"Spotlight"

One last lonely hour until I'm with you again

All the dancers are leaving but the spotlight stays on 'til the end

And there's a cold castrato singing pretty as a beauty queen

I'm getting high in the garden as you're stepping into a stretch limousine

Spotlight on a man like a memory come loose

And he's blue enough to pretend that he meant something to you

I'm too drunk now to care, too lonesome to notice the rain

I'll hold on 'til tomorrow when the burlesque show replays

"Burning Oak"

I feel as though I'm a stranger to my friends but I'm glad to be here drinking again because I needed something to set myself right

And I don't know why but I hear you calling so loud like a wing clipped crow's cry as he drops to the ground

And if God himself should burst right out of that bird and rebuild his broken limb into a gold leafed tree

Well I believe I will strike my match upon the bark that I may gain the grace of the burning oak

As the flame tears up the wood, lord I'm right back in this noisy barroom where I'm feeling the presence of another one like me

And again I will strike my match upon the bark that I may gain the grace of the burning oak

I see my face floating in the glass, I dump in all of the cigarette butts and ashes from the tray 'til I'm gone like the crow

I drink it down for the grace of the burning oak, that I may gain the grace of the burning oak

"Black Widow"

With a rhinestone curse that black widow nurtures a moutain

There lies the pride of old Fennerio she's been waiting on her good man, the captain, to come up and meet her

I see the silver shine to the quick in her eyes as she tries to leave

With a rhinestone curse that black widow nurtures a mountain

Here comes Tenbrooks bound to dig Molly up out of her grave, but he finds a speckled hen saddling up in her place

Now he's walking the porch with a pistol and torch trying to better his aim

I've got the black widow's blood in my vein

Mangy black dog, he's baring fangs fatter than logs I'm about whip out my chain saw

When I'm out stalking the grounds I like the taste of blood in my mouth, I like to feel it

"Tripping Through the Cemetery"

I've got to take my time if I wanna see 29, dressing as a fugitive so far from the fad

Come close there's a tear in my eye, tell me if it's real

I was born in Illinois, if I go back I can be employed instead I'm living as a richer man though I ain't got jack

I'm too quick to catch if I'm running, never learned to heel

I could use a little rest I guess, but I don't dare ever lie down

The police say they've seen me tripping through the cemetery, pissing on the ground

I chew a red iron nail, drink up the water from the wishing well - the tremble in my little finger, I earned that in sin

Never really gave a good goddamn about anything

I sing a shakey song, but I sing it right

I sing unfettered and proud and I'll sing it long as I like

And when the new morning sun shines on my grave crack a neon drum - I already hear a fiddle playing in the back of my head

Hey Willie, won't you take a drag and pass it over here

"Straight Through"

In the corner of my room there's a man who is laughing

He's holding the high hand, seems to think that it matters still

I'd guess he was an actor and I'll bet he played a good villain

A fellow facing the future in a rose colored suit that's dirty and torn

Straight through I shot him, now I'm gonna fry for it

He's laughing though he's dead and buried 9 months and 7 days

Seems I'm bound to his memory 'til the hour they lead me away

He's just sitting there silent now, blood on the floor round his feet

There's no reason or rhyme to it, only the smoke rings rising

Even though I stepped back aways he stained my jacket and jeans

Now we are always together, the stranger and me

"No Horizon"

There's no horizon outside the door, just the rail thin shadow of a man on his porch

The blistering sun that ripples the highway, it weathered his hands and shook his whole body

There's no horizon outside the door, just the vapor scattered across the red brick porch

And a garden growing wild on the rear half acre where a July tomato often tasted sweeter

The pavement's growing wider and hotter with time, too many flies to swat down like a skin on the house

There's no horizon outside the door, just the vapors and shadows on a red porch

"Dreams of a Fool"

I've got a mind to leave these old fool dreams behind, they took me a thousand miles from home and busted me down

I'm drifting along like a leaf blowing out and fear I have grown too calloused to care or fear or feel anything at all

The dreams of a fool were the dreams of my youth

Those dreams were a sheild holding back what was real

Now I've made up my mind, I'll become somebody new

It may take time, but I'll stop chasing the dreams of a fool

I've got a mind to leave these old fool dreams behind and face the man that I should have been all along

Someone who takes his pride in growing each day a little inside, but I ain't quite there yet, no I'm just not that man

"Perfume and Feathers"

Perfume and feathers on an egg white child

Excuse me Jesus if I don't get this right

Tomorrow morning I'll be back on the ground again

Util I'm standing straight up and the Devil's run out

Too much too sudden make a man lose his head

I want it all or nothing, there's no other way than that

I take her perfume and feathers, put 'em back on the ground again

Until she's standing straight up and my devil's run out

You're gonna need a chaperone if you're leaving 'neath the evening moon

My pleasure ain't in the rambling, it's living way down in love with you