Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Randy Sarafan's Simple Sequencer

Randy Sarafan writes:
One of the keys to making good music is mindless repetition. That is what the simple sequencer is great at. It does the same thing over and over again in an eight note sequence. You can adjust the frequency of the note, the duration of the note and the pause between notes. If you get really good, you can anticipate the next note and change things up on the fly. This little box is sure to provide endless hours of fun.

Build one yourself with the instructions. [via Make]

Samson Zoom R16: Multitrack mobile recording

Samson's Zoom R16 is a 16-track recorder that writes audio files to SD cards (although only 8 tracks can be recorder at a time). Better, it can be operated on just 6AA batteries for mobile recording. Even better, you can connect it to your computer and just use it as a control surface.

There's even a built-in stereo condenser mic that makes it possible to do some basic recording without plugging into the XLR/1/4-inch inputs.

Price! $400 is suggested.

The Black Angels: Live @ Mad Planet 6/22/08

Image courtesy of Drew.

Monday, June 8, 2009

A Chronological Lyrical Analysis (1976 - 2006): Tom Waits

Tom Waits; a man a myth, a living legend, a poet, an artist, an oddball, an actor, a composer, a storyteller, a lyricist, a hero, a performer. Mr. Waits has composed many an album dating back to 1973's Closing Time on Asylum Records. (Discography) In my humble opinion Tom Waits songwriting has matured IMMENSELY since his debut! Granted there are plenty of folks out there who adore Waits slow melancholy ballads of old, to each their own. It is impressive in its own right and I DO respect it. I just personally don't find it particularly interesting to listen to. That's just me though.

I find Waits albums of late FAR more fulfilling, interesting and listenable, i.e. Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Bone Machine, Mule Variations, and of course Real Gone. Each of these majestic works has a raunchy grit that you couldn't remove with a ten gallon drum of industrial grade bleach. The magnificent simplicity and edgyness of songs like; 16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-Six, Tango Till They're Sore, Big Black Mariah, Gun Street Girl, Hang on St. Christopher, Jesus Gonna Be Here, Goin' Out West, Filipino Box Spring Hog, God's Away on Business, Hoist That Rag and Make It Rain all get under your skin and make you itch uncontrollably for more.

To me there is just something about hearing/creating such a simple/minimal composition and having it be so very powerful yet complex. For example, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf and Bo Didley could all play/write/perform fantastic compositions using a very minimal amount of variety in structure but it just sounded right and still does today.

These are my favorite selections of Tom Waits lyrics, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. The quotes span from Closing Time (1976) though to Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006).

Small Change (1976)

Step Right Up:

  • And a smoke-damaged furniture
    you can drive it away today.

  • And it mows your lawn and it picks up the kids from school.

  • It gets rid of unwanted facial hair.

  • It gets rid of embarrassing age spots.

  • And it lengthens, and it strengthens.

  • And it finds that slipper that's been at large under the chaise lounge for several weeks.

  • It makes excuses for unwanted lipstick on your collar and it's only a dollar.

  • Removes embarrassing stains from contour sheets.

  • It gets rid of your gambling debts, it quits smoking.

  • It's new, it's improved, it's old-fashioned.

  • Gets rid of blackheads, the heartbreak of psoriasis.

  • It disinfects, it sanitizes for your protection.

    It gives you an erection.

    It wins the election.


Blue Valentine (1978)

Red Shoes by the Drugstore:

  • She wore red shoes by the drugstore

  • There's a little blue jay in a red dress, on a sad night.

  • A bottle of evening in Paris perfume.

  • Bring a raincoat and a suitcase, and your dark eyes, and wear those red shoes.

  • Umbrellas arranged in a sad bouquet.

  • Now the rain washes memories from the sidewalks.

  • Santa Claus is drunk in the ski room, and it's Christmas eve in a sad cafe.

  • When the moon gets this way there's a little blue jay by the newsstand wearing red shoes.

  • So meet me tonight by the drugstore. We're goin' out tonight. Wear your red shoes.

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard:

  • Well, I come in on a night train,

    With an arm full of box cars,

    On the wings of a magpie cross a hooligan night.

  • Whistlin' past the graveyard, steppin' on a crack.

    Mean Mother Hubbard, Papa one eyed jack.

  • Go on and ask the prince of darkness what about all that smoke come from the stack.

  • Sometimes I kill myself a jacket suck out all the blood. Steal myself a station wagon drivin' through the mud.

  • I'm callin' out my bloodhounds chase the devil through the corn.

  • Last night I chugged the Mississippi now that suckers dry as a bone.

  • Born in a taxi cab, I'm never comin' home.

  • My eyes have seen the glory of the draining of the ditch.

  • I only come to Baton Rouge to find myself a witch.

  • I'm-ona snatch me up a couple of 'em every time it rains.

  • What you think is the sunshine is just a twinkle in my eye.
  • When I get a little bit lonesome and a tear falls from my cheek.

    There's gonna be an ocean in the middle of the week.



Heartattack & Vine (1980)

Heartattack and Vine:

  • Liar, liar with your pants on fire,
    White spades hanging on the telephone wire.
    Gamblers reevaluate along the dotted line,
    You'll never recognize yourself on heartattack and vine.
  • Doctor, lawyer, beggar man, thief.
    Philly Joe Remarkable looks on in disbelief.
    If you want a taste of madness you'll have to wait in line.
    You'll probably see someone you know on heartattack and vine.

  • Boney's high on China white,
    Shorty found a punk.
    Don't you know there ain't no devil?
    That's just God when he's drunk.
    Well, this stuff'll probably kill you lets do another line,
    What you say you meet me down at heartattack and vine.

  • See that little jersey girl in the see-through top,
    With the pedal pushers, suckin' on a soda pop.
    Well I'll bet that she's still a virgin,
    But it's only twenty-five to nine
    You can see a million of 'em on heartattack and vine.

  • Better off in Iowa against your scrambled eggs,
    Then crawlin' down Cahuenga on a broken pair of legs.
    You'll find your ignorance is blissful ev'ry goddamn time,
    You're waiting for the RTD on heartattack and vine.

  • Boney's high on China white,
    Shorty found a punk.
    Don't you know there ain't no devil?
    That's just God when he's drunk.
    Well, this stuff'll probably kill you lets do another line,
    What you say you meet me down at heartattack and vine.

'Til the Money Runs Out:

  • Check this strange beverage that falls out from the sky,
    Splashin' Baghdad on the Hudson in Panther Martin's eyes.
    He's high and outside wearin' candy apple red,
    Scarlet gave him twenty seven stitches in his head.
    With a pint of green chartreuse ain't nothin' seems right,
    You buy the Sunday paper on a Saturday night.

  • Can't you hear the thunder someone stole my watch,
    I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch.
    Some one tell those Chinamen on Telegraph Canyon Road,
    When you're on the bill with the spoon there ain't no time to unload.
    So bye bye baby baby bye bye.

  • Droopy stranger, lonely dreamer, toy puppy and the Prado,
    We're laughin' as they piled into Olmos' el Dorado.
    Jesus whispered eni, meany, miney, moe.
    They're too proud to duck their heads,
    That's why they bring it down so low.
    So bye bye baby baby bye bye.

  • The pointed man is smack dab in the middle of July,
    Swingin' from the rafters in his brand new tie.
    He said, "I can't go back to that hotel room, all they do is shout.
    But I'll stay with baby till the money runs out."
    So bye bye baby baby bye bye.


