I don’t know where I want to go I don’t know where I want to be There’s been a lot of talk of freedom But I don’t know what freedom means I don’t know what freedom means I don’t know what freedom means

The length of my beard is all you need to know If it’s trim I’m feeling happy, if it’s long I’m letting go And there’s nothing you can tell me, and there’s nothing you can say But honey let’s go out tonight ‘Cause I trimmed my beard today I was worried for awhile there, I was aching and concerned I’ve been down so many times now, you’d think I would have learned That light comes after darkness and night will never stay Now I’m standing in the sunshine And I trimmed my beard today There’s so much that I want now that I can never have The ghosts I know for certain are burning through my past There’s a woman that I love, there were women I’ve just known One was simple, one was sacred, one was stupid as a stone I was sleeping in the twilight when the light came shining through There is magic in these mountains, there is work I have to do There are demons in this desert, there are reasons I’m with you I still never see it coming, it still makes me come alive I’m a tease upon a tightrope, I can fool you half the time If you catch me when I’m falling I’ll be tangled up and weird And if you wonder how I’m doing take a gander at my beard So the armored men are many and the change is slow to come There is one thing I’m afraid of, there is death that has been done In the end we’ll have to face it and I promise we will pay But let it wait until tomorrow ‘cause I trimmed my beard today Yeah, let it was until tomorrow ‘cause I trimmed my beard today

In a different life, in a different time She might be mine, she might be mine In a different life, in a different time She might be She was standing alone by the stairs when I first saw her there Eyes all crumpled and looking to the ground so I was careful She was funny in a funny way Kinda tired and kinda scared of what she might say I still don’t know why I liked it that way But I liked it that way In a different life, in a different time She might be mine, she might be mine In a different life, in a different time She might be She stayed later than everyone else and I thought that was a good sign Still we didn’t know how to cross that line Why is it so hard for two people who want to to get alone with each other With the door shut and the door locked And the phones off And no time at all until the morning light comes shining in And wakes them up to the world they’re in and the lives they live In a different life, in a different time She might be mine, she might be mine In a different life, in a different time She might be

I just saw you looking here from way over there You saw that I saw You got nervous There’s so much that you want And so much you don’t know I could show it to you You would like it Oh, we’ve been so good We deserve to be a little bad I won’t hurt you at all Oh oh oh oh oh You gotta keep a secret Oh, night turns to daytime And day just turns back to night When it’s light I hide out When it’s dark I’m alright Oh oh oh oh oh You gotta keep a secret

I don’t know how to say this I’m thinkin’ ‘bout the bad I am thinking ‘bout the bad Like teeth and wolves and whistles Like fortunate arrest I am thinking about the bad And I wanna be an astronaut I wanna be your friend But I don’t know how to do this And I don’t know how to end I am thinkin’ ‘bout the bad I tried to keep it simple I tried to make it last I am thinking ‘bout the bad It’s so hard to move it forward It’s so hard to get ahead I am thinking ‘bout the bad And I wanna be an astronaut I wanna go where no one has gone before But I’m standing with the dead now I am standing in the past I am thinkin’ ‘bout the bad Ba ba do do do do I am stuck in what I was now I am stuck in what I had I am thinkin’ ‘bout the bad

You’re cynical and skeptical and poisoned by the news You sold your heart, you broke your soul There’s holes in both your shoes You lost your sad direction and it wasn’t even funny You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody Republicans and Democrats and Independents too Who’s playing them, who’s laying them And who is paying who? They’re lying if they’re talking, their dirty hands are bloody You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody The Christians and Muslims and the Buddhists and the Jews They’re said so much for so long now, it’s hard to pick and choose The truth becomes corroded, the meaning just gets muddy You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody You can’t escape the thunder, you wonder what is next You hope to get the better of whatever happens next Whatever happens next, you bet, you keep your fingers crossed You cry because it hurts to lose and now you know you’ve lost The sour turns to sweet my friend, sugar sweet like honey You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody Nothing last forever man, it’s stormy then it’s sunny You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody We can conquer mediocrity if we’re unimpressed by money You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody

You You who were with me when the battle began You watched it consume me ‘cause you know who I am You slept there beside me when I couldn’t go on When I was built like a bishop, but I moved like a pawn Still Still you were patient Still Still you were proud I couldn’t say nothing and you You spoke too loud Then everyone noticed Or ignored it and joked It was not what you needed, but it was just what you hoped Now I’ve seen all your secrets and I’ve read all your lists And I was an idiot the first night we kissed When there was no history When there were no words When we were atoms colliding in a blind universe There was nobody else then There was nothing to do There was no one who mattered until there was you I still never go back there And I never think first And I never surrender And I never rehearse I saw what I’m feelin’ if I know it won’t hurt That’s why silence is honest in a thin summer skirt It’s a thick winter curtain that hangs in the air We know what it means, but we’re scared when it’s there And I wanna tear my brain right out of my skull I wanna rip it up and make sense of all I wanna hear my heart right out of my chest And squeeze it ‘till it splatters all over your dress I wanna kill all the preachers who murdered my soul I wanna punish the poets who filled it with holes I wanna scream at the strangers who laugh as they pass Who know all the questions, but don’t dare ask I wanna jump from this building and drown in the sea To be baptized again, to be able to breathe I wanna talk to my demons and gather my ghosts And tell them I’m grateful they’re always so close ‘Cause it’s them that I live with and it’s them I believe When daylight is creeping and I start to bleed It’s them that I cherish, it’s them that I need It’s them that remind me to be careful with greed I can only continue So I will never be free I don’t know when it started What happened to me I’m a priest on the dance floor I’m a dog in the night I’m atrocious and shameless when I’m beckoned to fight Yes, it’s all in my making Yes, it’s all in my mind I can’t say that I’m lonely ‘cause it’s there all the time It’s there all the time It’s there all the time It’s candle and elbows It’s cotton and clay It hangs all around on a wedding day It hangs all around on a wedding day

