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TOURNIQUET LYRICS
"Crawl to China" (1997)
1. Claustrospelunker
2. Crawl To China
3. Enveloped In Python
4. White Knucklin' The Rosary
5. If I Was There
6. The Tell-Tale Heart
7. Bats
8. Proprioception: The Line Knives Syndrome
9. Tire Kicking
10. If Pigs Could Fly
11. Crank The Knife
12. Stumblefoot
13. Imaginary Friend
14. Going, Going...Gone
15. America
1. Claustrospelunker
If a stone holds you down
Keep your head above ground
Though the foothold can be merciless
In a world not your own
It's the weight of the stone
Holding me, holding you
Very fast, quite fast
It's not the weight of the stone that's holding you down
It's the way it fascinates your mind
And just because it causes you to fall
Don't mean it tempts me very much at all
I can see that it feels like a millstone
Is tied around your neck
But if you come clean and say "I don't have it together"
You can still keep your faith in check
3, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14 feet
No spineless fellow here
Down below, hundred more, not a sign of fear
X marks the spot, at 145
A stone dislodged held him fast
How could he know while now alive
13th day would be his last
They tried and tried to bring him to the surface in vain
If a stone holds you down
Keep your head above ground
Though the foothold can be merciless
For 12 more days the foothold was merciless
With no possible means of ingress or egress
In the end a paradox was found
The beast that held him was 10 pound stone
Are you afraid - are you afraid?
That where he takes you is a cold dark place
Where it's hard to find his face - hard to find his face
In a world that is not your own
In a world not your own it's not the weight of the stone
2. Crawl To China
Is God asking you to crawl to China?
Or just to cross the street?
To trudge through the desert through Arabian heat
Or to accomplish the impossible - a Herculean feat
Or maybe just trade in bad thoughts obsolete
Is it the concentration camps at Dackow?
Is it Joan of Arc revisited?
Niagara Falls in a barrel?
Or to mend a broken relationship instead?
Crawl to China
He is faithful
It remains in His hands
From the cold barren Arctic to the war stricken lands
From the place in your heart where despair takes its hold
To the lairs of the demons where deceptions are told
Is God asking you to crawl to China or just to cross the street?
With emotional rigormortis freezing your step
You won't be going far at all
It feels pretty safe but the danger is real
You won't grow until you face the fear that you feer
3. Enveloped In Python
My pet - my pet - how fun you are
I trust you so much I even leave the cage door ajar
You'd never harm me, but just to be safe
I admire you from afar
The coiling is fast
This time it's your last
Your soul asphyxiated
Final chance for escape terminated
Enveloped in python
Constriction complete
So harmless - me the master - you the slave
I reach out to touch you - I'm getting so brave
You affect me but little - I still haven't changed
And to those who find me abrasive - it's you that's deranged
Where dreams become nightmares
Of total defeat
Not just a white line or addiction of some kind
But entanglement with anger or to bitterness bind
4. White Knucklin' The Rosary
Don't even try to tell me what prayer is for
My genie in a bottle needs to give me some more
And when this mess is over - I don't need Him anymore
I'll put my God back on temporary ignore
If You will do what I need You to do
I'll find some time to praise You when this whole thing is through
If You get me out of this, oh Great Almighty
I promise I'll never do it again - well, maybe
I get along fine most of the time
No thought for thanks or blessings sublime
When turmoil breaks through the shell of my comfort
My lack of a prayer life abort
White knucklin' the rosary
I know my God by what He does for me
Open only in case of emergency
White knucklin' the rosary
When turmoil breaks through the shell of my comfort
My lack of a prayer life abort
An acrostic for prayer I learned as a kid
Praise and repentance ask for others, yourself
But now in my lackluster state of affairs
Give me what I ask for - beyond that who cares?
