(click titles to hear songs)
If I could have wishes three,
I’d wish you’d fall in love with me,
then I’d wish some money in my hand,
then I’d wish myself into a band.
But if I could have wishes four,
I’d wish you naked on my floor
doing all the things that I could do
if I had me a teacher, one like you.
Babe, I’m so in awe of you,
I think you’re smart to be a Jew,
to have that dark and wavy kind of hair,
the kind that makes me sit around and dream when you ain’t there.
Now I ain’t gonna lie to you,
I’m really glad that you’re a Jew,
my dreams all said I’d meet a Jew
who needs a baby, baby, baby, baby blue.
My heart ain’t got no arms and legs,
sits around like a baby, babe,
screams till I can’t take it anymore.
But baby blue won’t stop until you’re walking through my door.
I’ve dreamed we’re walking down the aisle,
me in fear and you in style,
and I’m darn sure these dreams will come to pass
when I find me my wishing star at last.
Already I’ve seen miles and miles,
through your dimming eyes, your faded smiles,
through the window of the door you call your heart.
I’ve traveled to the future where your ideas fall apart.
But for now the present time is strong,
so you are right and I am wrong,
for now you don’t even know my name.
You’re a stylish Jewish man; I am mute and lame.
Now I ain’t gonna lie to you,
I’m really glad that you’re a Jew,
my dreams all said I’d meet a Jew
who needs a baby, baby, baby, baby, baby blue.
So you just keep on sitting there,
playing guitar in the air;
I’ll just keep on loving, loving you.
I’m your baby, baby, baby, baby, baby blue.
Strap the cloth upon your eyes- walk.
I can’t walk!
Strap the cloth upon your mouth- don’t talk.
I can’t talk!
Air surrounds like terror.
The world is black and dark everywhere.
Behind doors, men hide.
Shrink a little more inside.
Please don’t touch me now- I’m cold.
No more time to run and hide- too old.
And where else could I be
But in this darkened hall?
I can feel their bodies moving
Like bananas through the wall.
Strap the cloth upon your mouth-
I can’t talk!
Hands behind your back-
Walk!
No time. Too old.
You know before you were born, you were already sold.
And where else could I be
But curled up in my spleen?
I feel their fingers on the wall
And I know what they mean.
We walk through the hall
Patent leather shoes
On the marble floor
White you win and black you lose…
I can feel the stairwell rise.
I can feel their greenish eyes.
This was never about right and wrong;
It was only truth and lies.
Pat pat, so cold.
Don’t move, too old.
The cord around my waist
His waist beside my head
We’re standing in the kitchen now
He tells me I’m already dead.
And I know- I feel it too-
An air so dark and cold
It doesn’t emanate from you.
You’re just another fish upon his line
Trapped inside a ring of time.
Your fingers on my shoulder now;
You know I won’t resist this time.
Time is dark.
What done is done.
The dead will never rise again.
The dead and I are one.
Hidden in my spleen,
You know that I know what things mean.
There are creatures wandering this earth;
They will find their home in me.
I I I
Cloud at my door, come in, come in.
Where have you wandered, my friend, my friend?
I have grown weary, I have grown tired;
Every day get up and start a new fire.
But what bothers me most is this feeling I get
That my life is a story that’s already writ;
And that faith has no magic except to forgive-
And if Ben isn’t real, then I don’t wanna live.
See you next Sunday, let me open the door
And you’ll walk down the cobblestone path like before-
Just a fluffy white cloud, one who never asks why,
You just wobble a bit then you climb to the sky.
But what bothers me most is that when you are gone
I stare hard at my hands and tell them to keep on,
Cause you gotta keep grinding and keep with the toil
Because life is just this; it is not something more.
Too tired to struggle, too bitter to give-
And if Ben isn’t real, then I don’t wanna live.
I watch you flying; I watch how you soar.
I know you are a cloud, you are not something more.
