Baby baby cannot tell you what it means to me
You’re dressed in colors, swirling colors far too bright to see
You laid me down upon the darkness of the night
And lit the world with all your colors, so bright
Baby

Baby baby cannot tell you what it means to me
Turning, twisting, quickly spinning made me so dizzy
And now our world has turned to painful misery
You bring your colors, your true colors for the world
To see
Such misery

Things will fall apart
The center would not hold
I’ll bury my dead
And I’ll keep the children fed
That’s me
Without my baby

Baby baby cannot tell you what you meant to me

Johnny’s trying not to be afraid
Afraid he’s gonna fall on off that soul train
And he’s thinking about his wife, his job, his home, some good advice
And star dust to make sense of life

Susie’s thinking that she’s got it made
Got it made inside some kind of soul shade
And she’s thinking about her job, her life, her man
She’s got a plan
And star dust where there once was sand

And so it goes for Susan and for John
Two lost ships a’moored on the same dock
And they’re thinking about the happiness they’ve found
Inside the absence
Of the sound of breaking hearts

And they’re thinking that they know
Much less than they did from the start
Except that there’s no broken hearts.

Would roses on your doorstep
Take away my pain
Would saturated poetry
Pretty much feel the same

Well I will take the things I’ve done
To my shallow grave
And they will pile higher
Than the good I’ve gained

And crystal green and purple blue
Describe the way
I see the world
Since my heart has let you stay
Within my mind there is a
Heartache under way
Since love has come and taken you away

It’s easy to feel all right
When you just don’t know
The loneliness that follows
You wherever you go

And it’s easy to care for people
Whom you care nothing for
And only a whore appreciates the less
When there’s so much more

Walking through fire of an unsuspecting street
I can feel the fire behind every face I meet

And that’s desire
Pure desire
Shimmering
In the fire

Papa never told me that
Life would be easy
But Mama never said
It could be so dead

Sally, baby, walk and talk
And trip and fly your way
The bitter and sweet rewards
Is how you get paid

For desire
Sweet desire
And I’m lost and I’m found
In the fire

Brother never meant
To be so mean
And Sister never said she was
The woman of my dreams

So fire your desire
Take little care
And fire your desire
Leave no emotion spared
And fire your desire
Say a little prayer
And fire your desire
Feel the whole fabric tear

Give a little bit
To the one that’s in your arms
‘Cause she’s waiting and wondering
Just where you might have gone

And make her so happy
By making her strong
Make all those gestures
That bring that love along

And let’s have a drink
For the ones who may have gone
For they may not be happy
As they’re heading for the dawn

But let them be happy
And let them feel fine
Let them have patience
Through these tough and bitter times

And where are they now
All the base and hurt and dead
While we’re wasted and wondering
About the days ahead?

Well let us feel happy
And let us feel fine
And let us have patience
Through this tough and bitter time

And I won’t
Be afraid
That I’ll hurt the one
That must await

And everyone would know us at all

And I won’t
Be afraid
Of the love and pain
That must await

And everyone would know us at all.

Such a sad relation
A violation of the lie
Inside Miami

We take true self for granted
While taking the other for a ride
To our Miami

I’m rolling on along all your fifty little states
And moving on ‘til it’s too late

We’re thinking that we’re fine and
A sudden sidestep in the ride
Decides it’s Miami

Curse the darkness and the
Light when it disguised the lie
Of our Miami

Don’t bother me with all of your fifty little states
The glass will fall; our hearts will break

And when the rain decides to
Obliterate the bright sunshine
We cry for Miami

But tell the truth we’re lost in-
Side and without out disguise
And our Miami

I’m rolling on along all your fifty little states
Nothing in the way to relieve me from escape
In fifty years it still will be the only way

That’s moving on ‘til it’s too late.

Dateline 1979
John is a schoolboy; he struggles for a time
‘Cause he’s short, skinny and nearly blind
His problem is solved when he becomes involved
With an oaf named Billy Brown
Whose talents lie from the neck down
And such an alliance
Gave John his defiance
Kept his ass off the ground

John Sparrow
Went up to the air
Believing a bullet would take him somewhere
Now he’s crossing the void
On his way from despair
He bet a moment of violence
Against eternal silence
So he could be happy again

Dateline 1992
John is in college; his major is booze
Tells jokes about fat girls and Jews
He keeps the frat boys in stitches
He gossips and snitches
And he keeps his ass off the ground
He knows where the logic is sound
With his college degree
He’d sure like to be
A cop like his friend Billy Brown

Dateline 1998
Chicago won’t have him
Because of his size, eyes and weight
And he languishes at a desk job
He’s a husband and father, professional slob
And the moral of this yarn
Disappeared right up with John
He know he wouldn’t have it
Turned around and went rabbit
Kept his ass off the ground

