SALT & BLUES

let's stay right where we fell
here near that magic swell
there's nothing else i want to do
i'll keep very still
i'll keep my distance well
i just want to watch you move

cause they're shining now
and they're crashing down
just like they've done forever
even when you're not there
it never stops i swear
not for one second ever

a long time is what forever is

but here's this gorgeous day
just sand and salt and blues ok
fear not but for the trembles
and waves like seraphim
to throw your hunger in
cast out by the handful

and all i'd ask of you
is just one kiss or two
and a whisper to remain
and when this part is through
for my body to
be left out in the rain

a long time is what forever is

ain't you tired? ain't you tired?

if winter comes on time
in her coat she'll find
that note i wrote back then
'sleep after every day
but never get to say
goodnight to you again'

 

 

WHERE TO STRIP

bleeding and laughing
naked to fall in the snow
your favorite drinkin buddies
oh brother oh brother oh
your neighbors have all gone missing
your timing is always off
bless you and keep you
oh brother oh brother oh

please, i've waited
please, i've waited
please, i have waited

back where you learned where to strip bare
it smells there like fire and dogs
saved be the light that you leave on
oh brother oh brother oh

 

 

BULLET

the thing about gravity
it won't ever let on
the gavel won't knock yet
it's just the falling and falling
it's a wholly different day
than what i woke in yesterday
blink at the ceiling
and everything has changed
and there is nothing to offer
that won't look meek in the morning light
i got nothing to offer
but words that just keep falling down all the time

hey youre a bullet
youre a bullet now

given the blacktop
and a donkey to ride
there's some that you'll follow
and some you'll bury in the night
and august is gleaming
and it's easy to forget
that the record is leaning
to overwrought and underfed

hey youre a bullet
youre a bullet now

'i'm taken with purity'
one time a mouth said to me
with the moon on her shoulders
and the water in her hair
and with all of your clothes
lying there on the bank
and all of your troubles
brought to the water softly sank

 

 

LITTLE PT. 1

it was the darkest darkest night
in the worstest part of town
and the dirtiest dirtiest rain
was falling falling down

and the blackest blackest man
with the smallest smallest child
riding on his shoulders
with the biggest biggest smile

and her biggest biggest hair
was a darkest softest ring
a perfect little halo
on a perfect little thing

 

 

LITTLE PT. 2

(instrumental)

 

 

HOW FAR WE ALL COME AWAY

in the hands of every bashful mother
is a quiet delay some calm to recover
accepting all kindness and blindness to all
them who fire away demanding a reason
and i'd never beckon or for one second dare
ever call you away o but they sing, embracing, for you

our bodies exhausted fall sideways to lay
and your arms made a place where my face liked to bury
then lifting (but not lifting) but drifting away
to where the angels would play like you'd almost forgotten
and then on with the next breath so impossibly new
like the curve of your waist all warm and ceramic and smooth

i dont want to go home
i want to come home

 

 

REMAIN

the stars would know to send you the shivers
and night would glow in the room in which you swim
filled with breath of people making bird sounds
and topless girls with pretty messy hair
and swirling around is that swollen sound
of horns all astrayed from some eternal parade

i got fits and a fire in my belly
and shiny lips can, fumbling, find a seal
the water dear can touch you all over
but nothing here can touch the way you feel
this difficult and lovely story
of your birth in the air and recovering from that

youll hold me here until i can't afford your kindness
youll hold me dear until i can't afford to leave
while lightning real is leaning out and calling
but there's all of that doubt plus all of that skin
but all is grace and all is beauty
and when all this is gone beauty will remain

 

 

LAST OF THE HAND-ME-DOWNS

in the light that you borrowed
for a look down the dark road
you were young and you shown it
just a taste and you blown it
and the current is fixed
and will carry you
to the point where you left it
and right on through

i had a chain and a bicycle
and i rode all the way into town
with only an ancient photograph
i kept just to carry around
and everybody there was naked
and why would you listen to me

with the hand you were led in
in the dress that you bled in
touched my face and called me handsome
and then asked me to drink some
of that unholy concoction
that will burn you through
and you know that it's poison
but it's honey too

i was a basket of bones
when i dragged all the way in to town
with only my boxful of coins
to scatter all over the ground
and everybody there was laughing
and why would you listen to me

i had a handful of stones
i hauled all the way into town
to carry when i was alone
culled from the last of the hand-me-downs
but everybody there was lovely
but why would you listen to me

 

 

PRETTY PT. 1

nose on the glass hours pass in the back
of the only store still open in the city
white flecks of light from the fish flashing by
and you answer with your mouth hung open 'pretty'
there's no reason to be scared
i know that you're always a little scared
and here you count again tonight
counting all the guts you've left inside
it couldn't change a thing
but i like remembering
that holy scene in lonely new orleans
you so pretty next to me

