Darkened Hall

Darkened hall and twisted stair
Soundless walls and flashing lights
Quickly now without a thought
Coursing through denatured heights
Counting steps in tongues and tricks
Laying down with fevered spells
Lost among the scattered stones
Looking in a wishing well

Heard her once but in my dreams
Shadow forms un-remembering
Costing me a debt of sleep
Turning days and tumbling

Hollow fruitless visions drip
Friendships fat and gangly tall
Passage booked on pleasure ships
Known but once or not at all
Hiding from officious eyes
Concealed lips and vicious teeth
Uninformed but well armed
Afraid escape down alley slip

Darkened hall or alcoholed
Fully gassed with throttle on
Let them get past me again
Transition then mutation gone

Deep River

in a world of wasted wonder

mindless madmen forced to blunder

and broadcasting introspection

with the limitless reflection
and for any good intention

any good invention

there’s a thousand evil uses

i don’t even need to mention
yeah we got the walkin’ blues

because we stole that pair of shoes

from some third-world labor pool

and now they laugh at what we do
and your traffic roars an ocean

the sidewalk stumbles broken

and your pockets jingle tokens

of dead presidents invoking
the poor are made of steel

and the railroad reveals

that sweet child behind the wheel steers

the engine starts to squeel

and pockets all she owns

she found the flesh around her bones

immune to mud but not to stones

laid to rest or lately thrown
into that deep river

and i’m dying for a drink

and i just can’t wait forever

for that boat i’m in to sink

the house that i’m living in

to be consumed by flames

or better yet a hurricane

you can turn my weather vane

oh yeah you can turn my weather vane

oh yeah you turned my weather vane
but it’s a deep river

and i’m dying for a drink

and i just can’t wait forever

for that boat i’m in to sink

the house that i’m living in

to be consumed by flames

or better yet a hurricane

you can turn my weather vane

oh yeah you can turn my weather vane

oh yeah you turned my weather vane
the river flowin’ fast and

flooding can make us whole again
on and on there’s an angel in the orchestra
and he’s playing songs

that none of us have heard before

and if you feel strong

why don’t you come and lend a hand

it’s not too hard to understand

cause after all
we’re all in it together
i’m a child, i am old, i’m on an ocean going vessel

and if the sky should fall

we’d all need to seek shelter

we’re all in this together after all

we’re all in this together after all

all in this together after all







Deep River II

Cleopatra’s got a steamboat and she rides the river Nile
Sharpening her fingers with her crocodile file
She sends one man fishing and another man below
To work on the steam engine he’s shoveling the coal
And I am in the crows nest but I can’t hardly see
Cairo, North Caroline ‘cause the trees are thick with leaves
The star gazing navigator is shackled up in chains
He’s been there since last Thursday and he’s begun to rave

“It’s a deep river and I’m dying for a drink
Just may wait for ever for the boat I’m in to sink
Or the house that I’m living in to be consumed by flames
Better yet a hurricane to turn my weather vane”

Predators are everywhere
Crocodiles and snakes
Insects fill the evening air
With the noises that they make

Colorado, Mississippi
Or the desert that’s been drowned
By that big old Hoover dam
With the water coming down

Into that deep river and I’m dying for a drink
Just may wait forever for that boat I’m in to sink
Or the house that I’m living in to be consumed by flames
Or better yet a hurricane to turn my weather vane
Turn my weather vane yes turn my weather vane
Or a river flowing fast and flooding takes me home again

On and on there’s and angel in the orchestra
Playing songs that none of us have heard before
If you feel strong why don’t you come and lend a hand
It’s not so hard to understand
After all we’re all in it together
I’m a child and I am old on an ocean going vessel
If the sky should fall, we’d all need to seek shelter
We’re all in it together after all

Devil's Pay

The whore house is burning
Like the devil’s come to claim it
Get them girls out quickly
Before the devil gets his payment
Don’t let the devil get his payment
Don’t let the devil get his pay

They tried all night
To put that fire out
Using themselves
Like they never done it before
Like they never done it before
Like they’ve never done it before

