Once in a while
In a big blue moon
There comes a night like this
Like some surrealist
Invented this 4th of July
Night Ride Home
Hula girls
and caterpillar tractors in the sand
The ukulele man
The fireworks
This 4th of July
Night Ride Home
I love the man beside me
We love the open road
No phones till Friday
Far from the overkill
Far from the overload
Back at the bar
The band tears down
But out here in the headlight beams
The silver powerlines
Gleam
On this 4th of July
Night Ride Home
Round the curve
And a big dark horse
Red taillights on his hide
Is keeping right alongside
Rev for stride
This 4th of July
Night Ride Home
I love the man beside me
We love the open road
No phones till Friday
Far from the undertow
Far from the overload
Once in awhile
In a big blue moon
There comes a night like this
Like some surrealist
Invented this 4th of July
Night Ride Home
SLOUCHING TOWARD BETHLEHEM
Based on a poem by W.B. Yeats
Turning and turning
Within the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart
The center cannot hold
And a blood dimmed tide
Is loosed upon the world
Nothing is sacred
The ceremony sinks
Innocence is drowned
In anarchy
The best lack conviction
Given some time to think
And the worst are full of passion
Without mercy
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born
Hoping and hoping
As if by my weak faith
The spirit of this world
Would heal and rise
Vast are the shadows
That straddle and strafe
And struggle in the darkness
Troubling my eyes
Shaped like a lion
It has the head of a man
With a gaze as blank
And pitiless as the sun
And it's moving its slow thighs
Across the desert sands
Through dark indignant
Reeling falcons
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born
Raging and raging
It rises from the deep
Opening its eyes
After twenty centuries
Vexed to a nightmare
Out of a stony sleep
By a rocking cradle
By the Sea of Galilee
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born
COME IN FROM THE COLD
Way back in 1957
We had to dance a foot apart
And they hawk-eyed us from the sidelines
Holding their rulers without a heart
And so with just a touch of our fingers
We could make our circuitry explode
Oh all we ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(we were so young)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
We really thought we had a purpose
We were so anxious to achieve
We had hope
The world held promise
For a slave to liberty
Freely I slaved away for something better
And I was bought and sold
And all I ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(we were so sure)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
I feel your leg under the table
Leaning into mine
I feel renewed
I feel disabled
By these bonfires in my spine
I don't know who the arsonist was
Which incendiary soul
But all I ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(you were so warm)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
I am not some stone commission
Like some statue in a park
I am flesh and blood and vision
I am howling in the dark
Long blue shadows of the jackals
Are falling on a pay phone by the road
Oh all we ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(I was so low)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
Is this just vulgar electricity
Is this the edifying fire
(it was so pure)
Does your smiles covert complicity
Debase as it admires
(just a flu with a temperature)
Are you checking out your mojo
(oohoo)
Or am I just fighting off growing old
(just a high fever)
All I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(it was so pure)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
I know we never will be perfect
Never entirely clear
(when the moon shines)
We get hurt and we just panic
And we strike out
Out of fear
(you were only being kind)
I fear the sentence of this solitude
200 years on hold
(for my loving crime)
Oh and all we ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(when the moon shines)
Oh come in
Come in from the cold
When I thought life had some purpose
Then I thought I had some choice
(I was running blind)
And I made some value judgments
In a self-important voice
(I was outa line)
But then absurdity came over me
And I longed to lose control
(into no mind)
Oh all I ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold
Come in
Come in from the cold
(you were so kind)
Please come in
(so kind)
Come in from the cold
Come in come in
Come in from the cold, etc.