LYRICS

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LYRICS
 
The Werewolf
Milwaukee man led a fairly decent life
Made a fairly decent living
Had a fairly decent wife
She killed him—sushi knife
Now they’re shopping
For a fairly decent afterlife
 
The werewolf is coming
 
The fact is most obits are mixed reviews
Life is a lottery
A lot of people lose
And the winners, the grinners
With money-colored eyes
Eat all the nuggets
Then they order extra fries
 
The werewolf is coming
The werewolf is coming, you know
The werewolf’s coming
The werewolf’s coming
Yes, the werewolf is coming, Joe
I hear her howling
Prowling on the hill
The werewolf’s coming, Bill
 
Ignorance and arrogance
The national debate
Put the fight in Vegas
That’s a billion-dollar gate
Revenue: Pay-per-view
Should be pretty healthy
The usual deductions
Then it all goes to the wealthy
 
Still the werewolf’s coming
Yeah, the werewolf’s coming
 
I’m not complaining
Just the opposite, my friend
I know it’s raining
But we’re coming to the end of the rainbow
The lying and the spying are through
Oh! You don’t know me?
O.K. I don’t know you, too
 
The werewolf’s coming
Werewolf’s coming, oh
The werewolf’s coming
And a werewolf’s coming
The werewolf is coming, Joe
I hear her howling
Prowling on the hill
The werewolf’s coming, Bill
 
You’d better stock up on water
Canned-goods off the shelves
And loot some for the old folks
Can’t loot for themselves
The doorbell’s ringing
Could be the elves
But it’s probably the werewolf
It’s quarter to twelve
 
And when it’s midnight
And the wolf bites
It’s a full moon
She really got the appetite
 
The werewolf’s coming
The werewolf
The werewolf
 
Wristband
I stepped outside the backstage door
To breathe some nicotine
And maybe check my mailbox
See if I can read the screen
Then I heard a click
The stage door lock
I knew just what that meant
I'm gonna have to walk around the block
If I want to get in a…
 
Wristband, my man
You got to have a wristband
If you don’t have a wristband, my man
You don’t get through the door
 
Wristband, my man
You got to have a wristband
And if you don’t have a wristband
You don’t get through the door
 
I can’t explain it
I don’t know why my heart beats like a fist
When I meet some dude with an attitude
Saying, Hey, you can’t do that…or this
And the man was large
A well-dressed 6-foot-8
And he’s acting like St. Peter
Standing guard at the Pearly
 
Wristband, my man
You’ve got to have a wristband
If you don’t have a wristband
You don’t get through the door
 
And I said, Wristband?
I don’t need a wristband
My axe is on the bandstand
My band is on the floor
 
The riots started slowly
With the homeless and the lowly
Then they spread into the heartland
Towns that never get a wristband
Kids that can’t afford the cool brand
Whose anger is a shorthand
For you’ll never get a wristband
And if you don’t have a wristband
Then you can’t get through the door
No, you can’t get through the door
No, you can’t get through the door
 
Street Angel
My heart goes out to the street angels
Working their way back home
My heart goes out to the street angels
 
I save my change for a street angel
Working his way back home
I’d this exchange with the street angel
Nobody talks to me much
I said, Nobody talks to me much
Nobody
 
So he says,
I make my verse for the universe
I write my rhymes for the universities
And I give it away for the hoot of it
I tell my tale for the toot of it
I wear my suit for the suit of it
The tree is bare, but the root of it
Goes deeper than logical reasoning
 
It’s God goes fishing
And we are the fishes
He baits his lines
With prayers and wishes
They sparkle in the shallows
They catch the falling light
We hide our hearts like holy hostages
We’re hungry for the love, and so we bite
 
Workin’ his way back home
He’s workin’ his way back home
They took him away in the ambulance
Made a way with the ambulance
He waved goodbye from the ambulance
 
My heart goes out to the street angel
 
Stranger to Stranger                                               
Stranger to stranger
If we met for the first time
This time
Could you imagine us
Falling in love again
Words and melody
So the old story goes
Fall from summer trees
When the wind blows
 
I can’t wait to see you walk across my doorway
I cannot be held accountable for the things I do or say
 
I’m just jittery
I’m just jittery
It’s just a way of dealing with my joy
It’s just a way of dealing with my joy
It’s just a way of dealing with my joy
It’s just a way of dealing
 
Words and melodies
Easy harmony
Old-time remedies
 
All in good time
Although most of the time
It’s just hard working
The same piece of clay
Day after day
Year after year
Certain melodies tear your heart apart
Reconstruction is a lonesome art
 
But I love to watch you walk across my doorway
I cannot be held accountable for the things I do or say
 
I’m just jittery
I’m just jittery
It’s just a way of dealing with my joy
It’s just a way of dealing with my joy
Just a way of dealing with my joy
 
Words and melody
Stranger to stranger
If we met for the first time
This time
Could you imagine us
Falling in love again
 
Still believing
That love endures
All the carnage
And the useless detours
 
Oh I love you, I love you, I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you,
I love you, love you, love you …
 
Words and melody
Easy harmony
Words and melody
 
In a Parade
Some nights the ER is quiet as an EKG
But tonight it feels like every broken bone
Tonight it feels like every wounded soul
Is filling out a form or on the phone
 
I can't talk now, I'm in a parade
I can't talk now, I'm in a parade
Can't talk to you now, I'm in a parade
I can't talk now, I'm in a parade
 
Diagnosis:  Schizophrenic
Prognosis:  Guarded
Medication:  Seroquel
Occupation:  Street Angel
 
