1. |
The Devil's Drum
03:05
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THE DEVIL'S DRUM
In the capital square dictators parade weapons
Tanks and missiles, thugs in jackboots goose-stepping
The ground shakes as the legions move as one
Lockstep with the beat of the devil’s drum
A father falls on his baby as the barrel bombs explode
The only peace this country gets is when they stop to reload
But the border's shut down so there’s nowhere to run
From the pounding thunder of the devil's drum
The city shook as the towers fell
Could have been me or the one I love in that earthly hell
As the poison cloud of concrete dust blocks out the sun
I can still feel the echoes of the devil’s drum
On the sidewalk where families lingered and laughed
There’s blood spatter, melted ice cream, baby dolls, and body bags
Prayer beads and glass shards glitter in the sun
Shattered by a hit of the devil’s drum
I’ve read the holy books and I watch the poison news
I've sung with the gospel choir and I’ve howled the blues
From the gates of eden to armageddon
The whole world's shaking to the beat of the devil’s drum
I see no end to what one human will do to another
Neighbors, lovers, bystanders, and brothers
As I think on this, I feel my heart pumping blood
Pounding out the beat of the devil’s drum
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2. |
Good Love / Hard Times
02:50
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GOOD LOVE / HARD TIMES
Confusion like a black tornado
Ripping through my brain
If it don’t let up soon
Believe I’ll go insane
The night’s dark as death’s shadow
Horizon of Damascus steel
The devil’s a fire-eyed hound
Snapping at my heels
Here comes that angel girl of mine
Gives me good love in the hard times
Good, good love in the hard times
Anxiety like a top-fuel dragster
Screaming across this land
From the Acadia coastline
To Sonoran sands
White-hot hate and impotent rage
Wounds that will never heal
Blur the line between
A nightmare and what’s real
Every one of us down the line
Gonna need good love in the hard times
Good, good love in the hard times
Words alone are empty
All soul and meaning stripped away
Like the hollow husks of rusted-out tankers
Abandoned in the bay
Love knows your weakness
Love has seen your scars
And will be standing by you
When it all falls apart
What you got’s not worth a dime
If it’s not good love in the hard times
It’s just a crashing cymbal or a ringing chime
If it’s not good love in the hard times
Good, good love in the hard times
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3. |
Salvation Blues
02:49
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SALVATION BLUES
I was born in the heart of a dark city
Looking for a sign from above
Heavenly choirs, tongues of fire
Angels or a dove
After all this time I got nothing
Except nothing left to lose
On the corner with my guitar
Singing the salvation blues
The mega church preachers round here
Are no help at all
They wouldn’t recognize Jesus
If he valet parked their Maserati at the mall
So I went to see the the shaman,
The yogi, the guru
With the incense rising, they were harmonizing
The salvation blues
I saw the costumed kings of Wall Street
The sultans of Silicon Valley
She’s got a busted lip and a baby on her hip
Shooting up in a Baltimore alley
I heard my newborn daughter crying
In the delivery room
Sounded like the salvation blues
Maybe you’re a slave to your appetites
A bloated barbarian licking greasy lips
Or alone with your vows of chastity and silence
Or Guns and Roses on the Sunset Strip
Maybe you were born a prophet
Maybe you were born a fool
We stand shoulder to shoulder howling
The salvation blues
In foxhole on the front line
Young men born to die
Jesus in the garden
Asking his father, “Why?”
