Back to Yo La Tengo Homepage

Thanks to the many folks who have written in with corrections. Please email me with any further corrections or additional lyrics.

New Wave Hot Dogs
 

1. Clunk
2. Did I Tell You
3. House Fall Down
4. Lewis
5. Lost in Bessemer
6. It's Alright (The Way That You Live)
7. 3 Blocks from Groove Street
8. Let's Comprimise
9. Serpentine
10. A Shy Dog
11. No Water
12. The Story of Jazz

Clunk

Waited just a little bit too long
Stopped mattering why
When does a thing alright turn wrong
And X turns to Y

If there is a way she'll admit she's wrong
She wonders why he went away.
He never said that much at all.

He's waited real hard for things to change
to something she won't criticize
He's real mad and thinks about nothing
nothing at all, then the feeling dies

If there is a way she'll admit she's wrong
She wonders why he went away.
He never said that much.

If there is a way she'll admit she's wrong
She wonders why he went away.
He never said that much.
If there is a way she'll admit she's wrong
If there is a way she'll admit she's wrong

Back to Top

Did I Tell You

Did I tell you of the dark lonely road
I was counting my steps as I made my way home
Days of nothing but time on your hands, weighing on me
Can't deny it, undecided
Whether to count what I felt against what I could say

I try not to wonder, or tell you that I'm not willing to wait
'Cause deep in my heart I'm willing, heart's still willing
Brain's impatient, my heart's still willing to wait.

Our love is so important to me
Starts wherever you land, walks right over to me
Days of nothing but time in between, I'll be asleep
So unwary or uncaring
I try not to be part of that, well, that's easy to say

I try not to wonder, or tell you that I'm not willing to wait
'Cause deep in my heart I'm willing, heart's still willing
Brain's impatient, my heart's still willing to wait.

There's a moment to discover no one can take all the blame
and it's finally clear.

I try not to wonder, or tell you that I'm not willing to wait
'Cause deep in my heart I'm willing, heart's still willing
Brain's impatient, my heart's still willing to wait,
willing to wait, willing to wait

Back to Top

House Fall Down

I met a tugboat captain
The stories he could tell
Of a sailor's life in the shallow water
The saddest yarn he'd spin, it happened on dry land
He saw his house fall down
It shed it's bricks and it dropped to the ground
Ah, well, made him feel so bad,
he thinks about it and he crys.

Ah, well, made him feel so mad,
Don't want to think about it now.

You never walk out, or even look away
He had a house torn down, swipe a deed and start breaking ground
Drop some mortar, we'll be rippin' up your asphalt
Another house goes down, and another house,
and another drops to the ground, drops to the ground

Back to Top

Lewis

The beer was talking and it seemed a little bored
Suggested walking for awhile
Thought it'd be dramatic if we walked all night
But I got tired, so I came home
Lay back on the couch to watch TV

The drunks were talking, wasn't long before I grew bored,
Lewis didn't feel the same
I guess they spoke in tongues that wrapped around his brain,
He didn't mind the feeling at all

Remember me sometime when I am far away
and I will try and do the same
Maybe just like you some day I will forget
Every hit song America ever had
Like this is for all the Lonely People,
and Oz never gave nothing to the Tin Man,
and I've been to a desert on a horse without a name

Back to Top

It's Alright (The Way that You Live)
Lyrics by Lou Reed

I don't care about your ways
of love and life and walkin'
And I don't care about your days
Of carin' and not talkin'

But It's all right the way that you live
It's all right the way that you live
It's alright

I don't care about your present pay
and your night life you keep burning
And I don't care about what your old man says
all the ways you have of learnin'

It's your right the way that you live
It's all right the way that you live
You won't call
It doesn't matter if your sun shines out in the evening
Don't wait, it won't wait for you to come all night, come a-running.

I don't care about your ways
of love and life and walkin'
And I don't care about your days
Of carin' and not talkin'

It's alright the way that you live
It's alright the way that you live
It's alright the way that you live
It's alright the way that you live

Back to Top

3 Blocks from Groove Shreet

On the verge of somewhere he wanted to be
Thought he'd take a chance, thought he'd take a dive
He wandered away, wandered away from his nothing life
He wandered away, wandered away from his nothing life

Feeling sad and laughed at, misunderstood
Just how dry have I become
He wandered away, wandered away from his nothing life
He wandered away, wandered away from his nothing life

Passed the edge of nowhere
he ever thought he'd be
He pressed down, and then he took the bait.
He wandered away, wandered away from his nothing life, his nothing life

Back to Top

Let's Compromise

Well, I can compromise, so can you, let's compromise
Think about what we can compromise, let's compromise

Well, I can compromise, so can you, let's compromise
Think about what we can compromise, let's compromise
There is so much we can compromise, let's compromise

Back to Top

Serpentine

In the middle of nowhere
I thought I heard a sound
Went to seek it out,
Track it down.

In the middle of nowhere,
I broke out in a sweat
I don't know how I got there,
All I knew was I was wet

There was no one knowing this there
I was tired and I was scared

Maybe next time I'll know better
Maybe I've learned nothing at all,
nothing at all, nothing at all,
I should've known, I should've known.

Back to Top

A Shy Dog

Sitting at home inside yourself
Thinking it's cool to be so reserved
And it's kinda funny
Lying in bed that night, wasting time, wasting time
and I know how that is, want to know how that is

How do these days go by, why does time move so slow
When are my decisions made

Make a new plan that you're gonna be strong
Eat a bit of lunch and the moment's gone,
But not quite forgotten.
When you alone at night, reflecting time, reflecting time.
And I know where that leads, want to know where that leads.

How do these days go by, why does time move so slow
When are my decisions made

When that day comes, you're sure you're gonna know
You're like some shy dog looking for the nerve,
looking for the nerve to bite.

Start to react, too smart to miss
You're coming just til you resent
It's turning into a problem
Lying awake at night, just wasting time, wasting time
And I know where that leads, do you want to know where that leads.

How do these days go by, why does time move so slow
How do these days go by, why does time move so slow
When are my decisions made, I'll never know, I'll wonder.

Back to Top

No Water

A dirty street outside my room, papers swirl around,
Not a soul on a night of gloom, tries to stop a howl.

Another day on a dismal beach, a seagull turns and flys by
The waves seem so high and fierce, break and crash back down.

If the worst should happen, or if it takes all day
Or if the sun turns grey and cold

Violent wind come blow me down
Ring chimes with a haunting air
The curtains whoop and the dogs they growl
Otherwise a silent town

Back to Top

The Story of Jazz

Georgia left me alone last Wednesday night,
So I went to New York, to see what Doug was up to.
And I saw this band
Their name escaped me by Thursday
And the way it happend, looking, look for something to believe in.

???, he's had another bad day
The Italian thing, it's buggin' him more than he wants to admit.
Yeah, it brings him down
Sign a producer, don't matter at all.
The way it happened, nothing lasts like you think it might.

Well, naturally I was a little confused
So I placed a call, person to person,
Connect me to Steve Albini
Let the phone ring twice
When he answered I forgot everything I was gonna say

Back to Top