Listen to Annie's new song "Heart"

It's You

So when we all took our first breath
We lined up in a row outside and passed around the cigarette
Just babies squinting up at the streetlight
Whipsering about what 's coming next
And you said, "Just say you will, just say you will
You will, you will"

Oh, I may be young but I know when I love someone
When I love someone, and you said
"Oh, I may be young but I know when I love someone
When I love someone, and it's you."

Our ankles intertwined and then
Your hands were a beginning to my body's end
We kicked our shoes off and laid down in the grassy lawn
Still new enough to play pretend
And you said, "Just say you will, just say you will
You will, you will"

Oh, it's you
Why did I choose these mistakes, these mistakes to make?
Because it's you, oh, it's you
It never changed for me, it will always be.

Keep Me Around

A list of my qualities to look over if you want
I'm trying to please you but if you won't I guess you won't
I can relax and have a good time
And wait for hte moment that you realize you should be mine

Keep me around, keep me around
I'm good for you
Keep me around, keep me around
You'll love what I do
Though it may not seem like it now
It's good for you to keep me around

My smile has its ups and downs but I"m generally a laugh
And you can bet I won't skip town and leave you with the aftermath
I can be possionate but not hang on
And if you feel you need your space just turn around and I'm gone

My smile's been trample a time or two
So merely a fottprint and I'm out the door on you
But play your cards right and one night I could belong to you

Fool

I am sure this place is ruining me
All missed opportunities and looks across crowded rooms
And I never eat the right thing
I have silent nights with the tv
And conversations with my future as it looms

But most of the time, I just feel like I'm failing
All of my moments they don't add up, they just pass through
Most of the time, I just feel like a fool
A fool for leaving you

I am sure that I am brave and smart with pleasant smile and open heart
But that doesn't guarantee
And I can pick it up all on my own and prove it through my telephone
Shouting, "I'm a big girl, look at me"

For leaving you
And it's sunny all the time, and I cannot make it through.

Over You

We're in your car, no heat in the cold
I'm waiting for you to tell me this has gotten old
I listen to the grind, the grind of the road below
Honey, I can't afford to make another mistake
So swallow your words because my heart's not gonna break

I'll get over you
I'll get over you
I just need a night to get over you

But does it have to be tonight while you're driving me back home?
My hands are out the window and the wind just blows and blows them
And we're faster than the highway, but my brain, my brain will not slow
Honey, I can't afford to make another mistake
So swallow your words because my heart's not gonna break

I'll get over you
I'll get over you
I just need a night to get over you

We're in your car and the sun's coming up
I'm waiting for you to tell me you are giving up
My eyes are closed, when do I know if enough is enough?

I'll get over you
I'll get over you
I just need a night to get over you.

Counting Backwards

And the medal goes to you, my life is falling apart. You always said it would be true if I didn't take your heart. And you are nowhere to be found, but you're still laughing. Every time I turn around, I'm backtracking. I don't know a thing. No matter what this brings, my heart can't stand to sing. Oh, just a couple streets away, you sleep through the night. You're all out of things to say. Honey, that don't feel right. The toast is yours today, my heart is going back to the choice I could have made, to the balcony at night and the blanket of black. I didn't know a thing. No matter what this brings, my heart can't stand to sing. Oh, just a couple streets away, you sleep through the night. You're all out of things to say. Honey, that don't feel right. The sun's gonna set on this and I won't put up a fight. I'll pace and I'll fret and still the horrible heat of your light will be gone. Oh, no, just a couple streets away you sleep through the night. You're all out of things to say. That don't feel right.

Lovesong

This is the love song you'll never hear
Just a warm breeze between my mouth and your ear

I know the look of a girlfriend
I know the hanging by
I know the "Hey, are you coming?"
It takes the whole of me to choke down my sigh

This is the love song you'll never hear
Just a warm breeze between my mouth and your ear

Just admit that for once there is no appropriate thing to say
By the look of you I think that maybe you enjoy it this way
Boys, you'll see here to your right our age old example of masochist
Hand me off the nametag and I'll take your place as first on the list

This is the love song you'll never hear
Just a warm breeze between my mouth and your ear

Just tell me when you're ready
See my shine in the corner of your eye
Can't you see you're bored already
But you just keep me on standby

This is the love song you'll never hear
Just a warm breeze between my mouth and your ear.

