| Disc 1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
| 4:06 | 
|
|||
|
I ain't lookin' to compete with you,
Beat or cheat or mistreat you, Simplify you, classify you, Deny, defy or crucify you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you. No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you, Frighten you or tighten you, Drag you down or drain you down, Chain you down or bring you down. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you. I ain't lookin' to block you up Shock or knock or lock you up, Analyze you, categorize you, Finalize you or advertise you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you. I don't want to straight-face you, Race or chase you, track or trace you, Or disgrace you or displace you, Or define you or confine you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you. I don't want to meet your kin, Make you spin or do you in, Or select you or dissect you, Or inspect you or reject you. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you. I don't want to fake you out, Take or shake or forsake you out, I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me, See like me or be like me. All I really want to do Is, baby, be friends with you. |
||||||
| 2. |
| 3:15 |
|
|||
|
I woke in the mornin', wand'rin',
Wasted and worn out. I woke in the mornin', wand'rin', Wasted and worn out. Wishin' my long-lost lover Will walk to me, talk to me, Tell me what it's all about. I was standin' at the side road Listenin' to the billboard knock. Standin' at the side road Listenin' to the billboard knock. Well, my wrist was empty But my nerves were kickin', Tickin' like a clock. If I got anything you need, babe, Let me tell you in front. If I got anything you need, babe, Let me tell you in front. You can come to me sometime, Night time, day time, Any time you want. Sometimes I'm thinkin' I'm Too high to fall. Sometimes I'm thinkin' I'm Too high to fall. Other times I'm thinkin' I'm So low I don't know If I can come up at all. Black crows in the meadow Across a broad highway. Black crows in the meadow Across a broad highway. Though it's funny, honey, I just don't feel much like a Scarecrow today. |
||||||
| 3. |
| 2:26 |
|
|||
|
Gypsy gal, the hands of Harlem
Cannot hold you to its heat Your temperature is too hot for taming Your flaming feet are burning up the street I am homeless, come and take me To reach of your rattling drums Let me know, babe, all about my fortune Down along my restless palms Gypsy gal, you got me swallowed I have fallen far beneath Your pearly eyes, so fast and slashing And your flashing diamond teeth The night is pitch black, come and make my Pale face fit into place, oh, please Let me know, babe, I'm nearly drowning If it's you my lifelines trace I've been wondering all about me Ever since I seen you there On the cliffs of your wildcat charms I'm riding I know I'm 'round you but I don't know where You have slayed me, you have made me I got to laugh half-ways off my heels I got to know, babe, will you surround me So I can know if I am really real? |
||||||
| 4. |
| 7:11 |
|
|||
|
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched With faces hidden while the walls were tightening As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain Dissolved into the bells of the lightning Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales For the disrobed faceless forms of no position Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts All down in taken-for-granted situations Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing. |
||||||
| 5. |
| 4:48 |
|
|||
|
I'm just average, common too
I'm just like him, the same as you I'm everybody's brother and son I ain't different from anyone It ain't no use a-talking to me It's just the same as talking to you. I was shadow-boxing earlier in the day I figured I was ready for Cassius Clay I said "Fee, fie, fo, fum, Cassius Clay, here I come 26, 27, 28, 29, I'm gonna make your face look just like mine Five, four, three, two, one, Cassius Clay you'd better run 99, 100, 101, 102, your ma won't even recognize you 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, gonna knock him clean right out of his spleen." Well, I don't know, but I've been told The streets in heaven are lined with gold I ask you how things could get much worse If the Russians happen to get up there first. Wowee' pretty scary! Now, I'm liberal, but to a degree I want ev'rybody to be free But if you think that I'll let Barry Goldwater Move in next door and marry my daughter You must think I'm crazy! I wouldn't let him do it for all the farms in Cuba. Well, I set my monkey on the log And ordered him to do the Dog He wagged his tail and shook his head And he went and did the Cat instead He's a weird monkey, very funky. I sat with my high-heeled sneakers on Waiting to play tennis in the noonday sun I had my white shorts rolled up past my waist And my wig-hat was falling in my face But they wouldn't let me on the tennis court. I gotta woman, she's so mean She sticks my boots in the washing machine Sticks me with buckshot when I'm nude Puts bubblegum in my food She's funny, wants my money, calls me "honey." Now I gotta friend who spends his life Stabbing my picture with a bowie-knife Dreams of strangling me with a scarf When my name comes up he pretends to barf. I've got a million friends! Now they asked me to read a poem At the sorority sister's home I got knocked down and my head was swimmin' I wound up with the Dean of Women Yippee! I'm a poet, and I know it. Hope I don't blow it. I'm gonna grow my hair down to my feet so strange So I look like a walking mountain range And I'm gonna ride into Omaha on a horse Out to the country club and the golf course. Carry the New York Times, shoot a few holes, blow their minds. Now you're probably wondering by now Just what this song is all about What's probably got you baffled more Is what this thing here is for. It's nothing It's something I learned over in England. |
