Well I told you about the total eclipse now
but still it caught you unaware
But I'm telling you hold on, hold on
Tomorrow we'll be there
And even though you went to church upon Sunday
you thought you didn't even have a prayer
But I'm telling you hold on, hold on
Tomorrow we'll be there

chorus
After the fall we'll be born, born, born again
after it all blows away
after the fall, after the fall
after it all blows away

We'll take a million years of civilization
We're gonna give it the electric chair
But I'm telling you hold on, hold on
Tomorrow we'll be there

I see a hundred million lonely mutants
they are glowing in their dark despair
But I'm telling you hold on, hold on
Tomorrow we'll be there

chorus

Well the freak shall inherit the earth now
No matter how well done or rare
But I'm telling you hold on, hold on
Tomorrow we'll be there
We'll build our radioactive castles
out in the radioactive air
And I'm telling you hold on, hold on
Tomorrow we'll be there

chorus

All I ever wanted was to set you free, but it seems I'm best at building jails.
If this word's a prison, it wasn't meant to be - always - always.
Now the wind is rising or so it seems to me. Won't you help me learn to make some sails?
Because if we both were sailors then this word could be the sea - always - always.

Well, here's the odds we've got: maybe, maybe not. Maybe that's a lot, always.
I swear my heart is true, like foolish people do.
Let me give this to you - always.

Clever men will tell you that to love is soon to grieve. The promise of a promise is to fail.
But is it really better to know better than believe in always? Oh, always.

Well, here's the odds we've got: maybe, maybe not. Maybe that's a lot, always.
I swear my heart is true, like foolish people do.
Let me give this to you - always. Always, always.

You can blow the world away, me too, me too.
You would rather not today, me too, me too.
But I know it's true - you know it too:
I'd believe in anyone but you.
You can make the mountains bow; me too, me too.
You're too bored to do it now, me too, me too.
But I know it's true - you know it too:
I'd believe in anyone but you.

They can say that you're a lazy king without the nerve to abdicate,
and I know it's true because I'm just like you.
They can say that you'll do anything, but you do it just a little late
and I know it's true, because I'm just like you.

They say that you created everything, and what you made you can destroy -
and I know it's true, because I'm just like you.
A playpen baby crying bitter tears of spite because you threw away your toys -
and I know it's true because I'm just like you.
You can bring the end about; me too, me too.
You would rather wait it out; me too, me too.
But I know it's true - you know it too:
I'd believe in anyone but you.

Sure, I'd like to try and make that leap, but I always end up in a heap.
If you caught me walking in my sleep, still I'd swear the chasm was too deep.
anybody but you ...

Inadequate hands, inadequate means, inadequate little go-betweens, so what?
You grovel and grope - so what?
And cling to the hope, and so you keep building, building, building
with the toothpicks and the glue.
But buildings can fall - you haven't learned.

In tempera and egg and papier mache, the temperament is led astray, so what?
You step to the floor - so what?
And stumble once more, and so you keep trying, trying, trying
to be bored and bitter too.
And someday you will - but you haven't learned.

Oh, I love you best at the awkward age.
You know I love you best at the awkward age.

Every time I call you've found a new way, new way to commit suicide unsuccessfully.
Impatiently you grab at any throughway, throughway
The future fills you head, you poke it till it's dead,
and smile a silly pardon me.

Oh, I love you best at the awkward age.
You know I love you best at the awkward age.

Well I always used to wonder what he did at night
but nobody would give me a clue.
And it made me kind of wonder if he hid at night
It seemed the only thing left to do.

But just think how much he meant (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
I guess he ran out of rent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
And now I don't know where he went
but I wish you could have seen his face
before the accident.

When we were so much younger he had something pure
and thought that everybody ought to know.
And if smug was not the word, I guess it was demure.
That's how it was when he would start to show.

That full of gracious intent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
he'd made his face to be spent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
and now I don't know where he went.
But I wish you could have seen his face
before the accident.

Wash, wash, washing day, every day is washing day!
He'll make his cheeks so clean, they'll glow!
Wash, wash, wash away, everything will wash away
Everyone will notice it go
Somehow everybody will know
that you're washed up, you're washed out, wishy, washy, whoa!

Hey!

There are always certain people who can gain your trust
if only for a tiny span of time.
But then trusting them will lead them on the road to rust
and nothing can prevent the decline.

We thought you were heaven sent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
but then you got old and bent (a la-la-la-la long time ago)
and now we don't care where you went.
But I wish I could have seen your face, I wish I could have seen your face,
before the accident.

Well you said you'd have my baby - that isn't true.
When I sing it alone, well I'm thinking of you
Then you said you had to Go-Go, this is for sure
Well if you had the Germs then you found the right cure
It's such an easy part to play
and you get richer every day.

chorus:
B-b-b-b Belinda you're pretty smart
You took your heart and you put it away,
Belinda, you made the charts
You took your heart and you put it away.

Now you're moving in with Cindy and Dennis and Kid
Well they know who you are, and they saw what you did
Even Pleasant had a wedding to show you the way
But now Buster's alone with a beer in L.A.
It's such an easy part to play
and you get richer every day.

chorus

B-E-L-I-N-D-A
spells relief in every way
My little Cherokee, pow-wow with me
and everything will be okay.

chorus

Sifting through the promises, closets full of bones
Trying to decipher what the will meant
Hand-me-down mythology: Love and love alone
The perfect little picture of fulfillment.

chorus:
Hey, what's the big idea?
Handing me this mess and calling it the way
Hey, what's the big idea?
I've got to burn that bridge and let it all decay.

Is it any wonder that no one pioneers
We can't even maintain our present borders
Numb to every tender touch, pain the new frontier
That's the mutant thrill of law and order.

chorus

I just can't make any sense of this grim inheritance
No noble experiements and that's the big idea
Now the past will draft a team, janitors for this museum
Dusting their own mausoleum and that's the big idea
Left to guard against the flow mute machines from long ago
Secrets no one wants to know, and that's the big idea.

What is this feeling I've got in my head
It's filled up with poison, it's all in the red
What is there left when I'd rather be dead
and I don't know what to do.
Here's the answer - a science that's blessed
It puts the E-S-T into best
It takes off the pressure - I don't wanna be pressed
and then you're just like new.

chorus:
It's the brain massage (it feels so good)
It's the brain massage (there's muzak playing)
It's the bra - a - ain massage (pardon me, what was I saying? oh yeah - )

There's plenty of methods, there's lots of techniques
It won't take a minute - well maybe three weeks
It tightens your lug nuts and patches your leaks
and then you're just like new.

chorus

There's equal opportunity, there's equal opportunity
So help yourself to some self help and that's the way to start
There's equal opportunity, there's equal opportunity
It's the home repair manual for the Volkswagen of your heart.

There'll be no passion, no anger or guilt
Love cannot blossom, so how can it wilt?
Step right this way and get your psyche rebuilt
with a primal scream or two.

What if your hair is like the sun? I'm sure you're not the only one.
Then why should I feel like the lights went out like you have done?
It took so long but I found out what everybody knew.
I said Bridget please. You said Bridget who?

And what about that perfect skin some higher power wrapped you in?
I'm sure there's many other packages as porcelain.
But you had all the answers and I never had a clue.
So I said Bridget please. You said Bridget who?

Bridget who? Who let that owl in here? What should I do?

Once almost timid you displayed a jack-o-lantern that you made
but now you've found some other uses for a sharpened blade.
You cut yourself a slice of life but not enough for two.
So I said Bridget please. You said Bridget who?

In dreams of vertigo you call, "I'll be your bridge and you won't fall"
Then I awake and find my Bridget's not a bridge at all.
So bottomless the chasm whence the echo rings anew.
I said Bridget please. You said Bridget who?

Once the rumour (like perfume or
petals in the air, that change was everywhere and peace would arrive)
flashed a spark across the arc of
sky, and lit the fable that we might be able to keep it alive.
But baby, you'd better hold on with both of your hands,
or maybe you'll have to start making some other plans.
Voices raised to heaven made you
feel like something might have happened, but it didn't.

