Peace and Noise
Waiting
underground
If you believe all your hope is gone
down the drain of your humankind
the time has arrived
you'll be waiting here as I was
in a snow-white shroud
waiting underground
there by the ridge be a gathering beneath the pilgrim moon
where we shall await the beat of your feet hammering the earth
where the great ones tremble
in their snow-white shrouds
waiting underground
if you seek the kingdom come, come along
waiting by the ridge there'll be a gathering
beneath the pilgrim moon
where the [railroad] thunders
oh where we shall await the beat of your feet hammering the earth
and as the earth resounds where the great ones tremble
and your humankind becomes as one
and then we will arise
in our snow-white shrouds
when we'll be as one
but until that day we will just await
in our snow-white shrouds
waiting underground
in our snow-white shrouds
waiting underground
Waiting underground X6
Whirl
away
Hello friend I've come a-calling
passively stationed
active patrol
sliding in at high noon like some reluctant sheriff
not want to get involved in it all
who stands guard for each other
why must we guard anything at all
anything at all
from the earth's four corners the people are calling
forming equations but the questions are hard
all men are brothers killing each other
and mother earth is wringing in wonder
who stands guard for each other
why must we guard anything at all
anything at all
whirl away now X3
whirl away
there's a cross on the road
there's a great mill turning
some seeking answers
some born to dancers
you can hold on the blade and turn around forever
be flung into space into another kind of grace
who stands guard for each other
why must we guard anything at all
anything at all
whirl away now X3
whirl away
whirl away now X3
whirl away
[?]
some giveth their hand
some giveth their land
some giveth their life
you lay in the fields of grain
the staff of life all around you
but yet you, you will cut someone down for their possessions
some material thing
and our children are being blown away like wishes in the wind
for the sake of their coat
or the colors of their coat
or the color of their skin
or the name on their shoes
and the mother cries "Why they taken my son?"
and the father wonders "Are they taking my boy?"
he extended his hand
he gave them his land
he gave them his bread
he gave them his heart
said hello friend
hello friend X4
1959
Listen to my story. Got two tales to tell.
One of fallen glory. One of vanity.
The world's roof was raging, but we were looking fine;
'Cause we built that thing and it grew wings,
in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.
Wisdom was a teapot; Pouring from above.
Desolation angels
Served it up with Love.
Ignitin'[g strife] like every form of light,
then moved by bold design,
slid in that thing and it grew wings,
in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.
It was Blood, shining in the Sun;
First: Freedom!
Speeding the american claim:
Freedom; Freedom; Freedom; Freedom!
China was the tempest; [And] Madness overflowed.
[The] Lama was a young man,
and [he] watched his world in flames.
Taking Glory down by the edge of clouds;
It was a cryin'[g] shame.
Another lost horizon. Tibet the fallen star.
Wisdom and compassion Crushed, in the land of Shangri-La.
But in the land of the Impala, honey, well,
we were lookin' Fine,
'cause we built that thing and it grew wings;
In Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.
'Cause we built that thing and it grew wings;
In Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.
It was the best of times, it's [was] the worst of times;
In 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959; 1959.
It was the best of times; It was the worst of times.
[In] Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.
Spell
(
"footnote to howl" by allen ginsberg )
Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy! Holy!
The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy!
The nose is holy! The tongue and cock and hand
and asshole holy!
Everything is holy! everybody's holy! everywhere is
holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman's an
angel!
The bum's as holy as the seraphim! the madman is
holy as you my soul are holy!
The typewriter is holy the poem is holy the voice is
holy the hearers are holy the ecstasy is holy!
Holy Peter holy Allen holy Solomon holy Lucien holy
Kerouac holy Huncke holy Burroughs holy Cassady
holy the unknown buggered and suffering
beggars holy the hideous human angels!
Holy my mother in the insane asylum! Holy the cocks
of the grandfathers of Kansas!
Holy the groaning saxophone! Holy the bop
apocalypse! Holy the jazzbands marijuana
hipsters peace & junk & drums!
Holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements! Holy
the cafeterias filled with the millions! Holy the
mysterious rivers of tears under the streets!
