1. |
Lizards in the Woodpile
06:16
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Woke up with a fear of Irowaddi Delta blues
At the park when midday sparks erases all bad news
Cast your sorry armaments up in a paper tree
Lizards in the woodpile cast a jeweled eye on me
and the cars they swarm the roadway
to the wireless chatter drone
and the parking lot's a mob scene
but the fire burns all alone
Give a man a monkey cure to keep his soul from harm
Give me all your matches you can sleep out in the barn
Clicking off a list of work to do before I die
Lizards in the woodpile there to cast a jeweled eye
and the cars they swarm the roadway
to the wireless chatter drone
and the shopping mall's a mob scene
but the fire burns sad and all alone
when the sunshine unwinds the wooden wands to come home
Marigolds infinite folds may flower paper wings
Or written stark in sidewall chalk can never say nice things
Half a stack of cannonballs that roll right out of view
Lizards in the woodpile cast a jeweled eye on you
and the cars they swarm the roadway
to the wireless chatter drone
and in commerce it's a mob scene
but the fire burns sad and all alone
when the sunshine unwinds the wood & wants to come home
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2. |
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Silver City
Well, the heat did walk in a slow mean arc across the sky
the season didn't change, the calendar couldn't ask why
the time has come for me and my partners to fly
We'll pack up the bags, then, Silver City here we go...
Farther than the beach, but closer than Mexico
I'm going back to the paradise we used to know
Where the aspens laugh and the cool green streams will run
and words and deeds will all roll in to one
I'm going back to that Silver City in the sun.
Where the aspens laugh and the cool green streams will run
and the sun will shine on all the good deeds I have done
I'm going back to that silver city in the sun.
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3. |
The Serious Kind
02:30
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We will remove you from the order of men
We will invert you in your skyscrapers
We've had enough of people writing our names in the sky
'cause we're the serious kind
We're quick to trouble, but we're slow to explain
Rich in verbiage but we're poor talkers
We've had enough of families staring at their T.V.s
'cause we're the serious kind
I know you'll never see things
quite the way we do
but when the night falls, you'll find us sleeping, too.
Take the badge off, 'cause I'm not on your team
We never see you in the newspapers
It's not enough just to endlessly talk on the wire
with a serous mind
I'll kick the soapbox out from under your feet
I know it seems like a cruel picture
We take the steps so that the images flooding our minds
are the serious kind
I know you'll never see things
quite the way we do
but when the night falls, you'll find us
and they'll never let you behind us
when the night falls you'll find us sleeping, too.
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4. |
Corporate Maze
03:58
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Back to the corporate maze
up from the shadows that's cast from the cradle to grave
think of the time you could invest or save
back in the corporate maze.
Back to the corporate maze
gridlocked in windsor knot straitjacket scarlet and gray
there lies a man who says you could be saved
with his back to the corporate maze
Man who wish upon a star
and trades his wish in for a car
he found out one thing, that old familiar something
the Cadillac that takes you where you are
and you wish upon a dream
and things are not the way they seem
walk out in sunlight, that old familiar one light
with cows to the left of me, horses to the right, there I go...
back to the corporate maze.
Back in the corporate maze
chemically tested, approved and awake to the haze
black water fall to keep yourself amazed
back in the corporate maze
and you wish upon a star
and things seem not the way they are
walk out in sunlight, that old familiar one light
with horses to the left of me, cows to the right, here I come...
home from the corporate maze.
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5. |
Can't Catch Me
03:36
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I've got flypaper hung from my rafters
and the lord's painted boards up on the side
when the children hope to sing, pull the rope to hear them ring
you can't catch me
Three times took stones to the water
twice I knew exactly what to do
once when I was young, caught me carrying a gun
you can't catch me
Time washes out what the memory stains
can't catch me
There's a Bactrian caravan marching
through the eyes of melted needles on the page
skulls surround by flaming jets, ice cream mosque-top minarets
you can't catch me
So we tack the faded portrait to the parchment
though the eyes that scan the trees are lined with age
best you get is box-top skulls, rice and water painted gulls
you can't catch me
Time washes out what the memory stains
can't catch me
Time marches on but the memory stays
can't catch me
At Sherman Way and Firmament, we wonder where the tradition went
folded in on itself so nobody could see
can't catch me
Should we hitch the burning wagon to an eagle?
or a saddled sway-back horse who knows the way?
Once when I was young, thought the songs had all been sung
can't catch me
Time washes out what the memory stains
can't catch me
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6. |
Lunar Blue
05:15
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Back when time was new, only madmen sought a view
of the moon
Now the path's gone gray, and wrought-iron shadows line the way
to the moon
It's been that way for a lifetime
winking slyly out from behind the gloom
Second time it's full, you will surely feel the pull
of the moon.
A dozen men touched down on the bright and barren ground
of the moon
It's been up there since September
shining a purple light around the room
but you'll rue the day you remember
going ape-wild, looking sideways
at eight shades of lunar blue
If she takes his hand, they can surely put a man
on the moon
but if you lose your way, promise me that you won't stay
on the moon
It's been that way forty lifetimes
shining silver tears across the gloom
you'll rue the day you remember
going ape-wild, looking sideways
at eight shades of lunar blue
you remember
it's just a painting
in eight shades of lunar blue.
