Click Here to go to the first part of the Walkabouts Lyrics

Nighttown

Follow me an angel

The city's shiverin'
Shivers in the heat
That we call summertime
And I'm deliverin'
The one piece of the puzzle
That you could not find

Follow me an angel
Follow every fool I can tonight
Follow me an angel
From the rooftops
These streets
Don't seem so bright

The clocks have lost their hands
The clouds take off their shirts
And show their scars to me
And we're out kickin cans
Chasin' sirens
Past the gate ... of your driveway
Now here's the teeth to the city
The keys to your wings
The promise that I won't say no
Though we ain't lookin' pretty
There's some places open late
Where we can go

Follow me an angel
Follow every fucked-up fool tonight
Follow me an angel
From the rooftops
These streets don't seem so bright

These Proud Streets

To these streets
Brazen and broken
Never known
No other way

Won’t let the facts
Strangle the story
Won’t let the facts
Get in the way

Ain’t what I need
But I took what I came for
Ain’t what I said
Mouthful of straw

Circus nights
Each one a stranger
All expectant
All a blur

Let go
Roll to a close
Let go
The sleepwalkers know

That these proud streets don’t cry at all
These proud streets don’t cry
These proud streets don’t cry at all
Tonight I will be gone

I am frightened
Fear gets expensive
I am thirsty
Wanting you more

Good as gone
Plans have been scuttled
Drinking you straight
Straight to the door

Let go
Roll to a close
Let go
The sleepwalkers know

That these proud streets don’t cry at all
These proud streets don’t cry
These proud streets don’t cry at all
Tonight I will be gone

Nothing going in
Now I kiss the hand
Nothing going in
Now I kiss the hand
Kiss the hand
Kiss the hand

These proud streets don’t cry at all
These proud streets don’t cry
These proud streets don’t cry at all
Tonight I will be gone
I will be gone
I will be gone

Tremble (Goes the Night)

Gettin' stupid ... crooked feet
A pinball on ... Scott Walker Street
Gettin' stupid ... in a bar
Not goin' home ... til the band plays "Superstar"
Everything's on the edge of everything else
You're hittin' a stride, that cannot be stopped
People been callin' all the way from Florida
Ya said, you're going down there, for a week or more

Tremble goes ... Tremble goes the night
Tremble goes ... Tremble goes the night

Gettin stupid ... dancin' veins
Night rain on ... the Greyhound sign
Gettin' stupid ... flashlight face
Strangers got ... the clearest eyes
Nothin's worth envy, but I can't help myself
Go find your glory, ya don't need my help
When it explodes, ya better line up to bet
The dead don't have birthdays, they just forget

Tremble goes ... Tremble goes the night
Tremble goes ... Tremble goes the night

Shadows sparkle ... streetcars burn
All of God's drunks ... we wait our turn
So you're leavin' ... write it on a cake
I'll take a piece ... and I'll join the wait
When you get back, we'll find a heart and soul chapel
See if there's anything, left to unravel
Now go drop this five, in the band's tip jar
I'm not goin' home ... til the band plays "Superstar" ("Superstar")
Tremble goes ... Tremble goes the night
Tremble goes ... Tremble goes the night

Unwind

You're an open gate
On a barbed wire fence
Swingin' back and forth
You know it scares me half to death
Funny how it moved
From a blessin' to a curse
Ain't it funny how we moved
From the cursed, to the doomed

Will you
Will you unwind
This heart of mine?
Heart of mine

Busted but not broke
Shaken up and stirred
Watch out who you tell
This night is hangin' on each word
But when the mornin' comes
And the lies are cheap
You'll say: "to live is to lose"
I'll say: "losin's the one thing... that we all keep"

Will you... will you unwind?
This heart of mine... heart of mine

Both a blessin' and a curse
In everything we've heard
A blessin' and a curse
This night is hangin' on... each... word

Lift Your Burdens Up

Been a lot of rain out there
Rainin' blind
Summer's comin' slow ... this year
It's rainin' blind
If ya come back tonight
... I'll let it ... fall away
If ya come back tonight
Ya better have ... the guts to stay
Gravel's loose ... and the load is shiftin'
Dreams are heavy ... they could use ... some ... liftin'

Come back now ... lay all your burdens down
And with a little luck ... I'll lift your burdens up

Between my thoughts and my deeds
Delusion lies
I've forgotten everything
We ever tried
But if ya come back tonight
Careful what you bring
The sky's unwinding here
Twisted like a busted spring
Gravel's loose ... and the load is shiftin'
Dreams are heavy ... they could use ... some ... liftin'

Come back now ... and lay all your burdens down
And with a little luck ... I'll lift your burdens up ... burdens up

If ya need me ... you can call
If ya need me ... I will call you
If ya need me ... you can call
If I need you ... I will call you

Ain't goin' anywhere fast
Gonna sit right here
'Til the sky blows ... blows on past

Come back now ... lay all your burdens down
And with a little luck ... I'll lift your burdens up
And when the trigger's pulled ... ya know I'll follow through
And you can bet your luck ... I'll list your burdens up ... burdens up

Prayer for You

When you burn your kingdom
Through the ashes I will come
I know it makes no difference
But I can't leave ya to your fun
Usin' up your torch song gifts
Why do you rush the end along?
Actin' like you'll soon forget
The end is comin' on its own
Just this once
I'll say a prayer for you
Though I won't pretend to help
Just this once
I'll say a prayer for you
Burnin' up the floorboards
Burned every place you stood
Every second chance: firewood
Bad luck is a famous name
For what you brought yourself
And I'm too dumb to help
Just this once
I'll say a prayer for you
Though I won't pretend I'm right
If you ask
I'll say a prayer for you
They say the city don't give up
And I believe that's true (don't you?)
Ricochets from boom to bust
Like most of us
Who never cared enough...
Just this once
I'll say a prayer for you
Though I won't pretend I'm right
If you ask
I'll say a prayer for you
In the middle of the street
I will stop
I'll say a prayer for you
If that's what you really want
I will stop...
I'll say a prayer for you
In the middle of the street...

Immaculate

Said this was our town
The joke it was on us
We were just passin thru'
On the way to givin' up
Joked this was our town
That someday we'd be thrilled
By anything we loved
And everything we killed
But the biggest risk we'll ever take
Will be to stay here in one place
Swearin' gold is struck
On the way to givin' up
I try not to forget
How close we came to it
Ooh -- Immaculate ... ooh -- Immaculate ...
Ain't we strange enough
That we don't have to prove
We know how to last
And we know how to lose
Gonna chase it down
Find the truth in store
Were we better off
Just one stop before?
Will there be a run of days,
When sittin' pretty will make sense?
When somethin' like a prayer,
Up and pays the rent?
I try not to forget
How close we came to it
Ooh -- Immaculate ... ooh -- Immaculate ...
You're the fever that I dream
The only dream I dream awake
A dream the mornin' cannot shake
You're the fever that I dream
The only dream I dream awake
A dream the mornin' cannot shake (the fever that I dream)
Ooh -- Immaculate ... ooh -- Immaculate ...
Ooh -- Immaculate ... ooh -- Immaculate ...

Heartless

This is where it starts
This is... where it stops
And when it finally stops
I hope, starts right up
Walk the glitter mile
Past hotels of sand
People say'n lots of things
Ain't my job... to listen
I don't believe
What they say you've done
Don't believe in anything
Anything that lasts for long
Everytime I change my mind...
You say I'm heartless... but I want the same thing as you
This is where it stops
This is... where it starts
And when it finally starts
I hope it pulls right up
Everytime I change my mind...
You say I'm heartless... but I want the same thing as you
Why do ya say
They built this desert in our way?
Open your eyes
Watch it slowly come alive
Somethin' new
Changin' into somethin' new...
Somethin' that I... saved for you
Everytime I change my mind... everytime I change my mind
You say I'm heartless... but I want the same thing as you
Everytime I change my mind... everytime I change my mind
You say I'm heartless ... but I want the same thing as you
Hmmmmmm something new... something new...
Something new... something new...