And the sky is a flag- something flat, something blue;
And yet you are my friend and I’m a friend to you.
But when I close my eyes all the blue grows so deep
That it drowns me in currents too wavy to sleep;
And I need to decide if the water’s a dream
Or if there’s still a chance life is not what it seems.
Caught between hard things and things elusive-
But if Ben isn’t real, then I don’t wanna to live.
you bought me candy and you held my hand
and we walked, just the two of us, there on the sand
and we watched the horizon so far away
and i smiled- i knew it would all be mine someday
but then when you left the horizon turned flat
it was an empty line, who wants to waste their time chasing that?
and all the dreams were shadows that left the world colder
and the future was only a place to get older and die
death was everywhere behind every smile
it fueled the people’s dreams, they drove mile after mile
but i stood there, just waiting for my time to run out
tousled by the purple sheets blowing about
in a wind that came from somewhere, but from where no one was sure
life was just a riddle then, so pointless and obscure
that no one even tried to answer it, they just drove faster in their cars
wanting to go anyplace as long as it was far
from the place they were born, a birth they could not even remember
memory was a flashlight, a tiny handheld ember
that we used to move forward, but never to look back,
while behind us a presence grew so ominous and black
and in front of us we were certain we heard footsteps descending
we knew they were death’s feet, heralding our ending
for i’d seen my own mother slide like a child into his robes
so we focused with exclusion on the things we could control
studiously shining our little lights on tombstones
memorizing names that belonged to the bones
and at times i would lie down and dream i was dying
i’d close both my eyes and watch purple flags flying
thru a sky with two moons and my hands would grow colder
would my mother recognize me now thirty years older?
would we walk again, the two of us, on a beach in the sky?
would i feel hope again when i found a world where you don’t have to die?
or would death be there, as well, would he slide through the curtain
a jack in a black box who makes pain so certain
when he scoops out the fruit and then leaves me the rind
until i’m clawing like an animal for a way to feel full inside
when you were here, i was here, i occupied this place,
but now my heart is stretches like an ache throughout space
i look everywhere to find you, people tell me to let go
but i see their eyes shine with a demonic glow
i will follow you, i’ll follow you, i’ll fight through the veils
we will meet again, i don’t know where, but please let your trail
lead me outside of time where we can hold hands forever
and i can dream again, knowing we’ll be best friends forever.
Purple lace, paint your face
Wait for the cold rain to go away
Today is your big day.
Candy sticks, pink balloons
All of their eyes will be stuck to you
Stuck with the sweetest glue.
Velvet boots, comb your hair
Part down the middle then gloss it with gel
Put some gel in your mustache as well.
In the mirror–look! What do you see?
Could it be you? Could this day truly be
Big Stuff’s Parade, Big Stuff’s Parade
Every gold coin that you saved, you saved for
Your special day, proud and gay
Shining the way that you knew you could
This day is going to feel good.
Purple stripes on a pole
The one that you’ll hold when they lift you up
Onto your satin throne.
Caviar in your pants for you to taste
When your dream comes true
When every eye falls on you.
Look in the mirror and what do you see?
Could it be you? Could today truly be
Big Stuff’s Parade, Big Stuff’s Parade
Every gold coin that you saved, you saved for
Your special day, proud and gay
Shining the way that you knew you could
This day is going to feel good.
But look around, Big Stuff, where is the man
Who took your gold coins in the palm of his hand?
The streets are still empty, no crowds have arrived
No floats to be seen, no flags in the sky…
You were tricked! He took your coins, but the flags never flew
The sun never came out, the crowds never gazed on you
Now you’re rocking and rocking back and forth in your chair
Rubbing the glossy gel out of your hair.
I was tricked! I was tricked! you mumble to yourself
and for the next seven months you will say nothing else.
Big Stuff’s Parade, Big Stuff’s Parade
He needs to learn that the world doesn’t turn
Just for satin lace on his face
Now that he’s bungled his one chance to shine
Will Big Stuff find peace of mind?
