Swingin' Utters

Only passing thoughts of times long gone, tonight 9000 miles away I hear your songs, but I - I seek the comfort of the bottle and then I let my mind to wander to the face that I knew and to the places that I went with you

You told me all your stories through the trebled din but I haven't finished drinking so please tell them all again

The brazen head, you overwhelm me with the powers of an ancient spell old and the new, they come around to spend their time with you ten years I dreamed about you now I haven't had a drink without you a toast for those who've passed and to the rest let's finish off the glass

Well, let me tell you about how I've sinned and all the places that I've been all the battles that I've lost and all scars that I've caused 'cause if there's one thing that I know it's that all these people they come and go so that is all and that was then but I'll come back and do it again I just wanna have you close to me Twenty-three (Huber)

I want to tell you how its been but I'm not too sure about it myself I've tried to call time and time again but I misdialed, then stopped myself now I feel like I'm on trial for the inconvenience
I caught the train in a downtown rain and I swear I saw your face as I peered out through the window's stains I swear I saw your face

I'm not waiting for the world to grab me by the balls and hold until I surrender weeping

I suppose I could say I've missed your ways and I wish that we could meet again someday I know its not a crime to wait but I ain't standing here forever

The lighthouse sits as an attraction for tourists it's been out of work for years, it seems I think its a bed and breakfast it's automated, been reconstructed no storied old man working in it



I'm just looking for it all I'm not trying to hide it I'm just looking for my own and anything to keep thats sacred I'll just stick around and wait for some kind of judgement day (Koski)

Are you guilty of this game that got me in this seat or grateful for the cross that kept Jesus off his feet filling up the tissue box instead of using the sheet wipe off remote control don't push button "delete"
Something sticky, something itchy my visions aren't polite 'cause I'm talkin' 'bout my life the churches on my drive are gloomy in the light

Are you innocent of emission stains on my underwear or indecent, no complaints give a fuck or even care the situation's getting rough odors once foul are now fair are you tugging on the tension strings or are my rings caught in your hair

Something sticky, something itchy be killed my lonely heart and seize when I'm in the crowd a small piece of the biggest part is the easiest to live out grab hold of my stiff limbs and catch me when I fall stick to what you got for the most part it is all (Bonnel/Maurer)

You could move faster you could move like you should (traffic on the bridges at bay) while the bitch and bastard has got you by the jewels (buried in the working day) and your motivation are the ones who could (the ones who do it in their own way) devastation floats in your gene pool (your father's proud 'cause you earned your pay)
You're a do-er you're a do-on fuck the world drop the neutron you're a mover you're a moron You're the cops and clip coupons

Police are apathetic to protect and serve (the housing plan's provided) your friends and family get what they deserve (classes remain divided) the priest is praying for losing faith in the world ('cause everyone was invited) sticking to your guns 'cause you ain't got the nerve (and the N.R.A. are delighted) only the criminal knows how the criminal fits in (your kids know how to bitch and moan) cram them in the cells and they'll learn how to bend (because their generation's prone) a diamond in the rough to a nickel in the fen (more than one in the telephone) unjust is not the cuff its the truncheon's other end (and who receives the broken bones) its new year's eve, half past eleven (Dick out in the tenderloin) the rain's coming down like pennies from heaven (the cops say there's no such coin) bullets in the clouds from 357s (stay out of Hunter's Point) every new year a new deadly lesson (and two of mother's dead little boys)
(Bonnel/Koski)

Was it something you said or was it something you did it doesn't matter much 'cuz I can't leave either way I'm just a part now and I'm here to stay but I wouldn't want it any other way
Well I've been gone now far too long that's why I'm writing you this song it's been six months to date and it seems an eternity to wait but it's always hard on the road
I just wanna' hear you voice on the phone
I just wanna' hear you voice on the phone

I drink so I can retain some form of confidence but it never really kills the pain it never did I've gotta face the facts I always want you close to me Twenty-Three

Well, I always used to feel so left out but now my life's all turned around its been nine months to date and it seems an eternity to wait but it's always hard on the road
I just wanna' hear you voice on the phone
I just wanna' hear you voice on the phone

For the first time, I hope the last to the future, who cares about the past I fell in love now and it's nice to know that you're giving your love to me
Twenty-Three
I've been gone now far too long that's why I'm writing you this love song well, its been one year to date and it seems an eternity to wait but soon I'm gonna be back home I just want to have you close to me Twenty-Three (Huber)

The smokestack's blowing off my last few dreams and isn't that the way its always been? she pours into the sky and chokes the trees then disappears from view, like empty streams
And the second step from heaven disappeared and then I took to crying on my bed and the second step from madness disappeared on a rainy day in august every year

The denizen of sad and awful days has visited my home with all her grace she's taught me worlds of knowledge through disgrace she's given me a taste of the misplaced

And I've taken to revising my diaries, modifying the more adament entries and the second step from madness disappeared on a rainy day in august every year



What's missing is the scent of salted air and a song sung by your sweetheart, and you're there as a twilight breeze sifts slowly through her hair and the angels take a split of the devil's share (Koski)

Nothing comes over me
Nothing like inspiration
Not even on the seaside
No fantasies to ration
The swell looks mighty slim
And the water level's down
The dirty sea adds to the junk I'm in
Until the sun creeps up the sound

And then I'm outright broken
Disgusted and outspoken
My drinks are watered down and sick
Like my old man's tired convictions
Nobody has a hold on me

At dusk it gets mighty dim
And the lights fire up the beach
I don't feel much like a swim
'Cause I'm afraid of the dirty sea


The swell looks mighty slim
And the water level's, they're all down
The dirty sea adds to the junk I'm in
Until the sun creeps up the sound
I wake myself hastily
In time for the break of day
The air smells sweet by the sea
It stinks of my old memories
I try to grab hold of things
Or anything I can reach
But I'm only swatting at air
Staring blankly at the dirty sea
(Koski/Dison)

Cigarette Ashes
And tickets to free dinners
A buck bottle of wine
Under a minute of my time
I'll give you all that I have, son
It may be less than I have, son
Don't cut the lines that border us, son
Don't waste my time
You're no son of mine
I've got so many errands to run, son
Fraternize with poker buddies and their cash, son
I spent the better part of my life


Singing you stupid lullabies
And handcuffed tight behind my back
Under your mother's watchful eye
God rest her soul
And God bless a wasted life
(Koski)

You're selfishness is horrid
And you're beauty is queen
Puts the pain gut-wrenching
And the grass a sickly green
The troubles of youth
Have got your hair in a mess
And when you speak there's length in excess
About your storm and stress

Our love was never sacred
Kept me figuring out what to do
L-O-V-E, I hate you

There's blood on the frosting
When you cut the cake
The meaning lies much deeper
You're a big mistake
Let me count the ways
On the squirming centipede


You'll never find what you're looking for
With these insatiable needs

Your passion is a pesticide
The birds and bees are never in my trees
You'll never find what you're looking for
With these insatiable needs
The trouble of youth
Have got your hair in a mess
When you speak
There's a length in excess
About your storm and stress
(Bonnel)

The Devil Dog
Has got you pinned to the ground
You try so many ways
And you look how that sounds
You got me telling me the differences
Between night and day
I thank the Lord
I wouldn't have it any other way

If these things sound wrong to you well they should

Jehovah's witness and the setting sun
He gave me a leaflet
I gave him my gun
He fears for my life
He's afraid of my son
I got down on my knees
And I kissed his polished tongues

