Tired old man you're a wastin' slowly battling grey and blue, Built your empire as a shell so nobody prays on you, Remember when you were fresh and bitter
My driftin' memory goes back to the spring of '43 When I was just a child in momma's arms My daddy plowed the ground and prayed someday he could leave
Whispers of ancients buried by dust, Echoes of ages in canyons of rust, Is heaven so lonely? I'll know soon enough Cold as the clay, dark as a mine,
Went out last night to take a little round, I met a little Sadie and I blowed her down, Bummed a ride home, got in to bed, 44 smokeless under my head
Oh the lilies were laid on the marble in the field where the ancestors lay, And the forest was dark and primeval but the boughs seemed to cradle as they
Down in the holler there's a thriving town A treasure trove that makes the world go 'round, When the city barons bring their legal papers and guns, Oh
Talk about suffering here below And let's keep a-loving Jesus. Talk about suffering here below And let's keep a-following Jesus. Oh, can't you hear it
Oh, yonder stands the prophet, words are music to our ears, But down among the sinners, only pain and sweat and tears The sermon soothes the simple but
Come listen to my story, I'll tell you no lies, how John Lewis did murder a little Omie Wise, He asked her to meet him at Adams's spring, said he'd bring
He wakes with the glow of adventure and hope The morning smells sweet and replete with opportunity He dressed into another day feeling lucky to be alive
You have always lived like this The ice blue chill The dark gray sky The frozen ground And the helpless feeling of insignificance You have always lived
Blacktop pavement cover me Like a Chemical Reaction or a steam roller Spreading randomly There's a distant buzz, and a low frequency It tickles my ear
Your arrogance! It will surely bring you down Is there a judgement appropriate for you That you spit at others? Look hard in the mirror then in ten years
One day my life will be a chocolate shake and late night T.V. But right now I'm afraid of everything that is goin' down Too many decisions Too much responsibility
The sun comes up with promise and my eyes burn open wide And the sting compounds the torture from the vacant hole inside My conscious recollection of
I've got hope but I can't talk about the future I've got desire but I can't exercise it on my own Time won't solve this predicament Time won't solve this
There's a leaf in the sky and it's floating on by A new season dawns but something is gone There are days in the past and days waiting for me I don't
