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Manhattan, I am a Sheep

by Cannonball Statman

on NV (2015)

In Manhattan
There is a beautiful view
Longing to escape a troubled past of euphemisms and vivid nightmares
The professor took me to the beautiful view
And said
Goodbye
Like a coward

They showed him the view
And he was pleased
I saw the view from the room with no windows
What madness drew us to this room?

Philadelphia
A man by many numbers

I know those who've stayed in the view
Come back with frightening new eyes
When gold became a useless cover
My eyes were opened for awhile

Now I can't even think about it
Because I dream every night
Even when I can't sleep
Because reality can only open your eyes so far
Before the gold returns once more
Ready to blind you with yet another beautiful view
And soon there is no truth in sight
Just the way you like it

Isn't it funny how people can have
Such a striking resemblance to one and other?
When I saw you out of the corner of my eye
I could swear you were someone else

And at once
We were all the same
With deep thoughts of deeper explorations
Into the far corners of the human eye
Where everything is new
And everyone is there
It's a strange world

And some people just wanna play acoustic guitar on a mattress of dying dreams
And die into a beautiful view
I don't know what I want
Some people live in the 1920s
With love for women in the backseats of cars
Into the bottomless pit at the edges of the Earth
It's a strange world

In Manhattan
There is a beautiful view
In the professor's eyes
As he jogs from room to room

At night
In Skyscraper, New York
A bullet rings through the air
Through landscapes of dirt
And panoramas of lazy eyes.
There is something else behind these walls
And doors leading into breakfast at night
In Skyscraper, New York

A party emerges in Skyscraper, New York
The lonely lounge club singer becomes physically demented
But the man behind the wall was dying
In a room of saturated blues and cigarette smoke
Illuminated by black and white camera flashes
From photographers in tuxedoes at night
In Skyscraper, New York

A hospital at night in Skyscraper, New York
Is fluorescent greens and whitened walls
A man in a gown loses all character inside of him at the sight of a syringe
But manages to remain calm in front of doctors
Campaigning for the next parade of infants
To march in their doors at night
In Skyscraper, New York

He died on the street last night in Skyscraper, New York
Fueled by the messages on the billboards
Starring signs of the apocalypse
And silver screen dreams of a last chance at the road to fame
Through the back entrance at the theater where the rocket ship went off
And the ashes of Hi8 video tapes of the crash sent everyone back to bed
A memorable moment in the days of looking out the window into a golden sky

He was no more
His soul sinking into the stained cement
The raindrops in the mud
The friends with mouths wide open
The bluest sky from the oceans of his entire life
At night in Skyscraper, New York

Hey Cannonball
It's me
Hey there

We used to spend every day together
we used to spend all the time together
And I've been watching you
I've been listening to your answering machine
You sound

You sound so
You sound so nice

And I'm looking for the ghosts inside of your room
I'm just looking for the ghosts
Should've kept my eyes damn well shut

It's one final nail in the coffin
It's one moral line in the mud
It's one final nail
Let me in
It's one moral line
In

I carry you
You carry me
And you're a sheep
And I'm a sheep
And I am watching myself

I am watching myself walk
I am watching myself
And I am walking down South on Avenue A
Between 3rd and 2nd

I am walking away from myself
And I am watching myself walking down South on Avenue A
Between 3rd and 2nd
From between 4th and 3rd

And there is this strange pair of tourists
Walking up North on Avenue A
Between 2nd and 3rd
Shouting

"Spend a year with a serendipitous scorpion magic dentist
He'll tear out all your teeth"

And I am watching myself walking down South on Avenue A
Between 2nd and Houston
From between 4th and 3rd
And I am walking away from myself
And there is this strange pair of tourists
Walking up North on Avenue A
Between 3rd and 4th
And one of them shouts

"Where's 2A?"

And I am watching myself
And I am walking down South on Avenue A
Between 2nd and Houston
From between 4th and 3rd
And there is this strange pair of tourists
Walking up North on Avenue A
Between 3rd and 4th
And one of them asks me

"Where's 2A?"

It's behind you
It's I carry you
And you carry me
It's one final nail
It's one moral line

Hey you
I got your message
And I'm calling
To tell you
I'm over you