Words between Wake and sleep - Patrick Storedahl

1

Words between

Wake and sleep

The Song Lyrics

Of

Patrick Storedahl

2

For Connie, Kiefer, and Riley

It isn’t much; however, it is all I’ve done.

Love you all.

3

Table of Contents Introduction 4

Trike 5

Spoke 12

Some Horrendous Joke 22

The Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed 32

Ink Block Fingerprint 46

Some More 78

Years Later (Songs written or recorded after 2004)

Kalama Tea 107

Eating Louisiana 116

The Whole Year Inn 131

Honey, Won’t You Spare Some Bills 158

Songs Not Recorded…Yet 182

Songs by Page 232

4

I am lazy and I like to play with small meaningless tasks. Songwriting has afforded me the opportunity to dabble at both of these. Though I consider the writing of music and words as two different tasks, they are both similar in the sense that they require (at least for me) obsessive play. Perhaps that is why some writing teams (such as George and Ira Gershwin) divided the tasks. Also if one looks at Lennon and McCartney, it has been long thought that Lennon was the more complex lyricist and McCartney the more complex composer. That is not to say that I would consider myself in the same league as John, Paul, George and Ira, it is a simple example to demonstrate the difference in words and music.

My life has two parts: my dad and music. Though I was aware of some music while my dad was alive, and even played some guitar and clarinet, it was not a focus. After he died, I made a big right turn and became obsessed with music, mostly rock and roll. Since then I have taken some small detours such as college, marriage, and kids, but music has always been there. Musically, I consider myself an adequate musician and I seem to have the capability to play or sing something that benefits a piece of music. I find it easy to play both other people’s songs and write my own songs, not from a technical playing standpoint, but rather from an ability to see the whole of the song. That is, what seems to come easy to me is the ability to quickly analyze and develop both song forms and harmonic structures. This ability also allows me to see ways of playing with these forms and structures, and then when writing to mold them into something unique, unorthodox, or in the very least, fun. A lyric is more of an exercise in fun than accuracy because the point of a lyric is to be sung and perhaps to make someone think or at least ask the question, “What in the hell did he just sing?” With this in mind, accuracy can sometimes make a song stagnant and more of a report than a song. Not that I have always succeeded in this, but a few things that I have done in the past are to change genders of real people, change how a word is used, or use incorrect grammar and yes, I have even made up a few words along the way. Another misconception that some people have about songwriting is that inspiration has to come from the heart and be personal. As for me, though I use my life as inspiration, when it is time to write a song I do not feel a need to tell the story as fact. I often use a lot situations (not all related) to make a lyric complete. The lyrics contained in this book may or may not be good, but as the writer I feel that I am sometimes too close to the work to decide if something is good or not; however, the songs that have never been recorded I am sure that I left behind simply because of a lyric being lame. I guess that time kind of weeds out the runts, though that is not to say that everything I have recorded has been great either…they just stuck. In short, I just try to have fun with words and play with the language; therefore, good or bad, here are some words from my life that I recorded and some I had forgotten about or left behind. I tried not to repeat parts such as choruses unless there was a change.

-2003

7

Trike

Just Plain Bill

1991 First Release

This was released as a cassette tape only and was recorded on 4-track cassette in the days when Just Plain Bill was a three piece band including Ted Clark, Douglas Blum and myself. Some of the songs were then rerecorded over the years and

will be included with the lyrics on the CD in which they appeared. These few never went any further than this project.

In some, if not most cases, that was probably for the best.

8

Anything

Kiss of Judas, breath of cancer

Daddy’s girl is on the prowl

Starboard hanging now

The tide is rising like a gull

Mountain of fear, vision of awe

Feel the earthquake on my ear

Thought you were Georgia O’Keefe in the desert

If God could swim tell me what he’d be

Thought you were Jack Kerouac

Beat the sea beat the surf

Thought you were Samuel Longhorne Clemens writing a tale

I saw God dying out at sea

I can’t tell you anything


I can’t tell you anything, because you already know

Just a whisper now could make me smile

Maybe you should go now

Kiss of friendship, kiss of God

Kiss-off, daddy’s girl is on the prowl



I don’t want to listen to you

9

Get out of the Rain

Rain is falling down…If you only try to open up your eyes

“Sunshine’s always lying on my face,” is what you said to me

Sometimes I think you’ve lost your mind

Wrap yourself in latex or armor and coat your tongue with innocence

But who said Heaven’s really white?

I can still remember that house when I was young

When all those buoys made of glass were falling down

Rain is falling down like a blanket on your face, you can’t see anything

You’re running blindly through your life, thinking everything’s alright

If you would only try, only try to open up your eyes

Maybe you would get out of the rain

“Sunshine’s always lying on my face,” is what you said to him

Sometimes I think that you’re as crazy as the dress you’re wearing

Wrap yourself in white tonight and climb up on your Silver

I hope your savior is a small young girl of color

What a crazy thing to do with your mouth

Hey, hey, hey, what a crazy thing to do with your mouth

10

Length of Money

The pen tattoos on their arms seemed to speak to me

Some nicotine-lip said you’d gone away

All those faces looked like puppets

As they pushed the buttons of the arcade

Pretty girls come running out of the rain Voices of the President, Efferdent, Scope, the Pope

To beat the cold and wipe the stains from their doubt TV evangelists, can you imagine this?-What are they talking about? Let’s get out

Some could be a movie star, have a career and a domestic car

Housewife blues or a Playboy bunny

It’s always the length of money that counts

No one on the streets for the holiday

I saw a poster with a smile and your face

I never noticed how much the cloth glitters

Until I had the guts to take a taste

Pretty girls come running out of the rain They’ll gag you, bag you, snag you by the balls, tie you up and take all your money

To beat the cold and wipe the stains from their doubt Buy this, sell that, get fat, cardiac victim get slim they’ll chew you up and then they’ll spit you out

Capital is corporate gender slang

It’s God’s phallic sign

And when you run out of things to say

You save face with plastic lies

I saw you on the boulevard with a brand new Rolls

Kind of expensive for a toy

There was a pretty girl beside you to prove you’re all boy

Remember when we used to listen to Pink Floyd…I still do

Pretty girls come running out of the rain Stepping out of my front door, I wonder what that is on my lawn

To beat the cold and wipe the stains from their doubt Burning, turning the grass to a different hue, could it maybe be the fallout…Or is it Starsky and

Hutch?




11

Radio K.U.G.S.

Future’s blast, songs of the past

Classical and funk on a list

Turn your dial and listen for awhile

To psychology with a twist

It’s the beat of a new collegiate

With news of dorm-grown contraband

So take a vacation from the synthetic stations and turn to 88.3 Bellingham

Coming across the airways in the voices of peers

And adding variety to the selection of beers

Radio, Radio K.U.G.S.

Wave of the future, hint of culture

Click the bricks of Red Square

Portable waves pass the fountain

Up the mountain and Fairhaven’s summer fair


With songs of new and old bands

So take a vacation from the synthetic stations and turn to 88.3 Bellingham

Coming across the airways, beating off the go-goes

And those ugly gold chains of the spank slut gigolos



With news of dorm-grown contraband

So take a vacation from the penetration and turn to 88.3 Bellingham

Coming across the airways, anyway you please

Turn to 8, 8, 8, 8, 88.3


12

Third Time

Beat the shoreline, beat the surf

A hundred voices can’t be heard

Swallow the sea, swallow the surf

One less brother can’t be heard

Ocean child feel the water on your face

Water of life, water of love

Wash away the life, and wash away the love

Ocean child’s drowning

Talk the talk of the sailors’ dock

And the sea’s not always fair

An albatross around her neck

And she’s gasping there for air

Going down for the third time…

Beat the shoreline, beat the surf

A hundred years of tears aren’t worth

Water of life, water of love

Walk on water like your walking on love

13

Walk in the Moonlight

Night falls on the sea of light

Can’t seem to find the time

Follow the moon - Follow the night

Let’s take a walk in the moonlight

Slow down to view the scene

Talk slow, I don’t know what you mean

Another street – Another night


Anxiously coughing up the nerve

Cautiously step across stone

Breaking up the noise with a word

Step off…an interesting conclusion

Shadows across the ‘scape

Shrink into your face

Sorting out the clutter – Sorting out the night


Standing to sit in a fit of arrangement

Standing to sit the seat that is more, more, more, and more

Slipping out of a comfortable habit

Snap into a series of stutters

15

Spoke

Just Plain Bill

1994 Second Release

Recorded in Seattle on CM Records, Spoke, was a disaster.

We had an engineer with very little experience and combined with our lack of experience the whole thing didn’t bode well.

With that said, there are still a few songs I like from it and all the songs I wrote are included here.

16

Dumb (Inspired by Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins and Kurt Cobain)

If I’m so dumb

If I’m so dumb

Then why are you standing right in front of me?

In the wolf-mother wallpaper

If I’m so dumb

If I’m so dumb

Then why are you listening to me right now?

In the toadstool motel

I’m not suicidal

I just want to hurt myself

I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


If I’m so dumb

If I’m so dumb

Then why are you touching me, feeling me?

Like an inanimate object in a cave

I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


17

Eating Louisiana

(Inspired by Paul Prudhomme, hell, it’s pretty much his recipe with some

artistic license)

Eating Louisiana, eating Louisiana

Blackened Creole’ rodent


Fat man’s Cajun delight

Hey!

Take a tablespoon of sweet paprika

Teaspoon of onion powder

Teaspoon of garlic powder

One teaspoon of ground red pepper

Take a teaspoon and a half each of black and white pepper

One teaspoon of oregano and thyme

Don’t forget the salt

Take an extremely large cast iron skillet

Place it on the oven over heat

Past the stage of smoking, white ash in the well

Meanwhile, thoroughly combine the spices in a bowl

And sprinkle lightly over buttered fillets

I know a man, he is a chef

Without the fat there’d be nothing left

I’m on a soapbox behind a podium

Eat less fat and sodium

18

Everything

She sits by the side of the street

Watching the busses come and leave

A piss-bottle between her knees to catch all the things

That she doesn’t believe will last

She’s a casualty of an anorexic fast

She wonders what’s inside your head I’m not beating you off this time

So she can change your mind and make it into hers

And everything is hers

There’s a foggy hue of awareness in her head

And there’s a shade of funny turning red

All day she dreams she’s dead

With the local leper lying in her bed

She screams, “Why can’t dreams be as real as the truth?

And why can’t the pain, be pulled out with the tooth?”

She pins her cellophane smile to her face and whispers

Some things are private as you know

She shuts her eyes and ears as a defense against her fears

That there’s something here to disclose

She sits and smokes her cigarette in quiet

Delicately she uses etiquette like a thumb

Minutes that seem like hours, tick and tock across her clock

Until all the cigarettes are gone

She comes and goes as though she thinks she knows we’re watching her

Fumble through her discipline and song

Up behind this town beyond the pharmacy and school behind the church

There is a water tower; you can get there from here

There is no asylum in the world

There’s not a place that won’t hang your carcass

Like beef in the market and make you act like a vegetable

19

Hollywood Cab Ride

There you are in the back of my car, telling me who you are like a movie

star

You ask about me, but as you can see I’m not who I want to be, you see, you

see

Then you say you love me – You can take a ride

Then you say you care – You can take a ride

Then you say you want to go down there and take a ride

You got my attention and I don’t have to mention that my intention is void

of greed

Imagine a scene from a movie screen where the actors seem to be behind the

stream

Then you say you hate me – You can take a ride

Then you say goodbye – You can take a ride

Then you leave me alone in a theatre restroom ready to cry…

At the slightest change of plot

And you know that if I myself from my last cigarette

I will explode

Like the man in the TV show

I will explode

He sold fish in the square as if you even care

He was a bystander, handout, not too different

From you and I on the 4th

of July

Then he took a ride…

Then you want my name – You can take a ride

Then you mention the money – You can take a ride

To be a friend of mine just like Ms. Devine

When she portrayed Janis Joplin

I will explode

Like the man I used to know

I will explode



Then you say you want to go down there where the lights spell Hollywood

To talk is the moon and ends way too soon

To have ever been real or true

20

Sanctuary Restaurant

We’re going to the Sanctuary Restaurant

Delivered to the river to find something we want

Stowaways and broken dreams fall down and dance

Stowaways and brokens ride a snake in the grass

It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright

Packed up my skeletons, my secrets and masks

Answer to the question was a simple, “Please, don’t ask.”

Took my son and lover on a bus ride across the bridge

With alphabet soup in a melting pot to find where sanctuary is


Frankly it’s humiliating when she feels she must explain her exit

Like she thinks I’m an idiot and incapable of pain

I’m loathing

We’re going to the Sanctuary like children on a carnival ride

We’ve walked in the water, we’ve walked in the water and we’ve crawled in

the tide


I met a girl from the Big Sky I swear I’ve met her before

She said, “When you get to the place where your eyes don’t see,

You won’t miss them anymore.”

Stowaways and broken dreams on a bus ride across the bridge

We’re going to find where sanctuary is


Give me, give me, give me Sanctuary

Give me, give me, give me Sanctuary

More Kool-Aid Reverend Jones

21

Something

Tell me something I don’t know

Tell me something I don’t know

Tell me

You know something I want



Feel the fingers of a blind girl

Rubbing out the wrinkles of the pillows on the blue sofa

Watch the eyes of a man who’s got something else crazy on his mind

She can’t help it, no, she can’t help it

If the neighborhood mutt is taking up all her time

You know something I want you to do, to turn me on

22

Thumb (Inspired by Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins)

Sissy and the Hip Angel

Down on the road


Glide along the highway

They’re going to be there soon


They’re going to be there soon with thumbs in the sky

Peyote on their tongues, but their mouths are dry

Ha, ha, ho, ho, and hee-hee


Thumbs in a jar


Lick the vinegar

Goat god and a cowgirl


You can give me Buddha, Confucius too

Jesus and Dale got nothing on you

There’s a flock whoopers in my soul

There’s a body on the ground


There’s a body on the ground with dirt in her hand

One less cowgirl playing in the sand

Sissy and the Hip Angel thumb off in the sunset

Sissy and the Hip Angel glide off in the sunset



Sissy and the Hip Angel…ride

23

Transportation

There’s a ship of fools providing entertainment

To a raft of intellects and 23 gay men

The train of fish isn’t in a hurry

To pass a pickup truck of idiots gerbiling

There’s a frigate and a frogget and Frugget

Filling with the Filipino farmers

There’s a limo like a lady’s libido

Behind a caravan of snake charmers

Felching on a Sunday morning

Waiting for the autumn corn

Once in awhile you try to figure it out and find you hate the traffic

Transportation, transportation to the mind


Throw caution to the wind

I’m going to rip out my heart

And throw it on the freeway

Take this brain, take these hands and give them away

I’m going to jump the next train out of town

Because I can’t take it anymore

This dirty little town contains an element of chastity that I’d like to

sodomize

I can’t think, I can’t see, it’s all a blur

Slow down, put up a stop sign, put up a detour



Pumpkin and nougat leaves a bad taste in my mouth – (This line by Ted

Clark)

25

Some Horrendous

Joke

Just Plain Bill

1997 Third Release

This time we did it in Olympia. It was more comfortable and

cheaper, but it took a long time. We recorded at Arcade Digital and the first thing we did was Frank Zappa’s “Camarillo

Brillo.” We recorded far more songs than ever made the CD, which are included towards the end of this chapter. We

learned a lot and started to become more experimental and did some larger productions. I don’t know if the words improved

any, but our recordings did.

26

Go Ahead and Cry

Go ahead and cry

But I’m never going to change my mind

I’ve already told you before

Don’t let the door hit you from behind

Go ahead and cry

I’ve already said my good-byes

So, you can cry your eyes

Until the day you die I don’t mind

Stick a needle in the eye of every voodoo doll you spy

Go ahead if it makes you feel like you’ve evened the score

But I don’t think I could even smile long enough

To make you think that I am happy anymore

Go ahead and cry

But this bird is going to fly, fly, fly

So, you might as well swallow the pain

Don’t let it stain up your windowpane

Go ahead and cry

Go ahead and cry, cry, cry

Go ahead and cry your eyes

Until the day you die I don’t mind

27

Indian Heaven

Let’s glide up to Indian Heaven

I know what I want but it’s difficult to mention

Maybe I can, if I only try

Let’s get domestic, a little family

You and me, you and me and love

Sugar on the counter, sugar on the counter, sugar on the counter

Honey and kisses of sound

Hear the rain, I want to sing like that

Just an acorn could be an oak tree

Maybe I can, if I only try

Can we bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom, bloom,

Blum into seasons

It is not true that we only come to live here

We only come to sleep, we only come to sleep, we only come to sleep

And only to dream

Let us smile down at our love

Looking up and all around us, we’re watching us

A flame in a windless spot doesn’t ever flicker

Let’s glide up to Indian Heaven

Motion in motion on motion is motion of motion

There’s a tendency to have tendencies

Try not to think, try not to think, try not to think

And only be it

28

Leave It Alone

Leave it alone

Let me tell you, yeah I want to tell you, you had better leave it alone

Boy, you’re going to loose it, yeah you can’t abuse it, you had better leave it

alone

When I was small there was this kid

I won’t tell you what he did

But he did what he did, he did

In my town they bore a frown

But it only wore him down

So he did what he did, he did, he did, he did

My mama used to scold me, once she even told me

I must be the Devil’s right hand man

Boy, you best believe it, yeah you best be leaving it alone

You had better leave it, leave it all alone

When I was a boy I was fed the line

Told it really wasn’t fine

But I did it all the time

I didn’t mind it was viewed a crime

After all, it was all mine

So I did what I did, I did, I did, I did

29

Numb (Inspired by Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins and Spalding

Gray)

Where will you be when the mothers of the heroes and the martyrs

Stumble out of their mourning dresses

Where will you be when the earth beneath your feet

Begins to shake just like hysterical misery

The Second Coming didn’t quite come off as planned

Jesus’ body found down in the Vatican

A roadside zoo, a clairvoyant, and a jungle man

Like some horrendous joke pulled off by God or Pan

I’m numb

Where will you be when you find out that your mother has committed

suicide while you were on vacation

How will you feel riding that elevator up inside that skyscraper and spit out

like some common unhappiness

Into the arms of some psychoanalytic couch

I do believe it’s over now

The Second Coming didn’t quite come off as planned

Jesus’ body found down in the Vatican

A roadside zoo, a clairvoyant, and a jungle man

Like some horrendous joke pulled off by God or Pan

30

Oliver Carson

Walking,

Walking through the clicks and schemes he’s on his way to his routine

Walking,

Walking through a painted scene of a business day with a magazine

Attends a matinee

The clouds all look gray

Around the sky-bound towers

Holy pocket for his hand

Past the Free Jesus Band

And listen, listen for hours

Oliver Carson, what do you see in our smiles?

We’d all like to know, how have you been?

Walking

Walking like a willow tree do you know the kind, an awful lot like me?

Ah just a normal day

No one here is sad

No one is in pain

Oliver Carson, what do you see?

Watching all the dancers and the one-night romancers

Glide between a barroom’s conversation

A picture of a man from the Free Jesus Band

Stands above the patrons as they soak the suds

31

Satellite Boy

All they ever wanted was entertainment

And cable was something they couldn’t afford

Every dime of their paychecks

Went for food and clothes and not much more

But it wasn’t their fault they worked hard as dogs

Eighteen hours on the job they’d come home after dark and pray to God

Satellite boy, satellite boy they’re tapping into all those stations they can’t

get

Satellite boy, satellite boy they’ve turned their whole household into a giant

TV set

So he and the wife started thinking

And they did some reading on how babies are made

They decided on some experimentation

And I don’t have to tell you what they made

It’s a miracle man, little feet and hands

I saw them at the store, and he’s a boy and so much more

Some people say, size doesn’t really matter

After all, it’s only a TV is what they’ve said

But they haven’t got 360 channels

Beaming into their house off their child’s head

They came to the conclusion it wasn’t fair

To make their child, work for free

And now they’re charging their neighbors

Even more than The Cable Company

But there’s a family down the street

Who can’t afford the fee

They’ve got some ideas of their own

How to make their household into a happy home

32

Silver’s Universe

Silver threaded fireflies

Two apples in her eye

Like starry, starry skies in mid July

Silver’s universe

Silver painted hummingbirds

On every child’s smile

Like tinsel and twinkling lights on a Christmas night

Silver gathered honeybees

By singing them to sleep

Like rain in the springtime, rocking them awhile

33

Stoning Romeo

Juliet stands on her balcony

Like she thinks she’s Hitchcock’s Madonna

She tosses her flowers and candy

Down on the street ‘cause she wants to prove

She don’t need anybody

She don’t need me

She don’t trust her libido

She’s stoning Romeo

Juliet stands by a window

She’s dancing but she don’t move

She fingers the photographs

Of every Romeo she knew

But she don’t need anybody

She don’t need me

She don’t feel any sorrow


Touching the poison to your lips, could almost be just like a kiss

In spite of the fact that it’s a tragedy


She don’t need me

There’s nothing she needs to borrow


Juliet stands on her balcony

Like she thinks she’s Madonna’s Hitchcock

She pretends she doesn’t see me

Just down the street a block


She don’t need me

She don’t need fellatio


35

The Hedonistic

Rituals of the

Unemployed

Just Plain Bill Fourth Release

It all started with a meeting at Douglas Blum’s house about

the new CD and trying to decide what to do. We decided that we would like to do a project with a lot of production; however,

by the end I think we probably regretted it. I wanted to do kind of a concept album with everyone contributing. I had

already written the title track, so it was later decided that we would each produce a couple of tunes with a Hedonistic song and an instrumental to bookend each of our sections. This

made the project into a kind of play with four acts. I then had to write the other Hedonistic songs. Ethan Moreno and Ted Clark both chose some songs that had been around awhile,

and Douglas and I both wrote new songs for our sections. The whole thing took a lot of time, a lot of money, and turned into our little Sgt. Pepper. Also included at the end are two songs, “Buddha in the Bedroom” and “Domino”, from an extra release

entitled Bill and his Fabulous Organ that we did for some fans.

36

Camping Incognito

I’m watching her roll her eyes back in her head

Smoke can bring a flame when one decides to play with fire

You can bet the farm or even sell the cow

Camping incognito isn’t easy ‘less you know how

She is camping incognito

I’m watching him hold his breath ‘til he turns blue now

Guilt can freeze a tear if you’re not careful as a stream, creek, or brook

You can farm the bet or even play the face well

Camping incognito is as obvious as hell

He is camping incognito

I’m watching me wash the soil from my face in the mirror now

Cracks as big as ditches form like a road map on my face

I’ve farmed my years on the road it’s been a long drive

Camping incognito is how I’ve survived

I’m camping incognito

37

Chew up My Heart

Everything is falling out of place

Any hint of love has disappeared without a trace, it’s out the door

You tell me you’re going to call it quits

“Love of My Life” I’m not surprised a single bit by this

You say we’re done; you say you’ve met someone

I want to drown myself in alcohol or scratch my head with a splitting maul

I could even cut your throat with a butter knife or the note that you wrote me

I didn’t think if I turned around you’d poke me

Go ahead and tell me what you need

Go ahead and tell me what you’re thinking of

Go ahead chew up my heart

Spit it back out in your sink of love

Most of what you say I don’t believe

It never stops the lies keep rolling off your teeth

As though you think they’re true

God, how could I have ever loved you?

I want a plant a plastic detonator inside of your radiator

Or conceal a little bomb inside an airplane or another place you’ve gone

I didn’t think it was going to last that long

I don’t want to love you; I don’t want to touch you;

I don’t want to hold you; I don’t want to feel you anymore

I don’t want to see you; I don’t want to hug you;

I don’t want to curse you; I don’t believe you anymore

I want to bite you, I want to bite you, I want to bite you

I want make you bleed, but not that bad…it’s not that satisfying

38

Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed

We're looking at The Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed

And The Manuals of the Chronically Addicted to Nicotine

We're perusing through The Masticating Challenged Brochures

With acute intensity over Innate Obesity

We're studying The Bible from a Colony of Nudists

With particular attention to The Scruples of Volleyball

Privacy and Sunburn Passages are explored

With magnified scrutiny of The Newfangled Water Skis

We're documenting rituals of The Hedonistic Unemployed

And evaluating Those Accused of Sloth and Gluttony

We've synthesized Arrangements for Constructive Anorexics

By observing Work Release for Those Convicted of Parking Fees

We've uncovered evidence in The Writings of a Priest

About Combustibility between the Mating Green-Backed Flees

We've carefully hypothesized An Accepted Metamorphosis for Change-

Fearing Atheists who appreciate consistency

We're counting diagrams from Manifestoes One and All

We emphasize secrecy and inspect accounts received

We're alternating Concocted Revelations of the Insecure

With Cornucopiatic Explanations of the Text

We've mildly ignored The Self-Elected Silenteers

Who’ve gathered in defense of Rights to Pee on Electric Fence

With shocking accusations from a TV evangelist

Whose trial had been missed by CNN and CBS

We're looking at The Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed

And The Chronicles of the Manually Addicted to the Obscene

We're producing Thorough Flabbergasted Challenged Brochures

Without intentionality to promote monogamy

Read The Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed

39

Hero

I’ve seen pictures in tabloid papers about you

I’ve heard rumors in seedy motels about you

Go ahead and take my picture

Go ahead and take my picture

Go ahead and take my picture now

Isn’t that Bob Crane?

I’ve an authentic autographed photo of Klink

I’ve been trying for years to acquire yours (Whatcha think)

When I was five or six years old

I used to watch you on the television screen

5:00 to 5:30

I never liked the Brady Bunch or even Starsky and Hutch

But the girl on the Mod Squad was pretty

And if I asked you today, would you say you were my hero?

40

Missing In Venice

I think I'd rather be missing

Missing in Venice

Missing in Venice would be better than this

Hang your thoughts out to dry on the line all night

Dream for a while all right

Missing in Venice would be bliss, yeah

There is a word between wake and sleep

When you're very small and thoughts are large

It almost speaks and then it twists

It smells like rain but it's all but mist

When you're alone in your room at night

Punches can roll by like medicine

While the enormous and the well seem small

And as for dreams and what they're worth

Living in fear is quite a curse


Darkness and light can be as one thing

While topsy-turvy is seen secure

But words and thoughts and what they've meant

Can't be the same as when they're sent


Missing in Venice would be all right

41

Rituals Revisited

We're on our way

Yeah, here we go

We're going to lose our way

Yeah, we're done with the show

Take us down

Take us down

Take us down

Let us drown in you

Let us drown, yeah

In The Hedonistic Rituals




Doing anything at all

Doing anything that comes to mind

Light the way

Light the way

Light the way

Let us drown in you

Let us drown, yeah

Hedonistic Rituals

Hedonistic Rituals

Hedonistic Rituals

Hedonistic Rituals

42

Sleep Away the Day

Just a little bit longer, please

I want to sleep

Yeah, let me be

Just a little bit longer now

Turn off the day

Please go away

The sun is up the day’s begun - I don’t want to know

Maybe this could be the one - I don’t want to know

Maybe you could be like me - Sleep away the day

Just a little bit longer, yeah

I’m in a dream

It’s not what it seems

Just a little bit longer, please

Turn off the clock

Don’t wake me up!

43

Unemployed and Out of Luck

Hedonistic Rituals of the Unemployed,

Unemployed and Out of Luck


We’re fumbling…

Through artifacts and religious lore

From when we were young to when we were old

We’re stumbling…

Through pagan games for science sake

And it ain’t no fun being the only ones

We’re searching for a sign of our own worth

Laughing right out loud from death to birth

Everything’s all right

Everything’s OK

Don’t you know we love you anyway?

Hedonistic Rituals

Hedonistic Rituals


We’re thinking…

About self-proclaimed clairvoyance

Down in New Orleans and where we got our shoes

But it’s not knowing, all the tricks of being on the grift

That is unnerving as the future is

44

Yum (Inspired by Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins)

Bernard Mickey Wrangle is a bomber

Bernard Wrangle is a blast

Bernard Wrangle is an outlaw

Bernard Wrangle’s not a criminal

Bernard Mickey Wrangle loves Leigh Cheri

Romantic individualistic

Bernard Wrangle talks with dynamite

TNT just says, “Surprise!”

I want to paint you a picture

I want to weave you a tale

Be my muse for a sculpture in the sand

The Woodpecker says, “Yum.”

Bernard Mickey Wrangle has a black belt in haiku

Bernard Wrangle knows the secret of the moon

Victrola Firecracker and the Red beards

Bernard Mickey’s on the lam

I’m going to build you a pyramid

I found religion on a box

A pack of Camels and a choice

The Woodpecker says, “Yum.”

Ut Oh Spaghettio

45

Bill and His

Fabulous Organ

Songs

Just Plain Bill Limited Release

This was done as a weird companion piece for Hedonistic

Rituals. It included instrumentals of cellos and horns from songs on Hedonistic, as well as, some other things. I wrote

Buddha when Stance was pregnant with our first son, Kiefer. Domino was for a TV show in Seattle we did called The Instant

Karma Coffee House.

46

Buddha in the Bedroom

Well, we’ve come a long ways today, we’re still running

And the question on everyone’s tongue is have we arrived?

Or are we still coming

And as I look around, I still wonder

If the sun’s really hidden behind the thunder

Or in some secret tomb, behind the moon

Like Buddha in the bedroom

Everyone, we used to know, isn’t thinking the same

Is a roadside attraction and a midnight distraction the same?

It’s no longer a game

Like a colorful joke or the turn of a phrase

I’m thinking back to those dangerous days

That we once knew

We were a couple of crazy fools

Making love without costumes

In the light of the full moon


You see me standing out on the road

With a sign in my hand and my thumb in the air and I’m looking to go home

But it can’t be too soon

When she’s playing her favorite tune

And the local goon

Stumbles into the room

But he’s going to meet his doom

With the Buddha in the bedroom

Well we’ve come a long ways today…we’re still running

47

DOMINO

Shadows tiptoe on my cheek

Through the microscope you see

Subtle imperfections

Calculated without direction

The worried stage crew's a fiction, airy column

That topples

Domino

Gingerly constructed syllables

Precarious and miserable

Statuesque intentions

Angelic guardians or apparitions

Sincerity as sass in eight straight lines

That topples

Domino

There's an old dirt road

Where the two would often meet

And stand beneath the trees

Hand in hand, hand in hand

Boy, girl

He fumbles for a button on her shirt

And brushes out the wrinkle on her skirt

And they lay down

Domino

Masks you lend to friends you see

Walk on eggs, seems a family tree

Phobias die

A ghost sees

Neurotic worries hidden beneath

Walls of your home owes actual tendencies

Topple

Domino

49

Ink Block

Fingerprint

Just Plain Patrick

I began this series of songs as a demo for a new recording project with Just Plain Bill and it just kind of turned into a

solo project. I had some help with some instruments, mostly drums, but the rest was just me. I really enjoyed the

experience and like the songs, but I’ve always been kind of disappointed that I have only played the songs acoustically at

open-mics and not with a band. The songs were kind of meant to be played louder.

50

Come (Kurdt)

I’m feeling sick to my stomach

I’ve got a hole in my heart

I’m just pretending

How do you like it so far?

I’ve got a hole in my stomach

I’m feeling sick to my heart

I’m all through pretending

You can come as you are

Here’s a surprise

Here’s a surprise

Here’s a surprise

Here’s a surprise

Here’s a surprise

Here’s a surprise

I’ve got a hole in my stomach

I’m feeling sick to my heart

I’m all through pretending

You can come as you are

51

Fiend

At the foot of her bed, there’s a cemetery

Of lovers she’s had, including me

She’s a tattooed fiend in stilettos

She’ll occasionally wear you like a worn out fad

Taking everything thing you’ve ever had

She’s tattooed in stilettos

With the arrow of Cupid hidden in her sleeve as a crutch

She’ll bait you and coax you until she has you in her clutch

If gold were heartbreak then she’d have the Midas touch

Yeah, she’s the Devil at heart

I know and you know she’s just an imposter

With eyes of a killer-diller, heart of a mobster

She’s a broken down flat tire a road hazard vampire

I know and you know it’s time she retired

She’s a fiend

She makes you feel you’re the only one

Then burns you like the noonday sun

She’s a tattooed fiend in stilettos

She’ll casually wager you as a bet

Then smoke you like a home rolled cigarette

She’s tattooed in stilettos

She makes you think, you should feel that in fact you’re blessed

While she wields her green thumb in her garden of unhappiness

And with each passing day she grows a brand new mess


The Devil at heart, The Devil at heart, The Devil at heart

She purrs while she’s perched like a kitten upon your lap

She’s playful and loving until she turns into a wildcat

And while you pour her milk she’s busy stabbing you in the back


52

Hey, Al

Hey, Al won’t you be my pal?

Won’t you be my ink block fingerprint?

Hey, Al time capsule

Help me see through the glare and tint

That’s fogging up my high

Hey, Al won’t you be my pal?

Won’t you be my light bulb fingertip?

Hey, Al you’re my pal

Bang on the ear with a two can lip

I want to watch you fly

And if you fall, and if you fall then I’ll be there

And if you fall, and if you fall then I’ll be there

And if you fall, and if you fall, and if you fall

Then I’ll be there

Hey, Al won’t you be my gal?

Won’t you be my flashbulb photograph?

Hey, Al time capsule

You can bury me but don’t bury my laugh

I want to share a smile

And if you fall, and if you fall, and if you fall

Then I’ll be there

53

How You’ll Know I’m Gone

How you’ll know I’m gone…

There’ll be a silence in the air

And every time you think to venture near the sink

Nothing will be there

So, you step outside, but you won’t catch me in that lie again

‘Cause all those cigarette butts I used to hide

Have been swept away long ago

But I guess that you would know that I’m gone

Now the bed won’t seem so small and every time you reach

Across the sheets you won’t feel any heat from me

And at 2:00 a.m. you won’t hear me breathing

Shake yourself awake fumble lamped

But you won’t see my tumbled hair lying there sleeping next to you

That’s how you’ll know I’m gone…

How you’ll know I’m gone…

You won’t hear me sing along when you sing that song

The one we used to play now I’m 100,000 miles away

You’ll think you left something home

But every time you check all you find’s that empty pocket

In the jacket that I left behind…but I don’t mind

So you play that song again

And you think you may have found

Something in the sound that made me smile and maybe stick around

Kind of crazy now, yeah something’s missing

Flashbulb red surprise, snapshot eyes

Your won’t see my smiling face in that place standing next to you

That’s how you’ll know I’m gone…

54

It’s Not Easy

Sometimes I’m thinking that you think I understand you

That’s just my look to make you smile, yes it is

I’d love to lie here rolling in the grass

But I’ll be out all night, so don’t wait up

Yeah, I know I’m not easy, that’s what you’ve said

I know you don’t appreciate my friends

Digging in your dirt at 3 AM

Wake up honey and fix something to eat for them

But you just say, speak don’t grin

Yeah, I know they’re not easy, that’s what you’ve said

It’s not easy

It’s not easy

Starlit slumber underneath all of the covers

You sleepy-talk over and over

I hear your heartbeat breathing against your dreams

You know that I can’t sleep ‘til I’ve woke you up

Yeah, I know it’s not easy with me in your bed

Yeah, I know it ain’t easy

It can’t be easy with me in your bed

Sunrise tickling, as you stumble from the sheets

Outside your robe slips off your knee

I feel your skin, stretching out beneath the paper

And we just sit and take it in

Yeah, I know I’m not easy, that’s what you’ve said

Yeah, I know they’re not easy, they’re just my friends

Yeah, I know it’s not easy with me in your bed

I just want to lie my head down in your lap

55

Mardi Gras

You say, let’s all go to Mardi Gras this year

You say, we can wear our hats of straw and drink beer

Then you put on your face

Then I see your eyes are raised

Then you make me feel like we’re worlds apart

Yes, I know you know what I want

Yes, I know you know what I need

Yes, I know, that you know me

You say, why don’t we decorate our love this year

You say, not like a Christmas tree, but a New Year

Yes, I know you know what I want

Yes, I know you know what I need

Yes, I know that you know me

Nothing is as static as the day by day

No one comes around here much to stop and talk

Or to stay in touch

They just get in their cars and they drive

You say let’s all go to Mardi Gras this year

You say give us a smile and wipe away the tear

Then you put on the face

Then I see your eyes are raised

Then you make me feel like I’m on this drive alone

56

Punk Rock Band

I know a girl who’s going to start a punk rock band

So she can make up songs about her old man

She’s not going to sing any happy words

None of that Paul McCartney stuff

She’s going bitch, and moan and gripe

And tell you how her life’s been tough

In a punk rock band

I know a girl playing in a punk rock band

She says it’s the artist thing to do

She doesn’t sing any happy words

She says to love you’ve got to hate

She’s only 19 and she don’t care

That she’s 25 years late…

She’s in a punk rock band

Tell me how it makes you feel when I make you bleed

Go ahead and take the kids and leave

‘Cause I know you think I’m just full of shit

But I don’t care a bit, because I’m sick of this

Just like 1976

I know I’ve said it all before

That I wouldn’t hit you anymore

But I can’t tell you where I’ve been

Jesus, don’t start crying again

I’ve got half a mind to shout out loud

I’ve got half a mind to bust you in the mouth

57

RUN AROUND

Another Saturday night

She asks me, “Hey, what you want to do?”

She says, “Tell me it’ll be all right to step outside these walls tonight.

We could even see some lights or maybe see a show.”

She says, “Maybe a change of scenery

Is all that we both really need

To evaporate these blues that we

Are feeling deep inside

Tell me it’s all right”

Come on let’s get ourselves a car

Let’s paint our eyes up until they’re very, very dark

And run around all over town

And run around

And run around all over this town

And run around until we’re run out of town

Run out of town

I tell her, “I don’t think I have the strength,

To be that crazy again

I don’t think that I have the fight to step outside these walls tonight

I don’t have the fight

To even see a show”

58

Sacramento

I’m coming home from California

Though I hardly know the way

13 days in Sacramento

And I’m never going back again

I’m never going back to…

Sacramento, Sacramento, yeah

Sacramento, yeah, yeah, yeah

You’ll never drag me back to Sacramento

Sunshine’s dancing through the curtains

Sleepy dream-lash on her cheek

I could stare for hours at her suntanned breast

And she’d just sleep

Sun-beach girls at the ocean

Hung above Naugahyde, Cassatt

13 days in Sacramento

And I still don’t know what I want

I’m finally through believing

Because it’s breaking my heart and it’s truly genuine

I’m going to give up grieving

Because it’s bringing me down like I’m tangled up in twine

I’m feeling so much older

And I keep on thinking that I’ve finally found what is surely mine

It’s truly genuine I want you to know

And it’s truly genuine

59

Shakin’

I’m shakin’ for you

Just like a leaf

High in a tree


Just like bug

Crawling on me

I know what you want from me right now

I know what you want

I know what you want from me right

Now…Now…Now…

I know what you want from me right now


Just like voodoo

That’s what you do to me

You make me dream

You make me dream

You make me dream

You make me dream

You make me dream

60

Someday Lonely

Black box, Betsy Ross, eyes crossed, jingoistic

That’s right snakebite, jack-knife, egotistically

Hey honey, I still don’t want you to leave

Someday lonely

Someday lonely you will be

Someday lonely you will be, yeah, but not me

House-mud, horse-blood, pick an allergy

So close, adios, court-ordered policy

Hey honey, limited proximity

When you’re feeling all alone and down

Think of me, because I won’t be

But there’s nothing I could say to you

To help you feel like I do

Landslide, sledge ride, blood dried on the side of the road now

Hitchcock, let’s rock, can’t knock what’s head to toe now

Hey honey, I’m sorry to see you go

61

Summer’s Here

Summer’s here

Summer’s here again and they’re happy

Happy and enthusiastic

Wrap their faces up in plastic

And kick off their shoes

Like some hipster druids

That’s what they do

Summer’s here

Summer’s here at last, fantastic

And nothing ever seems to spin her

Who’s got time to gather for winter?

When there’s so much fun

Lying in the sun

What else needs to be done?

And when the summer’s down and closed

It always brings a frown to those

And if they see a flower buried in the snow

They have to pick it, Ah

Summer’s here

Summer’s here again and I’m happy

Happy as a clam in chowder

Could I say it any louder?

Isn’t it just swell?

I’m on the road to Wellsville

Can’t you even tell?

Summer’s here

Summer’s here again and they’re happy

Happy they don’t need their Prozac

Making up for what their life lacks

Kicking off their shoes

Like some hipster druids

That’s what they do

And you can do it too

62

Yesterday’s Shirt

Yeah, you want me to say

That everything’s OK

And everything is fine

But I want you to know

That everything is going sour in this wine

When the good’s all but gone and the bad lingers on

Well it’s hard to believe it’s getting worse... it’s getting worse

You make me feel like I’m yesterday’s shirt

Thrown in the corner with the rest of your dirt

You make me see its more work than it’s worth

And you treat me like shit or worse

I don’t want you anymore

Come knocking on my door

But no one will be home

You have wasted all your time

When you find your peace of mind

I hope you like it all alone

63

Genuine

Go ahead take off all your clothes

You can show me your birthmarks and painted toes

Because this is truly genuine

I want you to know

It’s truly genuine

Go ahead and show me that tattoo

No one knows you have except for me and you

And maybe I’ll make love to you

64

Sister Bitter (Only part of this was used)

Hey, I can you sitting there

Twisting your pepper speckled hair around your bleeding nail-bit fingertips

And, all your cigarettes have spilt

Off the table to your lap from an ashtray filled to the hilt

While, all your roses droop and wilt around your feet

Maybe you could use a taste of alcohol like me

Why don’t we give it up and get some caffeine and nicotine

Maybe you could let your sparsely teeth ring free

Oh Sister Bitter please

Oh Sister Bitter please let me be

Let me be

Hey, so your family’s got you down

And yet you’re the only one left in this town who feels your blistered cowgirl boots don’t stink

So, while you’re sitting there

Trying to block out all the glare of Sunday morning’s kiss to you

Try to remember why we have to braid your peppered hair

Rain, rain, rain is always falling on your block



It’s coming down, down, down

65

Some More

Here are a bunch of others that I had around or found in the bottom of boxes in a bunch of notebooks. No, Ted, I didn’t

include such classics as Teenage Victim, Let Me Show You My Love, Holes in the City, Fool’s Parade, or Gimme, Gimme. I had a good time laughing at the hundreds of lyrics, but these are

the only ones I could half stomach to include.

66

A Little Bit of God

She and her sister live on the road

Leave some bills on the table and they’ll do what they’re told

They’ve met a lot of people and served a lot of tastes

With two hearts to love you joined at the waist

They’re genuinely amused at you stories

And they’ll intently listen to your truths

You can come for the loving

You can pay what it is worth

With four arms to hold you

And two legs around you

And a waist that’s been fused since their birth

There’s a little bit of God in everyone of us

A little bit of God in the air

There’s a little bit of God in everyone you know

A little bit of God everywhere

Their parents were eccentric which wasn’t hard to tell

They’d baptized her Gabri and her sister as Elle

They met him on the lam, he’d murdered a man

Gabri loved the outlaw and Elle loved his Tan

They decided to be faithful and unplug their light

Because monogamy is special and they’d heard it was right

But, two equals company

And three is a crowd

And jealousy can be suicide

When your sister’s at you side

But neither would speak it out loud

They tried to explain it but he never understood

That if they couldn’t have him then nobody would

So Elle kept a lookout

And Gabri did the chore

They bid their good-byes

Like a cow swatting flies

And he’s playing This is Your Life with the Lord

67

Abuela

Abuela flies high above me

I watch as her skirt glides like a sail

I’m on the grass looking up at her

Wishing I could fly

Abuela take me away from here

Abuela let me fly with you

Watching the earth descend beneath me

As I’m floating up over the city

Abuela points at faces below us

Looking up they smile and wave

Abuela take us away from here

Abuela let us fly with you

Over the harbor

Out past Liberty

And back over the city

Back over the city

We fly

Abuela smiles and looking around me then

I see I’m in the park again feet on the ground

68

American PLN

He looks out of his tinted glasses on his world down below

Everything seems to happen just the way he wants it to go

Work at seven, lunch at noon, he’s eating dinner tonight at six

Scheduled conference, a big balloon, it ain’t nothing he can’t fix

All my life, all this time

Where have you been?

American PLN

Taps his finger, pulls at a ring, I’ll meet you at the dock 8, 1, 5

Calls his wife, dials up his mistress, I don’t know when I’ll arrive

See the headlights, walk in the shadows, talking in secrets, talking in code

See the headlines and dirty laundry, things no one’s supposed to know

Feel my handshake, see my smile, kiss a baby, and ride on a float

Pocket money under the table, I’ll do anything to get your vote

Sex and cash flow makes your rep. grow, aren’t you jumping the gun

She’s only fifteen, maybe sixteen, and she’s having your son

What will the wife say, what will the press say, you’d better slap your hand

Jump in the water and dunk your head down, we’ve got to save this man

Back at the office, it’s in shambles; it seems there is a leak to fear

Hold your horses, zip up you heater or you’ll be out on your ear

Up at the White House they’re feeling tension, get on the horn, call the press

It’s not my fault and I’m sad to mention, we’ve got one hell of a mess

Once or twice now, I’ve seen it happen, but I’m sure that we’ll pull through

Ask what you can do for your country, not what your country can do for you

69

An Image of the Badlands

A sacrifice like that could never be rewarded

And it surprised me that she did it

Since she’d always seemed kind of selfish and guarded

She left him sitting there with those twinkling lights around him

He just shut his eyes for fear that his demons had finally found him

But she smiled as she went knowing what he’d spent wasn’t wasted

On illusions of happiness and dreams

Or 15 years and a lampshade painted green

Just a rerun of Hee-Haw on the TV

Playing softly in the background the way he thought it ought to be

And an image of the Badlands no one else could see

There’s a television show where someone just sits and thinks

I was watching as the light from across the room

Danced with the ice cubes in my drink

Some girls in the room next to mine played Hide-and-Seek

I could hear them with some cards and a voodoo chicken beak

She knocked upon my door and asked if she could enter

On the pretense that she wouldn’t have to speak

So we smoked and drank ‘til the night became a week

Then she surprised me with a smirk and her mystique, which was completely

ordinary and yet, utterly unique

But an image of the Badlands haunted her in her sleep

They drove through the desert in a ’66 Studebaker

Her hair was blowing around her dress

And he sat there looking just like an undertaker

A vision up ahead looked like Heaven’s gates were open

They both new they were dead but not a word was spoken

So they drove on through the night with the frightful look of fugitives

She sang along to the static on the radio

He thought she sounded like an angel when she hit that sweet falsetto

When he tired they pulled over near a depot

Then they slept until the sunlight began to stir and glow

So they got back on the highway towards San Francisco

With his nasty habit whispering and her patience running low

And an image of the Badlands they were trying to let go

70

I was working at Desdemona’s when they coasted in on fumes

They thought that they could hustle up a game

So they might afford to keep on the move

He introduced himself and told me that her name was Meagan

They’d been driving ten days long and two days since they had eaten

So, I bought them each some pie before I hired her to waitress

For sixty bucks a night and a room above the bar

And a window looking out on the boulevard

She worked the tables and sometimes he would play guitar, which

Afforded him some candy to smother out the tart

And an image of the Badlands he couldn’t disregard

A monkey short of green isn’t welcome on the street

And it wasn’t long it seemed before the dogs

Came sniffing around to blow what he thought was discreet

Those girls in the room next to me overheard the plan

A single week of pay would buy a ticket to the Badlands

Like a red-haired, cavalry colonel trying to make a final stand

She gave him what he needed for the trip

And sealed it all with a smile and a kiss

Then she sat awhile in the twinkling and the bliss

With the sunset of the boulevard creeping through the curtain slit

And an image of the Badlands she took as she went

71

Christmas Falling In

Everywhere I look it seems like Christmas falling in, falling in

Everywhere I go it seems like Christmas falling in, falling in

Maybe you’ve heard it’s going to snow

Because Christmas time is here

Christmas time is here again

Yes, Christmas time is falling in again

Everything I hear sounds like Christmas falling in, falling in

Everyone I know asks me if Christmas is falling in, falling in

I know what you want for Christmas this year

And maybe if you’re nice to me, we’ll see

72

Chum

Hey friend it seems like a long time since I’ve seen you smile

Say friend, how have you been?

