Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind (2005) - paroles

[kjp]

Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues
(Skip James)

Hard time here and everywhere you go
Times is harder than ever been before

And the people are driftin' from door to door
Can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go

Hear me tell you people, just before I go
These hard times will kill you just dry long so

Well, you hear me singin' my lonesome song
These hard times can last us so very long

If I ever get off this killin' floor
I'll never get down this low no more
No-no, no-no, I'll never get down this low no more

And you say you had money, you better be sure
'Cause these hard times will drive you from door to door

Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more
Sing this song and I ain't gonna sing no more
These hard times will drive you from door to door




Not So Far To Go

ginger dyed her hair red to it her name
burny pocked his arms with a pack of camel lights
long sleeves outdoors to keep the kids from crying
and ginger climbed the high wire just to make them cheer.

trapeze float in a buttercup parade
with clowns and plastic parachutes three red the same
clutched arms fire dropped in a bar in new york city
and it's not so far to go to find trouble.

a bus rattles downstairs, downtown flying
with a gren seat empty and a window cracked
sleeping john snores dreaming oceans and whores
all the while gluing tile on basement doors.

he's burny arms brother, 'ginger's' other mate
and it's too late to tap the till, the money's gone
arm holes long locks a house with nothing in it
and it's not so far to go to find trouble.

a thousand mile handhold might keep the party still
if the holes heal well and the hair stays red
we'll climb another roof top and scare the crooks away
a gypsy and a singer in the bone yard.

walking the moonlight, losing the sign
sleeping john wakes, he doesn't know where he is
a bus stop in up state a bar in new york city
and it's not so far to go to find trouble.




Jericho

it was not two days. a night and a day
i look back at the man i was before
a sorry stranger banged up on the shore
your warm arms tore the walls down.
the devil with the damned things anyway
they were of no use, just a frame
from there he would watch, watch only.
not taking a part in this world.

i'd sold my mule and bale of hay
these shoes left, tattered and worn
they'd carry me to heaven or they'd walk straight to a hole
i didn't see you coming 'til i heard you there.
in one single breath, in two or three words
the old man crossed the bridge and down the side
and i was left standing holding my sword
dropped it in the ground, i didn't need it anymore.

a soul to sink into, ashing mine clean
i roolled like a hog on holiday
laughing boy laugh, smiling boy smile
this was no usual day.
my hunch back was straight backed my eyes were on fire
then i finally remembered what living used to be like.
playing in the ocean popping rhythms with your hands
turned the key in the lock and the door swung wide.

and what did we find inside?
a man with a reinvented view.
no shirt no pants, the hold hang bird is skined
floating in a cooking pot.
you stabbed me with honesty, passion and peace
and a will to move on with legs of steel
arms like popeye, giddy like olive
dancing like sweet pea with a wide open grin
now i begin retelling teh story
of the lost boy in chains saved by a girl.




Fleashine

A fleashine shoeshine man of fifteen
Brings the house in with a smile
All twelve teeth tell myriad stories
One upon one and one

The breath in his handwaving
Drives the gypsy woman mad
She loves him anyway
Has told him so a thousand times or more

She refuses to believe that
At 42 years old
She's not still a butterfly
Ready for the net

Bobby the fifteen
Is turning strong and growing soft
As can be seen by his patience with the animals
He used to hate 'em... now lays down beside them

To keep all from feeling sad
As animals sometimes do
He thinks of being old enough
To marry the girl with two heads

Their name is Gladys
And they don't yet know
Of the young man's fascination
They're too busy drawing circles in their arms

A fleashine shoeshine man of fifteen
Floating into the next town
Puts a straw in a Jim Beam bottle
And lays his head down




Cardboard Box Of Batteries

make a dent in the shovel
run the mud through the sieve
paste your hopes on a wind mill blade
and plant it up on the hill.
a pencil harpened with a putty knife
a pretty girl as a pretty nun
maybe you wake and think this is great
i just want somewhere to run.

the walls blend into ceilings, faces disappear.
never enough time to think it out only time to forget i'm here.
the bill is on the table but i've got no coins for pay
a beer half circle around her name. what the hell did she say?

the wise are playing tther bll and the balls eyes look like mine
rolling around on the end of the cord i can't make up for down
a stream lined engine with a cog chipped out of the wheel
i remember a dirty joke or two but i can't remember the feel.

too much time alone i spend. a miser with a nickel worn
starving like a mother but i can't let go.
i'll spit the hours 'cross the room and kick 'em out of the door
hell, you can have them. just another thing i've got no use for.

and it's funny that this comes out dark. it's not that bad
there's still a sparkle of silver in my cavity that plays music in the winter
i've got a cardboard box of batteries hidden in a tire swing
a miners hat with a light on top and a handful of wedding rings.




