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

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

Face on TV

Baby, we did it
We made it over the State Line
In this jet black convertible
With the white stripes down the side
We got beers in the footwell
We got drugs in the trunk
We got a suitcase full of someone else's money
And we're crazy in love

When I was growing up everybody said
"If you don't end up in porn or prison, you'll probably wind up dead"
I wonder what them folks are thinking now that they see
That this kid's got his name in the paper
And his face on TV

Back at the motel
We're knocking back shots
You're waving that handgun around
Loaded with your shirt off
And I don't know why I did it
But I turned on the TV
And there's a high-school photo and your real name
Right next to a picture of me

When I was growing up everybody said
"If you don't end up in porn or prison, you'll probably wind up dead"
I wonder what them folks are thinking now that they see
That this kid's got his name in the paper
And his face on TV

So now we're on the run
And life's a little tough
Sometimes we rob diners for tip jars
But we're still crazy in love
We swapped the car out at a truck-stop
Raided a few of the trucks
I still get a thrill when we're working
And somebody recognizes us

15 Months After the Event

I heard them cops put three bullets in your back as you were running away
I heard the blood trail dried and you went into hiding with the money in a suitcase
I heard another version about how they had you in the cop car bleeding and caught
But by the time they got back to the station house the cuffs were empty and you were gone

I was already back at the safehouse when I saw your picture come up on the news
They had helicopters flying and search lights and dogs and guns out looking for you
Fifteen years of drinking beers and fighting in car parks outside of bars
Mustn't have done you that bad cos even if they had you for a little while now here you are

Ooh oh, my my
Look who it is
Curse my eyes
Ooh oh, look who it is
Sit down my man
I'll get us both a drink

Tina said she saw you like 3 weeks later, unwashed and high off your face
Throwing crisp new hundred dollar bills at strippers from an almost empty suitcase
And Lacey said you're set up just south of the border making connections and lying in wait
This other guy told me you were in police protection so I took my time setting that guy straight

Ooh oh, my my
Look who it is
Curse my eyes
Ooh oh, if I ever saw death
Sit down my man
I'll roll you a cigarette
Sit down my man
Tell me all about it

Spring Streams

I was a boy that year that the circus came to town
      with my knees grazed up and my shirt-tail sticking out
No stone-eyed, pebble-minded rockslide could beat me down
      I was a Spring stream, running from a mountain

There was a lady on the steps of a red, wooden caravan
      with hair on her face and tattoos on her hands
I said I'd feed her snake, pick her heather, big her act
      if she'd take me from this love-forsaken land

She said, "You're like a Spring stream, running down from a mountain,
Like a good dream I don't want to wake up from"
And her heart beat through those words like a poem
When she said to me, "Come, run away with the circus"

I worked as hard as the horses and I slept under the hay
     or in the cages with the lions and the tigers on the nights when it rained
The mornings were the thunder to them lightnin' nighted circus days,
      all us storm-cloud-outcasts, the ghosts and the clowns and the strays

There was a dirty blond girl we came across one morning
      with lightning-bolt-blue eyes and desert skin
She'd outdone the Devil for that face and a lifetime of whoring
      and cashed in on the sins of God's settled gentlemen

She was like a Spring stream running down from a mountain
Like a good dream I didn't want to wake up from
And my heart beat harder than a hammer
When she said to me, "Lets run away from the circus!"

I said, "This is the best of the lives I've known,
and I won't ever call a mountain home"
She said, "There's prairies and there's deserts and there's meadows and there's plains
      You and me are rivers raging with the rain
And I can feel another storm coming in,
      So let's fly too close to the Sun, let it burn our skin!"
She said, "I'll peel your blisters and kiss your bleeding flesh!"
She screamed, "I'll peel your blisters and kiss your bleeding flesh!"
I laughed, "I'll kiss YOUR blisters and choke you half to death!"
We called it love
      and then we high-tailed it out of that tent!

We were like a Spring stream running down from a mountain
Like a good dream we didn't wanna wake up from
And our hearts beat through those fields in perfect rhythm
For a while

The Hitch-hiker

I'm living in a town where it's easy to get killed
And if death don't get us soon the debt-collectors will,
I say we pack all our things up in this car throw our children in the back.
We don't need no place to go, no plans,
For as long as this car can
We'll go wherever your finger lands
On the map.

I'm sick of owing money to every friend I have,
I swear they only come around so they can claim it back.
I say we pack all our things up in this car and throw our guitars in the back.
We don't need no place to go, no plans,
For as long as this car can
We'll go wherever your finger lands
On the map.

"Hitch-hiker! Hitch-hiker! Get into the car,
We'll go wherever you like…"
"Hitch-hiker! Hitch-hiker! Who do you think you are?!
Put down that knife...
You ain't got no right...
That's my wife…
I'm gonna have to set you right!"...

I don't fancy no life on the road with the cops hot on our trail
And we ain't handing ourselves in 'cos we're too open-souled for jail,
I say we leave all our things here on this roadside and throw his body in the back.
Find ourselves a reservoir or a lake,
Car in neutral no hand-brake,
Then back unto the road we'll take
Except this time we'll have to hitch-hike.

