(click title to listen)
Father, I need to sit.
There’s all of this blood down here- nobody will tell me what it is.
Father, what is the time?
There’s all of this blood down here- nobody will tell me if it’s mine.
You built a tower in my heart just like a paradise
I laid me back to watch so warm in the sand.
Clouds flew above me light flashing out of their eagle eyes
Now I can feel those cold things starting again.
Father, where are my hands?
I need to touch my eyes- something tells me they are hurting me again
Father, am I lying in bed?
Why are the curtains drawn? What is this thing upon my head?
You built a tower in a tower in my heart just like a paradise
I laid me back to watch so safe in the sand.
Sun shimmered on my body like I was a pegasi
But now I can feel those cold things starting again.
Father, why are the curtains drawn?
So many things to do. I can’t remain in here too long.
Father, I need to ask
Of all the things you’ve done, which ones are the ones that you’d take back?
You built a world around my heart just like a paradise
I laid me back to watch so safe in your hand.
Cities they swirled around me like they was a race of lights
But now I can feel those cold things dripping again.
All of the men in the world lined up side by side.
A bundle of twigs they wait for the flame.
Dance by the fire and you will realize.
A burning twig will never feel the pain.
You could be my dark man
Stranger in the park man
Standing in your trench coat flashing
Stars above but somethings crashing down
You could be my shady friend
Standing where the street lights end
Shadows fall always behind you
No one seeks and no one finds you now
Clouds stretch so far away
Endless worlds of endless grey
Walk before me and I’l follow you
This road leads us to tomorrow, true?
Clouds takes shape but they always lie
We’ll get bored but we’ll never die
Lay your hand upon my head now
Lead me through the fog and dread now
You could be my shadow man
To offer me your white bread hand
Shelling peanuts with your finger
A dusty feeling I remember now
Life can be so many things
Sometimes swirling like a dream
Sometimes flat I’m trapped inside it
Close my eyes but they won’t hide it
Half alive but that’s okay
The other half is filled with gray
Eyes are reaching through the fog and lace
From another world I can almost place
You could be my answer man
A book to dull to understand
A slice of bread upon my plate
The rusty and forgotten gate to now.
To swing, to fight
A world at night
To shake, to weep
A world asleep.
They sleep, I see
No one touches me
They think I don’t know
The place where all the children go.
Paw Paw the ringing boy
When spring comes he will bring you so much joy.
Paw Paw the ringing boy
When summer comes then the world will fade away.
These things
A world of strings
But look, you’ll see
The world is me.
Alien, okay
I don’t care what they say
I am bought and sold
Although he is very old.
Paw Paw the ringing boy
When spring comes he will bring you so much joy.
Paw Paw the ringing boy
When summer comes then the world will fade away.
Your needs
A string of beads
I dance, I twirl
A milk white pearl.
Worlds fade, worlds end
I dance, I spin
No one touches me
Except for spirituality.
Paw Paw the ringing boy
When spring comes he will bring you so much joy.
Paw Paw the ringing boy
When summer comes then the world will fade away.
Well I was pickin corn with my brother Kay
on a long corn row on a sunny day.
Now Kay he was kind of the silent kind,
so I had to invent me some friends in my mind.
Till a bird flew by through the bright blue sky,
and landed on a piece of the corn nearby.
Finally, a friend made of flesh and bone,
till Kay chased him off with a great big stone.
Saying, ‘We ain’t coming here to have no fun,
gotta pick corn till the day is done.
Then we’ll be taking home some cash to our ma;
she’ll go and put it in a great big jar.’
Well, I was in the kitchen with my ma all day,
we was cookin supper for thanksgiving day.
I was now married to a man named John,
just like Kay he was a silent one.
Well, I needed some help to bring his feelings out,
put kentucky moonshine in his irish stout.
I think he was beginning to feel real great
until he fell face first into the turkey plate.
My brothers laid him down in a warm dark bed,
told me to sit in there and hold his head,
told me to sit in there and hold his head
until he came back to his senses again.
