Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam lyrics

Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam

As far as I know, there are no official lyrics available for this album so me and some other Rev fans have given it our best shot to figure them out ourselves. So there are undoubtedly many mistakes here. If you think you know a line which is screwed up here, please pass it along.
Big thanks to Kevinme, Ardamis, Aaron, Richie Pilbeam, Chemmie for their help.

Chasing A Bee
Syringe Mouth
Coney Island Cyclone
Blue And Black
Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell t' th' Center of Yer Heart
Frittering
Continous Trucks and Thunder Under a Mother's Smile
Very Sleepy Rivers
Car Wash Hair
..paragraph in liner notes

"Chasing A Bee"
Those seducers [4x]
bombed out lovers, gallant red flocks of mellow seducers, fine [find?] eager seekers, deep deef down
beautiful lines from above and we're all a-glow
raise her head and things get warm, hold on to its leg, before it flies away
sun lit walks, I feel no harm, my primitive words match my primitive heart [hide?]

it's not as easy as it may seem, remember that yourself is steam

[chorus] and of course it don't mind, chasing a bee inside a jar [x2]

Then like sheep led to sacrifial slaughter, they don't mind, but they oughta, all the time (they oughta)
their pretty shells are so inviting, well protected
their eyes are rivers, they give me shivers

[chorus]

it's not time for the real life [live?] sign, it's not time for these fears of mine [x2]
i'm feeling troubled, i'm feeling trapped, can't shake that bubble off my back

it's not as easy as it may seem, remember that yourself is steam [x2]

it's not time for the real life sign, it's not time for these fears of mine
i'm feeling troubled, i'm feeling trapped, can't shake that bubble off my back
i feel no harm, i feel no harm, ...feel no harm

[chorus]

its not as easy as it may seem, remember that yourself is steam

what once was lost will never be found, keep spinning in circles until you break new ground

"Syringe Mouth"
so you come dripping from the hive
glittering as you arrive
high half as long and twice as bright
see you burning from both sides (from both sides) [x2]

you come slipping down the slide
dragging me by your side
phony colors in your eyes
soul's obscene but I don't mind (I don't mind)
you're so obscene but I don't mind (don't mind)
yea yea yea yea yea yea

you come whipping [ripping?] through my life
flipping out like some old wife
your syringe mouth is open wide
you go insane I go inside

"Coney Island Cyclone"
no, i won't chicken out
hey, wait, babe
wait up now
hey babe, wait up now

if we could find a space
where we could both stretch out
roll like coney island cyclones
no, i won't chicken out
no, i won't chicken out

no doubt babe
no doubt now
no doubt babe
no doubt now

i spend all day
on your mom's couch
spend all night
and i won't chicken out
no, i won't chicken out

let's go out tonight
find a sunny space
picking up the skylab
throw it back in space

no, i won't chicken out (i'm not messing with you)
no, i won't chicken out (i'm not messing with you)
no, i won't chicken out (i'm not messing with you)
no, i won't chicken out (i'm not messing with you)

"Blue and Black"
I see blue
I see black
I see you
In a crack

I see snow [icy snow?]
I see cold [icy cold?]
I see someone
Getting old

and it's cold outside
so cold outside

I need pink
I need green
I need someone
Who sews up seams [Whose soul's obscene?]*

I need everything

But it's cold outside
So cold outside

I see all the colors of the spring
I see you wearing my ring

And it's warmer outside
It's so much warmer outside

and it's warmer

Still you're there

I see you
in a crack
crack...
crack...
I will crack

[* Lots of arguments over the "Who sews up seams / Whose soul's obscene" line. Fellow rev fan Chemmie says he's pretty sure, judging by listening, that the first option is correct. But Richie points out that in the YIS liner notes (most versions, anyway) there's a paragraph inside that's indispersed with occasional lyrics, and one of them is "I NEED SOMEONE WHOSE SOUL'S OBSCENE". Although Richie acknowledges he wouldn't be particularly surprised if the whole line is deliberately confusing and the text is just there to make us fans go mad. He adds, "From listening to the words, it actually sounds like Dave is saying "I need someone who souls up seems" or "I need someone whose soul's obseems". Anyway, there is definantly a 'msss' sound at the end of the last word, but the word 'Soul' is most likely there. I figure that this is either Dave being ambigous (eg. Icy snow / I see snow), Dave deciding to make up new words during the recording session, or Dave not being able to announciate while singing barritone."]

"Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell t' th' Center of Yer Heart"
{this one is very tricky to make out, so most of these lyrics are probably wrong.}

onto the ice flow
where all the [?] [?]
where heaven put the seeds

here on the ice flow
a tresure dust of grass
my drove them engines
for [?]

onto the ice flow
where the wind starts to move
and the earth will have a flood

here on the ice flow
where skulls go as long
girls never sleep
girls will die

and skin is froze body

"Frittering"
I've seen you eat away
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the Rhine*
I've seen you chisel away
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the Rhine

and you wonder why I leave so soon
how I get so high sink to the bottom of your room

I've seen you fritter away
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the Rhine
I've seen you whittle away
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the spine

And you wonder why I leave so soon
how I get so high sink to the bottom of your room

I wonder why I stay
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the Rhine
I've seen you eat away
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the Rhine

I wonder what to do
slow as a glacier takes to move on through the world

And you wonder why I leave so soon
how I get so high sink to the bottom of your room

And you wonder why I leave so soon
how I get so high sink to the bottom of your room

I've seen you chisel away
Hammer in place always in time
I've seen you chisel away
slow as a glacier makes its way down to the Rhine

And you wonder why I leave so soon
how I get so high sink to the bottom of your room

[* Chemmie says, "the glacier makes it's way down to the Rhine. This is official - from the typing fingers of Dave Fridmann, no less. It's 'slow as a glacier' and 'bottom of yer room' (which sort of rhymes with soon)."]

"Continous Trucks and Thunder Under a Mother's Smile"
Space Patrol
It's out there
I'd better get my pants back on
my mom is coming over

"Very Sleepy Rivers"
First some notes on this song... Chris in France posted some insight into the lyrics to the Rev mailing list: "David Baker in 1993 or 1994, i can't remember, was interviewed in the french mag "Les inrockuptibles" (a french joke very difficult to translate) and said VSR was about a man in his town who was very nice. But in fact some years after they've known he was a psycho killer and he (baker) said he (the killer) was like a river, sometimes very sleepy but one time in the year you have a flood he kills in fact."

Vegard Bakke Bjerkevik <methofarkt@hotmail.com> kindly adds the following notes and lyric transcription...
during the last few days i've been trying to work out the lyrics for very sleepy rivers. as you would expect, my findings are nowhere near complete, and i hope you guys can help me fill in the blanks and correct my mistakes.
i think it was chris who recently claimed that vsr is about a killer, and i guess that makes sense when you look at the lyrics. a very sleepy river/place could be a symbol of death, and the first lines (if i've got it right) sounds like a killer closing in on his victim, a young (innocent) girl. killer takes innocent girl to river, she wants her daddy, he kills her and gets rid of the body by submerging it into a very sleepy place. the music is quite creepy as well. anyway, here are my results:

* means i'm not very sure 'bout this word or phrase
? means there is a word or two missing here
??? means there's a lot of words missing

(0:00)
(1:00)
*I sensed a new scent
*So innocent and bent.
*I sense a new scent that's innocent and spent.
I feel good. Not so good.
Very Sleepy Rivers
A very sleepy place
Very Sleepy Rivers
A very sleepy place
milk silver and sulk
(2:00)
fish in warm clear liquid
I feel so wet.
I feel kinda misguided.
Very Sleepy River
A very sleepy place
Very Sleepy River
A very sleepy place (kinda thing)
very sleepy river
very sleepy river
(it's just a thing)
very sleepy river
(just a thing)
a very sleepy thing..thing..thing
a very sleepy place
very sleepy...
(3:00)
(a very sleepy river)
a very sleepy river
*a place a place
a verbal trashing
a verbal trashing
a verbal trashing
a verbal trashing
a verbal trashing
milk silver and sulk
*nothing quivers
a very sleepy river
a river ?
*burn burn burn
???
space
words tumble from me
a very sleepy river
words tumble from me
a very sleepy place
(4:00)
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy place
stop all that twitching
I'm alright ?
a twisted thing
a laughing ?
disregard
disregard
very sleepy rivers remind me of falling down
very ???
the water's wet and i want my daddy
???
(5:00)
???
very rusty very rusty very...very lusty
very sleepy lusty (lusty lusty lusty)
i wish everything was lusty
lusty
i believe in color
i believe in *color
i believe in coming unglued
i believe ? *when you're far away
*your father waiting ?
in a very sleepy place
a very sleepy river
(6:00)
a very sleepy place
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy...place
???
very sleepy cushy wave
a very sleepy place
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy...
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy place
(7:00)
a very sleepy place
???
*innocent
*my scent
innocent
*repent
*innocent
*my scent
innocent
i feel spent
???
(8:00)
???
submerged in a very sleepy place
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy river
???
very..sleepy..space
(9:00)
?
cushy
???
innocent
*my scent
innocent
*repent
innocent
*my scent
innocent
*repent
i believe in *love
(10:00)
a very sleepy river
a very sleepy river...
a very sleepy space
???
in a very crazy
???
(11:00)
*kick the brain
writhing like a whore
very sleepy river
very sleepy place
a very sleepy river
???
very sleepy...
(12:00)
(end)

