Never Die Young

1. Never Die Young

   Never Die Young

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   We were ring-around-the-rosy children
   They were circles around the sun
   Never give up, never slow down
   Never grow old
   Never ever die young

   Synchronized with the rising moon
   Even with the evening star
   They were true love written in stone
   They were never alone, they were never that far apart

   And we who couldn’t bear to believe they might make it
   We got to close our eyes
   To cut up our losses into doable doses
   And ration our tears and sighs

   You could see them on the street on a Saturday night
   Everyone used to run them down
   They’re a little too sweet, they’re a little too tight
   They’re not enough tough for this tough town

   We couldn’t touch them with a 10-foot pole
   No, it didn’t seem to rattle at all
   They were fused together body and soul
   That much more with their backs up against the wall

   Oh, hold them up, hold them up
   Never do let them fall
   Prey to the dust and the rust and the ruin
   That names us and claims us and shames us all

   Oh, it had to happen someday soon
   There wasn’t nothing to hold them down
   They would rise from among us like a big balloon
   Take the sky and forsake the ground

   Oh, yes, other hearts were broken
   I know other dreams ran dry
   But our golden ones sail on and on
   To another land beneath another sky

   Let other hearts be broken
   Let other dreams run dry
   But let our golden ones sail on and on
   To another land beneath another sky
   Beneath another sky

   Hold them
   Hold them up
   Hold ’em up
   Won’t you hold ’em up
   Can’t you hold them up

2. T-Bone

   T-Bone

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   Me and T-Bone on the road to town
   It’s like I’m walking with a talking machine
   Just as soon as he thinks of something else
   He won’t wait to interrupt himself
   Must be something that he can’t quite say
   He just doesn’t want to leave it that way
   Although he may not know it yet
   Unless I miss my bet
   He’s just trying to forget
   What his heart remembers

   I see that T-Bone got an automobile
   Low-loping and open to the sky
   All night behind the hurricane wheel
   Riding in the eye
   All day underneath the hood
   Mondo Bondo, plastic wood
   He needs a mile of masking tape
   He wants to keep his ship in shape
   Someday to escape
   What his heart remembers (Oh, yes,What his heart remembers)

   T-Bone’s not alone, not alone
   Looks like he gets a second chance
   It’s Mamarama and Lumalamalu
   Want to take him to recovery dance
   He’s looking like he gets his meat suit back
   I guess he must have missed the crack attack
   Still he’s riding for a fall
   ‘Cause it’s written upon the wall
   That now he must recall
   What his heart remembers (What his heart remembers)

3. Baby Boom Baby

   Baby Boom Baby

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   Some how this season always brings a picture of you
   Baby Boom Baby
   Holding on for everything you figure your due
   Little turtle neck girl
   Moon on your shoulder
   Wind in your lovely hair
   Oh what a night
   We sat on the beach
   And watched as the sun rose into the summer air

   You said we couldn’t miss what we never knew
   Something about something that you had to do
   Sitting on the sand with a hole in my shoe

   I had no way of knowing where you might have been
   Time goes by
   All on my own I imagined you a life in-between
   All on my own

   I worked on a letter but it never made it out of my head
   No
   Some how reading your name
   It wasn’t the same as leaving the thing unsaid

   How come I miss what I never knew
   And drag out the past just to paint it blue
   Spend my days with a dream of you

   Oh after a fall
   Here im trying to find our name on the wall
   It was neither yours nor mine
   It was something of the two combined
   From a time spent out of time

   I work hard to see that you remember my name
   Nod your head yes
   Do all I can to make you want to see me again
   Oh what a night
   Got a letter from the mail
   Got a message from the telephone

   Seems your working in town
   Moving around
   And living alone

   Now I’m caught in the spot light
   Walking the wire
   My feet are frozen and my hearts on fire
   What do I do if my dream comes true

4. Runaway Boy

   Runaway Boy

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   Fetch down the fiddle, rosin up the bow
   Don’t play me nothing on the radio
   Don’t make me remember the Alamo
   I’m feeling like a little bit of Cotton Eyed Joe