I could hear the others laughin through a crack in the door
as I stared at a strip of light on the floor;
I guess it’s just what I wanted anyway,
being close to my husband on thanksgiving day.
So many people here looking at me,
people made of flesh and blood just like me.
I don’t like being up on stage too much;
you can look & make noise but you can’t really touch.
If I had this many friends I would feel so great,
so I scan the crowd for a friendly face.
If I had this many lovers I would feel so fine,
but I try to keep them thoughts out of my mind.
Cause I’ve seen the way the story ends before,
and it ain’t making love on the barroom floor,
it’s me walkin lonely out the back-side door
to go back home and be alone some more.
But that ain’t the stuff I should be thinkin of;
it’s clear I ain’t here to be making love.
It oughta be enough just to play my guitar,
and keep my heart in a great big jar.
Live in a sea of broken glass
Pieces were shining everywhere
Somebody turned to walk around
Somebody watching from the stairs
Pick up the piece to find you
Has this always been your face?
Pick up the piece behind you
Has this always been your face?
Watching the moonlight dripping down
Watching the starlight spin away
Everything moves around and round
Never a way to make you stay
Pick up the piece to find you
Has this always been your face?
Pick up the piece behind you
Has this always been your face?
Mirrors were broken on the ground
Pick up a piece to keep me sound
You leave the room and then you’re gone
Watching the walls spin round & round
How can I not believe in you?
You were the one man standing there
Everyone knows the things you do
But underneath it all you care
Swim in a sea of broken glass
Throwing the rainbows on the wall
Breathing so hard I have to gasp
Caught in the ecstasy I fall
Pick up the piece to find you
Has this always been your face?
Pick up the piece behind you
Has this always been your face?
Pikey, remember when we met and we kissed on a stone?
We moved away, just the two of us, so far from home?
Do you remember when we wandered through the green fields together?
You held my hand, you promised you would hold it forever?
Summertime, you were there
You stood by side, shadows fell everywhere
like a dream, oh. like a dream, oh.
Gathering the hazelnuts that will help me to learn as I
Squint my eyes, far too many lies that I cannot discern
All the friends who used to play with me retreated for the season
The dreams that felt so pillowy dissolved into reason
Autumn came, gray and brown
You stood by my side as the leaves blew around
like a dream, oh. like a dream, oh.
You drew a map upon our wall showing how the land lies
You stocked up our basement with so many supplies
You made me walk through the gloomy woods for hours each day
You lit a fire, you told me you had something to say
Winter comes, don’t despair
You won’t see my face, but you know I’ll be there
like a dream, oh. like a dream, oh.
Pikey, can you hear me now, cause it’s hard to be brave?
Pikey, if I close my eyes can you see my hand wave?
People come with open arms; I don’t want to touch them
If you were here, you’d guard the door, with thick hands you’d crush them
Springtime, robin’s nest
Green shoots up again, little knife in my chest
like a dream, oh. like a dream, oh.
You are so soft and warm, dusted with flowers
My face in the palm of your hand, I feel powerful
Tell me again that you like my soft head
I am an egg I will rest in your bed.
Hold me through nightshirts, hold me through pajama pants
Hold me so tight I am forced to give up the dance
Tie me to the bed and don’t let me escape from you
Outside it’s cold, but you are my you are my
Pillowman dance, Pillowman sing
Let me ride, let me ride in your basket that’s filled with the spring
Hope will come again, that’s what they say to me
Every green blade of grass bends down to pray for me
Filling my dreams with the scent of green fields
A world so soft; a world where the obstacles will yield
To a kind world, yield to a smile
A plate full of cookies will persuade luck to stay for a while
Then I’ll walk back to a world that is cold
Where the smiles and the cookies are all bought and sold
But first leave me with something I can understand
A scrap of pink flannel I’ll hide in my hand
Pillowman guard me, stand watch at my door
Comfort me when I can’t comfort myself anymore
When it hurts and they’re trying to charm me
Knock on my door with intentions to harm me
I bury my face in your pillowy skin
Breath through your pores and I feel peace descend
To my brain like a powder that fills up my nose
Is it true- everything comes and everything goes?
