Rites Of Passage

You dug a well
You dug it deep
For every wife you buried
You planted a cedar tree
The best
The best you ever had

I stand where you stood
I stand for bad or good
And i am green and you are wood
The best
The best he ever had

I dig a well
I dig it deep
And for my only love
I plant a cedar tree
The best
The best we ever had

You said the world was magic
I was wide-eyed and laughing
We were dancing up to the bright side
Forget about your ego
Forget about your pride
And you will never have to compromise
And you were only joking
You were only joking brother

We talked about our mothers
Kissed the wounds of our fathers
I could have been your sister
I would have been your brother
You kissed me like i was a soldier
Headed for a war
I dying man but i don't know what for
And you were only joking
You were only joking brother
You were only joking
(wide-eyed and laughing)
You were only joking brother
(dancing up to the bright side)

Gravel and glass on the bottom of my feet
I bruised my heels on the swollen street
We were girls in bars
Boys on the town
Bumping like a pinball off a careless crowd
You said good friends are hard to come by
I laughed and bought you a beer
It's too corny to cry
Well sentiment given
Oh sentiment lost
You shake it off with a smirk and a toss
And you were only joking
You were only joking brother
You were only joking
Were only joking brother
And you were only joking
(gravel and glass on the bottom of my feet)
You were only joking brother
(i bruised my heels on the swollen street)
You kissed me like a soldier heading for a war
(joking)
I'm a dying man
(you were only joking)
And you were only joking
(don't know what for)
(dying man)
You were only joking brother
(don't know what for)
And you were only
And you were only
And you were only joking
Brother

One two three four
Ah yeah
Sha la
Sha la
Sha la
Sha la
Sha la
(wide eyed and laughing)
Sha la
(dancing up to the bright side)
Sha la
(wide eyed and laughing)
Sha la
(dancing up to the bright side)

I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land

You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan

Dead dog on the highway
Median cats are growling at me
I turn my lights on brighter
I'm counting through the night ride
And it's one more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
One more song for the maker
Chickenman chickenman

On the road to athens
I saw a dead deer on the highway
I slipped into a desert
Five prairie dogs and a rabbit

I was running down on queen street
I saw a woman on the sidewalk
(danger danger)
She was beaten by a stranger
(danger danger danger danger)
Danger danger danger
And it's one more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
One more song for the maker
Hold my hand
Chickenman

I was on the road to austin
Met a man on the highway
He sold me junk and conversation
He was wise and dirty from the weather
I said darkness into darkness
All the carnage of my journeys
Makes it harder to be living
He said it's a long road to be forgiven
One more life for the taker
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my had
One more song for the maker
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand

I am an only child
Born of the wild
Riddled to spend my time
Defending my land

You are the only one
Born in the sun
Riddled to spend your time
Defending my plan

I went looking for a car
Found myself beneath the stars
I went looking for a girl
Found a man and his world
Chickenman chickenman
(i went looking for a car)
Chickenman hold my hand
(found myself beneath the stars)
Chickenman chickenman
(i went looking for a girl)
Chickenman hold my hand
(found a man and his world)

I am an only child
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
I am an only child
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
Hold my hand
(chickenman chickenman)
(chickenman hold my hand)
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand
Chickenman chickenman
Chickenman hold my hand

A love struck Romeo
Sings the streets a serenade
Now he's laying everybody low
He's got a love song that he made
He finds a convenient streetlight
And he steps out of the shade
And says something like
"You and me, babe, how about it?"

Juliet says "Hey, it's Romeo!"
"you nearly give me a heart attack!"
Yeah well, he's underneath the window
Now she's singing "Hey-la, my boyfriend's back"
"you shouldn't come around here
Singing up at people like that
Ah anyway, whatcha gonna do about it?"

Juliet
The dice were loaded from the start
And I bet and you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize
It was just that the time was wrong
Julie

We both come up on different streets
And they were both the streets of shame
You know they're both dirty both mean
Yes and even the dreams were the same
And I dreamed your dream for you
And now your dream is real
So tell me honey
Now how can you look at me
As if I was just another one of your deals

Now you can fall for chains of silver
And you can fall for chains of gold
You know you fall for pretty strangers
And the promises they hold
Well you promised me everything
And then you promised me thick and thin
Now you just turn away and say
"Romeo, I think I used to have a scene with him."

