CHARITY, CHASTITY, PRUDENCE,
AND HOPE
She gave her little child a name
A ward of welfare she became
And then one day she met a man
Digging through the trash for cans
Charity, chastity, prudence, and hope
It was his aluminum
That attracted her to him
And quite a day there did unfold
Turning garbage into gold
Charity, chastity, prudence, and hope
She took that money in a trunk
And bought a bunch of worthless junk
And now they're back where they began
Digging through the trash for cans
Charity, chastity, prudence, and hope
STANDING IN THE RAIN
Looking outside my window
And all I see is grey
I'm watching the clouds roll by every day
And we make a reservation
You say you'll be on time
I say, "I might be a little late"
Well, I pull it together and brush my teeth
Comb my hair
I stop to think and I can see you there
I think of the times you've waited
Just for me to care
I care about you
Checking the clock inside
The room we call our own
I see that I'm late, I should get going
Hop on a local transit
Spending all my change
And I can still hear the telephone
I wanna go back, but I'm halfway to
The place where we will meet
And I'm half dead on my feet
And once I get there, I see
Everything's the same
Here comes the rain
You left me standing
I should have guessed that you'd stand me up
Why did I even go, now
And I guess it goes to show
The snow may well thaw out, but it
Goes right down the drain
You left me
You left me
You left me
You left me
You left me standing in the rain
BACK FROM SOMEWHERE
Now you look like you just got back from somewhere
Somewhere yeah you know that it's true
Together we went nearly to nowhere
Nowhere really worth going to
Standing at the city center
In the middle of the winter
I was waiting for you and you were due
When I got back you said you were leaving
Leaving you said right away
And coming back for the sake of retrieving
Things you'd forgotten on that day
Still now my eyes are burning
With the sight of your returning
Everywhere I look I'm finding you
I remember you
Familiar places that we turned into gardens
Somewhere yeah you know that it's true
I'm begging you now a thousand pardons
For all of the wastelands we've been through
I remember asking whether
Or where we could be together
You smiled at me and you said soon
ICE COLD ICE
Barren lands and barren minds
In another place and time
I feel I've never known myself
Frozen in the sand again
See the blank expressions waiting for progression
They're standing still in place and time
And no one's moving, they're only
Standing still in ice cold ice cold ice
All machines and all are one
Catching up on what's been done
Stealing glimpses from the past
These impressions always last
Never penetrating, always contemplating
We sit and count the blessings but we're blessed by icons
No one else could
Trust in ice cold ice cold ice cold ice
We'll stay together till the end
Thinking you might be a friend
We sit and pray together that they might change the weather
My love for you will never die
If I sound distant, that's because
You shouldn't see me crying ice cold ice
YOU'RE A SOLDIER
Running around like an insane maniac
Anywhere that you please
Taking advantage of anyone handy
To satisfy your disease
You're a soldier
Going off on a big adventure
You never want it to end
Saving up a million stories
To tell to all your friends
You're a soldier
Knocking over everything that's standing in your way
Can you tell me just how many did you kill today
You're a soldier
Patrolling the world with your little boy face
And a grown up gun that shoots
You got a fresh scrubbed teenage outlook on terror
And a khaki attitude
You're a soldier
COULD YOU BE THE ONE?
Could you be the one they talk about?
Hiding inside, behind another door?
Is it only happiness you want?
Does wanting a feeling matter any more?
It doesn't mean that much to me
Sometimes I don't mean that much to you
And I don't even know what I'm hiding for
And I don't even know what I'm crying for
Don't even know what I'm hiding for
Could you be the one they talk about?
Life is a game that only you can make
Maybe I'm about to throw it out
I've given it all, that's all I can take
Could you be the one
Could you be the one
Could you be the one that's hanging all around
Don't even know what I'm hiding for
Don't even know what I'm crying for
Don't even know, could you be the only
Broken hearted one
TOO MUCH SPICE
You never used to care for fancy new obsessions
You never used to have a reason to be bored
Now you indulge yourself with new ways of possession
Now you indulge yourself and your feelings are ignored
And you're coloring your life with too much spice
There was a time, there was a place, there was a reason
There was a situation comfortable for you
You've tasted everything in this here bag of season
But now you're bored and you've run out of things to do
And you're coloring your life with too much spice
You don't see anything your eyes are so revealing
They're sharply focused on looking for a thrill
You've turned so numb you never notice any feeling
Your thoughts are dead and you've still got some time
to kill
And you're coloring your life with too much spice
FRIEND, YOU'VE GOT TO
FALL
I can hear the treetops in the distance
I can see your hollowed eyes
What have you done to yourself in this instance?