I heard I was a member of the I.C.F.
I eat vermicelli
But I'm Irish at best
I shoot for the stars
And I f**k the moon
If the lighthouse gets in the way
I'll curse it too
(Bonnel)

i have broken many dreams, but like broken hearts they seem to mend with ease i've traversed the open sea with a grain of guts and a gallon of need but i'm tired and i'm easily fixed a hair trigger in this one's breed i'm upset with upsetting things and always sad to see the good things leave so what's wrong with you? so what's wrong with you? so what's wrong with you? she says oh, what's wrong with you is what's wrong with me long lost negotiations made in hell to break my nerves toiled and fought my way to the top, i haven't done but have tried at least to deserve shiny things on golden jeweled plates aren't just handed out for those in need oh i've learned and i'm learning still that staying idle is the worst disease i blame myself for breaking promises i made to myself in so called "dire need" but i won't apologize for the cursed words i've laid upon those that i blamed it's no use to toil over this isn't life to be a simple thing? it's a flux, a want for worth that i need to dispel these needs (Koski)

Jackie Jab is looking fab. He's got a treble and a bass and a big tab. He's got oil in his hair from an arab and when he falls down, he falls smack dab. (Chorus) hey fellas, get him a cab, what's his name - jackie jab! Three square meals everyday, but nothing's square about the american way. his friends get off on Doris Day and he hasn't a clue what to say. (Chorus) hey fellas, get him a cab, what's his name - jackie jab! (Bonnel/Koski/Wickersham)

you better go, or you'll be stepped on with your sharpened bayonette boots you'll be long gone you gotta go, you gotta get on with all the glory of good riches you've been brainwashed (Chorus) and as far as for all the days and what you'll do with them, just spend some quiet time you need some rest to mend, you're getting slow, you're getting old now, you gotta run, just like you used to, you're tied down, boy, you've been tied down and spit on. (Koski)

well, you don't really know what you wanna do except to spend some time just being you but the game's unfair and the stakes are high what with the threat of being embalmed in formaldehyde
i don't wanna go before my time
i don't wanna go before my time
well you've got good time to put down a few so you take carrer castanyer down to the gloob it's the only fuckin place that'll serve you a tiny hideaway from parents, work and school
it's just like teenage genocide
it's just like teenage genocide
now you can cast your vote and elect a joke but you'd better not fuck, dream, drink or smoke and watch your back when the man offers you a ride because it's just like teenage genocide (Koski/Wickersham)

you can't believe your children you can't believe your wife, you can't take the credit fucking up your life, some people don't believe me when i tell them "i'm alive" they see me walking so slowly they think i'm too uptight (Chorus) it's a catastrophe such a strange way to live well let me try a new strategy i'll try and make it work i'll take myself away and get out of the dirt (Koski)

pick up the lines between your eyes grow up and get yourself to feeling younger longing for the sunshine waiting for an early rise won't it just shame you? shall i stop and blame you? no one's gonna call you an ambitious teacher or a "get things done" move on to the next one achiever (chorus) you will always be merely a dreamer you go by the misleading name of Mr Believer caustic remarks throw you aside distraught with disbelief buried alive oh and i have seen the likes of you grow weaker each passing day, men like me digging your grave deeper rapped up and blindfolded barely breathing broke nowhere to go but eyes still shining you crass cowardly clown there's no "Shangri-La" and it don't get any better than right where you are (Koski)

Slow motion cigarettes hang from your sweaty lips five bottles of stale, pissy ale stumble to your pale wrists thin man with unkept hair clean shave, but a glassy stare you've lost it all boy, and so young
I'll remember times like these with a bit of satisfaction I remember somber days and with more to come, surely won't forget them.
Stick figure twig of a boy toothy grin, a slim bit of poise he says "I'll take you down with one blow" and though we laugh, he does quite well.
These are times where we all look onward not what's now, but what's to come a lot of pride and a shade of hope, am I the only one who gets the fucking joke?

she came over, but i was spent no money involved 'cause it came and went i'm so tired, she thinks that's bent it fills up my pockets and it pays my rent i won't hold my breath for that time to come i exhale an exasperating sum she said "you're washed up", i'm not close to being done there's plenty of room in the shadows, but not in the sun no place in the sun, my sun
i'm not even close to being done that guy there, he's a big boy's hobnob he's got no integrity, he's a lazy slob compared to me he's quite famous, but i've got a job loose lips take sips from the goblety gob there's no time for me, but you just wait and see if i'm counting on me, i'll need to calculate noe she's tired of standing there, hey that's takes the cake 'cause the sun comes over, and she's always in the way (Bonnel/Koski)

I've said, and once too often, some things i'd never say again. in streams of thoughts unbroken i fish for a few good men (chorus) sundays and holidays and twelve hours straight no pay for bloody hands and believe me they pay a petty wage my poor self pity speaks with sobbing mumbled words strewn with the awful taste of bad, cowardly prose. (Chorus) i'd take some time to get my posture set straight if i had the chance i'd break and subdue the scheming hands of fate. wrap up your limp red mass of knuckles and fingertips it's fighting time and time to battle with your wits, time to spit back when you're spit upon, when you're left for dead. time to hit the road when the road you're on has run out of tricks (chorus) i don't want your sundays and holidays of twelve hours straight no pay for bloody hands, no i don't want your fucking petty wage (Koski)

Come On!

he's a shadow of what he used to be ever since i put him in his place she's just a memory that's scarred him horribly and looks like lipstick on his face
this side of paradise is slow
no eager men go to the show,
except for me
she wore a bright red dress always looked half undressed and he stuck by her side like glue
she's give him perfect eyes smiled at him every time and when she spoke it was the truth
now it's been twenty days sleepless and stupid days wasting good time on feeling bad she's taken everything greenbacks and anything that she could steal behind his back (Koski)

off all the blessed intervals that defined ourselves as one i may remember only the last, as it's the interval you won i've thought about it and i just don't know (don't know quite where to go) i've been trying to relax, but i can't remember how (a bit of rest is what i need now)

(chorus) i've been a sailor, but a sailor who has never left his land who's tried to occupy an unstable mind with ridiculous daydreams now come the testing times where i dip my small toe in though the deepest waters freeze, if i jump in i'll be free i'm all alone, and that's just as well (Without you facts do tell) fond whispers of unfound secrets, i still can't hear them, so pray tell (chorus) i can't accept it, (i'm a beached sailor) cause i don't understand it (i'm a beached sailor) i'm lying here stranded, (i'm a beached sailor) like a beached sailor (Koski)

times have changed and the change of time's slow going my ramble tamble's still in tact, though and i've got plenty of guts still showing all along the levy where we just sat and sometimes drank one the weeds are growing over all of out summer days long gone (chorus) just take me to the riverbank with no clouds in the sky and if you do, i won't give my thanks but i'll stay there till i die i've grown and shedded some i've shed the ones i used to care for it seems they're all long dead and gone but they're still up to the same chores along the endless streets that are now breeds of walking feet that i just don't have time for (chorus) now i start to save my time pack my things and say goodbye unsatisfied and anxious now i want to blow away from here just take me to the riverbank just take me to the riverbank where waters run like some mistake and i can make my history.. (Koski)

well, i've fallen from the grace of a dog whatcha gonna do? I'll scribble it down in my log i don't believe you! It wouldn't hurt to believe me well maybe just a little sting, clouds outside are rolling in right through my bolted door cold sweats are dampening me with their mediocre lore time spent in a welded life sealed tight shut like a lover's war i trusted you and took you in, but in the end you were like the rest you were just like them you were just like them "Them" Meaning the rotten end you were just like them now i'm in this purgatory of self-inflicted shame I trust non one Don't talk no more "hello, have a good day" my big frowns were smiles once but now i've changed my ways this human race is spotted with a cruel, colored disgrace, and you're just like them, yes, you're just like them no more apologies spent cause you're just like them (Koski/Bonnel)

when the ballroom splendor and the glitzy glamour boys fall flat like cheap champagne, when the swirl of excitement and the sparkling smiles have fled into the folds of the night, when the haunts you most admired and the simple things you adored seem like a fraud of petty trinkets, when the day has broken and the smooth words spoken and your finest moments spent, when the ache of wanting beauty and the lure of glossy perfection leaves you alone and weeping, when you hit the big time, when you hit the big time stars and starlets (Bishop/Koski)

