10.000 Maniacs

A Campfire Song A lie to say, "O my mountain has coal veins and beds to dig. 500 men with axes and they all dig for me." A lie to say, "O my river where many fish do swim, half of the catch is mine when you haul your nets in." Never will he believe that h...

You were looking away from me, western skies calling you. Colors spilling, running dazzling you. I was looking the other way, voices call from the east, I saw my roots of the trees there planted at my feet. It could be I'm searching for a place so small with r...

Across The Fields Well they left then in the morning, a hundred pairs of wings in the light moved together. In the colors of the morning I looked to the clouds in the cirrus sky and they'd gone. Across the marshes, across the fields below. I fell through the...

All That Never Happens She walks alone on the brick lane, the breeze is blowing. A year had changed her forever, just like her grey home. He used to live so close here, we'd look for places I can't remember. The world was safe when she knew him, she tried to...

Among The Americans dance to the sun a kiss to the earth embrace a stone come the small black book come the brandy cask one strange disease the well worded paper signed by the drunken hands of thieves and suddenly they were told to leave as the...

Anthem For Doomed Youth For whom do the bells toll When sentenced to die The stuttering rifles Will stifle the cry The monstrous anger The fear's rapid rattle A desert inferno Kids dying like cattle Don't tell me We're not prepared I've seen today's...

Arbor Day wide open falsehood the clan destine truths rival till the end in a series of duels pardon the drapery language I choose Waltz in Vienna has taught me to use every tall room a fiction leather bound treasure books up to the ceiling gold spi...

Back O' The Moon Jenny Jenny you don't know the nights I hide below a second story room to whistle you down the man who's let to divvy up time is a miser he's got a silver coin only lets it shine for hours while you sleep it away there's one rare a...

Because The Night Take me now baby here as I am Pull me close, try and understand Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe Love is a banquet on which we feed Come on now try and understand The way I feel under your command Take my hand as the sun descend...

I saw a big star running from me A world from a record on my bed Turn the tables on me What would happen if I fell To the tune of a dreamer To the tune of my heart? A big star running from me I saw a world out sunning on my head Turn the tables on me...

Blind faith Love, breaks apart is a myth of human kindness Love, breaks apart is amyth of human kindness Love, breaks apart is a myth of human kindness Panic in the worried night with the tempting, rises Panic in the worried night with the tempting, rise...

Bread and circuses Crowds gather round kneeling at the feet of common thieves Hungry for the word, but god would never speak through such as these, Such as these Who offer healing hands and balms, and redemption, a few would cross Their palms They'll tel...

Can't Ignore The Train Steep is the water tower painted off blue to match the sky can't ignore the train night walks in the valley silent you could swear the earth just moved can't ignore the train dust to be kicked up in the crack faced idle sini...

Candy Everybody Wants If lust and hate is the candy, if blood and love tastes so sweet, then we give 'em what they want. Hey, hey, give 'em what they want. So their eyes are growing hazy 'cos they wanna turn it on, so their minds are soft and lazy. Wel...

Cherry Tree Over your shoulder, please don't mind me if my eyes have fallen onto your magazine for I've been watching and wondering why your face is changing with every line you read. All those lines and circles, to me, a mystery. Eve pull down the appl...

Circle Dream I dreamed of a circle, I dreamed of a circle round. And in that circle I had made were all the worlds unformed and unborn yet. A volume, a sphere that was the earth, that was the moon, that did revolve around my room. I dreamed of a circle, I...

City Of Angels Heaven, is this heaven where we are? See them walking, if you dare, if you call that walking. Stumble, stagger, fall and drag themselves along the streets of heaven. Where is the blessed table to feed all who hunger on earth, welcomed and...

Cotton Alley one time you made me cry be proud that I remember my chin is sore the bruise is gone but the spot is tender gave my hand a sister coy to Cotton Alley where you did enjoy your wicked games you curious boy tied my laces up together...

