Published by Norbert Knape on his Mekons Homepage Waco Brothers: To the last dead cowboy To sweet to die to the devil and all his cockroaches we'll raise our glass today but before we sip this poisened wine we will kneel and pray that bastard says come and get it the drugs and the money's right here but where was he when I needed him downtown drinking beer oh we're too sweet to die we'll be buried alive the lipstick on my shirt says we're too sweet to die you threw me out the limo i fell and smashed my head stumbled to the water and sank to the river bed down there with the roots and weeds I was dragged along for a while hair like shellery winters night of the hunter style but up up up oes love down down down goes hate you led me up the garden and left me by the pearly gates Bad times we all knew things had to get better if we kept acting rattional and sane now i can see the clouds on the horizon bad times coming round again the sun ripens corn across the country shares are rising on the stock exchange people making hay while the sun shines cos bad times are coming round again bad times coming round bad times coming round bad times coming round again you might need a drink but you don't need a weather vane bad times coming round again black slaves shipped here in their millions worked and died til freedom was won now you look around for that freedom see it slipping down the barrel of a gun white men in grey suits lose all direction white men in hood are back again ruinning in the 96 election bad times coming round again bad times coming round bad times coming round bad times coming round again board up your window it might be a hurrican bad times coming round again yuppies come and gentrify your neighbourhood crusties say they fight it to the end no one askes the black or the lationo bad times coming round again if you don't change your mind if you don't change your mind I'll change it for you if you don't really mind, I'll take it from here there's no use resisiting I'm coming your way i've been confined for an eternity going to roll into this sleepy town going to turn this motel upside down the old men are smiling across the road makes 'em feel like they're in the know you complained about this dusty town you got your law and your order now whisperin in my ear i've smelled the glory and i've asked for money i've seen the screenplay and i've been hooked you're going down now for a count of thirteen just pretend you never looked at the age of fourteen the city called me called my bluff, called me a fool now i feel like i'm ninety seven and you're still taking me at school late at night as I sit drinking i start to see things clearer still though i'll never be in your company you're always whispering in my ear cold calling i a tuxedo and cancassing in a sequined gown those last minutes alterations she's gonna take me right to town harm's way i slipped out the back door as the ambulance arrived i would've liked to tell 'em my story, but i know i would've lied so i pawned my sister's dfiamond ring, got on the greyhound's back i figured with a little leeway i must just get on track and i'm just trying to stay out of harm's way by the time i got to chicago i thought i had something to sell but the deal fell through as they alwas do ce'es la vie what the hell every time i think of my baby working in that old coalmine i feel so goddam guilty i almost change my mind red door at the top of the stairs is a red door she locks it behind her each night i sit on the stoop at the druggists and wonder who shut out the lights at the top of the stairs is a red door on the night stand sits a black phone it's been years since she disconnected but there's one more way to be alone she used to drink sour mash whiskey and dance on her toes until dawn nobody knows why she went away and where all the music was gone at the end of the road is a dancehall they boarded it up years ago the laudanum drafts are all dry now but there's one more way to be alone at the top of the stairs is a red door someday I'll tear that thing down but for now i'll just sit and wait for the daylight and there's no way to be alone lake of vinegar please don't fall in love tonight just go on home a sober man gives up the fight if he's got someplace to go i never get the message that's washed up on the sand i wake up in some strange place and there's a bottle in my hand i'm grateful for your company please sponge my brow and soak me in cold water there's a taste so sour i can't wash from my mouth across the lake of vinegar i rowed my boat so far but never caught her the night was dark, she was nowhere to be found i never got the message that's washed up on the sand i wake up in some strange place and there's a bottle in my hand take off my clothes and take me in i'm sick and lonely, so in need of shelter don't let me be misunderstood again so drowned in drink i nearly fell over the heels to kiss the captain's daughtrer and now i can't explain about a thing k.t.tennessee if i was you eaving,i'd leave in the morning and not even wait for goodbye