Gold Tooth

The air is turning cold outside
It's a rabbi in a brothel for the third time
The gold tooth of a broken man
A white glove in a purse down at the bottom of the sea

The day is turning dark outside
All aspiration face down in the street
A pro' in the alley with a red-moon sky
The last drag of patience on a celibate cigar

The light is getting hot inside
It's a butcher in the slaughterhouse smiling
A mule with a razor and a swagger in his step
Ratboy in the corner taking a leak against the wall

My heart is turning black inside
Stealing from the army shaking bells at the door
A hand in a bucket of creosote
Rusty junkyard nails sticking straight up through the floor

The breath has gone away from this house
It's a dog in the car in the winter
A hotel window in a hurricane
A furnace exploding down in the cellar, by the jars

My dream will come back to this house
It's a kid who refuses to shut up
A sheep dog playing with 84 bones
A fast, red Ferrari in a sixteen-car garage

Let me keep my gold tooth
Let me keep my gold tooth




Tommy

Tommy had a watch, a good kind of watch
It wouldn't tell time if you asked it
Didn't have a face, just an ear and an eye
To see him with

Tommy stole candy from the cornerstore
And gave it to the mice he built a home for
By the side of the heater, next to his guitar
That he could neither play nor destroy

Tommy wrote a letter to the office of iniquity
Demanding a history of his actions
But the letter was returned just 2 days gone
There was no office of iniquity

Tommy couldn't see so well and he didn't have a radio
He'd talk to himself in different voices
Or sing to himself in a Russian dialect
Invented on a Sunday afternoon

Tommy stole a limp and he borrowed a demeanor
So he'd scare anybody who'd want to talk away
'Cause they frightened him so bad that he'd pee down his legs
As he tried, very hard, to find the words

Tommy wore the helmet of a frustrated miner
Digging for words as though gold
Standing in the mud in his dark gray fedora
Wearing his knee-patched dungarees

Tommy was alone when the fire started
High behind the wheel of a colt 45
With a clip full of ether and a bucket full of gas
And a belly full of turpentine

Tommy made sure there was no one in danger
By knocking on each door like a madman
Then he locked himself in and did the whirling dervish
Tipped the candle over on the floor

Tommy fell asleep before the diremen came
Which was good because they scared him anyway
All that they found were the mice inside the fridge
In a box, with some cheese
And a handwarmer, run on batteries

Tommy was a good man. Nobody Knew
Tommy was a good man. Nobody Knew




I Am The Light Of The World
(traditional)

Just as long as I'm in this world
I am the light of this world

You don't believe in Jesus
And not a word he say
When he come all way down to Lazarus' grave
And raised him from the dead

Just as long as I'm in this world
I am the light of this world

I've got fiery fingers
I've got fiery hands
And when I get up in heaven
Gonna join that fiery band

Just as long as I'm in this world
I am the light of this world

Didn't they take old John the Baptist
And out him in a kettle of oil
Well, my god got in there with him
And they told me the oil wouldn't boil

Just as long as I'm in this world
I am the light of this world

Prayer is the key of heaven
And faith unlock the door
That's why my god give me the key
And he told me to carry it everywhere I go

Just as long as I'm in this world
I am the light of this world

I know I got religion
I know I ain't ashamed
For the holy ghost is my witness
And the angels done signed my name

Just as long as I'm in this world
I am the light of this world




Waiting For Marty

bourbon soda over ice, in the basement shade
got it made, no one here, just the beer man's dog
howling at the moon heat gnawing on a bone
waiting for marty to get home.

marty's in the bath house yanking out the gray
getting older ain't a party it's a good damn play
no wonder dogs howl. they can see the rider coming
waiting for marty to get home.

used to be a girl then a woman then nothing
the quilt is in the corner by the oak console
the phone rings once a day just like a daughter
waiting for marty to get home.

blend in with the city and the watering hole
doesn't talk he wants to think but he can't anymore
the basement game is over. there's food left in the fridge
waiting for marty to get home.

the milk man doesn't stop here and the bone is chewed to bits
stack of mail and old newspapers in the overgown yard
the light bulb on the back porch takes it's last breath
waiting for marty to get home.