@artist: Husker Du
@ALBUM: Zen Arcade
HŸsker DŸ, Zen Arcade. Minneapolis: SST, 1984.
SST Records #27. Produced by Spot & HŸsker DŸ, recorded in Redondo Beach, CA, October 1983.
The album jacket contains handwritten lyrics, but they don't Xerox well so I typed up a copy. Send comments: bb08220@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu.


@SONG: Something I Learned Today (lyrics and vocals by Bob Mould)

Something I learned today
black and white is always grey
looking through the window pane
IÕm not inside your brain
Something I learned today
yield to the right-of-way
stopping at a 4-way sign
someone elseÕs rules, not mine
Something I learned today
never look straight in the sunÕs rays
letting all the sunshine in
canÕt remember where IÕve been

@SONG: Broken Home, Broken Heart (Mould)

I look at your house, I wonder what goes on inside, when you have to cry yourself to sleep at night. Your parents fight, you donÕt know whoÕs wrong or right, have to cry yourself to sleep at night.
A broken home, a broken heart, when the two of them will have to part
Broken home, broken heart Ñ now you know how it feels to have to cry yourself to sleep at night.

@SONG: Never Talking To You Again (Grant Hart) 

There are things that IÕd like to say
but IÕm never talking to you again
ThereÕs things IÕd like to phrase some way
but IÕm never talking to you again
IÕm never talking to you again
IÕm never talking to you
IÕm tired of wasting all my time
trying to talk to you
IÕd put you down where you belong
but IÕm never talking to you again
IÕd show you everywhere youÕre wrong
but IÕm never talking to you again

@SONG: Chartered Trips (Mould)

I picked up my belongings in a nylon carry-all,
I hear the porter call.
Said Òthe skyÕs the limit on this chartered trip awayÓ, guess IÕd better stay.
Out there on the desert, I see trees on every wall, nothingÕs ever solved.
Said Òthe skyÕs the limit on this chartered trip awayÓ, guess IÕd better stay away.
I thought I owed myself a trip away,
I wanted to go to places I have never been away,
I looked at the pictures, imagine where they lay away, on a beach, by the sand, where their clothes all lay away.
Horizon is oblivious, chartered trip away.
Said ÒthereÕs no returning from this chartered trip away.Ó

@SONG: Dreams Reoccurring
(all members -- beginning of "Reoccurring Dreams" backwards)

@SONG: Indecision Time
(Mould)

Questions like a candle thatÕs burning at both ends
never find an answer that fits in your plans
back and forth between good and the bad,
itÕs indecision time
youÕre so natural, youÕre so free
so donÕt decide whatÕs best for me
nothing in your life is ever going on course,
wonder if living could be much worse.
Go to the left, go to the right
your mind is going to keep you up all night
you twist in your sleep, grabbing the sheets
sweating to death
Sucking on pollution like a rattle in your mouth
youÕre a big fucking kid you donÕt know what youÕre about
tell me about your fellow man
wipe their shit all over your hands

@SONG: Hare Krsna (Mould)

Krsna walking down the street
touching me with lotus feet
going to talk to Radharan
going to ask her for her $
Hare Krsna

side 2

@SONG: Beyond the Threshold (Mould)

ItÕs a one-horse town, one big desert
asphalt desert, asphalt jungle
change for the worse, change nonetheless
hey hey hey, got no place to stay
I hear machines, they burst at the seams
but tar and feather all stick together
greetings from here, I wish you were here
hear what you say but you canÕt hear me at all

@SONG: Pride (Mould)

Why did you back me into a corner? I didnÕt mean it, it was just an act. My friendÕs outside canÕt he come in? And everybody else.
Stupid pride, selfish pride, stupid pride.
Why does everybody have to be like that?
ÒOutÓ; just an act.
His parents love him, they send him money
but he wonÕt come back.
No reaction, no response.
Forget him, just forget him.

@SONG: IÕll Never Forget You (Mould)

Told you everything I knew about me,
didnÕt listen to a word I say.
Spill my guts, you just threw them away.
Never cared about me, only wanted to be your friend, now I know that itÕs gotta end.
Never cared a thing about me, and now I will Ñ
I will never forget you, I will never forgive you.

@SONG: The Biggest Lie (Mould)

You think youÕve made it to the top because people know your name, itÕs still the same.
Your daydreams arenÕt forever, better get your shit together for a new game.
Back to your day job, back to your girlfriend, back to your hometown, the biggest lie.
Passing harsher judgment but you brought it on yourself by being you.
You trade your respect for no success, you tried to be a hero, but you end up nothing.

