Lyrics -1988-2009

LITTLE

Isadora Duncan

Once I dreamed I was dancing with Isadora Duncan

In a silver cafe,

It was a cafe that was not at all near here

She was planning to diversify

And she sang I should do the same

So I whistled to her how I loved her the best

But she sang "I can't believe you own this attitude",

But with some ballet moves,

I removed her shoes

And I painted my lips to hers

And still she sang "I can't believe you own this attitude"

She sang "I can't believe you own this, this attitude"

She needed her beauty sleep

Though I didn't want it to sound like that

Her mind was occupied,

Her hard coffee was cold by then as snow

And she sang "my smile is more than pearly white,

And my dreams are more than you",

She sang "my yellow eyes are more than mirrors,

And my scarf is more, more, more than blue."

And she sang "I can't believe you own this attitude"

Yes I sang "I can't believe you own this, this attitude"

She closed her New Directions paper book

And screamed "there is no shelter in the arts"

She'd been crying all day

But now her eyes they were brighter than the moon

And she sang "my smile is more than pearly white,

And my dreams are more than you",

She sang "my yellow eyes are more than mirrors,

And my scarf is more, more, more, more than blue."

And she sang "I can't believe you own this attitude"

"I can't believe it, I can't believe you own this attitude",

"I can't believe it, I can't believe you own this, this attitude".

Danny Carlisle

He wanted a tree fort more than anything

Yes, he wanted to build and defend one on his own

But the neighbor boys BB siege was overwhelming

So he won't be building his dream tree fort anymore

He received a five-speed Schwinn for Christmas

So he built a ramp out of the plywood and a stump

And at nights he dreamed Evel Knievel

And a canyon to jump in his backyard.

Danny Carlisle, he don't give a shit about the Contras

Danny Carlisle, he's barely grown and he's used up most of his options

And still he would rather dream, dream, dream still he would rather dream than fuck

Once he used a pocket knife to kill a garden snake

Yes he chopped that evil serpent into four

And when he raised his eyes to heaven as a soldier

He wiped the blood of bad snake on his shirt

Yeah, Danny Carlisle he don't give a shit about the contras

Yeah Danny Carlisle he's barely grown and he's used up most of his options

And still he would rather dream dream dream than fuck

Still he would rather dream than fuck

Giupetto

Giupetto! Pinnochio,

Your adopted son is getting ready to go

The candle wicks are asterisks

You carved him yourself out of sticks

A propos, had to go,

He loved the alps,

But he hated the snow

Things switch,

Chop a new niche

Soon you won't remember

Oh which one is which

Your sorrow is so silly,

What's there to keep him in Italy?

What's there to keep him in Italy?

He'll send you news

How he took a cruise

Stuck his sea legs in the sailor shoes

And finally, across some sea,

Finding himself all kinds of the finery

But he took a week to learn how to speak

But the language hurts,

Yeah, the consonants tweak

Mute malaise, heavy haze,

The reparation only partly pays.

But your sorrow is so silly,

What's there to keep him in Italy?

What's there to keep him in Italy?

Bakersfield

Well the souvenirs

On my dusty shelf

Well I get out the Tarn-X,

And I polish them myself

Yes, posters are falling,

But who needs them at my age?

Well I've learned to smile,

When all I feel is rage

So I think I will go to Bakersfield

With Gabriel and Paul

And I will hide behind the garbage cans

While the holy platitudes fall

And blow the gates,

I am coming through

With my albatrosses and all

And it's strategy not protocol

Yes, it's strategy, not protocol,

That brings me here.

Mr. Reilly

Well there's a Mr. Reilly who swears

That in Baton Rouge Louisiana,

They don't care about, his philosophy

He swears that any time in Baton Rouge

Everything is the same

Well we stared into the cup,

But we could not see the bottom

He was drinking muddy water

As a remedy

A cup a day to curb visibility

All those nasty notions go away

Well had you heard the news

About Joan, our ex-newspaper girl?

They found her swinging from a tree

And I know

Just a week ago, she was beautiful

But now she’s rather vile

They found her by the frozen lake,

But it wasn't frozen enough to skate

And by the look on her face,

It must've been awful tempting

They found her in her skates

She was the coldest cadaver in the state

And look at the lake

Not even the ducks are resting on it

Rabbit Box

While I was still in elementary school

I discovered Daddy's tools

And amassed a small pile, of scrap lumber

And I built a rabbit box

And i set it facing north

But i caught a possum and a kitten

Both of which were a bitch to set free

Cause I thought they were going to bite me

But we all three escaped safely

Well once I took my single shotgun

And put on my camouflage

And hid in the neighbor’s pasture by the little cow pond

And finally after a long time

A bunch of doves flew by

And landed in a huddle on the power line

And so I aimed with an eagle's eye and fired

But it was two pigeons that fell like bean bags into the weeds

Well they sure looked like doves to me

Speed Racer

Have I learned anything from all of these lectures?

I think it's my attention span clipped by TV at an early age

Well who heard the radio when you are five years old?

I used to watch Speed Racer with that hyper attitude

That carried me here to this flourescent enlightenment

I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim

Oh, I...I...I...I am intelligent, I am intelligent

I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim

Oh, I...I...I...I am an atheist, I am an atheist

The idea of divine order is essentially crazy

The laws of action and reaction

Are the closest thing to truth in the universe

So don't try to spray me with your archaic rites of soul

Your vision is a biological one

I can dodge the thunderbolts

And scratch out an existence on this glorious but simple plane

I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim

Oh, I...I...I...I am intelligent, I am intelligent

I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim

Oh, I...I...I...I am an atheist, I am an atheist

Soft Picasso

It was a modern love affair

Completely cool and casual

They hardly knew each other was there

I mean both of them had their own getting off to do

And they had to dream about their own self

When they were through

But the modern girl was elated

With what the revolution gave her

And since she was liberated she could have

Everything that striked her fancy

And she fancied quite a bit

I mean if it felt good she did it

And she did it every chance she could get

With her main modern man and otherwise

And her taste wasn't limited to just modern guys

Since another modern girl showed her

That modern girls know how to hold her

And after she had her eyes opened

All her old close friends started getting closer

And new friends weren't that far away

But the modern man he just wasn't so lucky

He being shook from his usual role as the heartbreaker

He was completely battered and bewildered

When he actually started in feeling something for her

And he discovered a new emotion

When they stopped ending up together as frequently

And when he finally confronted her with the question

"Had she been bedding down with others in the periphery without him?"

And she replied "Hell yes! ain't it funny!"

So view the modern man looking, looking, looking,like a soft Picasso

He's there with his head in his hand

Repeating to himself an epigram

"Live by the scam, die by the scam."

Independence Day

Well future stepped into my field and turned it into an empire

Forefathers where are you now?

Your dust is settling on my furniture

Oh Independence Day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.

Oh Independence Day.

Well I stepped out of a cloud and the ditch it is close

I mean the ditch it is closing in.

Hemmingway did yourself justice

So here's to you, you articulate dead fisherman

Independence day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.

Independence Day.

Independence Day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.

Independence Day.

What if I said I loved you

And i needed your guidance to help me through the obstacles?

Would you say I am too wordy and then, then would you laugh?

What if I said I'm under glass untouchable as the document itself?

Would you say ok?

And that you never even considered me?

Oh Independence Day, yes Independence,

Independence Day, Independence,

Independence Day, Day,

Independence day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.

Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him the dead man,

But still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought

And not waving but drowning

Poor chap he always loved larking

And now he's dead

It must have been too cold for him, his heart gave way

They said.

Oh, no, no, no, it was always too cold

Still the dead one lay moaning

I was much too far out all my life

And not waving but drowning

Oh, no, no, no, it was always too cold

Still the dead one lay moaning

I was much too far out all my life

And not waving but drowning

(This is taken from the poem 'Not waving but drowning' by Stevie Smith.)

BONUS TRACKS

Bernadette

I was shivering, I'll admit it

I had nothing better to do

Except to wheeze my lazy wheeze

Bernadette, where are you?

Bernadette, where are you?

She gets much acclamation

For such a self-proclaimed Faustian

Bernadette doesn't like doubters

She wants to fight in the Coliseum

What can you tell me of Therese and Isabelle?

Was it just fate that brought them together?

Or did they will their unusual union?

In cahoots or love?

Or all of the above?

In cahoots or love?

Or all of the above?

Vernon

Well, Vernon blows a borrowed saxophone

In the coffee house all alone

Staring out toward the industry

Thinking' about his autobiography

Yes, he's a man dedicated, ever so

Dedicated to Drum cigarettes and Cafe Bustello

Yes he is a dishwasher by trade

But with loftier career goals

At night he does the lovely nudes in the charcoal

And he left New Orleans just a couple of Mardi Gras ago

Well, Vernon heads out for the disco

Full of excitement and oily espresso

On Monday he dances his hardest

Wearing' a tweed cap and looking like an artist

Yes, he's a man dedicated, ever so

Dedicated to his cigarettes and Cafe Bustello

Yes, he is a dishwasher by trade

But with loftier career goals

At night he does the lovely nudes in the charcoal

And he left New Orleans just a couple of Mardi Gras ago

Yes, he left New Orleans just a couple of Mardi Gras ago

Acting So Bad

And your mother is a fundamentalist

She’s a pop culture queen

Still you found your way to pregnancy

Before you found 17

And your father is a businessman

The kind that flies on planes

And you hid the liquor everywhere

You went to such great pains

And your eldest sister is a married lady

Yeah, but she can’t understand

And your closest sister is angry

Yeah, you’ve felt her heavy hand

And you thwarted your education

By the bottle and the bed

You even spent a night in jail

Yeah, your nose and face were red

So you called the preacher, faithfully

What a brilliant political move

Your parents heard of your repentance

Yeah, before they heard your hooves

And now you’re so pleased with this happy ending

With things all on the smooth

That you go back to that lurid lounge

And get back in the groove

And maybe I should apologize

For not feeling a bit sad

To see someone in this family

Other than me

Acting so bad, bad, bad

Miss Mary

Miss Mary took a shower and she showed herself to me

She said that God and all his glory was revealed to her carnally

She said she'd been with no man, but she must have been with me

And when I felt her with my finger, the proof burned my belief

So how much can I stand, I'm just a mortal man

I wring my praying hands.

She stands there before me

C'est la vie

La-di-da

Que sera, sera

Elberton Fair

Well, can you get me out of this Elberton fair?

I am tired of a’wrestling with that stinking old bear

I won a big ugly doll and I don’t care

Yes, Mister please get me out of this Elberton fair.

Yes, I rode the Rocket Goat

Yes, I rode the Snake

I even fooled a man about my height and my weight

And if I hadn’t lost my wallet

Yes, I could have learned my fate

Yes, I saw the world’s biggest bull

And the Dog-faced boy

I shot a clown in the eye and they gave me a toy

And I paid two dollars for a corndog that I just couldn’t enjoy

So take me away from this damn fair

Yes, I’ve got cotton candy in my hair

I won a dashboard dog and I don’t care

Yes, mister please

I just want to get home from this Elberton fair

WEST OF ROME

Latent/Blatant

Hardcore greedy, greedy man

Loud with the ladies

Mister arrogant

Mister arrogant

Mister arrogant

Never ending sagas and such

Enemy of Mr. McGruff

Latent, blatant..latent, blatant

Latent, blatant..latent, blatant

Greasy on the hair

I don't have to touch it

So what should I care?

What should i care?

What should i care?

What are your intentions?

It's hard to believe

You ain't searching

For something to squeeze

Latent, blatant. Latent, blatant

Latent, blatant. Latent, blatant

Bug

"Michelle loves Willie"

"Our little Sarah"

"Daughters of the American Revolution"

"Stryper loves Jesus" and I love a girl

Against my better judgment

'Cause I feel like a squirrel

My roommates got married and I booted up

And a friend of ours told me that I was disgusting

My roommates got married and I booted up

And a friend of ours told me that I was disgusting

Walhalla is pinned to the edge of South Carolina

We interstate travelled just to free a man from China

Hotel full of Pakistanis

And a front porch filled with greasy greasy grannies

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch it

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch it

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch

Walhalla is pinned to the edge of South Carolina

We interstate travelled just to free a man from China

Hotel full of Pakistanis

And a front porch filled with greasy greasy grannies

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch it

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch it

When the bug hits that's the time to scratch

Withering

What are you doing withering away

Yes I’ve heard you've lost the will to play

Whatever happened to those fluid movements?

You were so proud of in the intimate moments

What about the girl you left at the altar

Now now now she is planning your funeral

Didn't you learn anythign at the protest rally

When you and yours were flooding the capital

What about your days of glory

When your life was anything but boring

Now you're making these morbid phone calls

And your friends they gather to cuss and console

What were you doing in that awful decade

After the news broke and those murderous policies were made

What were you doing running around

When i was here for you well away from that crowd

Sponge

Pleasure is melting like chocolate

My blue ribbon gumption is gone

All my gravy must have soaked into something

And the world...

The filthy steps, the cold concrete

The phony earth below my feet

The ancient odour of the street

Yes the world, world, world it is a sponge

Yes the world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

And when the crisis passes

When the coast is clear

I'll be buffed down to a liquid

And the world, world, world it is a sponge

Yes the world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

Yes the world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

Throughout this entire ugly outing

I've been mumbling the convex of what I should be shouting

But I'll soon be silent you'll soon hear nothing

'Cause the world, world it is a sponge

The world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

The world, world, world, world, world it is a sponge

Where Were You

Where were you two years ago when I was locked out there at the barn?

When some certain Athens sacred monster was doing me in the charm

We could've been chatting heart to heart on that front porch with a view

Where were you girl when I needed you?

Where were you two weeks ago, a week again after your promise?

I was in your place of employment crying in my humus

Somebody in there said "boy you're looking bad"

And I said "You know that is nothing new"

Where were you girl when I needed you?

Were you in that second story well lighted place?

Up against its occupant artist in his personal space

I know that has been known to happen but I though all of that was through

Where were you girl when I needed you?

Where were you last Monday when I was overwrought

I was watching the bright bug lamp flicker

You were doing up the dim dim 40-watt

I was alone with Pepe Lopez

I just couldn't do the schmooze

Where were you girl when I needed you?

Where are you this Sunday morning I'm in shaky health

I am in the back yard leaking on the spot where you proclaimed yourself

You are hungry wanting breakfast and my heart is in a stew

Where were you girl when I needed you

Lucinda Williams

Imports and altercations

My faculties on a shoe-string vacation

I settled down on a hurt as big as Robert Mitchum

And listen to Lucinda Williams

Oh, convenient lies, rubber knives

I'm a dastardly villain, doing belly dives

I before E except after me

I'm dowsing my vitals at break-neck speed

You and your little entourage

Playing amazing little parlor games in the garage

Like a jury of my peers triangulating

My pretty point of exasperation

Yes we gather for some of that Catholic juice

And hide behind the shower curtain, i watch the virgin spruce

I'm soaking wet and feeling funny

The mirror's a mirage, no wonder I always look so crummy

My heroes are all off in the great beyond

England is old but Atlantis is gone

Feathers are floating down, and I can't dodge them

The tar is oozing from my little noggin

It's ugly ancient residue

There ain't no mistaking what's been abused

Feathers are floating down and I can't dodge them

The tar is oozing from my little noggin

It's ugly ancient residue

There ain't no mistaking who's been accused

Florida

Florida, Florida, the redneck Riviera

Florida, Florida, there's no more pathetic place in America

Yes a man must make unpopular decisions, surely from time to time

And a man can only stand what a man can stand

It's a wobbly volatile line

Florida, Florida, the water table is fucked

Florida, Florida, there's no more perfect place to give it all up

A man must take his life in his own hands

Hit those nails on the head

And I respect a man who goes to where he wants to be

Even if he wants to be dead

Florida, Florida, it’s a tropical paradise

Florida, Florida, there’s no more perfect place to retire from life

Stupid Preoccupations

I am sick of you

Expecting me to do

All these puny ingratiations

You know I am a terrible patient

I am barely alive

Ever since my daddy died

I've been searching for my own little babies

To misbehave and betray me

I tie one on to all the others

And say a soggy toast to all my drunken brothers

"They've got organizations for people like me with stupid preoccupations"

Y'all are all innocent

I'm just bitching at your expense

And the price for cockiness is worth swiping

It's primal griping

I am nearly reformed

So don't say that you weren't warned

'Cause when I break into a smile that is aching

It may be too ugly to look on

Hallelujah for the ghosties

And all those scary monsters under the boiling seas

"They've got organizations for people like me with stupid preoccupations"

