Now we're living in Houston, Texas with all the sex addicts and transgendered. They're cruising West Alabama saying "Honey, do you want a good time?  The daytime is all right, but you've got to get away from your work now honey, cause the work that you do ain't you, and the night time is all right, but you've got to get away from yourself now honey, and I think that you know what to do."

Greenwood
It aches but doesn't hurt to know we won't return. They built a mall over the woods where we played and got cut up and now everything is strange.  I like history and antihistamines and if you listen to me then I'll tell you what I mean. 

Something's got to shake us up.  We got caught in the space that's in between places.  The people here are all right but that's all.  They've got occupations to go with their faces.  To the North side please here's the keys. I'm not your driver baby.  I've got destinations I've got a place to go-- won't you take me back to Greenwood? Do you think that's enough? 

I'm not talking about your house, not talking about your church, not talking about your school, not talking about your parents, not talking about your sex, not talking about your drugs, not talking about your clothes, not talking about your rock and roll poses.

Sharon
Sharon has 100 eyes, each wide open like a peacock's feather.  I used to see her out at the clubs every night, and you can't tell me who she was winking at.  Sharon has 100 eyes, each one painted in a different eyeshadow.  She's not the kind of girl you catch doing lines in the mirror, she's too busy applying mascara. 

I caught my shadow moving at a different rate of speed than my body, anti-body.  I've got my looks but they're fading fast soon you won't see me.  You know you youth; you don't age well.  You cover up, but you can tell that what you missed in all this heartache, and honey you are guilty on this count, and what you missed in all the heartache it'll come to you 100 times or more.  Heartache, 100 times or more. 

Sharon's been on my mind.  Sharon has 100 eyes, each one heavy and dissipated, and I know she's going to have a long life cause right now her skin is tight and her feet are aching.  Well you get what you want to early to know it and at the end of your life you can feel it just slipping away.

Auto-de-fe
Joanie hear me crackling. I may be prone, but I won't lie-- You really got the best of me.  This is a man on fire and not a book-of-the-month club or a topic for gossiping.  Its an auto-de-fe.  A hood is no place to hide, this time we've gone too far... for christ's sake burn me up.

You're wearing black just like a killer, wearing rags like a grave-digger, wearing blue just like an officer of the law.  Now tell me, what is your take on all this public opinion? Should we wait for the charges when the fire and the torture is on?

The Thousandaires
We're not trying to grow the economy, not part of the general bonhomie, just got enough to get us by.  Who knows who's out there pouring the dirt the lines are drawn in? Ain't got the nerve to act surprised.

Where we went wrong was what we ain't done, but we've had fun till now.

Don't count on us, we're thousandaires.  You can't help us at all. We're thousandaires.  Stone-faced and banal, good thousandaires.  Pity the one who waits on thousandaires.

Easy living is close to freedom.

C is for Cadaver
Corpses are appearing, cars are getting burned, and this terrifies everyone.  C is for container and c is for cadaver.  You'll see it on the other side of death, or fashion, the helicopters crashing, economies go up in their nose.  While I'm still young I'd take a knife before a gun, I like to keep my enemies close.

I'll see you on the back page in the war in Colombia.

They say he took a grenade, and he threw it through a window, listened to it roll across the floor on the kitchen tile, and all the Foley's models were singing "You ruined breakfast for all of us. You ruined breakfast for us all.  You ruined breakfast for all of us here." 

I'll see you on the back page in the obituaries.  I'll see you on the back page in the war in Colombia.
 

from the Social Disease 2000 Japanic Music/Plethorazine Records

$100 Bill
Maybe you’re right and this thing can’t last all night, maybe you’re right, but this is a bill, a hundred dollar bill, I think you know its got its own life. The question is mine, what do you find in this nightlife? “I find the touch, step to the goldmine, I find the truth it isn’t you.” Pattern, pattern, where did you find me? I promised someone you know that I wouldn’t forget. I know your kind, easy to find, denomination’s low. There’re all these patterns and they’re here to remind me. I promised someone you know that I wouldn’t forget. So tell me which do you prefer—gold, diamonds, or pearls, accounts in Geneva or Berne? Which do you prefer—the subject or the verb, the doer or the thing that gets done?

Those Affected
Those affected know how they are affected. Those affected by the change, maybe something that they saw, maybe something on the airwaves. I’ve got a telephone call. It’s on my cellular. I want to talk about the one. We’ve got to talk about the millions. I want to talk about the one, don’t want to talk about it. Millions more will die before it’s over. We could make this record and then dedicate it, dedicate this record to all those affected. All these heads are spinning. You know what I’m talking about. Is there some of this that you’re not getting? Enough. All the rest I can do without. Those affected by an earthquake, affected by a burning bush, affected where their money is, affected where their manners are, affected like an actor, affected by a coup d’etat.

The Kiss of the Zero Pilot
I fly a plane for the emperor, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love this world. Who sets the sun? Who sets the water? I do it all by divine order. I crashed on this island long ago, long ago. I set all my hopes on a thought and a picture of the sun setting down on my back, and the millions of heroes brought back, and the will of the morning imposed on the outside world. The FBI brought Dillinger a red dress.  Hirohito to Tojo, the sun.  The Judas got the Jesus for the saving bonds.  That’s American.  Who can resist the kiss of the zero pilot?