Are you afraid of the darkness?
Well i ain’t afraid no more
Because a sailor has to sail at night
& leave that sunny shore.
Are you afraid of the darkness
which constructs you as a man?
Are you crouched behind a fig leaf
are you coming to life with your hand?
I suspect you don’t keep mirrors
in your pocket anymore.
But you may still crave the taste of the earth
the feel of your back or your chest on the floor.
Black balls, black balls bouncing off the walls
bouncing through the halls of my mind
Men men don’t you come again
I need some space inside my mind.
You looked so like Odysseus,
a god inside my mind
although your hair was filled with sea-plants
& your skin was caked in brine.
& your eyes grew black & blacker
as they watched the baby sky
& you lay on your back like a dying vine
that you wanted me to climb
But I was dumb & dumber
as passive as a grain.
And I feared the black of altitude
& the altitude of gain.
Black balls, black balls bouncing off the walls
bouncing through the halls of my mind
men men don’t you come again i need some space inside my mind.
And my face was traced & placed
I was the prophet of your cave
and you’d watch me by the firelight
through the flicker of your cooking flame.
And you’d lay back like a lady
and you’d dream that you were me
and I’d dream I was Odysseus
sailing wild on the wild wild sea.
Well no one really wants to go into the shadow world where the rivers meet.
But you know you’ll never make it home without the guidance of Tiresias.
So you go down looking for the shadow of the one who can tell you if you’ll make it if you wander on and on.
Oh man, oh man, I heard you say
there ain’t no way you’ll ever tell.
But first you got to take it down down
into that black black hell.
A clanging bell awaits you and you’re on the other shore
Surrounded by the shadows of so many whom you knew before.
And others that you heard of through the wild-fire of their flame,
but none of them can see the flashy tears upon your face,
cause their human thoughts have perished and their blood has drained away.
So you kill the lamb who trusted you
and then you ring the dinner bell
and feed dinner to the hungry hungry ghosts
of that black black hell.
The Shanghai Trio approaches in my dreams when I try to think of you.
They clang their bells so loudly when I try to think of touching you.
They kiss my lips so sweetly when I try to think of kissing you.
They dress me up, they line me up, they tell me I’ll be leaving you.
They hypnotize me, freeze me, with the ringing of a bell,
and they lead me like a well dressed lamb into that black black hell.
Black sheep, black sheep, I will see you where the rivers meet.
Where they swirl around each other forming eddies that are deep,
where they swirl around each other where the naked ladies weep.
Where they terrify each other with the currents of a wishing well
that could carry all the wishes down down into that black black hell.
America, America, you know how I have dreamed of you.
Not just the Shanghai Trio, dear, but also me I dreamed for you.
I lay awake with half-closed eyes and dreamed for you a shining bell
that could call the lonely powers up up from that black black hell.
You, loved you so long from afar.
Hey, I thought love could live from afar.
Like a ghost in outer space,
I could never touch a thing.
What, what is it that you were to me?
You, someone my black heart aspired to be.
Black, cold, and far away,
I’m kicking my heart out the door today.
World, think I’d like to rejoin you now.
Feet, well I’m putting you back on the ground.
Get a job and make some friends,
Maybe even find a lover.
Friend, now sometimes you might cross my mind,
Ice, when I feel something cool at my side.
Shaking cold on a starless night,
A man wearing black with a phone at his side.
Black-hearted lonely life, walk on…
True, well it’s true that I saw you today.
Love, well I know it ain’t real.
Just a figment of a lonely heart,
A fleck in my eye.
Ghost, I don’t wanna be a ghost no more,
Space, just floating around in the sky.
Dusty, don’t even look my way,
Dusty Stables, just walk, just walk on by.
Black hearted lonely life, walk on…
Sometimes in the night, I think of black man.
When the stars are gone, I think of black man.
Is he old or is he wise,
Staring from a thousand eyes, yeah,
Sometimes in the night, I think of black man.