And by the strike of four
The house had been consumed
The burnt bodies they found
Died clutching fake jewels
Died clutching fake jewels
Died clutching fake jewels

The sailors hauled up trailors
Beside the smoking ashes
Donated some blankets
And fixed up a box-spring mattress
Fixed up a box spring mattress
Fixed up a box spring mattress

And like a phoenix rising
There was one girl surviving
They put her in the trailer
And kept her business running
They kept her business running
Kept her business running

Doing It Over

It would be quiet if it weren’t for the highway
A blood veins the same as this ribbon of tar
And I’m just a person who’s traveling on it
By buses and big rigs and r.v.s and cars

I’m down in the valley of creosote death
It keeps getting deeper as the mountains fall in
And wind rushes through it like waves in a tide pool
And I’m just a mollusk that’s feeding on moon dust and time

The spots on my skin all begin to spin
Don’t know where I’m going or where I’ve been
But onward and over and on past the bend
I’m doing it over and over again
Doing it over and over again

Aeroplane flies by I hear the word rumble
Butterfly make my eye start and see double
If I stayed home iwould never see trouble
They’d just dig me a grave and then wait for the day that I died

Don't Cry Baby

Lets have a good time baby
You know I work the night shift lately
And I don’t want to come home
To your crying any more

Its not gonna last forever
No matter how sly or clever
You tell me how
You don’t love me anymore

Don’t cry baby
Baby please don’t cry
Cause I won’t be here
To dry your eyes

Though your loving makes me humble
I’m often prone to stumble
And there’ so many places
Where I can lay my head

Its just the hours I’ve been working
I still like your home cooking
Can you blame me if I’m looking
For someone that’ll make me laugh

If I wanted to hear crying
I guess that I’d start trying
To make a little baby
Of my very own

Don't Curse at the Night

Where is everyone hiding the love
Do you have some to give to me
Or should I give up and go back to sleep
Should I go back to sleep

I'm lighting the lamps
Before the night tramps
Set up their camps
And light all their fires stoking desires
Feeling the heat
Keeping the beat
Closing the street

Don't Curse at the night
You can't win that fight
Let the stars shine bright
And carry you on

Everyone's feeling good
Everyone is oh so loose
We're in the caboose
We're at the end of the line
And it's about time
Breaking it down
Take it to town
Gonna turn it around

Don't curse at the night
You can't with that fight
Let the stars shine bright
And carry you on

There's a spirit that shouts
There's a spirit that screams
There's one to get out
And there's one for bad dreams
When you find that you're still
Sleeping beside the same little girl
Oh, baby sleep tight

Don't curse at the night
You can't win that fight
Let the stars shine bright
And carry you on

Don't curse at the night
Let the stars shine bright
You can't win that fight
And I can't carry you home

Don't Let Down

Don’t let them fool you into thinking,
Fool you into thinking that you where only listening to
Fast times and money in your pockets
When money in your pockets never made a sound at all
That’s true but don’t you ever feel that,
Don’t you ever feel that you could make a real bad
Man if you wanted to, I never really wanted to
But sometimes I just feel its true, I don’t know what I should do

Don’t let it down
If you think that it’s good
If you think that you should
Do right

My baby doesn’t really like me,
She doesn’t really like me, I think that she’s just playing around
With me and everyone around her, everyone around her is just a little play thing
That’s true, no, how can it be true, I don’t think is really true,
I don’t think it’s really true at all
We’ve just been running ‘round each other,
Running round each other and we’re waiting for the first to fall

Don’t let it down . . .

I don’t know how it’d be if we where along
I don’t care any more, its beside the point

How come I never get tired of her
Though she’s on the wrong side
My friends are always on the right side
I’m always just a little tired of them
I guess the meaning of holding on
Is what you’re holding out against
Fast times pretty things and green grass growing
Illusions are pulling us apart

Don’t let it down. . .

