MAN AT THE TOP
MAN'S JOB
MANSION ON THE HILL
MANY RIVERS TO CROSS- Jimmy Cliff
MARIA'S BED
MARIE
MARY LOU
MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
MARY'S PLACE
MATAMOROS BANKS
MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER
MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY - Baxter / Moore
MISSING
MRS. McGRATH
MURDER INCORPORATED
MY BEAUTIFUL REWARD
MY BEST WAS NEVER GOOD ENOUGH
MY OKLAHOMA HOME
a MY CITY OF RUINS
b MY CITY OF RUINS - "America: A Tribute to Heroes", september 21, 2001
MY FATHER'S HOUSE
MY HOMETOWN
MY LOVE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN
MY LOVER MAN

MAN AT THE TOP
Here comes a fireman, here comes a cop
Here comes a wrench, here comes a car hop
Been going on forever, it ain't ever gonna stop
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

CHORUS
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Everybody wants to be the man at the top
Aim your gun, son, and shoot your shot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief
One thing in common they all got Everybody wants to be the man at the top

CHORUS

Man at the top says it's lonely up there
If it is man, I don't care
From the big white house to the parking lot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

Here comes a banker, here comes a businessman
Here comes a kid with a guitar in his hand
Dreaming of his record in number-one spot
Everybody wants to be the man at the top

CHORUS

MAN'S JOB
Well you can go out with him
Play with all of his toys
But takin' care of you darlin'
Ain't for one of the boys
Oh there's somethin' in your soul
That he's gonna rob
And lovin' you baby lovin' you darlin'
Lovin' you woman is a man's man's job
Lovin' you's a man's job baby
Lovin' you's a man's job
Lovin' you's a man's job baby
Lovin' you's a man's job

Well now his kisses may thrill
Those other girls that he likes
But when it comes to treatin'
A real woman right
Well of all of his tricks
No they won't be enough
'Cause lovin' you baby lovin' you woman
Lovin' you darlin' is a man's man's job
Lovin' you's a man's job baby
Lovin' you's a man's job
Lovin' you's a man's job baby
Lovin' you's a man's job

You're dancin' with him he's holding you tight
I'm standing here waitin' to catch your eye
Your hand's on his neck as the music sways
All my illusions slip away

Now if you're lookin' for a hero
Someone to save the day
Well darlin' my feet
They're made of clay
But I've got something in my soul
And I wanna give it up
But gettin' up the nerve
Gettin' up the nerve
Gettin' up the nerve is a man's man's job
Lovin' you's a man's job baby
Lovin' you's a man's job
Lovin' you's a man's job woman
Lovin' you's a man's job

MANSION ON THE HILL
There's a place out on the edge of town sir
Risin' above the factories and the fields
Now ever since I was a child I can remember that mansion on the hill

In the day you can see the children playing
On the road that leads to those gates of hardened steel
Steel gates that completely surround sir the mansion on the hill

At night my daddy'd take me and we'd ride through the streets of a town so silent and still
Park on a back road along the highway side
Look up at that mansion on the hill

In the summer all the lights would shine there'd be music playin' people laughin' all the time
Me and my sister we'd hide out in the tall corn fields
Sit and listen to the mansion on the hill

Tonight down here in Linden Town I watch the cars rushin' by home from the mill
There's a beautiful full moon rising above the mansion on the hill

MANY RIVERS TO CROSS
(Jimmy Cliff)
There's so many rivers to cross
and I can't seem to find my way home.
Wandering, I'm lost
as I travel as I travel along, the White Cliffs of Dover
Many rivers to cross
and it's only my wind that keeps me alive.
I've been hurt, washed up for years
and it's only my pride that lets me survive.
And this loneliness won't leave me alone,
it's such a drag to be on your own
my baby left, and she wouldn't say why,
Now all I do is cry...
I've got many rivers to cross
and it's only my wind that keeps me alive
I've got so many rivers to cross,
oh, so many rivers to cross...