Daktari like a weasel in the clover tilt, toss, pop, turn over sit down tremble, weave like a moth by flame deceived sit down like a weasel in the clover tilt, toss, pop, turn over sit down tremble, weave like a moth by flame deceived sit down spi...

Death Of Manolete There were women holding rosaries On the day Manolete died Teenage girls in soft white dresses Standing silent peace respecting Groups of boys held in their hands The fragments of a shattered idol The old men with their traditions chal...

Don't Talk Don't talk, I will listen. Don't talk, you keep your distance for I'd rather hear some truth tonight than entertain your lies, so take you poison silently. Let me be. Let me close my eyes. Don't talk, I'll believe it. Don't talk, listen to m...

Dust Bowl I should know to leave them home. They follow me through the store with these toys I can't afford. "Kids, take them back, you know better than that." Dolls that talk, astronauts, T.V. games, airplanes, they don't understand and how can I explain?...

Eat For Two O, Baby blankets and baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue. Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed. Now I know lightning strikes again. It struck me once, then struck me dead. My folly grows inside of...

Eden We are the roses in the garden, beauty with thorns among our leaves. To pick a rose you ask your hands to bleed. What is the reason for having roses when your blood is shed carelessly? It must be for something more than vanity. Believe me, the truth...

Even with my eyes closed Funny how I know It's harder, it's harder now Young girl, in my young girl days Thinking I could live for always But like an ocean tide I'm drawn back inside And I know Seasons pass like sand inside a glass And nothing, noth...

Everyone A Puzzle Lover why are some men born with minds that earn degrees the loving cups gilded plaques grace their study walls hide the cracks while their genius is turned to works of tyranny then off to market to market go selling these with wo...

Few And Far Between Times are far between, and few I bet, when we can look upon our lives without regret. Of all the things I have done, you think I'm proud of everyone without exception? 'Till you make your peace with yesterday, you'll never build a futur...

Gold Rush Brides Follow the typical signs, the hand-painted lines, down prairie roads. Pass the lone church spire. Pass the talking wire from where to who knows? There's no way to divide the beauty of the sky from the wild western plains. Where a man coul...

Grey Victory there was light and atomic fission swelling wind and rising ash tide of black rain cement seared shadow traces reminiscent of their last commands instantly one thousand flames arising ill scent of burning hides surrounding a settleme...

Groove Dub Imitate that soured old song there is no individuality only guises shades of nonconformity there is no individuality selling vantage points low rate there is no individuality questions ancient no words claimed perform motions borrowed...

Gun Shy I always knew that you would take yourself far from home as soon as, as far as you could go. By the 1/4 inch cut of your hair and the Army issue green, for the past eight weeks I can tell where you've been. For I knew, I could see, it was all cut...

Hateful Hate In the dark night a giant slumbered untouched for centuries 'til awakened by a white man's cry: "This is the Eden I was to find." There were lands to be charted and to be claimed for a crown, when a hero was made by the length he could stay in...

Headstrong To your common sense firm arguments I won't listen to your voice of reason trying to change my mind. I mind my feelings and not your words. Didn't you notice I'm so headstrong even when I know I'm wrong? Take this to your heart and into your he...

Hey Jack Kerouac Hey Jack Kerouac, I think of your mother and the tears she cried, she cried for none other than her little boy lost in our little world that hated and that dared to drag him down. Her little boy courageous who chose his words from mouths...

How You've Grown "My, how you've grown." I remember that phrase from my childhood days too. "Just wait and see." I remember those words and how they chided me, when patient was the hardest thing to be. Because we can't make up for the time that we've lost...

I'm Not The Man It crawls on his back, won't ever let him be. Stares at the walls until the cinder blocks can breathe. His eyes have gone away, escaping over time. He rules a crowded nation inside his mind. He knows that night like his hand. He knows ev...

If You Intend If you intend to live again, then open your eyes and don't pretend you're feeling there's nothing worth believing. God, if you persist you'll die like this, and wither in the midst of your first season, cut down with no reason. How can you...

