Tigerlily

Go west
paradise is there
you'll have all that you can eat
of milk and honey over there

you'll be the brightest star
the world has ever seen
sun-baked, slender heroine
of film and magazine

go west
paradise is there
you'll have all that you can eat
of milk and honey over there

youll be the brightest light
the world has ever seen
the dizzy height of the jet-set life
you could never dream

your pale blue eyes
strawberry hair
lips so sweet
skin so fair

your future bright
beyond compare
it's rags to riches
over there

San Andreas fault
moved its fingers
through the ground
earth diveded
plates collided
such an awful sound

San Andreas fault
moved its fingers
throught he ground
terra cotta shattered
and the walls came
tumbling down

O promise land
O wicked ground
build a dream
tear it down

O promise land
what a wicked ground
build a dream
watch it all fall down

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Doctors have come
from distant cities
just to see me
stand over my bed
disbelieving what they're seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
of God's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation

Newspapers ask
intimate questions
want confessions
they reach into my head
to steal the glory
of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders
of God's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer
no explanation

I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle
"Know this child will be able"
laughed as my body she lifted
"Know this child will be gifted
with love, with patience
and with faith
she'll make her way"

People see me
I'm a challenge
to your balance
I'm over your heads
how I confound you
and astound you
to know I must be one of the wonders
of God's own creation
and as far as you see you can offer me
no explanation

I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle
"Know this child will be able"
laughed as she came to my mother
"Know this child will not suffer"
laughed as my body she lifted
"Know this child will be gifted
with love, with patience
and with faith
she'll make her way"

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You were the love
for certain of my life
you were simply my beloved wife
I don't know for certain
ho I'll live my life
now alone without my beloved wife
my beloved wife

I can't believe
I've lost the very best of me

You were the love
for certain of my life
you were simply my beloved wife
I don't know for certain
how I'll live my life
now alone without my beloved wife
my beloved wife

I can't believe
I've lost the very best of me

You were the love
for certain fo my life
for 50 years simply my beloved wife
with another love I'll never lie again
it's you I can't deny
it's you I can't defy
a depth so deep
into my grief
without my beloved soul
I renounce my life
as my right
now alone without my beloved wife
my beloved wife

my love is gone she suffered long
in hours of pain
my love is gone
now my suffering begins
would ti be wrong if I should
surreneder all the joy in my life
go with her tonight?

my love is gone she suffered long
in hours of pain
my love is gone
would it be wrong if I should
just turn my face away from the light
go with her tonight?

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Young and strong Hollyood son
in th early morning light
this star fell down
on Sunset Boulevard

young and strong beautiful one
we embraced so close
is gone
was torn away

let the youth of America mourn
include him ni their prayers
let his image linger on
repeat it everywhere

with candles, with flowers
he was one of ours
one of ours
why don't you let him be?
he's gone
we know
give his mother and his father peace
your vulture's candor
your casual slander
you mudered his memory
he's gone
we know
it's nothing but a tragedy

lay to rest your soul and body
lay beside your name
lay to rest your rage,
you hunger and amazing grace

with candles, with flowers
you were one of ours
one of ours

I saw cameras expose your life
I heard rumors explode with lies
I saw children in tears
cry and crowd around the sight
of where you had collapsed that day
where your last breath and word
had been sighed
where your heart had burst
and where you had died

Saw how they were lost in grieving
all half believing you were gone
the loss and pain of it
crime and the shame of it
you were gone
it was such a nightmare raving,
"How could we save him
from himself?"

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I've walked these streets
a virtual stage
it seemed to me
make-up no their faces
actors took their places
next to me

I've walked these streets
in a carnival
of sights to see
all the cheap thrills seekers
the vendors and the dealers
they crowded around me

Have I been blind
have I been lost
inside myself and
my own mind
hypnotized
mesmerized
by what my eyes have seen?

I've wlaked these streets
in a spectacle of wealth and poverty
in the diamond markets
the scarlet welocme carpets
that they just rolled out for me

I've walked these streets
in the mad house asylum
they can be
where a wild-eyed misfit prophet
on a traffic island stopped
and raved of saving me

Have I been blind
have I been lost
inside myself and
my own mind
hypnotized
mesmerized
by what my eyes have seen?