MARIA'S BED
Album's version
One, two, three, four

Been on a barbed wire highway 40 days and nights
I ain't complainin', that's my job and it suits me right
I got a sweet soft fever rushin' around my head
I'm gonna sleep tonight in Maria's bed

Got on a dead man's suit and smilin' skull ring
Lucky graveyard boots and a song to sing
I keep my heart in my work, my troubles in my head
And I keep my soul in Maria's bed

Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)
Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)

I been up on sugar mountain, 'cross the sweet blue seas
I walked the valley of love and tears and mystery
I got run out'a luck and gave myself up for dead
Then I drank the cool clear waters from Maria's bed

Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)
Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)

She give me candy stick kisses 'neath a wolf dog moon
One sweet breath and she'll take you, mister, to the upper room
I was burned by the angels, sold wings of lead
Then I fell in the roses and sweet salvation of Maria's bed

I been out in the desert, yeah doin' my time
Siftin' through the dust for fools gold, lookin' for a sign
Holy man said, "Hold on, brother, there's a light up ahead."
Ain't nothin' like the light that shines on me in Maria's bed

Well I take my blessings at the riverhead
I'm living in the light of Maria's bed

(La la la la la...)
Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)
Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)
Hey hey!
(La la la la la...)
La la la la la...
Whoaaa...
Whoa!
(Whoaaa...)
(La la la la la...)

MARIE
Marie, she comes to me in the twilight
When the wind blows down across the river
So cold, the fishermen cry
She rapes me in a rage of rainbow violence
Till my bare nerves, they sing
Like the strings of a violin
And the room seeps into a savage silence
Soaked in colours, red as blood, blue as night
And Marie she skins me alive
Carves her initials in my side
Lures me with her purrs and cuts me with her knife
And the horses pound like thunder
They bolt like lightning on her range
She feels she's going under and she zeros in the rein
She's so strange

Well, Marie, you know, she's the queen of all the stallions
And I'm her prince of mules
And one of her principal fools
Marie, she's got the claws of a falcon
And she's perched on my shoulder, and slowly digging in
But she, oh she can be so strange sometimes
Like at night ...
Or when the neighbors come to dine
Marie, she skins me alive
Burns her initials in my hide and then leaves me all alone
Branded to the bone

And my heart pounds like her horses
Oh, stampeding on the range
Marie knows all the sources
And she shoots me with her pain
And for her, I take it, Lord, down in my veins

And I watch her dance like some berserk fairy
All across the concrete prairies of Bleecker Street
Marie, she can be so strange
But she's the only lonely cowgirl on my range

MARY LOU
You're scrapbook's filled with pictures of all your leading men
Well baby don't put my picture in there with them
Don't make us some little girl's dream that can never come true
Oh baby don't do it to me I won't do it to you
Mary Lou, I'm not like all those other guys
Mary Lou, I won't fill your pretty head with their pretty lies
Mary Lou, and dreams that never, never, never ever will come true
Mary Lou, that'd only serve to hurt and make you cry like you do
You've seen all the romantic movies, you dream and take the boys home
But when the action fades you're left all alone
You deserve more than this, a real love that can grow
And I ain't playin' outtakes, girl, from some late late show, no
Mary Lou, you're not like all those others girls
Mary Lou, so afraid to shake up that real world

Every night you go out looking for true love's satisfaction
But you allways end up setting for just lights, camera, action
And another cameo role with some bit player you're befriending
You're gonna go broken-hearted looking for that happy ending
Mary Lou, I've seen all those movies too
Mary Lou, I know the hurt too much dreaming can do
Mary Lou, you're gonna end up just another lonely ticket sold
Mary Lou, crying alone in the theatre as the credits roll
Let's go

MARY QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
Mary Queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love can be redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
No, you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
Well I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade
I've been a shine boy for your acid brat and a wharf rat of your state
Mary, my queen, your blows for freedom are missing
You're not man enough for me to hate or woman enough for kissing

The big top is for dreamers, we can take the circus all the way to the border
And the gallows wait for martyrs whose papers are in order
But I was not born to live to die and you were not born for queenin'
It's not too late to infiltrate, the servants are just leavin'

