The Moon, A Silver Dime
Who cares if we got heartache here my boy
we can hold her close until it kills us to endure it
they say one man's sorrow is another's joy, one's heads is another's tails
so I'll flip you for it
Perhaps the sky is just a big dark place to get lost
maybe the moon is just a silver dime to be tossed
call it in the air, wish upon its chime
oh brother tell me can you spare the moon a silver dime
Lord knows that old bitch fortune loves a game
to hide among the leaves and sucker punch the rover
you wager happiness and love, failure or fame
with a reckless heart to grieve
until the game is over
Perhaps the sky is just a big dark place to get lost
maybe the moon is just a silver dime to be tossed
call it in the air, wish upon its chime
oh brother tell me can you spare the moon a silver dime
You need a blanket and a pillow for your bed
a doorway full of rain
a heart that beats too loud too often
like a friendly dog with a raincloud overhead
good luck may follow you straight down into your coffin
Perhaps the sky...
Disappearing Waltz
Days on a train watching window scenes vanish
bound for a country where people speak Spanish and live their lives without fear
watching their own window scenes disappear
do you live your life by the code of magicians
never let on how your tricks elude vision
a suitcase of mirrors and smoke stowed in the baggage compartment alone
as the tracks pull you farther from home
The train sets you down in a town by the ocean
looking for lodging but nothing is open
it must be some holiday
only the beer joints and the brothels are serving today
the streets wind along like the lines in a sonnet
you follow them til you collapse and you vomit
don't you know nights like these will vanish like thieves with your memories
into the hills with your memories
Something turns back into nothing again
the padlocks hang open no trace of the man
so real may it seem, when as in a dream
something becomes nothing again
Dragged from the stage by the manager's hook
fractured in mad leaps of faith that you took, still you smile
well isn't that life
soon as your feet kick the air the ground isn't there
whipped by misfortune or pummeled by madness
beaten half senseless left by the road pantsless
the worm forgives the plow
just as the plow forgets the blood
when there's work to be done in the mud
Something turns back into nothing again
the padlocks hang open no trace of the man
so real may it seem, when as in a dream
something becomes nothing again
something becomes nothing again
Love often aimless and more often tragic
something becomes nothing as though by magic
it rains, the rain goes away
leaving the nightcrawlers stranded and the clouds empty-handed
life in the country meets life in the city
Death follows after panhandling for pity
in shabby clothes in the lane
knowing something will be nothing again
what was nothing once becomes nothing again
Catskills Trailer
We got a mobile home
no matter where I roam it's someplace to get back to
a place to hang my hat and take off my clothes
Imagine living life that way
always running away from the law or the landlord
at least you don't get bored when you're on your toes
But there's always someplace you'd rather be
you've seen it on tv or in a magazine
Pompeii or Aberdeen, the calling of the Great Unknown
We got a mobile home, we got a mobile home in the Catskills
we got a mobile home, we got a mobile home in the Catskills
the telephone don't ring here
bottles and cans don't pay the bills
I don't ask much of you
be there to help me through life's spooky hollows
you don't have to swallow my philosophy
I don't tell you where to buy your clothes
and I don't care where your money goes just as long as it's yours
let me die dirt poor if I wanna be
With my hot plates and coffee machines
tabloid magazines and a radio
black flies in the kerosene
policemen in the town below
And I know that you treat me kind
even though my tongue unwinds like a sideshow barker
all night til there's light in the windows
I'm a pipe dreamer I've been told
I don't know if it's bold or just blind as batshit
to the world that the rest of the world knows
But there's something in the wind
that says come in get out and come back again
sit down where have you been
we know you get hung up in that skull all alone
We got a mobile home, we got a mobile home in the Catskills
we got a mobile home, we got a mobile home in the Catskills
the telephone don't ring here
I don't believe it ever will
Waltz for the Rain
Fall down and lean on the windowpane, then
rise up and twist in the weathervane
rise up and fall down again
Fall down walk these city streets again, then
rise up to washed out skies welcoming
rise up and fall down again
rise up and fall down fall down again
Rise up for Heaven is waiting, then
fall back with the weight of your suffering
rise up and fall back again
Fall down and send rivers on their way, then
rise up and come back some other day
go and come back again
go and come back come back again
Rise up for we all must try to rise, then
