lyrics from the upcoming “Simple Machine”
From Kyler’s new studio record Simple Machine, due out in early September.
818
818 is the area code
i can dial you up anytime on the telephone
we live together in the golden state
hollywood is your favorite place
yeah that’s where i go looking first
but i don’t know where to find you now
you’re right beside me but still gone somehow
yeah i don’t know where to find you now
cause there’s any number of ways
a person can hide away
if they don’t wanna be found
91601 is the zip code
i’m halfway across the map in Chicago
i send you a postcard from the road
to keep you company till i get home
it’s gonna find you long before i do
chorus
there’s gotta be some secret combination
turn three times to the left, stop on the day that we first met
then back around to the score that we’ve been keeping
cause baby we got only one more shot to even this thing out
1998, that was our year
innocence made a last stand before the tears
now i’m the master of skin deep
and keeping the world at arm’s length
i never meant to hold you anywhere but close to me
but i don’t know where to find me now
i’m right beside you but still gone somehow
yeah i don’t know where to find me now
cause i got any number of ways
when i wanna hide away
from you now
tonight, tonight
you used to be a dreamer but lately you can’t sleep
it’s like the city of angels went behind your back and clipped your wings
and everytime you jumped you fell
tell gravity to go to hell
cause tonight, tonight it’s in your eyes
they’re all lit up like fireflies
tonight, tonight you feel alive
yeah tonight, tonight you’re along for the ride
it’s up and down like the city skyline
tonight, tonight you feel alive
it hasn’t been your year in years
and you’ve all but forgotten why you came here
it’s like Hollywood is running thin
just when you need your happy ending
chorus
you can’t help but let it get you down
and you can’t bring yourself to leave this messed up town
chorus
you and i
remember back in brooklyn late nights
we’d sneak up on the roof with flashlights
lie on our backs and count the stars
we’d talk all night about god and spaceships
and little laika, the first in orbit
and whether or not there might be life on mars
it used to be easy then to dream
it’s getting harder and harder to believe in anything
cause there’s nothing holding the stars up in the sky
no reason or rhyme to this life
nothing keeping us together you and i
‘cept you and i
i think a heart is what you make of it
it’s not love if it doesn’t hurt a bit
if we just hold on tight we’ll get through this
you and i, i still believe in you and i
you used to hold my hand all the time
you’d get your fingers all laced through mine
like new york city streets through the avenues
up was up and down was down back then
the world was ours and everything made sense
we believed and we never needed proof
but baby i’m giving up on “meant to be”
i’m starting to think that all of that is just pretty poetry
chorus
there’d be no such thing as fate if it were up to me
go and leave the future to its mystery
we can make it
if there’s nothing holding the stars up in the sky
no reason or rhyme to this life
nothing keeping us together you and i
‘cept you and i
well then a heart is what you make of it
and it’s not love if it doesn’t hurt a bit
if we just hold on tight we’ll get through this
you and I, i still believe in you and i
simple machine
we never talk about the big things anymore
it’s too hard
there’s a canyon between us that we can’t cross
it’s too far
whatever happened to you, you used to be the searching kind
lately you turn and run like you’re afraid of what you’ll find
i know you believe the heart is only a simple machine
and the love that’s running through our veins, it’s just a pulse of electricity
and you’ve given up on finding meaning in this great big mystery
but baby don’t give up, baby don’t you give up on me
it’s not easy loving someone like you
who’s got it all figured out
it must be hard for you too, trying to wrap your arms around
me and all my doubts
don’t think i’ve ever been that sure of anything
i’ve always got a lot of open ended questions haunting me
but i refuse to believe the heart is only a simple machine
and the love that’s running through our veins, it’s just a pulse of electricity
i’m not giving up on finding meaning in this great big mystery
so baby don’t give up, baby don’t you give up on me
you say we’re like a light switch
we’re on and then we’re off
and this is all there is
we’re here and then we’re gone
then we’re gone, we’re here and then we’re gone
how can you believe the heart is only a simple machine?
