20111022

Lines, 2006.

Bagpipes and Lightning Strikes



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

Bagpipes and lightning strikes in a bloody shrouded sun
Running down the highway now my shift work is done
Some warmonger's raving about how Democrats interfere
Memories of Republican impeachment proceedings fade and disappear
I'd donate a fortune to see my Party sitting pretty
But I've been through every pocket and I haven't got a penny

Bagpipes and lightning strikes, I shred my old receipts
Why should I care about your schemes and deceits
Justice gonna get you where the asphalt meets
The descending horizon waiting up beyond the ridge
Unless your reckless driving acquaints you with a telephone pole
Or the happy fishes swimming under the state line bridge

Bagpipes and lightning strikes, make a wish and hold your breath
Look too close into their faces, scare a grown man half to death
Too much conversation, none of it reflects the meaning of the words
Tarantula trundles through the brush pursuing hummingbirds
I could tell your fortune, don't need to see your palm
It don't matter who you voted for or what side you think you're on

Bagpipes and lightning strikes, you backpack across Peru
All my email messages bounce and I can't get in touch with you
From way up in the highlands now that nasty business is through
Are there anacondas in Peru or narco-lefty-pirates in the hills
That secret wisdom you're affecting, someone's gonna come collecting
Put off your debts too long, one day you pay some hefty bills

Bagpipes and lightning strikes echo in the trees
Knocked me from a pinnacle and down onto my knees
Some people sneeze at the sunrise, but I don't hold with that
Too much air conditioning makes you allergic to a cat
Army brats afraid of friendship, partings bring too much pain
If you fall in love with me then how much am I to blame

Bagpipes and lightning strikes, terror in the fields
I used to be afraid of falling before we got nuclear shields
Allah wants your death, virgins overflow on Heaven's shelves
If you really want to be radical then don't blow up yourselves
Health care and welfare and say farewell to your pension plan
Market forces dictate we wring out every drop of oil we can

Bagpipes and lightning strikes, I'm up here tending sheep
You think it seems a wasted life, but you're the one asleep
I watched the boats on Biscayne Bay as they glide and tack
Their lights were gently swaying, their skippers signed a contract
I could never read the fine print through the seeping blood
Good luck with what you call insurance next time you face the flood



I Wish We Could Wake Up



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

I wish we could wake up
And find it was all just bad dreams
I didn't plan any of this
I've got no idea what it means
I wish we could wake up
In the bed of faith and trust
And God could look down on us and smile
And put no one on trial

If you consider corporate thieving and killing
And fashionable housewives cheating, and every bad-faith deal
People like caged rats envying the Joneses racing about in
This year's trendy stainless steel wheel
It wasn't Heaven ordered the gassing of six million
They were man-made swastika flags unfurled
No American president spitefully torched the oil fields
And gave the finger to the free world
We're all of us at risk, babe
No tellin' who'll come out the other side
Stop raving about convenient scapegoats
And reconsider your pride

I wish this world was different
And no evil threatened my child
But everybody's fighting for a piece of pie
Talking trash and running wild
I wish we could wake up
And remember what we used to believe
Don't know if I can climb out of this tough luck
Too much junk to haul off in the dump truck

I don't carry a torch for Abu Ghraib
Collective retribution for greed unfailingly descends
Do nothing you'd be ashamed to tell your mother
Don't invoke unpredictable Acts of God or illegal aliens
Things fall apart if the manufactures have done their part
Feed the fads and pass the youth your hat
Steal their futures and invest in munitions
Let 'em fret when their savings fall flat
We're all of us at risk, babe
No tellin' who'll come out the other side
Stop raving about convenient scapegoats
And reconsider your pride

I think I can hear the angels singing
Don't wake me up this time if I'm dreaming
I can't hold on forever to darkness
Been on the losing end of too much double-dealing
I wish we could all wake up
With those battles still unwaged
I'd give so much if the high towers never fell
And we never boarded a dive bomber to Hell

We're all on this life raft together
So stop selling your countrymen shiny new crap
You'll survive without bundling your cell phone and TV
You're building blind maze trails inside a trap
Don't blame God for human selfishness
Stop filling up my mail with spam
If we can't all get together
Darkness gonna envelope this land, sir
Darkness gonna envelope this land
We're all of us at risk, babe
No tellin' who'll come out the other side
Stop raving about convenient scapegoats
And reconsider your pride

