| |
And my friend comes in
Seen old Barry on the wall
Said you oughta have an asterisk up there
So I painted on the wall
With the paintbrush in my hand
An asterisk but what the hell
He's still up there
I am painting my mistakes
Underneath your soft embrace
They're all marching to Pretoria but my dear
The Colts are on TV
And I guess we'll have to see
How it goes, how it is
In the Christian New Year
And I have an escape route
For my life, for my time
Just one push of this button over here
New clothes, new face
New name, vanish with no trace
And a fine apartment on Cape Fear
I am painting something warm
To ride us through this storm
And the days fade and the car's in second gear
And all the questions you been saving
For the next electric wave
Will all be answered
In the Christian New Year
Trudy Trudy Trudy
I'm still on active duty
And you know what happens when you're AWOL
If you're fragile you get dropped
If you're tough they'll help you up
But maybe though
In a little while
Every time a bird flies by
Tears well up in my eye
I can feel the rain from a couple mornings down
Out in the pasture the cow's in heat
Someone gonna sweep her off her feet
Probably one of them bulls
Wander out here from town
I am driving to my grave
Sure as Moses was a slave
But I'm happy as long as I can steer
I am dreading the disease
But El Paso's on its knees
And there's still days and days
Til the Christian New Year
Back To Top
Now a couple years ago
I told everybody
That I was the Messiah come to save them
They started lining up with babies to be blessed
The sick and the lame, blocking the pavement
I walked on water and OK sank
Turned wine into whisky and drank, drank, drank
Now with just a couple Snickers and some corn meal mush
I fed six thousand at a time
I spoke in St. Louie, ya gotta play St. Louie
St. Louie, it's a rule of some kind
The blind came to me and I made 'em see
Got the deaf diggin' hi-fidelity
Card tricks, I could do card tricks you wouldn't believe
There's nothing innocent about a newborn babe
That a few years here can't cure
And it's not so much that you burn out
Baby but you finally just endure
Now to tell you the truth, lately even I
Start to get a little overwhelmed
Wars and pain and poverty
Those have been around a long time
But the oceans rise and the fresh water dies
And the hate sticks harder to your insides
And the cars get bigger and the smoke churns out
And your idols fall and you lie a little better
And the train gets further and further off the track
And with each day passing it's harder to turn back
They call Mother Earth "Mother" for a reason
She will revolt
Stop...
Stop what you're doing...
Stop what you're doing and breathe
Stop what you're doing and breathe
Eatin' hamburgers, corporate mergers
Speakin' in tongues, burnin' your lungs
Drinkin' a Coke, repeating some joke
Kissin' the ring, Buffalo wings
Honkin' your horn, internet porn
Takin' the pill, writing your will
Stop what you're doing and breathe
Stop what you're doing and breathe
Stop what you're doing and breathe...
Back To Top
When I saw Marlon Brando on the big screen like a hero
It made me act and feel like one too
For three or four hours I thought no one could touch me
Then I skidded back to feelin' like I do
I'm lost, crazy lonesome
A plane with no place to land
And I do what I have to
To make me feel like a man
Feel like a man
When I was 22 years old, my daddy he was 70
I didn't know how a young man's supposed to be
A few years after that he breathed his final breath
But there's some secret he forgot to whisper to me
And I'm lost, crazy lonesome
A plane with no place to land
And I do what I have to
To make me feel like a man
Feel like a man
And I look in the mirror
And I wait for the damn thing to speak
Who needs answers
One good question would be a relief
So I go to all the movies and I memorize my lines
And I try to stumble through another day
And I'm always looking for the perfect jacket
Or a million dollars, or a bullet
Is it only me who goes through life this way
Lost, crazy lonesome
A plane with no place to land
And I do anything
To make me feel like a man
Feel like a man
Back To Top
If I's a bee I'd have to sting you with my stinger
And then your arm would swell and hurt for days
If I's a bell I'd ring you all day with my ringer
Until you'd open up and see my face
I'm not asking
For very much
Remember me
Remember me
If I's a bird I'd make a nest in your hair
And come home to your head every night
If you were blind I'd play guitar softly beside you
The melody would be your candlelight
I'm not asking
For very much
Remember me
Remember me
Remember me when you turn your lights
Way down low