Jezebel To think of my task is chilling. To know I was carefully building the mask I was wearing for two years, swearing I'd tear it off. I've sat in the dark explaining to myself that I'm straining too hard for feelings I ought to find easily. Called myse...

Jubilee He fills the flower vases, trims the candle bases, takes small change from the poor box. Tyler has the key. He takes nail and hammer to tack up the banner of felt scraps glued together reading, "Jesus Lives In Me." Alone in the night he mocks the...

Just As The Tide Was A Flowing on one morning in the month of May when all the birds were singing I saw a lovely maiden stray across the fields at break of day she softly sung her roundelay the tide flows in the tide flows out twice every day retur...

Katrina's Fair Greta's cedar hope chest Is full of pamphlets Glass shelves of romantic vignettes A journal laced with sedimentary prose Norma gathers and collects vintage photoplays Hair combs valentines Lillian allows the animals to scratch Leather cr...

Like The Weather The color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey. Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again. With a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather. A quiver in my lips as if I might cry. Well by the force of will my lungs...

Lilydale come as we go far away from the noise of the street walk a path so narrow to a place where we feel at ease some think it is haunting to be drawn to the cemetery ground as we there's a stillness here thankful found child's pose angelic a s...

(Lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-love among the ruins) The sky was falling (Lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-love among the ruins) Heaven was calling (Lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-love among the ruins) When danger crashes (Lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-love among the ruins) Rose from the ashes Like two statues hid...

Maddox Table the legs of Maddox kitchen tables my whole life twisted on a lathe in a foreman's torrent my first English was "faster boy if you want your pay" barking commands loud and simple we could all obey then I was forever pulling silvers rubbe...

MORE than THIS I could feel at the time There was no way of knowing Fallen leaves in the night Who can say where they´re blowing As free as the wind And hopefully learning Why the sea on the tide Has no way of turning More than this - there is nothing More t...

My Mother the War she borders the pavement flanks avenues the parades pass white glove attended by my mother the war she'll raise a shaft lift a banner toss a rose my mother the war she knows every neighbor chats at their doors compare econosi...

My Sister Rose Big plans are being made for my sisters wedding day. We'll have a ball at the Sons of Roma Hall. Family, friends come one and all. First the best man makes a toast to Rocky and my sister Rose, "A life of years free of tears. Bottoms up and...

National Education Week Honor salute and speak To the corner standing flag Do you remember how the days of school were Indivisible separate worlds Compare contrast These dreams absurd Placid classroom faces Breathe in the features Of a demographics de...

Noah's Dove You won a prize for that, for telling lies like that so well that I believed it. I never felt cheated. You were the chosen one, the pure eyes of Noah's dove. Choir boys and angles stole your lips and your halo. In your reckless mind, you act...

Orange Lineage closed Dissolved In its birth Tragedy Prelude a balance Is a synergy Of reason Malicious hope As techno atrocities Lapse their effects Associate these ends Their clarity Demands your revenge Please compensate Not Deny Jungle Reve...

Peace Train Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come And I believe it could be, something good has begun Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come Cos ou...

Pit Viper in the cruel garrison of affection if worth of lore is true you know the face of a temptress pit viper a witch or enchantress pit viper with the malign venom of conceit she tries civil men conceal fear misgivings when night entreats the...

Planned Obsolescence Science is truth for life Watch religion fall obsolete Science Will be truth for life Technology as nature Science Truth for life In fortran tongue the Answer With wealth and prominence Man so near perfection Possession It's an a...

Please Forgive Us "Mercy, mercy," why didn't we hear it? "Mercy, mercy," why did we read it buried on the last page of our morning papers? The plan was drafted, drafted in secret. Gunboats met the red tide, driven to the rum trade for the army that they cr...

Poison In The Well Tell me what's gone wrong. I tilt my head there, under the faucet, but when I turn it on -- dry as paper. Call the neighbors. Who's to blame for what's going on? In the dark without a clue I'm just the same as you. O, they tell us the...

