The Philosopher Kings

so I came all the way from Trenton,
spent a full night at the station,
in a suitcase made of calico brown
now I'm almost out of money,
and I'm sleepy and hungry,
I wanna lay my body down I don't wanna cause
trouble,
I don't need a bath of bubbles,
just a floorboard for the pavement on
the ground I'll take a steeple or a stable,
or a dining room table,
just to lay my body down
lay, lay my body down
so I go back to see my baby,
since no other place'll take me,
when I stop to brush my hair back
with a comb
and I can almost see our porch light,
and it's shining like a northern light,
God how I wanna be home
to lay, lay my body down
lay, lay my body down
but some joke from Albuquerque,
with some white wine and a turkey,
come to entertain my girl while I
was gone
this bear thinks everything is funny,
he's got his paws into my honey,
then he lay her body down
now just as every schoolyard
has a teacher,
every chapel has a preacher,
every angry man has 6 shells
to a round
I've been an honest man,
I've walked as straight as I can,
but I'm gonna lay his body down
lay, lay his body down

on the main streets and
the avenues
in the condos white as knuckles,
bruised
with the carmine of the busy
liquor bars
there's a dark and mystic beauty
to these inner-city girls
that slide by in the velvet of
their cars
through the dance halls and the
shopping malls
and the subways filled with
dresden dolls
to the school of fallen angels on
the ground
the whole city's just an
expensive whore
a forest nymph with a pompadour
but there ain't no woman around
no there ain't no woman around,
no there ain't no woman around
I'm surrounded by these girls
but there just ain't no
woman around
and the girl that fills my bed
will hear the words I should've said
to the only true love I ever found
I'll pretend that make-up in
her purse
is a day-dream, not a curse
that comes just to kick me down
and I can still taste the youth of
her kiss
maybe it's the childhood
that I missed
the first time around
there's a weird shape to
her charms
there's a strange meat on her arms
but there ain't no woman around
no there ain't no woman around,
no there ain't no woman around
I'm surrounded by these girls
but there just ain't no
woman around
sometimes I feel I'm running like a
fever through the night and
I've run myself straight into
the ground
I miss your smile, your name and
your breath on my skin and I'm
lost and alone in this crowd
from the locks and curls and
strings of pearls
to the drunk and eager jelly girls
it's an all-day floorshow
matinee in town
and it suddenly occurs
that I'm surrounded by these girls
but there ain't no woman around

When you see a big injustice
will you disobey the law
will you fight for any army
and turn your fingernails to claws
try a little vengeance
try because
contemplation won't ever
turn your fingernails to claws
fingernails to claws
I know you see a peaceful vision
and though you understand
that cause
when the enemy won't listen
turn your fingernails to claws
I've been on the wrong side
I've been Bad
I've been careful finding ways out
every chance I had
fingernails to claws
act with all your passion
find the beauty in the cause
find the strength and volition
to turn your fingernails to claws
when rational is hopeless
and constructive thought is lost
empathy is pointless
turn your fingernails to claws
fingernails to claws

Sleep my love
Dream warm and hard and true
In pieces
In colors
In a cloud of ackward blue

Hold my hand
Feel the things you tell no man
Move through you
So easy
It's a knife that cuts me through

And you bring me your charms
In the cool of your soft little hands
In the heat of your legs and your arms
You bring me your charms

In my arms
In the circle of my arms
My baby
My lover
It is warm and hard and true

When you bring me your charms
In the cover of our evening sheets
In the twist of our legs and our arms
You bring me your charms

In my arms
In the circle of my arms
With my baby
My lover
That is warm and hard and true

When you bring me your charms
In the cover of your evening sheets
In the twist of your legs and your arms
You bring me your charms