I wish I could save you
From all the evils in this place
Or you could save me
From this shame and disgrace
In this old town full of broken down dreams
Every street's littered with pain and regret
Everything's left shattered wherever it fell
We boarded a dive bomber to Hell



Jesus on a Bad Day



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

I got dirt under my nails
I got dirt on my pants
People eye me sideways like I just stepped down from
A shipload of ignorant immigrants
Forces of insecurity
Sewing the seeds of future war
Gaza jihadis don't know the faces or names
Of the Persian Mullahs they're dying for

Roulette wheel's spinning
World's riding on red
An Irish girl's laughter's bouncing
Round inside my head
Don't ask me to remember a
Single thing she said
Or you'll be waiting round here 'til
One of us falls down dead

Economic profiteers rob the poor and pile up riches
While the feds on leashes pony up tax breaks
For those soulless phony sons-a-bitches
And sneer at the local response to earthquakes
Hurricanes tidal waves and meteor bombardment
The doctor's wife's grown grim still working nine to five
Flips through the checkbook in uncomprehending bewilderment
They cut off your wrong limb, you're lucky to get out alive

Don't tell me who's your boss
I got no cause to know
The higher up you look
The more corrupt they grow
Justified behind a screen of
"Just business" and "the great American way"
When I was a kid in America they used to
Do it some other kind of way

Don't want to learn anything about you
Where you've been or what you've seen
It all emerges in the mix
The scars and beauty never dreamed
No matter where you matriculated
That's no way to impress me
I'll catch your quality of consciousness
In a net of kindness and sympathy

Going through old dusty boxes
I misplaced my sense of humor again
I've had to move on so many times
Ahead of the Sheriff of Nottingham
You'd think they'd have bigger fish to fry
I guess that's just my tax dollars at work
Paying the law to chase me down
A star for every wish and a job for every jerk

I can hear the diesel drivers and the freight whistle wail
Another restless early morning with zombies pawing at the door
Everyone's gone crazy or else is locked in jail
I feel like Vincent Price facing twenty-four hours more
I'm remembering an Irish girl
Trying to reconstruct my damaged thoughts
The long red hair that she could whirl
Green eyes deep as Scotish lochs

I'm soaked in caffeine and I'm
Staring down the road
I'm growing mean and tired of doing
Every stupid thing I'm told
Playing dumb too long among somnambulists
Can make a man explode
Like Jesus on a bad day when the traffic cops
Got his favorite mule towed



Lookin' For Manue Garue



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

Went down to the pizza parlor
I saw no one there so I had to holler:
"Anybody seen Manue Garue?"

Standing alone in an elevator
I decided I oughta come back later
After I found Manue Garue

Thought I saw him take off for the friendly skies
But you can't always trust your eyes
'Specially when searchin' for Manue Garue

Exotic visions can't compete with the Zen
Of dirty dishes - or so I was told
By Manue Garue

Cautiously sipping the Moon's sweet juice
Knocked me right off my caboose
This is the preferred libation of Manue Garue?

Archetypes dissolving. . . .starving felines
Countdown to caffeine ignition
I'd like to share a cup with Manue Garue

Anybody here can tell me straight
How much longer I gotta wait
'Til I find Manue Garue?



Melt My Mind



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

Think I'll melt down my mind
'Til I find the Devil inside
I'm still runnin' so far behind, watchin'
Broken visions unwind in
Shrapnel and foreign design
I been cuttin' cattle, I been lost in space
I been lookin' out for some
Other kinda place

Think I'll melt down my mind
Seas like dark wine, sun doused
In slick oil and rolling brine
Emotions I can't quite define
I'm inclined to set an ambush or just resign
I been scentin' fugitives and cataloging clues
I been so sick down in them
Deep sea diver blues

What you gonna do when
Your well runs dry?
If you want me to
I'll be standing at your side
Darling if you really care
And I think you do
Then put your arms around me and
Paint these black skies blue

Think I'll melt down my mind
'Til I shine
In golden light sublime
Guess I was hopin' to find something that got
Left behind or else repossessed and consigned
I been bendin' rules, but I kept every vow
You win or you lose
But you never know how



