It doesn't always have a shape Almost never does it have a name It maybe has a pitchfork maybe has a tail But evil is alive and well It might walk upright from out of the inferno May be coming horseback through deep snow It's ragged and fat hungry as hell Evil is alive and well Evil is alive Evil is well Evil is alive Evil is well On your feet to the tower and yell Evil is alive and well May be too humble to want to speak May have a blood soaked bird in its teeth Smoked filled skies and bees in the well Evil is alive and well Maybe in a palace it may be in the streets May be here among us on a crowded beach May be asleep in a roadside motel But evil is alive and well Evil is alive Evil is well Evil is alive Evil is well On your feet to the tower and yell Evil is alive and well It's well Down in every ditch Up on every hill It's well I've got my radio on Drowning the bells When midnight's done and the day won't start And All I ever gave you was a broken heart It's hard to admit but it's easy to tell That evil is alive and well
We'd feel much better if we sunk this treasure And laid our armor down These precious metals and these captain's letters They are no use to us now In the day we struggle with fatigue much greater Than any offer was We bow down and worship these bandits and cowboys Unable to hold their own guns I know that soldiers are not paid to think But something is making us sick Onward and steady Able and young In the valley of the low, low sun In the shade we wander along a highway's shoulder Into the back of beyond Burning the daylight into a pastime That's too wise to come more than once It's boom boom thunder ain't no sleep coming Out mining a slippery world Of snow covered beaches and junkyards of diesel And bombers named after girls On bridges of black ice not built for the rush There's a new kind of beast getting up That's stranger than fiction Speaking in tongue In the valley of the low, low sun Hold on for the slow turning Smoke if you've got 'em boys This is bottom hiding out Down under the stairs Tomorrow has come Like it's drunk on the blood Of the men who have dared to be there The earth's still climbing as it keeps on grinding Its way up around the sun As cool water crashes down to the masses Bootlegged and bottled like rum My dreams are humble, lean as arrows Streetwise, ready, and fair As we bum rush the ages tied to the rails On high seas not fit to be sailed Whatever we've taken does feel like heaven But baby, we just look like hell Act like you mean it where paradise was In the valley of the low, low sun Act like you mean it where paradise was In the valley of the low, low sun
I been working double shift all night Bees make honey I'm making mine Good men are busy all the time I been working double shift all night My line of work suits me fine Split that apple and chuck that rind Pull no wishbone that ain't dry My line of work suits me fine Sweet you ramble sweet you roll Through the bedrock of my soul I got more good luck than I'll ever use All day and all night like a mule Fat faced farmer off my land Cross me twice you'll understand Me and Delia we're more than friends Fat faced farmer off my land See how high your monkey jumps Peel that fruit back and give me some Let this evening do what it does And see how high your monkey jumps I'm gearing up to get small I do it big or don't do it at all Ain't got no baggage that I can't use All day and all night like a mule It's on back to work they say Pull your hammer high and straight Lay your boards out and drag that rake And get on back to work they say Give what you've got return what you use Tell me young man whose dog are you Got bigger secrets than you do All day and all night like a mule
Worried 'bout you baby Down in your rabbit hole The evening of our great escape Is starting to unfold Out of bed sleepy head It's different than you know Everybody pays as they go You've got to pull yourself together Your chin up off your throat Whistle for the dogs And get your sled into the snow Nothing's ever buried Under skull and bones Everybody pays as they go The playing field is level But it's ugly down below It's a devil of a handbook hi ho hi ho Either you're the butcher Or the lamb but even so Everybody pays as they go The future busted open wide and ran Like a beehive loaded with sand You can't go back and see it The way you saw it then Nobody can Look up and see the men returning In their winter coats Some of them in one piece Some of them got rolled Some less than others Some right through the nose But everybody pays as they go Young old rich and poor Your mother she too owes Cuz everybody pays as they go
I made a promise to not let go Our tug of war has only made me want you more Steeped in hard luck and doomed to roam My love is braver than you know My forefathers they worked this land And I was schooled in the tyranny of nature's plans Dressed in thunder a cloud came round In the shape of a lion a hand came down Damn this valley Damn this cold Take so long to let me know It's plant and reap and plow and sow But tell me will it grow Dig my ditches in the golden sun I'd be robbing these trains if I could catch me one Sunday Monday now Tuesday's gone Got me stone cold sober n a drought so long Boarded mansions and ghost filled yards There's a boy in a water tower counting cars Steel traps open and empty stalls There's a well-worn saddle but the horse is gone Damn this valley Damn this cold Take so long to let me know It's plant and reap and plow and sow But tell me will it grow Jet black starlit midnight rolls I am down in the garden where I let go Here on the surface the earth looks round But it's a godless city of cold flat ground Damn this valley Damn this cold Take so long to let me know It's plant and reap and plow and sow But tell me will it grow
