Ellis Island Blues Lyrics

I have spent all my energy
Collecting souvenirs that I can't keep
I've got no place for them
And besides my life's a mess
I have spent the last few years
In a semi-constant state of anger
Bitterness and self disgust

And don't tell me my just desserts
Are waiting when I die
Banking on eternity
Is no way to live your life

And I'm running towards what I need
But there are taillights in front of me
And I am running from what I know
There is no place left for me to go

So I wander like the ancestors
That I've forsaken
Where is my respect?
If my great-great grandparents had only known
That their great-great grandson
Would end up turning people into stone
You think they'd have set a fucking foot onto that boat?
I don't, I don't

And don't tell me my just desserts
Are waiting when I die
Banking on eternity
Is no way to live your life

And I'm running towards what I need
But there are taillights in front of me
And I am running from what I know
There is no place left for me to go

And don't tell me my just desserts
Are waiting when I die
Banking on eternity
Is no way to live your life

Life is what you make of it
And I am on the verge of something big
I have seen a sinner's life and death
Stuck a finger in god's face and lived
So I tell my story, absent glory
Sacrificial lamb and nervous twitch
I can see myself in celebration
Giving what is finally mine to give