Swordfishtrombones (1983)

Underground:

  • Rattle big black bones in the danger zone.

  • They're alive; they're awake, while the rest of the world is asleep.

  • There's a world going on underground.

  • All the roots hang down swing from town to town.

  • They are marching around down under your boots.

16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six:

  • A black crow snuck through a hole in the sky.

  • I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule.

  • I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba. And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree

  • I blew me a hole 'bout the size of a kick drum.

  • I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'.

  • I tore out the buckets from a red Corvette.

  • You got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinny bone tree.

  • You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole.

Swordfishtrombone:

  • A pair of legs that opened up like butterfly wings.

  • With a fly swatter banjo on his knee.

  • They found him in a eucalyptus tree.

  • He got 20 years for lovin' her from some Oklahoma governor said everything this Doughboy does is wrong.

  • Now some say he's doing the obituary mambo.

Down, Down, Down:

  • He went down, down, down and the devil called him by name.

  • This boy went solid down, always chewed tobacco, and the bathtub gin.

  • Well he went down, down, down and the Devil jumped on his head.

  • He went down, down, down sleepin' in the Devil's bed.

  • He was always cheatin' and he always told lies.

Gin Soaked Boy:

  • Now I'm gonna get out, and I'm gonna get tough.

  • You been lying to me. How could you crawl so low?

  • With some gin-soaked boy that you don't know.


Rain Dogs (1985)

Singapore:

  • We're all as mad as hatter's here.

  • Drank with all the Chinamen, walked the sewers of Paris.

  • I danced along a colored wind, dangled from a rope of sand.

  • You must say goodbye to me.

  • Don't fall asleep while you're ashore.

  • Cross your heart and hope to die, when you hear the children cry.

  • Let marrow bone and cleaver choose, while making feet for children shoes.

  • Through the alley, back from hell, when you hear that steeple bell.

  • Wipe him down with gasoline, 'til his arms are hard and mean.

  • From now on boys this iron boat's your home, So heave away, boys

  • We sail tonight for Singapore, take your blankets from the floor.

  • Wash your mouth out by the door, the whole town's made of iron ore.

  • Every witness turns to steam, they all become Italian dreams.

  • Fill your pockets up with earth, get yourself a dollar's worth.

  • Away boys, away boys, heave away.

  • The captain is a one-armed dwarf, he's throwing dice along the wharf.

  • In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, so take this ring.

Clap Hands:

  • Sane, sane, they're all insane, fireman's blind, the conductor is lame.

  • Hanging out the window with a bottle full of rain.

  • We can always find a millionaire to shovel all the coal.

  • Said steam, steam, a hundred bad dreams. Going up to Harlem with a pistol in his jeans.

  • Shine, shine, a Roosevelt dime. All the way to Baltimore and running out of time.

  • Salvation Army seemed to wind up in the hole. They all went to heaven in a little row boat.

Cemetery Polka:

  • Uncle Vernon, Uncle Vernon, independent as a hog on ice.

  • He's a big shot down there at the slaughterhouse.

  • Uncle Violet flew as a pilot and there ain't no pretty girls in France.

  • They say he never keeps it in his pants.

  • He has a mistress, she's Puerto Rican and I heard she has a wooden leg.

Jockey Full of Bourbon:

  • Edna Million in a drop dead suit.

  • Two-dollar pistol but the gun won't shoot, I'm in the corner on the pouring rain.

  • Sixteen men on a dead man's chest, And I've been drinking from a broken cup.

  • Two pairs of pants and a mohair vest, I'm full of bourbon, I can't stand up.

  • Hey little bird, fly away home, your house is on fire, children are alone.

  • Across the stripes of a full moon's head, and through the bars of a Cuban jail.

  • Bloody fingers on a purple knife, flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass.

  • I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife, admire the view from up on top of the mast.

  • "To the carnival" is what she said, a hundred dollars makes it dark inside.

Tango Till They're Sore:

  • Well you play that tarantella all the hounds will start to roar.

    The boys all go to hell and then the Cubans hit the floor.

    They drive along the pipeline, they tango 'til they're sore.

    They take apart their nightmares and they leave them by the door.

  • Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair.

    Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs.

    I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past.

    And send me off to bed for evermore.

  • Make sure they play my theme song, I guess daisies will have to do.

    Just get me to New Orleans and paint shadows on the pews.

    Turn the spit on that pig and kick the drum and let me down.

    Put my clarinet beneath your bed 'til I get back in town.

  • Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair.

    Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs.

    I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past.

    And send me off to bed for evermore.

  • Just make sure she's all in calico and the color of a doll.

    Wave the flag on Cadillac day, and a skillet on the wall.

    Cut me a switch or hold your breath 'til the sun goes down.

    Write my name on the hood; send me off to another town.

  • Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair.

    Deal out Jacks or Better on a blanket by the stairs.

    I'll tell you all my secrets, but I lie about my past.

    And send me off to bed for evermore.

Big Black Mariah:

  • Well cutting through the cane break, rattling the sill. Thunder that the rain makes when the shadow tops the hill.

  • Here come the Big Black Mariah, I seen the big black Ford.

  • Well he's all boxed up on a red belle dame.

  • Off to bed without his supper like a Linda brides do.

  • Got a wooden coat, this boy is never coming home.

Hang Down Your Head:

  • Hush a wild violet, hush a band of gold. Hush you're in a story I heard somebody told.

  • So hang down your head for sorrow, hang down your head for me. Hang down your head tomorrow; hang down your head Marie.

  • Hush my love a train now, but it takes me away from you.

Rain Dogs:

  • Inside a broken clock, splashing the wine with all the rain dogs.

  • Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night. For it was all ripe for dreaming.

  • Oh, how we danced away all of the lights. We've always been out of our minds.

  • The rum pours strong and thin, beat out the dustman with the rain dogs.

  • Aboard a shipwreck train, give my umbrella to the rain dogs.

  • Her long hair black as a raven.

  • Oh, how we danced and you whispered to me. You'll never be going back home.

Gun Street Girl:

  • Stick around to tell us all a little tale.

  • He got all liquored up on that road house corn.

  • Blew a hole in the hood of a yellow Corvette.

  • He bought a second-hand Nova from a Cuban Chinese.

  • With a pawnshop radio, quarter past four.

  • He's sitting in a sycamore in St. John's wood, soaking day-old bread in kerosene.

  • Well he was blue as a robin's egg and brown as a hog.

  • He's staying out of circulation 'til the dogs get tired.

  • Shadow fixed the toilet with an old trombone.

  • Sitting by the Erie with a bull-whipped dog. Telling everyone he saw, "They went that-a-way, boys".

  • Now the rain's like gravel on an old tin roof.

  • Now a head full of bourbon and a dream in the straw.

  • And a Gun Street girl was the cause of it all.

  • Hearing the click-clack tapping of a blind man's cane.

  • One eye on a pistol and the other on the door.

  • With her fireman's raincoat and her long yellow hair. Well they tied her to a tree with a skinny millionaire.

  • Banging on the table with an old tin cup. Singing "I'll never kiss a Gun Street Girl Again".

Union Square:

  • Go on and bust your ass 'til doomsday, don't forget to say your prayers.

  • She stands right there for your pleasure, half Puerto Rican Chinese.

  • Sacco drinking whiskey in church.

  • That boy 'bout to fall right off his perch.

  • Well he's out in front of that welfare hotel.

