Dark Continent/Call Of The West

Driving out of vegas in their automobile
She was in the backseat while he was at the wheel
With the windows wide open
All the money from the store they'd gambled away

He said, "...the best laid plans often go astray."
She took the page of her book and turned it down
She lit a cigarette...she didn't make a sound
"and I know if we'd had just one more chance," he said
"I know--we'd finally hit the big one at last," she said

See instead of another lost weekend / lost weekend
another lost weekend / lost weekend
"Pull over soon," she said, "it's no big deal,
You can take any exit that you happen to feel is the right one."
The right one

As she slowly blew her smoke out of the rear wind vent
She thought back on all the letters she'd sent
For a contest to be on a quiz game show
"Maybe I shoulda stayed in school," he said

"Yeah, I know--start your own business cleaning swimming pools," she said--see
She leaned forward over the front seat and twiddled with the radio dial
She looked out the window, saw a sign and both of them began to smile
"There's a place we could stay at...it's up another mile."

I feel a hot wind on my shoulder
And the touch of a world that is older
Turn the switch and check the number
Leave it on when in bed I slumber
I hear the rhythms of the music
I buy the product and never use it
I hear the talking of the dj
Can't understand just what does he say?

I'm on a mexican radio
I'm on a mexican radio

I dial it in and tune the station
They talk about the u.s. inflation
I understand just a little
No comprende--it's a riddle

I'm on a mexican radio
I'm on a mexican radio

I wish I was in Tiajuana
Eating barbequed iguana
I'd take requests on the telephone
I'm on a wavelength far from home
I feel a hot wind on my shoulder
I dial it in from south of the border
I hear the talking of the dj
Can't understand just what does he say?

Radio radio...

Look at the way they're walking
All those people around are giving me looks
They keep a big secret on the quiet side
Where's the nearest place to hide?
Look at their way

Been around long enough now
And they'll be around after everyone's gone
A mother makes love to her only son
Turn on the lights and watch them run
Look at their way
Look at their way
Look at their way on the floor today

(It's grab and chew, that's all they ever do
A million born when just one dies)
All together now they'll rub their long legs
And play a sad melody, the only one they know
To air and earth and the quiet side
And the mind built a million years ago

Look at their way
Look at their way
Look at their way on the calendar
Look at their way
Look at their way
Look at their way on the floor today

Wake up in the morning, pull myself out of bed
Think about the night before and everything I said
I made lots of promises I know that I can't keep
So I'll do it tomorrow--that seems like a pretty good idea to me

Life is moving faster, I can feel it everyday
And I've got trouble keeping up with what other people say
Big problems in the world, but my life's just a social swirl
See--but I'll do it tomorrow--that seems like a pretty good idea to me

What's wrong with tomorrow? I'm watching him but who's watching me?
Out my window there's nothing where a city used to be
Phone line dead, the power gone, there's nothing on TV
Can't understand what happened to all the plans I made

I turn on the radio and hear the signal fade
(It's pretty loud)
But I'll do it tomorrow
Life is moving faster, I can feel it everyday
So I'll do it tomorrow--[rest of C]

I'll do it tomorrow--hope I got enough time
I'll do it tomorrow--and things'll be fine
I'll do it tomorrow--can't spare today
I'll do it tomorrow--that'll be okay
I'll do it tomorrow

Let's do it tomorrow
Let's do it tomorrow--I'll stop the clock
Let's do it tomorrow--talk talk talk
Let's do it tomorrow
I'll do it tomorrow

What's wrong with tomorrow?--life just goes on, why'know
I'll do it tomorrow--till the money starts rolling in
What's wrong with tomorrow?
I'll do it tomorrow

There's something pulling on my sleeve
Full of tension
There's something breathing down my neck
Full of tension
Now if you wanna take it to the hilt
You can take it 'til you tilt
Something pulling on my sleeve
Full of tension
Watchin' out my window at the people in the street
I try to keep it quiet??this feeling's got me beat
I can't contain myself no matter what I try
There's something breathing down my neck
Full of tension
A tiny hole burnt with a cigarette
Full of tension
And now I start to see the little spots
Stickin' to the wall and on the floor
Something pulling on my sleeve
Full of tension
Hup!
There's something tightening 'round my neck
Full of tension
There's something pulling on my sleeve
Full of tension
And I hear a knock-knock-knockin' at my door
I just can't take it anymore
Something pulling on my sleeve
Full of tension
Full of tension
Full of tension??tension
Stand at full attention!

