Signifying Nothing is the second album by The Long Afternoon. The band began recording in March 2007 and concluded in January 2009. It was released in 2009 by Problematic Audio recordings. For this document, The Long Afternoon comprised:
Eston Martz: wires, rasps, and moans
Jeff Edmunds: throbs and rumbles
Greg Elliott: booms and rattles
Noises were captured at Audible Images and Problematic Audio recording studios.
Elinor Murphy was nourished by TV
But her neighbors hadn’t a hunch
Late every morning she’d get up still yawning
And gobble some reruns for lunch
She ate the news and the EBS tests
Savored the game shows
But the talk shows tasted best
Elinor Murphy had stains on her shirtsleeves
A big head with not too much in it
Wind sun or rain inside deadening her brain
Never leaving the tube for minute
In her apartment watching all alone
She paid for cable
But not telеphone
Ultimately Elinor met with classic undеrthinker’s doom
Swelled and swelled and swelled and swelled
Until her body filled the living room
Elinor Murphy just died of self pity
When she saw what TV had cost her
Fat sick and dirty with film at 10:30
Her suicide note just said watch it
Made of stone
At night the walls look like bones
Inside the ants
Work night and day
Refining plans for far away
Outside the building
I’ll see you there
When the sirens start to blare
When we can see
From all five sides
Let’s all link hands and watch it rise
Is the world still at your feet?
Now the sweet has turned to bitter
And the bitter turned to sweet
You will be another wall to everyone you ever meet
One day you will trip and fall
Where the bitter turns to sweet
Like this
I remember nights together
In the dark and without heat
No more roses on your windshield
When the bitter turns to sweet
Throwing memories out the window
Just to see them hit the street
Watching towers open firе
Where the bittеr turns to sweet
Where things are like we thought they’d be
But that’s not where you really are
I don’t know where you really are
You’re happy in my using dream
Laughing just like you used to be
But that’s not how you really are
I don’t know how you really are
Oh
I’ll see you in my using dream
In love with everything you see
But that’s not who you really are
I don’t know who you really are
Oh
But now it’s too much work, you don’t even greet me
They told me not to come but I wouldn’t listen
You won’t offer me a smoke, or a pot to piss in
You were radiant in school but I couldn’t trust you
‘Cause you had to lose yourself before you let me touch you
There’s a buzzing in my head and it’s slow and heavy
And I’m waiting for a signal that will tell me when you’re ready
I see it bright and clear
I hear the sound of tolling bells
And how I feel is a secret I will never tell
You can play it as you like, you can leave discreetly
Throw your sisters in the trash and disappear completely
Take the flesh out of your pocket, take the word out of your purse
I can leave or I can stay and I don’t know which is worse
Take another hit and maybe you’ll feel better
As that stain starts to spread underneath your sweater
I hear it loud and clear
I see the hand above your head
And I feel sorry ’cause I know for you it’s all been done and said
It’s all been done and said
It’s all been done and said
Gather her belongings and we’ll give them all away
She was in the black dress when she checked out yesterday
Cameras grilled her neighbors but there wasn’t much to say
In our dreams we see her just before she hits the ground
She is looking down
With lenses focused on your kids
Then you’ll disappear below the fold
And you will do what you are told
In cities full of jagged steel
In lands of people who aren’t real
Their stories of the things you did
Will cover up the things they did
They will say you did your duty well
No one to contradict the tale
Feeding diazepam to sheep
So they don’t see the ones who bleed
And when it’s time they’ll comfort you
They’ll fly you home after it’s done
Boxes in hangers draped with flags
That will never flicker on the screen
It isn’t real if it’s unseen
And you’ll be silent underground
Plenty of fury but no sound
There’s no need to cry
And for those who aren’t alive
Glory is just another lie
To some place I never will arrive
Drive it fast along the ledge
Talk about the books you read
When I looked away you shifted gears
You confirm the worst of all my fears
If you have a twinge of doubt
Stop the car and throw me out
Then go on your way
And who will fix your car when it breaks down in Boston
New York or DC?
Maybe you can take the train, ditch the car
And never think of me
All the days became a roadside blur
And ask me now it’s like you never were
You never were a part of me
How goes your autonomy?
I’ll put some flowers on your grave
I’m so corrupt I kind of envy you
I know you’ll have your perfect day
But why do you hang around with me
If I’m as messed up as you claim?
When you talk about the things you want
Man I just don’t what to say
But I admit that there’s a world out there
Beyond the one I chose myself
And when you reach yours, well I only hope
That you can still respect yourself
Goodbye, I know you will go far
About a city
Everybody
Was on their own
And I
Lived in the center
Until the hour
She came my way
Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey
There was
Something so graceful
About the way
She held herself
Her skin
Morphine warm marble
Made the world
Fall into place
Look at the happy girl
Always willing to make you believe
She’s not a lonely girl
But you cannot believe everything that you see
Look everybody and see what I see
Look at the happy girl
Look at the happy girl
Always looking for something to do
Cause she’s the happy girl
Now she’s living a lie for you
Cause she’s a lonely girl
But you cannot believe everything that you read
Look everybody and see what I see
Look at the happy girl
Look at the happy girl
I see her cry
I see her cry
Now she’s gone through the looking glass
Look at the happy girl
And she’ll tell you if you ever ask
She’s not a lonely girl
But you cannot believe everything that you read
Look everybody and see what I see
Look at the happy girl
Look at the happy girl
You’re a scorpion on shifting sands
You’re a hungry shark in a pool of blood
You’re a bird of prey moving up up up up up up
That’s right, whoo
There’s secret cops on every street
But hidden cameras never see
The double entendre in your favorite poem
The dreams that speak to you alone
Nothing seems to take you back
Every day you lose more color
Every day the sky turns black
Everything revolves around you
You revolve around the drain
Spinning round in smaller circles
Echoing your father’s old refrain
I only feel ambivalence
I can’t say where the good times went
Nothing left in heart or home
Endless tremors in the bone
Let us say that we do make it
To a world where’s nothing’s wrong
Do you think you’ll still be with us
Do you think you’ll still turn on
Maybe one day you’ll get tired
Playing back the samе old song
Maybe you will come back to us
Maybe you will just bе gone
You think you’ll never get that sick
And that would be a clever trick
But now’s it’s just another night
Sink back into the purple light
It’s cold outside, everything is fine
Bare feet bend blades
It’s warm outside, everything is fine
But in days to come
You may come to know
I tried so hard
Just not hard enough
All the hours unremembered
Times I missed, gone forever
And every day, every day, every day
I can try again
Are you so sure
Toys left behind, everything is fine
Go live your life
You’re sure to get
Promises and debts
Your allowance of breath
Delights and regrets
But in days to come
When you’re alone
You may recall
Things we said today
Things can change for the better
Traffic clears
There’s perfect weather
And every day
Every day
Every day
You can try again
If you get to know me
I am not what I might seem
If you get to know me
You will find I’m very
Far from where I should have been
How did I get so far from where I should have been
How did I get so far from where I should have been
When she tried to change me
She estranged me
Tried to put me to a scene
Now I’m going to leave her
And I won’t be very
Far from where I should have been
How did I get so far from where I should have been
How did I get so far from where I should have been
How did I get so far from where I should have been
A tale told by an idiot
A nagging admonition to do
Something more with what is left
Trace amounts of effort could have
Altered everything that is
Skipping stones across the ocean
Aiming for the next right thing
Will what you do withstand the days
And be recalled?
You’ll never know
But it might
