Places & Names
(2004)
when the crows descended / on the leaves of Linden, California
watched her as we laid her in the ground
black speckles on the green / of walnut-bearing branches
they settled like a fog / like autumn leaves litter the ground red
reminds me of the doves I noticed / rising from the rafters
when my mother laid her fingers on her eyes
saying that barn’s harbored birds before / but never quite so many
as those / brilliantly arrayed in robes of white
like a Baptist by the river / with a good book full of verses
washing sinners clean / from death into life
my cousin said a prayer / though he’s not a believer
does that mean his word’s still hanging on the air?
I think those birds they heard / they took off like a shotgun blast
like screaming bats / from god knows only where
it took three days to drive us here / and it’s a borrowed cemetery key
that opened up the gates this morning
well, permanently kissing / the cold cheek of separation
is just as easy as the meaning that your find
and if I make the right connection / with my natural creation
I don’t have to wait / for god to send a sign
so when the crows descended / on the leaves of Linden, California
watched her as we laid her in the ground
reminds me of the doves I noticed / rising from the rafters
like a spirit / when it’s laid the body down
I’ve got a girl in every part of my soul / more love that I can stand
inching up on seven chances / for just a second chance
I’ve got a girl down on the Oregon coast / whose form paints angels / on the sand
another weaves the redwood forest / lace between the branches
as in the rain we dance
but I’m looking for a job in New Mexico / looking for a place to live
I’ve been working for a woman / who don’t love me no more
but I don’t give a shit / about her
I’ve got a girl lives a block from the red line / nights we take the train downtown
hitch a ride / our conversation tracks uncovered ground
about a girl who come down off the mountain / pinned up in a denim dress
but every facet of a diamond / shines beneath her breast
my eyes are laid to rest
while I’m looking for a job in New Mexico / looking for a place to live
I’ve been working for a woman / who don’t love me no more
but I don’t give a shit / about her
still I’m looking for a job in New Mexico / looking for a place to live
I’ve been working for a woman / who don’t love me no more
but I don’t give a shit / ‘cause I’ve been praying to an angel
on the Oregon coast / I’ve been leaning like a redwood tree
she’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain / like a redline ghost train
riding love back to me
I’ve got a girl in every part of my soul / more love that I can stand
inching up on seven chances / despite my best laid plans
how about the girl who really loves me?
how about the girl who has no heart to save?
so why the girl who keeps me / spinning my wheels
digging my own grave? / I’m digging my own grave
drunk on the way / you are everything to me
I’m stumbling home again
the clear plastic wrapper / that covers our senses
tonight’s never been so thin
and I want to know / when you look at me
with your hair all tumbling down
and I want to know / when I look at you
why your wings are nowhere to be found
did you notice that an angel / lives in that body of yours?
did you notice when I needed you?
did you know that my eyes were sore / from looking?
down Jericho St. / as I walked past the garden / of Eden / I saw you there
and the fiery sword / of your tongue / whispered words
that were sacredly hidden / where the apple was bitten
when Gabriel blows the trumpet / and the walls come tumbling down
I just stand with my hand in my pocket
counting the change / to call you now
and everything coming up / feels like eternity
and everything’s coming apart / like the red sea
when you stretch your hand over me
and I want to know / why the stars tonight / don’t bear our names
if we’ve fallen / to this earthen hell / we’re bound to / rise again
did you notice that an angel / lives in that body of yours?
did you notice when I needed you? / did you know that my eyes were sore?
did you notice that an angel / is bearing your body?
your feet won’t strike stones / on the earth or the ocean
we’ll walk safely over / the water / and everything
hovering / intangible / untouchable
so drunk on the way / you are everything to me
I’m stumbling home
it’s sensory baby / the love in question
this coming of age / both cloud and vision
so get sensory baby / at your discretion tonight
this coming of age / both dreams and borders
on every page / round every corner
get sensory baby / at your discretion tonight
on every page / round every corner
a life laid out straight / I tried to warn her
get sensory baby / at your discretion tonight
I once knew a fool / who served this story well
followed his heartbreak down / found
in every chamber / of every cell
confusion was what he knew / he was trying to tell you
it’s sensory baby / the love in question
this coming of age / both cloud and vision
so get sensory baby / at your discretion tonight
a life laid out straight / I tried to warn her
the circle completes / before every other
so get sensory baby / at your discretion tonight
I once knew a fool / who served this story well
followed his heartbreak down / found
in every chamber / of every cell
confusion was all he could tell you now
it’s sensory, baby / the love in question
plant your victory garden man / and start yourself a war
does that make it worth my life?
we’ve sown this seed a thousand times / and it’s never grown before
if peace springs up / you weed it out with your knife
and you never could explain / we were always running lame
never set your cast in shame / starting over
but everything looks different / on the other side of the line
the grass is looking greener all the time
water from a poison well / might quench your thirst awhile
but it eats you up inside
and there’s never enough change / for all the stars I’d rearrange
you just can’t pull out the strings / of these woven lies
you can pull your demon thread / watch us come undone instead
wash your hands / bury the dead / and start it over
you spend your whole life waiting / for that crooked axe to fall
you sever every other tie that binds us
but blood holds us together / be it love or battle call
and an eye for an eye / is only blindness
Sunday I lay down my sword / the lion with the lamb
a different sort of weapon in my hands
and someone spoke a silent word / up for the voiceless land
an evasive sea / of faceless fellow men
as you plow and till the earth / ask what any of this is worth
if there’s no life after birth / you’re going down
if we bomb and burn and kill / never say we’ve had our fill
at this rate we never will / start it over
heard there’s gonna be a wedding / heard there’s gonna be flowers thrown
heard somebody laughing / heard somebody’s mother weep
heard somebody’s lonely / heard someone will never be again
heard somebody’s losing / when somebody lose / somebody wins
thinking about the wedding / going on
thinking about your wedding dress / I’m lost a gain / in song
tell me why you lie / tell me what you got hidden up your sleeve
tell me why you love him / tell me why you’ll never leave him
tell me about the promise / you told him that you’d never go
maybe I believe that / just like I believe / he’ll never know
did you tell him about the wedding dress / coming off?
