Standard (EADGBE)

- - - x2

[intro slow and little guitar]

Everybody was ecstatic

 'Bout the light show on the farm

 And everyone got crazy

 And nobody got harmed

 And the five televisions

Huge upon the stage

 Had come to pay their union dues

 And make a living wage

 [bass enters] And the bathroom was the clubhouse

 Where the colors all got made

 And plans were cast in feathers

 For the Thanksgiving Day Parade [drums enter and more guitar enter after Par

but still quietish]

And the DJ spins his records

From here out to the sun

And he flings them through a big hole

In the ozone one by one

- And somewhere beyond Mercury

The wax begins to melt

And we touched a perfect stranger

And we loved the way it felt

- And we all hung together

In our crew cuts and our braids

Floating down Broadway

Above the Thanksgiving Day Parade

And you and I were discussing Natalie

While you poised to thrust above her

And I told you how I admire her

And will always need to love her

And I told you how I lost

My best friend Mr. Neill

And we slowly started dancing

And began slowly to heal

- And then we all held hands

And no one was afraid

On our way to sell our sculptures

At the Thanksgiving Day Parade

And Michelangelo finally came down

After four years on the ceiling

He said he'd lost his funding

And the paint had started peeling

And he told us that his patron

His Holiness, the Pope

Was demanding productivity

With which our friend just couldn't cope

- And he rode off on his skateboard

With his brushes and his blade

Muttering something 'bout some food

And the Thanksgiving Day Parade

And we who were born in one millennium

And will die in the next

Are slightly underappreciated

And slightly oversexed

And as the seconds and the minutes

Start to vanish one by one

I'm watching more cartoons

As I get my toenails done

- And we went downtown to deliver

Turkeys to people with AIDS

And then we headed uptown

To the Thanksgiving Day Parade

[slightly picking up]

And the music keeps on grinding

And the electrophonic crunch

And my father's hair is thinning

And my mom ate some for lunch

- And you, you were my babysitter

And you let me break my tooth

And we sit here tied together

In a bar in the back booth

- And the band is in an uproar

Only the drum machine's been paid

And we'll have to bring OUR OWN TUNES

To the Thanksgiving Day Parade

[some banjo but still quiet]

Australians are the coolest

People in the world

Let's all go down under

With strings of colored pearls

And lay them at the feet

Of the heirs of English crime

And listen to old Men At Work

And have a real good time

- And we DUG until we hit the rocks

Then we THREW away the spade

And built a platform to get a better view

Of the Thanksgiving Day Parade

[more intensity]

And I love whoever's next to me

I love them so, so much

They let me lean against them

Like a beautiful crutch

And everyone should come up

On the stage and grab the mike

And tell us one by one

Who they are and what they like

- And the babies are the only ones

To have lately gotten laid

And I'm feeling young and eager

For the Thanksgiving Day Parade

[quieter]

And you explained to me that without your fans

You'd be back out on the street

With nothing but chitlins on your plate

And splinters in your feet

And if you die, you're gone you said

And your friends are left behind

And you'll be a statistic

And we'll be deaf and blind

- And darkness is a virtue

And molasses is not afraid

To slow DOWN the countdown

To the Thanksgiving Day Parade

And somewhere in the distance

An orchestra shows its face

With Natalie on the oboe

Ty on double bass

John plays the viola

Slik the tenor sax

James he blows harmonica

In vanilla skin-tight slacks

Hugo oozes alto sax

Ivory the trombone

Masuda squawks the trumpet

Andre xylophone

Ron he shreds the violin

In a green Italian suit

Mike talks on the telephone

On a tape with an endless loop

Geoff he blows the clarinet

With an old-time rockin' feel

Charlie dings the triangle

Dave the glockenspiel

Chris puffs on the tuba

H a big bass drum

Alfonso throbs the cello

Like he would a woman, with his thumb

And high up on the podium

In tails with his baton poised

Banksy leads the orchestra

In a glorious, awful noise

And on a float of dripping oil paint

The orchestra, it played

KISSING THE WHOLE UNIVERSE

IN THE THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE

[quieter - building]

And life is like a fairy tale

Every step feels like a dream

That keeps on getting nearer

And more and more extreme

- And we just got switched with Venus

And we're closer to the sun

And I got no problem with it

Nor should [cresendo to end] anyone

And the cops just blew on in here

And we're in some kind of raid

I just hope they will release us

For the Thanksgiving Day Parade