They could pave a road To my past in gold Make me ten years old But I’m never going back They could pave the way To my better days Make it all OK But I’m never going back They could change the world But I’m never going back

She told me schools are closing once again and she is back upon the dole And every time she pays another debt it’s like they’re deeper down a hole She said, “I blame myself,” I said, “I do believe that is an unfair goal” I said, “you got enough external forces commandeered to play that role” And there’s some days she wants to cut and run It’s been a hard, hard time on everyone The company had paid him just enough to buy some bread down at their store And when he showed up home with just a loaf, he found his children needing more He looked down at the crumbs of better days, a rim of dust upon the floor At every turn in life, he and his better half just knew they’d end up poor He said, “I’m not exactly havin’ fun” It’s been a hard, hard time on everyone We all lift our heavy eyes up at the sun And when my every rhyme is said and done It’s been a hard, hard time on everyone

I sang a tune of misery Though it was happy too When I thought I had all the answers I didn’t have a clue I am a weak and selfish man Though I’m a good man too Boy o boy, it’s so complicated Trying to make it through And I ask myself again “Do I have the stuff? Am I strong enough to finally do What I need to do?” The sky is grey, and full of clouds But there’s a rainbow too Boy o boy, it’s so overrated Living in a shoe And I ask myself again “Do I have the stuff? Am I strong enough to finally do What I’m meant to do?” I tell myself to close my eyes And I try to count to ten I get to four or five And I ask myself again “Do I have the stuff? Am I strong enough to finally do Everything for you?” I was gonna be a better man than this Dreams of a better man Does anybody understand Dreams of a better man?

At dawn I got used to the darkness At dusk I got trained to the light A patron I savoured the substance An addict I suffered its blight The duck in a river of whiskey The crow in a dungeon of corn A rounder I followed the bottle A wastrel I tasted the thorn I found the invisible village And read all the books on its shelves It tore off my mask of belonging And threw me in jail with themselves Don’t get in the way of a bullet Don’t make a request to be maimed Don’t try to bring justice to Mayhem A town that will never be claimed His hymn shed its scales like a lizard The pastor his skin like a snake Both wailin’ on Judgement Day comin’ Each calling the other a fake I’d jump but they’d notice my feathers I’d drown but they’d notice my gills Ejector seat tested for safety I’m palmin’ my cyanide pills “They’s gatherin’ down at the graveyard” The old woman crowed to the stray “This service ain’t fer the departed” Was all he could summon to say I learnt in my first life a lesson In fact, you can only have one The truth lies a detail in Mayhem Upon a pale face in the sun

She’s married to a trickster who was once a whiskey jay They fell in love, two minstrels on the road to Barrel Bay She tries to make excuses for a love that fell away But all they ever do is find another vow to say She says a solemn promise gets within ya Until her love becomes a sea anemone In Mayhem, West Virginia He looks up to the sun behind a slate of pewter grey A slowly drowning fisherman who cannot catch a ray He tries to make excuses for a life he pissed away But all he cannot do is find a bed of shells to lay He thinks out loud, “there’s no one there to mourn ya” When you are just a pirate of misfortune In Mayhem, California I offer affirmation for one third the going rate I’m sellin’ compensation for a dollar 38 I’m full of bad excuses for the trust I piss away But all I ever do is find a way to never pay I’m a policy who hits his sales quota By sellin’ reassurance to the residents Of Mayhem, South Dakota No barn to house a livery, no horses for the dray I gave up all that misery for the glasses on this tray I try to make excuses for the days I piss away But all I ever do is have a drink and it’s OK It’s no calling but it’s mine, this dipsomania My best friend and my downfall, in these tumblin’ hills Of Mayhem, Pennsylvania I hang beneath the Spanish moss, where cattails swing and sway My board and duct tape palace in a state of disarray I try to make excuses for the homes I pissed away But all I ever do is find another place to stay Like some 2020 cartoon scoundrel hippie I’ll see you on a dirt road somewhere, lost Outside Mayhem, Mississippi Who knew I’d be a catatonic statue on display Who knew that I’d find paradise inside a bale of hay I try to find excuses in the time that slips away But all I ever do is furnish models of decay Well, maybe I could wake up from this coma If God would open heaven and shine light down On Mayhem, Oklahoma The wind and I agreed, we both adore the month of May But I led it to the open fields and now it’s gone astray I try to make excuses for a true love pissed away But all I ever do is find a lover to betray A lonely and pathetic Casanova Who sees his chance for happiness dissolving In Mayhem, Nova Scotia I’m a knight in shining armour with no dragons left to slay Or maybe just a guy who lives to fight another day I try to make excuses for a story pissed away But all I ever do is find a phony to portray I’m still runnin’ from the birthplace of my shadow My name is Jerry Morse, I’m a citizen Of Mayhem, Colorado