Panic Pure

My earliest memory is of holding up a sparkler

High up to the darkest sky

Some 4th of July spectacular

I shook it with an urgency I'll never be able to repeat

At times i might be accused of being painfully nostalgic

But as of late i'm looking forward to the future

Thought i've never been much of a planner

Throwing caution into the fan

Catch as catch as catchers can

And so all you observers in your scrutiny

Don't count my scars like tree rings

My jigsaw disposition, it's piecemeal properties

Are either smoked or honey cured

By the panic pure

Miss Mary

Miss Mary took a shower and she showed herself to me

She said that God and all his glory was revealed to her carnally

She said she'd been with no man, but she must have been with me

And when I felt her with my finger, the proof burned my belief

So how much can I stand, I'm just a mortal man

I wring my praying hands, she stands there before me

C'est la vie, whatever that means, la di da

And a Doris Day, que sera sera

C'est la vie, whatever that means, la di da

And a Doris Day, que sera sera

Steve Willoughby

Someday I'm gonna be rich

Someday I'm gonna be bona fide

Someday I'm gonna be

Just like Steve Willoughby

But today I'm simply I'm simply terrified

I'm terrified

Someday I'm gonna be bright

Someday I'm gonna be smarter smarter than smart

Someday I'll know something

Just like Larry King

But today I simply I don't know where to start

I don't know where to start

Someday I'm gonna be hot

Someday I'm gonna be bigger bigger than big

Someday I'll be adored

Just like Wally George

But today I simply I ain't worth a fig

I ain't worth a fig

Someday I'm gonna be good

Someday I'm gonna be virtuous

Someday I'll be a paragon

Like Louis Farrakahan

But today I simply I'm a mess

I'm in a mess

Someday I'm gonna be cool

Someday I'm gonna kick major major butt

Someday I will transcend

Just like Jane's Addiction

But today I simply I am in a rut

I'm in a rut

Someday I'll get a career

Someday I'm gonna stop wasting all my time

Someday I'll gain a skill

Just like Deborah Norville

But today I simply I ain't worth a dime I ain't worth a dime

West of Rome

West of Rome, just east of the border

In a static-y Ramada Inn

Polishing his boots and pummeling his liver

Steeped in the dark isolation

Just what business does he have around here

Credentials are wearing out with each little bit of cheer

Yes it's a bad scene we're convening

Brushing his teeth and milking his ulcer

Preparing to waste another wily morning

Stroking himself and them phoning up his sister

He tells her their life would make one whale of a movie

Yes a childhood full of dry goods and wet neglect

The father they now sponge off of they have no absorbing respect

Yes he's a glad boy to have such a void

Yes he's a martyr crawling across cobble stones

From his cozy cottages just west of Rome

Yes it’s a sad state for great suffering

Big Huge Valley

Well the big huge valley is a ribbon of light

The aqueducts are snakes tonight

The stars are homesteaders, staking claims

My head is hopping with historical names

Transfer trucks are buffalos

Chewing up this desert road

Yes and i am nothing especially

Just an uptight man on a useless journey

And the oil is pumping up out of the dirt

Those virile dinosaurs continue to squirt

And the mountains lay like croaker sacks

The global forces sculpt with tectonic panache

And the crop duster flies through those blackish skies

She ain't on the clock

She's banking in and pulling out

Her propeller eyes on the wind sock

Well the big huge valley is on a respirator

Life juices pumped from up in the sierras

The almond trees battle their own disease

The hay is jaundiced and the raisins wheeze

Cattle march uner the knife

I do believe the big doctor is sweating up a storm tonight

Soggy Tongues

Narrowed eyes and soggy tongues

Beautiful rumors are flying about the ugly ones

The girl she is by the pool

Yellow journalists' jewel

And all those wagging fingers

Are silly little stingers

Rabbits are cooking breakfast the fog is fragrant

The girl she is waking up against the famous vagrant

The cool council is tallying fines to be levied

The girl she is tightly grinning the vagrant thinks it's all too heavy

Presents are presented and bribes reluctantly taken

Summer's sweetie iced a cohort while the rest of the town was baking

Traffic is light and appetites are hearty and tongues are soggy

Accusations are tossed like darts at the good little girl who is groggy

BONUS TRACKS

Nathan

The great grandfather with his pious beard

Bathed in the river, all his years

Many books that lined his walls

Jews and gentiles, held him in awe

Nathan stepped through the broken window

And looked to the river where his mother once floated

Nathan stepped through the broken window

And looked to the river where his mother once floated

He had four sons, all healthy and proper

One was converted, became a Christian doctor

His daughter filled with typhus and succumbed

He grew quiet his wife fell dumb

Nathan stepped through the broken window

And looked to the river where his mother once floated

Nathan stepped through the broken window

And looked to the river where his mother once floated

His granddaughter recalled, the day he died

She was six years old, frosted with fright

She clutched the toe, the stiff cold toe

And renounced the wrongs only she could know

Nathan stepped through the broken window

And looked to the river where his mother once floated

Nathan stepped through the broken window

And looked to the river where his mother once floated

Where’s the Clock

Where’s the clock?

I am awfully tired

With a deep desire to sleep

I made the bed a week ago

And you could still bounce a quarter

Off those stolen hospital sheets

Army/Navy surplus, maybe

Sweet tea and a cup of black coffee

Drop the cup and apologize promptly

Café malaise

When night gnaws into day

In a Sominex haze

Will I ever sleep again?

Posturing on that posturepedic

So comfortable

I wallow in my own sweat

Counting sheep

You know that it ain’t worth a shit

I know what I need

And it’s a pharmaceutical need

Counting sheep

You know it ain’t worth a fig

I know what I need

And it’s a pharmaceutical need

Flying

Well most of the time I’m basically depressed, but I guess it's just my nature.

Even those times that I’m sociable at best

I am damp with demure. So I sit and stare at the clouds

Chattering cusswords because I am too cool to pout

I'd rather be flying

I'd rather be flying

I'd rather be flying

I'd rather be flying

Flyyyying

Flyyying...

Well my father he worked for Eastern Airlines

For nearly my whole life

Yes it disappeared right before his eyes

And so my Daddy up and died

So I sit and stare at the clouds

Chattering cuss words 'cause I am too cool to pout

I'd rather be flying

I'd rather be flying

I'd rather be flying

I'd rather be flying, flying, flying

Dying Young

Holes in his sweater, fluid in his lungs

The experts say there’s things

He should’ve done better

But instead he is just dying young

And tired of disbelieving, sick of struggling

The experts busy

Their gloved hands are relieving

The symptoms of dying young

Yeah, he wished he was a lawyer

Maybe like Perry Mason

He would sue them til they are scrawny

Instead of lying there dying young

Sometimes when he’s angry

He has a sharp tongue

The experts, they just fill him full of ice cream

They know that he is dying young

Yeah, he wishes he was an actor

Maybe like Rock Hudson

Instead of just another layman

Lying there dying young

Yes, he dreamed about an angel

And he thought about a gun

The experts, they file in by the roomful

Watching him dying young

Yeah, the experts, they file in by the roomful

Watching him dying young

Confusion

Well, when I woke up this morning

The sky was so bright

It’d been a raining for days

Now it seemed like everything was a gonna be alright

But still those November winds keep a blowing

And I’m forgetting just where to begin

And then I'm lost in confusion again

Yes, I’m lost in confusion again

Well, the broom straw is a dying

Various shades of brown

And over the hill I can see the skyline

Of the most famous Georgia college town

Still those November winds keep a blowing

And I’m forgetting just where to begin

Then I’m lost in confusion again

Yes, I’m lost in confusion again

Just when I think Ive tied up all my little ravels

I come across a new row of tatters

It seems I’m getting sick of a taking care of

Life and other matters

Well, there’s a few hundred blackbirds

That’s a covering my yard

They're a falling from the trees like pecans

Except they ain’t hitting the ground quite as hard

Still those November winds keep on a blowing

And I’m forgetting just where to begin

And I’m lost in confusion again

Yes, I’m lost in confusion again

Shipping Out

I’m shipping out

I’m leaving tomorrow

Please fuss and shout

Make me forget my little bit of sorrow

The world, it is nearly all water

And I’m gonna float it around

I’m shippin’ out

The world, it is nearly all water

The world is nearly all water

And I’m gonna float it around

I’m shippin’ out

I’m shippin’ out

I’m still a young man and I’m restless

Please don’t put me down

Just because it seems senseless

The world, it is nearly all water

And I’m gonna float it around

I’m shippin’ out

DRUNK

Sleeping Man

You're a freak of nature

You are a Siamese

You are in a pickle jar

For all the world to see

Watching the sleeping man

Watching the sleeping man

Watching the sleeping man

Watching the sleeping man

You are a guarded secret

In a government home

But now they come to see you

By the busload

Bourgeois and Biblical

Bourgeois and biblical

Hanging on nails

Mad metallic icons

The old cyclone still compels

Your hoity haiku lip curls

The onion papers drain

Constantinople

Misty recollections

Cold outdoor acoustics

Piney panorama

One of Many (Stevie Smith)

You're only one of many

Of small account if any

You think about yourself too much

This touch the child with the quick touch

And worked his mind to such a pitch,

He threw his fellows in a ditch

This little child who was so mild is grown too wild

"Murder in the first degree," cried old fury

Recording the verdict of the jury

Now we come to the execution tree

The gallows stand wide on me

"Christ died for sinners," explained the prison chaplain

From his miscellany

Weeping bitterly,

The little child cried," I die one of many"

Supernatural

Built a king on compliments

Charisma and advertisements

Still they see him shimmer ephemeral

It ain't supernatural

Or maybe

Out of body experience

I flew around the little room once

On intravenous Demerol

It weren't supernatural

Sudden smell. Certain view

Sparks a whopping case of the Deja vu

Is it inexplicable?

It ain't supernatural

Or maybe

When I Ran Off and Left Her

When I ran off and left her

She wasn't holding a baby

She was holding a bottle

And a big grudge against me

I tried to learn from the psychiatrist

How to stay calm and minimize risk

But I should've kept all those appointments

I'm gonna need em I’m coming disjointed

When I ran off and left her

I didn't look backwards

Till I was halfway to Chattanooga

On the Atlanta connector

That's when I started flashing

On the little things that she did

All her little sayings and I started to wig

I should've kept all those appointments

I'm gonna need em I’m coming disjointed

Dodge

There's so many ghosts out there on these streets

I always hate to ponder who's under those sheets

Every little thing is temporary

If I stay here any longer I’ll end up very very scary

It's just a general freak that is boiling in me

I'm terrified what it's gonna dislodge

I done shit everywhere that there is to eat

Guess it's time for me to get the fuck out of dodge

I bent over backwards to misbehave

It's a holy wonder I just didn't flip on over into an early grave

I showed my behind so frequently

My dear old mother she can't even recognize me

Gluefoot

Cross my heart and cross my eyes

Stick a needle in my thigh

Drop kick my unscrewed lid

And fiddle fiddle fiddle fiddle fiddle with what's inside

A rusty mass of machinations

Still I’m vying for the right vaccination

I make a masterful selection like Louis Pasteur

Certain I’ve found at least a temporary cure

If there's one thing I’ve learned in this chemical world

It's very very very very very little is pure

My gluefoot sticks, I wrestle with it

I try to skedaddle but my gluefoot is fixed

If they'd give me a shovel in this communication age

Maybe I’d have kept my mouth shut and done something today

I want to blame democracy and its inherent lies

I want to blame my heritage for my leisurely demise

Everybody wants to wear the cleats

Everybody wants to be Dominique

I want to be someone separate from me

I want to have a sustained feeling

My gluefoot sticks, I wrestle with it

I try to skedaddle but my gluefoot is fixed

Drunk

She said it, she should know

She'd by told by, she knows

She'd been through it, quantity

What can I say, I do what I can

Get that panic pack

She's been to Rome yes

When they so it so as they do

Oh, lordy mercy

I think its quantity

I am what I am, I am what I believe

Bad on the head

Like a mad man

Belligerent

Naughty Fatalist

Rave and rant in yer old foster grants

I can see my billowy reflection

You're a giant

You're a giant

A little late night caching

A tender moving soul shake

With all light diffused

You'll wake up butch and bruised

Butch and bruised

Straight lines

As the stork flies

Ooh straight lines

As the stork flies,

As the stork flies

Naughty, naughty fatalist

Naughty, naughty

Naughty, naughty fatalist

Naughty fatalist, naughty fatalist

An elderly woman on a fashionable couch

Cane on the carpet tapping as she expounds

Tapping, tap tapping

A little late night caching

A tender moving soul shake

With all light diffused

You'll wake up butch and bruised

Butch and bruised

Butch and bruised

Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday, on the ball

Super Tuesday

I am out on a stroll

Super Tuesday, I’m in control

Oh, super Tuesday

I'm out on a stroll

Oh I am out on a stroll

Super Tuesday, I’m in the door

Super Tuesday

I am good for a bore

I'd do anything for a bore

Kick My Ass

I'm so sorry you had to kick my ass

You said I ruined your life

I didn't mean to do that

I had to untangle where we was entwined

I was strangling me...Were you breathing so fine

The jam I was in when things weren't working out

Led me to the brunt of your swinging bout

I'm so sorry, I regret everything

What can I do to take back that swing?

I'm so sorry a scuffle ensued

But things are so much better I guess thanks to you

I'm so sorry you had to pull my hair

I had to take care of business

There was a lot of business giving there

BONUS TRACKS

Cutty Sark

Don't hit me with a broom
I must request relief
Don't hit me with a broom
Get another chief if you ain't got yourself a vacuum
Get another chief if you ain't got yourself a vacuum

And don't keep me in the car
I must get to the porch
Don't keep me in the car
A little torch will only get a girl so far
Yes, a little torch will only get a girl so far

Yes, I am a million miles away from home
And you're the only human here I know
Yes, I've been as truthful as a mammal can be
But still you insist on intertanglin'
Yes, still you insist on intertanglin'

And then starting rumors
That we are lovers
When you know that I've been running hard in the dark
And the only that I've been a-sleepin' with is the Cutty Sark
Yeah, the only that I've been a-sleepin' with is the Cutty Sark
Yeah, the only that I've been sleepin' with is the Cutty Sark

And don't slap me with a suit
I swear I didn't breach
Don't slap me with a suit
You wrote our friends that I'm a leach, but you're just confused
You wrote our friends that I'm a leach, but you're just confused
You wrote our friends that I'm a leach. I hope you're confused

Lillian Gish

Silent movie

Lillian Gish

You’re invited to a covered dish

Spinach salad

Tofu and beer

Everybody knows you and don’t hate that you’re here

Everybody knows you and don’t hate that you’re here

Bicycle and puppy hanging out downtown

Everybody knows you and don’t hate that you’re around

Weekend waitress

High visibility

Everybody who knows you knows right where you’ll be

Everybody who knows you knows right where you’ll be

Keep the plates spinning simultaneously

A darling running for Miss Personality

With virtually no opinion of me

Bar hopping

Killians and Beck

Locked in conversation about deviant sex

Rumors of soiree

Finally find your way

Everybody hears you and don’t hate what you say

Everybody hears you and don’t hate what you say

Chasing commotion gregariously

A darling training for an MRS. Degree

With virtually no opinion of me

Virtually no opinion of me

Arthur Murray

She's so musical

Look at her dancing in a flurry

Who gets to lead?

Do know it's not Arthur Murray

Emasculate me with your biology

Break me, bend me

I'm worthless

One wicked brand from your torturous hand

I’ll fib and tell you you're gorgeous

She has an answer for everything

She's so smart in the raw

And well educated

That's a double fisted draw

Cotton breathes between her cheeks

Spin me, weave me

I'm willing

One finger prick

I know I'll take sick

She'll chalk up a killing

She's so fashionable

She's a Nazi when she's shopping

But wholly democratic

You should see who she's been knocking

Emasculate me with your biology

Break me, bend me

I'm worthless

One wicked brand from your torturous hand

I’ll fib and tell you you're gorgeous

Bad Boy Town

Bow the head

Strap it down

You’ll get religion in bad boy town

Roughhouse as you like it

You’ll get religion when you’re inside it

Chains

Bars

You’ll get what you like

If you like it hard

Roughhouse as you like it

You’ll get religion when you’re inside it

Great Buffet

Sheep are eating their shite grass

Cow is chewing crud

Chickens are a’sittin’ in excrement

Pigs are a’drippin’ blood

Landscape and architecture

At the Great Buffet

Art out of acts of torture

At the Great Buffet, at the Great Buffet

Look at all the pretty flowers growing in the filth

Look at that famous mother’s baby

Suckling poison milk

Landscape and architecture

At the Great Buffet

Art out of acts of torture

At the Great Buffet, at the Great Buffet

Look at all the dormitories gone is their gumption

Imagine them all full of faces

Form follows function

Landscape and architecture

At the Great Buffet

Art out of acts of torture

At the Great Buffet, at the Great Buffet

Aunt Avis

Help me mama, for I have grinned
Save me daddy from where I'm goin'
Call out to me from the ages beyond

Help me remember how to be good
How to continue when I feel I really shouldn't
How to remember how to be good
How to continue when I feel I really shouldn't

Help me granddaddy to see the swamp
Strike me granny with your golden pump
Teach me now what I could never learn before

How to remember how to be good
How to continue when I feel I really shouldn't

Help me Great Uncle to hear the talk
Show me Aunt Avis with your ageless chalk
Scratch it out for me on my cloudy retina

How to remember how to be good
How to continue when I know I really shouldn't

Gravity of the Situation

You’ve been sanctified (terrorized)

And I've been tried

Guilty by association

You’ve been canonized

And I've been fried

Guilty by association

All the little loonies

With a salient obsession

Come out from the boonies

With their sharpies and their guns

Loaded with questions

I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine (Bob Dylan cover)

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive as you or me
Tearing through these quarters
In the utmost misery
With a blanket underneath his arm
And a coat of solid gold
Searching for the very souls
Whom already have been sold

“Arise, arise,” he cried so loud
In a voice without restraint
“Come out, ye gifted kings and queens
And hear my sad complaint
No martyr is among ye now
Whom you can call your own
So go on your way accordingly
But know you’re not alone”

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive with fiery breath
And I dreamed I was amongst the ones
That put him out to death
Oh, I awoke in anger
So alone and terrified
I put my fingers against the glass
And bowed my head and cried

Naw

It’s your day to waste

It’s your blood to taste

It’s your picture to paste

It’s your name to erase

‘Cause

I can’t do it!

