Don’t Tell em Nothin’

Well you are sitting there biting your fingernails raw

With your eye on the door and your back to the wall

Nobody else knew and nobody else saw

Then your heart goes bang! and betrays your trust

You are helpless leaning on your nervous crutch

The blood in your eye already said too much

            Don’t tell em nothin’

            Don’t tell em nothin’

            Don’t tell em nothin’

            And they won’t have nothing on you

Man, you gotta get yourself under control

The furnace is burning somewhere down below

And you can hear the turning of the gearbox echo

Cause they are watching through the windows, and they are shaking down your spine

They will step on you the second you trip that line

And catch you in their claws, it’s just a matter of time

            Don’t tell em nothin’…

Well you see that fish hanging on the wall

If he’d of kept his mouth shut he wouldn’t be there at all

Bear that in mind when the man comes to call

            And don’t tell em nothin’

Green Badge

My name is Egan Reilly, I was born in county Clare

I married in the spring of ’39 a lass so fair

We moved to London at her wish, we dwelled in Camden homes

But the Irish Guard they sought to make a soldier of me bones

We kissed goodbye at Euston Square, we swore upon the cross

Should I return alive in spring, we’d celebrate till frost

We vowed should I set foot back on the soil I would defend

We’d go back to our dear Ireland and never leave again

            Hell’s bells, slosh the county ale

            The rats are in the grain and I can hear the nightingale

            Hell’s bells, sing O’Carolan’s dirge

For Ireland I shall try to win the Green Badge of Courage

We set about for Norway as our ladies left to mourn

The mighty 24^th brigade, we dressed in British warms

We pushed the Nazi’s back, we let them know we were in town

While Battalion Two went sailing through the Hook o’ Holland Sound

In March of ’43 to northern Africa we sailed

‘Twas there inside Tunisia pints of Irish blood was spilled

But Corporeal John Keneally fired his bren gun from his hip

And as the Germans broke and ran we watched his leg begin to drip

Hell’s Bells, slosh the county ale…

…For Ireland I resolve to win the Green Badge of Courage

Took Anzio in ’44, then we were homeward bound

Our families walked to Camden Loch and met us at the Crown

My wife was there with open arms, so glad to have me home

But she had gained 300 pounds, now she weighed twenty-seven stone

After say a pint or two she took me by the hand

Marched us to our bedroom where so naked she would stand

I kissed her and I told her she looked lovely as the frost

Then she picked me up and hauled me off to win the Victory Cross

            Hell’s bells, slosh the county ale…

            ….By morning’s turn I will have earned the Green Badge of Courage

Dirty Mind

I’ve got a dirty mind, I like a certain kind of thing

I can’t help myself, can’t tell you what it’s s’posed to mean

I can’t tell you what it’s s’posed to mean

Sometimes late at night as I’m walking up and down these halls

I swear to God I hear voices from behind the walls

Voices from behind the walls

I’ve never been the kind to worry bout it all that much

Just lately I’ve been wondering, maybe I’m just losing touch

Maybe I’m just losing touch

But until I get that cold chill running up and down my spine

I’m loaded like a pistol, oh I’m ready anytime

I’m ready for you anytime

 So, I pour myself another drink, as if it’s gonna help at all

I know what happens next, there ain’t nothing left ‘cept protocol

There ain’t nothing left ‘cept protocol

Yeah I’ve got a dirty mind…

Heartbreak

You don’t look like you’re gonna be a problem

But somehow I know you still will be

Yeah, I’ve got all the answers if you want em

But nobody ever listens to me

I’ll go ahead and break it down for you piece by piece

If you promise me that you’ll be good

Cause I got half a mind to leave you right here right now

And the truth is that I probably should

Oh cause one of these days the time will come

When you find out love is real

Oh and nothing else will matter, no, nothing at all

And all time will seem to stand still

And then you’ll know what heartbreak will make you do

You will know what heartbreak will make you do

You got yourself in a bad situation

And I can see how this is gonna go down

You can take that one way street to nowhere

Or get your ass outta this town

Oh I know you like to think you got it all figured out

Cause you can drive about any man wild

You keep telling yourself you got it under control

But to me you’re just a long lost child

Oh and one of these days…

            And then you’ll know what heartbreak will make you do…

One False Move

Is this what it comes down to

Hit or miss, it’s either me or you

All we get is one false move

My friend, you’re gonna have to choose

Sink or swim, it’s either win or lose

In the end there is one thing that is true

At first glance we’re still in the game

There is a desperate chance that hope may still remain

Until we come to see the error of our ways

We’re just one false move away

All the costs of our endless needs

Idle thoughts, oh and wicked deeds

Left me lost with nothing to believe

But my foolish pride wouldn’t let me leave

If I tried, if I’d beg and plead

And besides, there’s no honor among thieves

At first glance…

My friend, you’re gonna have to choose…

At first glance…

Orphan child ain’t got no one to love

Angels cry in Heaven above

Hell’s bells and buckets of blood

Shovels brake the cold hard ground

You ain’t never heard such a lonesome sound

Pray, tell me Lord what have they found

When her momma’s singing sweet and low

She tells the bitter winds to blow

And I know I’ll always be alone

            Every night I go to town

            Blow for blow, and pound for pound

            C’mon pass that bottle round

            We’re bound to bring the poor house down

Into this wicked world she’s cast