Sometimes in my sleep, I think of black man.
Pressing on me dark and deep, hey black man.
Ain’t nobody looks like me, but
Sometimes with my hands I see
Another one like me, but he’s a black man.
Black man, do you feel like me, and
Do you see the world I see, and
Black man do you feel much like a black man?
Sometimes when I eat, I think of black man.
Eating chicken feet, I think hey black man.
When a big man yells at me, and
When he throws his heavy feet
Against my wooden knee I think of black man.
Black man, if you are like me
You’d just sit down real quietly
You’d cross your legs right at the knee, hey black man.
Please, don’t you speak your mind
Cause all of us is color blind,
Yeah ain’t nobody here who saw a black man.
Sometimes in the church, I think of black man.
When everyone is praising god, hey black man.
When Jesus Christ is in the air, and
Green search lights is everywhere, and
Ain’t no shelter anywhere, hey black man.
Sometimes in my bed, I think of black man.
When I think I’m good as dead, hey black man.
When I think I’m lost in hell, and then
I hear the dinner bell,
You know they really mean us well, hey black man.
Are you strong, just like they say,
Cause I could use some strength today
Some muscled arms to clear my way, hey black man.
Black man, if you are like me,
You’d just sit down real quietly,
You’d cross your legs right at the knee, hey black man.
Please, don’t you speak your mind,
Cause all of us is color blind,
Yeah, ain’t nobody here who saw a black man.
pink in the dawn
rising thru a lacy veil
smile and yawn
we made love last night very well
down in the waking streets
are people shaking with their signs
trotting in circles and
their words fly as they shake their signs
i’ve seen that face before
i know you’re lying next to me
sleeping in shadows, well
no wisdom could apply to me
my eyes grow bigger, but
the ghost they see can not be true
them proles are crazy
i bet my little heart on you
i never learned the distance tween
what’s dreaming and what’s true
and now the sun is down
the sky is black on baby blue
eggs with forks today is
no more tender than my heart
people say today
be careful where you place your heart
love shines like sunshine and its
gonna shine on hitler too
little baby, well i
bet my little heart on you
like an egg shell
don’t think i’ll get it right again
despite the tapping sound
of all his horses and his men
guess i missed the distance
tween what’s dreaming and what’s true
and now the sun is down
the sky is black on baby blue
pack your suitcase
you’re worried that you’ll miss the train
au revoir, my friend
i hope to see your face again
little baby that is
curled up in an easy chair
rocking back and forth
she never learned to comb her hair
never let go of
the high chair and the monkey bib
musssolini, well i
i think he got your heart again
could there be a distance
tween what’s dreaming what’s true?
and now the sun is down
the sky is black on baby blue
will love hide behind
the mustache of another man?
if he’s kind, well do you
think that we’ll make love again?
scream like a widow when his
collared shirt flies in the air
scold the firing squad
whose frozen boots are mounted there
little baby
i’m sending off a box to you
a little golden chain
i’m hoping it belongs to you
hoping theres a bridge between
what’s dreaming and what’s true
cause now the sun is down
the sky is black on baby blue
someplace, somewhere
a bell was ringing thru the night
someplace, somewhere
it shimmered with a little light
I’m gonna find the better part of me,
Piece of sky pinned down on the branch of a tree.
Hey baby, won’t you take a walk with me,
Drop your books and your gun to talk with me
I know that men have died this way, but I never knew why,
I just heard their final words as they fell like birds from the sky.
It was high to you, but it never seemed high to me.
What was sky to you, it was just another garden for me.
And the blessings from our father flow
Through the hills and down below,
I know, oh yes I know, but still it hurts to see you go.
I was building a new room for us today,
Lemon yellow walls and a sofa made of clay.
It could hold three men and maybe four,
If they’d lay their rifle bags on the floor.
You could use a yellow place; you could use some company.
