Adrian Belew

Marine 475
410
400
062
1009
1097
65
Non-Marine
10
190
510
1148
Motor
254
Aviation
545

long ago and far away in a different age
when i was a dumb young guy
fossilized photos of my life then
illustrate what an easy prey i must have been
standing in the sun, idiot savant
something like a monument
i'm a dinosaur, somebody is digging my bones

ignorance has alway been something i excel in
followed by naivete and pride
doesn't take a scientist to see how
any clever predator could have a piece of me
standing in the sun, idiot savant
something like a monument
i'm a dinosaur, somebody is digging my bones

when i look back on the past
it's a wonder i'm not yet extinct
all the mistakes and bad judgements i made
nearly pushed me to the brink
it doesn't pay to be too nice
it's the one thing i have learned
still, i made my fossil bed
now i toss and turn

i'm a dinosaur, somebody is digging my bones

close your eyes and look at me
i'll be standing by your side
in between the deep blue sea
and the sheltering sky
if we find no words to say
to the rhythm of the waves
then we'll both surrender there
walking on air

and the worries of the day lie down
under cover of the fading clouds
the secrets of the night
come alive in your eyes
you don't have to hurry
you don't have to try
cause you don't have a care
you're walking on air

autumn has come to rest
in her garden
come to paint the trees with emptiness
and no pardon
so many things have come undone
like the leaves on the ground
and suddenly she begins to cry
but she doesn't know why
heavy are the words that fall through the air
to burden her shoulders
caught up in the trees
her soliloguy,
"don't leave me alone"

people fly people flee
people clam and say "it wasn't me"
people fish people beef
people arm to teeth
yes, you've got people on the tube
walking on the moon
people at the bottom of the sea
people in tombs
people in igloos
even a tribe of pygmies

people are the main spring
turning the world around
people, they're the main spring
spinning this world upside down

people sun people toast
people tire shile other people smoke
people bowl people rock
people pay to see two people box

watch me face me
dress me baby me
phone me wire me
house me bug me fire me

people are the main spring
spinning the world around
people, they're the main spring
turning this world inside out

one eye goes laughing,
one eye goes crying
through the trials and trying of one life
one hand is tied,
one step gets behind
in one breath we're dying

i've been waiting for the sun to come up
waiting for the showers to stop
waiting for the penny to drop
one time
and i've been standing in a cloud of plans
standing on the shifting sands
hoping for an open hand
one time

Rome now comes to sit
in her garden
mingling the breeze with memories
of a time when
there was a room in pale yellow hues
her room with a view
where love made a bed of happiness
in muslin and lace
sweet is the voice from far away
that speaks sotto voce and
is lingering there in the golden air
to quiet the day.

Sex sleep eat drink dream
Primal tribal aplle egg vegetable eel
I have a new canoe but it does not have a wheel

Private velvet animal oldsmobile mind
I'm sitting in the fireplace burning up my time

Private velvet animal empty t.v.



They're fishing in the kitchen
But they haven't caught up to me

Primal tribal chemical digital night
I've got to get dressed to go out of my mind

Sex sleep eat drink dream

Well, I woke up this morning in a cloud of despair
I ran my hand across my head,
pulled out a pile or worried hair
I went to my physician who was buried in his thoughts
he said, "Son, you've been reading
too much Elephant Talk"

He said, "The thing about depression is,
well you just can't let it get you down,
you have to see the world for what it is:
a circus full of freaks and clowns
and you'll never please everybody,
it's a well established fact",
he said, "I recommend a fifth of Jack
and a bottle of Prozac"

What can you give a man who has everything
can you give him back his edge,
can you make him want to sing?
No, you can only take from him,
and there's nothing he can do
I've got the driving me to drink and eat
a bottle of Prozac blues

Well, I woke up this morning and I shaved of my head
by the time I realized what I had done I was already dead
I went to see the gatekeeper standing by Heaven's door
he said, "I hope you brought a good supply of... you know"

Pain day sky beauty die black joy
Love empty day life die pain passion
Joy black day hate beauty die life
Joy ache empty day pain die love
Passion joy black light

And if God is dead, what am I
A fleck of dirt on the wing of a fly
Hurtling to earth
Through a hole in the sky
A hole in the sky

And if Warhol's a genius, what am I
A speck of lint on the penis of an alien
Buried in gelatin
Beneath the sands of Venus

Time sun hurt trust peace dark rage
Sad white rain sun anger hurt soft
Trust night rage rain white hope dark
Sacred sun time trust hurt rage anger
Rain white light

