John Mellencamp Album

When Jesus left Birmingham
All the disciples went crazy.
When Jesus left Birmingham
All the people went completely nuts.
They all busted out on a wild night
Riding high on a golden calf.
When Jesus left Birmingham
All the people had themselves a big long laugh.

Well my girl, she's a walker
And she can talk herself out of any mess.
My girl, she don't pray
But somehow she seems still to be blessed.
And when those crazy nights come callin',
Man, she'll dance on the tables
Like all of the rest.
When my girl left Birmingham
She was doing what she thought was best.

It's all free on the inside.
I passed a very uncomfortable feeling last night.
Save us right now, we need you...
To hell with all the lies and liars.
Recovery, recovery, I don't know about any recovery.
Inside, gotta get inside,
Inside.

I see myself with a rosary,
I'm in a garden and I'm talking to myself.
I ain't sayin' much worth repeating,
Just askin' for forgiveness and all of his best.
When those crazy nights come callin',
Man, I'm just as human as I can be.
When Jesus left Birmingham
He left it there for you and me.
When Jesus left Birmingham
He left it there for you and me.

So let it rock, let it roll,
Let the Bible Belt come and save my soul.
[Repeat out.]

They call me Junior.
I live here on the street.
I earn two hundred dollars a week.
I'd like to say
"Hey, thanks a lot."
I know I'm missin' something
But I don't know what it is
That I don't got.

I sit here watchin'
The people down below.
I try to imagine
The places they may go.
I don't know.
I stay home a lot.
I know I'm missin' something
But I don't know what it is
That I don't got.

I see the world through the TV Guide,
What a safe place for me to run.
What a small little man I am.
I'm afraid of everything
From golden rules to airplanes.
What a small little man I am.

They call me Junior.
I'm caught up in this hell.
Sometimes I feel better
But I never do feel well.
Jesus must have one hell of a plan for me.
I know I'm missin' something
But I don't know what it is
That I don't got.

And if I have anything to say
About judgment day
There'll be a crown in heaven
For those who live this way.
Anyway,
You know exactly who you are.

I see the world through the TV Guide,
What a safe place for me to run.
What a small little man I am.
I'm afraid of everything
From the golden rule to airplanes.
What a small little man I am.

They call me Junior.
I live here on the street.
I earn two hundred dollars a week.
I'd like to say
"Hey man, thanks a lot"
My name is Junior

This land today, shall draw its last breath
And take into its ancient depths
This frail reminder of its giant, dreaming self.
While I, with human-hindered eyes
Unequal to the sweeping curve of life,
Stand on this single print of time.

Human wheels spin round and round
While the clock keeps the pace.
Human wheels spin round and round
Help the light to my face.

That time, today, no triumph gains
At this short success of age.
This pale reflection of its brave and
Blundering deed.
For I, descend from this vault,
Now dreams beyond my earthly fault
Knowledge, sure, from the seed.

Human wheels spin round and round
While the clock keeps the pace.
Human wheels spin round and round
Help the light to my face.

This land, today, my tears shall taste
And take into its dark embrace.
This love, who in my beating heart endures,
Assured, by every sun that burns,
The dust to which this flesh shall return.
It is the ancient, dreaming dust of God.

Human wheels spin round and round
While the clock keeps the pace.
Human wheels spin round and round
Help the light to my face.
Human wheels spin round and round
While the clock keeps the pace.
Human wheels spin round and round
Help the light to my face.

No songs on the stereo
That we could sing with anymore.
No dance that I can do
That would not embarrass you.
A sound bite here and there
With no reason for me to care.

It's just beige to beige,
That's all it is these days,
Little windows for you to crawl through.
You just do what's expected of you.
It's just beige to beige to beige
These days.

Uniforms for this and that,
To be in our club you must wear this hat.
Charlie's gonna look out for you,
You just do what you're supposed to do.
You're gonna fit in here
Just like you should.
Learn the rules and learn them good.

It's just beige to beige,
That's all it is these days,
Little windows for you to crawl through.
You just do what's expected of you.
It's just beige to beige to beige
These days.

If you need a thought
We'll give it to you.
Our statistics show what we do is true.
A world without color
Is a world without sound,
A world to keep the rabble down.
So close the deal, close the door.
Forget about the colors that you knew before.

It's just beige to beige,
That's all it is these days, yeah,
Little windows for you to crawl through.
And Charlie gonna take care of you.
It's just beige to beige to beige
These days.

Tony Jones stabbed Alice Jones
On their first anniversary
Down in Dallas, Texas
In a small apartment
With nobody present.
He pulled out a knife
And he stuck it to her.
He left her bleeding
On the floor in the kitchen
With cake on her fingers
And her wedding ring holding.
In her hand was a note
That said the wicked must suffer
And he drove off quickly
To his girlfriend's apartment.
But who really suffers in the end?
It's easy enough for us to pretend that

Everything's all right with the family.
Everything is safe here at home.
Everything's all right with the family.
The beds are made but there's no sheets on.

From the courtroom stand
Tony said he was sorry.
That he was sad and mixed up,
And he didn't know what he was doing,
That he'd always loved Alice
And he begged for forgiveness.
So he threw himself
On the mercy of the jury
And he told how his father
Had beat and abused him
Back in grade school
In the basement den,
And that maybe prison
Was the best thing for him.
And he said, "Oh God, can you forgive me?" yeah
But who really suffers in the end?
It's easy enough for us all to pretend that

Everything's all right with the family.
Everything is safe here at home.
Everything's all right with the family.
The beds are made but there's no sheets on.

