SET LIST FIFTEEN (15)

1 Shield……………………...160

2 Story of My Life

3 Floating Head……………….160

4 Come To Me

5 Flim Flam Man……………..162

6 Other Times (first part)

7 Solving Problems…………..164

8 Messy Room

9 Monarch…………….165

10 Heavy Machines

11 Brain Games………..167

12 Chit Chat Chatter

13 Sign of the Times……...168

SHIELD

"Either write something worth reading

or do something worth writing"

Looks like Benjamin Franklin's right again

So rather than be a man of action

I'm off to get my pen...

Whatever keeps me free from blame

Surely, that's the choice I'll choose

For in this game I never said I had to win

I'm happy to draw if it means I don't lose

Call me a coward

Call me what you will

While you're crawling among the fallen

Well, I'll be standing still

So what if I'm standing still?

At least treading water

Means that I'm still alive

Just look here at my great big book

So what if it lacks a spine?

It makes for a magnificent shield

Which I use to hind behind

And I hide behind it all the time

STORY OF MY LIFE

I just picked up my pen

It’s been God knows when

Since I really tried

To see something through to the end

And now I’m back at it again

Don’t know just where to begin

Sifting through the rubble

Digging myself out of trouble

Won’t someone come and burst my bubble?

Unentrap me

and I’ll simply walk away happily

I’m just waiting for the time to be right

Always hesitating…

That’s the story of my life

Probably cost me a dozen loving wives

To think that I might have made it

Had I acted on what I knew

Everyone knows I’ve always said it

But why are there some things

That we can just never do?

FLOATING HEAD

I’m a white boy with no rhythm

And even less soul

I’ve faced the fact

that I’ll probably be like this

Until my last days of growing old

Hell, what I’ve been told

You know I just won’t allow

myself to believe it

Every girlfriend I’ve ever had

Tells me I dance just like a quadriplegic

I give….They take

They live…I die trying to save

A drowning doggy from the lake

I give…And they take some more

Both me and the doggy

Never paddle back to shore

(Because I have no arms and legs)

COME TO ME

You were right

to come to me...

When you wanna learn

about the system

uh ha

About how the

powers that be

Try to keep

greatness down

So that people like me

Lose our will to fight

and resist them

uh ha

Divide and conquer...

The oldest trick

in the book

Mix in politics

and religion

Add a little

gender and race

Into this melting pot

And now they're

ready to cook

uh ha

Can you hear

us screaming?

As we're being

boiled alive

Oh, oh they say

we're dreaming

If we want more out

of life than to survive

uh ha uh ha

You were right to

come to me...

When you wanna

learn all about love

uh ha

About how I have no doubt

That the greatest feelings

Come from the inside out

The light within shines

brighter than the light above

uh ha

Falling in love

is overrated

While growing to love

Is what true love

is really made of

This is the truth

that is rarely stated

It's such a simple idea

You know that

greeting cards hate it

FLIM FLAM MAN

Flim flam man

Flim flam man

You would have me understand

You hold my whole world in your hands

But that’s a lie I’ve found out your plans

About me or my you don’t give a damn

You only build so you can break

You give… just so you can take

And I’ve grown tired

Of fakes and flakes

For goodness sakes

I’ve had it up to here

Not sure how much more

I can take before

I make a big mistake

The weapon is loaded

There will soon be explosions

I’m leading the legions

To a new Eden, yeah!

The countdown has been ticking

Since the problem needs a fixing

As the balance keeps on shifting

Many people’ve been predicting

The coming of a fight

Say it might be going down tonight

But those who are likewise heady

Know it’s been happening already

And by the time we get to see it

There will be no way to defeat it

Everybody have to beat it (OW!)

That’s bad in black or white

No other colors needed

‘Cauce once you see you start bleeding…

You’re only trying to stay alive

To hell with getting even!

OTHER TIMES

The more get less as less get more

They keep on raising the ceiling

While dropping the floor

The rich get richer

Those in the middle grow poor

When will the soldiers realize

They’ve been fighting the wrong war?

