Born Again Again

A black wing bird
lit down upon my back
it’s a long distance call

I’ve been waiting here
where you at
read that writing on the wall

The seven wonders
of your summer dress
your subtleties and your ambulance

You keep calling
every night on the phone
saying sorry
but you’re all alone and

It’s a lonely rain
It’s a lonely rain coming down
There’s a sea of change
nearly drowning you

Now you can charm
all the fish from the sea
take your sweet time and take your liberties

but you’re still just a babe
in the woods to me
you’re running scared
from all you could be well

The seven wonders
of your summer dress
The straight and narrow
and all my digression

You keep calling
every night on the phone
saying sorry
but you’re all alone and

It’s a lonely rain
It’s a lonely rain coming down
There’s a sea of change
nearly drowning you

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Throw an orange at the wishing tree
one for you and maybe two for me
been flying too low to clear this scene
and I’m making mistakes I’d rather not
be responsible for

Well I tried in vain to meet your needs
with drugs and violins
Ezra Pound and chimpanzees
juniper and Gin

But you drove the car like you stole it
to keep in touch with the mystery
but these flashing lights
are all on me

With true believers in your dreams
you fly high above the yard
you see and hear everything
from Mary’s Gate to Zanzibar

Diamond tears make up your veil
while devils dream of God’s despair
this war this road this race this sun
to the wishing tree we run

I know this gun is loaded
I know it’s a losing hand
I watched you walk away with that man

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Oh it’s such a shame to be
hanging off this balcony
twenty floors above the street
oh the things I done and seen for

Lalalalalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalalalalala

Well I was once the king of fools
running round this neighborhood
I heart I thought I understood
came and went before I could

Yeah but some they wear their paper crowns
pilfering the lost and found
slouching towards your fantasies
the beast it must have its way with

Lalalalalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalalalalala

I tell you true
it’s mean and cold
like a prison of your very own
it’s a hairy hungry cannibal
and it’s rippin’ your flesh rippin’ your flesh

Now some are born in golden boots
others torn out from the roots
I got neither brains nor looks
I searched them mountaintops and brooks

yeah well Della cut her long black hair
Jimmy sold his watch so fair
and Jacob slaved for fourteen years
just for Rachel to box his ears

Well Cleopatra Anthony
elephants and bumblebees
Napoleon and Josephine
poor young Werther on his knees for

Lalalalalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalalalalala
Lalalalalalalalalalalalala

I tell you true
it’s mean and cold
like a prison of your very own
it’s a hairy hungry cannibal
and it’s rippin’ your flesh rippin’ your flesh

I tell you true
it’s mean and cold
like a prison of your very own
it’s a hairy hungry cannibal
and it’s rippin’ your flesh rippin’ your flesh

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Thunder cloud
eight ball down
whippoorwill
the soul departing

Standing still
I beg your pardon baby
but I need to be clear

The sun is gone
bluebird’s flown
and in the dark
there’s a fire sighing

Marley’s ghost
is giving you a challenge
he follows your mistakes
from your widow to your wife

Ocean’s rise and swell
I can hear that carol of bells
ringing out in the night
echoing in the first morning light

Bless the weeds
bless the apples
the silent fields
and the sacred shadows
the good and bad
the weak and the strong
the wicked angels
and all their companions

well I done things
I’m so ashamed
but these mistakes
I just can’t change

The fire dies
the night it descends
so let’s raise a glass
death’s not the end

Ocean’s rise and swell
I can hear that carol of bells
ringing out in the night
echoing in the first morning light

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Lady bus driver
let down your hair
I want to ride with you child
everywhere

take me uptown
to cop some dope
take me back downtown
for salvation and smoke

Lady bus driver
here’s my fare
I want to ride with you child
everywhere

Lady bus driver
on Christopher Street
she got the air brakes on
and the beads on the seat

waits for me
in the pouring rain
takes me out to the market
for my coffee bean

Lady bus driver
won’t you take me there
I want to ride with you child
everywhere

The sky cracked open
and the floods they came
the preachers scattered
while New Orleans sank

the National Guard
was hiding in the weeds
and down in a bunker
our Commander in Chief

I went out to the corner
to see what I see
I saw my Lady bus driver
and she’s coming for me

let’s ride

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Remember when
you were in love
remember when
things didn’t seem so tough

The sky was falling
all around
but you never noticed

cause you were in love
yeah you were in love babe

It was so easy
just showing up
working and slaving all day

The boss man screaming about
I don’t know what
I’m happily wasting away

cause I was in love
yeah I was in love babe
I was in love
I was in love

Stars are falling
from on high
stomach empty
butterflies
won’t listen to reason
and I don’t know why

cause I was in love
I was in love
yeah I was in love babe
I was in love

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Loretta
give me one reason why
I shouldn’t love you