Oh, Juliet
When we made love you used to cry
You said "I love you like the stars above
Gonna love you till I die"
There's a place for us
I know you know this song
Now when you gonna realize
It was just that the time was wrong
Julie

But I can't do the talks like they talk on my TV screen
I can't do a love song not the way you sung to me
I can't do everything but I would do anything for you
Oh no, I can't do anything except be in love with you

Yeah now and all I do is miss you
And the way it used to be you know
And all I do is keep the beat
I keep bad, bad company
And all I do is kiss you
Through the bars of this rhyme
When Julie, I'd do the stars with you
Anytime

Oh, Juliet
When we made love you used to cry
You said "I love you like the stars above
I'm gonna love you till I die"
There's a place for us
I know you know the movie song
One day we're gonna realize
It was just that the time was wrong
Julie
Julie
Julie

Now this love struck Romeo
He sings the streets a serenade
Now he's laying everybody low
He's got a love song he made
He finds a convenient streetlight
And he steps out of the shade
And he says something like
"You and me, babe, how 'bout it?"

Sticks and stones
Battle zones
A single light bulb
On a single thread for the black
Sirens wail
History fails
Rose-colored glass
Begins to age and crack
While the politicians shadowbox
The power ring
In an endless split decision
Never solve anything
From a neighbor's distant land
I heard the strain of the common man

Let it be me
(this is not a fighting song)
Let it be me
(not a wrong for a wrong)
Let it be me
If the world is night
Shine my life like a light

Well the world seems spent
And the president
Has no good idea
Of who the masses are
Well i'm one of them
And i'm among friends
We're trying to see beyond
The fences in our own backyards
I've seen the kingdoms blow
Like ashes in the winds of change
But the power of truth
Is the fuel for the flame
So the darker the ages get
There's a stronger beacon yet

Let it be me
(this is not a fighting song)
Let it be me
(not a wrong for a wrong)
Let it be me
If the world is night
Shine my life like a light

In the kind word you speak
In the turn of the cheek
When your vision stays clear
In the face of your fear
Then you see turning out a light switch
Is their only power
When we stand like spotlights
In a mighty tower
All for one and one for all
Then we sing the common call

Let it be me
(this is not a fighting song)
Let it be me
(not a wrong for a wrong)
Let it be me
If the world is night
Shine my life like a light

Some will strut and some will fret
See this an hour on the stage
Others will not but they'll sweat
In their hopelessness and their rage
We're all the same the men of anger
And women of the page

They published your diary
And that's how i got to know you
The key to the room of your own and a mind without end
And here's a young girl
On a kind of a telephone line through time
And the voice at the other end comes like a long lost friend
So i know i'm all right
Life will come and life will go
Still i feel it's all right
Cause i just got a letter to my soul
And when my whole life is on the tip of my tongue
Empty pages for the no longer young
The apathy of time laughs in my face
You say "each life has its place"

The hatches were battened
The thunderclouds rolled and the critics stormed
The battle surrounded the white flag of your youth
If you need to know that you weathered the storm
Of cruel mortality
A hundred years later i'm sitting here living proof
So you know you're all right
(all right)
Life will come and life will go
(life will come and go)
Still you'll feel it's all right
(all right)
Someone'll get a letter to your soul
(someone gets your soul)
When your whole life is on the tip of your tongue
Empty pages for the no longer young
The apathy of time laughed in your face
Did you hear me say "each life has its place"

The place where you hold me
Dark in a pocket of truth
The moon had swallowed the sun and the light of the earth
And so it was for you
When the river eclipsed your life
And sent your soul like a message in a bottle to me
And it was my rebirth
So we know we're all right
(all right)
Though life will come and life will go
(though life will come and life will go)
Still you'll feel it's all right
(all right)
Someone'll will get a letter to your soul
(someone gets your soul)
Then you know you're all right
(when my whole life is on the tip of my tongue)
Then you feel you're all right
(empty pages for the no longer young)
And your hear dry you eyes
(you said)
And you know it's all right
(each life has it's place)
And your hear dry your eyes
(you said)
And you know it's all right
(each life has it's place)
And it's all right
(it'll be all right)

Guess i wasn't the best one to ask
Me myself with my face pressed
Up against love's glass
To see the shiny toy i've been hoping for
The one i never could afford
The wide world spins and spits turmoil
And the nations toil for peace
But the paws of fear upon your chest
Only love can soothe that beast
And my words are paper tigers
No match for the predators of pain inside her

I say love will come to you
Hoping just because i spoke the words that they're true
As if i offered up a crystal ball to look through
Where there's now one there will be two

I was born under the sign of cancer
(love will come to you)
Like brushing cloth i smooth the wrinkles for an answer
(love will come)
I'm always closing my eyes and wishing i'm fine
(i close my eyes and wish you fine)
Even though i know i'm not this time
(even though i know your not this time)

I say love will come to you
Hoping just because i spoke the words that they're true
As if i offered up a crystal ball to look through
Where there's now one there will be two

Dodging your memories a field of knives
Always on the outside looking in on other's lives

I say love will come to you
Hoping just because i spoke the words that they're true
As if i offered up a crystal ball to look through
(i have offered up to you)
Where there's now one there will be two

And i wish her insight to battle love's blindness
Strength from the milk of human kindness
A safe place for all the pieces that scattered
Learn to pretend there's more than love that matters