When Howdy Doody was a young man
I was only three
and I dropped my whistle in the pork chops
and it all seemed so familiar to me

One day the Devil came up to me
and he blew me into space
He said "You're dead now
and must choose how
this tricky situation you'll face"
"You can blend back in
to the cosmic grin
or do you want to do it all again?"

I hesitated, the Devil waited
as I kicked some stars around
Thinkin' of Emily, my friends and family
and my enemy Larry Brown
All the sex and spring, and the suffering
Do I want to do it all again?

Yep!
You bet
I ain't done yet
Take me round again
Yep!
You bet
Not yet
The Devil is my friend
Take me round again

You know the devil he ain't a bad man
He's a sad man both weak and strong
Only a dead man turned to red man
'cause he don't how to say "so long"
And he will tempt you
in an attempt to make you want to do it all again

And you'll say
Yep!
You bet
Not yet
Take me round again
Yep!
You bet I ain't done yet
And the Devil is my friend
Take me round again
Hey hey!
Round, around, around, around, around, around, around, around,
Take me round again
Hey hey!

Round, around, around, around, around, around, around, around,
Up jumped the Devil
Up jumped the Devil
Tryin' to talk me into goin' round one more time again
Hey hey hey!
Goin' round, around, around, around, around
Up!
Jumped the Devil
And I said "Yep,
you bet
I ain't done yet!"

One day the Devil came up to see me
And he blew me into space

Cold Dark Sun
Still I hear the cadence that the bells rang
and the melodies to all the songs we sang
tho' many of the words escape me
Cold Dark Sun
When the heart is hurt
the mind looks for the truth
and I look back for the proof
to a boy up on a roof

Cold Dark Sun
I wasn't changing anyone
It took so many years to see
the danger was that they were changing me
Cold Dark Sun
I don't know what I was projecting
All I know is that I was protecting
a little boy up on a roof

Cold Dark Sun
I can't imagine what I was projecting
All I know is that I was protecting
a little boy up on a roof
And now I look back for the proof
to a boy up on a roof
And when I'm looking for the truth
I ask the boy

Cold Dark Sun

I went to Wales to learn to spell
but just got drunk and invented a dart game
we called William Tell
Then I went to London where the London women
are passionate as freshly-laundered linen
At the bed and breakfast place I finally figured out
they only make you breakfast when you're out

It's weird over here
drinking flat bubble beer
with an unfamiliar smell in the air
but I've been away so long
I'm afraid when I get home
it's gonna be weird back there
Danger Beware
Long Blonde Hair and an easy chair

I had to go to Italy
to find someone who appreciates my poetry
On the train all day, the train all night
they fed me spaghetti — what a nice surprise!
Happiness is easy as a fine Italian chick
but all Italian girls are Catholic

It's weird over here
Roman ruins everywhere
and an unfamiliar tongue in my ear
But I've been away so long
I'm afraid when I get home
it's gonna be weird back there
Danger Beware
Long Blonde Hair and an easy chair

It's weird over here
I'm a stranger everywhere
but I'm free
and light like air
But I've been away so long
I'm afraid when I get home
my love will imprison me there
Danger Beware
Long Blonde Hair and an easy chair
(Long blonde hair
and an easy chair
get me scared)

Nowhere Man
though you feel you're getting older and no wiser
Somewhere Land
is planning on annexing your backyard

Life is a question
and you are an answer
If you hear the music
you can be a dancer
instead of your whining, complaining
What can I do?
Well it's all up to Jesus,
The Devil and You.

Hurt a laugh
smile the pain
every end contains
a new beginning
You come in cryin'
go out dyin'
with a little mystery between

And life is a question
you are an answer
If you hear the music
be a dancer
instead of your whining, complaining
What can I do?
Well it's all up to Jesus,
The Devil and You.

Though sorrow will sometimes confound you
the pain can carve a place for deeper joy

And life is a question
you are an answer
If you hear the music
be a dancer
instead of your whining, complaining
What can I do?
Well it's all up to Jesus,
The Devil and You.

You take him high, I'll take him low
and by the time he gets back on his feet
we'll be somewhere he can't follow
He's a stuck repeater
with all the courage of a woman beater
A fearful heart
and a jealous mind
make him the most dangerous kind
but it's anything goes
now everyone's directing their own
Lonely Video

The bloodstains of a boxer, on a hotel room pillow
and its running red
what should be running clear (or yellow)
and the life-defying
sounds of people laughing, betting, buying
do not tempt him to cheat
cause him defeat
or wake him from a knockout sleep
Ya gotta keep on your toes
when you star in your own
Lonely Video

Yesterday I woke and half my life was gone
All tangled up inside I got up
and put my own lonely video on
Why did those friends desert me?
Why'd the one I gave my heart to hurt me?
Then I felt my soul
say "let it go
trust and relinquish control"
because it's pay as you go
when you're making your own
Lonely Video

