We Ain't Ever Gonna Die

I heard your boyfriend said he's gonna kill me
'Cos it was his daddy's bank that we robbed
I couldn't understand why he didn't want to kill you too
It must have been love

So we ran away to the hills
Made our bed up on the mountainside
We spent our days making faces out of the clouds
And we'd count them stars at night

I made you a wedding band of daisies
And you tore me up a crown
I can't see the river for the moonlight
On the wrong side of these railings looking down

Where you said throw ourselves to the river
It wouldn't kill us if our love was strong
Then you told me 'bout 118 people died
In the 1947 flood
(God, you're wild)

Hey, Wildchild, keep your hair black it suits you
Makes your eyes glow dark when you say what's on your mind
I know it might sound stupid but it just adds to your beauty
When you say, "We ain't ever gonna die"

Summer went quick and Winter rolled back in
We headed back to the city for some place warm to stay
I called up my best friend from a payphone
He said he knew a vacant house off the main drag and you broke a window pane

One day it rained so hard we didn't leave the house
But we soon ran low on cigarettes
So you ran down to the liquor store in the rain barefeet
Your white dress soaked through against your chest
(God, you're wild)

Hey, Wildchild, you're prettier than sunshine
But it's your darkness that outglows all that boring light
I know it might sound stupid but it just adds to your beauty
When you say, "We ain't ever gonna die"

You were gone way too long
So I ran down to the street
And pushed past them plain-faced strangers of the liquor store
Where the blood pooled at my feet

I knocked them people down
As they fought to save your life
And I screamed, "Oh, God, please don't take my wildchild from me
'Cos I ain't strong enough to get by"

The air inside the liquor store went cold
And rain fell heavy like iron outside
You raised your hand and you brushed it against my cheek
And said, "We ain't never gonna die"

(Then you died)

The Hangover

All this alcohol
and demerol
don't make me happy,
just keeps away the sad.
I smoke these cigarettes,
try and ease these pains in my chest
it don't make for good-living
but it ain't half-bad.

I know I told you
I'd quit this drinking
but I got this itching
inside of my skull.
It's funny how love
lets the hangovers build up
but now waking up without you -
never been so low.

I hope you save yourself
'Cos heaven knows it's too late to save me now.
I would give you all the money in wallet
Except you wouldn't want it
And I ain't got none anyhow.
But I would do anything
To keep
You around.

Picking Flowers in the Dark

This Sunshine is all the whores
and heroin that I could ever need.
The Sun ain't afraid to be alone,
just afraid to love. Still, she'll do that for me.

I don't suppose
I could have the Sun
all to myself,
but that's all I want.

The Sun finally went down and
I've never been so sad to see it go.
The greatest night-owl's been shot down;
not dead, just gone.

See, if you leave
a night-owl in the Sun,
he's the vulnerable one
but that's all he wants.

These afterthoughts of you
are the flowers that you gave light to,
still growing in my heart,
that I pick in the dark.

Drunk Again

Drunk again and heartbroken and, god damn it, it's your fault
Easing into madness like a loner with his liquor and his thoughts
One more beer-baited thought of you and him's all I can stand
I wanna die tonight with his blood on my hands

I bet he's there employed and sober, making you smile just 'cos he can
Kissing you and touching you and pulling down your pants
Giving you all the love I was too stubborn to give
I swear I'd do it next time right but who the hell could fall in love with this?

It don't matter, I always liked the whisky more
Lying, cheating, dirty, stinking whore!

My clothes are dirty, my breath is whisky-stained
I swear if I see that man I'll smash his face!
Rip out his heart! Tear him apart! Man, I'm gonna go to town!
Or sit here in this bar and drink
'til I drown

A Beautiful Shipwreck

Angel of Mercy
I can see you getting angry
I see it in the clouds you form
Dangerous and menacing
Piling up like mountains
Please keep my baby safe from harm

Wave of Good Fortune
Stronger arm of Neptune
Bring my baby back home to me here
Summon all the strength
From them sailors you have claimed
And keep my baby above the water

'Cos there's an ocean in my heart
For a sailor lost at sea
The beautiful shipwreck of a woman's plea
Tonight the menace of the moon
Casts a calm over the sea
You said my name looked pretty on the bow
And now it's going down

Crypt-keeper of the deep
If I go down to the beach tonight
And wade my naked body into the foam
Walk out 'til I can't walk no more
Then swim out 'til I can't swim
Will you save my baby's sinking soul

'Cos there's an ocean in my heart
For a sailor lost at sea
The beautiful shipwreck of a woman's plea
Tonight the menace of the moon
Casts a calm over the sea

The Make-up Artist

The make-up artist stares at the model's face and tries to
Figure the complexities of what's going on within her
With her hair tied back and her eyes half-glazed
She can't look away from the vanity mirror
But she's impatient, starts complaining he ain't painting her face fast enough
Says he's procrastinating, it's her time he's wasting, but the things she's saying only serve to make him
Give up
And she don't break her own stare the whole time she speaks
She's still speaking when the make-up artist packs up his brushes and leaves

He never really fit in on the make-up artist circuit
Got his qualifications in the evenings out of Birkbeck
Didn't drop out of some fine art degree in the city
Thought it'd be easy to get laid just tell a pretty girl she's pretty
But it's the pretty ones that get millions of compliments and ain't eyeing-up the help
And they're rich enough, with skins white as doves and lips red as blood, to trick into love
Somebody else
So he told the biggest lie he'd ever told
To the ugliest girl he could find
And then he wasn't alone

A Happy Song

I've tried drug-lords and street-gangs and prostitution rings
I've tried begging, stealing, selling just about anything
But my hands and my mouth and my feet don't move fast enough
And when you work that kind of job and it all goes wrong
You're on your own, ain't none of your con friends gonna take your fall
And the cops'll be the first to remind you there ain't no one you can trust

So I'm gonna write me a goddam happy song
As soon as something happy comes along
Down life's lonesome road, I suppose you never know what's rolling 'round the bend
All the roads I've been down - nothing happy's shown up yet

I've tried humanitarianism and I've tried vegetarianism
I've tried Buddhism, cataclisms, nihilism and narcissism
But none of that shit seemed to suit me right
I want a six-shooter Magnum and a big ol' hunting knife
A 12-gauge, shots and snares, a big ol' box of fireworks and a rocking chair
I want to make some real noise at night

Well, I've tried loving women but all that I can tell is that they always leave
I've had three wives, four mistresses, a daughter by a priestess and a queen
And with my heart in pieces, sick of women, I got me a dog
Well, that young pup softened me up and I got sweet again
This time with a green-eyed girl by the name of Gemma-Anne
Three months later Gemma-Anne ran off with my truck
And my dog

I won't take no more drinks now boys, I remember last time I took too much
I'll get sick tomorrow morning and I ain't got nowhere to go and sober up
But I thank you for your company the frustration in my life comes from the loneliness
That and I can't get a job 'cos I ain't got no fixed address
And I can't get a fixed address 'cos I ain't got no job
And you want me to write a goddam happy song