100 Songs Read online

  To be stuck inside of Mobile

  With the Memphis blues again

  Now the senator came down here

  Showing ev’ryone his gun

  Handing out free tickets

  To the wedding of his son

  An’ me, I nearly got busted

  An’ wouldn’t it be my luck

  To get caught without a ticket

  And be discovered beneath a truck

  Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

  To be stuck inside of Mobile

  With the Memphis blues again

  Now the preacher looked so baffled

  When I asked him why he dressed

  With twenty pounds of headlines

  Stapled to his chest

  But he cursed me when I proved it to him

  Then I whispered, “Not even you can hide

  You see, you’re just like me

  I hope you’re satisfied”

  Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

  To be stuck inside of Mobile

  With the Memphis blues again

  Now the rainman gave me two cures

  Then he said, “Jump right in”

  The one was Texas medicine

  The other was just railroad gin

  An’ like a fool I mixed them

  An’ it strangled up my mind

  An’ now people just get uglier

  An’ I have no sense of time

  Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

  To be stuck inside of Mobile

  With the Memphis blues again

  When Ruthie says come see her

  In her honky-tonk lagoon

  Where I can watch her waltz for free

  ’Neath her Panamanian moon

  An’ I say, “Aw come on now

  You must know about my debutante”

  An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need

  But I know what you want”

  Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

  To be stuck inside of Mobile

  With the Memphis blues again

  Now the bricks lay on Grand Street

  Where the neon madmen climb

  They all fall there so perfectly

  It all seems so well timed

  An’ here I sit so patiently

  Waiting to find out what price

  You have to pay to get out of

  Going through all these things twice

  Oh, Mama, can this really be the end

  To be stuck inside of Mobile

  With the Memphis blues again

  JUST LIKE A WOMAN

  Nobody feels any pain

  Tonight as I stand inside the rain

  Ev’rybody knows

  That Baby’s got new clothes

  But lately I see her ribbons and her bows

  Have fallen from her curls

  She takes just like a woman, yes, she does

  She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does

  And she aches just like a woman

  But she breaks just like a little girl

  Queen Mary, she’s my friend

  Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again

  Nobody has to guess

  That Baby can’t be blessed

  Till she sees finally that she’s like all the rest

  With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls

  She takes just like a woman, yes, she does

  She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does

  And she aches just like a woman

  But she breaks just like a little girl

  It was raining from the first

  And I was dying there of thirst

  So I came in here

  And your long-time curse hurts

  But what’s worse

  Is this pain in here

  I can’t stay in here

  Ain’t it clear that—

  I just can’t fit

  Yes, I believe it’s time for us to quit

  When we meet again

  Introduced as friends

  Please don’t let on that you knew me when

  I was hungry and it was your world

  Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do

  You make love just like a woman, yes, you do

  Then you ache just like a woman

  But you break just like a little girl

  I’LL KEEP IT WITH MINE

  You will search, babe

  At any cost

  But how long, babe

  Can you search for what’s not lost?

  Everybody will help you

  Some people are very kind

  But if I can save you any time

  Come on, give it to me

  I’ll keep it with mine

  I can’t help it

  If you might think I’m odd

  If I say I’m not loving you for what you are

  But for what you’re not

  Everybody will help you

  Discover what you set out to find

  But if I can save you any time

  Come on, give it to me

  I’ll keep it with mine

  The train leaves

  At half past ten

  But it’ll be back tomorrow

  Same time again

  The conductor he’s weary

  He’s still stuck on the line

  But if I can save you any time

  Come on, give it to me

  I’ll keep it with mine

  ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

  “There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief

  “There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief

  Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth

  None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”

  “No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke

  “There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke

  But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate

  So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”