The Temptation of St. Anthony



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

Fish step, bent fin - turquoise surfaced ocean
Once proud street crowd sways backwards in slow motion
Young toughs play rough, try to get the beat on
Hive pulse in the dream stream - privacy is long gone
She said, he said - yank a wad of wires
Cyborg in the grocery store tries to buy desires
Uncle Sam's a rocket man shot out of a cannon
I'm watchin', I'm plannin', growin' hard of understandin'

Nerves jump, brain stump - focus your awareness
Streaming urban warfare, don't care - dare me to repress this
Trade away your competence for a little empathy
Conspiracy of sympathy, more lost opportunity
Thresholds raised behind dark shades, too much truth's too hurtful
Life among the zombies who mistake Benny for Churchill
New mushroom with auto-zoom, synthesize an edgy groove
While deep inside the sacred Louvre Mona's got a lot to prove

Sing a song of intense suspense, borderline depravity
Concavity, extravagancy - stuck on John Kennedy
The mystery dead, the young bride's bed - trying to discover
Recover, uncover - Marilyn and her lover
Flaming rooms and false baboons, electric eels in the lakes
Flaws, mistakes, glass breaks - grilling suspects and sirloin steaks
Man with a hack saw chopping through the cat's claw
Cole slaw, slow crawl - cite a source that trumps the law

Fish hips and bird lips, candy Cain and Abel
Sable coat, the dead vote - Vaseline tree limb rocking cradle
Something wrong in Hong Kong - riding on a dynamo
Busted scrawling graffiti on the hallowed walls of Jericho
Tyranny, who is free - prevailing mass opinion
Intention of restriction, diminishing dissention
Ecstasy, hex key - did you ever truly see
Beauty mingles nightmare, temptation of St. Anthony

Under moon and over hill, mow down friends through sheer will
I can still feel the chill of when we gave up what was real
Controversy comes for free, a new one every minute
You spin it, pretend it - please don't even mention it
Disorders, reporters - who decides and who anoints
The flunkies and the junkies trace out all the talking points
Don't wait too long, the past is gone, the present's almost finished
Diminished, extinguished - and Popeye needs his spinach



Tryin' to Do the Right Thing



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

Substitute the herd mentality for
Tryin' to do the right thing
Life is sweet but much too short for
Tryin' to do the right thing
Make your fortune while you can instead of
Tryin' to do the right thing
God willing, one day soon we'll all be rid of
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing

God musta thrown out Iraq and old Afghanistan
Tryin' to do the right thing
Every action bears its consequence whatever you plan
Tryin' to do the right thing
Killers crossin' borders into this forsaken land
Tryin' to do the right thing
I was only followin' orders - you gotta understand
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing

Weigh the wages of good and sin
Tryin' to do the right thing
Then tell me whether every man's your friend
Tryin' to do the right thing
You'll never make it until you discover
Tryin' to do the right thing
You see plenty hungry people and none of them your brother
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing

No one escapes it - feast or famine
Tryin' to do the right thing
The almighty Dollar's the modern Mammon
Tryin' to do the right thing
You want to wed the West and East?
Tryin' to do the right thing
Rihani's who we need the least
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing

Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing
Tryin' to do the right thing



Black Train



Copyright 2006, 2008, 2011 Ernest Bloom

There's a black train comin'
Gonna take me outta here
There's a black train comin', people
Comin' to roll me outta here
Well you might think you understand, but
Destiny's never clear

Phat bass comin' through
But the conductor's lookin' thin
I hear a phat bass line comin' through, but the
Conductor, he looks mighty thin
Somebody's rappin' at my door, but I
Sure ain't gonna let him in

Some of these dark blues
Get wrapped right around your head
Some of these deep dark blues, babe
They get wrapped tight right around your head
Don't know when you wake up tomorrow
If you're breathin' or if you're dead

Twin poles revolving in the night
Life arcing in between them
Twin poles spinning in the night
Life's sparking just like love between them
Takes real effort to make this garden a cage
Think I've had enough of your frightened rage

Aurora borealis lights
Dripping down behind my eyes
I can see them green and purple pools that fuse
And swirl behind my eyes
Star shells dazzle and burst up the night
While Jimi's guitar wails and cries

There's a black train comin' here for me
Let me tell you true
Said there's a black train headin' this way for me
Gonna tell you true
Someday it's gonna take me away, but
Tonight it's stoppin' just for you

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