Poor De Chirico Oh my dear friend My dear friend Giorgio How has this time Breton Discouraged your liaison with the Eye styled metaphysical Incongruous scenarios Dauntly jaunt about through nostalgic despair Within childlike renderings Of a nightmaris...

On bended knee I've looked through every window then. Touched the bottom, the night a sleepless day instead; A day when love came, came easy like what's lost now found. Beneath a blinding light that would surround. We were without, in doubt, (and now) w...

Scorpio Rising power dizzy with it stumble detail a chance for us to quarrel anger my head is shaken violent if i could calm or restrain you for the sake of pity save the pistol save the cynics tongue save the cool white stare and treat me to an h...

Something was pulling me without knowing what was leading me on: Your shining light. Your shining light. In my darkest hour the only way to bring the dawn Was your shining light. Your shining light. But you're unaware your shining light is even on. A...

There like a feather you fell someone's heaven above me floating so fickle tempting me teasing my ways thrown from its clutches I struggle to free what escapes me Absalom hanging like you I'm caught in between heaven then earth then heaven between you rele...

Stockton Gala Days That summer fields grew high with foxglove stalks and ivy. Wild apple blossoms everywhere. Emerald green like none I have seen apart from dreams that escape me. There was no girl as warm as you. How I've learned to please, to doubt mys...

Tension Frail hinges pivot On a case's door Commemorative Souvenirs from places Containers change with occasion Cellophane encased Displaying paper Certificate Credit years of service A tool of central enterprises The early hope For permanence The...

Tension Makes a Tangle as frail hinges pivot on a case's door commemorative souvenirs from places containers change with each occasion a cellophane encased display of paper certificate to credit years of service a tool of central enterprises the e...

The Big Parade Detroit to D.C. night train, Capitol, parts East. Lone young man takes a seat. And by the rhythm of the rails, reading all his mother's mail from a city boy in a jungle town postmarked Saigon. He'll go live his mother's dream, join the slowe...

The Colonial Wing here is the store house of Her Majesty well guarded by sentry but looks are free call this the rayless and benighted age witches by tallow candles shifted shifted their shapes here is the pestle and mortar that ground the poison seed...

The Latin One Bent double like old beggars in sacks Knockkneed and cursing or coughing like hags Men marched on sleeping some without boots Fatigue drunken deaf still to the hoots Of breaking gas shells Dropping softly behind But limped on bloodshod Al...

The Lion's Share Can I be unhappy? Look at what I see: a beast in furs and crowned in luxury. He's a wealthy man in the poorest land, a self-appointed king, and there's no complaining while he's reigning. The lambs are bare of fleece and cold; the lion ha...

The Painted Desert The Painted Desert can wait till summer. We've played this game of just imagine long enough. Wait till summer? When I'm sure the rains have ended, the blooms have gone, everyone killed by the morning frost. Is a cactus blooming there i...

These Are The Days These are the days you'll remember. Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this. And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky. It's true that you are touched by something that...

Tolerance The still and silence is torn with violence. A loud breaking sound in the night is made. Hear it grow, hear it fade. The sound you're hearing, the sound you're fearing is the hate that parades up and down our streets, coming within bounds and wi...

Trouble Me Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and you worries. Trouble me on the days when you feel spent. Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong? Trouble me. Speak to me, don't mislead me, the calm I...

Verdi Cries The man in 119 takes his tea all alone. Mornings we all rise to wireless Verdi cries. I'm hearing opera through the door. The souls of men and women, impassioned all. Their voices climb and fall; battle trumpets call. I fill the bath and clim...

What's The Matter Here? That young boy without a name I'd know his face. In this city the kid's my favorite. I've seen him. I see him every day. Seen him run outside looking for a place to hide from his father, the kid half naked and said to myself "O, wh...

You Happy Puppet How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string? How did you learn everything that comes along with slavish funnery? Tell me something, if the world is so insane, is it making you sane again to let another man tug at t...

I'd like to know What makes you stay While your eyes still search for escape You think that I Don't feel the cold (babe), But I wait while confessions unfold. You'll never make a living from reading minds Or from getting your direction from exit si...