Mr. Bad Example

Some prayers never reach the sky
Some wounds never heal
They still say someday the South will rise
Man, I want to see that deal

I don't want to grow old gracefully
I don't want to go 'til it's too late I'll
be some old man in the road somewhere
Kneeling down in the dust by the side of the Interstate

I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days

We were hopelessly outnumbered
It was a lost cause all along
But when we heard the bugles call
We swore we'd stand or fall together right or wrong

We ain't seen no reconstruction here
Just the scorched earth all around
And the high school band played "Dixieland"
While they tore our tattered flags and banners down

I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days

Some prayers never reach the sky
Some wars never end
Some dreams refuse to die
Next time I would rather break than bend

I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days
I am a renegade
I've been a rebel all my days

Don't bring the milk in
Leave it on the porch
Don't read the papers
Don't mow the lawn no more
Drive to the market
At the break of dawn
Watch 'em unload the produce
Then ride right back home

It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen

Torment the mailman
Terrorize the maid
Try to teach 'em some manners
Whip 'em into shape
Down in the basement
I've got a Craftsman lathe
Show it to the children
When they misbehave

It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen

I'm a law-abiding man
I'm a good Samaritan
I pay my taxes when I can
Model citizen

In the cool of the evening
When the sun goes down
My wife's playing canasta
With everyone in town

When I feel the pressure
And I need a break
Load up the Winnebago
Drive it in the lake

It's the white man's burden
And it weighs a ton
I'm a family man
Model citizen

Sitting on the sofa
Suckin' a bowl of crack
Thinkin' to myself about my
Angel dressed in black

I know she went out hours ago
I hope she's coming back
So I wait here patiently for my
Angel dressed in black

I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain

I wish she'd come home right now
So we could interact
I've got a big surprise for her
My angel dressed in black

My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black

I'm getting kind of paranoid
I'm going off the track
I'm starting to hallucinate my
Angel dressed in black

She might have been arrested
She might have been arrested
She might be lying dead somewhere
My angel dressed in black

I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain
I don't want to go out in the rain

Sitting on the sofa
Suckin' a bowl of crack
Thinkin' to myself about my
Angel dressed in black

My little angel
She's the Queen of Downtown
She gets around town
My angel dressed in black

I'm getting tired of you
You're getting tired of me
And it's the final act
Of our little tragedy
So don't feign indignation
It's a fait accompli
You can screw everybody I've ever known
But I still won't talk to you on the phone
It's a hopeless cause--there's no use crying
And I can die, you can die
We can die trying
Thanks anyway, no use hangin' around
You try to put the finishing touches on me

You say it's all my fault
Who's keeping score?
Some people like to be punished
They keep coming back for more
But I'm sick & tired
And my cock is sore
You can screw everybody
I've ever known
But I still won't talk to you on the phone
It's a hopeless cause--there's no use crying
And I can die, you can die
We can die trying
Thanks anyway, no use hangin' around
You try to put the finishing touches on me

Thanks anyway
No use hangin' around
You try to put the finishing touches on me
Thanks anyway . . .
Finishing touches, finishing touches on me

I started as an alter boy, working at the church
Learning all my holy moves, doing some research
Which led me to a cash box, labeled "Children's Fund"
I'd leave the change, and tuck the bills inside my cummerbund

I got a part-time job at my father's carpet store
Laying tackless stripping, and housewives by the score
I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane
And auctioned off every last naugahyde divan

I'm very well aquainted with the seven deadly sins
I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in
I'm proud to be a glutton, and I don't have time for sloth
I'm greedy, and I'm angry, and I don't care who I cross

I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred, and go down in infamy

Of course I went to law school and took a law degree
And counseled all my clients to plead insanity
Then worked in hair replacement, swindling the bald
Where very few are chosen, and fewer still are called

Then on to Monte Carlo to play chemin de fer
I threw away the fortune I made transplanting hair
I put my last few francs down on a prostitute
Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute

Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig
And headed for the airport and the midnight flight, you dig?
And fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide
Looking through the want ads sipping Fosters in the shade

I opened up an agency somewhere down the line
To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines
But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut
And whisked away their workman's comp and pauperized the lot

I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred and go down in infamy

I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals