Buy me a razor and cut my hair
Life’s unfair
But let’s not go there
We’ll drive to the river and wash my car
Find some bar
And whine like rock stars do…

…you think it’s clear?
Through the gin and the wine and the beer
That tear running down your spine
Decline, deny, and the fear
Disappears

Cry me a river but not too wide
Some of my friends still live on the east side
Wish on the heavens but not too far
Cold dead stones can look like stars from here

Where the pavement shines
The shadows disappear
And the brides of Frankenstein
Howl and whine
And totter on their heels
Big wheels

Little Saturdays, Saturdays, Saturdays
Shattered days, Sadder days, Sadder days

Hey Quickdraw
Scratch and claw
Or smile your way out of here
Disappear

I blame my heavy-handedness on water retention
‘Cause there’s 17 ounces in a pound of prevention
I was way out of line at the loners’ convention
Nothin’ short of a hurricane could get your attention

But did I hit your snooze-button baby when I told you the tale
‘Bout the booze someone poured in my bottle of ale
‘Cause nobody’s ever going to do me harm
When I’m all dressed up like a fire alarm

Just a split second passes like a year of disclosure
It don’t have to be cold for me to die of exposure
All the bells and the whistles like a pretty explosion
Slap a watch on my wrist just like a lethal promotion

But then you plant a kiss on my cheek like a punch in the chest
First it’s a slap on the back, then it’s “clean out your desk”
And we warm our hands by a campfire of charm
But I’m all dressed up like a fire alarm

You said,”hey boy where’s the fire? What’s the harm?”
‘Cause you’re all dressed up like a fire alarm

Then I feel the fizzle and the sputter when the rain’s coming down
I should strut like a king but I feel like a clown

Well it’s not so lonely to be all alone
In a city full of kisses and tells
While the public transit rattles along
And she sings a little song to herself
‘Cause she woke up this morning tired and bewildered
Startled by her boyfriend’s alarm
So she whispered “good luck” and she waved a salute
And she’s not unhappy now that he’s gone

There’s twenty-five stairs that she takes unaware
From the subway to the battle above
All the strangers stare as she plays with her hair
And they dream of unconditional love
With a heart like a flare they dance like Astaire
But they stumble when push comes to shove

Well the public reads what the public believes
All the lies and the cries and the groans
While the t.v. screams
And the i-pod bleeds
All those Global Teens
On a million screens
Buzzin’ worker bees
But they can’t conceive they’re alone

Well it’s 6:02 when she kicks off her shoes
Pours a tall, tired tumbler of wine
Then she turns on the news and she turns off the news
And she reaches for the L.A. times
But there’s nothing new so she thumbs her way through
And she whistles and stretches and sighs
When she picks up the phone it feels like a stone
She says “mom can I come home for a while?”

It’s so lonely dreaming
I think we all agree
So take your love…
Please make your love awaken me

The sky needs propellers
A shipwreck needs the sea
Don’t take your love
Don’t take your love away from

The hangman needs the gallows
A prison needs a key
Don’t take my love
Don’t take my love so easily

The glaciers have receded
Our heros are deceased
Their suffering’s completed
Rest in peace
‘Cause nothing lasts forever
Except you and me
Don’t take your love
Your sacred love away from me

A story needs an ending
So what’s it gonna be?
Don’t take your love
Your sacred love away from me
Don’t take your love
Don’t take your love

Although Arlene’s is only fifty feet from Orchard
Clipped by “the Condor” while we’re looking for a nice bird
We tried to help a straight guy out
So Jeff is handing him a joint, size of a thumbtack
I guess he didn’t see the letters on the guy’s back
N – Y – P – D

And there’s a lesson in here somewhere

Hey now, now
Everyone’s waiting for Jeffrey Brown
He’s happy and high but he’s locked up downtown
What a way to come down
He’s gonna come down hard

Our manager is on the phone to an attorney
Who told us “Jeff is going nowhere in a hurry”
So we… we waved our friend goodbye
And while the rest of us are looking for a good time
I’m in the corner trying to learn a bunch of bass lines
B – C – B – A

It’s Monday, I assume the band is now a trio
And in the nick of time in walks our favourite Leo
Me oh my! where have you been?
After the show we’re in a bar because there’s drinks in there
Behind the laughter and the jokes I’m kinda thinkin’
There’s a lesson in here somewhere
There’s a lesson in here somewhere
yeah, yeah, yeah,

Hey now, now
Everyone’s waiting for Jeffrey Brown
He’s happy and high but he’s locked up downtown
What a way to come down
He’s gonna come down hard

Old Downtown Jeffrey Brown
So hard he’s coming down
Old Downtown Jeffrey Brown
Gone downtown

Poor old Jeffrey Brown
He’s gonna come down hard

You’re three bricks short
Two bucks shy
One blind man with the lights in his eyes
In a fog, like a god, like a dog
Your tail just leads you around
Hands down
Your the last Casanova in town

You’re three flights up
Two seconds in
One wise man, three sheets to the wind
Ah, you fawn
And she yawns
But the sun’s the only thing to go down
In months
On the last Casanova in town

Ah, you whine
And you moan
‘Bout the past , and your gilded throne
You were a fine Don Juan
But now you can’t get arrested
Your crown’s been contested
Maligned and molested
Ah, that bird has flown

Unplugged your phone
Hung your head
Like those shoes at the end of your bed
Sing a long, sad song that haunts
A wolf with the tears of a clown
Your crown is your cross
Good luck livin’ it down
Hats off
For the last Casanova in town

For every passionate plea or perverse deceit
And every beautiful word that the world defeats
You sang a heartbroken song through the city streets
From the record shops to the subway stations
All the malaprops and the meditations
Of an urban man’s little degradations
In the day to day

Did you feel like a spy in the nine to five
Or like an angel convinced that he’s still alive
Maybe a little of both as the party dives
From the steep incline of a Roman profile
To the Easter Island of your crooked smile
Can they read your mind like a broken sundial
On a cloudy day?

Grace and light
Peace and war
Grace and light, the morning after the night before
Grace the tried and true
Light a candle to replace the light
Mourning the night before

Grace and light
Peace and war
Grace and light, the morning after the night before
Grace the tried and true
Light a candle to replace the light
Mourning the night

I made my will ’cause I don’t think I will make it
I’ve got the chill and I just can’t shake it
You’re such a pill but you dance like you’re naked
Honey go put something on
I wanna wrap you up and take you home

I need to know, am I a lover or a brother?
You say it’s stupid but it’s one way or the other
I’ve always been more of a pusher than a shover
No one likes to dance alone
Just let me wrap you up and take you home

I lose my words on your dangerous curves
You shake my brain and you rattle my nerves
The diva gets what the diva deserves
But how’m I gonna get to heaven without some heavenly body to serve?

Crypto-hypnotic with a subtle will to power
Savage seduction getting stronger by the hour
You took the stage at a delicate age
You work the crowd like Evita Peron
They wanna wrap you up and take you home

Got more followers than Jimmy Jones
Yeah, they wanna wrap you up and take you home

Let’s do it till the rooster crows
Let me wrap you up and take you home
All my latest research has shown
I wanna wrap you up and take you home

Steve lived in a furnished cell
A flop house called the Gladstone Hotel
A public smile, a private hell
That was all that was left of his life
But I remember ’89
The Cameron House and a bottle of wine
David Niven meets Frankenstein
Ah, son I miss your murderer’s smile

He lived fast and he died alone
Come on brother home sweet home

Christine, she was a friend of mine
Sixteen, pissed off and divine
I would’ve married her but she was a dyke
So we’d fondle our fates and we’d fly
But that sparrow never found a perch
Huffing glue behind the Simpson church
Her lips were blue, they matched her skirt
When they found her at the end of July

