On & On

in times like these
in times like those
what will be will be
and so it goes
and it always goes on and on…
and on and on it goes

and there’s always been laughing, crying, birth, and dying
boys and girls with hearts that take and give and break
and heal and grow and recreate and raise and nurture
but then hurt from time to times like these
and times like those
what will be will be
and so it goes

and there will always be stop and go and fast and slow
action, reaction, sticks and stones and broken bones
those for peace and those for war
and god bless these ones not those ones
but these ones made times like these
and times like those
what will be will be
and so it goes
and it always goes on and on…
and on and on it goes

but somehow i know it won’t be the same
somehow i know it’ll never be the same

the horizon has been defeated
by the pirates of the new age
alien casinos
well maybe it’s just time to say
things can go bad
and make you want to run away
but as we grow older
the troubles just seems to stay

future complications
in the strings between the cans
but no prints can come from fingers
if machines become our hands
and then our feet become the wheels
and then the wheels become the cars
and then the rigs begin to drill
until the drilling goes too far

things can go bad
and make you want to run away
but as we grow older
the horizon begins to fade …
fade away

thingamajigsaw puzzled
anger don’t you step too close
because people are lonely and only
animals with fancy shoes
hallelujah zig zag nothing
misery it’s on the loose
because people are lonely and only
animals with too many tools
that can build all the junk that we sell
sometimes it makes you want to yell

things can go bad
and make you want to run away
but as we grow older
the horizon begins to fade away …
fade, fade, fade …

there’s traffic in the sky
and it doesn’t seem to be getting much better
there’s kids playing games on the pavement
drawing waves on the pavement
shadows of the planes on the pavement
it’s enough to make me cry
but that don’t seem like it would make it feel better
maybe it’s a dream and if i scream
it will burst at the seams
this whole place will fall into pieces
and then they’d say…

well how could we have known?
i’ll tell them it’s not so hard to tell
if you keep adding stones
soon the water will be lost in the well

puzzle pieces in the ground
but no one ever seems to be digging
instead they’re looking up towards the heavens
with their eyes on the heavens
there are shadows on the way to the heavens
it’s enough to make me cry
but that don’t seem like it would make it feel better
the answers could be found
we could learn from digging down
but no one ever seems to be digging
instead they’ll say… (chorus)

words of wisdom all around
but no one ever seems to listen
they’re talking about their plans on the paper
building up from the pavement
there are shadows from the scrapers on the pavement
it’s enough to make me sigh
but that don’t seem like it would make it feel better
the words are all around
but the words are only sounds
and no one ever seems to listen
instead they’ll say… (chorus)

they say taylor was a good girl, never one to be late
complain, express ideas in her brain
working on the night shift, passing out the tickets,
you’re gonna have to pay her if you want to park here
well mommy’s little dancer has quite a little secret
working on the streets now, never gonna keep it
it’s quite an imposition and now she’s only wishing
that she would have listened to the words they said
poor taylor

she just wanders around, unaffected by
the winter winds and she’ll pretend that
she’s somewhere else, so far and clear
about two thousand miles from here

peter patrick pitter patters on the window
but sunny silhouette won’t let him in
poor old pete’s got nothing because he’s been falling
somehow sunny knows just where he’s been
he thinks that singing on sunday is gonna save his soul
now that saturday is gone
sometimes he thinks that he’s on his way
but i can see that his break lights are on

he just wanders around, unaffected by
the winter winds and he’ll pretend that
he’s somewhere else, so far and clear
about two thousand miles from here

such a tough enchilada filled up with nada
giving what she gotta give to get a dollar bill
used to be a limber chicken, times a been a ticking
now’s she’s finger licking to the man
with the money in his pocket flying in his rocket
only stopping by on his way to a better world

if taylor finds a better world
then taylor’s gonna run away

look at all those fancy clothes
but these could keep us warm just like those
and what about your soul is it cold
is it straight from the mold and ready to be sold
and cars and phones and diamond rings
those are only removable things
and what about your mind does it shine
or are there things that concern you more than your time

gone going gone everything gone give a damn
gone be the birds when they don’t want to sing
gone people all awkward with their things, gone

look at you out to make a deal
you try to be appealing but you loose your appeal
what about those shoes you’re in today
they’ll do no good on the bridges you’ve burnt along the way

you willing to sell anything, gone with your herd
leave your footprints and we’ll shame them with our words
gone people all careless and consumed, gone

gone going gone everything gone give a damn
gone be the birds if they don’t want to sing
gone people all awkward with their things, gone

how many times must we go through this  
you’ve always been mine, woman i thought you knew this
how many times must we go through this
you’ll always be mine, cupid only misses sometimes

but we could end up broken hearted
if we don’t remember why all this started
and if they try to tell you love fades with time
tell them there’s no such thing as time
it’s our time …

i’m just a waste of her energy
and she’s just wasting my time
so why don’t we get together
and we could waste everything tonight
and we could waste
and we could waste it all tonight

i don’t pretend to know what you know
now please don’t pretend to know what’s on my mind
if we already knew everything that everybody knows
we would have nothing to learn tonight
and we would have nothing to show tonight
but everybody thinks that everybody knows
about everybody else but nobody knows
anything about themselves,
because they’re all worried about everybody else

love is just a waste of our energy
and life is just a waste of our time
so why don’t we get together
and we could waste everything tonight
and we could waste
and we could waste it all …

but everybody thinks that everybody knows
about everybody else but nobody knows
anything about themselves
because they’re all worried about everybody else

the air was more than human
the heat was more than hungry
the cars were square and spitting diesel fumes
the bulls were running wild
because their big and mean and sacred
the children were playing cricket with no shoes
the next morning we woke up
with a seven hour drive
there we were in stuck in port blaire
where boats break and children stare

there were so many fewer questions
when stars were still just the holes to heaven
and there were so many fewer questions
when stars were still just the holes to heaven

disembarking from the port
with no mistakes of any sort
moving south the engine running smooth
officials were quite friendly
once we drowned them with our sweet talk
and bribed them with our cigarettes and booze

the next morning we woke up
with the sunrise to the right
moving back north to port blair
where boats break and children stare

there were so many fewer questions
when stars were still just the holes to heaven
yes, and there were so many fewer questions
when stars were still just the holes to heaven

she’s just waiting for the summertime
when the weather’s fine
and she could hitch a ride out of town
and so far away
from that low down, good for nothing
mistake making fool with excuses like
“baby that was a long time ago”
but that’s just a euphemism
if you want the truth he was out of control
but a short time is a long time
when your mind just won’t let it go

well summer came along and then it was gone
and so was she but not from him
because he followed her just to let her know
her dreams are dreams
all this living is so much harder that it seems
but girl don’t let your dreams be dreams
you know this living is not so hard as it seems
don’t let your dreams be dreams …

two thousand miles but that’s all right
i’ll see you in the morning if that’s all right

what would you do if i wrote you a song
would you give me some loving when i get home
or would you be mad at me if i had a hard time
getting a hold of you, i try all the time

i’ll bet that you don’t know anybody that could be so bad
but if you did you’d be wondering where i’m at
i’ll be home when tomorrow morning comes

what would you do if i sang you this song
the connection is bad but that’s only the phone
when my words kiss your ear, i’ll be right there
the message is long because baby this is your song

i’ll bet that you don’t know anybody that could be so bad
but if you did you’d be wondering where i’m at
i’ll be home when tomorrow morning comes

and by the way
you know that hope will make you strange
make you blink make you blank make you sink
it will make you afraid of change
and often blame
the box with the view of the world
and the ones that fill the frame
i turn it up but then i turn it off
because i can’t stand when they start to talk
about the hurting and killing
whose shoes are we filling
the damage and ruin
man the things that we’re doing
we gotta stop, we gotta turn it all off
we gotta rewind and start it up again

because we fell across the fall line
ain’t there nothing sacred any more

somebody saw him jump
but nobody saw him slip
i guess he lost a lot of hope
and then he lost his grip
now he’s lying in the freeway
in the middle of this mess
guess we lost another one
just like the other one
optimistic hypocrite
that didn’t have the nerve to quit
the things that kept him wanting more
until he finally reached the core

he fell across the fall line
ain’t there nothing sacred any more

i would turn on the tv, but it’s so embarrassing
to see all the other people, i don’t know what they mean
it was magic at first, when they spoke without sound
but now this world is gonna hurt, you better turn that thing down
turn it around

“it wasn’t me,” says the boy with the gun
“sure i pulled the trigger, but it needed to be done
because life’s been killing me ever since it begun
you can’t blame me because i’m too young”