There’s a curtain of silence

Now draping over this island

It blows in from the highlands

Where everything’s in ruins

So many were trapped there stranded

Left right where they were standing

Poor fools lacking the tools

Who got caught not knowing the rules

We all know what leads you

Your reputation precedes you

You may say you’ve changed

Still no one believes you

Healing takes time

Mending broken minds

When the wound cut deep

To all the way inside

As my luxuries

have become necessities

I’m being slowly stripped

of my spirituality

This lack of harmony

within humanity

Has begun eating away at me

I can’t decide

if this is a side effect

Or the scheme behind the plan

I don’t know where it’s going

What I was or who I am

Positivity triggers mental agility

While negativity kills our ability

To foresee a future better than the present

As intuition tunes us in to what isn’t evident

Every pauper’s voice

shall be equal to the president’s

When we get things right

no more will we be hesitant

To speak out against

what we feel isn’t right

Sometimes love heals

other times it starts the fight

SOLVING PROBLEMS

Precision beats power

and timing beats speed

I walk up to the biggest motherfucker

and see that he’s afraid of me

My defiance and disdain

Act as my suit of armor

Your reliance on the same old same old

Leaves you distressed while I get calmer

When things change

Chaos thrives

Those stuck in chains

Will not survive

Minds with walls

Will not evolve

The riddle remains

The puzzle’s unsolved

Cunning and wit can have the same effect

To soothe the savage into deep introspect

Or else prove to the farmer he’s incorrect

That a peaceful life is what is best

Yeah, you told me the price

And yet knew not the value

The trouble was the bubble

They been trying to sell you

It’s gonna burst there’s no doubt

You were the first man in

but the last one out

You lost your shirt,

your spouse and then your house

You’re playing in the dirt

so why you still running your mouth?

Punk! Life just damn knocked your ass out!

I suggest you stop talking and think about it

Cork that kettle before you go off spouting

Oh shit… he’s still dribbling toxins

And just the sight of him is making me nauseous

When I get like this it’s best to be cautious

It can lead to flying fists

or else me dropping logic

I got answers to your questions

either way the problem’s gettin’ solved, kid!

Precision beats power and timing beats speed

I walk up to the biggest motherfucker

and see that he’s afraid of me

MESSY ROOM

The smoke from my cigarette

encases me like a tomb

As the aura of my bitterness

becomes happier with gloom

Don't you fret but can't you sense

the oncoming distress?

When you live inside your mind

because this world is a mess

Yes, there is danger out on the street

Faces of anger for you to meet

And some even stranger and others you can't see

The chosen ones that always were

Along with those that'll never be

What we have found are many faces walking

While looking down at the ground

Hear the echoing of malicious words

The first time they were ever heard

See the small hands that have grown

And the fists that have been thrown

Traversing the uneven roads that we have traveled

While watching the moral fabric that's unraveled

When a sweaty palm fuses with cold steel

A hand extends but does not feel

A pokered-face turns the tables after a bad deal

As fantasy vengeance has now become real

Pent-up aggression can no longer be concealed

Aim is taken and fate is sealed

Two eyes full of blood are suddenly revealed

As fantasy vengeance has now become real

Don't you fret but can't you sense

the oncoming distress?

When you live inside your mind

because this world is a mess

MONARCH

My demons act as faithful dogs

Arriving as if summoned

How do they know even before me

That there’s trouble coming?

If I let go of my anger for you

Then baby I’ll have nothing left

Maybe that’s what I should do?

Perhaps that’s for the best…

Playing stupid games

Will only win you stupid prizes

Truth never needed many words

Or any veil or disguises

They say never let ‘em see you sweat

And don’t stay crying in your beer

Yeah, all those good words of advice

Passed right on through my ears

When it feels guilty to laugh

Tell everyone your secret

Such burdens from the past

We all know you don’t need it

If feelings are not facts

Why do words carve like knives?

As the scars left in the aftermath

Reflect two broken lives

Give the people some bread

For they just want another circus

And it’s hurting my head

Knowing I don’t deserve this…

I’m a prisoner of my brain

A victim of biology

How does a butterfly find its way?