and the love that’s running through our veins, it’s just a pulse of electricity
don’t you give up on finding meaning in this great big mystery
and baby don’t give up, baby don’t you give up on me
sweetspot
it’s a new day, got a clean slate
gonna get up, fill my coffee cup
hit the interstate, gonna drive all day back to you
it’s been fifteen and a half days
i can’t take this long distance
something’s missing in every moment without you
but all my troubles fade
everything falls into place
where you and i meet, baby that’s the sweetspot
where you and i meet, baby that’s the sweetspot
when you hold me in your arms there’s nowhere else i wanna be
yeah, where you and i meet, baby that’s the sweetspot
when i feel like i can’t deal
got the whole world on my shoulders
you’re the one sure thing that will never bring me down
cause with you i feel safe
you’re the eye of the hurricane
chorus
we could stay forever this way
while the world spins on and on and on
chorus
you wait for rain
it’s more than a crack in the wall
it’s a whole lot bigger than we thought, yeah
a hammer and nail won’t fix it this time
so bring on the wrecking ball
it’s like we’ve been drifting along
pretending like nothing’s wrong, yeah
we play the game, keep up the charade
but when the river runs dry we’re on different sides
you wait for rain and i chase the storm
we just don’t see it the same way
you say you want change but you’re never sure
we can’t go on like this anymore
cause at the end of the day
you wait for rain and i chase the storm
i was never good at standing still
always got a hunger to fill, yeah
don’t think you ever understood that’s who i am
what we gotta face is we’re in different places
chorus
how’d we ever get so far from where we started from?
the hardest thing about this is i still care
you know there’s something better for both of us out there
chorus
so bring on the wrecking ball
quittin’ time
this love has got me beat tonight
we’re sleepin’ under a black and blue sky
don’t know where we went wrong or why
but i’m getting ready to give up the fight
cause when you’ve got nothin’ left to give
you laid it all out on the line
and you’re always trying to work it out
maybe that’s a sign
it’s quittin’ time, it’s quittin’ time
maybe you’re still the boy i loved
and not the stranger you’ve become
but i’m still the girl whose heart feels like a stone
cause even when we’re together i’m alone
and i’ve got nothin’ left to give
i laid it all out on the line
and i’m always trying to work it out
maybe that’s a sign
it’s quittin’ time, it’s quittin’ time
counting down to zero reasons left to stay
i wish i could see another way
but we’ve got nothin’ left to give
it’s all out on the line
and we’re always trying to work it out
baby it’s a sign
it’s quittin’ time, it’s quittin’ time
clean slate
i got this box of letters
they all start off the same
how could you do this to me?
the ink’s been dry for sometime
i just never sent them
i couldn’t write the last line
but now i’ve got it right
it’s too late for a clean slate
don’t try to make it up to me
let’s make a clean break
you don’t have to owe me anything
cause i don’t wanna owe you anything anymore
i lost another friend today
this time it was my fault
i was too wrapped up to see
she was crashing she was reaching
she was losing everything
it brought back such bad memories
when she said to me
chorus
i know we hurt each other but can’t we work it out?
i realize you’re the kind of friend that i can’t live without
is it too late for a clean slate?
tell me how to make it up to you
i made a mistake
i know that you don’t owe me anything
but i was hoping we could start again
could we start again?
sugarpill
it’s best if you don’t say anything
just hold me hard, stand me up straight
save me from my misery
if just for tonight
be my sugarpill
hold me until i get my fill
i know nothing is gonna fix me
i just need a place to be
so be my sugarpill
i come to you battered and bruised
not for a cure, no i’m no fool
don’t wanna talk about what i’ve been through
just take me home
chorus
and help me escape this heartache
take me far away
chorus
bells and whistles
i don’t need bells and whistles
i don’t need the latest pretty thing
with lots of buttons and flashing pictures
to keep me busy when you’re not around
all i need is for you to talk to me
like you used to, like you used to
all i need is for you to lie next to me
like you used to, like you used to
i don’t need bells and whistles
i don’t need designer anything
i’ll settle for a sidewalk knock-off
but love, that’s gotta be the real thing
all i need is for you to talk to me
like you used to, like you used to
all i need is for you to look at me
like you used to, like you used to
it’s the simple things that make or break
the difference between go or stay
i don’t need bells and whistles
i don’t need a fancy diamond ring
so they last forever and cut through steel
no shiny rock is gonna cut the silence in between
all i need is for you to talk to me
like you used to, like you used to
all i need is for you to want me
like you used to, like you used to
i don’t need bells and whistles