Mary queen of Arkansas, your white skin is deceivin'
You wake and wait to lie in bait and you almost got me believin'
But on your bed Mary I can see the shadow of a noose
I don't understand how you can hold me so tight and love me so damn loose

But I know a place where we can go Mary
Where I can get a good job and start all over again clean
I got contacts deep in Mexico where the servants have been seen

MARY'S PLACE

I got seven pictures of Buddha
The prophet's on my tongue
Eleven angels of mercy
Sighin' over that black hole in the sun
My heart's dark but it's risin'
I'm pullin' all the faith I can see
From that black hole on the horizon
I hear your voice calling me

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Tell me how do we get this thing started
Meet me at Mary's place

Familiar faces around me
Laughter fills the air
Your loving grace surrounds me
Everybody's here
Furniture's out on the front porch
Music's up loud
I dream of you in my arms
I lose myself in the crowd

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Tell me how do you live broken-hearted
Meet me at Mary's place

I got a picture of you in my locket
I keep it close to my heart
It's a light shining in my breast
Leading me through the dark

Seven days, seven candles
In my window lighting your way
Your favorite record's on the turntable
I drop the needle and pray (Turn it up)
Band's countin' out midnight (Turn it up)
Floor's rumblin' loud (Turn it up)
Singer's callin' up daylight (Turn it up)
And waitin' for that shout from the crowd
(Turn it up)
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd (Turn it up)
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd (Turn it up)
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd (Turn it up)
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd (Turn it up)
Waitin' for that shout from the crowd

Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, turn it up

Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Meet me at Mary's place, we're gonna have a party
Tell me how do we get this thing started
Meet me at Mary's place

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain

MATAMOROS BANKS
Each year many die crossing the deserts, mountains, and rivers of our southern border in search of a better life. Here I follow the journey backwards, from the body at the river bottom, to the man walking across the desert towards the banks of the Rio Grande.
For two days the river keeps you down
Then you rise to the light without a sound
Past the playgrounds and empty switching yards
The turtles eat the skin from your eyes, so they lay open to the stars

Your clothes give way to the current and river stone
'Till every trace of who you ever were is gone
And the things of the earth they make their claim
That the things of heaven may do the same

Goodye, my darling, for your love I give God thanks
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros banks

Over rivers of stone and ancient ocean beds
I walk on twine and tire tread
My pockets full of dust, my mouth filled with cool stone
The pale moon opens the earth to its bones

I long, my darling, for your kiss, for your sweet love I give God thanks
The touch of your loving fingertips
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros banks

Your sweet memory comes on the evenin' wind
I sleep and dream of holding you in my arms again
The lights of Brownsville, across the river shine
A shout rings out and into the silty red river I dive

I long, my darling, for your kiss, for your sweet love I give God thanks
A touch of your loving fingertips
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros banks

Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros
Meet me on the Matamoros bank

MEETING ACROSS THE RIVER
Hey, Eddie, can you lend me a few bucks
And tonight can you get us a ride
Gotta make it through the tunnel
Got a meeting with a man on the other side

Hey Eddie, this guy, he's the real thing
So if you want to come along
You gotta promise you won't say anything
`Cause this guy don't dance
And the word's been passed this is our last chance

We gotta stay cool tonight, Eddie
`Cause man, we got ourselves out on that line
And if we blow this one
They ain't gonna be looking for just me this time

And all we gotta do is hold up our end
Here stuff this in your pocket
It'll look like you're carrying a friend
And remember, just don't smile
Change your shirt, `cause tonight we got style

Well Cherry says she's gonna walk
`Cause she found out I took her radio and hocked it
But Eddie, man, she don't understand
That two grand's practically sitting here in my pocket

And tonight's gonna be everything that I said
And when I walk through that door
I'm just gonna throw that money on the bed
She'll see this time I wasn't just talking
Then I'm gonna go out walking

Hey Eddie, can you catch us a ride?

MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY
(Baxter, Moore)
Bring it Down, band!
Now , I just came here tonight to say
I just wanna say ...
I just wanna say ...

Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
I feel just like I'm living in paradise

Now listen
Now you see, I feel real good tonight
And I got music on the radio
And I feel good tonight
And I got music on the radio
And I feel just like I wanna kiss you
Underneath my mistle-toe

But now listen
Santa came down chimney, half past three
With lots of nice little presents for my baby and me
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
And I feel like I'm living, just living in paradise
Come on boys

Well now
Santa came down chimney, half past three
With lots of nice little presents for my baby and me
Merry Christmas baby, you surely treat me nice
And I feel like I'm living, just living in paradise

And I just came down to say ... merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say ... merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say ... merry Christmas baby
I just wanna say ... merry Christmas baby
And happy new year too
Oh yeah
Play it boys go !
Merry Christmas, happy new year

MISSING
Woke up this morning, there was a chill in the air
Went to the kitchen, my cigarettes were lying there
Jacket hung on the chair, the way I left it last night
Everything was in place, everything seemed alright

But you were missing, missing

Last night I dreamed the sky went black
You were drifting down, couldn't get back
Lost in trouble, so far from home
I reached for you, my arms were like stone

Oh, but you were missing, missing... missing

Searched for something to explain
In the whispering rain and the trembling leaves
Tell me baby, where did you go
You were here just a moment ago

At nights I still hear your footsteps fall
I can hear your voice moving down the hall
Drifting through the bedroom
I lie awake but I don't move

MRS. McGRATH

Mrs. McGraw," the sargeant said,
"Would you like to make a soldier
Out of your son, Ted?
With a scarlet cloak and a fine cocked hat,
Mrs. McGraw wouldn't you like that?"

Mrs. McGraw lived on the seashore
For the space of seven long years or more
'Till she saw big ship sailing in the bay
"Hallelu, babbelu, I think it's he!"

"Oh, Captain dear, where have you been.
Have you been out sailin' on the Mediteren'.
Have you any tidings of my son Ted.
Is the poor boy livin' or is he dead?"

Now up comes Ted without any legs
And in their place there were two wooden pegs
She kissed him a dozen times or two
Saying "Holly molly could it be you?"

"Now was you drunk or was you blind
When you left your two fine legs behind?
Or was it out walking upon the sea
That tore your legs from the knees away?"

"No I wasn't drunk and I wasn't blind
When I left my two fine legs behind.
For a cannon ball on the fifth of May
Took my two fine legs from the knees away."

"Now Teddy me boy," the old widow cried
"Your two fine legs was your mama's pride
Them stumps of a tree won't do at all
Why didn't you run from the big cannon ball?"

"Now against all war, I do profrain
Between Don Juan and the King of Spain
And, by herrons, I'll make 'em rue the time
When they swept the legs from a child of mine."

MURDER INCORPORATED
Bobby's got a gun that he keeps beneath his pillow (oh yeah)
Out on the street your chances are zero (oh yeah)
Take a look around you (come on down)
It ain't too complicated
You're messin' with Murder Incorporated

Now you check over your shoulder everywhere that you go (oh yeah)
Walkin' down the street, there's eyes in every shadow (oh yeah)
You better take a look around you (come on down)
That equipment you got's so outdated
You can't compete with Murder Incorporated
Everywhere you look now there's Murder Incorporated

So you keep a little secret down deep inside your dresser drawer
From dealing with the heat you're feelin' down on the killin' floor
No matter where you step you feel you're never out of danger
So the comfort that you keep's a gold-plated snub-nose thirty-two
I heard that you

You got a job downtown, man it leaves your head cold (oh yea)
And everywhere you look life ain't got no soul (oh yeah)
That apartment you live in feels like it's just a place to hide
When your walkin' down the streets you won't meet no one eye to eye
Now the cops reported you as just another homicide
I can tell that you was just frustrated
from livin' with Murder Incorporated

