Don't Say Nothing

Lower the thing the skin of a cat
Skin it to the left just laying there
No other thing is luck like that
And you set it said it said nothing

Went to the party very discouraged
I watched the litter pile like a wall
I looked at the river just couldn't forgive it
It was ladened with all kinds of shit
Still I admit that I didn't say nothing
I turned my back walked away
Got to face the fact that I didn't say nothing

Everyone was dancing I stood over in the corner
I was listening they were saying this and saying that
And putting this one down but nothing was delivered
Nothing good was coming I just stood there
I couldn't believe it but I didn't say nothing
I walked the floor then I looked away

Got to face the fact that I didn't say nothing

How long how long will we make do
Maybe it's time to break on through
Gonna lift my skirts gonna straighten up
Gonna get well I'm gonna do something
Gonna face the fact gonna give it back
And I'm gonna do something won't hold my tongue
Won't hold the thought won't hold the card
Well I'm gonna do something
Oh my brain I got to complain
You can refrain but I'm gonna do something
How long how long will we make do
Maybe it's time to break on through

Out in the desert I saw that old cat skinned
I saw it floating in the river
I saw and no one seemed to mind
They sat there they sat there watching the sun
I saw it float away and I watched the buildings crumble
Like dust in the hand and we watched the sun
Spread its wings and fly away
And in the mountains a cry echoes
Don't say nothing
Don't say nothing no
Don't say nothing no

Dead City

This dead city longs to be
This dead city longs to be free
Seven screaming horses
Melt down in the sun
Building scenes on empty dreams
And smoking them one by one

This dead city longs to be
This dead city longs to be living
Is it any wonder there's squalor in the sun
With their broken schemes and their lotteries
They never get nowhere

Is it any wonder they're spitting at the sun
God's parasites in abandoned sites
and they never have much fun

If I was a blind man
Would you see for me
Or would you confuse
The nature of my blues
And refuse a hand to me

Is it any wonder crying in the sun
Is it any wonder I'm crying in the sun
Well I built my dreams on your empty scenes
Now I'm burning them one by one

This damn city this dead city
Immortal city
Motor city
Suc-cess city
Longs to be
Longs to be
Free
Free
Free

Blue Poles

Mother as I write the sun dissolves
Blood life streaming cross my hand
And these words, these words
Hope dashed immortal hope
Hope streaking the canvas sky
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write

We joined the long caravan
Hungry dreaming going west
Just for work just to get a job
And we never got lucky
We just forged on
And the dust the endless dust
Like a plague it covered everything
Hal fell with the fever
And mother I did what I could
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write

We prayed we prayed for rain
I never wanted to see the sun again

All my dresses you made by hand
We left behind on the road
Hal died in my arms
We buried him by the river
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write

Death Singing

In the straw-colored light
In light rapidly changing
On a life rapidly fading

Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing

With a throat smooth as a lamb
Yet dry as a branch not snapping
He throws back his head
And he does not sing a thing mournful

Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
In the straw-colored light

He sings a black embrade
And white opals swimming
In a child's leather purse
Have you seen death swimming
Have you seen death swimming

With a throat smooth as a lamb
Yet dry as a branch not snapping
He throws back his head
And he does not sing a thing mournful

Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
In the straw-colored light

He sings of youth enraged
And the burning of Atlanta
And these viral times
And May ribbons streaming
And straw-colored curls a-turning
A mother's vain delight
And woe to the sun
And woe to the young
Another hearse is drawn
Have you seen death singing
In the straw-colored light

Memento Mori

the fans were whirlin'
like the blades of a 'copter
liftin' into the skies above some foreign land
soaked with the bodies of so many friends.

Johnny waved
he was on his way home
he waved goodbye to his comrades in arms,
and all the twisted things he'd seen.
he waved goodbye
and the blades hit
something
maybe just Fate, but the blades hit
the 'copter went up in flames
and Johnny never went marchin' home
Johnny never went marchin' home

they took his name
and they carved it on a slab of marble
with several thousand other names
all the fallen idols
the apples of their mother's eye
just another name

meanwhile
back on that burning shore
Johnny's comrades stood speechless
they looked with uh-uh-uh-uh disbelieving eyes
as those bits of metal and the embers
the embers of his eyes
fanned out into the air
black dust
flames

oh Johnny! some day they'll make a movie about you
and in the making of that movie
some mad apocalypse
it will become even stranger than the simple act
just a boy going up up up
just a boy going up
in flames in the smoke
just another life
just another breath
and who'll remember
oh eternity now
as eternal as a sheet of marble
eternal as a slab on a green hill
and your name
and all your fallen brothers
and all the ones not cut
all the ones remembered only in the hearts
a mother a father a brother a sister a lover a son a daughter
shall not shall not fade shall not fade

your ancestors salute you
and the gods of your ancestors salute you
having having been formed by the minds of your ancestors
the gods of your ancestors salute you
having been formed by your ancestors
the gods of your ancestors salute you
they draw you in they draw you through
they draw they draw you through that golden door

mornin' boy [come on in boy]
we remember you
we conceived of you
we conceived of your breath
we conceived of the whole human race
and we conceived it to be a beautiful thing
like a tulip bending in the wind
sometimes it comes back to us
in the form of a handful of dust
comes back in the form of a smitten child
our raped daughters, ah the broken bones
souls cleaved from hearts
they come back to us
and our hands are filled with their rotting tissues
but we turn not our backs
we press our lips
into their cancer into the dust into the remains of each one
and that love is there and will greet you, will greet you
mornin' boy [come on in boy]
it's eternal love

well here, go ahead, run through that flame
awww man, running through your mind
you took a cat, you took a life, you took it by the tail
and you swirled it around your head
and you thrashed it, you smashed the life out of it
and you knew that it would be your own
but you wanted to feel, you wanted to feel it die
because you know you would feel your own
you would feel your own
but you're remembered!
you're remembered!
you're remembered DEAD!
you're remembered DEAD!
you're remembered DEAD!
we remember
we remember
we remember
everything
everything

