Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums.
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.
At fourteen I married My Lord, you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.
At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever and forever.
Why should I climb the lookout?
At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-en, by the river of swirling eddies,
And you have been gone five months.
The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.
You dragged your feet when you went out.
By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away.
The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.
The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me. I grow older.
If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,
And I will come out to meet you
As far as Cho-fo-Sa.
can you see the green
can you see the sand
i can hardly see my path
100’s of ufo’s everywhere
lean to the left
lean to the right
a heavy 4 head
will take me home
home to a cyclone
a cyclone of bliss
Feel,
Sick after every meal,
I’d say,
‘Cause I know,
The life from your burning wheel,
Won’t wane,
Sleep,
I sleep every day,
Wipe the cobwebs away,
I need to be loved,
Christ,
I’m out of my mind,
I need to be loved,
I need to be loved,
As I turn to you and I say,
Thank goodness for the good souls,
That make life better,
As I turn to you and I say,
If it wasn’t for the good souls,
Life would not matter,
Dive straight in on your girlfriend,
Making her feel like there’s going to be a war,
Dive straight in at the deep end,
Making you feel like there’s going to be a war,
As I turn to you and I say,
Thank goodness for the good souls,
That make life better,
As I turn to you and I say,
If it wasn’t for the good souls,
Life would not matter,
One good day of the week,
And I’ll be up again,
One good day of the week,
I’ll be higher than the government,
As I turn to you and I say,
Thank goodness for the good souls,
That make life better,
As I turn to you and I say,
If it wasn’t for the good souls,
Life would not matter,
As I turn to you and I say,
If you’re messing with a good heart,
You’ve got to take what’s due.
Today is gonna be the day
That they’re gonna throw it back to you
By now you should’ve somehow
Realized what you gotta do
I don’t believe that anybody
Feels the way I do about you now
Backbeat the word was on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I’m sure you’ve heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don’t believe that anybody feels
The way I do about you now
And all the roads we have to walk along are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
I don’t know how
Because maybe
You’re gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You’re my wonderwall
Today was gonna be the day?
But they’ll never throw it back to you
By now you should’ve somehow
Realized what you’re not to do
I don’t believe that anybody
Feels the way I do
About you now
And all the roads that lead to you were winding
And all the lights that light the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
I don’t know how
I said maybe
You’re gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You’re my wonderwall
I said maybe
You’re gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You’re my wonderwall
Said maybe
You’re gonna be the one that saves me
You’re gonna be the one that saves me
You’re gonna be the one that saves me
When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me?
And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.
Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being round.
Help me, get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.
‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony this life
Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to the money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah
No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change,
but I’m here in my mold , I am here in my mold
But I’m a million different people from one day to the next
I can’t change my mold.
Well, I’ve never prayed,
But tonight I’m on my knees, yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind , I feel free now
But the airwaves are clean and there’s nobody singing to me now
No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change,
but I’m here in my mold , I am here with my mold
And I’m a million different people from one day to the next
I can’t change my mold.
I will leave behind all of my clothes
I wore when I was with you.
All I need’s my railroad boots
and my leather jacket,
as I say goodbye to Ruby’s arms.
Although my heart is breaking,
I will steal away out through your
blinds, for soon you will be waking.
The morning light has washed your face
and everything is turning blue now.
Hold on to your pillow case.
There’s nothing I can do now,
as I say goodbye to Ruby’s arms.
You’ll find another soldier,
and I swear to God by Christmas time,
there’ll be someone else to hold you.
The only thing I’m taking is
the scarf off of your clothesline.
I’ll hurry past your chest of drawers
and your broken wind chimes,
as I say goodbye.
I’ll say goodbye.
Say goodbye to Ruby’s arms.
I will feel my way down the darkened hall,
and out into the morning.
The hobos at the freightyards
have kept their fires burning.
So, Jesus Christ! This goddamn rain,
will someone put me on a train.
I’ll never kiss your lips again
or break your heart,
as I say goodbye.
I’ll say goodbye,
say goodbye to Ruby’s arms.
A man doesn’t have time in his life
to have time for everything.
He doesn’t have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
Was wrong about that.
A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.
And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.
A man doesn’t have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.
And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn’t learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.
He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there’s time for everything.
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said: “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter-bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart.”
