Spirit of America

  I got the hang of songwriting on this one.  Later it occurred to me that I must have unconsciously absorbed a 
lot of writing tricks and techniques from Fred Cole while I was backing him up . . . like the idea that you really only need one 
compelling element to get a song off the ground . . . but it does have to be compelling.
   I crammed 20 songs onto Spirit Of America; everything I wrote in 1992.  Many saw this as a bad career move, but really, 
folks - you know?  What career?  I had my reasons.  Besides, nobody agreed which songs to delete when I edited it down to 
14 cuts in 2008. True Love was never played live.  I wrote it to plug a thematic hole on the record. 

1. Guns Junk and Voodoo

When I was young, my daddy told me
This is America, the land of opportunity
Go where you will, do all you can, be anything you want to be
You can be an eagle, flying high
Or you can be a reptile with an unblinking eye
You can raise young in the shelter of the pack
Or turn rogue, kill alone and don't look back
Or be them all - Spirit of America

You'll never face a river that's too broad to sail
There's no mountain too tall to scale
Find the key, unlock the door, and you can't fail
With guns junk and voodoo, hands head and heart
Medicine and murder, science and the art
I'll use them all - Spirit of America

2. Down in the Crack Mine

   
A celebration in song of the year our prison population reached 1,000,000.  
The second million came a lot easier, didn't it?

One nation under God, of losers, dope and money
Vampires walking streets of gold, and a hundred million junkies
All the same old rackets, the same stale routines
Like guns south, drugs north, and the shakedown act at the White House in between

The D.C. mob and the rollers on the beat
Gangsters run the Hill, and robots rule the street
Morons on the airwaves make sucking noises giving head
To the cannibals and the torturers who feed and swell on the flesh of the living dead

High priests, stiff with blood, pull off by the fire
Chosen victims in the pit, in chains and razor wire
Nailed up in the spotlight, burned down and buried alive
Yeah I'd call it criminal justice, or maybe human sacrifice

Down in the crack mine

More jails!  More cops!  More laws!
Fuck you

3. Bounty Hunter

Forget your job - forget your whore
Forget your kids - it's time to go

Say goodbye to fresh air - say goodbye to rain
Say goodbye to soft nights in summer - you won't be back again

You can go out with a fight - you can go out peacefully
You can tell the world about it, or keep it to yourself
I don't care - you go with me

You can run - but you lose
You can  hide - but you're through
You can look into the mirror - smile and lie
But when I come up behind you - don't act surprised

4. Prison Blue

Music inspired by the Clovers, "Gotta Quit You"

I know those voices, they're the ones that took me down
Yeah and I know what you can do with a telephone
You didn't know I heard you, the day I crept back in - Ha!
Talking to him like you were all alone

Baby, can I see you tonight?
Oh baby, you know I can't wait for tonight

You shoulda just left me, you shouldn't have played around
Yeah and I shoulda never followed the two of you
I miss the city, and the people that I knew
But it's worse at night when I miss you

It's too late - It's too late

I saw your mama dressed in black and crying too
She saw me in prison blue

Chaperones with machine guns, romeos with knives
Saying give it up, and stay alive
It gets easy after a year or two
Some of these chickens start looking good in prison blue

Oooo wa oooo wa oooo - prison blue

5. You Don't Owe the World a Thing

Theme suggested by Fear, "I Don't Care About You"

The trick was there for an hour, and he wasn't about to come
But it pissed him off when I got dressed and told him we were done
He got out of line, he wouldn't shut up so I kicked his head
When I left with the rest of his money, he was still face down bleeding onto the bed

The suit went down with a heart attack as I watched him from the door
His face got way too red, then he choked and hit the floor
I ran to help, I bent down and loosened his tie
Then I rolled him for his wallet, and I stepped back to watch him die

The dealer saw us coming and he started to drive away
He should've known if you don't pay cash, you're gonna still pay anyway
We dropped him off at the airport, in long term parking south
Packed in the trunk of a Benz, with his dick stuffed into his mouth

You don't owe them nothing, you don't owe the world a thing

6. Obsession

Music inspired by "Radar Love"

When does this stop, I fall further every day
Your hold on me tightens as my soul slips away
I adore you, I do

Father and my mother, and my only son
I don't need them any more, you're the only one
I'll leave them all to be with you

I'm going to Plaquemines, find out what you've done to me
I'll pay the witch's price, if she'll only set me free
I can't take this any more

Obsession   

7. Magic

Stars in the sky look down and they know
If she'll be mine or if I should go
Stars in the sky look ahead and they see
If this is real or a spellbound dream

Somebody please, is this magic?
Is this magic that I feel?
Is this all an illusion?
Am I lost or is this real?

