I’m afraid of you
You make life seem brand new
We stay up late at night
Forget the world outside
And it’s been a long time
It’s been a long time
Since I’ve seen the morning light
It’s been a long time
It’s been a long time
And that’s alright (2x)
You read you poetry
And pour me cups of tea
And in the candle light
I’m lost inside your eyes
And it’s been a long time…
Sometimes I feel all alone
With millions of folks around me
But I know that I’ve got a home
High life
Sing me a sweet song
You used
To think I was grand
Downtown
Chelsea and Soho
I held
The world in my hand
I flew
The Concorde to Paris
Sniffed lines
Of cocaine for free
Champagne
And mangoes for breakfast
Warm nights
And dawns by the sea
OD’ed
In the afternoon
With her diamonds and pearls
And a burnt spoon
Now I’m
A little bit older
And I’m
In need of a friend
I’ve got
Some pills and some liquor
And soon
I’ll see you again
OD’ed… etc.
Honey
What you gonna do
When your beauty and youth
She was married to the Bosphorus
She threw her ring in then she blew a kiss
To the Ottomans and Byzantines
Lying beneath the sea
She wore a pink and yellow summer dress
She kept her hair just like a poetess
She traveled all the way to Germany
The trains and the cold, dark sea
The amber glow of a morning cigarette
On the Istiklal Cadessi
The vapor trails and the tiny minerettes
All the domes in silhouette
Some days
It's hard to see the magic in the world
The mistakes
Of a life drinking wine and chasing girls
The streets are cold
The sky is turning gray
My heart aches
When I think about the years that slipped away
Oo oo
My little summer's gone
And it's cold in the autumn sun
Sitting in a coffee house alone
Watching people on their mobile phones
But some days
Everything seems perfectly in place
And God's eyes
Are staring out of everybody's face
A desert wind
The sound of distant trains
And I feels just like a kid
Playing in a warm September rain
Your motion says
You're in the mood
But what you want
Is far away
It's plane that I
I spend my time on you too much
Tell me it's alright
And I can laugh all night
Just tell me and I'll be happy again
Your eyes they are just glances
Your mouth it is just kisses
Your hand is just a handshake
In this land of plenty
What happened to our dreams
Can’t even find a mangosteen
Can’t find an e.e. cummings
Or a Martin Luther King
Just online porn & SUVs
I don’t care much anymore
The world seems sad and lonely
I lay down on the floor
And try to sleep
And dream about the days
When life was more than
Just a Xanax and 3 hrs of TV
Where are all the grandmas
The Mark Twains & the Beats
What happened to our make believe
The smell of toast on Sundays
Or falling space debris
The freighters slowly cross the sea
Cumulonimbus forms
The mornings down here are warm
The smuggler has his charm
Smoking in the dawn
Under the Arctic sun
The submarines make their runs
The high-flying planes look on
The endgame has begun
Voce e muito gostosa
Mas tenho namorada ja
Land of the Morning Calm
Land of the Rising Sun
Land of the Atom Bomb
Tigers of Elam
Hey, o mundo caiou bem
I wonder maybe
I was up all night
Wonderin' if I'll ever amount to anything
In this life
'Cause now I'm not so young
Nothing feels right
And I was up all night
Thinkin' 'bout the way you spoke to me
In our last fight
The love in your voice was gone
Nothin' feels right
I've smoked a thousand cigarettes
Left tiny ashes in the bed
And I was up all night
Dreamin' up a world where everything
Turns out right
Where I'd never break your heart
The oil wells and the call girls
Work all night long
Down in the ugly Babylon
Gone are the grandmas, poets
And baker’s sons
Down in the ugly Babylon
The lights of the city wash out
The stars and suns
Down in the ugly Babylon
Gone are the grandmas, poets
And baker’s sons
Daylight
Waits for me
On the back of night
Trona (x4)
Low Tide
Rusting hulls
Barroom fights
Trona (x4)
Daylight
Makes me feel
Cold inside
I'll blame it all on the Sun
'Cause I can't tell what's goin' on
Since the day you walked away
My heart beats like a different one
It beats angry and cold
Just passin' time 'til I get old
Where the folly used to be
It's hardened and it's cynical
Ahhh!
I'll blame it all on the Sun
That warmed the seas where life began
Through the ferns and dinosaurs
And straight through 'til the time of Man
'Cause without that mistake
You wouldn't have my heart to break
I'd be floating peacefully
Through the silent galaxies
Ahhh!
I'll blame it all on the Sun
The smell of cloves and cinnamon
And the sound of summer rain
And screams of children having fun
And my grandmother's hands
And wanderin' slow through foreign lands
Betel nut and mangosteen
And campfires in the desert sands
You were born in '67
About 9 o'clock at night
A couple years before I lost control
And ended up inside.