Fingers on remote pause on the
grainy UPI of broken mothers crying "Never again."
Time and distance make resistance
quaint and somehow frail, and always doomed to fail just like it did then.
But baby, you'd better hold on with both of your hands,
or maybe you'll have to start making some other plans.
Voices raised to heaven made you
feel like something might have happened, but it didn't.

If your eyes are dry, you'd better go back to the fountain.
If your eyes are dry, then go back to the well.
If your eyes are dry, then you know you shouldn't count the
wringing of hands as the ringing of bells.

Free at last to kick some ass, you
cling to saying that the murder was a matter of degree.
Vows you made might start to fade like
wishes made upon a star that's only a celebrity.
So baby, you'd better hold on with both of your hands,
or maybe you'll have to start making some other plans.
Voices raised to heaven made you
feel like something might have happened, but it didn't.
You know something might have happened, but it didn't.

It's hard to hear the voice of reason
when it's just a whisper on the wind.
How will we make it through this season
when this uninvited chill is settling in?

chorus:
It may be cold, but it's not over
so take my coat against the storm and hold my hand.
It may be cold, but it's not over
so as the clouds begin to form, we'll keep each other warm and we will stand.

Where are the wild and foolish dancers?
No one seemed to notice where they went.
Where are the pure and simple answers?
These are things that heaven never sent.

chorus

Your frightened eyes keep seeing danger -
conspiracy behind each darkened door.
It's easy to respond in anger,
but I swear that's not what we're here for.

Up pop the signs of terminal cancer
Cells start to fall apart
We pray to a God who never will answer
Could this be art?

Famine wipes out a whole generation
Somewhere upon the chart
It's merely to feed our coy conversation
Could this be art?

No, no, no, tell me it isn't so -- no, no, no, tell me it isn't so
There must be a plot that I will someday know.

Mind over matter -- that's what I planned on
Trying to protect my heart
It clings to the one I can't lay a hand on
Could this be art?

Could this be art? Could this be art? Could this be art?
Could this be someone's arbitrary concept?
Oh so so-so -- Soho? -- oh no!

I draw a line for logic to walk on
I think I'm pretty smart
But God has an old beret and a smock on
Could this be art?

You bought the sofa
That I wanted for years
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

And when we're hungry
They will slaughter the steers
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

And there's a reason why
Concern is cut down to size
There are no eyelids on the crocodile
He can't close his eyes.

The road not taken
To oblivion veers
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

There is a moral, but it just disappears
And it makes me cry, but they're crocodile tears.

Vile buzz feels so good!
If there is a hell, then I know that I'm going
with the whole neighborhood.
The boat upon the Styx must be just overflowing.

Now, devil may care, but I'd advise you not to bet on it.
'Cause if he's there at all, I'm sure that he can get an idiot
to do his work while they declare,
"Devil may care!"

Painted whores! Swine in pearls!
Come on and assume the forbidden position
on the top of the world!
Gonna put the Oooh in the human condition.

Devil may care, but I am disinclined to lend belief
to any square who spends his life bemoaning just how brief it is -
running around, tearing his hair.
Devil may care. Devil may care.

Some postulate reward if you should mortify the flesh.
Why should I believe you, baby?
Come bruise the fruit and share the joy of produce that is fresh!
If you snub the preview, why should I believe you?

Devil may care, but just suppose that the reverse is true.
Isn't it fair to bless the instinct that immerses you in life?
Irony check - have an eclair!

Devil may care - but there's a pattern of benign neglect,
so we can share whatever monuments remain erect
until everyone feels certain that their
Devil may care - Devil may care.

Here I am, with my accomplishments
If there's an underdog with no defense
I will give it a whirl
But did you get the girl? ... Well

I waved my fist around and joined the cause
and now there's him-acanes and femopause
Gave the swine all my pearls
But did you get the girl?

But did you get the girl? (Can't you see I'm lonely)
But did you get the girl? (Come on, come on)
Anyone can see that I've been trying
But did you get the girl? (I got a million trophies)
But did you get the girl? (Come on, come on)
If there's more to life why am I crying? (I don't know.)

I fed the hungry and I cured disease
and made sure everybody had T.V.'s
That's how I saved the world
But did you get the girl? (Yes and no!)

There isn't anything that I can't do
Except make up a stupid answer to
that old question you hurl:
But did you get the girl? (no)

If you leave this place there'll be a book written on my face but please don't look.
If you really want to, you can see me cry. All you have to say is good-bye.

But promise me that you won't believe your eyes when you see through my feeble thin disguise.
Leave me with my lies and don't believe your eyes.

If you need a laugh this one's on me, 'cause I still believe what we could be.
If you really want to, you can prove me wrong. All you have to say is so long.

But promise me that you won't believe your eyes when you see through my feeble thin disguise.
Leave me with my lies and don't believe your eyes.

If you leave this place, don't look at my face or you're bound to see
something crushed and gray and that's not the way to remember me.

If you leave this place, we'll both survive to relate the tale from separate lives.
If you really want to be the first to tell, all you have to say is farewell.

But promise me that you won't believe your eyes.
You've got to promise me that you won't believe your eyes.
Oh, how long will it take till you see the mistake you have made?
You've got to promise me, oh that you won't believe your eyes,
don't believe your eyes, won't believe your eyes.

The architecture of a jaw
Drops a shadow into place
I'm inspired to appreciate
But there's some unwritten law
Now it's written on your face
Speak no evil, but it's much too late, so

Don't say no, say no thank you,
Don't say no, I'm on my knees
Don't say no, say no thank you please.

There's a tempest in my head
There's electric emptiness
In the hole where my restraint should be
Should I fight the urge instead
No, hello, I hope, I guess
Cigarette? The shadow falls on me, oh

Don't say no, say no thank you,
Don't say no, I'm on my knees
Don't say no, say no thank you please.

I know there are rules, but I know there's a way
But I want so much, I don't know how much
I'm allowed to say

I've prepared my favorite words
I've committed them to heart
And it's not an easy thing to choose
To present them to be heard
Or to stop before I start
So be gentle if you must refuse, and

Don't say no, say no thank you,
Don't say no, I'm on my knees
Don't say no, say no thank you please.

Dutch boy has the palest skin with teeth so clean and white
The cavities decay within every night (every night)
But dutch boy has a dentist so it all turns out all right
And mommy counts the pennies out everynight (everynight)

But dutch boy, oh dutch boy, are you afraid of the dark?

Duth boy goes to public school while daddy is away
And mommy buys the groceries every day (every day)
And dutch boy fumbles with the girls who let him make them say
A breathy yes to naughty things every day (every day).

But dutch boy, oh dutch boy, are you afraid of the dark?

Dutch boy, just give me one of your perfect smiles
And I'll leave you alone
Dutch boy, just give me one of your smiles
One of your perfect smiles.

Dutch boy is perfection in a freckled sort of way
And all the world awaits for him, every day.

Dutch boy wants to educate the millions all to sing
In his fragile ideals that will fix everything (everything)
For dutch boy all the grass is green and all the church bells ring
But dutch boy, oh dutch boy, are you afraid of the dark?

At the ATM, the camera captured them. Trust was broken from its brittle stem.
Like the lottery, it happens randomly. Feel so helpless to rewrite your destiny.

But now that my sister has a rifle of her own, tomorrow has no tether.
That itchy trigger finger shivers to the bone. This eerie calm -
the sweat that forms upon your palm -
tells you it's earthquake weather.

Well, the blame's not hers. She hastily avers, "I'm only threatened by anything that stirs.
Here's the gun I got - I'm a pretty decent shot!" Nervous giggles punctuate the polyglot.

But now that my sister has a rifle of her own, (she's got her rifle by her side)
tomorrow has no tether.
That itchy trigger finger shivers to the bone, (a chill that cannot be denied).
This eerie calm -
the sweat that forms upon your palm -
tells you it's earthquake weather.

When you're married to fear an affair with control doesn't seem so immoral.
But this fast food for thought that is starving your soul
leaves it far too anemic to question the role of the flaccid bravura you've bitten off whole.
And if that's how you settle the score, all your remembrances tend to be floral.

When the earthquake thrust the cracked sarcophagus, trust was dead as Osimandias.
We can only rest with the trigger half depressed. If that's the answer, may I suggest we change the question?

