They sat together in the park
As the evening sky grew dark
She looked at him and he felt a spark tingle to his bones
It was then he felt alone and wished that he'd gone straight
And watched out for a simple twist of fate.
They walked alone by the old canal
A little confused I remember well
And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burning bright
He felt the heat of the night hit him like a freight train
Moving with a simple twist of fate.
A saxophone someplace far off played
As she was walking on by the arcade
As the light bust through a-beat-up shade where he was waking up
She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate
And forgot about a simple twist of fate.
He woke up the room was bare
He didn't see her anywhere
He told himself he didn't care pushed the window open wide
Felt an emptiness inside to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate.
He hears the ticking of the clocks
And walks along with a parrot that talks
Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailers all come in
Maybe she'll pick him out again how long must he wait
One more time for a simple twist of fate.
People tell me it's a sin
To know and feel too much within
I still believe she was my twin but I lost the ring
She was born in spring but I was born too late
I paid fifteen million dollars, twelve hundred and seventy-two cents
I paid one thousand two hundred twenty-seven dollars and fifty-five cents
See my hound dog bite a rabbit
And my football's sittin' on a barbed-wire fence
Well, my temperature rises and my feet don't walk so fast
Yes, my temperature rises and my feet don't walk so fast
Well, this Arabian doctor came in, gave me a shot
But wouldn't tell me if what I had would last
Well, this woman I've got, she's filling me with her drive
Yes, this woman I've got, she's thrillin' me with her hive
She's calling me Stan
Or else she calls me Mister Clive
Of course, you're gonna think this song is a riff
I know you're gonna think this song is a cliff
Unless you've been inside a tunnel
And fell down 69, 70 feet over a barbed-wire fence
Well you're coming down High Street walking in the sun
You make a dead man rise and holler she's the one
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you're the queen
Well it's a long old highway that don't ever end
I got a Saturday Night Special, I'm back again
I'll sleep by your door, lay my life on the line
You probably don't know but I'm gonna make you mine
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you is the queen
I keep my hands in my pocket, I'm movin' along
People think they know, but they're all wrong
You're something nice, I'm gonna bet my dice
I can't say I haven't paid the price
Jolene, Jolene
Baby I am the king and you is the queen
Well I found out the hard way, I've had my fill
You can't fight somebody with his back to a hill
Those big brown eyes, they set off a spark
If you hold me in your arms, things don't look so dark
Jolene, Jolene
And I ride on a mail train, baby, can't buy no thrill
Yes, I've been up all night, baby, leanin' on the window sill
Yeah, but if I die on top of the hill
And if I don't make it, you know my baby will
Don't the moon look good, mama, shinin' down through the trees?
Don't the coast chap look good, baby, sittin' on his madman's knees?
Don't the sun look good goin' down over the sea?
Don't my gal look fine when she's comin' after me?
Alright!
Well, I've just been to the baggage car where the engine is bein' doffed
I snap out forty compasses, sure dunno what they cost
Well, I wanna be your lover, baby, I don't wanna be your boss
And I can't help it now if this train gets lost
So run here baby, put your little hands in mine
I've got something to tell you
I know you're gonna change your mind
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
I want you, baby, just to understand
I don't wanna be your boss, baby
I just wanna be your man
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
Now when you go home, you don't have to get along
Come back to me, baby
Where I live that's where you belong
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
I love you baby, and you know that it's true
I wouldn't mistreat you, baby
Nothing in this world is like you
Yes, when things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
It hurts me too.
So run here baby, put your little hands in mine
I've got something to tell you, baby
I know you're gonna change your mind
When things go wrong, so wrong with you
People get ready
Theres a train a-coming
You dont need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Dont need no ticket
You just thank the lord
People get ready
For the train to jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
Theres room for all
Among the loved the most
There aint no room
For the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just
To save his own
Have pity on those
Whose chances are thinner
Cause theres no hiding place
From the kingdoms throne
So people get ready
For the train a-comin
You dont need no baggage
You just get on board !
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Dont need no ticket
You just thank, you just thank the lord
Yeah
Yeah
Im getting ready
Im getting ready
This time Im ready
I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn
I courted her proudly, but now she is gone
Gone as the season she's taken.
Through young summer's breeze, I stole her away
From her mother and sister, though close did they stay
Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day
With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us.
Of the two sister, I loved the young
With sensitive instincts, she was the creative one
The constant scapegoat, she was easily undone
By the jealousy of others around her.
For her parasite sister, I had no respect
Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect
Countless visions of the other she'd reflect
As a crutch for her scenes and her society.
Myself, for what I did, I cannot be excused
The changes I was going through can't even be used
For the lies that I told her in hopes not to lose
The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime.
With unseen consciousness, I possessed in my grip
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped
Noticing not that I'd already slipped
To a sin of love's false security.
From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
Till the tombstones of damage read me no question but, "Please
What's wrong and what's exactly the matter ?"
And so it did happen, like it could have been foreseen
The timeless explosion of fantasy's dream
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
Tumbled all down into pieces.
"The tragic figure" her sister did shout
"Leave her alone, God damn you, get out"
And I in my armor, turning about
And nailing her in the ruins of her pettiness.
Beneath a bare light bulb the plaster did pound
Her sister and I in a screaming battleground
And she in between, the victim of sound
Soon shattered as a child to the shadows.
All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight
I gagged in contradiction, tears blinding my sight
My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night
Leaving all of love's ashes behind me.
The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet
The words to say I'm sorry, I haven't found yet
I think of her often and hope whoever she's met
Will be fully aware of how precious she is.
Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
"How good, how good does it feel to be free "?
And I answer them most mysteriously
There's an evenin' haze settlin' over town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad
My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf
Come sit down on my knee
You are dearer to me than myself
As you yourself can see
While I'm listening to the steel rails hum
Got both eyes tight shut
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it's way into my gut
[Chorus:]
Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the frontline
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues
Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas
I'll drag 'em all down to hell and I'll stand 'em at the wall
I'll sell 'em to their enemies
I'm tryin' to feed my soul with thought
Gonna sleep off the rest of the day
Sometimes no one wants what we got
Sometimes you can't give it away
Now the place is ringed with countless foes
Some of them may be deaf and dumb
No man, no woman knows
The hour that sorrow will come
In the dark I hear the night birds call
I can feel a lover's breath
I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall
Sleep is like a temporary death
[Chorus]
Well, they burned my barn, and they stole my horse
I can't save a dime
I got to be careful, I don't want to be forced
Into a life of continual crime
I can see for myself that the sun is sinking
How I wish you were here to see
Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking
That you have forgotten me?
Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret
They waste your nights and days
Them I will forget
But you I'll remember always
Old memories of you to me have clung
You've wounded me with your words
Gonna have to straighten out your tongue
It's all true, everything you've heard
[Chorus]
In you, my friend, I find no blame
Wanna look in my eyes, please do
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you
All across the peaceful sacred fields
They will lay you low
They'll break your horns and slash you with steel
I say it so it must be so
Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue
Gonna give you another chance
I'm all alone and I'm expecting you
To lead me off in a cheerful dance
I got a brand new suit and a brand new wife
I can live on rice and beans
Some people never worked a day in their life
Don't know what work even means
[Chorus]
Down over the window
From the dazzling sunlit place
Through the back alleys, through the blinds
Another one of the Memphis days
Honey bees are buzzing
Leaves begin to stir
I'm in love with my second cousin
I tell myself I could be happy forever with her
I keep listening for footsteps
But I ain't never hearing any
From the boat, I fish for bullheads
I catch a lot sometimes too many
A summer breeze is blowin'
A squall is setting in
Sometimes it's just plain stupid
To get into any kind of wind
Well the old men 'round here sometimes they get on
Bad terms with the younger men
Old, young, age don't carry weight
It doesn't matter in the end
One of the boss' hangers-on sometimes comes to call
At times you least expect
Tryin' to bully you, strong arm you inspire you with fear
It has the opposite effect
There's a new grove of trees on the outskirts of town
The other one is long gone
10 foot, 2 foot, 6 across
Burns with the bark still on
They say times are hard
If you don't believe it you can follow your nose
It don't bother me, times are hard everywhere
We'll just have to see how it goes
My old man, he's like some feudal Lord
He's got more lives than a cat
I've never seen him quarrel with my mother even once
Things come alive or they fall flat
You can smell the pine wood burnin'
You can hear the school bell ring
Got to get up near the teacher, if you can
If you wanna learn anything
Romeo, he said to Juliet, "You got a poor complexion
That don't give your appearance a very youthful touch"
Juliet said back to Romeo
"Why don't you just shove off, if it bothers you so much"
They got all got outta here any way they could
Cold rain can give you the shivers
They went down the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee
All rest of them rebel rivers
If you ever try to interfere with me or cross my path again
You do so at the peril of your life
I'm not quite as cool, or forgiving as I sound
I've seen enough heartache and strife
My grandfather was a duck trapper
He could do it with just dragnets and ropes
My grandmother could sew new dresses out of old cloth
I don't know if they had any dreams or hopes
I had 'em once, though I suppose
To go along with all the ring dancing
Christmas carols and all the Christmas eves
I left all my dreams and hopes buried under tobacco leaves
Not always easy kicking someone out
Got to wait awhile, it can be an unpleasant task
Sometimes somebody wants you to give something up
Well, my heart's in the highlands, gentle and fair
Honey suckle bloomin' in the wildwood air
Bluebells blazin' where the Aberdeen waters flow
Well, my heart's in the highlands, I'm gonna go there when
I feel good enough to go.
Windows were shakin' all night in my dreams
Everything was exactly the way that it seems
Woke up this mornin' and I looked at the same old page
Same old rat race, life in the same old cage.
I don't want nothin' from anyone, ain't that much to take
Wouldn't know the difference between a real blonde and a fake
Feel like a prisoner in a world of mystery
I wish someone would come and push back the clock for me.
Well, my heart's in the highlands, wherever I roam
That's where I'll be when I get called home
The wind it whispers to the buck-eyed trees of rhyme
Well, my heart's in the highlands, I can only get there one step at a time.
I'm listening to Neil Young, I gotta turn up the sound
Someone's always yellin', "Turn him down"
Feel like I'm driftin', driftin' from scene to scene
I'm wondering what in the devil could it all possibly mean.
Insanity is smashin' up against my soul
You could say I was on anything but a roll
If I had a conscience, well I just might blow my top
What would I do with it anyway, maybe take it to the pawn shop.
My heart's in the highlands at the break of dawn
By the beautiful lake of the black swan
Big white clouds like chariots that swing down low
Well, my heart's in the highlands, only place left to go.
I'm in Boston town, in some restaurant
I got no idea what I want
Or maybe I do but, I'm just really not sure
Waitress comes over, nobody in the place but me and her.
Well, it must be a holiday, there's nobody around
She studies me closely as I sit down
She got a pretty face, with long white shiny legs
I said, "Tell me what I want," she say, "You probably want hard boiled eggs."
I say, "That's right, bring me some."
She says, "We ain't got any, you picked the wrong time to come."
Then she says, "I know you're an artist, draw a picture of me."
I said, "I would if I could but I don't do sketches from memory."
Well, she then, she says, "I'm right here in front of you, or
haven't you looked?"
I say, "All right, I know but I don't have my drawing book."
She gives me a napkin, she say, "You can do it on that."
I say, "Yes I could but I don't know where my pencil is at."
She pulls one out from behind her ear
She says, "All right now go ahead, draw me, I'm stayin' right here."
I make a few lines and I show it for her to see
Well, she takes her napkin and throws it back and says, "That
don't look a thing like me."
I said, "Oh, kind Miss, it most certainly does."
She say, "You must be jokin'," I say, "I wish I was."
Then she says, "You don't read women authors do ya?" at least
that's what I think I hear her say
Well, I said, "How would you know and what would it matter anyway?"
Well she says, "You just don't seem like you do." I said,
"You're way wrong."
She says "Which ones have you read then?" I say, "I've read
Erica Jong."
She goes away for a minute and I slide out, out of my chair
I step outside back to the busy street but nobody is goin' anywhere.
Well, my heart's in the highlands with the horses and hounds
Way up in the border country far from the towns
With the twang of the arrow and the snap of the bow
My heart's in the highlands, I can't see any other way to go.
Every day is the same thing, out the door
Feel further away than ever before
Some things in life it just gets too late to learn
Well, I'm lost somewhere, I must have made a few bad turns.
I see people in the park forgettin' their troubles and woes
They're drinkin' and dancin', wearin' bright colored clothes
All the young men, with the young women lookin' so good
Well, I'd trade places with any of 'em in a minute, if I could.
I'm crossing the street to get away from a mangy dog
Talkin' to myself in a monologue
I think what I need might be a full length leather coat
Somebody just asked me if I've registered to vote.
The sun is beginnin' to shine on me
But it's not like the sun that used to be
The party's over and there's less and less to say
I got new eyes, everything looks far away.
Well, my heart's in the highlands at the break of day
Over the hills and far away
There's a way to get there and I'll figure it out somehow
Woke up this morning, feeling blue
Seen a good looking girl, can I make love with you
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
I got blood in my eyes for you, baby
I don't care what in the world you do.
I went back home, put on my tie
Gonna get that girl that money will buy
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
I got blood in my eyes for you, baby
I don't care what in the world you do.
She looked at me, begin to smile
Said, "Hey, hey, man, can't you wait a little while ?"
No, no babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
No, no babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
Got blood in my eyes for you, baby
I don't care what in the world you do.
No, no, ma'am, I can't wait
You got my money, now you're trying to break this date
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
Got blood in my eyes for you, baby
I don't care what in the world you do.
I'll tell you something, tell you the facts
You don't want to give my money back
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
Hey, hey, babe, I got blood in my eyes for you
I got blood in my eyes for you, baby
One by one they followed the sun
One by one until there where none
Two by two to their lovers they flew
Two by two into the foggy dew.
Three by three they danced on the sea
Four by four they danced on the shore
Five by five they tried to survive
Six by six they were playing with tricks.
How many paths did he try and fail
How many of their brothers and sisters linger in jail
How much poison did their inhale
How many black cats crossed their trail.
Seven by seven they head for heaven
Eight by eight their got to the gate
Nine by nine they drank the wine
Ten by ten they drank it again.
How many tomorrows have they given away
How many compared to yesterday
How many more without any reward
How many more can they afford.
Two by two they step into the ark
Two by two they step in the dark
Three by three they're turning the key
Four by four they turn it some more.
One by one they followed the sun
Two by two to another rendezvous
Three by three don't tread on me
Four by four they're loosing the war.
Come baby, find me, come baby, remind me of where I once begun
Come baby, show me, show me you know me, tell me you're the one
I could be learning, you could be yearning to see behind closed door
But I will always be emotionally yours.
Come baby, rock me, come baby, lock me into the shadows of your heart
Come baby, teach me, come baby reach me, let the music start
I could be dreaming but I keep believing you're the one I'm living for
And I will always be emotionally yours.
It's like my whole life never happened
When I see you, it's if I never had a thought
I know this dream, it might be crazy
But it's the only one I've got. Okay.
Come baby, shake me, come baby, take me, I would be satisfied
Come baby, hold me, come baby, help me, my arms are open wide
I could be unraveling wherever I'm traveling, even to foreign shores
Well I told my baby
I said "Baby, I know where you been
Well, I know who you are
And what league you played in"
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.
Well, the night is so empty
So quit and still
For only fifteen hundred dollars
You can have anybody killed
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.
Well, I told my baby
Further down the line
I said, "What happens tomorrow
Is on your head, not mine"
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
Well, there was this movie I seen one time, about a man riding 'cross
The desert and it starred Gregory Peck, he was shot down
By a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself, the townspeople
Wanted to crush that kid down and string him up by the neck
Well, the marshal, now he beat that kid to a bloody pulp
As the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath
Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death
Well, I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in
And you know, it blows right through me like a ball and chain
You know, I can't believe we've lived so long and are still so far apart
The memory of you keeps callin' after me like a rollin' train
I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted down Ford and your platform heels
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet
Ah, but you were right, it was perfect as I got in behind the wheel
Well, we drove that car all night into San Anton' and we slept
Near the Alamo, your skin was so tender and soft, way down in Mexico
You went out to find a doctor and you never came back, I would have
Gone on after you but I didn't feel like letting my head get blown off
Well, we're drivin' this car and the sun is comin' up over the Rockies
Now I know she ain't you but she's here and she's got that
Dark rhythm in her soul but I'm too over the edge and I ain't in the mood
Anymore to remember the times when I was your only man and she
Don't want to remind me, she knows this car would go out of control
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world
Brownsville girl, you're my honey love
Well, we crossed the panhandle and then we headed towards Amarillo
We pulled up where Henry Porter used to live
He owned a wreckin' lot outside of town about a mile
Ruby was in the backyard hanging clothes, she had her red hair tied
Back, she saw us come rolling up, in a trail of dust, she said
"Henry ain't here but you can come on in, he'll be back in a little while"
Then she told us how times were tough and about how
She was thinkin' of bummin' a ride back to where she started
But you know, she changed the subject every time money came up
She said, "Welcome to the land of the living dead"
You could tell she was so broken hearted, she said
"Even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt"
"How far are y'all going?", Ruby asked us with a sigh
"We're going all the way 'til the wheels fall off and burn
'Til the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade
And the water moccasin dies", Ruby just smiled and said
"Ah, you know, some babies never learn"
Something about that movie though, well, I just can't get it
Out of my head but I can't remember why I was in it
Or what part I was supposed to play, all I remember about
It was Gregory Peck and the way people moved
And a lot of them seemed to be lookin' my way
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world
Brownsville girl, you're my honey love
Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour
I was crossin' the street when shots rang out
I didn't know whether to duck or to run, so I ran
"We got him cornered in the churchyard", I heard somebody shout
Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune
Underneath it, it said, "A man with no alibi"
You went out on a limb to testify for me, you said I was with you
Then when I saw you break down in front of the judge
And cry real tears, it was the best acting I saw anybody do
Now I've always been the kind of person that doesn't like to trespass
But sometimes you just find yourself over the line
Oh, if there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now
You know, I feel pretty good, but that ain't sayin' much, I could feel
A whole lot better If you were just here by my side to show me how
Well, I'm standin' in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck
Yeah, but you know, it's not the one that I had in mind
He's got a new one out now, I don't even know what it's about
But I'll see him in anything, so I'll stand in line
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world
Brownsville girl, you're my honey love
You know, it's funny how things never turn out
The way you had 'em planned
The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that
His name wasn't Henry Porter
And you know there was somethin' about you, baby
That I liked that was always too good for this world
Just like you always said there was something about me you liked
That I left behind in the French Quarter
Strange how people who suffer together have stronger
Connections than people who are most content
I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone
You always said people don't do what they believe in
They just do what's most convenient then they repent
And I always said, "Hang on to me, baby
And let's hope that the roof stays on"
There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice
I don't remember who I was or where I was bound
All I remember about it was it starred Gregory Peck
He wore a gun and he was shot in the back
Seems like a long time ago, long before the stars were torn down
Brownsville girl with your Brownsville curls
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above
Brownsville girl, show me all around the world
Well, I had to move fast
And I couldn't with you around my neck
I said I'd send for you and I did
What did you expect
My hands are sweating
And we haven't even started yet
I'll go along with the charade
Until I can think my way out
I know it was all a big joke
Whatever it was all about
Someday maybe
I'll remember to forget.
I'm gonna get my coat
I feel the breath of a storm
There's something I've got to do tonight
You go inside and stay warm.
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
I don't know
Has anybody seen my love
You want to talk to me
Go ahead and talk
Whatever you got to say to me
Won't come as any shock
I must be guilty of something
You just whisper it into my ear
Madame Butterfly
She lulled me to sleep
In a town without pity
Where the water runs deep
She said, "Be easy, baby
There aint nothing worth stealing in here".
You're the one I've been looking for
You're the one that's got the key
But I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you
Or, or you're too good for me. Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
I don't know
Has anybody seen my love
Well, they're not showing any lights tonight
And there's no moon
There's just a hot-blooded singer
Singing 'Memphis in June'
And they're beating the devil out of a guy
Who's wearing a powder-blue wig
Later he'll be shot
For resisting arrest
I can still hear his voice crying
In the wilderness
What looks large from a distance
Close up ain't never that big.
I never could learn to drink that blood
And call it wine
I never could learn to hold you, love
And call you mine.
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
I don't know
Has anybody seen my love
Everybody's asking why he couldn't adjust
Adjust to what?
A dream that bust?
He was a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That's what they did
They said what's up is down
They said what isn't is
They put ideas in his head
That he thought were his
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That's what they did
He was on the baseball team
He was in the marching band
When he was ten years old
He had a watermelon stand
He was a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That's what they did
They said, "Listen boy, you're just a pup"
They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up
They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills
A jeep to drive, blood to spill
They said "Congratulations
You got what it takes"
They sent him back
Into the rat race without any brakes
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That's what they did
He bought the American dream but it put him in debt
Only game he could play was Russian roulette
He drank Coca-Cola, he was eating Wonder Bread
He ate Burger Kings, he was well fed
He went to Hollywood
To see Peter O'Toole
He stole a Rolls Royce
And drove it in a swimming pool
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That's what they did
He could've sold insurance, owned a restaurant or bar
He could've been an accountant or a tennis star
He's wearing boxing gloves, took a dive one day
Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay
His mama walks the floor
His daddy weeps and moans
They gotta sleep together
In a home they don't own
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That's what they did
Well, everybody's asking why he didn't adjust
All he ever wanted was somebody to trust
They took his head and turned it inside out
He never did know what it was all about
He had a steady job
He joined the choir
He never did plan to walk the high wire
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
There's a long distance train rolling through the rain
Tears on the letter I write
There's a woman I long to touch and I missin' her so much
But she's drifting like a satellite
There's a neon light ablaze in the green smoky haze
And laughter down on Elizabeth Street
There's a lonesome bell tone in that valley of stone
Where she bathed in a stream of pure heat
Her father would emphasize you got to be more than street-wise
But he practiced what he preached from the heart
A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted it to me
The time and the place that we part
There's a babe in the arms of a woman in a rage
And a longtime golden-haired stripper on stage
And she winds back the clock and she turns back the page
Of a book that nobody can write
Oh, where are you tonight?
The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure
To live it you had to explode
And at the last hour of need, we entirely agreed
Sacrifice was the code of the road
I left town at dawn, with Marcel and St. John
Strong men belittled by doubt
I couldn't tell her what my private thoughts were
But she had some way of finding them out
He took dead-center aim, but he missed just the same
She was waiting putting flowers on the shelf
She could feel my despair as I climbed up her hair
And discovered her invisible self
There's a lion in the road, there's a demon escaped
There's a million dreams gone, there's a landscape being raped
As her beauty fades and I watch her undrape
But I won't but then maybe again I might
Oh, if I could just find you tonight
I fought with my twin, that enemy within
'Til both of us fell by the way
Horseplay and disease is killing me by degrees
While the law looks the other way
Your partners in crime hit me up for nickels and dimes
The man you were loving couldn't never get clean
It felt out of place, my foot in his face
But he should've stayed where his money was green
I bit into the root of forbidden fruit
With the juice running down my leg
Then I dealt with your boss, who'd never known about loss
Who always was too proud to beg
There's a white diamond gloom, on the dark side of this room
And a pathway that leads up to the stars
If you don't believe there's a price for this sweet paradise
Just remind me to show you the stars
There's a new day at dawn, and I've finally arrived
If I'm there in the morning, baby, you'll know I've survived
I can't believe it, I can't believe I'm alive
But without you it doesn't seem right
Sixteen years
Sixteen banners united over the field
Where the good shepherd grieves
Desperate men, desperate women divided
Spreading their wings 'neath falling leaves.
Fortune calls
I stepped forth from the shadows to the marketplace
Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down
She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born
On midsummer's eve near the tower.
The cold-blooded moon
The captain waits above the celebration
Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid
Whose ebony face is beyond communication
The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid.
They shaved her head
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo
A messenger arrived with a black nightingale
I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow
Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.
I stumbled to my feet
I rode past destruction in the ditches
With the stitches still mending beneath a heart-shaped tattoo
Renegade priests and treacherous young witches
Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you.
The palace of mirrors
Where dog soldiers are reflected
The endless road and the wailing of chimes
The empty rooms where her memory is protected
Where the angel's voices whisper to the souls of previous times.
She wakes him up
Forty-eight hours later the sun is breaking
Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks
She's begging to know what measures he now will be taking
He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long golden locks.
Gentlemen, he said I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes
I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.
Peace will come
With tranquillity and splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
Born in Red Hook Brooklyn in the year of who knows when
Opened up his eyes to the tune of an accordion
Always on the outside whatever side there was
When they asked him why it had to be that way "Well" he answered "just because".
Larry was the oldest Joey was next to last
They called Joe "Crazy" the baby they called "Kid Blast"
Some say they lived off gambling and running numbers too
It always seemed they got caught between the mob and the men in blue.
Joey, Joey
King of the streets child of clay
Joey, Joey
What made them want to come and blow you away.
There was talk they killed their rivals but the truth was far from that
No one ever knew for sure where they were really at
When they tried to strangle Larry, Joey almost hit the roof
He went out that night to seek revenge thinking he was bulletproof.
The war broke out at the break of dawn it emptied out the streets
Joey and his brothers suffered terrible defeats
Till they ventured out behind the lines and took five prisoners
They stashed them away in a basement called them amateurs.
