Only One Way
Lyrics
You're going to get a wrinkle on your forehead
You're gonna get a click in your knee
You're gonna tell the doctor that you can't sleep^^
And you're up every night until three
You're gonna make a bargain with the bad guys
You're gonna make some choices you regret*
There's no place to hide from the prophecy
Since nobody told you it falls to me^^^
There's only one way out
There's only one way out
There's only one way through
No matter what you do
You're gonna have to watch for the signs
You're gonna have to learn how to read
Nobody's gonna hand you a flashlight
You're gonna have to steal what you need**^
You're gonna have some trouble at the border
They're never gonna let you forget
I'm just passing on the information
Beaming*** down to me from a distant station
There's only one way out
There's only one way out
I've been told there's only one way through
No matter what you do
But if all that's true
What about you?
What about you?
Banter
- JD: We're about to play a new song. [everyone goes nuts]. I have a tendency to blank on the top of the second - yes! but Jon Wurster has it! [JD fetches his lyrics from Wurster]
Peter (deadpan): It's a reeeeally good song. [ed: he's right]
JD: Jon Wurster: remembering my lyrics for me so I don't have to stand here with a Teleprompter like a dumbass. [woo!] This is called Only One Way. (2023-10-03 The Belasco)
- What I like about some of the new songs is that I don't have to play anything. Like, I wrote them, I could play them if I wanna. But I don't have to. I get to like, pop my collar a lot. It's very important. Very nourishing and fulfilling to go back to the collar popping that I was born to do. This is from a record we got coming out soon, called Jenny from Thebes. It's called Only One Way. (2023-10-05 August Hall)
- [audience yells something about coming back] Yes, sir, we will be back. [raucous cheers] This is a sold out show, so that sends a message to the band. [more cheering, drumming] That either there's a whole bunch of people I borrowed money from in 1998 who came to collect, or there's a whole bunch of people who want to hear the Mountain Goats. Or both. (2023-10-07 Ace of Spades)
- I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I work a job where a couple guys clap when I drink water. I want you to know, out there in civilian life, when you drink water, I’m on the bus applauding for you. It’s a solemn ritual, I say ‘Fellas, you gotta get out of your bunk. It’s time to clap for the people who are drinking water with nobody to clap for them.’ In an elliptical way, this song is kind of about that. (2023-10-10 The Knitting Factory)
- Okay, I might be taking baby steps towards writing contemporary Christian music. [one person shrieks in what is presumably delight, audience laughs and cheers] I'm starting with the titles. This is called Only One Way. [song] I just hope somebody's taping on the night I remember the correct verse order on that one. Like when the Dead busted out Dark Star after 5 years of [unintelligible] - yeah! he got them all in order! it was amazing! (2023-10-28 Longhorn Ballroom)
Live Performances
Footnotes
- * Variant couplet: "you're gonna have to listen for the warnings/you're gonna have to tune in every night" (2023-10-07), "you're gonna learn to listen for the thunder/you're never gonna hear it in time" (2024-04-12)
- ** Variant stanza: "you're gonna have some trouble at the border/they're never gonna let you forget/nobody's gonna hand you a flashlight/to hunt for things you've grown to regret"(2023-10-03 - definitely an error but a really good improv line!)
- ^ Variant couplet: "you're gonna dig around in the dark place/and have to be happy with whatever you get" (2023-10-05 - error almost certainly since it broke rhyme structure)
- *** Variant: "calling" instead of "beaming" (2023-10-03, 2023-10-29)
- ^^ Variant: "your back aches" instead of "you can't sleep" (2023-10-28)
- ^^^ Variant: "you're gonna spend some time down at the bottom/you're gonna make some choices you regret"(2023-10-29)