Ain't Life A Beautiful Thing

She called the police
Told them I was drunk
Told them I had hit her
They pulled up on the lawn
They didn't press no charges
I pleaded self-defence
They told me I should leave her
Told her not to call again

Ain't life a beautiful thing

She don't kiss me no more
Unless I tell her to
She sleeps with her back to me
Or in a separate room
She says that she hates me
Sometimes things get rough
She says that she'll leave me
But she ain't got the guts

Ain't life a beautiful thing

Well, she went and set fire
To the trailer in our back yard
Where I kept all my records
And all but one of my guitars

Ain't life a beautiful thing
Ain't life a beautiful thing

Time To Go

I got a mama and a papa and a hometown in the back of my mind
But I been a rambling man since I's a rambling child
When I was just six years old
I packed a little bag and headed out on the road
Mama came and got me that night but man it was a sign

When it's time to go
You know it's time to go
Ain't nothing in this world gonna hold me back
When it's time to go
It's time to go
I don't know where I'm going but I know I ain't coming back

The dark side of my heart that always feels like it's losing
Whispers to me in your bed pretends it knows what its doing
It wakes me from a dream
Tells me it's time to leave
People like me we just gotta keep moving

When it's time to go
You know it's time to go
Ain't nothing in this world gonna hold me back
When it's time to go
It's time to go
I don't know where I'm going but I know I ain't coming back

It don't matter how you get there 

If you drive real slow

Or if you run so fast 

Your feet don't touch the road

What matters is you get there any way that's right by you

But if you want my advice kid pack-up and run

Cos it's already started and you ain't that young

Run out on this idea of time before it runs out on you

Old men like me, we get stuck in our ways

We're tryin t' justify our lives before we get in our graves

It's always worth staying for something

Good money, good food or good loving

But I'll be a rambling man for the rest of my days

The Ragged & The Raw

Where best friends are like brothers and every bet is everything or bust
Where kids meet up at night trying to survive on just excitement fear and lust
But Joey's got a car now so we just drive around
It's a brand new Friday night, same old shit-hole town
Djonno says he's in love again and this time it's gonna last
I'm sitting in the backseat watching the whole world blur past

The bars in this town have got a certain kinda draw
It's the street-rats and alley-cats playing demons and gods
It's the disgusting, broke and busted, the ragged and the raw
It's the strange, deranged and barely sane running on a different kind of blood
It's us

The streetlights of a parking lot shine down upon a smile
Of a pretty little thing dressed up with all her friends to set the night on fire
She comes over to the car leans on my window, smiles and says she got me some
She licks her finger, dips it in a bag and rubs it on my gums
She's laughing when she's asking, "What we doin' tonight?" I smile but I don't know
Then we all get out the car, leave the headlights on and crank that radio

The bars in this town have got a certain kinda draw
It's all these street-rats and alley-cats playing demons and gods
It's the disgusting, broke and busted, the ragged and the raw
It's the strange, deranged and barely sane running on a different kind of blood
It's all these vampires, ghosts and werewolves, all these creatures time forgot
It's the hired guns living on the run too desperate to get caught
Its the thieves that haunt this midnight like shadows in the dark
And it's the kids out in the streetlight with their hands in their pockets
It's us

The Sun goes down, the wolves come out, the stars just lay there laughing in the sky
You know that they could help you if they wanted to but they won't even try
This town'll read your fortune if you let her but her deck's a little light
The kings and queens are all out chasing aces and they're dressed up to the nines
There's kids out in the moonlight banging drums with other people's broken bones
There'll be a murder at midnight, some'll scream and some'll just hold up their phones
There's bodies in the backseats and there's blood running through these cobblestones
But it's Friday night, and ain't nobody going home

The bars in this town have got a certain kinda draw
It's all these street-rats and alley-cats playing demons and gods
It's the disgusting, broke and busted, the ragged and the raw
It's the strange, deranged and barely sane running on a different kind of blood
It's all these vampires, ghosts and werewolves, all these creatures time forgot
It's the hired guns living on the run too desperate to get caught
Its the thieves that haunt this midnight like shadows in the dark
And it's the kids out in the streetlight with their hands in their pockets
It's the type of premonition that you feel deep in your gut
It's all these bad decisions all these twists in the plot
It's the dopers and no-hopers and their razors are sharp
They got barbed wire for bootlace and in the bare-knuckle brawls
They will beat you til you're bloodless til you're begging them to stop
On beat-up couches and park benches kids are riding their luck
You got boys breaking in to bra straps like an old bank vault
And you got girls going down just as the sun's coming up
It's us

