1. VEDANTA (THE NOTHING)

Meet me in the afterlife
I'm floating off to heaven I think
Should the skies look gray
We were naive to think it beautiful
Suddenly I'm not so sure my prayers were reaching anyone

Out on the limb of my own tall tree
And my vision's obscured by a cloud that's beneath
And although my eyes blur I know the drop is so deep
And then I forgot myself and my self was believed

All your life you worked to live
And never got your freedom
You knew to take, forgot to give
And you thought that was freedom
Floating through nothing
A tumbling lost soul
I'll be the nothing while I hang alone

In the astral plane I am the pure and 5th, the aether, nothing
In Akasha's pool I am the bliss of the ethereal
Through myself eternal I am cosmic and terrestrial

All your live you knew to live
And you thought that was freedom
You knew to take and not to give
And never got your freedom

I once had a dream that a man's waking life was a dream
He carried on living his days out obliviously
He crawled in a cage with no lock and no chain
Yet he stayed unaware that the door swung wide open
I woke from a dream and realized I was free
And the man, he had always been me

In this tranquil darkness I suddenly see everything so clearly now
All is one and one is everything
All is all as long as it is now
And we all journey to the sun
In this black hole's darkness I suddenly see everything


2. GOD LENDS A HAND

She's pirouetting on the lawn
She doesn't have any clothes on
She's laugh laugh laughing at the sun
She caw caw caws before she comes
She can pretend God lends a hand
Divine design divides her legs
She's elevating to a God-like bird's eye view
Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa ca ca ca
Come into my room

The mailman peaks in through the cracks
He sticks his hand down to his slacks
He pull pull pulls it on the spy
He shoot shoot shoots it to the sky
He can pretend she'll lend a hand
Her thighs divide eyes wide and then
He's elevating to a God-Like bird's eye view
Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa ca ca ca
Come into my room
Please give a dog a bone when he needs one


3. THROUGH THE TREE THEY TALK

Placed a smile on the sun
As they reached where it shined
On the scrapers they raised
And the sun gave them praise
See how slowly they climb
Every leaf, every vine
They impaled the amazed
And the sun gave them praise
Caught in the roots, in the bark, in the waving stalks
Faces some happy, some sad, through the trees they talk
Break through the earth babies grow so high


4. TOOTH

(Instrumental)


5. AND HE SKINNED THEM BOTH

In the jungle of the mighty lion
His majesty to cool his hide
Lay on the stone floor deep
In a cave to quell the sting of day

The serpent sly, not far behind
Beyond the cool, a clever find
A cave so dark and empty
Surely no one would suspect his entry

The clever snake, though slithered quiet
Awoke the jaws, that woke the lion
And both were trapped between the teeth
Of hide collectors steel machine

The poachers light crept up inside
And him to claim his precious hides
I'll skin your coat and pick your bones
And trade them for their weight in gold
Snake your skin will grace my stroll
May God welcome both of your souls

May death reveal the divine

The jungle is my home
Said the lion on his toes
But if you let me go
Yours is the kingdom and the throne
But his stare was stone solid
Then the serpent spoke

I am the devil, you cannot resist me
Knowing and clever, heaven if you kiss me
But the lion's throne
And the serpent's gift to know
Were no match for gold
And he skinned them both
I'm the collector, you cannot persist me


6. PLEASE

So many sunsets I've lost
Drinking the old lady's wash
Ned laid down on the train tracks last night
That old drunk pissed away his whole life
And he aint comin' back
When your dead it's a fact
But I aint gonna waste no more days after this, no
Please, free me from the things I cannot change
And let me be

Tell the preacher I started the fire
Tell the devil, I can't live his lie
And Ned's never comin' back

Brushed through the wheat fields so tall
Grazing the hearts of my palms
Whispered secrets escape in the wind
In them lies where my troubles begin
And I can't take it back
When it's done it's a fact
But I aint gonna waste no more days after this
To think of the delicate things I have missed, no


7. EUROPA'S GARDEN

They are the paralyzed sticks in the dirt
(There are rows of them)
Bending and swaying in tune with the wind
In Europa's garden, the yield it is plenty
And we are the harvest, the Earth is a memory

The extra terrestrial insects are resting on me
Dancing their dance on my limbs,
How I envy their wings

In the garden of mine
I am callisto's ice, Io's burning fire
Full, full of the light
Of heaven inside me, hell on my brow
There's a courageous light
That we all desire
Flies drawn to the light
Of heaven inside me, hell on my brow
In the garden of Europa, heaven casts no light
In the darkness I am light, where heaven waits inside

Extra terrestrial insects are resting on me
Dancing their dance on my limbs how I envy their wings
We are the paralyzed sticks in the dirt
Bending and swaying in tune with the wind


8. EUROPA'S GARDEN (REPRISE)

Extra terrestrial insects are resting on me
Dancing their dance on my limbs how I envy their wings
We are the paralyzed sticks in the dirt
Bending and swaying in tune with the wind


9. INTO THE AFTERLIFE

I lay here bedriden, imprisoned in me
I'm crippled and broken, alive and not free
The sun out my window, it warms me and leaves
No calls and no visits, just me and my dreams
And I'm lonely