Slow Red Dawn

We need a better idea, here quick
Before the sun's beatin' down on our necks
We need a better idea
Watch us speed, to the end of the world
Promise all, that we've already heard
And still we're nowhere
I don't care to know all the details
How you left him to shout down the stairs
I don't care to know
Slow Red Dawn is gonna come
Slow Red Dawn is comin' on
Slow Red Dawn
Do you see that thin strip of light there?
On the skyline, it seems unaware
That we haven't slept yet
But as long as we still laugh for keeps
And you swear you were dyin' to leave
There's no reason to sleep
Slow Red Dawn is gonna come
Slow Red Dawn is comin' on
Slow Red Dawn
Slow Red Dawn is gonna come
Slow Red Dawn is comin' on
Slow Red Dawn
Do ya see that light there?
On the skyline unaware
Do ya see that light there?
Comin' on
Are we gonna let it flag?
I think we got it in the bag
Do ya see the light there?
Comin' on

Harbour Lights

Harbour lights will change your plans
More than judge or jury can
What a sight
Flickerin' like prayers of grace
How could you ever lose this place?
What a sight
But I'm sure I don't stand
A ghost of a chance
To stay here past the time, when all my checks run out
To stay here past the time, when all my checks... run... out
Chinese junks are driftin' in
The foghorn blows its low warnin'
Across the stars
Glistening fluorescent tears
Finally know what kept me here
Harbour lights
And I wonder if you
Are makin' it through
We all hang from a single thread and a thousand truths
We all hang from a single thread and a thousand... truths
Harbour lights will change your plans
More than judge or jury can
What a sight
But I'm sure I don't stand
A ghost of a chance
To stay here past the time, when all my checks run out
And I wonder if you
Are makin' it through
I wonder under which moon do you sleep tonight
I wonder under which moon do you say... good... night

Forever Gone

Streaks of light
On the graveyard walk
Your bright star was crashin'
Crashin' the dark
Dreamed of a cold night
To freeze it in place
Dreamed of ship bells and thunder
Ringin' us under
Dreamed all the way home
That you'd never go
Talked up and down it
Mornin', noon and night
Alone in the optimists chair
Said our instincts were right
But now I know the clean choice
Was the worst choice of all
I'd rather feel guilt
Than this desert inside
I'd rather steal wicked
Than lay down in pride
Gone forever
Forever gone
Made a mess of this town
But that's what we always do
Throwin' glass to the floor
Now it's cuttin' right through
More than a year's time
'Til ya give up the scheme
My wood matches meltin'
The ghosts from your wedding ring
Never trusted fate
But I wish that I had
Fate is what answered
Your slow cry for help
Fate was your motive
Your fate was yourself
Gone forever
Forever gone
Made a mess of this town
But that's what we always do
Throwin' glass to the floor
Now it's cuttin' right through
Gone forever
Forever gone
I'd rather feel guilt
Than this desert inside
I'd rather steal wicked
Than lay down in pride
Seems like a long time... oooh!

Nightbirds

The nightbirds stumble in
Like broken pendulums
The nightbirds stumble in
Flown from thick to thin
'Neath a cloud of suspicion
You're a lucky man
Say it again
The nightrain's pourin' down
As the nightsky hits the town
The nightbirds stumble in
There are orders to be filled
There are tall ones to be killed
There are songs of praises to be sung
Will they all go south on us?
With the crazies, with our trust?
I trust you'll tell me
If you lose that trust
The nightrain's pourin' down
As the nightsky hits the town
The nightbirds stumble in
You're a lucky man
Say it again
I'm a lucky man
Say it again

Trail of Stars

Desert Skies

blacklight fades
headlights switched off
the engine burns
as we're rollin' to a stop 

let's get out here
lie down in the middle of road
ain't no cars comin' 

only stars
and stars alone
the city at our backs 
did you really think that it would last? 

heaven's trace
a trail of starlight gone 
the city best forgotten 

did the wind hit you in the eye?
or were you just about to cry?
desert skies......
this ain't the place to turn around
never even said goodbye
desert skies...... 

a day so hot it seemed
like the rocks could sing
the sky so flat it seemed there was
nothin' in the wings 

scar on your lip
a story far too long to tell
the story best forgotten 

our party in hell's been cancelled 
due to fire and thick smoke 
torched up by its own success 
do ya' wish that we had never spoke? 

yours and yours alone 
mine everywhere thrown 
yours alone 

did the wind hit you in the eye? 
or were you just about to cry?
desert skies...... 

all the stars are shaped like tears 
tears are satellites
desert skies......

Straight to the Stars

don't wait any longer
not a second more
don't wait for the century to click 
ya' never can be sure 

put my hand just where you want it
been movin' much too slow
move your hand just where I want it 
and don't let go 

and if we let this devil ride
I swear he's gonna take the wheel and 
drive 

straight to the stars
can't wait any longer 
straight to the stars 
the sky is only gettin' darker now 

stars on the pavement
stars in sad eyes
stars are out for the hangin'
true stars never die 

put my hand just where you want it
been movin' much too slow
move your hand just where I want it
don't let go 

and if we let this devil ride 
I swear he's gonna take the wheel and 
drive 

straight to the stars 
can't wait any longer 
straight to the stars 
the sky is only gettin' darker now 
only gettin' darker 

Gold

see my silly watch
every second lost, hmm
lost in a strange arcade
got drunk on girls night out 

If they're the good years, I don't know
what you call the hard years
If they're the good times, I don't know
what you call the hard times 

just let me know
if you can see the gold
just let me know
if can you see the gold? 

lay these knuckles bare
strip the varnish back
did we ever use to kiss?
did I ever get you off? 

If they're the good years, I don't know
what you call the hard years
If they're the good times, I don't know
what you call the hard times 

I don't see the gold in this
I don't see the gold 

the good years, I don't know
can't hang it on a wanderin' star
can't hide it in a wanderin' heart
can't blind it with a wanderin' eye 

the good years, I don't know
ah no 

Last Tears

These are your last tears for the century 
don't cry them for me 

these are your last tears, before the
party starts
don't throw them away 

use em' wisely, use em' large
use em' soft, and use em' hard 

once were flush but now we're skint as
bone
can ill-afford to waste our tears alone 

these are our last tears for this century 
don't blame them on me 

this is our first, and surely, our last 
attempt 
to earn what we've spent 

set 'em up, and knock 'em back
lost in the stars, lost in the scraps 

next century will never ask you why
cares not if you've come, or if you cried 

last tears of the century
they keep on comin' 

All the revolutions, they've been here and gone
missed everyone 

except the one that we have, yet begun
missed everyone 

spin in circles, till we're stung
by every heart, and every gun 

Put the future behind us, until we see today
happiness can't buy ya' money, till we see today 

and the only thing that's left to do
is to see that they don't cover you .....
last tears of the century 

Crime Story

thunder laughs and thunderclaps
the afternoons round here,
well they're just like that 

I know ya' don't spook easy
I know ya' won't up and quit 
let's keep it like that 
now don't forget 

when you go and make the drop 
if he don't look ya' in the eye
well ya' better just walk 

means madness is takin' over 
madness is in charge
it's come out of the woodwork 
madness-at-large 

keep things close
keep the dogs at bay
just walk on by 
story of a crime 
walk on by 
story of a crime 

whole thing sounds harder than it is 
timing's everything 
but then you knew that, before I did 