comments:
you'll find the following phrases in the liner notes for YIS:
"writhing like a whore"
"fish in warm clear liquid"
"a very sleepy place"
"milk silver & sulk"
"i believe in coming unglued"
"very rusty very lusty"

the singing is usually buried under the instruments & more singing, so a lot of the words are impossible to hear, and a lot could be any of a handful similiar words. but that's probably intended anyway.

"Car Wash Hair"
wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair [2x]

drillin' a hole with my soul
in the sand
diggin' for gold
for the hole [whore?], in the bed
catchin' a ride from a band
I sat in the back of the van
they tried to make me understand
'cause if I'm not in a band, don't mean I'm square
and if I am, well then I don't care

wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair

number two has got me confused
hope I'll always be numbers one and three [2x]

wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair [2x]

drillin' a hole with my soul
in the sand
diggin' for gold
for the ho, in the bed
catchin' a ride from a band
I sat in the back of the van
they tried to make me understand
that if I'm not in a band, doesn't mean I'm square
and if I am, well then I don't care

wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair [2x]

you said, hell, well I don't care
if you run your hands through my car wash hair
wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair
you said, hell, well I don't care
if you run your hands through my car wash hair
wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair
you said, hell, well I don't care
if you run your hands through my car wash hair
wanna ask but I just stare
can I run my hands through your car wash hair

Paragraph in Liner Notes
Here is the text from the inside cover slip. Some obvious references to the lyrics in there. It's got a weird 'stream of conciousness' thing about it and there is some odd wordplay too.

