452 : 7/6/99 : Snake Oil

1,525 : 4 ?


Dear lord here come the
Snake oil men again
Peddling their crazy
potions to foolish men
Here’s one called flat tax
One called family values
Call it what you want
but watch that they don’t steal your shoes
Here come the smooth talkers
paving the way
If rich men live like kings then
What’s so different from yesterday
Here come the beggars
with their social agendas
We best be careful
they could screw up and end us
these snake oil men
been around forever
there’s always somebody
who’s just too clever

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

451 : 7/5/99 : Most

North to south east to west
least to most worst to best
near to far cold to hot
here to there x mark the spot
North by northwest
South by southeast
Heaven can wait
Here comes the beast
Ah, ae, ee, oh, ooh
One to none, first to last
how to why, now to past
back to forth, whole to part
quick to dead finish to start
By nature sinful
and unclean
touched by desire
just seventeen
ooh, oh, ee, ae, ah

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

450 : 7/4/99 : 28 Trips

Twenty eight trips
around this independence tip
So why don’t I feel free
An American dream
So bright and hot it makes me cream
I’m very sure you agree
Striving after what you see on the screen
look what they got don’t it make you green
Fools and angels
Modern man bites off too much and strangles
Amazing we still try to stuff in more
Truly oblivious
we stare right through the obvious
evidence of what we’ve got in store
Free to purchase, free to complain
Free to stare at teevee till it softens your brain
Fat and flacid
Docile sheep complacent, placid
Grazing our fast food pasture paradise
sheep for slaughter
Sell your pretty son and daughter
We make the goods but they set the price
You call that freedom, profit and loss
Look around you friend only the rich got no boss

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

449 : 7/3/99 : Fallen World

It’s a shame to live in a fallen world
Surrounded by evil and consequences
of our collective ignorance and avarice and vice
of our manic drive to satiate our jaded senses
It’s a crime to live when so many must die
having seen so little, nothing
killed by bad luck, circumstances
killed by apathy and lack of planning
I’m a criminal I need to be brought in
And stood on trial to answer for the sins
of my sex my race my generation
someone has to lose when someone wins
It’s a shame to be a fallen man
to know I am so limited and small
It doesn’t help to have so much company
It doesn’t help to know the same fate waits for all
It would help to think that God was swingin’ for us
Down here it’s hard to take that view
Maybe that’s the nature of a fallen world
Maybe that’s the nature of the evil that men do

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

448 : 7/2/99 : Flesh

If words became flesh
what a bind I’d be in then
they’d pile up around my head
I’d have to eat them all again
I’d find them filling up my drawers
I’d find them in my shoe
I’d find them cluttering
the space between me and you
I guess I’d try to clench my teeth
and hold the bastards back
I guess I’d probably fail
I could not keep my words on track
Words are not flesh and yet persist
and haunt us through our lives
words like God and family
cut through us like two edged knives
And those who know the score are sure
to keep us talking all the time
keep us well distracted
buy our dollars for a dime

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

447 : 7/1/99 : Living in America

My sense of potential overwhelms me
Living in the richest country there will ever be
Living in America
Living large and bein’ free
Living in America
Such a vivid curiosity
Don’t ask me why we’re the way we are
Don’t pretend there aren’t worse things by far
Living in America
Nothing but a job and a car
Living in America
Let’s all go drive to a bar
And drive home raging drunk and blindly
Try to outrun those flashing lights behind me
Living in America
Maybe the best thing would be
Living in America
If I just watch it on TeeVee

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

446 : 6/30/99 : Whatever Cross

We are computers
constructed
by viruses
Built to specification
block by block
order out of chaos
process of endless reiteration
Our minds model a universe
Scarcely accurate at all
But hauntingly familiar to the powers that be
how do we dream so large
and act so small
I like to think we’re more than that
the sum of meaningless
processes
But I guess it’s all really
pissing in the wind
a man carries whatever
cross is his

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

445 : 6/29/99 : This Too Must Pass Away

1,519 : 0 ?



