Tears of Rage

While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy, hurroo, hurroo
While goin' the road to sweet Athy
A stick in me hand and a drop in me eye
A doleful damsel I heard cry,
Johnny I hardly knew ye.

With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and drums and guns, hurroo, hurroo
With your drums and guns and drums and guns
The enemy nearly slew ye
Oh my darling dear, Ye look so queer
Johnny I hardly knew ye.

Where are your eyes that were so mild, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your eyes that were so mild, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your eyes that were so mild
When my heart you so beguiled
Why did ye run from me and the child
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye.

Where are your legs that used to run, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your legs that used to run, hurroo, hurroo
Where are your legs that used to run
When you went for to carry a gun
Indeed your dancing days are done
Oh Johnny, I hardly knew ye.

I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo
I'm happy for to see ye home, hurroo, hurroo
I'm happy for to see ye home
All from the island of Sulloon
So low in flesh, so high in bone
Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye.

Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo
Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg, hurroo, hurroo
Ye haven't an arm, ye haven't a leg
Ye're an armless, boneless, chickenless egg
Ye'll have to put with a bowl out to beg
Oh Johnny I hardly knew ye.

They're rolling out the guns again, hurroo, hurroo
They're rolling out the guns again, hurroo, hurroo
They're rolling out the guns again
But they never will take our sons again
No they never will take our sons again
Johnny I'm swearing to ye.

djjd - it's a good 'un.

Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I'm alright, I'm alright
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far a-way from home, so far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it's alright, it's alright
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what has gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the a-ge's most uncertain hours
and sing an American tune
Oh, and it's alright, it's alright, it's alright
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest

Whose song is that?

it's paul simon, from the album "there goes rhymin' simon"

it's probably my favourite paul simon song

I be damned. I have that album, but haven't listened to the whole thing. Seems I never got to it. Odd, because I love Paul Simon's writing.

Age Of Treason
On a lone and windy hilltop beneath a roof of tin
In a little wallpapered bedroom I done my growin'.
'Twas there I dreamt my dreams, I hung my jeans
And wandered through my puberty as all do.

My mother was a tight nut bound up with false guilt
Strapped up in her fearing wall she had built.
The independent girl in a dark and cruel world
She'd lost the way to say, "OK, now lay back".

We disagreed on most things, I shouted peace and love
The family is mankind, the symbol of the dove.
She only saw the surface of things before her face
But I was young and argued on for hours.

My father he liked poetry, a scholar he might have made.
Had nothing, born a poor boy barefoot and underpaid
So the man worked with his hands up and down the land,
His dreams forgot he thought that I must follow.

With his marks as worker's wisdom he'd read a thing or two
He once had been a Mason but he never followed through.
Always kind and thoughtful, smelling of mushy oil
And he read me poetry of visionaries.

I flunk my way to college, a looser kind of school
But we bobbed and played time arty, feeling cool
Just to live an artists diggin' the ravin' scene
Reading Kerouac and Ginsberg well deuced.

I was not academic, Art and English neat,
The history of mankind I liked that a bit.
And what was I to do ? The choices they were few,
I done right disgrace to the working classes

I done right disgrace to the working classes
I done right disgrace to the working classes
I done right disgrace to the working classes.

READY FOR THE WAR

TONIGHT WE WILL SPEAK ABOUT BEAUTY
TONIGHT WE WILL SPEAK ABOUT TRUTH
TONIGHT WE WILL SPEAK OF DUTY
AND THE PROMISES OF YOUTH
TONIGHT I WILL BE ALL I HAVE PROMISED
TONIGHT YOU WILL BREATH THROUGH MY SKIN
THIS NIGHT EVERY LIE WILL BE HONEST
AND OUR FUTURE WILL BEGIN

I'M READY FOR THE WAR - READY FOR THE HEAT
CHOOSE YOUR BATTLEGROUND NOW
WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE STREET
THERE WILL BE NO PEACE TONIGHT
NO ANGELS AT THE DOOR
YOU ARE READY FOR A FIGHT
AND I AM READY FOR THE WAR

TONIGHT WE WILL SIT DOWN IN SPLENDOR
TONIGHT EVEN BEGGARS WILL FEAST
TONIGHT EVERY BITE WILL BE TENDER
AS MOONLIGHT THROUGH THE TREES
TONIGHT I WILL SWALLOW YOUR COURAGE
TONIGHT YOU WILL FEAST ON MY HEART
THIS NIGHT EVERY SOUL WILL BE SAVAGED
AND WE'LL TEAR THIS WORLD APART

I'M READY FOR THE WAR - READY FOR THE HEAT
CHOOSE YOUR BATTLEGROUND NOW
WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE STREET
THERE WILL BE NO PEACE
NO ANGELS AT YOUR DOOR
YOU ARE READY FOR THE BEAST
AND WE ARE READY FOR THE WAR

