Sad Waters

Down the road I look and there runs Mary
Hair of gold and lips like cherries
We go down to the river where the willows weep
Take a naked root for a lovers seat
That rose out of the bitten soil
But sound to the ground by creeping ivy coils
O Mary you have seduced my soul
And I don't know right from wrong
Forever a hostage of your child's world

And then I ran my tin-cup heart along
The prison of her ribs
And with a toss of her curls
That little girl goes wading in
Rollin her dress up past her knee
Turning these waters into wine
Then she platted all the willow vines

Mary in the shallows laughing
Over where the carp dart
Spooked by the new shadows that she cast
Across these sad waters and across my heart

The Carny

And no-one saw the carny go
And the weeks flew by
Until they moved on the show
Leaving his caravan behind
It was parked out on the south east ridge
And as the company crossed the bridge
With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed
It shone, just so, upon the edge
Away, away, we're sad, they said

Dog-boy, atlas, half-man, the geeks, the hired hands
There was not one among them that did not cast an eye behind
In the hope that the carny would return to his own kind

And the carny had a horse, all skin and bone
A bow-backed nag, that he named "Sorrow"
How it is buried in a shallow grave
In the then parched meadow

And the dwarves were given the task of digging the ditch
And laying the nag's carcass in the ground
And boss Bellini, waving his smoking pistol around
saying "The nag is dead meat"
"We caint afford to carry dead weight"
The whole company standing about
Not making a sound
And turning to dwarves perched on the enclosure gate
The boss says "Bury this lump of crow bait"

And thean the rain came
Everybody running for their wagons
Tying all the canvas flaps down
The mangy cats crowling in ther cages
The bird-girl flapping and squawking around
The whole valley reeking of wet beast
Wet beast and rotten hay
Freak and brute creation
Packed up and on their way

The three dwarves peering from their wagon's hind
Moses says to Noah "We shoulda dugga deepa one"
Their grizzled faces like dying moons
Still dirty from the digging done

And as the company passed from the valley
Into a higher ground
The rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow
And on the mound

Until nothing was left, nothing at all
Except the body of Sorrow
That rose in time
To float upon the surface of the eaten soil

And a murder of crows did circle round
First one, then the others flapping blackly down

And the carny's van still sat upon the edge
Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge
And the rain it hammered down

And no-one saw the carny go
I say it's funny how things go

Your Funeral... My Trial

I am a crooked man
And I've walked a crooked mile
Night, the shameless widow
Doffed her weeds, in a pile
The stars all winked at me
They shamed a child
Your funeral, my trial

A thousand Marys lured me
To feathered beds and fields of glover
Bird with crooked wing cast
It's wicked shadow over
A bauble moon did mock
And trinket stars did smile
Your funeral, my trial

Here I am, little lamb...
Let all the bells in whoredom ring
All the crooked bitches that she was
(Mongers of pain)
Saw the moon
Become a fang
Your funeral, my trial

Stranger than Kindness

Stranger than kindness
Bottled light from hotels
Spilling everything
Wet hand from the volcano
Sobers your skin
Stranger than Kindness

You caress yourself
And grind my soft cold bones below
Your map of desire
Burned in your flesh
Even a fool can come
A strange lit stair
And find a rope hanging there
Stranger than kindness

Keys rain like heaven's hair
There is no home there is no bread
We sit at the gate and scratch

The gaunt fruit of passion
Dies in the light
Stranger than kindness

Your sleeping hands journey
The loiter
Stranger than kindness
You hold me so carelessy close
Tell me I'm dirty
Stranger than kindness

Jack's Shadow

They dragged Jack and his shadow
From the hole
And the bulb that burned above him
Did shine both day and night
And his shadow learned to love his
Little darks and greater light
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
A little longer

Jack wept and kissed his shadow
"Goodbye"
Spat from their dirty dungeons
Into a truly different din
Shat from their institutions
Into a fully different din
And his shadow soon became a wife
And children plagued his latter life
Until one night he took a skinning knife
And stole into the town
And tracked his shadow down

Said the shadow to Jack Henry
"What's wrong?"
Jack said "A home is not a hole"
"And shwdow, you're just a gallow that I hang my body from"
"O Shadow, your a shackle from wich my time is never done"
Then he peeled his shadow off in strips
He peeled his shadow off in strips
Then kneeled his shadow on some steps
And cried "What have I done?"

And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
I say "Love is blind"
"And is it any wonder?!"
"And is it any wonder?!"

Jacked and his damned shadow
Is gone
And though each one of us are want to duly mourn
And though each one of us are want to duly mourn
'Tis done in brighter corners now
'Tis done in brighter corners now
Now that Jack's black shadow's gone

And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined

And the sun it shined
A little stronger

I swear, love is blind
Ooh, love is blind
Yeah, love is blind
And is it any wonder?

