Avalanche
Well I stepped into an avalanche,
it covered up my soul;
when I am not this hunchback that you see,
I sleep beneath the golden hill.
You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn, learn to serve me well.
You strike my side by accident
as you go down for your gold.
The cripple here that you clothe and feed
is neither starved nor cold;
he does not ask for your company,
not at the centre, the centre of the world.
When I am on a pedestal,
you did not raise me there.
Your laws do not compel me
to kneel grotesque and bare.
I myself am the pedestal
for this ugly hump at which you stare.
You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn what makes me kind;
the crumbs of love that you offer me,
they're the crumbs I've left behind.
Your pain is no credential here,
it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound.
I have begun to long for you,
I who have no greed;
I have begun to ask for you,
I who have no need.
You say you've gone away from me,
but I can feel you when you breathe.
Do not dress in those rags for me,
I know you are not poor;
you don't love me quite so fiercely now
when you know that you are not sure,
it is your turn, beloved,
it is your flesh that I wear.
BABY, STOP CRYING
Words and Music by Bob Dylan
You been down to the bottom with a bad man, babe,
But you're back where you belong.
Go get me my pistol, babe,
Honey, I can't tell right from wrong.
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying.
You know, I know, the sun will always shine
So baby, please stop crying 'cause it's tearing up my mind.
Go down to the river, babe,
Honey, I will meet you there.
Go down to the river, babe,
Honey, I will pay your fare.
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying.
You know, I know, the sun will always shine
So baby, please stop crying 'cause it's tearing up my mind.
If you're looking for assistance, babe,
Or if you just want some company
Or if you just want a friend you can talk to,
Honey, come and see about me.
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying.
You know, I know, the sun will always shine
So baby, please stop crying 'cause it's tearing up my mind.
You been hurt so many times
And I know what you're thinking of.
Well, I don't have to be no doctor, babe,
To see that you're madly in love.
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying, stop crying, stop crying
Baby, please stop crying.
You know, I know, the sun will always shine
So baby, please stop crying 'cause it's tearing up my mind.
"We Can't Make it Here"
Lyrics
Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore
That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore
See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore
The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore
High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore
Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war
And we can't make it here anymore
Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore
And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why
In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore
Music and lyrics © 2004 by James McMurtry
not exactly rage, but heard this tune today and loved it
I Wanna Be In The Cavalry
(lyrics by Corb Lund, music by Stan Rogers/Corb Lund)
I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before
I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons' roar
I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
I wanna horse in the volunteer force that's riding forth at dawn
Please save for me some gallantry that will echo when I'm gone
I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long
I'd not a good foot soldier make, I'd be sour and slow at march
And I'd be sick on a navy ship, and the sea would leave me parched
But I'll be first in line if they'll let me ride, by god, you'll see my starch
Lope back o'er the heath with the laurel wreath underneath that vict'ry arch
Let me earn my spurs in the battle's blur where the day is lost or won
I'll wield my lance as the ponies dance and the blackguards fire their guns
A sabre keen, and a saddle carbine and an army Remington
Where the hot lead screams with the cold, cold steel let me be a cav'lryman
Let 'em play their flutes and stirrup my boots and place them back to front
For I won't be back on the rider-less black and I'm finished in my hunt
I wanna be in the cavalry if I must go off to war
I wanna be in the cavalry, but I won't ride home no more
on further examination of corb lund's website, i see the album ends with a reprise of my song from above, that does encompass some rage
I Wanna Be In The Cavalry: Reprise
(lyrics by Corb Lund, music by Stan Rogers/Corb Lund)
I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me off to war
I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before
Courageous at first we took their worst, our positions we held stout
We clung to belief and we hung on the speech from our trusted leaders' mouths
Overwhelming odds and a hopeless cause and our cities overrun
There were them that said we was badly led and God were we outgunned
I lost count of the worthy mounts that from under me were cut
My favourite mare with her head in the air took the cannons in her gut
In the first two weeks on that bloody creek my brother lost his arm
Was only sixty days till all we prayed was get us home unharmed
O for the day that we signed our names and the well that we were wished
The men's congrats and the pats on the backs and the ladies that we kissed
The band that played and the grande parade and the patriotic shouts
All faded fast, didn't even last till the uniforms wore out
And there were none to replace nor to help us face the winters cold and bleak
That chilled to the bone the pneumonia prone and froze our bootless feet
Then the typhoid hit with its fevered fits, TB and dysentery
That proved in the end to have killed more men than the vilest enemy
We were finally forced to feed on horse and carcass we could scrounge
When the wagons stopped and we'd burnt their crops to charred and barren ground
With morale in doubt and our pride run out no honour did I see
All I seen were a thousand dreams piled dead in front of me
I wanna be in the cavalry if the send me off to war
I wanna be in the cavalry but I won't ride home no more
Taps
Instrumental
War on a Sunny Day
The war on a sunny day
How we march and play
How we make them pay
War is for a sunny day
Uniforms crispy neat
Seem cool in prickly heat
Boom make them sound retreat
War on a sunny day
War on a sunny day
How we make them pay
How we march and play
The war on a sunny day
Red soon turn to gray
That's when we turn away
War is for a sunny day
The war on a bleary day
Store the guns away
Hide cause the sky's all gray
So my dear children
What have you learned (War is for a sunny day)
We're ready to listen
Start with number one
I've learned my dear parents
How you let them make these wars (How we march and play)
Though not kings nor peasants
Know what we're fighting for
They call out the children
Said the second one in line (How we make them pay)
Then send them out to kill them
Spill their blood like vats of wine
Three said it's for the money
Or else from made up pride
Showing them no mercy (War is for a sunny day)
The leaders run and hide
There's collateral damage
Number four's heavy sigh (How we march and play)
Means so many families
By you are chose to die
And yet you choose leaders
And suffer dictator's rule (How we make them pay)
Every one of them cheaters
So tell us who's the fool
War is for a sunny day
How we march and play
How we make them pay
Not to Touch the Earth
Doors
Not to touch the Earth
Not to see the Sun
Nothing left to do, but run, run, run
Let's run, let's run
House upon the hill
Moon is lying still
Shadows of the trees
Witnessing the wild breeze
Come on, baby, run with me
Let's run
Run with me
Run with me
Run with me
Let's run!
The mansion is warm at the top of the hill
Rich are the rooms and the comforts there
Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs
And you won't know a thing till you get inside
Dead president's corpse in the driver's car
The engine runs on glue and tar
Come on along, not goin' very far
To the East to meet the Czar
Run with me
Run with me
Run with me
Let's run!
Whoah!
Some outlaws live by the side of a lake
The minister's daughter's in love with the snake
Who lives in a well by the side of the road
Wake up, girl, we're almost home
Yeah, c'mon!
We should see the gates by mornin'
We should be inside by evenin'
Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Soon, soon, soon
Moon, moon, moon
I will get you
Soon!
Soon!
Soon!
I am the Lizard King
I can do anything
Sinead O'Conner at the Dylan 30th Anniversary tribute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCk2YQS8vaw
George W Told the Nation
Didn't know it, but now I love it.
