Hour Glass

Notes:

Jt on sony.com: er mei is a mountain in china (sechuan province). before the cultural revolution there were maybe 100 buddhist shrines, temples, etc. on the way to the summit which usually pokes
Ugh the clouds like an island in the sea.
Sally and i went there to meet ben in '93 (he was traveling out of tibet). it took three days to climb the many miles of stone steps carved centuries ago into the living rock of the mountain. at
Time, i might as well have been on the stairmaster at jack lalane on broadway and 76th.

We were walking in paradise
Never did notice
Blind in the buddha land
Looking for solace
We had been told of a place
Far beyond this vale of tears
We could never have guessed
We were already blessed
There we were, where we are
In the garden

Didn't we climb on up er mei
Temple to temple
Yes and all and all along the way
The day was simple
Didn't we reach the top
Didn't we gain our goal
Did we finally stop
Surprised by the cold

We were walking in paradise
Never did tumble
Blind in the buddha land
Looking for trouble
We had been told of a place
Far beyond this vale of tears
We could never have guessed
We were already blessed
There we were, where we are
In the garden

Notes:

Jt on sony.com: boatman is my brother livingston's song.
I've always assumed it was about how he and maggie saved their marriage but i never really asked. in my family we like to save the intimate stuff for the general public.

Hearts were exploding around us
As we drifted south down the bay
The gray up above and gray down below
Left us with nothing to say

So we drifted along in silence
'til the tickle of life trickled in
And the rhythm began in the hiss of the sand
We were catching fire again


Chorus:
Oh boatman, i am the river
I am the mountain and the sea
Oh boatman, taker and giver
Can you deliver me
I would forever run free


Yeah we finally caught up with legends
We were walking along side by side
We worked out a plan
To go out hand in hand
But the long trail just wasn't that wide

The water around us was freezing
We just laughed and threw ourselves in
And although we were old
The sting of that cold
Pumped up the feeling, here it is again


Repeat chorus


Oh i'm a message in a bottle
Drifting along on a deep blue sea
Waiting for some foreign shore
Ready for something to be

No longer afraid of falling
We cut the strings to the sky
We found level ground
And we put ourselves down
Amazing we all didn¹t die

We took each moment as given
By second by second they came
The ice and the sun and the thundering guns
Good god i was finally sane


Repeat chorus

Note: hidden track.


Oh money, oh money, oh where have you gone?
I need me some money to have me some fun
Gonna pick up my guitar and write me some hits
Build me some houses and blow 'em to bits
Gonna furnish them boldly with style and with taste
Generate truckloads of solid waste

Hangnail, hangnail, hangnail, hangnail
Have you ever seen a man with a hangnail?
Hangnail, hangnail, hangnail

Oh money, oh money, oh where have you gone?
I need me some money to have me some fun
Gonna pick up my guitar and write me some hits


Hangnail, hangnail, hangnail, hangnail
Have you ever seen a man with a hangnail?
Hangnail, hangnail, hangnail

Oh money, oh money, oh where have you gone?

Notes:

Jt on sony.com: the song starts in the final moments of the nixon white house with the president's farewell address. so he says goodbye . . . goodbye. next he's got to walk across the room, out
Ack door, across the lawn, past the vacant but alert (zen) marine, into the helicopter and away. he does this by lining up the white house staff and moving down the line shaking hands and saying
Le things - voila.
After some typical personal stuff the songs ends in madison square garden in 1987 with a mass wedding of the unification church; the reverend sun moon presiding via satellite video down link.

None of this may have actually happened.

I remember richard nixon back in '74
And the final scene at the white house door
And the staff lined up to say good-bye
Tiny tear in his shifty little eye
He said nobody knows me
Nobody understands
These little people were good to me
Oh i'm gonna shake some hands

Chorus:
Somebody line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up
Line 'em up
Line 'em all up

At that time my heart was all broke
I looked like ashes and smelled like smoke
And i turned away from my loving kind
Try to leave my body and live in my mind
But it's much too much emotion
To hold it in your hand
They've got waves out on the ocean
They're gonna wear away the land

- chorus -

Oh i've seen corn in kansas
And i've seen picket fences
And certain cowboy dances
I've gone lining up for shows
I've been safely placed in rows
Sure i know how it goes

Another day goes by
Little time machine
I'm breaking my brain
Over what it might mean
Just to claim the time
And to turn away
To make today today

Who waits for you
Lonely tired old toad
It's your life laid out before you
Like the broken white line down the center of the road

- chorus -

Yeah, big moon landing
People all standing up
Smiles for the loved ones
They go walking on down the aisles
Each re-engages stepping into the sun
I watch them turn like pages
One by one by one

- chorus -

Notes:

Jt on sony.com: lilly was not at all sure we could just "set ol' dan free" like that. i told her dan was a huge invisible rat with magical powers. that seems to have shut her up.
This land is a lovely green
It reminds me of my own home
Such children i've seldom seen
Even in my own home
The sky so bright and clean
Just like my home
Kind people as have ever been
Won't you take me back to my own home


Chorus:
Jump up behind me my love
Jump up behind me
Old dan can bear us both
Jump up behind me
We follow this road 'til we reach the sea
Jump up behind me
We'll catch the tide and set dan free
Jump up behind me


I've been in this world awhile
And i've seen a lot of country
Many days and many miles
All various and sundry
I've had my way and i've had my fun
And i've had my chance to run free
Burning hot beneath the sun
Freezing cold and wintry


Repeat chorus


I know now
Only one thing matters in these days
One thing, true love
Love and love alone
True love

I came out of a dream last night
Thought i was back in my old home
Mom and dad were both still alive
And the babies not yet born, no
Felt like a festival
Felt like a christmas morning
Felt the darkness fall away
Even as the world was turning

Notes:

Jt on sony.com: my brother alex died in '93 on (not for) my birthday. we all went down to florida to say goodbye. the day after we flew home (the day after his cremation) a giant mother hurrican
Lowed us north through the carolina's; trashing everything in its path and finally raining record rains on martha's vineyard (home).
In paris, a year later i changed his character to a hippie chick named alice and the location to santa fe; but my soulful older brother is still all over this song like a cheap suit.

Almost fuck-free.

The sun shines on this funeral
The same as on a birth
The way it shines on everything
That happens here on earth
It rolls across the western sky
And back into the sea
And spends the day

Gee it's great after staying out late
Walking my baby back home
Arm in arm, over meadow and farm
Walking my baby back home

We go on harmonizing a song
Or she's reciting a poem
Owls fly by and they give me the eye
Walking my baby back home

We stop for awhile
She gives me a smile
And cuddles her cheek to my chest
We start to pet and that's when i get
Her powder all over my vest

After i kind of straighten my tie
She has to borrow my comb
It's one kiss then we continue again
Walking my baby back home