Just then the darkness begins to arise
Surprised to find that someone realized
That I I I I deserve to be befriended
Your hands on my heart til the day it has mended
And as the black blood seeps into my brain
Carrying the knowledge that made me go insane
Black leather images bite me with fangs
Held in your arms, I’m contorting with pangs
But Pillowman fights the past with his soft fists
Pulls out his scalpel for the pieces of evil that resist
Because I I I deserve to be defended
My tears on his sleeve for the things that have ended
Head on your heart and your fuzz fills my ears
Stroking my brain as it struggles with so many fears
I wish I knew how not to be afraid
But until then, Pillowman will be my friend.
The Pine Fairy is Blasted by the Past on his Way to Capture a Saturnine Wind
Walking through flowers surrounded by thoughts of her when she was down on her knees
Wind in my hair but there’s nobody there much less somebody begging to please
Maybe tonight my wind will come
Maybe tonight the sky will unfold
Maybe tonight I will hear the words
Life is a story that’s already told, I’m told.
Clouds at my back I can get nothing back but a picture that’s turned upside down
Clouds that are pink, though I struggle to think I just twist and fall back on the ground
Maybe tonight my wind will come
Maybe tonight the sky will unfold
Capture it quick in a sack of gray
Maybe tonight I will truly be old.
A flag, a sky, a kite, a lie
A memory that fades, twisting and flying away…
Walking the path that I carved with my own feet wrapped in my own cotton cloth
Walking the path to the cliff where I stand with my staff on the edge of the drop off
I know what they say about me
I know who they think I am
And if I’m magic I don’t really know that
I know that I’m not quite a man.
Maybe tonight my wind will come
Maybe tonight the sky will untwist
Capture it quick like a flag of gray
Folded and holded with twine round my wrist.
The Pine Fairy Loses Faith but Clings to Survival
Weak and alone, limping out of my home
Digging holes in a row with my hoe
Cold and inhuman you know that I am
Growing my cabbages on frozen land
Calling up screams with the touch of my hand, that’s the plan.
Someday the stars will return to their place
Someday the night will grow clear
But when the sky touched his skin, the first thing he felt was fear.
Look each way twice, then the crackling of ice
Then the reaching down deep where they sleep
I heard the stories; I hoped they were mine
Blowing like winds through the forest of pine
I drank the kool-aid, I thought it was wine at the time.
Someday the stars will return to their place
Some day the night will grow clear
But when the night touched his skin, the first thing he felt was fear.
I heard the stories they seemed seemed so alive
Like a dancer inside of my head
I heard the words and I followed them all though
The ones who had spoke them were dead…
Crackling the dream, it began with a scream
Then the tree toppled down on the ground.
Winds circled round till direction was gone
Scrambled the stars but I had to keep on
Clutching at cabbages losing all heat in my feet.
Someday the stars will return to their place
Someday the night will grow clear
But when the sky touched his skin, the first thing he felt was fear.
Why is the wind so cold? Shiver and shake, then shut the door…
I don’t need friends like that much anymore.
Why is the sun so silver, shining in the sky like a dime?
I must have lost track of the time.
Where did I put my glasses? Knocking the jars down with my hand
Spilling the corn meal and the sand.
Three legged stool, I think I’ll sit down on you just for a while…
Head in my hands, I’m crying now.
Time. Sky. There must be somewhere nice where all the birds go when they fly.
Space. Darkness falls casting its purple on my face.
Where is my cane, again? Oh, I see it leaning by the door.
Perhaps the two of us will go explore.
Just take a walk and let the wind try to hurt us as it will…
Friends that can bleed but cannot kill.
Time. Pain. Blood dripping in the mason jar- but not in vain.
