Upon a missile rode the Lord
Roaring justice is the sword
He was melting off the faces of the damned
You have heard of Noah’s flood
That tale will pale against the blood
Pouring out and boiling in uranium sands

Don’t you know atomic power
Is just God’s celestial shower?
There are those that He has chosen
And those that He has not
There are many who will die
In the Lord’s plan by and by
But it won’t be you of I
Thanks to The Great Caucasian God

I said, “Lord, be thou near
Blot out everything that’s strange to me
Everything that’s queer”
I said, “Lord, don’t be far
I am in need
Of a friend indeed
The Great Caucasian God.”

Does not the Lord abide in Texas down in Waco and the rest of every Israel that hubris ever claimed
Don’t the Lord abide in prisons
Full of men with holy visions
Don’t the Lord abide in every tent and cave

Does not the Lord abide in bunkers
Every rifle without number
Every Ruby Ridge and Rittenhouse and home
Does not the Lord abide in fear
In tactical gear
Don’t the Lord abide in every hell-bent soul

I said, “Lord, be thou near
Blot out everything that’s strange to me
Everything that’s queer”
I said, “Lord, don’t be far
I am in need
Of a friend indeed
The Great Caucasian God.”

Wanna take a moment to talk with y’all about death
There are many that fear death coming quick and swift in the night and taking from them the toil of their hands and the fruits of their labor
But I say unto you today
There ain’t a crueler trick that death has played on man
That fooling a man into thinking that while his soul is dead inside
He is in fact alive on the outside

There is a foolish generation
Squandered all their fathers gave them
They are running out of time left to enjoy
They would kill and eat their own
If the TV told them so
So, they’re keen to watch the world burn just to prove a point

And they say, “Lord, be thou near
Blot out everything that’s strange to me
Everything that’s queer”
They say, “Lord, don’t be far
But they are in need
Of a friend indeed
The Great Caucasian God.”

I am in need
Of a friend indeed
The Great Caucasian God

In the morning
In the sunshine
Don’t I know it’s gonna be a brighter day?
Don’t it take a little raining to wash away the yesterdays?

In the forest by the stream
There’s an endlessness to thee
I know
Honey
You were meant to be
Everything that you will be
Do you know how great you are?
It’s so wonderful to see

In the morning
In the sunshine
Don’t I know it’s gonna be a brighter day?
Don’t it take a little raining to wash away the yesterdays?

A thousand years will go so fast
You will blink and they pass
Its true
Everything you’re gonna be
Needs every moment that you breathe
Nobody eats the fruit
The day they plant the seed

In the morning
In the sunshine
Don’t I know it’s gonna be a brighter day?
Don’t it take a
Little raining
To wash away the yesterdays

In the circle we go round
Don’t you let it get you down
My love
From on high the dawn shall break
All we have to do is wait
You may not know it now
But you got everything it takes

In the morning
In the the sunshine
Don’t I know
It will be a brighter day
Don’t it take a
Little raining
To wash away yesterday

Up in the asylum
On the temple of the couch
I was a witness to immaculate tv
I will pray unto Laverne
And Shirley one last time
Before the supernova bleaches me

Will they measure mars in acres
Will we finally meet our makers
Will Lucifer laugh until he cries
On the great red plains of mars
Underneath the same old stars
A trillion miles run and still I cannot hide

With the frontiers all surveyed
And the buffalo put away
I wondered what remained
With every mountain logged thus
And every field farmed into dust
I guess we oughta go and put the sky in chains

Things determined are in motion
By some preternatural notion
How could it be no-one consulted me
I musta missed the meeting
The inter-dimensional committee
Though I must say I’m not insulted in the least

On that billion light-year frigate
I said toss me over, dig it
I am running from a ruthless jealous god
You don’t know what wrath is mateys
Never lived ye through the 80s
The war was cold, but the cocaine hit the spot

When the pole is set in concrete
And they unfurl man’s ragged longing
And the banner of accomplishment is raised
O’er the wasteland red as hell
I will wonder, wonder well
Who is space is left to blame for my malaise

And the signs aren’t clear
As you try to steer
Through the terror and the hate and crime
But never once
Should you
Ever want to die

And after all of the years
You can’t put back tears
They just drain you as you say goodbye
But never once
Should you
Ever want to die

Everything is changing
Everything is strange, friend
Hold on
Hold on
Oh, you better, better hold on
Love

And so you fashion a whip
For your own back
And we watch you tear yourself apart
How long’s it been
Since someone said how beautiful
You are?

