I was down in pain and so out-numbered
fortified to fight an enemy
I started hearing voices in my head
One sounded like my daddy, long gone dead
The medicine man said to me
I think you’ve got the magoombies
and when you’ve got the magoombies
you can’t be free

I counted all the crew when my ship came in
surprised so many sailors looked like me
and the ones that didn’t at all were often tall
or stuck in peg-legs cut
from my family tree
And when they started to mutiny
I knew they had the magoombies
‘cause when you’ve got the magoombies
you hunger to be free

All these years, these strategies, these struggles
begin to teach me what this heart in here is for
I’m taking off this rusted, busted, trusted suit of armor
‘cause when you see through the eyes of an enemy
there goes your war
The enemy stepped into me
we disappeared the magoombies
and when you lose the magoombies
you’re finally free

Up Lonely Street we go walkin’
laughin’, talkin’, nothin’ and all
We cooperate, compete over somethin’
somethin’, nothin’ and all
All and nothing, nothin’ and all
summer,winter, spring and fall
All and nothin’, nothin’ and all
Hear the curlew call

Guns and bombs, dads and moms
Dads and bombs and nothin’ and all
There’s hate at the gate and love all around here
hate and love and nothin’ and all
All and nothin’, nothin’ and all
summer, winter, spring and fall
All and nothin’, nothin’ and all
Hear the curlew call
Somethin’, nothin’, nothin’, somethin’
Nothin’ and all, nothin’ and all

“Take it or leave it”, there’s nothing to lose
Give and receive it, make all your moves
What you get when you’re up
you can take back down below
and maybe play a little poker
with the ghost of Van Gogh, the ghost of Van Gogh

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
they dug on hallowed ground
but the tomb of the unknown artist
is nowhere to be found
When you burn with true spirit
they’ll try and cut you down low
and if they can’t they might make you famous
like the ghost of Van Gogh
(hear the ghost of Van Gogh howling like a rainbow)
The ghost of Van Gogh

There’s the billionaire art crowd
where nobodies are not allowed
but everybody’s somebody on the tongue of eternity
(It’s beautiful like a rainbow)
The ghost of Van Gogh, the ghost of Van Gogh
It’s beautiful, like a rainbow, howlin’
The ghost of Van Gogh, howling
all the colors of the rainbow

Let’s play a little poker with Caravaggio, Picasso…
hewing huge trees of ego (e. e. cummings said that)
Let’s deal in the unknown artists
millions: Waldo, Vance Dickenson
a whole bunch of guys named ‘Joe’
with the ghost of Van Gogh, they’re howling
“Take it or leave it”

Pineapple sun, ripe coconut
drops like a round, brown bomb
beside an open hut
Soon you’re swimming under the waves
over beautiful coral caves
where sea slug and anemone play
in their slow motion way
Hear the people laughing, see the children play
and troubles burst into bouquets
Breezes blow worries away — Thailand

Buddha you’re fat but you’re hip
I find myself digging your trip
clicking my walking stick over thy land
Everybody’s selling stuff on the street
but nobody really competes
We’re all wearing sandals on our feet, and I go tan
Even the kick-boxers smile when they fight
and music is played with each round
I savor every sight and every sound — Thailand

Pineapple sun, coconut moon
rising up through the trees like a white balloon
Under this mixed metaphor
we paddle away from the shore
In phosphorescent sea I dip my oar, we’re in Siam

If I’m looking at it all through rose colored specs
well then, that’s just my new style
‘cause we’re living in a land of smiles — Thailand

I’ve been a slave, I’ve been the boss
Singled out, double crossed
I’ve run an inch and crawled a mile
I’ve been in and out of style
Spit out by a long-gone buzz
I’m the next big thing that never was
but I still stand because
I’m the thug of love

I’ve been a rumor in my time
and a legend in my room
I’ve cracked the egg of love to find inside
true happiness and doom
No, I don’t need a disguise
‘cause people look me right in the eyes
and never realize that
I’m the thug of love
My daddy always said to me
“You are what you decide to be”
but did I decide to be a guitar bum
always only on the run?
Two billion and two TVs will tell you
you’re nobody but that’s not true for me
‘cause I’m the thug of love

Fame intrigues us, fame can hurt us
fame is scary like a circus
Fame can make a man a king
then turn that king into a thing
Fame and lack of fame
both only ego pain
Laughing down the lane
strolls the thug of love

When Lumberjack and Lumberjill
go out to play
Mother Nature takes a lickin’
Now at the lumber mill they’re living numbered days
serenading daisies in the kitchen
What they have set in motion
cannot be reversed
they sing another verse and go dancing
in the meadow — Ringolevio

They know between the power of love
and the love of power
they will have their hour

Yesterday I saw a Holy Mother littering
and that kind of makes the fact official
that everything is natural so naturally not a thing
the lumberjack can make his artificial
Human Beings’ big mistake
was Human didn’t be
he didn’t read the message
in the meadow — Ringolevio

They know between the power of love
and the love of power
they’re siding with the flower

And as the grass bends down beneath the hurricane
and springs back up again
there is hope eternal
in the meadow — Ringolevio

They grow between the power of love
and the love of power
They will have their hour (in the meadow)
_ _ _

(Ringolevio was a variation of ‘Tag’ played in the streets
of New York during the years of the Great Depression
similar to the italian game called "C'è l'hai" or “you have it”)

I really want to know, I want to see
I want to sit back and watch it
on my mind’s eye TV
You said that you kissed, well let’s take it from there
Well was he rough like a gorilla
or tender like a teddy bear?
Was it good, was it bad ?
Was it fun, was it sad?
Were you glad when he came?
Can you tell me his name?

