Shot Of Love

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.

Don't need a shot of parish to kill my disease
Don't need a shot of turpentine, only bring me to my knees
Don't need a shot of codeine to help me to repent
Don't need a shot of whiskey, help me be president.

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.

Doctor, can you hear me ? I need some Medicaid
I seen the kingdoms of the world and it's making me feel afraid
What I got ain't painful, it's just bound to kill me dead
Like the men that followed Jesus when they put a price upon his head.

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.

I don't need no alibi when I'm spending time with you
I've heard all of them rumors you have heard them too
Don't show me no picture show or give me no book to read
It don't satisfy the hurt inside nor the habit that it feeds.

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.

Why would I want to take your life
You've only murdered my father, raped his wife
Tattooed my babies with a poison pen
Mocked my God, humiliated my friends.

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.

Don't wanna be with nobody tonight
Veronica is not here, Mavis just ain't right
There's a man that hates me and he's swift, smooth and near
Am I supposed to set back and wait until he's here ?

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.

What makes the wind wanna blow tonight ?
Don't even feel like crossing the street and my car ain't acting right
Called home, everybody seemed to have moved away
My conscience is beginning to bother me today.

I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.
I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love.
If you're a doctor, I need a shot of love.


Heart Of Mine

Heart of mine be still
You can play with fire but you'll get the bill
Don't let her know
Don't let her know that you love her
Don't be a fool, don't be blind
Heart of mine.

Heart of mine go back home
You got no reason to wander, no reason to roam
Don't let her see
Don't let her see that you need her
Don't put yourself over the line
Heart of mine.

Heart of mine go back where you have been
It'll only be trouble for you if you let her in
Don't let her hear
Don't let her hear you want her
Don't let her hear know she's so fine
Heart of mine.

Heart of mine you know that she'll never be true
She'll only give to others the love that she's gotten from you
Don't let her know
Don't let her know where you're going
Don't untie the ties that bind
Heart of mine.

Heart of mine so malicious and so full of guile
Give you an inch and you'll take a mile
Don't let yourself fall
Don't let yourself stumble
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime
Heart of mine.


Property Of Jesus

Go ahead and talk about him because he makes you doubt
Because he has denied himself the things that you can't live without
Laugh at him behind his back just like the others do
Remind him of what he used to be when he comes walking through.

He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone.

Stop your conversation when he passes on the street
Hope he falls upon himself, oh, won't that be sweet
Because he can't be exploited by superstition anymore
Because he can't be bribed or bought by the things that you adore.

He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone.

When the whip that's keeping you in line doesn't make him jump
Say he's hard-of-hearing, say that he's a chump
Say he's out of step with reality as you try to test his nerve
Because he doesn't pay tribute to the king that you serve.

He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone.

Say that he's a looser 'cause he got no common sense
Because he don't increase his worth at someone else's expense
Because he's not afraid of trying, say he's got no style 
'Cause he doesn't tell you jokes or fairy tales, say things that make you smile.

He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone.
You can laugh at salvation, you can play Olympic games
You think that when you rest at last you'll go back from where you came
But you're picked up quite a story and you've changed since the womb
What happened to the real you, you've been captured but by whom ?

He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone.


Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce is dead but his ghost lived on and on
Never did get any Golden Globe award, never made it to Synanon
He was an outlaw, that's for sure
More of an outlaw than you ever were
Lenny Bruce is gone but his spirit's living on and on.

Maybe he had some problems, maybe some things that he couldn't work out
But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth  and he knew what he was talking about
Never robbed any churches nor cut off any babie's heads
He just took the folks in high places and he shined a light in their beds
He's on some other shore, he didn't wanna live anymore.

Lenny bruce is dead but he didn't commit any crime
He just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time
I rode with him in a taxi once, only for a mile and a half
Seemed like it took a couple of months
Lenny Bruce moved on and like the ones that killed him, gone.

They said that he was sick 'cause he didn't play by the rules
He just showed the wise men of his day to be nothing more than fools
They stamped him and they labeled him like they do with pants and shirts
He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts
Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had.


Watered-Down Love

Love that's pure hopes all things
Believes all things, won't pull no strings
Won't sneak up into your room, tall, dark and handsome
Capture your soul and hold it for ransom.

You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.

Love that's pure, it don't make no claims
Intercedes for you 'stead of casting you blame
Will not deceive you or lead you to transgression
Won't write it up and make you sign a false confession.