This floor won’t hold you up, my dear, but you could feast your eyes on me.
It was a suicidal mission, anyway.
A thin red line and it wasn’t even thin today.
And the blessings from our father flow
Through the hills and down below,
I know, oh yes I know, but still it hurts to see you go.
You should think of the future, at least occasionally,
Otherwise what do you really got in common with me?
The birds that fall like paperweights at your door
Are the men who sang with me on my floor.
The blame will fall somewhere, but it will not fall on me.
I left it all behind when I left my family.
Left my death for a little blue piece of the sky;
Left you for an opportune chance to fly.
And the blessings from our father flow
Through the hills and down below,
I know, oh yes I know, but still it hurts to see you go.
Bluebird flying, but nobody sees you till you’re down on the ground.
Bluebird trying, but it doesn’t matter clouds are circling round.
Pushing you down into a circle of ashes.
Ashes from the shell of an egg.
Thunder circles round and it crashes.
Lightning bolts fall and you beg:
“Please, please, please, I’ll do what you want.
I’ll do what you say, and I won’t ever stop.
I’ll always obey, and I won’t even talk.
I won’t learn to fly, and I won’t learn to walk.”
Bluebird sighing on the branch of a tree gazing out at the sky.
White clouds flying, and the world circles round always passing him by.
Black birds fly by, but nobody sees him.
He’s just another piece of the sky.
Nestled in the nook of a tree limb,
bowing his beak and beginning to cry.
“Thank you tree, for letting me live
when I always take, and you always give.
You strain to support me, you give me your all,
as I lay upon you like a big cannonball.”
Bluebird falling from the limb of a tree onto a blanket of grass.
Blue feathers heaving, blue heart shattered like a locket of glass.
Blades of grass cutting into his eye.
One wing open and unable to fly.
Bird eyes straining just to see through the pain.
Sky cracked open and beginning to rain.
“Place the black mask over my eyes.
Let me lay like an egg until I’m ready to die.
My pain is a window, and the grass is so soft.
The rain is my mother, and she’s calling me off.”
Big headed man I remember your name;
two years ago to my town you came.
Your name riding high up on everyone’s mouth,
that’s the way I spoke it when you took me down.
Drive slow, daddy slow, when you’re taking me down,
slide fast, daddy fast, when you’re coming to town.
When you know, when you know that you really love me,
then it’s time to shake it down in the blue valley.
You filed your nails at the side of my bed;
you tapped your boots and my name you said.
In the shade of my room, as the sun rolled down,
and the creak of my floor as you left my town.
Your books, your words, well, you keep them inside
in the dim of your pockets where these worlds collide.
in the dim of your hat and the shadows it pulls
from your eyes, from your eyes, to your workman’s boots
Drive slow, daddy slow, when you’re taking me down,
slide fast daddy fast when you’re coming to town.
When you know, when you know that you really love me,
then it’s time to shake it down in the blue valley.
So cool, so cool, always playing it down,
but everybody’s mama knows you own this town,
and they smiled, and they smiled when you made love to me,
cause we need another preacher in the blue valley.
All week, all year the valley’s cupped hands;
it’s the price that you pay when a lady you land.
Your heart so blue, spreading thin as the sky,
drifts in to my room where another man lies.
Drive slow, daddy slow, when you’re taking me down,
slide fast, daddy fast, when you’re coming to town,
when you know, when you know that you really love me,
then it’s time to shake it down in the blue valley.
It started out so hot and so mangled
There was no time to breathe.
But in the end so dark and tangled
There was no way to leave.
You watch the planes flying off in the distance
But don’t dare to rise from your chair.
Just twist & chew another lock of your hair.
First you tried to speak to him in some way
That would not make him mad.
Then you tried to understand him in
Some way that would not make you sad.
You watch the planes flying off in the distance
To capture that disk bright & bold.
Nice try friends, but life makes you wait for the gold.
