TOM OVANS THE BEAT TRADE (fw 004)   LYRICS


the white actress' eyes

 

 

THE MONKEYS HAVE LANDED


The monkeys have landed out on the street

Singing oobie doobie flashing pearly teeth

You better run, you better hide

Better tell your baby to quit believing all these lies

The monkeys have landed twisting up the facts

Tearing down the highway in you know whose Cadillac

Call up the cameras strike up the band

Prostitute your city and rape all your land

The monkeys have landed

 

The monkeys have landed right on TV

Shaking tits and ass and getting what they need

Scream bloody murder petition the courts

Call yourself an election but you'll always be a vote short

The monkeys have landed throwing money around

Buying up lawmakers and the sacred grounds

Watch people sway watch people swoon

Dancing all night to that latest monkey tune

The monkeys have landed

 

The monkeys have landed ain't no doubt

Call up the cops and ship the bums out

Poison the rivers, poison the air

What does it matter when nobody cares

The monkeys have landed out on the shore

Blacken your windows honey bolt up your doors

Gonna rob your culture steal your banks

Build themselves a shopping mall and bring back o1e Hank

The monkeys have landed

 

The monkeys have landed with God and love

Looking down from those billboards from so high above

Everything is good, everything is great

Don't even notice the bleeding man, the blood that they take

The monkeys have landed bring the cats in

Let the dogs howl let the fun begin

They're swinging from the left, swinging from the right

You ain't swinging with them baby you can kiss your ass goodnight

The monkeys have landed

 

The monkeys have landed what more can I say

I did my best but they blew me away.

 

 

WHAT ABOUT YOU

I've been drinking from the well walking on the land

Drawing a paycheck trying to make a stand

I go down to the river just to see it there

I wish I could remember when it use to run clear

 

Oh what is the truth

From the mouth of babes, from the mouths of fools

Oh what do we got to lose

What about me honey what about you

 

I met this man just the other day

Walking down the street trying to be brave

But he was a little too slow, a little out of his mind

There's just no room no more for nobody left behind

 

Chorus

 

You've been knocking around rolling the dice

Following the path seeking advice

But when the night finally falls and you pull down the shade

Your hair's still a mess and your bed's unmade

 

Chorus

 

GOING SOMEPLACE

I tell you people that I'm trying to do my best to understand

Ah but trouble just keeps on flying like a vulture above this land

I've been walking down the street trying to keep an easy beat

Looking for the right thing to do

There's a man on the corner a cultural goner

And baby he's looking right at you

 

Well I've been to the west and I've been to the east

And I've heard the man of violence and I've heard the man of peace

I've been watching the show with my eyes half closed

I just don't know what to say

There's another story selling another lie telling

Another fool getting in my way

 

Well they say in the end everybody must come clean

But I say my dear friend I don't know what that means

Now I'm standing on a hill just north of Nashville

Watching the trucks roll by

And I got a sinking feeling that’s got me reeling

I’m going someplace and I don’t know why

 

Yea I’m going someplace and I don’t know why

 

 

HEY WOODY GUTHRIE

Packing up a u-haul, driving south                             

We come all the way down, from sunny Tennessee

Had enough of Jesus and the bible belt

Enough of another city destroyed by greed


Hey Woody Guthrie I ain't got no home                                                                  

Hey Woody Guthrie I ain't got no home


Somehow I missed that gravy train when it went rolling by

I didn't speak the right words, didn't shake the right hands

But that's alright, if I ain't one of them guys

Cause I ain't afraid to tell you Mister, I'm a working man


Chorus


Yea we drove through America, it's a crying shame                                           

Everywhere looks like anywhere, yea anywhere USA

Same parking lots, same taco stands                                                                      

Felt like being in the twilight zone, with no escape


Chorus


What can you say for a country, where liars are kings

Where they rather build prisons, instead of schools

Where they throw a man in jail for smoking a marijuana cigarette

Where they treat people like idiots and fools


Chorus


Yea we come down to Texas from sunny Tennessee

My wife and I, we just made up our minds

Maybe we'll get lucky here, guess time will tell

Yea maybe this land, will finally feel like mine


Chorus

 

SALVATION

The dogs are barking crazy

Dogs are barking crazy

Dogs are barking crazy

Crazy down this road

 

There's a lonesome rider coming

A lonesome rider coming

A lonesome rider coming

Coming down this road

 

He says salvation's waiting

Says salvation's waiting

Says salvation's waiting

Waiting down this road

 

Well I seen my boy go walking

Seen my boy go walking

Seen my boy go walking

Walking down this road

 

The dogs are barking crazy

Dogs are barking crazy

Dogs are barking crazy

Crazy down this road

 