||||||
| 6. |
| 3:53 |
|
|||
|
Ramona, come closer,
Shut softly your watery eyes. The pangs of your sadness Shall pass as your senses will rise. The flowers of the city Though breathlike, get deathlike at times. And there's no use in tryin' T' deal with the dyin', Though I cannot explain that in lines. Your cracked country lips, I still wish to kiss, As to be under the strength of your skin. Your magnetic movements Still capture the minutes I'm in. But it grieves my heart, love, To see you tryin' to be a part of A world that just don't exist. It's all just a dream, babe, A vacuum, a scheme, babe, That sucks you into feelin' like this. I can see that your head Has been twisted and fed By worthless foam from the mouth. I can tell you are torn Between stayin' and returnin' On back to the South. You've been fooled into thinking That the finishin' end is at hand. Yet there's no one to beat you, No one t' defeat you, 'Cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad. I've heard you say many times That you're better 'n no one And no one is better 'n you. If you really believe that, You know you got Nothing to win and nothing to lose. From fixtures and forces and friends, Your sorrow does stem, That hype you and type you, Making you feel That you must be exactly like them. I'd forever talk to you, But soon my words, They would turn into a meaningless ring. For deep in my heart I know there is no help I can bring. Everything passes, Everything changes, Just do what you think you should do. And someday maybe, Who knows, baby, I'll come and be cryin' to you. |
||||||
| 7. |
| 4:34 |
|
|||
|
I pounded on a farmhouse
Lookin' for a place to stay. I was mighty, mighty tired, I had gone a long, long way. I said, "Hey, hey, in there, Is there anybody home?" I was standin' on the steps Feelin' most alone. Well, out comes a farmer, He must have thought that I was nuts. He immediately looked at me And stuck a gun into my guts. I fell down To my bended knees, Saying, "I dig farmers, Don't shoot me, please!" He cocked his rifle And began to shout, "You're that travelin' salesman That I have heard about." I said, "No! No! No! I'm a doctor and it's true, I'm a clean-cut kid And I been to college, too." Then in comes his daughter Whose name was Rita. She looked like she stepped out of La Dolce Vita. I immediately tried to cool it With her dad, And told him what a Nice, pretty farm he had. He said, "What do doctors Know about farms, pray tell?" I said, "I was born At the bottom of a wishing well." Well, by the dirt 'neath my nails I guess he knew I wouldn't lie. "I guess you're tired," He said, kinda sly. I said, "Yes, ten thousand miles Today I drove." He said, "I got a bed for you Underneath the stove. Just one condition And you go to sleep right now, That you don't touch my daughter And in the morning, milk the cow." I was sleepin' like a rat When I heard something jerkin'. There stood Rita Lookin' just like Tony Perkins. She said, "Would you like to take a shower? I'll show you up to the door." I said, "Oh, no! no! I've been through this before." I knew I had to split But I didn't know how, When she said, "Would you like to take that shower, now?" Well, I couldn't leave Unless the old man chased me out, 'Cause I'd already promised That I'd milk his cows. I had to say something To strike him very weird, So I yelled out, "I like Fidel Castro and his beard." Rita looked offended But she got out of the way, As he came charging down the stairs Sayin', "What's that I heard you say?" I said, "I like Fidel Castro, I think you heard me right," And ducked as he swung At me with all his might. Rita mumbled something 'Bout her mother on the hill, As his fist hit the icebox, He said he's going to kill me If I don't get out the door In two seconds flat, "You unpatriotic, Rotten doctor Commie rat." Well, he threw a Reader's Digest At my head and I did run, I did a somersault As I seen him get his gun And crashed through the window At a hundred miles an hour, And landed fully blast In his garden flowers. Rita said, "Come back!" As he started to load The sun was comin' up And I was runnin' down the road. Well, I don't figure I'll be back There for a spell, Even though Rita moved away And got a job in a motel. He still waits for me, Constant, on the sly. He wants to turn me in To the F.B.I. Me, I romp and stomp, Thankful as I romp, Without freedom of speech, I might be in the swamp. |
||||||
| 8. |
| 4:23 |
|
|||
|
Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps Pounced with fire on flaming roads Using ideas as my maps "We'll meet on edges, soon," said I Proud 'neath heated brow. Ah, but I was so much older then, 'm younger than that now. Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth "Rip down all hate," I screamed Lies that life is black and white Spoke from my skull. I dreamed Romantic facts of musketeers Foundationed deep, somehow. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. Girls' faces formed the forward path From phony jealousy To memorizing politics Of ancient history Flung down by corpse evangelists Unthought of, though, somehow. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. A self-ordained professor's tongue Too serious to fool Spouted out that liberty Is just equality in school "Equality," I spoke the word As if a wedding vow. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand At the mongrel dogs who teach Fearing not that I'd become my enemy In the instant that I preach My existence led by confusion boats Mutiny from stern to bow. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats Too noble to neglect Deceived me into thinking I had something to protect Good and bad, I define these terms Quite clear, no doubt, somehow. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. |
