The Grapes Western Sun Motorcycle Mama Sometimes I know how to find my way But I don’t Sometimes I know just what to say But I won’t Plastic ponies in a pastel field hanging on my wall She gave it to me and then she hit the road And I’m still waiting for her call CHORUS: I tried to ride with the Motorcycle Mama but the motorcycle let us me down I tried to ride with the Motorcycle Mama but the/my Mama she let me down Let me down I tried and tried to ride but it just ain’t right I don’t look so good on a hog or a trike Someday soon that dude’s gonna come along On a flair painted Indian singing all the words to her song CHORUS She’s riding free above the trees crossing over the Great Divide I’m down here with my years and fears but I know some day I’ll ride I know some day I’ll ride In the side I packed up all my things in a plastic bag I drove to the mountain top and I lit the rag Plastic ponies turn to smoke and sift into the sky I threw my heart into the flames and the sparks flew in my eye I tried to ride with Motorcycle Mama but she can’t be with anyone She’s gonna ride and ride and ride and ride and ride til she hits the sun She’s gonna ride and ride and ride and ride and ride til she hits the sun Oohh lay your big spike down Oohh lay your big spike down Return to top Raised by Hippies RAISED BY HIPPIES She was born in a school bus on the Blue Ridge Parkway Her parents had driven from the San Francisco Bay It was late December of 1968 The skies was filling with the darkness of hate Bobby and Martin were long gone The Flower Children had sung their very last song Nixon was heading to that big White House and bombs would soon be dropping on the children of Laos But a beautiful little girl was born on Christmas day away from the madness that had driven them astray she carried a sparkle right there in her eye it shined through the night and it filled up the sky She was raised by hippies in the hills of Tennessee raised by hippies so wild and so free raised by hippies they did some things wrong but they raised their children right and they did it for a song Her family moved to Chicago in 1982 Reagan was president no one knew what to do Izods and argyles made her feel strange she missed the hippie children and their earthy nature names All the boys fell in love with her on the first day of spring She went to class with no shoes on her feet But her teachers tried to break her of her hillside hippie ways they made her sit inside on the sunniest of days CHORUS When the Bombs fell on Baghdad Her daddy wept and raged Wrote Kill Whitey on a rest stop on the Natchez Trace Oh Daddy don’t forget Bobby and Martin up above remember the songs you sang in the Summer of Love Summer of Love She’s all grown up now with kids of her own she teaches them the songs of her hillside hippie home and that old school bus is battered but her engine’s good and strong tomorrow’s sun will find us furthur along the song book is dusty but they/we remember the tune her uncle’s in the back reading the Chronicles of Dune CHORUS Run old Molly run . . . Return to top Midnight in Orlando It’s midnight in Orlando Disneyland is done they closed up Snoopy and they sent him on the run The planes in the sky above shooting across the darkened blue Someone in Space Mountain has got the heart sick flu It’s midnight It’s mid, midnight in Orlando I flew all this way to listen to a man who told us he could fill us up with his six-week master plan I’m listing all my losses in this air-conditioned room Locked up with a to a guru in a Radisson Cocoon It’s midnight It’s mid, midnight in Orlando Well I’m so sorry that I traveled so far away Did you notice that I didn’t even call today So I’m climbing into my car and I’m heading for the gate I’ve had enough of this Disney land I’ve had enough to think I’m heading for the swamp land where at least I know what’s dead where the animals don’t greet you they just eat you instead and I’m coming to free you and I’m coming to get your child I’m going to take you for a ride away, away, away Return to top Slash From Guns N’ Roses Well he walked into the party Blew everyone away With his long curly black hair And his California shades He picked up a guitar He was just about to play When someone came up to him and That someone said “Hey, You’re Slash from Guns N Roses” Well he didn’t say a word But he put his guitar down He gave out his cell phone Now he’s at every party in town And all through the summer word was getttin’ round Well the women came a seekin’ And the men they threw the sweet leaf down For Slash from Guns N Roses Slash from Guns and Roses At the very top of the highest hill In hills of Hollywood Two mansions were competing To