The Night-time's Closing In

The night-time's closing in
The streetlights are coming on again
The telephone's about to ring
And I know who's on the end
They say they got the house surrounded
It's time for me to come out
They wanna kick the front door down
So they can take me in

'Cos this afternoon at the bank
With my Magnum and a skiing mask
I told the cashier to fill these bags
And he did what I said
But that cashier moving frantically
With tears in his eyes so he could barely see
Reminded me of a younger me
Still trying to get ahead

So I said, "Son, let me let you in
On a little secret
I ain't gonna kill no one today
But right now I need you to fill these bags
I got a car outside throw them in the back
Throw yourself in the front
'cos I'm gonna need something to point my gun at when the cops show up at my place"

With the night-time closing in
The streetlights coming on again
I called the cops told 'em where I live
And headed on back home
Now armed police have cordoned off the street
They begged me to set the cashier kid free
So I let him go and raised my piece
And took position by the window

Train Wreck

I'd never met a woman
      could shoot a Magnum
            nowhere near as straight as you
And if you need me
      I'll be bleeding
            where the train passes through
With your Magnum, cleaned
      I'll be shooting
At them cans on the rails I filled
      With lighter fluid

You said the train job
      was the last straw,
            that we got what we deserved
The money we'd made
      was marked anyways
            and you was losing your nerve
You said that in the driver's eyes
      was something like a clearing
And when we'd washed that Magnum clean
      you said that I could keep it

There were wreathes made
      out of roses, laid
            for the man who shovels coal
And the daughter
      of the driver
            who was just 12 year's old
Left a postcard
      in her own writing
That read, "If there's a train up there
      Daddy'll be driving"

And now I'm tryin' to steal breath
      from a train wreck
            and the car's covered in ice
And I'm bleeding
      from my forehead
            and my chest is on fire
It's been two days now
      and I'm still bleeding
Wrapped the bullet holes with rags
      but they ain't healing

So I'm gonna drag this
      almost lifeless
            body to Canyon Ridge
Where there's a walkway
      by the railway
            where it runs across the bridge
You know where it is
      and you know I can't swim
But I'm going over the edge
      after I've thrown your Magnum in

Time to move South

I was as hammered as an old nail smoking outside of a bar
When a girl walks up to me with my name tattooed on her arm
She said, "There are people in this life, boy, that were born to do you harm
And I won't let you down".

She took me to where she was staying North of the 401.
She kicked off her boots, took off her shirt, laid down her gun,
Said, "Can I pour you out a whisky, boy? I was gonna pour me one",
Then she laid me down.

I was woken by the desk-clerk of the motel the next day
Telling me the girl was gone and she'd said I would pay.
Then the guy bust through the door before I'd had a chance to say,
"If you bust through that door I'll shoot you down".

I found me a run-down diner where I could eat something
That would calm my nerves, line my stomach, soak up last night's drink.
Had the redhead waitress bring me coffee, home-fries, steak and eggs
And, God, I wolfed it down

I've always liked to move around, I get tired if I stay still
And maybe it's the rate I'll get from dollar to real
Or maybe it's the desk-clerk that someone's gonna find killed
But I think it's time to move South

Watered-down Whisky

I was sitting in a bar. A strip joint, full of Eastern European imports. The beautiful kind that let you fall in love. They get real close, staring with those big, brown eyes, like you got something they want. And you do.

Well, when I had run out of what they wanted, that is, when I had gone broke, when I had finally lost their affection, I was alone.

I said, "Waitress, tonight I know hate.
You've been bringing me watered-down whisky all night did you think that I couldn't taste?
The whisky I been sippin' is what I could be tippin' to the girls that are strippin' on stage".
And in just one blink of her eyes, I lifted my whisky on ice
And I smashed that glass right in her face.

 I moved over to the bar.

I said, "Barman, tonight I know hate.
You been selling me watered-down whisky all night, did you think that I couldn't taste?
The whisky I been sippin' is what I could be tippin' to the girls that are strippin' on stage".
And in just one beat of his heart, I took the bottle from behind the bar
And I smashed that bottle hard right in his face.

Them Eastern Europeans hadn't even stopped dancing. The other patrons couldn't hear me over the music, and though they must have seen me in the reflections of those big, brown eyes, they were in love, and they had money, and that was all. So I went outside.

I said, "Bouncer, could you hail me a cab?
I'm an easy-going man and it's rowdy in there so I've decided to settle my tab.
There's a guy who's gettin' fisty with the waitress 'bout the whisky, my suspicion is he'll get out of hand".
And on the side of the road in the night, the bouncer held my door and said a pleasant good-bye
Just as the owner came out running to profanely tell the bouncer the facts.

Uh-oh.

I said, "Driver, how fast can you drive?
I got a situation unfolding and I'm scared for my life.
I got a fifty in my pocket with your name on, if you want it put your foot down and throw this thing into drive".
Well that car moved pretty damn fast, and once we'd made it to the overpass
I jumped out whilst it was still moving 'cause when I'd said that I had money I had lied.

