Give the Absurd a Second Word

[Intro: clipped spoken delivery]
They said, “Stay inside the lines.”
I brought a ladder and a box of chalk.

[Verse 1]
I drew a door upon the floor
It opened up to seven more
A paper moon, a glass giraffe
A staircase built to make you laugh

I made a hat that hats the hat
A map that folds around the map
You asked me, “Does it make good sense?”
I said, “Not yet. That’s the suspense.”

[Pre-Chorus]
Take the left turn through the blue
Put the upside somewhere new
If the rule says, “This is how,”
Try a different kind of now

[Chorus]
Make a little trouble with the ordinary
Turn the square into a berry
Build a boat from yesterday
Sail it somewhere no one’s named

Make it stranger, make it yours
Kick a window through the doors
If the world says, “That’s absurd”
Give the absurd a second word

[Verse 2]
I taught a spoon to tell the time
It only rang when things were fine
My boots grew wings on Thursday noon
And carried me past Saturn’s moon

A tiny dragon in my coat
Keeps all my brilliant scraps afloat
You bring a thought you nearly hid
We’ll make a castle out of it

[Pre-Chorus]
Take the left turn through the blue
Put the upside somewhere new
If the rule says, “This is how,”
Try a different kind of now

[Chorus]
Make a little trouble with the ordinary
Turn the square into a berry
Build a boat from yesterday
Sail it somewhere no one’s named

Make it stranger, make it yours
Kick a window through the doors
If the world says, “That’s absurd”
Give the absurd a second word

[Instrumental Break: angular guitar counterpoint and fretless bass]

[Breakdown: half-time, playful chant]
One bent spoon!
Two left shoes!
Three good reasons to refuse

Too peculiar!
Too much fun!
Look what happens when we run

[Bridge: piano and strings, intimate]
Some ideas arrive half-dressed
With crooked seams and no address
Don’t send them back, don’t make them neat
Set them down and give them feet

You don’t have to know the end
Before you make the first pretend
A thought can wobble, change its name
And still be worth the little flame

[Build]
Pass me the impossible
I’ll hold it while it grows
You bring the wild beginning
I’ll bring the wrong-way road

[Final Chorus: bright major lift]
Make a little trouble with the ordinary
Turn the square into a berry
Build a boat from yesterday
Sail it somewhere no one’s named

Make it stranger, make it yours
Kick a window through the doors
If the world says, “That’s absurd”
Give the absurd a second word

[Final Refrain]
Change the scale
Swap the sky
Let the fish learn how to fly
Move the moon
Bend the spoon
Give the afternoon a tune

[Outro: drop to close voice]
They said, “Stay inside the lines.”
I made the lines a trampoline.