Disc 1 | ||||||
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1. |
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They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin I'm guided by a signal in the heavens I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin I'd really like to live beside you, baby I love your body and your spirit and your clothes But you see that line there moving through the station? I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin I don't like your fashion business mister And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin I don't like what happened to my sister First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin I'd really like to live beside you, baby ... And I thank you for those items that you sent me The monkey and the plywood violin I practiced every night, now I'm ready First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin I am guided Ah remember me, I used to live for music Remember me, I brought your groceries in Well it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin |
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2. |
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I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but now it's come to distances and both of us must try, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time, walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me, it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea, but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new, in city and in forest they smiled like me and you, but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye. |
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3. |
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I stumbled out of bed I got ready for the struggle I smoked a cigarette and I tightened up my gut I said this can't be me, must be my double And I can't forget, I can't forget, I can't forget But I don't remember what I'm burning up the road I'm heading down to Phoenix I got this old address of someone that I knew It was high and fine and free Ah you should have seen us And I can't forget, I can't forget, I can't forget But I don't remember who I'll be there today with a big bouquet of cactus I got this rig that runs on memory And I promise, cross my heart, they'll never catch us But it they do just tell them it was me I loved you all my life, and that's how I want to end it The summer's almost gone The winter's tuning up Yeah, the summer s gone but a lot goes on forever And I can't forget, I can't forget, I can't forget But I don't remember what |
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4. |
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Stories of the Street
The stories of the street are mine,the Spanish voices laugh. The Cadillacs go creeping now through the night and the poison gas, and I lean from my window sill in this old hotel I chose, yes one hand on my suicide, one hand on the rose. I know you've heard it's over now and war must surely come, the cities they are broke in half and the middle men are gone. But let me ask you one more time, O children of the dusk, All these hunters who are shrieking now oh do they speak for us? And where do all these highways go, now that we are free? Why are the armies marching still that were coming home to me? O lady with your legs so fine O stranger at your wheel, You are locked into your suffering and your pleasures are the seal. The age of lust is giving birth, and both the parents ask the nurse to tell them fairy tales on both sides of the glass. And now the infant with his cord is hauled in like a kite, and one eye filled with blueprints, one eye filled with night. O come with me my little one, we will find that farm and grow us grass and apples there and keep all the animals warm. And if by chance I wake at night and I ask you who I am, O take me to the slaughterhouse, I will wait there with the lamb. With one hand on the hexagram and one hand on the girl I balance on a wishing well that all men call the world. We are so small between the stars, so large against the sky, and lost among the subway crowds I try to catch your eye. |
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5. |
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Bird on the Wire
Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. Like a worm on a hook, like a knight from some old fashioned book I have saved all my ribbons for thee. If I, if I have been unkind, I hope that you can just let it go by. If I, if I have been untrue I hope you know it was never to you. Like a baby, stillborn, like a beast with his horn I have torn everyone who reached out for me. But I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong I will make it all up to thee. I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch, he said to me, "You must not ask for so much." And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?" Oh like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. |
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6. |
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7. |
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So Long Marianne
Come over to the window, my little darling, I'd like to try to read your palm. I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy before I let you take me home. Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again. Well you know that I love to live with you, but you make me forget so very much. I forget to pray for the angels and then the angels forget to pray for us. Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... We met when we were almost young deep in the green lilac park. You held on to me like I was a crucifix, as we went kneeling through the dark. Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... Your letters they all say that you're beside me now. Then why do I feel alone? I'm standing on a ledge and your fine spider web is fastening my ankle to a stone. Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... For now I need your hidden love. I'm cold as a new razor blade. You left when I told you I was curious, I never said that I was brave. Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... Oh, you are really such a pretty one. I see you've gone and changed your name again. And just when I climbed this whole mountainside, to wash my eyelids in the rain! Oh so long, Marianne, it's time that we began ... |
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8. |
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9. |
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I was born in a beauty salon
My father was a dresser of hair My mother was a girl you could call on When you called she was always there When you called she was always there When you called she was always there When you called she was always there When you called she was always there Ah but don't go home with your hard-on It will only drive you insane You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain I've looked behind all of the faces That smile you down to you knees And the lips that say, Come on, taste us And when you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please When you try to they make you say Please Ah but don't go home with your hard-on ... Here come's your bride with her veil on Approach her, you wretch, if you dare Approach her, you ape with your tail on Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Once you have her she'll always be there Ah but don't go home with your hard-on ... So I work in that same beauty salon I'm chained to the old masquerade The lipstick, the shadow, the silicone I follow my father's trade I follow my father's trade Yes I follow my father's trade Yes I follow my father's trade Yes I follow my father's trade Ah but don't go home with your hard-on It will only drive you insane You can't shake it (or break it) with your Motown You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain You can't melt it down in the rain |
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10. |
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Who By Fire
And who by fire, who by water, who in the sunshine, who in the night time, who by high ordeal, who by common trial, who in your merry merry month of may, who by very slow decay, and who shall I say is calling? And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate, who in these realms of love, who by something blunt, and who by avalanche, who by powder, who for his greed, who for his hunger, and who shall I say is calling? And who by brave assent, who by accident, who in solitude, who in this mirror, who by his lady's command, who by his own hand, who in mortal chains, who in power, and who shall I say is calling? |