And that great regret
It’s not your cross
It’s just something you were told was fair
How long’s it been
Since someone said how beautiful
You are

Everything is changing
Everything is strange, friend
Everything is changing
Everything is strange, friend
Hold on
Hold on
Oh, you better, better hold on
Love

And there’s so many stories
And so many people
It’s overwhelming as you sigh
What good’s a God
If you
Can’t ever ask it “why?”

And but you heave it along
When you’re all you got
And you kiss another day goodbye
String enough good times together
And we might just have good lives

Everything is changing
Everything is strange, friend
Everything is changing
Everything is strange, friend
Hold on
Hold on
Oh, you better, better hold on
Love

Into problematical darkness
Of an arcane world I rode
On the back of a worm called Icondeath
As it had been foretold
Where the lava flowed over the plains
Austere with heat and black
A valley of the bones
Where people go
And don’t come back

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
It don’t come easy

I said wizard you be kind now
I’m in need of some advice
And talk no speak of majick blood
Or good-son sacrifice
And I begged to know if justice
Is a form far-out or in
He said son, there is no justice
There’s just what
And that jus is

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
It don’t come easy

At the marketplace of souls
I gave my only silver piece
And traded it for a mania
Chemical urgency
And I staggered into ergs
Where the wind blows without relent
And I still don’t know what livin cost
But I can tell you what I spent

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
It don’t come easy

Weren’t it you who pierced the dragon
Weren’t it you who led us out
Of a land so damn oppressive
Against hope and with great doubt
Did we not amble out of Egypt
Into a wilderness so dry
Weren’t there graves enough in Memphis
That we’ve been brought here to die?

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
It don’t come easy

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God
God go easy

There’s a story inside the lines
Of your face
I put a few there

You do what you can but your hands
Always give it away
You really do care

I hope you know my love
I hope you know my love

Don’t go giving up
Don’t go giving up
This late
In the race
Don’t go giving up
Don’t go giving up
This late
In the race

I know you gotta go I know
That you can’t stay
I am aware

I don’t do enuff but I want you
To be okay
I sure do care

I hope you know my love
I hope you know my love

Don’t go giving up
Don’t go giving up
This late
In the race
Don’t go giving up
Don’t go giving up
This late
In the race

When I return to the sea
Then again with you I’ll be
There’s place among the stars
Where you find out who you are
I’ll meet you there

Woman
What am I supposed to do
Woman
To get along with you

I read your books
I read your poems
There’s things I’ll do
And there’s things I won’t
There’s things to know
That ain’t been wrote
How’m I sposed to keep on down this road

Woman
How am I supposed to feel
Woman
Is half this stuff even real

I kicked the nest
And I done been stung
I can see the gallows
Where I’m gonna be hung
Maybe someday if we’re lucky we’ll find
A little bit a truth underneath the lies

I been living in you
You been living in me
I’ll keep it real
You keep if free
Tell me why it’s gotta be
So hard
America, girl
What’s goin on?

Woman
Why’s it gotta be so hard
Woman
To know who you really are

I talked to yer ma
I talked to yer pa
I talked with the devil
I talked with god
I consulted the east
I went to the west
Nobody could tell me which was best

I been living in you
You been living in me
I’ll keep it real
You keep if free
Tell me why it’s gotta be
So hard
America, girl
What’s goin on?

Will the astonishment kill me
Can I die from being blown aghast
Somewhere out there a whale is swimming. hey!
And when I find it I will know at last

I seen the silversmiths in Baghdad and Bosra
I laid eyes on them alone
I’m talking bout dimensions
I’m talking bout ascending
My soul’s gonna know to come to me when I’m home

Trace me back a thousand mothers
Maybe time is jus a magazine
I wanna tell all the things I know
How a mind can really grow
But then again, I ain’t ever been

Unconditional love has conditions, love
Ask anyone, they know best
I thought that Jesus was for everyone
I picked the wrong flavor Christ I guess

But don’t we get by
Don’t we get by
Don’t we get by alright?