She lived fast but she died alone
Come on sister home sweet home

Larry soared then he took a dive
Rode the bus from the 905
House full of cops, he was buried alive
They said “son, we’re gonna beat your hide”
Lou Reed and a codeine trance
The Book of Nods like a bible of chants
I guess that boy never stood a chance
From Symptom Hall to the cold east-side

He lived fast and he died alone
Come on brother home sweet home

It takes a village to raise a child
Takes a city to bury it alive

You were born of an innocent age
Jack was the man and Bobby was the D.A.
Haunted by phantoms in the Cuban hills
Gangsters and starlets, the booze and the pills

Class war in ’74
Your head was in the clouds but your jeans were on the bathroom floor
Heroin heros in fluorescent light
Jim (check)
Patti (hey)
Lou (alright)

You were haunted like Dylan in the backstreets
You stole whatever wasn’t nailed to the floor
You held your breath so you could feel like you were dying
You embraced this city like a brother

Half alive in ’85
Reagan’s in the house
So you drive and you drive and you drive
But you can’t outrun bloody history son
Cause it lives by the sword and the logic of the gun

Bullets in the breezeway
Lights along the freeway
Summer city dog days
Bleeding like a d.j.
Ah, hey now watcha say?
Ah, hey now watcha say?

She said believe me
Your heart is in the wrong key
It’s sad to see you play that thing with broken strings
Cause it ain’t gonna ring true
No matter what the strings do
Until you find a brand new true-blue song to sing

That you haven’t sung
Discordant and a bit high strung
A blue harmony
A ragged little symphony

I said Caledonia
Let’s go to California
A swallow couldn’t croon for you in northern climes
But down in Capistrano
He’ll sing like a soprano
So I’ll just let him do his thing and I’ll do mine

Way down in the south
I’ll kiss your little seaside mouth
And out on the coast
I’ll move you like the holy ghost

She said, “sweet thing
I don’t mean to clip your wings
But I’ve been sung and serenaded blind”
I said, “oo-ee
Baby, believe me
I ain’t sung this way in a long, long time
Take my hand now girl let’s fly”

Down by the shore
I’ll love you till our knees get sore
And out in the sand
I’ll hold you like I’m twice the man
Out on the sea
Some salty little privacy
And over the waves
All the seconds and the hours and the days
Under the sun
We’ll sing until the day is done
Oh, by the moon
I’ll build a little nest with you

Fat tear drops of rain cry surrender to the city
The both of us, hearts enslaved by guitars and committees
But you’ll go broke this way in a town without pity
We’ll meet again some day in Hong Kong or New York City
‘Cause I know
You went
Too far
Way down that road
To ever come home

Ain’t no wiser, just another year older
Pouring rain, three a.m., College and Dover
Said we gotta cut this shit out… gotta turn that leaf over
The ballad of a metaphor, the dear-departed troubadour
And I know
We went
Too far
With sticks and stones
And broken bones
Addicted to hope
Alive but alone

A winter’s dream, awakens spring
Then summer shines on everything
Autumn breathes a hint of the sting
That winter’s harsh hallucination brings

Let the sunshine push the shadows to the far end of your kitchen
Let the coffee vanquishing all those ghosts and apparitions
Let the present bury the past
The blindness lead the vision
You strike the rebel chord
And I’ll sing the new religion
‘Cause I know
We’ve come
Too far
Down the alleys and the roads
Through the blessings and the blows
Too busy being born
Too skip another stone
When every single, self-defeating highway leads to Rome

Being young was wasted in my youth
I got a job on a wrecking crew
Took the wages from my first pay
I got laid and I drank it all away

Years on in a tailspin world
I fell in love with a jailhouse girl
I cut her rails, I brought her the sun
I stood her bail but I couldn’t buy her love

Some men have all the luck
Some folks can’t help gettin’ fucked
Some people get thrown the book
By a crooked cop with a cold left-hook

