A Travelling Song

A travelling song for a girl that don't ever travel
A rambling song for a girl that don't ramble at all
Left by the roadside tracing his name in the gravel
Wishing her love travels safe if he won't travel home

A travelling song for the girl who got left by the roadside
Who cried three days straight before making that roadside her home
For the girl who buried her shoes in the dirt by the roadside
And carved her name in a rock on the top so that it looked like a gravestone

Here's a travelling song for a girl that don't ever travel
A rambling song for a girl that don't ramble at all
Who'd bury herself if only he'd left her with a shovel, but above all,
Wishing her love travels safe if he won't travel home.

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.

Too Much to Lose (The Ballad of Mickey McKeith)

You can take a snake's poison, leave him with his fangs
You can take a rogue's handgun, leave him with his hands
But you've still got a cobra, and you've still got a thief
And nobody knows it better than Mickey McKeith

The cops took his pistol, and bagged it as evidence
Gamblin' father, junky mother, Mickey was bred to chance
But he'd been feeding them habits so long we figured he'd never get caught
He'd chance everything we needed and we'd buy anything else he'd got

A rogue by any other name is still a rogue
And the blood runs thick round here and red as rose
To hold the broken parts of hearts when one of our own
Goes one of the only two ways we always go

But a thief's life is stolen time
Oh, they're gonna lock you up,
Mickey, for a long time.

And 'round here, Mickey, all anyone's been talking 'bout
Is how we should club the cop that cuffed you, steal his keys, and break you out
But we'll raise a glass instead to your name again like people 'round here do.
We mean it when we say we'll bust you out, Mickey, I swear we do,
We just got too much to lose.
Too much to lose.

They say you'd let anybody fill your glass but no one your boots..
You'd let anybody fill your glass but no one your boots..
And anybody'd fill your glass but no one your boots..
We've all got too much to lose.

Walk Like A Man

We've got nothing left to say
Except - are you gonna have that baby?
Well, that's OK.
Just know, I ain't sticking around -
I need to get out -
I don't need no baby to hold me down.
I got a job now
In some other town,
But I hope everything for you and your new kid works out.

Maybe you could re-marry.
You're a pretty girl and you're smart and you care too much,
And what is love if it's not just someone caring too much?
Lord knows I ain't a lover.
Lord knows I ain't much.
Lord have mercy on you
If you believed I could love.

Who needs a dad anyway?
I got on alright, made my own way -
I did OK.
I just can't stick around,
I always need to get out.
I'll do anything you ask
Just don't ask me to stick around.

Oh, Baby, don't cry...

...Yes, I can hear what I'm saying...

...So I ain't great, well, nor are you and nor's this kid and fuck you
And fuck me if I'm staying.

If it makes you happy, things ain't worked out so well;
I've been knocked down and stamped on everywhere I've been,
I've been kicked out of every hole that I've tried to crawl in,
I've been starved of love, money, clothes, food and friends,
Now I'm broke in a land with a language I don't understand,
And I've been beaten into knowing what it is how to walk like a man.
I just can't.
I just can't.

I know there's no room for me where you are now.
It don't matter anyhow,
I'm still no good at sticking around.
But if you promise that my boy learns how to walk like a man,
I promise you'll never hear from me again.

Mariachi Music

Old Street's South of the Border done up like Mexico's Day of the Dead
Face painted on like a skeleton and a sombrero on her head
She's never been but every night she dreams of them hot, sweet Mexican miles
And as she speaks that Mexican heat comes burning out of her eyes

Mariachi music, not even God
Can know what he's losing if He don't know what He's got
I know what I'm losing and it's breaking my heart
I know what I'm losing, I just can't make it stop

White-skinned girl, the prettiest in the world and easily the sweetest
Face painted on like a skeleton with her eye-line burning West
Blazing trails that no cowgirls have ever done
She says goodbye with a mile-wide smile then sets like the Mexican sun

Mariachi music, not even God
Can know what he's losing if He don't know what He's got
I know what I'm losing and it's breaking my heart
I know what I'm losing, I just can't make it stop

She don't need no Spanish - and she ain't got no care
If someone you love's gonna vanish it don't matter where

She always said she'd go to Mexico, the land of the free
She could be with any Mariachi, he's never gonna be as good as me.

Best Friends with the Devil

Call it a sickness of the soul turning to delusion
Some things you lose in life make it not matter what else you're losing
Call it a crisis of faith. Please! Call it something else -
Call it the lost and the lonely finally finding his place in the world

May you live happy and you live long
May your strength keep you faithful and your faith keep you strong
Not me, I'm weak, I'm giving up God
I've been waiting for him to save me so long, now saving ain't what I want

My behaviour lately's been nothing short of unchristian
I've been screaming out for God but either he can't hear me or he ain't listening
So I put myself on a self-made cross of self-pity
And I've been wondering what the barrel of a gun tastes like whilst I'm drinking

'Cos drinking is something like crying
And there's enough tears in my glass to drown
I've been screaming for heaven my whole goddam life
Now I'm hell-bound

Don't preach to me about salvation I'll preach you something better -
Makes the loss I feel from losing in life not even matter
You can call it mortal sin, call it growing old disgracefully, whatever,
But from now on whenever you see me call me best friends with the Devil.

Scuffed-up Shoes

Scuffed-up shoes from running loose
She's been living on the streets again
Knocking back the hardest drinks in the bar
Where she can pretend she's got friends
This guy compliments her and buys her a drink
But she blocks out what he says
She watches him slip off his wedding ring and thinks to herself
'Oh, man, here we go again...'

She drinks to forget how lonely she is
But only the lonely will buy her a drink
She looks around
And slams another glass down

With holes in the soles of her shoes she goes
Back to this married man's house
Up into his marital bedroom
The kids' pictures face-down
She closes her eyes as he touches her thighs
And she wonders what his wife must be like
If this is how a man treats his spouse and she's alone
Maybe she's doing alright

There's only so many men in this world
And none of them know how to treat a girl
She waits for him to sleep
And then she quietly leaves
Stealing some money from the side and flirting wild
With the driver of the taxi

She refuses his advances so he pulls her out of the car
He leaves her in a heap beside the bar

Talking to a stranger from out under her hair
He asks her 'Why you drinking?', she says 'Why do you care?'
And with a casual reply
He says, 'Some men are just nice'

She didn't believe him but what's another beating
So she went back to his place
She still didn't believe him but when they were finished
He wanted her to stay
So they talked all night about their lives
And in the morning stayed in bed all day

Maybe this one will work out alright
'Hey, baby, slide over, come on, hold me tight'
That itch that used to burn underneath her skin
The itch that she could only scratch with drink
Is all at once soothed by him
When he says,
'I love you'.

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

Scars

She says, "what's wrong with dying young and gloriously?"
he says, "it just wastes time that you could have spent with me"
and takes another big swig of his 6.5 from a can
She says, "i wanna make some noise when i go out"
he says, "who's gonna hear about it anyhow"
and as he says it this girl lets her fingertips slip from his hand

She thinks, who is he to take my hand
dig my nails into his hand
look deep into my eyes
and tell me he understands?

Those words went through her head like self-harm
she dug her nails deep in her wrist to try and keep herself calm
and the calmness came in through the holes that the blood came out
He didn't even have to lift up his head
to know her green eys were searching and her white teeth were red
as she held her new holes up against her open mouth

The night came on fast and the night came on cold
as the sun lost his breath and the moon took a hold
and when the moon takes hold there's a darkness that follows with
a silence that pushes the hurt around your veins
past the back of your eyes into the front of your brain
and makes you want to dig your nails even deeper in

A train of thought as smooth as a blade across a wrist
and that train left the station high on cocaine and drink
so they fucked for a while until they figured the wine had worn them out
She slept for a while then in the middle of the night
she gathered her few things, wrote him a sweet goodbye
then she punched him hard in the ear and kissed him harder on the mouth

She was thinking, man, it's time to go,
time for me to get away,
time to hit the open road
there's nothing 'round here for me anyway
except for him
and i can learn to love again
there's a hundred more that i could love as much
and a thousand more to love less
and who was he to love me
who was he to take care of me
who was he to sacrifice his own happiness
just to get me a little bit of happy
when i'd have been alright
if i had died
face-down on the bed that night
high on cocaine and wine
but he went and took that knife
and cut holes in hands that should have been mine
then he held them up bleeding to my beating chest
and looked deep into my eyes
and i saw the scars

If I owe you money, get in line...

My hands are worn down by this cage
And there's scars from the bars on my face
I'm trapped inside a debt I just can't pay
Most nights I pass out with my wrists at a blade
And it's bound to come one of these nights
You'll find me 'neath a scrounging pile of creditors and mites
If I owe you money, honey, get in line

She swears there's a baby on the way
And she's telling him it's his
But there's rumours on this whisky-stained night
That she don't even care whose it is
I swear I'll stand by her if it's mine
This might be what I need to get me back in line
If I owe you money, brother, get in line

When I'm out 'neath the stars I feel closer to God
But He ain't listening to me
I'm alright, I'm hard up but I'm fine,
And I know, out there, there are more hard up than me

So I'm sorry for the debts that I've made
For the borrowings I racked up that I promised you I'd pay
For all the times I got evicted and all the times you let me stay
I swear I'll get it back to you just give me a few more days
Mama, you've always been my lifeline
I swear I'll pay you back I just don't have it here this time
If I owe you money, Mama, get in line
It's breaking my heart!
But if I owe you money, Mama, get in line..

