Playlist Courtney Barnett

courtney barnett - an illustration of loneliness

I lie awake at four, staring at the wall
Counting all the cracks backwards in
My best french Reminds me of a book
I skim-read in a surgery all about palmistry

I wonder what?s in store for me I pretend
The plaster is the skin on my palms
And the cracks are representative of what
Is going on. I lose a breath my love-line
Seems entwined with death
(Could be a spider-web) I?m thinking of you too

I lie awake at three staring at the ceiling
It?s kind of off-white? maybe it?s a cream
There?s oily residue dripping from the ceiling
It?s art-deco necromantic chic all the dinner
Plates are kitsch with irish wolf hounds
French baguettes wrapped loose around their necks
I think I?m hungry I?m thinking of you too

Wondering what you?re doing
What you?re listening to, which quarter of the moon
You?re viewing from your bedroom
Watching all the movies, drinking all the smoothies
Swimming at the pool I?m thinking of you too

courtney barnett - aqua profunda

I saw you in the lane next to me
You were doing freestyle
Then you switched it around to a little bit of backstroke
I couldn't see you underneath
Your swimming cap, but it appeared that you had
Dark coloured hair, maybe it was blonde for all I know

I had goggles on, they were getting foggy
I much prefer swimming to jogging
I tried my very best to impress you
Held my breath longer than I normally do

I was getting dizzy, my hair was wet and frizzy
Felt my muscles burn, I took a tumble
Turn for the worse, it's a curse my lack
Of athleticism sunk like a stone
Like a first owners home loan
When I came to, you and your towel were gone

courtney barnett - avant gardener

I sleep in late
Another day
Oh what a wonder
Oh what a waste.
It?s a Monday
It?s so mundane
What exciting things
Will happen today?
The yard is full of hard rubbish it?s a mess and
I guess the neighbors must think we run a meth lab
We should amend that
I pull the sheets back
It?s 40 degrees
And i feel like I'm dying.
Life?s getting hard in here
So i do some gardening
Anything to take my mind away from where it?s supposed to be.
The nice lady next door talks of green beds
And all the nice things that she wants to plant in them
I wanna grow tomatoes on the front steps.
Sunflowers, bean sprouts, sweet corn and radishes.
I feel pro-active
I pull out weeds
All of a sudden
I?m having trouble breathing in.
I?m having trouble breathing in.
I?m having trouble breathing in.
I?m having trouble breathing in.

My hands are shaky
My knees are weak
I can?t seem to stand
On my own two feet
I?m breathing but I'm wheezing
Feel like I'm emphysemin?
My throat feels like a funnel
Filled with weet bix and kerosene and
Oh no, next thing i know
They call up triple o
I?d rather die than owe the hospital
Till I get old
I get adrenalin
Straight to the heart
I feel like Uma Thurman
Post-overdosing kick start
Reminds me of the time
When i was really sick and i
Had too much psuedoefedryn and i
Couldn?t sleep at night
Halfway down high street, Andy looks ambivalent
He?s probably wondering what i?m doing getting in an ambulance
The paramedic thinks I'm clever cos i play guitar
I think she?s clever cos she stops people dying
Anaphylactic and super hypocondriactic
Should?ve stayed in bed today
I much prefer the mundane.
I take a hit from
An asthma puffer
I do it wrong
I was never good at smoking bongs.
I?m not that good at breathing in.
I?m not that good at breathing in.
I?m not that good at breathing in.

courtney barnett - boxing day blues

I know that I let you down
You're not keen on what you found
When's the funeral?
Do you want me to come?

I'm not what you're looking for
My house has an open door
You need a lock and key

I love all of your ideas
You love the idea of me

Lover, I've got no idea
Lover, I've got no idea
Lover, I've got no idea

courtney barnett - dead fox

Jen insists that we buy organic vegetables
And I must admit that I was a little sceptical
At first a little pesticide can't hurt
Never having too much money I get the cheap stuff
At the supermarket but they're all pumped up with shit
A friend told me that they stick nicotine in the apples

If you can't see me I can't see you

Heading down the highway hume
Somewhere at the end of june
Taxidermied kangaroos are littered on the shoulders
A possum jackson pollock is painted on the tar
Sometimes I think a single sneeze could be the end of us
My hay-fever is turning up
Just swerved into a passing truck
Big business over-taking, without indicating
He passes on the right, been driving through the night
To bring us the best price

If you can't see me I can't see you

More people die on the road than they do in the ocean
Maybe we should mull over culling cars
Instead of sharks or just lock them up in parks
Where we can go and view them
There's a bypass over holbrook now
Paid for with burgers no doubt
I've lost count of all the cows
There'll be no salad sandwiches
The law of averages says that we'll stop in the next town
Where the petrol price is down
What do I know anyhow?

courtney barnett - debbie downer

Tell me when you're getting bored and I'll leave
I'm not the one who put
The chain around your feet
I'm sorry for all of my insecurities
But they're just part of me