How many days does it take to make us weak?
And how many hours do people spend lonely?
In the heart of the heart the family lay dying
The ruin of a nation lies at our feet, yeah.

Everything's all right with the family.
Everything is safe here at home.
Everything's all right with the family.
The beds are made but there's no sheets on.

Everything's all right with the family.
Everything is safe here at home.
Everything's all right with the family.
The beds are made but there's no sheets on.

Suzanne was the jewel keeper.
In a word she stole all the jewels
And she took them to a foreign land
Which was strictly against all the rules,
And she wore them all proudly
Like a tiara crown on her head.
She slept with them at night.
Suzanne and the jewels in a bed.

Suzanne and her jewels
Livin' on the edge of a friend.
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown from your head?

Suzanne lived down by the river,
The fountain of youth did flow
And she played on a steel guitar
And the drifters did come and they'd go.
And she'd put on her crown
And she'd sing them a song
And some drifters would stay here the night
But they never did stay long.

Suzanne and her jewels
Livin' on the edge of a friend.
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown from your head?

This girl flew on the wind,
She wrote her own name in the stars.
Just goes to show sometimes you win
No matter how crazy you are.
But a thief can come knocking
Even with blood on the door
And drink up your fountain of youth
And throw your jewels and your crown on the floor.


Suzanne and her jewels
Livin' on the edge of a friend.
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown from your head?

Suzanne and her jewels
Livin' on the edge of a friend.
Suzanne, how will you sleep at night
When they take that crown off your head?

I was loud and a little sad.
She was visiting from Atlanta, Georgia.
She had come to spend the summer with her dad.
I thought she was very pretty.
We would kiss and hold hands
Every night by the football field.
Her body was tan
From the afternoons by the public swimming pool.

Sweet evening breeze
Blows around my thoughts and memories.
As I lie here today
And drink my tea,
I can still see
Sweet evening breeze.

I saw her in a coffee shop
In a big hotel down in Austin, Texas.
She had cut her long hair off
And replaced it with
Blue eyes of sadness.
Still acted like we were kids
And she told me that she had to marry
And she asked me if I did
Still remember.

Sweet evening breeze
Blows around my thoughts and memories.
As I lie here today
And drink my tea,
I can still see
Sweet evening breeze.

How redundant the future can be.
These days of old are very, very
Ridiculous for me to see
When I think about the real gone stories
And how time holds the winning hand.
I can tell by the lines on our faces
And the young can't understand
That they look at me
When they look at themselves.

Oh, sweet evening breeze
Blows around my thoughts and memories.
As I lie here today
And drink my tea,
I can still see
Sweet evening breeze.

What if I came knocking
On your front door some night?
Would you open the window
And drop me down the key?
What if I came knocking
On your bedpost that same night?
Would you open up your heart
Or try to get the best of me?

What if I came knocking
On your brain the next day
And ask for your truth and your love and your honesty?
Would you build up your big walls
And try to hide behind that smile
Or would you try to pull the wool right over me?

So what if I came knocking?
So what if I came knocking?
So what if I came kicking
And it scared you a little bit,
And I came on strong
Would you think
That there's something wrong with me?
Or could it be your fears
Of trying something real
Or just afraid to touch
A guy like me?

What if I came knocking?
What if I came knocking?
What if I came knocking
On your front door some night? Ahh

So let's just say it worked out
Like a storybook dream
And we lived happily ever after.
Fa la la la.
But what if I came crying
After just a few weeks
And said I misread my heart,
This is not really meant to be? yeah

So if you hear some knocking
On your window tonight
You can bet that it's probably me.
But let it be known
That we're just a pair of tumbling dice
And the outcome of these crap shoots
Is hard to see.

So what if I came knocking?
So what if I came knocking?
So what if I came knocking
On your front door tonight? Ahh
So what if I came knocking?
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knocking
Kick, kick, kick
What if I came knocking
On your front porch tonight, tonight?

He was a good lookin' guy.
Stood about six foot three,
Long brown hair
As nice as he could be.
Everybody liked him
But he didn't have a clue,
He looked silly as hell
In those funny French shoes.

You know the type
Without any heels,
Leather soles,
Kind of a slip on deal.
He was cavalier
Whether he'd win or lose
But he looked silly as hell
In those funny French shoes.

I know it's not right
To judge a man by his clothes,
By the way that he looks
Or the people he may know.
I'm embarrassed to say
If I had to choose
I could never really trust
Any man wearing those funny French shoes.

Funny French shoes,
Funny French shoes,
No man should be wearin'
Those funny French shoes.
They look good on a woman's foot.
I must say that they do
But no guy should be wearin'
Those funny French shoes.

Get some socks on, man!

They are master and slave.
We are sunlight and shadow.
All roads to the river.
I am lost. I am saved.
I'm beloved and betrayed.
All roads to the river.

And the river runs wide,
And the river runs deep
And I spit in the eye
Of safe company.
When I dive right down
To the undertow
Well, the deeper I drown
Lord, the higher I'll go.

I am whispering dreams.
I am howling revolutions.
All roads to the river.
I am valentine sweet
And I live in this nightmare.
All roads to the river.
And the river runs wide,
The river runs deep
And I spit in the eye
Of safe company.
When I dive right down
To the undertow
Well, the deeper I drown
Lord, the higher I'll go.

This is nothing like we planned.
That's the way it's always been.
All roads to the river.
I have hated and I have loved.
I have prayed and I have sinned.
All roads to the river.

And the river runs wide,
The river runs deep
And I spit in the eye
Of safe company.
When I dive right down
To the undertow
Well, the deeper I drown
Lord, the higher I'll go.