tricks & illusions

I was a kid with a knack for tricks and illusions

With sleight of hand, I fooled them all

I would practice my act in my bedroom, secluded

While mom and dad fought through the wall

I took comfort in performing

It directed all the noises in my head with no northern star

Nowadays I still lie low

Until the show time comes

I guess we are who we are

Drunk in the street with my friends

City lights, San Francisco

On a 43, poems from my pen

Tension within the band

Got the TASCAM from Carlos

And recorded all the songs in my head

I wound up with the label

Split it all down the middle

Seemed fair to me at least at the start

'Til I asked for a contract revision

Business ruined our friendship

And I lost control of my art

I stared out the window for years in a van

And I let the crowd know who I really am

By the time that I got home

Broken, hungover again

I lost everything I've known

I've become a stranger among men

A stranger among men

A stranger among men

Living slow, take it easy these days

With my wife and our dog John

Tryna write songs for adverts and films

Convince myself that it's okay 'cause if I hook a big one

I'll be living off of my music still

It's not exactly how I planned it but it ain't bad for a bandit

Who came up singing street-corner tunes

I'm not saying that its over but surrender's much closer

Than when I was counting cards in my room

Thinking of all the magic I would do

I stared out the window for years in a van

And I let the crowd know who I really am

By the time that I got home

I'm broken, hungover again

I lost everything I've known

I've become a stranger among men

A stranger among men

A stranger

A stranger among men

A stranger