Now I’ve seen a look in your eye I’ve not seen before

And it’s got me worried, more worried than I’ve been before

So don’t start leaving ‘cause there’s something I want to say

If hell is our doom or heaven’s our end

Where ever we’re at we’ll always be friends

Because I’m part of you and you are part of me

Whether it’s hell or heaven we’re supposed to be

Two of us like letters in a box, being mailed on the same day

Two different places we’re destined to be

Now that doesn’t mean I don’t know where you’re bound to be

And that don’t mean honey that you won’t stumble into me

Cause we’re two letters from the same pen and the same hand

I’d follow you to heaven I’d follow you to hell

Which will it be? You say it’s too hard to tell

I might meet the Devil you say I might meet God

Looks like Lenny Bruce smoking stogies on a rock

I could break every rule that has ever been stone

But what does it matter if I’m left here alone

I could curse everybody I’ve known in my life

From my family and friends to my sons and my wife

Cause life is a cancer it’s vicious and vile

And the only hope you’ve got is to die wearing a smile

73

Could This Really Be Christmas?

Someone said it was Christmas

They sang Joy to the World

I was walking through smiles and faces of gold

But I stared at my shoes

As I walked through the crowd in a line

Being sure not to look anyone in the eye

And a woman beside me with three kids on her arm

Just smiled and whispered and said, “I know that it’s hard.”

Could this really be Christmas?

When I don’t feel a thing in my heart

Please tell me it’s Christmas

Because I think I forgot

Two lovers on a bench

They didn’t see me staring

I was a ghost except for what I was wearing

And an old man in the crowd

Looking to care

Was brushed by a woman who didn’t know he was there

I looked down at a girl with tears in her eyes

She just studied my face and slipped her hand in mine

I could wrap up the petals

Of a flower I found in the snow

Or maybe a stanza of poem

That I found and I stole

Here is a bottle of sand that I gathered from a beach

Where I carved out your name in the surf and it washed away

Through a pattern of faces

I saw her features clear

She was staring through me like I was a mirror

And then like the lights

Of a hundred Christmas trees

Her face brightened when she recognized me

She walked up to me with her arms spread apart

And she hugged me so tight that my heart nearly stopped

74

The Council for the Riverview Collectibles Boutique

She sets on a bench by the flowerpots

In front of the pharmacy in town

She holds her head in her hands like a ball

She’s crying out loud

Her lover calls her stupid little…

And her mother sits across the street in a tavern called the Key

People walk by and they feel for her

But they don’t understand her needs

And The Council for the Riverview Collectibles Boutique

They just shake their heads

She shows up at her lover’s house

In a 3-piece suit with a sock rolled up in her crotch

Screams his name at the top of her lungs

And asks, “Is this what you want?”

No one really remembers if it was August or September

When she walked out of town

Now there’s another stupid little…

Sitting on that pharmacy bench

75

Deviant Angel

Are you laughing at me now?

I put the poison to my mouth

And I opened up wide

And I took it deep inside of me

You’re a blood-red clay

In the pores of my skin

There’s no washing you away

After you’ve played you’re stained with the sin

You’re a deviant angel

Black birds lifting from the reeds at red sunlight

You’re both my heaven and my hell

I’m walking high on a wire without a net

Yeah, OO- dance like the devil’s melody

Yeah, OO-wrap, wrap yourself up in harmony

You’re my deviant angel

Is that you in my dreams?

Making me afraid to sleep

I wake; I wake in the middle of the night

And I scream

Like a small, small child

Afraid of the dark

I look down at my hands, at the palms of my hands

In the pale light of my room and there you are

76

Don’t Lam Do

Got face up past his eyebrows

Fat man slide the bubble foam

Talking like a gissy and looking like a troubadour

Blowing stack and cherry pop

Reading digits like a stigid

Man, he’s got it jumping in a pump

He’s got a system like the flying blue

He’s got a system and his eye is on you

He’s got a system, through and through

Grow high, cut off the hop

Cart full overheating the bills

Green fuzzy wuzzy got to wait ‘till tomorrow

Drop pit, leaking like a sieve

Ascasat, it’s dripping sandstone

And the sun is bringing on the drip

By-pass raking on the chalkboard

Breakdown dripping on the way

Eight to five like the end of Scrussy

Write a letter and earn more sessions by sleaving

Float, “write-up” and sign on the dotted line

Peach fold, fingertip depression

Deadbeat, flies on the log

Five alive leaving the sinking ship

77

Flavor of the Month

Hey, have you heard the flash about the flavor of the month

Everyone wishes they had that, the flavor of the month

Wouldn’t it be swell, to be the flavor of the month?

Would you sell your soul to hell to be the flavor of the month?

Everything would be sweet as apple pie

It’s like an anecdote for sinking boats with stormy skies

Difficult heartthrob with angst ridden, sun burnt eyes

Flashbulbs and big smiles swarming just like barnyard flies

Flavor of the month

Hey, have you heard our hit, we’re the flavor of the month

Our stink don’t shit because we’re the flavor of the month

Would you like to lick the flavor of the month?

Can you find this balloon’s prick? We’re the flavor of the month

Everybody thinks they can do it too

But thirty-one flavors won’t do, because we’ve got thirty-two

Shangri-La queen with the kerosene and guillotine

Heart pumping, blood stream, just like an amphetamine

Just like an amphetamine

Just like an amphetamine

Hey, I just heard the news; you’re the flavor of the month

Can you suffer the abuse of the flavor of the month?

So is it really swell, to be the flavor of the month?

Looks like you’re going straight to hell as the flavor of the month

Junkyard dogs are always biting at your tires

Telling jokes with Pilate in the bowels of the Roman Empire

Backstabbing, polished smiles, like cold-war spies

Cardiac victim of the undead at sunrise

Flavor of the month

78

Ghost of a Smile

It looks like a long road I’m gonna drive tonight

With no one for company except for my own mind

But I’ve got my eye out for you tonight

But I don’t know why

I guess I just miss your ghost of a smile

I’d love to see your ghost of a smile

Where is that ghost of a smile?

Stars look like silver on the window

I hear Marvin Gaye on the radio

Mother, mother, mother, what’s going on tonight

I don’t know why

I guess I just miss your ghost of a smile

I’d love to see your ghost of a smile

Where is that ghost of a smile?

79

Give It Up

Why don’t you just give it up? Stop

Because you’re never gonna to win

Back up, bet away and stay out of my face

Don’t you know that you’re never gonna change my mind

Never gonna change my mind

No, no, no, no, never, never

Why don’t you just give it up? Stop

You’re just wasting my time

I’ve got my skin in the suds and my feet on the wall

I’ve read smarter things in the bathroom stall

But your lips keep moving like a girl in a show

And my ears are hearing static on the radio

Have you ever heard things are seldom what they seem?

So, just give it up, I’m not joining your team

Never going to join your team

No, no, no, no, never, never

I don’t want to talk about the government

I don’t want to talk about who’s right or wrong

I don’t want to talk about the church

Why must it be that we’re right or wrong?

We can’t get along

It isn’t any use

It isn’t any use

80

Happy

I wonder what’s been eating at your heart

And bringing you down

Because there’s music all around you now

But you don’t hear the sound.

No, you don’t hear the sound

Do I really need to help you be?


Happy

There’s a fantastic sunrise but all I hear you say is

Sleeping in would have been so great

And there’s a half a million dreams falling on your face

And all you say is how you wish you were awake

You wish you were awake

Do I really need to help you see?



Happy, Happy, Happy

Happy, Happy, Happy

Dismantle the sun and pack up the moon

And shutter all the windows in your room

Now open up your eyes and see


Do I really need to help you?

Believe in God again. Believe in God again. Believe.

Believe in God again. Believe in God again. Believe.

Do I really need to help you be happy?

81

Have You Seen the Light?

He painted the fence

Painted it red

Took off his clothes

And danced with the dead

Have you seen the light? (I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it)

That’s beautiful man (That’s what she said)

Like bread and honey (That’s what she said)

Can you make it sound? (That’s what she said)

Just like money (That’s what she said)

He tore down the fence

Lit it on fire

Sometimes at night

You can still see the fire

I can’t forgive (That’s what she said)

I must confess (That’s what she said)

A hundred years (That’s what she said)

Of psychoanalysis (That’s what she said)

82

House of Amusement #2

If your eyes are heavy and your mind is weak

If your eyes are heavy, maybe it’s time to sleep

If your eyes are heavy and your mind is weak

If your eyes are heavy, maybe it’s time to sleep

Maybe it’s time to sleep

Maybe it’s time to sleep

Within your house of amusement

There are a hundred bluesmen

Come on and pitch them a coin for their trouble

Chinese girls inside of a cage

Smoking cigars between their legs

Sometimes it’s enough to pop your bubble

Close your eyes

Put on your disguise

And forget about the warden for awhile

For awhile

For awhile

83

Inventing How to Smile

I’ve not always love you

But at times it seems like that

I know you’d probably laugh and say

Hey, hey that’s not where it’s at

Yeah, have you ever heard the vibrating irony of laughter?

Hello Mr. Wilson

Inventing how to smile

Well, I’ve been in this town so very long

When I shut my eyes

I can almost see the seaside

Rock, rock, Plymouth Rock roll over

Hello Mr. Wilson


Waking up this morning

It was though I weren’t in my room

I could be floating on the ocean

Staring straight into the eyes of god

Hello Mr. Wilson


84

Jerusalem

I see what it is you want to hear

It’s far from being what I want to tell

I feel… that you think I know what I’m talking makes sense

But I’ve compro-curvemised inside out

And Descartes’ grave smells like a rutting goat god

Jerusalem

I washed the scent of Pan from my belly to my toes

And I fear though I’ve tried it won’t let loose of my clothes

I hear… the ocean’s dying, the trees can’t breathe

It’s a pointy future glaring at us and them

And you are the stitches in the loin cloth of a jungle man

Ah, yes, Jerusalem

At the riverside you’ll feel the water rushing from you

The riverside is as close to a religion that I believe

I love… the crests that cash against my side

I can feel the love growing in me

And that Grillparzer of a nuke plant is just a sliver beneath my nail

The king of men and the mice of kings are singing to the rain

And the street dwarfs perform taxidermy on a television screen

I hear… they’ve got LBJ stored in zip-lock bags

In a Dallas freezer behind a bank

They’ve got Reagan’s jizz in Styrofoam at the Actor’s Guild of Moslems

And if they rape the pro-lifers with a test tube

You can bet your ass they won’t abort the kid

They’ll say it’s a miracle sent from God above, like Mary in Jerusalem

85

Jesus

They say Jesus sleeps behind the drugstore in a box

And when the night is cold he spends it in detox

He works the early morning shift sweeping up the docks

Because no one here understands the way he talks

They say Jesus makes fifty bucks a week

He might as well be working there for free

And when he walks in the store he can’t buy any food to eat

It’s just the town’s way of asking him to leave

Jesus, can’t you see, we don’t even want to know you

We’re a town of big horizons and we’re proud

Jesus, don’t you see, this ain’t Kalamazoo

And everybody knows

Yeah, everybody know

Strangers aren’t aloud

Because you ain’t south of the border now

They Jesus was arrested some days ago

For a law or a rule, it was something he didn’t know

And when they read him his rights it was like reading to a shadow

So they put him on a bus and sent him back to Mexico

86

Just Us Two

We’re on our way up the road here we go

Just us two, just me and you

It sure is strange looking back on all those days

To times we knew just me and you

And if we could fly just like the angels by the sea

I’d still love you

Would you still love me?

We’re on our way down the road it sure seems fast

Man, we flew, just us two

And if we knew then what we think we know right now

Would there still be glue? Between me and you

And if we were highway signs on a road me west, you east

I’d still love you

Would you still love me?

Were on our way on a road that’s flat as plain

But we won’t get blue, just us two

And if we could see up the road around the bend

How would we do, just me and you

And we are two single separate branches of the same tree

I still love you

Do you still love me?

87

Last Man on Earth

Hey, hey, hey won’t you stay with me now

We can watch the sunrise.

It’ll be OK, even if the sun should turn to clouds

And rain down in our eyes

I can tell by that wrinkled brow

That you think I, think I’ve lost my head and I’m out of my tree

You can hold your breath until you turn red

But stranger than the change I’ve seen is why it is you won’t talk to me

What do you want from me?

I’m the last man on Earth

What do you want from me?

I’m the last man on Earth who could set you free

Hey, hey, hey so you say I’ve completely

Lost my mind

But you’ve turned gray; don’t let your life slip away

And turn old before your time

If I were Edison or Bell or even Sherlock Holmes

Would you pass it off being out of my tree?

If I were Hemingway, or Mills, or Poe, or Woolf, or Pig, or Ridinghood

Being out of my tree

You can hold a thorn until you bleed

But stranger than the change I’ve seen is why it is you won’t talk to me

Free, free, I want to set you free

Hey, hey, hey what are you saying to me now?

Are you going away or is that old rainstorm coming down, coming down on

you?

88

Lost in the Occident

It was as though we needed to hide

They were singing songs unknown to us

They were birds in flight

Fingerprint file, plastic language

Eyes that poke and prod into our hearts

We see the birds

A western wind can leave you bent

When you’re an easterner lost in the occident

A desert of waves has no oasis

Only horses that leave you stranded

Watch the birds fly

Take a breath young on and hold it in your chest

Close your eyes to the rest

Keep a kiss near your breast

And fly

Fly like flight itself

89

M.T. Mind

You were standing in the shadows in a scene from July

You were playing in the moonlight and I was trying to die

Peeking through the doors, I’m on the inside of your mind

And you better beware if you see me there I’m crucified

Let me dance off the walls of your M.T. mind

Play all night by the clock that spills time

Sweating in the garden of the holy crime

I’ll be dancing off the walls if you don’t mind

Candles dim the evening, pictures fall to the floor

I’m talking to the walls as I’m melting through the door

One thing we done, one place we haven’t gone

Maybe I’m right or maybe I’m wrong

I know a place where we can go and get high

I know a place where we can go and get high

Give me another cigarette and I’ll be able to fly

You were standing in the shadows in a scene from July

90

Man without a Question (1986’s Importance of Being Earnest)

It was a foggy morning in a southwest town

Of a northern state that rested by the river

The man without a question standing blindly on the corner

Of a walk that glided through declining commerce

It was an upset, down bet, get your feet wet

In the new occupation of unemployment

And the patrons, citizens, and supermarket matrons

Began to gather for Maundy Thursday

From over the top came a kiss from within

And the banging of drums had begun

The breath of a question in the shape of a phallus

Was a sign to run, was a sign to run, was a sign to run for your dungeon

This is a day to hold your lover and tell her that you love her

Then kiss her like the days of your youth

This is day to hold your lover all day long under the covers

And try with all your might to kiss away the truth

A posse from the west was dressed in their best

Attire for a conference with the powers that be

The man without a question sitting blindly in the corner

Of a bunker beneath the bakery

There was no one to blame, for the damn shame

Table game, fun for players five to sixty-four

It was a solitaire, double-dare, that created a tri-stare

On the faces of the community

Watch out for the knockout, prize-fight, fallout

Déjà vu, what do you do in a downfall?

Hear the cannons of the “1812” in the background

Offbeat from the water, offbeat from the water,

Offbeat from the water running down the wall

This is a day to hold your lover and tell her that you love her

Then kiss her like the days of your youth

This is a day to write a letter, instead of follow the leader

Or maybe seek residence somewhere like the moon

91

A question was raised which asked, “Who is afraid

Of an itsy, bitsy dash of plutonium to guard

The man without a question staring blindly to the corner

Where his portable guru sang a rap song

It’s too sad to mention that our real intention

With the invention is strictly top secret

But everything is ok, today, and if it weren’t anyway

It would be too late to sound the gong

Give that man a remote to change everything he knows

And forget about reactions to a cause

Give a man a button of responsibility

To take away, to take away, to take away the mid-life blahs

From over the top came a quest from within

And the testing of blood had begun

The man without a question tuned into a prophet

Is a slice of pie, a piece of cake, a bit of pastry from the blue, white, and red

92

Maybe it is Christmas

Maybe it is Christmas in New York City

Maybe it is Christmas in my hometown

Maybe it is Christmas, honey, all around the world

But it sure don’t feel much like Christmas… to me…when you’re not

around

Maybe I could be your Santa Claus

I want to be big, and fat, and round

I could wear that big, red suit so you could give me crap

And maybe you’ll sit on my lap

But it sure don’t feel much like Christmas… to me…when you’re not

around

Do you think they have Christmas in Japan?

Do you think there is snow falling on the ground?

Maybe it is Christmas, honey, all around the world

But it sure don’t feel much like Christmas

But it sure don’t feel much like Christmas

But it sure don’t feel much like Christmas… to me…because you’re not

around

93

Missed the Sign

You might remember who I used to be

But that was a long time ago

You might remember something I used to say

But I don’t really think so

And when I look into your eyes

I can see you are surprised by this

It seems so queer that we’re all stuck behind some crazy mirror

That broke when we were kids

If you’re looking back and things don’t seem the same

Just remember that that was yesterday

If you’re looking back and things are looking strange

You probably missed the sign and now you’ve boarded the wrong train

I haven’t seen you lately down here on the street

Guess you’re still looking for your part

Perhaps you’re thinking that you’ve got it beat

Hope you don’t forget who your friends are

And when I look into your eyes

I can see the disguise you wear

It’s Déjà vu and all the things you do

Wouldn’t let you think your childhood was anything but shit

And you don’t care a bit

How’s it feel to wake up ten years down the road?

And everything you thought you had has now been sold

To a scrapheap pile or the garden of lost souls

If I was the schizophrenic suicidal type…who knows?

You’re about to ask me, “What the hell I mean by this?”

And you’re not amused, I can see

But if you’d been able to read between the lines

It wouldn’t have had to have been explained by me

No, it wouldn’t have had to have been explained at all

When I look into your eyes

All I can see are the lies you tell

I want to litigate an appeal to demonstrate how I feel

94

No Thank You

Hey friend can I borrow some time

And I’ll tell you what’s been on my mind

And if I can’t make you see

Perhaps you could donate some money

To me, me and the lord

You see I think I’ve found a way

To make everything I do OK

With one minor exception

There’s only one candidate for reelection

I said

How much is room in heaven going for these days?

As much as you’re willing to give is all he had to say

No thank you!

You should meet your maker

Be just like Tammy Baker

And Jim doesn’t have it all that bad

Hey friend I don’t think I’ll buy today

He said, “Let me read to you if I may.

You see when you die you’re not really dead

But a wise guy like you is going to hell instead.”

I said, “Wait a minute.”

How much is room in heaven going for these days?

And how much does Jesus make at an hourly wage?

No thank you!

You should meet your maker

Be just like Tammy Baker

And Jim doesn’t have it all that bad

95

One Voice

One voice calls out in the distance

One voice a cry of resistance

One voice trumpet to participate

One voice is two, is three, is five, is eight

One voice as gentle as the autumn breeze

One voice blowing leaves from the trees

One voice a million ears will congregate

One voice is two, is three, is five, is eight

One voice, a hundred helpless souls in pain

One voice will wash away the dirty stain

One voice a wave upon the shore

One voice is thirteen, twenty-one, thirty-four

Hear it ring out like a shot in the dark

Hear it ring out the arrow hits the mark

Hear it ring out

One voice, a harmony not quite complete

One voice, a melody that must compete

One voice could be yours, it could be mine

One voice, fifty-five and eighty-nine

Let it ring out there is no time to wait

Let it ring out is two, is three, is five, is eight

Hear it ring out, try to make them see

One hundred forty-three

Million people crying for a change

96

Pictures at Christmas

Here comes the season falling in like snow

But I don’t go out now, in the cold, I just stay home

And I appliqué photographs to the pages of my picture book

I turn through pictures at Christmas all day long

Fa, la, la, la, la, how I remember

Oh God, how I remember them all

Pictures at Christmas smile


Snapshots of Raymond and Sophie holding hands

All of their youth had faded away before I was born

And by the pictures of 1978 Raymond had disappeared

Pictures at Christmas can make us miss someone





There’s snow in the treetops as the light begins to fade

Raymond and Sophie holding hands on a Christmas Day

And I appliqué the photograph to the page in my picture book

I turn through pictures at Christmas all day long





97

Set You Free

When the rain comes down and puts a chill inside your skin

And your soul feels like it’s been run over

Pull on your boots, button your coat and slip on down the road

Because there’s not a single face in these concrete walls

That will set you free, set you free, set you free

I heard that you left town and you’re never coming back

I heard you met your fate down by the railroad track

We could mourn you, we could martyr you, we could say a prayer

But there’s not a single word on these concrete walls

That will set you free, set you free, set you free

I just called to say hello

And ask you how you’ve been

And I was wondering have you heard the news

And are you going to say goodbye to a friend

98

Shadows

Here comes the morning around the corner

And you haven’t even opened up your eyes

Six o’clock in the morning sure can catch you by surprise

When you haven’t even kissed the evening good night ‘till just around five

But you can’t blame it on me this time

Once in awhile along strolls an answer

And you might think it’s the only one in sight

Now it may never cause you a single hint of hurt

But then again it just might steal your shirt

And leave you face down in the dirt

The sun is shining on a puddle outside your door

Funny you’ve never seen it there before

You better open your eyes; you better open your eyes before you leap

And keep one up while you sleep

And these words you better heed because you never know

When some creep’s been hanging around the shadows of your mind

I went to see you at home the other day

And I found you sitting in the dark all alone

Now I’m not trying to spook you but it seems so awful queer

That you went swimming with nothing but a stone as a souvenir

You jumped off the pier like a real musketeer

Threw on your cowgirl threads and then you disappeared

Off in the wild on a one-eyed Texas steer

The day ain’t as cloudy as you heard on the morning news

But the drink in your veins is fogging up the things you choose to do

You better watch your tongue

You better watch your tongue before you speak

And when you do, be discreet or end up on Deadbeat Street

Because you never know


If you can’t look me in the face and tell me how you feel

Then I don’t think that we can say goodbye

And as long as we keep breaking all the spokes within the wheel

Then I doubt that there’s a chance that we’ll survive

The rain is gonna join you in your parade

Go ahead and lie right down in the bed you made

99

Your better watch your back, you better watch your back before you turn

Are you ever gonna learn that you just might get burned

Because you never know


100

She Feels It

She hears the highway rolling underneath the bus

He’s there beside her, but his hands she doesn’t trust

The slaps across the face are only love is what he’s said

And all that love is jus a bruise inside her bed

She feels it in her skin

She feels it in her hair

She just doesn’t care anymore

She feels it in her skin

Got a pack of cigarettes hidden in her purse

Must smoke a dozen while he’s praying at church

Sometimes she wonders why she doesn’t leave while he’s gone

Guess that desire’s just been beat out of her head

101

Start Again

I propose we start again

Turn it over and start again

Here we go starting over just the same

I propose we start again

Turn it over and start again

No more sleeping in each other’s lung

I don’t want to be a hero

I don’t want to be the one

I don’t want to be a winner

I don’t want to be the one to tell you

That your son died on the evening news

102

Tuesday (OK with You)

Maybe I should leave

Sometimes I’d like to be gone away from here

Just disappear

Maybe you’d be relieved

Or maybe you think it’s all right just like it is

Suffering, through all of this

Cigarette burns on the windowsill

Tells me your heart’s been pulled down

But how much longer can we kick this around and around?

