1. |
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So like an old car that limps along the tires are good but the engines gone
So we in our little way somehow go on parts of us working and some others all wrong
Sometimes the body goes on after the mind has died sometimes the body dies but the mind survives
Sometimes the head is dead but the brain remains sometimes the heart is willing but the feet are lame
And somewhere headless corpses are dancing pirouettes and lighting cigarettes
And bald men comb their ghostly hair amputees foxtrot through the air
Sometimes the body goes on after the mind has died
Sometimes the body dies but the mind survives
Sometimes the head is dead but the brain remains
Sometimes the heart is willing but the feet are lame
The Politician says his lines but his eyes are flat and there's nothing behind
And the teacher teach but the kids can't learn and the bibles are pounded and the books are burned
And the trumpet blows and we toast our health, we march to war but it's against ourselves and
Plugging our ears stabbing our eyes what we can't ignore we learn to deny
And somewhere severed heads spin like tops to carnival(cannibal?) music that never stops
And vicious little mutants (doctors?) with 99 eyes operate on anything they can immobilize
And somewhere eyeless mutants are watching...
Sometimes the body goes on after the mind has died
Sometimes the body dies but the mind survives
Sometimes the head is dead but the brain remains
Sometimes the heart is willing but the feet are lame
And when they both go you can't be far behind
Although I don't know some people do just fine...
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2. |
Rolling Over
05:37
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Cause in this life you were raped by god
And torn to pieces by an angry mob
If you saw the stairway we had bought
You’d take it all in grab your works and do it again
I hope that you’re laughing
Looking down and laughing
I bet you can’t stop laughing
Cause if you’re not laughing you’re rolling over in your grave
You always had the utmost respect for me
(Yeah and wishes are horses and money grows on trees)
You were more than kind to everyone else
(The miracle is no one else killed themselves)
Your crazy energy everywhere you went
(You barely kept your depression in check)
The whole world was shocked by your suicide
(No one knew or cared who you were when you died)
I hope that you’re laughing
Looking down and laughing
I bet you can’t stop laughing
Cause if you’re not laughing you’re rolling over in your grave
Tonight there’s a little anniversary that I keep
Listen to old Bowie and try not to sleep
I watch “The Boy with Green Hair” on TV
And wonder what the fuck it all means
Now I’ve changed a lot since I was a young man
And I’m killing myself as fast as I can
But even if I’m nimble as Jumpin Jack Flash
Still can’t keep up with Darby Crash
I hope that you’re laughing
Looking down and laughing
I bet you can’t stop laughing
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3. |
Psychosomatic
05:20
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A million and one aches and pains all starting in a sick corner of your brain
All your sorrows and your fears your disappointments and your tears
Take all the medicine that you want it won’t help you with what you’ve got
You ask the doctor what do you expect him to say?
What do you want to hear and how much you got to pay?
It’s all in your head, everything is psychosomatic
Psycho, psycho, psychosomatic
You’ve never been sick a day in your life unless it got you out of something
Take good care of yourself, watch what you eat, get plenty of sleep
I don’t do any of these things
Now take that bad thought stab it in your breast, it’ll be real, it’ll be the best excuse you could have
There’s no exception to the rule, everything you catch, think, say or do
It’s all in your head…
I’m gonna give you the cure, better be sure, here comes your pill…catch it!
Heal yourself, no one else can
There are no germs or worms, there’s just bad turns, lessons learned and last stands
It’s all in your head…
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4. |
White Collar Criminals
04:21
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All you white collar criminals I see you all each one
You’re all moms and dads and uncles and aunts
And somebody’s daughters and sons
You all do unto others before they do it to you
You want to be the best that you can be
And do as little as you can do
You make so much money
You’d better look busy
But you’re worth every penny
‘Cause the market has been iffy
Your future looks bright and you sleep well at night
And never in your wildest dreams do you question what it all means
You must not think so negatively
Doodoodoodoodoodoodoodoodoo
If I’m wrong how come I’m rich?
