This is no great illusion
When I'm with you I'm looking for a ghost
Or invisible reasons
To fall out of love and run screaming from our home
Because we live in a house of mirrors
We see our fears and everything
Our songs, faces, and second hand clothes
But more and more we're suffering
Not nobody, not a thousand beers
Will keep us from feeling so all alone
But you are what you love
And not what loves you back
That's why I'm here on your doorstep
Pleading for you to take me back
The phone is a fine invention
It allows me to talk endlessly to you
About nothing disguising my intentions
Which I'm afraid, my friend, are wildly untrue
It's a sleight of hand, a white soul band
The heart attacks I'm convinced I have
Every morning upon waking
To you I'm a symbol or a monument
Your rite of passage to fufillment
But I'm not yours for the taking
But you are what you love
And not what loves you back
So I guess that's why you keep calling me back
I'm fraudulent, a thief at best
A coward who paints a bullshit canvas
Things that will never happen to me
But at arms length, it's Tim who said
I'm good at it, I've mastered it
Avoiding, avoiding everything
But you are what you love, Tim
And not what loves you back
And I'm in love with illusions
So saw me in half
I'm in love with tricks
Our love is sweeter than strings
Our love is thicker than angel wings
But still sometimes I can't believe you're real
It's just that I've got diamonds in my eyes for you
Our love is simple
Our love is crystal
But still sometimes you cannot help yourself
You step outside and hear bells ringing
For you, for you
Trying my best to love you
Trying my best to love you
Trying my best to love you
They make it so hard on us baby
It's so hard on us baby
I want you back my baby
I want you back in my arms
I want you back right now
They make it so hard on us baby
It's so hard on us baby
Trying my best to love you
Trying my best to love you
Trying my best to love you
They make it so hard on us baby
It's so hard on us baby
It's so hard on us baby
If I run uphill I'm out of breath
If I spend all of my money I've got no money left
If I place all of my chips on only one bet
I'm all in
And it's a surefire bet I'm gonna die
So I'm taking up praying on Sunday nights
And it's not that I believe in your almight
But I might as well as insurance or bail
Cause institution's like a big bright lie
And it blinds you into fear and consuming and fight
And you've been in the desert underneath the charging sky
It's just you and God
But what if God's not there?
But his name is on your dollar bill
Which just became cab fare
For the Evangelist, the Communist, the Lefts and the Rights
And the hypocrites and the Jesuits and the blacks and the whites
It's in the belly of the beast
In the Atlanta streets
Or up in Laurel Canyon
The verge of Middle East
Still they're dying on the dark continent
It's been happening long enough to mention it
Have I mentioned my parents are getting back together again
It's been 25 years
Of spreading infection
Somehow we're not affected
So my mom, she brushes her hair
And my dad starts growing Bob Dylan's beard
And I share with my friends a couple of beers
In the Orlando streets
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
For the bats in the belfry and the fairies on Main street
for the deadbeat daddies and the boulevard frieze
For the little girls with the carousel eyes
And the brick-a-brack-finding housewives losing their minds
Sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
To the never-made-its and the unrecognized
To the alley rats and the tenement flies
To the weekend tweakers, the blond and the blind
To the ex-thrill-seekers in the methadone lines
Sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
To who you are and will never be
To the shaking hand of the maker we're all gonna meet
Sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
If you sing a song, sing a song for them
Take me away, take me away
They're going to take me away
To Pelican Bay
Pelican Bay, Pelican Bay
They're going to take me to Pelican Bay
They don't have no fishing in the Pelican Bay
Room and board and free waits
Pelican Bay, Pelican Bay
They're going to take me to Pelican Bay
An eye for an eye
A man for a man
You kill one of mine, I'm taking three of them
Strawberry wine is thicker than blood
When you're kicking back in the cut
And if the weak don't get you then Charlie will
If the life don't reach you then Satan will
Pelican Bay, Pelican Bay
They're going to take me to Pelican Bay
They don't have no fishing in the Pelican Bay
Sure is dull when you count the days