"Envy is thin because it bites but never eats"
That's what a nice old spanish lady once told me
"Hey debbie-downer turn that frown upside down
And just be happy". I don't ask too much of you
It's true and I can't read your mind

Don't stop listening I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments
I'm growing older every time I blink my eyes
Boring, neurotic, everything that I despise
We had some lows we had some mids we had some highs

Sell me all your golden rules and I'll
See if that's the kind of person that I wanna be
If I'm not happy I'll be glad I kept receipts
I won't ask too much of you, I used to wonder what to wear
Don't stop listening I'm not finished yet
I'm not fishing for your compliments

courtney barnett - depreston

You said we should look out further
I guess it wouldn?t hurt us
We don?t have to be around all these coffee shops

Now we?ve got that percolator
Never made a latte greater.
I?m savin 23 dollars a week

We drive to a house in Preston
We see police arrestin?
A man with his hand in a bag.

Hows that for first impressions
This place seems depressing
It?s a Californian bungalow in a cul-de-sac

Its got a lovely garden
A garage for two cars to park in
Or a lot of room for storage if you?ve just got one

And its going pretty cheap you say
Well it?s a deceased estate
Aren't the pressed metal ceilings great?

Then I see the handrail in the shower
The collection of those canisters for coffee tea and flour
And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam

And I cant think of floorboards anymore
Whether the front room faces south or north
And I wonder what she bought it for

If you?ve got a
Spare half a million

You could knock it down
And start rebuildin?

courtney barnett - elevator operator

Oliver Paul, twenty years old
Thick head of hair, worries he's going bald
Wakes up at quarter past nine
Fair evades his way down the 96 tram line
Breakfast on the run again, he's well aware
He's dropping soy linseed Vegemite crumbs everywhere

Feeling sick at the sight of his computer
He dodges his way through the Swanston commuters
Rips off his tie, hands it to a homeless man
Sleeping in the corner of a metro bus stand and he screams
"I'm not going to work today
Going to count the minutes that the trains run late
Sit on the grass building pyramids out of Coke cans"

Headphone wielding to the Nicholas building
He trips on a pothole that's not been filled in
He waits for an elevator, one to nine
A lady walks in and waits by his side
Her heels are high and her bag is snakeskin
Hair pulled so tight you can see her skeleton
Vickers perfume on her breath
A tortoise shell necklace between her breasts
She looks him up and down with a botox frown
He's well used to that look by now
The elevator dings and they awkwardly step in
Their fingers touch on the rooftop button

Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
I'd give anything to have skin like you

He said "I think you're projecting the way that you're feeling
I'm not suicidal, just idling insignificantly
I come up here for perception and clarity
I like to imagine I'm playing SimCity
All the people look like ants from up here
And the wind's the only traffic you can hear"
He said "All I ever wanted to be
Was an elevator operator, can you help me please?"

Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
I'd give anything to have skin like you

Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
I'd give anything to have skin like you

courtney barnett - history eraser

I got drunk and fell asleep atop the sheets but luckily i left the heater on.
And in my dreams i wrote the best song that i?ve ever written?can?t remember how it goes.
I stayed drunk and fell awake and i was cycling on a plane and far away i heard you say you liked me.
We drifted to a party ? cool. The people went to arty school. They made their paints by mixing acid wash and lemonade

In my brain I re-arrange the letters on the page to spell your name

I found an ezra pound and made a bet that if i found a cigarette i?d drop it all and marry you.
Just then a song comes on: ?you can?t always get what you want? ? the rolling stones, oh woe is we, the irony!
The stones became the moss and once all inhibitions lost, the hipsters made a mission to the farm.
We drove by tractor there, the yellow straw replaced our hair, we laced the dairy river with the cream of sweet vermouth.

In my brain I re-arrange the letters on the page to spell your name

You said ?we only live once? so we touched a little tongue, and instantly i wanted to?
I lost my train of thought and jumped aboard the Epping as the doors were slowly closing on the world.
I touched on and off and rubbed my arm up against yours and still the inspector inspected me.
The lady in the roof was living proof that nothing really ever is exactly as it seems.

In my brain I re-arrange the letters on the page to spell your name

We caught the river boat downstream and ended up beside a team of angry footballers.
I fed the ducks some krill then we were sucked against our will into the welcome doors of the casino.
We drank green margaritas, danced with sweet senoritas, and we all went home as winners of a kind.
You said ?I guarantee we?ll have more fun, drink till the moon becomes the sun, and in the taxi home I?ll sing you a triffids song!?