  • The guy in the dress is a beauty.

  • Go all the way; I swear you never can tell.

Walking Spanish:

  • He's got himself a homemade special. You know his glass is full of sand.

  • And it feels just like a jaybird the way it fits into his hand.

  • He rolled a blade up in his trick towel; They slap their hands against the wall.

  • Slip him a picture of our Jesus, or give him a spoon to dig a hole.

  • What all he done ain't no one's business, but he'll need blankets for the cold.

  • Litella's screeching for a blind pig.

  • He never sang when he got hoodwinked.

  • Don't say goodbye, he's just leaving early.

  • All St. Bartholomew said was whispered.

  • Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate.

  • Even Jesus wanted just a little more time.

Downtown Train:

  • Outside another yellow moon has punched a hole in the nighttime.

  • They try so hard to break out of their little worlds.

  • Well you wave your hand and they scatter like crows.

  • They're just thorns without the rose. Be careful of them in the dark.

  • They stay at the carnival, but they'll never win you back.


Franks Wild Years (1987)

Hang On St. Christopher:

  • Hang on St. Christopher through the smoke and the oil.

  • Buckle down the rumble seat, let the radiator boil.

  • Hang on St. Christopher on the passenger side, open it up, tonight the Devil can ride.

  • Kick me up Mount Baldy; throw me out in the fog.

  • Tear a hole in the jack pot; drive a stake through his heart.

  • Hang on St. Christopher, now don't let me go. Get me to Reno and bring it in low.

  • Put a hi ball in the crank case; nail a crow to the door.

  • There's a 750 Norton bustin' down January's door.

  • Put my baby on the flat car, got to burn down the caboose.

  • Get 'em all jacked up on whiskey, then we'll turn the mad dog loose.

Straight Up to the Top:

  • I'm going straight to the top, oh yea, up where the air is fresh and clean.

  • If you know me, you know what I mean.

  • I know that I will never stop, oh no. Until I know I'm wild and free.

  • Just like a champagne bubble, pop, pop, pop. I'm like those birdies high up in the trees.

Blow Wind Blow:

  • In the middle of a shakedown she got quiet as a church mouse.

  • And I'm smokin' like a diesel way out here.

Temptation:

  • Everything is made from dreams.

  • Time is made from honey slow and sweet.

  • Oh, temptation, temptation, I can't resist.

  • I know that she is made of smoke.

  • My will has disappeared, now my confusion's oh so clear.

I'll Be Gone:

  • Tonight I'll shave the mountain.

  • I'll cut the hearts from pharaohs'.

  • Tear the memories from my eyes and in the morning I'll be gone.

  • Tonight I'll steal your paychecks.

  • I paint the sheets across my bed,

    The birds will all fly from my head and in the morning I'll be gone.

  • Take every dream that's breathing, find every boot that's leaving,

    Shoot all the lights in the cafe and in the morning I'll be gone.

  • Tonight his bones will ride it; I'll need a tent to hide it.

Yesterday is Here:

  • If you want money in your pocket, and a top hat on your head,

    A hot meal on your table, and a blanket on your bed.

  • Well today is grey skies, tomorrow is tears

  • You'll have to wait till yesterday is here.

  • If you want to go, where the rainbows end, you'll have to say goodbye.

  • Well the road's out before me and the moon is shining bright,

    What I want you to remember, as I disappear tonight.

More Than Rain:

  • It's more than rain that falls on our parade tonight.

  • None of our pockets are filled with gold, nobody's caught the bouquet.

  • There are no dead presidents we can fold, nothing is going our way.

  • And it's more than goodbye I have to say to you.

Way Down in the Hole:

  • When you walk through the garden, you gotta watch your back.

  • If you walk with Jesus, he's gonna save your soul.

  • You gotta keep the devil, way down in the hole.

  • Well you don't have to worry, if you hold on to Jesus hand.

  • All the angels sing about Jesus' mighty sword.

Telephone Call from Istanbul:

  • All night long on the broken glass.

  • Livin' in a medicine chest.

  • The monkey rode the blade on an overhead fan.

  • They paint the donkey blue if you pay.

  • I got a telephone call from Istanbul; my baby's coming home today.

  • Will you sell me one of those if I shave my head?

  • Never trust a man in a blue trench coat; never drive a car when you're dead.

  • I got to wear the hat that my baby done sewed.

  • Got to cut a hole in the day.

Cold Cold Ground:

  • Never slept with a dream before he had to go away.

  • Now don't be a cry baby when there's wood in the shed.

  • There's a bird in the chimney and a stone in my bed.

  • The cat'll sleep in the mailbox and we'll never go to town till we bury every dream in the cold cold ground.

  • Gimme a Winchester rifle and a whole box of shells.

  • The piano is firewood, Times Square is a dream.

  • I find we'll lay down together in the cold cold ground.

  • Bring a bible and a rope and a whole box of rebel and a bar of soap.

  • Stop talking to the neighbors till we all go dead.

  • Beware of my temper and the dog that I've found.

  • Break all the windows in the cold cold ground.

Innocent When You Dream (78):

  • The bats are in the belfry, the dew is on the moor.

  • Where are the arms that held me and pledged her love before?

  • It's memories that I'm stealing, but you're innocent when you dream.

  • Running through the graveyard, we laughed my friends and I.

  • I gave my love a locket and then I broke her heart.


Big Time (1988)

Strange Weather:

  • The rose has died because you picked it and I believe that brandy's mine.

  • All over the world strangers talk only about the weather.

  • The world is getting flatter and the sky is falling all around.

  • I never buy umbrellas cause there's always one around.

  • Once again we are strangers as the fog comes rolling in.

Bone Machine (1992)

Earth Died Screaming:

  • The monkey's on the ladder, the Devil shovels coal.

  • With crows as big as airplanes.

  • The lion has three heads, and someone will eat the skin that it sheds.

  • And the Earth died screaming, while I lay dreaming. Dreaming of you.

  • Well Hell doesn't want you, and Heaven is full.

  • Bring me some water, and put it in this skull.

  • I walk between the raindrops.

  • And the army ants, they leave nothing but the bones.

  • There was thunder, there was lightning, and the stars went out.

  • And the moon fell from the sky.

  • It rained mackerel, it rained trout.

  • The poker's in the fire and the locusts take the sky.

Such a Scream:

  • A halo, wings, horns and a tail.

  • Shoveling coal inside my dreams.

  • There are no laws, she's made of cream, she's such a scream.

  • The plow is red, the well is full inside.

  • The dollhouse of her skull.

  • Machine gun haste.

  • You'll ride the only wall of shame, and drag that chain across the state.

  • Her lips are red, she is the queen, she's such a scream.

All Stripped Down:

  • Well the time will come, when the wind will shout.

  • All the sinners know what I'm talking about.

  • When the creatures of the world, are gonna line up at the gate.

  • And you better be on time, and you better not be late.

  • Well you know in your heart, what you gotta bring.

  • No mink coat, no diamond ring.

  • Well take off your paint, take off your rouge.

  • Let your back bone flip, and let your spirit shine through.

  • All the men we got, well their goin' down the drain.

  • And when I see your sadness, on a river of shame.

  • You got to raise up, both the quick and the dead.

  • With no shoes, no hat on your head.

  • Ain't nothin' in my heart, but fire for you.

  • With my rainy hammer, and a heart that's true.

  • I want you all stripped, all stripped, all stripped down.

