Conor Oberst

thumb|right|You mean nothing to no one but that's nobody's fault. Conor Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, Commander Venus and Park Ave. Quotes I never fuck with Facebook. I absolutely despise social networking. I think it's truly going to result in the destruction of mankind. Sometimes I just wish I didn't live in this time. Before, there was so much more freedom and privacy, and you could truly escape places. As quoted in "Conor Oberst's Mystical Awakening" by Chris Norris in Rolling Stone (25 June 2009), p. 66-84 A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (1998) The world's become a little too mean. Saturday as Usual And me I'm in my bedroom drawing in my notebookBecause my hand thinks I'm an artistBut my heart knows I'm a poetIt's just words they mean so little to me. Saturday as Usual My Brother went to collegeTo become a doctorAnd if he studies hard enoughHe'll end up just like papa, who hates his life. Saturday as Usual And me I'm in the bathroomcrying out my eyelids because it's hard to be a manwhen you're scared, just like a little kid. Saturday as Usual If I die tonight, then I guess I die tonightLet me go on. Falling Out Of Love At This Volume I started to sink like the moon tends to do if you stare at it too longThen you blink and it's gone The Awful Sweetness Of Escaping Sweat I guess time has a way of making everything alright it's just there is not enough of it and so we drink and we sing and we celebrate this lie and hope that it will last morning is here night has passed A celebration upon completion but i guess fear has a way of making sleep unbearable and the days seem cold and long but we'll cry and we dance and we stumble into love in awkward perfect grace the moon is gone and the sun has took its place A celebration upon completion Letting Off the Happiness (1998) I swear that I'm dyingslowly but it's happening, and if the perfect spring is waiting somewhere...just take me there. If Winter Ends In a coma, you don't dream,you just hope that someone sits with you. Padraic My PrinceI had a brother once, he drowned in a bathtub,before he'd ever learned how to talk.And I don't know what his name wasbut my mother does,I heard her say it once, she said,"Padraic, my prince, I have all but died from the sheer weight of my shame:you cried but no-one came."Padraic My PrinceI find that life is easier when it is just a blurWith no details to confuse who or what or where I wasSo when the ending comes the full regret will be obscureThe Difference In The Shades Insound Tour Support No.12 (2000) Well morning came, and it dressed the sky in a lovely yellow gown.Shopping malls are opening in that narrow hallway of downtown,filled with people who are shopping for their lovers and their friends,singing "I won't ever be lonely again" I Won't Ever be Happy Again There's a cat in the window, of the house of my lover.Well she sleeps there alone now, or perhaps with another.Oh I try no to think about that, I try not to think at all! My parents ask if I'm alright; I say "I've just been staying up too late.I need to sleep" I need to do something!To get this awful weight up off my chest,keep her pretty ghost from chasing me! So you say there are spaces, opening wide?Oh believe me, there's day longer than nights.And you could be happy, if only you'd try.But you don't try. No you don't try. And you speak of a fever, that burns you inside,as you explain to your mother, how you've wanted to die.So she kisses your fingers, and says "My darling, but why?When there is so much more. There is so much more." You could be happy, the minute you try.Why won't you try? Oh won't you try? The Joy in Forgetting - The Joy in Acceptance Fevers and Mirrors (2000) And the sad act like lepersThey stick to the shadowsThey long to ring bells of warningTo tell of their comingSo that the pure can shut their doors. ArienetteI drug your ghost across the country, and we plotted out my death.Every city and memory we whispered "Here is where you rest."Well I was determined in Chicago but I dug my teeth into my kneesAnd I settled for a telephone, sang into your machine:"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." The Calendar Hung Itself And I sing and sing of awful thingsThe pleasure that my sadness brings. Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh For a sunrise or a sunset, you're manic or you’re depressed.Will you ever feel ok? Sunrise, Sunset I think it is more like a ghostthat has been following us both.Something vague that we're not seeing,something more like a feeling. Something VagueNow I know a disease that these Doctors can’t treat. You contract on the day you accept all you see is a mirror and a mirror is all it can be. A reflection of something we’re missing. And these clocks keep unwinding and completely ignore everything that we hate or adore. Once the page of a calendar is turned it’s no more. So tell me then, what was it for? Oh tell me, what was it for? A Scale, A Mirror And Those Indifferent ClocksSoon all the joy that pours from everything makes fountains of your eyesbecause you finally understand the movement of a hand waving good-bye. The Movement Of A Hand** You combed your hair inside that mirror The one you painted blue and glued with jewelry tears Something about those bright colors Would always make you feel better.< You said you hate my suffering, and you understood, And you’d take care of me. You'd always be there for me Well, where are you now? Haligh, Haligh, a lie, Haligh, The plans were never finalized, But left to hang like yarn and twine, Dangling before my eyes. Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly go the days. Sunrise, sunset. You wake up, then you undress. It always is the same. a sunrise and the sun sets. Sunrise, the sun sets. You are hopeful and then you regret. The circle never breaks. For a sunrise or sunset. You’re either coming or you just left but you’re always on the way. It’s a sunrise and a sunset. From a cradle to a casket. There’s no way to escape. Sunrise, Sunset Did you expect it all to stop At the wave of your hand? Like the sun’s just gonna drop, If it’s night you demand. I think you lost what you loved In that mess of details. They seemed so important at the time Now you can’t even recall Any names, faces, or lines; It’s more the feeling of it all. An attempt to tip the scales But all I have for the moment is a song to pass the time. Yeah, a melody to keep me from worrying. Oh, some simple progression to keep my fingers busy. And words that are sure to come back to me and they'll be laughing. And they'll be laughing. My mediocrity. My mediocrity. A Song To Pass The Time Don't Be Frightened of Turning the Page (2001) There was this book I read and loved,The story of a shipWho sailed around the world and foundThat nothing else existsBeyond its own two sailsAnd wooden shellAnd what is held within.All else is sure to pass.We clutch and graspAnd debate what's truly permanent. Oh, You Are the Roots That Sleep Beneath My Feet and Hold the Earth in Place I sing and drink and sleep on floorsAnd try hard not to be annoyedBy all these people worrying about me.So when I'm suffering through some awful drive,You occasionally cross my mind.It's my hidden hope that you are still among them.Well, are you? Oh, You Are the Roots That Sleep Beneath My Feet and Hold the Earth in Place Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002) If you wanna see the future, Go stare into a cloud. Well is it your fear of being buried that makes you so afraid to speak? So you can try and live in darkness but you will never shake the light. It will greet you every morning and make you more aware with its absence at night The hook is in deep boys, there is no more time. So you can struggle in the water and be too stubborn to die, or you could just let go and be lifted to the sky. The Big Picture If the world could remain within a frameLike a painting on a wall,Then I think we would see the beauty, thenWe would stand staring in aweAt our still lives posedLike a bowl of oranges,Like a story toldBy the fault lines and the soil. Bowl of Oranges Ambition, I’ve found, can lead only to failure. I do not read the reviews. No, I am not singing for you. The animals laugh from the dark of the wilderness. I’ve seen a child, he's caught in the sad trap of gravity. He falls from the lowest branch of the apple tree and lands in the grass and weeps for his dignity. Next time he will not aim so high. Yeah, next time, neither will I. Well, I stood dropping a coin into the pit of a well. And I would throw my whole billfold if I thought it would help. "Honesty" "Accuracy" is just "Popular Opinion." Well, ABC, NBC, CBS: Bullshit. They give us fact or fiction? I guess an even split. And each new act of war is tonight's entertainment. We're still the pawns in their game. As they take eye for an eye until no one can see, we must stumble blindly forward, repeating history. Let's Not Shit Ourselves Love's an excuse to get hurt and to hurt. Do you like to hurt? I do, I do then hurt me. Lover I Don't Have to Love So you think I need some discipline, well, I had my share. I have been sent to my room. I've been sat in a chair. I held my tongue. I didn't plug my ears. No, I got a good talking to. And now I don't know why, but I still try to smile when they talk at me like I'm just a child. Well, I'm not a child. No, I am much younger than that. And now I have read some books and have grown quite brave. If only I could just speak up I think I would say that there is no truth. There is only you and what you make the truth. Don't Know When But A Day is Gonna Come He once cut one of my nightmares out of paper.I thought it was beautiful, I put it on a record cover. It is clear to see that it is not them but me, who had lost my self-identity. As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry, like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology that no one can hope to achieve. And I am never real; it is just a sketch of me. And everything I have made is trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of tape, of time Waste of Paint My head's a carousel of pictures andThe spinning never stops. Nothing Gets Crossed Out For a song I was boughtNow I lie when I talkWith a careful eye on the cue card.Onto a stage I was pushed,With my sorrow well rehearsed.So give me all your pity and your money, now (all of it). False Advertising But where was it when I first heard that sweet sound of humility?It came to my ears in the goddamn loveliest melody!How grateful I was, then, to be part of the mystery,To love, and to be loved!Let’s just hope that is enough. Let's Not Shit Ourselves (To Love and to Be Loved) But you should never be embarrassed by your trouble with livingCause it's the ones with the sorest throats Laura,who have done the most singing. Laura Laurent It's not a movie, no private screening This method acting, well, I call that living Method Acting If I could act likeThis was my real life,And not some cage where I've been placed,Well then, I could tell youThe truth like I used toAnd not be afraid of sounding fake. False Advertising And it's too hard to focus through all this doubt I keep making this to-do list but nothing gets crossed out Working on the record seems pointless now When the world ends who's