still i have the same old doubts
Nothing to write home about
Nothing to write home about




















                  - I did my best - (14)

Holed up in the dressing room
without a dress
Kneeling at the confessional
with nothing to confess
And i knew all about my suprise party
I was spoiled and depressed
And i acted suprised, and i told lots of lies
Yes i did my best

Stop the truck at the truck stop
I need somthing to help me crash
Food stamps checks and credit cards
But they only accepted cash
There was sweat beading on my brow
My heart was beating out of my chest
So i stole everything they couldn't give away
Yes i did my best

I did the best that i could do
With all the mess that i've been through
What did you expect me to do?
I did my best for you

I was waiting for a chain reaction
With the missing link
Waiting for that trickle down
Forever circiling the sink
I was tired of being tired
I could not get no rest
So i kept sleepwalking
And talking in my sleep
Yes i did my best

And i did the best that i could do
With the all mess that i've been through
What did you expect me to do
I did my best for you