Normal

Sometimes I feel
Like I'm falling when I'm just sitting still
My mind overrides what's real
Like I'm breaking

I lie awake in my bed
Half-wishing I was dead
'Cos I can't catch my breath
Or stop shaking

My friends they all ask me how I'm feeling
I say I'm fine but then they just repeat it
They know there's something there they just can't see it
It's like a ghost

There's mould on the seal of my fridge
And it's been there pretty much since I moved in
It would only take a second to clean
But I don't

Another lonely night
Drinking out of boredom
Wondering what it's like
To feel normal

Sometimes I have this dream where I'm lost out at sea
And I'm drowning in a maelstrom of my making
I scream and look around and I see all my friends are drowning
And there's nothing that I can do to save them
So I just give up
Then I wake up
But I don't get up
Even though I want to

Dutch Cassidy

This life is like a rodeo
We're just a couple of clowns
Pretending to be cowboys waving
Guitars around

We'll play the old saloon
You'll chase that skirt
We got out heads in the clouds
And our feet in the dirt

We got deaths to die
Lives to live
We got tales to tell
We got songs to sing
I wish all my songs were more like his
You be Dutch Cassidy
I can be the Sundance Kid

This life is like a circus
We live for moonlight and crowds
We live on peanuts and praise
And beer to wash it down

You taught me 'bout the sideshow
And you let me hang around
Our heads are up there with the ferris wheel
Our feet are on the ground

All my life I felt like a
Setting sun
All the dust I kicked up with my boots
Just settled on my lungs
For every setting sun a morning comes
Rising like a ghost
From the bones of dusk

So pour me out another
I ain't ready to go home
I got a few more in me
So let that tape roll

And if we never make no money
At least we'd never have sold out
Just a couple of cowboys
Waving these guitars around

Laying On The Edge Of Forever

I swear I see galaxies forming
Shining from the blacks of your eyes
We got something between us I can't explain
But it sure feels nice
Baby, I think I love you and it's only been a night
Baby, I think I love you and it's only been a night

We got the smell of each other on the bedsheets
Clothes strewn across the floor
My heart's skipping beats like
It's never kept a rhythm before
We got streetlights reflecting off the mirror
Landing like moonlight on the bed
We got a night's-worth of sweat and a
Life's-worth of dreams in our heads
It's like we're laying on the edge of forever and I ain't even scared
It's like we're laying on the edge of forever and I ain't even scared

There's condensation on the window pane
Keeping the whole world out with just a mist
As we lay I trace the lines on your hands
With my fingertips
My body feels completely exhausted
But I don't want to rest
I want one more beautiful smile
One more kiss
I don't know a thing about love but I'm pretty sure this is it
I don't know a thing about love but I'm pretty sure this is it

Don't talk to me about tomorrow morning
I know it's coming 'round
I'm racking my brains thinking of ways
To make the Sun stay down
And don't you dare bring me coffee in the morning
Wearing my shirt and nothing else
'Cos that sounds like Heaven and men like me
Don't handle Heaven so well
For every second spent in Heaven there's a minute in Hell
For every second spent in Heaven there's a minute in Hell

So leave your number on my dresser
I promise never to call
I'll put it with all the others
In the back of my drawer
And I'll go out again tomorrow evening
Probably still a little sore
I can't even tell you what it is
That I'm looking for
But I found it with you like I found it with 100 before
I found it with you like I found it with 100 before

Deep, Dark Love

We only went out to get coffee, but I went and set you off
You're screaming blue murder like you're gonna burst a lung
Now everybody's watching you tear a hole in me
But ain't nobody know how sweet you can be

All my friends tell me to walk away
And I know all your friends tell you the same

If our love is like a freight train, we're both tied to the tracks
I know you need a hero well I need one just as bad
If our love is like a river, I'm gon' let it fill my lungs
'Cos I wouldn't mind drowning if it felt like love

All my friends tell me to walk away
And I know all your friends tell you the same
But ain't nobody know what it's like in this love
In this deep, dark love

