Tom Waits Complete Lyrics Archive Part 1

B i o g r a p h y
(by William Ruhlmann)

In the 1970s, Tom Waits combined a lyrical focus on desperate, lowlife characters with a persona that seemed to embody the same lifestyle, which he sang about in a raspy, gravelly voice. From the '80s on, his work became increasingly theatrical as he moved into acting and composing. Growing up in southern California, Waits attracted the attention of manager Herb Cohen, who also handled Frank Zappa, and was signed by him at the beginning of the 1970s, resulting in the material later released as The Early Years and The Early Years, Vol. 2. His formal recording debut came with Closing Time (1973) on Asylum Records, an album that contained "Ol' 55," which was covered by labelmates the Eagles for their On the Border album. Waits attracted critical acclaim and a cult audience for his subsequent albums, The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), the two-LP live set Nighthawks at the Diner (1975), Small Change (1976), Foreign Affairs (1977), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heart Attack and Vine (1980). His music and persona proved highly cinematic, and, starting in 1978, he launched parallel careers as an actor and as a composer of movie music. He wrote songs for and appeared in Paradise Alley (1978), wrote the title song for On the Nickel (1980), and was hired by director Francis Coppola to write the music for One from the Heart (1982), which earned him an Academy Award nomination. While working on that project, Waits met and married playwright Kathleen Brennan, with whom he later collaborated. Moving to Island Records, Waits made Swordfishtrombones (1983), which found him experimenting with horns and percussion and using unusual recording techniques. The same year, he appeared in Coppola's Rumble Fish and The Outsiders, and, in 1984, he appeared in the director's The Cotton Club.

In 1985, he released Rain Dogs. In 1986, he appeared in Down By Law and made his theatrical debut with Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in Frank's Wild Years, a musical play he had written with Brennan. An album based on the play was released in 1987, the same year Waits appeared in the films Candy Mountain and Ironweed. In 1988, he released a film and soundtrack album depicting one of his concerts, Big Time. In 1989, he appeared in the films Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale, Cold Feet, and Wait Until Spring. His work for the theater continued in 1990 when Waits partnered with opera director Robert Wilson and beat novelist William Burroughs and staged The Black Rider in Hamburg, Germany. In 1991, he appeared in the films Queens' Logic, The Fisher King, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord. In 1992, he scored the film Night on Earth; released the album Bone Machine, which won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album; appeared in the film Bram Stoker's Dracula; and returned to Hamburg for the staging of his second collaboration with Robert Wilson, Alice. The The Black Rider was documented on CD in 1993, the same year Waits appeared in the film Short Cuts. A long absence from recording resulted in the 1998 release of Beautiful Maladies, a retrospective of his work for Island. In 1999, Waits finally returned with a new album, Mule Variations. The record was a critical success, winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk album, and was also his first for the independent Epitaph Records' Anti subsidiary. A small tour followed, but Waits jumped right back into the studio and began working on not one but two new albums. By the time he emerged in the spring of 2002, both Alice and Blood Money were released on Anti Records. Blood Money consisted of the songs from the third Wilson/Waits collaboration that was staged in Denmark in 2000 and won Best Drama of the year. After limited touring in support of these two endeavors, Waits returned to the recording studio and issued Real Gone in 2004. The album marked a large departure for him, in that it contained no keyboards at all, focusing only on rhythm-stringed instruments.

Closing time

Ol' 55

Well my time went so quickly,
I went lickety-splickly out to my old '55
As I drove away slowly, feeling so holy,
God knows, I was feeling alive.

Now the sun's coming up,
I'm riding with Lady Luck,
Freeway cars and trucks,
Stars beginning to fade,
And I lead the parade

Just a-wishing I'd stayed a little longer,
Oh, Lord, let me tell you
That the feeling's getting stronger.

And it's six in the morning,
Gave me no warning; I had to be on my way.
Well there's trucks all a-passing me,
And the lights are all flashing,
I'm on my way home from your place.

And now the sun's coming up,
I'm riding with Lady Luck,
Freeway cars and trucks,
Stars beginning to fade,
And I lead the parade

Just a-wishing I'd stayed a little longer,
Oh, Lord, let me tell you
That the feeling's getting stronger.

And my time went so quickly,
I went lickety-splickly out to my old '55
As I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy,
God knows, I was feeling alive.

Now the sun's coming up,
I'm riding with Lady Luck,
Freeway cars and trucks,
Freeway cars and trucks,
Freeway cars and trucks...

I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You

Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue,
Well the music plays and you display
Your heart for me to see,
I had a beer and now I hear you
Calling out for me
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well the room is crowded, people everywhere
And I wonder, should I offer you a chair?
Well if you sit down with this old clown,
Take that frown and break it,
Before the evening's gone away,
I think that we could make it,
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

Well the night does funny things inside a man
These old tom-cat feelings you don't understand,
Well I turn around to look at you,
You light a cigarette,
I wish I had the guts to bum one,
But we've never met,
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you.

I can see that you are lonesome just like me,
And it being late, you'd like some some company,
Well I turn around to look at you,
And you look back at me,
The guy you're with has up and split,
The chair next to you's free,
And I hope that you don't fall in love with me.

Now it's closing time, the music's fading out
Last call for drinks, i'll have another stout.
Well I turn around to look at you,
You're nowhere to be found,
I search the place for your lost face,
Guess i'll have another round
And I think that I just fell in love with you.

Virginia Avenue

Well, I'm walking on down Virginia Avenue
Trying to find somebody to tell my troubles to.
Harold's club is closing,

And everybody's going on home:
What's a poor boy to do?

I'll just get on back into my short,
Make it back to the fort
Sleep off all the crazy lizards inside of my brain.
There's got to be some place
That's better than this
This life I'm leading's driving me insane

And let me tell you I'm dreaming...

Let me tell you that
I'm dreaming to the twilight,
This town has got me down.
I've seen all the highlights,
I've been walking all around
I won't make a fuss, i'll take a Greyhound bus,
Carry me away from here:
Tell me, what have I got to lose?

'Cause I'm walking on down Columbus Avenue
The bars are all closing,
'Cause it's quarter to two
Every town I go to is like a lock without a key
Those I leave behind are catching up on me,
Let me tell you they're catching up on me,
They're catching up on me
Catching up on me, catching up on me,
Catching up on me.

Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards)

I'm singing this song, it's time it was sung
I've been putting it off for a while,
But it's harder by now, 'cause the truth is so clear
That I cry when I'm seeing you smile.
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then i'll be gone.

Every time that I tried to tell
That we'd lost the magic we had at the start,
I would weep my heart when I looked in your eyes
And I searched once again for the spark.
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then i'll be gone.

I can see by your eyes, it's time now to go
So i'll leave you to cry in the rain,
Though I held in my hand, the key to all joy
Honey my heart was not born to be tamed.
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then i'll be gone.

So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then i'll be gone,
Can I kiss you, and then i'll be gone,
Can I kiss you, and then i'll be gone.

Midnight Lullaby

Sing a song of sixpence, pocket full of rye
Hush-a bye my baby, no need to be crying.
You can burn the midnight oil with me
As long as you will
Stare out at the moon
Upon the windowsill, and dream...

Sing a song of sixpence, pocket full of rye
Hush-a bye my baby, no need to be crying.
There's dew drops on the window sill,
Gumdrops in your head
Slipping into dream land,
You're nodding your head, so dream...

Dream of West Virginia, or of the British Isles
'Cause when you are dreaming,
You see for miles and miles.
When you are much older, remember when we sat
At midnight on the windowsill,
And had this little chat
And dream, come on and dream,
Come on and dream, and dream, and dream...

Martha

Operator, number, please
It's been so many years
Will she remember my old voice
While I fight the tears?
Hello, hello there, is this Martha?
This is old Tom Frost,
And I am calling long distance,
Don't worry 'bout the cost.
'Cause it's been forty years or more,
Now Martha please recall,
Meet me out for coffee,
Where we'll talk about it all.

And those were the days of roses,
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
We'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I feel so much older now,
And you're much older too,
How's your husband?
And how's the kids?
You know that I got married too?
Lucky that you found someone
To make you feel secure,
'Cause we were all so young and foolish,
Now we are mature.

And those were the days of roses,
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
We'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I was always so impulsive,
I guess that I still am,
And all that really mattered then
Was that I was a man.
I guess that our being together
Was never meant to be.
And Martha, Martha,
I love you can't you see?

And those were the days of roses,
Poetry and prose and Martha
All I had was you and all you had was me.
There was no tomorrows,
We'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day.

And I remember quiet evenings
Trembling close to you...

Rosie

Well I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie...

And the moon's all up, full and big,
Apricot tips in an indigo sky,
And i've been loving you, Rosie,
Since the day I was born
And i'll love you, Rosie 'til the day I die.
Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie...

Rosie, why do you evade? Rosie,
How can I persuade? Rosie...

And I'm sitting on a windowsill, blowing my horn
Nobody's up except the moon and me,
And a lazy old tomcat on a midnight spree
All that you left me was a melody.
Rosie, why do you evade?
Rosie, how can I persuade? Rosie...

Lonely

Lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely eyes,
Lonely face, lonely lonely in your place.
Lonely, lonely, lonely eyes, lonely face,
Lonely lonely in your place.

I thought that I knew all that there was to,
Lonely, lonely, lonely...

Melanie Jane, won't feel the pain.
Lonely, lonely, lonely eyes, lonely eyes,
Lonely lonely in your place.

And I thought that I knew all that there was to
Lonely, lonely, lonely eyes, lonely eyes,
Lonely lonely in your place, and
I still love you, I still love you,
Lonely, lonely...

Ice Cream Man

I'll be clickin' by your house about two forty-five
Sidewalk sundae strawberry surprise,
I got a cherry popsicle right on time
A big stick, mamma, that'll blow your mind

'Cause I'm the ice cream man,
I'm a one-man band (yeah)
I'm the ice cream man, honey,
I'll be good to you.

Baby, missed me in the alley, baby, don't you fret
Come back around and don't forget,
When you're tired and you're hungry
And you want something cool,
Got something better than a swimming pool

'Cause I'm the ice cream man,
I'm a one-man band
I'm the ice cream man, honey,
I'll be good to you.
'Cause I'm the ice cream man,
I'm a one-man band
I'm the ice cream man, honey,
I'll be good to you.

See me coming, you ain't got no change
Don't worry baby, it can be arranged:
Show me you can smile, baby just for me
Fix you with a drumstick, i'll do it for free

'Cause I'm the ice cream man, I'm a one-man band
I'm the ice cream man, honey, i'll be good to you.
Be good to you, be good to you,
Good to you yeah, good to you yeah,
Good to you yeah, good to you yeah,
Good to you yeah, good to you,
'Ll be good to you, i'll be good to you...

Little Trip to Heaven (On the Wings of your Love)

Lazy trip to heaven on the wings of your love
Banana moon is shining in the sky,
Feel like I'm in heaven when you're with me
Know that I'm in heaven when you smile,
Though we're stuck here on the ground,
I got something that i've found
And it's you.

And I don't have to take no trip to outer space
All I have to do is look at your face,
And before I know it, I'm in orbit around you
Thanking my lucky stars that i've found you,
When I see your constellation,
Honey, you're my inspiration,
And it's you.

You're my north star when I'm lost and feeling blue,
The sun is breaking through the clouds
Don't you, don't you know it's true?
Honey, all the other stars seem dim around you
Thanking my lucky stars that i've found you,
When I see your smiling face, honey,
I know nothing ever going to take your place,
And it's you.

And it's you, and it's you,
And it's you, and it's you, and it's you
And it's you, and it's you, shoo-be-doo, ba-da-da.

Grapefruit Moon

Grapefruit moon, one star shining,
Shining down on me.
Heard that tune, and now I'm pining,
Honey, can't you see?
'Cause every time I hear that melody,
Well, something breaks inside,
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining,
Can't turn back the tide.

Never had no destination, could not get across.
You became my inspiration, oh but what a cost.
'Cause every time I hear that melody,
Well, something breaks inside,
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining,
Is more than I can hide.

Now I'm smoking cigarettes
And I strive for purity,
And I slip just like the stars into obscurity.
'Cause every time I hear that melody,
Well, puts me up a tree,
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining,
Is all that I can see.

The Heart of Saturday Night

New Coat Of Paint

Let's put a new coat of paint on this lonesome old town
Set 'em up, we'll be knockin' em down.
You wear a dress, baby, and I'll wear a tie.
We'll laugh at that old bloodshot moon in that burgundy sky

All your scribbled lovedreams, are lost or thrown away,
Here amidst the shuffle of an overflowing day
Our love needs a transfusion so let's shoot it full of wine
Fishin' for a good time starts with throwin'in your line.

San Diego Serenade

I never saw the morning 'til I stayed up all night
I never saw the sunshine 'til you turned out the light
I never saw my hometown until I stayed away too long
I never heard the melody, until I needed a song.

I never saw the white line, 'til I was leaving you behind
I never knew I needed you 'til I was caught up in a bind
I never spoke 'I love you' 'til I cursed you in vain,
I never felt my heartstrings until I nearly went insane.

I never saw the east coast 'til I move to the west
I never saw the moonlight until it shone off your breast
I never saw your heart 'til someone tried to steal, tried to steal it away
I never saw your tears until they rolled down your face.

Semi Suite

Well you hate those diesels rollin'
And those Friday nights out bowlin'
When he's off for a twelve hour lay over night

You wish you had a dollar
For every time he hollered
That he's leavin'
And he's never comin' back

But the curtain-laced billow
And his hands on your pillow
And his trousers are hangin' on the chair

You're lyin' through your pain, babe
But you're gonna tell him he's your man
And you ain't got the courage to leave

He tells you that you're on his mind
You're the only one he's ever gonna find
It's kind-a special, understands his complicated soul...

But the only place a man can breathe
And collect his thoughts is
Midnight and flyin' away on the road.

But you've packed and unpacked
So many times you've lost track
And the steam heat is drippin' off the walls

But when you hear his engines
You're lookin' through the window in the kitchen and you know
You're always gonna be there when he calls

'Cause he's a truck drivin' man
Stoppin' when he can
He's a truck drivin' man
Stoppin' when he can

Shiver Me Timbers

I'm leavin' my fam'ly
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
On a new front page sky
My tears are salt water
And the moon's full and high

And I know Martin Eden's
Gonna be proud of me
And many before me
Who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest
Singin' my say
Shiver me Timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me, now.
So swallow me, don't follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone

So please call my missus
Gotta tell her not to cry
'Cause my goodbye is written
By the moon in the sky
Hey and nobody knows me
I can't fathom my stayin'
Shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

And the fog's liftin'
And the sand's shiftin'
I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab
He ain't got nothin' on me
So come and swallow me, follow me
I'm trav'lin' alone
Blue water's my daughter
'n I'm gonna skip like a stone

And I'm leavin' my family
Leavin' all my friends
My body's at home
But my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines
Upon a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers
'Cause I'm a-sailin' away

Diamonds on my Windshield

Diamonds on my windshield
Tears from heaven
Pulling into town on the Interstate
Pulling a steel train in the rain
The wind bites my cheek through the wing
Fast flying, freway driving
Always makes me sing

There's a Duster tryin' to change my tune
Pulling up fast on the right
Rolling restlessly, twenty-four hour moon

Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head
Wishing he was home in a Wiscosin bed
fifteen feet of snow in the East
Colder then a welldigger's ass

Oceanside it ends the ride, San Clemente coming up
Sunday desperadoes slip by, gas station closed,
cruise with a dry back
Orange drive-in the neon billin'
Theatre's fillin' to the brim
Slave girls and a hot spurn bucket full of sin

Metropolitan area with interchange and connections
Fly-by-nights from Riverside
Black and white plates, out of state,
running a little bit late

Sailors jockey for the fast lane
101 don't miss it
Rolling hills and concrete fields
The broken line's on your mind

Eights go east and the fives go north
The merging nexus back and forth
You see your sign, cross the line,
signalling with a blink

The radio's gone off the air
Gives you time to think
You ease it out and you creep across
Intersection light goes out
You hear the rumble
As you fumble for a cigarette
Blazing through this midnight jungle
Remember someone that you met
One more block; the engine talks
And whispers 'home at last'
It whispers, whispers, whispers
'home at last', home at last

(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night

Well you gassed her up
Behind the wheel
With your arm around your sweet one
In your Oldsmobile
Barrelin' down the boulevard
You're looking for the heart of Saturday night

And you got paid on Friday
And your pockets are jinglin'
And you see the lights
You get all tinglin' cause you're cruisin' with a 6
And you're looking for the heart of Saturday night

Then you comb your hair
Shave your face
Tryin' to wipe out ev'ry trace
All the other days
In the week you know that this'll be the Saturday
You're reachin' your peak

Stoppin' on the red
You're goin' on the green
'Cause tonight'll be like nothin'
You've ever seen
And you're barrelin' down the boulevard
Lookin' for the heart of Saturday night

Tell me is the crack of the poolballs, neon buzzin?
Telephone's ringin'; it's your second cousin
Is it the barmaid that's smilin' from the corner of her eye?
Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye.

Makes it kind of quiver down in the core
'Cause you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
And now you're stumblin'
You're stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night

Well you gassed her up
And you're behind the wheel
With your arm around your sweet one
In your Oldsmobile
Barrellin' down the boulevard,
You're lookin' for the heart of Saturday night

Is the crack of the poolballs, neon buzzin?
Telephone's ringin'; it's your second cousin
And the barmaid is smilin' from the corner of her eye
Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye.

Makes it kind of special down in the core
And you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before
It's found you stumblin'
Stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night
And you're stumblin'
Stumblin onto the heart of Saturday night

Fumblin' With the Blues

Friday left me fumblin' with the blues
And it's hard to win when you always lose
Because the nightspots spend your spirit
Beat your head against the wall
Two dead ends and you've still got to choose

You know the bartenders
They all know my name
And they catch me when I'm pulling up lame
And I'm a pool-shooting-shimmy-shyster shaking my head
When I should be living clean instead

You know the ladies I've been seeing off and on
Well they spend your love and then they're gone
You can't be lovin' someone who is savage and cruel
Take your love and then they leave on out of town
No they do

Well now fallin' in love is such a breeze
But its standin' up that's so hard for me
I wanna squeeze you but I'm scared to death I'd break your back
You know your perfume
Well it won't let me be

You know the bartenders all know my name
And they catch me when I'm pulling up lame
And I'm a pool-shooting-shimmy-shyster shaking my head
When I should be living clean instead

Come on baby
Let your love light shine
Gotta bury me inside of your fire
Because your eyes are 'nough to blind me
You're like a-looking at the sun
You gotta whisper tell me I'm the one
Come on and whisper tell me I'm the one
Gotta whisper tell me I'm the one
Come on and whisper tell me I'm the one

Please Call Me, Baby

The evening fell just like a star
Left a trail behind
You spit as you slammed out the door
If this is love we're crazy
As we fight like cats and dogs
But I just know there's got to be more

So please call me baby, wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

And I admit that I ain't no angel
I admit that I ain't no saint
I'm selfish and I'm cruel but you're blind
If I exorcise my devils
Well my angels may leave too
When they leave they're so hard to find

So please call me baby, wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

And we're always at each other's throats
You know it drives me up the wall
But most of the time I'm just blowing off steam
And I wish to God you'd leave me
Baby I wish to God you'd stay
Life's so different than it is in your dreams

So please call me baby, wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

Depot, Depot

Depot, depot, what am I doing here?
Depot, depot, what am I doing here?
I ain't coming, I ain't going
My confusion is showing
Outside the midnight wind is blowing Sixth Avenue
I'm gonna paint myself blue
At the depot

I watch the taxis pull up and idle
I can't claim title to a single memory
He offered me a key
'Cause opportunity don't knock
He has no tongue and she cannot talk
You're gonna shuffle when you walk
At the depot

This peeping-Tom needs a peephole
And an uptempo song
To move me along
When I find this depot baby
I'm on a roll just like a pool ball baby
I'm gonna be there at the roll call maybe
At the depot

Outside the midnight wind is blowing Sixth Avenue
Oh, tell me what a poor boy to do
At the depot
I'm on a roll just like a pool ball baby
I'm gonna be there at the roll call maybe
At the depot
The depot

Drunk on the Moon

Tight-slacked clad girls on the graveyard shift
'Neath the cement stroll catch the midnight drift
Cigar chewing charlie in that newspaper nest
Grifting hot horse tips on who's running the best

And I'm blinded by the neon
Don't try and change my tune
'Cause I thought I heard a saxophone
I'm drunk on the moon

The moon's a silver slipper it's pouring champagne stars
Broadway's like a serpent pulling shiny top-down cars
Laramer is teeming with that undulating beat
And some Bonneville is screaming it's way wilder down the street

And I'm blinded by the neon
Don't try and change my tune
I thought I heard a saxophone
I'm drunk on the moon

Hearts flutter and race the moon's on the wane
Tarts mutter their dream hopes the night will ordain
Come schemers and dancers cherry delight
As a Cleveland-bound Greyhound and it cuts throught the night

And I've hawked all my yesterdays
Don't try and change my tune
I thought I heard a saxophone
I'm drunk on the moon

The Ghosts of Saturday Night
(After Hours at Napoleone's Pizza House)

A cab combs the snake,
Tryin' to rake in that last night's fare,
And a solitary sailor
Who spends the facts of his life
like small change on strangers...

