KING OF CLOWNS Everybody lies Or everybody tries Everybody sits on top of the world Then everybody dies Anger in the street The anger of defeat There's a fire in the hole in the soul Of everyone you meet Shadow on the sky There's a tear in every eye There's a prayer on the lips of the faithless From London to Shanghai The congregation sing The clown became the king And the murdered jokes are spoken Till nothing means a thing Everybody lies Or everybody tries Everybody sits on top of the world Then everybody dies.

NOVEMBER IN PARIS Well I'm walking through the sunny streets of Paris For what could be the last time To tell her that we once knew paradise When she called me hers and I called her mine But these streets have seen more sorrow Seen more tears than I'll ever know This elegant stone and antique wood Can take a joke more than I ever could Well they're running through the bloody streets of Paris For what will be there last time Oh so certain they'll find paradise At the flick of a switch on a land mine But these streets have seen more sorrow Seen more tears than they'll ever know This elegant stone and antique wood Can take a joke more than they ever could Well they're standing in the rainy streets of Paris At the scene of the first crime No there's never been a lie like paradise As the rain falls and the bells chime.

MIDNIGHT TALKING For the gentle midnight talking Where the bright moon lifts the lovers tide Through old dreams their walking Where the sweetest fallen memories hide I live in a silent land Where time and death sleep side by side The lovers mouth is filled with sand And all the stars in darkness hide My captain he's a dying man He's praying that his love will last He met his destiny too late The wind has changed, his fate is cast His prayer is answered with a laugh Your love was just your foolish pride A peacock struts the aftermath And all the stars in darkness hide The wrong girl she's in love with me But all I see are bitter eyes My brother he's the better man And always sees the truth in lies If I knew how her thoughts were sown If I knew deep in night she cried A chain gang sing we're all alone And all the stars in darkness hide I've see through a million eyes Through oblivion and back I no more know ice from flame Or what I have, from what I lack But I still know my wrong from right Tattooed in darkness down inside Taught by the touch of empty night And all the stars in darkness hide Take me in your tender arms I've had enough of fools and lies Who build a bridge to doom and make A waste land of paradise Hold me close the end is here The time when ending dreams collide The lovers tender arms are torn And all the stars in darkness hide

IF I DIE TOMORROW If I die tomorrow Dress my corpse in drag If I'm blown up by that book club With the Jolly Roger flag Then build my coffin mobile Show them how I roll And if they see the funny side Then spare their crooked souls I sailed across the ocean I flew across the sky And if I'm not back by winter Then leave me where I lie My bones were just like cages My skin was just a net And I'll be gone back where I'm from With only one regret Don't tell my Mother nothing She knows I had my fun No need to tell my father He knew that I'd die young Just find my lonely sweetheart Cure my one regret Don't tell her to remember me Just help her to forget.

BORN LIKE THE REST OF US In the dead of the winter at the break of the dawn You were born like the rest of us Dressed up for well worn abuses Your Mother was stone, your father in tears They fed you promises, lies Sixteen long years of excuses Spreading your wings Two feet through the floor Signing the deed As you're kicked out the door The roses are ready, the violets are blooming Love left you nothing But all consuming depression They heard your curses, and they felt your rage You stepped to the stage But no one would hear your confession Still time to paint But you forget what you saw Still time to shoot But you forget how to draw The needle was the key to escape your brain And all of your memory And all of the pain of existence That long dark lady has you on her mind She's heard that you're stubborn But in you she'll find no resistance Loosing you're faith As you were winning the war Taking your aim But what are you aiming for You ran from your duty, fled through the street Your hands were like ice But the soles of your feet they were burning Where ever you run to you've already been Keep a smile for the world But within your stomach is turning You follow the rules On the wrong side of the law You find your way home But you don't live here no more She took you in from the rain, out from the cold Stole your heart your soul Beat your soft skin into muscle She taught you to live and how not to die To love to cry To beat to cheat and to hustle Losing your voice As you learn how to roar Learning to swim As you drift from the shore.