Yeehaw!!

Homeless Jack

A thousand thoughts word for word he recalls how he'd wake to the whistles of them steam engines yawning / Clackety-clack goes the old train track where homeless Jack tells them same old stories / how he used to live with these two fugitives he'd stone-faced insist were just a couple of lovers / he said they'd sleep 'neath the bridge, stay up all night drinking with him and when the cops finally came in he said they cuffed everyone of us // Law put his face in their office, they said he was an accomplice for the ill-gotten profits of robbing the trains / they said he went through the carriages, through suitcases and packages of the unsuspecting passengers and they changed his name / to bad Jack of the Tracks // Jack tried to quell his reputation, he moved up out of the station, took cheap work at the plantation under a different name / but when Industrials arrived buying all the land they could find / they bled his plantation dry and they canceled his wage / him and his friends that he made there, they jumped on the railway / for years on days on nights they rode / on charity's wine, 'cross almost every line jack and his old friends still ride / right under old John Law's nose // He sleeps on the sheets of the grass on the banks by the rails / spends his days with his band of runaways and renegades swapping tales / of how they've all been cheated / how they're all down but none of them are beaten / and how this Friday night is gonna blow last Friday night away // 'Cos on a Friday night they all blag their way into these bars / and they dance so hard it breaks your heart / they take their shoes off and dance with the girls barefeet / and we buy them drink / 'cos they've had it so hard // He spoils these old ladies, and them beautiful young girls / and they love him back / homeless Jack ///.

You don't know what drinking is...

Los No Amados opened the next day
After they swept the broken glass and blood away
If you drink there on your own you'll hear them say
That they still keep the killer's piece behind the bar

There's an old man sitting quiet in the corner
They say's the guy who lost his only daughter
On the day of the No Amados slaughter
They say her lover put a bullet straight through her heart

The old man in the corner lifts his glass
And pours another beer past his moustache
The waitress does;t wait for him to ask
To bring another

When your heart sits in your belly with the weight
Of all your fear, your sadness and your hate
When everything you've loved is laid to waste
Comfort's discomfort

You don't know what drinking is
'less you've sat down with a drink
In a quiet bar to think about what you've lost
You don't know what drinking is
'less you've sat down with a drink
Knowing it's the only thing you've got

They say God works in mysterious ways
I'll never know why He let me get away
But for my sins I'll carry 'round this pain
For all my days in my heart

I don't know who God is keeping quiet
Or if I scared 'em hard enough to keep them silent
Or if the people there were too drunk when I fired
But they still keep my piece behind the bar

Mad Dog

It's been a good day - I've kept myself out of hell.
I'm on the train up town to go and meet my girl.
With blood-spattered stains on my shirt, his back slides smooth down a wall
And Mad Dog says he'd got a job anytime, just give him a call.
Now there's a heist going down not even Mad can do alone
And Jenny says she'll kill me herself if I don't come home.

Jenny's here, half-crying, aching to hold me tonight
She says the train-whistle-wind's gon' bring the chill of the night
And there's a feeling in her gut that ain't the thrill of this fight
But I tell her it's alright.
She says, "What's a man gotta do to get a name like Mad Dog?"
She says, "Sometimes I wonder 'bout you, kid, if you ever think at all".
So I think for a minute 'bout how Mad Dog in his stead
Can take the floor from underneath you and the hat from off your head
I said, "There's glory on them battlefields where braver men have bled"
And she said, "The only thing on battlefields are the bullet-ridden dead!"
I said, "Honey, you're mistaken I'll be with you soon again,
I got Mad Dog on my shoulder and a pistol full of lead"
She said, "These whispers in this bed tonight, they fill me full of dread
And, God, I need you so please come home to me again".

The next day was beautiful and that night stars riddled the sky,
I left my room at midnight, kissed my baby goodbye.
I'm doing this all for my baby, I swear with the money I make
I'll get out of the business and we'll move away.
Dawn arrives at usual time and I met Mad down at them tracks.
We jumped onboard where bullets poured after half the train'd gone past.

Bullets flew like songbirds singing straight into your heart
On destined wings that duly bring life's faithful counterpart.
Broken bones with open eyes that used to be the guards
Now lay ripped apart.
And I think, "What's a man gotta do to get a name like Mad Dog?
Is there a point in everyman's life when he has to question it all?"
So I think for a minute 'bout how Mad Dog in his stead
Had beaten both the drivers and left every guard for dead
And I prayed that my Jenny she still be safely tucked in bed
And thought I must be a hero with all this hero's blood I've bled!
So now I'm lying here half-crying aching to hold Jenny tonight
and that train-whistle-wind went and brought the chill of the night.
Now there's a feeling in my gut that ain't the thrill of this fight
No more.

Mad Dog was hit too, but not as bad as I was
In the perfect serenade of the bullet-ridden violence
Still, I can't compare the pain that lightning'd through the silence
As we stared down in the bag at nothing but glass diamonds.

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)