I
Destination Destiny
Give me an airplane, give me a steam train
Give me a rusted old Chevy I wont be ashamed
If Im bound for destination destiny
Take the dirt road round another bend
Momentum is my only friend
Im on a weekend getaway thats never gonna end
I was rockin out of my cradle
I learned to walk away before I was able to run amok
My wheel stuck, spinning circles in a rut
Now my privileges suspended
And my day in court is pending
So with my fists in empty pockets Im gonna set off
Where I aint never been
Destiny is my destination
Port to starboard, harbor to station
Coast to coast, nation to nation
In a state of constant fluctuation
Hitchin a ride for my destination, destiny
I was a stowaway on abandoned ship
A castaway on sunset strip
But through the alleyways and blue highways
Im the houndsman on this trip
And Ill tell you nothins finer
Than steppin off a jet airliner
And with nothing on your mind
Go drinking wine in Carolina
On a sunset stroll in the countryside
With another nameless love of mine
But when the thrill is gone, Im ramblin on
Shes someone elses bride
So I call up a girl outta history class
Tell her that I missed her sweet
Its been so long, I gotta move along
Im gonna make it with her sister
Shes my destiny
Destiny is my destination
Port to starboard, harbor to station
Coast to coast, nation to nation
In a state of constant relocation
Hitchin a ride for my destination, destiny
Theres no room for self-pity
On a raft on the Mississippi
So I stole a car in Arkansas
And jumped a train to New York City
If you show me the lights on Broadway today
Ill buy you a drink in the Bowery tonight
Then lets go watch the sunrise
Over Coney Island baby
Cuz my destinys a race to run
Not a place to sit beneath the sun
But chase it cross forever
Never getting there
Is all the fun
II
Stranded at Second
People say youre a catch in a millionBut you know it and you know theyre right
Youre a late picture perfect pretty prude princess
It doesnt mean that you wont be mine
Youve gotta be cool baby, dont go cold tonight
I hate to want you when you put up a fight
Take your shirt off sugar, Itll be all right
If we make it like the movie stars tonight
Make it like the movie stars tonight
Amazing Grace how perfect your face
At high noon through my rear window Ive caught you in my sight
But when I saw you there on the Riviera, I had to turn away
Cuz even in this light you know where Im staring
But come on country girl wont you give it up smooth
I cant see what youre trying to prove
Keep your pants on lady, you can leave on light
But lets make it like the movie stars tonight
Fake it like the movie stars tonight
Now the curtains closed and the crowds gone home
And its the hardest thing Ill ever know
Set the stage even if only one more night
Cuz it wasnt in the stars for us tonight
The cards are stacked against me all my life
The back seat of your boyfriends car so tight
I know a place a little out of the way
We can make it there by midnight
Make it like the movie stars tonight
III
As the Crow Flies
It's just like old Thomas said--
This is the way the world ends
Without a bang, you're off again
As another working week begins
And I'm driving all alone in a rental car
Wondering why I've come so far
To spend this stolen hour just
To leave the ones I love so much
And as I'm speeding down that lonesome road
Carrying a heavy load
A prisoner of gravity
I envy every bird I see
And I swear it to my dying day
I see the same crows every day
Their voices squawk but their spirits sing
And their motions tell me everything
I see one soaring in the sky
While her lover cries out from the nest
There's a murder on my way to work
And a raven on my writing desk
But hey, I know I'm late
But I'm making good time
And you're already here
If just in my mind
Though you're miles away
And we don't have much time
I'm heading home straight
As the crow flies tonight
It's just like your savior said
You're going to reap the whirlwind
The preacher saith unto me
That everything is vanity
And I'm driving all night but I won't get far
Treating my body like a rental car
Time and space trump everything
And I'm left here beating broken wings
I'm gonna sing this song of augury
In praise of every bird I see
From the blackbird in the dead of night
To the crows whose wings blot out the light
Corvus, corvus in the sky
I'm well aware I'm gonna die
So why you hangin' 'round my door
To say forever "nevermore"?
Though your image is obscured in fog
I can still make out your cacklin' caw
My hearing's sharp, though my vision's soft
And I can't shake off this cancer cough
But hey, I know I'm late
But I'm making good time
And I'm already there
If just in my mind
Though you're hours away
And we don't have much time
Let's head for the lake
As straight as the crow flies
At sunrise
We loosen the earth's ties
And take to those blue skies
As straight as the crow flies
Hey, I know I'm late
But at last I've arrived
And if it's only second rate
This room will be fine
And if this glorious day
Is my last on on earth
It's all right, it's ok
Cuz I'm free as a bird
When I'm surrounded by friends
Who keep me in line
Cuz we must make amends
And eat crow sometimes
And it feel like years
Since we've been in one place
I'm smiling through the tears
With crow's feet on my face
I know I'm late
But at least I'm alive
And if I'm only half awake
This dream will survive Though you're light years away
And we don't have much time
I'm heading home straight
As the crow flies tonight
IV
Whats the Matter
All I had to do was smile at a stranger
Before she put a kiss on my cheek
It made me hate my face cuz I dont wanna
Fall in and out of love in a week
Whats the matter with having a heart of gold?
