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wide eyed like a little kid
will you ever feel that way again?
or are you satisfied with what you've seen
to tell us what we ought to be?
for just two thousand and eight hundred years
the conversation's been as great as this
where hospitality's a shallow grave
and tolerance is for the weak
comment, click, rescind, reply, flame, unfriend, or go outside?
raise your glass and don't you dare misgive
it's hard life for the working stiff
ample purses make for ample wives
you've got yours and I've got mine
but in the face of overwhelming greed
tolerance might be just what we need
unpopular though it may be
it just might educate us liberally
I'm laid off with no pension
for telling some rich kid he couldn't talk on his cell phone
I'm a teacher, but I'm learning what it's like to work
invisible hands to the bone
sorry to sound crotchedy
but I protest the dogma that you bring
you are an Eliot in Clinton's time
intoning your elitist lies
so woman won't you come and talk to me
What's your nature and your destiny?
I wasn't coveting your finer things
I'm only curious what makes you sing
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2. |
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It's been a long time coming
cold is just how I'm running
and you know the truth is so much
more than you deserve
as you drive them away
can't hear what they say
yes you drive them away
one less to satisfy
I know you can't spell team
but you got all the schemes
and you just add pages
to that ugly resume
maybe it's jealousy
stealin' away from me
If I had more maybe
I'd be happy in the side
as you drive them away
can't hear what they say
yes you drive them away
one less to satisfy
I still smell poison here
you kill off those who fear
tell you the truth
you've been choking
so I'll humor you
when your alone do
you think that it was
peaches plums or alfalfa?
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3. |
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Sunday morning,
up with the blowing horn across the road
I lift my head up off my stone-shaped jacket
Isabella's jade is like a mirror
as it drags across our one comfortable pillow
the engine's groaning
and Robert moaning that his mom don't give a shit
she only says that she should have her own
He's distracted by the popo just in time
for me to look back to my future wife
At the clinic,
I bear witness to the sickness in this world
I wouldn't pin it on the nurses' union
No one's trying to take you precious book
Mister we just wanna take a look
My head is throbbing,
my eye's like a bobbing, and the drugs won't do the trick
But I don't trip,
it's just another black eye morning
You can taste these German chocolate eyes
and you can taste these German chocolate lies
the Dallas Star will bleed you dry
don't look too long at that tattoo on her spine
You cut her daisies til the meadows weep
I know a field of roses isn't cheap
A beach of sand costs many lives
So who will be the one to win the prize?
Monday morning,
head still thumping to the back-beat in my mind
I lay down something lazy in my bed
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4. |
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happy birthday jenny
happy birthday to you
today's December first
i would have called to tell you, but me and phones
if we ain't legend, we will be soon
instead i wrote these words down
to sing this tune
especially for you
'cuz radio's dead and I like my bed
So there's little hope you're gonna hear these wishes I offer
this must be better than the real thing
stir it up with your old man again, I like that lucky bloke
cause I remember every movement
and baby, it was a tragic comedy
I guess I think of myself as a playwright
celebrating and re-celebrating
the mystery you've become
that sounds like birthdays
how many candles has it been
since I lovingly trashed my heroine
sabotaged the second act, put it in before the first
distilled the whole thing into verse
and left it with an **old sweater at the bottom of your stairs
For every one I sang you
under my pillow there's three more
I hope I didn't hurt anybody
but myself when they slowly trickled to a halt
but they keep coming and coming,
no I'm not barely through
showing what it's like not to live with you
fighting to stop fighting what's really on my chest
all just to sketch just one more glimpse of - you
act three, here we are already
It was nice to hear your voice
I guess I'll let you go
I understand there just some phone lines you aren't willing to cross
What's that honey?
you know can say anything to me
your birthday's April 4
always glad to call a little ahead of time
talk to you next year sweetie
if I'm on this stage alone
I don't see the harm
I'll play you how I like
self-preservation comes at no cost to you
there's nothing here to laugh at
(well, depends which side the curtain you're standing)
But for this sinking serious moment
Jenny, let me tell you, I think I'll be okay
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5. |
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She's grown her nails out
it's the little things that make me promise
to be alone with her
the light that still seduces men
snail guide made thin
all the time tracks the progress
washes gray the hints
of who I was and where I'm headed
sand was never kind
she was upset and I was scared
still I feel her tide
pull me in, push me out
smile's for a child
he can't see hidden danger
stare too long at her
and I'll be left alone
air draws me close
and far away from him
man whose hands are chapped
and heart remains just the same
close my eyes at night
open windows and dream of salt
oh dear
lunula and lunacy
Don't leave me here
alone with dreams
I can't dissuade
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6. |
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strolled down to the indie book store
cat in the window, sign on the door
says "Theatrical Readings" coming Thursday
too bad that's the night that I role play
glide down the aisle past the Orphan's Tales
towards collectibles and rare book sales
that's when I see her smiling at me and somewhere in my head yes I heard her plea
She keeps looking at me with that weirding way
Say the litany against fear and I watch her sway
come back to my sietch and give my baliset a strum
our breeding program, yeah it's just begun
Close the Asimov in my hands
move round the corner of the trade paper stands
then a tiny worry nags me
where does she stand on the legacy?