Things that fly through the sky
Things that lie on the floor one day dreaming they’ll crawl to the door
Things that fall deep in the night like a star
Things so lost in the woods they should just stay where they are.
You know that God is made of pure gold
And your husband is made of pure black.
He needs you to tell him that he’s winning
And tell him that you have his back.
Planes fly high in the sky and then vanish
Deep into the dark mountain’s fold.
Goodbye friends, life has its way with the bold.
People say you are the dark one
dim and dusty, cold and hard one
dry and scaly skin
blood so sour and thi
draw the curtains and let our time begin
Bone to bone now
in a dark room
press your forehead to mine
let the world resume
let them stick to their ways
I will come out changed
I will speak my mind and I
won’t care what they say
People tell me you’re a creep
you tell me people are sheep
I believe you will outlast them
watching from your mountain so steep
Your room so dark and blue
the whole world is a shadow to you
your bones they bear the lines of
every tooth that sank into you
Claw marks across your arm
why did they mean you harm?
you with a spine so straight that I
I cling to your arm
Outside the winds derange, but I
I will come out changed
I can feel your bones upon me now
so cold and so strange
Let the vinegar spill out
let it roll down your chin
let me hear your darkest words now
let your long long story begin
Nights in the jungle survived
you are the man who came out alive
dipped in blood you walked back home
so thin but swollen with pride
Your blood in my veins, I
I will come out changed
I will laugh at all of their words
I won’t care what they say
Your hand on my hand now I
I can see through your eyes
all the chains were only shadows
all the flags were only their lies
The imprint of your bones
like an angel to follow me home
you will always be beside me
blood to blood and bone to bone.
There was a beast with one big eye
You took his sight away
You carved a tree into an instrument
You poked his eye away
There was a fluffy flock of sheep
You ate them for a meal
There was a baby blue citadel
You tumbled it down from the hill
There was a world of ladies & you
You took their men away
You put your body on their bodies
You wrapped them up in chains.
I thought that maybe you could hide your anger from me
Thought that maybe baby you could shake it like a daddy for me
There was a man named Lucifer
There was a man named You
You shouted taunts at a cyclops till
He threw a hill at you.
I’ve got a big idea for you
I’ve got another way
Wash the entrail from your hands
Place your hands upon your legs
Write my name on your notebook where
It used to bear the name of you
Drop my words like seeds on the earth
Where it once bore the words of you
I thought that maybe you could hide your anger for me
Thought that maybe baby you could shake it like a daddy for me
Because the sky has started turning & the sun is slowly slipping away
And I think that you would shake it down daddy if you wanted to stay
Bow down to the one you serve
Bow down to me
I can’t hear nothing when you’re on your back
You gotta be crawling on your knees
Bury your prayers into the earth
Lower them down into the sea
Lift your arms like a lightening rod
Lift your arms to me.
I thought that maybe you could hide your anger for me
Thought that maybe baby you could shake it like a daddy for me
Because the sky has started turning & the sun is slowly slipping away
And I think that you would shake it down daddy if you wanted to stay
Sing and gleam, mountain stream
I know where you flow.
Falling down, losing ground
Crash the world below.
Lose the dream
of purity you wanted me to bring.
Lose the dream
There’s nothing sacred now.
Something fails, yet still goes on.
I was in the box, but now it’s gone.
Like a swirl, like a wave
Changing me inside
Suck me down, underneath
This is where I’ll hide.
On and on
to bluer things you wanted me to bring.
On and on
Your arrow in my hand.
Something dies, yet still goes on.
I was in the box, but now it’s gone.
Waterfall over me
Holding up my hands
Blue and cold, touching me
I don’t understand
How I feel
I waited for you everyday alone
Standing there
There’s nothing certain now.
Losing form, yet flowing on
I was in the box, but now its gone.
Pouring fast, swirling past- learn the way things flow.
Rolling past far away, I know where they go.
On and on
To better things you wanted to give to me
The way to better things in all.
