Kerozene man

Oh my friend what have they done to you

Held you down until you liked the view

Strangers on the street, they mock you

Phantoms in your sleep might shock you But I don't want to be the one to hold you down

I don't want to be the one to turn away

I don't want to play wolf when you call

'Cause tears won't help at all Oh, Delilah is the message clear?

It's been raining down for years and years

Never said I was a saint

The whiskers they betray the greasepaint But I don't want to be the one to hold you down

An d I don't want to be the one to turn away

I don't wanna be the wolf when you call

'Cause tears won't help at all (4 times this line) Oh the answer to my greatest fears

Oh the reason for the wasted years

So in love with your own pain

You stay inside and pray for rain

Where losers always win the game

You fall in love with your own shame But I don't want to be the one to hold you down

I don't want to be the one to turn away

I don't want to be the wolf when you call

'Cause tears wo't help at all  (all paragraph twice and then last line 4 times)

Now in this town there's a joke going 'round

And everyone says it's you

They're fazed, they're crazed, they're constantly amazed

At the thing you say and do

He lies, he steals, he cheats on you

And comes back in the end

You say "man, I'll do anything you want,

        don't leave me again"



Carolyn, can't you see what you're doing

Carolyn, step outside of the ruin



You sit home alone by the telephone,

Playing it tit-for-tat

Well, I don't mean to get all in the air

But I think you're better than that

He'll hold you down, he'll pin you down

and make you holler, "When!"

You say, "man I'll do anything you want

        Don't leave me again"

Carolyn, can't you see what you're doing

Carolyn, step outside of the ruin



Well I ain't no knight in shining armour

coming to rescue you

I'm crazy, I'm lazy and I think you know I get mean

When i've had a few

But I'm not the kind to shake you down

and peck at you like a hen

C'mon baby, take a walk with me now 

and start all over again



Carolyn, can't you see what you're doing

Carolyn, step outside of the ruin

Carolyn, can't you see what you're doing

Carolyn, step outside of the ruin

step outside...

Outside of Memphis

just after midnight

got on the Grayhound

and he sat next to me



He said,

"Ain't no pathway that I'm looking for

 ain't no end to the line

 I think I shouldn't think about it all that much

 I guess I shouldn't think about it all the time"



He had a woman

He had a family

he got restless

now he just doen't care



He said,

"Ain't no pathway that I'm looking for

 ain't no end to the line

 I think I shouldn't think about it all that much

 I think I shouldn't think about it all the time"



After a while you lose direction

Follow the first path that you see

and you say,

"I never thoght that this could happen

 could never happen to me"



Here comes the Blue Drifter

Lost on the highway

Talks in a whisper

And he looks just like me

And he looks just like me

And he looks just like me

And he looks just like me

And he looks just like me

And he lokks just like me

I guess I shouldn't think about it all the time

I shouldn't think about it all the time

Strip the hero of his skin 

and see the freak show within

An attic space in the house of sin

With pompadours and paraffin

She strokes your hair and says with a grin

"Here's the door but don't come in

 Come back when you're younger"



Someone asked me, "Why is youth

 Wasted on the rude and uncouth

 Blinded on cheap vermouth

 A would be poet in Duluth

 Short on time, long in the tooth

 Fantasies of John Wilkes Booth

 Come back when you're younger

 Come back when you're younger"



She dreams of an older man

Who holds delusions he still can

Deny he's an also-run

Clutching to an empty plan

"Come and sit on my divan

 Don't say a word I'm your biggest fan"

