John's Garage Tape

They like to get you in a compromising position
They like to get you there and smile in your face
They think, they're so cute when they got you in that condition
Well I think, it's a total disgrace

I fight authority, authority always wins
I fight authority, authority always wins
I been doing it, since I was a young kid
I've come out grinnin'
I fight authority, authority always wins

So I call up my preacher
I say: "Gimme strength for Round 5"
He said: "You don't need no strength, you need to grow up, son"
I said: "Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying,
And dying to me don't sound like all that much fun"

I fight authority, authority always wins
I fight authority, authority always wins
I been doing it, since I was a young kid
I've come out grinnin'
I fight authority, authority always wins

I fight authority, authority always wins
I fight authority, authority always wins
I been doing it, since I was a young kid
I've come out grinnin'
I fight authority, authority always wins
Oh no
Oh no
I fight authority, authority always wins

I fight authority, authority always wins
I fight authority, authority always wins
I been doing it, since I was a young kid
I've come out grinnin'
I fight authority, authority always wins
I fight authority, authority always wins
I fight authority, authority always wins
I been doing it, since I was a young kid
I've come out grinnin'
I fight authority, authority always wins

Suzanne divorced her husband
She got the keys and the car and the home
But her friends were really his friens
No one stops by to see her much any more
So one night, she goes back down to
The old haunts
That once upon a time were her own
She didn´t know nobody out there no
More
And the whole experience just made her
Feel so old
She says...

I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because I´m middle-aged that
Don´t mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life

Jackson Jackson was a good kid
He had four years of college
And a bachelor´s degree
Started workin, when he was 21
Got fed up and quit
When he was forty three
He said, "My whole life
I´ve done, what I supposed to do
Now I´d like to maybe do something
For myself
And just as soon, I figure out what
That is
You can bet your live
I´m gonna give it hell"
He says...

I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because I´m middle-aged that
Don´t mean
I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life

I guess, it don´t matter, how old you are
Or how old one lives to be
I guess, it boils down to what we did
With our lives
And how we deal with our own
Destinies
But something happens
When you reach a certain age
Particularly to to those ones, that are
Young at heart
It´s a lonely proposition when you realize
That there´s less days in front of the horse
Than riding in the back of this cart
I say...

I want to live the real life
I want to life my life close to the bone
Just because I´m middle-aged that
Don´t mean, I want to sit around my house and watch TV
I want the real life
I want to live the real life.

Don't look at me don't touch me
Keep your mind straight ahead
Don't get no funny ideas about we
Or you'll wish you were dead
That's what I am thinking she must be thinking
The girl I spent fifty three bucks on last night
She give me a look from the corner of her eye
That says, "Boy, keep acting right"
How surprised was I
When she leaned over and whispered in my ear

Get a leg up
Get a leg over boy
Get a leg up
What's the matter
Are you shy, shy, shy?

I'm pretty good with first impressions
But sometimes I'm not always right
I pulled the car to the shoulder of the road
To see what she had in mind
Want me to spend the night
Hey lover boy you know I will
And my best girlfriend lives down the road
Together we will thrill ya
And I'm thinking to myself
I could be lucky Pierre tonight

If I could get a leg up
If I could get a leg over boy
You know I ain't that handsome
But you know I ain't shy, shy, shy

The rest of the night we went on and on
And the moral to this song
Don't go making hasty judgements
Because sometimes they could be wrong
Nothing wrong with a good time
Just keep yourself protected make a list
And you can bet your life that the women don´t know
The little girls are acting like this
So the next time a young one moves up
And she whispers in your ear

Get a leg up
Get a leg over boy
Get a leg up
What's the matter
Now don't you be shy, shy, shy?

Get a leg up
Get a leg over boy
Get a leg up
What's the matter
Now don't you be shy, shy, shy?

Well we're dropping our bombs
In the southern hemisphere
And people are starving
That live right here
And they're tearing down walls
In the name of peace
And they're killing each other
In the middle east

But love and happiness
Have forgotten our names
And there's no value left
In love and happiness

They raise the price of oil
And they censor our mouths
If you are a young couple today
Forget buying a house
And we wage our wars
In the neighborhoods
We kill the young to feed the old
And men that ain't no good

Yeah, but love and happiness
Have forgotten our names
And there's no value left
In love and happiness

So if you sell arms
Or if you run dope
You got respect
And you got hope
But the rest of us die
On your battle fields
With wounds that fester and bleed
But never heal

Yeah love and happiness
Have forgotten our names
And there's no value left
In love and happiness

And love and happiness
Yeah love and happiness
Have forgotten our names
And there's no value left
In love and happiness

Million young poets
Screamin' out their words
To a world full of people
Just livin' to be heard
Future generations
Ridin' on the highways that we built
I hope, that they have better understanding

Check it out
Goin' to work on Monday
Check it out
Got yourself a family
Check it out
All utility bills have been paid
You can't tell your best buddy
That you love him
So check it out
Where does our time go
Check it out
Got a brand new house in escrow
Check it out
Sleepin' with your back
To your loved one
This is all, we have learned
About happiness

Check it out,
Forgot to say hello to my neighbours
Check it out
Sometimes I question my own behavior
Check it out
Talkin' about the girls, we've
Seen on the sly
Just to tell our souls
We're still the young lions
So check it out
Getting' too drunk on Saturdays
Check it out
Playin' football with the kids
On Sundays
Check it out
Soaring with the eagles all week long
And this is all, we have learned
About living
This is all, we have learned
About living

A million young poets
Screamin' out their words
Maybe someday
Those words will be heard
By future generations
Ridin' on the highways that we built
Maybe they'll have a better understanding
Check it out
Maybe they'll have a better understanding
Check it out
Maybe they'll have a better understanding
Check it out
Maybe they'll have a better understanding
Check it out
Hope they'll have a better understanding
Check it out

Scarecrow on a wooden cross blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm
I grew up like my daddy did my grandpa cleared this land
When I was five I walked the fence while grandpa held my hand

[Chorus]
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
This land fed a nation this land made me proud
And son I'm just sorry theres no legacy for you now
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow

The crops we grew last summer weren't enough to pay the loans
Couldn't buy the seed to plant this spring and the farmers bank foreclosed
Called my old friend schepman up to auction off the land
He said john its just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol hoss sure dont make it right
But if you want me to Ill say a prayer for your soul tonight
And grandmas on the front porch swing with a
Bible in her hand Sometimes I hear her singing take me to the promised land
When you take away a mans dignity he cant work his fields and cows

There'll be blood on the scarecrow blood on the plow
Blood on the scarecrow blood on the plow

Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard
Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms
I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name and some nights
I feel like dying like that scarecrow in the rain

[Chorus]

Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
This land fed a nation this land made me so proud
And son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow blood on the plow