Gov't Mule Album

I see the faces laughing-are they laughing at me?
I know now where the traps lie-are they lying for me?
Only love can save you-but I don't feel it
I'm just a poor soul I'm weak-but I gotta stand tall

Trying not to fall into the abyss

I hear the sirens calling-are they calling for me?
I feel the tumblers falling-are the falling on me?
Only truth can save you-but I don't remember it
I'm just a poor soul-I'm weak-But I gotta stand tall
Trying not to fall into the abyss
Trying not to fall into the abyss

Where are all the others that fell before me-will I see them again?
And where is the strength that I've known for so long-is it failing me now?
Nothing left to save you
I'm just a poor soul-I'm weak-but I gotta stand tall

Trying not to fall into the abyss
Trying not to fall into the abyss
Trying not to fall into the abyss
Trying not to fall into the abyss

Only the darkness can keep you warm
On an evil night like this
Are you looking for some one
To give your little arm a twist
Everybody needs some danger sometimes
I'm no different
Just think of me as your equal
I won't undress you
I won't hold you down
I won't stick a knife in your back
The way you did that clown

Can you feel it - can you taste it
Yeh, you must've seen it coming
Surely you could've guessed
The game is up
I'm gonna' take you down
No more crying
I think it's time to confess

You better pray for a miracle
Or you better pray this never ends
I, myself, can play the victim
I'll do whatever the part demands
You saw me watching you
You had time to run
Ain't it enough that you torture me
You had to go for his gun

Can you feel it - can you taste it
Yeah, you must've seen it coming
Surely you could've guessed
The game is up
I'm gonna' take you down
No more crying
I think it's time to confess

You won't see no bright lights burning
But you'll feel the heat
This is what happens
When strangers turn to lovers turn to enemies

Can you feel it - can you taste it
Don't look at me that way
With that blood on your dress
The game is up
I'm gonna' take you down
No more crying
I think it's time to confess

back to top

Back in El Sobrante where the sun don't shine.
Near the Iron River past the old church line
Lives a hot gal, smells of stale wine
We call her greasy granny
She's a hopped up, bopped up, nor-cal witch
She's a slap down, cranked up two ball bitch
She's stone wash denim if she's wearing a stitch
We love our greasy granny

Get your gopher gravy from greasy granny
Separate your mind from your body

Granny's house is hotter than an old Moose Club
She's cooking up the gravy in a claw foot tub
Waiting in the kitchen you can get a back rub from old greasy granny
Greasy granny's gravy, it'll make you sing
It'll shrivel up your pecker, make your nostrils sting
Rot out your teeth and make your left ear ring
We love our greasy granny

Get your gopher gravy from greasy granny
Separate your mind from your body

Get your gopher gravy from greasy granny
Separate your mind from your body

[No lyrics]

So you wanna dump out yo trick bag,
Ease on into a hip bag.
But you ain't just exactly sure what's hip.

So you start to let your hair grow.
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe.
But somehow you know there's much more to the trip.

What is hip? Tell me tell me, if you think ya know.
What is hip? And if you're really hip, the passing years will show,
That you into a hip trip, maybe hipper than hip.
But what is hip?

So you became part of the new breed.
Been smoking only the best weed.
Hanging out with so-called hippest set.
Been seen in all the right places,
Seen with just the right faces.
You should be satisfied,
But still it ain't quite right.

What is hip? Tell me tell me if you think you know.
What is hip? And if you're really hip.
The passing years would show,
That you into a hip trip, maybe hipper than hip.
What is hip?

Hipness is what it is!
Sometimes hipness is what it ain't!

You done went and found you a guru,
In an effort to find you a new you.
And maybe even managed to raise your conscience level.

As you're striving to find the right road,
There's one thing you should know:
What's hip today might become passe'.

What is hip? Tell me tell me if you think you know.
What is hip? And if you're really hip, the passing years would show
That you into a hip trip. Maybe hipper than hip.
WHAT IS HIP?