see who could Throw the biggest, raddest party that this town has ever seen 2690 Beachwood said we’ve got slash 2693 Beachwood said oh yeah? Well so do we Yeah we’ve got Slash from Guns N Roses SLASH! SLASH! Slash from Guns and Roses SLASH! SLASH! As the DJs raged from the two back yards There was fighting in the street The attorney and the publicist pulling hair and gnashing teeth Well, Slash came out of the mansion To see what was all the fuss From the other house Slash came out too Wow, what a rush Well the people cried it’s a miracle, like the days of Galilee But no, said Slash, let’s show this bash We’ll just have to pick up our guitars and see Which one’s Slash from Guns N Roses SLASH! SLASH! Slash from Guns and Roses SLASH! SLASH! Well the crowd carried their heroes Through the Beachwood mansion walls Two Marshall stacks were waiting In the golden banquet hall Then a bright light split the heavens o’er the Cinerama Dome Did Al Qaeda did that nuke in? Or was it Jesus coming home? Thunder rolled up the canyon Fire filled the sky One Slash hit the highway The other stayed to die It was Slash from Guns and Roses SLASH! SLASH! It was Slash from Guns and Roses SLASH! SLASH! It was Slash from Guns and Roses Return to top California Country I am a child of the Golden State, grew up in the orchards and fields Seen farm towns become commuter alleys Seen shopping malls eat up the trees Sometimes I wish for a simpler time When you could drink right out of the stream The loneliness around me freeways just surround me I’m thirty miles from a field of green CHORUS: But I’m still standing in California Country My dad moved us to Victorville in June of ’82 All summer long I traversed the Mojave, went swimming in the river water pool On a beautiful farm sloping down to the river, September I was back in school The bulldozers stripped the topsoil Little flags marked the mile I never crossed that river again CHORUS X 2 BRIDGE: Here I land with no plan And only now I understand that I could never leave this land I’m a California man SOLO Well the radio announced the annual meteor shower starting late tonight so we drove up to 2 to the Angeles Crest to get out of the city light the traffic jam started down in Glendale lit the mountains bright as day we turned the car the other way headed back to L.A. disappeared into the streets CHORUS X 4 Return to top Golden Girl I feel in love with a golden girl A wild, young beauty with golden curls But a streak in our hearts ran a deathly black I took her to Whitewater But she won’t be coming back When I first met her she was just 17 Singing in the choir of the Holy Nazarene As we bowed our heads in prayer she gave me a wink I knew our book was written in the devil’s ink My own wife had left me on Christmas Eve Standing by the tree, I begged her not to leave But that golden child gave me a start A flower bloomed inside my cold, cold heart Can a flower bloom inside a cold, cold heart? Then she asked me to buy her a bottle of wine So her and her friends could have a real good time Beneath those fluorescent lights of Red’s Liquor Store She giggled and whistled and made me love her more She showed me the pleasures of the loose and the wild she snuck into my bedroom most every night she found me a pistol and loaded it too She wanted money what else could I do CHORUS I picked up my brother and she rode in the back she waited in the car in case we were attacked 20 minutes later at the Navaho Bar We took $1500 dollars from the Chief’s jar But he was standing in the shadows as we headed for the door He lowered his rifle and settled the score My brother collapsed when the round hit his chest I carried him to the car and I laid him down to rest Oh brother farewell, for he loved you the best SOLO and I cried, I cried, and I cried, I cried, I cried I hit the gas and she giggled a bit said looks like now it’s just a two way split raised up my pistol told her to get quiet she didn’t listen, I felt myself fire it Then things were silent except for one sound of a cold soul leaving the golden ground I took her still body out of the Caprice Carried her off into the tall pine trees I set her sit in a chair of spoiled stones No cushion for her flesh, no frame for her bones And I asked God to put us both on trial Sat at her feet and I waited a while Then the sky opened up and the rain did fall And I buried her body by the waterfall I feel in love with a golden girl A wild, young beauty with golden curls But a streak in our hearts ran a deathly black I took her to Whitewater But we won’t be coming back I took her to Whitewater But no one’s coming back Return to top Byrd From West Virginia senator