Chopsticks
I met him at a party and he told me how to drive him home
He said he liked to do it backwards
I said, “That’s just fine with me,
That way we can fuck and watch TV.”
It was four a.m. and the light was gray, like it always is in paperbacks
He asked if I liked playing jacks
I told him that I was good to sixes
But all hell broke loose after that
I told him that I knew Julia Roberts when I was twelve at summer camp
We didn’t say anything after that
I dropped him off and I drove on home
‘Cause secretly I’m timid
Supernova
I have looked all over the place
But you have got my favorite face
Your eyelashes sparkle like gilded grass
And your lips are sweet and slippery like a cherub’s bare wet ass
‘Cause you’re a human supernova
A solar superman
You’re an angel with wings afire
A flying, giant friction blast
You walk in clouds of glitter and the sun reflects your eyes
And everytime the wind blows, I can smell you in the sky
Your kisses are as wicked as an F-16
And you fuck like a volcano, and you’re everything to me
‘Cause you’re a human supernova
A solar superman
You’re an angel with wings afire
A flying, giant friction blast
You’re a giant, flying friction blast
‘Cause you’re a human supernova
A solar superman
You’re an angel with wings afire
A flying, giant friction blast
Support System
I don’t need a support system
Lifting me into prop position
What I need is a man of action
I need my attraction to you
Driving me down all those dangerous avenues
Lions and tigers tearing at their food
I know the gossip flies around at breakfast
One of them reins is in your hand
Where do you get the fuck off thinking I was there at the party
‘Cause all my friends feed me the evil reasons
Why you and I should not be friends?
Let’s think this whole thing through
Tell me, just what the hell is a lover supposed to do?
I got the wrong reaction, a slap in the face from you
This is such a stupid picture
Wrap me in a steak
Why don’t you throw me in the panther cage
And maybe then I’ll like you better
(No way!)
I don’t need a support system
Lifting me into prop position
What they make is a separation of beauty from attitude
What satisfaction is left when all you do
Tells everyone you’re acting untrue?
This is such a stupid picture
Light a cigarette
Why don’t you stub it in the carborateur
And maybe then you’ll sell me something
(No way!)
I don’t need a support system
Put your hand on my heart and listen
What I need is a dedication to last me all the way through
Pointing the finger, I’m counting on loving you
Over and above the passion
I’m connected to you
X-Ray Man
(What I sense…)
As far as I know, baby, you can see
As far as I go, funky baby, digging deep inside of me
(Uh uh uh uh uh, uh uh uh uh uh…)
As far as I know, sister, I’m alright
As far as I know, funky lady, I’m coming home tonight
(You can see through the smoke…)
You’re an x-ray man
You got x-ray eyes
This is no reflection on you, it’s just what I see inside of me
(Why don’t you put on your two-way sombrero and leave?)
(Uh uh uh uh uh, uh uh uh uh uh…)
You’re an x-ray man
And you got white-wall tires
Iodine tan
Cheap, unpleasant desires
You’re an x-ray man
You’ve got an X-rated mind
You’re not satisfied looking at me
You’re always checking out the girl behind
You’re an x-ray man
You’ve got secret plans for me
Shane
I know that it was the night the war broke out
Because you and I were driving around
And you were doing a story
About if people understood what had happened to their world
Tonight in bed sleeping
The world tonight in bed asleep
You said that you were in touch with the draft resistors
In case the big boys called you up
You’re gonna have to let ’em dick you around
But don’t let ’em make you do what you can’t live with
Tonight in bed with me sleeping
You looked like you were just a little kid
“Shane,” I said, “You’ve gotta watch your ass.”
You’ve gotta have fear in your heart (x 8)
Fear in your heart.
Nashville
They don’t know what they like so much about it
They just go for any shiny old bauble, and nobody sparkles like you
But I can’t imagine it in better terms
Then naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work
And I’m starting to think it could happen to me like it did to you
And I’m starting to actually feel it seep through the slick divide now
I don’t crack the door too far for anyone who’s pushing too hard on me
They don’t know what they like so much about it
Maybe it goes on the other side of the hallway
The writing’s so small from here
But I can’t imagine it in better terms
Then naked, half-awake, about to shave and go to work
I won’t decorate my love
Go West
Safe on the interstate
New York is three thousand miles away
And I’m not looking forward to following through
But it’s better than always running back into you
I’ve closed my eyes and my bank account
And gone west, young man
Take off the parking brake
Go coasting into a different state
And I’m not looking forward to missing you
But I must have something better to do
I’ve got to tear my life apart
And go west, young man
And it feels like I’ve got something to prove
But in some ways, it’s just something to do
My friends turn me around and say,
“You go west, young man.”
Stepping down off my platform shoes
Sixty-nine in the afternoon
And I’m waiting for someone in the know
Like Pirner tells me on the radio
Says, “Take it from someone who’s been there before,
You go west, young man.”
And I’m looking for somebody to do my thinking for me
Till I come through
The state-line highway sign says,
“You have gone west, young man.”
