If Not For Hipster Pictures

And I had a vision:
It was Craig Finn in a car collision
It was southern California schisms in the Michigan prisons

It was pyramid schemes and it was new religions
It was bar sharks, it was street rats
It was alley cats and they were feasting on the city pigeons

It was the south-west corner
Where Milwaukee hits division that I had a vision
It was perspiration
It was fever dreams and it was wild delusions

It was hallucinations
It was virgin visits, conversion experiences
It was close to the connection
Where the market hits the mission
I was sitting in the back of the taqueria watching television

It was the suspended animation of fear
Mixed with beer, mixed with indecision
It was factories and their emissions
It was dumb kids in their hard-rock hip-hop bands
Trying to share with me their wisdom

Night pants are my least favourite fashion
You feel like you're slumming
You look like you're swimming
You think you're dancing
You look like you're drowning

And I had a vision:
It was Craig Finn in a car collision

I had a revelation:
It was Craig Finn getting sick at your Christmas celebration

And it was drugs that made your party
Seem like a party that was created in climation
It was drugs that didn't seem to have purpose
Except for maybe recreation

It was the statues in the park,
Screaming in the dark
Taunting all the teens, saying:
"We need some desecration"

It's how you and me
And me and you
And you and me
And me and you
And you and me
And me and you and all our friends
Are under observation

They got the cameras
With infra-red vision
They got the radiation
To remedy the gunshots
They've got cops and they've got soldiers
Stationed round the nation

I've got a heart set on salvation
I'm gonna give a demonstration

And I had a revelation
It was Craig Finn getting sick
At your Christmas celebration


And I had a fever dream
It was Craig Finn getting caught up
In the downside of the hardcore scene

It was tongue studs
It was gun runs
It was St. Paul bars
And St. Cloud speed

It was the denim
And all the scratched up skin
It was the bars, and the scars
It was the sunflower seeds

It was shady strangers
Coming crawling from the wreckage
Screaming, "I got what you need!
I got what you need!"

It was the shady, shady strangers
Coming crawling from the wreckage
Screaming, "I got what you need!
You got 40 bucks for me!"

I said, "Say can you see
By the dawn's early light
The kids coming up from the underground?
I think everything's gonna be alright"

I said, "Say can you see
By the dawn's early light
The kids rising up from the underground?
I think everything's gonna be alright"

And I had a fever dream
It was Craig Finn getting caught up
In the dark side of the hardcore scene

And I had a fever dream
St. Paul bars,
St. Cloud speed

And I had a fever dream
It was the scars, the bars
It was the sunflower seeds

And I had a fever dream
It was Craig Finn getting caught up
In the downside of the hardcore scene

I came to in the nude
In the cage in the zoo
Blood dripping from my mouth
Like I was some kind of Dracula

Wrapped in tattered taffeta
This is MIT America
This is MIT America
Wrapped in tattered taffeta

And we are in Minneapolis
Passed out in a party dress
Passed out in a party dress
Well hello, Miss Minneapolis

And all these hipster kids
Will lead you straight into the emptiness
And all these hipster kids
Are marching straight towards all the emptiness

I woke up in stadium seating
With a message on the movie screen that said,
"Hey Craig Finn, don't let your dreams
Go down with your scene"

I woke up in stadium seats
With a message on the movie screen that said,
"Hey Craig Finn, don't let your dreams
Go down with your scene"

The rail drinks have their mixers
The finalists have pixels
These hipster chicks would serve no purpose
If not for hipster pictures

Stylists and models
And lightings and sightings
And scar mats
Never enough cash

Songs about songs
Films about films
Photographs of photographs

I'm gonna tell you from experience
These hipster kids
Will lead you straight into that emptiness

Listen up, late night girls
And late night boys
These late night lifestyles
Lead to a late twenties melted void

I'm gonna tell you from experience
These hipster kids
Are gonna lead you straight into the emptiness