You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.

Love that's pure won't lead you astray
Won't hold you back, won't mess up your day
Won't pervert you, corrupt you with stupid wishes
It don't make you envious, it don't make you suspicious.

You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.

Love that's pure ain't no accident
Always on time, is always content
An eternal flame, quietly burning
Never needs to be proud, nor restlessly yearning.

You don't want a love that's pure
You wanna drown love
You want a watered-down love.


The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar

Prayed in the ghetto with my face in the cement
Heard the last moan of a boxer, seen the massacre of the innocent
Felt around for the light switch, became nauseated
She was walking down the hallway while the walls deteriorated.

West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the burning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar.

Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery
Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your shyness for snobbery
Got the message this morning, the one that was sent to me
About the madness of becoming what one was never meant to be.

West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the burning of the stage
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar.

Don't know what I can say about Claudette that wouldn't come back to haunt me
Finally had to give her up about the time she began to want me
But I know God has mercy on them who are slandered and humiliated
I'd a-done anything for that woman if she didn't make me feel so obligated.

West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the burning of the cage
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar.

Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature ?
I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture
There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it
Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to keep it.

West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the burning of the stage
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar.
Cities on fire, phones out of order
They're killing nuns and soldiers, there's fighting on the border
What can I say about Claudette ? Ain't seen her since January
She could be respectably married or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aires.

West of the Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the burning of the cage
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar.


Dead Man, Dead Man

Uttering idle words from a reprobate mind
Clinging to strange promises, dying on the line
Never being able to separate the good from the bad
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
It's making me feel so bad.

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

Satan got you by the heel, there's bird's nest in your hair
Do you have any faith at all ? Do you have any love to share ?
The way that you hold you head, cursing God with every move
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
What are you trying to prove ?

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

The glamour and the bright lights, and the politics of sin
The ghetto that you build for me is the one you're living in
The race of the engine that overrules your heart
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
Pretending that you're so smart.

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.

What are you trying to overpower me with, the doctrine or the gun ?
My back is already to the wall, where can I run ?
The tuxedo that you're wearing, the flower in your lapel
Ooh, I can't stand it, I can't stand it
You wanna take me down to hell.

Dead man, dead man
When will you arise ?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes.


In The Summertime

I was in your presence for an hour or so
Or was it a day ? I truly don't know
Where the sun never set, where the trees hung low
By that soft and shining sea
Did you respect me for what I did
Or for what I didn't do, or for keeping it hid ?
Did I lose my mind when I tried to get rid
Of everything you see ?

In the summertime, ah in the summertime
In the summertime, when you were with me.

I got the heart and you got the blood
We cut through iron and we cut through mud
Then came the warning that was before the flood
That set everybody free
Fools they made a mock of sin
Our loyalty they tried to win
But you were closer to me than my next af kin
When they didn't want to know or see.

In the summertime, ah in the summertime
In the summertime, when you were with me.

Strangers, they meddled in our affairs
Poverty and shame was theirs
But all that suffering was not to be compared
With the glory that is to be
And I'm still carrying the gift you gave
It's a part of me now, it's been cherished and saved
It'll be with me unto the grave
And then unto eternity.

In the summertime, ah in the summertime
In the summertime, when you were with me.


Trouble

Trouble in the city, trouble in the farm
You got your rabbit's foot, you got your good-luck charm
But they can't help you none when there's trouble.

Trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble
Nothing but trouble.

Trouble in the water, trouble in the air
Go all the way to the other side of the world, you'll find trouble there
Revolution even ain't no solution for trouble.

Trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble
Nothing but trouble.

Drought and starvation, packaging of the soul
Persecution, execution, governments out of control
You can see the writing on the wall inviting trouble.

Trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble
Nothing but trouble.

Put your ear to the train tracks, put your ear to the ground
You ever feel like you're never alone even when there's nobody else around ?
Since the beginning of the universe man's been cursed by trouble.

Trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble
Nothing but trouble.

Nightclubs of the broken-hearted, stadiums of the damned
Legislature, perverted nature, doors that are rudely slammed
Look into infinity, all you see is trouble.

Trouble
Trouble, trouble, trouble
Nothing but trouble.



Every Grain Of Sand

In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.

Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.

Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way 
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.

I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.

I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other time it's only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.