@SONG: WhatÕs Going On (Hart)

I was talking
when I should have been listening
I didnÕt hear a word that anyone said
It must not have been so very important
Ôcuz I was concerned about instead
(with)whatÕs going on
	whatÕs going on
	whatÕs going on inside my head

@SONG: Masochism World (Hart)

Can you feel it feel it feel it in your soul
can you tell me tell me if itÕs hot or cold
Can you tell me what it is
does it hurt you when I do this
Stop it stop it stop it
youÕre pulling too hard
stop it youÕre going too far
I love it I hate it I love it I hate it too
I love it so how about you?
Can you tell me Ôcause I donÕt know
why donÕt donÕt you tell me why it is so confusing!


@SONG: Standing by the Sea (Hart)

There was no one all around
There was no one there but me
I was staring out a window
I was standing by the sea

The waves kept on repeating
Each one crashing to the shore
And my footprints nowhere leading
As they disappeared once more

Your senses are bombarded
By the roaring that you hear
In a shell you can hear the ocean
When you put it up to your ear


side 3

@SONG: Somewhere (Lyrics by Hart, sung by Mould)

Searching for the truth but all I ever find is lies
Trying to find identity but I just find a disguise
Looking at the nightmare when I try to see the dream
Finding a reality as perfect as it seems

Somewhere the dirt is washed down with the rain
Somewhere thereÕs happiness instead of pain
Somewhere satisfaction has no name
Somewhere I can be the same
 
Looking down on everything it seems a total bore
Missing all the people that IÕve never met before
Trying to find an unknown something I consider best
I donÕt know if IÕll find it, but until then IÕll be depressed.

@SONG: One Step at a Time (instrumental)

@SONG: Pink Turns to Blue (Hart)

Going out each day to score
she was no whore but for me
celebrating every day
the way she thought it should be.
And now I donÕt know what to do
now pink has turned to blue
She was always by my side
and never tried to leave
standing up for me
and like a tree for what she believed
No more rope and too much dope
sheÕs lying on the bed
angels pacing
gently placing roses Ôround her head

@SONG: Newest Industry (Mould)

Been through mass destruction once,
but once was not enough.
Said we want a second chance,
and all they say is tough.
A world where science went too far
thereÕs no way to survive.
Why canÕt we get this thing straightened out,
I want to stay alive.
They burned and bombed the East and North,
and thereÕs no place left to go.
The sun beltÕs overcrowded
so letÕs annex Mexico.
The PesoÕs only worth a dime,
but theyÕve got all that land.
No need for a civil war
we know theyÕll understand, right?
Ñ Is that how you like it? Ñ
Factories left unattended,
crumbling to the ground.
We tried to keep them running,
but thereÕs no more oil around.
We used it all to fight a war
that neither side could win.
Vietnam was little league
compared to where weÕve been.
Now we live in caves and huts,
and we donÕt have pay TV,
and everyone is signing up
for the newest industry.
Standard Oil goes solar power,
all try to make a buck.
So IÕll sit around and smoke cigarettes,
and IÕll babble Òwhat the fuck?Ó

@SONG: Monday Will Never Be the Same (instrumental)

@SONG: Whatever (Mould)

He lives in his imagination,
with those friends of his very own.
He doesnÕt get along with the outside world,
heÕd rather be alone.
Sometimes, when itÕs late at night,
he starts to wonder why
(the plans he made can happen,
so all he does is cry).
Hi parents, they canÕt understand
why their son, he turned out wrong.
He runs away from all the pain
and forgets them when heÕs gone.
HeÕd rather be all by himself
because his plans, they seem the best.
He finally gets the nerve one day,
and now life becomes a test!
Whatever you want, whatever you do, wherever you go, whatever you say.
Ñ Mom and dad, IÕm sorry. Mom and dad donÕt worry. IÕm not the son you wanted, but what could you expect? IÕve made my world of happiness to combat your neglect.

@SONG: The Tooth Fairy and the Princess (Mould)

DonÕt give up,	In your bed,
donÕt let go,	late at night,
donÕt give in,	red hot red,
donÕt let on.	donÕt get up.

side 4

@SONG: Turn on the News (Hart)

If thereÕs a thing that I canÕt explain
itÕs why the world has to have so much pain
with all the ways of communicating
we canÕt get in touch with who weÕre hating
So turn on turn on turn on the news
I hear it every day on the radio
somebody shoots some guy he donÕt even know
airplanes falling out of the sky
a babyÕs born and another one dies
highways fill with refugees
doctors finding out about disease
with all this uptight pushing & shoving
that keeps us away from who weÕre loving.

@SONG: Reoccurring Dreams
(instrumental, 14 minutes, one take, two-track. Hart/Mould/Greg Norton. Worth buying the album)