Drive Away

 

I drive away drive away I drive away in my car
I love to drive away
and I hate the day hate the day I hate the day in my car
I hate to see the day
so through the night I drive with my headlights on
on and on I drive it
straight on through the night I drive away

 

Those Clothes

 

you ain't nothing like the book I'm reading now
'cause every time I turn a page I can't put you down
in my pocket when I walk around but baby please don't make a sound
I'll call you when I want you to

and I'm just listening to your voice each time you talk
cause I won't let your story speak a single flaw
I dress you up, I'll write your history
make you tell your friends you miss me when I'm gone

but you don't wear those clothes
and you just ain't nothing but a choice I chose
so I think I'll leave you blowing smoke rings out your window
cause it's me I'm searching for

burning teeth, I'm pointing pistols at my chest cause I can't bleed
and I might be tricking you but girl I sure ain't tricking me
and this is something I should see through because I need to
is there more to you than me?

it ain't you and it ain't me
well it's nothing but the papers, pens, and fashion magazines
It ain't you and it ain't me
well it's nothing but the papers, pens, and fashion
I poured a generous ration in my glass
you're the match and it's nothing but the gasoline

if you don't tell me I won't hear you
if I don't ask I'll never know
so for now let's both pretend to
but it sure ain't gonna grow

 

Ballad

well he ripped a boge right to the end
and he said you listen good my cousin Manhattan ain't got nothing on a good friend
so when your fast cash goes and your bats won't bend
he said you call me up my cousin Manhattan ain't got nothing on a good friend
and I thanked him for his great escape but I think I'm staying here
because there's bills to miss and there's plans to break and nobody ever would stay awake back home

well she wrote her name  with a Mont Blanc pen
she said you call me when you need me Manhattan gets so rough without a good friend
and the ones whose break they don't know to bend
so don't get too confident too quickly Manhattan chews you up when you pretend

and I thanked her for her sage advice but I'm doing okay here
becasue all these restaurants are overpriced
they all stay open late at night
and mistakes are nice, they make me feel at home

well I called my sister in the summer said I'm thinking about moving here
she said do it now before you get a job and get married can't go nowhere
but now i can't go nowhere because there's too many chances here
I must admit I miss my friends but I'm staying here

and I think about them late at night
and I hope that they miss me too
though i can't escape these amber lights my cousin had the answer right
it's such a sight, but when times are tight
Manhattan ain't got nothing on a good friend

Rhody Girl

she never drove, never climbed, never walked another road
and ever since I can remember in November she's a wilted rose
but in the summer she lights right up from head down to her toes
call me crazy but I blow a little kiss when I go

and her necklace is simple It compliments her clothes
any day she'll pick a fight or pick a flower no one ever knows
she turns inches to miles when I watch her in the snow
call me crazy, I blow a little kiss when I go

little face, little face, she's got a pretty little face
little face, little face, she's got a pretty little face
everybody's talking 'bout her
little face, little face, she's got a pretty little face
little face, little face, she's got a pretty little face 

throw a party and see the pretty presents that she brings
I'd be lying if I said she's never stolen anything
she may not know the finest wines, but she knows a fast way home
so call me crazy but I blow a little kiss when I go

oh and time time time in time she drifts away
every time I've gone away
the freckles change upon her face

but the previous arrangement I never forget
'cause me and her we go together like coffee and cigarettes
I pack up quickly and never can wait to hit the road
call me crazy but I blow a little kiss when I go

Someone Else's War

Dawn is homeless on a suitcase by the train
while city princes hail cabs to beat the rain
stacks of books she never reads
she never begs
there's reservations on her mind and in her head 

I spend my days searching for my soul
and as we roar along the truth is left untold
I know my brother came and  turned some heads before
but that was then
and this is someone else's war

covered faces on the pictures and the news
are covered faces in my home and in my shoes
a bigger stage should make it quicker than before
but now it's jeans not oily keys that open doors

all the buildings are selling poison on the street
they'll probably brand a better ground for better feet
she breaks her back to have the cash to break her face
and even worse my broken heart my broken faith

and it could find me before I find it first
and it could take away this unforgiving thirst
it could find as I could miss
we block the shine to beat the fish
but tilted hats in times like this could be a curse

 
 

