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.
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
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
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.”
With a growing sense of dread
And a hammer in my head
Fully clothed upon the bed
I wake up to the world
That lately I’ve been living in
There’s a cut upon my brow
Must have banged myself somehow
But I can’t remember now
And the front door’s open wide
Lately I’ve let things slide
I go to the bin
I throw the laundry in
And pick out the cleanest shirt
Then I tell myself again
I don’t really hurt
Smoking I once quit
Now I got one lit
I just fell back into it
Along with my pride
Lately I’ve let things slide
I go to the bin
I throw the laundry in
Dig out the cleanest shirt
When all at once I’m seized again
By exquisite hurt
That untouched take-away
I brought home the other day
Has quite a lot to say, the evidence is clear
Only resign piled high and wide
About how lately I’ve let things slide
I’m just about holding on
But lately I’ve let things slide
Now my friends are gone and my hair is gray.
I ache in the places where I used to play.
And, I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on.
I’m just paying my rent every day
in the tower of song.
I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet.
But, I hear him coughing all night long.
A hundred floors above me
In the tower of song.
I was born like this, I had no choice.
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond.
They tied me to this table right here.
In the tower of song.
So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll.
I’m very sorry, baby, doesn’t look like me at all.
I’m standing by the window where the light is strong.
They don’t let a woman kill you
Not in the tower of song
Now you can say that I’ve grown bitter but of this you may be sure:
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor.
And there’s a mighty judgment coming, but I may be wrong.
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the tower of song.
I see you standing on the other side.
I don’t know how the river got so wide.
I loved you baby, way back when.
And, all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed.
But, I feel so close to everything that we lost.
We’ll never have to lose it again.
Now I bid you farewell, I don’t know when I’ll be back.
There moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track.
But you’ll be hearing from me baby, long after I’m gone.
I’ll be speaking to you sweetly
From a window in the tower of song.
I am the dotted line,
And you fill me in with whatever you like.
I am just going through the motions.
I need an old fashioned potion.
There has gotta be some old recipe.
‘Cuz I gotta get drunk,
I gotta forget about somethings.
I lived in lies all my life,
And I’ve been living here for a long, long time,
And I know its been coming down a while now,
When it shows, then you get me on the dial,
But right now you’re half way around the world,
Maybe I’ll see better days, but I’m not so sure I will.
I’m still hanging round and round.
Sometimes it’s a racket, but lately not a sound.
In the bowels of history and time,
I have learned to stay back and never shine.
Now I feel stupid when I smile.
For not a journey, a circus are our lives.
I can’t make up for everything I waste,
And I know that I could never afford a taste,
Of anything that your lovely hands make,
It eats away before the soul break.
Just because it brings a smile to my face,
such a bad memory, you just can’t erase.
I know of a City to steal from,
And I know of a City to cheat on,
And I know of a City of Sin,
And that’s the place I wanna meet you in,
And say hello all over again,
Romance me and take it back to the beginning.
I can’t understand,
She let go of my hand
An’ left me here facing the wall.
I’d sure like t’ know
Why she did go,
But I can’t get close t’ her at all.
Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime,
She said she would never forget.
But now mornin’s clear,
It’s like I ain’t here,
She just acts like we never have met.
It’s all new t’ me,
Like some mystery,
It could even be like a myth.
Yet it’s hard t’ think on,
That she’s the same one
That last night I was with.
From darkness, dreams’re deserted,
Am I still dreamin’ yet?
I wish she’d unlock
Her voice once an’ talk,
‘Stead of acting like we never have met.
If I didn’t have t’ guess,
I’d gladly confess
T’ anything I might’ve tried.
If I was with ‘er too long
Or have done something wrong,
I wish she’d tell me what it is, I’ll run an’ hide.
Though her skirt it swayed as a guitar played,
Her mouth was watery and wet.
But now something has changed
For she ain’t the same,
She just acts like we never have met.
I’m leavin’ today,
I’ll be on my way
Of this I can’t say very much.
But if you want me to,
I can be just like you
An’ pretend that we never have touched.
An’ if anybody asks me, “Is it easy to forget?”
I’ll say, “It’s easily done,
You just pick anyone,
An’ pretend that you never have met.”
Trudging slowly over wet sand,
back to the bench where your clothes were stolen.
This is the coastal town,
that they forgot to close down.
Armageddon – come armageddon!
Come, armageddon! come!
Everyday is like Sunday.
Everyday is silent and gray.
Hide on the promenade.
Etch a postcard.
How I dearly wish I was not here
In the seaside town
that they forgot to bomb.
Come, come, come – nuclear bomb.
Everyday is like Sunday.
Everyday is silent and gray.
Trudging back over pebbles and sand.
And a strange dust lands on your hands,
and on your face,
on your face,
on your face,
on your face.
