Live 1975-1985

The times are tough now, just getting tougher
This old world is rough, it's just getting rougher
Cover me, come on baby, cover me
Well i'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me
Promise me baby you won't let them find us
Hold me in your arms, let's let our love blind us
Cover me, shut the door and cover me
Well i'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me

Outside's the rain, the driving snow
I can hear the wild wind blowing
Turn out the light, bolt the door
I ain't going out there no more

This whole world is out there just trying to score
I've seen enough i don't want to see any more,
Cover me, come on and cover me
I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me
Looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me

War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
War is something that i despise
For it means destruction of innocent lives
For it means tears in thousands of mothers' eyes
When their sons go out to fight to give their lives

War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing

War
It's nothing but a heartbreaker
War
Friend only to the undertaker
War is the enemy of all mankind
The thought of war blows my mind
Handed down from generation to generation
Induction destruction
Who wants to die

War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing

War has shattered many young men's dreams
Made them disabled bitter and meanlife is too precious to be fighting wars
Each day
War can't give life it can only take it away

War
It's nothing but a heartbreaker
War
Friend only to the undertaker
Peace love and understanding
There must be some place for these things today
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But lord there's gotta be a better way
That's better than
War

War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Say it again
War
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing

Well they closed down the auto plant in mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin' tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm johnny 99

Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top
When an off-duty cop snuck up on him from behind
Out in front of the club tip top they slapped the cuffs on johnny 99

Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was mean john brown
He came into the courtroom and stared young johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime
Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even johnny 99
A fist fight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag johnny's girl away
His mama stood up and shouted "judge don't take my boy this way"
Well son you got a statement you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Now judge i had debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they were gonna take my house away
Now i ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more `n all this that put that gun in my hand

Well your honor i do believe i'd be better off dead
So if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head
Then sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time
And let `em shave off my hair and put me on that killin' line

lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland.
Got a head-on collision, smashin' in my guts man.
I'm caught in a crossfire that i don't understand.
But there's one thing i know for sure girl:
I don't give a damn for the same old played out scenes
I don't give a damn for just the in-betweens.
Honey i want the heart, i want the soul, i want control right now.
You better listen to me baby:
Talk about a dream; try to make it real.
You wake up in the night with a fear so real.
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come.
Well don't waste your time waiting

Badlands you gotta live it every day
Let the broken hearts stand
As the price you've gotta pay
We'll keep pushin' till it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good

Workin' in the field till you get your back burned
Workin' `neath the wheels till you get your facts learned.
Baby i got my facts learned real good right now.
You better get it straight darling:
Poor men wanna be rich, rich men wanna be kings,
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything.
I wanna go out tonight, i wanna find out what i got.
Now i believe in the love that you gave me.
I believe in the faith that could save me.
I believe in the hope and i pray that some day it
Will raise me above these

Badlands...

For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place, i wanna spit in the face of these

Badlands...

I saw her standin' on her front lawn just twirlin' her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died

From the town of lincoln nebraska with a sawed-off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of wyoming i killed everything in my path

I can't say that i'm sorry for the things that we done
At least for a little while sir me and her we had us some fun

The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest

Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor neck back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin' right there on my lap

They declared me unfit to live said into that great void my soul'd
Be hurled
They wanted to know why i did what i did
Well sir i guess there's just a meanness in this world

I went out walking the other day
Seen a little girl crying along the way
She'd been hurt so bad said she'd never love again
Someday your crying girl will end
And you'll find once again

Two hearts are better than one
Two hearts girl get the job done
Two hearts are better than one

Once i spent my time playing tough guy scenes
But i was living in a world of childish dreams
Someday these childish dreams must end
To become a man and grow up to dream again
Now i believe in the end

Two hearts are better than one...

Sometimes it might seem like it was planned
For you to roam empty hearted through this land
Though the world turns you hard and cold
There's one thing mister that i know
That's if you think your heart is stone
And that you're rough enough to whip this world alone
Alone buddy there ain't no peace of mind
That's why i'll keep searching till i find my special one

Two hearts are better than one...

Well there she sits buddy just a-gleaming in the sun
There to greet a working man when his day is done
I'm gonna pack my pa and i'm gonna pack my aunt
I'm gonna take them down to the cadillac ranch

Eldorado fins, whitewalls and skirts
Rides just like a little bit of heaven here on earth
Well buddy when i die throw my body in the back
And drive me to the junkyard in my cadillac

Cadillac, cadillac
Long and dark shiny and black
Open up your engines let `em roar
Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur

James dean in that mercury `49
Junior johnson runnin' through the woods of caroline
Even burt reynolds in that black trans am
All gonna meet down at the cadillac ranch

Cadillac, cadillac...
Hey little girlie in the blue jeans so tight
Drivin' alone through the wisconsin night
You're my last love you're my last chance
Don't let `em take me to the cadillac ranch

Cadillac, cadillac...

