The Unfortunate Result Of Spare Time

There are nights when i'm in my bed
Fear, like a freight train, runnin' through my head
Watch a man in the county seat
Bring a gavel down and he looks like me

Little eddie stares at the corn all day
He says, "wonder how god makes it grow that way"
They say, "watch that weird kid wase away his life
He's one of those kline boys and you know what they're like"

Ooh, take me away to another world that doesn't think that way
Ooh, take me away to another world

Last september, it was late one night
Eddie's on a hilltop and he's listening to a fight
Finds a young girl, well, she's younger than most
Left with a blank stare, given up her ghost

He touches her lips and shuts her eyes
Pulls the knife out and begins to cry
Look at eddie standing in the moonlight
That weird little kid's got a switchblade knife

Ooh, take me away to another world that doesn't think that way

The hour arrives and the time is at hand
Eddie gets up and he walks off the stand
Stares at the jury sitting row by row
Wonders why god ever let them grow

Ooh take me away to another world that doesn't think that way

This town ain't much to look at, there ain't that much to do
With the local joe's at the stop and go and the class of '42
We go down to the laundromat and listen to that station
Find out where the fire was at and see what's in rotation

Good morning to you, good morning to you
Laundromat radio

Last year's reader's digests, weight watchers magazines
Discussions on arthritis with dirty welfare queens
With a case of light beer and a pack of light cigarettes
We try to minimize the damage but still raise our consciousness

Good morning to you, good morning to you
Laundromat radio

Tomorrow i think i'll get up and march on down to sears
And buy all those appliances i've been dreamin' of for years
Then i'll get on of those stereo receivers of my own
So i can be bored to tears from the comfort of my home

Laundromat radio

You stand on your platform and present your views
You hand out your opinion like it's the daily news
While your checkin' your look in the mirror
From your head down to your shoes
But you don't know

A better way, a better way to save the world

Your are not my conscience and you are not my keeper
I ain't no saint, i ain't no saviour, but brother you ain't either
So let's leave the judgments up to jesus and st. peter
'cause you don't know

A better way, a better way to save the world

So before you accuse me take a look at yourself
You're just as lost and confused as everybody else
And a man never looks behind a door he hasn't stood behind himself
And you don't know

A better way, a better way to save the world

Town clock stopped tickin', but it ain't broken
Got a problem that no one can define
While that river keeps on a-flowin'
Hang on children, it's a matter of time

Angry child, impatience growin'
Waits with her father in that unemployment line
While that river goes on a-flowin'
Hang on darlin', it's a matter of time

Scarecrow watchin' years of growin'
With floods of asphalt creepin' closer each time
While that river goes on a-flowin'
Hang on brother, it's a matter of time

Sparrow, she's sleepin' with now way of knowin'
What's goin' on inside those telephone lines
Below, that river keeps on a-flowin'
Hang on sister it's a matter of time

Some say god created man, his likeness showin'
I do believe they've got it backwards this time
Somehow that river goes on a-flowin'
Hang on children, it's a matter of time

Tainted river flows to the ocean
That coughs up on the shore its poisonous brine
Why don't that river just stop a-flowin'
Hang on children, it's a matter of time

I climbed up the mountain, i sailed across the sea
But it don't matter anymore to me
I sent my money to the preacher man, i prayed for the lottery
But it don't matter anymore to me
Everybody has somewhere else they think they wanna be
But it don't matter anymore to me
I visited the gypsy, i visited the shrink
But it don't matter anymore to me
I drank bourbon whiskey like it was goin' extinct
But it don't matter anymore to me
Everybody has someone else they think they wanna be
But it don't matter anymore to me
I jeopardized my friends and my own mental health
Just tryin' to defend my own opinion of myself
I gave it all my money, i gave it all my time
But i don't know why
Tried to please everybody all of the time
But it don't matter anymore to me
You no sooner change yourself then they change their mind
It don't matter anymore to me
Everybody knows someone else they think you oughta be
It don't matter anymore to me

Filthy and anonymous in jackson, a dozen keys to nowhere in his hand
Black madonna, won't you change his luck and find him fifty grand?
'cause he's tore down, months from nowhere, with the day-to-day out of his hands

One key fit the door to their apartment, another fit the business he let die
A stray dog whines as the august rains turn naked ground to mud
And he's tore down, feelin' nothin' but the third-rate spirits in his blood

He's livin' for a ticket on the whiskey train
The saddest thing's to see him venerate that ball and chain

Roadhouse corn done cut his strings to somewhere, paper rich done met a ball of fire
Black dog cloud done filled his head and drained him like a vampire
Now he's tore down flat in jackson with a daily gig in the backdrop choir

He's livin' for a ticket on the whiskey train
The saddest thing's to see him venerate that ball and chain

A thick late august field of pigweed dances, a t.v. from the fillin' station's heard
He's holdin' up the wall, the moment says it all without a word
Well, he's tore down, world stopped movin' when 'halfway to the label' claimed it cured