Wohoho is this magic?  Wohoho is this real?

8. I Needed You

I needed you, I needed you from the very start
I needed you, I needed you and you broke my heart
I needed you, and you said goodbye
I needed you, and you left me here to cry
I needed you, and I still do, and I want  to die
I need you

9. True Love

True love - between a boy and girl
True love - sweetest story/surrender/suffering in the world

So different, so much the same
Close as twins inside the womb
Coiled together*, weightless through the night
Murmuring softly in the gloom - Shhh - I love you too

A spider's web is stronger than the dream that binds two hearts
A breath of wind is all it takes
One heart will wander while one heart breaks
So join us and pray that neither wakes

* Author's note - that can't be right.  Someone tell me what I'm saying.

10. Rider

You're going nowhere, this is where you stop
Take off the helmet, let me see your face
Get off the bike and get on top

Leather's no protection, those boots won't take you far
The mask doesn't hide you
Spikes and chains can't save your heart

A thousand miles of desert, rolling through the heat
Scorched and burning in a backwash of fire
Wheels abandoned in the street

11. Head Hunter In High Heels

Sun sets,  bats fly - A hunter's moon is rising in the sky
Pale creatures, wary in its light 
A demon stalks the dominions of the night

Head hunter with a heart of steel

Prowling like a cat down a concrete trail - Gutting hearts with a flick of her tail
You've been butchered by talons and lace, 
And the smile dripping blood into your awe-stricken face

Head hunter in henna and heels

12. No Tears, Not Tonight

Theme suggested by "Endless Sleep" "Running Bear" "Teen Angel" "Tell Laura I Love Her" "Patches" "Last Kiss" etc.

 Hated to see her feeling so blue
I tried everything, nothing else would do
She went with Felipe, and when they were through
She came home with her tar, and cut it in two

Please smoke it honey, I can always get you more
Don't try to fix - I'm going out to score
She laughed, and said, with what? and I showed my .44
A half hour later, the clerk was dead at the liquor store               

(My baby told me)
No tears, not tonight - just let me hit this, I'll be fine
No tears, not tonight - and the last thing she told me was, I love you, you'll always be mine

I climbed the stairs, opened our door
I walked in the kitchen, saw her on the floor
The fit in her leg, nothing in her eye
I held her cold hand, and I began to cry                                

(Then I remembered)
No tears, not tonight - I know my angel wouldn't want to see me cry 
No tears, not tonight - she'd still expect me to hold my head up high 

I'm going downtown with a razor in my coat
I'll find Felipe, and I'll cut his throat
I'll go home and clean up, shave and take a bath
I'll wash out the needle, and I'll shoot the other half         

(And I'll be singing)
No tears, not tonight - wait for me darling, I'm coming too
No tears, not tonight - I don't want to be here, I just want to stay with you
No tears, not tonight - please don't leave me, I'll be there soon
No tears, not tonight - wait for me, baby

13. The Last Summer

I awoke in the heat of the sun, with scars to heal and hearts to be won
Trees in bloom, fields turning green - and the sweetest girl that I'd ever seen
We fell in love and the world seemed new
But it ended on the night of the August moon
It died too soon, and she's gone - the last summer, when it all went wrong

I found myself alone in the dark, with snow underfoot, and ice in my heart
Trees bare, fields black and dead - no way back and no roads ahead
Somewhere on the far side of this night
The children laugh and the sun shines bright
But not again for me - she's gone - the last summer

I'll never forget you, or the time we shared . . . and there's a part of me that'll never stop loving you.  I know it's over, and 
I know I won't see you again, but if there's one thing I could ask, it would be this; if you ever think about me, try to remember
the days that saw us at our best.  And try to imagine, maybe just once or twice, how strong we could have been - together.  
Good luck, and goodbye.

14.The Price

I'll take what I want, say what I feel
I learned early, how to talk and how to steal
What you think, it ain't real
It doesn't matter to me, and it never will

I never fell, and I never paid
I even started thinking that I had it made
But I see now what I couldn't see then
I crossed the line, and I don't know where or when

I always seemed to get away clean, but nothing's free
There's nothing in the world that's free

I saw a room filled with light
Table set for seven, the fire warm and bright
I saw my parents still full of life
Smiling and healthy, relaxing with my new wife
The brother who cried when I left home at seventeen
We've come together in the years between
I saw my daughters, and it hurt to watch them grow
I hope they'll always remember, I loved them so
Then I saw the lights dim, and the room turned gray
And I watched them all recede and fade away

I must have been dreaming
This is the price - you're on your own
I must have been dreaming
This is the price - you'll die alone