Pelican Bay, Pelican Bay
They're going to take me to Pelican Bay
Even the Lord will forget about us
Even the Lord will forget about us
Even the Lord will forget about us
Down on the Pelican Bay
They're going to take me to Pelican Bay
Take me to Pelican Bay
I wear a ponytail like a waterfall
Loudspeaker or land slide
I have a room key and a Johnny
A good buzz, feeling all right
Pitch a tent, pop a top
Forget about what you ain't got
See the sites, sleep until night
Stamp your feet, turn out the lights
If you want to go where they chain up the sun
See Fernando, see Fernando
He'll buy a bottle of suds for you and everyone
See Fernando, see Fernando
If you're high strung or stressed out
Down in the dumps, been turned out
Stabilized, motorized, insecure or fableized
Curious or furious, picked apart like Prometheus
Legalized, penalized, simplify, dry out your eyes
If you want to go where they chain up the sun
See Fernando, see Fernando
He'll buy a bottle of suds for you and everyone
See Fernando, see Fernando
You've been Jezebeled, back from hell
Cooling off, feeling well
Tired of talking, talked out
Ticked off or toughed up
Too talled or backed up
Haven't made your mind up
Tbd'd or tb'd
Tired of falling to your knees
If you want to go where they chain up the sun
See Fernando, see Fernando
He'll buy a bottle of suds for you and everyone
See Fernando, see Fernando
And if you want to go where they chain up the sun
See Fernando, see Fernando
He'll buy a bottle of suds for you and everyone
Run devil run
Devil run
Devil run
Run devil run
Devil run
Devil run
Run devil run
Devil run
Devil run
What are you changing?
Who do you think you're changing?
You can't change things, we're all stuck in our ways
It's like trying to clean the ocean
What do you think you can drain it?
Well it was poison and dry long before you came
But you can wake up younger under the knife
And you can wake up sounder if you get analyzed
And I better wake up
There but for the grace of God, go I
It's hard to believe your prophets
When they're asking you to change things
But with their suspect lives we look the other way
Are you really that pure, Sir?
Thought I saw you in Vegas
It was not pretty, but she was
But she will wake up wealthy
And you will wake up 45
And she will wake up with babies
There but for the grace of God, go I
What am I fighting for?
The cops are at the front door
I can't escape that way, the windows are in flames
And what's that on your ankle?
You say they're not coming for you
But house arrest is really just the same
Like when you wake up behind the bar
Trying to remember where you are
Having crushed all the pretty things
There but for the grace of God, go I
But I still believe
And I will rise up with fists
And I will take what's mine mine mine
There but for the grace of God, go I
There but for the grace of God, go I
There but for the grace of God, go I
I was of poor folk
But my mother had a rabbit fur coat
And a girl of less character pushed her down the L.A. River
Hand over that rabbit fur coat
She put a knife to her throat
Hand over that rabbit fur coat
When my ma refused, the girl kicked dirt on her blouse
Stay away from my mansion house
My mother really suffered for that
Spent her life in a gold plated body cast
Now, you ask, did she get that girl back?
She paid a visit to that mansion house
She knew the girl was not there
But her father was in cufflinks with slicked-back black hair
He invited her in, they never sang a note
But she took off that rabbit fur coat
And who do you think came home?
Miss so and so
She took one look at my ma and what did she say?
""Why are you stealing from my mansion house?""
No, I'm in love with Mr. so and so
He invited me in, I'm a girl no more
Then she dragged my ma out by her throat
Hand over that rabbit fur coat
Let's move ahead twenty years, shall we?
She was waitressing on welfare, we were living in the valley
A lady says to my ma you treat your girl as your spouse
You can live in a mansion house
And so we did
And I became a 100.000 dollar kid
When I was old enough to realize, wiped the dust from my mother's eyes
It's all this for that rabbit fur coat
But I'm not bitter about it
I've packed up my things and let them have at it
And the fortune faded, as fortunes often do
And so did that mansion house
Where my ma is now, I don't know
She was living in her car, I was living on the road
And I hear she's putting that stuff up her nose
And still wearing that rabbit fur coat
But mostly I'm a hypocrite
I sing songs about the deficit
But when I sell out and leave Omaha, what will I get?
