The Mountain Goats Album

well i went way out North Carolina way
to that old graveyard where my great grandmother lay
and the day was bright and i hadn't slept all night
and they sold the place to some guys who were building graduate student housing
no one raised any objections
they were knocking the headstones down
and the sun was high when i rolled into town
stood by a nameless hole in the ground
the air was sweet and hot
maybe it was the right grave,
maybe not
but the crows crows crows
rose, rose, rose from the grave
Yeah the crows crows crows
rose, rose, rose from the grave

the girl who'd been haunting your dreams all your life
the butcher from brooklyn, the butcher's wife
the girl who kissed you in the seventh grade
her and all the others lined up behind the gate
the two angels came to sodom in the evening
when the sun up in the sky was bleeding all over you

and you had your camera
and you had your felt tip
and you had some money
and you had everything you needed
the two angels came to sodom in the evening
we saw you coming up the boulevard
the two angels came to sodom in the evening
when the sun was bleeding all over you

we had our passports out and the kits to fix 'em up with.
and the hurricane lamp cast our shadows on the ceiling.
i watched 'em box with one another like punch and judy.
it was dangerous and delightful.
it was that kind of feeling
when you said you were sure there was nothing standing in our way.
and the lie ran off and hid itself in the alleys all around bombay.

i saw you knock the lamp over while reaching for the scissors
and i wondered how we'd ever get by without it.
and you fell into my arms, sweet and gentle.
poison in the water.
little doubt about it.
and you said that one of us would be all alone someday.
and the truth of it echoed inexhaustably all across bombay.
la la la

I met my love by the gas works wall
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed a girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Clouds a drifting across the moon
Cats a prowling on their beat
Springs a girl in the street at night
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
Heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
Smelled the spring on the smoky wind
Dirty old town
Dirty old town
I'm going to make me a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
Will chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town
Dirty old town

I'm gonna drink more whiskey than Brendan Behan
I'm gonna send my belongings all to Tripoli
and I'm gonna ride home to California
With a banjo on my knee

I'm never gonna turn off the television
I'm just gonna let it run all night
I'm gonna plant root vegetables out in the backyard
And come summer I am going to treat you right

So put on your Chairman Mao coat
And let me clear my throat
Let's turn this whole town upside-down
Shake it 'til the coins come falling out of its pockets
Yeah put on your Che Guevara pin
Call the troops on in
We're gonna sail through the night sky like a pair of bottle rockets

I got a great big secret written down somewhere
I got a rosary to protect us both from harm
I got a storage locker full of cow figurines
And a laundry list of grievances longer than my arm
And I am never going back to Cincinatti
All those bridges have burned down to the ground
I got that jet pack strapped to my back
And I'm waiting for you to come around

Yeah, put on your Chairman Mao coat
And let me clear my throat
Let's turn this whole place upside-down
And shake it 'til the coins come dropping out of its pockets
Yeah put on your Che Guevara pin
Call the troops on in
We're gonna sail through the night sky like a pair of bottle rockets