1. |
Rock On
04:01
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so much undecided and even more at stake
when the place where you resided gets caught under the wake
as sentimental values go you can’t insure what’s caught below so rock on
it’s a tender situation when your walk home is filled with dread
& don’t walk by that station sugar there’s an alley you can take instead
some blocks cry live and some live not while city sunlight keeps them hot so rock on
so much riding on fixed and steady stuff
that’s when i say i’ve had enough
but the masters make it tough for you to to
I watch em run their hustle the candyman counts his beans
from tenements to subdivisions they live outside their means
friday nights they dance until those saturday steppers foot the bill rock on
a thousand mink distractions to coil around her crooked neck
profound is her attraction to its smothering but soft effect
superstitions all laid bare, there’s far less competition there
as beasts pile in their burdens grow it’s easier just to let em go
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2. |
Quacks
03:58
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quacks of ducks rise up from the south the wind retracts its chill
scores of bugs bite back fighting out from that forgotten hill
twilight in the dining hall a feast prepared for one and all
though they have not slain a bird at all they eat their fill
silent figure there in the shadows though he means no harm
hides his deviant wicked methods underneath his charm
light is shined a crowd will glance
toward him, but they have no chance
to see him and his mystic dance it would cause alarm
every time i stand in line waiting for a fix of security to keep my woes at bay
i can catch the signs something in me picks up the truths about the universe they don’t intend to say
the sacred whisper out from the savage and profane
the revolution springs from the common and mundane
the space between them is life in all its joy and pain
what’s the outcome? i think we all can answer that
what’s our duty it’s who we are and where we’re at
love the one that holds your hand when times get tough across the land
and there ain’t no food to meet demand so you can’t grow fat
but in these times of plenty when your thoughts are free to roam
outside of food and shelter and the sanctity of home
a place where we can choose our meal there was duck, now there’s beef and veal
so how can we know how we feel about what goes on inside our little dome?
days impatient wait for no man they saw his trail
a ‘quack’ of ducks was flying southward through the sky so pale
spring is here, we meet again
i never new him as a friend
but who he was and what he said there’s no escape frommit •
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3. |
Killer in the Mist
03:54
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nat fly was a wild guy, got smashed in every corner of every dive
but the pusher paid him to take a fall
poured shots for peace and he drank them all
now he’s just another fly on the wall
and thekiller some said walks the streets dressed in red
to blend in with that light we all know
it’s seated at the top and most times makes men stop
but it takes a special kind of man to go
one who can’t resist the killer in the mist
jennie pearl was a fine girl with the rarest milky shimmer in the world
but the cop man walkin’ the crooked beat wrapped up her life on the yellow sheet scattered her remains on the street
and the killer some knew had to be the boys in blue
to blend in with that song poor men sing
they aim their David’s snare at Goliath in the air
but this time Goliath doesn’t feel a thing
don’t know how they missed their killer in the midst
fat dan is a quiet man, helps out with cookin dinner when he can
but the boss man sold his job away to skinny steve who works for a lot less pay dan’s cookin up a gumbo today
and the killer most have seen has to be the almighty green
casting shadows over all of man’s domain
clouds of worry and of doubt hover over lands of drought
teasing peasants with the promise of rain
or merely mist cos the killer’s in our midst
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4. |
Waiting On Aquarius
03:36
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oh mother drop me on the wild wet shore & let me run along the ocean floor
oh father teach me how to make war with the waves
oh boy show me all the shells you’ve found
there’s more to find under the sandy ground
girl confound us with the way that you behave
the night told a story that we read by the fire, which led us all to rest
cos we had to lie to get our eyes to where they could read it best
and while gemini saw us close our eyes taurus tucked us in
and we’re waiting on aquarius to bring the tide in
oh son show me how to do your walk your speech is silly but i’ll hear you talk
i’m floating still from the words your mother said
and daughter don’t let the stars grow dim behind your eyelids as you wait for him he’ll kiss you awake and then only tears of joy you’ll shed
and though scorpio and cancer lie in wait beneath the sand
