Lyrics Ashes - Mark Kozelek, Ben Boye, Jim White

Ashes

As I walk down the hill like I did since I was a twenty-something kid
I thought, «Oh my god, there’s something loose shaking beneath my skin
Oh my god, these are my elbows, these are my wrists
This is my jaw and this is my ribs»
Underneath my skin, yes there is a skeleton
I didn’t think about this when I was twenty or thirty or fourty
All I thought about then was spreading my seed around via my rockstar glory
And at thirty for sure there was an eternity
Of magical days and nights on this planet laying before me
I didn’t think I would slow down when I was twenty or thirty or fourty
But last night I was walking in the rain and suddenly it hit me now that I’m
fifty
My shoulder blades are pointy and my flesh feels less thick and more like
gelatin
Suddenly, my skin something mildly there to protect my skeleton
Some girls were in the restaurant talking about their charmed life
About growing up rich and the many many many many downsides
One of their parents used to punish her when she acted a fool
By making her walk to the bus stop and taking the bus to school
One of them said Chinese food was so much better in China than in the States
I said, «How profound, that wouldn’t have occurred
To the rest of us here enjoying the food on our plates
And Spanish food is better in Spain, wouldn’t you think dimwit?
And Southern food is better in the South, oh you haven’t been there?
Well when you do, compare the grits to the grits they serve in Manhattan
Anyhow young lady, please enjoy your food
Observe the homeless people outside, you’re putting me in a bad mood»
Oh how I wanted to say more to her
And asked what she’d like to say on her tombstone
When her charmed life is over
But I walked back up Pine Street in the rain
Came back to my apartment
Got tucked in bed with my girlfriend’s cat and turned on CNN
59 Tomahawk missiles were sent into Syria
Because Trump saw photos of dead men and women and children
Adding more to the ever-growing pile of skeletons
Skeletons that are no longer protected by skin
Skeletons that are now ashes blowing in the wind
Their ashes, my friend, are your sisters and brothers, friend
And the answer, my friend, is that in war, nobody wins
Their ashes, my friend, are blowing
Their ashes, my friend, are growing
Their ashes, my friend, are blowing
Their ashes, my friend, are growing
As I lay in bed
My skeleton warmed and protected by my aging skin
I can’t see the cat’s skin
The cat is fat, like a big feathery hen
And that girl’s probably out at a bar, gathering with her friends
And I fall asleep tonight to the headline