All songs (lyrics and music) by Nick Annis, copyright 2007
1. Children of a Mayan God
A pickup slows down by the side of the road
At the edge of a field at the end of the day
And the cargo unloads and stands by that road
As the driver leans out and gives them their pay
And they take to a path that’s been worn
Through the weeds by three generations before
By the tribesmen and kin of a different skin
Been working these fields since the Civil War
Children of a Mayan god living their father’s dreams
Scratching sand in the promised land
Cutting cane and picking beans
And the weeds start to thin where the sidewalk begins
At the cracks of the county line
Where the tread of their feet has cupped this concrete
Like the stairs of an Incan mine
And the dirt on their hands and the dust of their clothes
From the rows and the fields they’ve sown
Falls to the floor of a check-cashing store
When they wire their harvest home
Children of a Mayan god come in their father’s name
To the company store or conquistador
The pay’s about the same
Children of a Mayan god living their father’s dreams
On bended knee to MTV and ads in magazines
Come up through Mexico free market slaves
By the free market rules from these masters of trade
Come be miners of lawns, be Spanish maids
Come be migrants of yardwork be Spanish maids
Till a pickup slows down an hour before dawn
At the corner of Mowry and Third
The driver leans out he don’t need to shout
Or even raise his voice to be heard
Children of a Mayan god living their fathers dreams
Scratching sand in the Holy Land they saw in magazines
2. Home Depot
There’s miles of aisles of Chinese-made
Plastic tools by peasants paid
A living wage in bowls of rice so I can get the lowest price
that’s why I love Home Depot
The botanical diversity that was the jungle canopy
Is now a Guatemalan street
So I can buy these plywood sheets.
That’s why I love Home Depot
My ceiling fan’s a Boston Breeze
But the instructions are in Cantonese
I’m trying hard to read them
(WAN DAK TAW) means “find the stud”...
(TEH OOH SAHN) “there will be blood”...
Bring bandages and drywall mud,
The gods say you will need them.
Cause nothing’s built to last, you see
They make it fast and shoddily
But it’s good for the economy it keeps consumers buying
And what else are you gonna do
In the sheet-rock sheds of the chosen few
But pick a peck of drywall screws and just keep on trying...
“Made proudly in the USA” the box says in the big display
And this they’re not allowed to say unless it’s really true
But oh they’re wily like the fox
‘Cause they’re just talking ‘bout the box
The stuff inside was made with pride
By children of Hantsu…
There’s rows of hoses, pails of nails,
There’s stuff to fix the stuff that fails
To work the way it used to
When you bought it new last year
But a billion aftermarket parts
And wizards of the market arts
Will get you up and moving through these doors
And shopping here to these miles of aisles...
3. WD-39
I’m not the one I’m not the savior
I’m not the soul your sorrow seeks
I was called to walk this road before Him
Called there by a thousand screams and squeaks
And I stand here with that honor
While the riches and the fame
And the rain of righteous glory
Falls to him who took my name
I am famous for one step
In a long and troubled line
I am alone. I am a stranger.
I’m WD-39
Well I did once displace the waters
I laid dry that crimson sea
And the frozen of the chosen
Lord I set them children free
You would have me in your home now
You’d call my name by heart
But all this life I’ve known
Is how to own a missing part
Yeah I’m famous for one damn step
My maker did not find
I am alone I am forsaken
I’m WD-39
John said to the seekers
Who asked was he the one
He told them clear I’m only here
To pave the wayward Son
Well if that’s true at least he knew
Who the master had in mind
Oh Lord I’ve worn the crown of thorns of 39
It’s hard to be this can you see WD-39
4. The Play
Well I come in peace I cop the crime
I read my script I know my lines
In the play today you’ll be the woman scorned
I’ll play the part of a lost love she mourns
And we’ll both pretend that it happened that way
Set the scene for a maiden meaning
The words she don’t say
But I come in peace I done my time
You said your piece can I say mine
We were actors on stage for a story we told
Brought into play the illusions we hold
We were made for the part of a pawn in a game
From court’s first spark till the screen went dark
I’ve been calling your name
Cause it still holds me to stones I carry around
To lay in lines endless times
You were here You were mine Now you’re gone
But I come in peace I’m trying to unwind
Twisty tangles in the ties that bind
To put down the sword pick up a pen
Write a better play with a better ending
For it still holds me to three stones I carry around
To lay in lines endless times
You were here You were mine Now you’re gone
5. Call the Rain
Praise the day praise the morning
That has sprung from this mud from this clay
Hear the earth calling to her thrones
All you own’s blown away blown away
Call the rain call the water
Let the wind strip her down to the vain to the vein
Then call the rain
Scouring from the skies all the alibis that you made
The tricks you learned the tricks you turned
To seal every deal every trade
Call the wind Call the thunder
Let the fires burn it down to the stain to the stain
Then call the rain.
Coming down to wash me in a shadow of a levee
That we all knew would never take that strain
The good lord says help yourself
To find yourself in others
All men are brothers all men are brothers in the rain
6. Need to Learn
It’s been a long time coming but it’s becoming clear
Every choice you made you made
To bring the things you need right here
And it takes time to change
But change still comes too fast
Every change you made you made
To bring these things you need to pass
To every place at every time
We bring these things we need to find
And everywhere we choose to go
We bring the things we need we need the most to know
There are no roads that do not turn
To teach the things we need to learn
And I been trying a long time to tell you what I mean
In long conversations with your answering machine.