Pretty bird, pretty bird
why you so still?
pretty bird, pretty bird
we've been waiting on you
you go west for the black setting sun
you go south to the white spirit of earth
you go east for those real green eyes
you go for north, walk the good red road
pretty bird
there's a mirror in heaven
pretty bird, pretty bird
there's a window on earth
you go west for the black setting sun
you go south to the white spirit of earth
you go east for those real green eyes
you go north, walk the good red road
pretty bird
some pity me
ooh pity me yeah
stars pity me for
the blood of the pretty
the blood of the pretty
the blood of the pretty
bird
pretty bird, pretty bird
we're starving you still
you go west for the black setting sun
you go south to the white spirit of earth
you go east for those real green eyes
you go north, walk the good red road
Living in the meadow,
the mighty mighty meadow.
With too many people,
sucking all the water.
Yeah my daddy was a farmer.
He was a race car driver.
He is a four leaf clover.
He is the next messiah.
Now he's living in the woods,
the dark and dank woods.
With a cocktail waitress,
who thinks she's an artist.
Take her down to the river,
split her right up the middle.
Now there's gonna be trouble,
for a pregnant lamb and a convent.
I sit in the clink,
dye his hair in the sink.
And the tumor gonna make a
man out of him.
Now my daddy was a chancer.
He was a bad check bouncer.
But if he had cancer,
he's a survivor.
He's the next messiah. (x4)
Covering it up,
squeezing it out,
watching it bleed.
You're watching it all,
taking it back.
She's down on her knees.
When did she come to detest you?
Giving it back,
backing you up,
nothing's for free.
You're giving it back,
for locking you up,
those terrible deeds.
When will they come to arrest you?
When did she come to detest you?
When will they come to arrest you?
When did she come to detest you?
I'm gonna give my love to you on a day you gotta bring it back. (x4)
I want to tell you I love you. (x4)
I want to tell you I love you. (x5)
I'm gonna go out walking baby, better be here when I get back.(x2)
I'm gonna give my love to you on a day you gotta bring it back. (x2)
I want to tell you I love you. (x2)
Nothing is ever as good as it was
And what's good for your soul
Will be bad on your nerves if you reverse it
It's bound to melt your heart
One way or another
It's bound to melt your heart
For good or for bad
It's like a valentine
From your mother
It's bound to melt your heart
And we've lost the people we could have loved, and you...
What you know you have or what you think you aren't
It's never perfect
It's bound to melt your heart
One way or another
It's bound to melt your heart
For good or for bad
It's like a valentine
From your mother
It's bound to melt your heart
Are we killing time?
Are we killing each other?
It's bound to melt your heart
One way or another
It's bound to melt your heart
For good or for bad
It's like a valentine
From your mother
It's bound to melt your heart
When you're kissing someone who's too much like you
It's like kissing on a mirror
When you're sleeping with someone who doesn't get you
You're gonna hate yourself in the morning
It's bound to melt your heart
One way or another
It's bound to melt your heart
For good or for bad
It's like a valentine
From your mother
When Jack was born
He winked at Mom
Her pretty face
Was the first he saw
Was Jack wrong, cause he loved Mom?
Things weren't bad
Before they got worse
Momma pinched Jack
Until it hurt
Momma thought
Her boy was cursed
You leave, leave, leave that boy to me
Oh, Jack, I love him
You leave that boy to me
You leave, leave, leave that boy to me
I know his condition
And soon he'll be set free
Off at school
Jack was cruel
He'd become
The bully's bull
Was Jack wrong to mimic Mom?