'Tis done in brighter corners now
'Tis done in brighter corners now
Now that Jack's black shadow's gone

Etcetera Etcetera

Hard On For Love

It is for she that the cherry bleeds
That the moon is steeped in mild nad blood
That I steal like a robber
From her altar of love
O money lender! O clover gender!
I am the fiend hid in her skirts
And it's as hot as hell in here
Coming at her as I am from above
Hard on for love hard on for love
Hard on for love hard on for love

Well, I swear I seen that girl before
Like she walked straight outa the book of Leveticus
But they can stone me with stones I don't care

Just as long as I can get to kiss
Those gypsy lips! Gypsy lips!
My aim is to hit this Miss
And I'm moving in (I'm moving in)
Coming at her like Lazarus from above
Hard on for love hard on for love
Hard on for love hard on for love

The Lord is my shepard I shall not want
The Lord is my shepard I shall not want
But he ledeth me like a lamb to the lips
Of the mouth of the valley of the whadow of death
I am his rod and his staff
I am his sceptre and shaft
And she is heaven and hell
At whose gates I ain't been delivered
I'm gunna give the gates a shove
Hard on for love hard on for love
Hard on for love hard on for love

And her breasts rise and fall
Breast rise and fall
Breast rise and fall
Breast rise and fall
And just when I'm about to get my hands on her
Just when I'm about to get my hands on her
Just when I'm about to get my hands on her
Just when I'm about to get my hands on her
You are beautiful! O dove!
Hard on for love hard on for love
Hard on for love hard on for love

Just when I'm about to get my hands on her
Just when I'm about to get my hands on her

Her breasts rise and fall
Her breasts rise and fall

Just when I'm about to get my hands on her
Just when I'm about to get my hands on her

Hard on for love hard on for love
Hard on for love hard on for love

She Fell Away

Once she lay open like a road
Carbed apart the madness that I stumbled from
But she fell away
She fell away
Shed me like a skin
She fell away
Left me holding everything

Once the road lay open like a girl
And we drank and laughed and threw the bottle over
But she fell away
She fell away
I did not see the cracks form
As I knelt to pray
I did not see the crevice yawn, no

Sometimes
At night I feel the end it is at hand
My pistol going crazy in my hand
For she fell away
O she fell away
Walked me th the brink
The fell away
I did not see her fall
To better days
Sometimes I wonder was she ever there at all
She fell away
She fell away
She fell away

Long Time Man

Written by Tim Rose

Yeah, they came to take me away
Said I'd be sitting here for the rest of my life
But I don't really care - I shot my wife
And brother, I can't even remember the reason why

Oh, it makes a long time man feel bad
Yeah, it makes a long time man feel bad
Well I ain't had no love since I don't know when
It sure makes a long time man feel bad

We was down in Jacksonville
A cold winter night
My baby and I, we began to fight
I heated up, and I grabbed my gun
I get so cold on those nights down south

She was laying in a pool right there on the kitchen floor
She looked up at me and began to smile
Her gasping words: "Baby, I love you"
Then she closed those baby blue eyes

(chorus, and variations)

Sometimes I hear you call my name in the dead of the night

I ain't had those arms around me
I ain't had those lips, those lips, around me

It sure makes a long time man feel bad
So bad

Scum

Well, I lived with one
Well, I lived with one, I lived with two,
I even lived with a third
I wanna tell you about number one
He was a miserable shitwringing turd
Like he reminded me of some evil gnome
Shakin hands was like shakin a hot, fat, oily bone
Holdin on for far too long
Yes he took me in, he took me in
He said that I looked pale and thin
I told him he looked fat
His lips were red and lickin wet
His house was roastin hot
In fact it was a fuckin slum
Scum! Scum!
Well then he hooked up with some slut from the same game
Black snow! Black snow!
Cocksuckstress, and I should know
Mean and vicious, her microphone always smelled suspicious
His and herpes bath towel type
If you know what I mean
I could not look at him, worm
He'd be takin a shower and who should walk in
He was the epitome of their type
Her middle name was Welcome, his was Wipe
Scum! Scum!
Well you're on the shit list
Thrust and twist, twist and screw
You gave me a bad review
And maybe you think that it's all just water under the bridge
Well my UNfriend, I'm the type that holds a grudge
I'm your creator
I think you fuckin traitor, chronic masturbator,
Shitlicker, user, self-abuser, jigger jigger!
What rock did you crawl from?
Which ..... did you come?
You Judas, Brutus, Vitus, Scum!
Hey four-eyes, come
That's right, it's a gun
Face is bubble, blood, and ...... street
Snowman with six holes clean into his fat fuckin guts
Psychotic drama mounts
Guts well deep then a spring is fount (?)
I unload into his eyes
Blood springs
Dead snow
Blue skies