Good solid build, this ripe young kid has sharpened up for killing men. polished new shoes and uniform not a bad sort ??just came here on a whim??br>And now our soldier boy is missing home and now our little boy is dead as a stone.
Big toothy grin, peach fuzz on cheeks, snow-white combed hair, lanky physique. Mobile, but awkwardly made-up like some wannabe debutante.
And now our soldier boy is leaving his own and this old rag-tag neighborhood has folded and go

the last of the daydreams have walked out the open door avoiding any problems they might've had with the social law well, i remember Tuesday and every last day of my life and i'll never forget anything that stays with me at night it's the last chance for pretenders to go and get things done it's the last chance for daydreamers to live what they dream of this child is walking slowly his head bent to the ground watching each step taken and his shoes, a dirty brown and he don;t want a companion, has got things to say, but don't wanna talk and i remember myself like him oh, i hope that he don't also fall

go and get your army boots, my son, my son go and get your music box, come on go and get your building blocks, my son it's time to set your sails, my boy, and run (Koski)

You've got to follow your traces because I've seen so many familiar faces unfinished races stolen bases fallen graces all laced up, but pitfallen the community heals while my eyes are still swollen my friends have picked up their paces while I'm still tying my laces they're acting gracious with my patience my fallen graces

Look at my face turn it around I'm the invisible man I'm the expletive deleted
Give me my suit hand me my tie flash me a smile I'm the expletive deleted take off my facial expression give me lines to say without reason I'm an incredible sight an average obsession a beautiful dream with perfect discretion

give me just a second to grasp your two-bit theories as that's more than enough time i need to see through their innate queries you're telling me to shape up or ship out but i'd never shape myself for something so offending as you and your kind

one day you sweetly sigh and say to yourself "music's my religion and i'm born again" next week your muse has got some corporate cash and all of a sudden the tunes are crap keep your politics to yourself, kid to me you're just spitting wind a windspitting punk with high-brow views a P.C. fool who's saying nothing new again and again

what about the kids, piss-poor people and the broke or the sluts with overflowing pockets? or the cursed fucks, pointin' pistols at the pope. are they jusy martyrs fallen from your graces? (Koski/Goddard/Bonnel/Huber)

They've laid to rest mortality, blessed themselves with immorality, gazed into the eyes of innocents as the blade was pulled out merrily i'd beg and plead if it made sense to me, if i thought it'd make a difference to quit is to lose, so i suppose i'm conceding defeat from weariness

they say, "no time to play, you cannot stay, appreciate the mess i've made" then they turn their backs and walk away

i've seen the young bystanders get shown the view from their watchtowers and with their stealth and stench transform these tykes into another great lot of admirers

i don't blame traders ah, how ignorance is bliss it's so fucking easy to be bought and sold when you're a young and stupid kid (Koski)

I have crossed this road before for many years, i'm sure don't recognize the faces, though, that pass me by i've been off and on my way again, passed marsh road, atherton, black mountain way and bored stale houses on the yellowed plains

i'm going off again, and for no good reason year by year i've achieved some type of feeling that suggests i've traveled miles that lead to nowhere fast

i've seen the lot of them from queens to journeymen bigots and confidantes i've spoken to and laughed with destructive catalysts professionals and loyalists punk rock pop nihilists have grown up amongst suburban architects

who can say it was all deceiving or that anybody was mislead? i'm not the one to be judging i may not even be who i think i am



the asphalt is my burning bed has left me invalid put me to sleep at night in the arms of some strange no man's land i'll be back northbound and west i need the fucking rest but in the meantime these broken roads and homes will ring in my head (Koski)

Hello again, you say to the folks at the E.D.D. you've been dire and disgusted and come in most every day to keep yourself alive you heave insults and forever curse the almighty fuckin' talisman that lives in the dirty church

And you keep running from yourself from everyone from each new day

You never felt true pleasure or fell ill from real pain but you complain so consistently as if you've been betrayed and nothing's ever met the guidelines that you set for each new day and there's always something standing nonchalantly in your way To all the optimistic players you heave a sigh those loyalists keep counting on everything being worthwhile but you don't catch the light of day and you've been accused of carrying on this way see, you don't believe in preaching or praise you just want to barely make it through each time consuming day (Koski)

I can't believe the things you say to me are so boring I can't believe everything you do to me is done sober I can't obtain a sense of patience, and i can't ordain you as my patient, but you chew away at all my nerves like i'm your servant I CAN'T SUSTAIN IT i sit alone and with the others and i blame you talk of your mother and the senseless way she must have raised you I can't let go of this insanity can't blow you off like a dead leaf on a tree you stick around, i hope you get yours soon I CAN'T SUSTAIN IT (Koski)

Mr. product man strolling by with a kind of head-held-high hypocrisy the envy of so many walks of life but not a type like me periodically searching through the perfect library a man I am of an unusual sort of aimlessness but nevertheless bent on the glory of my lifelessness in the pursuit of nothing short of one in all
he shines his light on me fluorescent minds are quick to bite the bait but there is time for me the null and void is a dazzled riddle of what may or may not be day by day counting the lines in my abridged diary a man I am, a wary sort of nihilist hence bent on the glory of my lifelessness in the pursuit of nothing short of one in all some have been good to me been by my side through with the thick and thin and have supported me other have scolded me with the scorched bits of their apathy but I've lived to tell this tale of my instinctualvengefulness
a man I am that won't bow down to humanists or the naivet??????짤 therein that seems to persist in the pursuit of nothing short of one in all

I'm flying off the handle again, i tried to keep in touch but my grip had loosened. The saints need a second look. I'm at the boreal banquet keeping warm boozin'. Derailed - i need help. God save the Queen i fucked up the ant trail. Derailed - i've been nailed. Keep falling off the cross the crucifixion failed. I'm stepping all over my friends. I tried to dodge the bullet but i'm a needy person. I need to get back on track. The pub's stoop pill pusher gave me pills to stop pushin'. Derailed - i need ale. To numb the pain and relax in hell. Derailed - i wanna kill. At the embarcadero on the third rail. Derailer is my friend. Then again, i am him. Derailer died for our sins, or was it just another drinking binge. I'm in a different kind of tension. Not to be discussed by professional theory. It's been going on for quite some time. Derailer gets by there's no need to worry. (Bonnel/Wickersham)

Born on the southside you live alone Four walls a roof and its always cold look out the window and there is nothing to see. But, a Riot torn city and the death of your country and your chilled to the bone with no possessions to call your own yet you control your rage and you resist the crime Because your the next in line

out the back door and to the corner store all you want is a drink and nothing more Sit on the stoop and Let the liquor sooth your pride before you go inside you cut in front and now your the next in line you never thought you'd lead a life of crime freedoms the only thing you need but the truth is something few understand and an unwelcome reality now its dark and Black and sad and gone you express and repress the things gone wrong and you want to be the man who ran away and you wish you could go back to yesterday Now he's in her room and he's about to lie so you pull the gun squeeze the trigger and you let the bullets fly... (Huber)

