2. The Clone Song
3. Collateral Damage
4. Columbus
5. The Corner Of His Eye
6. Crackdown In Crack Town
7. Cultural Cruelty
Clear Blue Sky
funny how life goes, just when you think you know
it’ll hit you so sudden, you never even see the blow
and all the things you’ve been missin’, they seem to crowd around
the way the shadows get longer when the sun goes down
and it’s only one drop of water in a clear blue sky
but it’s enough to say good-bye
you see the minstrel on the sidewalk singin’, you hear the cowboy song
you see the old road traveler passin’, lookin’ for a place to belong
you see the bird do an aerial dance, you see the wing in the sunlight glisten
there’s music everywhere if you know how to listen
and it’s only one drop of water in a clear blue sky
but it’s enough to say good-bye
oh and all of us, we are more than we appear
all of that life, all of those years
standin’ on a beach head, where the land and the water part
and all that really matters is what you hold in your heart
oh friend of mine, how can I say
when your last great breath of life took my words away
laughin’ ‘cause we have to, laughin’ in the face of it all
somewhere forever, on the other side of that wall
and it’s only one drop of water in a clear blue sky
but it’s enough to say good-bye
--------------
The Clone Song
you’re never alone, you’re never alone
you’re never alone with your clone
you can go out for the night and still stay at home
you can call yourself on your cellular phone
you don’t need a mirror to see how you’ve grown
you’re never alone with your clone
you can talk to yourself and it won’t look weird
you can shave every day and still grow a beard
have your duplicate personal re-engineered
you’re never alone with your clone
you can walk all the time in the other guy’s shoes
you can give up your life for the cause that you choose
and watch the reports on the evening news
you’re never alone with your clone
it’s a bi-focal schizophrenic occurrence
standing in for yourself in a feat of endurance
you can kill yourself, collect the insurance
you’re never alone with your clone
you can suffer the victim and be your own thief
both sides of the law, above and beneath
you can be your own dentist and pull your own teeth
you’re never alone with your clone
you can marry yourself if the laws will allow
have sex with yourself but don’t ask me how
immediate instant, the future is now
you’re never alone with your clone
and if you cloned your own clone in multiplication
there would be no division in your population
and you could be your own united nation
you’re never alone with your clone
and clone upon clone like the fishes and bread
you could oh so fruitfully settle and spread
until the whole wide world was identically bred
you’re never alone with your clone
as above and below in immaculate view
you would look just like god who would look just like you
and there would be nothing that you couldn’t do
you’re never alone with your clone
you could write your own warning upon your own wall
in monotonous sameness the clarion call
then you would go crazy and so would we all
you’re never alone with your clone
-------------
Collateral Damage
you loved your sweet country for all of your life
like your mother and father before you
the land runs deep, so deep in your blood
your flesh and your bone and your sinews
descendants and ancestors, deep as it goes
a relative circle as far as your eye
it can all be undone in the flash of an instant
mechanical thunder that bruises the sky, bruises the sky
goodbye to my relatives, all of my life
never again will I see
you won’t have a name when they fly the big airplanes
collateral damage is all you will be, all you will be
from a faraway place where the language is strange
they come with their angry machines
and the clouds rain a metal that hurts when it falls
and it shatters the ground, making everything scream
and the children run crippled, old people hide
the babies are caught in the rubble debris
but the strangers don’t know, you are only a number
under-reported on color TV, color TV
goodbye to my relatives, all of my life
never again will I see
you won’t have a name when they fly the big airplanes
collateral damage is all you will be, all you will be
a mother is more than a number to a baby
who now has to grow up on it’s own
and a grandfather blinded and crippled at his age
is more than just a statistical drone
all of these people are human
and humans are more footnote
this cynical language of killing is killing us
caught like a bone in humanity’s throat, humanity’s throat
goodbye to my relatives, all of my life
never again will I see
you won’t have a name when they fly the big airplanes
collateral damage is all you will be, all you will be
so if you see a ghost in the lonely wind blowing
like shrapnel the sound of the rain
and it’s speaking a language you don’t understand
but you know what it means just the same
it’s too late for innocence, all of that’s over now
don’t say that you didn’t know
when they come to collect for the damages owed
the collateral may be your own, may be your own
goodbye to my relatives, all of my life
never again will I see
you won’t have a name when they fly the big airplanes
collateral damage is all you will be, all you will be
Columbus
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will turn the other way
I will not celebrate Columbus
there was no honor on that day
on that day when the brave sea captain so they say
set out to prove that the world was round
yeah but really he was looking out for gold and he would kill for it
a mercenary scout for the European crown
and they found a gentle people on the shore line
a gentle people, they could turn them into slaves
and they cut down those people just as fast as they could
