Oh, me and my cousin, one Arthur McBride
As we went a-walkin’ down by the seaside
Mark know what followed and what did betide
For it bein’ on Christmas mornin’
Now, for recreation, we went on a tramp
And we met Sergeant Napper and Corporal Vamp
And a little wee drummer intending to camp
For the day bein’ pleasant and charming.

Good morning, good morning, the sergeant he cried
And the same to you gentleman, we did reply
Intending no harm but means to pass by
For it bein’ on Christmas morning
But, says he, My fine fellows, if you will enlist
Ten guineas in gold I’ll stick in your fist
And a crown in the bargain for to kick up the dust
And drink the king’s health in the morning.

For a soldier, he leads a very fine life
And he always is blessed with a charming young wife
And he pays all his debts without sorrow or strike
And he always lives pleasant and charmin’
And a soldier he always is decent and clean
In the finest of clothing he’s constantly seen
While other poor fellows go dirty and mean
And sup on thin gruel in the morning.

But, says Arthur, I wouldn’t be proud of your clothes
For you’ve only the lend of them, as I suppose
But you’re dare not change them one night, for you know
If you do, you’ll be flogged in the morning
And although that we’re single and free
We take great delight in our own company
We have no desire strange places to see
Althoug that your offers are charming.

And we have no desire to take your advance
All hazards and dangers we barter on chance
For you’d have no scruples for to send us to France
Where we could get shot without warning
Oh no, says the Sergeant, I’ll have no such chat
And neither will I take it from snappy young brats
For if you insult me with one other word
I’ll cut off your heads in the morning.
And Arthur and I, we soon drew our hogs
And we scarce gave them time to draw their own blades
When a trusty shillelagh came over their head
And bid them take that as fair warning
And their old rusty rapiers that hung by their sides
We flung them as far as we could in the tide
Now take them up, devils ! cried Arthur McBride
And temper their edge in the morning!.

And the little wee drummer, we flattered his bow
And we made a football of his rowdy-dow-dow
Threw it in the tide for to rock and to roll
And bade it a tedious returning
And we havin’ no money, paid them off in cracks
We paid no respect to their two bloody backs
And we lathered them there like a pair of wet sacks
And left them for dead in the morning.

And so, to conclude and to finish disputes
We obligingly asked if they wanted recruits
For we were the lads who would give them hard clouts
And bid them look sharp in the morning.

Oh, me and my cousin, one Artur McBride
As we went a-walkin’ down by the seaside
Mark now what followed and what did betide
For it bein’ on Christmas morning.

I hate myself for loving you and the weakness that it showed
You were just a painted face on a trip down to suicide road
The stage was set, the lights went out all around the old hotel
I hate myself for loving you and I’m glad the curtain fell.

I hate that foolish game we played and the need that was expressed
And the mercy that you showed to me, whoever would have guessed
I went out on Lower Broadway and I felt that place within
That hollow place where martyrs weep and angels play with sin.

Heard your songs of freedom and man forever stripped
Acting out his folly while his back is being whipped
Like a slave in orbit he’s beaten ’til he’s tame
All for a moment’s glory and it’s a dirty, rotten shame.

There are those who worship loneliness, I’m not one of them
In this age of fiberglass I’m searching for a gem
The crystall ball upon the wall hasn’t shown me nothing yet
I’ve paid the price of solitude but at least I’m out of debt.

I can’t recall a useful thing you ever did for me
‘Cept pat me on the back one time when I was on my knees
We stared into each other’s eyes ’till one of us would break
No use to apologize, what difference would it make ?

So sing your praise of progress and of the Doom Machine
The naked truth is still taboo whenever it can be seen
Lady Luck who shines on me, will tell you where I’m at
I hate myself for loving you but I should get over that.

They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I’ll make it through
And they, they look at me and frown
They’d like to drive me from this town
They don’t want me around
‘Cause I believe in you.

They show me to the door
They say don’t come back no more
‘Cause I don’t be like they’d like me to
And I, I walk out on my own
A thousand miles from home
But I don’t feel alone
‘Cause I believe in you.

I believe in you even through the tears and the laughter
I believe in you even though we be apart
I believe in you even on the morning after
Oh, when the dawn is nearing
Oh, when the night is disappearing
Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart.