And it feels like I’ve got something to prove
But in some ways, it’s just something to do
The state-line highway sign says,
“You have gone west, young man.”
Cinco De Mayo
Cinco de mayo, blowout, denial
It wasn’t fun this time, letting you go
What if I never, a bullet forever,
Held out my hand to you?
We wouldn’t have known beautiful flow
Absolute measure, I ain’t no pleasure hound
Bus out of control, plowing the road
Out on a bender
Just Alice falling down a deepening hole
I’d never been to Rome until you smiled
You’re about as old and piled
Used to pray for snow
Now I just wonder
What spell I was under
Thinking you thought of me as something to hold
I’d never been to Rome until you smiled
You’re about as old and piled
Cinco de mayo, burn-out Ohio
It wasn’t me this time letting you go
Dogs Of L.A
The canyon air is like a breath of fresh L.A.
I was a Star Trek crew member, with my Beatle boots and my Super-8
And I raced you to the top, the camera gets a stuttered shot
Of me approaching a painted shrine
I kissed the Buddha and made him cry
I kissed the Buddha and made him cry
Georgie, I’m your friend
And the shit-brown reservoir is a testament to the dogs of L.A.
They hold the place like the mafia, and say, “Run me around again.”
The sawed-off tree trunks stand among the living palms
You were beaming as I focused in, and I panned along
And I raced you to the top, kicking snakes up from dusty rocks
Young Abe Vigoda plays Frankenstein
I kissed the Buddha and made him cry
I kissed the Buddha and made him cry
Georgie, I’m your friend
And the shit-brown reservoir is a testament to the dogs of L.A.
They hold the place like the mafia, and say, “Run me around again,
I wanna go again.”
The shit-brown reservoir is a testament to the dogs of L.A.
They hold the place like the mafia, and say, “Run me around again.”
Whip-Smart
I’m gonna tell my son to grow up pretty as the grass is green
And whip-smart as the English Channel’s wide
And I’m gonna tell my son to keep his money in his mattress
And his watch on any hand between his thighs
And I’m gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till I write my whole life story on the back of his big brown eyes
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
I’m gonna tell my son to join a circus so that death is cheap
And games are just another way of life
And I’m gonna tell my son to be a prophet of mistakes
Because for every truth there are half a million lies
And I’m gonna lock my son up in a tower
Till he learns to let his hair down far enough to climb outside
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing
When they do the double dutch, that’s them dancing…
Jealousy
He’s got a million-dollar car
He’s got a thirty-seven-year-old guitar
He’s got a family who deals heroin
You’re on the edge of your chair
And you feel it
He’s looking at you, he’s laughing at you
It’s happening
I can’t, I can’t believe it
But it’s here on the pages I’m reading
It’s all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy
Jealousy
I know it’s just a drawer of photographs
They’re ex-girlfriends, I try to remember that
I don’t wanna look, but I’m already hooked on jealousy
Jealousy
I can’t believe you had a life before me
I can’t believe they let you run around free
Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea
What a good idea
Standing on the corner watching the ladies pass by
Imagining me behind your eyes
And then what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy
I saw jealousy
I can’t, I can’t believe it
But it’s here in this place and I see it
It’s all I can do to conceal my feelings of jealousy
Jealousy
Standing on the mudflats watching the salmon fly
Wonder if I’ll ever bury the hatchet inside
Imagining me behind your eyes
And then what did I see?
I saw hips, I saw thighs
I saw secret positions that we never try
I saw jealousy
I saw jealousy
I can’t believe you had a life before me
I can’t believe they let you run around free
Just putting your body wherever it seemed like a good idea
What a good idea
Crater Lake
Once you’ve left a lonely rage on its own, it grows
And dynamite stuffed in a mailbox doesn’t smoke until it blows
And, oh, all the tears in four tiny years
Well, look at me, I’m frightening my friends
You better roll me…
I bought a map of the moon
There was a crater with my name on it and a really good view
And there I was, getting drunk in your room
Because I wanted to throw my weight around
And, oh, all the tears in four tiny years
Well, look at me, I’m frightening my friends
You better roll me home
You better roll me home
You better roll me home
Alice Springs
See the sun rise so loud
This whole town gets drowned out
Skywriting with the sweep of a flashlight
I’m driving over that way
Some pot of gold, it’s just a carpeting store on opening day
See the moon rise so slow and shallow
It burns halos in my eyes
It’s harder to swallow
It’s harder to breathe
So many opals, nobody here knows what to believe
They’ve got me underground
May Queen
Don’t be fooled by him, he’s fine
Rock-and-roll Ken doll, he’s a national end-all
He’s an off and on friend of mine
Where have I been?
Got any what?
Who have I seen?
I spy a May queen
You were miles above me
Girls in your arms
The changing of her majesty’s guard is truly amazing
Got any what?
Disease, hashish, a mind?
Do I have any what?
Where have I been?
Got any what?
Who have I seen?
I spy a May queen
You were miles above me
Girls in your arms
You could’ve planted a farm, all of them hayseeds…