Joseph Arthur

[fox69]

"Walk Away"

"Walk Away"



So long
You went alone
Holding on
To what you'll never know

Who were you
Pretending you should be
Never enough
Of who you thought you'd be

You walk away
You want to walk away
You want to walk away
From who you are

You look away
From some eyes always see
Far beyond
Your reality

Look within
Into the universe
Ask yourself
If you belong to this

You walk away
You want to walk away
You want to walk away
From who you are

 

[fox69]

"Walk On The Wild Side"

"Walk On The Wild Side"



Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the U.S.A.
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, "Hey, babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
Said, "Hey, honey,
Take a walk on the wild side."

Candy came from out on the Island
In the back room she was everybody's darling
But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head
She says, "Hey, babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
Said, "Hey, babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
And the colored girls go
"Doo do doo do doo do do doo..."

Little Joe never once gave it away
Everybody had to pay and pay
A hustle here and a hustle there
New York City's the place
Where they said, "Hey, babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
I said, "Hey, Joe,
Take a walk on the wild side."

Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets
Looking for soul food and a place to eat
Went to the Apollo
You should've seen them go, go, go
They said, "Hey, sugar,
Take a walk on the wild side."
I said, "Hey, babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
All right, huh

Jackie is just speeding away
Thought she was James Dean for a day
Then I guess she had to crash
Valium would have helped that bash
Said, "Hey, babe,
Take a walk on the wild side."
I said, "Hey, honey,
Take a walk on the wild side."
And the colored girls say,
"Doo do doo do doo do do doo..."

 

[fox69]

"Wasted"

"Wasted"



If you're not sorry for who you are
Why are you sorry for where you been?
I know you carry a secret star
The one you got from your invisible friend

I met you walking in the New York night
I said, "Why are you walking so slow?"
You said, "I'm looking for a book I can write
And after that I got no place to go."

Wasted, I need to find a place to cry
Wasted, I need to find a place to cry

We stayed connected underneath the storm
You told me all the places you come from
I had a feeling I was being born
Inside your world where my heart could never be more

Wasted, I need to find a place to cry
Wasted, you need to find a place to cry
Wasted, I need to find a reason why
Wasted, I need to find a place to cry

If you're not sorry for who you are
Why are you sorry for where you been?
I know you carry a secret star
The one you got from your invisible friend

Wasted, I need to find a place to cry
Wasted, I need to find a place to cry

 

[fox69]

"Wasted Days"

"Wasted Days"



Here is my voice of wild damnation
Here is my goodbye song
Here is my suicide bleeding eternal
Here is nowhere to belong

Here is the vein cut wide and grinning
Here are the misery teeth
Here is the drunk in the still room spinning
And the light in the widow's grief

Here is your will of rot but frozen
Stuck as if death won't care
Here is your life lost and sitting
Just floating like pollution in air

Here is denial in skulls electric
Still buzzing and from the chair
Death row blunders, fat man switches
The surge which will spike your hair

Here is rebellion which death affords me
Out of step with these times
Feel free as you drink from the blood I give you
Swallow my love and my crimes

Here is a shadow a blitzkrieg a warlord
Here is a saint and a nun
Here is a rapist a rodent a Buddha
Forgetting the things he has done

In these wasted days
With your broken memory
You find a higher place
In a separate world

In these wasted days
You hum a fragile melody
But you lost your way
And now you just can't see

Have you a dream or perhaps a nightmare
Have you a gun or a rose
Have you a name or are you transparent
Invisible without your clothes

When you are naked
When you are hungry
When you are free to be gone
Have you a will
Have you a reason
Have you a voice or a song

This is rebellion
A bleeding a beauty
This is what will be ignored
The morals around us call out for violence
Like comfort of those who are bored

Suck back your hostage
Light up your handle
Give all your donkeys away
For when you are here undone and spinning
There is nowhere you can stay

In these wasted days
With your broken memory
You find a higher place
In a separate world

In these wasted days
You hum a fragile melody
But you lost your way
And now you just can't see

So look into me, look into rebellion
Here I just speak to your soul
Tragedy's yearning the strength to surrender
Knowing it's all just a hole

So look into me, look into rebellion
Here I just speak to your soul
Tragedy's yearning the strength to surrender
Knowing it's all just a hole

Tell me the truth
And show me the sky
Tell me you're coming baby
Tell me goodbye
Burn in the fire
As you're saving your soul
Then make believe you've got it all under control

Tell me to call then show me the line
Feel how they fall one by one into your eyes
Tell me you see then show me you're blind
Tell me you're free as you drop kick your mind

Tell me the truth
And show me the sky
Tell me you're coming baby
Tell me goodbye
Burn in the fire
As your saving your soul
Then make believe you've got it all under control

Tell me to call then show me the line
Feel how they fall one by one into your eyes
Tell me you see then show me you're blind
Tell me you're free as you drop kick your mind

 

[fox69]

"Watch Our Shadows Run"

"Watch Our Shadows Run"



You betrayed me
You were the only one
I let inside

If anyone could save me
You were the only one
To survive

All my deceit
In the darkness of a dead end street

Here comes the sun
Watch our shadows run
It's a war
No one ever won

And I betrayed you
I was the only one
You let inside

If anyone could save you
I was the only one
To survive

All my deceit
On the corner of a crowded street

Here comes the sun
Watch our shadows run
It's a war
No one ever won

Here comes the sun
Watch our shadows run
It's a war
No one ever won

 

[fox69]

"We Began To Dance Again"

"We Began To Dance Again"



She thinks no one knows she's using drugs
She sweeps her pain under burning rugs
And like the rain and bugs that buzz
She flies all over and never was

She thinks no one knows she's lost out here
A voodoo doll with a wooden tear
A book of matches and a burning spoon
Hippy oil instead of perfume