Cuz Id only throw a heart of stone back in the sea
Dont you know Ill never let my heart grow cold
Its all I have to wear upon my sleeve
All I had to do was charm her for a minute
Before she fell in love with me
But when I took her hand she ran away
They all doubt my sincerity
Whats the matter with having a heart of gold?
Cuz Id only throw a heart of stone back in the sea
Dont you know Ill never let my heart grow cold
Cuz thats whats the matter with you and youre the matter with me
Whats the matter with having a heart of gold?
Cuz Id only throw a heart of stone back in the sea
Whats the matter with you babe, aint you got no soul?
V
Cold Sore Smile
I cant stand to be satisfied and I refuse to be content
Like when makin it has left me dry and my moneys all been spent
And you say to me Im only lookin at you to see if youre looking at me
I tell you maybe youre right but its all I can see
I dont want no satisfaction
Ill just trust my gut reaction
I cant stand no satisfaction
I dont need your fatal attraction
And you say to me Im only lookin at you to see if youre looking at me
I tell you maybe youre write but its all I can see
And if you think that Im a dictionary definition of narcissism now
Well you know what baby, thats ok by me
Cuz Id rather take you a ride
Than take you on the floor
Cuz though you got bedroom eyes
It comes as no surprise
To see that youve got cold sores in your smile
Cuz though you got bedroom eyes
It comes as no surprise
To see that youve got cold sores in your smile
VI
Before They Bury You
Well I aint afraid of nothing
Since I saw the reaper man
One hand was tapping on a tombstone for me
The other full of sand
And I saw the grains run away like my time
To say goodbye to these lazy days Ive lead
So if you see me cursing my life again
You know I cant be sad if you aint sorry when Im dead
When these dreams gave away I embraced the day
And cast away the buzzards over my bed
I thought I held on to the stars in the dawn
I held a handful of dust instead
And Ive buried five hundred bodies in my time
And Ill tell you one things true
They put a shovel in your hand
Hold your breath and bless the sand
Where you must make your stand
Before they bury you
VII
Song Sans Couer
There aint no sense complainin
Bout the forty days of rainin
so I guess Ive got nothing to say
But I cant keep myself from bitchin
Bout my trigger finger itchin
Cuz I ran out of songs to play
But God dont disregard the wanton wishes that we make
He took my baby through the back door
But he left me my guitar
So I can sing this song so heartlessly
Your heartbeats getting heavy
Ebb and flowin on the levee
And the flood gates gonna burst
Liquor flask is empty
But the river couldnt sate me
Like the sweat of your breast can quench my thirst
But theres not enough at stake
The second hands spinning but the hours late
I dont think Im gonna wait for you to come
Cuz Im not the first to curse the rising sun
Learn to conjugate your body language
To relate you to the airs that you affect so well
Run from the parole board
Forty miles to the border
Just for one last night out of the holding cell
On the bayou never buy you
Everything that you want
I married you in Mexico but you put the ring in hock
And I caught you in the devils compromise
As you caught him in the clutches of your eyes
Theres been a murder in the French Quarter tonight
Blood dilutes the liquor in the drainpipes
We lost the cops amidst the Mardi Gras parade
Through the juke joints and the graveyards where we made our getaway
And divvied up the money in the Everglades
Theres no need to be forgiven
Not a single mistake was made
Id forgotten all about it, till you turned to me and sighed
And asked me nonchalantly if that man deserved to die
And I know that you still love him by the heartache in your eyes
As the river drowned the delta I watched you choke on my reply
I said what makes me so superior is I have no heart to give
And your first mistake and your last is thinkin any man deserves to live
VIII
Hate money
No rocking on the docks
No Dokken on the rocks
All you rockers in your dockers
You can take a walk right off
Dont bore us get to the chorus
Before you whore yourself outright
A chord is not a product
A notes no copyright
Aint it funny got no money
But my dispositions sunny
Though my nose is red and runny
And even though my honey
Dont look like a Playboy bunny
I know she doesnt love me for my money
So keep walkin on by raising your gaze above my eye
I wanna see the way that youll look when you go down
Ill see you someday soon, a late summer afternoon
When the ghost trains got the goons goin to the ghetto
Get out on that street tonight and strut
Your moneymaker shaking
Taking faking naked making money
But youre giving away all your honey
And thats the price you pay for your money
It aint funny
I hate money
So keep buying your shares when theyre low
Making your deals while youre high
Sublimate your money talking nothing but hot air
Just one kiss one last cigarettes
More than a dividend or a poker chip
If its the last thing you knew you would ever have
Ive been slaving for the sultan all my life for no money