Don't Look Back

I wish I could relate
The way we're tempting fate
I wish that we could wait
For the sun to touch our skin
Before we begin
To let the darkness in
Oooooh

There's no one who knows
How there shadow grows
Behind them when the sun
Sets and the day is done
Looking for someone
To beat back the cold
The cold taking hold

Don't look back
You can't forget what you had
Its not that bad
It just takes time
To redefine what's in your mind

I saw you in a dream
In an orchard by a stream
Caught in a 'lectric fence
What was left of innocence
Was left out on the wire
A blackbird in the fire
The crow is only smoke
That turned to dust and then I woke

This is what's left of me
Incensce and poetry
And it still burns
Spreading its smoke
Stinging my eyes
Caught in my throat
Bound to the night
As vampires try
To be reborn
Finally get home
And find the sun

I'm not the only one
Addicted to the sun
It comes and makes me whole
After you have left me cold
I'm gonna burn my wings
And melt the golden rings
That bind me to the night
And break me on the rack of time

Dreaming Without Sleeping

I’ve been dragged from a river and thrown in a well
After battling the currents and coughing up the water in my lungs
I’m descending in the darkness of the earths hidden reservoirs
I’ll be sleeping well tonight that’s for sure

There ain’t no use trying
To find the line tying
The bucket to the top of the shaft
I’m sinking I’m dissolving
The sunlight is evolving
Into creatures of my mind and of my life
I see countries, kingdoms, castles
And alabaster statues
And broken bits of poetry to sing
And when I am awoken I will try to recall my dreams

I’ve been dragged from a river I’ve been saved and lost again
Its dangerous dreaming without sleeping
Yes its dangerous dreaming without sleeping
Its dangerous dreaming without sleeping

I’m jumping from the boulders
That have fallen from the shoulders
Of the mountains to the rivers below
I found a feather drifting cross
These river sands a shifting
And I put it in the leather of my hat
Perhaps it will protect me
Or else it just might curse me
I could never know a thing like that

Its dangerous dreaming without sleeping

Drink of Streams

Drink of streams from hidden sources
Blindly ride the star streaked heavens
Breathe in deep and risk your fortunes
Judge the darkness

Seek the ill wind black blown masses
Their eyes ablaze with broadcast static
Jaws are snapping, they got hungry stomachs
Fixing for their latest habits

Dust the sun stroked silver highway
Carve the mountains with your shadow
Your rubber sole and wooden heels
Are melted black and been fire straddled

You travelers heed the village windows
Steer the weary legged lane
Sounding siren sings survival
Stinging some to stir their chains

And wonder what wide containment
Seals their mind, bemires their hands
Circles told hold rumination
Stretched for stars and promised lands

If you’re thirsty drink from me
My toes are tapped to endless springs
Like rooted trees and jealousies
For salty seas of which they dream

So test your eye by meteor
Think with thought of mountain core
Walk the edge of and ocean shore
I’m sure there’s more than this

The Drug is Our Hero

C F C
1.The drug is our hero as body and mind
C F C
Say separated is perfectly fine
C F C
Courage is ruthless in sickly cold hands
C F C
With slow moving muscles a fast talking man
C F C
Is professing the future as seen by the stars
C F C
Laid down far from heaven and covered in tar
C F C
Injected in lymph nodes inspected and tangled
C F C
Attached to the cathode, electrically mangled

Chorus

F C
The drug is our hero
G C
My only friend
F C
The drug is my favorite means
G C
Unto the end

2.Continued, talked into, coerced by the full moon
The terrorized tough guy is singing a new tune
To hell with the towers, every thing crumbles
A well statued waste land slowly recovers
To carve her good name and fight her good fight
Suggest our defense and tuck us in tight

But the drug is our secret
Our heavenly host
Hail Mary, our father
And holiest ghost

3.His weapons our subtle, his methods obscure
With fast acting poison, he’s sure of the cure
The drug is our hero, an Olympian saint
Our manacled Minotaur and easy escape
A pill filled with powder to impart endurance
Fluid filled capsules for osmotic entrance
The body’s a forest, the brain is a space ship
Render my molecules nameless and useless

The drug is our hero
Its number one
The drug is our hero
Aren’t we having fun

4.Kiss me with chemistry, break my bacteria
Fill up my organs with magic material
The drug is our hero, our warrior king
The drug is the hero of all human beings