they didn’t even give them time to dig their own graves
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not give honor to his name
I will not celebrate Columbus
it is a day of infamy and shame
and the flood gates were opened and history rolled
and the numbers were uncountable, the numbers were extreme
every dead one died for a hawk’s bell full of gold
forgotten in the margins of the American dream
I know it was a long time ago
I know its hard to remember but its harder still to forget
living in the shadow of a holocaust
maybe some day will organize and rise to be a threat
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not give honor to a killer and a thief
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not bow to absurdity’s belief
there is a statue out by city hall
a soldier with his uniform, his helmet and his gun
Chivington’s army at Sand Creek
women and children and what have they done
they have paved their paradise with money and blood
they have built their greatness on the backs of the dead
and when they stand before the gates of their arrival
they will stand there with a price on their head
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will see him unmasked before the naked light
I will not celebrate Columbus
I will not celebrate until we make it right
let’s take this upside down world and turn it over
let’s make sense out of this senselessness
let’s build a house that we can all live in together
let’s clean up this mess
I will not celebrate Columbus
-----------
The Corner Of His Eye
for 53 years they were married
raised a family in San Jose
then they moved up to the north country
to spend their golden days
there were trees to grow and lawns to mow
coyotes in the hills nearby
and sometimes when the weather was right
there was an airplane to fly
there was joy and there was sadness
and life in all it's run
and on the other side of life
there was a time that had to come
she died one winter’s afternoon
when a freeze was on the ground
it was like her spirit just lifted up
and never came back down
and all around the hill sides
there was a silvery ringing
like every coyote in the world
was singing
he took her ashes up
in that little plane he loved to fly
and he let them go
as he said good-bye
and he was alone
in the middle of eternity
until one night
and this is how he told it to me
I saw her and I touched her
for a brief moment the other night
it was strange, left me happy - glad!
it was a sleepless night
and as I lay there trying to sleep
I must have drifted off but in my sleep I was still awake
when suddenly she was standing there by the side of my bed
kind of startled me, and she said
"Pa, it’s all right, it's me, Mom"
her voice was clear and strong
we touched for an instant
then she was gone
she looked great
just like she did 20 years ago
when we first came up here
she looked great!
life goes on
though sometimes it takes a little while
now when he thinks about her sometimes he cries
and sometimes he smiles
he’s married again
to a woman with a loss of her own
and there’s joy and there’s sadness again
in that little home
and sometimes at night
when the coyotes cry
he thinks he sees her
in the corner of his eye
------------------
Crackdown In Crack Town
out on the west side Friday night
oh what a scene for your eyesight
all over the cockroach town
money’s up and the dose is down
they got a thing about social control
put the squeeze with the border patrol
its getting’ hot down ghetto row
and one of these days the lid’s a-gonna blow
(chorus)
crackdown in crack town
everybody run
crackdown in crack town
wait until the police come
see the dude with the shiny Mercedes
got his eye on a couple of ladies
hey baby we could have a time
do a number and a couple of lines
and see the one with the silver keys
he supplies the celebrities
a thousand dollars worth of chemical thrills
and its high times up in Beverly Hills
(chorus)
see the little geek with the button down
seems to know his way around
got a face that you can’t quite place
guess what he’s got in his attaché case
there’s big money in a little war
they bring it in through the corridor
just so long as they peddle their wares
don’t nobody care about foreign affairs
(chorus)
the big chief says to the camera
“I want a drug free America”
first lady she’s right behind
she wants to stay in the headlines
see the billboard advertise
hear the radio moralize
all for the sake of appearance
some little do-good gonna turn in her parents
(chorus)
they smell your breath and they study your eyes
take your blood and its no surprise
they read the roots of your curly brown hair
you can’t even go to the toilet without somebody there
hear the helicopter overhead
shake your window and rattle your bed
its getting’ tight just like a vice
it’s the flip side of paradise
(chorus)
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Cultural Cruelty
picture yourself in a magical land
a living oasis in a desert of dead sand
when you were a child it was easy to be
lost in your life so innocently
till a shadowy stranger, awesome and gray
found your oasis and stole it away
they told you that time was made out of stone
if you had a dream you must dream it alone
the words of your teachers rang in your head
first you get older and then you get dead
cultural cruelty
how can that be
cultural cruelty
institutional demons devour
eternity broken into calendar hours
natural instincts driven to shame
till all that’s left of yourself is your name
it’s hard to remember the lay of the land
when there’s no room for a child in a woman or man
when youth is a threat to the rule of the age
and it’s all been reduced to a minimum wage
cultural cruelty
how can that be
cultural cruelty
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