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7. |
See Me Down
03:10
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Don't wanna see your bedroom newspaper chaw-line no more
don't wanna see the brown juice dripping to the floor.
Been cleaning out your cistern ever since I was a kid
gonna leave the farm like Uncle Henry did.
Hop the fence at Temperance, on up to Fayeteville
there's a world beyond Marissa's windowsill
And I don't wanna let them see me down.
Well Hoppy's there on Oscar's barstool, tellin' him where to sign
South American mule-trader line
East Saint Louis shipyard they will tell you where to go
down the river to the Gulf of Mexico
And I don't wanna let them see me down
Now I'm paying bills in Woodland Hills and playing on guitar
ancestors only take you so far
so stand in line behind me, all you Germans, all you Swedes
can't give a modern adult what he needs.
And I don't wanna let them see me down.
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8. |
Heat
05:55
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Up in the morning I'm a bee in a jar
get out now while the sky's still and light
'cause you know by ten o' clock we'll meet under a rock
where there's no getting out until night
And up on the freeway it's a hundred and five
if you keep your spirit windows high
and if it's bad enough, pull over into the rough
where we hurl things over the side
How could a songbird even sing, much less fly
in a sky so heavy with the heat?
weighed down by anger pangs, past the park, darkened by gangs
with the concrete stuck to their feet
somewhere in the distance sits a floating Eucalyptus
tilts and makes its wilted wishes to the sky
will the cool breeze come on Tuesday?
will the cool breeze come on Wednesday?
will the cool breeze come at all?
Well, the cool breeze came up Thursday evening and
drove the silly bees out of their holes
and I see everyone comes to see what it has done
to our hands, to our lands, to our souls.
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9. |
Living End
04:33
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so far for a bed
sick in the head
a viral illness to break the stillness
what the doctor said.
medicine man
do what you can
one's for tired, one's for wired up
to beat the band
midnight creep
and the synapses weep
never hope for more than to stick to the floor
when you try to sleep
all hands on deck to paint the living end
all fools who choose to face the time we would spend
from today until then
Not more alive
than at 2:45
in the 15 minutes that it takes to spin it
you could save a life
all hands on deck to paint the living end
all fools who choose to face the time we would spend
from today until then
coming to ground
on woodpecker sound
padding around in a tilted crown and your Sunday browns
count from ten
from here until then
in the 15 minutes that it takes to finish
you could start again
all hands on deck to paint the living end
all fools who choose to face the time we would spend
from today until then
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10. |
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Every time I think on it
my mind might split in two
I've got unification theories trying to explain to you
because I miss the days when the universe smiled
I'm hoping that these things are gonna all make sense in a while
'Cause here I've got a particle
and there I've got a string
and I've got a stack of ancient turtles to describe the same thing
because I miss the days when the universe smiled
I'm hoping that these things are gonna all come clear in a while
I'm thinking and I'm wondering as I'm looking up into the sky
I've got 25 dimensions but still this thing won't fly
because I miss the days when the universe smiled
I'm hoping that these things are gonna all come clear in a while
I'm hoping that these things are gonna all make sense in good time.
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11. |
Traveling Companion
07:00
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Left Charlie's alley, 9:17
with a box of good luck and some cold caffeine
127 northward thru St. John's
Got my cassettes of next week and a motor flannel on
If I make lakeshore before midnight,
well my friends they told me we could set the thing up right
Bells on bent poles on royal roads
serve to patch the summer cracks and smooth a heavy load
The crumbled kitchen when I got the call
I could make it up late, if I make it up at all
On past Alma, and 46
where a paranoid sherriff plays a side-road vision trick
And my traveling companion is shotgun side
slide me a bone on the right-side wrist
clackin' teeth all in my ear
and a deep red shade of fear that keeps me driving.
Crossed Roscommon, 11:15
with a bad case of soda pop and nicotine
blew a gasket, 2 into 4
this thing runs on a casket of dead dinosaurs
And my traveling companion is shotgun side
slide me a bone on the right-side wrist
clackin' teeth all in my ear
and a deep red shade of fear that keeps me driving.
Fell off the freeway so far from south
where inverted crickets meets the Indian river mouth
and lost my keys under the wooden dock
where there's melted teenagers in silouhettes and socks
I made the lakeshore before midnight
with a strong central feeling something else ain't going right
and tossed my gear onto a tilting porch
when a screaming fireball splits the sky stone iron torch
And my traveling companion is shotgun side
slide me a bone on the right-side wrist
clackin' teeth all in my ear
and a deep red shade of fear that keeps me driving.
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12. |
Soil Science
02:39
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We all love our children and want so much for them
but some of you think you compete to survive
so I'll raise up my family in sweet golden cycles
artists and scientists all of our lives
There once was a boy, long on fear, short on courage
born in the middle, he played by the throne
but he swung from the center with each picture he painted
now he exists on a plane of his own
Sent off to study in steel institutions
prance on the precipice, punching a card
came home too late and he woke up too early
with crop and soil sciences in the backyard
Now I'm back home and I'm taking the rakes out
cursing the leaf mold and worship the sun
with almanac wisdom and crop and soil science
chippin' away 'til my work here is done.
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