If this turns into a circus
too much talkin', too much noise
walk on by
keep holdin' on to the bag 

There's a town on the Spanish border
where you can chill
he's supposed to tell ya' about it
but if he don't, head for the hills 

find some empty olive grove
where you can stash the car
somewhere exotic
somewhere obscure 

sometimes you do what is wrong
so ya' won't do what's worse
if ya' can't be righteous
at least be careful
just cause we feed the flame
don't mean we have to got burned 

Hightimes

hightimes, undermine
tell me somethin' I don't know 

hightimes, can chase em 'til your blind
tell me somethin' I don't know 

now you're lyin' next to me
the one place that you shoulda' stayed
lyin' next to me 

now you're lyin' next to me
the place I said you'd always be
hightimes, gone away 

let go
hit it on the money
let it go, let it go, let it go
let go
hit it closer than you wanted
let it go, let it go, let it go 

them hightimes forgave
rips and tears 
them hightimes forgave
but I don't care
hightimes have strayed
them hightimes have strayed 

we drove to the top of castle hill 
the lights of the town below 

we drove, you were almost still
the lights of the town below 

you said things look twice as small 
when you have been livin' tall
things look twice as small 

you said things look twice as far
when you have been gone so long
things look twice as far 

them hightimes forgave, but look at you
now 

On the Day

behind the bric and brac
there will be no lookin' back 

and between hell and hello
there will be no lettin' go
no there won't 

and you can't be serious
no you can't
you won't really do him in
well you might 

hey this all seems like a joke
yes it does, but it's not
where I laugh before you've spoke 
stuttered words 
poisoned love 

And the trumpets lean and barren 
and the sirens shrill and darin'

on the day that I...... 

and your people all will say
what they want, what they will

and the tower bells will rage
from the top of the hill 

and the crows they all will crow
what they crow
what they know
and the crows they all will crow
"gotta go" 
"gotta go" 

And the trumpets lean and barren
and the sirens shrill and darin'
on the day that I.....

the day that I stop carin' 

Till I Reach You

I don't care how long it might last 
don't care anymore 
don't care about that 

I don't care how long it might take 
I'm still wide awake 
out walkin' late 

Till I reach you 
wait until I 
Till I reach you 
wait until I 
Till I reach you 

I don't care if it takes half the night 
or a life 
or if it's all a slow dream 
ain't no answers in me 

every slight of the hand 
every brick 
every stone 
I can face it alone 
walkin' alone 

don't care anymore
if it's short, fast, or blind
the chalk lines are drawn
I'm walkin' all night
caressed and caroused
don't care what it takes
I'm still wide awake 

Drown

somethin' of a shambles 
another wicked tangle 
still I believe that love is drawn
from the emptiest of wells 

a shadow of a mystery 
the way you can't forget me 
still I believe that love is drawn 
from the emptiest of wells 

I wanna' drown again
I wanna' drown
till my thirst is full
my lips are cool
drown 

nothin' is forgiven
nothin' reaches heaven
nothin' evens out
and nothin' crawls away 

but I believe that lightning strikes
I believe that fate has pull
I believe that love is drawn
from the emptiest of wells

the water's clear
I hope you stay 

No One the Wiser

our healin' mark was reached
above this floodlit street
beneath a sliver moon
undone 

leaning with intent to fall
your gaze a perfect blade
my hand, a shadow
drawn 

These secrets come and go
but every secret knows
it's better to ravish
than to hold 

are we right back where we were?
or just right where we are?
can't see it for the stars
but we'll know it when it's gone 

No one the wiser
No one the wiser 

the healin' deals been struck
pain is shit-out-o'-Iuck
neither one of us, too tired to love 

just tired of bleedin' stones 
just tired of crashin' slow 
Forever shoulda' known 

no one the wiser 
no one the wiser 
no one the wiser 

do ya' feel our ghost in every stitch?
do ya' hear our ghost in every word?
are you my ghost?
or am I yours?
one thing for sure
time is gonna' soothe these shattered
eyes
time is gonna' heal things out of turn
time is gonna' mark the place to start
but leave the ending for yourself

no one the wiser
no one the wiser 

Train Leaves at Eight

Man From Reno

(Scott Walker/ Goran Bregovic)

If I could lose, If you could choose
For this next Dance you might choose me

I ain't no pussy with the blues
Just step out on the floor and see

Can't follow a man from Reno
Follow a man from Zurich
Follow a man from Italy

Can't follow a man with brain grass
Follow his long long eye gas
Follow a man from Munich
Running out of luck
Running out of luck in the midnight

Zodiac killers drained their hands
And wipe away the shadows from the walls

Neighbours all say he's got no friends
His friends all say you've got him by the balls

Look up
You might even shred the stars
Look up
Might even stop the scars

Zodiac killer needs that crack
He wants you back
He's waiting in the bars

Zodiac killer needs that crack
He wants you back
He's waiting in the Bars

Can't follow a man from Reno
Follow a man from Izmir
Follow a man from Wyoming

Follow this waving heather
Follow the angry weather
Man from Sarajevo

Running out of luck
Running out of luck in the midnight

Zodiac killers drained their hands
And wipe away the shadows from the walls

Look up
You might even shred the stars
Look up
Might even stop the scars

Zodiac killer needs that crack
He wants you back
He's waiting in the bars

In the midnight, in the midnight
In the midnight, in the midnight
After midnight, after midnight, after midnight

That Black Guitar

(Vlado Kreslin)

I was little Vlado then
When the gypsies came a wandering, to our town
They'd come by the house, and they'd start to play.
And father would go, to his room, and pickup his guitar
Which he'd bought long ago
With his paltry pay

Mister, do you still have that guitar
Mister, do you still have that black guitar
That one was the best one by far

And they kept on asking
Along after that
Whenever they'd shill, for a spare coin or two
Always when they played, at the village saloon
And they'd take their breaks, to drink at the bar
Whenever their wives
Stood by the door
And asked for old clothes
Their wives would implore

Mister, do you still have that guitar
Mister, do you still have that black guitar
That one was the best one by far

Now when I come home
I sit beneath the chestnuts
And I drink
I drink with my friends
Who still call this home
And nearly every night
To the table they come
And play for us
With childish faces
And tremelous voices
They ask

Mister, do you still have that guitar
Mister, do you still have that black guitar
That one was the best one by far
That one was the best one by far
That one was the best one by far

Disamistade

(Fabrizio De AndreÕ and Ivano Fossati)
What are these souls doing in front of the church?
These divided people, this suspended story

An daya ho
An daya ho

An arm's length away that is the distance of the offense
Peace is considered but the peace is barely grazed

An daya ho
An daya ho

Two families without blood
Draw up and surrender
And for everyone involved
The pain is shared
The other's pain is half their own

The war of the heart is content
Content with empty causes
The lament of a dog struck down by the shadow of a step
Satisfied with brief agony
Long the street of the house
An eruption of blood
An absence prepared for the meal

And with the shots of the hunter
Surrounding, one begs for one's fortune

What are our daughters doing
Embroidering and sewing
All these stains of mourning
Who've given up to love

An daya ho
An daya ho

Amid them it still hides
Our wandering hope
That the enemy desires
Desires to be returned

An daya ho
An daya ho

Hastened hands caught in the act
The act of touching other hands
There must be another way of living
Of living without pain
A rush of eyes into eyes
Only to discover, that instead
It's only the pause of the wind
It's only hatred by half
And the authority is dedicated to the missing half

This disamistade
Is opposed to our misadventure
To this race of time
To the dishevel of our fate and fortune

What are these souls doing
In front of the church
These divided people
This suspended story

Silenci

If you have to silence me
Do it now, do it now
While I can still say no
And you have nothing
With which to bribe me

I don't want to wait
Do it now, do it now
While I can still feel
All the horror, weighing heavy

It doesn't hurt me none
To keep my mouth, firmly closed
You are the ones who made
These words, from the silence

I don't want to wait
'Till time, rusts the weapons
I don't want this fear
To have more time, with which to beat me

If ya have to silence me
Do it now, do it now
While I still have the hands
To trade this guitar, for another

It doesn't anger me
To keep my mouth, firmly closed
You are the ones who made
These words, from the silence

It doesn't anger me
To keep my mouth, firmly closed
You are the ones who made
These words, from the silence

If you have to silence me
Do it now, do it now

Hard Winds Blowing

Hard winds blowing
Across this beach
That we hoped for
And all of our feelings scattered
And all of our ships
Sunken for good in the sea
Of what is not told

From the masts
That are breaking
Loose sails of cambraia
With each measured stroke attempted
One less boat
Afloat on the sea
One more corpse on the beach

The day never reached
Dies in these changing tides
And there's always a day ending
Next to the Sargaço
Spread out to dry
Next to things
Hmm, that were not made

Everyone Kisses A Stranger

( Francoiz Breut )

Everyone kisses a stranger
From here or from elsewhere
He's a stranger
He's a stranger

Like kisses without any proof
A tongue without a passport

There's a frontier between kisses
As if for every kiss
You would have a card to show
As if for every kiss
You would know where to go

And if our kisses wait
Someday they will dry
Yes the tongue is sorry
When the mouth is closed tight

Everyone kisses a stranger
From here or from elsewhere
He's a stranger
He's a stranger

Like kisses without any proof
A tongue without its passport
Yes the tongue is sorry
When the mouth is closed tight

Everyone kisses a stranger
Everyone kisses a stranger
Everyone kisses a stranger
Everyone kisses a stranger

People Such as These

( Ces Gens-La by Jacques Brel )

To begin, to begin, there is the first born
He who is like a melon
He who has a big nose
He who doesn't know his name
Because he drinks a lot
And he's been drunk-- for a long time
Does nothing with ten fingers
He can do no more than that
Completely cooked
Sees himself as king
Drunk every night
On rotgut wine
But you'll find him in the morning
Sleeping in a church
Stiff as a board
White like the dove of Easter
Sitting and stuttering
Bleary eyed
It must be said, sir
People such as these
We do not think
We do not think
We only pray

And then there is another
With carrots in his hair
Who never saw a wig a scamp with ticks
Gives the shirt off his back
To the happy poor
He who married Denise
A girl from the town
Actually from another town
And it's not finished

He does his little business
With his little hat
His little coat, his little car
Wants us to believe, he has style
But he has none at all
We shouldn't play rich
When we don't have the money
It must be said, sir
People such as these
We don't live, sir
We don't live, we trick

And then there are the others
The mother who says nothing
Or spews, anything at all
From evening to morning
From beneath her pretty face
Face like an apostle
And in the wood frame
The mustache of the father
He who died in a fall
He who watches his flock
Graze on their cold soup
He who makes big slurrps
And now we see one of the very old

One who doesn't stop shaking
To whom nobody listens
Though it's she who holds the cash
But nobody listens
To what her poor poor hands say
It must be said, sir
People such as these
We don't speak, sir
People such as these
We just calculate

And then and then
And then there's Frida
Beautiful like the sun
Who loves me the same
Who I love, Frida
Even though we often said
We would own a house
With many windows
And few walls
That we would live there
And it'd be the good life
Of course none of it was sure thing
At best there was a small chance
Because the others didn't want it
'Cause the others didn't want it
The others they talk like this
They say she's too pretty for me
They say I am only good enough
To slit the throats of cats
But I've never killed cats
Or at least if I did, it was long ago
Or maybe I just forgot
Yes, if I did, it's because they stunk
No, in the end they didn't want it
No, in the end they didn't want it

Sometimes when we meet
We act like it's a coincidence
And with teary eyes
She says she'll leave
She says she'll follow me
And for one moment
Only one moment
That's what I believe
Just for one moment
That's what I believe
Because from people such as these
We do not escape
Because from people such as these
We do not escape
I gotta go, I gotta go
I gotta go

Wake Me Up Before I Sleep

Wake me up before I sleep
I'll promise that i'll concerntrate
On only the last frame
Cover only one sound
Some kinda sweet
Weird kinda strange around me

Wake me up before I sleep
Can't you see too many colours here
Colours there
Colours everywhere
Cover only one ground
The blackest of blacks
I don't want to surround me
There's nothing I can say
That isn't gonna be
There's nothing I can do
That isn't gonna be
A mistake

Wake me up before I sleep
I haven't had an inch of what
I thought I got
From this awful high
Cover me in one dye
Just lie here with me
We'll let the train go by
There's nothing I can say
That isn't gonna be
There's nothing in my way
I know it's gonna be
A mistake

Solex In A Slipshod Style

( Solex )

The straps kept slipping off my shoulder
Kept on slipping, in a slipshod style

Look Jimmy look,
Look at it look,
Shoot!
I mistook

You for someone I knew for sometime
Cause he also took his drinks with lime,

Look Jimmy look,
Look at it look!
Look
Yes we took

A quick snifter before the party
Fixed them in a slapdash way for me

So slaphappy
We were so slaphappy
So slaphappy
We were so slaphappy

The straps kept slipping off my shoulder
Kept on slipping, in a slipshod style

Look Jimmy look,
Look at it look,
Shoot!
I mistook

You for someone I knew for sometime
Cause he also took his drinks with lime,

Look Jimmy look,
Look at it look!
Look
Yes we took

A quick snifter before the party
Fixed them in a slapdash way for me

So slaphappy
We were so slaphappy
So slaphappy
We were so slaphappy

That's how I live

That's how I live
In my room
A blink of the eye
Crystal of time
A song in darkness
The shimmer fades
The frailest comfort
No single truth

At the middlepoint
It all stands still
A piece of paper
No smallest light
Songs to remember
Your breath my hope
My body sings
Now I think of you

So beats my heart
It beats in me
Hour to hour

It beats for you
For you and me
For every second

That's how I live
One of many
I'm not alone

That's how I live
In this late hour
A weak portrait
A star of grey
A musicman
Spins this globe
A flight a fall
A brand new day

A white horse
A black bird
And in the end
Here comes the clown
Nothing and nobody
By night and fog
A winter light
This world of trust

So beats my heart
It beats in me
Hour to hour

It beats for you
For you and me
For every second

That's how I live
One of many
I'm not alone
You are not alone
We're not alone

And She Closed Her Eyes

( Stina Nordenstam )

And she closed her eyes and said
No I'm not in love
I'm not in much for real
And the hood fell off her head
And her face got wet
I held my part of the deal

I've been growing older he thought
And he smiled and said
You've got the saddest face i've seen
And when she didn't seem to listen at all
He said I'm getting wet
You held your part of the deal

And she closed her eyes and said
No I'm not in love
I'm not in much for real
And the hood fell off her head
And her face got wet
I held my part of the deal

Death's Threshold Step #2

( A. Bystrom )

Give me peace
To let me know where I stand
As I walk, that road to untread land
Give me strength
To grasp my very last breath
As I'm weak and torn
At death's threshold step

Give me peace
As I stumble down that road
As I stand
Before that bitter cold
When I climb, them stairs to Quentin Hill
Give me peace my Lord
A heartbeat still

Give me peace
To let me know where I stand
As I walk, that road to untread land
Give me strength
To grasp my very last breath
As I'm weak and torn
At death's threshold step (repeat)

