I'm sipping Flor De Caa* and lime juice, it's three a.m.
Blow a fruit fly off the rim of my glass
The radio's playing Superchunk and the friends of Dean Martinez
Midnight it was bike tires whacking the pot holes
Milling humans' shivering energy glow
Fusing the space between them with bar-throb bass and laughter
If this were the last night of the world
What would I do?
What would I do that was different
Unless it was champagne with you?
I learned as a child not to trust in my body
I've carried that burden through my life
But there's a day when we all have to be pried loose
If this were the last night of the world
What would I do?
What would I do that was different
Unless it was champagne with you?
I've seen the flame of hope among the hopeless
And that was truly the biggest heartbreak of all
That was the straw that broke me open
If this were the last night of the world
What would I do?
What would I do that was different
After the rain in the streets light flows like blood
I can just taste salt on the humid wind
Here comes that gasoline
Spreading hungry rainbow over shiny black tar
I'm blown like smoke and blind as wind
Except for when your love breaks in
Maybe to those who love is given sight
To pierce the wall of seeming night
And know it pure beyond all imagining
Engine throb street cruise light bullet car flash
Hollow beauty night gleam oily river tension glass
Ultraflame! Glittering dust falling in slow motion
Clouds tumbling one over another into apparent emptiness
It's like a big fist breaking down my door
I never felt such a love before
Maybe to those who love it's given to hear
Music too high for the human ear
I turned on the TV war news
Just to look and wonder why
Thunder crashed and red flash-flowers
Bloomed a nightmare in the sky
So I went down to the cafe
Just to string myself along
On the way i found some riches --
Played the jukebox, got this song
While I sat there a ragged man came --
Bummed a coffee, talked awhile
Told me stories full of wonder --
(CHORUS:)
When you've got a dream like mine
Nobody can take you down
When you've got a dream like mine
Nobody can push you around
Today I dream of how it used to be
Things were different before
The picture shifts to how it's going to be
Balance restored
When you know even for a moment
That it's your time
Then you can walk with the power
Of a thousand generations
(Chorus)
Beautiful rocks -- beautiful grass
Beautiful soil where they both combine
Beautiful river -- covering sky
Never thought of possession, but all this was mine
When you know even for a moment
That it's your time
Then you can walk with the power
Of a thousand generations
Underneath this canopy of snow
Where fifty-seven winters
Took their toll
Where did you go?
And I believed in you
I believed in you
Like Elvis Presley
Singing psalms on a Sunday
(Where did you go?)
Well she's gone to meet her maker
Back to where she came from
Come to save her soul...
Come to save her soul...
Come to take her home
'Cause it's late and past
Your bedtime
Well past bedtime
Angel
My angel
Fly over me
Angel...
She took her life
Within her hands
She took her life
Within her own two hands
And no-one can tell her
What to do now
And I believed in you
I believed in you
Like Elvis Presley
Singin live from Las Vegas
(Where did you go?)
Well she's gone to meet
Her maker
Back to where she came from
Come to save her soul...
little mirror on the wall
forgive my sins
as so many times before
your calm convinced
the world I know
is beyond your reach
your eyes too numb to see
and even though
you pretend to search
you never shed a tear
you'll see me shine
and roll with the wind again
silence couldn't deal with your alibis
disclosure of heavens gate
I have seen gethsemane in your eyes
you consumed my flesh and blood
you took my soul so easily
but it's hard to even crawl
when chasing for reality
you came to me
like a juda's kiss
yet I am bound to trust you
and only I
could have quenched your thirst
refreshed your soul anew
you'll see me shine
and roll with the wind again
silence couldn't deal with your alibis
disclosure of heavens gate
I have seen gethsemane in your eyes
you will deny me again
forever
as long as I'm bound to be here
softly caressing the pain
learning
we all have a cross to bear
we all have a reason to die
a reason to leave all the worries
and fly.
Not a knife throw from here you can hear the night train passing
That's the sound somebody makes when they're getting away
Leaving next week's hanging jury far behind them
Prisoner only of the choices they have made
Night Train...
Night Train...
Ice cube in a dark drink shines like starlight
The moon is floating somewhere out at sea
On an island in the blur of noise and color
Alcatraz, St. Alina, Patmos and the Chateau D'if
Night Train...
Night Train...
And everyone's an island edged with sand
A temporary refuge where somebody else can stand
Till the sea that binds us like the forced tie of a blood oath
Will wear it down, dissolve it, recombine it
Anyone can die here they do it every day
It doesn't take much effort though it goes against the grain
And the ultimate forgetfulness of violence
Sweeps the landscape like a headlight of a train
Night Train...
Ice cube in a dark drink shines like starlight
Starlight shines like glass shards in dark hair
And the mind's eye tumbles out along the steel track
Fixing every shadow with it's stare
Night Train...
Night Train...
And in the absence of a vision there are nightmares
And in the absence of compassion there is cancer
Whose banner waves over palaces and mean streets
I deem perfection by the words wrote in the letter.
No better,
And I wish,
And I wish it could always be better.
Wishing it could be...
I deem perfection no better,
Trying to make me,
Less bitter.
I deem perfection,
Perfection wrote in the letter.
The words you wrote in the letter.
Trying to make me less bitter,
That the letter,
No better,
Less bitter,
Try to make me less bitter.
Try to make me,
Less bitter.
Next time you think of mine, will you say it's the same?
And I wonder,
Will you think of the lives that your counterparts stricken?
Next time you think of mine will you say,
Will you say it's the same?
She means nothing.
What would you do if I scythe myself too?
I've got a job for you.
Lumberjacks and logs,
And lillypads and frogs.
I broke one string now,
Three more to go.
Taken outside,
Be guarded by you.
How could you rape me?
Me and Marshall,
How could you rape me?
Me and Marshall sat and watched it,
How could you rape me?
Yeah!
Now what would you do if I decided to?
I broke one string now there's three more to go.
Before I take out and stamp on it again, y'know.
How could you rape me?
Me and Marshall,
How could you rape me?
Me and Marshall sat and watched it,
How could you rape me?
Next time you think of mine, will you say it's the same?
And I wonder,
Will you think of the lives that your counterparts stricken?
Next time you think of mine will you say..
Will you say it's the same?
Will you say it's the same?
I don't know, I don't know.
People say I don't know
Everyday.
Yeah.
Prepare.
Yeah.
I won't take back no more,
I don't reject what I say.
Cause if I get what I like,
We'll take my time away.
Away.
Pack your shit and leave and take my memories of her with you.
(Away.)
..And take her fucking with you.
Sunday is Gloomy,
My hours are slumberless,
Dearest, the shadows I live with are numberless
Little white flowers will never awaken you
Not where the black coach of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thought of ever returning you
Would they be angry if I thought of joining you
Gloomy Sunday
Sunday is gloomy
with shadows I spend it all
My heart and I have decided to end it all
Soon there'll be flowers and prayers that are sad,
I know, let them not weep,
Let them know that I'm glad to go
Death is no dream,
For in death I'm caressing you
With the last breath of my soul I'll be blessing you
Gloomy Sunday
Dreaming
I was only dreaming
I wake and I find you
Asleep in the deep of
My heart
Dear
Darling I hope that my dream never haunted you
My heart is telling you how much I wanted you
Gloomy Sunday
Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you live too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage
I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Hours chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage
I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage.
Pacing the cage.
As a tot, when I trotted in little velvet panties,
I was kissed by my sisters, my cousins, and my aunties.
Sad to tell, it was hell, an inferno worse than Dante's.
So my dear I swore,
Never, never more !
On my list, I insisted that kissing must be crossed out.
Now, I find I was blind, and oh my ! , how I lost out !
I could cry salty tears ;
Where have I been all these years ?
Little wow, tell me now :
How long has this been going on ?
There were chills up my spine,
And some thrills I can't define.
Listen, sweet, I repeat :
how long has this been going on ?
Oh, I feel that I could melt ;
Into Heaven I'm hurled !
I know how Colombus felt,
Finding another world.
Kiss me once, then once more.
What a dunce I was before.
What a break ! For Heaven's sake !
How long has this been going on ?
Dear, when in your arms I creep,
That divine rendez-vous,
Don't wake me, if I'm asleep,
Let me dream that it's true !
Kiss me twice, then once more.
That makes thrice, let's make it four !
What a break ! For Heaven's sake !
How long has this been going on ?
--How long has this... been going ... on ?... .
