before the eyes of storytelling girls
1984
cosmic american
the belly and the beast
orion
mockingbird
i wear your dress
a hymn for the exiled
quecreek flood
one good thing

1. before the eyes of storytelling girls

i could tell you stories like the government tells lies
ah, but no one listens anymore
in the rooms, the women come and go
talking on the mobile phones
and the television talks about the war
when i was a baby, there was laughter in my house
my daddy smoked domestic cigarettes
and thursday nights on the radio
live in concert- live from cairo:
mother of egypt!

mama, mama, be with me
with the music in your breast
in your glittering evening dress
and the white flag in your fist trembling

i could tell you stories like the past was dead and gone
but i know nothing changes in this world
every day the muezzin calls
the sun comes up and baghdad falls
before the eyes of storytelling girls
she was just a poor man’s daughter
going down into the sultan’s bed
he was desert, she was water
and he remembered every word she said, that she said,

and i say, grandma, grandma, be with me
in your tragic wedding gown
with your long hair hanging down
and the stories tumbling out, tumbling

i could tell you stories like the government tells lies
ah, but no one listens anymore
in the rooms the women come and go
talking on the mobile phones
and the television talks about the war, about the war
the television talks about the war

2. 1984

down at headquarters, there’s a big database
with black and white photos of the side of your beautiful face
and your library record, and all your test scores
and an invitation to party like it’s 1984

baby, don’t look so nervous, they just want the facts
and it’s all written out in the usa patriot act
cause we don’t take no chances in a nation at war
so tonight we’re gonna party like it’s 1984

oh, honey, what did i tell you about the house being bugged?
they can hear us making breakfast, they can hear us making love
but excuse me a minute- big brother’s at the door
and he’s ready to party like it’s 1984

you know you’re my one and only; you always have been
sure is gonna be lonely after i turn you in
so i’ll wait till tomorrow to file my report
and tonight we can party like it’s 1984

3. cosmic american

i’m a live wire, i’m a shortwave radio, do you copy?
i’m a flash of light from the radar tower to the runway
if i leave you i’m gonna do it semi-automatically
do you blame me?

you are so far out there in the static
hey, baby, am i coming through?
i am up above the buildings
i can see forever out the window of a hotel room
i spent a long night with a stranger i give my body to
still i miss you

bridge
still i never knew a love so tender
we’re out behind your astro van
and you’ve got me up against the fender
you are the cosmic american man

i’m a live wire, i’m a shortwave radio, do you copy?
i’m a flash of light from the radar tower to the runway
if i love you i’m gonna do it semi-automatically
do you blame me? do you blame me?
do you blame me?

4. the belly and the beast

i in my longing fly out in the night
unveiled and irreverently dressed
i’m lip-stuck and liquored up- picking a fight
i’m the wicked wicked witch of the west
over the alleyways, backward and blind
and the sad and insatiable sprawl
over the marketplace, darkly defined
his desert is sounding a call

he was a businessman twenty-five years
when the angel appeared with his orders
i am making you mine, my divine volunteer
and i’m flying you over the border
and he can’t recall where it all fell apart
was it north of medina or south?
where the prophecy ends and the politics start
where the weapon went into his mouth

bridge
and everyone’s sleeping, and he’s flying out
and no one can keep him down now

the morning delivers the news to my door
of my president’s war in the east
but he doesn’t tell me and i don’t know who’s
in the belly and who is the beast
when there’s no place to run to, when there’s no place to hide
it won’t matter whose side you are on
like the bomb in the basement we couldn’t stop if we tried
and it won’t be long, and it won’t be long, and it won’t be long...

5. orion

you were dead when they found you
on the floor of your apartment
you were dead, and your drum set
stood there shining in the dark
shining like stage lights
shining like your eyes
shining like orion in the night

you were small time back in austin
where the drummers are all poor
you were rocking out this dive bar
there were bottles on the floor
and a couple lonely people
and the bartender and i
remembered what it is to be alive

chorus
hey, orion, he’s falling
catch him if you can
hey, orion, he’s calling
amen, amen, amen

were you dreaming of the big time
when you fell down all alone?
could you see the velvet curtain
and the silver microphone?
could you hear your own heart beating?
did you hear it getting slow?
could you hear your own heart
playing rock & roll?

chorus

gram parsons in a hotel
buddy holly on a plane
and you, in your apartment
with your drum set shining
shining like stage lights
shining like your eyes
shining like orion in the night

chorus

6. mockingbird

hush, you little baby, don’t you say a word
here comes the devil, all dressed up like a mockingbird
and if that mockingbird should try to steal you off the ground
mama’s gonna grab on tight and hold you down- down- down

mama, can you tell me: where did my money go?
what did the devil sell me? i don’t even know
he’s been pecking in my pockets, diving round my door
trying to take me with him- what does he want me for?