Paws his inside P-coat pocket
for a welcome twenty-five cents,
And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,
As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"
As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes

And the Texaco beacon burns on,
The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...
Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"
"You know it could be a distributor and it could be a coil."

The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,
And that town cryer's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.
Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,
Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,
Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,
Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.

And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond
Across a cash crop car lot
filled with twilight Coupe Devilles,
Leaving the town in a-keeping
Of the one who is sweeping
Up the ghost of Saturday night...

Well, an inebriated good evening to you all. Welcome to Rapheal's Silver Cloud Lounge
Slip me a little crimson Jimson, give me the low down Brown, I want some scoop Betty Boop.
I'm on my way into town. Course I'd rather...want to thank you all for opening the program for us.
I'm so God damn horny that the crack of dawn better be careful around me.
Yeah, I wanna pull on your coat about something here tonight. Yeah, a little news I'd like to throw your direction.
See I...I used to know a girl, yeah and it was a hubber hubber and ding ding ding. I said 'Baby, you got everything.'
A week later it was a hubber hubber and ding ding dong, baby it sure didn't last too long.
I know things are tough all over, ain't getting any better.
I was moved, kind of swivel a little bit of a kind of an emotional weather forcast for you this evening.
What I'm talking about is...well you know I've been playing night clubs and staying out all night long
Come a home late, gone for three months, come back and everything in the refrigerator turns into a science project.
So you get designs on a waitress you know. She got three or four kids, she's sorting out her cheques
And she's counting out her change, you say 'Hey baby, heat me up a bearclaw on the radar range'.
Well and then it gets real cold.

Emotional Weather Report

Late night and early morning low clouds
With a chance of fog
Chance of showers into the afternoon
With variable high cloudiness
And gusty winds, gusty winds
At times around the corner of
Sunset and Alvorado
Things are tough all over
When the thunder storms start
Increasing over the southeast
And south central portions
Of my apartment, I get upset
And a line of thunderstorms was
Developing in the early morning
Ahead of a slow moving coldfront
Cold blooded
With tornado watches issued shortly
Before noon Sunday, for the areas
Including, the western region
Of my mental health
And the northern portions of my
Ability to deal rationally with my
Disconcerted precarious emotional
Situation, it's cold out there
Colder than a ticket taker's smile
At the Ivar Theatre, on a Saturday night
Flash flood watches covered the
Southern portion of my disposition
There was no severe weather well
Into the afternoon, except for a lone gust of
Wind in the bedroom
In a high pressure zone, covering the eastern
Portion of a small suburban community
With a 103 and millibar high pressure zone
And a weak pressure ridge extending from
My eyes down to my cheeks cause since
You left me baby
And put the vice grips on my mental health
Well the extended outlook for an
Indefinite period of time until you
Come back to me baby is high tonight
Low tomorrow, and precipitation is
Expected

On a Foggy Night

On a foggy night, an abandoned road
In a twilight mirror mirage
With no indication of a service station
Or an all night garage, I was misinformed
I was misdirected cause the interchange
Never intersected leaving me marooned
Beneath a bloodshot moon
All upon a foggy night, on a foggy night
An abandoned road, in a blurred brocade
Collage, is that a road motel?
I can't really tell, is that what you
Might call some kind of a vacancy lodge
Cause there's no consolation, what
Kind of situation to be aimlessly skewed
Amidst a powder blue?
No tell tail light clue
Spun like the spell you spin
This precarious pandemonium
I'm stranded, all upon a foggy night
All upon a foggy night
On a foggy night

Eggs & Sausage
(In a Cadillac With Susan Michelson)

Nighthawks at the diner
Emma's 49er
There's a rendezvous of strangers
Around the coffee urn tonight
All the gypsy hacks and the insomniacs
Now the paper's been read
Now the waitress said

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
What kind of pie?

It's a graveyard charade it's a late shift masquerade
And it's 2 for a quarter, dime for a dance
Woolworth rhinestone diamond earrings and a sideway's glance
Now the register rings
Now the waitress sings

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast
Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
What kind of pie?

The classified section offers no direction
It's a cold caffeine in a nicotine cloud
Now the touch of your fingers
Lingers burning in my memory
I've been 86ed from your scheme
Now I'm in a melodramatic nocturnal scene
Now I'm a refugee from a disconcerted affair
Now the lead pipe morning fall
Now the waitress call

Eggs and sausage, now a side of toast
Coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy
Chile in a bowl with burgers and fries
And now what kind of pie?
? if you will
Just come in and join the crowd
Have some time to kill
See I just come in to join the crowd
Have some time to kill
Just come in to join the crowd
Cause I have some time to kill

Better Off Without a Wife

All my friends are married
Every Tom and Dick and Harry
You must be strong if your to go it alone
Here's to the bachelors and the Bowery bums
Those who feel that they're the ones
That are better off without a wife

Cause I like to sleep until the crack of noon
Midnight howling at the moon
Going out when I want to and I'm coming home when I please
Don't have to ask permission, wanna to go out fishing
Never have to ask for the key

Well I've never been no Valentino
But I dad a girl who lived in Reno
Left me for a trumpet player who didn't get me down
He was wanted for assault
Though he said it weren't his fault
You know the coppers rode him right out of town

I've been sleeping until the crack of noon
Midnight howling at the moon
And I've been Going out when I wanna coming home when I please
Don't have to ask permission, wanna to go out fishing
Never have to ask for the key

Kinda selfish about my privacy
Now as long as I can be with me
We get along so well I can't believe
I love to chew the fat with folks
I've been listening to all your dirty jokes
I'm so thankful for these friends I do receive

I've been sleeping until the crack of noon
Midnight howling at the moon
And I've been Going out when I wanna coming home when I please
Don't have to ask permission, I wanna to go out fishing
Never have to ask for the keys, no

Yeah, I've got this girl I know, man and I just
She's been married several times.
I don't wanna end up like her
I mean she's been married so many times she's got rice marks all over her face.
Yeah you know the kind.

Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)

There's a blur drizzle down the plateglass
As a neon swizzle stick stirrin up the sultry night air
And a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball moon
Rollin' maverick across an obsidian sky
As the busses go groanin' and wheezin',
Down on the corner I'm freezin';
On a restless boulevard at a midnight road
I'm across town from EASY STREET
With the tight knots of moviegoers and out of towners
On the stroll
And the buildings towering high above
Lit like dominoes or black dice
All the used car salesmen dressed up in
Purina Checkerboard slacks
And Foster Grant wrap-around,
Pacing in front of EARL SCHLEIB
$39.95 merchandise
Like barkers at a shootin' gallery
They throw out kind of a Texas Guinan routine
"Hello sucker, we like your money
Just as well as anybody else's here"
Or they give you the P.T. Barnum bit
"There's a sucker born every minute
You just happened to be comin' along at the right time"
Come over here now
You know... All the harlequin sailors are on the stroll
In a search of "LIKE NEW," "NEW PAINT,"
Decent factory air and AM-FM dreams
And the piss yellow gypsy cabs
Stacked up in the taxi zones waitin' like
Pinball machines
To be ticking off a joy ride to a magical place
Waitin' in line like "truckers welcome" diners
With dirt lots full of
Peterbilts, Kenworths, Jimmy's and the like, and
They're hiballin' with bankrupt brakes, over driven
Under paid, over fed, a day late and a dollar short
But Christ I got my lips around a bottle and
My foot on the throttle and I'm standin' on the corner
Standin' on the corner like a "just in town"
Jasper, on a street corner with a gasper lookin'
For some kind of Cheshire billboard grin
Stroking a goateed chin, and using parking meters
As walking sticks on the inebriated stroll
With my eyelids propped open at half mast
But you know... Over at Chubb's Pool Hall and Snooker
It was a nickle after two, yea it was a nickle after two
And in the cobalt steel blue dream smoke, it
Was the radio that groaned out the hit parade
And the chalk squeaked, the floorboards creaked
And an Olympia sign winked through a torn yellow
Shade, old Jack Chance himself leanin' up against
A Wurlitzer and eyeballin' out a 5 ball combination shot
Impossible you say? ...hard to believe?, perhaps
Out of the realm of possibility? Naaaa
He be stretchin' out long tawny fingers out across a
Cool green felt with a provocative golden gate
And a full table railshot that's no sweat and I leaned
Up against my bannister and wandered over to the
Wurlitzer and I punched A-2 I was lookin' for
Something like Wine, Wine, Wine by the Night Caps
Starring Chuck E. Weiss or High Blood Pressure
By George (cryin' in the streets) Perkins - no dice
"that's life," that's what all the people say ridin' high
In April, seriously shot down in May, but I know i'm
Gonna change that tune when I'm standing underneath
A buttery moon that's all melted off to one side
It was just about that time that the sun
Came crawlin' yellow out of a manhole
At the foot of 23rd Street
And a dracula moon in a black disguise
Was making its way back to its
Pre-paid room at the St. Moritz Hotel (scat)
And the El train came tumbling
Across the trestles and it sounded
Like the ghost of Gene Krupa
With an overhead cam and glasspacks
And the whispering brushes of wet radials
On a wet pavement and there's a
Traffic jam session on Belmont tonight
And the rhapsody of the pending
Evening, I leaned up against
My bannister and i've been looking
For some kind of an emotional
Investment with romantic dividends
Kind of a physical negociation
Is underway
As I attempt to consolidate all my
Missed weekly payments, into
One-low-monthly payment
Through the nose
With romantic residuals and leg akimbo
But the chances are more than likely i'll probably
Be held over for another smashed weekend

Warm Beer and Cold Women

Warm beer and cold women, I just don't fit in
Every joint I stumbled into tonight
That's just how it's been
All these double knit strangers with
Gin and vermouth and recycled stories
In the naugahyde booths

With the platinum blondes
And tobacco brunettes
I'll be drinkin' to forget you
Lite another cigarette
And the band's playin' something
By Tammy Wynette
And the drinks are on me tonight

All my conversations i'll just be
Talkin' about you baby
Borin' some sailor as I try to get through
I just want him to listen
That's all you have to do
He said I'm better off without you
Till I showed him my tattoo

Now the moon's rising
Ain't got no time to lose
Time to get down to drinking
Tell the band to play the blues
Drink's are on me, i'll buy another round
At the last ditch attempt saloon

Warm beer and cold women, I just don't fit in
Every joint I stumbled into tonight
That's just how it's been
All these double knit strangers with
Gin and vermouth and recycled stories
In the naugahyde booths

With the platinum blondes
And tobacco brunettes
I'll be drinking to forget you
Lite another cigarette
And the band's playing somethin'
By Johnnie Barnett
And the drinks are on me tonight

Putnam County

I guess things were always quiet
Around Putnam County
Kind of shy and sleepy as it clung to the skirts
Of the 2-lane, that was stretched out like an
Asphalt dance floor where all the oldtimers would
Hunker down in bib jeans and store bought boots
Lyin' about their lives and the places that they'd been
Suckin' on Coca Colas and be spittin' Days Work
They's be suckin' on Coca Colas
And be spittin' Day's Work
Until the moon was a stray dog on the ridge and
The taverns would be swollen until the naked eye
Of 2am, and the Stratocaster guitars slung over
Burgermeister beer guts, and the swizzle stick legs
Jacknifed over naugahyde stools and the
Witch hazel spread out over the linoleum floors,
The pedal pushers stretched out over midriff bulge
And the coiffed brunette curls over Maybelline eyes
Wearing Prince Machiavelli, Estee Lauder,
Smells so sweet
I elbowed up at the counter with mixed feelings
Over mixed drinks
And Bubba and the Roadmasters moaned in pool hall
Concentration as they knit their brows to
Cover the entire Hank Williams Song Book
And the old National register was singing to the
Tune of $57.57
Until last call, one last game of 8 ball
And Berneice would be putting the chairs on the tables,
Someone come in say "Hey man, anyone got
Any Jumper Cables, is that a 6 or a 12 volt?"
And all the studs in town would toss 'em down
And claim to fame as they stomped their feet
Boasting about being able to get more ass
Than a toilet seat.
And the gmcs and the Straight 8 Fords
Were coughing and wheezing and they
Perculated as they tossed the gravel
Underneath the fenders to weave home
A wet slick anaconda of a two lane
With tire irons and crowbars a rattlin'
With a tool box and a pony saddle
You're grinding gears, shifting into first
Yea and that goddam tranny's just getting worse
With the melodies of "see ya later"
And screwdrivers on carburettors
Talkin' shop about money to loan
And palominos and strawberry roans
See ya tomorrow, hello to the Mrs.
Money to borrow and goodnight kisses
The radio spittin' out Charlie Rich
Sure can sing that sonofabitch
And you weave home, weavin' home
Leaving the little joint winking in the
Dark warm narcotic American night
Beneath a pin cushion sky and it's
Home to toast and honey, start
Up the Ford, your lunch money's there on the
Draining board, toilet's runnin' shake the
Handle, telephone's ringin' it's Mrs Randal
Where the hell are my goddam sandals
And the porcelain poodles and the glass swans
Staring down from the knick knack shelf
With the parent permission slips for the
Kids' field trips
Pair of Muckalucks scraping across
The shag carpet
And the impending squint of
First light, that lurked behind
A weeping marquee in downtown Putnam
And would be pullin' up any minute now
Just like a bastard amber
Velveeta yellow cab on a rainy corner
And be blowin' its horn, in every window
In town.

Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)

Well the damn cracked hard just like a bull whip
Cause it wasn't takin' no lip from the night before
As it shook out the street, the stew bums showed up
Just like bounced checks, rubbin' their necks
And the sky turned the color of Pepto-Bismol
And the parking lots growled
And my old sports coat full of promissory notes
And a receipt from a late night motel
And the hawk had his whole family out
There in the wind, and he's got a message
For you to beware cause he be kickin' your
Ass in, in a cold blooded fashion
Dishin' out more than a good man can bear
I got shoes untied, shirt tail's out, ain't got a
Ghost of a chance with this old romance
Just an apartment for rent down the block
Ivar Theater with live burlesque
And the manager's scowlin', feet on his desk
Boom boom against the curtain
You're still hurtin'
And then push came to shove, shove came to biff
Girls like that just lay you out stiff
Maybe i'll go to Cleveland or
Get me a tattoo or somethin', my brother
In law's there
Skid mark tattoo on the asphalt blue
Was that a Malibu
Liz Taylor and Montgomery Clift
Cumming on to the broads with the
Same ol' riff. Hey baby come up to
My place, we'll listen to some
Smooth music on the stereo, no thank you
Got any Stan Getz records
No I got Smothers Brothers
So I combed back my Detroit
Jack up my pegs, wiped my Stacy Adams
Jacknifed my legs, yea I got designs
On a moving violation
Hey baby, you put me on hold and i'm
Out in the wind and it's getting
Mighty cold...
Colder than a gut shot bitch wolf dog
With 9 sucking pups pullin' a 4 trap
Up a hill in the dead of winter
In the middle of a snowstorm
With a mouth full of porcupine quills

(scat)

Yea well I don't need you baby
It's a well known fact
I'm 4 sheets to the wind
I'm glad you're gone
I'm glad you're gone
I'm finally alone
Glad you're gone, but I
Wish you'd come home
And I struggled out of bed
Cause the dawn was crackin' hard like a bullwhip
Cause it wasn't takin' no lip from the night before
As it shook out the streets the stew bums
Showed up just like bounced checks
Rubbin' their necks, and the sky turned the
Color of Pepto-Bismol
And my old sports coat full of promissory notes
And the hawk had his whole family out there
In the wind, he got a message for you to beware
Kickin' your ass in, in a cold blooded fashion
He be dishin' out more than a good man can bear
Well hey baby let's take it to Bakersfield
Get a little apartment somewhere

Nobody

Nobody, Nobody
Will ever love you
The way I could love you
Cause nobody is that strong
Love is bitter sweet
And life's treasures deep
But no one can keep
A love that's gone wrong

Nobody, Nobody
Will ever love you
The way I could love you
Cause nobody's that strong
Cause nobody's that strong

Nobody, Nobody
Will ever love you
The way I could love you
Cause nobody is that strong
You've had many lovers
You'll have many others
But they'll only just break
Your poor heart in two

Nobody, Nobody
Will ever love you
The way I could love you
Cause nobody's that strong
Cause nobody's that strong

Big Joe and Phantom 309

Well you see I happened to be back on the east coast
A few years back tryin' to make me a buck
Like everybody else, well you know
Times get hard and well I got down on my luck
And I got tired of just roamin' and bummin'
Around, so I started thumbin' my way
Back to my old hometown
You know I made quite a few miles
In the first couple of days, and I
Figured I'd be home in a week if my
Luck held out this way
But you know it was the third night
I got stranded, it was out at a cold lonely
Crossroads, and as the rain came
Pouring down, I was hungry, tired
Freezin', caught myself a chill, but
It was just about that time that
The lights of an old semi topped the hill
You should of seen me smile when I
Heard them air brakes come on, and
I climbed up in that cab where I
Knew it'd be warm at the wheel
Well at the wheel sat a big man
I'd have to say he must of weighed 210
The way he stuck out a big hand and
Said with a grin "Big Joe's the name
And this here rig's called Phantom 309"
Well I asked him why he called his
Rig such a name, but he just turned to me
And said "Why son don't you know this here
Rig'll be puttin' 'em all to shame, why
There ain't a driver on this
Or any other line for that matter
That's seen nothin' but the taillights of Big Joe
And Phantom 309"
So we rode and talked the better part of the night
And I told my stories and Joe told his and
I smoked up all his Viceroys as we rolled along
He pushed her ahead with 10 forward gears
Man that dashboard was lit like the old
Madam La Rue pinball, a serious semi truck
Until almost mysteriously, well it was the
Lights of a truck stop that rolled into sight
Joe turned to me and said "I'm sorry son
But I'm afraid this is just as far as you go
You see I kinda gotta be makin' a turn
Just up the road a piece," but i'll be
Damned if he didn't throw me a dime as he
Threw her in low and said "Go on in there
Son, and get yourself a hot cup of coffee
On Big Joe"
And when Joe and his rig pulled off into
The night, man in nothing flat they was
Clean outa sight
So I walked into the old stop and
Ordered me up a cup of mud sayin'
"Big Joe's settin' this dude up" but
It got so deathly quiet in that
Place, you could of heard a pin drop
As the waiter's face turned kinda
Pale, I said "What's the matter did
I say somethin' wrong?" I kinda
Said with 8a half way grin. He said
"No son, you see It'll happen every
Now and then. You see every driver in
Here knows Big Joe, but let me
Tell you what happened just 10 years
Ago, yea it was 10 years ago
Out there at that cold lonely crossroads
Where you flagged Joe down, and
There was a whole bus load of kids
And they were just comin' from school
And they were right in the middle when
Joe topped the hill, and could
Have been slaughtered except
Joe turned his wheels, and
He jacknifed, and went
Into a skid, and folks around here
Say he gave his life to save that bunch
Of kids, and out there at that cold
Lonely crossroads, well they say it
Was the end of the line for
Big Joe and Phantom 309, but it's
Funny you know, cause every now and then
Yea every now and then, when the
Moon's holdin' water, they say old Joe
Will stop and give you a ride, and
Just like you, some hitchhiker will be
Comin' by"
"So here son," he said to me, "get
Yourself another cup of coffee, it's on the
House, you see I want you to hang on
To that dime, yea you hang on to that
Dime as a kind of souvenir, a
Souvenir of Big Joe and Phantom 309"

I'd like to thank you all very much for coming this evening.
It's really made my night, it would have been real strange here if nobody would have showed up.
I'd like to introduce my group this evening, and uh it's been a real preasure and a, a preasure and a plivilege to work with these gentlemen.
I'd like to introduce, please give a warm round of applause for Micheal Melvoin on piano.
On saxophone, Pete Christlieb. On bass, Jim Hughart. And on drums, Bill Goodwin.
They all come from good families, over the years they just kinda individually developed some ways about them that just aren't right you know.
I was real pleased. I noticed everybody coming in this evening, your all decked out in full regalia and everything
And uh, appreciate getting dressed up for an affair such as this.
You know it's always something I've tried to be concerned about as possible.
And uh, somebody said to me one day, 'Christ Waits, you look so God damn raggerdy
Why don't you get yourself something to wear? You know.'
I said, 'Well, not a bad idea.' Maybe a serious seersucker Saturday evening cranberry accoutrement ensemble would be nice.
So I went down to Zyder and Zyder, I said I want something to shock.
I said, I'm in the kinda in the market in the neighbourhood of something like uh, maybe some green gabardines with ?
Breeches and a leviticously deteronomous sort of catastrophic lunch box stetson.
You know, like some danger hi voltage slacks with a high top ?
Brush suede ? loafers so I can be passing out wolf tickets regardless of where I go.
Walk into the twenty grand club and the Soul and Inspirations are playing, yeah
And your cutting a rug and pulling on the coat and the band is kicking and doing something like a long version of 'Harlem Nocturne' or something.
You get designs on a girl in the corner and you say, 'Say baby, you live around here?'
Yeah I think I'm gonna plant you now and I'm gonna dig you later.
Make like a bakery truck and haul buns. Make like a hockey player and get the puck outta here.
I gotta go see a man about a dog. See you later.
Thank you very much for coming this evening.

