Badlees--River Songs


Angeline is Coming Home


Her parent's house exudes a reborn air
The bathtub virgins in the midnight air
Seem to smile in celebration
What an intercession
All inertia washed away

CHORUS
Resplendent in dignity
Angeline is coming home

I'd fantasize her clean and home again
The quintessential reverie free of pain
Just to keep from going crazy
While the cracks had claimed her
And now that fantasy sustained

CHORUS

The beautiful acquaintance
I desired has inspired me
To levels unforeseen
True admiration for someone who's
Made it back from the hell she was in

When do I see her?
What said when I do?
Do I let fantasized ideals come through?
To hear her laugh at my hyperbole
Would send me....
It's nice to have her home and whole

CHORUS



Fear of Falling


Last night I dreamt of flying
Over hillsides in the snow
And I dove down through the clouds
Into the valley there below
When the fields turned into parking lots
My freedom turned to dread
The ground rose up to greet me
And I jumped up out of bed

You can fly, fly, fly
Off to anywhere you choose
You can try, try, try
But eventually you'll lose
It seems there's always something
Tryin' to bring a good man down
I have no fear of falling
But I hate hitting the ground

Searchin' through my sofa
tryin' to find some extra change
I thought that I knew everything
'Til everything changed
Now I'm standing on an island
That is sinking into the sea
And all that I can do
Is just enjoy the scenery

Well you can fly, fly, fly
Off to anywhere you choose
you can try, try, try
But eventually you'll lose
They say a man hears sweet, soft music
Just before he drowns
I have no fear of falling
But I hate hitting the ground

You and I have politics
There's lines that we don't cross
And we live happily ever after
Inside this little box
But you just can't take a lion
And throw him into a cage
And expect him to be thankful
For the shelter that you gave

Well you can fly, fly, fly
Off to anywhere you choose
you can try, try, try
But eventually you'll lose
The more you try to cling to me
The less I'll stick around
I have no fear of falling
But I hate hitting the ground



Angels of Mercy


CHORUS
There must be angels of mercy
Lookin' down on me
'Cause when I lok up to the sky
I swear I see
Angels of mercy lookin' down on me

Well, I know what I know
And you know what you know too
And I know that you know
Exactly what I think of you
And if I were you and you were me
I wouldn't blame you for not liking me
Even though we aren't enemies

CHORUS

Time can have a way of changin'
Everything you think is right
And time can have a way takin'
Everything you hold too tight
So you search for explanations
And you find some now and then
While the angels
They're gettin' impatient
With your experiments

CHORUS

I believe there's a power of healing
That comes with experience
I believe in believing you feelings
Even when they make no sense
But I believe that the way I'm going
I'm gonna end up too soon dead
Well, when asked to give my reasons
This is what I said

I might have used my education
If I gave a shit
I night have spoke for my generation
If I agreed with it
Now some say that I've gone crazy
But I ain't gone nowhere
Some say I'm apathetic, man
But I don't care
I admit that I'm a loser
I admit that I am scum
I admit I like cheap beer and women
As much as anyone
I don't worry about the future
Who knows what that will bring
I just wait to see what happens
And I pretend I planned the whole thing
So let's see what tomorrow brings

CHORUS 2X




Queen of Perfection

Well I take off my shoes
When I walk in her door
And try my best to levitate
'Cross her living room floor
'Cause you can't leave tracks
When you're on hollowed ground
She'll just make you sweep'em up
Like you're being hunted down

CHORUS
She's the queen of perfection
Everybody knows why
She's the queen of perfection
And she's soon gonna die

She says, "your body is a temple, boy
You ought to treat it well
But you trash the place and rent it out
Like it's some cheap motel"
Then she takes away my plate
Before I've finished my meal
And works on my hygiene
Against my will

CHORUS

Well, Marie Antoinette, she said
"Let 'em eat cake"
While she should have been planning
Her own damn escape
Now I smile 'cross the table
At my lady supreme
Knowin' that her coffee's laced
With Mr. Clean

CHORUS 2X





Bendin' the Rules

Pity my brother
For how he's suffered me
Through nameless towns
And cold prairie
For restless women
At the end of the line
Who tendered checks for
A promise divine
Cash as quick as "vegas"
Like "vegas" in a dream
I work this charismatic ruse
For my brother's peace and being
Sittin' tight in moline
The money on the bed
With every memory sharp to me
And the fear of times ahead

CHORUS
Maybe the good book
Came from the divine
Or maybe it was written
Just to keep us in line
The mistakes of the sages
Make the rules for the fools
So father forgive me
For bendin' the rules...

Well, mister he improved some
With the money I scammed
Some days his light shines as bright
As the light of the promised land
Death was often something
We freely would discuss
When he was ten and I was twelve
And the spectre would often brush
In and out of treatments
Since twenty months of age
At eighteen the insurance
No longer would maintain
And my old man in the kitchen
His hands upon his face
Did weep to shake his very soul
In the darkness of this place

CHORUS

Hold me Saint Christopher
Over every county line
Overlook my blasphemy
For the sake of buying time
Grant him days of laughter
Bestow me clemency
He sleeps soft in the back seat
His freedom from ordeal
To every ruddy youngster
Off free in summer's fields
And every young lass poised to claim
Her share of what love yields
To all the grieving angels
And the litany of saints
I am my brother's keeper
To what end decides the fates

CHORUS




Gwendolyn


Gonna paint a picture
Gonna put it in a frame
So I can show you how I'm feelin'
Without having to explain
And you can hang it from you ceiling
In your safe and happy home
When you come to understand it
You'll know you're not alone

