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Dust
You lean your teeth against the rail and push
You close your eyes and let the sewage wash
Over and into every blessed crack
Barely holding out for the coming sack
And that's just how it is, I hate to tell you, how it will be
And no-one's ever deserved more than you to be set free
The faint knocking of kingdom come
When only God knows what you've done
Sweet nothing in the desert sun
With the promise of a glass bead under your tongue
And that's just how it is, baby, how it will be
And no-one's ever deserved more than you to be set free
You could have been someone
But we had plans for you
Climb into the back seat
We'll all go smiling to
The dust, the dust, the dust, the dust
Master, I'm coming home
Master, we're on our way home
And that's just what he said, babe
When they pulled him from the car
"Do not cry for these children
It was written in the stars"
And that's just how it is, baby, how it will be
And no-one's ever deserved more than me to be set free
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St Paul of the Tarantulas
Oh St Paul of the tarantulas
Take this one, she’s on fire
That moon is bleeding in a poison sky
Take us to the chapel of St Paul
Summon the minstrels of the town
Bring us guitar, the organetto
The castanet, the horn and the drum
Now she is waking in a world we cannot see
Where the devils and the ghosts are writhing in the trees
Sweat from her brow is pooling in the sheets
She casts them off, staggers to the street
We gather in the square now, children
Cristina, drive out your poison
Cristina, drive it out or die
O tarantula, O tarantella
The men are weeping in the square now
Cristina, drive out your sin, child
Or die
Gods turn and laugh
There’s no respite from the past
It squats like a spider
In the shadow you cast
Gone, gone, the wasted days
Gone and gone all the useless prayers
Death, death, the rack and pail
Wrap her now in her father’s veil
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I Love You, Baby
Well, there ain’t no flies on me
When I saw that sun a-shining
I got off my dirty knees
Found a girl and asked her nicely (no)
Not a lot of hope to give
Just a little piece of darkness
Took a day to tie the knot
Strapped to the mast and sinking
Oh baby, I’m a pressured man
Burnt feet and frozen hands
But you help me understand
Ain’t nothing like making plans
And so I went there for you
Was nothing else I could do
Into the heart of the sun
You on the tip of my tongue
Well, there ain’t no flies on me
When the sun rose over Eden
And I saw your gentle face
I was like that saintly Stephen (Stephen)
Up go the wall around me
And the stones raining down
Now I’m dead for love and looking
Up at Lucy leaving town
Oh baby, I’m a one-eyed goat
With my hands ‘round my own throat
In a haze of plastic smoke
I’m rubbing out what I wrote
And now I’m burning for you
Nothing else I could do
Into the heart of the sun
You on the tip of my tongue
So help me, I ain’t lying
Can’t save me so don’t try
Just kiss me so you know
Why I’m always dressed for snow
When I’m pissing in the rain, I love you, baby
When I’m scrubbing out the stain, I love you, baby
When the feeling comes again, I love you, baby
But the songs they always end, baby
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Dog Stay Down
I watched the red clouds fold back behind the depot
Watched my own coat-tails disappear down the street
Left myself in the lurch but what was worse still
Was the look on Anna's face when I turned to concrete
Because I hadn't been to town, not since the pageant
I was sicker than a general at the sight of blood
But nature forced me on the wagon, now I'm rolling
Through the rain that's falling sadly on bad love
And oh, I'll be alright
If the dog stays down tonight
But if the gate's untended long
In the morning, in the morning I'll be gone
Oh, please forgive me for my bloated invocation
Of roses as a ruse to cover me
I'm bleeding like a pig into the water
Oh, when will I be free?
How could I let a submachine-gun tell my fortune
Or let me think that wanting was enough?
Like windfall fruit I'm coursing down the river
In the wake of insubordinate bad love
And oh, I'll be alright
If the dog stays down tonight
But if the gate's untended long
In the morning, in the morning I'll be gone
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(I’m Going Down To That) Hole In The Ground
I’m going down
To that hole in the ground
For my withered, wicked little Lords
I will die
This one’s for the motherland
I will never fail you
The chain, the saw, the rope
I will never let you down
I’ll meet you down there
When we’re done with the blowtorch and the razor
“Save yourself” they said
I just spat in their eyes
Said “Go on and do me a favour, I’m waiting
And now in the gloom
From the back of the room
Come now and take me
My senses forsake me
I’m open and wide
A curse on you and your rancid ancestors
Take your bloodless head, stick it in the oven
Come on, let’s get into it, let the drain run black
But I never will spill what I’ve got in my sack
And now in the gloom
From the back of the room
Come now and take me
My senses forsake me
I’m open and wide, I’m ready to die
No, no, no… yes! Yes! Yes!
