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Revenge Will Come

(thanks to my friend Claude for typing the lyrics off the LP sinner sleeve!)

Side 1: Used * Starting Place * Full Cleveland * Eagleston * That'll Never Be the Same

Side 2: Richard Hill * At the Warfield * Wrong Highway * El Salvador * Revenge Will Come

SIDE ONE

1 - USED

I know a man who got rich owning tenements

Some day the devil’s going to raise his rent

That’s alright

I hope they make him pay

for every burned-out husband

he ever drove away

Limousine on the runway

shiny and long

Somebody’s been doing somebody wrong

That’s alright

Ah, don’t it shine

Just to spit on the fender

does good to this heart of mine

I’ve been used

by soft-handed takes

and used

by the good life makers

and used

by their cold title promises too

I’ve been used

by everything I was counting on

Used

since I was a child Babylon

Used

but now some change is overdue

I don’t want to use you

There ain’t no bridge it’s just a battle line dawn

between Mother nature and every man’s son

That’s alright

We keep making it pay

We go helping ourselves

We’re raping the world that way

I’ve been used

by liars and takers

And used

by the bad luck makers

And used

by their cold little promises too

I’ve been used

by everything i was counting on

Used

I turn my back on Babylon

Used

but i know this one thing’s true

i don’t want to use you

Order in the courtroom judges on trial

Order them a cake with a knife and a file

That’s alright

Let them go

They’ve got to die sometime

and prison time moves slow

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2 - STARTING PLACE

I’m looking for no trouble, baby,

I’m not looking for a wife

I’ve had both of those already, baby,

In my life

I do want to go to heaven

And I don’t know what that is

You don’t want to talk about it

But I can feel it when we kiss

I’ll tell you anyway

Just in case

Once I was a foot at heart

I was a man at everything

I killed an angel for her precious wings

and everytime I could get some love

I put it right back in my arm

I guess it’s true, baby,

There’s no refuge in the storm

That’s for another time

And another space

Oh baby will you be my starting place

I’d rather be a dead man

Pennies on my eyes

Than to see you walking with another guy

We don’t keep our beauty, baby,

We don’t keep our youth

Any man can tell a lie

But that won’t change the truth

So take my past

I will love you to my one last trace

Oh baby will you be my my starting place

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3 – FULL CLEVELAND

You think I’m insane

You’ve got that clean suburbian brain

Full Cleveland

Looking out for number One

Don’t you see what that has done

Full Cleveland

You try to change but that’s too tough

You can’t buy us

And you can’t kiss us off

We’re going to hound you to the end of time

There’s blood all over the bottom line

Money, child, that’s where it’s at

You go tell Karen Silkwood that

White Belt

White shoes

White guilt

The white blues

Full Cleveland

Tell me what it’s all about

Get rich, boy,

Get leisured out

Money, money right from the start

I can’t get the poison from the pit of my heart

Money, child, gets hold of your soul

You’d just kill to let the good times roll

White Belt

White shoes

White guilt

The white blues

Full Cleveland

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4 – EAGLESTON

Distance and boredom dragging you down

Nowhere to go but an Air Force town

Nowhere to heal these feelings in you

Nowhere to hide when the medicine came through

Fire on the water

Fear in the land

Gather ye children the time is at hand

Any ten dollar bill

and you can fly like the dove

from Eagleston, Texas, to somewhere you love

Women and wages and killing your time

Helping your friends cross the Mexican line

Nights like a family

There are plenty of those

‘til the end of September when the packhouses close

Then there’s time for the railroads

and time for the planes

Time for those feelings that’ll never get names

Time when you old back

And time when you try

‘till the time when you finally just tie off and cry

And it’s gone like the innocents caught in the flood

Gone like the money all into my blood

Gone like the lives that the weather has won

Out in the fields of Eagleston

Satan the devil

He’s got hundreds of names

Africa’s hungry

Asia’s in flames

Nobody cares what the devil has done

Out in the trailers in Eagleston

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5 – THAT’LL NEVER BE THE SAME