The skeletons of the living dead amongst us
Lived and laughed and loved so bitterly
They said “you had better hate
All the people that I hate”
“You better wear the same skin
As me”

I’ve seen camels weave themselves through needles
I’ve seen angels avoid the eyes of the dead
Still blessed are the meek
The geeks and the freaks
Blessed are cursed instead

But don’t we get by
Don’t we get by
Don’t we get by alright?

There are Mesopotamian visions
And then again, there are Midwestern dreams
I built a trebuchet to jump the wall and see 'em
While they were quarrying the Colosseum
I saw a copy of the facsimile

I worked Saturdays at the satisfactory factory
After me, there would be shift change over
I’d quit being sober
I’d watch the planes fly over, think about folks I knew
I used to know a few

I’d call up the numbers, say “What’s up, brother?”
Today is another day, say, what’s new?
Talking the talk, walking circles
Around the block

Smack dab in the middle of the lower forty-eight
How could this be any slower than to go to hell and wait?
Decatur, I’ll see you later

Pulverized, beat down by the mundane
Paralyzed, going insane, well

The saddest factory’s still satisfactory still
Gotta make a living, they ain’t giving ‘em out
Not if I want my pride, I’d just as soon die
Than be lazy

Smack dab in the middle of the lower forty-eight
How could this be any slower than to go to hell and wait?
Decatur, I’ll see you later

I quit Saturdays at the satisfactory factory
After me, there’d be plenty of time
Since I’s off the line

I drank like a river, pickled my liver
Watch takers and givers shiverin’ in the cold, cold light
And I ain’t blamin’ nobody for nothin’
But I got somethin’, I can’t say
I gotta carry it away

I’d ring the numbers, call 'em up, no one’d pick up
I guess we talked enough

Smack dab in the middle of the lower forty-eight
How could this be any slower than to go to hell and wait?
Decatur, I’ll see you later

Pulverized, beat down by the mundane
Paralyzed, going insane, well

The saddest factory’s still satisfactory still
Gotta make a living, they ain’t giving 'em out
Not if I want my pride, I’d just as soon die
Than be lazy

Smack dab in the middle of the lower forty-eight
How could this be any slower than to go to hell and wait?
Decatur, I’ll see you later

John and I worked at the Chinese restaurant
Washin’ dishes and drivin’ the truck
We’d listen to Sabbath so loud, folks complained
In the back, we never gave a fuck
We’d drive down the river with catpoles and livers
Tallboy highlifes and cigs
John’d roll a doobie and we’d talk about movies
And dream about makin’ it big

On the summer night
Under the bigstar lite
Dreamin’
Over my head

John had a Nissan we’d tie a canoe on
And drive it on down to the stream
We’d paddle around and then pull into town
Just to see what we could see
We’d hang out and talk alot out in the parking lot
John met her out under the lights
They went steady through winter, November, December
And made it through the spring alright

Into the summer nights
Under the bigstar lites
Dreamin’
Over my head

John and his lady broke up for some shady shit
She left ‘em one night after shoutin’:
“You never loved me”, but we figured he must’ve
When he drove his old truck off the mountain
Now I can’t go fishin’ without kinda wishin’
John was there to talk
He left us in wonder and stole all our thunder
I’ll never get over the shock

Of the summer night
Under the bigstar lite
Dreamin’
Over my head

Summer nights
Under the bigstar lites
Dreamin’
If it were me instead

This age
Is the same age
As everything
That’s been
Nothing old
Nothing new
Jus a boring
Jus as strange
Jus as beautiful
Nothings changed
It’s the same
Old age
We’ve been through

Jacky
Hold my gun
Make me beautiful
This once
Let me honor
The pain
I been through
You said everything
Is everything
Nuthin ceases
Or begins
Then tell me why
This pain
Feels brand new

This age
Is the same age
As everything
That’s been
Nothing old
Nothing new
Jus a boring
Jus as strange
Jus as beautiful
Nothings changed
It’s the same
Old age
We’ve been through