Something breaks, and we move on
I was in the box but now its gone.
His hands upon me I was spun around.
Tripping over my feet through the softly fading town
Brother no… nobody leads the way
Brother no… nobody leads the way
He turns towords me when the evening shines
His hands upon my head I’ll wait until my time
Brother no….. nobody leads the way
Brother no….. nobody leads the way
First it seems to be a no go
Then he tells you things will fade away
All the while the winds begin to blow
And so you stumble on the way
I know nothing’s gonna make up your mind now love
This is just a matter of fact
I try putting all my thoughts in a line although
This will never bring him back.
His arm around my neck I start to smile
We’ll watch the clouds pass by just for a little while
Brother oh…… I’ll let you lead the way
Brother oh…. I’ll let you lead the way
First it seems to be a rainbow
Then he tells me it’s a cloud of gray
All the while the fog begins to grow so you will
Wander through the day
I know nothing’s gonna make up your mind now love
This is just a matter of fact
I try putting all my thoughts in a line although
This will never bring him back.
He holds me up against the wall til I can fly
Scenes of peaceful villages fade in & out of mind
Brother no… I’ll let you lead the way
Brother no… I’ll let you lead the way.
First he tells you its a no no
Then he tells me I must seize the day
All the while the clouds begin to grow
And they grow colder on the way
I know nothing’s gonna make up your mind now love.
This is just a matter of fact.
I try putting all my thoughts in a line although
This will never bring him back.
My daddy he was a woodworking man and
he had six fine sons to share his name.
Three were big and three were small,
but still my father loved us all the same.
He bounced the big ones on his knee and
the little ones he placed in a candy dish.
He said the big ones would be his pride and
the little ones they would grant his final wish.
Many of the Brothers were sent to fight a war.
Other of the brothers were left within a jar.
One days when we were fourteen,
cannonballs and bullets filled the sky.
Daddy packed up three sandwiches and
kissed the three large brothers all goodbye.
He said, “Now you must remember sons, that
there will come a day when life is done for all.
What matters most is you must not cry,
just stand up straight and look death in the eye, real tall.”
Many of the Brothers were sent to fight a war.
Other of the brothers were left within a jar.
We watched the brothers vanish in
the distance as dad held us in his hand.
He said, “I love you my small sons,
now it’s time to grant a wish for your old man.”
Then he dropped us all in a mason jar and
he shook us hard until two of us had died.
Then he fell on the floor and shook as though
his wiring had been shattered from inside.
Then he quivered till he grew real still and
I knew that the only brother left was me;
Just one tiny seed remained
from what had once been a big family.
Many of the brothers were sent to fight a war.
Other of the brothers were left within a jar.
I was of the brothers left within a jar.
He thought there must be some lines in the earth he could follow,
Hidden by snow, but he’d possibly find them in spring.
A grid made of brown that would lead to the crown of tomorrow…
Hail to the rose!
Hail to the sky!
Teach me to live;
Teach me to die.
In the snow it was cold but some hope filled his body;
Golden liquid that quickened the fire in his brain.
He had a theory the earth was surrounded by knowledge;
A shimmering library accessed by unbearable pain.
When I close my eyes- Ah!
Like a flame through my fingers it burns, like a fire through my heart.
When I close my eyes- No!
It eludes me a pain in my shoulders, a dimming echo.
Hail to the rose!
Hail to the sky!
Teach me to live,
Teach me to die.
His blue eyes scanned the skies though he knew they were empty;
Only fools look for schools where the airy birds fly.
Something told him the brown of the ground held the answers;
His desire for the fire left him willing to die.
Won’t you take me inside of your library
Prepared to hurt, lay my screams in your dirt?
Won’t you take me inside of your library
Prepared to bleed for the answers I need?
Hail to the rose!
Hail to the sky!
Teach me to live,
Teach me to die.
He points the gun at me
I say please don’t shoot
He says what makes you think I would do that to you?
