Pepper - Rent

How do you document real life
when real life's getting more
like fiction each day
headlines, breadlines, blow my mind
and now this deadline-
"eviction or pay"

how do you write a song
when the chords sound wrong
though they once sounded right and rare
when the notes are sour
where is the power
you once had to ignite the air

and we're hungry and frozen
some life that we've chosen

how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay
last year's rent

we light candles

how do you start a fire
when there's nothign to burn
and it fees like something's stuck in your flue

how can you generate heat
when you can't feel your feet
and they're turning blue

you light up a mean blaze
with posters and screenplays

how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay
last year's rent

don't screen maureen,
it's me- joanne
your substitute production manager, hey hey hey!
did you eat?
do'nt change the subject, maureen
but darling!
you haven't eaten all day

you won't throw up
you won't trhow up
the digital delay--
didn't blow up, exactly
there may have been one teeny tiny spark
you're not calling mark!

how do you stay on your feet
when on every street
its trick or treat
and tonight it's trick
welcome back to town
i should lie down
everything's brown
and oh, i feel sick

where is he?
getting dizzy

how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay
how we gonna pay
last year's rent

allison baby, you sound sad
i don't believe those two after everything i've done
ever since our wedding, i'm dirt
they'll see,
i can help them all out in the long run
forces are gathering
forces are gathering
can't turn away
forces are gathering

i can't think
i need a drink

the music ignites the night with passionate fire
maureen, i'm not a theater person
the narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit
could never be a theater person

zoom in as they burn the past to the ground
hello?
feel the heat of the future's glow
hello?
hello, maureen?
your equipment won't work?
ok, alright, i'll go!

how do you leave the past behind
when it keeps finding ways
to get to your heart
it reaches way down deep
and tears you inside out
till you're torn apart
rent

how can you connect in an age
where strangers, landlords, lovers,
your own blood cells betray

what binds the fabric together
when the raging, shifting, winds of change
keep ripping away

draw a line in the sand
and then take a stand
use your camera to spar
use your guitar
when they act tough, you call their bluff

we're not gonna pay
we're not gonna pay
last year's rent
this year's rent
next year's rent
rent rent rent rent rent
we're not gonna pay rent
'cause everything is rent