Languid mandala of the ceiling fan
moving air like a slow stroking hand
music drifts in like the embassy
of afternoons sullen sensuality
i wanna dance with you
African voices in an opium dream
magenta waves on a sea of bluegreen
i wanna dance with you til the sky gets clear
dance til the calluses fall off my ears
i wanna dance with you
Hours get shorter as the days go by
you never get to stop and open your eyes
trouble with the nation, trouble with the relations
where you gonna go for some illumination?
rays of the moon make magic in the streets of the city
all the people get strange but their faces look so pretty
the walking graffiti, survivalist bums;
even the secret police shout that you're the one
see how i miss you
every psychopath gets his own magazine these days
i just read about how i can kill in a hundred ways
but i don't want to cause anybody pain
i only want to hold you in my arms again
see how i miss you
i watch this woman in a tight sequined lizard dress--
tosses her hair like a sly caress
she got midnight voice like a beckoning saint
she got something special but you she ain't
You knelt on the carpet, crimson and stained
Light trickled over your black dress like rain
Your lips were hot and my shocked heart screamed
And I can't scrape my eyes free of this dream
We each occupy the same spacetime
Matter, antimatter, tangled like vines
And the awful tolling, and the cold rain outside
And I cannot scrape this dream off my eyes
And the embers of Eden burn
You can even see it from space
And the great and winding wall between us
Seem to copy the lines of your face
And the embers of Eden burn
You can even see it from space
And the great and winding wall between us
The village idiot takes the throne
His the wind in which all must sway
All sane people, die now
Be lifted up and carried away
Youve got no home in this world of sorrows'
Theres a parasite feeding on
Everybodys bag of rage
What goes out returns again
To smite the mouth and burn the page
Under the rain of all our dark tomorrows
I can see in the dark its where I used to live
I see excess and the gaping need
Follow the money see where it leads
Its to shrunken men stuffed up with greed
They meet and make plans in strange half-lit tableaux
Under the rain of all our dark tomorrows
Above the dark town
After the sun's gone down
Two vapour trails cross the sky
Catching the day's last slow goodbye
Black skyline looks rich as velvet
Something is shining
Like gold but better
Rumours of glory
Smiles mixed with curses
The crowd disperses
About whom no details are known
Each one alone yet not alone
Behind the painfear
Etched on the faces
Something is shining
Like gold but better
Rumours of glory
You see the extremes
Of what humans can be?
In that distance some tension's born
Energy surging like a storm
You plunge your hand in
And draw it back scorched
Beneath it's shining like
Gold but better
Went to the museum, red brother
Saw your ancient bloom cut, pressed and dried
A sign said wasn't it clever what they used to do
But it never did say how they died
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Went to Regina, red sister
Heard a cab driver say what he'd seen
"There's a grand place to eat out on Number One
All white ladies if you know what I mean"
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Went to a pow wow, red brother
Felt the people's lovejoy flow around
It left me crying just thinking about it
How they used my saviour's name to keep you down
Hey hey hey
Rainfall on rolling green
Wavy lines and peacock sheen
Rainfall on rolling green
Prettiest world I've ever seen
Faces and places in a highway land
Beads strung on a silver strand
Quick silver in a callused hand
Never a place for the Son of Man
Born under a rainbow sign
Flash of wave in space and time
Molten glass and hearts that shine
There you go
Swimming deeper into mystery
Here I remain
Only seeing where you used to be
Stared at the ceiling
'Til my ears filled up with tears
Never got to know you
Suddenly you're out of here
Gone from mystery into mystery
Gone from daylight into night
Another step deeper into darkness
Closer to the light
Walked outside
Summer moon was nearly down
Mist on the fields
Holy stillness all around
Death's no stranger
No stranger than the life I've seen
Still I cry
Still I begged to get you back again
Gone from mystery into mystery
Gone from daylight into night
Another step deeper into darkness
Met a mercenary once
Pushing lethal steel
Wanted me to watch his back
While he did his deal
He must have been a loser
Or he wouldn't have looked to me
But I have to say, I liked the thought
Of living that guilt-free
Watching the way the women walk
Makes me think of you
And all my sins and all my stalkers
Affect me that way too
The pain on the horizon
Can't sink me in sorrow
'Cause I know I'm going to be
Seeing you tomorrow
O--see you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
Look at that big fat full moon
Hanging in the night
When I feel it calling me
The shackles seem to bite
These chains of flesh are sour and sweet
But these we must explore, oh
I know I'm going to feel complete
When I see you tomorrow
O--see you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
Mist hangs above hills
Above mist hangs stone face of mountain
Above mountain face hangs a net of sky --
Crack! there are wings and they rip the net!
And the dance flows on
Everything flows toward the rim of that
Shining cup
Crossed sticks lie on earth
Between crossed sticks -- pile of ash
Something rises on the wisp of smoke
Dog's feet move by fast
And the dance flows on
Everything flows toward the rim of that
Shining cup
Through these channelswords
I want to touch you
Touch you deep down
Where you live
Not for power but
Because I love you
Love the Lord
And in Him love me too
And in Him go your way
And I'll be right there with you
Leaving
No footprints when we go
No footprints when we go
It's not the laughter of rain in the drain It's not the laughter of a man in pain It's not the laughter you can hide behind It's not the laughter of a frightened mind Balanced on the brink only waiting for a shove You better listen for the laugh of love
It's not the laughter of the gloating rich It's not the laughter of the sacred bitch It's not the laughter of the macho fool It's not the laughter that obeys the rules More of a chain saw in a velvet glove You better listen for the laugh of love
Past the derelict mattress
and the overgrown pavement
over the tracks
and through the hole in the fence
Past graffiti-bright buildings
and the junkyard alarm bell
and the screaming police cars
and it's all present tense
It's my beat
In my new town
Past the drunk woman reeling
with her bag of provisions
Down through the tunnel
with the stink-fuming bus
On to the bike path
where it's something like freedom
and the wind in my earring whispers
Trust what you must
It's my beat
In my new town
Ancient and always
The wheel's ever whirling
Today I'm riding
Tomorrow I walk
Step through forever
into this very moment
The heart is pumping
and the heart rocks
It's my beat
She is passing in a warm breeze
bars of light that cross the floor
one smoke-gray, curled, tiny feather
skips aside
By her middle hang the keys
made to open any door
even the one that lets in the cold wind
from outside
She lives in a house of colour
guarded by cats three in number
and one great dog of gentle manner
in among the trees
* * *
Silence
carries
no apprehension here
in the warm sun
by the window sill
i can just sit still
and watch her go by...
Queen of field and forest pathway
understands the speech of stones
she weaves peace upon her loom
Look at them working in the hot sun
The pilloried saints and the fallen ones
Working and waiting for the night to come
And waiting for a miracle
Somewhere out there is a place that's cool
Where peace and balance are the rule
Working toward a future like some kind of mystic jewel
And waiting for a miracle
You rub your palm
On the grimy pane
In the hope that you can see
You stand up proud
You pretend you're strong
In the hope that you can be
Like the ones who've cried
Like the ones who've died
Trying to set the angel in us free
While they're waiting for a miracle
Struggle for a dollar, scuffle for a dime
Step out from the past and try to hold the line
So how come history takes such a long, long time
When you're waiting for a miracle
You rub your palm
On the grimy pane
In the hope that you can see
You stand up proud
You pretend you're strong
In the hope that you can be
Like the ones who've cried
Like the ones who've died
Trying to set the angel in us free
Nobodys making me say this
Im talking to you
Been traveling 17 hours
Irradiated by signals, by images
of viruses, of virtues
like everyone
Like exiled angels we swing out of the clouds
Above night city
Fields of light broken by the curve of dark waterways
On the other side of the world
an unhappy teenage girl sets fire
to herself, her house, her neighbourhood and some that dwell therein
Sorry simulacrum of sad dawn
Youve never seen everything
Sleep of the just, sleep of reason, any damn kind of sleep please!
Im trying to balance on a sloping bed in Naples
or is it Skopje? I forget
Through the thin hotel wall a man groans in his dreams
And on the other side of the world
the drug squad busts a childs birthday party
Put bullets in the family dog and the blood goes all over the baby
And the Mounties are strip-searching schoolgirls
because they can
And a car crashes and burns on an offramp from the Gardiner
Two dogs in the back seat die, and in the front
a man and his mother
Forensics reveals the lady has pitchfork wounds in her chest
Pitchfork!
And that the same or a similar instrument has been screwed to the dash
to make sure the driver goes too
Youve never seen everything
I see:
A leader of the people with a ring in his nose
And the leaders of business tell him which way to go
With thugs on the golden chain which once led the golden calf
And were supposed to be impressed with their success
But my mind goes blank before the unbelievable indifference
shown life
spirit
the future
anything green
anything just
Bad pressure coming down
Tears what we really traffic in
Wild things are prowling storm winds are howling tonight
Everythings transforming into pure crystals of light
The heart is a mirror; it throws back the blaze of love
Bathed in that glow its no secret what Im thinking of
I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Wait no more
Sipping wine with angels in this torch-lit tavern by the sea
What does it take for whats locked up inside to be free?
Fold me into you, you know where Im longing to be
When my ship sets sail on that ocean of deep mystery
I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Wait no more
What does it take for the heart to explode into stars?