[Chorus}
The clouds in
Camarillo
Shimmer with a light that's
So unreal
Now I fear the stories
That they told me
Of how I hurt my baby
Must be somehow true
I stopped taking all my pills
They made me feel so dead inside.
Just like the sun was going out
I didn't think I Aould survive
[Chorus]
Now I'm writing from a caravan
Behind your nana's place
I think my spirit will be happier
With the stars in outer space.
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
Lay down next to me
We’ll stare out at the sea
And make believe
That nothing bad ever happens
To normal folks like you and me
Tell me ‘bout your life
Did you ever have a wife
Did she make you feel
Like somebody kind of special
When you wandered in at night
Love’s a funny game
It can make you half insane
But guys like us
Will sit through the winter showers
Let’s make a scene
‘Cause baby, you’re my queen
You are my favorite time day
New York in May
A Barcelona rain
Nothing’s as moving as you little face
Jet lagged at sea
Like Super Gizi in my tea
Mistress from Bangkok
Fallen beauty of my dreams
After the rain
The comets linger in the sky
Lyin’ on his back
He watched the satellites float by
If life’s just a dream
A melancholy scene
Near a star called Sun
It was there that my mom came undone
Sounds of a summer parade
90.5 in the shade
She drifted off on the 4th of July
A holiday look in her eyes
Said goodbye to a lifetime of pain
She died in a mid-summer rain
She said
There’s one million stars
For every little grain of sand down there
She floated up like a rocket in space
The misery gone from her face
Flying through comets and stars
Out past the canyons on Mars
She saw the future and she saw the past
She said, don’t worry, it’s not meant to last
Everything’s always OK
Even the worst of your days
There’s one million stars…
So now she’s there when I look at the sky
Or when I drink whisky or wine
Or when I feel frightened at night
Or days when I’m sick of my life
She says, son it’ll all be alright
Everything’s already fine
If only you knew what I’ve seen
You’d never feel frightened again
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And surrender to me (Sha la, la)
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me peacefully (Sha la, la) yeah (Sha la la)
Use your arms for loving me
Baby, that's the way it's gotta be (Ooh)
There ain't no reason for you to declare
War on the one that loves you so
So forget the other boys because my love is real
Come off your battlefield
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me peacefully (Sha la, la)
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me tenderly (Sha la, la) yeah (Sha la la)
Use your arms to hold me tight
Baby, I don't wanna fight no more (Ooh)
The weapons you're using are hurtin' me bad
But someday you're gonna see
That my love for you baby, is the truest you've ever had
A Soldier of Love, that's hard to be
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And love me peacefully (Sha la, la)
Lay down your arms (Soldier of love)
And surrender to me (Sha la, la) yeah (Sha la la)
Use your arms to squeeze and please cos I'm the one that loves you so
(Yeah, soldier of love) Baby, lay down your arms
(Yeah, soldier of love) Baby, lay down your arms
Jean was a heartbreaker in her day
Carefree and dancing the night away
Then she turned 41 oh oh oh
Had her moment in the sun oh oh oh
Now she eats all alone
And talks to her best friend on the phone
She wakes up at 6:30 everyday
And heads off to work at the Blue Cafe
But the money's not enough oh oh oh
And her clothes are lookin' rough oh oh oh
And her car needs an alternator
When will it all let up
And her single apartment's closing in
Her loneliness won't give way
All the girls on the TV look so thin
And she's already turnin' gray
And the guy that she met on the internet
He turned out to be a creep
She says, "God I've got so many dreams to share,
If you'd send me a good man to keep."
