I’ve seen this same old street before
In every other town
Somehow It’s the same old street
That I keep going down
The signs say wine and women
It draws the men like flies
But it's a lousy atmosphere
To hope an old love dies

Just the same old painted faces
Same old two-bit places
Funny coming here to start anew
Walking through these bright lights reeling
I can’t find that same good  feeling
I wish there was road going back to you

It’s where men go when walls close in
And  shadows get too long
You need a woman in your life
The kind you had at home
And so you play the oldest game
Just reaching out for straws
Every town’s got the same old street  
The same old losing cause

Chorus

I searched for God

As hard as I could look

Beneath each rock

And even in the book



But in the bathroom glass

I recognized the mug

And this next line

You'll think I had a drug



My eyes grew large

Surprised at such a spin

When God blinked back

I couldn't help but grin

Ring up the deaths

From sticks and stones

And slingshots

Knives and clubs

T.N.T.

And nuclear bombs

Their total sum

By year 2010

Counts fewer deaths

Than guns

The chosen tool

That beats 'em all

North and south

East and west

Guns can't be outdone

Say thank you NRA

And get your gun

Her boy went off to war and died
     A long long time ago
Now nameless under foreign turf
     She half forgets it's so


Out in the yard an old chain swing
     Still holds a rusting board
And with each gentle breeze that blows
     Swings of its own accord


On sunny days she sits alone
     And peers at empty air
Without regards to laws which say
     That no one could be there
    

As though she still can hear a shrill
     Of laughter from the swing
She smiles toward the swaying board
     Immune to time's swift wing

I knew the man who stole more miles
Along the southern rails
Fifty-five years he rode those trains
On plains and mountain trails

I don't know what possessed my kin
If running from or to
But he loved those long freight trains
The only home he knew

It wasn't that he cared so much
Where those big wheels would roll
It was always in the going
That satisfied his soul

You couldn't tie my cousin down
On icy days or warm
A whistling train was in his thoughts
The day he bought the farm

I'm very sure what Heaven's like
For that old pal of mine
It has to be a long long freight
On a long long railroad line.....

They put me by the door
And I could see below
800 feet to the ground
A solid green carpet
Looking soft enough to sleep on.
But the limbs underneath
Were sharp and deadly.
It wasn't a good day
For a jump I thought.
Who wants to jump out of a C-47
On their first airplane ride
Into the wild blue yonder--
No one with good sense
As I answered my own question.
I remembered hearing about
The guy who received a parachute
Not knowing it needed repair
But he had faith nothing happened
To a nice guy like him.
So when he jumped out
And didn't feel the jolt slow down
His descent to the ground
He looked up with panicked eyes
And saw the chute fluttering away.
He muttered a few cuss words
When he saw the ground come fast.
He didn't pull his reserve in time
And never heard the deadly thud.
Those were my thoughts
As the T-7 parachute
Opened with the snap of a whip
Just as the parachutist behind me
Started walking on my canopy.
I could see his boots sink in deep
And I hollared, get your sorry *** off
You low life no good *******--
A panic lingo that flowed out
Because I was scared crapless
At the turn of events.
Luckily my chute didn't collapse
And his chute started floating away.
No harm done except my nerves
Were a little frayed.
It only takes about 8-10 seconds
To get to the ground
From the time you leave the plane.
So I looked down and there it was
With the wind blowing about 20 knots.
I could feel myself swaying
Much like a pendulum on a clock.
I wasn't trained to land on my back
As I'd learned the five point landing technique
But then the ground slammed my rear
With a sledge hammer effect
Knocking the light off in my brain.
But I must have awakened shortly
As the wind had opened my canopy
Dragging me across the rocky landing zone
Till I became aware and remembered
To pull the bottom risers on my chute
To empty the air from it
So I could roll on top of it.
Then an instructor came by yelling
Get your *** up soldier
And take your chute back where you got it.
I responded accordingly
Wanting to keep my nose clean
And make the rest of my jumps
So I could get my Parachutist Wings.
It would take 4 more jumps that week.
I had to meet those requirements
Or they would send my derriere oveseas
Where a war was going on.
That was all the incentive I needed
To bust my **** gladly
And claw my way to paratrooper status.
Geronimo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
I thought sheepishly to myself
For my not so altruistic bravado.

I am an Anglo
Pondering the Indians again
I know we won that war
I recall my greedy ancestors
Exiled them to reservations
Out west for the rest
Of their history with white men
I find no joy in cruelty
Punishing vibrant people
Pushing them off their land
Just because they forgot
To get their deeds
Recorded at the courthouse
They owned it first
It was their real estate
And they had the right to hunt
These hills and vales
Forever in God's eyes
Until we drove them out
Steeling every vital acre
As we called them savages
So it would look all right
To abuse them and take
Their world from under them
We shoved them all
Along the trail of tears
And other paths
While the savages for real
Are the ancestors
Of the people
Whose faces we see
In our mirrors today.....