Patterson Hood

When they thaw out Uncle Disney
gonna be some changes made
Pointing fingers, asking questions
forty years of decisions made

When the thaw out Uncle Disney
all us toons gonna be just fine
America's just a giant theme park
put on them mouse ears and get in line
When they thaw out Uncle Disney
boy won't he be surprised
Carton cures for all his cancers
Thunderclouds in the Florida skies

When the thaw out Uncle Disney
You'll be coming home to me to stay
I'll be waiting for you to call me
as they roll the credits and the music fades
When they thaw out Uncle Disney
heads will roll, I'm afraid
Someone will be held accounted
For forty Years of decisions made

Forty Years of decisions

Rising son,, rising sun beating down on me
I'm my Daddy's rising son, world in front of me
But daddy, he ain't smilin' none, what could the problem be?
Hejust asys "My foolish one. you live too dangerously"
But, Daddy, I ain't hurtin' none, she's spread in front of me
I'd be a fool not to taste the pleasures offered me
But, Daddy, he just turns away and locks it with a key
the thirty years years between us must have changed him bitterly

I took my money into town and spread it gingerly
Every table I laid it down, world in front of me
Wine and women, women, wine taste so honey sweet
Every pleasure overshelming knocks me off my feet
If anybody crossed my path, I'd cut them down to size
self-righteousness and forward flow moved me to the prize
I stayed out drinking every night, toasting to the sunrise
I'm my Daddy's rising son, won't he be suprised

All the prophet prophesized my agonized defeat
All the men I trampled on waited for my sleep
All the women I wronged waited round with glee
for the big comeuppance that was waiting mad for me
It's the way of this mean world things ain't really fair
The evil deal out from the bottom without a single care
The goodly try the best they can to hold to what is theirs
The sun it rises one more day
and I'm still standing here

Used to be a killer
Best killer in the land
Killed women and children
Just as easy as a man

Leave their mangled bodies
Nonchalantly at the door
But now I ain't got the stomach
For killing any more

Made me lots of money
Was the best at my job
Never had to nine to five
Or cheat or steal or rob

Just load up my gun
And leave them on the floor
But now I've lost my taste
For killing any more

Something must be done
But it's all that I can do
What good is an assassin
Who just can't follow through

She took me in her arms
When no one else would have me
Taught me how to throw the blade
And never let 'em have me

Taught me how to shoot so straight
Without a moments skill
She was the most beautiful thing
That I have ever killed

(I went to see an old army buddy of mine to do some drinking
And his wife had become an alcoholic and I wrote a song about it)

Pay no attention to Alice she's drunk all the time
Booked on that wine bunches of it and it ruined her mind
Pay no attention to Alice they say she's a sot sane she is not
But she loves it and it's all she's got

She made that apple pie from a memory
Made them biscuits from a recolection that she had
She cooked that chicken too long but she don't know that
Oh what the hell it ain't too bad

Pay no attention to Alice she's drunk all the time
Booked on that wine bunches of it and it ruined her mind
Pay no attention to Alice they say she's a sot sane she is not
But she loves it and it's all she's got

Don't talk about the war I was a coward
Talk about fishing and all the good times raising hell
Empty that one down we'll get another
It's gettin' late we might as well

But we ran your car into a ditch man don't sweat it
I know Ben down at the Shell Station he'll get it out
Alice put your ashes in that ashtray
I swear woman you're gonna burn down the house
Pay no attention to Alice she's drunk all the time

Smell like something's burning, the kitchen is on fire, I didn't leave
the oven on, you calling me a liar? Flames are in the attic everything is
charred, all my waterlogged shit is laying in the yard

Smells like something's burning, it smelt that way before
Something's always flaming in this neighborhood I'm sure. Everything
changes so fast you never know, only ahes remain of everything I own

Smells like something's burning, smells like burning shit. Something's
always stinking now that I think of it. It stinks to be you my dear,
stinks to me too. Gonna burn your playhouse down if it's the last
thing I do. People always seem to destroy what they love, them big ole
brains steer us wrong when push comes to shove. Now I'm standing
here with the matches all lit hoping that my shoopish grin will get me
out of it

Smell like somthing's burning, the red-hot coals of hell, give them
something to talk about and the stories they will tell about how he was
a good man and how far he fell, but you'll know I'm coming by the
smell

Don't call the Fire Department, this town's been burned down
Flashing embers crashing through burning wall of sound
Brothers like to fight but I won't be found. Ashes blowing in the breeze
No one else around

Smells like something's burning...