Leb' Wohl

( Neu! 1975 )

On a hill by the sea
We made love
In the sand
The stars were shining
And we were
Free
Free
Free
Bye bye
Bye bye
Bye bye

Ended up a stranger

Lazarus heart

I keep crashin'
Into parked cars
Waitin' for a horse
And it's blue rider'

Followed you that night
You tasted lucky

We staggered blessed
Your scars they,... Matched, my dress

Never mind,
The happy ending

Maybeline eyes
And trampolines

Old tattoos
Burned, in their parlors

Christmas lights and mangers
Spook you cold

Lazarus heart
Lazarus heart
Lazarus heart

We forget,
We risk,
We're tired,
We're true
Veils and whispers
Rivers of ether

Cigarettes and perfume
A single gunshot,
To the foot

We staggered blessed
Your scars they.... Matched... My dress

Lazarus heart
Lazarus heart
Lazarus heart

Ready to drift
Flat out forget
Pull up and quit
Look past the shit
We go nowhere
We just get smaller, in the distance

Said you wanna' see
What i look like inside
Drew a hangman on a napkin
And you started laughin'
Don't take prophets to see
This world will need
It's sorry chances

Lazarus heart
Lazarus heart
Lazarus heart

Radiant

Radiant ghost
Love you the most
Call me from the next town
Call me when you lie down
Were you drownin'
Or just wavin' 
As you pulled away
Pulled away

Home is the one thing
That winds us in wire
Home is the one thing
You can't face alone

..if the glow of the ember
Helps you to remember
Don't let them go
Don't let em' go

So many stars and still we starve

Don't you tire of this hunger
Of the spirit... That you've spent
It's a wasted road, we wander
When only one love
Is radiant

Radiant skin
Touch me again
Love will not kill you
But wisdom sure will

Last night i saw the ghosts
Jumpin' from the train
Chased em' as they walked away
Asked em', if they knew your name

Where only our... Love... Is radiant
Where only our... Love... Is radiant

Life : the movie

Why do you whisper
It's true, true lovers whisper
Or don't say anything
At all
The greatest story never told
Both of us are feelin' old
Been feelin' everything
And nothin' much
Oh, look beyond....
Past the cities edge
Where the horizon dips
And all the strip mall hookers
Show promotion clips
And life: the movie
Portrays us working stiffs
Aaah.... As wastrels on
Watch ourselves again
On some wasted trip
Givin' up on love
Just for the fuck of it
Oh life: the movie,
So easy to forget
The angels and aliens, are restless,
Ain't gonna' stay
They're countin' down the days
Till they leave us alone
Can't see them anyway
Electric colors, cut a swath
But leave no trace
Why do we advertise,
That we have lost this race?
If we were proud, we'd hide
But since we've lost
Watch ourselves again
Let's call the whole thing off

Life : the movie ends
When the villain says
That he will apprehend
But then rides off instead
Let us drown in peace
Life: the movie, showin'
Six and one-half days a week
Life: the movie endin'
When they kick us hard
To make sure we're dead
And not just dreamin'
The truth of our lies
The thrill of our wrongs
Are these the last things on earth,
That still turn us on?
And in a flash
We'll feel the crash
Don't forget to breathe
Don't forget to laugh
Look beyond
Watch ourselves again
Life: the movie's on
In every single town
Life: the movie plays
Til we finally beg
Let us bleed all day
The last hurrah
A forecast of our times
I refuse to fall
You'll choose t' just go blind
When life: the movie plays
I'll turn away..... I'll put out my eyes

More heat than light

I never met your castanets
I never met them spanish singers
Said you drank with them
In a hamburg bar
Drank all night
Though they were younger
And in the taxi home
You lost your phone
But you say, you're better off without it
I never lose, my temper anymore
But i know just where to find it

There are moments of grace
In the heat of the chase
More heat than light

A freeway overpass, in the fog
The future catches, up with us quickly
And though the sky is what i... Wish i saw
I'll settle for your memory

Crippled pigeons
Earthquake stores
Gypsies point you to the door
Terra cotta traces
I remember all the towns
But not the faces

There are moments of grace
In the heat of the chase
More heat than light

Tremblin' hands
Tremblin' knees
The shiverin' of souls
The surrenderin' of greed
Your friends all told me, that you
Knew what you were doin'

Silk or cedar
Ivory of bone
Not a single kiss is worth a stone
Unless we say it is
Unless we pray it is
Come on, and say it is
More heat than light
More heat than light

Fallen down moon

There's a place between
Shadow and light
Where your scars will shine
Then disappear
There's a love
That will cut'us in two
First we're wild
And then we drink

But there's a comfort in our sadness
Wisdom in our wrongs
A music to our madness
Silent songs

We lose for our own good
We break the best
When nothin's left

Makin' out with judas
Just to make your bail
We do shit like that
Jus' before we crack

But there's splendor in the cracks
And gold in the darkest blue
I dreamed you're comin' back
I dreamed i'd wait for you
But i'm gettin' tired of dreamin'

Fallen down moon
If everything goes wrong
So what
Fallen down moon ...

We built a lot of things you know
And still they glow

We lose for our own good....we break the best when nothin's left

See it in the dark

Tryin' hard to keep this
I see it in the dark
I see it in the dark
Lost my way
Right from the start
But i see it in the dark
I see it in the dark

Every lick and every lie
Every bliss, and every good bye
I see it in the dark
I see it in the dark

Finally time
To go out dancin'
Pull the blue suit
From the bag

The one you bought
For my husband's funeral
In hopes he would
Up and die

In a clutch or in a bind
At times i, still can... Find the time
To see it in the dark
I see it in the dark

My hopes are wicked... My tears are blind
At times i still can...find the time

To chase the spark... Feel the charge
It's going dim... It's nearly gone

Can you see it in the dark?
I see it in the dark
I see it in the dark....see it....see it
I see it in the dark....see it....see it

Lest we forget

Your lazy body
Lyin' in the snow
A sparkle in the trees
Oh, busy body
Let's take it back upstairs
To a room that disappears

Intoxicatin'
The glint, the gleam
Headlights through the window
Shadowin' the dream

Lest we forget
Where these shadows met
Lest we forget
Where these shadows met

Greedy angel
Reflectin' green n' red
Hovers on the sill
Steals sheets off the bed

Intoxicatin'
Stumble back downstairs
Stretch for the sparkle
Fallin', from your hair

Lest we forget
Where these shadows met
Lest we forget
Where these shadows met

Run for your life....run baby run

Winslow place

Planes
Fly low
Over our heads
Over our bed
The sky went lavender
For just one day
The sky went lavender
For just one day
Faith... And faithful
Grace... And grateful

The wind at winslow place
Reached all the rooms
The wind at winslow place
Reached all the rooms

Don't ya' know
There is hope
Braided in the rope
Drag your fear
To the clear
I'll take it for my own

Don't call
Just show
Don't bend my ear
Don't want to know
Caress
Don't confess it
Murder time
Don't possess it

Reach down
Surrender
You were my sad
Reckless driver

The wind at winslow place
Reached all the rooms
The wind at winslow place
Raced after you

The swallows
Pause
Then streak
N' turn
Then fade into the north
Guide wires
Suspend them
Not from heaven
Not from earth
I know they'll be returnin'
And i guess i know you won't

Cul-de-sac

Two years since it snowed
The streets are slush and dirt
They bleed like strangers
When you first came home
There were seashells in your eyes
We took things real slow

But now, you've bought their bill of goods
It's the same old shit
'Cept the end is quick

You seem to love it on your lips
If you could just stand up
We'd rise forever

Cul-de-sac
Better watch your back
My heart's a dead-end

All memory is cursed
The river use to freeze
We walked on thick ice

And rememberin' is worse
I've lived to save the dead
And not the livin'

Cul-de-sac
Better watch your back
My heart's a dead-end

Flint n' bone n' tin
Ya' started stut-te-rin' again
Knife prayers n' blistered nerves
The last words that you heard
As you loosened from the world
Can i get a witness?