One day well wake to remember how lovely we are
Lightnings a kiss that lands hot on the loins of the sky
Something uncoils at the base of my spine and I cry
I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Away from the river
Away from the smoke of the burning
Fearful survivors
Subject of government directives
One sad guitar note
Echoes of the wall of the jungle
Seen from the air they're just targets with nowhere to run to
Children of rape
Raised on malnutrition
Men in camouflage
Filled with a sense of mission
Light through the wire mesh
Plays on the president's pistol
Like the gleam of a bead of sweat in the flow of a candle
Hear the cry in the tropic night
Should be the cry of love but it's a cry of fright
Some people never see the light
Till it shines through bullet holes
The tropic moon
Bathing a beach fringed with palms
Glitters on shells
And beach tar and coke cans
And on the night-coloured boat
And on the barrels of guns
In the rage in the hearts of these men is the seed of a wind they call
Kingdom Come
Woman cry -- chase man down street crying "No Chuckie, no, please don't"
Another girl comes they run along St. Andrew, turn south on Kensington
Meanwhile Chuckie beats it down the alley by the chicken packer's
By the time I reach the corner they've all vanished
Just a deaf kid talking like Popeye to a large fleshy laughing man in a blue shirt
You pay your money and you take your chance
When you're dealing with love and romance
Down the alley past the fire escape a woman is talking on the telephone
Kitchen light spills out, laughter riding on it's beam
In the maze of moebius streets we're trying to amuse ourselves to death
Under the deep sky that's squatting so close over us tonight
You'd think it was trying to hatch us
The numb and confused
The battered and bruised
The counters of cost
And the star-crossed
You pay your money and you take your chance
When you're dealing with love and romance
Confused and solo in the spawning ground
I watch the confusion of friends all numb with love
Moving like stray dogs to the anthem of night-long conversations,
Of pulsing rhythms and random voltage voices
In spite of themselves, graceful as these raindrops creeping spermlike across the car window
Stay or leave, give or withold, hesitate or leap
Each step splashing sparks of red pain in every direction
And through it all, somehow, this willingness that asks no questions
You pay your money and you take your chance
Yanqui wake up
you know it's time to go
the sun is almost up and we want to be alone
Yanqui head spin
better get some rest
tomorrow we can talk about the way you insulted the guests
Ivan's outside
sulking in the yard
everyone go bad communication when the time gets hard
Not a nice guy
but he's got troubles of his own
anyway it's best if you both just leave the rest of us alone
Yanqui go home
you had too much
better go sleep it off
party's over --
time to meditate on it
time to tally up the cost
Yanqui wake up
don't you see what you're doing
trying to be the Pharoah of the West bringing nothing but ruin
Better start swimming
before you begin to drown
all those petty tyrants in your pocket gonna weigh you down
You're my friend but I say
Yanqui go home
you had too much
better go sleep it off
party's over
time to meditate on it
stand on a bridge before the cavern of night
darkness alive with possibility
nose to this wind full of twinkling lights
trying to catch the scent of what's coming to be (in this...)
world of wonders...
somewhere a saxophone slides through changes
like a wet pipe dripping down my neck
gives me a chill--sounds like danger
but i can't stop moving till i cross this sector (of this...)
world of wonders...
there's a rainbow shining in a bead of spittle
falling diamonds in rattling rain
light flexed on moving muscle
i stand here dazzled with my heart in flames (at this...)
world of wonders...
moment of peace like brief arctic bloom
red/gold ripple of the sun going down
line of black hills makes my bed
sky full of love pulled over my head
Sun's up, uuh huh, looks okay
the world survives into another day
and i'm thinking about eternity
some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me.
I had another dream about lions at the door
they weren't half as frightening as they were before
but i'm thinking about eternity
some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me.
Walls windows trees, waves coming through
you be in me and i'll be in you
together in eternity
some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me
Up among the firs where it smells so sweet
or down in the valley where the river used to be
i got my mind on eternity
some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me
and i'm wondering where the lions are...
i'm wondering where the lions are...
Huge orange flying boat rises off a lake,
thousand-year-old petroglyphs doing a double take,
pointing a finger at eternity
i'm sitting in the middle of this ecstasy
Young men marching, helmets shining in the sun,
polished as precise like the brain behind the gun
(should be!) they got me thinking about eternity
some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me
and i'm wondering where the lions are...
i'm wondering where the lions are...
Freighters on the nod on the surface of the bay
One of these days we're going to sail away,
going to sail into eternity
some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me
and i'm wondering where the lions are...
When the sun goes nova And the world turns over I don't want to be alone So honey come on home
If you're in the valley When the dam breaks, palley You is going to feel alone So honey come on home
If you're on the bum And the policemen come If you lose your grip Or your trousers rip I'll be waiting dear
Neon flame on the window of an upstairs room
Helicopter beats across the face of the moon
Got a hunger that sprawls like this galaxy
Want to wrap my arms around you -- draw you right inside me
I want to go walking
With you Judy
Through the movie
Of the world
No matter what I do I feel your presence everywhere
I'll be just standing around and your scent comes at me
Out of nowhere
I see your face on the wall -- in the magazine too
Next thing you know the billboard out my window will be you
I want to go walking
With you Judy
Through the movie
Of the world
Today was a dog licking crap in the gutter of the street
Tonight is a dancer oscillating on weightless feet
So the fortune teller said you wouldn't end up with me
Last I heard only God gets to say what has to be
I want to walking
With you Judy
Through the movie
Body lines fluid in static heat Thoughts buzzing like flies around meat Land here -- land there -- Quick circles in the air I'm riding smooth but just a little slow Waiting for the moon to show
Leather-faced old men by the cafe wall Kids in the surf splashing with a soccer ball I gaze through curved lens Trying to identify the sky's end Little spots on the horizon into gunboats grow Waiting for the moon to show
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
By the cries of birds
By the lies Ive heard
By my own loose talk
By the way I walk
By the claws of beasts
By the laws of priests
By the gluttons feast
By the word police
By the planets arc
By the falling dark
By the state of the art
By the beat of my heart
By the poverty trance
By dark finance
By the marketing dance
By the fateful glance
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
By the pressure to rhyme
By the wages of crime
By the drop of a dime
By the ghost of the times
By the spurs of desire
By What does love require
By what I waited for
By what showed up at the door
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
By the nation wide
By the tears Ive cried
By the lure of false pride
By the need to take sides
By the weight of choice
By the still small voice
By things I forget
By what I havent met yet
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
Pierced by beautys blade and skinned by wind
Begged for more -- was given -- begged again
Im still here
Im still here
He came from the mountain To walk among the wounded They couldn't see him But the snow did melt whenever he passed by
He came behind winter His face was like the sun They wouldn't see it But he sang on the bank and made the waters run
In his world we wait In his hands our fate Keep on climbing We shall see his gate In good time
He came to the lowlands He said we must have faces So we could see like him Before our wings would ever come to fly
Picture on magazine boardroom pop star
Pinstripe prophet of peckerhead greed
You say Trust me with the money -- the keys to the universe
Trickle down will give us everything we need
Brand new century private penitentiary
Bank vault utopia padded for the few
And its tumors for the masses coughing for the masses
Earphones for the masses and they all serve you
Trickle down give em the business
Trickle down supposed to give us the goods
Cups held put to catch a bit of the bounty
Trickle down everywhere trickle down blood
What used to pass for education now looks more like ignoration
Take the peoples money and slip it to the corporation
Yellow rain golden shower pesticide firepower
Summon feudal demons of sweatshop subjugation
Workfare foul air homeless beggars everywhere
Picturephone aristocrats lounge around the pool
Captains of industry smiling beneficently
Leaky hull supertanker ship of fools
Trickle down etc
Takeover takedown big buck shakedown
Schoolyard pusher of the anything-for-profit
First got to privatize then you get to piratize
Hooked on avarice how do we get off it?
They're getting prepared to haul a car out of the river
Noise and smoke and concrete seem to be going on forever
Grinding gears and drivers getting high on exhaust
I'm thinking about the water down below and what got lost
Pachinko jingle and space torpedo beams
Comic book violence and escaping steam
Grey suited business men pissing against the wall --
Cut to crumbling guardrail, slow motions car fall
Oh Tokyo -- I never can sleep in your arms
Mind keeps on ringing like a fire alarm
Me and all these other dice bouncing around in the cup
Did you have to show me that accident scene
Didn't I get enough shaking up?
Still I'm gonna miss you...
Dragon of good fortune struggles with trickster fox
Energy and patience and the power of the buck
Tonight I'm flying headlong
To meet the dark red edge of dawn
I know somebody will be crying
And somebody will be gone
Oh Tokyo -- I never can sleep in your arms
Mind keeps on ringing like a fire alarm
Me and all these other dice bouncing around in the cup
Did you have to show me that accident scene
Didn't I get enough shaking up?