Believable

Sitting in the car, talking with the window down
See the bottom of your pant leg as it brushes with the ground
And I feel sick with this thing
I have to swallow and pretend to look around
This is a fiction I've created
I am cutting down a forest of words I'm not allowed
And I have fields of propositions that I've gated
And I only let them go if I can sing them to a crowd

I guess that I wanna be believable
But the catch in my throat is the consequence of being full
Of choices I can't make
And levers I can't pull

Just across the table you're feeding me with talk of inner confidence
You're taking me upstairs, introducing me to people I have not seen since
And I'm wearing these bracelets to weigh down the shaking in my wrists
I'm trying my best but sooner or later you'll notice this

I guess that I wanna be believable
But the catch in my throat is the consequence of being full
Of choices I can't make
And levers I can't pull

You'd say that I deserve this, you'd say I'm asking for it
Will I choose to hold it back
Or will I pound this wall until the surface
I guess that I deserve this, I guess I'm asking for it
Will I choose to hold it back
Or will I pound and punch until the surface cracks....

Sitting in the car talking with the window down
See the bottom of your pant leg as it brushes with the ground
And I feel sick with this thing
I have to swallow and pretend to look around.

Past Due

I don't have the strength
My heart breaks after the standard length of time
And I don't need a constant complication
Or your quiet ruminations
On an us that tests my patience

So just give up on me
Just give up
Just give up on me

It's warm with his skin against my arm
And I can close my eyes against the ways I did you harm
I'm so sick of apologies and poor, poor you
But look at me
Is this the way you want our last hour to be?

So just give up on me
Just give up
Just give up on me

Oh, just say what you need
And I will pull it off me even if it makes me bleed
Oh, I'm no longer yours to persuade
You keep holding up my light
And insisting it won't fade

Just give up on me
Just give up
Just give up on me
Give up, give up.

I'm Around

Home
In my old bed
With the new sheets
I suppose I could have known
That my new life
Would bleed out onto these old streets
Where the trees hang to the ground
And there's never any sound
After nine
And my dad watches the news
On a couch that's worn and used
And he laughs at the wrong times
Oh, the wrong times

She's letting go
In a cold snow
On a windy day
And we line the streets below
And despite my coat

I feel like I could blow away
I am swallowing the air
That only tastes this way out here
In this town
And all that I can do
Is just stay in her view
So she knows that I'm around
I'm around

I get back home
And this new place has an old feel
Out on the porch I'm still alone
But if I look, then they're real
All around me they appear
Coming on a night so clear, falling down
They're the ghosts of me and you
Open up and let them through
'Cause they'll always be around.
I'm around.

Breathe Through

Can I pull this from the air? Do I have the strength to fight?
Or will I hold my tongue till it passes through the long and balmy night?
And a mother sets the table, cleans the dishes with her hands
Passed down through the poking and the prodding
And the "don't let this get in the way of your plans"

Oh, when it hits me all I can do is just breathe again and breathe through
Oh, when it hits me all I can do is just breathe again and breathe through

Can I hope for the something more? Can I hope for something real?
Standing tall in the backyard, praying to my trees for something to feel
And I hear him pulling up, I hear the door slammed in
The slow whistle of his cigarette and all I want is to peel the paint from his skin

Oh, when it hits me all I can do is just breathe again and breathe through
Oh, when it hits me all I can do is just breathe again and breathe through

And I Can't let it go, can't let it go
This is the last time I'll feel it there
Can't let it go, because I know
Even if I shut my blinds he's still out there,
Still out there.

Oh, when it hits me all I can do is just breathe again and breathe through
Oh, when it hits me all I can do is just breathe again and breathe through
And forget the me and the you.