And if a bird can speak, who once was a dinosaur
And a dog can dream; should it be implausible
That a man might supervise
The construction of light
The construction of light

Pain day sky beauty black die joy
Love empty time sun hurt trust peace
Dark rage sad white rain hate anger
Hope sacred passion life night ache soft
Light

Pain day sky beauty die black joy
love empty day life die pain passion
joy black day hate beauty die life
joy ache empty day pain die love
passion joy black light

And if God is dead what am I,
a fleck of dirt on the wing of a fly
hurtling to earth
through a hole in the sky

And if Warhol's a genius, what am I,
a speck of lint on the penis of an alien
buried in gelatin
beneath the sands of Venus

Time sun hurt trust peace dark rage
sad white rain sun anger hurt soft
trust night rage rain white hope dark
sacred sun time trust hurt rage anger
rain white light

And if a bird can speak, who once was a dinosaur,
and a dog can dream; should it be implausible
that a man might supervise
the construction of light
the construction of light

Pain day sky beauty black die joy
love empty time sun hurt trust peace
dark rage sad white rain hate anger
hope sacred passion life night ache soft
light

I was just now thinking about the Jaws Of Life
how they chew you up and spit you right
back into the frying pan

And how life unwinds around and around
up and down, you think you're fine
but then you're back in the frying pan

And how life unwinds
you think you're fine
but then...

Hat bandana Graham cracker jackhammer in
a nail file suit your self-serviceman
the world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum
autographed pictures of Shakespeare fishing
gear head phone Madison Square garden hose
the world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum

Get set get wet get fat get fit get a life
get it on get it up get it off of me
the world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum
get sacked get the facts get a load of this
get pissed get real get over it get it over with
the world's my oyster soup bowling ball of wax museum

Cannibal dog house plan B happy
as a lark's tongue in cheekbone china doll
the world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum
don't ask Y2 cake and eat it too
nothing lasts for evergreen thumbscrew
the world's my oyster soup kitchen door frame by frame

Get back slapback backtalk halfback back track talkback
back to back I'll be back to get you back
the world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum
get bumped get pumped get dumped get the funk
get sick get fixed get jiggy with it
the world's my oyster souffle mignon

Get set get wet get fat get fit
get along little doggiem get it off of me
oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum
get sacked get the facts get a load of this
the world's my oyster soup kitchen floor wax museum

Tragedys of Kennedys, refugees, AIDS disease
photos of Hiroshima, the Holocaust, and Kosovo
Tim McVeigh, Saddam Hussein, the bombing of the World Trade
hostages in Bosnia, atrocities, South Africa,
abortion and Kevorkian, Vietnam, napalm,
Lady Di, and Lennon died a violent crime, Columbine,
"I have a dream that one day..." Rodney King, O.J.,
symbols of our life and times, "One giant leap for mankind"

She carries me through days of apathy
She washes over me
She saved my life in a manner of speaking
When she gave me back the power to believe

Here it comes, here comes another day
Another decision on the way
Well here it comes, here comes a covered display
Of preferences to make
Here comes a knock on the door
Open it for an opportunity
Well here it comes, here comes a physical rain
Of memories to be made

Eyes wide open
Eyes wide open all the time

'N there it was, it was the perfect take
And were you asleep or awake?
There it was, it was a perfect time
To speak your mind
'N there it was, it was the chance of a lifetime
It flew right by and what did you do?
Well there it was, it was another day
For memories to be made

Eyes wide open
Eyes wide open all the time
I've got my eyes wide open all the time
Eyes wide open
Because you never know
What you might see

Memories to be made

Eyes wide open
Eyes wide open all the time
I've got my eyes wide open
Eyes wide open
Because you never know
What you might see

Six billion ants crawling on a plate
Six billion ants crawling on a plate
None of them give back as much as they take
Six billion ants crawling on a plate

Doesn't mean you should just because you can
It doesn't mean you should just because you can
Like Abraham and Ishmael fighting over sand
It doesn't mean you should just because you can

That is a fact of life
That is a fact of life

Now some of us build and some of us teach
Some of us build, some of us teach
And some of us kill what some of us eat

That is a fact of life
That is a fact of life

Nobody knows what happens when you die
Nobody knows what happens when you die
Believe what you want, it doesn't mean you're right

That is a fact of life
That is a fact of life

She carries me through days of apathy
She washes over me
She saved my life in a manner of speaking
When she gave me back the power to believe

And when I have some words
This is the way I'll sing
Through a distortion box
To make them menacing