So many things to see in this old world
But all I can see is you
In a crowded subway train
Or walking in the country rain
You're there with me too
Of all the songs sung in any day
Your voice is all I hear
For though each song has its own place
And, finished, quickly fades away
I hear you everywhere
And though I know you won't be pleased
By all that I do
Surely we can find a way
To overlook what you don't like
It's been said many times that we're all by ourselves
And each man is on his own
I don't care, that may be true
I just want to be with you
Rising like lightspill from this sleeping town
Like the light in a lover's eyes
Rising from the hearts of the sleepers all around
All those dreamers trying to light the sky
Burning -- all night long
Burning -- at the gates of dawn
Singing -- near and far
Singing -- to raise the morning star
Rising like lightning in the pregnant air
It's electric -- I can feel it's might
I can feel it crackling in my nails and hair --
Makes me feel like I'm dancing on feet of light
Burning -- all night long
Burning -- at the gates of dawn
Singing -- near and far
Singing -- to raise the morning star
Singing for the yellow and the brown and the black
For the red and the white people, too
Dovetailing strong points with the things we lack
Singing for the people like me and you
Burning -- all night long
Burning -- at the gates of dawn
Singing -- near and far
Singing -- to raise the morning star
When we come
When we come again
To celebrate renewal
At the heart
At the heart of us
Our eyes will touch life
Though we may be hard to find
Where we stand in time
The mirrors of the past shine
With the light of unborn days
We wander in the flames
With nothing but our names
And no-one for the blame
We love so well to focus on
When we come
When we come again
To search beside the Fool
For the heart
For the heart of us
Our eyes will touch Life
By ornaments entranced
We trace in frenzied dance
The patterns carved by chance
On the pavement of memory
Seasons turning yet again
The Mother's breast is full again
As in heaven, so with men
Is now and ever shall be
Till we come
Till we come again
To recognize renewal
At the heart
At the heart of us
All the days we've been together
All the days we've been apart
Add up to a bunch of nothing
If I'm not still in your heart
I never want you to be
Just a page in my history
Someone I used to love
Your voice breathed in my ear
Or on the telephone
All the tender things we've whispered
To keep from feeling alone
May they never come to be
Just cold gems set in memory
Of someone I used to love
This current flows between us
That will not be denied
You draw me in towards you
Like the moon pulls at the tide
May no shadow ever fall
That will make me have to call
Don't need the everlasting trade expansion
Don't need the cold white heroin breath
Don't need Pizzarro or the Inquisition
No berserk worship of a hero's death
Don't need reactionary politicians
Don't need the gunfight at the O.K.
Don't need no Reverend Paisley hate-masturbation
Don't need no Jihad or no IRA
We need to put our hearts together
Set up a rhythm in combination
And if we put our hearts together
We get a rhythm that will shake creation
Who needs supremacy of pink people
There's no such thing as a pure racial strain
It takes all colours to make a rainbow
Takes every part to make a working brain
The whole of history is a growing together
If you want pure, you're gonna have caves again
Anyway who needs a geek like the Grand Dragon
So full of shit his breath makes acid rain
We need to...
Woman-in-kitchen, man-in-palace
Worshipping the performance of the phallus
Gaming for power till their hearts grow callous
As if a human's just an animal with malice
Limp lance, phallocrat, finger on the trigger
God ahead and stay small while everything gets bigger
It's a bully's game and I don't want to play
Why don't you think about the better way
through rutted winding streets of Kathmandu
dodging crowded humans cows dogs rickshaws
storefronts constellated pools of bluewhite
bright against darkening walls
the butterfly sparkle in my lasered eye
still seems to hold that last shot of red sun through haze over jumbled roofs
everything moves like slow fluid in this atmosphere thick as dreams
with sewage incense dust and fever and the smoke of brick kilns and cremations
Tom Kelly's bike rumbles down
we're going drinking on the Tibetan side of town
beggar with a withered leg sits sideways on a skateboard grinning
there's a joke going on somewhere but we'll never know
those laughing kids with hungry eyes must be in on it too
with their clinging memories of a culture crushed by Chinese greed
pretty young mother by the temple gate
covers her baby's eyes face against diesel fumes
that look of concern, you can see it still
not yet masked by the hard lines of a woman's struggle to survive
hard bargains going down
when you're living on the Tibetan side of town
big red enfield bullet lurches to a halt in the dust
last blast of engine leaves a ringing in the ears
that fades into the rustle of bare feet and slapping sandals
and the baritone moan of long bronze trumpets muffled by monastery walls
prayer flags crack like whips in the breeze
sending to the world - tonight the message blows east
dark door opens to yellow room and there are these steaming jugs of hot millet
beet
and I'm sucked into this scene like this liquor up this bamboo straw
sweet tungba sliding down
They turned their backs
I made it too hard
Every place they touched me
Is a laceration now
Sometimes a wind comes out of nowhere
And knocks you off your feet
And look, see my tears
They fill the whole night sky
The whole night sky
Derailed and desperate
How did I get here?
Hanging from this high wire
By the tatters of my faith
Sometimes a wind comes out of nowhere
And knocks you off your feet
And look, see my tears
They fill the whole night sky
The whole night sky
Sometimes a wind comes out of nowhere
And knocks you sideways
And look, see my tears
They fill the whole night sky
Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage Suddenly it's repression, moratorium on rights What did they think the politics of panic would invite? Person in the street shrugs -- "Security comes first" But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse
Callous men in business costume speak computerese Play pinball with the Third World trying to keep it on its knees Their single crop starvation plans put sugar in your tea And the local Third World's kept on reservations you don't see "It'll all go back to normal if we put our nation first" But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse
Sable sky anoints the earth with crystal 'neath my foot
Wide-eyed, white-plumed owl plays upon his magic flute
Silver-circled moonlight cresting waves of shadow blue
And the river is secretly flowing
Shining stars dance high above the cobweb treelimbs' grace
Fairy castles crowned with light fly banners of white lace
Tangled boughs of holly watch with eyes of scarlet hue
And the wind is silently blowing
Are no men is only Man seeking one love
Searching vainly for excuse among the stars above
Eyes too tired to see the river flowing 'neath the ice
Isn't it hard
To be the one who has to give advice?
Isn't it hard
To be the strong one?
I see the skyline blurred through the plastic on your back screen door
Not unlike the faces of the people who keep turning up in the places we go
The ones we'd never see if things weren't going so well
When I was a torn jacket hanging on the barbed wire
You cut me free
And sewed me up and here I am
Isn't it hard
To be the one whose phone rings all day everyday?
Isn't it hard
To be the strong one?
Mouths move without vision -- without regard for consequences
Eyes fill with memories poisoned by intimate knowledge of failure to love
Sometimes, sometimes, doesn't the light seem to move so far away?
You help your sisters, you help your old lovers,
you help me but who do you cry to?
'Cause isn't it hard
To be the one who gathers everybody's tears?
Isn't it hard
High speed drift on a prairie road
Hot tires sing like a string being bowed
Sudden town rears up then explodes
Fragments resolve into white line code
Whirl on silver wheels
Black earth energy receptor fields
Undulate under a grey cloud shield
We outrun a river colour brick red mud
That cleaves apart hills soil rich as blood
Highway squeeze in construction steam
Stop caution hard hat yellow insect machines
Silver steel towers stalk rolling land
Toward distant stacks that shout "Feed on demand"
100 miles later the sky has changed
Urban anticipation -- we get 4 lanes
Red orange furnace sphere notches down
Throws up silhouette skyline in brown
Sundogs flare on windshield glass
Sudden swoop skyward iron horse overpass
Pass a man walking like the man in the moon
Walking like his head's full of irish fiddle tunes
The skin around every city looks the same
Miles of flat neon spelling well-known names
USED TRUCKS DIRTY DONUTS YOU YOU'RE THE ONE
Fat wheeled cars squeal into the sun
Radio speakers gargle top 40 trash
Muzak soundtrack to slow collapse
Planet engines pulsate in sidereal time
They wake up suddenly in the night There is light And figures dancing in the sky Clothed in more colours than the world can contain
And all the silences of the night Leap in song Like that of a river cascading from the wild mountain to the slow human plain
Gloria! Gloria in the highest!
A child's cry sounds from far away It's almost day And in the brown-air town away below Three travelers reap a star harvest and then go on their way again
There's a broad river winding
through this African lowland
The moon is held up orange and big
See it raise its hand
And the last ferry's pulling out
with no place left to stand
for the mines of Mozambique
There's a wealth of amputation
waiting in the ground
But no one can remember
where they put it down
If you're the child that finds it there
You will rise upon the sound
of the mines of Mozambique
Some men rob the passersby
for a bit of cash to spend
Some men rob whole countries dry
and still get called their friend
And under the feeding frenzy
There's a wound that will not mend
in the mines of Mozambique
(Bridge)
Night, like peace, is a state of suspension. Tomorrow the heat will
rise and mist will hide the marshy fields, the mango and the cashew
trees, which only now they're clearing brush from under. Rusted husks
of blown up trucks line the roadway north of town, like passing
through a sculpture gallery. War is the artist, but he's sleeping now.