FROM KAIN DOWN The poison here is compulsory The cure will kill you too Born between two empty dreams Under an empty sky of blue And the loneliness can be endless When you're buried alive alone Buried beneath someone else's business Buried by the roof of your home And the boarders are undecided New Mothers all dress in black You can take any road that you wish to But you'll never find you're way back Some hold hope in a fiction In the promise of a dream that calls A place where their fears are forgotten In a garden where the fruit never falls From the Thames down to the Congo From the Jordan to the Nile There's been blood spilled on every inch of land When a shell steals the life away From a Mother with a sleeping child Look down to see if there's blood on your hands I was born in this prison My children will die here the same The blind man is hanging the watchman There must always be someone to blame For every Abel there is a Kain.

QUEEN OF SPADES Snow was falling steady, sky bursting at the seams Three Gamblers played a game of death in 1817 Lilly was an orphan, an unwanted baby girl Abandoned at a station she came into the world Brought up in a brothel where the wretched came to smoke Who laughed to hear when ‘Opium' was the first word she spoke Jonah was a gambler he was born to hold a card With a smile quick and warm, with a heart cold and hard Raised without a mother by a crooked drunken wreck Who’d leave his boy for days often tied up by the neck His father never liked him beat him black and blue for sport And all the scars and broken bones were the only lessons taught If the bottle didn’t kill him Jonah surely someday would But his liver beat him to it and he shut his eyes for good He watched his Father dying, no tears, no word, or prayer He didn’t even dig a grave just left him lying there Now old enough to chose to, he joined the national guards By day he played at killing, by night he killed at cards One night he heard them talking of a woman long ago Of a card playing Countess, one he’d like to know They said she was a devil, A demon with a deck She’d leave opponents broken, sometimes swinging by the neck They said she had a secret, three cards to beat them all She’d beaten barons and crippled kings, even helped a nation fall Jonah listened closely, he heard the Countess lives He’d transfer to her county and her secret would be his The Countess of Boldino was the rich and worthy kind Made beggars out of Princes, more than one had lost their mind But her days of youth were long gone, in her heart it only rained The fires of love were over, only ash and dust remained She never wanted children, took too much time and care But she knew her years were numbered and she’d yet to name an hair She called out for her driver and they took a trip to town They searched the darkest corners of the darkest streets around They were just about to turn in, put off by the rain They saw a flower in the gutter and Lilly was her name The Countess smiling kindly said 'I’ll free you from this mess' And back inside her chambers, she received a servants dress You’ll one day earn my fortune, till then you’ll have to serve If you think a title comes for free, my dear you have some nerve The seasons passed like dancers, still the Countess made no will But Lilly kept her patients; she had a role to fill She lived behind a window, inside a velvet room In service to the Countess, she withered in her bloom Jonah now a soldier in the Countess’s pay He’d yet to make his move, but this could be the day Through the Countess’s window, he saw a girl his age He pulled his pen and paper and with lies he filled the page He waved up to the window and got down on one knee He slid his card beneath the door for she would be the key The letters soon were flying and spoke of love and ties Lilly’s all so sweet and true, Jonah’s a pack of lies They agreed upon a meeting at the big midwinter ball They’d wait till every single soul was drunk inside the hall The wait seemed almost endless but the day was finally here All she longed to tell him she could whisper in his ear Lilly took a silken dress from the Countess’s past She braided up and bowed her hair, she’d feel real love at last You’re dressed above your station said the countess with a glare I pulled you from the dirt but you’ll always be down there ‘I’ll let you shine for tonight, tomorrow there’s work to do Oh this strange ironic life where I rely on you’ All the Lords and Ladies came in the fashions of their day They twirled and talked of politics and drank the night away The Countess made a speech, took a bow, and left the room Lilly left the latch off and with this she sealed their doom Jonah followed after, subtle as a snake All that he’d been scheming, now close enough to take The Countess saw him creep in, she didn’t turn around She was taking off her make up in her golden dressing gown 'I’ve come to learn your secret' said Jonah with a gleam 'And I’ll shoot you in a heartbeat if you even think to scream' The Countess like a statue, her face seemed so serene Her body was as still as ice, eye’s distant in a dream Jonah took her shoulder, the Countess dropped her head He felt her neck for signs of life but the Countess was dead He ran and climbed the staircase and opened Lilly’s door He scowled without a word and he paced across the floor 'I’ve saved myself in waiting' said Lilly looking pale 'I see you have your doubts, but my love will never fail' No shred of guilt felt for her or the body lay below 'This world’s just filled with empty lies' he said and turned to go 'Your Mothers less than living, took her secret to the grave All my plans are wasted so there’s nothing here to save All my efforts useless and all my struggles vain Don’t preach to me of love, or I’ll teach you of my pain' He went back down the staircase leaving Lilly’s tears behind 'I hate to play the common thief, but I’ll rob the dead dog blind' He found her as he left her, heard barking from the yard But in her hand he newly saw three upright playing cards The three, the seven, the ace of spades, lay face up on her chest He smiled and this was all he stole tucked inside his vest Jonah looked back at the corpse, it winked a wrinkled eye He laughed it off and left the scene, he’d seen the old dear die 'Blood for blood' said Lilly low, and stood up from her bed 'I’ve nothing left to live for now my only reasons dead. Foolish heart that loved a man as cruel as fire to skin I’ll take a walk and pay the debt for it's wicked fatal sin' The frost a cloth of diamonds lay gleaming on the ground And from an empty heaven the snow came falling down She lay down on the cold earth and felt her sad heart slow And soon her sobs and pain were gone all buried in the snow Jonah ran in laughter through the wind and through the cold He burst into the tavern said 'I’ve come to claim my gold!' He swaggered to the table, they shuffled up the pack And all upon the three of spades he placed a golden stack The three indeed the winner and Jonah drew a crowd He bet his life upon the seven so certain and so proud The seven did come after, a fortune now secure His head said take the money, his heart said go for more ‘I’ll bet you everything I have, all on the ace of spades And I could buy a kingdom for all the games I’ve played’ Silence covered everything, and no one moved a hair The dealer moved in closer and the last card cut the air He turned the third card over, sweat streaming from his skin The card was the queen of spades; it winked its eye at him Jonah’s heart exploded in a beat skipped fifty years He died that very instant, no time for grief or tears So on that bleak midwinter night, three gamblers lost and gone But people come and people go, and the snow keeps falling on.