no, don't you just stand there fumbling your words i don't wanna see those packed up leaving eyes cos you walked all over may heart last night and we reached new heights of pain don't wait to hear my side of things cos i'd be beggin you to come back again you followed my lead, and you packed up your bags took a train far away from me to see if she knew where you might be she said son i've lost Katie ever since she was nine i think you better come in and sit down you look a good man don't blame yourself i'll tell you really why my little girl left town oh, we don't have toi say in our in our in laws now there's an old man who sits behind bars seemed he always had the eye for pretty young girls and my Katie she bears al his scars so if i was you leaving i'd leave in the morning and not even wait for goodbye no, don't you just stand there fumbling your words i don't wanna see those packed up leaving eyes cos they've trampled all over your heart before and there's no way to switch off the pain but there's one man right here to take you away from fear and i'm beggin for you to come back again sometimes i wonder you never believe me, even when i tell the truth and as the lights are turned off in a humble home a band plays out of tune you never console me, even though i throw the fight and you wonder aloud where we bother to crawl to the same bed each night that's what she said and without a tear sometimes i wonder what i'm doing here my dear as you're sleeping so you dream of the day when the sun is so bright and the sky so clear you can dodge what's headed your way to the last dead cowboy i'm a careless, hopeless, hard drinkin man frightened of the thunder and the cold many times you've seen out there on the land i'm a man who died long time ago i'm a man who died long time ago the trail is hard, but it leads everywhere out in the desert glare i pull my hat down over my eyes jyxpnotised by the image on the screen that shirt so whíte and clean, silver pistosl at his side take a trip to the wide open spaces looking for the traces of the wild frontier's call riding out, feel the rain on your faces through familiar places, thr truckstop and the mall this country starts to look and sound the same there's a singerr on the radio and i don't like his name we'll ride the range, paint the town red on the weekends while the bankers and the lawyers drive our country to the wall the four winds blow so i turn up my collar buy a burger for a dollar, it's the final cattle call $ Bill the Cowboy the last president of the United States that's $ Bill the cowboy standing under the gallows tree $ Bill the cowboy a quite man with dignity $ Bill the cowboy skulls and bones and history $ Bill the cowboy finish the puzzle attach the muzzle the white heat of techology will you take a kiss from these yellow gypsy lips will you take one last ride with me... he's the one-eyed jack in the pyramid that's $ Bill the cowboy from halloween to halloween $ Bill the cowboy he'll run from here to eternioty $ Bill the cowboy standing under the gallows tree $ Bill the cowboy Take one last ride, take one last ride with me will you take one last ride with me will you take a kiss from these yellow gypsy lips Plenty tuff union made from the country to the town police and bosses held us down back at the start when the ground was laid plenty tough union made i don't think the king woke up one morning said all people should be better paid (no) things were bad but things got changed plenty tough union made plenty tough union made one long struggle day by day that's how we got to live this way plenty tough union made risked a lot to live like humans locked out, beaten and defamed no one said it was gonna be easy plenty tough union made cowards cringe an traitors sneer liker the class war never happened here but don't forget as the future fades plenty tough union made our rewards are not in heaven (ptum) weak apart and strong together (ptum) devided we fall, united we stand (ptum) working woman and working man (ptum) we're not waiting for judgement day (ptum) Bully (by Bedlam Rovers) feet don't fail me now from mouth to floor choose the pedal and stick there and the shoulders have no head and i have no core and long to pull over and sleep there in the flesh it's awrinkle I didn't expect when did the journey become such a chore? the bully's been picking fights pinching and chapping hides and leaving nasty clues on dressing rooms walls and that's not all trust a tall shepherd when ypu're lame and bleating been bruised so badly it's not worth reperating are my cheeks red? and i forgive you for everything that respectable suit hangs ragged and loose it's ahazard it fits you and the pupil shines without distractions and dots and lines painted rosy and damn that must get you careful what you're backed into down like a hawk to peck you to pieces questioned wach action and kept you from speaking are my cheeks red? i forgive you for everything... but i'll forgive you for everything ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Mail to Nobby] [Go to the top]