The air is getting hotter
There’s a rumbling in the sky
I’m drifting through that high muddy water
With a full moon shining in my eyes
Every day your memory grows dimmer
It don’t haunt me like it did before
I’m in the middle of nowhere
Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door
When I was in Missouri
They would not let me be
I had to leave there in a hurry
I only saw what they let me see
You broke the heart that loved you
Now you can see what the book cannot write anymore
I’m just stuck in the half-light
Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door
People on the platform
Waiting for the train
I can feel their hearts a-beating
Like pendulums swingin’ on chains
When you think that you’ve lost everything
You find out you can always lose a little more
I’m in the dinosaurs’ waiting room
Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door
I’m going down the river
Down to New Orleans
They tell me everything is alright
But I don’t even know what alright means
I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane
Miss Mary Jane’s got a house in Baltimore
I’ve been to Sugartown; I shook the sugar down
Now I’m tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door
I’m gonna sleep down in the parlour
And relive my dreams
I close my eyes and I wonder
If everything’s as hollow as it seems
Some trains don’t pull no gamblers
No midnight ramblers like they did before
I’m just goin’ down the road, feelin’ bad
Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door
Father: Every now and then, a person comes along, has a different view of the world than does the usual person. It doesn’t make them crazy. I mean… an acute perception, man… that doesn’t, that doesn’t make you crazy.
Rusty James: Could you talk normal?
Father: However sometimes… it can drive you crazy, acute perception.
Rusty James: I wish you’d talk normal ’cause I don’t understand half the garbage you’re saying. You know? You know what I mean?
Father: Contrary to popular belief, your brother is not crazy. He’s merely miscast in a play. He was born in the wrong era, on the wrong side of the river… with the ability to be able to do anything that he wants to do and findin’ nothin’ that he wants to do. I mean nothing.
Oh well, I love you pretty baby
You’re the only love I’ve ever known
Just as long as you stay with me
The whole world is my throne
Beyond here lies nothin’
Nothin’ we can call our own
Well, I’m movin’ after midnight
Down boulevards of broken cars
Don’t know what I’d do without it
Without this love that we call ours
Beyond here lies nothin’
Nothin’ but the moon and stars
Down every street there’s a window
And every window’s made of glass
We’ll keep on lovin’ pretty baby
For as long as love will last
Beyond here lies nothin’
But the mountains of the past
Well, my ship is in the harbor
And the sails are spread
Listen to me, pretty baby
Lay your hand upon my head
Beyond here lies nothin’
Nothin’ done and nothin’ said
NE PLUS ULTRA – SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Sole Positive of Night!
Antipathist of Light!
Fate’s only essence! primal scorpion rod–
The one permitted opposite of God!–
Condensed blackness and abysmal storm
Compacted to one sceptre
Arms the Grasp enorm–
The Interceptor–
The Substance that still casts the shadow
Death!–
The Dragon foul and fell–
The unrevealable,
And hidden one, whose breath
Gives wind and fuel to the fires of Hell!–
Ah! sole despair
Of both the eternities in Heaven!
Sole interdict of all-bedewing prayer,
The all-compassionate!
Save to the Lampads Seven
Reveal’d to none of all the Angelic State,
Save to the Lampads Seven,
That watch the throne of Heaven!
Well, Mary’s only nineteen but she’ll come home.
And she’s the kind of girl you want to be with
when you’re alone.
And, she don’t need nobody like I need you.
And, if you want to go, well she’ll see it through.
So, I said, “Mary, come home.”
“Mary, come home.”
Friday night is right when she walks in
with her long, white Camels and a bottle of gin.
I said “Mary, Mary, Mary.” Me on the wall.
And, I’ll go down and take a big fall.
So, I said, “Mary, come home.”
And, I said, “Mary, won’t you come home?”
“Well, Mary, can’t you see that I’m all alone.”
“I’ve been twiddling my thumbs.”
“I been on the phone.”
You don’t pay no mind. “Where have you been
with them long, white Camels and a bottle of gin?”
So, I said, “Mary, please come home.”
I said, “Mary, come home.”
I said, “Mary, why don’t you come home?”
“Oh, Mary, why don’t you come home?”
I wish you love
And happiness
I guess I wish
You all the best
I wish you don’t
Do like I do
And ever fall in love with
Someone like you
Cause if you fell
Just like I did
You’d probably walk around the block like a little kid.
But kids don’t know
They can only guess
How hard it is
To wish you happiness
I guess that love
Is like a Christmas card
You decorate a tree
You throw it in the yard
It decays and dies
And the snowmen melt
Well I once knew love
I knew how love felt
Yeah, I knew love. Love knew me.
And when I walked, Love walked with me.
And, I got no hate
And, I got no pride
Well, I got so much love that I cannot hide.
Say you drive a Chevy.
Say you drive a Ford.
You say you drive around the town till you just get bored
Then you change your mind
For something else to do.
And your heart gets bored with your mind and it changes you.
Well, it’s a doggone shame
And, it’s an awful mess
I wish you love
I wish you happiness
I wish you love
I wish you happiness
I guess I wish you
All the best.