You start out trying to make your way
Trying to live like the good books say
Pretty soon it’s a change of plan
Peeking through the drapes
Fingerin’ a loaded gun in your hand

And like the ash in my old tea cup
I’m burned down, I’m all used up
Swing low sweet chariot
Comin’ for to raise me up

And take me home

I’m just a boy
I’m just a boy
With my bubble intact and my sense of joy
I’m just a boy

I’m just a child
I’m just a child
I’m just a child my condition is less than mild
I’m just a child

I tuck the sun beneath the horizon
With the moon as my night light
The world will hold my hand
As I fall asleep with my head in the chest of the land

I’m just a baby
I’m just a baby
With my bubble intact and my sense of maybe
I’m just a baby

I was just a man
I was just a man
It’s just that I had a terrible plan

I tuck the sun beneath the horizon
With the moon as my night light
The world will hold my hand
As I fall asleep with my head in the chest of the land

With my shovel in my hand
I bury the past in the sand
The future’s held together with a rubber band
As I fall asleep with my head i n the chest of the land

I spent some time in the spotlight
Killing time… glitter blind
Cold, high, paranoid and uptight
Taking sides
And faking smiles

But then our dreams don’t die from a lack of conviction
They’re bleached bone dry in the lights and addiction
Ah, you’re doin’ time
In a spotlit cell of your own creation
You sing like hell for a prozac nation
And all their eyes are wide

Get set for the good life baby
‘Cause these are the golden days
Blow jobs in cars and alleys
And nights of eternal haze
And you’ve earned every sweet, sick second
Sad, soul suckin’ Salome

Black nights and darker days

Some men see spots in the bright light
Fated roles… rabbit holes
No pain, shock and awe, just Lite-Brite
Find their goals
Lose their souls

They say that guns don’t kill it’s the fault of the people
The rum and the oil and the state and the steeple
Gavels and guitars
It’s the same sad plan from the cab to the pulpit
The airwaves jammed with a million mea culpas
Everyone’s a star

But get ready for a real rude reckoning
‘Cause these are the end of days
Old men with fingers on triggers
Build bubbles in a Bourbon haze
Sad sons of de Sade sit cynically
Selling seats at centre stage

Dark knights of the new crusades

So, don’t stare too long in the spotlight
‘Cause you may find
You go blind
And it pales compared to the sunlight
We fell behind
But there’s still time
Kiss your child

My head is a hammer and my heart is a rusty chain
I hit one with the other time and time again
Ah, but when I’m done it feels so good
It may seem dumb but it’s understood
If I’m steel then darlin’ you’re the rain
On this rusty chain

I may never shake this ball and this rusty chain
I may die trying or I may live to see that day
Ah, but locks and keys don’t make no jail
You can still hear the sea from inside that whale
Freedom cheers while my tears work away
On this rusty chain

Seasons change as seasons do
I’m in chains but our Lord was too
Ain’t no change that don’t leave some stain on you

There’s stones in your heart
But there’s clothes on your bedroom floor
And there’s no one home when I call at your kitchen door
But his car’s parked in your gravel drive
I’m sure that shit’s lying at your side
His windshield sings a shattered new refrain
To my rusty chain

And with pride’s price paid and justice done
I’ll kick the stones till the sirens come
My hands are bound, our hero’s dragged away
In rusty chains

This story’s old
People dance into your soul
And then they go
They leave us to walk these roads

And when a little rain falls on your house
Ain’t nothing you can do sometimes but wait it out

Ah, Cleveland street
Your hollow eyes and restless feet
I was one of you
For a terrible hour or two

And when a little rain fell on my house
You sent a little ray of sunshine from way down south
And when a million stars fell from my eyes
You sent a constellation of protective light

You’re weeping now
My little dark storm cloud
But I know some day soon
A light’s gonna fill your room

So don’t go on
Singing that same dead song
Just take my arm
And let me pull you on

