The Garden Of Allah
It was a pretty big year for fashion,
a lousy year for rock and roll.
The people gave their blessing to crimes of passion
'twas a dark, dark night in the collective soul.
Now I was somewhere down on Riverside,
by the El Royale Hotel,
when the stranger appeared in a cloud of smoke,
I thought I knew him all too well.
He said, "Now that I have your attention,
I've got something I wanna say.
You may not want to hear it,
I'm gonna tell it to you anyway.
You know, I've always liked you boy
'cause you were not afraid of me.
But things are gonna get mighty rough
here in Gomorrah-by-the-sea."
He said, "It's just like home.
It's so damned hot I can't stand it.
My fine searsucker suit is all soakin' wet."
And the hills are burnin'
And the wind is ragin'
And the clock strikes midnight
in the Garden of Allah.
"Nice car...
I love those Bavarians...so meticulous.
Y'know I remember a time when things were a lot more fun around here.
When Good was good and Evil was evil.
Yeah, I was once a golden boy like you,
and I was summoned to the halls of Power in the heavenly court.
And I dined with the deities who looked upon me with favor
for my talents; my creativity.
And we sat beneath the palms in the warm afternoons and drank the wine
with Fitzgerald and Huxley.
And they pawned a biting phrase from tongues hot with blood.
And drained their pens of bitter ink,
vainly reaching for the bottle full of empty Edens.
Branded specially for the ones who had come with great expectations
to the perfumed halls of Allah
for their time in the sun.
And we were stokin' the fires
and oilin' up the machin'ry
until the gods found out
we had ideas of our own.
And the war was comin'
the Earth was shakin'
and there weren't no more room
in the Garden of Allah...
"Today, I made an appearance downtown.
I am an expert witness, because I say I am!"
And I said, "Gentleman, and I use that word loosely,
I will testify for you, I'm a gun for hire,
I'm a saint, I'm a liar
because there are no facts, there is no truth,
just data to be manipulated.
I can get you any result you like;
what's it worth to ya'?
Because there is no wrong, there is no right,
and I sleep very well at night.
No shame, no solution,
no remorse, no retribution.
Just people selling T-shirts,
just OPPORTUNITY to participate
in the pathetic little circus
and winning, winning, winning..."
It was a pretty big year for predators
the marketplace was on a roll,
and the Land of Opportunity
spawned a whole new breed of men without souls.
This year, noteriety got all confused with fame
and the Devil is down-hearted babe
'cause there's nothing left for him to claim.
He said, "It's just like home;
it's so low down I can't stand it!
I guess my work around here
has all been done."
And the fruit is rotten;
the serpent's eyes shine
as he wraps around the vine
in the Garden of Allah.