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1.    GIVE IT UP
2.    TAKE IT OR LEAVE, CHAP. 154
3.    MIRANDA
4.    MAN OF THE HOUR
5.    I WANT TO KNOW
6.    LITTLE BOY BLUE AND THE ARCHITECTS OF DISASTER
7.    WORKIN’ IN THE FACTORY
8.    BETWEEN THE WALLS
9.    I DON’T KNOW WHY
10.    MOONWOMAN
11.    NOTHIN’S HAPPENIN’
12.    WHEEL
13.    THE MAN IN THE GREEN SHIRT

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GIVE IT UP

I don’t want a job in your factory
And I don’t think you know what’s best for me
I could shut my mouth and bear it silently
But you want me to be what I was never mean to be

I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
To leave it all behind

Look out in the street, baby, better load your gun
Everyone’s a ghost or bein’ haunted by one
Check out the guy in the coonskin cap, he’s chewin’ on a bone
He fought a war for someone else now he fights his own alone

I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
To leave it all behind

Security security security
Don’t mean that much to me
Uninterrupted sleep with fifty channels on TV
Livin’ under lock and key with the illusion that you’re free
Sittin’ in a bomb shelter with nothin’ to do
Dying for your right to die – what does freedom mean to you?

I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
To leave it all behind

Look up in the sky, baby, can you see the sun?
The city is an animal that likes to eat its young
My mouth is filled with broken teeth, there’s blood upon my hands
There’s a shadow on the sidewalk where my sister used to stand

Where’s it written that a man can cry and still not know his pain?
That he must keep on falling till he can’t get up again?
That the lessons of his errors must remain misunderstood
Till they’re burned into his flesh and written in his blood?

I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
I’m gonna give it up while I still got the time
To leave it all behind

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TAKE IT OR LEAVE, CHAP. 154

Ain’t it a drag that even at midnight in the city
Life never seems to be that near?
And I can’t believe this room would be
Any more silent if neither of us was here
And maybe I could close my eyes
And be in some other place
If you weren’t expecting so much
You can’t even see your own face
In the mirror –

But if you need it, I got it
You can have it if you want it
Just take it, and stop it
Take it on home, and leave me alone

The groundhog man he came on by this afternoon
I said you were not home
And he wanted so badly just to be hurt
With a pain that was his and his alone
He bowed his head and he looked so sad
And then he began to groan
He hung his heart up on a hat rack,
Left a bucket of his blood by the telephone

But if you need it, I got it
You can have it if you want it
Just take it, just stop it
Take it on home and leave me alone

You come to me in the springtime
With your hair cut short and your black sunglasses on
You say you’re livin’ on your knees
But it’s alright, you can get up anytime you want
But there’s somethin’ in the way you say it
That makes me think you’re wrong
There’s somethin’ in the way you say it
That makes me wish I’d never been born

But if you need it, I got it
You can have it if you want it
Just take it, and stop it
Take it on home and leave me alone

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

MIRANDA

Standin’with my mouth open, six o’clock this morning
Lookin’ at the sky broken, sitting on the sea
I said “It sure is easy to see someone has been busy –
Don’t know who’s gonna tell him, but it surely won’t be me”

White bright streetlights, biting through the midnight
That money in your pocket looks like it should belong to me
Me and Jackie Horner standing on the corner
Waitin’ for a man to come with a bag of ecstasy

Miranda, you really got a hold on me
Miranda, though you’re no great beauty
Miranda, oh what can I say?
They pulled up in a wagon and they took my love away

Sign says ’Keep Away’, screamin’ through the subway
Taunting cliffs whose edges I believe hold something more than nothingness
In the universities students trade personalities
Making documentaries on the meaning of success

A dead dog rolls out to the feet of the bullet king
Whose gentle obscene charity by the courtesy of his son
Sends all the men in bread lines across the world to find
A man who doesn’t worship some god or doesn’t think he is one

Miranda, you really got a hold on me
Miranda, though you’re no great beauty
Miranda, oh what can I say?
They pulled up in a wagon and they took my love away

Man with his hand out, tongue out, strung out
Meets the bulging windmill swordsman who puts him into place
Whose fantasies of venom and whose righteous bulldog mercy
Bites the head off student pity long before it’s grown a face

Broken chains, blood stains, sifting through the remains
Soldiers sit upon the skulls and ponder their misgivings
In the hall at the ball she squats inside a stall
She says “You know I’d give my life for a reason to keep living’