The hostages were trembling when they heard a man exclaim
"Let's blow this place to kingdom come let Con Edison take the blame"
But Joey stepped up, and he raised his hand and said, "We're not those kind of men
It's peace and quiet that we need to go back to work again".
Joey, Joey
King of the streets child of clay
Joey, Joey
What made them want to come and blow you away.
The police department hounded him, they called him Mr. Smith
They got him on conspiracy, they were never sure who with
"What time is it" said the judge to Joey when they met
"Five to ten" said Joey. The judge says, "That's exactly what you get".
He did ten years in Attica, reading Nietzche and Wilhelm Reich
They threw him in the hole one time for trying to stop a strike
His closest friends were black men 'cause they seemed to understand
What it's like to be in society with a shackle on your hand.
When they let him out in '71 he'd lost a little weight
But he dressed like Jimmy Cagney and I swear he did look great
He tried to find the way back into the life he left behind
To the boss he said, "I've returned and now I want what's mine".
Joey, Joey
King of the streets child of clay
Joey, Joey
What made them want to come and blow you away.
It was true that in his later years he would not carry a gun
"I'm around too many children", he'd say, "they should never know of one"
Yet he walked right into the clubhouse of his lifelong deadly foe
Emptied out his register, said, "Tell 'em it was Crazy Joe".
One day they blew him down in a clam bar in New York
He could see it coming through the doors as he lifted up his fork
He pushed the table over to protect his family
Then he staggered out into the streets of Little Italy.
Joey, Joey
King of the streets child of clay
Joey, Joey
What made them want to come and blow you away.
Sister Jacqueline and Carmela and mother Mary all did weep
I heard his best friend Frankie say, "He ain't dead he's just asleep"
Then I saw the old man's limousine head back towards the grave
I guess he had to say one last goodbye to the son that he could not save.
The sun turned cold over President Street and the town of the Brooklyn mourned
They said a mass in the old church near the house where he was born
And someday if God's in heaven overlooking his preserve
I know the men that shot him down will get what they deserve.
Joey, Joey
King of the streets child of clay
Joey, Joey
Pistols shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out "My God they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbing the register I hope you understand
I saw them leaving" he says and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops"
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Patterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not shown up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around
He said "I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Cop said "Wait a minute boys this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.
Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says "Wha'd you bring him in here for ? He ain't the guy !"
Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Four months later the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are putting the screws to him looking for somebody to blame
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar ?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law ?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter you saw running that night ?"
"Don't forget that you are white".
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
Cops said "A boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talking to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow
You'll be doing society a favor
That sonofabitch is brave and getting braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim".
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
It's my work he'd say and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The DA said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder 'one' guess who testified
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers they all went along for the ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand ?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
That's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
Up on the white veranda
She wears a necktie and a Panama hat
Her passport shows a face from
Another time and place
She looks nothin' like that
And all the remnants of her recent past
Are scattered in the wild wind
She walks across the marble floor
Where a voice from the gambling room is callin' her to come on in
She smiles, walks the other way
As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
From Black Diamond Bay
As the mornin' light breaks open, the Greek comes down
And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write
"Pardon, monsieur," the desk clerk says
Carefully removes his fez
"Am I hearin' you right?"
And as the yellow fog is liftin'
The Greek is quickly headin' for the second floor
She passes him on the spiral staircase
Thinkin' he's the Soviet Ambassador
She starts to speak, but he walks away
As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway
On Black Diamond Bay
A soldier sits beneath the fan
Doin' business with a tiny man who sells him a ring
Lightning strikes, the lights blow out
The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout
"Can you see anything?"
Then the Greek appears on the second floor
In his bare feet with a rope around his neck
While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle
Says, "Open up another deck"
But the dealer says, "Attendez-vous, s'il vous plait"
As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
From Black Diamond Bay
The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough
He tried to grab the woman's hand
Said, "Here's a ring, it cost a grand"
She said, "That ain't enough"
Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb
She passed the door that the Greek had locked
Where a handwritten sign read, "Do not disturb"
She knocked upon it anyway
As the sun went down and the music did play
On Black Diamond Bay
I've got to talk to someone quick
But the Greek said, "Go away" and he kicked the chair to the floor
He hung there from the chandelier
She cried, "Help, there's danger near
Please open up the door!"
Then the volcano erupted
And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above
The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
Thinking of forbidden love
But the desk clerk said, "It happens every day"
As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
On Black Diamond Bay
As the island slowly sank
The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room
The dealer said, "It's too late now
You can take your money, but I don't know how
You'll spend it in the tomb"
The tiny man bit the soldier's ear
As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew
While she's out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her
"My darling, je vous aime beaucoup"
She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
From Black Diamond Bay
I was sittin' home alone one night in L.A.
Watchin' old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news
It seems there was an earthquake that
Left nothin' but a Panama hat
And a pair of old Greek shoes
Didn't seem like much was happenin'
So I turned it off and went to grab another beer
Seems like every time you turn around
There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear
And there's really nothin' anyone can say
And I never did plan to go anyway
Early one mornin', the sun was shinin'
He was lyin' in bed
Wonderin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red
Her folks, they said, our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough
And he was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on his shoes
Heading out for the old East Coast
Lord knows, he's paid some dues gettin' through
Tangled up in blue
She was married when they first met
Soon to be divorced
He helped her out of a jam, I guess
But he used a little too much force
And they drove that car as far as they could
Abandoned it out west
And split up on a dark sad night
Both agreein' it was best
And she turned around to look at him
'Cause he was walkin' away
She said, "This can't be the end
We'll meet on another day, on the avenue"
Tangled up in blue
He had a job in the old North Woods
Workin' as a cook for a spell
But he never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell
When he drifted down to L.A.
Where he reckoned to try his luck
Workin' for a while on an airplane plant
Loading cargo on to a truck
But all the while he was alone
The past was close behind
He'd seen a lot of women
But she never escaped his mind, and he just grew
Tangled up in blue
She was workin' in a topless place
I stopped in for beer
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear
And later on, as the crowd thinned out
I was about to do the same
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "What's your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath
She studied the lines on my face
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe
Tangled up in blue
She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello", she said
"You look like the silent type"
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul, from me to you
Tangled up in blue
He was always in a hurry
Too busy or too stoned
And everything that she ever planned
Just had to be postponed
We thought they were successful
She thought they were blessed
With objects and material things
But I never was impressed
And when it all came crashin' down
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue
So now I'm going back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are doctor's wives
Don't know how it all got started
Don't know what they're doin' with their lives
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from a different point of view
The festival was over and the boys were all plannin' for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin' in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin' wheel shut down
Anyone with any sense had already left town
He was standin' in the doorway lookin' like the Jack of Hearts
He moved across the mirrored room, "Set it up for everyone" he said
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin'
Before he turned their heads
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
"Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts
Backstage the girls were playin' five-card stud by the stairs
Lily had two queens, she was hopin' for a third to match her pair
Outside the streets were fillin' up, the window was open wide
A gentle breeze was blowin', you could feel it from inside
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts
Big Jim was no one's fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance lookin' so dandy and so fine
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
"Sorry, darlin', that I'm late" but he didn't seem to hear
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts
"I know I've seen that face before," Big Jim was thinkin' to himself
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Starin' at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts
Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do
She had that certain flash every time she smiled
She'd come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere
But she'd never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts
The hangin' judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined
The drillin' in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind
It was known all around that Lily had Jim's ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king
No, nothin' ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein' her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide
Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazin' to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts
Lily took her dress off, buried it away
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him
"Well, I guess you must have known it would someday"
"Be careful not to touch the wall, there's a brand-new coat of paint
I'm glad to see you're still alive, you're lookin' like a saint"
Down the hallway footsteps were comin' for the Jack of Hearts
The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
"There's something funny going on" he said
"I can just feel it in the air"
He went to get the hangin' judge, but the hangin' judge was drunk
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts
No one knew the circumstance
But they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin' there, ya couldn't say surprised
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts
Two doors down, the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe
It's said that they got off with quite a haul
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town
But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts
The next day was hangin' day, the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink
The hangin' judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink
The only person on the scene missin' was the Jack of Hearts
The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, "Closed for repair"
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair
She was thinkin' 'bout her father, who she very rarely saw
Thinkin' 'bout Rosemary and thinkin' about the law
Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick but when they will I can only guess
They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky.
People see me all the time and they just can't remember how to act
Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts
Even you yesterday you had to ask me where it was at
I couldn't believe after all these years you didn't know even me better than that
Sweet lady.
Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading south
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe
I ran into the fortune-teller who said beware of lightning that might strike
I haven't known peace and quit for so long I can't remember what it's like
There's a lone soldier on the cross smoke pouring out of a boxcar door
You didn't know it you didn't think it could be done in the final end he won the wars
After losing every battle.
I woke up on the roadside daydreaming about the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are making me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies
One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes
Blood on your saddle.
Idiot wind blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.
It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart
Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad what's bad is good you'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom.I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed your eyes don't look
into mine
The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone faced while the
building burned
I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees while the
springtime turned
Slowly into autumn.
Idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to Capitol
Idiot wind blowing every time you move you teeth
You're an idiot babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.
I can't feel you anymore, I can't even touch the books you've read
Every time I crawl past your door, I been wishing I was somebody else instead
Down the highway down the tracks down the road to ecstasy
I followed you beneath the stars hounded by your memory
And all you raging glory.
I been double-crossed now for the very last time and now I'm finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me
You'll never know the hurt I suffered not the pain I raise above
And I'll never know the same about you your holiness or your kind of love
And it makes me feel so sorry.
Idiot wind blowing through the buttons of our coats
Blowing through the letters that we wrote
Idiot wind blowing through the dust upon our shelves
We're idiots babe
Hazel, dirty blonde hair
I wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with you anywhere
You got something I want plenty of
Ooh, a little touch of your love.
Hazel, stardust in your eye
You're going somewhere and so am I
I'd give you the sky high above
Ooh, for a touch of your love.
Oh no, I don't need any reminder
To know how much I really care
But it's just making me blinder and blinder
Because I am up on the hill and still you're not there.
Hazel, you called and I came
Now don't make me play this waiting game
You've got something I want plenty of
Twilight on the frozen lake
A north wind about to break
On the footprints in the snow
Silence down below.
You're beautiful beyond words
You're beautiful to me
You can make me cry
Never say goodbye.
Because my dreams are made
Of iron and steel
With a big boquet of roses hanging down
From the heavens to the ground.
The crashing waves roll over me
As I stand upon the sand
And wait for you to come
Grab hold of my hand.
Oh baby, baby, baby blue
You'll change your last name too
You turned your hair to brown
In the lonely night in the blinking stardust of a pale blue light
You're coming through to me in black and white when we were made of
dreams
You're blowin' down a shaky street you're hearing my heart beat
In the record breaking heat where we were born in time.
Not one more night not one more kiss
Not this time babe no more of this
Takes too much skill takes too much of will
It's too reavealing.
You came you saw just like the law
You married young just like you ma
You tried and tried you made me slide
You left me reeling with this feeling
On the rising curve where the ways of nature will test every nerve
You don't get anything you don't deserve where we were born in time.
You pressed me once you pressed me twice
You hung the blade you'll pay the price
Oh babe that fire is still smoking.
You were snow you were rain
You were striped you were plain
Oh babe truer words have not been spoken
Or broken.
If there's a mystery in the foggy world of destiny
Alberta, let your hair hang low, Alberta, let your hair hang low,
I'll give you more gold than your apron can hold
If you'll only let your hair hang low.
Alberta, what's on your mind, Alberta, what's on your mind
You keep me worried and bothered all of the time
Alberta, what's on your mind
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind, Alberta, don't you treat me unkind
My heart is so sad because I want you so bad
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind
Alberta, let your hair hang low, Alberta, let your hair hang low,
I'll give you more gold than your apron can hold
If you'll only let your hair hang low.
All the tired horses in the sun
How am I supposed to get any riding done ?
Alberta, let your hair hang low, Alberta, let your hair hang low,
I'll give you more gold than your apron can hold
If you'll only let your hair hang low.
Alberta, what's on your mind, Alberta, what's on your mind ?
You keep me worried and bothered all of the time
Alberta, what's on your mind ?
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind, Alberta, don't you treat me unkind ?
My heart is so sad because I want you so bad
Alberta, don't you treat me unkind ?
Alberta, let your hair hang low, Alberta, let your hair hang low,
I'll give you more gold than your apron can hold
If you'll only let your hair hang low.
