This House Is On Fire
Motherland
Saint Judas
Put The Law On You
Build A Levee
Golden Boy
The Ballad Of Henry Darger
The Worst Thing
Tell Yourself
Just Can't Last
Not In This Life
I'm Not Gonna Beg
This house is on fire! Kick off your boots, come sit a spell. Listen to me worry, come and listen well. All you better best come and lean in boys, I don't dare raise my voice. I've been sitting here for the longest time reading all the warning and the danger signs. I don't have the gift of the prophecy, telling everybody how it's going to be.
Soon come, soon come the day this tinderbox is gonna blow in your face. I don't have the gift of the prophesy, telling everybody how it's going to be. You go passing wrong for right and right for wrong, people only stand for that for just so long.
It's all gonna catch like a house on fire, spark an evil blaze and burn higher. Well, I don't have the gift of the prophesy, telling everybody how it's going to be. You go passing wrong for right and right for wrong, people only stand for that for just so long. I don't have the gift of the prophesy, telling everybody how it's going to be. There's a wild fire catching in the whip of the wind that could start a conflagration like there has never been. This house is on fire!
Where in the hell can you go far from the things that you know, far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way about 1,000 miles a day? Take one last look behind, commit this to memory and mind. Don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place. When you leave keep your heart off your sleeve.
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep. Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go. Don't you go. Oh, my five & dime queen tell me what have you seen? The lust and the avarice, the bottomless, cavernous greed, is that what you see?
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep. Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go.
It's your happiness I want most of all and for that I'd do anything at all, oh mercy me! If you want the best of it or the most of all, if there's anything I can do at all.
Now come on shot gun bride what makes me envy your life? Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free, what's that like to be?
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep. Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go. Don't go.
Saddle up the horses and wear your Sunday best. Sing your Sacred Harp, you be holier than the rest. Fill up the room with a grand and thunderous song, let it rattle out the windows, let it spill out on the lawn. Shout, shout your praises to the man who kissed the Lord, to the back stabbing brother that betrayed all of this world, your Judas!
Yea, though you may walk in the valley in the dark, there's no greater evil than the darkness in your heart with your stun guns, bloodhounds, needle and your razor wire, your nylon shackle whipping post and your high tech burning tire, your Judas!
Whiplash crack across the back, across the arms and although you bound his feet, he running fast he running hard through them crickets in the corn and them horses in the field. Hear the "caw, caw" of the crows. See the devil at the wheel y'all, Judas!
Go on down to Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, Florida, Louisiana and Tennessee, Georgia, Carolina, Carolina.
Do I have to put the law on you baby for all the wicked things you do? Am I gonna have to put the law on you baby? That was not what I wanted to do.
Do I have to put the law on you baby to try and make you come out clean for every evil deed? You're just about the lowest and the dirtiest thing I've ever seen.
Did you really think you could pull it off, the perfect crime, crime of the heart? Do you really think that you'll get away, do the crime and never pay?
Do I have to put the law on you baby, lock you up and throw away the key for the countless counts of low down double-cross you've been about? Have you no decency?
Did you really think you could pull it off, the perfect crime, crime of the heart? Do you really think that you'll get away, escape my justice until you're dying day?
Though you made it clear from the very start there was no trusting you with my foolish heart. Though you maybe made it clear that didn't make it right. Do you really think you'll get away? You can't escape my justice 'til my dying day.
When I was just a little girl my mamma said to me, "Beware of the the devil my child in the dark rocky places he'll keep. Beware of the devil my child. Beware of his charming ways. You'll fall under an evil spell just looking at his beautiful face. You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside."
"Don't go walking by the riverside alone in the pale moonlight. He'll come up upon you girl with no earthly body in sight, come up on you girl and and he'll whisper something sweet then take you where the waters rise so high and run so deep."
"You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside. Gotta build yourself a levee deep inside. Build yourself a levee girl when the waters run high."
Now when I was just a little girl my mamma said to me, "Beware of the the devil my child but if by chance you should meet, beware his cold dark eyes full of bold and unholy deceit. He'll tempt you with a whirling pool of lies and promises he'll deny or that he will never keep."
"You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside. Build yourself a levee deep inside. Build yourself a levee girl when the waters run high."
Top of the fold, toast of the town, everyone stops when you come around. They hold their breath for you. Heroes are born, idols are made. We're all fools for this factory fame and you've got the brand new face. You've got the brand new face, golden boy.
Beauty untamed, stupid and wild poster boy you're society's child. Cut your teeth, cut your mouth, cut it out. Meteor rise from obscurity, all it took was a killing spree and the whole world was lying at your feet, golden boy.
I know my place, stick to my lines, stay in your shadow, don't block your light so you can shine divine. So you can shine divine, golden boy.
Who'll save the poor little girl? Henry Darger. Who'll save the poor little girl? Henry.