I guess it comes as no surprise
I can see the billboards in the distance
Writing is on every wall
I don't wanna know about your business
Sooner or later, friend, you've got to fall
Every night it's gotta be adventure
The way you live your life's a crime
And if you're guilty, will you serve the sentence?
You're already doing time
There's nothing wrong with having aspirations
Nothing wrong with walking tall
But if misfortune deals the consequences
Sooner or later, friend, you've got to fall
I know the difference, you keep your distance
I don't wanna know what you've got
Is it pathetic to be sympathetic?
Maybe you don't wanna get caught
Caught up in something that's real
That could last for a lifetime
Nothing like the disease
Disease that's in your mind
I can see your life disintegrating
Into ashes in your hand
And I know you wouldn't want to tell me
What is wrong 'cause you're a man
VISIONARY
Panhandle, pedal faster
Playing card, listen, master
Pointed gun, aim to please
No one talking, no one sees
Take a stand and collect
Images and imageless
Think in rhymes every time
Someone was a friend of mine
Visionary, in a cage, Londonderry
Visionary, foggiest notion, visionary
Visionary
Strip away the silver and the gold
Torn up stories in your cage
Never time to be a sage
So sublime
Growing old before your time
SHE FLOATED AWAY
With her grandmother's face and her father's brown eyes
Her own force of will to her mother's surprise
A whole look about her that says that she may
She lifted her arms and she floated away
She floated away, she floated away
She lifted her arms and she floated away
She don't give a damn what the other girls say
She lifted her arms and she floated away
"Let me talk to you mother," she tried to confess
"Go ahead honey and wear the white dress
Don't let traditions go stand in your way"
She lifted her arms and she floated away
Well a man has two reasons for things that he does
The first one is pride and the second one is love
All understandings must come by this way
She lifted her arms and she floated away
BED OF NAILS
I can walk the bed of nails
I'm not the only one
But some, they cannot walk the jagged line
Callous, concentrating
For nails are sharp as lies
I run the jagged line
From years and years of practice
I know just how to stand
Alone with perfect balance, hand in hand
Prepared with boards and hammers
And several bags of nails
I could build a wall to lean on
Roof above my mind
I can see you've got your own plans
Please don't drive your nails into this heart of mine
I can walk the bed of nails
Grin and bear the pain
But some, they cannot deal with all these things
Always sacrificing
For lies are sharp as nails
And all the pain it brings
Sometimes I just pretend that all the lies are true
And I know I might depend on you
But if my concentration breaks
I'm washed away with pain
And then my feet begin to bleed upon my only bed of nails
And I'm stuck here in the middle of a sea of lies
Inside my bed of nails
TELL YOU WHY TOMORROW
I see the sun and I see the calendar
The days go floating by so slowly in a blur
I read the numbers and I discard everyone
I burn my fingers on the pages of the sun
I'll tell you why tomorrow
Moonlight pulling all the water to the beaches
Soaking time into everything that it reaches
Turn it upside down and count the spilling sand
Seize the moment with a minute hand
I'll tell you why tomorrow
Men and animals are floating through the sky
Every month or so a new one passes by
Forming circles 'round the planets in the air
Find a newspaper and it is printed there
I'll tell you why tomorrow
IT'S NOT PECULIAR
Is it sensible, life is what it seems
When you're living in a dream
Could you care enough? While pausing on a thought
Can you think of what you've got?
(Only you know what matters in your life)
When it's pouring out, you're pondering inside
And all the times you shouted, everybody cried
You've got to learn to compromise
To live inside the others' lives
It's not peculiar, there's nothing to devise at all
On a stormy night, you're sitting on the floor
Is it nothing anymore?
Waking up to fix it, making up the fight
Will it be one more tonight?
(Some things we said will never wash away)
Taking all of this into another day
Recollections of the words we used to say
The times you looked into my eyes
Whispered vowing not to lie
Hear the telephone, it's raining in the fall
And you hope I never call
Sending messages that never get received
But we're trying, I believe
(Sometimes we wonder what our lives are for)
Taking all of this is taking all of me
Sometimes I wish I had the energy
When it falls apart like fragments of our lives
Give a little bit, and give a lot to die
ACTUAL CONDITION
Well the actual condition of my mind
Is elusive as the answers that I find
I keep going through transition
From doubt to indecision
It's the actual condition of my mind
Well the actual condition of my soul
Sometimes feels like being sucked into a hole
And I've come to this position
Regardless of religion
It's the actual condition of my soul
The actual condition of my heart
Feels like two hands that are ripping it apart
I keep losing definition
But still I keep on wishin'
It's the actual condition of my heart
NO RESERVATIONS
I hear some news, I read the words
It's different every day
I get my thoughts from a letter that's lost
That someone threw away
It says, "Don't give up, 'cause you can't give away"
The thought's appreciated
Now at the best, you've second guessed
And never should you have waited
(Never changes, the things I feel inside
Sit by a lake and cry
Like a shingle on a roof in a windstorm
Should I let loose and fly?)
An overpass, and some corn in a field
Fat birds on the line
Dented guard rail, immaculate bumper
Protecting your design
A broken down shack with a pond in the back
Laundry out to dry
Some of them barren, some of them whole
All of them have no time
Come along with me
Come along, come along with me
We'll go to places that we have never seen
And if we're together, we'll have a happy time
'Cause I got no reservations
TURN IT AROUND
Several times I've tried
Everything to make you feel all right
(Turn it around) Is anything working?
Several times I've died inside
And then I see you get uptight
(Turn it around) We gotta get back
Turn it around
I've got time on my side
And you've got time on your side
Now it's only time to decide
Which side you're on
We've tried everything in sight
To make it turn out all right
Now is the only time
Now is the only time
Now it's time to try to turn it around
Several times I've wished
That everything would slip into a void
(Turn it around) Does it even matter now?
It's time to figure out
The things we want, and things that we'll avoid
(Turn it around) We gotta get back
Turn it around
I don't grab for straws anymore
And you don't sink your claws anymore
But the more I think
The less I really know about myself
We gotta turn it around
Before it goes into the ground
Several times tried to turn it around
Several ways tried to turn it around
There's several morals and there's several plays
Several parts that anyone can try
It's enough to make you cry
I may not think that I'm right
But I know the things I've got
Are gonna turn out all right
We gotta get back, turn it around
I may not be anything
And you might be the biggest thing
But the biggest thing to me
Is making this thing work for life
We gotta turn it around
Before it goes into the ground
SHE'S A WOMAN (AND NOW
HE IS A MAN)
I can see her loading boxes in my mind
Into a belvedere with a trailer pulled behind
Well things didn't go exactly as they planned
She's a woman and now he is a man
There's a vacancy between them everyday
And a sense of guilt that's not going away
When they get older perhaps they'll understand
She's a woman and now he is a man
And now he's into something that her heart cannot forgive
She's saying to herself, "No, this is not the way to live"
He'll never listen to her 'cause his mind is like a sieve
Oh brother! Oh brother! I'm telling your sister
No way can I resist her
With a guilty feeling hanging in their brain
And the two of them are potentially insane
Well they've had enough which is more than they can stand
She's a woman and now he is a man
UP IN THE AIR
Pass away the hours, hear the footsteps of the past
Walking up the stairs of time, knowing that I'm trapped
Cold winds of indifference persuade a movement south
Thinking that it's better there
The warmer climes that we seek out
Poor bird flies up in the air, never getting anywhere
And how much misery can one soul take?
Trying to fly away might have been your fist mistake
Poor bird flies up int he air
Never getting anywhere
Picking petals off a flower, loves me, loves me not
Is love another way to count the things you haven't got?
We wish the best to all our friends, young and old alike
When the dust has settled in the sky, you can have Anything
you like
YOU
CAN LIVE AT HOME
You're looking for a chance to give your mind a rest
Now please correct me if I'm wrong
The story goes that I'm not terribly impressed
I guess I've known it all along
Walk, walk away, keep on walking away
Figured it out that I'd been wasting all my time
And time was eating at my soul
Now I find comfort only somewhere in my mind
Free to pursue another goal
Walk, walk away, keep on walking away
I can be fine, I can be free
I can beautiful without you torturing me
Walk, walk away, keep on walking away
Go
You can live at home now
You can live at home now