I can’t do it!

Naw

It’s your duty to do

It’s your screw to screw

It’s your move to move

It’s your proof to prove

‘Cause

I can’t do it!

I can’t do it!

Naw

It’s your ground to cut

It’s your road to rut

It’s your belly to gut

It’s your shutter to shut

‘Cause

I can’t do it!

I can’t do it!

Naw

IS THE ACTOR HAPPY?

Gravity of the Situation

We blew past the army motorcade

And it's abnormal load haulage

The gravity of the situation

Came on us like a bit of new knowledge

The bubbliest bubble bath

Broke down on the bank

The gravity of the situation

Is why our old thought bubbles sank

Humble and gracious

The gravity of the situation

A fat hungry English crow

Picking at a carcass

The gravity of the situation

Is hard to focus and harness

We met Bill Lowery

At the Queen's Hall

The gravity of the situation

Became apparent to us all

Sad Peter Pan

It's the plan of most

To discover that magnificent ghost

When did I get perverted?

And my innocent eyes diverted

From the view so grand

Imbued with distractions

I'm greedy like Senior Babbitt

I'm just chasing that electric rabbit

I'm a reluctant rebel

I just want to be Aaron Neville

With a crown on my head

And my denim shirt all dark with sweat

I'm just pushing the paint around

On advice from your lying mouth

You touched me and then you ran

And left some sad Peter Pan

All alone and awkward

But a transformation, I swear it will occur

Strange Language

Up on the bluff

Where I wish I was

Twisting up the pages of history

My cold feet dangling

My bony arms gesturing

To summon up a little chunk of that history

In the corridor...the shadows are long

And it messes with my equilibrium

And there's strains of a strange language

Up on the bluff

Where the hardwoods jut

Out toward the gusts of history

My crusty mind cracks

My restless heart tracks

The fractal lines of history

In the corridor...the shadows are long

And it messes with my equilibrium

And there's strains of a strange language

In the corridor...the shadows are long

And it messes with my equilibrium

And there's strains of a strange language

Onion Soup

Thin and unshaved

Drunk and mysterious

Oh, I must say

Lifestyle is curious

With a little touch of the sniffles

And filthy socks

Gnawed, crumbled fingernails

Never doing tomahawk chops

Flaky head

Dandruff is distinguished

Lacquer is red

Vain is the varnish

"What is at the root of this?"

She'll say "whatcha got?"

"What participle do you possess?

She'll say "which I have not!"

One blustery day

We rode out to the meadowlands

We saw and were amazed

Then hauled it back into town again

Mississippi is a mess sometimes

And not only when it rains

How come you went back to that malaria island?

'Cause our friendship is strained

Those were the days

When you were so cosmopolitan

These are the days

My letters they're so increasingly maudlin

I wrote you an eloquent postcard once

About this most exquisite onion soup

But, of course I never mailed it though

Cause it was your turn in the loop

Doubting Woman

I was supposed to tell you

About the point of departure

But with the aim of a drunken archer

I will probably stray

But you can see in her bold eyebrow

You can see in that fancy cup

That even her freakish nipples are akimbo

No doubt she is the Doubting Woman

No doubt she is the Doubting Woman

There's the little matter of the bathing beauty

Who is such a little cutie but she's shy

She has a special sponge that is optional

To hide her painterly nipples from our eye

No doubt they are the Doubting Women

No doubt they are the Doubting Women

I was supposed to tell you the case of a cult

It's called the cult of inspiration and it is rewarding

You can be filled with the tingle of euphoria

Of total animation and of wonder

No doubt we love the Doubting Women

No doubt we love the Doubting Women

The doubting woman, the doubting woman

Doubting woman, oh the doubting woman

The doubting woman

Wrong Piano

Oberheim, Yamaha

Steinway and the lot

I must have played the wrong piano

Cause it left me with

I don't know what

So don't talk to me about mistakes

Yes we all simply have got to take precautions

I must have played the wrong piano

Cause now I just feel nauseous

Some sexual

Turned into some biblical

And then became a game

Of just trivial pursuit

I used to gnaw on every word

But now I don't what's the use

Rupert Murdock and Larry Flint

Bob Guccione and the U.S. Mint

I took out the wrong subscription

And I don't know what I’m gonna

End up spending

Free of Hope

Bricks are dirty lakes are dead

The family dog is mad

Baby brother's science beakers are all broken

Now the yard peacocks are all sad

Board games are boring

May they rot on the shelf

Big brother's at Columbia University

Quote unquote he's tanning beaver pelts

Subtle as a billboard o so refined

Smoking through my chimney

Burning up this life of mine

Free of hope

Free of the past

Thank you god of nothing

I'm free at last

Free of hope

Free of the past

Thank you god of nothing

I'm free at last

I'm free at last

I'm free, free at last

A chip on the shoulder usually means

There's wood up above

But no man at this shiny oblong table

Is very very fibrous

Picnic demographics

I'm scorched and corn fed

Leaning on the banister

I know it's just another 20 years of sweat

Making up his milk dud mind

Gnawing on a Charleston chew

Look inside his hothouse eyes

See his budding youth

Free of hope

Free of the past

Thank you god of nothing

I'm free at last

Free of hope

Free of the past

Thank you god of nothing

I'm free at last

I'm free at last

I'm free, free at last

Betty Lonely

Betty lonely

Lives in a duplex of stucco

On the north bank of a brackish river

Her ears omit the noise from a nearby airstrip

Her mind floats beyond the snapper boats

Betty lonely

Her eyes are roughly staring

At a point through her sliding glass door

Her heart lives over a drawbridge

Her brain is wet like a thrownet

Betty lonely

She will always think in Spanish

Though I know

Her Spanish black hair will start to fade

She sunk her past

Out in the surrounding salt flats

Her maidenhood was lost

Beneath the Spanish moss

Betty lonely

Just talks to her grandbaby

Everybody else she blots them out

But her words stick

Like a flounder gig

Her dry laugh is like a gaff

Thumbtack

Take a lightbulb from the closet

Replace the one above the faucet

Scrape the whiskers from my face

Nick my lip in pointless haste

Take a magic marker black

Darken a spot on the map

Of a county on the coast

Where I was born out of a ghost

Underneath a ceiling fan

Contemplate a master plan

Breathe a sigh of recognition

For a childhood superstition

Push a thumbtack in the wall

Pierce the picture I did draw

It's a graphic portrait from my youth

It hurts my heart this forced review

Thailand

It's a battle of the culinary arts

In this boiling land

You met your mate

Over across that river

And some good old contraband

In Thailand

Thailand

Thailand

Thailand

Into our lovely story

Who do we insert?

But the mighty mighty

Steve Willoughby

He went searching for that big Buddha in a raincoat

But found a wife half the size of he

In Thailand

Thailand

Thailand

Thailand

Guilty by Association

You’ve been sanctified (terrorized)

And I've been tried

Guilty by association

You’ve been canonized

And I've been fried

Guilty by association

All the little loonies

With a salient obsession

Come out from the boonies

With their sharpies and their guns

Loaded with questions

BONUS TRACKS

Assist

Where are you Mr. Mustache novelist?
I'm in need of such a literal assist 
I'm in need of some of your literal wisdom 
Where are you Mr. Yankee a physicist?
I'm in need of some of your physical assist 
I'm in need of some of your physical wisdom 
Where are you Mr. Latin folk artist? 
I'm in need of some of your glossy assist
I'm in need of some of your kiln-baked wisdom

What Surrounds Me

6 coated sinker and a 4 inch barrel bolt

Cotton duck and a little 9-volt

All in a clutter

Touching each other spiritually

Good luck candle and some bad luck fuzzy dice.

Aluminum pot and probably leaden pipes

All in agreement

First class treatment, yes siree!

You’ve been with me and that’s fine

Splitting hairs for sometime

Now I’m home again so finally

What surrounds me

What surrounds me is mine, mine.

Hard, dead sponge and a virgin flagpole

Crumbled Observer and a pedal that I stole

Menacing presence

Full of my essence certainly

You’ve been with me and that’s fine

Splitting hairs for sometime

Now I’m home again so finally

What surrounds me

What surrounds me is mine, mine.

Duck in a Tree

You’re a duck in a tree

You’re out of your league

But you’re firm as a fig

You’re a bear in Madrid

Oh, look at you

Go on and wiggle your tail

Proud as a porno-queen

Duck in a tree

Leaping from limb to limb

Somehow you’re squirrelly and nimble

Your mate is a’swopping around

You’re just up there conversing

Oh, look at you

Looking right as revenge

A startling silhouette

Duck on a limb

Oh, look at you

Wiggle your tail

Proud as a porno-queen

Duck in a tree

Well I guess you’re all rested up

I guess you’re off for some water

But think of the splash here you made

Me and all the local birds are jealous

So beautiful

As you spring out of sight

Just a moment in your migration

Duck in the sky

Parameters

Cut the sprinkler

My yard is dying

The reservoir, you know

It is piss poor

Meet the beetles that ate my pine trees

My chainsaw is I know a tortured soul

Inanimate parameters

Domestic dilemma

It’s just a fashion crisis

I’m ugly

I feel like a friggin’ toad

There’s a hole in my backyard cyclone fence

Where my big bad lazy dog used to goad

I am wilted!

I am stilted!

I am stilted!

I am stilted!

I’ll go get the latest of the Ladies Home Journal

I need some of those sinister little recipes

My neighbors they are filling up the filing cabinets

And I’m hungry as a bunch of jumping fleas

I am wilted!

I am stilted!

I am stilted!

I am stilted!

Fun Party/Shoestring Store

(That was brutiful.)

Fun party

Fun party

Fun party, party, party (x6)

Party, party, party, party, party

Fun party

Fun party

Fun party, party, party (x6)

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

I went looking for gold

I went looking for silver

I went looking for a little nylon shoestring

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

Shoplift, shoplift, shoplift, shop

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

Shoplift, shoplift, shoplift, shop

Shoplift, shoplift, shoplift, shop

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

I went down to the shoestring store to buy myself some shoestrings

I couldn’t find them in my size

I want a gold one.

I want a silver one.

I wanted some with freckles

I want a gold one.

I want a silver one.

I wanted some with freckles

Shoplift, shoplift, shoplift, shop

Shoplift, shoplift, shoplift

Fun party

Fun party

Fun party, party, party (x2)

(Haha.)

ABOUT TO CHOKE

 

Myrtle

A funny pilgrim

On a crazy crusade

A saucy Chaucer

A sorry chapter mislaid

Whittled

With an Exacto knife

Plum right through my load bearing wall

I’m horrified now

I could do such a thing

But I thought I saw the singer

I’ve heard those chimes

So many other times

But if I gave in

It had to of been

I whupped it out

And destroyed my selfish cocoon

But if I gave in

It had to of been

Since I gave in

I hope it had to of been

I’m not an optimist

I’m not a realist.

I might be a sub-realist

But I can’t substantiate

It was bigger than me

And I felt like a sick child

Dragged by a donkey

Through the myrtle

New Town

New town

Reeks of lumber

New town

Beat the crowds

New town

Kittens discover

That the birds scrape the ground

And even the loneliest old ladies get social calls

Where they dine and talk about their savior

And the grassroots effort to incorporate

Elects a smiling mayor

New town

Americana

New town

Rookie police

New town

Industries are wanted for the local employees

And a little bitty baby draws a nice clean breath

From over his beaming mama's shoulder

He’s staring at the worldly wonders

That stretches just as far as he can see

But he'll stop staring when he's older

Ladle

You file me with the libertines

I fold in line

My monthly dole of magazines

Beaming bistro shine

In my ladle is your plum

And my daily staple

Of your cutesy crumbs

Of your cutesy falling crumbs

I saw you at the snazzy din-din

You made me sad that I watched

I must say you truly packed'em in

Nearly, dearly debauched

In my ladle is your plum

And my daily staple

Of your cutesy crumbs

Of your cutesy falling crumbs

Tarragon

Sucking on a toothpick soaked with cinnamon

The boys in the backroom played on

Anonymous Adonis, he’s the one you want

The boys in the backroom played on

Not beholden to no afterwards

Not beholden to no afterwards

Not beholden to no afterwards

Saw him at the market buying tarragon

The boys in the backroom played on

Clinch for a moment then you wander home

The boys in the backroom played on

Swelters

After the splice

When the temperature’s nice

After the patch

When everything’s a match

After the patch

After the edit

When it’s had time to set

After it's smooth

Then it’s time to move

When it is smooth

Go consult your elders

Look into the thatch

Any day that swelters

There’s still some shelter

'Neath the hatch

After the cool

When it’s wound on the spool

After it's spent

You’re rarely glad it went

When it is spent

Little Vacation

Like a little vacation

Like a little old song that I wanted to hear

Like a big libation

Like a flattering sentence whispered in my ear

That’s how I feel

Every time I feel like I want to feel

So

Why don’t we have a little symposium?

And hash out something real

Like a scenic vista

Like a long awaited chemical buzz

Like a far off twister

Like an unexpected pleasant run-in with the fuzz

That’s what I want

Every time I try what I'm trying for

So

Why don’t we have a little council meeting?

Where everybody takes the floor

Robert's Rules of Order will be observed

I’ll be the parliamentarian

With an

Unswerving dedication

Degenerate

I am

A rough ball of twine

I had

A duty to do

I’ve been

Tied to the table

But now

I am

Frazzled and aloof

Degenerate

Disintegrate the tight knots

Degenerate

Rot away the nooses

Degenerate

Outcome those tangles

Degenerate

Acorn squash

And a'hearty rows of okra

Stand of

Sweet corn

That was

By the trickling creek

Winter

Dead

That was buried 'neath the pole-beans

Behold

A sink-hole in the spring

Degenerate

Washed by weather cycles

Degenerate,

Bleach the deadly night shades

Degenerate,

Prepare to take the profit

Degenerate

Hot Seat

Ventolin and Vivarin and Primatene

Secret tequila shots and a patch of morphine

In mourning and in the throes

What a great day to come out of a coma

I’ve been

In the hot seat

Sweating it out

I touch the telephone

It falls away

I think they call it empathy

But not this way

I put my lips

On the sound hole

My tongue is finally warming

But my brain is charcoal

I’ve been

In the hot seat

Sweating it out

Not much later

Fall out of favor

Pretty soon

I know I’ll do

Precisely what I wanted not to do

Maybe I slipped up

And learned a lesson

To work my proclivity towards

Second guessing

I was too naive

And enthusiastic

To keep my trap shut

And my monkey in the motherfucking basket

I’ve been

In the hot seat

Sweating it out

Giant Sands

Do a little rope trick.

Move around the mildew

When you stop to make a phone call

In the glitter of the landmark

She said something about a blood clot

And a bad wild peach.

That nappy little news flash

Takes the cut right out your crease

Get it on demand like Tupperware

Shipped with sarcasm

All is fair

Jog through giant sands

'Til you're cleared

Then to leave the land

Unawares

"At least it's not a leg-break."

You laugh out loud and lonesome

In your Cabin Cruiser on your cross-county trek

Your brain feels like a fiddle

A brittle fragile vessel

Pull off onto the shoulder by the waterworks

Threads

Your personal pariah is in a wool cap

The mirror flakes away take a long nap

Watching the threads disintegrate

Like the Krishna beads in a lockbox safe

Watching the threads disintegrate

Crumbling like the lawn art you made

Hard brown bread cut with a circular saw

Shallow, rattling breath with a weak cough

Watching the threads disintegrate

Foisted into the Middle Ages

Watching the threads disintegrate

Foisted into middle age.

Watching the threads disintegrate

Remain in the ruckus and you will get scraped

See You Around

I’m sorry for my lack of communication

But as I’m staring out this fifth floor window

It seems like the least amount of communication the better.

What am I supposed to say,

"There’s a bloody effigy on my wall

And the complimentary carnation is falling apart,"

And I ain’t got time for the niceties

Or rather I was never fond of the niceties.

I will see you around.

I must admit I’m flattered by your consecration.

It’s a mind-numbing, spine-chilling

But never-the-less heartwarming gesture.

As you make your advances so clumsily

I’ll save us both the both the hassle and leave

And hang out all night

In the familiar fluorescent light of Dunkin’ Donuts,

'Cause I ain’t got time for the niceties

Or rather I was never fond of the niceties.

I will see you around.

Well how are you with issues lately

You’ve been a half-assed activist.

You’ve been seen

Sashaying around the picket line wearing scarcely any sign.

But always vocal in love and strife and the politics of your all important life

I’m sorry but your routine is coming off a bit ragged

And I ain't got time for the niceties

Or rather I was never fond of the niceties.

I will see you around.

THE SALESMAN AND BERNADETTE

Duty Free

No chocolate

In the Duty Free shop

Two drops of scotch

Gonna end up on his crotch

Tonight

All alone

Sitting on the throne

Some native tongue on the TV

Blaring like an old Peavey

He don't aim to be rude

He's fighting with his inner Prude

Some pommes frites

And you know it's gonna drip

On to his lap

Yes, see the man slapping it off

Traveling

Will do him in

Trudging through the waves of people

'til his heart is cluttered and feeble

If you take him out of his loop

He may be very easily duped

Still he beats the stampede

For the Duty Free

He's using up all that old currency

Bernadette

I was shivering,

I'll admit it,

I had nothing better to do.

Except to wheeze my lazy wheeze,

"Bernadette, where are you?"

She gets much acclamation for such a self-ordained Faustian.

Bernadette doesn't like doubters.

She wants to fight in the coliseum!