The day grows old and gray with rain skies and the troubles keeping you likewise go to bed after television as outside the moon is turning crimson All alone on a Sunday "tomorrow's no different" as you say sleep with a drink in your hand stick your head in the sand and sign it all away The tomb where the deadmen sleep reminds you that your time's too short to grow remorseful you prick up your ears and find it disconcerting to hear the din of the boys in the chapel praying You've got a burden that's sandbagging you but you can't quite let it out it's like a poison like a sickness that's got you cryin' out (Koski)

look through these deserted eyes and past the desolation in them is realized the drama of frustration taken paths worn down with life, sanctified with tension oh, the glory of a working day is glory only to the bossman TIME WILL TELL IF TIME IS STANDING BY MY SIDE AND LIFE WILL BLINK ITS EYES AS I WORK MYSELF BLIND we hide ourselves in a blur of lust, liquor and nostalgia tramp down the gravel on our streets like passive strikers take a pint of sins to wash away what should be guilty conscience but guilt is somewhere far and away to shrug the system is how we like it time tells time some truth and some lies time will tell, time will tell (Koski/Huber)

good intentions shattered by conventions
traditionalized and bland with boredom searched over and feared
of HATRED IS THE CURSED HABIT OF THE HARDEST WORKING MAN
i'll take a drink to this and a good smoke to clear my head

i'm not a criminal
i'm at times quite honest
i'm not some scrawny knave
i'd say i'm almost brave

punching in is punching out of courage
doing what you're told and holding back your dreams for an awful, dead-end burden
DENIAL IS THE LOYAL VICE OF THE HARDEST WORKING MAN
i'll fight 'em down to bits and fuck their dirty tricks and i'll always finish last (Koski)

drinkin beers in the pouring rain Dupont circle summer again jackin' wheels just for fun i was only 13 watch your step but it's always the same your always down and he's always goin' away learned a lot about the things you love to this day

now i never want to walk alone and i never want to see the sun come up and its all because of you i never want to feel the pain i never gonna feel the same again and its all for the memory of you Black suit yeah the music is life wait before you burn out the rest of the night max revenge was the name we laughed at in the school yard blood shot eyes yeah my moms always cryin' she says "your friend is dyin" what about the plans we made for the next day! I know you may be right i know its not my life i know it was the right thing to do I don't take the call i went and let my best friend fall and i hope it was the right thing to do. (Huber)

i'm burning in this pit i dug myself in an hour ago and up around the corner lies that bastard pub's front door and in my many changing moods and on similar days i've cursed and spat mercilessly at the foot of her firkin grace chaos comes inevitably, like a monarch dressed in rags grinning like a maniac and splashing cider in my face

i'm going back to san francisco to be finally at ease as i've reached the heralded last rung and become a part-time London Drunk

the Bristol Boys are lunatics but madness has its virtue they all smash their pints and feign legless fights because its what they're fucking used to one autumn night in Birmingham after the band had played we piled into that filthy van and got out of that place by half a mile or half a minute i was a sunken, bloated slag i puked up on the floorboards, my fucking jacket and pant-leg (Koski)

I've been disheveled by this drink, by the pint's sight and stink, never enough times to stop and make me think. I've wrapped around some fingers, riddled rich in ringworm. I'm swollen still, poisoned by the sting. The black pint is my drink. You see my link. I steal you sink. You spill and I drink

She's broken saintly vows, she's viable and loud. Auspiciously, she kicks me when i'm down. I'll never leave her side, because of my pissiness or pride. Oh, how I'm shady, in the shadow of my bride

The black pint is my dream. From orange white and green. With nightmares of poteen. Spittin up in the sink. Shove it up your ass. In your ear my dear. It's the best thing that's happened to me in 28 fucking years

So I'll thank my lucky stars that there's a bad moon to rise. It's the best God has to offer to hang in our skies. And when your snubbed then loved and it's like your fondling the dove. You better suck on something sacred, because you'll never see above. The black pint is my drink. You see my link. I steal and you sink. You spill and I drink. (Bonnel)

He was spoken to just to be put down. He was 22 when helped off the ground. Beaten black and blue when his color was brown and shining shoes in a dirty town. (Chorus) The bigots barely outnumber my regrets (in the month of May) as I float around like shit in the Bay. The bigot's barrel just another white male melee (it's just another fucking windy day)

He's free to choose but his choices are few. The rope is loose but it's tied in a noose. He prays to God in the back of the church pews. They won't pass the plate to the blacks or the jews. (Chorus) She's feeling free until "he" gets a free feel. A reeling plea in machismo battlefield. "I'm up to my neck in the rawest of raw deals. While I'm choking on the B.C. pill" (Chorus) "I know the rules to know that they're confused and wrong. I'd read my rights it wouldn't take too long. I'll take an inch, no more is offered to a pawn. I wasn't asked, I will respond!" (Bonnel/Wickersham)

the place is empty except for the stationary bottles of whisky and bar stools still standing concussion heads ache from a blissful evening of confusion, muttered speech from too much drinking the cars are idling near out of gas and lifeless like the people standing persuaded by the temptress cut up and cunning the brute keeps going nobody caring for the chaos he's arousing always a step to go, a step to go a step to go too far seems like the only steps taken are in the wrong direction but we keep stepping on each other breaking each rung on the ladder always a step to go a step to go a step to go much further persistent rhythms clutter disperse then come together to discuss the times they hung up on the clothesline in bad weather the television whines and tells us different sides of things that we don't care about taking up our time the road ends short with malice no road maps to direct us so we come up one step short of satisfaction always a step to go, a step to go (Koski)

You're just a punk
You're just a punk
You're just a punk, they say,
And they don't know what you want
You learn to fight
to bark and bite
Test all the limits of little
Minsthat you despise

Here it says
That my time has come and gone
Here it says
My days are done
Here it reads
My precious epitaph
It says I'm gone
And cites my wrongs

But I'm no Pariah
No Pariah
No Pariah
No Pariah

I've been abused
I know they're amused
I'm just a walking, balking
catch phrase from old news
I've reached the last
Reached the last rung
I've reached the last rung
of the ladder, now I'm done

Some sang their songs
like flying on uppers
so sweet and smug
that I lose my supper

some mumble psalms
of solace and virtue
hang by their palms
and choke on the cud they chew

I'm glad we met
So sad you left
Sometimes the sweetest things turn sour

Love songs are cheap
and only get cheaper
They prey on the meek
Who only get Meeker
Cliches sung by stars
Looks so good on paper
Each bar fed to you
A communion wafer

I'm glad we met(so glad)
So sad you left
Sometimes the sweetest things turn sour

Don't even think of being average
Cuz you're so much more to me than edequate
I'm hanging on to every word you speak
I'll burn the torch until you come to me

I'm glad we met(so glad)
So sad you left
Sometimes the sweetest things turn sour
The time we spent(so glad)
Was heaven sent
Opened my eyes and stole my hours

glad we met 8x

My bastard brother's hopeless vow
of leaving off to another town
Has once again soaked deep into
the cold and rotting ground
He never shares his lovesick bed
or listened to a word they said
He hoards the beer and wine and bread
Christ, I wish he were fucking dead

Bury yourself in blame
Drown yourself in flame
Burn the bottle that beckons you
to betroth yourself to shame
give yourself a break
Break the ones you hate
Hate those that've fed off of you
and your pathetic plate

I've left it up to the gods above
I don't believe in, ain't seen or heard from
and nearly sick to death of this
being neither ignorant nor in bliss
with a family of parasites
and feckless friends with shameless eyes
all the endless miles caught up with me
wearing the face of my own kind

Bury yourself in blame
Drown yourself in flame
Burn the bottle that beckons you
to betroth yourself to shame
Yeah, jump that fuckin' train

wed the goddamn stain
live your life ina fuckin' cell
be the martyr with no brain

Step inside this room
mind the open wounds
cross yourself and carry on
that claptrap may do you good

The first time I met you
was up on the hill
with tequilla on Tuesday
and roses in well
You gave me a kiss
As strong as the winds
That swirl through the lots
of China basin

I stood and I stared
At the brass of St. Mary
Where the beggers
are more likely wishing then praying
Heard the gamblers
Rushing the gates of bay meadows
or was it the beating
Of hearts in the ghettos

Give me your heart
and take my ring, love
Give me your heart
And break this string, love
I've plenty of room
for improvement, you see
and many a fool
Fake this thing called love

I stood and I stared
at the cemetary stones
Dead flowers, bottles,
Bluegrass and bones

Smelled the signs of the mourner
the shit from the dogs
the rains and the tears
in the interment bogs

So I strolled through the day
until boredom was dawn
with the gulls
in the garbage singing along
where the boats in the harbor
have nothing to say
about the fish and the shit
that float in the bay