chorus
mama told me: don’t let go the ground
somebody hold me- hold me down

i got the devil on my shoulder- hollering- beating his red wing
saying "polly wanna dollar, i don’t care if you can sing"
and "put down that guitar, now, darlin’, you can’t really play it
don’t matter what you got to say- you don’t know how to say it"

chorus

bridge
what’s this coming? what’s this coming? coming over me
i can’t stand myself- i can’t even stand on my own feet

chorus

7. i wear your dress

this is just to tell you that i wear your dress sometimes
the one you made with the gold brocade and the empire waistline
you fitted to your figure when it looked just like my own
that was jersey in the fifties, and the women stayed at home

so you laid your paper pattern on the table in between
the silverware and napkins and the harper’s magazines
from a slow suburban season that is nothing but a dream
to your granddaughter

this is just to tell you that i wear your dress sometimes
i wear it down to the bar in town and dance around all night
talking and joking, swearing and smoking like any stranger in a crowd
and nobody stares, nobody cares to tell me i’m not allowed- i am allowed

and my body, by the letter of the law, is still my own
when i lay down in the darkness, unburdened and alone
with the liberty you’ve given like the clothing you’ve outgrown
to your granddaughter

this is just to tell you that i wear your dress sometimes

8. a hymn for the exiled

one two three four five six seven
the word came down to him from heaven
and naked as an animal, he knew:
everything of flesh and bone
he could call it all his own
if he could name it, he could lay claim to it, too

but after all the word was spoken
you sent him out into the open
all alone to make his broken promise whole again
eight nine ten eleven twelve
did you see how far he fell?
did you watch him covering his body in his shame?

and wanting you near him
though you couldn’t hear him
he was falling down with your name in his mouth

a thousand thousand years pass through me
stoned on loneliness and movies
where people make their love in foreign tongues
every family locks their door
every man in uniform
reminds me of the body of my own one

i knew you before i met you
i’ve forgotten why i left you
all i wanna do is get back into your good grace
call you by your hundred names
till it makes you mine again
till i get my will back in this godforsaken place

i want you near me
i know you can’t hear me, now
but i’m falling down with your name
i want you near me
i wish you could hear me, now
while i’m falling down with your name in my mouth

9. quecreek flood

it was late in july at the quecreek coal mine
when the water came rolling down
as black as bad blood to where nine good men stood
shuddering, shivering, shouting for deliverance
sure they would drown

and safe above ground, the boss paced around
surveying the scene of the flood
after chasing away the UMWA
so inspections were cheap- still he didn’t lose sleep
he just stood in the sun- "what could we have done?"
he said, "this was an act of god"

and the president came from his party campaign
to shake every hero’s right hand
after slashing the funds for the miners’ black lungs
and the regulations- "god bless our nation," he said,
"united we stand"

and the anchorgirl cried when the miners survived
she lauded her god in his glory
and the tired cameraman packed up the van
and they wore the same frown as they drove out of town
where they found the next sellable story

and we who were raised by invisible hands
and we who were raised on government lies
we prodigal children of the promiseland
who’s gonna open our eyes?

10. two kids

my daddy’s house is the safest of houses
he sealed up the windows so no air gets in
and there’s plenty of campbell’s and beers in the basement
in case we can’t get to the store or something
and my daddy told me that some people hate us
they even hate me, and i’m just a kid
i asked how come, but he didn’t answer
so i started thinking it was something i did

-arabic text here-

i have a bed with a superman blanket
he’s not afraid of the dark like me
sometimes i can’t fall asleep when i’m supposed to
i’m thinking about something i saw on tv
there was this house in a field full of houses
it was the bad guys living in there
but i saw this kid looking out from the window
and he didn’t look bad, he only looked scared

11. one good thing

turn that tv off, now, baby
i’m so low i don’t even sing
tell me something ‘bout my country
tell me one good thing

cash and elvis, cain and abel
down in memphis, trading hands
big girls dancing on the tables
dancing for the band

put that paper down, now, baby
i’m so low, i don’t even sing
tell me something ‘bout my country
tell me one good thing

king and malcolm, lamb and lion
setting alabama free
thirty thousand angels flying
from montgomery

switch that station off, now, baby
i’m so low i don’t even sing
tell me something ‘bout my country
tell me one good thing
tell me one good thing