It's written on the human heart
Black as a prison tattoo
…the words of the salvation blues
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4. |
Railroad Avenue
04:06
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RAILROAD AVENUE
Before I was old enough to buy a six pack
I had a wife and baby on the way
Hannah’d wear a summer dress
And we’d go walking after work every day
She’d play the young wife and mother
I'd try to be strong and know what to say
We’d talk about baby names and saving up
For the house we’d buy one day
Our dreams would fly like starlings
Into a sky electric blue
As we walked hand in hand down Railroad Avenue
The baby’s gotta see the doctor
So I change tires at the town garage
I worry about bills as the impact wrench
Pounds like an artillery barrage
As I walk home from work
Along the tracks in the dying light
The neighborhood moms lean out the windows
And call their kids in for the night
As the streetlights come on
Playtime is through
As night falls on Railroad Avenue
I work hard as any man
Just don't see how we’ll ever get ahead
When there’s less than nothing left over
After paying for rent, diapers, and bread
We could move in with Hannah's parents
Save up for a place of our own
Couple more years on the job
Could try and get a loan
A sip of Wild Irish Rose
Keeps me warm when the cold cuts through
As I walk alone down Railroad Avenue
Ain't it crazy what you can get used to
As the years roll by
I stopped talking about moving away
And Hannah never had to ask why
We never got the house in Short Hills
With the winding roads and old oak trees
Starting to think those Hollywood endings
Aren’t for you and me
What happened to those dreams
We were so sure would come true
When we were young on Railroad Avenue?
Hannah says she’s happy
And she’s got everything she needs
But I see her one good dress
Is coming apart at the seams
All I want is to tell her
“The best is yet to come”
Make that promise and believe it
Like I did when we were young
From an open window I hear
“God Only Knows what I’d be without you
playing on Railroad Avenue
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5. |
Restless Child
02:55
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RESTLESS CHILD
You can trace the lines in your palm
Chart the stars in the night sky
Follow the movement of the moon
As it pulls upon the tide
Chant mantras, count prayer beads
Pray until your knees bleed
But restless child, restless child
When will you find peace?
You can run to the end of the highway
Circumnavigate the earth
But this hunger like a blast furnace
Been burning since birth
See the shaman on the mountaintop
All the lawyers in D.C.
Restless child, restless child
When will you find peace?
Like wind whipping prayer flags
In Tibetan air
We carry our story
With us everywhere
From the chapel in your hometown
Swaying with the gospel choir
To the deserts of some holy land
Beneath minarets and spires
You can look to gurus and lovers
Fasting and feasts
Restless child, restless child...
To that cradle of mystery
Where all desperation will cease
Restless child, restless child
When will you find peace?
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6. |
Love Is The Law
03:01
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LOVE IS THE LAW
When the last cathedral crumbles
And the monuments to superstition fall
The priests in robes and collars
Clutching collection plate dollars
Will know love is the law
When the laboratories go dark and the server farm shuts down
Lab coats hung on the wall
When all experiments are done
The final algorithm is run
The results say: love is the law
Lady Justice at the door of the courthouse
Her blindfold drops - her eyes open wide in awe
As the scale falls and shatters
She sees nothing else matters
Because love is the law
There’s blood on the streets of the city
But there’s hope where there should be none at all
And they still whisper stories
Of coming glory
Because they believe love is the law
See the refugee, outcast, and orphan
The weary wanderer - his back against the wall
Open the gate
Before it’s too late
If you believe love is the law
I had a dark dream like some Hieronymus Bosch vision
All humanity swallowed in the devils open jaw
Raise your voice, your pen, your guitar
Wherever you are
And shout, "Love is the law!"