The colorblind chameleon told the black butterfly
"I am only what they made me, so excuse my tongue when you try to fly"
And the bearded lady
dreams of being a ballerina someday maybe
While the stock cars crash
volcanic ash
sparkles in the camera flash
and it looks like snow
falling over those
making their own
Lonely Videos

by Dirk Hamilton and Eric Westphal

I went down to the smokehouse
to see if I could smoke a ghost out
But the smoke just served to blind me
and a wall made of rows of eyeballs could not find me

Then I went to the eyeball factory
to see why everybody didn't see like me
And they gave me two choices and I chose
and then the door flew open and smoke rose like a ghost

Glory be to when we see the sun rise
you and I are living on a volcano
Imagination sparkles in our eyes
and the only people who know what we know
Live On A Volcano

Wrap yourself in loneliness
and in a little while it becomes your friend
Holding in each hand a bouquet
you can chase the gargoyle guys away

Glory be to when we see the sun rise
you and I are living on a volcano
What is real really can never die
and the only people who know this is so
Live On A Volcano
On A Volcano

Oo-oo-we
don't dwell on ourselves
complain anymore
or wallow in self-pity
You and I
just wanna make a little love
cause a little trouble
maybe shoot a little hoop before we die

Glory be to when we see the sun rise
you and I are living on a volcano
Imagination sparkles in our eyes
and the only people who know this is so
Live On A Volcano

On A Volcano
We live On a Volcano
On A Volcano

Doctor! Can you help me please?
It started out as a sneeze
now I'm crawling cross the floor upon my knees
It's a No-Win situation (force a smile)
It's a mission in Madland (shake a glad hand)
but something deep inside me tells me I gotta do my best to do it right
Just so Carivaggio just so

I've been a Stranger so long
I'm beginning to think that I'm a Stranger
I've been a Stranger so long
that I'm beginning to think that I don't belong here

And I don't wanna hear you talk about the good ole days
I don't wanna hear you say there's no good music anymore
'cause I know right now there's more good music than ever before
Truth, it all comes down to you (it all came down to you) like
You stopped changing
You stopped growing
You stopped listening
You stopped hearing
You settled down and out somewhere in an easy chair
and you gotta come alive
I don't wanna hear your jive
You gotta come alive or shut up!

And there's a Chinese Moon in the Texas sky tonight
(Plug in here a second, check this out)
There's a Chinese Moon in the Texas sky tonight
And the smell of vanilla
And the smell of vanilla
And the smell of vanilla on a barbecue breeze tonight
And I could eat you alive tonight
Yeah I could eat you up tonight, tonight
Eat ya' all up
Lick it up, all up
'Cause there's the smell of vanilla on a barbecue breeze
On a hot and humid, firefly Texas night
underneath the Chinese moon
And I could eat you up

I've been a Stranger so long
that I'm beginning to think that I'm a Stranger
All alone
I'm beginning to think I don't belong here
I've been a Stranger so long
that I'm beginning to think that I'm a Stranger
Beginning to think on my own
I'm beginning to think I don't belong here
beginning to think that I'm beginning to think
beginning to think that I'm a stranger

Can I go? Can I go?
I'm beginning to think that I'm a Stranger
Beginning to think it's all too queer
Beginning to think I'm beginning to think
Beginning to think that I'm a Stranger
I don't belong here
I'm beginning to think

I've been a Stranger so long
that I'm beginning to think that I'm a Stranger

I sleep with the sun and I work by the moon
My woman's asleep in the very next room
and the sound of a generator three doors down
comes almost as natural as the night to us now
The boom of a lowrider rattles the walls
and gets me to wonder, how do we get through it all?
And I wonder if mankind carries a curse
and if history's just a listing of things getting worse?
And I envy the people of the olden days
the silence that they lived in
and the miles of space

Oh, oh, still my eyes
See Rainbows In The Night

The sweat of the honest makes the merry-go-round
The sly ride the stallions, the lowly bow down
While the wanna-be plays calliope the gotta-be totes a gun
and the shivering refugee waits for the sun
And my friend at the factory stands in a line
helplessly watching his livelihood die
And he dreams of the people of the olden days
the silence that they lived in
and the miles of space

Oh, oh, still my eyes
see rainbows in the night
Oh, oh, still my eyes
See Rainbows In The Night

Who is this arrogant cunning young thing
that spoils all he touches, then proclaims himself king?
Well it must be that mankind carries a curse
and if it ever gets better, first it'll have to get worse
And if we can't make it better then we all are doomed
and the earth will be left to heal from her wounds
And after we're gone the impression we'll leave
will be like the hole that a leaping fish leaves in the sea
And with no one to remember the olden days
there will be silence and miles of space

Oh, oh, still my eyes
see rainbows in the night
Oh, oh, still my eyes
see Rainbows In The Night

There's too many people
but not enough that think
The population rises
the lowest common denominator sinks
Not a lot of enlightenment
can flower in a crowded cell
It's time to read your dinosaur books
and tip the wishing well

When I try and de-romanticize it for you
I'm a pigeon on the head of your statue
I tell you the truth
then take flight
into the Tunnel At The End Of The Light