Have I been wrong
have I been wise
to shut my eyes
and play along
hypnotized
paralyzed
by what my eyes have found
by what my eyes have seen
what they have seen?

Have I been blind
have I been lost
have I been wrong
have I been wise
have I been strong
have I been
hypnotized
mesmerized
by what my eyes have found
in that great street carnival
in that carnival?

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I may know the word
but not say it
I may know the truth
but not face it
I may hear a sound
a whisper, sacred and profound
but turn my head
indifferent

I may know the word
but not say it
I may love the fruit
but not taste it
I may know the way
to comfort and to soothe
a worried face
but fold my hands
indifferent

If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
from the night into the day

But it's all grey here
it's all grey to me

I may know the word
but not say it
this may be the time
but I might waste it
this may be the hour
something move me
something prove me wrong
before night comes
with indifference

If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
from the night into the day

But it's all grey here
it's all grey to me

I recognize the walls inside
I recognize them all
I've paced between them
chasing demons down
until they fall
in fitful sleep
enough to keep their strength
enough to crawl
into my head
with tangled threads
they riddle me to solve

again and again and again

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If I ever write this letter
the pages I could write
but I don't know where to send it
you have vanished
heaven knows where you live
heaven only knows

If I ever write this letter
bitter words it would contain
just an unrequited lover
wishing she had never
spoken your name
had never known your name

but if I ever write this letter
the truth it would reveal
knowing you brought me pleasure
how I'll often treasure
moments that we knew
the precious, the few

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It's a Saturday afternoon romance
between a cowboy and a fool
a drunken meet up
in a crude saloon
a poor Rocky Mountain town
he's a scoundrel and
she's no pearl
together they are two lovers cruel

Got her balanced on his knee
he knows exactly what to say
"You ain't been born
til you get out of town
and Honey,
you might come with me"

"If you do....
spare the innocent ones
I'll take you with me
and together we will be drifters free."

Got her tangled in his arms
she's a lusting, trusting fool
"No man born can rule me
that I've swarn
but stranger if you do,
I'll belong to you."

"If you do....
would you spare the innocent ones
would you take me with you?
Can you love the land
and love me too?"

As he grows sober
sees his love anew
in the morning light so true
he gets on the move
on the move

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Oh, jealousy

Is she fine
so well bred
the perfect girl
a social deb?

is she the sort
you've always thought
could make you
what you're not?

Oh, jealousy

is she bright
so well read
are there novels
by her bed?

is she the sort
you've always said
could satisfy
your head?

Oh, my jealousy

does she talk
the way I do
is her voice reminding you
of the promises
the little white lies too
sometimes, tell me
while she's touching you
just by mistake
accidentally do you say my name?

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Climbing under
a babrbed wire fence
by the railroad ties

Climbing over
the old stone wall
I am bound for the riverside

Well I go to the river
to soothe my mind
ponder over
the crazy days of my life
just sit and watch the river flow

find a place
on the riverbank
where the green rushes grow
see the wind
in the willow tree
in branches hanging low

Well I go to the river
to soothe my mind
to pnder over
the crazy days in my life
ease my mind and soul
where I go

Well I will go to the river
from time to time
wander over
these crazy days in my life
watch the river flow
where the willow branches grow
by the cool rolling waters
moving gracefully and slow

Child it's lovely
let the river take it all away
the mad pace, the hurry
the troubles, the worries
just let the river take them all away
flow away

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How did I love you?
there was no measuring
far above this dirty world
far above everything
in your tower over it
you were clean

So warm and insightful
were you in my eyes
I was sure the rightful
guardian of my life
damn you betrayer
how you lied

But for seven years
you were loved
I laid golden orchid crowns
round your feet

For seven years
I bowed down
to tough the ground
so wholly your devotee

You were
all I could see

I've got my sight now
I see everythign you hid
so don't you try to right now
all the wrong you did
I might forget you
but not forgive

But for seven years
you were loved
I laid golden orchid crowns
round your feet

For seven years
I bowed down
to tough the ground
so wholly your devotee

And for seven years
you were so revered
I made offerings of
anything and everything i had

You were
you were
all I could see

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