Miranda, you really got a hold on me
Miranda, though you’re no great beauty
Miranda, oh what can I say?
They pulled up in a wagon and they took my love away

The night bows down its head to bear its crown of dreams forgiven
While the aimless drifting convicts outlawed by the day’s regime
Stumble on the fading steps while columns crumble overhead
Running blindly to the refuge of the sun’s mad guillotine

Stone face with his briefcase in his office Monday morning
Runs flags up and down his flagpoles to see which way they fly
He lines up all his men just to shoot them down again
Hating all that has a price but blind to all he cannot buy

Miranda, you really got a hold on me
Miranda, though you’re no great beauty
Miranda, oh what can I say?
They pulled up in a wagon and they took my love away

Shredded words ripped from the past hang from the broken mast
Of monumental clouds drifting deserted by the sky
Pale laughing shadows stand in dwelling places of the damned
Holding hearts too dead to live but too wounded now to die

Dear dear, oh dear, help me with your brassiere
I’m just a poor boy tryin’ to fit in, lookin’ for the light
The poetry of your motions burns up my emotions
If I don’t kiss you now I’ll never get to sleep tonight

Miranda, you really got a hold on me
Miranda, though you’re no great beauty
Miranda, oh what can I say?
They pulled up in a wagon and they took my love away

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

MAN OF THE HOUR

You finally made it
You finally made the grade, and
Everybody’s sayin’
You’re the man of the hour

Reporters were sent in,
They praised and documented
The fame that you cemented
On your rise to power

You’re well-read, well-bred, and so well-fed
What you can’t remember you have chose to forget
You are the hero of a million dreams
You are the face on all the magazines

You live inside a mansion
Of gold and steel and iron
With a thousand hired servants
Who tell you you’re the king

You eat the finest dinners
With your teeth all made of silver
And each night your wife and children
Come and kiss your diamond ring

You were born torn with greed and the will to succeed
You’ve crawled on your knees just to get what you need
You’ve lived by the rules and you’ve paid all your dues
Now every mother’s child wants to be like you

And it makes me wonder
It really makes me wonder
Why you want to
Take your rifle from the cupboard
And blow your brains all over the carpet
That’s worth fifty thousand dollars
On the open market
You’re the man of the hour

You fly in your jet plane
Around the world and back again
Conferring with the presidents
And all the heads of state

You make fabulous donations
To the charity organizations
Which try to aid the devastations
Which you yourself create

You have earned great fame and you’ve taken great pains
To minimize your losses and maximize your pains
Loved and adored by the bustling crowd
Bowing at your feet they beg for you to show them how

You have made solid investments
In all the finest weapons
To stock up the defences
Of the countries wide and far

And when your find your profits fallin’
You just have to call them all and
Say “Come on, get on the ball and
Start another war”

In every high-class household of the lands that you command
Everybody loves you, they all want to shake your hand
When you were young you were under someone’s thumb
But now you don’t have to answer to anyone

And it makes me wonder
It really makes me wonder
Why you want to
Take your rifle from the cupboard
And blow your brains
All over the carpet
That’s worth fifty thousand dollars
On the open market
You’re the man of the hour

Now you zoom across the continent
To be honoured by the government
Who erects another monument
Dedicated to your name

Renowned for all your skill in
All the dealings of your business
If you can’t buy it you just kill it
And market the remains

Protected by your guards with their trigger-finger aim
And all your hired flunkies who you pay to take the blame
Who’d have ever thought that a little farmer’s son
Would wind up on page one?

Now you sit inside your mansion
With a magnum of champagne, and
Faraway from all the dangers
And the strangers of the night

When a sudden flashing vision
Comes across your television
What can it be but your reflection
Glowing with a ghastly light?

You’ve raced and you’ve chased up the ladders of success
With the eyes of the world upon your every breath
All you ever wanted was a little bit of wealth
But now you’re a law unto yourself

And it makes me wonder
It really makes me wonder
Why you want to
Take your rifle from the cupboard
And blow your brains
All over the carpet
That’s worth fifty thousand dollars
On the open market
You’re the man of the hour

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I WANT TO KNOW

Bring to me your love so calm and ruthless
Let your perfect voice re-open all my wounds
Up till now this longing’s been so useless
Up till now my love’s been lost among these ruins

I’ve been hanging from a meathook in your closet
I’ve been spying like a fly upon your wall
Been sending coded messages up from your basement
I’ve been speaking with your butler in the hall

I want to know
Will we ever make it to the shore?
Or will we wait just like before
Till it don’t matter anymore?

