Tracks
Spring starts when a heartbeat's pounding when the birds can be heard above the reckoning carts doing some final accounting lava flowing in Superfarmer's direction he's been getting reprieve from the heat in the frozen-food section Don't tell me what the poets are doing don't tell me that they're talking tough Don't tell me that they're anti-social somehow not anti-social enough and Porn speaks to its splintered legions to the pink amid the withered cornstalks in them winter regions while aiming at the archetypal father he says with such broad and tentative swipes why do you even bother
Don't tell me what the poets are doing those Himalayas of the mind Don't tell me what the poet's been doing in the long grasses over-time Don't tell me what the poets are doing on the street and the epitome of vague don't tell me how the universe is altered when you find out how he gets paid if there's nothing more that you need know lawn cut by bare-breasted women beach bleached, towels within reach for the women gotta make it that'll make it by swimming.
Your imagination's having puppies it could be a video for new recruits just stare into the camera and pretend that you got the flu or dreams of impossible vacations and get all teary from the wind look as though you're standing at the station long after the train came in
And see how the space tautens like there's something on and you're never more hot then when you've got something on Picture a century of water bury the pipeline guy right here kill the dream of possible vacations with the sweep of a mapping pioneer
outside there's hectic action the ice is covering the trees and one of em's interconnecting with my cheverolet caprice Black out to phantom power and like there's nothing on and hammering the tower and now there's nothing on we'll ride the monorail rocking gently home on the trail you wanna show me the moon I know you're standing at the station I know there's nothing on I know that alienation I know the train's long gone I can see how your face tautens like you've got something on it makes me feel just rotten but you've got something on
The man 'cross the street he don't move a muscle though he's all covered in dust when constitutions of granite can't save the planet what's to become of us with a painted restraint I don't move a muscle though a turbine roars
if the bathwater's clear and my ear's underwater it's a tolerant hum from the core sleep's beckoning from the depths from the cracks and from the crevices join the army of ghosts the murmurs in the mist That's when the powers of obsevation come to the periphery town and we carry their water
we don't make a sound and after gaining our resignation they come thrygh the chainlink fence your only enemy's panic your only chance is to start making sense Sleep plunging into deeper debt into bunkers and black minarets on a geyser of ink a morning voice faint and yet
and it sounds heroincredible sound that makes the headphones edible awake affiliated and indelible The man 'cross the street don't move a muscle though he's all covered in dust says constitutions of granite can't save the planet what's left to captivate us what's left to captivate us what's left to captivate us what's to become of us
I left your house this morning about a quarter after nine coulda been the Willie Nelson coulda been the wine when I left your house this morning it was a little after nine
it was in Bobcaygeon I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time Drove back to town this morning with working on my mind I thought of maybe quitting thought of leaving it behind went back to bed this morning and as I'm pulling down the blind the sky was dull and hypothetical and falling one cloud at a time
That night in Toronto with its checkerboard floors riding on horseback and keeping order restored til the men they couldn't hang stepped to the mic and sang and their voices rang with that Aryan twang I got to your house this morning just a little after nine in the middle of that riot couldn't get you off my mind so I'm at your house this morning just a little after nine cause it was in Bobcaygeon where I saw the constellations reveal themselves one star at a time
Thompson Girl, I'm stranded at the Unique Motel Thompson Girl winterfighter's shot on the car as well looks like Christmas at 55 degrees this latitude weakens my knees, Thompson Girl Grunt work somewhere between dream and duty poking through with all them shoots of beauty Thompson Girl walking from Chruchill across the icy world with polar bears it's mostly uphill
but when she saw that nickel stack
she whistled hard and i whistled back, Thompson Girl
Grunt work time between dream state and duty
poking through with all them shoots of beauty
grunt work somewhere between dream and duty
poking through with all them shoots of beauty
Whether laying down yourself beside it
or slipping into its cool and rushing effects
or drifting on it to where it broadens
your admiration for, for its more elusive aspects
Being drawn along by it
carried under carried away
by it's long-term membership
By the time the ice-huts hit the bottom
we were already home in bed
the most worthy men and the fiercest architects
they couldn't fight the current they couldn't save, they couldn't save the sheds
being drawn along by it
carried under carried away
by its long-term membership
Bring on the springtime bring on the houseflies
bring on the butterscotch river overspilling its banks
if you got you some withering power to amuse
you'll find its greatest frustration has its entertaining value
Being drawn along by it
carried under carried away
by its long-term membership
river wide
river wonder us
If there's a goal that everyone remembers, it was back in ol' 72
we all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger
and all I remember is sitting beside you
you said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
and I never saw someone say that before
you held my hand and we walked home the long way
you were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr
Isn't it amazing anything's accomplished
when the little sensation gets in your way
not one ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything
We hung out together every single moment
cause that's what we though married people do
Complete with the grip of artificial chaos