All you white collar criminals you know you’ve got it made
You really don’t do that much at all and you’re still very, very well paid
You just kiss a little ass, give a back a stab, stand around and rap, take a nap
But not the rap. Listen to the grapevine, always have the right time, look out for #1,
Keep the world overrun with parasites, doublespeak, closed minds, outright lies
You’re future looks bright and you sleep well at night
And never in your wildest dreams do you think what the numbers mean
You must not think so negatively
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5. |
2 Hollywood
03:54
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Hey James Dean don’t you know it’s all a dream
It’s all cake and ice cream it’s only Hollywood
Hey Clara Bow jumping out everyone’s window
Didn’t she know it’s only Hollywood
It’s just so Hollywood
And for everyone who writes his name across the sky
There’s a million more like you and I
Dreamers and wandering drunks
Who never seem to amount to much
Hey little tramp who’s your fourteen year old queen
Looks like Babylon to me
Fast asleep in your black limousine
It’s just so Hollywood. So very Hollywood.
And for everyone who writes his name across the sky
There’s a million more like you and I
Dreamers and besotted drunks who never seem to amount to much
Neverwas and Used-to-be play out tiny tragedies
And microscopic victories down in Hollywood
It’s too, too Hollywood
So very Hollywood
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6. |
Fish out of Water
05:20
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Hey spare a quarter for a blind man
An angel who fell
I fought bravely in the war between heaven and hell
I stood toe to toe against the foul and the strange
The things that I saw. They burned out my eyes
I lost the will to live and the strength to die
So many gone- the brave and the pure
I think that we won
I never was sure
Now castaway here with a shipwrecked head
After we slaughtered our enemies
Strangers and friends
We died at our own hands
Mended our wounds
Buried ourselves in deep ancient
Sacred tombs
I guess I oughta know
The closest thing to pure evil
You ever touched
Was yourself and no one else
And you liked it, you liked it
You liked it so much
The streets of this planet
Choke me like ghouls
I wake up drowning
In stinking fetid pools
Left sad behind stranded
But a detour for the
Well dressed unconscious fools
So many gone- the brave and the true
I think that we won now
I don’t know about you
Now castaway here with a shipwrecked head
After we slaughtered our enemies
Strangers and friends
Additional vocals: Jeff Parker
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7. |
Hiway 61
04:27
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Hiway 61
by Bob Dylan
Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."
Well Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare Department they wouldn't give him no clothes
He asked poor Howard where can I go
Howard said there's only one place I know
Sam said tell me quick man I got to run
0L' Howard just pointed with his gun
And said that way down on Highway 61
Well Mack the Finger said to Louie the King
I got forty red white and blue shoe strings
And a thousand telephones that don't ring
Do you know where I can get rid of these things
And Louie the King said let me think for a minute son
And he said yes I think it can be easily done
Just take everything down to Highway 61
Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
Told the first father that things weren't right
My complexion she said is much too white
He said come here and step into the light he says hmm you're right
Let me tell the second mother this has been done
But the second mother was with the seventh son
And they were both out on Highway 61
Now the rovin' gambler he was very bored
He was tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61
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8. |
Old People
05:32
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Old People turn grey decay say things like: “these kids today”
“There’s gonna be hell to pay” “You don’t say”
Old people can’t keep the pace so they try to delay the race
They move so cautious they move so slow can’t tell if they stop or they go
Old people whatever age too scared to leave their cage
They’ve seen it all they’ve done it all
They used to run now they can barely crawl
But they’ve learned from their mistakes
It isn’t when you’re born
It’s how you ride the storm
It isn’t how long you been that counts
It’s how tight you bite and how far you pounce
Old people turn grey decay say things like:
“Remember when” “When I was your age” “Back in my day”
“Crime doesn’t pay”
“We learn from our mistakes”
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9. |
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You’re a traitor to your country if you don’t fight in this war
You’ll be shot at dawn with no blindfold on so you better hup two three four
You must pledge allegiance to the thief he’s a murdering psychopathic freak
The soldiers all fight for both sides until they shoot themselves and die
The End is Coming