Paying for someone else’s past

I won’t lie if you don’t ask

In the distance there’s a rumbling train

The whistle wailing through the rain

Just give me whiskey for my pain

Send shivers up the devils spine

The moon is shining through the pines

Like pennies from a dead man’s eyes

            Every night I go to town…

Heading back to them lonesome hills

Now I know just how they feel

One more drink and I’ve had my fill

`            Every night I go to town…

Well the midnight’s on Manhattan

I’m 11^th St. and all alone

Counting cracks beneath my feet

My head is hanging low

The streetlights all down B

Are shining on the falling rain

The shadows dance across the street

And the wind seems to whisper her name

            It’s a tired old town

            For another sleepless night

            Keep me wandering around

            Down on the lower east side

There ain’t a star up in heaven

Shining down from up above

The city’s so unforgiving

When you got no one to love

            Now, it’s more and more these days

            I found I need a place to hide

            It’s easy to get away

            Down on the lower east side

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Whiskey Priest

Get me outta town before they run me off

Once we’re far enough I’ll get out and walk

Well now, you know the way they can lead you on

I don’t have a choice I got to take them all

Cause the system is fixed with eyes upon eyes

Dirty little secret white lie alibis

Even if you got nothing to hide

They don’t need to ask they just read your mind

I’m a whisky priest and it’s a blood soaked religion

I’m a whisky priest and it’s a blood soaked religion

I’m a whisky priest and it’s a blood soaked religion

I’m a whisky priest and it’s blood soaked, it’s blood soaked

I am a man of faith, I am a child of the crow

All my better angels, well they touch and they go

I get no self satisfaction from salvation when it’s sold

With a ten digit digital magnetic barcode

So, I kneel down on my knees to pray

And I whisper speculation holy rumor hearsay

God bless the poor and the feeble when they try to retain

A sense of faults repletion and a marker for their claim

I’m a whisky priest…

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, drive that steel machine

Rich and poor man, beggar, thief, you better keep your pistol clean

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, drive that steel machine

Rich and poor man, beggar, thief, you better keep your pistol clean

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, drive that steel machine

Rich and poor man, beggar, thief, you better keep your pistol clean

C’mon can’t you hear those distant sirens ring

Junkie, drunk, you ruckus punk, believe me when I sing

            I’m a whisky priest…

I love the smell of rain upon the answer to a prayer

The smell of fresh black powder when it’s hanging in the air

It must stand to reason as beyond compare

When every breath I take is another I am spared

Well I come a willing servant and I go an able culprit

If I had a chance in Hell I probably already took it

That bastard Satan’s bony ass, well I’ll do my best to whoop it

With a bible in my holster, and a shot glass in my pulpit

            I’m a whisky priest…(wade in the water, children)

  (

“Who is the man in the hat?” she asked me, “In the black trench coat”

I wheel around but he’s gone in a flash, as soon as she had spoke

I tell her, “It’s only your imagination,” even though I knew I’d seen him before

“Sewer rats, alley cats, and junkyard dogs are always hanging around of my back door

            And the rain falls down like it ain’t ever gonna stop

            Pawn shops, liquor stores, empty parking lots

Now a certain urgency in the way that she moves, and I know it’s still on her mind

“We’re not alone anymore,” she says as I take her hand in mine

I feel the reassuring weight of my loaded automatic, strapped tight to my side

“Ain’t nobody gonna fuck with us, baby,” I casually replied

            And the rain falls down…

“Well now nothing can make them pearly gates open up wide for you,

Heaven’s gotta wait just as long as it takes for the devil to finally get his due,”

She pulls me close puts her head on my shoulder, and slowly starts to relax

“Quit your big talking, daddy, let’s go,” she says, and this time she don’t look back

            And the rain falls…

I ride behind two horses side by side

They both profess to be my only guide

Each one’s fast and sure afoot they race

When one takes off the other keeps the pace

I ride behind two horses side by side

The young one tries to lead me with his pride

While the older horse whose pride was lost in youth

Tries to lead me down the righteous path of truth

            Both those faithful horses have whims

            Born with strengths and weaknesses that blend

            I used to ride them both alone most anywhere

            But it takes both horses now to get me there

I ride behind two horses swift and strong

The first horse tries to break loose on his own

To leave the beaten path he calls a jail

While the other horse prefers to keep the trail

I ride behind two horses jointly bound

Both are always fed and watered down

I talk to them and keep them pointed south

And I never shove a cold bit in their mouth

            Both those splendid horses lose their breath

            Should one horse run the other horse to death

            They lead me to the river when I’m lost

            But it takes both horses now to get across

I ride behind two horses pulling slow

They’re harnessed but they’re always in control

Should I ask them both to pick up speed

They prepare themselves in tandem to stampede

            Lord, you know them well and you know me

            We’re bred to love and cry out to be free

            I’ll try to understand them like I do you

            For they were born inside a stable, too

            Yeah I’ll try to understand them…