“you can’t blame me, sure the killer was my son
but i didn’t teach him to pull the trigger of the gun
it’s the killing on his tv screen
you can’t blame me, it’s those images he seen”

“you can’t blame me,” says the media man
“i wasn’t the one who came up with the plan
i just point my camera at what the people want to see
it’s a two way mirror and you can’t blame me”

“you can’t blame me,” says the singer of the song
or the maker of the movie which he based his life on
“it’s only entertainment, as anyone can see
it’s smoke machines and makeup, you can’t fool me”

it was you, it was me, it was every man
we’ve all got the blood on our hands
we only receive what we demand
and if we want hell then hell’s what we’ll have

i would turn on the tv, but it’s so embarrassing
to see all the other people, don’t know what they mean
it was magic at first, but let everyone down
and now this world is gonna hurt, you better turn it around
turn it around

sweeping the floors, open up the doors
turn on the lights, getting ready for tonight
nobody’s romancing because it’s too early for dancing
but here comes the music

bright lights flashing to cover up your lack of soul
many people, so many problems, so many reasons
to buy another round, drink it down
just another night on the town
with the big man, money man, better than the other man
he got the plan with the million dollar give a damn
when nobody understands he’ll become a smaller man
the bright lights keep flashing, the women keep on dancing
with the clowns, they pick me up when i’m down
the rodeo clowns, they pick me up when i’m down

the disco ball spinning, all the music and the women
the shots of tequila, they’ll say that they need ya,
but what they really need is just a little room to breath
teeny bopping disco queen, she barely understands
her dreams of bellybutton rings and other kinds of things
symbolic of change but the thing that is strange
is that the changes occurred, now she’s just a part of the herd
i thought that you heard, the changes occurred
just a part of the herd

lights out, shut down, late night, wet ground
you walk by look at him, but he can’t look at you
you might feel pity but he only feels the ground
you understand moods but he only knows let down
by the corner there’s another one
reaching out a hand, coming from a broken man
you try to live but he’s done trying
not dead, but definitely dying
with the rest of the clowns

sweeping the floors, open up the doors
turn on the lights, getting ready for tonight
nobody’s romancing because it’s too early for dancing
but here comes the music

based on your smile
i’m betting all of this might be over soon
but you’re bound to win
because if i’m betting against you, i think i’d rather lose

but this is all that i have, so please
take what’s left of this heart, and use
please use only what you really need
you know i only have so little, so please
mend your broken heart and leave

i know it’s not your style
and i can tell by the way that you move it’s real real soon
but i’m on your side
and i don’t want to be your regret, i’d rather be your cocoon

but this is all that you have, so please
let me take what’s left of your heart, and i will use
i swear i’ll use only what i need
i know you only have so little, so please
let me mend my broken heart

you said this was all you have
and it’s all i need
but blah blah blah
because it fell apart
i guess it’s all you knew
and all i had
but now we have
only confused hearts
i guess all we have
is really all we need

so please
let’s take these broken hearts, and use
let’s use only what we really need
you know we only have so little, so please
take these broken hearts and leave

well don’t give me no comic book sad looks no more
please don’t use those same excuses you’ve used before
you told yourself so many times it’s ok
so eager to try but you just don’t know how to come back down

and now you’ll beat me up and break me down
hoping i don’t come around
kick me when i’m on the ground
beat me up and break me down
hoping i don’t come around
kick me when i’m on the ground

well how about those people
i know that you know the ones that i mean
not so good, not so bad, only know what they have
and they have only what they’ve seen
them mediocre bad guys can really bring you down
they can’t be defeated
you know that their never gonna come around

they just beat me up and break me down
hoping i don’t come around
kick me when i’m on the ground
beat me up and break me down
hoping i don’t come around
kick me when i’m on the ground…

‘ve got a symbol in my driveway
i’ve got a hundred million dollar friends
i’ve got you a brand new weapon
let’s see how destructive we can be

i’ve got a brand new set of stencils
i’ve been connecting all the dots
got my plans in a zip lock bag
let’s see how unproductive we can be

i’ve got a light bulb full of anger
and i can switch it on and off
in situations it can be so bright
i can’t believe, how pathetic we can be

i’ve got a perfect set of blueprints
i’m gonna build somebody else
might cost a little more than money
but what’s man without his wealth

i’ve got a phosphorescent secret
but don’t you tell nobody else
next thing you know
the whole world will be talking 
about all the clues they got
they just ain’t no use
they got fooled