Songs of Desperation

Pull up a chair crooked sinner
I see the blood stains
Covering your boots
And I see the scars covering your face
Do you feel the LORD’s hands
Slowly clutching your throat?
Do you feel the DEVIL’s claws
Tearing holes in your legs?
That’s why you stumble when you walk
This is desperation
The only drug I’ve found
To ease the hurt are
Songs of desperation

Got nothin’ to say for myself
I’m just a poor bastard like everyone else
Sittin’ in the garage with gasoline
Huffin’ fumes with my
Friends off the street

Well this here cliff looks mighty steep
Bet I could find a home
Among the ragged rocks beneath
And it’s a long way down
I’ve got the time
With hell so near
I’m desperate tonight

Fightin’ with some guy
Who’s twice my size
He’s got the look of murder
In his beady empty eyes
Luckily for me I brought my knife
I stab him once
Then he smashes in my face

Well no one tries to stop my fall
I look to them
As they stand there and applaud
And it’s a long way down
I’ve got the time
With hell so near
I’m desperate tonight

Everything’s divided black or white
There’s good and evil
There’s wrong and there’s right
I guess I know what side I’m on
When I try to do right
Others tell me I done wrong
Well this here river looks wide and deep
Bet I could find a home
Among the bones and weeds beneath
And it’s a long way down
I’ve got the time
With hell so near
I’m desperate tonight

I like old time country songs
More than women, more than GOD
But I do not believe that makes me evil
Every time I go to town
I pay the whores, I make the rounds
But I do not believe that makes me evil

For the world has become a disease
You can do what you want if you please
The world has become a disease

Now I’ll admit I take cocaine
I drink Old Crow most everyday
But I do not believe that makes me evil
I do not work, I do not save
Desperate women pay my way
But I do not believe that makes me evil

For the world has become a disease
You can do what you want if you please
The world has become a disease

And I don’t believe
They make folks like they used to
Everyone’s so easy to replace

I do not sleep, I do not dream
Everyone’s a ghost to me
But I do not believe that makes me evil
Bolt your doors and hide your wife
I’m coming to your town tonight
But I do not believe that makes me evil

For the world has become a disease
You can do what you want if you please
The world has become a disease

And I don’t believe
They make folks like they used to
Everyone’s so easy to replace

I went out walkin’
Beneath that waning moon
Got tired of sittin’
With my memories in an empty room
I looked down
And I couldn’t help but notice

Shadows fall
Wherever I go
Shadows fall
In the dirt or snow
Shadows fall
Wherever I go
Shadows fall

I took a six gun
And aimed it at my head
The birds were singin’
But I couldn’t tell
What they said

If I had a heart
It’d break in two
If I still had tears
They’d fall for you
But all I’ve got
Is my shadow on the floor

A dog went limping
Down that endless road
I took my six gun
And I shot that poor beast down
I watched him fall
And it made me feel so hopeless

Shadows fall
Wherever I go
Shadows fall
In the dirt or snow
Shadows fall
Wherever I go
Shadows fall

If I had a heart
It’d break in two
If I still had tears
They’d fall for you
But all I’ve got
Is my shadow on the floor

And all the filth
Upon the floor
From days and weeks
And years before
Remind me of my mama’s face
I’m drunk with fear

The war has come
And I will go
To march through rain
And blood and snow
They say it’s easy killin’ folks
I’m drunk with fear

The choir stands
To sing a hymn
The walls they crack
A man walks in
He’s standing there, knee deep in sin
I’m drunk with fear

I cower down behind my chair
I got my gun hidden there
I lock and load
And whisper prayers
I’m drunk with fear

Drunk with fear
Sick with dread
This war is endless
LORD above, LORD below
I ain’t never felt so low

Remember Jim from down the street?
I watched him crawl I watched him creep
I watched him die like butchered meat
I’m drunk with fear

And then there’s Hal
Remember him?
He taught my brother how to swim
I watched some folks dismember him
I’m drunk with fear

Black dreams and crippled thoughts
They haunt me
Bet you’re glad to meet me ain’t you gal?
Now and then and if we can forever
Stickin’ broken needles in our arms

Deep down, baby deep down
Deep in the mud
Somethin’ down there’s
Tuggin’ at my leg

The barbed wire fence
Is hard to climb through
Try not to tear
Your pretty yellow dress
Police sirens they howl in the distance
Let’s go find a hole to crawl in to

I know what I’ve seen
I know, I’ve seen
Dead folks walkin’ round
I bet you’re glad to meet me
Ain’t you gal?

Lets go cut our hands
And bleed together
Just like those drunk old
Indians always do
Then lets go get some tires
And start ‘em burnin’
And warm ourselves within
Their angry glow

Deep down, baby deep down
Deep in the mud
Somethin’ down there’s
Tuggin’ at my leg

I know what I’ve seen
I know, I’ve seen
Dead folks walkin’ round
I bet you’re glad to meet me
Ain’t you gal?

Come on over here and sit beside me
I got some things to say
You’ll like to hear
Yes I do

Deep down baby deep down
Deep in the mud

My last old dollar’s gone
My last old dollar’s gone
My whiskey bill’s due
And my board bill too
And my last old dollar’s gone

Darlin’ I’m crazy ’bout you
Darlin’ I’m crazy ’bout you
I’m crazy ’bout you
And another girl too
Oh darlin’ what should I do?

I try to fight the sin
I try to fight the sin
I try to fight the sin
Then a woman walks in
And Satan’s got my soul again

My last old dollar’s gone
My last old dollar’s gone
My whiskey bill’s due
And my board bill too
And my last old dollar’s gone

Darlin’ you better call up your Pa
Darlin’ you better call up your Pa
Call up your Pa I need that money now
Don’t look at me so cold

You better not make me choose
You better not make me choose
’Cause if I should choose
No matter what I do
Oh darlin’ you will lose

I’ve got a bone to pick
With your husband
Don’t think he’ll live through it
They never do
I’ll take him down to the river
I’ll weigh him down with stones
Don’t mean to scare you sister
Just thought you should know

She lost her way among the pines
They haven’t found her to this day
The sheriff says they have no leads
I wake up sweating every night
I heard her scream, I heard to beg
But I didn’t get up from my bed

What would they think?
If they knew
I was a coward like they said?
I’ll never tell
I saw the man
It was my cousin Billy Greenburg

And I know the spot
Where her body lies
But it will remain there
Undisturbed

Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?

Left his Pappy to moan
Left his Pappy to moan
Left his Pappy to moan
Left his Pappy to moan

Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?

Left his widow alone
Left his widow alone
Left his widow alone
Left his widow alone

Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?

Left his Mamma to weep
Left his Mamma to weep
Left his Mamma to weep
Left his Mamma to weep

Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?
Death ain’t you got no shame?

You and me friend
We sure get along
We’ve got the same feelings
Yeah we’ve got the same thoughts
I remember last August
You wrote me that letter
At first I felt sick
But then I got better
And I slept for forty days
And forty nights in the rain
When I finally awoke
I didn’t feel quite the same

The wind was blowin’
A frost was comin’
And then poor Matt Judd
He drowned in the river
And then my own Grandpa
He withered from cancer
There’s so many ways
To lose your life
That you gotta be careful
Where you’re walkin’ at night

And I slept for forty days
And forty nights in the rain
When I finally awoke
I didn’t feel quite the same

Each day that passes
It moves a little faster
No matter where you are
No matter what you’re after
I didn’t used to know much
But I learned a lot lately
Did I mention my sister?
She’s about to have a bastard baby

We’re sailing this ship
Right to the bottom