Now that my sister has a rifle of her own, tomorrow has no tether.
The fattened jungle law crawls back upon its throne. This eerie calm -
the sweat that forms upon your palm -
tells you it's earthquake weather.

If this is the answer, may I make a suggestion? (earthquake weather)
If this is the answer, better find a new question. (earthquake weather)

If this is the answer, may I make a suggestion? (earthquake weather)
If this is the answer, better find a new question.

Aw woo I know I got it, wooooo I got it so bad, and don't you want it.

I have no second thoughts on how I came to be, 'cause only students want to know that.
I must confess that I can't get enough of me, and I am not ashamed to show that.
And why should I be sorry, why should I care, I can't help it if I've got that ...

Fatal charm,
Take a leg, ooh take an arm,
It's that fatal charm,
Take a bite, take a dip, take a lot.

Now just check this cheekbone, examine it with care, you'll find the marrow's more than ample.
Just check my DNA, my profile and my hair, I'm sure you're dying for a sample.
So why should I be sorry, why should I care, I can't help it if I've got that ...

Fatal charm,
Take a leg, take an arm.
It's that fatal charm,
Take a bite, take a tip, take alarm.

Though everyone is living to lose, in patterns that they don't get to choose.
I was born for Darwin to use, the job that man must not abuse.
I was born to reproduce.

As I'm standing here I am my own defense of why they drop like flies around me.
There are no stitches dropped, no creases and no dents, though all these defects may surround me.
Why should I be sorry, and why should I care, I can't help it if I've got that ...

Fatal charm,
Take a leg, take an arm,
It's that fatal charm,
Fatal eyes, fatal nose, fatal lips and fatal toes,
Fatal heart, fatal beat, fatal rhythm, fatal beat,
fatal hair, fatal arms, and fatal toes.

That fatal charm, and then I've got it.
I've got it so bad. I know you want it.
I know just what I have.
I'm sorry if the price is so high.
But those that see my face have to die.
I'm so sorry if the price is so high.
hey but those that see my face have to die.

Landslide, now you'd better tie your bib on, 'cause from now we're eatin' crow for sure.
Tongue-tied with a little yellow ribbon; I guess we won't be saying grace no more.
Oh, we discard our children like junk mail,
so smack your lips and nudge your wife
and quip that silence equals life.

'Cause now the fool is back upon the hill,
oh, counting every dream that he can kill.
Oh, the man who claims to understand has made a crime of holding hands,
and now that school is out the fool is back upon the hill.

Losing all the rights you once called human, except our favorite which is to be cruel.
Oh it's so confusing. Now the video will zoom in and hold the lovelorn up to ridicule.
Oh, as we disenfranchise everyone,
let's celebrate the swearing in
a weasel dressed in po' folk skin.

'Cause now the fool is back upon the hill,
oh, counting every dream that he can kill.
oh - woh Hallelujah! Everyone will know we're Christians by our guns,
and now that school is out the fool is back upon the hill.

At the grave of millions he choked back a couple reptile tears and then
Sir T.V. Friendly prayed we don't avert our eyes from evil once again - no not again.
Well, look who's talking - he gave himself away, but no one heard the things he had to say
'cause thrilled and slightly out of breath to get to choose our own slow death,
we helped the fool get back upon the hill.

Oh, we accept New Orders from on high:
to ruin nations on the pyre -
put out the lights but not the fire.

'Cause now the fool is back upon the hill,
counting every dream that he can kill.
It's the way in times like these to blame the sick for the disease,
so join the thin-lipped chipmunk race to slap the future in the face
'cause now the fool is back upon the hill.

Well the rain poured down in old Manhattan
Made me feel so cold and blue
And when it does, I think about you.

Well I used to sleep in sheets of satin,
Now some old burlap will do.
And when it does, I think about you.

I think about you
And when the times are bad it seems to bring you back to me
I think about you
and all that makes me glad is that you must be remembering me.

Well the hungry cat is bound to fatten
up the way you used to do
And when it does, I think about you.

Well, the radio makes static as it murmurs,
Shoo-be-doo-be-doo
And when it does, I think about you.

Well, the rain pours down in old Manhattan
makes me feel so cold and blue
and when it does, and when it does, and it does, I think about you.

There's some things that we all know no man ought to witness. Oh, but I'm
looking through my fingers all the time.
Someone must have robbed the zest from this global splatterfest, but I'm
looking through my fingers all the time.
When there's no way to make it stop,
and all your jaw can do is drop,
join the Gaper's Club. Stare in disbelief!
Shade your eyes to keep from going blind.
Gaper's Club, couldn't we debrief?
Counting the gunslingers, put through the dead wringers, looking through my fingers all the time.

Shattered kneecaps, nothing less, will make the innocent confess but I'm
looking through my fingers all the time.
Promised that I would not stare when they rode the lightning chair, but I'm
looking through my fingers all the time.
Of course it's all at safe remove, through cathode ray and vacuum tube
for the Gaper's Club. Stare in disbelief!
Shade your eyes to keep from going blind.
Gaper's Club, couldn't we debrief?
Couting the gunslingers, the "I hate everything"-ers, looking through my fingers all the time.

I watched the criminalization of the pause
it takes to form a lucid thought,
but each new horror that is met with mad applause
just draws a blank so I'll never get caught.

In one final blinding flash the pillars holding heaven crash, but I'm
looking through my fingers all the time.
It leaves a vacuum so bereft, there's not even an echo left
but I'm looking through my fingers all the time.
And still I'm groping for the switch; one last involuntary twitch
for the Gaper's Club. Stare in disbelief!
Shade your eyes to keep from going blind.
Gaper's Club, couldn't we debrief?
Put through the dead wringers, how the odor lingers!
Looking through my fingers all the time.

At all the hopeless and their scraping I'm gaping.
At holy murderers escaping I'm gaping.
At all the Betacam is taping I'm gaping.

Children rummage through the decades, play telephone with half-truths stretched and rolled.
And clutching to the shreds of Laverne and Shirley costumes - that is how my garbage turns to gold.
Centuries in whispered trivia questions become the greatest story never told.
We couldn't even kill time - just scarred its face forever. And that is how my garbage turns to gold.

When history turns to nostalgia it is barely detectable.
My memory warped in a fun house mirror - now it's collectible.

We pay to look at pictures of actors dressed in wheelchairs.
They're fighting cause they're oh so principled.
It touches something in us. We leave it in the theater
and that is how my garbage turns to gold.

There goes your past. It isn't catching up, it's gone way ahead of you.
Your children wave, but they are greeting your reflection instead of you.
We offer no excuses for how we crippled nature.
It seemed just one more item to be sold.
But we can trust the future to make this look like heaven,
and that is how my garbage turns to gold. But I can't spend it - it turns to gold. Yes in the end it turns to gold.

Love left me with dreams so drab, so colorless and pale -
suggested attire became the veil.
But now this heat returns the rainbow palette to the sky -
the colors that dare the fool to try.

So now I pray I get it right this time.
The part of me that's burned just can't believe that I'm
back in this warm embrace. Give me a sign
that maybe I can get it right this time.

Love - the very word seems worn, defiled and overused.
How can you believe when you've been bruised?
And now, surprised to find you're not so gunshy at the sound
of claiming to be both lost and found.

So now I pray I get it right this time.
The part of me that's burned just can't believe that I'm
back in this warm embrace. Give me a sign
that maybe I can get it right this time.

Empty heart on an empty vein
ache for someone to explain
But they never explain
Empty dream in an empty head
Ache for something to be said
But nothing is said
There was no guiding hand but now I
think that I understand what must be done
Instruction number one:

Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme gimme, I want.

I want flesh and I want bones

I want you to to throw your chones
Your little polka-dot chones
Be you alive or be you dead
I'll grind your bones to make my bread
I love Wonder Bread
I will offer you this assistance
Choose the course of the least resistance now
I'm gonna show you how:

Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme gimme, I want.

When you have I have not
Just give me what you have got
Everything that you've got
Fill my pocket, fill my hand
Fill this empty song's demand
It's such a little demand
Why waste time on philosophy
or politics when it's plain to see what you
really ought to do:

Gimme gimme, gimme gimme, gimme gimme, I want.