Last Call

In a mansion high the young man stood
Ready to join his companions good
Outside the scent of magnolia blossoms
Down streets of gold the children were racing

Just another wandering soul
Adrift among the stars
Just another human heart
Led, led away

He put his shoes on and he laid down
Outside the clouds were swiftly gathering
He drained his cup and his stirred the mixture
And he closed his eyes as his conscience whispered

Just another wandering soul
Adrift among the stars
Just another human heart
Led, led away

Misgivings unspoken he joined his companions
His face covered over in a mansion high
Outside the children gazed in wonder
At the quickening sky then slowly disbanded

Thirty-nine wandering souls
Adrift among the stars
Thirty-nine human hearts
Led, led away

His burning skin cooled by angels
Swallowing sorrows excretion
It's all excretion
Felled by his hand of the mind of another man
Who makes the decisions
Lends no provisions for mere eternal rides
Learning of course every alien force

Even Christ yearns to be
To possess the skin
And bone the blood of man
Who tends the flock who breaks the bread
Who makes his own choices
Won't listen to voices
Accept no false teachers
False preachers, good deeders
With their hands out stretched
To be filled with your money
Your mind, your heart, your imagination
Sympathy, empathy
Acknowledge all man as fellow creation
But don't follow him
Don't be led away

One Voice

In the garden of consciousness
In fertile mind there lies the dormant seed
When blooming as charity
Conscience breathes a sigh of relief
The confessions of sleep
The awakening seed
Moved by love to serve
We celebrate all
Merit in life

Ah, the confessions of sleep
Unfolding peace
As we extend
According to need
And you will hear the call
All action great and small
Received joyfully
Heaven abounds
Let love resound
If he be mute
Give him a bell

If he be blind, an eye
It he be down, a hand
Lift up your voice
Lift up your voice
Lift up your voice
Give of your mind one mind
Give of your heart one heart
Give of your voice
One voice

Lo And Beholden

I was alone and content in my world
Dancing on air
You sent to me a message that said
I like your style
Will you come to the temple tonight
And dance for me there
I pledge to you all that you wish
The moon and the stars

Lo and beholden
Why don't you give it up
Lo and beholden Come on you know it's true
Lo and beholden
Oh I'm beholden to you

In the palace there was wild reverie
And the look in your eyes
As I dropped veil after veil
Was drunken desire
The dove calls and God notes it all
The naked truth
Here is my veil the seventh and last
It will cost you

Lo and beholden
Why don't you give it up
Lo and beholden
Come on you know it's true
Lo and beholden
Oh I'm beholden to you

The royal word has passed
The prophet's head is all I ask
For beauty and the naked truth
It will cost you

Lo and beholden
Why don't you give it up
Lo and beholden
Come on you know it's true
Lo and beholden
Oh I'm beholden to you

Boy Cried Wolf

Oh the story's told been told retold
From the sacred scriptures to the tabloids
All the fuss and fight none above a whisper
The soul of gold the belly of a boy

Well they drew him from the forest
Like they draw blood
Tied him to a tree like St. Sebastian
And he turned his head and let the arrows fly
Through the trees, the trees
The ornamental leaves

Boy cried wolf
Wolf don't come
Wolf within
Boy cried wolf

In the ancient mold they're dancing down
Calling to the moon but it don't answer
And they fell on their knees
and passed the bowl around
And the blood the blood the sacramental blood

Boy cried wolf
Wolf don't come
Wolf within
Boy cried wolf

I am the body I am the stream
I am the wake of everything
They bring me flowers that are myself
Garlands of blood that are myself
Slain the lamb that is himself

Torn reborn the cries of our dismay
Are nothing to the wind but whose to mind
Kings are lifted up and kings are thrown

Lost received retrieved
The human tide

Innocence had its day
Innocence had its day
Innocence innocence

Persuasion

What is the system that gets around
Recruits hearts with its timeless rhythm
The young glow but old men know
It's all a part of some crazy schism

Coming on like the dawn unrelenting light
Streets thick with its radiating
It's all aglow but we all know
True love is so complicated

Feeling funny don't know why
On a plane circling high
Equation persuasion
It's just persuasion

What is the body that has nobody
Go through life with nobody at all
It come and go where the wind blow
When persuasion come to call

Got me reeling don't know why
I'm on a plane circling high
Equation persuasion
Got the feeling I'm running in place
Caught in the orbit of the human race
Equation persuasion
It's just persuasion
It's jut persuasion
It's just persuasion

What is the body that has nobody
What is the rise without the fall
What is illusion without beauty
What is the system that's no system at all

Hey scout there's no equation
You can't prepare for the heart's invasion
You can't prepare for the heart's invasion
Love is its own