My Blue Dream

You surprise me

I don’t know how I feel about surprise

This time of year

You’ll often find me in a crowd

I like to fold my friends around me

Like a disguise

Just making my way

Across the great sky

Clear as in a mirror here

In my blue dream

On the other side

Wave your arms and hope to catch some sky

You could be home by now, and dry

Across the great sky

Clear as in a mirror here

In my blue dream

On the other side

Wave your arms and hope to catch some sky

You could be home by now, and dry

The Blue Heron

I saw a little bird who told me

A bigger bird was on the way

She’ll be here any minute now

I hear her voice up in the wind

She always seems to come this time of day

The world’s been acting very strangely

The way it always seems to do

You who are trapped inside your skin

Does it seem that way to you, too?

Who’s it all for if not for you?

Oh well, she seems to care for me

I’d let her know if I knew how

I’m not quite alright

But I’ll probably be there any minute now

She folds my laundry when I’m lazy

Rubs my shoulders when I’m sore

When I rain curses on the world

She unfolds her umbrella words

So let it rain so let it pour

Oh well, she seems to care for me

I’d let it show if I knew how

I’m not quite alright

But I’ll probably be there any minute now

I saw a great blue bird who told me

Absolve your heart and make it free

There’s nothing I’m supposed to do

Nobody I was meant to be

And love was surely meant for me

Oh well, she seems to care for me

I’d let it go if I knew how

I’m not quite alright

But I’ll probably be there any minute now

Any minute now

The Dizziest Train

Off the rails and over the moon

Hey, am I doing it right

Suffering slings and arrows

Hey, won’t you come out tonight

We’ll practice casting shadows

A game of let me down

A game of shoot me in the dark

Til the cops come around

And find my body in the park

I thought I understood the part

About love is all that matters

Thought I had an unshakeable heart

Before it shook and shattered

Well you fall in love

But you never hit the ground

And you can’t get up

But you can’t stay down

And hey, isn’t that the way?

For every song I’ve sung and every wrong I’ve wrung

I’d give my heart on a platter

And I do repent if I don’t make sense

Ive lost so much grey matter

Been busy in this hellbent downhill slide

Like the dizziest train that you ever will ride

Off the rails and over the moon

Come back to the world

Gonna miss you soon

Hey, am I working hard enough

For that seven come eleven

Hey, have I got enough stuff

To get me into heaven

Half the time treading water

Half pissing in the wind

I’m a-shakin’ in my boots

I’m a-shiverin’ in my skin all day

Isn’t that the way?For every song I’ve sung and every wrong I’ve wrung

I’d give my heart on a platter

And I do repent if I don’t make sense

I’ve lost so much grey matter

Been busy in this hellbent downhill slide

Like the dizziest train that you ever will ride

Off the rails and over the moon

Come back to the world

Gonna miss you soon

Free like maniacal kids

Naked in a wildflower meadow

All that anybody ever did

Is practice casting shadows

You do the best you can

Whatever shape you’re in

And you try to look surprised

If you get to go around again

Go around again

For every song I’ve sung and every wrong I’ve wrung

I’d give my heart on a platter

And I do repent if I don’t make sense

Ive lost so much grey matter

Been busy in this hellbent downhill slide

Like the dizziest train that you ever will ride

Off the rails and over the moon

Come back to the world

Gonna miss you soon

Come back gonna miss you

Strange Bird

You’re a strange bird for certain

From where do you come, my friend

You’re a strange bird for certain

From where do you come, my friend

If the solemn birds of autumn leave me lonesome

Would you fly this way again

I loved you in the summer

And I lost you in the fall

Crossed the mountainside in winter

Like a shadow across a wall

When the starlight through the snowdown was so blinding

I could barely see at all

What’s the news from California, pretty bird

I hear it’s fine this time of year

They’re picking fruit and combing beaches

Well at least that’s what I hear

It’s so cold in Pennsylvania

Will I see you

When the weather’s free and clear

Alcatraz comes from an old Spanish word

For strange birds, it’s true

Yes Alcatraz comes from an old Spanish word

For strange birds, it’s true

Maybe someday on some broken shore

Someone will name a prison after you

You’re a strange bird for certain

From where do you come, my friend

You’re a strange bird for certain

From where do you come, my friend

If the solemn birds of autumn leave me lonesome

Would you fly this way again

To Fly So Low

Well thank you sir

Well thank you señorita

For the ride

I’ll pay it off sometime

The wings they burn

The waves they break

Wicked things follow in the wake

I’ve just come down (down, down)