There was a sweetness in your face, like a glow, and it filled me with hope.
I guess you put me in my place, so I cried, and I felt like a dope.
Tried to trust, but I didn't know how, but I'm getting it now: God, if any only knows.

They say that love is letting go. I agree; that's a sensible theme.
But what I do and what I know - well, they don't often work as a team.
Tried to trust, but I didn't know how, but I'm getting it now: God, if any only knows.

People throw up their hands and they look to the sky;
all their pitiful plans always going awry.
If someone understands, let me know, 'cause I know that there aren't many.

Inexpressible fear - is that all that we shared?
And the damaged veneer of the lonely and scared?
But it's finally clear I can hand it to God, comma, if any.

So here's the lesson for today - that there's not really anything wrong,
wrapped in a guy called Ernest Ray (!); well, he left - but he left me this song.
I tried to trust, but I didn't know how, but I'm getting it now: God, if any only knows.

Now Vietnam is over and you can feel so suppressed
You must admit there's nothing left a white boy can protest.
So why should all this comfort make you so uncomfortable
when you're guilty, you're white, and you're liberal?

You never get a bone to pick like all those Blacks and Jews
so why should God give you a soul you'll never get to use?
How can a poor boy suffer when his stomach's always full
and he's guilty, he's white, and he's liberal.

You don't have to feel so bad just because you're rich
You don't have to feel so bad just because you're free
If your unfair advantages make your conscience inch
I don't mind, you can give them all to me.

How can a Swingle prove he's big enough to care
when even your high tension job won't buy a cross to bear?
You just can't help but wonder why you can't be wonderful
when you're guilty, you're white, and you're liberal.
Guilty, guilty, guilty, I saw you watching Roots,
you don't have to feel so bad, guilty, guilty, guilty,
You're guilty, you're white, and you're liberal.

He means well with his taxidermy smile,
and his voice an accusing yell in the demographic style.
But he doesn't really know what he stood for long ago,
So he'll set a spell and it's just as well.
From the echoing retreat of his padded cell he means so well.

He means well with his dime store posturings,
in an orgy of angst and blame though he hasn't lost a thing.
With an unremitting scowl, he'll insist on crying foul
though the charges fell like an empty shell.
Though the plummet brings a doubt that he can't dispel,
he means so well.

Couldn't tell you how he ended up clutching at the rail.
You bet it makes him queasy swallowing his tail.
But to play the jury wasn't quite what I meant to do -
I know that he knows that I meant well too.

He means well.
Uh-oh.

He means well as he fights what has to be.
(Though he fights like Sherman, everything is predetermined.)
And his efforts to turn the tide hasten the catastrophe.
(While we're on the topic, the results were catastrophic.)
If I wasn't so adept at declaring him inept,
I might join the swell and I'd dis and tell.
But I'd die if I should hear everybody yell, "He means so well."

They put the nails in your hands but not in your heart
They put the thorns on your head - ooh that smarts
They put the nails in your feet but not in your soul
Hey little Jesus - get out of that hole.

Now don't get cross cause you got hung up.
We got some real salt water and we'll get you a cup.
What a wild Easter bonnet - is it made out of gold:
Hey Little Jesus - get out of that hole.

Pounding pounding pounding the nails
While pretty little Mary she weeps and she wails
She just can't wait to see you out on parole
Get out of that hole.

Such a kettle of fish that you got yourself in
I'm sure that your daddy wonders where have you been
So take off that shroud and make like a mole
Hey little Jesus get out of that hole.
Get out of that hole.

Well that good old book left out one detail
That the stations of the cross were on the bunny trail
We need a miracle now, tell that rock to roll.

Hippity hippity Easter's on its way - get out of that hole
Holy holy holy hole.

Now I have important things to say
And finally there's nothing in my way
I've searched for inspiration everywhere
I might have known that I'd find nothing there.
Nothing can prevent me now, there's nothing on my mind,
I just want you to find how deep was my nothing.

It keeps me busy trying to compete
It's not enough that nothing should be sweet
How can you condemn me if I try
To build a better nothing in the sky
All poets must redecorate to keep their nothing new
There's nothing else to do - how deep was my nothing.

We must search as miners do for gold
To find the greatest nothing ever told
Or leave the reader cold
And nothing will unfold, just like this does.

Everyone took nothing to his heart
My dearest wish was just to be a part
Suddenly it all seemed very clear
That there is only nothing left to fear
Nothing came between us and we'll never be the same
By any other name, how deep was my nothing.

I could die for cute.
Oh, I perceive your mousetrap mind in the diminutive.
Oh, you little brute -
so casually you dismiss the love I have to give.

chorus:
I don't want to be free; no plea bargain for me.
Parenthetically, I could die for cute.

I could die for cute.
Your shopworn little jailbait charms I deign to condescend.
But the point is moot:
with grace that's almost violent, you exit with my friend.

chorus

Who'd have thought this simper was the way my world would end?
Your little goatee, the way you subscribe to every trend!
I admit I've got no disbelief left to suspend,
but I can forsee the grave into which I must descend
if I die for cute.

Hazel Iris A-list meters have no time for tears. With lashes divine,
they scan for the fabulousness sign.
Sweetly you affect a jadedness beyond your years, but not beyond mine,
and from the retirement home I'll whine:
I could die for cute.
How I adore your awkward pose, transparent and inept!
But I could not mute
you never wanted to be had, but only to be kept.

chorus

I saw a special depth of soul in her eyes
as she looked through me and she just passed me by
to glad-hand some minor starlet and I
got in my car letting bygones wilt and die.
It wasn't so much that I caught her in debt,
or all the things she said I'd rather forget.
But I was thinking of the moment when all she had to show
meant a faith-enhancing astral pirouette.

chorus:
(Even though, long ago, I was so enchanted by him)
Oh no I don't love my guru anymore.
If he won't stop polluting the stream of consciousness
I don't love my guru anymore.

You wonder why the hand of fate had to fall
on John when it could have been Paul,
but I've got records where he sings
equally embarrassing clap-trap falderal.
I gotta tell you that John Doe isn't dead.
He's just become an actor model instead,
and now the unheard music is feeble and it's too sick to
even cause a semblance of dread.

chorus

Total abandon was your theme of attack
as you abandoned everyone in a pack.
When you threw caution to the wind
you spent all the interim trying to get it back.
And the stillness that appeared to be deep
was just a tired man who counted on sheep,
oh, depleted, trying to cash in on a soul that's just a fashion.
And so I'll just let this lying dog sleep.

chorus

I was the one who begged for a promise,
I made a promise that I couldn't keep.
I was the one who swore to be honest.
I made my bed now I lie in my sleep.
Just one little step backward, just one little step back,
And I fell from grace into your arms.

I'm grateful to whoever sent me this angel.
They ought to be sainted or burned at the stake.
My heart from my home -- how did this get arranged?
One little step -- that's all that it takes.
Just one little step backward, just one little step back,
And I fell from grace into your arms.

Suddenly I'm drugged by this new ecstacy,
Suddenly I'm living a cliche,
Suddenly tomorrow is my enemy,
Suddenly your skin is my today.

If there's a record of guilt and evasion
Just put my name at the top of the list.
Add me to those who succumb to temptation.
Add me to those who betray with a kiss.
Just one little step backward, just one little step back,
And I fell from grace into your arms.

Midnight: now I get to turn into the pumpkin
I tried to dress as a man for a while.
Jack-knife: with a little cut, this Jack-o-lantern
gets to wear his idiot smile.

chorus:
But baby, I thought I heard you say this could get ugly -
telling me as though I don't already know.
Baby, I couldn't give away the shadow of the thing we called romance.
I know I had my chance.