Could someone put my number through to Captain Moses?
’Cause I’ve been trying to reach him for ten thousand years
From a megaphone atop this heap of ashes
But it seems the Captain just don’t wanna hear

I’ve heard that deep inside our hearts we all keep burning
A flame of love so sacred and so great
And it’s kept so well-preserved and so well-furnished
And so well-hidden that it might as well be hate

I want to know
Will we ever make it to the shore?
Or will we wait just like before
Till it don’t matter anymore?

Yes your plastic bland indifference is quite priceless
And so’s that mannequin that’s lyin’ on your bed
That sarcastic cynical fluttering of your eyelids
Why, one would hardly guess that you were dead

I want to see those skeletons you hold for ransom
Behind that smokescreen of sincerity and lies
What’s eatin’ up your mind, tall dark and lonesome?
What was it that snuffed out that devilish sparkle from your eyes?

I want to know
Will we ever make it to the shore?
Or will we wait just like before
Till it don’t matter anymore?

The sacred hearts club band has now deserted
To embrace the comforts they once fought to flee
Their loyalties are still intact, they’ve just reversed them
To become victims of their affluence and martyrs to their greed

Your speech went on so long I could not interrupt it
When you told me once again you were so sure
That you were one who could never be corrupted
I couldn’t say that if you that, then you already were

I want to know
Will we ever make it to the shore?
Or will we wait just like before
Till it don’t matter anymore?

You who gave your love as if it was a duty
To every Romeo-in-training on the make
Why so suicidal, Sleeping Beauty?
Don’t your prospects look so good now that you’re finally awake?

And do you have the courage now to face it
Beyond these anaesthetic alibis of fear –
When your knight in shining armour becomes naked
Or the day your lover’s face becomes a mirror?

I want to know
Will we ever make it to the shore?
Or will we wait just like before
Till it don’t matter anymore?

I’m so sick of all these endless complications
And the constant cul de sacs they lead us to
I try so hard to grasp the situation
But it all just hangs suspended like the moon

I want to fly with you above these walls of granite
I want to dive with you beneath these hearts of lead
I want to stand with you amidst this mindless traffic
Till we remember what we came here to forget

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

LITTLE BOY BLUE AND THE ARCHITECTS OF DISASTER

The Second subcommander sent his orders to the corporal
Who relayed the information to the Bible-clutching sargeant
Who awoke in pink pajamas and he stumbled down the staircase
And he prayed to Christ Almighty as he pushed the secret code in
Then he sank down to the carpet with his rosary beads and whiskey
And the pen knife that his daddy gave to him
When he was ten

There’s a jet plane on the runway with its motor idling slowly
It is loaded with machine guns and television cameras
There’s a nation deep in slumber, there’s a woman in the jungle
She looks up through the eucalyptus leaves and sees the stars revolving
In their secret silent rhythms
Through the night

But don’t cry, little baby
Because your mama and your papa love you so
But now you must do what we cannot do
You must go where we cannot go

The generals in the uniforms are glowing with compassion
They are frothing at the mouths with goodwill and humanity
As they goosestep down the pavement in their jackboots and their helmets
The grateful peasants gather in the square now to receive them
They bow down beneath the rain of charity and bullets
As the resourceful diplomat proclaims the trouble well in hand
Packs his guilty attachÚ case as he rushes through the turnstiles
Jumps the next flight out and dashes off a memo
To the chief

There’s a monkey in a space capsule that’s orbiting ’round Pluto
There’s an office filled with scientists with big brown beards and moustaches
As they wire the electrodes to the grinning willing subject
All the lights go out on Main Street as the speakers blare their warning
Of enforced evacuation – there’s a train down in the station
It is loaded with supplies and plastic tubes of frozen embryos
Soon the new recruits will come with the machinery of Eden
Strung between the stars beyond the sun, the barriers are breaking
They’ll be going from door to door with gas masks and injections
As the last ship leaves the harbour and the crowds cheer madly waving
And the sun sinks slowly melting to the sea

But don’t cry little baby
Because your mama and your papa love you so
But now you must do what we cannot do
You must go where we cannot go

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WORKIN’ IN THE FACTORY

I wake up every morning, six o’clock sharp
I have a cup of coffee and I get into my car
I drive downtown and I pull in through the gate
The foreman at the door says I’m five minutes late
He drives me to my knees and he tells me it’s a sin
Then he makes me sign a form that says I won’t do it again

