[rev. July 22, 2003]
Day of the dead down in Mexico
You ever been on a holiday
You ever thought that you been here before
You ever been in a desperate way
On the beach stands a donkey who is waiting for you
He hee-haws, stamping his hoof
A fine blue day as dreamed by the boys
Nodding up on the roof
And in the meetings held in the darkness
And in the darkness everyone's blind
Venereal monsters stand there in velvet
And I know you're falling behind
Drink in a bar down in Leap Motel
I get involved with a prisoner
She's got a skull like a seraphim
I figure she is a messenger
She's at the heart of the festival
She's got the hands of a picador
She asks the spirits for a romance
She gets a ghost for a paramour
And in the weddings held in the darkness
'Cause in the darkness the guests are all blind
Great lumps are melting wrapped up in satin
And I know you're falling behind
Day of the dead down in Mexico
We read a book on the Alamo
We filled the tank up with Texaco
We buy a trinket for curio
We walk big stuff through the marketplace
Dripping smoke, dollars and after-shave
I got the mind of an astronaut
Emerging from the shell unscathed
Climbing out of hell unchanged
But then the dealers dealt in the darkness
And in the darkness dealers are blind
Jokers and aces, cruisin' in black fur
I know you're falling behind
[rev. June 18, 2021]
Streets of burnt-out shells, insurance jobs
A temporary spell in hell and it throbs
It throbs like hell in some divine comedy
It won't sell and that's a tragedy
But I know my way home I can get there alone
The day I need you they can feed me to the lions
They can stop trying to get it started
Its heart is gone, its shone for the last time
It's past time, it's mean time
Held over in-between time
It's like Halloween time
I don't owe you anything
Now I'm out of power
Now I've lost my touch
Please don't touch anything
Every passing hour
Overcomes too much
I don't owe you anything
There's a weaker weaker in the other speaker
A weaker echo of my own voice
Reproduced mechanically and electronically
A symphony of frequencies
Delivering a slithering sound
A pound of flesh caught in the mesh, a fresher
A special deluxe, de-essed* it, you guessed it
Undress it
I don't owe you anything
Now I've lost my power
Now I'm out of touch
Please don't touch anything
Every passing hour
Overcomes too much
I don't owe you anything
Now I've lost my power
Now I'm out of touch
Should you would you could you could
Could you look good back on the street
Your feet get cold and you're too old you've been told
You should've sold your soul
It's not worth anything out here
Not worth the earth you're standing on
Earth, Mother Earth
Earth, sweet Mother Earth
What are you worth
I don't owe you anything
Now I'm out of power
Now I've lost my touch
Please don't touch anything
Every passing hour
All becomes too much
I don't owe you anything
Now I've lost my power
Now I'm out of touch
I don't owe you anything (ahh)
Please don't touch anything (ahh)
I don't owe you anything (ahh)
I don't owe you anything (ahh ahh)
Please don't touch anything (ahh ahh)
They say his name is Ray
He was a dominating, woman-hating SSOB
1 2 3, that's how easy it's gonna be
Everything is complete
You need to cheat
You want to eat
Even the air, once free
You now pay the fee
You now pay a fare if you want air
It's not really fair
Fair enough, it's tough stuff
It's tough to get enough
And you laugh, you laugh
But you can't get the staff
Hold onto the raft
It's my craft
It's finished, it's kaput
It's over, finito Benito
Dead Fred
Gone for a song like old Hong Kong
Gone for a song
[rev. Aug. 22, 2013]
Have I told you 'bout the case of the man who had no face?