I’ve got a story here

I’m calling it the Fools’ King

‘cause it’d take a fool

to treat you like a plaything, baby,

This is how it goes

A woman’s love is like the diamonds in a penthouse

A woman’s heart is like diamonds in a roadhouse, baby,

Any schoolboy knows

It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, no,

love is a ball and chain

You’ve got to stop

To either pledge your time

Or go home to the street again

But that was back then, baby,

And if any truth can heal things

I know my love was nothing like the real thing, baby,

So i’d like to say

That’all never be the same

Now that the bitter part has come

And I can tell I only have myself to blame

It was all because

of the way may my love was

before the change in me

and that’ll never be

no that’ll never be the same

Love like a river

Sorrow like the sea

Love like a river

Sorrow like the sea

Everywhere I look I see your face

Turn away from me

Diamond on the table

Know how deep it starts

Diamond on the table

Know how deep it starts

Deep down in jealousy

Can cut a young man’s heart

But now that the past is almost gone

And every unkind word repaid

And I can tell that any love the strong

Can never be betrayed

Darling don’t feel bad

‘cause of what some fools might have said

‘cause when it all is said and done

You’re the one who spent the nights away

But I was the faithless one

And I know that’ll never be the same

Now that the bitter part has come

And I can tell I only have myself to blame

It was all because

of the way may my love was

before the change in me

and that’ll never be

no that’ll never be the same

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SIDE TWO

1 – RICHARD HILL

My father was a kind man

From the western states

He could buy and sell

And he made his way

Gunned down

‘cause he would carry cash

I left my mother and my sister

And I went after killer’s ass

I followed him down to Houston

It was my first time south

I seen him in a restaurant

And we played it out

I shot him down at the table, son

No confusion in what we done

Say hello to everyone

My name is Richard Hill

I rode out like Lucifer

North at night

By day I dreamed I died

In the arms of Christ

I seen the lights in Huntsville

But I dared not stop

I rode on toward Palestine

When the wind let up

Long nights in the wind and pine

Salvation in mind

Your little prison’s wasting time

on Richard Hill

I rode hard toward Tyler

And my loved one there

She said let’s run, run, run away

Never come back here

I told her baby, baby,

I’ve got to fear for you

She said there’s nothing west of Hillsboro, baby,

But what we do

We filled our glasses to the brim

And she sang me a Mexican hymn

Now I’d like to sing it once again

For Richard Hill

These desert roads

They’re the streets of Zion

But this heart is deaf and blind

Fare-thee-well

And Hallelujah

Take this heart, Lord,

Leave my life behind

Come all ye Christian children

This has come to pass somehow

God has come to banish Satan

All men are homeless now

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2 – AT THE WARFIELD

You’ve got trouble with your memories

Trouble with your name

You die from dope or a heart attack

They both turn out the same

First there comes an angel

puts you the test

You burn away the future or you burn away the past

and then the crowd hears your condition

It’s crazy how a man can sound

He’ll tell you all about the hunter

who set the hound-dog on his pride

all about the contacts

and how they blur you deep inside

then the man gives back his whole life

just to try to hit his stride

at the Warfield

and we tend to put him down

but I think the King was back in town

at the Warfield

There were tickets on the sidewalk

there were more inside the cage

First the truth is an illusion

now the truth is on the stage

Power to the prisoners soaking up the sin

Power to the preachers

when they go to face their Lord again

I said the man he’s got ambition

let him tell me what he has to say

He said let’s just strip away this flesh and blood

down to the very soul

Nobody knows a thing about who’s really in control

Now me and Mona Lisa

We’re gonna sing some rock and roll

at the Warfield

and we tend to put him down

I tried to live in Hollywood

Now I’m trying to live it down

I tried to live in Washington

But that was a military town

Where one man needs a dealer

Another needs a bride

Another needs a saviour ‘cause he can’t be pacified

When you get weary in the darkness

Jesus gonna move that stone

Then he said when you’re really all alone

You’ve got to bargain with a cheat

This is where the romance and the real world meet

So fuck this desolation

Let’s go dancing in the street

at the Warfield

and we tend to put him down

I think the King was back in town

at the warfield

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3 – WRONG HIGHWAY

You were born on T.V.

Raised at the Alamo

You don’t want to go to jail

But every payday comes so slow

You wife’s in her prime

Your girlfriend’s got a ways to go

You’ve got the little white pills

The little white pills

And a whole ‘nother night of those

Green and white signs that say

You’ve got the night destination

You’ve got the wrong highway

One night your baby leaves you crying

And the tears don’t stop

The she comes back in the morning

She gives you kisses for every teardrop

You’re like some teen-age Jesus

Working at the cross shop

You’ve got your little white pills

Your little white lies

You get your tires on sale

You’ve got your life on lay-away

You’ve got the right destination

You’ve got the wrong highway

They taught you all about the jungle

And they taugh you how to lead your kill

Now just the touch of your baby

Makes the rest of this world unreal

And you’ve got no more words

For the way you feel

So you take your little white pills

Your little white lies

‘til you hit the skipper beat

Deep in the heart or the U.S.A.

You’ve got the right destination

You’ve got the wrong highway

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4 – EL SALVADOR

Now that the city in dreaming

Viva the pale moonlight

Take to your Bibles

Take to your beds

Now that nothing seems right

National Guardsmen paid by the week

Are going to clash in the curfew tonight

With Los Compañeros

Born in the war

From Belfast to San Salvador

A voice from the past comes a calling

Saying hold every strong heart dear

These are the days when it seems like there’s nothing

But newspaper, order and fear

Praise for the ones who are buried and gone

And the strong hearts who just disappear

Los Compañeros

Born in the war

From Warsaw to San Salvador

What have you got to do to get through

They’re deaf as a graveyard

What did Nicaragua say to you

Think of the midnight silver and black

Think if the sun can be fooled

Think of the four sisters shot in the back

For holding a land-reform school

Think of the ones taking heart in the hills

They can be beaten but they can never be ruled

Los Campañeros

Born in the war

Viva El Salvador

Los Campañeros

Born in the war

Viva El Salvador

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5 – REVENGE WILL COME

Rich man comes

Makes money on the gun and knife

Rich Man’s slaves

They’ve got their hands all around your life

You’re just a child but you feel complete

When you learn to hate on a Trenchtown street

Revenge will come

Revenge will come for every child kept down

I seen a woman downtown

Angel in a restless place

Outrageous legs

And her childhood all across her face

You with your hundred dollar bills unfurled

You’re the whores in the Trenchtown world

Revenge will come

Revenge will come for every child kept down

All men are brothers

You lay down your pride and pray

You must try and try

But your love is just worn away

Rifles on a moonlight drive

Restitution for a Trenchtown life

Revenge will come

Revenge will come for every child kept down

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