How I wish I could erase the question mark that's waiting
at the end of every caress.
Now I know the phrase too late's an understatement,
so I'll smile and confess ...

chorus

If love could save us, wouldn't we be saved?
If tears could save us, wouldn't we be saved?
If doubt could save us, wouldn't we be saved?

chorus

Elbows brush
Secrets couple in the darkness
Cheeks will blush
Semicircles in the dark, nestling close
But the sweat lends an unhealthy sheen
to my brow, and I like to be clean

Hearts will fail
Sentiment is caught deserting
Cheeks will pale
Empty ceremony flirting with disease
and the outcome remains to be seen
Quite sensibly, I like to be clean

That's how grubby experience denies itself a guest
Holy rest comes only to those who have been good
Peace is absence of motion but the white gloves moves to test
if the guest has gathered more mildew than he should

Bored to tears
Now there's no experimenting
Bland careers
Symmetry is unrelenting but it's safe
And within me genetics convene
and dictate that I like to be clean

Morning comes too soon.
I can sleep but moments never rest, and then it's noon.
They go drifting by, and I want to try
to stop and calculate
how the moments get from here to there.
But they won't wait.
I must let them go but I long to know that I'm just in time
not a moment too soon.

In the present tense,
the past is just a lie that's good at seeming to make sense.
It's a clever list that does not exist.
And in the present tense, the future rushes back to meet the past,
but these events never penetrate to my present state
when I'm just in time
not a moment too soon.

Everything recedes.
The first word of this verse has just become what no-one needs.
It is suddenly just a memory.
And I'll buy you the moon!
I'll have time for everything important someday soon.
Better keep the crumbs - someday never comes
when I'm just in time. I'm la la la longing to be now.

Somehow the precious things end up behind the glass
Well, I can read the signs - I won't walk on the grass
Don't want no tunnel vision
Just want a nice collision
No maiden aunt's decision to look - not touch.

The Chinese dwell upon that old half-empty cup
If they'd be quiet I would drink the contents up
Just let me feel abrasion
Perfect for all occasions
I'm not of that persuasion to look - not touch.

I got caught red-handed and got reprimanded
Now my hands are red and proud
Oh that scarlet letter makes me feel much better
Cause I stand out in a crowd.

I'll let my fingers do the walking down the trail
Cause there's so much in life that only comes in Braille
You may be quite a mobster
But if I cut the sob story
And hold hands with a lobster, just look don't touch.

You lose, she wins, and another round begins
And ends when she gets the last word.
It's tit for tat, a pinch of this, a pinch of that
New face, old hat, when she gets the last word.

It's the last word, the last word, got to get the last word
It's such a touchy tournament
And I deny I ever spent
The last word, the last word, got to get the last word
You really must confess that the suspense is killing you.

I use this urge when the two of us converge
And then I purge, when I get the last word.
No hope, no cure, that's the one way to insure
And know that you're going to get the last word.

It's the last word, the last word, got to get the last word
It's such a touchy tournament
And I deny I ever spent
The last word, the last word, got to get the last word
You really must confess that the suspense is killing you.

Oh hands that seem to feel and eyes that seem to see,
It's just another lesson in anatomy.
Same game, new sword, playing on a bigger board,
You'll know who scored when you hear the last word.

We might end up back on all fours, because there's one thing that endures:
the rigamarole that some call a soul but I call a habit.
How do we flourish in this din while staying marvelously thin?
A monitor that will block all the fat before we can grab it.

chorus:
I feel the brilliant glow caressing me. Couldn't this blessing be
the lite of the world?
When all the killing gets so serial, let's get ethereal
in the lite of the world.

What medicine can keep us numb? This predigested pabulum,
so pleasant and warm - it doesn't inform, it only gets faster.
It's even obvious to me that optimism seems to be
in tenor and pitch a discipline which I never could master.

chorus

Light as a breeze that addles the head, as frothy as cheese that's ready to spread -
whatever he sees, wherever he tread the banner unfurled.
But none of the screams and none of the cries can enter his dreams or open his eyes,
'cause caught in the beams they dwindled in size and shriveled and curled
in the lite of the world.

We lite-en yogurt, Coke and beer and make religion out of fear
with sex and, of course, a dash of remorse to tickle and tease us.
That's why I'd never be enticed to touch the God they call the Christ,
but still maybe I would sleep with the guy who calls himself Jesus.

chorus

When I came to call
you never looked so small
Time will tell
but no one's listening
But if we could pretend to find
how to be kind
then you wouldn't have to lie,
or cry yourself to sleep.

It's just a road, but to me it's the way to take,
'cause no one else in the world could make us shake, and bake.
So take my love and send it to Madison Avenue.
No human hand ever touched what's in Sanitex;
no human heart can resist what your art, your art directs.
So take my love and send it to Madison Avenue.
Sentimental song - this is how it goes: I deserve a break to-day,
'cause I can't take it, just can't take it, can't take it no more.

I knew all along - this is how it goes: if the sell is hard, I'll pay now
'cause I can't take it, just can't take it, can't take it no more.
Sentimental song - this is how it goes: I deserve a break to-day,
'cause I can't take it, just can't take it, can't take it no more.
Those secret ways you suggest what I ought to do -
subliminal and sublime, they compel me to
take my love and send it to Madison Avenue.

It seems that certain willful acts made me a stranger to the facts,
but no one ever said this was a race.
So pardon if I find it rash - this breathless sprint, this madcap dash
to etch the map of life into your face.

chorus:
He's a man in a hurry, I don't know how fast; the speedometer's blurry.
But oh, he just can't wait to get this over and done.
He's a man in hurry. If only somebody could make him unsure he should go,
then won't you let me be the one?

Columbus need not look too hard 'cause right ouside his own back yard's
the gutter where he says he plans to build
his loneliness as destiny. But is that facile prophecy
half empty or is it half self-fulfilled?

chorus

I admire the strength it takes to deny all light and hope,
but that doesn't mean I'm going to help you buy the rope.
And there's plenty of rope.

So though he retches and he gags, I'd rather dance like stupid fags
than pose like stupid gangster gigolos.
But if all proceeds as planned, he'll go to Never-never land
where never is the only word he knows.

chorus

I see lovers hand in hand in the sunset
They think that they'll buy peace with just a smile
How come nobody told them, how come nobody told them,
Things like that are increasingly out of style.

I see honest men cry out for justice
Trying to build ideals into a state
How come nobody told them, how come nobody told them,
Noble gestures wear so poorly of late.

Me, I've got it easy now, I'm learning how to be so very modern
We must bring them up to date, and compensate, it's not too late.

All the happy people seem so complacent
They think that's the only way to be
How come nobody told them, how come nobody told them,
with luck they'd qualify for misery.

Diana Ross is h-a-p-p-y, and Jackie-O has got some fish to fry,
You know I got this information by Miss Bum.

You got the latest in banana peel, can't get enough of your Budweiser heel,
and it's so cool to see your blood congeal, Miss Bum.

In semi-fur and tennis shoes, you to to buy Gilette good news,
Got to look your best for kingdom come.

You got your eye on progress you can bet, they even got machines for cigarettes,
Give you some time and you'll be flying yet, Miss Bum.

I caught you reading classy magazines, out on the manhole cover in the steam
Only your hairdresser can see the seam, Miss Bum, Miss Bum,
Let the kingdom come to Miss Bum.

Sweet reminiscence glows like the poison in the air
that lends incandescence to sunset. "So, why should I care?"
everyone knows a dullard asks. So I'll just stare
through my morose colored glasses.

All God's creatures pose with an empty hour glass,
Keane painting features the sole defense this army has.
"What good are those?" a dullard asks, so please just pass
me my morose colored glasses.

What good's the man who throws his hands up in distress?
Well he can scare away the birds I guess.
What good's the promise of love's sweet healing caress?
The muffled grave where it's interred - there's no peace in this rest.

Gaggles of Ghandis cry out "Everything must pass!"
That may be so, but what's the rush, I ask.
There's no hard feelings; just a squishy pulpy mass
of pastel sentiment, but hush - baby's sleeping at last.

If man reflects, he might question why the angels sing,
but there's something sexy about the end of everything.
To prove how hard his cock can be, he's hammering a fuckhole in eternity. One final fling!
"Who gets the rights?" A dullard asks, so I just cling
to my morose colored glasses.

Even though you didn't die before you got old,
something seemed to petrify the more you got old.
Some dead prophet said somewhere that all you need is love.
But planning such a plan - it takes a younger man.
Why so pale and wan my generation?

When the revolution failed for sure your heart sank.
The only thing revolving is the door to the bank.
Some dead prophet told you that the answer's in the wind,
but now the air is still and now your voice is shrill.
Oh whither they goodwill my generation?