(I'm sure I have)
His wife suspected something, that's why she brought me in
We arranged to meet one night at a bar called Aphrodite's
(On Second Street)
But when I looked into her eyes I very quickly realized
(The danger)
The price was right, a deal was struck
I don't think that she gave it a thought
It was plain to see
That the lady was loveblind
It was clear to see
It was clear that she was loveblind
Out into the foggy night, into the city's blurry light
(I drove alone)
I wondered then what kind of place would make a man lose face
I pieced together clue by clue just what a faceless man would do
(It wasn't hard)
Who would he love, where would he go, places faceless men would know
(On Second Street)
I was close, I was near, but that woman just wouldn't hear
It was plain to see
That the lady was loveblind (loveblind)
It was clear to see
It was clear that she was loveblind (loveblind)
Loveblind
Next morning came as mornings do, I had a shave it was close too
(A close shave)
In the mirror, in my space, there was a man without a face
I rang my client and I banged on her door
I told her it was me that we was looking for
It was plain to see
That the lady was loveblind (loveblind)
It was clear to see
It was clear that she was loveblind (loveblind)
(Loveblind)
[rev. Aug. 22, 2013]
You must have heard about my little problem
Ah come on, you must have heard about it
It's no ordinary problem
Look in my eyes, there can be no doubt about it
And of course it gets worse at night
It gets late, things start to change
Clock is stopped, thermometer is bulging
Hot late night bound to make us estranged
Soft dead moon all over your shoulders
Cold shadow in the glare of the glow
Factory billboards on outskirts of city
Shine down new attractions to the traffic below
Remember this day
Remember this room
Remember this singer singing
I'll remember you
A sudden flash
A sudden light
Abandoning the afternoon as it sinks into the night
Fluorescent bedroom flicker starts to teach me to wonder
I hear a mandolin in the springs
Out the wardrobe floats the hint of a rumor
Dressed in your beloved's finest things
Can you hear the voices that are constantly talking?
Am I only one to succumb to their roar?
Well I know the form it is taking
It's not making sense anymore
The way you say you just wanna help me
The way your clinging is slinging me under
The strength I need already denied me
Your big ideas and your little wonder
Remember this day
Remember this room
Remember this singer singing
I'll remember you
A sudden flash
A sudden light
Abandoning the afternoon as it sinks into the night
Some people don't come over because of the problem
I heard the top guy won't answer his phone
I wonder if he has the same kind of problem
A little difficulty of his own
So take this plastic and rent me some wheels
Or maybe I'll try to fly
No reservations, I'll see how it feels
When I'm over your house up in the sky
And when the sun is squeezing through the blinds
You will be far away
Deep afternoons seeing the moon would have shined
Deep in your dream I hear you say
Have you heard about my little problem?
I just know that it isn't a secret
It's just a very ordinary problem
The secret doesn't matter if you keep it or leak it
[rev. Aug. 22, 2013]
Here comes the Maven, he's coming around
He's such a connoisseur, he's such an autograph hound, yeah
He's got 60 yes-men and they tend to agree
There's a long black book without any eyes
He's got my number but he's got your size, yeah
And if you measure up then a sure trick'll be wise
Just turn the light off when you go (he hates the dark)
Just tell the jury all you know (was just a lark)
We'll send a sign to you over the sea
There goes the Maven, sowing his seed
One for the rock, one for the hand that feeds, yeah
He reaps the harvest with his sleight of hand
Just say the magic word and he's at your side
Beware his tender touch, his plans are chilly and wide, yeah
Sleeps through the winter in a white quiet land
Just turn the light off when you go (he hates the dark)
Just tell the jury all you know (was just a lark)
We'll send a sign to you over the sea
Here is the Maven, draining the cup
He takes your arm and then he eats you up, yeah
There is a surfeit of everything you crave
Here is the Maven, signing the check
He bought us dinner so what the fucking heck, yeah
There is a surplus of everything you save
Just turn the light off when you go (he hates the dark)
Just tell the jury all you know (was just a lark)
We'll send a sign to you over the sea
[rev. Aug. 23, 2013]
Stretching out to catch
Stretching out to catch
Stretching out to catch the slender message
(Angelica I want you) [repeated several times]
Angelica I want you
Crashing down
Crashing down
Crashing down in a shower of sparks
Crashing down
Crashing down
Crashing down in a shower of sparks
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman is gonna be nice
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman
The civilized gentleman isn't gonna be nice
To you tonight
To you tonight
To you tonight unless you pay me
Pay me good
Pay me well
Pay me with a trip to hell
She reaches for him in a jealous moment
She reaches for him in a jealous moment
She reaches for him in a jealous moment
I've got a verbal caress
I've got it, I've got it here in my mouth
And it's here for you
And I'll share it
My tongue is wet
My tongue is wet
This verbal caress is gonna get wet
(Angelica I want you
Angelica I want you
Angelica I want you
Angelica I want you
An—)
Little Johnny Ginseng jumped on the jelly roll
I saw him looking down the alley at it
He can blast, falling on the bowling alley
Lookout Jimmy your father's inside...
