SMALL TIME
I’m standing in line, nothing crossing my mind
I got dirt stains on my clothes
She’s got long brown hair and a painful stare
That rests itself on my nose
I hold my own and when I get back home
I’ll play until my strings break
They’ll call the cops, they can’t stand to watch
Another songwriter fake
Down at my job I work for a slob
Who never heard a toilet flush
but the girls are good and knock on wood
I can always make em blush
I write too much, don’t talk enough
Except when I’m telling lies
There ain’t no doubt, they’ll figure it out
But I’m never gonna tell them why
Small time living got a sickening feeling
Gotta pretend
Gotta depend
Gotta get outta here
BLUE
I don’t wanna know what you’ve been doing
I don't wanna know what you’re saying to him.
I don’t wanna know why I’m no good
I don’t wanna know, I don’t wanna know.
I don't wanna see you hanging around,
I don't wanna hear your feet on the ground.
I don't wanna lie about being blue
Cause I don't wanna give that pleasure to you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Come closer my love
I don't want you to see
What I did to our home
While you were out ignoring me
I'm sorry I broke your mirror
Threw our pictures in the trash
But if I remember accurately
This ain’t the first time its been this bad
Happy birthday baby
Don't wanna get up and walk out on me?
You’re packing up your shit
Turned my dresser upside down
I know you've got another man
When asked you didn't make a sound
So expect to hear from me
Drunk and calling you at 3 am
I hope it rains to embellish my point
That I could love you better than him
I TOOK THE HARD WAY
Dug a hole with a hammer, drove in nails with a spade
When I get a little warm I search the desert for the shade
If there's one thing I ain't learned from no pile of books
Is that you take what you want and what I wanted I took
I took the hard way right back to the start.
Wrote a song in the shower but never brought a pen
Been counting every hour till inspiration comes again
But you gotta keep your head up, that's what they say
depravation is the key desperation is the way
I took the hard way right back to the start
In the background of my head I can see it all there
50 girls throwing money, shaking champagne from their hair
Yeah, we all take the hard way right back to the start
MARIA
Oh Maria
You hold me like no one else
When I come home drunk, you never put me down
Just hold me closer so I don’t hit the ground
Maria
Don’t you ever let me go
For if you do I’d be the last to know
Oh Maria
hold me up to the phone
I got a job to quit and I force to be reckoned with
Don’t you see how I’m bleeding?
Don’t you see how my pain keeps me from loving you like I should?
Maria’s the only thing I got in this world
And she drinks more than I do and we never make love
Just laugh at the bruises and the lives that we ruin
Stay up all night screaming through the paper walls
Oh Maria
Don’t you see I’ve been bleeding for you?
Oh Maria
Don’t you understand what we’ve been through?
I’ll live a poor life, make it up as I go
Move from town to town to keep you on your toes
Oh Maria
I hate everything about you
Oh Maria
What the hell am I gonna do?
Let life take us where we oughta be
I’ll close my eyes and hopefully fall asleep
NOT CONCERNED
All the words would have to sum up to this
But they can't hold a candle to your kiss
Not concerned with morning and what it brings
Cause we'll dance all night to the sound of the mattress
springs.
WHEN THE SONG IS OVER
I wanted to tell you that I’m
Not capable of writing songs about you
Words escape their meaning and I can’t seem
To get a sentence through
Coming to terms with the fact that I
Could never pretend to be this for very long
I wonder if I’ve had the words inside my head
Or where they’ve gone
Gotta resort to the back hand, gotta resort to the bottle
An old source of inspiration
I don’t know if I can outlast this cold
I don’t know if I have the patience
I’m on the edge of something but I don’t know what it is
Or what I have to offer
But if the songs never come, will you hold my hand
When the dream is over
UNDERSTAND?
Don't understand the little things
That make your heart so mean
Try to get a little pity but
That probably ain’t my scene
Don't wanna spend my life with
Another absent one
And if you understand a little bit
Then nothing’s over and don't
Do you understand?
If you just get it together
I’m spinning plates on your bedroom floor
And my chance is getting better
That I'm gonna be adding more
Saboteurs are in the middle
Ripping out wires by their hand
Break everything its just that simple
And pray they they'll understand
Do they understand?
WHO’S THAT?
I'm a stray dog baby with three legs out
I've been crawling through town just spreading my doubts.
I've got a seed-soaked mama sitting back at the house I've got a half-hearted feeling I'm about to find
Who's that?
I've been crying to women stationed all over town
About the one who knows how to put a man down
I gave her my heart, I gave her my ring
But when she seen my scars she said "it don't mean a thing."
Who’s that?
I kept my home on the road for 20 odd nights,
I avoided the bars and kept her in my sights
But when I finally got there I knew what's been,
She'd opened her bed to all kinds of men.
Who’s that?
She's a black heart, a thief, she's got pain to spare.
She's got big green eyes and long blonde hair.
If you see her train riding on your tracks,
You better head the other way and never look back.
NIKKIE
Oh Nikkie
You’re just another punk
Too high to notice
That that ship’s sunk
Oh Nikkie
Your heart ain’t your brain
But you make it look too easy
Cause they both think the same
Oh Nikkie
Your heart shouts a plea
To be taken care of
Responsibly
What’s in a name that makes you act this way?
Take off your clothes and you got me, yeah, you know
When does it end and how will we be
When you scream that you never loved me?
Oh Nikkie
You finally got away
From those who meant to hurt you
And tried to make you stay
Oh Nikkie
The last thing that you said
Was baby I don’t wanna
See you again
Oh Nikkie
Says she likes the pain
And she’ll make you hurt like
You’ll never hurt again
YOU’RE NOT COMING BACK
I wanna say an honest word for once
But I don't know how, I’ve never said one
But I loved you even if you didn't know
You had your reasons and those reasons made you go
I just wanna live in a great big house
Walk around by myself
Talk to the walls like they ain’t cold
Trick myself, thinking I’m not getting old
And the truth in the facts
Is you're not coming back
I just wanna sell my guitars and such
Get enough to buy a car, not too much
Get out of town, leave my home for a while
Wish you were with me
To make me smile