missed the boat

while we're on the subject,

could we change the subject now?

i was knockin' on your ears door

but you were always out.

lookin' towards the future

we were begging for the past

well we knew we'd had the good things

but those never seem to last,

oh please just last.

everyone's unhappy

everyone's ashamed

well we all just got caught looking

at somebody else's page

well nothin' ever went

quite exactly as we planned,

our ideas held no water

but we used them like a dam.

oh, and we carried it all so well

as if we'd got a new position.

oh, and i laugh all the way to hell

saying, "yes, this is a fine promotion."

oh, and i'll laugh all the way to hell.

of course everyone goes crazy,

over such and such and such,

well we'd made ourselves a pillar,

but just used it as a crutch.

we were certainly uncertain,

at least i'm pretty sure i am,

well we didn't need the water

but we just built that good goddamn!

oh, and i know this of myself,

i asume as much for other people.

oh, and i know this of myself

we've listened more to life's end going

than the sound of life's sweet bells.

was it even worth it?

was there all that much to gain?

well we knew we'd miss the boat,

and we'd already missed the plane.

we didn't read the invite

we just dance at our wake.

all our favorites were playin' so we could

shake, shake!

shake, shake, shake!

tiny curtains opened then,

we heard the tiny clap of little hands,

a tiny man would tell a little joke

and get a tiny laugh from all them folks,

sitting drifting round on bubbles then

(thinking it was us that carried them),

when we finally got it figured out that

we had truly missed the boat.

oh, and we carried it all so well

as if we'd got a new position.

oh, and we owned all the tools ourselves

without the skills to make a shelf with

oh, what useless tools ourselves.

-modest mouse