ONCE AND FOR ALL

 

Down the alleys

Riding out in fits of light

In midnight’s rage

Did somebody say they saw your face?

 

The evenings hang above us

Now let’s make a scene

Let’s break the law

Did somebody beat you to the draw?

 

Woah, once and for all

Woah, and for all

Did someone push you away?

 

When you were young, you’d scrape your legs

You’d hide and seek 

You’d carve your name

Did somebody say this was a game?

 

Many years have cost you what you can’t afford

Your ship went down

Did somebody see you jumping out

 

They found you mostly lifeless

Like a pile of bones

Reaching for someone

Where no pain is felt

Naked in the moon

Where no river rolls

So each asked themselves

Does love run out?

Until they found her first name

Still in your mouth

 

CALL ME CUSTER

 

Their slings and their arrows
Couldn’t keep me in check
I burnt all my bridges
To physical wreck

Flowers on the table
And a velveteen arm
I pray God and money
Never lead me to harm

I’ve never owned nothing
That made me feel so proud
As this dead Comanche
And this sad old hole in the ground

 

I wake up in the morning
And I putter around
I’ll start counting sheep once
All the wolves have been found

It’s a sorry battalion
That chomps at the bit
You’ve got to know when to hustle
You’ve got to know when to quit

But what a day for a showdown
I’m pacing and taping my palms
And I’ll sure miss Montana
When I am dead and gone

 

You can call me Custer
And who would object?
I’m so full of fight and
My scalp’s in a wreck

In the heat of the battle
Look how I behave
With my gun, and my saddle,
And a curse on my name

But woah, I kind of made it
I’ll bet you, you never forgot
How I went down swinging
Oh, my God!

​

FORGET THE RAILROAD

 

Forget the railroad and the passenger lines
They lead only to the dark edge of town
Forget the highway
Are the engines alive if they’re only bringing you down?

 

So lay me down
And lay me out
All you needed was some time
Lay me down
And lay me out
All you needed was some proof that you’re alive

 

Forget the chain gangs and the prisoners' songs
I was never that tough on crime
Forget the landmines and the dangers below
We can make it if we try 

 

Forget the rain clouds, there’s a storm in your eyes
And no one ever has to know

Forget the promise that you broke along the way

It was made a long time ago

 

Forget the river, if the water runs out
We’ll go swimming down in the aisles
Forget the stage lights we are travelers now
We look only to the sky

 

SUNDOWNERS

 

I haunt you like leaves on the wind
I’ll color a riot in red
That’s the way
Them and they
Operate
But anyway
You found me cross-eyed again

 

Just cause you had love
And you threw it all down
You’re out to get some
To wear it around

 

I’m not letting you go
Follow me down
Where we're unknown
Would it freak you out
To hide from the sun?

 

Nature is my angry child
Science has found me unwell
Soft and proud
Raining down
You’d better get to know me now
Because it’s getting harder to tell

 

Fathoms in soil and stone
We can know stillness at dawn
As I regret
Less and less
We take the most
Then leave the rest
Our hearts remain wicked and calm

 

I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME

 

Sometimes at night

Sometimes for days

I get the feeling I can carry twice my weight

 

I can’t come down

From the top of the stairs

You can find me there

Where the floorboards creak and moan

 

I’m taking you with me when I go

That’s where you belong

Where you’re at home

 

I’d seen you around

In some other place

But you found yourself alone

And tired of that side-walking pace

 

Show me how to make up my mind
I mean it this time

Closer now

It's time that I thought about what I want

 

It sounds like a song

I'm lost in the notes

And there ain't nothing left

And it's a fool that insists that he knows

 

DARLENE

 

Staring at a question mark
You’re faking, Jesus, you’re parading in the dark
You spent the evening cruising for a spark
But there's no highway to the sun
When morning comes again, Darlene
We'll reach out and take a piece
Oh I swear this shadows not your enemy
Believe me, I believe in you, Darlene

I've always wondered what you'd think
You've read so many books you only dream in ink
And every time you let it go it sinks
Down some sad familiar page
The words are softer now, Darlene
Make adventure out of me
And if every chapter ends in misery
Believe me, I believe in you, Darlene

You're a little unimpressed
You left a message on a pack of cigarettes
If no one talks about how good it gets
Then how am I supposed to know?
If there's no telling now, Darlene
Your wheels are begging for concrete
Are you thinking up someplace you'd rather be
Believe me, I believe in you, Darlene

The time that we spend just keeping track
Who's over their head?

Who's under attack?
When I go, there will be no turning back

I built a stranger in my mind
I paint some pictures but they never come to life
Fixing you is like sharpening a knife
So I have nothing more to say
They’ll turn on Channel 17
Watching from a window seat
And they'll say "Hey, I think I know you from TV"
But I'll say, "Believe me, I believed in you, Darlene"
 

THE MOVIE UNIVERSE

 

I counted all the movie stars
In the entire movie universe
 

I got nothing left to say to you

 

I'm gonna wait for something good to come
I'm gonna wait for something biblical

 

Ain't it a shame how my life was taken from me?
And ain't it a shame how they got the better of me?
Ain't it a long, long way down
Man!

 

My constellations want to burn
I'm at the center of the universe