Coming forever and everyone is going to come together
You must wear your uniform with pride as you rape the enemy countryside
Forget about any free rides they don’t exist we’ve already tried
History’s a nightmare we seem doomed to repeat
You can’t wake up from this one this time you’re not asleep
The End is Coming
Coming forever and everyone is going to come together
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10. |
Crossroads
04:46
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Two amoebas at the crossroads
Waiting for a human being
One of them was a skeptic
But the other he believed
The first one said “lets go to bed
I don’t see why we wait
`Everything you attribute to them
I put down to fate
No one’s ever seen them
Or their footprints in the sand
No one’s ever heard one speak or
Witnessed one first hand”
“When I close my eyes I hear beautiful music
That seems to come from another plane
When I’m alone I feel a presence that I cannot explain
When I look out on our drop of water
I feel there must be something more
When I think about my life ending it just seems like
Walking through another door”
“I’m aware of your hallucinations but I am not to blame
You think me unenlightened but I think you’re just lame
The wishful thinking of the ignorant and blind
The warning signs of a species in decline
One-celled organisms shouldn’t waste their time”
“I see cities reaching for the sky in my dreams”
“You are just a machine”
“I hear spirits whispering in mountain streams”
“You are just a machine”
“I hear ancient children’s laughter echoing down through time”
“You are just a machine”
“Everywhere I look I see eternity”
“You are just a machine”
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11. |
Peyote
06:12
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Don’t worry about my welfare just worry about your own
Don’t mind me I’m just talking to the termites in your throne
As if this great land was something that someone like you could own
Irrigated with our blood and fertilized with our bones
Your hacienda on the hill might seem a bitter pill
But bitter is reading your history as it happens to us still
Coming down the dragon bird
Feathers red and blue and green
King snake skin like a pimp chain gold
Selling rocks to horse man’s foal
Standing on a stolen beach
By the great white swan they rode
Peyote!
The more you talk the less you say
Talking monkeys yak all day
Peyote come take me away
Here are too many policeman
Go to Hollywood and start a band
Peyote give us back the land
Peyote!
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12. |
Bout Bein Poor
07:53
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When I was still just a little kid
I said “fuck all this rich man bullshit
Don’t want to be grow up just like my folks
Drinking at the club telling racist jokes
I want to be one of the salt of the earth
I want to be a man of zero worth
Don’t want it easy don’t want to have it made
I want to be alone desperate and afraid”
I’m a hard living daddy I’m a bum lookin buck
I’m a no money honey I’m Mr. Down on his Luck
I look like a robber cause I got nervous hands
I look like a rapist cause I can’t afford new pants
I want to do with less I always want to want some more
I want to hide when the bill collector comes to my door
I want to be poor. Seems like everything costs so much more
Feels good to be pure
It’s great down at the welfare place
The people there spit right in my face
But I know they like me fine
If it wasn’t for me they’d be in the same line
Anyone can put on a suit and wear it
It’s harder to tighten your belt and grin and bear it
Squeezing the little man till he bleeds
Is old school cool catch the new disease
We’re broke folks with a second hand vision
We’re powerless and in submission
We got nothing to lose we can’t make the evening news
Our futures are pawned our dreams are shattered
Nothing that we do even matters
It’s a glorious life if you can hack it
The bottom forgotten in the lowest tax bracket
I want to do with less I always want to want some more
I want to hide when the bill collector comes to my door
I want to be poor. Seems like everything costs so much more
Feels good to be pure
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13. |
Fireman
03:51
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The summer was a long one
We prayed for rains that wouldn’t come
And we sat still as lizards will
In our one room lizard prison cell
Staring straight ahead I thought
Of cooler days and even rain
Running over fresh young skin
The deep end and jumping in
But it would never be the same
The sun had burned the rain away
She swiveled her eyes and flicked her tongue
I thought she’d always been the hot blooded one
Her heart hot coals her face just glare
Shimmering air rose from her hair
She set fires when she was bored
She cooked and burned the midnight oil
She was the spark the flame the torch
She was the match that set my blood to boil
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Paul Roessler Los Angeles, California
Paul Roessler is a musician, composer and producer who lives in Los Angeles
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