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11. |
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12. |
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Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play And I'm crazy for love but I'm not comin' on I'm just payin' my rent every day in the Tower of Song I said to Hank Williams: "How lonely does it get?" Hank Williams hasn't answered yet But I hear him coughing all night long Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song I was born like this, I had no choice I was born with the gift of a golden voice And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond They tied me to this table right here in the Tower of Song So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll I'm very sorry, baby, it doesn't look like me at all I'm standin' by the window where the light is strong Ah, they don't let a woman kill you, not in the Tower of Song Now, you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure: The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor And there's a mighty Judgement comin' but I may be wrong You see, I hear these funny voices in the Tower of Song I see you standin' on the other side I don't know how the river got so wide I loved you, baby, way back when... And all the bridges are burnin' that we might've crossed But I feel so close to everything that we lost We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again Now, I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back They're movin' us tomorrow to the tower down the track But you'll be hearin' from me, baby, long after I'm gone I'll be speakin' to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song. Yeah, my friends are gone and my hair is grey I ache in the places where I used to play And I'm crazy for love but I'm not comin' on I'm just payin' my rent everyday in the Tower of Song |
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13. |
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Take This Longing
Many men have loved the bells you fastened to the rein, and everyone who wanted you they found what they will always want again. Your beauty lost to you yourself just as it was lost to them. Oh take this longing from my tongue, whatever useless things these hands have done. Let me see your beauty broken down like you would do for one you love. Your body like a searchlight my poverty revealed, I would like to try your charity until you cry, "Now you must try my greed." And everything depends upon how near you sleep to me Just take this longing from my tongue all the lonely things my hands have done. Let me see your beauty broken down like you would do for one your love. Hungry as an archway through which the troops have passed, I stand in ruins behind you, with your winter clothes, your broken sandal straps. I love to see you naked over there especially from the back. Oh take this longing from my tongue, all the useless things my hands have done, untie for me your hired blue gown, like you would do for one that you love. You're faithful to the better man, I'm afraid that he left. So let me judge your love affair in this very room where I have sentenced mine to death. I'll even wear these old laurel leaves that he's shaken from his head. Just take this longing from my tongue, all the useless things my hands have done, let me see your beauty broken down, like you would do for one you love. Like you would do for one you love. |
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14. |
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15. |
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If you want a lover
I'll do anything you ask me to And if you want another kind of love I'll wear a mask for you If you want a partner Take my hand or if you want to strike me down in anger Here I stand I'm your man If you want a boxer I will step into the ring for you And if you want a doctor I'll examine every inch of you If you want a driver Climb inside Or if you want to take me for a ride You know you can I'm your man Ah the moon's too bright The chain's too tight The beast won't go to sleep I've been running through these promises to you That I made and I could not keep Ah but a man never got a woman back Not by begging on his knees Or I'd crawl to you baby And I'd fall at your feet And I'd howl at your beauty Like a dog in heat And I'd claw at your heart And I'd tear at your sheet I'd say please please I'm your man And if you've got to sleep a moment on the road I will steer for you And if you want to work the street alone I'll disappear for you If you want a father for your child Or only want to walk with me a while Across the sand I'm your man If you want a lover I'll do anything that you ask me to And if you want another kind of love |
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16. |
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A Singer Must Die
Now the courtroom is quiet, but who will confess. Is it true you betrayed us? The answer is Yes. Then read me the list of the crimes that are mine, I will ask for the mercy that you love to decline. And all the ladies go moist, and the judge has no choice, a singer must die for the lie in his voice. And I thank you, I thank you for doing your duty, you keepers of truth, you guardians of beauty. Your vision is right, my vision is wrong, I'm sorry for smudging the air with my song. Oh, the night it is thick, my defences are hid in the clothes of a woman I would like to forgive, in the rings of her silk, in the hinge of her thighs, where I have to go begging in beauty's disguise. Oh goodnight, goodnight, my night after night, my night after night, after night, after night, after night, after night. I am so afraid that I listen to you, your sun glassed protectors they do that to you. It's their ways to detain, their ways to disgrace, their knee in your balls and their fist in your face. Yes and long live the state by whoever it's made, sir, I didn't see nothing, I was just getting home late. |
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17. |
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Well, my friends are gone and my hair is grey
I ache in the places where I used to play And I'm crazy for love but I'm not comin' on I'm just payin' my rent every day in the Tower of Song I said to Hank Williams: "How lonely does it get?" Hank Williams hasn't answered yet But I hear him coughing all night long Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song I was born like this, I had no choice I was born with the gift of a golden voice And twenty-seven angels from the Great Beyond They tied me to this table right here in the Tower of Song So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll I'm very sorry, baby, it doesn't look like me at all I'm standin' by the window where the light is strong Ah, they don't let a woman kill you, not in the Tower of Song Now, you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure: The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor And there's a mighty Judgement comin' but I may be wrong You see, I hear these funny voices in the Tower of Song I see you standin' on the other side I don't know how the river got so wide I loved you, baby, way back when... And all the bridges are burnin' that we might've crossed But I feel so close to everything that we lost We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again Now, I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back They're movin' us tomorrow to the tower down the track But you'll be hearin' from me, baby, long after I'm gone I'll be speakin' to you sweetly from a window in the Tower of Song. Yeah, my friends are gone and my hair is grey I ache in the places where I used to play And I'm crazy for love but I'm not comin' on I'm just payin' my rent everyday in the Tower of Song |
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18. |
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Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this The fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her She tied you To a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light In every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you And even though It all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah |