Mike's Lyrics

Rain

RAIN

I'm gonna take me trip to some other time on the Wayback Machine
All the way out past memory lane
Be there arm in arm with that sweet little one
Slow dancin' in the beautiful rain.

See how you get, you get a little deeper each day
Every step another link in that chain
Followed your chain out to the rainbow
In the beautiful rain

Chorus
In the beautiful, in the beautiful, in the beautiful rain
This rain is a beautiful rain

Sisters of mercy held you in that light
Where the sun has turned the roses into fire
Sisters of mercy held you in the long black night
Falling in the dreams of your desire

Chorus
Good Book says it won't be water but fire next time
I believe that when I see the flames
I'll be standin' at the river with my old guitar
Playing "Nearer My God To Thee"

Chorus

PENNY ARCADE

Hey now it feels like I'm playing in a Penny Arcade
Watchin' all the action and all of the people who got it made
The pin balls ring and the fat ladies sing but it ain't over yet
Man what a movie who knows how this ends Just place your bet

Chorus
When I said I love you, you know that it's true
And I wouldn't mind playin' in a Penny Arcade with you

Hey now, it seems like life is a roller coaster ride
All the ups and downs get your stomach feelin like it's flyin away outside
It's a slow ride up, a quick trip down so you gotta hold on
Zero to 60 in no time at all And then it's gone

Chorus

Hey now, seems like life is a carousel
You were on painted pony in your little red dress with your parasol
Around we'd go lookin out at the world on a perfect day
When I'm with you seems like everything fine gonna come my way

Chorus

TRAVIS CALFMILK'S LEFT ARM

There'll be no more chickens in the barn, in the barn
No more roosters up at dawn
No more hired man hanging round the farm
Things are different now that they're gone

There'll be no more chickens layin eggs any more
No more roosters layin chickens, that's for sure
No more hired man hangin round the farm
Things are different now that they're gone

I said "Foghorn, leghorn Have you any wool?"
"Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
Sheriff my brother I swear it was the hired man
Who stole our crops then away he ran."

I sharpened my axe about a quarter to four
And I shaved with it till five
Then I took a little stroll all around the farm
Now there's no more chickens in the barn

They found them chickens in the big fryin pan
They found that rooster in the stew
But all they found of the hired man was his left arm
Out in the pasture I swear that is true

GET RIGHT WITH YOUR CHURCH

Your were born with two eyes why could your eyes not see (2x)
Born with two eyes why could your eyes not see
You couldn't see you, you couldn't see me
Better Get Right With Your Church and bring it on home

You were born with a heart why could your heart not feel (2x)
You were born with a heart why could your heart not feel
In a world where nothing but money is real
Better Get Right With Your Church and bring it on home

Chorus
You better get right Let the church roll on
Better get right Let the church roll on
Get right with your church and bring it on home
There's a jug of baby Jesus on the corner goin round
Someone saw the Holy Spirit comin on down
Get right with your church and bring it on home.

Give you cool water, you were dyin of thirst (2x)
Give you cool water you were dyin of thirst
You wanted a drink but your whiskey came first
Get right with your church and bring it on home

You were born in a temple but you studied at sin(2x)
Born in a temple but you studied at sin
Now there's a six foot hole to put your life in.
Get right with your church and bring it on home

HOUSE FULL OF FRIENDS

Uncle Fred made whiskey in an old lard can
And he went with a smile to the promised land.
I watched him drift away as he said farewell
From a hole in the sky In a coconut shell

Chorus
Dream big, don't lie stand up for the little guy
Hold on if you're all alone
You'll have a House Full of Friends when you finally get home

If you're sitting in the back yard
Birds poopin on your head
It really doesn't matter if you're already dead
There's just no more time to be mad anymore
Forget about vengeance and settling scores

Chorus

There's a long old train coming round that hill
If you got a ticket you might feel a little chill
Just don't look back to the empty spaces
cause at the window of the train
Are all your old friends' faces

Chorus

FATS DOMINO IS MISSING

The great hurricane brought a mighty flood
Old folks in the park covered up in mud
Children crying from the rooftops families prayin for an airdrop
While the storm blew New Orleans away
While the storm blew New Orleans away

Folks went days without water or food
The Prez was at his ranch cookin possum stew
Those too weak to lift their heads lay drowning in their beds
While the storm blew New Orleans away
While the storm blew New Orleans away

Many were lost who could not afford to leave
Even if they owned a car they couldn't buy gasoline
The water took their homes as they huddled in the Super Dome
While the storm blew New Orleans away
While the storm blew New Orleans away

Somewhere some politician is doing some butt kissing
Hey did you hear Fats Domino Is Missing
The water's rising still on Blueberry Hill
While the storm blows New Orleans away
While the storm blows New Orleans away.

GET ME TO NIRVANA ON TIME

Get me to Nirvana my feet are on fire
Get me to Nirvana my feet are on fire
Get me to Nirvana my feet are on fire
Get me to Nirvana on time

We are temporary rangers in a permanent park
No room left for polluters or for narcs
You can't find a bison but they got Big Macs
Where the red man lives by the railroad tracks

(Chorus) Get me to Nirvana............

I got a good old buddy name of Herb Green
makes moonshine taste just like gasoline
He got a '55 Chevy with 4 on the floor
You oughta hear them women scream when his hot engine roars

(Chorus)

The tax man tried to give us all the bone
Emptied out our pockets and took away our homes
We called Homeland Security lights were on but no one home
They were all chasing prophets in the great ozone.

(Chorus)

The cops found the bodies on the kitchen floor
The heads were inside of the freezer door
Lawyers came in and cleaned up all the mess
That's the way the system works I guess

(Chorus)

TAKE ME TO JUAREZ

Off to see America where do we land
Some west Texas town with a guy named Dan
In a Dairy Queen with a root beer float
He had Buddy Holly glasses and a Sgt. Pepper coat

Broke the empty bottles on the railroad tracks
Light of the town burning at our backs
Dan said he'd been a cowboy and if we had our doubts
The wine and the time slowly

Chorus
Take me to Juarez I'll show you the town
I speak the language I'll show you around
Nothin as sweet in this whole wide world
As the big brown eyes of a Mexican girl.

West to Juarez was an all night ride
on a table top highway blank as the sky
The liquor wore off with the rising sun
I wanted to die or at least to throw up
Dan got us lost down dusty back streets
dark eyes stared, dogs nipped at our heels
And the only Spanish that he could speak
was Por Favor and Buenas Dias

Chorus

Thought we'd head west, put Dan on a bus
when he got real quiet and his eyes glazed up
He started to twitch and kick at the door
He started to shake and he fell to the floor
He foamed at the mouth I just wanted to run
Jim said "Don't let him swallow his tongue."
And when it was over he just fell asleep
we started the truck and pointed it east.

Chorus

Out to see America and where do we land?
Some west Texas town with a guy named Dan
He pointed the way to a small bungalow
Walked up the front porch through the old screen door.

HONEY TO MY SOUL

You were sunk down bout as low as you could go
Felt hung by the neck where the four winds blow
Could not find a cure like only true love can hold
Then she came like honey to your soul

You remember when you were the King of the street
You remember when you could not stand up on your feet
She left a candle in a window her love never skipped a beat
She came like honey to your soul

Some would say that love is mercy,
Some would say that love is blind
She will follow you down, turn your head around
She came like honey to your soul

You been downhearted noplace left to go
Alone in the dark at the last picture show
You felt your backbone and your navel doin the belly roll
She came like honey to your soul

Some would say that love is mercy,
Some would say that love is blind
She will follow you down turn your head around
She came like honey to your soul

VAMPIRES

A man looks in his rear view mirror, the mirror turns to black
Radio says "If you vote tonight boy, you ain't coming back.
You ain't comin back."

Chorus
Vampires, vampires they'll suck blood out of snow.
You can find a vampire anywhere you go.

They took a black man to the bridge
Wrapped barb wire round his neck
Tied both ends to a cotton gin fan
Drowned him in the creek.

Schwerner, Chaney Goodman
In blood the vampires wrote
They're drivin down our backroads boys
Tryin to teach them people to vote

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain
For purple mountains' majesty
Above the fruited plain

America, America God shed his grace on thee
Crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea

Save us from the vampires so prayed Dr. King
Save us from ourselves at last and let the whole world sing

THE OAK

I once knew a young boy who loved an old oak tree
And the great oak stood looking down at the sea
He would climb it's branches and sleep under its wood
The oak was a friend And life was pretty good

It gave him strength and was a shield
From a world closing in filling up all the fields
When he'd climb its branches and sleep under its wood
The oak was a friend And life was pretty good

Life was pretty good most everything was right
The sun in the daytime and wishing stars at night
He could feel the heartbeat of the earth all around
And sail into the sky just lying on the ground

The boy grew up, got a job, moved away
And he dreamed of the oak many a day
When he was old and tired And finally went back home
To sleep under the oak forever alone

But the oak was gone
Houses built to the sea
There was a sign that read "Welcome to Walden 3"
So enjoy life when it's good and most everything's right
The sun in the daytime and wishing stars and night.

You can feel the heartbeat of the Earth all around
And sail into the sky just lying on the ground
This old world don't always spin like it should
With an oak for a friend life was pretty good

You can feel the heartbeat of the earth all around
And touch the evening star just lying on the ground
You can ride a shooting star just lying on the ground
You can fall into infinity just lying on the ground

I once knew a young boy who loved an old oak tree

Down Bullfrog Road

BIG HAIR

I was down at the last chance with Captain Billy
Playing gin rummy and havin a brew
When the door swings open and in walks a woman
I said "You look like my baby, but honey is that you?"

You see she'd been down to the beautician's parlor
Working on a new look and a different hairdoo
As Billy pointed out she was a little bit taller now
She used to be 5 foot, now she's 6 foot 2.

(Chorus)
She had big hair great big hair
Hey honey that is sure some doo
She had big hair great big hair
Be-bop-a-lu-la baby I love you.

Billy said "Man that is a bee hive bouffant
With an Afro on the side and some sailors' knots too."
I turned to Billy and not thinking I said
"Or is it some kind of muskrat sittin on her head?"

My baby knocked me down on the bar room floor
As Billy snuck out through the back alley door.
When I woke up she was standin right there
She said "Learn to love a woman with great big hair."

LIPSTICK LIES

If you needed her company and the light was on
you'd stop and see her
Bringing tokens, that must be what they seemed
Whiskey and roses when you'd come

She hides herself in the course of conversation
Just conceal and not reveal is her law
She brings up memories that stall you while you wait on her
You can't forget her but you don't know what you saw.

Chorus
Lipstick lies, lipstick lies they come on slow
But they'll take you by surprise
Everytime you said goodbye you always realized
You did not really mind those Lipstick Lies.

You always remembered that her favorite color was rain
As the years go by and time takes you apart
And you always remembered that life is like a chain
Where once you love someone they're always in your heart.

IRON HORSES

Down between the railroad tracks and the river
Walking along by the old canal
6:09 rolled by so close it scratched my back
The whistle blew and the engineer yelled

I was two days out of Chamberlain
Rode a boxcar through the storm
It always seems that when a blizzard comes in
You're never sleeping somewhere warm

(Refrain) Money will not help you, you can't buy yourself a ride
There's only way freights running through
But if I could I surely would be a headlight on that diesel
Shining on the morning dew, shining on the morning dew

Section men with leather faces
Are working at the depot while the railyards freeze
Snow blows up against the station
Wind sounds like a freight train in the trees

The conductor sits with his feet up by the fire
Smokes his pipe with his head held in his hands
Late last night up along the Missouri
He dreamed he was the very last railroad man

STRANGER IN THIS LAND

Living down in Tombstone Town in between the muggers and the bones
Raising hell at the big hotel, Looks like a long way back home
You did your gig in a cowboy rig when the drugstore got you stoned
Cried to the sky for the land that you loved,
Now it looks like a long way back home

(Chorus) Hey lordy lordy Miss Clawdy
Somebody lend me a hand
Email the U.N. and call all my friends
Tell them I am stranger in this land
I am a stranger in this land

When I settled in here I was just passing through
Playing guitar and singing the blues
Before all the animals were running the zoo
Now it looks like a long way back home

The President proclaimed that the world was flat
And Congress declared "We'll second that"
You can't tell Republic guns from the Democrat
Now it looks like a long way back home

(Chorus)
They got a new flag now it's still red, white and blue
They just put dollars signs where the 50 stars flew
You elect them, but they don't listen to me or to you
Now it looks like a long way back home

MY FATHER'S SHOES

I am not my father, just my father's son
But if I was somebody else he would be someone
I would try to become in another life
Dressed in a suit made from his shadow
Tailored with his knife

I would wear his great coat, I would pay his dues
I would walk around the world in my father's shoes
I would smoke his cigars and wear his goofy ties
Then maybe I could see the world was kind
Through my father's eyes