and sagittarius suffers arrows for the virgo’s hand
where pisces swims to calm his nerves libra weighs his deeds
and aries scampers on the hills where capricorn feeds
and though leo roars every time we cross swords, taurus tucks us in
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5. |
Good Morning My Love
03:54
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i wake up in the morning with my arm around someone I hardly know
I go out to the balcony to have a smoke and watch the town below
there goes the airport there’s the airplanes there’s the graveyard for the ones that kept their flight
it’s all fenced in so we can’t commune with dead people at night
when time is running out
and i figure that’s when they need us most
more so when busy lives go on so close
but rather than whizzing above your head
i’ll come into your busy life once before we’re both dead
i walk the darkened corridors arriving just in time to go to bed
and though i need the sleep i’d rather find someone to share it with instead
what good’s your fortune or your culture or your doorman if he sees not who you sneak
out of your room with a kiss and a whisper i’ll see you next week,
and time is running out
into days now, minutes and seconds flat
carved in the fence where busy lives once sat
happy with those excuses that they’re fed
until you busted down my fence and said
good morning my love
no matter how far downhill my days & nights might go, the morning’s above
cos you’re by my side
and i can share everything that i wanna share before my turn to hide
& play by other’s rules
cause i figure that’s how they now me best
by my results in busy life’s contest
they’ll take the score and mourn and pass me by
and find the others who gave it a try
and call the game unfair cos the others won it so easily
marking their name off busy life’s trophy
I can’t pretend to watch you play for long, my lover’s singing me a sweeter song
I lie down in the evening but my feet wake up and wander to the floor
They slowly set to standing and to walking sending me right out the door
the graveyard’s open but there’s business to attend to
as my plane prepares for flight
into the busy atmosphere, i rocket out of sight
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6. |
The Halfwit Receptionist
04:03
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searing color temperatures rising cast a shade of blue on my head
hearing duller amateurs asking what could have made it red
no particular neutral density blocks the sun
turning up the light shining from everyone
and gaudy reflection is allowed to pass through
by the halfwit receptionist
seeing everything at once through a lens that takes it in frame by frame
hearing idiots and extremists finding out they’re the same
sometimes my call gets transferred to the wrong party
other times i’m put on hold for an eternity
the switchboard is scrambled and appointments get lost
important and light conversations get crossed
the company budget can scarce pay the cost
of the halfwit receptionist
he sits at a desk in celestial poise huffing fumes as the phones ring away
his responses are weakened by chattering noise
getting blown all about by the things we might say
his boss is away and He’s not coming back
his grip on the earth falls increasingly slack
he’s spilling raw light on what used to be black turning night into crystalline day
if we’re all in this together why do we need a filter at all
why do idiots invade screaming, tearing down every wall
people like to own things and that’s okay but just to be alive now you have to pay and people get owned more and more every day
while the halfwit receptionist with your share walks away
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7. |
Miss Rio
05:02
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she never has to worry cos she knows her train’s on time
she freshens up cachaça with a squeeze of her lime
puts the peels inside a bottle and she casts it out to sea
she’s rollin’ into rio as high as she can be
but she never lets it faze her as she saunters down the street
she’s a carefree carioca movin to the bossa beat
she’s quick to throw her money in a street musician’s case
they’ve pleaded her so many but she never loses face
the sun’s sinking low
where does she go
her hotel room is empty oh miss rio
if someone’s gonna break her spirits i won’t be the one
i’m gonna let her have her fun
in rio de janeiro, it’s a bit like déjà vu
when the river that you’re floating down flows right back into you
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8. |
Balcony
02:53
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I tore myself away from another idle day
To walk down to that lost apartment in the rain
Said hello and walked around there
Ate some dinner, found a place where
We could buy a fifth of Jack and cheap champagne
Sure enough, that’s what we bought
Took it home and drank a lot
As we laughed and played a card game on your floor
Getting rowdy, loud, and frisky poured myself another whiskey
As your roommate looked around for weed to score
I’d rather not, you said
Rather get a job instead