Small Change

Tom Traubert's Blues

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
Got what I paid for now
See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you?
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English and everything's broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger
Your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinaman and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows
Go, waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy
The fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go, waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

And you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Matilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight to Matilda too

Step Right Up

Step right up, step right up, step right up
Everyone's a winner, bargains galore
That's right, you too can be the proud owner
Of the quality goes in before the name goes on, yeah
One tenth of a dollar, one-tenth of a dollar, we got service after sales
How 'bout perfume? We got perfume, how 'bout an engagement ring?
Something for the little lady, something for the little lady
Something for the little lady, hmm
Three for a dollar
We got a year-end clearance, we got a white sale
And a smoke-damaged furniture, you can drive it away today
Act now, act now, and receive as our gift, our gift to you
They come in all colours, one size fits all
No muss, no fuss, no spills, you're tired of kitchen drudgery
Everything must go, going out of business, going out of business
Going out of business sale
Fifty percent off original retail price, skip the middle man
Don't settle for less
How do we do it? How do we do it? Volume, volume, turn up the volume
Now you've heard it advertised, don't hesitate
Don't be caught with your drawers down
Don't be caught with your drawers down
You can step right up, step right up

That's right, it fillets, it chops, it dices, slices,
Never stops, lasts a lifetime, mows your lawn
And it mows your lawn and it picks up the kids from school
It gets rid of unwanted facial hair, it gets rid of embarrassing age spots
It delivers a pizza and it lengthens and it strengthens
And it finds that slipper that's been at large
Under the chaise lounge for several weeks
And it plays a mean Rhythm Master
It makes excuses for unwanted lipstick on your collar
And it's only a dollar, step right up, it's only a dollar, step right up

'Cause it forges your signature
If not completely satisfied, mail back unused portion of product
For complete refund of price of purchase
Step right up
Please allow thirty days for delivery, don't be fooled by cheap imitations
You can live in it, live in it, laugh in it, love in it
Swim in it, sleep in it,
Live in it, swim in it, laugh in it, love in it
Removes embarrassing stains from contour sheets, that's right
And it entertains visiting relatives, it turns a sandwich into a banquet
Tired of being the life of the party?
Change your shorts, change your life, change your life
Change into a nine-year-old Hindu boy, get rid of your wife
And it walks your dog, and it doubles on sax
Doubles on sax, you can jump back Jack, see you later alligator
See you later alligator
And it steals your car
It gets rid of your gambling debts, it quits smoking
It's a friend, and it's a companion
And it's the only product you will ever need
Follow these easy assembly instructions it never needs ironing
Well it takes weights off hips, bust, thighs, chin, midriff,
Gives you dandruff, and it finds you a job, it is a job
And it strips the phone company free take ten for five exchange
And it gives you denture breath
And you know it's a friend, and it's a companion
And it gets rid of your traveler's checks
It's new, it's improved, it's old-fashioned
Well it takes care of business, never needs winding,
Never needs winding, never needs winding
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Jitterbug Boy

Well, I'm a jitterbug boy
By the shoe-shine
Resting on my laurels
And my Hardys too
Life of Riley on a swing shift
Gears follow my drift
Once upon a time I was
In show-biz too

I seen the Brooklyn Dodgers
Playin at Ebbets Field
Seen the Kentucky Derby too
It's fast women, slow horses, I'm reliable sources
And I'm holding up a lamp post
If you want to know
I seen the Wabash Cannonball,
Buddy, i've done it all

Beause I slept with the lions
And Marilyn Monroe
Had breakfast in the eye
Of a hurricane
Fought Rocky Marciano,
Played Minnesota Fats
Burned hundred-dollar bills,

I eaten Mulligan stew
Got drunk with Louis Armstrong
What's that old song?
I taught Mickey Mantle
Everything that he knows

And so you ask me
What I'm doing here
Holding up a lamp post
Flippin this quarter,
Trying to make up my mind
And if it's heads i'll go to
Tennessee, and tails i'll buy a drink
If it lands on the edge
I'll keep talking to you

I Wish I Was in New Orleans

Well, I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy
A bottle and my friends and me
Hoist up a few tall cool ones
Play some pool and listen to that
Tenor saxophone calling me home
And I can hear the band begin
"When the Saints Go Marching In"
By the whiskers on my chin
New Orleans, i'll be there

I'll drink you under the table
Be red nose go for walks
The old haunts what I wants
Is red beans and rice
And wear the dress I like so well
And meet me at the old saloon
Make sure there's a Dixie moon
New Orleans, i'll be there

And deal the cards roll the dice
If it ain't that ole Chuck E. Weiss
And Clayborn Avenue me and you
Sam Jones and all
And I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy
A bottle and my friends and me
New Orleans, i'll be there

The Piano Has Been Drinking

The piano has been drinking
My necktie is asleep
And the combo went back to New York
The jukebox has to take a leak
And the carpet needs a haircut
And the spotlight looks like a prison break
Cause the telephone's out of cigarettes
And the balcony's on the make
And the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking...

And the menus are all freezing
And the lightman's blind in one eye
And he can't see out of the other
And the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid
And he showed up with his mother
And the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking

Cause the bouncer is a Sumo wrestler
Cream puff casper milk toast
And the owner is a mental midget
With the I.Q. of a fencepost
Cause the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking...

And you can't find your waitress
With a Geiger counter
And she hates you and your friends
And you just can't get served
Without her
And the box-office is drooling
And the bar stools are on fire
And the newspapers were fooling
And the ash-trays have retired
The piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking
Not me, not me, not me, not me, not me

Invitation to the Blues

Well she's up against the register
With an apron and a spatula
With yesterday's deliveries,
And the tickets for the bachelors
She's a moving violation
From her conk down to her shoes
But it's just an invitation to the blues

And you feel just like Cagney
Looks like Rita Hayworth
At the counter of the Schwab's drug store
You wonder if she might be single
She's a loner likes to mingle
Got to be patient and pick up a clue

She says howyougonnalikem
Over medium or scrambled
Anyway's the only way
Be careful not to gamble
On a guy with a suitcase
And a ticket gettin out of here
It's a tired bus station
And an old pair of shoes
But it ain't nothing but an
Invitation to the blues

But you can't take your eyes off her
Get another cup of java
And it's just the way she pours it for you
Joking with the customers
And it's mercy mercy Mr. Percy
There ain't nothin back in Jersey
But a broken-down jalopy of a
Man I left behind
And a dream that I was chasin
And a battle with booze
And an open invitation to the blues

But she's had a sugar daddy
And a candy apple Caddy
And a bank account and everything
Accustom to the finer things
He probably left her for a socialite
And he didn't love her 'cept at night
And then he's drunk and never
Even told her that he cared
So they took the registration
And the car-keys and her shoes
And left her with an invitation
To the blues

'Cause there's a Continental Trailways leaving
Local bus tonight, good evening
You can have my seat
I'm stickin round here for a while
Get me a room at the Squire
The filling station's hiring
I can eat here every night
What the hell have I got to lose
Got a crazy sensation,
Go or stay and i've got to choose
And i'll accept your invitation to the blues

Pasties and a G-string

Smelling like a brewery,
Looking like a tramp
I ain't got a quarter
Got a postage stamp
Been five o'clock shadow boxing
All around the town
Talking with the old men
Sleeping on the ground
Bazanti bootin
Al zootin al hoot
And Al Cohn
Sharin this apartment
With a telephone pole
And it's a fish-net stockings
Spike-heel shoes
Strip tease, prick tease
Car kease blues
And the porno floor show
Live nude girls
Dreamy and creamy
And the brunette curls
Chesty Morgan and a
Watermelon Rose
Raise my rent and take off
All your clothes
With the trench coats
Magazines bottle full of rum
She's so good, it make
A dead man cum, with
Pasties and a g-string
Beer and a shot
Portland through a shot glass
And a Buffalo squeeze
Wrinkles and cherry
And twinky and pinky
And fefe live from Gay Paree
Fanfares rim shots
Back stage who cares
All this hot burlesque for me

Cleavage, cleavage thighs and hips
From the nape of her neck
To the lip stick lips
Chopped and channeled
And lowered and louvered
And a cheater slicks
And baby moons
She's hot and ready
And creamy and sugared
And the band is awful
And so are the tunes

Crawlin on her belly shakin like jelly
And I'm getting harder than
Chinese algebraziers and cheers
From the compendium here
Hey sweet heart they're yellin for more
Squashing out your cigarette butts
On the floor
And I like Shelly
You like Jane
What was the girl with the snake skins name
It's an early bird matinee
Come back any day
Getcha little sompin
That cha can't get at home
Getcha little sompin
That cha can't get at home
Pasties and a g-string
Beer and a shot
Portland through a shot glass
And a Buffalo squeeze
Popcorn, front row
Higher than a kite
And i'll be back tomorrow night
And i'll be back tomorrow night

Bad Liver and a Broken Heart

Well I got a bad liver and a broken heart
Yea I drunk me a river since you tore me apart
And I don't have a drinking problem
Cept when I can't get a drink
And I wish you'd a known her
We were quite a pair
She was sharp as a razor
And soft as a prayer
So welcome to the continuing saga
She was my better half
And I was just a dog
And so here am I slumped
I been chippied I been chumped
On my stool
So buy this fool, some spirits and libations
It's these railroad station bars
With all these conductors and the porters
And I'm all out of quarters
And this epitaph is the aftermath
Yea I choose my path
Hey come on Cath, he's a lawyer,
He ain't the one for ya
And no the moon ain't romantic
It's intimidating as hell
And some guy's trying to sell
Me a watch
And so i'll meet you at the
Bottom of a bottle of
Bargain Scotch
I got me a bottle and a dream
It's so maudlin it seems

You can name your poison
Go on ahead and make some noise
I ain't sentimental
This ain't a purchase it's a rental
And it's purgatory, hey
What's your story, well
I don't even care
Cause I got my own double-cross to bear

And i'll see your Red Label
And i'll raise you one more
And you can pour me a cab,
I just can't drink no more
Cause it don't douse the flames
That are started by dames
It ain't like asbestos
It don't do nothing but
Rest us assured
And substantiate the rumors
That you've heard.

The One That Got Away

The jigolo's jumpin salty
Ain't no trade out on the streets
Half past the unlucky
And the hawk's a front-row seat
Dressed in full orquestration
Stage door johnnys got to pay
And sent him home
Talking bout the one that got away

Could a been on easy street
Could a been a wheel
With irons in the fire
And all them business deals
But the last of the big-time losers
Shouted before he drove away
I'll be right back as soon as I crack
The one that got away

The ambulance drivers don't give a shit
They just want to get off work
And the short stop and the victim
Have already gone berserk
And the shroud-tailor measures him
For a deep-six holiday
The stiff is froze, the case is closed
On the one that got away

Jim Crow's directing traffic
With them cemetery blues
With them peculiar looking trousers
Them old Italian shoes
The wooden kimona was all ready
To drop in San Francisco Bay
But now he's mumbling something
All about the one that got away

Costello was the champion
At the St. Moritz Hotel
And the best this side of Fairfax,
Reliable sources tell
But his reputation is at large
And he's at Ben Frank's every day
Waiting for the one that got away

He's got a snake skin sportshirt,
And he looks like Vincent Price
With a little piece of chicken
And he's carving off a slice
But someone tipped her off
She'll be doing a Houdini now any day
She shook his hustle
And a Greyhound bus'll
Take the one that got away

Andre is at the piano
Behind the Ivar in the sewers
With a buck a shot for pop tunes,
And a fin for guided tours
He could of been in Casablanca
He stood in line out there all day
But now he's spilling whiskey
And learning songs about a one that got away

Well i've lost my equilibrium
My car keys and my pride
Tattoo parlor's warm
And so I huddle there inside
The grinding of the buzz saw
Whatchuwanthathingtosay
Just don't misspell her name
Buddy she's the one that got away

Small Change
(Got Rained on with His Own .38)

Well small change got rained on with his own .38
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the marquise weren't weeping
They went stark-raving mad
And the cabbies were the only ones
That really had it made
And his cold trousers were twisted,
And the sirens high and shrill
And crumpled in his fist was a five-dollar bill
And the naked mannikins with their
Cheshire grins
And the raconteurs
And roustabouts said buddy
Come on in
Cause the dreams ain't broken down here now
Now ...they're walking with a limp
Now that

Small change got rained on with his own .38
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the burglar alarm's been disconnected
And the newsmen start to rattle
And the cops are tellin' jokes
About some whore house in Seattle
And the fire hydrants plead the 5th Amendment
And the furniture's bargains galore
But the blood is by the jukebox
On an old linoleum floor
And it's a hot rain on 42nd Street
And now the umbrellas ain't got a chance
And the newsboy's a lunatic
With stains on his pants cause

Small change got rained on with his own .38
And no one's gone over to close his eyes
And there's a racing form in his pocket
Circled "Blue Boots" in the 3rd
And the cashier at the clothing store
He didn't say a word as the
Siren tears the night in half
And someone lost his wallet
Well it's surveillance of assailants
If that's whatchawannacallit
And the whores hike up their skirts
And fish for drug-store prophylactics
With their mouths cut just like
Razor blades and their eyes are like stilettos
And her radiator's steaming
And her teeth are in a wreck
Now she won't let you kiss her
But what the hell do you expect
And the Gypsies are tragic and if you
Wanna to buy perfume, well
They'll bark you down like
Carneys... Sell you Christmas cards in June
But...

Small change got rained on with his own .38
And his headstone's
A gumball machine
No more chewing gum
Or baseball cards or
Overcoats or dreams and
Someone is hosing down the sidewalk
And he's only in his teens

Small change got rained on with his own .38
And a fistful of dollars can't change that
And someone copped his watch fob
And someone got his ring
And the newsboy got his porkpie Stetson hat
And the tuberculosis old men
At the Nelson wheeze and cough
And someone will head south
Until this whole thing cools off cause
Small change got rained on with his own .38
Yea small change got rained on with his own .38

I Can't Wait to Get Off Work
(And See My Baby on Montgomery Avenue)

Well I don't mind working
Cause I used to be jerkin off
Most of my time in the bars
I been a cabbie and a stock clerk
And a soda fountain jock jerk
And a manic mechanic on cars
It's nice work if you can get it
Now who the hell said it
I got money to spend on my gal
But the work never stops
And i'll be busting my chops
Working for Joe and Sal.

And I can't wait to get off work
And see my baby
She said she'd leave the porch lite
On for me
I'm disheveled I'm disdainful
And I'm distracted and it's painful
But this job sweeping up here is
Is gainfully employing me tonight

Tom do this Tom do that
Tom, don't do that
Count the cash, clean the oven
Dump the trash oh your lovin
Is a rare and a copasetic gift
And I'm a moonlight watchmanic
It's hard to be romantic
Sweeping up over by the cigarette machine
Sweeping up over by the cigarette machine...

I can't wait to get off work
And see my baby
She'll be waiting up with a magazine for me
Clean the bathrooms, clean um good
Oh your lovin I wish you would
Come down here and sweepameoffmyfeet
This broom'll have to be my baby
If I hurry, I just might
Get off before the dawns early light.

Foreign Affairs

Muriel

Muriel since you left town the clubs closed down
And there's one more burned out lamppost down on the main street
Down where we used to stroll
And muriel i still hit all the same old haunts
And you follow me wherever i go
And muriel i see you on a saturday night
In a penny arcade with your hair tied back
And the diamond twinkle in your eye
Is the only wedding ring i'll buy you
Muriel
And muriel how many times i've left this town
To hide from your memory
And it haunts me
But i only get as far as the next whiskey bar
I buy another cheap cigar and i'll see you every night
Hey muriel muriel
Hey buddy got a light

I Never Talk To Strangers

Stop me if you've heard this one
I feel as though we've met before
Perhaps i'm mistaken
But it's just that i remind you
Of someone you used to care about
But that was long ago
Do you think i'd fall for that
I wasn't born yesterday
Besides i never talk to strangers anyway
I ain't a bad guy when you get to know me
I just thought there ain't no harm
Hey just try minding your own business
Bud who asked you to annoy me
With your sad repartee
Besides i never talk to strangers anyway

Your life's a dimestore novel
This town is full of guys like you
And you're looking for someone to take the place of her
And you're bitter cause he left you
That's why you're drinkin in this bar
Well only suckers fall in love
With perfect strangers

It always takes one to know one stranger
Maybe we're just wiser now
And been around the block so many times
That we don't notice
That we're all just perfect strangers
As long as we ignore
That we all begin as strangers
Just before we find
We really aren't strangers anymore

Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come

Jack was sittin poker faced with bullets backed with bitches
Neal hunched at the wheel puttin everyone in stitches
Braggin bout this nurse he screwed while drivin through nebraska
And when she came she honked the horn and neal just barely missed a
Truck and then he asked her if she'd like to come like that to californy
See a red head in a uniform will always get you horny
With her hairnet and those white shoes and a name tag and a hat
She drove like andy granatelli and knew how to fix a flat
And jack was almost at the bottom of his md 2020 neal was yellin
Out the window tryin to buy some bennies from a lincoln
Full of mexicans whose left rear tire blowed and the sonsobitches
Prit near almost ran off the road

Well the nurse had spilled the manoshevitz all up and down her dress
Then she lit the map on fire neal just had to guess
Should we try and find a bootleg route or a fillin station open
The nurse was dumpin out her purse lookin for an envelope and
Jack was out of cigarettes we crossed the yellow line
The gas pumps looked like tombstones from here
Felt lonelier than a parking lot when the last car pulls away
And the moonlight dressed the double breasted foothills
In the mirror weaving outa negligee and a black brassiere
The mercury was runnin hot and almost out of gas
Just then florence nightingale dropped her drawers and
Stuck her fat ass half way out of the window with a
Wilson pickett tune
And shouted get a load of this and gave the finger to the moon

Countin one eyed jacks and whistling dixie in the car
Neal was doin least a hundred when we saw a fallin star
Florence wished that neal would hold her stead of chewin
His cigar jack was noddin out and dreamin he was in a bar
With charlie parker on the bandstand not a worry in the world
And a glass of beer in one hand and his arm around a girl
And neal was singin to the nurse
Underneath a harlem moon
And somehow you could just tell we'd be in california soon

A Sight For Sore Eyes

Hey sight for sore eyes it's a long time no see
Workin hard hardly workin hey man you know me
Water under the bridge didya see my new car
Well it's bought and it's payed for parked outside of the bar
And hey barkeeper what's keepin you keep pourin drinks
For all these palookas hey you know what i thinks
That we toast to the old days and dimagio too
And old drysdale and mantle whitey ford and to you

No the old gang ain't around everyone has left town
'Cept for thumm and giardina said they just might be down
Oh half drunk all the time and i'm all drunk the rest
Yea monk's till the champion but i'm the best

I guess you heard about nash he was killed in a crash
Hell that must of been two or three years ago now
Yea he spun out and he rolled he hit a telephone pole
And he died with the radio on
No she's married and with a kid finally split up with sid
He's up north for a nickle's worth for armed robbery

Hey i'll play you some pin ball hell you ain't got a chance
Well then go on over and ask her to dance

Potter's Field

Well you can buy me a drink and i'll tell you what i seen
And i'll give you a bargain from the edge of a maniac's dream
That buys a black widow spider with a riddle in his yarn
That's clinging to the furrow of a blindman's brow
I'll start talking from the brim of a thimble full of whiskey
On a train through the bronx that will take you just as far
As the empty of a bottle to the highway of a scar
That stretched across the blacktop of my cheek like that
And then ducks beneath the brim of a fugitive's hat
And you'll learn why liquor makes a stool pigeon rat on every face
That ever left his shadow down on saint marks place
Hell i'd double cross my mother if it was whiskey that they payed
And so an early bird says nightsticks on the hit parade
And he ain't got a prayer and his days are numbered
And you'll track him down like a dog
Well it's a tough customer you're getting in this trade
Cause the nightstick's heart pumps lemonade
Well whiskey keeps a blindman talkin alright
And i'm the only one who knows just where he stayed last night

He was in a wreckin yard in a switchblade storm
In a wheelbarrow with nothing but revenge to keep him warm
And a half a million dollars in unmarked bills
Was the nightstick's blanket in a febuary chill
And as the buzzard drove a crooked sky
He was dealin high chicago in the mud
And stackin' the deck against a dragnet's eye
A shivering nightstick in a miserable heap
With the siren for a lullaby singing him to sleep
He was bleeding from a buttonhole
Torn by a slug fired from the barrel of a two dollar gun
That scorched a blister on the grip of a punk by now
Is learnin what you have to pay to be a hero anyhow

He dressed the hole in his gut with a hundred dollar bandage
A king's ransom for a bedspread that don't amount to nuttin
Just cobweb strings on a busted ukulele
And the nightstick leaned on a black shillelagh
With the poison of a junkie's broken promise on his lip