It's A Saturday night, there's no one around
I'm riding that train to another town
Ain't got no family, ain't got no home
Got nothing to leave when I'm gone

My Granddaddy hobo'd from the time he was twelve
my Daddy went out and made a name for himself
I should have gone out and made me one too
but Baby, she left me, the train whistle blew
there wasn't anything for me to do

When I die, they'll find me in here
I hope that they bury me someplace nice
Away from the noise, away from the ice
away from the things that have haunted me for all my life

We been good to each other held each other through so much
but now you're sitting there giving me that little look
Don't have to ask you what it means
comes a time for cutting losses, time to take what's mine and go
I'll be gathering my belonging
I'll be walking out the door
I'll be walking out the door

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
Gonna miss me when I'm gone
I'll be sad but I won't be the only one
Gonna miss me when I'm gone

No use blaming one another neither one of us to blame
Just picked a crazy time to cross each other's path
but I'm awful glad we came

Comes a time for cutting losses, wish that time had not come
Two more things before I walk out that door
You're the best friend that I've known
You're the best friend that I've known

Gonna miss me when I'm gone...

Ever since the transplant, Phil has been a different man
"My how Phil's changed" is all we ever hear
in the checkout line, at work and home
and Phil's wife has been so lonely
His life was saved in skin and bone
but his soul just ain't the same

"Ever since the transplant, when he holds me it feels so different"
his wife calmly explained to us
over coffee at the little grey diner
"He suddenly don't like chocolates
or jazz or foreign movies
just watch the Weather Channel and The Wall Street Journal"

I changed the oil in my car
and once put in a new carburetor
I still have the same refrigerator
and food that I put in it still tastes the same
but suddenly Phil's changed

Ever since the transplant, Phil has been a different man
Even his hand shake ain't the same
and the doctors try to tell us it's all in our heads
just our imaginations
but what do they know?

I never knew Frances Farmer
just a picture from a friend that I look at everyday
her head cocked over her shoulder
and eyes far away

I never knew Frances Farmer
I just knew she was an actress that never quite fit in
but I feel her lying next to me,
breathing in my arms
with translucent skin

I never knew Frances Farmer
but her lips could tell me secrets that the world will never know
A world she left so long ago

I never knew Frances Farmer
but I couldn't know her better if she was sitting here today
Shock treatments and lobotomies
for things you should not say

In 42, my granddad was drafted by the Army
They sent him off to fight over in Germany
Left my grandma at home with a brand new baby boy
And my mom was born the day they bombed Hiroshima
And not long after that, my granddad got to meet her

Got a job and commuted from Alabama to Kentucky
But still he would have told you he was lucky
Just to watch his pretty bride push them babies down the street
And the way that the cars all backed up behind her

But Granddad's lost his mind cause he'd rather not remember anymore
And he refuses to stop driving, so Grandma's locked his keys next door
And he spends his days just looking around
Looking around
But he's forgotten what he's looking for
He's forgotten what he's looking for

My little disaffected sex symbol you
If you was any more shy, you'd break in two
Break in two, break in two
someone will point a camera at you

My misguided artist, you
know deep down I'll root for you
find some beauty in what you do
hope that it's enough to pull you through
Careful, you're not pulled in two

My little life-avoiding living dream
It's a long hard road to everything
but in the end, or so it seems
Everything is overrated
when you're trapped by what you've created
the drone goes on and on and on

Enigmatic to a fault
Chew you out and spit you up
Chew you up and spit you out
I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to your plight
but if you're really so shy
Why are you standing in the light