SET LIST THIRTEEN (13)

1 Can't Have That………….138

2 Gettin' Juiced

3 Gate Keeper…………..140

4 Uncashable

5 Permanent Lies………….141

6 Mickey D's

7 Poorest Chorus…………..143

8 Staking the Flag

9 United We Stand………...145

10 Pledge

11 Sleepless……………...147

12 East Timor…………..148

13 Steady Calm……………..149



CAN'T HAVE THAT

The latest polls show

That when the people say "yes"

Our leaders say "no"




I was taught that it was us versus them

Now I’ve learned that them is us

But I’m not talking about your Average Joe

Just of those who try to buy our trust


Here’s a list of things the peasants want

Well surely they can’t have all that!

Just give them these stale loaves of bread

And then we’ll raise the tax!!!!


Society at large...Oh, we're not too pleased

Politics to the core...has become diseased

All I need is one believer

To inspire me to dig just a little bit deeper


Society at large...Oh, we're not too pleased

Politics to the core... has become diseased

All they need is one good reason

To get me off of this charge of treason


Society at large... Oh, we're not too pleased

Politics to the core... has become diseased


When I hear the word lobbyist

My right hand reaches for my gun

When it comes time for talking politics

People get paid to keep us dumb


GETTIN' JUICED

Smashed is the equality

Living in this world of sin

As long as you got power

There's no trouble you're gettin' in


An old football star

He ain't gonna do no time

Money, fame and connections

All cover up the crime


Killing death row inmates

I haven't seen the use

The machine is all plugged in

But it still doesn't have The Juice


And when it's time for you or me

The average American Joe

They'll put us in a steel-caged cell

With no place else to go


When they come and lock me up

There's gonna be a parade

They'll say they've seen my writings

And heard every word I said


If I ever make parole

There'll be snipers on the roof

But they'll need to have an extra round

Because I'm bulletproof





Well, actually I'm not

I've got no fortune or fame

That's why when things go wrong

They place on me the blame


Killing death row inmates

I haven't seen the use

The machine is all plugged in

But it still doesn't have The Juice


GATE KEEPER

If it goes to trial

They got you on file

As a well-known liar


This whole time

The feds had it pegged

Were all wearing wires


You’re left to ask why

Not everyone tries

When bogged down in the mire


And it seems to me

You’re as high as can be

I don’t think it gets any higher


Time to make a deal

Before your fate’s sealed

The contract has expired


You see, going for broke

It leaves you broken

And cold and hungry

Yet you keep on hoping

That tomorrow

A new door will open

That’ll light the fire

And you’ll see that thing smokin’


You found yourself a game

That you really want to play

“Oh won’t you deal me in?”

They’ve been waiting for you to say…


Gate keeper, gate keeper

I can dig a little deeper

Please tell me what you require

Would you have me walk across the water?

Or are you thinking of something hotter?

Am I sensing a cleansing by fire?

Oh those eyes I see them rise in desire

As beads of sweat from your forehead perspire…


Gate keeper, gate keeper

Oh won’t you let me into your little show

Gate keeper, gate keeper

Oh tell me all the secrets

That we both know you know




UNCASHABLE

From where you stand

Everything looks groovy

But living inside of a commercial

It ain't the same as starring in a movie


Hey brother can you spare a dime?

I beg for money all the time

Rather hold an empty cup

Than lead a life of crime


Reality checks can't be cashed

That's what they said at the bank

When I asked:


Is there a tax on misery?

What's the price of a life

Worth materially?


She wrote down a number

But it didn't seem enough

When I said I suffered from poverty

She subtracted a couple of bucks


I said, "Have a nice day"

And I just walked away

Pondering the price we'll all pay

For people acting and thinking this way


I document history

The kind no one reads

In this land of pretty flowers

I’m considered a weed


PERMANENT LIES

Permanent lies, permanent lies

Permanent lies, permanent lies


Facts are interchangeable

Opinions oh so manageable

Everything is rearrangeable

For those who own the world


The discovery I am finding

No contract can be binding

When the empire is declining

The shell closes on a pearl


When confined by isolation

With this stale air I’m tasting

I slowly begin wasting

My time, my mind, my pay


So with nothing in my pockets

I gotta go get it

Because I don’t got it

And when I do it flits away


Permanent lies

Lead to infinite wars…

What hides behind the disguise?

