RADIO GREENSBORO ....i grew up in front of the tv. the sounds from the speakers did not satisfy me. i needed something as a growing 10 year old. i found salvation from the college down the road. so long ago on the radio. they played the punk that all my sisters friends loved. they played the ska that i'd never even heard of. late at night i heard the songs that changed my life. transmitters off at the end of the night. when the underground stations slowed down i'd adjust the dial to motown. oh the motown station's gone but we still got the kids who stay up late at night on the college campuses. in tiny rooms with one microphone playing their records through the speakers in my home. late at night in greensboro i still listen to my radio. you think no ones listening to you, but we are listening to you. BITTER ....i've been told by many people that i will be so bitter when i die alone. i said i know. i've heard it all before but i dont go out the door. i hide away with nothing to say. cracking at the seams forgetting all my dreams. what did i used to do. was what i did fun. did i talk to anyone. did i ever leave the couch. did i ever leave the house. the bitter life. not the better life but the bitter life is the life i live. i'll take my time probably not use it wise but the bitterness keeps coming with time. and time never stops to let us take a break. it just keeps breaking us down. looking for an answer. i need an answer. there's no answer there's nothing here at all. if everything means anything then this should mean something. it doesn't mean a thing. holy shit i've lost all feeling except the bitter one. SUBLIMINAL THOUGHT CONTROL ....now i'll throw my life away. i geuss i kinda wonder what my mom would say. she'd say are you eating right and do you sleep at night. i'd say i did neither today. so why can't i get back on track i'm afraid there's something inside i lack. maybe motivation maybe infatuation. i don't think i want either back.and now i wait for my brain to process rational thought my brain is just intentionally off. its just a mass of responses and chords. even my mom knows the sound of subliminal thought control. and now the girls are throwing up in the back. they don't like the looks of the clothes on their clothes-racks. maybe its the magazines or the movie scenes its got them all convinced they're fat. i wish i could make them understand or take them all by the hand. don't trade whats inside for beauty on the outside just so you can go out and find a man. its not worth it. and now i wait for their brains to process rational thought. their brains are subconciously off. they're just masses of responses and shoes. if only our girls knew the look of subliminal thought control. the world needs to wake up today. or at least have something positive to say. that starts an open dialogue not a final epilogue of our nations decay. because time is running out. we need to do something now. maybe cut the safety net maybe just hit reset whoa oh. and now i wait for our brains to process rational thought. our brains are subliminally off. they're just masses of responses and soul. if only the world knew the look of subliminal thought control .CAROLINA NIGHT ....the kids are out on a carolina night. i see them dancing in the light. can't you hear those sweet sweet sounds. coming out this garage on chapman street. amplifiers loud on a carolina night. garage door down so the cops wont bite. singing songs with these strangers and friends. i dont want this night to ever end. take the night. take the show. remember it. remember the bands. remember the songs and all of the music we heard at chapman street. got some microphones on a carolina night. people hiding beers must be a chapman street night. tonight the neighborhood will be full of guitar, bass, drums, and people having fun. i will always remember. LET'S GO TONIGHT......i dont give a good gdamn what we do. we can eat salts. we can watch the tube. we can just sit around all day. i dont really care, no, either way. when you open up that door i cant think like i could before. when you open up the door i said lets go lets go tonight. lets go tonight. we can do the 1 2 3 4 5. we can bop around until we're barely alive. we can toss and turn all night. toss and turn until the morning light. but when you open up the door i cant think like i could before. when you open up that door i said lets go. lets go lets go tonight. THE ONE ...... and now it seems that the past it doesnt make a difference. it seems over the years you haven't learned much. about me, about you, about anyone in this life. how does it all get erased in just one night. take it back on me, i'm the one. kick me when i'm down, i'm the one. betrayal takes two, i'm the one. and i know that you'll never forget this. it seems we're all destinations and detours on the map. but the lines don't intersect they only run off. there's so many answers in the night. if i had any idea how many i would tell you. and certainty, it turns to confusion. and the sounds of the night only cause pain. there's so many whispers in the night. do you hear them. i hear them all. THE BOOK ......a family fueled on hurt pride. where do we go from here. did someone miss a piece of the puzzle. was something left unclear. steps nine and ten come after eight. but what's the use when you apply the theory too late. step back for the review. we got a little more studying to do. is time all we need to learn? can we stand aside let it go and take our turn? or do we need learn from experience? and refer to our youthful apathy in the past tense. is there a lesson or example that tells us what we do now. is there an exercise or figure in the book that tells us how to move on. when there was yelling in the alley did anyone think twice. what do we take from the ashes now that everything is burned burned burned. am i the one to blame- i read the book. i gave up my heart and soul and never took things for granted even though i handed my life to every crowd. did i let someone down. should i just swallow my pride or should i leave this town. the steps would never equal twelve, there's just some things you gotta find out for yourself.(that's exactly what we need to do.)
