1. |
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What did you do on your summer vacation?
We went to Disneyland, then to the beach
What a relief from the pain and frustration
Feeling like heaven is just out of reach
What did you see on your summer vacation?
We saw an airliner crash in a field
Dazzling color in full animation
Stereo sound effects like it was real
It was magic, it was tragic
It was a once in a lifetime experience
Mystic, artistic
It was something I’ll never forget
We had a ball on our summer vacation
Ma kept her Polaroid ready to shoot
Gathering visual documentation
Of all of the wonders encountered en route
You can’t imagine my mama’s elation
When she saw a vision of God in the street
Somebody hit her without provocation
She took a picture of somebody’s feet
(Chorus)
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2. |
Life As We Know It
03:57
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The wizard of Dallas
Sits in his palace
Nurtures his malice
While he watches TV
Saint Anne of the suburbs
Paints by the numbers
Silently suffers
For you and for me
And that’s life as we know it
Deep in the heartland
Laden with riches
And tortured by dreams
Life as we know it
Stuck in the heartland
Frayed at the edges
And torn at the seams
The master of halfbacks
Canceled his contract
To dance to the laugh track
Inside of his head
The Marquis d’Money
Married a bunny
Carries a gun
Even when he’s in bed
(Chorus)
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3. |
Baby Vampires
03:55
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Johnny’s daddy’s out there driving the lane
Johnny’s mama’s into playing the pain
She driving Johnny onto fortune and fame
He knows life is a struggle, so go for the jugular
Baby vampires, they got to will to survive
They may be better off dead, but they’re dead or alive
Little Johnny’s learning how to be white
He’s just a little bit allergic to light
Mama think there’s something wrong with his bite
But Johnny knows better, and he’s gonna get her
Baby vampires, they’re a species apart
They’re building empires, need a stake in the heart
Baby vampires, they got to will to survive
They may be better off dead, but they’re dead or alive
(Fangs) We’re gonna live forever
We’re gonna learn how to fly (high)
Learn how to lean on the lever
People will see us and die (die)
We’re gonna blot out the heavens
Cover the sky with our wings
(Fangs) Try to forget or forgive us
You’re gonna remember those things
Baby vampires, they’re a species apart
They’re building empires, need a stake in the heart
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4. |
Spur of the Moment
04:24
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Young man of my time
Neatly tailored and as sleek as a shark
I walked a delicate line
Until I overheard a passing remark
Was at the elegant brunch
Before the charity auction
And I threw the punch
That cost me a fortune
Whoa, the spur of the moment
It’s as sharp as a barber’s razor
The spur of the moment
Shines brighter than chrome
Whoa, the spur of the moment
It’s as swift as a surgeon’s laser
The spur of the moment
Cuts right to the bone
Oh, I bought her a house
In a beautiful section of town
And like a beautiful spouse
I would dress her up and take her around
She had her dreams
It seemed like nothing can touch her
Till she met Darlene
Her aerobics instructor
(Chorus)
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5. |
Put It Out of Your Mind
04:24
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There’s toxic waste in the jungle
Bad seeds in your lawn
You say the servants have seen you
Without anything on
When you get your handout on Tuesday
Play a good round of golf
Sudden death on the freeway
Make it hard to get off
Put it out of your mind, sweet baby baby
Put it out of your mind
Get it out of your sight
And out of your mind
Cuz that old world outside
It’s as cold as it seems
It’s so much better to hide
Inside of your dreams
When you got your detailed agenda
You got your ducks in a row
There’s music on the veranda
Persian rugs on the floor
Still it seems like nothing’s for certain
Still it seems like nothing’s complete
Now there’s blood on the curtain
And he’s dead in the street
(Chorus)
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6. |
The Eye Is a Camera
03:38
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They say the eye is a camera, baby
That the heart is a gun
The eye is a flashbulb, lady
And the heart is a sun
When the eye see the buildings burning
Well the heart sees the same
But when the eye see the bodies turning
Well the heart’s taking names
And life is coming to get ya, baby
It ain’t no walk in the park
So if you want to get the picture, lady
You better learn to take a shot in the dark
That’s what you do
That’s all there is
That’s all you can do
Except live
They say the eye is a camera, baby
That the heart is a prayer
The eye see the answers, maybe
But the heart does not care
They say the eye is a window, honey
But the heart is a door
That mean the eye keep the bureau running
While the heart runs the war
(Chorus)
You know the eye is a stranger, honey
Where the heart is a king
When the eye see the danger coming
While the heart does its thang
They say the eye is a camera, baby
Now the heart is a gun
So when the eye see the answers, lady
Well the heart gets it done
They say the eye is a camera, baby
That’s all it is
That’s all it is
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7. |
I Don't Need a Picture
03:52
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Well, it was oh so dramatic
The night he shot you on full automatic
And now you say it’s not you
Well, I ain’t that ecstatic
But hon, I think he got you
And now he’s gonna get you seen
There must be more to the plan
Than I can discover
You don’t smile for the camera
You don’t smile for your lover
Now as for an answer
You just show me the cover of some high-style magazine
Honey, I don’t need a picture
To make me wanna touch you
I don’t need a picture
To make you wanna dance
I don’t need a hot director
To tell me how to touch you
I don’t need a picture
I just need a chance
Honey, your kinda passion
Depends on depiction
You call it fashion
And I call it fiction
My kind of passion
You feel through the friction
If you know what I mean
(Chorus)
All night long
We’re out there seeing and being seen
You call it stylish
I call it childish
I can’t imagine what it might mean
Cuz I don’t need a picture
To make me wanna love you
I don’t need a picture
To carry while you’re gone
I don’t need a hot director
A digital projector
Some 40-watt collector
While I got a song
