Life Without Chickens
Do Unto Others
I seen it, yeah walking; taking its terrible time
Sweeping up innocent babes in its arm and taking them away
Callin’ all his easy friends, locked behind their doors
Deadbolt, chain; sign here
Hey, what you all afraid of?
I see signs, yeah, telling me the truth; this is the way, what must be done
There is no other side; this is you or us
I see no tears, feel no pity; this is your true reward
Find your corner; here is the fence
You are what we are afraid of
I heard once, yeah, try to love your brother
Sometimes it simply can’t be done; lives are in the balance
This is you or us
Rational man is just an illusion; trust him and he will kill us all
To them you cannot be afraid 5/21/86
Leftside, Rightside
I like the way you move; I like the way you look
I like the things you say; you’re so very bright
It’s like; this is everything I want it to be
Later on we can get together; we can laugh and we can cry
We can be all those things we believe in
Never mind the guy you saw in the car next to you
Or the woman walking down the street
We’ll be so much better
We’ll shine so bright that no one will see past us
That’s the way it has got to be
I want to tell you my stories; I want to be your friend
And we can dance through or lives
We can boast that we’ve always been close
I say love; love is so very special to us
It’s not like the man on the street; it’s not like everyday life 5/24/86
Highway Tune
I can see you riding along that highway
Dusty, warm, and brown
Callin’ friend, it’s good to be back in town
And I can see you still have your mother’s eyes, soft and blue
I’d often heard you’d never come home; something about the ways of the warrior
But I can’t believe a spirit like yours could ever be in the ground
And I can see you riding high and easy
Laughing out loud
Coming to take me out of this town
And I can see you riding off to heaven
Glory bound
Never mind all the things I heard you say
You couldn’t know that fate would play
Your highway tune 5/26/86
A Future Fireman
So Bob, what you gonna be when you grow up?
-I want to be a fireman, Dad-
Well maybe you can be the president
-Yeah, like Washington and Lincoln and Nixon-
You could make a lot of money in the free enterprise system
And support me and your mother when we retire
-Sounds great, Dad-
I remember when I was just a kid
Taught about the presidents and everything they did
They were great; they were good
It seemed pretty simple; I thought I understood
Everybody goes, everybody goes, everybody goes to the dance
Nice makeup Bob, you make a cute girl
-It’s the way I am, Dad-
You’ll make some fireman
-I’m gonna be a poet and die poor and unknown
And you and mom are going to spend your old age senile and broke-
Sounds great, son
Everybody goes, everybody goes, everybody goes to the dance
I remember when I was just a teen
Taught us about the presidents and everything they’d been
They were men; they made mistakes
I didn’t like ‘em; they were fakes
I don’t want to be a fireman, Dad 5/31/86
Meatkiss/Another Street Prophet
Brothers and sisters, I’m calling out to you
Let’s pull ourselves together and we can live our lives in peace
Let’s all try to remember that we are all the same
God has shown the way
I know it isn’t easy, but it’s got to be better than
Killing, hatred, and pain
If we would only try
I remember him standing there, no money, no future
Just pleading and crying for love and brotherhood
And I don’t know if I felt pity or disgust
Either way it was his mistake; judge me fool, I believe not 6/4/86
The Concerns of the Holy
You’ve seen my face; my lips they move
You can’t love me; I can’t love you
This is a life you cannot see
This life was bought it; it was not free
It is not anything
You must believe
These are my words; plain
There is no magic in my name
There is no comfort in this fame
There is no end to all this pain
It’s a living 6/17/86