But only half way down

Nothing but sky

Where ought to be the ground

Too low to fly

Too high to run

Much too far away from the sun

You dig so deep

You scrape the bottom of the well

You fly so low

You scuff the rooftops of Hell

You love so true

Lord, it rings like a bell

Calling all those long lost wayward souls back home

You’ve gotta be out of your mind to fly so low

To fly so low

For years I’d go

With my head dangling down

Send myself up

And bring me crashing down

All low and high

The years oblige

A fool eager to squander all his time

And when we meet

For we will meet again

It will be sweet

To be with you my friend

Boots on the ground

Hearts on the run

Much too far away from the sunYou dig so deep

You scrape the bottom of the well

You fly so low

You scuff the rooftops of Hell

You love so true

Lord, it rings like a bell

Calling all those long lost wayward souls back home

You’ve gotta be out of your mind to fly so low

Gone or just halfway gone

Trying to save or to be saved

Walking each other home

Somewhere between the cradle and the grave

You dig so deep

You scrape the bottom of the well

You fly so low

You scuff the rooftops of Hell

You love so true

Lord, it rings like a bell

Calling all those long lost wayward souls back home

You’ve gotta be out of your mind to fly so low

You’ve gotta be out of your mind to fly so low

Broken Old Men Walking Broken Old Dogs

Ambling, shambling

Side by side limping

away down the road

Shuffling on home

as their shadows grow long

Broken old men

Walking broken old dogs

Faces long grey

Nowadays they

Take some time longer

for stopping to pee

But there’s no hurry

They’ve no place to be

Broken old men walking broken old dogs

I believe

In not getting hung up on belief

I know

If there ain’t dogs in Heaven

A lot of us won’t wanna go

If I don’t die

Sooner than later

I’ll be one of these

We won’t just sit there

Like bumps on a log

Broken old men

With our broken old dogs

We’ll go ambling, shambling

Long ago playfulness

Slowly unwound

Shuffling on home

Like an old railroad song

Broken old men

Walking broken old dogs

The Devil I Don’t

Six big mouths a-wailin’

