BITTER PILL
At the end of the track is a ?? shack
When you die, that's where you go
Down the lines, up from this pit at the end of your rainbow
That's one too many flights of stairs
One more stair and almost there
One more dose close
One ?? bottom of the stairs
One more ??
Keep coming back to haunt you,
Got no place left to go
Meet me on the ??
And they'll strip your car to the bone
We did a scene, checked out a gown
The Justice started laughing
"??, remove their heads"
I guess that's what you get for laughing
One last laugh and lived to tell
One more pomp and circumstance
One more fool to follow
Another finger down my throat
It's a bitter pill to swallow
So much ??
It's moving much too slow
Who it is asleep at the wheel
I don't want to know
Just around the corner there's
Somebody there to take you there
Don't worry child you're sure to be scared
One more drink before I go
One last good luck kiss
One less thing to call my own
That's one more thing I miss
??
Took the world by storm
Most of 'em either in a dark jail
Or wishing they had never been born
Just around the corner there's
One more pomp and circumstance
One more fool to follow
Another finger down my throat
That's a bitter pill to swallow
VEIL OF TEARS
Well, a fascinating sensation,
no I can't even feel it
I just had to let you know
I can't conceal it
I was recently considering
taking the pain with the pleasure
Just to find my way to the bottom of this,
I'll have to dig forever
And it's no small measure
Lift up your veil of tears
Don't be disappointed child,
if your prayers go unanswered
We are not responsible for these sad circumstances
Secret agents and freedom fighters
on those impossible missions
Better put your toys and games away,
maybe take the kids out fishing
For a family treasure
In your early years
Behind your veil of tears
So frustrated
Get up anyway
So complicated
Changes every day
So the darkness fades
And the light will come shining through
I heard the eyes that look to a better world
always hide beneath the veil of tears
And you hide no more
Lift up your veil of tears
Hide no more
Behind your veil of tears
Now the executioner must be executed
No I think we'll set him free instead,
watch him run, run, run
And you hide no more
Lift up your veil of tears
You hide no more
NICE GUYS (DON'T
GET PAID)
Well they packed up their violin cases ??
Hopped in a big black Studebaker,
they were acting pretty scary
No one talked as they synchronized their watches
And they drove past a train station
The train rolled out with a passenger car
Filled with retired millionaires and movie stars
?? coats
?? and that would be all she wrote
And the gangsters, cowboys, gypsies, and freewheelers
Sold out their trades to become drug dealers
There ain't no money in doing things straight
Your community thanks you, business is good,
and nice guys don't get paid
Outside the train window fast as he could ride
Was a kid on a horse with a head full of lies
And the tears of excitement couldn't put out the fire
in his eyes
For the house he was riding to burglarize
All through the house they were dancing and singing
An extended family with fiddlers and magicians
A juggler and a chemist who'd invent potion
to pacify all the killers and rapist
The chemist died in the burglary and they sold the prescription
For a case of cheap red wine to a traveling salesman
In a three-wheeled jalopy; he bought and sold potions
To the city that looked over the ocean
And he sold the last drop, it was big with the rich kids
And soon the city would be crawling with addicts
And back rooms, dark allies, basements and attics
When a fly is trapped in a spider's web (but a bat's got
the spider?)