 

 

PRETTY PT. 2

(instrumental)

 

 

TOES OUT TO SEA

drink in the darkness
then in the morning wake to sing
i'm only breathing
to soak in the sweetness that you bring
your pursed lips blow
perfect o
as you break your body
like waves onto me

so take my finger
and trace it along your parts that glow
but satisfaction is something
i don't guess i'll ever know
and i don't know
where to go
and i don't know
what it is that you'd have me to be

barely walking
to carry yourself back home to sleep
it's cold to let go
but colder the longer that you keep
and don't you know?
your family ghost
wont be tamed
just by trailing your toes out to sea

 

 

ALL OF IT, ALL

a coward this morning
black after backing away
and no explanation
could ever explain it away
but could your bones be so bright?
and would it all be all right
if you layed them tonight
with me, safe beside

the thing about lifetimes
is sometimes you have to be cruel
it's sad that it's sad
but don't let that dampen you
no, to live you must die
yes and more than one time
you must kiss it goodbye
and never go back to that life

your arms can be magic
it all can be magic you know
you all ways can have it
but not like you wanted i know
there is only one way
it's the onliest way
you must give it away
i mean give. it all. away.

your hands have fingers and fingers are muscles
and muscles they pull and pulling they told you how
someone once told me we'd always be pulling

 

 

WHEN WE FALL

the sky tonight at sundown looked like god himself
feeding diamonds to his horses made of gold
and the secret here you know is that i love you so
but i don't want your heart to know

these darkened city sidewalks get so cold i know
when you're walking and you've got no one at all
but i saw holes beside my feet and they've got lights beneath the street
so as not to stumble into darkness when we fall

i found that just behind the speakers you can hold the song
and then live inside there never all alone
would you really call me home just to break my bones
would you really not forgive me when i go

the sky tonight at sundown looked like god himself
feeding diamonds to his horses made of gold
and the secret here you know is that i love you so
but i don't want your heart to know

 

 

MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COWBOYS

i grew up dreaming of being a cowboy
and loving the cowboy ways
pursuing the life of my high riding heroes
i burned up my childhood days
i learned all the rules of a modern day drifter
don't you hold on to nothing too long
just take what you need and don't look back
were the words of some sad country song

my heros have always been cowboys
and they still are it seems
sadly in search of and one step in back of themselves
and their slow moving dreams

now, cowboys are special with their own brand of misery
from being alone too long
to die from the cold in the arms of a nightmare
knowing well that your best days are gone
and picking up hookers instead of my pen
i let the words of my youth fade away
old worn out saddles and old worn out memories
with no one and no place to stay

my heroes have always been cowboys
and they still are it seems
they never stay home and they're always alone
even with someone they love

 

 

NOT RIGHT, YOU KNOW

the papers say
what the papers always say
but fail to say what for
we looks like bad men
we looks like marching men
we looks like men of war

i'm sitting here resting my bones
and that loneliness won't leave me alone
it's not right
it's not right
it's not right
you know

ain't we all just men?
all bones and skin?
all kids and the same stars too?
to go it this way
seems a terrible waste
whether greed or god drives you

i'm just sitting here resting my bones
but that loneliness won't leave me alone
it's not right
it's not right
it's not right
you know

 

 

MRS. JULIETTE LOW

if the sound that gets made with each going away
were to lean on my knuckles to come
then all the spinning about making moths in my mouth
like a hymn from the heavens would hum

babies sweet on the floor ever calling for more
ever tasting their flight on their tongues
see them roll on the ground with their bellies so round
know they're bound to keep rolling along

and mrs. juliette low sings so pretty and slow
singing 'boy aint you going so wrong?
if your voice is to pray and your legs is to stay
then where you been going so long?'

yet still the light likes to fade at the end of each day
and it shines like a curtain of glass
onto some state of grace where her movements takes place
aint we always so going so fast

in the chill of some gray afternoon
in the still fading light of my room
i'll be aching to say
lover don't go away
and we will not go away

 

 

NOT A HEEL

i am not a heel
but i will turn turn turn
i am not a seal
but i've been learned learned learned
i am not a lamb
but i will sweet sweet sweet
and curl and sleep all at your feet

i am not a roof
but i will cave cave cave
i am not a brute
but i will take take take
i am not a child
but i am lost lost lost
and you'll become my place to lay the cost

i am not a monster
but i will eat your heart

 

 

AW COME AW WRY #5

(instrumental)

 

 

