Before The Flood

I pulled into nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead;
I just need some place where i can lay my head.
"hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, and "no!", was all he said.

(chorus:)
Take a load off fanny, take a load for free;
Take a load off fanny, and (and) (and) you can put the load right on me.

I picked up my bag, i went lookin' for a place to hide;
When i saw carmen and the devil walkin' side by side.
I said, "hey, carmen, come on, let's go downtown."
She said, "i gotta go, but m'friend can stick around."

(chorus)

Go down, miss moses, there's nothin' you can say
It's just ol' luke, and luke's waitin' on the judgement day.
"well, luke, my friend, what about young anna lee?"
He said, "do me a favor, son, woncha stay an' keep anna lee company?"

(chorus)

Crazy chester followed me, and he caught me in the fog.
He said, "i will fix your rack, if you'll take jack, my dog."
I said, "wait a minute, chester, you know i'm a peaceful man."
He said, "that's okay, boy, won't you feed him when you can."

(chorus)

Catch a cannon ball now, t'take me down the line
My bag is sinkin' low and i do believe it's time.
To get back to miss fanny, you know she's the only one.
Who sent me here with her regards for everyone.

(chorus)

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good,
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home.
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone.
But i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door.
But i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table.
They'll stone ya when you are young and able.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck.
They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck."
Tell ya what, i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you and say that it's the end.
Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again.
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car.
They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar.
Yes, but i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you when you walk all alone.
They'll stone you when you are walking home.
They'll stone you and then say you are brave.
They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave.
But i would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, ma, i'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the united states
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, ma, i can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say god bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But i mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, ma, if i can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, i scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, i have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, ma, it's life, and life only.

Oh god said to abraham, "kill me a son"
Abe says, "man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "no." abe say, "what?"
God say, "you can do what you want abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well abe says, "where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "out on highway 61."

Well georgia sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare department they wouldn't give him no clothes
He asked poor howard where can i go
Howard said there's only one place i know
Sam said tell me quick man i got to run
0l' howard just pointed with his gun
And said that way down on highway 61.

Well mack the finger said to louie the king
I got forty red white and blue shoe strings
And a thousand telephones that don't ring
Do you know where i can get rid of these things
And louie the king said let me think for a minute son
And he said yes i think it can be easily done
Just take everything down to highway 61.

Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
Told the first father that things weren't right
My complexion she said is much too white
He said come here and step into the light he says hmm you're right
Let me tell the second mother this has been done
But the second mother was with the seventh son
And they were both out on highway 61.

Now the rovin' gambler he was very bored
He was tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said i never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes i think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on highway 61.

Virgil caine is the name,
And i served on the danville train,
'til stoneman's cavalry
Came and tore up the tracks again.
In the winter of '65,
We were hungry, just barely alive.
By may the tenth, richmond had fell,
It's a time i remember, oh so well,

The night they drove old dixie down,
And the bells were ringing,
The night they drove old dixie down,
And the people were singin'.

They went
La, la, la, la, la, la,
La, la, la, la, la, la,
La, la,

Back with my wife in tennessee,
When one day she called to me,
"virgil, quick, come see,
There goes robert e. lee!"
Now i don't mind choppin' wood,
And i don't care if the money's no good.
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest,
But they should never have taken the very best.

The night they drove old dixie down,
And the bells were ringing,
The night they drove old dixie down,
And the people were singin'.

Like my father before me,
I will work the land,
Like my brother above me,
Who took a rebel stand.
He was just eighteen, proud and brave,
But a yankee laid him in his grave,
I swear by the mud below my feet,
You can't raise a caine back up
When he's in defeat.

You say you love me
And you're thinkin' of me,
But you know you could be wrong.
You say you told me
That you wanna hold me,
But you know you're not that strong.
I just can't do what i done before,
I just can't beg you any more.
I'm gonna let you pass
And i'll go last.
Then time will tell just who fell
And who's been left behind,
When you go your way and i go mine.

You say you disturb me
And you don't deserve me,
But you know sometimes you lie.
You say you're shakin'
And you're always achin',
But you know how hard you try.
Sometimes it gets so hard to care,
It can't be this way ev'rywhere.
And i'm gonna let you pass,
Yes, and i'll go last.
Then time will tell just who fell
And who's been left behind,
When you go your way and i go mine.

The judge, he holds a grudge,
He's gonna call on you.
But he's badly built
And he walks on stilts,
Watch out he don't fall on you.

You say you're sorry
For tellin' stories
That you know i believe are true.
You say ya got some
Other kinda lover
And yes, i believe you do.
You say my kisses are not like his,
But this time i'm not gonna tell you why that is.
I'm just gonna let you pass,
Yes, and i'll go last.
Then time will tell who fell
And who's been left behind,
When you go your way and i go mine.

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as i stand inside the rain
Ev'rybody knows
That baby's got new clothes
But lately i see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

Queen mary, she's my friend
Yes, i believe i'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
Hat baby can't be blessed
Till she sees finally that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

It was raining from the first
And i was dying there of thirst
So i came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what's worse
Is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear that?br>
I just can't fit
Yes, i believe it's time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world.
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl.

Ollie told me i'm a fool. so i
Walked on down the road a mile, went to the house that brings a smile
Sat upon my grandpa's knee, and what do you think he said to me?

(chorus:)
When you awake you will remember ev'rything, you will be
Hangin' on a string from your... when you believe, you will relieve the only
Soul
That you were born with to grow old and never know

Ollie showed me the fork in the road.
You can take to the left or go straight to the right,
Use your days and save your nights,
Be careful where you step, and watch wha-cha eat,
Sleep with the light on and you got it beat.

(repeat chorus)

Ollie warned me it's a mean old world,
The street don't greet ya, yes, it's true;
But what am i supposed to do:
Read the writing on the wall,
I heard itwhen i was very small.

(repeat chorus)

Wash my hand in lye water, i got a date with the
Captains daughter. you can go and tell your brother. we sure gonna
Love one another, oh! you
May be right and ya might be wrong, i ain't gonna worry all day long.

Snow's gonna come and the frost gonna bite, my old car froze
Up last night. ain't no reason to hang your head i could wake up in the
Mornin' dead. oh! and
If i thought it would do any good, i'd stand on the rock where moses stood.

Now deep in the heart of a lonely kid
Who suffered so much for what he did,
They gave this ploughboy his fortune and fame,
Since that day he ain't been the same.

See the man with the stage fright
Just standin' up there to give it all his might.
And he got caught in the spotlight,
But when we get to the end
He wants to start all over again.

I've got fire water right on my breath
And the doctor warned me i might catch a death.
Said, "you can make it in your disguise,
Just never show the fear that's in your eyes."

See the man with the stage fright,
Just standin' up there to give it all his might.
He got caught in the spotlight,
But when we get to the end
He wants to start all over again.

Now if he says that he's afraid,
Take him at his word.
And for the price that the poor boy has paid,
He gets to sing just like a bird, oh, ooh ooh ooh.

Your brow is sweatin' and your mouth gets dry,
Fancy people go driftin' by.
The moment of truth is right at hand,
Just one more nightmare you can stand.

See the man with the stage fright
Just standin' up there to give it all his might.
And he got caught in the spotlight,
But when we get to the end
He wants to start all over again, hmm hmm,

You wanna try it once again, hmm hmm,
Please don't make him stop, hmm hmm,
Let him take it from the top, hmm hmm,
Let him start all over again.

"there must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"there's too much confusion, i can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"no reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and i, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.