In a West Texas dive

This ain’t the kind of a world

You make it out of alive

So you cram it in a sack

And drag it on home to mama

Here come a Silverado

Trailing fire and smoke

Is it the devil I know

Maybe the devil I don’t

Coming to take me for a ride

Somewhere I don’t wanna

Hey wait a minute man

I tried my goddamn best

I got a big empty hole

Locked in this big hairy chest

I mighta broke a couple hearts

But never committed nothing dire

The devil kinda cackled

Sorta cleared his throat

When he spoke it was the voice

Of the devil I don’t

Why don’t you tell me all about it

Down by the fire

Four fallen angels singing on a wire

A love so fearless

Come walkin’ through the fire

And I’m to vain to hide

And too slow to run

There never was a time

When my life was on the level

So shoot me at the moon mama

Send me to the devil I don’t know

I’m so tired of the other one

It’s a racket trying to hack it out

And sing my songs

The applause is short

And the highway is longSo you cram it in the van

And drag it on down to Walmart

There’s a hand above the crowd

Making the sign of the goat

Maybe the devil I know

Maybe the devil I don’t

Whichever motherfucker’s got his horns

In my heart

Four fallen angels singing on a wire

A love so fearless

Come walkin’ through the fire

And I’m to vain to hide

And too slow to run

There never was a time when

My life was on the level

So shoot me at the moon mama

Send me to the devil I don’t know

I’m so tired of the other one

Well everybody’s doing everything they can

But every once in a while

There come an idle hand

Then come a straight down hell-bound ride

In the infamous hand basket

And when that idle hand

Is reaching for your throat

You’ll never know if it’s the devil

That you do or you don’t

Dancing the Bossa nova

On your casket

Four fallen angels singing on a wire

A love so fearless

Come walkin’ through the fire

And I’m to vain to hide

And too slow to run

There never was a time when

My life was on the level

So shoot me at the moon mama

Send me to the devil I don’t know

I’m so tired of the other one

Killing Snakes

Summer jars of lightning bugs

Who must go free

To kill one is a sin

In the fall the leaves would fall

For you to pile them up

And throw us in

In the springtime

Forsythia blooms golden on the branch

For such a short time

You’d think they had a plane to catch

Once you told me

I go about everything like I was killing snakes

When I got drunk and crashed my car

While picking up the pizza

Them’s the breaks

God help the fool who’d try

To tell you how to speak your love

But I’d be much obliged

If you’d just reach down

And give my world a shove

That’d be enough

Just making sure it keeps on turning

I’m learning but

Old habits are so hard to break

It takes a long time

If you go about it like you’re killing snakes

Maybe there’s some grieving ghost

Who watches over fathers and their sons

Who straggles not so far behind

And finishes the things they leave undoneMaybe someday

I’ll work it out some way I haven’t yet

It makes me so mad

My face goes red the way yours used to get

I thought it just outrageous

You weren’t scared to walk the dog alone at night

I’d lie awake dreaming up monsters

For you and the dog to have to fight

Now you’re out there

Gone to the great wide Who Knows Where

Leave a light on

It still looks pretty dark out there

God help the fool who’d try

To tell you how to speak your love

But I’d be much obliged

If you’d just reach down

And give my world a shove

That’d be enough

Just making sure it keeps on turning

I’m learning but

Old habits are so hard to break

It takes a long time

If you go about it like you’re killing snakes

Old habits are so hard to break

It takes a long, long time

If you go about it like you’re killing snakes

Out Go the Lights

There you are and then out go the lights

The Reaper comes a-creepin’

Upon you when you’re sleeping

Or you’re not so you put up a fight

Cause there wasn’t any warning

Three ghosts on Christmas morning

There you go and then out go the lights

You got your IRA

Your big fat 401(k)

And then kaboom baby out go the lights

Those dismal hours slaving

For something that you hated every day

It starts to weigh so heavily on your brain

Call someday to make now alright

You’re hoping you still got some soul to save

As you ease into your grave

Credits roll and then out go the lights

Here we are and then out go the lights

We might as well be lovers

Be good to one another

Go around like a carnival ride

Rejoice instead of moaning

There’s nothing to be owning anyway

But you’re looking for a remedy for the pain

A someday that’ll make now alright

And hoping you still got some soul to save

As you ease into your grave

Crickets stop and then out go the lights

There you are and then out go the lights

It ain’t no use in running

You know the bastard’s coming

And there’s nowhere and no-one to hide

Oh what have we to fear for

What do you think you’re here for anyway

Just looking for a remedy for the grave

Imagine right now is alright

And what if there was nobody to save

No more whistling past your grave

So you stop and then out go the lights

All of the Time

“All of the time in the world”

What in the world does that mean

How many I love yous

How many suns sinking into the sea

Would all the regrets

You ain’t noticed yet

Too many to count

On your fingers and toes

Still hurt you so bad

If you thought you had

All of the time in the world

Come On And Stay Awhile

(We’re so weird, we’re so strange)

Get up can’t you hear the beat

Snare drums out on Frenchman Street

Gotta be a big Fat Tuesday coming

Throw the windows wide

Cats and dogs are terrified

And gone every which way running

I wanna be out where the band is playing loud

Bulldog chased me down the block

And right into the crowd

Adrift on the masquerade

Harlequins and tardigrades

And psychedelic apparitions

Fried chicken, jambalaya

Mumbo jumbo crawfish pie

And baby cakes are baked with superstition

Everybody walking is a story being told

Streaming down the heart of town

With purple green and gold

And it went down

At the Mari Gras this morning

Ain’t nobody born into this world alone

And if you find me gone I’m only walking

Round and round the block with a slide trombone

You and me lost in a sea of faces

Last thing gonna vanish is the smile

We’re so weird we’re so strange

They oughta put us on parade

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Come on and stay awhile

Look up at the balconies

College kids on Bourbon Street

Grotesquely drunk and mightily horny

Baring boobs and wearing crowns

These kids didn’t come to fuck around

They’re all gonna be belly down by morningAnything can happen in the streets of New Orleans

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Now you know what it means

And it went down

At the Mari Gras this morning

Ain’t nobody born into this world alone

And if you find me gone I’m only walking

Round and round the block with a slide trombone

You and me lost in a sea of faces

Last thing gonna vanish is the smile

We’re so weird we’re so strange

They oughta put us on parade

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Come on and stay awhile

Anything can happen in the streets of New Orleans

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Now you know what it means

And it went down

At the Mari Gras this morning

Ain’t nobody born into this world alone

And if you find me gone I’m only walking

Round and round the block with a slide trombone

You and me lost in a sea of faces

Last thing gonna vanish is the smile

We’re so weird we’re so strange

They oughta put us on parade

Laissez les bon temps rouler

Come on and stay awhile