KNOCKING ON HEAVENS DOOR
Mama, take this badge off of me...
I can't use it anymore...
It's getting dark, too dark to see...
Feel I'm knocking on heaven's door...
Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking
on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door...
Mama put my guns in the ground...
I can't shoot them anymore...
That long black cloud is coming down...
I feel I'm knocking on heaven's door...
Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking
on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door...
Baby stay right here with me...
'Cause I can't see you anymore...
This ain't the way it's supposed to be...
I feel I'm knocking on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking
on heaven's door...
Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking
on heaven's door...
Son won't you remember me?...
I can't be with you anymore...
A lawman's life is never free...
I feel I'm knocking on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking
on heaven's door... Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door...
Knock..knock..knocking on heaven's door...
TOO MUCH ROPE
When the sleigh is heavy
And the timber wolves are getting bold
You look at your companions
And test the water of their friendship
With you toe
They significantly edge
Closer to the gold
Each man has his price Bob
And yours was pretty low
History is short the sun just a minor star
The poor man sells his kidneys
In some colonial bazaar
Que sera sera
Is that your new Ferrari car
Nice but I'll think I'll wait for the F50
You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove of murder
Tears burn my eyes
Moslem or Christians Mullah or Pope
Preacher or poet who was it wrote
Give any one species too much rope
And they'll fuck it up
And last night on TV
A Vietnam vet
Takes his beard and his pain
And his alienation twenty years
Back to Asia again
Sees the monsters they made
In formaldehyde floating 'round
Meets a gook on a bike
A good little tyke
A nice enough guy
With the same soldier's eyes
Tears burn my eyes
What does it mean
This tearjerking scene
Beamed into my home
That it moves me so much
Why all the fuss
It's only two humans being
It's only two humans being
Tears burn my eyes
What does it means
This tender TV
This tearjerking scene
Beamed into my home
You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove my murder
Tears burn my eyes
Moslem or Christian Mullah or Pope
Preachers or poet who was it wrote
Give any one species too much rope
And they'll fuck it up
THE TIDE IS TURNING
I used to think the world was flat
Rarely threw my hat into the crowd
I felt I had used up my quota of yearning
Used to look in on the children at night
In the glow of their Donald Duck light
And frighten myself with the thought of my little ones burning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Satellite buzzing through the endless night
Exclusive to moonshots and world title fights
Jesus Christ imagine what it must be earning
Who is the strongest, who is the best
Who holds the aces, the East or the West
This is the crap our children are learning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
Now the satellite's confused
'Cos on Saturday night
The airwaves were full of compassion and light
And his silicon heart warmed
To the sight of a billion candles burning
Oo, oo, oo, the tide is turning
Oo, oo, oo, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Billy
I'm not saying that the battle is won
But on Saturday night all those kids in the sun
Wrested technology's sword from the hand of the
War Lords
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Sylvester
The tide is turning.
"That's it!"
[Morse Code:]
"Now the past is over but you are not alone
Together we'll fight Sylvester Stallone
We will not be dragged down in his South China Sea
of macho bullshit and mediocrity"
PERFECT SENSE, Part I
The monkey sat on a pile of stones
And he stared at the broken bone in his hand
And the strains Viennese quartet
Rang out across the land
The monkey looked up at the stars
And he thought to himself
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
And he cleaned his hands
In a pool of holy writing
Turned his back on the garden
And set out for the nearest town
Hold on hold on soldier
When you add it all up
The tears and marrowbone
There's an ounce of gold
And an ounce of pride in each ledger
And the Germans killed the Jews
And the Jews killed the Arabs
And Arabs killed the hostages
And that is the news
And is it any wonder
That the monkey's confused
He said Mama Mama
The President's a fool
Why do I have to keep reading
These technical manuals
And the joint chiefs of staff
And the brokers on Wall Street said
Don't make us laugh
You're smart kid
Time is linear
Memory's a stranger
History's for fools
Man is a tool in the hands
Of the great God Almighty
And they gave him command
Of a nuclear submarine
And sent him back in search of
The Garden of Eden
PERFECT SENSE, Part II
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Little black soul departs in perfect focus
Prime time fodder for the News at Nine
Darling is the child warm in the bed tonight
Hi everybody I'm Marv Albert
And welcome to our telecast
Coming to you live from Memorial Stadium
It's a beautiful day
And today we except a sensational matchup
Bur first our global anthem
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
And here come the players
As I speak to you now the captain
Has he cross hairs zeroed on the oil rig
It looks to me like he's going to attack
By the way did you know that a submarine
Captain earns 200,000 dollars a year
Oh that's less tax Marv less tax
Uh thank you Emery you're welcome
Now back to the game he fires one yes
There goes two both fish are running
The rig is going into a prevent defense
Will they make it I don't think so
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
THREE WISHES
Reached back for the bottle
And rubbed against the lamp
Genie came out smiling
Like some Eastern tramp
He said hey boy what's happening
What is going on
You can have three wishes
If you don't take too long
I said well
I wish they all were happy on the Lebanon
Wish somebody'd help me write this song
I wish when I was young
My old man had not been gone
Genie said consider it done
There's something in the air
And you don't know what it is
You see someone through a window
Who you've just learned to miss
And the road leads on to glory but
You've used up your last wish
Your last wish
And you want her to come home
Genie said I'm sorry
But that's the way it goes
Where the hell's lamp sucker
It's time for me to go
Bye
There's something in the air
And you don't know what it is
You see someone through a window
Who you've just learned to miss
And the road leads on to glory but
You've used up your last wish
Your last wish
And you want her to come home
5.06 AM (Every Strangers Eyes)
Hello...you wanna cup of coffee?
