Grant Lee Buffalo

Faithless on the skids hung out to dry oh seen better days
With the sunlight fading like a tabloid and I I have found
All those double-barreled freedom fighters are in for themselves
And a call to arms has never been about anything else

Fire one more round
But hate is not a lone assailant
Hear the drummers pound
Listen to the homespun violent sound

Hatred on the prowl underneath an oh new guise garb and gown
And he's so persuasive when you look in his eyes all dumbfound
And the double-talkin' politicians expose their intimate lives
While the sheep are lowing for the shepherd to show he never arrives

Fire one more round
But hate is not a lone assailant
Hear the drummers pound
Listen to the homespun violent sound
Sound
Sound

Ooh I'll tell you how it
Pains to say this
Ugliness is ours
'Cause I would better lay in bed and
Maybe even sleep all day
Maybe sleep some more
Some more

Too
Yeah now

Suspicion is a powerful religion when it leads to the force on these shores
In the jungles of the midwest dwarf militia train for war right on course
Unlike the famous fable revolution won't yield a firework show
Unlike the famous fable revolution won't end on July the Fourth

Fire one more round
But hate is not a lone assailant
Hear the drummers pound
Listen to the homespun violent sound
Sound
Sound
Sound
Yeah sound

Yeah the homespun sound
I hear the sound
Yeah the homespun sound

Where in the world have I been
I must have tripped on the way in
Diving into the shallow end
I must have gone and broke the skin

Hold me close and let me know
I'm not alone for once
Hold me close and tell me that
I never really was

Why on the earth could I not see
The cloud a hangin' over me
But I did a dance to make it rain
And it just overflowed the drains ooh

Hold me close and let me know
I'm not alone for once
Hold me close and tell me that
I never really was

Hold me close and let me know
I'm not alone for once
Hold me close and tell me that
I never really was

Ah ah ah

Fine fine strychnine free the mind cure the blind
Ho ho recline to the country a-goldmines
I got it comin' out-a my ears
Fine fine take your time stay put in the alpines
Ho ho Cocteau you get mixin' the moonshine
He'll teach you how to walk through mirrors

My my my you're petrified
My my my you're sick inside
My my my you're stupefied
And I know what it's like

Touche Broadway's no place for a padre
No way Jose ya hike back to the country
Those brooks are tremblin' there for you
Nix nix on the card tricks carve your name in the candle stick
Make haste double click they may call you a lunatic
Oh man but they haven't got a clue

My my my you're glorified
My my my you're sick inside
My my my you're certified
And I

My my my you're sanctified
My my my you're squinty eyed
My my my my tongue is tied
But I know what it's like

Delta high tide pack your bags and take a bride
Brush fires mud slides plug your ears and overt your eyes
Be still and it'll pass by you

My my my you're mortified
My my my you're chicken fried
My my my it's a nationwide
Tonight
My my my you're spirit guide
Has up and fled and stole your ride
My my my you're stupefied
But I know what it's like

Fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine
Ooh ooh ooh
La la la

Whatever happens to the plans we lay
Seems like we've watched them all go south
And I done lost count of the mistakes I've made
Just tell me it isn't too late now

Where do we go from here
Where do we go from here
Where do we go from here my friend

Whatever feelings you still have for me
I wouldn't want to see them wane
It hasn't all come to us easily
But I wouldn't change it just the same

Where do we go from here (where do we go from here)
Where do we go from here (where do we go from here)
Where do we go from here my friend

It's comin' out wrong once again
It's comin' out wrong once again

Maybe your timin' it just wasn't right
Maybe the sky was over-cast
Maybe the fruit was fallin' 'fore it was ripe
Maybe we just weren't built to last

Where do we go from here (where do we go from here)
Where do we go from here (where do we go from here)
Where do we go from here my friend

Where do we go from here (where do we go from here)
Where do we go from here (where do we go from here)
Where do we go from here my friend

My friend
Where do we go from here
Where do we go from here
Where do we go from here

How can I give a testimony of my life
When I'm still trying hard to hold my head up high
I'm trying so hard to hold my head up high