London or Shanghai Where can I hang my coat up tonight? Let’s have a pill and I’ll feel alright Feeling quite sleepy I’m dancing away And I’ll never say That it’s you who is guilty Nor it’s me who is free Mustard or mayo, please Mustard or mayo Where can ya stay overnight these days? Trying to crawl our way through this haze Blinded by glitter And buried in shit I’ll never admit That it’s me who is guilty And it’s you who is free Mustard or mayo, please Mustard or mayo, please

It wasn’t a wedding vow Sworn allegiance to a queen No oath to the here and now Assurance unforeseen It was just a promise To a doubting Thomas He beat me at solitaire Like a jack pine in the wind And leaning to water there His branch line ever grinned It was just a promise From a drowning Thomas I couldn’t just give my word Some commitment to the drowned A broken pledge never heard Though it meant we were bound It was just a promise To a grinning Thomas

You stole away from Memphis in the night And in the shed you saw a tender light But when you run away for your next fix Don’t forget your silver candlesticks You may need them later when you got no dime to spend It’s a wicked, dusty road that lay ahead You can be as dusty as you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed You travelled on the rails from town to town From mountaintops to coalmines underground Puritans and pioneers abound Murderers and mystics all around Speaking tongues from dusty lungs no soul could comprehend Poisoned with a belly full of lead You can be as poisoned as you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed You said that you were trying to get clean And this was your attempt number thirteen You’re covered with the dust of hopeless dreams I can see you’ve been to all extremes Your talent for survival, now, I really must commend As I stare into your doll’s eyes of the dead But you can be as dirty as you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed You said you could not stand it in LA You missed the garbage in the alleyway Your brother, he’s still living in a barn But you say there’s no reason for alarm He’s crazy but you say, upon his eggs you do depend After all the chickens have been fed Your brother can be as crazy as he wants, my friend In Bobby’s shed You thought that you could save them with our Lord You thought that you could save them with a sword Your faith was as solid as a rock When you heard the military preacher talk But now you see their victory has brought us war again After you have fought and you have bled You can store your stone dust if you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed You’re stuck inside the promises of youth You’re angry that nobody told the truth Well you don’t have to fight against the rust You don’t have to brush off all the dust Your body’s a disaster but your mind is on the mend After all the truth has been said You can be as dusty as you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed This shed, it ain’t big, in fact it’s small But in it there is room for us all There’s rust upon its circular saw There’s dust inside the paint upon the wall It ain’t much, but it will get you through the nights you spend There will be a blanket on your bed You can be as dusty as you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed You used to think the past was done and gone But now you know your thinking was all wrong The dust upon the graves upon this land Can tell us more than any living man Now you know this timeless yarn will never find its end Even when our blood’s no longer red This world can be as dusty as you want, my friend In Bobby’s shed

A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice Take it slow, we’ve been through a lot Now we know, we’re all we’ve got I am finally feeling good I am finally feeling free Just the way that you said we would When we got to the key lime sea We are finally feeling good We are right where we want to be Worshippers of the blue and green Newly wed by the key lime sea A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice A bowl of beans and a bowl of rice Take it slow, we’ve been through a lot Now we know, we’re all we’ve got

Falling, knowing I have nothing more to give Crawling, groping At the bottom of a sieve I’m a castaway But I like it where I live Falling, knowing I may land upon a gift Calling, hoping Someone I love will forgive I’m a castaway But I like it where I live Like a hermit by the highway Like a troll beneath a bridge I’m a castaway But I like it where I live I’m a castaway But I like it where I live