What can you tell me about Therese and Isabelle?

Was it just fate that brought them together?

Or did they will their unusual union?

In cahoots or love or all of the above?

I was sputtering.

But I got over it after hours of tireless review

Under the gracious and analytical hands.

"Bernadette, I honor you."

"Bernadette, I owe you some."

Replenished

Sitting in the breakfast nook,

Flipping through a saucy book,

Browsing for a bit of titillation.

Morning is warming on your mouth,

Last days of direct sunlight for this part of the house.

Move into the great room.

Get the clean corn broom,

Sweeping up a sad old pillar of salt.

You're feeling glummer as summer dies off.

Something was released with autumn's first cough.

Matter seems immaculate until it is consumed or distressed.

See her with the kitchen soap.

Cleaning up the breakfast she knows

It’s never finished 'til the other's replenished.

Propped up on the mantel piece,

Trophies stuffed in a life that flies.

A couple of seconds can be a long time if'n it's froze.

Matter seems immaculate until it is consumed or distressed.

See her with the kitchen soap.

Cleaning up the breakfast she knows

It’s never finished 'till the other's replenished.

Maiden

Dogs are barking.

Birds are chirping.

The only thing better if, um, I was squirting.

But there's no one here to love on me today.

For the maiden's on holiday.

I'm a sorry, sorry knight in a horrible castle,

Hoping to avoid certain societal hassles.

And I know what they say

But I ain't made of clay.

The maiden's on holiday.

She knows where she stands,

On the heart of a broken man.

It's gonna be bad no matter what

So I might as well go ahead and act like a butt.

Any ol' way, I'm still gonna pay.

For the maiden's on holiday.

Until the Led

Knowing what I know now,

I should've had a cow.

I didn't realize you were to be despised.

I must have been

One of History's stupidest men,

'Cause, everything was perfect in my head

Until the lead started hitting me.

Maybe I'm mighty dull but you're pathological.

I never guessed you meant "no" when you said "yes."

Everything was perfect in my head

Until the lead started hitting me.

It didn't take long at all

Until the Zen started to fall.

You never thought

That I would survive the shock.

Everything was perfect in my head

Until the lead started hitting me.

Scratch, Scratch, Scratch

Scratch, scratch, scratch

Goes the cat on the carpet.

She stepped in the blue water bowl.

Twitch, twitch, twitch

Goes my eyelid,

My tongue in a cavity hole.

I lost my passport one hairy night.

I think they found it in the bald bulb light.

Now I wait calmly in the holiday cold

My love is lent out, tucked in a skin fold.

My love is lent out, tucked in a skin fold.

(There goes my baby)

Not really in the middle of the murder,

Surely left of center of the swirl.

I bolster my conviction as a character reference

With a sweetie, neatie drop of pearl.

The crowd at the courthouse passed around the flu,

Blew through steamy faces.

Still in shock in the parking lot.

Freezing, doing Sunday suit paces.

Then we were dismissed,

And I drove alone to a friend's.

Mysterious Tunnel

I just never could say, "Goodbye," or "Adieu,"

But the years, they have been so kind to you.

There's some skills that I have learned to do

That I would certainly like to share them with you.

You're outside hanging wet linen

And I am giving a Van Dyke listening.

If you need a little help stretching that canvas,

If you need a shaky ride to Lawrence, Kansas.

If you need a little help hauling that big, fat sack,

I'll be sitting right here beside my Stone Age fax machine.

You're up there amongst the mountains

And I am drinking from a nasty water fountain.

I just never could lay a bead on you.

I took a sad envelope of seed from you.

I just never could get something to take root.

One just never can tell about the growth shoot.

I am crouched with a weak shovel

And you are tending the mysterious tunnel.

Arthur Murray

She's so musical. Look at her dancing in a flurry.

Who gets to lead? Do know it's not Arthur Murray.

Emasculate me with your biology.

Break me. Bend me. I'm worthless.

One wicked brand from your torturous hand,

You laugh when I tell you you're gorgeous.

She has an answer for everything. She's so smart in the raw.

And well educated. That's a double fisted draw.

Cotton breathes between her cheeks.

Spin me. Weave me. I'm willing.

One finger prick, I know I'll take sick.

She'll chalk up a killing.

She's so fashionable. She's a Nazi when she's shopping.

But wholly democratic, you should see who she's been bopping.

Emasculate me with your biology.

Break me. Bend me. I'm worthless.

One wicked brand from your torturous hand,

You laugh when I tell you you're gorgeous.

Prick

I was shaking with laughter,

Scared the bratty children.

Did I destroy the ambience?

I'm sure for that hoity-toity patron.

It wasn't pretty

When I looked into the face,

Oops into the eyes,

Ruptured icy chaos.

What's the,

Who’s the prick?

We was hidden in the potted plants.

I know [obnoxious] and we was no obnoxious.

It wasn't pretty when I looked into the face,

Oops into the eyes, ruptured icy chaos.

I ain't supposed to laugh? Can't let your kids see that?

I ain't suppose' to wonder what's the, who's the prick?

Woodrow Wilson

She said her father looked like Woodrow Wilson

Presiding from behind prescription lenses

She said her father looked like Woodrow Wilson

She said her mother acts like a First Lady

She'd been having those problems lately

She said she's going to the clinic on Wednesday

She said her brother wished he was a Negro

Went to school in African-American studies

Once he had his picture taken with Adam Clayton Powell

She said her father looked like Woodrow Wilson

I saw him once and thought he looked a little bit like Truman

I know for a fact he has an Eisenhower ashtray

Parade

Where did you go after the parade?

I wandered

Searching

For about an hour

Then I parked it on a bench

Shifting and sulking

Those pesky little mosquitoes

They nearly drained me

Then a man dripping with vitalis

Said I looked like Joe Namath

He asked me did I used to be famous

And I said

Neighbor

I’m famously late

Where did you go after the parade?

You never even appeared to enjoy it

I came out of it

With a slight experience

Drinking

And howling at the natives

You’re great at disappearing

You left me with an ear ache

I spit into the swan lake

Saying

What a hideous review

Weather

Barometric pressure

Push me to the ground

My stomach is growling

I always heard

This was such a festive town

But everybody over 10 years old is frowning

Where did you go after the parade?

I didn't expect to be bolting away

Remember that time you took me

To see Harold and Maude

Cause I didn't know

The meaning

Of the word

Catharsis

We are busy weaklings

Poking around for reasons

We are

Happy little heathens

It’s just time

We both

Admit it

Blanket Over the Head

We will remain ignorant

Incapable of knowing

Insoluble is the problem

Curiosity, sleeping

Killed the caterpillar

Curiosity, empty

Is a blanket over the head.

Square Room

Sitting in a square room

My voice is freezing

And the beams that are bouncing off the moon

They’re hanging from my window like icicles

A tired old alcoholic

Waxing bucolic

Shivering and homesick

Staring at a wooden floor.

Last night I nearly killed myself

Chasing rum with rum

There were crows a'flying

All around my head

And boy,

I sure caught and ate me some

It's funny how I alienated

Those who I was trying just so-so hard to impress

Now half those fuckers hate me

And I'm just a fool to all the rest

Why do I insist on drinking myself to the grave?

And why do I dream about cozy coffin

I had all these plans of great things to accomplish

But I end up purely pathetic more than often

Old Hotel

I can see my old hotel

Down amongst the smells

I’m up above that ancient city river

It’s filtered by my lousy liver

It’s filtered by my wilted lily liver

I can see my old hotel.

It ain't even a hotel.

5am there came some sleet or hail

It was signal taps on the brave window

Solemn taps on the wavy window

I can see my old hotel

Hear those old touristy bells

Soon I’ll be down the hill shopping

Giddy like a tipsy Mary Poppins

I can see my old hotel

It ain't even a hotel

I’m scheduled to ride the rails

If I wished to stay on in this tower

Things would derange given just another hour

MERRIMENT

Merriment

An old woman in a wig

And a mule eating a fig

Caterpillar on a twig

Shouldn't flitter

Fella hanging from a clock

Someone falling from a dock

Little ripple showing shock

And then we titter

Chubby kid upon a trike

Opened up the dyke

She nearly lost her water

Heals a haggard soul

Reflex to cajole

Bust your ass to soothe his cancer

Then the tragedy within

Gets the audience to grin

So you stop to start again

But then it's ending

Shooting one's self in the foot

Catch one's self with a fishing hook

Elementary textbook

Comic devices

For the common good

Take a little noog

Who's to say we should

Or should not giggle

Bless the idiot

That makes us split a gut

Roses for the butt

Of all our merriment

Fissle (Vapor and Soot)

Theorize and postulate

Screw it up and get it straight

Fissile, every one

Spooning with a sweetie pie

As solid as a twist tie

Fissile, every one

Equal

But opposite

Reduced

To vapor and soot

Carbon ends up caramelized

In the perforated sky

Fissile, every one

Isaac and Abraham

The larder and the little lamb

Fissile, every one

Sunny Pasture

I am heading toward

Sunny pasture and shade

Got it made

What is waiting on me?

I been waiting my whole life for

Working towards

I guess I lost my way

Guess I got sidetracked

All those forks and roads

I'll never ever find my way back

I was floundering

But now I'm powering

Down the homestretch

I'm so set

I'm a lucky man

And I've been handed

A new lease on life

Grip it tight

I guess I let it slip away

I guess I lost touch

I don't even know anymore

If I ever was in control all that much

A Feather on a Wall

Chaos

Or is it preordained

Glorious Glockenspiel

Or

Vain, hideous game

Party

Such a lonely host

Playing with paper dolls

No

Nothing approaching a peer group

Fill us full of wonder

A feather at a wall

Mixing the miasma

Almighty alchemist

Wholly self-serving

Arty

But hardly a victimless stunt

Forming

So spontaneous

All alone and eager

To

Show the converted who's boss

Really

O, so rather sad

All that trouble gone to

For

Just a puppet put on the back

Fill us full of wonder

A feather at a wall

Mixing the miasma

Almighty alchemist

Wholly self-serving

Arty

But hardly a victimless stunt

DNA

You're in a battle with your DNA

You'll wrestle Mother Nature 'til the end

You don't accept the judge's decision

It's gonna take and take total annihilation

They preach to you

And they speak the truth

But truth is only in the understanding

Only when all parties can agree to the terms does it

Count on every star you see in the sky

It ain't all the options

What is called for often is called

Improvisation

Commandments that they passed along to you

Encoded what and not to do

But the law is full of loop holes

Its contradictions causes short circuits

In human hands

The struggle expands

'Til every mother is mutating daughter

Repeated simply sequential

If'n you care to

Count on every star you see in the sky

it ain't all the options

What is called far often is called

A term you gotta define thru improvisation

Preponderance

Preponderance

She shot me a bird

And everything blurred

She opened her mouth

And I was trounced

She likes to drink juice

Smells like a mousse

Cut the crap

You're spoiling my frappe

She's humming

So cunning

And stunning

In her mother's blue dress

She fluttered her lids

And I hit the skids

She wiggled her nose

And everything froze

She shook her head

And my innards bled

Cut the crap

You're spoiling my frappe

She's humming

So cunning

And stunning

In her mother's blue dress

She learned from the best

And I was the test

She aced the exam

And now I am damned

She just had to kneel

To get a book deal

Cut the crap

You're spoiling my frappe

Mighty Monkey

Smell the mighty monkey

Trainer is a junky

And the tightrope walker

Has one foot in the grave

Invited to inspect

What is a train wreck?

You don't even have to check

It's evident

So evident

Dancing bear is full of worms

See the puny pachyderms

Lion tamer wrestles with

Ghosts from his past

Clowns have herpes

And hepatitis C

The chick who runs the pony ride

We call her "Catherine the Gross"

Alcoholic acrobats

Emcee smokes crack

Last week the human cannonball

Blew his brains out

You May Not Be Interested

Of course I am prepared for anything

Why should it happen to everyone else and not me

You may not be interested but let me assure you it sure is

You may not be interested but let me assure you it sure is

Of course l am prepared for anything

Accept the stranglehold

Accept the stranglehold

Go ahead and be sarcastic now

While you've got such an adept lookout

You may not be interested but let me assure you it sure is

You may not be interested but let me assure you it sure is

Go ahead and be sarcastic now

Long may you wave

Long may you wave

Tender beauty is precarious

Sweetness and joy illuminate the darkness

Individuals influence in complex ways the deeper currents

Individuals influence in complex ways the deeper currents

Tender beauty is precarious

Hard to insulate and fully embrace

Hard to insulate and fully embrace

LEFT TO HIS OWN DEVICES 

Deadline

Deadline

It ain't moving

Deadline

Stiff as a board

Deadline

End is ensuing

But I gotta get something done, done, done

Done, done, done soon

Deadline

Under pressure

Deadline

It's gonna snap

Deadline

Serious semester

And I gotta get something done, done, done

Done, done, done soon

Deadline

Down to the wire

Deadline

It's bumming me out

Deadline

I oughta retire

But I gotta get something done, done, done

Done, done, done soon

Very Friendly Lighthouses

I hope that you are through and

You knew what you were doing

You proved what you were proving

And it was sort of soothing to see

I couldn't say that it was new to me

Guess you could say but yours grew on me

I venture not a purer thing

You'd ever really want to even see

Motor boating through our lives

Only

Gradually

Gaining

Rudimentary navigational skills

And even sometimes offended by

Very friendly lighthouses

Very friendly lighthouses

You really got your groove on

You even donned a frou frou frock

But now that you have moved on

I'll process priceless memories

I should've seen that you were stewing

I was absent when you blew and

By the time I knew it

Was already in full fabulous swing

Motor boating through our lives

Only

Gradually

Gaining

Rudimentary navigational skills

And even sometimes offended by

Very friendly lighthouses

Very friendly lighthouses

Here's hoping that you grew some

You'd think that it would do something

You certainly were gruesomely

Before I went away

Fish

Not the way it used to be

But it was never perfect or ideal

Fish out of water is all we eat

Internal combustion is bustin' my balls

Blanking my eyesight away

Throwing darts at a dartboard

Slinging slobber across the hall

Opening a leatherman

To wrench out an inner demon

Double Dutch bus is coming down the street

Stopping at the homes of all your enemies

And the spotlight is hot

And it'll burn your fingers

And dry rot the net under trapeze swingers

Hollow as a plaster thing sitting on a radiator

And toxic as a brass ring

Soft sundog is fascinating

Loquacious waitress made us leave

Daddy needs no more proof

Little darling fell off the roof

Vortex snapped into sharper focus

Slicing myopic bogus away

Double Dutch bus is coming down the street

Stopping at the homes of all your enemies

And the spotlight is hot

And it'll burn your fingers

And dry rot the net under trapeze swingers

12 Johnnies

One Johnny went to the newlywed school

One Johnny did Elmer Gantry

One Johnny went to the ice cream shop

To have a fit in the pantry

Go Johnny go, go Johnny go

One Johnny went in the factory flame

One Johnny did all his laundry

One hippie Johnny ran an 8 ball

Blew out what was his Johnny

Go Johnny go, go Johnny go

One Johnny did just what he could do

One Johnny did some of everything

One Johnny did something deadly to a man

Who just stepped foot in his driveway

Go Johnny go, go Johnny go

One Johnny he was a foxy little number

One Johnny he was a shy one

One Johnny who grew nectarines

Decided today just to bite one

Go Johnny go, go Johnny go

Wounded Prince

Wounded prince

Where's your daddy?

He's out watching the fat lady sing

Did you break your leg?

Did you bloody your nose?

The cameras are here

To watch your blue blood flow

Your mother's being poked

By some bloke in the Bahamas

Wounded prince

Where's your grandma?

The tourists are watching the changing of the diapers

Wounded prince

Wrapped in swaddling scandal

How much yellow press can your blue blood handle?

