History Books Album Lyrics by The Gaslight Anthem

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Spider Bites

My teeth are crumbling structures
My thoughts are spider bites
I woke up and thought that I was dreaming
That we had reached the end of time
And maybe you're a goner
Oh, and maybe I survived
But I don't really believe it'll end like that
I'm sure I'll be the first to die
I'm sure I'll be the first to die

'Til then, we struggle for each other
'Til then, we struggle for each other

And on, and on, and on, and on it goes
We circle 'round the sun until someday we won't
And on, and on, and on it goes
And I'll love you forever 'til the day that I don't
'Til the day that I don't

We were young, the world seemed open
And every face we saw was a smile
Somewhere along all the masks came down
And their faces were something unkind
And I don't know when this will be over
I'm not sure we come back now
It's like this world was bitten by its own kinda venom
And it's gone too deep to suck the poison out
I don't know if it's true, but it feels like it is now

And so we struggle for each other
And so we struggle for each other

And on, and on, and on, and on it goes
We circle 'round the sun until someday we won't
And on, and on, and on it goes
And I'll love you forever 'til the day that I don't
'Til the day that I don't

And so we struggle for each other
And so we struggle for each other

And on, and on, and on, and on it goes
We circle 'round the sun until someday we won't
And on, and on, and on it goes
And I'll love you forever 'til the day that I don't

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History Books

What's that you say, I knew you when?
You don't look too much like my friend
Those history books, filled up with crooks
Stories I don't want to read again

I've tried to live
One thousand years from here

When I think of it now
It just brings me down when I think of you now
And when I think of it now
It just brings me down when I think of you now

I'm keeping time, one day goes by
I try to live 'til the next one
But these history books, full of haunted looks
From people I don't want to see again

'Cause I've learned to live
But they try to hold me here

When I think of it now
It just brings me down when I think of it now
And when I think of it now
It just brings me down when I think of you now

You just remind me of the nights of smoke and dirty jokes
Darkened rooms with lonely ghosts
And they were beautiful some time ago
But time keeps rollin' us on

When I think of it now
It just brings me down when I think of you now
And when I think of you now
It just brings me down when I think of you now

You just remind me of the nights of smoke and dirty jokes
Darkened rooms with lonely ghosts
And they were beautiful some time ago
But time keeps rollin' us on

Rollin' us on
Rollin' us on
Rollin' us on
Rollin' us on
Rollin' us on
Rollin' us on

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Autumn

There's too much traffic in my head, babe
I wish that I was on a freeway just flying along

But all my feelings
They kinda seemed so out to get me
I always felt like it's a strange thing
Just being alive

'Cause I know someday it's gonna be all over
No more Spring into Summertime
So can I hold you underneath October?
Black jeans in Autumn, leaves falling down

I hate the way that time goes
Crashing over like a steamroller
I wish I could do my life over
I'd be young, better now

I don't know what happens
To all our favorite, faded memories
Christmas mornings by the fir tree
And then you're gone

And I know someday, you're gonna make me lonely
And maybe someday, I'm gonna make you cry
Right now we're angels in the muddy water
Black jeans in Autumn, leaves falling down

And I know love goes longer than this lifetime
And I know time goes faster than my mind
So if you wanna find me, I'll be down the shoreline
Black jeans in Autumn, sun going down

Black jeans in Autumn, sun going down
Black jeans in Autumn, leaves falling

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Positive Charge

Where did you go?
I would say that to myself often
Like I was dressing up for a coffin to lie down in
I can't say I know
I was overcome the distance
I was lost in my own incidents in my mind
Were you calling me from outside of a dream?