And no one knows what's going on
But you've gotta show up for yourself at the end of the
day
And nice guys don't get paid
Nice guys don't get paid
Now all the hopeless romantics are wearing white collars
Upstanding assassins cleaning filthy dollars
Car-jacking fanatics who kill for religion
In a city full of addicts and color television
SOMETHING OUT OF
NOTHING
Well if there's one thing that I know,
it's easy to kill what's hard to grow
One thing I might say,
no one's gotta know about running away
Trying to make something out of nothing
Leaning hard on yet another drug
All of these temptations keep me wanting
to feel your touch
It's not supposed to make you feel so
Helpless, selfless, crying for some tenderness
I miss your kiss, impossible to resist
Find some budget to support my habit
Suffering an under-dose of love
All of these temptations keep wanting
the sky above
Oh my desperate disposition
keeps me bitching, keeps me wishing
Wishing for some shelter from within
There ain't nothing I can't live with
nothing I can't live without
I want this, I want that;
I wanted just a little slack
It's like an itch that I can't scratch,
could you get this monkey off my back
Trying to make something out of nothing
I can't live without
Wanting nothing
Oh my desperate disposition
keeps me bitching keeps me wishing
Wishing for some shelter from within
It's not supposed to make you feel this way
GULLIBLE'S TRAVELS
Keep a watch out behind you
from that which can blind you
And die like a dream in a jar
Forewarned if hindsight is all that makes you right
You're running away but you won't get very far
No it's not my intention to harbor pretensions
Or told you I hadn't a clue
Took fate by the neck and you'll never look back
You've forgotten more than I ever knew
Everything's turning but mostly just turning out wrong
What's lost was once burning and (finally?) the day seems
so long
And it's Gullible's Travels and nothing unravels this
way
Just another lost journey where everything's turning away
Saving crowds from the roar from the cutting room floor
Played it at night in his dreams
Woke up was cold and his manager had sold him
It's louder than love but don't think I know what it means
Nobody's talking and who tells you when to go home
Guess I wore out my welcome, it's better than being alone
And it's Gullible's Travels and nothing unravels this
way
Just another lost journey where everything's turning away
Shot in the dark landed short of the mark
Can't hold a candle to you
Flame's burning brightly and shines in so lightly
But lighting the day alone seems so untrue
Everything's turning but mostly just turning out wrong
What's lost was once burning but (finally?) the day seems
so long
And it's Gullible's Travels and nothing unravels this
way
Just another lost journey where everything's turning away
BRAND NEW SHINE
I got something special to show you
But I suppose you've seen it all before
There's one thing I'm trying to tell you
But then again, you've heard it all before
I survived another week just like the one before,
When everything you wanted somehow leaves you wanting
more
And I looked beneath the carpet behind each and every
door,
Trying to find you something like you've never had before
And it seems we're just beginners
No previous experience at all
Just the last original sinners
And if you need me just be sure to call
And they tell you which way not to go and so you go that
way
One child plays with ??, another throws it away
Like a kite without string ?? do anything
I'm trying to take you some place you've never been before
I see something new in each and every moon
From your old, old hat to your blown-out shoes
It's tried and true, and it's all I do
And I hope it's not all the same to you
The old and new, they get mistaken all the time
Is there something I've never seen before
No, just a brand new shine
Now they're cranking 'em out by the millions
They look and act exactly just the same
And each one's one in a million
And each has got its own elusive game
It's the same old dusty atmosphere just like the other
place
I see something familiar in each and every face
Seems to me I've seen you, been here, said this once before
I'm trying to take you someplace you've never been before
I see something new in each and every moon
From your old, old hat to a to your blown-out shoes
When I dropped it and broke it, I thought of you
And I hope it's not all the same to you
And the old and new, they get mistaken all the time
Is there something I've never seen before
EASY STREET
Did you hear the one
about the friend of a friend
who tried to end it all
At the last moment he picked up the phone
and gave you a call
You thought about letting it ring,
but you answered after all
you answered after all
you answered after all
And there you were,
put on the spot at the end of the other line
For questions that you never thought
you'd ever have to answer to
Who do you turn to when the ones you always turn to
go and turn on you
It leaves you in the dark,
feeling for a switch to turn it on again
to turn it on again
to turn it on again
There are no easy answers,
the questions remain tough
There's no shortcuts to easy street,
no corners you can cut
Can you cut this diamond in the rough
And it's good to see you alive
Sign your will to survive
A look into your heart before it sees its final hour
Lived each day like there is no tomorrow
Beyond this mess ahead there is a street
so very hard to find
Though I have got to lay my head down
at this dead end so many times
And if we ever get to easy street,
you can say with a smile
I came just for the ride
GROUNDED
When (aid?) turned sideways
(And? It'd?) head on down the highway
Say this is my way
Disappearing forever
But there ain't just one way
So you choose the fun way
Slide down the (runway?)
