A Break from the Barrage

[Verse 1]
They said the opposite of love is indifference
And there's a physical consequence for each and every action
Once they started rolling around, the coins fell from his pocket
And the whole thing just felt like a transaction
When she showed up at the bar last night
She didn't intend to stay out late
But here we are again with the sunrise
Scraping at the remnants of a high time
She shuts her eyes and lets it spin and calls in sick to work again
Leaves a message when she knows they won't be in yet
Timing is of the essence
You finesse it where you have to, but sometimes it’s not an option
That's when you kick the door in
And right now, it's hanging from its hinges
So she drops him off at the place that he stays at
Picks the coins up from the floormat in the backseat
And pulls into the Speedway and buys a cup of coffee
And gets back into her car, sits there and listens to the silence
And tries to figure out what to do about today

[Chorus 1: Craig Finn & Cassandra Jenkins]
And all the village idiots shoplifting some Starbursts and some Parliaments
And claiming that they're Stick-Up Kids
We always fixate on facades when it's hard to see the benefit
The taverns are a decent way to seal off all the stimulus
There’s something close to death for just a little bit
A little break from the barrage

[Verse 2]
So she pulls onto the highway and drives out of the city
And forty minutes into it, it opens up
And lessens all the tension she was feeling about everything
Fake friends along the bars and the boys and the bills you have to pay
She pulls into the bottle shop and gets a pint of Popov
Goes into her phone to find the showtimes of the movies
And reads all of the summaries
Sees what's at the mall and what they're showing is a matinee
In just a little bit, she gives her ticket to some teenage kid
Who rips it back into her hand, gets behind the popcorn stand
And lets herself be upsold into a Cherry Coke
That looks less like a beverage than a bathtub
The vodka's in the soda cup the split second the film comes up
And the edges get all blurry and she tries to pay attention to the story
Of a superhero she's not really sure she’s ever even heard of

[Chorus 2: Craig Finn & Cassandra Jenkins]
And all the arch-enemies plotting all their evil deeds
Conspiring with their henchmen to overthrow the justice and the liberty
We’re up against impossible odds
Some suburban cinema's a perfect place to hide out
And ride out and recover from the damage you've inflicted on yourself
And all your fleeting lovers, a little break from the barrage

[Verse 3]
The kid that sold her ticket is now shaking her awake
And he says "Miss, the movie's over
And you should probably go now"
He tips the empty bottle, she gathers up her stuff
And walks out to her car and gets in the backseat
Grabs a blanket and stretches out
She sleeps a few more hours and when she comes to, it’s dark now
She gets into the driver’s seat and pulls onto the highway
And drives back to the city, walks into the bar
And she finds an open stool and sits down
She motions to the server and the server takes her order
And she's hoping no one noticed that she didn’t change her outfit yet
She turns to scan the room to see if anyone she knows is around

[Chorus 3: Craig Finn & Cassandra Jenkins]
But it's just all those village idiots
The same ones she's been dealing with for decades now
Parliaments at the party house, drinking from a fridge in the garage
When it's hard to see the benefit
The taverns are a decent way to seal off all the stimulus
Feel something close to death for just a little bit
A little break from the barrage

[Outro: Craig Finn & Cassandra Jenkins]
A break from the barrage
Feel something close to death for just a little bit
A break from the barrage
Feel something close to death for just a little bit
A little break from the barrage