Climb

Misery's a hostage
That you treat too fair, and
The weekends are a washout
Filled with bright despair, and
You lose yourself in your work,
Will you come up for air?, and
If you hate me just for tryin'
You'll hate me when i'm done
I swear
Climb me up
If you need some bones
On which to climb
Climb me tall
I don't believe, your love of nothin'
Climb me still
I won't wander
You will whistle
Throw your sullen wings away

Honesty is violence
That you took too far, and
I loved you, from the first night
We both got fucked up, in my car

Climb me up if you need some bones
On which to climb
Climb me tall
Don't believe, your love of nothin'
Climb me still
I won't wander
You will whistle
Throw your sullen wings away
For good
Throw your sullen wings away

Ended up a stranger

Cacophonous and slippery
4:35 in the mornin'
And i'm drivin'
These streets
Tryin' to capture every sound
My microphone
Hangs out, the back seat window

And what i don't succeed
In capturin'
Turns weightless and indifferent

Lord, i've become a stranger
In my old haunts

Blips and bleeps
And siren squalls
This town it just gets richer
And it's teeth get clenched

And i am just a statue
Of a long lost fearless age

Our maladies
Our strategies
This microphone
My wanderin's aside

Lord, i've become a stranger
In my old haunts

Hello desire'
And what your spooky name
Implies

In you, i found my silk
And swagger,
The calm before the prize

And though I
Once was warned
You'd be the grave in which i'd lie

With you, i was no stranger
In my old haunts

Someday i'll hit the turnpike
Speed past a truck stop
Burnin'

It'll streak my rearview mirror
It'll fade, a lonely flicker

And i'll listen to these tapes i've made
My symphony of phantoms
Lord, i've ended up a stranger, in my old haunts
I've become a stranger.... In my old haunts

Acetylene

*** Thanx a lot to www.thewalkabouts.com for these lyrics ***

Fuck your fear

A rumble in my bones
A cold sting on my lips
The reckoning is almost here
Fuck your fear

New gravediggers born each day
Diggin' holes right where you lay
The reckoning is almost here
Fuck your fear

This don't seem like the end
It seems more like a bad beginning
Don't hesitate
Fuck your fear

Weakness coughs, then ricochets
Our boredom bleeds us wide awake
The reckoning is in the air
Fuck your fear

Dead folksingers lie in state
Acolytes scrape off their plates
The message falls onto deaf ears

Coming up for air!

Suckin' alabaster in a ventilator shaft
Chewin' on surrender because it's cheap and it lasts
This ain't hell, it's a holding tank
Where memory and the future draw a big, fat blank
I know this tunnel leads somewhere
But it takes mystery and a torch
And a reason to care
I know this tunnel leads outside
Down to the river where the elephants die

Comin' up
Up, up, up, up
Comin' up for air

There is no better story than a man in a hole
This is where he laid still
This is how he rolled
This is how he fed, on the marrow of his bones
This is where he shuffled
Playin' doomsday alone
A suicide miner
With a depth charge timer
Rathole lover
Diggin' deep for a cover
You suffocate first
Then you learn how to breathe
The sweet of the sewer
Shows you the way to leave

Make room for the cleanup crew
They're the last to the scene
And the first to be fooled
The townsfolk line thick
Along the riverside
Lookin' for a place
To watch the elephants die

Devil in the details

The devils in the dull details
The devils in the coffin
Of the details
There will be no finer day
To take my breath
Survival is all parody
Contorted and extorted
For amusement
Colossal youth on megaphones
Please call us home
We need to come home quickly
Singalong
Did this job make us crazy?
Or we're we so screwed up
We took this job?
Play dominoes with knucklebones
We feed the beast
Till he's too fat to walk

There are no devils left in hell
There simply are no devils
Left, in hell
Deliver us from deliverance
Deliver us, from all these awkward pauses
You are as brave as you believe
You are as brave as what you won't repeat
You are as lost as you need to be
You are as lost as what you won't admit
The future is a slow retreat
The future is a muscle you don't have
Gonna shake tonight

Whisper

Baby, baby
Foolish baby
Wipe your foolish blame
Crazy, crazy
Crazy, baby
Wipe your foolish blame

I've been thinking bout this all week
How were lost on a losing streak
Armed guards at the last mini-mart
Shootin' it wide of the mark
Roadblocks goin' up in the dark
Hi-rise towers take a tightrope walk

Truths a whisper
A shaky whisper
Chase it, then it's wrong
Time is panic
Hushed and rankled
You feel it, then it's gone

They take us in for identity checks
They've been roundin' up all their best bets
The refineries flare in the night
Roman candles from some other life
What's best, is somewhere in your hands
My best laid plans, your hands,
My best laid plans, your hands
Your hands, my best laid plans.
Shout! Got nothing to show for this
Shout! Where is the now?
Where are the next three minutes?
Shout! Got nothin' to show for this
Shout!

Kalashnikov

Kalashnikov
Closed circuit silence
I know i test your nerves
When i watch the watchers
They say the deserts bare
The forbidden zone
But i feel somethin' breathin' out there
Feel it in my bones

When we're out there in the zone
Your gonna have to trust me
When it's just us two alone
Love will be our only history

The commando squad
Is bored and poorly fed
Surveillance is their dog
And it's hounding us to death
I heard their gonna move us
To another transit camp
They're bulldozing the suburbs down
Putting up a razor fence
Bought an beat-up short wave
From a black market trader
But it's all just a high, shrill tone
That's why they call it thin air
I guess i'm getting ahead of myself
But we can't be both inside and out
I guess i'm getting, ahead of myself
But we can't be both inside and out
Inside and out, inside and out!

Have you ever seen the morning?

I tried to catch the bus
Out towards your place
But the bus never came
So i started walkin'
Past mission mall
No one walks, out past there, anymore
And when i got back home
There was no note
Cigarette, still burnin' on the stoop
Turned into the wind
Pulled up my hood
Got on the bus, as the doors shut for good

Have you ever seen the mornin?
Well it's quite naked
And stoned
Have you ever seen the mornin?
Twirl it's hands
And fall into the light

We shoulda called the cops
Just to scare him
But now who really cares?
Still, he shook, our last dime
I ain't grandstandin'
My pockets echo in the night
Remember that trip, out west?
To your sisters. We got high and
Watched the stars
We laid out, in her backyard
She touched my hand
Said: i'm gonna love you, when your dead

Northsea train

The rain crawls up the coast
I know you hate
This one-way chase
A drunk, his wife and her friend
The drunk tries to stand
The friend says lay right there
Now it's all tower blocks
And blood blue flags
And closed up shops
The guardhouse light turns off
As the rain stops cold
Crawls back alone
They're lining up the last suspects
Beneath a rusty glow

The northsea train's on time
Northsea train

The procession is unsure
It's full of strays
With mongrel names
They know not what they've done
And at least today
That'll be okay
Hooded coats in zigzag rows
Draggin' coal back to their homes

Northsea train's on time
Northsea train

Collecting pieces of us all
As if their cargo, will break our fall

Northsea train's on time
Northsea train

Vanquished from all
Rhyme and duty
I'm struck and stranded
Vanished neath the beauty

Northsea train's on time
Northsea train

Acetylene

Rules of the game
Have gone and changed
Snapped!
Somethin' snapped!
Dog kings
Flesh dreams
Death's tune
High noon
Wild talk, wild talk
The flame i breathe
Flame i breathe
Acetylene!