It was late in December
A bastard bitter and strong
And the voices around me
Were murmurous songs

And my friend, dear friend Michael
Had died in the night
Of a tumorous fight
With the dead in his life

So we gathered our memories
And we gathered our pain
And we gathered the strains
Of what songs still remained

And we placed them upon
The cold alter of dawn
And we put these together
To bring us along

I want hope
Want good hope
Who’s the one
Who can tell me
That there’s hope
There’s real hope
Because up is down
If you tell me

A funeral’s a funeral
The dead are here dying
Despite all our brave and proud
Efforts and lies

And while we’re here weeping
For ourselves, all alone
We’ll cling to each other
Until we too are gone

Come on all you demons
That cry in the night
Come on those too frightened
To look in the light

And Tuesday’s a bust
‘Cause the kids are all sick
And Thursday’s a
Frustrated alcoholic

And Saturday, sweet Saturday
It came and it went
We fear it’s a trivial
Life we have spent

And if he could see us
And if he could say
He’d ask the same things
That we wonder today

And so there is heaven
In all of its power
I’m sorry it does nothing
To comfort me know

The calendar is yellow by December
And 1969 is coming in
And each year it becomes harder to remember
That I was born to goodness, Harry Simms

Luther’s here since 1957
He burnt down the tenement he’d been living in
And forty-five souls were sent up to heaven
He says except the kids he’d do it all again

And we’re living in
These four gray walls of highway
Four walls here again
Living in

Darkness comes to visit in the evening
And I tell it about my day as lovers will
Luther calls for light inside his dreaming
And so he wrestles with the night and then he’s still

I lie awake and watch as each year spins out
There are some that lie ahead and some behind
I add up all my friends and all the strangers
There’s just some killing and strong need left to fly

And I’ll surely die
In four gray walls of highway
Each night as I lie
And then I die

Each delicate dream is just like a veil
I’m asleep but I’m aware I’m dreaming
And one by one they circle me in silence
They are all the men that I might have been

And I’m living in
These four gray walls of highway
Four walls here again
Living in.

I wonder what can care inside of me
When there’s been so little good ‘round me
And I’m thinking that it’s been so long
And I should no longer long
For justice in a mourning song

I got the night right here inside my hand
Beneath my broken watch and broken wedding band
And she used to talk so earnestly
Beauty’s face and hatred’s eyes
Haunt me in the dead of night dreams

One by one it’s falling at my feet
One by one I’m calling for mercy
O, what God sees that I haven’t seen
O, the fear inside her eyes
Confusion, shame and lonely lies

And might there be some kindness left for me?

I’ve never had material for love
There’s nothing to make
Every time I hear the story
It’s too hard to stay awake

And no one in this place or time
Will be the one that you love
But it’s so powerful
We’ll keep on trying

I’ve had my share of the birds and bees
But what can I say?
So many years of cold heartbreak
I realized my one mistake

Was loving her in space and time
“Baby, please!” a constant refrain
And it was so powerful
I used to keep on crying

Not much interest in dwelling on our yesterdays
I guess we know what tomorrow brings
It’s better living for today

And every girl in this whole wide world
Will be given a chance
And every oath’s a joke to be broken
It’s nothing more than a shake and dance

And no one in this place or time
Will be the one that you love
But it’s so powerful that we’ll keep on trying.

Yeah, she popped
And staggered away
For silent nights
She sold all her days

And each lie
That she left behind
Burns a hole
Through the fabric of life

Karma, karma, karma
Chameleon
She thinks
One has lost and one’s won

Every body pays
A debt he will keep
Every liar, cheat
Every weasel and thief

Crash it down
Come what may
I’m living my life
In these bottomless days

You have wronged
What you knew was right
Wonder what you are doing tonight

Now there’s you
Adrift in your haze
Of decisions
That you have made

And each lie
Corrosive and slow
Burns a hole
In your very soul

Crash it down
Come what will
Either I live
Or I kill and be killed

No riddle solved
No puzzle explained
But I own
Each one of my days.

We tend to pretend illness
When our feelings have passed by
Or cover it in kindness
A sad, uncertain, satin lie

You cower from the cast stone
A bloodied lip, a blackened eye
But your thoughts roll our of your range
When you call yourself by another name

If you ever change the good things
You’ll die
If you ever change the bad things
You’ll die
When they say that life is evil
When they say that life is good
Be glad you’re wise

I care not if the smart man
Comes and tells fantastic lies
I care not if the fool comes
What he says is no surprise

I don’t know all about life
I pretend an awful lot
But a coward’s life does not change
When he calls himself by another name.