The Sound Of A Tree Falling

(song of gratitude to st. francis of assisi)

My patron saint's a man who went
From town to town and paid no rent
The things he owned besides his soul
Were shoes a gown and a begging bowl.

What struck me first when i was young
Was how he never got bit or stung
Though bears and snakes he did befriend
Real bears and snakes not just pretend.

I knew this wasn't easy stuff
Because i tried it myself enough
But bears and snakes they ran from me
Though dogs and cats came willingly.

Deep within the wooded calm
He sang a song a simple psalm
"make me an instrument of thy peace
Let love be sown and hatred cease".

Now me i live beyond my means
In the city of lost and broken dreams
With too many pairs of shoes
That take me round and round the blues.

And the price of things is never low
Or else it isn't worth the go
And taking time turns out to give
The time it takes to really live.

You may not know who you are
Until you get hit by a star
Like i did and lived to say
It happened on my saint's feast day.

So i'm still here where i belong
And many years have come and gone
Since that dance, since that kiss, francis

Here comes the blabbermouth
Everybody hold on to your secrets
You better not let 'em out or the blabbermouth's gonna tell.
Here comes the blabbermouth
Everybody hold on to your secrets
If you let the blabbermouth see it you know she's gonna tell.

Don't be so judgmental
How would you like to be her?
Everybody calling you yentl
Always creating a stir
Actually i'm speaking about myself

I'm the person this song is about
And it's the loneliest feeling you ever felt
To have to be the blabbermouth

It's a crummy gig but someone's gotta do it
A thing goes underground and it festers like a sore
Years go by and no one refers to it
But everyone involved is rotting at the core
From thinking and trying to escape it
And figuring out some way to feel okay
You write a song that just doesn't say and tape it
Dreaming it will be over with someday

But here comes the blabbermouth to send that thing around
The grapevine
Last i heard it was heading south with a whole new spin and
A different dateline.

I'm glad i wasn't home to take my angry licks
When you called me on the phone regarding my latest antics
But aren't you a little happy in the back of your mind
That you don't have to worry about a slip
When you're sitting with a friend drinkin' some wine?
Don't you see i did you a favor button lip?

I don't know what to do next
I don't know what to do next
That's how i know it's your turn.
I don't know where the hell i been
I don't know how to tell what i've seen
That's how i know it's your turn.
Your turn came when my ride ended.
I came to a halt and they showed me to the door.
All the way around that roller coaster i pretended
That i wasn't even scared. i put the pedal to the floor
But a roller coaster; hasn't got a pedal on the floor.
It's just not a vehicle that you can drive.
You can close your eyes or you can stand up and roar
You can tell it like it is or you can sell a bunch of jive
When it's your turn.
And you won't know what to do next
Though you'll be standing out from all the rest
That's how you'll know it's your turn.

Every time she thinks about leaving that night she has the
Same dream
And it goes like this:

She's walking across the river
She's walking across the street
Looking down she starts to shiver
Looking down she has no feet.
The irs is in hot pursuit
Disguised as grandmother
She tried too hard to hide all the loot
By giving it away to somebody or other
Who works in a skyscraper
Where there's a receptionist at the door
But she doesn't have the right piece of paper
And her pants aren't on anymore.
Suddenly she's sitting on the toilet
Right there in plain view of the man
As usual she had to go and spoil it
Just when everything was going according to plan.
Then the bus came by and she missed it
So it came by again and she missed it again
The third time it came by she kissed it
Which put her in the arms of her ex-boyfriend
Who was alive again, he was alive!
And she no longer grieving
But she throws off his embrace and runs from the scene.

Nobody's doing the job they want to be doing
Don't you see that's the whole problem?

The waiter wants to be an actor
And the dentist wants to be a violinist
The lawyer wants to be just about anything but a lawyer
But still make a fortune and live off the interest
The baby wants to be a big girl
And the teacher wants to be a performer
The dancer used to be the thing she always wanted to be
But now she's the maitre d'
The businessman wants to be a musician
And the housewife wants to be a magician
The doctor doesn't want to be a physician
But the restaurateur now he's found a cure
For the nine to five blues
But the messenger he doesn't want to bring the news
The bus driver wants to win the lottery
And the thief has to be what he's gotta be
And nobody wants to be a bum
The piano player wants to beat the drum
Mostly everybody thinks they'd like to be a star
Except celebrities in magazines you read
That say how difficult it is to be the thing they are
And that something else is really what they need.

Here i am i'm the unrecovered one
You can talk to me if you want to if you want to
You can shun me.

I stumble through the streets with my pride and my arrogance
I spit right in your face when you invite me to dance
I go months and years at a time terminally unique
With my pills and my bottle of wine
I am very very very very very very very very weak.

I can't get out of bed the hangover's got my head
So i forgot to take the garbage out and put the kid to bed
We're all wandering around in my house
Like the night of the living dead
I'm someone that you can look at and be glad
You're not me instead.

Underneath your sobriety and your piety and your quiet
There's a human being there who's got a spirit and has to
Learn how to fly it.

The controls are on the panel
And the manual's in the flotation device. but if it comes to
Using that you've already crashed through thin ice.

I'm not saying i'm better than you i feel like you're saying
You're better than me
You say "tough luck i sobered up and now i'm running the
Company"
Your higher power he's like my god he'll take you out in a
Flash you'll see
And do the same for all your loved ones and the ones like me
You pity.