I'm sorry, would you like a cup of coffee?
Ok you take cream and sugar?
In truck stops and hamburger joints
In Cadillac limousines
In the company of has-beens
And bent-backs and sleeping forms
On pavement steps
In libraries and railway stations
In books and banks
In the pages of history
In suicidal cavalry attacks
I recognise...
Myself in every stranger's eyes
And now from where I stand
Upon this hill I plundered from the pool
I look around, I search the skies
I shade my eyes, so nearly blind
And I see signs of half remembered days
I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways
I recognise...
The hope you kindle in your eyes
It's oh so easy now
As we lie here in the dark
Nothing interferes it's obvious
How to beat the tears
That threaten to snuff out
The spark of our love
WHO NEEDS INFORMATION
Me and Benny went out last night
Looking for fun
Supping ale in the moonlight
Waiting for the dawn to come
Benny pointed at a HiFi shop
He said hey man look at all the stuff they've got
How'd you make a have out of a have not
Hmmmm.
Who needs information
When you're working underground
Just give me confirmation
We could win a million pounds
Benny climbed up on a footbridge
And he teetered on the parapet
He said can you see the whites of their headlights
Are they coming yet
Who needs information
This high off the ground
Just give me confirmation
We could win a million pounds
Who needs information
When you're living in constant fear
Just give me confirmation
There's some way out of here
Some way out of here
Benny hefted a breeze block
And tried to let go
Got hung up on a tear drop
So me and Benny went home
Who needs information
When you're living in constant fear
Just give me confirmation
There's some way out of here
Some way out of here
Who needs information yeah
When you're living on borrowed time
Just give me confirmation
There will be a winner this time
Who needs information when you're working underground
Just give me confirmation
We could win a million pounds
Who needs, who needs, who needs information
This high off the ground
Just give me confirmation
We could win a million pounds - yeah
Jim: Um. <lights a cigarette> So your brother's in
jail?
EACH SMALL CANDLE
Not the torturer will scare me
Nor the body's final fall
Nor the barrels of death's rifles
Nor the shadows on the wall
Nor the night when to the ground
The last dim star of pain, is held
But the blind indifference
Of a merciless unfeeling world
Lying in the burnt out shell
Of some Albanian farm
An old Babushka
Holds a crying baby in her arms
A soldier from the other side
A man of heart and pride
Breaks ranks, lays down his rifle
And kneels by her side
He binds her wounds
He gives her food
And calms the crying child
She gives him absolution then
Across the great divide
He picks his way back through the broken
China of her life
And there at the kerb
The Samaritan Serb turns..
Turns and waves.. Goodbye
And each small candle
Each small candle
Lights a corner of the dark...
Lights a corner of the dark
Each small candle
Each small candle
Lights a corner of the dark
Lights a corner of the dark
Each small candle lights a corner of the dark
When the wheel of pain stops turning
And the branding iron stops burning
When the children can be children
When the desperadoes weaken
When the sea rolls into greet them
When the natural law of science
Greets the humble and the mighty
And the billion candles burning
Lights the dark side of every human mind
And each small candle
Lights a corner of the dark...
FLICKERING FLAME
When my neurones conspire to distract my thoughts
Away from divorce and competitive sports
Back to the place where all rivers run to the sea
Then I……………..I shall be free
***repeat above line***
On a seesaw in a strange land
The jackdaw sat on the cardinals hand
And the fiddlers played
And the planners plan what would be
On a back seat in a court room
sat Molly Malone and Leopold Bloom
Until the police came down with a new broom
And swept them clean
Like Geronimo
Like Quinn the Eskimo
Like the Blackfoot
And like the Arapaho
Like Crazy Horse
I'll be the last one to lay down my gun………
And when the bell sounds for that final round
I'll be there
On the open road in a bar room
A pick up band plays a new tune
When the coloured girls sing
I feel my heart boom
When a new song hits the right note
When a clearing in the sky saves an old boat
When an insight strikes the mote (mote is a spec of dust)
From my own eye
Like Geronimo
Like Quinn the Eskimo
Like Blackfoot
And like the Arapaho
Like Crazy Horse
I'll be the last one to lay down my gun………
They're the same beyond the next plain
I'll feel the heat of the flickering flame
On an African Plain by a thorn tree
My old friend Phillipe is waiting for me
(Phillipe Constantin a very close friend of Roger's
passed away very recently he was French but spent
a lot of time in Africa)
Que se passe Que se passe
What ever will be will be
When a friend dies and the tears rise
From that deep well that never runs dry
And the women break their bracelets
And the men take their whisky outside
In a pied 'a' terre (love nest, where French men take their
mistresses, a second home in the city)
on the rue St Denis (famous street in France where prostitutes
operate)
The red velvet curtain pulls back to reveal
The place where the dark side meets the angel in me………..
