Tiles

Presence Of Mind (1999)

 
 

1. Static
2. Modification
3. Crossing Swords
4. Facing Failure
5. The Learning Curve
6. Ballad Of The Sacred Cows
7. The Sandrtrap Jig
8. Taking Control
9. Safe Procedures
10. Reasonable Doubt

Static
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

Years of sameness make us this way
Taking the blame's n longer o.k.
Over again some never stray
Tortured and bland walk hand in hand

Routines are all right, we all need some
To never fight means everything's right?
Passive and willing, agree with anything
Draw the line, develop a spine

Static is our legacy
Taught from birth what we believe
Our mind creates another boundary
Watching the moments pass
Our purpose cannot last
Trapped in a re-run
Going nowhere fast

I stand in line for a long time
Who says I have to, who made this rule?
Speaking to myself isn't going to help
Do something dynamic, why withstand it?

History repeats too frequently
No one ever learns to react positively
Whatever exists, we all pay the fees
Charging ahead, regardless of need

Static is our legacy
Taught from birth what we believe
Our mind creates another boundary
Watching the moments pass
Our purpose cannot last
Trapped in a re-run
Going nowhere

Static is our legacy
Taught from birth what we believe
Our mind creates another boundary
Watching the moments pass
Our purpose cannot last
Trapped in a re-run
Going nowhere
Chipping away our pride
Static is the means to hide
Avoiding risk, ignoring all replies
It is our legacy
Taught from birth what we believe
Our minds crgate another boundary

Modification
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

Show us a change or maybe a move
But don't be surpised if it can't be proved
We help reinforce the things that you do
Your behavior will be changed as we apply the screw
Equality to all is advocated here
But you're not by yourself, there's nothing to fear

To modify
There's clarify
Conditioning we theorize
Systematic planning
Has advantages
To modify

The more you've sold the more you will get
Your motivation's improved, but it's not quite there yet
What shall we do to keep you here?
What to say
What to say
What to say just isn't clear
Coerce and force hasn't worked
Our objectives were wrong
Instead of helping we hurt

To modify
There's clarify
Conditioning we theorize
Systematic planning
Has advantages
To modify

To modify
There's clarify
Conditioning we theorize
Systematic planning
Has advantages
To modify
To modify
There's clarify
Conditioning we theorize
Systematic planning
Has advantages
To modify

Facing Failure
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

Thread the eye
Led by an ill frame of mind
Judge to justify
End results sometimes lie friends and peers
Motives unclear - disappear
Facing fear and doubt
Hear the whisper explode into a shout

Too late to get out

Words stinging twisting turning
Echo in my head
I can't afford the cost of wasted time
No failure
Trapped in a spiral without an end
Around another corner
Turning blind

Tensions crest
Dunce cap crowns the litmus test
Smoking guns report
Can't leave the line to start as scars return
Nothing learned, hopeless and burned
Raging on and on
War of words fought yet again are seldom won

Too late to belong

Words stinging twisting turning
Echo in my head
I can't afford the cost of wasted time
No failure
Trapped in a spiral without an end
Around another corner
Turning blind

Asking, answering, looking, seeing
Take refuge from the storm
Seeking, finding, directions clearer
Truth takes many forms

Words stinging twisting turning
Echo in my head
I can't afford the cost of wasted time
No failure
Trapped in a spiral without an end
Around another corner
Turning blind

The Learning Curve
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

Listen to words which come from up front
Experience grows with each and every lesson
Playing a game, an inquisition
Pay attention, find out what you're missing

I sense a wall emerge
And accept the learning curve

Through eyes of gray thoughts focused ahead
Shaped in various positions
Intent on the pages filled with words to be read
Looking for symptoms behind the conditions

The signs are poorly lit
Lines drawn upon the landscape
It's hard to tell what fits

With all that is said
The future is told
A planned destiny
That is bought and sold
To do as you please
Is just what you need
Give what is learned
And learn what to heed

The learning curve still rises before me
The more I hear the less it seems I know
How to balance above the rocks below

Boredom opens up another place in time
No passion in these plain dry woods
There's a message and it's not very hard to find
Providing you hear what is to be heard

With all that is said
The future is told
A planned destiny
That is bought and sold
To do as you please
Is just what you need
Give what is learned
And learn what to heed

Taking Control
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

I can't find an open door
Recall what I was looking for
Waste from haste we fail to see
Stop to think reluctantly

Now? When?
Here? Then?
Demoralized, compromised
Check integrity at the door
Cutting throats, dashing hopes
Face down upon the floor

Our goal, to be the best
To find a way to belong
Help the ones who need
To mold their destiny
But good intentions don't always
Work the way they should
Some end up harming more
Than doing any good

We can't take all the blame
For everything gone wrong
When will others have the right
To find a way with their own insight?

What? When?
If? Then?
Bottom lines with token fines
Slim chance to get caught
Example set by hedging bets
Means to and end are bought

Our goal, to be the best
To find a way to belong
To help the ones who need
To mold their destiny
But good intentions don't always
Work the way they should
Some end up harming more
Than doing any good

Our goal, to be the best
To find a way to belong
To help the ones who need
To mold their destiny
But good intentions don't always
Work the way they should
Some end up harming more
Than doing any good

Safe Procedures
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

At the end of the day
Nerves are worn, a little frayed
Move to wash up after toil
Look to see the sweat and soil
Passion for existence
Can't be bought, can't be sold
Altering conditions to pave the way
Caution on hold

Caught in a rut of safe procedures
Realize that change is always a feature

So you've done what you're told
Following the rule of gold
Rescued from obscurity
By a sense of destiny
When the cast peels away
Clearing fog reveals the day
Thoughts and plans and dreams take shape
As new fears wait to awake

Caught in a rut of safe procedures
Realize that change is always a feature

Reasonable Doubt
(lyrics by Chris Herin)

I sit looking through a cage
Feel the tension and the rage
Events evolving without a reason
Just a pawn, this political season

No hope while efforts fail
Fact and fiction on my trail
I'm a scapegoat for authority
Can't stop this tale of hypocrisy

I was told the past is a reflection
Of the future

Life spent in vain seeking revenge
A reason to doubt
Justice abstained to the bitter end
Proof dismissed as too far out
There was a reason to doubt
But we're too busy with the words
That people spoke yet no one heard
When are we ever going to learn?

I sit trembling in the chair
I feel the hatred behind the stares
The surge electric builds and snaps my nerves
Lifeless innocence whose justice was served?

I know the truth slips through the hands
Of random judgement

Life spent in vain seeking revenge
A reason to doubt
Justice abstained to the bitter end
Proof dismissed as too far out
There was a reason to doubt
But we're too busy with the words
That people spoke yet no one heard
When are we ever going to learn?

Life spent in vain seeking revenge
A reason to doubt
Justice abstained to the bitter end
Proof dismissed as too far out
There was a reason to doubt
But we're too busy with the words
That people spoke yet no one heard
When are we ever going to learn?

There was a reason to doubt
It wasn't convenient
There was a reason to doubt
No one chose to believe
There was a reason to doubt
Who is deceived?
But we're too busy with the words
That people spoke yet no one heard
When are we ever going to learn?

There was a reason to doubt
Truth was the answer that didn't count
Won't someone please let me out?

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