After All
Barbed wire and black molasses
My palms sweat at the sight of it all
The low down docks of New Orleans
Where they almost trampled my soul
Walking alone down 5th Street
Just $5 that I saved
I tore off my old raincoat
and I left behind my name
Edith can you see me now
Shaking in the cold
Well I’ve gone to meet my brothers
where the Southern meets the Yellow Dog
I watched a Harlem sunset
through the cracks in my attic door
I still hear the dogs bark in the hall where
you marked my height on the wall
Don’t give up on me father
I’m just out here making sense of it all
Is there anyone here that can tell me
where the Southern meets the Yellow Dog
Is there anyone here that can tell me
where the Southern meets the Yellow Dog
The Guns You Pawned
Fate speaks to you
in an all familiar tone
in a dialect that’s neither
proper or well known
The soft fibers of fear
touch against your fingertips
and you smile at all the reasons why
Lady luck winks at you
but you just look away
She’s foreign, untamed, exotic and unkind
There’s a hole that she’s been digging
and you caught a glimpse of it
It’s true you will be buried there someday
I know, I know there’s no sticking to the guns
you pawned a long time ago
Haunted by the song of hope
the dance of everlong
Our heroes and our villains walk a blurry line
There’s no anger now
But I see how
the dust from a hundred years
always settles on the brim of time
I know, I know there’s no sticking to the guns
you pawned a long time ago
Most of what I learned
wading in their sea of guilt
is to doubt that I could ever really swim
But the hardest part of all
is to deny their lifeline
When the current’s pulling you out with the tide
I know, I know there’s no sticking to the guns
you pawned a long time ago
I know there’s no sticking to the guns
that you pawned long ago
Ghost Dance
The moon passed between the sun
Three riders rode like they’ve always done
a vision descended down from the sky
They came to see the Wood Cutter speak
in the Nevada town of Smith Valley
His words shattered upon the canyon walls
Come meet your sons
out on the rim of the world
Torn from my home out on the plains
when blood rained down from foreign blades
Son, let me grasp your hand
Children cried out on the range
when fever hit, smallpox came
We wept when the agents pushed us all to Hell
We were born much the same
but somewhere along the way
you were shown a world
that couldn’t live without you
I threw some grass into the air
to see which way to face my mare
Out somewhere, I heard the mission bells toll
I must admit I see no shame
in a violent road that violence paved
Grandpa, I pray that you can understand
I can still see them all
dancing under the stars
We are dancing
Out on the rim of the world
Medicine man began to dance
scattered dust up in the air
Behold a madness that shook the earth
Clouds of gun smoke filled the air
My brethren scattered everywhere
to rest their heads, out beyond the ravine
I can still see them all
dancing under the stars
We are dancing
out on the rim of the world
Christmas Eve
No one was there to receive me
kicking at heaven’s backdoor
So i made my way
back to the front lines of the war
On my way back down to the rubble
All around me vultures sang
I got this dog named Tex
that hasn’t left my side in days
I came to a camp by a clearing
Where men of sickness sang
a song from the books of the late Iron Age
the rain in Bruges kept falling
the cranes of Ghent were swinging round
the Flying Circus scattered all the village to the ground
the sparrow flies blind
the sparrow flies blind
It’s Christmas time
I’ll walk the mile out to the borderline
No man’s land is a place we can all stand on
Andy knew this girl from Edinburgh
the poor boy fell for her like a stone
She waved her scarf in the air
the day his London bus left home
I was hanging down round the pulpit
the day his Dear John letter came
Andy walked off into the end of the night in the rain
the sparrow flies blind
the sparrow flies blind
It’s Christmas time
I’ll walk the mile out to the borderline
No man’s land is a place we can all stand on
Candles lined the trenches
as far as the eye could see
The air was dry and the mist was slow to leave
Captain Holt come quickly
our men have joined the enemy
Kicking a bully beef tin all around no man’s land
What side are you on?
Boys what side are you on?
It’s Christmas time
I’ll walk the mile out to the borderline
No man’s land is a place we can all stand on
It’s Christmas time
Say a prayer for me Ma,
but don’t you cry
No man’s land is a place we can all stand on
So Long (Charlie)
They came for me on a Saturday
Brahms played on the radio
I spent the night in my old man’s coat
so I could look proud when I go
If you see my old friend Charlie
tell him that I said hello
The bastard still has my fishing rod
and I still expect it back by Fall
Kicking rocks down the avenue
It’s time now we better roll
If you miss the last train out of here
I’ll say a word for you as I go
Maybe I’ll catch you down the line
Maybe on the coast of L.A.