At Christmas, she flies out to Illinois
She treasures the time with her sister’s boys
She was unlucky in love oh oh oh
Now the years are catchin' up oh oh oh
The world can fall apart outside my door
I don’t care no more
The air-raid siren sings the song of war
I don’t care no more
Salt and cherry blossom tea
Has the flavor of the sea
The monsoon winds are punishing the shore
I don’t care no more
The world can fall apart outside my door
I don’t care no more
South of Java in the sea
Nirorukidul’s Ali
The air-raid siren sings the song of war
I don’t care no more
The world can fall apart outside my door
I don’t care no more
Ali was a sailor’s son
Joined the merchant fleet at twenty-one
Dreams of ports in distant lands
A bag of figs and some low-grade heroin
As the years rolled by at sea
Ali thought about his destiny
Tired of the sailor’s life
Ali thought he’d find himself a wife
Lisbon, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bandung,
Naples, Brunei, Capetown, Shanghai,
Bangkok, Pusan, Dublin, Luzon,
Lima, Dakar, Cypress, Malta
Sometimes things aren’t what they seem
Late one night our sailor had a dream
A queen of Indonesian lore
A voice he’d loved a thousand years or more
Lisbon, Guangzhou, Taipei, Bandung…
When the typhoon struck at dawn
Ali had his finest civvies on
All the crew were cramped below
And with a smile into the sea he dove
Sewers of Bangkok
That's what they call me
From the jungle towns
To the slums of the city
I've seen the devil
The charming stranger
And I've seen the devil
The old bone crusher
I'm the Sewers of Bangkok
And everything rolls off my back
I'll have coffee and sweet cakes
For everyone stuck on the losing track
The kids picking garbage
The old folks who live by the trains
I'll wash all their feet with my tears
And their hearts with the summer rain
There's an order in the world
But it's hidden from our view
It's in traffic jams and zip codes
In the early morning blue
In the third world hostess
Who's turning 33
The tenant farmer
The plane that crashed at sea
I'm the Sewers of Bangkok...
David Brown - vox, water
Kenny Lyon - bass
Danny Frankel - bongos, drums
Smokey Hormel - guitars
Hills facing east
The slums have a view
Of the sea
Towards Africa gaze
Tenderly
The rains last for weeks
1st of the year
We’ll meet in Flamengo
For tea
We’ll smoke cigarettes
By the sea
Sandman & me
Menina dengosa
Nao chore amor
A vida e saudade
Beleza e dor
La da Palestrina
Morre o cantor
Word on the street
Jorge Ben’s gonna sing
New Year’s Eve
In Rio the rains
Last for weeks
Lay me down
On the street
Where the hobos meet
Southern day dreams
I don’t know
Which way the wind blows
But I’ll tell you what comes and goes
People grow old and die
Cold like a Samurai
Under a dim, breathtaking winter sky
Perrier c’est foux
Lonely days
By the sea
Watch the ships go by
Taiwanese
Half as old
As the sky seems
In my larger dreams
Mangosteen
Pablo stares at the moon
Pencil moustache
Cheap hotel room
Waiting for dawn
Alone
To take him home
Taxi drivers and whores
Kids on the street
Watching for cops
Keeping him safe
Since his escape
But now it’s late
Soldiers search through the night
Closing in fast
Closing in tight
Each wants to be
The one
Rather Stay Home
Crisscrossed the country in a van
A young and carefree rock and roll band
Tearing up the open road
Success came like an ice cold hand
5 star hotels by the sand
And suddenly you're getting old
And I'd rather stay home
I'd rather stay home
'Cause one thing I know
We all leave this old world alone
And why there's still time
Don't wanna be a rolling stone
And I'd rather stay home
I'd rather stay home
10,000 flights to different lands
And your kids are growing up without their dad
They're wondering why you can't stay home
Success came like an ice cold hand
5 star hotels by the sand
And suddenly you're getting old
At 14
He was an adolescent
Beauty Queen
Slammin’ speed
And working on the NY streets
Oh Dear!
All the boys
With their leather
And peroxide
Rouge on pockmarked cheeks
Always drifting east
Pall Malls
And a racing form
Oh oh oh…
An old man
In a furnished room
Oh oh oh…
Had his eyeglasses
Smashed again
Oh oh oh…
Prowlin’ downtown
For some teenage skin
Oh oh oh…
Fingernail dirt
And blackhead cheeks
Oh oh oh…
His faded “Members
Only” speaks
Oh oh oh
The sky says forever
The clouds wander by
The heat of September
Makes him glow
Korean War
Setting sun
Dashing and young
So far away, so like a dream
A cup of tea with powdered cream
Or comet dust and subway steam
Or 3 kilos of mangosteen
Ayaaah ayaaah mangosteen
An airport lounge in Amsterdam
A summer rainfall in Japan
Your cowboy hat, your lovely tan
With you I'm such a happy man
Ayaaah Ayaaah, a happy man
I hope one day I'm old with you
We're holding hands like old folks do
With knobby knees and funny shoes
Yeah, that's the future I would choose
When I see
My life of sin
All the creeps
That I have been
Makes me wonder why
You stayed
You’re my Queen
Of Summer Rain