Don’t let me drift too far
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you’ve given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you.

I believe in you when winter turn to summer
I believe in you when white turn to black
I believe in you even though I be outnumbered
Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, though my friends forsake me
Oh, even that couldn’t make me go back.

Don’t let me change my heart
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue
And I, I don’t mind the pain
Don’t mind the driving rain
I know I will sustain
‘Cause I believe in you.

Come and listen for a moment, lads
And hear me tell my tale
How across the sea from England
I was condemned to sail
Now the jury found me guilty
Then says the judge, says he
Oh, for life, Jim Jones, I’m sending you
Across the stormy sea
But take a tip before you ship
To join the iron gang
Don’t get too gay in Botany Bay
Or else you’ll surely hang
Or else you’ll surely hang, says he
And after that Jim Jones
It’s high above on the gallows tree
The crows will pick your bones.

And our ship was high upon the sea
When pirates came along
But the soldiers on our convict ship
Were full five hundred strong
For they opened fire and somehow drove
That pirate ship away
But I’d rather have joined that pirate ship
Than gone to Botany Bay
With the storms ragin’ round us
And the winds a-blowin’ gale
I’d rather have drowned in misery
Than gone to New South Wales
There’s no time for mischief there they say
Remember that, says they
Or they’ll flog the poaching out of you
Down there in Botany Bay.

Now it’s day and night and the irons clang
And like poor galley slaves
We toil and toil, and when we die
Must fill dishonored graves
And it’s by and by I’ll slip my chains
Well, into the bush I’ll go
And I’ll join the bravest rankers there
Jack Donohue and co
And some dark night, when everything
Is silent in the town
I’ll shoot those tyrants one and all
I’ll gun the floggers down
Oh, I’ll give the land a little shock
Remember what I say
They’ll yet regret they’ve sent Jim Jones
In chains to Botany Bay.

Of war and peace the truth just twists
Its curfew gull just glides
Upon four-legged forest clouds
The cowboy angel rides
With his candle lit into the sun
Though its glow is waxed in black
All except when ‘neath the trees of Eden.

The lamppost stands with folded arms
Its iron claws attached
To curbs ‘neath holes where babies wail
Though it shadows metal badge
All and all can only fall
With a crashing but meaningless blow
No sound ever comes from the Gates of Eden.

The savage soldiers sticks his head in sand
And then complains
Unto the shoeless hunter who’s gone deaf
But still remains
Upon the beach where hound dogs bay
At ships with tatooed sails
Heading for the Gates of Eden.

With a time-rusted compass blade
Alladin and his lamp
Sits with Utopian hermit monks
Side saddle on the Golden Calf
And on their promises of paradise
You will not hear a laugh
All except inside the Gates of Eden.

Relationships of ownership
They whisper in the wings
To those condemned to act accordingly
And wait for succeeding kings
And I will try to harmonize with songs
The lonesome sparrow sings
There are no kings inside the Gates of Eden.

The motorcycle black madonna
Two-wheeled gypsy queen
And her silver-studded phantom cause
The gray flannel dwarf to scream
As he weeps to wicked birds of prey
Who pick up on his bread crumb sins
And there are no sins inside the Gates of Eden.

The kingdoms of Experience
In the precious wind they rot
While paupers change possessions
Each one wishing for what the other has got
And the princess and the prince
Discuss what’s real and what is not
It doesn’t matter inside the Gates of Eden.

The foreign sun, it squints upon
A bed that is never mine
As friends and other strangers
From their fates try to resign
Leaving men wholly totally free
To do anything they wish to do but die
And there are no trials inside the Gates of Eden.

At dawn my lower comes to me
And tells me of her dreams
With no attempts to shovel the glimpse
Into the ditch of what each one means
At times I think there are no words
But these to tell what’s true
And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden.

Feel like a broke down engine ain’t got no drivin’ wheel
Feel like a broke down engine ain’t got no drivin’ wheel
You all been down and lonesome, you know just how a poor man feels.

Been shooting craps and gambling, momma, and I done got broke
Been shooting craps and gambling, momma, and I done got broke
I done pawned my pistol baby, my best clothes been sold.