Weekend chemists make it feel so swell.
This generic no-fault rebel yell.
From LSD to MTV - oh please my generation.

Your old slogans seems so quaint and droll in your head.
Is that an open mind or just a hole in your head?
Some dead prophet told you that the people have the power,
and I believe it's true. But what else can I do?
Can I believe in you my generation?
Or are we really through my generation?
I believe it's true but what else can I do?
Can I believe in you my generation?

It takes some education to see how the game is played
but it don't get in my mediocre dream.
And it takes some inspiration to see how the paint is sprayed,
but it don't get in my mediocre dream.

My mediocre dream
and the whole world starts to fade.
It's dark but I'm not afraid.
You can say that I've got it made.

My mediocre dream
Oh no it ain't quite in focus yet,
But I know what I got to get
'cause I saw it on my T.V. set.

And it takes imagination if you want to be afraid
but it don't get in my mediocre dream.
Don't wake me up!

My mediocre dream
The images in my eye like some conventional stimuli
and I react and I don't care why.
Why, why my mediocre dream.
Oh no it ain't quite focused yet,
don't want to know what I've got to get
because I saw it on my T.V. set.

And it takes some imformation to know how much I have paid
but it don't get in my mediocre dream.

I recall your hand in mine like everything was new,
but no one said forever so if I run into you
then you can say, why there's my new old flame.
I've been replaced at your place now but I can't place the blame.
So as I mourn the couple that we never quite became
then you can say, why there's my new old flame.

Comrades in arms but they're not my arms anymore.
I can't hold that against you. No, I can't hold anything at all
when that's my name - your new old flame.

So I'll be civil if I see you roundabout.
I'll even offer comfort when you blow the next flame out
and you hear him say, why - that's no one, it's just my new old flame ...
that's my new old flame.

Now I understand how things get broken. Now I understand how things slip by.
We could not invent a two part harmony - just better ways to lie,
and reasons not to try
to face the work at hand. Now I understand.

Now I understand how dreams go hollow. Now I understand how hopes must fall.
Though I wish it were, it's not a metaphor for anything at all.
It's simply what we call
the end of all we planned. Now I understand.

At last I'm wise enough to say I don't believe,
but that's a wisdom that I swear I never wanted to achieve.
If Alice dare grow up, she's granted no reprieve
and banned from Wonderland. Now I understand.

Now I understand this heart is empty. Now I understand this well is dry.
If I'd only known the passionless response, I'd never have asked why.
But now I can't deny
I've got the answers and now I understand.

Once upon a fairy tale a flimsy man wore lavendar and lace.
Soon the lie was gospel. If this gospel saves, it's only saving face.
Now the crop you once mistook for pansies are all wilted, nearly flat,
as the earth erodes for want for water, and you say, "I'll drink to that."

chorus
Oh, it's kill or cure. That's how you get the odd man out.
You're pretty sure you've never met the odd man out,
but dear, there's one right here.
Won't someone let the odd man out?

Now the brother you would make a stranger knocks, but answer comes there none,
as you swear the table set for many has just room enough for one.
And there's even talk that God is going to take sides in this debate,
as he spurns his handiwork and says, "Oh Christ, what thing did I create?"

chorus

Of two born equal in their soul, one's a fraction, one is whole,
or that's how we're taught to see.
What hurts the most is what's unseen, this transparent quarantine,
and we still just let it be.

chorus

Says one to one, professing all that's unimpeachable in passion and in pining
Well love is fundamental to the dungaree economy that we're designing
Says one to one to one to one to one to one to one
I'll take two but make mine one to one.

Says one to one, I still recall when understanding was a popular commodity
We'd sell a ton of brotherhood and wonderworking to consumers who would disagree
With one to one to one to one to one to one to one
I'll take two but make mine one to one.

And lately we have all reduced, common denominators slide
You can't say that we haven't tried grand scales and our live do not coincide.

Says one to one, let's walk towards the sun
Horizons always make for grander exits, and one to one is how it's always done
In love and murder and in discoteques it's
one to one to one to one to one to one to one
I'll take two but make mine one to one.

If I pleaded the fifth, could this be prevented?
My cynicism deserts me now. I called you "cute" and I meant it!
How could the depths of my soul form this perky jingle?
The cruel logic of algebra provides an answer that's single.

Down the halls, ether squalls songs of welcome:
Come in! Break fast, 'cause now you're home at last
in the palace made of corn.
I'm crowned today king of all I survey
in the palace made of corn.

Of course your cardiogram registers so faintly,
when every word to beguile your heart emerges ever so quaintly.
In light of verses like these, who'd not be forlorn?
Even the semen that stains my dreams dries to the color of corn.

Can't you hear? Chanticleer crows his welcome.
Come in! Break fast, 'cause now you're home at last
in the palace made of corn.
I'm crowned today king of all I survey
in the palace made of corn.

I gave up reading your mind. Could that prose be drier?
Besides I know how it all turns out: you yawn at me and retire.
If wanted dead or alive, sure I'd choose the latter -
but in the palace that's made of corn, I guess it just doesn't matter.

I detect, oh - winds of ectoplasmic welcome.
Come in! Break fast, 'cause now you're home at last
in the palace made of corn.
I'm crowned today king of all I survey
in the palace made of corn.

Put your bra back on
put your bra back on
because it's rising from the ash of long ago
And from the moment you smiled
I felt the call of the wild
and I said yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
I just can't say no

So put your bra back on
(don't burn it)
So put your bra back on
(don't burn it)
'cause what we need is some resistance from below
And from the moment you smiled
I heard the call of the wild
and I said yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
I just can't say no

I don't wanna hear
I don't wanna see
I don't wanna know
So let your liberation blind me with its glow

I don't wanna hear
I don't wanna see
I don't wanna know
because we got into this scrape
when we let ourselves go ape
and the beast did not escape, you let it go

So put your bra back on
(don't burn it)
So put your bra back on
(don't burn it)
I don't want to have to say that I told you so
And from the moment you smiled
I heard the call of the wild
and I said yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
I just can't say no

Something familiar in this face;
that documentary on the Civil War
had men almost as dead.
To cherish life, to live in grace;
is that what this experience is for?
Well that's what someone said.
But that would take a reasonable man,
who says "To everything a season,"
doing what he can
'cause he's such a reasonable man.

We looked at birthday photographs,
secretly counting all the ones who died -
now scraps inside a book.
If someone could, they'd have to laugh.
Ten little Idians, and now there's nine.
You're in this picture, look:
a picture of a reasonable man
who says "To everything a season,"
doing what he can
'cause he's such a reasonable man.

If it feels so arbitrary, could it be that it is?
Reason has a weakness: to seek patterns in this disarray.

The lush convenience of belief;
eternity imparts a mystic glow.
Where faith and reason meet, there is no sting.
But why so cheap with rage and grief?
They lied. The Shadow doesn't really know,
but I know one thing.
I'll never be a reasonable man
who says "To everything a season,"
doing what he can
'cause he's such a reasonable man.

Once again you practice telling me you won't feel clean 'til we're washed up,
posing with debris the ebb tide on the sea of love has left tossed up.
And still you strain to lend some gravity to this old verse,
although you know it's only a rehearsal.

I can't tell the panic from relief each time you swear our love has ended,
but before the curtain hits the stage it seems the run has been extended.
So now, and right on cue, I know I'll cringe and cry and curse
although I know it's only a rehearsal.

So when I hit my mark, and repeat that I don't know what you mean,
I know it's not a scene even worth stealing.
When the theater's dark and "The End" should be written on the screen,
I hear you calling out, "Once more, with feeling."

We become convincing in our roles, and then the strain begins to tell.
If we ever make opening night, it will be closing night as well.
So though we are prepared for any stage fright or reversal,
I pray that it's still only a rehearsal.
I pray that it's still only a rehearsal.

When first we met, the barren snow bloomed just because we willed it so.
This passion play was engineered, but when the mutant sheep appeared,
didn't I see you cry? Didn't I see you cry?

chorus:
We sensed by scent that this brief sentiment was overripe.
Don't cry my love, don't cry. As soon as we reject the graft we can revert to type.
Don't cry my love, don't cry. No, no no no don't cry.