If I see you again
It will be up on the hill
with tequilla on Tuesday
and roaches to kill
We'll be crying and drunk
or laughing and stones
For Dead Flowers, Bottles,
Bluegrass and bones

I took so many roads to find you
Full of dead ends and one way streets
It took some luck just to get near you
I like to believe it was destiny

Come to me, mine
I've so many things to show you
Come to me, mine
There's so much I have to tell you

My heros have fallen, been abandoned
I'd rather walk in my own shoes
Most of my idols have just vanished
Cleared Dusty shelves for something new

Come to me, mine
Follow the light that I left shining
Come to me, mine
Accept all that I am offering

I took so many drugs to see you
But ended up staring at my feet
Took up with derelicts and toyed with
manipulation and conceit

My days are numbered, as are your, dear
We're all aboard a stinking ship
I'm making all I can of mine, love
I'm giving all that I can give

Come to me, mine
I'm making all I can of mine, love
Come to me, mine
I'm giving all that I can give you, love

Time has given me everything I need
Lust, pride, gluttony, and relief
Tomorrow weighs down like
Clouds hung in the sky
But right now I'm feeling like
A rotten present from this life of mine
So what's there to laugh about?

I saw a sign in a window
A bold announcement of the facts
They got me crying on my pillow
The only way I can react

I got along until the first night passed me
and left me with a new arriving
Nothing quite as new as before
something missing, so I looked for more

I catch a train to the next town's station
A busy place with a big town's tension
Reminding me of that place I'd left
Back home where most of my young life I'd spent

I moved like a shadow through a slew of streets
Made like the victim in a crowd of thieves
Just like it was back home
Just like it was back home
And my sentiment caught up with me, of course

Metal guitars in every town
White rap and DJ's, hard and loud
You slice through strange air
The new icon in eden
Clueless and arrogant
A beast of no real burden

All of your answers pose as questions
As per the rules and regulations
You're allowed to fuck the world
And still get to fuck the girl
So content with being average
As all the kids finger your curls

And now
Your place in life
Is to bow down
Not to ask why
Just shut your mouth
give it to them
and do or die

Your future never was so bright
'Cause you never were the sharpest knife
You've had the time of your life
With more cash than you can carry
And those sleeves not six months old
Tell tall tales of your story

Polluted air filled with your sound
You're all big package and low brow
Bridges, Barbed wire, and mirrored walls
You've built yourself into it all
You spend your precious time
Perfecting every line
Pratice your pretension
Because they buy it every time

My Accordion is shining
in the light of the moon from the sky
And I sit here alone and drinking
with the windows and doors open wide
My hand got tired an hour ago
and the words on each sheet
turned blank white
no, there's no room in the this house
for your company, dear
maybe tomorrow
you can come inside

The preacher's turned to dictation
'cause the lord has got letters to send
There's nothing for me to believe in, either,
I've just gone to trying to pretend

And the rain is falling slowly
like faltering drums outside
and the weathermen are confused
because they can never read the sky
someday we may even be friends again
and I hope just that thought is enough
You're a weathered old prince
and the state I'm in hopefully won't hurt
our one night together that much

Moon, shine, you're a lampshade
For the drunken old bats and their evening
Shine on, you'll forgive me
For missing your last requiem

I'm all alone this evening
as I'm along almost every day
and It's these sad-sack times that I miss them all
but if they were here I'd wish them away
If they'd send me a vase of flowers
Or better yet those aborted hours
Drunken hours of endless time left to die
In everyone's memory but mine

Let your eyes promise me lies
Let your sigh be a sweet goodbye
And never even write to me a letter
I won't worry about tearful endeavors

There was no reason to return
I was told
Nobody waiting for me
to come back home
nothing is left
but the promise of praise
Nothing remains

No phone calls late at night
of pictures a constant reminder
no burning of inpassioned pages
or returning them to sender

you send a letter to
the only one you can't deny
will never send you a reply
you never bother to sit back
and ask yourself why
Blinded by your own dim light

Tried but devout
Tortured the cherished
loved the unheralded

Bought up their trash
Brought to my knees
by beggars and braggarts
washed my laced sleeves
after each miscarriage

You fill your pen and
spill the words onto each line
your monogram in wax
seals another pathetic cry
You're so romantic
So cautious and tranquilized
is there anything behind your eyes

You reached for heaven at seventeen
And caught the clap from some teenage queen
Took some tablets, hit it again
and that's all right
Sometimes you took the stacked deck too far
Some say you took it all way too hard
The mediocrity in moderation
was way too tight

Did you ever stop to think
of what was real?
Did you compromise your time
just to cop a feel?

Sometimes you think that the time flew by
Some twenty years ago come July
You're getting older but not so wise
And that's all right
You go for words that you cannot reach
Spew antiseptic allegories
a walking diuretic
of dictionary rhymes

Don't you even know your dreams
are not for real
Don't you ever find it hard
to forge what you feel

Just quit your bitching and confess
the time of your life just came and went
you're gonna drown in shallowness
in the empty sea of frat boys and dunces

You reached for Heaven at seventeen
and caught the clap from some teenage queen
woke up from your suburban daydream
opened your eyes

The grapes are ripped straight off the vine before ripe
The fifths are drank the eighths smolder in the pipe
Complaints to celebrate are fathomed and condomed
Such a fucked up state not just wired drunk and stoned

This must be for someone else
Debauchery must be for someone else
Someone else
For someone else

The drapes are drawn to be ignored to be polite
They stand to leave and can't stand to leave your side
The walls were painted white now stained a color bone
The calls are weak and faint holler into the phone

This call must be for someone else
This privacy must be for someone else
Someone else
For someone else

Then I step into the room
With plans to stay accept the doom
I'm not about to lose my cool
I'm just the lout to play the fool

Leaves fall from the trees tangle in the rakes
Leaves call out to me, "what angle to you take?"
Leaves are glistening, glorious in the morning dew
Leaves are listening flooring us with storied truths

This must be for someone else
Leaves of fate must be for someone else
Someone else
For someone
For someone else

Here's one for the tamed
Runners-up and losers of the game
The tried and true, the tragic and the shamed
The broken hearted, sad eyed, and unnamed

You've given everything
You've even sold yourself
Damned yourself to hell for selling out
You've always had it better
than most anybody else
With the brain and talent of yourself

If you wanted to you'd be the man
Make your way to the light where you began

Gave your best through friends
even sent a note to her own hand
She regretted how it had to end
And how much she missed me being her man

She'd kept her feelings hidden out of sight
and I felt wronged but she thought it right
For so long I'd let my feelings shine in open light
Like a shrine for hearts like mine

If you want me to say it again
You're my way to light, where I begin

If you want me to
Do what they do

I'm just a living abortion
Trying to live my life, trying to make some fun
Walking down the street, people think I'm dead
Gonna eat their brain with a piece of bread

Elation
Elation
Elation

I'm just a walking abortion
Walking down the street, people think I'm dead
Momma told me to beware of the man
Who comes a knockin with a vacuum in his hand

Elation
Elation
Elation

I'm just looking for some action
I'll be your dog you'll catch your death
I'll get you in your bed
I'm just a walking infection
Stumbling around with a bullet in my head

I'd rest on my laurels
let some keen wit
and crying awful pity sustain me
But my memories leak like a sieve
And fuel this fire
It's deep and heavy roar defies me

Let's not talk in vain about the weather
Let's take my tired soul off of it's tether

Poor me
Poor me

I can't reach the ends of this
But if I didn't
It would be the end of me
I need to feen infatuation
Stoke the coals
of curiosity and longing

Let's not talk in vain about the weather
Let's take my tired soul of it's tether

I need the glory
with lights aglow around me
My halo shining brightly
in tribute to myself
No, I can't have pity on me
So tell me another story
And I'll accept gladly
and thank you for the help