I drank some orange soda
Then I drank some grape
I wear a hoodie now to cover my mistake
My head's a lollipop
My head is a lollipop
My head's a lollipop and everyone wants to lick it
I wear a hoodie now so I won't get a ticket
I write my verse for the universe
That's who I am
 
I can't talk now, I'm in a parade
I can't talk now, I'm in a parade
I can't talk now, I'm in a parade
Can't talk to you now, I'm in a parade
 
Diagnosis:  Schizophrenic
Prognosis:  Guarded
Medication:  Seroquel
Occupation:  Street Angel
 
Proof of Love
Begin again
No easy trick
Without a guide or walking stick
Begin before the bells of twilight peal
 
Downhill town
The road ahead
Spiral, as a serpent’s bed
A teaspoon of desire for my meal
 
I trade my tears
To ask the Lord
For proof of love
If only for the consolation
Of gazing at the stars above
 
Amen, amen, amen
 
The road is steep
The air is thin
I hear a voice inside my skin
Don’t be afraid
Your days won’t end with night
Feel the sun
Drink the rain
Let your body heal its pain
Bathe beneath a waterfall of light
 
I trade my tears
To ask the Lord
For proof of love
If only for the explanation
That tells me what my dreams are made of
 
Amen, amen
The valley below
An ocean of debris
 
I ask the Lord
For proof of love
Love is all I seek
Love is all I seek
And when at times my words desert me
Music is the tongue I speak
 
I rest my head beside a white oak tree
No deadly nightshade, Belladonna
Dare lay a leaf on me
 
Silent night
Still as prayer
Darkness fills with light
Love on Earth is everywhere
 
The Riverbank
Frightened by the tone of a phone
In the dead of night
Then staring into darkness
And praying till the morning light
The price already paid
A son gone to the grave
Now the sorrowful parade
To the riverbank
 
Must be half the county come down
To the riverbank
High school is closed
Same for the local police
Shall we tearfully embrace
Shall we sing “Amazing Grace”
Will the shallow river waters bring us peace
 
Army dude
Only son
Nowhere to run
No one to turn to
He turns to the gun
It’s a cross
It’s a stone
It’s a fragment of bone
It’s a long walk home
 
A long walk home
Gonna be a long walk home
From the riverbank
 
Is there any reason why the black pine
Should not weep
Is there a woman or a man who wouldn’t understand
Why he could not sleep
And the nightmares when they came
Like poison to the brain
Reminded him again
Life is cheap 
 
Army dude
Only son
Nowhere to run
No one to turn to
He turns to the gun
It’s a cross
It’s a stone
It’s a fragment of bone
It’s a long walk home
 
A long walk home
Gonna be a long walk home
From the riverbank
 
Army dude’s mama
At the edge of the river
Limp as a rag
American flag in her arms
Then a triangle of light
Kissed the red and blue and white
Along the riverbank
Past the dealerships and farms
 
Cool Papa Bell
It turns out to be
A great thing for me
I don’t worry
And I don’t think
Because it’s not my job to worry or to think
Not me
I’m more like
Every day I’m here, I’m grateful
And that’s the gist of it
Now you may call that a bogus
Bullshit, New Age point of view
 
But check out my tattoo
Says Wall-to-Wall Fun
Does everyone know everyone?
Mr. Wall-to-Wall Fun 
Meet Dr. Well, Well, Well
And Cool Papa Bell 
The fastest man on Earth did dwell
As Cool Papa Bell
 
Motherfucker, ugly word
Ubiquitous and often heard
As a substitute for someone’s Christian name
And I think, yeah
The word is ugly, all the same
Ugly got a case to make
It’s not like every rodent gets a birthday cake
No, it’s, You’re a chipmunk, how cute is that?
But you, you motherfucker, are a filthy rat
And well, well, well
Is it true, Papa Bell
That the beauties go to heaven
And the ugly go to hell
Cool Papa Bell
 
Have you all heard the news:
Heaven Finally Found
Ok, it’s six trillion light years away
But we’re all gonna get there someday
Yes, we’re all gonna get there one day
We all gonna get, we all gonna get, we…
But—but not you
You stay and explain
The suffering and the pain you caused
The thrill you feel when evil dreams come true
 
And check out my tattoo
It says Wall-to-Wall Fun
Does everyone know everyone?
Mr. Wall-to-Wall Fun 
Meet Dr. Well, Well, Well
And Cool Papa Bell 
The fastest man on Earth did dwell
As Cool Papa Bell
 
And you’re never gonna stop him
Never gonna stop
Never gonna stop him
I’m never gonna stop
You never gonna
Never gonna stop
Never gonna stop
No, no you never gonna stop
Never gonna stop
 
Insomniac’s Lullaby
Oh Lord, don’t keep me up all night
Side by side with the moon
With its desolate eyes
Miles from the sunrise
The darkness inviting a tune
The Insomniac’s Lullaby
 
A siren is playing its song in the distance
The melody rattles the old window frame
Gradually, angels reveal their existence
And there’s nothing and no one to blame
 
Oh Lord, don’t keep me up all night
Side by side with the moon
Alone in the bed
The season ahead
Is winter that lasts until June
The Insomniac’s Lullaby
 
Sleep
 
They say all roads lead to a river
Then one day
The river comes up to your door
How will the builder of bridges deliver us all
To the faraway shore
 
Oh Lord, don’t keep me up all night
With questions I can’t understand
While I wrestle my fears
The sound in my ears
Is the music that’s sweeping the land
The Insomniac’s Lullaby
 
Sleep
 
Soft as a rose
The light from the East
As if all is forgiven
And wolves become sheep 
We are who we are
Or we’re not
But at least
We’ll eventually all fall asleep
Eventually all fall asleep