   No ragin’ Cajun crawfish stew
   Fat batter come a lou mamma lou
   Boy howdy and howdy damn do
   Something like fine setting eyes on you

   Let me come down, I won’t never go back up again
   Oh, hold me down
   Let me come home, I won’t never go away no more
   Oh let me come down

   In a younger day back in Tennessee
   The muddy Mississippi used to call to me
   Float on a river and set yourself free
   Run from the farm and the family tree
   Run from the runaway boy

   So I’ve been all the places that I ever want to be
   I’ve seen all the people that I ever want to see
   I’m sick and tired of being lonely and free
   I’m ready today for what’s waiting on me

   I’m gonna give up believing I was born to run
   And stop acting like a man that gets shot from a gun
   I’m putting down roots, I want to soak up sun
   And stay right here until my days are done

   Let me back down, I will never go up again
   Hold me down, tie me on down
   Let me go home, I will never go away no more
   Oh let me come home
   Oh let me go down

5. Valentine’s Day

   Valentine’s Day

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   Beneath the tide the fishes glide
   Fin to fin and side to side
   For fishy love has now begun
   Fishy love, finny fun

   Paper moon, paper heart
   Pink balloon, work of art
   Al Capone, Bugs Moran
   Valentine’s Day

   Bootleg gin, porkpie hat
   Dew Drop Inn, dirty rat
   Through the heart, Cupid’s dart
   Valentine’s Day

   Day to repay the one that you love
   Gentlemen take off your hats as I speak thereof
   Just a brief break from the push and the shove
   We may go a few rounds without boxing gloves

   Land your punch, I stand my ground
   We break for lunch and a second round
   We set them up, we knock them down
   Valentine’s Day

   Me and you, you and him
   Him and her, us and them
   We keep score, love as war
   Valentine’s Day

   I lost my teeth, I lost my hair
   I lost my mind, you don’t care
   Love is war, all is fair
   On Valentine’s Day

6. Sun On The Moon

   Sun On The Moon

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   In line, in line, it’s all in line
   My ducks are all in a row
   They do not change, they do not move
   They have nowhere to go

   I’ve been talking to a friend of mine
   He says making money’s just a waste of time
   He’s a lazy gent, he don’t pay no rent
   He’s all bent out of shape from living in a tent
   It’s hard to hear what he has to say
   ‘Cause everyone around me is just the same way:

   More, more, daddy gimme some, gimme some
   More, more, daddy gimme some more

   Some kind of funny looking money machine it is
   Saddest looking people that I’ve ever seen
   Living in a hole, body and soul
   Strung out on the company dole

   One for a nickel and two for a dime
   Time may be money but your money won’t buy time

   In line, in line, it’s all in a line
   My ducks are all in a row
   They do not shift, they do not move
   They have nowhere to go

   Me and my flea we were down by the water
   Fell in a hole with Superman’s daughter
   Living alone, chewing on a bone
   Pretty as homemade sin
   She had to be high by the look in her eye
   Her hands were wet and her mouth was dry
   The sun on the moon, the sun on the moon
   The sun on the moon made a mighty nice light

   Bow wow wow, honk your horn

   In line, in line, it’s all in line
   My ducks are all in a row
   They do not change, they do not move
   They have nowhere to go

   Sometimes I’m hungry, I don’t know what to do
   You can take a taco to Katama too

7. Sweet Potato Pie

   Sweet Potato Pie

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   Oh Lord I feel fine today
   I’m walking on cloud nine today
   I’m over that line today
   Happiness is finally mine today

   I guess I’m just a lucky guy
   And I’m prepared to tell you why
   It’s strictly on account of my
   Sweet Potato Pie

   I’m the fellow that she loves the most
   The main reason why she left the coast
   She’s my little girlziña
   That much hotter that a jalapeño

   Tender like a night in June
   Sweeter than a honeymoon
   Brighter than a silver spoon
   Just as crazy as a loon

   Softer than a lullabye
   Deeper than the midnight sky
   Soulful as a baby’s cry
   My Sweet Potato Pie

   I used to see her around the neighborhood
   I wonder how she grew up so good
   She belonged to Freddy and he was bad
   And I never was ready to make him mad