My father was a Christian, a Buddhist and a Jew
An he was just a working guy maybe someone much like you
He was a Hindu and a Muslim, mister you could see
He knew we were all different leaves
Hung on the the same tree

I am not my father I guess it's not big news
But I'd love to walk this town all night in my father's shoes
I am not my father and it won't make the tv news
But I would give the blood he gave me to walk inside his shoes

I am not my father, just my father's son

NO PEAS, NO RICE, NO COCONUT OIL

(Chorus)
Mama don't eat no peas no rice no coconut oil
Mama don't eat no peas no rice no coconut oil
Mama don't eat no peas no rice no coconut oil
All that mama drinks is handy brandy all night long

Mama don't drink no gin because it makes her sin

Mama don't drink no whiskey cause it makes her frisky

Mama don't drink no wine because it makes her lose her mind.

CHICKADEE

Mr. Chickadee says to Lady Chickadee
I love the way you fly With your gorgeous wings
Open so wide Tailfeathers held up so high
They say that birds of a feather will flock together
Let me get this off my chest
I'm tired of talkin' I'm ready for some flockin'
Chickadee won't you feather my nest

Sometimes I think when I'm a wire
How you pick me up and help me fly higher
So close to the sun you melted my heart
Chickadee I had this thing for you from the start
They say that birds of a feather will flock together
Let me get this off my chest
I'm tired ofr talkin' I'm ready for some flockin'
Chickadee won't you feather my nest

Dark days, bad times, cold winds blow
We've stayed together it's true
Because bright days find us always find us
And we fly out into the blue skies

Mr. Chickadee says to Lady Chickadee
I love the way you shine
And my song's for you just asking you to only forever be mine
They say that.........

PUT IT ON THE PLASTIC

I got a letter in the mail last year one day.
And I'm gonna tell you what the letter did say.
It said we got your name on a plastic card
Interest rate won't hit you too hard

All you do is sign by the X on the line
We require nothing drastic to put your name on the plastic
Just say "Put it on the plastic, put it on the plastic."

So I took the card just to give it a try.
And I went out looking for some stuff to buy.
Every place I shopped the clerks all say
"Put it on the card sir, it's quite ok"
All you do is sign by the x on the line
Your credit's elastic with the card made of plastic
Just say "Put it on the plastic, put it on the plastic."

(Bridge) I bought a new refrigerator and an old Studebaker,
oh and large alligator for my mother-in-law.
Mohair pajamas, an inflatable llama,
oh and a long crocodile for my mother-in-law.
All you do is sign by the X on the line

Told my cat and I told my wife
All the money is running right out of our life
Every dime that we make each day
Goes to the plastic that we got to pay.
All you do is sign by the X on the line
Life was fantastic with the card made of plastic
Just say "Put it on the plastic, put it on the plastic."

GREAT FLOOD

They closed the river this morning the levee was all gone
Half a million sandbags, riverboats all shut down.
You can lead your horse to water,
but you know he might not swim
When the rain keeps pouring down and the river's closing in.

Father led us to the high ground and we looked back down below
To see the milk cow drowned and the pickup sunk down
where the green corn used to grow.
In the same boat as the neighbors, drifting by the rainbow's sign
You try to keep your head above the water
till the Great Flood comes next time.

Chorus
And we will build a boat and live out on the flood
I was born on the bayou, I was washed in the blood
With the people of the river from St. Paul to New Orleans
And we will ride that boat from this land of bitter dreams.

Went to Memphis on a Monday, came home Friday afternoon
About three feet of water in my living room.
You try and figure out if you should make just one more stand
When that Mississippi River keeps taking back the land.

(Chorus)
And we will build a boat...............
And we will ride that boat to a land of better dreams

IF YOU LOVE HER LET HER GO

There's nothing left here but the silence
Just your letter on the bed
But blue shadows on the pillow
Where you used to lay your head
I guess our love was not as strong
As I believed that it could be
There's a voice inside that's saying
"Man you better set her free"

(Chorus)
And if you love her let her go
Mister you're the one should know
That old fire ain't there no more
If you love her let her go

There's no more hope no more desire
I could see it in your eyes
I believe it's better to be alone
Than to live with all the lies
You could compromise yourself
Or give anything at all
I was blind not to see the handwriting on the wall

(Chorus)