TONIGHT WE WILL LOVE WITHOUT MERCY
TONIGHT WE WILL GLORY IN GREED
TONIGHT I WILL BEG YOU TO HURT ME
OR FINALLY SET ME FREE

I'M READY FOR THE WAR - READY FOR THE HEAT
CHOOSE YOUR BATTLEGROUND NOW
WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE STREET
THERE WILL BE NO PEACE
NO ANGELS AT YOUR DOOR
YOU ARE READY FOR THE BEAST
AND WE ARE READY FOR THE WAR

DEAR DOCTOR

Oh help me, please doctor, I'm damaged
There's a pain where there once was a heart
It's sleepin, it's a beatin'
Can't ya please tear it out, and preserve it
Right there in that jar?

Oh help me, please mama, I'm sick'ning
It's today that's the day of the plunge
Oh the gal I'm to marry
Is a bow-legged sow
I've been soakin' up drink like a sponge

"Don't ya worry, get dressed," cried my mother
As she plied me with bourbon so sour
Pull your socks up, put your suit on
Comb your long hair down,
For you will be wed in the hour

So help me, please doctor, I'm damaged
There's a pain where there once was a heart
I'm sleepin, it's a beatin'
Can't ya please take it out, and preserve it
Right there in that jar?

Oh help me, please doctor, I'm damaged
There's a pain where there once was a heart
It's sleepin, it's a beatin'
Can't ya please tear it out, and preserve it
Right there in that jar?

I was tremblin', as I put on my jacket
It had creases as sharp as a knife
I put the ring in my pocket
But there was a note
And my heart it jumped into my mouth

It read, "Darlin', I'm sorry to hurt you.
But I have no courage to speak to your face.
But I'm down in Virginia with your cousin Lou
There be no wedding today."

So help me, please doctor, I'm damaged
You can put back my heart in its hole
Oh mama, I'm cryin'
Tears of relief
And my pulse is now under control

Doctor My Eyes lyrics
Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand

I have done all that I could
To see the evil and the good without hiding
You must help me if you can

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what is wrong
Was I unwise to leave them open for so long

'Cause I have wandered through this world
And as each moment has unfurled
I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams
People go just where they will
I never noticed them until I got this feeling
That it's later than it seems

Doctor, my eyes
Tell me what you see
I hear their cries
Just say if it's too late for me

Is it too late
Is it too late for me
Tell me doctor
Doctor, my eyes
Cannot see the sky
Is this the price for having learned how not to cry

Everybody Knows


Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows


Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows

full info about this lyric: http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/leonard_cohen/im_your_man/everybody_knows-12816-lyric/

one of my fave LC songs

Dear God

, hope you got the letter, and...
I pray you can make it better down here.
I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer
but all the people that you made in your image, see
them starving on their feet 'cause they don't get
enough to eat from God, I can't believe in you

Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but... I feel that I should be heard
loud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
and all the people that you made in your image, see them fighting
in the street 'cause they can't make opinions meet about God,
I can't believe in you

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue? Did you make
mankind after we made you? And the devil too!

, don't know if you noticed, but... your name is on
a lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it, you
should take a look, and all the people that you made in your
image still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain't, and
so do you, dear God, I can't believe in I don't believe in

I won't believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, no
devil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You're always
letting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes you
drown. Those lost at sea and never found, and it's the same the
whole world 'round. The hurt I see helps to compound that
Father, Son and Holy Ghost is just somebody's unholy hoax,
and if you're up there you'd perceive that my heart's here upon
my sleeve. If there's one thing I don't believe in

it's you....

With God On Our Side

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

Eve Of Destruction
by Barry McGuire


The eastern world, it is explodin'.
Violence flarin', bullets loadin'
You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'
You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve
of destruction.

Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say
Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today?
If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save, with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy
It's bound to scare you boy

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve
of destruction.

Yeah, my blood's so mad feels like coagulatin'
I'm sitting here just contemplatin'
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation.
Handful of senators don't pass legislation
And marches alone can't bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin'
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve
of destruction.

Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
You may leave here for 4 days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The poundin' of the drum, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace
Hate your next-door neighbor, but don't forget to say grace
And… tell me over and over and over and over again, my friend
You don't believe
We're on the eve
Of destruction
Mm, no no, you don't believe
We're on the eve
of destruction.