Holy the lone juggernaut! Holy the vast lamb of the
middle class! Holy the crazy shepherds of rebellion
Who digs Los Angeles IS Los Angeles!
Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria &
Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow
Holy Istanbul!
Holy time in eternity holy eternity in time holy the
clocks in space holy the fourth dimension holy
the fifth International holy the Angel in Moloch!
Holy the sea holy the desert holy the railroad holy the
locomotive holy the visions holy the hallucinations
holy the miracles holy the eyeball holy the abyss!
Holy forgiveness! mercy! charity! faith! Holy! Ours!
bodies! suffering! magnanimity!
Holy the supernatural extra brilliant intelligent kindness of the soul!
Don't
Say Nothing
Lower the thing the skin of a cat
Skin it to the left just laying there
No other thing is luck like that
And you set it said it said nothing
Went to the party very discouraged
I watched the litter pile like a wall
I looked at the river just couldn't forgive it
It was ladened with all kinds of shit
Still I admit that I didn't say nothing
I turned my back walked away
Got to face the fact that I didn't say nothing
Everyone was dancing I stood over in the corner
I was listening they were saying this and saying that
And putting this one down but nothing was delivered
Nothing good was coming I just stood there
I couldn't believe it but I didn't say nothing
I walked the floor then I looked away
Got to face the fact that I didn't say nothing
How long how long will we make do
Maybe it's time to break on through
Gonna lift my skirts gonna straighten up
Gonna get well I'm gonna do something
Gonna face the fact gonna give it back
And I'm gonna do something won't hold my tongue
Won't hold the thought won't hold the card
Well I'm gonna do something
Oh my brain I got to complain
You can refrain but I'm gonna do something
How long how long will we make do
Maybe it's time to break on through
Out in the desert I saw that old cat skinned
I saw it floating in the river
I saw and no one seemed to mind
They sat there they sat there watching the sun
I saw it float away and I watched the buildings crumble
Like dust in the hand and we watched the sun
Spread its wings and fly away
And in the mountains a cry echoes
Don't say nothing
Don't say nothing no
Don't say nothing no
Dead
City
This dead city longs to be
This dead city longs to be free
Seven screaming horses
Melt down in the sun
Building scenes on empty dreams
And smoking them one by one
This dead city longs to be
This dead city longs to be living
Is it any wonder there's squalor in the sun
With their broken schemes and their lotteries
They never get nowhere
Is it any wonder they're spitting at the sun
God's parasites in abandoned sites
and they never have much fun
If I was a blind man
Would you see for me
Or would you confuse
The nature of my blues
And refuse a hand to me
Is it any wonder crying in the sun
Is it any wonder I'm crying in the sun
Well I built my dreams on your empty scenes
Now I'm burning them one by one
This damn city this dead city
Immortal city
Motor city
Suc-cess city
Longs to be
Longs to be
Free
Free
Free
Blue
Poles
Mother as I write the sun dissolves
Blood life streaming cross my hand
And these words, these words
Hope dashed immortal hope
Hope streaking the canvas sky
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
We joined the long caravan
Hungry dreaming going west
Just for work just to get a job
And we never got lucky
We just forged on
And the dust the endless dust
Like a plague it covered everything
Hal fell with the fever
And mother I did what I could
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
We prayed we prayed for rain
I never wanted to see the sun again
All my dresses you made by hand
We left behind on the road
Hal died in my arms
We buried him by the river
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I write
Blue poles infinitely winding, as I write, as I writ
Death
Singing
In the straw-colored light
In light rapidly changing
On a life rapidly fading
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
With a throat smooth as a lamb
Yet dry as a branch not snapping
He throws back his head
And he does not sing a thing mournful
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
In the straw-colored light
He sings a black embrade
And white opals swimming
In a child's leather purse
Have you seen death swimming
Have you seen death swimming
With a throat smooth as a lamb
Yet dry as a branch not snapping
He throws back his head
And he does not sing a thing mournful
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
Have you seen death singing
In the straw-colored light
He sings of youth enraged
And the burning of Atlanta
And these viral times
And May ribbons streaming
And straw-colored curls a-turning
A mother's vain delight
And woe to the sun
And woe to the young
Another hearse is drawn
Have you seen death singing
In the straw-colored ligh
Memento
Mori
the fans were whirlin'
like the blades of a 'copter
liftin' into the skies above some foreign land
soaked with the bodies of so many friends.
