REPLICA AMERICA

The ghost of me is sitting in the ghost of the house we never got to share

Our imaginary love, in an imaginary state of disrepair

The ghost of me is waiting for a ghost train on a model switchboard

The ghost of me is like the sun, it only ever wants to travel westward

But if you can be the switchboard man and throw the throttle

You could wait all day for a man like me to be a model 

I’m building you a replica America where love is sweeter

I’m building you a platform but you better be a better leader

The ghost of me came & stole the town square fountain, came & stole th’belfry tower

The ghost of me replaced them with a model made of spit and starch and flour

Now the ghost of me is scribbling a million love songs inside a model jailhouse

I’ve been charged with being careless and I’m going to need a million bailouts

Bring to me a skeleton key, or a longneck bottle

You could wait all day for a man like me to be a model // citizen

I’m building you a replica America where love is darker

I’m building you a highway but I’m leaving out the mile marker

The ghost of me’s a train-wreck of a lover, and a train-wreck of a mason

The edges of the valley always crumble back into the dustbowl basin

The ghost of me is melting crayons, making bricks of umber and burnt sienna

Making you a bedroom and a nursery in our hacienda

Our frontier home has a red clay dome where you bathe and swaddle

You could wait all day for a man like me to be a model // gentleman

I’m building you a replica America where love is cheaper,

I’m building you a dream-house, but you better be a better sleeper