Baby's in Black

Oh dear, what can I do?
Baby's in black and I'm feeling blue,
Tell me, oh what can I do?
She thinks of him and so she dresses in black,
And though he'll never come bak, she's dressed in black.
Oh dear, what can I do?
Baby's in black and I'm feeling blue,
Tell me, oh what can I do?
I think of her, but she only thinks of him,
And though it's only a whim, she thinks of him.
Oh how long will it take,
Till she sees the mistake she has made?
Dear what can I do?
Baby's in black, and I'm feeling blue,
Tell me, oh what can I do?
She thinks of him and she dresses in black,
And though he'll never come back, she's dressed in black.
Oh dear, what can I do?
Baby's in black and I'm feeling blue,
Tell me, oh what can I do?

Dust Storm Disaster

On the fourteenth day of April of nineteen thirty five,
There struck the worst of duststorms that ever filled the sky:
You could see that dust storm coming the cloud looked deathlike black,
And through our mighty nation, it left a dreadful track.

From Oklahoma city to the Arizona line,
Dakota and Nebraska to the lazy Rio Grande,
It fell across our city like a curtain of black rolled down,
We thought it was our judgement, we thought it was our doom.

The radio reported, we listened with alarm,
The wild and windy actions of this great mysterious storm;
From Albuquerque and Clovis, and all New Mexico,
They said it was the blackest that ever they had saw.

From old Dodge City, Kansas, the dust had rung their knell,
And a few more comrades sleeping on top of old Boot Hill.
From Denver, Colorado, they said it blew so strong,
They thought that they could hold out, but didn't know how long.

Our relatives were huddled into their oil boom shacks,
And the children they was crying as it whistled through the cracks.
And the family it was crowded into their little room,
They thought the world had ended, they thought it was their doom.

This storm took place at sundown and lasted through the night,
When we looked out this morning we saw a terrible sight:
We saw outside our windows where wheat fields they had grown
Was now a rippling ocean of dust the wind had blown.

It covered up our fences, it covered up our barns,
It covered up our tractors in this wild and windy storm.
We loaded our jalopies and piled our families in,
We rattled down the highway to never come back again.

This was the outlook in '96 ... to realise that, and think of how much worse its still become, makes it all the sadder ... (cant listen to this one without cryin')

Christmas Time in Washington
Steve Earle

It's Christmas-time in Washington
The Democrats rehearsed
Gettin' into gear for four more years
Of things not gettin' worse
Republicans drink whiskey neat
And thanked their lucky stars
Said he cannot seek another term
There'll be no more FDRs

I sat home in Tennessee
Staring at the screen
An uneasy feeling in my chest
And I'm wondering what it means

So come back Woody Guthrie
Come back to us now
Tear your eyes from paradise
And rise again somehow
If you run into Jesus
Maybe he can help you out
Come back Woody Guthrie to us now

Followed in your footsteps once
Back in my travelin' days
Somewhere I failed to find your trail
Now I'm stumblin' through the haze
But there's killers on the highway
And a man can't get around
So I sold my soul for wheels of gold
And I'm stuck here in this town

There's foxes in the hen house
Cows out in the corn
The unions have been busted
The proud red banners torn
To listen to the radio you'd think all was well
But you and me and Cisco know it's going to hell

So come back Emma Goldman
Rise up old Joe Hill
The barracades are going up
They cannot break our will

Come back to us Malcolm X and Martin Luther King
We're marching into Selma
As the bells of freedom ring

Nimh
I did not know that song. It's as perfect as anything I've heard for this time in history.

Hi It's Been a Long Time


Hi, it's been a long time, you're looking fine,
Proud as any woman should be, proud of womankind.
My, your hair is longer now, it's prettier by far,
Hope you don't feel too unusual riding in my flash car.

Hi, it's been a long time, you're looking good,
Proud as any woman should be, proud of womanhood.

Changes, many I've been through, pretty much like you,
Now as then I feel it would be pretty to touch you.

Hi, it's been a long time, you're looking fine,
Proud as any woman should be, proud of womankind.
Changes, many I've been through, pretty much like you,
Now as then I feel it would be pretty to touch you.

Hi, it's been a few years, you're looking down,
Dragged as any hippie should be in old hippie town.
My, your eyes are sadder now, it's understandable,
I'm amazed you spend your days keeping up all the "cod".

Hi, it's been a long time
Hi, it's been a long time
Hi, it's been a long time
Hi, it's been a long time
Hi, it's been a long

Broken Rainbow

The old people of the earth
Tell stories
An old woman
Of the old ways
She said -
"I recall my joy
In better days"
The young warriors
Of the open rainbow
Said "Tell me is it true?
Tell me, do some live
out of bags and rags
In the cities too?
Is it true?"
At the edge where I live
Home sweet home
America

Native American Nation
Caught in the devastation
An endless situation
What can I do?
The ghost of prejudice
Cuts thru the moonglow
Poet on a crying page -
Broken Rainbow

Broken Rainbow
Home sweet home
America