Angelica, Angelica, Angelica
Stop making up those lies
Angelica, Angelica
Stop making up those lies
[rev. Aug. 23, 2013]
We come to pay homage to the golden one
We share and bear the message of your newborn son
We follow paths of falling stars
In and out of mangers, other bars
Opportunity knocked you up I guess
Gave you your little baby's success
You've got potential, you have the gift
You have the chance to heal a million rifts
We've been sent to sing a lullaby for you
We've been sent to sing a lullaby
We've brought oils, gold and wine and bread
Dreaming pillow for his divine head
Astrologers all, we plot the charts
And wise men, we can look into people's hearts
A doom is on the child that I can see
He don't belong in this time with you and me
His life will not be very long
Before you know it he will be gone
We've been sent to sing a lullaby for you
We've been sent to sing a lullaby
Instrumental
[rev. Nov. 11, 2017]
Arrive in a hive city somewhere in the east
Floating down a crowded street as though I am or I will be released
Elly's stopped yawning, clear blue morning, in mourning no more
Come and see the wild things that are just beyond the door
But there's an old man here
He claims that he knew you in another life
I'm not sure what he's sayin', Elly
Could it be he still thinks you're his wife?
I've been waiting, seems like eternity
I've been waiting, waiting for you
I'm still waiting if you remember me
I'll be waiting, waiting for you
Trinkets sing on a desert wind behind here
Where ghosts have laid their final claim to rest
But who they loved and what they thought they stayed for
Has crumbled in their last dusty caress
They were so blind
They were so blind
Hiding in a hotel room, somewhere in the west
I heard they brought a priest in to sanctify the place, but it remains unblessed
Things move around, my guitar sometimes plays itself
They say it's static electricity but yesterday it took twenty dollars off the shelf
There's a young man here, says he married you in another time
The children cry and ask where their mother is
Gonna have to let them down
Yeah, I've been hurt
Oh, I've been around
I've been waiting, seems like eternity
I've been waiting, waiting for you
I'm still waiting if you remember me
I'll be waiting, waiting for you
Limpet shells are faded in the valley
Where once the sea had strength enough to reach
But out of twisted metal of discarded fortune's curse
No one here can quite translate the verses that they wanted to preach
They were blind
They were so blind
They were so blind
They were so blind
I've been waiting, seems like eternity
I've been waiting, waiting for you
They were so blind
I'm still waiting if you remember me
I'll be waiting, waiting for you
[rev. Aug. 23, 2013]
Imagine her, all of her wealth
And in the arms of somebody else
I imagine her in bed
With her communication skills
Cabinet full of creams and pills
Paying the bills, being well-read
You'll never understand
The wonderful mind of that woman
Powerful beauty in her eyes
Look at that business woman
She's got a head on her shoulders
Look at that business woman
She's not that much older than you
And she reveals inner soul
Stock market flutters, index rose
When she reveals her secret life
All of the gifts come dear and swift
Promise her anything only if
You're going to have to leave your wife
She'll never understand
The wonderful mind of that woman
Beautiful power in her eyes
Look at that business woman
She's got a head on her shoulders
Look at that business woman
She's not that much older than you
And when she comes the stars explode
Exquisite results in input mode
Just when she comes she's suddenly gone
Maybe you'll find her, maybe you won't
Maybe she loves you, baby she don't
Maybe you'll find that you are alone
You'll never comprehend
All of the means, all of the ends
A business woman in her eyes
Look at that business woman