Jesus Gonna Be Here:

  • Well Jesus gonna be here, he's gonna be here soon.

    He's gonna cover us up with leaves, with a blanket from the moon.

    With a promise and a vow, and a lullaby for my brow.

    Because Jesus gonna be here, gonna be here soon.


  • I'm not gonna do nothin' but wait here, I don't have to shout.

    I have no reason and I have no doubt.

    I'm gonna get myself unfurled, from this mortal coiled up world.

    Because Jesus gonna be here, gonna be here soon.


  • I got to keep my eyes open, so I can see my Lord.

    I'm gonna watch the horizon, for a brand new Ford.

    I can hear him rolling on down the lane, I said Hollywood be thy name.

    Jesus gonna be here, gonna be here soon.


  • Well I've been faithful, and I've been so good.

    Except for drinking, but he new that I would.

    I'm gonna leave this place better, than the way I found it was.

    And Jesus gonna be here, gonna be here soon.


In the Colosseum:

  • The women all control their men, with razors and with wrists.

    And the princess squeezes grape juice, on a torrid bloody kiss.

    What will you be wearing there, The lion or the raven hair?

    The flesh will all be tearing, but the tail will be my own.

    In the Colosseum tonight.


  • This one's for the balcony, and this one's for the floor.

    As the senators decapitate, the presidential whore.

    The bald headed senators, are splashing in the blood.

    The dogs are having someone, who is screaming in the mud.

    In the Colosseum tonight.


  • Now it's raining and it's pouring, on the pillaging and goring.

    The constable is swinging, from the chains.

    For the dead there is no story, no memory no blame.

    Their families shout blue murder, but tomorrow it's the same.

    In the Colosseum.

  • A slowly acting poison, will be given to the favorite one.

    The dark horse will bring glory, to the jailer and his men.

    It's always much more sporting, when there's families in the pit.

    And the madness of the crowd, is an epileptic fit.

    In the Colosseum.

  • No justice here, no liberty, no reason, no blame.

    There's no cause to taint the sweetest taste of blood, and greetings from the nation.

    As we shake the hands of time, they're taking their ovations.

    The vultures stay behind, in the Colosseum, in the Colosseum.

    In the Colosseum tonight.


Goin' Out West:

  • Well I'm goin' out west, where the wind blows tall.

    'Cause Tony Franciosa used to date my ma.

    They got some money out there, they're giving it away.

    I'm gonna do what I want, and I'm gonna get paid.


  • Little brown sausages lying in the sand.

    I ain't no extra baby I'm a leading man.

    Well my parole officer would be proud of me.

    With my Olds 88 and the devil on a leash.

  • Well I know karate, Voodoo too.

    I'm gonna make myself available to you.

    I don't need no make up, I got real scars.

    I got hair on my chest, I look good without a shirt.


  • Well I don't lose my composure, in a high speed chase.

    Well my friends think I'm ugly, I got a masculine face.

    I got some drag strip courage, I can really drive a bed.

    I'm gonna change my name to Hannibal or maybe just Rex.


  • I'm gonna drive all night get some speed.

    I'm gonna wait for the sun to shine down on me.

    I cut a hole in my roof in the shape of a heart.

  • And I'm goin' out west where they'll appreciate me.


Murder in the Red Barn:

  • There was a murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn.

    The trees are bending over, the cows are lying down.

    The autumn's taking over, you can hear the buckshot hounds.

    The watchman said, to Reba the loon.

    "Was it pale at Manzanita or Blind Bob the raccoon?"

    Pin it on a drifter, they sleep beneath the bridge.

    One plays the violin, and sleeps inside a fridge.

    There was a murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn.


  • Someone's crying in the woods, someone's burying all his clothes.

    Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer, slept outside last night and froze.

    Road kill has its seasons, just like anything.

    It's possums in the autumn, and farm cats in the spring.

    There was a murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn.

  • Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, or covet thy neighbor's wife.

    But for some, murder is the only door thru which they enter life.

  • Now they surrounded the house, they smoked him out, they took him off in chains.

    The sky turned black and bruised, and we had months of heavy rains.

    Now the raven's nest in the rotted roof of Chenoweth's old place.

    And no one's asking Cal, about that scar upon his face.

    'Cause there's nothin' strange, about an axe with bloodstains in the barn.

  • There's always some killin', you got to do around the farm.

    A murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn.

  • Now the woods will never tell, what sleeps beneath the trees.

    Or what's buried 'neath a rock, or hiding in the leaves.

    Cause road kill has its seasons, just like anything.

    It's possums in the autumn, and farm cats in the spring.

    A murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn.

  • Now a lady can't do nothin', without folks' tongues waggin'.

    Is this blood on the tree, or is it autumn's red blaze.

    When the ground's soft for diggin', and the rain will bring all this gloom.

    There's nothing wrong with a lady, drinking alone in her room.

    There was a murder in the red barn, murder in the red barn.


Black Wings:

  • Take an eye for an eye; take a tooth for a tooth. Just like they say in the Bible.

  • When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger, sharp enough to draw blood from a stone.

  • He rides through your dreams on a coach.

  • And horses and the fence posts, in the midnight look like bones.

  • Well he once killed a man with a guitar string.

  • Well he once saved a baby from drowning, there are those who say beneath his coat there are wings.

  • He can turn himself into a stranger.

  • A fever beats in his head like a drum inside.

I Don't Want to Grow Up:

  • How do you move in a world of fog, that's always changing things.

  • Seems like folks turn into things, that they'd never want.

  • Open up the medicine chest, and I don't wanna grow up.

  • I'd rather stay here in my room, nothin' out there but sad and gloom.

  • Stay around in my old hometown, I don't wanna put no money down.

  • I don't wanna get me a big old loan, work them fingers to the bone.

  • How the hell did I get here so soon?

The Black Rider (1993)

The Black Rider:

  • Lay down in the web of the black spider, I'll drink your blood like wine.

  • Take off your skin, and dance around your bones.

  • And when you're done, you cock your gun. The blood will run like ribbons in your hair.

  • May I use your skull for a bowl?

Just the Right Bullets:

  • There is a light in the forest, there is a face in the tree.

    I'll pull you out of the chorus, and the first one's always free.


  • You can never go hunting, with just a flintlock and a hound.

    You won't go home with a bunting, if you blow a hundred rounds.

  • It takes much more than wild courage, or you'll hit just the tattered clouds.

    You must have just the right bullets, and the first one's always free.

  • You must be careful in the forest, broken glass and rusty nails.

    If you're to bring back something for us, I have bullets for sale

  • Why be a fool when you can chase away, your blind and your gloom.

    I have blessed each one of these bullets, and they shine just like a spoon.

  • To have sixty silver wishes, is a small price to pay.

    They'll be your private little fishes, and they'll never swim away.

  • I just want you to be happy, that's my only wish.

    I'll fix your wagon and your musket, and the spoon will have his dish.


  • And I shudder at the thought of your, poor empty hunter's pouch.

    So I'll keep the wind from your barrel, and bless the roof of your house.


Mule Variations (1999)

Big in Japan:

  • I got the style but not the grace.

    I got the clothes but not the face.

    I got the bread but not the butter.

    I got the winda' but not the shutter.


  • But I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan But heh I'm big in Japan.


  • I got the house but not the deed.

    I got the horn but not the reed.

    I got the cards but not the luck.

    I got the wheel but not the truck.


  • But heh I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan.

  • I got the moon I got the cheese I got the whole damn nation.

    On its knees I got the rooster I got the crow.

    I got the ebb I got the flow.

  • I got the powder but not the gun.

    I got the dog but not the bun.

    I got the clouds but not the sky.

    I got the stripes but not the tie.

  • But heh I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan.

  • Heh ho they love the way I do it.

    Heh ho there's really nothing to it.

  • I got the moon I got the cheese.

    I got the whole damn nation on their knees.

    I got the rooster I got the crow.

    I got the ebb I got the flow.

  • I got the sizzle but not the steak.

    I got the boat but not the lake.

    I got the sheets but not the bed.

    I got the jam but not the bread.

  • But heh I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan I'm big in Japan.

    I'm big in Japan, I'm big in Japan.


Lowside of the Road:

  • I'm on a black elevator, goin' down.

    Little Joe from Kokomo, it rattles to the ground.

    The dice is laughin' at the, man that he throwed.

    Your rollin' over to the, lowside of the road.


  • The moon is red and your, dancin' real slow.

    29 miles left to go.

    The chain monkeys, help you with your load.

    You're rollin' over to the, lowside of the road.

  • Jezebel is naked with an axe.

    The prosecution tell you, to relax.

    Your head feels like it's ready, to explode.

    You're rollin' over, you're rollin' over.

  • Well the clapper has been ripped, out of the bell.

    The flapper has been kicked right, out of hell.

    When the horse whips the, man that he rode.

    You're rollin' over to the lowside of the road.

  • The dog won't bite if you beat, him with a bone.

    She's so shy when she's, talkin' on the phone.

    The ground rises up and starts to groan.

    You're rollin' over to the, lowside of the road.


Hold On:

  • "If you live it up, you won't live it down"

  • So, she left Monte Rio, son. Just like a bullet leaves a gun.

  • With charcoal eyes and Monroe hips

  • Well, he gave her a dime store watch, and a ring made from a spoon.

  • Everyone is looking for someone to blame.

  • You don't meet nice girls in coffee shops.

  • By a 99 cent store she closed her eyes and started swaying.

  • But it's so hard to dance that way, when it's cold and there's no music.

Get Behind the Mule:

  • Molly be damned spoke Jimmy the Harp,

    With a horrid little pistol and a lariat.

    She's goin' to the bottom, and she's goin' down the drain,

    Said she wasn't big enough to carry it.

    You got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.

  • Choppity chop goes the axe in the woods,

    You gotta meet me by the fall down tree.

    Shovel of dirt upon a coffin lid, and I know they'll come lookin' for me boys,

    I know they'll come a-lookin' for me.

    Got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.

  • Big Jack Earl was eight foot one,

    And he stood in the road and he cried.

    He couldn't make her love him, couldn't make her stay,

    But tell the good Lord that he tried.

    Got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.

  • Dusty trail from Atchison to Placerville,

    On the wreck of the Weaverville stage.

    Beaula fired on Beatty for a lemonade, I was stirring my brandy with a nail boys,

    Stirring my brandy with a nail.

    Got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.

  • Well the rampaging sons of the widow James,

    Jack the cutter and the pock marked kid.

    Had to stand naked at the bottom of the cross, and tell the good lord what they did,

    Tell the good lord what they did.

    Got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.

  • Punctuated birds on the power line,

    In a Studebaker with the Birdie Joe Joaks.

    I'm diggin' all the way to China with a silver spoon, while the hangman fumbles with the noose, boys,

    The hangman fumbles with the noose.

    Got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.

  • Pin your ear to the wisdom post, pin your eye to the line.

    Never let the weeds get higher, than the garden, always keep a sapphire in your mind,

    Always keep a diamond in your mind.

    Got to get behind the Mule, in the morning and plow.


Cold Water:

  • Well I woke up this morning,

    With the cold water,

    With the cold water,

    With the cold water.

  • Police at the station, and they don't look friendly,

    Well they don't look friendly, well they don't look friendly.

  • Blind or crippled, sharp or dull.

    I'm reading the Bible, by a 40 watt bulb.

    What price is freedom. Dirt is my rug.

    Well I sleep like a baby, with the snakes and the bugs.

  • Well the stores are all open,

    But I ain't got no money,

    I ain't got no money,

    Well I ain't got no money.

  • Found an old dog and he seems to like me,

    Seems to like me, well he seems to like me.

  • Seen them fellows with the card board signs.

    Scrapin' up a little money to buy a bottle of wine.

    Pregnant women and the Vietnam vets I say.

    Beggin' on the freeway bout as hard as it gets.

  • Well I slept in the graveyard It was cool and still,

    Cool and still, it was cool and still.

  • Slept all night in the Cedar grove.

    I was born to ramble.

    Born to rove.

    Some men are searchin' for the Holy Grail.

    But there ain't nothin' sweeter than ridin' the rails.

  • I love 47 but I'm 24.

    Well they shooed me away, from here the time before.

    Turned there their backs and they locked their doors.

    I'm watching T.V. in the window of a furniture store.


Black Market Baby:

  • There's a man with a lantern, and he carries her soul.

  • My eyes say their prayers to her.

  • Sailors ring her bell.

  • Like a moth mistakes a light bulb.

  • For the moon and goes to hell.

  • She's a diamond that wants to stay coal.


  • There's no prayer like desire.

  • There's amnesia in her kiss.

  • She's a swan and a pistol.

  • And she will follow you like this.


  • She's whiskey in a teacup.

  • She gives blondes a lousy name.

  • She's a Bonzai Aphrodite.

  • And a ticket back to Spain.

Eyeball Kid:

  • They had sixteen children, in the usual style.

  • All they ever wanted, was a show biz child.

  • I'll always be here to protect you and to cut down on the glare.

  • I know you can't speak, I know you can't sign, so cry right here on the dotted line.

  • Hail Hail, the Eyeball kid.

  • Well he was born with out a body, not even a brow.

  • He's not conventionally handsome, he'll never be tall.

  • He said "all you got to do is book me into Carnegie Hall".

  • They say how does he dream? How does he think?

  • When he can't ever speak and he can't ever blink?

  • We are all lost in the wilderness we're as blind as can be.

  • He came down to teach us how to really see.

Chocolate Jesus:

  • Don't go to church on Sunday.

    Don't get on my knees to pray.

    Don't memorize the books of the Bible.

    I got my own special way.

  • But I know Jesus loves me.

    Maybe just a little bit more.

    I fall on my knees every Sunday.

    At Zerelda Lee's candy store.

  • Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus.

    Make me feel good inside.

    Got to be a chocolate Jesus.

    Keep me satisfied.

  • Well I don't want no Anna Zabba.

    Don't want no Almond Joy.

    There ain't nothing better,

    Suitable for this boy.

  • Well it's the only thing.

    That can pick me up.

    Better than a cup of gold.

    See only a chocolate Jesus.

    Can satisfy my soul.

  • When the weather gets rough.

    And it's whiskey in the shade.

    It's best to wrap your savior up in cellophane.

  • He flows like the big muddy.

    But that's OK.

    Pour him over ice cream.

    For a nice parfait.


Filipino Box Spring Hog:

  • Well I hung on to Mary's stump, I danced with a soldier's glee.

    With a rum soaked crook and a big fat laugh, I spent my last dollar on thee.

    I saw Bill Bones, gave him a yell. Kehoe spiked the nog.

