1. |
Black Eyed Susan
05:02
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it was four o'clock on a sunday morning
the birds still sleepin and all the fog still rollin
and i opened up the door and i let em inside
their badges all shinin and all the lights flashin
they asked me what is your name boy and what is your profession
i said my name is an echo and i barely do nothin
and then they turned to her and she spoke not a word
and i was relieved when they turned to leave
i said one of these days you know i'll quit this for good
but did i mean the woman
or did i mean the beatin
or did i mean the seemingly cowardly being
crumblin under a burden of choosin
and im the one who's torn inside
but she's the one that's bruisin
thanksgivin and christmas and the fourth of july
when everyone's over
her mother and father
i wonder just what it is that goes through their minds
past the holes in the wall, the cracks in the door frames
i'd have something to say if it was my daughter
but it's been the same since i can remember
back when i was little, each evening was a gamble
and the teachers in school had other business to handle
and im still playin that same old game today
and sometimes the shame don't even taste bitter
and the cracks in the wall might even heal yet her fate aint the one of her choosin'
cause im the one who spun the wheel
but she's the one that's losin'
adam and eve existed in innocence
with everything tranquil
at least for awhile
and we lived in our eden with all those weeds tended
and we played at perfection
and managed to smile
and though the green season was long in stayin'
it started to tell me it was thinking of changing
its breezes turned cold and its colors turned fading
and i caught that wind on the side of my face
and it spun me around
and i spun her with me
and i lost all the threads
and the heads of the needles
i lost all of the pretense of choosing
cause im the cyclone in the garden
and she's the black eyed susan
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2. |
The Morning After
02:55
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i always hate the morning after, lipstick on the champagne glass
your hair upon the pillow telling truth where you were lying
it's not that daylight brings surprise, i've often seen those jagged lines
the sunlight writes upon the wall, the patterns of the blind
but sometimes dear it appears so clear
that where you are's so far from here
i always seem to end up in this empty room again
with nothing but my endless contemplations
and its like as if you were a pill as if i had no force of will
to overcome regrettable temptations
but i can see that it aint me
the one with whom you're bound to be
though your leaving is not what i would choose
it's clear the converse serves no use
to keep you locked away for selfish reasons
and though you show you're fond in part
i do believe to own your heart
is something just like trying to own the seasons
and so it goes
the reddest rose
the sharpest spine
so often grows
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3. |
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you draw a hand that smacks of all but remorse
you play the cards you can and watch those kings of course
lay the right suits down and chalk it up to luck
twist some hearts around to try and turn a buck
but you can't leave a dime unwon
yes every time someone walks up to the table
if you think you're able
you trap him in your orbit's pull
oh mama, does your love pay out in full?
i might be sore but i've heard it said
you can still be poor lyin' in a rich man's bed
you got stars in your eyes
and you can't see a thing
except that car parked in the driveway and that rock shinin in the ring
but that little house up on the hill
if i squint i see it standin' still
that little shelter that we made
you gave it up in trade
for that chiseled crystal spectacle
oh mama, does your love pay out in full?
i don't harbor any blame
don't want to hear the reasons why you quit
i don't hate the player, i don't even hate the game
i only hate the fact i fell for it
but you asked me for forgiveness and then to understand
said you can't build a kingdom on a mountain of sand
but this desert im stuck in must be your kind of place
because on each path are your footprints and on each stranger your face but we both been here before
we both know what's in store
when you meet some traveler and you start to unravel him
with that glance of yours thats so typical
oh mama, does your love pay out in full?
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4. |
Patch It Up
03:24
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when the phone rings darlin' are you hopin' it's me
don't you think it's time to come on home so we can put those pieces back together
now that all those wetter weather clouds are gone
and your memory still lingers
like some splinter in my finger stuck from hangin' all those boards of pine
and i can't swing a hammer to repair all the damage your abandonment left behind
let's patch it up
let's patch it up
i was losing you darlin' when the roof was falling in on us
lightning and rain
and gale force pain
it blew all through the house and out onto the lane
smashed all the dishes and cracked the picture frames
and it was gone by the break of day
i don't mean to imply your desire to try sweepin' all the debris from the street where it lies
but if we meet eye to eye come back inside
we'll retire all the spite, rectify the incitement
stay up all night then you and i will try and patch it up
let's patch it up
let's patch it up
i was losing you darlin' when the roof was falling in on us
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5. |
The Simplest Words
03:12
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when the streetlights shined down in your eyes
that night i almost slipped and told you somethin
too many drinks i might have sipped
but in the light of day my consciousness can't seem to grip
upon the simplest words i wish that i could say
i have no need to claim you as my own or to posess your endless charming i don't want to second guess you
perhaps someday i'll somehow find the right way to confess
the simplest words i wish that i could say
spare us the missing, kissing, crying, fighting, loving curse it does not suit us
i've got mine and you've got yours
but even so i often sit and silently try to rehearse
the simplest words i wish that i could say
and maybe if we lived within another time and place and we were actors on a different kind of stage
then i could find some room to write upon this cluttered page
the simplest words i wish that i could say
but there's just one thing left i wish to say before you turn to go