THAT WILL GET YOU THROUGH She wore a key To open the door When they asked her why She said nothing more But she'll sing you songs That will get you through Here's one from me And this ones for you Your shoes may have holes Your shirt may be torn No rose by your side Only the thorn But she'll sing you songs That will get you through Here's one from me And this ones for you See the rain fall so lightly on the leaves Hear the wind howl the hardest hearts to their knees She wore a key To open the door When they asked her why She said nothing more.

BLOOD AND GOLD All the way from Baltimore Landed on an English shore Sold her skin, her heart, her soul and more I did weep Do you dream in that endless sleep? They called her Alice cause she liked to dream Of wonderlands she'd never seen Found her face down in a shallow stream I did weep Do you dream in that endless sleep? Polka dots across the arm She kissed the sky and bought the farm I wished upon a false alarm I did weep Do you dream in that endless sleep?

AS LONG AS I DELIVER Is there honesty In the eyes I see Staring back at me From the mirror If you stay with me We'll be one day free Just as long as I deliver Well the world is old And it's often cold And to your bones You might shiver But I'll keep you warm And safe from harm Just as long as I deliver I lost my job this christmas Steel doesn't pay like it used to do But I still have a brain and my back is strong We'll somehow make it through I'll try any task But she sometimes asks For more than I Can give her But if she stays with me We'll be one day free Just as long as I deliver s there honesty In the eyes I see Staring back at me From the mirror If you stay with me We'll be one day free Just as long as I deliver.