So hit me with you hardest, go on make this one hurt
'Cos it ain't nothing more than we deserve
Then come over here and hold me like you won't ever let go
And I'll show you a love that nobody else will know

It's like our souls have shared a thousand lives
All my flaws in yours and yours in mine
But ain't nobody know what it's like in this love
In this deep, dark love

I know I should drink less and you know you should too
But if you forgive me baby I'll forgive you

Midnight Sun

Joey's Daddy did a stint in prison
But Joey's Daddy weren't one to sit tight
He snuck out with the laundry in the morning
And he slept with Joey's Mama that same night

Law took him back to prison 'fore the Sun came
Leaving Joey and his Mama on the farm where his Mama dwelled
Joey's grandad wouldn't raise no bastard
So Joey pretty much had to raise himself

Joey headed-up a hole-in-the-wall-gang
Train-robbing heroes of the working class
They robbed the wealthy men that owned the railroad
And gave it to the men who laid the tracks

Them sour railroad owners got together
To find a way to get Joey of the scene
They bought out all the lawmen and some outlaws
And promised even more to the man who brought him in

But he was faster than a switchblade and he didn't give a good God-damn
He's got the words "Living Free" tattooed across his hands
Yeah he's as wild as you can get and still be called a man
But he could lay low just like a Midnight Sun
Boy was born for living on the run

Maria, God, now she could light a room
But she was wearing a rich kid's diamond ring
Joy couldn't keep his eyes off of that diamond
And Maria couldn't keep her eyes off him

Joey and Maria lying naked
When the rich kid and his blade bust through the door
That rich kid didn't figure that second to banging Maria
Joey's favourite thing was knocking rich kids through the floor

Yeah he was faster than a switchblade and he didn't give a good God-damn
He's got the words "Living Free" tattooed across his hands
Yeah he's as wild as you can get and still be called a man
But he could lay low just like a Midnight Sun
Boy was born for living on the run

Maria says, "I'm gonna keep this baby"
Joey says, "Well, I ain't gonna stick around"
Maria's Daddy sure looks like he means it
When he says, "I'm gonna put Joey in the ground"

Maria's Daddy bought himself a posse
Maria gone and bought herself a dress
The posse's all got rifles, knives and shotguns
Joey's got a diamond ring and a price upon his head

But he's faster than a switchblade and he didn't give a good God-damn
He's got the words "Living Free" tattooed across his hands
Yeah he's as wild as you can get and still be called a man
But he could lay low just like a Midnight Sun
Boy was born for living on the run

The Crow

From Hell's dust and fire came a wizened old crow
He sat up on the telephone wire out by the crossroads
Most crows got them hues of blue but this one's black as soot
He's got a cold, black stare and a crooked beak
He ain't no good

A desperate, broken-hearted boy with a guitar comes along
Lamenting on a girl and dreaming up a song
On the road out on his own he hears a sweet and soft voice say
Something he couldn't quite understand but it took his breath away

He looked out past the crossroads
He looked out past the pole
But there was nobody else around
Just a wizened old crow

Most crows got them hues of blue but this one's black as soot
He's got a cold, black stare and a crooked beak
He ain't no good

But, the boy, he thought himself in luck as the old crow settled down
Right there on his shoulder and they headed into town

X-mas Lights

X-mas lights, they hung on the night
Like a mist or a kiss or perfume
And you moved just like smoke or a little girl's ghost
Who knew just how to haunt that room

Every time I looked you were looking
And you were looking like nothing I'd seen
All them desperate fools out looking for love
That night had nothing on me

We twirled through the night like snow under a streetlight,
Bar lights or headlights of cars
In a blizzard of strangers our two laughing faces
Falling from bar to bar

With your eyes full of life when you looked at me and smiled
I was so scared I just stared at my shoes
Everybody dressed up as fine as they could
But no one had nothing on you

Ain't she just like an angel dressed up like a girl
Ain't it just like an angel to make me feel like hell
Ain't we all just fools the way we pretend
But it's the same old story
You just don't know that you know it
'Til it ends

Them xmas lights look a lot like love
One day you wake up and they're gone

You kicked off your shoes in an apartment room
Kissed me and told me that lie
You took my hand in yours and spun me around
For the rest of my life

I still dream of you standing there at that bar
And I wonder if you ever think of us
All these broken hearts out drinking in the bars
Tonight ain't got nothing on us