NO MORE WHITE TRASH ......waiting for the end of the world like elvis said but we're too sick from poison coming out of that head. no no no. no more white trash in the house. is that what life was all about. its love respect people uniting. there's no time for all this undone fighting. it just takes time to recapture what's been lost.
ZOMBIE SUICIDE......tonight tonight the food runs out. they'll tear down the walls i have no doubt. maybe its time to join the other side. the dooor the door they're pounding at the door. i open it up i don't know what for. all the hungry corpses they rush inside. when i wake
up today. i'll give my life away. a life of brains is a life of sin. let my zombie life begin. oh it burns and bleeds for a little while. but then you get some brains and give a zombie smile. life ain't so bad when you're not alive. oh we can talk about how zombie life is swell. we'll
talk again when we're burning in hell. oh wait there's no more room in hell. oh well. let's get some brains.
PAST IS PAST......there were some years you've learned to regret. but those days made you who you are. they say what does not kill you makes you stronger. well sometimes it kills you and you don't even know. you spent your days contemplating how he broke your heart.
but now you know what you want in a man. i know there were good day before the bad. don't let that pain destroy memories that you have. and you know what i said it was true. you're just waiting for time to catch up with you. you've got regrets and remorse and it's causing
you to fall. but the past is the past and that's all. everyone is looking for some happiness and they wanna let the bad days go by. but they keep on dragging us to that part of everybody's mind. take what you need from the apst then let it go. your're moving much tolow.
JAMIE WILL GET THE BEER TONIGHT......jamie's out the door with a 24. he puts his pedal to the metal and his pack to the floor. well there's really not a floor but there's surely a ground. hear him coming down the street with that moped sound. who will be the one to get
the beer when there's no money left here. his parents are pissed and i know they are. throw the emergency brake down in the car. back in the woods we learned of life. underage kids will drink tonight. and now those days are gone but they left their scars. with the great dane
attack we didn't make it to the cars. the odds they say they're 1 in 5. i really don't know how we're still alive. jamie will get the beer tonight.
ZOMBIE SUICIDE......tonight tonight the food runs out. they'll tear down the walls i have no doubt. maybe its time to join the other side. the dooor the door they're pounding at the door. i open it up i don't know what for. all the hungry corpses they rush inside. when i wake
up today. i'll give my life away. a life of brains is a life of sin. let my zombie life begin. oh it burns and bleeds for a little while. but then you get some brains and give a zombie smile. life ain't so bad when you're not alive. oh we can talk about how zombie life is swell. we'll
talk again when we're burning in hell. oh wait there's no more room in hell. oh well. let's get some brains.
PAST IS PAST......there were some years you've learned to regret. but those days made you who you are. they say what does not kill you makes you stronger. well sometimes it kills you and you don't even know. you spent your days contemplating how he broke your heart.
but now you know what you want in a man. i know there were good day before the bad. don't let that pain destroy memories that you have. and you know what i said it was true. you're just waiting for time to catch up with you. you've got regrets and remorse and it's causing
you to fall. but the past is the past and that's all. everyone is looking for some happiness and they wanna let the bad days go by. but they keep on dragging us to that part of everybody's mind. take what you need from the apst then let it go. your're moving much tolow.
