Todd Snider

If tomorrow never comes
I wont give a damn
If tomorrow never comes
I will not be afraid to meet my maker
Just the way that I am
You cant prove anything
But one thing is true
If you can steal from me
I can steal from you

Any kind of heaven every body doesn't get in
Wont seem like a heaven to me
They tell you that the garden of Eden was perfect
But you couldn't even eat off the apple tree
And for heavens sakes look out for that snake
Lying to your woman constantly
Adam must have scratched his head
Looked up and said
Lord this just isn't doing it for me

If tomorrow never comes
I wont give a damn
If tomorrow never comes
I dont want to be afraid
To come and meet you just the way that I am
I cant do anything im dying too
If tomorrow never comes
Tonight will have to do

I say I don't ever claim to know whats going on around here
I don't even know where i'm from
I know where i'm going when I get to where i'm going
What i'm doing when I get done
You tell me i'm forgiven if I need to be
I say permission ought to come that easily
I'm piling cores up underneath this apple tree
Singing oh lord have mercy on me

If tomorrow never comes
And tonight is all I got
If tomorrow never comes
I don't want to be afraid
To come and meet you just the way that i'm not
Cant do anything
And then you die
Judge the judgmental and what am I?

Either way i'm every guy I ever tried not to be
I want everything as good as it gets
I've learned nothing but that there is another sun rise coming
All but one of the times it sets

And if tomorrow never comes
Tomorrow never comes
If tomorrow never comes
Tomorrow never comes
If we were all good people
We could work in perfect rhythm
If worms had daggers
Birds wouldn't fuck with them

You can't talk to me like that boss
I don't care who you are
If you don't want to have to hang your own dry wall
Don't push me too far

Boom town work ain't hard to come by
Boom town workers are
You might be the one running the show but
That don't mean you're in charge

I was looking for a job when I found this one
Don't need the work like you need the work done
You look like you're under pressure
I was looking for a job when I met you

I'm sharing a room with two guys over at the motel 6 boss
Sending every dime I make here home to my ex-wife
Just did two years and 28 days
With a little better aim I'd been in there for my life

So you see, broke won't take much getting used to
Neither will a barb wire jail house wall
Watch what you say to someone with nothing
It's almost like having it all

I was looking for a job when I found this one
Don't need the work like you need the work done
You look like you're under pressure
I was already looking for a job two weeks ago when I met you, remember?

You know what I really ought to get is a job like
You got, chief. you know. driving around
Checking on guys like me. yelling from the window of
A pickup truck with the A/C cranked up and your clothes all
Nice and clean. yeah that might be nice on the other hand

There's a Coke machine glowin' through the parking lot
Call it a room with a view
This was the best night of pool that I ever shot
I made a lot of money too
I was looking for some company
In the weekly Scene
Seen an ad it just had to be you
I hadn't seen you since New Orleans

And I never did figure out where you ran off to
I know I looked bad the last time you saw me
But lately I been doin' all right
I won a tournament last week in Oklahoma City
Hustled half of this town tonight
I got some cocaine if you want some
It's the best that I could find
Hey we could just sit here and talk all night
If that big ol' guy out in the car don't mind

Like old times
Screw off the top on a bottle of wine
Living out our own kind of American dream
Old times
Your goal was always the same as mine
You didn't want to throw a fishing line in that old main stream

You know I ain't expecting anybody but you
I don't know who this could be at the door
But I'm pretty sure that you got a clue
And I bet that you've been to this hotel before
Put the "you-know-what" In the bathroom but
Don't flush it down just yet
Put your pager in my suitcase
I'll get the window
You light a cigarette
It'll be like

Old times
Just like the old times
Living out our own kind of American dream
Old times
Your goal was always the same as mine
You didn't want to throw a fishing line in that old main stream

No sir officer you don't understand
We're just two old friends drinkin' wine
I'm sure she is but that's not all she is
She's also an old friend of mine
I got her high school picture right here in my wallet, 1982
No sir officer no offense taken
You have a good night, too

Good thing we didn't throw this away, baby
Turn up that radio
I'm pretty sure that cop knew what we were up to
I guess he just decided to let us go
Don't make such a thing about that picture
That was just something I kept
Don't get all sentimental on me now, girl
You haven't even told me what your new name is yet

Old times
Just like the old times
Living out our own kind of American dream
Old times
Your goal was always the same as mine
You didn't want to throw a fishing line in that old main stream

An empty house is hard to bear
Lonesome's falling everywhere
Without you there's no light coming in
That lucky dog jumped the fence
Ain't seen him around here since
And I don't guess I ever will again
It didn't bother me any, I was good to that dog
And just like you I'm gonna have to learn to let him go

Leaving me was one thing Carla
Why'd you have to leave so slow?