Our serpent souls might stand erect, smug in the glow of that effect.
But so miscast as leading men - how sweet to slither off again.
If it was worth a try, why did I see you cry?

chorus

What is the law? Our nature is to give up nothing but the ghost.
What is the law? To go back to the island of Doctor Morose.

chorus

You said "memberships only!"
I said "what can I say?
All I know is I don't want to go home."
You told me that to be a real-kool-kat
I need a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.

You said I needed the password
I said, call it a day
If I ever want to trade a tit-for-tat
I'll get a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.

Rock 'n' roll come see, rock 'n' roll come saw
Rock 'n' roll que sera sera Two words preceding the object
Make it admissible fare
press that button and put your mind on hold
If you want to be a teenage technocrat.
You need a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.
The requirements for correct chit and chat
are a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.
Since Presley who begat, begat, begat,
it's been a rock 'n' roll this and a rock 'n' roll that.

Scarecrow - in the Wyoming winter dawn.
Scarecrow - that silhouette I chanced upon,
fashioned with such flair, I'm sure we met somewhere.
Scarecrow, I know you.

Scarecrow - can it be who you longed to kiss,
Scarecrow - that left you hanging here like this?
Or who you'd yet to hold, in dreams you left untold?
Scarecrow, they're mine too. Scarecrow, I know you.

What penalty must we perform
for craving someone warm, somewhere upon this chilly planet?
A rifle butt against the head,
because we'd heard it said
that only God can make a man. It's true.
But only man can make a scarecrow out of you.
And only man can make a God who might approve.

Scarecrow - those who seek metaphor compare
Scarecrow - that other man left hanging there.
But it seems to me that comes too easily.
Scarecrow, this much is true. Scarecrow, I know you. Why, oh why Wyoming? Why, oh why Wyoming?
If we only had a heart. If we only had a brain. If we only had a chance again,
just a little chance again.

Here it is - the march of progress again,
trying to prove enough is not enough my love.
Well, if you think, if you think that's all, guess again.
You can call it anything but bluff my love.

chorus:
They call it science. I call it fiction,
when everybody says my love is an affliction.
I just wanted to hold your hand
but I'm beginning to understand science fiction.

Now they've got, now they've got, a vanishing act,
crying "Now you see it, now you don't!" my love.
But they went, they went and classified just one fact,
and that's who will stay here and who won't, my love.

chorus

I think I hear a noise, I think it's getting louder
Another thing is going bump bump bump in the night
And now it's not alone, now it's got an army
The only thing that they're afraid of is the light
I got the story from a tell-tale heart
Things are not what they seem
There's no escaping when the dancing starts
I've just got to scream - and scream again.

There's no sign of life, but a crazy doctor
Has got the chemicals to stimulate the heart
I don't know what they do, I know it sure ain't living
But when they get a whiff they sure can play the part
I got the story from a tell-tale heart
Things are not what they seem
There's no escaping when the dancing starts
I've just got to scream - and scream again.

You make me feel like Manson, gonna take your life away.

It always sounds the same, this beat that fills the darkness
They only know one thing but they know it well
And when I look around, I see that I'm surrounded
They've taken over and there's no soul left to sell
So if you're looking for a long lost friend
And he seems lost in a dream
Then it's too late and you just can't pretend
You've just got to scream
and scream and scream and scream again
and scream and scream and scream again.

Once again I'm tempting fate, standing near the dusty plate,
buying into maxims from the past.
I've been told there's only one - pick them out and then you're done.
Will this brief encounter be the last?
I can dress them up like paperback destiny -
give them torrid heat like flicking a bic.

chorus:
But it's so familiar, I start to fear it's
one in a series of you's.
From the Xerox copy fatigue it's clear it's
one in a series of you's.

Here's the liar and the thief, and the addict on relief;
butcher, baker, rebel, and faux rogue.
From the drunk insensible to the indefensible:
the cynic with his nose in Paris Vogue.
In my own self serving sort of noblesse oblige,
credit them with depth they never have known.

chorus

Strike about just like a jitterbug fer-de-lance:
throw love at whatever gets in the way.

chorus

If there's anything that I don't need here, it's
one in a series of you's.
And my inner gremlin begins to sneer it's
one in a series of you's.

It's heaven sent, this miracle soprano you employ
That makes an angel of a boy, earthbound.
My soul took wing upon the sound.
I guess I still can't face the implications of this gift.
There's something pagan in the lift -- airborne.
And why should soul from flesh be torn?

That's what it costs to buy a note so pure and high
and so divine: no sex in heaven.
The bottom line: no sex in heaven. Where do I sign?

Then came the man whose eyes professed the love that we had sought;
a love that's never to be caught or held.
Some ancient pact can't be dispelled. What's the surprise?
The storied sacrifice is often told: that this perfection must be cold,
and hard -- where once we joined by scalpel scarred.

What gimpy God aflame with jealous rage decreed that you
Like him must be unwhole; allowed to yearn?
But if the need that you profess is once returned,
You slap it down! (If I should ask, and I always ask.)

I guess I still can't help the sickened impulse to admire
the score that this castrati choir translates
that soothes as it emasculates.

Family dwelling on a twelve inch screen.
Sunlight on each windowsill.
Now the motion picture is a still-life scene.
How did life become so still?
And I in passing chanced to meet a stranger on my street.
He told me this whole block's coming down.
He smiled and crossed a vacant lot.
Somehow I never thought we'd move to shantytown.

Ghosts like garbage blowing down the street
they whisper I remember this:
planning more than trying to make both ends meet.
Futures fading like a kiss.
And I in passing chanced to meet a neighbor from my street.
He turned his head and looked at the ground.
I asked him why he had to go.
He said he didn't know and left for shantytown.

Who will mend these broken promises?
Sane hands weave a crazy quilt.
Open season for the doubting Thomases.
Houses jack has never built.

And now the echo of your feet is fading from my street.
This silence that must pass for sound.
But please don't wave good-bye too soon
'cause I'll be seeing you right here in shantytown.

Something so urgent, you sense it in skin
with no definition, but guilt before the fact. Is that a sign of life?
Frustration three times in the same sentence
At least I can't count on you to be exact. Is that a sign of life?

Is that a sign of life, is that a sign of life?
I'll meet you at the new dust bowl at the corner by the pole
Of the sign of life, is that a sign of life
I'll meet you at the new black hole at the sign of life.

A quest for a boundary, that feels like a womb
Distraction becomes a paint-by-numbers drill - is that a sign of life?
The pole in the hole, accept or reject, the only game
that'll never cease to thrill - is that a sign of life?

Got so accustomed, to smelling bad donuts,
that I don't even notice it too much. Is that a sign of life?
A misunderstanding so complete it
becomes a whole new system not to touch. Is that a sign of life?

The angels are ringing their little bells
The angels play for me
The heart swells, the secret the ringing tells
is hidden from me, oh I almost can see.

chorus:
S.O.S., and I hardly know that I'm in distress
S.O.S., it'll settle for your skull, nothing less
S.O.S., it's the only cry of hope I possess
S.O.S.

The day breaks, and all of the world awakes,
The day breaks with a yawn
The heart shakes, I haven't got what it takes
I'll walk in my sleep, what they have, they can keep.

chorus

Mr. Sandman waits outside the door
Come right in, you are welcome here
He starts operations and he doesn't take long
And by this time you don't even care what is wrong
An awareness is the only nightmare
that reminds me to say
Help me, help me, help me, help me.

It's easy, it all looks the same to me
It's easy to give in
So leave me to sleep for eternity
No wait while I yawn, are they already gone.

chorus

Leper leper, your face is a mess
But the beasts and the children, they've been blessed
And my fallen idol, he's done confessed
He's just a lazy sod.

chorus:
Holy cow, just look at me now
I'm the spitting image, I'm the spitting image, I'm the spitting image of God.

Jumpin' Jehovah, he took out the clay
And took a long hard look in the mirror that day
All artists only paint themselves they say
That's why I'm a clod.

chorus

Look at these hands, what can they make?
All the same empty gestures, and the same old mistakes
You let me eat twinkies, you let me eat cake
But you take all of the credit and none of the blame
for this insistent ache.