Oh you bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
Ohh you bring me your charms
You bring me your charms and your charms
You bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
And your charms and your charms

why do you talk that way
why you so stuck on money
now it's the top of the world
but it's beneath the girl I love
you used to speak my name
and you filled it up
and you filled my name up
filled it up with your spirit
did he raise a fire
did you roll up in flames
turn to black and yellow
did you think of me at all
and how we cut ourselves
on all the sharp tongues in town
when you thought that I could
never let you down
my baby died in North Carolina
when she traded me in at the
Newbourne City diner
remember when you thought that I
could never let you down
everyone'll let you down
I'm just an empty hand
and a swollen belly
born upside down
guess I'll die before my time
can't I love you madly
when it's not that way
when it's not the other way
not the other way around
c'mon and walk me home
with your blessed body
paint your name on my lips
and the rest comes naturally
did you scare yourself
and hide that face in the ground
when you thought that I could
never let you down
my baby died in North Carolina
when she traded me in at the
Newbourne City diner
remember when you thought that I
could never let you down
everyone'll let you down...
all good things, and all the bad things
they all fall down
everyone'll let you down...

you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear, do you swear
you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear on that
and would you want to take a
bible oath
and would you want to tell the
holy ghost
would you put your faith in
standing me by
darling would you testify
are you full with truth or full with lie
would you cross your heart and
hope to die
stick a pin needle in your eye
baby would you lie
you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear on that
when the knife comes down will you
turn to go
will you fold like the rose of Jericho
sing my love song on your knees
do you pray to God or pray to me
is your rosary made of loyalty
is your cross made of veracity
would you offer your soul to the sky
baby would you lie
you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear, do you swear
you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear on that
and so many lovers have left
a space
'tween things they do and things
they say
a promise left to dangle gets
scratched and frayed
words get tangled and
memories play
so many lovers have gone this way
trying to keep their hounds at bay
how the earth got tender and hell
did crack
when Dante wanted his
Beatrice back
so would you want to take that
bible oath
and would you want to tell the
holy ghost
cross your heart and hope to die
baby would you lie
you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear, do you swear
you call me sugarbaby but do
you swear
do you swear on that

In my dream you were stronger than ever
built ten feet tall
and tougher than a Stacey's leather
and in this dream you were stronger
than real life
and in this dream you turned him
down
when the wheel cogs choked to kick
up blood -
and spit out everything you ever
wanted,
baby leave that man
turn him down
leave that man
but some cold nights
are colder than others
and you can lose your small body
in the hot skin of another
this lifeboats leaving soon, girl,
when I say I' gone, I'm gone and I
mean forever
and when the spirit of temptation
comes to take you, girl,
I know it's never easy,
baby leave that man
turn him down
leave that man
you are everything to me, girl
you are all god's charity
you are everything good in my life
and if I should lose my balance
you keep me down with gravity
now everything's upside down
this lifeboats leaving soon, girl,
when I say I'm gone I mean forever
all things I did, and all the things we
did together
baby leave that man...

I'd start with the boys that hang
at the pier
like bats in the night, get tangled
in your hair
I'd take away the weekend
shoreleave lovers
that flood the ports with drunken
tales of far away
I'd take away the Eiffel tower
I'd take away the port of Spain
I take your yellow coat
no more romantic walks in the
pouring rain
then I'd make washboard, wind-
blown, sea-side, serenading, prep
school boys disappear
that flock in the summer like gulls to
the beach
and pick at your heart like the
garbage on the street
I'll take away all the things that make
you look away from me
I'd take away everything
then I'd have you all to myself
I'd take away the guy with the
monkey wrench smile
he'll steal your heart away and make
a Minnesota mile
like a corner store crook on a prison
break or a porno queen in a
party cake
I'd take away the Spanish steps
I'd take away the Golden Gate
I take away everything
just to have you all to myself
I never thought it'd get this bad
inside of me
I never thought that I'd be so
consumed with jealousy
I need you every night and every
day in bed
these thoughts keep spinning in
my head
then I'd make the big screen, battle-
scarred, bold-faced, leading man,
lone star heroes disappear
that fill your heart with thoughts of
being swept away
but that's a part a man like me could
never play
I'll take away all the things that make
you look away from me
I'd take away everything
just to have you all to myself

