I watched a Texas sunset Orange light fading to the smoke of a cigarette With 1500 miles on the clock And 25 days to get to New York, New York Slept some in the tent, some in the car Lost count of numberless beers in numberless bars Listening to Country and Cajun radio Dreaming of falling in love at a junction rodeo The appeal of rings and things, never held me The road always called me back to the door Lyrics light my fire, Worn hands finger-picking inspire me To play forever more To follow the street lights to the music, And sing till dawn Countless characters and countless tales Of state parks and cheap hostels The ocean the river and the bay All travellers are just birds of prey With no time to clear the road Keep an out for the state border patrol Devouring everything as we go Good bye Arizona, hello El Paso The appeal of rings and things, never held me The road always seduced me back to the door Harmonica lights my fire, Rock n rollers inspire me to Play forever more To follow the street lights to the music… I got weighed down in Memphis and Nashville There’s too many good singers just to pass through Drawing on condensed car windows, see She’s more gorgeous than Winslett But I ain’t no Leo When a parking lots as romantic as it gets And you’re staying with who you meet next I guess New York City will have to wait Cause I’m high in Atlanta airport tryin’ to fit two guitars in an overhead crate

She listens to the radio but they don’t play the kind of songs she likes The playlist is prearranged and filled with songs picked by marketing guys Instead she’d settle for a living room friends and guitars Instead of synth hooks and beat mash up cooks She’d settle for tapes bootlegged in bars He goes to modern art galleries but don’t understand what they promote An abattoir of modern life on canvass don’t give him no hope Instead he’d settle for a painting of mountains in the snow Instead of intelligent strokes and violent jokes he’d settle for a photo of Marilyn Monroe They met in the theatre and marvelled at all the people acting insane Held hands in the interval and kissed later on standing in the rain Instead of one night they’re planning a future and use affectionate names Instead of dropping out they’re buying a house and forgetting about when the world was insane

I know a girl that everyone loves, She’s popular because she loves love She’s always welcome round my neighbourhood And every guy I know has been with her if they could Oh she’s so confused Doesn’t know which boy is right but Lets them take her home for the night cause She’d rather fuck than fight Yes I know a girl that everyone loves, She’s popular because she loves love She’s always drinking way too much Stumbling down staircases says it’s a phase but It’s been going on since we were kids Escalated from Smirnoff to spliffs now Packs her crack in a pipe for her kicks She tries to walk the line but she’s high off her tits I know a girl that everyone loves, She’s popular because she loves love She lost her childhood grew up too fast, Now not so fantastic considering plastic, yeah Everything in her life’s so mundane All the boys their clumsy hands feel the same Can’t even remember half of their names Or the last time that she came Yes I know a girl that everyone loves, She’s popular because she loves love She’s always confessing her secrets to me, I’m just a friend but it aint all that easy when You’ve got secrets that you’re trying to hide but there ain’t nobody left to confide in that You’re completely obsessed smitten and in love With a girl that everybody’s loved.

As she leads me through the palace She points out that it aint paint it’s real gold She seems to know every story That these walls have ever told And we’re standing by a river on a balcony Until security move us along And I take her by the arm and I whisper ‘This would be a good place to sing you one of my songs’ she says ‘I wish’, ‘I wish’ Well in the club there’s hardly room to stand They’re playing the blues, it’s getting real loose in here I close my eyes and let the guitar wash over me I feel the weight of this city, disappear Outside he offers me a cigarette Knows I just cant turn ‘em down With cherry candy glowin’ from his lips he says ‘it must be about time that you jumped town’ ‘I wish’, ‘I wish’ Well, it’s that time of the night so I put my cards on the table Offering the last train ride back to mine Uncomfortably she turns to her friends in the station Explains she’ll be going my way for the night She’s only coming over for one thing And it aint a cup of tea Lying naked with her hair on my shoulder I murmur ‘that you like gold to me’ She says ‘I wish’, ‘I wish’ Well he knows he’s quite a talker At night we debate fiercely But at 3am curled up in my thoughts Well she agrees with me That there’s an ancient way of living Buried deep within our bones There’s a desire within in each of us To burn our money to burn our clothes And to hurtle towards a freedom To run the race alone To leave society and all its machines To leave the city and these assholes. I said ‘I wish’, ‘I wish’, ‘I wish’, ‘I wish’ But you just can’t stay, but you just can’t escape And you just can’t stay, and you just can’t escape