And after school
From the corner stool
Mom was kissin'
On the golden rule
Jack had become a teacher's fool
You leave, leave, leave that man to me
Oh Mom I love you
And soon you will be free
With my will, my hands, like old Solomon
And in your honor, I'm gonna cut that man in half
All the lessons that Momma would teach
Books from Rome and ancient Greece
Men who pushed rocks from stony mountains
Turnin' one fish into five thousand
A king who went blind from a mother's love
Till a rage came over Jack
With Momma lyin' on her back
The one who taught him right from wrong
Who'd known better all along
She got rammed through when Jack killed his mom
Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave this world to me
Oh Mom I love you
I didn't mean to set you free
With my will, my hands, like old Solomon
Oh Mom I love you
I didn't mean to set you free
Was Jack wrong? (Jack killed Mom)
Was Jack wrong? (Jack killed Mom)
Was Jack wrong? (Jack killed Mom)
Jack killed Mom
Jack killed Mom
Jack killed Mom
Jack killed Mom
Jack killed Mom
Jack killed Mom
Been beat up and battered 'round
Been sent up, and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care
Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
Baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on
I've been fobbed off, and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centers and night schools
Handle me with care
Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Hand me with care
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on
I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
No good no how no man should treat you like he do.
So come on right now its time for you to get up and out of his house.
Ive known you too long to let you carry on this way.
When I was in bad shape Ill never forget what you always used to say.
What are we gonna do-hoo with you you dont make it easy on me.
What am i supposed to do-hoo with you wont let me help
Wont you.
Godspeed keep the lighthouse in sight.
Godspeed to you keep the lighthouse in sight.
Godspeed to you put out the light and hope you make it alive.
No telling what he'll do I would'nt want hime to hurt you in that way.
Things you dont say reach me somehow anyway.
What are we gonna do-hoo with you you dont make it easy on me.
What am I suppose to do-hoo you wont let me help you.
Why wont you let me.
Godspeed keep the lighthouse in sight.
Godspeed to you keep the lighthouse in sight.
Godspeed to you put out the light and hope you make it alive.
One Two
Godspeed keep the lighthouse in sight.
Godspeed to you keep the lighthouse in sight.
Godspeed to you keep the lighthouse in sight.
They come to town when the war is over
Dirty boots in the middle of the night
Trollin' the bars hitting on the soldiers
Boys give it up without a fight
They say "Hey boy how about your place?
I know you really want to take me home"
Drop the bags off on the bedroom floor
They make love with the lights on saying
I'm a carpetbagger baby
I'm coming to your town
I'm gonna treat you kind
I'm gonna rob you blind
I'll smile all the time
whoa yeah x4
Sally could've had any one of the boys
But she couldn't love no one she could not control
Friend of mine and her got married
I don't hear too much from him anymore
Last I heard he had a rope round his neck
Draggin' around the grocery store
Carrying her bags pushin' down the ice
and I ain't got no home in this world anymore
I'm a carpetbagger baby
I'm coming to your town
I'm gonna treat you kind
I'm gonna rob you blind
I'll smile all the time
Oh yeah x4
They come to town when the party's over
Books been written and true's been tried
They'll take it all if the doors left open
Steal the nose right from under your eyes
I'm a carpetbagger baby
I'm coming to your town
I'm gonna treat you kind
I'm gonna rob you blind
I'll smile all the time
I was born secular
and inconsolable
I heard that he walked
he walked the earth
God goes
where he wants
and who knows
where he is not
Not in me
It's the way
mothers greet their sons
when it's a moment too late
It's the law of the land
But sometimes the dam just breaks
God works in mysterious ways
And God gives
and then he takes away
From me
I feel in love with a beautiful boy on the black sand
He took me away, I was never the same on the black sand
He said, "Who's going to love you buried underground?"
Oh, on the black sand
A mother unwed with a scar down her chest on the black sand
She met her mate on the old army base back in Thailand
Who's going to love him, when all that's lost is found?
Oh, on the black sand
On the black sand
I have this dream where I'm down on my knees on the black sand
I'm facing the sea as the wind pushes me down to my hands
Who's going to mind, when the end is nigh?
Oh, on the black sand
On the black sand
Well you praise him
Then you thank him
Til you reach the by-and-by
And I've won hundreds at the track
But I'm not betting on the afterlife
Then you kiss his lips
He forgives you for it
He forgives you for all you've done
But not me
I'm still angry
What have I done?