Socks

 

when you go, take my coat with you
so when it snows I'll stay wrapped around your shoulders
when you drink, raise your glass to me
and you can think of all the inconvenient ways the days would pass for me and you

and if you sing, sing my songs
cause if you sang anyone else's you won't think of me for nearly as long
as I live I'll always find your socks in my bed

and in the morning, whisper softly
'cause these walls are paper thin
take a pair of my Golden Toes
and wash them with your laundry and I'll use them when we sleep on 33rd
and when we're old, old and grey
would you properly issue pills into the pillbox that I need for the day
that I die will be the day there aren't socks in my bed

well there was a mouse and I found him in the bathroom of your second floor apartment
but you thought he was adorable
so I watched as he navigated mazes you created
using empty paper towel rolls and boots

so if you sing, sing my songs
cause if you sang anyone else's you won't think of me for nearly as long
as I live I'll always find your socks in my bed

 

Not Calm

 

well you called but you never did knock
well you called but my ears they were busy and blocked
so I leaned on the door, fell asleep standing tall
and dreamt that your fist might awake me

and the young we can drift far from home
but we never can get very far all alone
on a tower, in a cave
just a credit card away
I can't seem to outgrow my history

when I die, leave a stone on my grave
that's the place to remember my face
when I die, leave a stone on my grave
leave a stone on my grave to remember

she extended her laugh writing fiction in photographs
fake 'cause it's tape but more real than unseen
then she stares at her shape every day like a ghost
who's haunting his son before heaven

there are people I still like to know
and a few who I wouldn't be sad to see go
but I'm stuck on an aisle that's charted and known
and these bridges won't burn on they're own 

oh and boy, baby boy only seventeen years seventeen
oh and boy, baby boy It's five less than me
oh and I know so much less then it seems
oh but I can admit to the nothing I've seen

This Town

it's been the same old day in this town
and my head won't stop hanging down no my head won't stop hanging down
it's just the kind of day when your friends don't come around
and my head won't stop hanging down no my head won't stop hanging down

a street gang tried to take my pride, tried to take my money and phone
no train, no fame, cold rain and I forgot my umbrella at home
people ask me my opinion of the war and politicians out wasting my dough
when they tell me that I don't know nothing, I just tell them that there's nothing to know

I grew up in a Crate and Barrel home, and if you could then you certainly can
I'm a good son, good brother, good lover but I sure ain't much of a man
so you think that you know me boy? you think you watched what I became?
well you better know that what I do and who I am is never the same

and the love of a woman ain't gonna save my sorry day
I need something between just a neat drink of Beam and a river to sweep me away
I ain't gonna share my bed so you can nod your head and tell me it will be okay

 

For Ben, for Chip, the Wall, the Return, and Me

 

take me as I come, I come alone
take me as I go, I'm going nowhere
but if there's someone I should meet
or someplace I should be I will convene 

life is getting hard I hardly work
things are getting soft to soft to hear
if there's a job that I should take
or a sound that I should make I will surrender 

everything I thought I needed now
every little thing I own is taped away in cardboard
every little thing I needed now
every single thing I own is taped away

streets I used to take i never use them
footsteps I would trace I never follow
but there's a reason to return
and trails left to burn
I fill my gas tank

I left you all my notes
I left them on the stairs
I left them on the stairs that day with you
I lost my right to vote
I lost it on the stairs
I lost it on the stairs that day with you
my friend for you

so look me up and down I'm feeling shallow
look me in the eye there's nothing deep
if there's a poet who might know the way my story goes
I'll let him finish
 

 

Michael

 

he ties his bags around his thighs
newspaper bags filled with newspaper lies
and combs his hair, straightens his tie
but the people still stare the people want to know why
he chose to fill the air with echoes of an ordinary life

after all these years when she was alive
he stood in the corner and he built a disguise
now that she's gone, the houses won't rise
so he sits on milk crate with a handsaw to the sky
he chose to fill the air with echoes of an ordinary life

so don't call me man, don't call me boy anymore
take or leave your crown behind and I'll cry your name in war
and there's rocks in windows that michael threw
and this weeks window...it's for you

he dropped out of Amherst in his second year
and now he's digging holes for the state
and he lays so still in the morning chill
cause' he's having trouble sleeping late
and he pours down the concrete on 7th street
and the children come up slow with open hands
and as they set them in, he's ashamed within
'cause he knows that once they walk away he'll just go fill it up again
he chose to fill the air with echoes of an ordinary life

oh and I should go,but can I stay?
just one more song and I'll be on my way
don't call me man don't call me boy
don't call me man don't call me boy

when he lost his home, and his face grew thin
he traded her dresses for a used violin
and when he raised the wood and it touched his chin
he whispered who I am, ain't nothing like the wasted man I've been
he chose to fill the air with echoes of an ordinary life

far away we go
we go far away
we go so far that you can't even see us grow