She's got a head on her shoulders
Look at that business woman
She's not that much older than you
Look at that business woman
She's got a head on her shoulders
Look at that business woman
She's not that much older than you
[rev. Mar. 11, 2020]
She says it's OK
The rent just went on entertainment
But who's gonna say
It's just not my day
She's got enough stuff to get real tough
And she's not gonna play
The holiday is over, the honeymoon is over
The garden's overgrown
The trust is rusted, the link's been busted
The seeds are sown
The sounds of my breath, what do you expect
Echo in the hall
The ghost of the picture still haunts the master
Bedroom mirrored wall
I suppose you'd say she made a fool of me
Oh, but she has authority
It used to be fine
Days full of music, nights full of music
Music all the time
Invisible line
I try my best but I transgressed it
Used to be fine
The chances are used up, the finances used up
The energy is low
Letters are returned, lovers are spurned
Delivered quite a blow
The signs of disaster, I wouldn't put it past her
A dagger's in the dark
The stale perfume in her old room
Heart of a shark
I suppose you'd say she made a slave of me
Oh, but she has authority
I guess that that's all
The curtain comes down, the circus leaves town
Leaves begin to fall
I guess that that's it
The world keeps spinning, people keep sinning
And all the rest is just bullshit
The shadow's getting longer, the widow's gettin' younger
The cup doth overflow
The luxury of pity, babe this wasn't pretty
On with the show
Life is a tangle of one-night triangles
A tangle of lithe limbs
You sleep like a baby precious as a ruby
Goodbye everything
I suppose you'd say she made a fool of me
Oh, but she had authority
Words are a-spoken
Promises are broken
Sleepers are awoken
Frogs are a-croakin'
Fires are a-smokin'
It's just a token of authority
[rev. Aug. 28, 2013]
Listen, collect your thoughts, don't hide
If you can't face yourself, collide
The blue sheen of sky dazzles your eyes
And leaves you slumped against the night
They captured you, chopped off your hand
Left for dead
And buried your body in sun-soaked sand
Fly home
Is there patience where you think
Only empty arms to take you in
Pale luminescent glare
Surrounds you till you can't see it's there
Uncoiled flag below the wind
A torn head
You can't come out 'cause you're so far in
Fly home
Ancient in the image cast
Reminds you the future's like the past
Time split into equal spheres
Haunting you, using up your fear
Something hateful in your head
Then kick it out
You're scullin' hard but your wings are dead
Fly home
Once I had a name, forgotten now
I breathed the air in a century of wonder
I can hear it now in the darkness of the earth
Gorgeous machines, the sound they made like thunder
Great gardens drip honey-jewels and bright birds
The pageants pass down avenues of splendor
Ah, long afternoons by enchanted lakes
Upon elephants, so well I do remember
Lords and priests and talking beasts
Golden calves and telepaths
Crystal skulls and screaming gulls
Women glowed tattooed with woad
Coloured mists and amethysts
Men were strong and days were long
Dragons glide on mountainside
Mandrake root and angel fruit
Sighing winds on silver skin
Creation transubstantiation
Unicorns, electric storms
Tunes and runes, we laughed till noon
Sweet release, eternal peace
[rev. Aug. 23, 2013]
The earth is sucked bare by the sun
The empty clouded sky
The dazzling drone of pure heat rings alone
Seeing tears flash dry
On a sailing boat out to sea
Their mouths have all been parched
Salt meat of land drags the life from their glands
February and March
From a year without rain
From a year without rain
The weather is bare
The weather is bare
The weather is bare of flies
The house is full of dust
The taste of black trees like a tune on the breeze
Thirst that you can trust
The shadows contain no more cool