JOE TEX, THESE TAMING BLUES

is it ever gonna not
be so awful hard to see you around
am i really gonna have to really have to leave town
i mean i called upon a bunch of angels
calling "angels, aint you supposed to come and take away these blues?
i mean we've came upon a bunch of rabies
and there isn't nothing all us little animals can do
with all five kinds of reins and all nine kinds of thunderings
or eighteen white horses if won't none of them come to me"

don't plant no more feet, love, in that garden of blame
don't break me no more, love, i'm already tame

is it ever gonna stop
this trouble of just being around my friends
am i really gonna have to really have to leave town again
i mean, i layed myself upon the water
calling 'water ain't you supposed to come and save us all from all these flames
i mean we're caught among the awful branches
and you know theyre burning us and yes, theyre learning all of us's names
i mean i stood your shore all wilted and wondering
aint you got a home for me, aint you still sweet for me'

don't plant no more feet love in that forest of blame
don't break me no more love i'm already tame

 

 

AW COME AW WRY #6

aw come aw wry
aw come aw wry
aw come aw wry
aw come
aw wry

 

 

I AM A FULL GROWN MAN (I WILL LAY IN THE GRASS ALL DAY)

i can fly through these hallways
dressed in light though it always
it always gets cold
i can sing through my fingers
though the worth of a singer
is nothing i'm told

i am a full grown man
i will lay lay lay
in the grass
in the grass
all day

i can freeze in the place that
gets me free from this taste that
i have in my heart
we can curl in the waters
naked swirling like otters
(you know how they are)

i am a full grown man
i will be calm calm calm
in the grass
in the grass
in your arms

 

 

DEAD HEART

around your head, drowned and wet
is a ring of lights, buzzing lights
cousin, light is not foreign
no, such is light in me tonight
i at all white and i not white
i at all white and i at not white

but wait i wasn't born
i wasn't born to hide
or shy from light
i was not born to hide

i got limbs all strong and slim
but there's nothing here to hold
i got limbs all made to bend
and, cousin, made to fold
but wait, i wasn't born
i wasn't born to hide
or shy from light
i wasn't born just to die

no i was born and i got love
and you were born and i got love
cousin, don't you know?

dead heart, dead heart, dead heart

 

 

AW COME AW WRY #3

aw come aw wry
aw come aw wry
aw come aw wry
aw come
aw wry

 

 

SOUTH (OF AMERICA)

there's dogs calling awfully out here
there's cows with their mouths filled with tears
and there's black water curling all around where we layed
yes and i have been sad now for too many days
and she would harness my heart if it harnessed that way
so babe, i am going, i'm going away

the women are all gorgeous down here
they're long and brown and bashful like deer
and she is always arriving in her dark river skirt
winding holes through the valleys, bending bones into dirt
hiding poems i had tossed under blankets of sand
and babe, i am sorry, i'm sorry, i am

it never gets cold way down here
i can live off of watermelons and beer
and i will never go hungry and i will never go home
and never call out to my lover, 'lover, leave me alone'
and never harden my heart like some fruit in the snow
but will walk, babe, (i know this) unnoticed, unknown

 

 

LOST NAME

if i lost my name
i would not feel bad
because i lost my name
and i don't feel bad

in the sudden long flames
we could flame all night
if you took my heart
and you broke it right

for your bare hips i would trade
all the air i've breathed
and all the words i've used
that i don't believe

then if we came back down
do you think it'd be the same
because i came back down
and it was not the same

if i lost my name
i would not feel bad
because i have lost my name
and i do not feel bad

 

 

ENDLESS PT. 1

through my window i knows
about the wind when it blows
about the lights from the road
and their every nightly glow
yes and o how theyd explode
if she should decide to show
up among this empty-handedness
endless

take my feet to the bar
where i know you at not are
take my coins and place them there
make that sound i love to hear
brother, i have been long against this night
i been a mess my whole life
and i don't care what happens next
endless

still the dawn fills with needs
and my tongue fills with fleas
and your ghost fills my sight
and then the gathering light
is laying soft around your feet
as you turn to ask of me
is it long, my love, until we rest?
endless

 

 

ENDLESS PT. 2

(instrumental / choir)

 

 

A PICTURE OF OUR TORN UP PRAISE

i don't want to take and baby i don't want to break and baby
i don't want to try and make you anyway
i just want to lie down tell my crazy brains to lie down
and then fall away

i won't be alone i won't be waiting by the phone
i won't be dreaming of you dreaming of me anyway
tell me where youve been and i will tell you where ive been
it will be all ok

i don't have a home it's not a chain it's not a throne
it's just a picture of a picture tossed and torn away
of anger on your face still not as strange and not as brave
as when you turned away

i won't be the one when all is said and all is done
i won't be breathing like you breathe into the light of day
i'll be in the yard still taking pictures in the dark
of all our torn up praise

leave me not alone i won't be chased i won't be thrown
i won't be bleeding for you bleeding for me everyday
tell me where youve been and i will tell you where ive been
it will be all ok