And every time I turn around
Feel as though I've let you down
Always something else
And every time I turn around
Feel as though I've let ya down
But I can't outrun myself

How can I give a testimony of my time
When it's so hard to pen a simple valentine
It weighs a little heavy on my mind

And every time I turn around
Feel as though I've let you down
Always something else
And every time I turn around
Feel as though I've let ya down
But I can't outrun myself

Oh oh you know
If I told ya once I've told you loads before
I couldn't love ya more

And every time I turn around
Feel as though I've let you down
Always something else
And every time I turn around
Feel as though I've let ya down
But I can't outrun myself
No oh oh oh
But I can't outrun myself
Ooh ooh ooh

Ta ta ta

Were you there at the creek
That is called Wounded Knee
Were you there at the creek
There but unseen
In the 7th Calvary
Were you there at the creek

Were you there on the wind
That hammered the plains
Were you there on the wind
To scatter their names
I'll ask you again
Were you there on the wind

It makes me weep
It makes me weep
It makes me weep
Now how could you be

Were you there in the crowd
When the first shot rang out
Were you there in the crowd
Moving about
Black powder cloud
Were you there in the crowd

Were you there by the Sioux
With the white Flag of Truce
Were you there by the Sioux
'Cause the flag was no use
The bullets all flew
Were you there by the Sioux

It makes me weep
It makes me weep
It makes me weep
Now how could you be

If you choose sides
I know where you were
With soldiers that ride
So stalwart and sure
Not into pride
Into massacre

It makes me weep
It makes me weep
It makes me weep
Now how could you be

I was hangin' with some friends,
in the parkinglot one night near the summer's end.
I leaned back against the glass,
Of a car to watch all those speeding comets crash
It made me think about us,
made me think about us.

Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I do
Truly, truly, truly i want you

You where lying by the pool,
and the surface of the water was a lapis jewel
I dove in to make a splash,
woke ya from your dream,
nodding off out on the grass.
It made me think about us.

Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I do
Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I do
Truly, truly, truly I want you

It's just been to long,
that we set aside some time alone
I sure could use your point of view
And it's been awhile since
we dropped our guard and cracked a smile
Don't you think it's overdue
Well how 'bout you

Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I do
Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I do
Truly, truly, truly I want you
Oh, oh truly, oh truly!
Truly, truly, truly I want you
Truly, truly, truly I do
Truly, truly, truly I want you

You crawl up my vine and my soul's unwound
Clouds are miles down as the song unwinds
I'm conducting nothing anything at all
No I know I know

If I lose the floor I don't want no twist
Want to bite through this 'til I can hear no more
All the talkin' dissin' doggin'
Now I know I know I know

Not like two and two
Never seems to add up like I want it to
Not like two and two

Why can't I get this off lazy spent and spun
Off my chest for once 'cause I'm feeling lost
It's a waste of ink and paper
Laboring over anecdotes

In the center ring welter-weight tongue-tied
He was petrified before the song was sang
He fell back against the rope and
Dared to do the rope-a-dope

Not like two and two
Never seems to add up like I want it to
Not like two and two
It goes on and on on and on



I'm tired of saying I don't get it anymore I don't care
To hear you tell it tell me I can't tell you anything
Ah

[scraps of phrases - spoken]

Why the face the frown now and why so blue
Not like two and two when you're feeling down
It's a thing we both know so so
Can't we just explain away

Not like two and two
Never seems to add up like I want it to
Not like two and two
And on and on on and on
On and on on and on

On it goes on and on
It goes on and on
It goes on and on
Well it goes on and on
Goes on and on
Goes goes
It goes it goes
It goes on
Goes on and on

Wind sure kicked up in the last hour or so
Just as re-entry was close we came tumbling down
Like a falling star over New Mexico

They snowed the crashing at Corona
Threatened the Teletype photographed our bodies
They sold the crashing at Corona
As a radar reflector flew us out to Albuquerque

Brass came to the Great Plains with their armored cars jeeps and junk
Took great pains with the remains till they all were inside the crates and trunks
Then the freight was lifted into the bombers' haul