You know I’ve swam across the top of the bottomless seas And I’ve met with the mayor and seen the same fear in him as me I’ve borrowed from a beggar and I’ve stolen from the store And I’ve gained a little depth but I’ve shallowed even more you know This life’s been good to me the passin’ not too unkind I learnt to beg and steal and use the resources of my mind They say that the kingly thing to do is to sit in the lowest seat And I learnt to do my talkin’ with the sharpest knife to carve the beast And I’ve camped in the deserts where the rivers run dry I’ve sang to the earth and to the moon and to the sky I caught the train to Morocco by the river there, just Smoking smooth hasish and breathing bitter Marakash air you know When you’re staring at girls and all you can see is their eyes They might wear a veil they might wear a disguise But if you should know to hide one thing, you should know it’s them eyes cause They tell too many truths, too many stories, to few lies And now the old are getting young, and the young are getting poor The sick are taking pills to bribe the reaper from their door It’s not yet winter, but it’s already cold And soon you’ll hear them tell tales of young payin’ to be old In shuffles lawyers you can hear them in their ranks Sleepin up in the rafters or in their paper tanks Religion is coming down you can hear it on the air Some believe that we’re believers but I believe we just don’t care so Turn on the news and see newsmen running from a noose It’s all an advertisement selling you the truth Walls will fall and walls will be built And wars will be fought and blood will be spilt But why get involved when there’s so much to do? It’s such a big world and you’re just a little you Hours, minutes, seconds, well they be tickin’ down And if you wake or if you sleep this crazy place still spins round But don’t heed my words or believe the rhymes I say I’m just another beggar lookin’ for a place to play I’m the one standing on the street at night and I’m the one that lost front teeth in a drunken fight and I’m the one the hopeless the unemployed that you pass I’m the lost the addict the drunk and the destroyed I’m the one that these kids wish they could have been and I’m the one that had to live with these dying dreams and I’m the one begging you all to come along and I’m the one dyin’ to sing you the last song I’m the one and there’s more to take my place just, look into the mirror and you’ll see it in your face

It don’t take the news to give me the blues Or a shot to my chest to make me loose rest And the passin’ of time don’t trouble my mind All it takes, all it takes, all it takes is a little black dress and I’m a mess. When I turn out the light, well I sleep alright With my money and my love I’m not too uptight And the game’s just a game it’s not the truth or a test unless She wears a little black dress Now the legends of old don’t weigh much on my soul Nor the book-keepers tomes diminish the worth of my prose Cause most all of time well im doin’ my best Still all it takes, all it takes, all it takes is a little black dress and im a mess And the sharpest mind you aint likely to find Even though I cut back on the smoke and the wine Almost everyday I’m working to pay my way out west Back to a little black dress Back to a little black dress

I was driving through the backstreets with my father I was walking through the market place with my friends I was lying on the beach with my head against my woman Thinking how sweet it is to be back home again Now I’m drinking from the cup that I painted Wearing the clothes of my youth Sleeping in the bed I first got laid in While dusting off old photos from school Now a beautiful day can turn grey And tomorrow might seem so far away But the daybreak will surely bring the light Now friends might come and go But there’s those that you really know Will never leave you behind Leave you behind I was drifting through my future like the captain Of a life raft in waves ten feet high Studying the stars for my next destination Thinking how calm the seas must be on the other side Now a beautiful day can turn grey And tomorrow might seem so far away But the daybreak will surely bring the light Now friends might come and go But there’s those that you really know Who will never leave you behind And I know the difference between surviving and living It’s about waking with a smile on your face And I’ve seen the changes coming I just hope that this progress takes us to a better place Now the homeland of my heart never changes Even though they’re building there all the time The skyscrapers and runways are but phases Only family and friends can stand the test of time

Slipped back home all alone Trying to keep myself to my family and me Spotted at the beach taken out to lunch flat whites and carrot cake, At the Lime Tree Café by the bay The marina bouncers are lame Only letting the vacuous and beautifully tame Girls into a den where finely dressed men entertain with their salaries and cosmetic grins In a city where a buck can be a matter of luck Your skin colour your lifestyle your wasta Determine your rise as much as your mind Like skyscrapers they’re slowly cracking On the backs of the men who been building them Imported by self-styled pharaohs Where the washing of bills and the ringing of tills drown out any notions that question Ethics in a land that places faith in its candid glamour and hype on billboards In place of social foundations build monorail stations to ease congestion while enlarging the airport Followed by road-side stares everywhere everyday it’s all perspective people say Buy a model home in a mall and deck it out with kitsch décor from Arabian heritage stalls Cause there’s a price to be paid, Cause there’s a price to be paid Slipped back home all alone Trying to keep myself to my family and friends Spotted at the beach taken out to lunch flat whites and carrot cake, At the Lime Tree Café by the bay The marina bouncers are lame and we’re all so artificially tame And around and around and around and again, And we dance and we drink and we spin and we sing Da dum da dum da da da dum, Da dum da dum da da da dum Da dum da dum da da da dum,

Old friends, a summer’s end Flying back home across the sea Pieces of my memories, wash up on me Wooden box keepsakes of the past Old friends why do we have to part? You’ll never rust in my heart Old friends, I’m coming over again And epic days will soon be rollin in Old friends dust off the workin’ week Cause when we’re together it’s like it’s supposed to be You pour the drinks, and I’ll think of the next song Suddenly it’s 7am, oh my how time has flown But we can’t go to sleep yet, there’s another chorus to be sung Warm up some coffee and watch the risin’ sun Old friends why do we have to part? You’ll never rust in my heart

When you die my brother when you die, Don’t you go quietly into the long dark night, May you clamour and claw break down the door So I know, so I know, how to fight When you hurt my dear sister, when you hurt Don’t you reach for the bottle, you’ll only make it worse, It’ll drag you down, run you into the ground When you hurt, my sister, when you hurt When you cry my father, when you cry, When you are waylaid, into the darkest night, May I be by your side, to shoulder your pride, When you cry my father, when you cry. When you shake my mother, when you shake, When you regret every decision that you ever made, May you draw on me, only love can set you free, When you hurt, my mother, when you hurt when you hurt, yeah yeah, when you hurt.