Pray without ceasing - give thanks for all things
A prayer life that's missing the joy that can bring
5. If I Was There
I close my eyes and think about Calvary
I see it happening right in front of me
The back that bore the whip
The head that held the crown of thorns
What if I was there
Would I even care, would I even care
Or would I only stare
What if I was there, just a face in the crowd
Would I hide in shame or would I laugh out loud
Would I pity Him or think that He is just a fool
Another criminal
Or just the truth, or just the truth
He is Heaven's jewel
As He marched up that hill
I can picture Him still in my mind
All the blood and the sweat on His brow
As He passed me on by, I could see in His eyes
That His pain was a gift of His love
He was the sacrifice - the Lamb
And He is the great I Am
And He paid the price for me
The price for you and me
You and me
He made the deaf to hear again
He called the sinful man a friend
He walked that hill for me
So my blind soul could see - could see
I close my eyes and think about Calvary
I see it happening right in front of me
Two criminals were there
With one on either side of Him
One hurled insults - and one believed
And one believed
Which one am I?
6. The Tell-Tale Heart
I cut him up this evening
And when they came to check the scream
On the very spot I'd hidden him
I served a spot of tea
I'd left no evidence
That anything was wrong
But the unnerving sound beneath the floor boards
Reminded me of what I'd done
I thought I'd committed
The perfect, fool-proof crime
I never knew how heavy
This would weigh upon my mind
Things done in secret
Under cover of night
Have a funny way
Of being brought into the light
I admit the deed
Can't you hear the beating
I admit the deed
I'm being driven mad by the tell-tale heart
7. Bats
Bats, bats, bats
You think they'll hit you but they won't
You think they nest in your hair
But they don't
Bats, bats, bats
You think that feathers is what they got
You think they are a bird, but they are not
The old adage "blind as a bat"
The truth is they can see
But not as good as you and me
Bats, bats, bats
I used to think that God was always serious
And I could walk the fence
I must have been delirious
I wonder if He laughs
I guess that I'm just curious
Bats, bats
The God Jehova is not feathers, wood, or stone
The Word became flesh
And ascended to the throne
He walked the Earth like you and me
And dwelling in our hearts is where He wants to be
And dwelling in our hearts is where He wants to be
Bats, bats
8. Proprioception: The Line Knives Syndrome
When your life turns upside down
And it will some day
Where is your proprioceptive sense?
Like the feline that finds the floor on all fours
Is the house built on rock that the devil abhors
Build your house on sand to find
A cat with one life instead of nine
Proprioception
Balance correction
Innate sense gives direction
Break your fall with daggers
As your focus staggers
The line knives syndrome
Ghinger, Abyssinian, Tsukahara, Skaukatt, Yurchenko, Korat
To "see" with that sixth sense
When there's no sign of the other five
3 1/2 inward pike
The sense that keeps the diver alive
9. Tire Kicking
Car for sale - what a deal!
I assure you it's a steal
Come and check it out some night
Can't I see it in the light?
Kick the tires if you wish
32 psi?
That's not bondo - it's all stock - do you think that I would lie?
Has it been in any wrecks - my mechanic wants to check
Oh no, to the contrary - to check it is not necessary
I know many verses and have studied many years
Can't you see how holy my exterior appears?
Armor on all 4 times - you sure are looking good
But you will be bent out of joint if I lift up that hood
I thought I knew you pretty well - but under stress you fall apart
You do just fine if you are driving up and down the block
But find a road with lots of cuves - I see a sponge and not a rock
Find a road with lots of curves - I see a sponge and not a rock
For all these years I've known the Lord
And each years means a higher score
If people tell you you're a horse you better saddle up
Have you noticed sin I lack? - odometer has been turned back
I exposite under toil - but that engine sure burns oil
I never miss a week of church - the transmission has a lurch
In our friendship you can trust - he that frame is full of rust
I have some timely news for you
The car you sell is not so new
It isn't means to run A1
So as a test or just for fun
For once let's see your real side
The humble side that doesn't lie
When pressures come that doesn't fly
For once let's see your real side
10. If Pigs Could Fly
Why does God refuse to move?