fall down like teardrops from weeping eyes
fall down like teardrops again
And I won't abuse you with flattery
and I won't complain when you fall on me
rise and fall on me again
rise and fall on me fall on me again
rise up and fall down again
rise up and fall down fall down again
New Year's Lullaby
Hey goodnight
put out the cat put out the light
hey put out the light
shadows will keep these weary hours
Hang down your head
kick down the door fall into bed
pray the Lord above
your soul to take
Til the bells ring out
to wake the world and let them know
we are still here
and may be better off this year
Bills are paid
ghosts of the season are out on parade
dead folks on the town
muttering unlikely resolutions
Time ago
seems like these days came dressed in snow
and round again we go
for old times' sake
Til the bells ring out
to wake the world and let them know
we are still here
and may be better off
we may be better off this year
One of the Good Ones
In the streets there are no cars there is no light
in the forest owls are waking up the night
in the houses in the bedrooms out of sight
people are dreaming
Do they sleep because there's nothing else to do
do they dream because in dreams they're born anew
to discover when they wake they have become
one of the good ones
I don't expect a lot I ask too much
and I lean upon my anger like a crutch
even though I realize it's such
a sad way to go on
Outside the rain falls and the churches ring their bells
believing most of us will die and go to Hell
if God is good you know I'm sure that he can tell
one of the good ones
Contraptions of skin over bone
were not made to be good
exploding or sinking like stones
but darlin' if I could I would
Call back the reckless words I let fly
that I see written on the teardrops in your eyes
I hope that you can see how hard I try
I will try again
Maybe it's good enough to know we can be free
from the rusty chains of time and misery
I'll do everything that I can do to be
one of the good ones
Contraptions of skin over bone
were not made to be good
exploding or sinking like stones
darlin' if I could I would
Keep you with me here tonight under the stars
but instead you'll catch a plane you'll call a car
I'll always tell everyone I know that you are
one of the good ones
Song for an Empty Building
The streets dress up in dim light and start making for the moon
people smile throughout the city jangling keys to every room
midnight comes and nobody comes home
Some go laughing to their horses with their jackets under arm
there are no vagrants or police in sight to do them any harm
midnight comes and nobody comes home
Nobody sings here any more
nobody sings here any more
nobody talks about the weather or drinks wine and sleeps together
nobody sings here anymore
it's too unhappy to endure
how everything's so faded and obscure
Shadows crowd the doorways and the buildings lose their light
everything knows that some times will bring no living soul in sight
midnight comes and nobody comes home
Nobody sings here anymore
nobody sings here anymore
nobody plays the tarantella or stands under Death's umbrella
nobody argues in the halls
no one hangs pictures on the walls
nobody stands here growing gray beards while their aching arches fall
nobody sings here anymore
oh it's unhappy that's for sure
how everything's so faded and obscure
At one o'clock the streets are full of relics full of sand
and two o'clock brings final notes to every good-time band
let them drone
and nobody comes home
Nobody sings here anymore
nobody sings here anymore
no one leaves orphans for the abbot or pulls top hats out of rabbits
nobody sings here anymore
nobody waltzes on the floor
no one drags chairs or plays the tuba or falls down screaming Hallelujah
nobody sings here anymore
or knocks the knocker on the door
depart and come again for evermore
Michelle's Waltz
Springtime in New York City
and hawks are nesting up high
they see it all from their places in Heaven
all matters of distance beneath the big sky
Winter makes lonely hearts shiver
they wait to come back like the ghosts of the leaves
still there are cold winds and Amtrak train whistles
and fat guys with pistols
to bring melodies
If I'm off to the city it's greenbacks to spend
but if I'm off dreaming it's free
if life were a long song
nobody'd want to sing along
but if I go waltzing would you waltz with me
People spend their whole lives waiting
and they don't know what they await
but they still wait for the grass to stop growing
or the wind to stop blowing
and life comes to late
But we'll know that nothing's the matter
and we'll be funny and free
and we'll know all things are matters of motion
and move through this blue world
just like you and me
If I'm off to the city it's greenbacks to spend
but if I'm off dreaming it's free
if life were a long song
nobody'd want to sing along
but if I go waltzing would you waltz with me
I'll go back to the green fields of Lancaster
following the green exit signs
but if you can find a tall enough building
you'll see all the way from your window to mine