He got the high sign so he jumped a bus
And along the roads that wind on through
The hot Mojave and the Jericho
He'd start his whole life anew
And what he'd left behind he hadn't valued
Half as much as some things
He never knew

He got dropped off on a street in town
Where a grey old man looked him up and down and said
"Son this ain't no western movie matinee
And you're a long way off from yippee yi yay
Cause I can tell at a glance
You're not from 'round these parts
Got a green look about ya
And that's a gringo for starts
Sometimes the only thing a western savage understands
Are whiskey and rifles and an unarmed man like you."
"So you gotta keep on the move
And don't let that fancy paint fool you."

And then the old-timer pulled him close and said,
"You've come a long way, I know
You got a longer drive ahead
Through the bones of a buffalo
Through the claims of the western dead
And just like the spokes of a wheel
You'll spin 'round with the rest,
You'll hear the drums and the brush of steel,
You'll hear the call of the west."
Call of the west

(The conflict)
Harshly awakened by the sound of six rounds
Of light caliber rifle fire followed minutes
Later by the booming of nine rounds from a
Heavier rifle
But you can't close off the wilderness
He heard the snick of a rifle bolt and found
Himself peering down the muzzle of a weapon
Held by a drunken liquor store owner
"There's a conflict," he said.
"There's a conflict between land and people
The people have to go.
They've come all the way out here to make mining
Claims, to do automobile body work, to gamble.
To take pictures, to not have to do laundry, to
Own a mini-bike, to have their own cb radios and
Air conditioning, good plumbing for sure, and to
Sell time life books and to work in a deli, to
Have some chili every morning and maybe, maybe
To own their own gas stations again and to take
Drugs and have some crazy sex, but above all,
Above all to have a fair shake, to get a piece of the
Rock and a slice of the pie and to spit out
The window of your car and not have the wind blow
It back in your face."

Now from the high timber line to the deserts dry
Who'll risk dangling on some hangman's tree
To stake their claims on these prairie plains
While they say this lunch is not had for free?
Just like the spokes of a wheel
Who'll spin 'round with the rest?
They'll hear the drums and the brush of steel
And I'll hear the call of the west
Call of the west

They don't want me
They used to want me
But they don't want me anymore
I used to belong
Now I don't belong
It's not the same song anymore
We used to play games
We used to trade names
Now we don't play games anymore
They don't want me
They used to want me
But they don't want me anymore

Now I'm all alone
No one left to help chip the stone
And now this awful weed begins to grow
Cause they don't want me

They don't want me
They used to want me
Not anymore
They don't want me (we don't want you)
They used to want me
Not anymore (Stupid jerk, get out of here)

Well there's that man, he's got everything that he needs
And when the world is falling in he'll never bleed
He goes by jones in istanbul and smith in peru
His job's never through

it's time to start this little game of cat and mouse
And try to keep one step ahead there's strangers in the house
His watch is really a radio, his gun a pen
He knows that it's all gone, no mom, nobody wins

spy world / spy world / spy world / spy world

(I'm kinda tired of wearing these sunglasses)

Now I know I had something to say but the problem is to say something
Uhh...you gotta say it
And I still don't remember a thing since that funny gas
Came out of that pipe next to me / I guess they didn't ok it
Now I remember--did I tell ya?
Cut my thumb off at the knuckle on a broken band saw
Didn't see the belt buckle or the blade slip
And I remember when the doctor did it up with a stitch
Funny thing...still got a scratch that I can't itch where my thumb was
Now I've brought the same piece of chicken in a bag to work everyday
For the last twenty years or so
And I really don't mind, work assembly line
Got an intercom blasting the news and the latest on the baseball scores
Come around every Friday, well I get a paycheck
Take the same road home that I come to work on, heck, it's a living
And I got another factory at home
Got a barbeque, pink mustang, fenders chrome
And at nine o'clock I sit there in my chair
And I don't know why I lose my hair
And then I go to / and then I go to / and then I go to sleep
Well I like to know what I'm doing when I do it
And I do what I'm doing 'cause I don't know what to do when I'm not doing it
Sometimes I remember as a boy my father told me I could grow up
To be anything I really wanted to be / anything
And everyday at lunch I still look for my lost digit
Still got that funny scratch, so maybe when I find it I can itch it
And I got a little rubber pool in the backyard for the kids to wade in
And i....i...i...i...i...i?
I got another factory back home
Got a little backyard, pink mustang, fenders chrome
At nine o'clock I'm in my chair sat down
Just lately now when my wife talks back to me I slap her around
And then I go to / and then I go to / and then I go to sleep