They snowed the crashing at Corona
Interrupted the wire concealed debris
They sold the crashing at Corona
Said a weather balloon went down out of White Sands Trinity

Rains came plugged the storm drains shame while the 509th bomb grew
Rocket wrecks wind the Bolex days of space age what lie next
Verification of the Kodak test

They snowed the crashing at Corona
Interrupted the wire concealed debris
They snowed the crashing at Corona
Said a weather balloon went down out of White Sands Trinity

Flew us out to Albuquerque
Flew us out to Albuquerque
Flew us out to Albuquerque
White Sands Trinity

Mild amnesia love ya so-so
And such and such
Tom let's take a walk love
Look you squarely in the eye

Two paupers are your friends
Now your rouge is wearing thin
I'm picking out the little pins
You planted in my side

Gold chain drag

My enemy grows fatter
And I sense a social unaware
I sleep beneath a metal roof
Rain goes patter patter

Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag

Ah ah ah
Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag

Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag

Has anybody seen my chain
Has anybody seen
Has anybody seen
Has anybody seen my chain

Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag
Gold chain drag

Maybe the rain's holding off
Surely it knows we're down here
Walking 'round there barefoot lost
Pretty soon these clouds've got to clear

I know it's a lot
Arousing thunder I only ask you to stop
For a second so I could coax you to talk

Think when we first laid eyes
Didn't know who you were and then I was one more passerby
You were the girl in the entryway that's all that I knew but oh
You were still in school and I was insecure

I know it's a lot
Arousing thunder I only ask you to stop
For a second so I could coax you to talk

'Bout your dreams and
Orange soda
Tea leaves TV
More
More

Looks like the rain's holding off
Might as well take this slow
You know sometimes when I hold you in silence I listen real close
Then I hear you talking to my soul

Well I know it ain't half
Of this story I'm only meaning to ask
Just what would it take to coax you to laugh
To laugh
To laugh
To laugh

What would it what would it what would it take you to laugh
What would it what would it what would it take you to laugh

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
To laugh

La la la

(B-sides & Outtakes From Mighty Joe Moon 1994)

They had a crush on you river
Blue suede jacket and boots river
And your face shaped like a moon river

You were like my own James Byron Dean
Private Idaho was my East of Eden
Hit me like a stone when I heard you passed
On Halloween

You were only 23 River
And restless as the sea river
But but ya had a hold on me oh river

There was a light blue as a welder's torch
It used to shine over the fields
And all the wise men strong men were drawn for miles
Followed a star to Bethlehem Steel

Our mother's father worked here in World War Two
On the main floor operating the drill
And in his open palms little splinters remind him of
The booming days days of Bethlehem Steel

But the steeples on the hills they point
To a better life beyond this one
And that promise penetrates the clouds
And mighty walls of brick red cinnamon
Ah ah

Take a walk past Lazarus Moving n' Storage
Behind the Goodman's Furniture Store
See the smoke stacks rise on up to heaven's step
While on earth we're burnin' this miracle iron ore

But the steeples on the hills they point
To a better life beyond this one
And that promise penetrates the clouds
Even when they block the fiery sun
The sun

There was a light blue as a welder's torch
It used to shine over the fields
And all of the wise men strong men were drawn for miles
Followed a star to Bethlehem Steel

Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Yeah Steel
Yeah Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Ah Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Yeah Steel
Steel
Yeah Steel
(A scrap of a phrase - Spoken)
Oh Steel
Ah Steel

A simple tale of rich to rags
But one that often comes to mind
The seer that looked into the mirror
And left his sleeping wife behind
I said goodnight Sir John Dee

Well light is a medicine to all of us
With which we feed the silver lamb
That walks beside the wolf of the trinity
They say her teeth are made of sand
I said goodnight John Dee
Goodnight

A lantern swinging like a pendulum
The shape of your smile's shadow appears
To invoke the worst I reached into my purse
And I took out the shew-stone gently
And I said goodnight well goodnight John Dee
Goodnight well goodnight John Dee
Goodnight goodnight John Dee
Goodnight