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The Unrepentant Soldier
The Unrepentant Soldier
I’ve done a thousand things
Just as one might kill a fly
But there is nothing grieves me so
But that I cannot do ten thousand more
Anyway, as I lay dying
In the dappled lee of a linden tree
The wind commenced its groping
Of the heart-shaped leaves and they all turned to me
And they said “Brother, though you are dying
Do you not crave the blood of one more paisano?”
And my heart commenced its beating
As I raised up my flag for a last pump and flow
I, unrepentant soldier
With my dagger in my fist
Hell punish me for every shot I missed
Look now, over my carcass
Stands a lost little boy from the town down the stream
With a bucket and two wide lidless eyes
And a place in his heart that was dead from the start
And he bends and tilts his bucket
To receive as I fade the bouquet of my veins
And it’s done, the wheel is turning
It’s the same old refrain and it will come again
Oh, how the wind was howling
In the bright indifferent sky
There will be another face in Hell tonight
I, unrepentant soldier
Lie a-mouldering in the grave
But my soul is marching on
Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow, let it flow
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‘Til The Stream Runs Dry
I sway in an ill wind, now I see there’s a day coming
Darling, the stream is softly calling to me
And even as I sway I can feel overheard
The gods expiring
Now as the stomach’s torn from the waist of a body burning
Darling, I’m yearning for that milk of kindness
And even as I see my pathetic Calvary
I know I will be happy
‘Til the stream runs dry
Lord, I don’t want to die
But hang my up to dry
And I’ll cry “suffering”
No sooner had I convalesced than I went out to see
What misery I could collect and gather over me
Veronica, she wiped my face, Simon held my glass
I fell into the roses, lay weeping in the grass
Bend me down and lay me low, ravage me and let me go
A Judas and a saviour sucking on the same stone
I came to the arid gulch, moonlight in the cold garden
When I tell you the rain came down like nails…
‘Til the stream runs dry
Lord I don’t want to die
But hang me up to dry
And I’m nothing and no-one
And that’s what you get, yeah, that’s what you get
Hung up on the hill, ill wind blowing
Dark was the night, cold was on the ground
Bitter was the beauty of the stream that I had found
And I will be happy
And I will be happy ‘til the stream runs dry
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This Train
Our love is like an eighteen-wheeler rusting in the sun
Caligula’s on cognac, rasputin’s in the rum
Fascist boots are marching, drumming up the square
We look for God in nothing much, thank God that he’s not there
He’s all along the streets of London
All around that old new York
All along the streets of heaven
They walk, they walk, they walk, they walk, they walk
The search the destination, the gun the word for peace
The Mariana trench is slowly filling up with grief
Man I love the feeling, maybe I always will
When freedom sends the pigeons up oppression takes the kill
All along the streets of London
All around that old new York
All along the streets of heaven
They walk, they walk, they walk, they walk, they walk
This train is bound for glory
This train is bound for doom
This train is bound for nothing
And none too soon
Our love is like a corporation dying on the vine
Don’t feel sorry for me, it happens all the time
Bodies to be broken, wisdom to be choked
Hang the upper management who gave you all that rope
All along the streets of London
All around that old new York
All along the streets of heaven
They walk
Don’t lose yourself
To everyone else
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Wild Bill
Now we all know that story
The one we like so much
Of a man that you cannot kill
Well, his gun is his word
And he goes with the birds
And his name is Wild Bill
He has the measure of the beast
That thing from way out East
Where the maidens fall
Like firecracker trees
For the West is the best
In life and no death
And Bill is bringing nature to her knees
When the day comes he’ll be ready
Locked and loaded, hand is steady
In the night-time, fire burning
Through the darkness Bill returning
Love him in the morning
Love him in the evening
Love him when his chickens all come home
All the women at the Ivy
And the old folks going politely
They make young Wild Bill feel so alone
Now he’s riding in the desert
Pistol on his hip
Thunder rolling heavy on his trail
Fear is the spring
Of sex, war, everything
And the reason Bill is riding for the grail
When the day comes he’ll be ready
Locked and loaded, hand is steady
In the night-time, fire burning
Through the darkness Bill returning
Now you know what I want to hear
Say my name…
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Mosquito
One crack from the suffering whip
When the flags have fallen still
Filled up with the armistice
Of a flower on the windowsill
How are you finding
This one-horse-town of Earth?
My baby left me, etcetera
The blue trees are aching through the dirt
And in the morning
When the whistle cuts the still
And my friend the ever-lover
Says he does and always will
Mosquito, helicopter coming around
Death from above, oh my love, oh my love
Hangdog in the afternoon
Where the pictures stain the walls
Hats off to the medicine
Now screening all your calls
How are you finding
This tricky task of Lot?
Know what to leave behind
And what to price and flog
And in the evening
When a whistle stills the scene
All rise for the spotlessness
Of the Atlantian dream
Mosquito, helicopter coming around
Death from above, oh my love, oh my love