Why am I always missing...
The big guns?
First I'll build a sword
Get some words to explain
It's a plan, brother, at least
And I'll pretend that everybody here wants peace
Have mercy, have mercy, have mercy on me
Cause we're tired and lonely and we're bloody
What have we done?
Why are we still running
From our own failing bodies?
The big guns, the big guns...
Sing mercy, sing mercy, sing mercy on me
Let's pretend that everybody here wants peace
What have we done?
Why are we still chasing our own tails?
I have got so much to give, I swear I do
I may not have nine lives, this one feels brand new
Yes, I've lived a good one, I have tried to be true
There are some things I never realized till I met you
How the wind feels on my cheeks when I'm barking at the moon
There is no home like the one you've got
'Cause that home belongs to you
Woo, woo, here I come, woo, woo, back to you
There is no home like the one you've got
'Cause that home belongs to you
Well, I was in trouble, bad, I was so confused
I may not see in color, babe, but I sure can feel blue
I have been a lot of things, they may not all be true
My experience was so mysterious till I met you
Now the sun may rise in the east but I'm barking at the moon
There is no home like the one you've got
'Cause that home belongs to you
Woo, woo, here I come, woo, woo, back to you
There is no home like the one you've got
'Cause that home belongs to you
There is no home like the one you've got
'Cause that home belongs to you
There is no home like the one you've got
Its a bad man's world
It's a bad man's world
It's a bad man's world..
Was I born as a promise to keep the peace
Or meet the shame
Before you split, one thing left
To give me my ordinary name
Give me my ordinary name
Now that Im still standing,
Ive got something left to prove
Got a bullet left, but I cant decide
Which scorpion Im going to shoot
Will it be me, will it be you?
Its a bad man's world
Its a bad man's world
Im a bad, bad girl
Its a bad man's world
I will never forgive you
For what you put us kids through
Remember that night
You tried to take your own life?
When I found you
You were a shade of blue
Success is a state of mind
With a little bit of follow through
And then you failed at that, too
Its a bad mans world
Its a bad mans world
Im a bad, bad girl
Its a bad mans world
Will it be me, will it be you?
Its a bad man's world
Its a bad man's world
Im a bad, bad girl
Its a bad mans world Its a bad man's world
Was I born as a promise to keep the peace
Or meet the shame
Before you split, one thing left
To give me ordinary name
Give me my ordinary name
Now that Im still standing,
Ive got something left to prove
Got a bullet left, but I cant decide
Which scorpion Im going to shoot
Will it be me, will it be you?
Its a bad man's world
Its a bad man's world
Im a bad, bad girl
Its a bad man's world
I will never forgive you
For what you put us kids through
Remember that night
You tried to take your own life?
When I found you
You were a shade of blue
Success is a state of mind
With a little bit of follow through
And then you failed at that, too
Its a bad mans world
Its a bad mans world
Im a bad, bad girl
Its a bad mans world
Will it be me, will it be you?
Its a bad man's world
Its a bad man's world
Im a bad, bad girl
I went to a cobbler
to fix a hole in my shoe
he took one look at my face and said
"I can fix that hole in you."
I beg your pardon, I'm not looking for a cure
I've seen enough from my friends
in the depths of the God-sick blues
You know I am a liar
You know I am a liar
Nobody helps a liar
'Cause I've been down to Dixie
and dropped acid on my tongue
tripped upon the land 'til enough was enough
I was a little bit lighter and
adventure on my sleeve
I was a little drunk and looking for company
So I found myself a sweetheart
with the softest of hands
we were unlucky in love but I'd do it all again
we built ourselves a fire
we built ourselves a fire
you know I am a liar
you know I am a liar
and you don't know what I've done
and by the rollin' river
is exactly where I was
there was no snake or cure for unlucky in love
to be lonely is a habit
like smoking or taking drugs
and I've quit them both
but man, was it rough
and now I am tired
it just made me tired
let's build ourselves a fire