You make it all OK
My Queen of Summer Rain
Underneath
The falling stars
We live our lives
With heavy hearts
This world can make you
Want to die
But there’s another world
On high
You make it all OK
My Queen of Summer Rain
Soon I’ll be on a plane
Late night
All alone
Just sitting in my hotel room
Wishing I was back at home
A long flight
Halfway around the globe
This life at 30,000 feet
Well it's starting to take it's toll
I got my pillow from home
Here on the 33rd floor
And I loaded all your photographs
Into my mobile phone
But they only made me miss you more
I got my beat up guitar
And my pocket Moleskine
I packed my echinacea drops
And all my speaker tapes
'Cause I'm out here on the road again
I'm out here on the road again
A strange light
Warms my soul
When I travel to a distant place
To play a little rock and roll
But someday
Just you and me
We'll be gazing at a setting sun
A thought occurred to me
Lying underneath a peach tree
A moment in the sun
Our funny little lives are so brief
Our frail little bones
We’re here and then we’re gone
Sometimes the lonely days
Turn into the lonely decades
Old ladies on their own
The world they knew has drifted away
Like little puffs of smoke
There’s a little cloud
Forming in the dawn
Forming in my mind
I better lie down
Seaweed in my teeth
In my bleeding gums
Oh the winter sun
It makes my brain numb
They say when you die
There’s a purple hum
And you feel real calm
And everything’s one
But until that day
We have bleeding gums
And the winter sun
We better lie down
Oi chu seh yo
Oi cho-a heh yo
Dhal chu seh yo
We’re all just dreamers
From North Koreatown
We have no future
Just helicopter sounds
The last survivors
From days pre-MTV
Our fates to wander
In search of poetry
Pink champagne
And nickelbags of weed
Afternoons
Night Train to Moscow
Say good bye to the Petersburg sun
The half light of winter afternoons long gone
Pancakes and mushrooms
Tea with the hookers at dawn
The TV is warning of a coming storm
Come lay with me
Hide me in your arms
And sing to me
Of all the other sailors
Their promises, flowers and champagne
And in the end
Life's just a Sunday morning
Night Train to Moscow
Be kind to your loneliest son
What kind of a man
What kind of a son
What kind of a guy
Would just up and run
An ill-fated wind
Turned his good luck around
What kind of a man
Would just leave town
So after the fall
The cold winter sun
It seems his best days
Have come and gone
The lights of the train
The cold whistle blows
The sound of relief
Night is here in my veins
I’m losing again
And not much remains
Come
Lay down next to me
I’ll tell you a bit
Of who I used to be
I was a handsome
Golden boy you see
Full of summer
Morning poetry
Dawn
A soft winter’s day
A room full of dope
And cheap lingerie
I love you my friend
And though we just met
You’re at least as lost
As me
So let’s close the drapes
And lose the new day
And see how dark
I'm an alligator
I'm a mama-papa coming for you
I'm a space invader
I'll be a rockin rollin bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut
You're squawkin' like a pink monkee bird
And I'm bustin' up my brains for the words
Keep your 'lectric eye on me, babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream oh yeah
Don't fake it, baby
Lay the real thing on me
The church of man
Is such a holy place to be
Make me baby
Make me know you really care
Make me jump into the air
Walking through the streets of Amsterdam
Half a pack of kreteks in my hand
The rain smells like a woman
That I knew long ago
And I hope she’s happy
Hope she’s doin’ grand
The cyclones never seem to get this far
They die out off the shores of Zanzibar
And at night I watch the storm clouds
Lighting up the sea
And I wonder if she ever thinks of me
Madalena
There’s something in the way you held me
But there’s not much left
To hold onto anymore
I’m older now
My hair is turning gray
A fixture at this crumbling café
And I’m haunted by the memories
Of the man I used to be
‘Cause he took your love
And threw it all away
In 1945
A Jewish baby was born
In East Van Nuys
Her lonely eyes
Filled with the poetry born
Of suicide
Haldol and ECT
She met her end in a trailer
Near the sea
200 Klonapines
Just hoping that she could find
Some sweet relief
Old Cerwin Vegas
Maruchan and diesel fumes
Stacks of containers
The shipyards in the afternoon
Desert winds blowing
Out to Catalina soon
Long Beach to Vernon
Mexicans and hazy noons
You are my baby
He smacked her 'round one last time Sunday
She called her friend, said let's run away
Rooftop sunrise
Sweet 16
Her cigarettes and her dreams
La la la la la la la la love is the answer
They headed north up the coast one day
San Francisco or bust she'd say
We'll find some boyfriends
And drink some wine
And I'll forget him in time
Juan says she's a funny kind of girl
Who sits on rooftops to escape the world
She smokes her cigarettes and keeps a journal
Dreaming of the day she'll fly to Londres
She lives with her folks in East L.A.