Johnny waved
he was on his way home
he waved goodbye to his comrades in arms,
and all the twisted things he'd seen.
he waved goodbye
and the blades hit
something
maybe just Fate, but the blades hit
the 'copter went up in flames
and Johnny never went marchin' home
Johnny never went marchin' home
they took his name
and they carved it on a slab of marble
with several thousand other names
all the fallen idols
the apples of their mother's eye
just another name
meanwhile
back on that burning shore
Johnny's comrades stood speechless
they looked with uh-uh-uh-uh disbelieving eyes
as those bits of metal and the embers
the embers of his eyes
fanned out into the air
black dust
flames
oh Johnny! some day they'll make a movie about you
and in the making of that movie
some mad apocalypse
it will become even stranger than the simple act
just a boy going up up up
just a boy going up
in flames in the smoke
just another life
just another breath
and who'll remember
oh eternity now
as eternal as a sheet of marble
eternal as a slab on a green hill
and your name
and all your fallen brothers
and all the ones not cut
all the ones remembered only in the hearts
a mother a father a brother a sister a lover a son a daughter
shall not shall not fade shall not fade
your ancestors salute you
and the gods of your ancestors salute you
having having been formed by the minds of your ancestors
the gods of your ancestors salute you
having been formed by your ancestors
the gods of your ancestors salute you
they draw you in they draw you through
they draw they draw you through that golden door
mornin' boy [come on in boy]
we remember you
we conceived of you
we conceived of your breath
we conceived of the whole human race
and we conceived it to be a beautiful thing
like a tulip bending in the wind
sometimes it comes back to us
in the form of a handful of dust
comes back in the form of a smitten child
our raped daughters, ah the broken bones
souls cleaved from hearts
they come back to us
and our hands are filled with their rotting tissues
but we turn not our backs
we press our lips
into their cancer into the dust into the remains of each one
and that love is there and will greet you, will greet you
mornin' boy [come on in boy]
it's eternal love
well here, go ahead, run through that flame
awww man, running through your mind
you took a cat, you took a life, you took it by the tail
and you swirled it around your head
and you thrashed it, you smashed the life out of it
and you knew that it would be your own
but you wanted to feel, you wanted to feel it die
because you know you would feel your own
you would feel your own
but you're remembered!
you're remembered!
you're remembered DEAD!
you're remembered DEAD!
you're remembered DEAD!
we remember
we remember
we remember
everything
everything
Last
Call
In a mansion high the young man stood
Ready to join his companions good
Outside the scent of magnolia blossoms
Down streets of gold the children were racing
Just another wandering soul
Adrift among the stars
Just another human heart
Led, led away
He put his shoes on and he laid down
Outside the clouds were swiftly gathering
He drained his cup and his stirred the mixture
And he closed his eyes as his conscience whispered
Just another wandering soul
Adrift among the stars
Just another human heart
Led, led away
Misgivings unspoken he joined his companions
His face covered over in a mansion high
Outside the children gazed in wonder
At the quickening sky then slowly disbanded
Thirty-nine wandering souls
Adrift among the stars
Thirty-nine human hearts
Led, led away
His burning skin cooled by angels
Swallowing sorrows excretion
It's all excretion
Felled by his hand of the mind of another man
Who makes the decisions
Lends no provisions for mere eternal rides
Learning of course every alien force
Even Christ yearns to be
To possess the skin
And bone the blood of man
Who tends the flock who breaks the bread
Who makes his own choices
Won't listen to voices
Accept no false teachers
False preachers, good deeders
With their hands out stretched
To be filled with your money
Your mind, your heart, your imagination
Sympathy, empathy
Acknowledge all man as fellow creation
But don't follow him
Don't be led away