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It's the age of reason
for the anarchist
It's a change of venue
for the lobbyist
It's a dream of justice
buried in the grist
It's a secret briefing
based on need to know
It's a condescending rationale
from a command control
Feel the sense of wonder
at the overthrow
It's a rite of passage
through a hurricane
Through a rolling thunder
through a screaming rain
Hear the shriek of Abel
hear the cry of Cain
And Abraham will take his son
Five billion years from now
the cruelty will be done
Make a destination
Of the greater truth
Make 'em hang their heads
and eat their words
When you find the proof
This is all you're given
It's your only move
It's a rite of passage
for the everyman
To a higher ground
To a brighter light
To a promised land
You can feel the power
Of the master's hand
It's a rite of passage
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Well I wish I had a nickel
For every time I fell and blamed somebody else
I'd give a ton of money to the ones I've hurt
And I'd still be sittin' pretty well
I've spent years losin' touch of what's right and what's real
Caught up in these missions of my own
And you're tellin' me you think I've done so damn well
While we're sittin' here a thousand miles from home
There's a hole in your wisdom, a hole in your sky
Two holes in your head where the light's supposed to get by
Time to lock and load
Time to get control
Time to search the soul
And start again
So many times I've seen chances disappear
I hesitate and watch them slip away
Like the time I fail to spend with the ones I love
And it's gone as sure as yesterday
All these users and fakers, big time takers
Manipulating everyone they see
I get caught up in their schemes and their useless dreams
And the only one I have to blame is me
I get turned 'round and twisted, pulled left and right
I can see where I'm goin', but I can't see the light
Time to lock and load
Come in from the cold
Take a different road
And start again
I can sit here, in the back half of my life
And wonder when the other shoe will fall
Or I can stand up, point myself home
And see if I've learned anything at all
Anything at all
Mediocrity is easy, the good things take time
The great need commitment, right down the line
Time to lock and load
Come in from the cold
Pay these debts I owe
And start again
I've been down this road
I've seen things get old
Time to get control
And start it all again
Time to lock and load
Time to get control
Time to search the soul
And start again
I've been down this road
I've seen things get old
Stand up, get bold
And start it all again
Time to lock and load
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I was walkin' by the river
I held my hand out to feel the rain
Just a light rain
Almost a sun shower
Makin'all things shine again
And I felt like I belonged
I felt so strong
As I walked on
There was rhythm
And there was order
There was a balance
There was a flow
There was patience
Indulgence
There was a power
I could not know
And I felt it all made sense
The innocence
The permanence
I took my young son to the river
I held his hand out to feel the rain
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Shakey Davey's got a twelve gauge in his hand
It's sawed off to the limit
He's got a vague plan
There's this liquor store on Madison
There's another one down on Washington square
He's pretty sure no one's ever seen him
Down around there
The first one's birdshot the next four are double aught buck
The last one's a slug just for good luck
He's got his works in his pocket
He wants to score as soon as he's done
He can't wait to get straight to get long gone
He puts on his long coat scribbles off a short note
Sits himself down and waits for the sun to go down
It's right around midnight and there's still too damn many people on this street
He's walked all the way from Battery Park he's got sweaty hands and burnin' feet
He's desperate for a fix
His body's screamin' "Get me high"
He bursts through the door and lets one fly
Sunrise in the park and Davey's cold as stone
He got some bad merchandise and he was all alone
Two more unsolved mysteries a iot of paper pushed around
Most folks are just wakin' up in this great big town
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My old friend Sirius is riding high tonight
Shinin' down so bright on the harbor lights
I wonder I wonder
Who are these strangers on the street
Seekin' out the heat with their eyes cast down millin' around
I wonder I wonder
I wonder sometimes I wonder
There's a last boat comin' in ghosting on the wind
The moon across the bay lighting his way
I wonder It makes me wonder
What's it like out there tonight far from the city lights
Are your dreams the same
I wonder it makes me wonder
I wonder it makes me wonder
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It's A Mystery
How the heart beats
How the sun shines
How our eyes meet
It's A Mystery
lt's a wonder
How we keep from
Sinking under
It's A Mystery
All the nonsense
Set before us
Supposed to shock us
But it bores us
All the ennui
All the replays
All the rewrites
All the "can't says"
It's A Mystery
Electron guns fire images
They end in interstellar space
Within the year
And through it all
We dance and starve and
Burn and clear
It's A Mystery
How they con us
How they sneak til
They're upon us
All the anchors
With their helmets
Getting ratings
With their zealots
All the pundits
All the salesmen
Setting snake oil
To the nation
All the specials
Every rerun
All the penguins
Getting well-done
It's A Mystery
It's A Mystery
How the heart beats
How the sun shines
How our eyes meet
It's A Mystery
It's a wonder
How we ever
Find each other
It's A Mystery
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I saw them standing on a corner
Bathed in ordinary light
They turned away and started walkin'
And faded off into the night
Some years ago they were in fashion
Tonight they couldn't get a seat
They've got themselves a brand new history
From Revisionism Street
Written on Revisionism Street
The years of sacrifice and struggle
The arc of stardom's natural course
The inevitable decline
The wolves waiting at the door
"Let's dig up something really nasty"
"Let's get some clay around their feet"
"No ones memory is sacred 'round here
On Revisionism Street"
"We'll never be in the arena"
"Hey, we'll never have to compete"
"We'll never write a classic novel"
"And we'll never have to be discreet!"