(Chorus)
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8. |
Flaming Youth
03:54
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Hell sent and heaven bent
The kids are alright, but they’re not content
They got the hot wheels and lacquered steel
The life’s phony, but the deaths are real
And it’s hot trucks and rotten luck
The kids are alright, but the actions suck
Another low ride, electric glide
Oops, another accidental suicide
There’s a light, there’s a light
Out on the highway
Burning bright, every night
To share in the truth
There’s a light, there’s a light
Out on the highway
Flaming youth
And if the North Pole will rock and roll
The kids are alright, but the eyes are cold
They make the namesakes of the same mistakes
You gotta hit the fame before ya hit the brakes
(Chorus)
The kids are alright
And yet the North Pole will rock and roll
The kids are alright
They got the hot wheels and lacquered steel
The kids are alright
This coke’s overdose
The kids are alright
They got all that stuff, but it’s not enough
The kids are alright
Hell bent and heaven sent
The kids are alright
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9. |
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I sing of the swift and mysterious style
Of Billy the kid and of Oscar the wild
Upstarts and outlaws and lords of the night
With destinies dark as their spirits were light
Now Oscar the liar and Billy the thief
Subscribed to no orthodox code of belief
But they mastered each moment that passed like the wind
With a quicksilver motion of the pistol or pen
Cuz when you’re fresh as a flower and you’re quick as a snake
And you’re full of the power of the magic you make
Decisions just flow from you lighter than air
Crisp and seditious and vicious but fair
Singin’ Stand and deliver right down to your boots
For I’m quick on the trigger and I brook no disputes
I will take what I fancy and burn all the rest
And leave you like Adam in your innocence dressed
One grew from the seed of the Irish elite
One sprang like a weed through a crack in the street
But who’s to say which is more blessed or more cursed
The worst of the best or the best of the worst?
Cuz in the great homes of Dublin or the Manhattan slums
In the heart of the child is the man he becomes
The great Irish surgeon and the Manhattan whore
Got a highway to hell that run right by the door
That young Billy rode west on as a dangerous teen
And Oscar come dressed like some outrageous queen
But they could both tree a town, take the money and run
One wagging his pistol, the other his tongue
So’s ya keep movin’ on and you never look back
Livin’ out on your own, there’s no side of the track
Cuz you come and you’re gone with a price on your head
Where they’re two kinds of outlaws, the quick and the dead
In the bloom days of Leadville goes the local vignette
Out lookin’ for love without guilt or regret
These veteran highwaymen met face to face
In the hall of a whorehouse for specialized taste
In a candlelit room full of envious eyes
They shared them a meal and some excellent lies
With a Black girl in buckskin and a Blackfoot in drag
For Billy the virgin and Oscar the fag
And they dwelt upon matters of language and art
And the relative size of their masculine parts
And the need to admit what you do in the dark
When you’re livin’ by your wits and you shoot from the heart
And you squander the treasure but you treasure the blame
And you take every pleasure to the threshold of pain
And you measure your freedom by the weight of your chains
In the terror and wonder of the ultimate game
So wasted on red eye and green aperitif
And in total contempt of the Leadville police
They strolled down the block smokin’ French cigarettes
And they purchased an ad in the Leadville Gazette
And it was published on Sunday in a black-bordered box
And headlined, “Attention All Critics and Cops”
Two desperate outlaws deserving the name
Seek one honest Christian with a comparable claim
And we’ll gladly reward any upstanding man
Who does what he must and not just what he can
Who don’t need a heaven to live or to die
Or need to be threatened to reach for the sky
Cuz we’ve come to discover that the wrong and the write
They define one another like the day and the night
That there’s none free and equal this side of the grave
But the good and the evil and the equally brave
But they waited in vain in the gatherin’ dusk
On the edge of the plain while their hearts filled with dust
From explaining to friends they knew better than trust
That the wages of fame is just ashes and rust
That you set all you’ve won up against what you’ve lost
The wonders you’ve done with the lovers they’ve cost
And it’s rising expenses on a descending curve
Toward the ultimate failure of muscle and nerve
And though there’s more to the journey than distance traversed
And the price of the ticket comes out of the purse
Still the end when it came it seemed too well rehearsed
Though Oscar fell painfully, Billy fell first
And there followed this audible sigh of relief
From the bankers and the lawyers and the merchants of grief
Who could now pray on Sunday and then prey on the weak
Untroubled by outlaws with a moral critique
Then all that remain was the bravest and best
Of these hellbent and hardbitten hearts of the West
It shines undiminished right down to this day
As pure and unblemished as Dorian Gray
But they never were victims of dishonest praise
Nor the innocent symptoms of a social malaise
They just did not believe and they did not belong
And they done evil deeds just because they were wrong
And now Billy and Oscar, the wicked and dead,
Have rented this duplex inside of my head
They’re back with a vengeance and takin’ down names
With the willing assistance of a fella who claims
If you think they were heroes you better keep this in mind
That they hated your kith and they hated your kind
And they gave not a thought to the trust they betrayed
By the turn of a phrase or the thrust of a blade
And so assholes and bureaucrats, take my advice
You had better walk clear or you’d better talk nice
Cuz we’re hot on your trail and we’re not on your side
Better forward your mail, shoot the wounded and ride
Cuz when we got all you desk jockeys safe behind bars
Claimed all of the neon and some of the cars
Me and Billy and Oscar and the girls and guitars
Will be down in the gutter lookin’ up at the stars
Singin’ Stand and deliver right down to your boots
For we’re quick on the trigger and we brook no disputes
We will take what we fancy and burn all the rest
And leave you like Adam in your innocence dressed
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