He staggered in the shadows screaming i ain't never been afraid
And he shot out every street light on the promenade
Past the frozen ham and eggers at the penny arcade
Throwin out handfuls of a blood stained salary
They were dead in their tracks at the shootin gallery
And they fired off a twenty one gun salute
And from the corner of his eye he caught the alabaster orbs
And from a dime a dance hall girl and stuffed a thousand dollar bill
In her blouse and caught the cruel and unusual punishment of her smile
And the nightstick winked beneath a rainsoaked brim
Ain't no one seen hide nor hair of him see
No one but a spade on rikers island and me
And so if you're mad enough to listen to a full of whiskey blindman
Then you're mad enough to look beyond where bloodhounds dare to go
So if you want to know just where the nightstick's hidin out
You be down at the ferry landin oh let's say bout half past a nightmare
When it's twisted on a clock you tell 'em nickels sentcha
Whiskey always makes him talk
And you ask for captain charon with the mud on his kicks
He's the skipper of the deadline steamer
And she sails from the bronx across the river styx
And a riddle's just a ticket for a dreamer

Cause when the weathervane's sleepin and the moon turns his back
You crawl on your belly long the railroad tracks
And cross your heart and hope to die and stick a needle in your eye
Cause he'd cut my bleedin heart out if he found out that i squealed
Cause you see a scarecrow's just a hoodlum
Who marked the cards that he dealed
And pulled a gypsy switch
Out on the edge of potter's field

Burma Shave

Licorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue scrawled across the shoulders
Of a dying town the one eyed jacks across the railroad tracks
And the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through
He was a juvenile delinquent never learned how to behave
But the cops would never think to look in
Burma shave
And the road was like a ribbon and the moon was like a bone
He didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known
He kinda looked like farley granger with his hair slicked back
She says i'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat
How far are you going he said depends on what you mean
He says i'm going thataway just as long as it's paved
I guess you'd say i'm on my way to
Burma shave

And her knees up on the glove compartment
Took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer
And she popped her gum and arched her back
Hell marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the road
Some night my heart pounds just like thunder
I don't know why it don't explode
Cause everyone in this stinking town has got one foot in the grave
And i'd rather take my chances out in
Burma shave

Presley's what i go by why don't you change the station
Count the grain elevators in the rearview mirror
Mister anywhere you point this thing
Has got to beat the hell out of the sting
Of going to bed with every dream that dies here every mornin
And so drill me a hole with a barber pole
I'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive tonight
Why don't you have another swig
And pass that car if you're so brave
I wanna get there before the sun comes up in
Burma shave

And the spider web crack and the mustang screamed
Smoke from the tires and the twisted machine
Just a nickel's worth of dreams and every wishbone that they saved
Lie swindled from them on the way to
Burma shave

And the sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadow
Up against the car door on the shot gun side
And when they pulled her from the wreck you know she
Still had on her shades
They say that dreams are growing wild just this side of
Burma shave

Barber Shop

Good mornin mr. Snip snip snip witchur haircut jus as short as mine
Bay rum lucky tiger butch wax cracker jacks shoe shine jaw breaker
Magazine racks hangin round the barber shop a side burnin close crop
Mornin mr. Furgeson what's the good word witcha been
Stayin outa trouble like a good boy should i see you're still cuttin hair
Well i'm still cuttin classes i just couldn't hep myself
I got a couple of passes to the ringle bros. Barn bail circus afternoon
I see you lost a little round the middle and your lookin reel good
Sittin on the wagon stead of under the hood
What's the low down mr. Brown heard you boy's leavin town
I just bought myself a struggle buggy suckers powder blue
Throw me over sports page cincinnati's lookin' good
Always been for pittsburgh lay you 10 to 1
That the pirates get the pennant and the series for their done
You know the hair's gettin longer and the skirts gettin shorter
You can get a cheaper haircut if you wanna cross the border
Now if your mama saw you smokin why she'd kick your ass
Put it out you little juvenile and put it out fast
Oh if i had a million dollars well what would i do
Probly be a barber not a bum like you
Still gotchur paper route now that's just fine
Now you can pay me double cause you gypped me last time
You be keepin little circus money and spend it on a girl
Know i give the best haircuts in the whole wide world

Foreign Affair

When travelling abroad in the continental style
It's my belief one must attempt to be discreet
And subsequently bear in mind your transient position
Allows you a perspective that's unique
Though you'll find your itinerary's a blessing and a curse
Your wanderlust won't let you settle down
And you'll wonder how you ever fathomed that you'd be content
To stay within the city limits of a small midwestern town
Most vagabonds i knowed don't ever want to find the culprit
That remains the object of their long relentless quest
The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending
The pursuit you see and never the arrest
Without fear of contradiction bon voyage is always hollered
In conjunction with a handkerchief from shore
By a girl that drives a rambler and furthermore
Is overly concerned that she won't see him anymore
Planes and trains and boats and buses
Characteristically evoke a common attitude of blue
Unless you have a suitcase and a ticket and a passport
And the cargo that they're carrying is you
A foreign affair juxtaposed with a stateside
And domestically approved romantic fancy
Is mysteriously attractive due to circumstances knowing
It will only be parlayed into a memory

Blue valentine

Somewhere

( From west side story / Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim )

There's a place for us
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere
There's a time for us
Someday a time for us
Time together with time to spare
Time to learn
Time to care
Someday, somewhere
We'll find a new way of living
We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere
There's a place for us
A time and a place for us
Hold my hand and we're half way there
Hold my hand
And i'll take you there
Somehow
Someday, somewhere

Red shoes by the drugstore

She wore red shoes by the drugstore
As the rain splashed the nickel
Spilled like chablis along the midway
Theres a little bluejay
In a red dress, on a sad night

One straw in a rootbeer
A compact with a cracked mirror
And a bottle of evening in paris perfume

He told her to wait in by the magazines
He had to take care of some buisness it seems
Bring a raincoat and a suitcase
And your dark eyes
And wear those red shoes

Theres a dark huddle at the bus stop
Umbrellas arranged in a sad bouquet
Li'l cesaer got caught
He was going down to second
He was cooled
Changing stations on the chamber
To steal a diamond
From a jewelry store for his baby
He loved the way she looked in those red shoes

She waited by the drugstore
Cesaer had never been this late before
And the dogs bayed the moon
And rattled their chains
And the cold jingle of taps in a puddle
Was the burglar alarm
Snitchin on ceasar

Now the rain washes memories from the sidewalks
And the hounds splash down the nickel
Full of soldiers
And santa claus is drunk in the ski room
And it's christmas eve in a sad cafe
When the moon gets this way
There's a little blue jay
By the newstand
Wearing red shoes

So meet me tonight by the drugstore
We're goin out tonight
Wear your red shoes

Christmas card from a hooker in minneapolis

Hey charlie i'm pregnant
And living on the 9th street
Right above a dirty bookstore
Off euclid avenue
And i stopped takin dope
And i quit drinkin whiskey
And my old man plays the trombone
And works out at the track

And he says that he loves me
Even though its not his baby
And he says that he'll raise him up
Like he would his own son
And he gave me a ring
That was worn by his mother
And he takes me out dancin
Every saturday night.

And hey charlie i think about you
Everytime i pass a fillin station
Om account of all the grease
You used to wear in your hair
And i still have that record
Of little anthony & the imperials
But someone stole my record player
Now how do you like that?

Hey charlie i almost went crazy
After mario got busted
So i went back to omaha to
Live with my folks
But everyone i used to know
Was either dead or in prison
So i came back to minneapolis
This time i think i'm gonna stay.

Hey charlie i think i'm happy
For the first time since my accident
And i wish i had all the money
That we used to spend on dope
I'd buy me a used car lot
And i wouldn't sell any of em
I'd just drive a different car
Every day, dependin on how
I feel

Hey charlie for chrissakes
Do you want to know the
Truth of it?
I don't have a husband
He don't play the trombone
And i need to borrow money
To pay this lawyer
And charlie, hey
I'll be eligible for parole
Come valentines day

Romeo is bleeding

Romeo is bleeding but not so as you'd notice
He's over on 18th street as usual
Looking so hatd against the hood of his car
Ans putting out a cigarette in his hand
And for all the pachucos at the pumps
At romeros paint and body
They all seein how far they can spit
Well it was just another night
But now they're huddled in the brake lights of a 58 belair
And listenin how romeo killed a sherif with his knife

And they all jump when they hear the sirens
But romeo just laughs and says
All the racket in the world ain't never gonna
Save that coppers ass
He'll never see another summertime
For gunnin down my brother
And leavin him like a dog
Beneath a car without his knife

And romeo says hey man gimme a cigatette
And they all reach for their pack
And frankie lights it for him and pats him on the back
And throws a bottle at a milk truck
And as it breaks he grabs his nuts
And they all know they could ve just like romeo
If they only had the guts

But romeo is bleeding but nobody can tell
Amd he sings along with the radio
With a bullet in his chest
And he combs back his fenders
And they all agree its clear
That everything is cool now that romeos here
But romeo is bleeding
And he winches now and then and he leans against
The car door and feels the blood in his shoes
And someones crying in the phone booth
At the 5 points by the store
Romeo starts his engine
And wipes the blood of the door
And he brodys through the signal
With the radio full blast
Leavin the boys there hikin up their chinos
And they all try to stand like romeo
Beneath the moon cut like a sickle
And they're talkin now in spanish about their hero

But romeo is bleeding as he gives the man his ticket
And he climbs to the balcony at the movies
And he'll die without a whimper
Like every heros dream
Just an angel with a bullet
And cagney in the screen

$29.00

Little black girl, red dress
Hot night with a broken shoe
Little black girl you shoulda never left home
There's probably someone thats still waitin' up for you
It's cold back in Chicago
Los Angles street is worse
All you got is $29.00, an alligator purse

I see that vulture in the fleetwood
With the startruse hood
Can see you're trying to get you bearing
You say "hey babe, which ways the main stem"
Wherever you say you're from
He'll say he grew up there himself

He'll come on and make you feel
Like you grew up right next door to him
Take a left on central
Gonna throw it in reverse
All you got $29.00, an alligator purse

He'll come on like just a gentleman
You'll be a little shy
You say you ex old man was a sax player
he'll says "Baby, I used to play bass for sly"
You say you like his Cadillac, say honey, I got two or three
Sweetheart you're sure fortunate
That you ran into me
Done a dime in the joint
Nothin' could be worse
$29.00, alligator purse

Pharoh on eight track
Start smokin' a little boo
You thinkin' gettin' out of Chicago was just about the
Best thing that ever happend to you
startin' to like it already
This cat seems to be cool
Babe I know a good hotel out in west hollywood
Be just right for you
Hhe ain't know good samaritan
He gonna make sure he's reimursed
Lot more than $29.00, an alligator purse

Now when the streets get hungry baby
Almost hear them growl
Someone setting a place for you
When the dogs begin to howl
The street are dim
They creep and and get what's left on the bone
Remember suckers always make mistakes
Far Away from home
And Chicken in the pot
Whoever gets there first
Gonna get themselves $29.00, alligator purse

Now the sirens just an epilog
Cops here always get there too late
Always stop for coffee on the way to the scene of the crime
They always try so hard just like movie stars
But they couldnt catch a cold
Baby don't waste your dime
She's lucky to be alive
The doctor whispered to the nurse
She only lost a half a pint of blood
$29.00, an alligator purse

Wrong side of the road

Put a dead cat on the railroad tracks
When the wolf bains blooming by the tressel
And get the eyeball of a rooster
And the stones from a ditch
And wash em down with bilge water
And you say you'll never snitch
Take the buttons from a yellow jacket
The feafrom a buzzard
And thr blood from a bounty hunters cold black heart
Catch the tears of a widow
In a thimble made of glass
Tell your mama and papa
They can kick your ass
Poison all the water in the wishin well
And hang all them scarecrows from a sycamore tree
Burn down all those honeymoons
Put em in a pillow case
And wait next to the switch blades
At the amusement park for me
Strangle all the christmas carols
Scratch out all your prayers
Tie em up with barbed wire
And push them down the stairs
And i'll whittle you a pistol
For keeping nightmares of the blinds
Those sunabitches always seem to sneake up from behind
Syphon all the gas from your daddys pickup truck
Fill up johnnys t bird
I got a couple of bucks
Put a little perfume and ribbon in your hair
Careful that you don't wake up the hounds
Tear a bolt of lightning
Of the side of the sky
And throw it in the cedar chest
If you want to tell me why
Bring the gear shift knob from a 49 merc
And lay down here beside me
Let me hold you in the dirt
And you'll tremble as the flames
Tear the throat out of the night
Sink your teeth into my shoulder
Dig your nails into my back
Tell that little girl to let go of my sleeve
You'll be a woman when i catch you
As you fall in love with me
Then with my double barrel shotgun
And a whole box of shells
We'll celebrate the 4 of july
We'll do 100 mph
Spendin someone elses dough
And we'll drive all the way to reno
On the wrong side of the road

Whistlin' past the graveyard

I come in on a night train
With an arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
I busted up a chifforobe
Way out by the cocomo
Cooked up a mess a mulligan
and got into a fight

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
A mean motherhubbard Papa one eyed jack

You probably seen me sleepin'
Out by the railroad tracks
Go on and ask the prince of darkness
What about all that smoke
Come from the stack
Sometimes I kill myself a jackel
Suck out all the blood
Steal myself a stationwagon
Drivin' through the mud

I want to Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm mean motherhubbard Papa one eyed jack

I know you seen my headlights
And the honkin' of my horn
I'm callin' out my bloodhounds
Chase the devil through the corn
Last night I chugged the mississippi
Now that suckers dry as a bone
I'm Born in a taxi cab
I'm never comin' home

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm mean motherhubbard papa one eyed jack

My eyes have seen the glory
Of the drainin' of the ditch
I only come to baton rouge
To find myself a witch
I'm-ona snatch me up a
Couple of em every time it rains
You see a locomotive
Probably thinkin' its a train

Whistlin' past the graveyard
Steppin' on a crack
I'm a mean motherhubbard papa one eyed jack

What you think is the sunshine
Is just a twinkle in my eye
That ring around my finger
Called the 4th of july
When I get a little bit lonesome
And a tear falls from my check
There's gonna be an ocean in
The middle of the week

Whistlin' past the graveyard
steppin' on a crack
I'm mean motherhubbard Papa one eyed jack

I come into town on a night train
Arm full of box cars
On the wings of a magpie
Cross a hooligan night
I'm gona tear me off a rainbow
And wear it for a tie
I never told the truth
So I can never tell a lie

Whistlin' past the graveyard
steppin' on a crack
A mean motherhubbard Papa one eyed jack

Kentucky avenue

Eddie Graces Buick got 4 bullet holes in the side
Charley Delisle sittin' at the top of an avacado tree
Mrs Storm'll stab you with a steak knife if you step on her lawn
I got a half pack of lucky strikes man so come along with me
Lets fill our pockets with macadamia nuts
Then go ever to Bobby Goodmansons
And jump off the roof

Hilda plays strip poker
And her mamas across the street
Joey Navinsky says she put her tongue in his mouth
Dicky Faulkners got a switchblade
And some gooseneck risers
That eucalyptus is a hunchback
There's a wind up from the south
So let me tie you up with kite string
I'll show you the scabs on my knee
Watch out for the broken glass, put your shoes and socks
on and come along with me

Lets follow that fire truck
I think your house is burning down
Then go down to the hobo jungle and kill some rattle
Snakes with a trowel
We'll break all the windows in the ol' Anderson place
and steal a bunch of boysenberrys
And swear 'em on our face
I'll get a dollar from my mamas purse
Buy that scull and crossbones ring
And you can wear it round your neck on an old piece of string

Then we'll spit on Ronnie Arnold
Flip him the bird
Slash the tires on the school bus
Now don't say a word
I'll take a rusty nail and scratch your initials in my arm
And I'll show you how to sneak up on the roof of the drugstore

I'll Take the spokes from your wheelchair
And a magpies wings
And I'll tie em to your shoulders and your feet
I'll steal a hacksaw from my dad
Cut the braces off your legs
And we'll bury them tonight out in the cornfield

Just put a church key in your pocket
We'll hop that freight train in the hall
We'll slide all the way down the drain
To new orleans in the fall

A sweet little bullet from a pretty blue gun

It's raining it's pouring
And you didn't bring a sweater
Nebraska will never let you come back home
And on hollywood and wine
By the thrifty mart sign
Any night i'll be willin to bet
There's a young girl
With sweet little wishes
And pretty blue dreams
Standin there and gettin all wet

Now there's a place off the drag
Called the gilbert hotel
There's a couple letters burned out in the sign
And it's better than a bus stop
And they do good buisness
Every time it rains
For sweet little girls
With nothing in their jeans
But sweet little wishes
And pretty blue dreams

Now it's raining it's pouring
The old mam is snoring
Now i lay me down to sleep
I hear the sirens in the street
All the dreams are made of chrome
I have no way to get back home
I'd rather die before i wake
Like marilyn monroe
And throw my jeans out in
The street and the rain will make 'em grow

Now the night clerk he got a club foot
And he's heard every hard luck story
At least a hundred times or more
He says check out time is 10 am
And that's just what he means
And you go up the stairs
With sweet little wishes
And pretty blue dreams

Now it's raining it's pouring
And hollywods just fine
Swindle a little out of her dreams
Put a letter in the sign
Never trust a scarecrow
Wearin' shades after dark
Be careful of that old bow tie he wears
It takes a sweet little bullet
From a pretty blue gun
To put those scarlet ribbons in your hair
No that ain't no cherry bomb
4th of july's all done
Just some fool playin' that second line
From the barrel of a pretty blue gun

No that ain't no cherry bomb
4th of july's all done
Just some fool playin' that second line
From the barrel of a pretty blue gun

Blue valentines

She sends me blue valentines
All the way from philadelphia
To mark the anniversary
Of someone that i used to be
And it feels just like theres
A warrant out for my arrest
Got me checkin in my rearview mirror
And i'm always on the run
Thats why i changed my name
And i didn't think you'd ever find me here

To send me blue valentines
Like half forgotten dreams
Like a pebble in my shoe
As i walk these streets
And the ghost of your memory
Is the thistle in the kiss
And the burgler that can break a roses neck
It's the tatooed broken promise
That i hide beneath my sleeve
And i see you every time i turn my back

She sends me blue valentines
Though i try to remain at large
They're insisting that our love
Must have a eulogy
Why do i save all of this madness
In the nightstand drawer
There to haunt upon my shoulders
Baby i know
I'd be luckier to walk around everywhere i go
With a blind and broken heart
That sleeps beneath my lapel

She sends me my blue valentines
To remind me of my cardinal sin
I can never wash the guilt
Or get these bloodstains off my hands
And it takes a lot of whiskey
To take this nightmares go away
And i cut my bleedin heart out every nite
And i die a little more on each st. Valentines day
Remember that i promised i would
Write you...
These blue valentines
Blue valentines
Blue valentines

Heartattack and Vine

Heartattack and Vine

Liar liar with your pants on fire,
White spades hangin' on the telephone
Wire, gamblers reevaluate along the dotted line,
You'll never recognize
Yourself on heartattack and vine.

Doctor lawyer beggar man thief,
Philly joe remarkable looks on in disbelief,
If you want a taste of madness,
You'll have to wait in line, you'll probably
See someone you know on heartattack and vine.

Boney's high on china white, shorty found a punk,
Don't you know there ain't
No devil, there's just god when he's drunk,
Well this stuff will probably kill
You, let's do another line,
What you say you meet me down
On heartattack and vine.

See that little jersey girl in the see-through top,
With the peddle pushers sucking on a soda pop,
Well i bet she's still a virgin
But it's only twenty-five 'til nine,
You can see a million of 'em
On heartattack and vine.

Better off in iowa against your scrambled eggs,
Than crawling down cahuenga on a broken pair of legs,
You'll find your ignorance is blissful every goddamn time,
Your're waitin' for the rtd on heartattack and vine.

Saving All My Love For You

It's too early for the circus,
It's too late for the bars,
No one's sleepin' but the paperboys,
And no one in this town is makin' any noise,
But the dogs and the milkmen and me.

The girls around here all look like cadillacs,
No one likes a stranger here,
I'd come home but i'm afraid
That you won't take me back,
But i'd trade off everything just to have you near.

I know i'm irresponsible and i don't behave,
And i ruin everything that i do,
And i'll probably get arrested when i'm in my grave,
But i'll be savin' all my love for you.

I paid fifteen dollars for a prostitute,
With too much makeup and a broken shoe,
But her eyes were just a counterfeit,
She tried to gyp me out of it,
But you know that i'm still in love you.

Don't listen to the rumors that you hear about me,
Cause i ain't as bad as they make me out to be,
Well i may lose my mind but baby can't you see,
That i'll be savin' all my love for you.

Downtown

Red pants and the sugarman in the temple street gloom,

Drinkin' chivas regal in a four dollar room,
Just another dead soldier in a powder blue night,
Sugarman says baby everything's alright,
Goin' downtown down downtown.

Montclaire de havelin doin' the st. Vitus dance,
Lookin' for someone to chop the lumber in his pants,
How am i gonna unload all of this ice and all this mink,
All the traffic in the street but it's so hard to think,
Goin' downtown down downtown.