She goes up to Hollywood to hear bands play
She listens to Smiths cassettes and
Robos with her friends on Friday nights
Killin' time 'til the big flight
And she'll leave all the smog behind
As the 747 starts to climb away
In the big sky
And the Virgin Atlantic life
Will banish all the fear and all the strife
As it takes her to Londres
Some cholos shot Flaco yesterday
His wife has a little baby on the way
Last night she heard helicopters
It seems she hears them
Every other day
He loves his old guitar
Daydreamin' by the bay
But Leo called last night
He's drunk again
His girlfriend was 22
He lost her in a plane
But Leo called from France
He's drunk again
And he says,
Man, I know it's a sad way to go
But I can't live without her
Late at night
I just stare up at the sky
Man, I'm such a disaster
He says
I'd trade my old guitar
My millions in the bank
To see her one last time
I'd do anything
What can I do?
I'm lost over you
I'm left out
I sit and I drink
I try not to think
I'm left out
De da de de de da du da de da
De da de de de da du daya
De da de de de da du dayeeeeh dahn da
The birds in the trees
Aren't lonely like me
I'm left out
The tides ebb and flow
The morning star glows
Lunch special
Koreatown
Cuban fried bananas
Lazy, flawed & hopeless
All our cars
Are rusted through
TV’s in the garbage
Lazy, flawed & hopeless
Fame and Fortune
We’re caught up in the game
I love the smell
Of asphalt in the rain
When my days
Have come and gone
Lay down with my blanket
Lazy, flawed & hopeless
Load me on
An aeroplane
Point me towards the tropics
Lazy, flawed & hopeless
LAX in a runway motel
We just got off the phone
You didn't seem very well
At 5 years old I had no place to go
But you took me in
And you gave me a home
The planes fly
overhead
While I smoke
Too many cigarettes in bed
It rained last night 'bout a quarter to 2
I was lyin' awake
Just thinkin' 'bout you
A summer wind blowin' in off the sea
Full of childhood smells
And aquamarine
Lay me down
Milo brown
Fast asleep
Like a little
Cherub bean
Like a little
Cherub bean
I’ve traveled far
And I’ve traveled wide
And I’ve seen some things
That I’d rather leave behind
That I’d rather leave behind
Lay me down
Milo Brown
Sweetest thing
That has ever come around
He's had bicycles and sons
He's had salted fish and dark rum
Now his days are almost done
In the Lagos slums
He was a farmer for a while
Growin' plantains by the coastline
And some said he had a smile
Like a movie star
La ah La ah ah ah
(He) met his wife one Friday night
At a dance hall near the train tracks
And his heart soared like a kite
In the evening light
(He) worked the oil fields once
Saved some money for his family
Built a house near Eden's Point
Where they raised their boys
He says it's hard to be a man
Who works and still can't feed his children
But he does the best he can
In the New World Plan
We're all forgotten
Saturday night he was gone
That's what she said to her mom
Honey, he's trouble, he's a bum
Try to forget him, move on
It's strange how the years come and go
When did I turn 34
When did my habits take control
And drain all the light from my soul
But mom, when the pain is gone
And you can't go on
And the lonely days seem like decades
It's only hard drugs fulfilling me
I'm lost on a summer's day
Half a world away
From the little girl that you cherished
My faded black jeans
When he was runnin’ from the cops
He said, “Baby, I’m just 19
I’m as sexy as a ballerina in a magazine
Give me danger and a gun
You know I ain’t afraid of pain
I don’t wanna live your life
I wanna die like Jesse James
I wanna die like Jesse James…
“I grew up in a little trailer
On the edge of town
My daddy used to beat me raw
He used to beat me down
And one thing that I learned
When I was barely 17
Was how to kill a full-grown man
When he was half asleep
‘Cause I wanna die like Jesse James…
“So now I’m runnin’ from the cops
And Baby, I’m just 19
I’m as sexy as a ballerina on a TV screen
And I’m happy as a newborn baby
When he sees his mom
And I’m grateful to the bullet
That’s just about to take me home
I miss you dear
It’s quiet up here
Lost in the troposphere
At dawn
Hurricane clouds appear
Roll on…
An April storm
Yamamba clones
Lost in the troposphere
At dawn
Hurricane clouds appear
Roll on…
Asteroid fields
Comets and mangosteen
Vapor trails
Lost on a lonely beach
Televised
The old transmission flaw
Empty eyes
With no place left to go
Lost in the troposphere
Little girl from Hindustan
Holds the world inside her hand
Poorer than a Delhi rat
Feeds the dolphins at the ghat
Factory ships and market share
Stocks and bonds and thinning hair
IMF and shanty towns
Your heroes hiding underground
Look he’s like a skeleton
Walking naked through Sudan
His children and his wife are dead