Clusterbomb 
The times that you weren’t you. Too smooth to fracture like a worn pebble, quietly shrinking, watching the stream. I tried to flush you out of hiding. If it’s not laughter and it’s not crying then you’ve got nothing to figure it out. All this time to try and match a feeling. Come on, come one, don’t you want to get on like the old folks do in the movies. You cut and you paste while you’re touching my face like it needs to be changed I don’t like it. First, are you talking to me or just waiting time to talk to youself? I am somewhere you can’t follow, all this time you’ve had your life and I’ve got mine. Now that you feel it there on your knees you won’t like it there on your knees. 

First Aid 
Let’s say you fall like they say in love. You say you’re in love and not just fooling around.  That’s great, but can you prove it. I’d like to make that claim. I’d like to map that vein where it goes from your mind to your heart and your heart to your soul to your fingers. You were going to join the Red Cross weren’t you? Well it must have been applause that turned you from your health to your head and a glittering lie. Let’s say you fall and break your head. I don’t mean lose it; it’s not some mental thing. That’s fate, and this is first aid. I don’t want to see you if you don’t want to, and if you don’t want to then you don’t have to fake. You’re turning up the volume because you think it hides the breakdown, and all the things you’ve broken you could have left behind, while I’m looking for the red and white international sign.

The Frame-up
Behind every fiction there is someone telling lies. Behind every liar sits a condition of power. What you mean by that? They’ve got a gun at your back. So if you’re going to do the thinker stay away from the windows, and if you’re going to do the windows keep a hold of your thoughts, because you know you’ve been watched. Don’t get excited, they know about your hiding place.

2 Ways to Get Down
Baby says she knows of only 2 ways to get down. You’ve got it wrong Nostrodamus.  All the parties you will throw become catastrophes. Every time you start the car you’ll break another key. The anchor says the sky is falling. Every time you go to sleep with her you’ll wake up alone. Black mornings by the thermometer, the holidays are gone, and the lights flicker out, the computers are down, the sound you thought you couldn’t miss before the apocalypse, the disturbance of rhythm before the cataclysm. 

Narvis 
Took what you wanted from it, you kept it all for your use only. Who wants what you’ve done with it? Who wants to see you do the same thing once again? If your story’s one where its words just strung together then you’ll find out that we’re not as nice as we seem. You’ve got your hand on your hips, but you can’t keep steady. Is this some kind of nervous tic or are you just not ready? You say you’re on a mission. I want to ask you one thing, what kind? I don’t trust you at all. The games you play are the ones I started.

Virus
You gave me that virus called yeah, yeah, yeah. Insurance call it malpractice. If the medicine’s too much we’re all going to die. Economics call it economics. If the yachts are rising then the rats will too.

Hawk Watching
Wide open spaces, you know this town is second-rate, so don’t let it be a definition. When it all goes to hell you’ll come clean. That’s where the car broke down. That’s where we knew we weren’t going anywhere.  I’m watching you just like a hawk would watch a hawk. I’m watching you just like a hawk would watch.

from Red Book 1999 Japanic Music/Plethorazine Records

L’Overture
T for Toussaint, lead us out, lead us out of this dump.  Lead this uprising out of the mouth of the overfed nations.  Before Toussaint, rest assured, we had problems.  Since him revolt is just a word on a punk rock album.  Oh yeah.  I’ve got the razor, who’s got the vein? 

Orpheus Express 
It’s the orpheus express and we’re heading straight down to Hades, ladies.  It’s the orpheus express and we’re underworld bound tonight, so get it right.  And if the devil won’t pay his fare we’ll take a stick to his back.  If the devil won’t pay his fare he gets the sack.  It’s the orpheus express and we’re heading right down to hades, ladies.  Don’t turn away from me now or you’ll turn into a pillar of salt—it’s not my fault.  And if the devil won’t pay his fare then the devil won’t pay his fare.  You’ve heard the myth, now hear the legend.  We’ll take it back to armageddon. 

Fake fur Lolita
In the shadows of a punk rock dive, hoping you’ll make number five, fake fur Lolita.  Stevie Nicks out on teenage kicks, and I don’t know why she’s wearing that crucifix, but the vampires swarm around her like she’s night.  With a mock-up of studio 54 in her mind.  A mermaid in a mud-hole, eat her up and swallow her whole.  Stevie Nicks out on teenage kicks and I don’t know why she wears that crucifix, but the vampires swarm around her for her soul. 

Fakers are Makers
Oh honey you have got your fingers in every pot.  You spend five minutes and you’re done.  You’re just a faker, and not a maker; you can’t outlast the fun.  Kind of like Peter Pan, you make the most of it when your audience is youth. You pixie-dust their eyes, make sure they’re hypnotized; fakers are makers too.  And what am I?  I am reduced.  And you ask why, it’s because of you.  Fakers are makers too. 

