Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
That crucial filament is all but spent
And soon it will be dark in my basement
My heart is waxing the slick floor again
Hoping I'll slip, and fall in love
Well, she gave me the choice
To remain and rejoice, or to recoil and rebel
Well, Papa, this gravity attack
Yeah, it's a gravity attack
And I can't seem to carry, much less bury the past
Well, your ex-girlfriend said I was a terrible mess
Yeah, she's got a real good head on her shoulders
When the singer spoke and confessed
He didn't really smoke cigarettes
She said her teenage brother smouldered
On a hotbed of coal in a sterile white room
Underneath that Joy Division poster
He moaned, "Papa," he moaned, "Papa
Sometimes I gotta vent my spleen
Sometimes I gotta vent my spleen
When I get shattered in the heart
And scattered in the brain"
Well, all the medicine in these sermons
Still can't keep his brazen nose from turning
And salvation, it may come free of charge
But faith always costs him something
They say there's nothing as sacred
As the blood between brothers
When it's pricked from their thumbs
And exchanged beneath the covers
Well, Papa, my brother is gone!
Yeah, my brother is gone!
So would you tell me now how it is
I'm supposed to get along?
Well, you asked for a chorus but you got a refrain
Yeah, it's another sad song that moves like a train
You can't whistle to it
But you can fast-forward through it
Flick it off your shoulder like dead skin
They say my head on a plate
May curve the debate
About the unbearable high cost of living
But Papa, everything falls apart!
Everything falls apart
And the grass will grow
As surely as they'll break your heart
And soon it will be dark in my basement
My heart is waxing the slick floor again
Hoping I'll slip, and fall in love
Well, she gave me the choice
To remain and rejoice, or to recoil and rebel
Well, Papa, this gravity attack
Yeah, it's a gravity attack
And I can't seem to carry, much less bury the past
Well, your ex-girlfriend said I was a terrible mess
Yeah, she's got a real good head on her shoulders
When the singer spoke and confessed
He didn't really smoke cigarettes
She said her teenage brother smouldered
On a hotbed of coal in a sterile white room
Underneath that Joy Division poster
He moaned, "Papa," he moaned, "Papa
Sometimes I gotta vent my spleen
Sometimes I gotta vent my spleen
When I get shattered in the heart
And scattered in the brain"
Well, all the medicine in these sermons
Still can't keep his brazen nose from turning
And salvation, it may come free of charge
But faith always costs him something
They say there's nothing as sacred
As the blood between brothers
When it's pricked from their thumbs
And exchanged beneath the covers
Well, Papa, my brother is gone!
Yeah, my brother is gone!
So would you tell me now how it is
I'm supposed to get along?
Well, you asked for a chorus but you got a refrain
Yeah, it's another sad song that moves like a train
You can't whistle to it
But you can fast-forward through it
Flick it off your shoulder like dead skin
They say my head on a plate
May curve the debate
About the unbearable high cost of living
But Papa, everything falls apart!
Everything falls apart
And the grass will grow
As surely as they'll break your heart
Lyrics submitted by mixedtape
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by the way, does anyone know where i can get hold of the simon joyner version of this song?