The windows all let in the heat
Dead things on the road as their insides explode
My hands are full of water and weeds
From a year without rain
From a year without rain
(The weather is bare)
The weather is bare
The weather is bare
[rev. July 18, 2003]
Every day
As you notice the sun slips away
A strange turbulence fills the air
Gargoyles and winged monkeys
Descend into the city
Teeth are bared, their claws outstretched
Down in the pit
I sense the unforgiving night rain down on the overworld
And its souls' unrest
As the temptation fades out
You jerk back into yourself
As if falling from a dream
Down comes the rain
Hot clear rain
Washing away our sins
Washing away the statues of Sharon Stone
Erosion of my solitude
Begins its race
And worms finally penetrating the warmth of my hiding place
Slithering in the blackness
All their coldness repels me
I use a .45 to give them some stick
Lightning and thunder cause the walls to shake
And someone searching through the debris
For the photograph of his wife
Oh I want life
I want it now and forever
I want to rise up out of this chamber and clamber into the sky
First thing you know is you don't know a thing
Second thing you think about is that you're sinking
Third thing is water, fourth thing is air
Five are the fingers of wind in your hair
You can leave the city that you used to call home
You can leave your lover just to love all alone
You can leave your father or leave your son
And you can leave your clothes on
A nerve so sleek has entered your head
Take up your sickle, throw it and leave your bed
Make sure your will is good and hard
Make sure you never let down your guard
You can leave your body, you know the technique
Leave for two minutes or for two weeks
You leave your work and your pleasure undone
You can leave your clothes on
You can leave the city that you used to call home
You can leave your lover just to love all alone
You can leave your father or leave your son
And you can leave your clothes on
[much indecipherable whispering]
[rev. May 17, 2021]
Cut in two, that's the kind of ship I'm running
Cut in two, that's the kind of spell I'm casting
Cut in two, that's the type of time I'm killing
Cut in two, that's the kind of song I'm singing
Falling in
Falling in
Falling in, in love again (my face in your bedroom window)
Falling in
Falling in
Falling in, in love again (nooo!)
Separation (no one looking in through my intrigue)
Separation (yeah I've been another me)
(I will run to you, I think)
(Champagne drunk, that's a lie)
Cut in two, that's the kind of axe I'm grinding
(he was not perfect, nor had he ever claimed to be)
Cut in two, that's the kind of sleep I'm getting
(enraptured, drifting) (all hail Mr. Sparks and toothpullers!)
Cut in two, that's the kind of love I'm making
(reckon myself) (schoolmasters)
Cut in two, that's the kind of life I'm having
(smoke from the distant chimneys)
Falling in (eggshell and polonaise!)
Falling in (polonaise!) (and you're a ghost)
Falling in, in love again (polonaise, ahhh!) (you're the never got ghosts)
Falling in
Falling in (it's a contest of stone hearts) (caress and stroke)
Falling in, in love again
Separation (there's someone in here sharing it with me)
Separation (someone I no longer trust I can't see)
Separation (he's circling, waiting to make his move) (aw what a dead face)
Separation (French fishwife) (it's just a memory I can't prove)
(French fishwife, French fishwife, oooh)
Incidentally, I like the word trespass, (oh?) it's very Biblical (oh)
Falling in (protected)
Falling in
Falling in, in love again (I feign unconsciousness) (oh goodbye)
Falling in
Falling in (I feign unconsciousness to see if god is there) (goooodbyyyye!)
Falling in, in love again
Separation (I hate you)
(he was only doing it for me)
Separation (I'm just gonna have to hate you)
(and I, I was only doing it for the children)
Separation (woooo!)