Some Good Advice 
Watch what you say and what you do.  Just around the block from the places you go there’s the party you like and there’re the people you know, and the music’s alright, but it’s just getting started.  You keep me moving around.  Just around the block from the place you go.  It’s the part you like; it’s the part you know.  You keep me moving around. 

Is It Safe? 
With a catch in your voice like the scratch on a record that you love, tell me what we’ve begun.  Is it safe?  I don’t know.  We’ve got our enemies on the premises.  We’ve got our enemies in the yard. 

That’s What You Said Before 
You said, "Baby, there’s a porchlight on, and it burns out as I walk by.  There’s a message for you on the fridge and a man at the door." It’s the season.  It’s the setting.  It’s the climate.  It’s the attitude.  It’s in between the details someone always records, and I know this time it’s going to last.  "That’s what you said before."  There’s a valve with no pressure, and the things we say just spill right out in the silence.  You can hear yourself breathe.  I said, "Baby, take a part of me, but not the most important piece.  There’re a lot of things that I still want to do." 

Vanity
Vanity of vanities!  You know how it goes.  You already have half of me, so are you sure you want control?  You’re not one of these people that likes to be kept waiting, and I’m waiting for something to catch my eye.  You’re not one of these people that likes to be kept waiting, and I’m waiting for a doctor to arrive, who’ll say, "Do you want to get cured or do you want to get down?"  The program is broken.  It fell short of the level.  I made it for you, but it went to the devil.  Oh you kids with your kisses, you know you’ll drive me to the edge, and all the loving and all the kissing, you know it goes right to my head.  Oh it’s true—Narcissus times two.  I’ve got a reflex to repress.  I know. 

The Problem With A German Name
Is this a moral failure or is it the way it goes?  I would like to know what you’re saving up for, because I’m the type of person who makes monsters out of the stuff that you are.  That’s the problem with a german name—the problem with you.  I’d prefer to burn up my engine just to get your attention.  I defer my better sense to the same rationale. 

3D ID
Even more than the phone calls hate the letters.  You run away, but they know you’ll come home.  So you want to be a first class debtor?  Even more than the letters hate the phone.  They’ve got a 3D ID-- all about you, what you’ll do, with your psychological profile, they keep it on file.  Why be afraid of the black helicopters when everything is already known?  They’ve got the spies and the mystery shoppers.  They’ve got the time and the money you owe.  They made you—an artificial doppelganger, an economic secret sharer, a model what to do and do not, a Charles Dickensian debtor robot, a class war dialectic, poor so that you’ll defend it, breathless and apoplectic, a paranoid schizophrenic. 

Cutthroat
We’re up to our ears in bad ideas, and it’s beginning to look like that’s all there is.  We’re up to our necks in intellectual stuff, and it’s beginning to look like it won’t be enough.  That’s why you say, "I’m the cutthroat.  Do the cutthroat." 

Animal Streak 
Everybody says that I’m too uptight and that I spend too much time alone.  These are the same people, keep in mind, who wait for theirs and go for mine, but I’ve got the same animal streak as an animal, the way an animal feels.  I’ve got the same animal streak as the snake in the Garden of Eden.  I’ve got the same animal streak as an animal with animal feelings.  I wasn’t born yesterday, no matter what you’ve been told, and I’ve got instincts, and my instincts say that it’s slow, slow, slow getting old.  Come on. 

Helicopter
Who can stop when the hammer is swinging like a helicopter on its way down and the least resistor has the same horsepower as a hurricane touching the ground?  See the will of the people on this matter if you’ve made up your mind already.  If the end of the end is what you thought of the end, then what you got in the end, and what to do?  What you make of this mess is not a weight on my chest, so you think you’ve been down, baby, I’ve been down for 24 hours. 

Golden Radio
Oh a treasure find.  Oh a treasure found.  Oh I’ve lost the ground that floats beneath my feet.  I’ve lost the ground beneath my shoes.  I’ve lost it all because it’s true I’ve thought about and counted out the scenes in which we felt so close, and the other kinds of scenes of course, but what I want is gone.  The golden radio.  Oh a diamond mine.  Oh a diamond ring that you got in South Africa, now can you tell me does a time mean a thing, does a place mean a thing, does a scene mean a thing, and does a thing mean a thing? 

Language XL
This world that’s made in miniature can be crushed between your fingernails like a flea that’s fat on blood and slow to move.  This language written extra large is a sign from certain altitudes, but when you’re down you’ll see.  I took you for a measure, because you did things at your leisure, and now I see that I don’t need to get involved.  I’ve got new thoughts on placement, because I noticed things aren’t changing.  They’re just crawling ahead and falling to the side.  It’s just a matter of fever.  So you know.  Rhymes with soul.  Let’s go. 

Raise the Rent
We’ve got space for the rich six stories over the ground, so raise the rent while you can and drive the indigents out.  For those who are up and coming, some room can also be found, so raise the rent while you can and drive the indigents out.  What’re we going to do? Oh tell me, tell me.  We’ll write a letter, write it together, and mail it out.  We’ll call this meeting, call it to order, and walk around.  We’ve got space for the rich six stories over the ground.  Maybe we want some of that education; mostly we want the money to go around.  That ain’t no way to build a city.