gonna hear it? Everything that happens is supposed to be And it's all pre-determined, can't change your destiny Guess I'll just keep moving, someday maybe I'll get to where I'm going Nothing Gets Crossed Out So hurry up and run to the one that you love. And blind him with your kindness. And he'll make war, oh war, On who you were before. And he'll claim all that has spoiled in your heart. Because the truth is that gossip is as good as gospel in this town. You can save face but you won't ever save your soul. And that's a fact. Make War It was a small mistake Sometimes that is all it takes. But, I was as helpless as a chess piece when I was lifted up by someone's hand And delivered from the corner my enemies had got me in But in all of my salvation I still felt imprisoned inside that holding cell that is myself So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock And the guard will say to me, "Oh my patient prisoner you waited for this day and finally, you are free! You are free! You are free!" From A Balance Beam There Is No Beginning to the Story (2003) We're all too busy working, entertaining ourselvesWith forty hours, television and prescription pills Well, I take two a day to help my brain behaveIt never does, but who's to say? At least my doctor gets paid. Loose Leaves 'Cause a costume can be comfortableIt can make you feel more beautifulIt can even make you look like someone elseBut it's still you, so there's nothing you can doLike a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always isAnd it's nothing that no doctor's gonna fix. We Are Free Men I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005) I know you have a heavy heart, I can feel it when we kissSo many men stronger than meHave thrown their backs out trying to lift itBut me I'm not a gambleYou can count on me to splitThe love I sell you in the evening by the morning won't exist. Lua I'd rather be working for a paycheck, than waiting to win the lottery.Besides, maybe this time it's different, I mean,I really think you like me. First Day of my Life If you walk away I'll walk awayfirst tell me which road you will takeI don't want to risk our paths crossing somedayso you walk that way I'll walk this way I found a liquid curefor my landlocked blues And there's kids playing guns in the streetsAnd one's pointing his tree branch at meSo I put my hands up I say"Enough is enough,If you walk away I walk away."And he shot me dead. But greed is a bottomless pitAnd our freedom's a joke we're just taking a pissAnd the whole world must watch the sad comic displayIf you're still free start runnin' away'cause we're comin' for ya! You'll be free child once you have diedfrom the shackles of language and measurable time Landlocked Blues And I never thought this life was possible,You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for. In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothesWere you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer?Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more Well let the poets cry themselves to sleepAnd all their tearful words will turn back into steam The sound of loneliness makes me happier Poison Oak Well, I could have been a famous singerIf I had someone else's voiceBut failure's always sounded betterLet's fuck it up, boys, make some noise! The sun came up with no conclusionsFlowers sleepin' in their bedsThe city cemetery's hummin'I'm wide awake, its mornin' Road To Joy i keep drinking the ink from my penand i'm balancing history books up on my headbut it all boils down to one quotable phraseif you love something give it away landlocked blues a good woman will pick you aparta box full of suggestions for your possible heartand you may be offended. and you may be afraidbut don't walk away, don't walk away landlocked blues we made love on the living room floorwith the noise in the background of a televised warand in that defeaning pleasure i thought i heard someone sayif we walk away they'll walk away landlocked blues So don't be fooled, so don't get lied to Love was always cruel And don't act strange, don't be a stranger It happened to me, now it's happening to you But if you'd take that train underwater Then we could talk it through Yeah, I was a postcard, I was a recordI was a camera until I went blind train under water I guess the best that I can do nowis to pretend that I've done nothing wrongand to dream about a trainthat's gonna take me back where I belong So I go back and forth foreverAll my thoughts they come in pairsOh I will, I won't, I doubt, I don't,I'm not surprised but I never feel quite prepared Now I'm hunched over a typewriterI guess you call that paintin' in a caveAnd there's a word I can't rememberand a feeling I cannot escape I dreamt this ship was sinkin' there was people screaming all aroundAnd I awoke to my alarm clock it was a pop song it was playin' loud So I will find my fears and face themor I will cower like a dogI will kick and scream or kneel and pleadI'll fight like hell to hide that I've given up Another Travelin' Song Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (2005) I want to be the surgeon who cuts you openWho fixes all of life's mistakesI want to be the house that you were raised inThe only place where you feel safe. I wanna be a shower in the morningThat wakes you up and makes you cleanI know I'm just the weather against your windowAs you sleep through a winter's dream Ship in a Bottle I hear if you make friends with Jesus Christ, you will get right up from that chalk outline. And then you'll get dolled up, and you'll dress in white all to take your place in his chorus line. And then in you'll come with those