I’m workin’ in the factory, workin’ in the factory
Someday all of this will be just a bad memory
But right now I’m just doin’ time
Workin’ in the factory

My job ain’t bad and I got a good boss
For every week I work he gives me two days off
Dental plan, vacation, and a twenty year pin
And when I die he sends a letter to my next of kin
Things could be worse but I really don’t know how
I’d like to tell you all about it but I can’t right now

I’m workin’ in the factory, workin’ in the factory
Someday all of this will be just a bad memory
But right now I’m just doin’ time
Workin’ in the factory

Here comes the boss, diamond rings on every hand
And a little speck of dirt upon his white cotton pants
He says “Come on, get to it, boys, I wanna see you sweat!”
And I say “Kiss my ass”, but underneath my breath
’Cause he’s the wizard of finance and I’m a workin’ dog
He’s the big wheel and I’m just a cog

I’m workin’ in the factory, workin’ in the factory
Someday all of this will be just a bad memory
But right now I’m just doin’ time
Workin’ in the factory

The guy who works beside me, they call him Friendly Steve
He’s got big long arms that hang down to his knees
He never says yes and he never says no
He just hangs around waitin’ to be told where to go
You just have to take one look at him to tell there’s nothing there
But three more years of this and I won’t even care

I’m workin’ in the factory, workin’ in the factory
Someday all of this will be just a bad memory
But right now I’m just doin’ time
Workin’ in the factory

I’ve heard about the palm trees that grow down in the south
I’ve heard about the beauty that the poets write about
I’ve heard about the fantasies that many men have wrote
Where everybody shares and no-one has to bear the load
I’ve heard your tales of freedom and the brotherhood of men
But don’t you know that none of it makes any difference?

When you’re workin’ in the factory, workin’ in the factory
Someday all of this will be just a bad memory
But right now we’re just doin’ time
Workin’ in the factory

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BETWEEN THE WALLS

Rain comes down a-fallin’ on the city of squalour
Another fly’s crawlin’ into some spider’s parlour
Everybody’s in despair but they’d rather die than show it
You could lose your mind and soul down here and never even know it

I’ve been readin’ all the headlines, I’ve been waitin’ in the station
I’ve been lookin’ for the good life, all the good lives have been taken
A man comes in with good intentions, gets them thrown back in his face
He sees that he should leave but it seems like such a waste

And the birds don’t fly, and the sun don’t shine
Between the walls of the city where love crawls to die
Hey pretty baby, don’t ya think that maybe
You’re the one to save me, or drive me out of my mind?

The sign ahead says “Danger” but no-one thinks of stoppin’
It’s like half the world is dyin’, the other half is buildin’ coffins
Everyone’s hysterical, waitin’ for a miracle
But up inside the boardrooms it’s just business as usual

You know I love ya, you know I need ya
If I ever hurt you you know I didn’t mean ta
It’s just that I get nervous with this rope around my neck
This shackle on my leg, this rifle at my back

And the birds don’t fly and the sun don’t shine
Between the walls of the city where love crawls to die
Hey pretty baby, don’t you think that maybe
You’re the one to save, or drive me out of my mind?

With a shake of the hand and a slap on the back
It all starts out so ordinary
A lifetime to carry that weight down the track
Till there’s nothin’ left to bury

Now they’re suckin’ back that champagne, swingin’ from the chandeliers
They say it’s all under control but it’s just a trick they do with mirrors
One minute you were here, one minute you were gone
Twenty years from now I’ll still be tryin’ to figure out just what went wrong

And the birds don’t fly and the sun don’t shine
Between the walls of the city where love crawls to die
Hey pretty baby, don’t you think that maybe
You’re the one to save, or drive me out of my mind?

Well I never had a thought that got
Thought out, not lost in confusion
Well I never did a thing without
Thinkin’ there was somethin’ else I should be doin’

I’m not dumb enough for success, I’m not smart enough to fail
Don’t wanna marry the captain’s daughter, be cannon fodder, or go to jail
But don’t think you’ve seen the last of me, I’ll be wherever you go
This ain’t my last chance, baby, I blew that one long ago

And the birds don’t fly and the sun don’t shine
Between the walls of the city where love crawls to die
Hey pretty baby, don’t you think that maybe
You’re the one to save, or drive me out of my mind?