(and the children are sleeping and frightened)
Separation (oh God bless harmony)
(oh just like they're full of hate in daytime...to hate you)
Separation (no way...)
(why not just follow him, the wind's a stranger)
Separation (I know, I know, I know, I know, I know)
Separation (I know...)
[rev. Aug. 28, 2013]
When the failing light
With the feeling's gone (feeling's gone)
I'll ask you twice tonight
To make sure I'm wrong (sure I'm)
Still you looked to fold in two behind the shade
Are you lying there in wait
Here's all the love you lost
The myths you made
Here's all the things you didn't say
All the days and hours
Pass by slow (pass by slow)
With the crowded tears
And the lights on low (lights on)
If lips mean some beauty freeze again
Ripple up in flames
Here's all the time you took
The myths you made
Here's all the things you didn't say
The myths you made
The things you didn't say
You gotta get a story
Where there's love (where there's love)
With my hand on the Bible
And the fable done (fable)
Still till all the little details are exposed
Here comes the final blow
Here's all the love you lost
The myths you made
Here's all the things you didn't say
Here's all the time you took
The myths you made
Here's all the things you didn't say
[rev. Aug. 23, 2013]
People getting frightened 'cause the night is very thick
When I think about you sister, we need to panic here
You better take a arrow, you better take a sled
When it starts blowing remember what I said
You gotta freeze until it burns
And you gotta burn until you learn
You gotta learn until you seize
You gotta freeze until you burn
People think they're dreaming, they're really wide awake
I did it for the money and for goodness' sake
Meet me in the igloo with the factual glaze
Help me to decipher the shadow of this maze
You gotta freeze until it burns
You gotta burn until you learn
You're gonna learn until you seize
And you freeze until you burn
Now look
A fire in the rude banks, eyes inside the grave
Everything is opposite, right now it's too late
When you hear the birdsong stop, when you see the glow
That's the only certainty that you'll ever know
You're gonna freeze until it burns
You're gonna burn until you learn
You're gonna learn until you freeze
Freeze until you burn
OK
You're gonna freeze until it burns
You're gonna burn until you learn
We're gonna love until you freeze up
Freeze until you burn
Alright
[Incomplete Transcription]
[L]
first night of summer the air comes rushing in across the trees
Bringing strange birds from beyond....
Deep in some...she's gone to another place. Far far from here...
sand filled waves crash down and churn on a moonlit beach, and
white...
[C]
I will drink with you to forget, if you have a brain I will
eat with you, and in doing so...
since the beginning of time...
with purchases intended...
[R]
The future ingests us as the past spits us out....
lead to ridiculous one night schemes...
never do anything twice...
many dark nights and scramble for attention....
many a dream of open possibilities...with conscious discontentment..
that's what they want, that's what they want to hear..
a miserable relic of ecstasy, a ruinous affair or an unexplained
death. A kick in the head from a velvet boot of tristesse, and a
cruel pinch of weary irony, misery monger, or pleasureman, leaves
behind unsatisfied...
involving
[From the Earth Music Compilation]
[rev. Aug. 28, 2013]
Standing in a room full of diamonds
I don't know which way to turn
Girlfriend's in the next room with her boyfriend
She's handing out the keys
Silence to the underdog
The one who don't get a job
She talks about the boys in her life
I don't believe a single word she says
And she's lying and crying and lying and crying
What am I supposed to do
You don't know what you've got till it's gone
Why did she have to leave so soon
I used to be in love though not the first time
It was the daughter of a man
She talks about the men in her life
I don't believe a word
'Cause she's lying, crying, lying, crying, lying, crying, lying, crying
She's lying and crying, and crying and
What am I supposed to do
You don't know what you've got till it's gone
Why did she have to leave so soon
Standing in a room full of diamonds
I don't know which way to turn
Girlfriend's in the next room with her boyfriend
She's handing out the keys, yeah
She's lying and crying...lying and crying
Room full of diamonds
Lying and crying