It’s so hard to tell anymore

There’s many giving up

No, I’m not talking ‘bout the poor

Lots of middle class or better

All falling dead upon the floor


MICKEY D's

I cannot complete a thought

It gets lost as I get cross

Trapped like a gas

In this vast

piece of orbiting mass

This little lucky piece of rock

That you could almost

paddle across


We've got some

pretty green trees

Yet it's still ripe

with disease

Full of wars you

can and can't see


You ask, "So what's it to me?"

Yes I know of history, geology,

Astronomy and World War Three


I have seen the greed

Once I would have

never believed

That money could

buy such misery


Now I see the naivety in me

As corporations start

owning countries

Now they're calling

Kenya Mickey D's


And happiness is just

a distant memory

So long unknown to me

Living in this world of adultery


Where what you see

Is not really what you see

And where what's to be

May never be

And though unchained

no one is free


You can look forever

and still not see

Believing simply that

What's to be will be


Thinking that men

don't make history

Only got lucky

Someone had to be




It took me many years to see

That God helps those

who help themselves

So think twice to yourself

Before you trust in anyone else


Or else you run the risk

Of feeling just like me

A dear friend to insanity

But hey, at least somebody

listens to me


POOREST CHORUS By

The brutal honesty of this fun house

mirrored fishbowl world in which

we all live inside


Is that a man's soul

Will either with him gently die

or watch him lay helpless as he is

economically crucified


This is not just mere opinion

But a simple fact That we can no

longer push aside:

I've been watching the Walmartization

of these United States...


Which is tied directly to the exploitation of

our country's citizens by big magnates


Where the more get more

and the poor get less

As every mom and pop store

is forced to liquidate


I've been watching the Walmartization

of these United States...


Seen values and morals

and a sense of duty to country

slowly disintegrate


Over the last sixty years faces on the street

Have become overrun

by utter indifference if not hate


I've been watching

the Walmartization of these United States...


People getting hosed but not being

able to take a bath In Katrina's aftermath


And it’s our own government

that has yet to close the floodgates


But there's more to it than court rulings

It's what large bills get passed

On the house floor to the Senate



I've been watching the

Walmartization of these United States...


I've seen kids having kids

Who're functionally illiterate

Little ones walking hand in hand

With the falling prices of real estate


I've been watching

the Walmartization of these United States...


I've seen people drown

In a pool of knowledge

Because the water turned stagnant


As our world has become all carved up

and fractionated


I've been watching

the Walmartization of these United States...


As funding for education

gets bled so badly it needs a turnicate


Yet it's never seemed to be

a major issue for debate

Brought up by any presidential candidate


I've been watching

the Walmartization

of these dividing states...


Hoping for a reversal of trends

But how much longer will we have to wait?


It's an unfortunate story

But one that somebody

had to narrate


STAKING THE FLAG

Left, right, left, right, left, right

Keep on walking

Don't you look behind


Left, right, left, right, left, right, left

Keep on walking

Don't you look behind


Left, right, left, right, left, right

Keep on walking

Don't you look behind


If you do you know what you'll see

I said if you do

Then you'll know what you'll find...


A trail of tears...

One tear for every step

A trail of tears...

One tear for what couldn't be kept


A trail of tears...

One tear for every breath

A trail of tears...

One tear for every death


The Indians in their Teepees

Speakie English and say

'In trouble deepie"

The cavalry is about to charge


No dancing with wolves

When you're waltzing with Custard

Forced into building casinos

And inventing new mustard

The pilgrims with muskets

Are now at large


And with a box full of small pox

Expanding isn't very hard

Trade whiskey for deeds

Throw in a few beads

When you find a cross in the yard

Then you'll know it's in the bag


To put men on the moon

You know it's never too soon

Sometimes you have to push hard

When you're staking the flag


Left, right, left, right, left, right

Keep on walking

Don't you look behind


Left, right, left, right, left, right, left

Keep on walking

Don't you look behind


Left, right, left, right, left, right

Keep on walking

Don't you look behind


If you do you'll know what you'll see

I said if you do

Then you'll know what you'll find...


A trail of tears...

One tear for every step

A trail of tears...

One tear for what couldn't be kept

A trail of tears...

One tear for every breath

A trail of tears...