  All along the watchtower, princes kept the view

  While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too

  Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl

  Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl

  I PITY THE POOR IMMIGRANT

  I pity the poor immigrant

  Who wishes he would’ve stayed home

  Who uses all his power to do evil

  But in the end is always left so alone

  That man whom with his fingers cheats

  And who lies with ev’ry breath

  Who passionately hates his life

  And likewise, fears his death

  I pity the poor immigrant

  Whose strength is spent in vain

  Whose heaven is like Ironsides

  Whose tears are like rain

  Who eats but is not satisfied

  Who hears but does not see

  Who falls in love with wealth itself

  And turns his back on me

  I pity the poor immigrant

  Who tramples through the mud

  Who fills his mouth with laughing

  And who builds his town with blood

  Whose visions in the final end

  Must shatter like the glass

  I pity the poor immigrant

  When his gladness comes to pass

  THE WICKED MESSENGER

  There was a wicked messenger

  From Eli he did come

  With a mind that multiplied the smallest matter

  When questioned who had sent for him

  He answered with his thumb

  For his tongue it could not speak, but only flatter

  He stayed behind the assembly hall

  It was there he made his bed

  Oftentimes he could be seen returning

  Until one day he just appeared

  With a note in his hand which read
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  “The soles of my feet, I swear they’re burning”

  Oh, the leaves began to fallin’

  And the seas began to part

  And the people that confronted him were many

  And he was told but these few words

  Which opened up his heart

  “If ye cannot bring good news, then don’t bring any”

  LAY, LADY, LAY

  Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed

  Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed

  Whatever colors you have in your mind

  I’ll show them to you and you’ll see them shine

  Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed

  Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile

  Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile

  His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean

  And you’re the best thing that he’s ever seen

  Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile

  Why wait any longer for the world to begin

  You can have your cake and eat it too

  Why wait any longer for the one you love

  When he’s standing in front of you

  Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed

  Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead

  I long to see you in the morning light

  I long to reach for you in the night

  Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead

  IF NOT FOR YOU

  If not for you

  Babe, I couldn’t find the door

  Couldn’t even see the floor

  I’d be sad and blue

  If not for you

  If not for you

  Babe, I’d lay awake all night

  Wait for the mornin’ light

  To shine in through

  But it would not be new

  If not for you

  If not for you

  My sky would fall

  Rain would gather too

  Without your love I’d be nowhere at all

  I’d be lost if not for you

  And you know it’s true

  If not for you

  My sky would fall

  Rain would gather too

  Without your love I’d be nowhere at all

  Oh! what would I do

  If not for you

  If not for you

  Winter would have no spring

  Couldn’t hear the robin sing

  I just wouldn’t have a clue

  Anyway it wouldn’t ring true

  If not for you

  TIME PASSES SLOWLY

  Time passes slowly up here in the mountains

  We sit beside bridges and walk beside fountains

  Catch the wild fishes that float through the stream

  Time passes slowly when you’re lost in a dream

  Once I had a sweetheart, she was fine and good-lookin’

  We sat in her kitchen while her mama was cookin’

  Stared out the window to the stars high above

  Time passes slowly when you’re searchin’ for love

  Ain’t no reason to go in a wagon to town

  Ain’t no reason to go to the fair

  Ain’t no reason to go up, ain’t no reason to go down

  Ain’t no reason to go anywhere

  Time passes slowly up here in the daylight

  We stare straight ahead and try so hard to stay right

  Like the red rose of summer that blooms in the day

  Time passes slowly and fades away

  WENT TO SEE THE GYPSY

  Went to see the gypsy

  Stayin’ in a big hotel

  He smiled when he saw me coming

  And he said, “Well, well, well”

  His room was dark and crowded

  Lights were low and dim

  “How are you?” he said to me

  I said it back to him

  I went down to the lobby

  To make a small call out

  A pretty dancing girl was there

  And she began to shout

  “Go on back to see the gypsy

  He can move you from the rear

  Drive you from your fear

  Bring you through the mirror

  He did it in Las Vegas

  And he can do it here”