Slow and shifty backing out
You were trying to fill my head with doubt
You nearly had me walking out on you
About the oldest trick to be
Playing on someone as old as me
That can not be the best that you can do
It didn't bother me any when he come around
I just wish I hadn't been the last guy in town to know

I didn't mind you walking away
What hurt was how you walked so slow
You know, you go

You know that was so underhanded
Grabbing him just as you landed
After holding me the whole time you fell
You tell me he'll be good to you
Who wouldn't be? What else is new?
And now all that I can do is wish you well
It wouldn't have bothered me any
If you left me when you wanted to
But you just had to wait until you had some place better to go

Leaving me was one thing Carla
Why'd you have to leave so slow?
I didn't mind you walking away
What hurt was how you walked so slow

Some guy said to some other guy behind closed doors
"Don't even know how long I've been awake anymore
I know what we're out of and you do too
Look around, we're down to nothing but me and you
We lost everything we stole, everything we had
It's not that bad, though, it's not that bad"

"We'll be buying all our shit back when your cousin gets out
That's only going to be a couple weeks from now
You know what I'm thinking 'cause you're thinking it too
It was harder to imagine than it was to do
In spite of all of your worry last night went okay
That man just threw his money up and ran away"

"Did, did we get arrested? No, we did not
We didn't shoot anyone, didn't get shot
Didn't hurt anyone, at least not a lot
And we got what we wanted, we got what we wanted"

"You're right I could kill someone, I don't care
But that's ain't the way it's going down tonight, I swear
We'll just walk on up to Highland Street behind the bar
In the back through the alley where they park the cars
It will go down just as easy as it did last night
We'll be back here in an hour hidin' out of sight"

"Did, did we get arrested? No, we did not
We didn't shoot anyone, didn't get shot
Didn't hurt anyone, at least not a lot
And we got what we wanted
[Incomprehensible], we got what we wanted"

"Oh, hey stand right here behind me, buddy, this is the place
Hold the blue bandanna up to cover your face
Yes, it's loaded but that's only for security
I ain't be shootin' anyone that ain't shootin' at me
Shut up, I think, I hear somebody coming, man
Shut up I think, I hear"

"Run, man, run, run, man, run
Only going be two or three weeks from now
'Til your cousin gets out
Run, man, run, run, man, run, run, oh, ooh"

Poor Phil Ochs, sad and low
Hands in his pockets, wonderin' where to go
Watching those tail lights leave him behind
Thrown for the limousine for speaking his mind
Like a red-eyed photo into a garbage can
At the corner of hero and also ran
A fragile heart skipped a fragile beat
It's warm in the limousine, cold on the streets of

Thin wild mercury
And gold lame
Where things will go your way
Or they won't
Thin wind mercury
And gold lame
You know what they say
Or you don't

It was all over some new Dylan song
That Phil had the nerve to say sounded wrong
Dylan stopped the car, words shook like a fist
"Phil, you ain't a writer, you're a journalist"
Death of a rebel, twist of fate
If he ever thought better, he thought too late
Poor Phil Ochs, he slipped through the cracks
Judas went electric and he never looked back on

Thin wild mercury
And gold lame
Where things will go your way
Or they won't
Thin wild mercury
And gold lame
You konw what they say
Or you don't
No, you don't
No, you don't

Helicopters over the house again
We got the projects two or three blocks from here
They pull the kids over for driving while African
And the ones with the warrants always run in fear

So, I sit here, waiting for the coast to clear
Wishing once again I had a gun around here
Turn on the news and what do I hear
Some kid shot the bank up on Gallatin road

Ran away from the cops while he was trying to reload
He beat them up to Eastland street on feet
Now, he's probably reloaded and running down my street
Better turn the alarm on and lock myself in

Helicopters over the house again

Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sneak below
Somewhere in between believing in Heaven
And facing the Devil you know

