1. |
Ship Without a Name
04:07
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If you were a slave,
When you escape
Don’t you tell no one
Who you’re running from,
For the name of an evil man is just another chain.
They will find you
left in a dark room,
Only the lord can hear you
and he loves you though his ways are strange.
In a black car, they come for your children,
Even if you have none,
They will load them on a ship without a name,
they will load them on a ship without a name.
In boxes made of wood, clear across the sea
To a island where the paths disappear even as you walk them.
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2. |
Animal Song
04:13
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Hey Mr. Tortoise,
Why are you upside down?
All of your kids will do as you do now.
Hey Mr. Zebra,
Why are you shivering?
All of your stripes ran away from your skin.
When you lose your mind,
When you lose your mind,
Better take time.
Hey Mr. Blue jay,
Why do you refuse to fly?
What manner of thieves steal the wind from the sky?
Hey Mr. Buffalo,
Why do you descend to the sea?
Will you find true love in the ancient folds of the icy deep?
Hey Mr. Black bear,
Why do you waste away?
Nobody has given you a proper name.
I trade your kind,
And I trade your kind
For better life.
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3. |
Machine
04:07
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There is a machine breathing for him.
There is a secret dying with him.
There is a ten horned beast coming up from the sea,
Coming for you, coming for me.
Nobody said your head went white.
Nobody heard you dream that night.
Nobody said its teeth would be smashed in its head.
Nobody said—they never said anything
Got to find the cure,
Got to lift the curse,
And if I can’t find you then,
find the killer first,
And if you’re the killer,
Show us your dead:
Are you among them?
I can’t find you then,
but I’ll find the cure,
lift the spell,
and if you can’t find us,
you can’t find yourself.
Can you catch a killer
Before he kills?
And if you want the cure,
better catch yourself.
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4. |
Hide Away
01:20
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You can hide away
in the light of day:
no one in this town knows who you are.
You can disappear
living here:
no one knows the man behind the bars.
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5. |
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When you shook I knew you felt it.
Broke it when I held it,
held you in the water,
as I shook I held you under,
held you in the thunder.
How the music used to feel.
In the madness did you wonder
how the music used to feel?
Though Charlie’s been here many times
He cannot have my coat tonight,
For I will spend the night as well,
I will join them in the holding cell,
it holds me as I held you then.
How the music used to feel.
Hold me in the emptiness.
How the music used to feel.
How can they keep me though I never did a thing?
Yet I long to tell you what they say of me.
Yes, I long to tell you what they say of me.
Oh, how the music used to feel.
No one lives here anymore,
no one in this town knows who you are.
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6. |
Shadow over Us
02:40
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Shadow over us,
oh my,
we suffer in your light,
terror of our dust,
shadow over us.
Losing our way
on a road that can’t be found
to a home we can’t escape,
shadow over us.
Losing our heads
for the words we can’t recall
to a song we can’t forget,
terror of our dust.
And dust will fall,
and the darkest thing of all
is why your light is brightest in
the shadow over us.
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7. |
Time the Weapon
03:49
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Many lies have been told to save this man,
many widows been made
to bring him back to Jesus, to bring him back to us.
And a killer is born
like the light of a star:
knocking at my door
long after the thing that burns
went quiet in the dark.
Baby sister went gone
and a search party formed,
found her where she slept
with a pack of wild horses
and we don’t know why we wept.
Everyone has friends with guns:
you better time the weapon right.
When there’s money on your head,
when your time is in the red,
like my momma always said,
if you shoot you better shoot for the head.
There’s no treasure worth the rent
on a place to bury it.
Like my momma always said,
even the beautiful come back from the dead.
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8. |
Captains
04:16
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Have you ever been in love,
Ever been drawn to your feet?
Ever been ahead?
Ever had more than you need,
The photos and souvenirs
Of the right time, a life you’re dreaming of?
A star in the north appears.
Is it the right kind of light for wishing on?
Have you ever been in love,
Ever been caught in a storm?
Your eighth kid is a terror;
Seven have never been born.
Did you dream of a funeral,
Did you dream up names for each of them?
And the captains of sunken ships,
Did they give their names when you gave them everything?
If you forget their names,
They’ll never come back from the dead,
Even if they bound your hands
And covered your beautiful head,
Even if the cocaine said
That a life time is the right price.
Yes, the unnamed can never return
To touch you in houses of dust
And kiss you with mouths of clay
And tear at the wounds in your chest.
So tell the officers in their uniforms
Somewhere a child is born
And he’ll grow up and he’ll give his blood
For them and their beautiful whores.
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9. |
Play for Keeps
05:03
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Ladies and gentlemen,
I just heard from the weatherman.
The weather tonight is cancelled and
I can’t say when it’s back again.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I just heard from the detective.
A decent little place to raise your kids
ran from the banks with the fugitives.
There’s a water color picture of a setting sun
On the wanted poster from the police station;
Two sets of prints all over the gun
But your only suspect, born with none.
Burned in the mirror at the scene of the crime:
“Not a highway left to make up for lost time.”
Now you’re doing life in a nine to five
Because you picked yourself out from the police line up.
Everything you love has got prints on the gun
But the bullet came from another one:
We traced the path to a place on high,
the shooter must have hid in the morning light,
And from the very first moment that you opened your eyes
You were bleeding to death one day at a time—
Well, everybody read the rules:
Anything will cost you everything.
All along you never knew
You play at all, you’re playing it for keeps.
Oh my Lord, I can’t believe
You never knew we’re playing it for keeps.
All along you never knew
You play at all, you’re playing it for keeps.
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10. |
Down for the Count
04:08
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Count the quarters,
Clean your room,
Pay your debts,
Pay them soon—
But to whom?
Cut the corners,
Cut your hair, darling.
Run for cover,
Run for mayor—
but for where?
She was the loveliest lady that I ever seen,
smoking in the back of a limousine.
Has she been many things?
I brought that killer to the killer’s knees
Tore away the hood and the killer was me,
and I've been many things.
Are you down, are you down, for the count?
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11. |
The Burning Wolf
04:43
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Momma’s out cold in a black tide,
Sleeping quiet; sleep on, child.
Will she ever awake? Will she ever arrive?
It's too late – the king hit the kingdom lights.
I think I've seen this part before,
I think I've seen this part before.
He crawls where the shadows would fall
If the kingdom came, if the lights were on,
Raking his claws across the ground
and wiping the red love from his mouth.
I think I've seen this part before,
I think I've seen this part before
The time is right, but time is up:
Killing time is still killing – what have you done?
Men of our kind are blind for the last cry,
For time will take an eye for an eye.
I think I've seen this part before,
I think I've seen this part before
Run, run, you heart; run, you burning wolf:
You will be made new,
All will be made new in you.
Run, run, you heart; run, you bleeding horse:
Your sons will love you,
Your daughters will kiss you again.
Run, run, you heart; run, you lost river:
You will be seen through,
All will be seen through in you.
Run, for the heart is a burning wolf:
Eve cannot save you,
But you are a King’s son if you choose.
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Babylon Tom Brooklyn, New York
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