12 lyrics

leaving ain't fair you know
parting ain't just
people got to move on
people got to do what they must
and we're back together again
and Im never gonna lose you as a friend

growing up free
growing up wild
if you want to know the secret behind the smile
you got to ask a Tuesdays child
and we're back together again
and Im never gonna lose you as a friend

well I guess that highway got a hold of me

Indian legislation's on the desk of a do right congressman
and he don't know much about the issues so he picks up the phone
and asks the advice of the senator out in Indian country
a darling of the energy companies ripping off
what's left of the reservation

I learned the safety rule
I don't know who to thank
don't stand between the reservation
and the corporate bank

Indian legislation's on the desk of the do right congressman
now he don't know much about the issues so he picks up the phone
and asks the advice of the senator out in Indian country
a darling of the energy companies their ripping off
what's left of the reservation

I learned the safety rule
I don't know who to thank
don't stand between the reservation
and the corporate bank

i am an only child
born of the wild
riddled to spend my time
defending my land

you are my only one
born in the sun
riddled to spend your time
defending my plan

dead dog on the highway
median cats are growling at me
i turn my lights on brighter
counting through the night ride
and it's one more life for the taker
chickenman
one more song for the maker
chickenman

i'm trying to tell you something about my life
maybe give me insight between black and white
and the best thing you've ever done for me
is to help me take my life less seriously
it's only life after all
yeah

well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
and lightness has a call that's hard to hear
i wrap my fear around me like a blanket
i sailed my ship of safety till i sank it

We were down at dead man's hill
smoking vines like cigarettes
looking through the trashy mags
trying to feel what's coming next
you told me of crashing cars
older brothers and late night bars
I told you what I feel most
and you kept it like a ghost forever

don't you write it down
remember this in your head
don't take a picture
remember this in your heart
don't leave a message

Be on my side
Ill be on your side
there is no reason for you to hide
it's so hard staying here all alone
you could be taking me for a ride
she could drag me over the rainbow
send me away
down by the river
I shot my baby
down by the river
dead

Take my hand
Ill take your hand baby
together we may get away
this much madness is too much sorrow
it's impossible to make it today
oh baby

Galileos head was on the block
The crime was looking up for truth
And as the bombshells of my daily fears explode
I try to trace them to my youth

And then you had to bring up reincarnation
Over a couple of beers the other night
And now Im serving time for mistakes
Made by another in another lifetime

How long till my soul gets it right
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light

there's a letter on the desktop
that i dug out of a drawer
the last truce we ever came to
in our adolescent war
and i start to feel the fever
from the warm air through the screen
you come regular like seasons
shadowing my dreams

and the mississippi's mighty
but it starts in minnesota
at a place that you could walk across
with five steps down
and i guess that's how you started

well you followed me this far
did you find out what's inside
can you tell me what i'm doing
is it something i should hide
i don't know for sure
i don't wanna find out what i left there for

i'm not scared and i'm not lonely
saving all my money or my breath
i'm not looking for an answer
or anyone to second guess no

you told me all your secrets
and i filled you up with lies
now i'm living honestly

you said the world was magic
i was wide-eyed and laughing
we were dancing up to the bright side
forget about your ego
forget about your pride
and you will never have to compromise
and you were only joking
you were only joking brother

we talked about our mothers
kissed the wounds of our fathers
i could have been your sister
i would have been your brother
you kissed me like i was a soldier

i left my anger in a river running highway five
New Hampshire Vermont border by
college farms, hubcaps, and falling rocks
voices in the woods and the mountains tops
i used to search for reservations and native lands
before i realized everywhere i stand
there have been tribal feet running wild as fire
some past life sister of my desire

jonas and ezekial hear me now
steady now don't come out

you can go to the east to find your
your inner hemisphere
you say we're under the same sky babe
your bound to realize honey it's not that clear
i'm not your promised land oh no
i'm not your promised one
i'm not the land of canaan sweetheart
waiting for you under the sun

i'm lonely tonight
i'm missing you now
i'm wanting your love
and you're giving it out
i'm lonely tonight

