1.The Mighty Sparrow
When the cafe doors exploded, I reacted, too
Reacted to you
Cast into that sunny morning, I was coming too
But now I'm coming too
Papers in the wind a-waltzing, I was dancing, too
My mind danced to you
Lifted up on wings of strangers, saw a face and knew
Then I saw you - red, white and bruised
Silent for a moment, then singing, I thought I could hear
Singing turned to sirens as ringing returned to my ears
And the sirens called me back to their miserable rock
While you're following the sparrow, I can only follow the clock
2.Mourning In America
Shhhh--A white face in a white crowd,
The day, it starts, and it gets harder just to stand out.
Someone everyone organically can hang with,
Or someone cynically manipulating language.
Whoever told you that we needed you to be this？
We've all been sold a bill of goods if we believe it
Another warning from the well of true believers--
There will be mourning in America, and we say...
Hey! Hey! Hey!
You summon ghosts we tried to bury in their white shrouds
With burning cross and bloody crescent in the White House
You come on something like the faces I remember--
1980, Mississippi rising from the ash and embers
Never, now, can I imagine me forgiving you
Never, now, can I imagine how to live with you
Another warning from the lake of people bleeding--
There will be mourning in America if you keep it up...
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Up from the sultry air of the South of a time gone by
To your mercurial mouth
And where the busses in Boston that have idled for years
Ride the line to Orange County and the fare is the fears
Of the long manipulated and the wilfully dumb
You better watch what you ask for,
'Cause someday, it might just come.
3.Ativan Eyes
The Industry's out of touch
The means of production are now in the hands of the workers
But I still want to guided by your expert hands
Oh, lay your expert hands on me
And I, I would listen while you played me through my fears
And I, I would whisper just to make you come near
And I'd watch every gesture while you play the Kay mirrors
Oh I, I want your hands here.
The new millennium's tough
For some more than others--a ridiculous understatement
But I still want to be gazed on by your Ativan eyes
Oh, cast an eye upon me
'Cause I'd sit and write to you about all this and nothing
And I, I would give it all to give up all but one thing
And I'm so sick of cynics and I want something to trust in
Oh I, I want your eyes here.
I feel danger growing
A storm's dropping branches in my path
Only danger where I'm going
Will you be a stranger when I get back？
We 'strive to survive causing least suffering possible'
The Flux of Pink Indians gave me words for that!
And I still want your heart beating on mine
But, oh, have I been beating on your heart？
And I, I would listen while you played me through my fears
And I, I would whisper just to make you come near
And I'd watch every gesture while you play the Kay mirrors
Oh I, I want your hands here.
'Cause I'd drive and talk to you about all this and nothing
And I'd still give it all to give up all but just this one thing
And I'm so sick of cynics and I want something to trust in
Oh I, I want your eyes here.
Ativan Eyes, Dear.
4.Even Heroes Have To Die
Well! Didn't you look sharp with your boots when you met me on
the path？ Oh,
From two-tone to downtown Beirut, but only half-way back, oh,
Stealing bits of wisdom from the shelf,
Turned prisons into prisms on the self, oh, oh!
And what do they know about the springtime of me and you, oh,
Born in the midst of the long hot summer we lived through？ Oh,
Did they see you run for every rhyme？
Did we run for running out of time？ Oh, oh!
When even heroes have to die？
No one lives forever, Love,
No one's wise to try,
Adding our own wisdom to the shelf
And stealing bits of paper, we had health, oh, oh!
But working away, did we miss the passing of the time？ Oh,
In your own flame you can with, though your passions still
outshine, oh,
And did you read the writing on the wall
Prophesying a doom upon us all？ Oh, oh!
That even heroes have to die？
No one lives forever, Love,
No one's wise to try,
But hidden in the writing on the wall--
Many are the beauties of the fall.
5.The Stick
Anxious Mo-Fo, my twin, my friend
Election time again, I wish that I was dead
Some conversation, if you're well read
To calm the storm of shit that's raging in my head
While languishing in basements：10,000,000 corpses lashed to beds
Atrophied to archetypes by all the able artists overhead
Mixed light of evening, sky of the sea
You take the Old North Road 'cause that's where you feel free
Your hidden backroads, your hidden dreams
A hidden cigarette that actually helps you breathe
Play an ancient mixtape, attempt a break from the routine
But dark on the horizon： form that's never fully come to being
Still need a reason for your unease -
You think the government, it wants you on your knees
But I'll tell you something, and here it is：
They want you driving to the supermarket, buying milk and cheese
And generating taxes to fuel their corn subsidies
You're either nibbling at the carrot, or you get beat with the
fasces
6.Bottled In Cork
There was a resolution pending on the United Nations floor
In reference to the question, 'What's a peace keeping force
for？'
Who believed it would be solved in a day？
No one who walked out of that building on the 8th of May
In their tired-suited, worn-eyed way
I got a message from my sister, she just had a kid
I had to get to Copenhagen to see how she did
My haircut startled a Canadian, he called me a 'skid'
Though the charge for roaming the international's well hid
Someone is listening on my phone when I show up on the grid
Me - I'm just a loner in a world full of kids - egos, and ids
A year before we were getting in, getting bottled in Cork
On television, Congress crying about abusing the pork
I told the bartender we were all from New York
Sometimes the path of least resistance will gain you the most
Well, more than trying to map the distances up and down the East
Coast
When you're in Munich making music, raise your glass and say,
'Probst!'
