Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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?”


2nd 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