"Don't Pray On Me"
 
A grizzly scene on my electron beam
Told a story about human rights
So all of King's horses and all of King's men
Had a riot for two days and nights
Well, the city exploded but the gates wouldn't open
So the company asked him to quit
Now everybody's equal
Just don't measure it

Well, Hanson did it to Hester
And Mark David did it to John
And maybe Jack did it to Marilyn
But he did it to South Vietnam
For beauty and glory
For money, love, and country
Now everybody's doing it
Don't do that to me

A bitter debate and a feminine fate
Lie in tandem like two precious babes
While the former gets warmer, it's the latter that matters
Except on the nation's airwaves
And custodians of public opinion stayed back
After vainly discussing her rights
Lay hands off her body
It's not your fucking life

Now I don't know what stopped Jesus Christ
From turning every hungry stone into bread
And I don't remember hearing how Moses reacted
When the innocent first born sons lay dead
Well, I guess God was a lot more demonstrative
Back when he flamboyantly parted the sea
Now everybody's praying
Don't pray on me

"Modern Day Catastrophists"
 
take those potatoes out of your ear
listen to the warnings
verify all your fears
there's a world outside
that's ready to blow
and we're all to blame
when it finally explodes
you gotta listen up
gotta listen to what
they're telling you
gotta listen up and think
about what they're saying to you
they're the modern day catastrophists
they've got practical solutions
(know all the right equations)
they're the self-appointed
righteous pragmatists
and they know 50 ways
to save the world
what makes you think
you can cure our disease?
maybe its just our biology
maybe its time to make room
for another species
this is the 21st Century

"Skyscraper"
 
Come let us make bricks and burn them hard,
We'll build a city with a tower for the world
and climb so we can reach anything we may propose,
anything at all

Build me up, tear me down
like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down
These joining walls
So they can't climb at all

I know why you tore it down that day
You thought, that if you got caught we'd all go away,
Like a spoiled little baby who can't come out to play,
You had your revenge

Build me up, tear me down
like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down
these joining walls
So they can't climb at all

Well madness reigned and paradise drowned
When Babel's walls came crashing down
Now the echoes roar for a story writ
that was hardly understood
and never any good

Build me up, tear me down
like a skyscraper
Build me up, then tear down
these joining walls
So they can't climb at all

Build me up
Build me up

Stranger Than Fiction (1994)



1.   Incomplete
2.   Leave Mine To Me
3.   Stranger Than Fiction
4.   Tiny Voices
5.   The Handshake
6.   Better Off Dead
7.   Infected
8.   Television
9.   Individual
10.   Hooray For Me...
11.   Slumber
12.   Marked
13.   Inner Logic
14.   What It Is
15.   21st Century (Digital Boy)

"Incomplete"
 
Mother, father, look at your little monster,
I'm a hero, I'm a zero,
I'm the butt of the worst joke in history,
I'm a lock without a key,
a city with no door,
a prayer without faith,
a show without a score,
I'm a bad word, a wink, a nod, a shiver,
an untold story, sex without purity,
a creeping gray memory,

I am
incomplete....incomplete....incomplete....incomplete

Doctor, cure me; what is the cause of my condition,
this madness shoots me,
like bullets smashing glass in a silent movie,
I'm a trap without a spring,
a temple with no god,
a jack without an ace,
the tip of your tongue,
I'm a promise, an unmailed letter,
an unbuilt motor, deck without a joker,
a creeping gray memory

I am
incomplete....incomplete....incomplete....incomplete

Tell Saint Peter not to bet on me,
I got a naked obsession,
a good intention gone bad,

I am
incomplete....incomplete....incomplete....incomplete

"Leave Mine To Me"
 
there are desperate times upon us,
there are codes of white and black,
political resentment and people start to crack,
there's hate and opposition,
there's fumbling dialog,
yet you sit there and judge me
and you think it makes a difference

if you think I'm all alone you are foolishly wrong,
there's an entire army who blindly follow along,
and you happen to be one of them believe it or not,
even though you try not to be we are of the same plague

the other ways we're taught to fear,
don't even scratch the surface of the problem here,
I'm not blind, and I'm not scared,
so many crucial factors exist out there,
and we're but one, and they're bout two,
and how we come to terms will help us pull through

things cannot change too fast,
it took us this much time,
to reach our current platform and walk this fragile line,
if I thought I'd make a difference I'd kill myself today,
but so many are like me lost in the fray

you create your own reality,
and leave mine to me

"Stranger Than Fiction"
 
A febrile shocking violent smack
And the children are hoping for a heart attack.
Tonight the windows are watching, the streets all conspire
And the lamppost can't stop crying.

If I could fly high above the world,
Would I see a bunch of living dots spell the world "stupidity"?
Or would I see hungry lover homicides, loving brother suicides
And olly olly oxen frees who pick a side and hide?