Your mother's being poked

By some bloke in the Bahamas

Money, money, the richest boy in the world

Money, money, you ain't being spoiled

Your mother's being poked

By some bloke in the Bahamas

Wounded prince

The doctors are giving a press conference

The cameras are gathered for a portrait of your sarcophagus

Wounded prince

No you ain't dead yet

You fell off that pony and made the stock market sweat

Your mother's being poked

By some bloke in the Bahamas

Money, money, the richest boy in the world

Money, money, no you ain't being spoiled

Your mother's being poked

By some bloke in the Bahamas

We Should Be So Brave

You're always pulling for the underdog

I know you're always pulling for me

You are a champion of the shattered

I know you're always so supportive of me

You're so intrigued by the oddities

I always piqued your curiosity

You're always for the unfortunates

I know you're always right there for me

I don't need to look in the mirror

To know just where I sit in the scheme of things

I don't need a doctor's exam to tell me why I can't fly

Your liberal life is like social work

I know you always socialize with me

You're one to stick up for the downtrodden

I know you're always in there fighting for me

I don't need to look in the mirror

To know just where I sit in the scheme of things

I don't need a doctor's exam to tell me why I can't fly

Bless his little heart; he's doing the best that he can

He's such an inspiration to us all

We should be so brave

Cash

Do your math

Eat your clams

I always hated the L.A. Rams

Climb up on the roof

To watch the balloon

As its shadow wanders across your room

Get the Windex

And a wad of paper towels

Wishing you was Roseanne Cash and I was Rodney Crowell

Groom your trees

Prune your shrubs

Pounding pitchers in your neighborhood pubs

Conspiracy to keep me under wraps

I signed the document

Well I guess my ass is grass

Stoke a candle

Thumb through a book

Autobiography of an infamous crook

In Amongst the Millions

It was the banquet years

Duels were fought

So that bastards in the end

Died with honors

It was an epoch

So unlike the one that we got

Cause people can't die anymore

I should've been buried long ago

But they electric shocked me though

I ought to be

Pushing up the pine straw

But people can't die anymore

I'm embalmed

I'm a mummy

I've got herbs and spices

In my stomach

I should be a dirty piece of solid red ground

But because of some cure they found

I'm still around

In amongst the millions

Cause people can't die anymore

I'm embalmed

I'm a mummy

I've got herbs and spices in my stomach

I should be a dirty piece of solid red ground

But because of some cure they found

I'm still around

In amongst the millions

Cause people can't die anymore

Hermitage

Sitting here resting my bones

Fanning my affliction

Wishing I had a few clones

To act as stand ins

But here at the hermitage

I am privileged

With solitude

And self-cooked food

And crying time

And quirks of mind

Chesnutt's chewing his nails

The Zen of self-mutilation

Forgetting all that life entails

Sinking in a silly stagnation

But here at the hermitage

I am privileged

With solitude

And self-cooked food

And crying time

And quirks of mind

Thought You Were My Friend

Thought you were my friend

But you are my foe

Took my trust and crushed it

You swindled me

Put my trust in you

And you busted my balls

Thought you were my friend

But you are my foe

Behind your pleasantly stupid act

Lies intentions cold and black

Thought you were my friend

But you are my foe

My Last Act

Fill the basin with my hands

Your strong shoulders in my head

Soft soap splashing on the rim

I keep wishing I was him

Cobweb fluttering 12 feet up

Above the basin where I violently scrub

Can't scrape away with soap and fingernails

Dirty imagined intimate details

I go to the garage where on the wall

A 1000 granddaddy long-legs crawl

A crazy notion cracks through my mind

An electric shudder shoots up and down my spine

I run to the kitchen grab a pot and lid

And I rush to the garage before I knew what I did

I was raking hundreds spiders into that pot

Then I was sitting at the kitchen table

Feeling so cold and so hot

In a moment I move to get a cereal bowl

Then I’m back at the table then before I know

What exactly I had done

I pulled the legs off every one

That mound of little round bodies in front of me

It looked like a bowl of black eyed peas

So I take them over to the countertop and poured it into the Cuisinart

I reached in the cupboard and I grabbed a fifth

Of tequila and I pour that in

Push the button and it starts to chop

My chest can hardly contain my thumping heart

My last act on this earth

Will be to chug-a-lug the mixture and hope for the worst

Distortion

Everybody lies

What's the big deal?

It's impossible to know what is and isn't sealed

Faith is the lies we tell and tell ourselves

Life is the lies we tell everybody else

History is a daisy chain of lies

Humans love distortion

Public record is a poetic device

Blown way out of all proportion

I look at the color red, and say 'red'

Everyone else looks at the color and says 'reddish'

We all say I don't believe it 'til I see it

But so much happens between light hitting the eye

And the assimilation of that data into consciousness

Simple beam bending

Or obscuring lens anomalies

Or electrical distortion along the optic nerve

But more mysterious are the magnetic osmotics

Sloshing around inside

The hifalutin grey filter switchboard that is brain

Miles of rough road

Vital baggage is tousled or tossed off the truck

Everyone sees it in a certain way

Everyone knows it as only they can know it

And everyone has things that only they can see

Understanding breaks down

Gulfs in agreement develop

Concrete terms crumble

We all define the stuffs and stages of our worlds

With terse tags and populist generalities

We all know a rose is sometimes a rose

But what fucking color is it? What fucking color is it?

Everybody fibs

Myths are entertained

Delusions are encouraged and/or covertly ingrained

Faith is the lies we tell and tell ourselves

Life is the lies we tell everybody else

Common knowledge is a daisy chain of lies

Humans love distortion

Civilization is costume revelry

Culture by coercion

Squeak

The wall came down

Yes I saw a kid chiseling

The reporter is a new age junkie

Keeps his needles in a pyramid

Camera on his shoulder

And chips on the pavement

A hundred German dollars

Well don't that just about pay my rent?

I am weak

Outlook is bleak

Yes I’m on stage commencing to squeak

Yes I’m on stage commencing to squeak

Well the picture is flickering

A surge of some kind

If you shake that thing more than 3 times

You're liable to go blind

Ruby shoes and a sparkly hat

Eyeballing crass commercialism

Well I couldn't live like that

I am weak

Outlook is bleak

Yes I’m on stage commencing to squeak

Yes I’m on stage commencing to squeak

The picture is flickering

A surge of some kind

If you shake that thing more than 3 times

You're likely to go blind

Allies

Enemies

Summits to climb

Warsaw pacts

Remaking maps

Yes it's all pink on the inside

Yes I am weak

Outlook is bleak

Yes I’m on stage commencing to squeak

Yes I’m on stage commencing to squeak

Look at Me

Look at me in my thirties

Plowing forth

Unsteady and unsturdy

But I’m still alive, I’m still alive

I win a prize I’m still alive

Look at me pushing forty

Suiting up for another sortie and

I'm still alive, I’m still alive

I win a prize I’m still alive

It may not be pretty my life up to here

But something bold and beautiful occurred

I'm not interred

If you look at me as a tragic figure

For one frivolous moment I beg to differ

'Cause I’m still alive, I’m still alive

I win a prize I’m still alive

It may not be pretty my life up to here

But something bold and beautiful occurred

I'm not interred

SILVER LAKE 

I’m Through

Forget everything I ever told you

I’m sure I lied way more than twice

But understand I am not Emily post

You know I’m nowhere near that precise

And I struggle with these etiquettes

Like you wouldn’t believe

I’m puzzled by the policies

Cause after everything else you draw out of me

You still expect cute curtsies

But I’m through, through, through

Carrying you on my shoulders

And I’m through, through, through

Hiding

And I’m through, through, through

Living my life for you

I hope for both our sakes

I’m through, through, through

I hope you are happy

With your hold on me

It sure stuck me awful strong

And don’t you dare call this disloyalty

There’s no way you could be more wrong

I’m just dragging my devotion

In a last ditch retreat

Seeking some safety

I’m tired of bleeding

For no good reason

Is that so hard to see

But I’m through, through, through

Carrying you on my shoulders

And I’m through, through, through

Hiding

And I’m through, through, through

Living my life for you

I hope for both our sakes

I’m through, though, through

Stay Inside

Well, I guess I’m thru stewing

How ‘bout let’s roll the rock away

My bed clothes have gone all funky

I need to get out of this cave

Stay inside

Well, the times they are a changin’

Look at all the idlers

Soon there will be no one to sheer the sheep

And I am cold natured

Stay inside

Suddenly everything’s different

Everyone’s on edge

I just wanted to bring folks together

But it seems that I am the biggest wedge

Stay inside

Band Camp

The first time I ever laid eyes on you

Was my first year at marching band camp

You never played the part as it was written

You would always vamp

You were always cracking me up

Messing with the band director

Mocking the tuba parts

In your upper register

If I knew then what I know now

If I knew then what I know now

You shouldn’t have even been talking to me

Just a lowly freshman

And you the undisputed queen of the senior class

Without question

Yet at the band hangout Ruth’s restaurant

We sat together in a corner booth

We got our burgers for free

Because you were kin to Ruth

If I knew then what I know now

If I knew then what I know now

You always had a little something

In your case

We would be practically making out

On the bus home from the way games

Soaked a tampon in some serious vodka

Wore it to school

Second period science lab

You fell right off your stool

If I knew then what I know now

If I knew then what I know now

I didn’t go to your gradation

Couldn’t find the strength

I had to toss my yearbook in the dumpster

Because it was haunting me

The very next time I ever laid eyes on you

It was practically Christmas

You looked like a whole different person

Just like much older sister

If I knew then what I know now

I still never, never, never, never would’ve seen that coming

Girls Say

Girls say, “Why you want to do that?”

And boys say, “Well I got to leave.”

Girls say, “Watch out for your head.”

And boys say, “Why you wanna be a bitch?”

Girls say, “Can I get you anything?”

And boys say, “who you trying to kid?”

Girls say, “Ooo, I’ve got a headache.”

And boys say, “Why you wanna be a bitch?”

Physiology is no mystery

A jigsaw puzzle is only a trial and error game

Girls say, “You look great today.”

And boys say, “Show me all your boobs.”

Girls say, “I could use a backrub.”

And boys say, “Why you wanna be a bitch?”

Girls say, “Ooo, careful with that.”

And boys say, “Hey, look what I can do!”

Girls say, “Please don’t yell at me.”

And boys say, “Why you wanna be a bitch?”

2^nd Floor

If you want to see two circling swans

On the surface of the sewer pond

Don’t crane your neck where you are

You’ve got to climb to the second floor

I wouldn’t‘ve even mentioned it

If you didn’t seem so tuned into it

You’ve got to climb to the second floor

Short chore great reward

I’m in the east but I’m looking west

When I’m facing north

The big huge valley’s to my left

Horizon holds three great slag heaps

Piercing the sky like the pyramids at Giza

I wouldn’t make so much of it

If I didn’t know you truly loved it

You’ve got to climb to the second floor

Short chore great reward

Styrofoam

Emotion drains

Like the contents of a cooler

My thorax is Styrofoam

I’m a cheap, spent shell

And a biohazard

Grind me up then mail me away

Maybe transmogrified

I’d be satisfied

That finally at long last I am harmless

It is simply so

It’s my chemical makeup

I slough it off every 28 days

So raise your hand

And ask yourself a question

But make it the powerful one

And when you answer by rote

And the pap comes from your throat

Just tidy up and think of me in pieces

The lousy poet in me can’t lie no more

And the warrior in me

Has gone and died before

And that hard, handsome Olympian

Was forced to retire

So dig out the films

And all those yellowed clippings

Do them up then stash them for good

Then raise your hand

And ask yourself a question

But make it the powerful one

Make it the powerful one

Zippy Morocco

Zippy Morocco with a hat on his head

Set sail for the seven seas

When his mother took to dead

Barely out of teenagedom

When his mental map was unfurled

The next thing that he knew

He found himself halfway around the world

With nobody to send exotic postcards to

With nobody to send exotic postcards to

Zippy Morocco as admiral of fleet

Might’ve been wet behind the ears

But he certainly was fast on his feet

Put down a mutiny at the edge of the earth

He knew the value of the swirling sun

He never overestimated his own worth

It was the grief that whetted his appetite

It was the grief that whetted his appetite

And the waves they do not tell you welcome

And the sand on the shore

It does not spell out a hello

Salutations they are below the surface

Listen to Zippy Morocco he says

“That is what I know”

Zippy Morocco as the perfect pragmatist

Had a hold on the astronomical odds

And he knew what to risk

Staked a million on an easterly wind

Collected the holy city

Now the horse traders come to him

With their beads and cheese and horses

With their beads and cheese and horses

Sultan, So Mighty

I’m here because I am a eunuch

I am no threat

I’m here to watch the ladies

And to fan away their sweat

And the sultan so mighty

Comes crawling to lowly me

When he has a little problem

With the ladies

I’m here because I am a eunuch

I’m perfectly safe

I’m here to bring the ladies

Hot towels when they bathe

And the sultan so mighty

Wants to talk to me

When he

Needs a little help

With the ladies

And what he don’t know

Won’t hurt him

What we know

Would never hurt him

But he would hurt us

If he knew what we know

I’m here because I am a eunuch

A trusted confidant

I’m here to serve the ladies

They tell me what they want

And the sultan so mighty

Has to go through lowly me

When he’s having trouble pleasing

Certain ladies

And what he don’t know

Won’t hurt him

What we know

Would never hurt him

But he would hurt us

If he knew what we know

Wren’s Nest

Like at the wren’s nest

Like at rock eagle

Ironies swirl

Hearts are twisted taut

Around their pivot points

The stag scrapes his felt on a scrubby dogwood tree

Like at warm springs

Like at the key club

Residuals are what get to one

Reach toxic levels with time

Even the pretty fawn is full of wolf worms in the summer

O so horribly intensely I prayed

Let me evaporate

But the autumn leaves are beautiful, too

Like on the Flint River

Like at the mica mines

Conversations escalated

Voices trembled and cracked

The barn owl’s white belly is like a flash bulb

Instantly illuminated by a moonbeam

As he swoops silently before us

Toward a fateful meeting in the forest

O so horribly intensely I prayed

Let me evaporate

Fa-La-La

Fa-la-la is running around

All over the grounds of the hospital

I was watching for her

Like some people watch birds

From the window of my hospital room

I was trapped and tired

She was as free as I’d ever found

The embodiment of life force

In a hospital gown

I could feel my body healing

I would crank up the head

Of my hospital bed

All the way up

When they’d wake me at dawn

Then I’d gaze out at the lawn

Waiting for my sad soul medicine

I was trapped and tired

She was as free as I’d ever found

The embodiment of life force

In a hospital gown

I could feel my body healing

But today at dawn

The doctors came and told me

I’m going home

And a nurse would come and see me

Everyday

And my folks are on their way

To see me home

But I don’t want to go

No I don’t want to go

Fa-la-la is running around

All over the grounds of the hospital

As they are loading me up

Into the cab of my daddy’s truck

For our long ride home

Only a fool wouldn’t be happy

To leave this cold institution

For a warm loving home

But I feel like I’m drying up

Deep down in my bones

I don’t want to go

No I don’t want to go

In My Way, Yes

Taking my time

Working on lines

Fingers in clay

Everyday

Head in the clouds

Moving my mouth

Spreading the grout

Holding it down

Do you think it makes a difference?

I say yes in my life yes

Cuddling up

Declarations of love

Squeeze and a hug

Kiss and a rub

Faces opposed

Eyelids closed

Nuzzling nose

Like proverbial eskimos

Don’t’cha’ feel silly

I say no with my love no

I never ever thought

I’d have a life like this

I never dreamed

I’d be alive

I never considered

Such as these surroundings

Effectually pulling it off

Watching the cops go by

Seeing a falcon fly

Reading a history book

Wetting a tiny hook

Driving fast all night

Bursting into song at first light

Sharing breakfast from one plate

Holding hands over loved ones graves

Do you think you deserve it?

I say yes in my way yes

GHETTO BELLS 

Virginia

Virginia, Virginia, she's a beautiful queen

She rules with hands that are graceful and mean

She's free with her body, voluptuous, too

But cross her and she'll crush the life out of you

Yes, Virginia, I love you, I love you

Yes, Virginia, enough to die

Yes, Virginia, I love you, I love you

Too much to survive

Virginia, Virginia, my lover my mom

I sprung from her bosom with a saber not a gun

All of my life's toil and blood sacrifice

Has been to make myself more attractive in her eyes

Yes, Virginia, I love you, I love you

Yes, Virginia, enough to die

Yes, Virginia, I love you, I love you

Too much to survive

Little Caesar

Little Caesar has a mandate

Now there is no doubt

The blessing of the senate and the citizenry

Rome is bowing at his feet

What will he do with all his power?

What'll little Caesar do now

What do little Caesars always do?

When their enemies cower

Little Caesar’s words ring

In the heart of every legionnaire

They are trained and in formation

To do his will

And so it's on to glory

For god's chosen one on earth

The holy roman emperor

Bequeathed the crown by birth and so the public has spoken

With resounding clarity

As to whom they trust

And in what they believe and they've proven that it's futile

To resist

The cult of little Caesar

Do so at your own peril and risk

What Do You mean?

Like a puppy on a trampoline

What do you mean?

Bewildered

We heard you laughing

What do you mean?

Felicity it is a vibration it moves in a wave

You are a surfer on that clarion tone

I hope so, we know so, I hope so

Like a salmon headed up a stream

What do you mean?

Ambivalent

We heard you whistling

What do you mean?

Contentment

Got to Me

I couldn’t get away from it

I was in over my head

I guess it really got to me

I guess it really got to me

Yes I fought it hard and heavy

But I could not shake it off

I guess it really got to me

I guess it really got to me, yes infusion insidious

Extricates character

Exuviates goodness

Corroding and corrupting

It was all encompassing

Tainted every thought

I guess it really got to me

I guess it really got to me, yes infusion insidious

Extricates character

Exuviates goodness

Corroding and corrupting

Ignorant People

Born as I was to ignorant people

Too traumatized to take me home

Came in a car and left on an embankment

Covered with pine straw

But instinct saved me

Something innate

Made my wet lungs scream with hate

Scream with hate

Found as I was while fixing a flat tire

He’d run 'em bald

The schemer looked down upon the screamer

Like buried treasure

He nursed me and cherished me

And trained me to be

What is here in front of you

A ticket to see, a ticket to see

Fate has been so good to me

You may not understand

How I can be thankful to be where I am

To be where I am

Forthright

Looking in the hourglass

Ants in the sand

Reflected in the oil lamp

I can see the wrinkles in your hand

You can be forthright with me

You can be forthright with me

Next to the pot-bellied stove

Hand on the flue

Photograph on the roll top desk

Is it of you?