Remember me when you close your eyes
On your pillow
If I's a cloud I'd hover over you and rain
And follow you around, block out the sun
If I's a tree I'd shake whenever you walk under
And cover you with leaves til I had none
I'm not asking
For very much
Remember me
Remember me
Back To Top
Bludgeoned and bloody
Walking around from memory
Scared and lost and broken
Only the whisky still talking to me
I inquired at the big apartment
Building there in town
Man there said, yeah, we got one room
And as he said it he frowned
He said that room is bad luck
Couldn't rent it out, I wouldn't try
We've lost two tenants in that room
Both to suicide
And I asked for and did receive
The suicide room
Figured if I can't beat this world
Maybe I can beat this room
One fellow tied a rope around his neck
Fixed the other end up there
And before his final struggle
Kicked away that chair
The other one stuck a shotgun
In his mouth just over there
Hoping for something better, something else
Or else just addicted to despair
And every day I'm in here
I think about those two
And what hopelessness can lead to
And what some folks finally do
I asked for and did receive
The suicide room
Figured if I can't beat this world
Maybe I can beat this room
And all the doors in my life
Slammed and locked away
And my string of keys now useless
And needing a place to stay
And nearly two years in here now
Two years of Sunday chimes
And it's like those bumper stickers say
One day at a time
And I see the crazy patterns when the sun comes in
Through my window that I try to keep clean
And I breathe the night air deeply
As I'm pulling off my jeans
Some men fall, some men fight
Some just carry on
I'm still here in my apartment
Trying to beat the odds
I asked for and did receive
The suicide room
Figured if I can't beat this world
I can beat this room
Back To Top
Now that everything has been sold
This song is hard
To love, to love, to love
Trust has been a little frazzled
With a song that might
Be sold in 20 years to sell beer
But don't we all love to sing a song together
And don't we all just love to sing along
Sorry if I'm a little tongue-tied
But it's been so long
Since I talked to anyone
Sorry if my body is a furnace
But it's been so long
Since I touched anyone
Sorry if my clouds are in the mirror
But in the window it's clear
It's clear, I'm clear
As everyone
Sorry if my song's a little shy
But it's been so long
Since I sung to anyone
But don't we all love to sing a song together
And don't we all just love to sing along
Now that everything has been sold
This song is hard
To love, to love, to love
Back To Top
All I'm gonna do is watch the rain today
Bubble down the hill
Maybe it'll tell me something I don't know
Lord knows nothing else will
And I can't complain, no one's died
And all the pain is inside
As I watch the rain fall down from the sky
How many afternoons have I let get away
Watchin the rain come down
Somewhere downstream some farmer's watchin his
Precious crops all drown
And it's pourin down like last night's beer
Drippin through the coils of my inner ear
As I watch the rain fall down and disappear
I don't gotta do anything -- at all
I don't gotta do anything -- it just falls
All I'm gonna do is watch the rain today
Fall down from the sky
Every drop of rain is like a part of me
Watch my insides cry
Soon enough it all washes down the drain
Hear the thunder roar like a far-off train
All I'm gonna do is sit and watch the rain today
Back To Top
Thanks for the visit in my dream this morning
You said you weren't gonna save the world no more
You visited my friend at the same time too
As always there's enough to go around of you
Your eyes were clear and you seemed real good
You seemed at peace with wherever you were
I asked if you knew the direction you were headed
You smiled and said yippee cai-ai-ay
And I wanted to hang on and go along
But I knew this visit would be all for awhile
And I only understood about half of what you said
And nothing new there, but it all seemed good
You and me we're kind of strange
Together I mean, but probably separately too
I never quite knew how to be around you
You can visit in my dream any time though
These days I'm eating dates and running on the beach
And my recent patterns have begun to fade
My dreams are so clear I wanna sleep the whole day
And my time awake is more and more like dreams
I wonder if during my dream with you
I was also in your dream with you
Possibly but not necessarily so
There's probably no rules for dreams though
I could make like a bird and fly your way
But I probably wouldn't have much to say
It wouldn't bother me, I mean whoop de doo
But the guess here is that it might bother you