And when a little rain falls on your house
I’ll send a little ray of sunshine way down south
And when a million stars fall from your eyes
I’ll send a constellation of protective light

This story’s old
People dance into your soul
And then they go
They leave us to walk these roads

And when a little rain falls on your house
Ain’t nothing you can do sometimes but wait it out

Ah, Cleveland street
Your hollow eyes and restless feet
I was one of you
For a terrible hour or two

And when a little rain fell on my house
You sent a little ray of sunshine from way down south
And when a million stars fell from my eyes
You sent a constellation of protective light

You’re weeping now
My little dark storm cloud
But I know some day soon
A light’s gonna fill your room

So don’t go on
Singing that same dead song
Just take my arm
And let me pull you on

And when a little rain falls on your house
I’ll send a little ray of sunshine way down south
And when a million stars fall from your eyes
I’ll send a constellation of protective light

Hand to mouth
Toe to toe
Tooth and nail (nail you to the wheel)

Back to back
Heart to heart
Eye to eye (I know how you feel)

Slumlords and dead end jobs
Pitbulls and five to ten
Rat traps and vacant lots
It’s either us or them

Feet of clay
Heart of gold
Nerves of steel (steal what you can’t earn)

Hand to hand
Side to side
Arm in arm (arming the poor)

Forget the dog eat dog
The palace or the pen’
Cause that’s all over kid
Tonight it’s us eat them

Lima, London, Katmandu
Hong Kong, Marrakesh
In Bombay, L.A. and Khartoum
Property is theft

A hundred hearts
A thousand tears
A million feet marching to war
A thousand miles
A million dead
A single voice asking “what for?”

There’s nothing over there
Scarecrows and hollowmen
So bring it all back home
Tonight it’s us eat them

Pick up that humble sword
Put down that mighty pen
The ink has all run dry
Tonight it’s us eat them

You are a mountain
But you are surrounded by an angry sea
When the sun goes down on you
You’re dark and you’re lonely

But you burn beautiful
Though all you ignite just turns to dust
You keep it bottled up
You seethe and then you erupt
Like a little volcano

Heat is a pendulum
Too much you burn
Too little you freeze
In Lisbon you held me warm
In Paris I walked the streets

Helen with eyes of coal
Neither a saint or a devil I doubt
I don’t wanna set you off
But I don’t want to put you out
Little volcano

And it’s hard to stay
And it’s hard to go
And it’s hard to live this way
Night and day
You simmer then you blow
Little volcano

And it’s hard to leave
And it’s hard to stay
It’s a hundred-ten degrees
But nothing seems to flower in this place
Little volcano
Little Volcano

You know I love you
But sometimes just sayin’ it ain’t enough
I guess those other guys must’ve been made of harder stuff
You are a fire
And I’m an old dog , but a dog can learn
At times we were both in flames
But I got my fingers burned
Little volcano
Little Volcano

I’m walking through the station
But I can’t find your face
Past the daughters of Sheba
And the puppets and parades
Under skies that have witnessed countless conquerors and slaves
Just another bloodless Monday mornin’ in Rome

Every bar’s a benediction
Every hiss rings like a phone
Every kiss a crucifixion
Every streetlight chaperone
And it’s biblically raining
Like a folk song on the stones
Singin’ all our thoughts these days lead to Rome

Vows of engagement
And dreams and amazement
But pigeons and pavement
Is all you really mean

Through the long nights of ruin
To the mornings made of gold
We rise and we fall that way in Rome

Every monolith that crumbles
Every empty glass of wine
Every smirking Sistine cupid
Every punctured valentine
Is a living breathing monument to the days of our decline
Winter, spring and summer, and fall in Rome

Hands in your pockets
Like plugs in their sockets
Roses and rockets
That world is dead and gone

I hit the sack at 3 a.m. when your key hit the door
Your sweet eye wanders, my heart roams
I don’t know why we still call this place home
When we rose, our love fell in Rome