After all that I’ve done that’s the way that you see me?
Then walk out that door cause you might as well leave me.
Oh no…. my brain…..something cracking inside
Please I need to find darkness some place I can hide
Just climb under the bed, just lie there very still
I wish someone would find me but they never will.
Walking around it’s a daze in my mind now
The flowers are blooming, the sun is behind now
But inside it’s raining I can’t make it stop
And I bite on my tongue cause I need not to talk.
Oh no…. my head… something breaking inside
Now I need to find shelter some place I can hide
But behind every door there’s a man with a new gun
There’s no where to go if I had the strength to run.
Clouds in the sky I don’t think I can join you
So fluffy and free all the bullet pass through you
You’ve nothing to fear and you rain when you want to
I wish you saw me I need someone to talk to.
Oh no… my heart… something breaking inside
Can you hold it together until we can hide?
Just climb under the bed just lie there very still
I wish someone would find us but they never will.
Life is the sky flying high above us
when he opens his eye, pouring down upon us because
Life is a dream dancing round our fingers
when there’s nothing that we can change at all.
You by my side, get through any weather
Two times I cry, but we stay together
You last so long, good things are forever
Standing strong cause you wanna watch them burn, burn…
Life is the ground thickening than the air we breathe
and life is a sound, vibrating through our feet and
Life is the earth spreading out around us
when there’s nothing we can change at at all.
Twig on the ground, crack in any weather
Hold my hand cause we must stay together
People say that pain can’t last for ever
People, hey, one day we’re gonna watch them burn, burn…
Life is a bone lying naked there beside us
a man as he moans, dying on our doorsteps
Life is a stone pressing down on our chest
when there’s nothing we can change at all
Locked in a box, that’s life as I know it man
Pain isn’t in vain, hold on to my hand
You feel strong, but life is even stronger man
Break you down until you want to watch them burn, burn…
Life is a dream, drifting through the ages
Life is a breeze blowing through iron cages
Life is a book, we’re flipping through the pages
when there’s nothing we can change at all.
Is this the end or is it the beginning
I don’t know what I see and my mind is really bending
But I know what I heard and they may have been pretending,
But they said in my head that one day you’re gonna watch them burn, burn…
Don’t touch me no more,
cause if you touch me one more time
we’re gonna end up on the floor.
Don’t talk ’bout love no more,
cause if you set this house on fire
you’re gonna be running for the door.
You’ll find yourself in the desert,
the sky is all on fire,
sweet baby devils dancing around
the light of a cactus fire.
Hey baby, you can take me down easy,
but the fire’s got its fingers in you.
Burn baby, like a straw man, baby,
when the fire licks the heart out of you.
Cause it’s true, my grandfather sent me to you.
Burning bush outside your door;
sparks fly through your eyes as they watch
the wine spill on your floor.
You can’t put me out, you know,
Cause every time you try to squash me down
you’re just pushing me closer to the glow.
Smoke me like a pipe,
like a sexy cosmopolitan man,
and now you’re dancing like a grandfather clock,
dancing like a burning man.
Hey baby, you can take me down easy,
but the fire’s got its fingers in you.
Burn baby, like a straw man, baby,
when the fire licks the heart out of you.
Hey Moses you’re a dead man, baby,
but another world is waiting for you.
You’re as dead as a black man, baby,
but I’m gonna light an ember for you.
Cause its true, my grandfather sent me to you.
You want the red sea parted for you?
You want the burning bush talking to you?
You want me making love to you?
Well, that’s fine,
but you ain’t gonna come out alive.
Love baby, it’s a hell-fire, baby,
it’s gonna burn the heart out of you.
This world is the real world, baby,
it can’t play the lady for you.
This fire is a real fire, baby,
it’s gonna lick the heart out of you.
Hey Moses, you’re a dead man, baby,
but another world is waiting for you.
You, I’m gonna light an ember for you.
Yeah you, I’m gonna light an ember for you.