That was disappointing Started well, ended light This is nothing new, of that I'm certain Strong men rule and small men write All for naught, all for naught It's the information age It's information Struggle Sweat and struggle Since the the dawn of man And woman, sweet women Make it all worthwhile Meanwhile we wait for men of hate It's the information age It's information I know You are concerned But I know You don't know anything that matters It's the information age It's information

It gets bad, but it gets better Call it craziness, call it weather We can make it through if we laugh at it together It gets bad, but it gets better You got lost when your mom got sick Prescription pills and therapists Mom got worse, she didn’t make it After years and years and hours and hours You got to her grave with her favorite flowers And you talk to her and she listens Or you’ve had the worst of God and men You’ve sworn you’ll never love again You don’t have kids, your friends all do You wonder what is wrong with you While they’re stuck at home, you’re free to go Save some cash and hit the road Quit your job, you never know Buy ticket someplace far ‘Cause it gets bad, but it gets better Call it craziness, call it weather We can make it through if we laugh at it together It gets bad, but it gets better Another politician making noise Another bad guy hanging out with the bad boys Lives destroyed and damage done Bombs deployed and more to come Poison in the earth and air Men in charge who just don’t care Men in charge with thinning hair Soon they’ll all be dead When the market crashed you had a big, bad loan You lost your job, you lost your home You washed up here alone and broken Then you found a new place and a good gig too With a better boss and more time for you Last week in line you met someone new There’s a lot eleven years can do ‘Cause it gets bad, but it gets better Call it craziness, call it weather We can make it through if we laugh at it together It gets bad, but it gets better Then it gets bad again, I know The darkness comes and darkness grows Sometimes the darkness never does and goodness loses But somewhere else it’s dawn again And on and on, it never ends Until the sun blows up in a big red ball and swallows us all But even then it just might be we’re living in a different galaxy We might get to watch it on our phones All together and all alone Rome rose up, Rome fell down The Mayans lost to the Spanish crown The Incans were the best around The Spanish beat them too Then Spain declined, then France declined Then we all had a world war Sixteen million lost and more We swore we’d never do it again Yes, world peace was the world goal ‘Till the Nazis came and they took control Then the Nazis lost to the USA and the Russians (Who saved the day) But then Stalin really went to town And the states were great unless your face was brown There were super powers, atom bombs The summer of love and Beatles songs 9/11, terrorists, no mention of Africa in any of this A baby born, a baby missed, a funeral, a wedding kiss ‘Cause it gets bad, but it gets better Call it craziness, call it weather We can make it through if we laugh at it together It gets bad, but it gets better

Come on up to the new place It’s still got that new place smell We’re still doin’ just as well But it feels better Come on up to the new place It’s on the right side of town We only get the right folks around And it feels better The last few years at the old place I got stuck I got stuck in my ways But now that we’re here in the new place I’m in a whole new phase Hope held me hostage And hijacked my heart Sometimes it gets so dark Staring at a screen As if it counts for company As if it could comfort me A man needs a woman So come on up to the new place I’m not a grown up yet I still take what I can get But I do it better Come on up to the new place I’m ready to try again A lover, a new best friend And I’ll do it better A man needs a woman To have him and hold him To touch him and scold him To soften him up A man needs a woman Because the world of men Is awful and angry Is certain and sure A man needs a woman And he must believe her And he has to hear her He has to hear A man needs a woman

I don’t like the girls in San Francisco The girls in San Francisco don’t like me Wherever I have talked about and travelled Wherever I am going, I will be I have been ferocious and forgetful I have been so broken and so bored Wherever I have been I’ll be again, love I am wherever I am moving toward I can give up, I can give up, I can give up on my dreams Whatever I got, it was worth it Whatever I thought it would be Time to get over it, time to let it leave Time to be here now, love Time to be here now Time to be here now I wanna promise purpose and precision I wanna promise poetry and prose I wanna promise love will last forever But it never has and everybody knows After love what we have to capture Lying in a stillness, soft and white Patience in the chaos of creation Silence in the seance of the night I can give up, I can give up, I can give up on my dreams Whatever I got, it was worth it Whatever I thought it would be Time to get over it, time to let it leave Time to be here now, love Time to be here now Time to be here now

The last black lives matter sign in the neighborhood In the lower level corner apartment Is not lookin' too good They used to be everywhere around Then everybody took 'em down I guess that black lives don't matter I guess that black lives don't matter I guess that black lives don't matter after all In this house we believe that science is real In this house we believe that love is love And kindness is everything But kindness is not everything Kindness is kindness And everything is everything And black lives don't matter, apparently Black lives don't matter, it seems to me Black lives don't matter after all Rosa Parks showed courage one day She rode the bus She was told to move to a different seat She did not She did what she believed was right The last black lives matter sign in the neighborhood Is no longer there They took it down Sometime last night Under the cover to dark Why'd you take it down Why'd you put it up I guess that black lives don't matter Black lives don't matter Black lives don't matter after all