This too must pass away
And disappear into the ground
One day even our crimes against the earth
will vanish without a sound
Maybe covered by life ascendant
eventually all must expire
eventually all must be consumed
in all consuming fire
Maybe it’s called supernova
Maybe the hand of God
Maybe the unspeakable tao almighty
Will wipe away the paths we trod
And chances are it’ll be a long time
A long time after I’m gone
disappeared without a trace
nevermore to see my face
Every moment short or long
every inkling every song
Will pass away and be gone
And even the passing away of things
will not go on forever
So he writes so he says so he sings

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

444 : 6/28/99 : Reiteration

I’m sure you’ve heard this one before
boy meets girl and they feel so sure
About their little situation
It’s just another iteration
And I am just a magazine
I take another bullet for the truth machine
I take another bullet for the sake of creation
And fall into the Great Reiteration
Magnets make fields and form follows function
I hook it all together with a conjunction junction
I don’t believe in reincarnation
I know I’m not nothing but an iteration
I’m talking a talk that goes a long way back
If you think too much about it it all turns black
Cause time ain’t nothing but a destination
And we’re just here to witness the reiteration

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

443 : 6/27/99 : Random Walk

It’s a bright light
but so very far away
so very very very far away
It’s a long shot
this world seems very strange
But I swear I’m gonna get there by next May
I’m a wild one
I refuse to sit up straight
And act the part of every other dupe
When my day comes
I’ll be ready to begin
And amaze you with the speed I make the loop
Don’t look back now
There is only one way through
This dancing random walk along the beach
It’s a straight line
And they all lead to one place
Thank God it’s such an easy place to reach

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

442 : 6/26/09 : Final Reckoning

Is this the final reckoning
Is this the light of the new day
An intention is lost in a moment
And every slate is cleaned and put away
Do I have to go on after this
Always pushing on
Such a sad way to end a contemplative day
Such a sad little have finished song
Final reckoning draw down
the scorecard by
whoever’s accounting
Draw down the final heil
Already the resistance is mounting
Lie down give it up let it go
It’s all I’ve heard and all I know
final reckoning
Put me off another day
I’ll get my accounts in order
Just give my rope a little more play

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

441 : 6/25/99 : Naturally

Oh Lord what will become of me
I go along this crazy rut
just doing what comes naturally
It always seems harmless but
I can’t deny my situation gives me pause
And it’s a crazy world that I’m in
Man is mortal feeble ruled by laws
wracked by doubt and soaked in sin
And a natural man stands little chance
In a society of cunning and thieves
of finding beauty or enjoying romance
maybe the smart nature boy just leaves
And finds a bunch of people who believe
like him in a better way
And know what you sew you receive
And help them build the new day
It’s just all got to happen naturally
Like everything always does
I see it coming and it’s plain to see
That there only ever is and never was

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

440 : 6/24/99 : Patience

Patience is a virtue it’s said
that kind of truth gets turned on its head
every time it’s inconvenient
Any time the rules get lenient
Patience is a game that I play
finding hidden virtue in a dull day
When you have no choice but a waiting game
When you have no choice patience is just a name
That we give ourselves when we can’t decide
Whether to buy the ticket or miss the ride
The act’s convincing but I can’t hide
the truth of the inevitable where we all reside
Patience is the attitude I’ve sworn to
And seems the sole response to this world we’re born to
The end can be delayed but never stopped
Sooner or later the bubble gets popped
Patience makes the world roll ‘round its track
Sooner or later we all work our way back
RIght out of existence and into light
Patience makes it easy but it can’t make it right

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

439 : 6/23/99 : Anger Rising

Anger rising that’s unsurprising
It’s all the usual things
I’m sick of thinking of the rest
A little sleep I think is best
If I lay down in anger take it with me to the springs
Hold me up bed soothe this crazy blinded head
Hold my anger in check a little while
strap me down I’m in a fit to paint the town
With a golden crown and a million dollar smile
Bubbling boiling, strikes me while I’m toiling
In the fields of human endeavor
Always everywhere a circle cannot be a square
And we’re all searching for a longer lever

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

438 : 6/22/99 : Grip

1,511 : 0 ?


What is grip what is adhesion
How do I get it how do I keep hold?
With this festering lesion
When my hands are so very cold?
What is this surface tension
That throws me back most every night?
These scenes we pass without mention
These horrors we excise from sight
Who is that stranger in the corner
gripping a black flame in his hand
who is that turning as grey as a mourner
who is that sinking in the sand
I lost my grip on passive resistance
Found myself beaten with a cross
Found myself jailed at the public’s insistence
When I get out I’ll be my own boss
What holds the whole damn thing together
Is the grip tight or is it loose
I might feel light as any feather
I’ll weigh enough at the end
of that noose

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

437 : 6/21/99 : Rushing

Rushing to this rushing to that
never a moment to rest or kick back
And we wonder why we’re always
Tired these days
Rush to buy this lay the cash down
Never pause to think what we already own
And we wonder why we never
have enough pay
Rush to get tight, rush to get high
push ourselves until the whole show passes us by
And we wonder why the kids
Are rushing down the same pipe
I’m rushing right now, can’t seem to stop
Somebody please stop this thing and call a cop
Maybe if I were cited I’d slow down
And stop producing such tripe