Poor me, Poor me

don't want to write
don't want to talk
don't want to fight
don't want to fuck
don't want to clear my mind
'cause i'm a non-believer, babe
i won't speak those lines
i'm not innocent or naive

words on long distance lines
would ease your mind
and clear my name from any crimes
maybe a taste of beer and wine
would by some time
(or would i just forget my lines?)

don't want to hate
don't want to weep
don't want to wait
don't want to walk away
don't want to give it up
'cause i'm not the quiting kind
and i'm a cynic and a clod
and i don't see the good in all your gods

i won't open up at all today
sing songs so happy and full of praise
i've shut my mind, stowed it away
i won't open up at all today

i try to bless myself with boredom
but i still feel cursed and burdened
every day is trying on me
why, i can't say, why i can't just be

there's always something missing still
i can't find my place or will
i keep on keepin' on the wheel
like a lab-rat, sick and ill

there's no tomorrow
just endless sorrow
give me an answer
that i can borrow
and give back to you
some other day
oh, if you would just show me the way

i count the minutes, hours and days, dear
the weeks out of months and into years, dear
i've got so much left to give
but for what do i really have to live

effortless days that while away
while i sit drinking in the shade
all i want is to appreciate
to get myself to that perfect place

Everything lies between shadows and lies atleast that is my understanding and you can't leave behind those things that you hide they're all there for the taking, somethings you find in the back of your mind for safe keeping will catch you from behind if you keep it in hiding everyone lies beneath shadows and size atleast that's what they tought me everyone's eyes shaped truth with white lies they're sometimes so convincing a lesson of mine an old lesson in longing don't close your eyes or you'll miss what you're wanting.

Five lovely lessons learned today
Coating my throat with the dust of a new day
As the saints pray their lonely way
And their deadweight lays the passion to waste

Maybe if I sew my heart on my sleeve
They'll drop the bomb on me and I'll wake up
I can only fix so much in my sleep
I can only drink so much from this empty cup

I know I must not think bad thoughts
I'm always beaten to the punch
I'm holding aces high and low
And in between I'm trying to break my fall



Give me a piece of what you've got
I'll make it new with much less thought
it's symbolic and full of trash
Lofty endearments whispered under your breath

Five lessons remembered from yesterday
Easing my mind and seizing each new day
Beyond and back I??짝??????짝 still the same
Kicked over some old trash but I still waste

My life's a mystery
I just cant figure it out
It's strange to me
That the visions I see
Seduce me but for now
I try to focus
But I can only do a little
at one time

Everyone keeps telling me
Everything's going to be all right
Just sit right down
And we'll tell you lies

I'm at a junction
But I just don't know which path
I'm proud of all the work I??짝??????쨀e done


But it never seems to last
It's not for money it's for love
And it just might break my back

Sometimes it seems as though
Something might go my way
I'll never give it up
Too many things I??짝??????쨀e yet to say
I've done it by myself
And I can do it all again

One I was younger than
The youngest of fragile minds
I ate the day with bad manners
Then spit out the rind

And mother told me
As I looked to the sky
Yes my mother told me "My dear son,
You're not the one"

I flew from home when I was just twenty-one
Young enough to be the feather of someone
I've got a conch pissed with conch republic rum
My father by my side, teary-eyed, he said:
"Son, by god what I could have done,
And you're just like me,
You can really put 'em down


oh if I was in your place I'd stay, have fun
But I??짝??????짝 not the one"

Now I'm sitting here
Haggling over sums
Of money made by someone else
To me it don't belong
I toss a smile to the mighty boss
He's my God
But I'm a bit backwards
And I know he's just a fucking dog.

I've kept it in my heart
for over twenty fucking years
And all that time washing away
With the stench of my spilt tears
I've lingered on the amorous
Transformed into something hideous
With the love of life felt to new extents
And reaching new heights of ugliness

The Stooge
Stool pigeon of idiots
King of jesters, pawn of comediennes
A pillar that supports my own demise
Believing all that??짝??????짱 seen
Throughout my vacant eyes

I'm rewriting paragraphs
In my life that don't read well
Once opposed to editing my regrets
I've grown sick of this denial


Tempted every hour
By the benefits of being a liar
Turning my back at what's at hand
And writing stupid verse to make it all seem grand

Some say there's something to strife
That serves those grieving spineless artists
Transforms shit into a masterpiece
And makes their vain attempt at pain
So fucking romantic

And I'm certain that someday my time will come
I'll crash and burn like everyone

I write alone now that you're gone
And it's nothing
I studied all you've said and done
and it's nothing
The pictures perfect
There's no time
It's nothing
Resolutions made
What's yours is mine and it's nothing

Through all the years
There's been a feeling
Of forsaken
That's lost my mind and now I know
I've been a fool
And you showed up
But it's the last time
That this place will know
Its self or the people that we once knew

I walk the streets now
Dusk till dawn and it's nothing
I never cared to see you
Gone and that's nothing
These years have lasted far too
Long and I'm stuck here
with this song
And all the problems I've
Endured are nothing

The picture's perfect
And it's nothing

Why can't I beat the bankers
Deal then find a home to rob
Why can't I lie and cheat and steal
Who wants an honest job
And if I curse you night and day
My integrities been tried
While I waste a life away
Why don't you try and hide

The end has just begun
The end has just begun
Your life's been run
My bastard son

Why can't I turn on the light
And see I'm all alone
Why can't I change my liars
Life and find myself a home
And if I did where would I be
Lost in my due misery
So if there's truth you'd
Better keep it away from me
It away from me

So why can't I shut the
Window tight and keep the
Wind outside
And with no friends in sight
To help me fight the tides
My own rests in a hotel room
And on a switchblades knife
Why must I find the truth so
Soon and end this bastards life

The end has just begun
The end has just begun
Your life's been run
My bastard son

A train sounds off with whistle blowing
Lighthouse horn sounds early warning
Clean cool air with stars out shining
Overcoat and whiskey drinking
Hands locked tight and close together
These nights are bliss in drunken leisure
Spitting air in gusts as it gets cooler
Spase clouds try to come together

You can feel the chill and bid farewell
As you start leaving
Sounds like an evening

The cars thin out on empty streets
no traffic jams to make you weak
Shopkeepers leave, at home they speak
Of good patrons and of cash and thieves
The wind is gaining ground on you


The air turns damp with seaside dew
But it don't lie, it tells the truth
And all is well and all is new

Your west side is a teenage waiting
Los Angeles a childhood haze
Like steps to nowhere you sit there gazing
At friends you've lost through years of forgetting
time sells you short of all you're wanting
Though you don't know just what you're seeking
Except winter nights and cigarettes
And boozing with the best of them

10 AM yeah I just woke up
I can't clear my head
Drank too much last night again
I might as well be dead
Well I'm just fuckin' lazy
My whole life's makin' me crazy
But I wouldn't give any of it
Up even if you paid me
We all get in my car turn up
The stereo
Gotta goto the Trocadero see
Another fuckin' show

Well I'm just fuckin' lazy
My whole life's making me crazy
But I wouldn't give any of it
Up even if you paid me

'Cause all I want is feedback
Yeah all I need is feedback
All my time is poorly spent
But it's all I can do
To make it through



I guess it's all right
Staying at home
Being with my friends
But the only time I feel all right
Is when I??짝??????짝 on stage again

'Cause I'm so fucking lazy
And everybody's makin' me crazy
And I should've givin it all up
'Cause they're never gonna pay me

So all I want is feedback
Yeah all I need is feedback
All my time is so well spent
And it's all I can do
Yeah it's all I ever do
To make it through

Did you ask that man
On the corner for the time of day
Did he shrug and glance at his wrist and say
"Dunno, here you go"
And hand you a fool's gold watch
I should tell you some sacred stories
Secret and confound
But by God you tell me
That's the point
Go on and get your fortune told
Give away your fortune
You're fortunate enough to have one
You're morally disconnected
You seem to be a mistress or some forgotten wallflower
The clich?of an old man's dreams