In my mind's eye A plantation In the clearing Is a platform station In the distance Is a kingdom In to the front line Is how I'm coming They say in war All is fair I'm heading to the field In spite of my condition
Whatever you thought Whatever you thought You know I told you I couldn't stop
Now through the desert Out to the sea Weather-beaten Through all four seasons And there is love In my creation I've come back For all the right reasons I aint your castle You're not a queen It isn't yours That you're so busy there protecting
Whatever you thought Whatever you thought You know I told you I couldn't stop
All this beauty Is sticky sweet This naughty world Is due for good deeds Give me your poor Your tired masses Bring me the head Of the mule in my glasses Sing that lonesome high melody Roamin young man, The horror behind me
Whatever you thought Whatever you thought You know I told you I couldn't stop
Mother you saw my eyes On the fourth of July Under a banner of roman candles Mother war is kind Like hell but I am fine Brother have you gone west Have you followed through once yet You are still younger how dare you forget Brother war is best In the morning when you've had rest Like a lost dog between houses In the unknown open country Line up at dawn to see who's missing My age is a metaphor It only speaks of everything before Daughter you wear my name Those are my eyes keep 'em raised I may have scars but I give more than I take Daughter war is safe Where you are far away Lover are you gone My heart has taken too much on One octave lower than thunder it drums lover war is done In more ways than just one Like a lost dog between houses In the unknown open country Like an outlaw now standing At the foot of infinity The sun is wild And just in front of me
Got my window open wide Got my window open wide Got a good woman by my side Got a good woman by my side Now this kind of day has no night Yeah, this kind of day has no night Ain’t got much on my mind Ain’t got much on my mind ‘Cause I know Something good this way comes Now watching the streets filling up Watching the streets filling up In the shade of the summer sun In the shade of the summer sun Got sweet apple pie on the stove Got sweet apple pie on the stove The birds they’re all flying low The birds they’re all flying low ‘Cause they know something good this way comes The trouble, doll, is not moving mountains, but Digging the ground that you’re on If it’s true that good fortune gives no chase We got just what it takes Collar up on my coat Collar up on my coat Trucks are pullin’ in for the show Trucks are pullin’ in for the show Grasshopper jump in the road Grasshopper jump in the road Kids they’re all running home The kids they’re all running home ‘Cause they know something good this way comes Yeah, something good this way comes The trouble, doll, is not moving mountains, but Digging the ground that you’re on If it’s true that good fortune gives no chase We got just what it takes Got my window open wide Got my window open wide Got a good woman by my side Got a good woman by my side ‘Cause I know something good this way comes Yeah, something good this way comes Yeah, something good this way comes
You're old enough to know well The better things are all up hill Bitter songs are never sung In the highlands where you belong In the smoke of cannons below Men they bury each other in rows People come people go Work in numbers and leave alone There's a light making its way On up the mountain night and day You'll get tired and you'll get weak But you won't abandon your masterpiece Off to sleep you'll go Through the halls and opened doors Silver bells swinging low Strung in branches of the unknown Soon morning comes To warm the world and wake you up Night is gone awful fast It ain't wrong to be sad There's a light making its way On up the mountain night and day You'll go down and you'll go deep But you won't surrender your masterpiece Here it comes and there it goes The unbearable sound of the earth making men out of boys First you learn then you'll teach About the bright bright light Making its way On up the mountain night and day You'll get tired and you'll get weak But you won't abandon your masterpiece There's a light making its way On up the mountain night and day You'll go down and you'll go deep But you won't surrender your masterpiece You will deliver your masterpiece
I was born in the summer of Sam Smaller and sooner than planned In the spitting image of a man Raised by wolves on the fat of the land Clear of romance beauty and damned Tomorrow will come if she can Just want a woman who can walk on a wire With a trembling glass in her hand Over the hilltops the fire engine rolls Down the valley deeper still it goes Got my weapons out laying low On this end of the telescope Alone you ramble the whole of the world Through black water jungles for bliss It's feast or famine you eat what you kill There's no need to bring God in to this My heart is heavy and pressed to the bond Some people too heavy to hold Salutations take me as I am You can have me or leave me alone Sun kissed lemons in the graveyard below Here in death you see new adventures grow I see you at last but most a ghost On this end of the telescope This will not be easy Word's out the doctor is not coming in This genie's too angry to go back Into the bottle again Closer than ever covered in birds A bone colored moon fills the west Throats will be slashed and flags will unfurl As time will divide us in gangs Years of progress digging the sand Companions we made didn't last Lousy lovers do well with their hands But I'll reach you like nobody can Slow and easy you let your paddle go Down a the bottom there is more hell to row I see clear at last I love I loathe On this end of the telescope