NEW YOUNG CENTURY
Somehow got it into that head of mine
everything I knew was wrong
Erring on the side of chance and disaster
I took a gamble with a gun
Then Melinda told me she bore me a child
and I had to find my way back home
so I headed for home
I swore this time it was gonna be different
I was gonna be a better man
Even prayed to the Lord up above
I said, "You gotta help me if you can"
I had in my mind that I could make it out clean
and I couldn't wait to show her my plan
because I had a plan.....I had such a plan
I went to her window, I knocked on her door
but she knew that I was on the run
I got on my knees and I begged and I pleaded
She wouldn't let me see my son
Then the man come and he take me away
and everything I had was gone
All I had was gone
My blood was boiling angry and hot
Tears falling hard and slow
The judge didn't have any mercy on me
No mercy for my soul
so off I had to go
They branded my neck just like a cow
so I hopped the roof and closed my eyes
Landed right on a passing train
Destiny was on my side!
Even the past was dead to me now
I felt the turning of the tide, the turning of the tide.
A man was talking the other day
I knew what he was talking about
He said he was living as in a desert fringed with jungle
and he had no way to get out
And that's when I thought, as I looked all around
the same thing was happening in the new young century
Didn't know my way around, I didn't understand the music
I couldn't even find a job
Fated for a life of villainy
Befriended only those I could rob
I don't know how long I'm gonna have to keep going
All's I know I better not stop
I had better not stop.
TEDDY ROOSEVELT
Why don't you give that man a square deal?
Put him on Pelican Island
Send the fleet all around the world
Put the jungle in the museum
But now all my machines are breaking down
It seems like there's a raincloud deep inside of me
I don't want to be the ugliest man in the world
Sometimes I feel just like the ugliest thing in this world
He didn't say "charge", he said "follow me"
Just like an old Teddy Bear
They shot him, he kept speaking
Stood strong at the River of Doubt
But now how am I ever going to fix these broken teeth?
It's just another thing coming on down the line
Well, you got what you wanted
You gave me the keys to the kingdom, I threw them back at you
Put on a black cape and charge into the night
Clean up the cops in New York City
Maybe now I should find something to eat
Where is that thing I love so much?
Well, now it's worth next to nothing
You gave me the keys to the kingdom, I threw them back at you
SNAKE IN THE GRASS
I wish I could be even, I wish I could flee
I wish I could be living in my used-to-be.
I wish I could get even, I wish I could be free
I wish I had my friendgirl, she'd be true to me.
We find you in our midst with friends you've amassed
To me, you're just a slithering rattlesnake in the grass
My friendgirl wants your apple but she knows your past
She knows you're just a slithering rattlesnake in the grass
They tell me you're a person with wealth, taste and class
To me, you're just a little slithering rattlesnake in the grass
Methinks you're just a slithering rattlesnake in the grass.
PSALM 151
O Lord, I just want to pray for the new young century
How dare they try and get their hooks in the new young century
We don't want it the way it used to be
Got to get it where it ought to be, where it ought to be
O Lord, I know I'm an unworthy man
O Lord, you should avert your eyes from me
But O God please please please save the new young century please
Do it for the new and the young
THAT'S MY MACHINE
There once was an inventor and she had a noble cause
She put her own ideas at work to help most everyone
They told her she couldn't, they laughed in her face
She just rolled her sleeves up, hunkered down and stayed up late.
Its chest was made of metal and its face encased in glass
It made little noise and it operated fast.
But a man was taking pictures from the balcony on high
They then engaged their lawyers to secure the patent's rights.
She almost let a cry out when she learned what they had done
She busted in the room where they all were having fun.
She said, "You can have all your riches, you can live out all
your dreams"
Then she pointed to her head and said, "'cuz that there's my
machine."
THE GIANT MIND
The audience is applauding
the idea is instantly killed
your city filled with new faces
reminds you, reminds you of ghosts long ago
And the genius that you're asserting
it's tugging there at your sleeve
the episodes you're repeating
an angry mob, the rabble that's there at your door
We can go and play in the fields 'till the rain starts falling
We can chase the butterflies 'till our mothers start calling
I spit on the flames you are fanning
the point we got where we are
you're magnifying the difference
the difference, the difference between us is thin
And the moral that's in the story
I see that you're straining to know
your voice, it just leaves you strangling
the bitter way, a better way is right there
right under your nose
NOT YET BUT SOON
Nothing is working, I feel like the tree that fell in the forest
Now I remember, what I'd give to just fly away
Free on the freeway or maybe the next train out of town
You lift up your head, they tell you to get down
How are you doing, carrying on with the great adventure?
Life could be over, I wouldn't even waste a second
Life could be over, but there's still time to find a way
Find that way
Find that way
Find that way
What are we doing, slumming around with a bunch of drunks
Look at these people, don't think I'm ever coming back
SENSATIONAL DEVIL
You sure lit 'em up good
Pat you on the back for the things you've done
I stand in awe of everything you do
And look at you now, you're quite the fancyman
Million dollar hands
You sure made it out in the nick of time
A scoundrel for the ages
But down here life just doesn't agree with me
I've given it a fair shake
I've been a dogcatcher, a quartermaster
I've even been a mutineer
And I did it all for the girl I never stopped loving
Why not? She's just an innocent fish
Part time lady
I know I'll see her again
Somehow, somewhen
I didn't pay for that monkey
THE SAME SONG TWICE
If you still are there, hold your hat out
I don't know where we are
All our dreams gone up in smoke, again
What did we do it for?
All those chances slipped away
never to return
Ride me on in to town
We must start again
In hopes of....what?
* * *
I don't mean to complain
but you've got me in a real bad situation
Left clinging to the peg
or fall into the chasm
It seems so final now
I guess I just have to accept it
You haven't put me in the grave
but I know that you're trying
Can't get back to where we've been
You're a danger to us all, don't come in
They say "You take it, or else..."
Oh well
I guess something's better than nothing.
DOGSHIT BLUES
How to quiet my mind
Why so loud?
I can't get out from behind
I hold me down, hold me down
I can't get over that hill
Well, it means next to nothing to me now
This case calls for surgery
All these dreams weigh me down, weigh me down
I can't get out of this mind
Well they say it's good for me
What did you do with my imagination?
I need it now to take me far from here
and to calm me down
THE CRUEL SON
Whatever will we do with you?
I ask of you
All of the nights I held you so
I saw you through
You were so new
you filled me with light.
Why aren't you talking to me now?
I'd talk to you
I don't know how you're perceiving things.
What did I do?
What did I do?
I beg for a sign
You're a cruel little mother
Ungrateful to the bone
You don't know what you're doing
and we're losing precious time
How dare you sit and judge me
I say to you
I care whatever becomes of you.
REST AND PEACE
We dug all the holes
we picked all the fruit
we lifted all the wood
we did everything they asked
but still
they didn't want to know about us
so we moved on
till we came to a clearing
don't you remember?
How the light was hitting the trees at that golden hour?
And look!
There's Billy Kirby, and there's Danny O'Brien
Mrs. Aggie and Mr. John
We take our place and at the table
we are provided with a feast
The song is carried by the people
we are content-the quest is done
And up, up, up
over the mountain
through the thicket
they gathered around the old tree
White dresses on all the ladies
Hats on the all the men
And blur went the worries
until they didn't even matter anymore
And that's how I left you
And me? What happened to me?
I grew fat as a happy king and lived a long, long time
THE NEW YOUNG CENTURY EXPRESS
Breathe, I can breathe
I can hear, I can see
Speak, I can speak
I can reach, I can do
I've got plans, you know
Pretty baby won't you come with me
to save the new young century