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I DON’T KNOW WHY

It’s four o’clock in the morning and I can’t get to sleep
Some kinda crazy terror’s got a grip on me
Has got a grip on me, has got a grip on me

I’m sittin’ on my bed, I’m starin’ at the moon
I’m waitin’ for the morning sun to shine on through
Come shinin’ through, come shinin’ through

Life and death before me and I can’t tell which is which
I can’t make no connections, I can’t find the light switch

And I don’t know why, and I don’t know why
And I don’t know why – and I don’t care
If you can hear me out there, I’m countin’ on you
To see me through, see me through tonight

Thinkin’ ’bout the past and it’s makin’ me blue
But I can’t remember if it’s somethin’ that I did or didn’t do

And I don’t know why, and I don’t know why
And I don’t know why – and I don’t care
If you can hear me out there, I’m countin’ on you
To see me through, see me through tonight

Sometimes it seems like the whole world’s dyin’ of a broken heart
I swear I was only tryin’, tryin’ to make a new start
Sometimes it gets so hard, you know it gets so hard

I tried so hard to love you, I tried so hard to care
But after all is said and done, I’m still here and you’re still there

And I don’t know why, and I don’t know why
And I don’t know why – and I don’t care
If you can here me out there, I’m countin’ on you
To see me through, see me though tonight

Sometimes it seems like the whole world’s dyin’ of a broken heart
I swear I was only tryin’, tryin’ to make a new start
Sometimes it gets so hard, you know it gets so hard

And maybe tomorrow the sun will shine, maybe the birds will sing
But tonight I’m all alone and the night keeps comin’ on in

And I don’t know why, and I don’t know why
And I don’t know why – and I don’t care
If you can hear me out there, I’m countin’ on you To see me through, see me through tonight

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

MOONWOMAN

This is my first love and I hope it’s my last
When I see her my heart beats fast
She ain’t lookin’ for a new way to do it
She’s got everything she needs and she knows how to use it

Don’t ya know she’s a go-getter, jet-setter, trend-setter
Heavy petter bed wetter, I’m gonna go get her
She needs something I can give
A body to love is a reason to live

You know she’s always there for me, she never goes slack
She’s got a lotta love burnin’ all the way down the track
The way she sways on a hot summer day
Can ruin you for life and steal your soul away

Because she’s Moonwoman and she comes from the sky
Moonwoman and she makes me feel high
Moonwoman, come see me, come be me tonight

Well she don’t wear blinders but she knows what she’s doin’
She’s gonna take the road she chose even if it leads to ruin
Don’t have to give her money, honey, she don’t need it
Anything she wants is hers from the moment that she sees it

She goes downtown but she don’t hang around
Her eyes are in the sky but her heart is in the ground
She likes to stay home with the radio
In the early morning darkness when we’re all alone it’s playin’ low

When I’m tongue-tied, crucified, down inside my shoes
Baby comes a-runnin’ with a match to light the fuse
She don’t have to ask me what the problem is
She knows I got a problem, I don’t have to keep it hid

’Cause she’s Moonwoman and she comes from the sky
Moonwoman, and she makes me feel high
Moonwoman, come see me, come be me tonight

I said hey, hey, hey, hey
don’t take my loved one away
I said ho, ho, ho, ho
I’m never gonna let her go

Moonwoman, help me get away from myself

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

NOTHIN’S HAPPENIN’

You’ve been a two-faced little weasel
Since the day you started breathin’
You’re a small-time wheeler dealer
With big dreams of breakin’ even
Nobody ever liked you,
Not even your own mother
You got your eyes on the Virgin Mary
But your mind’s still in the gutter

You’ve been a foul-mouthed little beggar
Since the day that you dropped out
Of your mother’s womb on a cold afternoon
In the street scum slum where you grew up
Standin’ on the corner waitin’ for another sucker,
Some silly little fucker
With a silver pocket watch
While your eyeballs they be jumpin’
To the woman that you’re cruisin’,
One hand on your holster and the other on your crotch

It’s the story of the streets, where it’s eat or be eaten
And you don’t think once and you don’t think twice
About takin’ some harmless old woman with a necklace
And carvin’ her up on the end of your knife
It’s your life, it’s your business
It’s survival of the fittest,
Scrapin’ through the sewers like an alley cat in heat
It’s breakin’ jaws and bustin’ heads
For another crust of bread
Standin’ in the doorway, shakin’ off the heat