And somebody will be peddling vials of penicillin stolen out of all
the medical kits sent to the countryside. And in the bare workshop
they'll be molding plastic into little prosthetic legs for the
children of this artist and for those who farm the soil that received
his bitter seed.
The all night stragglers stagger home
Cocks begin to crow
And singing birds are starting up
telling what they know
And after awhile the sun will come
and we'll see what it will show
All day the mountains rose behind
the veil of smoke from burning fields
And road dust dyeing black skin bronze
and the road rolling like a rough sea
It's quiet now, just crickets and
a dog fight somewhere in the far away
In my heart I hold your photograph
and the thought of you comes on like the feel
of the coming rains...
Hot breeze ran its fingers through
the long grass of the thatched roof eave
They stuck me in the only chair
while they cooked casaba and a luckless hen
They asked for one well, three lanterns and
200 litres of fuel and I said,"Who, me?"
And the time for planting's coming soon
and the thought of you comes on like the feel
of the coming rains
In the town neon flickers in the ruins
Seven crows swoop past a luscious moon
If I had wings like those there'd be no waiting
I'd come panting to your door,
slide like smoke into your room
All day the mountains rose behind
the veil of smoke from burning fields
And road dust dyeing black skin bronze
and the road rolling like a rough sea
It's quiet now, just crickets and
a dog fight somewhere in the far away
In my heart I hold your photograph
and the thought of you comes on like the feel
of the coming rains
And the time for planting's coming soon
and the thought of you comes on like the feel
Big city, Europa, July of 64.
It's 5AM. Weather blowing bitter off the Baltic.
Car slows beside him as he walks, hubcaps slow revolution, jaundiced looking
pockmarked face round and windburn, short greasy black beard.
Couple of language stabs, settle on English.
It's cold.
I give you ride?
Don't you want to kiss me?
This goes on halfway across the cobbled bridge. Driver pulls ahead gets out by
the construction fence, ambles toward a rubbing bulge in his pants. In his
jacket is the revolver. The hand is already in the pocket for warmth and
fingers slide easily around wood grips. As slow as that predator's footsteps
the gun comes out, arm straightens, scythe blade bisecting yellow forehead.
Wind. Blue metal street light. Faint twilight shining in the corners of
stones.
Chorus:
Wave on wave of life
Like the great wide oceans roll
Haunting hands of memory
Pluck silver strands of soul
The damage and the dying done, the clarity of light
gentle bows and glasses raised to the charity of night
Slow revolution, 1985, crosswise in a hammock in the hot volcanic hills.
Its 3AM, the night after the air raid.
>From the ridge she watched A37s like ugly gulls make a dozen swooping passes
over some luckless town maybe ten clicks beyond the border. In the distance the
Pacific glimmered silver. Now lascivious laughter floats on the darkness from
the police post next door. Male voices and a woman's. Little clouds of desire
painted around the edges with rum. In the muddy street a pig suddenly screams.
Chorus
Pacific glimmers silver. Moon full over shadow mansion.
West coast. Can't say when.
There is incense and heat-driven scent of flowers. A tongue slides over soft
skin, love pounds in veins, brains buzzing balls of lust. Fingers twine in wet
hair, limbs twist and roll. On the dresser wax drips in slow motion down the
long side of a black candle. Ecstatic halo of flame and pheromone.
I've seen a high cairn kissed by holy wind
Seen a mirror pool cut by golden fins
Seen alleys where they hide the truth of cities
The madders blessing you miles to accept without pity
I've stood in airports guarded glass and chrome
Walked rifled roads and landmined loam
Seen a forest in flames right down to the road
Burned in love till I've seen my heart explode
You've been leading me
Beside strange waters
Across the concrete fields of man
Sun ray like a camera pans
Some will run and some will stand
Everything is bullshit but the open hand
You've been leading me
Beside strange waters
Streams of beautiful lights in the night
But where is my pastureland in these dark valleys?
If I loose my grip, will I take flight?
You've been leading me
Beside strange waters
Streams of beautiful lights in the night
But where is my pastureland in these dark valleys?
From Tierra del Fuego to Ungava Bay
The history of betrayal continues to today
The spirit of Almighty Voice, the ghost of Anna Mae
Call like thunder from the mountains -- you can hear them say It's a stolen land
Apartheid in Arizona, slaughter in Brazil
If bullets don't get good PR there's other ways to kill
Kidnap all the children, put 'em in a foreign system
Bring them up in no-man's land where no one really wants them
It's a stolen land
Stolen land -- but it's all we've got
Stolen land -- and there's no going back
Stolen land -- and we'll never forget
Stolen land -- and we're not through yet
In my mind I catch a picture -- big black raven in the sky
Looking at the ocean -- sail reflected in black eye --
Sail as white as heroin, white like weathered bones --
Rum and guns and smallpox gonna change the face of home
In this stolen land...
If you're like me you'd like to think we've learned from our mistakes
Enough to know we can't play god with others' lives at stake
So now we've all discovered the world wasn't only made for whites
What step are you gonna take to try and set things right
In this stolen land
Stolen land -- but it's all we've got
Stolen land -- and there's no going back
Stolen land -- and we'll never forget
Orion's high in the south-west sky --
You're bound to move on and so am I
On this world we've had time to burn --
how come nobody ever seems to learn?
See how the starwheel turns.
Crystal drift on the whistling wind --
Constant change is the space we're in
You may use a slide rule or a golden crown
But nothing's worth it that you can pin down --
See how the starwheel turns.
Don't go playing no shell game with God --
Only Satan's going to give you odds
We're given love and love must be returned --
That's all the bearings that you need to learn
Small windows Looking outward Show me a sequined sky Rubies shine in my glass of wine
Dusk breezes On oiled water Paint a pointillist facade It's ceaselessly shifting world --
Like today I'm far away I see your face behind each time-blurred pane
Strings vibrate Music leaps out In a shimmering intrigue Words unsaid whirl away like dust
Wind across the quay-side Grit in my eyes and fish in my nose White as whalebone, wheeling seagulls cry
Outside the bar in the high street Blind fingers spin an accordion reel Shoes and sedan wheels grudgingly keeping time
Fishing boat stretched out at low tide Dog and a black man work on the deck Bright as a bottle, sunlight skips wave to wave
As I Stare into the flame
Filled up with feelings I can't name
Images of life appear
Regret and anger, love and fear
Dark things drift across the screen
Of mind behind whose veil are seen
Loves ferocious eyes, and clear
The words come flying to my ear
Go on -- put it in your heart
Put it in your heart
Terrible deeds done in the name
Of tunnel vision and fear of change
Surely are expressions of
A soul that's turned it's back on love
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heavens perfect alchemy
Put me with you and you with me
Come on -- put that in your heart
Come on put it in your heart
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heavens perfect alchemy
Put me with you and you with me
Come on put it in your heart
Abe Lincoln once turned to somebody and said:
Do you ever find yourself talking with the dead?
There are three tiny deaths heads carved out of mammoth tusk
on the ledge in my bathroom.
They grin at me in the morning when Im taking a leak,
but they say very little.
Outside Phnom Penh theres a tower, glass-pannelled,
maybe ten meters high,
filled with skulls from the killing fields.
Most of them lack the lower jaw
so they dont exactly grin,
but they whisper, as if from a great distance,
of pain, and of pain left far behind
Eighteen thousand empty eyeholes peering out at the four directions
Electric fly buzz green moist breeze
Bonecoloured Brahma bull grazes wet eyed, (gazes??)
hobbled in hollow of mass grave
In the neighbouring field a small herd
of young boys plays soccer,
their laughter swallowed in expanding silence.
This is too big for anger,
its too big for blame.
We stumble through history so
humanly lame
So I bow down my head
Say a prayer for us all
That we dont fear the spirit
when it comes to call
Sun will soon slide down into the far end of the ancient reservoir.
Orange ball merging with its water-borne twin
below airbrushed edges of cloud.
But first it spreads itself,
a golden scrim behind fractal sweep of swooping flycatchers.
Silhouetted dark green trees,
Blue horizon.
The rains are late this year.
The sky has no more tears to shed.
But from the air Cambodia remains
a disc of wet green, bordered by bright haze.
Water-filled bomb craters sunstreak gleam
stitched in strings across patchwork land
march west toward the far hills of Thailand.
I've got planets in my palm -- there's a red smear on the sky
a star has just exploded somewhere behind my eyes
in the dead of night the city seems to break down into tribes
you stare at too much concrete -- you forget the earth's alive.
Young men see visions and old men dream dreams
see them pluck bright pebbles out of circles in the stream
life's not always like they tell you in the fashion magazines
when i set eyes on wonders, i've got to wonder what they mean.