Yeah, then I'm gonna have to write a chorus
We're gonna need to have a chorus
And this would seem to be as good as any other place to sing it till I'm blue in the face
Yes, I'm gonna have to write a chorus
I’m gonna need to have a chorus
And this would seem to be as good as any other place to sing it till I'm blue in the face

Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
You have to be happy with what you have to happy with

And for a second verse
Of terse economy
I'll brew another pot
Of ambiguity

Then I'm gonna have to write a chorus
We're gonna need to have a chorus
And this would seem to be as good as any other place to sing it till I'm blue in the face
Yes, we're gonna need to have a chorus
I'm gonna have to write a chorus
And this would seem to be as good as any other place to sing it till I'm blue in the face

Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
You have to be happy with what you have to happy with

Then I guess I'll repeat the chorus
We're gonna repeat the chorus
I guess I'll repeat the chorus
We're gonna repeat the chorus
Then I guess I'll repeat the chorus
We're gonna repeat the chorus
I guess I'll repeat the chorus
We're gonna repeat the chorus

Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
Happy with what you have to be happy with
You have to be happy with what you have
To be happy with what you have
You have to be happy with what you have to happy with

She carries me?
She saved my life

I'm wheels, I am moving wheels
I am a 1952 studebaker coupe
I'm wheels,
I am moving wheels moving wheels
I am a 1952 starlite coupe...

En route.....les Souterrains
Des visions du Cody...Sartori a Paris...
Strange spaghetti in this solemn city...
There's a postcard we're all seen before...
Past wild-haired teens in dark clothing
With hands-full of autographed napkins we
eat apples in vans with sandwiches ... rush
Into the lobby life of hurry up and wait
Hurry up and wait for all the odd-shaped keys
Which lead to new soap and envelopes...

Hotel room homesickness on a fresh blue bed
And the longest-ever phone call home.....no
Sleep no sleep no sleep no sleep and no mad
Video machine to eat time... a cityscene
I can't explain, the Seine alone at 4am

The Seine alone at 4a.....Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...

Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Neal and Jack and me
Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Neal and Jack and me
Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...
Neal and Jack and me
Absent lovers, absent lovers...

I need to feel your heartbeat heartbeat
so close, feels like mine all mine
I need to feel your heartbeat heartbeat
so close it feels like mine all mine...
I remember the feeling my hands in your hair
hands in your hair
I remember the feeling
of the rhythm we made
the rhythm we made
I need to land sometime
feel your heartbeat heartbeat
right next to me.....

I come back...come back
you see my return
my returning face is smiling
smile of a waiting man...
I be home soon soon soon
soon cry on your shoulder
your shoulder against my burning tears
tears of a waiting man...
one two three four one two three...
I wait every moment
I wait, wait for my chance
I wait for my friend to say
hello, you waiting man
feel no fret feel no fret feel no fret
you can wait and feel no fret
and so I wait so I wait so I wait so I wait

I return face is smiling
be home soon cry on your shoulder
tears of a waiting man
every moment wait for my chance
my friend say hello feel no fret
you can wait and I wait and I wait
and home I am...

Good morning, it's 3am in this great roaring
city full of garbage eaters ravaging parking
spots beneath my plaza window I see cheetah in their
tight skins and tired heels all-night hippo in
the diner crossing the street swarthy heards of young
impala flambastic gibbon even a struggling monza
and over there that brilliant head ornament on that
Japanese macaque but look
closely at the hammerhead hand
in hand with the mandrill, it's a sight you're
unlikely to see anywhere else on the planet...

the stench and noise, yes, yes, the howler's
resonating repertoire is not too bad when mixed with
the more musical twern of the tropical warbler but the
impatient taxi blare the squawking elderly ibis and
the glass-eye snapper hawking papers I can certainly
live without also be cautious of the poisonous
boomslang laughter social droppings of the fruit bat
and purple queen fish and who's that babbler conversing
with a magazine stand? evidently he's getting a good
reply...

arrive in neurotica
through neon heat disease
I swear at the swarming heards
I sweat the foul terrain
I rove the moving scenery

arrive in neurotica
through neon heat disease
I swear at the swarming heards
I sweat the foul terrain
I rove the moving scenery

I have no fin
no wing no stinger
no claw no camouflage
I have no more to say...
Say...isn't that an elephant fish on the corner over
there look at that blush baby mud puppy noolbenger
rhinoderma marmoset spring peeper shingleback skink
siren skate starling sun-gazer spoonbill and suckers,
they seem to be everywhere, well it's a live revue
random animal parts now playing
nightly right here in neurotica...so long...