Loretta
there’s a tiny rain cloud
floating high above you

seems to like your company
keeps you running with questions
answering to no one

Loretta
you know I’m just killing time
before I stumble to your door

I remember
you never let no one feel
like they didn’t deserve

to see you smile
just a while
while they wait around
answering to no one

Take me with you when you go
Take me with you when you go baby
Take me with you when you go

Loretta
disappearing to empty rooms
every night

Tell me is it better
to draw the blinds
and hide away out of sight

and keep the wolves from your door
while you walk the floors
answering to no one

Take me with you when you go
Take me with you when you go baby
Take me with you when you go

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Take me down to Cumberland Farms
wrap me in your big black arms
tell me I’m the only one
that can make you feel alive

Tito’s down at the brushless wash
reading racing week and jerking off
he’ll never sell that Malibu
and he’ll always live at home

Cuz this town’s like a fire babe
with no back door and no brigade
and the only way to get first aid
is a Greyhound down the shore

And I don’t care just what they say
I’ll stick by you anyway
and I’ll take you out of here some day
to a duplex in Bayonne

Take me down to Cumberland Farms
where the hole in one never did no harm
and Alobar did the chocolate swirl
better than Dairy Queen

Gino’s got it out for me
I kissed his sister New Year’s Eve
and missed the forest for the trees
then passed out on the lawn

cuz you and me we ain’t movie stars
but at least we know who we are
and I think you’re better than by far
the flavor of the week

And I don’t care just what they say
I’ll stick by you anyway
and I’ll take you out of here some day
to a duplex in Bayonne

Aww shucks

Take me down to Cumberland Farms
where the neighbors fight from dust to dawn
casinos on the coast are gone
and crumbling in the sea

I got the cross-eyed daughter of a beauty queen
the relay towers in the trees
chasing signals from the sea
when the radio is on

The waves are breaking on the beach
but you’ve been smoking in your sleep
so grab the things you’re gonna keep
and let the rest burn down

And I don’t care just what they say
I’ll stick by you anyway
and I’ll take you out of here some day
to a duplex in Bayonne

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

It ain’t the paranoia that kills
or the Chinese placebo pills
or the way you get your cheap thrills
in the morning

Lord I have sinned
since I don’t know when but
it wasn’t my fault
no it wasn’t

This world boxed me in
yeah it boxed me in
sent me round the bend
without warning

Sometimes it’s safer in chains
than chasing a ghost in vain
you follow that line
to a door that ain’t open

Sometimes it’s safer in chains
freedom is a hard won thing
you follow that line
to a door that ain’t open

Scarecrow in the corn
another man done gone
he followed the law
but it broke him

Shining like the rain
on a windowpane
her eyes are words never spoken

Sometimes it’s safer in chains
than chasing a ghost in vain
you follow that line
to a door that ain’t open

Sometimes it’s safer in chains
freedom is a hard won thing
you follow that line
to a door that ain’t open

Sometimes it’s safer in chains
than chasing a ghost in vain
you follow that line
to a door that ain’t open

Sometimes it’s safer in chains
freedom is a hard won thing
you follow that line
to a door that ain’t open

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved

Pretty baby
you know that just ain’t right
the way you follow me around
looking for a fight

this ain’t really what I had in mind
when you and me we started
spending time together baby

Now we stay up all night with the TV
in between me and your ma
what’s it gonna be

So take your momma
and all of her shoes
I’m sick of her staring at me
while she’s talking to you

I’m so tired
of your lies
so sick and tired
of your mind

Now rumors say
you’re gonna take another fool
well you can go ahead
and drink his money too

Promise that you’ll stick around
’til the very end
but when that money’s gone
he’d better think again
now baby

All day long
with them clouds around your head
chain smoking GPCs and talking shit
you’re barking orders
and putting people down
but this room’s empty
take a good look around
now baby

I’m so tired
of your lies
so sick and tired
of your mind

I’m so tired
of your lies
so sick and tired
of your mind

Seven days a week
lying around wagging your finger at me saying
get up sit down get out come back no don’t do that
well I can’t breathe and I ain’t too proud to beg so baby please help me off of my knees
You got me on the ropes in your plastic boots with your DG hat
and your siamese poodle and your hairless cat oh why did I ever pay for that
I caught you a Moonpie down in Mobile at the Mardi gras
I bought you all the fuji apples in the Fall
but they still don’t make you happy no not at all no not at all
… I’m lying in the gutter … but I’m staring at the stars …

• Copyright Cranky Jesus (BMI) All Rights Reserved