Incorporated
Everywhere you look now
Murder Incorporated
Down on your knees
Murder Incorporated
Everywhere that you turn it's murder Incorporated

MY BEAUTIFUL REWARD
Well I sought gold and diamond rings
My own drug to ease the pain that living brings
Walked from the mountain to the valley floor
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward

From a house on a hill a sacred light shines
I walk through these rooms but none of them are mine
Down empty hallways I went from door to door
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward

Well your hair shone in the sun
I was so high I was the lucky one
Then I came crashing down like a drunk on a barroom floor
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward

Tonight I can feel the cold wind at my back
I'm flyin' high over gray fields my feathers long and black
Down along the river's silent edge I soar
Searching for my beautiful reward
Searching for my beautiful reward

MY BEST WAS NEVER GOOD ENOUGH
Every cloud has a silver lining, every dog has his day
She said, "Now don't say nothin'
if you don't have something nice to say."
The tough, now they get going, when the going gets tough
But for you my best was never good enough

"Now don't try for a home run, baby
If you can get the job done with a hit"
Remember, "A quitter never wins and a winner never quits"
"The sun don't shine on a sleepin' dog's ass"
And all the rest of that stuff
But for you my best was never good enough

"If God gives you nothin' but lemons, then you make some lemonade"
"The early bird catches the fuckin' worm,
Rome wasn't built in a day"

"Now life's like a box of chocolates,
You never know what you're going to get"
"Stupid is as stupid does and all the rest of that shit"

Come'on pretty baby, call my bluff
'Cause for you my best was never good enough

MY OKLAHOMA HOME

When they opened up the strip I was young and full of zip,
I wanted a place to call my own.
And so I made the race, and staked me out a place,
And settled down along the Cimarron .

It blowed away, it blowed away,
My Oklahoma home, it blowed away.
It looked so green and fair when I built my shanty there,
But my Oklahoma home, it blowed away.

I planted wheat and oats, got some chickens and some shoats,
Aimed to have some ham and eggs to feed my face.
Got a mule to pull the plow, got an old red muley cow
And got a fancy mortgage on the place.

It blowed away, it blowed away,
All the crops I planted blowed away.
You can't grow any grain if there isn't any rain;
All except the mortgage blowed away.

It blowed away my rooster and it blowed away my hens;
The pigs and cattle went astray.
All the crops that I sowed went a-foggin' down the road.
My Oklahoma farm, it blowed away.

It blowed away, it blowed away,
Everything I owned blowed away.
I hollered and I cussed when my land went up in dust,
When my Oklahoma farm, it blowed away.

It looked so green and fair, when I built my shanty there,
I figured I was all set for life.
I put on my Sunday best with my fancy scalloped vest
And went to town and picked me out a wife.

She blowed away, she blowed away
My Oklahoma woman blowed away.
Just as I bent and kissed her, she was picked up by a twister;
My Oklahoma woman blowed away.

Then I was left alone a-listenin' to the moan
Of the wind around the corners of my shack;
So I took off down the road when the south wind blowed,
A-travelin' with the wind at my back.

I blowed away, I blowed away
Chasin' a dust cloud up ahead.
Once it looked so green and fair, now it's up there in the air;
My Oklahoma farm is overhead.

Now I'm always close to home no matter where I roam,
For Oklahoma dust is everywhere.
Makes no difference where I'm walkin', I can hear my chickens squawkin'
I can hear my wife a-talkin' in the air.

It blowed away, it blowed away,
My Oklahoma home blowed away.
But my home is always near; it's in the atmosphere,
My Oklahoma home that blowed away.

I'm a roamin' Oklahoman, but I'm always close to home
And I'll never get homesick 'til I die.
No matter where I'm found, my home is all around;
My Oklahoma home is in the sky.

It blowed away, it blowed away,
My farm down upon the Cimarron .
But all around the world, wherever dust is whirled,
Some is from my Oklahoma home.

It blowed away, it blowed away,
My Oklahoma home blowed away.
Oh it's up there in the sky in that dust cloud rolling by,
My Oklahoma home is in the sky.

