Conor Oberst
Method Acting
[Pre-roll samples]
I, basically, woke up and---
The oldest story...
It was sun---
How long will it take to get to my voice?
Well I, I took history class and I---
[What's a pretty old standard??]
Amazing grace, how sweet---
...Saturday and that's why the...
I realized that I like what it is...
...saved a wretch like---

[Verse 1]
There is no beginning to the story
A bookshelf sinks into the sand
And a language learned and forgot, in turn
Is studied once again
It's a shocking bit of footage
Viewed from a shitty TV screen
You can squint at it through snowy static
To make out the meaning
And keep on stretching the antenna
Hoping that it will come clear
We need some reception, a higher message
Just tell us what to fear
[Refrain 1]
Cause I don't know what tomorrow brings
It's alive with such possibilities
All I know is I feel better when I sing
Burdens are lifted from me, that's my voice rising

[Verse 2]
So Michael, please keep the tape rolling
Boys keep strumming those guitars
We need a record of our failures
Yes, we must document our love
I've sat too long in my silence
Have grown too old in my pain
To shed this skin, be born again
It starts with an ending

[Refrain 2]
So thank you friends for the time we shared
My love stays with you like sunlight and air
Oh I truly wish I could keep hanging around here
My joy is covering me, soon I will disappear

[Bridge]
It's not a movie, no private screening
This method acting, well, I call that living, yeah
It's like a fountain, a door has been opened
We have a problem with no solution
But to love and to be loved
[Refrain 3]
So, I've made peace with the falling leaves
I see their same fate in my own body
But I won't be frightened when I'm awoken from this dream
And returned to that which gave birth to me

[Outro]
Gave birth to me, gave birth to me, gave birth to me
And the story, and the story goes
And it goes on and on and on and on
It's going on and on and on and on (x6)