Alfred Hitchcock, Isaac Newton
Elvis Presley, Captain Bligh
They're heroic or pathetic
Depending on which book you buy
Charles Dickens, Jackie Gleason
Burn 'em all, turn up the heat
If there's no truth, use innuendo
this is Revisionism Street
"Let's find ourselves some old acquaintance"
"Let's see what they have to say"
"Some disgruntled ex-employee"
"Presto! Payday!"
A tree falls in the forest
A million copies go to print
Some parasitic little feeder
Sits back and makes a mint
Somewhere a baby's softly sleeping
lt's innocence complete
Unaware they're workin' late tonight
On Revisionism Street
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Golden boy
Take your place
Among the stars
Light your fire
Cast your glow
Near and far
Mother's eyes
Warm you when you sleep
There's a tree
By a brook
In the glade
There's a wave
Off a cape
making way
Galaxies
Rush away from you
I'll be there
In the wind
In your sails
Through the clouds
Through the fog
Through the gates
I'll be there
Golden boy for you
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I was a rolling stone
But now I've come back home
I've given up that trail
I feel no need to fail
So take your midnight runs
I'm hangin' up the guns
I can't save you Angelene
This endless party scene
This weekend warriors dream
It's gotten stale for me
It doesn't set me free
You want a kindred soul
Someone to say let's go
I can't save you Angelene
You may find yourself out somewhere babe
Talkin' loud tellin' ties
Temptation's gonna get you girl
No surprise no surprise
I wanna get from here
I wanna get myself clear
I want the warm sun over me
Enter a guilty plea
Ah babe just walk away from me
I can't save you Angelene
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Words and music by tom waits
Plugged 16 shells from a thirty-aught-six
And the black crow flew through
A hole in the sky
And I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule
And I made me a ladder ftom a pawn shop marimba
And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree
Well I cooked them feathers on the iron spit
And I filled me a sachel full of old pig corn
And I beat me a billy from an old french horn
And kicked that mule to the top of the tree
Kicked that mule to the top of the tree
Blew me a hole 'bout the size of a kickdrum
And I cut me a switch from a long branch elbow
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-aught-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-aught-six
Well I slept in the hotter of a dry creek bed
And I tore out the buckets from a red corvette
Tore out the buckets from a red corvette
Lionel, dave and the butcher made three
You got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinny bone tree
With the strings of a washburn
Stretched like a clothesline
You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole
Me and that mule scrambled right through the hole
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells ftom a thirty-aught-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-aught-six
Now I hold him prisoner in a washburn jail
And I strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
Strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
Bang on the strings just to drive him crazy
And I strum it toud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-aught-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow 16 shells from a thirty-aught-six
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Out on those trails
Out 'neath that sky
Rivers of old
Still rushing by
Eagles still soar
White mountains loom
Down in those valleys
West of the Moon
West of the stars
Far from the chase
Far from the crowds
Far from the pace
Horses run free
Winter comes soon
Out by those mountains
West of the Moon
And everywhere
Everywhere
Wild things are free
Free in the wind and the sun
Everywhere
Everywhere
As it should be
Left on their own while they run
Out by those mountains
West of the Moon
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I've seen two time losers running everywhere
Shouting and screamin', "I was never there!"
With their hands in the air
Hands in the air
I've seen bad news messengers avoiding kings
Cheating spouses twisting their rings
With their hands in the air
Oooh, got their hands in the air
As guilty as the wind out on the sea
Affecting who we are and who we'll be
There's a desperation, a real despair
Even the good people are starting to declare
I've got my hands in the air
Ah my hands are in the air
They're surrendering, they're giving in
They'll do anything not to go through this again
They've got their hands in the air
Ooh, their hands in the air
And they're sinking in the quicksand like a stone
Broken to the marrow of the bone, oh
The dealers are dividing up their tips
The gamblers, they're all cashin' in their chips
There's a man in the middle of a parking lot
Wondering which way he should go
There's a star on the horizon
Sinking low, low
All you death wish addicts, you corrupters of truth
You killers of the spirit, you marauders of youth
Get your hands in the air
I want to see your hands in the air
If you're selling these lies, these impossible dreams
You can keep on washin' but you'll never get clean
Get your hands in the air
Let me see your hands in the air
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