It aint right, it aint funny making money for the man to take away, again
Money is not the means to its own end
So keep selling your wares
Shaking down the disenfranchised heirs
Whisper me sweet liquid LSD
Because we drove across the nation in our parents station wagon
Waiting for another lame interpretation of Uncle Johns Incorporated
I didnt come her tonight to make money or give it away
I hate money, Ive got no place to stay and no money
Got no money, were going anyway
Atlantic City down the Garden State Parkway so sunny
Aint it funny making money the old fashioned way
Just for suckers anyway
I hate money
IX
Scarlet
Youve gotta move, rock the groove
Tell me what youre trying to prove
Get out of your seat, get on your feet
Without a beat youre incomplete
Youve gotta feed your beating heart
And theres no better way to start
Than to shake it as the little world around you falls apart
Youve gotta dance
In a trance
Take a chance
On sweet romance
Youve gotta dance motherfucker
In a trance motherfucker
Take a chance try your luck
On sweet romance with Rhett Butler
Whos gonna milk this cow Miss Scarlet
Whos gonna make it right
Whos that in the hall Miss Scarlet
Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe
I used to see you standing on terra firma darling
Youre on Shermans terra cotta now
No more cavaliers and cotton no more petticoated bottoms
In the cinders of the Old South
Look away, look away, look away Miss Scarlet
Dixie dont want you to see her this way
Look away, look away, Look away Miss Scarlet
Tomorrow is another day
Youve gotta dance
In a trance
Take a chance
On sweet romance
Youve gotta dance miss Scarlet
In a trance like a harlot
Take a chance dont you wanna
Let the bees out of your bonnet
Rhyming for the sake of the rhyme
Trying to keep it in time
Find the right amount of syllables to fit in a
Line up for the time of life
Ill never make you my wife
Ill get down on my knees and
Ease your trouble and strife
X
Love Through the Looking Glass
If I fell for reflections
I would have been spared
From all the futile serenades Ive sung
All the desperate pleading Ive done
With shopping mall sweethearts in back seats of cars
Beneath trellises and balconies by the light of the stars that
Stream through the strands of a pretty girls hair
If love were a looking glass
I would have seen the disgrace
Of themselves that the Romeos make
When they drop to their knees and let their hearts ache
In vain for her vanitys sake
Reflected in the echoes of laughter they leave
In the lines on a pretty girls face
If the love songs and sonnets had a lesson to learn
Its that love lasts as long as its never returned
Perhaps Narcissus knew best when he let his heart burn
For a face cast in pools and in puddles and in pretty girls eyes.
XI
Perfection
You ran the race to perfection
But you lost the election
You spoke with inflection
And you burned with convection
Though you asked for direction
You didnt pass her inspection
She still had an objection
When you gave her affection
You aint felt such dejection
Since your grad school rejection
All your debts in collection
And you lost your connection
You read the market projections
In the business section
Youve got acute detection
But make ugly selections
You study reflections
And curse your defections
All the candy confections
Getting to your complexion
Your muscles in flexion
Your lost introspection
Its always abjection
Without interjection
And youve got prude circumspection
But such crude predilections
You cant get an erection
Cuz you caught an infection
Down in penal correction
You led the con insurrection
But you got witness protection
Instead of lethal injection
Youve gotta earn your respect
Shunning all your regrets
And you can never forget
That perfections a myth
XII
Tonight, Toledo
Ive always been restless
Ive never been mean
Because I live between all of the extremes
Im from the Midwest
Cant say its the best
But Ive put my mettle to the test
And now Ive seen the rest
I must confess
That I was not impressed
When I blew the curve on every little test
So let me make my stand and play my hand
Allow me to get on thing off my chest
Let me feel the first taste of success
Cuz were going nowhere fast
Were gonna end up in body casts
Weve got bodies that were built to love
They werent built to last
Tonight, Toledo
Tomorrow Toledo
Toledos where we dont belong
One more night getting loaded and
Barreling down Reynolds Road
It aint right, wont you tell me Im wrong
Now Im falling out of rhythm
I cant find a beat
When did I learn to look away
From Everyone I meet
When did I learn that trying
Is the first step to defeat
I used to be the favorite son of these desolate suburban streets
And I could have been a contender in your sheets
But were going nowhere fast
Were gonna end up in body casts
Weve got bodies that were built to love
They werent built to last
Tonight, Toledo
Tomorrow Toledo
Toledos where we dont belong
One more night getting loaded and
Barreling down Reynolds Road
It aint right, wont you tell me Im wrong
You told me how dangerous it is to drink and drive
But you dont know how dangerous it is to be alive