Never mind me 'cause I've been dead
Out of my body, been out of my head
Never mind the songs they hum
Don't wanna sing along with nothin' that I said

Let him bring you happiness, happiness
It's hard to come by, I confess
I'm better at this than happiness,
If you find it, share it with the rest of us

Never mind the words that came
Out of my mouth when all I could feel was pain
The difference in the two of us
Comes down to the way you rise over things I just put down

Let him bring you happiness, happiness
It's hard to come by, I confess
I'm better at this than happiness
If you find it share it with the rest of us, the rest of us

Never mind me 'cause I've been dead
Out of my body, been out of my head
Never mind the curse of war
Proud like a badge that just don't shine no more

Let him bring you happiness, happiness
Hard to come by, I confess
I'm better at this than happiness,
If you find it, share it with the rest of us

I heard that your Orpheus he done left town
Snuck out the back way while you slept face down
Bound for the underworld he rolled down his wool sleeves
And like a serpent coiled about the wet leaves
Tennessee waltzing a dance of disease
Can't you see

Pick up your shears Delilah right there
Leave all your cares to fall like dead hair
Outside a carriage waits to take you home
Its tricky handbrake will not hold out for long
Do hop inside for your map it has been drawn
Can't you see

What leads you
What leads you
What leads you
What leads

Pickin' the mandrake I would use for tea
I heard the water spirits calling me
And faintly a peacock cried behind the tulles
Can't you see

That when you feel it tickle your brain
Filling your skull's bowl with a butane
Maybe the genie wants back in the lamp
He's run out of wishes and his clothes are all damp
Back to the bottle though he knows just how cramped
That can be

What leads you
What leads you
What leads you
What leads you

What is it now now
What is it
What is it
What is it now
What is it now now
What leads
Well what leads you
What leads you now now now
Down down down
Down down down down down
What leads you

It's the luck of the draw
How you wound up with me
I don't know how at all
But I beg you to stay
Crawl around on this earth
While the world's still small

Honey, don't think
About it too long now
Honey, don't think,
You're liable to figure me out

Something wrong in my stars
Could you look at my chart
And help me heal these scars?
Could you learn to read minds?
In the case of mine
Do you read in the dark?

Honey, don't think
About it too long now
Honey, don't think,
You're liable to figure me out
You don't want to figure me out
You don't want to figure me out

Honey, don't think
About it too long now
Honey, don't think
You're liable to figure me out
(Repeat till fade)

Let go of my hand
I don't wanna drag you
Down with me now
Let go of my hand
It would destroy you
To reach out to me
See me I'm drowning
And I'll take anything
To keep me afloat now
Till I get to the land
Think of yourself
Let go of my hand

See it as it is
See it as it really is
See it as it is

Let go of my hand
I don't wanna fool you
Into believing
I meant anything
It would destroy us
In one single minute
Look at us both now
We're already in it

See it as it is
See it as it really is
See it as it is

Let go of my hand
Let go of my hand
Let go of my hand
Of my hand

Na na na

See it as it is
See it as it really is
See it as it is
See it as it really is
See it as it is
See it as it really is
See it as it is
See it

Devastation at last, finally we meet
After all of these years out here in the street
I had a feeling you would make yourself known
You came along just to claim your place on the throne
Now I have been overthrown, overthrown

And I thought if I toe the right lines
But these mockingbirds won't let me shine

Devastation, my door was left open wide
You brought me into your heart and you swallowed my pride
I had a feeling you were hiding your thoughts
I made a note to myself, I nearly forgot
Now I'm overwrought, I'm overwrought

(2x)
And I thought if I toe the right lines
But these mockingbirds won't let me shine

One day this ground will break and open up for me
I hope it will, I hope it will

Salutations at last, I'm down on my knees
I heard the bugle this morning blast Reveille
Woke from a dream where I was in a terrible realm
All my sails were ablaze, I was chained to the helm
Now I'm overwhelmed, overwhelmed

(4x)
And I thought if I toe the right lines
But these mockingbirds won't let me shine