Ventriloquist
Earned your cut
With your mouth shut
Can't take
More of this
Dictator face
On a postage stamp
Car bomb
Expressway ramp
The road is torched
Already torched
Let it all crash
Just where it will
Then we'll see
That nothin's here
But what happens then?
What happens then?
Recipes
For disaster
Written on your cocktail napkin
Bless the beasts!
And the blowtorch

Before this city wakes

At the cinema of flames
I work the swing shift
When i get off
I am inclined to drift
Through the downtown
So many victims of pleasure
That i've stopped counting
Soldiers of joy
Getting' hammered at the fountain
Near the cathouse
They're playing techno calypso
At the apocalyptic disco
But i stand outside
Just to stare down the slithering crowd
Divide and conquer
Is the new mathematics
But it's as old as the hills
On which all the mansions die proud

I'm gonna waste
Everything that you hate
Before this city wakes

I keep spittin' out
The first things that come to my head
A blistering list
Of the who, what, the when
And the wherefore
These times are stammers
And jitters, and echoes
A silence disfigured
A stupor born ranting
Like a stuck pig
Got my favorite booth
At an all night diner
And you've probably seen me
On a jagged, all-nighter
Mumblin' senseless
Assassination is the privilege of princes
But i'm getting sick of how everyone winces
When i'm close
Tomorrow let's meet
And i'll show you around
And i'll show you all the shit
That i couldn't tear down
With my bare hands

The last ones

We are the last ones
The last ones
Try that on for size
Open up your eyes
The last ones
There is nothin' to be said
Is there nothin' to be said?
Don't need to answer that
Promise you'll watch my back
The last ones

Heaven knows
Cross these plains of gold
We'll be headed home
Heaven knows
There was no place for us to go
And so we're headed home

We are the last ones
Standin'
The last ones
Demandin'
Try that on for size
Open up your eyes
The last ones
And the last ones
Have the last laugh
And the last ones
Steal the future and the past
And the last ones
Get all the things that never last
The last ones

Travels in the Dustland

My Diviner

It hasn't rained much
Out here this year
It's a new kind of dry
One that chokes on its fear
Till it don't cough

No one ever said
It was gonna be fun
No one ever said
The devil's work would be done
It's just startin'

Before temptation
Before the fall
I could cure my thirst
I could hold it down
But these cracks in the earth
Now they barely will give
Still you're not one to quit
That ain't how you live
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
My diviner
My diviner
My diviner
My diviner

You say that there's water
Still to be found
That deep in the bedrock
There's enough for a town
And a lifetime

So you go out
Your old water witch
You're out in the dust
Turning over brush
With a vengeance

How deep to dig
Well, it's hard to tell

Do we need a fire
Do we need a well
Do we need a murder
Do we need a tear
I'll just hold steady
Till you come back
And drink with me here

My diviner
My diviner
My diviner
My diviner

The Dustlands

When I reach the river towns
Dustlands call
Telling me to turn around
Before I've lost it all
What's been promised true and grand
Is out there in the sand
Dustlands call
You don't have to search for it
And it don't give a shit
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
And when I'm back home with you
Dustlands gone
I put on a stranger's smile
But it feels dead wrong
And if you ask me who I am
I'll tell you where I've been
Dustlands gone
A land not down on any map
Such places never last
Dustlands gone

Unto this land a law was laid
And dustlands burned
High and low the bourgeoisie came
Their greed absurd
There are so many types of thirst
Some that warn and some that curse
Dustlands burn
And though I was forced to flee
It's true I once ran free
Dustlands call

Soul thief

The burden I carry
Is the story I tell
Those in purgatory
Singin' fondly of hell

This ain't no fluke
It's no sleight of hand
You're a real piece of work
I hear you comin' again

Keep your friends close
Keep your enemies closer
My hand on your throat
I can't make it any looser
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
Well I went AWOL
I went askew
The best years of my life spent
A-runnin' from you

You old soul thief
You will not capture me

Got me in your sights
You play cat and mouse
I'm the Last of the Mohicans
I'm the last holdout

The wind is a siren
A ghost on my back
I got nowhere to run
Don't have to tell you that

Down from the mountain
Down with a shudder
Down like a torrent
Down like no other

Someday I'll find
The sleep that I've sought
Deep in the canyons
When the wars have been lost

If I lose
Then let me loose
And if win
I'll roll them dice again

They Are Not Like Us

Fear is weightless
Anger weighs a ton
Throw money at it
And they swear they're done

Then they drive out here
To investigate some crime
But the trails gone cold
So that buys us time

They are not like us
'Cause they can't stare it down
And they don't drink like us
'Cause they don't make a sound

We will not go silent
Silent to our end
We will not go silent
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
They need a "them"
So they'll have an "us"
Planned it that way
It's just our luck

We walk an edge
That won't fold back
But it tastes like courage
Something that they lack

I'll race them to oblivion
When I count to three
I'll race them to oblivion
They'll get there before me
Race them to oblivion

Come when it will
Come when it may
The desert teaches ‘cause it takes away

We are bird
And we are snake
Bones of laughter
Thorns of hate

Thin Of The Air

I could see you weren't from here
You didn't run the same way back
I could never forget you
The simple physics of your laugh
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
"No one really knows this place
What we say feels vaporous"
Sounding like the ring of truth
Every time you tell me this

If I can't think for one of us
Shouldn't think for two of us
Surely don't know what is right
But it don't seem
Worth the fuss

Told you every thing I saw
It was ravaged, it was burned
Told you everything I saw
And now sugar, it's your turn

You better bet
That I've memorized
Every stitch of the road
Driving fast
Through the rusted trees
I lift my hands and let go
You say your heart has been vandalized
But I guess fair is fair
For our crimes we will be condemned
Into the thin of the air

We can split the difference
We can split the hairs of it
But in the end
We must admit
We've been too deliberate

I tell you that I'm wide awake
Sayin' "yes" to great unknowns
I tell you that I'm wide awake
And now sugar it's your turn

Take me down so
I don't fail you
Take me down so
I don't fail

Rainmaker Blues

The rainmaker's comin'
He's already in the next town
The rainmaker's comin'
He's already in the next town

He's got a cannon of fire
And he's sportin' an alchemist's smile
He has a book of deliverance
Be patient, be here in a while
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
The fields they went bone dry
Here in the back of beyond
The fields they went bone dry
Here in the back of beyond

The rains were never forgiving
But now they have vanished and gone
I swear on my first-born
Did something wicked and wrong

It kills me you don't believe
It kills me you don't
Don't believe

The rainmaker's here
Holdin' court at the end of the bar
I said, the rainmaker's here
Holdin' court at the end of the bar

Playin's craps with all the money
Collected from near and from far
Gathering believers
Everywhere that he goes, near and far

The rain is our mana
The rain is the blood of our blood
The purest of crystal
A message of righteousness come

The rainmaker left us
He left us to wait for the flood
The rainmaker left us
And soon we will swim in the mud

There are towns where we should have gone
Wrapped tight in chicken wire
There are towns where we should have gone
Towns that ain't tryin' so hard

Let it go

Every River Will Burn

Your prediction
Wasn't very hard
Mexico ain't in the cards
Never really was

Smell the diesel
Smell the smoke
Traded water for their dope
Was that some kinda joke
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
Every river will burn
Every valley will dry
Save it for the afterlife
And every mountain will slide
And the dustlands will cry
Save it for the afterlife

If I said less
It would be a lie
A sugarcoat so you could try
And finally close your eyes

In the distance
They swarm down the road
Are they friend or foe
Ain't gonna stick around
To know

