WAR NURSE

She was just another war nurse
She could strike a noble pose
Caring for our young boys
When a bullet laid him low
She would have over them cry
And pulled the covers over them when they died
She was just another lonesome lady, lover, sister of the gun
And though friends would call her darling
She was the nurse 'neath the rising sun
She knew no hells or heavens, or harbors or havens
She was every mother, sister, wife and lover
Whose love a soldier boy was savin'
She believed in the birth of the broad sword
She was not a shielded one
Though friends would call her darlin'
She was nurse 'neath the rising sun
She was a soldier's shrapnel sweetheart
Direct from the combat zone
She was the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary
She was the hooker down in San Antone
And though her heart was somewhere in Iceland

PRODIGAL SON

In a place where outlaws are banned from the rane
On a day mountains has fallen to foes
In a land where boys are forbidden to grow
And metal is the only master
Were the higway ends and the desert breaks
and buildings are bent from great earthquackes
And statesmen crawl on their bellies like snakes
And feed of the public hunger
In a land were sky-scrapers scratch the sky
And delinquent daughters to their mothers still lie
Papa stands on the corner he wants to beat the drum
Welcome Home My Prodigal Son
When Rivers run raising through city streets
And great eagels have fallen from their lofty peaks
And policemen moonlight aside show freaks
for the final crime is commited
When Presidents ride in Ford Mustangs
And the Black man releases his Caddilac fangs
And you checked out in bed as the landbird bangs A young girl next door for the rent
Where telegraph wires are attached you and mine
And delinquent daughters to their mothers still lie
Papa stands on the corner waitin to beat the drum

Eloise


Well what power of God does a nun use
to hold a parish priest
And what makes a good cop
let go a beautiful thief
Oh and how does a queen know
She got hold that man with honey
Oh and what makes an old woman
Give a young man all her money

Well, late in the night
'neath that pale moon light
that power comes over me
And it`s old Eloise

EVACUATION OF THE WEST (a.k.a. No More Kings in Texas)

It was on the day the cowboys were abandoned from the ranch
(It was on the day the cowboys were banned from the range)
Middle touch world as a master
(Metal touched the world as a master)
They rode their ponies down in the cities of gold
To leave them for ever after
Now the sun was swollen red and old
The earth it was windy, dark and cold
Were the highway ends the desert takes its toll
Sodusty, red and angry
It was a time when men died out on the praire
From not having a decent friend
At nights the ghosts to the more of riders
Was a howl in the candid winds

You can here them crying
Good God, I think they're dying

When them rangers down in Dallas
Had all, but given it up and left
And those that hang on hoping
Was trying their best to, to forget
The way those outlaws and desperadoes
Right from the cheapest to the best
Rode in on ponies made of skin and bones
Keep up their rusty guns and went back home
(Gave up their rusty guns and went back home)

JESSE

Oh Jesse, you better start thinkin' about saving your neck
Oh Jesse, you put on that leather jacket like you put on respect
you got cleats on your boots and a woman who shoots everytime you shuffle
out the stage door
And darling Jesse, do you know what its all for?
Ah Jesse, your manager brought by them eight by ten glossies of your band
Oh Jesse, he says you wear cross around your neck and come on
with nails in your hands
With your insides showing and your New York band blowin' them
old Chicago blues
Ah Jesse, can't you see you're the one Jesse
Ah Sonny, this time its you
Well Jesse, your child is slobbering all over your pants
And Jesse, your wife has fallen into a trance
She's got eyes that tell no lies
She's seen so many wars
Ah be a good boy Jesse, tell her she don't have to look no more.
Well Jesse, he knows all the tricks to get the crowd reeling
Oh and Jesse, ya he rocks 'em with that old soul feeling
And he walks off the stage in a self-adoring haze
and gets shoved right out the door
Whoa Jesse, can't you see now boy that that's what its all about Jesse

ARABIAN NIGHTS

Shrieks of Sheiks as they run across the movie screen
A thousand sand-dune soldiers led by an Arabian Queen
And the harem girls move like fancy (Clancy's) dancers
In my dirty dreams
And I wake up on the floor clutching the bed-lamp
And Mama comes in, she screams
"Hey you been out with that tramp again last night
You know that silver-sequined Arab black bitch
The one that Mama don't like ?"
But Mama she sings me moontime melodies
With this great Top 40 hook
She shrugs her shoulders, she don't care
Papa just stares and says "Mary, look the girl's alright
The girl's alright"

CAMILLA HORNE
Camilla Horne, she was born a long, long time ago.
She Came From Germany to the U.S.A.
and was acclaimed as the next Garbo.
They came to her on their knees, to bless them, caress them and tell them what they need.

But oh, oh, she did not know.
and so she took her place at the bar.

FAMILY SONG (a.k.a. "California" or "California, You're a Woman")

Well you know when you're young there's such a distance between you and your family
You just can't see things from the same point of view
Papa wants a lawyer and mama she wants an author
And all you want is for them to want you

Well, I saw lot of bad signs and we had some real bad times back on the east coast.
And I guess you could say it took California to bring us close
There was a lot of hard livin' and some stone cold women on the east coast
And I saw my papa turn away when I need him most
And California, she's an angel oh so heavenly dressed
And the Pacific she's a woman The Lord must have loved her best
I've got a California rainbow come give them thunder clouds a rest
Oh and the mountain is my friend now, she put me to her test
Well you know every father has dreams and schemes fo his own kid
And dreaming it ain't been declaired no capital crime
But I just hope when I grow up to have my own kids
That I'll love them all I can and let 'em make their own minds
Now you know how a mother can hold the son through understanding
And my father he once held me close by crying
Whoa, and my mama's love it don't ever leave me standing
And papa's love it just leaves me smiling
Whoa, and my mama she's a rainbow,
gotta see hen on Sunday when she's dressed
Whoa, and my papa he's a good man, he gives me and mama his best
Whoa, my mama she's a rainbow, come to give them thunder clouds a rest
And my family is my friend now California put us through her test

MARIE

Marie, she comes to me in the twilight
When the wind blows down across the river
So cold, the fishermen cry
She rapes me in a rage of rainbow violence
Till my bare nerves, they sing
Like the strings of a violin
And the room seeps into a savage silence
Soaked in colours, red as blood, blue as night
And Marie she skins me alive
Carves her initials in my side
Lures me with her purrs and cuts me with her knife
And the horses pound like thunder
They bolt like lightning on her range
She feels she's going under and she zeros in the rein
She's so strange

RANDOLPH STREET (MASTER OF ELECTRICITY)

I remember yesterday
When I'd sit and watch the hound dogs play
Howlin' at the China moon
Now yesterday is the busted balloon
Life was young and things were easy,
Days were short, nights were warm
Times were good
Hate was shallow
Love was crazy and I had it in my marrow
And I swear that I've seen your face somewhere back in that time
and in that place
Do you remember
The old house stood like World War Two with just two rooms
and a hall to be used
The lady was mean
Just slightly unclean with a heart of cold silver and gold
The kitchen smelled of kerosene
Celing hung down unveiled the rotted beams
and the man, they said, his work it could of hung in the lub
Now he sits around all day because his left arm won't move
He was a master of the art of electricity