Get on your knees and pray for us
We wont stand the test of time
One hundred percent chance of cancer
We all will fail to thrive
But just because its boiling
Doesnt mean its hot
Just because Im out of touch
Doesnt mean youre not
Someone gave us everything
And we sure have got a lot
Just because were spoiled doesnt mean well rot
Tonight, Toledo
Tomorrow Toledo
XIII
Omni ex nihilo
This page is blank
This pen is bursting
But my mind is thirsting
For a thought
I think Ill pack it in
And head out for a drink
And drink to give me
Nothing else to think about
But the nothing that surrounds us
All in all its all-involving doubt
I aint no visionary
Im just writing my own obituary
Cause of death: lust, lethargy, and loneliness
Ive known the godliest of whores
Been cornered by the wastedest of bores
Crawled on vast and vacant shores
Into a sunset I cant see because Im looking behind me
At the wreckage of my life when I lived blindly
Without one single souvenir left to remind me
Stare up at the stars enough and soon youll find me
Think of me kindly
This page is full
My heart is bursting
But my pen is thirsting for some ink
I think Ill step outside
because I could use some time to think
Another drink wont make it easier to live without
The chance to hold you in my arms
And watch all of these dissolving doubts
I aint no Casanova
Im just asking you if youll come over
You alone make the time fly
And stand stone still and the same time
Ive been living way too fast
Running from an inescapable past
And though this moment too will pass
Under the enchantment that you cast
It can last forever
So before you break this spell and tell me never
Lets cherish this sweet awkward time together
Wont you look at all the nothing Ive got to offer
All prophecy with non-existent profit
Not a thing that you could use or save
None of the false sense of security you crave
Nothing but your name on an early grave
Nothing but cheap wine and poetry
Nothing but your immortality.
XIV
Scorpio Rising
I love the way you make the bed shake when you laugh
I just wish that we could lie on it alone
And I breathe a little deeper darling when you pass
Because your scents the only sense of you Ill know
At least while were in school you know
Weve got to play it cool you know
But each time you turn the cards over
The outcome is the fool and so
Were crossing every line
And heeding every sign
Youre all I thought Id never find
And much more than I had in mind
If loving you is such a crime
Then put a little hemlock in my wine
Shoot me 37 times
Slice my veins till they run dry
Gouge out a kidney and an eye
Tie me to a railroad line
Break my heart and crush my spine
Just let me lie in the grass
and watch the stars as they pass in the sky
and lie in wait to die on the day
when you finally make up your mind
I love the way you love the way I love the way
You look when the morning meets your face
Would you love it if I told you that your scars are stars
In constellations in space
When Scorpio is rising
A new dawns on the horizon
As Venus fades in the coming morn
The phoenix dies and is reborn
So were parting at the dawn
And I hope this day wont last too long
Though the sun it may divide us
The moon it will abide us
And this chariot will guide us to
Whatever little heaven we can find
As we cross the stars tonight
Let me touch you one more time
Your face, your breast, your heart, your spine
Though were haunted by the past
Dont be convinced that this wont last
As long as your name traced in snow
Under the clouds as they cast
Their shadows on two diverging paths
That make it far too hard for you to make up your mind
XV
Out With the Old . . .
I needed a god
To tell me what to do
You needed a messiah
To make a sacrifice for you
With all your rules and regulations
You are like a testament of old
Ill find punishment but never salvation
Another idol made of flesh and bone
Ive lived according to your covenant.
I lived to glorify your name
Though Ive given you the best I have to offer
Youve forsaken me the same
Im nailed, impaled on love
Crucified by beauty
Cuz it took too long to figure you out
While you could see right through me
For too long Ive been wandering in the wilderness
For too long Ive been holding back the flood
And Im not saying that Im blameless
Im the one who got us lost in the desert of your love
And your bodyd be the promised land
I could taste your milk and honey
But I couldnt ever dare to come inside
Though your words were wise for a while
Theres something youve overlooked
Because you havent read the second half of the book
Im nailed, impaled on love
Crucified by beauty
It took too long to touch you
But you just cut right through me
Now a new testaments been written
An atonements made in blood
You could stand very well to listen
And learn to turn your cheek instead of hardening your heart
Ive been to hell and back for your love
And thats a fact you must concede my love
Ill forgive for you know not what youre guilty of
Ive spent thirty-three years with a cross on my back so I could give you heaven above
Im nailed, impaled on love
Crucified by beauty
Ive seen enough of your vengeance
What happened to your mercy?