Once upon a time
We could speak our minds

CHORUS
But now I don't believe you gwendolyn
I don't believe you're all that strong
I don't believe you know the dangers
Of this road you're travlin' on
You're always asking questions
That you know the answers to
Tell me please
What do you want from me

Gonna write a song
Gonna tell it like it is
And if you recognize yourself
I know you're going to be pissed
And if you call me on it
I'll deny it through and through
Just like woody allen would
If he were in my shoes

Once upon a time
I could speak my mind

CHORUS

Gonna write a letter
Gonna mail it to myself
Sincerely and forever
You and yours can go to hell
Well, the I'll put it in my pocket
So when this all comes crashing down
I'll have a way to show you
How long I've been wearing down

Once upon a time
We could speak our minds

CHORUS 2X




Ore Hill

Well, he died at 39
Some kinda pill and homemade wine
He left his english bride
And a love he couldn't deny behind
Folks have come to say
He nearly gave the land away
He couldn't understand
How a man could own the land anyway

CHORUS
When the grandpa had had his fill
He'd take a walk up old ore hill
To the land of a thousand shadows
And things would come around

From the day that he was born
The mountain had been his home
He'd sit late afternoon
Watch the shadowsreach the moon alone
Then shewanakw-nan came
And things began to change
He dealt against his will
And moved down off the hill ashamed

CHORUS

Well, he died at 39
Glad to leave this world behind
Tired of holding on
To a place he didn't belong
To find...

That grandpa had lost his will
To take a walk up old ore hill
To the land of a thousand shadows
And things would come around

CHORUS




Nothing Much of Anything


You've got a right to be angry
You've got a right to complain
But just being right
Ain't gonna change anything
You want understanding
Without saying a word
You want admiration
Even though it's undeserved

It ain't no secret
Time took it's toll
I can't believe it
We're gettin' old

One of us should stand up
One of us should scream
One of us should step out
And say just what he means
one of us should say
just what it is wr're fighting for
but no one says nothing much
of anything no more

we all have defenses
and opinions to sell
we all have our methods
of defending ourselves
but there's nothing as lifeless
as a tree that don't bend
there's nothing as worthless
as a fair weathered friend

it ain't no secret
time took it's toll
i can't believe it
we're gettin' old

one of us should get up
one of us should say
one of us should get out
of the other one's way
one of us should face up
to what no one can ignore
but no one does nothing more
of anything no more

i am he as you are he
as you are me, but we just disagree
now i ain't anything

and it's a world full of anger
it's a world full of pain
it's a world full of people
lookin' for someone else to blame
but it don't make no difference
if it don't make no sense
'cause the world goes on a changing
with or without our consent

it ain't no secret
time took it's toll
i can't believe it
we're gettin' old

if one of us was angry
if one of us was sad
if one of us was guilty
it might not be that bad
if one of us was anything
we might know something more
but no one is nothing much
of anything no more




Song for a River


he was the king of the back seat
of drunk reverie
saw him escorted out of a mets game
on network t.v.
kept his head in the clouds
with any cheap high he could cull
in his cancered impala
and his hog shirts
and his head tapes played dull
he lived in a company house
in the pardeesville woods
with a stir crazy dog
and a graveyard of old "jimmy" hoods
sundays we'd run for his stash
at the new york state line
that summer when moments of
circumstance altered like wine

CHORUS
this is for the man
this is for the days that we killed
was it my wind of change
or just a breeze at the top of the hill
he didn't talk the gold ring
he just schemed for a skeleton key
but when you think you met thunder
you only see what your head wants to see

he threw back-mountain parties
five deep at the "well"
with his girlfriend, louise, who'd get lit
and tell us all "go to hell"
then he'd get liquored up
and throw me his keys and yell "drive"
with him and louise in the back
doin' "american pie"
he'd talk of out west over beer
and the garbage that we ate
'bout the punk band he'd managed
in phoenix in '78
i was this kid of sixteen the enamored
impressionable kind
in the poetic pull of the passion
of life with the lines

CHORUS

he just disappeared that mid-august
not even a shout
then i read in the news that september
that his time had run out
how he tried to outrun a state trooper
down 93 south
a charge of possession is why he fled
said word of mouth
the paper said nothin' was left
but the seats and the frame
and i read in the write-up
for the first time his real name;
birthplace unknown, not from nowhere
no close family
just a wild running river
that cut it too fast to the sea

i still raise a glass once a year
on the night that he died
though hindsight says
he only let me believe that we'd ride
lord, he still taps a vein in my mind
like a summer rain cools
long after that river ran dry
and reality ruled

CHORUS 2X




I Liked You Better when You Hated Yourself

we used to drink our bacardi
behind the old house
and bitch about dream
that would never come true
then you heard a callin'
that i hadn't felt
I liked you better
when you hated yourself

now you spend lots of time
at that natural food place
buyin' fresh block of tofu
just like mom used to make
you kicked your bad habits
you're in perfect health
but i liked you better
when you hated yourself

change, it came a blowin'
like we never met
your inner child and you play games
that i just don't get
somewhere it's written
that this too shall pass
but lately you've just been
a pain in the ass...

ask me if i care
well, i guess i still do
friends don't come easy
even assholes like you
and that shrink of yours
she can go straight to hell
i liked you better
when you hated yourself

last time i saw you
you were on donahue
discussing your book
and everything you've been through
now you've got your glamour
your fame and your wealth
but i still liked you better
when you hated yourself.

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