BOMBED OUT LOVERS BREATHE EASIER YOU CAN'T EAT ATMOSPHERE HAPPINESS IS EGG-SHAPED HIGH SPEED GLASS - HEAT THAT OBEYS YOU AND LIFTS ME BE ME AND BEAT THESE DUMB BEAUTIFUL BLONDES FROM ABOVE THEIR EYES ARE RIVERS THEY GIVE ME SHIVERS YOUNG PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME THEY DON'T MIND THEY OUGHTTA RUNNING AROUND CHASING A BEE INSIDE A JAR WHOEVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING HALF THE TIME IT'S NOT AS EASY AS IT MAY SEEM TAKING A PEE INSIDE A JAR REMEMBER THAT YERSELF IS STEAM SO Y'VE COME DRIPPING FROM THE HIVE WE KNOW YER IN THERE C'MON THE GRASSHOPPER MONSTER IS READY T'GO IN A SKID HE GROANS WITH JOY AT THE SIGHT OF HER SO THEY LET HIM GO AND "SEASON'S GREETINGS" HE GOES RIGHT TA THOSE HOOTERS DRAGGING ME BY YER SIDE PHONY COLOURS IN YER EYES YER SOULS'S OBSCENE BUT I DON'T MIND YEAH ONCE AND FER ALL BRING A 7.65 BULLET TO A PATHETIC STOP PHLIPPING OUT LIKE SOME OLD WIFE YER SYRINGE MOUTH IS OPEN WIDE YOU GO INSANE AND I GO INSIDE EVERY WOMAN'S A STRIPPER WAITING T'GET OUT HEY BABE I SPEND ALL DAY MIXING IT UP AND SPEND ALL NIGHT THINNING IT OUT WELL THIS ONE IS GOING TO KILL YOU REMEMBER HOW CLEANING FLUID LOOKS JUST LIKE GINGER ALE WHEN YER TWO AND A HALF? CREATED PEOPLE DON'T NEED IMAGINATION.....SEEMS A GIRL'S FATHER ALWAYS PLAYS THE SPOILER WHEN YER BOTH ABOUT TA STRETCH OUT AND ROLL LIKE CONEY ISLAND CYCLONES THOSE FUCKERS SHOULD DIM THEIR LIGHTS NOW I SPEND ALL DAY CIRCLING THE DRAIN BUT I WON'T CHICKEN OUT NO I WON'T CHICKEN OUT WHY I SEE BLUE IN EVERY FAT MAN A THIN ONE IS WILDLY SIGNALLING TO BE LET OUT RELEASE HIM AND BEAUTY BLAST OFF LIKE JAMACAN GINGER DAVE KEPT ALL BANDS ALIVE SO WHY BOTHER I SEE YOU IN A CRACK AND I'M HEADED FOR THE DIVIDE PINK AND GREEN WHAT DO THESE MEAN TO ME I NEED SOMEONE WHOSE SOUL'S OBSCENE THERE'S THAT WORD AGAIN WE SUCK SO......WHY BOTHER LOOK DEEP INTO OUR RYES LOOK DEEP INTO OUR RYES ONTO THE ICE FLOW WHERE YOU MAKE A FABULOUS JACK MARK BURGESS IS NOTHING BUT A STAR IN THE CAP OF A WIZARD IN WALES AND THIS IS OUR FIRST RECORD CHLORDIAZEPOXIDE HCL FOR LOW KINGS WASHED UP AND THIS IS OUR FIRST RECORD AND SOME OF IT SUCKS IT MAY EVEN HELP YOU BRING A DEPRESSUVE OUT OF HER SHELL HURRAH LIFE REACHES 1.5 MILLION YOU SHOULD LIVE SO LONG BUT REALLY THE NEXT ONE WILL BE BETTER JONOTHAN I'M SICK OF EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER DONE WAS FOR YER MOTHER OR RICHARD BURTON I SEEN YOU EAT AWAY SCREWHEADS AND KILL EVERY CEREAL TASTES LIKE SUMMER NOW I KNOW I KNOW IF WE HELD A LAMP UP TA HIS BRAIN WEED SEE YOU SUZANNE PRETTYING UP ON OUR PRIME TIME WHOA AND YOU WONDER WHY AT LAST I FEEL BLESSED TO HAVE MADE SUCH A MESS WITH NOVOCAINE THE ESKIMOS USED TO FREEZE THEIR OLD PEOPLE TO DEATH WE BERRY OURS ALIVE HOW LONG WILL YER ABUNDANCE LAST WHEN SOME OF OUR BEST SALESMEN ARE BIGGOTS HOOKERS PUSHERS AND FAGS BAZAAR SOMEONE SHOULD LOVE MERCURY REV AT ALL NO, REALLY PEOPLE WE DO, AND THIS BAND IS FULL OF LOSERS SINKING FROM THE BOTTOM DOWN SLOW AS A GLACIER IT LOVES TO FUCK EVERY PIRELL GIRL ARE YOU? VERY SLEEPY RIVERS LAST YOU 'TIL MARCH DAVID HOLDS UP THE QUESTION MARK WRITHING LIKE A WHORE VERY RUSTY VERY LUSTY I REMEMBER THAT TWISTED THING I REMEMBER FEELING NO HARM IN FALLOPIAN TUBES LIKE A FISH IN WARM CLEAR LIQUID BALLOOOONED IN BUFFALO DOING THIS WHOLE THING BECAUSE POP SONGS NEVER JUMPED UP AND BIT ME IN THE ASS BEFORE IT ALL BEGINS WITH CLAMOR ANYWHEY MILK SILVER AND SULK, EIGHT PINTS AND FOUR LARGE WHISKEYS TODAY AREN'T DOING DAVID ANY GOOD THANK LUCKY STRIKES I BELIEVE IN COMING UNGLUED NOW THAT I'VE GOT MY LID ON A VERY SLEEPY PLACE NOW ARE AT LEAST UNTIL I GIVE MY WINDOWS A GOOD TALKING TO PEOPLE ARE DICKS TO YOU AND MERCURY REV KNOWS THIS HERE IS LOSERS WHO STOOD UP TO THAT TWISTED THING BEFORE THE TAPE RAN OUT AND SAID "CUT THIS OUT AND PUT IT IN BED NEXT TO YER CHILD...... WIPE OUT POP."