And I wanted to hang on and go along
But I knew this visit would be all for awhile
And I only understood about half of what you said
And nothing new there, but it all seemed good
Thanks for the visit in my dream this morning
You said you weren't gonna save the world no more
You visited my friend at the same time too
As always there's enough to go around of you
Back To Top
Lord
Show me a sign
That you're still there
That you still care
That you're still with me
That you still know me
Before I resign
Show me a sign
I can't laugh
I can't weep
Five nights in a row now
Not a second of sleep
Is there something
You want me to know
Well I wish you'd tell me what
Give me some kind of show
How 'bout a meteor
Or a shooting star
Or even a drunk
Getting thrown out of the bar
I'm getting impatient
And hope is expensive
And I'm running low on
Everything these days
The waters are rising
And the world is on fire
We're all just gasoline
For the funeral pyre
In the palaces morons
In the hospitals ghouls
Murderers in the towns
Rats in the schools
Armies of zombies
And the generals fishing
And baby Jesus
On a suicide mission
And little Mohammed
Lifeless and brown
And drowning faceless scarecrows
Wearing the crown
Ten thousand whistlers
Off-track and off-tune
Sixteen drummers
Wearing some kind of rune
Some kind of amulet
Some pre-Christian cross
And one man's lucky roll
Is another man's loss
Lord, you should have been there
Last Saturday night
I broke a couple barstools
And I broke up a fight
I broke three fingers
They looked kind of Egyptian
And the doctor wouldn't see me
Without a prescription
If this is how
It's all gonna go
I might as well pile up
Frequent flier miles and lay low
I might as well buy up
Some spiritual trinkets
Line the walls with paint
And start to drink it
It's hard to believe
It's goin' down so fast
When Einstein died
He thought you built it to last
But they threw him in a hole
And they stole his brain
And three days later
It washed up again in the rain
Lord, I'll make you a bargain
I'll cut you a deal
They can cut off my eyelids
And I won't squeal
I won't spill your secrets
My soul's locked tight
Just please let me
Get a little sleep tonight
Fifty thousand horses
Ten thousand sheep
I'd trade 'em all
For just a second of sleep
The kind with dreams though
You gotta have dreams
I've heard about what happens
At the other extreme
Yeah without them dreams
You go insane
It's like having mayonnaise
Shot into your brain
But maybe I'm the exception
Every dog has its day
Maybe I'm a brand new species
What do you say
So look out the window
Might be something out there
Maybe something to read
Here's a Vanity Fair
Winter is coming
That's a relief
And I'm willing to go on faith
But I'm past belief
Back To Top
Lady next door leaves her balcony
Opens up her door and goes inside
Sun dropped down just minutes ago
Western sky is smeared cranberry light
Normally the things in my mind that go down deep
I would not let them roam without a fight
But I stand in another man's clothes tonight
I stand in another man's clothes
Guess that's how it happens, guess that's how it goes
When you stand in another man's clothes
Sometimes it's hard to tell apart a star
From a satellite or slow-moving plane
Sometimes it's hard to tell yourself apart
From a sheet of wind whipping through the rain
I been straddling this road but here it starts to part
And from here both ways diverge on out of sight
And I stand in another man's clothes tonight
I stand in another man's clothes
I stand in another man's clothes tonight
I stand in another man's clothes
I look far as I can past the cloudy blue horizon
I wait for voices but no voices come
When I try to listen to the rhythm of my soul
All that plays is one sad solitary drum
There ain't no guarantee about tomorrow morning
And if the sun will ever rage in all its light
I stand in another man's clothes tonight
I stand in another man's clothes
Looking for answers from above and beyond
Signs from the highway and the clouds
I shout my questions with all the breath inside my lungs
But some I dare not say out loud
So if I make it through, if I come to you
Let's not waste our time on anything but love
My trousers and my shirt and the jacket on my back
Have let me step outside myself, maybe just enough
I got no time for wasting, this chance may not come round again
Don't meet me with no argument or fight
I stand in another man's clothes tonight
I stand in another man's clothes
Guess that's how it happens, guess that's how it goes
When you stand in another man's clothes
Guess that's how it happens, guess that's how it goes
When you stand in another man's clothes
Back To Top
|