You gotta tell me now, tell me now
tell me down to the last detail

Well we’ve been solo so long
what’s there to hide?
You know I need this information
if our love’s to survive
You said it was a drag
well I think that’s a lie
I see exactly how it happened
in my mind’s eye
He came up, you were shy, you said no
he asked why
Now confess, you said yes, then you took off your dress

You gotta tell me now, tell me now
tell me down to the last detail

Tell me I’m wrong, I’ll call you a liar
and if I’m right, it’ll set me on fire, it’ll set me on fire
it’ll set me on fire

Was it lust, was it love?
Did you push when he shoved?
Did you scream, did he moan? Was it done in my home?

You gotta tell me now, tell me now
tell me down to the last detail

You gotta tell me now, tell me now
tell me down to the last detail

Should I move to Austin
big bad Boston or little Italy?
My good friend said,
“I warn ya’, don’t leave California”
but I had to leave
‘cause me and you, we two
flew under the rainbow
and then we crashed in fire and smoke
I drove down Texas
in my daddy’s old beater
without a heater and without much hope

I was awake for a week
too tired to sleep
I was out on my feet
but I couldn’t sleep
I was desperate to dream but too tired to sleep
Saw some sheep counting me

Flash back now to Dusseldorf, Germany
where I was playing in a bar
Some skinheads came in tryin’ to get some grins
tossin’ coins at the hole of my guitar
Well I swung that thing
like a battle axe
I didn’t care if I killed or if I died
I didn’t care about you, didn’t care about me
didn’t care about the Polizei

Now I know you, I can show you my hide out
but pay attention, there’s a question in the rideout
Anger’s only a disguise for fear
shine a light on it and fear disappears
(chorus — ad lib out)

Every time I go back to Italy,
my Italian friends come to the airport to meet me
First we go and get some Italian coffee
gotta get it quick
before the jetlag defeat me
Ciao Paola, Raffaella, famiglia Carlini
Adelmo, Franco Ratti

This is how it should be, this is how it should be
This is how it could be, this is how it should be

Friends and family come first
it’s a way of life that’s not only right
it also works
My Italian friends have got it down
the job supports the life
and not the other way around
Knowing sorrow comes tomorrow, everything is easy
It takes courage not to worry

This is how it should be, this is how it should be
This is how it could be, this is how it should be

G-I-O-I-A, adesso

Every time I come back from Italy
I feel a little bigger and a little wiser
I’ve learned about passion and more about love
learned to hide some money
in the fingers of a glove
Knowing sorrow comes tomorrow, everything is easy
So salute, parachute

This is how it should be, this is how it could be
This is how it should be and could be
this is how it should be

When the heart is handy, this is how it can be
This is how it should be, this is how it could be

Adesso

There’s caterpillars in my ears
so I don’t hear a sound
I walk around with caterpillars in my ears
There’s helicopter cops but I don’t hear their sound
can’t hear the choppers chop
with caterpillars in my ears

There’s yellow dinosaurs pushing the dirt around
and beeping when they back-up
and that’s the only sound
I see the photo flash, I feel a heart unwind
with caterpillars in my ears
I’m twisting backwards into time

Caterpillars in my ears and I don’t hear a sound
I walk around with caterpillars in my ears

I’ve been way up and real damn down
I’ve been underground so long I’m brown
I’ve faced the music toe tappin’
‘cause my daddy taught me Zen with one hand slappin’
I can see you laughin’ at me
and I know you never had to learn to play hurt
playin’ hurt, playin’ hurt
rollin’ around in the dirt
— Playin’ hurt

Who will come and cry
when I throw my own funeral before I die
I wanna hear them say I was great,
such a wonderful guy
all those things they never say when you’re alive
Why do you sit there laughin’ at me?
I guess it’s ‘cause you never had to
learn to play hurt

Playin’ hurt, rollin’ around in the dirt
Playin’ hurt, wipin’ up blood with your shirt
— Playin’ hurt

I’m playin’ hurt, playin’ hurt
wipin’ up blood with my shirt
Playin’ hurt, just like Hacksaw Reynolds
playin’ hurt
I feel a little woozy, but I’m trying to keep alert
Wipin’ up the blood with my shirt, playin’ hurt
just like Ronnie Lott, I do the dirty work
I’m playin’ hurt

Girls and music, sex and sound
floating around caressing, blessing you
Girls and music, they will always be there
it’s a gift of mystery, wrapped in a melody
girls and music

It was pure magic at that club we were playin’
when you came walkin’ up to me
Real magic how that baby angel
came down sliding here through you
I send my gratitude to
girls and music (cars and guitars)