and head back homeward
i'm sure you already know
cause my eyes are screamin elegies that my mouth can't speak and so
i got some simple words to say
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6. |
The Cyclist
05:23
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i've only had one love in my life and she and my brother were married
but her eyes they were mine, and the same with her heart
and the same with the babies she carried
twice a week noontimes we'd head out of town to a motel the next county over
we'd whisper our secrets and sweat out our demons
in the backwoods of east oklahoma
one day it was late on the backroad back home she was driving my black eldorado
i was catching up sleep on the passenger side
dreaming dreams that i'd never wake up to
then a thud and a thump and a screeching of tires and a bicyclist mangled and flying
and i snapped wide awake and i burst out the door
but when i reached him i saw he was dying
she ran up to my side and we stared at the ground to where the price of our sins was layin
and the silence of guilt echoed around
just the buzzin of crickets was playin
back in the car i stared at her tears flowin down the seat cover's stitching and with a glance and a nod and an unspoken promise
i turned the key and started the engine
weeks hobbled by and we didn't speak once i didn't touch her nor wish to be touched
spun alone in the bed in the sick depths of night
and my daytimes were faded and broken
til one wednesday noontime when the telephone rang and i froze when the voice shined electric
cause the sergeant was friendly but stern like a priest
called me downtown to answer some questions
one small little room one hot burning lamp one cigarette gone then another
one paper to sign one phone call to make
and i dialed the house of my brother
the trial it went quick, the pleadin went easy in a courthouse in east oklahoma
it was open and shut cause the witness they got
was that bicyclist out of his coma
and i've got ten years now to think long and slow on that vision of my brother beggin
for the love of god why won't you testify
but i only thought of his wife and his children
i serve one for the broken bones that we left two for the shatters of spirit
three for the babies that i'll barely know
and four for the corners of heaven
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7. |
I Didn't Want Her Anyway
03:22
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there ain't no convention
or typical touch
there's a difficult question
i don't ask it too much
there's one kind of answer
that's easy to say
i didn't want her anyway
her certain perspective
it ain't my type
when i pull left
she pulls to the right
and it aint a game that i wish to play
i didn't want her anyway
she got those eyes
those dark gypsy eyes
that sing your songs, and laugh, and burn
she got that hair
that long curlin' hair
that leaps on its own, and twists, and turns
her voice like the clover,
and her bronze colored skin
i know i don't want her
i forget why again
i got this woman
i wish it werent so
and the things that i've learned
i don't want to know
that net that we've woven
is beginning to fray
i didn't want her anyway
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8. |
Birds and Bees
03:11
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i wish that i was a little hummingbird
i'd not build my nest on the ground
i'd build my nest in some pretty girl's dress
so those other boys couldn't turn down
but if i was a little hummingbird
within my nest i'd not stay
as soon as i'd found a pretty girl to stick around
i'd be up and on my way
if i was a little rose bush
i'd bloom in the month of may
and every time my sweetheart pass
i'd throw her a rosey bouquet
if i was a little rose bush
then all my petals they'd be shorn
if i'd so much as some pretty girl touch
and draw her blood on my thorn
if i was a little honeybee
i'd not steal my honey from the comb
i'd steal my honey from some pretty girl's lips
and then i'd fly away home
but if was a little honeybee
and i could not hide the buzzin of my wings
every time i'd come
all those pretty girls would run
because they feared my sting
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9. |
Corazones Amarillos
04:17
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corazones amarillos
in the streets of san jose
corazones amarillos
somebody died there one day
little yellow school bus
drivin in the rain
swerved to miss a mother
spun on down the bank
corazones amarillos
in the streets of san jose
corazones amarillos
somebody died there one day
and now here come the workers
with their cans that spray
another yellow heartbeat
upon the road they paint
corazones amarillos
in the streets of san jose
corazones amarillos
somebody died there one day
and the headlines in the papers
day by day they fade
and that yellow, static symbol
is all that will remain
corazones amarillos
in the streets of san jose
corazones amarillos
somebody died there one day
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10. |
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my name is lisa your honor
white female aged forty-one
and i hope that you punish me proper
for all the sins that i done
cause i failed to protect little edward
from the vices that stoke satan's fires
from the violence and sex throughout our world
that he'd witnessed with his own two eyes
dispatcher my name is jason
please dispatch the police at once
cause my girl's got a wound on her face and
her nephew is covered in blood
and his grandma is pacin the kitchen
edwards lyin down facin the sky
and lisa's recitin religion
edward's cryin red tears from his eyes
may the lord be with poor little ed now
through the dark of the rest of his days
i know even a blind man can see how
the lord works in mysterious ways
and next the news at eleven
with al sunshine on your channel five
south florida woman arrested
for stabbin' a boy through the eyes
and for ten hours he was left bleeding
his grandma did nothin at all
til a man arrived on the scene and
summoned police with his call
may the lord be with poor little ed now
through the dark of the rest of his days
i know even a blind man can see how
the lord works in mysterious ways
and me i'm just sittin here thinkin
about the fields full of sufferin' seeds
sowed in the name of religion
planted throughout history
they say the ways of the lord are mysterious
and you know they're a mystery to me
so somebody preach to poor edward
exactly how much god he needs
may the lord be with poor little ed now
through the dark of the rest of his days
i know even a blind man can see how
the lord works in mysterious ways
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