Outside in the starshine you can see beyond the wall
so take a look and tell me, can you hear those black holes call?
everything is thunder under the celestial waterfall
I never lived with balance
I always wake up nervous
Light comes at me sideways
I hold my breath forever
I never lived with balance
Though Ive always liked the notion
I feel an endless hunger
For energy and motion
Open
Open
Open
I never lived with balance
I want to feel you near me
Theres an aching in my hipbone
Want to let my heart drop open
Its daylight in the city
Theres thumping in the stairwell
Kundalini sunrise
A clamouring of church bells
Open
Open
Open
You like to let me worry
But I dont take you for granted
Come over here and kiss me
Im savouring your picture
The street is filled with noises
Life going up and down
Light comes at you sideways
Enfolds you like a gown
Open
Open
Oh I have been a beggar
And shall be one again
And few the ones with help to lend
Within the world of men
One day I walk in flowers
one day I walk on stones
Today I walk in hours
One day I shall be home
I have sat on the street corner
And watched the bootheels shine
And cried out glad and cried out sad
With every voice but mine
One day I walk in flowers
one day I walk on stones
Today I walk in hours
One day I shall be home
Sunday night and it's half past nine
Sunday night and it's half past nine
Sunday night and it's half past nine
I'm leaving one more town behind
Mirrors are showing the day's last glow
Mirrors are showing the day's last glow
Mirrors are showing the day's last glow
As we're spit out into the jigsaw flow
Ahead where there should be the thickness of night
Stars are pinned on a shimmering curtain of light
Sky full of rippling cliffs and chasms
That shine like signs on the road to heaven...
I've been cut by the beauty of jagged mountains
And cut by the love that flows like a fountain from God.
So I carry these scars, precious and rare,
Breakfast woodsmoke on the breeze --
On the cliff the U.S. Embassy
Frowns out over Managua like Dracula's tower
The kid who guards Fonseca's tomb
Cradles a beat-up submachine gun --
At age fifteen he's a veteran of four years of war
Proud to pay his dues
He knows who turns the screws
Baby face and old man's eyes
Blue lagoon and flowering trees --
Bullet-packed Masaya streets
Full of the ghosts of the heroes of Monimbo
Women of the town laundry
Work and gossip and laugh at me --
They don't believe I'll ever send them the pictures I took
For every scar on a wall
There's a hole in someone's heart
Where a loved one's memory lives
In the flash of this moment
You're the best of what we are --
Don't let them stop you now
Nicaragua
Sandino in his tom mix hat
Gazes from billboards and coins
"Sandino vive in la lucha por la paz"
Sandino of the shining dream
Who stood up to the U.S. Marines --
Now Washington panics at U2 shots of "Cuban-style" latrines
In the flash of this moment
You're the best of what we are --
Don't let them stop you now
Nicaragua
Musical friends are keeping me happy
They know what I need
Now I can sleep on anyone's floor without
Feeling cold
Inside or outside me
The closer we get the easier life be -
Comes for each of us
We can sing songs and play at each other
Over wine
In bottles or in pipes
And we can pass
On endings till the end
We can laugh
Me and my musical friends
Nobody's quite sure just where they're going
They'll find out soon enough
When they get there some sunny morning or
Windy night
If they can just keep moving
And we can pass
On endings till the end
We can laugh
Me and my musical friends
Musical friends are keeping me happy
They know what to do
Musical friends have many things to
Offer you
And you can be one too
In a horse-powered sleigh at the top of the town
sun coming up paints the snow all around
with rose light
In front of the house where Im supposed to be born
I dont think Im ready to walk through that door
just yet
To be one more voice in the human choir
rising like smoke from the mystical fire
of the heart
The wind that blows through everything
sweeps out the halls of my heart when I sing
to you
It carries the moon and the stars and the rain
Carries the seagulls ad carries my shame
away
Spins me around, stops me running away
from all of the things Im waiting to say
But dont
Here
is bigger than you can imagine
is forever
Sun coming up paints the snow all around
Rose on the roofs and the trees and the ground
And the stream
In my dream
Messenger wind swooping out of the sky
lights each tiny speck in the human Kaleidoscope
Maybe the poet is gay
But he'll be heard anyway
Maybe the poet is drugged
But he won't stay under the rug
Maybe the voice of the spirit
In which case you'd better hear it
Maybe he's a woman
Who can touch you where you're human
Male female slave or free
Peaceful or disorderly
Maybe you and he will not agree
But you need him to show you new ways to see
Don't let the system fool you
All it wants to do is rule you
Pay attention to the poet
You need him and you know it
Put him up against the wall
Shoot him up with pentothal
Shoot him up with lead
You won't call back what's been said
Put him in the ground
But one day you'll look around
There'll be a face you don't know
Voicing thoughts you've heard before
Male female slave or free
Peaceful or disorderly
Maybe you and he will not agree
But you need him to show you new ways to see
Don't let the system fool you
All it wants to do is rule you
Pay attention to the poet
You need him and you know it
A laugh for the way my life has gone
A laugh for the love of a friend
A laugh for the fools in the eyes of the world
The love that will never end
Ha Ha Ha...
Let's hear a laugh for the man of the world
Who thinks he can make things work
Tried to build the New Jerusalem
And ended up with New York
Ha Ha Ha...
A laugh for the sun redballing
Through the thermal inversion haze
A laugh for the nuclear good-time boys
Numbering all our days
Ha Ha Ha...
A laugh for the newsprint nightmare
A world that never was
Where the questions are all "why?"
And the answers are all "because."
Ha Ha Ha...
A laugh for the dogs barking at our heels
They don't know where we've been
A laugh for the dirty window pane
Hiding the love within
Ha Ha Ha...
Tapping our feet to an ancient tune
A laugh for the time gone by
A laugh for me and Kitty in the delivery room
Waiting for the child's first cry
Mary had a baby (My Lord) Mary had a baby (Oh My Lord) Mary had a baby (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Where did she lay him (My Lord) Where did she lay him (Oh My Lord) Where did she lay him (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Laid him in a manger (My Lord) Laid him in a manger (Oh My Lord) Laid him in a manger (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
What did she name him? (My Lord) What did she name him? (Oh My Lord) What did she name him? (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Named him King Jesus (My Lord) Named him King Jesus (Oh My Lord) Named him King Jesus (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Who heard the singing? (My Lord) Who heard the singing? (Oh My Lord) Who heard the singing? (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Shepherds heard the singing (My Lord) Shepherds heard the singing (Oh My Lord) Shepherds heard the singing (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Star keeps shining (My Lord) Star keeps shining (Oh My Lord) Star keeps shining (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Moving in the elements (My Lord) Moving in the elements (Oh My Lord) Moving in the elements (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Jesus went to Egypt (My Lord) Jesus went to Egypt (Oh My Lord) Jesus went to Egypt (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
Traveled on a donkey (My Lord) Traveled on a donkey (Oh My Lord) Traveled on a donkey (My Lord) The people keep coming but the train has gone
I was up the road on easy street Watching everybody stand around and cheat A man comes up and says, "Move along Down to the corner where you belong" But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long
I hear the city singing like a siren choir Some fool tried to set this town on fire TV preacher screams "come on along" I feel like Fay Wray face to face with King Kong But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long
Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin -- this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime --
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight --
Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
And we're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
In the place my wonder comes from
There I find you
Your face shines in my sky
In your heart where the world comes from
There you will find me
Your eyes dance in my mind
Come with me
We will sail on the wind
We will sway among the yellow grass
When you be beside me
I am real
Though my eyes be closed forever
Still I would find you
You shine across my time
Come with me
We will sail on the wind
We will sway among the yellow grass
When you be beside me
I am real
In the place my wonder comes from
Down at the bus station
Shark grins and sandpaper conversation
Men's faces women's bodies on the magazine stand
And a headline about Sarajevo and Tehran
They are radiant angels, they are earthly slaves
They are predators moving in their endless days
Days of striving, nights of novocaine
Never going to bring them freedom from their pain
I'm a loner
With a loner's point of view
I'm a loner
And now I'm in love with you
Wild shadows, acid verbs
Eyelids opening dans mon coeur
Tu me touche comme la pression
Des etoiles sur les tenebres*
In the elevator and the empty hall
How am I ever going to hear you when you call
I'm always living and I always die
on the event horizon of your eyes
I'm a loner
With a loner's point of view
I'm a loner
And now I'm in love with you
* TRANSLATION:
Wild shadows acid verbs
Eyelids opening in my heart
You touch me like the pressure
See you standing in the door against the dark
Fireflies around you like a crown of sparks
You blow me a kiss that blurs my vision
Blurs the human condition
You're the ocean ringing in my brain
You are my island ripe with cane
Catch the scent of strange flowers when you pass
Fluid motion like the wind in grass
It's your eyes I want to see
Looking into mine
Got you live on my mind
All the time
Light me like incense in the night
Light me like a candle burning bright
Light me like a searchlight in the sky
Time means nothing when I look in your eyes
It's your eyes I want to see
Looking into mine
Got you live on my mind
All the time
Little seahorse
Swimming in a primal sea
Heartbeat like a
Leaf quaking in the breeze
I feel magic as coyote
In the middle of the moon-wild night
In the forge-fire time
Your mother glowed so bright
You were like a
Voice calling in the night
And I'm watching the curtain
Rising on a whole new set of dreams
The world is waiting
Like a Lake Superior gale
A locomotive
Racing along the rail.