Oh they're touching
They're touching each other
They're feeling
They push and move
And love each other, love each other
They fit together like two hands...two hands...
I am a face
in the painting on the wall
I pose and shudder
And watch from the foot of the bed
Sometimes I think I can
Feel everything...

The wind is blowing
My hair in their direction
The wind is bending my hair
There are no windows in the painting
No open windows, no open windows, no...
they're touching
They're touching each other
They push and move
And love each other, love each other
They fit together like
two hands two hands two hands two hands

Here is the angel of the world's desire
Placed on trial
To hide in shrouded alley sihouettes
With cigarette coiled To stike at passing voices
Dark and suspect
Here is the howling ire

Here is the sacred face of rendevous
In subway sour
Whose grand delusions prey like intellect
In lunatic minds
Intent and focused on
The long thin matches
To light the howling fire...

No, no, not me, Burn, I don't wanna burn.....

Talk, it's only talk
Arguments, agreements, advice, answers,
Articulate announcements
It's only talk

Talk, it's only talk
Babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker
Brouhaha, balderdash, ballyhoo
It's only talk
Back talk

Talk talk talk, it's only talk
Comments, cliches, commentary, controversy
Chatter, chit-chat, chit-chat, chit-chat,
Conversation, contradiction, criticism
It's only talk
Cheap talk

Talk, talk, it's only talk
Debates, discussions
These are words with a D this time
Dialog, duologue, diatribe,
Dissention, declamation
Double talk, double talk

Talk, talk, it's all talk
Too much talk
Small talk
Talk that trash
Expressions, editorials, explanations, exclamations, exaggerations
It's all talk
Elephant talk? Elephant talk? Elephant talk!

Frame by frame (Suddenly)
Death by drowning (from within)
In your, in your analysis.

Step by step (Suddenly)
Doubt by numbers (from within)
In your, in your analysis.

Still, by the window pane
Pain, like the rain that's falling
She waits in the air
Matte Kudasai
She sleeps in a chair
In her sad America

When, when was the night so long
Long, like the notes I'm sending
She waits in the air
Matte Kudasai
She sleeps in a chair
In her sad America

I do remember one thing.
It took hours and hours but..
by the time I was done with it,
I was so involved, I didn't know what to think.
I carried it around with me for days and days..
playing little games
like not looking at it for a whole day
and then.. looking at it.
to see if I still liked it.
I did.

I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat..
The more I look at it,
the more I like it.
I do think it's good.
The fact is..
no matter how closely I study it,
no matter how I take it apart,
no matter how I break it down,
It remains consistent.
I wish you were here to see it.

I like it.

Thela hun ginjeet thela hun ginjeet
Qua tari mei thela hun ginjeet
Qua tari mei heat in the jungle street

"Well, first of all,
I couldn't even see his face.
I couldn't see his face.
He was holding a gun in his hand.
Umm... I was thinking...
This is a dangerous place..
This is a dangerous place.."

Thela hun ginjeet thela hun ginjeet.
Qua tari mei thela hun ginjeet.
Qua tari mei heat in the jungle street.

I said, "I'm nervous as hell from this stuff.
I thought those guys were going to kill me for sure.
They ganged up on me like that.
I couldn't believe it.
Look, I'm still shakin'.
Weird.
There out in the streets like that.
It's a dangerous place.
It's a dangerous place."

So, suddenly, these two guys appear in front of me.
They stopped.
Real aggressive.
Start at me, you know.
"What's that?" "What's that on that tape?"
"What do you got there?"
I said, "huh?"
They said, "What are you talking into that for?"
I said, "It's just a tape, you know"
"Well play it for me"
I said "oh, no"
I put it off as long as I could.
And finally they turned it on, you know
They grabbed it from me.
Took it away from me.
Turned it on.
And it said, "He held a gun in his hand. This is a dangerous place."
They said, "What dangerous place?" "What gun?" "You're a policeman!"
And the deeper I talked, the worse I got into it.
I talked, I told him... I said, "Look man, I'm not talkin'...."
It went on forever.
Anyway, I finally unbuttoned my shirt, and said,
"look, look... I'm in this band, you know, I'm in this band you know,
and we're makin' a recording, you know.
It's about New York City, it's about crime in the streets..."
The explanation was going nowhere, but,
Finally, they just kinda let me go, I don't know why.
So I walk around the corner,
and I'm like shakin' like a leaf,
and I thought, "This is a dangerous place once again, you know."

Who should appear, but two policeman.