Three angels up above the street
Each one playing a horn
Dressed in green robes with wings that stick out
They're been there since Christmas morn'
The wildest cat from Montana passes by in a flash
Then a lady in a bright orange dress
One U-Haul trailer, a truck with no wheels
The Tenth Avenue bus going west
The dogs and pigeons fly up and they flutter around
A man with a badge skips by
Three fellows crawling on their way back to work
Nobody stops to ask why
The bakery truck stops outside of that fence
Where the angels stand high on their poles
The driver peeks out, trying to find one face
In this concrete world full of souls
The angels play on their horns all day
The whole earth in progressions seems to pass by
But does anyone hear the music they play ?
The man in me will do nearly any task
As for compensation, there's a little he will ask
Take a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.
Storm clouds are raging all around my door
I think to myself I might not take it anymore
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me.
But, oh what a wonderful feeling
Just to know that you are near
It sets my heart a-reeling
From my toes up to my ears.
The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from being seen
But that's just because he doesn't want to turn into some machine
Take a woman like you
Father of night, Father of day
Father who takes the darkness away
Father who teacheth the birds to fly
Builder of rainbows up in the sky
Father of loneliness and pain
Father of love and Father of rain.
Father of day, Father of night
Father of black, Father of white
Father who built the mountains so high
Who shapeth the cloud there up in the sky
Father of time and Father of dreams
Father who turneth the river and stream.
Father of grain, Father of wheat
Father of cold and Father of heat
Father of air and Father of trees
Who dwells in our hearts and our memories
Father of minutes, Father of days
Close your eyes, close your door
You don't have to worry any more
I'll be your baby tonight.
Shut the light, shut the shade
You don't have to be afraid
I'll be your baby tonight.
Well, that mockingbird's gonna sail away
We're gonna forget it
That big, fat moon is gonna shine like a spoon
But we're gonna let it
You won't regret it.
Kick your shoes off, do not fear
Bring that bottle over here
Down along the cove
I spied my true love comin' my way
Down along the cove
I spied my true love comin' my way
I say, "Lord, have mercy, mama
It sure is good to see you comin' today".
Down along the cove
I spied my little bundle of joy
Down along the cove
I spied my little bundle of joy
She said, "Lord, have mercy, honey
I'm so glad you're my boy".
Down along the cove
We walked together hand in hand
Down along the cove
We walked together hand in hand
Ev'rybody watchin' us go by
Dear landlord
Please don't put a price on my soul
My burden is heavy
My dreams are beyond control
When that steamboat whistle blows
I'm gonna give you all I got to give
And I do hope you receive it well
Depending on the way you feel that you live.
Dear landlord
Please heed these words that I speak
I know you've suffered much
But in this you are not so unique
All of us, at times we might work too hard
To have it too fast and too much
And anyone can fill his life up
With things he can see but he just cannot touch.
Dear landlord
Please don't dismiss my case
I'm not about to argue
I'm not about to move to no other place
Now, each of us has his own special gift
And you know this was meant to be true
And if you don't underestimate me
As I went out one morning
To breathe the air around Tom Paine's
I spied the fairest damsel
That ever did walk in chains
I offer'd her my hand
She took me by the arm
I knew that very instant
She meant to do me harm.
"Depart from me this moment"
I told her with my voice
Said she, "But I don't wish to"
Said I, "But you have no choice"
"I beg you, sir", she pleaded
From the corners of her mouth
"I will secretly accept you
And together we'll fly south".
Just then Tom Paine, himself
Came running from across the field
Shouting at this lovely girl
And commanding her to yield
And as she was letting go her grip
Up Tom Paine did run
"I'm sorry, sir", he said to me
Oh, the ragman draws circles
Up and down the block
I'd ask him what the matter was
But I know that he don't talk
And the ladies treat me kindly
And furnish me with tape
But deep inside my heart
I know I can't escape
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Well Shakespeare he's in the alley
With his pointed shoes and his bells
Speaking to some French girl
Who says she knows me well
And I would send a message
To find out if she's talked
But the post office has been stolen
And the mailbox is locked
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Mona tried to tell me
To stay away from the train line
She said that all the railroad men
Just drink up your blood like wine
And I said "Oh I didn't know that
But then again there's only one I've met
And he just smoked my eyelids
And punched my cigarette"
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Grandpa died last week
And now he's buried in the rocks
But everybody still talks about
How badly they were shocked
But me, I expected it to happen
I knew he'd lost control
When he built a fire on Main Street
And shot it full of holes
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Now the senator came down here
Showing ev'ryone his gun
Handing out free tickets
To the wedding of his son
And me, I nearly get bursted
And wouldn't it be my luck
To get caught without a ticket
And be discovered beneath a truck
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Now the preacher looked so baffled
When I asked him why he dressed
With twenty pounds of headlines
Stapled to his chest
But he cursed me when I proved it to him
Then I whispered, "Not even you can hide
You see, you're just like me
I hope you're satisfied"
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Now the rainman gave me two cures
Then he said, "Jump right in"
The one was Texas medicine
The other was just railroad gin
And like a fool I mixed them
And it strangled up my mind
And now, people just get uglier
And I have no sense of time
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon
Where I can watch her waltz for free
'Neath her Panamanian moon
And I say, "Aw come on now
You know you know about my debutante"
And she says, "Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want"
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Now the bricks lay on Grand Street
Where the neon madmen climb
They all fall there so perfectly
It all seems so well timed
And here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
You have to pay to get out of
Going through all these things twice
Oh, Mama, is this really the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again.
Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned.
Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned.
They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table
They'll stone ya when you are young and able
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck
They'll stone ya and then they'll say "good luck"
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned.
Well, They'll stone you and say that it's the end
Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car
They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar
Yes, but I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned.
Well, they'll stone you when you walk all alone
They'll stone you when you are walking home
They'll stone you and then say you are brave
They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned.
I got this graveyard woman, you know she keeps my kid
But my soulful mama, you know she keeps me hid
She's a junkyard angel and she always gives me bred
Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
Well, when the pipeline gets broken and I'm lost on the river bridge
I'm cracked up on the highway and on the water's edge
She comes down the thruway ready to sew me up with thread
Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
Well, she don't make me nervous, she don't talk too much
She walks like Bo Diddley and she don't need no crutch
She keeps this four-ten all loaded with lead
Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed.
Well, you know I need a steam shovel mama to keep away the dead
I need a dump truck baby to unload my head
She brings me everything and more, and just like I said
They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row.
Cinderella, she seems so easy
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
"You belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row.
Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row.
Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row.
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row.
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row.
Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
In a perfect image of a priest
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Get outa here if you don't know"
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row.
At midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row.
They be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody's shouting
"Which side are you on ?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row.
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
About the time the door knob broke
When you asked me how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke ?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Dont send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She doesn't have to say she's faithful
Yet she's true, like ice, like fire
People carry roses
And make promises by the hours
My love she laughs like the flowers
Valentines can't buy her.
In the dime stores and bus stations
People talk of situations
Read books, repeat quotations
Draw conclusions on the wall
Some speak of the future
My love she speaks softly
She knows there's no success like failure
And that failure's no succes at all.
The cloak and dagger dangles
Madams light the candles
In ceremonies of the horsemen
Even the pawn must hold a grudge
Statues made of match sticks
Crumble into one another
My love winks, she does not bother
She knows too much to argue or to judge.
The bridge at midnight trembles
The country doctor rambles
Bankers' nieces seek perfection
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring
The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows rainy
My love she's like some raven
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proved to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to you ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their marks
Made everything from toy guns that sparks
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You loose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand without nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despite their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platforms ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God Bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges, watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me ?
And if my thought-dreams could been seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
I was riding on the Mayflower
When I thought I spied some land
I yelled for Captain Ahab
I have yuh understand
Who came running to the deck
Said, "Boys, forget the whale
Look on over yonder
Cut the engines
Change the sail
Haul on the bowline"
We sang that melody
Like all tough sailors do
When they are far away at sea.
"I think I'll call it America"
I said as we hit the land
I took a deep breath
I fell down, I could not stand
Captain Ahab he started
Writing up some deeds
He said, "Let's set up a fort
And start buying the place with beads"
Just then this cop comes down the street
Crazy as a loon
He throw us all in jail
For carryin' harpoons.
Ah me I busted out
Don't even ask me how
I went to get some help
I walked by a Guernsey cow
Who directed me down
To the Bowery slums
Where people carried signs around
Saying, "Ban the bums"
I jumped right into line
Sayin' "I hope that I'm not late"
When I realized I hadn't eaten
For five days straight.
I went into a restaurant
Lookin' for the cook
I told him I was the editor
Of a famous etiquette book
The waitress he was handsome
He wore a powder blue cape
I ordered some suzette, I said
"Could you please make that crepe"
Just then the whole kitchen exploded
From boillin' fat
Food was flying anywhere
And I left without my hat.
Now, I didn't mean to be nosy
But I went into a bank
To get some bail for Ahab
And all the boys back in the tank
They asked me for some collateral
And I pulled down my pants
They threw me in the alley
When up comes this girl from France
Who invited me to her house
I went, but she had a friend
Who knocked me out
And robbed my boots
And I was on the street again.
Well, I rapped upon a house
With the US flag upon display
I said, "Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way
" The man says, "Get out of here
I'll tear you limp from limb"
I said, "You know they refused Jesus, too"
He said, "You're not Him
Get out of here before I break your bones
I ain't your pop"
I decided to have him arrested
And I went lookin for a cop.
I ran right outside
And I hopped inside a cab
I went out the other door
This Englishman said, "Fab"
As he saw me leap a hot dog stand
And a chariot that stood
Parked across from a building
Advertising brotherhood
I ran right through the front door
Like a hobo sailor does
But it was just a funeral parlor
And the man asked me who I was.
I repeated that my friends
Where all in jail, with a sigh
He gave me his card
He said, "Call me if they die"
I shook his hand and said goodbye
Ran out to the street
When a bowling ball came down the road
And knocked me off my feet
A pay phone was ringing
It just about blew my mind
When I picked it up and said hello
This foot came through the line.
Well, by this time I was feed up
At tryin'g to make a stab
At bringin' back any help
For my friends and captain Arab
I decided to flip a coin
Like either heads or tails
Would let me know if I should go
Back to the ship or back to jail
So I hocked my sailor suit
And I got a coin to flip
It came up tails
It rhymed with sails
So I made it back to the ship.
Well, I got back and took
The parkin' ticket off the mast
I was ripping it to shreds
When this coastguard boat went past
They asked me my name
And I said, "Captain Kidd"
They believed me but
They wanted to know
What exactly that I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
They let me go right away
They were very paranoid.
Well, the last I heard of Ahab
He was stuck on a whale
That was married to the deputy
Sheriff of the jail
But the funniest thing was
When I was leavin' the bay
I saw three ships a-sailin'
There were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
Of war and peace the truth just twists
Its curfew gull just glides
Upon four-legged forest clouds
The cowboy angel rides
With his candle lit into the sun
Though its glow is waxed in black
All except when 'neath the trees of Eden.
The lamppost stands with folded arms
Its iron claws attached
To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail
Though it shadows metal badge
All and all can only fall
With a crashing but meaningless blow
No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden.
The savage soldiers sticks his head in sand
And then complains
Unto the shoeless hunter who's gone deaf
But still remains
Upon the beach where hound dogs bay
At ships with tatooed sails
Heading for the Gates of Eden.
With a time-rusted compass blade
Alladin and his lamp
Sits with Utopian hermit monks
Side saddle on the Golden Calf
And on their promises of paradise
You will not hear a laugh
All except inside the Gates of Eden.
Relationships of ownership
They whisper in the wings
To those condemned to act accordingly
And wait for succeeding kings
And I will try to harmonize with songs
The lonesome sparrow sings
There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden.
The motorcycle black madonna
Two-wheeled gypsy queen
And her silver-studded phantom cause
The gray flannel dwarf to scream
As he weeps to wicked birds of prey
Who pick up on his bread crumb sins
And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden.
The kingdoms of Experience
In the precious wind they rot
While paupers change possessions
Each one wishing for what the other has got
And the princess and the prince
Discuss what's real and what is not
It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden.
The foreign sun, it squints upon
A bed that is never mine
As friends and other strangers
From their fates try to resign
Leaving men wholly totally free
To do anything they wish to do but die
And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden.
At dawn my lower comes to me
And tells me of her dreams
With no attempts to shovel the glimpse
Into the ditch of what each one means
At times I think there are no words
But these to tell what's true
Some time ago a crazy dream came to me
I dreamt I was walkin' into World War Three
I went to the doctor the very next day
To see what kinda words he could say
He said it was a bad dream
I wouldn't worry 'bout it none, though
They're dreams and they're only in your head.
I said, "Hold it, Doc, a World War passed through my brain".
He said, "Nurse, get your pad, this boy's insane".
He grabbed my arm, I said "Ouch".
As I landed on the psychiatric couch
He said, "Tell me about it".
Well, the whole thing started at 3 o'clock fast
It was all over by quarter past
I was down in the sewer with some little lover
When I peeked out from a manhole cover
Wondering who turned the lights on.
