Credits and Musicians
PALE HORSE
from the haunts of daily life
where is waged the daily strife
common wants and common cares
cuts the human heart with tears
rise like lions after a slumber
in greatly unknowable numbers
let the tyrants pour around
with apocalyptic sound
on the charge of iron wheels
and the crash of horse’s heels
rise like lions after a slumber
in greatly unknowable numbers
free the blood that must ensue
we are many and they are few
from the workhouse and the prison
pale as corpses newly risen
knives are drawn now let them see
standing tall that say they’re free
your strong and simple words
set to wound as sharpened swords
wide as targets let them be
with their shade to cover me
rise like lions after a slumber
in greatly unknowable numbers
free the blood that must ensue
we are many and they are few
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UP ABOVE THE SEA
the sun came up
up above the sea
the streaming clouds
tore into my tranquility
out my window
I could see
a bird drop down
on the branches of my apple tree
everyday the bluebird comes down
and stares at me for hours
can’t figure out if he brings me luck
or if he’s trying to tear me down
I bought a rifle
with a bushnell scope
knowing the answer would be
to see if he’s calm or frightful
the sun rose up
over the sea
I staked out and waited
like so many gunmen before me
everyday the bluebird comes down
and stares at me for hours
can’t figure out if he brings me luck
or if he’s trying to tear me down
he saw my gun, he stared
right into my eyes, I fired
his body exploded
and feathers fell all over my lawn
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WILD STRAWBERRIES
wholly and totally brave I swam
under dying filipino light
fighting and furious against the tide
‘cause I lost our keys in the sea
diving deep under coral reef
following treeline on the shore
I stumbled back to the road
left you on the hood of a rented ford
I looked back, it was the last time
I saw you alive
still light follows
the same rules that I do
reflecting off the water
never making it down to the bottom
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THEY WON'T LET ME RUN
I was born
a couple miles from here
my family rented me this house
so my family keeps me near
from 1909
my family’s run the town
you step out of line, poor sap
family council will sit you down
one day I fell in love
and of course we fucked around
the morning she threw up
my options were all laid out
I followed through
and now I got two sons
no peace even when you come
‘cause they won’t let you run
I got dead drunk
and packed up the pickup truck
got way out of town, I thought
but sheriff tracked me down
they dragged me home
and the family sat me down
they kept me cuffed up and they roughed me up and said:
“we’ll never let you run.”
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HEATED POOL AND BAR
my cousin is in columbia
hunting down the rebels
over fields of bright and shiny coca
over the jungle floor
one-handing a 32
he says: “bring her down low now, I’m ready to go.”
“I hunt kids in camouflage
rain down bullets in flight, white light,
barefoot boys run for your lives.”
but you can’t be nice
you put your gun to their head
and you pull back the pin
and you can’t be good
my friend is based in afghanistan
he goes from cave to cave and pulls the trigger
at the first sight of a man
it’s total anarchy
shooting tracer bullets at night
a high and holy patrol into poppy fields
but you can’t be good
you hold up the bloody knife
and let it shine in the sun
you gotta be everywhere
I’m a guard in guantanamo
I bring the prisoners in
the hoods come off and torture slowly begins
the screams I’ve overheard
it’d fuck up a weaker man
but I’m cold, I’m so untouchable
and you can’t be nice
I got a flak jacket
on my soul with me tonight
and you can’t be good
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MY FAMILY TREE
dad, I watched you fall
and split your head on the dock
I couldn’t bear to see
a lion so meek
in the francis jay memorial wing
so I never came
my family tree is me
angela, sister near, once
stripper severe
your husband donnie
is pure fear
so I stay clear
my family tree is me
mother dear
your eyes are lost
gunpowder shot
gun tossed, there’s nothing left to brood
I lost you too
my family tree is me
now I’m set free
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WHITE PLAINS
on the sunday after the mason dance
it’s the one day I can remember when
I felt so pure and really at peace with myself
I was in love, the sun sang down victorious
but the truth is I have no faith in happiness
it turns to fear, draws the devils near
so I jumped the fence
and went out west
abilene
got a sales job as a pharmaceutical rep
lived out of hotels, rental cars and a stowable bag
I drove all day – from hospital pacing and clinic sweats
I drove all night – I couldn’t ever sleep now anyway
I tried, but the old devils, they found me in my room
I hid under the covers and cried out as they tore off my sheets
so I went east
vietnam
I’m long gone
I’m up the river
way past mekong
but the old devils, they found me in my hut
they poured through the windows, they cornered me
and I cried out, to no one: “I give up.”
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PROMISING ACTRESS
in the seconds between the safety unlocks and the shot,
the story is clear of distortions and tears and you’ll know why
we’re on mulholland drive
can you survive a look inside?
like a bomb in reverse, fragments of truth return:
the money’s been paid out, the key’s on the table
you’ve killed someone you used to love
yes I agree now, her story’s a hoax
recorded impulses laid, dubbed and cross faded,
it’s just light replayed
still I ended on mulholland drive
can you survive a look inside?
yes I can see now, they had nothing to do with a role refused
and sometimes a cowboy’s just a man in a cowboy suit
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COMING AND GOING ON EASY TERMS
window seats on bullet trains
smear land into sky
fear and sorrow coalesce
now I’m trying to find that quiet place
where living is breathing
not knowing is understanding
coming is going
but my heart just beats faster and faster
they asked for me to come
and identify my son
but my son is alive
the life that whispered in my ear
is gone gone gone
window seats, commuter trains
send me headlong
trying to find that quiet place
where living is breathing
not knowing is understanding
coming is going
but my heart just beats faster and faster
they asked for me to come
and identify my son
but my son is alive
in maharishi oblivion
the love that counted back
from ten is gone gone gone
fear and sorrow coalesce
now I’m trying to find that quiet place
where living is breathing
not knowing is understanding
coming is going
but my heart just beats faster
when I got down to the morgue
they pulled back the slab
it wasn’t my son
I wasn’t his dad
they covered him up
I smiled I smiled
the past is cities from a train
now I’m trying to find that quiet place
where living is breathing
not knowing is understanding
coming is going
but my heart just beats faster
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LUNAR LANDSCAPES
run with me
we’ll ride over the great cliffs
into the sea
we won’t saddle up again
we won’t run the track again
no more shots or medicine
run with me
across gray lunar landscapes
into the sea
I’ll stroke your mane
as we fall through the sky
oh, broken horse, get ready to…
run with me
we’ll be such a beautiful sight
to the people on the beach
with a great running leap
over rocks, over sand
oh we may never land
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WHEN IT HITS MY BLOOD
I stole from my mother
to hock her TV
she locked herself in the bathroom
she locked herself away from me
I’m not her son
when it hits my blood
I’ve never felt this good before,
I’ve never been at peace inside
my mother’s a pill fiend
my girlfriend cut the rope, burned the sail
step on it yourself, man
drive down to fla. and bail
when it hits my blood
I’m not her son
I’m the son of a flower that grows on afghani bluff
I’ve never felt this good before,
I’ve never been at peace inside
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JUNE JULY
june july I went home to live with my mom
at night I sat out to watch cicadas on the lawn
june july, confusion tennessee
here sherman’s army leveled troops in 1863
now those battlefields are marked and paragraphed
and maintained by national park service trust
at night I walked through those fields
looking for proof of death, echoes of wounded soldier appeals
tonight the rain clouds are pressing down
hovering low, warning me to go back home
I saw lightning flicker in the clouds
one and two thousand, better turn around
light was focused down on me
white spike cracked and threw me to the ground
when I awoke the sun was streaming over the fields
warming the ground soaked with summer rain