You can be forthright with me

You can be forthright with me

Half a pound of hominy

Soaking in a wooden bowl

Underneath the cheesecloth

In the safe hold

You can be forthright with me

You can be forthright with me

To Be With You

Thoughts of your flutter are flooding my mind

Not constant like a buzz

But strobe thumping like a heart beat

Drowning any other notion

Now I am sure, now I am sure, now I am sure

When I met you everything changed

I burned so many bridges to be with you

I Shermaned pretty much my entire adult life

To be with you, to be with you, to be with you

Just to be with you

Vesuvius

Trying to clip the creek to the bank with a clothes pin

Waterlogged system, rusty spring, faulty planning

Logic squeezed out like mustard at a corndog

Hypertension is not wisdom, chewing the leather straps

Trying to hold the sun still with a bobby pin

Burned fingers. Excellent conductor of heat

Private fantasies are not public policy

Christian charity is a doily over my death boner

Busy work is not the Great Wall of China

Vanity bamboo hut out back behind the big house

Pretend is salve for whitey-boy guilt

Furiously slapping at the moon with a cane pole

Trying to prop up the heavens with a fresh flat pencil

Some folks are allergic to rubber

I am trying to stitch this one to all the rest of them

But the seams will split, collide and cleave

Neapolitan ice cream is never truly integrated until it’s too late

Trying to stop the bleeding with scotch tape

Platelets spoil adhesion, fire up the cauterizing iron

It's a branding of necessity not scarification

Bliss was a pimple that I tried to pop

It erupted up and out on my countenance

Ugly eruption, Vesuvius, ugly eruption, Vesuvius

Ugly eruption, Vesuvius

Vesuvius at myself, Vesuvius at myself

Rambunctious Cloud

Here comes the rain, the bottom fell out

Thunder hit, shook the house

Sunday, church is letting out

The rain comes from rambunctious cloud

Here comes the rain, the bottom fell out

I knew it was coming

But it won’t help the drought

At this point I just hope it cools things down

The rain comes from rambunctious cloud

The same water that the dinosaurs drank

Is the same water that the Persian fleets sank in

The very water that moistened the primordial ooze

Is now hammering on my metal porch roof

Here comes the rain, the bottom fell out

Pushing debris through my gutter spout

Maybe it will help cut the pollen count

The rain comes from rambunctious cloud

The Garden

Pus on your finger, mud on your mind

The tiller is broken, your garden is crying

There's been too much rain, tomatoes they split

Spring was a beauty but she turned into a beast

Your boy is rebellious, he refuses to work

Your daughter is a fine one but allergic to dirt

The preacher came a ‘calling, he wants a fresh ham

Your wife she obliges, thaws the one you was saving

So you piddle in the garden, you pick at the ground

Your family is fighting, oh, but you don't hear a sound

Gnats

Gnats and bats and things with wings

I know why the cagey fella won't sing

Sticks and stones and broken bones

I know why my words are wrong

Humps and stumps and green tattoos

I know why your crutches bruise

Biscuit dough and oleo

I know where the time goes

BONUS TRACKS

Would You Sign my iPod?

I'm a little drunk but I love your music

My friends turned me onto it and now I've downloaded everything I could find

I was so excited when they told me you were playing

I knew ever thought I'd get to see you, and it was a great show!

And could you sign my iPod

Would you sign my iPod please?

Would you sign my iPod?

Could you sign my iPod please?

We knew the door guy so we got in for free

That's why I don’t have a ticket or I'd get you sign it

If I had some money, I’d buy a CD from you

If I had some money, I’d buy a t-shirt

But could you sign my iPod

Would you sign my iPod please?

Would you sign my iPod?

Could you sign my iPod please?

Oooh! I don't have a pen!

Oooh! Can I bum a pen?

Oooh! I don't have a pen!

Oooh! Can I bum a pen?

Oh no! No!

(Can I get my picture taken with you on my camera phone?)

IRAQ

She is beautiful and rich
And married to a world-class prick
He beats her and rages
So I’m gonna save her
That puny bully is no match for my
Well-toned muscles

While I’m tearing him limb for limb
She will see what great shape I’m in
She’ll kiss me on the cheek
And say “you’re my hero”
I’ll take her in my arms
And then I’ll have her

She’ll be mine!

Well I did just what I said
I beat that bastard dead
But as I was punching and pounding and beating
She was sobbing and bleeding and screaming
Which wasn’t exactly what I was expecting
But never for one moment did I
Let it distract me

His blood, my sweat and her tears soaked me
As I rose to my feet above his body
His head in my one hand
Held high triumphantly
But I had to hit her
To keep her from clawing me

But I knew she didn’t know what she was doing
So I held her down until she stopped flailing
And then I whisper in her ear
You are free, baby
You are free
Make love to me

She spat at my face
As I tightened my embrace
And as I pressed against her
She twisted and resisted
She tried to fight it
As I pushed inside her
I said, you’ll learn like it
You’ll learn love it
You’ll learn to love me
For I am your hero

The Garden (Demo)

Pus on your finger, mud on your mind 
The tiller is broken, your garden is crying 
There's been too much rain, tomatoes they split 

Spring was a beauty but she turned into a beast
Your boy is rebellious, he refuses to work
Your daughter is a fine one but allergic to dirt
The Preacher came a'calling, he wants a fresh ham
Your wife she obliges, thaws the one you was saving
So you piddle in the garden, you pick at the ground
Your family is fighting, oh, but you don't hear a sound

Ghetto Bells

(Spoken)

Well, here's a little story about Ghetto Bell's

Now, it must have been about, I don't know...Nineteen eighty...err, um,

I'm not exactly sure when. But you know, and, um, I wasn't very...how would I say? "Ambitious."

I mean, I did, I did, I did twinkle a bit, I would say. My, uh, whatever my parents gave me, I did twinkle a bit.

But, um, well anyway, I found myself homeless, but I only made like two hundred dollars a month from Welfare. And so I was taking that money and mostly

da-rinking it! And, uh, so anyway, I did have a van.

Now, where I used to live, you see, there was a grocery store in the, well, how would I say, not the best part of town. It was a locally own grocery store and they owned a couple of grocery stores. The name of it was Bell's. So anyway the one in the good part of town was called Yuppie Bell's. I didn't shop there.

So anyway, I used to always go into the Ghetto Bell's to get my thirty cent loaf of bread and I would shop lift a turkey ham. Yeah, I shoplifted turkey hall

But anyway, I found myself homeless, and so I lived in Ghetto Bell's parking lot, for about four months, in my van. I used to say that the payphone was my office and I told everybody that after four in the morning, if you want me, you know where I am.

So, anyway, they closed Ghetto Bell's. They shut it down. I couldn't believe it. They were gonna close Ghetto Bell's. They were closing Ghetto Bell's. They said it was because too many people were shoplifting.

Damn, man. I loved Ghetto Bell's! I can't believe that my dirty little dealings shut that place down, man.

That's a lot of damn turkey ham!

I guess there’s a moral to this story. It’s pretty easy to see, I must say. Pretty darn easy to see! 

NORTH STAR DESERTER  

Warm

Warm, the body is warm

The muscles twitch

The posture compensates

And cold, the arrow is cold

The friction warms nothing

But the point is pure

The wound it is secure

Trial by error

Follow a sun

And the one we have will do

What is the message on those gamma rays

That are a'penetrating you

Do they say that the end

Is a-coming soon

Or do they say forget the sun

Worship the moon

But whatever it is our pinhole perspective

Cannot a'translate sufficiently

But any way, a or b

You know, it's alright with me

Glossolalia

I am a stranger

Lurking alone in my own vicious wilderness

While the meat in my chest

Squeezes and teases a hulking hunger

Groping in motion

Balance is but a shimmering notion

And lurching compelled

My soul in its special hell of wet mortal limits

Perpetually thirsting

But I bask in a beautiful by-product

From twisting torque of dichotomy

What my eyes do see

In this spilling, dead wicked desert

It dances

Born of babble

Is now raison d'etre for the rabble

I sing my soul

With tongue

A sword in the sunlight

Thrashing and flashing

Glossolalia

Everything I Say

The barn fell down

Since I saw it last

Its rubble now

Well so much for the past

Everything that I say

Does me this ‘a way

Everything,

Every little thing I say

Does me this ‘a way

Some call her a thief

And some people call her a prophet

But her courage is brief

Brief as little, little Miss Muffet

Everything that I say

Does me this ‘a way

Everything,

Every little thing I say

Does me this ‘a way

She wanted to

Be an inventor

But nothing new

Was all she could muster

Wallace Stevens

I saw a blackbird

Thirteen ways

Then strew a fist many

Mountains away

My evangelism felled

Brutally taken

By breezes that rubbed me

And lifted light raven

I stretched to borrow

Fine antebelleum

To encase all the scrapings

Of us civilized fellow

I wanted to stash them

To secretive cages

With that fabulous blackbird

Of thirteen stages

You Are Never Alone

Its ok, you can take a condom

Its ok, you can take Valtrex

And it's ok, you can get an abortion

And then keep on keeping on

Its ok, you can take a Prilosec

And it's ok, you can take vioxx

And it's ok; you can get a quadruple bypass

And then keep on keeping on

It's ok, in moderation

It's ok, cutting down

Its ok, you can quit tomorrow

But for now keep on keeping on

Its ok, you can take the bible

And it's ok, you can be saved

And it's ok, you can be forgiven

And for now keep on keeping on

You are never alone

Splendid

In the pasture we run free

By the spring creek we lie down

In the pine thicket we are pricked

In the dry wash

We come across an incomplete set of bleached bones

Splendidly full of life

Wandering the countryside

Down the logging road we stray

In the orchard we feast

To the rocky ridge we persist

As the sun sets

We are enveloped by oddly energized orange light

Splendidly full of life

Wandering the countryside

On the beach we had fun

By the rocks in the sun

We were young we were free

We were wild as the weeds

Below cliffs

Surrounded by driftwood

We did everything we could

We did everything we

Everything we could

Rustic City Fathers

Those rustic city fathers were realtors,

Realtors

And all that profit taking

Was a beautiful awakening

They built themselves a beauty by the ton,

Ton by ton

I went there in a panic or for fun,

Or for fun

I thought I had a calling

Anyway I just kept dialing

And I sat beside the big puddle like a Shriner,

Angry Shriner

So I went to view the tower

Its majesty on a dead end street

It was a very long journey

And it took a lot of energy

I strode across the flat battlefield in the sun,

The filthy sun

Over

It ain't over ‘til it's over

Just like some joker said

When it's over it is done

And when it's done it's as good as dead

When it's good it sure is good

Yes and when it's good it's great

When it's great it's oh so wonderful

But when it ain't it ain't

It sucks when it's over

And you can't get it back

Why do we all want to?

Like a pack of necrophiliacs

When the fat lady sings

It's all been sung

Collect up your belongings

And clear the auditorium

It was fun while it lasted yes it was

It was fun while it lasted

Now it's all turned to dust

It was fun while it lasted I must say

It was fun while it lasted

Now it's all blown away

Everything blows away someday

Everything turns to dust

Big ol' mountains do

As well as everyone of us

And I love the dust

Debriefing

When I stop breathing

And my poor old heart finally gives out

I will spend eternity

Debriefing, debriefing, debriefing, debriefing

When I deplete the funds

And they're forced to pull the plug

Chisel on my tombstone

Debriefing, debriefing, debriefing, debriefing

Marathon

To-do lists on a long yellow legal pad

Blue Windsor knots framed by basic black

Resplendent tables

Great forests of paper plates

Carrying the weight of the world

Saps every ounce of your strength

In training to run a marathon

Miles and miles and miles

With your Sunday shoes on

In training to run a marathon

Miles and miles and miles

With your dress shoes on

But all the recurring dreams

Will increase and then peter out and cease

Tears do evaporate

But oh so slowly like piss on toilet seat

In training to run a marathon

Miles and miles and miles

With your Sunday shoes on

In training to run a marathon

Miles and miles and miles

With your dress shoes on

Rattle

Keeping it on the road

Keeping it on the road

Can't say I didn't rattle the load

But I’m keeping it on the road

Can't say I didn't rattle the load

But I’m keeping it on the road

DARK DEVELOPMENTS 

Mystery

Absolutely no, precisely zero
Mystery, mystery
Total absence, complete lack of
Mystery, mystery

Something so clear
It's not even here
So thin and so sheer
It disciplines

No, not any doubt
Utterly without
Mystery, mystery
Mystery, mystery
Mystery, mystery

                                                                               

Little Fucker

Little fucker has had enough
Little fucker he just can't keep up
Little fucker needs a wide berth
Little fucker more trouble than he's worth
Little fucker more trouble than he's worth
Little fucker more trouble than he's worth
Little fucker more trouble than he's worth

Wave goodbye and leave the little fucker there
Good job son, no lack of reason
Leave the little fucker
Leave the little fucker

That little fucker said goodbye
That little fucker had a tear in his eye
That little fucker really draws you in
That little fucker, he's good with it

He's good with it, he's good with it, he's good with it
He's good, He's good riddance
He's good, he's good, he's good, he's good riddance
He's good, he's good, he's good, he's good riddance

Wave goodbye, goodbye
Leave the little fucker there
Good job son, no lack of reason

And How

Where would you go?

And how would you do?

Who would you know?

And why would you?

Open up your trash

Then go take a bath

(You’ll need one.)

How would you leave?

What would you take?

Who would you squeeze?

And then forsake?

Open up your trash

Then go take a bath

(You’ll need one.)

Who, what, why , where and when?

(I need to know)

Who, what, why where and when…

and how?

When would you start?

Why would you stop?

Who would you hope

to show what you’ve brought?

Open up your trash

Then go take a bath

(You’ll need one.)

Teddy Bear

He ain't never gonna know
He ain't never gonna know
He ain't never gonna know

He ain't never gonna know
He ain't never gonna know
He ain't never gonna know

He never wants
We're gonna come back
He never wants
We're gonna come back

Because the frost is covering the clothes
You did music ochre
Heated honey gloaming over
And the mating target's frozen

He ain't never coming back
He ain't never coming back
He ain't never coming back

We Are Mean

In the city it is grey
In the country it is green
In the country we are happy
In the city we are mean

In the city we hear laughter
In the country we hear screams
In the city we are social
In the country we are mean

We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean

And I declare that everywhere
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
I explain, we're all the same,
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean

In the country we are healthy
In the city we are lean
In the country we are smiling
In the city we are mean

We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean
We are mean, we are mean, we are mean

Stop the Horse

Stop the horse
Stop the horse

Toss the bucket
Toss the bucket
Toss the bucket into the fishing boat

The congressman is coming in a wagon
I can already smell, already smell
The country load

I've been playing around
With a big ol' camera
I've been dodging the flashes
When they come to light

Without haste
My dark developments
An old ledger book
I found on a rubbish pile

If the old ghost has got a gun
We've got a problem
If the old ghost has got a gun
We've got a problem

The girl at the faucet
She wants to wash her hair
The girl at the faucet
She wants to wash her hair

Tie a scarf around her head
Tie a scarf around her head
Tie a scarf around her head

Tie bells around her sleeves
Tie bells around her

Bilocating Dog

It's the curious case of the bilocating dog
It's the curious case of the bilocating dog
It's the curious case of the bilocating dog
It's the curious case of the bilocating dog
It's the curious case of the bilocating dog
It's the curious case of the bilocating dog

Well Dougal had an accident
Where he lost conciousness
But when he started coming to,
It was Johnny who alerted the crew.

It's the curious case of the bilocating dog
It's the curious case of the bilocating dog

Johnny was a terrier
He had his first seizure
At the feet of old Auntie Lee
You should have heard her screaming

Well Ralph started waking up
His daddy glanced up at the clock
And Johnny had his apple sauce
While Auntie Lee was watching her show

It's the curious case,
very curious case, very curious case,
It's the curious case,
very curious case, very curious case of the bilocating dog.

The Mad Passion of the Stoic

Hunched over a little round bar table

Ineligible for the draft

Small pencil at epistolary

Sun on a rheostat

Strong tea gurgling in gut

Looking out across the smoky castling harbor

O, how wrong things sparkle and entrance alas

Sugar cannot sustain one, O, so fine forbidden

Flitting in front coaxing the confident cat off

The cozy sofa over the sloping edge into the

Killing cleansing magma

So easy to accept

But so hard to understand

As the raging river tears

(as the)

At those doting terra banks

(doting)

That hug, hold and ultimately define it

(holding, uttering)

As the raging river tears

(as the raging)

As those doting terra banks

(doting)

We claw our coy comforts

“You always hurt the one you love.”