I just want to be OK… with you

Honestly, I’m ill

I just keep hoping that you’ll say it before I have

I just want to sleep away the bad

Honesty is a crime

The statutes of limitations have all past by

And all this time we’ve only learned how to lie

The ashtray’s filled and the wine is gone

And silence sits between us as our only friend

And how much longer do you think that we can kick this around and

around?

I just want to be OK…

I just want to be OK…

I’ve been spending God’s money

But the summer’s twinkle is dimming and I need some sleep

I’ve got me a secret to keep

103

Tuesday Night

Help me, Rhonda is what she sings to get her lovers out of bed

And man that voice is like a bell being dropped

She can love you all night long and kick your ass out before dawn

But then Rhonda is easy to forgive

She claims she can tell your fortune looking in your eyes

Doubt anyone believes her, but she is always right

Rhonda is my girl every Tuesday night

Hey, hey has anyone here seen Rhonda?

Hey, hey, yeah

Hey, hey has anyone here seen Rhonda

It’s Tuesday night and I’m looking for my girl

Rhonda is the girl in town and I can tell you she gets around

Her reputation can precede her by miles

And though my love for her is strong, Tuesday night lasts all week long

As for the other boys it is a town of smiles

I know she’s mine on every Tuesday through the month

The other days don’t matter because Tuesday I’ve got all of her love


Hold the phone, something’s wrong, my heart is breaking Rhonda’s gone

She left a note tacked to my door on Tuesday night

She wrote, “I know this will hurt you some, please understand I’ve met

someone

And I’m leaving town on the train tonight

I couldn’t take it I was feeling so much pain

I had to see her yes I had to catch that train


It has been a month or so, since Rhonda had to go

I still have trouble with what I witnessed on the night

I might be nursing a broken heart, but I can tell you what really smarts

Is the fact that Rhonda ran off with my wife

I made it to the station with the rain coming down

What was I to do I just watched them pull out of this town

Rhonda is my girl, but she ran off with my wife

104

Wake Up!

Wake up, wake up, lightning struck the oak tree last night

Our daddy chased us through the woods ‘till light

Throwing beer bottles at our heads

He said he’d like to kill us dead

A peg-legged whore don’t make no bread


Wake up!


Hurry quick or he’ll break your neck in the moonlight

If you’re the devil then it’s not me

Standing underneath this tree

Drinking water like whiskey


Wake up!

I painted up myself with all the stars and moon

Like I was on my honeymoon

I could see you in my room

I could see you on my bed

Like I was still out in the shed

Still giving you head

Yeah, you heard what I said


Painted black, thunder cracks, it’s second sight

Maybe you could find a buffalo

Stand your ground rifle or bow

Maybe you could take a photograph of me


Wake up!

I painted up myself in all the moon and stars

Like I was singing in a bar

Painted up in tar

I was shaking out the bread

Like I was still out in the shed

Still out of my head

Yeah, you heard what I said

105

Why Did My Childhood Go Away?

Remember the time up at the lake, making love in the sun

June of nineteen sixty-eight and pictures of Richard Nixon

And all I could do was try not to cry

Skin, I remember your skin and how it used to cover me

And when we couldn’t win there was nothing left to do

But go away

And I watched as they tore down the tents

And I tried to understand what it all meant…to you and me

Why did my childhood go away?

It seems to have disappeared in my sleep

Why did my childhood go away?

With all of my memories that I wanted to keep

The parade balloons broke their strings and blew away

I haven’t seen you since January of seventy-eight

We just muddle about thinking that’s how it is

We acquire a Mr., or Mrs., or Ms.

And catch our ride on the train

And I hope next time around I’ll read the manual first

Because growing old is and awful lot like dying in the desert of thirst

And you know I think I hear my number

106

Wrong With Me and My Head

I want to tell you what’s going on in my mind

Everything rolling round, rolling round

Like a bullet riddled body on the side of the road and I can’t get up now

Pissing on the wall like MacGowan in “Rain Street”

Gauguin in the alley painting impressions

Kicking through an alley, spitting at graffiti and dodging the policeman

I don’t know what’s wrong, baby

I don’t know what’s wrong

I don’t know what’s wrong here, baby

Wrong with me and my head

Five O’clock wake up, sack lunch, save up

Stumble out the doorway trying not to throw up

Cocktail, dovetail, running from the coffin nails and I can’t take it

I had that dream again where we’re not speaking

Holding up dolls just to say what we’re thinking

A man in the corner through some curtains with eyes on a broken record

he’s throwing dice

Maybe you can tell me what I’m really trying to say now

Maybe you have figured out this secret that I’m keeping in my brain now

Get out, Get out, Get out, Get out now, Get out, Get out, Get out, Get out

now

I want to tell you what’s written into my skin

If I stop, then I can’t begin

Madman writing in a jungle shack for reasons I cannot express,

For reasons you could never guess

Meanwhile, jewelry’s hanging from a cross

But I’ve got soda crackers in my socks

And the skeleton key that I used to wield to open all the locks is…

Finally lost and I can’t find it

What’s my password to the mind set

Of everything I’ve ever thought and everything I’ve ever wanted

107

Years Later

Addition

2017

It has been many years since I compiled these lyrics and now

I’m adding the last 13 years or so to the mix. Things have changed a bit. Some of the songs included previously will be

added again, because they’ve appeared on the subsequent projects I’ve completed. It is 2017. Kiefer is 26 and an

electrical journeyman. Riley is 21, attending Edmonds CC, and will go to West Virginia next year to attend Marshall

University. The love of my life, Connie, is still a nurse and still keeps this crotchety old man around. In the years since 2004, I’ve recorded a few new CDs both with Just Plain Bill and solo.

As I take on compiling songs again I’m not sure how many there will be, but I’m betting on close to sixty or seventy. This

is page 107, so we’ll see where I end.

109

Kalama Tea

Just Plain Bill Fifth Release

2005

After Ink Block, Just Plain Bill decided to record with Peter.

The title came from Douglas’ brother as a title for the CD with a tip to Kalama. I wrote the song from tragedies from Kalama life. It was a good time and the band seemed happy. I was. It

was before Ted left and Peter joined the band. We also still seemed somewhat young.

110

Down

Look at all the happy people smiling at me now

I can’t begin to tell you why

I believe that I have heard you correctly when you ask

Am I medicated now?

You can tell all those happy people

Fill them in on the news

I haven’t seen any silver linings

And I don’t need to feel that good

I just want to be down

And you can’t get me out of this


It’s really quite a mess

I often wonder if you ever are thinking of me

Flying over those apple trees

Rows and rows of tiny orchards, jig-sawed fields

And buffalo in wooden rails

Elevation can be a friend

If you’re not hung on the downward end

White water rushing over me

Is all I see, it’s all I see


And you can’t get me out of this


It’s really quite a mess

I don’t think my clattered teeth could tell you any lies,

Which, comes as a surprise to even me

I watch your picture as my altitude is lost

‘til the moment it is tossed…

111

Faster Dalidog

Propped against some wine glass-promenade

A dangled tablecloth of Americana between my tattooed legs

And a shadowed moor of nakedness stands faceless near the bricks

Surrounded by these bastards of some nameless cowgirl chicks

I’ve seen your face before

I really have…

But it just don’t click

Faster, faster, faster Dalidog

Your canyon bordered desert back-boned, whiskered lips

Flicker by a fire beneath the canine muzzled monument

That shades your fractured fish impression figure

On the dancing flesh mold pottery

Then rushes off your sagging car-wreck smile


I really have…



Latex idol, shotgun wedding hints

Wear those pink pajamas with the frog prints

Plastic purple Jesus dashboard talisman

Drive-in celluloid cleavage dolls

Spaghetti western, still life Dickenesque

She hides her face and yet the moon illuminates her breast

And the painted bathhouse whores all congregate with much distress

To analyze the tattooed words among her crevasses


I really have…



112

Five More Minutes

I’d like to feel guilty again

So go ahead and look at me like that

No need for you to pretend

‘Cause I know, you know exactly what I mean

It’s alright, ‘cause it’s all my fault

I’ve been through it a hundred times

I can still see that trestle when I shut my eye

If I were a boat on the sea

No doubt about I’d get a hole in me

But would it really break your heart

To watch me sink right from the start


I’ve been through it a hundred times

I can still hear that whistle in the dead of night

Waking me up, tracking me down like I could forget

What I saw in your eyes, when you realized…

5 more minutes

1976, could break my back and make me sick

I’d like to go back to bed, if I could quiet all these things

Going through my head, going through my head

I’m staring at the ceiling again

And the sunshine’s waiting to come on in

I haven’t gotten too much sleep

The tile feels cold underneath my feet


I’ve been through it a hundred times in my mind,

I can still see that trestle when I shut my eye

I can still hear that whistle in the dead of night

What I saw in your eyes, when you realized…

113

I Don't Know (What's Got You Up Tight)

I watch you gangster cross the parking lot

Ice cream pretty on a slug bug top

Jean-chained blister up a hip-pocket south

Asphalt poems lipstick your long shore mouth

Hey, how’d you like to hear some rock-n-roll tonight?

I’m MIA on a mountain top

I’m a daddy’s gun at a school bus stop

I’m an American flag hanging upside down

But I don’t know…what’s got you up tight

Shrapnel jiggle on a hot summer’s day

Ricochet carriage as you’re walking away

Maybe you should rifle what you’re trying to be

Humpbacked camels in your t-shirt sleeve


I’m a cross-haired kid on a kickball field

I’m semi-automatic

I’m an Einstein dream with a cross-top scheme

But I don’t know…

But I don’t know…

But I don’t know…what’s got you up tight

Maybe you would like to take me out tonight that would be alright with me

Stop light ice cube bulldog collar

Picket fence smacker couldn’t get much taller

Pothole drive along three bad miles

In a bubble gum wrapper and cellophane smile


I’m the white-collar crime of a celebrity

Sharing my life on prime time TV

So cancel my subscription, please

‘Cause I don’t know…what’s got you up tight

114

Kalama Tea

To fight or run, was never very fun it wasn’t clear

And that front tooth chip hidden by a missionary lip

Looking at a stranger in the mirror, inventing how to smile again

Its Kalama Tea-It’s a heart attack on Sunday afternoon

It’s unbelievable

Its Kalama Tea-It’s an earthquake on your birthday

And everything is falling off the wall; yeah, everything is falling off the wall

I was stunned when those knuckles like a gun they crossed my cheek

I couldn’t speak, what was I to even do

So I bounced right back up for number two; isn’t love a splendid deed?

Its Kalama Tea-It’s a car crash on vacation

Or your mother’s suicide

Its Kalama Tea-It’s lightning in the oak tree

Without a cloud in the sky; not a single cloud that’s floating by

Its Kalama Tea-It’s a rock beneath the surface

As you’re diving in swim

Its Kalama Tea-It’s a fire at the homestead

And every memory turns to black; can you really ever memorize the past?

Doesn’t time make it all OK?

I want to feel it all again…I want to rub it on my skin

I want to see it now…can you show me now?

How to take it all apart…I want to feed it to my heart

I want to shake it to the bone…to the bone now

Swallow up the sea…can you cling to me?

I want to wash you through my hair…if you dare to

Fight what tempts a soul…you can fill in all the holes

You can drop down on your knees…its Kalama tea

Feel it all again…I want to wash away the sin

I want to bite the bullet…take it on the chin

I want to stand out in the rain with my hands held high

Raise my eyes up to the sky and when the lightning strikes

I can drop down on my knees…then blame it all on me

Its Kalama tea

115

Lithium Martini

I’d like a lithium martini shaken, not stirred

I’d like 54 years and 3 more days if that’s not too absurd

Maybe you could help me, but you don’t know this song

So, tell me Mr. Bartender, what have you done?

With all those little pink umbrellas that I love

I’d like everything west of me to fall off in the sea

I’d like to sit on the beach with my toes in the sand sipping a martini with

my favorite band

Maybe you could help me, if you know some voodoo curse

Tell me, my gypsy girl, what have you heard?

And where are all those little pink umbrellas I deserve

There’s an oh, so very tiny razor blade cut on my wrist

But don’t you ever worry your pretty, little head over this

Maybe you could help me, carve out this shopping list

‘Cause it’s a rainy day and I can’t find where my umbrellas are hid

I’d like a lithium martini shaken, not stirred

And will you turn off all those flashing lights behind me ‘cause they’re

making my vision blur

Maybe you could help me, find my way back home

So, tell me Mr. Policeman, what did I do wrong?

‘Cause all those little pink umbrellas that we love

All those little umbrellas

All those little pink umbrellas… are gone

116

Shoulder to Shoulder Desperately I’m seeking a way

That I can give you all of my summers

Secretly I’ve devised a scheme

Where everything I do, I do for you

I don’t know, I don’t know

I don’t think anyone at all can see us now…

Put your hand in mine

Shoulder to shoulder a hundred-beach-race dash

Older and older is all I seem to get


Suddenly it seems that my autumn’s in swing

And your friendship’s all I really need to save

Half the time it seems as if it’s all just been a dream

And I’m frantically running after you

I don’t know, I don’t know

I don’t think anyone at all can see us now…

Put your hand in mine


Older and older is all I seem to get


118

Eating Louisiana

Just Plain Bill Sixth Release

2007

Eating Louisiana was supposed to be fun, but it turned out to be a very dark time in the history of the band. It began with the idea of recording old songs we had never put on real CDs,

some things from Trike and others that we’d never gotten around to recording. We set up and recorded live tracks at a

friend’s house. Then the next week, Ted sent us an email that he was leaving. Man, were we mad. We decided to persevere and continued recording using drum loops. We then decided

to have Peter Jansen remix some other tracks from Spoke which we were never happy with. We added two newly written

songs dealing with Ted’s departure The River and Get Happy using drum loops. We had the equivalent of a double CD.

Now, I don’t even consider this a real release, but I think the two new songs were good and heartfelt. During the year and a half Ted was gone Peter joined the band and we played a gig or two with Maria Joyner. It was fine, but we missed Ted. We worked some things out, he returned, Peter stayed; however,

we’ve never really recorded since…we’re just old I guess.

119

Buddha in the Bedroom

Previously from Bill and His Fabulous Organ

Well, we’ve come a long ways today, we’re still running

And the question on everyone’s tongue is have we arrived?

Or are we still coming

And as I look around, I still wonder

If the sun’s really hidden behind the thunder

Or in some secret tomb, behind the moon


Everyone, we used to know, isn’t thinking the same

Is a roadside attraction and a midnight distraction the same?

It’s no longer a game

Like a colorful joke or the turn of a phrase

I’m thinking back to those dangerous days

That we once knew

We were a couple of crazy fools

Making love without costumes

In the light of the full moon


You see me standing out on the road

With a sign in my hand and my thumb in the air and I’m looking to go home

But it can’t be too soon

When she’s playing her favorite tune

And the local goon

Stumbles into the room

But he’s going to meet his doom

With the Buddha in the bedroom

Well we’ve come a long ways today…we’re still running

120

Come Love a Stranger Previously recorded for Some Horrendous Joke but not used.

Come love a stranger

If you’d like a little danger

Come love a stranger tonight

Because I am watching you and all the things that you do

And when you’re alone you can call me on the phone

To tell me your name which isn’t the same as before

The house dance is silence




I’m sure that you want me too and here’s all you have to do

Just run through the rain you can feel me in your veins

And feel my kiss upon your lips like a stain

A horse of reliance




I’m in love with you and I think that you love me too

And when you hold me tight you can call my name all night

And it can’t be wrong if at the dawn you’re still alright

Candle of defiance




121

Dumb Previously from Spoke

(Inspired by Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins and Kurt Cobain)

If I’m so dumb

If I’m so dumb

Then why are you standing right in front of me?

In the wolf-mother wallpaper

If I’m so dumb

If I’m so dumb

Then why are you listening to me right now?

In the toadstool motel

I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


If I’m so dumb

If I’m so dumb

Then why are you touching me, feeling me?

Like an inanimate object in a cave

I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


I’m not suicidal


122

Eating Louisiana

Previously from Spoke

(Inspired by Paul Prudhomme, hell, it’s pretty much his recipe with some

artistic license)


Blackened Creole’ rodent


Fat man’s Cajun delight

Hey!

Take a tablespoon of sweet paprika

Teaspoon of onion powder

Teaspoon of garlic powder

One teaspoon of ground red pepper

Take a teaspoon and a half each of black and white pepper

One teaspoon of oregano and thyme

Don’t forget the salt

Take an extremely large cast iron skillet

Place it on the oven over heat

Past the stage of smoking, white ash in the well

Meanwhile, thoroughly combine the spices in a bowl

And sprinkle lightly over buttered fillets

I know a man, he is a chef

Without the fat there’d be nothing left

I’m on a soapbox behind a podium

Eat less fat and sodium

123

Get Happy

Shotgun bitcher with an envelope

Skips the appointment but ingests the dope

And your circumspect vision has me at the end of my rope

You’re three cogs off and you’re jumping from the loft

But I’m not laughing when I turn my head and cough

You’re crazy as a March hare, I never would have guessed

But I wish you’d get happy cause you’re making me depressed now

Shotgun sinner with a cappuccino

Wants to be a Rembrandt instead of Ringo

Got your hand on a willy and the other on a crucifix

Cutting up wishes in a Petri dish

But it’s less like science and more like quiche

You can’t be saved, if you never have confessed

But I wish you’d get happy cause you’re making me depressed now

I can’t tell you what the future’s going to be, yeah, yeah

Shotgun blister in the envelope

Passing out Spam like you think its soap

Suck, suck, sucking out all of the hope

It’s not a genius who’s wearing these clothes

But it seems as though you’re cutting off your face to spite your nose

You know you can’t get naked, if you haven’t even dressed

But I wish you’d get happy

But I wish you’d get happy

But I wish you’d get happy cause you’re making me so depressed

Yeah, yeah, yeah

124

Get out of the Rain

Previously from Trike

“Sunshine’s always lying on my face,” is what you said to me

Sometimes I think you’ve lost your mind

Wrap yourself in latex or armor and coat your tongue with innocence

But who said Heaven’s really white?



Rain is falling down like a blanket on your face,

You can’t see anything

You’re running blindly through your life,

Thinking everything’s alright

If you would only try,

Only try to open up your eyes

Maybe you would get out of the rain

“Sunshine’s always lying on my face,” is what you said to him

Sometimes I think that you’re as crazy as the dress you’re wearing

Wrap yourself in white tonight and climb up on your Silver

I hope your savior is a small young girl of color

Chorus

What a crazy thing to do with your mouth

Hey, hey, hey, what a crazy thing to do with your mouth



Chorus

“Sunshine’s always lying on my face,” is what you said to her

Perhaps you should look again

125

Hollywood Cab Ride

Previously from Spoke

There you are in the back of my car

Telling me who you are like a movie star

You ask about me, but as you can see

I’m not who I want to be, you see, you see



Then you say you want to go down there and take a ride

You got my attention and I don’t have to mention

That my intention is void of greed

Imagine a scene from a movie screen

Where the actors seem to be behind the stream

Then you say you hate me – You can take a ride

Then you say goodbye – You can take a ride

Then you leave me alone in a theatre restroom ready to cry…

At the slightest change of plot

And you know that if I stop myself from my last cigarette

I will explode…Like the man in the TV show

I will explode…Like a man I used to know

He sold fish in the square as if you even care

He was a bystander, handout, not too different

From you and I on the 4th

of July…Then he took a ride

Then you say want my name – You can take a ride

Then you mention the money – You can take a ride

Then you get me to sign on that dotted line

As if it’s fine to be a friend of mine just like Ms. Devine

When she portrayed Janis Joplin

Then you say you want to go down there

Where the lights spell Hollywood

To talk is the moon and ends way too soon

To have ever been real or true

126

Length of Money Previously from Trike

The pen tattoos on their arms seemed to speak to me

Some nicotine-lip said you’d gone away

All those faces looked like puppets

As they pushed the buttons of the arcade

Pretty girls come running out of the rain Voices of the President, Efferdent, Scope, the Pope

To beat the cold and wipe the stains from their doubt TV evangelists, can you imagine this?-What are they talking about? Let’s get out




No one on the streets for the holiday

I saw a poster with a smile and your face

I never noticed how much the cloth glitters

Until I had the guts to take a taste

Pretty girls come running out of the rain They’ll gag you, bag you, snag you by the balls, tie you up and take all your money

To beat the cold and wipe the stains from their doubt Buy this, sell that, get fat, cardiac victim get slim they’ll chew you up and then they’ll spit you out

Capital is corporate gender slang

It’s God’s phallic sign

And when you run out of things to say

You save face with plastic lies

I saw you on the boulevard with your brand new Rolls

Kind of expensive for a toy

There was a pretty girl beside you to prove you’re all boy

Remember when we used to listen to Pink Floyd…I still do

Pretty girls come running out of the rain Stepping out of my front door, I wonder what that is on my lawn

To beat the cold and wipe the stains from their doubt Burning, turning the grass to a different hue, could it maybe be the fallout…Or is it Starsky and

Hutch?

Etc…

127

Power Previously recorded for Some Horrendous Joke but not used.

Power of the word

Sounds a bit absurd

But it is what you’ve got to get

Power wears the pants

You’ve got to be able to dance

And it helps to have a babe-magnet

Everybody wants some, needs some, get some more like me

Power is the way

But watch what you say

Because you can lose it in a flash

Power can buy things

Like big, shiny diamond rings

Power is you, its lots of cash

Everybody wants it, profit, you can be president

Power like a knife

Turn the key, open the door to life

Count all of the bills in your tin

Power it’s insane

Corporation needs a gain

And if you’re on the ball, you can win

Everybody wants some, swansong, you can die young of a heart attack…

128

The River

We’re on different sides of a river

It’s flowing swift and stretching wide

You’re not even in my dreams now

And so we’re stranded on different sides

I don’t think you love me anymore

When you call out my name

I hope it’s gonna make you feel better

Now that you’ve gone away

Voices call as airplanes fall from the sky

But you can’t say Jesus loves me anymore

Hearts break and houses shake it’s incredible

Choose your path and walk on down the road

Walk down the road

I’m looking through the lines of the words you’ve written

What I’m seeing reads like a lie

Maybe you think it’s gonna make you feel better

All I’ve got to say is I hope you’re right

We’re on different sides of a river

Are you shouting out my name?

