Laughing In The Dark

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Danny Carnahan

A lyric from Robert Hunter's "Box Of Rain" set to music by Dany Carnahan. Also performed by Hunter in solo performances.

What do you have to offer
But a shopworn alibi
Telling how you come to laugh
When maybe you should cry
Or how you come to vanish
When the celebration starts
Then stroll back through the ashes
Like some king of broken hearts

Chorus (note 1)
Roll until you rumble
Like the hoofbeats of a race
Roll until you crumble
And dissolve without a trace
Roll until you stutter
Roll until you spark
In spite of all those hollow voices
Laughing in the dark

What do you have to offer
But a way to waste my time
And a twisted sense of humor
When our lives are on the line?
I believe in something better
And hope it turns out true
But I won't stoop to prophesy
Or believe it when you do

[chorus]

Is this all you got to offer
Is this where you sign your name?
Sketching lonely faces
On a foggy window pane
When the fog is lifted
And the faces disappear
Look how far you've drifted
From the things that seemed so near

I saw you coming to me
And I thought I heard you say
"When today becomes tomorrow
They call it yesterday
All the things you cherish
Down deep inside your heart
Are doomed by contradiction
And just have to blow apart"

Roll for ever higher stakes
And break those aces twice
It's not an easy point to make
But worth the sacrifice
If you fade, you lose a turn
But while you win, you roll
If you don't gain a pardon
Well, you might win parole

[chorus]

In spite of all those hollow voices laughing
In spite of all those hollow voices laughing in the dark