Becoming All Things LP Lyrics
Hold on, hold on
You're living in secret doubt
All shadows and whispers now
Move it on up, move it on up yeah
You don't need a witness to see
Just open your window baby
Don't believe everything you feel
Just come outside that sun will make you real
Everyone, everyone
Is dying to shake your hand
Is wondering what makes a man
Down here on Madison Way
Down here on Madison Way
Down here on Madison Way
Gloria, Gloria
In excelsis deo
Oo-oo-oo-oooo
Oo-oo-oo-oooo
Come on down now, come on down now
You never know what you'll find
But you know I don't think we mind
Staying down here just making love
With that war going on up above
Hold on, hold on
Got no idea how we'll land
Been making our own useless plans
Down here on Madison Way
Down here on Madison Way
Down here on Madison Way
The lonesome death of every belief
As science soothes us with what's already happening
How every dream deflated empties
These junkyard ships will never even touch that sea
Can't you see??
Mama, can't you see??
Jesus, can't you see??
TRUMPETS
The jungle is filled with my friends
We sleep when and where we can
And I don't know the last weekend we saw
Cause nobody really knows
Which way to the river and which to the road?
Which way is the war and which the retreat?
Which way are the joyful tears of release?
Been counting the days for most of our lives
And it looks like a pattern has begun to materialize
Looks like we're alive
But it looks like we're all eyes
And no ears to hear
The trumpets so near
The trumpets so clear
The trumpets so near
The jungle is filled with such life
Creatures moving all day and all night
Some are hunting for just her kind
As she stands there under that streetlight
In her visions she speaks like a sword
And diseases aren't left to find their cures
On 12th Street tonight
Been counting the days for most of our lives
And it looks like a pattern has begun to materialize
Looks like we're alive
But it looks like we're all eyes
And no ears to hear
The trumpets so near
The trumpets so clear
The trumpets so near
The trumpets so clear
The trumpets so near
BALLAD OF MY FRIENDS
Not running but I'm running away from you
Not talking but I have my ways
Not joking I'm too old to learn that trade
Not listening but I hear you all the way babe
Babies they got fire in their eyes
Babies got that fire in their eyes
No babies they don't need to be baptized
Already got that fire in their eyes
I'm never gonna be that bad again
I'm never gonna be that bad
I'm never gonna be that bad again
It's all over for the ballad of my friends
I'm never gonna be that sad again
But I'll wish I could remember how it felt
The ringing of them bells
The ringing of them bells
I look frozen but I'm melting away from here
I look lazy but I have my ways
I look empty but I'm taking up my space
Born early but it's all a little late
So name numbers, and we'll see what we can do
Name, number, it's a lottery of dues
Brass armies playing low and dark and loud
Fight freedom cause your safety's shattered now
And we're never gonna be that bad again
We're never gonna be that bad
We're never gonna be that bad again
It's all over for about half of your friends
We're never gonna be that sad again
But we'll wish we could remember how it felt
The ringing of them bells
The ringing of them bells
It's all over for the ballad of my friends
The ringing of them bells
The ringing of them bells
BOY & THE STREET CHOIR
Boy & the street choir make a lot of noise
The interstate it runs away
A blur of head and tail lights splay
In all directions from the place you stand and wait
And now, you can laugh about it now
Cause you can live without it now—
The ghetto low sounds…
This river bends until it breaks
This heart of darkness just one spark is all it takes
Morning's a lepers skin that mends
The pieces fall back into place
This river bends until it breaks
And now, you can laugh about it now
Cause you can live without it now—
The ghetto low sounds…
Boy & the street choir make a sound so sweet
It twists and lifts, suspends belief
About Mobile her water breaks
The Virgin's due, whatever it takes
To make it bleed
And now, you can laugh about it
Now, cause you can live without it
Now— the ghetto low sounds…
EVERYONE'S A DJ
And suddenly your mind it is alive
With all the details of your life
The names and faces
When your blood was all inside
It's a lonely ride the river
Flowing out into the ocean
Drifting south until the universe is lost in white
It's a lonely ride the river
Flowing out into the ocean
Drifting south until the universe is lost in white
It's a lonely ride the river
Flowing out into the ocean
Drifting south until the universe is lost in white
And suddenly your mind it is alive
With all the details of your life
The names and faces
When your blood was all inside
Had a cherry-blossom baby
And a brother in the navy
Was a miracle, she saved me
Changed my life for good
But everyone's a DJ
Everyone's a critic today
We're all miracles, and maybes
Trading passion down for safety
It's a compromising world
ON HIGH
My mind is racing all the time
And where it's going I don't know but I don't mind
And all the aching in her eyes
Couldn't tell you half the story if it tried
But she just stands there on high
And lays me low again...
Lightning flashes in the sky
Behind those clouds and it surrounds us on all sides
Yeah there's a storm that's closing tight
And we both know we're in the eye
But she just stands there on high
And lays me low again...
All those ghosts they line the shore now
Waving red flags in my mind
Saying, "Get out of that river, child…
There's no telling where it winds"
And the wind blows by my body
As I float downstream so light
Mama, there's nothing quite as lovely
As the way they all go white
And she just stands there on high
And lays me low again...
BECOMING ALL THINGS
Alright, my love
Our time is up
I need you to be ready
The war is coming
The army up and running
And you know I'll go too
The night is young, yes
I'm watching you shift
Those stones inside your belly
And hiding my eyes
Sure you'd recognize
The mutiny in them swelling
See I gave my heart to some mad God
Never cared for the incision
And the prisons dark
As I slip between these bars and greet these visions...
Just the stock brokers
And the monsignors chasing prostitutes through the Bowery
Past the Dow + Jones
Monday's junkie models bones feed the furnaces on Friday
And the climbers wake in the streets having fallen
Back down into town from the mountains surrounding
And a two dollar Staple Singers tape plays from somewhere
I think that it's 'Freedom Highway' but I ain't sure
And the vendors sell pride but what transfers is hate
Some lie that you're better or normal or safe
And terror's a sea that just swells inside each of us
Just within reach of us, keeping our peace from us
And the city's lit up like a fireworks display
Where tonight it's the head of this state on a plate
And Saint Francis, Zookeeper, minding the grave
Poor Jesus he just wanders round in that cage
Becoming all things
Becoming all things
Becoming all things
Becoming all things
BORN WITH THINGS TO DO
Got a drawer full of alarm clocks
And the case is in your head
And it's playing different sides now
Like the fishers of men and the men
And the lawyers in their places
At a table next to you
Making passions for some jury
Who have got an awful lot to chew...
So let's put it in a shoebox
Take it all the way upstairs
Find the deepest darkest closet
In the basement of a jail
Where the guards just scream all day into your face
(As you realize its love you keep this way)
"If this is love, you better pray for some escape"
Did my baby ever wonder?
I was born with every clue
Was it ever any question?
I would leave each one confused?
And I got nothing but minutes
End to end ahead of me
(And no more reasons rhyme)
And I haven't got the answers
But I'm asking all the time
Did my mama ever question?
I was always going to
Was it ever any wonder?
I was born with things to do