I don't know if it was real or in a dream
Lately waking up I'm not sure where I've been
There was a table set for six and five were there
I stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair
And there was steam on the windows from the kitchen
Laughter like a language I once spoke with ease
But I'm made mute by the virtue of decision
I choose most of your life goes on without me

I sit two stories above the street
it's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
there's life down below me though
the kids are walking home from school

some long ago when we were taught
that for whatever kind of puzzle you got
you just stick the right formula in
a solution for every fool

i remember the time when i came so close with you
sent me skipping my class and running from school

During the time of which I speak
It was hard to turn the other cheek
To the blows of insecurity.
Feeding the cancer of my intellect
The blood of love soon neglected
Lay dying in the strength of its impurity

Meanwhile our friends we thought were so together
Theyve all gone and left each other
In search for fairer weather
We sit here in our storm

.a. proved too much for the man
(too much for the man)
(He couldn't make it)
So he's leaving the life he's come to know
(he said he's going)
He said he's going back to find
(going back to find)
What's left of his world
the world he left behind
not so very long ago
oh yeah

He's leaving
(leaving)
on that midnight train to Georgia
(leaving on a midnight train)
oh yeah
oh ya'll

Each time you'd pull down the driveway
I wasn't sure when I would see you again
yours was a twisted blindsided highway
no matter which road you took then
oh you set up your place in my thoughts
moved in and made my thinking crowded
now we're out in the back with the barking dogs
my heart the red sun
your heart the moon clouded
I could go crazy on a night like tonight

now the parking lot is empty
everyone's gone someplace
i pick you up and in the trunk i've packed
a cooler and a 2-day suitcase
cause there's a place we like to drive
way out in the country
five miles out of the city limit we're singing
and your hand's upon my knee

so we're okay
we're fine
baby i'm here to stop your crying
chase all the ghosts from your head

I woke up this morning, grey dawn,
with a prayer on my breath.
I lost something precious,
God'll save me from losing myself.
I think I know what's wrong,
I think I know what's wrong.
Now, I met the Queen and I understand
why she closed the door
I'm not making excuses,
But I've been there a few times,
I was knocking on her door.
I think I know what's wrong
I think I know what's wrong

it's coming on christmas
they're cutting down trees
putting up reindeer
and singing songs of joy and peace
i wish i had a river
i could skate away on

but it don't snow here
it stays pretty green
gonna make a lot of money
then i'm gonna quit this crazy scene
and i wish i had a river
i could skate away on

i wish i had a river so wide
i would teach my feet to fly
i wish i had a river

i come to you with strange fire
i make an offering of love
the incense of my soul is burned
by the fire in my blood
i come with a softer answer
to the questions that lie in your path
i want to harbor you from the anger
find a refuge from the wrath

this is a message
a message of love
love that moves from the inside out
love that never grows tired
i come to you with strange fire
fire

Early one morning the sun was shining
I was laying in bed
wondering if she'd changed at all
if her hair was still red
her folks they said our lives together
sure was gonna be rough
they never did like mama's homemade dress
papa's bank book wasn't big enough
me Im standing on the side of the road
rain falling on my shoes
Im heading out to the east coast
lord knows Ive paid some dues

I thought the time was passed when I could
Find beauty in a birds
I set the stage and the scenery
Rehearsing every word
Yeah but when I tried to make it more
Well it was always less
And its a thin line between pleasing yourself
And pleasing somebody else
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
All right

With my confidence on fire
I set to fixin up my roles
My separation of desires
Just left me deeper down in the hole

It's a fish white belly
a lump in the throat
razor on the wire
skin and bone
piss and blood
in a railroad car
1

Some will a strut and some will fret
See this an hour on this stage
Others will not but theyll sweat
In their hopelessness in their rage
Were all the same
The men of anger
And the women of the page

They published your diary
And thats how I got to know you
Key to the room of your own and a mind without end
And heres a young girl
On a kind of a telephone line through time

'm coming home with a stone, strapped onto my back.
I'm coming home with a burning hope turning all my blues to black.
I'm looking for a sacred hand to carve into my stone.
A ghost of comfort, angels breath - to keep this life inside my chest.

This world falls on me with hopes of immortality.
Everywhere I turn all the beauty just keeps shaking me.