God thought of everything
before he entered in
We could blow this whole world up
and not even begin to disturb Him
So temper your technique with humility
burn your anger true
but don't expect to wake up
from this dream that's dreaming you

And when I try and de-romanticize it for you
I'm a pigeon on the head of your statue
I'll tell you the truth
then take flight
into the Tunnel At The End Of The Light
I'll tell you the truth
then I'll fly
into the Tunnel At The End Of The Light

Have you ever been busted
someone ya' trusted snuck around behind your back to eat your lunch
Have you ever been busted
someone ya' trusted snuck around behind your back to eat your lunch
Have you ever been hit by The 1-2 Sucker Punch? (I have)

It was my best friend
and the one I loved
snuck around behind my back to eat my lunch
My so-called best friend,
coupled with the one I thought I loved
snuck around my back and had a picnic with my lunch
Yeah I was hit by The 1-2 Sucker Punch

(Had a picnic with my lunch
I was hit by The 1-2 Sucker Punch)

You might be a real straight shooter
honest
so true
but look out for the sly guy, the weak man
trust everybody
but keep a wall in back of you (or you're gonna get hit)
And it was jab, jab, cross
upper-cut, upper-cut, upper-cut
It was jab, jab, cross
I never saw it coming but it felt like a haymaker
Never saw it coming but it felt like a haymaker
Well I was hit by The 1-2 Sucker Punch
(Yes I was hit with a 1-2 sucker punch)

I gotta step back in the ring (I gotta fight)
I gotta step back in the ring, gotta fight
I gotta fight to keep from being bitter (I gotta fight being bitter)
I gotta fight to keep from being bitter
Jab, jab, cross
Jab, jab, cross
Upper-cut, upper-cut
Jab, jab, cross
Yeah I was hit, yes I was hit
by The 1-2 Sucker Punch
Sucker Punch

The only thing that matters is love
The only thing that matters is love
Look your life over below and above
The only thing that matters is love

Anything living can heal
Anything living can heal
Ya' think there's no end
to the pain that you feel
but anything living
(and broken)
anything living can heal

The only thing that matters is love
The only thing that matters is love
Look your life over below and above
The only thing that matters is love

The only that matters
that really matters
the only thing that matters is love

Give him an inch and he'll take you for miles
it's mileage high in pride child
All of the old rebel crowd
are victims of The Highway now
The dice have long ago been cast
the future's written in the past

His face and his arms and brown and red
He's lived his life out on the edge
The distance shimmers in the heat
The chrome that sparkles in the street
shoots a line across your face
Something is lost you must replace

Soul and Body
Body and Soul
Soul and Body
Body and Soul
Let your mind have its say
but trust your heart to know the way

Make up your mind it's getting late
He's ready to go now and he won't wait
Tonight it's snowing stars
To him each moment last like hours
He won't ask a thing of you
Do what ya' think you should do

Soul and Body
Body and Soul
Soul and Body
Body and Soul
Make your mind obey
but trust your heart to know the way

'Cause it's Blow by Blow
'til the mind gives up control
and the heart can go with the Body and Soul

Release your soul into the river flowing to the ocean and the sky
(but not before you die)
Release my soul into the river flowing to the ocean and the sky
But before I die
make my mind obey
and trust my heart to know the way

And it's Blow by Blow
'Til the mind gives up control
And the heart can go with the Body and Soul
Blow by Blow
'til 'ya get to the starry snow
where the heart is whole with the Body and Soul
Soul and Body and Soul
Body and Soul

Have you heard a sound so true
pure as a tone a silver bell rings?
Well, it's the sound of burnin' love
a gift, a melody just like the bird sings
Have heard the fat backbeat
thumpin' on your chest?
It's the sound of pumpin' love
the gift of life and sex

When Ivan comes to town
Ivan comes to sing
When Ivan makes a sound
something's happening

When in the air there's things with wings
and green and colors all around ya'
and you catch yourself saying "Oh my God
I never knew that so much good's allowed 'ya" well
It's in your fingertips
It's with you if stand or if you slip

When Ivan comes to town
Ivan comes to sing
When Ivan makes a sound
something's happening

When Ivan comes to town
Ivan comes to sing
When Ivan makes a sound
something's happening
something's happening
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
something's happening
When Ivan Makes A Sound

Brother Jacob on a hill

waiting for his bride to come
Sister Sadie standing still
waitin' in the wind and the rain

I remember what I can't forget
I Ain't Licked Yet

Little Johnnie on a crutch
carryin' the milk back home
Mother Katie sittin' down
with her sack all torn away

They remember what they can't forget
They Ain't Licked Yet

And in the mornin'
gently as they rise
But in the mornin'
But in that dark dark mornin'

Brother Jacob cleans the gun
he'd never point at anyone
Father Kermit smilin' up
from behind a whiskey cup

We remember what we can't forget
We Ain't Licked Yet

And now I write to end this song
Hopin' it'll never end
I ain't licked yet