  Outside the lights were shining

  On the river of tears

  I watched them from the distance

  With music in my ears

  I went back to see the gypsy

  It was nearly early dawn

  The gypsy’s door was open wide

  But the gypsy was gone

  And that pretty dancing girl

  She could not be found

  So I watched that sun come rising

  From that little Minnesota town

  THE MAN IN ME

  The man in me will do nearly any task

  And as for compensation, there’s little he would ask

  Take a woman like you

  To get through to the man in me

  Storm clouds are raging all around my door

  I think to myself I might not take it anymore

  Take a woman like your kind

  To find the man in me

  But, oh, what a wonderful feeling

  Just to know that you are near

  Sets my heart a-reeling

  From my toes up to my ears

  The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein’ seen

  But that’s just because he doesn’t want to turn into some machine

  Took a woman like you

  To get through to the man in me

  WATCHING THE RIVER FLOW

  What’s the matter with me

  I don’t have much to say

  Daylight sneakin’ through the window

  And I’m still in this all-night café

  Walkin’ to and fro beneath the moon

  Out to where the trucks are rollin’ slow

  To sit down on this bank of sand

  And watch the river flow

  Wish I was back in the city

  Instead of this old bank of sand

  With the sun beating down over the chimney tops

  And the one I love so close at hand

  If I had wings and I could fly

  I know where I would go

  But right now I’ll just sit here so contentedly

  And watch the river flow

  People disagreeing on all just about everything, yeah

  Makes you stop and all wonder why

  Why only yesterday I saw somebody on the street

  Who just couldn’t help but cry

  Oh, this ol’ river keeps on rollin’, though

  No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow

  And as long as it does I’ll just sit here

  And watch the river flow

  People disagreeing everywhere you look

  Makes you wanna stop and read a book

  Why only yesterday I saw somebody on the street

  That was really shook

  But this ol’ river keeps on rollin’, though

  No matter what gets in the way and which way the wind does blow

  And as long as it does I’ll just sit here

  And watch the river flow

  Watch the river flow

  Watchin’ the river flow

  Watchin’ the river flow

  But I’ll sit down on this bank of sand

  And watch the river flow

  WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE

  Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble

  Ancient footprints are everywhere

  You can almost think that you’re seein’ double

  On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs

  Got to hurry on back to my hotel room

  Where I’ve got me a date with Botticelli’s niece

  She promised that she’d be right there with me

&nbs
p; When I paint my masterpiece

  Oh, the hours I’ve spent inside the Coliseum

  Dodging lions and wastin’ time

  Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see ’em

  Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb

  Train wheels runnin’ through the back of my memory

  When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese

  Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody

  When I paint my masterpiece

  Sailin’ round the world in a dirty gondola

  Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!

  I left Rome and landed in Brussels

  On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried

  Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin’ muscles

  Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside

  Newspapermen eating candy

  Had to be held down by big police

  Someday, everything is gonna be diff’rent

  When I paint my masterpiece

  TEARS OF RAGE

  (with Richard Manuel)

  We carried you in our arms

  On Independence Day

  And now you’d throw us all aside

  And put us on our way

  Oh what dear daughter ’neath the sun

  Would treat a father so

  To wait upon him hand and foot

  And always tell him, “No”?

  Tears of rage, tears of grief

  Why must I always be the thief?

  Come to me now, you know

  We’re so alone

  And life is brief

  We pointed out the way to go

  And scratched your name in sand

  Though you just thought it was nothing more

  Than a place for you to stand

  Now, I want you to know that while we watched

  You discover there was no one true

  Most ev’rybody really thought

  It was a childish thing to do

  Tears of rage, tears of grief

  Must I always be the thief?

  Come to me now, you know

  We’re so low

  And life is brief

  It was all very painless

  When you went out to receive

  All that false instruction

  Which we never could believe

  And now the heart is filled with gold

  As if it was a purse

  But, oh, what kind of love is this

  Which goes from bad to worse?

  Tears of rage, tears of grief

  Must I always be the thief?

  Come to me now, you know

  We’re so low

  And life is brief