thinking about your wedding dress / I’m lost again / in thought
heard there’s gonna be a wedding / heard there’s gonna be flowers thrown
heard somebody laughing / I swear they’re laughing at me
maybe I should tell them / I could say the joke’s on him
you think about your wedding / I’ll think about the wedding dress / again
thinking about the wedding dress / coming off
thinking about your wedding dress / I’ve lost myself
steam was rising / like the morning of our lives
when I heard his fingers / brush against the door
like a brother then / I welcomed him inside
poured him coffee / then we settled on the floor
he cut a pretty figure / from a magazine
but the beggar that he was / showed on his clothes
in the silence there / he stared into his drink
an eternity / before he cleared his throat
he said / I would tell / of my secret journey
and I could spin you / words like silver
and you would melt / on the midnight morning
and I would say / my god it’s beautiful
then we watched the cloak / of history unfold
as he offered up his hand / to take my own
and I saw beneath the skin / a gaping hole
for the keys of hell / he holds
did I tell you / of the will my father left
in a safe deposit box / of earth and stone
many men it took / to carry out / I guess
but what it means exactly / no one seems to know
I said / I will tell / of your secret journey
and I will spin them / words like silver
and they will melt / on the midnight morning
and I will tell / I will tell them all
cross the river / and you’ll see the other side
climb the mountain / and the same is your reward
as the men who looked / across the earth / and cried
my god / it’s beautiful
never had the courage of Peter / I never dared to dance the waves
now that I’m sinking through / I wonder / is this just some sick test of faith?
I know I never should have crossed that river / around this desert now I crawl
and I don’t see any mountains moving / that mustard seed / makes me feel so small
do you remember me / heaven? / they said you knew my name / before it was given
before your book was written / so at my last confession / would you forget me now?
would you forget me now?
yea though I wander through this valley / now a safer distance from the fold
tonight your rod and staff just scare me / if I flee to the shadow / dark and cold
will you remember me / heaven? / they said you knew my name / before it was given
before your book was written / so at my last confession / would you forget me now?
would you forget me now?
so little is the gate to glory / sometimes too narrow for my mind
so maybe if you burned all the bushes / swallowed me whole / or struck me blind
you’d remember me / heaven / they said you knew my name / before it was given
before your book was written / so at my last confession / would you forget me now?
would you forget me now?
Billy came to us by sea / that is the only way we know
when the tides of time had turned / and drawn the lines of foam / like snow
Billy gathered up the shells / formed our towers with his hands
golden streets / and pearly abalone gates / shone in the sand
Billy came to us by sea / that’s the only way we know
and he build our golden city / where the seaweed gardens grow
well he placed a hedge of feathers ‘round / to make a mighty wall
where his fingers scraped the ground / water sprung up inside / a river wide
and he bridged it with a stone / to be drawn up in times of war
an impenetrable fortress / we’d become / for Billy’s glory
Billy came to us by sea / and he build our tower of dread
it’s the magic that we worship / sprung alive / from Billy’s head
then we gathered in the streets / and we sang praises to his name
and the seashells caught the echoes / roaring voices like / an ocean’s tide
and we raised our emerald seaweed banners / snapping in the wind
I think we got the sky’s attention / we could see his starry grin
Billy came to us by sea / we sang praises to his name
and his image filled the sky / but his face was wrought with pain
then we saw two other figures / evil gods they must have been
with their feet they cracked our fortress / and the river flooded in
with our men women and children lying / squished between their toes
we could hear their devilish laughter / as they rended up our souls
Billy then sank to his knees / and the walls came crashing down
in the streets our golden towers / lying level with the ground
now the world is filled with water / and the sand has lost its form
even the ruins of our lives / forever lost inside the storm
but the seashells hold the echoes / still resounding loud and clear
when they’re pressed / reveal this message / whispered to the listening ear
Billy came to us by sea / and he’s bound to come again
to rebuild our golden city / in a child-like story’s end
Billy came to us by sea / and he’s bound to come again
it’s the fate that we believe / in a child-like story’s end
Alisa says she’s broken / said she’d break me / I’m already there
she says it’s not so / it’s just the mirror / I’m looking into / requires repair
she brings my soul / to the place of reflection / down where the waters
run still and run deep / and she sheds her light / on this mirror
showing a beautiful person / floating somewhere beneath
but Alisa says she’s broken / says you touch me / and you’re going to bleed
she says it’s so evil in side me / that kind of trouble / you like nobody needs
she brings my soul / to the place of reflection / down where the waters
run still and run deep / and she sheds her light / on this mirror
showing a beautiful person / floating somewhere beside me
Alisa you’re an angel / think I love you / you first loved me
I think the love of / other people / is the beauty / in the faces we see
I think the love of / other people / is the beauty / in the faces we see
it’s the beauty / in your face I see