lyrics...

 

 

 

 

 

 

SATAN IN COLOGNE

He moves mountains into gravestones
The mattress into a bed of lava and cigars
He shakes the sky into silver lions
Lizards - lasers - crashing calling cards

He is the fallen angel sweet talking the ears
He is the sand and the painted lamps in the eyes
His hands drip flowers into the brain
Green hearts and birds of paradise

He caters from hell's kitchen
Feeds the war gods stereo blowout
Feeds the love gods nectar and ash
He is the playground of rolling dice
He is a pillar of hard pink ice

Satan in silver geysers
Satan in cologne
Satan in fire island
Satan in cologne

—1984

 

SCARECROWS

We are stuffed into our long coats
The north stars begs the moon to call
A touch of tar and lipstick
Love heads twist and crawl
Sweeping the fall away
As jazz reeds swing and sway

We pull an ember from a dashing sun
The coal sets the fields ablaze
Ravens exit into angels
Leaflets tango in red graves
Sweeping the fall away
As branches bend and pray

Letters and vampires and lacquered dolls
Sweeping the fall away
Drama and dragons and wardrobes
Sweeping the fall away

Karen is autumn
A mirror of rouge on green
Reflecting torches in our amber ballet

Karen is paisley
A slender chameleon in french chalk
Spinning straw into golden meditations

Enchantment and chapters and lost holidays
Sweeping the fall away
Flames and numbers and wishbones
Sweeping the fall away

Scarecrows
Like puppets in the wind
Auburn dancing smoke
We will dance with you till the end
Scarecrows
Silhouettes against the sky
Black drifting dreams
We will sleep in the black with you

—1983

 

SWIMMING

An invisible kiss in a tortoise shell mirror
I float with your lip frost on my neck
A ship of rosewood and satin for us to share
Dust to dust
Drifting in the cotton wind
Dust to dust
An embrace beneath the whitewash

Swimming
We will swim when the sea is black and the sun is dead
Swimming
We will swim when
Neptune glows blue and
Mars drips red
Diving
We will dive into a sea of midnight and bleached bones
Diving
We will dive into a whirlpool of hungry sharks and pinups
Scratching the current
Drinking the tide
Swimming
Swim

—1983

 

 

GODDESS NO MORE

She is a pretty face on a broken sofa
Egyptian lashes and smart lips
She is a tiny skull set upon the ocean
The dead swim through her windows

She is full of black cats and teeth
Up to her thighs in court jesters
She is full of gray smoke and gut fire
The unholy flicker in her jars

Stand up to her nasty little tongue
Brush away the tender little lies
She is
She is
She is goddess no more

—1984

 

UNDER THE VEIL

We dance and pour rain
Into an evening of statues
Into a desert of stone and arrogant zombies
Full of gum and cement
Only the walls move
Under the veil

We dance and pour rain
Into an evening of masks
Into a city of film and sleeping cattle
Full of glue and import worship
Only the walls move
Under the veil

—1984

 

LET'S PRETEND

We are soldiers and brides with flashlight eyes
Vermilion birds caged in towers
Alien ships buff the desert skies
Soon it's raining flowers

Our eyes trace the survival charts
As we stand in this where or when
We know in what is left of our hearts
That the stars won't rise again

We sit down to dine on bible courses
Mother rocket rings her warning bell
Our horses wait in the courtyard
Soon we ride for hell

Let's pretend we are lovers
Tossed among the curtains of the sea
Let's pretend we are tigers
Under a hungry moon
With a fallout kiss
Let's pretend we are lovers

—1982

 

ALL THE ROSES ARE GONE
( dedicated to Marc O )

When the fever hits
you can't remember
Faces come and faces go
When the fever preys
Sad December
So many faces under snow
And all the roses....

When the ground is white
you can see forever
miles and miles of stone
When the ground is cold
you can think forever
You can drift for miles, drift like snow
And all the roses....

The trees are bending
The night is ending
And all the roses....

The sun is lazy
The moon is crazy
And all the roses....

You've lost your mind
The gods are blind
And all the roses....

Winter swept in like an ocean
stirring us into her potion
washing our lives away
washing our lives away
All the roses....
All the roses....
All the roses are gone...gone...gone

—1985

 

THE FACE OF GOD

Stripping down to the curtains
We are two blue monkeys
jacked up and shaven
We are two blue monkeys
in this neon room of razors
and mirrors
and snakes

The wallpaper is wet
The sink is full of shit
A baby floats in the toilet
lost at sea
And the face of god looks in

The devil grabs the boy from the hallway
pulling him into his den of bones
dragging him into the bathroom
holding him under the water
until the boy becomes an angel
And the face of god looks in

—1984

 

ANOTHER WORLD

Another world of smoke and mirrors
Where candles burn like chandeliers
In lush green gardens

Another world of paisley pools
Reflecting lovers like drifting jewels
Under a glass moon

Love and needles and shooting stars
Dreams come true in killing jars

—1985