FRANKLIN AVENUE

 

It’s not a place you can return to

That’s a fact you’ve got to face

You can’t in fact return to

What isn’t a place

 

Might be sitting on the nightstand

But it seems so out of reach

Might be a footprint in the sand

Down on Zuma Beach

 

& I know that I’ve been here before

& I’ve been here with you

& I don’t care if it’s a dream

As long as it holds true

It’s like walking down the sidewalk

In someone else’s socks & shoes

Remembering the smell of the garbage can

& every little crack in the pavement too

I’ve seen those ghostly lights before

When the morning turns to blue

I’ve seen the ashes & the dust

I’ve seen the morning dew

On the fallen leaves

On Franklin Avenue

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TIGER HONEY

 

She’s a scar

On your eyeball

She’ll itch & she’ll bleed

In the midnight hour

In the summer heat

 

She’ll hide in the blind spot

Of your memory

She’ll dance on the pages

Of the book you read

 

Tiger honey

Sweet & sour

Sour & sweet

 

She’s a beast in the bushes

You don’t want to feed

& when you go hungry

She’s all that you need

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LOVE’S THE DEVIL’S FOE

 

Devil don’t you know

You can’t just come

Like an old friend & say hello

Don’t you take my hand

I hope you understand

You got to let me go

 

Devil don’t you see

I really want what you got

But it’s got to be free

Go & complain

To the wind & the rain

They won’t tell on me

 

I can hear you whisper

When I listen to the wind blow

In the branches of the willow

Right outside my window

But you got to stay out,

Way out in the shadow

You can try & deny now,

Say it isn’t so

But I know that you know

Love’s the devil’s foe

 

Devil don’t you leave

We don’t mind you around

When we play Adam & Eve

Don’t want to offend you

But I know in the end

We’re gonna make you believe

 

I know you’re out there,

Out in the blue

I know you’re lonely & I feel for you

Things don’t work the way

They used to do

Things have changed for me & you

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BLOOD RED SHOES

 

I can hear your bulldogs howling in the middle of the night

Sounds like they’re hungry—

Then again it sounds like a fight

Sounds like they hate one another

& they hate me & you

You can hear it in the wind;

You can hear it in the music too

 

Fingers snapping

& I see you sway on your dancer’s feet

Fingers snapping

& clapping hands to the Mersey beat

See you follow me

& I’ll follow you anywhere

From the killing floor

All the way to the county fair

You got blood-red shoes

 

I can hear your bulldogs howling everywhere I go

& I know they’re always around

But they never show

There’s a band on the bandstand

& ladies in line at the bar

I got nowhere to go

If I can’t be where you are

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STARLITE MOTEL

 

I got an old 4 runner

& a queen-size bed

See the big trucks rolling

When I raise my head

Sweet flower & gasoline smell

& the sound of a chapel bell

In the air tonight

At the Starlite Motel

 

3 shots in the dawn

They kill a man

Can’t tell by the moonlight

In the morning you can

Got to come up with a go-away spell

For the chalk lines

& the shotgun shells

In the parking lot

Of the Starlite Motel

 

There’s a freeway entrance

a few blocks down the street

I got no one to wait for

I got no one to meet

Throw my gun in the dumpster

& get out of here

I’m going to slip away

I’m going to disappear

 

All the way north to Ventura

All the way to downtown L.A.

I know the 101 freeway

Is going to take me away

 

The guy’s name was John Alvarado

The street goes by the same name too

Strange how things coincide

Strange that nobody knew

Got to come up with a go-away spell

For the sound of that chapel bell

& the flashing lights —   

At the Starlite Motel

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SHADOW SONG

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When our shadows dance on the bedroom wall

In the flickering light

Kill the candle, make them fall

Into the night

Skin to skin & bone to bone

Thigh to thigh

So entwined & so alone

 

Sweet ally

Wherever you may be

On dry land or with the sirens of the sea

In my band or with the enemy

None of us are free

I’m not without you

& you’re not without me

None of us are free

That’s what love must be

 

When our shadows dance in the midday sun

Time is flying

The end of day has just begun

Close your eyes

Let your dreams replay the past

You & I

We can try & make it last

 

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COPPER HILL

 

Listen now darling

Listen, it’ll soon be gone

That sweet melody

Out there in the early dawn

It’s way too delicate

For the light of day

When you open your eyes

It fades in the morning gray

 

You might say I’m a coward

But I think of myself as a clown

If I make people smile

Maybe they won’t let me down

If I make people dance

They’ll come to see me again

If I make them cry

They’ll stand by me in the rain

 

It’s a beautiful lie & a need

That you can’t quite seem to satisfy

A beautiful lie & you bleed

& you can’t quite seem to figure why

But you try & you get by

 

On Copper Hill

Fill in the blanks in the sky

On Copper Hill

 

You can see the top of the hill

From down in the hole

There’s something about the soul of a song

That you can’t control

It might want to kill you tonight

It might be your friend

& if it’s a dream

It might come true in the end

 

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CARRY ON

 

Summer’s gone without a reason

Or maybe not, I just don’t know

& maybe fall is just a season

& not some strange kind of letting go

 

To me the hours are just numbers

I see the minutes tick away

& the alarm is set to “slumber”

Oh but the sky is slowly turning gray

 

All the dead I’ve ever known

Have come & gone

By the time I see the dawn

I’ll see the sun rise

I’ll see it coming down

And I’ve only just begun

To carry on

 

I feel like a boat out on that river

I feel the current pull both ways

It’s cold enough to make me shiver

Here comes another brand-new day

 

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SWEET ANGELA

 

There’s a demonstration on the TV

Riots somewhere down in Italy

Maybe Rome, maybe some other ancient city

Seems like people really have a cause to me

 

I can almost smell the pine trees & the diesel

See black helmets in the summer heat

Ambulance screaming down the boulevard

Fists up in the air & marching feet

 

The remote is out of reach,

I’m getting weary

My eyes drifting away from the screen

But then I see a pretty face in the commotion

Seems like every riot needs a queen

 

Sweet Angela

 

Think I saw you on the news today

Like an actress in some strange kind of cabaret

Waving a banner like a headline for your

I just assume you never liked your name Angela

‘cause that bitch in Berlin’s got the same,  Angela

 

Sweet Angela

 

I see the coliseum in the distance

As you disappear into the crowd

& the man with the necktie & the microphone

Tells me what the fuss is all about

 

Forgive me if your name’s not really Angela

It just came to me out of the blue

Maybe I just needed something to hold on to

& a title for a song to you

 

Sweet Angela

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SURFER JOE

 

Here’s a song for Surfer Joe

He’s got no secrets but his palms won’t show

Only thing you really know

He’ll disappear before it snows

 

Give it up for Surfer Joe

You don’t ever see him come & go

He keeps you high—he can keep you low

Give it up for Surfer Joe

 

Honest face like a tired horse

No regrets & no remorse

You ask for credit & he’ll say of course

He’s got a sense who to endorse

 

Some people are not made for reincarnation

So they’re bound to slip into somebody else’s skin

Somebody else’s blood for a new sensation

He’s the man—you got to let him in

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