In my brain I re-arrange the letters on the page to spell your name

courtney barnett - kim 039 s caravan

Watermarks on the ceiling
I can see Jesus and he's frowning at me
I see a dead seal on the beach
The old man says
he's already saved it three times this week
Guess it just wants to die
I would wanna die too
With people putting oil into my air
But to be fair, I've done my share
Guess everybody's got their different point of view

I was walking down sunset strip
phillip island, not los angeles
Got me some hot chips and a cold drink
Took a sandy seat on the shore
There's a paper on the ground
It makes my headache quite profound
As I read it out aloud

It said "the great barrier reef it ain't so great anymore
It's been raped beyond belief
the dredgers treat it like a whore"
I drank 'til I was sinking, sank 'til I was thinking
That I'm thankful for this view
We either think that we're invincible or that we are invisible
When realistically we're somewhere in between
We all think that we're nobody
but everybody is somebody else's somebody

Don't ask me what I really mean
I am just a reflection
Of what you really wanna see
So take what you want from me
Don't ask me what I really mean
I am just a reflection
Of what you really wanna see
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me

Don't ask me what I really mean
I am just a reflection
Of what you really wanna see
So take what you want from me
So take what you want from me

Satellites on the ceiling
I can see Jesus and she's smiling at me
All I wanna say is

courtney barnett - nobody really cares if you don 039 t go to the pa

You always get what you want
And you don't even try
Your friends hate it when its always going your way
But I'm glad that you've got luck on your side
You're saying definitely maybe
I'm saying probably no
You say "You sleep when you're dead," I'm scared I'll die in my sleep
I guess that's not a bad way to go

I wanna go out but I wanna stay home
I wanna go out but I wanna stay home

Why are you so eager to please?
I wear my heart on my sleeve
Gets harder in the winter, gotta be a fake or shiver
It takes a great deal out of me
Yes I like hearing your stories
But I've heard them all before
I'd rather stay in bed with the rain over my head
Than have to pick my brain up off of the floor

I wanna go out but I wanna stay home
I wanna go out but I wanna stay home

courtney barnett - ode to odetta

I sing high, you sing low
I swing by, and you're not home
Oh, oh, o-detta won't you come home

I sing plain, you sing pretty
Everything you say sounds easy

Oh, oh, o-detta won't you come home

courtney barnett - pedestrian at best

I love you I hate you I'm on the fence it all depends whether I'm up I'm down I'm on the mend trendsetting on reality I like you despise you admire you what are we gonna do when everything all falls through I must confess I've made a mess of what should be a small success but I digress at least I've tried my very best I guess this that the other why even bother it wont be with me on my death bed but ill still be in your head

put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
you tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

my internal monologue is saturated analog it's scratched and drifting I've become attached to the idea it's all a shifting dream bittersweet philosophy I've got no idea how I even got here I'm resentful I'm having an existential time crisis what bliss daylight savings wont fix this mess under worked and oversexed I must express my disinterest the rats are back inside my head what would Freud've said

put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
you tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

I want to wash out my head with turpentine cyanide I dislike this internal diatribe when I try to catch your eye I hate seeing you crying in the kitchen I don't know why it makes me like this when you're not even mine to consider erroneous harmonious I'm hardly sanctimonious dirty clothes I suppose we all outgrow ourselves I'm a fake I'm a phony I'm awake I'm alone I'm homely I'm a Scorpio

put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
you tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint
you tell me I'm exceptional and I promise to exploit you
give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey
I think you're a joke but I don't find you very funny

courtney barnett - shivers

I've been contemplating suicide
But it really doesn't suit my style
So I think I'll just act bored instead
And contain the blood I would've shed

She makes me feel so ill at ease
My heart is really on it's knees
But I keep a poker face so well
That even mother couldn't tell

But my baby's so vain
She is almost a mirror
And the sound of her name
Sends a permanent shiver down my
Spine

I keep her photograph against my heart
For in my life she plays a starring part
All alcohol and cigarettes
There is no room for cheap regrets

She makes me feel so ill at ease
My heart is really on it's knees
But I keep a poker face so well
That even mother couldn't tell

But my baby's so vain
She is almost a mirror
And the sound of her name
Sends a permanent shiver down my
Spine

She makes me feel so ill at ease
My heart is really on it's knees
But I keep a poker face so well
That even mother couldn't tell

But my baby's so vain
She is almost a mirror
And the sound of her name
Sends a perennial shiver down my
Spii-yi-yii-yi-yii-yi-yiyiyi-ine

courtney barnett - small poppies

I stare at the lawn, it's Wednesday morning
It needs a cut but I leave it growing
All different sizes and all shades of green
Slashing it down just seems kind of mean
In a way it's a a shame you get a way
Thinking it's just a game
Who am I to deny myself a pawn for you to use?
At the end of the day it's a pain that I keep seeing your name
But I'm sure it's a bore being you

I don't know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying
I make mistakes until I get it right
An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye
I don't agree with that, why can't we just talk nice?

Oh! The calamity, I wanna go to sleep for an eternity
Who am I to deny myself a pawn?
Oh! The humanity I wanna disappear into obscurity
But I'm sure it's a bore being you

I don't know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying
I make mistakes until I get it right
An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye
I used to hate myself but now I think I'm alright

I don't know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying
I make mistakes until I get it right
An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye
I dreamed I stabbed you with a coat hanger wire

courtney barnett