One tear for every death


UNITED WE STAND

All for one and one for all

It really makes no sense to hide it:

That he thinks this and she thinks that

One man’s fiction is another man’s fact

Not every conversation is one-sided




All for one and one for all

What was once on the way up

Is now going down

After empty words were spoken

The unity was broken

And the three musketeers

Have all skipped town


All for one and one for all

As an individual we are so small

But this isn’t China, this isn’t Japan

No one wants to be part

Of any master plan

Yet society’s foundation will crack

Without enough bricks in the wall


All for one and one for all

Quite similar to an alcoholic’s motto

They say take things a day at a time

It’ll help ease your mind

I guess there’s

No such word as tomorrow


All for one and one for all

The time that’s wasting is now

But for your God or for yourself

Maybe for me

Or perhaps someone else

To some greater cause

We must each take our vow


All for one and one for all

What kind of future

Does this world hold?

The ill are getting sicker

Each day our children

Are growing up quicker

Yet they say that

What hasn’t a price

Cannot be sold


All for one and one for all

The justice system of our country

Has no equal

Though the cases seem

To keep getting worse

After a movie is made

Everyone wants to be the first

In line to buy the sequel


All for one and one for all

The liberty bell keeps on ringing

As republicans and democrats

Keep on listening

While trying to figure out

Where the sound is at

And until the do I’ll keep on singing






All for one and one for all

You can sit staring

At quotes on the wall

But I believe

That Lincoln said it best

So there’s really no need

To recite all the rest

United we stand, divided we fall


All for one and one for all

It takes many seeds

To plant a garden

So you better harvest

Before the frost

For if you don’t

All your work will be lost

As I feel a wintry chill just starting


PLEDGE

Globalization without exploitation

Should be the pledge

of this next generation

The goal set forth

for this new millennium

More songs that unite...

That's right...

I'm penning them


So who is with me?

(thunderous clapping and applause)


Alright now who is against me?

(solo person clapping fades out)


The only weapon you need is love

To destroy any potential enemies


It's thoughts like these that make me

The most dangerous man in the world

Someone that can teach these beliefs

To all of Mother Earth's

little boys and girls


Every arm in arm

Each hand in hand

That's the one nation

For which I'll stand


SLEEPLESS

We regret it in the morning

What feels good in the night

We see things as we want to

And we pretend that we have sight

Have you ever asked Helen Keller

What she thinks of as right

Her answers might surprise you

Keep you sleepless and up at night…






EAST TIMOR

Amidst this endless

and senseless violence

The one thing

that I despise most

Are the swords that

were swung in silence


For when futile

becomes resistance

The bloody few who are left

Look to us

for some assistance


But it's by our weapons

That their blood is spilled

When you're wiping out poverty

Sometimes it's just cheaper to kill


So we justify we need a place

For our new submarine base

Since our economy is tanking

Why let good weapons

go to waste?


Sell them to Indonesia

And everybody wins

At least those with a voice

Amplified by

propagandist spin


I'm getting angry

unhappy

If I start crying

please slap me

Slap this frown

right off of my face

As you see I'm in

a delicate state


Been like this

for years

How long

will they have to wait?


When the media

is your ally

You can hide a genocide

Started back before 1975

Hundreds of thousands

have lost their lives


Amidst this endless

and senseless violence

The one thing

that I despise most

Are the swords that

were swung...in silence





STEADY CALM

When we are the many

And they are the few

We shall never be forgiven

For what we failed to do


As the time came

When it was time to act

We turned our backs

Clinging to made up facts


Children crying in their mother’s arms

Fathers dying in wars like Vietnam


Vacant eyes

Formaldehyde smell

Following the trail

You know so well...


In this struggle for survival

The key is the journey not the arrival

It’s more the process less the prose

Where the wisdom’s found by those who know

‘Tis best to walk where the road don’t go

As everything speeds up

Is when it’s best to take it slow…


It quickens - the pace of the nation

And sickens - what some of us are facing

As the plot thickens - you forget what you were chasing

Those not stricken - stop sleepwalking and awaken

To all you spring chickens

- can we unmake this forsaken aching creation?


I sense the sound of hesitation in your voice

I’ve found most of your frustration is by choice

Those afraid of confrontation shall be coerced

To either stand up for themselves

or else lie down in a hearse

Day to day to day…

Today is worse


If you wanna make an omelette

Then sometimes you gotta break some heads

It don’t pay to be a chicken

Forever sitting on unhatched eggs


Here at the feast not everybody eats

Not everybody speaks

Even those who are able

But when the money’s on the line

And the cards are on the table

Someone’s bound to cheat


It happens every time

Hence the noose around the neck

Legs dance and then dangle

Silhouetting the gable

Now... things are back to normal

Everything all nice and stable



Steady Calm...

Yeah, I’ll wear that label