Lord knows I can't do anything right
I can't even commit a proper suicide
I've tried and I've tried and I've tried and I've tried
But I just can't ditch this bod.

chorus

Look up, look down
Look at my thumb - gee you're dumb.

Friends - you said we'd always be friends
You said we'd solve all our problems
And work it all out platonically

chorus:
But that's no fun, that's no fun
because you've gotta be stupid, if you wanna love me.

Why - you're always asking me why
You gotta have all the answers
and categorize definitively.

chorus

If you think this code we're making
is like mental undertaking
What you gonna do to survive?
I guess you must have disregarded
that you have to be retarded
if you wanna keep it alive.

So - you're always telling me so
You're always shaking your finger, and wagging your tail
emphatically.

chorus

I'm frozen in self consciousness
But you can thaw me out
As long as you're naive enough
And really can't conceive enough
As long as you're too stupid
To know what I'm talking about.

Spell - you're asking me to spell
You said it's I before E
So F-R-I before E-N-D.

Hello again, it's no surprise
That same old face, those same old eyes
But now they're closed, and I must realize
Suddenly I know, suddenly I know,
Suddenly I know a lot of dead people.

I never thought, I never do
Anders and Alison to name just two
Would take the easy way out but it's true
Suddenly I know, suddenly I know,
Suddenly I know a lot of dead people.

A lot of dead people, a lot of dead people,
Hey don't get me wrong, they're some of my best friends
A lot of dead people, a lot of dead people,
That's some life style, isn't it the living end?

It's on my mind, and it's in the air
and when the chorus comes around it's always there
there's three of them and a bridge to nowhere.
Suddenly I know, suddenly I know,
Suddenly I know a lot of dead people.

Well I could really get into it - now I can't get out
Cause as soon as you've been to it
You know what it's about
I'm in the tar pits, I guess the shoe fits
I'm in the tar pits and I can't get out.

Tar baby loves me in our asphalt jungle home
We're stuck together can't you see
I thought I had the chance to roam or not to roam
Love made a fossil out of me.

I've got a tar guitar that's clinging to my hand
My sabre teeth can rock and roar
I use the carbon-12 to test my asphalt band
Life made us into dinosaurs.

I slam the door upon your thumb. What's unbecoming I become.
And so with each and every awkward kiss, I pray a silent prayer that this
can't be as stupid as it looks. And if we're both on tenterhooks
again, can we be tender even then?

You trusted me with something true. Maybe that's not so smart to do.
So if I hurt you now and make you bleed, my sullen face is guaranteed
to be as stupid as it looks. And if we're both on tenterhooks
again, can we be tender even then?

One and one is two in some arithmetic.
That addition feels like some cheap parlor trick,
so as I sweep the glitter up again - I can be tender.

Now I have faith that blood congeals, and if the blister breaks, it heals.
So darling, even if you disagree, I found out inadvertently
it's not as stupid as it looks. And if we're both on tenterhooks
again, can we be tender even then?

When we opened the basement the battered cadaver looked brittle and small
Not a world weary gumshoe could say what occurred.
Then it blinked and it coughed and it sputtered - it wasn't quite dead after all.
It was only the shell of that beautiful word.

There was talk of unsavory methods and wills that were broken and crushed
but it seemed so alarmist and vague and absurd
till the grim light of dawn hit this vessel whose own very soul had been hushed.
Tell me what have we have done to that beautiful word?

That beautiful word fell like the sky.
What kind of lullaby turns love into a lie?
Say, haven't you heard? Letters this high spell out the reason why: lie.

First we drugged it with bald self-importance, then rented it out like a whore.
Fire and brimstone was always the payment preferred.
When it lay down with power and religion it couldn't get up anymore.
That's the way we crippled that beautiful word.

I can't even remember how it came how to be cursed.
But whatever the meaning now it means the reverse.
We used alchemy backwards to make lead out of gold.
Now this quivering cipher does whatever it's told.

We learned nothing from interrogation but how to turn faith into frost.
Now not even the glow of a cigarette stirred.
Fear came on little rat feet too late, and our own were the voices we lost
like the orphan we made of that beautiful word.

*Espresso Break
Disappointed by aspirations he could not confess
Even To Himself
imprisoned by disappointments he could not confess
Even To Himself
Learning first hand about the second
An expectation at once dear,
Bourgeois,
So inadmissible,
And altogether gone

You said, "Our love it will last forever -
at least until it starts getting dark."
That's how I knew that we belonged together
like a tornado and a trailer park.
That's our secret: it was our creed that the void that we shared
somehow meant that we cared.
That's our secret - we both agreed that true love was love ensnared.

You bet I don't need any diagram edged
in lace to tell me what's nature's law.
Watson could tell the both of us were damaged
so I could nestle inside your flaw.
That's our secret. Under the carpet there's not any room
so just put down that broom.
That's our secret: this little tar pit called love is love entombed.

We scorched the earth but it was worth it just to spend our wedding night
in the burning bed. (Oh, heaven help me!)
Don't touch that dial! Just check the file under uneasy listening, pop,
rock, and nameless dread.

"Trust me," I cooed as I dropped my glasses.
"Just put that apple back on your head."
Oh, heaven help me!

You ask me if I'm gonna share my feelings. (on top of old fogey - )
I say I haven't got a one to spare. (all covered in gray - )
That's why I'm staring up at the ceiling (my little pirogi lay!)
while both your legs are up in the air.
That's our secret: it was our creed that the void that we shared
somehow meant that we cared.
That's our secret: we both agreed that
true love was love from push to shove;
the velvet fist, the iron glove;
the stone below, the bars above; the proof that there is plenty of
that love is love ensnared.

Big shots argue about what they've got
making the planet so hot, hot as a holocaust.
Blow up, everything's gonna go up
even if you don't show up in your Chemise Lacoste.

Total eclipse, it's a total eclipse,
it's a total eclipse of the sun.
Can't come to grips with the total eclipse
Just a slip of the lips and you're done.

Fall out, nobody left to crawl out
If someone calls, we're all out, turning in to French fries
Last dance, let the entire cast dance, do the dismembered blast dance
as we get atomized!

I hear so much crying I guess,
They got shot for trying the pursuit of happiness
But now I turned the tables and I got myself a gun
And I'm so happy now!

I'm so happy, trigger happy, I'm so happy now
I'm so happy, trigger happy, I'm so happy now
Well they always try to put you down
And they kick you when you're on the ground
But now the shoe is on the other foot
Look at all the kicks I've found
I'm so happy, trigger happy, I'm so happy now.

Well I got myself a gun, and I'm gonna have a lot of fun
Everybody is on the run cause I'm looking out for number one.

Down in the grey cold cellars where we'd play, I saw you in a crowded room.
Soon we were twins. That's how it all begins, with promises that we made too soon.
I said I've yet to make a promise I can't break,
but darling you know what I really meant to say - I love you - I love you.
Darling you know what I really meant to say - I love you - I love you.

Young men would sing they hated everything. Converted, we would sing along.
Fist in the wall - why stand when you can crawl, with chemicals where they don't belong?
You still believed the vow, I said not me, not now,
but darling you know what I really meant to say. I love you. I love you.
Darling you know what I really meant to say - I love you - I love you.

Our parents swore in this dirty town we'd become addicts and whores.
We laughed and then we did.

Now we had seen neglect become routine as visions of the future blurred.
Brought to your knees, felled by some new disease - just asking for a gentle word.
Speechless, yes I for once had no reply,
but darling you know what I really meant to say. Ooh - ooh. I love you.
Darling you know what I really meant to say - I love you - I love you.

Believe me, believe me, the world ain't got a chance
Believe me, believe me, you've got the right to dance
Those crabby cynics can't believe it even though
You're a young adult teenage type thing.
Gotta hold me tight, hear me when I sing
You're a young adult teenage type thing
And I just can't let you go.

Believe me, believe me, they got the perfect crime
Believe me, believe me, they're stealing all your time
With wigs and fads and new machines and video
for a young adult teenage type thing.

I know you just can't find a savior
But that's no reason you should shave your head
Or start to wear those saffron robes, oh no no no
Cause you're a young adult teenage type thing.

This next dance just could be the last for all we know
And you're a young adult teenage type thing.