My spirit sleeps like a sunset trapped behind the clouds
Dying to awake
Bright lights shine somewhere over the mountain
Much too far away
I don't know myself today
I can feel me slip away

World of confusion
Getting darker everyday

Morning comes - still I don't feel welcome even in my own skin
Feeling kinda numb like the earth after the storm
I'm learning to breathe again
Bleeding softly on your floor
I can't take it anymore

World of confusion
Getting darker everyday

Reality escapes me as I try to do the same
Once you saved me for a while till I fell again

Did you see your God rising in the smoke
Did he tell you that it was your time
Silence falls uncovered like the truth
Naked bathed in God's own light

World of confusion
Getting darker everyday

lyrics by Jesse Winchester
From the LP "Let The Rough Side Drag"

It Takes More Than A Hammer And Nails


It takes more, more than a hammer
More than a hammer and nails
It takes more than a hammer and nails
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home

It takes a firm foundation built on faith and love
With a whole lot of guidance from up above
Show your neighbor what a friend is for
With an open heart and an open door
When your first one reaches for its' mothers' breasts
He Knows up from down and he knows east from west

It takes more, more than a hammer
More than a hammer and nails
It takes more than a hammer and nails
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home

It takes more, more than a hammer
More than a hammer and nails
It takes more than a hammer and nails
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home

It takes a firm foundation build on truth and thrust
So your wood won't rot and your nails won't rust
So when your for first one reaches for its' mothers' breasts
He knows up from down, and he knows east from west
Show your neighbor what a friend is for
With an open heart and an open door

It takes more, more than a hammer
More than a hammer and nails
It takes more than a hammer and nails
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home

It takes more, more than a hammer
More than a hammer and nails
It takes more than a hammer and nails
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home
To make a house a home

Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else
Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else

Well I tried and I tried
To get you off my mind
Yeh you better believe it's true
Tried everything to stop the pain
But it all comes back down to you
And now I try to lose myself
Without your help
Oh but it just don't seem to do no good
Cause I cannot help myself, cannot help myself

Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else
Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else

I'm gonna keep on trying
To make it through the day
As if I had my right mind
Try not to think about doing without you
Anyway, ain't no use in crying
Yeh but here I am drowning in a hurricane
Oh, but I can't help but wonder
What the world would be like
Without you in my life

Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else
Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else

For thirty three years I've been on this earth
I plan on being here thirty three more
After all this time
Still, my only crime is to be riding in style with an illegal smile

Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else
Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else
Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else
Slow happy boys deal with their frustration
Different than everybody else

[No lyrics]

I must leave you for a season
Go out logging that hardwood timber
Hardwood timber that grows so low
In the forest of Fennario

Tell me what you need to live, love
Do you ask that you might own
Keep my blue-eyed hound to guard you
I will make my way alone

I will not return in winter
If I be not back by fall
Seek me when this small sunflower
Stands above the garden wall

Fare you well and I would not weep
Bid you tend your prayers to keep
Hill by dale now I must go
To the forest of Fennario

Nine-month blew with sleeted rain
And still he came not back again
Summoned she the hound to go
To seek him in Fennario

He came back the fated day
To find his lady gone away
Made haste to follow in her track
Where she could go but not turn back

The blue-eyed hound at her side did bay
While fast her breath did fade away
She cried out: "Turn, my love, and go
I would not you see me so"

Fare you well and I would not weep
Bid you tend your prayers to keep
Hill by dale now I must go
To the forest of Fennario

I shall not turn, I shall not yield
Oh, selfsame serpent sting my heel
That bleeds my lady's blood away
Beside the blue-eyed hound to lay
Angels sing their souls to sleep
Four winds grace their breath to keep
Up above yon garden wall
Stands the sunflower, straight and tall

Fare you well and I would not weep
Bid you tend your prayers to keep
Hill by dale now I must go
To the forest of Fennario