marching drums in a saintly compromise. No more whiskey slurs, no more blonde-haired girls for your whole eternal life. And you'll do the dance that was choreographed at the very dawn of time. Singing "I told you son, the day would come you would die, you'd die you'd die you'd die you'd die". Arc Of Time Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plotMy twitching muscles tease my flippant thoughtsI never really dreamed of heaven muchUntil we put him in the ground. There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free Easy/Lucky/Free You took off your clothes and left on the light,You stood there so brave, you used to be shy,Each feature improved, each movement refined,And eyes like a showroom. Take it Easy (Love Nothing) There is no Hell when you die so don't look so worried Light Pollution Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005) (2006) so immagine what you want and hold onto that thoughtcause thats as close as it will ever comeand believe you're were you're arekeep acting out the partbut at the end of the daythe trees all get wheeled awayand you'll be standing alone in a blank, blank space so believe you're who you areand stay in characterbut at the end of the play the audience walks awayand ill be shivering cold on a well lit stage The trees get wheeled away The drunk kids, the catholicsThey’re all about the sameThey’re waiting for somethingHoping to be saved Drunk Kid Catholic And I'm sorry about the phone call and needing youSome decisions you don't makeI guess it's just like breathing or not wanting toThere are some things you can't fake I'm sorry about the phone call; and waking you.I know that it is late,But thank you for talking, because I needed to.Some things just can't wait. Happy Birthday To Me (Feb 15) So I want to get myself attached to something bolted down,So that these winds of circumstance won't keep blowing me around.From when I land to when I leavethere is enough time to sleep and sing.I keep running around, when all I want is to lay motionless. Motion Sickness Cassadaga (2007) Future markets, holy warsBeen tried ten thousand times beforeIf you think that god is keeping score, hooray! And, you know, it's kind of like with people and the tarot cards.Just because you get the death card doesn't mean death or dying.It means transformation. It means changing things around and starting something new. Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed) Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribeThere's people always dying trying to keep them alive Squatters made a mural of a Mexican girlWith fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirlShe's standing in the ashes at the end of the worldFour winds blowing through her hair The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an's muteIf you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth stillThey're pouring over Sanskrit under ivy league moonsWhile shadows lengthen in the sun Four Winds I never thought of runningMy feet just led the way I'm a repeat first time offenderWho has rewritten history I tried to pass for nothingBut my dreams gave me away If The Brakeman Turns My Way Oh, I've made love, yeah, I've been fucked, so what?I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up Hot Knives Death doesn't askIt don't owe you thatSome things you loseYou don't get backSo just know what you have Make a Plan to Love Me Saw the wave of the future through the crack of the damDrowned the soul singer in the session bandBless the soul singer in the session band Soul Singer in a Session Band Now the sky is a torn up denim and the clouds are just splattered paintIt's a room I'm renovating; it's a name I got to change Classic Cars I traveled though the atmosphereAs a wall of feedback climbedThe pegs were gold, the band was oldThey played in half time Middlemen Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blowsIt is older than Rome and our joy and our sorrow Cleanse Song Little soldier, little insectYou know war it has no heartIt will kill you in the sunshineOr happily in the the darkWhere kindness is a card gameOr a bent up cigaretteIn the trenches, in the hard rainWith a bullet and a bet No One would riot for less In the South the Sun is shiningBack in the East the lights went outOut in the West the cars are crashingUp in the North the ice gave out Coat Check Dream Song They locked the devil in the basement, threw god up into the airYeah, everything it must belong somewhere I Must Belong Somewhere It comes to me in fragments, even those still split in twoUnder the leaves of that old lime tree I stood examining the fruitSome were ripe and some were rotten, I felt nauseous with the truth Lime Tree Do what you want, when you want, with whoever you wanted to The sun is eclipsed as silence swoons Is it midnight or high noon? Susan Miller Rag Conor Oberst (2008) You’ve been a father to me.Your 1960’s speak.Gives me comatose joy like re-run TV.While the mountainside was shining.Wild colors of my destiny Cape Cañaveral And in the morning when the sun rise.Look in the water, see the blue sky.As if heaven has been laid there at our feet. Sausalito I wanna be your happiness.I wanna be your common sense pain. Get-Well-Cards If I loved you, well that's my fault Lenders In The Temple External links Conor Oberst's Official site Category:Folk singers Category:Singer-songwriters from the United States Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Alternative rock singers Category:Agnostics from the United States Category:Pop singers Category:Guitarists from the United States Category:Indie rock artists Category:Indie folk Category:Indie pop Category:People from Omaha