I hope it’s gonna make you feel better

But you’re probably gonna feel just the same

Voices call as airplanes fall from the sky

But you can’t say Jesus loves me anymore

Hearts break and houses shake it’s incredible

Choose your path and walk on down the road

Walk down the road

129

Sanctuary Restaurant Previously from Spoke

Going to the Sanctuary Restaurant

Delivered to the river to find something we want

Stowaways and broken dreams fall down and dance

Stowaways and brokens ride a snake in the grass

It’s alright, it’s alright…it’s alright

Packed up my skeletons, my secrets and masks

Answer to the question was a simple, “Please, don’t ask.”

Took my son and lover on a bus ride across the bridge

With alphabet soup in a melting pot to find where sanctuary is


Frankly, it’s humiliating when she feels she must explain her exit


I’m loathing

We’re going to the Sanctuary like children on a carnival ride

We’ve walked in the water; we’ve walked in the water

We’ve crawled in the tide


Met a girl from the Big Sky I swear I’ve met her before

She said, “When you get to the place where your eyes don’t see,

You won’t miss them anymore.”

Stowaways and broken dreams on a bus ride across the bridge

We’re going to find where sanctuary is


Frankly, it’s humiliating when she feels she must explain her exit


Give me, give me…give me Sanctuary

Give me, give me…give me Sanctuary

More Kool-Aid Reverend Jones

130

Thumb Previously from Spoke

(Inspired by Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins)


Down on the road


Glide along the highway



They’re going to be here soon with thumbs in the sky

Peyote on their tongues, but their mouths are dry




Thumbs in a jar


Lick the vinegar



You can give me Buddha, Confucius too

Jesus and Dale got nothing on you






There’s a body on the ground with dirt in her hand

One less cowgirl playing in the sand








Sissy and the Hip Angel…ride

131

Transportation Previously from Spoke

There’s a ship of fools providing entertainment

To a raft of intellects and 23 gay men

The train of fish isn’t in a hurry

To pass a pickup truck of idiots gerbiling

There’s a frigate and a frogget and a frugget

Filling with the Filipino farmers

There’s a limo like a lady’s libido

Behind a caravan of snake charmers

Felching on a Sunday morning

Waiting for the autumn corn

Once in awhile you try to figure it out and find you hate the traffic



Transportation

Transportation throw caution to the wind

I’m going to rip out my heart

And throw it on the freeway

Take this brain, take these hands

Give them away

I’m going to jump the next train out of town

Because I can’t take it anymore

This dirty little town contains an element of chastity

That I’d like to sodomize

Chorus

I can’t think, I can’t see, it’s all a blur

Slow down, put up a stop sign, put up a detour

Chorus

Pumpkin and nougat leaves a bad taste in my mouth – (This line by Ted

Clark)

133

The Whole Year Inn

Just Plain Patrick

2011

This project started as kind of a Tuesday Night Music Club

idea with Peter Jansen, Maria Joyner, and Dave Broyles. The idea was that we’d show up, I’d bring songs and beer, we’d

arrange a song, record a live take, and then do it again. Later we’d add overdubs. This worked for a lot of the project; but as usual, I had more songs than we all had time to record. So,

there are some that only had me or a few others. I also fulfilled the lifetime dream of The White Album, London

Calling, Blonde on Blonde, and Exile on Main Street…a true double album of 25 songs. Wow, it was ambitious. Some

should have probably been left by the wayside; however, that’s probably always the case.

134

Andy Rattlesnaked a Laggard

(Written for a friend, rocker, and true original Andy DiMartino) Andy Rattlesnaked a laggard

Conjured up some Cash with Mrs. D

He fretted all the way back to Tahahuya

Just to turn around and end back up in C

I see a girl at the seaside yeah, yeah, yeah

She’s standing all alone boo hoo-hoo

I’m not sure how I got here baby

But I should be getting home

Andy sampled all the flowers

He had an Amsterdam good time

Though I’ve never known the power

I’ve known my own Space and Time

I hear those notes from Jimmy Do

Gator Walk, and Burrough’s Blues

Andy thinks that he Ain’t Got No Friends

But I know he’s got more than me and you

I see a girl at the seaside yeah, yeah, yeah

She’s standing all alone boo hoo-hoo

I’m not sure how I got here baby

But I should be getting home

135

Anxiously Mistaken (working title: Ambulance)

I see the sun is falling from the sky

It’s all turning purple…purple and peach

I’m seven miles up above the earth

And I’m lying naked out on a beach

I see the light has almost disappeared

I’m feeling that tingle and the weird

Daisies and sunflowers, soil and sun

She’s dirtied her hands and she calls it fun

I think I’ve made a mistake this time and I can’t take it back

A slight miscalculation on my part

It’s a beautiful blue-green house with a yellow picket fence

But I don’t know the address

I’m holding up her head because she’s sick again

Won’t you please just send an ambulance?


I see the sun has fallen from the sky

I can see lights on down below

I’m seven miles up above the earth

But I haven’t a clue why I’m feeling this low

Daisies and sunflowers, sunlight and soil

She is water and I am oil

I think I’ve made a mistake this time and I can’t take it back

A slight miscalculation on my part… I can’t take it back

It’s a beautiful blue-green house with a yellow picket fence

But I don’t know the address

I’m holding up her head because she’s sick again



Somebody send an ambulance

Everything’s going to be OK…Everything’s going to be alright

Everything’s going to be OK…Everything’s going to be alright

136

Astronaut

I want to be your plastic, fantastic astronaut

Your jiggly, piggly-wiggly juggernaut

Your ice cream slobber chop

I, I, I, I want to be your astronaut

Your astronaut, oh yeah

I want to be honey drip, fat-lipped bee-buzz hive

Your late night, headlight tunnel-drive

Your chocolate flavored alkaline

Bee-buzz hive of love

Your bee-buzz hive of love



Come on and take me out on a Saturday night

I’ll make you feel like you’re moving at the speed of light

I want to be your spastic, galactic spaceman now

Your burning bush and your golden cow

Your upside down cake

Spaceman now

I want to be your spaceman now

I want to be your plastic, fantastic astronaut

Your jiggly, piggly-wiggly juggernaut

Your ice cream slobber chop

I, I, I, I want to be your astronaut

Your astronaut of love



137

Be There Soon

Long, long time, I’ve been paying down this debt

For a long, long time, I just needed a tourniquet

I’m lonely and I’m tired and I think I need a bath

You ask me, what’s the deal? Honey, I wish you wouldn’t ask…

Bucky’s got a booth by the juke down at Stella Rae’s

Selling Cali weed, and speed, and a bit of cocaine

Georgia’s in a turban with a bone right through her nose

Keeps a finger on a pistol and another hidden in her hose

I don’t want to talk to her I’m feeling blue

I just want to get back home to you

I got one more thing I’ve got to do…I promise that it’s true

Now, I’m stuck in the back of a chicken-shack down by the Stella Slough

There’s nobody around that can help me get back to you

There’s a church up the road and it’s getting cold

So I’ll be sleeping in the thirteenth pew

Don’t you worry about me now and I’ll show you somehow

I’m gonna be there soon

Cold, cold, cold, I can’t feel my toes

Cold, cold, cold, I’m freezing to the bone

I’ve been bought and sold and I’ve been hung out to dry

Feeling kind of old and I hope I see the morning light

I’m an hour out of Portland and I’m feeling like I’m half past dead

Sparking like a fray and I still can’t get it out of my head

Something went bang and something went crash

The cops hit door and we all made a dash

I’m sorry honey but I think I’m gonna be a bit late…Promise that you’ll wait

Now, I’m stuck in the back of a chicken-shack down by the Stella Slough

There’s nobody around that can help me get back to you

There’s a church up the road and it’s getting cold

So I’ll be sleeping in the thirteenth pew

Don’t you worry about me now and I’ll show you somehow

I’m gonna be there soon

138

Bucky Diddle’s Plaid Slip-On Shoes

Bucky Diddle’s plaid slip-on shoes

Pitter-patter down the avenue

Instead of 25 years to life

For hiding aces and a switchblade knife

They said that Molly had just dove and drown

They propped her up in the center of town

Like a glass-boxed freezer clown

Her hair is flowered and her hands are bound


Are brown and white or are they green and blue

His trick knee makes him stagger some

His hair is greasy and he smells like rum

He caps a tug from Wahkiakum

Just because it’s fun

Hey Bucky, where’d you get those shoes?

I got to get me some, they just can’t lose

“Fat chance Sugar,” is all he said

And that cop, he nearly lost his doughnut

He squeaked a Henry and a lactard clam

Geoducks or scrambled eggs and Spam

A pale horse standing fifteen hands

Has died beside the road


Have served him well, but they have paid their dues

Mrs. Chapman said, “He’s just a joke”

Well he’s not black and white, he’s white and yolk

So, you better not finger-poke

If you know what I mean

Bucky Diddle yeah, yeah

139

Carpet

I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet this year

I don’t want you to feel like you need to take care of me

By counting my drinks and these pills

Or holding my head when I’m ill

Or even brushing my teeth

‘Cause I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet this year

I’m feeling ok and it all feels right to me

I don’t want you to feel like I’m turning my back on you

‘Cause all I can do now is leave

And if you were me you could see

It’s the way it must be

‘Cause I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet this year

I hope you’re not sad when you think of my face in this place

I don’t want you to feel like you could’ve done more for me

The fault is all mine, it’s not you

I hope you find love and it’s true

That I’ll always you

But I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet this year

I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet

I don’t want you to feel like you need to be clever or quick

By taking my shit anymore

I’ve gone out the door

Can’t you see that I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet this year?

No, I don’t want to be another stain on your carpet

140

Deniably Christ, Kid (Working title: Bed)

Do you think?

Do you think this is finally over?

I’ve been on the wrong side of the street

I’ve been on the wrong side of the street for a long, long time

Dining on soul and drinking wine

Reading books with words and visions that don’t rhyme with yours

Yet I keep hearing my father’s voice inside my head

Saying Christ kid, get to bed

Do you think?

Do you think we’ve even got a chance in hell?

We’ve just been going through the motions

And I can’t see your heart anymore

It’s a black and smoky shore

A country that’s at war with itself

Yet I keep hearing my father’s voice inside my head

Saying Christ kid, get to bed

Grab on to something that’s all your own

Everything is going to be alright when you’re all alone

It’s a sunny day

Just like being born again

A sunny day

Christ kid, it’s ok…

Do you think?

Do you think this is finally over?

Any hint of tolerance is gone

It must have been the Devil all along inside of me

Hidden way down deep beneath

But only they could see

It’s hard to believe only they could see

It’s hard to believe only they could see

It’s hard to believe this unbelievable feat is a miracle

Yet, I keep hearing my father’s voice inside my head

Saying Christ kid, get to bed…

141

Downtown Doctor Darcy


Doesn’t diddle dainty dudes

He digs his meat and potatoes on a king-sized table

‘Cause nothing else seems to do

Downtown Doctor Darcy’s wife

Didn’t know it on her wedding day

That he gets around with all those men by the pound

Because it gives him such a doodah day


Doesn’t really have a PHD

But his mom and his dad wanted a doctor so bad

And that’s how Darcy got his name

142

The Dumbest Thing I Never Did #73 or #56

I’m a dollar eighty-seven

Schlitz Malt Liquor, Seven-Eleven

I’m jewel heist, grease fire currency

I’m loaded lipstick slingshot

Detonated springtime blood clot

Sedated, jet-set entropy

I’ve said some things…I shouldn’t have said

I’ve done some things…That made you think I was just a kid

It’s a barrel of worms without a lid, the things I did

But the dumbest thing I did would have to be

The thing I never did

Fashion manipulated

Lotus lip-lock populated

Gene stained denim family tree

I’ve read some things…I shouldn’t have read

I’ve seen some things…That made me want to crawl back in the crib




I’m a man without a country

On a wall like Humpty-Dumpty

Maybe I’m cracked but honey, I’m not broken

Newly baptized outhouse sect

The hobbyhorse’s jewels are wrecked

Best to agree than sniper aimlessly across the street

I’ve said some things…I shouldn’t have said

I’ve done some things…Like some derelict hypocrite




143

Fireplace

They sit alone in their humble abode

It’s not much, but they call it home

Hot coals in the fireplace

She warms her toes and he shuts his face tonight

Subsonic, nosebleed walls

Bionic caterwauls

Grange hall ballyhoo

Mariachi coo, coo, ca choo

Joe DiMaggio and Mrs. Robinson too

She’s lying naked on the couch

Cigarette hanging from her mouth

He’s dancing ‘round in her bra and blouse

Mexican subwoofers shake the house

And even Speedy Gonzales could not escape this tonight

Kick your shoes into the fireplace

Tonight, it’s like the Fourth of July

Firecrackers in the fireplace tonight, tonight, all right

Flickers of light dance above the bed

Yellow, green, blue and red

The clock reads 3:33

But it don’t matter ‘cause they won’t sleep tonight

Supersonic senoritas

Gin and tonic or margaritas

Grange hall ballyhoo

Mariachi coo, coo, ca choo

Even Dustin Hoffman and Mrs. Robinson can’t help tonight

144

Flatfoot Boogie

Roughed up and pickled

Spun around and tickled

One-eyed Betty’s got her hands where they don’t belong

Held down and twisted

Punch drunk and double fisted

Betty, I tell ya I love you, but I’ve got to run

I can handle those bacon shakes

But some things, honey, I just can’t take

Flatfoot boogie…Flatfoot boogie…I gotta run


Held up at gunpoint

Beat up tenderloin

Big Gulp punk with a special dug in my ribs

Cashbox is open

A girl’s down, and a window’s broken

My bag is full, but I think I’m gonna checkout now

I hit the door like a thoroughbred

I hear bullets whizzing past my head



Black jack and craps

Pretty girls on my lap

They keep shoving those bones right into my hand

Snake eyes and busted

Everyone’s disgusted

I keep rolling those dice on an IOU

It’s no time for giving up

If I don’t win my number is up



145

Georgia’s Gone to Spain

Georgia’s gone to Spain again, let me off the train

The brakeman’s lost his mind

They say she rocked the boat and they all ran out of time

I’ve kept some secrets ‘cause everybody falls in love with her

Toasting drags and chasing Steve McQueen, no she can’t see me

I’ve kept my distance so she won’t know my true intentions

Her eyes are lonely now

I hope she falls, I hope she falls in love, I hope she falls in love with me

The city hall bricks were painted green, her daddy wore a barrel

And the fair had all but closed

A flag hung low without a breeze you know

So, they all just went back home

Yeah, we all just went back home

I’ve kept some secrets ‘cause everybody falls in love with her

Toasting drags and chasing Steve McQueen, no she can’t see me

I’ve kept my distance so she won’t know my true intentions

Her eyes are lonely now


Tell me mister have you seen a bullet blistered ballerina

Walking through the streets here all alone

I don’t think she realizes there aren’t any new surprises

And an unsuspecting maid will find her note

I’ve kept some secrets ‘cause everybody falls in love with you

Toasting drags and chasing Steve McQueen

I’ve kept my distance so you won’t know my true intentions

Your eyes are lonely now

I hope you fall, I hope you fall in love, I hope you fall in love with me


146

Girlfriend

Always want what you can’t have

Veruca Salt in Loompaland

You haven’t a clue what I even mean

Off with your head in the guillotine

You could spend the whole year in

But it won’t matter with the hole you’re in…at all

Come on, yeah, she’s just a girlfriend

Come on, Come on, Come on she’s just a girlfriend

Run out naked in the yard with your coon-skin cap and a two-bit cigar

Hidden in a scar just above your heart

Are you just retarded?

One-eyed Jack and a valium

Pick you self off the ground some

Johnny Rotten wearing sandals

Molly Ringwold in Sixteen

Candles from the state urine

Can’t dull the state you’re in



Flabby ass-kissing politics

You’re upside down talking nonsense

Earn more sessions by sleeving

Wipe off your nose now it’s bleeding

You could spend the whole year in

But it won’t matter with the hole you’re in…at all

Come on, yeah, she’s just a girlfriend


Run out naked in the yard with your coon-skin cap and a two-bit cigar

Like a superstar of the avant-garde

Are you just retarded?

Hide it in a scar just above your heart, just above your heart

147

Gotta Find a Way Back Home

I hear the bells at the mission ringing in the lost

Ice is gone from the riverbank but it’s still too deep to cross

She wears a long white dress, walks through the reeds

Easter came early this year and it’s time for me to leave

They all say she’s a faith healer

But I know the truth she’s a soul-stealer

And nothing’s gonna save me now

Gotta find a way back home

Gotta cut myself free


Six bits for the wooden man and I could get myself some sleep

I stumbled into Stella’s with a thirst I could not quench

Three odd hours on a barstool honey with some bourbon and some branch

The local law was dispatched; they cuffed me on the spot

Threw up on the county judge and then he locked me up

Fifteen days in a 6 x 10

If they let me out I’ll just do it again

Nothing’s gonna save me now




‘Cause that kid don’t look like me

You can grin like a jester and mumble with your steel wool teeth

Hey, Chester how you been and how is Jack your dog?

I heard him howling down by the slough last night in the fog

I’ve been living up at the mission, washing down the floors

I ain’t seen that dog of mine in thirty years or more

Hound dog howling blue and red

She’s a plastic bag around my head

And nothing’s gonna save me now




Six bits for the wooden man and I could get myself some sleep

148

Hold Me Now

I’ve seen the faces of strangers on the street

They nod to me and I nod at them but it all seems incomplete

Well, I have lied and cheated and I have stolen hearts before

Yes, I was a scoundrel, lost and heartless a long, long time ago

But, not anymore

So, won’t you hold me now?

Won’t you hold me tightly now?

Hold me now and smile, just for a while

You can shut your eyes and I’ll leave my drum

Well, I’ve been places, so many places

And all these faces I can’t keep track of

But nothing’s as sweet as when she says to me

That she needs all of my love

So, won’t you sing with me?

Won’t you sing along with me?

Play a tambourine and sing a song for me, let it be

Won’t you sing with me?

Come on sing along with me?

You could sing with me tonight, make it all right

You can shut your eyes and I’ll cross my heart

Cross my heart

149

(I Can’t) Laugh Like That

It’s coming from the cellar, it creeps about like death

It slithers up your staircase, crawls into your head

He’s standing on the corner with the wind against his chest

His hands are in his pockets, but a gun’s beneath his vest

He laughs at you and smiles while you get into your car

You say, “I’m not who I used to be”

And he says, “Oh yes you are; yes, you are”

I’m sorry honey, but I can’t laugh like that anymore

I’m sorry babe, but I can’t laugh like that anymore

Staring out the window with your elbows on your knees

You got your chin in your hands and your tongue between your teeth

You’ve been living up the river in a place all by yourself

A man comes around and knocks on your door, helps you dust your shelves

Once in awhile…once in awhile

Once in awhile…once in awhile

He stands up to leave and you start laughing across the bar



Well, I’m sorry; yeah, I’m so sorry

Why…why…tell me why…why…why…tell me why

Black bone, fish-eyed tenderloin lying in the alley by the Chinese joint

Why…why…tell me why

Blood on your hands, snakes in your bunk

The balloons you carried have blown away, all your ships have sunk

Wake up your lover, pack up a trunk

You can snort those crackers good and high, pretend it’s caviar



I’m sorry honey, but I can’t laugh like that anymore

I’m sorry babe, but I can’t laugh like that anymore

I’m sorry; yeah, I’m so sorry

150

Maybe Tonight

All of the bears escaped from the zoo

But we didn’t hear; so, there was nothing, nothing we could do

So we just sat on a bench looking up at the stars

While they ran through the streets

Wild as thieves

All You Could Eat

Closing down the bars

Maybe tonight the satellites will fall from the sky

Maybe tonight the satellites will fall out of the sky

The band played on though the crowd had left

They played their favorite songs like a true quintet

But they had no idea, none at all, that this would be the final set



Maybe tonight the satellites will fall out of the sky

A long time ago a girl went to Spain

She left her home in the states; so, she could dance out in the rain

She wore a dress and a scarf and threw her coins in a well

She scribbled mathematics down her leg

And said, “Sometimes you can’t tell”



Maybe tonight

Maybe tonight

The satellites will fall

151

Molly, Me, and the Man from Tallahassee

With his comic strip grin and fishhook brows he’s difficult to read

Like the belly of a reptile lying in the sun

He stands by himself, but he’s never alone

He’s quite aware of all his faults and charms

Like the newsprint slogans cluttering his sleeve

A blood soaked bed sheet, florescent light

And you think something must have crawled up and died

A back-alley doctor with dirt ‘neath his nails

And he’s counting the teeth in your smile

Oh, ooo, yeah

A girl with a scar from her smile to her ear

Is talking with her hands to some weird puppeteer

Who then, stares at her toenails and her kneecap mirrors

Because something’s going on in that room over there

You shake like a lizard on the end of a stick

And you think that you just might be ill

Oh, ooo, yeah

I think I got a fever, I’m burning up inside

I think I got a fever; I might be going down

I don’t want to stay, I don’t want to stay

Girl gonna get messed up, girl gonna fall

Girl gonna get messed up and Molly’s gonna cry

I don’t want to know, I don’t want to know

Molly sits on a porch swing of a big, pink house

Humming To Kingdom Come

Me, I got a feeling, it’s certainly a feeling; I want to leave

I want to go back home

They’ve got some wolves down in the valley

Down where the young sheep roam

She’s got a feeling, it’s certainly a feeling; she wants to leave

Take her back home

We’ve got that feeling, it’s certainly a feeling; we want to leave

Yeah, take us back home

152

Mrs. Chapman’s Daughter

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter always says hello to me

Though we are not lovers, I’ve always loved her and she loves me

Tell us what you really mean

We really want to know

I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter has a garden in her yard

We sit playing Rummy and she always gets her cards

Now, I don’t think she’s cheating, but I couldn’t say for sure

‘Cause when the liquor is flowing freely, the whole damn thing’s a blur




Na, na, na, na

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter’s genuine

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter

Has always been a friend of mine

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter could chew an ear right off of me

She speaks her mind, says her peace, and then she counts to three

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter can drink my liquor and my wine

‘Cause Mrs. Chapman’s daughter has always been a friend of mine




Na, na, na, na

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter’s genuine

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na

Mrs. Chapman’s daughter

Has always been a friend of mine

153

Nothing to Me

Maybe you could tell me what you’re trying to do?

