Rain cloud bleeding, flower feeding
All the city’s green and wet and gray
Open glowing halo throwing angels in the air play ‘keep away’
It is not his fault her somersault consumes him so

He can’t stop
She can’t go

Scarlet sweater, he can’t forget her
Summer’s over, where’d the geckos go?
Winter’s coming, fingers drumming on her suitcase, she just has to know
Everywhere his face, every place,
she hates him so

He can’t stop
She can’t go

Is it from her hair? Clouding the air
that smell is everywhere
Spring said the word and everything heard

He can’t stop
She can’t go

The way things come and go
can make you feel there’s no rhythm, reason or rhyme but I know
There’s a precision here in the atmosphere
a contradictory horn and halo

CHORUS
You taught me how to love; now I can love, but I can’t love you

Beyond our little minds and maybe space and time and understanding there’s something turning
Beneath the bottom line there in the dark you’ll find undisobeyable laws are burning

CHORUS

More than you’ll ever know, more than I ever showed
more than I knew it I was soul tied to you
A fairy tale was told, a prince was kissed a toad
I doubt another man could love you any more
More
How could a guy like that get you to lay down beside him?
How could you look me right in the eye and lie?
More
I needed more

Now I can love, now I can love…
‘cuz ya taught me, and you loved me
Now I can love…
But I can’t love you

Stop whatever you’re doing and come over here
Be my lady in lace I’ll be your buccaneer
Hold me now
No wait, no what, no where, no why, no how
I’ve been up all night trying to unmix my emotions in these songs I write
Holy fame, in the dust on the tabletop I write my name
And it’s the first thing that you feel
After breaking on the wheel
Everything becomes so real
You can taste the desire rising like smoke from a fire
Into now…

CHORUS
Hold me now
Hold me now (hold me now)
Hold me now (hold me now)
Hold me …

Oh my little angel child
Say ‘hallelujah anyhow’

Drop whatever you’re doing and put down that gun
Yes I know you’re a tough girl scared of no one
All the same, what we keep most secret is what we name
There is nothing to fight
Even the tiger attacking is your bright ally
Holy pain, we must remember to thank you once again
Because you teach there’s nothing to know
And once you learn there’s nowhere to go
You can release your perfect soul
Like smoke from a fire drifting higher and higher
Into now…

CHORUS

(Hallelujah anyhow)
Hold me now (now, now, now)

Stop whatever you’re doing and come over here

Things get bad, things get hard,
Things get really tough
But things don’t change until they get miserable enough

You know I’m taking care of business
I’m doing it right
I’m kicking negativity ‘cuz I know I’m better off live
Now I’ve got an answer
I’m laughing up a plan
‘Cuz peeking at eternity I saw a flash in the pan

Better off live
Now is the time of your life
Peeking at eternity you’ll see you’re better off live
Better off live
Now do you think you can fly?
Up against eternity you’ll see you’re better off live

la da da da da, etc
Things get bad, things get hard,
Things get really tough
But things don’t change until you get miserable enough
Yeah, yeah yeah yeah

You know you’re better off live,
This is the time of your life
Up against eternity you’ll see you’re better off live
Better off live
Now do you think you can fly?
Peeking at eternity you’ll see you’re better off live
Better off, better off
This is the time of your life,
And I know you can fly
You’re better off live
Better off!
Things get bad, things get hard,
Still you’re better off live

Have to attract what I need when I need it
Cover what’s covering me
Nurture and feed it
Cover you, cover me, cover you, cover me

For almost every misdeed we are forgiven
But is it in our nature to be unhappy in heaven?
Cover you, cover me, cover you, cover me

When I cover what’s covering me
It is not just a want it’s a need
And how it is forever will be
for me and you

Excuse me for feeling out loud
But somebody’s bleeding
And it is harder to push through a crowd
When it’s stampeding
When I cover what’s covering me
It is not just desire it’s necessity

Cover you, cover me, cover you, cover me, cover you, cover me

Hey babe come on in
Have a cookie
If somebody’s waitin’ for you
You can go there when we’re through
When you’re livin’ on the edge
You must creep out on the ledge
When you’re standin’ on the brink
Be careful not to think… too much

CHORUS
Whoa, whoa, you got nothin’ to lose
Whoa, Whoa, not a thing to prove

If we all cheer for the flower’s bloom
We will not care if they boo the moon

Hey babe come on in
Have a cookie, drink something
You can sweat, you can sin
Long as you don’t hurt nothin’

We are naked, we are strangers
And we love the sun
We are changers only just begun

CHORUS

You got nothin’ to lose, nothin’ to prove
You got a lot to do
We got nothin’ to lose, nothin’ to prove
We got a whole lot to do

CHORUS

I was walking along singing a new song
About to cross the river on Pershing Street
There it floated, severely bloated,
wrapped up like a mummy from its head to its feet
I climbed down to poke it with a stick
(the odor poofin’ out would make you sick)

On the way back home to get to a phone
I stopped at a place for some soup and bread
Imagining the headlines
“SONGWRITER FINDS MYSTERY BODY FLOATING, DEAD”
but when I finally called the Sargent said,
“That body has been found by fishermen”

CHORUS
I don’t wanna fight over my dead body,
but that dead body is mine
I don’t wanna fight over my dead body,
get your own dead body,
we’ll fight about it some other time