Everyday is like Sunday.
Win yourself a cheap tray.
Share some greased tea with me.
Everyday is silent and gray.
Up in the morning
Work like a dog
Is better than sitting
Like a bump on a log
Mind all your manners
Be quiet as a mouse
Some day you’ll own a home
That’s as big as a house
I know a fella
He eats like a horse
Knocks his old balls
Round the old golf course
You oughta see his wife
She’s a cute little dish
She smokes like a chimney
And drinks like a fish
There’s a big old goofy man
Dancing with a big old goofy girl
Ooh baby
It’s a big old goofy world
Now Elvis had a woman
With a head like a rock
I wished I had a woman
That made my knees knock
She’d sing like an angel
And eat like a bird
And if I wrote a song
She’d know ever single word
Kiss a little baby
Give the world a smile
If you take an inch
Give ‘em back a mile
Cause if you lie like a rug
And you don’t give a damn
You’re never gonna be
As happy as a clam
So I’m sitting in a hotel
Trying to write a song
My head is just as empty
As the day is long
Why it’s clear as a bell
I should have gone to school
I’d be wise as an owl
Stead of stubborn as a mule.
Well, if you read your Bible
It’s right there in black & white.
That you should never lie or steal,
or cheat, or drink, or fight.
Now if you observe this life I live
it should be plain to you,
I’m the best example you’ll ever find
of things you oughtn’t do.
My sinful days are over,
so let me hear ‘Amen!’
My sinful days are over
and over again.
Now, away with that Tequila
and that whiskey on the rocks
Take up those bottles filled with beer
and put them in a box.
Be rid of all these evil things
and you shall be set free.
Just assure you don’t forget
to bring that bottle to me.
My drinkin’ days are over,
so let me hear ‘Amen!’
My drinkin’ days are over
and over again.
Now, all you men who fool around
and go cheatin’ on your wife,
on Judgment Day, you’ll have to pay.
It could cost you your life.
And all you cheatin’ women,
Lawdy! hang your head in shame,
and, when that day of judgment comes,
don’t mention my name!
My cheatin’ days are over,
so let me hear ‘Amen!’
My cheatin’ days are over
and over again.
And, to those of you so quick
to fight, I have but this to say,
Quit throwin’ punches left and right
Cause there is a better way.
Now, when some joker tries to take a poke,
you just let him pass.
When he’s his back to you
just turn and kick his..
My fightin’ days are over
so let me hear ‘Amen!’
My fightin’ days are over
and over again.
Do you see the way she lights up when I walk in the room? That’s good.
And the skip in her step when we’re both out walkin’ in the neighborhood.
This one’s almost done, now to watch her fall apart.
I trained her to love me, so I can go ahead and break her heart.
If you think that it’s depraved and I should be ashamed, so what.
I’m only paying back womankind for all the grief I got.
I’ve got the latest believing forever I’ll be true.
I trained her to love, now excuse me, I’ve got work to do.
I trained her to love me, and I’m gonna start working on another after this.
And when I get that one in a state of bliss, betray her with a kiss.
Well, one time one cut-up rough told me I only do this cause I can, hmm.
And I’m bound to wind up one lonely, twisted, old man.
But look out, here comes a prime contender for my agenda, if ever there was one.
And I’m gonna train her to love me until it’s time to do what must be done.
Trained her to love me,
And I’m gonna start working on another after this.
And when I get that one in a state of bliss, betray with her a kiss.
And I’m gonna start working on another after this.
And when I get that one in a state of bliss, betray with her a kiss.
I trained her to love me.
Too late to stop now.
This strange plan is random at best.
This strange, how much more can I take?
This strange, changing atmosphere,
and in gravity, too, in its severity.
This strange day is almost over,
just started to get sick of it.
And it’s strange but, not all that strange.
Yeah, it’s strange, but whats so strange about that?
Yeah, it’s strange, but what isn’t strange?
Yeah, it’s strange, but, ‘Oh Well!’
This strange plan is random at best.
This strange, how much more can I take?
This strange sound you said I said.
You’re not listening or I’m not saying it right.
This strange war of promises.
Let’s call this a truce. We’ll call it the truth.
And it’s strange, but not all that strange.
Yeah it’s strange, but what’s so strange about that?
Yeah its strange, but what isn’t strange?
Yeah it’s strange, but ‘Oh Well!’
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
You think I’m no good, well I know I’ve been bad.
Took you to a place, now you can’t get back.
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
Walked together down a dead end street.
We were mixing the bitter with the sweet.
Don’t try to figure out what we might of had.
Just two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
I’m just a singer, some say a sinner.
Rolling the dice, not always a winner.
You say I’ve been lucky, well, hell I’ve made my own.
Not part of the crowd, but not feeling alone.
Under pressure, but not bent out of shape.
Surrounded, we always found an escape.
Drove me to drink, but hey that’s not all bad.
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
Guess I’ve been greedy, all of my life.
Greedy with my children, my lovers, my wife.
Greedy for the good things as well as the bad.
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
Maybe it’s just talk, saloon singing.
The chairs are all stacked, the swinger’s stopped swinging.
You say I hurt you, you put the finger on yourself.
Then after you did it, you came crying for my help.
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad.
I’m not complaining, baby I’m glad.
You call it a compromise, well what’s that?
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
She wore red dresses with her black shining hair,
Oh, she had my baby and caused me to care.
Then coldly she left me to suffer and cry.
Oh, she wore red dresses and told such sweet lies.
I never knew him but he took her away.
On my knees like a madman for vengeance I prayed.
All the pain and the anger destroyed my weak mind.
Oh, she wore red dresses and left the wounded behind.
I searched till I found them. Then I cursed at the sight
Of their sleeping shadows in the cold neon light.
In the dark morning silence, I placed the gun to her head.
Oh, she wore red dresses but now she lay dead.
She lived on a curve in the road, in an old tar-paper shack,
on the south side of the town, on the wrong side of the tracks.
Sometimes on the way into town we’d say:
“Mother, can we stop and give her a ride?”
Sometimes we did but her hands flew from her side.
Wild eyed, Crazy Mary.
Down a long dirt road, past the Parson’s place,
The old blue car we used to race,
Little country store with a sign tacked to the side,
Said “No L-O-I-T-E-R-I-N-G Allowed.”
Underneath that sign always congregated quite a crowd.
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around
One night thunder cracked mercy backed outside her windowsill.
Dreamed I was flying high above the trees, over the hills.
Looked down into the house of Mary.
Bare bulb blown, newspaper-covered walls, and Mary rising up above it all.
Next morning on the way into town,
Saw some skid marks, and followed them around,
Over the curve,through the fields, into the house of Mary.
That what you fear the most, could meet you halfway.
That what you fear the most, could meet you halfway.
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around.
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around.
Take a bottle, drink it down, pass it around.
Something inside me
just won’t let me be,
Something inside me, Lord
just won’t let me be.
My baby’s gone
and my soul’s in misery.
I wake early in the morning
in my bedroom, all alone.
I wake early in the morning, babe,
in my bedroom, all alone.
I’m wondering why?
Where could my baby be?
Something inside me
just won’t let me be,
Something inside me, Lord
just won’t let me be.
My baby’s gone
and my soul’s in misery.
Sometimes you moan and, girl,
I don’t know what you talking about.
Sometimes you moan and, girl,
I don’t know what you talking about
I’m wondering where, where
could my baby be?
I’ve looked under chairs
I’ve looked under tables
I’ve tried to find the key
To fifty million fables
They call me The Seeker
I’ve been searching low and high
I won’t get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die
I asked Bobby Dylan
I asked The Beatles
I asked Timothy Leary
But he couldn’t help me either
People tend to hate me
‘Cause I never smile
As I ransack their homes
They want to shake my hand
Focusing on nowhere
Investigating miles
I’m a seeker
I’m a really desperate man
I won’t get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die
I learned how to raise my voice in anger
Yeah, but look at my face, ain’t this a smile?
I’m happy when life’s good
And when it’s bad I cry
I’ve got values but I don’t know how or why
I’m looking for me
You’re looking for you
We’re looking in at each other
And we don’t know what to do
I don’t believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if He felt He had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
And I don’t believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that’s true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
And I believe in Love
And I know that you do too
And I believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candle burning
And make her journey bright and pure
That she will keep returning
Always and evermore
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
I like your twisted point of view, Mike
I like your questioning eyebrows
You’ve made it pretty clear what you like
It’s only fair to tell you now
that I leave early in the morning
and I won’t be back till next year
I see that kiss-me pucker forming
but maybe you should plug it with a beer, cause
Papa was a rodeo – Mama was a rock’n'roll band
I could play guitar and rope a steer before I learned to stand
Home was anywhere with diesel gas – Love was a trucker’s hand
Never stuck around long enough for a one night stand
Before you kiss me you should know
Papa was a rodeo
The light reflecting off the mirror ball
looks like a thousand swirling eyes
They make me think I shouldn’t be here at all
You know, every minute someone dies
What are we doing in this dive bar
How can you live in a place like this
Why don’t you just get into my car
and I’ll take you away I’ll take that kiss now, but
And now it’s 55 years later
We’ve had the romance of the century
After all these years wrestling gators
I still feel like crying when I think of what you said to me
Before you kiss me you should know – Papa was a rodeo
What a coincidence, your Papa was a rodeo too.