   I’m glad I had to wait awhile
   A little bit too juvenile
   I needed to refine my style
   A silk suit and a crocodile smile

   So let the whole damn world go by
   ‘Cause I just want to testify
   From now on it’s me and my
   Sweet Potato Pie

8. Home By Another Way

   Home By Another Way

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   Those magic men the Magi
   Some people call them wise
   Or Oriental, even kings
   Well anyway, those guys
   They visited with Jesus
   They sure enjoyed their stay
   Then warned in a dream of King Herod’s scheme
   They went home by another way

   Yes they went home by another way
   Home by another way
   Maybe me and you can be wise guys too
   And go home by another way
   We can make it another way
   Safe home as they used to say
   Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
   And go home another way

   Steer clear of royal welcomes
   Avoid a big to-do
   A king who would slaughter the innocents
   Will not cut a deal for you
   He really, really wants those presents
   He’ll comb your camel’s fur
   Until his boys announce they’ve found trace amounts
   Of your frankincense, gold and myrth

   Time to go home by another way
   Home by another way
   You have to figure the Gods saying play the odds
   And go home by another way
   We can make it another way
   Safe home as they used to say
   Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
   And go home another way

   Home is where they want you now
   You can more or less assume that you’ll be welcome in the end
   Mustn’t let King Herod haunt you so
   Or fantasize his features when you’re looking at a friend

   Well it pleasures me to be here
   And to sing this song tonight
   They tell me that life is a miracle
   And I figured that they’re right
   But Herod’s always out there
   He’s got our cards on file
   It’s a lead pipe cinch, if we give an inch
   Old Herod likes to take a mile

   It’s best to go home by another way
   Home by another way
   We got this far to a lucky star
   But tomorrow is another day
   We can make it another way
   Safe home as they used to say
   Keep a weather eye to the chart on high
   And go home another way

9. Letter In The Mail

   Letter In The Mail

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   If I could go down now
   While the whole town is sleeping
   See the sun creeping up on the hill
   I know the river and the railroad
   Would run through the valley still

   I guess it never was much to look at
   Just a one-horse town
   The kind of place young people want to leave today
   Store fronts pretty much boarded up
   Main Street pretty much closed down

   The church bell still rings on A Sunday
   Old folks still go
   The young ones listen on the radio
   Saturday night nothing but a stray dog running wild
   Like nobody’s child

   And little by little, light after light
   That’s how it died
   They say you never go home again
   That’s no lie
   Its like a letter in the mail
   To a brother in jail
   It’s a matter of time
   ‘Til you can do a little bit better time
   (does me good to believe, sometimes)

   It used to be part of the heartland
   Awful proud and strong
   But deep, deep down peaceful and serene
   When people used to talk about the country
   That’s what they used to mean

   I might go down come the weekend
   Go on my own
   Drop off Annie and the baby
   Maybe drive alone
   Pay my last respects to a time
   That has all but gone

   We said, Mama come look at the mountain
   Fire in the sky
   It’s lit up like the Fourth of July
   The mill burning down
   The jobs leaving town
   The trains rolling by
   And little by little, light after light
   That’s how it died
   They say you never go home again
   That’s no lie
   It’s just a letter in the mail
   To a brother in jail
   It’s a matter of time
   ‘Til you can do a little bit better time

10. First Of May

    First Of May

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    And the light between us
    Which we could not quite extinguish
    Which we see at dawn
    Burns on

    First day of May
    Things are beginning
    Our side is winning
    Hip hip hooray
    Made in the shade
    Deep in the shadow
    Down by the meadow
    Lie in my arms

    And the moon will rise
    Before our very eyes
    We will rise too
    I’ll be with you
    It’s a rite of spring
    A horizontal thing
    The sweetest sort of dance
    Hidden in among the plants

    Ha ha ha ha
    People are laughing
    Children are singing
    Come join the dance

    And the walls around us
    Which we kept at such a cost
    When we turned around
    Came tumbling down

    Ha ha ha ha
    She can’t stop laughing
    He can’t stop singing
    First day of May