(make it easy on your host)
Over mountains and far away
Your tribuneral mockeries of justice still dog my steps
Until I see that next smiling face
A little good will goes a mighty long way
A little good will goes a mighty long way
I finally made it up to Sweden to see Little Dove
Some folk remembered our last meeting and bore me no grudge
And from the bartender, complimentary mugs!
Oh, if only I could stay a while - what am I afraid of？
All this psychic damage of all the years I'm made of...
Tell the bartender, I think I'm falling in love
7.Woke Up Near Chelsea
Well we've all got a job to do, and we all hate God
But we've all got a job to do - we're gonna do it together
We are born of despair, and we long for what's fair
We're gonna do what we can on the road to getting there
On our way to getting there
Cold in the bones, rot in the teeth
Alone in the home, out in the street
All that you've grown, choked in the weeds
But older than stone - that's you and me
We are born of despair, but we're gonna do it together
8.One Polaroid A Day
One Polaroid a day - perfect every single way
Anchor in a winding ley
Lets you get on while others hang on document decay
But you wanna control everything
You are your own worst enemy - and you don't wanna talk about it
But in the time it takes to turn your cameras on
You can keep on clicking but the moment's gone
But you wanna control everything
You are your own worst enemy
One Polaroid a day - the discipline to let things play
And ever-present to remain
Untethered in the Old King's Road you can pull the trigger and
then let it go
But you wanna control everything
You are your own worst enemy - and you don't wanna talk about it
And in the time it takes to turn your cameras on
You can keep on clicking but the moment's gone
But you wanna control everything
You are your own worst enemy
You kill the moment when you cling
Lay down your ownership and sing
9.Where Was My Brain？
I saw a future, I saw me a way
Equal work, I thought, demands equal pay
I heard new music on the radio
I thought that gradual dissolution would be the way to go
Where was my brain？
Modern agriculture gave me a thrill
Until I saw the things it brutally kills
Modern architecture gave me a kick
Until I lived among the Brutalist bricks
Where was my brain？
With me all the time, getting it wrong again
All the suffering evened out in the end
Stars and scriptures had some things to portend
Thought that I could speak my mind but avoid a fight
I'd do it all and make sure everybody's doing alright
And we had the best in an imperfect world
We had the best of an imperfect world
We had the best the best the best
Where was my brain？
10.Bartomelo And The Buzzin' Bees
I know I've been distant, but I feel a change coming on
I know I've been resistant, but I feel a change, way too strong
You've fought all their wars, and you've worked for every boss
You've traveled over country, and you've been home and you've
been lost
I know I've been missing, but I feel the change we've been
waiting on
I know I've been resistant, but I feel the change - it's way too
strong
You've paid and you've been paid, but at what pains, just to
belong？
You've played, but have you been played by this game all along？
I know I've been distant, but I feel a change coming on
I know I've been resistant, but I feel a change, way too strong
Arguments, questions, our struggles and lessons
But do you feel smiled on by your past and present？
I still believe the futures unwritten
Living and dying like a damned human being
Believe in the buzzing of bees around me and we'll get on
What pain has been nagging in our brains and turning us wrong？
What weight has been dragging on our train for oh, so long？
See, I've broken down the doors and found nought but dust and
Stones for our graves
See, we've spoken around it all, but now I trust we can carry
the day
'Cause I know I've been missing but I feel the change we've been
waiting on
And I know I've been resistant, but I feel the change - it's way
too strong
11.Tuberculoids Arrive In Hop
Oh, the dream I have suffered - augured fear upon the water
Vessels tall, with small men inside coming near against the ebb
tide
I can talk to fox like he's a man, I can pull a harvest from the
sand
But I fell all time is ending, as it's east, the sun is setting
12.Gimmme The Wire
Oh, Temple, darling, you have made my life so neat
But a dirty old death still waits in the bridle suite
And oh, oh, I can't see around that bend
In the end, they put my head in a box, and then they give me the
wire
Oh, Temple, dear I don't mean to be a thankless boor
Ah, but as bad as its been, I think I'd still rather have taken
more
So, oh, as you've eased my way, my friend
Won't you watch them put my head in a box
And watch them give me the wire？
13.Last Days
Woke up today, got on my way, heard someone say
We're living in the Last Days, and being alone, I naturally
thought of you
There's torture and rain, your legs and pain, and I came to play
So if we're living in the Last Days
Then maybe, baby, there are a few things we ought to do
And all the weeping wonders will while away
But you're killed in conception, so there's no argument to what
the man say：
'Last Days.'
See, I wanna rave and misbehave, lay you on a grave
Oh, let's give it to these last days
And when the world don't end we can sit back and laugh about
that, too
And with all the weird imponderables just crowding up the floor
Is it really so dishonorable to just get up and head for the
door
In these last days？
And all the weird and uncomfortable things we need to say -
Can you feel yourself come out from under them
As we get them out of the way, for these last days？
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