we pay the cost and keep a debt at our side. it doesn't matter who lied- because it was everyone. if only everyone could carry this weight. we'll be the leaders of a new religion. inferiority will no longer exist. we'll build upon values and respect. a society based on respect. no no no. no more white trash in the house. just leave that bag at the curb. people get what they deserve. no. i said no. NO DIME ......i think about it all the time. it's something i hold in high regards. it's something that's all around even when it's nowhere to be found. so i'll run through the ashes of my memory then we'll see what road to take. if my perception is right i think we'll take any road going out of this town. tell me why does it matter that much that you're the one that keeps me around. please give me your time. will you share your life with me, it wont cost you a dime turn me off my batteries wont last all the night. and if you question what i say then i'll say something different than i feel then i'll feel like i need to go away and you won't want to ride along. and you'll take a different path than me and see things a different way and never say anything to each other again. where have you been isn't this what you put me down for- for so long. there's something i can do without- these pressures in my head. sullen and alone the sullen and the dead. and i walk down this broken path. ANNOY/DESTROY ......i grew up too quickly in a stagnant southern town. i went to school most the time and never made a sound. the pace of years increased with age and cynicism came. i found some friends, some enemies- they never were the same. i never took a single person and stabbed them in the back. but my back weakened with every attack. now i spend my days alone in a completely different town. betrayal took my heart and soul and threw me to the ground. oh that ground, seems colder each time. i saw a young child with promise in his eyes. he'll grow up to learn the facts of deceit and lies. good morals and values seem to be a dying trend. with any luck this black hole will not pull this child in. it never got its hold on me. but i was wounded by debris. the dead will never walk again. but my friends will always have the leeves. even falling trees cannot kill the leeves. relationships are fragile things they require two sides of trust. the walls can crumble down when honesty is replaced with lust. the line between love and hate is barrier which we create. to keep out the ones that will destroy us. but all these people seem to truly enjoy us. their enjoying us as a crutch to constantly distort the fact that they don't do much but annoy us and destroy us. some people will annoy you, some people will destroy you. dont let them destroy you. way that i try to say what i say. this day will be ok because i feel i feel i feel the same way. DS/BULLHAIR....buyer beware. they're not selling you the truth. they're just selling you your youth. they'll buy the family farm. and put you in the way of harm. product placement in a primetime slot. you see the modern marvels and youre insecure with what you got. people need your money and your happy to oblige. when capitalism is on the prowl there's nowhere you can hide. they didn't do it for the truth. they only did it for the youth. they bought the family farm. this shouldn't cause you no alarm. little yellow characters conversing on the screen. offhand remarks cause you to buy the things that you don't need. but that's ok, you're following the trend. and now that you are satiated, bills come rolling in. are you buying what they're selling to you? are you taking what they're giving to you? they're giving it to you because they sell it for free. and you are just a buyer in this corporate army. just an animated army. there's no comedic value when the product is the joke. force it down your throat and see how long it takes you to choke. and now it's time to face the otherway. let's just cloud our brains and live to fight another day. KKKRAMER ....call yourself a hypocryte and see you're fading fast. waiting for the wall to break and nothing ever lasts. you take it back back back. oh those words that you said. you take it back back back. oh they're coming for you're head. circumstance will find you,one more effigy left to burn. call yourself an actor and producer all in one. perpetuating stereotypes benefits no one. you take it back back back. oh the satire of it all. you take it back back back. and now they wait for you to fall. don't try to be a bigger man. you take it back back back. the joke you tried to make. no more rascist jokes there's too much here at stake. kramer is a rascist. you still watch him on your tv. he is making hundred$. you still buy the dvd's. COLD SOBER RAIN .... the cold sober rain it's coming down. in all the alleyways that i have found. the cold sober rain it's touching the ground. a colder night has never been found. the cold sober rain has come and gone. i've been alone for too long. these december nights have taken their toll. i feel the pain in the pit of my soul. tell me who. who will know the way to go? i've got to know why do you try. it lingers on,oh, i know, the cold sober rain. they say it's untrue. i try to make sense of this but i'm afraid to do those december nights. they've taken their toll. do you feel any of this in the pit of your soul. WALK ALONG....i'm walking through the city. it's such a lonely night, a dark dark night. nothing is on except electric light. i see the neon sign. it calls me inside to the back where they keep their cooler chests so cold. i open it up and find my friend, the blue bull. i walk out the store forty ounce in hand as i walk up tate st.to spring garden. then down mendenhall through the hole in the chainlink fence. then we move right down these tracks to this concrete ledge where we sat so long ago on these tracks at mendenhall. and now the night grows cold as the trains pass by and the bums smoke their crack. i don't want none of that so i walk back to where i came from. i must get to where i can sleep without the birds perching on me. i must walk along.walk along. walk a long way home.. THE GHOST OF IRA ROSE....
how do i start this song. where do i begin. i could just say he was a good good man,
a poet an author and a friend. but he lived his life so quickly. like a charector from his
own poetic lines. he was just passing through. he was just killing time.
many people have lost many people that they love. do they lay awake in the night
thinking cruel cruel joke from above. i still hear his voice but not from that
4-track tape. the monotone voice with the power, i'd feel the words he'd say.