Well the smart money’s on Harlow and the moon is in the street
And the shadow boys are breaking all the laws
And you’re east of East Saint Louis and the wind is making speeches
And the rain sounds like a round of applause
And Napoleon is weeping in a carnival saloon
His invisible fiancee’s in the mirror
And the band is going home, it’s raining hammers, it’s raining nails
And it’s true there’s nothing left for him down here
And it’s time time time, and it’s time time time
And it’s time time time that you love
And it’s time time time
And they all pretend they’re orphans and their memory’s like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can’t remember tell the things you can’t forget
That history puts a saint in every dream
Well she said she’d stick around until the bandages came off
But these mama’s boys just don’t know when to quit
And Mathilda asks the sailors Are those dreams or are those prayers?
So close your eyes, son, and this won’t hurt a bit
Oh it’s time time time, and it’s time time time
And it’s time time time that you love
And it’s time time time
Well things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
The boys just dive right off the cars and splash into the street
And when they’re on a roll she pulls a razor from her boot
And a thousand pigeons fall around her feet
So put a candle in the window and a kiss upon his lips
As the dish outside the window fills with rain
Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
And pay the fiddler off ’til I come back again
Oh it’s time time time, and it’s time time time
And it’s time time time that you love
And it’s time time time
And it’s time time time, and it’s time time time
And it’s time time time that you love
And it’s time time time
Well, dig Diz Daz’s daughter and Lady Kay
In my mind they’re both the same.
Sierra said “Won’t you come to bed?”
I said “I don’t play that game.”
I got a head full of of fool’s gold.
I got pockets full of cane.
I got a lady breathing down my neck,
saying “Baby, why don’t you stay?”
I’m a wayward heart.
I’m a wayward soul.
I’m a wayward son of parents
with a heart of gold.
And this wayward road,
I been heading wayward on
Has shown me many strange
and distant lands.
Well, I’m a stubborn
I’m a stubborn, stubborn man.
I’m a low-down raven.
I’m a high-up vulture.
The band keeps marching
but the funeral’s over.
I got a real nice sister who writes me letters
That always bring me to tears.
I got a disappointed father in a hospital bed
That just might lead to my death.
I got mornings where I wake up
and I’m not sure how I got home.
I got a mark on my car.
A missed call on my phone.
Now, I’m calling around
trying to figure out who I am.
Is it the things that I say
that have anything to do with that?
Well, I’m a stubborn
I’m a stubborn, stubborn man.
Well, I’m a stubborn
I’m a stubborn, stubborn man.
Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind
In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman’s bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the “D” train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it’s him or them that’s really insane
Louise, she’s all right, she’s just near
She’s delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna’s not here
The ghost of ‘lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place
Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He’s sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I’m in the hall
How can I explain?
Oh, it’s so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn
Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, “Jeeze
I can’t find my knees”
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel
The peddler now speaks to the countess who’s pretending to care for him
Sayin’, “Name me someone that’s not a parasite and I’ll go out and say a prayer for him”
But like Louise always says
“Ya can’t look at much, can ya man?”
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev’rything’s been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain
“Visions Of Johanna” (live, unreleased version, 1966)
Oh it takes my life away
To think of her as gone
Now I’m running down the maze
And I’m finding only war
Blowing down the flame
To catch the burning wind
Now I’m running out of steam
Now watch this man collapse
You said you wanted a better life
And you will tell me what you find
And then I’ll stay the whole night through
And I’ll turn from sad to blue
Yes I’m choking after you
Yeah I’m choking after you
Wish you’d think of me
The way I think of you
Well I find it hard to breathe
Cause now I know the truth
So what good would fingers be
If it weren’t for diamond rings?
Now I know you’re leaving me
And I know that I’m no king
And you said you wanted a better life
And you will tell me oh what you find
And then I stay the whole night through
And I turn from sad to blue
Yeah I’m choking after you
Miss, I’m choking now, do you?
(Go ahead now, tell them all about it)
So what good would fingers be
If it weren’t for diamond rings?
Now I know you’re leaving me
And I know that I’m no king
I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it’s come to distances and both of us must try,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.
I’m not looking for another as I wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it’s just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.
I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye.
The sun came up with no conclusions
Flowers sleeping in their beds
The city cemetery’s humming
I’m wide awake, it’s morning
I have my drugs, I have my woman
They keep away my loneliness
My parents, they have their religions
But sleep in seperate houses
I read the body count out of the paper
And now it’s written all over my face
No one ever plans to sleep out in the gutter
Sometimes that’s just the most comfortable place
So I’m drinking, breathing, writing, singing
Every day I’m on the clock
My mind races with all my longings
But can’t keep up with what I got
I hope I don’t sound too ungratefull
Well, history gave modern man
A telephone to talk to strangers
Machine guns and a camera lens
So when you’re asked to fight a war that’s over nothing
It’s best to join the side that’s going to win
No one’s sure how all of this got started
But we’re going to make them ***damn certain how it’s gonna end
Oh yeah we will, oh yeah, we will!
I could have been a famous singer
If I had someone else’s voice
But failure’s always sounded better
Let’s **** it up boys, make some noise!
N.B.
This gives me chills. One day I want to be able say “I’m wide awake, it’s morning.”
