LUBRIPHONIC


PUNK

Hard drugs and tweed jackets,
Khaki pants and tennis rackets;
Careening youth on the subway line
Looking cool, killing time
You ain't nobody in this world
Without an F.B.I. file--
Plan your days in sketchy ways
And they'll write you up in style

But I got a tube full of groove
And a bordello valentine--
Though I am seldom on her mind.
There's beer in the rear
And the coast is clear,
So tell me something's wrong with my life...
Punk

Laughing gas and pace makers,
Post-graduate pill takers--
Hopped-up scalpels cleaning trout
Taking all the insides out.
Well show me to that dotted line
'Cause brother, I want to sign.
Take my jug, pull my plug
But don't feed me to those lions.

Day trades and theatre tickets--
I'll tell you where you can stick it.
Computer screens and naked girls,
Visible kings of invisible worlds;
But I ain't got an axe to grind,
I carry my cross with a smile.
I comb my hair, change my underwear,
Make sure my shoes are in style...

GIRL

All your fine dresses, if I may be so bold,
If you don't mind my asking, girl--
Where did you get those clothes?
I know you're from the neighborhood,
I've seen you around
Cascading down the avenue
Hardly making a sound

How come you always look so disgusted?
How come your car is so rusted?
All your fine dresses, if I may be so bold,
If you don't mind my asking, girl--
Where did you get those clothes?

I wonder if your old man, I wonder does he know
How pretty you are when there's no one to show.
I wonder where you're going, I wonder where you've been
I wonder how in hell you ended up with him.

Maybe it's just my imagination,
Maybe you hold no fascination.
All your fine dresses, if I may be so bold,
If you don't mind my asking, girl--
Where did you get those clothes?

Last night I sat down and I wrote you this song;
Or maybe I wrote it for myself and I'm carrying on.
I've got sand in my eyes and fences to mend.
The truth is such a drag you know,
It's more fun to pretend.

GIVE IT UP

From this day forward I give it up--
I don't know the reason why
I tie myself into a knot
And gaze up at the sky.
Like a traveller who's seen his fate,
Like the moon tells the tide,
Like a bookie knows before a race,
I know which horse to ride...

I give up giving up

I spend time like it's money
And money like it's wine.
I sleep like a scoundrel
And eat like a swine.
My friends from the rubble,
They say I'm doing fine--
I could have done so much more
If I only had the time

I give up giving up

STUFF I USE

I've been franchised and homogenized,
Patronized and televised;
Hid under desks in asbestos schools
Learning about the doomsday rules.
I got miles on myself that I can't get back--
Ten cigarettes from a heart attack.
I eat my dinners out of a can;
I'm six years behind in my five-year plan

And the world keeps turning
And my mind keeps burning
Life's done a lot to make me look like a fool
But I got to keep moving with the stuff I use.

I had a girl but I wanted more;
Had a love but I wanted to score.
Dropped out of school so I could play in a band--
Jump for joy if I make twenty grand.
I watch fires and earthquakes on t.v.--
Hope like hell it don't happen to me
'Cause when I'm old and over the hill
I got no insurance to cover the bill

Like whiskey and power tools,
I find myself mismatched and ill-used
Sometimes when I think about
The way my life is turning out.
But it's jive, okay, don't you hear what I say?
Look outside, it's a beautiful day--
Though the air's like sulfur and it's cold as sin,
Mini skirts are out and sweaters are in...

EYE CONTACT AT THE PALACE

We made eye contact at the palace
While the king looked on with malice
And the queen fixed herself another drink.
Your eyes began to narrow,
They pierced my like an arrow,
And I'll be damned if I didn't see you wink.
I tried to see you later but you were talking to the waiter--
I didn't want to seem rude.

Just can't get close to you
No matter what I try to do
Corkscrew myself right into the ground, 'cause
I can't get close to you.

I got a drink to cradle,
Was headed to your table,
When I ran into a friend at the bar.
He filled my ear with stories
Of unimportant glories
And what he had to fix on his car.
I pushed him aside, with and arrogant stride,
But you were nowhere to be found

Just can't get close to you

YOUR EYES

Your eyes sleeping, barely even dreaming;
Do you picture a face?
Does it melt into a race?
Is it easier?
Your ears listenening, learning and resisting;
Words on a breeze
Spread like a disease.
Is it easier?

Your house empty; pacing through it gently,
When you sit in your chair
Are you glad you're not out there?
Is it easier?
Your ears listening, learning and resisting;
Words on a breeze
Spread like a disease.
Is it easier?

SPEED-DIAL

I got the AA on the speed-dial.
I like to ring them up when I'm out on the tiles.
I tell them I'm not drunk, I'm spiritual--
Yeah, like a revelation from the urinal

Funny how people to think I'm so funny anymore,
Yeah, when I'm lying on the floor.

I'm not ugly, I'm exotic--
Like some kind of beatnik narcotic.
Lick me, stick me, roll me, smoke me-- I don't mind.
Gulp me down like a cheap bottle of wine

And I'll float around inside of you for a while,
Yeah, when you're out on the tiles.

WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU

Appalachian voodoo or super-sonic hoo-doo,
What can I do for you?
You buzz in my brain like funky Coltrane,
I wan't to share my perversions with you.
I'm hear to scandalize the beauty that God gave you,
Carefully neutralize your moral inclinations--
I've been waiting so long to find a way to get into your love

I'm willing and able
To lay my sins on the table
Oh, if it will make you come alive

I'll drive you to the mountains and we'll make love in the sun.
I'll write you lurid love songs, not unlike this one.
Our ancestors will be spinning in their graves
When they hear about the way we've behaved.
What can I do for you?

I find it most disturbing that I haven't seen you naked.
What is it you're preserving? What is in your head?
I don't mean to co-opt you with my gaze
Oh, it's just like me to misbehave.
What can I do for you?

HOLY ROLLERS

Thrill jockeys riding donkeys stuck in traffic on the free way,
Calming their fragile nerves with a dial-tone from a mobile phone.
Twisting their insides into a very thin spaghetti--
Lord knows it won't be long until their cover blows
And their in the throes

It happens all the time
Like holy rollers losing their minds
Don't you get yourself caught up in it.
There ain't no peace of mind in a brand new four wheel drive.
Don't you get yourself caught up in it.

Problem child running wild; got up on the wrong side of the womb.
Give him some happy pills, make him smooth, make him groove.
Equalization driving the nation, turning thoughts into confetti
Lord knows it won't be long before we can't control the overflow.

It happens all the time
Like holy rollers losing their minds
Don't you get yourself caught up in it.
Liquified emotions from bitter tasting potions--
Don't you get yourself caught up in it.

Game show logic, slick hair tonic, and lotto on the weekdays--
You may have already won, just step inside and get inline.
Time for the lightning round-- is everybody ready?
What is your final answer? Do you even know where the money goes?

LOOKING GLASS WAYS

Brother, I'm going home-- I need the sleep.
Been spending my days in looking glass ways,
And I'm going home.
I don't need nothing but a face
So that's why I'm going home.

I need a face not so much like mine
And nothing like yours.
So I'll drink some tea and fall down on the floor
But I'm going home.
When morning comes I'll be new; so will you
And I'm going home.

I'll get the tip before I give you the slip
I'm going home
'Cause I can't let the ugly lights catch me crying.
When morning comes I'll be new; so will you
And I'm going home.