"Empire Falls" lyrics - CHRIS THILE

I envy the quiet lives that for all I know don't exist
Outside of a lazy book that won a Pulitzer Prize
I picked up 'cause you said it opened up your eyes

I'm wired now and will be 'til I find a person who could eat at the Empire Grill
Who's seen a black Mercedes at the textile mill
And spreads the word to all the folks oppression hasn't killed

I'll follow that car down to Boston
And ask what it wanted in Maine
Coffee at least for my troubles
I'll be a hero if I come back with something to say

Too late, they wouldn't like me there
And though they might not mind my inquisitive stare
Every single one of them is too polite to care
Why I'm enchanted by a way of life in disrepair

I'm not talking apple pie eating
Jack and Coke drinking
Hopeful lie telling anywhere America
Through camera eyes
On a Hollywood body that could make you all cry

Maybe I'll go to the movies
A comedy would be ideal
Something that probably won't happen
'Cause this made up town is much too real

I envy the quiet lives that for all I know don't exist
Outside of a lazy book that won a Pulitzer Prize
I picked up 'cause you said it opened up your eyes