If pigs could fly they'd fly away and never grace the earth again
I wait and wait and wait and wait but nothing good happens for me
I pray to fly but when I die my feet are still flat on the ground
My brain is good, no legs of wood, but if you could, I think you should
He ain't standing in my way cause I did nothin' today
Your ship has crashed no sign of shore - to sit in your lifeboart - you can do no more
5 days at sea starved to the core - lifeboat is leaking - a rip in the floor
But wait - on the horizon - land - land ho!
Will you sit there and pray - or will you get up and row?
The next time you are quick to say "I'm just waitin' on the Lord"
Just make sure that you remember where we all have been before
All things become one...
11. Crank The Knife
Distance makes my heart to fester
In self-inflicted pain
If I can't face the consequences of my actions
I'll find somebody else to blame
I greet you with a brother's kiss
And crank the knife another...twist
Twisting facts to fit the fabrications of my mind
I find I've crossed the line
No matter what the cost I must be right
Pointing to things that don't exist
I crank the knife another...
Alone among the ashes of the things
Which one defined my life
I hold the match that lit the fire
But you'll never see me take the blame
12. Stumblefoot
Deep in that cranial psycho vault
The thought you are to be sans fault
It ain't meant to happen on our own
The consequences of diligence
Without Him will show all the dents
That's why our eyes are always on the throne
What's wrong with me, what's wrong with you
How many times we've fallen through
The thin device of foolish thinking
All along our pride is sinking
The smoothness of another day
Convince me that I'm on my way
At 3pm it all falls flat
I realise I ain't all dat
Stumble foot foot stumble
As your ideals start to crumble
Stumble foot foot stumble
Just another chance to be humble
Stumble foot foot stumble
As your ideals start to crumble
You point out others' sins overt
Under the carpet, sweep your dirt
13. Imaginary Friend
He's got a secret environment locked in his head
Reality suspended
He's got a cast of characters cooped up in his mind
Whenever he wants them
Sitting in a corner admiring the sunbeams
With an imaginary friend
He frolics but he's forgotten the only One
Who can take away the pain
Trading in what's real for a figment
A cashed in life locked up in his brain
They don't give diplomas from catatonic state
He bears a ton of gruesome cargo, can't seem to equate
What is fact or fiction
Gonna blow the escape hatch
From the miserable existence - find the Eden in his brain
The same cast fills his dreams and his nightmares
The horrors of night seem twice as harsh in the day
Disconnected existence
Pull the plug to ease the pain
14. Going, Going...Gone
Is it greed or innocence or is it both?
As the bulldozer trashes a thousand years growth
Clearcutting with a clear conscience
A burning desire to burn
If a tree falls and no one's around
The wildlife still hears it crashing down
You were gone before we even knoew you
And there's no way to ever get you back
Gorilla seven days old
Ripped from his dead mother's arms
Her hand now an ashtray\souvenir for a tourist's charms
Will I join the ranks of the photo gallery?
It may be the only way left to ever see me
Thousand acres a day
Burning it all away
Extinction - the price to pay
A ton of rhino, a pound of horn
The Javan one cursed
The wheels of greed are born
Medicinal myth smuggled to Hong-Kong
Ancient superstition - reality gone wrong
I joined the ranks of the photo gallery
It's the only way left to ever see me
You were gone before we even knew you
And there's no way to ever get you back
The greatest land animal killed for a foot of ivory
Will your children live to see one
Or witness decimation by tyranny
Passenger pigeons blackened the sky
Never a chance we would say goodbye
Oh how I wish I could see one fly
You were gone before we even knew you
And there's no way to ever get you back
American symbol of freedom and power
Only for target practice by the hour
Buffalo sat on the brink of no more
Will I join the ranks of the photo gallery?
It may be the only way to ever see me.
15. America
Between the years of 1861-1865,
over 620,000 Americans died from gunshot,
disease or sickness
in the bloodiest battles of our nations history -
the Civil War.
Through the instrument of prejudice,
fear and hate,
a different battle rages on to this day.
But in Christ, we are all one people -
united in our commitment to God and each other -
because it is He who First loved us...
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