Maybe by using astrology

HEAVY MACHINES

I try to comprehend infinity

While operating heavy machinery

And that’s just by using my brain

While slowly jogging in the passing lane

Of time and space and rhyme and plane

I’m trying to see just what makes me

Superior to royalty

probably because of my belief

In fairness and equality

to the nth degree for all humanity

Which unfortunately includes

the sufferers of insanity

Stupidity, vanity…

Are you kidding me?

I have to fight for them, too?

Couldn’t we just let them be?

For each one of them

just add one to get their I.Q.

– yup….it’s two….

When that’s your crew

what the hell you gonna do?

It sure beats me…So I ask you

The time has come

Something must be done

The time has come

We are the chosen ones

The time has come

No longer can we run from this

Sure I talked a lot of s%^t

But I never made a stand

Can’t take back any of it

Well that’s not what I have planned

Time to let the new revolution begin

All this time I’ve been blaming myself

When I should have been blaming you and you….

And her and him

This crazy look inside my eye

Should tell you a little bit about me

There’s so much that I despise

So many things that keep me from being free

So let us make a list of the biggest causes

Of our collective misery

BRAIN GAMES

Brain games... Brain games...

She's been playing brain games

'Cause he's been playing brain games

'Cause she's been playing brain games

Since you get what you give...

You just get more of the same...

Brain games... Brain games...

She's been playing brain games

'Cause he's been playing brain games

'Cause she's been playing brain games

What a horrible way to live...

When it's as monotonous as the rain

As lovers turn to strangers

Or couples that I call not lovers but painers

When their broken hearts fill up

Then start brimming over with anger

As Valentine's Day greeting cards

Are blank and black except for the word 'danger'

And soon refused and remarked

'Won't you please return to sender'

For sure sometimes silence is golden

If or when speechless

if and when powerless you are rendered

Or when hurting words into your mind enter

It is surely better to refrain...

Rather than play brain games...

Brain games...Brain games...

Since you get what you give...

You just get more of the same...

Brain games... Brain games...

CHIT CHAT CHATTER

Chit chat chatter...

Can you hear their teeth rattle

As if underneath the warm breath

Of a baby and his rattle

Chit chat chatter...

Does it really matter

Speaking just to fill one's idle time

Without expressing what's on your mind

Chit chat chatter...

All the words blend together

Like the birds of a flock

Birds of the same feather

Chit chat chatter...

As words end up in a blender

And the thoughts get lost

When there's no core at the center

Chit chat chatter...

From the circling tongues

Never ending, never starting

Once the talking has begun

Chit chat chatter...

Sometimes the words hurt

Sometimes the words flatter

To me it all sounds the same

Chit chat chatter...

As their oohs and their ahhs

Resemble goos and gahs

One's candle of thought

Slowly loses its flame

SIGN OF THE TIMES

Calling all revolutionary reformists

Just how long can we ignore this?

Somebody's gotta try to resist

Before the boot gets too big

Sure, in my heart stands a pacifist

But behind him stands a line of people

Who are pissed and it's a sign of the times

When it actually has to come down to this....

I fell down….

When I felt a smack to the back of my head

Yeah, and so….

Didn’t the sign I was holding which read:

World Trade Organization

You had best be on your way…

We’re sick and tired of evil corporations

Getting caught

and then just changing their names

Sometimes all it takes

To create a crime

Is the wrong word

At the wrong time

To push a man

Not unlike myself

Right over the edge

Right across the line

I can see that now

This time like never before

A new place to go

Just waiting to be explored

So...just know that my last

Gasping breath will be spent

Denouncing at length against

Whatever corrupt powers that be

And judging not all but some

Without regards to

Or from they’re from

Whether or not they must pay a penalty

Calling all revolutionary reformists

Just how long can we ignore this?

Somebody's gotta try to resist

Before the boot gets too big

Sure, in my heart stands a pacifist

But behind him stands a line of people

Who are pissed and it's a sign of the times

When it actually has to come down to this....