Oh, oh, nothin’s happenin’
Oh, nothin’s happenin’ tonight

When your phone don’t ring and your bird don’t sing
And you can’t get loose and you can’t get tight
Till you’re just another beast
Beggin’ for release
In the decimated ruins of your holocaust night
Swimmin’ like a foetus through the cesspool city
For the sticky satisfaction that your sickness craves
Slidin’ down the ladder from the poorhouse to the slammer
With a ten-pound hammer strapped between your legs

You know the game’s against you
But still you believe that you’ll conquer it
Like a man who dreams of paradise
While he’s up to his ears in his own shit
Like a dyin’ man with a lottery ticket in his hand
Or a useless crucifixion in a God forsaken land
Your suffering is infinite, but I don’t give a damn
And the force that drives you to it
I will never understand

Oh, oh, nothin’s happenin’
Oh, nothin’s happenin’ tonight

Like a dog that eats its vomit
Like a thief that keeps returnin’ to the scene of his crime
You fed upon your misery
Until it finally ate away your mind
But still you smiled just the same as you played your game
With the faith that you’d come through it
Till bit by bit you slowly died
And you never even knew it

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

WHEEL

Deep inside the darkness of the hallways of my mind
Are hidden covered statues of the ones I left behind
Cloaked in sadness, crowned with dust, the figures rest in half-repose
They wear their tears like necklaces, confusion is their clothes
And they bang against each other as they rattle in my head
They search their minds for memories of words I never said
But they know as well as I that someday my heart must return
For my destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

Empty roads they sprawl before me, easy rides throw forth their doors
My mind is caked with helplessness, my feet are caked with sores
I accept all without question under cloaks of brotherhood
I find my face loved thoughtlessly, my thoughts misunderstood
And I curse this barren air which drives me to the arms of one
Who just happens to be nearest on the dark night I’m alone
But even so I know one day I’ll crave their false concern
For my destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

The lonely sexless martyrs by the roads too dead to flee
Reach forth their claws with documents of false security
I tripped upon their strings of guilt and fell into the groove
Of a life where universes turn but humans never move
I finally escaped from their tomb and exposed their granite rites
But in this bottomless sea my arms may flail but never strike
And that which I may criticize I can never wholly spurn
For my destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

The steel clenched teeth of factories and refineries they wait
For new meat of the human flesh to fall within their gates
Offering sacrifice to money gods the hearts and blood of lives
And sledging minds and smashing bones on the stones from nine to five
And there comes a time when the bravest soul must make the compromise
With the puritan calloused ghosts inside authority’s disguise
And freedom falls ashamed beneath the whip that bites and burns
For our destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

The worn-out hands and the eggshell eyes of the kings upon the hill
Want to make me think there’s something that I must fulfill
Their armed guards trap and teach me my responsibility
Is to serve all those above me, that’s the world’s reality
Reality, I laugh, and look above the painted stage
And barely see the clouds before I duck another cage
And even as I run I know their bullets will return
For my destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

Silver guns are once more lifted from their racks and duly used
To keep the natives in their place and the corporals amused
And blasted sky-wide on the screen, the scene is black and white
And the choice is clear cut with a knife, you must either die or fight
As fathers send their sons to death convinced that something can be won
Then they blush at seas of blood as all men claim they weren’t the one
And vows of peace shoot through the air, but still those bodies burn
For our destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

The rain falls down on the graveyard towns and the heads of crowds which wait
And dust collects on the hands of clocks and on paintings locked in crates
And the warped and crippled cardsharks who have beat me in the past
Have fallen in their alleyways and each has breathed his last
And now, my friend, my time has come, I’ve paid my dues in pain
I’ve learned the one true way to live this life is naked, unafraid
And I’ve left my bridges behind me but they’re not meant to be burned
For my destiny is circular, that’s one thing that I’ve learned

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THE MAN IN THE GREEN SHIRT

The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt, he wants to know your name
The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt
The man
The man in the green shirt
The man
The man in the green shirt
The man

I saw the tears rollin’ down his face
And so I had to put him into his place
And though he said that everything was just fine
Well don’t you know I nearly lost my mind
back to top
The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt, he wants to know your name
The man in the green shirt
The man
The man in the green shirt
The man
The man in the green shirt
The man

Everywhere you go is a banquet
Everyone you meet is a feast
All of the skies are in people’s eyes
All outer space is in your face
And if you just try just once before you die
You may find that you may live once

The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt was talkin’ to me today
The man in the green shirt, he wants to know your name
The man in the green shirt
The man
The man in the green shirt
The man
The man in the green shirt
The man

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