Come back when you're younger



Better minds and bigger hearts

Larger scale and cheaper parts

Faded patrons of the arts

High heeled post-operation tarts

Bitter ale and blunted darts

Sliding quickly down the charts

Come back when you're younger

Come back when you're younger

Come back when you're younger

It's not the way that you smile

That makes me tremble

Phrases that beguile

It's never that simple 

You say it could have been 

Anyone anywhere anytime

Under the weather



It's like a wave that never breaks

A heartbeat that never fades

Another cigarette another sleazy escapade

It's all the same to me 

If it's all the same to you

Under the weather



So much can happen by accident

No rhyme no reason no one's innocent



And all the people that are there

You'll have to excuse them

Take the ribbon from your hair

You never used them

I'm closing down I'm checking out

Under the weather

There's a god in heaven

there's a god in hell

I see god when I close my eyes

here on Earth as well

here on Earth as well



I was lost in confusion

down on my luck for a spell

I found truth in a sing that I heard

here on Earth as well

here on Earth as well



and they say heaven help you

you can do what you want 

but don't leave when it's done

and they say time will heal you

but you need more than faith to get by

yes you need more than faith to get by



the man said Adam got justice

he was stupid and he fell

I said I fell once too in a dream that I had

here on Earth as well

here on Earth as well yeah

You pull thorns from my hands

  and then wait for your reward

When you know they're the same ones

  you placed there the night before

You glance in the mirror every time that you lie

You're well rehearsed every time that you cry

Well here's a little something to remember me by

Yeah, here's alittle something to remember me by



You fed me the skin off my back

  and asked me if it tasted good

You knew I never loved you

  when you asked me if I always would

I'm leaving now but don't ask why

If you don't know then don't even try

But here's a little something to remember me by

Yeah, here's a little something to remember me by



Yeah, kindness and love 

  are only the means to an end

Unless the end is the beginning

  and we start all over again

If there's a place where evil goes to die

  I'm certain that you'd qualify

Till then, here's a little something to remember me by

Yeah, here's a little something to remething to remember me by

Here's a little something to remember me by

We were always 

always talking

under the assumption that I'd care

nothing could be further from my mind

we were always 

always searching

under the assumption that it was there

turn around and I'll be hard to find



and it gets harder and harder every day

things we never do and never say

we just go on talking to keep from crying

you  say you're killing me

we're just killing time



we were always reconciling

under the assumption

that it was right

goes to show how wrong it really can be

we were always 

always trying

under the assumption we saw the light

all these stupid things that I never could see



and it gets harder and harder every day

things we never do and never say

we just go on talking to keep from crying

you  say you're killing me

we're just killing time

(2X)



and it gets harder and harder every day

little things they just get in the way

we just start out loving and end up lying

you say you're killing me

we're just killing time

you say you're killing me

we're just killing time

Faded dreams and  buried schemes

they never worried me

promises lost and secrets tossed

they have no remedy

yeah, you can lay your head

  down in the ground

or move on with me yeah



photographs fade easily

they need to be locked away

I don't ask much of anything

but conspiracy 

conspiracy of the heart

of the heart



well we made mistakes before 

and I know that we'll make them all again

I can take all that along the way

'cause I know that from here and out

that you will always be my friend

well it's yesterday, today, and tomorrow

another bend in the road



photographs fade easily

they need to be locked away

I don't ask much of anything

but conspiracy 

conspiracy of the heart

of the heart



and there's so many things that try to pull us apart

and there's so many things to deny

it's harder everyday to find the love in our hearts

it's not easy but I'll try



photographs fade easily

they need to be locked away

I don't ask much of anything

but conspiracy 

conspiracy of the heart

of the heart



photographs fade easily...

fade away

Once I was down in the promised land

In a borrowed tent with a caravan

The leader of the pack stuck out his hand

He said, "Pleased to meet you

I'm the Kerosene Man"



And I jump and run and steal the show

Where it's heading I don't know

When these things get out of hand

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man



Three day bender with Ray Milland

Scotch and soda and candied yams

Things they were getting out of hand

Ray was dancing with the Kerosene Man



And I jump and run and steal the show

Where it's heading I don't know

When these things get out of hand

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man



Me and Mickey Mantle and Stan the Man

Were talking about a kid we couldn't understan

He batted .360 in Birmingham

Got fooled by a curveball by the Kerosene Man



And I jump and run and steal the show

wher it's heading I don't know

When these things get out of hand

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man



Chinese food in Alabama

I was looking at the menu, according to plan

Ate too much moo goo gai pan

Had one more dream about hte Kerosene Man



And I run and jump and steal the show

Where it's heading I don't know

When these things get out of hand

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man

Look out baby, it's the Kerosene Man

Look out baby, it's the kerosene Man



Look out baby it's the Kerosene Man

There will be a hero born tonight

a bright flash of light and then glory

a hero's story

look at all the medals on your coat

the lump in your throat,

nobody knows

it's 3 a.m. and the TV glows and

play the anthem one more time

play the anthem one more time



All of the gratitude and praise

is wasted and misplaced on foolish pleasures

and wasted treasures

and though you wouldn't tell a soul

you'd like to see them all learn some lesson

you taught some lessons not too long ago and

play the anthem one more time

play the anthem one more time



somewhere down the corridor tonight

there is a light that shines through

shines down on you

and if you were looking for a sign

a place to draw the line, well there you are

the guns are loaded and there's gas in the car and

play the anthem one more time

play the anthem one more time