the angel in me
When my synapses pause in their quest for applause
When my ego lets go of its end of the bone
To focus instead on a love that is precious to me
Then I……………..I shall be free
TOWERS OF FAITH
Ooooh, the lonely boys
In their towers of faith
Ooooh, the lonely boys
Locked in their towers of faith
The prophet reclined
In the Golan Heights
Ohhh, the lonely boys
He said "This land is my land"
To the Shiites
Ooooh, the lonely boys
And Jehova looked up from the sea of Galilee beneath
He said "I see you, you thief!
This land is my land
And this sand is my sand
And this band is my band"
Oh the lonely boys
Lookin' over their shoulder
Checkin out every boulder in the park
Where the gates are closed from hate
After dark
And the Pope rolled up in his armored van
He fell on his knees and kissed the land
He said something that I did not understand
It was in polish
Then up stepped an aide, he said "I will translate
Here is what His Holiness said:
'I am the Chief Jesuit.
This land is Jesus' land.
And that is all
All that there is to it.'"
And in New York City
The business man in his mohair suit
In the world trade center
Puffs on his cheroot
And he said
"Well I don't care who owns the desert sands,
My brief
Is with the hydrocarbons underneath"
And the sea of battle rages around the ancient tombs
And mother nature licks her wounds
And the lonely boys locked in their towers of faith
Who are nervous in the park when the gates are closed after
dark
Ooooh, the lonely boys
In their towers of faith
Ooooh, the lonely boys
Locked in their towers of faith
RADIO WAVES
Radio waves. Radio waves.
He hears radio waves. Radio waves.
The atmosphere is thin and cold
The yellow sun is getting old
The ozone overflows with radio waves
AM, FM, weather and news
Our leaders had a frank exchange of views
Are you confused, radio waves.
Radio waves, radio waves
AM radio waves, FM radio waves
Radio waves, mind-numbing radio waves
Fish-stunning radio waves
Radio waves.
Magic Billy in his wheel chair
Is picking up all this stuff in the air
Billy is face to face with outer space
Messages from distant stars
The local police calling all cars, radio waves
Hear them radio waves, radio waves
Jesus saves radio, radio waves
Radio waves, AM radio waves, FM radio waves
All them radio waves
Radio waves, radio waves, he hears radio waves
Radio waves, radio waves, hopeful radio waves, dopeful radio
waves
Radio waves, Russian radio waves, Prussian radio waves
Eastern radio waves, Western radio waves
Testing radio waves, one two. One two.
Radio waves. Getting through to you
More code radio waves, Tobacco road radio waves
South to Paloma radio waves, Oklahoma City radio waves
Sitting pretty radio waves, nitty-gritty radio waves
Radio waves
Jim: Alright, that's a song called Radio Waves. You are listening
to
KAOS in Los Angeles and we've got Billy on the line.
Billy: I'm from the valleys.
Jim: You're from the valley?
Billy: No, Jim you schmuck, the Valleys; male voice choirs,
Wales.
Jim: Ah, you're from Wales! Now is this sperm or blue-tip?
Billy: Ha, ha, ha, ha. Very funny Jim.
Jim: Sorry.
Billy: Me and Benny went out.
Jim: Who's Benny?
LOST BOYS CALLING
Come hold me now
I am not gone
I would not leave you here alone
In this dead calm beneath the waves
I can still hear those lost boys calling
You could not speak
You were afraid
To take the risk of being left again
And so you tipped your hat and waved and then
You turned back up the gangway of that steel tomb again
And in that street in July
When I hear those seabirds cry
I hold the child
The child in the man
The clild that we leave behind
And in my street in July
When she hears those seabirds cry
She holds the child
The child in the man
The child that we leave behind
The spotlight fades
The boys disband
The files notes lie mute upon the sand
And in the silence of the grave
I can still hear those lost boys calling
We left them there
When they were young
The men were gone until the west was gone
And now there's nothing left but time to kill
You never took us fishin' dad and now you never will
And in my street in July
When she hears the seabirds cry
She holds the child
The child in the man
The child that we leave behind