We busted out of class had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school
Tonight i heart the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down

We made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, believe me, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter's night with a vow to defend
No retreat, believe me, no surrender

Now young faces grow sad and old and hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind
I'm ready to grow young again
And hear your sister's voice calling us home across the open yards
Believin' we could cut someplace of our own
With these drums and these guitars

We made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, believe me, no surrender
Blood brothers in the stormy night with a vow to defend
No retreat, believe me, no surrender

Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
But it's good to see your smiling face and to hear your voice again
We could sleep in the twilight by the river side
With a wide open country in our hearts
And these romanics dreams in our heads

We made a promise...

In candy's room there are pictures of her heroes on the wall
But to get to candy's room you gotta walk the darkness of candy's hall
Strangers from the city call my baby's number and they bring her toys
When i come knocking she smiles pretty she knows i wanna be candy's boy
There's a sadness hidden in that pretty face
A sadness all her own from which no man can keep candy safe
We kiss my heart's pumpin' to my brain
The blood rushes in my veins fire rushes towards the sky
We go driving driving deep into the night
I go driving deep into the light in candy's eyes
She says baby if you wanna be wild you got a lot to learn, close your eyes
Let them melt let them fire let them burn
`cause in the darkness there'll be hidden worlds that shine
When i hold candy close she makes these hidden worlds mine

She has fancy clothes and diamond rings
She has men who'll give her anything she wants but they don't see
That what she wants is me, oh and i want her so
I'll never let her go no no no
She knows that i'd give all that i got to live
All that i want all that i live to make candy mine
Tonight

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around
This is your hometown, this is your hometown
This is your hometown, this is your hometown

In `65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

Now main street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to
Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

Last night me and kate we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night i sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good
Look around
This is your hometown

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway american dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin' out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy let me in i wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`cause baby i'm just a scared and lonely rider
But i gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild, girl i want to know if love is real

Beyond the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide
Together wendy we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl i don't know when we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

Seen a man standin' over a dead dog lyin' by the highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open he's standin' out on highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run
Struck me kinda funny seem kinda funny sir to me
At the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Now mary lou loved johnny with a love mean and true
She said "baby i'll work for you every day and bring my money home to you"
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young johnny to come back
Struck me kinda funny seemed kind of funny sir to me
How at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Take a baby to the river kyle william they called him
Wash the baby in the water take away little kyle's sin
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
Take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray
Lord won't you tell us tell us what does it mean
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

Congregation gathers down by the riverside
Preacher stands with his bible groom stands waitin' for his bride
Congregation gone and the sun sets behind a weepin' willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on so effortlessly
Lord and he's wonderin' where can his baby be
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe

On a rattlesnake speedway in the utah desert
I pick up my money and head back into town
Driving cross the waynesboro county line
I got the radio on and i'm just killing time
Working all day in my daddy's garage
Driving all night chasing some mirage
Pretty soon little girl i'm gonna take charge

The dogs on main street howl `cause they understand
If i could take one moment into my hands
Mister i ain't a boy no i'm a man
And i believe in a promised land

I've done my best to live the right way
I get up every morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes i feel so weak i just want to explode
Explode and tear this town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Find somebody itching for something to start

The dogs on main street...

There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and i'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

The dogs on main street...

The screen door slams
Mary's dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and i want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling you know just what i'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide `neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
Well now i'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption i can offer, girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now?
Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow
Back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
Riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh thunder road, oh thunder road oh thunder road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey i know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh thunder road, sit tight take hold
Thunder road

Well i got this guitar
And i learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And i know you're lonely
For words that i ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And i'm pulling out of here to win.

They're still racing out at the trestles
But that blood it never burned in her veins
Now i hear she's got a house up in fairview
And a style she's trying to maintain
Well if she wants to see me
You can tell her that i'm easily found
Tell her there's a spot out `neath abram's bridge
And tell her there's a darkness on the edge of town

Everybody's got a secret sonny
Something that they just can't face
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
They carry it with them every step that they take
Till some day they just cut it loose
Cut it loose or let it drag `em down
Where no one asks any questions
Or looks too long in your face
In the darkness on the edge of town

Some folks are born into a good life
Other folks get it anyway anyhow
I lost my money and i lost my wife
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now
Tonight i'll be on that hill `cause i can't stop
I'll be on that hill with everything i got
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
I'll be there on time and i'll pay the cost
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town