The storybook disease
In a rush to get out and leave
Mister good for nothing
Miss disease
In need of heartache
Beg now and then
For a sin to appease
Beg now and then for a sin to appease

Well we're all gone good-bye see you so long
And you're so young and glad to see us move on
When the day's long and the moon just stares you down
notice your shoes are dirty when your heart's on the ground

As sure as I'm down
With my knees to the ground
As sure as forgotten and never been found

Never been so bored
Brickwalled on a bank holiday
And not looking forward
Tomorrow's dour as a petty wage
Line up those whiskeys while rotting on remand
It's like me to drown my sorrows
Sitting here I'm taking a stand

As sure as I'm down
With my knees to the ground
And sure as forgotten and never been found
I'm down

I guess it's all right
That we never know
Just what it all means
And if there are ways
Of making a change
Please show them to me

So if I could stop time
Then I would stay 21
Cause everyday since that time
I wished I was young

I'm so paranoid
Of failing in life
I can't even think
And I'm so tired of worrying
That I can't even sleep



I'm so lost in my mind
That I can't touch the ground
And I've drank so much cheap wine
That I feel I might drown

Life's been so low
That I got so high
I can't even stand
I'm down on my knees
I'm begging you please
Lend me a hand

It's been a prosperous four years
Many have come and staked their claim
But now it's over and the halls are cleared
And you're unpopular again

It takes so little time at all
To see who can really play the game
And before the winters fall
We won't be seeing you the same
And when I'm lost in all my thoughts
While I'm driving 'round the Bay
As the foundation slowly rots


Won't we ever find our way

Of all the ones who've come and gone
It never matters all the same
And as the day's so very long
It's all right to miss the train

I was only laughing out loud I say
"When anybody else would've done the same"
I could always shut my mouth again
But it'd still come out that way again
and again

Well I'm going to the hills now baby
Goin' out to the city building
Gonna sleep in the dirty alleys
Where the air is fresh
With the new day rising

You keep knocking on the door
But they don't answer anymore
Oh you know it aint your fault my dear
it's just that bad luck time of year



There's no use talking about the weather
And since that's all that's on my mind
Well then whatever
I don't have the time to waste my energy on lying
So babe I??짝??????짙l see you later

"I'd die with one less cocktail babe
It keeps me from feeling naked and ashamed
Oh I'd love to tell you stories old and new
True and false but I??짝??????쩍 best be on my way"

This journey started slow and free
And ended wrapped around a tree
Just like my self pity tangled in
the willow weeds
As high as right up to my knees
While scratching at the fleas

She is handsome she is pretty
She's the queen and I'm two jacks shitty

With our way the less traveled roads
And filthy ferry boats and filthy overcoat
Counted on the fields to be far away
from home and close to me
And the castles and sea
You can bet the city wind is going
to sting your eyes
When you forget to use the telephone


And the sleet the snow the rain and
clich?long good-byes
When you got to leave her all alone
I'm not sure how well I am
I know exactly where I stand with you
hand in hand
Place your head on the pillow please
There's one of our two hearts diseased
That one belongs to me

She is handsome she is pretty
She's the queen and I'm two jacks shitty

The fascists and their many guises
Anarchists and their fantasizing
It seems sometimes they're sailing the same boat
Politicians mesmerizing throngs of automated souls
As some similar psycho's screwing on the scope

I'm leaving town
To join sophisticates in my head
We'll have our fun playing the hypocrite critic
And when all the creatures in their palaces are crushed
I can safely say "I'm coming home"

Fairy tales and fruitless fortunes
Acquired from some sad story teller
Can sometimes be enough to keep me mum in my keep


Organ grinders orating overtures of madness
As the heinous hipster's spending his unearned currency

There may be many ways of reaching the same plateau
I'll take the road less traveled
If it looks like it ain't been sold
The chains around my neck won't break
But at least they're made of solid

Metal guitars in every town
White rap and DJ's, hard and loud
You slice through strange air
The new icon in eden
Clueless and arrogant
A beast of no real burden

All of your answers pose as questions
As per the rules and regulations
You're allowed to fuck the world
And still get to fuck the girl
So content with being average
As all the kids finger your curls

And now
Your place in life
Is to bow down
Not to ask why
Just shut your mouth
give it to them
and do or die

Your future never was so bright
'Cause you never were the sharpest knife
You've had the time of your life
With more cash than you can carry
And those sleeves not six months old
Tell tall tales of your story

Polluted air filled with your sound
You're all big package and low brow
Bridges, Barbed wire, and mirrored walls
You've built yourself into it all
You spend your precious time
Perfecting every line
Pratice your pretension
Because they buy it every time

Five lovely lessons learned today
Coating my throat with the dust of a new day
As the saints pray their lonely way
And their deadweight lays the passion to waste

Maybe if I sew my heart on my sleeve
They'll drop the bomb on me and I'll wake up
I can only fix so much in my sleep
I can only drink so much from this empty cup

I know I must not think bad thoughts
I'm always beaten to the punch
I'm holding aces high and low
And in between I'm trying to break my fall



Give me a piece of what you've got
I'll make it new with much less thought
it's symbolic and full of trash
Lofty endearments whispered under your breath

Five lessons remembered from yesterday
Easing my mind and seizing each new day
Beyond and back I??짝??????짝 still the same
Kicked over some old trash but I still waste

Jackie Jab is looking fab. He's got a treble and a bass and a big tab. He's got oil in his hair from an arab and when he falls down, he falls smack dab. (Chorus) hey fellas, get him a cab, what's his name - jackie jab! Three square meals everyday, but nothing's square about the american way. his friends get off on Doris Day and he hasn't a clue what to say. (Chorus) hey fellas, get him a cab, what's his name - jackie jab! (Bonnel/Koski/Wickersham)

I have crossed this road before for many years, i'm sure don't recognize the faces, though, that pass me by i've been off and on my way again, passed marsh road, atherton, black mountain way and bored stale houses on the yellowed plains

i'm going off again, and for no good reason year by year i've achieved some type of feeling that suggests i've traveled miles that lead to nowhere fast

i've seen the lot of them from queens to journeymen bigots and confidantes i've spoken to and laughed with destructive catalysts professionals and loyalists punk rock pop nihilists have grown up amongst suburban architects

who can say it was all deceiving or that anybody was mislead? i'm not the one to be judging i may not even be who i think i am



the asphalt is my burning bed has left me invalid put me to sleep at night in the arms of some strange no man's land i'll be back northbound and west i need the fucking rest but in the meantime these broken roads and homes will ring in my head (Koski)

Some sang their songs
like flying on uppers
so sweet and smug
that I lose my supper

some mumble psalms
of solace and virtue
hang by their palms
and choke on the cud they chew

I'm glad we met
So sad you left
Sometimes the sweetest things turn sour

Love songs are cheap
and only get cheaper
They prey on the meek
Who only get Meeker
Cliches sung by stars
Looks so good on paper
Each bar fed to you
A communion wafer

I'm glad we met(so glad)
So sad you left
Sometimes the sweetest things turn sour

Don't even think of being average
Cuz you're so much more to me than edequate
I'm hanging on to every word you speak
I'll burn the torch until you come to me

I'm glad we met(so glad)
So sad you left
Sometimes the sweetest things turn sour
The time we spent(so glad)
Was heaven sent
Opened my eyes and stole my hours

glad we met 8x

you better go, or you'll be stepped on with your sharpened bayonette boots you'll be long gone you gotta go, you gotta get on with all the glory of good riches you've been brainwashed (Chorus) and as far as for all the days and what you'll do with them, just spend some quiet time you need some rest to mend, you're getting slow, you're getting old now, you gotta run, just like you used to, you're tied down, boy, you've been tied down and spit on. (Koski)

My bastard brother's hopeless vow
of leaving off to another town
Has once again soaked deep into
the cold and rotting ground
He never shares his lovesick bed
or listened to a word they said
He hoards the beer and wine and bread
Christ, I wish he were fucking dead

