1. |
Evil Demon Weed
05:01
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2. |
Liberty (The Thin Line)
03:54
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Yeah, I've been walking, I've been walking
between the Shadow and the Fear
One of them cries out true, true love
and the other one keeps me here
and the other one keeps me here
Before she had me, my mama cried out
She had a sharp and burning pain
And she lay right down In the middle of the street
and I crawled out Into the rain
and I crawled out Into the rain
Yeah, I've been walking, I've been walking
for forty years or so
I've got your memory as my pillow
So lay me down In the falling snow
Oh, lay me down In the fallin’ snow
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3. |
Homage to a Subversive
04:53
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Soon, Henry David, wind will fill the land
saluting your centenary. Do you
suppose that alma mater’s orators
at her memorial solemnities
will quote: “What branches of learning did you
find offered while at Harvard, Mr. Thoreau?”
“All of the branches and none of the roots.”
And will Concord’s divines in eulogies
of you dwell on the public scandal of
your unchurched life and unrepentant end?
“It’s time to make your peace with God, Henry!”
“I’m not aware,” the long-faced death-watch heard
you quip, “that God and I have ever quarreled.”
The pietists who con your works by rote
forswear you and themselves with servile oaths
to placate golfing clerics, bawds of the press,
snoopers, war-hawks, kept Congressmen. Silent
they stand while lying leaders make our name
odious to men, shield tyrants with our might,
huckster new-packaged servitude for freedom,
and dub the peoples’ butchers “democrats.”
The coffle of pampered house-slaves will dare hymn
you dead. Come back! They’ll turn you in. “How should
a man behave towards this government
today? I answer, that he cannot without
disgrace associate himself with it.”
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4. |
Safety
04:25
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5. |
Chemical
03:22
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6. |
Oblivious
04:48
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7. |
Sansan
05:38
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8. |
Packin'
03:03
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Well, the train I ride needs no baggage
It pays to travel light
It runs to the East, it runs to the West
but it mostly runs at night
I’m going out to Kansas City
got a carload of angels
Going back to New Orleans
got a busload of strangers
Going out to the country
with my water and wine
I’m going fishing
Till the end of time
Well, the train I ride needs no baggage
It pays to travel light
(going, going, going, gone - it pays to travel light)
I’m going down to Chicago
gonna do it by the numbers
Going to New York City
that’s where I was born
If I stand right here, I’ll probably die here
It pays to travel light
I’m going up on the mountain
Got my pencil and paper
I’m going down to the bank
I still ain’t laughing
I’m going down South
I know how you like it
And I’m going, going, going, gone
The train I ride needs no baggage
It pays to travel light
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9. |
Their Blood Cries Out
05:53
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I.
Loving that part of the wide earth he was born on
though it was white man’s country and he black
each year he laid by a few dollars
from his sharecrop half of the cotton
he and his family eating light to do it
going ragged and barefoot even in the wintertime
till he got his own piece of this earth
bought from the county for back taxes
and they wrote his name down as owner
there on the big book in the Court House
at Liberty (meaning freedom)
Amite (meaning friendship) County
Mississippi
The white men who had owned the land
came after him then with bullwhips
to teach him this was white man’s country
and when the three of them had worn themselves out
stripping the meat from his back
he still was not dead and they figured he might talk
so they cut his tongue out with a switchblade
He died
and his blood soaked into the earth he was born on
the earth he had bought with his toil
and with his children’s hunger
II.
Loving that part of the wide sea he was born on
though it was white man’s ocean and he black
he sailed it from a boy
fighting the rigging on the old four-masters
heaving coal down below on the freighters
standing watch at the wheel on the icy nights
while the years passed
and when the skipper cursed him for his color
or shipmates wouldn’t share his foc’sle for it
he set his teeth and said nothing
but saved every scrap of writing
that proved he’d shipped AB or fireman
and every nickel of his pay
for his folks ashore
One war he sailed through
and they never got him
though he was nine days in a lifeboat
and when the next war came
he was about ready to quit
having the house all paid for
and something put by to live on
but he was needed
It was dusk when the planes struck
and he was at the wheel
he just slumped and that was all
until the next day his corpse sewn in canvas
slid out from under the starry flag
into the wide sea he was born on
III.
You ask me
what would I do if I were a black man?
and I keep thinking of these two
who died
one on land and one at sea
murdered
If I were a black man
I would swear the same oath I am swearing now
to avenge these men
and all the men like them and the women and children
white black yellow and brown
whose blood cries out for vengeance
all over the world
Being a black man would change nothing
the same men would be my brothers
for brothers are not known by the color of their skins
but by what is in their hearts
backed up by their deeds
and by their lives
when it comes to that
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10. |
Watersong
05:36
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11. |
I'm Going Back to Bed
05:55
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The fog is descending
The sun is projecting
The bowl is a dome
is the sky
My eyes are going
(at three hundred dollars a lid)
My ears are in my knees
I'm hearing things...
A turtle was my mother
A mouse hole was the birth canal
through which I entered the flavor hut
I'm floating by on a giant slice of bread
Taking in the aroma
I don't dare take a bite
for fear of falling
My nostrils are swelling
My head is clearing
Until a movie screen appears
on my forehead
A turtle was my mother
A mouse hole was the birth canal
Through which I entered the flavor hut
I'm floating by on a giant slice of bread
An image appears
On my forehead
and I'm eating
from a giant slice of bread
For fear of falling
I’m going back to bed
(The Hell I ride a thousand coaches long)
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12. |
Worksong
05:23
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13. |
Evil Demon Weed LIVE
04:55
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14. |
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15. |
Altogether Singing LIVE
03:06
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16. |
Safety LIVE
04:27
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17. |
Chemical LIVE
03:23
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18. |
Oblivious LIVE
04:43
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19. |
Sansan LIVE
05:37
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20. |
Packin' LIVE
03:14
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21. |
||||
22. |
Watersong LIVE
05:36
|
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23. |
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24. |
Rubber Teevee LIVE
03:23
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Kicksville Madison, Wisconsin
There's really no explaining Kicksville, but fear not! All the music is FREE, so have at it. Then, go visit www.kicksville.com and see what we're all about. Or, visit www.youtube.com/kicksvillevideo and give your eyeballs a treat. Enjoy!
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