    With a chain link fence and a scrap iron jaw.

    Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring hog.

  • Spider rolled in from Hollister Burn, with a one-eyed stolen Mare.

    Donned himself with chicken fat, sawin' on a jaw bone violin there.

    Kathleen was sittin' down in the little red recovery room, in her criminal underwear bra.

    I was naked to the waist with my fierce black hound.

    And I'm cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog.

  • Dig a big pit in a dirt alley road fill it with madrone and bay.

    Stinks like hell and the neighbors complain. Don't give a hoot what they say.

    Slap that hog.

    Gotta roll 'em over twice.

    Baste him with a sweeping broom.

    You gotta swat them flies and chain up the dogs.

    Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog.

  • Rattle snake piccata with grapes and figs, old brown Betty with a yellow wig.

    Tain't the mince meat filigree and it ain't the turkey neck stew.

    And it ain't them bruleed Okra seeds though she made them especially for you.

    Worse won a prize for her bottom black pie. The beans got to thrown to the dogs.

    Jesus Christ I can always make room when they're cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog.


Come on up to the House:

  • Well the moon is broken and the sky is cracked.

  • The only things that you can see is all that you lack.

  • Come down off the cross we can use the wood.

  • The world is not my home, I'm just a passin' thru.

  • There's no light in the tunnel, no irons in the fire.

  • And your singin' lead soprano in a junkman's choir.

  • Does life seem nasty, brutish and short?

  • The seas are stormy and you can't find no port.

  • There's nothin in the world that you can do. You gotta come on up to the house.

  • And you been whipped by the forces that are inside you.

  • Well you're high on top of your mountain of woe.

  • Well you know you should surrender but you can't let go.


Alice (2002)

Table Top Joe:

  • Born without a body I got nothin' but scorn.

  • I had trouble with the pedals, but I had a strong left hand.

  • And I could play Stravinsky on a baby grand.


Blood Money (2002)

Misery's the River of the World:

  • The higher that the monkey can climb,

    The more he shows his tail.

    Call no man happy 'til he dies,

    There's no milk at the bottom of the pail.

  • God builds a church,

    The Devil builds a chapel.

    Like the thistles that are growing,

    'round the trunk of a tree.

  • All the good in the world,

    You can put inside a thimble.

    And still have room for you and me.

  • If there's one thing you can say about Mankind.

    There's nothing kind about man.

    You can drive out nature with a pitch fork.

    But it always comes roaring out again.

  • For want of a bird, the sky was lost.

    For want of a nail, a shoe was lost.

    For want of a life, a knife was lost.

    For want of a toy, a child was lost.

  • Misery's the River of the World.

    Everybody Row! Everybody Row!


Everything Goes to Hell:

  • Why be sweet, why be careful, why be kind?

    A man has only one thing on his mind.

    Why ask politely, why go lightly, why say please?

    They only want to get you on your knees.

    There are a few things I never could believe.

  • A woman when she weeps.

    A merchant when he swears.

    A thief who says he'll pay.

    A lawyer when he cares.

    A snake when he is sleeping.

    A drunkard when he prays.

    I don't believe you go to heaven when you're good.

    Everything goes to hell, anyway ...

  • Laissez-faire mi amour, ce la vie.

    Shall I return to shore or swim back out to sea?

    The world don't care what a soldier does in town.

    It's all hanging in the windows by the pound.

    There are few things I never could believe...

  • I only want to hear your purr and to hear you moan.

    There is another man who brings the money home.

    I don't want dishes in the sink.

    Please don't tell me what you feel or what you think.

    There are few things I never could believe ...


All the World is Green:

  • I fell into the ocean when you became my wife.

  • You turn kings into beggars and beggars into kings.

  • The question begs the answer, Can you forgive me somehow?

  • When the moon is yellow silver on the things that summer brings.

  • He's balancing a diamond on a blade of grass.

  • The dew will settle on our grave when all the world is green.

God's Away on Business:

  • I'd sell your heart to the junkman baby.

    For a buck, for a buck.

    If you're looking for someone to pull you out of that ditch.

    You're out of luck, you're out of luck.

  • The ship is sinking.

    The ship is sinking.

    The ship is sinking.

  • There's leak, there's a leak, in the boiler room.

    The poor, the lame, the blind.

    Who are the ones that we kept in charge?

    Killers, thieves, and lawyers.

  • God's away, God's away.

    God's away on business. Business.

    God's away, God's away.

    God's away on business. Business.

  • Digging up the dead with a shovel and a pick.

    It's a job, it's a job.

    Bloody moon rising with a plague and a flood.

    Join the mob, join the mob.

    It's all over, it's all over, it's all over.

  • Goddamn there's always such a big temptation.

    To be good. To be good.

    There's always free cheddar in a mousetrap, baby.

    It's a deal, it's a deal.

  • God's away, God's away, God's away.

    On business. Business.

  • I narrow my eyes like a coin slot baby.

    Let her ring, let her ring.

  • God's away, God's away.

    God's away on business. Business. Business .............


Starving in the Belly of a Whale:

  • Life is whittled.
    Life's a riddle.

    Man's a fiddle that life plays on.

    When the day breaks, and the earth quakes.

    Life's a mistake all day long.

    Tell me, who gives a good goddamn?

    You'll never get out alive.

  • Don't go dreaming.

    Don't go scheming.

    A man must test his mettle.

    In a crooked ol' world.

  • Starving in the Belly.

    Starving in the Belly.

    Starving in the Belly of a whale.

  • Don't take my word.

    Just look skyward.

    They that dance must pay the fiddler.

    Sky is darkening.

    Dogs are barking.

    But the caravan moves on.

  • As the crow flies.

    It's there the truth lies.

    At the bottom of the well.

    E-o-leven goes to heaven.

    Bless the dead here as the rain falls.

    Don't trust a bull's horn.

    A Doberman's tooth.

    A runaway horse or me.

    Don't be greedy, don't be needy.

    If you live in hope you're.

    Dancing to a terrible tune.




Real Gone (2004)

Top of the Hill:

  • The birds keep singing baby after you're dead.

  • Why don't you come up here and see me sometime.

  • Have all the lights burned out in heaven again.

  • I'll never roll the number 7 again.

  • I'm made of bread and on a ocean of wine.

  • Hear all the birdies on the phone just fine.

  • We're gettin' married in the pouring rain.

  • What's your throttle made of? Is it money or bone?

  • Opium, fireworks, vodka and meat, scoot over and save me a seat.

  • Why doncha' gimme 'nother sip o' your cup? Turn a Rolls - Royce into a chicken coup.

Hoist That Rag:

  • God used me as hammer boys, To beat his weary drum today.

  • The smell of blood, The drone of flies. You know what to do if the baby cries.

  • Well we'll stick our fingers in the ground, heave and turn the world around.

  • Smoke is blacking out the sun, tonight I pray and clean my gun.

  • The cracked bell rings as the ghost bird sings and the gods go beggin' here.

  • So just open fire as you hit the shore. All is fair in love and war.

Sins of my Father:

  • Night is falling like a bloody axe.

  • Will the pawn shop sell me back what I sold?

  • I'm gonna take the sins of my father. I'm gonna take the sins of my mother.

    I"m gonna take the sins of my brother, down to the pond.

  • Carving out a future with a gun and an axe.

  • I'm way beyond the gavel and the laws of man.

  • Smack dab in the middle of a dirty lie.