Tear drops on the city
Bad scooter searching for his groove
Seem like the whole world walking pretty
And you can't find the room to move
Well everybody better move over, that's all
I'm running on the bad side
And i got my back to the wall
Tenth avenue freeze-out, tenth avenue freeze-out

I'm stranded in the jungle
Taking all the heat they was giving
The night is dark but the sidewalk's bright
And lined with the light of the living
From a tenement window a transistor blasts
Turn around the corner things got real quiet real fast
She hit me with a tenth avenue freeze-out
Tenth avenue freeze-out
And i'm all alone, i'm all alone
And kid you better get the picture
And i'm on my own, i'm on my own
And i can't go home

When the change was made uptown
And the big man joined the band
From the coastline to the city
All the little pretties raise their hands
I'm gonna sit back right easy and laugh
When scooter and the big man bust this city in half
With a tenth avenue freeze-out, tenth avenue freeze-out
Tenth avenue freeze-out...

I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but i burst just like a supernova
I could walk like brando right into the sun
Then dance just like a casanova
With my blackjack and jacket and hair slicked sweet
Silver star studs on my duds like a harley in heat
When i strut down the street i could feel its heartbeat
The sisters fell back and said "don't that man look pretty"
The cripple on the corner cried out "nickels for your pity"
Them downtown boys sure talk gritty
It's so hard to be a saint in the city

I was the king of the alley i could talk some trash
I was the prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar's bash
I was the pimp's main prophet i kept everything cool
A backstreet gambler with the luck to lose
And when the heat came down it was left on the ground
The devil appeared like jesus through the steam in the street
Showin' me a hand i knew even the cops couldn't beat
I felt his hot breath on my neck as i dove into the heat
It's so hard to be a saint when you're just a boy

And the sages of the subway sit just like the living dead
As the tracks clack out the rhythm their eyes fixed straight ahead
They ride the line of balance and hold on by just a thread
But it's too hot in these tunnels you can get hit up by the heat
You get up to get out at your next stop but they push you back down in your seat
Your heart starts beatin' faster as you struggle to your feet
Then you're outa that hole and back up on the street
And them south side sisters sure look pretty
The cripple on the corner cries out "nickels for your pity"
And them downtown boys sure talk gritty
It's so hard to be a saint in the city

Crazy janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin' hands long came wild billy with his friend g-man all duded up for saturday night
Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to greasy lake
It's about a mile down on the dark side of route 88
I got a bottle of rose so let's try it
We'll pick up hazy davy and killer joe and i'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They're built like light
And they dance like spirits in the night (all night) in the night (all night)
Oh you don't know what they can do to you
Spirits in the night, in the night
Stand up now and let it shoot through you

Well now wild billy was a crazy cat and he shook some dust out of his coonskin cap
He said "trust some of this it'll show you where you're at or at least it'll help you really feel it"
By the time we made it up to greasy lake i had my head out the window and janey's fingers in the cake
I think i really dug her `cause i was too loose to fake
I said "i'm hurt" she said "honey let me heal it"
And we danced all night to a soul fairy band
And she kissed me just right like only a lonely angel can
She felt just right just like as sweet as a spirit in the night
In the night baby don't know what she do to you
Spirits in the night, in the night
Stand up now and let her shoot right through you

Now the night grew bright and the stars threw light in billy and davy
Dancin' in the moonlight
We were down near the water in a stone mud fight
Killer joe'd passed out on the lawn
Well hazy davy got really hurt he crawled into the lake in just his socks and a shirt
Me and crazy janey were makin' love in the dirt singin' our birthday songs
Janey said "hey little brother don't you think it's time now we go"
So we closed our eyes and said goodbye to gypsy angel row felt just right
Together we moved like spirits in the night, all night
Baby don't know what it do to you
Spirits in the night, all night
Stand up now and let it shoot right through you

Friday night's pay night guys fresh out of work
Talking about the weekend scrubbing off the dirt
Some heading home to their families some looking to get hurt
Some going down to stovell wearing trouble on their shirts

I work for the county out on 95
All day i hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by
In my head i keep a picture of a pretty little miss
Someday mister i'm gonna lead a better life than this

Working on the highway laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway all day long i don't stop
Working on the highway blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway

I met her at a dance down at the union hall
She was standing with her brothers back up against the wall
Sometimes we'd go walking down the union tracks
One day i looked straight at her and she looked straight back

Working on the highway...

I saved up my money and i put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn't have much to say
"son can't you see that she's just a little girl
She don't know nothing about this cruel cruel world"

We lit out down to florida we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black and white
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang
Me and the warden go swinging on the charlotte county road gang

Working on the highway...