byrd.jpg Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Senator Byrd Ooh Born in Carolina to a family of miners The flu of 1918 took his mother away Couldn’t go to college it was the depths of the Depression The valedictorian pumped gasoline instead Ooohh He found himself a sweetheart in Erma Ora James The Coal miners daughter with the odd middle name he labored in the shipyards during World War II Welding Liberties and Victories for me and for you Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Senator Byrd Ooh He burned the cross of Jesus in the West Virginia night The darkness of America blinded his sight Baptized in the blood of our national sin The Ghosts of the Conquest rise again and again ooohh As a young man in Congress he studied law at night For ten long years, he burned a different light Presented with his J.D. by John Fitzgerald Kennedy just before the young president was escorted into history Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Senator Byrd Ooh Fifty years in Washington just passed before his eyes The building of the empire, its burdens and delights Did the suffering of the world or the folly of the day Change a stubborn old heart to see a better way? oohh And when a reckless new President came calling for war Old Bird from West Virginia Sang out the score: “The doctrine of pre-emption is radical and deadly” Who will sing the song when the bird flies away Vanished o’er the hillside at the end of the day Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Byrd from West Virginia Senator Byrd Ooh A lone voice a cryin A lone voice a cryin A lone voice a cryin Senator Byrd Ooh Senator Byrd byrd.jpg Return to top Jackpot! I’m hot from the road I’m hot from the highway this time things’ll go my way Three shows in Idaho got money to burn Cash in my pocket, I’ll never learn My old lady’s got to pay the rent I got $700 and 57 cents We got 36 hours to get to Grand Junction The St. Regis Hotel for a 6 night function Looks like we gotta slice a corner off Nevada Hit the tables, think we oughta I was wrong, I was wrong And I did go back to Jackpot again I was wrong, I was wrong I did go back to Jackpot again Now I’m sitting in the back of a Chevy van Things didn’t go like I planned Talking to my lady on a busted cell phone There’s nothing in the fridge but a lonely ham bone Had a crazy conversation with lady luck Before the boys pulled me back in the truck Was $1200 up, now I’m sitting $800 down I owe a hundred to the drummer that’ll never be found I work hard at night though I sleep all day Country music just don’t pay 6 sets a night no meals no nothing If I rob a bank I’ll come home with something I was wrong, I was wrong And I did go back to Jackpot again I was wrong, I was wrong I did go back to Jackpot again Breakdown, breakdown, breakdown on a desert highway Breakdown, in Provo town my band’s going their way and I’m going my way I’m gonna climb the red mountain wade the alkali sea till the far away lights are shinning down on me I’m gonna lay my last $20 on the 30 and 10 do a mind bend while they give the croupier a spin I’m gonna take my little stake to the black jack line double down on Sevens blow the dealer’s mind and you can hit me, hit me, hit me again because I thought I was a looser but I’m build up the chips And I was wrong, I wrong I did go back to Jackpot, Jackpot And I was wrong, I wrong I did go back to Jackpot, Jackpot Return to top The Donkey Song Just got out of county caught up with me in Downey It took fourteen country Mounties to put a tail on this donkey The Donkey Known as Me Well I’d just come down from Frisco Sold out of my disco just a front for selling crystal to some closeted ex-Marines And my fine young bride Stepped into save my pride when they tired to tattoo the Semper Fi On the donkey known as me The Donkey Known as Me CHORUS: I am not a donkey I am not a donkey but the donkey is me The Donkey Known as Me Well it started out in French Lick Daddy was the House Dick the carrot and the big stick were all I ever knew No matter my decision with science-like precision Daddy laid the discipline on the donkey known as me The Donkey Known as Me CHORUS So I’m headed to Hawaii where no one can surprise me if you want to find me sing oh, ma liki nigh yee Molokai, Molokai, Ukulele, Ukulele, Kona Kai, Look a Lady low I’ll be out there on my new turf galloping through the blue surf the only surfing donkey on the shores of Waikiki Shores of Waikiki I am not a donkey I am not a donkey now the donkey is free The Donkey Known as me the donkey’s finally free The Donkey Known as Me F-R-E-E FREE! Return to top Houston Romance Exchanged insults, traded blows and the wounds don’t even show you’re self-reliant, a