Never Die Young

And the light between us
Which we could not quite extinguish
Which we see at dawn
Burns on

First day of may
Things are beginning
Our side is winning
Hip hip hooray
Made in the shade
Deep in the shadow
Down by the meadow
Lie in my arms

And the moon will rise
Before our very eyes
We will rise too
I'll be with you
It's a rite of spring
A horizontal thing
The sweetest sort of dance
Hidden in among the plants

Ha ha ha ha
People are laughing
Children are singing
Come join the dance

And the walls around us
Which we kept at such a cost
When we turned around
Came tumbling down

Ha ha ha ha
She can't stop laughing
He can't stop singing
First day of may

If i could go down now
While the whole town is sleeping
See the sun creeping up on the hill
I know the river and the railroad
Would run through the valley still

I guess it never was much to look at
Just a one-horse town
The kind of place young people want to leave today
Store fronts pretty much boarded up
Main street pretty much closed down

The church bell still rings on sunday
Old folks still go
The young ones listen on the radio
Saturday night nothing but a stray dog running wild
Like nobody's child

And little by little, light after light
That's how it died
They say you never go home again
That's no lie
Its like a letter in the mail
To a brother in jail
It's a matter of time
Until you can do a little bit better time

It used to be part of the heartland
Awful proud and strong
But deep, deep down peaceful and serene
When people used to talk about the country
That's what they used to mean

I might go down come the weekend
Go on my own
Drop off annie and the baby
Maybe drive alone
Pay my last respects to a time
That has all but gone

We said, mama come look at the mountain
Fire in the sky
It's lit up like the fourth of july
The mill burning down
The jobs leaving town
The trains rolling by
And little by little, light after light
That's how it died
They say you never go home again
That's no lie
It's just a letter in the mail
To a brother in jail
It's a matter of time
Until you can do a little bit better time

Fetch down the fiddle, rosin up the bow
Don't play me nothing on the radio
Don't make me remember the alamo
I'm feeling like a little bit of cotton eyed joe

No ragin' cajun crawfish stew
Fat batter come a lou mamma lou
Boy howdy and howdy damn do
Something like fine setting eyes on you

Let me come down, i won't never go back up again
Oh, hold me down
Let me come home, i won't never go away no more
Oh let me come down

In a younger day back in tennessee
The muddy mississippi used to call to me
Float on a river and set yourself free
Run from the farm and the family tree
Run from the runaway boy

So i've been all the places that i ever want to be
I've seen all the people that i ever want to see
I'm sick and tired of being lonely and free
I'm ready today for what's waiting on me

I'm gonna give up believing i was born to run
And stop acting like a man that gets shot from a gun
I'm putting down roots, i want to soak up sun
And stay right here until my days are done

Let me back down, i will never go up again
Hold me down, tie me on down
Let me go home, i will never go away no more
Oh let me come home
Oh let me go down

In line, in line, it's all in line
My ducks are all in a row
They do not change, they do not move
They have nowhere to go

I've been talking to a friend of mine
He says making money's just a waste of time
He's a lazy gent, he don't pay no rent
He's all bent out of shape from living in a tent
It's hard to hear what he has to say
'cause everyone around me is just the same way:

More, more, daddy gimme some, gimme some
More, more, daddy gimme some more

Some kind of funny looking money machine it is
Saddest looking people that i've ever seen
Living in a hole, body and soul
Strung out on the company dole

One for a nickel and two for a dime
Time may be money but your money won't buy time

In line, in line, it's all in a line
My ducks are all in a row
They do not shift, they do not move
They have nowhere to go

Me and my flea we were down by the water
Fell in a hole with superman's daughter
Living alone, chewing on a bone
Pretty as homemade sin
She had to be high by the look in her eye
Her hands were wet and her mouth was dry
The sun on the moon, the sun on the moon
The sun on the moon made a mighty nice light

Bow wow wow, honk your horn

In line, in line, it's all in line
My ducks are all in a row
They do not change, they do not move
They have nowhere to go

Sometimes i'm hungry, i don't know what to do
You can take a taco to katama too

Somehow the season always brings a picture of you
Baby boom baby
Holding on for everything you figured you're due
Little turtleneck girl
The moon on your shoulder
The wind in your lovely hair
Oh what a night
We sat on the beach and watched as the sun
Rose into the summer air

You said we couldn't miss what we never knew
Something about something that you had to do
Sitting on the sand with a hole in my shoe

I had no way of knowing where you might have been
Time goes by
All on my own i imagine you a life in between
All own my own
I worked on a letter but it never made it out of my head
Somehow reading your name it wasn't the same
As leaving the thing unsaid

How come i miss what i never knew
And drag out the past just to paint it blue
And spend my days with a dream of you

Oh, after a fall
Here i'm trying to find our name on the wall
It was neither yours nor mine
It was something of the two combined
From a time spent out of time

I work hard to see that you remember my name
Nod your head yes
Do all i can to make you want to see me again
Oh what a night
Got a letter from the mail, got a message from the telephone
Seems you're working in town
Moving around
Living alone

Now i'm caught in the spotlight
Walking the wire
My feet are frozen and my heart's on fire
What do i do if my dream come true