Frankie's wearin' lipstick pierre cardin,
I swear to god i seen him holdin' hands with jimmy bond,
Sally's high on crank and hungry for some sweets,
She's fem in the sheets but she's butch in the streets,
Goin' downtown down downtown.

It's the cool of the evening the sun's goin' down,
I want to hold you in my arms i want to push you around,
I want to break your bottle and spill out all your charms,
Come on baby we'll set off all the burglar alarms,
Goin' downtown down downtown.

Red pants and the sugarman in the temple street gloom,
Drinkin' chivas regal in a four dollar room,
Just another dead soldier in a powder blue night,
Red pants turns to sugarman and says everything's alright,
Goin' downtown down downtown.

Jersey Girl

Got no time for the corner boys,
Down in the street makin' all that noise,
Don't want no whores on eighth avenue,
Cause tonight i'm gonna be with you.

'Cause tonight i'm gonna take that ride,
Across the river to the jersey side,
Take my baby to the carnival,
And i'll take you on all the rides,
Sing sha la la la la la sha la la la.

Down the shore everything's alright,
You're with your baby on a saturday night,
Don't you know that all my dreams come true,
When i'm walkin' down the street with you,
Sing sha la la la la la sha la la la.

You know she thrills me with all her charms,
When i'm wrapped up in my baby's arms,
My little angel gives me everything,
I know someday that she'll wear my ring.

So don't bother me cause i got no time,
I'm on my way to see that girl of mine,
Nothin' else matters in this whole wide world,
When you're in love with a jersey girl,
Sing sha la la la la la la.

And i call your name, i can't sleep at night,
Sha la la la la la la.

'Til the Money Runs Out

Check this strange beverage that falls out from the sky,
Splashin' bagdad on the hudson in panther martin's eyes,
He's high and outside wearin' candy apple red,
Scarlet gave him twenty seven stitches in his head,
With a pint of green chartreuse ain't nothin' seems right,
You buy the sunday paper on a saturday night.

Can't you hear the thunder someone stole my watch,
I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch,
Some one tell those chinamen on telegraph canyon road,
When you're on the bill with the spoon there ain't no time
To unload, so bye bye baby baby bye bye.

Droopy stranger lonely dreamer toy puppy and the prado,
We're laughin' as they piled into olmos' el dorado,
Jesus whispered eni meany miney moe,
They're too proud to duck their heads
That's why they bring it down so low,
So bye bye baby baby bye bye.

The pointed man is smack dab in the middle of july,
Swingin' from the rafters in his brand new tie,
He said i can't go back to that hotel room
All they do is shout,
But i'll stay wichew baby till the money runs out,
So bye bye baby baby bye bye.

On the Nickel

Sticks and stones will break my bones,
But i always will be true, and when
Your mama is dead and gone,
I'll sing this lullabye just for you,
And what becomes of all the little boys,
Who never comb their hair,
Well they're lined up all around the block,
On the nickel over there.

So you better bring a bucket,
There is a hole in the pail,
And if you don't get my letter,
Then you'll know that i'm in jail,
And what becomes of all the little boys,
Who never say their prayers,
Well they're sleepin' like a baby,
On the nickel over there.

And if you chew tobacco, and wish upon a star,
Well you'll find out where the scarecrows sit,
Just like punchlines between the cars,
And i know a place where a royal flush,
Can never beat a pair, and even thomas jefferson,
Is on the nickel over there.

So ring around the rosie, you're sleepin' in the rain,
And you're always late for supper,
And man you let me down again,
I thought i heard a mockingbird, roosevelt knows where,
You can skip the light, with grady tuck,
On the nickel over there.

So what becomes of all the little boys,
Who run away from home,
Well the world just keeps gettin' bigger,
Once you get out on your own,
So here's to all the little boys,
The sandman takes you where,
You'll be sleepin' with a pillowman,
On the nickel over there.

So let's climb up through that button hole,
And we'll fall right up the stairs,
And i'll show you where the short dogs grow,
On the nickel over there.

Mr. Siegal

I spent all my money in a mexican whorehouse,
Across the street from a catholic church,
And then i wiped off my revolver,
And i buttoned up my burgundy shirt,
I shot the morning in the back,
With my red wings on,
I told the sun he'd better go back down,
And if i can find a book of matches,
I'm goin' to burn this hotel down.

You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porchlight on.

Well i dropped thirty grand on the nugget slots,
I had to sell my ass on fremont street,
And the drummer said there's sanctuary,
Over at the bagdad room,
And now it's one for the money, two for the show,
Three to get ready, and go man go,
I said tell me mr. Siegel,
How do i get out of here.

Well willard's knocked out on a bottle of heat,
Drivin' dangerous curves across the dirty sheets,
He said man you ought to see her,
When her parents are gone,
Man you ought to hear her when the siren's on.
You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porchlight on.

Don't you know that ain't no broken bottle,
That i picked up in my headlights,
On the other side of the nevada line,
Where they live hard die young,
Nd have a good lookin' corpse every time,
Well the pit-boss said i should keep movin',
This is where you go when you die,
And so i shot a black beauty,
And i kissed her right between the eyes.

Well willard's knocked out on a bottle of heat,
Drivin' dangerous curves across the dirty sheets,
He said man you ought to see her,
When her parents are gone,
Man you ought to hear her when the siren's on.

You got to tell me brave captain,
Why are the wicked so strong,
How do the angels get to sleep,
When the devil leaves the porchlight on.

Ruby's Arms

I will leave behind all of my clothes,
I wore when i was with you,
All I need's my railroad boots,
And my leather jacket,
As i say goodbye to ruby's arms,
Although my heart is breaking,
I will steal away out through your
Blinds, for soon you will be waking.

The morning light has washed your face,
And everything is turning blue now,
Hold on to your pillow case
There's nothing i can do now,
As i say goodbye to ruby's arms,
You'll find another soldier,
And i swear to god by christmas,
There'll be someone else to hold you.

The only thing i'm taking is
The scarf off of your clothesline,
I'll hurry past your chest of drawers,
And your broken window chimes,
As i say goodbye
I'll say goodbye,
Say goodbye to ruby's arms.

I'll feel my way down the darken hall,
And out into the morning,
The hobos at the freightyards,
Have kept their fires burning,
So jesus christ this goddamn rain,
Will someone put me on a train,
I'll never kiss your lips again,
Or break your heart,
As i say goodbye
I'll say goodbye,
Say goodbye to ruby's arms.

One from the Heart

Is There Any Way Out Of This Dream

I can see clearly nothing as clear
I keep falling apart ev'ry year
Let's take a hammer to it
There's no glamour in it
Is there any way out of this dream

I'm as blue as I can possibly be
Is there someone else out there for me
Summer is dragging it's feet
I feel so incomplete
Is there any way out of this dream

Picking Up After You

Here comes the bride
And there goes the groom
Looks like a hurricane
Went thru this room
Smells like a poolhall
Where's my other shoe
And I'm sick and tired of pickin' up after you

Looks like you spent the nite in a trench
And tell me,
How long have you been combing your hair with a wrench
Blue roses are dead
And the violets are too
And I'm sick and tired of pickin' up after you

Well, i've told you before
I won't tell you again
You don't defrost the icebox
With a ball point pen
This railroad apartment
Is held together with glue
And I'm sick and tired of pickin' up after you

Because I know
I been swindled
I never bargained for this
Once more you never cared about me
Why don't you get your own place
So you can live like you do
And I'm sick and tired of pickin' up after you

Take all your relatives
And all of your shoes
Believe me i'll really swing
When you're gone
I'll be living on chicken and wine
After we're thru
With someone I pick up after you
With someone i'll pick up after you
With someone i'll pick up after you
With someone i'll pick up after you

Old Boyfriends

Old Boyfriends,
Lost in the pocket of your overcoat,
Like burned out lite bulbs on a Ferris Wheel.

Old Boy friends,
You remember the kinds of cars they drove,
Parking in an orange grove.
He fell in love you see,
With someone that I used to be.

Tho I very seldom think of him,
Nevertheless sometimes a mannequin's
Blue satin dress can make the window
Like a dream
Ah but now those dreams belong to someone else,
Now they talk endlessly
In a drawer where I keep
All my

Old Boyfriends
Remember when you were burning for them?
Why do you keep turning them into
Old Boyfriends?
They look you up when they're in town
To see if they can still burn you down
You fell in love you see
With someone that I used to be

Old Boyfriends
Turn up every time it rains,
Fall out of the pages in a magazine
Old Boyfriends.
Girls fill up the bars every spring,
Not places for remembering.
Old boyfriends
All my old boyfriends
Old boyfriends

Broken Bicycles

Broken bicycles,
Old busted chains,
With busted handle bars
Out in the rain.
Somebody must
Have an orphanage for
All these things that nobody
Wants any more
September's reminding July
It's time to be saying good-bye.

Summer is gone,
Our love will remain.
Like old broken bicycles
Out in the rain.

Broken Bicycles,
Don't tell my folks;
There's all those playing cards
Pinned to the spokes,
Laid down like skeletons
Out on the lawn.
The wheels won't turn
When the other has gone.
The seasons can turn on a dime,
Somehow I forget every time;
For all the things that you've given me
Will always stay
Broken, but i'll never throw them away

I Beg Your Pardon

I'm just a scarecrow
With out you
Baby please don't disappear
I beg your pardon dear

I gotta a bottle full of trumpet
A hatbox full of drum
I beg your pardon dear

I got upset
I lost my head
I didn't mean
The things I said
You are the landscape
Of my dreams
Darlin' I beg your pardon

I'd give your Boardwalk
And Park Place
And all of my hotels
I beg your pardon dear

Please don't go back to St. Louis
Can't you tell that I'm sincere
I beg your pardon dear

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue
Come blow your horn
The dish ran away with the spoon
Home again home again
Saturday morn
Never gets up before noon

She used to render
You legal and tender
When you used to
Send her your promises boy
A dill or a dollar
Unbutton your collar
Come out and holler
Out all of your noise

Little boy blue
Come blow your top
Cut it rite down to the quick
Don't sit home and cry
On the fourth of july
Around now you're hittin' bricks

So abracadabra
Now she disappeared
Now everything's Canada dry
So watch your behavior
And rattle your cane
With a bottle of bourbon
Good-bye

Little boy blow
Lost little bo peep
She fell thru a hole in the nest
Now ain't it peculiar
That she's finally cooled your
Big wheels just like all of the rest

Whenever it rains
The umbrella complain
They're always gettin' played for a chump
So mark and strike it
She's history now
And you're hangin' out at the pump

Little Boy Blue...

She used to render...

You Can't Unring a Bell

You can't unring a bell, junior
It'll cost ya to get out of this one, junior
Cause he's got big plans
That don't include you
Take it like a man

Cause you, you can't unring a bell, sucker
You'll need an attorney for this journey, junior

How's it feel
How do you like it in the slam
You're a little man in a great big town
Perhaps you were a little hasty
Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh
You can't take back the things you said, man

Cause you can't unring a bell, Junior
Aaghhhh
Hurts don't it
Take it like a man
Get it thru your head
Suffer
Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh

This One's From the Heart

As you go out it's Independence Day;
But instead i'll just pour myself a drink.
It's got to be love, i've never felt this way.
Oh baby, this one's from the heart

The shadows in the road look like a railroad track.
I wonder if he's (ever) really comin' back.
The moon's a yellow stain across the sky.
Oh baby, this one's from the heart

(Maybe) And i'll go down to the corner and get a racin' form,
(But) And I should prob'ly wait here by the phone.
And the brakes need adjustment on the convertible
Oh baby, this one's from the heart

The worm is climbin' the other color tree
Robin is back against the wall;
Pour myself a double sympathy
Oh baby, this one's from the heart.

Blondes, brunettes, and redheads put their hammer down
(To put ) don't pound a cold chisel thru my heart.
But they were nothin' but apostrophes.
O baby, this one's from the heart.

I can't tell, is that a siren or a saxophone?
But the roads get so slipp'ry (when it rains)
I love you more than all these words can ever say
Oh baby, this one's from the heart.

Take Me Home

Take me home
You silly boy
Put your arms around me
Take me home
You silly boy
All the world's not round without you

I'm so sorry that I broke your heart
Please don't leave my side
Take me home
You silly boy
Cause I'm still in love you

Once Upon a Town

I wish I had a dollar for each time I took a chance
And all those two bit Romeos who count death in romance
Some how always thinking of last time I fell down
Knowing that you fall in love once upon a town

The Wages of Love

Down through the ages all of the sages
Say don't spend your wages on love
It's graft and collusion but the intrusion
And proceeding forclosures there's over exposure
Down at the crossroads questions posed
Bridges washed out and the highways closed
Got to have good reason to firmly believe
Love was designed to exploit and deceive
There's an addendum whenever you send 'em
That red ball that beats in your chest you will see
A simple addition keeps with tradition
Don't spend your wages on love
Take any burgh any city or town
Just get on mainstreet and drive all the way down
See love has a graveyard nurtured for those
That fell on their sabres and pay through the nose
Those shovels of shot glass, dig your own hole
Bury whats left of your miserable soul
Down through the ages all of the sages
Say don't spend your wages on love
It's graft and collusion but the intrusion
And proceeding forclosures there's over exposure
Down at the crossroads question is posed
The bridge is washed out and the highways closed

Swordfishtrombones

Underground

Rattle Big Black Bones in the Danger zone
There's a rumbling groan down below
There's a big dark town it's a place I've found
There's a world going on underground

They're alive, they're awake
While the rest of the world is asleep
Below the mine shaft roads it will all unfold
There's a world going on underground

All the roots hang down swing from town to town
They are marching around down under your boots
All the trucks unload beyond the gopher holes
There's a world going on underground

Shore Leave

Well with buck shot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
And with a big fat paycheck strapped to my hip sack
And a shore leave wristwatch underneath my sleeve
In a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
And I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga
And was in a bad need of a shave
I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
And shot billards with a midget until the rain stopped
And I bought a long sleeved shirt with horses on the front
And some gum and a lighter and a knife
And a new deck of cards (with girls on the back)
And I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife

And I said Baby, I'm so far away from home
And I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Well I was pacing myself trying to make it all last
Squeezing all the life out of a lousy two day pass
I had a cold one at the Dragon with some Filipino floor show
I talked baseball with a lieutenant over a Singapore sling
And I wondered how the same moon outside over this Chinatown fair
Could look down on Illinois and find you there
You know I love you Baby

I'm so far away from home
I'm so far away from home
And I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave
Shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave
Shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave
Shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave, shore Leave
Shore Leave

Johnsburg, Illinois

She's my only true love
She's all that I think of
Look here in my wallet
That's her
She grew up on a farm there
There's a place on my arm
Where I've written her name next to mine
You see I just can't live without her
And I'm her only boy
And she grew up outside McHenry
In Johnsburg, Illinois

16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought-Six

I plugged 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
And a Black Crow snuck through
A hole in the sky
So I spent all my buttons on an
Old pack mule
And I made me a ladder from
A pawn shop marimba
And I leaned it up against
A dandelion tree

And I filled me a sachel
Full of old pig corn
And I beat me a billy
From an old French horn
And I kicked that mule
To the top of the tree
And I blew me a hole
'Bout the size of a kickdrum
And I cut me a switch
From a long branch elbow

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Well I slept in the holler
Of a dry creek bed
And I tore out the buckets
From a red Corvette, tore out the buckets from a red Corvette
Lionel and Dave and the Butcher made three
You got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinnybone tree
With the strings of a Washburn
Stretched like a clothes line
You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Now I hold him prisoner
In a Washburn jail
That stapped on the back
Of my old kick mule
Strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
I bang on the strings just
To drive him crazy
I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage

I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black Crow 16 shells from a thirty-ought-six

Town With No Cheer

Well it's hotter 'n blazes and all the long faces
There'll be no oasis for a dry local grazier
There'll be no refreshment for a thirsty jackaroo
From Melbourne to Adelaide on the overlander
With newfangled buffet cars and faster locomotives
The train stopped in Serviceton less and less often
There's nothing sadder than a town with no cheer
Vicrail decided the canteen was no longer necessary
There no spirits, no bilgewater and 80 dry locals
And the high noon sun beats a hundred and four
There's a hummingbird trapped in a closed down shoe store

This tiny Victorian rhubarb
Kept the watering hole open for sixty five years
Now it's boilin' in a miserable March 21 st
Wrapped the hills in a blanket of Patterson's curse
The train smokes down the xylophone
There'll be no stopping here
All ya can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer
No Bourbon, no Branchwater
Though the townspeople here
Fought the Vic Rail decree tooth and nail
Now it's boilin' in a miserable March 21 st
Wrapped the hills in a blanket of Patterson's curse
The train smokes down the xylophone
There'll be no stopping here
All ya can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer

In the Neighborhood

Well the eggs chase the bacon
Round the fryin' pan
And the whinin' dog pidgeons
By the steeple bell rope
And the dogs tipped the garbage pails
Over last night
And there's always construction work
Bothering you
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood

Friday's a funeral
And Saturday's a bride
Sey's got a pistol on the register side
And the goddamn delivery trucks
They make too much noise
And we don't get our butter
Delivered no more
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood

Well Big Mambo's kicking
His old grey hound
And the kids can't get ice cream
'Cause the market burned down
And the newspaper sleeping bags
Blow down the lane
And that goddamn flatbed's
Got me pinned in again
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood

There's a couple Filipino girls
Gigglin' by the church
And the windoe is busted
And the landlord ain't home
And Butch joined the army
Yea that's where he's been
And the jackhammer's diggin'
Up the sidewalks again
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood
In the neighborhood

Frank's Wild Years

Well Frank settled down in the Valley
And hung his wild years
On a nail that he drove through
His wife's forehead
He sold used office furniture
Out there on San Fernando Road
And assumed a $30,000 loan
At 15 1/4 % and put down payment
On a little two bedroom place
His wife was a spent piece of used jet trash
Made good bloody marys
Kept her mouth shut most of the time
Had a little Chihuahua named Carlos
That had some kind of skin disease
And was totally blind. They had a
Thoroughly modern kitchen
Self-cleaning oven (the whole bit)
Frank drove a little sedan
They were so happy

One night Frank was on his way home
From work, stopped at the liquor store,
Picked up a couple Mickey's Big Mouths
Drank 'em in the car on his way
To the Shell station, he got a gallon of
Gas in a can, drove home, doused
Everything in the house, torched it,
Parked across the street, laughing,
Watching it burn, all Halloween
Orange and chimney red then
Frank put on a top forty station
Got on the Hollywood Freeway
Headed north

Never could stand that dog

Swordfishtrombones

Well he came home from the war
With a party in his head
And modified Brougham deville
And a pair of legs that opened up
Like butterfly wings
And a mad dog that wouldn't
Sit still
He went and took up with a Salvation Army
Band girl
Who played dirty water
On a swordfishtrombone
He went to sleep at the bottom of
Tenkiller lake
And he said "gee, but it's
Great to be home."

Well he came home from the war
With a party in his head
And an idea for a fireworks display
And he knew that he'd be ready with
A stainless steel machete
And a half a pint of Ballentine's
Each day
And he holed up in room above a hardware store
Cryin' nothing there but Hollywood tears
And he put a spell on some
Poor little Crutchfield girl
And stayed like that for 27 years

Well he packed up all his
Expectations he lit out for California
With a flyswatter banjo on his knee
With a lucky tiger in his angel hair
And benzedrine for getting there
They found him in a eucalyptus tree
Lieutenant got him a canary bird
And shaked her head with every word
And Chesterfielded moonbeams in a song
And he got 20 years for lovin' her
From some Oklahoma governor
Said everything this Doughboy
Does is wrong

Now some say he's doing
The obituary mambo
And some say he's hanging on the wall
Perhaps this yarn's the only thing
That holds this man together
Some say he was never here at all

Some say they saw him down in
Birmingham, sleeping in a
Boxcar going by
And if you think that you can tell a bigger tale
I swear to God you'd have to tell a lie...

