1.911
Say good morning to my friends
Oh my lord, it's 6 am
The day ain't nothin' but a sentence paid
You work so hard and nothin' changed
The union crooks treat me like a pawn
They said to strike and I lost my job
The folks back east, they say the market's fine
I heard that before 1929
When Black Tuesday comes it'll be a hit
Right out of the air into the pit
There's one out now said the president
War World 3 will make your poor horns bend
All the old boys said they could make it last
Like Vietnam without a draft
Got the best in the biz for the marketing
We'll turn the Marlboro Man into a marine
The brave youth will come from far & wide
When 911 is the battle cry
Well this American proud tradition
Yes they pulled the switch and cried for vengeance
If your god forgave all of your sins
Then why would you make martyrs out of them?
For money? Or power? Or glory?
Do you even care?
2.Bushwick Blues
Hold on to my hand
Never let go
Never let go
We were just two kids acting tough
Then we grew up
Me, not so much
All the other guys that you've seen
are nothing compared to me
Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak
After all
When we first met
We spoke so brief
When you sang a sonnet
I hummed sweet relief
Do you recall that night we took the L
Out into Bushwick
It was colder than hell
So maybe there
We should have stopped
Cause I'm left here feeling like a cop
Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak
After all
To the other side
of the state's return
I met a young girl
Well I couldn't manage her
Because I think of you
In every girl I meet
It's no relief
That sounds to me just as sweet
So maybe I'm the fool for feeling used
By the way we kissed that night I though you knew
Because my love is strong
And my heart is weak
After all
3.Salt in the Wound
I want to disappear
Far from the folks I know
I want to get an answer
To why I was even born
No one here can tell me
What's been haunting me all my life
Well this rat race has left me limping
Cause I balanced on the edge of the edge of the knife
Why am I here? Oh what should I do?
Well is this the point I'm trying to prove?
If there's a god in my head
Then there's a devil too
How can I tell the difference
When they both claim to be true
Maybe God is God
Maybe the Devil is me
Well I just throw my chains on
And tell myself that I'm free
Chains - are they really there?
Is this just in my head?
Well I'll just stay in bed
Life sure has its meaning
Over years I have postured the sun
Thieves and preachers robbed me
For many hat that I've hung
Now with my heart wide open
I listen to the wind just for a word
Sure, I know it's futile
But that's all I have in this world
To look down from the hill
And howl at the moon
All the tears I cried never salted any wounds
Well the earth is so tender and cruel
Well if you're not there it's still so beautiful
4.White Table
Meet me darlin', won't you?
I've been waiting for you
At my lonesome white table
Ready, willing, and able
Torn in two
Beaten and scarred
I'll give you my love but not my heart
Tattered and worn
Battered and bruised
I'll give you my love but it won't be true
Someday darlin' maybe
You could be my baby
Until then I'll be waitin'
At my lonesome white table
Torn in two
Beaten and scarred
I'll give you my love but not my heart
Tattered and worn
Battered and bruised
I'll give you my love but it won't be true
5.Ransom Man
With a blindfold I can walk
I see colors when you talk
Could paint your picture with one black crayon
Yes I am your ransom man
I came for you, that is correct
My trunk is hungry from neglect
I would show you, but it's too direct
Well I am your ransom man
I wore some holes into my boots
It's been weeks now following you
They say Los Angeles is a desolate land
Well I am your ransom man
I took some work for a strongarm
You were a sucker for his charm
You see they love you with the back of his hand
Well I am your ransom man
Darlin' I know that you are sweet
Just a midwest transplant with your dreams
Well if I don't kill you he will kill me
Well I am your ransom man
Just one look would make the call
I put that bastard's head right through a wall
Be the great returning of glass into sand
Well I am your ransom man
Kiss me on the cheek and I'll be gone
Please do not leave flowers on my lawn
Just wanna hear Dixie from a funeral band
Well I am the ransom man
Just wanna hear dixie from a funeral band
6.Devil Knows You're Dead
May the wind be always at your back
And the sunshine warm upon your face
May the rains fall soft upon your field
Until the day we meet again
And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm
Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven my friend
May good luck find you at your worst
And back luck lose you at your best
May your days be rich and full of wealth
And your nights be long when you need rest
And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm
Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven my friend
And the road may it rise to meet your feet
And be downhill all the way to your door
May the grass below be green and the sky above be blue
May it be so forever more
And the roof that hangs over your head
Find you shelter from the storm
Before the devil knows you're dead
May you be in heaven my friend
May you be in heaven my friend
May you be in heaven, oh my oh
7.Golden State
These roads stretch a thousand miles in every way
I look for the day
As we ride over the hill
Well I am blind
The Golden State has been home
But I place my stake
To roam and to rake
But good souls we mend
Would teach me in what course to take
Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead
At 48 we seem so well
For three short years we worked like hell
I've been here before lyin' on your floor
It was good to me
Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead
The roads stretch a thousand miles in every way
I look for the day
As we ride over the hill
Well I am blind
Good friends remain
Even through the pain
Of a long road ahead
Good friends remain
Even through the strain
Of a long road ahead
8.Scarecrow
Oh scarecrow, you know why I'm asleep?