and believing in the country of me and you
crisis of faith and crisis in the Kremlin
and yea we'd heard all that before
it's wintertime, the house is solitude with options
and loosening the grip on a fake cold war
Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish
when you don't let the nation get in your way
no ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything
next to your comrades in the national fitness program
caught in soem eternal flexed-arm hang
droppin' to the mat in a fit of laughter
showed no patience, tolerence or restraint
Fireworks exploding in the distance
temporary towers soar
fireworks emulatin' heaven
til there are no stars anymore
Fireworks aiming straight at heaven
temporary towers soar
til there are no stars shining up in heaven
til there are no stars anymore
Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish
when the little sensation gets in your way
no ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
isn't it amazing what you can accomplish, eh
this one thing probably never goes away
i think this one thing is always supposed to stay
this one thing doesn't have to go away
Titillatons been replaced by Interstate brickface and Coffee-Mate
and by a list of phone calls you'll like to make
where you could sit on the edge of your bed
and you could stare into your own shoes
and in the pools of light there
go wherever you choose
just rig up a complication and if it derails
you can throw away the rudder and float away like vapour trails
There's nothing funnier then pride in an utterly confident stride
so I pulled the car on over to give you a ride
Damn this sleepy weather he said
as he marched in sopping wet shoes
through rainpools evaporating
says in this sign I'll conquer you
I pulled the car on over to give you a ride
but there's nothing uglier then a man hitting his stride
( now the morning's over light wind blows )
past Mexicans all dressed in beige shirts
leaning over their hoes
now the morning's over
it's time to let them sprinklers hose
past hills of chambermaids' dark bare arms
and fields of muscles quilted to the bone
right now I'm flying over
yea right now I'm flying home
where I can sit on the end of my bed
and I can stare into my own shoes
and in the pools of light years
go wherever I choose
and throw away the rudder float away on vapour trails
I rigged up a complication totally derailed
so I throw away the rudder float away like vapour trails
I pulled the car on over
( it's time to let them sprinklers hose )
throw away the rudder
float away on a vapour trail
Legs scream at bikes and bikes scream at trucks
and motorists curse their lousy luck
Crossing Guard's not doing his job
and traffic's not about to stop for the first casualty of thought
it's the rules
it's the rules
Superfarmer's bent on the cover of Time
the Moralists scream he's all mine
so the Bard isn't doing her job
the vacuum night the darkest rites
the small quarantined thoughts
it's the rules
it's the rules
Salesman says this vacuum's guaranteed
it could suck an ancient virus from the sea
it could put the dog out of a job
could make traffic stop so little thoughts
can safely get across
it's the rules
it's the rules
guaranteed or not
it's the rules
By design by neglect
for a fact or just for effect
when they met where they connect
at the confluence of travel and sex
more a trip than a quest
plunged into the deeply freckled breast
where to now? it I had to guess
I'm afraid to say Antarctica's next
or Chagrin Falls, Ohio
where the unknown won't even go
to Chagrin Fals, Ohio
where the unknown don't even do
Home's solitude with options
artificial chaos isn't one of em
return there crestfallen
chagrin fell out of the apron
no profound sound no special effects
the continent tipped and she just quietly left
chagri falls on our heads
not in a gush but in maddening droplets
Chagrin falls ( in Chagrin Falls Ohio )
Chagrin Falls ( where the unknown don't even go )
Chagrin falls (in Chagrin Falls Ohio )
so falls Chagrin Falls ( where the unknown don't even go )
so falls chagrin falls
so falls chagrin falls
It was our third time in New York
it was your fourth time in New York
we were fifth and sixth on the bill
we talk a little about our bands talk a little of our future plans
it's not like we were best friends
that number scheme comes back to me
in times beyond our heartbeat
we hung around til the final band
called 'Escape is at Hand for the Travellin' Man'
you yelled in my ear this music speaks to me
they launched into 'Lonely From Rock and Roll'
followed by 'They Checked Out An Hour Ago'
closing with 'All Desires Turn Concrete'
those melodies come back to me
at times beyond our heartbeat
I guess I'm too slow yes I'm too, yes I'm too slow
but you said anytime of the day was fine
you said anytime of the night was also fine
I walked through your revolving door
got no answer on the seventh floor
elevator gave a low moan
the pigeons sagged the wire with their weight
listening to the singing chambermaid
she sang 'They Checked Out An Hour Ago'
Those melodies come back to me
in times beyond our heartbeat
I guess I'm too slow yes I'm too, yes I'm too slow
but you said anytime of the day was fine
you said anytime of the night was also fine
our heartbeat, our heartbeat our heartbeat
long conversations idle chit-chat
maybe dive in or maybe hang back
idle conversation or idle chit-chat
maybe dive in or maybe hang back
I like the tone of your trumpet
c'mon let's spill some paint
let's raise a glass of milk to the end of another day
and to the kiss that's still intangible
the kids are alright just unmangeable
they won't do a damn thing you say
Your voice is all detatched on a radio-wave breeze
we have another caller with a bachelor degree
talkin alien invasion as the only chance for unity
were sorry to interrupt you caller
but that's a physical impossibility
You'd be tossed up or wash up
the narrator relates
in a spartan antarctican walk for many days
meet with Emperor Penguin devotion to the egg
and their women are swimming from half an ocean away
Don't sound so detatched this is you and me
just give me your opinion before you turn to leave
but your crust is just incredible
the radio was edible
when you said don't wipe your asses with your sleeves
you're a physical impossibility
Membership
Fireworks
Vapour Trails
The Rules
Chagrin Falls
Escape Is At Hand For The Travelling Man
Emperor Penguin