But I wish you’d just hold me ‘til the nighttime is finally through

I don’t even care if you feel brand new

‘Cause nothing, I mean nothing to me is better than you

No, there’s absolutely nothing, nothing to me

That’s better than you

How ‘bout you tell me what you’re thinking about

And maybe together we can figure the whole damn thing out

I don’t really care if you feel like I do


There’s absolutely nothing, nothing to me


If I had but one single wish

I know what it would be

I wish I could feel your heart next to mine

Your skin on my skin

Tonight

Tonight

Tonight

Tell me what you think that the future might be

When the trees are all bare and there’s no sign of leaves to be seen

I think the skies will be cloudless and blue


There’s absolutely nothing, nothing to me


Absolutely nothing is better than you

154

Rocking Chair (Crippled and Broken)

I’ve got a rocking chair on my back porch where I can’t do no harm

I can sip my drink, pet my dog, and stare out at the lawn

I could nap all day until it’s dark

I got me a plan where I nap away my heart

I’m going to nap away this crippled and broken heart

Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m awake or still asleep

I see that face that broke my heart and stole my soul to keep

I could weep all day until it’s dark

I got me a plan where I weep away my heart

I’m going to weep away this crippled and broken heart

I’m going to weep away this crippled and broken heart

I’ve got a certain stick I like to use when I am feeling down

Its point is dull, but I stick it in and I twist it all around

I could bleed all day until it’s dark

I got me a plan where I bleed away my heart

I’m going to bleed away this crippled and broken heart

155

Roll Over

There go Cali Parker Hip Shake

She bring Mississippi doe-eye

She does rush of milfillusion

She packs a sissy-bar smile

She studies the mirror and her reflection

She might miss the bus, but she makes her connection

She wear bubblegum reptile

She’s got three-toe end bomb

She’s buck-naked to her mukluks

She dig Uzi Watusi

She hasn’t prayer for absolution

She’s gonna kick-start a revolution

Come on, come on, come on everybody roll over

Smile for me one more time

She drop frappuccino faux pas

She’s sport Almond Joy Gangsta

She bag black sheep politico

She take cauliflower necktie

Truth and lies are all imagination

Watch her scratch without humiliation



Downtown brick-steer blood bank

She take cracker box alibi

She sing pink one and a green one

She got no diamond back hybrid

She might dance on the television

But she don’t come unless it’s her decision



156

Spoons

The coldness of your pillow tells me you didn’t sleep last night

I dreamed I set your body a flame on a beach and it felt alright

And walking away I felt absolutely zero remorse

Your scent was on my skin like never before

You think that I’m strange like spoons in the wall

But maybe, baby, I’m not strange at all

The moment stretches out like a lazy ol’ cat in the summer sun

I’m busy carving words into my skin and it seems like fun

And when I’m through I’ll take some pictures of you hanging on the door

Later maybe, I’ll take you down and roll you on the floor



The air around me’s hot and wrinkled like an un-ironed shirt

The sweat is running off my brow and my hands are in the dirt

And walking away I’m dusting off my hands and singing in my heart

Looking at the bright side, baby, has never been this hard



Is it all that you had in mind?



157

That’s How It Is

Sometimes late at night, I see that death cab through the fog I know she’s in

the drivers’ seat…With her dashboard lights aglow, her arm out of the

window; she likes to think she’s so discreet

But I see her from a mile down the street, she says take it from me, get out

of the kitchen if you can’t stand the heat…I say your heart is on your sleeve,

stop your bitching at me, and then she slips her hands into the pockets of my

jeans and tries to communicate, emphasize

She talks in riddles and she swats at flies, I hear those words that she’s

saying escaping from her teeth, nothing that she says ever makes sense to me

And somewhere in my head

OOO I would like to see her dead

Yeah, that’s how it is

She can be as crazy as a mule when she asks if I’m happy and is everything

is good…I tell her that I’ve gotten everything I’ve wanted though sometimes

I think I’ve only blown up the neighborhood

She laughs you can bang that drum until angels come or until you’ve got

yourself a hole, and then I see her grin, I know what she is thinking, she’s

thinking man, how the hell’d I ever fall in love with him?

And then she starts to cry, feel her head on my shoulder, she whispers, I

don’t want to grow any older; I say I know babe, but whatcha gonna do, I

just want to grow old with you

And somewhere in her head

OOO she would like to see me dead


Times in the morning, when there are still ghosts in our bedroom

I can watch her sleeping…I struggle not to wake her, but I always seem to

fail her, but she’s never upset

She just whispers how’d you sleep, I feel her hand on my cheek, I just smile

and go back to sleep with her in my arms, I’m in a dream, it’s so much better

than I thought it would be

And somewhere in my head

OOO I would like to see her dead


158

When You Die

So, this is what it’s like when you die

I can hardly believe I’ve been waiting for this for my whole life

‘Cause there isn’t any choir singing a song

There isn’t any fire and there isn’t any God

There isn’t any fanfare or bright white light

So, this is what it’s like when you die

So, how is it now that you’re all grown up?

Is everything as easy for you as you once thought it would be?

And when you wake up and look in the mirror

Do you know all the answers and is everything clear?

And when you shut your eyes, are you pure in thought?

So, how is it now that you’re all grown up?

I’m sorry if you misunderstood me, but you haven’t seen me clearly

I’m sorry if you are alone, I’d like to know what you’re thinking

I’m sorry if all of your best-laid plans have all gone up in smoke

I’m sorry

So, whatcha gonna do after today?

With your head so full of words, that you’ve never heard

And your mouth can’t say

I’m sorry if you feel that I’ve been trite

A big bang theory of why you’re alive

But Jesus Christ couldn’t even show you the way

So, whatcha gonna do after today?

160

Honey, Won’t You

Spare Some Bills

Just Plain Patrick

2016

When I started this one I thought it would go a lot quicker, but

from the first session until mastering took about four years. Why? Well, Peter finally got a grownup job and a girlfriend, which cut down on his free time considerably. I broke my

shoulder, which stopped me for at least six months. And the rest is just life. The basic tracks were cut with Maria Joyner on drums and me on guitar or wurly. Then I proceeded to

overdub the rest. Riley helped a bunch with sax. He and his friend Marcus (trumpet) played on 3 of the songs together.

Jenny DiMartino added some congas and backing vocals on some. Deb and Craig Brown did some backing vocals.

Douglas went all out on backing vocals to the point I had to give him a writing credit…as usual, the man knocks me out! I tried to make this one a little less eclectic and a bit more of a sound. I recorded slide on almost everything, there is sax on

at least half of the songs, and between Jenny and me there are congas on everything. I think it worked.

161

Acapulco

I skip down those crooked steps from your house again

I take them two at a time

With the wind in my hair and sunshine on my face

I don’t even turn around this time

I don’t even think about it twice

I’m going down to Acapulco now

I’m already gone, I’m already gone


And I’m ready for whatever may come

They all seem to know my name at the dancehall now

He’s the one that can’t button his lip

Even so, I don’t need your helping hand anymore

I’m going to leave here before I slip

I’m gonna take me a trip





I can see the blue of the ocean in front of me

I’ve got sand between my toes and a salty drink

The breeze is warm and my eyes are closed

And the sun’s just starting to sink

And the whole thing makes me think






I’m gonna get me some sun

162

Breakdown Saturday Night

Lopsided in Lafayette

Fever blisters and night sweats

She can’t sleep and she can’t think

Lost her dinner in the bathroom sink

Seven hours on a bus stop bench

Her back feels like a monkey wrench

Counts my quarters and counts my dimes

Takes her sixes and hides her nines

She likes the sugar and she likes the spice

She says it’s really nice

She likes her liquor straight on ice

She says it goes down nice

Shake those hips and make it feel right

A little rock-n-roll on a Saturday night

How about a little rock-n-roll on a Saturday night

Dropped out in Baltimore

Flats on the whistle but she can’t score

Wrap it up quick and wrap it up tight,

Sprinkle some breadcrumbs out tonight

She’s gonna squeal and she’s gonna bite

She’s gonna dance all night

Not coming home ‘til broad daylight

You know those vampires they are out tonight

She likes the sugar and she likes the spice

She says it’s really nice

She’s gonna squeal and she’s gonna bite

She’s gonna dance all night

Shake those hips and make it just right

A little rock-n-roll on a Saturday night

How about a little rock-n-roll on a Saturday night

163

Don’t Mean a Thing (Under a Tree)

Holy Rollers on the corner with signs in their hands

I’ve sounded out the words, but I still don’t understand

Scripture scribbled Jesus sticks have started to bleed

While they crucify a cellist just for destiny

Go ahead and bury me under a tree

Take a deep breath in

Let a deep breath out

Can you muster up the mustard just to scream and shout?

Paint yourself some t-shirts

Put up a marquee,

But those rollers on the corner they don’t mean a thing to me

There’s a fat kid on the corner with a Slurpee and a blade

Newton dropped an apple and Skinner ran astray

Weapons violations cross the line in Tennessee

While the ghost of Charlie Chaplin’s paying alimony

Go ahead and bury me under a tree


Take a deep breath and suck it right in

It’s time to let the wild rumpus begin

Maybe you can help me

Maybe you can see,

But this fat kid on the corner don’t mean a thing to me

Hey, hey Juanita…be my tortilla…just for awhile



Take a deep breath in


Can you muster up the mustard just to scream and shout?

Paint yourself some t-shirts

Put up a marquee,

But those rollers on the corner they don’t mean a thing to me

That fat kid on the corner he don’t mean a thing to me

You buggers on the corner you don’t mean a thing to me

164

Dream

I want to dream…

Dream, dream, dream away this pain

I don’t want it now

Dream…

I keep trying to remember to forget how to remember

All the mistakes that I have ever made

Maybe you could help me darling

Can you show me the way?

I keep messing with the potions and emotions of my life

Like I’m some crazy alchemist

I see those faces from my past

And I wonder if they even exist

I’m afraid I need a fix darling

Can you help me with this?

I feel eyes upon my staring like I’ve lost all sense of reason

And I’m just a fatalist

I take everything that’s good and I destroy it

Like some kind of terrorist

I want to dream…

Dream, dream, dream away this pain

I don’t want it now

Dream…

I keep trying to remember to forget how to remember

All the mistakes that I have ever made





165

(Hey Mamma)

Seven Stones of Happiness, but I Can’t Shake These Blues

I was standing ‘gainst the railing when the rain began to fall

Flashlight bubblicious upside down out of my skull

Dewdrop blindfold, five, one, two plastic bag taped ‘cross my window

I hustled up a taxi, cross the river, to beat the cold

I dialed up the Wang man, but he don’t take my calls no more

I’m hanging down at the Clock Tower Hotel like a nail without a board

Rasta Sadie and the Handshake Dumpster sell tie-dyes down below

While the girls pray for a rainstorm that won’t damage all their soles

Hey mama, can you tell me any news?

I’ve got seven stones of happiness, but I can’t shake these blues

The elevator opened with rubber bottles and broken strings

They asked me if I’d share a bite before the fat girl starts to sing

Hey mama, can I tell me any news?

Hey mama, what am I supposed to do?

Hey mama, mama I’m three shades of blue

Hey mama…Hey mama

I was standing on the railing of the bridge just chewing gum

While the mayor counted his money and the police chief wiped his gun

The rock star at the hotel he went crazy on the TV sets

Now he’s a fat man in the bathtub with a bullet in his chest

Hey mama, can you tell me any news?


The Wang man left a message with the Clock Tower concierge

So I shook off all those sandstorm dollars and went to get my wares

In the meantime, Sadie and the girls did a séance ‘cause they were bored

And they conjured up Mark Bolan like it was 1974

Get it on, mama won’t you bang that gong?

Get it on, get it on, can you tell me what is wrong?

Hey mama, mama can you tell me any news?


166

Honey, Won’t You Spare Some Bills

I didn’t think she had a chance

That dragon’s just in her head

You can tell her anything you want

And she’ll forget everything you said

That monkey might be funky

But man, that girl ain’t got no bread

Oooo, why don’t we…

Lie down in the moonlight

Stare up at the sky

Or we could go down to the highway

And catch ourselves a ride

Catch ourselves a ride


There’s the rooster and the duck

Sunday morning’s such a thrill

I could get down on my knees and pray

But I’d still be an imbecile

Well, that Rooster he’s no chicken

And Duck says, “Put it on my bill”

I’m afraid I need a band aid

Honey, please just spare some bills

Honey, won’t you spare some bills

Honey, won’t you spare some bills

Oooo, why don’t we…

Lie down in the moonlight

Stare up at the sky

Or we could go down to the highway

And catch ourselves a ride



Commmmmme baby, gonna catch ourselves a ride

167

Meadowlark Lemon

Chemicals and neon

Down at Cozy’s Bar & Grill

We could all hear that jukebox humping

And we couldn’t get our fill

Molotov cocktail in stained glass

Gliding up to me

My mouth felt just like a cotton ball

And this is what came to me

I’ll be Meadowlark Lemon if you can swing like a sweet cowgirl

I could shoot and dribble while you wear those boots and spurs

I’ll be Meadowlark Lemon and shoot a hook shot true and sure

Let’s all sing Sweet Georgia Brown and dance right out the door

She was no church Christ woman

And I was swimming on a fiery lake

But she loved those words rolling off my tongue

And so, I sang ‘em every night and day



It’s been more than a year now

Since she vanished and dropped that bomb

She left me here high and dry

With nothing but a song

I’ve been sitting in a booth in Cozy’s

Every day since she’s been gone

And everybody here well, they know my tale

So they all sing along

I’ll be Meadowlark Lemon if you can swing like a sweet cowgirl

I could shoot and dribble while you wear those boots and spurs



168

Rub One Out

You said, “Hey, hey,” when you woke up late

You got nothing to give, you got nothing to say

Looks like trouble’s on the way

Well, if it’s trouble Momma you can’t stop it anyway

Rub one out and see, Rub one out for me

You better rub it out soon and enjoy your afternoon

You better just sit back

Maybe take a nap

You gotta relax and let it pass away

Because your eyes are wild

And you’ve been hanging off the lampshade

So get your feet on the ground or you might just blow away

You better polish up your stone before it rolls away


Set those cobwebs free, you can’t let it be



You said, “Hey, hey,” when you woke up late

Got nothing to fear, it’s a beautiful day

Looks like sunshine’s on its way

You know, sometimes mama you just gotta say, “What the hey”




Set those cobwebs free, you can’t let it be




169

San Jose

Going to San Jose

Have we traveled 40 miles?

Summer rain ruts and ditch dug misguided trials

Square toed and hollering

Fire hydrant bust

Running for shelter like rain dogs sprinting

And those children in the street well they just keep singing

La, la, la, la, one morning; we just woke up on this road

And it just keeps on going and going and all those children are singing

La, la, la, la, la, la, la; you can come to me in the morning

But I never want to ride this road again

Painted toes and piercings

Tore our pockets in a dust storm

Hammered out and hammered in our legs are burnt and worn

Pistol whipped on caffeine

Are we lost again?

Shoplifting buttermilk, keep on running;

Hell, maybe we should have turned way back when





Ooo, yeah, yeah honey, gonna roll right through the night

Ooo, yeah, yeah we’re gonna roll

Going to San Jose, seems like seven days







170

Skimpy Tops

Sunshine and summertime on my mind

Lying in the grass just wasting time

All of the time

Everything is fine

Haven’t got a dime

But now that’s ok

Sunshine and Good Vibrations now

Raising up my glasses past my brow

Well I could show you how,

She says, “Hey now…Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout?”

I’ll tell you ‘bout the birds and the butterflies

But I can’t tell you why

I like those skimpy tops…

Summertime and nothing’s going on

Park birds with their radios but nothing’s going on,

Hey, what’s that song?

Can you tell me?

What the hell’s going on?

I swear honey I’m not looking now,

But I know you know that is a lie

I can’t tell you why I like those skimpy tops…

Sunshine and summertime on my skin

I’m just floating down a stream on my daydream again

Can’t be a sin

Chocolate covered aspirin

I might be tripping once in a while

But you know what makes me smile

I like those skimpy tops

171

Sunday Veil

Daylight comes sneaking

I open up my eyes

I feel her fingers start creeping

It always makes me smile

Put on your Sunday veil

Put that Sunday veil

Everybody smiles it never fails

When she puts on that Sunday veil

She sits down by the maple

She puts her feet on me

She shuts her eyes and she smiles

But she don’t say a thing

Sunshine dancing on the water

She got daisies in her hair

Fish can jump, jump, jump and mingle

But I just whisper in her ear


Put that Sunday veil

Everybody smiles it never fails




Everybody sing

Yeah everybody sings


172

Under the Sun (You Can’t Blame Me)

You can’t blame me this time at all

It’s not my fault

No, not at all

Dream

Go ahead and dream

Bathe yourself in milk and honey

Dream

Dream

Fill your eyes up with everything under the sun

Everything under the sun


It’s not my fault

No, not at all


Smile

You’ve got to smile

There’s nothing free in this old world

You got to smile

Smile

Watch those clouds part right open for you

Maybe you could tell me something honey

But I’ll tell you something and it ain’t that funny at all


It’s not my fault

No, not at all

Dream

Go ahead and dream

Wipe those footprints off of the ceiling

Dream

Dream

Fill your eyes up with everything under the sun

Everything under the sun

174

Outtakes and

Pancakes

Just Plain Patrick

2016

A companion piece of songs recorded for Honey, Won’t You Spare Some Bills plus some home recorded demos. Cousin, Television, and Let It Go are the outtakes and the rest were

recorded at home. The demos are in different arrangements. Some have drums and other instruments and a couple are

only vocal and acoustic guitar.

175

Assumption Parish

You say that I don’t even know you anymore

You say that I don’t even care

I know that I can’t save you this time but my love is true I swear

I know that there are decisions to be made

I know, yes, I know that there are decisions to make

There’s one thing that I’d like to say to you before you turn and walk away

Please don’t go back to Assumption Parish

Please don’t go please don’t leave


Before you say good-bye to me





You say that I don’t even know you anymore

You say that I don’t even care

I know that I can’t save you this time

I know that I can’t save you this time but my love is true I swear





176

Cousin

A friendly smile can’t hide that thin skin for long

The family name is gone and you are all alone

You are all alone

Growing up for you meant fading away to me

A roadside zoo can’t keep any of your dreams

Any of your dreams

Nothing’s ever easy as it seems to be

The more you try the bigger you fail

But there ain’t no use in fretting ‘bout it now

‘Cause you know damn well you ain’t got no one left to blame

Except yourself

Your fair skin burns in the sun so you hide it away from view

But there’s nothing you can do

That’s gonna take you away from here

That’s gonna take you away from here

You signed your name and you shook their hands

You walked away and you didn’t look back

A red-haired girl with eyes of green

You knew damn well you were never coming back

Never coming back

Won’t you please hold my head underneath the water now?

Won’t you please hold my head underneath the water now?

Won’t you please, please, please hold my head…hold my head?

Better, wrap that jacket around your shoulders good and tight

‘Cause a cold wind’s blowing and it won’t let up

When you hit that tree line, go ahead and look

But you know damn well this has never been your home…

Never been your home

Growing up for you meant fading away to me

177

Even When I Was

You can prop me up

Like a statue in the corner of the room

You can pick up around me if you like

And dust me off with your broom

You can dance to the radio

And maybe you’ll hear a song that I wrote

When you’re lonely at night

You can talk to me softly if that’s what you want

And pretend that I’m there

Pretend that I care

Like I know you think everyone does

But I haven’t been there for a long, long time

Even when I was

It wasn’t a lie

When I said, you meant the world to me

God, knows that I tried to provide everything you could possibly need

‘Cept for me

Except for me,

I know that it seems

That at times I was nothing but a ghost

And you probably believe I deceived you

But honey I gave you more than I gave most

So go and dance to the radio

And maybe you’ll hear a song that I wrote

When you’re lonely at night

You can talk to me softly if that’s what you want

And pretend that I’m there

Pretend that I care

Like I know you think everyone does

But, I haven’t been there for a long, long time

Even when I was

178

Girl from Montgomery

With frail fingers and stubby little toes

She’s comfort and pleasure wrapped up in a Christmas bow

With her headstrong smile underneath a determined nose

Some of you might think you know her but surely nobody knows

She’s my girl from Montgomery and she saved my soul

So, if you are lucky to see that girl from Montgomery

Just give her my love and say hello

She can be a cynic or subtly proud

With a thoughtful silence she can leave you completely spellbound

She whispers in her sleep and tries to blend into the crowd

Some of you might think you’ve lost her but your talk’s not that profound

She’s my girl from Montgomery and she’s already figured you out


Just give her my love and shout it out loud

With a feline nature and night owl ways

She covers her fair skin whether it is night or day

She can wear black and white and still show you her blues and grays

Some of you might think you’ve seen her but you’re all in a haze

She’s my girl from Montgomery and she’s got me in her maze


Just give her my love and all my praise She can be an open book or she can be a recluse

With her little white lies and all of her wisdom and truth

Her mystery’s greater than anything you could deduce

Some of you might think you’ve met her, but you’ve never been introduced

She’s my girl from Montgomery and she’s 100 proof


Just give her my love without excuse

With speech that’s cautious she rarely offends

She can be down and out and still you know that you’ve got a friend

Her sincerity’s heartfelt and she never tries to pretend

Some of you might think you’ve heard her but I guess that all depends

She’s my girl from Montgomery and she is my oxygen


Just give her my love and say amen

179

Gone to the Movies

If you see my girl tonight say I’ve gone to the movies

I’ll be sitting in the dark back row staring up at the screen

Maybe I’ll share some popcorn with a stranger next to me

And then we’ll sip on this bottle that I snuck in under my sleeve

If you see my girl tonight

If you see my baby tonight

Tell her I’m alright

And I’ve only gone to the movies


I’ll be watching Charlie Heston play a Mexican again

And even though I’ve memorized it all by heart

And I talk to Dietrich in my favorite parts

Tell all those Grandview boys in the front row to sit back down






Because I can’t seem to muster the words to tell her goodbye

I’m gonna fill my pockets with stones, jump in the river all alone

And when they find my bones on the rocks in the morning

Please don’t let her cry

But if you see my girl tonight








180

Let It Go

I could tell you some things

That no one else even knows

‘Cept for me

You could even be my confidant

If you wanted to be

I don’t know

Sometimes I just don’t think so

But I’ve been wrong so many times before

And summer doesn’t seem that long ago

It’s just not that special to me anymore

I don’t know

Sometimes it’s best just to let it go

I could hold your hand

And make you feel safe

For a while, just a while

Her cold blue breath

Escapes from her chest

Just like the moonlight in my dreams

So it seems to me that…

You’ve fallen asleep

And all the voices that you keep inside your head

Have fallen silent for you now

I don’t know

Sometimes I just don’t think so

But I’ve been wrong so many times before

And summer doesn’t seem that long ago

It’s just not that special to me anymore

I don’t know




181

Television

I’ve grown tired of all of these pills

And your hipster friends have lost their appeal

Your mouth speaks like too much mustard

And it only makes me want to kiss your lips

I’ve got a television

Tells me what to do

I’ve got the Star Spangled Banner in my head

Naked knees, service station

Eyelash, reservations

I’m not giving up on you

My blood’s on fire, hotel matches

Makeup compact, long sleeve scratches

Sarah Vowell’s on Letterman tonight

If you tell me a secret, I’ll hide it in my mouth


Tells me what to do

There’s blue, blue light glowing off my windows

Hoodoo, boogaloo

Rock N Roll Hootchie Koo


You make me ill every time you throw up

It’s not that amusing anymore

You’ve lost your nerve and I’ve lost my guts

But who am I to tell this to you


Tells me what to do

I’ve got plenty of fluids and I love the bomb

Anesthetic, comatose

Pepto-Bismol and a weenie roast



I, I, I, I, I’m not giving up…on you

182

Two Yellow Leaves

There’s only two yellow leaves left on the maple

And Jack Frost is whistling in my ear

Most people focus on this pain behind my eyes

But I believe it’s the best time of the year

This Earth beneath my feet feels like sand on a beach

With the ocean calm and a lighthouse near


But promise me you’ll never shed a tear

Just sing me a song that I’ll always remember

Remember when I’m high

Sing me a song…one that I can whistle

When I die

There’s frost on the pane and I can even see my breath

And this fire never seems to warm my bones


But I know that we all die alone

Just sing me a song that I’ll always remember

Remember when I’m high

Sing me a song…one that I can whistle

When I die

There’s only two yellow leaves left on the maple

But I don’t think I’ll ever see them fall


But I hope you know that I have loved you all

Believe me when I say I’ve loved you all

183

Songs Not

Recorded…Yet

Here are all the others I’ve written since 2004, but haven’t

been recorded. Some have been played live solo or with JPB, while others have never been done for an audience.