Pull Back

My heart will not slow
Bringing it home, keeping it home
And darling you know I only shine when I'm alone
When no one can see the sparkle
I light up my own dark, I'm full
I'm full of throb and sway
But I can't give you much today

Pull back, just pull back
Cause all of my shields eventually crack

Can I hold a candle
To late night bar talks
To flying off the handle
To flip-flop shuffle when you walk
When beautiful moments come around
I'll do my best to knock them all down
I am full of build and collapse
But I can't stay because of that

Pull back, just pull back
'Cause all of my shields eventually crack
Pull back, 'cause all of my shields eventually crack
And it's too close and it's too real
And I'd let it pour out at my throat
But I'm too scared, too scared to feel
I am pressed against your face
And all I can think is where is my hiding place?

Carry it All

Hold me up
I'm going to fall, stumble and fall
'Cause I've had enough
Of trying to carry, carry it all

A pile of blankets
A row of prayer books
My silence thanks him
With slow smiles and long looks

Keep me close
Or I'll get away, just slip away
And there's so much more
You need to know if you stay

A floor of white
And a bed of red
And a house to hold
All the words we've said
A pile of blankets
A row of prayer books
My silence thanks him
With slow smiles and long looks

I move on
I move on
And I am so happy, now I can see where I've gone.
I'll hold you up
And you'll never fall, you'll never fall
Cause we have enough to carry it all
Carry it all.

Those Kind of Guys

Look at you, are you serious?
Standing in the back in the dark with your fists shut tight
Your hair growing out from bleaching it
Pretending to talk, pretending to laugh, looking for a fight

So take your swig of beer, let it light your eyes
Cause it was never fear, it was never a compromise
Maybe I just don’t like those kind of guys

Look at you standing there
Surrounded by brown muddy frostbitten leaves
Elbows shaking in the air
Your heart in your throat, your head in your hands
And dirt on your knees

So take your swig of beer, let it light your eyes
It was never fear, it was never a compromise
Maybe I just don’t like those kind of guys

Maybe I don’t know what you want from me
All this fighting, all this glaring
Maybe it’s just the way you shout at me
That keeps me staring

So take your swig of beer, let it light your eyes
Cause it was never fear, it was never a compromise
Maybe I just don’t like those kind of guys

Heart

Hallelujah, the spring is bringing bombs of purple on the street
I walk the dog and I crush them with my feet
Oh, the morning
The sun too bright and the moon not bright enough
I got nothing new to say except I think I’ve had enough

I don’t believe you when you tell me I’m a good girl

There must be a heart that keeps me here
Away from the panic and the fear
There must be a heart that keeps me here

Did I break you?
I really did not think it could be done
And suddenly the cards had all been played and I had won
So where is the good feeling?
Where is the lighting up?
Where are the thousand voices screaming, telling me this is enough?

I don’t believe you when you tell me I’m a good girl

There must be a heart that keeps me here
Away from the panic and the fear
There must be a heart that keeps me here

Oh, everyday and ordinary, does it make me happy?
Does it curl beneath the surface of my skin
Will I let it in?

There must be a heart that keeps me here
Away from the panic and the fear
There must be a heart that keeps me here

Clean It Up

I’m sick of my mother
I’m sick of my father
I’m sick of everyone around me not stepping up
And I’m sick of this fast pace
I’m sick of these clean breaks
Cause then there’s no one around to help me clean it up

Clean it up
Who’s gonna help me clean it up?

He thought when he grew up
That life would be special
That what he wanted would come easy and clean
But he’s using that paycheck
To cover his car wreck
And it turns out that life’s the same old mess it’s always been

He’s gotta clean it up
Who’s gonna help me clean it up?

Oh, give it up or lose it completely
It’s never what you think that it should be
Give it up or lose it completely

So you’re sick of your heartache
And you’re sick of your dead weight
You say it’s all the same in the end
But no one likes high ground
So you gotta climb down
If you’re ever gonna make yourself some friends

Clean it up
Who’s gonna help me clean it up?