Need. Planting us painfully with a golden seed.
And when the moon comes up we’ll capture it silver in our eyes…
Just a man and his cane walking side by side.
And when the moon comes up we’ll follow the silver it unrolls…
Just a man and his cane going for a stroll.
The Pine Fairy Waits for Lightning
Because I’m feeling so dull, curling up in a ball;
when the lightening strikes call me.
Then I’ll come charging out of my hole
with the longest pole you’ve ever seen.
Like a man waking up from a dream.
You see I’ve held in this scream for so long
that it sucks like a serpent inside me.
A fluorescent green light and it bites
through the nights as the moon tries to hide me.
Suckles me with her blankets too thick,
milky white till I sweat and I stick
like a fucking prick.
And yet I will pull through
cause there’s things I must do and no other can do them.
I will wait in my hole till the clouds start to blow
then I’ll run right into them.
Then I’ll come back on fire like a wire
with a poisonous current inside me!
And I’ll slither and slide- never going inside
needing nothing to hide me!
A thrill I guarantee.
They will call me Electricity.
Sparks fly from the blade in my sword
Long ago your silver heart was all I could afford.
Clouds grow so grey and extend.
Long ago it seemed to me this time would never end.
Burned by the setting sun
I stood there and I watched you fall one by one.
Angels cry they fill the sky with fire
I know there must be a flame that comes from someplace higher.
White clouds come to fill the sky with rain
Oh my eyes I saw them fall their bodies ripped away.
Sparks shine from the wine in my cup
Poison me a little I can’t hold my shoulders up.
Gold shines from the cup in my hand
The end had come already but we did not understand.
Roll clouds through my mind
Carry me forever to another time.
Angels cry they fill the sky with fire
I know there must be a flame that comes from someplace higher.
White clouds come to fill the sky with rain
Oh my eyes I saw them fall their bodies ripped away.
Fire pain in my heart in my chest
Friends of mine, freshest ones, I knew you the best.
Fire pain in my brain in my mind
We walked almost forever till we reached the end of time.
Where you fell one by one
Burning gold you sparkled in the setting sun.
Angels cry they fill the sky with fire
I know there must be a flame that comes from someplace higher.
White clouds come to fill the sky with rain
Oh my eyes I saw them fall their bodies ripped away.
I loved a man named Joe,
I loved a man named Joe,
but he became a confederate soldier & went to war.
la la la la la la
I became a nun; I became a nun
at the pink cross nunnery, the pink cross nunnery.
la la la la la la
Now every day I watch the sun & count my rosary.
Now every day I watch the sun & count my rosary.
la la la la la la la la la.
I used to say hail mary’s; for three years I said hail mary’s,
but then I stopped,
and now I count from one ten.
These days I count from one to ten.
I have me a husband now and Jesus is his name.
Don’t know what I lost with Joe; I just know what I’ve gained.
Don’t know what I lost with Joe; I just know what I’ve gained.
And Jesus is his name, y’all. Jesus is his name.
Pink Star of the Beautiful Ohio
Pink star of the beautiful Ohio
crashing down in flames to
extinguish in the river, smoldering, smoldering
with black and gray smoke, thicker than mud, thicker
than fossils, this river is on fire,
it is red hot at the bottom, it burns
the curious finger, it shines gold
beneath the moon.
Pink star of the Ohio, sweltering,
sweating at the center of the earth,
locked up in chains, panting
and shaking, he glows with fury
making the earth blush and moisten.
Chains melting from his cherry
blood, glaring holes into the earth’s
thick crust, he is ready to go home.