We began to dance again, we began to dance again
We began to dance again, though there was no song

She plays guitar just like the greats
And in the night she dares the fates
To take her home where she ain’t been
To blow her name across the wind
She'll let you down just to pick you up
She'll disappear but wish you luck
She stays detached, it’s just her way
An egg un-hatched on a holiday

We began to dance again, we began to dance again
We began to dance again, though there was no song

We began to dance again, we began to dance again
We began to dance again, though there was no song

 

[fox69]

"When I Was Running Out Of Time"

"When I Was Running Out Of Time"



When I was running out of time
I turned it into a dream
And you went drifting into my mind
Things ain't the way that they seem
I turn you into a dream
And make it all go away
You know your hair looks different when you wear it that way
You've got a painted face and a body made of clay
You are my super star

They will fill you with big ideas
They'll hang your heart in the sky
I know you want to save the world
How long have you been that high
How long have you been that high
And did you make it all go away
You know your eyes look different when you look the other way
You've got a cheating heart bleeding emeralds everyday
You are a shooting star

Things ain't the same as when we was young
They hung us from shooting stars
Let's tell the world we're doing fine
I know how lucky we are
I know how lucky we are
To make it all go away
You know this world is topsy-turvy in days like today
We got a million souls looking for a place to stay
Each one a shooting star

 

[fox69]

"Whisper Of Whispers"

"Whisper Of Whispers"



How many warning shots must he fire
Into the emptiness of crescendoing skies
Just like Beethoven conducting goodbyes
With orchestra strings and notes made of fire
Which burn in the eyes like a truth from a liar
How many wars must he wage in your head
As misery's chief just lays there as dead
With the spike in his arm
And a bullet in his brain
Like a seed of repulsion
Which brings its own rain

How many skies must he rip from the clouds
And let them hang empty against nothing at all
As he says your name and you write on the wall
His voice growing louder you ignore every call
How much joy must you forsake for pain
Your stupidity flows like the noose of cocaine
A string made of powder you hang in the sky
Strung by your nose, sniffing goodbye

I know you will make it
I know you will finally fall
And hear him call

Paranoid eyes of blood and mistrust
The disease of fools and bankers of lust
Corruption just bleeds from your every pore
Like destruction which feeds a leech on a sore
How much salvation must he offer for free
Against your denial of who he must be
Against your betrayal of his heart so free
Which forgives and relieves all your misery

I know you will make it
I know you will finally fall
And hear him call

How much deceit must you force him to take
As he waits around for you to be awake
Into the blossom reaching through who you are
From under the pavement into each falling star
How much disease must he embrace and then cure
Like a leper of gold, eyes white light and pure
Crushing your sickness which cannot be contained
Into your sheets, bloody and stained

Float from your womb, aborted and gone
Like the echo of voices in the silence of song
How many missions must he endlessly take
Until others are with him, alive and awake
To rise to his level, as real and as true
To be a beast in the jungle instead of the zoo
How many liars must he first strike down
With the weapon of words and the mercy he found

I know you will make it
I know you will finally fall
And hear him call

 

[fox69]

"Wild Child"

"Wild Child"



I was talking to Chuck
In his Genghis Khan suit and his wizard's hat
He spoke of his movie and how he was making a new soundtrack
Then we spoke of kids on the coast
And different types of organic soap
And the way suicides don't leave notes
Then we spoke of Lorraine, always back to Lorraine

I was speaking to Phil who was given to pills and small racing cars
He had given 'em up since his last crack-up had carried him too far
Then we spoke of movies and verse
And the way an actress held her purse
And the way life at times could get worse
Then we spoke of Lorraine, always back to Lorraine

She's a wild child
And nobody can get at her
She's a wild child
Oh, and nobody can get to her

Sleeping out on the street
Oh, living all alone
Without a house or a home
And then she asked you, please
Hey baby, can I have some spare change
Can I break your heart

She's a wild child
She's a wild child

I was talking to Betty about her auditions
How they made her ill
The life of the theater is certainly fraught
With many spills and chills

But she calmed down after some wine
Which is what happens most of the time
Then we sat and both spoke in rhyme
Till we spoke of Lorraine, it's always back to Lorraine

I was talking to Ed who'd been reported dead by mutual friends
He thought it was funny that I had no money to spend on him

So we both shared a piece of sweet cheese
And sang of our lives and our dreams
And how things can come apart at the seams
And then we talked of Lorraine, always back to Lorraine

She's a wild child
Oh, and nobody can get at her
She's a wild child
Oh, and nobody can get to her

Sleeping out on the street
Oh, living all alone
Without a house or a home
And then she asked you, please
Oh baby, can I have some spare change
Now can I break your heart

She's a wild child
She's a wild child
She's a wild child
She's a wild child

 

[fox69]

"Winter Blades"

"Winter Blades"


Shine on someone
Shine on your grave
Shine on someone
Shining on a winter blade

Find a woman you can trust
One that you can touch
Quit shining lights
Into winter blades
Quit shining lights at the sun
And trying to run

Find a gamble with a hunch
Some kind of free lunch
Quit shining lights
Into winter blades
Quit shining lights at the sun
And trying to run

Love keeps tumbling down onto us
Love keeps tumbling down onto us

Learn to walk without a crutch
When you're broke, you got too much [?]
Quit shining lights into winter blades
Quit shining lights at the sun
And trying to run

Love keeps tumbling down onto us
Love keeps tumbling down onto us

Shine on someone
Shine on your grave
Shine on someone
Shining on a winter blade

Shine on someone
Shine on your grave
Shine on someone
Shining on a winter blade

Love keeps tumbling down onto us
Love keeps tumbling down onto us
Love keeps tumbling down onto us
Love keeps tumbling down onto us

Love keeps tumbling down onto us