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

436 : 6/20/99 : 1984, 1884

He said it’s just like 1984
I said how exactly do you mean
He said the only thing Orwell got wrong
Was to think they’d have to force us into staring at that screen
He said we’ve lost our sense of history
Well just think back to 1884
We may still read Sappho or Huckleberry Finn
But who remembers With Fire and Sword anymore
Cleveland elected Harry Truman born
There’s always more replacements on the way
No one remembers the first underground train
But we listen to Brahms Opus 90 to this day
What’s the word the rise of Johannesburg
There’s so much history in every thing
Who really knows what was happening then
who could have guessed what the future would bring
I said the only thing I can’t figure
Is how any of it relates to 1984
He said I guess I failed to make my point
just we’re always in the process
of kicking down some door

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

435 : 6/19/99 : The Universe

The universe is awfully big and
awfully old and we’re so young and small
And every time I think I know
something I find I don’t know much at all
I find it hard to take you people who
are so sure you’ve got it solved
But are you any worse than guys
like me
Who can’t decide and so won’t get involved
The universe is awfully strange and
spread out awfully thin it seems
And it’s awfully hard to tell just how much
of it’s just a product of our dreams
We dream of order dream of cycles
imagining a permanence we cannot find
our lives are brief and frustrating
This fleeting present moment like the million
we leave behind
I’ve got my patch of ground to roam in
My little stage here in the Big Show
Got no script got no directions
But I play it like you wouldn’t
even know

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

434 : 6/18/99 : The Wire

We all know it’s out there
Waiting to cut us off in our prime
None of us talks about it much
But we think about it all the time
We all know it’s down there
buried deep under the ground
carrying the signals conducting
the energy that turns the whole thing around
Everyone comes to the moment
When troubles surround you like a runaway fire
We race ahead blind and wondering
If we’ll manage to slip under the wire
Are we struggling to be free again
Cut the wires and stand on our own feet
Mister be careful what you ask for
there’s many a twisty turn down that street
We may get wired, we may go wireless
We may all get wired for the big sound
We may wake up and find ourselves surrounded
Wires in our heads, up above, underground

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

433 : 6/17/99 : Big Blue

Look at me standing there
in front of the Big Blue Ocean
I only vaguely remember now
It’s nothing but a notion
I spend far too much time
listening to myself think
It’s a game I like to play at night
edge a little closer to the brink
Hey big blue
Won’t you carry me along
On a big big wave
Won’t you sing me a better song
Oh look at me swinging there
At the intersection of innocence and fate
I imagine that I’m free of care
But even there I hesitate
To make any assumptions
The past is so hard to know
hanging in front of the Big Blue
at an intersection of stay and go

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

432 : 6/16/99 : Quid Pro Quo

The name of the game is
quid pro quo
this for that and
this I know
the man with nothing
in his hands
he isn’t even real
in this promised land
The real entertainment
is let’s make a deal
there’s only one rule, that’s
cheat when you can’t steal
me I got nothing
even less than that
still I’ve got few surprises
tucked under my hat
Give something for nothing
surprise the dogs
Who never figured us to be
anything but cogs
I’ve got one last trick tucked up my sleeve
I won’t play by the rules
And I refuse to leave.

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

431 : 6/15/99 : Desperation

1,505 : 3 ?


I can’t deny I’m desperate
at least I try to keep it quiet
you must admit there’s not much hope
for those who will not even try it
Try for one day to be silent
listen to the rest of what goes on
listen to the thousand other voices
the one thousand and first song
desperation is my engine
drives me always to ask more
always looking at the far side
looking for an untried door
It might be the secret motive
that fuels flux and revolution
buried deep inside our tissues
desperate seeds of evolution

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

430 : 6/14/99 : Well Run Dry

Well the well run dry, wasn’t no water
and they caught him shacked up
with the Governor’s daughter
They dragged her away and set his house on fire
He was livid he was very wroth
He said man takes to trouble
like a flame draws a moth
put a fence round his burnt house
made a’ broken glass and barb wire
Said I know what I’s infer when a well runs dry
Most men would walk away
but I’m no ordinary guy
black stone on stone pile it all up again
We’re always building where our luck
ran out
we always come back
to our temples of doubt
and that two edged sword
is a might mightier
Than my pen

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here