  • Justice wears suspenders and a powdered wig.

  • Does the light of god blind you or lead the way home for you?

  • All my belongings in a flour sack. Will the place I come from take me back?

  • Jesus of Nazareth told Mike of the weeds.

  • Everything I done is between God and me.

  • Only he will judge how my time was spent.

  • 29 days of sinning and 40 to repent.

  • Wicked are the branches on the tree of mankind.

Shake It:

  • I never been no good at staying out of jail.

  • You know I feel like a preacher waving a gun around.

  • Outside, it's damp, put a towel on that lamp.

Don't Go Into That Barn:

  • Don't go into that barn, yeah.

  • Black cellophane sky at midnight.

  • Big blue moon with three gold rings.

  • That's where I heard my name in a scream coming from the woods, out there.

  • I let my dog run off the chain, I locked my door real good with a chair.

  • Cause he's high on potato and tulip wine, Fermented in the muddy rain of course.

  • An old black tree, scratching up the sky, with boney claw like fingers.

  • And the sun sank down into the much of a deep dead sky.

  • They found the fallen down timbers of a spooky old barn.

  • Out there like a slave ship, upside down.

  • Wrecked beneath the waves of a rain, when the river is low.

  • They find old bones and when they plow they always dig up chains.


    • Did you bury your fire?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did you cover your tracks?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did you bring your knife?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did they see your face?

    • No sir.

    • Did the Moon see you?

    • No sir.

    • Did you go cross the river?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did you fix your rake?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did you stay down wind?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did you hide your gun?

    • Yes sir.

    • Did you smuggle your rum?

    • Yes sir.



  • How did I know, How did I know, How did I know?

How's It Gonna End?:

  • She wrote good bye in the dust on the hood.

  • They found a map of Missouri lipstick on the glass, they must of left in the middle of the night.

  • And I want to know the same thing everyone wants to know, how it going to end?

  • A tree born crooked will never grow straight; she sunk like a hammer in to the lake.

  • Promises are never meant to keep.

  • The moon climbed up an empty sky.

  • There's a killer and he's coming thru the rye. But maybe he's the Father of that lost little girl; it's hard to tell in this light.

  • Wishing for it only makes it bleed.

  • It's last call somewhere in the world.

  • Life is sweet at the edge of a razor.

  • And down in the front row of an old picture show, the old man is asleep as the credits start to roll.

Metropolitan Glide:

  • 29 gypsies in a Cadillac stoned.

  • Turn off the ringer on your cellular phone.

  • You kill me with your machine gun laugh.

  • Put on your stockings and your powder and blush. Keep it all on the hush, hush, hush.

Dead & Lovely:

  • He had a bulletproof smile.

  • She thought she had the moon in her pocket.

  • I've always been told to remember this... "Don't let a fool kiss you, never marry for love."

  • He was hard to impress, he knew everyone's secrets.

  • He wore her on his arm, just like jewelry.

  • He's not the kind of wheel you fall asleep at.

  • What's more romantic than dying in the moonlight?

Circus:

  • And the branches spread like scary fingers reaching.

  • I was soakin' wet and wild eyed.

  • She had a tattoo gun made out of a cassette motor and a guitar string.

  • I'd like to hammer this ring into a bullet and I wish I had some whiskey and a gun my dear.

Trampled Rose:

  • Sky's the autumn grey of a lonely wren.

  • What I done to me, I done to you.

  • What happened to the trampled rose?

  • I know that rose like I know my name.

Green Grass:

  • Lay your head where my heart used to be.

  • Remember when you loved me?

  • Think of me as a train goes by.

  • Can't tell the birds from the blossoms.

  • And if the sky falls, mark my words, we'll catch mocking birds.

Baby Gonna Leave Me:

  • My baby ripped my heart out with every turn of the moon.

  • Somebody told me, "There's never been a rose without a thorn."

  • And if I was a bed I'd be an unmade bed.

Make it Rain:

  • She took all my money and my best friend.

  • I have no pride I have no shame. You gotta make it rain.

  • I'm just another sad guest on this dark earth.

  • I want to believe in the mercy of the world again.

  • I need the whip of thunder and the winds dark moan.

  • I'm not Able, I'm just Cain. Open up the heavens, Make it rain.

  • They sharpen their knives on my mistakes.

  • What she done, you can't give it a name.

  • Without her love, without your kiss. Hell can't burn me more than this.

  • It's the same old world but nothing looks the same.

Day After Tomorrow:

  • I still believe that there's gold at the end of the world.

  • What I'm trying to say, is don't they pray to the same God that we do?

    Tell me, how does God choose?

    Whose prayers does he refuse?



Shrek 2 Soundtrack (2004)

Little Drop of Poison:

  • I like my town, with a little drop of poison.

    Nobody knows, they're lining up to go insane.

    I'm all alone, I smoke my friends down to the filter.

    But I feel much cleaner, after it rains.

  • She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.

    She always had that little drop of poison.

    She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.

    She always had that little drop of poison.

  • Did the devil make the world while god was sleeping?

    Someone said, "you'll never get a wish from a bone."

    Another wrong good-bye and a hundred sailors.

    That deep blue sky is my home.

  • She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.

    She always had that little drop of poison.

    She left in the fall, that's her picture on the wall.

    She always had that little drop of poison.

  • A rat always knows, when he's in with weasels.

    Here you lose a little every day.

    I remember when a million was a million.

    They all have ways to make you pay.

    They all have ways to make you pay.




Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006)

2:19:

  • I lost everything I had in the '29 flood,

    The barn was buried 'neath a mile of mud.

    Now I've got nothing but the whistle and the steam,

    My baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • I said, hey, hey, I don't know what to do.

    I will remember you.

    Hey, hey, I don't know what to do.

    My baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • Now there's a fellow that's preaching 'bout Hell and damnation,

    Bouncing off the walls of the Grand Central Station.

    I treated her bad, I treated her mean,

    Baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • I said, hey, hey, I will remember you.

    Hey, hey, I don't know what to do.

    Hey, I don't know what to do.

    My baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • Now I've always been puzzled by the yin and the yang.

    It'll come out in the wash, but it always leaves a stain.

    Sturm and Drang, the luster and the sheen,

    My baby's leaving town on the...

  • Hey, hey, I don't know what to do.

    Hey, hey, I will remember you.

    Hey, hey, I will remember you.

    My baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • Lost the baby with the water, and the preacher stole the bride,

    Sent her out for a bottle, but when she came back inside.

    She didn't have my whiskey, didn't have my gin,

    With a hat full of feathers and a wicked grin.

  • I said, hey, hey, I will remember you.

    Yeah baby, I will remember you.

    My baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • On the train you get smaller, as you get farther away,

    The roar covers everything you wanted to say.

    Was that a raindrop or a tear in your eye?

    Were you drying your nails or waving goodbye?

  • Hey, hey, I will remember you.

    Hey, hey, I don't know what to do.

    Oh baby.

    My baby's leaving town on the 2:19.

  • I will remember you.

    I don't know what to do, baby.


Fish in the Jailhouse:

  • Peoria Johnson told Dirt Road Joe,

    I can break out, of any old jail you know.

    The bars are iron, the walls are stone,

    All I need me, is an old fish bone.


  • Fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse.

    Fish in the jailhouse tonight.


  • [?] hammerhead shark,

    Well, a steel head salmon or a mud bank carp.

    I said, one side dull, and then the other side sharp,

    And on Saturday night I'll be in Central Park.


  • Fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse.

    Fish in the jailhouse tonight.


  • Ask Little Slow Jackson, on a forty-four trip.

    Ask Whipperfield Farraday, what I did.

    From the jail to the city, there's a rollin' fog.

    From Natchez to Kenosha, move down to New York.


  • Fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse.

    Fish in the jailhouse tonight.


  • Fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse tonight, all right, oh boy.

    They're serving fish in the jailhouse.

    Fish in the jailhouse tonight.


The Long Way Home:

  • Well I stumbled in the darkness,

    I'm lost and alone.

    Though I said I'd go before us,

    And show the way back home.

    Is there a light up ahead,

    I can't hold on very long.

    Forgive me pretty baby, but I always take the long way home.

  • Money's just something you throw,

    Off the back of a train.

    Got a handful of lightening,

    A hat full of rain.

    And I know that I said,

    I'd never do it again.

    And I love you pretty baby, but I always take the long way home.

  • I put food on the table,

    And a roof overhead.

    But I'd trade it all tomorrow,

    For The highway instead.

    Watch your back if I should tell you,
    That loves the only thing I've ever known.

    One thing for sure pretty baby I always take the long way home.

  • You know I love you baby,

    More than the whole wide world.

    You are my woman,

    I know you are my pearl.

    Let's go out past the party lights,

    Where we can finally be alone.

  • Come with me and we can take the long way home.

    Come with me, together we can take the long way home.

    Come with me, together we can take the long way home.


Lord I've Been Changed:

  • Woah I, know I've been changed.

    And I know I've been changed.

    I know I've been changed.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name.

  • Well, I know I got religion,

    Lord knows I'm not ashamed.

    Well, a holy ghost is my witness,

    And the angels done sign my name.

  • Oh, I said: I know I've been changed.

    And I know I've been changed, yeah.

    Know I've been changed.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name.

  • Lord knows I've been converted,

    Lord knows I've been redeemed.

    Well, you can wake me up in the midnight hour,

    I'm gonna tell ya just a what I seen.

  • I said: I know I've been changed.

    And I know I've been changed, yeah.

    Know I've been changed.

  • Angels in heaven done sign my name.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name.

    Angels in heaven done sign my name .


Road to Peace:

  • Young Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay) was only 18 years old,

    He was the youngest of nine children, never spent a night away from home.

    And his mother held his photograph, opening the New York Times,

    To see the killing has intensified along the road to peace.

  • There was a tall, thin boy with a whispy moustache disguised as an orthodox Jew,

    On a crowded bus in Jerusalem, some had survived World War Two.

    And the thunderous explosion blew out windows 200 yards away,

    With more retribution and seventeen dead along the road to peace.

  • Now at King George Ave and Jaffa Road passengers boarded bus 14a,

    In the aisle next to the driver Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay).

    And the last thing that he said on earth is 'God is great and God is good',

    And he blew them all to kingdom come upon the road to peace.

  • Now in response to this another kiss of death was visited upon,

    Yasser Taha, Israel says is an Hamas senior militant.

    And Israel sent four choppers in, flames engulfed, tears wide open,

    And it killed his wife and his three year old child leaving only blackened skeletons.

  • It's found his toddlers bottle and a pair of small shoes and they waved them in front of the cameras,

    But Israel says they did not know that his wife and child were in the car.

    There are roadblocks everywhere and only suffering on TV,

    Neither side will ever give up their smallest right along the road to peace.

  • Israel launched it's latest campaign against Hamas on Tuesday.

    Two days later Hamas shot back and killed five Israeli soldiers.

    So thousands dead and wounded on both sides most of them middle eastern civilians.

    They fill the children full of hate to fight an old man's war and die upon the road to peace.

  • 'And this is our land we will fight with all our force' say the Palastinians and the Jews.

    Each side will cut off the hand of anyone who tries to stop the resistance.

    If the right eye offends thee then you must pluck it out.

    And Mahmoud Abbas said Sharon had been lost out along the road to peace.

  • Once Kissinger said 'we have no friends, America only has interests'.

    Now our president wants to be seen as a hero and he's hungry for re-election.

    But Bush is reluctant to risk his future in the fear of his political failures,

    So he plays chess at his desk and poses for the press 10,000 miles from the road to peace.

  • In the video that they found at the home of Abdel Mahdi (Shahmay).

    He held a Kalashnikov rifle and he spoke with a voice like a boy.

    He was an excellent student, he studied so hard, it was as if he had a future.

    He told his mother that he had a test that day out along the road to peace.

  • The fundamentalist killing on both sides is standing in the path of peace,

    But tell me why are we arming the Israeli army with guns and tanks and bullets?

    And if God is great and God is good why can't he change the hearts of men?

    Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help.

    Maybe God himself he needs all of our help.

    Maybe God himself is lost and needs help.

    He's out upon the road to peace.

  • Well maybe God himself is lost and needs help.

    Maybe God himself he needs all of our help.

    And he's lost upon the road to peace.

    And he's lost upon the road to peace.

    Out upon the road to peace.

Walk Away:

  • Dot King was whittled from the bone of Cain,

    With a little drop of poison in the red, red blood.

    She need a way to turn around the bend,

    She said, "I want to walk away and start over again."

  • Now there's things I've done I can't erase,

    I want to look in the mirror, see another face.

    I said never but I'm doin' it again.

    I want to walk away, start over again.

  • No more rain.

    No more roses.

    On my way,

    Shake my fist in a cool, cool pond.

  • There is a winner in every place,

    There is a heart that's beating in every page.

    The beginning of it starts at the end,

    When it's time to walk away and start over again.

  • Well there's murder at a hundred and three.

    William Ray shot Corabell Lee.

    A yellow dog knows when he has sinned,

    You want to walk away and start over again.

  • No more rain.

    No more roses.

    On my way,

    Shake my fist in a cool, cool pond.

  • Cooper told Molly the whole block is gone,

    They're dying for jewelry, money, and clothes.

    I always get out of the trouble I'm in,

    I want to walk away, start over again.

  • I left my bible by the side of the road,

    Carved my initials in an old dead tree.

    I'm going away, but I'm going to be back when,

    It's time to walk away and start over again.

Buzz Fledderjon

  • I stood on the roof, stood toward dark,

    To get a better look at the Fledderjons' lawn.

    Big sharp pistols, ammo too,

    Nothing but books about World War II.

    Rottweiler, Doberman, a Pinkerton guard,

    I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.

  • I ain't allowed.

    No, I ain't allowed.

    I said, I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.

  • I seen a python swallowing a Doberman whole,

    Piranhas swimming in a mixing bowl.

  • Paper's full of stabbings, the sky's full of crows,

    She's singing in Italian while she's hanging out her clothes.

    Carp in the bathtub and it's raining real hard,

    I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.

  • I said that I ain't allowed.

    No, I ain't allowed.

    No, I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.

  • Well, the sailor's ringing doorbells, the sinner's in the pew,

    Weathervane's squeaking to the west.

    I seen the cliffs of Dover and the deepest ocean blue,

    One thing in the world I can't recommend to you.

  • Because I ain't allowed.

    I said, I ain't allowed.

    No, I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.

  • I said, I ain't allowed.

    No, I ain't allowed.

    I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.

  • I ain't allowed.

    I ain't allowed.

    I said, I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjon's yard.


Eastment

Definition of easement: an interest held by someone else in another person's property.