Phil the Fiddler

Phil the fiddler
Paul the peddler
Joe the hotel boy

The girl in the gingham dress
The girl in the gingham dress
The girl in the gingham dress

Dick the butcher
Tom the bootblack
Ralph the collier

The kid with the aubergine eye
The kid with the aubergine eye
The kid with the aubergine eye

The carnal social as well as deserec
Join in the jubilation
of the frothy sweat
of the frothy sweat

Jack the lad
Tony the tramp
Ruthie the duck girl

The boy with the leaking boot
The boy with the leaking boot
The boy with the leaking boot

The girl in the gingham dress
The kid with the aubergine eye
The boy with the leaking boot

 SKITTER ON TAKE OFF 

Feast in the Time Of Plague

Mirrors, mirrors everywhere
A thousand eyes reflecting glare
Waves vibrant, thrilling and soothing
Dancing, resting, breathing, moving
Sunlight cranking in the head
Body craving to be tested

Feast in the time of plague
You were a beautiful pig
Feast in the time of plague
You were a beautiful pig

Pounding tables, fists of meat
Stupid messy giddy greed
This inflippent, frightening
Sloppy senses heightening
Praises gushing down from high
Drowning practicality

Feast in the time of plague
You were a beautiful pig
Feast in the time of plague
You were a beautiful pig

Unpacking My Suitcase

I was unpacking my suitcase
Pulling out dirty clothes
When evocative aromas hit my nose
One shirt smelled of your smoky loft
Another strongly of spilt vodka
And it occurred to me, how much I brought home

And knowingly your head loaded me up
With the stuff to survive
Through lean times
So starved I could just wither and die

But I was saving little chunks
Of your sweet sweet goodness
And squirrelin’ them away
I was squirrelin’ them away
I was saving healthy chunks
Of your sweet sweet goodness
And squirrelin’ them away
For the long lean winter

All of y’all, so lush and generous
It can get lean and lonely where I hail from
But each luscious one of you
Gave me bounteous charms to chew

And I was stuffing, stretching, smiley-cheeked
For the extent of my stay
You could say that I was
Squirrelin’ it away
I was just squirrelin’ it away

Dimples

Wrinkled Russian newspaper on the wall
Streaks of purple bruises on your arm
Long stemmed roses as a row
Lock of auburn hair in an envelope

Cat calls and wolf whistles
Cat calls and wolf whistles
Cat calls and wolf whistles
Everywhere you go, everywhere you go

Jello shots from a stranger
Turn them in the red granger
Playing catch across the trestle
Tackle turned into a wrestle

Breaking bones with river stones
In the shadow of the project
Sailor stopped the river walk
Waving jolly rogers

Too good to be true
The onus on you
Too good to be true
The onus on you, the onus on you

Time stretches amazingly
When adrenalin is pumpin
With your fist against my temple
Scary when you show your dimples

Rips in the Fabric

She was walking down the sidewalk

Sniffing swiftly in the wind

Thinking of everything and nothing

Just another flighty human being

And satellites where arcing

Undetected overhead

Her cells were busy splitting

And jettisoning the dead

Beauty is as beauty does

In the eyes of the beholder

Or collectively in all of us

She was waving to a cyclist

As he went coasting by

Through a lazy intersection

Towards the remainder of his life

And a feral cat went diving

Behind a dumpster there

Which displaced a big brown rat

That went fleeing with a comical flair

We are trapped, but we are free

To go through the motions

And be just as happy as we can be.

And later on I held her

In my skinny arms

My chapped lips were whispering

Esoteric alarms

But her warm breath assuaged me

And the music returned

Our dancing continued

While big forest fires burned

Space is spooky

And time is a trip

Don't let the preachers and teachers and hipsters fool you

There ain't no rips in the fabric.

Society Sue

We were strolling hand in hand
We were going to see the man
We were laughing at gaffer Dan
We were happy as giant clams

But Calamity Jane ruined everything
With her body and brains
She lived up to her name
She was Calamity Jane

We were kissing beside the park
As the parkie sputtered and sparked
We were bumping our birthmarks
We were happy as lilting larks

But Society Sue, she had something to prove
And when she made her move
There was nothing to do
We just had to make room for
Society Sue

My New Life

I am so lonely
I am so lonely
I am so lonely
I am so alone

I am so lonely
I am so lonely
I am so lonely
I am so alone
without you

I will never find my new life
I will never find my new life
without you

But one thing I will find
One thing I will find
In my new life
One thing I will find
One thing I will find
In my new life

Is that I don't have to
Be with no asshole anymore
And that I don't have to
Listen to your bullshit anymore
Yeah I don't have to
Be with no asshole anymore
In my new life

Dick Cheney

You’re a manly man
You gotta fearsome farmhand
Big strong shoulders
A set of stones as big as boulders
Confidence near from year to here

Maybe not the straightest aim
But that don't stop you from shooting
Over and over and over again
You love to shoot
In the face of our resistance

Defiant with a grin
Going down with Dick Cheney
Going down swingin'

So American, So western
You ride off into the sunset
While all civilization burns behind you
And I, I bet your humming
Don't fence me in
After the incredible stonewaller
That you have been
I bet your humming don't fence me in

Admired by a few of the most powerful people in the world
You are head of y’board feared retirement
But you will be confined
To your little bubble of protectors
Cos if you stray you will have to pay
For all the unconscionable wrong
You will have to pay
For all the unconscionable wrong you did

Worst Friend

You got one friend who's a flight attendant
You got one friend who likes speed
You got one friend who always wants to smoke inside of your house
You got one friend who secretly likes to get peed on sexually

You got one friend who is oh so natural
And got one friend we all call the retard
You got one friend fighting cancer
You got one friend who I bet right now is barking out in the yard

But I'm the worst friend in the world
I'm the worst friend in the world
When you are down
I'm nowhere to be found
I'm the worst friend in the world

You got one friend who's in Iraq
You got one friend who dresses like little bo peep
You got one friend who is in prison
You got one friend who's really really in defeat sexually

You got one friend who could be a competitive eater
You got one friend who's one of those bad movie buffs
You got one friend who touched you inappropriately
And one friend who you are pining to touch

But I'm the worst friend in the world
I'm the worst friend in the world
When you are down
I'm nowhere to be found
I'm the worst friend in the world

You got one friend who's emic Arthur fellow
You got one friend who a widower
You got one friend who claims to have taken a dump in the White House
You got one friend who just gave birth to twins

You got one friend who goes to the gym at least twice a day
And one friend recovered from severe burns
You got one friend who rubbed his penis on TV's actual Wheel of Fortune
And one friend who y'all ain't, y'all ain't even on speaking terms

Sewing Machine

Suck in your gut, unclench your fists
Just finished scaling a big black fish
On a bench up behind the tool shack
In a patch of the poisoned sumac

Momma order us some catalogue jeans
And she made the cuffs on the sewing machine
Sewing machine, sewing machine, sewing machine

Granny wrote a letter up under the table lamp
Said her thumbs hurt cos all the beans she had to snap
I laid on the porch, just looking through the cracks
See the dog sleeping, watch those ugly chicken scratch

The prom is coming and big sister should be queen
Momma makes her dress on the sewing machine
Sewing machine, sewing machine, sewing machine

Daddy is asleep, he's just home from work
In his comfy chair and his yellowed undershirt
Sister is sad cos she just got the curse
And I am kinda happy cos my go-kart kinda works

I wanna be a vampire on Halloween
Momma makes my cape on the sewing machine
Sewing machine, sewing machine, sewing machine

BONUS TRACK

Sweet Daddy

Sweet daddy spiraling down

Sweet daddy is spiraling down

Baby doll is sporting a taffeta gown

Little brother is going to ground

Big momma is crowin' in town

The glorious gears turn

The furious fears burn

The amor-ing yearlings yearn

For tomorrow

But tomorrow may only seem like molasses

Molasses

Uncle Owen is serving overseas

And Auntie has succumbed to the family disease

Grandfather still issues his very, very stern decrees

But I’m always done just what I please

The curious crowd blunders

The spurious speaker plunders

The waking widow wonders

Of tomorrow

But tomorrow may only seem like molasses

Sweet slow molasses

Sweet daddy's grown bitter

Sweet daddy's grown bitter

Sweet daddy has grown bitter

Progressively

Imperceptivity

AT THE CUT 

Coward

The courage of a coward
Is greater than all others
A scaredy cat'll scratch 'im
If you back him in a corner

But I,I,I,I am a coward
I,I,I am a coward

Courage, come on, of despair,
Submission, lash out
Very very dangerous
like like like a coward
like like like a coward

When The Bottom Fell Out

When the bottom fell out
There wasn't any doubt
I just suddenly found myself free falling
And from such a height
The wind, it had a bite
And it took all my might to fight the fight

The fell in spread-eagled
Must've found an airfoil
Or some kinda wing
And I gained some equilibrium
Caught myself gliding

When the bottom fell out
Observers heard me shout
So long, It's been good to know you
But when I finallly smash
Into that vertin grass
I will say It's been pretty great going

Chinaberry Tree

Me with overshedding
Going at the chinaberry tree
All the key players are watching me
Through their shimmying groove thing

Swell
Blood suckin
Life ever-loosening
Grill

Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
The biggest chinaberry tree that I'd love to see

Sawdust in the air
And on the ground everywhere
Throwing myself at the cut
With a force heretofore
Unknown to me

Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree

Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Chinaberry tree
Neatest chinaberry tree that has ever been

Chain

Chain, chain
Every gesture, every frame
Chain

Chain, chain
Empty hours, out of phase
Chain

And the Dowdle evidence
Synergize With common sense
Collective carnal conciousness
Strains the bulging sinfulness
Visionary's blind ambition
Unintended consequences

Chain, chain
Every shadow, every place
Chain

Chain, chain
Every dollar ain't the same

We Hovered With Short Wings

About your reef
Over the hillock crest
A breathlike aviation
Glowing, showing bones
Glowing, showing bones

With much bellowing and rowing
A cello directioning will let you out
Deaf and loud
Let you out

A hungry, hungry awful hunter
A breath, his came asunder
The old dog makes padded cake
As the aged come for me
As the aged come for me

Philip Guston

The hand, the hand,
The hand, the hand,
The hand, the hand,
Thoughts of another finger
Typing down into a cellar

The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line

The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line
The line, the line

A fame A fame A fame for nothing
Pile, pile of cherries
And oh, I shouldn't think
Like gravity

Bad habits
Bad habits
Bad habits
Bad habits

Concord Country Jubilee

I stumbled so innocently
Over all the obscene boundaries
Still I might've procured the act
Of concord country jubilee
And the perfect order fill in the street

It is there I scraped it clean
I was stumbling in
It was gonna be hard to heal
Crowd browsed in
Callous toward the injury
Still I rode the kidney tray
At the concord country jubilee

And the evidence is aimed on me
I screamed
And the girl she kissed his tongue
He touched her stuffed meat
Her stuffed meat
Her stuffed meat

Flirted With You All My Life

I am a man, I am self aware
And everywhere I go
You're always right there with me

I flirted with you all my life
Even kissed you once or twice
And to this day I swear it was nice but clearly
I was not ready

When you touched a friend of mine
I thought I would lose my mind
But I found out with time that
Really, I was not ready

Oh death, oh death, oh death
Really, I'm not ready

Oh death you enter me
Death's unmade those dear to me
And tease me with your sweet relief
You're cruel and you are constant

When my mom was cancer sick
She fought, but then succumbed to it
But you made her beg for it
Lord Jesus, please I'm ready

Oh death, oh death, oh death
Really, I'm not ready

Oh death, oh death, oh death
Clearly, I'm not ready

It Is What It Is

I am a monster like Quasimodo
Or Caliban the natural man
Giving wild ripostes to my reflection

One ugly morning in a rage
Father threw an apple into my carapace

And like the invisible man
Directing traffic
I'd be ineffective
No matter how enthusiastic

Amid the masses' frenzy
In this massive separation

Appearance is everything
Nothing is how it seems
And civilized society
Is calm civility

I'm the phantom of the opera
Singing beauty and at ease
Or Henry Darger's autobiography
And that is curt clues to my essence
Planned obsolescence

Appearance is everything
Nothing is how it seems
In a market economy
It's called marketing

And not exactly clawing my way to glory
Nor whimpering in the wind
But once positively
I'm teetering on the brink
Of an all-out breakthrough

But sometimes clear headed
Sometimes a doofus
Sometimes very cordial
And sometimes aloof

I am syrupy optimistic one moment
Then gravely pessimistic the next
Irritable as a hornet sometimes
Then agreeable as it gets

I'm not a pagan
I don't worship anything
Not gods that don't exist
Nor the sun which is oblivious

I love my ancestors
But not ritually
I don't blame them or praise them
For anything that they passed along to me
I don't need stone altars to help me hedge my bet
Against the looming blackness
It is what it is

Granny

Granny, Oh Granny
Whatya doin' by the kitchen sink?
She said, "I'm just makin' up some Pimento cheese"She said, "I'm just makin' up some Pimento cheese"
She said, "I'm just makin' up some Pimento cheese"

Granny, Oh Granny
Whatya doin' with your false teeth?
She said, "I'm just pickin' out the blackberry seeds"
She said, "I'm just pickin' out the blackberry seeds"
She said, "I'm just pickin' out the blackberry seeds"

Granny, Oh Granny
Where did your husband, my granddaddy go?
Where did your husband, my granddaddy go?
She said, "He went off to heaven just before you were born"
She said, "He went off to heaven just before you were born"
She said, "He went off to heaven just before you were born"

She said, "You are the light of my light of my life and the beat of my heart"She said, "You are the light of my light of my life and the beat of my heart"
She said, "You are the light of my light of my life and the beat of my heart"
She said, "You are the light of my light of my life and the beat of my heart"

BRUTE

NINE HIGH A PALLET

Westport Ferry

I went a back-assed way to Berkeley

When I ran the Westport ferry

I should've known it would change my life

When I rode the Westport ferry

What did I do aboard the boat?

On the Westport ferry

I wrapped warm bodies in plastic wrap

On the Westport ferry

The current is mighty and the channel is steep

Around the Westport ferry

Think of how many brilliant men were lost

In that murky deer

Around the Westport ferry

I will float again

When they're done dredging

That stubborn crowd won't disperse

'til that barge becomes a hearse

Blight

We sat on the couch a'playing

Touch the tongue and bump the table

But I was scorned after little ado

Tossed right out into the blue

I set into a downward spiral

Caught an illness that was literally viral

I heard some words of wisdom the other day

And they went in one of my ears and out of the other one

I awoke from this beatific binge

With prismatic eyes

Now light is tinged

With all the vapors that the vile humans brew

Shining through the blight of you

Mr. Hard-On

Good morning Mr. Hard-on

You've been so strange here lately

Good morning Mrs. Teacup

You're such a fine lady

Who's the basket case

In this rock'n'roll face

Since the body is braced

For a major piece of action

Good morning Mr. Hard-on

You're such a sight presently

Good morning Mr. Razor

Are we gonna do some tangling

What's the big to do

Why the stiffy salute

Who'll get the tribute?

From this major piece of action

Good morning Mr. Hard-on

You're looking awful brunch-y

Good morning Mrs. Window

Yours is such a fractured beauty

Push the envelope

Toward the treacherous slope

Mr. Hard-on will float

Toward this major piece of action

Ain’t Crazy Enough

I ain't crazy enough to get away with such

I ain't looney on paper to pull off such a caper

All of my life

All of my time I spent figuring

All of the figures

All of the numbers have been suffering

I ain't cut out for math

Still I chose a ruled path

I ain't foaming at the mouth

I guess I can probably work things out

All of the pressures

All of the fissures are not internal

Still I haven't ruled out a weakening bout with the infernal

I ain't good enough at annoying to really enjoy it

Please give me another chance

I swear to god

I'll go in a trance

Protein Drink (postcard to Neuwirth)

Protein drink on a flat sink.

Ice on the old window

Kitchen light just isn't right

I need full spectrum

Corn field is post yield

Creek froze lake effect snows

And a mushroom so very nasty in my mouth

I will gaze Akron tomorrow but today i'm staying put

Now my mood could use a little saccharin

But soon i'll be light of foot, lighter fluid

You're in Santa Monica on a numbered street

I'll be on a salty highway burning up a lucky streak

Sewing Machine

Suck in your gut

Clench your fist

Just finished scaling

A big black fish

On a bench out behind the tool shack

In a patch of poison sumac

Mama ordered us some catalogue jeans

She made the cuffs on the sewing machine

Granny wrote a letter

Up under table lamp

Said her thumbs hurt

'cause all the beans she had to snap

I lay on the porch

Looking through the cracks

See the dog asleep

And watch those ugly chickens scratch

The prom is coming

Big sister should be the queen

Mama makes her dress

On the sewing machine

Daddy is asleep

He's just home from work

In his comfy chair

And his yellowed undershirt

Sister is sad

She just got the curse

I am fairly happy 'cause my go-cart kind of works

I want to be a vampire for the Halloween

Mama makes my cape on the sewing machine

Down to Business

Let's get down to business, shall we?

Let's stop playing games.

Let' get down to business, shall we?

Let's quit with this

Lame pretense

And tackle this

What shackles us

All of this pressing business

Why didn't you tell me that things had gotten this bad?

I was off in my own little world

And I couldn't see

Through your tai chi

That I was being so sad

Well why didn't you tell me that things were falling apart?

I was off in my own little world

And I didn't discern

Your slow burn

Amidst all these fluttering hearts

George Wallace

Love of the old adage

Love of the tablets

What to do they say

Love of spider webs

Love of the dead

What do they say?

I ain't heard'em say anything, Isaac

I ain't heard'em say anything as of late

Love of rusty cannon

Love of prayer candles

What do they say?

Love of sunken ships

Love of bad trips

What did you say?

Here I am at my crystal radio

Listening for a signal from decades ago

Love of the rewarmed

Love of deformed

What do they say?

Love of the demolished

Love of George Wallace

What does he say?