I wanna live, I wanna love you a little longer
I was invincible many years ago when I was so much stronger
I wanna smile like a letter from an old friend
My arms are wide as oceans
How I've missed you and feelin' good to be alive

Wherever I'd go
There were whispers in the vestibules
Reminders of my time with you on my own
It's hard to know when your mind declares a war on you
Like the thoughts inside my skull would do, like I was blind
And I'm sure I saw the signs, but didn't know

I wanna live, I wanna love you a little longer
I was invincible many years ago when I was so much stronger
I wanna smile like a letter from an old friend
My arms are open oceans
How I've missed you and feelin' good to be alive

Need a spark
I need a positive charge
Plug it into my veins, make me love this life again

I need a spark
I need a positive charge
Plug it into my brain and make me love my life again

I wanna live, I wanna love you a little longer
I was invincible many years ago when I was so much stronger
I wanna smile like a letter from an old friend
My arms are open oceans
How I've missed you and feelin' good to be alive

How I've missed you, how I've missed you
Feelin' good to be alive
How I've missed you, how I've missed you
And it's good to be alive
How I've missed you, how I've missed you
How I've missed you, how I've missed you
And it's good to be alive

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Michigan, 1975

Don't you know?
I'm not your savior
Just a dream
Dressed up to scare you on Halloween

Don't look up
The sun's gone forever
It's never coming back
And I won't be either if I get a ride tonight

'Cause if I could be free, why would I stay chained?
And if that makes you sad, you should be ashamed
And maybe I'm not the one to blame after all
I'm saving up my body for when I'm in love
But if you want me now, you should call me up
'Cause I'm losing my desire for being alive
Tonight in Michigan, in 1975

What's that sound?
The sky is falling
Are you still around
'Cause love doesn't scare me anymore

'Cause if I could be free, why would I stay chained?
And if that makes you sad, you should be ashamed
And maybe I'm not the one to blame after all
I'm saving up my body for when I'm in love
But if you want me now, you should call me up
'Cause I'm losing my desire for being alive
Tonight in Michigan, in 1975

And the big bad wolf rode his bike into town
And he huffed and he puffed and pushed the kids around
Says he come to find a girl to make his wife
But nobody's darlings

And I'm saving up my soul for when I'm in love
So if you want me now, you should call me up
'Cause I'm losing my desire for being alive
Tonight in Michigan, in 1975

Tonight in Michigan, in 1975

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Little Fires

I just don't understand the bitter seed inside your brain
They try to hold you, but you cut them when they pull you in
You take in love, and then you push all of the love away
Are you hurting now?

The wind is howling like the wolves that wait outside the door
I've gotten used to them but you're supposed to be my blood
And when you come to crash we never seem to see the wave
But we feel it comin'

And I know, I know, I know
You'll keep a part of me forever
But you know, you know, you know
I'm not afraid to go without

And I don't wait around
No, I don't wait for you now
I built the rooms of this house
To stand ground

I'd like to see the sun, I do not feel myself today
I never thought, though I suspected things might go this way
I kinda feel like you and I are different planets now
A million light years away

It seems like everywhere you go, there are these little fires
You turn and hide it but I see you crack a little smile
You call for me and then you tell me I should go away
Do you just wanna burn and burn and burn and burn down?

And I know, I know, I know
You'll keep a part of me forever
But you know, you know, you know
I ain't afraid to go without

And I don't wait around
No, I don't wait for you now
I built the rooms of this house
To stand ground

And I know, I know, I know
You'll keep a part of me forever
And you know, you know, you know
I'm not afraid to go without

But I don't wait around
No, I don't wait for you now
I built the rooms of this house
To stand ground

And you were young and beautiful
And I was dumb and beautiful
And in the end we all burned, little fires

In the end we all burned, little fires
In the end we all burned, little fires
In the end we all burned, little fires

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The Weatherman

I didn't keep a lot of souvenirs after the war
And I put aside my strongest desires that ruled me before
And I took all the pain that I could find
'Til I exploded in electric light
Now I wander the open skies waiting on the storm

And the harvest moon offers its light
To the lovers still in love with the night
I am a weatherman watching the skies
Trying to read you
Trying to read you