184

5 Reasons for Leaving

I see her hanging in the checkout line

Bags in her arms and under her eyes

She’s skinny as a razor clam at a low, low tide

I guess she thinks she’s pretty like that

She’s just another cigarette in the pack

Slingshot showing and a bull’s-eye on her lower back

Midnight moon-dance in a garden of sin

He paid his money so they’d let him in

He checked his ticket and he asked his friends

But none of them are sure when it is supposed to begin

I guess he’s looking for the fountain of youth

Maybe he’ll find in a kissing booth

Down at the fairgrounds there’s a girl who thinks he’s cute

OOO I want to see the ocean swallow up the sun

While I’m driving down on the 101

I want to feel a breeze blowing in my face

I’m turning my back and I never want to see this place…ever again

He’s a hipster cyclone with a beanie on his head

But he looks more like a hip-hop Zimmerman instead

Except for his goatee he looks like Sideshow Bob

He sees her standing in the checkout line

I know exactly what is on his mind

He spills his cappuccino asking her for the time

They call him Sir on the hill when he gets into town

But he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground

He’s gonna to sit in that seat until the ship goes down

He sees a good thing and gives it a nay

I think this horse has had too much hay

I see you leaving that store driving your SUV

You honk your horn at an employee

You scream hey, get out of my way

But, he’s only doing his job

I guess you think that you’re a real hot stuff

You run a red light and you flip them off

Then you drive over to church and you pray to God

185

13 Soles

I’ve been playing with gods and monsters

I’ve been dancing with ghosts and wolves

I’ve been swimming with gimps and geeks now

Turning water to blood

But you’re not an angel anymore

No, you’re just like me

You’re not an angel anymore

Hey, hey, hey, yeah we’re on our way we’ve got 13 soles on a holiday

Hey…hey…hey, hey, hey, we’re on a holiday with 13 soles today

I’ve been living on the straight and narrow

Eating apples from where ever I please






I’ve been swinging with the dull and dizzy

I’ve been stealing from the rest of you

I’ve been riding past the church and graveyard

Can’t you see me there waving at you?






186

Affairs in Order I think it’s high time that we all tell the truth

Point the finger at ourselves and suffer the abuse

I think it’s high time we tell it like it is you betcha’

Divide all the assets into piles hers and his

I’ve been getting my affairs in order

Honey, I’m gonna leave here when I can

I’ve seen those blue beards coked out of the their minds

Hangin’ ‘round my doorstep after midnight like some hipster 5 and dime

I’ve seen those blue tattoos snaking down their backs

They’ve got their $13.47 in their pockets for beer and snacks



I’ve got some time! Hell yes.

Are you gonna stay? Hell no.

You’re all buzzed out! Hell Yes.

You better get yourself together

Here comes the light! Hell yes.

Are you afraid? Hell no.

It’s feeling weird! Hell Yes.

You better get yourself together

I think it’s high time we lay it on the line

Dip our finger in the pudding and sample apple pie

I think it’s high time to put those ducks in a row

Jump into the water and let the good times roll





187

Airplanes

Airplanes falling from the sky

Look at faces all around

We’re looking up into the sky

We’re watching airplanes falling

We’re watching airplanes falling down

I want to breathe (Don’t hold my hand)

Just let me breathe (Don’t touch my skin)

Can’t seem to breathe anymore (anymore)

I want to breathe (Don’t say a word)

Just let me breathe (Don’t speak my name)


I see the ground is floating up

It’s rushing up and up and up

It’s so loud I can’t hear a sound









Wingtips and laptops on the move

Secrets of science have gotten loose

Little bags of peanuts floating ‘round









188

Another Christmas Bash

Well, the mall is open ‘til midnight they say

And the mood is festive, joyful, and gay

The parking lot’s full and just waiting for a crash

They're all headed out to another Christmas bash

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee

Ooh, baby, ooh-ee

It's another Christmas bash

Well, I took my therapist to the jamboree

Santa was there and she sat on his knee

He whispered in her ear with his white mustache

Then invited her out to another Christmas bash

Back at the office they’re talking ‘bout the scene

‘Cause Suzie’s sitting on the copy machine

They’re all making copies and taking out the trash

They'll talk until June about another Christmas bash

Well, I’ve sampled the candy but avoided pies

And the roast beast nearly brought tears to my eyes

I’ve gobbled the cookies and developed a rash

But I’m still gonna go to another Christmas bash

Well, I'm toasting the snow and I’m toasting the tree

It’s way past the time when I should be asleep

But I’ve spent all my time, my energy and cash

So I can drink myself silly at another Christmas bash

189

Autumn Swallows

The sky is low and heavy

Distant fence line birds

There’s something going on here that you can’t put in words

So you turn to face the corner and you wonder if she knows

So you ask her what her name is, and why she hasn’t any clothes

Is something going on here, but she just smiles and purrs

You turn to me, and whisper in cryptic purple verbs

Spicy spoken glass

Static rusted leaves

A smudged and dusty floorboard and skinny, scuffed up knees

There’s something going on here, but you’re not sure it’s clear

So you stop asking questions to see what you can hear

She stumbles down a hallway

And disappears from sight

The ice cubes in your tumbler jingle in the light

You ask me where she’s gone to and I say that I’ll inquire

There’s smoky floating paper and someone screams out fire

There’s something going on here but you don’t know what it is

Perhaps its words you’ve spoken or all the things you did

190

Bay Song

A boat at the bay

Takes me to her

I have been there

Many times before

When the water shimmers

And the moon is bright

I can hear her

Calling

Lift my soul up and let me fly away lift my soul up

Over and over

I’ve made the row

A lantern’s glimmer

On the opposite shore

The lap of the waves

Against the hull

It’s her heartbeat


Time and time

I’ve shook my head

My heart is full

Full of regret

But then again,

Here I am

Down at the bay

Again



191

Camille

Camille, Camille came home last night

Her red hair in tangles but she looked alright

Hungry and tired but she wouldn’t sleep a bit

Good God, tell me girl, where have you been

Put on your red skirt

Put on your boots

Let’s hit the town tonight and do it real good

Camille, Camille…

Let’s do it good

I say… OH

Let’s see some bright lights and celebrations

Sample all the medications

Stockpile your firearms and explosives

All aboard pack up you caboose

Let’s fumble ‘bout and stumble ‘bout and run around like fools

Camille put on your red skirt and boots

Camille, Camille where did you go

It’s been four long years since you walked out the door

Camille, Camille

Am I out of my brain?

Your twin sister’s older but you look just the same

Drugged up on electric lights

Are we in cahoots?

Let’s hit the town tonight and do it real good

Camille, Camille…

Let’s do it good…

Camille, Camille my zombie girl indeed

I’ll get you what you want and I’ll get you what you need

192

Carnivale

Big top down by the water

Washing off the road

Scorpion girl is dancing with the cootch

Like she’s riding on a toad

Better shake some dust



Better shake, shake, shake, shake some dust

Preacher’s got the black eyes

Blind man’s in the yard

The bearded lady’s got the Snake-Charmer thumping

But the psychic’s got the cards





The prophesy’s been tattooed

Cornfields will fall

Life from death, moonlight’s the Devil

And the sunlight is God





193

Crucifix

A mother traffic stain in a tunnel

Peace folded hands

Maybe it’s a miracle

Maybe it’s a scam

Crucifix in your nightmares

Shadows in the hall

Praying to a savior

Now, you’re praying to a wall

Get down on your knees

Opossum in the headlights

Operation in the road

Death-wish monkey, suicide junky

But I can’t get off the phone

Crucifix on the headboard

Saves you from what you’ve done

Crucifix in the bathroom

Bless this hallowed throne

Television girl smiling at the camera

Girl in the apple wins a million dollars

Tongue-tied, brain-fried, cross-eyed girl

Television smile wins a million dollars

Win a million

The fifth one ended up in Paris

The sixth one went to Rome

White smoke from the Chapel

Now nothing else is on

Maybe it’s a miracle

194

Death Door Boogie (Accepted It Now)

Behind the wheel of a big black car, my lights are shining out in the dark

I’ve been driving, driving a while down this road in high gear

There’s a heavenly glow from the dashboard lights

There’s a man beside me I don’t know by sight

I keep checking, checking back in my rearview mirror

I’ve been wearing suits and smelling perfume, making love in the afternoon

I’m attending a party but I can’t pronounce the address

I twist and turn ‘til I’m upside-down, I look up and see a big black cloud

Nighttime’s upon me, yeah, the sun’s going down

It used to scare me some honey, but I’ve accepted it now

I drive into town like I used to do; it’s patched together with sticks and glue

I’m running, running from dogs with meat in their teeth

The circus is here crowding the street

While a brass band plays and a blind girl screams

There’s a dead white pony lying at a child’s feet

I’ve got pills in my pockets, spiders on my skin

When nobody’s looking I swallow them in

Then I swagger back to the party and nobody’s wiser

I’m gimped up, feeling my age, I’m a bare tree standing in a winter’s rage

I’ve been falling, falling down and I can’t get up again

People surround me like its Halloween

I don’t recognized a single face I’ve seen

I’m leaving; leaving soon I think I hear my train

I hear a song inside my head with a sweet voice moaning out to the dead

You can’t call it a party until something gets broken

I’m wrapped up in a swaddling sheet

I’ve used and abused and now I’m obsolete

I’m smiling, smiling at you but it’s all a façade

On a night like this not long ago I crossed the line and I lost my soul

Now I’m waiting, waiting to dance in the arms of God

It’s coming ‘round the corner, coming down the pike

Like a tattooed madman on a motorbike

I’m going to tiptoe out of this party and get back on the road

195

Denial

Too many mistakes, all the choices are gone

Wants and needs, rights and wrongs

She didn’t have a chance this time, she didn’t say goodbye

Chewing up her soul you zombies, she’s still alive

It’s starting to boil in here, it’s starting to sweat

Bubbles rising up to the top, you gotta pay that debt

Denial, run away, run away, run away, denial

Got their hands in chains, walking in a line

Gonna tell you a story, if we got the time

A monster in her past and the doors are locked

Holding all the dogs at bay, that’s all you got

That’s me making her nervous, that’s me with the sick inside

That’s me with the brake lights showing, come on girl, let’s take a ride


Lights flickering on and off, waking up the dead

Love’s stronger than the big deep sleep, that’s what they’ve said

There’s a child beside her bed, she’s holding her nightmares in

She’s looking in his eyes, she’s touching scars

It’s not decoration, she says its definition

She’s making a declaration, that kid’s an abomination


196

Devil of the Tangled Blue Branches

Blood and mud

Water’s rising up

Souls underneath

Trying to breathe

There’s a monster

In the shadows

With her sweat and her steam

Rising up like a storm

Starting to scream

Devil of the tangled blue branches yellow eyes on me

Devil of the tangled blue branches eyes on me


Behind the quiet of my eyes

I see invisible pieces

They float like a boat

Down this dirty little stream

If I play to near

Then they all just disappear

From my mind without a sign

Like they were never even here


Ghosts of women are hiding in the trees

They dance and sing their melodies to me

Devil of the tangled blue branches eyes on me

Devil of the tangled blue branches yellow eyes on me…me…me

197

Dig Me Fever

All of my dreams

Snake black Cadillac, you know

All that I feel

Is cold, cold, cold, cold

Wrapped up in a scratchy, wool cocoon

My hands are swollen, squeaky balloons

Fever

I got the fever

Dig me fever

The room is a haze

Butterfly wings and light

Toothache shakes

I feel just like I’m dyin’



Fever

I got the fever

Dig me fever



Fever

I got the fever

Dig me fever

198

Do You Believe?

Do you believe she’s falling down again?

Do you believe you can see all that’s painted on her lips?

You say Oh, Oh

I see the clouds of a storm rising now

You say Oh, Oh

I can feel the rain coming down

Washing away, washing away all those I told you so’s

Washing away, washing away all of the hope

Do you believe she is leaving you now?

Do you believe all that joy you have tasted has just turned to ashes in your

mouth?

You say Oh, Oh

I see the clouds of a storm rising now

You say Oh, Oh

I can feel the rain coming down

Washing away, washing away all those I told you so’s

Washing away, washing away all of the hope

199

Down This Road

I’ve been walking down this road

I’ve been walking down this road (for a long, long time)

I’ve been walking down this road just searching for a friendly smile

I haven’t got a dime

No, I haven’t even got a dime (to call my own)

No, I haven’t got a dime to make a call to even save my life

Oh…Oh…Oh…I’ve been

Walking down this road tell me why’d she go

I’ve felt rain and I’ve heard thunder

No time now to stop and wonder why

(Grab my hand and run for cover)

I’ve made mistakes and I’ve made blunders

She stole my love and my heart is plundered now

And the rain is coming down… Down on me

She left me all alone

Yes, she left me all alone (all by myself)

She left me all alone and I don’t even like myself

Maybe it is true

I said maybe it is true (I’m going down)

Maybe it is true that I don’t even deserve to be saved



I’ve felt rain and I’ve heard thunder

No time now to stop and wonder why

(Grab my hand and run for cover)

I’ve made mistakes and I’ve made blunders

She stole my love and my heart is plundered now

And the rain is coming down… Down on me





I’ve been walking down this road just searching for a friendly smile



I’ll keep walking down this road just searching for her love again

200

Driving to Van Nuys It wasn’t all my fault this time but you sure blamed me some

The sidewalk cracks were all filled with rain

And there was hate on your tongue

There’s some things that you can’t take back

But we all live with what’s done

I might not be Jesus Christ, but then again

He’s never made you cum

You looked at me with those big brown eyes

And said we should run

And all those freaks outside with their signs saying

We should regret what we’d done

They threw their fists at the sky like a big black cloud

Someday I know it’s gonna break our hearts

‘Cause we went down a road and we went too far

You can bandage a cut but there’s still a scar

And we’re driving to Van Nuys

Driving to Van Nuys

Big blackbird in a cloudless sky

Not our day in the sun

Faceless eyes and breathless words

And we were under the gun

I see those girls downtown

With their pierced up lips and their green tattoos

You know they’ve got problems just like me and you

So wrap yourself up tight and put your face on the glass

201

Feelin’ Fine

Broke down keep and a big black cat,

Grease-ball Sherlock in a cowboy hat

Seven shots winking and she’s flat on her back

Coco Chanel and Schnapps so thick

A full house showing but the girl’s sick

I could drive her car to the county line, ‘cause I’m alright

I’m feelin’ fine

Trailer park red lights shaking in the breeze

Girl’s from Cincinnati or Memphis, Tennessee

Hillbilly H Shack’s burning up in the trees

The law was called but nobody came

Mission in the holler won’t save my soul

Bring on the choir, bring on the wine, ‘cause I’m alright


Lazy Dog scribbles on the bathroom wall

He leaves his number but nobody calls

Bar Keep’s daughter is a friend of mine, cause I’m alright

She blows my mind

A man from Miami got his guts blown clear

It took the Memphis Mob to make it disappear

Town was in a pickle but nobody shed a tear

Fire in the hole, the church got bombed

Child of the judge is in the town whore’s womb

Shout and scream and hold up a sign, ‘cause I’m alright


202

Freak Avalanche Squeeze-Play

Freddie Cluster and Thelonious got bit by the bug

They rode that Red Wing down in flames until they both got skunked

They put some crosses on the internet for the cautious…as a crutch

And everything was peachy until that fiasco with the Dutch

Freak avalanche squeeze-play


Last chance circumstance, better wave an olive branch


Big Easy at the Howlin’ Wolf yeah yippee-ki-yay

Crawfish etouffee, a bit risqué but we all had to pay

Our smart mouths and our tennis shoes almost buried us 6 feet deep

Just our luck a cop pulled up and we high-tailed across the street





Ducky and the skull can groove it all night long like a god damn crime

Like a drive-by homicide they’ll turn it around on a nickel and dime

My heart starts beating like a hummingbird it goes…

Makes me want to rock and roll all night because it makes me feel so good





203

Get Up (Gonna Roll)

Bright light of the city

We’re seeing all the sites

She’s holding my hand now

It’s like sunshine in the dark of night

We’re laughing, we’re singing

Up and down the avenue


Just me and you

Get Up

Get up we’re gonna roll with it, roll with it

Get Up

Get up we’re gonna roll, roll, roll, roll

Get Up


There’s a sway to the street like an ocean

People going to and fro

We’re bouncing up and down

We’re dizzy like tremolo


We’re shaking our souls


We’re gonna go, go go

Get Up


Get Up

Get up we’re gonna roll, roll, roll, roll

Get Up


204

Gimme Back My Buzz

Szechwan dolly hostess

Black beans and a roll

Hippie dippy mustard flavor

Greenster on a stroll

Titsicle, trout pout

Hacking up a wishbone

High-speed chicken freak

Termite’s on the telephone

Redneck car alarm

But nobody is home

Say it isn’t so

Pour another Slurpee sunrise

Say it isn’t so

Gimme back my buzz

Gimme back my buzz

Gimme back my buzz and a transistor radio

Scenester at a trap hop

Nicki B’s on the line

Jimmy got the Whitehouse

Table in the back

Serving up the slinkies

Without a water back

Freak flags flying and a spastic sense of fashion

They’ve got those diamond-eyed cobras and a black rose up their sleeves

Termite hit the red light

And he popped a skirt behind the ear

When she was heading for the exit

Clearly, Jimmy had the right idea when he went to Tacoma

205

Girl Can’t Help It How did it feel, when the roof caved in?

Baby in the bath, books on the floor

Dipping in your toes, river’s on fire

Its flowing backwards, her spine is stone

Flip-flopping around, better get it right

Scrubbing out the sink, scrape off your hands

Pull down your knees, this water’s deep

The girl can’t help it, the girl can’t help it

She just don’t fit

(We gotta get out) she ran away

(Is she ok?) The church fell down

(Can we find out?) I’ll tell you

Time and time again I feel it

(Crawling on my skin) she ran away

(Blue or benign) the church fell down

(We gotta give in) you know she’s

Crawling on my skin she’s sinking

Searching the past, digging up the dirt

Grasping at straws, you know it all went down

Oh, Lord I’m dying, dying to know

Recognize your faults you better just say your peace

Stop talking to me, packing up to leave

Water’s rising up, I’m slipping away

Thirty-five to one, alcohol and ice

The girl can’t help it, the girl can’t help it

She just don’t fit

206

Gracie’s Coming Home

Daddy don’t dig no Fez and Charlemagne



She’s gonna kick off her shoes bad sneakers and all

Better take me back to my old school

Any major dude will tell you it’s alright

Got a monkey in my soul but he won’t take me alive

Get that big black cow and pour some cream in a cone

Yeah, cause Gracie’s coming home

We’re gonna kick off our shoes bad sneakers and all

Better take me back to Dr. Wu

Hey, Nineteen it’s all a royal scam

So, give your gold teeth a roll and then just do it again

You know Black Friday’s coming, better get off the phone

Yeah, cause Gracie’s coming home




207

Has Anybody Here Seen Nate?

We’ve all been searching for our friend

Half-way round the world, the Burger Bar, and the Columbia Inn

We heard from a mate, he was in here rather late

Tell us, has anybody here seen Nate?

He’s tall and furry as a bear

He’s steady as a tortoise and quick as a hare

Please don’t hesitate, and please don’t fabricate


Some people say he’s nothing but a myth

But they don’t know a thing; yeah they’re all full of shit

So don’t you speculate about Nathan the Great


We’re all so happy he’s coming home

His momma she can’t wait, she’s even starting to foam

So please just indicate how to locate Nate

Tell us, has anybody here?

Tell us, has anybody here?


208

Her Trust in Me is Dead

She said I am a coward and I hide behind these eyes

But these eyes they are now failing me and so I paint on a disguise

This winter’s awfully cold and I fear the trials ahead

Yes, her gaze has lost affection now for her trust in me is dead

She’s twitching by the riverbank with a handful of straw

While I just sit by humming songs and strumming a guitar

Her eyes are focused upward towards the gray above her head

Yes, her heart is filled with infection now for her trust in me is dead

I see her downtown dancing and singing the old-time tunes

While bearded drunks from the junkyard howl like crazy-haired buffoons

She’s throwing in the towel because there’s nothing left to be said

Yes, her love’s just lost direction now for her trust in me is dead

209

High-Flying Clouds

I’m not sure how I got here

It’s a bit of a haze

I’ve been walkin’ on a ledge

Spittin’ off the edge

And living on borrowed days

Some things they don’t fit

And some things they ain’t right

You laugh at me and shake your head

And say I’ve thrown away my life

But it’s all coming clear to me now

There’s some high-flying clouds flying over me

But I’m looking down

I’m falling down fast, but I’m starting to see, yeah

Here comes the ground


I’ve driven off the rails once or twice

But it’s nothing I couldn’t handle

With some bourbon and some ice

I’ve burnt the bridges

Told some lies

And I’ve gone crazy for a while

I’ll look at you straight in the eye but there’s a devil in my smile

And it’s all coming clear to me now



There’s nothing between the earth and me

I’m just looking around



I’m falling down fast, but I’m starting to see, yeah


Here comes the ground and it don’t look soft

Here comes the ground and I feel a bit off…

210

Lampshade

All at once…I see her face

Out of the blue…And into the bright, white light

Perhaps I’m smitten…What’s her name?

She makes me want to be…Something I’ve never been

Just like that…I’ve fallen overboard

At first I’m drowning…And then I’m bored

But she’s just a Band-Aid…She’s flavored rice

She is a lampshade…She’s cocktail ice

Some people talk…She needs a new routine

Something more than…face cream and magazines

Parking lot of a Dairy Queen

But I never kiss her…In the light of day

When she’s nervous, she stammers…And asks me to stay

But she’s a Band-Aid…A cold compress

She is a lampshade…In a pretty dress

Maybe I could finally tell you everything

Wash myself until I am clean

I want to wake up feeling so much more than I am feeling

Now

And just like that…I’ve tumbled overhead

At first it’s euphoric…and then I’m dead

But she’s just a Band-Aid… she’s just a Band-Aid

She is a lampshade… she’s just a lampshade

I’m speechless and stupid…when I see her face

Out of the blue…And into the bright, white light

Perhaps I’m smitten…

211

Lana

She wears the drop dead tint of cool

And every move she makes is made with purpose

As if she stole it from a movie

She’s all familiar yet out of focus

And when she looks into your eyes

She can you are surprised that she remains unbroken

She’s got the backseat, dub-beat, sundress, bare feet

Big stick, bar bet, lighting up a cigarette

Feet up, hair back, ducking in a Cadillac

Lights out, handout, slogans on her hand

OOO, she sings like ultraviolence

OOO wrapped up in a flower printed dress

Every question is a test like nothing she’d confess

She pours your bourbon over rocks while she smokes her hydroponic pot


Butterfly bursting in the big blue world

She floats about ‘til she captures your gaze


She’ll detect any disguise you wear to save you from her spell

She likes the midnight, backlight, subtext, sound bite

Greased back, sleazebag, tattooed model type


With her black, blue pout she stifles any urge to speak

And she prefers to move without a rhythm


She knows that you’ll never deny her anything she’s asking

Dashboard, drugstore, fifty-cent encore

Chauffeured traveler, old money, daddy’s girl

Tooth bling, ding-a-ling, listen to the angels sing

Watching California as it slides into the ocean


OOO dancing barefoot in a parking lot

She smiles to get under your skin

Brushes back her hair when she begins

To speak like she’s devout or high


212

Methadone and Eggs

She walks barefoot beneath the trees

In a dress that hangs just above her knees

Sunshine trickles off the leaves

And dances just like goldfish ‘round her feet

How about some methadone and eggs?