Politically Correct

You're so politically correct it crawls down my neck

Smug as a bug in your righteousness

You talk like you're the original socialist

They all sit at your feet like you're some maharishi

As you knock off all off the easy targets

And knock up all of the tightest teacher's pets

And now you're a rich man you bought yourself a band

You're talking tough and playing loud

You sure know how to please your crowd

They all rally around you in their sweat shop styley-man suits

Flashing their bright red union cards

Blaring all your cd's from their oriental cars

Miserable

I am miserable in my big musty suit

I am even with my every version of the truth

I fiddle with the ring on my writing hand

That old clear jewel in a massive band

Spider veins decorate my face

Alcohol wakes my nasal space alcohol based sprays

My ear lobes sag with ceremony

My lust is thick with matrimony, nuptial, matrimony

Bastards in Bubbles

Bastards in bubbles float around

Their tissue-y eyes bulging out

Amongst the marbles for some bright blue steel

They love the marvels that the machines do mill

Bastards in bubble float around

Their filmy eyes bulge with doubt

They doubt the physics of the focused storm

They hate the breath that blew their form

Cataclysm

Bang the hubcap slowly

But swing the hammer hard

The cataclysm is over

They've swept away the shards

Shout a loud hosanna

Burn a big brassiere

The cataclysm is over

That fast the tragic path is cleared

Keep a steady vigil

A church in your lunchbox

The cataclysm is over

They've reset the horror clocks

BRUTE

CO-BALT

You Got It All Wrong

You misunderstood

I sorta knew you would

I did what I could

I spelled it out good

Still you got it all wrong

You got it all wrong

That’s not what meant

My meaning got bent

My message must of went

Out the friggin’ tent

Cause you got it all wrong

You got it all wrong

That’s not what I said

Get it through your head

The way that you read

Surely mislead

Cause you got it all wrong

You got it all wrong

You’re With Me Now

Open up your diary

Don’t make me sad

I need to know

Good and bad

Because I love you

I need to know

Because I love you

Don’t be so coy

After we’ve done what we’ve done

Nothing, nothing in those pages could

Ever dim your sun

Because I love you

I need to know

Because I love you

I know your time before

Had some dark days

But that’s distant history

You’ve got to think of it that way

Cause you’re with me now

You’re with me

Because I love you

I need to know

Because I love you

Open up that diary

And read to me

All the heavy passages that you are scared to read

Because I love you

I need to know

Because I love you

I know that many have

Kissed you in their way

But I know nobody else

Loved you like the one that you are with today

Cause you’re with me now You’re with me

Scholarship

Happened very likely

In the moldy library

Wasn’t very sightly

Though he may be striking

Don’t seem very bright

for such a died in the wool scholar’s scholar

Don’t seem very bright to me worth a damn.

Happened most assuredly

In a manner hurriedly

Jury listened luridly

To testimony, torridly

Don’t seem very bright

for such a died in the wool scholar’s scholar

Don’t seem very bright to me worth a damn.

Cutty Sark

Don’t hit me with a broom

I must request relief

Don’t hit me with a broom

Get another chief if you ain’t got yourself a vacuum

Don’t keep me in the car

I must get to the porch

Don’t keep me in the car

A little torch will only get a girl so far

Yes I am a million miles away from home

And you’re the only human here I know

Yes I’ve been as truthful as a mammal can be, but

Still you insist on inter-tangling

And you’ve been starting rumors

That we are lovers

When you know that I’ve been running hard in the dark

The only thing that I’ve been sleeping with is Cutty Sark

Don’t slap me with a suit

I swear I didn’t breach

Don’t slap me with a suit

You wrote our friends that I’m a leech

I hope you’re confused

Morally Challenged

She’s your gray-haired granny from Gadsden, Alabama

You never see her cause she’s always in the slammer

She’s your hard-hearted mama from Apalachicola

Your daddy’s dead or at least that’s what she told ya’

He’s your long lost daddy from Union, Mississippi

He’s been nelly since 1960

She’s your morally challenged sister from Albany, Georgia

You never liked her but then you never porked her

You’re a reader of poems from Slidell, Louisiana

W.H. Auden wrote all your favorite stanzas

While the Puppy Sleeps

Yeah, while the puppy sleeps

Well, I take out the trash

And feed the cat

Well, I read the paper

Free from needle tooth caper

First we slow dance in sock feet

Then we pole-vault in a track-meet

No Thanks to You

We were down so down

We were blue so blue

We sure were in a bind

But now we’re making it through these trying times

We’re gonna do fine no thanks to you

It is hard so hard

Sometimes we don’t know what to do

You act like it is a crime

Just to survive trying times

We’re gonna do fine no thanks to you

Your nasty little comments they sure do cut deep

But we’re not gonna listen to another ugly peep

We’re gonna do fine no thanks to you

All Kinds

I am a lonely guy

I sit around the house getting high

My only friends are dealers and dolers

All we have in common are psychoactive compounds

Sitting in their sad living rooms

That smell like stale mounds of semen

I am a lonely man

I crave companionship

All in flannel I watch the scramble channel

For a glimpse of the goodness that I never get to handle

His sad little obsession is a digital impression

Of a darling little girl that he adores

What really toots his whistle is a certain set of pixels

Of a darling little girl that he adores

Expiration Day

I'm a machinist at the Springfield armory

Just slightly ahead of my time

But I don't make much money

So I sell eggs and chickens on the side

I'm good at what I do

And I take great pride

But I don't make much money

So I sell eggs and chickens on the side

And my wife does love me

But she can't realize

Why I won't go back down south

And leave the armory behind

But I love my job

I'll shave metal until I die

And until I do

I'll take on any extra thing it takes to provide

And I know it'll kill me

Breathing all those fumes

But I’d sooner sniff solution

Than a baker's dozen hothouse blooms

And my wife does love me

But she can't realize

Why I won't go back down south

And leave the armory behind

But I feel it is important

What I do upon my lathe

I pledge to do this detail work

Until my expiration day

Cobalt Blue

The sky went papal purple as they started plowing forth

They gunned it over the grapevine they gave it all it's worth

When they glided to the valley floor the dark was like a blanket

That they pulled over their heads both crazy and complacent

They were hurtling toward something that they didn't understand

Propelled out of a past that was beyond their command

Dust was like magic sprinkled settling on the dash

As his hand finally found and pushed aside her pants

They struggled like constrictors they snapped together tight

They moved in concert instinctively and right

'til big ripples of vibrations erupted from within

The middle of the both of them, shook their foundations

Flew from that fragrant forest funny soaring through the night

With a sizzle that was certain to short-circuit and ignite

It was fuel for speculation calculations conjured up

And the energy released was like some opium

They used their euphoria like a force-field

To shield them from the future from the inevitable

How smoothly power shifted from night into day

Morning didn't break so much as it did infiltrate

They were dirty and delirious they were damn near out of gas

So they took a truck-stop exit in the shadow of mount shasta

And over eggs and toast and coffee they conversed convincingly

Convinced of their good fortune conspiratorially

Simple slingshot old "sink or swim"

Ending was entirely dependent on their invention

It wasn't wrong of them if that's what you think

They did what they had to do they acted out of instinct

It was human nature that bound them together

They performed precisely as mathematics dictated

Adirondacks

Queen Elizabeth park

Where my mood's always stark

And those damned ole bridges are always under construction

Up about the Hudson bay

Where the water-treatment plant stays

And the boys in the break-room play with the microwave

Who's in the hospital

But Alan from the sports track he's been riddled

Who's in the orphanage

But the future son-in-law of Billy Higgins

Grinding ax in the Adirondacks

Grinding ax on the Adirondacks

What about the carpet plant

Where your sister is a giant

She runs that thing tighter than the QE2

What about Dawson bridge

Where suicide is a cinch

Nobody in the city can even see you fall

Who's in the shopping center

But those thrifty twits from across the river

Who works at the flour mill

But a bunch of Russians eating three square meals

There is the stadium

Where you go to watch your daughter and son

Getting dirty and getting acclimated

There is the radio tower

It's a billion watts of pure power

If I stray off that way I always end up getting wasted

Who hands out at Richmond park

But a bunch of cute boys wearing argyle socks

Who hangs at the skating rink

But a doctor from the college who knows how to wink


Miscellaneous Lyrics

Everybody Can Change

(from KCRW’s ‘Rare on Air Vol.2’ CD, 1995)

He always crushed the velvet

He used to shear the sheep

But he gave up that demon tobacco

Turned over a new leaf

Everybody can change

Everybody can change

Look at Mother Nature

Everybody can change

She polished her complextion

In a Doctor's lair

It cost her an arm and a leg

But at least her face is clear

Everybody can change

Everybody can change

Look at Mother Nature

Everybody can change

He always hated spiders

They were his deepest horror

But now he's got cobwebs in his brain

He sits in a sticky parlor

Everybody can change

Everybody can change

Look at Mother Nature

Everybody can change

She said she's never marry

Everybody agreed

But then she met a boy with an evil ploy

And now she's married to me

Everybody can change

Everybody can change

Look at Mother Nature

Everybody can change

How Can I Face Tomorrow?

(from Loose Confederation Of Saturday City States 7”, 1995)

Here kitty, kitty, kitty

Come rub my leg

I'll bring you an egg

Stolen from some old biddy

Oh, the longer she stays gone

The poorer I stay 

Oh, how can I face tomorrow 

When I can't even face today?

Of all the holes in my head 

Yours is the best

Not two more layers 

My clearinghouse freight on a sled

Of all the bad dogs

I've held at bay

How can I face tomorrow

When I can't even stand today? 

Plagiarism

(From Loose Confederation of Saturday City States 7", 1995

(Spoken: Listen up now 'cause he's gonna tell you a motherfuckin' story. Okay?)

I always wanted to ask you how you got my name?

And knew where to write

I have been praying to no one new

But you did

Why did you? 

Please tell me why? 

Too much rain

Not enough drain

Her modesty conceals demonic capabilities and skills 

And one day as she is exercising them

The adult for the first time smells something resembling sweat on the child's body

The sweet fruitful sweat of creativeness

Too much rain

Not enough drain 

Miss Prissy

(From the album ‘Tools In The Dryer', by Lambchop, 1996)

Miss Prissy is so excited

To be hanging out the with local spiders

She got to do the bouncy-wouncy with the kingpin on the sleazy council

You better watch your step or you just might end up underwhelmed

Oh! What’s that smell? I can't tell. Worms ate your scared book.

That's what you get for being a cook

That old aggravator

Knuckles on a cheese grater

Knuckles on a cheese grater

Knuckles on a cheese grater

You grew something to your extended family

Just a season expired

Your lifelines are already scarring

Still you do consume and then and only then lament the cost

Look into the mirror and see who been bossed around

Miss Prissy is beside herself

Poking holes through with rusty nails

She got to hang those dingy junctures

While the people were making uneasy punctures

Climbing the walls.

Power-smoking menthols

Throw the underwear onto the rocking chair

You and some little lover

Making a mess on the seat cover

You picked another 'woman hater'

Knuckles on a cheese grater

Knuckes on a cheese grater

Knuckes on a cheese grater

Unlike Joni Mitchell

(From 'Live at the Lobby: A Collection Of Bands 

Playing Live at 90.5 FM WUOG, Athens, Ga', 1998)

Well I know today looks gloomy

Against the acid fired haze of last night

And the power that you felt yesterday

Today sure is out of sight

But it’s so hard to go back

To your daddy's little row of corn

And you want to invent something

To prevent you from being born

But you never knew the sciences

And you hardly ever touched the tools

Except for those funny weapons used

Defending your honor in roommate duels

You've reached your party potential

Unlike Joni Mitchell

You know you can't hang

Better put your boots to the clay

Better put your boots to the clay

For one season, it was raining boys

And you quickly blew through some

As you searched for your Svengali

I guess you never ever tasted of one

And you proudly liked to admit

The depths for which you knelt

And you loudly like to account

The great sadness that you felt

But we're all bored with your stories

And we're sick of picking up

The rosy path is laid

Surely your silent father’s foot will drop

You've reached your party potential

Unlike Joni Mitchell

You know you can't hang

Better put your boots to the clay

Better put your boots to the clay

Yesterday Tomorrow and Today

(from 'Crazy' Original Movie Soundtrack, 2000)

Everything occurs

Like a blur

Yesterday tomorrow and today

I am powerless

Set adrift

Yesterday tomorrow and today

Each one is a diva

That is a struggling for control

Callously batting the bubble of my soul

Life is a time machine

Floating like a dream

In between

Yesterday tomorrow and today

Everything occurs

Like a blur

Yesterday tomorrow and today

Each one is a diva

That is a struggling for control

Callously batting the bubble of my soul

Life is a time machine

Everybody Has a Pouch

(from The Deist’s Pouch- 7”, 2000)

(Tapes a rollin’.

Okay.

One, Two, ready, Go.)

My mother was barren.

All I ever eat is eggs.

I think I’m allergic.

I’ve got a rash on my legs.

She wants me to go to the Doctor.

But it’s a close as I’m ever gonna get to a tan

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

Has a pouch

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

Has a pouch

Everything you need is some kind of monkey

My wife likes Michael

She said “He is hunky.”

The white ones are bad

But the brown ones are good

I’m a registered voter

But its importance escapes me

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

Has a pouch

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

Has a pouch

If it doesn’t twinkle, it must be a planet

I’m continually nervous

I got a problem with granite.

She loading the car to go to the pharmacy

I got a two hour wait ‘til I jiggle the handle

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

Has a pouch

Everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody, everybody

Has a pouch

Backsliding Deist’s Prayer

(from The Deist’s Pouch- 7”, 2000)

Oh! It’s winding down.

My lord knows it’s winding down

I am so glad

I hope he knows that I am so glad.

You blessed me out long ago

Told me exactly where to go

Wound me up and he let me down

Then he watched me wobble off by doubt, yet

He had a million rubber ducks to toss

When it was tight my spring was working

And I could feel it vibrating

Pushing me along, and boy I was booking

My whole being was a song and man I was cooking

Oh! It’s winding down.

My lord knows it’s winding down

I am so glad.

I hope he knows that I am so glad.

You blessed me out long ago

Told me exactly where to go

Wound me up and he let me down

Then he watched me wobble off by doubt, yet

He had a million rubber ducks to toss

The Foxx and Little Vic

(From 'Benjamin Smoke' DVD, 2002)

You've heard a tale of a fox and hound

But here's a tale that I myself have found

And this tale does consist of a Foxx and little Vic

Well I'd arrived to see the show

"The Foxx was something," someone told me

Sneaked in a bottle and then took a swig 

I could see the Foxx was interested. 

So I offered her the neck 

She tossed it back and we connected

A flower dress on a boney frame

the Foxx was there to entertain

And from a perfect vantage point

I saw the Foxx rock the joint

And downstairs until the dregs

Then I took theFoxx back to my house on Meigs Street 

The Foxx and littleVic

The Foxx and her redneck friend 

In the house was me and them

The Foxx and little Vic 

Little Vic this and little Vic that

The Foxx was starting to salivate 

The Foxx and Little Vic

Frolicking around with her face

The Foxx  was getting go for the chase

The Foxx and Little Vic

Little Vic here and little Vic there

I flipped over backwards in my chair

The Foxx and little Vic

But the Foxx was so let down 

When the Bunny made the round

The Foxx and little Vic 

What I’ve Got?

(From ‘Athfest 2003’ CD)

I’ve got something to share with you

I’ve got something to share

I picked up a little something from who knows where

And I’m in the mood to share

I’ve got something to give you

And it’s the gift that keeps on giving

You’ll carry around the rosy red reminders of me

For as you are living

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

It’s not too late yet

It’s still not too late yet

To make this day a special day

That you will not forget

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

I can make you tingle

My stuff will make you quiver

You know my present will blow your mind

If you just let me deliver

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

My God, you are hot! I’m itching to give you what I got!

Escalator

(From the album 'More Talk About Tonight', by Slang, 2004)

Oh I'm right there with ya’

Just a moment behind

Yeah I'm right there with ya’

Though I'm feelin’ fine

Yeah I'm right behind ya’

No it won't be long

‘Til I'm right there with ya'

But I'm going strong

And no-one's distraught when we are to blame

And then for a while I thought I just couldn't go on

And I've forgotten what kinda deal this is

Long moving side-a-walk

Long moving side-a-walk

Yeah I'm a right behind ya

Though it ain’t a race

It won't be long

Save me a place

Yeah I'm right there with ya

Oh I'm getting’ close

Though I don't wanna push it

Goodness knows

And no-one's distraught when we are to blame

And then for a while I thought I just couldn't go on

And I've forgotten what kinda deal this is

Long moving side-a-walk

Long moving side-a-walk

Legacy

(Recorded for Daytrotter,  June 2, 2009)

Legacy, oh legacy

So concerned with your legacy

Legacy, oh legacy

So concerned with your legacy

Gonna build a library

To try and shape your legacy

Gonna build a library

To try and shape your legacy

Whatchu gonna put in that library

Always so open about your need for secrecy

Every document already shredded by your V.P.

You’re convinced you're gonna be celebrated by history

For taking it to the enemy in a crusading victory

You and you alone will get the glory when

All the Iraqis finally end up to their end of the story

In the future

In the future

In the future

In the future

Legacy, oh legacy

So concerned with your legacy

Well, maybe you should have thought about that when you actively making policy

Gonna build a library to try to shape your legacy

Yours will be a casebook story of a failed presidency.

This Cruel Thing

(From the album ‘Dirty Side Down’, by Widespread Panic, 2010)

Weeping sad and lonely
When this cruel thing is over
Hopes and fears... How vain?
When this cruel thing is over

And oft in dreams I see you
On the battle plain
Sadly breathing...falling
When this cruel thing is over

If a mid-din of battle
Nobly you should fall
I'll whisper words in honor

When this cruel thing is over.

Ways of the World

(From the album ‘I Like to Feel Myself in Pain’, by Kelly Hogan, 2012)

I was just a little girl
Peeking out of my momma's apron strings
I was just a little girl
But I knew what had to be

It would row, it would row
It would row all over me
I was just a little girl
What had to be

Easter dresses and choir robes
ballet slippers and pierced earlobes
I was just a little girl
But I knew the ways of this world

County fairs and church's bazaars
Swimming pools and muscle cars
I was nothing but a girl
But I knew the ways of the world

In the years peeled away
Like pages and pages of a novel
Grown men powerful men
They will fall at my feet to grovel

And they'll row, they will row
they will row all over me
But I am not a little girl
And I know, what has to be