Lucky Town

House got too crowded clothes got too tight
And i don't know just where i'm going tonight
Out where the sky's been cleared by a good hard rain
There's somebody callin' my secret name

I'm going down to lucky town
Going down to lucky town
I wanna lose these blues i've found
Down in lucky town
Down in lucky town

Had a coat of fine leather and snakeskin boots
But that coat always had a tread hangin' loose
Well i pulled it one night and to my surprise
It led me right past your house and on over the rise

I'm going down to lucky town
Down to lucky town
I'm gonna lose these blues i've found
Down in lucky town
Down in lucky town
I had some victory that was just failure in deceit
Now the joke's comin' up through the soles of my feet
I been a long time walking on fortune's cane
Tonight i'm steppin' lightly and feelin' no pain

Well here's to your good looks baby now here's to my health
Here's to the loaded places that we take ourselves
When it comes to luck you make your own
Tonight i got dirt on my hands but i'm building me a new home

Down in lucky town
Down in lucky town
I'm gonna lose these blues i've found
Down in lucky town

Well my soul checked out missing as i sat listening
To the hours and minutes tickin' away
Yeah, just sittin' around waitin' for my life to begin
While it was all just slippin' away.
I'm tired of waitin' for tomorrow to come
Or that train to come roarin' 'round the bend.
I got a new suit of clothes a pretty red rose
And a woman i can call my friend

These are better days baby
Yeah there's better days shining through
These are better days baby
Better days with a girl like you

Well i took a piss at fortune's sweet kiss
It's like eatin' caviar and dirt
It's a sad funny ending to find yourself pretending
A rich man in a poor man's shirt
Now my ass was draggin' when from a passin' gypsy wagon
Your heart like a diamond shone
Tonight i'm layin' in your arms carvin' lucky charms
Out of these heard luck bones

These are better days baby
These are better days it's true
These are better days
There's better days shining through

Now a life of leisure and a pirate's treasure
Don't make much for tragedy
But it's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin
And can't stand the company
Every fool's got a reason to feelin' sorry for himself
And turn his heart to stone
Tonight this fool's halfway to heaven and just a mile outta hell
And i feel like i'm comin' home

These are better days baby
There's better days shining through
These are better days
Better days with a girl like you

These are better days baby
These are better days it's true
These are better days
Better days are shining through

Randy jackson, bass
Lisa lowell, backing vocals
Patti scialfa, backing vocals
Soozie tyrell, backing vocals

I was driving through my hometown
I was just kinda killin' time
When i seen a face staring out of a black velvet painting
From the window of the five and dime
I couldn't quite recall the name
But the pose looked familiar to me
So i asked the salesgirl "who was that man
Between the doberman and bruce lee?"
She said "just a local hero"
"local hero" she said with a smile
"yeah a local hero he used to live here for a while"

I met a stranger dressed in black
At the train station
He said "son your soul can be saved"
There's a beautiful women nights of low livin'
And some dangerous money to be made
There's a big town 'cross the whiskey line
And if we turn the right card up
They make us boss the devil pays off
And them folks that are real hard up
They get their local hero
Somebody with the right style
They get their local hero
Somebody with just the right smile

Well i learned my job i learned it well
Fit myself with religion and a story to tell
First they made me the king then they made me pope
Then they brought the rope

I woke to a gypsy girl sayin' "drink this"
Well my hands had lost all sensation
These days i'm feeling all right
'cept i can't tell my courage from my desperation
From the tainted chalice
Well i drunk some heady wine
Tonight i'm layin' here
But there's something in my ear
Sayin' there's a little town just beneath the floodline
Needs a local hero
Somebody with the right style
Lookin' for a local hero
Someone with the right smile
Local hero local hero she said with a smile
Local hero he used to live here for a while

Lisa lowell, backing vocals
Patti scialfa, backing vocals
Soozie tyrell, backing vocals

Well now on a summer night in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the lord's undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother's arms it was all the beauty i could take
Like the missing words to some prayer that i could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of god's mercy
I found living proof

I put my heart and soul i put 'em high upon a shelf
Right next to the faith the faith that i'd lost in myself
I went down into the desert city
Just tryin' so hard to shed my skin
I crawled deep into some kind of darkness
Lookin' to burn out every trace of who i'd been
You do some sad sad things baby
When it's your you 're tryin' to lose
You do some sad and hurtful things
I've seen living proof

You shot through my anger and rage
To show me my prison was just an open cage
There were no keys no guards
Just one frightened man and some old shadows for bars

Well now all that's sure on the boulevard
Is that life is just a house of cards
As fragile as each and every breath
Of this boy sleepin' in our bed
Tonight let's lie beneath the eaves
Just a close band of happy thieves
And when that train comes we'll get on board
And steal what we can from the treasures of the lord
It's been along long drought baby
Tonight the rain's pourin' down on our roof
Looking for a little bit of god's mercy
I found living proof

On the road to basra stood young lieutenant jimmy bly
Detailed to go through the clothes of the soldiers who died
At night in dreams he sees their souls rise
Like dark geese into the oklahoma skies

Well this is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

Now raphael rodriguez was just seven years old
Shot down in a schoolyard by some east compton cholos
His mamma cried "my beautiful boy is dead"
In the hills the self-made men just sighed and shook their heads

This is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
Young lives over before they got started
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

Tonight as i tuck my own son in bed
All i can think of is what if it would've been him instead
I want to build me a wall so high nothing can burn it down
Right here on my own piece of dirty ground

Now i ply my trade in the land of king dollar
Where you get paid and your silence passes as honor
And all the hatred and dirty little lies
Been written off the books and into decent men's eyes