Down, Down, Down

He went down down down
And the devil called him by name
He went down down down
Hangin' onto the back of a train
He went down down down
This boy went solid down
Always chewed tobacco
And the bathtub gin
Always chewed tobacco
And the bathtub gin
He went down down down
This boy went solid down
He went down

Well he went down down down
And the jumped on his head
He went down down down
Stayin' in a broken down shed
He went down down down
Sleepin' in the devil's bed
He went down down down
Never listened to the words I said
He went down down down down
He went down

Well he went down down down
And the devil said where you been
He went down down down
He screamin' down around the bend
Down down down
This boy went solid down

He was always cheatin'
And he always told lies
He was always cheatin'
And he always told lies
He went down down down
Down down down
This boy went solid down
He went down

Soldier's Things

Davenports and kettle drums
And swallow tail coats
Table cloths and patent leather shoes
Bathing suits and bowling balls
And clarinets and rings
And all this radio really
Needs is a fuse
A tinker, a tailor
A soldier's things
His rifle, his boots full of rocks
And this one is for bravery
And this one is for me
And everything's a dollar
In this box

Cuff links and hub caps
Trophies and paperbacks
It's good transportation
But the brakes aren't so hot
Neck tie and boxing gloves
This jackknife is rusted
You can pound that dent out
On the hood
A tinker, a tailor
A soldier's things
His rifle, his boots full of rocks
Oh and this one is for bravery
And this one is for me
And everything's a dollar
In this box

Gin Soaked Boy

I got a belly full of you
And that Leavenworth stuff
Now I'm gonna get out
And I'm gonna get tough
You been lying to me
How could you crawl so low
With some gin-soaked boy
That you don't know

I come home last night
Full a filth of Old Crow
You said you goin' to your ma's
But where the hell did you go
You went and slipped out nights
You didn't think that I'd know
With some
Gin-soaked boy that you don't know

Well I would bet you as far
As Oklahoma by now
The dogs are barking out back
And you're knittin' your brow
Well I'm on your tail I sussed your M.O.
From some gin-soaked boy
Boy that you don't know

Trouble's Braids

Well I pulled on trouble's braids
And I hid in the briars
Out by the quick mud
Stayin' away from the main roads
Passin' out wolf tickets
Downwind from the blood hounds
And I pulled on trouble's braids
And I lay by a cypress
As quiet as a stone
'Til the bleeding stopped
I blew the weather vane
Off some old road house
I build a fire in the
Skeleton back seat of an old Tucker
And I pulled on trouble's braids
I spanked cold red mud
Where the hornet stung deep
And I tossed in the ditch
In a restless sleep
And I pulled on trouble's braids
I hung my rain-soaked jacket
On some old barbed wire
Poured cold rusty water
On a miserable fire
I pulled on trouble's braids
The creek was swollen by daybreak and I could just
Barely see
And I floated downstream
On an old dead tree
And I pulled on trouble's braids
I pulled on trouble's braids
I pulled on trouble's braids
I pulled on trouble's braids

Rain dogs

Singapore

We sail tonight for singapore,
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny moor,
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the chinamen,
Walked the sewers of paris
I danced along a colored wind,
Dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

We sail tonight for singapore,
Don't fall asleep while you're ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
When you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
While making feet for children shoes
Through the alley, back from hell,
When you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me

Wipe him down with gasoline
'Til his arms are hard and mean
From now on boys this iron boat's your home
So heave away, boys

We sail tonight for singapore,
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door,
The whole town's made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam,
They all become italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth,
Get yourself a dollar's worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away

The captain is a one-armed dwarf,
He's throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
The one-eyed man is king, so take this ring

We sail tonight for singapore,
We're all as mad as hatters here
I've fallen for a tawny moor,
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the chinamen,
Walked the sewers of paris
I drank along a colored wind,
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

Clap hands

Sane, sane, they're all insane,
Fireman's blind, the conductor is lame
A cincinnati jacket and a sad-luck dame
Hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never coming back here no more
The moon in the window and a bird on the pole
We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where mr. Knickerbocker's at

Roar, roar, the thunder and the roar
Son of a bitch is never coming back here no more
Moon in the window and a bird on the pole
Can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

I said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams
Going up to harlem with a pistol in his jeans
A fifty-dollar bill inside a palladin's hat
And nobody's sure where mr. Knickerbocker's at

Shine, shine, a roosevelt dime
All the way to baltimore and running out of time
Salvation army seemed to wind up in the hole
They all went to heaven in a little row boat
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands
Clap hands, clap hands, clap hands, clap hands

Cemetery polka

Uncle vernon, uncle vernon, independent as a hog on ice
He's a big shot down there at the slaughterhouse
Plays accordion for mr. Weiss

Uncle biltmore and uncle william
Made a million during world war two
But they're tightwads and they're cheapskates
And they'll never give a dime to you

Auntie mame has gone insane
She lives in the doorway of an old hotel
And the radio is playing opera
All she ever says is "go to hell"

Uncle violet flew as a pilot
And there ain't no pretty girls in france
Now he runs a tiny little bookie joint
They say he never keeps it in his pants

Uncle bill will never leave a will
And the tumor is as big as an egg
He has a mistress, she's puerto rican
And i heard she has a wooden leg

Uncle phil can't live without his pills
He has emphysema and he's almost blind
And we must find out where the money is
Get it now before he loses his mind

Uncle vernon, uncle vernon, independent as a hog on ice
He's a big shot down there at the slaughterhouse
He plays accordion for mr. Weiss

Jockey full of bourbon

Edna million in a drop dead suit
Dutch pink on a downtown train
Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain
Sixteen men on a dead man's chest
And i've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon, i can't stand up

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Schiffer broke a bottle on morgan's head
And i'm stepping on the devil's tail
Across the stripes of a full moon's head
And through the bars of a cuban jail
Bloody fingers on a purple knife
Flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass
I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife
Admire the view from up on top of the mast

Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, your children are alone

I said hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
House is on fire, your children are alone

Yellow sheets on a hong kong bed
Stazybo horn and a slingerland ride
"to the carnival" is what she said
A hundred dollars makes it dark inside
Edna million in a drop dead suit
Dutch pink on a downtown train
Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner on the pouring rain

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire, your children are alone

Tango 'til they're sore

Well you play that tarantella all the hounds will start to roar
The boys all go to hell and then the cubans hit the floor
They drive along the pipeline, they tango 'til they're sore
They take apart their nightmares and they leave them by the door
Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets, but i lie about my past
And send me off to bed for evermore

Make sure they play my theme song, i guess daisies will have to do
Just get me to new orleans and paint shadows on the pews
Turn the spit on that pig and kick the drum and let me down
Put my clarinet beneath your bed 'til i get back in town
Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets, but i lie about my past
So send me off to bed for evermore

Just make sure she's all in calico and the color of a doll
Wave the flag on cadillac day, and a skillet on the wall
Cut me a switch or hold your breath 'til the sun goes down
Write my name on the hood, send me off to another town, and just
And just let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
Tell you all my secrets, but i lie about my past
Will you send me off to bed for evermore

Fall out of the window with confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better on a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets, but i lie about my past
Send me off to bed for evermore, send me off to bed for evermore

Big black mariah

Well cutting through the cane break, rattling the sill
Thunder that the rain makes when the shadow tops the hill
Big light on the back street, hill to ever more
Packing down the ladder with the hammer to the floor
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, i seen the big black ford

Well he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Hunted black johnny with a blind man's cane
A yellow bullet with a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger, got an old bell jim
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black ford

Sent to the skies on a benny jag blue
Off to bed without his supper like a linda brides do
He got to do the story with the old widow jones
Got a wooden coat, this boy is never coming home
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, i seen that big black ford
Cut through the canebrake, oh yeah

Well he's all boxed up on a red belle dame
Flat blue johnny with a blind man's cane
A hundred yellow bullets shook a rag out in the wind
An old blind tiger, on a bell you win
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black mariah
Here come the big black mariah, here come the big black ford

Diamonds and gold

Broken glass, rusty nails where the wild violets grow
Say goodbye to the railroad, the mad dogs of summer
And everything that i know

What some men will do here for diamonds
What some men will do here for gold
They're wounded but they just keep on climbing
And sleep by the side of the road

There's a hole in the ladder, a fence we can climb
Mad as a hatter, you're thin as a dime
Go out to the meadow, the hills are a-green
Sing me a rainbow, steal me a dream

Small-time napoleon's shattered his knees
But he stays in the saddle for rose
And all his disciples, they shave in the gutter
And they gather what's left of his clothes

What some men will do here for diamonds
What some men will do here for gold
They're wounded but they just keep on climbing
And sleep by the side of the road

Hang down your head

Hush a wild violet, hush a band of gold
Hush you're in a story i heard somebody told
Tear the promise from my heart, tear my heart today
You have found another, oh baby i must go away
So hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me
Hang down your head tomorrow, hang down your head marie

Hush my love the rain now, hush my love was so true
Hush my love a train now well it takes me away from you

So hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me
Hang down your head, hang down your head, hang down your head marie
So hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me
Hang down your head, hang down your head, hang down your head marie

Time

Well the smart money's on harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you're east of east saint louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee's in the mirror
And the band is going home, it's raining hammers, it's raining nails
And it's true there's nothing left for him down here

And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream

Well she said she'd stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama's boys just don't know when to quit
And mathilda asks the sailors "are those dreams or are those prayers?"
So close your eyes, son, and this won't hurt a bit

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they're on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off 'til i come back again

Oh it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time
And it's time time time, and it's time time time
And it's time time time that you love
And it's time time time

Rain dogs

Inside a broken clock, splashing the wine with all the rain dogs
Taxi, we'd rather walk, huddle a doorway with the rain dogs
For i am a rain dog, too

Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds

The rum pours strong and thin, beat out the dustman with the rain dogs
Aboard a shipwreck train, give my umbrella to the rain dogs
For i am a rain dog, too

Oh, how we danced with the rose of tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home
Oh, how we danced with the rose of tralee
Her long hair black as a raven
Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me
You'll never be going back home

9th & hennepin

Well it's ninth and hennepin
All the doughnuts have names that sound like prostitutes
And the moon's teeth marks are on the sky
Like a tarp thrown all over this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds
And the steam comes out of the grill
Like the whole goddamn town's ready to blow...
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos
And everyone is behaving like dogs
And the horses are coming down violin road
And dutch is dead on his feet
And all the rooms they smell like diesel
And you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here
And i'm lost in the window, and i hide in the stairway
And i hang in the curtain, and i sleep in your hat...
And no one brings anything small into a bar around here
They all started out with bad directions
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear
"one for every year he's away", she said
Such a crumbling beauty, ah
There's nothing wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse
With the clang and the thunder of the southern pacific going by
And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet
'Til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who will listen...
And i've seen it all, i've seen it all
Through the yellow windows of the evening train...

Gun street girl

Falling james in the tahoe mud
Stick around to tell us all the tale
Well he fell in love with a gun street girl
And now he's dancing in the birmingham jail
Dancing in the birmingham jail

He took a hundred dollars off a slaughterhouse joe
Brought a brand new michigan twenty-gauge
He got all liquored up on that road house corn
Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow corvette
A hole in the hood of a yellow corvette

He bought a second-hand nova from a cuban chinese
And dyed his hair in the bathroom of a texaco
With a pawnshop radio, quarter past four
He left waukegan at the slamming of the door
Left waukegan at the slamming of the door

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

He's sitting in a sycamore in st. John's wood
Soaking day-old bread in kerosene
Well he was blue as a robin's egg and brown as a hog
He's staying out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired
Out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired

Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone
He never get up in the morning on a saturday
Sitting by the erie with a bull-whipped dog
Telling everyone he saw, "they went that-a-way, boys"
Telling everyone he saw, "they went that-a-way"

Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof
And the burlington northern pulling out of the world
Now a head full of bourbon and a dream in the straw
And a gun street girl was the cause of it all
A gun street girl was the cause of it all

Well he's riding in the shadow by the st. Joe ridge
Hearing the click-clack tapping of a blind man's cane
He was pulling into baker on a new year's eve
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door
One eye on a pistol and the other on the door

Miss charlotte took her satchel down to king fish row
Smuggled in a brand new pair of alligator shoes
With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair
Well they tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire
They tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

Banging on the table with an old tin cup
Sing i'll never kiss a gun street girl again
Never kiss a gun street girl again
I'll never kiss a gun street girl again

I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home
I said john, john, he's long gone
Gone to indiana, ain't never coming home

Union square

Well time is always money for the boys on union square
Go on and bust your ass 'til doomsday, don't forget to say your prayers
Someone's riding down the backstreet, said papa got a brand new slack
And your baby is handcuffed on the front seat
Sit right there, boy and you relax, c'mon honey

We're all going down down down downtown, down downtown
We're going down downtown, we're going down downtown

Well you spill out of the cinema fourteen
To that drag bar there on the block
Whizzin' on down in front of the east coast
Bank rolled up on your sock
She stand right there for your pleasure, half puerto rican chinese
You got to find your baby somebody to measure
I'm going to get me some of these, baby
C'mon honey, do you hear what i'm doing now?

Down down down, down down down downtown
Down downtown, i'm going down downtown

'Bout four in the morning on a sunday
Sacco drinking whiskey in church
Half pint of festival brandy
That boy 'bout to fall right off his perch
Well that guy in the sweater's off duty
Well he's out in front of that welfare hotel
The guy in the dress is a beauty
Go all the way, i swear you never can tell
C'mon honey, and pull up your socks

Down down down, i'm going down down down downtown
Down downtown, down down down
Down down down, c'mon down downtown
Going down downtown, i'm going down downtown

Blind love

Now you're gone, and it's hotels and whiskey and sad-luck dames
And i don't care if they miss me, i never remember their names
They say if you get far enough away, you'll be on your way back home
Well, i'm at the station, and i can't get on the train

Must be blind love, only kind of love is stone blind love
Blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love
With your blind love, oh it's blind love, stone blind love
It's your stone blind love

Now the street's turning blue, the dogs are barking and the night has come
And there's tears that are falling from your blue eyes now
I wonder where you are and i whisper your name
The only way to find you is if i close my eyes

I'll find you with my blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love
The only kind of love is stone blind love
The only kind of love is stone blind love
With your blind love, oh your blind love, your stone blind love

It's your blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love
Stone blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love
With your blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love
Stone blind love, stone blind love

Walking spanish

He's got himself a homemade special
You know his glass is full of sand
And it feels just like a jaybird the way it fits into his hand
He rolled a blade up in his trick towel
They slap their hands against the wall
You never trip, you never stumble
He's walking spanish down the hall

Slip him a picture of our jesus
Or give him a spoon to dig a hole
What all he done ain't no one's business
But he'll need blankets for the cold
They dim the lights over on broadway
Even the king has bowed his head
And every face looks right up at mason
Man he's walking spanish down the hall

Litella's screeching for a blind pig
Punk sanders carved it out of wood
He never sang when he got hoodwinked
They tried it all but he never would
Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry
But he'll be somewhere else to hear the call
Don't say goodbye, he's just leaving early
He's walking spanish down the hall

All st. Barthelemew said
Was whispered into the ear of blind jack dawes
All baker told the machine was that he never broke the law
Go on and tip your hat up to the pilate
Take off your watch, your rings and all
Even jesus wanted just a little more time
When he was walking spanish down the hall

Downtown train

Outside another yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime, yes
I climb through the window and down to the street
I'm shining like a new dime
The downtown trains are full with all of those brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little worlds

Well you wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They're just thorns without the rose
Be careful of them in the dark
Oh, if i was the one you chose to be your only one
Oh baby can't you hear me now, can't you hear me now

Will i see you tonight on a downtown train
Every night it's just the same, you leave me lonely now

I know your window and i know it's late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the four-way
You watch them as they fall, oh baby, they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival, but they'll never win you back

Will i see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night it's just the same, oh baby
Will i see you tonight on a downtown train
All of my dreams they fall like rain, oh baby on a downtown train

Will i see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night it's just the same, oh baby
Will i see you tonight on a downtown train
All of my dreams just fall like rain, all on a downtown train
All on a downtown train, all on a downtown train
All on a downtown train, a downtown train

Anywhere i lay my head

My head is spinning round, my heart is in my shoes, yeah
I went and set the thames on fire, oh, now i must come back down
She's laughing in her sleeve boys, i can feel it in my bones
Oh, but anywhere i'm gonna lay my head, i'm gonna call my home

Well i see that the world is upside-down
Seems that my pockets were filled up with gold
And now the clouds, well they've covered over
And the wind is blowing cold
Well i don't need anybody, because i learned, i learned to be alone
Well i said anywhere, anywhere, anywhere i lay my head, boys
Well i gonna call my home

Hang On St. Christopher

Hang on St. Christopher through the smoke and the oil
Buckle down the rumble seat let the radiator boil
Got an overhead downshift and a two dollar grill
Got an 85 cabin on an 85 hill
Hang on St. Christopher on the passenger side
Open it up tonight the devil can ride
Hang on St. Christopher with a barrel house dog
Kick me up mt. Baldy, throw me out in the fog
Tear a hole in the jack pot drive a stake through his heart
Do a 100 on the grapevine, do a jump on the start
Hang on St. Christopher now don't let me go
Get me to Reno and bring it in low, yeah

Hang on St. Christopher with the hammer to the floor
Put a hi ball in the crank case, nail a crow to the door
Get a bottle for the jockey, gimme a 294
There's a 750 Norton bustin down January's door
Hang on St. Christopher on the passenger side
Open it up tonight the devil can ride
Hang on St. Christopher now don't let me go
Get to me Reno got to bring it in low
Put my baby on the flat car
Got to burn down the caboose
Get 'em all jacked up on whiskey
Then we'll turn the mad dog loose
Hang on St. Christopher on the passenger side
Open it up tonight the devil can ride

Straight To The Top

I'm going straight to the top
Oh yeah up where the air is fresh and clean
I'm going straight up to the top, oh yeah
If you know me, you know what I mean
I can't let sorrow pull ol' Frankie down
Live for tomorrow I have found you
I'm going straight up to the top, oh yeah
Up where the air is fresh and clean
I just know that I will never stop, oh no
Until I know I'm wild and free
I'm like a champagne bubble pop pop pop
I'm like those birdies high up in the trees
I can't let sorrow pull ol' Frankie down
Live for tomorrow I have found you out
I'm going straight up to the top oh yeah
Up where the air is fresh and clean, yeah
I can't let sorrow pull ol' Frankie down
Live for tomorrow I have found you
I'm going straight up to the top, oh yeah
Up where the air is, up where the air is
Up where the air is up, where the air is
Up where the air is fresh and clean

Blow Wind Blow

Blow wind blow wherever you may go
Put on your overcoat, take me away
You gotta take me on into the night
Take me on into the night
Blow me away, blow me away

Mary's on the black top
There's a husband in the dog house
In the middle of a shakedown
I got quiet as a church mouse
She found Raleigh's on the dashboard
Sugar daddy caught a polocar
There's no solitary tap dance way down here

Blow wind blow wherever you may go
Put on your overcoat, take me into the night
Take me on into the night
Blow me away

I ride upon a field mouse
I was dancin' in the slaughterhouse
And it was swing along the beltway
You skid along there all day
Cause I went a little crazy
And I sat upon a high chair
And I'm smokin like a diesel way out here

And if you blow wind blow wherever you may go
Put on your overcoat, take me away
You gotta to take me on into the night
Well you take me on into the night
Blow me away, blow me away
You gotta blow mw away, blow me away

Temptation

Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
Everything is made from dreams
Time is made from honey slow and sweet
Only the fools know what it means
Temptation, temptation, temptation
I can't resist

I just know that she's made of smoke
But I've lost my way, yeah
She knows that I am broke
But I must play, yeah
Temptation, temptation yeah, temptation
I can't resist

oh, whoa, temptation, temptation, temptation
I just can't resist
Dutch pink and Italian blue
She there waiting there for you
My will has disappeared
My confusion's oh so clear
Temptation, temptation, temptation
I can't resist
Temptation, temptation, temptation
I just can't resist

Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
Everything is made from dreams
Time is made from honey slow and sweet
Only the fools know what it means
Temptation, temptation, temptation
Temptation, temptation, temptation

Innocent When You Dream

The bats are in the belfry
The dew is on the moor
Where are the arms that held me
And pledged her love before
And pledged her love before

And it's such a sad old feeling
Oh, the fields are soft and green
It's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream

I made a golden promise
That we would never part
I gave my love a locket
And then I broke her heart
And then I broke her heart

And it's such a sad old feeling
Oh, the fields are soft and green
And it's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream

We're running through the graveyard
And we laughed my friends and I
We swore we'd be together
Until the day we died
Until the day we died

And it's such a sad old feeling
Oh, the fields are soft and green
And it's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream

And it's such a sad old feeling
The fields are soft and green
And it's memories that I'm stealing
But you're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream, when you dream
You're innocent when you dream

I'l l Be Gone

Tonight I'll shave the mountain
I'll cut the hearts from pharoahs
I pull the road off of the rise
Tear the memories from my eyes
In the morning I'll be gone
I drink a thousand shipwrecks
Tonight I'll steal your paychecks
I paint the sheets across my bed
The birds will all fly from my head
And in the morning I'll be gone
Take every dream that's breathing
Find every boot that's leaving
Shoot all the lights in the cafe
And in the morning I'll be gone
I bet a thousand dollars
I have a french companion
I tie myself below the deck
I pull the rope around my neck
In the morning I'll be gone

It takes a life to win her
There is a drum of bourbon
800 pounds of nitro
His boots are thunder as he plays
There is a stone inside it
Tonight his bones will ride it
I'll need a tent to hide it
And in the morning I'll be gone
And in the morning I'll be gone
And in the morning I'll be gone
And in the morning I'll be gone
And in the morning I'll be gone

Yesterday Is Here

If you want money in your pocket
A top hat on your head
A hot meal on your table
And a blanket on your bed
Well today is grey skies
Tomorrow is tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here
Well I'm going to New York City
And I'm leaving on a train
And if you want to stay behind
And wait til I come back again
Today's grey skies
Tomorrow is tears
you'll have to wait til yesterday's here
If you want to go
Where rainbows end
You'll have to say goodbye
All our dreams come true
Baby up ahead
And it's out where your memories lie
Well the road is out before me
And the moon is shining bright
What I want you to remember
As I disappear tonight
Today's grey skies
Tomorrow's tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here
Today's grey skies
Tomorrow's tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday's here
You'll have to wait til yesterday's here
You'll have to wait til yesterday's here

Please Wake Me Up

I put my chips on her shoulder
Running in carnival time
She bought the things that I told her
Made her eyes sparkle and shine
Together we'll ring in the new year
I know that she'll be my queen
And if I fall asleep in your arms
Please wake me up in my dreams

Her outfit was all made of vinyl
Like nothing that I've ever seen
When our divorces are final
She'll fit right into my scheme
Together we'll ring in the new year
I know that she'll be my queen
And if I fall asleep in your arms
Please wake me up in my dreams

Frank's Theme

Dream away the tears in your eyes
Dream away your sorrows
Dream away all your goodbyes
Dream away tomorrow
I promise when the sun comes up
I promise I'll be true
And just like before the band starts to play
They always play your favorite tune
And dream away when everyone's gone
Dream away your grey skies to
Dream away and nothing is wrong
Dreams have wishes that are waiting for you
And up ahead the road is turning
Turning for you and me
And just like before
The band starts to play
Now there's that twinkle in your eye
And dream away

More Than Rain

It's more than rain that falls on our parade tonight
It's more than thunder it's more than thunder
And it's more than a bad dream now that I'm sober
Nothing but sad times, nothing but sad times
None of our pockets are filled with gold
Nobody's caught the boquet
There are no dead presidents we can fold
Nothing is going our way
And it's more than trouble I've got myself into
It's more than woe-be-gotten grey skies now

And it's more than a bad dream now that I'm sober
There's no more dancing, there's no more dancing
And it's more than trouble I've got myself into
Nothing but sad times, nothing but sad times
None of our pockets are filled with gold
Nobody's caught the boquet
There are no dead presidents we can fold
Nothing is going our way
And it's more than goodbye, I have to say to you
It's more than woe-be-gotten grey skies now
And it's more than goodbye, I have to say to you
It's more than woe-be-gotten grey skies now
And it's more than woe-be-gotten grey skies now

Way Down In The Hole

When you walk through the garden
You gotta watch your back
Well I beg your pardon
Walk the straight and narrow track
If you walk with Jesus
He's gonna save your soul
You gotta keep the devil
Way down in the hole
He's got the fire and the fury
At his command
Well you don't have to worry
If you hold on to Jesus hand
We'll all be safe from Satan
When the thunder rolls
We just gotta help me keep the devil
Way down in the hole

All the angels sing about Jesus' mighty sword
And they'll shield you with their wings
And keep you close to the lord
Don't pay heed to temptation
For his hands are so cold
You gotta help me keep the devil
Way down in the hole
Down in the hole, down in the hole
Down in the hole, down in the hole
Down in the hole, down in the hole
You gotta help me keep the devil
Down in the hole

Straight To The Top

I'm going straight to the top, woa
I'm going where the air is fresh and clean
I'm going straight up to the top
If you know me, you know what I mean
I can't let Mr Sorrow try and pull ol' Frankie down
We'll live for tomorrow I have found you
Straight to the top
I'm going up where the air is fresh and clean
I know I'm never gonna stop
Until I know, I know I'm wild and free
Hey, I'm going straight up to the top
And if you know me, you know what I mean
I can't let ol' Mr Sorrow try and pull down
I'll live for tomorrow I have found you
I'm going straight to the top, woa
I'm going up where the air is fresh and clean

I can't let Mr Sorrow try and pull ol' Frankie down
We'll live for tomorrow I have found you
Straight to the top, oh yeah
Up where the air is, up where the air is
Up where the air is, up where the air is
Up where the air is fresh and clean

How about that band

I'll Take New York

I'll tip the newsboy, I'll get a shine
I'll ride that dream to the end of the line
I'm gonna be going places, I'll get a ride
Take me to the Riverside, I'll gonna take you New York
I'll make it happen, climb on the caboose
I'm drinking Manhattan, I'll take a splash on the big town
That's how I will arrive, have you got two tens for a five?
You've gotta roll out the carpet, Strike up the band
Break into the best champagne when I land
You gotta beat the parade drum, hit all the bars
I want the moon and stars,I'm gonna take you New York
I'll make it happen, climb on the caboose
I'm drinking Manhattans
And I know someday they'll going to name a street after me
Right next door to old Franklin D
I'm going to take you big town
Come on New York come on move over big town
I'll take New York, come big town
Come on get happy, New York
Come on

Telephone Call From Istanbul

All night long on the broken glass
Livin in a medicine chest
Mediteromanian hotel back
Sprawled across a roll top desk
The monkey rode the blade on an overhead fan
They paint the donkey blue if you pay
I got a telephone call from Istanbul
My baby's coming home today
Will you sell me one of those if I shave my head
Get me out of town is what fireball said
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat
Never drive a car when you're dead
Saturday's a festival, Friday's a gem
Dye your hair yellow and raise your hem
follow me to beulah's on dry creek road
I got to wear the hat that my baby done sewed

Will you sell me one of those if I shave my head
Get me out of town is what fireball said
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat
Never drive a car when you're dead
Saturday's a festival, Friday's a gem
Dye your hair yellow and raise your hem
follow me to beulah's on dry creek road
I got to wear the hat that my baby done sewed
I got to cut a hole in the day
I got a telephone call from Istanbul
My baby's coming home today
Sell me one of those if I shave my head
Get me out of town is what fireball said
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat
Never drive a car when you're dead
Saturday's a festival, Friday's a gem
Dye your hair yellow and raise your hem
follow me to beulah's on dry creek road
I got to wear the hat that my baby done sewed

Cold Cold Ground

Crest fallen sidekick in an old cafe
Never slept with a dream before he had to go away
There's a bell in the tower Uncle Ray bought a round
Don't worry about the army in the cold cold ground
Cold cold ground, cold cold ground, cold cold ground
Now don't be a cry baby when there's wood in the shed
There's a bird in the chimmney and a stone in my bed
When the road's washed out they pass the bottle around
And wait in the arms of the cold cold ground
The cold cold ground, the cold cold ground, cold cold ground
There's a ribbon in the willow there's a tire swing rope
And a briar patch of berries takin over the slope
The cat'll sleep in the mailbox and we'll never go to town
Til we bury every dream in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground

Gimme a Winchester rifle and a whole box of shells
Blow the roof off the goat barn let it roll down the hill
The piano is firewood, times square is a dream
I find we'll lay down together in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground
Call the cops on the Breedloves, bring a bible and a rope
And a whole box of rebel and a bar of soap
Make a pile of trunk tires and burn 'em all down
Bring a dollar with you baby in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground
Take a weathervane rooster throw rocks at his head
Stop talking to the neighbors til we all go dead
Beware of my temper and the dog that I've found
Break all the windows in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground
In the cold cold ground, in the cold cold ground

Train Song

Well I broke down in East St. Louis on the Kansas City line
Drunk up all my money that I borrowed every time
And I fell down at the derby, the night's black as a crow
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home
What made my dreams so hollow was standing at the depot
With a steeple full of swallows that could never ring the bell
And I've come ten thousand miles away, not one thing to show
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home

I remember when I left without bothering to pack
Don't you know I up and left with just the clothes I had on my back
Now I'm sorry for what I've done and I'm out here on my own
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home
It was a train that took me away from here
But a train can't bring me home

Well It's a quarter a two
Looking at you
And going down, going down slow
Yeah, It's a quarter a two
I'm looking at you
And going down, going down slow

TV went off about one, we have only begun
I know that the words never come
But I have no intention of going home

Well It's a quarter a three
Digging on me
And going down, going down slow

Could stay here all night
They claim your outta sight
Please get up and turn out the light
There ain't nothing better than the middle of the night

When it's a quarter a four
And begging for more
And we're going down, going down slow
Going down, going down slow
Going down, going down slow
Going down, going down slow

Poncho's Lament

Well the stairs sound so lonely without you
And I ain't made my bed in a week
Coffee stains on the paper I'm writing
And I'm too choked up inside to speak

And Yes I know our differences pulled us apart
Never spoke a word heart to heart
And I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the lord that you'd come home
And I'm glad that you're gone
Got the feeling so strong
And I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the lord that you'd come home

Well my guitar still plays your favorite song
though the strings have been outta tune for some time
Every time I strum a chord, I pray out to the Lord
That you'll quit your honkey-tonkin' sing my song
And I'm glad that you're gone
Got the feeling so strong
And I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the Lord that you'd come home

So I'll throw another log onto the fire
And I'll admit I'm a lousy liar
As the coals die down and flicker
I hear that guitar picker
Play the song we used to sing so long ago
And I'm glad that you're gone
Got the feeling so strong
Yes I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the lord that you'd come home
And I'm glad, damn glad you're gone
Got the feeling so strong
Yes I'm glad that you're gone
But I wish to the lord you'd come home

I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute

Well I got here at eight and I'll be here till two
I'll try my best to entertain you
And please don't mind me if I get a bit crude
I'm your late night evening prostitute

So drink your martinis and stare at the moon
Don't mind me I'll continue to croon
And don't mind me if I get a bit loon
I'm your late night evening prostitute

And dance, have a good time
I'll continue to shine
Yes Dance, have a good time
Don't mind me if I slip upon a rhyme

Well got here at eight and I'll be here till two
I'll try my best to entertain you
And please don't mind me if I get a bit crude
I'm your late night evening prostitute
I'm your late night evening prostitute

Had Me A Girl

Well I had me a girl in LA
I knew she could not stay
Had me a girl in San Diego
One day she just had to go
And I had me a girl Tallahassee
Boy what a foxy lassie

And my doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin' blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue

And I had me a girl in Mississippi
Oh she sure was kippy
Had me a girl from England
She done split for the mainland
And then I had me a girl from New York
She up and pulled my cork

And my doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin' blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
The doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue

Then I had me a girl from North Dakota
She was just filling her quota
Then I had me a girl from Chula Vista
I was in love with her sister
Then I had me a girl from...

Then my doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin' blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
Well my doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue

Then I had me a girl from France
Just wanted to get in my pants
Then I had me a girl from Toledo
Boy she sure was neato
Then I had me a girl from North Carolina
She's still on my mind

And my doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin' blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
Well the doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
Well my doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue
Well my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue
And my doctor says I'll be alright
My doctor says I'll be alright
Well the doctor says I'll be alright
But I'm feelin blue

Ice Cream Man

Clickin' by your house about two forty-five
With Sidewalk sundae strawberry surprise
I got a cherry popsicle right on time
I got a big stick mamma, that'll blow your mind

'Cause I'm your ice cream man and I'm a one-man band
And I'm your ice cream man baby, I'll be good to you

If you missed me in the alley baby don't you fret
I'll coming back round and don't forget
When you're tired and you're hungry want something cool
You know I got something better than a swimming pool

'Cause I'm your ice cream man and I'm a one-man band
And I'm your ice cream man, I'll be good to you

Well if you see me coming you ain't got no change
Don't worry baby it can be arranged
Show me you can smile honey just for me
And I'll Fix you with a drumstick, I'll do it for free

'Cause I'm your ice cream man and I'm a one-man band
And I'm your ice cream man and I'll be good to you

'Cause I'm your ice cream man and I'm a one-man band
And I'm your ice cream man and I'll be good to you

I'm your ice cream man, and I'm your ice cream man
And I'm your ice cream man, and I'm your ice cream man
And I'm your ice cream man, and I'm your ice cream man

Rockin' Chair

Well I'm sittin' right here in my rockin chair
Running my fingers right through my hair
Fire is a flickering with a yellow and gold
Making me quiver in the snowy cold
I Got a lazy old woman screaming about my money, man
She took every cent and she didn't leave me any

Times were never this good, got a fly for food
Got no woman to spend my money
Baby blew it and took all my money

So I'm sittin' right here in my rockin chair
Running my fingers right through my hair
Spider caught the fly in his web
Do believe that he might be dead

Times were never this good, got a fly for food
Got no woman to spend my money
Baby blew it and took all my money

So I'm sittin' and I'm sittin' and I'm sittin' right here
In my rockin chair watching my old dog loosing his hair

Virginia Ave.

Well, I'm walking down Virginia Avenue
I'm trying to find somebody to tell my troubles to
Harold's club is closing, everyone's going home
What's a poor sailor to do?

I guess I'll get back into my short, make it back to the fort
Sleeping off the crazy lizards inside of my brain
Got to be some place that's better than this
This life I'm leading's driving me insane
And I'm dreaming

And I'm dreaming through the twilight cause this town has got me down
I've seen all of the highlights, I've been walking around
I won't make a fuss, I'll take a Greyhound bus
Carry me away from here, now what have I got to lose?

I'm just a walking down Columbus Avenue
Bars there all closing, 'cause it's quarter a two
Every town I go to's like a lock without a key
The blues I leave behind keep catching up on me
Catching up on me, they're catching up on me
Catching up on me, catching up on me, catching up on me

Midnight Lullabye

Sing a song a sixpence, pocket full of rye
And hush bye my baby, no need to be cryin'
You can burn the midnight oil with me as long as you wish
Stare out at the moon upon the window sill
And dream

Sing a song a sixpence, pocket full a wry
I tell you another story, tell you no lies
Dew drops on the window sill, gum drops in your hair
Your slippin into dreamland, your nodding your head
So dream

So dream of West Virginia, of the British Isles
When you are dreaming you see for miles and miles
And when you are much older remember when we sat
At midnight on the windowsill and had this little chat
And dream, dream, dream, dream

When You Ain't Got Nobody

Well when you ain't got nobody anybody looks nice
Don't take much to make you stop and look twice
And it's either feast or famine I've found out that it's true
And I'm hungry as a bull dog, baby how about you?

And when you ain't got no big mama all the mamas look hot
And when loving is you weakness your just bound to get caught
And the story never changes, history tells it so plain
And I'll be your Dick honey if you'll just be my Jane

And when you ain't got nobody anybody looks nice
It don't take much to make you stop and look twice
It's either feast or famine I've found out that it's true
And I'm hungry as a bull dog, baby how about you?
Baby how about you? How about you?

Little Trip to Heaven

Little trip to heaven on the wings of your love
Banana moon is shining in the sky
I feel like I'm in heaven when your with me
I know that I'm in heaven when you smile
Though we're stuck here on the ground
I got something I've found and it's you

I don't need to take no trip to outer space
All I have to do is look at your face
And before I know it I'm in orbit around you
I Thank my lucky stars that I found you
When I see your constellation your my inspiration and it's you

Your my North Star when I'm lost and feeling blue
Your my sun that's breaking through, it's true
And all the other stars seem dim around you
I thank my lucky stars that I found you
When I see your smilin face
I know nothing gonna take your place
And it's you, and it's you, and it's you
And it's you, and it's you, and it's you

Frank's Song

That woman will take you, that woman will break you
That woman will make you something you've never seen
That woman's got claws, that woman's got laws
Now look out man, you're gonna loose your mind

I had a friend, his name was Frank
He walked on the water and lord he sank
We used to go stag, now he's got a hag
It looks like Frankies got a new bag

That woman will take you, that woman will break you
That woman will make you something you've never seen
That woman's got claws, that woman's got laws
Now look out Frank, you're gonna loose your mind

What happened to Frank, can happen to you
Just find you a woman and watch what she'll do
That woman will take you, that woman gonna break you
Look out man you're gonna loose, you're gonna loose your mind

Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again

Well the sun came in my window Wednesday morning
And your love was like the golden rays again
Now I'm lying here on a Thursday, and you're lovin someone new
And it looks like I'm up shit creek again

And I can't help but thinking of your lovin ways
And I've cried a quart of tears since you've been gone
And I can't face the morning by myself love
And it looks like I'm up shit creek again

Since you've been gone I cry all the time
And I cannot stand leaving you behind
So I'll pull myself together and I'll dry away the tears
But the morning light has brought back memories
And I can't face the morning by myself love
And it looks like I'm up shit creek again
So I'm out a walkin on this dusty highway
Cause you've given me no reason for to stay
And I'll walk until I've found someone who loves me not in vain
And it looks like I'm up shit creek again
And it looks like I'm up shit creek again

So Long I'l l See Ya

Mamas in the kitchen, Daddies on the phone
And nobody knows what's going on
But I've got them, so long I'll see you
Cause my Buick's outside waiting blue

Well one for the money, two for the show
And it's three to get ready, Tom's gotta go
He's got them, so long I'll see you
Cause my Buick's outside waiting blue

Well bye-bye-bye, yeah bye-bye-bye
Sing bye-bye Shooby-do-bye-bye
Gotta skeet-skat outta here, skeet-skat outta here

And your mamas in the kitchen and your daddies on the phone
And nobody knows what's going on
But I've got them, so long I'll see you
Cause my Buick's outside waiting blues

Well Tommy's gotta skeet-skat, he's gotta skeet-skat outta here
Skeet-skat right outta here
And one for the money, two for the show
And three to get ready, I gotta go
Cause I've got them, so long I'll see you
Cause my Buick's outside waiting blue
Outside waiting blue
It's outside waiting blue
That Buick's outside waiting blue

And skeet-skat outta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here
Skeet-skat outta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here
Got so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues
And skeet-skat outta here, gonna skeet-skat outta here
Gonna skeet-skat
I got so long I'll see you cause my Buick's outside waiting blues

Back In The Good Old World

When I was a boy, the moon was a pearl the sun a yellow gold.
But when I was a man, the wind blew cold the hills were upside down.
But now that I have gone from here there's no place I'd rather be
than to float my chances on the tide Back in the good old world.
On October's last I'll fly back home rolling down winding way.
Scare crows are all dressed in rags out at the edge of the field I lay
and all I've got's a pocket full of flowers on my grave.
Oh but summer is gone I remember it best
Back in the good old world

Good Old World (Waltz)

When I was a boy, the moon was a pearl
The sun was a yellow gold
But when I was a man, the wind blew cold
The hills were upside down

But now that I have gone from here
There's no place I'd rather be
Than to float my chances on the tide
Back in the good old world.

On October's last, I'll fly back home
Rolling down winding way
And all I've got's a pocket full of flowers from my grave
But now summer is gone
I remember it best
Back in the good old world

I remember when, she held my hand
And we walked home alone in the rain
How pretty her mouth, how soft her hair
Nothing can be the same

And there's a rose upon her breast
Where I long to lay my head
And her hair was so yellow
And the wine was so red
Back in the good old world

And there's a rose upon her breast
Where I long to lay my head
And her hair was so yellow
And the wine was so red
Back in the good old world

On The Other Side Of The World

There's a blue eyed girl with a red bow tie
And a string of pearls with one good eye
In a rainy town the chimney smoke will curl
No one likes clowns on the other side of the world
And the children know she'll never let me go

There's a one legged priest that tangos with the farmers wife
Beauty and the beast is taking her own life
And a tear on a letter back home turns into a lake of your own
And a crow turns into a girl on the other side of the world
And she tastes like the sea and she's waiting for me

In the spring the weeds will show he brought back the only rose
And he gave it to his girl on the other side of the world
And I drink champagne from your thin blue veins

She visits his grave wearing her mother's shawl
Should I shave or end it all
There's an old sailors song that the children know
As their fingers curl around the other side of the world
On a bone white mare lost in Kathleen's hair

In the spring the weeds will show that he brought back the only rose
And he gave it to his girl on the other side of the world

Rudy's on the midway
And Jacob's in the hole
The monkey's on the ladder
The devil shovels coal
With crows as big as airplanes
The lion has three heads
And someone will eat the skin that he sheds
And the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
The earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming of you
Dreaming of you

Well hell doesn't want you
And heaven is full
Bring me some water
Put it in this skull
I walk between the raindrops
I wait in Bug House Square
And the army ants
They leave nothin' but the bones
And the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
Well the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
Well the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
Dreaming of you

There was thunder
There was lightning
Then the stars went out
And the moon fell from the sky
It rained mackerel
It rained trout
And the great day of wrath has come
And here's mud in your big red eye
The poker's in the fire
And the locusts take the sky
And the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
And the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
Well the earth died screaming
While I lay dreaming
Dreaming of you
I'm dreaming of you, I'm dreaming of you

Dirt In The Ground

What does it matter
A dream of love or a dream of lies
We're all gonna be the same place when we die
Your spirit don't leave knowing
Your face or your name
The wind through your bones
Is all that remains
And we're all gonna be, yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground

The quill from a buzzard
The blood writes the word
I want to know am I the sky or a bird
Hell's boiling over
Heaven is full
We're chained to the world
And we all gotta pull
Yeah and we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground

Now the killer was smiling
With nerves made of stone
He climbed the stairs
And the gallows groaned
And the people's hearts were pounding
They were throbbing, they were red
He swung out over the crowd
I heard the hangman said
We're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground

Now Cain slew Abel
He killed him with a stone
The sky cracked open
And the thunder groaned
Along a river of flesh
Can these dry bones live?
Take a king or a beggar
And the answer they'll give
Is we're all gonna be yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be, yeah yeah
I said we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground
We're all gonna be just dirt in the ground
We're all gonna be just dirt in the ground
I said we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground
Well we're all gonna be just dirt in the ground

Such A Scream

Pale face said to the eyeball Kid
She just goes clank and boom and steam
A halo, wings, horns and a tail
Shoveling coal inside my dreams
There are no laws
She's made of cream
She's such a scream

Qui bon tres bien, nails in cement
A Donnie gal from mortal clay
The plow is red
The well is full inside the dollhouse of her skull
A cheetah coat fills up with steam
She's such a scream

All crooked lines
Her fireplace
A milktrain so clean
Machine gun haste
You'll ride the only wall of shame
And drag that chain across the state
Her lips are red
She is the queen
She's such a scream

All Stripped Down

Well the time will come when the wind will shout
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
And all the sinners know what I'm talking about
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
When all the creatures of the world are gonna line up at the gate
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
And you better be on time and you better not be late
All stripped, all stripped, all stripped down

Well you know in your heart what you gotta bring
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
Well no big mink coat, no diamond ring
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
Well take off your paint and take off your rouge
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
Well let your backbone flip and let your spirit shine through
All stripped down, all stripped down
I want you all stripped, all stripped, all stripped down

All the men we got well they're goin' down the drain
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
And when I see your sadness on a river of shame
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
You got to raise up both the quick and the dead
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
Well with no shoes on your feet, no hat on your head
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
I want you all stripped, all stripped, all stripped
All stripped, all stripped, all stripped down

Ain't nothin' in my heart but fire for you
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
With my rainy hammer and a heart that's true
All stripped down, we're all stripped down
I want you all stripped, all stripped
All stripped, all stripped down
Well we're all stripped down, oh all stripped down
Yeah, all stripped, all stripped

Who Are You?

