he scarlet doors of harlot houses
well they caught my sanity
and prescription pills
that i have filled
they defied gravity

i was bent upon an honest living
i insist the truth should fly
and i took sometimes
when i was giving
just to compensate my time

and they say life can stutter by you
passing with the sun
and i am deep
in time forgotten
here with everyone

while i was down in bible town
i spoke my tongue in perfect rhymes
when i opposed
my secular foes
i used the same truth every time

like the minds of men much wiser than me
i found life so organized
and the order burst
is reassembled
until i am satisfied

i’ll tell you all that i’m appointed
on a task that precedes why
and you and i
we’re all anointed
by the grace of self divine

i gotta yell
i gotta tell
when i find that girl
she’s gonna ring like a bell

nice and bright
dark and light
and she looks fine on a saturday night
and the rock and roll feeling
is here to stay

c’mon now, you’re looking fine
you wanna walk
you better make up your mind
high and tight
she just might
and she looks fine on a saturday night

and she keeps looking at me
she keeps coming around
i’m coming back right at you
and then you say
without making a sound

oh, my darling you are looking so right
gonna love all night
all right
you must remember that
it’s saturday night

tony’s a survivor
did two tours in the gulf
watched the dying eyes of men he’d killed
saw praying in the blood
spent four months as a p.o. war
in a small hole in the sand
now he lies alone
in a v.a. home
with the world inside his hand

love is a freight train is love
it’s tender and it’s tough
it’s smooth and then it’s rough
it’s never but it’s always enough

jenny met a man she’d search for
since eternity
he took her to the mountains
and he took her to the sea
he taught her how to fly
but never how to land
then he left her
in eternity
with the world inside her hand

love is a freight train is love
it’s jackal and it’s dove
from below and above
it’s never but it’s always enough

at 35, chris almost died
in an overdose of speed
years before he’d had a child
he thought he’d never need
on the day of his survival
the father to the man
was the boy who stood before him
with the world inside his hand

love is a freight train is love
it’s oil and it’s rust
indifferent and it’s just
betrayal and it’s trust
stardust and pure lust
it’s boon and it is bust
it’s never but it’s always enough

i’m just like my daddy
i’m just trying to survive
we didn’t ask to live
and we don’t ask to die

turn me off to the left
turn me off to the right
and each push and each pull
is a reason to fight

hard times in my mind

all these dangerous women
playing tricks with my mind
they say “no” they say “yes”
and i’m left with the rest

turn me off to the right
turn me off to the left
and each day has a lesson
that i won’t forget

so all of you people
we’re just trying to survive
and we’re all on our way somewhere
and fixing to die

push me up to the front
send me off to the back
and once i pass through you
then i’ll never look back

god in the kitchen
cooking up job on a spit
and he’s nearly done

angels in the rec room
tuning into that espn loop

dreams are wishes
and nightmares are reality

demons went to wal-mart
for the 4 am sale on tvs

humans fled to heaven
for the final countdown of the earth
it’s nearly done

dreams are fading
and reality has kicked me

the man on the street has answers
for no one listening

the woman on the talk show
she’s crying now for her meal

we fly in the face
of all this adversity
and we’re nearly done
praying

dreams are wishes
and nightmares are reality

how will i recognize my baby
she’s the one with the eyes
well she can skip and dance
and she’s a picture
when she’s tellin’ lies

she’s got green eyes
and a yellow skirt
she wears a red hat
and a sequined shirt

she’s about 5’4″
she’s got tall legs
and pretty pink toes

you know her when you see her
and you’re finished before you start
you’ll see the white lies
and the pretty black heart

chickenman said take another dollar
for the thoughts that roll ’round inside your head
chickenman said take another hour
and he says that sometimes he is dead

the breakers on the shore repel the violence
and the dike inside my head leaks instead
chickenman kicks at the sand for hours
and he says that sometimes he is dead

so we said
we don’t need know why
why we say our last goodbyes
but we must never say we were wrong
if just one little light would burn
it would shine all around the world
put the power of one word in a song

chickenman stares at the surf for hours
says there must be more outside my head
chickenman says forget about the dollar
and he says that sometimes he is dead
as the numbers they diminish when you’re dead

it’s ten o’clock
the day’s gone sour
and vision plays
in the desperate hour

and the talk is gone
my tongue is tired
and cigarettes
set my lungs on fire

and my baby’s cold
my baby’s so cold
my thoughts are bold
but it’s just desperation

i need it
i need to know
where i’m supposed to go
she says i’ve changed
and she’s leaving
but i don’t notice a thing

the air is heavy
and sound is flat
and silence draws out
a foregone fact

and my baby’s cold
my baby’s so cold
i need to tell her
i wanna tell her
i gotta say that
i gotta tell her

she’s the whole of this place
and the space next to me
she’s each line in this face
she’s the nascent in me
she says there
is still time, boy
for life to be fine, boy
it’s gonna be good for me

there’s a hole in this world
there is work to be done
every seed in the furrow
is a seed that’s begun
she says that
every start, boy
just might break your heart, boy
but it’s gonna be good for me

every day is the make up
for each day that’s been following me
and now and then i will wake up
to find her there, she’s lying next to me

she’s the patch for this hole
she’s the stitch when i bleed
the exchange of my soul
is the courage in me
she says that
it’s a start, boy
so give me your heart, boy
and it’s gonna be good for me.

soon must part, nothing less
pack the car and leave today
we may find that togetherness
is only a heartbeat away

windows down, sing and laugh
nightlife in flagstaff they say
pass through winslow, take photographs
they’re only a heartbeat away

on the road to wichita falls
holding on to the past
and off the road by wichita falls
try to make this moment last

april fools’ souvenir
quickly turns into may
summertime, full moon, autumn, new year
it’s only a heartbeat away

and on to tucumcari
albuquerque sunrays
sopapillas, turquoise jewelry
they’re only a heartbeat away

texas sky, warm winds blow
barbeque along the highway
lonesome cadillacs near amarillo
they’re only a heartbeat away

post card trail return address
i only with that you could stay
we may find that togetherness
is only a heartbeat away