 

 

BE DARK NIGHT

dark night; meek and aligned
stones, tied; domes, light
be dark night

doe-tide; field, camera
ran, delight; stand, alive
be dark night

all rise; speed and alight
speed and blind; be not bright
be dark night

 

 

WOLVES

mama there's wolves in the house
mama they won't let me out
and mama they're mating at night
and mama they won't make nice

they're pacing and glowing bright
their faces all snowy and white
they bury their paws in the stone
they make for my heart as their home

they tumble and fight and they're beautiful
on the hilltops at night they are beautiful
and blazing with light is the whitest
and the tallest and the biggest one
she's muscled and fine
when she runs

they're tearing up holes in the house
they're tearing their claws in the grout
they're staring with blood in their mouths
mama they won't let me out

they tumble and fight and they're beautiful
on the hilltops at night they are beautiful
and blazing with light is the whitest
and the tallest and the biggest one
all muscled and fine
when she runs

mama there's wolves in the house
mama i tried to put them out
and mama i know you're too wise
to wait til those wolves make nice

 

 

AT DEATH, A PROCLAMATION

o in life
through many dark rooms
we must go

and all right
tho many's the hour
will come to you sour and slow

and all night
tho flames in the forest ring halos
to glory us both

all i
can bring to that chorus of smoke
is the hope that you knowed:

o love
tho one day i tarried too far
and i never came home
o love
always i carried your heart
married deep in my own

 

 

THE WAVES AT NIGHT

where are we and where do we
and where will we finally
trade our teeth for rays of wheat
to lay and sleep underneath

o love too eager to cross
o love we meet and you pause
o love too eager to cross
you see what you've lost?

the crazy streets, amazing grief
the taste of sweet offerings
the blazing heat, the naked beasts
great barrier reefs, all for thee

o love too eager to cross
o love we meet and you pause
o love too eager to cross
don't you see what we've lost?

the waves at night all brave and bright
the dance hall lights, o all your life
to lay and weep, to trade our teeth
to aim and achieve grace and peace

 

 

MY DOVE, MY LAMB

i remember evenings when my dad would sing
hiding in the hallway, i am listening
keeping still my body until it's borne aloft
her hair is soft and her breath is soft and her name is soft
and gathers me completely in her sighing hands
my dove my dove my lamb

born with ocean thunder underneath our veins
lonelier than cattle standing in the rain
holy when our weight into the waves is tossed
tho ships get lost and fish get lost and names get lost
she will wait to greet me where it meets dry land
my dove my dove my lamb

so, careful of that language babe some words are stones
they'll lead you out from town then leave you all alone
past the mirrored diamond mares that run all night
where camptown ladies sing that song, 'aw come aw wry'
but, lo they sing it sweetly so i'll understand
my dove my dove my lamb

though my sight be near and though my way be long
though the light i chase be disappeared by dawn
i have seen her standing on the roofs at night
i have seen her silver figure bathed and bright
and i have seen her sleeping in the cold white sand
my dove my dove my lamb

so even in these cities where she's haunting me
even when my weariness is wanting me
even when my wickednesses want to breathe
even in these dirty clubs counting 1-2-3
i will keep a singing til i no more can
my dove my dove my lamb

and later if i'm better i'll be born again
pull my newborn body from the thorns and limbs
finding with my fingers where they've torn a page
from some ancient book all gold and worn from age
and writ upon it neatly tho in trembling hand
my dove my dove my lamb

and later in the evening i hear trumpets ring
i stretch out in the dark and i am listening
studying the sadness in your perfect limbs
move them under mine until they learn to blend
and i will keep repeating til they understand
my dove my dove my lamb

 

 

COCAINE LIGHTS

in the darkness
after the cocaine lights
i will miss you
more than ever

and to color my eyes into rose
is to ask of my beaten bones
to be less of meat and stone
and more of feather

but lord theyre rolling me away
aint they rolling me away
don't they roll oh oh oh

in the morning in the kitchen
i can hear my own blood clicking
so i stand there and i listen
til the glowing begins

there is light that pours sweet from new hips
there is beer that pours sweet through my lips
there is gold where the cold button sits
it's just a showy amen

and in the hallway, in a slip
she says 'hey don't you like my newest trick'
and i say 'yeah thats a pretty good trick
would you show me again'

and, lord, truly i am awake
and lord, truly i am afraid
and, lord, truly i remain ...

in the darkness
after the cocaine lights
i will miss you
with no warning

i will recover my sense of grace
and rediscover my rightful place
yes and cover my face
with the morning

 

 

PRIDE

(instrumental / wordless choir)