Cause Brian ain't his dad
and there's no co-author to be had
that I'll see as more than a mouse
and the canon closes at "Chapterhouse"
She keeps looking at me with that weirding way
Say the litany against fear and I watch her sway
come back to my seitch and give my baliset a strum
our breeding program, yeah it's just begun
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7. |
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little girl, my little light
please come back to the arms that used to delight
and every time I embarrassed you
it was just the little girl I was talking to
down go the trolley cars
good night dear heart
good night dear heart
good night
she's further now, than ever before
damn the ocean outside the door
and damn me for what I can't do
all the little heartbreaks I can't see you through
We once had a fine home
built on the stories that I told
you sat in your sister's lap
and I will try to remember that
down go the trolley cars
good night dear heart
good night dear heart
up go the trolley cars
green sod lie light
green sod lie light
lie light
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8. |
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mistook for a Venezuelan for the lilt in her horn
she came from Stockton to play that trumpet til her lips could play no more
she dabbled in mixolydian, wouldn't stick to 1 4 5
free of the glances of ten-odd groomsmen and the glares from the English horn
pigtailed and slumped at the winebar
she's the proxy for every bride
the wedding crasher with the tattoo on her spine
swears right in front of the children
swears she cannot write or drive
the way she wears her eyeliner
she knows things
it's true enough she called your bluff and used you up before she drove herself back to Stockton
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9. |
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Introductions are always stiff
and I'm the man standing on a cliff
she drops down from a herald cloud
grabs the lotion and addresses the crowd
"Here's to being thorough as hell
here's to living through every swell
here's to never out growing the joke"
here's to laughing as she spoke
It's nice to meet ya
I love you too
and I'll be happy
when we're through
maybe I'm best under served
and sometimes it's better curved
while we're on the topic here
let's all greet the long dead steer
So I declare today the day
when we all swore to look away
when we all rode that rail too long
and gave our hearts to the song
It's nice to meet ya
I love you too
and I'll be happy
when we're through
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10. |
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I guess I did some things I'm not so proud of
the traces now you hardly can see
the hair-lined fractured sense of self-conviction
of one good woman, maybe three
and I probably already started thinking
about my daddy's boatful of good ideas
he inherited it from the world's gladdest fisherman
but in Nebraska we can't even swim
I don't know why I left my home
but it won't be long til I get home
like so many good young americans
put on my levis, grabbed my guitar
slid inside her Chevrolet body
and poured myself out on to the road
I can't rightly tell you that I'm sorry
I can't even tell you that it's fun
I guess I never bought into the system
I only think about what I ain't done
I don't know why I left my home
but it won't be long til I get home
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11. |
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men of means whose fingers probably never touched the soil
wrote a second bill of rights to save the second world
that train's still rolling
way back home we curve the bend, head up the last ravine
lost traction to a hemorrhage, lost our head of steam
now I'm sick and homeless
the ridge begets and small and shining rivulet of gold
preternatural wealth withstanding, would you dip your toe?
I think I might...
denial is a tender mother nature doesn't need
you need not shake his hand, you needn't satisfy his greed
don't tow that grief
that lonesome whistle oughta echo in your soul
don't the art of breathing inspire you no more?
and exhale
I'm gonna read a book, I'm gonna make myself a pie
I'm gonna grab my woman, take her out on the night
when that train pulls in
I'd love to see the painter's touch
across that thought of line
but I know that I presume too much indulging in this history rhyme
but I got my interests
like the second bill of rights
the second bill of rights...
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12. |
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if you push the kids
i think you'll be surprised
when the kids push back
they're gonna make you cry
if you saw sad eyes when the drums marched me away from here
well if you want the truth I'm glad I didn't stay
i was a concierge, i was a killer with no name
i was a contestant on a tv show just the same
what a welcome from the crowd, barely off the plane
before they froze my cards and send me back on a train
back when your birthday cards might have carried a little weight
back when I knew the words and transport was arranged
we were underused, we only bought what we were sold
we were your mother's favorite fairy tale waiting to be told
if you saw sad eyes when the drums marched me away from here
well if you want the truth I'm glad I didn't stay
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