It'll sweep you away
But you know that you're never alone
Little seahorse
Floating on a primal tide
Quickening like a
Spark in a haystack side
I already love you
What's been done in the name of Jesus?
What's been done in the name of Buddha?
What's been done in the name of Islam?
What's been done in the name of man?
What's been done in the name of liberation?
And in the name of civilization?
And in the name of race?
And in the name of peace?
Everybody
Loves to see
Justice done
On somebody else
Can you tell me how much bleeding
It takes to fill a word with meaning?
And how much, how much death
It takes to give a slogan breath?
And how much, how much, how much flame
Gives light to a name
For the hollow darkness
In which nations dress?
Everybody
Loves to see
Justice done
On somebody else
Everybody's seen the things they've seen
We all have to live with what we've been
When they say charity begins at home
They're not just talking about a toilet and a telephone
Got to search the silence of the soul's wild places
For a voice that can cross the spaces
These definitions that we love create --
These names for heaven, hero, tribe and state
Everybody
Loves to see
Justice done
make me a bed of fond memories
make me to lie down with a smile
everything that rises afterward falls
but all that dies has first to live.
as longing becomes love
as night turns to day
everything changes
It came upon the midnight clear That glorious song of old From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, From heav'n's all gracious king The world in solemn stillness lay To hear the angels sing
Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wings unfurled And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world Above its sad and lowly plains They bend on hovering wings And ever o'er its Babel sounds The blessed angels sing
Yet with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long Beneath the angel's ... two thousand years a ... And man at war with man hears not The love song which they bring O hush the noise ye men of strife And hear the angels sing
And ye, beneath life's crushing load, Whose forms are bending low Who toil along the climbing way With painful steps and slow Take heart for comfort, love, and hope Come swiftly on the wing O rest beside the weary road And hear the angels sing
I sneaked across the border -- it was threatening rain --
So I could stand in this tunnel, waiting for the roaring train
And watch those black kids working out kung fu moves
If you don't want to be the horses' hoofprints you got to be the hooves
Hear that lonesome violin play
See the notes float up into the overcast
And change to white birds as they sail on through
And soar away free into incandescent blue
People getting ready behind all those rectangles of light
"Put on your grin mask, babe, you know we're steppin out tonight"
You hear that sound, like hammers only small?
It's what the people's heads say when they beat them against the wall
Hear that lonesome violin play
See the notes float up into the overcast
And change to white birds as they sail on through
And soar away free into incandescent blue
Concrete vortex sucks down the wind
It's howling like a blinded violin.
Oh -- tongues of fire, come and kiss my brow
If I ever needed you, well I need you now
Hear that lonesome violin play
See the notes float up into the overcast
And change to white birds as they sail on through
And the lights lie tumbled out like gems
The moon is nothing but a toothless grin
Floating out on the evening wind
The smell of sweat and lube oil pervades the night
And the rush of life in flight at the speed of light
A million footsteps whispering
A guitar sounds -- some voices sing
Smoke on the breeze -- eyes that sting
Far in the east a yellow cloud bank climbs
Stretching away to be part of tomorrow's time
Earthbound while everything expands
So many grains of sand
Slipping from hand to hand
Catching the light and falling into dark
The world fades out like an overheard remark
In the falling dark
Light pours from a million radiant lives
Off of kids and dogs and the hard-shelled husbands and wives
All that glory shining around and we're all caught taking a dive
And all the beasts of the hills around shout, "such a waste!
Here comes the helicopter -- second time today
Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
How many kids they've murdered only God can say
If I had a rocket launcher(3x)... I'd make somebody pay
I don't believe in guarded borders and I don't believe in hate
I don't believe in generals or their stinking torture states
And when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
If I had a rocket launcher(3x)...I would retaliate
On the Rio Lacantun, one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation -- or some less humane fate
Cry for Guatemala, with a corpse in every gate
If I had a rocket launcher(3x)...I would not hesitate
I want to raise every voice -- at least I've got to try
Every time I think about it water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate, echoes of the victims cry
Rain forest
Mist and mystery
Teeming green
Green brain facing lobotomy
Climate control centre for the world
Ancient cord of coexistence hacked by parasitic greedhead scam -
From Sarawak to Amazonas
Costra Rica to Mangy BC hills -
Cortege rhythm of falling timber
What kind of currency grows in these new deserts
These brand new food plains?
If a tree falls in the desert does anybody hear?
If a tree falls in the desert does anybody hear?
Does anybody hear the forest fall?
Cut and move on
Cut and move on
Take out trees
Take out wildlife at a rate of a species every single day
Take out people who've lived like this for 100,000 years
Inject a billion burgers worth of beef -
Grain eaters - methane dispensers -
Through thinning ozone
Wave fall on wrinkled earth
Gravity, light, ancient refuse of stars
Speak of a drowning
But this, this is something other
Bust monster eats dark holes in the spirit world
Where wild things have to go
To disappear
Forever
If a tree falls in the desert does anybody hear?
If a tree falls in the desert does anybody hear?
Tokyo jetlag evening walking Out of my throat appears this chuckle A true 20th Century sound A little crazed and having no tonal centre
The echoes of this laugh fade for a long time Snaking among those jumbled pedestrians Following that struggling Cedric taxicab Sliding over the seeming infinity of white light and neon
With no warning, mind's eye winks like a lifespan And opens again on memory flash of prairie Indian Dancers -- they're on a stage, all jigging motion And flare of bright feathers, surrounded by white faces Floating on a sea of mind Hoop dancer struts in front -- drum and voices blend with endless rain
There's a time line Something like vertical, like perpendicular Cutting through figures shuffling on horizontal plane Cutting through the survival pride of the dancers Through the guilty, sentimental warmth of the crowd Through to some essence common to us, to original man To perhaps descendants numberless ... or few
Where it intersects the space at hand This shaman with the hoops stands Aligned like living magnetic needle between deep past and looming future Butterfly pierced on each drum beat, wing beat, static spark, storm front, energy circle delineated by leaping limbs
1st man last man dancing man man dancing Hoops in hand trampled grass circle spreading Voices flame above crazy coyote heartbeat drum
I see sunrise on the plains big river at dusk Perpetual pillar of dust on prairie rim and always overhead those wings -- circling, turning
He's the earth he's the egg he's the eagle always circling Always turning -- always comes back to the centre
Hoops whirling, now transparent feet touch down on anaconda Streets and on the next leap dissolve slowly into the moving lights
Underneath the mask of the sulphur sky
A bunch of us were busy waiting,
Watching the people looking ill-at-ease,
Watching the fraying rope get closer to breaking
Women and men moved back and forth
In between effect and cause
And just beyond the range of normal sight
This glittering joker was dancing in the dragon's jaws
Let me be a little of your breath
Moving over the face of the deep --
I want to be a particle of your light
Flowing over the hills of morning
The only sign you gave of who you were
When you first came walking down the road,
Was the way the dust motes danced around
Your feet in a cloud of gold
But everything you see's not the way it seems --
Tears can sing and joy she'd tears.
You can take the wisdom of this world
And give it to the ones who think it all ends here
Let me be a little of your breath
Moving over the face of the deep --
I want to be a particle of your light
Moon across the valley Squatting on the roof Of the dirty gray bank Like a cop with no proof
We were lying in bliss Love was cooling into sleep There was a dream on the horizon And a punch-up in the street
We were lying on the mountain by the satellite dish Humming with the tremors of Every envy, rage and wish Orchids and radar In the dazzling night The stars were all racing like satellites
Going up against chaos Going up against chaos Two hearts full of tough love
We were bodies of light Like we'll be someday The sirens and the curses Were light years away
We were Lot on the mountain We were Noah on the Ark Flying hand in hand From the doghowl dark
Look out the window, what do I see?
Cows hangin' out under spreading trees.