But please don’t put sugar in my joe

I’ve woken up with some strange perfume before

But surely none as sweet as yours

She says how about some breakfast on the lawn today?

My jam is sweet but I won’t boast

I say that’s fine, I’d like to feel the sunshine on my toes

And I’d love to taste your jam on my toast

NA, NA, NA

Hey Satan, I know I’ve been a sinner

But please don’t steal my soul today

I’d like to take my sailing boat

And float it down her stream

I’d love to see her smile again

NA, NA, NA

How about some methadone and eggs?

But I don’t want sugar in my joe

I’ve woken up with some strange perfume before

But surely none as sweet as yours

She says how ‘bout some breakfast on the lawn today?

My jam is sweet but I won’t boast

I say that’s fine, I’d like to feel the sunshine on my toes




NA, NA, NA

213

Pocket Full of Promises

I’ve got a pocket full of promises that I can’t carry anymore

‘Cause every single blood-shot smile I paint‘s just adding salt to the sore

So my pocket full of promises is walking out the door

I’ve got a suitcase full of memories that I used to keep up on a wall

Itty-bitty knickknack Beatle statues and a circus crystal ball

Now I’m packing up this suitcase full of memories into a vault

Hey, yeah, I’ve made some blunders on the way

But it don’t matter, cause I’m never gonna change

And this pocket full of promises is just walking away

I’ve got a radio of happiness I used to hold above my head

Like I was acting in a movie on a million TV sets

But that radio of happiness was just playing in my head

Hey, yeah, you want to know what’s going on

But I’m not gonna say it ‘cause I’m gone, gone, gone

And this pocket full of promises is just another stupid song

I’ve got a pocket full of promises that I can’t carry anymore

‘Cause every single blood-shot smile I paint‘s just adding salt to the sore

So my pocket full of promises is walking out the door

214

Polly McDonald

We all sit around missing Polly McDonald

And toasting the old, weird America

7 months pregnant when Polly went missing

Last Tuesday at sunset or so it’s been told

Has anyone here seen Polly McDonald?

We’ve search high and low, near and far


‘Cause her husband just sits at the bar

After 3 years of marriage her husband went sailing

For a year he was gone out to sea

His ship finally sailed into port Sunday morning

So Polly packed her belly up and went down to see





Polly, my Polly won’t you come out and see

I’ve got something I must show you dear

Gingerly Polly followed her husband

As they walked from their house to the woods that were near

There were tears in her eyes when they finally stopped walking

And she knew that her fate was at hand

She tried to explain all that had happened

But she knew as she spoke that he’d never understand





Polly, my Polly you’ve broken my heart

And I’ve dug up my pain in this earth

So Polly crawled down in hold he had dug

And he covered her face and her belly with dirt





215

Roadside Cafe

Itty, bitty stars up in the sky

Each one twinkles through the night

You put your bare feet on the dash

And we just drive through the night

Skinny jeans, Hush Puppies

Naked knees and vows

Black road, headlights

What should we do now?

Tickle, tickle, fuzzy motion

This whole trip’s a mistake

Where’s the pool and suntan lotion

We can’t catch a break

Strung out in a roadside café

Radio’s playing Lana Del Rey

You’re eating pancakes and I’m eating steak

2 more hours ‘til the break of day

Salt shaker, ketchup bottle

Hot coffee’s a treat

Here’s a napkin, wipe your face, girl

Where’d you learn to eat?

Tickle, tickle, fuzzy motion

This whole trip’s a mistake

Where’s the pool and suntan lotion

We can’t catch a break

216

Santa Song

Come on baby let me be your Santa Claus this year

I’ll get you anything that your heart finds dear

I wanna, wanna, wanna be Santa Claus for you

I’ll let you tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you

Please don’t pause

I want to be your Santa Claus

I hear people talking ‘bout the snow that’s right outside

If I get me some reindeer, well I’ll take you for a ride

I wanna, wanna, wanna be your Santa Claus tonight

I’ll slide right down your chimney and make your season bright

Honey, it’s no trick

I want to be your St. Nick

I’ve been lying in this manger scene for longer than you know

I’m allergic to the frankincense and I wish this mall would close

But then I saw you walking up and my heart started to jump

And I think I have changed my point of view

So take these swaddling clothes from me yeah, yeah

And put me in that big red suit

Come on baby let me be your Santa Claus tonight

I’ll wear the suit, and belt, and boots and grow my beard so white

I wanna, wanna, wanna be your Cringle, Nick, and Claus

But I know you think there’s not a chance that I could pull it off

Don’t be cross


I might be the baby Jesus in this manger scene and song

But I know you know Santa Claus has got it going on

And when I saw you walking up, my heart did a skip and jump

You gave me reason and a cause

So take these donkeys and hay; and get these wise guys away


217

Save Your Soul

We all stood beside you, our backs to the fire

With tears in our eyes, we sang with the choir

But now you’ve forgotten the struggle and hurt

You just stare at your shoestrings while you kick at the dirt

Lost and found

Found, but lost

Save your soul, dig the hole

Feel the earth in your hands

Cross your heart and take the vow

Save your soul, fill the whole

Brush the dirt from your hands

Save your soul, you know what it is you must do

But you don’t know how

It seems awful funny that you’ve gone down that way

Because we all remember what you used to say

You think things have changed now, but we know what we heard

You’ve got your head in a rain cloud and you’re not saying a word





You carry the bible to shadows your heart

While deep down inside you it’s scary and dark

But your eyes don’t deceive us now, as they did in your youth

We all wish you well now, but we long for the truth

Lost and found

Found, but lost

Save your soul, dig the hole

Feel the earth in your hands

Cross your heart and take the vow





218

See You Smile

I want to look into your eyes now, Grace

I want to hold you for a while

Because I have known you all of your life

And I just want to see you smile

Take my hand and dance with me, Grace

I want to twirl you for a while



There was a time when I promised you the whole wide world

Ocean, sky, and sand

Now, there’s nothing more I want from this whole wide world

Than to hold your hand

I’ve got a song in my heart just for you

Won’t you listen for a while?



Because I have known you

Because I have known you



219

Seren A.

She’s a girl whose eyes are older than she really is

She’s seen her life and that’s the way that she lives

She walks down the street with her bare feet showing

No idea where the hell she’s going

A white dress on and gardenias in her hair

She raises her arms and shakes her fists

She yells you can’t do anything like this

And she don’t give a damn who even stares

Then she drives around town without her top on

In a ’75 burnt orange Datsun

Waving at anyone who stops and glares

And all she wants to do…is

Dance in the graveyard, get drunk by the minimart

Talk crap at the local hangout bar

And we all know it…we all know

We all know she’s running out of time

But we keep wishing she’d just drive like a Christian

And maybe she’ll make it home tonight

Her momma used to tell her she was one of a kind

But she up and left home before she was even nine

Years on the street hardened her heart

Until she figured it out and found her part

But we still have no idea what’s she’s thinking of

With her long dark hair and big brown eyes

She’ll make you turn and look at her twice

And if you’re not careful you just might fall in love

You can kiss her lips and caress her skin

But her steel bar heart won’t let you in

‘Cause all those tricks you got she’s above


Howl in the moonlight, tell stories by the firelight

Moan in the morning light and gripe




And maybe she’ll make it home tonight

220

Road signs never know where it is you started from

They can smile like the sun but they don’t know how far it is you’ve come

You can walk a road until your old dancing along playing your banjo

Singing “If you want to get high, get high”

You can drive your car off a cliff

Stand at the top a stare at it

Watch it burn and then just say goodbye


Sleep in the church pews, waste money on new tattoos

Talk crap at the local TV news




And maybe she’ll make it home alive

221

She’s Gonna Leave You

I see you both on a carousel going round and round and round

With porcelain horses on their poles going up and down…up and down

Half the twinkling lights are out and the calliope seems off

It huffs, and puffs and wheezes like an old man with a cough

She smiles when she looks at you and sometimes holds your hand

While everyone around you thinks that, they all understand

But I know there are things in this smoke and mirrors that are not clear to

see

You pepper her with your poetry until she has to sneeze

And that’s how I know that you don’t know it’s near

But I’m afraid that when she smiles it ain’t sincere

It’s just veneer

She’s gonna leave you

She’s gonna take her pretty face and walk out your door

‘Cause she don’t need you anymore


You’re just a temporary score

And I know she’s leaving

Cause I’ve seen it all before

I see you sharing lunch with her with a bottle between your legs

You think no one notices when she’s scrambling your eggs

There’s a juggler, a marching band, and clowns all doing tricks

And politicians with balloons all lined up for a kiss

She giggles at your jokes and wears your pin upon her clothes

But when she’s riding bareback well, her eyes are always closed

You think that you’re her prince but that’s not really how it is

She’ll sting you half way across the stream cause she can’t help how she is

She’s a scorpion deep down in her heart

And I’m afraid she’s been that way from the start

You better watch your heart







222

Cause I’ve seen it all before

I know that you think she is such a lovely mystery

But she’s gonna disappear

You just wait and see

If you’d only listened, only hear

I could have saved you from the hurt

‘Cause you see, she did exactly that to me

And I believe she’s gonna leave

I see you at a carnival and she’s still by your side

You walk up to the carousel and both get on to ride

Lights and mirrors and drunken beasts…tigers and giraffes

Spin around and bounce their heads, so you won’t see them laugh

I watch as she leans to you and melts into your form

You wrap your jacket ‘round her to keep her shoulder warm

Then you share your cigarette with her before the whole thing starts to spin

And she kisses you upon the mouth ‘til that ride comes to an end

But there’s something here that you don’t understand

She’s gonna try and rip your heart out if she can

Don’t you understand?







‘Cause I’ve seen it once before

223

Still Swimming in the River

I hear her talking in her sleep

With no one but myself and the darkness there to keep

All her secrets safely hid

And when we’re tangled up as one

With nothing but the morning sun there knowing what we’ve done

And all those crazy things we ever did

We’re still swimming in the river

We’re just going with the flow

And where this river’s leading

We’re going to go, go, go


She says I want to hold you tight

And if you wouldn’t mind I just might hold you through the night

And make it worth your while you’ll see

If you know what I mean

Sometimes we stumble through this life

Falling down like autumn leaves just floating right out of the sky

And landing at our feet to lie






I hear her talking in her sleep

With no one but myself and the darkness there to keep

All her secrets safely hid


We’re just hoping we don’t drown

And where the current takes us we’ll be down





224

Stomp in the Dirt

Up on the hill

Down on the farm

Under the hay

Out in the barn, what is the harm?

Ooo honey, kick off your boots

Let’s get out and howl at the moon

Hey honey, hike up your skirt

Let’s get down and stomp in the dirt…we’re gonna stomp

Ooo, yeah…Ooo, yeah…Ooo, yeah

Let’s stomp in the dirt

Between the lines

On the road

Off the rocks

Like a Rolling Stone

Over the hill

Beneath the bridge

Across the road

Into the ditch

Ooo honey, I smell some barbeque






Past the church

Beyond berserk

In the mud

Stomp in the dirt

Ooo honey, I like your attitude






225

Strange Sensation

I see your shadow’s growing long and the sky is turning red

I was gonna tell you something

But the whole damn thing’s gone out of my head

Maybe you could help me

Maybe you could help me to remember all those things I should have said

‘Cause I’ve got such a funny feeling and it’s growing in me now

I’ve got a strange, strange sensation

But I don’t know what I can do


It’s bringing me down, bringing me down to blue

Strange, Strange Sensation

Tell me can you feel it too

I’m gonna take my clothes off and go swimming in the lake

I’m going to keep on sinking down until my ears begin to ache

Maybe you could help me

Maybe you could help me to remember why it might be a mistake

‘Cause I’ve got such a funny feeling and it’s growing in me now


But I don’t know what I can do


It’s bringing me down, bringing me down to blue

Strange, Strange Sensation

Tell me can you feel it too

226

Swing

Copper colored buckles on her shoes

American flag…red, white, and blue

High school marching band

Cheerleaders…batons in hand

Mexican kids lighting fireworks at the zoo

Ooo she’s so pretty

Getting high down by the jetty

You watch her twirl, you hear her sing

Ooo rushing down the slide

4th

of July in the blink of an eye

You say,

“Please, please you’ve got to push me one more time on the swing.”

Saturday night watching TV

Black Russian propped up on your knee

Bikini clad, round card hoist

Strut and smile, lip gloss moist

The bell rings and hell’s fury busts out free

Ooo it all seems fab

Blood and sweat, dance and jab

You watch and flinch as if you’re in the ring

Ooo guilty pleasure

Put another Benny on red’s your wager

You say, “Please, please you’ve got to let me watch just one more swing.”

Ooo you hear a clarinet

Dancing like a fumed up marionette

The jungle beat is thumping with a zing

Ooo it can’t be wrong

The band is gonna play one more song

You say, “Please, please play anything you like just make it swing.”

227

West to the Ocean

West to the ocean, fill your eyes

Embrace your destiny, paradise

You’ll be a bright light, the gypsy said

Pack your bags and lace your boots, its right out ahead of you

West to the ocean, fill your eyes,

Embrace your destiny, paradise

You’ll be a bright light, the gypsy said

Peace will come and lift you up and clear your head

You’ll feel the surf around your knees

You’ll feel the sunshine on your sleeve

You’ll see the blue and green

And when you breathe…you must believe

Your future bride, young and fine

Strawberry hair and eyes

That sparkle like polished dimes

A ring of fire screamed and hollered to the sky

Left us shaking in our boots just like a monster in the night

The sandy beaches slipped into the sea

Left us scrambling for our lives with nothing left for you and me

Take the path from where you came

Your family’s gone now and so is your name

Can you survive, weather this storm

The winters are long now, you’re all alone

Can you survive, weather this storm

Crushed with heartbreak, and that whiskey won’t keep you warm

228

When You Gonna Tell Me

I see you there with your dark brown eyes

Ignoring everything that I that I try to do…to impress you

I could pout my lips…I could tip my hat

I could pout my lips, tip my hat

Call your name, but you won’t look back at me

You keep walking away, no matter what I say

I could tell you a joke to make you smile

Whisper in your ear just for a while

If you want me to…if you want me to…if you want me to

Maybe you know or maybe you don’t

When you gonna tell me what I want to know

When you gonna tell me yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah…Yeah, yeah, yeah

You probably think that it’s all just a game

You probably don’t even know my name, now do you

Do you?

Promise me honey you won’t pull my chain

Don’t want no thunder, don’t want no rain

Promise me…promise me…I said, promise me…promise me

You probably think that it’s all just a game

You probably don’t even know my name now do you

Do you?

You’re just a goldfish flopping on the floorboards

I’m this tom-cat lying in the corner

I’m gonna bat at you once, I’m gonna bat at you twice

I’m gonna bat you once, bat you twice

Lick my lips, it’s oh so nice

You’re just a goldfish flopping on the floorboards

My heart goes…

I could tell you a joke to make you smile

Whisper in your ear just for a while

If you want me to…if you want me to… if you want me to

229

Whiskey and Glass

Didn’t know where I was going, I was sitting in that seat

With the wheel in my hand like it wasn’t even me

And the bottle in the bag, in the seat next to mine

Was talking like it knew my name

With my girl in the back and her doll in her arms

Singing, “Tra, la, la, la, dee, da.”

Now there’s whiskey and glass on the ground all around us

With the rain coming down and a tingle in my leg

I was thinking about her mom and something she had said

Maybe she’s right and the Devil’s in me

Because all I keep thinking is how this could happen to me tonight?

All I remember is her singing that song,

Then the lights, and her scream and it was gone


Maybe it’s true that God has a plan

But I can tell you sure as Hell, I’ll never understand

The red and the blue and the bright white light

Shining on a highway in the middle of the night

All I remember is her singing that song

Tra la, la, la, dee, da



230

Why Don’t You Take Them Too

I want to rip my tongue right out of my mouth

Sew my lips up north and south, yeah

I don’t want to talk to you…anymore

You think the whole thing seems a bit mad

But you’ve taken everything I had…

Go on and take that too

Why don’t you take that too?

I want to cut off my ears and throw them away

I don’t want to hear another word you say, yeah

I don’t want to listen to you…anymore

You probably think I’m a bit insane

But every word you speak is like a bullet in my brain

Go on and take them too

Why don’t you take them too?

I want to dig my eyes right out of my skull

‘Cause nothing you shown is that wonderful

I don’t want to see you now…anymore

You might think that it is all a line

But I’m just praying for sight out of mind

Go on and take them too

Why don’t you take them too?

I don’t want to hear you, I don’t want to talk

I’m just hoping you’ll be moving off my block

I don’t want to see you walking up ahead

Honey, I don’t give a shit if you fall down dead

I want to peel my skin off to the bone

Walk off in the sunset all alone

I don’t want to feel you now…anymore

You think the whole thing seems a bit mad

But you’ve taken everything I had…

Go on and take that too

Why don’t you take that too?

231

You Can Say

There’s something in the water that makes me what I am

You can blame the Devil but I’m the one doing the sin

Facsimile nothing’s like it’s supposed to be

Suspicious as it seems I ain’t got no fish

There’s something in the water that makes me what I am

Sisters of the water they will pray for you, you know

Sisters of the water will keep you warm when you are cold

You can say, yeah you can say a prayer for me it’s told

You can say a prayer for me but it won’t save my soul

It’s been a long, long time since I felt any love from you at all

Facsimile nothing’s like it’s supposed to be

Time, time, time it keeps melting off the wall

Sisters of the water they will pray for you, you know

Sisters of the water will keep you warm when you are cold

You can say, yeah you can say a prayer for me it’s told

You can say a prayer for me but it won’t save my soul

232

Songs by Page Number 5 Reasons For Leaving 184

13 Soles 185

A Little Bit of God 66

Abuela 67

Acapulco 161

Affairs in Order 186

Airplanes 187

American PLN 68

An Image of the Badlands 69

Andy Rattlesnaked a Laggard 134

Another Christmas Bash 188

Anxiously Mistaken 135

Anything 8

Assumption Parish 175

Astronaut 136

Autumn Swallows 189

Bay Song 190

Be There Soon 137

Breakdown Saturday Night 162

Bucky Diddle’s Plaid Slip-On… 138

Buddha in the Bedroom 46/119

Camille 191

Camping Incognito 36

Carnivale 192

Carpet 139

Chew Up My Heart 37

Christmas Falling In 71

Chum 72

Come (Kurdt) 50

Come Love a Stranger 120

Could This Really be Christmas? 73

Council for the R.C.B. 74

Cousin 176

Crucifix 193

Death Door Boogie 194

Deniably, Christ Kid 140

Denial 195

Deviant Angel 75

Devil of the Tangled Blue Branches 196

Dig Me Fever 197

Do You Believe? 198

Domino 47

Don’t Lam Do 76

Don’t Mean a Thing (BMUAT) 163

Down 110

Down This Road 199

Downtown Doctor Darcy 141

Dream 164

Driving to Van Nuys 200

Dumb 16/121

Dumbest Thing I Never Did, The 142

Eating Louisiana 17/122

Even When I Was 177

Everything 18

Faster Dalidog 111

Feelin’ Fine 201

Fiend 51

Fireplace 143

Five More Minutes 112

Flatfoot Boogie 144

Flavor of the Month 77

Freak Avalanche Squeeze-Play 202

Georgia’s Gone to Spain 145

Get Happy 123

Get Out of the Rain 9/124

Get Up (Gonna Roll) 203

Genuine 63

Ghost of a Smile 78

Gimme Back My Buzz 203

Girl Can’t Help It 204

Girl From Montgomery 178

Girlfriend 146

Give it Up 79

Go Ahead and Cry 26

Gone To the Movies 179

Gotta Find a Way Back Home 147

Gracie’s Coming Home 206

Happy 80

Has Anybody Here Seen Nate? 207

Have You Seen the Light? 81

Hedonistic Rit. of the Unemployed 38

Her Trust In Me Is Dead 208

Hero 39

Hey Al 52

High-Flying Clouds 209

Hold Me Now 148

Hollywood Cab Ride 19/125

Honey, Wont’ You Spare Some Bills 166

House of Amusement #2 82

How You’ll Know I’m Gone 53

I Don’t Know 113

Indian Heaven 27

Inventing How to Smile 83

It’s Not Easy 54

Jerusalem 84

Jesus 85

Just Us Two 86

Kalama Tea 114

Lampshade 210

Lana 211

233

Last Man on Earth 87

Laugh Like That (I Can’t) 149

Leave it Alone 28

Length of Money 10/126

Let It Go 180

Lithium Martini 115

Lost in the Occident 88

M.T. Mind 89

Man without a Question 90

Mardi Gras 55

Maybe it is Christmas 92

Maybe Tonight 150

Meadowlark Lemon 167

Methadone and Eggs 212

Missed the Sign 93

Missing in Venice 40

Molly, Me… Man From Tallahassee 151

Mrs. Chapman’s Daughter 152

No Thank You 94

Not Strange at All 74

Nothing to Me 153

Numb 29

Oliver Carson 30

One Voice 95

Pictures at Christmas 96

Pocket Full of Promises 213

Polly McDonald 214

Power 127

Punk Rock Band 56

Radio K.U.G.S. 11

Rituals Revisited 41

River, The 128

Roadside Café 215

Rocking Chair (C & B) 154

Roll Over 155

Rub One Out 168

Run Around 57

Sacramento 58

San Jose 169

Sanctuary Restaurant 20/129

Santa Song 216

Satellite Boy 31

Save Your Soul 217

See You Smile 218

Seren A. 219

Set You Free 97

Seven Stones of Happiness… 165

Shadows 98

Shakin’ 59

She Feels It 100

She’s Gonna Leave You 221

Shoulder to Shoulder 116

Silver’s Universe 32

Sister Bitter 64

Skimpy Tops 170

Sleep Away the Day 42

Someday Lonely 60

Something 21

Spoons 156

Start Again 101

Still Swimming In the River 223

Stomp In the Dirt 224

Stoning Romeo 33

Strange Sensation 225

Summer’s Here 61

Sunday Veil 171

Swing 226

Television 181

That’s How It Is 157

Third Time 12

Thumb 22/130

Transportation 23/131

Tuesday (OK with You) 102

Tuesday Night 103

Two Yellow Leaves 182

Under the Sun (…Blame Me) 172

Unemployed and Out of Luck 43

Walk in the Moonlight 13

Wake Up! 104

West To the Ocean 227

When You Die 158

When You Gonna Tell Me 228

Whiskey and Glass 229

Why Did My Childhood Go Away? 105

Why Don’t You Take Them Too? 230

Wrong With Me and My Head 106

Yesterday’s Shirt 62

You Can Say 231

Yum 44

Words between Wake and sleep - Patrick Storedahl

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Transcript of Words between Wake and sleep - Patrick Storedahl