Only God Was Above Us Album Lyrics by Vampire Weekend

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Ice Cream Piano

F*ck the world, you said it quiet
No one could hear you, no one but me
Cynical, you can't deny it
You don't want to win this war 'cause you don't want the peace
Armistice, we never tried it
You're the soldier, I'm police
Listen, baby, we can't deny it
You don't want to win this war 'cause you don't want the peace

The word was weaponized as soon as it had passed your lips
I am a gentleman, I refuse to show my gentleness
F*ck around and find out, the angry child recites this every day
The universe will pry out, the truth which is you've got nothin' to say

In dreams, ice cream piano, I softly reach the high note
The world don't recognize a singer who won't sing

You talk of Serbians, whisper Kosovar Albanians
The boy's Romanian, third generation Transylvanian
I see the vampires walkin', don't be gripped by fear, you aren't next
We're all the sons and daughters of vampires who drained the old world's necks

In dreams, ice cream piano, I softly reach the high note
The world don't recognize a singer who won't sing

In dreams, ice cream piano, I softly reach the high note
The world don't recognize a singer who won't sing

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Classical

In times of war, the educated class knew what to do
In times of peace, their pupils couldn't meet your baby blues
Four hundred million animals competing for the zoo
It's such a bleak sunrise

Untrue, unkind and unnatural
How the cruel, with time, becomes classical

I know that walls fall, shacks shake
Bridges burn and bodies break
It's clear something's gonna change
And when it does, which classical remains?

The temple's gone, but still a single column stands today
That sinking feeling fades, but never really goes away
A staircase up to nothingness inside your DNA
Well, that's a bleak sunrise

Untrue, unkind and unnatural
How the cruel, with time, becomes classical

I know that walls fall, shacks shake
Bridges burn and bodies break
It's clear something's gonna change
And when it does, which classical remains?

Untrue, unkind and unnatural
How the cruel, with time, becomes classical

I know that walls fall, shacks shake
Bridges burn and bodies break
It's clear something's gonna change
And when it does, which classical remains?

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Capricorn

Can't reach the moon now
Can't turn the tide
The world looked different
When God was on your side
Who builds the future?
Do they care why?
I know you're tired of tryin'
Listen clearly, you don't have to try

Capricorn
The year that you were born
Finished fast
And the next one wasn't yours
Too old for dyin' young
Too young to live alone
Sifting through centuries
For moments of your own

Alone and wounded
But in my prime
I called the hospital
They didn't have the time
I'd seen it comin'
It's no surprise
I know you're tired of tryin'
Listen clearly, you don't have to try

Capricorn
The year that you were born
Finished fast
And the next one wasn't yours
Too old for dyin' young
Too young to live alone
Sifting through centuries
For moments of your own

A hundred dollars
On someone's dime
I looked for answers there
They weren't mine to find
Good days are comin'
Not just to die
I know you're tired of tryin'
Listen, baby, you don't have to try

Capricorn
The year that you were born
Finished fast
And the next one wasn't yours
Too old for dyin' young
Too young to live alone
Sifting through centuries
For moments of your own

Capricorn
The year that you were born
Finished fast
And the next one wasn't yours
Too old for dyin' young
Too young to live alone
Sifting through centuries
For moments of your own

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Connect

The memories don't fade, surprisin' fate for days
You elegantly wasted
Before you lost your spark
Took acid in the park
We're livin' in a basement

Now is it strange I can't connect?
It isn't strange, but I could check
Walked around to where we kept the box of wires, and lately

I know once it's lost it's never found
I need it now
The grid is buried in the ground
Hopelessly down

I read the parking rules as Amsterdam unspooled
And trucks sped on ephedrine
The things we used to see, the sandhogs in the street
The chickens in her bedroom

Now is it strange I can't connect?
It isn't strange, but I could check
Walked around to where we met the first time, overwhelmed, and

I know once it's lost it's never found
I need it now
The grid is buried in the ground
Hopelessly down

Need just a sec'

I know once it's lost, it's never found
I need it now
The grid is buried in the ground
Hopelessly down

Need just a sec'

A country asked in June, it's happenin' too soon
Your book of Revelations
We can't unmake the bed, we used the chair instead
And called it a vacation

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Prep-School Gangsters

It's just somethin' people say, they don't really feel that way
Prep-school gangsters make the call, as the summer turns to fall

I was tired but wakin' up, I was dying to test my luck
Prep-school gangsters barred the way, there was nothin' I could say

Call me jealous, call me mad, now I've got the thing you had
Somewhere in your family tree, there was someone just like me

I was only walkin' by, didn't mean to catch your eye
It's just somethin' people say, you could lose some teeth that way
Call it business, call it war, cutting class through revolvin' doors
Yours was better, mine was worse, 'til it took on the fifth-gen curse

Call me jealous, call me mad, now I've got the thing you had
Somewhere in your family tree, there was someone just like me

Me, ooh, ooh
Ah-ah-ah, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

It's just somethin' people say, it's just somethin' people say
It's just somethin' people say, it's just somethin' people say
It's just somethin' people say

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The Surfer

Back on the island, Water Tunnel 3
A cage ascended, someone looks like me
Look up at fingers reaching into space
A Roman soldier's spearhead jammed above the waist

Heard someone speaking, a voice without a face
The ocean's churning, the cables stay in place
An operation the locals couldn't save
An undercover agent drowned beneath the waves

Outside the confines of a super-mini's door
There's a California king placed directly on the floor
Oh, the surfer can't forget the shells around his neck
But you were born beneath fluorescent lights
You've never seen a starry night, you saint

