Down and Out

1. In the Light on a Harlem Train

In the night coming down the road
With a strap held ‘round your neck, a forty-four and a bottle of wine
Come to know one another’s breath and alkaline
For a while I feel a heat bursting inside

If I’m in the wrong, don’t say
See the moon and the light on the door
Was not like this before
Six a.m. and again it’s all brand new
Your coming light of day

In the light on a Harlem train he said goodbye
But the crowds come every day, I should have known to hide
When I say, what I want is just what I find
Disregard those other days, I’m speaking true this time

If I’m in the wrong, don’t say
See the moon and the light on the door
Was not like this before
Six a.m. and again it’s all brand new
Your coming light of day

For the times in my head
Gone again from earth
When the fuzz sets in
And my eyes hurt
Oh dear, what I’ve done



2. The Virgin Mary

It’s time I must confess
Your Virgin Mary vision just won’t give me no rest
It’s not what it seems
I’m only sleeping, I’m sleeping around

If my rum don’t pass your test
I’m out of condoms Virgin Mary and you know what that means
It’s not what it seems
I’m only pleading, I’m only pleading now

When I run from your caress
Be not afraid of it my honey I will covet you best
It’s not what it seems
I’m only frightened, I’m only frightened of you

It’s time I must confess
Without a dollar in your pocket I’d be fine to undress
It’s not what it seems
I’m only stupid, I’m only sleeping around


3. Billy’s Blues

In recovery I knew some pain
Speak of limits and pills in my brain
When the color drains from the walls of your face
I’ll take my escape

The chains hang from my ribs likes weights
Time comes over me, scratching my face
And my friend so distant she visits to say it’s all right
No, man, it’s all right

Your visions up on the glass
An empty pipe and a knife in my lap
Left alone, what was I to do?
I took my escape

The chains hang from my ribs likes weights
Time comes over me, scratching my face
And my friend so distant she visits to say it’s all right
No, man, it’s all right

Last I checked we were married for the state
With a rope tied around my former mates
I say it again, I don’t believe when you say
You proved our escape

The chains hang from my ribs likes weights
Time comes over me, scratching my face
And my friend so distant she visits to say it’s all right
No, man, it’s all right


4. Midnight Shaking

Another pill upon my face takes shape, but I’m aching
In the rain a wet sweater May, but it’s taking me

The wear and tear of the hole and shoe on my soul
I collect the mind of mine that you used to hold

O midnight comes always too late
With my body in flames in the bed as I shake
O midnight comes always too late
Don’t slack on the clock, man, pull it, keep it straight

A second chance upon my skin could burn, but I’ll take it
With the heat come from your eyes, in your nerves, I might

Like a pit ten kilos deep in my chest, I know
But the pain feels something straight, it’s there, it’s gold

O midnight comes always too late
With my body in flames in the bed as I shake
O midnight comes always too late
Don’t slack on the clock, man, pull it, keep it straight


5. I Couldn’t Feel a Thing (You Should Know by Now)

Your room was heavy breathing
People all around could see me
After that you started screaming
People on the walls were kneeling

You went by yourself,
Oh by then I could tell
You stayed out of sight,
Oh I know you’re all right

I can’t feel a thing tonight
I can’t see myself right
Maybe when I spot mine, I’ll return

Some time after the axe fell
On your whole window frame sell
Feeling just as a child I —
I couldn’t speak to the passerby

You said not to go
Making sure not to show
Now I would never say
That this for you is play

I can’t feel a thing tonight
I can’t see myself right
Maybe when I spot mine, I’ll return

Odds and ends keep calling my friends
He changed in the jungle, I laid in my bed
Odds and ends keep calling my friends
He died in the jungle, I stayed in my head



6. Eden John Wesley (The Fall of Man)

These are some crazy times we’re living in
Said the joker to the thief
Your screen it keeps the men alive
And it glimmers for their grief

But the blanket holds me tightly
Said the rider in the fore
If I could walk this way again
I would never lock my door

Take the road out past the stadium
It’s there you’ll find the lies
But if I told them right now
You might just punch my eye

Meanwhile, said the white thief
My homemade shoes are torn
I’m heading back to Chattanooga
The first train out the morn

The joker cut his hair short
And he gave it to the thief
He gave up everything he owned
And he hung there like a leaf

And so it goes the story here
The magic fall of man
Arrives not at a snail’s pace
But rather like a plan


7. The Denseness My Lady

The denseness, the dense side of my head is feeling
Honor and salt on my
Second set of hobo eyes
I’m numb

My lady, my stick little legs and arms are
Dense like a Bible, I
Couldn’t breathe before my —
I’m done

And I’m a lost one
But boys follow me ‘round
I’m like a fool, with my hollow gunshot sound
But I know you’ll never do me no harm

The ceiling, the room under my thumb I feel it
Turning a curve as I
Light up a cross, I cry out
I’m hung

Camille, my whole body sinks like
Lead in my shoes as I
Jump an accuse myself
My fault

And I’m a lost one
But boys follow me ‘round
I’m like a fool, with my hollow gunshot sound
But I know you’ll never do me no harm


8. Like Being in Love with an Ape

And the feeling like I lost
A love outside my reigns
An absent act inside my thoughts
Again will ravage my brain

So burning pipes of solid brine
Maintain a smokescreen relief
The bedsheet morning shining white
Then you were gone, a turning leaf

What exactly are you running from?
I won’t know

Another bevel stands between
My naked bursts of joy
It’s then I know that fading dream
The half-wit words I’d employed

But after all, my dances there
Eclipsed the letters I sent
If you are reading please beware
That these beliefs of mine have bent

What exactly are you running from?
I won’t know

In all the games I made to pass the time
I never stopped to think that you’d deny
The slow mistake I’d planned in summer’s light
Someone must have come and changed your mind


9. Amy Doll

Something aside of the fair heat blowin’ from
The color of ash and the burns on my thumb
On an inane track toward the interstate
Come and go, Amy doll, do not wait

Like sky with a patch of the milk-white jump
When I come back I’m gonna get you some
Of my mistake I will not take fault
Blame the weather, dear Amy, my doll

Again in the night with the turning bedroom clock
The noise in the air like an aching-midnight walk
On an inane track, I feel it coming to
One of these days, Amy, I’ll love you too

Some other time we’ll have to talk
But right now, my friend, take that jacket off

Another change in the daily Rockaway
Comin’ along but the shadows hide away
In my mind there’s tangle and there’s fog
I feel you, Amy, but you’re just gonna have to jog

And in my heart there’s a guilty wall of stone
I built in time to enforce my feeling low
Farther away with the times I will go
Stay there, Amy, just give me a minute to row

For a while, you and I might need to see
What you’re lookin’ at it ain’t so clear to me
But the fifth of your eye, I can tell it’s gonna blow
It’s all right, Amy, soon enough I’ll cut you close

Some other time we’ll have to talk
But right now, my friend, take those earrings off

In the dark I know it’s hard to be alone
But I can’t be there I got some things of my own
If ever my word gets too big for to say
Go along Amy, then again come back to stay

It’s like a leash I’ve wrapped around my neck
With a nearby rafter give a fifteen minute check
If this is a joke, I ask just gimme a wink
I’m so hung up Amy, please don’t make me think

Some other time we’ll have to talk
But right now, my friend, take that jacket off