So it won’t be long now, people of Kentucky,
till he’ll rise from the body of the Ohio,
like a whale on fire, rising up to the sky
where he’ll shine on Kentucky
and we’ll glow like an ember.
if this were the gold-time you would love me
love would shine like starlite from your brow
it wouldn’t be so hard for you to love me
cause love would flow the way that tears flow now
if this were the gold-time i would not hurt
a silver light would shine out from my brow
it wouldn’t be so hard for me to leave you
cause stars would pull the way the earth pulls now
i’ll be leaving nashville in the morning
i’ll be walking east towards the sun
like a little shadow on a pink & yellow sky
wish that you could meet me there somehow
but if you really wanted to you’d make love to me now
if this were the gold-time i could touch you
freely as the sun shines on the lake
i wouldn’t have to be afraid to touch you
you wouldn’t bow your head down like a stone & walk away
you wouldn’t care so much about your family
you wouldn’t think about them anymore
cause when love shines like sunlight washing shadows from the floor
then no one needs a family anymore
i’ll be leaving nashville in the morning
i’ll be walking east towards the sun
like a little shadow on a pink & yellow sky
wish that you could meet me there somehow
but if you really wanted to you’d make love to me now
when the gold-time rises i will rise up
wobble like a prince in shoes of light
do you think my heart will shine to find you
or will my love dissolve you like the sun dissolves the night?
Twenty pine mountains fall on a cold Kentucky night,
Cold moon is drifting through a black Kentucky night,
Your eyes are drifting like a heart set loose at sea,
Raft to Indiana that is drifting through to me.
Did you ever, did you ever think of me as your poleman?
Did you ever, did you ever think of me as your poleman?
You danced like wildfire in a melancholy wind,
A piece of river that was shaking in the wind,
A lonely orphan dreaming of his family,
Three-headed brother, do you ever dream of me?
Do you ever, do you ever think of me as your poleman?
Do you ever, do you ever think of me as your poleman?
Which is the one, the one that you prefer-
The soft touch of sheets, man, or the gentle feel of words?
The soft sound of singing, or the gentle feel of legs?
A past filled with stories, or a future stocked with days?
And did you ever, did you ever think of me as your poleman?
And did you ever, did you ever think of me as your poleman?
If you could reach your eyes like arms stretched out to me,
Kentucky friend, is Indiana what you see?
Do ghosts set sail across that river out to me?
Is the soft, the feeling of your sheets a mystery?
And do you ever, do you ever think of me as your poleman?
Do you ever, do you ever think of me as your poleman?
Hunched in a field, you sing in deep voices
The seeds and the soil of a world without choices
Take off your clothes at the end of the day
Lie down in a bed made of burlap and hay
The sun sinks, the sky pinks through your window so crude
Your feet hard, your back scarred, your stomach needs food
But you see your ancestors line up in brown
You hear their solemn songs sung in a round
Voice so low, Voices so deep
They crossed the ocean for you
They crossed the ocean so you could arrive
They never died.
Wiping your brow with the back of your brown hand
Your eyes are like horses, they run across this land
You see more than most, around corners and curves
Your heavy mind stays when the lighter mind swerves
Steady and patient, heavy and kind
Wearing brown pants made of burlap and twine
Nose to the grindstone, monks of the dirt
Callouses, sunsets, and visions that hurt
Voice so low, Voices so deep
They crossed the ocean for you
They crossed the ocean so you could arrive
They never died.
Your eyes follow time when it curves round the bend
You watch all the lighter ones run to destruction
They were mistaken, they thought life had an end
They ate all their seeds and then came to the bend
Shocked to discover the road just continued
Forced to keep marching without any food
You hear their cries and it makes your heart burn
But how can you give to them the things they must earn?
Voice so low, Voices so deep
They crossed the ocean for you
They crossed the ocean so you could arrive
They never died.
You know forever, you know eternity
As plain as the table where you sit for your cup of tea
You counsel your children to never waste seeds
Life is long, you must be strong, persist in good deeds.
You tell them to remember when they labor in the fields
To listen to the voices that sing in their ears
To those who are patient all will be revealed
Remember who you are, my sons- potatoes in a field.
Voice so low, Voices so deep
They crossed the ocean for you
They crossed the ocean so you could arrive
They never died.