I have started out
To find a trace of home
Where the water's pure
And fire is no more

Walls of this city red
Will go at any cost
I have started out
To find what we have lost
I have started out

No Rhyme, No Reason

Heat lightning crashin' on the mesa
Paints a crooked line
Already told this story
But you didn't listen the first time

And though I'll tell it all again
I know you'll stop me
Before the end

The Burnpile grows
From the kindling
Of our souls

You could never fathom
That this emptiness won't let you be
It's wrapped tight around you
Like the branches of a mesquite tree
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
In this country of the dead
Brazen hunger still gets fed

Nowhere, no more, no nothin'
No way, no how, nobody
No chance, no fool worth his salt
Nowhere, no more, no nothin'

No how, no rhyme, no reason
No good can rise out of it
Nowhere, no more, no nothin'
No good can rise out of it

Came across the Jackal's path
He just kept runnin'
Did not look back

Clandestinos they are out there
Spinnin' donuts in the gravel field
They won't go down quiet
That was never part of their deal

A scorpion closed in by flame
Stings himself to death
Simple and plain

Wild Sky Revelry

Big wheels whine
As they're comin' down the rise
You're in the Barrister's bed
Along the highway side

Well, I could scare you to death
If I knocked upon the door
Well, I could scare you to death
If I tried to love you more

Now that I know what you want from me
I can deliver in spades
Wide-eyed memory
Wild sky revelry

To get this lost
Ain't an easy thing to do
On Horse Heaven Hill
The last time I tendered you

Those vermillion skies
Made us bigger than ourselves
And the biggest lies
Were the ones we died to tell
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
I'll be your day of rest
Put on your Sunday best
I am your day of rest
Gets blistering under this wild sky

Came to deliver
Came to deliver
Wild sky revelry

Long Drive In A Slow Machine

Baby hold that point
We will get back to this
But there's something that I need to say
Need to say it quick
Who do you wanna be
The candle or the light
Dyin' just for the hell of it
That ain't a life

It took me too much time
To believe in what I know
Now I'm cuttin' to the chase of it
And then I'll let it go

You got that rare gift
To see the good in this
But I wasn't born with that
Now something's gotta lift

Take a long, long drive
In a slow machine
Take a long, long drive
Before they bury me
And when I pick you up
In my slow machine
It's a long, long drive
Until we hit the sea
Rob from always on the run is so bad and copy paste is a sin
I know it's getting closer
Last night there was no moon
I've been seein' signs everywhere

Sorry that I made a mess
If your pretty train of thought
Had to get this thing off my chest
It's the only thing I've got

We are not the chosen
We choose this for ourselves
We were never really here
No one will miss us if we leave

Take a long, long drive

Non Albums Tracks

Big Black Car

( "Where the Deep Water Goes" B-side /  written by Alex Chilton )

Driving in my big black car
Nothing can go wrong
I'm going and I don't know how far
So, so long

Maybe I'll sleep in a Holiday Inn

Nothing can hurt me
Nothing can touch me
Why should I care
Driving [ ? ] [gas?]
It ain't gonna last

Sunny day, highway
If it rains it's all the same
I can't feel the fear (?)
I can't feel a thing

[ ? ] Big black car

Nothing can hurt me
Nothing can hurt me

????

On the Beach

( "Where the Deep Water Goes" B-side )

The world is turning, I hope it don't turn away
The world is turning, I hope it don't turn away
All my pictures are falling
From the wall where I placed them yesterday
The world is turning, I hope it don't turn away

I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day
I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day
Though my problems are meaningless
That don't make them go away
I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day

I went to the radio interview, but I ended up alone at the microphone
I went to the radio interview, but I ended up alone at the microphone
Now I'm living out here on the beach
But those seagulls are still out of rach
I went to the radio interview, but I ended up alone at the microphone

Get outta town, I think I'll get outta town
Get outta town, I think I'll get outta town
I head for the stick [mumble mumble mumble]
I follow a road I don't know where it goes
Get outta town, I think I'll get outta town

Cos the world is turning, I hope it don't turn away

Yesterday Is Here

( "Jack Candy" B-side / Written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan )

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 til yesterday is here

I'm going to New York City
And I'm leaving on a train
And if you want to stay behind and wait
Til I come back again

Well today is grey skies
And tomorrow is tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here

If you want to go
Where the rainbows end
You'll have to say goodbye
All our dreams come true
Baby up ahead
And it's out where your memories lie

Well the road's out before me
The moon is shining bright
What I want you to remember
As I disappear tonight

Today is grey skies
Tomorrow is tears
You'll have to wait til yesterday is here

Like a Hurricane

( "Jack Candy" B-side / written by Neil Young )

Once I thought I saw you in a crowded, hazy bar,
dancing on the light from star to star
Far across the moon beams, I know that's who you are.
I saw your brown eyes turning once to fire.

You are like a hurricane: there's calm in your eye.
And I'm getting blown away.
There's somewhere safer where the feelings stay.
I wanna love you but I'm getting blown away.

I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream,
and you could have been anyone to me.
Before that moment you touched my lips,
that perfect feeling when time just slips
away between us and our foggy trips.

You are like a hurricane: there's calm in your eye.
And I'm getting blown away.
There's somewhere safer where the feelings stay.
I wanna love you but I'm getting blown away.

[Here Chris sings a verse frome "SmokeOnTheWater" by Deep Purple:] We all came down to/from Montreaux
The Lake Geneva shoreline
Some stupid with a flare-gun
Burnt the place to the ground

You are like a hurricane: there's calm in your eye.
And I'm getting blown away.
There's somewhere safer where the feelings stay.
I wanna love you but I'm getting blown away.

Shine a light

( "Your Hope Shines" B-side / written by Jagger/Richards )

Saw you stretched out in Room Ten O Nine
with a smile on your face and a tear right in your eye.
Couldn't see to get a line on you, my sweet honey love.
Berber jew'lry jangling down the street,
make you shut your eyes at ev'ry woman that you meet.
Could not seem to get a high on you, my sweet honey love.

May the good Lord shine a light on you,
make every song [you sing] your favorite tune.
May the good Lord shine a light on you,
warm like the evening sun.

well, you're in the alley, baby, with your clothes all torn
and your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn.
Just seemed too many flies on you, I just can't brush them off.
Angels beating all their wings in time,
with smiles on their faces and a gleam right in their eyes.
Thought I heard on sigh for you,
come on up, come on up, now, come on up now.

May the good Lord shine a light on you,
make every song [you sing] your favorite tune.
May the good Lord shine a light on you,
warm like the evening sun.

Inauguration day

( "Your Hope Shines" B-side )

I'm up to my neck
In the mud of Inauguration day

They say it's one in fifty years
That storm, that blew my dog away

And they say the road has been washed out
From Rockport to Concrete
And all the trees are falling down
And now, heaven's at my feet

My wishes do my beggin' for me
And like a beggar they do [learn / laugh]

Frozen fingers touch my face
They tie a blindfold 'round my eyes

And I'm stuck at this roadblock
Chasing fog and smoke
I guess the price of doing thhat was just
Another killing joke

Wash me down
Wash me down

Sing for me now
Sing for me now

Wash me from the hillside
And wash me from the dirt
Wash me from your worldly claims
And wash me, wash me from your hurt

'Cause I'm up to my neck
In the mud of Inauguration day

Cello Song

( Nick Drake Tribute album track )

Strange face, with your eyes
So pale and sincere
Underneath you know well
You have nothing to fear
For the dreams that come to you when so young
Told of a life
Where spring is sprung

You would seem so frail
In the cold of the night
When the armies of emotion
Go out to fight
But while the earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky
On the crest of a wave

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me out
To your place in the cloud