Well, I got up and walked around
And up and down the lonesome town
I stood a-wondering which way to go
I lit a cigarette on a parking meter
And walked on down the road
It was a normal day.
Well, I rung the fallout shelter bell
And leaned my head and I gave a yell
"Give me a string bean I'm a hungry man"
A shortgun fired and away I ran
I don't blame them too much though
They didn't know me.
Down at the corner by a hot-dog stand
I seen a man I said "Howdy friend,
I guess there's just us two"
He screamed a bit and away he flew
Thought it was a Communist.
Well, I spied me a girl and before she could leave
"Let's go and play Adam and Eve"
I took her by the hand and my heart it was thumpin'
When she said, "Hey man, you crazy or sumpin'
You see what happened last time they started".
Well, I seen a Cadillac window uptown
And there was nobody aroun'
I got into the driver's seat
And I drove down to 42nd Street
In my Cadillac
Good car to drive after a war.
Well, I remember seein' some ad
So I turned on my Conelrad
But I didn't pay my Con Ed bill
So the radio didn't work so well
Turned on my record player
It was Rock-A-Day Johnny singin'
"Tell Your Ma, Tell Your Pa
Our Loves Are Gonna Grow Ooh-wah, Ooh-wah"
I was feelin' kinda lonesome and blue
I needed somebody to talk to
So I called up the operator of time
Just to hear a voice of some kind
"When you hear the beep
It will be three o'clock"
She said that for over an hour
And I hung up.
Well the doctor interrupted me just about then
Sayin' "Hey I've been havin' the same old dreams
But mine was a little different you see
I dreamt that the only person left after the war was me
I didn't see you around".
Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody's having them dreams
Everybody sees themselves walkin' around with no one else
Half of the people can be part right all of the time
Some of the people can be all right part of the time
But all of the people can't be all right all of the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that
"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours"
I'm just average, common too
I'm just like him, the same as you
I'm everybody's brother and son
I ain't different than anyone
It ain't no use a-talking to me
It's just the same as talking to you
I was shadow-boxing earlier in the day
I figured I was ready for Cassius Clay
I said "Fee, fie, fo, fum, Cassius Clay here I come
26, 27, 28, 29, I'm gonna make your face look just like mine
Five, four, three, two, one, Cassius Clay you'd better run
99, 100 101, 102, Your ma won't even recognize you
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, Gonna knock him clean right out of his spleenf
Well, I don't know, but I've been told
The streets in heaven are lined with gold
I ask you how things could get much worse
If the Russians happen to get up there first
Wowee! pretty scary
Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree
I want ev'rybody to be free
But if you think that I'll let Barry Goldwater
Move in next door and mary my daughter
You must think I'm crazy
I wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in Cuba
Well, I set my monkey on the log
And ordered him to do the Dog
He wagged his tail and shook his head
And he went and did the Cat instead
He's a weird monkey, very funky
I sat with my high-heeled sneakers on
Waiting to play tennis in the noonday sun
I had my white shorts rolled up past my waist
And my wig-hat falling in my face
But they wouldn't let me on the tennis court
I gotta woman, she's so mean
She sticks my boots in the washing machine
Sticks me with buckshot when I'm nude
Puts bubblegum in my food
She's funny, wants my money, calls me honey
Now I gotta friend who spends his life
Stabbing my picture with a bowie-knife
Dreams of strangling me with a scarf
When my name comes up he pretends to barf
I've got a million friends
Now they asked me to read a poem
At the sorority sister's home
I got knocked down and my head was swimmin'
I wound up with the Dean of Women
Yippee! I'm a poet, and I know it
Hope I don't blow it
I'm gonna grow my hair down to my feet so strange
So I look like a walking mountain range
And I'm gonna ride into Omaha on a horse
Out to the country club and the golf course
Carry the New York Times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds
You're probably wondering by now
Just what this song is all about
What's probably got you baffled more
What this thing here is for
It's nothing
I pounded on a farmhouse
Lookin' for a place to stay
I was mighty, mighty tired
I had come a long, long way
I said, "Hey, hey, in there
Is there anybody home ?
I was standin' on the steps
Feelin' must alone
Well, out comes a farmer
He must have thought that I was nuts
He immediately looked at me
And stuck a gun into my guts
I fell down
To my bended knees
Saying, "I dig farmers
Don't shoot me please"
He cocked his rifle
And began to shout
"You're that travelin' salesman
That I have heard about"v I said, "No ! No ! No !
I'm a doctor and it's true
I'm a clean-cut kid
And I been to college too".
Then in comes his daughter
Whose name was Rita
She looked like she stepped out of
La Dolce Vita
I immediately tried to cool it
With her dad
And told him what a
Nice, pretty farm he had
He said, "What do doctors
Know about farms, pray tell ?"
I said, "I was born
At the bottom of a wishing well".
Well, by the dirt 'neath my nails
I guess he knew I wouldn't lie
He said "I guess, you're tired"
He said, kinds sly
I said, "Yes, ten thousand miles
Today I drove"
He said, "I got a bed for you
Underneath the stove
Just one condition
You got to sleep right now
That you don't touch my daughter
And in the morning, milk the cow".
I was sleepin' like a rat
When I heard something jerkin'
There stood Rita
Lookin' just like Tony Perkins
She said, "Would you like to take a shower ?
I'll show you up to the door"
I said, "Oh, no, no
I've been through this movie before
I knew I had to split
But I didn't know how
When she said,
"Would you like to take that shower now ?"
Well, I couldn't leave
Unless the old man chased me out
'Cause I'd already promised
That I'd milk his cows
I had to say something
To strike him very weird
So I yelled out
"I like Fidel Castro and his beard"
Rita looked offended
But she got out of the way
As he came charging down the stairs
Sayin', "What's that I heard you say ?"
I said, "I like Fidel Castrov I think you heard me right"
And I ducked as he swung
At me with all his might
Rita mumbled something
'Bout her mother on the hill
As his fist hit the icebox
He said he's going to kill me
If I don't get out of the door
In two seconds flat
"Your unpatriotic
Rotten doctor Commie rat".
Well, he threw a Reader's Digest
At my head and I did run
I did a somersault
As I seen him get his gun
And chrashed through the window
At a hundred miles an hour
And landed fully blast
In his garden flowers
Rita said, "Come back"
As he started to load
The sun was comin' up
And I was runnin' down the road.
Well, I don't figure I'll be back
There for a spell
Even though Rita moved away
And got a job in a motel
He still waits for me
Constant on the sky
He wants to turn me in
To the FBI
Me, I romp and stomping
Thankful as a romp
Without freedom of speech
I can't understand
She let go of my hand
An' left me here facing the wall
I'd sure like to know
Why she did go
But I can't get close to her at all
Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime
She said she would never forget
But now mornin's clear
It's like ain't here
She acts like we never have met.
It's all new to me
Like some mystery
It could even be like a myth
But it's hard to think on
That she's the same one
That last night I was with
From darkness, dreams're deserted
Am I still dreamin' yet
I wish she'd unlock
Her voice once and talk
'Stead of acting like we never have met.
If she ain't feelin' well
Then why don't she tell
'Stead of turnin' her back to my face
Without any doubt
She seems too far out
For me to return to her chase
Though her skirt it swayed as a guitar played
Her mouth was watery and wet
But now something has changed
For she ain't the same
She just acts like we never have met.
If I didn't have to guess
I'd gladly confess
To anything I might've tried
If I was with her too long
Or have done something wrong
I wish she'd tell me what it is, I'll run and hide
Though the night ran swirling and whirling
I remember her whispering yet
But evidently she don't
And evidently she won't
She did act like we never have met.
I'll leavin' today
I'll be on my way
Of this I can't say very much
But if you want me to
I can be just like you
And pretend that we never have touched
And if anybody asks me, "Is it easy to forget "
I'll say, "It's easily done
You just pick anyone
And pretend that you never have met".
Well, I took me a woman late last night
I's three-fourths drunk she looked all right
'Til she started peelin' off her onion gook
She took off her wig, said, "How do I look" ?
I's high flyin', bare naked ...Out the window.
Well, sometimes I might get drunk
Walk like a duck and smell like a skunk
Don't hurt me none, don't hurt my pride
'Cause I got my little lady right by my side
(She's a tryin' a hide pretendin'
She don't know me).
I's out there paintin' on the old wood shed
When a can a black paint it fell on my head
I went down to scrub and rub
But I had to sit in back of the tub
(Cost a quarter
Half price).
Well, my telephone rang it would not stop
It's President Kennedy callin' me up
He said, "My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow" ?
I said, "My friend, John, "Brigitte Bardot,
Anita Ekberg
Sophia Loren"
Country'll grow.
Well, I got a woman five feet short
She yells and hollers and squeals and snorts
She tickles my nose pats me on the head
Blows me over and kicks me out of bed
(She's a man eater
Meat grinder
Bad looser).
Oh, there ain't no use in me workin' alla time
I got a woman who works herself blind
Works up to her britches, up to her neck
Write me letters and sends me checks
(She's a humdinger
Folk singer).
Late one day in the middle of the week
Eyes were closed I was half asleep
I chased me a woman up the hill
Right in the middle of an air drill
(I jumped a fallout shelter
I jumped the string bean
I jumped the TV dinner
I jumped the shot gun).
Now, the man on the stand he wants my vote
He's a-runnin' for office on the ballot note
He's out there preachin' in front of the steeple
Tellin' me he loves all kinds-a people
(He's eatin' bagels
He's eatin' pizza
He's eatin' chitlins).
Oh, set me down on a television floor
I'll flip the channel to number four
Out of the shower comes a football man
With a bottle of oil in his hand
(Greasy kid stuff
What I want to know, Mr. Football Man, is
What do you do about Willy Mays
Martin Luther King
Olatunji).
Well, the funniest woman I ever seen
Was the great-granddaughter of Mr. Clean
She takes about fifteen baths a day
Wants me to grow a moustache on my face
(She's insane).
Well, ask me why I'm drunk alla time
It levels my head and eases my mind
I just walk along and stroll and sing
I see better days and I do better things
(I catch dinosaurs
I make love to Elizabeth Taylor ...
How many roads most a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
I'm a man of constant sorrow
I've seen trouble all my days
I'll say, goodbye to Colorado
Where I was born and partly raised
Your mother says, I'm a stranger
My face you'll never see, no more
But there's one promise, darlin'
I'll see you on Gods golden shore
Through this open world I'm bound to ramble
Through ice and snows, sleet and rain
I'm bound to ride that mornin' railroad
Perhaps I'll die on that train
I'm goin' back to Colorado
The place that I've started from
If I'd knowed how bad you'd treat me
Feeling funny in my mind, Lord,
I believe I'm fixing to die, fixing to die
Feeling funny in my mind, Lord
I believe I'm fixing to die
Well, I don't mind dying
But I hate to leave my children crying
Well, I look over yonder to that burying ground
Look over yonder to that burying ground
Sure seems lonesome, Lord, when the sun goes down
Feeling funny in my eyes, Lord,
I believe I'm fixing to die, fixing to die
Feeling funny in my eyes, Lord
I believe I'm fixing to die
Well, I don't mind dying but
I hate to leave my children crying
There's a black smoke rising, Lord
It's rising up above my head, up above my head
It's rising up above my head, up above my head
And tell Jesus make up my dying bed.
I'm walking kind of funny, Lord
I believe I'm fixing to die, fixing to die
Yes I'm walking kind of funny, Lord
I believe I'm fixing to die
Fixing to die, fixing to die
Well, I don't mind dying
- I first heard this from Ric von Schmidt. He lives in Cambridge.
Ric is a blues guitarplayer. I met him one day on
The green pastures of the Harvard University. -
Baby let me follow you down, baby let me follow you down
Well I'll do anything in this godalmighty world
If you just let me follow you down.
Can I come home with you, baby can I come home with you ?
Yes I'll do anything in this godalmighty world
If you just let me come home with you.
Baby let me follow you down, baby let me follow you down
Well I'll do anything in this godalmighty world
If you just let me follow you down.
Yes I'll do anything in this godalmighty world
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Won't go down to Highway 51 no more.
Well, I know that highway like I know my hand
Yes, I know that highway like I know the back of my hand
Running from up Wisconsin way down to no man's land.
Well, if I should die before my time should come
And if I should die before my time should come
Won't you bury my body out on the Highway 51.
Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
I said, Highway 51 runs right by my baby's door
If I don't get the girl I'm loving
Mary wore three links of chain
Every link was Jesus name
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Mary, Mark, Luke and John
All these prophets so good and gone
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on.v
Well, I never been to heaven
But I've been told streets up there
Are lined with gold
Keep your hand on that plow, hold on
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, keep your hand on that plow, hold on.