Well they're lining up to mad dog your tilta whirl
Three shots for a dollar, win a real live doll
All the lies that you tell, I believed them so well
Take them back, take them back to your red house
For that fearful leap into the dark
Oh well I did my time in the jail of your arms
Now Ophelia wants to know where she should turn
Tell me, what did you do?
What did you do the last time?
Why don't you do that
Well go on ahead and take this the wrong way
Time's not your friend
Do you cry? Do you pray?
Do you wish them away?
Are you still leave nothing but bones in the way?
Did you bury the carnival with lions and all?
Excuse me while I sharpen my nails
And just who are you, who are you this time?
You look rather tired
Are you pretending to love?
Well I hear that it pays well
How do your pistol and your Bible and your sleeping pills go?
Are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothes?
Well I fell in love with your sailor's mouth and your wounded eyes
You better get down on the floor
Don't you know this is war
Tell me who are you this time?
Tell me who are you this time?

The Ocean Doesn't Want Me

The ocean doesn't want me today
But I'll be back tomorrow to play
And the strangles will take me
Down deep in their brine
The mischievous braingels
Down into the endless blue wine
I'll open my head and let out all of my time
I'd love to go drowning
And to stay and to stay
But the ocean doesn't want me today
I'll go in up to here
It can't possibly hurt
All they will find is my beer and my shirt
A rip tide is raging
And the life guard is away
But the ocean doesn't want me today
But the ocean doesn't want me today
The ocean doesn't want me today

Jesus Gonna Be Here

Well, Jesus will be here
He gonna be here soon, yeah
He's gonna cover us up with leaves
With a blanket from the moon
With a promise and a vow
And a lullaby for my brow
Well Jesus gonna be here
Gonna be here soon, yeah

Well I'm not gonna do nothing but wait here
I don't have to shout
I got me no reason and
I got no doubt
I'm gonna get myself unfurled
From this mortal coiled up world
Jesus gonna be here
Gonna be here soon, yeah

I got to keep my eyes, keep them wide open
So I can see my Lord, yeah
I'm gonna watch the horizon
For my brand new Ford, yeah
Well I can hear him rolling on down the lane
I said Hollywood be thy name
Cause Jesus gonna be
He's gonna be here soon

Well I've got to keep myself, I've keep myself faithful
And you know I've been so good
Except for drinking
But he knew that I would, yeah
And when I'm gonna leave this place better
Than the way I found that it was
And Jesus gonna be here
Gonna be here soon, yeah
I know my Jesus gonna be here
He's gonna be here soon, yeah
I know my Jesus gonna be here
Gonna be here soon, yeah

A Little Rain

Well the Ice Man's mule is parked outside the bar
Where a man with missing fingers plays a strange guitar
And the German dwarf dances with the butcher's son
And tonight a little rain never hurt no one

Now they're dancing on the roof and the ceiling's coming down
And I sleep with my shovel and my leather gloves
And a little trouble makes it worth the going
And a little rain never hurt no one

Oh the world is round so I'll go around
You must risk something that matters
Oh my hands are strong, I'll take any man here
If it's worth the going it's worth the ride

She was 15 years old and she'd never seen the ocean
She climbed into a van with a vagabond
And the last thing she said was, "I love you mom"

And a little rain never hurt no one
And a little rain never hurt no one

In The Colosseum

Now women all control their men with razors and with wrists
And the princess squeezes grape juice on a torrid bloody kiss
What will you be wearing there, the lion or the raven hair?
The flesh will all be tearing but the tail will be my own
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight

This one's for the balcony and this one's for the floor
As the senators decapitate the presidential whore
The bald headed senators are splashing in the blood
The dogs are having someone who is screaming in the mud
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight

Now it's raining and it's pouring on the pillaging and goring
The constable is swinging from the chains
For the dead there is no story, no memory, no blame
Their families shout blue murder but tomorrow it's the same
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, they call and never see 'em, in the colosseum tonight

That slowly acting poison will be given to the favorite one
The dark horse will bring glory to the jailer and his men
It's always much more sporting when there's families in the pit
And the madness of the crowd is an epileptic fit
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, they call and never see 'em, in the colosseum tonight

No justice here, no liberty, no reason, no blame
There's no cause to taint the sweetest taste of blood
And greetings from the nation as we shake the hands of time
They're taking their ovations, the vultures stay behind
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum, in the colosseum, in the colosseum tonight
In the colosseum tonight, in the colosseum tonight

Goin' Out West

I'm goin' out west where the wind blows tall
'Cause Tony Franciosa used to date my ma
They got some money out there, they're giving it away
I'm gonna do what I want and I'm gonna get paid
Do what I want and I'm gonna get paid

Little brown sausages lying in the sand
I ain't no extra baby I'm a leading man
Well my parole officer will be proud of me
With my Olds 88 and the devil on a leash
My Olds 88 and the devil on a leash

Well I know karate, Voodoo too
I'm gonna make myself available to you
I don't need no make up
I got real scars
I got hair on my chest
I look good without a shirt

Well I don't lose my composure in a high speed chase
Well my friends think I'm ugly, I got a masculine face
I got some dragstrip courage, I can really drive a bed
I'm gonna change my name to Hannibal or maybe just Rex
Change my name to Hannibal or maybe just Rex

Well I know karate, Voodoo too
I'm gonna make myself available to you
I don't need no make up
I got real scars
I got hair on my chest
I look good without a shirt

I'm gonna drive all night take some speed
I'm gonna wait for the sun to shine down on me
I cut a hole in my roof in the shape of a heart
And I'm goin' out west where they'll appreciate me
I'm goin' out west where they'll appreciate me
I'm goin' out west where they'll appreciate me
I'm goin' out west where they'll appreciate me
Going out west, going out west, going out west, going out west
Going out west, going out west, going out west, going out west

Murder In The Red Barn

There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

The trees are bending over
And the cows are lying down
The autumn's taking over
You can hear the buckshot hounds
The watchman said to Reba the loon
Was that pale at Manzanita
Or was it Blind Bob the raccoon?
Pin it on a drifter
They sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin
And sleeps inside a fridge
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Someone's crying in the woods
Someone's burying all his clothes
Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer
Slept outside last night and froze
Road kill has its seasons
Just like anything
There's possums in the autumn
And there's farm cats in the spring
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house
Or covet thy neighbor's wife
But for some murder is the only door through which they enter life

Well they surrounded the house
They smoke him out
They took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised
And we had months of heavy rains
Now the raven's nest in the rotted roof
Of Chenoweth's old place
And no one's asking Cal
About that scar upon his face
'Cause there's nothin' strange
About an axe with bloodstains in the barn
There's always some killin'
You got to do around the farm
A murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

The woods will never tell
What sleeps beneath the trees
Or what's buried 'neath a rock
Or hiding in the leaves
'Cause road kill has it's seasons
Just like anything
There's possums in the autumn
And there's farm cats in the spring
A murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Now a lady can't do nothin'
Without folks' tongues waggin'
Is that blood on the tree
Or is it autumn's red blaze
When the ground is soft for diggin'
ANd the rain will bring all this gloom
There's nothing wrong with a lady
Drinking alone in her room
But there was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Black Wings

Well take an eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the Bible
Well never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table, any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger
And it's sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach and horses
And the fence posts in the moonight look like bones

Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
Where boots mount the staircase
The door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen
He's not there for he has risen

Some say he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those that say beneath his coat there are wings

Well some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
And everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him

He can turn himself into a stranger
Well they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head just like a drum inside
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
One look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him, ever having met him
Ever having met him, ever having met him
Ever having met him, ever having met him

Whistle Down The Wind

I've grew up here now all of my life
But I dreamed someday I'd go
Where the blue eyed girls and red guitars
And the naked rivers flow

I'm not all I thought that I'd be
I've always stayed around
I've been as far as Mercy and Grand
Frozen to the ground
I can't stay and I'm scared to leave
(Just kiss me once and then)
I'll go to hell
I might as well
Be whistlin' down the wind

The bus is at the corner
The clock on the wall
Broken down windmill
Ain't no wind at all
I've yelled and I cursed
If I stay here I'll rust
I'm stuck like a shipwreck
Out here in the dust

Well the sky is red and there world is on fire
And the corn is taller than me
The dog is tied to a wagon of rain
And the road is wet as the sea
And sometimes the music from a dance
Will carry across the plains
And the places that I'm dreaming of
Do they dream only of me?
There are places where they never sleep
And the circus never ends
So I will take the Marley Bone Coach
And be whistling down the wind
So I will take the Marley Bone Coach
And be whistling down the wind

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Well when I'm lyin' in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothin' ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog
That's always changing things
Makes me wish that I could be a dog

Well when I see the price that you pay
I don't wanna grow up
I don't ever wanna be that way
I don't wanna grow up
Seems like folks turn into things
That they'd never want
The only thing to live for is today

I'm gonna put a hole in my TV set
I don't wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
And I don't wanna grow up
I don't wanna have to shout it out
I don't want my hair to fall out
I don't wanna be filled with doubt
I don't wanna be a good boy scout
I don't wanna have to learn to count
I don't wanna have the biggest amount
I don't wanna grow up

Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinking all night
And I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old Tomb
On Grand Street

Woa, when I see the 5 o'clock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don't wanna put no money down
I don't wanna get me a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don't wanna float a broom
Fall in love and get married then boom
How the hell did I get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up

That Feel

There's one thing you can't lose
It's that feel
Your pants, your shirt, your shoes
But not that feel
Throw it out in the rain
You can whip it like a dog
You can chop it down like an old dead tree
You can always see it
When you're coming into town
Once you hang it on the wall
You can never take it down

But there's one thing you can't lose
And it's that feel
You can pawn your watch and chain
But not that feel
It always comes and finds you
It will always hear you cry
I cross my wooden leg
And I swear on my glass eye
It will never leave you high and dry
Never leave you loose
It's harder to get rid of than tattoos

There's one thing you can't loose
It's that lose that feel
There's one thing you can't loose
It's that lose that feel

You can throw it off a bridge
You can lose it in the fire
You can leave it at the altar
It will make you out a liar
You can fall down in the street
You can leave it in the lurch
Well you say that it's gospel
But I know that it's only church

But there's one thing you can't lose
And it's that feel
Yes there's one thing you can't lose
And it's that feel
There's one thing you can't loose
And it's that feel
There's one thing you can't loose
And it's that feel

Well I hope that I don't fall in love with you
'Cause falling in love just makes me blue
Well the music plays and you display your heart for me to see
I had a beer and now I hear you calling out for me
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you

Well the room is crowded, there's people everywhere
And I wonder should I offer you a chair?
Well if you sit down with this old clown I'll take that frown and break it
Before the evening's gone away I think that we could make it
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you

Well I can see that you are lonesome just like me
And it being late you'd like some some company
Well now I've had two I look at you and you look back at me
The guy you're with has up and split the chair next to you's free
And I hope that you don't fall in love with me

And I hope that you don't fall in love with me

Well the night does funny things inside a man
These old tom cat feelings you don't understand
Well I turn around and look at you, you light a cigarette
I wish I had the guts to bum one but we've never met
And I hope that I don't fall in love with you

Now it's closing time the music's fading out
Last call for drinks, I'll have another stout
I Turn around to look at you, you're nowhere to be found
I search the place for your lost face, guess I'll have another round
And I think that I just fell in love with you

Ol' '55

My time went so quickly
I went lickety-splickly out to my ol' `55
Pulled away slowly, feeling so holy
God knows I was feeling alive

And now the sun's coming up
I'm riding with Lady Luck
Freeway cars and trucks
Stars beginning to fade
And I lead the parade
Just a-wishing I'd stayed a little longer
Oh Lord, that feeling's getting stronger

Now six in the morning, gave me no warning
I had to be on my way
Lights passing and trucks a flashing
I'm on my way home from your place

And now the sun's coming up
I'm riding with Lady Luck
Freeway cars and trucks

Mockin' Bird

Mocking Bird high in a tree
Looks like you got the best of me
Mocking Bird singing his song
Well the Mocking Bird is mocking me now that you're gone

Mocking bird high in a loof
Well he's blowing notes on top my roof
Well mocking bird singing his song
Well the Mocking bird is mocking me now that you're gone

Well mocking bird high in a tree
Looking up at you, you're looking down at me
And mocking bird high in a loof
Blowing notes on top my roof

Mocking bird high in a tree
Well looking up at you, looking down at me
Well mocking bird singing his song
Well mocking is bird mocking me now that you're gone

Throwed some papers, tried to scare him away
Just looked down at me and this is what he said

And the mocking bird high in the tree
Looks like you got the best of me
Mocking Bird singing his song
Well Mocking Bird is mocking me now that you're gone

In Between Love

In between love, trying to scheme love
Who can tell what we may find
Never thought love, not get caught love
Between the magic in your eyes
And loves like women, it's a cool and breezy
Never thought that love could be so easy

In between love, trying to scheme love
In between love again

In between love, trying to scheme love
Who can tell what we may find
All this time love, I sublime love
To the feelings in my mind
Loves like women, it's a cool and breezy
Never thought that love could be so easy

In between love, trying to scheme love
In between love again

Blue skies over my head
Give me another reason to get out of bed
Blue skies shine on my face
Give me another woman to take her place

Ain't got no money, cupboards are bare
No cigarettes and the kids got nothing to wear
She walked out without a word
Now the only sound left is that morning bird

singing, blue skies over my head
Give me another reason to get out of bed
Blue skies shine in my face
Give me another woman to take her place

Singing, blue skies over my head
Give me another reason to get out of bed
Blue skies shine in my face
Give me another woman to take her place
Give me another woman to take her place

Nobody

Nobody, nobody, will ever love you the way that I love you
Cause nobody is that strong
Love's bittersweet, life's treasures deep
No one can keep a love that's gone wrong

Nobody, nobody, gonna love you the way I could
Cause nobody is that strong
No nobody's that strong

Nobody, nobody, is gonna love you the way I love you
Cause nobody is that strong, yeah

You've had many lovers, you'll have many others
But they'll only just break your poor heart in two
And nobody, nobody, will love you the way I could
Cause nobody's that strong
No nobody's that strong

I Want You

I want you, you, you
All I want is you, you, you
All I want is you

Give you stars above, Sun on brightest day
Give you all my love, if you would only say
That I want you, you, you
All I want is you, you, you
All I want is you

Shiver Me Timbers

I'm leavin' my family, I'm leavin' my friends
My body's at home but my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines on a new front page sky
My tears are salt water and the moon's full and high

And I know Martin Eden is gonna be proud of me
And many before me who've been called by the sea
To be up in the crow's nest and singing my say
Shiver me Timbers, I'm a-sailing away

The fog's lifting and the sand's shifting
And I'm driftin' on out
And Ol' Captain Ahab he ain't got nothin' on me
So come on and swallow me, don't follow me
I'll travel alone
Blue water's my daughter, I'm gonna skip like a stone

And please call my missus, tell her not to cry
My goodbye is written by the moon in the sky
And nobody knows me, I can't fathom my staying
Shiver me timbers I'm a-sailing away

And the fog's lifting and the sand's shifting
And I'm driftin' on out
Ol' Captain Ahab he ain't got nothin' on me
So come on and swallow me, don't follow me
I'll travel alone
Blue water's my daughter and I'm gonna skip like a stone

And I'm leavin' my family, I'm Leavin' my friends
My body's at home but my heart's in the wind
Where the clouds are like headlines on a new front page sky
And shiver me timbers, I'm a-sailin' away

Grapefruit Moon

Grapefruit moon, one star shining, shining down on me
I heard that tune and now I'm pining. Honey, can't you see?
That every time I hear that melody Something breaks inside
And grapefruit moon, one star shining, can't turn back the tide

Never had no destination, could not get across
You became my inspiration, oh but what a cost
'Cause every time I hear that melody, puts me up a tree
And grapefruit moon, one star shining, Is all that I can see

Now I'm smoking cigarettes, strive for purity
And I slip just like the stars into obscurity
'Cause every time I hear that melody, something breaks inside
And the grapefruit moon, one star shining is much too big to hide

Diamonds On My Windshield

Diamonds on my windshield
Tears from heaven
Pulling into town on the Interstate
Pulling a steel train in the rain
The wind bites my cheek through the wing
Fast flying, freeway driving
Always makes me sing

There's a Duster tryin' to change my tune
Pulling up fast on the right
Rolling restlessly, twenty-four hour moon

Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head
Wishing he's home in a Wisconsin bed
Fifteen feet of snow in the East
Colder then a welldigger's ass

Oceanside it ends the ride, San Clemente coming up
Sunday desperadoes slip by, cheque station closing
cruise with a dry back
Orange drive-in, neon billin'
Theatre's fillin' to the brim
Slave girls and a hot spurn bucket full of sin

Metropolitan area, interchange and connections
Fly-by-nights from Riverside
Black and white plates, out of state
Running a little bit late

Sailors jockey for the fast lane
101 don't miss it
Rolling hills and concrete fields
Broken line's on your mind

Eights go east and the fives go north
And the merging nexus back and forth
See your sign, cross the line
Signal with a blink

Radio's gone off the air
And gives you time to think
You ease it out and you creep across
Intersection light goes out
You hear the rumble
As you fumble for a cigarette
Blazing through the neon jungle
Remember someone that you met
One more block, the engine talks
And whispers home at last
Whispers, whispers, whispers
Home at last, home at last

Please Call Me, Baby

The evening fell just like a star
Left a trail behind
You spit as you slammed out the door
If this is love we're crazy
As we fight like cats and dogs
Just know there's got to be more

So please call me, baby
Wherever you are
Cause it's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

I admit that I ain't no angel
I admit I ain't no saint
I'm selfish, I'm cruel and I'm blind
If I exorcise my devils
Well my angels may leave too
When they leave they're so hard to find

So please call me, baby
Wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Out walking in the rain

We're always at each other's throats
It drives me up the wall
Most of the time I'm just blowing off steam
I wish to God you'd leave me
And I wish to God you'd stay
Life's so different than it is in your dreams

Please call me, baby
Wherever you are
It's too cold to be out walking in the streets
We do crazy things when we're wounded
Everyone's a bit insane
I don't want you catching your death of cold
Walking in the rain

So It Goes

If I was a seagull high and aloof
I'd sail to your highest perch on your roof
But I ain't the seagull, you know my name
And the winds blow fortune, the winds blow pain
And so it goes, nobody knows
How to get to the sky, how to get to the sky

And if I was a puppy dog in the early dawn
I'd make it to your house and sleep on your lawn
But I ain't the puppydog, you know my name
And the winds blow fortune, the winds blow pain
And so it goes, nobody knows
How to get to the sky, how to get to the sky
How to get to the sky, how to get to the sky

Old Shoes

Well I'm singing this song cause it's time it was sung
I've been putting it off for a while
'Cause it's harder by now and the truth is so clear
That I am crying when I'm seeing you smile
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you? And then I'll be gone

And every time that I tried to tell you that we'd lost
The magic we had at the start
I would weep my heart when I looked in your eyes
And I searched once again for the spark
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you? And then I'll be gone

Oh you know that there's something calling me dear
And by morning, I'm sure to be gone
For I'm older than you and you know so well
That our time for to love was a song
So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you? And then I'll be gone

Now I can see by your eyes that it's time for to go
So I'll leave you crying in the rain
Though I held in my hand, the key to all joy
Honey my heart was not born to be tamed
And goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you? And then I'll be gone
Can I kiss you? And then I'll be gone