Zoom! They're gone behind the sign
White letters pointing to the long white line
and I'm going to the country
O, la la la la la
I'm going to the country
Sunshine smile on me
I can smell the grass growing in the field
Wind in my hair tells me how it feels
Farm house, silver roof flashing by
Tractor-trailer truck says goodbye with a sigh
And I'm going to the country
O, la la la la la
I'm going to the country
Sunshine smile on me
Birds singing, I'm singing in my bones
Doesn't much matter now where I'm going
Get it when I get there is what I'll do
If I get enough I'll give some to you
And I'm going to the country
O, happy as can be
I'm going to the country
Night comes The mask of the world Resolves into round bits of silver on the table Round arrow nocked against the bow Round fruit devoured by time While the moon climbs
Sea swells Illusion is queen In the shallow graves of experience time-centred Grave silence reigns over the stars Graven image hanging in time While the earth unwinds
With rain the world grows us older Lord let us not be lost God bless the children with knowledge of the cost
Day comes The hawk of gold Springs forth in flame from a highway paved with diamonds Lion rampant on a green field Ramparts cracked into the sky While the Christ stands by
Geese come rushing on a river of wind
In the bright sky, bright sky
Wild music ripples like a wake behind
In the bright sky, bright sky
Go higher, go higher where the wind is all
In the bright sky, bright sky
Where the bullets get tired and fall
In the bright sky, bright sky
They fly out of vision taking part of my soul
In the bright sky, bright sky
Well, maybe together we can touch down whole
In the bright sky, bright sky
I never saw the colours in the northern dark
In the bright sky, bright sky
But there were all those people floating like Noah's Ark
In the bright sky, bright sky
And we all rush away on a river of wind
In the bright sky, bright sky
But if i live i'll be coming back again
I woke up thinking about Turkish drummers
It didn't take long: I don't know much about Turkish drummers
But it made me think of Germany
And the guy who sold me cigarettes
Who'd been in the Afghan secret police
Who made the observation
That it's hard... to live
Then I was reminded of the proprietor of a Vietnamese restaurant in Quebec
Who used to be head of the secret police in Danang
And it occurred to me I was thinking about all this stuff to keep from
thinking about something else
Isn't that just what secret police are all about now?
Somebody stands at a window
Watches the river roll
Trains rumble in the foreground
With the weight of approaching dawn
Flames from the refinery
Rise broken-red and riveting
And the high vault of heaven
Looks far away and cold
There's a howling in the factory yard
There's a pounding in my head
I'm swollen up with unshed tears
Bloated like the dead
(Instrumental break)
Blood and ashes
Time burning
On the skyline dark against the stars
A solitary horseman
Waiting
Lashed to the wheel
Ripping in the storm
Get up, Jonah
It's your time to be born
Get up Jonah
working out on Gavin's woodpile
safe within the harmony of kin
visions begin to crowd my eyes
like a meteor shower in the autumn skies
and the soil beneath me seems to moan
with a sound like the wind through a hollow bone
and my mind fills with figures like Lappish runes of power...
and log slams on rough-hewn log
and a voice from somewhere scolds a barking dog.
i remember a bleak-eyed prisoner
in the Stoney Mountain life-suspension home
you drink and fight and damage someone
and they throw you away for some years of boredom
one year done and five more to go --
no job waiting so no parole
and over and over they tell you that you're nothing...
and i toss another log on Gavin's woodpile
and wonder at the lamp-warm window's welcome smile.
i remember crackling embers
coloured windows shining through the rain
like the coloured slicks on the English River
death in the marrow and death in the liver
and some government gambler with his mouth full of steak
saying "if you can't eat the fish, fish in some other lake.
To watch a people die -- it is no new thing."
and the stack of wood grows higher and higher
and a helpless rage seems to set my brain on fire.
and everywhere the free space fills
like a punctured diving suit and i'm
paralyzed in the face of it all
cursed with the curse of these modern times
distant mountains, blue and liquid,
luminous like a thickening of sky
flash in my mind like a stairway to life --
a train whistle cuts through the scene like a knife
three hawks wheel in a dazzling sky --
a slow motion jet makes them look like a lie
and i'm left to conclude there's no human answer near...
but there's a narrow path to a life to come
that explodes into sight with the power of the sun.
a mist rises as the sun goes down
and the light that's left forms a kind of crown
the earth is bread, the sun is wine
Got no social graces
Never know my place
Ine thing I am sure of
You can't judge a man by his race
Birth don't come easy
Freedom doesn't come cheap
Rules and worlds get swept away
While you waste your time in sleep
Grow up you
Grow up me
Grown together
Free to be
There's music in the forest
Children laugh in the school yard
On the skid row of the spirit
Hear the ranting of the Western Guard
Why don't you cool out
Can it be so hard
to love yourself without thinking
someone else holds a lower card
Grow up you
Grow up me
Grown together
Free to be
Wired to the switchboard
Always on the move
Things we love to cling to
But there's nothing we can prove
You can only deal with
What's before your face
And the life you're given's no use at all
If you burn it up in hate
Grow up you
Grow up me
Grown together
An elegant song won't hold up long
When the palace falls and the parlour's gone
We all must leave but it's not the end
We'll meet again at the festival of friends.
Smiles and laughter and pleasant times
There's love in the world but it's hard to find
I'm so glad I found you -- I'd just like to extend
An invitation to the festival of friends.
Some of us live and some of us die
Someday God's going to tell us why
Open your heart and grow with what life sends
That's your ticket to the festival of friends.
Like an imitation of a good thing past
These days of darkness surely will not last
Jesus was here and he's coming again
To lead us to his festival of friends.
Black snake highway -- sheet metal ballet
It's just so much snow on a summer day
Whatever happens, it's not the end
At the feast of fools
Humour can sometimes be cruel
But under certain conditions
You have to forget the rules
At the feast of fools
Everybody has a voice
Nobody goes to the bottom
Except by their own choice
It's time for the silent criers to be held in love
It's time for the ones who dig graves for them to get that final shove
It's time for the horizons of the universe to be glimpsed even by the faceless kings of corporations
It's time for chaos to win and walk off with the prize which turns out to be nothing
At the feast of fools
Outlaws can all come home
You can wear any disguise you want
But you'll be naked past the bone
At the feast of fools
People's hands weave light
There is a diamond wind
Flowering in the darkest night
It's time for the silent criers to be held in love
It's time for the ones who dig graves for them to get that final shove
It's time for the horizons of the universe to be glimpsed even by the faceless kings of corporations
It's time for chaos to win and walk off with the prize which turns out to be (a big fat) nothing.
It's time for the singers of songs without hope to take a hard look and start from scratch again
It's time for these headlights racing against inescapable dark to be just forgotten
It's time for Harlequin to leap out of the future into the midst of a world of dancers
Fascist architecture of my own design
Too long been keeping my love confined
You tore me out of myself alive
Those fingers drawing out blood like sweat
While the magnificent facades crumble and burn
The billion facets of brilliant love
The billion facets of freedom turning in the light
Bloody nose and burning eyes
Raised in laughter to the skies
I've been in trouble but I'm ok
Been through the wringer but I'm ok
Walls are falling and I'm ok
Under the mercy and I'm ok
Gonna tell my old lady
Gonna tell my little girl
There isn't anything in the world
Moon of plenty, moon of mischance
Itll be what you want but you cant stop the dance
Try to count the steps and they change while you stare
And the translucent moon floats in waves of blue air
And we cry out for grace to lay truth bare
The dance is the truth and its everywhere
Pas de deux in stark silhouette
pulsing against a clear orange sunset
As the distance shifts from skin unto skin
Look a how bodies shape the spaces theyre in
See the limbs slide smooth through unresisting air
The dance is the truth and its everywhere
In grains of sand and Galaxies
In plasmaflow and rain in trees
In the sepia swell of silted-up surf
In the ebb and the flow of dying and birth
In wounded streets and whispered prayer
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born Singing carols, Christmas songs Early on one Christmas morn
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born Singing carols, Christmas songs Jesus Christ the son was born
Three wise men saw the star at night Star that lit the heavens so bright Star that led them to where Christ was born Early on one Christmas morn
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born Singing carols, Christmas songs Early on one Christmas morn
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born Singing carols, Christmas songs Jesus Christ the son was born
In that city of Bethlehem Wise men brought Him jewels and gems Born in a manger humble and low That is why we love Him so
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born Singing carols, Christmas songs Jesus Christ the son was born
Mary was his mother calm cradling him gently in her arms all hail and praise to Him peace on earth, goodwill to men
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born singing carols, christmas songs Early on one Christmas morn
Early on one Christmas morn Jesus Christ the son was born singing carols, Christmas songs Jesus Christ the son was born
It could have been me put the thorns in your crown
Rooted as I am in a violent ground
How many times have I turned your promise down
Still you pour out your love
Pour out your love
I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you've done
Jesus, thank-you joyous Son
You entered a life like ours to give us back our own
You wanted us like you, as choosers not clones
You offered up your flesh and death was overthrown
Now salvation is ours,
Salvation is ours
I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you've done
Jesus, thank-you joyous Son
So I'm walking this prison camp world
I long for a glimpse of the new world unfurled
The chrysalis cracking and moisten winds uncurl
Like in the vision John saw
The vision John saw
I was a dweller by a dark stream
A crying heart hooked on a dark dream
In my convict soul I saw your love gleam
And you showed me what you've done
Here come those silver celestial horses
Rays of the moon in the mountain air
Im steeped in the stream of the last wild hot spring
Maybe Im melting but I dont care
Theres darkness in the canyon
but the light comes pounding through
for me
and for you
Tomorrow may be a hissing blowtorch
may be a silken sky shaken by the wind
that whirls in the wake of those whispering horses
But theres always a pillar of cloud on the valleys rim
Theres darkness in the canyon etc
Still river full of the depths of candles
burning for the free ones riding on the other shore
Even at the heart of these breathing shadows
you can feel us gathering at the door