All the weight you bear you cannot carry
You know you're just like you're mother
And your bag all packed to go
And you hid your heart from everyone you know
You say you'd never love another
Unless they bore your own name
Oh your kin, they trample on you just the same
Oh I gave my love to a harlot I'm told
And the blackness of a scarecrow no one knows
Well I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted in a rain
Well your love that takes your picture
And your love that worships
Well if you can't see it then soon you will
And you frequent the same stripclub
You love to watch the ladies dance
Well you always know I don't do shit like that
While I was out in Scotland
You were out with him
And you took your shot and you threw up your limbs
Oh I gave my love to a harlot I'm told
And the blackness of a scarecrow you cannot hold
well I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted in a rain
Well you deserve applause for splitting me into
Well I count you on the list of a mortal few
Well I hope that you were happy
I could only wish you the best
But your beauty vacant setting in the west
And this may just say redundant because you've chosen your own
fate
Was I more to you than just a pretty face
Well I'll give my love to a harlot I will
And the blackness of a scarecrow you cannot kill
Well I'm red in the blood that I have drained
That I wasted waiting for rain
9.Vivian
Sleep oh sleep my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well I'll stay right here above the clouds
Waiting to see heaven with you
Well I'll fall for each breath as long as I could
Fighting with nothing, no
The last breath I took blew through the wind
And into nothin' at all
Sleep oh sleep my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well I'll stay right here below the clouds
Waiting to see heaven with you
Well I know it's hard to deal with the pain
You yell from your liver giving out
Well just close your eyes and think of me
Oh Jerry's not leavin' this gal
Sleep oh sleep my Vivian
Heaven is too cold without you
Well I'll stay right here above your house
Waiting to see heaven with you
Oh your firey red hair and your warm brown eyes
You remember the day that we wed?
Forever our souls are intertwined
Not separate even in death
Sleep oh sleep my Vivian
Heaven ain't nothin' without you
Well I'll stay right here beside your bed
Waiting to see heaven with you
Waiting to see heaven with you
Waiting to see heaven with you
10.St. Francis
They're all throwin stones at the back of my home
Kickin the dirt in the air
Well I left to think while they're thinking I'm stoned
Well I had no cause to be there
Well I left this town
Well I had something left to bury the fear in my head
Well it's all it's the same cause the city's just as bad
It's full of people like me
We've all run away
Everyone wants what nobody needs
Silver and gold
Everyone wants what nobody needs
Well I ran to woods and I preached to the birds
St. Francis talking to me
Well they said I'd find love and the pain I'd endure
If I would just listen to him
With my ear to the ground and my heart full of lead
Well I quietly listed to teach
Oh with tears in his eyes he just looked straight through me
I awkwardly waited for speech
We've all run away
Everyone wants what nobody needs
Silver and gold
Everyone wants what nobody needs
Once I was sure that this love was the truth
Well I quickly spit in his face
I returned to my home
Friends and I, we threw stones
Bragging that I knew the way
11.Ballad of Vitaly
In the German sky there once was a plane
It carries 71 children and their mothers to spain
Well this plane was sure something
It was full of young Russians
Proudly to gander at topics discussin'
Now Pete the Swiss was doublin' shifts
Jugglin' the iron controlled by his lips
Not a minute too soon children fell to their doom
Struck dead in the air, orphan a father or two
He just laid in the alley
Now orphan Vitaly met a young girl
Married her quickly
Was so damn in love that they had their two kids
Had a great job; construction in Spain
They were going to see Papa from Caucasus mountain range
Now that damn Swissman crashed them into a plane
I will find where he lives
Speak to his face with the blood in my eyes
He will see my pain
Many weeks passed
For fear of a suit
The airline said nothin, Vitaly turned blue
For the killing they done
No apology made
Is it 'cause we are Russian you treat us this way
Through a friend that he new Vitaly found Pete
He came to his doorstep expecting to speak
But Pete blew him off
Threw down the pictures Vi brought
Pictures of the 3 most important he lost
As the pictures fell down
Re-enacting the day
Vitaly's eye blackened
No human remained
Well so much can be said
For a man in his shoes
There's no glamour in vengeance
There's only this rule:
That the lives you lost can never come back
And the deed in return is worse than the act
Blinded by love and the pain of his loss
He could not remember the act of assault
He awoke in his room all covered in blood
The cops they'd come knockin
They knew what he'd done
The government leaned
Vitaly was free
They called him the hero, a man above kings
A shadow of man, they were praising his deed
He was alone killed a father of 3
No deed that he did could make him complete
It could have been different if only Pete said
'I'm sorry for killin' the few joys you had'
But now there's nothin' for Vitaly to do
But step off a cliff or hang in the noose
Robbed of forgiveness that he could'a gave
There's no man left to save
12.Stalker's Lament
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