i'm alright when i'm drunk

there's only so many days i can come home to you
after a long day at work
i'm only working to pay for the things
we both feel you deserve
trouble is, baby, i don't deserve as much
and i know you think i don't deserve them, too
so don't be there when i get home tonight
goodbye, it's been not-too-bad loving you

call me a cruel, unloving bastard for my time
i'll take it all in my unsteady stride
you girls have got a funny way of turning things around
but you don't know how much it tears me up inside
you know you ain't the first
and i know that you ain't the last
hard work and hard women are just so easy to get
the only hard thing's trying to stay attached

so now i'm going in late and i'm going in drunk
anything i can do to get laid off
i ain't needing money if i ain't needing you
i'm alright when i'm poor
i'm alright when i'm drunk

Building-site Train Station

Dinner reservations at the building-site train station, coat the floor with white carnations 'cos I know that they're your favourites and I know you'll wear that dress that has me lapping at your ankles, let the wax dry on your finger that you poured out from the candle, then you tell me things in broken French that kinda sound like secrets then you hit me with the J'adores in a chest-hollowing sequence - "Je voudrais se cramponer a vous pour toujours, pour infinite" - I pretend to not know what you say 'cos you smile more that way.

Diary entries that I'm not allowed to read 'cos there's a little red heart next to me and her feelings described graphically and god-forbid she'd waste her gift of keeping all her feelings hid, letting me in only bit by bit so I never really get the drift. I'll pretend that I don't like this, you'll pretend that you don't love it, I'll pretend to be better than this, you'll pretend to rise above it. It's always hard to tell apart what's going on inside our hearts so coyly lay your highest card, we toast... and we laugh.

In the daytime you're a dreamer, get the sack 'cos you believe it, fall in love but keep it secret 'cos the romance makes it deeper, you want to tell your man you love him and it's gotta be this evening 'cos you're gonna change the world someday and it's tomorrow you're leaving, now you don't want to be too cliche and don't want to embellish so when he tries to make you stay you figure you'll just tell him, "Hey, thank you for the flowers, baby, really. God, I love you. I wish I didn't have to go this is just what I've gotta do. I'll always hold you close to me wherever I go, wear this feather to protect me 'til I die and then my soul will sail across the ocean on the wind just like this feather 'til it finds you and our souls can ride eternal winds forever". Now I feel just like a bow that's had to shoot its favourite arrow which I wish I could plunge through my chest to keep me from tomorrow. The building-site train station starts to get a little cold. Maybe it's the weather or maybe now 'cos we both know. "C'mon... I'll walk you home".

Life's Gonna Fuck You

Billy could bluff a hand like he could eat or sleep
He'd bet big and we'd say, "Billy, man, take it easy"
He'd smile and say, "Don't worry boys, this is a sure thing"
Then he'd lay down his hand, shoot us a wink and he'd take home everything
We found Billy's body in the desert, just body and sand
We knew he was good but never pegged him for a cheating man
But he must have won too big the night before
'Cos there were five aces carved into his skull

See, if you lay down for Life - Life's gonna fuck you
And if you try and stand up and fight- Life's gonna fuck you
You see, fortune don't favour the brave any more than the meek
You ain't got no chance of surviving
No matter what chance you take

Rosalita tended a bar out on the edge of town
She'd drink tequila with the patrons whenever they'd come around
Everybody knew tequila would make Rosalita loose
Drunk on tequila there ain't nothing Rosalita wouldn't do
One night four men come in with some home-brew tequila
And drove Rosie out into the desert where they had planned to leave her
Now it's been three years since anyone's seen them men around
And Rosalita's still tending bars out on the edge of town

See, if you lay down for Life - Life's gonna fuck you
And if you try and stand up and fight- Life's gonna fuck you
You see, Fortune don't favour the brave any more than the meek
You ain't got no chance of surviving
No matter what chance you take

Little Blue House

I was born in a little blue house
I was born in a little blue house
'Til my old lady kicked me out
'Til my old lady kicked me out
She said, "Boy, you got some growing-up to do"

I fell in favour with a dirty barkeep
Fell in favour with a dirty barkeep
He gave me food and somewhere to sleep
He gave me food and somewhere to sleep
He said, "Son, stay here all you need"

So I did
Hell, it was free

I fell in love with a little redhead
Fell in love with a little redhead
She broke my heart the day that she said
Broke my heart the day that she said
"Boy, I got some leaving to do"

So I got me a big ol' bag of weed
And got me about a gallon of whisky
From the man who gives me all I need
From the man who gives me all I need
He said, "Son, take something special on me"

So I did
Hell, it was free

I wrapped it in my will and testament
Wrapped it in my will and testament
Which was a brown paper bag and on it, it read
It was a brown paper bag and on it, it said
"If I die - bury me with my boots on -

The cowboys made of rattlesnake hide
The cowboys made of rattlesnake hide
'Cos if I'm getting to heaven from wherever I die
If I'm getting to heaven from wherever I die
I got some walking to do"