If my piss test came back dirty I would die
Said I knew how you were feelin’
No one’s hiring in this steel- and
Sweat-soaked city, Chicago Works, shit, what a lie
I held your hand under the early summer moon
And I felt rich despite my poverty
My sweet & sexy blue-eyed buxom two-flat tycoon
Smoking gold-packs off her wooden balcony
Had to rest & clear my head so I lay down in your bed
And you felt just fine to lie right next to me
Pretty soon we made like bunnies though I thought it kind of funny
That it was your roommate who I’d come to see, c’est la vie
Shared my taste in music and art, turned me on to Mr. Banhart
Who brightened up my summer like the Venezuela sun
Other men you were seeing, our relationship was fleeting
But despite its overheating we had fun
I looked upon you as you wore just sheets
So lovely sleeping next to me
Wherever I might wind up in these bitter, broken streets
I hope it has a wooden balcony
Wherever you might wind up in these bitter, broken streets
I hope you get to smoke whatever you want to off your balcony
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9. |
Tales of the Sonic Dead
03:39
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I’d feel her coming from down the square
Cos something would change in the midsummer air
And though I never even saw the tip of her hair, she was there
Friends will consult in the season of wine
About some words said that never were mine
But the way that they shimmer, and the way that they shine
They’re fine
Don’t be a martyr for a cause trapped in the blue
You’ll make it harder for the good light to shine through
Just take the essence of the trees
In with the incandescent breezes
Then the fields explode in red
What a day to be sonic dead
(summer shining fish ribbon echo the horse canyon flower to the wall and a sable I sees ya getting anxious in the cold watermelon taste caramel apple fringe on the gulf sway bawl in the factory ticket)
I’m running late but I have to report
Back to the fool’s gate, where jesters hold court
And though I’m trying hard not to relate to the sort Life’s short
So give a wave as I wander below
I’ll surface someday when much softer winds blow
The breeze from your bones and your fossils feels the glow
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10. |
Lost Together
02:40
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I don’t want answers, I don’t want to forget
I just want my eyes open to the sunset
Because among all the beauty and light in the sky
There’s a beauty inside you that’s waiting to die that’s not showing
The beauty inside you you were willing to share
And I thought that I had found something precious and rare
Iand so I kept it beside me, and let you run free
All that time I was beside myself, I could not see you were growing
Up past the places I’ve lived all my life
Where I learn the same lessons forever
I’d rather you find your own way in the world
Instead of living and wandering lost together
You made me no promise, but my heart broke the same
When I heard you were playing my least favorite game
I told you you’d never win, but I’d never played
So they don’t really matter, the choices I made in your name, see
I told you all truth in the message I sent
About how I found sorrow in your excitement
And that’s the way it must be now, I don’t know why
I’ve tried to look past it, God knows I try, can you blame me?
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11. |
Just Love
02:56
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you’ve got to give it while you can, there’s no other way to let em know
don’t gotta have a plan, don’t cost nothin just to let it flow, just love
there are days when you don’t care, days when you don’t think it’s there for you. Days when you’re not aware just how great this big world is to you so love.
Funny how most days can put you on. They just don’t stick around for too long. But a day when you love will stay with you until you’re gone
you’ve got to give yourself away to know what it’s like for others to take from you give yourself today, you can’t make others wait for you, just love
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12. |
Cloud
05:05
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i’ve been there before and i’ve seen every door
and i know what’s behind them what’s hidden
when all’s said and through your life echoes to you,
even paths where you traced the forbidden
life as a cloud, drifting onward, about,
cycling through every wave and emotion
why feel itspain when you could feel its rain
sending waves that cascade to the ocean?
fade away this clouded glass
& remember this too shall pass
when sweet lady welcome scatters from the bells
and her ship disappears in the offing
one wanders the sands north to rockier lands
where the chill of her absence brings coughing
fierce are the clouds that work also to shroud
your demise from the callous horizons
take me this way if you won’t let me stay
i couldn’t bear more of you rising
spreading out clearing all leaving just glass
bear witness we too have passed
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