I walked into this empty church — I had no place else to go — when the sweetest voice I ever heard came whispering to my soul. I don’t need to be forgiven for loving you so much. It’s written in the scriptures, it’s written there in blood. I even heard the angels declare it from above — There ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure, there ain’t no cure for love.
I’M YOUR MAN
If you want a lover
I’ll do anything you ask me to
If you want another kind of love
I’ll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
take my hand, or
if you want to strike me
down in anger
here I stand
I’m your man
If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
If you want a doctor
I’ll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
climb inside
or if you want to take me
for a ride
you know you can
I’m your man
The moon’s too bright
the chain’s too tight
the beast won’t go to sleep
I’ve been running through
these promises to you
that I made and I could not keep
But a man never got a woman back
not by begging on his knees
or I’d crawl to you baby
and I’d fall at your feet
and I’d howl at your beauty
like a dog in heat
and I’d claw at your heart
and I’d tear at your sheet
I’d say please
I’m your man
If you want got to sleep a moment on the road
I will steer for you
and if you want to work the street alone
I’ll disappear for you
If you want a father
for your child
or only want to walk
with me a while
across the sand
I’m your man
I CAN’T FORGET
I stumbled out of bed.
I got ready for the struggle.
I smoked a cigarette,
and I tightened up my gut.
I said, This can’t be me,
must be my double.
And I can’t forget
I can’t forget
I can’t forget
but I don’t remember what.
I’m burning up the road.
I’m heading down to Phoenix.
I got this old address
of someone that I knew.
It was high and fine and free;
ah, you should have seen us!
And I can’t forget
I can’t forget
I can’t forget
but I don’t remember who.
I’ll be there today
with a big bouquet
of cactus;
I got this rig that runs on memory.
And I promise,
cross my heart,
they’ll never catch us,
but if they do
just say it was me.
I loved you all my life,
and that’s how I want to end it.
The summer’s almost gone.
The winter’s tuning up.
Yeah, the summer’s gone
but a lot goes on forever.
And I can’t forget
I can’t forget
I can’t forget
but I can’t remember what.
EVERYBODY KNOWS
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed. Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost. Everybody knows the fight was fixed: the poor stay poor, the rich get rich. That’s how it goes. Everybody knows.
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody got this broken feeling like their father or their dog just died. Everybody talking to their pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stem rose. Everybody knows.
Everybody knows that you love me, baby. Everybody knows that you really do. Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful, give or take a night or two. Everybody knows you’ve been discreet but there were so many people you just had to meet without your clothes. And everybody knows.
Everybody knows that it’s now or never. Everybody knows that it’s me or you. Everybody knows that you live forever when you’ve done a line or two. Everybody knows the deal is rotten: Old Black Joe’s still picking cotton for your ribbons and bows. Everybody knows.
Everybody knows that the Plague is coming. Everybody knows that it’s moving fast. Everybody knows that the naked man and woman — just a shining artifact of the past. Everybody knows the scene is dead, but there’s going to be a metre on your bed that will disclose what everybody knows.
Everybody knows that you’re in trouble. Everybody knows what you’ve been through, from the bloody cross on top of Calvary to the beach at Malibu. Everybody knows it’s coming apart: take one last look at this Sacred Heart before it blows. And everybody knows.
THE TOWER OF SONG
My friends are gone and my hair is grey.
I ache in the places where I used to play.
And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on.
I’m just paying my rent every day in the tower of song.
I said to Hank Williams, “How lonely does it get?”
Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet,
but I hear him coughing all night long,
a hundred floors above me in the tower of song.
I was born like this, I had no choice.
I was born with the gift of a golden voice,
and twenty-seven angels from the great beyond,
they tied me to this table right here in the tower of song.
So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
— I’m very sorry, baby, doesn’t look like me at all.
I’m standing by the window where the light is strong.
They don’t let a woman kill you, not in the tower of song.
Now you can say that I’ve grown bitter, but of this you may be sure:
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor,
and there’s a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong.
You see, you hear these funny voices in the tower of song.
I see you standing on the other side.
I don’t know how the river got so wide.
I loved you, I loved you way back when —
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed,
but I feel so close to everything that we lost —
We’ll never, we’ll never have to lose it again.
So I bid you farewell, I don’t know when I’ll be back.
They’re moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track.
But you’ll be hearing from me, baby, long
