Hermit Of Mink Hollow

Sleeping at night in a plaster board box
Scratching the earth with the nails on my fingers
And the ground pukes up rocks and rocks and more rocks
And when the seeds finally reach the ground
It's all been for nothing

I hear the cries of children at night
I watch their faces grow sallow with hunger
Who draws the line between what's wrong and right
And when i ask my life is for
It's all been for nothing

Save your regrets for the dead, but for the living
Give them love and give them bread
One more hungry mouth to be fed
Remember the living
Give them love, give them bread

Standing in the light of the kitchen screen door
Like some kind of untouchable stuck in calcutta
I almost forget what i'm standing here for
And i don't know what to do but i know
I won't leave with nothing

Where are the days when life was carefree
Why must i suffer this, what was my crime
Begging or thievery, which shall it be
Is there no other choice for me
I can't live with nothing

Justice only comes to the dead
And when they ask me what life is for
I must give them something

The day is done, the blinds are drawn
The sound of afternoon is gone
The corner store has locked its door
And everyone has left for home
When their sleepy little heads
Settle snug inside their beds
You and i will stay and watch the sun fade away

The balladeer, the buccaneer
The liar, the man who would be king
The cavalier, the profiteer
The one who knows only suffering
As the cannons gather rust,
All their castles turn to dust
You and i will stay and see them fade away

We are on an endless flight my friend
With no beginning and no end
I've forgotten more than i remember
Sometimes i want to hide myself away
But i know there's no escape
We must go on, go on forever
The sea will rise, mountains fall
The earth will turn itself upside down
But we have seen it all before,
We will always be around
In a hundred million years
When the planet disappears
You and i will stay
And watch the world fade away
And in a million trillion years
When the stars all disappear
You and i will stay
And watch it all fade away

Why don't you write your mother
Why don't you call your family
They're expecting an answer
Spare them your strange behavior
What of your expectations
Weren't you going to show us all
Some new kind of dancer
This season's singing savior

I'm too far gone, and it's no use pretending
I could ever forget what i done
I'm already too far gone,
I got no bridges left to burn
It's better to keep moving on
It's such a long way down, too far to fall
Too much trouble to turn back around

Think of your friends and neighbors
Suffering through your lamest years
You must owe them something
Come now, you must remember
Haven't you finished playing
Get down to business soon
Because your lean years are coming
June now, but come december

Onomatopoeia every time i see ya
My senses tell me hubba
And i just can't disagree
I get a feeling in my heart that i can't describe
It's sort of lub, dub, lub, dub
A sound in my head that i can't describe
It's sort of zoom, zip, hiccup, drip
Ding, dong, crunch, crack, bark, meow, whinnie, quack

Onomatopoeia in proximity ya
Rearrange my brain in a strange cacophony
I get a feeling somewhere that i can't describe
It's sort of uh, uh, uh, uh
A sound in my head that i can't describe
It's sort of whack, whir, wheeze, whine
Sputter, splat, squirt, scrape
Clink, clank, clunk, clatter
Crash, bang, beep, buzz
Ring, rip, roar, retch
Twang, toot, tinkle, thud
Pop, plop, plunk, pow
Snort, snuk, sniff, smack
Screech, splash, squish, squeek
Jingle, rattle, squeel, boing
Honk, hoot, hack, belch

You cried wolf once too often
You cried wolf, you made me run
You cried wolf, i caught you bluffing
You'll cry wolf but i'll be gone

If you need someone to love
You only had to ask
Instead you pulled a false alarm
Baby, just for a laugh
You can have your little joke
But when they see what you done
You will holler for assistance and nobody will come

You can threaten me forever
With the same old song
But you can toy with my emotions
Baby, only so long
Because the very next time
I see you talk through your hat
You will get no more attention, i can promise you that

See ms. malone
She spends another quiet evening alone
Sits in her study and stares at the phone
And a bell in her head will ring
All the children sing
All the dancers start to sway in time
The orchestra begins to play
Somebody pours the wine
The sun and moon collide
Isn't gravity a funny thing
The universe explodes apart
All the children sing
Of mr. malloy
He's always seen himself as one of the boys
He thinks that men are tough and women are toys
But a bell in his head will ring
All the children sing
All the birds are chirping harmony
The scent of love is in the air
Sunset on the sea
The angel of the lord
Just declared we aren't worth a thing
The galaxy is null and void
All the children sing
Crawled across a thousand miles of desert sand
Looking from an answer from a holy man
And this is what he told me with a wave of his hand
He said, "a bell in your head will ring"

Here's to the chinaman, wise and old
Here's to the eskimo, brave and cold
Here's to the jew in the holy land
Here's to the arab in his caravan
Here's to the african, strong and proud
Here's to the redneck, good and loud
Here's one to you and there's one more thing
A bell in your head will ring