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A Song to Himself (Juarez) 

He wears a blue suede cowboy hat

Got a juarez women stretched out on his lap

He sings an old song

A song to himself

He sings waiting round to die 

One border whorehouse looks just like another

But he first came to this one with his father and his brother

Now nobody cares one way or another

He sings an old song

A song to himself

He sings waiting round to die 

There is a plump woman attending bar

He holds hands with another plump woman named starr

Lays a twenty on the table by the pigs feet jar

Sings an old song

Song to himself

He sings waiting round to die 

A beautiful woman

Wraps around his shoulder

Eyes painted like clay

Except colder

She says hell of a deal

ain’t it

This getting older

He sings an old song

Asong to himself

He sings waiting round to die. 

Waiting round to die

Waiting round to die

He thinks 

Who in the world would write a song like that

Then the two plump women

Start laughing at his hat

So he pulls another twenty out

Just like that

Sings an old song, song to himself

He sings waiting round to die.

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Orphan 

She used to say she was an orphan

Never was exactly the truth

It’s just her mother got tired 

Tired of her hanging round

So she ended up living in a home for girls

A straight hair kid in a house full of curls

A straight haired kid always hanging around 

She’d sing swing low

Sweet chariot

She’s coming for to carry me home 

So the first chance she got she said I do

To a tall town boy who said me too

Honorable mention all district quarterback

He said I’ll carry you away

She left him drunk on a stool in a county line bar

Going on about high school

How he was a star

She just got tired, tired of him hanging around 

She’d sing swing low

Sweet chariot

She’s coming for to carry me home

  dairy queen

Had two baby boys two more diamond rings

The husbands they were brave

But she split that one horse town

Just got tired all the people hanging around

Split that one horse town 

Now she lives outside LA

With a broke down baseball player

Used to playdouble A

Religious man

Never drinks or swears

She’s tired of all the talk about her

Getting saved

Tired of all the talk about

Revelation days

She’s tired

Tired of him hanging around 

She sings swing low

Sweet chariot

She’s coming for to carry me home 

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Slots

She lives in a trailer on the outskirts of Reno

Plays quarter slots

In the local’s casino

Every round goes higher, higher

She sings soldiers of the cross 

A drink in one hand

Coins in the other

They drop in the slot

One after another

Every round goes higher, higher

She sings soldiers of the cross

When was it

48 49

She was a girl

On the hill county line

In a church with no screens

She waved a paper fan

She sang soldiers of the cross

She needs lights

She needs action

She needs change for a ten

She needs camels please

Good lord she needs gin

Every round goes higher, higher

She sings soldiers of the cross 

She sings we are climbing jacob’s ladder

We are climbing jacob’s ladder

We are climbing jacob’s ladder

She sings soldiers of the cross

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Pretty World

Before the sun

Before the heat

Before we untangle from our sheets

Before this summer day unfurls

Pretty world

Before the paper is dropped at the gate

Before the coffee before we are late

Before dreams are lost like midnight pearls 

Pretty world, pretty roses

Pretty smile morning light

Pretty eyes lazy curls

Pretty world 

Before the traffic before the jets

Before the sound of your footsteps

Fades away like summer girls 

Pretty World

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Odessa

He was an odessa boy with a daddy in the money

Played for mojo back in the boom

Drove a corvette

Took what he wanted

People learned to give him lots of room

He never learned to work

But that never really mattered

Cause the dark crude flowed

The wild oats scattered

Dark crude flowed

He fought he flattered

And he got what he wanted

It was the only thing that mattered

Life was easy

The big jacks pumped

Pulling cash from the permian field

Cabinets full of high-grade scotch

Garage full of high-speed steel

He never learned to work 

But that never really mattered

Cause the dark crude flowed

The wild oats scattered

Dark crude flowed

Dark crude flowed

He fought he flattered

And he got what he wanted

that was the only thing that mattered

He killed a girl when he rolled the corvette

Daddy’s money made her lawyers go away

His mother bought vodka with all that cash

She kind of knew

Yeah she kind of knew 

He’s an old man now

Lives on his dead daddy’s place

Never took a wife

He is going to die without a trace

See he loved the girl who was penned in the vette

Talks to her everyday

Her face was blood and diamonds

He remembers her that way 

He never learned to work

But that never really mattered

Cause the dark crude flowed

The wild oats scattered

Dark crude flowed

He fought he flattered

And he got what he wanted

It was the only thing that mattered 

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Sweetly Undone

 I watch you at the pool

Slowly undress

Spread your towel on st augustine

Lay down and rest

Lay down and rest

Lay down in the sun

Lay down with your top

Sweetly undone

There are cardinals and roses

We’ve had lots of rain

You’ve got a book on africa

I’ve got twain

Lay down and rest

Lay down in the sun

Lay down with your top

Sweetly undone

Remember new years eve

And no it’s not a test

At the top of the stairs

You slowly undressed

You slowly undressed

Oh father oh son

Slowly undress

Sweetly undone

Sweetly undone

One red rose is lovely in the sun

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Psychic 

So the psychic on the lower east side

The pakistani woman with the pretty green eyes

She said its time to choose

Too late to hide

You’ve got to choose

Choose between lies

Or you can choose truth

But you’ve got to decide which feels better

When it’s next to you

Right by your side

Gotta choose truth

Or you gotta choose lies

It’s been paid for in spades

And drinks at the bar

Paid for in feathers

Feathers and tar

Look out the window broken glass in the yard

You think that’s what happens when you let down your guard

But things just happen things fall apart

And then all of the king’s men have to depart

When things get dicey

There’s an open heart

All the king’s men have to depart 

It’s not your husband’s move or his hired hand

He uses whips on the horses

He’s that kind of man

You pretend he whispers

So you don’t take a stand

But there are scars on the flanks

They look like fans

The horses are scared

Their eyes roll white

They ever get loose

They get loose some night

They ever get loose

They’ll be gone by light

The horses are scared

Their eyes roll white 

The Pakistani women on the lower east side

The psychic with the pretty green eyes

Said it’s time to choose

It’s too late to hide 

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Boxes

There is a woman who puts things in boxes

Keepsakes mostly of her kids

Snapshots of gap-toothed boys and girls

Pictures and drawings they did

Trophies and ribbons

A old newspaper clip the young bride

A stack of old valentines cards

I love you is written inside 

There’s a hat something borrowed

There’s a veil something new

There’s a bible something old

There’s a letter something blue

A letter something blue

Came on a day that turned black

A grateful nation informs you

Your first lieutenant is not coming back 

There are valentine cards

There are valentine cards

Some flowers carefully dried

There are valentine cards

Valentine cards

I love you is written inside 

There is a woman who puts things in boxes

Keepsakes mostly of her kids

Snapshots of gap-toothed boys and girls

Pictures and drawings they did

Trophies and ribbons

Newspaper clip a young bride

A stack of Old valentine cards

I love you is written inside  

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Broken Fingers

How long

How long ago

16 years

Everyday

Of course I know

Of course I know

Forget his face?

Of course I don’t

Etched like a crystal vase 

These broken fingers

Some things don’t heal

I can’t wake up from a dream

When the dream is real

These broken fingers 

Forget his eyes?

His silhouette?

Of course I don’t

Of course I don’t forget

There are blue eyes

A silhouette

There is a debt

A debt I don’t forget 

How long

How long ago

Sixteen years every day of course I know

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