Who'll tell the story of her? Henry Darger. Who'll tell it to all the world? Henry.
Who'll buy the carbon paper now? Henry Darger. Who'll trace the lines of her mouth? Henry.
Who will conquer foreign worlds searching for the stolen girls? Princesses you'll never fear the patron saint of girls is here! Who will draw the cavalry in and risk his very own precious skin to make our Angelinia a free and beautiful land again? Henry.
Who'll love a poor orphan child, Henry Darger, lost, growing savage and wild? Henry.
So you're in love, that's so good for you. Live it up girl 'cause it never lasts long. It's heaven for now but not for long. It's gonna hurt you, it's going to make you feel so bad.
Once I could love, I could trust, I could not doubt but that was just about the worst thing that I could do. It was just about the worst thing that I could do.
Maybe not now, but it won't take long before it's gonna hurt you and truly do you some harm.
Once I was open, could hope, I had no doubt but that was the worst thing that I could do. It was just about the worst thing that I could do.
Once I came close to that most elusive fire burning with hopeless love and desire but it was just about the worst thing that I could do. It was just about the worst thing that I could do.
En el pasado estuve ciega como tu. Atrapada y perdida como tu. Embelesada y suspendida en mi jaula de plata. Esos recuerdos te acompanaran toda la vida.
(In the past I was blind as you, trapped and lost like you with no escape, suspended in my silver cage. These memories will remain with you forever.)
I know what you tell yourself, you tell yourself. Look in the mirror, look in the mirror what does it show? I hear you counting. I know you're adding up the score. I know, oh yes I know what you tell yourself, you tell yourself.
Ever since Eden we're built for pleasing everyone knows and ever since Adam cracked his ribs and let us go I know, oh yes I know what you tell yourself, you tell yourself.
Who taught you how to lie so well and to believe in each and every word you say? Who told you that nothing about you is alright, it's just no use, it's just no good you'll never be O.K.?
Well I know, I know that wrong's been done to you, "It's such a tough world," that's what you say. Well I know, I know it's easier said than done but that's enough girl, give it away give it, give it all away.
Tell yourself that you're not pretty, look at you, you're beautiful. Tell yourself that no one sees Plain Jane invisible to me, just tell yourself. Tell yourself you'll never be like the anorexic beauties in the magazines. Just a bargain basement Barbie doll, no belle du jour, no femme fatale, just tell yourself. Tell yourself there's nothing worse than the pain inside and the way it hurts but tell yourself it's nothing new cause everybody feels it too, they feel it too. And there's just no getting 'round the fact that you're thirteen right now.
I swear I know your face, I wish I knew your name, I wish I could take you by the hand. If I could name it, if I could just explain it. If I could only help you, help you understand.
I can see that you're hurting, weighed down like a beast of burden about to break your back. God only knows that you're human so what are they trying to do then? Believe me, they don't understand that you have the weight of the world today. It's on your back. A heavy load like that is gonna hold you back. It's gonna drag you down. You know it just can't last, you know it just can't last.
They thought they could use you, push you down and abuse you and what's so sad is you've decided to hide all your feelings, got more pain than you can deal with but ask yourself, how can this last?
I know you have the weight of the world today, it's on your back. A heavy load like that is gonna hold you back, it's gonna drag you down. You know it just can't last, you know it just can't last.
Lately I've been walking all alone through the wind and through the rain, been walking through the streets and finding sweet relief in knowing that it won't be long. Lately it's occurred to me that I've had enough of that and lately I've been satisfied by simple things like breathing in and breathing out.
Never again, not in this life, will I be taken twice. Never again, never on your life, will I make that same mistake. I can't make it twice.
Lately it's occurred to me exactly what went wrong. I realized I compromised, I sacrificed far too much for far too long.
Never again, not in this life, will I be taken twice. Never again, not on your life, will I make that same mistake. I can't make it twice. Starting out from here today, swear I'm gonna change my ways. Once mistaken in this life but never twice.
Never again, not in this life, will I be taken twice. Never again, never on your life, will I make that same same mistake. I can't make it twice. Starting out from here today...
I'm not gonna beg you for nothing, I'm not gonna beg you for love.
Straight talk, give me the straight talk. Tell me what's on your mind if it ain't love. I'm not gonna beg you for nothing. I'm not gonna beg you for your love.
Scared now, what are you scared of? Afraid I might fall on my knees and break down? I'm not gonna beg you for nothing. I'm not gonna beg you for your love.
Don't you think you can take me for pretty little ride. I know "once upon a time" and "ever after" is a lie. I'm not gonna beg you for nothing at all. There's nothing I want from you, nothing you can say or do. There is nothing I want for you to say anyway.
I'm not gonna beg you for nothing. I'm not gonna beg you for your love.