Poor kid probably never had a chance to give a fuck
Wouldn't know good luck from a debutant
He's gotta find a way to be Steve McNair or young buck
Or it's tough luck looking for a prison to haunt

And you can fuck getting any kind of job you want
Unless you really want to work in a fast food restaurant
And who wants to do that? Do you want to do that?
I wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat

Or my gang or my gun or my waist full of pagers
For a job deep frying shit, for richer teen agers
If that's where it's at and no one's gonna help
How you gonna blame a man for helping himself?
There's a war going on that the poor can't win

Helicopters over the house again

Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sneak below
Somewhere in between believing in Heaven
And facing the Devil you know

Black and white cops shining lights in the bushes
Can't see how this kid is gonna get very far
Unless he finds a way to make it back over to Barry street
And he can't do that unless he steals a car

Man, the way things are, they just don't seem right
All the white people talking 'bout the hope and the light
There ain't no hope in Sam Levy just guns and drugs
We ain't building bridges, we're just training thugs

Then I hear a terrifying kick at my back door
And in comes this kid, I say, "Hey I've seen this kid before"
I see him all the time at that bar on woodland street
Now, he's bleeding in my kitchen, tracking mud off his feet

And he's looking at me like I'll either help him or die
Until he sees in my eyes that I'm on his side
I hand him my keys, I say, you better move fast
There's a J in the ashtray and plenty of gas

He throws me the cash and says I'll be back for this
I say, yeah, well, don't be surprised if there's a little bit of it missing
His gold teeth glistened with a big old grin
He said we'll talk about that when I see you again

He shook my hand, I shook his back
I felt like I was about to have a heart attack
Until he finally drove away, I thought "Goddamn"

Helicopters over the house again

Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sneak below
Somewhere in between believing in Heaven
And facing the devil you know

Facing the devil you know

I can't dance, but I feel like dancin'
Not with anyone, only you
You're as true as love can be
You're all that matters to me

Out in the rain, lost as I was
I said "You think it'll ever stop"
You said "It always does"
And you were right, look and see
You're all that matters to me

[Chorus]
All that matters, all that matters
You're all that matters to me
I don't care if I know
Where we come from or where we'll go
You're all that matters to me

You hear that song, that song is our song
And so is the next song
I'm as certain as I'm ever going to be
I don't care about this crowd
Let 'em laugh I'm not proud
Nor am I ashamed for anyone to see

[Chorus]

Happy new year everybody
Happy birthday country joe
I resolve to do like I always do
There's an overweight man with an overweight woman on a sofa just watching tv
Hes yelling his opinion at the television she looks up from her food and agrees
They got two bumper stickers on there pick up truck
They keep the pick up parked outside
One sticker says "what would Jesus do?"
The other bumper sticker says "power of pride"
I was thumbing through the stations on my own television
When I came across a guy on the religious station
Singing "somebody's coming" sounding whiter than me somehow
Wow
It took me back in time through dwindling joy
To when I was such a guilt ridden catholic boy
I'm evangelical agnostic now

I don't know what we're doing here
You don't "KNOW" what were doing here
Now Christians don't walk out on me just yet
You know whose name I'm yelling as I'm clutching my chest
The one my dad told me to and his told him to
And I probably pray as much or more than you do
Believe? shit, every word I sing
But believing and knowing, those are two different things
And if your trying to change the way a strangers life will have to go
I believe this is where I wanna stick to what I know
Which is nothing you know, nothing for sure so
Just chill til the next episode
Now back to the lecture at hand
Seems like my neighbor wants to kill what he cant understand
I say we cant just kill what we dont understand
But I turn on my tv and see that oh yes we can
We can and we have since then dawn of man
For countless gods whose only real seeming plan
Was to see to it that clinging to life was our fate
And you gotta admit that life's pretty great
But
Can we deny that its killing us?
Ill be here all week
Happy new year everybody
Happy birthday country Joe
I resolve to do like I always do
I ain't hurtin' you
If life is anything its embarrassing
A rusty nail through a careless shoe
You cant help but sit around and wonder sometimes
Why there's never anything the poor nail can do
Or think about how unfair it is
That the shoe is only going where it has to too
If you ain't the dumb kid out running around
You kinda gotta do what your born to do
Hey

Happy new year everybody
Specifically happy birthday to you country joe
I resolve to do like I always do
And I only ever make it a day or two