I bless the day I found you
I want my arms around you
And so I beg you, let it be me
Don't take this Heaven from one
If you must cling to someone
Now and forever, let it be me
Each time we meet, love
I find complete love
Without your sweet love, what would life be?
So, never leave me lonely
Tell me that you love me only
And say you'll always, let it be me
So, never leave me lonely
Tell me that you love me only
I got those worried blues,
And I got those worried blues,
I got those worried blues,
I got those worried blues,
Lord, I'm a-going where I never been before.
I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow,
I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow,
Worried blues
I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow,
I'm going where the chilly winds don't blow,
I'm going where the climate suits my clothes.
Honey babe don't leave me now,
Honey babe don't leave me now,
Oh honey babe don't leave me now,
Honey babe don't leave me now.
I got trouble in my mind.
Listen to that cold whistle blow,
Lord listen to that cold whistle blow,
Listen to that cold whistle blow,
Listen to that cold whistle blow,
I'm going where I'm never been before.
So I got those worries blues, lord,
I got the worried blues,
I got the worried blues ,
And I got the worried blues.
I got a wife and five little chillun
I'm gonna take a trip on the big McMillan
With Saro Jane
Saro Jane
Ain't nothin' to do
But to set down and sing
And rock about my Saro Jane
The boiler busted and the whistle squall
The Captain gone through the hole-in-the-wall
Oh Saro Jane
Saro Jane
Ain't nothin' to do
But to set down and sing
And rock about my Saro Jane
The engine give a crack and the whistle gave a squall
The engineer gone to the hole-in-the-wall
Saro Jane
Saro Jane
Ain't nothin' to do
But to set down and sing
And rock about my Saro Jane
Yankee built boats to shoot them Rebels
My gun's steady gonna hold it level
Saro Jane
Saro Jane
But to set down and sing
And rock about my Saro Jane
I got a wife and five little chillun
I'm gonna take a trip on the big McMillan
Saro Jane
Saro Jane
Ain't nothin' to do
But to set down and sing
Now, there's a certain thing
That I learned from Jim
That he'd always make sure I'd understand
And that is that there's a certain way
That a man must swim
If he expects to live off
Of the fat of the land.
Open the door, Homer,
I've heard it said before.
Open the door, Homer,
I've heard it said before
But I ain't gonna hear it said no more.
Now, there's a certain thing
That I learned from my friend, Mouse
A fella who always blushes
And that is that ev'ryone
Must always flush out his house
If he don't expect to be
Goin' 'round housing flushes.
Open the door, Homer,
I've heard it said before.
Open the door, Homer,
I've heard it said before
But I ain't gonna hear it said no more.
"Take care of all your memories"
Said my friend, Mick
"For you cannot relive them
And remember when you're out there
Tryin' to heal the sick
That you must always
First forgive them."
Open the door, Homer,
I've heard it said before.
Open the door, Homer,
I've heard it said before
I'm gonna walk across the desert, 'til I'm in my right mind.
I won't even thing about, what I left behind
Nothing back there anyway, that I can call my own
Go back home, leave me alone
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
Ever since the British, burned the White House down
There's a bleeding wound, in the heart of town
I saw you drinking, from an empty cup
I saw you buried, and I saw you dug up
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
Look down angel, from the skies
Help my, weary soul to rise
I kissed her cheek, I dragged your frown(?)
You broke my heart, I was your friend 'til now.
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
In the courtyard, of the golden sun
You stand and fight, or you break and run
You went and lost, your lovely head
For a drink of wine, and a crust of bread
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
We looted and we plundered, on distant shores
Why is my share, not equal to yours
Your father left you, your mother too
Even death has, washed it's hands of you
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
This is hard country, to stay alive in
Blades are everywhere, and they're breaking my skin
I'm armed to the hilt, and I'm struggling hard
You won't get out, of here unscarred.
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
You got too many lovers, waiting at the wall
About a thousand tons, I couldn't count them all
Yesterday, I could've thrown them all in the sea
Today, even one, may be too much for me
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
Can't walk them baby, you could do no wrong
Put your arms around me, where they belong
I won't take you under, for the ghost to ride(?)
Lay my hands all over ya, tie you to my side
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
I've got a heavy stacked woman, with a smile on her face
And she has crowned, my soul with grace
Im still hurting from an arrow, that pierced my chest
I'm gonna have to take my head, and bury it between your breasts
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
Been dark all night, but now it's dawn
The moving finger, is moving on
You can guard me, while I sleep
Piss away, the tears I weep
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
If I cant work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me someday
I love women, and she loves men
We've been to the west, and we going back again
I heard a voice, at the dusk of day
Saying, "Be gentle brother, be gentle and pray."
It's a long road, it's a long and narrow way
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin ?
Who's gonna let it roll ?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin ?
Who's gonna let it down easy to save his soul ?
Oh look, he's driving a long, long time
There he still sits on top of the hill
Well aching and jumping with all laid down
With all of them ladies you know he's lonely still
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin ?
Who's gonna let it roll ?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin ?
Who's gonna let it down easy to save his soul ?
Well knee deep in number, heavy in toil
Mighty mockingbird he still has such a heavy load
Beneath his boundaries but more if I can tell
With all of these travelling but I'm still on that road
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin ?
Who's gonna let it roll ?
Who's gonna throw that minstrel boy a coin ?
Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations rise;
Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic host proclaim
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of the favored one.
Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"
Hail! the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing,
Frog went a-courtin' and he did ride
Frog went a-courtin' and he did ride
Frog went a-courtin' and he did ride
With a sword and a pistol by his side
Well he rode right up to Miss Mousey's door
Well he rode right up to Miss Mousey's door
Well he rode right up to Miss Mousey's door
Gave three loud raps and a very big roar
Said, "Miss Mouse, are you within?"
Said he, "Miss Mouse, are you within?"
Said, "Miss Mouse, are you within?"
"Yes, kind sir, I sit and spin"
He took Miss Mousey on his knee
Took Miss Mousey on his knee
Took Miss Mousey on his knee
Said, "Miss Mousey, will you marry me?"
Without my uncle Rat's consent
Without my uncle Rat's consent
Without my uncle Rat's consent
I wouldn't marry the President
Uncle Rat laughed and he shook his fat sides
Uncle Rat laughed and he shook his fat sides
Uncle Rat laughed and he shook his fat sides
To think his niece would be a bride
Uncle Rat went runnin' downtown
Uncle Rat went runnin' downtown
Uncle Rat went runnin' downtown
To buy his niece a wedding gown
Where shall the wedding supper be?
Where shall the wedding supper be?
Where shall the wedding supper be?
Way down yonder in a hollow tree
What should the wedding supper be?
What should the wedding supper be?
What should the wedding supper be?
Fried mosquito in a black-eye pea
Well, first to come in was a flyin' moth
First to come in was a flyin' moth
First to come in was a flyin' moth
She laid out the table cloth
Next to come in was a juney bug
Next to come in was a juney bug
Next to come in was a juney bug
She brought the water jug
Next to come in was a bumbley bee
Next to come in was a bumbley bee
Next to come in was a bumbley bee
Sat mosquito on his knee
Next to come in was a broken black flea
Next to come in was a broken black flea
Next to come in was a broken black flea
Danced a jig with the bumbley bee
Next to come in was Mrs. Cow
Next to come in was Mrs. Cow
Next to come in was Mrs. Cow
She tried to dance but she didn't know how
Next to come in was a little black tick
Next to come in was a little black tick
Next to come in was a little black tick
She ate so much she made us sick
Next to come in was a big black snake
Next to come in was a big black snake
Next to come in was a big black snake
Ate up all of the wedding cake
Next to come in was the old gray cat
Next to come in was the old gray cat
Next to come in was the old gray cat
Swallowed the mouse and ate up the rat
Mr. Frog went a-hoppin' up over the brook
Mr. Frog went a-hoppin' up over the brook
Mr. Frog went a-hoppin' up over the brook
A lily-white duck come and swallowed him up
A little piece of cornbread layin' on a shelf
A little piece of cornbread layin' on a shelf
A little piece of cornbread layin' on a shelf
I was born in Dixie in a boomer shed
Just a little shanty by the railroad track
Freight train was it taught me how to cry
The holler of the driver was my lullaby
I got the freight train blues
Oh Lord mama, I got them in the bottom of my rambling shoes
And when the whistle blows I gotta go baby, don't you know
Well, it looks like I'm never gonna lose the freight train blues.
Well, my daddy was a fireman and my mama-ha
She was the only daugther of an enginer
My sweetheart was a brakeman and it ain't no joke
Seems a waste to get a good man broke
I got the freight train blues
Oh Lord mama, I got them in the bottom of my rambling shoes
And when the whistle blows I gotta go mama, don't you know
Well, it looks like I'm never gonna lose the freight train blues.
Well, the only thing that makes me laugh again
Is a southbound whistle on a southbound train
Every place I wanna go I never can go
Because you know I got the freight train blues
Oh, the gentlemen are talking and the midnight moon is on the riverside
They're drinking up and walking and it is time for me to slide
I live in another world where life and death are memorized
Where the earth is strung with lover's pearls and all I see are dark eyes.
A cock is crowing far away and another soldier's deep in prayer
Some mother's child has gone astray, she can't find him anywhere
But I can hear another drum beating for the dead that rise
Whom nature's beast fears as they come and all I see are dark eyes.
They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes
They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I'm sure it is
But I feel nothing for their game, where beauty goes unrecognized
All I feel is heat and flame, and all I see are dark eyes.
Oh, the French girl, she's in paradise and a drunken man is at the wheel
Hunger pays a heavy prize to the falling gods of speed and steel
Oh, time is short and the days are sweet and passion rules the arrow that flies
You speak to me
In sign language
As I'm eating a sandwich
In a small cafe
At a quarter to three
But I can't respond
To your sign language.
You're taking advantage,
Bringing me down.
Can't you make any sound?
'Twas there by the bakery
Surrounded by fakery
Tell her my story
Still I'm still there.
Does she know I still care?
Link Wray was playin'
On a jukebox I was payin'
For the words I was sayin'
So misunderstood
He didn't do me no good.
You speak to me
In sign language
As I'm eating a sandwich
In a small cafe
At a quarter to three
But I can't respond
To your sign language.
You're taking advantage,
Bringing me down.
Can't you make any sound?
(First release—Jesse Fuller)
Well I don't know why I love you like I do
Nobody in the world can get along with you.
You got the ways of a devil sleeping in a lion's den
I come home last night you wouldn't even let me in.
Well sometimes you're as sweet as anybody want to be
When you get a crazy notion of jumpin' all over me
Well you give me the blues I guess you're satisfied
An' you give me the blues I wanna lay down and die.
I helped you when you had no shoes on your feet, pretty mama
I helped you when you had no food to eat.
You're the kind of woman I just don't understand
You're takin' all my money and give it to another man.
Well you're the kinda woman makes a man lose his brain
You're the kinda woman drives a man insane
You give me the blues, I guess you're satisfied
You give me the blues, I wanna lay down and die
Well you give me the blues, I wanna lay down and die
Well I told my baby
I said Baby, I know where you been
Well, I know who you are
And what league you played in?
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.
Well, the night is so empty
So quit and still
For only fifteen hundred dollars
You can have anybody killed
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.
Well, I told my baby
Further down the line
I said, ?What happens tomorrow
Is on your head, not mine?
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn
You wanna ramble
To the break of dawn.
Our conversation was short and sweet
It nearly swept me off-a my feet
And I'm back in the rain oh oh
And you're on dry land
You made it there somehow
You're a big girl now.
Bird on the horizon sitting on the fence
He's singing his song for me at his own expense
And I'm just like that bird oh oh
Singing just for you
I hope that you can hear
Hear me singing through these tears.
Time is a jet plane it moves so fast
Oh but what a shame if all we've shared can't last
I can change I swear oh oh
See what you can do
I can make it through
You can make it too.
Love is so simple to quote a phrase
You've known it all the time I'm learning it these days
Oh I know where I can find you oh oh
In somebody's room
It's a price I had to pay
You're a big girl all the way.
A change in the weather is known to be extreme
But what's the sense of changing horses in midstream ?
I'm going out of my mind oh oh
With a pain that stops and starts
Like a corkscrew to my heart
You angel you
You got me under your wing
The way you walk and the way you talk
I feel I could almost sing.
You angel you
You're as fine as anything's fine
I just want to watch you talk
With your memory on my mind
You know, I can't sleep at night for trying.
Yes, I never did feel this way before
I never did get up and walk the floor
If this is love then give me more
And more and more and more and more.
You angel you
You're as fine as can be
The way you walk and the way you talk
Is the way it ought to be.
You know, I can't sleep at night for trying
Never did feel this way before
Never did get up and walk the floor
If this is love then give me more
And more and more and more and more.
You angel you
You got me under your wing
The way you walk and the way you talk
Clouds so swift
Rain won't lift
Gate won't close
Railings froze
Get your mind of wintertime
You ain't goin' nowhere
Whoo-ee ride me high
Tomorrow's the day
My bride's gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair !
I don't care
How many letters they sent
Morning came and morning went
Pick up your money
And pack up your tent
You ain't goin' nowhere
Whoo-ee ride me high
Tomorrow's the day
My bride's gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair !
Buy me a flute
And a gun that shoots
Tailgates some substitutes
Strap yourself
To the tree with roots
You ain't goin' nowhere
Whoo-ee ride me high
Tomorrow's the day
My bride's gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair !
Genghis Khan
He could not keep
All his kings
Supplied with sleep
We'll climb that hill no matter how steep
When we come up to it
Whoo-ee ride me high
Tomorrow's the day
My bride's gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Well, the comic book and me, just us, we caught the bus
The poor litlle chauffeur, though, she was back in bed
On the very next day with a nose full of pus
Yea ! Heavy and a bottle of bread !
Yea ! Heavy and a bottle of bread !
Yea ! Heavy and a bottle of bread.
It's a one-track town, just brown and a breeze too
Pack up the meat, sweet, we're headin' out
For Wichita in a pile of fruit
Get the loot, don't be slow, we're gonna catch a trout
Get the loot, don't be slow, we're gonna catch a trout
Get the loot, don't be slow, we're gonna catch a trout.
Now, pull that drummer out from behind that bottle
Bring my pipe, we're gonna shake it
Slap that drummer with a pie that smells
Take me down to California, baby
Take me down to California, baby
Take me down to California, baby.
Yes, the comic book and me, just us, we caught the bus
The poor litlle chauffeur, though, she was back in bed
On the very next day with a nose full of pus.
Yea ! Heavy and a bottle of bread !
Yea ! Heavy and a bottle of bread !
Stranded out in the night,
Eliza took me down
To see the widow give
Rain to the town.
It's against the law
To be a tonic man,
But the widow knows
She's got the upper hand.
So I went on in
Feelin' kinda wheezy.
You know she soothed my mind, boys,
She rocked me kinda slow and easy
All day and all night.
Pick a card before you go
It's a long trip to Mexico.
Eliza wait by the door,
I can't stay here anymore, no, no.
Then she took a pill
She washed her feet in the mud
She said "Look out son,
You know, I just ordered a flood
For forty days and forty nights".
Then I dropped my shoes,
Eliza called my name.
She said it looked to her
Like it's gonna rain.
Then the cotton king
Came in chokin'
And the widow laughed and said:
"I ain't jokin'.
Take once for all"
She said "Now don't ya tease me.
I just fell in love, boy,
So rock me kinda slow and kinda easy,
All day and all night."
Sweet William said
With a drunken head:
"If I had a boat,
I'd help y'all float".
Eliza stood there watching,
William in a trance,
As the widow did the St. Vitus dance.
But just then an old man
With a boat named "Breezy"
Said: "You can ride with Clyde, boys,
If you rock it kinda slow and easy,
Instrumental
Instrumental
Winterlude, Winterlude, oh darling
Winterlude by the road tonight
Tonight there will be no quarreling
Everything is gonna be all right
Oh I see by the angel beside me
That love has a reason to shine
You're the one I adore come over here and give me more
Winterlude, this dude thinks you're fine.
Winterlude, Winterlude, my little apple
Winterlude by the corn in the field
Winterlude, let's go down to the chapel
Then come back and cook up a meal
Well, come out when the skating rink glistens
By the sun near the old crossroad sign
The snow is so cold but our love can be bold
Winterlude, don't be rude please be mine.
Winterlude, Winterlude, my little daisy
Winterlude by the telephone wire
Winterlude, it's making me lazy
Come one, sit by the logs in the fire
The moonlight reflects from the window
Where the snowflakes they cover the sand
Come out tonight everything will be tight
Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?
"Not I," says the referee,
"Don't point your finger at me.
I could've stopped it in the eighth
An' maybe kept him from his fate,
But the crowd would've booed, I'm sure,
At not gettin' their money's worth.
It's too bad he had to go,
But there was a pressure on me too, you know.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?
"Not us," says the angry crowd,
Whose screams filled the arena loud.
"It's too bad he died that night
But we just like to see a fight.
We didn't mean for him t' meet his death,
We just meant to see some sweat,
There ain't nothing wrong in that.
It wasn't us that made him fall.
No, you can't blame us at all."
Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?
"Not me," says his manager,
Puffing on a big cigar.
"It's hard to say, it's hard to tell,
I always thought that he was well.
It's too bad for his wife an' kids he's dead,
But if he was sick, he should've said.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?
"Not me," says the gambling man,
With his ticket stub still in his hand.
"It wasn't me that knocked him down,
My hands never touched him none.
I didn't commit no ugly sin,
Anyway, I put money on him to win.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?
"Not me," says the boxing writer,
Pounding print on his old typewriter,
Sayin', "Boxing ain't to blame,
There's just as much danger in a football game."
Sayin', "Fist fighting is here to stay,
It's just the old American way.
It wasn't me that made him fall.
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore,
Why an' what's the reason for?
"Not me," says the man whose fists
Laid him low in a cloud of mist,
Who came here from Cuba's door
Where boxing ain't allowed no more.
"I hit him, yes, it's true,
But that's what I am paid to do.
Don't say 'murder,' don't say 'kill.'
It was destiny, it was God's will."
Who killed Davey Moore,
There's a long-distance train rolling through the rain, tears on the letter I write.
There's a woman I long to touch and I miss her so much but she's drifting like a
satellite. There's a neon light ablaze in this green smoky haze, laughter down on
Elizabeth Street
And a lonesome bell tone in that valley of stone where she bathed in a stream of pure
heat. Her father would emphasize you got to be more than street-wise but he practiced
what he preached from the heart.
A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted to me the time and the place that
the trouble would start.
There's a babe in the arms of a woman in a rage
And a longtime golden-haired stripper onstage
And she winds back the clock and she turns back the page
Of a book that no one can write.
Oh, where are you tonight?
The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure, to live it you have to explode.
In that last hour of need, we entirely agreed, sacrifice was the code of the road.
I left town at dawn, with Marcel and St. John, strong men belittled by doubt.
I couldn't tell her what my private thoughts were but she had some way of finding
them out. He took dead-center aim but he missed just the same, she was waiting,
putting
flowers on the shelf.
She could feel my despair as I climbed up her hair and discovered her invisible self.
There's a lion in the road, there's a demon escaped,
There's a million dreams gone, there's a landscape being raped,
As her beauty fades and I watch her undrape,
I won't, but then again, maybe I might.
Oh, if I could just find you tonight.
I fought with my twin, that enemy within, 'til both of us fell by the way.
Horseplay and disease is killing me by degrees while the law looks the other way.
Your partners in crime hit me up for nickels and dimes, the guy you were lovin'
couldn't stay clean.
It felt outa place, my foot in his face, but he should-a stayed where his money was
green.
I bit into the root of forbidden fruit with the juice running down my leg.
Then I dealt with your boss, who'd never known about loss and who always was
too proud to beg.
There's a white diamond gloom on the dark side of this room and a pathway that leads
up to the stars.
If you don't believe there's a price for this sweet paradise, remind me to show you the
scars.
There's a new day at dawn and I've finally arrived.
If I'm there in the morning, baby, you'll know I've survived.
I can't believe it, I can't believe I'm alive,
But without you it just doesn't seem right.
Oh, where are you tonight?
Went to see the gypsy,
Stayin' in a big hotel.
He smiled when he saw me coming,
And he said, "Well, well, well."
His room was dark and crowded,
Lights were low and dim.
How are you?" he said to me,
I said it back to him.
I went down to the lobby
To make a small call out.
A pretty dancing girl was there,
And she began to shout,
"Go on back to see the gypsy.
He can move you from the rear,
Drive you from your fear,
Bring you through the mirror.
He did it in Las Vegas,
And he can do it here."
Outside the lights were shining
On the river of tears,
I watched them from the distance
With music in my ears.
I went back to see the gypsy,
It was nearly early dawn.
The gypsy's door was open wide
But the gypsy was gone,
And that pretty dancing girl,
She could not be found.
So I watched that sun come rising
From that little Minnesota town.
Love that's pure hopes all things
Believes all things, won't pull no strings
Won't sneak up into your room, tall, dark and handsome
Capture your soul and hold it for ransom.
You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.
Love that's pure, it don't make no claims
Intercedes for you 'stead of casting you blame
Will not deceive you or lead you to transgression
Won't write it up and make you sign a false confession.
You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.
Love that's pure won't lead you astray
Won't hold you back, won't mess up your day
Won't pervert you, corrupt you with stupid wishes
It don't make you envious, it don't make you suspicious.
You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.
Love that's pure ain't no accident
Always on time, is always content
An eternal flame, quietly burning
Never needs to be proud, nor restlessly yearning.
You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
Wanted man in California, wanted man in Buffalo,
Wanted man in Kansas City, wanted man in Ohio,
Wanted man in Mississippi, wanted man in old Cheyenne,
Wherever you might look tonight, you might see this wanted man.
I might be in Colorado or Georgia by the sea,
Working for some man who may not know at all who I might be.
If you ever see me comin' and if you know who I am,
Don't you breathe it to nobody 'cause you know I'm on the lam.
Wanted man by Lucy Watson, wanted man by Jeannie Brown,
Wanted man by Nellie Johnson, wanted man in this next town.
But I've had all that I've wanted of a lot of things I had
And a lot more than I needed of some things that turned out bad.
I got sidetracked in El Paso, stopped to get myself a map
Went the wrong way into Juarez with Juanita on my lap.
Then I went to sleep in Shreveport, woke up in Abilene
Wonderin' why the hell I'm wanted at some town halfway between.
Wanted man in Albuquerque, wanted man in Syracuse,
Wanted man in Tallahassee, wanted man in Baton Rouge,
There's somebody set to grab me anywhere that I might be
And wherever you might look tonight, you might get a glimpse of me.
Wanted man in California, wanted man in Buffalo,
Wanted man in Kansas City, wanted man in Ohio,
Wanted man in Mississippi, wanted man in old Cheyenne,
Wherever you might look tonight, you might see this wanted man.
Wallflower, wallflower
Won't you dance with me?
I'm sad and lonely too.
Wallflower, wallflower
Won't you dance with me?
I'm fallin' in love with you.
Just like you I'm wondrin' what I'm doin' here.
Just like you I'm wondrin' what's goin' on.
Wallflower, wallflower
Won't you dance with me?
The night will soon be gone.
I have seen you standing in the smoky haze
And I know that you're gonna be mine one of these days,
Mine alone.
Wallflower, wallflower
Take a chance on me.
Walk out if it doesn't feel right,
I can tell you're only lying.
If you got something better tonight,
Don't mess up my mind with your crying.
Walk out in the rain,
Walk out with your dreams,
Walk out of my life
If it doesn't feel right
And catch the next train.
Oh, darling, walk out in the rain.
I have come from so far away
Just to put a ring on your finger.
You've said all that you've got to say,
So please don't feel the need to linger.
Walk out in the rain,
Walk out with your dreams,
Walk out of my life
If it doesn't feel right
And catch the next train.
Oh, darling, walk out in the rain.
It's rainin' inside of the city,
My poor feet have walked 'til they're sore.
If you don't want my love, it's a pity,
I guess I can't see you no more.
Walk out in the rain,
Walk out with your dreams,
Walk out of my life
If it doesn't feel right
And catch the next train.
Oh, darling, walk out in the rain.
Everything went from bad to worse, money never changed a thing,
Death kept followin', trackin' us down, at least I heard your bluebird sing.
Now somebody's got to show their hand, time is an enemy,
I know you're long gone,
I guess it must be up to me.
If I'd thought about it I never would've done it, I guess I would've let it slide,
If I'd lived my life by what others were thinkin', the heart inside me would've died.
I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity,
Someone had to reach for the risin' star,
I guess it was up to me.
Oh, the Union Central is pullin' out and the orchids are in bloom,
I've only got me one good shirt left and it smells of stale perfume.
In fourteen months I've only smiled once and I didn't do it consciously,
Somebody's got to find your trail,
I guess it must be up to me.
It was like a revelation when you betrayed me with your touch,
I'd just about convinced myself that nothin' had changed that much.
The old Rounder in the iron mask slipped me the master key,
Somebody had to unlock your heart,
He said it was up to me.
Well, I watched you slowly disappear down into the officers' club,
I would've followed you in the door but I didn't have a ticket stub.
So I waited all night 'til the break of day, hopin' one of us could get free,
When the dawn came over the river bridge,
I knew it was up to me.
Oh, the only decent thing I did when I worked as a postal clerk
Was to haul your picture down off the wall near the cage where I used to work.
Was I a fool or not to try to protect your identity?
