Conor Oberst: Likeness

“It is clear to see that it is not them but me, who had lost my self-identity. As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry, like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology that no one can hope to achieve. And I am never real; it is just a sketch of me. And everything I have made is trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of tape, of time”

Conor Oberst

Waste of Paint
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)

Books , Hope , Art , Time

“You’ve been a father to me.
Your 1960’s speak.
Gives me comatose joy like re-run TV.
While the mountainside was shining.
Wild colors of my destiny”

Conor Oberst

Cape Cañaveral
Conor Oberst (2008)

Color , Joy

“You took off your clothes and left on the light,
You stood there so brave, you used to be shy,
Each feature improved, each movement refined,
And eyes like a showroom.”

Conor Oberst

Take it Easy (Love Nothing)
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (2005)

Light , Clothes

“I think it is more like a ghost
that has been following us both.
Something vague that we're not seeing,
something more like a feeling.”

Conor Oberst

Something Vague
Fevers and Mirrors (2000)

Feeling , Thinking

“Love's an excuse to get hurt and to hurt.
Do you like to hurt?
I do, I do
then hurt me.”

Conor Oberst

Lover I Don't Have to Love
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)

Love , Hurt

“If the world could remain within a frame
Like a painting on a wall,
Then I think we would see the beauty, then
We would stand staring in awe
At our still lives posed
Like a bowl of oranges,
Like a story told
By the fault lines and the soil.”

Conor Oberst

Bowl of Oranges
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)

World , Beauty , Thinking , Painting

“I started to sink like the moon tends to do if you stare at it too long
Then you blink and it's gone”

Conor Oberst

The Awful Sweetness Of Escaping Sweat
A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (1998)

“So you think I need some discipline, well, I had my share. I have been sent to my room. I've been sat in a chair. I held my tongue. I didn't plug my ears. No, I got a good talking to. And now I don't know why, but I still try to smile when they talk at me like I'm just a child. Well, I'm not a child. No, I am much younger than that. And now I have read some books and have grown quite brave. If only I could just speak up I think I would say that there is no truth. There is only you and what you make the truth.”

Conor Oberst

Don't Know When But A Day is Gonna Come
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)

Truth , Books , Smile , Thinking

“So I will find my fears and face them
or I will cower like a dog
I will kick and scream or kneel and plead
I'll fight like hell to hide that I've given up”

Conor Oberst

Another Travelin' Song
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005)

Fear , Dogs , Hell , Fight

“And me I'm in the bathroom
crying out my eyelids because it's hard to be a man
when you're scared, just like a little kid.”

Conor Oberst

Saturday as Usual
A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (1998)

Cry

“And I'm sorry about the phone call and needing you
Some decisions you don't make
I guess it's just like breathing or not wanting to
There are some things you can't fake”

Conor Oberst

Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005) (2006)

Decision

“And the sad act like lepers
They stick to the shadows
They long to ring bells of warning
To tell of their coming
So that the pure can shut their doors.”

Conor Oberst

Arienette
Fevers and Mirrors (2000)

Sadness

“Cause a costume can be comfortable
It can make you feel more beautiful
It can even make you look like someone else
But it's still you, so there's nothing you can do
Like a bad habit, the one you couldn't kick, there it always is
And it's nothing that no doctor's gonna fix.”

Conor Oberst

We Are Free Men
There Is No Beginning to the Story (2003)

Beauty , Feeling

“My Brother went to college
To become a doctor
And if he studies hard enough
He'll end up just like papa, who hates his life.”

Conor Oberst

Saturday as Usual
A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (1998)

Life , Hate , Study

“I'd rather be working for a paycheck, than waiting to win the lottery.
Besides, maybe this time it's different, I mean,
I really think you like me.”

Conor Oberst

First Day of my Life
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (2005)

Thinking , Time , Waiting

“If I could act like
This was my real life,
And not some cage where I've been placed,
Well then, I could tell you
The truth like I used to
And not be afraid of sounding fake.”

Conor Oberst

False Advertising
Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)

Life , Truth