We wanted everything and more and all the world under the knife
And we burned into something so bright, it could escape from this town
Though it seems foolishness now
I'd do it all again and still somehow
If in the end, I end with you, that's worth it all

And the harvest moon offers its light
To the lovers still in love with the night
I am a weatherman watching the skies, trying to read you
And she dreams of a life without rain
But that's something more than my two hands can bring
I am a weatherman stationed in vain, trying to please you

And I don't believe you belong to me
And I don't wanna love you go
So I wait for the signs, I keep on watching the night
And I try with all my might just to read you

And the harvest moon offers its light
To the lovers still in love with the night
I am a weatherman watching the skies, trying to read you
And she dreams of a life without rain
But that's something more than my two hands can bring
I am a weatherman stationed in vain, trying to please you

Trying to please you

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Empires

I came to this empire of blood, bone, and pearls
And I've lived off the work of my hands
But I learned there's an evil in the heart of this world
And much more in the heart of a man

And they showed me no mercy
Taught me to weep and how not to get caught
Showed me no mercy
Until I became like the wolves that I fought

If the winter don't kill me, then it might be the cold
And the money won't keep me warm
From the love that I killed and the dreams that I stole
That add up inside of my bones

And they show me no mercy
Come to remind me of the evil I'd done
No mercy
It all came so easy once I went numb

There's a God up in Heaven with the calendar marked
And he sees in the dark
And he knows when you're sleeping and when you're awake
And he knows where the bodies are laid

And he'll show us no mercy
Though there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth
No mercy
No mercy for you, no mercy for me

No mercy
For the lives that we took and the wars that we waged
No mercy
No mercy come judgment day

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I Live In The Room Above Her

I live in the room above her
And she doesn't know my name
But I'm afraid that if I see her
I will not see you again
Sometimes she passes by the window
Her skin is pearl and pale and ghost
And I hear someone crying sometimes
Like there was really something wrong

I hear her singin', "Lay down in my arms
Lover, you will one day miss all my charms
So come on, lay down in my arms
Sleep, baby, sleep, the cruel morning is not very far"

I never see her watch the sunrise
I hear a record lightly play
Sometimes I think I hear some movement
Like something can't get away
Now there's a picture in a Bible
That I swear I've seen before
Where she was bathing on the rooftop
While David looked on

I hear her singin', "Lay down in my arms
Lover, you will one day miss all my charms
So come on, lay down in my arms
Sleep, baby, sleep, the cruel morning is not very far"

I hear her singin', "Lay down in my arms
Lover, you will one day miss all my charms
So come on, lay down in my arms
Sleep, baby, sleep, the cruel morning is not very far"

I live in the room above her
And I never make a sound
Except the matches for the candles
And the radio turned down

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A Lifetime of Preludes

They don't know where I was
They don't know and they can't say whether I should've given up
And they can't feel and they don't see
Only I can know how thin the walls have grown inside of me
In the dark, on my own

But in my dreams, I was in your arms
And the lives we lived, they seemed so far
And I could feel your heartbeat mix with mine
And I slept there for a lifetime

I don't mind what they say
'Cause they all pretend to care 'til it's inconvenient to stay
And of course, we just smile more
If I could help myself, I wouldn't be here stretched out on the floor
And the day gets so long

But in my dreams, I was in your arms
And the lives we lived, they seemed so far
And I could feel your heartbeat mix with mine
And I slept there for a lifetime

I remember holding hands on the bank of the reservoir
And it saddens me to see how far that is from where we are
And I'm sorry that I let it end and that it got to me
I just miss the way I see you when I sleep

'Cause in my dreams, I was in your arms
And the lives we live, they seemed so far
And I could feel your heartbeat mix with mine
And I loved you for dear life

In my dreams, I was in your arms
And the lives we live, they seemed so far
And I could feel your heartbeat mix with mine
And I slept there for a lifetime