You looked a little burned out, my friend,
I thought it might be up to me.
Well, I met somebody face to face and I had to remove my hat,
She's everything I need and love but I can't be swayed by that.
It frightens me, the awful truth of how sweet life can be,
But she ain't a-gonna make me move,
I guess it must be up to me.
We heard the Sermon on the Mount and I knew it was too complex,
It didn't amount to anything more than what the broken glass reflects.
When you bite off more than you can chew you pay the penalty,
Somebody's got to tell the tale,
I guess it must be up to me.
Well, Dupree came in pimpin' tonight to the Thunderbird Cafe,
Crystal wanted to talk to him, I had to look the other way.
Well, I just can't rest without you, love, I need your company,
But you ain't a-gonna cross the line,
I guess it must be up to me.
There's a note left in the bottle, you can give it to Estelle,
She's the one you been wond'rin' about, but there's really nothin' much to tell.
We both heard voices for a while, now the rest is history,
Somebody's got to cry some tears,
I guess it must be up to me.
So go on, boys, and play your hands, life is a pantomime,
The ringleaders from the county seat say you don't have all that much time.
And the girl with me behind the shades, she ain't my property,
One of us has got to hit the road,
I guess it must be up to me.
And if we never meet again, baby, remember me,
How my lone guitar played sweet for you that old-time melody.
And the harmonica around my neck, I blew it for you, free,
No one else could play that tune,
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God's a-gonna trouble the water
God's a-gonna trouble the water.
Well, who are these children all dressed in red?
God's gonna trouble the water
Must be the children that Moses led
God's gonna trouble the water.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God's a-gonna trouble the water
God's a-gonna trouble the water.
Well out of the mountain come fire an' smoke
God's gonna trouble the water
Jehovah, nobody but he could've spoke
God's gonna trouble the water.
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God's a-gonna trouble the water
God's a-gonna trouble the water.
Well, I'm walkin' down the highway an' the water's gettin' low
God's a-gonna trouble the water.
Walkin' down the highway, nowhere to go
God's a-gonna trouble the water.
Why doncha wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God's a-gonna troublin' the water
God's a-gonna troublin' the water.
There was a wicked messenger
From Eli he did come
With a mind that multiplied
The smallest matter
When questioned who had sent for him
He answered with his thumb
For his tongue it could not speak, but only flatter.
He stayed behind the assembly hall
It was there he made his bed
Oftentimes he could be seen returning
Until one day he just appeared
With a note in his hand which read
"The soles of my feet, I swear they're burning"
Oh, the leaves began to fallin'
And the seas began to part
And the people that confronted him were many
And he was told but these few words
Which opened up his heart
Instrumental
Trust yourself,
Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best
Trust yourself
Trust yourself to do what's right and not be second-guessed
Don't trust me to show you beauty
When beauty may only turn to rust
If you need somebody you can trust, trust yourself.
Trust yourself
Trust yourself to know the way that will prove true in the end
Trust yourself
Trust yourself to find the path where there is no if and when
Don't trust me to show you the truth
When the truth may only be ashes and dust
If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself.
Well, you're on your own, you always were
In a land of wolves and thieves
Don't put your hope in ungodly man
Or be a slave to what somebody else believes.
Trust yourself
And you won't be disappointed when vain people let you down
Trust yourself
And look not for answers where no answers can be found
Don't trust me to show you love
When my love may be only lust
If you want somebody you can trust, trust yourself.
I got to know, Lord, when to pull back on the reins,
Death can be the result of the most underrated pain.
Satan whispers to ya, "Well, I don't want to bore ya,
But when ya get tired of the Miss So-and-so I got
another woman for ya."
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
When the deeds that you do don't add up to zero,
It's what's inside that counts, ask any war hero.
You think you can hide but you're never alone,
Ask Lot what he thought when his wife turned to stone.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
Here comes Satan, prince of the power of the air,
He's gonna make you a law unto yourself, gonna build a
bird's nest in your hair.
He's gonna deaden your conscience 'til you worship the
work of your own hands,
You'll be serving strangers in a strange, forsaken
land.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
Well, your true love has caught you where you don't
belong,
You say, "Baby, everybody's doing it so I guess it
can't be wrong."
The truth is far from you, so you know you got to lie,
Then you're all the time defending what you can never
justify.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
So many of my brothers, they still want to be the boss,
They can't relate to the Lord's kingdom, they can't
relate to the cross.
They self-inflict punishment on their own broken lives,
Put their faith in their possessions, in their jobs or
their wives.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
When my life is over, it'll be like a puff of smoke,
How long must I suffer, Lord, how long must I be
provoked?
Satan will give you a little taste, then he'll move in
with rapid speed,
Lord keep my blind side covered and see that I don't
I'm getting weary looking in my baby's eyes
When she's near me she's so hard to recognize
But I finally realize there's no room for regret
True love, true love, true love tends to forget.
Hold me, baby be near
You told me that you'd be sincere
But every day of the year's like playing Russian roulette
True love, true love, true love tends to forget.
I was lying down in the reeds without any oxygen
I saw you in the wilderness among the men
I saw you drift into infinity and come back again
All you got to do is wait 'till I'll tell you when.
You're a tearjerker, baby, but I'm under your spell
You're a hard worker, baby, and I know you well
At this weekend in hell is making me sweat
True love, true love, true love tends to forget.
I was lying down in the reeds without any oxygen
I saw you in the wilderness among the men
Saw you drift into infinity and come back again
All you got to do is wait and I'll tell you when.
You belong to me baby, without any doubt
Don't forsake me baby, don't sell me out
Don't keep me knocking about from Mexico to Tibet
True love, true love, true love tends to forget.
True love, true love, true love tends to forget.
True love, true love, true love tends to forget
There's an iron train a-travelin' that's been a-rollin' through the years,
With a firebox of hatred and a furnace full of fears.
If you ever heard its sound or seen its blood-red broken frame,
Then you heard my voice a-singin' and you know my name.
Did you ever stop to wonder 'bout the hatred that it holds?
Did you ever see its passengers, its crazy mixed-up souls?
Did you ever start a-thinkin' that you gotta stop that train?
Then you heard my voice a-singin' and you know my name.
Do you ever get tired of the preachin' sounds of fear
When they're hammered at your head and pounded in your ear?
Have you ever asked about it and not been answered plain?
Then you heard my voice a-singin' and you know my name.
I'm a-wonderin' if the leaders of the nations understand
This murder-minded world that they're leavin' in my hands.
Have you ever laid awake at night and wondered 'bout the same?
Then you heard my voice a-singin' and you know my name.
Have you ever had it on your lips or said it in your head
That the person standin' next to you just might be misled?
Does the raving of the maniacs make your insides go insane?
Then you've heard my voice a-singin' and you know my name.
Do the kill-crazy bandits and the haters get you down?
Does the preachin' and the politics spin your head around?
Does the burning of the buses give your heart a pain?
Then you heard my voice a-singin' and you know my name.
Too much of nothing
Can make a man ill at ease
One man's temper might rise
While another man's temper might freeze
In the day of confession
We cannot mock a soul
Oh, when there's too much of nothing
No one has control.
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivian
Give them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion.
When there's too much of nothing
It can cause a man to weep
He can walk the streets and boast like
Of what he'd like to keep
But it's all been done before
It's all been written in the book
And where there's too much of nothing
Nobody should look.
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivian
Give them all my salary
On the waters of oblivion.
And too much of nothing can make a man a liar
It can cause one man to sleep on nails
It can cause others to eat fire
Everybody's doin' somethin'
I heard it in a dream
But when there's too much of nothing
It just makes a fella mean.
Say hello to Valerie
Say hello to Vivian
Give them all my salary
Well, I had to move fast
And I couldn't with you around my neck
I said I'd send for you and I did
What did you expect ?
My hands are sweating
And we haven't even started yet
I'll go along with the charade
Until I can think my way out
I know it was all a big joke
Whatever it was all about
Someday maybe
I'll remember to forget.
I'm gonna get my coat
I feel the breath of a storm
There's something I've got to do tonight
You go inside and stay warm.
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
I don't know
Has anybody seen my love ?
You want to talk to me
Go ahead and talk
Whatever you got to say to me
Won't come as any shock
I must be guilty of something
You just whisper it into my ear
Madame Butterfly
She lulled me to sleep
In a town without pity
Where the water runs deep
She said, "Be easy, baby
There aint nothing worth stealing in here".
You're the one I've been looking for
You're the one that's got the key
But I can't figure out whether I'm too good for you
Or, or you're too good for me. Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
I don't know
Has anybody seen my love ?
Well, they're not showing any lights tonight
And there's no moon
There's just a hot-blooded singer
Singing 'Memphis in June'
And they're beating the devil out of a guy
Who's wearing a powder-blue wig
Later he'll be shot
For resisting arrest
I can still hear his voice crying
In the wilderness
What looks large from a distance
Close up ain't never that big.
I never could learn to drink that blood
And call it wine
I never could learn to hold you, love
And call you mine.
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
Has anybody seen my love
I don't know
Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a-changin’
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes wide, the chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon, for the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no telling who that it’s naming
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times, they are a-changin’
Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the halls
For he that gets hurt will be he that has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it’s raging
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times, they are a-changin’
Come mothers and fathers all over the land
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand
For the times they are a-changin’
The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
The slow one will later be fast
And the present now will soon be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a-changin’
(Woody Guthrie)
[Chorus:]
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me
[Chorus]
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
[Chorus]
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.
If your mem'ry serves you well
We were goin' to meet again and wait
So I'm goin' to unpack all my things
And sit before it gets too late
No man alive will come to you
With another tale to tell
And you know that we shall meet again
If your mem'ry serves you well
This wheel's on fire
Rolling down the road
Best notify my next of kin
This wheel shall explode !
If your mem'ry serves you well
I was goin' to confiscate your lace
And wrap it up in a sailor's knot
And hide it in your case
If I knew for sure that it was yours ...
But it was oh so hard to tell
And you knew that we would meet again
If your mem'ry serves you well
This wheel's on fire
Rolling down the road
Best notify my next of kin
This wheel shall explode !
If your mem'ry serves you well
You'll remember you're the one
That called on me to call on them
To get you your favors done
And after ev'ry plan had failed
And there was nothing more to tell
You knew that we would meet again
If your mem'ry serves you well
This wheel's on fire
Rolling down the road
Best notify my next of kin
A worried man with a worried mind
No one in front of me and nothing behind
There's a woman on my lap and she's drinking champagne
Got white skin, got assassin's eyes
I'm looking up into the sapphire tinted skies
I'm well dressed, waiting on the last train
Bridge #1:
Standing on the gallows with my head in a noose
Any minute now I'm expecting all hell to break loose
Chorus
People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care, but things have changed
This place ain't doing me any good
I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood
Just for a second there I thought I saw something move
Gonna take dancing lessons do the jitterbug rag
Ain't no shortcuts, gonna dress in drag
Only a fool in here would think he's got anything to prove
Bridge #2
Lot of water under the bridge, Lot of other stuff too
Don't get up gentlemen, I'm only passing through
(chorus)
I've been walking forty miles of bad road
If the bible is right, the world will explode
I've been trying to get as far away from myself as I can
Some things are too hot to touch
The human mind can only stand so much
You can't win with a losing hand
Bridge #3
Feel like falling in love with the first woman I meet
Putting her in a wheel barrow and wheeling her down the street
(chorus)
I hurt easy, I just don't show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity
Gonna get low down, gonna fly high
All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie
I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me
Bridge #4
Mr. Jinx and Miss Lucy, they jumped in the lake
I'm not that eager to make a mistake
She's like sweet water that runs down my face,
I keep her posted in diamonds and lace.
I give her freedom and what else I can find,
But I know she's restless in her mind
And the wandering kind.
Way down in Texas many years ago,
She traveled with me to ease my heavy load.
Some big shot saw her 'cause she looked so fine,
How was he to know she was restless in her mind
And the wandering kind.
A strange bedfellow wandered in her room
She was more unfaithful than I ever could assume
She took his money and slayed him from behind
'Cause she knew she was restless in her mind
She's the wander kind.
Down at the border with new plans of my own
Don't need no woman I'll go it alone
I miss my baby and I can't keep from cryin'
'Cause I know she's restless in her mind
And the wandering kind.
I should have known better than to get mixed up with her
I guess I'll never know for sure
For better or worse the situation now is reversed
And I'm broke 'cause she is no longer first in my heart.
I wrote this letter before leaving the hotel
To where she's staying in that dark adobe cell
I tried to help her but she knows I'm not blind
And because I'm not restless in my mind
I'm the wandering kind.
![Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone - live @ Atlantico Roma 2013 [1080p Audio HQ]](http://web.archive.org./web/20140315000404im_/http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/4XLuPSt6xOU/0.jpg "Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone - live @ Atlantico Roma 2013 [1080p Audio HQ]")