Well, I wish I was a catfish
Swimmin' in the deep blue sea
I'd have all you women
Fishin' after me
Fishin' after me
Fishin' after me

Well, I'm broke and I'm hungry
Ragged and I'm dirty too
Well, if I clean up, baby, can I
Stay home with you
Stay home with you
Stay home with you

If I can't, can't come in
Let me sit down front of your door
I'll leave so early, your
Mom won't know
Won't never know
Won't never know

Oh, I know, know my baby
Well, she's going to jump and shout
When my train pulls in and I
I come walkin' out
Come walkin' out
Come walkin' out

Yes, I'm goin', babe I'm goin'
And your crying won't make me stay
Oh, the more that you cry, baby
More I'll go away
More I'll go away
More I'll go away

Well now I know, I know you don't want me
Why in the world won't you tell me so?
Then I won't be caught, baby, 'round
Your house no more
Your house no more
Your house no more

Time fades slowly across the plains
Dreams so real - you can reach right out and touch them
Me - why'd you have to go and pick me
Do you know - do you even know can you tell me

Which way do we run
Which way do we run
Which way do we run

Think - Instincts tell you nothing now
The shadow of a giant can be felled by the shadow of a man
Demons stealing down from the heavens
Here comes one now - with a lightning bolt in his teeth

Which way do we run
Which way do we run
Which way do we run

I ain't gonna dream forever
But I'm gonna try and live
Tell me can you taste forever - right now Right now

Little Elvis Hitler - don't'cha follow me
These scars on my back - they're because of you
And these cuts on my wrists
They're just me trying to get away from you
And I'm still trying to get away

Which way do we run
Which way do we run
Which way do we run
Which way do we run
Which way do we run
Which way do we run

[No lyrics]

Do you know me I'm the drivin' rain
And my mama was a hurricane
Dear old daddy before he stormed out high on window pane
Said you're my one and only boy child
Call you the drivin' rain

(Chorus)

Drivin' rain, drivin' rain
Tttalkin' ' bout the drivin' rain
Pretty women say it drives them insane
But they all want to know me
I'm the drivin' rain

It all started back in '69
I hit the ground running
Couldn't wait to hear those gears grind
Like my daddy I'm stone cold out of my mind
I've driven 'round this world one, two, three, four, five hundred times

(Chorus)

Do you remember first time you heard the thunder call
Wind was moaning, creeping through your bedroom wall
Moonlight splashing enough to make a rich girl fall
Lightning crashing make a strong, strong woman crawl

(Chorus)

(Chorus)

my gaurdian angel wears a hard hat
said the boy with the microphone
else, I wouldn't be standing here today
ever since I was a young a boy
I couldn't leave well enough alone
always trouble standing in my way

up, down, anywhere but in the middle
off the wagon, under the wheel again
all or nothing - never could do just a little
never could leave it alone

hard living be the death of me
lead me to an early grave
to die in the saddle must be my destiny
but to ride this rocking horse I must be crazed

good clean fun is just my imagination
down and dirty that's the way the game is played
this hard life has caused me aggravation
never could leave it alone

got to ride that rocking horse

can't leave it alone
got to ride that rocking horse

It's heavy-lay your burden down
It's heavy-lay your burden down

Brother can't you see stars in the night
Brother can't you see stars in the night
There's a road up yonder far beyond the light

Take a ride this morning on a slow train through the sky
Take a ride this morning on a slow train through the sky
My life is just a fast train, gone in the blink of an eye

It's heavy-lay your burden down
It's heavy-lay your burden down

Felt the hand last Sunday when the stars refuse to shine
Felt the hand last Sunday when the stars refuse to shine
I'm just a young man, I don't feel like dying

It's heavy-lay your burden down
It's heavy-lay your burden down

Can't you hear the angels screaming or is it all in my head
Can't you hear the angels screaming or is it all in my head
Looking out my window and the sky is blood red
The sky is blood red

You got to lay your burden down

[No lyrics]