Tag Archives: lyrics

Don’t Preach Me

Don’t preach me religion
like there’s something you can prove;
being good at treading water
doesn’t mean you can move.

Don’t preach me politics
from the safety of the status quo;
saying that you understand
doesn’t mean that you know.

Don’t preach me civic pride
like I don’t know much history;
acting like the bigger gun
makes the purer pedigree.

Don’t tell me to walk the line
when you’re circling around me;
I don’t believe your anything
has much to do with me.

Don’t preach me right and wrong
like there’s some space in between;
words like that make useful weapons
if you don’t know what they mean.

Don’t preach me morality
like some gold we’re gonna find;
being sane in a crazy world
don’t mean you ain’t lost your mind.

Don’t tell me to seek the truth
when your mouth is full of lies;
I don’t believe your anything
just because it’s super-sized.

Don’t preach me religion;
don’t preach me politics.
Don’t hand me your medicine
when you’re the one who’s sick.

Don’t preach me your civic pride;
don’t preach your right and wrong.
Don’t preach your morality;
I’ve got my own damned song.

14 JUN 2017

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Idol

Don’t want to be an American idol,
good for a season and then tossed away;
held up like Jesus and the King James Bible,
blamed for the country’s future going astray.

Don’t want to be an American idol,
hawking potato chips and new Chevrolets;
starting out starstruck, ending up suicidal,
shriveled and spit out prematurely gray.

Don’t follow me thinking I’m headed somewhere
you’ll recognize on TV.
Don’t waste your time trying to be somebody
who only wants to be me.

Don’t want to be an American idol,
shrink-wrapped and candy-coated fantasy;
sold on the corner at a dozen a penny,
bootlegged in mixed degrees of quality.

Don’t want to be an American idol,
famous for being a celebrity;
pretending at a something somewhere near vital,
believing whatever I’m supposed to be.

Don’t follow me thinking that I’ve got something
to make life easy and free.
Don’t waste your time trying to be a somebody
who only wants to be me.

26 APR 2017

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This is Bliss

I don’t know what you know,
I only know what I’ve been told;
I don’t know just when this thing started,
I only know it’s getting old.

I don’t know where we’re going
(barely remember where we’ve been),
but I can tell which way the wind is blowing.
Look to your valuables, my friend.

They say it’s just the times, but I don’t know;
just saying it don’t ever make it so.

I don’t know how you get through it –
probably much the same as me;
and I don’t know, sometimes I just say screw it.
Could be that’s how it ends, maybe.

I don’t know about your sense of humor,
but I know we’re in this together;
I don’t know sometimes to laugh or cry –
what can you do about the weather?

They say the world’s run out of gas;
just wishing it don’t make it come to pass.

I don’t know what you know;
or if I think it’s worth your thinking.
I don’t know if we can get along,
it all depends on what we’re drinking.

I don’t know where we’re headed;
could be salvation, or destruction.
In either case, we both may have to face
a whole new method of instruction.

They say the end is near, my brother;
not much you can do about it, one way or the other.

What is this? This is bliss:
letting go of letting go.
What is this? This is bliss:
both of us admitting we don’t know.

13 MAY 2011

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Slip, Trip, Stumble and Fall

I had it easy, or so I’ve been told:
good luck and fortune to have and to hold
Plenty good lovin’ and good-timin’ friends
Who swore they’d back me up until the end

But all too easy, it slipped right away;
No more tomorrow, and not much today.
Dreams turned to nightmares, and sunshine to rain;
And how it hurts me now to have to explain.

Sometimes you slip, trip, stumble and fall;
Leavin’ you no chance to make sense of it all.
Without a warning, you get that wake up call
And you slip, trip, stumble and fall.

Some kinds of trouble you just can’t outrun;
bad situations when you’re under the gun.
Sometimes a sure thing is riddled with doubt;
no big surprise when the whole bottom drops out

No sense to argue, no reason to cry
No point in sittin’ there wonderin’ why
It’s bound to happen to you, just wait and see
Sooner or later, eventually

Sometimes you slip, trip, stumble and fall;
Leavin’ you no chance to make sense of it all.
Without a warning, you get that wake up call
And you slip, trip, stumble and fall.

29 APR 2009

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What Was It Garcia Said?

What was it that Garcia said?

“There’ll always be those in the crowd
that want the beat and nothing more”:
repetitive, and fast and loud,
so they can dance. No need for words.

Besides, a lyric can erect
a barrier that separates
those wanting something circumspect,
who are expecting something great,
from those who simply wish to move,
who see in music an escape:
as if mere motion served to prove
a journey made from place to place.

It doesn’t matter what you say.

What message you may seek to send
is lost in murmurs to the sway
of raging hormones, in the end;

and though at times the music seems
to change the world, it’s just pretend.

We don’t share the same dreams.

08 JUN 2006

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