Bury yourself in blame
Drown yourself in flame
Burn the bottle that beckons you
to betroth yourself to shame
give yourself a break
Break the ones you hate
Hate those that've fed off of you
and your pathetic plate

I've left it up to the gods above
I don't believe in, ain't seen or heard from
and nearly sick to death of this
being neither ignorant nor in bliss
with a family of parasites
and feckless friends with shameless eyes
all the endless miles caught up with me
wearing the face of my own kind

Bury yourself in blame
Drown yourself in flame
Burn the bottle that beckons you
to betroth yourself to shame
Yeah, jump that fuckin' train

wed the goddamn stain
live your life ina fuckin' cell
be the martyr with no brain

Step inside this room
mind the open wounds
cross yourself and carry on
that claptrap may do you good

The fascists and their many guises
Anarchists and their fantasizing
It seems sometimes they're sailing the same boat
Politicians mesmerizing throngs of automated souls
As some similar psycho's screwing on the scope

I'm leaving town
To join sophisticates in my head
We'll have our fun playing the hypocrite critic
And when all the creatures in their palaces are crushed
I can safely say "I'm coming home"

Fairy tales and fruitless fortunes
Acquired from some sad story teller
Can sometimes be enough to keep me mum in my keep


Organ grinders orating overtures of madness
As the heinous hipster's spending his unearned currency

There may be many ways of reaching the same plateau
I'll take the road less traveled
If it looks like it ain't been sold
The chains around my neck won't break
But at least they're made of solid

I took so many roads to find you
Full of dead ends and one way streets
It took some luck just to get near you
I like to believe it was destiny

Come to me, mine
I've so many things to show you
Come to me, mine
There's so much I have to tell you

My heros have fallen, been abandoned
I'd rather walk in my own shoes
Most of my idols have just vanished
Cleared Dusty shelves for something new

Come to me, mine
Follow the light that I left shining
Come to me, mine
Accept all that I am offering

I took so many drugs to see you
But ended up staring at my feet
Took up with derelicts and toyed with
manipulation and conceit

My days are numbered, as are your, dear
We're all aboard a stinking ship
I'm making all I can of mine, love
I'm giving all that I can give

Come to me, mine
I'm making all I can of mine, love
Come to me, mine
I'm giving all that I can give you, love

give me just a second to grasp your two-bit theories as that's more than enough time i need to see through their innate queries you're telling me to shape up or ship out but i'd never shape myself for something so offending as you and your kind

one day you sweetly sigh and say to yourself "music's my religion and i'm born again" next week your muse has got some corporate cash and all of a sudden the tunes are crap keep your politics to yourself, kid to me you're just spitting wind a windspitting punk with high-brow views a P.C. fool who's saying nothing new again and again

what about the kids, piss-poor people and the broke or the sluts with overflowing pockets? or the cursed fucks, pointin' pistols at the pope. are they jusy martyrs fallen from your graces? (Koski/Goddard/Bonnel/Huber)

ample inquiry active, not electric but she is wirey i'm missing, i'm affected futile and fiery sights moved into you a fixture, a filed-b the blessed this fucked up gun miscues, mishandling red-faced, not a case of drunken ramblings lip locked to second faze weaklings, not amputees gut wrenching, gut seeking trends set on trampolines the blessed this fucked up gun telling, like the tides severe, unaware sparing suspicious bribes fifteen kings in stares nary a lorry lies straight-forward, blisters bubble green as blushing bride the blessed this fucked up gun no one can teach you how to play no one can teach you the ropes no one but... the courage of a younger pope
(Bonnel/Koski)

he's a shadow of what he used to be ever since i put him in his place she's just a memory that's scarred him horribly and looks like lipstick on his face
this side of paradise is slow
no eager men go to the show,
except for me
she wore a bright red dress always looked half undressed and he stuck by her side like glue
she's give him perfect eyes smiled at him every time and when she spoke it was the truth
now it's been twenty days sleepless and stupid days wasting good time on feeling bad she's taken everything greenbacks and anything that she could steal behind his back (Koski)

well, you don't really know what you wanna do except to spend some time just being you but the game's unfair and the stakes are high what with the threat of being embalmed in formaldehyde
i don't wanna go before my time
i don't wanna go before my time
well you've got good time to put down a few so you take carrer castanyer down to the gloob it's the only fuckin place that'll serve you a tiny hideaway from parents, work and school
it's just like teenage genocide
it's just like teenage genocide
now you can cast your vote and elect a joke but you'd better not fuck, dream, drink or smoke and watch your back when the man offers you a ride because it's just like teenage genocide (Koski/Wickersham)

now you can't help feelin' your the mother of the mad while market street's reelin in memory of the dead and capp street's greeting the tourists with good head you got your fix with the tricks that put you on your death bed life moves along and the trains are backing up and accidents will happen you can bet you're on then-judah put your pills in your coffee and liven up your cup cuz the mother of the mad needs the stimulant to love mother of the mad, sister of the sad brother of the bad and it's the only father you will ever have i was lost for words and the screams were curious i was giddy for the girls who found me hideous wishing for a world that would spin less furious because the money and time spent has become too obvious the lesson and the leash the leader and the led smith and wesson teach the bleeder to be bled reasons out of reach feeders overfed if you catch the mumbled speech the jargon's overhead
(Bonnel/Koski)

i'm burning in this pit i dug myself in an hour ago and up around the corner lies that bastard pub's front door and in my many changing moods and on similar days i've cursed and spat mercilessly at the foot of her firkin grace chaos comes inevitably, like a monarch dressed in rags grinning like a maniac and splashing cider in my face

i'm going back to san francisco to be finally at ease as i've reached the heralded last rung and become a part-time London Drunk

the Bristol Boys are lunatics but madness has its virtue they all smash their pints and feign legless fights because its what they're fucking used to one autumn night in Birmingham after the band had played we piled into that filthy van and got out of that place by half a mile or half a minute i was a sunken, bloated slag i puked up on the floorboards, my fucking jacket and pant-leg (Koski)

Look at my face turn it around I'm the invisible man I'm the expletive deleted
Give me my suit hand me my tie flash me a smile I'm the expletive deleted take off my facial expression give me lines to say without reason I'm an incredible sight an average obsession a beautiful dream with perfect discretion

Born on the southside you live alone Four walls a roof and its always cold look out the window and there is nothing to see. But, a Riot torn city and the death of your country and your chilled to the bone with no possessions to call your own yet you control your rage and you resist the crime Because your the next in line

out the back door and to the corner store all you want is a drink and nothing more Sit on the stoop and Let the liquor sooth your pride before you go inside you cut in front and now your the next in line you never thought you'd lead a life of crime freedoms the only thing you need but the truth is something few understand and an unwelcome reality now its dark and Black and sad and gone you express and repress the things gone wrong and you want to be the man who ran away and you wish you could go back to yesterday Now he's in her room and he's about to lie so you pull the gun squeeze the trigger and you let the bullets fly... (Huber)

Nothing comes over me
Nothing like inspiration
Not even on the seaside
No fantasies to ration
The swell looks mighty slim
And the water level's down
The dirty sea adds to the junk I'm in
Until the sun creeps up the sound

And then I'm outright broken
Disgusted and outspoken
My drinks are watered down and sick
Like my old man's tired convictions
Nobody has a hold on me

At dusk it gets mighty dim
And the lights fire up the beach
I don't feel much like a swim
'Cause I'm afraid of the dirty sea


The swell looks mighty slim
And the water level's, they're all down
The dirty sea adds to the junk I'm in
Until the sun creeps up the sound
I wake myself hastily
In time for the break of day
The air smells sweet by the sea
It stinks of my old memories
I try to grab hold of things
Or anything I can reach
But I'm only swatting at air
Staring blankly at the dirty sea
(Koski/Dison)