Alone with my thoughts, how they haunt me inside
The ghosts of a lost and regrettable life
The food here, it sickens and rots my insides
The woman who brings it, she treats me unkind
And I'm lonely

The clock on the table says thirty past ten
The hands, they are ticking so slowly again
The noise from my TV, my only friend
Oh God in heaven, destroy me, I am

I'm so alone

Into the Afterlife


10. SONG OF THE SPHINX

One day your born, one day you'll die
Gotta look like an angel in your mother's eye
Gotta grow like a sparrow for someday you'll fly
Aint got a thing but time

And then your grown, gonna get your kicks
Do you run toward the devil and his clever tricks
Do you make the kind of worries you can never fix
To keep for all this time

Someday you gotta do like your daddy's right
Gotta go to work and pay your fines
Well you got some dreams but you got some time
And I got things I call mine

There's always something else to do
The wants are many but the times are few
A little bit older but you'll start things soon
I'm sure there is still time

Got a little man inside my head
A selfish beggar with a nagging beg
A three eyed devil with a gift to tempt
Goddamn you devil mine

A young man passes by an old man's stoop
The old man's jealous of the young man's youth
Somewhere I was once a young man too
Where did go all my time?

Full of grace
The eyes of babes
Who cast their gaze in awe
Now in grey
For God I wait
My pace remains a crawl

I clung to the moment but the moment passed
It seems I couldn't make the good ones last
I ran from the devil but the devil's fast
Goddamn you devil die

And then death catches up to you
Well your road was steady and the stops were few
But the regrets were many and you found no truth
Goddamn you devil time
Goddamn you devil mine
Goddamn you devil die


11. A CHILD'S PRAYER

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the lord my soul to keep
If I should die before this dream
Of waking life expires
Take me to the place that I existed
Long before I was brought here
Here am I bound in this body
Here in this time and this place

And even if I wake in morn
The God and Devil need be warned
That someday I'll be knocking on their door
And I will ask them both
In life was I outweighed by truth or lie
Is sin a make of man or of the sky
And which is worse an unsung verse
Or men who have their lives rehearsed
Just counting down the days until they die
And I am but the space between
The chatter of an unrelenting sky


12. DEAR MOTHER

Please mother hit me
It's what I need
Your strikes are painless
For I have more tricks up my sleeve
Someday you'll see I've my own bag of tricks
I'm stronger than I was before
I'm sure that you'll be doing well
While your sweet children burn in hell
A burden that you wish you could ignore

Dear mother I have no religion
And I know that I won't burn in hell
And I know that I'm always forgiven
But you'll always question yourself

Please mother hit me
It's what I need
Your blows are sunshine
Beaming on atomic seed
Go get your jollies from your crucifix
It's always saved your soul before
I'm sure that you'll be doing well
While your sweet children burn in hell
A burden that you wish you could ignore

Dear mother I have no religion
And I know that I won't burn in hell
And I know that I'm always forgiven
But you'll always question yourself
Yes you'll always question yourself


13. THE SWALLOWING MOUTH

Refrain from your numbing
A dark fair is coming
To your town
The fruits of your labor
Will offer no savior
On our grounds
Pinch closed your noses
And kiss all the roses goodbye
The sky is falling
The children are crawling inside
Here's your ticket
Come right in
Come in see the show
Here the spirit won't grow
And the mouth doesn't close
It just swallows you whole

We're born into mystery and dotted in history
We walk with a fist or a wave
Some have whistles and bells,
some the deepest of wells
Some are free, some oblivious slaves
Many glide with the grain and few guide with refrain
But inside we remain much the same
We are flesh over bone on the inside alone
And our vying hearts battle our logical brain

Many will follow, the fearful, the hollow
The shallow, the callow, the cohorts of creed
But leaders don't lead 'less creating new leaders
Upon which more leaders will seed
Some will make claims to be prophets or saints
But the faith will be flavored in fear
A promise of hell will keep turtles in shells
So approach with a cynical ear

There are angels and devils among us each
Exchanging blows
One to the other, then each running for cover
Each tugging ends of a thick wire rope
On the opposite sides of a volcanic slope
And anytime anyone pulls very far
You can count on another tug back to the start
So be it a deity, peasant, or czar
An all-knowing wiseman or ill-burning star
If you're basking in light or you're lost in the dark
Asleep or awake in this moment you are
We're all angels and devils and beggars and thieves
We're fakers and fools with our hearts on our sleeves
We're sulfurous serpents with gluttonous gaze
That obscures the horizon in dazzling haze
And the mouse cannot master this meddlesome maze
But his willful submission will gather him praise

There you are so carefully plain
8 hours sealed in a jar
A breakfast cake at a 10:30 stop
Dance with me, bask in my limitless rays
Over here feel my tentacles
Slide through your curls
Channels change
But the glow stays the same

Children don't follow
The swallowing mouth doesn't close
Even the tallest trees
Crawl from the smallest seeds souls

There you are so patient in vain
A freedom you see from afar
Any day til you make your escape
Dance with me, bask in my chemical ways
Are you there?
Feel my chemicals
Burn through your pours
Patterns change
But the ghosts still remain

Children don't follow
The swallowing mouth doesn't close
Even the tallest trees
Crawl from the smallest seeds souls
Inhale, exhale, everybody's equal here