he comes to me in the middle of the night. we sip old crow and write verses about moonlight.
let me tell you something no one knows, i see the ghost of ira rose.
as i move down the highway i know it's just a 12 hour drive. well i should have made
that journey, oh, about a thousand times. no one should know the burden of taking somone
they love. i don't blame friends, drugs, or the family, i don't even blame florida.
he comes to me in the middle of the night. we sip old crow and write verses about moonlight.
speaking poetry and prose, i see the ghost of ira rose.
they say the poison doesn't set you free, but they don't know the truth.
but they've never read his poetry, but they don't know the truth.
i wish i new what happened that night, but i don't know the truth.
were you planning on taking your life, oh i don't know the truth.
the answers and the reasons only one man knows,
but i don't get no answers from the ghost of ira rose.
TRAPPED ON TURNPIKES...jons been throwing up the entire ride, the big attack van signals left when it goes right. was that a sign to trenton that i saw. i just wanna get back to philadelphia. down in the south we dont pay to drive. except for gas insurance and shit for your ride. tell michelle to leave on a light. i just wanna get out of jersey tonight. we're trapped on turnpikes. LONG WAY HOME.... people talkin about the long way home. they think of it just as a falacy. but it aint no fantasy its stone cold truth. sometimes you gotta take the time to stop. but you dont wanna stop no no. you wanna get your things and you just wanna go go go. but let me ask you a question: are you lonesome? i figured out sometime ago. you gotta keep your heart and intentions low. and you must always walk the long way home. and just keep waiting. and tonight i take the quick path home. its been a while since the short cut. i got those days but i dont get these. sometimes you gotta take the time and stop. and now i'm back on the long way home. taking my time to just really try and be alone. but sometimes i cant breathe. am i lonesome? how can i feel alone when they wont leave me alone, i'll take the long way home and just think. NIRVANA NEVERMIND...... 1991 oh what a time. i got nirvana nevermind. all those words i didnt understand. but i finally get it now that i'm a man.
he dont get the songs but he likes to sing along. she dont wanna breed but thats not what she means. taking your drugs is like taking your religion. when he's smelling him he's really smelling her, she's cheating. i got it. took 20 years to understand the crazy words from a crazy man that i never met but i thought i knew well. i'm glad nirvana cd's were the ones i didn't sell. he got so high he scratched til he bled. me and my friends really are our own tribe. look outside nature really is a whore. and the back of the album is diseased vaginas. and i had forgotten about endless nameless.GO TO THE PARTY... it's friday night we'll go to the party. we'll see our friends there. we'll get real wasted. but what about tomorrow when the party ends. even if we're filled with shame we'll do it all again. its saturday night we'll go to the party. we'll see our friends there. we'll get real wasted. we'll probably throw up. but what about tomorrow when we're all out of steam. if we start to drag i guess we'll have to sing. na na na na na na na na na. its tuesday night we're not going to the party. because there's no bands playing. we'll go to the show instead. but what about tomorrow when all the music stops. we'll run from normalcy like when we ran from the cops. END OF THE WORLD.... people talk but they never listen because they're f in animals. and now it seems we need some population control. theres babies having babies everyday. then the babies have more babies. this is the end of the world. and now the oil spills out millions of gallons everyday. and the people in charge dont know shit. now all the sea turtles are dying and all the oceans are black. and now the oilcanes and oilrain will give way to oilnamis. when the oil spill reaches volcanoes in iceland the worlds gonna f in blow. THE MEANING OF LIFE... i started out on a path to understand. just waiting for someone or something to hold my hand. i thought there'd be a little sign to show me the way. but everything i learned was wrong before today. and now youre waiting for a secret from something you dont understand. thats what lies in the darkness inside the heart of every man. well i got a little secret and its a secret that you should hear. you've gotta create meaning in your life for yourself. today i slowed things down and finally felt pain. i took stock of my life as i stood out in the rain. i'm not the only one the only one that feels so lost. but i just stood around waiting for direction look at what it cost me. oh god i'm preaching again when i dont even understand. i'm just trying not to die, trying to be a man. but its so much harder than putting words into a song. we've all gotta give our lives meaning before we're gone. BILLY'S DICK... if billy asks if you wanna know the time say no. if billy ask you if you wanna see his watch say no. because billy's not the type to wear a watch. notice how his wrist is by his crotch. billy's got his dick out again.