Fake fortune teller scandalized by fate
Broke bodybuilder crushed beneath the weight
Lost and deluded trying to find your place
Inept long-distance runner losing every race

Outside the confines of a super-mini's door
There's a California king placed directly on the floor
Oh, the surfer can't forget the shells around his neck
But you were born beneath fluorescent lights
You've never seen a starry night, you saint

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Gen-X Cops

Blacken the sky and sharpen the axe
Forever cursed to live unrelaxed
We make no bones, a house is not a home
And a home is nowhere we can stay

Dodged the draft, but can't dodge the war
Forever cursed to live insecure
The curtain drops, a gang of Gen X cops assembles
Trembling before our human nature

It wasn't built for me
It's your academy
But in that time, you taught me how to see
Each generation makes its own apology

Welcome back, my oldest friend
Are you cursed to depart again?
Your ways and means, eternally obscene
And always looking for obscenity and hatred

It wasn't built for me
It's your academy
But in my time, you taught me how to see
Each generation makes its own apology

It wasn't built for me
It's your academy
But in my time, you taught me how to see
Each generation makes its own apology
It's by design and consequentially
Each generation makes its own apology

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Mary Boone

Painted white, new in town
You weren't hiring, but I was looking
In those days, my working days
Came in from Jersey, not from Brooklyn

Oh, my love, was it all in vain?
We always wanted money, now the money's not the same
In a quiet moment at the theater, I could hear the train
Deep inside the city, your memory remains

Mary Boone, Mary Boone
I'm on the dark side of your room
Mary Boone, Mary Boone
Well, I hope you feel like loving someone soon

Crooked crime, petty cop
Not on the street yet, but it was cooking
In those days, the burning days
The one from Queens, not from Brooklyn

Oh, my love, was it all in vain?
We always wanted money, now the money's not the same
In a quiet moment at the theater, I could feel your pain
Deep inside the city, your memory remains

Mary Boone, Mary Boone
I'm on the dark side of your room
Mary Boone, Mary Boone
Well, I hope you feel like loving someone soon

Book of hours
Russian icons, and
Sand mandalas, and
Natarajas, and
Hex-sign barns
Ando churches, and
Whirling dervishes
Long exposures, and
These two tunnels go west and east
Let me bring you my masterpiece
You're the author of everything
Use this voice and let it sing

Mary Boone, Mary Boone
I'm on the dark side of your room
Mary Boone, Mary Boone
Well, I hope you feel like loving someone soon

Painted-

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Pravda

I've waited through the wars of winter
I've watched the cherry blossoms bloom
I cannot wait here any longer
I'm leaving at the rising of the moon

I know what lies beneath Manhattan
I know who's buried in Grant's Tomb
I wonder if they'll wait a while to clear away my crocodile
I'm leaving at the rising of the moon

They always ask me about Pravda
It's just the Russian word for truth
Your consciousness is not my problem
'Cause when I come home, it won't be home to you

Your uncle Henry lived in Moscow
Your aunt Ludmilla lived there too
Irina grew up in Wisconsin
I'm leaving at the rising of the moon

The final moments in a doorway (the final moments in a doorway)
The sacred light of afternoon (the sacred light of afternoon)
Something starts to shake the leaves, you tug upon your T-shirt sleeves
And shiver 'til the rising of the moon

They always ask me about Pravda
It's just the Russian word for truth
Your consciousness is not my problem
'Cause when I come home, it won't be home to you

I took the family balalaika
The strings would never stay in tune
I hung it by on the piano
I'm leaving at the rising of the moon

I had a job once in Penn Station (I had a job once in Penn Station)
Down at a tie shop called Tiecoon (down at a tie shop called Tiecoon)
Every time my shift began, I'd see that quiet businessman
I'm leaving at the rising of the moon

They always ask me about Pravda
It's just the Russian word for truth
Your consciousness is not my problem
And I hope you know your brain's not bulletproof

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Hope

The bull has gored the matador
The U.S. Army won the war
The meaning died in metaphor
I hope you let it go

The phoenix burned but did not rise
Now half the body's paralyzed
There's no one left to criticize
I hope you let it go

I hope you let it go
Hope you let it go
The enemy's invincible
I hope you let it go

The prophet said we'd disappear
The prophet's gone, but we're still here
His prophecy was insincere
I hope you let it go

The righteous rage was foolish pride
The conquerors did not divide
The call keeps coming from inside
I hope you let it go

I hope you let it go
Hope you let it go
Your enemy's invincible
I hope you let it go

When everyone who lived it died
The files were declassified
The slobs still called it suicide
I hope you let it go

The signatories broke the pact
The surfer sacked the quarterback
Your bag fell down onto the tracks
I hope you let it go

I hope you let it go
Hope you let it go
The enemy's invincible
I hope you let it go

The embassy's abandoned now
The flag they flew is on the ground
The painting burned, the statue drowned
I hope you let it go

The moving train accelerates
It's always fast and always late
It never leaves the Empire State
I hope you let it go

I hope you let it go
I hope you let it go
Our enemy's invincible
I hope you let it go

The sentencing was overturned
The killer freed, the court adjourned
A hoped betrayed, a lesson learned
I hope you let it go

I did the things you asked me to
I testified what wasn't true
But now I lost my faith in you
I hope you let it go

I hope you let it go
I hope you let it go
My enemy's invincible
I've had to let it go

I hope you let it go
I hope you let it go
I hope you let it go
I hope you let it go