2. One Last Straw
3. Only Talkin' On the Radio
4. Oregon Landslide
5. Over My Dead Body
Old Habits
I’d rather be some rank stranger
with my hand out for spare change
living on the margins
of disgrace
than to be sittin’ up high
in the lap of artificial luxury
knowin’ that sooner or later
it’s gonna blow up in my face
I’d rather be livin’ by my wits
than to beholden’ to a boss
parasite relationships
thieves of any kind
the simplest ideas
are the hardest to get across
but maybe if you make it
you might get to know your own mind
old habits, they’re always on your shoulder
old habits, they get worse when you get older
when I was just a child
my mamma read me stories
princess in the castle
with her long golden hair
now I just see board rooms
armies of accountants
and I know there are no
fairy tale people up there
you got your saviors
with their miracle devices
angels in your pocket
for when the goin’ gets rough
I see real estate evangelists
selling paradise
when it comes down to money
some people can never get enough
old habits, they play ‘em like a trump card
old habits, they die so hard
20 million slaves to build
the pyramids of Egypt
all their lives to labor
stone by stone
now we hold these monuments
to be self evident
still paying homage to the
Pharaoh’s throne
invisible
our most powerful confinements
more indestructible than any
walls of steel
replacing the pillory
with civilized refinements
just because you can’t touch it
doesn’t make it any less real
old habits, like a ball and chain
old habits, they’ll drive you insane
I’d rather be a foreigner
with no flag of allegiance
than to be the enemy
of some stranger’s best friend
unraveling
these sly manipulations
lessons to be learned
before the ship comes in
I know my avenues
and I know my limitations
imprints of generations
that I carry in my stride
no one comes into this world
free from complications
you have to find the window
so you can bust it wide
old habits, they make you fall asleep while you’re awake
old habits, they’re so hard to break
One Last Straw
when you can't get a job and they're callin' you lazy
don't know what to do and it's drivin' you crazy
rats in the basement, thieves in the hall
landlord comes in through a hole in the wall
with eviction papers in his trembling claw
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
when you're stuck down livin' on the wrong end of town
and the police come down houndin' around
pickin' up the kids for playin' hooky pool
while the heroin dealers hang around the grade school
and you're wastin' time waitin' on the law
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
when the D.A. is workin' for the company
and the lawyer is workin' for the legal fee
when the judge gets a salary advance
from out of the pockets of the governor's pants
when nobody talks about what they saw
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
when there's bully-boys pickin' on the passers by
and rapists waitin' on the shadowy sly
and in the broad daylight on the edge of town
another young children's body gets found
down by the river in a watery draw
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
when they take away the lives of your young and your old
and they leave you to shiver in a moldering cold
with nowhere to go but the end of the line
and it's all so legal it's a capital crime
when you feel that noose down under your jaw
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
you can call it Watts, you can call it Miami
you can call it Brixton, or Bristol City
you can call it Belfast or Derry Town
call it Soweto when the sun went down
but whether it be Rome or whether be Warsaw
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
it’s only the order of a natural law
somebody's bound to draw one last straw
----------
Only Talkin’ On the Radio
it was April 19th, I remember it still
when the bomb went off and all the people were killed
in Oklahoma City in the early mornin’
gone without a warnin’
some short time later and they had their man
he was a right wing with a military plan
a Gulf War veteran come to call
he gave his name, rank, and serial number, and that was all
and the big mouth says “not me, oh no
I’m only talkin’ on the radio”
when he was in high school he learned to play with guns
surfin’ on the internet just for fun
he found some people that he’ like to know
and the chip on his shoulder started to grow
he joined the army in ‘88
he got a bronze star in Kuwait
he read The Turner Diaries when his time was free
and the chip on his shoulder got an ideology
and the big mouth says “not me, oh no
I’m only talkin’ on the radio”
back home in stateside in ‘93
he found organized hatred was the place to be
and the rage that had no focus before
now joined up in the so-called patriot’s war
with a crazed mythological state of mind
Jewish conspiracies and Armageddon times
he swore an oath with a solemn look
and he built himself a bomb just like it said in the book
and the big mouth says “not me, oh no
I’m only talkin’ on the radio”
now I don’t know, I ain’t all that smart
but I think I can see when things are startin’ to come apart
and everybody’s callin’ everybody else names
and there’s a real mean streak in the game
and the radio talks out a constant noise
with a backroom club of good old boys
Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy
you can hear ‘em all the way to Oklahoma City
it’s like hatred’s climbed out from under its rock
it’s got a radio show and it’s learned how to talk
and talk ain’t nothin’, like the big mouth said
until a hundred and sixty eight people are dead
------------
Oregon Landslide
there’s a donation jar on a cafe counter in a little Oregon town
for the children who lost their parents when the mountainside came down
and you put in your folding dollar bill and you go along your way
and you wonder to yourself how it got to be that way
then you see the mills and the work yards with the logs all stacked in rows
and you know it’s timber country and that’s how the money flows
and you see the dark green forests a hundred miles wide
with their roots all intertwined holding up the mountainside
there was a family lived on the mountainside in the beautiful evergreen shadow
and when the company came to clear cut they new there was gonna be trouble
they took every standing tree as far as could be seen
they must’ve made a fortune when they picked that mountain clean
there were those who cried a warning with what little voice they had
but the logic of the dollar bill is a logic that’s gone mad
with their futures held to ransom and the ax all set to fall
they would not be satisfied until they took it all
it rains every winter in Oregon and the river gives rise to a flood tide
if it hadn’t there never would of been a landslide
there never would of been a landslide and the mountain never would’ve come down
and there never would’ve been such a tragedy in that little Oregon town
for there were no trees to hold up that dreadful deadly flow
when a million tons of mud and rock came crashing down below
turned the children into orphans with their parents trapped inside
it was murder by profit and that’s how those people died
so many came to the funeral and many tears were shed
and many tears were spoken and this is what they said
“if there’s justice in this world then let that justice be
for the landslide came from the clear cut and the clear cut came from the company
there’s a donation jar on a cafe counter in a little Oregon town
for the children who lost their parents when the mountainside came down
and you put in your folding dollar bill and you go along your way
and you wonder to yourself how it got to be that way
Over My Dead Body
We are born in nature and in nature we will die
And if we don’t make it, it’s not because we didn’t try
They say they will incorporate the world
Over my dead body, over my dead body, over my dead body, over mine
They have all the money but we have the will
And I would rather be a match than a paper dollar bill
They have all the guns, all we are is flesh and blood
But we will multiply our numbers and drown them in our flood
They say they will incorporate the world
Over my dead body, over my dead body, over my dead body, over mine
They have all the power, that’s what they say
But we will turn those tables, take their power away
We will not ne dissuaded and we will not turn around
We will face the barricades and we will tear them down
They say they will incorporate the world
Over my dead body, over my dead body, over my dead body, over mine
You can call me a fool, that’s alright with me
But I will live to see this good round world breaking free
They say they will incorporate the world
Over my dead body, over my dead body, over my dead body, over mine
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