perfect tyrant I guess I always knew you’d never be my fire-hydrant Well I knew this would end up like it did At least we didn’t have a kid I’m leaving behind this gray infested swamp with its poisonous water snakes and it’s toxic golf course lakes CHORUS: Corpus Christi Texas City It’s not the humidity, it’s the humanity it’s not the insensitivity, it’s the insanity Corpus Christi, Texas City I remember wishing I was dead Like the peanut shells on the floor of the Ruby Red’s A stranger in a strange land a beautiful girl tugging on my hand trying in vain to drain the water off my brain CHORUS SOLO A couple of hundred meals and this is how it feels Baylor and Rice and everything nice Guess I’ll think about her maybe once or twice Texas Cityyyyyyyy Say goodbye to U-totem’s, say goodbye to Kroger gonna fly the coup before I get much older Cause I don’t like clams and I don’t like oysters I don’t like the locals when I’m drunk and boisterous I don’t like the Astros and the Oilers are gone Not even a reason to sing this song about a town where you broke my heart It’s time for a brand new start Texas City, Corpus Christi, Goodbye X 3 I’m going back to California, back to California, Goodbye Return to top Hard Times (Are Here Again) Well the moon is on a slow rise like ever other dark night since the waters receded and the grass began to grow Helicopters circle buzz and shine and circle and the pistol waving prophet is finally on TV He’s dreaming that I’m OJ finally feeling OK And you’re watching because you’re stuck and you’re at home And once the bastards finish me You’ll flip the channel once again And walk into the kitchen and pour yourself some gin Hard Times Are Here Again The CIA has bugged the door Close the blinds, Katie bar the door I’m locked and I’m loaded waiting for ‘em to storm in The people have spoken I thought they were joking But it’s just not the funny The second time around So I’ll listen to you whisper secrets from the twister that’s blowing in to flatten our home There’s no ink in my printer It’ll be a long, long winter but flowers only bloom if the spring is coming soon Hard Times Are Here Again Ohh Hard Times Are Here Again Some say “Bring It On!” Some reach for the bong Others say they saw it coming all along Doo doo doo doo Doo doo doo doo Well the the song is almost finished And my prospects are diminishing Wonder how the money’s coming in as the show heads for the floor The Republic had a short run Sure did get a lot done But the world is full of messengers who aren’t afraid to die They’ve cordoned off the perimiter access is limited and he’s bathing in the TV copters lights And once the bastards finish him He’ll rise into the smoky wind Take off on a ride Like a Jesus suicide Hard Times Are Here Again Ohh Hard Times Are Here Again Ohh Hard Times Are Here Again Some say “Bring It On!” Some reach for the bong Others say they saw it coming all along Doo doo doo doo Doo doo doo doo Return to top Barrier Reef Well I haven’t smoked pot in a week and a half come on baby kill the fatted calf because paranoia’s driven me wild my self esteem’s that of a small child And the power of the leaf is the barrier reef to my sanity Ohh The common man has an unusual plan for psycostomy write a song get behind the bong it’s a philosophy now say a prayer for the man who can only lift the weight of a stoney, stoney, stoney Now here’s a reference to the Mountain Pony Mounatain Pony! And the power of the leaf is the barrier reef to my sanity Ohh The keeper of the weed is the owner of the deed to my sanity Whoa SOLO And the power of the leaf is the barrier reef to my sanity Ohh The keeper of the weed is the owner of the deed to my sanity Whoa Whoa X 4 Return to top Take My Rest Well I don’t have anything left to confess there’s nothing eating away inside my chest I’ve think I’ve passed the most important test so soon I’m gonna take my rest Well I’ve been all the way to New Orleans Got lost in that city and saw all that could be seen walked down by the river watched the sun set in the west so soon I’m gonna take my rest Well I met her on a street in big LA She loved me for a month and a year before she went away what’s the use in looking for another once you’ve had the best so soon I’m gonna take my rest Bridge: Now I don’t need no money Don’t need to be a star Don’t need to spend anymore time playing this guitar I don’t need to show off In front of all my friends Because in the end No one wins and we all go back in the dirt again Well I believed that one day the revolution would come All the poor folks would rise up and finally get some But Justice is for the rich man and Jesus is for the rest So soon, I’m gonna take my rest X 2