I saw a foreign movie
at my girlfriend's place last night
through smooth pictures in a
dream of black and white
saw this girl with the clean soul
of a maharani queen
she reminded me of someone
I know
the lines she was reading
seemed to reach just this man
though her painted lips hung
words I couldn't understand
and a I turned out the station
swear she spoke to me alone
she said 'please, ain't it time you
come home'
for the doorway I started
light headed and heavyhearted
can't move on, can't get through
I just can't get my mind around you
I could feel myself falling,
it's my spirit that's been cut
torn through shattered muscle to
put the ginger in my blood
now my baby calls me,
and my name falls down like rain
'cause I'm back in your soft
smile again
and on my soul you wage your war
with your nerve gas and your
mortar
and I can't fight, I can't move
I just can't get my mind around you

She's got spider web hair
And a skin like see through jelly
With a, a porcelain stare
That moves the walls of my belly

But she used to have a Cherub's glow
That lit a lamp gas nose
Her eyes were full of hot wine
And her body was a rose

Now, she moved like a liquid
Through the boys of Mason City
Had every Gatling gun slinging soldier
Every grease monkey, every Walter Mitty

She finally settled on some corn husker
With cotton seed teeth under a diamond smile
Dressed up for San Francisco but
Held up in Mason City for a while

Now, her man used to work
To make the corn belt grow
While she would dream of a city
With the soft heart, San Francisco

Dream a quiet burrow
For a husband, child and wife
And poke another hole
Into the heart of American life

Now, San Francisco's no place
For a Mason City couple
You can get thrown into a turbine
And get lost in the shuffle

She keeps everything she owns
In a Saratoga trunk that's going out of style
Dressed up for San Francisco but
Held up in Mason City for a while

No, no, no
No, no, no
No, no, no
...

Sleep my love
Dream warm and hard and true
In pieces
In colors
In a cloud of ackward blue

Hold my hand
Feel the things you tell no man
Move through you
So easy
It's a knife that cuts me through

And you bring me your charms
In the cool of your soft little hands
In the heat of your legs and your arms
You bring me your charms

In my arms
In the circle of my arms
My baby
My lover
It is warm and hard and true

When you bring me your charms
In the cover of our evening sheets
In the twist of our legs and our arms
You bring me your charms

In my arms
In the circle of my arms
With my baby
My lover
That is warm and hard and true

When you bring me your charms
In the cover of your evening sheets
In the twist of your legs and your arms
You bring me your charms

Oh you bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
Ohh you bring me your charms
You bring me your charms and your charms
You bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
You bring me your charms
And your charms and your charms

How many times do I have to say that I love you
How many times do I have to say the words
I will hold you, I will love you
I will think the whole world of you

I stumble past your misfortunes and drag them to the ground
When I see your tiny faults. I turn my head around
I turn my head around, I turn my head around
I turn my head around, I turn my head around

How many times do I have to say that I love you
How many times do I have to say the words
Although I hate to see you lonely
I can't just think about you only

I won't believe any claim you make to be worse off than you are
When I see your tiny faults, I turn my head around
I turn my head around, I turn my head around
I turn my head around, I turn my head around

La, la la la, la, la, turn my head around
La, la la la, la, la, turn my head around
La, la la la, la, la, turn my head around

I turn my head around
How many times do I have to say the words

I stumble past your misfortunes and drag them to the ground
When I see your tiny faults, I turn my head around
I turn my head around, I turn my head around
I turn my head around, I turn my head around

You're Venus of all love
[Incomprehensible]
Venus of all love
If it's gonna make you happy
Gonna make you happy, gonna make you happy

La, la la la, la la, turn my head around
La, la la la, la la, turn my head around
La, la la la, la la, turn my head around
La, la la la, la la, turn my head around

you looked like a star from the first time
you served me my drink you said you liked my face
so I asked you your name
you were just a girl when I found you
you'd been beat around and landed at my feet
I picked you off of your knees

but you stepped on my life
dug your teeth in
tore out my soul and threw me back again
darling you used me, you stepped on my life
you used me up
twisted the knife
into my back into my life
darling you used me, you stepped on my life

now it's so bittersweet when I see you now
on backs of cabs coming through TV screens
I hear you laughing at me

you stepped on my life
when I had one
you played your games, you had your fun
darling you used me, you stepped on my life
stepped on my dreams
for three whole years
I nursed your pain, I dried your tears
darling you used me
stepped on my life