Lordy, Lord, Lordy, Lordy, Lord, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy
Lordy Lord.

I went down in my praying ground, fell on my bended knees
Went down to my praying ground, fell on my bended knees
I ain’t cryin’ for no religion, Lord, give me back my good gal please.

If you give me back my baby, I won’t worry you no more
Give me back my baby, I won’t worry you no more
Don’t have to put her in my house, Lordy, just lead her to my door.

Lordy, Lord, Lordy, Lordy, Lord, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy
Lordy Lord.

Can’t you hear me baby, rappin’ on your door ?
Can’t you hear me baby, rappin’ on your door ?
Now you hear me tappin’, tappin’ across your floor.

Feel like a broke down engine, ain’t got no drive at all
Feel like a broke down engine, ain’t got no drive at all
What made me love my woman, she can really do the Georgia Crawl.

Feel like a broke down engine, ain’t got no whistle or bell
Feel like a broke down engine, ain’t got no whistle or bell
If you’re a real hot momma, come take away Daddy’s weeping spell.

Something there is about you that strikes a match in me
Is it the way your body moves or is it the way your hair blows free
Or is it because you remind me of something that used to be
Something that’s crossed over from another century ?

Thought I’d shaken the wonder and the phantoms of my youth
Rainy days on the Great Lakes, walking the hills of old Duluth
There was me and Danny Lopez, cold eyes, black night and then there was Ruth
Something there is about you that brings back a long forgotten truth.

Suddenly I found you and the spirit in me sings
Don’t have to look no further, you’re the soul of many things
I could say that I’d be faithful, I could say it in one sweet, easy breath
But to you that would be cruelty and to me it surely would be death.

Something there is about you that moves with style and grace
I was in a whirlwind, now I am in some better place
My hand’s on the sabre and you’ve picked up on the baton
Something there is about you that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of you
You were trying to break into another world
A world I never knew
I always kind of wondered if you ever made it through
Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of you.

Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of me
If I was still the same
If I ever became what you wanted me to be
Did I miss the mark or overstep the line that only you could see
Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of me.

Listen to the engine listen to the bell
As the last fire truck from hell goes rolling by
All good people are praying
It’s the last temptation the last account
The last time you might hear the sermon on the mount
The last radio is playing.

Seen a shooting star tonight slip away
Tomorrow will be another day
Guess it’s too late to say the things to you that you needed to hear me say
Seen a shooting star tonight slip away.

Someone’s got it in for me, they’re planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they’d cut it out quick but when they will I can only guess
They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me
I can’t help it if I’m lucky.

People see me all the time and they just can’t remember how to act
Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts
Even you yesterday you had to ask me where it was at
I couldn’t believe after all these years you didn’t know even me better than that
Sweet lady.

Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading south
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You’re an idiot babe
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe

I ran into the fortune-teller who said beware of lightning that might strike
I haven’t known peace and quit for so long I can’t remember what it’s like
There’s a lone soldier on the cross smoke pouring out of a boxcar door
You didn’t know it you didn’t think it could be done in the final end he won the wars
After losing every battle.

I woke up on the roadside daydreaming about the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are making me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies
One day you’ll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes
Blood on your saddle.

Idiot wind blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You’re an idiot babe
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn’t enough to change my heart
Now everything’s a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What’s good is bad what’s bad is good you’ll find out when you reach the top
You’re on the bottom.I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
I can’t remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed your eyes don’t look
into mine
The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone faced while the
building burned
I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees while the
springtime turned
Slowly into autumn.

Idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to Capitol
Idiot wind blowing every time you move you teeth
You’re an idiot babe.
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I can’t feel you anymore, I can’t even touch the books you’ve read
Every time I crawl past your door, I been wishing I was somebody else instead
Down the highway down the tracks down the road to ecstasy
I followed you beneath the stars hounded by your memory
And all you raging glory.

I been double-crossed now for the very last time and now I’m finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me
You’ll never know the hurt I suffered not the pain I raise above
And I’ll never know the same about you your holiness or your kind of love
And it makes me feel so sorry.

Idiot wind blowing through the buttons of our coats
Blowing through the letters that we wrote
Idiot wind blowing through the dust upon our shelves
We’re idiots babe
It’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.