Swallowed Snakes

Sometimes I wish you would just appear before me on the street, like a ghost in the dust, coming up out the sidewalk, waiting for me. My stomach’s tied in knots, I swallowed snakes before I came here today. And I just want to know the stakes of loving this way. If the sun shines through the window, I’ll let you go. If you really want to go, I’ll let you go. But you should know, I believe in a love that faltered years ago. I carry it up my sleeve, waiting for the time to watch it blow away. You should know that the window’s always clear here in Los Angeles, and still I don’t see all the places you go. When you’re near me, I can only guess. If the sun shines through the window, I’ll let you go. If you really want to go, I’ll let you go. If you really want to go, I’ll let you go. If you really want to go…

Little House

My old man can’t sleep
I hear him in the nighttime, counting silhouettes of sheep
Little breaths spat out his thinning mouth
Trapped in the four walls of this house

It's a wonder I'm still here
Spent my summers running through the green
Away from fear
I'd lean against my friends and laugh and shout,
"One day I'm gonna run away from that house,
One day I'm gonna run away from that house."

Get me out of this place, get me out of this town
Never knew once I left how my heart would come lurking Back around

The light swings through the trees
My mother's on the tile, pants rolled up to her knees
Painting in the kitchen, shaking her sweat out
She drew her life inside this house

In wintertime, the sun rose low
I'd follow my brother and lay down on the grey snow
Staring at the sky turning white with doubt
And burying our little house
"One day I'm gonna run away from that house."

Get me out of this place, get me out of this town
Never knew once I left it would make such a sad sound
Out of this place, get me out of this town
Never knew once I left how my heart would come lurking Back around

Where I live now it's always warm
We got water droughts and we got windstorms
But in the night when there's no light to be proud
Lord, do I miss that little house
Lord, do I miss that little house.

Nothing Left

You never held up your end of the bargain
Coming to my house and reading my magazines
You never pretended, no, you weren’t even trying
Just smacking your lips and flipping through Seventeen

Everyone said you were a loose cannon
But I laughed them all away
I was punching that girl in school for kissing your boyfriend
Saying the things I always wanted to say

But there is nothing left in your eyes
And I would never go back to the place where I didn’t realize

Remember that night when we left the party
And you scraped your knuckles down on the cement
And when I stared you down you just did it harder
‘Til your flesh was bleeding and your skin was bent

But there is nothing left in your eyes
And I would never go back to the place where I didn’t realize

And at some point I just had to turn around and go back inside.

Better That Way

Gone on our backs
Through the grassy meadow golf course
And that was enough to make us laugh and laugh
Like we always did

Gone in the air
Out of breath and leaves in our hair
Took it out on whoever was there
Whatever poor kid

Oh, the things we didn’t know

Gone in the heat,
We hike our skirts up over our knees
Bare legs in 100 degrees
On a riotous night

Lost in the mess
An open mouth to kiss or confess
Too young to know the truth of this
But too drunk to try and fight

Oh, the things we didn’t know

And it was so much better that way
Much better that way
Better that way.

And it was so much better that way
Much better, and ten years later I won’t remember
I’ll try my hardest but there forever
The voices they will stay

And it is so much better that way.

Sleeping Porch

On the sleeping porch, you buzzed against the screen
I don't remember fear so much as urgency
The need to get up and go home
Instead of spending the whole night alone

With your shadow stretching across the carpet floor
And your voice echoing from a time before
Across a row of snoring girls
Dipping down and touching all the heads of messy curls
Saying, "Come on and stick it out, this will be worth it, there's a world out here if you could just unearth it."

Oh, there it goes
He'll say my heart is cold, he'll say my soul is closed

And then there's three of us, huddled in corners of our rooms
Beer in brown bottles and parties overcast with gloom
They swallowed me up 'til I drowned
The sweetness was weighing me down
And you hurt but you would soon regret
And I didn't understand yet

Oh, there it goes
He'll say my heart is cold, he'll say my soul is closed

Am I supposed to grow up?
I sweat through nights and swell up, I swell up
And no one here can make their minds up

Oh, there it goes
He'll say my heart is cold, he'll say my soul is closed
Oh, there it goes
He'll never really know,
He will only suppose.