And I have waited wasted
Wishing for what might have been
With every word I need so lost and locked
So deep within me
We chase the glory and the gold
And lose the ones we need to hold
We’re so afraid to show we care
We keep the things inside
We need the most to share
There are no roads that do not turn
There are no lines that do not bend
To bring you back around
To chase that sacred sound
To make the same mistakes again
There are no roads that do not turn
To teach the things we need to learn
The things we treasure are the same
We just call them different names
The only pain that’s left at all
From the armor of our shields
At the mortar of our walls
There are no roads that do not turn
To teach the things we need to learn
7. Workin’
The weight of the moment is measured in tears
It’s a joy that’s defined by the sum of the fears
Of candlelit nights and promises clear
I’ve been working through lifetimes to find
And we come by design by the workings of grace
To the scene of the crime and we cut to the chase
We come to this time entwined in this space
I’ve been working through lifetimes to find
I’ve been working I’ve been working
I’ve been searching for something to light my way
Ahead of that force is a wave that you feel
A shred of remorse that you borrow or steal
And you stick to your course with a proselyte’s zeal
I’ve been working through lifetimes to find
I’ve been working I’ve been working
I’ve been searching for something to light my way
And the gods have been shipped
They’ve been boxed up and framed
The pedestal’s chipped and the garment is stained
And all that is holy is all that remains
I’ve been working through lifetimes to find
I’ve been working I’ve been working
I’ve been searching for something to light my way
8. We’ll Stop the Bombs
We’ll stop the bombs when you change your thinkin’
When you come to the table when you play the game.
This is the way things get done it’s how it is
There ain’t nothin’ to change
We’ll stop the bombs when
We’ll stop the bombs when the time is right
When the tide has turned and you’ve seen the light
We’ll stop the bombs when you take the right pill
and come back for a refill at my pharmacy
We’ll stop the bombs when someone’s elected
Who is not protected by my industries
We’ll stop the bombs then.
We’ll stop the bombs when the peace is won
When the lesson’s learned when the job is done
We’ll stop the bombs when there’s a wailing Wal-Mart
And a major theme park in the Holy Land
We’ll stop the bombs when nobody buys them or
When somebody pries them from my cold dead hands
We’ll stop the bombs then we’ll stop the bombs when
The time is right when the tide has turned
When you’ve seen the light when the peace is won
When the lesson’s learned when the job is done
When the markets churned when no one’s left to
March to war when we don’t need them anymore
When the heavens fall when kingdom comes
9. Jesus Said
Well I give my heart to Jesus I asked him what to do
He say look in the Book I wrote it down read it through
And if you don’t understand something that you read
You can ask me any question I will answer in your head
In a still quiet voice soft and clear and if you
Cut out the noise maybe you can hear Jesus said
All men are brothers and blessed are the meek
He say love one another and turn the other cheek
Jesus say feed the hungry Jesus say help the poor
I can’t find any line where he say start the war
I can’t find any line where he say go start the war
So I put my hope in heaven I set my soul to prayer
And listened for that still quiet voice whispering there
I said Lord what I’ve seen across this great land
Done in your name I don’t understand
Let the sound of the words you heard ease your doubts
A still quiet voice does not scream and shout it says
Love those that hate you forgive your enemies
Bless those that curse you leave vengeance to me.
Jesus said who lives by the sword dies the same way
Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do as I say
I am the light of the world in peace and love I came
No way did he say kill them all in my name
There’s no way he would say kill them all in my name
Jesus said let him without sin cast the first stone
To clear the dust from your brother’s eye
Pull the board from your own
Your Father in heaven gave his Son that you might see
Says what you’ve done to the least among you
You have done to me.
Jesus said feed the hungry. Jesus said help the poor
I can’t find any line where he say start the war
I am the light of the world, in peace and love I came
There’s no way he would say kill them all in my name
10. Why the Empire?
Well the High Court was a straw man short
When the Holy Priests convened
For the full investigation
To ignore what had been seen
In a vector by a Specter from a Warren’s tangled lair
Come a tale that spun and stopped
To turn twice in midair turn twice in midair
And with Camelot laid low by a lone enchanted shell
I wondered why the empire fell
For a sweet thing in the West Wing
The presidential staff unfurled
To slap the world’s most famous gap
With the shot heard round the world
When the Senate hued, and the Congress cried
While the pundits blew a big man’s pride
Though no one died from the stories he did tell
I wondered why the empire fell
When the final score was five to four
For the plaintiff in relief
With all the votes that mattered
Counted by the scion’s thieves
A well-dressed mob had done its job
So let the donkeys bray let the donkeys bray
That those who came so far could still be turned away
For a purge as black as Crow
I mourned the broken spell
And wondered why the empire fell
At the high address he told the press
What his sources had revealed
And spun a shroud of mushroom clouds
Then worked to make ‘em real
And the forests cleared and the rivers burned
While the brokers cheered as the market churned
To a crash and bang that rang the closing bell...
And I wondered....
11. June, 1989
Right in the light of morning
Right in the light of day
They always give you warning
This is all I came to say
Right in the light of morning
Right in the light of day
A camera in a Chinese square
Sent the world an image there
Right in the light of morning
Right in the light of day
A message had been formed in paper-mache
And they knew that it would be torn down
But where it stood is hallowed ground
And they wished that it could stick around
To see another morning to see another day
But in the square the tanks rolled in
And all that one man stood to win
Was a bullet billed to his next of kin
He stood right in the light of morning
He stood right in the light of day
And he knew that he would be cut down
But where he stood is hallowed ground
And he would have liked to stick around
To see another morning to see another day
They’d given him fair warning
This is all I came to say
This is all I came to say
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