At the scene of the crime I was not in time
I tried to tell the cops that the body was mine and I got their attention the moment I mentioned the hole I knew was poked in the side
And suddenly surrounded by The Heat
My credibility became complete

CHORUS

I know you’re disappointed,
your nose is out of joint and
you’re talking with a definite attitude
But when I die you can have my body then you’ll have your own dead body, too

CHORUS

Angel claws, squawking moon
The compound burned down to the ground by noon
They know what God wants
I don’t know what God wants
I know what I want

CHORUS
Hey hey, come on
All I want’s a brown-eyed blonde (2x’s)

They take the kitty, you get the litter
The way things are it’s hard to keep from being bitter
I’m an unsung singer singing songs unsung
All I need is love …and a gun

CHORUS

A golden girl with eyes of blue
Sure might just float away,
But a golden girl with eyes of brown
Is good for gettin’ down and stickin’ around
Hey, hey, hey

CHORUS

I went down to the soothsayer
The soothsayer said, “Forsooth
if you wanna be a real player you gotta start with the truth
and to a whole lot of wonder add a fistful of anger
mix in a little technique, then wait a week”
I want to play you what I wrote but you’re so hot so
Singin’ a song for you is like painting for Picasso
What do I gotta do to get through to
So soulful you

If I push your button, will you pull my string?
Your fine mind is a humbling thing
Baby you got the touch, I got the guts
Nothin’ ever comes easy for people like us
I want to call you Sugar, but you don’t taste sweet
You taste like something from the sea to me
What do I gotta do to get through to…
So soulful you

Sweet Sister Mystery
What do I gotta do to make you come to me?
You’re slicker than Vaseline I go down like a submarine
You’re clean as a flower’s dream

What do I, what do I, what do I gotta do
To get through to
So soulful you
(You’re clean as a flower’s dream)

Good is bad and bad is good in the land of the gimmick Big King Con
I live in Austin with reggae and blues
Where the blue haired boy toys with his nipple ring and talks marketing
Stretched out on a table for a new tattoo

Where the hit songwriter fine tunes his...insurance
And the roots music crowd dream eternal recurrence
And the Nazis of Folk, not in on the joke, They say,
"It's beautiful, it's beautiful, meet us at the festival!"

And it's the same old story
Myth and disguise
Singin' the same old lullabies

The truth is often hidden and things aren't what they seem
Like country music isn't country anymore, though it still lacks subtlety!
The fog of confusion will evaporate some day
But when good is bad and bad is good
And little Queen Con says, "Let 'em eat Hooey!"
Evaporation Day's a ways away
And it's the same old story
Myth and Disguise
Singin' the same old lullabies

Now I lay me down to seep, I pray the lord my soul to keep
And when I go, take my soul, please take my soul

It's just like Sugar Ray said
He wrote it; it's right there on the photograph
He said, "My advice to the Thug of Love is 'see sharp or be flat'!"

I try and keep my heart open, but be ready for the sucker punch
I listen for the angel at my shoulder
And apart from that it's tit for tat and maybe just dumb luck

And it's the same old story,
Myth and disguise
There are still promises to keep
Even when almost everyone's asleep
Under the same old lullaby

Through the blinds hard lines of light come cutting in proclaiming last night’s over, like it never happened
My throat is swollen shut, I open one eye enough to reach the bottled water by the curtain

Hey Tyrette, don’t forget
Hey Kate, I can’t wait

I used to be wild and free, I was so impressed with me
I was a stallion and a showbiz hobo
Now here I’m stuck in Rome, wishing that I was home
but it’s soundchecks and train tracks and I don’t know

Hey Tyrette, never forget
Hey Chavey, I’m your daddy

Beauty is as beauty does
Beauty is truth and love
Beauty is a bossy, jealous little girl
She sang to me and I chose to leave
My family half way ‘round the world

Hey Tyrette, you’re all in bed I bet
Kate and Chavey, dream of daddy
Hey Chavey, here comes daddy

God made me
Then He made me you
Then He gave us hunger so we’d have something to do
Blessings from above
He gave us kids to love
And we love ‘em ‘til our hearts turn blue
And we love ‘em and we love ‘em and our little blue hearts ache as they expand
Do you wanna make God laugh?
Tell Him your plans

In your cardboard tent
You feel fairly content
‘til a man named Accident says
“wanna play?”
So you toboggan down a hill
Knockin’ over a guy named Bill
who’s neither hurt nor killed you somehow fixed his leg
and so you bet your money and count the cards and pray for a winning hand

And when you wanna make God laugh
Tell Him your plans, tell Him your plans
Well, do you wanna make God laugh?
Tell Him your plans
It’s in His hands, the whole world’s in
His hands
Do you wanna make God laugh?
Tell Him your plans

The empty boxing ring
has seen about everything
From a guy named ‘Jack the Wing’ to Cassius Clay
In every fight that’s fought there’s another lesson taught
‘til it’s time to throw every lesson learned away
And you love and you love and your adventurous heart
Leads you to distant lands

And when you wanna make God laugh
Tell Him your plans, tell Him your plans
Well, do you wanna make God laugh?
Tell Him your plans
It’s in His hands, the whole world’s in
His hands
Do you wanna make God laugh?
Tell Him your plans