MY CITY OF RUINS
There's a blood red circle
on the cold dark ground
and the rain is falling down
The church doors blown open
I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Now the sweet veils of mercy
drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
like scattered leaves
The boarded up windows
The hustlers and thieves
While my brother's down on his knees

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!

Now there's tears on the pillow
darling where we slept
and you took my heart when you left
without your sweet kiss
my soul is lost, my friend
Now tell me how do I begin again?

My city's in ruins
My city's in ruins

Now with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands

Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Rise up
Available on The Ghost of Tom Joad

MY CITY OF RUINS
As performed for "America: A Tribute to Heroes", september 21, 2001

This is a prayer for our fallen brothers and sisters.

There is a blood red circle
on the cold dark ground
and the rain is falling down
The church door's thrown open
I can hear the organ's song,
but the congregation's gone

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Now the sweet bells of mercy
drift through the evening trees,
young men on the corner
like scattered leaves,
the boarded up windows,
the empty streets
While my brother's down on his knees

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!

Now's there's tears on the pillow,
darlin' where we slept
and you took my heart when you left
Without your sweet kiss
my soul is lost, my friend
Tell me how do I begin again?

My city's in ruins
My city's in ruins

Now with these hands,
with these hands,
with these hands,
I pray lord
With these hands,
with these hands,
I pray for the strength, Lord
With these hands,
with these hands,
I pray for the faith, Lord
We pray for your love, Lord
We pray for the lost, Lord
We pray for this world, Lord
We pray for the strength, Lord
We pray for the strength, Lord

Come on
Come on
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up
Come on, rise up

MY FATHER'S HOUSE
Last night I dreamed that I was a child out where the pines grow wild and tall
I was trying to make it home through the forest before the darkness falls

I heard the wind rustling through the trees and ghostly voices rose from the fields
I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path
With the devil snappin' at my heels

I broke through the trees, and there in the night
My father's house stood shining hard and bright the branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms
But I ran till I fell, shaking in his arms

I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart
Will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts
I got dressed, and to that house I did ride from out on the road, I could see its windows shining in light

I walked up the steps and stood on the porch a woman I didn't recognize came and spoke to me through a chained door
I told her my story, and who I'd come for
She said "I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore"

My father's house shines hard and bright it stands like a beacon calling me in the night
Calling and calling, so cold and alone
Shining `cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned

MY HOMETOWN
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

MY LOVE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN
At night I go to bed but I just can't sleep
I got something running around my head
That just won't keep
In the silence I hear my heart beating, time slippin' away
I got a time bomb ticking deep inside of me
I gotta tell you what I wanna say
I keep searching for you, darling
Searching everywhere I go
And when I find you there's gonna be
Just one thing that you gotta know
My love will not let you down
My love will not let you down

At night I walk the streets looking for romance
But I always end up stumbling in a half-trance
I search for connection in some new eyes
But they're hard for protection from too many dreams passed by
I see you standing across the room watching me without a sound
Well I'm gonna push my way through that crowd, I'm gonna tear all your walls down
Tear all your walls down
My love will not let you down
My love will not let you down

Well hold still now darling, hold still for God's sake
'Cause I got me a promise I ain't afraid to make
My love will not let you down
My love will not let you down

MY LOVER MAN
You treated me hard and made my heart ache
I know you're only human, and men they make mistakes
Your life with her turned to black
And now you want our love back
Well come into my arms and fall, my lover man

Was it a gypsy's curse or a hex sign
Or was it just that simple thing that led you from these arms of mine
Oh yes, I've had the days
To grow used to your foolish ways
And what is it really, after all, my lover man

I can see the change in your eyes
There's no need to apologize
We stood at the wishing well
Our dreams like coins into the water fell
The water so cold and black
There was no going back

I don't mean to cause you hurt or cause you pain
Life is short and love's a dirty game
Now there's no need for our game to end
Come close and we'll begin
To find our beautiful selves again, my lover man
My lover man
My lover man