On a ticket that goes two ways
And by the way that it sounded
You thought that you'd be astounded
But you left it like you found it
Cause it wasn't yours to take
What once seemed like dying
Soon turned into flying
So you settle for trying
And you wish you were grounded
No you cannot get much higher
Than your utmost desire
So you bring it down to size and
Now it seems that you are grounded
By the way that it sounded
You thought that you'd be astounded
But you left it like you found it
Now you find that you are grounded
BE ON YOUR WAY
Just like an old man in a candy store,
the riots across the street
The cold greets the newborn,
the neighbors that never meet
No one's making plans here,
no one knows for sure
The way to keep it inside,
it's just one more dark opening for you
And whatever you do,
when everything still seems new
It's sure to come
to something to change the rest of your life
For a chance to feel normal,
but now you're in too deep
Pacing the circles around your eyes,
the rest of the world's fast asleep
No sense of direction,
no sense at all
No one there to break your fall,
no one knows what's happening to you
I never quite got that through;
I know what waits for you
I know what calls for something to do
with the rest of your life
Stop looking over my shoulder,
it was a little bolder
You're going somewhere I might be on your way
This time I don't mean maybe
Nowhere I'd rather be
If you're coming with me I might be on your way
I saw you there on the corner
with my name written all over you
I was trying to get your attention,
it's all I ever wanted from you
Who will be the victim,
who will be the host
Who will you take it out on for
not being there when you needed them most
For you, I'm coming to terms with you
And you can pull me through,
I'm settling up with something
to change the rest of my life
Something to do with the rest of my life
I need something to fear
the rest of my life's not in vain
WE 3
I was tapping my foot on a Friday night
To my favorite band I was pushed aside
I said "hey don't push me no one pushes me"
When I was face to face with the woman I admired
And she gave me this look I could not believe
And the cold stare remained; I wanted to leave
See, I do believe anger is offset by sorrow
But you destroy today you might regret tomorrow
When you're young and defensive it comes off offensive
And it's hard to repay the tolerance that you borrowed
The lasting relationship sinks right off the pier
Who wears the pants; it's faded but clear
She's your girlfriend, seems she ain't too fond of me
I guess if that's the way it was meant to be
There we were, just we three
You, your girlfriend, and me
I've known you forever, you two just met
So easily amused; how fast we forget
In my jealously, my self-righteous greed
She's a bit like a book I'm too far sighted to read
And I wish you the best, I sometimes feel the need
To say remember me
She's your girlfriend, as far as we can see
Does she look at you the way she looks at me
And here we are, just we three
You, your girlfriend, and me
She's your girlfriend, it's getting harder to see
Better just take her home, better just let her be
When she walks out that door, you'll come looking for
me
ALL THE KING'S
FRIENDS
The papers read that the king is dead
The people said what we need instead
Is to be on our own
But people, they do the strangest things
You never know what they might do
When they are left alone
There's men without gods and gods without men
And a spirit of which none of them can transcend
But something peculiar is happening
We should just be happy with just what we've got
And the problems should be too few to mention
But they're not
Where can I go for some information?
So tired of the big sensation
I need to know what's going on
Oh well you're the well-informed
Into your world which I was born
My friend, here's to you
How would I know if there was something wrong
When the weak of heart out-survive the strong
The truth is almost always confidential
You never know just what you've got until it's gone
And your friends have never seemed so essential
When you're wrong
Remarkably incredible, incredibly forgettable
I know this might sound strange, don't ever change
Amazingly unfaceable, entirely replaceable
There's nothing I would rearrange, don't ever change
Out of luck, out of space, out of time, out of place
Don't try to save face my friend
There was a time and there was a place
For your face and for your race but it's been swept away