I tell you sometimes I’m tempted
To take a swan dive into the black emptiness of it all
Here comes that diamond shine
In my little girl's eyes
That says love is the law
My guiding light - a beacon in the night
Love is...love is the law
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7. |
Meet Me On The Mountain
02:26
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MEET ME ON THE MOUNTAIN
Broadway’s pulsing and panting
Like an overheated beast
Swarming humans, diesel fumes
The sun's cracking the concrete
Quickly, before my spirit
Turns to stone
Find me and remind me that
We are more than flesh and bone
Meet me on the mountain
Meet me on the mountain
Meet me on the mountain
Where the wind blows our troubles away…
I got the nightmare news on the radio
On my phone, on the TV
Gray-haired anchorman joking
With a young blond about World War III
I used to believe in a world
I couldn’t touch or see
Now money is king and
Dark confusion got the best of me
Meet me on the mountain
Meet me on the mountain
Meet me on the mountain
Where the wind blows our troubles away…
There’s a stranger in the mirror
I’m afraid of getting older
I swear I feel that icy cold
Hand on my shoulder
So show me that life-changing smile
And, if only for a while,
Meet me on the mountain
Where we can see for miles and miles and miles
Meet me on the mountain
Meet me on the mountain
Meet me on the mountain
Where the wind blows our troubles away…
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8. |
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BLACK COFFEE AND CIGARETTES
The cold wind's creeping underneath the door
Filling the space she was before
Tell me how I’m gonna make it one more day
I been hungry as fire and shaking like a live wire since she’s been away
The bitter taste of loneliness won’t leave me alone
I’m living on black coffee and cigarettes
Until my sweetness comes home
They tell me Tuesday happened, Wednesday's come and gone
I’m burning down Thursday, still trying to finish this song
The colors have been drained from everything in this place
It’s like my whole world is waiting for her to show her face
The bitter taste of loneliness won’t leave me alone
I’m living on black coffee and cigarettes
Until my sweetness comes home
I’ve given up whiskey
I’ve sworn off wine
And I’ve been good about it
Most of the time
But if she’s not home soon
To make it all right
I might have to get high
Just to get to sleep tonight
The bitter taste of loneliness won’t leave me alone
I’m living on black coffee and cigarettes
Until my sweetness comes home
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9. |
Poison Blood
02:52
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POISON BLOOD
My grandfather became the town drunk
When he got back from the war
I remember crushed beer cans and empty bottles
Like spent shell casings on his floor
Some men get religion
And wash away their sins
Some spend their whole lives
Fighting battles they never win
Some men are bound by bars of steel
Some by iron chains
Some men are bound by poison blood
Running through their veins
Dad would stumble in after the bar closed
If he came home at all
Mom would sleep with the phone by her pillow
In case the cops called
He smelled like another woman’s perfume
Cigarettes and wine
Spitting curses through clenched teeth
His breath like turpentine
Some men are bound by bars of steel
Some by iron chains
Some men are bound by poison blood
Running through their veins
I’m looking out our apartment window
Deal going down on the corner below
Mary’s rocking our baby boy
Singing lullabies soft and low
I can’t tell you much
About fate or destiny
All I know is a man
Ain’t nothing if he ain’t free
Some men are bound by bars of steel
Some by iron chains
Some men are bound by poison blood
Running through their veins
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10. |
Love Your Family
02:48
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LOVE YOUR FAMILY
There’s fire in the streets on Capital Hill
Revolutions in distant lands
Empires crumbling
Whole countries changing hands
Darkness descending
With no end in sight
Would anyone be surprised
If the world ended tonight?
I'm going home
Gonna turn off the TV
Put down my phone
Love my family
Everyone’s got something they’re screaming
But no one has any answers
Fear and chaos pound out the beat
Modern man's the dancer
I see hate answered returned with hate
No one changing hearts
I can’t tell you where we’re headed
But I know where we start…
Go home
Turn off the TV
Put down your phone
Love your family
There's a time for the clenched fist
A time for the open hand
A time to take a knee
A time to take a stand
All we have
Is this short time together
Start a legacy of light
That goes on forever
Go home
Turn off the TV
Put down your phone
Love your family
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11. |
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THROUGH THIS WORLD, AWAKE
White sun through the window in the morning as I rise
Clears away the gossamer veil of sleep from my eyes
I see mankind in motion like some grotesque ballet
I see everything I love will eventually fall away
It’s something like being born, something like a fever break
Going through this world, awake
I’ve seen darkness of the deepest kind - things no human eye should see
Joy flies on magpie wings - but sorrow runs deep
So give me a drink, turn up the music, sell illusions of control
Say a prayer, chant mantras, tell the sweetest lie you’ve ever told
‘Cause I don’t know how much more I can take
Going through this world, awake
Sun going down in the gun metal sky
Orange ball of fire looks like god’s own eye
Tears blur my vision like I’m looking through a flame
As my heart fills with longing for something better I can’t name
Like Adam and Eve in the garden tempted by the snake
Cursed to go through this world, awake
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