It ain’t so hard to walk alone
Nobody’s ever really with you anyways
All the folks that I came across
on this winding and crooked road
I thank you for your generosity
maybe this place ain’t so cold
I’ll come back to you some New Year’s Eve
when I pay all those debts I owe
This winter’s been cold, I been feeling old
and work’s been kinda slow
They came for me on a Saturday
Brahms played on the radio
I spent the night in my old man’s coat
so I could look proud when I go
Second Thoughts in Memphis
Driving West through Jackson
when the doubt it takes control
On either side of the great divide
there’s no place left for you to go
Lights flickered through the landscapes
like scenes of a picture show
You think to yourself in a truckstop bar
I’ve been here long ago
You see her by the doorway
and she whispers stay a while
but singing the blues and paying dues
is all that you know now
Deliver me from this wreckage
was I ever in control
I heard the call in a basement once
and I never made it home
Signs and indications
led me here all alone
As I face the open road
I know there’s nothing that I’m owed
You walk with your friend the stranger
to the corner liquor store
He understands your heartache
he’s been through it all before
You sit down on the guardrail
take a swig and begin to sway
It sure is nice to lose yourself
in Memphis on a rainy day
Murray’s Hurried Blues
Basking in the glory, taking in the heat
Didn’t realize how hungry I was, till I started eat
Now that that I finally got me some pie
They’re gonna be coming after me
It’s a hustle on the concrete, slinging their crumbs
They got us all wrapped up, under their avenue meltdown kicks
Hey man but ain’t that the deal
to find the prison of your choice
Back on the road I felt safe as a sheep, till I passed me a sheriff
who tipped his handsome cowboy hat at me
Well it didn’t take me more than a minute
to know that I’d better leave
Ms. Benny held me tightly, in her thick loving arms
cost me my last $50 but you know that I’d rather starve
than spend another night alone
in the backseat of my car
Wouldn’t you know, I found god there in the twilight of my life
Knelt before the altar at the ripe age of 25
Pleaded with the big man upstairs
to forget about the last 5 to 9
Yea you know, they’ll catch up with you too
Someday
The sun’ll shine in my backdoor someday
and I won’t be blue always
In the long hours of night
my lamp will burn bright
The sun’ll shine in my backdoor someday
I’ll keep on singing his songs
I’ll keep on singing his songs
When everything goes wrong
Long after you’ve gone
I’ll keep on singing his songs
The sun’ll shine in my backdoor someday
and I won’t be blue always
In the long hours of night
my lamp will burn bright
The sun’ll shine in my backdoor someday
Soon I’ll take the outbound train
Yea soon I’ll take the outbound train
Mary don’t you cry
when to the end of the night I ride
Soon I’ll take the outbound train
The sun’ll shine in my backdoor someday
and I won’t be blue always
In the long hours of night
my lamp will burn bright
The sun’ll shine in my back door someday
Too Mean to Die
I threw out
the roses
at the last great
Last great American medicine show
The day broke
It was 103
And the sky escaped
in a dull and faded color gold
I stuffed an old mail bag
and hung it from a tree
Spit on my palms
and I beat it ‘til my knuckles started to bleed
What did you come here for?
It’s too late for me now
I got no answers for you boy
Go out and find your own damn battle to wage
Angeline where’d you go?
I hummed a melody
that you sang to me
Way back when
in the missionary fields of Mexico
Laid my head down
on a cold wet bed
And the sky came down
Don’t worry baby, I’m too mean to die
I screamed, Angeline where’d you go?
Underdog
Took my chances on a broken underdog
Took my chances on a broken underdog
The results are still not in
It was great to run with him
Took my chances on a broken underdog
Say you lost it all along the way
Say you lost it all along the way
What is there to save?
Can’t take it with you anyway
Don’t be sad in what you lost along the way
You held me then like you never would again
You held me then like you never would again
Underneath the old oak tree
A day made for you and me
You held me then like you never would again
Closed the door to my lonesome rented room
Closed the door to my lonesome rented room
Strummed on my guitar
And smiled for a while
Closed the door to my lonesome rented room
Singer of Songs
Take this note
read it when I’m gone
It’s 6am
and the shadows dance on my shelter wall
I walked cross town
to the corner where we used to hang
After all these years
your record still stands
on Red’s Bar pinball machine
Life it has it’s seasons
and Autumn breaks my heart
I was hoping you could help me
bend the rules this time
What’s done is done
and I can’t say that I’m proud
of the days I was cruel
not even the bottle can fix that now
No matter how hard I grasp
no one ever stays
Matty split, I lost Ma’s house
and Tony since passed away
What if this time it was different
and I could walk a straight line
Time to time I tell myself I’ll give it a try
My life’s been a wreck
in the years you wrote me off
Your spirit dances in the streets
where we used to walk
There’s no one left for me to blame
for the promises I broke
My throat’s cut up
the trigger’s been stuck
and I haven’t slept in days
Love it has it’s season
And Autumn breaks my heart
I was hoping you could help me
bend the rules this time
Sammy’s Song
Well you came like a thief
with your fleet through the sea
Set out to conquer me
Like a siren you sang
and to you I came
Lost in the spell of a dream
Well we drank wine and laughed
by a pool in Youngstown
You told me that things wouldn’t ever change
So I sold my red car
and I pawned my guitar
For a house with a garden by the bay
Now you just piss and moan
and the garden won’t grow
Once a month you throw dishes at me
So I stay at work late
at the damn job I hate
Just to keep from the wrath that awaits
Well I’ve had enough
of your dog’s whinny bark
You won’t see little Sammy no more