The world is scratching at my door.
My morning paper's got the scores,
The human interest stories
And the obituary.

Oh yeah.

Cockroach naps and rattling traps.
How many devils can you fit upon a match head?
Caringosity killed the Kerouac cat.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

In my alley, 'round the corner, there's a wino with feathered shoulders
And a spirit giving head for crack and he'll never want it back.
There's a little kid and his family eating crackers like Thanksgiving
And a pack of wild desperadoes scornful of living.

The world is scratching at my door.
My morning paper has the scores,
The human interest stories
And the obituary.

Oh yeah.

Cradle for a cat, Wolfe looks back.
How many angels can you fit upon a match?
I want to know why Hemingway cracked.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Life is the crummiest book
I ever read, there isn't a hook,
Just a lot of cheap shots, pictures to shock,
And character's an amateur would never dream up.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

"Tiny Voices"
 
The brown and orange sky holds its breath as the sun retreats
To the distant horizon,
And our hearts palpitate anxiously as we soon will lay supine
And wait for sleep to overcome us.

And from somewhere in our black subconscious minds, when we're asleep,
Comes a haunting, swelling mass of voices, resonating
Its screams of forgotten victims and the cries of innocence,
And the desperate plea for recognition and recompense.

Tiny voices.
Echoes of our heritage, our long and sallow faces turn the other way
Tiny voices,
Harbored deep within as we outwardly deny that they have something to say,
And if you don't confront them they will never go away.

The billions of tiny pinhole embers fade into a morning
Sky, filled with poignant morose wonder.
Waking a bear, a cosmetic peace that verifies the turmoil
That we carry deep inside.

And from somewhere in our black subconscious minds, when we're asleep,
Comes a haunting, swelling mass of voices, resonating
Its screams of forgotten victims and the cries of innocence,
And the desperate plea for recognition and recompense.

Tiny voices.
Echoes of our heritage, our long and sallow faces turn the other way
Tiny voices,
Harbored deep within as we outwardly deny that they have something to say,
And if you don't confront them they will never go away.
Go away.
Go away.

"The Handshake"
 
Every time you shake someone's hand
And it feels like your best friend,
Could it be that it's only superficiality?
Without regard to well-being,
Without an inkling of compromise,
Handshakes are nothing but a subtle "fuck you",

And contracts determine the best friendships

This is the way of the modern world,
Everyone's vying for patronage
This is the way of the modern world,
And something's gotta give

Every time you shake someone's hand,
And you share neither color or creed
You gotta overcome the obstacles of history,
There is restrained passion,
Mistrust, and bigotry
And these have created the new foundations of society,

There's no harmony just class and race

This is the way of the modern world,
Everyone's fighting for dominance
This is the way of the modern world,
And something's gotta give

Now I believe in unity,
And I am willing to compromise,
But I'm not gonna lie or sell my soul

Every time you shake someone's hand,
It determines where you stand
And if you won't uphold your side
It's better to

Fend for yourself,
Fend for yourself,
Fend for yourself,
And shun the handshake,

Fend for yourself,
Fend for yourself,
Fend for yourself,
And shun the handshake,

Fend for yourself (I)
Fend for yourself (Believe)
Fend for yourself (In unity)
And shun the handshake,

Fend for yourself (And I am)
Fend for yourself (Willing to)
Fend for yourself (Compromise)
And shun the handshake,

Fend for yourself (I)
Fend for yourself (Believe)
Fend for yourself (In unity)
And shun the handshake,

Fend for yourself (But I'm not gonna lie)
Fend for yourself (Or sell)
Fend for yourself (My soul)
And shun the handshake,

Someone's gotta give!

"Better Off Dead"
 
I'm sorry about the sun,
how could I know that you would burn?
And I'm sorry about the moon,
how could I know that you'd disapprove?

And I'll never make the same mistake.
The next time I create the universe
I'll make sure we communicate at length, oh yeah.

But until then... better off dead,
a smile on the lips and a hole in the head.
Better off dead, yeah better than this.
Take it away cuz there's nothing to miss.

I'm sorry about the world,
how could I know you'd take it so bad?

And I'll never make the same mistake,
so if you're looking for a patsy
why not try the entire human race just to play it safe?

But until then... better off dead,
a smile on the lips and a hole in the head.
Better off dead, yeah better than this.
Take it away cuz there's nothing to miss.

Better off dead, you're better off dead.
Why don't you try pushing daisies instead?
Better off dead... you're better off dead,
a smile on the lips and a hole in the head.

And I'll never make the same mistake,
the next time I create the universe
I'll make sure you participate, oh yeah.

And I'll never make the same mistake,
the next time I create the universe
I'll make sure you participate, just in case.