Madman Across The Water (1971)

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Tiny Dancer
Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyes, pirate smile
You'll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must have seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back, she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man, he makes his stand
In the auditorium
Looking on, she sings the song
The words she knows, the tune she hums

But, oh, how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady
Seamstress for the band
Pretty eyes, pirate smile
You'll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must have seen her
Dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me
Tiny dancer in my hand

But, oh, how it feels so real
Lying here with no one near
Only you, and you can hear me
When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today

Hold me closer, tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
You had a busy day today


Levon
Levon wears his war wound like a crown
He calls his child Jesus
'Cause he likes the name
And he sends him to the finest school in town

Levon, Levon likes his money
He makes a lot, they say
Spends his days counting
In a garage by the motorway

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon, forever and a day

Levon sells cartoon balloons in town
His family business thrives
Jesus blows up balloons all day
Sits on the porch swing watching them fly

And Jesus, he wants to go to Venus
Leave Levon far behind
Take a balloon and go sailing
While Levon, Levon slowly dies

He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead
And the war's begun
Alvin Tostig has a son today, yeah

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan, whoo
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon, forever and a day

And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
And he shall be Levon
In tradition with the family plan, whoo
And he shall be Levon
And he shall be a good man
He shall be Levon, forever and a day


Razor Face
Has anybody here seen Razor Face
Heard he's back, lookin' for a place, to lay down
Must be getting on
Needs a man who's young to walk him round,
needs a man who's young to walk him round.

oh it must be hard for the likes of you,
to get by in a world that you just can't see through
And it looks so cold
How does it feel to know to know you can't go home?
how does it feel to know you can't go home.

Come on Razor Face my old friend.
I'll meet you down by the truck stop inn,
with a bottle of booze in the back of my car,
you're a song on the lips of an aging star.

Razor Face, amazing grace,
protects you like a glove.
And I'll never learn the reason why
I love your Razor Face


Madman Across The Water
I can see very well.
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know.

Once a fool had a good part in the play,
If it's so would I still be here today?
It's quite peculiar in a funny sort of way,
They think it's very funny everything I say.
Get a load of him, he's so insane
You'd better get your coat dear
It looks like rain.

We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The inlaws hope they'll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.

I can see very well.
There's a boat on the reef with a broken back
And I can see it very well.
There's a joke and I know it very well,
It's one of those that I told you long ago.
Take my word I'm a madman don't you know.

The ground's a long way down but I need more.
Is the nightmare black
Or are the windows painted?
Will they come again next week,
Can my mind really take it?

We'll come again next Thursday afternoon.
The inlaws hope they'll see you very soon.
But is it in your conscience that you're after
Another glimpse of the Madman across the Water.


Indian Sunset
As I awoke this evening with the smell of woodsmoke clinging.
Like a gentle cobweb hanging upon a painted teepee.
Oh I went to see my chieftain with my war lance and my woman.
For he told us that the yellow moon would very soon be leaving.

This I can't believe I said, I can't believe our Warlord's dead.
Oh, he would not leave the chose ones to the buzzards and the soldiers guns.

Oh, great father of the Iroquois ever since I was young,
I've read the writing of the smoke and breast-fed on the sound of drums.
I've learned to hurl the tomahawk and ride a painted pony wild.
To run the gauntlet of the Sioux, to make a chieftain's daughter mine.

And now you ask that I should watch the red man's race be slowly crushed!
What kind of words are these to hear from Yellow Dog, whom the white man fears?

I take only what is mine Lord, my pony, my squaw, and my child.
I can't stay to see you die along with my tribe's pride.
I got to search for the yellow moon and the Fathers of our sons,
Where the red sun sinks in the hills of gold, and the healing waters run.

Trampling down the prairie rose, leaving hoof tracks in the sand.
Those who wish to follow me, I welcome with my hands.
I heard from passing renegades Geronimo was dead,
He'd been laying down his weapons when they filled him full of lead.

Now there seems no reason why I should carry on,
In this land that once was my land, I can't find a home.
It's lonely and it's quiet and the horse soldiers are coming,
And I think it's time I strung my bow and ceased my senseless running.
For soon I'll find the yellow moon, along with my loved ones.
Where the buffaloes graze in clover fields without the sound of guns.

And the red sun sinks at last into the hills of gold
And peace to this young warrior comes with a bullet hole.


Holiday Inn
Boston at last and the plane's touching down
Our hostess is handing the hot towels around
From a terminal gate to a black limousine
It's a ten minute ride to the Holiday Inn

Boredom's a pastime that one soon acquired
Where you get to the stage where you're not even tired
Kicking your heels till the time comes around
To pick up your bags and head out of town

Slow down Joe, I'm a rock and roll man
I've twiddled my thumbs in a dozen odd bands
And you ain't seen nothing till you've been
In a motel baby like the Holiday Inn

Slow down Joe, I'm a rock and roll man
I've twiddled my thumbs in a dozen odd bands
And you ain't seen nothing till you've been
In a motel baby like the Holiday Inn


Rotten Peaches
We've moved on six miles from where we were yesterday
And yesterday is but a long long ways away
So we'll camp out tonight beneath the bright starlight
And forget rotten peaches and the places we've stayed

I left from the dockland two years ago now
Made my way over on the S.S. Marie
And I've always had trouble wherever I've settled
Rotten peaches are all that I see

Rotten peaches rotting in the sun
Seems I've seen that devil fruit since the world begun
Mercy I'm a criminal, Jesus I'm the one
Rotten peaches rotting in the sun

There ain't no green grass in a U.S. state prison
There is no one to hold when you're sick for your wife
And each day out you'll pick, you'll pick rotten peaches
You'll pick rotten peaches for the rest of your life

Oh I've had me my fill of cocaine and pills
For I lie in the light of the Lord
And my home is ten thousand, ten thousand miles away
And I guess I won't see it no more


All The Nasties
If it came to pass that they should ask
What could I tell them
Would they criticize behind my back
Maybe I should let them
Oh if only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man

If they could face it
I could take it in their eyes
Oh I know I'd make it
Their tiny minds
And sacred cows just fake it
If only then and only then
They would understand
They'd turn a full-blooded city boy
Into a full-blooded city man

But I know the way they want me
In the way they publicize
If they could turn their focus off
To the image in their eyes
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
Maybe it would help them, help them understand
That a full-blooded city boy
Is now a full-blooded city man

Oh my soul
Oh my soul
Oh my soul


Goodbye
And now that it's all over
The birds can nest again
I'll only snow when the sun comes out
I'll shine
Only when it starts to rain
And if you want a drink
Just squeeze my hand
And wine will flow into the lands
and feed my lambs...
For I am the mirror
I can reflect the moon
I will write songs for you
I'll be
Your silver spoon
I'm sorry
I took your time
I am the poem that doesn't rhyme
Just turn back a page
I'll waste away
I'll waste away
I'll waste away
I'll waste away
I'll waste away
I'll waste away....