TELL ME BABE

Tell me babe

How's it feel

You see I've been up all night

And my nerves have turned to steel

 

I've been hanging on that corner

Watching lovers fall

Been hanging on that corner

Watching thieves take it all

 

I've been talking to that watchman

He says it’s no use

He's been here for some twenty odd years

And he's just as confused

 

Everybody here

Says get out while you still can

And don't even try

To understand my friend

 

There's no hot water

Yea I know it's a laugh

I feel like some old junkie

Lost without his hat

 

REBEL ROADSIDE


I see the preacher

Walking hand and hand

With the politician

And the business man

 

I see the trucks

Rolling by like trains

I hear the dynamite

Blowing in the rain

 

Tear down the buildings

Build another one

Make another million

Steal another one

 

Blame it on Hollywood blame it on TV

Blame on Bubba blame it on me

Blame it on her, blame it on him

Blame it on all these people living in oblivion

 

I see you baby

Dancing on the stage

Stripping down to nothing

In the purple haze

 

I hear the music

Watch your body sway

Look into your eyes

But you just drift away

 

Yea I see you baby

I don't know what do to

I've driven all night

Just to be with you

 

I want to break down and cry but I've never learned how

I want to go back through that door but it's to late now

Neon lights, liquor stores, whore houses, church steeples

I drift through the city lost among the people

 

Four walls and a cheap hotel

On the outskirts of another dying town

I lay awake I remember so well

That night it all came crashing down

 

JUST TO BE WITH YOU

The wind's been blowing hard

All the way down this line

And now another night is falling

On another day left behind

 

And I don't know what to say love

I don't know what to do

I pray the stars above love

Are shinning for you

 

I've been through these cities

You know I've been working so hard

But I ain't looking for no pity

Just some wings for my heart

 

And I don't know what to say love

I don't know what to do

I feel so far away love

From a world I once knew

 

Now I meet lots of people

As I ramble around

But I hear only questions

In the answers they've found

 

And I don't know what to say love

I don't know what to do

I'd fall down on my knees love

Just to be with you

 

 

CAN'T BLAME HER NONE

I come home last evening I found my baby gone

I come home last evening I found my baby gone

To tell you the truth

I can't blame her none

 

She took the car she took all of her clothes

She took the car she took all of her clothes

She took everything

Except the bills we owe

 

I sat right down and I poured myself a drink

I sat right down and I poured myself a drink

The drunker I got

The more I began to think

 

Well I'm just a fool a pawn in a rich man’s game

Yea I'm just a fool a pawn in a rich man’s game

The harder I work

The poorer I remain

 

Yea I come home last evening I found my baby gone

I come home last evening I found my baby gone

To tell you the truth

I can't blame her none

 

BOZO WORLD

Oh pretty baby

I hear you're back out on the street

Oh pretty baby I hear you’re back out on the street

Ain't it funny honey how the twain should never meet

 

They say the last man who had you

You know you nearly drove him insane

They say the last man who had you

Sugar you know you nearly drove him insane

You took all he had to offer

Left him bankrupt, strung out on cocaine

 

Well all kidding aside

Honey tell me what are you going to do

Well all kidding aside

Honey tell me what are you going to do

You ain't got no money

Ain't no syrup daddy looking at you

 

Well sometimes baby

I think we're living in a Bozo world

Sometimes baby I think we're living in a Bozo world

Some people got a lot of nerve

Honey do you know what I mean girl

 

THERE ARE TIMES

There are times I've seen once

There are times I've seen twice

There's a story we all know

How the day turns to night

I was out there I was running

When I saw that light shining in your eyes

Now tell me babe tell me true

Tell me dear don't tell no lies

 

Well I know that the show

Must always go on

And I've learned how some hearts

Can never be won

And I have heard and I have seen

That broken promise that faded dream

Tell me babe, tell me true

Are these things what they seem

 

Now I'm cold and I am tired

I've been up all night

I've walked these streets I've climbed these hills

Waiting for the morning light

And I still don't know after all this time

How these things they come to be

Oh tell me babe tell me true

Does your heart still yearn for me

 

WHERE THE MOON SHINES BRIGHT

I'm walking down this road tonight

Looking for a place where the moon shines bright

Hey but I'm alright, I'll make it alright

 

My baby just walked out the door

Said good bye forever and more

Hey but I'm alright, I'll make it alright

 

Tell me what more can a man do

You play to win you're bound to lose

Hey but I'm alright, I'll make it alright

 

Yea I'm walking down this road tonight

Looking for a place where the moon shines bright

Hey but I'm alright, I'll make it alright


 

All songs © 1999 by Tom Ovans

Except "Tell Me Babe" and "Rebel Roadside" © 1998 by Tom Ovans

 



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