||||||
| 9. |
| 4:23 |
|
|||
|
I can't understand, she let go of my hand
And left me here facing the wall I'd sure like to know why she did go But I can't get close to her at all Though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime She said she would never forget But now morning is clear, it's like I ain't here She acts like we never met It's all new to me, like some mystery It could even be like a myth But it's hard to think on that she's the same one That last night I was with From darkness, dreams are deserted Am I still dreamin' yet? I wish she'd unlock her voice once and talk 'Stead of acting like we never met If she ain't feelin' well, then why don't she tell 'Stead of turnin' her back to my face? Without any doubt she seems too far out For me to return to or chase Though her skirt it swayed as the guitar played Her mouth was watery and wet But now something has changed, for she ain't the same She just acts like we never have met If I didn't have to guess, I'd gladly confess To anything I might have tried If I was with her too long or I've done something wrong I wish she'd tell me what it is, I'll run and hide Though the night ran swirling and whirling I remember her whispering yet But evidently she don't, evidently she won't She just acts like we never have met I'm leavin' today, I'll be on my way Of this I can't say very much But if you want me to, I can be just like you And pretend that we never have touched And if anybody asks me, "Is it easy to forget?" I'll say, "It's easily done You just pick anyone And pretend that you never have met" |
||||||
| 10. |
| 8:17 |
|
|||
|
I once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze.
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn. I courted her proudly but now she is gone, Gone as the season she's taken. Through young summer's breeze, I stole her away From her mother and sister, though close did they stay. Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day, With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us. Of the two sisters, I loved the young. With sensitive instincts, she was the creative one. The constant scapegoat, she was easily undone By the jealousy of others around her. For her parasite sister, I had no respect, Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect. Countless visions of the other she'd reflect As a crutch for her scenes and her society. Myself, for what I did, I cannot be excused, The changes I was going through can't even be used, For the lies that I told her in hopes not to lose The could-be dream-lover of my lifetime. With unknown consciousness, I possessed in my grip A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped, Noticing not that I'd already slipped To a sin of love's false security. From silhouetted anger to manufactured peace, Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies, Till the tombstones of damage read me no questions but, "Please, What's wrong and what's exactly the matter?" And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen, The timeless explosion of fantasy's dream. At the peak of the night, the king and the queen Tumbled all down into pieces. "The tragic figure!" her sister did shout, "Leave her alone, God damn you, get out!" And I in my armor, turning about And nailing her to the ruins of her pettiness. Beneath a bare light bulb the plaster did pound Her sister and I in a screaming battleground. And she in between, the victim of sound, Soon shattered as a child 'neath her shadows. All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight. I gagged twice, doubled, tears blinding my sight. My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night Leaving all of love's ashes behind me. The wind knocks my window, the room it is wet. The words to say I'm sorry, I haven't found yet. I think of her often and hope whoever she's met Will be fully aware of how precious she is. Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me, "How good, how good does it feel to be free?" And I answer them most mysteriously, "Are birds free from the chains of the skyway?" |
||||||
| 11. |
| 3:35 |
|
|||
|
Go 'way from my window,
Leave at your own chosen speed. I'm not the one you want, babe, I'm not the one you need. You say you're lookin' for someone Never weak but always strong, To protect you an' defend you Whether you are right or wrong, Someone to open each and every door, But it ain't me, babe, No, no, no, it ain't me, babe, It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe. Go lightly from the ledge, babe, Go lightly on the ground. I'm not the one you want, babe, I will only let you down. You say you're lookin' for someone Who will promise never to part, Someone to close his eyes for you, Someone to close his heart, Someone who will die for you an' more, But it ain't me, babe, No, no, no, it ain't me, babe, It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe. Go melt back into the night, babe, Everything inside is made of stone. There's nothing in here moving An' anyway I'm not alone. You say you're looking for someone Who'll pick you up each time you fall, To gather flowers constantly An' to come each time you call, A lover for your life an' nothing more, But it ain't me, babe, No, no, no, it ain't me, babe, It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe. |
||||||
|
